Before anything else I will say that I am sorry for any errors in the following primer, I’m not a native english speaker so I make many errors in the language used here.
Also if there is anything that you want to speak about because you think I am wrong on something, don’t waste time and feel free to tell me in this thread what you think, we evolve with good criticism and I’ll be happy to be a better player. Thanks to TSPJendrek, even though he will never come here, he is a guy who tries a lot of blue control variants and I do think he is behind those "Dimir Narset control" variants as well. And thanks to all others innovators, Sultay4life, mechint, patxi, kanister and many many more too!
Dimir is the alliance of the two most disruptives colors of magic, Blue and Black.
For the most part of the Modern format history, Blue control decks were never as good as other archetypes of strategies. Few were around like Jeskai control, back in the days, or even Azorius “midrange-ish” control decks which tried to get ton of values from Restoration angel along others ETB creatures like Snapcaster mage, Wall of omens, etc.
Fatal push was printed few years now and already changed a ton of things in modern. Now black had an available and powerful one mana removal which could compete with Lightning bolt and Path to exile, with his strengh and weakness.
Doom blade and other two mana cmc black removal were not that bad but always felt clunky compared to other options from other colors. Also Fatal push changed the way the game were played not only for controls decks, Tarmogoyf was not anymore the king of the beaters and the fearest creatures you want to dodge.
Then, in 2018 blue mages get more tools to play their Blue Control decks. First, Jace, the mind sculptor gets unbanned which was .. the best planeswalker of Modern right before Liliana of the veil (Nowadays, a certain Oko have something to say for this place.) and then Field of ruin was printed, and it was a huge upgrade of Ghost quarter or Tectonic edge for decks who wanted to play Cryptic Commands. Then Teferi, Hero of dominaria came out and Blue mages got even better cards than Elspeth or alike for their Blue-White deck.
We saw an era where Blue Reactive decks were very good. But nothing yet impressive for Dimir mages who were always trying to make Bitterblossom and few others faeries cards good but never really succeed, except for "certain" Yuta Takahashi.
Nonetheless, Blue and Black were fine when red was involved. Grixis midrange-ish control decks did exists too, with the printing of Kolaghan’s command which could make awesome play along Snapcaster mage (8 Kommands grixis), also there was Tasigur, the golden fang which was called “Black Goy” when it was first printed. But in the end, Grixis Death’s shadow was the only deck who truly got the advantages of shell highly disruptive based on blue and black.
Lurrus & Arcum's astrolabe
When companions first came out, Red-Black Prowess was the best decks around because of Lurrus of the dream-den, even though it was the best Lurrus Deck, many other decks got advantage from Lurrus, and Dimir did as well.
With the mix of Snow-Control-Sanctuary package and Lurrus-Bauble package, it was a fun and good control deck, more low to the ground than UWx control variants, and it could grind very well.
Narset was not involved because of the lurrus restriction but with Archmage’s Charm, Cryptic command, mystic sanctuary and a good suit of removal/counterspell the deck was really busted.
Imagine looping Snapcaster mage without the need of Kolaghan’s command, imagine looping a Cryptic command infinitely and never get attacked by a huge army in front of you. Imagine recurring your Mishra's Bauble and draw the card you had just put on top thanks to mystic sanctuary and knowing what is on top of your opponent library when he is nearly hellbent. And all of that with no problems of casting Archmage’s charm, even with 22 lands and field of ruins in your deck thanks to arcum’s astrolabe. Yes, that was that type of deck.
But in the end, Lurrus got a huge downgrade and Arcum’s astrolabe is no more around, so we move on.
Dimir control
Dimir control as it will be presented here is quite of a new deck and I think nothing is settled and there are a lot of things to explore.
It is a reactive control deck a bit lower to the ground than Azorius Control which focuses on abusing Mystic sanctuary and Narset, parter of veils abilities.
With Geier reach sanitarium and Vendilion clique you get advantage of a Narset into play, and with Teferi’s puzzle box you have access to a soft lock, if you need it.
Between Archmage’s Charm, Cryptic command, Force of negation, Drown in the loch and Mana Leak, which all see main deck play, you have a huge wall of counterspell to disrupt opponents' plays and the versatility offered by these cards is very nice.
Discards like Inquisition of kozilek and Thoughtseize spells line up very well with Narsets and Jaces (It's like your goldfish play, Discard followed by your threat), and information gained by discard really helps to set up your following plays and make your counterspells even more effective.
Fatal push is one of the best one mana removal and the printings of Bloodchief’s thirst and Eliminate made the deck way better against Planeswalker which is known has a huge struggle for blue control decks in general and made the deck better.
Also, along this year, there is online results of multiple iterations of Dimir Control, with a good amount of cards who make a core and here is the thing, at the very moment the deck is customizable as you want as long as you keep the core of the good cards, it is a "fine" deck, not good, not overpowered but with the core of good cards and all the options allowed by the colors, you could custom your dimir deck to most of type of metagame. We will discuss cards of the deck in the next section.
First, the removal suit. Sure, Damnation is not as good as Supreme verdict which can be pitched on Force of negation and uncounterable or Anger of the gods which stop triggered abilities from dying creatures, but the one-for-one removal suit seems to be better than in white or red, in my point of view.
Also, I think Fatal push is a better card at the moment than Path to exile or Lightning bolt, it does not give any land to your opponent, which is good because you don't want to ramp UroField decks (or Titan decks). It does not care about the body of the creatures, and in the modern it matters a lot, when Prowess creatures could just growth bigger or against Uro, titan of nature's wrath, Primeval titan, Death's shadow and many more.
Also even if Push does not deal with a resolved Primeval titan, the range of creatures played in modern which have a lower cmc than 4 is huge, see above, and it does not need to be revolted to deal with almost all creatures of Red deck wins and death's shadow decks, and that's great.
It is even better to play black actually, because you have access to Cling to dust, which is an amazing card that we do not see the total impact for the modern format yet.
