Esper Salt Mill (KHM Update)

Modern Competitive Crab Landfall Mill Multiplayer Tempo WUB (Esper)

TheSurgeon

Land (19)

• 1x Field of Ruin
• 2x Flooded Strand
• 1x Glacial Floodplain
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Ice Tunnel
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 2x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Snow-Covered Plains
• 2x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Snowfield Sinkhole
• 1x Watery Grave

Passive Mill (18)

• 3x Fraying Sanity
• 4x Hedron Crab
• 3x Iceberg Cancrix
• 4x Mesmeric Orb
• 4x Ruin Crab

Active Mill (8)

• 4x Archive Trap
• 4x Glimpse the Unthinkable

Tempo (15)

• 2x Crypt Incursion
• 3x Drown in the Loch
• 3x Ethereal Haze
• 3x Path to Exile
• 4x Visions of Beyond

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Sideboard

Other (15)

• 3x Ensnaring Bridge
• 3x Fragmentize
• 3x Leyline of Sanctity
• 3x Leyline of the Void
• 3x Surgical Extraction

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Mill out your opponent, passive-mill style with an Esper tempo shell! I've recently discovered that this deck works extremely well in multiplayer, as well. Enjoy!

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"Why Esper?"

As an experienced mill player, mill often fails because mill spells are, in essence, burn spells that cost more, and do about 2/3 the relative "damage". Mill often fails, not because it doesn't have the cards to make it competitively viable, but because Mill needs something Esper can provide:
Time.
Secondly, the typical mill is full of gaping holes, defensively speaking. Sure, splashing white allows for some board/mill interaction with Path to Exile + Archive Trap; often not enough to justify the splash. However, the actual purpose is to fill in protection from the SB, when sheer speed isn't cutting it. Furthermore, you're going to need to counter the sideboard of your opponent, who is trying to counter your approach; and can do so with just one of a few cards.

The Mill

The Mill Archetype of the deck is largely passive. Targeting your opponent directly with the spells requires real estate in the hand, and mana that should be used for protection. I've reworked this deck to have more of a passive mill: Mill designed to work through arbitrary actions, that cannot be responded to.

4x Archive Trap- Instant speed mill for 13 cards. It can be cast for free when triggered by the plethora of opposing fetches (abundant in the Modern meta). Also, Field of Ruin and Path to Exile.

4x Glimpse the Unthinkable- 10 cards for . This card is usually a boost to add value to Visions of Beyond or when Fraying Sanity is present.

2x Fraying Sanity- Doubling mill at the end every turn your opponent places a card in the GY, from anywhere.

4x Hedron Crab- Milling your opponent 3 cards for every land drop. These, along with Ruin Crab cost only , and do an IMMENSE amount of mill work during a game. These should always be played before a land drop if possible.

3x Iceberg Cancrix - Kaldheim brought Snow Permanents back, and I took advantage of the snow lands they released, especially the fetchable dual lands, ice tunnel, snowfield sinkhole, and glacial floodplain. While only milling 2 per snow permanent, it's still got a lot of value to offer, even at a 2 cmc.

4x Mesmeric Orb- Your opponent can't play magic without tapping stuff. Make them pay for every inch they want, by forcing them to mill when they untap. While this also hits your deck, you will always mill your opponent faster.

4x Ruin Crab- Just like Hedron Crab, but is a little tougher, for the same cost.

Crab Food

The mana base is essentially 30% /10% /60% . The land has been selected to keep up with the demands in the deck, while supplying both and resources by turn two, 80+% of the time. This is versatile enough to allow many handy white SB cards for problem decks, without having to alter the mana base.

Polluted Delta searches for Godless Shrine, Watery Grave, Hallowed Fountain, and of course, your basic Swamps or Islands.

Flooded Strand searches for Godless Shrine, Watery Grave, Hallowed Fountain, and the basic Islands or Plains.

Field of Ruin- Nonbasic land destruction for 2 mana. This is great against Fetchlands, or other deck-boosting nonbasics. It replaces itself, never leaving you short on mana, and most importantly, it forces the opponent to search their library, setting you up for a free Archive Trap.

Oboro, Palace in the Clouds- Land drop card for the Crabs, if you don't have land in-hand, to drop. It can also be a mana-fix if tapped for mana, returned to hand with B or W, then replayed to add another U.

The Tempo

To support the mill base, a framework of draw, protection and lifegain, are necessary to buy the time needed to get the job done. While leaving room for these spells is getting increasingly difficult as more yummy new mill cards are printed, there are a few that will always have a place in my milling nature.

3x Path to Exile- Rids the board of problematic creatures. Sets up for a free cast Archive Trap.

3x Drown in the Loch- Versatile and cheap, this Counterspell or 2-cost Murder is only limited by the number of cards in the opposing graveyard.

