Hello, this is Mill deck is an on going project of mine now for 2-3 weeks and honestly, I may throw in the towel. No one at my local places respects mill-type decks in tournaments because they are (relatively) easily countered by creatures, control, and random luck. It's a 50/50 shot for beating the devastating Cruel Ultimatum/Pyromancer Ascension decks... Actually, it's a 50/50 shot at beating mostly anything... Faster creature/spell decks kill me, I think a main problem with this is it's slow at what it does, and there's only one win condition, for a mill deck it's obvious...

Right now I'm thinking of losing the Hedron Crab's simply because when they come into play they get toasted (usually lightening bolts). Which could be solved with some more creatures for the opponent to choose from to kill, then combined with a Bloodcheif Ascension will add a second win condition

As for the speed problem... About all I can think of is splashing green to speed it up, but 4 colors is pushing it for me.

I was also thinking about getting in some Nemesis of Reason, however that would slow the deck down (in my opinion) rather than speed it up... The Archive Traps are a must for this deck, as are Mind Funerals.

Going from memory this is what's in my deck:

Mana Curve is kinda funky
16x 1
  6x 2
15x 3
  2x 4
  7x 5 (4 of which are the Archive Traps)

Spells:

4x Path to Exile
4x Ponder
4x Tome Scour
4x Twincast
2x Angelsong
4x Mind Funeral
4x Memory Erosion
2x Day of Judgment
3x Haunting Echoes
4x Archive Trap

Creatures:
4x Hedron Crab
4x Wall of Denial

Planeswalkers:

2x Jace Beleren

Lands:

4x Jwar Isle Refuge
4x Arcane Sanctum
4x Kabira Crossroads
2x Pirahna Marsh
4x Rupture Spire
4x Seriji Refuge

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So, you need to speed up this deck, eh? Well, fear not, because I think I know what you need to do to improve this deck. You mentioned you have more or less a 50/50 chance of beating pretty much every deck you go up against, and that makes me think that this deck suffers from O.T.T.S. syndrome.

One
Turn
Too
Slow

This occurs when a deck is frequently able to execute its master plan, and frequently comes well within victory, only to have the opponent win the race, and lose the game the very turn before the deck would have won. The primary symptom of O.T.T.S. syndrome is winning on the play, but losing on the draw, implying that if the deck could win one turn sooner, it would have won on the draw.

This diagnosis of mine is also motivated by the fact that every land in your deck comes into play tapped. A few such lands are acceptable, even favorable in non-aggro decks with multiple colors, but in your deck? If every single land comes into play tapped, you'll always be a turn behind in mana development. Meaning that when you're on the play, you're still no faster than any other deck is on the draw, without the benefit of getting to draw. And when you're on the draw, your opponent may as well be two turns ahead of you!

I could even understand this if yours was a deck that absolutely needed [WB] on turn two and [WUB] on turn three, but most of your cards are cheap, and very few have strict color requirements. The harshest such card in your deck is Twincast, which was never intended to be played on turn two anyway!

Worse still is your use of Kabira Crossroads and Pirahna Marsh. With the eight Refuges in your deck, you have no need for more one-shot life gain than that. And Piranha Marsh? You're a mill deck. None of your creatures have more than zero power, and your only win condition is attacking their library, not their life total. The 'lose 1 life" effect here is absolutely meaningless to you, and thus for your deck Piranha Marsh is WORSE than basic Swamps.

Furthermore, Rupture Spire. This land actually costs you mana on the turn you play it. Arcane Sanctum and the Refuges should be more than enough to make sure you have your colors in a timely fashion. Every other nonbasic land should be replaced with a basic land, in roughly even proportion, to allow you to actually be able to play some of your one-drops on turn one.

Not that I really blame you for it, mind you. After all, of all your one-drops, the only one that actually needs to be played on turn one is Hedron Crab, for maximizing triggers over the course of the game. Path to Exile doesn't want to get played until your opponent drops a creature, and Tome Scour and Ponder are both just as effective regardless of what turn you play them on.

Which brings me to your other complaint: the preconceived notion that mill isn't a viable strategy. I can neither confirm nor deny the inherent viability, but I can explain where the notion comes from.

Case in point: is Lava Axe a good card?

The answer is yes, if your opponent is at 5 or less life, or will be over the course of the game. If your opponent's life total never drops below 5 in a game where you drew a Lava Axe but never cast it, then having cast the Lava Axe would have done literally nothing but waste your mana. Casting the Axe changes your opponent's life total, but it gives you no inherent advantage on the board. In fact, on the board it's a disadvantage since you spent mana and gained "nothing". Lava Axe is only good when you've cast the fourth one and taken your opponent from 20 to 0. But until you do cast the fourth, the first three didn't stop your opponent from enacting his own game plan. Spending that five mana on a creature would have been a superior move, even if the creature had less than five power, since an Axe can only hit once, but a creature can attack every turn.

What does this have to do with milling? Well, look at Lava Axe, and then look at Tome Scour....

In essence, a mill deck is a deck full of Lava Axes. Milling your opponent for five doesn't accomplish anything, unless it's the last five. And until you get down to those last five, your opponent is free and clear to do whatever he wants to you, including swing with all his creatures.

Really, mill decks want to be aggro decks, just attacking a different "life total". They're full of Lava Axe-style cards, and want to play as many of them as possible to bring the opponent to zero as soon as possible.

But because their win condition isn't a creature, and thus can't block, and isn't burn spells, and thus can't target creatures to kill them, mill decks have to play like control decks, using board sweepers and other controlling tactics to hold opponents at bay until they can sneak in enough mill to finish the job.

Really, the problem is described most eloquently in the flavor text for Memory Erosion. The card doesn't actually do anything to stop your opponent from playing spells. It just inflicts a minor annoyance on him or her every time he or she does.

So, you'll need to actually step up and do something on the board. My personal favorite in this regard is Telemin Performance. It's a card that mills, and it gives you a creature, so it is affecting the board. Better yet, against those Cruel Ultimatum/Pyromancer Ascension decks, it's usually a one-hit K.O. since most of them run creatureless! It's less useful against aggro decks and Jund, but you never know-- you might get lucky and hit one of their Broodmates.

I also want to recommend that you up your Day of Judgment count to four-- you'll need them. Any card that can take out multiple creatures is your good friend, since it will keep you ahead on card advantage until your opponent runs out of steam, and out of cards in their library. Arrow Volley Trap and Whiplash Trap are both good ways for you to keep your opponent's offense down as much as possible.

You can take out the Angelsong to make room for the extra Days of Judgment. As I explained above, making a concrete impact on the board is always preferable to a one-turn effect.  You'd always rather destroy the creature damaging you than just prevent the damage.

Good luck!

~BMoor