At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: Xanathar, Guild Kingpin
- Colors: Blue / Black (UB)
- Archetype: Dimir control / mill-and-steal (budget)
- Power tier: competitive
- Competitive Brawl: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Play the exact same Dimir grind plan as the power build using only cheap pieces: a dense package of one-mana removal, hard counters, and edict/-2/-2 sweepers keeps the board clean while a pile of owned card-advantage engines (Phyrexian Arena, Preacher of the Schism, Enduring Curiosity, Night’s Whisper, the Kaitos) buries opponents. Any-color mana rocks let you actually cast the cards Xanathar hands you off enemy libraries. The kill comes two ways, both intact on a budget: a swollen Consuming Aberration, or a mill package (Riverchurn Monument, Sphinx’s / Teferi’s Tutelage, Psychic Corrosion, Mesmeric Orb) that decks a player out and constantly refreshes the top card Xanathar plays. Owned mythic beaters like Massacre Wurm, Vein Ripper, and Dragonlord Silumgar close games the ideal’s crafted bombs otherwise would.
Upgrade path
This is the PLAYABLE-NOW build: every nonland is owned or a common/uncommon craft, so the only wildcard you spend is the commander Xanathar, Guild Kingpin itself (1 mythic, owned_qty 0). It swaps the ideal’s unowned rare/mythic payoffs (Sheoldred the Apocalypse, Bruvac, Traumatize/Maddening Cacophony/Fraying Sanity, Liliana Dreadhorde General, Chromatic Lantern, Cyclonic Rift, premium theft creatures) for owned mythic beaters and craftable mill engines that fill the same roles. The full power version at data/decks_json/brawl-xanathar.json is the ideal upgrade path once you have wildcards to burn.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Xanathar, Guild Kingpin
Deck
1 Arcane Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Prophetic Prism
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Enduring Curiosity
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Read the Bones
1 Night's Whisper
1 Behold the Multiverse
1 Opt
1 Consider
1 Fatal Push
1 Bloodchief's Thirst
1 Cut Down
1 Go for the Throat
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Heartless Act
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Counterspell
1 Spell Pierce
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Drown in the Loch
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Languish
1 Duress
1 Deep-Cavern Bat
1 Nightveil Specter
1 Deadly Cover-Up
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Tolarian Terror
1 Fog Bank
1 Dimir Locket
1 Guardian Idol
1 Pristine Talisman
1 Cast Down
1 Sinister Sabotage
1 Didn't Say Please
1 Cry of the Carnarium
1 Golden Demise
1 Pestilent Haze
1 Aetherize
1 Riverchurn Monument
1 Sphinx's Tutelage
1 Psychic Corrosion
1 Mesmeric Orb
1 Teferi's Tutelage
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Vein Ripper
1 Kairi, the Swirling Sky
1 Spectral Sailor
1 Overlord of the Balemurk
1 Emet-Selch, Unsundered
1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
1 Command Tower
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Restless Reef
1 Serpent's Pass
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Underground River
13 Island
16 Swamp
Ideal build (upgrade target)
The power-ceiling build (multi-agent workflow output) — every premium payoff and the full combo/synergy package. The current list is the playable-now budget version; craft toward this as your wildcards come in.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 25 (5 mythic, 18 rare, 2 other)
- Mythic: Bruvac the Grandiloquent, Damnation, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, The Meathook Massacre
- Rare: Archmage’s Charm, Baleful Mastery, Chromatic Lantern, Cyclonic Rift, Fraying Sanity, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Hostage Taker, Hullbreaker Horror, Maddening Cacophony, Nezahal, Primal Tide, Notion Thief, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, The Reality Chip, Thief of Sanity, Thoughtseize, Torment of Hailfire, Toxic Deluge, Traumatize
- Other: Dimir Signet, Talisman of Dominance
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 Xanathar, Guild Kingpin
Deck
1 Arcane Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Dimir Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Prophetic Prism
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Enduring Curiosity
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Read the Bones
1 Night's Whisper
1 Behold the Multiverse
1 The Reality Chip
1 Opt
1 Consider
1 Fatal Push
1 Bloodchief's Thirst
1 Cut Down
1 Go for the Throat
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Heartless Act
1 Baleful Mastery
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Counterspell
1 Spell Pierce
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Archmage's Charm
1 Drown in the Loch
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Damnation
1 Toxic Deluge
1 The Meathook Massacre
1 Languish
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Deep-Cavern Bat
1 Thief of Sanity
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Hostage Taker
1 Nightveil Specter
1 Notion Thief
1 Deadly Cover-Up
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Bruvac the Grandiloquent
1 Maddening Cacophony
1 Traumatize
1 Tasha's Hideous Laughter
1 Fraying Sanity
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Tolarian Terror
1 Hullbreaker Horror
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
1 Torment of Hailfire
1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
1 Fog Bank
1 Command Tower
1 Restless Reef
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Underground River
14 Island
16 Swamp
Card images & data via Scryfall.