what about mill staples like Jace's Phantasm or Glimpse the Unthinkable? a lot of people bash on Mind Funeral but its super effective almost every time and by turn 6/7 (which is actually really fast for any mill player) can be devastating. I do agree, mill should certainly be in the conversation or archetype for modern, its just simply not played anymore. all it needs is a solid showing at a qualifier and mill decks will be back in the mix.

Okay, so really this is a control build with the wincon specifically being mill right? Have you taken this to any tournaments to test it out has it been purely through tapped out?

I would point out the possibility of opponents sideboarding in their own Leyline of Sanctity, but you also have some enchantment hate to sideboard in as well. Are the 2 Fragmentize really enough though?

Additionally, why, or why not I suppose, would you not consider Bitter Ordeal as an alternative to Surgical Extraction in stopping decks that run graveyard shuffling? Is it just because of dredge decks?

TheRedGoat- Bitter Ordeal only refers to permanents put in the GY from the battlefield, since I have no removal that does this, Ordeal becomes moot.

I JUST built this, and have tested the draw and synergy using MTG Unofficial app. I have not however, tested its real-world meta capabilities, as I live in an area barren of modern and competitive settings (small town). This is why I leave it up to the community to test and offer feedback.

No, I'm not sure 2 Fragmentize is enough, I would like to see 3 in here to make sure I pull one when necessary, but unfortunately, I'm not sure what to replace.

Any suggestions are helpful, and as always thanks for the input!

I can understand the trouble with finding out what your meta is like.

I had been thinking that with Ordeal it would be better to just tutor out the eldrazi titans before they hit the graveyard. Surgical Extraction, if you'll notice, cannot take out the titans until they've already triggered the shuffle effect. Ordeal itself is by no means the only card that bypass waiting for the eldrazi to trigger, but it is the only one with 2 generic and a single black cost to it. However, I had not noticed Hide in your sideboard, which is cheaper by one mana for the same effect, so I'm just blind I guess. :P

Have you thought of running Traumatize ?

TheRedGoat- It's all good, man!

The deck is set up to Mill just as well even if the GY gets shuffled back in, so while I could potentially lose game 1 with an Emerakul, you can bet it isn't happenin' again!

TheCure76- I have.. But not in this deck. I want this deck to go off by turn 4. To do so, I need the room for control spells.

My deck building process focuses on Mill, and it is often 1 deck idea that evolves slowly into 2-3 more. I post each variant I build when it gets to a point that it's different enough from another to be considered a "different" deck. Thus, I actually have a deck featuring the combo with Traumatize and Fraying Sanity: Mo-No! Blue Mill!. I'm currently working on an Artifact Mill.

Thanks for sharing!
If you like Mill, you can friend/subscribe to my page and get updates on new and existing decksAnd remember to +1 while your here!

Nice to see another one of your mill decks.

I'm gonna try this.

dthoreson813- please do, and report back! Nice to hear it's inspiring!

TheSurgeon: I've always been interested in why exactly alternate win conditions don't get more respect. I've always loved blue for it's versatility in removal, control, and HUGE creature threats. It's definitely one of the most complex colors on the pie chart.

I believe the only thing keeping me from playing this on Friday night is the fact that it's a solid $400 shell out..... I'll be saving. Maybe if I can win a few standard Friday night events I can get something going, or in twenty weeks worth of paychecks. Haha. Ah. Hobbies.

dthoreson813- Blue is definitely the most powerful color in the wheel to supplement a deck for its tools and fluidity. Alternate wincon don't get so.muchnrespect because they are a backup to the main mechanic, and it's hard to stick another wincon in a deck when you're limited to 60 cards. Those have to be split up into 3 parts: wincon, defense, and alternate wincon. When 60% of a deck focuses on wincon, 25% on defense, that leaves 15% for the alternate wincon and those few cards better synergizing really well if your main WC fails.

The prices for this deck in competitive modern is low, considering many Tier 1 and 2 decks cost $800+. I hope you get to play this sometime, would love to hear how it does in your local meta!

Good luck in your gaming endeavors!! Cheers!

I really really like this deck. +1 I hope you don't mind but I am going to copy it and modify it to make my own. I gotta play mill with my favorite card of all time, Sphinx's Tutelage after all.

