wickeddarkman

Field of ruin is much better than ghost quarter.
Ghost quarter is faster, but you lose momentum because you lose a land.
Field is a FORCED search, not a may effect, meaning it supports those traps like no other Card.
Field is a bit slower but is also much more effective.

Also point's for reducing the effects of chalice :D

I've been testing "field of ruin" It's a bit slower, but it does a much better job than ghost quarters overall.

I've been covering a lot of the new Cards latelly because it seems like wotc is trying to "repair" espermill.

For example since chalice of the void is very present in the meta they have made compelling argument, which you can cycle past chalice to Draw a Card. In most games overall visions of beyond won't get to give you 3 Cards because you won't save it for later when you desperatelly dig after path to exile. In older versions of the deck snapcaster mage complimented visions, but was used more to reuse fetch than reuse the vision, so in game after game, visions will only Draw you that single Card anyways, and it is stopped by chalice 1.
(Having disenchant won't save you, as experienced players play chalice 2 before they play chalice 1, just to Lock Down hatred.

http://www.mtgvault.com/wickeddarkman/decks/fixing-godikas-mill/

I use paperstrips to measure the performance of all Cards during testgames.
3 out of 4 times mesmeric orb only mills 5-6 Cards which is the same and sometimes a Little worse than the minister.

The minister can block, and in a few games may actually be an attacker (Important against sun&moon)

I've also tested pro-designs this way before and the numbers always turn out to be the same.
(At the moment I'm testing the old Esper design of _godika, with some new Cards added)

My tests with esper at the moment would recommend you cut:
1 hedron crab
1 visions of beyond
3 mesmeric orb

this would allow you to add 5 Cards.
1 settle the wreckage
4 snapcaster

I can also say the new "ghostquarter" is actually quite nice, as YOU get a replaced land so ghostquarter won't run you Down.

I can also recommend that you try out 2 boseiju in sideboard...

Take that allways winning pall among your friends to a tournament for a lifechanging experience. He'll rarely be cocky after it...

The time I have had the best results with ensnaring bridge was when I played only 1 in mainboard.
If I got it into play and they had no solutions I would win, and if they were capeable of bypassing it somehow it would only be 1 dead Card in the deck.

Plus whenever the opponent saw it (with discard or it was selfmilled) they'd side more Cards into their deck than they actually needed so they would be stuck with lot's of dead Cards. I would usually sideboard it away.

Ah, bridge...
I've been playing with 2 different bridgedecks the last two years, and bridge is actually weak against practically everything out there. After all, lantern control has been present a lot the last 3 years, so not being adapted against bridge is just dumb.

Like lantern control, mill may be able to remove any threats to the bridge, which just leaves aggro as a problem.
Aggro can usually kill you while you are having stuf like another bridge and an archive trap in the hand, so your deck needs to either have low costs overall (Falling prey to chalice) or some reliable alternate costs (dismember, shriekmaw) or some way to discard your own stuff...

It's a conclussion :D

I've been tracking mill for quite some time and analysed plenty of numbers, which is why I see manic scribe as a turn in the wrong direction for mill. Mill hasn't won so much after that "innovation". (I think it will Work as sb)

There's enough mill-data out there to support my claim :D

Snapcaster mage is best at local tournaments, while augur of bolas wins the game for those in larger tournaments.
My best guess is that augur provides better defence against aggro, which Means it must face more aggro than usually to outshine snapcaster mage. Snapcaster is more flexible, but wins mostly at the small local tourneys. My guess as to why, is that players knowing their local meta knows what to re-cast with snappy, but when facing unknown factors augurs random picks seems to be better than knowing the locals.

All of that is sort of theory, but facts show that augur of bolas has participated most in the larger tournaments, while snapcaster features in smaller tournaments... Got any better theories ? :D

https://www.mtgstocks.com/decks/72516

The day you aim for a bigger tournament you will need to remember to Exchange your snapcasters with augur of bolas. Augur of bolas wins more than snappy on the 100+ tourneys, probably because aggro is seen much more at these because they drain your mental energies less than playing something advanced.

SO MARO90 is right on defending the bridge as well as getting to it early by search.

Mind a, mind b, it's easy to make mistakes when a program spells out stuff for you :D

It's almost a Paradox :D

Having both leylines is a bonus.

ensnaring bridge will be devastated by you having 15 cards costing 3+ (never expect that trap is free)
You will be owned by aggro if you go that way, so you need some way out of it. Having collective brutality in sideboard will allow you to both replace some 3cc and to reduce your hand at a needed time.

surgical extraction should be sideboard as it technically does not mill, so it doesn't help fraying.

get mind funeral to replace mind grind as soon as you can.

MANIACALMANIAC:
I can see the logic in that, but then wouldn't you lose by default when NOT drawing fraying? Because your decks mill capacity would then be dependant on it :D

MANIACALMANIAC:
It's fun that you come to the conclusion that ministers and hub isn't worth it as bloodmoon is on the rise, at the same time that I tell the poor guy that ministers and hub are worth it with emphasis on blood moon being usefull :D

The difference is in our colors of choice, you with Esper, me with grixis.
http://www.mtgvault.com/wickeddarkman/decks/fraying-mill-generation-3/

At least we both agree that manic isn't that good, and that fraying is the coolest :D

THEVANISHED:
Once you go Down the path of mill with removal you will end up in a huge web of decissions. In the end you will learn that the more removal you use, the less you can mill, which Means you need more removal to deal with what comes into play while you are waiting for the mill-Card. I did this once and ended up with only 5 millcards in the deck. (2 mindshrieker and 3 surgical extraction) you can never get enough removal...

Yeah, I know, but I'm trying to encourage him to go for the big tourneys.

At the time I started up the 93/94 forum there were only two others who'd use the tag.
http://www.mtgvault.com/wickeddarkman/decks/9394-format-forum/

Since the 93/94 format is actually very very competitive (Many old pro's from back then are joining it)
I've been thinking of making a "shandalar deckforum" for those who played the microprose game rather than the revived 93/94.

But I'll wait a bit to see how many joins it...

It does look like a solid build, but so far I haven't seen it at any of the larger decksites.
If you constantly go top8 you should have shown up recently :D

No problem.
I played a lot on microproses mtg, and was running a grand evolution project on it some years after it's release.
http://www.mtgvault.com/wickeddarkman/decks/9394-format-evolution/

Your deck looks solid enough, and it would be interresting to test it against the decks of that era.

Puschkin admitted to it :D