I mean, it does not make you bad against RDW match one as it used to be, UBx decks did not have a way to compete with cards like Timely reinforcements before cling to dust, Kalitas, traitor of ghet is not even equal to that, and now you have it maindeck and that is never a dead card.
Also it helps you to cheese out some games against Dredge or Graveyard heavy decks game one, which is huge. And it is a pretty good card against Escape-threat, and Uro is all around in the metagame.
And last but not least, Discards spells make your deck better and smoother to play. Inquisition of kozilek and Thoughtseize are the two best disruptions spells you can cast the first turns in this format, and they help you to be more proactive when you need to.
As an example, a turn one or two discard and then Narset followed by Jace are awesome plays. Discard gives you more points against other control decks, and who wants to use Force of negation to counter a turn 1 Thoughtseize in games where cards matter a lot ?
It is also very good against the Primeval titan deck, because you have few ways to deal with a resolved Titan (Cryptic do it, though) and discard could even prevent your opponent to play it, no more worry about this Cavern of souls in play.
All in all, UB Control offers you tons of ways to play against many types of metagame and I am sure the deck will reward you if you put enough effort in it. The core of the deck seems good, anyway.
Landbase
As for any decks, the mana base is really important. Blue control decks really want to play lands every turn because they need Cryptic mana and even more, to do their things.
If we follow Karsten's articles about manabase (which will be linked in the articles and videos sections), Archmage's charm is ask you to play 23 blue sources for casting it on curve, Damnation ask you to play 16 black source for casting it on curve.
Actually(December 2020), Dimir narset control decks tend to play 24 lands and on average 19-20 blue sources and 14-15 black sources. Decks tend to play 2 to 3 Opt and 1 to 2 Cling to dust which could help you to draw land easier, it increases the number of source by two. So in trends we see like 21 to 22 blue sources and 16 to 17 black sources.
Polluted delta - Full four, no reason to not to play. Flooded strand - You need two or three other blue fetches, flooded strand is the cheapest. Field of ruin - You need two to three Field of ruin, if you are on 25 lands you could play full four if needed, or even in a given metagame where you really need it. Watery grave - You need two copies, if you need more see sunken hollow. Mystic sanctuary - That card is busted, you can't play too much, two is the most common number. Sunken hollow - One copy is fine, when you need more watery it is good. Sunken ruins - One or two copies is good, you can't play more because you need islands for sanctuary but it is a good card when you have a source of black or blue in play and it makes Archmage's charm way easier to cast. River of tears - One copy is fine. I personally prefer Drowned but personal choice. Creeping tar pit - One or two copies is fine, you are not forced to play them though. Drowned catacomb - One or two copies, it is a good card and you need color. Geier reach sanitarium - Very good with Narset. One copy.
Creatures Snapcaster mage - Two to four copies. I do like playing three or four but two seems to be the trends. Snap is a good card.
Planeswalker Narset, parter of veils - I think it is the main reason to play this deck, four copies not less. It is a good planeswalker. Jace, the mind sculptor - This is the best planeswalker available in modern, or maybe tied with Wrenn and six. Anyway, Jace is a very good planeswalker. Two to three copies.
Removals Fatal push - Full four. Your best cheap creature removal. I do think Push is even better than bolt or path at the moment. Bloodchief's thirst - A good removal. Kick out of the game some Wrenn and six is pretty good, kill all RB shadow creatures also. One to two copies. Eliminate - A good removal. More Planeswalker answers are good. One to two copies. Damnation - One to two copies depending on the metagame, it can save you from certain types of board state.
Counterspells Cryptic command - This is a very good card which makes a lot of things on it's own! three copies is good. Archmage's charm - Full four. Why ? At least it draws you cards. Versatility is pretty good. Force of negation - Two to four copies. That card helps you to not die to weird combo decks or "hard to deal" turn 1 play. Also good to protect your planeswalkers when you want to play them on curve. Mana leak - Two copies. Good early, medium late, one of our best options. Remand - Cantrip is good, against a low-cmc deck it is a bad card though. One copy.
Others Inquisition of kozilek - I like it better than thoughtseize because it targets a lot of things in this metagame and does not cost you life. Trends are two copies. Thoughtseize - The best one mana disruption spell of the magic world, busted on curve. Two copies. Opt - That is a one mana card, instant speed matters because of mystic sanctuary tricks. Some lists play no copy. Zero to three. Cling to dust - I personally love this card, it make so much things and at least it cantrip for B which is great. I like it maindeck because it can save you from Red decks or Dredge decks. It is a good card against Escape cards which is huge. And it is instant. Well, between one to four. I am personally for two.
Honorable mentions
Cards that do not see plays at the moment but could be played maindeck either with another type of setup or just straight depending on metagame or not.
Torrential gearhulk - Earlier in this year, the card did see play as a one-of. It could speed up things like nobody, dodge Pushes, Bolts and Decays and for six mana could do big things with cryptics. It is a good card but it is not cheap on mana. If you need it, one copy not more. Tasigur, the golden fang - Earlier in this year, the card did see play as one or two of. It could speed things up when you need to finish on combat steps and without Lurrus there is no reason to not play it as a one of. Like Gearhulk it dodge some removals and it has a great body. I do personally prefer Tassigur than Gearhulk because it could cost only one Black mana and could be played along counterspells. With cling to dust in your deck, it will be harder to cast though. Vendilion clique - It does not see play maindeck at the moment. It synergy well with narset and get you even more informations on your opponent. Could speed up the clock when you need to finish by combat steps. It is a fine one or two of if you expect lot of combo or control decks. And UB players all love Faeries, isn't it?
Thought scour - A build who heavily play Drown of the loch and/or Into the story will benefit to play this card over Opt.
Spell snare - A busted card when the metagame calls for it. Maybe one copy actually, if Jund or 5C Humans is all around, go for more. Drown in the loch - I like this card, because of his versatility. Being both a mana leak or a Fatal push is good. Not always easy to set up though. Deprive - Card was heavily played as one or two of when mystic sanctuary poped up. Good engine though. Shadow of doubt - That card seems to be played in early 2020 because of the reign of Primeval titans and alike. I think it is a good sideboard tech or even in the main deck when the metagame calls for it.
