Thanks for the response, Greg! I'm playtesting weekly with my buddies, we've got our eyes set on a Modern tournament coming up in our town early next year, hoping a mill deck could surprise some people. My current deck is here, but I like some of your suggestions.
I think my lands could use a little work somehow. Part of me wants to put more fetch lands in (I only currently have one Flooded Strand but would go up to more), but I run out of lands that I can actually fetch sometimes. I like Sunken Ruins cuz often what I want to cast requires very specific colours (twincast on glimpse for example) and filtering is nice. Shelldock Isle usually hits, but comes into play tapped and usually only casts a Mind Funeral. So one mana (comes in tapped) plus 2 mana (one blue, and tap Shelldock) means the 3 CMC spell is not really getting any discount.
Hide // Seek I also use in conjunction with a Steam Vents as my anti-artifact/enchantment spell, so it's not just to strip Emrakul out with Seek. But yea, bad against burn for sure, the biggest drop I usually see is 3 or 4. Currently at 2 main and 2 SB.
Snapcaster with Mesmeric Orb is pretty bomber, snapping back a path or visions at EOT can be clutch, even stuff in my graveyard that just got milled there instead of being played. It's been great for me.
Re: Mind Funeral vs Startled Awake, I think I prefer Mind Funeral. Yea, inconsistent at times, but in decks running lots of fetch lands, I bet 4 lands averages out to 12-13 cards anyway, and 3 vs 4 CMC means snapping it back is more convenient.
I used to run 4 twincasts, and while it's a big hitter, it's expensive like you said, and often coloured mana dependent. I've been pulling them out slowly in favour of other stuff but am left with a one of still.
IOK works nicely with Extirpate and Surgical Extraction I find. Undecided which I like better, it depends if the other player has counters (Extirpate) or not (Surgical cuz it's "free")
Dispel is alright, thinking about subbing for Spell Pierce or Remand though, just because sometimes there's non-instants you want to hit. The 1 CMC is nice cuz unlike most blue control decks, we don't run many cards that can be cast at EOT, so it sucks to hold your mana back without a backup plan to spend it on.
Your thoughts on Phantasm made me stick 4 of in the SB, I'm pretty intrigued now. I'm going to stick them mainboard to start my next match (likely -Twincast, -Dispel, -2x Mind Funeral) and see how it works for me. I had brief thoughts of throwing a 4x Geist of Saint Traft in SB, which would let me sub in a heavy beatdown package for game 2 after they sub out their creature control once they see I'm a mill deck. Element of surprise. But pulling cards out is tough
I had 4x Thing in the Ice previously SB for Zoo/burn creatures, but found him to be mostly ineffective, though I did transform him once (instant speed Visions and Extraction) to bounce my opponents creatures pre-combat which led to a win.
That mention of Spellskite intrigues me too, I've only got a one of in my collection. I haven't playtested against infect yet.
Thanks for the response, Greg! I'm playtesting weekly with my buddies, we've got our eyes set on a Modern tournament coming up in our town early next year, hoping a mill deck could surprise some people. My current deck is here, but I like some of your suggestions.
I think my lands could use a little work somehow. Part of me wants to put more fetch lands in (I only currently have one Flooded Strand but would go up to more), but I run out of lands that I can actually fetch sometimes. I like Sunken Ruins cuz often what I want to cast requires very specific colours (twincast on glimpse for example) and filtering is nice. Shelldock Isle usually hits, but comes into play tapped and usually only casts a Mind Funeral. So one mana (comes in tapped) plus 2 mana (one blue, and tap Shelldock) means the 3 CMC spell is not really getting any discount.
Hide // Seek I also use in conjunction with a Steam Vents as my anti-artifact/enchantment spell, so it's not just to strip Emrakul out with Seek. But yea, bad against burn for sure, the biggest drop I usually see is 3 or 4. Currently at 2 main and 2 SB.
Snapcaster with Mesmeric Orb is pretty bomber, snapping back a path or visions at EOT can be clutch, even stuff in my graveyard that just got milled there instead of being played. It's been great for me.
Re: Mind Funeral vs Startled Awake, I think I prefer Mind Funeral. Yea, inconsistent at times, but in decks running lots of fetch lands, I bet 4 lands averages out to 12-13 cards anyway, and 3 vs 4 CMC means snapping it back is more convenient.
I used to run 4 twincasts, and while it's a big hitter, it's expensive like you said, and often coloured mana dependent. I've been pulling them out slowly in favour of other stuff but am left with a one of still.
