At a glance
- Format: Standard
- Colors: Blue / Black (UB)
- Archetype: Dimir self-mill reanimator midrange
- Power tier: mid-high
- Standard: ✅ Legal
Strategy
This is a UB self-mill reanimator that wins by grinding: fill the graveyard early, then trade resources behind one of the best removal suites in the format while you cheat a fatty into play. The mill engine is broad and cheap — Scarblade Scout, the 3x Paramecia Coloniex, Wreckage Wickerfolk’s surveil, plus surveil lands (Conduit Pylons, Undercity Sewers) — and it doubles as enablers for the reanimation half. The payoff package is 4x Zombify, 2x Sidisi, Regent of the Mire, Live or Die, and Paramecia’s own death trigger, all pointed at the two haymakers: Sire of Seven Deaths (a 7/7 with first strike, vigilance, menace, trample, reach, lifelink and Ward—7 life that ends games on its own) and Vein Ripper, whose drain-on-death plus sacrifice-ward makes it a nightmare to remove profitably.
The connective tissue is what makes the deck actually good on ladder: 3x Bitter Triumph, 2x Hero’s Downfall, Bake into a Pie, and Live or Die’s destroy mode give you a clean, instant-speed answer to nearly anything, and discarding to Bitter Triumph quietly feeds the yard. Card advantage is layered and self-sustaining — Dreadwing Scavenger loots on every attack and goes online as a deathtouch flyer past threshold, Preacher of the Schism bleeds card and board advantage against go-wide and lifegain decks, 2x Phyrexian Arena and 2x Midnight Reaper keep the gas flowing, and Midnight Reaper plus Reassembling Skeleton form a small recursive sac engine. The plan is to win the long game: removal-trade into the midgame, then close with a reanimated bomb, a threshold’d Dreadwing, or incremental drain — Vein Ripper, Preacher tokens, and lifelink chip from Sire.
The honest ceiling: the reanimation half is a little clunky for the top tables. Only two real reanimation targets (both 1-ofs) means Zombify is frequently a glorified recursion spell rather than a tempo blowout, and the deck has no proactive way to dig for them. Against fast aggro you can stumble before the engine assembles, and there’s no countermagic to protect the bomb. It’s a strong, resilient grinder that punishes fair decks and durdly midrange mirrors — solidly mid-high on ladder — but it lacks the explosive consistency or interaction-density of a true competitive list. Worth noting Mik owns Massacre Wurm, Rise of the Dark Realms, and Bloodghast in the upgrade pile, any of which would sharpen the reanimation top-end without spending wildcards.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Deck
1 Scarblade Scout
3 Paramecia Coloniex
2 Wreckage Wickerfolk
2 Reassembling Skeleton
4 Dreadwing Scavenger
2 Sidisi, Regent of the Mire
2 Ardyn, the Usurper
1 Sire of Seven Deaths
4 Zombify
1 Live or Die
3 Bitter Triumph
2 Hero's Downfall
1 Bake into a Pie
3 Preacher of the Schism
2 Phyrexian Arena
2 Midnight Reaper
1 Vein Ripper
4 Watery Grave
4 Gloomlake Verge
2 Conduit Pylons
1 Undercity Sewers
11 Swamp
2 Island
Card images & data via Scryfall.