Shark typhoon - I like this card because of instant capabilities. Trends are on 0 though. Liliana of the veil - I did see lists who played her, I don't think it is a good card along Snapcaster mage and counterspells because it could make you suboptimal play where you want to tick up LotV but really need cards in your hand too. I think she is better sideboard tech' for a given metagame like where Death's shadow could shine, as an example. Ashiok, nightmare muse - If you want to go heavy on Planeswalker I think that's a great choice. Ashiok could take the battlefield, so when you stabilize, that card could be good against aggro decks or midrange decks you had disrupted but who can still take the battlefield. It is five mana though and it is not great as Teferi, hero of dominaria but as a one of or two it seems fine depending on what you need. I would play 0 at the moment though. Fact or fiction - This card do not see play but if you need more card advantage and a good card on it's own, this card is all what you want. It play well with Snaps, Sanctuary and Delve/escapce abilities too. Into the story - Building your deck around this card seems a possible path for this deck. Earlier this year and back in end 2019 we did see some Grixis deck who played a build around that card.
Card choices Against Graveyards decks Leyline of the void - This is a 100% against any deck who plays heavily with his GY, but it is bad otherwise. When the metagame calls it, go for it. Nihil spellbomb - This is a good piece of disruption against graveyard but not as Leyline and it grinds well, the downside is you can't mystic sanctuary back on top. If you play Lurrus yet it is an even better card. A good card in a wide metagame. Kalitas, traitor of ghet - Against Creature-Graveyard decks it is very good, against decks like storm, nope! If your metagame is full of dredge, play it on board, it is also good against a deck where you need to gain life though. Surgical Extraction - Good against things like storm, not good as spellbomb or leyline against dredge unless they stumble a lot by themself or if you game play out very well. Cling to dust - Good against Uro/Kroxa type of things, not that good against dredge but it gains life and can stop a dredge sequence at instant speed which is good. Ashiok, dream render - It is slow, really! If you have it already because of Titans.decks, ok bring it in if you have more to board out. Good against primeval titan, does not solve the problem of Titan itself though. Yixlid Jailer - Earlier this year it saw play because of lurrus restriction. I don't think it is worth it at the moment.
Lifegain options Kalitas, traitor of ghet - Good against RDW decks or any creature heavy decks. Collective brutality - Pretty good against RDW. Cling to dust - Main Deck it false calculation of burn player. I would not put more cling in my board for RDW but if I have them I'll use them.
More counterspells Aether gust - Who fears primeval titan anymore ? They fear us because of Aether gust. Good against GR Midrange also. Dispel - Against Ad nauseam, any others control decks. Even Storm. Flusterstorm - Good against Control and Combo. Disdainful stroke - Tron, Titan.decks. Drown in the loch - Good versatility, when the metagame is wide it is good. Spell pierce - Good against non creatures decks like ad nauseam, storm, control decks.
More removals Engineered explosives - A way to destroy some type of permanents you can't otherwise. Good removal in general. Damnation - Your best "Nothing you put in play matters" cards against go-wide aggro decks. Plague engineer - A good card on it's own. People will tend to side out removals against you so it is even better. Hostage taker - Entrancing melody - Liliana of the veil - Problems with Death's shadow decks or alike ? No more worry, Liliana is here. Liliana, the last hope - Your build is heavier on creatures ? I guess you want her for looping your clique, snaps and tas. Good against x/1 creatures decks. Rain of tears - Mystic sanctuary and Snapcaster mage like it, played when Lurrus builds were around because of restriction. I think it is still a good option to keep in mind. Get Veil'd of summer though. Liliana's triumph, Cast down, Doom blade, Go for the throat - All those 2CMC removal compete in the same spot, you just pick the one you need depending on what you expect. If only you need more removal of these kind.
More anti non-aggro-combo/control techs Thoughtseize - Good against combo and control, more copies for you control heavy metagame ? Inquisition of kozilek - Like thoughtseize. Good for Red deck heavy metagame also. Collective brutality - Pretty good against Red deck win, also good for Control matchup but less than others options thought. Good against storm too. Duress - Like thoughtseize. Vendilion clique - Against Combo deck you need to win quickly because they more often have inevitability than you, clique make multiple duty to help you for these type of games.
More grindy cards Liliana of the veil - Against BGx decks, Shadow decks, even RDW, it is a good topdeck Liliana, the last hope - Good for looping creatures if you have enough, her ultimate is insane. Ashiok, nightmare muse - Take the battlefield slowly but surely. Kalitas, traitor of ghet - Against creatures decks it is a good topdeck, also people side out removals against your control deck mostly. (Or maybe there are crazy, who know) Tasigur, the golden fang - I do think this card is underestimate in modern in general, sure compared to Uro it's not quite as good but it works in the way the deck operate and could cost you only one mana. I think against BGx decks or anything in this range it is a good card. Teferi, mage of zhalfir - A good card on it’s own against blue control decks, it is a creature and it works well with Teferi’s puzzle box and narset, it becomes then an hard lock. Grave titan - As a top deck, BGx players will hate you like nobody could. A good one of in your heavy midrange metagame. (But don't forget, six mana is huge) Cling to dust - Grindy card of choice. Bitterblossom - People love the card but not because it is strong but beautiful. Though, in matchup where powerful grindy cards matters that card play very well. A couple of copies in your sideboard could be a call in a low metagame, against fair control and midrange decks. It synergy better with some Liliana of the veil though.
Other Teferi's puzzle box - A possible combo-ish soft lock at a low cost, you only one card in your 75.
Matchups
29 December 2020 top decks ; Four color UroMnat Rakdos Death's shadow Heliod company
Red Prowess Amulet titan Titan Reclaimer Ad nauseam
Tips and tricks and more Narset, parter of veils - A deeper look :
Narset is a great planeswalker for multiple reasons, first it's kind of cheap card for controls decks compared to other options like that card, and in a format like modern where decks are quite fast, a three mana card when you desesperatly need actions for the following turn is good, even more when you search for specific cards, searching from the top four cards of your library is huge.
