Historic 101: Dimir Control
Gameplan
With a bunch of new cards from the Archives and Strixhaven, Dimir Control is looking to be very well positioned right now!
By now, you're all used to how good brainstorm is so we don't really need to go too in-depth with it but its been so refreshing to have a counterplay to Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. Its not always correct to fire off a brainstorm as you can potentially lock yourself out without fetch lands and because sometimes you can use Brainstorm as a way to hide your best card from a discard spell. Of course, Brainstorm increases the value of cards like Fabled Passage and Field of Ruin. Because of the shift in the mana base, we definitely want to be running two colors as we don't sacrifice the consistency of our manabase too much. Another card I'm in love with is Memory Lapse as it feels like Historic's Remand. It might just be a little bit more than a Remand when you can potentially lock opponents out of their next draw step! Dimir is well equipped right now as a ton of decks are trying to take extra turns and cast one big spell each turn. Memory Lapse really can punish that kind of deck!
Narset, Parter of Veils is another powerful planeswalker but it fell out of most lists in Historic. Well, its time to call on Narset's number once again as this card is a brutal lock on Faithless Looting and Brainstorm filled decks. With all of the extra turn decks running around in the meta, this card is a nightmare when resolved as they rely on so many draw spells to filter through their deck. Shutting off additional draws is the current hotness. We've also got an actual card from Strixhaven! Baleful Mastery pairs nicely in a deck with Narset as we get to pay the two mana aka "the student" cost instead of four. This may not seem like much but the flexibility has been overperforming for me.
With all of the sweet new instant spells we've got, Torrential Gearhulk is back on the menu! For some time, the card felt a bit too clunky with not enough payoff but it seems like our blue gearhulk is back under the spotlight. If you wanted to, you can go Grixis Control as I have splashed red in this Dimir deck for Magma Opus and it was pretty sweet. Of course, being in Grixis means a more awkward manabase so I just ran with Dimir for consistency.
Oh and a few of you will probably ask, "how do you play a black deck without Thoughtseize in the maindeck?" The answer is quite simple for me. I don't want a ton of counterspells and discard spells as it makes our topdecks a bit weaker as we need to be ready to answer the board. We also don't have a ton of life gain and are relying on a single Cling to Dust for life gain. I don't want to be caught against a red deck topping Thoughtseize so I'd rather leave the card in the sideboard for matches where we won't have to fight for board or worry about our health as much.
Conclusion
The deck went overall 4-1 and the deck has performed extremely well on stream. Control mages should be excited as the format is in a perfect spot for us to climb the ladder! One thing that might have to change is the lack of respect for aggression. We have sweepers but we also need spot removal and some form of lifegain. If the format gets aggressive enough, we need to pack more spot removal spells. Legion's End isn't instant but looks amazing right now with all of the decks it can wreck! We also need to respect rogues as that deck is gaining some momentum. The best way to beat them is to find a cheap threat or be loaded with cheap removal spells so that they must deploy more threats. Rogues can just sit there and hit us with a single one drop until we die so be mindful of that!
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