I took down a Standard RCQ last weekend with an old favorite, Dimir Midrange. I’m looking to get another strong finish at RIW’s upcoming RCQ this weekend. Thankfully WOTC didn’t change Standard in their latest B&R update so we’re good to keep practicing the same format.
Today I’m going to discuss some recent shifts in the standard metagame as well as the list I would propose this weekend.
We need to talk about Badgermole Cub…
Just a few weeks ago Badgermole Cub decks ruled the land. Simon Nielsen took down Spotlight: Avatar in Lyon with Simic Cub.
Great player and great deck
Badgermole Cub threatens to turbocharge a Nature’s Rhythm to find an early Craterhoof Behemoth. The metagame was having a hard time adjusting and most of the adaptations were simply making the deck better in the mirror.
Tristan Wylde-LaRue took down a Regional Championship shortly after by moving away from Ouroboroid because it gets caught up in sweepers and the mirror is about closing with Craterhoof.
Prior to Pro Tour: Lorwyn Eclipsed it appeared Standard was already becoming a solved format with the most obviously broken card, Badgermole Cub, appearing to be a cut above.
Brightglass Gearhulk is the mirror-breaker because it can search for removal and Mockingbirds to keep the chain going.
Hopefully PT Lorwyn Eclipsed will help shake things up…
The Pro Tour metagame is typically homogenized around the perceived best deck and it will often help secure a reasonable result. Three out of the four most played decks featured a playset of Badgermole Cub. Not off to a great start.
Then the results arrived and things didn’t go as expected.
Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed delivered some exciting results:
The Cub decks got decimated and brews dominated.
Izzet Spellementals and Dimir Excruciator were not on the radar heading into the Pro Tour, but both teams that rocked the brews were paid off handsomely. The top four most played decks all featured a below 50% win rate. The Cub is indeed beatable.
Dimir Midrange posting a 59% win rate was also enough to pique my interest. Deck comfortability is important to me, but I also don’t want to bring a knife to a gun fight.
Christoffer Larsen took down the Pro Tour with Dimir Excruciator.
This deck can either copy or hard cast Doomsday Excruciator and then deck the opponent by attacking with Restless Reef or force them to draw three cards with Insatiable Avarice. It looks like a meme deck, but it’s here to stay.
Here’s Paul Green’s 9-1 Izzet Spellementals:
This deck is very cool and affordable. The name of the game is to resolve creatures that become cheaper with more instants and sorceries in the graveyard. Wouldn’t ya know it if they’re all elementals to make Sunderflock cheaper and threaten to bounce not only Badgermole Cub, but also the earthbent lands and mana dorks. Green decks have quite a hard time beating a resolved Sunderflock.
Petr Sochurek finished 9-1 in Standard with Dimir Midrange, the flagship result of the 59% win rate:
Despite all of the cool faeries in Lorwyn Eclipsed, Petr took the old shell and made a couple topical updates.
There were so many other cool decks to come out of Pro Tour: Lorwyn Eclipsed which can be found here.
MY BUILD OF DIMIR MIDRANGE
Here’s the list I’m looking to play this weekend:
The more things change, the more they stay the same. While the core of the deck has remained, we got some new tools from Lorwyn Eclipsed in Spell Snare and Requiting Hex.
The Hex is better than Stab and Tragic Trajectory even if it didn’t have the flavor text to gain two life against red decks. It even kills creature lands against opposing Dimir decks- most importantly Restless Reef against Excruciator.
It’s hard to overstate how impactful Requiting Hex is compared to the other mid removal spells we had at one mana. This card is a game changer and you should play four copies in your Dimir deck.
Spell Snare is here to stay in Standard as it counters Get Lost to protect Kaito as well as Badgermole Cub and Artist’s Talent. Efficiency is the name of the game in Dimir Midrange. It does compete with the Requiting Hex slot and I currently favor more of the removal spell.
Phantom Interference is always just good enough to see play. I like a single copy now that Spell Snare can also provide counter play.
Cecil and Spyglass Siren offer early creatures to enable ninjitsu for Kaito. The map tokens can be sacrificed to Fountainport. I don’t sideboard out many one drops in Dimir Midrange as they’re the glue of the deck.
