Trapmaker's Snare should also be mainboard. They're 2 more Archive Traps.

iamacasual not to mention you can snapcaster mage into a counterspell anyways.. lol

i would take out a Mind Funeral for Snapcaster Mage its probably the worst of the aggressive mill spells unless they have next to no lands, and its 3 mana so it messes with ramp, id cut it down to 3 which is still more than enough and take out the two Remand for 3 mages, you already have more than enough draw spells and a snapcaster into a Glimpse the Unthinkable is much better than Mind Funeral for the extra 1 mana.

also I'd always run 4 Archive Trap because you can win turn 1 :P i had a friend that drew 4 in his opening hand. 4 x 13 = 52. opponent went first, drew 7 (53 in deck) played a fetch land, tapped it, went down to 52 from searching his library, 4x archive trap, game won before his first turn, the fact this is possible is actually pretty hilarious and yea thats why i run 4, plus you can Snapcaster Mage for 2 mana into an Archive Trap for 0 mana as an instant due to flash when an opponent searches thier library, which happens frequently in modern :P

On the contrary, I think 3 Mind Funeral is a great number. You just don't want to play it on turn 3 if you can avoid it. You burn through your cheaper mill spells and hit their lands that way, then use Mind Funeral as the finisher.

And you're wrong: you can't flashback Archive Trap for 0.

made adjustments

MB looks just about as good as it can get for this particular list.

Sideboard time:

You don't need Extirpates. Most decks you won't be needing more than 2 or 3 sxl extractions, and now that you have Snappy, you can even flashback a surgical if you really need to.

Replace the Extirpates with:

2x Spellskite

2x Retraction Helix

We die instantly to Leyline of Sanctity, at least helix gives us a chance to bounce it, mill one, then surgical it.

I like extirpate/surgicals, having both not only slightly increases exile mill control and maybe even a discard but It lets you take out the most important threats, for example you don't want a powerful Tarmogoyf on the field from all the graveyard boosts, so you can exile it from the graveyard, and exile the other 4 from the deck, perma milling 4 and eliminating the threat, Spellskite is expensive but it does serve great purpose against control or counter decks so your mill doesn't get counterspelled, decks starting to look a lot better though!

Again, that's not how Spellskite works. Spellskite is against burn and Twin. You can't redirect a spell to skite if it is an illegal target.

true, i dont like Retraction Helix at all though, yes its nice for control but you wont always have creatures out and if you do they dont last long, and again, in a mill deck, returning cards to their hand defeats the purpose and does not syncronize with the strategy. the strategy for the deck is to aggressively mill their deck, with the deck i have linked, it has out-aggroed modern goblins, affinity, and merfolk many times, and does not use any counterspells or hand returns. its not my deck, its my friends, which is why im not 100% with what cards to add, all i know is that his works, and 4-0 tournaments weekly against melira pod, kiki pod, twin, merfolk, jund, affinity, zoo, uwr control, hatebear... all i know is whatever my friend is doing works because he almost never loses and wins turn 0-4 almost always, its an aggro mill deck any counterspells are slowing it down significantly.

Goblin did you not read my reasoning for putting it in?

Goblin I think you're bullshitting about your friend's mill deck. Yes, it's a good list, but there's NO way he's constantly 4-0ing if there really are decks like Twin and Affinity in your meta. Either he's stacking his hand with Archive Traps or the pilots of those decks are really, really bad.

Wow, I'm gone for a day and this conversation gets big fast! To answer your question HeroFallenVillain, I've been able to test a few opening hands and topdecks since your most recent changes. We on this site offer many suggestions, but its only through a LOT of playtesting that we find what we like best about our builds. I personally have found that 2 Snapcasters is right for me. I consider him a 4 cmc spell as far as winning the game goes, or a 3 cmc spell to stall for a turn. With that said, I wouldn't dillute the number of redundant spells that mill in your deck for additional Snapcasters, since they represent (imo) a higer risk against certain decks. Against control, having a maximum amount of threats is important, and for me that means full sets of Glimpse and Breaking. Mind Funeral is what I consider a 'finisher' card, to be used after the opponent has used all their fetchlands and you've milled most of their deck with the other mill at your disposal so 3 is an ok number. I've just been able to power through their counters by being redundant with my spells and drawing cards at the end of their turn. The extractions are good for neutering combo decks, but if you're not playing against one then I'd side a number of them out. That's why I made the decision to play 3 MD in my list with 1 in the side, rather than run 4 MD. If you don't know what you're facing in game 1 of a match, I'd rather have the general utility of more card draw than having more (possible) wrong answers.