IOK works nicely with Extirpate and Surgical Extraction I find. Undecided which I like better, it depends if the other player has counters (Extirpate) or not (Surgical cuz it's "free")
Dispel is alright, thinking about subbing for Spell Pierce or Remand though, just because sometimes there's non-instants you want to hit. The 1 CMC is nice cuz unlike most blue control decks, we don't run many cards that can be cast at EOT, so it sucks to hold your mana back without a backup plan to spend it on.
Your thoughts on Phantasm made me stick 4 of in the SB, I'm pretty intrigued now. I'm going to stick them mainboard to start my next match (likely -Twincast, -Dispel, -2x Mind Funeral) and see how it works for me. I had brief thoughts of throwing a 4x Geist of Saint Traft in SB, which would let me sub in a heavy beatdown package for game 2 after they sub out their creature control once they see I'm a mill deck. Element of surprise. But pulling cards out is tough
I had 4x Thing in the Ice previously SB for Zoo/burn creatures, but found him to be mostly ineffective, though I did transform him once (instant speed Visions and Extraction) to bounce my opponents creatures pre-combat which led to a win.
That mention of Spellskite intrigues me too, I've only got a one of in my collection. I haven't playtested against infect yet.
Cheers!
Very cool build. An entirely different direction than I take as far as board interaction goes and I bet it all works together pretty well.
LANDS: I'll compare to mine. You're running 21 total/7 fetches/4 basics, I run 23 total/9 fetches/3 basics (one of each because I hate blood moon). I found myself pulling too many one and no land hands when I was running 22 and the extra fetch really helps me not get flooded late game. You also can't have to many fetches when it comes to Hedron Crab. That dude puts in work. I can see the filter lands being a necessity given the instant choices you made in this deck. DOn't have much advice to offer other than maybe pump up by one or two. Especially since you're running Snaps, you NEED to get to that fourth mana reliably by turn 5.
Shelldock Isle I don't look to for the mana discount. I look to it as a finisher. A Coup de grace, so to speak. Because if you've got them that low, hopefully whatever you've hidden will put them under. I run two as well.
The lack of Ghost Quarter is interesting. I can see your mana requirements not being able to afford a colorless producing land, but it's pretty neat when facing down a Inkmoth Nexus or when baiting an opponent into Archive Trap, though Path to Exile does that too. It's super fun catching them once and then bluffing about every subsequent Path/GQ going forward. Nice poker magic.
Hide // Seek and Steam Vents tech is sick. I might have to steal that from you. Right now I'm 2 hide and seeks and 4 disenchants in the SB. Could drop to just 4 HnS and a Steam Vents and free up a sideboard slot.
Snaps makes a lot more sense in your build than it does mine. But I get the enthusiasm surrounding him. He's a bajillion dollars a pop for a reason.
Same thing on Mind Funeral. With Snaps it's value goes way up. I am, however, a fan of the Mesmeric Orb and Startled Awake synergy. Opponents rarely know what the hell I'm doing when I pop out Baby Junior SOB from the graveyard when I never hit them with the startled awake in the first place. It's nice card advantage.
Hand destruction I can see working, just not consistently enough for the devotion of 4 mainboard slots. But you're not the first person to suggest it.
I thought the same thing about the dispels when I saw them in your list. Not enough options in there to use the spare U on if you didn't need to counter anything. No me gusta.
Jace's Phantasm will make a believer out of you. Trust me. Every tenth game will be "Well, I guess I'll just face-bash you four times with this flying beatstick". Geist as a transformational sideboard thing could definitely be fun alongside him.
Agreed on the Thing in the Ice. Doesn't seem to do what we all want it to do. I'm going with 3xSpellskite instead to shore up against infect and burn.
Here's the mill list I'm running. Might put the Jace's phantasm into sideboard. I'm only testing startled awake. I might run 2x manic scribes instead.
Jace is nice but not a nice blocker and likes to die to removal. But I think his loot and -3 ability is relevant when you need options. Flashback a pte or glimpse is always nice.
Played against buddies again last night, 3 matches:
Jeskai Nahiri (1-2)
Emrakul is tough to deal with, lost first game when he shuffled the graveyard back into library.
Game 2, sideboarded 2 more Hide//Seek, got countered the first time but I snapcastered it back the following turn. Used Jace's Phantasm to keep Nahiri in check for two turns before a path, but that bought me enough time to mill him out.
Game 3 I didn't get an answer for Emrakul or Nahiri. Mesmeric orbs worked too slow to get my Visions into range.
Dredge (0-2)
Ugh. Jace's Phantasm on T1 on the play, Glimpse turn 2, swing 5 in the air. He did turn 2 Tasigur, turn 3 Gurmag angler. A second Jace's Phantasm just floated around as a 1/1 flyer... yay. Chump blockers at least, but no visions and no 5/5 flying. I got him down to 8 life at least...