Also, Narset passive ability act like a "prison-control" pieces and the upside is very good in modern. There is a lot of decks who play cantrips or want to draw quite a lot, Green tron with his 8 eggs is an example, Izzet storm with on average 10 to 12 cantrips also and any blue decks for that matters like drawing a lot. It is not a "mind blowing" effect, and you will not side in these type of effect otherwise, but if you already play some Narsets, it gives you some % against all of those decks when it matters and that's good.
Geier reach sanitarium and Narset, parter of veils - A great synergy :
Geier reach sanitarium is not a great card on it's own, sure, but when you have a Narset in play and you succeed to get in the late of the game, everything become better for this card. Activate the land on the opponent's Upkeep when they are hellbent, then they draw a card, discard that card and .. don't draw any card at their draw step because of your Narset in play. And that's pretty great, it's become a soft lock at this point where your opponents will not have cards in hands in their main phase.
Narset, parter of veils and Dredge, half bad or half good ?:
Dredging is always possible if there is a Narset in play, you may dredge as you can, but if it happens that a dredge player draw once in a turn, he can not dredge anymore the same turn because he have no more draw possible so no replacing effect for dredge.
Liliana of the veil and blue decks - A way to deal with everything :
People tends to say that counterspells do not synergy well with Liliana, and it is true, but in a deck where you play Cryptic command and Jace, the mind sculptor, the +1 ability of Liliana of the veil has more impact than in other decks.
There is kind of permanents you can not deal with, or sometimes you may want to not let a death ability happens, and Cryptic or Jace allow you to bounce them in your opponent hand and then with Liliana you can force your opponent to discard that card if it has no other in hand.
Vendilion clique - Unconventional target :
You are not always forced to target your opponent with your Clique, sometimes it is fine to target yourself to cycle a dead card.
Cryptic command or Deprive and Mystic sanctuary - the loop :
With one Mystic sanctuary and two Cryptic command you can infinitely counter your opponents, or tap his team. This is a soft lock. It works also with Deprive. Also with only one Cryptic and another cantrip or way to draw, sorcery or not.
See the articles below from Aliquanto which is a great piece of information about it.
Narset, parter of veils and Teferi’s puzzle box - the soft lock :
When Teferi’s puzzle box is on the battlefield, each player will have to redraw their entire hand at the beginning of their own draw step, after they naturally drew a card.
When Narset, parter of veils is also into play, there is a soft lock for your opponent which means your opponent will have to bottom all his entire hand and will not be able to draw any new cards.
This is a soft lock because your opponent can still play cards at instant speed and so could blow one of the pieces of the lock. Unless you can protect it because you stabilized the game, don’t tick down Narset, parter of veils if you think cards like Lightning bolt could appear in your opponents hand, as example.
Also, play narset before the box if you don’t have all the mana to play narset at the same time, otherwise you will lose Narset the following turn with the box abilities. Sometimes playing the box is fine because you need a Narset and don’t have any in hand.
If you play Teferi, mage of zhalfir with your soft lock in play, then you hard lock your opponent which will not be able to cast any more spells for the rest of the game.
Opt, Serum visions, Thought scour, which cantrip do I need? :
I think in common build Opt is the go to, because it lets you make better play along Mystic sanctuary at instant speed. All in all Serum visions is maybe the better of the three cards but the sorcery speed matters a lot here, so you should not be playing it unless you need more cantrips than Opt.
Though, Cling to dust and Remand, if you play them, are cantrips too.
Thought scour on the other hand, is different. It can be way better because it can set up good Drown in the loch / Into the story sequence in the early/middle of the game and if you want to go heavy in Drown you should play Thought scour. I don't think x4 Scour and x4 Drown worth it, but that is a possible way of building your deck.
Some MtG:O grinder do not play any Opt, Scour or visions, because these cards are not worth it for them, at all.
The full four Cling to dust is a possible way also.
Before anything else I will say that I am sorry for any errors in the following primer, I’m not a native english speaker so I make many errors in the language used here.
Also if there is anything that you want to speak about because you think I am wrong on something, don’t waste time and feel free to tell me in this thread what you think, we evolve with good criticism and I’ll be happy to be a better player.
Thanks to TSPJendrek, even though he will never come here, he is a guy who tries a lot of blue control variants and I do think he is behind those "Dimir Narset control" variants as well. And thanks to all others innovators, Sultay4life, mechint, patxi, kanister and many many more too!
Dimir is the alliance of the two most disruptives colors of magic, Blue and Black.
For the most part of the Modern format history, Blue control decks were never as good as other archetypes of strategies. Few were around like Jeskai control, back in the days, or even Azorius “midrange-ish” control decks which tried to get ton of values from Restoration angel along others ETB creatures like Snapcaster mage, Wall of omens, etc.
White offered much more good cards than black for Blue Mage, like Path to exile which is an awesome removal, Timely reinforcements and Baneslayer Angel which are very good against aggro decks or even planeswalkers like Elspeth, Knight-Errant (or sun's nemesis) or Gideon jura or Celestial colonnade which all were good cards to play with.
Fatal push was printed few years now and already changed a ton of things in modern. Now black had an available and powerful one mana removal which could compete with Lightning bolt and Path to exile, with his strengh and weakness.
Doom blade and other two mana cmc black removal were not that bad but always felt clunky compared to other options from other colors. Also Fatal push changed the way the game were played not only for controls decks, Tarmogoyf was not anymore the king of the beaters and the fearest creatures you want to dodge.
Then, in 2018 blue mages get more tools to play their Blue Control decks. First, Jace, the mind sculptor gets unbanned which was .. the best planeswalker of Modern right before Liliana of the veil (Nowadays, a certain Oko have something to say for this place.) and then Field of ruin was printed, and it was a huge upgrade of Ghost quarter or Tectonic edge for decks who wanted to play Cryptic Commands. Then Teferi, Hero of dominaria came out and Blue mages got even better cards than Elspeth or alike for their Blue-White deck.
