Lazav + Etrata = Lazagna
This is a budget-friendly, yet very competitive controlling dimir surveil deck with lots of cool synergies. Etrata can often keep a battlefield clear with the threat of her alternate win-con, but that's not all that's going on here.
Besides
Siren's Ruse
to blink
Etrata, the Silencer
, we have several other cards that can effectively eliminate Etrata's shuffling into the library in
Release to the Wind
,
Unexplained Disappearance
, and
Blink of an Eye
. These cards also interact very effectively with the opponent's board. We can
Release to the Wind
on an opponent's problematic permanent, then counter it with
Sinister Sabotage
when they try to cast it again. We can also
Release to the Wind
on our own enchantments and recast them for lots of value. Release on
The Eldest Reborn
to make the opponent sacrifice another permanent. Release on
Disinformation Campaign
for more discard/draw. Release on
Phyrexian Scriptures
, release on Lazav for more surveil, release on
Blood Operative
for exiling more graveyard cards. We can basically release on anything, farting for value.
The surveil mechanic on
Unexplained Disappearance
creates a fun synergy with
Disinformation Campaign
. We can return a creature to the opponent's empty hand and then make them discard it.
Mission Briefing
means we can continue to use our board disruption and discard spells. All while protecting our
Etrata, the Silencer
. We can also surveil Etrata into our graveyard and copy her with
Lazav, the Multifarious
, creating the stinky sneaky "lazagna."
Blood Operative
for lifelink as well as exiling specific cards from the opponent's graveyard. Plenty of card-draw with
Disinformation Campaign
and
Discovery / Dispersal
.
Removal Suite
Cast Down
is our removal spell of choice. No
Vraska's Contempt
cause it's too damn expensive (both mana cost and it's price).
Unexplained Disappearance
,
Release to the Wind
, and
Blink of an Eye
are more tempo plays, but with the amount of discard and counters, they work more like removal. We also run two
The Eldest Reborn
because we can usually keep their battlefield clear until the late game and using eldest reborn to get rid of a big problematic creature and hopefully bring it back under our control.
Sweepers
4
Ritual of Soot
in the 75, plus 2
Golden Demise
and 1
Phyrexian Scriptures
for those pesky aggro decks.
Discard
Disinformation Campaign
,
Thought Erasure
,
Discovery / Dispersal
, and in the sideboard we have
Duress
as well for control decks.
Counter
Sinister Sabotage
and
Negate
for control and certain midrange matchups.
Mana
The mana is pretty smooth with just two colors it is pretty consistent. Instead of playing
Dimir Guildgate
, I went for one
Evolving Wilds
and found it to be smoother. I hated drawing
Dimir Guildgate
in most games and evolving wilds at least thins our deck slightly. Also, we have a
Detection Tower
for
Carnage Tyrant
.
sideboard
I haven't yet discussed the flyers in the sideboard.
Thief of Sanity
is an amazing card as long as it survives. This can come in game 2 after the opponent hopefully isn't using as much removal for our creature-lite list. Same goes for
Nightveil Predator
. It is very hard for most decks to deal with this card and it can also kill a
Carnage Tyrant
or a
Doom Whisperer
.
