I made another deck tech just this morning on having the thought of utilizing the M19 uncommon Mirror Image. Playing the Modern Humans in GP Hong Kong has reminded me how powerful is Phantasmal Image. This lesser version in Standard only copies creatures you control but it is on how you would setup the deck so it would be optimized. I decided that Dimir would be the best guild for it as having access to Black opens you to powerful ETB creatures such as Ravenous Chupacabra, Kitesail Freebooter and Hostage Taker as well as efficient spot removals such as The Eldest Reborn and Vraska’s Contempt.

Here below is the deck list I have come up with:

Creatures (23)
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
3 Plaguecrafter
2 Isareth the Awakener
3 Doom Whisperer
4 Mirror Image
1 Plague Mare
2 Hostage Taker
4 Kitesail Freebooter

Spells (13)
3 The Eldest Reborn
2 Cast Down
1 Negate
3 Vraska’s Contempt
4 Thought Erasure

Lands (24)
2 Dimir Guildgate
10 Swamp
2 Island
4 Watery Grave
2 Memorial to Folly
4 Drowned Catacomb

There are situational creature removals that the image can copy. One example is the Ravenous Chupacabra that deals mostly with non-hexproof creatures of the opponent. Plaguecrafter provides an ‘edict effect’ to that problem. As of the Selesnya tokens matchup, I have added a single copy of Plague Mare which we can also have two more in the sideboard. Kitesail Freebooter let us know the what control players have in their hand and we can take the best one depending on the situation. Mirror Image makes it a virtual eight copies and along with Thought Erasure, we can make sure to deal early pressure with slow midrange to control matchups.

Doom Whisperer is the deck’s main game finisher which can also help you dig your answers with Surveil. Hostage Taker can also become relevant especially in the late game when you have enough mana to take your opponent’s threat and cast it at the same turn.

The Eldest Reborn is best highlighted here as it can later on revive your ETB creatures with its Chapter III lore counter trigger. Vraska’s Contempt and Cast Down are the given default removals for the deck.

Your insights and opinion on this deck tech build is very much appreciated. Just hit em up in the comment box below and I will try my best to reply to each one of them.

That is a wrap for Dimir Image Standard deck. Until the next blog post.