Game 2 was pretty similar. Bad matchup, might be worth putting some Rest in Peace in the sideboard and cutting out Phantasm and Visions for this matchup, especially since Dredge is making a resurgence. Side in more Surgical Extraction and extirpate to hit Tasigur or Angler hopefully.
Shadow Unblockable (2-0)
A friends non-modern legal deck mono black creature deck (shadow creatures, equipment like Jitte, Swords etc).
Game 1 was tight, I was milling him (drew 3 crabs during the game!), he was bashing my face, until I hit a crypt incursion for 48 life and he was done.
Game 2 he ran into an unfortunate conundrum. He put down a Gatekeeper of Malakir and equipped with Lightning Greaves to get me. Next turn, 4 mana, throws down a Jitte, but Greaves gives his guy shroud so he can't equip it. He has no other creature he can equip his greaves to to get around that. Casts a Vault Skirge, equips greaves, but not being able to get Jitte equipped hurt him. Damnation by me next turn, followed by a hard cast Archive Trap (no fetch lands in his mono black) sealed it for me.
Couple thoughts:
Jeskai Nahiri and Dredge are both problem decks that are prevalent in the meta. Damn.
Crypt Incursion does some serious work against fair/linear decks. I might up it to 4 in the mainboard.
Mesmeric Orb is too slow, thinking about cutting them.
It wasn't a fair test for Jace's Phantasm, I'll try him some more perhaps. But I'm also thinking about putting Twincasts back in instead. T4 Twincasted Glimpse or T5 Twincasted Mind Funeral can be game over for a lot of decks, and if you can hit it into an Archive Trap for free, it's glorious.
Whoops, my bad. Totally correct. Dredge has more stuff like Bloodghast, Narcomoeba, Vengevine it looks like? What would be their biggest threats? A well timed Surgical Extraction might be able to handle some of their threats, or no?
I played a Modern Tournament at a local store last night and went 2-2 for the night. But generally did better than I expected, so I was pretty happy! I made a couple modifications to my deck posted above - took out Dispels (left 1x SB) and Mesmeric Orbs and I'm mainboarding 3 Twincasts, an Ensnaring Bridge, and 2 Crypt Incursions, with 2 Surgicals main and 2 in the side. I lost all my dice rolls all night so started on the draw almost every game!
Match 1, Mono U Tron (2-0)
G1: He had TKS come down and exiled my Visions of Beyond instead of Ensnaring Bridge. I dropped the Bridge and kept 2 cards in hand (2 x Damnation). Second TKS came down, but he had no answer for the Bridge still. Surgical Extraction on one of his Tron pieces put an end pretty quick. I was lucky he wasn't playing Emrakul
I forget what I sideboarded... I think I took Crypt Incursions out and put some more Hide // Seek in.
G2: He got 2 Tron pieces naturally, Expedition Map for the third, but it allowed me to Twincast an Archive Trap on him, then Inquisition to look at his hand. He was on no coloured mana, the only spell he had was some +3/-3 colourless thing that could've killed my Hedron Crab, and a couple counter spells. Took the kill spell away from him and it was GG.
Match 2, BWU tokens (2-0)
G1: He had T1 IOK, took out Ensnaring Bridge. I saw 3 crabs early, and he couldn't deal with them. Landed 2 fetch lands with double crabs for 12 cards a pop. He flashed back some Lingering Souls but it wasn't enough before I milled him out. I didn't watch his graveyard closely to see how I should sideboard against him... oops.
G2: Similar pattern with some crabs and the same IOK on Bridge. It still wasn't enough, I extracted his Lingering Souls (and saw Tasigur in graveyard!). He was swinging at me with a Snapcaster til I was down to 5 life, but a Crypt Incursion for 24 life put me out of reach.
Match 3, Ad Nauseam (1-2)
G1: Recognized Ad Nauseam from all his cantrips. Used Seek to take out his Lightning Storm combo piece, but didn't see any Surgical Extractions to get his Ad Nauseam. He used it once to go down to 9 life (he needed an Angel's Grace and got it 4 cards in). I had him down to less than 20 cards in his library and went to trigger Mind Funeral from my Shelldock Isle, but he Ad Nauseamed as a fast effects... had the second Lightning Storm in his hand and JUST enough land in his deck to hit me for 19. Close call, almost had it! Being able to mill with the Crab after he scryed was nice to break up his flow.
G2: Sideboarded 2 more extractions in, a Dispel and some Spell Snares, took out Paths and Damnation since he didn't have many creatures. Rolled out a Seek and saw 3x Leyline of Sanctity which I needed gone. Also saw only 1 Lightning Storm, so he must've had one in hand. Took one with the first seek, then Twincast a second seek to get the others. Also +12 life from the 3 of them, not too shabby. Oboro cycled well with my crabs and got 12 cards himself. Managed to grind him down with me having 22 life left.
