MTG Salvation

I know Dimir is mainly control, but I've been thinking about beatdown possibilities. I'm sorry I don't know how to post a decklist correctly, if somebody tells be i'll be sure to fix this up, but for now this is what the deck looks like:



As you can see this deck is budget. The deck mainly revolves around Halcyon Glaze, Moroii Fleeting Image and Snapping Drake for offence, which is why I have titled this deck, "Illusions and Vampires and Drakes Oh My!"

Reasons for running off coards: The Fleeting Image late game activates Halcyon Glaze The Thoughtpicker Witch can be used to get rid of unwanted land late game off the top of my deck. The 4 copies of Last gasp are the only removal other thand the 2keening Banshe are key early game to deal with cards like Watchwolf and other early threats.

The deck doesn't fare well against Wrath, so I've thought of running a few counters, maybe remands.

Otherwise, I'm open to suggestions. please post your ideas and oppinions.

You use a deck by using deck and /deck tags within [] brackets.

i.e.

[*deck]
Creatures (30)
4 moroii
4 dimir infiltrator
...
[*/deck]

As for your deck itself, fleeting image is expensive trigger for halcyon gaze really. Consider bringing in ninja of the deep hours for card advantage and allowing you to recast a creature re-activating halcyon gaze.

stinkweed imp can also help you control the board, as a mere 4 gasps is not gonna cut it. If someone plays a big creature you're in a lot of trouble with this deck as it is. Consider also rend flesh

Thanks for the /deck...I was thinking about the stinkweed for the gasps, but I never considered the ninja. But if I import the aditional 4 cards for the ninja, what could I take out?

Thoughtpicker witch and roofstalker wight are both useless here. Dimir Houseguard is also crappy since he's only gonna fetch moroii or drake anyways, you might as well play a better creature so when you draw it you play it, rather than fiddle around transmuting when all you can get is a flyer.

(note transmute is only good if you can fetch a bunch of different cards for different scenarios - house guard goes with things like wrath of god, faith's fetters, persecute, seed spark, circu, etc etc - answers to problems)

If you want U/B aggro you need good costed creatures that have evasion. You're also working halcyon gaze, so lets try to maintain that. You also aren't running much in terms of rares,s o I'll keep my suggestions budget.

There are 2 cards here that are gonna help you a lot: nezumi cutthroat and the ninja of deep hours. Ninjas are quite nice with dimir infiltrators. Cutthroats often get through as well.

The ninja's are also awesome with your keening banshee's, returning them to your hand so you can cast them again to kill another target.

Cut 4 withc and 4 wight for 4 ninjas and 4 cutthroats.

Cut 4 houseguards for the removal spell of your choice. I suggested rend flesh, as I think its your best choice here. Alternatively you could insert mana leak as an answer to all sorts of problems, and fetchable with a transmuted infiltrator.

Alright, the Cutthoarts for the houseguards. Ninjas for thoughtpickers or wights. Stinkweed for last gasp. I'm not afraid to add a little money into the deck, what are your suggestions?

Aitrus: I have to disagree about House Guards only good for fetching non-creatures. Moroii is a very strong turn 4 play and since the transmute only costs 3 on the Guards it's like have 8 copies of Moroii in your deck. The same goes for any other powerful four drop that you MUST play on turn 4, maybe the new R/G guys or perhaps the Ghost Council.

I've made a few changes; heres an update of the deck



As you can see, I swapped the Roofstalkers for Cutthroats, and Stinkweeds for the gasps. I'm still thinking about the Ninjas and whether I should take out the Houseguards for them.

Here's a build that I just threw together, for the sake of helping you out:


It might require a little money to be added in, but it has a lot of the same build as yours, just with a couple less creatures and the O-Naginata's in for added beat. Also, if you're not playing a T2-Strict game, get some Eon Hubs to get rid of the effect of Moroiis.

Thoughtpicker Witch can't target yourself. It reads "target opponent".

Quote from Silkworms »

Here's a build that I just threw together, for the sake of helping you out:

U/B BeatersMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Land: 22 10x Island 10x Swamp 2x Dimir Aqueduct Creatures: 26 4x Dimir Infiltrator 4x Ninja of the Deep Hours 4x Gutwrencher Oni 4x Stinkweed Imp 4x Ogre Marauder 4x Moroii 2x Keening Banshee	Artifacts:8 4x O-Naginata 4x No-Dachi Spells:4 4x Halcyon Glaze	Side Board:15 4x Last Gasp 4x Midnight Covenant 4x Mana Leak (for spell-based decks) 3x Perplex (Transmutable, plus, good to destroy hands)

It might require a little money to be added in, but it has a lot of the same build as yours, just with a couple less creatures and the O-Naginata's in for added beat. Also, if you're not playing a T2-Strict game, get some Eon Hubs to get rid of the effect of Moroiis.

