A budget version of this deck. Replaces the Doom Whisper, Vraska's Contempt and Dream Eater with functional substitutions that double as a win condition.

Vs. aggro I'd focus on hitting Risk Factor with Unmoored Ego asap, then focus on cards like Experimental Frenzy, Lightning Strike/Skewer the Critics, Lava Coil or Bedevil/Wizard's Retort.

Sideboard the Moment of Cravings for the Thought Erasures. The lingering TE could be subbed for Duress if the mana curve is a concern.

UPGRADES

1. Land base

- Dimir Guildgate x4

+ Drowned Catacomb x4

Recommending DC over Watery Grave to keep up life totals vs. aggro.

The typical Dimir full control land base is as follows (for reference):

Watery Grave x4

Drowned Catacomb x4

Island x8

Swamp x8

Our mana curve being very low means we don't need 24 lands, 8 of which cost about $28 total.

2. Optional subs

- Island x1

+ Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin x1

Search for Azcanta does in fact surveil 1, the keyword just wasn't printed yet. Since it does eventually flip into an island, subbing it for one seems reasonable.

3. Any other subs I left out. The Doom Whisper should be a primary target.

CHANGELOG

1/11/20

OLD LIST

8 Swamp
9 Island
4 Thought Erasure
2 Disinformation Campaign
4 Dimir Spybug
2 Price of Fame
2 Connive // Concoct
2 Discovery // Dispersal
4 Thoughtbound Phantasm
3 Sinister Sabotage
3 Etrata, the Silencer
3 Lazav, the Multifarious
4 Dimir Guildgate
1 Helm of the Host
1 Field of Ruin
1 Blackblade Reforged
2 Mission Briefing
2 Unmoored Ego
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
2 Notion Rain

Sideboard
1 Disdainful Stroke
3 Duress
1 The Eldest Reborn
1 Notion Rain
1 Ritual of Soot
3 Moment of Craving
2 Golden Demise
1 Unmoored Ego
1 Disinformation Campaign
1 The Mirari Conjecture

Maybeboard
1 Siren's Ruse
1 Essence Scatter
1 Opt
1 Negate
1 Syncopate
1 Precognitive Perception

2/1/19

Sideboard

- Disdainful Stroke x1

+ The Mirari Conjecture x1

Just when I thought the deck couldn't get any better...

1/31/19

Moved one Disinformation Campaign and Unmoored Ego to the sideboard to add back in a couple Notion Rains. The card draw is definitely great against annoying control matchups.

1/31/19

- Etrata, the Silencer

+ Nezahal, Primal Tide

With Lazav, having 3 copies of Etrata is fine. Removing one copy for an extra wincon to now give us 5:

1) Tempo w/ Phantasms and Spybugs

2) Blackblade Reforged hitting for a healthy amount of damage

3) Etrata exiling things

4) Helm of the Host cloning our things to do more things

5) Nezahal drawing us into our other answers or just being a big body

1/30/19

Sideboard

- Ritual of Soot x2

+ Golden Demise x2

Switched 2 ROS for GD to adhere to a budget mentality as much as possible. It also has the added benefit that if our board is full (aka having the city's blessing) we don't have to sacrifice everything we've invested.

1/30/19

Sideboard

- Dead Weight x3

+ Moment of Craving x3

1U for 2 life is definitely worth it vs. aggro (built-in Shock counter).

1/29/19

Sideboard

- Mephitic Vapors x3

+ Ritual of Soot x3

ROS is needed for Persistant Petitioners mill, white weenies & green explore decks using Wildgrowth Walker.

1/29/19

- Notion Rain x3

+ Unmoored Ego x3

Sideboard

- Unmoored Ego x3

+ Notion Rain x3

Moved NR to the sideboard. So often now it just doesn't help w/ many situations. Coupled w/ all of the surveil procs in the deck, the extra card draw just doesn't seem worth it any more.

1/29/19

Sideboard

- Enhanced Surveillance x2

- Dead Weight x1

+ Mephitic Vapors x3

Added MV to the sideboard for those mono white weenie decks. Man they're annoying.

1/29/19

- Duress x1

+ Disdainful Stroke x1

- Fungal Infection x2

+ Dead Weight x2

DS is great for the Simic and Azorius matchups frequented right now, as well as the occasional Izzet. Dead Weight is just too good to not have a full playset of, since our Shock cast as a sorcery. It's mandatory into either mono red or Rakdos.

