Dimir Control Sideboard Guide

Introduction

Dimir Control is the blue-black deck that says no to everything. It trades Counterspell and cheap removal such as Snuff Out for whatever the opponent plays, pulls ahead on cards through Baleful Strix, Lórien Revealed, and the monarch from Thorn of the Black Rose, and then wins in the air with a flock of Bird tokens from Murmuring Mystic. It occupies a small corner of the field at 1.4% of the metagame, so most opponents will see it only occasionally.

The deck has posted strong recent finishes. Lorenzo Bergamini won the paper event in Milan on September 27 with Dimir Control and Stefano Belloni reached the top four of the same tournament; Karol Guzy took third at Katowice on September 19, Kampo finished second in the September 29 Challenge, and copies posted a steady run of league 5-0s and Challenge Top 8s through the end of September.

The deck beats the midrange and control decks that try to trade with it one for one, because its answers line up cleanly against their threats and the monarch wins the long card race, and it beats combo decks that need a key spell to resolve into open counter mana. It is favored against Monster Tron, Elves, Spy Combo, Grixis Affinity, Esper Affinity, and Jeskai Ephemerate, and slightly favored against Dimir Faeries.

It struggles against aggressive creature decks that get under the answers before the tapped lands and double-blue mana are ready, and against the blue creature decks whose evasive attackers connect through the blockers and take the monarch away. It is unfavored against Mono Red Madness, Blue Terror, Mono Red Rally, Familiars, Dimir Terror, White Aggro, and Gruul Ramp.

General Strategy

Dimir Control wants every game to be long, and it earns that by making sure nothing the opponent plays survives. Counterspell stops the spell on the way in; Cut Down, Cast Down, and Snuff Out kill the creature that resolved; Baleful Strix blocks whatever slipped through and replaces itself on the way. Apart from the card Baleful Strix draws, none of these trades gains ground on its own, and that is fine, because the cards that do gain ground, Thorn of the Black Rose, Lórien Revealed, and Murmuring Mystic, only pay off on a quiet board. The priority that matters most is therefore keeping the board empty of anything that can attack you before you commit an engine piece. A Thorn cast into an unanswered creature hands the opponent the extra card you wanted for yourself, and a Mystic cast while you are behind never gets to cast the spells that make it dangerous.

The engine runs on cards rather than damage. Baleful Strix draws a card as it enters, Lórien Revealed and Plunder the Trollshaws refill the hand, and Thorn of the Black Rose makes you the monarch, which draws you a card at each of your end steps until an opposing creature deals combat damage to you or the opponent becomes the monarch some other way. Once Murmuring Mystic is in play, every instant or sorcery you cast also creates a 1/1 flying Bird, so the same cheap removal and draw spells that were keeping you alive start building the board that wins. The deathtouch creatures and the Birds then block the attackers that would otherwise steal the monarch, and the loop feeds itself.

A typical game has three phases. The setup is tapped lands, Preordain, and an early Baleful Strix, while cheap removal and Counterspell trade one for one with everything the opponent commits, and is cycled for a land whenever a land drop would otherwise be missed. The payoff begins when the board is under control: comes down for the monarch, follows with spells still in hand, and later copies of Lórien Revealed are cast in full to draw three. The close is combat in the air: the Birds and Baleful Strix fly over the ground blockers and finish the game a few points at a time, with adding a new attacker for every instant or sorcery you cast along the way.

The Cards

Murmuring Mystic

The finisher. For four mana you get a 1/5 that creates a 1/1 flying Bird whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, and with twenty-five instants and sorceries in the list that is a Bird for nearly every spell you cast from then on. The 5 toughness also makes it the best ground blocker in the deck, so it holds the monarch against most single attackers on its own. The Bird trigger goes on the stack above the spell and resolves even if the spell is countered or the Mystic is killed in response, so once it is in play, hold your instants for the opponent's turn or for the moment removal is pointed at it: the Birds made on their turn attack as soon as you untap, and the mana you kept open stays available for Counterspell the whole way.

Thorn of the Black Rose

Four mana for a 1/3 deathtouch body and the monarch, which draws you a card at each of your end steps for as long as you keep it. The deathtouch body is a blocker that trades with anything, and the extra card every turn is how the deck pulls away in any game that goes long. Cast it only when no opposing creature can deal combat damage to you on the next attack, or when a free Snuff Out is ready for the one that tries: the title moves to the controller of any creature that connects with you, so a Thorn cast into a flier or into more attackers than you can block draws you one card and then feeds the opponent one every turn after.

