MTG Salvation

Hey guys, it's been a while. I just need to say, that Dig Through Time is the real deal in mill. I'd run 2 Digs before the 4th Visions of Beyond even. (Although in mill, having 2-3 visions is a must). It does hamper snapcaster, but I've found that in sideboarded games it really helps us find those answers we sideboarded in (like Ensnaring Bridge, Surgical Extraction, Crypt Incursion, or even more mill). We already have Treasure Cruise with Visions of Beyond, so imo Dig is the better card for us. It only takes 2 Glimpses to turn on visions which is much faster than cruise, not to mention the treasure ship is sorcery speed. If you haven't tried the deck with Dig, try it. Especially in sideboarded games. It really will save your bacon.

I think it is SB material at best. It would only do much against heavy aggro like Zoo or Merfolk, but those decks aren't too common (depending on your meta). I would consider it instead of copies 3-4 of Crypt Incursion in a SB just so you can gain life for them going in as well as leaving if you're playing a budget build, but I don't think they make the competitive cut.

To be perfectly honest, Jund is the best reason to run BUG mill as opposed to Esper mill since you get access to Abrupt Decay. Boardwipes like Damnation don't do enough to hurt them, so I wouldn't bother with any sweepers. Spot destruction with paths/decays really are the best way to deal with their creatures, and the BUG list is just a little better at handling Liliana of the Veil since she is weak to abrupt decay. Other than that, throwing your own hand disruption in there with a few IoK are as good as spot removal since they don't draw additional cards unless they drop Bob. So the tl;dr version- your own hand disruption + paths for Esper, hand disruption + Abrupt Decay if you're BUG, both builds can benefit from Pithing Needle as well naming Ooze or Lily, although they have their own Abrupt Decays. Jund is also a match where I'd rather have Jace's Phantasm as a huge blocker rather than Snapcaster in my deck. Hope some of those ideas help a bit. Best way is to test with a combination of them and see what you like.

Since Jund isn't a straight combo deck, I'd take out the extractions and put in more Rest in Peace. Tron is the only matchup where I'd ever want to use Ravenous Trap, so I'd take out a number of them if Jund is heavy in your meta and side in 1 more Rest in Peace. Making goyf a 0/1 is always good, although you can't gain life with Crypt Incursion if you do. It also shuts off their S.ooze as a bonus. Against Jund it's pretty much just a race and since they run a bunch of fetches you'll usually win if you start with a good hand. (i.e.- Archive Trap)

The only green cards I use consistently are Nature's Claim out of the SB. I've been thinking of going straight U/B, but having those spot removal against Affinity is just really good, as well as having access to Abrupt Decay, although I've found it to be lackluster in my meta. A set of Phantasms are more for the defense than they are for offence, although I will try it if I have the turn 1 phantasm turn 2 Glimpse opening hand. The tron player was pretty green, but his deck only uses Karn and Mindslaver as the main wincons with a single Eldrazi. He scooped knowing that I would just wait him out until I drew the next extraction effect before milling him more than just the landfall off Hedron Crab. It is bad when you get blown out by an unanswered Eldrazi hitting the yard, but I've had pretty good success against it personally. Mill is a natural counter to combo decks, and Tron in the end is mostly a combo deck, ramping out to play early wincons, they just normally have the MD hate against us naturally. It's all a matter of who has the better hate cards first out of the SB for me. (I personally use both Nihil Spellbomb as a 1-of and a pair of Tormod's Crypt).

Hey all, it's been a while since I posted. Just got to tell about the last time I played mill. I've built a few modern decks now, including Living End, R/B burn, Infect, 8-rack/pox, tribal knights, and a midrange G/W deck that performs well in my meta. But out of all of them mill is the most comfortable and powerful-feeling to play imo. My meta has a lot of creature decks, and let it be known that I used to disregard creatures in mill, but Jace's Phantasm has done nothing but over-perform against decks that use creatures to win. They seem to have solved most of my aggro problems for me, along with my SB Ensnaring Bridge and Damnation. I have caved in and added a 2nd Crypt Incursion to my 75 in the SB, b/c it just wins games on it's own sometimes.

Speaking of Tron, the last Tron match I faced with mill had a game like this: T1- land, crab, go. Tron plays some artifact and land. T2- crack fetchland which mills for 6, play life for a Surgical Extraction on a tron land that I milled that he didn't have out yet, then play Snapcaster and pay life again for the same Extraction from my GY and take out all his Karns the same turn. Opponent scooped, and I felt awesome.

