#6 Mill and Grill

Modern

4 Archive Trap
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
4 Breaking / Entering
4 Mind Funeral
1 Crypt Incursion
2 Ravenous Trap
4 Hedron Crab
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
4 Thought Scour
4 Visions from Beyond
1 Surgical Extraction
4 Mana Leak
3 Smother

4 Darkslick Shores
4 Watery Grave
4 Polluted Delta
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Island
2 Swamp

Sideboard:
3 Crypt Incursion
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Leyline of the Void
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Trapmaker's Snare
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Remand

So, this is a pretty straightforward mill deck.  At 1 you have Hedron Crab and thought scour and then Visions of Beyond - either a cantrip or ancestral recall.  The two slot is not my favorite - either defensive cards like Mana Leak/Smother or the 8/10 milling spells of Breaking and Glimpse the Unthinkable.  You might want to con yourself into splashing red for entering, but if you have that much mana, you've probably won already (or lost).

I think the main reason to play this deck in modern is archive trap.  Since fetch lands are fairly ubiquitous, it's almost always going to be 0: mill 13.

Ravenous Trap is strictly there to save face.  There are so many decks that can utilize the graveyard in some manner (think Treasure Cruise) or revolve around it (reanimator or Living End) so it helps to have a couple to pull the trigger if you have to.  I played against a mill deck once at a local FNM while I had living end sleeved up.  I went off turn 2 with 20+ power in play after getting archive trap'd on a verdant catacombs.  You never know.

As for surgical extraction, this is for decks where taking out one specific card can cripple the deck.  Scapeshift and Splinter Twin for example (they still have Kiki-Jiki, but still).  Crypt Incursion is for Birthing Pod, Affinity and other random creature decks.  These will probably be your most difficult matchup, but gaining 30+ life can just be so backbreaking against these decks, which usually buys you at least 2 turns.

Ashiok is mainly for control decks where the games where will be much more grindy and some of your important mill spells will get countered.

I don't think I'm very happy with the sideboard right now, but I have done 0 testing to see what might be good.  Maybe trapmaker's snare (to go get archive trap) is too cutsey, but it might actually be very good and could require more.

The thing is, there's just so many different ways to take this deck.  You could make it more aggressive with things like Jace's Phantasm and Wight of Precinct Six.  You could try and make it a combo with Duskmantle Guildmage and Glimpse the Unthinkable/Archive Trap (13 damage for 1BU - WHAM).  I even considered a monoblue version with things like Sanity Grinding and Chancellor of the Spires - honestly this one looks like the most fun, but the chancellors are always so inconsistent.

Bonus!

This is an "article" I wrote back in April that I never got around to doing anything with.

So, do you want to play standard without breaking the bank?    How does a deck that costs ten dollars sound? 

Monogreen-Aggro AKA Torchrunner

16x Forest
4x Hero of Leina Tower
4x Dryad Militant
4x Spire Tracer
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Slaughterhorn
4x Kalonian Tusker
4x Wasteland Viper
4x Aspect of Hydra
4x Giant Growth
4x Warriors’ Lesson
4x Phytoburst

Sideboard:
4x Hunt the Hunter
4x Sedge Scorpion
3x Mending Touch
4x Ranger’s Guile

So, this is a monogreen deck?  What does this have to do with storm?

At this week’s FNM (4/12), seven players including myself all battled at our LGS with the exact same list.  Fittingly, we called ourselves the horde.

That’s seven copies of the exact same deck.

So why should you play this deck?

It’s really fun to play.   Attacking with terrible creatures and killing your opponent out of nowhere is a blast.  Also, there’s always a tiny bit of delicious Schadenfreude that your opponent’s 500 dollar deck just got crushed by a pile.

It’s really simple to play.  Play creatures and attack.  Not much else to it.

It’s really cheap to build.  If you have to buy every card in the deck, it will run you about 10 dollars at most game stores.  The deck only has four rares, which are bulk.  The only cards in the deck that see legitimate tournament play are Elvish Mystic, Dryad Militant, and (to some extent) Kalonian Tusker.

It’s semi-competitive.  Would I take this to a ptq or scg open?  No, of course not.  But this is perfectly alright for FNM or game day.  If you have a buddy that’s getting back into the game or someone who doesn’t want to drop an entire paycheck on a deck, this might be the perfect transition deck to play for a few times for the fun of it.

Results?

There were seven of us running it at our LGS and overall, the horde finished 15-13.  Not great, but ok.  Slightly in the positive.  Two pilots went 3-1, four of us went 2-2 and only one of us went 1-3.  There was a five dollar entry and each round win earns you a pack, so 6 out of 7 got their money back.

Why?

Why would seven people play this deck?  For the fun of it.  The joy of having opponents say, “Ugh, this deck again?!?”  But people were amused that we were all in on it and a couple of people wanted to see the list at the end of the tournament. 

I’ll talk a bit about some of the card choices although a lot of the deck is a bit self-explanatory.

Spire Tracer is the best card in the deck.  All it says is “1/1…mostly unblockable”.  I can’t even tell you how many games it’s won.

Phytoburst = conditional lava axe for two mana.  This is what gives the deck a lot of reach.  14 can feel like a high life total…

Aspect of Hydra: sometimes this card is a blowout for +5/+5 or more.  Sometimes it’s garbage.  But it’s a necessary evil. 

Slaughterhorn: I really hate this card to be honest, but the number of pump effects in the format is so low that you pretty much have to play it.  Sometimes it just becomes a creature in desperation or to get some extra devotion for Aspect of Hydra.  The versatility is nice, but the +2 on toughness can really hurt sometimes.

Hero of Leina Tower: this guy isn’t great, but it’s something to do with your mana in case you flood (and in this deck, that’s usually drawing more than three lands)

Dryad Militant: oh boy, was this card a stinker.  This ended up being the worst card all night and the one that got sided out the most.  We discovered how it just gets brick-walled by Sylvan Caryatid, Soldier of the Pantheon, Ash Zealot and a ton of other cards.  Its inclusion seems obvious – a creature that’s aggressively costed.  But I recommend something else in its place.  Ranger’s Guile or Experiment One or something.