Baleful Strix

Two mana for a flying deathtouch 1/1 that draws a card as it enters, and the deck's only two-mana creature. It is a blocker first: deathtouch means it trades with any attacker, and flying means it trades with the evasive ones that would otherwise take the monarch. It is also the cleanest way to take the monarch back, since the title goes to whoever's creature deals combat damage to the current monarch. When the opponent has taken it, attack with the Strix or a Bird rather than keeping every creature home; staying purely on defense lets them draw ahead every turn.

Role Assignment

Dimir Control is a reactive, interactive deck with a tempo-negative curve and high inevitability: it spends the early turns a half-step behind, answering rather than deploying, and it wins because the monarch, Lórien Revealed, and Murmuring Mystic make the long game lopsided. Every matchup is fought on the same few axes: whether the opponent can land threats faster than one-for-one removal and a turn-two Counterspell can answer them, who holds the monarch after Thorn of the Black Rose resolves, whether the Mystic resolves and survives, how the removal lines up against the opposing creatures, and who wins the card race once both sides are refilling.

Vs. Aggro. Against aggro you are the control deck without question, and the matchup is decided on the first axis: early board control. The clock is theirs, the inevitability is yours, and your job is to survive to the point where that inevitability matters, which means trading Cut Down and Cast Down for creatures on curve, blocking with Baleful Strix, and holding Thorn of the Black Rose until the board is empty rather than casting it as a 1/3 into attackers who will take the monarch. The play that defines the role is declining the free Snuff Out on turn two when a mana-costing removal spell does the same job, because the 4 life is a resource the aggro deck is trying to take and Campfire only recovers it slowly.

Vs. Midrange. Against midrange you are also the control deck, and this is the class where the plan works most cleanly. Their threats are creatures the removal lines up against, their card advantage comes from spells that Counterspell can stop, and once the board is clear the monarch decides the card race in your favor. The defining play is spending Counterspell on their draw spell or value engine rather than their creature, since the creature dies to the removal you are holding anyway and the engine is what would let them keep pace with Thorn of the Black Rose.

Play Patterns

Cast Thorn of the Black Rose only when no opposing creature can deal combat damage to you on the next attack, or when a free Snuff Out is ready for the one that tries. The monarch moves to the controller of any creature that connects with you, so a Thorn cast into a flier, or into more attackers than you can block, draws you one card at your end step and then hands the opponent an extra card every turn afterward. Remove the evasive creature first, or keep an answer you can cast while tapped out, and the monarch becomes a lasting lead instead of a gift.
Spend Cut Down and Cast Down while you have mana to spare and save Snuff Out for the turn you tap out. Snuff Out is the only answer in the deck that costs no mana, which makes it the card that protects a turn spent entirely on a four- or five-mana spell. Firing it first because it is free leaves that later turn undefended and spends 4 life that the mana-costing removal would never have asked for.
With Murmuring Mystic in play, hold instants for the opponent's turn or for the moment removal is aimed at the Mystic. The Bird trigger happens on cast and resolves even if the Mystic is destroyed in response or the spell is countered, so a Plunder the Trollshaws cast in response to removal still leaves a flier behind. Birds made on the opponent's turn can attack as soon as you untap, and until that moment the open mana keeps Counterspell available. With the Mystic in play and four lands untapped, pass the turn holding everything; at the opponent's end step, cast Plunder the Trollshaws off two of the lands, which leaves a Bird on the battlefield and two Islands still open, and the Bird attacks when you untap.
Until you control a land with the Swamp type, cycle Lórien Revealed for Contaminated Aquifer rather than a basic Island. Islandcycling finds any land with the Island type, and a dual with both the Island and Swamp types supplies black mana and switches on the free mode of in one card, where a land that only taps for black without the Swamp type does not. The dual enters tapped, so play it on a turn you do not need all your mana. With two Islands and Lórien Revealed in hand, play an Island on turn one and cycle Lórien at the opponent's end step for Contaminated Aquifer; on turn two the Aquifer enters tapped beside off the Island, and on turn three the Aquifer's black mana and a second Island cast .