G3: Got the Mills in Early, landed 2 Visions of Beyond to keep me steaming, AND managed to Extract his Ad Nauseam. He cast Monastery Mentor, and then Laboratory Maniac (a Russian edition that I couldn't read, but I should've remembered what it was...) He was swinging at me with tokens and the Maniac, and then a misplay by me! I should've flash-blocked with a Snapcaster in my hand, but all I saw was the Glimpse in my graveyard ready to be flashed back for the win. D'oh. I milled him out and he was like "Do you have the Slaughter Pact?" "Ummm... no?" "Oh. You forget about the maniac?" "Yup. GG." Unfortunate - I could've had him I think! I had boarded out Damnations and Paths though, so didn't have an immediate answer for the Maniac anywhere else in my deck.
Match 4, Blue Moon (0-2)
G1: IOK by me on T1 and saw 2 x Bolts, a Remand, Steam Vents. Figured I was against Jeskai Nahiri. He drew into the moon and slammed it T4... crap. Locked me out all game, wasn't even close.
Sideboarded in more Surgicals, more Hide // Seek.
G2: IOK on him twice in the first 6 turns and didn't see a Blood Moon... nice. Milled 2 Moons into his graveyard but didn't have a Surgical for the life of me. He cast Sleight of Hand "Ooo, Yup, I could use this". Slammed a Blood Moon. Another misplay by me - I should've floated white from my Hallowed Fountain and after Blood Moon resolved I could've added a Red from another non-basic to cast the Hide in my hand. But nope, I overlooked it and that was game. He slammed a few Goblin Dark-Dwellers and beat my face in.
Overall I did better than I expected! I think I had the answers that I needed but a couple crucial misplays by me cost me some games. Some more practice needed against a wider variety of decks.
General Thoughts:
Ensnaring Bridge, love it. Going to try and grab a second one and use them instead of Ghostly Prison. Probably 1 main and 1 SB.
Surgical Extractions are super useful for problem cards. I like the 2 main and 2 SB, but I boarded them in almost every matchup.
I should've tried a match putting my Phantasm's in to beat down - might've worked well against the Blue Moon. I need to learn how to sideboard better, definitely another skill.
Sunken Ruins might get the cut. I ended up with 2 of them in play at one point and left me stranded unable to cast a Visions of Beyond EOT cuz it only makes colourless. That and not being fetchable, I might put a basic Plains and another Watery Grave in there instead.
Random side note: Anyone else have their spider senses tingle when Kambal, Consul of Allocation was spoiled? I ask specifically referencing our relatively dismal match-up against burn. It provides an absolute must-answer. Burn's BEST case scenario is bolting it which:
1- Wastes a bolt
2- Gains us 2 life
3- Loses them 2 life, maybe more from an Eidolon of the Great Revel
If they DON'T bolt it, we're chumping eidolons and goblin guides for days and all the burn to the face gets mostly blunted. I dunno. I'm toying with it as a 3-4 of in the side. Also has a lot of nasty implication against Nahiri Control, Storm (which the new Thing Ascension deck brought back up), and really any deck that combos off with non-creature cards. Heck, I can see siding it in against infect if you're going the beatdown route. They get reckless enough with their life totals that it may work.
I saw it and considered it briefly, but I don't think I'm sold on it. I don't think I'd pay 3 mana for essentially "Gain 5 life" (saves 3 from the bolt, 2 for life gain). Your opponent losing life is pretty unimportant. If it was an X/4 I think I'd be considering it more. Crypt Incursion works wonders for life gain against burn already, most burn decks are running at least 12 creatures, sometimes up to 20, and being instant speed is huge.
That said, I aim to be on the aggressive side of mill, in a more controlling deck it could be worth it.
In OP, why does he include Misty Rainforest with no green splash?
OP is old and needs someone to refurbish it. So many things have changed since it was last edited. I suggest you look at decklists from a few pages back if you are looking for more info on the deck.
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Modern
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
I can't see fragmentize replacing disenchant for me because you can't float white in response to blood moon to get rid of it. If only it were instant I would run.
It slows down any decks with haste creatures, sure. But regular creatures aren't attacking you the turn they come into play. This just prevents people casting creatures as blockers, and given that we're not attacking anyone it doesn't really help us much I don't think. The life gain is alright I guess, but even a 1/1 quickly outpaces the life we gain from it entering the battlefield.
I've bought some cards to make my first modern deck with a cheeky infinite mill, this includes everything I currently own but im still 10 cards over 60 and Its hard to choose hat to take out.