Mill has such good game against combo, that it almost feels mean to play it. I had to remove my MD IoKs for some Phantasms to help G1 against aggro in my meta, but I still don't fear pod, amulet combo, or U/W/R twin. It's just been the Geist of Saint Traft U/W/R deck and the Merfolk deck that gives me problems lately. If I don't get the sweeper or E.Bridge I just loose. Especially against Merfolk when I side out the traps since they never search their deck, but it's ok since I try to bring in hate for them. I run BUG mill and I'm thinking of adding a Choke just for them. Thoughts?

I think you only really need 1 Oboro. I've been playing weekly and have run into the problem with not having enough basic lands a few times (making PtE better in one game in particular). It's ultimately up to you since there are many times I wished I had an Oboro instead of an island, but most of those times I used a misty to get that island in the first place so having another wouldn't have helped much lol.

Warning: this is just my opinion- The ONLY creatures we should ever consider running (besides Crabs, Snapcasters, and maybe Augur of Bolas) are Jace's Phantasm. For one mana they can be a 5/5 blocker, a 4 turn threat that beats out Celestial Colonnade decks, and you can't get better value out of a creature in a deck like ours. Just make sure you side them out when they bring in grave hate. I don't like Fog Bank in modern since Lightning Bolt still kills it, and the other creatures cost too much mana for what they do. Unless your list is going for a mill-beatdown strategy which is fine, but not as competitive imo.

I've played many games with just the small splash for a few SB cards, and I've rarely had problems with mana if that's what you're wondering. Nothing green costs more than 1, and even though it's been mentioned in this thread early on that having a shock that is both 'off' colors may be bad (Overgrown Tomb in my case, Godless Shrine in esper), I found myself searching for that one more often than the Breeding Pool I used. There was a game I played (not at the GP) where I was able to turn 1 get rid of a leyline with a Nature's claim by bolting myself, but I went on to win the game so I do like the green splash a little better because of that. I guess you could run the Loam combo with Ghost Quarter, allowing lots of free Land Destruction if they don't want to get milled with Traps. I'd just make sure to keep something in to take out Aether Vial decks.

@Dragannia - A well-timed Darkness against Infect can be a blowout for them after they use all their pump spells. It's why I like it better than Incursions on a general basis against creature decks. At one mana it may be the best answer short of playing esper and keeping Path mana open all the time.

So I've attempted a write-up of my GP Richmond experience in a blog on this site, which I've come to find is not very user friendly. The decklist looks like crap, and I couldn't find the shortcut button to go through and put the card labels around highlighted cards, so sorry in advance. If the link even works, here it is!

http://www.mtgsalvation.com/userblogs/gemini-spartan/32625-my-gp-richmond-experience

If you don't want to read the play-by-play, the tl;dr version is that mill is good vs combo and not so great vs aggro.

So I just got back home from a Modern Tourney, where 1st place got 2 byes for the upcoming GP in Richmond. I didn't take notes, but I'll start first with the list I was playing-

I couldn't get the 2 Verdant Catacombs from my friend, so I was stuck using Drowned Catacombs which slowed me down a turn in 2 games over the course of the 5 rounds I played I believe.

Round 1 - Bogles

I wiped the floor with him 2-0 this match. Game 1 I won the roll and played a Shelldock Isle tapped hiding nothing that great. He turn 1 Slippery Bogle, after cracking a fetch. I luckily had an Archive Trap and milled him for 13. Turn 2 I followed up with a Glimpse for 10 and passed. He enchanted the bogle with a totem armor for +1/+1 and swung for 2. I followed up with a Thought Scour and a Breaking, and eventually finished him off with a Mind Funeral. Game 2 went much the same way, he had more creatures out but I had Darkness ftw the next turn. I played a few crabs that helped that game as well

1-0 me!

Game 2 - Melira Pod

I won dice rolls all day today which helped out a lot. I didn't even need to extract any of his pieces to win either game, as the greedy mana base allowed me to activate 2 Traps game one. Round 2 I sided in the 4th extraction, Abrupt Decay, Damnation, and Pithing Needle and I only saw the Needle that game. I played it the turn before he could play out a Pod and named Birthing Pod, which he wasn't happy about since he had one in his hand. No traps game 2, but I landed a slew of Glimpses and Breakings with a Funeral to finish things again.

2-0!

