The Standard RCQ season is in full swing. RIW’s first Standard RCQ was last weekend and had a blast doing coverage alongside Ben Topping. You can find the replay here.
The next Standard RCQ at RIW is on March 14. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set will be legal by this time, but there are plenty of opportunities to play the current format over the next couple weeks.
Despite the finals of RIW’s RCQ being an Izzet Lessons mirror there were some cool decks, like Gruul Landfall and Izzet Prowess (with Spellementals transformational sideboard), defeating them in the swiss.
While I have been favoring Dimir Tempo, there are plenty of other cool decks I would champion, too. Dimir Excruciator has some cool features, namely the Deceit/Superior Spiderman combo, but I want it in a midrange shell.
Today I’m going to share my updates from a Dimir Midrange strategy that plays out chunkier than the traditional version.
It all started with a deck MTGO grinder, Tulio Jaudy, used to take down a Challenge earlier this month….
Note: Kavaero, Mind-BItten is Superior Spiderman
I like the Dimir Midrange strategy because playing Doomsday Excruciator hurts the consistency in an otherwise powerful shell. The Deceit/Superior Spiderman combo is strong enough that I can play cards with a higher floor.
Preacher of the Schism has also overperformed in the traditional tempo build of Dimir, but is even stronger in the version looking to take the game late. The curve of Deceit, Preacher, and Superior Spiderman copying Deceit is strong enough to hang in this powerful format.
Requiting Hex plays out very well in Dimir Midrange because it kills most of the early creatures in the format. Prior to Hex being printed, it was harder for a black midrange deck to play removal with enough versatility for less than two mana. Hex killing the creature lands that cost hefty amounts of mana means you can generate tempo even in the mid game. Blighting onto Preacher of the Schism is also strong as a ⅓ deathtouch can still be tricky to block. It’s also possible to Blight onto an evoked Deceit before it’s sacrificed.
Oildeep Gearhulk is another powerful four-drop alongside Superior Spider-Man. A creature with lifelink and ward 1 is a powerful threat to copy with Superior Spider-Man, too. It’s possible to target you or the opponent with the entering trigger and it can even cycle lands. I’m looking to play one copy, but the true balance in this deck is finding cards for the early game.
Harvester of Misery, Quantum Riddler, and Overlord of the Balemurk act as powerful clones for Superior Spider-Man, but can be played with an alternate cost to give the deck more early game options.
Winternight Stories has enough creatures to discard for positive card advantage and can take advantage of the incidental mill from Overlord, Quag Feast, and Restless Reef. I don’t want to board out many Winternight Stories or Preachers making three-drops in the sideboard less appealing. The Riddlers can also be used as a warp creature to harmonize.
Quag Feast is an interesting removal spell, but I’m not a fan given the current state of the metagame. Superior Spiderman copying the mana value can make opposing clones too expensive to kill with Quag Feast at times. It has also come up that Spellemental’s threats have high mana values.
Restless Reef in the manabase helps improve the matchup against Dimir Excruciator as it can threaten milling out the opponent first. I typically mill myself to find Winternight Stories and good clone targets.
Four copies of Undercity Sewers is a game changer. At heart this is a black midrange deck with little library manipulation making the surveil a big upgrade for consistency.
MY BIG DIMIR MIDRANGE DECKLIST
After playing the original list I made some changes to help improve the consistency.
Marang River Regent acts as a pseudo-Stock Up, but is also nasty to copy with Superior Spider-Man. The games go long making it a realistic threat to hard cast. I’m building every deck with Izzet Lessons in mind and this ability can bounce Monument to Endurance. Note the omen means Coil and Catch is shuffled back into the deck so it must be discarded/milled to go to the graveyard for Superior Spider-Man.
Intimidation Tactics can cycle in matchups where it’s not as useful, but can importantly exile Doomsday Excruciator, Superior Spider-Man, and Deceit. I can’t lean on counters to hit elementals because of Cavern of Souls. Ideally I’m cycling Tactics against Izzet Lessons, but if I know part of their hand with Deceit it might be able to hit a Monument. Exiling the card means Monument does not trigger.
I like Overlord of the Balemurk, but enchantments are weak to Wistfulness so be ready to board them out against Elementals.
Quag Feast being a sorcery means I want to play more tried and true removal spells in Shoot the Sheriff and an additional Bitter Triumph.
Strategic Betrayal is sorcery speed removal spell, but there are plenty of graveyard interactions in Standard out of: Izzet Lessons, Spellementals, Dimir Excruciator, and Temur Elementals (and many more). Killing a midrange threat and exiling Winternight Stories is a big game. It’s one of the few ways to interact with Roaming Throne while trading down on mana thanks to Ward 2.
The main change to the sideboard is playing more Annul and Negate to counter Monument to Endurance against Izzet Lessons. Duress is nice, but once a Monument enters the opponent can draw a card after it resolves. Artist’s Talent is less of an issue if you’re able to keep the artifact off of the battlefield.
An extra Harvester of Misery acts as a sweeper. I wasn’t impressed with Deadly Cover Up after Cub decks have waned in popularity. It has come up against Azorius flash that I can discard Harvester to essentially double-spell with High Noon on the Battlefield. I would expect to face more Azorius Flash in the short run because High Noon is gross against Izzet Lessons and is also just a cool deck.
Sultai Reanimator has been on the downswing, but it does threaten to go over the top of Izzet Lessons. I like playing Superior Spider-Man as a fair threat because it threatens to take an Ardyn, the Usurper if the opponent isn’t careful.
The extra Quantum Riddler comes in a fair amount of the time once the opponent attacks the graveyard and you have plenty of nimble interaction for the matchup making it more likely to draw two cards.
Disdainful Stroke is effective against Green Landfall and Dimir Excruciator, but not elementals due to Cavern of Souls. I would expect fewer Jeskai Control decks due to Cub decks being on the downswing, but I wouldn’t sneeze at countering a Jeskai Revelation.
Cruelclaw’s Heist is taking a middle road to more Duress and Intimidation Tactics. I can gift a card and take a Deceit or Superior Spider-Man against Elementals and Dimir Excruciator or have more discard against Jeskai Control. I have been impressed with Heist and I’m closer to playing one in the maindeck than none at all because of the grindy aspects of gifting.
This deck is able to keep up with Dimir Tempo because of early removal into threats that go over the top. There are plenty of ways to remove Kaito from the battlefield as well. I have a winning record against Izzet Lessons, but would feel behind against a strong opponent. Decks with high agency often have a low floor.
Standard is healthy. Izzet Lessons is the current deck to beat, but it was on the downswing the prior month. There are tools available to keep the metagame churning. Standard is going to continue to reward following the metagame trends. Superior Spider-Man and Deceit are a powerhouse and have what it takes to take down a big tournament. I hope to see exciting developments from the Regional Championship in Milwaukee this weekend!