We saw an era where Blue Reactive decks were very good. But nothing yet impressive for Dimir mages who were always trying to make Bitterblossom and few others faeries cards good but never really succeed, except for "certain" Yuta Takahashi.
Nonetheless, Blue and Black were fine when red was involved. Grixis midrange-ish control decks did exists too, with the printing of Kolaghan’s command which could make awesome play along Snapcaster mage (8 Kommands grixis), also there was Tasigur, the golden fang which was called “Black Goy” when it was first printed. But in the end, Grixis Death’s shadow was the only deck who truly got the advantages of shell highly disruptive based on blue and black.
But since those eras, a lot of new set came out and things changed by a lot. Blue gets way better, thanks to cards like Mystic sanctuary, Narset, parter of veils, Archmage’s Charm, or Force of negation, and more, which gave to blue based decks a good core of cards to starting with.
Lurrus & Arcum's astrolabe
When companions first came out, Red-Black Prowess was the best decks around because of Lurrus of the dream-den, even though it was the best Lurrus Deck, many other decks got advantage from Lurrus, and Dimir did as well.
With the mix of Snow-Control-Sanctuary package and Lurrus-Bauble package, it was a fun and good control deck, more low to the ground than UWx control variants, and it could grind very well.
Narset was not involved because of the lurrus restriction but with Archmage’s Charm, Cryptic command, mystic sanctuary and a good suit of removal/counterspell the deck was really busted.
Imagine looping Snapcaster mage without the need of Kolaghan’s command, imagine looping a Cryptic command infinitely and never get attacked by a huge army in front of you. Imagine recurring your Mishra's Bauble and draw the card you had just put on top thanks to mystic sanctuary and knowing what is on top of your opponent library when he is nearly hellbent. And all of that with no problems of casting Archmage’s charm, even with 22 lands and field of ruins in your deck thanks to arcum’s astrolabe. Yes, that was that type of deck.
But in the end, Lurrus got a huge downgrade and Arcum’s astrolabe is no more around, so we move on.
Dimir control
Dimir control as it will be presented here is quite of a new deck and I think nothing is settled and there are a lot of things to explore.
It is a reactive control deck a bit lower to the ground than Azorius Control which focuses on abusing Mystic sanctuary and Narset, parter of veils abilities.
With Geier reach sanitarium and Vendilion clique you get advantage of a Narset into play, and with Teferi’s puzzle box you have access to a soft lock, if you need it.
Between Archmage’s Charm, Cryptic command, Force of negation, Drown in the loch and Mana Leak, which all see main deck play, you have a huge wall of counterspell to disrupt opponents' plays and the versatility offered by these cards is very nice.
Discards like Inquisition of kozilek and Thoughtseize spells line up very well with Narsets and Jaces (It's like your goldfish play, Discard followed by your threat), and information gained by discard really helps to set up your following plays and make your counterspells even more effective.
Fatal push is one of the best one mana removal and the printings of Bloodchief’s thirst and Eliminate made the deck way better against Planeswalker which is known has a huge struggle for blue control decks in general and made the deck better.
Also, along this year, there is online results of multiple iterations of Dimir Control, with a good amount of cards who make a core and here is the thing, at the very moment the deck is customizable as you want as long as you keep the core of the good cards, it is a "fine" deck, not good, not overpowered but with the core of good cards and all the options allowed by the colors, you could custom your dimir deck to most of type of metagame. We will discuss cards of the deck in the next section.
Why Dimir over Azorius or Izzet?
What is the appeal of playing Black over white or red in your blue deck ?
First, the removal suit. Sure, Damnation is not as good as Supreme verdict which can be pitched on Force of negation and uncounterable or Anger of the gods which stop triggered abilities from dying creatures, but the one-for-one removal suit seems to be better than in white or red, in my point of view.
Bloodchief's thirst and Eliminate are very good to kill Wrenn and six and Teferi time raveler which are really hard to deal threats for control decks.
Also, I think Fatal push is a better card at the moment than Path to exile or Lightning bolt, it does not give any land to your opponent, which is good because you don't want to ramp UroField decks (or Titan decks). It does not care about the body of the creatures, and in the modern it matters a lot, when Prowess creatures could just growth bigger or against Uro, titan of nature's wrath, Primeval titan, Death's shadow and many more.
Also even if Push does not deal with a resolved Primeval titan, the range of creatures played in modern which have a lower cmc than 4 is huge, see above, and it does not need to be revolted to deal with almost all creatures of Red deck wins and death's shadow decks, and that's great.
It is even better to play black actually, because you have access to Cling to dust, which is an amazing card that we do not see the total impact for the modern format yet.
I mean, it does not make you bad against RDW match one as it used to be, UBx decks did not have a way to compete with cards like Timely reinforcements before cling to dust, Kalitas, traitor of ghet is not even equal to that, and now you have it maindeck and that is never a dead card.
Also it helps you to cheese out some games against Dredge or Graveyard heavy decks game one, which is huge. And it is a pretty good card against Escape-threat, and Uro is all around in the metagame.
And last but not least, Discards spells make your deck better and smoother to play. Inquisition of kozilek and Thoughtseize are the two best disruptions spells you can cast the first turns in this format, and they help you to be more proactive when you need to.
As an example, a turn one or two discard and then Narset followed by Jace are awesome plays. Discard gives you more points against other control decks, and who wants to use Force of negation to counter a turn 1 Thoughtseize in games where cards matter a lot ?
It is also very good against the Primeval titan deck, because you have few ways to deal with a resolved Titan (Cryptic do it, though) and discard could even prevent your opponent to play it, no more worry about this Cavern of souls in play.
All in all, UB Control offers you tons of ways to play against many types of metagame and I am sure the deck will reward you if you put enough effort in it. The core of the deck seems good, anyway.
How to play your control deck
under construction ..
Now, let's talk about the cards.
As for any decks, the mana base is really important. Blue control decks really want to play lands every turn because they need Cryptic mana and even more, to do their things.