Any suggestions? Id have snapcaster mages instead of jaces phantasm but they're so expensive
I'd take out wrench mind, haunting echoes and bloodchief Ascension. Wrench mind doesn't contribute to your game plan. Haunting echoes is nice but by the time you get to cast it it might be too late. And bloodchief Ascension is only good if you can get it to activate. But Late game it is a dead draw.
Let me know how counterbalance does for you. Interesting choice...
A two card combination that mills 1 everytime you get attacked or a creature comes into play. I get that the Orb will also activate from lands used to cast spells, but I think we can put more efficient cards in the deck than use up slots on those. But like I said, I go for less controlling builds and aim to be fast like burn.
Mesmeric Orb is great against control decks, but I think we have the edge on most control decks anyway since they're designed to lock out creatures and gain life, rarely to stop being milled out. The only trouble I have is against decks that include Emrakul 1.0, so Surgical Extraction, Extirpate, Crypt Incursion, and Hide // Seek are key in that matchup.
I like some of your choices there, and the Mindcrank Guildmage combo is something I think has some legs but would require significant modification of my deck. Cards I think are a bit out there are Wrench Mind and Haunting Echoes. If possible, cutting those and getting +1 Mind Funeral, +2 Glimpse, + 1 Crab and + 1 Visions would make your list a bit tighter.
Also, if you're into it long term, I'd definitely try and pick up a playset of Polluted Delta while KTK is still fresh and they're relatively cheap. Fetch lands in general are an absolute house with a Hedron Crab or two on the table.
Your choice of Bloodchief Ascension (since removed I guess) makes me think of trying Glimpses in a Grixis-type shell. I have a Rakdos haste-burn deck in modern that often gets my Bloodchiefs active early (Gut shots to add 1 extra damage when they fetch-land kicks it up a notch), and to land a Glimpse onto it would be game ending.
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4x Polluted Delta
2x Marsh Flats
1x Flooded Strand
3x Island
1x Swamp
1x Steam Vents
2x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Godless Shrine
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
2x Shelldock Isle
2x Sunken Ruins
Spells:
4x Dispel
1x Extirpate
1x Surgical Extraction
4x Visions of Beyond
4x Path to Exile
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Glimpse the Unthinkable
2x Hide // Seek
1x Twincast
4x Mind Funeral
2x Damnation
4x Archive Trap
4x Hedron Crab
4x Snapcaster Mage
Artifacts:
2x Mesmeric Orb
1x Chalice of the Void
1x Extirpate
1x Surgical Extraction
4x Jace's Phantasm
2x Hide // Seek
2x Ghostly Prison
2x Crypt Incursion
2x Leyline of Sanctity
I think my lands could use a little work somehow. Part of me wants to put more fetch lands in (I only currently have one Flooded Strand but would go up to more), but I run out of lands that I can actually fetch sometimes. I like Sunken Ruins cuz often what I want to cast requires very specific colours (twincast on glimpse for example) and filtering is nice. Shelldock Isle usually hits, but comes into play tapped and usually only casts a Mind Funeral. So one mana (comes in tapped) plus 2 mana (one blue, and tap Shelldock) means the 3 CMC spell is not really getting any discount.
Hide // Seek I also use in conjunction with a Steam Vents as my anti-artifact/enchantment spell, so it's not just to strip Emrakul out with Seek. But yea, bad against burn for sure, the biggest drop I usually see is 3 or 4. Currently at 2 main and 2 SB.
Snapcaster with Mesmeric Orb is pretty bomber, snapping back a path or visions at EOT can be clutch, even stuff in my graveyard that just got milled there instead of being played. It's been great for me.
Re: Mind Funeral vs Startled Awake, I think I prefer Mind Funeral. Yea, inconsistent at times, but in decks running lots of fetch lands, I bet 4 lands averages out to 12-13 cards anyway, and 3 vs 4 CMC means snapping it back is more convenient.
I used to run 4 twincasts, and while it's a big hitter, it's expensive like you said, and often coloured mana dependent. I've been pulling them out slowly in favour of other stuff but am left with a one of still.
IOK works nicely with Extirpate and Surgical Extraction I find. Undecided which I like better, it depends if the other player has counters (Extirpate) or not (Surgical cuz it's "free")
Dispel is alright, thinking about subbing for Spell Pierce or Remand though, just because sometimes there's non-instants you want to hit. The 1 CMC is nice cuz unlike most blue control decks, we don't run many cards that can be cast at EOT, so it sucks to hold your mana back without a backup plan to spend it on.
