Archive Trap

Instant — Trap

If an opponent searched their library this turn, you may pay {0} rather than pay Archive Trap's mana cost.

Target opponent mills thirteen cards. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (45)

fluffyeel on Bruvac's Millibuster

1 month ago

I just thought of a few other useful tools:

• Commandeer is another good zero-mana... not counter, but disruptor. It's become more popular, I've noticed, but it's still not something a lot of people see coming. Similarly, Misdirection is another handy tool for disruption, but it's more limited than Commandeer (though it's one less card to exile...).
• Teferi's Tutelage is another fun mill toy. It's a bit more limited than Sphinx's Tutelage, but why not double up the fun! Similarly, you can use Teferi's Puzzle Box to mill your opponents even faster while also disrupting their game play.
• Capsize is another all-purpose bounce, and reusable as well. Sunder is another great way to lose friends at instant speed. You could also consider Mystical Tutor to help dig for things you need.
• Clever Impersonator is more versatile than Copy Enchantment for one more mana, but it may not be extremely necessary.
• There are some lands that might be handy for your strategy. Oboro, Palace in the Clouds gives you reusable landfall; Boseiju, Who Shelters All makes sure your essential Instant and Sorcery spells don't get countered (e.g. Cyclonic Rift); Field of Ruin kills troublesome lands and gives mandatory search (and landfall), which is relevant for Archive Trap; and Academy Ruins is a more reusable Buried Ruin.
• Cyclonic Rift pairs very well with Memory Jar. Just saying. :P

wallisface on U/G Mill

2 months ago

Some thoughts:

• Evolving Wilds is a really bad card - i’d recommend Prismatic Vista instead.

• you need more crabs to make this plan more reliable. Where’s the playset of Ruin Crab?

• I wouldn’t bother with Primordial Hydra, it detracts from the mill plan. Your deck’s never winning through damage.

• Memory's Journey serves no purpose and i’m not sure why it’s here.

• Jace, the Perfected Mind is miles better than Jace, Memory Adept

• Ghost Quarter isn’t great in mill because it doesn’t force your opponent to search, which means they can avoid being hit by Archive Trap. You want to be running Field of Ruin (field has the added bonus of letting you trigger your crabs again).

UltimateRoxas40 on Eldritch Captain of the Deep [Lovecraftian Primer]

4 months ago

MistaMint

That's normally the case, but a bunch of cards from this Ravnica Block say 'Reveal X cards from the top of your Library until...'. That reveal condition makes it not technically Mill, which is just put cards from your library into the graveyard.

So it doesn't trigger Zellix, who cares about the Mill Keyword, but it does work for Captain N'ghathrod, who cares about any cards that enter the graveyard from the library (regardless if they pass that 'reveal' zone).

A good rule of thumb if you aren't sure if it's officially Mill or not is to check the Gatherer page. https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Default.aspx

That will have all the updated/errated cards with their official oracle text. Like Archive Trap was errated to say '...Mill 13 cards', but Consuming Aberration doesn't have that change.

I had to change out a bunch of cards that have the Reveal Mill effect when I switched this deck over from Lazav, Dimir Mastermind. It's such a small distinction haha. But I kept Consuming Aberration in this deck because it's still really effective, and it's flavor is on point with my Lovecraftian theme.

sedox06 on Bruvac's Millibuster

4 months ago

I like the direct structure "I'll protect myself until you run out of cards". What is your practical experience of drawing cards? You have relatively many draw-dependent triggers, but rather few cards to draw. In any case, I've seen a few cards like Profane Memento, Archive Trap, Thought Scour, Visions of Beyond and Drownyard Temple in your deck that are destined for my dimir-mill deck. I would be delighted if you would leave a comment.

jdogz32 on Mill deck

9 months ago

Firstly I'd take out Jace's Phantasm as your deck aims to mill not kill. I'd also add Ruin Crab over Hedron Crab if your only going to add one of the Crabs. Although most mill decks add both and play some form of lands similar to Evolving Wilds Some other good adds you should look at are Archive Trap although this one is not budget Fractured Sanity Jace, the Perfected Mind Tasha's Hideous Laughter Drown in the Loch I'd also recommend taking out a few if not all copies of consuming aberation you'll be lucky to get one down let alone multiple copies. Hope this helps

UltimateRoxas40 on Eldritch Captain of the Deep [Lovecraftian Primer]

1 year ago

Willen, I've also thought about Archive Trap before, and it would be really easy to include, especially as a counter against Tutor-heavy decks, but I like my symmetrical mill cards a lot. If I had to include it, I'd probably swap it out for Startled Awake  ^Flip, since they do similar things, but I really like Startled Awake  ^Flip, especially since it can be cast from the graveyard again and again.

Willen on Eldritch Captain of the Deep [Lovecraftian Primer]

1 year ago

How about Archive Trap? I've been thinking about this card. Looks like a spell used in Miskatonic University, or cast into R'lyeh. Well, this magic could help against any oponnent who use tutors. Here where I live, almost every player use tutor in theirs decks. This card can exclude any tutored combo piece and more cards to graveyard, for 0 mana. But it's just a though, because I remembered your deck and how easy is discard cards with it.

wallisface on Mono Blue Modern MILL

1 year ago

Some thoughts:

• even if you’re just playing mono-blue, you’re still going to want to be running at least 8 fetchlands to make the most of the crabs.

• in addition to the fetchlands, the main reason to play Field of Ruin is to play Archive Trap, and i’d heavily suggest playing playsets of both.

• imo Merfolk Secretkeeper isn’t worth it. Milling 4 cards is the same as a burn deck having a spell that deals ~1.6 damage. It’s just not helpful enough to be worthwhile.

• I would also say that Fraying Sanity isn’t worth it - and you should restrict the number of copies you run to 1x at the most. The problem is that it often does nothing on the turn you play it, and drawing additional copies are always useless. By the time you can cast it your opponent should be down to a fairly small library anyway, so it almost never does more work than a single mill spell would have anyway. Imo it’s more of a liability than anything.

• Visions of Beyond > Thought Scour

• i’m super skeptical of Founding the Third Path here.

• Its worth noting that by not playing black you’re missing out on any kind of survivability. That’s an issue because there are dexks faster than mill which you won’t be able to race. Cards like Fatal Push, Drown in the Loch, and Crypt Incursion buy you a LOT of needed time.