If we follow Karsten's articles about manabase (which will be linked in the articles and videos sections), Archmage's charm is ask you to play 23 blue sources for casting it on curve, Damnation ask you to play 16 black source for casting it on curve.
Actually(December 2020), Dimir narset control decks tend to play 24 lands and on average 19-20 blue sources and 14-15 black sources. Decks tend to play 2 to 3 Opt and 1 to 2 Cling to dust which could help you to draw land easier, it increases the number of source by two. So in trends we see like 21 to 22 blue sources and 16 to 17 black sources.
Polluted delta - Full four, no reason to not to play.
Flooded strand - You need two or three other blue fetches, flooded strand is the cheapest.
Field of ruin - You need two to three Field of ruin, if you are on 25 lands you could play full four if needed, or even in a given metagame where you really need it.
Watery grave - You need two copies, if you need more see sunken hollow.
Mystic sanctuary - That card is busted, you can't play too much, two is the most common number.
Sunken hollow - One copy is fine, when you need more watery it is good.
Sunken ruins - One or two copies is good, you can't play more because you need islands for sanctuary but it is a good card when you have a source of black or blue in play and it makes Archmage's charm way easier to cast.
River of tears - One copy is fine. I personally prefer Drowned but personal choice.
Creeping tar pit - One or two copies is fine, you are not forced to play them though.
Drowned catacomb - One or two copies, it is a good card and you need color.
Geier reach sanitarium - Very good with Narset. One copy.
Creatures
Snapcaster mage - Two to four copies. I do like playing three or four but two seems to be the trends. Snap is a good card.
Planeswalker
Narset, parter of veils - I think it is the main reason to play this deck, four copies not less. It is a good planeswalker.
Jace, the mind sculptor - This is the best planeswalker available in modern, or maybe tied with Wrenn and six. Anyway, Jace is a very good planeswalker. Two to three copies.
Removals
Fatal push - Full four. Your best cheap creature removal. I do think Push is even better than bolt or path at the moment.
Bloodchief's thirst - A good removal. Kick out of the game some Wrenn and six is pretty good, kill all RB shadow creatures also. One to two copies.
Eliminate - A good removal. More Planeswalker answers are good. One to two copies.
Damnation - One to two copies depending on the metagame, it can save you from certain types of board state.
Counterspells
Cryptic command - This is a very good card which makes a lot of things on it's own! three copies is good.
Archmage's charm - Full four. Why ? At least it draws you cards. Versatility is pretty good.
Force of negation - Two to four copies. That card helps you to not die to weird combo decks or "hard to deal" turn 1 play. Also good to protect your planeswalkers when you want to play them on curve.
Mana leak - Two copies. Good early, medium late, one of our best options.
Remand - Cantrip is good, against a low-cmc deck it is a bad card though. One copy.
Others
Inquisition of kozilek - I like it better than thoughtseize because it targets a lot of things in this metagame and does not cost you life. Trends are two copies.
Thoughtseize - The best one mana disruption spell of the magic world, busted on curve. Two copies.
Opt - That is a one mana card, instant speed matters because of mystic sanctuary tricks. Some lists play no copy. Zero to three.
Cling to dust - I personally love this card, it make so much things and at least it cantrip for B which is great. I like it maindeck because it can save you from Red decks or Dredge decks. It is a good card against Escape cards which is huge. And it is instant. Well, between one to four. I am personally for two.
Honorable mentions
Cards that do not see plays at the moment but could be played maindeck either with another type of setup or just straight depending on metagame or not.
Torrential gearhulk - Earlier in this year, the card did see play as a one-of. It could speed up things like nobody, dodge Pushes, Bolts and Decays and for six mana could do big things with cryptics. It is a good card but it is not cheap on mana. If you need it, one copy not more.
Tasigur, the golden fang - Earlier in this year, the card did see play as one or two of. It could speed things up when you need to finish on combat steps and without Lurrus there is no reason to not play it as a one of. Like Gearhulk it dodge some removals and it has a great body. I do personally prefer Tassigur than Gearhulk because it could cost only one Black mana and could be played along counterspells. With cling to dust in your deck, it will be harder to cast though.
Vendilion clique - It does not see play maindeck at the moment. It synergy well with narset and get you even more informations on your opponent. Could speed up the clock when you need to finish by combat steps. It is a fine one or two of if you expect lot of combo or control decks. And UB players all love Faeries, isn't it?
Thought scour - A build who heavily play Drown of the loch and/or Into the story will benefit to play this card over Opt.
Spell snare - A busted card when the metagame calls for it. Maybe one copy actually, if Jund or 5C Humans is all around, go for more.
Drown in the loch - I like this card, because of his versatility. Being both a mana leak or a Fatal push is good. Not always easy to set up though.
Deprive - Card was heavily played as one or two of when mystic sanctuary poped up. Good engine though.
Shadow of doubt - That card seems to be played in early 2020 because of the reign of Primeval titans and alike. I think it is a good sideboard tech or even in the main deck when the metagame calls for it.
Shark typhoon - I like this card because of instant capabilities. Trends are on 0 though.
Liliana of the veil - I did see lists who played her, I don't think it is a good card along Snapcaster mage and counterspells because it could make you suboptimal play where you want to tick up LotV but really need cards in your hand too. I think she is better sideboard tech' for a given metagame like where Death's shadow could shine, as an example.
Ashiok, nightmare muse - If you want to go heavy on Planeswalker I think that's a great choice. Ashiok could take the battlefield, so when you stabilize, that card could be good against aggro decks or midrange decks you had disrupted but who can still take the battlefield. It is five mana though and it is not great as Teferi, hero of dominaria but as a one of or two it seems fine depending on what you need. I would play 0 at the moment though.
Fact or fiction - This card do not see play but if you need more card advantage and a good card on it's own, this card is all what you want. It play well with Snaps, Sanctuary and Delve/escapce abilities too.
Into the story - Building your deck around this card seems a possible path for this deck. Earlier this year and back in end 2019 we did see some Grixis deck who played a build around that card.