Your thoughts on Phantasm made me stick 4 of in the SB, I'm pretty intrigued now. I'm going to stick them mainboard to start my next match (likely -Twincast, -Dispel, -2x Mind Funeral) and see how it works for me. I had brief thoughts of throwing a 4x Geist of Saint Traft in SB, which would let me sub in a heavy beatdown package for game 2 after they sub out their creature control once they see I'm a mill deck. Element of surprise. But pulling cards out is tough
I had 4x Thing in the Ice previously SB for Zoo/burn creatures, but found him to be mostly ineffective, though I did transform him once (instant speed Visions and Extraction) to bounce my opponents creatures pre-combat which led to a win.
That mention of Spellskite intrigues me too, I've only got a one of in my collection. I haven't playtested against infect yet.
Cheers!
Very cool build. An entirely different direction than I take as far as board interaction goes and I bet it all works together pretty well.
LANDS: I'll compare to mine. You're running 21 total/7 fetches/4 basics, I run 23 total/9 fetches/3 basics (one of each because I hate blood moon). I found myself pulling too many one and no land hands when I was running 22 and the extra fetch really helps me not get flooded late game. You also can't have to many fetches when it comes to Hedron Crab. That dude puts in work. I can see the filter lands being a necessity given the instant choices you made in this deck. DOn't have much advice to offer other than maybe pump up by one or two. Especially since you're running Snaps, you NEED to get to that fourth mana reliably by turn 5.
Shelldock Isle I don't look to for the mana discount. I look to it as a finisher. A Coup de grace, so to speak. Because if you've got them that low, hopefully whatever you've hidden will put them under. I run two as well.
The lack of Ghost Quarter is interesting. I can see your mana requirements not being able to afford a colorless producing land, but it's pretty neat when facing down a Inkmoth Nexus or when baiting an opponent into Archive Trap, though Path to Exile does that too. It's super fun catching them once and then bluffing about every subsequent Path/GQ going forward. Nice poker magic.
Hide // Seek and Steam Vents tech is sick. I might have to steal that from you. Right now I'm 2 hide and seeks and 4 disenchants in the SB. Could drop to just 4 HnS and a Steam Vents and free up a sideboard slot.
Snaps makes a lot more sense in your build than it does mine. But I get the enthusiasm surrounding him. He's a bajillion dollars a pop for a reason.
Same thing on Mind Funeral. With Snaps it's value goes way up. I am, however, a fan of the Mesmeric Orb and Startled Awake synergy. Opponents rarely know what the hell I'm doing when I pop out Baby Junior SOB from the graveyard when I never hit them with the startled awake in the first place. It's nice card advantage.
Hand destruction I can see working, just not consistently enough for the devotion of 4 mainboard slots. But you're not the first person to suggest it.
I thought the same thing about the dispels when I saw them in your list. Not enough options in there to use the spare U on if you didn't need to counter anything. No me gusta.
Jace's Phantasm will make a believer out of you. Trust me. Every tenth game will be "Well, I guess I'll just face-bash you four times with this flying beatstick". Geist as a transformational sideboard thing could definitely be fun alongside him.
Agreed on the Thing in the Ice. Doesn't seem to do what we all want it to do. I'm going with 3xSpellskite instead to shore up against infect and burn.
4x Mesmeric Orb
Enchantment
3x ghostly prison
Creature 6
4x Hedron Crab
2x Jace, Vyrn's Prodigy
Sorcery 9
4x Glimpse the Unthinkable
3x Mind Funeral
2x Startled Awake
Instant 15
4x Visions of Beyond
4x Archive Trap
3x Crypt Incursion
4x Path to Exile
3x Ghost Quarter
2x Shelldock Isle
4x Polluted Delta
4x Flooded Strand
2x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x godless shrine
3x Island
2x Swamp
1x Plains
2x rest in peace
2x Hide/seek
3x Surgical Extraction
3x Disenchant
2x Nihil spellbomb
2x Profane memento
1x stony silence
Here's the mill list I'm running. Might put the Jace's phantasm into sideboard. I'm only testing startled awake. I might run 2x manic scribes instead.
Jace is nice but not a nice blocker and likes to die to removal. But I think his loot and -3 ability is relevant when you need options. Flashback a pte or glimpse is always nice.
UR Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
WUR Narset's Coinflip Casino
Modern
UB Mill
Jeskai Nahiri (1-2)
Emrakul is tough to deal with, lost first game when he shuffled the graveyard back into library.
Game 2, sideboarded 2 more Hide//Seek, got countered the first time but I snapcastered it back the following turn. Used Jace's Phantasm to keep Nahiri in check for two turns before a path, but that bought me enough time to mill him out.
Game 3 I didn't get an answer for Emrakul or Nahiri. Mesmeric orbs worked too slow to get my Visions into range.
