You might want to side Archive Trap or keep 1 or 2 and and side the others. This will depend on your playing circle. The group that I play with no one searches there library, this just draw from the top. Same with Trapmaker's Snare.

I would add another Visions of Beyond. This is such a great card.

Probably drop Mesmeric Orb, it is a good card, but it will be grinding you as well. It would suck to mill your mill cards or mana if you need it. I think that this would be a playing circle card.

If you have the money 2 more Snapcaster Mage would be good. Nothing like 8 Glimpse the Unthinkable.

I love Darkness, I would drop to 2 and side 2, or even side all 4 to see what you are going against (Darkness is not good against a burn deck). I would also put some sort of blockers in your deck. I like Fog Bank 2 mana for a flying blocker (can save your butt). Someone in my play group also suggested Bitterblossom for my discard deck, it does damage to you but you get a another flyer every turn. Nothing is more fun then blocking a 15/15 creature with a 1/1. Plus in 20 turns you should win anyways.

Sideboard 1 or 2 Grafdigger's Cage.

Also might want to side a couple Leyline of the Void. This will help against cards reshuffling the graveyard like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. I played against a person and he was ticked that I was playing a discard deck and was about to quit until I discarded his Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. He laughed and took his sweet time killing me that game. I didn't even play the second game due to not having anything to deal with it.

@ The-Xellos

Thanks for all the input. Truthfully, Archive Trap is a huge part of the backbone of this deck, because milling for 13 hurts my opponents. Many people are using fetchlands,and I have been incredibly lucky to draw in 4 Archive Traps and then my opponent cracks a fetch land on their first turn and I follow up with 4 Archive Traps, milling them for 52 for the win. Additionally, if they aren't using fetchlands, I can use Ghost Quarter to force them into the Archive Trap as well. The Trapmaker's Snare is there just to help me find an Archive Trap if I don't have one handy, although i can take or leave it I suppose.

Visions of Beyond is an amazing card, although I really like cantrip cards, so 3 is the limit, because I want to ensure I get the cantrip aspect more often than not.

As for Mesmeric Orb, it is one of those political cards, when it is out on the board, everyone needs to think twice about each play, making every mistake hurt twice as much. Seeing as how my opponents can't win just by laying lands like I can, while the card can hurt me, I think it is worth having in here just to make things harder for my opponent.

I would normally agree with your assessment of 4 Snapcaster Mages, however since Modern has become widely known as the "Turn 4 Format", I think if I am that late in the game that I have had to cast 8 Glimpse the Unthinkables, realistically I have probably gotten very lucky or I have already lost by then.

True, Darkness would be a card I would pull out against a Burn style deck. That's when I'd go to that fancy sideboard.

Fog Bank is a very cool card, and I enjoyed using the hell out of it when it was in Standard, however in Modern, with all of the 1 drop removal spells, a 2 mana creature like Fog Bank just isn't worth it. I mean, even creature heavy aggro decks use things like Artful Dodge, creatures with Unblockable, or swarm the board with lots of creatures. I'd love to see a more functional modern printing of Fog Bank though.

For my graveyard hate cards, I have in the mainboard Surgical Extraction, which deals with Eldrazi. It hits their graveyard, they put the ability on the stack to recycle their graveyard and I put Surgical Extraction on the stack. My spells resolves, I remove their Eldrazi from their library, hand, graveyard and ultimately the game, QQing from my opponent. The plus side to Surgical Extraction is that since you can pay two life to cast it, you can splash it in any deck, no matter what colors you are playing. My sideboard choices were Leyline of the Void and Relic of Progenitus which are both very functional in the ways I need them to be.

I hope my explanations helps clarify my choices. Well thanks again for the suggestions, and thanks for the +1.

Totally agree with Archive Trap, it is a killer card. Went to my first game with my discard deck thinking that everyone would be running fetches and none of them did so it was a dead draw for me. If people are using it in your group I say go for it, maybe even drop a Archive Trap for another Trapmaker's Snare this could help with deck thinning. I didn't even think of the Ghost Quarter combo, but it doesn't force them to search, they MAY search. Which is good cause now you have a strip mine :)

True about the Surgical Extraction on the stack, i forgot about that. Might want to side in Extirpate too. I would just be scared if i didn't have one of those and got the deck down to half to have it reset.

I was also looking at your Chalice of the Void, this could hurt you just as much as them. You have Surgical Extraction and Archive Trap for 0; Darkness, Crabs and drawing power for 1 mana; Snap, Snare, Breaking, and Glimpse the Unthinkable for 2; Mind Funeral for 3. What do you normally cast that for? I would think anything under 3 would hurt you. Even casting it at three would take you 6 turns to drop.

