I'm not a control freak, preferring the chaotic evil of red/black... but I love this deck. Good comments too. +1

Thanks for all the help and votes, guys. I don't really have time to respond to everything individually, but I've made some changes (including adding a sideboard) that I think will help this deck in all of its bad matchups except Bogles, which I think isn't really worth devoting 8-9 slots to winning.

I hate to keep bugging you with constant comments, but I love this deck so much.

One last improvement I would make is to replace 1 AEtherling with 1 Elixir of Immortality because then you're basically invincible. You can gain some life and then have a guaranteed possibility of win by mill which is well worth the spot in the deck. That also allows you to pull Ebony Owl Netsuke from the sideboard for one more AEtherize.

The Owl is good but I think that mill is a much more reliable wincon as they don't need a full hand to pull it off. Also, the life gain is amazing and I do think you need the additional AEtherize.

I also wanted your permission to make my own version and make it slightly less budgeted here on tappedout so I can test it out myself. I also plan on making a non-budget version as well if you're ok with it. I'll be sure to give you credit and leave a link to the original so you get all of the glory for such an awesome deck.

I finished my less-budget list and instructions for how to un-budgetize it: Boomerang: best card ever printed?

I hope you don't mind me copying you but I love this deck so much. Once I'm convinced I have the perfect list for a mostly budget ($30<) deck I will probably build it and play it and I can report my successes here if you want.

So would I bounce a land in response to them playing another land? I normally don't play blue or do these types of shenanigans but for some reason I am very intrigued by this deck. I like quirky, silly things and this seems to be right up that alley. Plus I want to get into modern anyhow.

Just some advice how to do this for a long time aggro-midrange player would be much appreciated.

Ok, here goes. The general idea is to bounce every land they have so they can't play spells.

The cheapest bounce spell is 2 mana so you can't do anything on turn 1 besides play a land. Always choose to be on the play for the land advantage. For turns 2 and 3 during your turn you want to bounce whatever land they played on their turn. On turn 4 hopefully you can bounce 2 lands using 2 Boomerang or Eye of Nowhere. If you can't because you only have 1 or 0 cmc=2 bounces, then play a cmc=3 bounce. On turn 5 hopefully you can play either Jace's Archivist or Dictate of Kruphix plus a cmc=2 bounce.

On turn 6, if you played the Archivist, you will want to use 1 mana to use his ability and draw a lot of cards to bounce more lands. If you played the Dictate then just keep bouncing until you get an Archivist.

Never play a draw card if you could instead bounce a land unless you know for sure that there is no threats they could play with the additional land.

There is no point in returning lands at instant speed when they play them because they can tap it for mana in response, unless you use Wipe Away. Only bounce at instant speed during their turn without split second if you have the mana to do so and don't have any draw cards in your hand.

As for winning, keep using the Archivist until you draw AEtherling. When you do, summon him and then win. Personally, I think this deck runs much better with Elixir of Immortality as the wincon because you have more available mana each turn when pushing for game and you have some life gain to help stay alive.

In general, their board is meaningless except for their lands. If you decide to bounce a nonland instead of a land, then the land you left will only hurt. If you need to bounce a nonland to stay alive then side in your counters and AEtherize's to deal with them and keep their lands low with your bounces. Don't ever block a creature with the Archivist unless their hand is empty or if they're tapped out and the Archivist will live the fight for sure, or if you have 2.

I'm not going to explain every matchup because that gets long, but everything you need for most match-ups is in your sideboard. Just remember that you are not trying to control the non-land part of the field, but instead you want to bounce lands unless absolutely necessary to not do so, and wait until you have either Dictate or Archivist and then bounce the rest of the field when you have bounces to spare. Aggro is a hard match-up but AEtherize and Mana Leak make it manageable.

A thought that just occurred to me: What if this deck sideboarded Wrath of Marit Lage?

I think I get the idea now. Might be ordering this list come next payday for the lulz.

Much appreciated.

Maybe some counterspells to deal with t1 or t2 plays something like Mental Misstep and something to see the opponents hand like Gitaxian Probe or Telepathy

Allow me to begin by thanking you for posting this deck, a friend of mine was playing ashiok control in standard for awhile, now he's gone to modern and it's my time to get revenge >:)

It's seems that either Howling Mine or Font of Mythos would be better draw than dictate

void snare

I think I like the Elixir of Immortality over AEtherling, so I'll make that switch. I don't know how I feel about Wrath of Marit Lage, just because I don't see where it's really going to help.

Gitaxian Probe and Telepathy are interesting, but I don't really think they'll help any of my matchups enough to be worth the slots. Mental Misstep is not modern legal, or I would run it.

Howling Mine and Font of Mythos would be really great if they were in budget.

i would exchange the elixir of immortality for ebony owl netsuke

No, because the owl doesn't help your life or refresh your deck after the Archivist triggers. After you use the Archivist you instantly want to change the composition of your deck so you are drawing many more spells than lands.

The real reason you want the Elixir over the owl though is that with the owl you need their hand to be overflowing to win, while you can win by mill with the elixir even if they don't have a full hand. Also, the lifegain is awesome.

I like how it is about 1 tick without basic lands on modo.

I love this deck. +1A couple thoughts, in playtesting I found the Archivist slow fragile, draw 7 is great, but really you just need to ensure that you have one bounce spell each turn to keep your opponent off land. In a way, Archivist prevents this because he doesn't have haste.
Also, Aetherling is great, but he's really expensive, and it seems you want to play him and have one open to protect him and bounce a land- so 9 mana minimum is needed.
Might I suggest running 3-4 Lone Revenant. Every attack will ensure you grab another bounce spell to keep the lock. Plus he's a mana cheaper than aetherling and has hexproof to protect himself.
Then, if you go to Revenant's as your win-con, you can replace archivists with 4 Peer Through Depths. That way you can draw early game with peer, and then Revenant will provide draw power late.
Just a thought- let me know what you think. Great deck.

genius, i recked bloom titan 6 out of 7 games, and affinity 3 out of 4 games. i only struggled against RDW with this build. Might i suggest Spreading Seas for possible sideboard against blazing fast RDW builds? Fun deck to play. Plus 1 indeed

cephalid constable

If you really want to beat RDW, spend $80 for a playset of Chalice of the Void and set it to cmc=1. This barely hinders you as you only have 1 cmc=1 spell, Elixir of Immortality, which you can wait until you have mana and cards to bounce the Chalice, use the elixir, then replay the chalice.

I run Kraken's Eye to gain life against red and Spell Pierce and Mana Leak to counter their stuff. When playing RDW you need to just focus more on their threats than their lands and know that land bounces will come in time, but don't lock them down too much land-wise because then their 1 mana cards just blow up your face.

I would also add Radiant Fountain because you won't run into color problems and the 2 life is awesome. I would also replace Dragon's Claw with Kraken's Eye because you want to be playing more spells than your opponent.

You definitely need Tormod's Crypt in board to deal with emrakuls in their graveyards, especially if you want to mill but, if not it isn't that big of a deal

but the cephalid constable!

The constabale is good, but you have to hit their face with a 1/1 that can't defend himself to make it work. Temporal Adept is much better, but still slow like the constable.

sideboard venser's diffusion in case you face any type of suspended cards

It doesn't hit lands, so no unfortunately. Any suspended card can just be countered with Mana Leak and a little preparation.