Trouble at the Old Mill!

Modern Combo Competitive Exile Mill UBR (Grixis)

Balaam__

Land (21)

• 4x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 4x Island
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 4x Swamp
• 4x Watery Grave

Creature (8)

• 4x Hedron Crab
• 4x Ruin Crab

Sorcery (18)

• 4x Breaking / Entering
• 4x Fractured Sanity
• 4x Glimpse the Unthinkable
• 3x Tasha's Hideous Laughter
• 3x Thoughtseize

Instant (16)

• 4x Archive Trap
• 4x Drown in the Loch
• 4x Surgical Extraction
• 4x Visions of Beyond

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Sideboard

Creature (4)

• 4x Laboratory Maniac

Instant (4)

• 4x Extirpate

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Breaking / Entering

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Fraying Sanity

Artifact (3)

• 3x Ensnaring Bridge

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Maybeboard

Instant (1)

• 1x Deprive

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Thank you to everyone for their interest in this deck. After receiving numerous suggestions for improvement, I’ve arrived at a finalized build. Special thanks to zAzen7977, ThisIsMyAccount, wallisface, GoldenAgeBatman and Icbrgr for the invaluable suggestions and explanations thereof.

The Mana Base

For this newly revised version I’ve elected to remain pummeled and bruised, {B} and {U}. We tip the scales in favor of {U} at an almost two to one ratio, but between Fetches, Duals and Pathway lands   we ought not have any issues with mana fixing.

•Polluted Delta conjures up the necessary color on demand, for a price.

•Watery Grave in lieu of Underground Sea because…Modern.

•Clearwater Pathway   was one of the better things to come out of the uninteresting Zendikar Rising expansion for me, and works beautifully here. The freedom of choice it brings can’t be overstated.

•Oboro, Palace in the Clouds is the new kid on the block, recommended courtesy of Icbrgr. A most welcome addition, it provides busy work for our crabs so they don’t grow restless and unionize. Alas, I have but one copy, and between its exorbitant price point and the fact that it is indeed a Legendary land, we’ll be running just the one.

•Swamps and Islands populate the remainder of our mana base, skewed toward {U}.

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Worthy of note is the removal of Field of Ruin. While great at forcing an Archive Trap trigger, the fact that it only offers {C} mana makes it otherwise useless. The single card that said {C} could even make partial payment on is Tasha's Hideous Laughter and so this one’s cut from the team.

The Daily Grind

Our blue collar crabs stroll in at 9; punch out at 5.

This time around we run two of the three crabs available—our mana base isn’t designed to accommodate the wealth of {S} lands it would take to keep Iceberg Cancrix happy and so we’ll just keep his résumé on file for now.

•Hedron Crab is an ideal Turn 1 play; capitalizing on its Landfall trigger keeps the pressure on and the deck moving forward.

•Ruin Crab traded up to a new shell and subsequently gets a little bump in toughness to match. Play this little crustacean early and as often as possible.

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Thanks to multiple users for asserting just how important running playsets of both crabs is to the archetype.

It’s Miller Time

In addition to the mill effects from the aforementioned creatures, we have a plethora of spells to force the opponent to peel cards off their library and straight into their graveyard.

•Breaking / Entering is a no frills, no nonsense mill spell. 8 cards down the drain.

•Glimpse the Unthinkable is the quintessential mill spell. For a mere two mana, watch your irritated adversary count off 10 cards one by one—-knowing they’re cursing your very existence with each lost card.

•Fractured Sanity arrives courtesy of Modern Horizons 2 and is a step up from the previous spells. An extra {U} gets us 4-6 additional milled cards, and the opportunity to cycle into a draw is most welcome—particularly when the opponent must mill for 4 as part of the deal.

•Archive Trap is a staple, and for good reason. We lost the ability to force a library search with the incisement of Field of Ruin, but odds are that our opponent will be searching their library regardless, and Archive Trap punishes them severely for doing so. Thirteen cards down the drain for the low, low cost of {0}.

•Lastly, Tasha's Hideous Laughter makes its inaugural first appearance in the deck. After some discussion weighing the pros and cons with GoldenAgeBatman I am firmly convinced of the card’s effectiveness in the format. As was pointed out, Modern is absolutely dominated by spells in the cmc range of 1-3, and one doesn’t have to be the World’s Greatest Detective to figure out including it is a must.

An Ounce of Prevention…

…is worth an LGS scoop. The last thing we want is for our mill to break down, so let’s briefly discuss preventative maintenance.

It felt unwise for every slot in the deck to be occupied by either a land or a mill spell. A few defensive cards can make all the difference, so I selected the ones I felt would synergize well with the rest of the deck.

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•Thoughtseize earns a spot owing to its cheap casting cost and brutal efficacy. Remove a threat before it surfaces to save yourself a headache later on.

•Drown in the Loch is simply made for this type of build. This spell can avert imminent catastrophe, or eliminate a potentially dangerous creature, and the only prerequisite is that the opponent’s graveyard have a bunch of cards in it. What a wonderful multitasker; Alton Brown would approve.

•Surgical Extraction compliments the aforementioned card(s) beautifully. Why settle for buying a brief respite, when you can permanently erase that combo from the opponent’s library? Thanks to zAzen7977 for emphasizing the value of this card (and its sideboard equivalent).

•Visions of Beyond is another tailor made mill spell, and will refill our hand to keep up the assault. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, ThisIsMyAccount and wallisface.

TL;DR

•Cast the crustaceans as early as possible to capitalize on their Landfall triggers.

•Stay ahead of any potential problems with Thoughtseize, or ward off imminent catastrophe with the one—two punch of Drown in the Loch and Surgical Extraction.

•Cast high payoff mill spells, refilling your hand courtesy of Visions of Beyond, until your opponent’s entire library is rent asunder.

The Sideboard

I took a different approach than usual to crafting the sideboard for this deck. Instead of the bulk of it attempting to anticipate the opponent’s plays and have answers for games two and three, I took a page from the book of DBCooper: a rotary sideboard, one that swaps key pieces to change the focus of the deck.

•Laboratory Maniac tips my hand here as far as the change in strategy. Instead of targeting the opponent, this enables us to target ourselves with most of our mill spells. When we’re completely milled out and perform our next draw with him in play, instant victory.

•Ensnaring Bridge will help minimize combat damage while we attempt to self mill. Thanks again, ThisIsMyAccount.

•Two additional copies of Breaking / Entering bring the total to a full four.

•Fraying Sanity will speed up the milling process and can enter play targeting ourself. While easily removed, it earns a spot owing to the fact that there aren’t enough top tier mill spells that can actually target yourself. Most are worded “Target opponent mills {X} cards”.

•Lastly, Extirpate is essentially four more copies of Surgical Extraction. The last thing we want is to combo off and win, so make sure to remove your own threatening combo pieces before you get a chance to play them.

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If switching to the self mill strategy, use the following as a guide:

Cards to Remove Show

•Ruin Crab x4

•Archive Trap x4

•Fractured Sanity x4

•Tasha's Hideous Laughter x3

Cards to Rotate In Show

•Breaking / Entering x2

•Laboratory Maniac x4

•Ensnaring Bridge x3

•Extirpate x4

•Fraying Sanity x2

”There will be two…grinding at the same mill; the one will be taken along, but the other will be abandoned.”

Top Ranked	Achieved #8 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #3 position in Modern 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern Competitive 2 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern Exile 2 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	44 - 11 Rares 8 - 0 Uncommons
Cards	63
Avg. CMC	2.57
Folders	Modern, ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), Inspiration, other decks, dool cecks, MILL DECKS FOR FUN, Fun!, decks, inspo, Decks to play