@ The-Xellos

With Ghost Quarter, while it is true they may search for a basic land, if they don't, I've set them back a turn, if they do, they potentially face Archive Trap, it's a damned if you do and damned if you don't proposition, which makes piloting this deck deliciously evil.

I wasn't sure if Extirpate in the sideboard would be overkill for the deck. With the current competitive meta of Modern still relatively undecided, I thought I would hold off on putting them in the sideboard. I do have them so if I need them I can add them in. I've actually taken a page from a friend of mine who suggested making a toolbox or toolkit for your modern deck, which is cards you might not need right now, but you may need later depending on the meta and how it shifts. So far, I've had to shell out a few more bucks to make up my toolboxes for my modern decks, but I haven't regretted the decision as I am better prepared for whatever shifts happen in the meta. Now, I won't have to rush to get cards or worry about fluctuating card prices, since I'll already have what I need before I need to worry about it; if that makes any sense at all.

As for Chalice of the Void, I'd use it for whatever I'd need it for. Affinity, I'd probably drop it for 0. Since it Chalice of the Void says CMC on it, it wouldn't affect Archive Trap, since it has a CMC of 5. Surgical Extraction I'm a little uncertain about. Since it has an actual mana cost, I think it would only be affected if I set the Chalice to 1. Furthermore, if I am dropping the Chalice of the Void for 1; then there is a good chance I can drop a Hedron Crab on turn 1 before the Chalice of the Void hits the table on turn 2. Dropping the Chalice for 2 would cripple my deck, but wouldn't put me out of the running, which would be turn 3 at the earliest, turn 4 at the latest. And I probably wouldn't be dropping it for 3 because that would make it a turn 5 or 6 drop for this deck. So I would only use that for CMC 0 or CMC 1 primarily; which kills affinity and many burn decks. If need be, and I can get a good early established board state, I might even set it as high as CMC 2, but that is a special circumstance.

Ah stupid me, thought CMC was what you paid for the spell. You are correct and dropping at 0 would be good and not affect you.

From gatherer:Archive TrapCasting a Trap by paying its alternative cost doesn't change its mana cost or converted mana cost. The only difference is the cost you actually pay.

Surgical ExtractionTo calculate the converted mana cost of a card with Phyrexian mana symbols in its cost, count each Phyrexian mana symbol as 1.

Thank you for letting me know :P (oh no i feel like a G.I. Joe reference)

@ The-Xellos

No worries, I enjoy exchanges like this, because they allow you to find things out about your decks, cards interactions, or combos that you may not have known or ever seen before. While not all exchanges are positive in a face-to-face setting, many of the ones here have always been informative and helpful on TappedOut. I wasn't 100% about the CMC of Surgical Extraction but you just confirmed by suspicions about it's interactions with Chalice of the Void. So we both learned something today. :)

when i used to play mill a lot more online in modern, i was just running 4x Ghost Quarter because it essentially mills them one and that one is a land, making the Mind Funeral that much better. Also, against certain decks, they could even be blanked and not have any basics left. with 22 land, I think this is viable to have 4 of. I also would run 2-3 more fetches, simply to thin your own deck out and also to Hedron Crab more effectively.

Cheers!

• Dreno33

@ Dreno33

I have the extra 2 Ghost Quarter in my toolbox, but I was leery about dropping them in main board, because most of my mill spells are colored-mana specific. I will toy around with 4 main board and let you know how it functions. I thought about picking up a playset of Flooded Strand, just in case I ever wanted to go Esper and splash white. I'll give them a shot too, although that might solve my issue with getting locked out a specific color of mana. Thanks for the suggestions!

what about traumatize?

@ Archaeomancer

Traumatize is an interesting suggestion, but I think it would be too slow for the modern format. While it certainly would do a lot of damage, I would have to build the deck very specifically around a single spell to make it work. In this case, many of the cards I am using have good synergy already. Thanks for the suggestion though!

I'd definitely go with Ravenous Trap over Leyline of the Void since you are only running one copy. You'd essentially be running 3 copies given the Trapmaker's Snares you are already running.

I don't really see any timely answers for Leyline of Sanctity. You should definitely consider some type of bounce spell for it, given your colors.