Dredge (0-2)
Ugh. Jace's Phantasm on T1 on the play, Glimpse turn 2, swing 5 in the air. He did turn 2 Tasigur, turn 3 Gurmag angler. A second Jace's Phantasm just floated around as a 1/1 flyer... yay. Chump blockers at least, but no visions and no 5/5 flying. I got him down to 8 life at least...
Game 2 was pretty similar. Bad matchup, might be worth putting some Rest in Peace in the sideboard and cutting out Phantasm and Visions for this matchup, especially since Dredge is making a resurgence. Side in more Surgical Extraction and extirpate to hit Tasigur or Angler hopefully.
Shadow Unblockable (2-0)
A friends non-modern legal deck mono black creature deck (shadow creatures, equipment like Jitte, Swords etc).
Game 1 was tight, I was milling him (drew 3 crabs during the game!), he was bashing my face, until I hit a crypt incursion for 48 life and he was done.
Game 2 he ran into an unfortunate conundrum. He put down a Gatekeeper of Malakir and equipped with Lightning Greaves to get me. Next turn, 4 mana, throws down a Jitte, but Greaves gives his guy shroud so he can't equip it. He has no other creature he can equip his greaves to to get around that. Casts a Vault Skirge, equips greaves, but not being able to get Jitte equipped hurt him. Damnation by me next turn, followed by a hard cast Archive Trap (no fetch lands in his mono black) sealed it for me.
Couple thoughts:
Jeskai Nahiri and Dredge are both problem decks that are prevalent in the meta. Damn.
Crypt Incursion does some serious work against fair/linear decks. I might up it to 4 in the mainboard.
Mesmeric Orb is too slow, thinking about cutting them.
It wasn't a fair test for Jace's Phantasm, I'll try him some more perhaps. But I'm also thinking about putting Twincasts back in instead. T4 Twincasted Glimpse or T5 Twincasted Mind Funeral can be game over for a lot of decks, and if you can hit it into an Archive Trap for free, it's glorious.
Signature by Rivenor of Miraculous Recovery Signatures
"In response.. Mana Leak?"
"Every game loss is due to your inability to interact with your opponent"
Match 1, Mono U Tron (2-0)
G1: He had TKS come down and exiled my Visions of Beyond instead of Ensnaring Bridge. I dropped the Bridge and kept 2 cards in hand (2 x Damnation). Second TKS came down, but he had no answer for the Bridge still. Surgical Extraction on one of his Tron pieces put an end pretty quick. I was lucky he wasn't playing Emrakul
I forget what I sideboarded... I think I took Crypt Incursions out and put some more Hide // Seek in.
G2: He got 2 Tron pieces naturally, Expedition Map for the third, but it allowed me to Twincast an Archive Trap on him, then Inquisition to look at his hand. He was on no coloured mana, the only spell he had was some +3/-3 colourless thing that could've killed my Hedron Crab, and a couple counter spells. Took the kill spell away from him and it was GG.
Match 2, BWU tokens (2-0)
G1: He had T1 IOK, took out Ensnaring Bridge. I saw 3 crabs early, and he couldn't deal with them. Landed 2 fetch lands with double crabs for 12 cards a pop. He flashed back some Lingering Souls but it wasn't enough before I milled him out. I didn't watch his graveyard closely to see how I should sideboard against him... oops.
G2: Similar pattern with some crabs and the same IOK on Bridge. It still wasn't enough, I extracted his Lingering Souls (and saw Tasigur in graveyard!). He was swinging at me with a Snapcaster til I was down to 5 life, but a Crypt Incursion for 24 life put me out of reach.
Match 3, Ad Nauseam (1-2)
G1: Recognized Ad Nauseam from all his cantrips. Used Seek to take out his Lightning Storm combo piece, but didn't see any Surgical Extractions to get his Ad Nauseam. He used it once to go down to 9 life (he needed an Angel's Grace and got it 4 cards in). I had him down to less than 20 cards in his library and went to trigger Mind Funeral from my Shelldock Isle, but he Ad Nauseamed as a fast effects... had the second Lightning Storm in his hand and JUST enough land in his deck to hit me for 19. Close call, almost had it! Being able to mill with the Crab after he scryed was nice to break up his flow.
G2: Sideboarded 2 more extractions in, a Dispel and some Spell Snares, took out Paths and Damnation since he didn't have many creatures. Rolled out a Seek and saw 3x Leyline of Sanctity which I needed gone. Also saw only 1 Lightning Storm, so he must've had one in hand. Took one with the first seek, then Twincast a second seek to get the others. Also +12 life from the 3 of them, not too shabby. Oboro cycled well with my crabs and got 12 cards himself. Managed to grind him down with me having 22 life left.