3x Ethereal Haze- A white Fog effect with the added bonus of also preventing non-combat damage from creatures. it buys a turn you may need. Synergizes mill with Mesmeric Orb

4x Visions of Beyond- a boost in resources, just as you should be getting about empty. These become questionable, but not obsolete when using Ensnaring Bridge from the Sideboard.

2x Crypt Incursion- I often get asked why I don't G1 sideboard this.. because it has proven itself invaluable for buying 1-3 turns; paying for the shock/fetch lands; and being a general nuisance for my arch-nemesis, Reanimator/Dredge. Regardless of meta, many opposing decks have a hard time bouncing back from this. I put in the bare minimum for this deck.. Like a condom: I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Sideboard

The sideboard is only designed to give you more tempo/control over the boardstate, and does nothing to speed up the main mill mechanic.

3x Ensnaring Bridge- To keep nasties like Aliens and Goyfs, and prowess creatures like Monastery Swiftspear and Kiln Fiend from eating your face.

3x Fragmentize- Defense against anti-mill enchantments and artifacts like Leyline of Sanctity, Wheel of Sun and Moon, Elixir of Immortality. Also, cards like Blood Moon, which have proven problematic.

3x Leyline of Sanctity- Blocks Burn and decks that throw surprises like Lightning Bolt or dredge running Conflagrate. There are 3 of these as I often mulligan until I draw one in my opening hand, usually winning G2 before it even begins.

3x Leyline of the Void- Dredge's Narcomoeba and many Eldrazi screw with the graveyard. Other cards can simply make this deck dead in the water. Take out the problems by taking out the graveyard. Since this renders Crypt Incursion and Fraying Sanity useless, replace these first when sideboarding. The leylines also get around the meta-abundant Abrupt Decay something the previous SB card, Rest in Peace couldn't handle.

3x Surgical Extraction- These were originally in the MB, but for the sake of room, draw, and the uncertainty of what my opponent has in the deck, I took them out and put them in the SB, and decided to use the first game at full throttle, and resolved to make note of problematic cards that may be found G1 to Extract, games 2 & 3.

$40 Budget Build

2x Dimir Guildgate or any other slow dual land.
3x Evolving Wilds or Terramorphic Expanse
2x Ghost Quarter
7x Island
2x Orzhov Guildgate
2x Plains
2x Swamp


4x Breaking
1x Haunting Echoes
2x Mind Funeral
4x Mind Sculpt
2x See Beyond
4x Tome Scour


2x Archive Trap
1x Crypt Incursion
3x Mana Leak
3x Spell Pierce
4x Thought Scour
2x Trapmaker's Snare


4x Chronic Flooding
4x Oppressive Rays

Mill is often found at casual games as the meta does not do noteably well in competitive. Therefore, this is for "kitchen" or Casual players (for whom, I have a particularly soft spot for).

We all know having the land you need is where the deck begins. It's also often the most expensive part. Therefore, the budget mana base is a bit simpler to run, with Evolving Wilds or Terramorphic Expanse + Hedron Crab doing the job of the Fetches.

Chronic Flooding is an acceptable substitute for many of the hard hitting mill spells with just a 2 mana investment.

Why Chronic Flooding? Flooding + Mana Leak or Spell Pierce really extort your opponent's early-mid game need for mana, while making up for some lost mill speed.

Beyond the land, there are other expensive cards like Glimpse the Unthinkable (~$10 US).

Let's replace Glimpse's slots with Breaking, if you don't have Breaking you can always use the underrated, less mana-specific, mill-one-less card: Mind Sculpt.

Drowned Secrets. If you don't like the Chronic Flooding approach. While still a rare, it's power is easily abused in a counter/Tempo deck like this.

Replace Visions of Beyond with Thought Scour. This will make up for lost mill speed and keep the draw coming.
The other options for Vision's replacement include: See Beyond, Scour All Possibilities, Opt or Peek (for Modern); Ponder or Preordain (for casual).

Remand isn't terribly expensive, and is preferred over the more mana specific (but more budget friendly), Deprive.

Archive Trap is currently around $13 (9/20). To lower the deck another $26, run only 2x Trap. Hence, only the 2x Ghost Quarters, and the absence of Path to Exile(~$4).

Path to Exile can be replaced by Oppressive Rays; which synergizes with Chronic Flooding, very well.

Again, the budget deck is a bit slower, but is designed to add a bit more tempo control, and a touch more draw to compensate the loss in mill speed, in trade for better performance, fun and longevity in a casual game.

I put a lot of work and thought into this (particularly the Budget Version); so, please Upvote it and leave your feedback!

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-TheSurgeon

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 8 years ago
Date added	8 years
Last updated	3 years
Splash colors	W
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	0 - 3 Mythic Rares 32 - 9 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 3 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.98
Folders	Interesting Decks, Mill, Other players decks to keep in mind, decks i like, liked decks (modern), Cool decks, Evil Decks, Modern Ideas, Millbros, Decks