Black Sacrifice

Matchup

They are the beatdown and we are the control deck, and the reason is simple: their one-mana creatures have to end the game before our card draw and Murmuring Mystic’s Birds take over, because their deck runs out of cards in a long game and ours does not. Speed is theirs. Their first creatures attack while nearly half our lands are entering tapped and our cheapest blocker is a two-mana Baleful Strix, and going first makes that gap wider, so the early turns are spent answering rather than developing. Everything after that is ours: with every creature card in their deck at 1 toughness, Suffocating Fumes takes several bodies at once, Baleful Strix trades with any attacker however much it has grown, and late in the game their topdecked 1/1s do little while Lórien Revealed draws three and the Mystic turns each later spell into a flier. Tithing Blade’s edict mostly feeds their sacrifices, and the other piece of our removal that does not join the fight is Snuff Out: every creature card they play is black, so its only legal targets are their Squirrel and Mercenary tokens.

The game is decided by how our removal lines up against their free sacrifice outlets. Aim Cut Down at Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle before either has two counters, and keep Cast Down for Bloodthrone Vampire, which pumps itself out of Cut Down range in response, or for a payoff that has already grown. Do not spend removal on Nested Shambler, Infestation Sage or Nezumi Linkbreaker; each leaves a token behind when it dies, so the kill spell buys almost nothing. Suffocating Fumes is at its best on a board with no Carrion Feeder or Bloodthrone Vampire: with an outlet in play they sacrifice everything else in response and convert the sweep into +1/+1 counters on Carrion Feeder and Mortician Beetle or a +2/+2 pump on the Vampire. Kill the outlets first, or hold the Fumes for a board without them.

Block rather than race. Baleful Strix’s deathtouch kills whatever attacks into it, and Murmuring Mystic blocks and survives any of their unpumped creatures, so the ground holds while the Birds accumulate. Thorn of the Black Rose waits until nothing of theirs can connect, including the flying Insect from Infestation Sage, because the monarch’s extra card each turn is exactly what their deck lacks in a long game and handing it over is how we lose a game we had under control. Save Counterspell for Rite of Consumption, Accursed Marauder or a payoff rather than a one-drop that leaves a token; the sacrifice for Rite is paid as the spell is cast, so countering it still costs them the creature. Cast Murmuring Mystic beside a Baleful Strix or Trinket Mage so Accursed Marauder’s edict has another nontoken creature to take. When they cast Supernatural Stamina in response to our removal, Dispel it, or sacrifice Nihil Spellbomb, whose exile ability costs no mana, in response to the return trigger; the same Spellbomb activation in response to Unearth leaves it with no target.

Key Threats

Carrion Feeder is their main attacker and a free sacrifice outlet in one card: any creature of theirs we target or block can be fed to it for a +1/+1 counter, and two counters put it past Cut Down’s limit. It is the first target for Cut Down and the creature we save Cast Down for once it has grown. Leave it in play beside fodder and our own removal and blocks keep handing it counters until it is out of range and becomes the creature they sacrifice to Rite of Consumption for a drain equal to its power.

Mortician Beetle grows from every sacrifice by either player, so the sacrifices they make in response to our removal and sweepers become counters on it, and two counters again put it past Cut Down. Kill it early with Cut Down or a Viridian Longbow ping, before an outlet arrives to feed it. Left alone while they have an outlet and fodder, every removal spell we cast is answered with sacrifices that pile onto it, and Suffocating Fumes leaves a bigger Beetle behind instead of an empty board.

Rite of Consumption is their way through a stalled board: after combat they sacrifice their biggest creature to deal its power to us and gain the same, and a pumped Bloodthrone Vampire keeps its +2/+2 for that sacrifice. Our life total has to stay above what their largest creature plus any unblocked attackers can deal, and a grown Carrion Feeder or pumped Vampire must not live into their second main phase without Counterspell mana open. Removal in response does nothing, since the creature is already sacrificed as the spell is cast.

Bloodthrone Vampire is a free outlet with a pump attached: one sacrifice in response lifts it past Cut Down’s limit, and two make it a 5/5 that kills Murmuring Mystic in combat. Never point Cut Down at it while they have a creature to sacrifice, because the pump in response blanks the spell and they keep the Vampire. Cast Down, a deathtouch block from Baleful Strix, or a sweep once their fodder is gone are the answers that stick.

