I used to run a deck like this a long time ago however I set my deck to standard play so I had to drop a lot of cards. If youd like please take a look at my mill deck it is Dimir as well and I would say it is a mill and counter deck. I wouldnt mill your own deck unless you are doing a zombie play deck to me it runs a risk of hurting your self. If you do however want to mill your self I suggest adding a few Deranged Assistants they are great for zombie decks that require that self mill. However instead of milling yourself look for cards with Scry I suggest using 2x foresee in there so you can really get ahead of the game. :)

Thank you Death_The_Kid, I took your advice and I have been looking around for cards with scry: I think Mystic Speculation may be good in my deck because it costs only one blue mana although I really like Foresee :)!

I gave up the idea of milling my own deck and I am looking for cards that can help me in defense during the early rounds (so that cost little). I've found an amazing card, its name is Judge's Familiar : I think it would be great because it does not cost me anything when I need to counter a spell menacing one of my creatures. It is also a blue creature and that, for me, is a great thing because it can make combos with Grand Architect allowing me to play artifacts faster.

I'm planning to remove my beloved Training Grounds and Ambassador Laquatus to make room in the deck to the above mentioned cards. Maybe I can put them in the sideboard.

If you need more defense try wall of frost and hover barrier also run 2x Consuming Aberration's because well they are great lol

You are running Pili-Pala and Grand Architect for infinite mana which is great. But the only real card I see that you can feed with that is Mindshrieker

My recommendation is going to be adding in Mind Grind which you can tudor up with Muddle the Mixture if need be. That will allow you to feed all of your excesses infinite mana into milling not one but ALL opposing players at once without Pithing Needle being able to take out your actual win condition in that instance.

I say that because, of course, on the stack of someone playing Pithing Needle which is a very popular sideboard, you can use the infinite combo.

Also, if you wanted to have fun with the deck....

Get off infinite mana pili architect combo right? use one of you mill dudes to mill BOTH decks all the way down to only maybe 2 cards left and use Rise of the Dark Realms to bring back not only your creatures but the other players as well. Hell with Mind Grind you could mill several players leaving your library intact or until you mill a Consuming Aberration before playing a Rise to move the graves. Which would leave you with an amazing large

Thank you MythrilJenova for your advices. I was not aware of the hazard of Pithing Needle ! Although I use Mindshrieker also as a blocker, I think I can replace one of them with Mind Grind . However, you forget to mention Duskmantle Guildmage , Dimir Infiltrator and Muddle the Mixture , for a total of 9 more cards that I can utilise as a win con with the infinite mana. I gave a look to your decks and I was impressed by your Pili-Pala deck, so similar to mine but maybe even more effective. I think I'll put a set of Mizzium Skin in my deck replacing Mana Cylix . Then, I will insert some dual lands such as Darkslick Shores and Drowned Catacomb ; of course it can no longer be called a "budget deck".As regards Consuming Aberration , I prefer to leave it aside because of its fairly high mana cost. I am trying to build a deck that could win within the 4th turn, therefore I am looking for cards with a cmc of 2 or less.

No problem!

This looks a lot better than your last concoction of a deck idea. More cohesive amd focused. The thing I impress now is to maybe double check all the transmute cards available to you. You have a total of 6 transmute cards here that all search for ANY 2 CMC card when you can easily have another to search for 3 CMC to tudor up Architect or something else.

Thank you! I am constantly working to make it more competitive. Actually, I have 15 2 CMC cards and only 4 3 CMC cards, so I don't think I need 3 cmc transmute cards.

Blue Sun's Zenith should help doing the infinite mill against your enemy.

Thank you, good suggestion

I +1 this since this actually a nice deck. Much better than plain milling. To be fair, I've always hated mills :)

Thank you, I appreciate a lot!

Modern competitive? Try Sands of Delirium and/or Blue Sun's Zenith both tutor-able with Drift of Phantasms or Perplex
See you around, check my mill deck if you want *Avaritia (Infinite Mill)

I had checked your deck before and I saw that you have improved it. I would consider the cards you suggest but my deck, unlike yours. is less focused on control, so i can't afford so high converted mana costs. I may take in consideration instead Rapid Hybridization for the sideboard.
Did you tested your deck vs mine?

So here's my question- the 'Duskcrank' combo can only be activated by either using BOTH of Duskmantle's abilities the same turn, or by using another card to start the milling process after using Duskmantle's first ability. I don't see any other cards in your deck that mill besides the 2 Mindshrieker and the 1 Mind Grind . Have you considered adding something like Thought Scour to more-cheaply (mana-wise) start the Duskcrank combo? Maybe switching some number of G.Probes or duress for it?

I'm happy to answer your question. There are different ways to trigger the combo, once you have both onto the battlefield and enough mana to activate Duskmantle's first ability:
1) It's your turn, you declare attack with duskmantle:
- your opponent has no creatures to block, you activate its ability, then it deals damage, triggering the combo.
- your opponent has one blocking creature but it will die after it blocks: you activate its ability, your opponent's creature dies, goes to the graveyard triggering the combo. (In this case, it's not a problem if your duskmantle dies too, because its ability lasts until end of turn).
2) it's your turn, during your main phase, you activate its first ability then, when it resolves, you mill one with Mindshrieker or force your opp to discard one card with Duress (another option is to use Vapor Snag which I'm considerating to put in main deck for Judge's Familiar ).
3) you keep three lands untapped and wait for a move from your opponent:
- if he plays a fetch or a shock land, you activate the ability in response triggering the combo.
- if he plays an instant or sorcery spell, before it resolves, you activate the ability in response and wait until the spell is put to graveyard. In this case, no matter if the target of the spell is duskmantle, since the ability lasts until end of turn.
The only problem you can encounter is if your opponent can target Mindcrank.
I hope I was clear and thank you for your +1 :-) !

Ah I see now. Thanks for the clarification! Maybe I'll experiment a little with these combos now. If you want, check out my competitive modern milling deck that I'm planning on taking to GP Richmond next month - Modern Milling Machine

Good deck. +1 for me because your awesome like this guy.

Have you seen the card Augury Owl ? It's like your Mystic Speculation but leaves a body behind. Maybe you could include both somehow to look through your deck at super-sonic speeds!

Thank you for the suggestion, GeminiSpartanX, Augury Owl is a good card. However, I find it difficult to replace something for it, because of its cmc. On turn 2 I usually play the first card of the combo. Mystic Speculation is useful because I can play it in the 1st turn or in the lategame. Dimir Infiltrator works maybe better than the owl, after the 3rd turn.

This is budget and very cool

+1

Thank you LordOfDispair. Have you got any suggestion for the sideboard?

If you're looking for SB cards, you have a good number of them already in your maybeboard. Hurkyl's Recall is the best that blue has to offer against artifact decks, but is no longer budget-friendly. Torpor Orb is good against Pod decks and any deck that uses Snapcaster Mage . You always need some sort of gravehate, so the Relic of Progenitus or my favorite- Nihil Spellbomb would do well. Other than that I'd just use a few more counterspells. I like the idea of Perplex for your deck. A few Spell Pierce might fill in some slots to protect your creatures during the early turns as well.

Thank you GeminiSpartanX! Great suggestions!