I’ve started my Standard RCQ journey with a top 4 split with Dimir Midrange. Today I’m going to discuss the latest changes, key matchups, and share a sideboard guide. Reality Fracture is released on October 2 so there’s some time to take down an RCQ with Dimir in its current form.
Since playing Dimir I’ve moved further from the stock list in some aspects and then come to accept conventional wisdom in other areas.
Dream Beavers allows us to keep more hands, but doesn’t scale as well as Cecil. I’m going to move from two up to three copies of the Beavers. They’re sometimes boarded out against aggressive decks, such as Mardu Discard and Green Landfall, to make room for more removal. When Kaito is weak in a matchup I also want fewer Dream Beavers.
Floodpits Drowner is weaker in this metagame, but is still a great ninjutsu enabler because of the stun counter. Remember you can activate the stun-shuffling ability and then ninjutsu while holding priority to return it to hand instead of the Drowner going back into the deck.
I prefer The Wondrous Wasp to Floodpits Drowner against Green Landfall, but I already like the matchup. Drowner shines against Spellementals as the single tap from the Wasp doesn’t do much against their haymakers. Wasp isn’t the best in the mirror as the 2/1 body trades with one-drops, but can shut off Enduring Curiosity. It’s also possible to make a one-drop lose flying so the 2/1 can still attack with evasion.
Deep-Cavern Bats continues to impress and I am very happy with three copies. It’s weak against Spellementals as it gets hit by Prismari Charm and Traumatic Critique, but helps in game one against Jeskai-based control decks. In general, I don’t want more than four copies of Drowner/Wasp as some decks don’t play many creatures which makes Bat a nice catch all.
I’m settling on one Wan-Shi Tong, Librarian in favor of the fourth Enduring Curiosity as they occupy a similar space in the deck. Again, Dimir is already pretty strong against Green Landfall and needs fewer targeted slots. Jeskai-based control decks are also able to go over the top quickly thanks to the power of Discovery so I would prefer the raw power of the cat.
Preacher of the Schism once again overperformed in my RCQ top 4 split finish. It’s a great defensive creature in games where Kaito would be immediately pressured. In the post board games the opponent will have more nimble removal for ninjutsu enablers which makes standalone threats more valuable.
Demolition Field overperformed. While I would like to play another copy, it’s ideal to have more colored sources for all of the one-drop threats. I blew up the Great Hall of the Biblioplex against Four Color Control and a dual land against Elementals that forced them to take damage from Starting Town. Relatively low opportunity cost for an impactful mana sink.
If I were to play a second Demolition Field I would cut the second Hidden Lair or Soulstone Sanctuary. The Marvel dual land continues to be awkward, but a necessary evil to cast your one-drop threats. If I play a second Demolition Field then I would also cut the fourth Curiosity for another Wan Shi Tong, Librarian.
The main change since the RCQ top 4 split was to swap the second Tishana’s Tidebinder for another Raven Eagle.
Tidebinder was primarily in the sideboard for fringe decks that have few interaction points, such as Yuna, Kona, and Bringer of the Last Gift. I haven’t seen these decks in a while and the third Deep-Cavern Bats help those matchups, too.
Raven Eagle was great. It was a generic way to disrupt the opponent’s graveyard, but also acted as a grindy threat. It’s also great in the mirror as it doesn’t die to Shoot the Sheriff or Requiting Hex.
It’s also reasonable to play a third Spell Pierce over the second Ravens Eagle if you expect a lot of Jeskai-based Control decks. There isn’t enough room for more two-mana counters as they contend with the maindeck copies of We Say Thee Nay!
Stab was excellent against Mardu Discard compared to the third Strategic Betrayal. I faced the matchup once and the key interaction of giving -2-2 to Iron-Shield Elf was relevant.
4 COLOR CONTROL
Out:
-1 The Wondrous Wasp
-2 Floodpits Drowner
-2 Bitter Triumph
-1 Shoot the Sheriff
-3 Requiting Hex
In:
+2 Duress
+2 Spell Pierce
+1 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Raven Eagle
+2 Flashfreeze
Game one can be difficult when you draw too many of your six maindeck removal spells. The name of the game is to ninjutsu an early Kaito and use Deep-Cavern Bat or We Say Thee Nay! To disrupt a Jeskai Revelation or Tablet of Discovery.
Post board games are much more favorable as their maindeck is filled with reasonable cards in the matchup while Dimir gets serious upgrades in Duress and Spell Pierce over Requiting Hex. Respect the turn three Tablet of Discovery as it’s the quickest way for Control to run away with the game.
It’s helpful to see the opponent’s hand as they play Get Lost and Erode to kill Kaito, but also Sear. There are times I want to tick up Kaito to play around Sear, but those lines fall prey to white planeswalker removal.
I don’t board in Tishana’s Tidebinder, but it can counter Tablet of Discovery’s trigger which also shuts off the mana ability when it’s on the battlefield.
DIMIR MIRROR
Out:
-3 Deep-Cavern Bat
-1 Shoot the Sheriff
-1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
In:
+1 Stab
+1 Tishana’s Tidebinder
+2 Raven Eagle
+1 Requiting Hex
The mirror is about jockeying for position with Kaito and Enduring Curiosity. Early flyers can trade off with each other as they are the glue to enable the top end.
