Hello Everybody,
I'd like to preface this writeup by telling you that I am not a great (or probably even good) Magic player. I just got into the game with Throne of Eldraine, my only other experience being a bit of starter-deck play as a kid and Duels when that was available for IOS. I like to play control, as I feel like I learn the most from those Archetypes. I'm steadily getting more into Limited as I try to build out my collection via F2P. Most of my constructed decks are built around a card or two I am lucky enough to find in packs/drafts. Obviously as I've just started building a collection, standard makes the most sense to play, so that's where I'll be for the forseeable future.
I had been trying to build a Dimir Discard deck for a bit, using Ashiok, Nightmare Muse as my finisher, but the deck seems to fail in a few ways:
1. I'm getting squashed by any monored with a decent opening hand.
I was hoping Merfolk Secretkeeper could establish a blocker to keep me alive in time to get Narset, Parter of the Veil and [Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage]] on board and hit a Ritual of Soot.
2. Even when that strategy pans out, the decks lacked answers, card advantage, and . I'd end up with a few wasted Thought Erasure sitting in my hand, and the 2/3's Ashiok spits out take forever to outclass the lifegain folks can get with Cat Ovens, Uro's and beefed up Hydroid Krasis. That leaves your opponents lots of time to topdeck some removal. After playing some Sultai and Simic Flash with Uro, I have come to appreciate the value of having these recurring cards.
There seems to be enough diversity in decks that dimir will just get steamrolled due to it's inability to deal with artifacts and enchangments like Lucky Clover, Witch's Oven when allowed to resolve. So, I bit the bullet, and spent quite a few precious rare wildcards on shocklands. I've been playing a Sultai control list which has felt much more successful. Unfortunately, it still feels like a 'goodstuff' deck, and I can't help but feel like Grixis is the right color combo to flesh out my discard, hand hate control deck.
So here we go, our strategy for this deck is as follows:
EARLY GAME - ELIMINATE THREATS
We're seeing if a classic Shock suite with Mystical Dispute can create some opening hand tempo advantage against mono red & ramp.
Biggest downfall of shock is it feels like a waste late game. We can shock a T3 Teferi, Time Raveller for efficient removal when on the draw then slam an extra Thought Erasure or Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger to gain some momentum. Additionally, when you get God-Eternal, Kefnet on board late-game, topdecking a shock means you can 4 damage burn anything for RR. Mystical Dispute tends to retain some late-game. Forcing your opponent to tap out for a spell can at least leave you a comfy opening to slam a threat.
MID GAME - HAND HATE
Bread and butter discard, draw stop, and card advantage. Everyone seems to be playing around Narset with Thassa's Intervention, but the card is not mana-efficient, and we have loads of discard to deal with a 4-mana draw-two. On the other hand, it's a 3 mana + counterspell; either business-as-usual or expensive counter for opponents.
MID GAME - PRESSURE WITH EFFICIENT, RECURRING THREATS
Overwhelmed on-board? Temple scry-up an Angrath's Rampage at the end of T4 to double down on removal cards with Kefnet. Or, if you're lucky, cast an extra Enter the God-Eternals for 2UU while keeping the other in your hand for next turn. At the very least Kefnet is a great recurring threat, really only susceptible to Agonizing Remorse. I'm tempted to just run 3 of these and more Enter the God-Eternals
LATE GAME - FORCE OPPONENTS TO TOPDECK, ELIMINATE STABILIZING OPTIONS
I am not 100% convinced this is the right play, but it just feels so on-theme with this deck. It seems like if this card is wrong, the power for this deck concept just isn't in the cards (nailed that first write-up pun). Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God (+1) reduces opponent's hand size, mana base, or board presence while drawing you cards. You will desparately need to draw cards by T5, so everything else is bonus. Card draw may be this decks downfall right now. Having an engine up that's consistently removing opponent's resources seems like exactly what we want to be doing late game.
