At a glance
- Format: Standard
- Colors: Blue / Black (UB)
- Archetype: Dimir Midrange (tempo-control)
- Power tier: competitive
- Standard: ✅ Legal
Strategy
The #1 Standard deck, built from Mik’s collection. Cheap evasive disruptors (Deep-Cavern Bat) and flash tempo (Floodpits Drowner) trade up early and set up the midgame. Preacher of the Schism and Enduring Curiosity are sticky, hard-to-kill card-advantage engines that bury opponents in a grind. Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is the win condition: an uncounterable-via-ninjutsu, hexproof-on-your-turn 3/4 that draws cards and taps down blockers, snowballing once the board is stable. A dense, efficient removal suite (Bitter Triumph, Blight Rot, Death in the Family, Bogslither’s Embrace, Bake into a Pie) keeps the board clear while a light counter package (Spell Pierce, Negate) protects engines and answers their bombs. Restless Reef is an extra manland finisher. Plan: interact, stick an engine, untap into Kaito, win the long game.
Upgrade path
MYTHIC CRAFTS: zero new mythic wildcards spent. The only mythic in the deck is Kaito, Bane of Nightmares x4, which Mik already OWNS (own4 = free). Running mythic-craft count for this deck: 0 (well under the lean target). ZERO new rares crafted: every rare here is owned — Enduring Curiosity (own4), Preacher of the Schism (own3), and all rare lands (Watery Grave own4, Gloomlake Verge own4, Undercity Sewers own3, Restless Reef own2, Temple of Deceit own2). The one non-owned card, Deep-Cavern Bat, is an UNCOMMON (own0) — free/unlimited to craft per policy. FUTURE UPGRADES once Mik has more rare wildcards: add 4x Spyglass Siren (the proven 1-drop flyer that makes Kaito ninjutsu trivial) and 1-2x a black bomb like Sheoldred-tier rares; these would replace the Deep-Cavern Bat slot and trim a removal spell. No rares were added in this build.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Deck
4 Deep-Cavern Bat
4 Floodpits Drowner
3 Preacher of the Schism
4 Enduring Curiosity
4 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
3 Bitter Triumph
4 Blight Rot
2 Bogslither's Embrace
3 Death in the Family
2 Spell Pierce
2 Negate
4 Watery Grave
4 Gloomlake Verge
2 Restless Reef
2 Undercity Sewers
5 Island
6 Swamp
2 Tishana's Tidebinder
Sideboard
A 15-card sideboard for best-of-three (Traditional) play — swap these in game 2/3 against the matchups below.
Flexible Dimir board: cheap lifegain-removal + a wall for the big aggro slice, Feed the Swarm/Zuko’s Exile as broad enchantment answers, Duress + extra counters for the grind, Raven Eagle for graveyard decks.
vs Mono-Red Aggro: +2 Moment of Craving, +2 Vampire Nighthawk, +1 Ruinous Waterbending / -2 Negate, -2 Spell Pierce, -1 Tishana’s Tidebinder. Nighthawk walls their board and gains life; keep main EXILE (Death in the Family, Bogslither’s Embrace) for Screaming Nemesis rather than damage-based answers.
vs Gruul Prowess / Boros Burn: +2 Vampire Nighthawk, +2 Moment of Craving, +1 Ruinous Waterbending / -2 Negate, -2 Spell Pierce, -1 Preacher of the Schism. Same anti-aggro plan; Ruinous Waterbending sweeps their pump/prowess board, deathtouch Nighthawk trades up on everything.
vs Dimir Mirror: +2 Duress, +2 Raven Eagle, +1 Feed the Swarm, +1 Disdainful Stroke / -2 Death in the Family, -2 Bogslither’s Embrace, -2 Spell Pierce. Feed the Swarm kills Enduring Curiosity, Duress strips counters/Kaito, Raven Eagle grinds and denies flashback/recursion.
vs Golgari Midrange: +2 Feed the Swarm, +2 Duress, +1 Zuko’s Exile, +1 Disdainful Stroke / -2 Spell Pierce, -2 Negate, -2 Bogslither’s Embrace. Feed the Swarm / Zuko’s Exile answer Unholy Annex and Glissa; Duress and Disdainful Stroke cover their top-end.
vs Azorius Oculus: +2 Raven Eagle, +2 Duress, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +1 Negate / -3 Death in the Family, -2 Bogslither’s Embrace, -1 Bitter Triumph. Raven Eagle exiles graveyard cards to shrink Abhorrent Oculus and starve delve; counters/Duress hit the payoff.
vs Zur Domain / Mono-White Tokens: +2 Feed the Swarm, +1 Zuko’s Exile, +2 Ruinous Waterbending, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +1 Negate / -3 Death in the Family, -2 Bogslither’s Embrace, -2 Preacher of the Schism. Enchantment removal + counters vs Zur’s Overlords; Ruinous Waterbending is the go-wide answer vs tokens/Jeskai Convoke.
Full deck with sideboard (paste into Arena for Bo3):
Deck
4 Deep-Cavern Bat
4 Floodpits Drowner
3 Preacher of the Schism
4 Enduring Curiosity
4 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
3 Bitter Triumph
4 Blight Rot
2 Bogslither's Embrace
3 Death in the Family
2 Spell Pierce
2 Negate
4 Watery Grave
4 Gloomlake Verge
2 Restless Reef
2 Undercity Sewers
5 Island
6 Swamp
2 Tishana's Tidebinder
Sideboard
2 Duress
2 Feed the Swarm
2 Moment of Craving
2 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Ruinous Waterbending
2 Raven Eagle
1 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Zuko's Exile
Card images & data via Scryfall.