Kaito’s ninjutsu ability can be countered with Tishana’s Tidebinder which can be a blowout since returning the attacking creature is part of the cost. Most Dimir decks don’t maindeck Tidebinder at the moment, but is a consideration in post board games. Tidebinder can also prevent Enduring Curiosity from returning to the battlefield as an enchantment when it dies.
I’ve seen players bring in Strategic Betrayal to exile Enduring Curiosity, but it takes too much to go right. The average case for Strategic Betrayal is that it will cost two mana to exile a 1/1 flyer.
SPELLEMENTALS
Out:
-3 Deep-Cavern Bat
-1 The Wondrous Wasp
-3 Dream Beavers
-2 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
-3 Requiting Hex
In:
+2 Duress
+2 Spell Pierce
+1 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Raven Eagle
+2 Flashfreeze
+2 Strategic Betrayal
+1 Shoot the Sheriff
The name of the game in the Spellementals matchup is to remove many of the X/1s to weaken their red removal. I like Kaito in the matchup, but fewer small creatures makes it harder to ninjutsu.
I’m looking to emphasize 1-for-1 interaction and standalone threats. Deathtouch creatures trade off with 4/5s and 5/5s. Keep the battlefield clear of elementals to prevent Sunderflock from bouncing too many creatures.
It’s also reasonable to cut a Preacher of the Schism for Tishana’s Tidebinder on the draw to prevent Sunderflock from coming down too early.
LANDFALL
Out:
-1 Floodpits Drowner
-3 Dream Beavers
-1 Spell Snare
In:
+1 Disdainful Stroke
+1 Tishana’s Tidebinder
+2 Flashfreeze
+1 Shoot the Sheriff
Game one is a classic tempo versus midrange matchup. Green Landfall has the upper hand in going over the top which puts Dimir in the position of disruption and closing the game with no time to spare.
The sideboard features plenty of 1-for-1 interaction and Green Landfall has just a few cards to prioritize stopping: Sapling Nursery, Icetill Explorer, and Earthbender Ascension. The large creatures can be answered with removal spells at a later time and line up poorly against deathtouch threats.
Sapling Nursery, in particular, is the biggest threat. Respect the fourth Forest as it means the Nursery can be cast from most positions. In general, Dimir plays a controlling role after sideboard due to the large amount of strong interaction.
MARDU DISCARD
Out:
-1 The Wondrous Wasp
-3 Dream Beavers
-1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
In:
+1 Stab
+2 Strategic Betrayal
+1 Requiting Hex
+1 Shoot the Sheriff
A tempo versus aggro matchup in the first game that evolves into control versus aggro after sideboard.
There are plenty of removal spells in the matchup and it’s important to order them correctly. One of the common play patterns with Strategic Betrayal and Floodpits Drowner is to play the edict before stunning a creature to make the decision more difficult for the opponent. Shoot the Sheriff.
DIMIR EXCRUCIATOR
Out:
-1 Cecil, Dark Knight
-1 The Wondrous Wasp
-1 Floodpits Drowner
-2 Bitter Triumph
-1 Spell Snare
-3 Requiting Hex
In:
+2 Duress
+1 Disdainful Stroke
+1 Tishana’s Tidebinder
+2 Raven Eagle
+2 Strategic Betrayal
+1 Shoot the Sheriff
This is a tempo versus Midrange matchup in the first game. It’s hard to be tricky in this matchup because Duress and Deceit allow the opponent to see all of your interaction so I prefer more powerful topdecks after board.
It looks strange to board out Bitter Triumph, but Shoot the Sheriff kills all of the threats without a drawback. Strategic Betrayal kills big threats like Emeritus of Ideation without paying the ward and exiles to make Superior Spider Man less powerful. Raven Eagle is a nice threat that generates card advantage and disrupts Superior Spider Man, too.
Watch out for Day of Black Sun and Deadly Cover-Up. They can be difficult to play around when the opponent plays Duress on your interaction so you’re forced to either commit more threats or do nothing.
Remember that Deceit with UU and BB spent creates two separate triggers with time to interact. This means if the opponent bounces a creature with flash you can recast before it has the chance to be discarded.
MONO RED
Out:
-3 Deep-Cavern Bat
-1 The Wondrous Wasp
-2 Dream Beavers
-2 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
-2 We Say Thee Nay!
In:
+1 Stab
+1 Tishana’s Tidebinder
+2 Raven Eagle
+2 Flashfreeze
+2 Strategic Betrayal
+1 Requiting Hex
+1 Shoot the Sheriff
Mono Red isn’t very popular at the moment, but paper Standard can bring out players who have one deck and don’t care to keep up with the weekly metagame shifts.
In the matchup of aggro versus tempo I would typically favor the aggressive strategy. For this reason I want to move toward the control role and run Mono Red out of threats. The top threat to respect is Nova Hellkite; it’s strong enough to play off curve and avoid a 2-for-1.
Dimir Midrange is one of the top decks in Standard and has game against the other popular strategies with proper preparation. The current Standard metagame is varied and I think the game play is pretty fun and affordable.
RIW is going to run a Sealed RCQ this weekend and October 3, but there are plenty of Standard RCQs this season remaining, too. If you want to watch The Hobbit Sealed in preparation for this weekend’s RCQ then look no further than my cousin, Stephen’s, stream on the RIW Twitch channel on Saturday nights or Michael Jacob’s stream, DarkestMage.