Sideboard Plan

In:

1 Arms of Hadar
1 Cut Down
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Duress

Out:

4 Snuff Out
1 Tithing Blade

Arms of Hadar comes in because their creature cards are all at 1 toughness: a one-sided -2/-2 kills every creature they have that has not grown past one counter, and Nested Shambler dies at negative power without making Squirrels. It gives us a second sweep beside Suffocating Fumes.

The third Cut Down is another one-mana instant kill for Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle before either has two counters, taking a slot from a Snuff Out that cannot target their creatures.

The second Viridian Longbow is there for Trinket Mage to find or for us to draw: the equipped creature kills one of their 1-toughness creatures each turn, and on Baleful Strix the deathtouch ping kills a grown Carrion Feeder too.

Relic of Progenitus exiles all graveyards at instant speed in response to Unearth or a Supernatural Stamina return trigger, keeping their creature from coming back, and it strips the black cards Spinning Darkness exiles for its free cost. That mode also draws a card, and Trinket Mage can fetch it.

Duress takes Rite of Consumption, the drain that finishes through a stalled board, or a Tragic Slip or Snuff Out held for Murmuring Mystic before we tap four for it. Only one copy comes in: Duress cannot take creatures, which are close to half of their post-board nonland cards, and their hand empties fast, so a second copy misses too often.

All four Snuff Out go out. Every creature card Black Sacrifice plays is black, so its only legal targets are their Squirrel and Mercenary tokens, which are not worth 4 life or four mana.

Tithing Blade goes out because they usually have a token or a one-drop that leaves a token to give up, and the sacrifice also grows Mortician Beetle and puts a counter on a creature wearing Sadistic Glee, so the edict mostly feeds them.

Sideboarding moves this matchup a moderate step in our direction: we turn five cards that were dead or actively helping them into a second sweep and more cheap answers to 1-toughness creatures, which outweighs the Tragic Slip, Snuff Out and extra Accursed Marauder they bring in against Murmuring Mystic.

Post-board Strategy

The headline change is on both sides: four Snuff Out that cannot target their black creatures make way for Arms of Hadar and more cheap answers to 1-toughness creatures, while they add Tragic Slip, Mesmeric Fiend and extra Accursed Marauder to go after Murmuring Mystic. The race itself does not change shape: they still have to finish before the Birds take over, and we still hold the ground until they do.

Time both sweeps for a turn when Carrion Feeder and Bloodthrone Vampire are already dead, so they cannot sacrifice the rest of the board in response to grow an outlet or Mortician Beetle out of range. The third Cut Down still goes at Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle before either has two counters, and Trinket Mage fetches Viridian Longbow or Relic of Progenitus depending on whether their board or their recursion is the bigger problem.

Murmuring Mystic needs cover now that they are bringing in Tragic Slip, Snuff Out and more Accursed Marauder for our creatures and Mesmeric Fiend for our hand. Cast Duress first to take a Tragic Slip or Snuff Out, hold Dispel or Counterspell for those instants, and keep a second nontoken creature beside the Mystic for Marauder. Thorn of the Black Rose still waits until a sweep has cleared their board.

Tragic Slip: a free sacrifice turns on morbid at instant speed, so it is a one-mana kill for Murmuring Mystic, Thorn of the Black Rose or Baleful Strix whenever they have fodder.
Mesmeric Fiend: it takes Suffocating Fumes, Arms of Hadar, a Counterspell or Murmuring Mystic, and sacrificing it while its enter trigger is still on the stack keeps the card exiled for good, but once the trigger has resolved, killing the Fiend returns the card to our hand.
Spinning Darkness, in some lists: usually cast free by exiling three black cards from their graveyard, it kills Trinket Mage or a Bird and gains them 3 life. Exiling their graveyard with Relic of Progenitus or Nihil Spellbomb turns the free mode off until it refills.
Mutagenic Growth, in some lists: paid with 2 life, the +2/+2 in response saves one creature from Cut Down, Suffocating Fumes or Arms of Hadar.
Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb both exile their graveyard at instant speed, so hold one for Unearth or a Supernatural Stamina return trigger, and flash back Plunder the Trollshaws before Relic’s exile-everything mode takes our graveyard too.