@ nbarry223

Ravenous Trap is an interesting suggestion, however the biggest reasons I would be running it, would be to prevent my opponent from benefiting from their graveyard. With Tron decks, Surgical Extraction will do the trick. Also, Ravenous Trap feels little more restrictive. Unless I am hard casting it, which means keeping a ton of mana open from turn 4 and beyond, I would have to cast it on my turn, since the majority of my mill spells are sorcery speed, with the exception of Archive Trap which needs a specific condition to cast it for 0. Somehow, I feel like I would be waiting for a lot more stars to align to make that work, rather than work with some more traditional graveyard hate, such as Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, Tormod's Crypt, Grafdigger's Cage, and heck, I even have Crypt Incursion which would work for certain types of decks, "Living End", "Tron", "Reanimator", etc, etc.

You are correct, I do not have a lot of timely answers for Leyline of Sanctity. Currently, my only two solutions are Hunted Horror, which I think is a pretty fun solution and Ratchet Bomb, which is a slow option. My only other choice at present is to consider a bounce spell (which may only be a temporary answer), or splash a little green for a more permanent answer, something like Nature's Claim. Right now this is perhaps my deck's biggest weakness.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and recommendations. I appreciate the feedback.

I agree with Dreno33 about adding more fetches for more landfall triggers. 2 additional blue fetches in place of 1 island and 1 swamp would help the deck. I don't agree with him about adding 4 Ghost Quarters, since there is indeed a heavy colored cost in most of your spells. I've personally been screwed when starting games with only 1 colored source and a GQ without drawing into another colored source. I've even drawn 2 GQ's and had to sac them both to fix my colors before. XP

I'd like to hear how you fare in your meta with this deck!

Bojuka Bog might be a better one time exile graveyard card. Good is that you get mana the next turn and in a way sort of paying 1 mana for a exile graveyard. Bad is that it costs you a land drop.

GeminiSpartanX well nothing beats getting your starting hand of 2x Breaking / Entering, 4x Glimpse the Unthinkable, 1x Hedron Crab and first two draw would have Hedron Crab followed by Breaking / Entering. Shame to mull with good cards, but had no mana.

@ GeminiSpartanX

I'm working on a playset of Flooded Strands just for that reason. Do you think that there is a better fetchland choice instead? I post updates as I playtest and re-test, so sub and check back and you can see my progress.

@ The-Xellos

The only downside to Bojuka Bog is that it is slow. I think I'd rather stick with Relic of Progenitus over the bog. At least with Relic, I can use it on the same turn I drop it.

I run a similar list just because milling people out is fun and i would defiantly have either Damnation or Devastation Tide somewhere with in your 75 devastation tide just wrecks boggles as well as deals with affinity well where as damnation may not hit boggles well because a lot of them have totem armor

But i love that youre running darkness that also beats boggles as well as affinity assuming you can pull a game ender next turn

I think with the advent of khans fetches in modern, there's no good reason to stay just 2 colors. The best splashs for mill are either green (Nature's Claim, Abrupt Decay), or white (Path to Exile, Stony Silence). I'd pick the blue fetch that corresponds with the appropriate color you might want to splash for in the future (since blue is more integral than black in this deck for casting multiple spells a turn).

Also I'll echo the comment earlier about since you're using Trapmaker's Snare anyway, using a Ravenous Trap instead of the singleton Leyline would be more consistent in the matches where you'll bring it in. Not starting with it in your hand means you have a 4 drop do-nothing when it does hit the field (since cards already in the gy will still be there, you just prevent further cards from entering the gy).

@ cjk191997

Both interesting choices, I like the idea of Devastation Tide, however, hoping to catch it on the miracle cost isn't enough for me to want to choose it over Damnation. I was considering a board wipe, although I'm not sure that Damnation hits the mark like I'd want. I was thinking about Kiora's Dismissal instead. Truth be told though, I think I could out mill a Bogle deck before it could kill me. Mind you, it is speculation, but I will play test again one on here with a high rating and see how it does. If I struggle, I'll reconsider the Devastation Tide.

@ GeminiSpartanX

Both are good, although the green is better for a lot of choices. You've given me some good points to think about as I retool the deck. I think I want to work in the two colors for a bit longer, but I will definitely start building the third color, because I think I will need it ultimately if I want to stay competitive. I just put in an order for a pair of Ravenous Traps, so I'll give them a shot. My only issue is that outside of my turn, it may be a little harder to use them, although, in hindsight, I would most likely be using them on my turn anway. Thanks again for the suggestions.

while Surgical Extraction is definitely a strong card it is innately a card disadvantage and is only really powerful when you know what you are playing against. I would definitely pull them to sideboard and put in something like Jace's Phantasm.

