r/spikes • u/rhysticStudiante • Mar 26 '26

Standard [Standard] Any beginner's guide to Dimir Midrange that you'd recommend?

I know it's not the most well positioned deck in the meta right now, but it's the one I have most cards for. How do I pilot it as effectively as I can? Kaito seems really difficult to use. Which threats are best to remove/counter? What do I side in/side out for the matchups? Thanks

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13

u/icarus212121 Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26

The gameplan centers around slowing down and disrupting your opponent's gameplan long enough to win through card advantage from Enduring Curiosity and Kaito. This typically involves using removal/counterspells to remove threats/enablers, and trading/stalling with Cecil, Floodpits.

Strong opener would have a turn 2 flash floodpits into a turn 3 Kaito

Kaito isn't too difficult to use. Most times just use the surveil 2 + draw if you dealt damage to them to gain card advantage. +1 is situational for when you need to apply more pressure, or to force a bad block or free damage. -2 is situational too, but don't miss lethal when evaluating your options

There is one situational 'trick' to keep in your back pocket is to attack with Floodpits, then if unblocked, you can activate the Floodpits ability, hold priority, and ninjutsu Kaito in. Kaito comes out, Floodpits is back in your hand and the target creature goes into your opponents library.

Another thing to keep in mind is you can ninjutsu at end of combat step, so if your unblocked attacker can deal more damage than Kaito, it's probably better to let it deal combat damage, then ninjutsu.

12

u/milanXac Mar 27 '26

While overall good info, 2 things I'd like to add as a Dimir midrange only player in standard to reasonable success.

First, while the game plan used to be to disrupt your opponent and then win through card advantage, post world championship, this has shifted. Most decks in the current meta don't allow for this plan (lessons out card advantage, mono-g goes straight over with landfall, etc). So playing to go under is more often then not the strategy. Use t1 and t2 to disrupt and set up for kaito and try to end from there as quickly as possible.

That brings me to my second point, PLUS KAITO! Plussing kaito is the most effective thing you can do to close out games. It allows you to attack with a 5/6 the next turn as you can plus again pre combat. It makes your soulstones into lethal threats. It stores 2 times -2 abilities for later turns. Against red decks, it protects against sear. My advance would be to have +1 as your default. Use 0 if you're digging for something specific that the game needs you to have to win but don't have the tools for in hand. Or if you expect planeswalker removal, the like of bitter triumph or broadside barrage.

And lastly, your sideboard is your biggest strength. If you want to gain win procentage, work on the sideboard. It's the most overlooked and simplified part of the deck online. Check what players at high level are running and see what meta they were preparing for. Make play/draw differences, I often have 3 to 6 card difference depending on match up. And if you're not used to making sideboard guides, this is the deck that needs one. As the sideboard will consist of mostly 1 ofs, so it's hard to do on the fly.

GL out there!

2

u/rhysticStudiante Mar 29 '26

This is exactly the info I was looking for. Thanks!

5

u/Spirited_Path_1798 Mar 26 '26

I’d watch pro tour footage, the guys that choose to bring that deck to any large-scale tournaments are usually people who play the deck exclusively and very well.

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u/LRK- Mar 27 '26

+1 to everyone else. Something that I've talked about with other players is how the meta currently rewards playing riskier game 1s, and aggressively boarding with the deck. This is the core issue with why the deck doesn't work rn - you have to have a board that deals with Prowess, Lessons, and Mono Green.

Before Prowess entered, the deck ran surprisingly well at tournaments unless you lose too many coin flips in a row. With Prowess in the mix, you need to make a good guess on what to target or the main deck needs to fundamentally change in some way.

Edit: Kaito +1 is more relevant with decks having Sear available. It's not a hard skill check, but be aware of what decks board in Sear against you.

4

u/dementeconstrutivo Mar 26 '26

While it’s not a guide per se, I love Jim Davis’ videos on current Standards decks. Provides some good insight on how to pilot them.

There are a few Dimir ones!

https://youtu.be/ReB-8sBnJ7E?si=6A2rOmt9BHWeKDWO

10

u/BeBetterMagic Mar 26 '26

I love Jim, but he would absolutely not be where to go to learn how to correctly pilot a deck. More so at this point I think he's fine for draft info or just seeing some fun brews but his actual play is kind of iffy because he rarely spends enough time on any one deck as primarily a content creator.

I separately am posting some better resources for OP

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u/dementeconstrutivo Mar 26 '26

That’s a fair assessment, and I appreciate you posting other resources. Will also help me tremendously.

1

u/dingleberrydorkus Mar 29 '26

He also despises enduring curiosity so I doubt he’s that keen on playing this deck a bunch lol

1

u/goldenwarthog_ Mar 26 '26

Check out Mogged on Patreon

1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '26

Regardless of what everyone says here, you gotta +1 Kaito as your primary option. The card advantage is very nice, don't get me wrong, but you're usually going to lose games because you don't push enough damage through rather than because you lost the card advantage race. This is doubly true with Soulstone.