Maybe a "free-winner" deck in modern competitive. It's main asset is constant milling (trying to remove as many land cards as posible during the process) while controlling the battlefield to reduce the damage taken until achieve its goal, or create a "prison enviroment" where successfully putting a couple of Archive Trap. Also, has some land disruption and cantrip benefiting from and to milling to get hand advantage. The splash to white provides Path to Exile and the posibility to side in a more versatile way than U/B versions (Rest in Peace over Leyline of the Void, Stony Silence, Blessed Alliance...). In the other hand, due the complexity goal to mill the entire opponent's library has a mulligan ratio quite high, so I'm constantly reviewing and trying to improve the mechanics and synergies in a more solid build.
Mainboard
Mill Spells
3x Hedron Crab: Best starting drop, one of these buddies can easily mill around 9-12 cards in average if isn't removed quickly due to combine its landfall ability with the seven fetchlands of the main mana base. Not playing the fourth because its small toughness.
4x Glimpse the Unthinkable: to mill the top ten cards sorcery speed. Ever pretty good, one of my favorite choices to gain the snapcaster's flashback
4x Mesmeric Orb: People usually distrust its efficiency, but the trigger whenever a permanent becomes untapped, gives a lot of problems to control archetypes, and can win alone against Amulet-Titan or Elf-Ball decks. Every time I play it in curve the match becomes tilted to my advantage. Two orbs in the battlefield gives a funny but insane mill speed (even to our deck) so use them carefully.
2x Mind Funeral: Usually the "finisher", we want to play it as late as posible and after having extracted some land cards from the opponent's deck to improve its yield. The later you play, the better harvest you have.
3x Archive Trap + Trapmaker's Snare:This simply the best mill spell, and I started build this deck around its alternative cost, therefore its image is the emblem of this deck. Running three is enough adding the Trapmaker's Snare to allow play it with Snapcaster Mage's flashback
Disruption , Removal , Cantrips
2x Field of Ruin: The last incorporation, only targets nonbasic lands but forces to search in its library to each player and doesn't cause land disadvantage. The beloved land of the Archive Trappers.
1x Ghost Quarter: Reduced by one due to the addition of the Field of Ruin because not forces the search and generates land disadvantage, but I keep a single copy because it could target any land, also our own lands to trigger the Hedron's landfall if necesary.
2x Spreading Seas: Useful as cantrip and to alter the opponent's mana base causing it to have to use more land resources for its deck
2x Remand: Cantrip that also breaks the curve and affect the rival's tempo giving us time. We can also combine it with Surgical Extraction to remove the threat if there is a copy of the countered spell in the graveyard.
1x Visions of Beyond: Normally works as the mythic Ancestral Recall, but I play only one copy because it may conflict with Ensnaring Bridge
4x Surgical Extraction: Our best card to disrupt the win conditions and threats of the opponent deck, or easily remove playsets of nonbasic land cards so that mind funeral will milling the entire deck. His cost is also pretty good to play it in early game and then bring it flashback
4x Path to Exile: The main removal, exile a creature tempting to opponent to search a basic land, that causes one land less in its deck and "activates" the trap. And if the opponent doesn't want search this becomes the best removal in the whole game (even better than Swords to Plowshares)
Control the battlefield and hold on milling
2x Snapcaster Mage: The supplier, gives us the posibility of recycle mill spells from our graveyard and take card advantage, minimizing the side effect of Mesmeric Orb
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
: Jace could not miss this "Mill Mind" deck! He works like a "slow snapcaster" because needs to transform first (Jace, Telepath Unbound), but instead of giving the flashback ability allows you to play the spell from your graveyard, so you can pay its alternative costs ( Archive Trap)
1x Crypt Incursion: Brings massive life gain to endure for sure, and is a trick against resilient creatures or eldrazis
3x Ensnaring Bridge: Our life insurance, if it is not answered, it will be difficult for you to lose.
How to pilot: Mechanics and Synergies
Playing around Archive Trap: That's the funniest playing style, you should lead the flow of the game to situations where you can activate several traps at once, or multiply its single effect (Fraying Sanity in play). In the main board there are seven trap activators, two of which (Field of Ruin) force the opponent's search and ensure the trap activation. The other five (4 Path to Exile + Ghost Quarter) although they do not force the search, usually surprise the first time they are activated, and generate a doubt in the opponent for the rest of decisions about it. Note that a succesfull activation always subtracts a land card from the opponent's library (for Mind Funeral benefit). Instead of the fourth Archive Trap I've added a tutor for traps Trapmaker's Snare because virtually allows us to play a trap from graveyard by Snapcaster Mage's flashback paying two mana instead of five (when there is a trap activation).
By last, the weird addition of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
in place of other Snapcaster Mage its explained in the following sequence; Imagine you're in your third turn after played Jace in second and with two cards in your graveyard (probably fetchlands, Surgical Extraction or an early fried Hedron Crab) and the opponent has any non basic land. Also you have Field of Ruin and Archive Trap in hand, so you will do Field of Ruin land drop, activate it to destroy the opponent's non basic land and force the search. Then play Archive Trap for free, activate Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
ability giving the fifth card in the graveyard which it transforms into Jace, Telepath Unbound, and then activate his -3 to play from graveyard the same Archive Trap again for free. Besides Jace becomes a bigger threat as much later he enters the battlefield.
Playing with Hedron Crab: Every land entering the battlefield supposed three cards to mill, so we've ten land cards (7 Fetchlands + 2 Field of Ruin + 1 Ghost Quarter) that potentially let to double this effect. Also there is a non conventional option to play Path to Exile targeting one of our creatures to get additional landfall triggers if necessary in late game.
Playing around Mesmeric Orb: A couple of these artifacts practically win alone, besides that Snapcaster Mage, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
, Set Adrift and also Remand suits them that there is an Orb in play.
Playing toward Mind Funeral finisher: Although we would may not take advantage of playing free traps always, we will use trap triggers to reduce as many lands in the opponent's library as possible. We will also play Surgical Extraction targeting at non-basic lands (after dealing with the possible threats)
The Sideboard
2x Blessed Alliance: Life gain and opponent's sacrifice to endure against aggro decks.
2x Echoing Truth: Against tokens, midrange or control decks. Also it lets return our permanents if necessary (for example avoiding ourself milled by Mesmeric Orb)
2x Engineered Explosives: Pretty good over aggro and tokens decks, and in every modern metagame
2x Leyline of Sanctity: Against hand disruption and burn decks (Jund, 8 Rack, RDW ...)
3x Rest in Peace: Hate against decks that abuse its graveyard (Hollowine, Death Shadow, Mardu, Living End ... ). Is the most complex side in because it affects our too (but I prefer it to Leyline of the Void due to his mana cost and because RiP its more surprising)
1x Settle the Wreckage: Massive removal which works like trap activator
2x Stony Silence: Practically match against decks like Affinity, Lantern Control, KCI, etc.
1x Timely Reinforcements: Stabilizes the battlefield and lifes if we're in disadvantage. Good against Aggro and Midrange decks.
So what do you think about it? Any Criticism or Suggestion will be appreciated. Thanks in advance
Flip