After a full year with mono black lists I wanted to try something different and splash a second color. The different color options can each add a unique dimension to 8-Rack lists – at the cost of being weaker to Blood Moon and having a less consistent manabase. Knowing that consistency was normally 8-Rack’s biggest weakness, I started to think about splashing a few very powerful blue cards. This article will walk through the deck building process, as well as address some strengths and weaknesses, and wrap up with some final thoughts on my first dimir list. I’ve only tested this deck about 30 matches, but it sure is fun and I look forward to developing Dimir 8-Rack in 2019!

Why Dimir?

Players familiar with 8-Rack understand that consistency is probably it’s biggest weakness. Sometimes you draw all discard and removal, but no Racks and then eventually lose. Other times you draw 5 Racks after top decking. This led me to start thinking about adding some powerful blue cards that can filter, such as Search for Azcanta, and shave some of the 4 ofs down to 3 ofs in to make room. Below are the top reasons I went with Dimir.

Search for Azcanta: Wow, this card is really really strong for us. It is easy to cast, hard to deal with, and leads to mega card advantage. Once flipped, it allows us to dig deep into our deck to find the right answer at the right time, sometimes which is just getting a rack that you need – other times an Ensnaring Bridge to end the game. We usually go up to 3 lands, and then Search becomes the 4th land allowing us to activate it. Being able to dig 5 cards a turn instead of just our usual 1 is very powerful. It also allows us to get delirium in the yard faster via filter and the fact it is an enchantment. Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy: probably the absolute best creature for 8 Rack of any color. The card advantage from it’s tap affect is great value – similar to getting a Bob trigger after it survives a turn. We do not want to run creatures game 1 due to smallpox, but with Jace’s ability to turn into a planeswalker very easily this is negated. Flipping a Jace, and recasting a powerful sorcery such as smallpox can be game ending. Once on the field it can act as an extra prison piece as well as a win condition with emblem. Just waiting to “flashback” your powerful cards such as Bontu’s or Whispers makes Jace the absolute MVP creature. Not to mention the all black SDCC 2015 version is the perfect flavor for 8 Rack. Counterspells: counterspells add a new element that 8-Rack was lacking. Often times a top deck Teferi, Karn, or Scapeshift just meant game over. Being able to combat these game ending plays with a counterspell is extremely powerful. No longer is a turn 5 Teferi something we have to just let happen. Long Game Value: the added value gained from Jace and Search allows us to go from the mid game to late game with strong legs under us. Typically after turn 3-4 we are hellbent and hoping our top decks line up properly, now we have more ability to filter exactly what we need. Different Win Conditions: a flipped Jace is a new way to win, especially against Dredge while hiding behind a bridge. Infernal Tutor is not blue, but fits great into this shell. Confusing to deal with game 2/3: They do not want to swap out their creature removal if they saw Jace game 1. On top of that, it’s easy to add creatures like Pack Rats and Fulminator Mages and then throw in Liliana the Last Hope – your creature package is very strong. Combine this threat with powerful 1 ofs and the ability to bring in counterspells makes the opponents sideboarding strategy very challenging for them. 3 ofs > 4 ofs : running 3 of our powerful cards instead of 4 reduces the chances of bad draws. Smallpox is an amazing card, but typically you do not want multiples of them. Same thing for Liliana, Ensnaring Bridge, the Rack etc. Now with the filter we have less chances of drawing these extra multiples that are very weak.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why no cantrips? Never go full blue. The filtering cards such as Search/Jace are maximum value, hard to deal with, low mana threats, that do the filtering for us. I would not run any cantrips. Other blue cards? We are never going to have double blue cards so that limits your build options. Whispers of Emrakul vs Wrench Mind? The Whispers is easier to cast. At it’s worst, the Whispers is better than Wrench at it’s worst. However it is harder to cast at max value due to delirium, but at that point it is a Hymn to Tourach. The ability to tutor it and or re-cast with Jace makes having delirium when casting more feasable. Also, Wrench Mind is an auto board out against several decks, where as Whisper’s can still stay in and have great value. Why infernal tutor? I think it’s perfect in this shell. Great for grabbing a silver bullet or the game ending win condition. Also you can re-cast this with Jace.

Dimir 8 Rack Deck List

Note the picture above has a slightly off sideboard – as I do not have 4 Surgical Extraction online. Although the list is fluctuating, the current list is shown below:

Land (23) Spells (37) Sideboard (15) 4 Swamp

3 Darkslick Shores

4 Mutavault

4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

2 Ghost Quarter

1 Island

4 Polluted Delta

1 Watery Grave 4 Inquisition of Kozilek

2 Thoughtseize

3 Raven’s Crime

3 Fatal Push

3 The Rack

3 Shrieking Affliction

1 Collective Brutality

3 Smallpox 2 Whispers of Emrakul

3 Liliana of the Veil

3 Ensnaring Bridge

2 Jace, Vyrn’s Prodigy

1 Infernal Tutor

3 Search for Azcanta

1 Dimir Charm 4 Surgical Extraction

2 Liliana, the Last Hope

2 Pack Rat

1 Fulminator Mage

2 Delirium Skeins

2 Countersquall

1 Fatal Push

1 Bontu’s Last Reckoning

Current Thoughts on the List

The list is feeling great so far. There needs to be a lot of testing done, but after 30 matches it feels better than expected. Some things to consider going forward, or trying your own version of spice I’ll talk about now. The 2 Ghost Quarter are utility lands, I think Bojuka bog in that place is fine. Also 24 lands would be great, but I would not go down to 22. I am not sure how consistent we can have delirium but Whispers of Emrakul is strong. A single Creeping Tar Pit might make it’s way into the main deck.

Feel free to experiment more with the sideboard! This shell has a lot of potential and ways to attack your opponent. I look forward to test this list in paper and on my stream in 2019. I plan to provide updates on the list as the year goes on. As always, check my sideboard guide for updates on the current list – and follow me on the relevant social media. Rack em up!