Whoops, forgot to mention you need to remove or bounce maralen(Unsummon seems to work the best) for the Draw-out kill otherwise you can use the 3life loss effect for the kill and attack with her, then fetch for additional beatdown once they have nothing more to fetch for.

  -- By Jay from Minneapolis, MN USA on December 27, 2010

Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter are the easiest ways to trigger the opponent search(unless they use a fetchland)... And if they're wise they won't do the search if you've played the Archive Trap on them before, meaning you have a 1CMC removal spell w/o any drawback or a non-Strip Mine, Strip Mine. This card gets really brutal with Twin Cast. If you're running B/U mill with this I suggest Maralen of the Mornsong, puts the game on a clock w/ the 3life loss effect and you can fetch for you Glimpse the Unthinkable, Twin Cast, and Archive Trap. Don't drop her too soon though, maybe on turn 4 of 5 after you've already milled them 30+ cards and have your win condition setup.

  -- By Jay from Minneapolis, MN USA on December 27, 2010

Any milled decks will use this card. 2-3 appears will be enough if you had milled with Mind Funeral, etc. Great for any milled decks. Together with Jace Beleren, it will drain amount of opposing resources....

  -- By Anonymous from USA on July 06, 2010

To the above reviewer: you can't cast Archive Trap for free by casting a Tome Scour - you need to make your opponent shuffle his or her library, for example with Path to Exile or Sadistic Sacrament. Still, I agree with you that Archive Trap is even worth hardcasting, although Traumatize would sometimes be a better choice.

  -- By Jens N from Denmark on March 20, 2010

this card is even worth playing for its mana cost, especially if you combo it with bloodchief ascension. 26 damage and 26 life gained, plus a good chunk of their library gone. it's a win/win/win situation. another way to use it is to get them to search their library, pay its 0 cost, and throw in a tome scour. that's 36 damage, 36 life gained, and 18 cards into the graveyard all for 1 mana... wow.

  -- By James from KS on February 07, 2010

If you have path to exile and four of these in your hand the game is pretty much over.

  -- By Vitaly Mikhats from Philadelphia, PA USA on November 17, 2009

this card is nuts in a mill deck. I got hit with two of these on my first turn when I played a Terramorphic Expanse and sacrificed it. if your opponent ever manages to play 3 of these, you know you're in deep trouble. and with all of the deck-searching cards in Standard (the Zendikar rare lands, Terramorphic Expanses, Paths, etc.), this is even better.

  -- By Greg from Atlanta on November 07, 2009