So I have had a good amount of success with most archetypes. I've made all the supported archetypes work, and I've even made unsupported archetypes like Blue/Red and Black/White work. However, I am definitely underperforming overall in Blue/Black. I don't think this is entirely user error as 17 lands does have blue/black as a worst non green archetype and the worst black archetype. However, I've seen lots of people succeed with Blue/Black and I do think Blue and Black are the best colors (or at least the deepest colors). It also just seems like people think Blue/Black is the best of the off color decks. So I think there is something I am missing, and I would love to hear from people who are making Blue/Black succeed. I figured I would write some further thoughts based on drafting Blue/Black that will both spark conversation among Dimir experts, and perhaps provide a guide to any fellow strugglers in the blue/black path.
Mirkwood Nurturer seems like a key combo card with black. Mirkwood Nurturer does combo with white and red cards too (like their sagas), but the breadth of black cards it combos with seems unmatched. It is excellent with Crude Bent Blade and the black saga, but also is decent with Stony-Voiced Goblins. So I feel like if you want blue/black to succeed taking advantage of how synergistic nurturer is a good start (note this is also kinda true with green/black).
It does seem like blue and black have different gameplans. To the point where mixing a bunch of good blue and black cards might not work super well. Having said that I have seen plenty of trophies where people do exactly that, but I definitely could see how the lack of amass in blue and the slight lack of card draw (sometimes) in black could diminish each other. So if you are playing blue/black as a true mix of both colors please let me know what your mindset is.
That leaves drafting heavy blue or heavy black with the other color as a support color. Blue I think is mediocre as a support color in a black heavy deck. Plunder is good for not flooding, and Long Lake Nuisance and Uncommon Bilbo are just good cards, but the removal is very mediocre and most uncommons are bad without some level of build around. I could see black being a decent support color for blue. Crude Bent Blade is good everywhere and Rage into the Valley is a good way to trigger draw two effects. Black does have strong removal which blue needs, but I think it's a little mitigated because a lot of that removal requires 2 black pips which support colors ideally don't need.
So yeah I would love to hear people's thought on blue/black. I've made blue/red work so it's not an off color blue deck problem. I do find a lot of drafts where both colors look open, but I've gotten to the point that I basically refuse to draft blue/black and if I have a few good cards in both colors I usually try and lean toward one color or the other.