Game 3 - Izzet control

He maindecked 4 Blood Moons and had some fetches with shocks and basics. Luckily I milled them all game 1, and since I just happened to fetch for basics most of that game, he sided them out for games 2 and 3. He had a bunch of useless removal clogging up his hand, and I extracted his Serum Visions both games after he used them turn 1 both games. Extracting his mana leaks game one ripped one out of his hand, and my deck was redundant enough game 1 after a Trap to win through counters. Game 2 was harder, and my deck flooded out before he flashed in Vendilion Clique along with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir for the last few points of beatdown after a few bolts. We had only 10 mins left, and went to time during my turn. I was 1 turn away from winning in turns, but I misplayed by not hardcasting my Archive Trap at the end of his turn but instead I played a Thought Scour (he didn't have the counter and I would have been tapped out, but I didn't know he didn't have a counter). I drew into a Mind Funeral after and that would have won it for me. Oh well, you live and learn.

2-0-1

Game 4 - Mono-white Hatebears

This deck was ridiculous. Filled with Thalia, Guardian of Thrabens (that I IoK'd game 1) Dryad Militant, Aven Mindsensor and worse of all Leonin Arbiter. Game 1 was close, but I ran out of darkness without drawing mill before he had the board flooded with a bunch of Dryad Militants, and a Hero of Bladehold beating down. Game 2 he got out a turn 2 Leonin Arbiter, then proceeded to draw 3 Ghost Quarters, which destroyed my mana base without allowing me to search for basics to replace them with. It was a mean, horrible deck to play against and since it was mono-white, Traps effectively were dead cards. I know now why they call it hate bears. I was so frustrated at his deck.....

2-1-1

Game 5 - Merfolk

At this point, I'm sitting in 4th place overall, and with a cut to top 4 after this round, I need to win this match or I'm out. And of course I get paired with Merfolk (imo, the hardest aggro matchup for us maybe with the exception of infect). Game 1 I open with a Crab and pass. He plays a cursecatcher and passes. I play a fetch to mill 6, then a Thought scour. I have an Extraction in my hand, and I see a Mutavault hit the yard. I pay the 2 life to extract the Mutas and he tells me I can't extract land. I allow him to read the card and point out that I can extract non-basics. He's mad b/c he had 2 in his hand! Even with that though, he had the 2nd Island and started to hardcast lords every turn until I died drawing into nothing that would help. Game 2 I was on the play, and started with a Shelldock hiding nothing good tapped. It got a Spreading Sea placed on it, but I wasn't sad about that. It was a very close game, and even playing a crypt Incursion to go up to 36 life, he was able to Islandwalk the next turn and swung for 18, putting me at a 1 turn clock. I had a single Crab out, and drew a land. I knew he didn't have any counters in hand thanks to an Extraction of his non-basic lands a turn earlier. I played the land which milled 3 Islands off the top of his deck! I then cast a Mind Funeral to take away the last 20 of his deck!! (He had only 3 lands left after I extracted his non-basics.) Game 3 I was on the draw, and mulled to 5 due to having no lands in the starting hand. He started turn 1 Vial, and it was downhill from there. Mulling to 5 hurts, and so does him having 2 spell snare in hand while casting lords for free. I IoK'd his hand towards the end of the game and he had 2 lands. I drew a Damnation the next turn but only had 3 mana with the Damnation and a Trap in my hand. (I only removed 2 traps after sideboarding). He topdecked a lord for the win. My next card was a Ghost Quarter, which I could have used to wipe the board although I only had 1 black source (the other got Spreading Sea'd). Here's the tech for those who don't know - you can tap a land for black, blow up your tapped land with GQ then get a basic swamp to tap for a 2nd black and the other 2 untapped lands. But that topdecked lord was lucky for him and I lost and was booted.

Final score - 7pts Record: 2-2-1

I feel that this deck has a very good shot in a larger tournament setting. It's naturally good against Pod and other combo decks, and as long as your aggro opponent runs more than 1 color, you win against them as well. Hatebears is a deck that doesn't see as much play imo, so I'm just going to hope that I don't see it at the GP. Had I slowed down during the extra turns during my tie game, I would have had a better chance of seeing the right play and possibly winning. My 2 losses were against the guy who was undefeated before the top 4 (hatebears) and the 3rd place Merfolk, so my tiebreakers would have put me in the 4th place slot if I had that 1 more win instead of that tie.

Regarding the MD: I feel that we are very strong in game 1 vs any multicolor deck and combo deck, but weak vs mono-color aggro. Snapcaster didn't do anything wonderful for me the whole time. I either never saw one, or had one in a losing hand anyway and couldn't do much with him. I'm thinking of switching them out with Augur of Bolas or MD Abrupt Decay and Damnation and free up 2 slots in the SB.