G3: Got the Mills in Early, landed 2 Visions of Beyond to keep me steaming, AND managed to Extract his Ad Nauseam. He cast Monastery Mentor, and then Laboratory Maniac (a Russian edition that I couldn't read, but I should've remembered what it was...) He was swinging at me with tokens and the Maniac, and then a misplay by me! I should've flash-blocked with a Snapcaster in my hand, but all I saw was the Glimpse in my graveyard ready to be flashed back for the win. D'oh. I milled him out and he was like "Do you have the Slaughter Pact?" "Ummm... no?" "Oh. You forget about the maniac?" "Yup. GG." Unfortunate - I could've had him I think! I had boarded out Damnations and Paths though, so didn't have an immediate answer for the Maniac anywhere else in my deck.
Match 4, Blue Moon (0-2)
G1: IOK by me on T1 and saw 2 x Bolts, a Remand, Steam Vents. Figured I was against Jeskai Nahiri. He drew into the moon and slammed it T4... crap. Locked me out all game, wasn't even close.
Sideboarded in more Surgicals, more Hide // Seek.
G2: IOK on him twice in the first 6 turns and didn't see a Blood Moon... nice. Milled 2 Moons into his graveyard but didn't have a Surgical for the life of me. He cast Sleight of Hand "Ooo, Yup, I could use this". Slammed a Blood Moon. Another misplay by me - I should've floated white from my Hallowed Fountain and after Blood Moon resolved I could've added a Red from another non-basic to cast the Hide in my hand. But nope, I overlooked it and that was game. He slammed a few Goblin Dark-Dwellers and beat my face in.
Overall I did better than I expected! I think I had the answers that I needed but a couple crucial misplays by me cost me some games. Some more practice needed against a wider variety of decks.
General Thoughts:
Ensnaring Bridge, love it. Going to try and grab a second one and use them instead of Ghostly Prison. Probably 1 main and 1 SB.
Surgical Extractions are super useful for problem cards. I like the 2 main and 2 SB, but I boarded them in almost every matchup.
I should've tried a match putting my Phantasm's in to beat down - might've worked well against the Blue Moon. I need to learn how to sideboard better, definitely another skill.
Sunken Ruins might get the cut. I ended up with 2 of them in play at one point and left me stranded unable to cast a Visions of Beyond EOT cuz it only makes colourless. That and not being fetchable, I might put a basic Plains and another Watery Grave in there instead.
1- Wastes a bolt
2- Gains us 2 life
3- Loses them 2 life, maybe more from an Eidolon of the Great Revel
If they DON'T bolt it, we're chumping eidolons and goblin guides for days and all the burn to the face gets mostly blunted. I dunno. I'm toying with it as a 3-4 of in the side. Also has a lot of nasty implication against Nahiri Control, Storm (which the new Thing Ascension deck brought back up), and really any deck that combos off with non-creature cards. Heck, I can see siding it in against infect if you're going the beatdown route. They get reckless enough with their life totals that it may work.
Maybe I'm high. Let me know your thoughts.
That said, I aim to be on the aggressive side of mill, in a more controlling deck it could be worth it.
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
U B Faeries
U B Mill
G W B Bant Eldrazi
OP is old and needs someone to refurbish it. So many things have changed since it was last edited. I suggest you look at decklists from a few pages back if you are looking for more info on the deck.
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
UR Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
WUR Narset's Coinflip Casino
Modern
UB Mill
Cast: w
Text:Creatures your opponents control enter the battlefield tapped.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your opponent’s control, you gain 1 life.
This slows down so many decks
Any suggestions? Id have snapcaster mages instead of jaces phantasm but they're so expensive
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/cranial-flush/
Let me know how counterbalance does for you. Interesting choice...
UR Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind
WUR Narset's Coinflip Casino
Modern
UB Mill
Mesmeric Orb is great against control decks, but I think we have the edge on most control decks anyway since they're designed to lock out creatures and gain life, rarely to stop being milled out. The only trouble I have is against decks that include Emrakul 1.0, so Surgical Extraction, Extirpate, Crypt Incursion, and Hide // Seek are key in that matchup.
Also, if you're into it long term, I'd definitely try and pick up a playset of Polluted Delta while KTK is still fresh and they're relatively cheap. Fetch lands in general are an absolute house with a Hedron Crab or two on the table.
Your choice of Bloodchief Ascension (since removed I guess) makes me think of trying Glimpses in a Grixis-type shell. I have a Rakdos haste-burn deck in modern that often gets my Bloodchiefs active early (Gut shots to add 1 extra damage when they fetch-land kicks it up a notch), and to land a Glimpse onto it would be game ending.