I think the ogre marauder would be nice early game, but the double black cast hurts. Late game it is also nice. I'm not really afriad of the 1 life per turn draw back from Moroii. The O-Naginata are nice, I might even add raving oni slave to the deck. The O-Naginata at 1 CC is even better now that I've realised....

Quote from mirari47 »

Thoughtpicker Witch can't target yourself. It reads "target opponent".

Thanks to you both.

Quote from Azizi »

I think the ogre marauder would be nice early game, but the double black cast hurts. Late game it is also nice. I'm not really afriad of the 1 life per turn draw back from Moroii. The O-Naginata are nice, I might even add raving oni-slave to the deck. The O-Naginata at 1 CC is even better now that I've realised....



Thanks to you both.

Yeah, the O-Naginata is actually quite good with that deck, mainly because of the large amount of creatures with 3+ power. Heck, having a Turn 4 6/1 Ogre Marauder that is unblockable unless they sack a creature is not a pretty sight. Those Gutwrencher Onis are really cool, especially when equipped with an O-Naginata. I actually beat someone with that combo... Let me show out the win through a dramatization:

On my field:
Land(not sure how many)
O-Naginata Equipped to
Kokusho, the Evening Star

On his field:
Land
Looming Shade

His Turn:
Tap (unknown amount of mana, forgot), kill off Kokusho with a removal spell. Tap more mana, power up Looming Shade to an 11/11, swing for 11. I went from 25 to 14. His life total is 8.

My turn:
Tap 3, Play Underworld Dreams, Tap 5, play Gutwrencher Oni Tap 2, Equip with O-Naginata(keep in mind, this is late game, and we had a lot of mana available). Swing with the 8/4 Oni. He blocks with the 'Shade, Trample effect, he takes 7.

His turn:
Draw. 1 damage from Underworld Dreams, he loses.


That game alone makes Gutwrencher Oni one of my favorite cards.

The o-naginata is also great with raving oni slave. I mean, 6/3 trampler turn 3, at a cost of 3 life isn't bad. As for Gutwrencher oni...Its a good card, but a bit too pricy for me and this deck.

I haven't been here for a while, but my budget deck still stands, last going 2/2 at a local FNM, with some serious competiton, losing once to Jitte and mana screwd, and another time to Glare. Here is a current look on the deck.



As you can see, its 62 cards, and I'd like to minimize it to 60. I'm either going to cut one of the 2 copy cards, or all 4 of the Infiltrators. By doing this, I could either fit in more counter spells, or additional copies of any of the cards not at 4.

take out infiltrators and add 2 keening banshee, and take dimir guildmages out and add 2 fleeting images (so cheap rare.. costs less than watchwolf here ;))

Quote from Amadi »

take out infiltrators and add 2 keening banshee, and take dimir guildmages out and add 2 fleeting images (so cheap rare.. costs less than watchwolf here ;))

Haha, thats good. While I am almost certain I'm going to cut the infiltrators, I would like to keep the Guildmages, as they are easily castable, and provide 2 power on turn 2. Also, they help late game when I'm in topdeck mode, and I have a lot of mana to work with. I've thought about adding more Banshees, but the 4CC really weighs on my decision.

Kira, Great Glass Spinner would be a really good addition to this deck, a much better choice than fleeting image in my opinion, with all the removal running around, its hard to keep your creatures on the field, not only is kira efficiently costed, 2/2 flyer for 3, she makes it so much harder to get rid of your creatures. I've always wanted to make a U/B beatdown deck and she'd be the first thing I'd put in.

Quote from Deliverance »

I dont think the fleeting images are necessary and I think yu should add Raving oni slave and maybe drop the banshees.

I tried the slaves, but with so much removal out there it just ends up with me losing 6 life, so for me, thats a no.

Quote from Avatar of the forest »

Kira, Great Glass Spinner would be a really good addition to this deck, a much better choice than fleeting image in my opinion, with all the removal running around, its hard to keep your creatures on the field, not only is kira efficiently costed, 2/2 flyer for 3, she makes it so much harder to get rid of your creatures. I've always wanted to make a U/B beatdown deck and she'd be the first thing I'd put in.

Thats a great idea I will consider, but just one thing...I'm a bit sketchy on the cards stats, and the link is invalid. Is the CC 1UU or 2U? Since I've had problems getting Halcyon Glaze out because of its UU cost, and I don't want to end up with dead cards in my hand with a 3cc, waiting for a second island. On saying that the card is great late game too, so I will think about it.

The thing with Fleeting Image is that I need it late game to activate Halcyon Glaze, and its great against Jitte. The only other thing I am sure to be able to activate the glaze with late game is stinky, trusting that hes in my graveyard.