At GP Richmond I got screwed by having my only 2 Snapcasters in hand during a game when my opponent sided in Rest in Peace solely to shut off my Crypt Incursion (which won me game 1). Even though DRS is now banned, I still don't like to rely on my own graveyard to win since there is so much gravehate to counter Modern Storm and the combos in Pod decks among other things. But some people have had great success with more or less Snapcasters, so the final number you decide on using should be up to you and what you've experienced playing against other decks. Also you should play a few games with Ashiok and tell me how that card works out for you. I've been debating using it to help out against some of the more aggressive decks in Modern by stealing creatures, and I'd like to have others' experience with it before I consider buying a few.

I would love a sideboard tutorial! +1

@goblinguiderevealpls & iamacasual - One thing I'd like to say though is that where I can admit Remand isn't the best card to deal with a threat, I feel that it does indeed synchronize well. Because it's such an aggressive deck, simply dudding the opponents attack for one turn sometimes is all that's needed. Darkness & Remand are for nothing more than buying another turn.

@GeminiSpartanX - I agree. I see him as a 4 cost as well. I will tweak some things still. I see you point on redundancy vs snapcasters. I can't say much about Ashiok because I haven't been able to play. I feel pretty good about him though.

@CanibalKaiser - You mean a bit in the description explaining what to do with sideboard swaps?

I faced this deck again last weeks modern matchup, it's very similar but he had a tactic I had not seen before but was utterly cruel, he added in several fetch lands like Scalding Tarn and Marsh Flats that not only accelerate land plays from the deck and allows versatility, and it also triggers Hedron Crab , he had 2 down on turn 2 and fetch landed me for 6 mill, it was cruel but effective, he even Ghost Quarter 'd himself to mill me for 18 in one turn (land play, fetch land, ghost quarter) without spending any mana, if you can afford fetch lands they make the deck absolutely nasty and also clear out the lands from your deck so you don't draw lands when you need mill cards or a Damnation

Oh my bad I didn't see the misty rainforest seems you already gotThat covered. Kudos

yup & Ghost Quarter s :P

@HeroFallenVillain Yes! :D

Hey guy! Long time, no see! Love the way this deck has turned out! Have you played it yet? The synergies in this deck seem so delicious! Let me know how it turns out.

@CanibalKaiser - I've been busy lately. I'll try to work that in though.

@NuBByThuMB - Thanx. Unfortunately no, but it's def tuned up nicely!

Great deck! +1 from me.
Isochron Scepter + Darkness is a pain in the ass vs Aggros, giving you time to mill them out. Maybe Jace, Memory Adept ?

@Soldcastro - I had Isochron Scepter in at one point. It's just barely not useful enough, IMO. It might be a staple if it worked on sorceries. Unfortunately, it's almost just an artifact target that costs me an additional 2 mana to be able to recast only instants :P

The deck used to be named after Jace, but he just takes too long to get out. That's why I changed it to Ashiok's Grinding Blitz :D

Thanks for the vote too

This deck looks amazing... +1

Could you take a look at my mill deck and provide me with some feedback? I'm sort of stuck somewhat on a budget.

Dimir Mill

Thanks!

First of all, there needs to be an update. Going through 270 (now 271) is a bit too much... Second, i am surprised that you don't have Ensnaring Bridge . It stops nearly all attacks, and doesn't stop you from winning. Unlike Darkness , the effect is static and keeps going after the turn that you cast it.