1/29/19

- Sinister Sabotage x1

+ Swamp x1

- Enhanced Surveillance x2

+ Mission Briefing x2

Sideboard

- Phyrexian Scriptures x1

- The Eldest Reborn x1

+ Enhanced Surveillance x2

This deck is quite impressive as is in paper, but for whatever reason in an online setting it can be inconsistent. I find myself hard casting Sinister Sabotage less and less, so tentative replacement for an extra swamp seems reasonable. Playing online I've found getting flooded in one color to be too frequent for my liking.

Mission Briefing is an excellent card to include in this deck. The extra surveilance off of Enhanced Surveillance is definitely good, but being able to quickly surveil away some counter spells or Thought Erasures to go deeper, and still have the reassurance they can eventually be cast is great. MB has the added benefit it can be cast during an opponent's turn. You can grab Sinister Sabotage at a 1U discount and buff your creatures twice. This often catches an enemy off guard if you're not reacting to their casts (i.e. casting Thought Erasure). I've also never used the second ability on ES, so moving it to the sideboard for control or mill matchups seems reasonable.

I've cut down the more control oriented sideboard options, as this deck is centered around creatures. Removing some of the more costly spells also help make fitting in Mission Briefing more budget.

1/21/19

- Guildmages' Forum x1

+ Enhanced Surveillance x1

With the addition of Blackblade Reforged, a land played to now simply buff creatures for an extra mana just doesn't cut it. With the benefit of an extra Enhanced Surveillance, digging deeper faster will be more reliable.

1/19/19

- Opt x1

+ Enhanced Surveillance x1

Opt is an insane amount of value for one mana, but b/c this deck focuses on surveiling excessively, digging deeper into the deck for even an insignificant surveil proc (like when casting Lazav) just leads to more cumulative value. It has the added benefit that when an opponent tries to remove it or something from your graveyard, it can be exiled to shuffle the graveyard back into your library, like if Gaea's Blessing was surveiled into your graveyard.

1/18/19

- Opt x1

+ Blackblade Reforged x1

Blackblade is yet another very cheap and good wincon. It scales well with the game, b/c we can equip it to Lazav for its discount price, make Lazav into a spybug and send a pile of flying stats at our opponent that they can't block unless they have at least 2 fliers.

1/14/19

- Dimir Guildgate x2

- Swamp x1

+ Island x1

+ Opt x2

Fixed the guildgates to adhere to the playset rule (only 4 of one card excluding basic lands). For some reason AetherHub doesn't account for this.

1/10/19

- Dimir Guildgate x1

+ Guildmages' Forum x1

Guildmages' Forum is a great mid- to late-game card to 1) give our creatures more counters (w/ the only exception being Thoughtbound Phantasm) or 2) if we sideboard in Gaea's Blessing and top deck it, we can still play it at some point. Our late game spells are another great drain for the colorless mana. Btw, counters persist on Lazav, the Multifarious.

1/9/19

- Duress x1

- Disdainful Stroke x1

+ Gaea's Blessing x2

If GB is surveiled into your graveyard, its second ability procs w/out having to pay its mana cost, letting you shuffle all those spent spells (or anything sacrificed) back in.

1/9/19

- Dimir Guildgate x1

+ Field of Ruin x1

Added in FOR to counter some of those artifacts that flip into lands.

1/9/19

- Isareth the Awakener x2

+ Lazav, the Multifarious x1

+ Helm of the Host x1

Isareth is just a bit too slow. She's great vs. decks that have a lot of big creatures due to Deathtouch, but w/ the amount of cards we have to counter spells and remove key cards from an opponents hand it becomes unnecessary. Against big fliers she's worthless, so having something that can race down the opponent is a good option. Lazav is great b/c he can become a copy of anything in our graveyard at any time. Say we surveil away Etrata and Lazav is on the battlefield as a Thoughtbound Phantasm w/ a counter from his own surveil proc. On the opponent's turn, w/ 4 mana open we make him Etrata for blocking, then it's our turn and we get all the mana back. If Helm of the Host can be equipped, we have hit our opponent w/ one Etrata already and they have at least 2 minions on the board, the game is over. The token generated by Helm of the Host is great to play around removal like Settle the Wreckage.