I really want the nightmares to be 3/2 instead of 2/3. Maybe it's because I misread the card when the spoiler was released, but this disappoints me every time I resolve Ashiok. Also, shouldn't they just have the same stats as Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths? The first few end up getting sacked anyway, and adding 3/2 every turn just closes the game out so much quicker. Anyway, the (-3) shines here, and this will let you fill up the board to finish... eventually. Seems like it tookforever in Dimir decks and opponents could stabilize. Hopefully shutting down some lifegain and keeping Narsets protected can speed things up for us.
A nice one-of flash blocker or finisher. This can take an escaped titan off the board, then swing in for 7, as well as be fished out of the graveyard. More importantly, if we can mill it with Thought Erasure and exile your opponents escape cards for the low-low cost of UB once it's in the graveyard.
UPDATE: I'd rather have pure removal and a way to bring back my Brazen Borrower or a countered/dumped Murderous Rider with Cavalier of Night. This deck spends lots of life on shocklands, and you generally are getting pinged by a 1 or 2 power creature for your first 4 turns before you can wrath. Having a 4 power lifegain creature can help us stay alive. Nothing is worse than taking over the board only to lose to 'stomp' from a topdecked Bonecrusher Giant.
CUTS FROM ORIGINAL
UPDATE - So... I read Tibalt's text wrong. Seems to be a theme here. I thought he made (2) 1/1 devils with a (-1) ability. Which is great value in itself for 2R without the lifegain negation. But, he only makes one, for (-2) so casting on curve is a big waste. Swapped out for a full suite of shock and a pair of trusty Murderous Rider. Brings us some instant speed removal and a couple nice little lifegain 2/3's, plus they're recurring.
Key piece of new tech to test is Tibalt, Rakish Instigator. It seems like everyone is dealing with Mono Red by adding Uro's and ramp: if we can shut Lifegain from Uro and Krasis, we should be able to generate enough advantage to close out before opponents can stabilize. If we can get our opponents topdecking, Tibalt and Narset should keep them from regaining any momentum.
The Devils are great board presence that can double chump block Robber of the Rich and take down a Fervent Champion with the extra damage. They'll make your opponents think twice about attacking with [Lovestruck Beast] if they have [Edgewall Innkeeper] on the field as well.
Maybeboard
It might make sense to go lower to the ground with Rankle, Master of Pranks and Lazav, the Multifarious to copy Kroxy, then double down on Enter the God-Eternals, Bedevil, and Commence the Endgame or add some Chemister's Insight or Into the Storyy. Alternatively, maybe Bonecrusher Giant would be a better early game play? Stomp is an expensive shock, but the giant itself with 4 power is really nice board presence.
Who knows if this Shock/Mystical Dispute early game will work as planned? I'd like to find a build that can simultaneously outlast mono-red and not get run over by ramp. Hand-hate is ubiquotosly annoying, but also universally slower. Hopefully 6 early game cards can keep us on-top of the curve!
Creature (12) | |||
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$3.24€4.490.41 | |||
$2.89€1.830.13 | |||
$0.950.10 | |||
$5.998.62 | |||
$4.39€4.570.06 | |||
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (14) | |||
$0.25€0.220.03 | |||
$0.40€0.200.02 | |||
$0.25€0.220.03 | |||
$0.40€0.390.03 | |||
$0.22€0.160.03 | |||
$0.25€0.120.03 | |||
Land (25) | |||
$13.52€11.941.22 | |||
$0.45€0.230.02 | |||
$6.79€4.290.26 | |||
$12.90€11.740.26 | |||
$15.97€14.780.36 | |||
$0.49€0.270.02 | |||
$0.76€0.380.02 | |||
2
Island
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$0.150.03 | ||
2
Swamp
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$0.200.03 | ||
3
Mountain
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$1.38€0.480.03 | ||
$3.97€3.446.47 | |||
$1.44€0.990.02 | |||
Planeswalker (9) | |||
$3.31€5.800.12 | |||
$2.81€3.140.09 | |||
$1.06€0.730.10 |
$0.35€0.200.02 | |||
$0.84€0.500.02 | |||
$0.25€0.120.03 | |||
$0.48€0.430.05 | |||
$0.40€0.390.03 | |||
$0.54€0.280.02 | |||
$0.20€0.120.03 |
$1.19€1.550.06 | |||
$0.83€0.500.02 | |||
$0.49€0.410.06 |
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