Regarding the SB: Drown in Sorrow was a weak card against Merfolk, and would only be good against some sort of swarm-y deck (like faeries). I never had to board in the Affinity hate or the grave hate, but there was a guy playing affinity there as well as someone playing a Goryo's Vengeance deck. I think I may remove the Nihil Spellbomb for something else, but I don't know what as of now. Maybe something to help against Merfolk, but the only thing I can think of there would be another Damnation. I think the uncounterable-ness of Supreme Verdict would really shine in that matchup. And that's the biggest thing that pushes me towards an Esper build right now. (Not to mention that S.Verdicts cost 1/6 the price of a Damnation nowadays). It also seems my SB is geared to beat Affinity, while I think I need to include a few more cards to deal with other aggro decks. Maybe remove a Nature's Claim for a number of Dismember or long-forgotten card Sudden Death. Idk, but more testing will help in this decision.

Hope that helped out some, feedback is welcome as this is my first tournament report (although it was a small one with only 16ish players).

You in fact are able to do that, as Springleaf Drum is not giving that creature the ability to tap:effect, but is acting on that creature as an outside source so summoning sickness doesn't apply in this case.

Quote from FerreiraDaSilva

@Gemini Spartan: I'm thinking about dropping a land and my 2 PtE's for 3 Inquisition of Kozilek, how they're working for you man ? Sometimes I just sit there with Path, and I think hand disruption has more range when answering not only creatures and permanents but also other spells. While it doesn't have the same synergy with Trap, it works better with Extraction, and doesn't need the perfect timing as the later interaction too.

I've really liked using them so far. Against 'fair' decks like zoo, it's as good as a removal spell in many cases. It helps slow down Tron if I'm able to take away a Sylvan Scrying or Expedition Map. And against american control, if they do decide to counter it with a spell pierce, then that's one less counter they have to use against a Glimpse or something better. However, you need to be smart about when to side them out. If you know you're on the draw against Affinity, after they empty their initial hand that IoK is pretty useless, so in some cases it can be boarded out pretty easily.

On another note, I played a match against R/G Tron yesterday and won 2-0. He was new to the deck, but I was able to see the workings pretty well. With all the cantrips they play, game 1 he actually drew into his Emrakul which allowed me to race for the win (He actually conceded when I extracted a wurmcoil from his yard which ripped 2 from his hand while he was sitting at 5 mana. Game 2 was shear luck on my part. I had my only Incursion in hand and when I dropped my third land which activated Hedron Crabs trigger, Emrakul hit the yard and I activated Incursion in response. Luckily I had only milled about 5-10 cards by that time, so the reshuffle trigger didn't hurt me so bad. The following turn I milled for 21 with a land drop (3) then Glimpse and Breaking the same turn. My friend knew my deck and both games used his MD Relic of Progenitus to exile both GYs to keep me off drawing 3 with Visions and having multiple Snapcaster targets. It was a good match, but I can't help but feel that once he gains more EXP with the deck, he'll mulligan more efficiently or learn more tricks that will make life hard for me.

So here's my list I've been working on for a while. SB has changed a little to reflect the addition of Bitterblossom to the format.



I'm debating whether or not to include a 2nd Spellskite, as Infect is a thing in my local meta and it helps against Twin matchups as well, along with any deck that uses Lightning Bolt/Helix. The SB may look like it's all over the place, but with the full set of card Scours and Visions, I have a good shot at getting the hate I need. The only thing I'm thinking about changing is putting the Abrupt Decay in the MD in place of a Visions to free up another space in the SB.

Also, where do you download Cockatrice? I've encountered a few broken links and that's been it.

P.S.- I'm not sure I like the new setup of MTGS. It registers as a gaming site now which means I can't check it at work (it's blocked), so I might not be able to get on as often lol.

I do like the fact that DRS will no longer be able to negate our sorcery-speed Snapcaster flashback targets, but now I feel that a maindeck Black Sun's Zenith or Damnation will be more necessary than it was before. I'm even considering adding the 2nd Incursion back to my SB and only having a total of 3 Extractions available to me. Idk how it will all work out, but it's a hit or miss with aggro decks as to whether or not we can draw the hate cards (Darkness, Incursion) to get the win. Domain Zoo especially frightens me with the power of their pump and burn spells. On the other hand, Domain zoo runs a lot of fetches which is good for Traps.