This is a budget deck upgrade for Control Center, the Dimir (U/B) Starter deck on MTG Arena unlocked through the Color Challenge.

This Deck Upgrade costs: 6 Common WC's || 12 Uncommon WC's || 0 Rare & Mythic WC's
All other cards in the deck, including the rares and mythics, are obtained for free from the other Arena Starter Decks.

Our gameplan here is to control the pace of the game and the actions our opponent is able to take. Generally we will win by placing a large threat on the board once we have gained control of the match and kill the opponent with it. We are usually going to gain our edge through card advantage and efficient removal, so we need to have the right balance and quality of cards. Let's check out what our upgrades look like

EARLY CREATURES

[Eyetwitch]] and Shambling Ghast are the iconic duo in the Black 1-drop slot at the moment. They both are nice early bodies to help curb our opponent's aggression and gain us value when they die. Eyetwitch gives us access to our Lesson cards and Ghast is very flexible in letting us ramp out very quickly with treasure generation or anti-aggro measures with it's -1/-1 effect. They are both premium sacrifice targets in our deck. Speaking of sacrifice, Skullport Merchant is a really strong sac outlet that can turn our resources on the board into card advantage. It's also a nice 1/4 body to help us against aggro decks in the meta. These three cards do a lot of work against all match-ups thanks to their intrinsic anti-aggro nature and value accrual. 

NON-CREATURES

If you play a control deck, then you're going to need a lot of removal. We came prepared with a couple copies of Bloodchief's Thirst to efficiently take out any creatures our opponents drop in the early game. It remains relevant in the lategame thanks to its kicker ability so we're happy with the flexibility this card provides. Our other main removal spell is Flunk, which we prefer over Power Word Kill because of how many Dragons and Angels there are in the format. In addition to playing lots of removal, of course we have to play a bunch of Counterspells. Our choice for this slot is Saw It Coming since it's just the best one available in the format. We're running 4 copies of this as well. We're also running a few utility spells in Disdainful Stroke Into the Roil Negate Test of Talents so that we have a variety of answers to our opponents' cards. 

WIN CONDITIONS

So how do we win? Well, drop just about any of these bad boys on the battlefield supported with some of our counterspells and we'll be enjoying a very nice advantage. Iymrith, Desert Doom is a fast clock that can get us card advantage, which we are very happy to play. Mind Flayer can be a backbreaking tempo swing against creature-focused decks, especially if we can protect it or sacrifice the creature it stole. Westgate Regent is a card that demands an answer or will run away with the game on its own, and Narfi, Betrayer King is a really nice recursive threat that we can rely on to close out more grindy games. 

POTENTIAL UPGRADES

So how do we upgrade this deck? Well, there are a lot of options available thanks to how powerful black is in the format. Let's run through a few considerations in each slot that would all be good upgrades for this deck. And of course, as always, starting with the lands is generally best.

LANDS

CREATURES

NON-CREATURES

CONCLUSION

I hope you enjoy this deck and that it serves you well. There's a deck tech video on youtube attached to this guide and I stream on Twitch here so don't hesitate to reach out :) I'd love to hear your experience with the deck. Good luck and have fun!