Looks fun! I really like the idea of using Ghost Quarter with Archive Trap.

n0bunga- Thanks for the kind words and uppvote!!

I know splashing black would give me more to work with as far as mill. Most of my deck's are UB, but I like to get away from the usual suspects, and try different approaches to a meta that people don't feel are viable. I'm finding more and more that Mill is TOTALLY viable in Modern.

Check out my user page to view a few different approaches to mill.

Play on!

In my experience with Fraying Sanity-era modern mill, you need a lot of tools to stay alive early because you're essentially playing control with a slightly slower corner to turn than creature-based aggro control.

Mill is an awesome archetype but each dedicated mill card (Archive Trap, Fraying Sanity, Startled Awake, Glimpse the Unthinkable, whatever) actually represents temporary card disadvantage for you. You need to cash in on what you've milled to regain card advantage and this is where you can squeeze some synergy out of mill as a wincon.

I run UB because, while Path to Exile combos with Archive Trap, it ramps them and that is very bad for a deck with only 3 removal cards. 3 Ghost Quarter are fine for this purpose and for color fixing // pushing to 20 cards in opponent's graveyard to turn on Visions of Beyond (I use them on myself to trigger Hedron Crab just as often). Fatal Push and Murderous Cut are amazing in this archetype and meta, and running black gives you access to Crypt Incursion which is one of the best cards you can play in modern mill. In my experience, some number of Crypt Incursion and sideboard Profane Mementos are vital against aggro or burn (Leyline of Sanctity is fine, but against creature-based Naya burn or death's shadow variants you will just get steamrolled). You can't rely on your counterspells too much because, in this iteration, you have 16 sorcery-speed spells that you need to cast during your own turn and you only have so much mana to leave open. Black also allows you to play Surgical Extraction without mandatory life loss and Extirpate -- I run a 1x surgical mainboard and 2x extirpate sideboard split between the two cards. Black also lets you play Yixlid Jailers sideboard as profilaxis against Emrakul or any eldrazi that shuffles their graveyard back into their library aka game over most of the time even if you have surgical.

Visions of Beyond is the actual best card in the game for recouping card advantage in mill and there is no reason why you shouldn't run 4 -- it's straight-up Ancestral Recall half the time and playing one or two early for cantrips is fine if you're stuck with a non-ideal hand. Go down to 3x Fraying Sanity, you do not want to draw multiple almost ever. A 2U enchantment is really expensive for control. I get that you're going for a very heavily Archive Trap-invested build especially with Trapmaker's Snares (which would be great for finding sideboard Mindbreak Traps against Storm), but again, you have to dedicate more slots to staying alive early.

Jace's Phantasm would seem great but I've found that it's actually bad and overextends mill's strategy, even when deployed for defensive purposes against burn or affinity or infect. It is such a trap card for mill deckbuilders. You can't afford to have a creature get fatal pushed or pathed without providing some additional value and it will rarely stop anything. Literally every aggro, control, and combo deck can play around it without significant investment. I'd cut them for removal or utility slots and just to keep more mana open for opponent's-turn instants.

schmenge- Thanks for the input, but I'm going to have to disagree.. with everything you've just said.

I don't have the time to refute every point, but your observations are awfully broad and generalized as you are talking about an entire meta. Now, it's a meta that's newly refreshed now that Sanity has been released, but your generalizations apply little to this deck in particular.

I appreciate your input, but you come to me with solutions that are meta predictable, exhausted, and readily handled with opposing staple Modern cards. I don't intend to see this in the top rank of any tournament; Hell, I don't even see it being played in competitive, but it certainly holds its own in my meta.

When it comes down to it, only experience will tell. And I haven't had a problem winning yet with it.

If you advocate like black and blue mill, check out my user page, I think you'll find an over abundance of UB mill strategies there, and more to come!!

Cheers.

Deck is tagged as Competitive so I figured you wanted to gear it toward play against t1 netdecks like Grixis DS, Affinity, Burn, Eldrazi Tron etc. If your UW variant works in your local meta then by all means keep doing what you're doing! What matchups have you had so far? Is there anything you've struggled against?