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Lazav, Dimir Mastermind Primer

Commander / EDH Midrange Mill UB (Dimir)

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Creature (30)

Planeswalker (6)

Land (36)

Enchantment (2)

Artifact (13)

Instant (6)

Sorcery (6)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

Maybeboard

Creature (10)

Planeswalker (1)

Land (2)

Enchantment (4)

Artifact (3)

Instant (4)

Sorcery (2)

Introduction

Well, I finally got around to writing down an up to date deck list with all of the editions and what not. This was made as a reference for an old friend in Washington State, whom I really got into Magic with.

This deck is incredibly special to me, if I had to pick one out of all of them, Lazav would be it. When I first got into Magic, a friend had some cards that he inherited, and he knew how to play a little bit but hadn't fully delved into it. He let me make a deck out of his limited collection of cards, and the very first deck I ever built was U/B control with some bombs. Well, that deck stuck around until I learned about EDH, and at the time, Gatecrash was one of the newest sets. I had bought a pack, cracked a foil Lazav, and decided to give it a spin. I took some of the cards from my original Dimir Control deck and incorporated them into this deck. Sorin, Jin-Gitaxious, Vampire Nighthawk, Guard Gamazoa, and Rune-Scarred Demon are some of those legacy cards, amongst the first cards I ever owned in Magic, and definitely hold the record for the longest I've ever had cards in a constructed deck.

Note: There are one or two less competitive options that are included into the deck for a sense of flavor and identity. If I were to tune for competition, these would be some of the cards I would cut:

1.Fellwar Stone Great, Relevant Flavor Text

2.Mind's Dilation Just fun

Why to play Lazav

Lazaav is a General that you will enjoy playing if you are anywhere from a Spike with a dash of Timmy, or a more Timmy or Johnny oriented player. It offers a different game every time, and draws strengths from enemy decks. If you want to sample cards that you don't own, or are looking for a less linear deck with evolving lines of play, then this deck is for you.

I don't think this is the deck for a 100% spike because it tends to dominate the mid range and does not do as well in 1v1 versus hyper aggressive Voltron decks such as Sigarda, Host of Herons or a tuned Derevi. This deck dominates the mid range pretty well, and has been competitive at pretty much any table I've sat at. It is consistently fun as well.

What it Does

This deck wants to use your opponent's deck against itself. Use Mill effects to transform Lazav into a Hexproof, shapeshifting version of threats stolen from other decks. Use other shapeshifters to target creatures on the battlefield and graveyard, utilizing their misfortune as your opportunity.

There are many combo effects and interactions in this deck.

Combos

1.Palinchron + Deadeye Navigator = Inf. Mana

2.Duskmantle Guildmage+ Mindcrank = 8 mana Inf. Mill / Life loss for a single opponent upon trigger

3.Academy Ruins + Mindslaver = 12 Mana, take all turns forever in 1v1, take someone's turn every one of your turns in multi

4.Traumatize+ Duskmantle Guildmage = In first 12 turns, hits >40 Life, usually a win condition

5.Rise of the Dark Realms+ Any prolonged mill, mindcrank, Trauamtize= If unanswered, one of the most common win conditions

6.Deadeye Navigator + Duplicant = Repeatable 2 mana exile

7.Deadeye Navigator + Any ETB = Value

Tech

Tutors:

Help provide answers to niche situations, also a way to look for win conditions drawn late game, and for mana enablers in the early game.

Any Color lands,

Chromatic Lantern, Nightveil Specter, Havengul Lich, Ashiok, Dimir Doppelganger, etc: Steal cards, use lands that produce any color mana to cast them, produce card advantage/ resource denial.

Field Clears:

I could use a damnation. Can be used as reset button or to clear the way for an alpha strike after board lock. For now I'm using one sided wipes since I don't have any better. I could maybe use Languish or something like that more effectively. Polymorphist's Jest gets around all sorts of factors like hexproof, indestructible, etc.

Mindslaver, Emrakul, Worst Fears:

I have found Mindslaver effects to be incredibly powerful. 1v1, they all usually are one card win conditions with any sort of useful setup. If you can't take a turn and wreck your opponent, you were probably already winning by then and wont lose too much tempo. At worst, it is an mana intensive time walk.

Phenax, Mindcrank, Consuming Aberration, friends and ect.:

Don't aim to mill someone out. You are milling for effect. They help. They enable Lazav to transform, give you something to do during board locks, and every now and then, you can kill with mill with a late game Phenax and any developed position. Generally after a Traumatize.

Win Conditions:

Cyclonic Rift, Rite of Replication, Sorin Markov, beats with Lazav, Rise of the Dark Realms, any combo, there are so many ways to win with this deck although Cyclonic Rift and Rite have historically done a lot of work.

The rest:

There is evasion, cards that are difficult to remove such as Aetherling, cards for generating card advantage, and spot removal. Most of the spot removal is on a stick in this deck, which makes it slightly more fragile, but in my experience, the repeatable spot removal makes it worth it nine times out of ten. Swords, mana rocks, and other artifacts like Top provide all of the usual benefits.

Alternate Commanders

Sygg, River Cutthroat:

Great for multiplayer matches. I also have a feeling that he would make for a more competitive Dimir Commander, but the truth is that I just enjoy the way that Lazav plays style wise. If I were to make Sygg the commander, I would probably cut a few things like Traumatize and add in some more options for protecting him to race opponents on card advantage.

Wrexial, the Risen Deep:

If you find yourself playing 1v1 against a deck that relies on Sorceries or Instants, he is generally a better choice. He also is fantastic for mirrors due to Islandwalk and Swampwalk, although I switch less for that since I again, enjoy Lazav.

Vela, the Night-Clad:

Gives your guys evasion, more linear, haven't run her as a commander myself. She doesn't do my stuff.

Phenax:

Honestly, against a deck with no graveyard recursion like Eldrazi Titans and such, he is a totally viable commander for a hard mill strategy if you want. There are worse options.

Well, I'm going to leave it for now. That's kind of a brief into to what Lazaav does, along with important interactions. Really, depending on your hand, there a million different routes to go. Lazav sometimes presents difficult decisions, but no matter what, he is always fun.

Long live Dimir.

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