At a glance
- Format: Standard Brawl
- Commander: Locke Cole
- Colors: Blue / Black (UB)
- Archetype: Dimir tempo-control (Standard Brawl)
- Power tier: competitive
- Standard Brawl: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Dimir tempo-control led by Locke Cole — a recastable {1}{U}{B} deathtouch + lifelink threat that trades up with anything on defense, race-proofs you against aggro, and loots (draw a card, discard a card) whenever it connects. Since he returns from the command zone every time he dies, he’s a resilient, always-available engine. Plan: control the early turns with a dense, efficient interaction suite — one-mana answers (Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, Stab, Into the Flood Maw), premium two-mana removal (Bitter Triumph, Heartless Act, Long Goodbye), and hard counters (Essence Scatter, Negate, Tishana’s Tidebinder) — while cheap evasive flyers (Spyglass Siren, Spectral Sailor, Dreadwing Scavenger, Unwelcome Sprite) chip in and fuel card advantage. Grind the mid-game with Phyrexian Arena, the surveil-draw package (Spellgyre, Cruel Truths, Quick Study, Refute), Enduring Curiosity and Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator, then close with evasive beaters plus Vein Ripper and Massacre Wurm.
Upgrade path
LAND REVAMP 2026-07-11: manabase rebuilt to kill taplands (cut guildgates/temples/gainlands); now runs shock + verge untapped duals + basics. MYTHIC CRAFTS: ZERO new mythic wildcards spent. The commander Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is own4 (FREE). The four other mythics in the 99 — Sphinx of Forgotten Lore (own1), Glen Elendra’s Answer (own1), Vein Ripper (own1), and Massacre Wurm (own1) — are ALL already OWNED (own>=1), so each is a free copy and costs no mythic wildcard. Running mythic-craft count for this deck: 0 (well under the lean ⇐4-5 target, and the whole pass’s ~21-mythic budget is untouched here). ZERO new rares crafted: every rare in the deck is owned — Tishana’s Tidebinder (own2), Drag the Canal (own1), Preacher of the Schism (own3), Phyrexian Arena (own2), Enduring Curiosity (own4), and all rare lands (Watery Grave own4, Gloomlake Verge own4, Undercity Sewers own3, Restless Reef own2, Temple of Deceit own2, Starting Town own4). All remaining nonbasics are owned commons/uncommons (free/unlimited per policy). FUTURE UPGRADES once Mik has more rare wildcards: add proven Standard Dimir rares Mik doesn’t yet own at higher copies isn’t relevant in singleton, but the marginal rare-land upgrade would be a second untapped UB dual or a Marsh-style fixing land to trim the tapland count (Dimir Guildgate / Dismal Backwater / Murky Sewer / Treno / Serpent’s Pass all enter tapped); swapping two of those for owned-or-future untapped duals would tighten the early curve. No rares were added in this build.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Locke Cole
Deck
1 Spyglass Siren
1 Spectral Sailor
1 Into the Flood Maw
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Stab
1 Floodpits Drowner
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Brineborn Cutthroat
1 Dreadwing Scavenger
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Heartless Act
1 Long Goodbye
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
1 Drag the Canal
1 Quick Study
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Enduring Curiosity
1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
1 Glen Elendra's Answer
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Spellgyre
1 Vein Ripper
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Cruel Truths
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Restless Reef
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Capital City
1 Conduit Pylons
1 Starting Town
8 Swamp
8 Island
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Deep-Cavern Bat
1 Deadly Cover-Up
Ideal build (upgrade target)
Ideal Dimir keeps Kaito’s ninjutsu tempo plan and layers in the best available interaction and card advantage. Three Steps Ahead is a premium flex counter/bounce/copy, Cryptic Coat adds an evasive recurring threat, and Tinybones plus the Preacher/Phyrexian Arena/Enduring Curiosity engines bury opponents in cards. Vein Ripper and Massacre Wurm remain the finishers. Manabase runs Watery Grave + Gloomlake Verge + Restless Reef. Top craft priorities: Kaito Bane of Nightmares (commander), Three Steps Ahead, Vein Ripper, Massacre Wurm, Tinybones the Pickpocket.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 3 (1 mythic, 1 rare, 1 uncommon)
- Mythic: Tinybones, the Pickpocket
- Rare: Cryptic Coat
- Uncommon: Nowhere to Run
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 Locke Cole
Deck
1 Spyglass Siren
1 Spectral Sailor
1 Floodpits Drowner
1 Brineborn Cutthroat
1 Dreadwing Scavenger
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
1 Three Steps Ahead
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Into the Flood Maw
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Heartless Act
1 Long Goodbye
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Deadly Cover-Up
1 Nowhere to Run
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Enduring Curiosity
1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
1 Drag the Canal
1 Cruel Truths
1 Tinybones, the Pickpocket
1 Vein Ripper
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Cryptic Coat
1 Glen Elendra's Answer
1 Spellgyre
1 Quick Study
1 Deep-Cavern Bat
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Restless Reef
1 Command Tower
1 Starting Town
1 Fabled Passage
8 Island
9 Swamp
Card images & data via Scryfall.