Map tokens can be awkward in Dimir as they can only be activated at sorcery speed; passing the turn with suspicious mana unspent. There are times I will hold onto Spyglass Siren if it means I can mask my interaction.
Deep-Cavern Bat and Floodpits Drowner are the two drops of choice. There are metagames where I want other two drops, but Bat shines in this Cavern of Souls metagame. Drowner is powerful on rate and can act as creature removal in matchups where you want to cut Shoot the Sheriff and Requiting Hex. I haven’t liked the flex creatures that act as a ninth two drop such as Loch Mare.
I’ll cut Deep-Cavern Bat against decks that can trade down on mana for removal spells- particularly against Red decks.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is similar to a ninth two drop that scales as the game progresses. The green decks shuffle their library to get the flavor text trigger. It’s a reasonable play to flash in Wan Shi Tong on the second turn to ninjutsu Kaito since it can be cast for a larger X value later in the game. I’ve been happy with exactly one copy as Dimir can run the risk of flooding. Vigilance and flying is surprisingly strong in a tempo deck.
The three drops are where things get interesting. Many Dimir players are high on Tishana’s Tidebinder, but it has consistently lagged Preacher of the Schism in my experience. In the RCQ my opponents mentioned they were much more afraid of Preacher and I was happy to have a proactive threat on the third turn if Kaito wasn’t able to land.
Tishana’s Tidebinder still has a place as it can counter an elemental trigger. I thought I would be happier with Tidebinder against green landfall decks, but there are too many triggers for it to matter. I do like a mix of Tidebinder and Preacher against the Dimir mirror as well.
There are matchups where Tidebinder, Preacher, or Kaito are weak and I don’t want to build my deck in a way where I can’t cut them when needed.
Four Watery Graves are a must, but Dimir also plays a few Multiversal Passage because there isn’t an option to play Darkslick Shores. Some builds of Dimir play a Starting Town over a Multiversal Passage, but I’ve seen too many cases of not being able to cast Enduring Curiosity or activate a creature land thanks to it entering tapped.
I want to play two Restless Reef in anticipation of facing Dimir Excruciator. Dimir Midrange running the risk of flooding out also means I want some additional mana sinks.
There are nine basic lands with five Swamps and four Islands. I want more Swamps because Gloomlake Verge adds blue by default; more than enough lands to cast Spyglass Siren on the first turn.
Soulstone Sanctuary continues to impress. It’s also a ninja with Kaito’s emblem and can’t be killed by opposing Shoot the Sheriff.
Fountainport looks strange, but has been a great role player. I’m mostly sacrificing map tokens which I may get more of against Get Lost. I also have time to generate card advantage against the slower white decks.
Like most midrange decks, Dimir has a very customizable sideboard. Standard is open so I want to have a cohesive plan against a variety of decks.
Duress, Spell Pierce, and Annul are my one drop interaction spells of choice. Each has their own limitations, but I don’t want too much interaction that doesn’t scale well.
Flashfreeze is nice against both Landfall decks and Mono Red. I like to respect red decks more in paper tournaments because they are typically represented. Negate and Disdainful Stroke are my other two drop counters of choice. I like Disdainful Stroke in a variety of matchups leaving Negate and Flashfreeze as the support. A single Flashfreeze is also fine against Jeskai to counter Jeskai Revelation.
Quantum Riddler isn’t a sideboard juke, but does play out better in post board games where both players have their efficient interaction. I prefer Riddler over Unagi of Kyoshi Island because the warp can help find five mana to hard cast.
The full playset of Requiting Hex in the seventy-five helps against Mono Red which can be a tricky matchup. Since there is plenty of nimble removal I’m opting out of playing sweepers in the sideboard. This is a metagame call as I don’t expect much Simic/Four-Color Cub decks for now.
Two Soul-Guide Lanterns and a Strategic Betrayal cover my bases against graveyard decks. I don’t expect as many Sultai Reanimator decks, but there are plenty of fringe strategies in Standard and I want to be prepared.
Standard is currently wide open which is great because you can play a deck that suits your play style instead of an S-tier strategy. If you like to play flashy midrange decks then Dimir is the deck for you.