Decklists template
5-0 Kanister modern-league-2020-12-04
4 Nartset, parter of veils
3 Jace, the mind sculptor
2 Snapcaster mage
Instant & Sorcery - 26
4 Archmage's charm
3 Cryptic command
3 Force of negation
2 Mana leak
1 Remand
2 Cling to dust
4 Fatal push
1 Bloodchief's thirst
2 Eliminate
2 Inquisition of kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Watery Grave
1 Sunken Hollow
4 Island
1 Swamp
2 Field of Ruin
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
2 Mystic Sanctuary
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darkslick Shores
1 River of Tears
2 Sunken Ruins
4-1 TSPjendrek modern-preliminary-2020-04-24
1 Lurrus of the dream-den
2 Snapcaster mage
4 Thing in the ice
Artifacts - 6
2 Nihil spellbomb
4 Mishra's bauble
Instant & Sorcery - 17
4 Force of negation
4 Fatal push
3 Archmage's charm
2 Thought scour
2 Tyrant's scorn
1 Deprive
1 Mana leak
2 Unearth
3 Inquisition of kozilek
4 Serum visions
4 Polluted delta
4 Scalding tarn
1 Misty rainforest
2 Mystic sanctuary
3 Darkslick shores
3 Island
3 Watery grave
5-0 Sultai4lyfe modern-league-2020-03-17
4 Snapcaster mage
4 Narset, parter of veils
3 Liliana of the veil
2 Jace, the mind sculptor
Instant & Sorcery - 23
3 Force of negation
4 Fatal push
2 Cryptic command
2 Drown in the loch
1 Go for the threat
4 Inquisition of kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
2 Damnation
4 Serum visions
1 Scalding tarn
1 Sunken ruins
1 Bloodstained mire
1 River of tears
2 Snow-covered island
2 Snow-covered Swamp
2 Watery grave
2 Darkslick shores
2 Field of ruin
2 Geier reach sanitarium
4 Creeping tar pit
4 Polluted delta
Against Graveyards decks
Leyline of the void - This is a 100% against any deck who plays heavily with his GY, but it is bad otherwise. When the metagame calls it, go for it.
Nihil spellbomb - This is a good piece of disruption against graveyard but not as Leyline and it grinds well, the downside is you can't mystic sanctuary back on top. If you play Lurrus yet it is an even better card. A good card in a wide metagame.
Kalitas, traitor of ghet - Against Creature-Graveyard decks it is very good, against decks like storm, nope! If your metagame is full of dredge, play it on board, it is also good against a deck where you need to gain life though.
Surgical Extraction - Good against things like storm, not good as spellbomb or leyline against dredge unless they stumble a lot by themself or if you game play out very well.
Cling to dust - Good against Uro/Kroxa type of things, not that good against dredge but it gains life and can stop a dredge sequence at instant speed which is good.
Ashiok, dream render - It is slow, really! If you have it already because of Titans.decks, ok bring it in if you have more to board out. Good against primeval titan, does not solve the problem of Titan itself though.
Yixlid Jailer - Earlier this year it saw play because of lurrus restriction. I don't think it is worth it at the moment.
Lifegain options
Kalitas, traitor of ghet - Good against RDW decks or any creature heavy decks.
Collective brutality - Pretty good against RDW.
Cling to dust - Main Deck it false calculation of burn player. I would not put more cling in my board for RDW but if I have them I'll use them.
More counterspells
Aether gust - Who fears primeval titan anymore ? They fear us because of Aether gust. Good against GR Midrange also.
Dispel - Against Ad nauseam, any others control decks. Even Storm.
Flusterstorm - Good against Control and Combo.
Disdainful stroke - Tron, Titan.decks.
Drown in the loch - Good versatility, when the metagame is wide it is good.
Spell pierce - Good against non creatures decks like ad nauseam, storm, control decks.
More removals
Engineered explosives - A way to destroy some type of permanents you can't otherwise. Good removal in general.
Damnation - Your best "Nothing you put in play matters" cards against go-wide aggro decks.
Plague engineer - A good card on it's own. People will tend to side out removals against you so it is even better.
Hostage taker -
Entrancing melody -
Liliana of the veil - Problems with Death's shadow decks or alike ? No more worry, Liliana is here.
Liliana, the last hope - Your build is heavier on creatures ? I guess you want her for looping your clique, snaps and tas. Good against x/1 creatures decks.
Rain of tears - Mystic sanctuary and Snapcaster mage like it, played when Lurrus builds were around because of restriction. I think it is still a good option to keep in mind. Get Veil'd of summer though.
Liliana's triumph, Cast down, Doom blade, Go for the throat - All those 2CMC removal compete in the same spot, you just pick the one you need depending on what you expect. If only you need more removal of these kind.
More anti non-aggro-combo/control techs
Thoughtseize - Good against combo and control, more copies for you control heavy metagame ?
Inquisition of kozilek - Like thoughtseize. Good for Red deck heavy metagame also.
Collective brutality - Pretty good against Red deck win, also good for Control matchup but less than others options thought. Good against storm too.
Duress - Like thoughtseize.
Vendilion clique - Against Combo deck you need to win quickly because they more often have inevitability than you, clique make multiple duty to help you for these type of games.
More grindy cards
Liliana of the veil - Against BGx decks, Shadow decks, even RDW, it is a good topdeck
Liliana, the last hope - Good for looping creatures if you have enough, her ultimate is insane.
Ashiok, nightmare muse - Take the battlefield slowly but surely.
Kalitas, traitor of ghet - Against creatures decks it is a good topdeck, also people side out removals against your control deck mostly. (Or maybe there are crazy, who know)
Tasigur, the golden fang - I do think this card is underestimate in modern in general, sure compared to Uro it's not quite as good but it works in the way the deck operate and could cost you only one mana. I think against BGx decks or anything in this range it is a good card.
Teferi, mage of zhalfir - A good card on it’s own against blue control decks, it is a creature and it works well with Teferi’s puzzle box and narset, it becomes then an hard lock.
