Standard Dimir Control (Standard)

INTRODUCTION

BFZ - OGW - SOI - EMN - KLD - AER - AKH

I guess I've cut enough white out of the deck to just say it's UBw. Feels kind of bad since I've spent so much time justifying a larger white part.

We still have the white splash just to have access to the Shambling Vents and Anguished Unmaking. Having the manlands are pretty important to the build and having planeswalker removal that can be recast with Torrential Gearhulk is amazing.

White also allows us to run Forsake the Worldly, which are a great utility tool in the same way that Izzet Control keeps in Sweltering Suns. The cycling keeps it from being irrelevant, but getting rid of Gearhulks or Marvels is going to be a nice tool to just have on hand.

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MANABASE DECISIONS

Aether Hub is a genuine savior. In a majority of cases, it'll be treated as producing blue mana, but just generally covers all colors since there is not other outlet for energy in the mainboard

Before I write more about the manabase, be sure to look up Frank Karsten's articles on Magic Math regarding the Battle lands, Shadow lands, and suggested colored mana sources to consistently cast spells.

https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/magic-math-mana-bases-with-battle-lands/

https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/magic-math-shadowlands-and-battlelands/

https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/frank-analysis-how-many-colored-mana-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells/

Karsten's math suggests quite a bit for lands and this list takes a bit of liberties to make land expectations to be closer to 80~90% instead of the preferred 100% to play on curve. This is fine as a control deck since it can expect to remove a turn after.

For the Sunken Hollows, the suggestion is to have at least 11 basic lands including Evolving Wilds for a deck with at most two Battle lands. This deck runs 9 lands, so you can expect the Sunken Hollows to enter untapped 80% of the time.

For the Choked Estuaries, the suggestion is to have have 10 basic land types to have the Shadow lands enter the battlefield untapped 75% of the time. The deck runs 11 lands that fulfill this condition.

That said, this means we can mostly treat the Choked Estuaries like untapped lands. With the suggestion to not run more than 9 taplands. The deck functionally runs 10 taplands for early turns, but functionally runs 5 taplands by turn 4.

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SIDEBOARD DECISIONS

I'll add more sideboard suggestions as they are asked for, but I'll only cover those that make up a bigger part of the meta recently. This includes Marvel (36% of meta), Mardu (16%), Izzet (10%), Golgari (7%), and Zombies (7%).

In general, when on the draw, feel free to side out a Fetid Pool if you want to keep something else in the deck.

... against Temur Marvel

-3 Fatal Push
-2 Censor
-1 Void Shatter
-1 Disallow
-1 Yahenni's Expertise
+2 Essence Scatter
+2 Negate
+2 Transgress the Mind
+2 Lost Legacy

This is such a tricky sideboard since there are so many builds of Marvel just in Temur. This is a base sideboard to deal with what I understand to be Marvel's plan against control.

First things first, the deck has a hard time turning on revolt, so Fatal Push comes out since it will never kill anything. On the other hand, Grasp of Darkness is pretty important in this matchup since it can kill almost all creature threats Temur can bring in.

It's important that unless you've seen an Ulamog off of a Transgress or something, never name Ulamog with Lost Legacy first. The first one lets you peel the guaranteed sideboard threats like Rogue Refiner, Bristling Hydra, or Tireless Tracker that are going to be bigger threats since there is a chance that the Ulamogs were taken out. Make sure you don't do this when your opponent is threatening to cast Marvel without keeping mana up for countermagic.

... against Sultai Marvel
-3 Fatal Push
-1 Grasp of Darkness
-2 Censor
-1 Yahenni's Expertise
-2 Torrential Gearhulk
+2 Essence Scatter
+2 Negate
+1 Summary Dismissal
+2 Transgress the Mind
+2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

Like Temur, there are no creatures that die to a Fatal Push, so those come straight out. Grasp of Darkness stays as a pretty important removal spell here.

If they're on Constrictor, then Yahnenni's Expertise is almost never going to wipe the board properly. That said, you can keep in the Grasp of Darkness and take out another Yahenni's Expertise.

You sideboard is expecting a Dispossess coming in, so you side in Kalitas to make sure you have a creature threat just in case they do resolve one. You do have the countermagic to defend it though. Game three, consider siding Torrential Gearhulks back in if you suspect them not running Dispossess.

... against Black Zombies

-1 Fetid Pools
-2 Censor
-1 Grasp of Darkness
-2 Forsake the Worldly
-1 Glimmer of Genius
-1 Pull From Tomorrow
-1 Torrential Gearhulk
+2 Dynavolt Tower
+2 Essence Scatter
+1 Shielded Aether Thief
+1 Lost Legacy
+2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
+1 Yahenni's Expertise

It's not as important to have Glimmers since Forsake isn't staying in and the white isn't being used for anything except for Anguished Unmaking here. Shielded Aether Thief also compensates for the energy and card draw.

The Negates are kind of a sly keep in since it can handle Liliana's Master, either of the Liliana planeswalkers they're probably running, or the hand/library hate they side in like Transgress or Dispossess.

While Negates can counter Dispossess, it never hurt to be safe. A Gearhulk come out, but you're compensate for that with the Kalitas which help exile enemy zombies, making blockers, and just gaining life. They really are a great card in this matchup and are worth cutting back on a Gearhulk.

... against Izzet Control

-1 Fetid Pools
-2 Fatal Push
-2 Censor
-2 Grasp of Darkness
-2 Yahenni's Expertise
+2 Dynavolt Tower
+2 Negate
+1 Summary Dismissal
+2 Transgress the Mind
+2 Lost Legacy

Probably the deck I've done the most testing against. This is a control matchup, so it's not as important to hit your land drops on curve. That said, with all the card draw, being at 25 lands isn't going to hurt either.

Forsake stays in since it pretty much reads "Exile target Gearhulk." It also gets rid of Fevered Visions, which almost always kills you. Granted, it's not in as many sideboards, but it's a card you should be ready for.

Lost Legacy has been the best card against them so far. It feels so nice using it to name Negate, Harnessed Lightning, or whatever. Harnessed Lightning is one of the best cards to name here since it means they run no removal for you anymore and your Gearhulks can just sit on board. Naming Disallow or Negate also feels nice since it means that their Gearhulks are less likely to flash in to recast countermagic.

... against Golgari Constrictor

-3 Censor
-1 Grasp of Darkness
-1 Void Shatter
-1 Anguished Unmaking
-1 Yahenni's Expertise
-1 Torrential Gearhulk
+2 Essence Scatter
+2 Transgress the Mind
+2 Lost Legacy
+2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

They really like their Disposses. Lost Legacy helps with that, preemptively peeling that from their deck. If they don't run that or you don't want to waste a Lost Legacy on it, you can name Bristling Hydra, which is near impossible for you to remove. You can also run Transgress the Mind since they are probably also considering taking out some of their 2cmc drops.

... against Mardu Vehicles

-1 Fetid Pools
-1 Fatal Push
-1 Censor
-1 Grasp of Darkness
-1 Anguished Unmaking
-1 Torrential Gearhulk
-1 Pull From Tomorrow
+2 Dynavolt Tower
+1 Shielded Aether Thief
+2 Negate
+2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

Have not tested against Mardu recently. However, based on the shit ton of testing done against it before, here's what I can say.

Mardu brings in planeswalkers to deal with control. Dynavolt and Negate helps keep them in check.

Forsake the Worldly is a card I'm surprised I didn't run a lot earlier. It exiles Scrapheap, Ballista, and Heart.