@ uiuiho12

While that might be true of Slaughter Games or Stain the Mind, since Surgical Extraction targets things in the graveyard, I can target threats that I've already milled. For example, if I were to mill someone's Eldrazi, they can put it's ability to shuffle their graveyard into they library on the stack, and then I can cast Surgical Extraction, removing it from their graveyard, and any additional copies they might have hidden in hand, or in the library. More often than not, it allows me to get rid of the threats I am already aware of that have been milled to the graveyard.

If I mill 10 cards, and find that you are playing White and Red, and I milled a Sacred Foundry or and Arid Mesa, I would choose one of those targets with Surgical Extraction, removing your mana fixing from the game, making your play that much harder. True, the target must hit the graveyard, but since I am playing an aggressive mill deck, that's very much the point. To expand upon the raw value of Surgical Extraction I can cast it for 2 life, which means even if I am tapped out, I can still remove 3 - 4 additional threats from your library, hand, and graveyard. Also while I am removing those threats, I can take notes of what is in your library and hand, which gives me a huge advantage.

While I can see the merit of a 5/5 flyer, it pales in comparison to the awesome power of Surgical Extraction. It is comparing apples and oranges (creatures vs spells), but I tend to think the spells is more versatile than Jace's Phantasm.

I'm not saying the card is not useful, but it is naturally a card disadvantage that can destroy you in aggro matchups.

Surgical Extraction does not remove cards that are already in hand(at least most of the time) or in play. so if you have a hand(7 cards) with 2 Surgical Extractions; effectively 5 cards compared to their 7. assuming their deck is fine tuned, your playing at a natural card disadvantage in an archetype that is not broken by any stretch of the imagination. Jace's Phantasm gives you an alternate way to win(beat down) while at it's worst it is still a 5/5 flyer for 1 mana that can block/trade.

for example, if you are against burn, sure you can Surgical Extraction a power card like Lightning Bolt but that not remove the hundred bolt counter parts(Lava Spike,Rift Bolt,Shard Volley) that they will draw into instead of bolt because you are not removing a card from play, you are removing a card that is not in play to permanently not in play.

uiuiho12 one could also argue that 2 Jace's Phantasm is a dead draw too. For example 2 Jace's Phantasm, Snapcaster Mage, Darkness, island, swamp, Visions of Beyond, with a swamp as draw 8.

With this hand you have Jace's Phantasm as 1/1 and Visions of Beyond as only a 1 draw and no cards to mill.

I had a deck like this and pulled 3 crabs and a island and some mill cards. I kept the hand (3 crabs would mill like crazy). I lost in 10 turns, I did not draw 1 land.

It comes down to what you are going against and the hand that you draw. Going against my friend i take out Surgical Extraction due to him only play 1 of "killer cards". This was a waste of a draw. Against other people I use 4 knowing that their deck depends on certain cards for combos. When I play my discard i keep 1 in main and 3 on side.

You might want to think about Echoing Truth to somewhat help with Leyline of Sanctity. I know that they can put it back out, but if they have it in there opening hand it is a free cast and would take them about 4 turns to get it back out. It will also bounce all of them and not just 1. A combo to pull off (have to be lucky) is if one is in the graveyard you Echoing Truth and Surgical Extraction. It could also hurt Splinter Twin.

@ uiuiho12

You make an interesting argument for Jace's Phantasm, however, many of the decks I've faced have run multiple copies of cards. It's rare that I've hitting a singleton style Modern deck, and it's a lot less likely with Birthing Pod having been banned. You are right though, compared to a Mono Red Burn Deck, the Surgical Extractions would be a dead draw for the most part. Although, in that circumstance, their burn would have more reach than even my Jace's Phantasm would. I'll admit that this deck plays a dangerous game, I'm essentially playing Mill-Burn with no creatures. I'm banking on being able to power mill my opponent out before they can kill me. Knowing that, that's why this is a secondary deck for me. I love the deck, but it gambles wildly, more than making sure bets. My primary Modern deck is Affinity, and it is far more predictable than this, but it isn't nearly as fun as this. I'll pick up a playset of Jace's Phantasms to tinker with, but like I said, this deck is more about luck than skill right now.

@ The-Xellos

Echoing Truth is an interesting idea, although I was considering Kiora's Dismissal for that slot currently. Both are good, although yours is a little more blanketing, while mine is more specific. I appreciate the suggestion. I am looking for some Misty Rainforest so I can entertain using Nature's Claim in my sideboard, but that may be some time before I can score those.

"however, many of the decks I've faced have run multiple copies of cards." the problem is identifying multiple copies of cards when you don't know the deck list or the archetype you are playing against.