Grave titan - As a top deck, BGx players will hate you like nobody could. A good one of in your heavy midrange metagame. (But don't forget, six mana is huge)
Cling to dust - Grindy card of choice.
Bitterblossom - People love the card but not because it is strong but beautiful. Though, in matchup where powerful grindy cards matters that card play very well. A couple of copies in your sideboard could be a call in a low metagame, against fair control and midrange decks. It synergy better with some Liliana of the veil though.
Other
Teferi's puzzle box - A possible combo-ish soft lock at a low cost, you only one card in your 75.
Matchups
29 December 2020 top decks ;
Four color UroMnat
Rakdos Death's shadow
Heliod company
Red Prowess
Amulet titan
Titan Reclaimer
Ad nauseam
Narset, parter of veils - A deeper look :
Narset is a great planeswalker for multiple reasons, first it's kind of cheap card for controls decks compared to other options like that card, and in a format like modern where decks are quite fast, a three mana card when you desesperatly need actions for the following turn is good, even more when you search for specific cards, searching from the top four cards of your library is huge.
Also, Narset passive ability act like a "prison-control" pieces and the upside is very good in modern. There is a lot of decks who play cantrips or want to draw quite a lot, Green tron with his 8 eggs is an example, Izzet storm with on average 10 to 12 cantrips also and any blue decks for that matters like drawing a lot. It is not a "mind blowing" effect, and you will not side in these type of effect otherwise, but if you already play some Narsets, it gives you some % against all of those decks when it matters and that's good.
Geier reach sanitarium and Narset, parter of veils - A great synergy :
Geier reach sanitarium is not a great card on it's own, sure, but when you have a Narset in play and you succeed to get in the late of the game, everything become better for this card. Activate the land on the opponent's Upkeep when they are hellbent, then they draw a card, discard that card and .. don't draw any card at their draw step because of your Narset in play. And that's pretty great, it's become a soft lock at this point where your opponents will not have cards in hands in their main phase.
Narset, parter of veils and Dredge, half bad or half good ?:
Dredging is always possible if there is a Narset in play, you may dredge as you can, but if it happens that a dredge player draw once in a turn, he can not dredge anymore the same turn because he have no more draw possible so no replacing effect for dredge.
Liliana of the veil and blue decks - A way to deal with everything :
People tends to say that counterspells do not synergy well with Liliana, and it is true, but in a deck where you play Cryptic command and Jace, the mind sculptor, the +1 ability of Liliana of the veil has more impact than in other decks.
There is kind of permanents you can not deal with, or sometimes you may want to not let a death ability happens, and Cryptic or Jace allow you to bounce them in your opponent hand and then with Liliana you can force your opponent to discard that card if it has no other in hand.
Vendilion clique - Unconventional target :
You are not always forced to target your opponent with your Clique, sometimes it is fine to target yourself to cycle a dead card.
Cryptic command or Deprive and Mystic sanctuary - the loop :
With one Mystic sanctuary and two Cryptic command you can infinitely counter your opponents, or tap his team. This is a soft lock. It works also with Deprive. Also with only one Cryptic and another cantrip or way to draw, sorcery or not.
See the articles below from Aliquanto which is a great piece of information about it.
Narset, parter of veils and Teferi’s puzzle box - the soft lock :
When Teferi’s puzzle box is on the battlefield, each player will have to redraw their entire hand at the beginning of their own draw step, after they naturally drew a card.
When Narset, parter of veils is also into play, there is a soft lock for your opponent which means your opponent will have to bottom all his entire hand and will not be able to draw any new cards.
This is a soft lock because your opponent can still play cards at instant speed and so could blow one of the pieces of the lock. Unless you can protect it because you stabilized the game, don’t tick down Narset, parter of veils if you think cards like Lightning bolt could appear in your opponents hand, as example.
Also, play narset before the box if you don’t have all the mana to play narset at the same time, otherwise you will lose Narset the following turn with the box abilities. Sometimes playing the box is fine because you need a Narset and don’t have any in hand.
If you play Teferi, mage of zhalfir with your soft lock in play, then you hard lock your opponent which will not be able to cast any more spells for the rest of the game.
Opt, Serum visions, Thought scour, which cantrip do I need? :
I think in common build Opt is the go to, because it lets you make better play along Mystic sanctuary at instant speed. All in all Serum visions is maybe the better of the three cards but the sorcery speed matters a lot here, so you should not be playing it unless you need more cantrips than Opt.
Though, Cling to dust and Remand, if you play them, are cantrips too.
Thought scour on the other hand, is different. It can be way better because it can set up good Drown in the loch / Into the story sequence in the early/middle of the game and if you want to go heavy in Drown you should play Thought scour. I don't think x4 Scour and x4 Drown worth it, but that is a possible way of building your deck.
Some MtG:O grinder do not play any Opt, Scour or visions, because these cards are not worth it for them, at all.
The full four Cling to dust is a possible way also.
Articles and Videos
- Articles about manabase, by Frank Karsten, thanks to him ;
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/how-many-colored-mana-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells-a-guilds-of-ravnica-update/
https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/channelmagic-articles/how-many-lands-do-you-need-to-consistently-hit-your-land-drops/
- Articles on UB Control ;
https://article.hareruyamtg.com/article/46712/?lang=en
https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/deck-highlight-modern-dimir-control/
https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/home/deck-highlight-modern-dimir-control-2/
- Articles on Blue Control archetypes and mechanics about these decks ;
https://www.cardmarket.com/fr/Magic/Insight/Articles/How-to-Sideboard-with-Control-Decks
https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/cfb-pro-content/deep-dive-how-to-use-shark-typhoon/
- Article on Cryptic command and Mystic sanctuary, by Anael Yahi, thanks to him.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jpLYB88bkDtjZgfyTfBBvXuam4d053Mv0skdLwZ7B4A/edit#heading=h.6z3yhh1vhlgg
- Article on Thoughtseize, by Reid Duke, thanks to him ;
https://articles.starcitygames.com/premium/thoughtseize-you