Hacksaw says:
This is the deck as best I can remember it.
The main win condition is milling the opponent out. Paranoid Delusions, Balustrade Spy, Sage's Row Denizens are the main ways to do it.
Paranoid Delusions combined with flying and unblockable creatures will quickly inflate your opponent's graveyard. Call of the Nightwing gives you 1/1 blockers and will activate the mill from Sage's Row Denizens as well.
The Primordials make great bombs, getting a 5/5 or 5/4 body down and being able to steal a creature or spell from your opponent's graveyard at no extra cost can be a huge advantage, both combo well with all the mill in the deck, ensuring there will be something to take from your opponent when they hit the table.
Most of the cards worked very well in the deck.
A couple more Shadow Alley Denizens and Metropolis Sprites for cheap evasive attackers to get your cipher spells on is highly recommended.
More Grisly Spectacles are needed, it's great removal and advances your win condition. Another Psychic Strike would be recommended as well, denial is better than removal in most cases.
The Ruffians can be good early on when your opponent's reluctance to ditch cards will force a tough decision to block, especially if the Ruffian has something Ciphered onto him. Their value drops quickly once your opponent starts to get lower on cards, they will likely be the first creatures to be cut from the deck when updating with better cards.
Undercity Informant should be upped to a x2 or x3, you want one on the table at all times as your opponent's removal and blocks become very pricey if you have the mana available.
Keymaster Rogue looks great at first glance, a 3/2 unblockable with a mild drawback of returning a creature to your hand. This drawback can be a good thing, bouncing a Balustrade Spy or Dinrova Horror to be cast again. The real downside to this guy is his 3U mana cost, I would gladly drop him down to a 2/2 or 1/2 unblockable for 2U to streamline the mana curve a bit. He will be getting cut from the deck simply because there are more cost-effective creatures to use. Remember the win condition is milling, not damage.
Death's Approach is good, cheap removal in this deck, especially later in the match when a large chunk of the opponent's deck is in the graveyard.
The Dinrova Horrors would be cut if I could go back and do it again. 4/4, boomerang a creature and discard is powerful, but somehow feels not quite good enough for 4UB, if they were flying they'd probably be a little too good.
When the deck worked, it worked great! An early Sprite with Paranoid Delusions can quickly dump many cards into your opponent's graveyard. Many people will panic when faced with mill-focused decks and attack you recklessly, trying to race you out. Holding back a Sage's Row Denizen or a Balustrade Spy to block can fluster your opponent and get them focusing on the wrong targets in play. They may try working overly hard to remove your blockers instead of focusing on the Ciphered creature doing the damage to their deck.
The deck can be very fragile however. Not hitting four land for Grisly Spectacle or Call of the Nightwing can leave you without adequate blockers or key removal.
Getting Psychic Strike and making sure you leave 1BU available to use it so your Ciphered creatures don't get killed through removal or preventing your opponent from getting a game-changing card in play.
Other cards to keep a watch out for:
Deathcult Rogue and Nightveil Spectre are both great creatures for the deck and both are only 3 mana, very evasive, and in the case of Nightveil Spectre has his own small mill, exiling the top card of the opponent's deck when he hits.
Hands of Binding will help you lock down your opponent's creatures and keep the way clear for your Ciphered attackers.
Voidwalk is a nice trick to have. Being able to blink one of your own creatures out of play then back in at the end of your turn, triggering Balustrade Spy, or Dinrova Horror's entering the battlefield abilities again when they return or activating Sage's Row Denizen's mill if the blinked creature is blue.
The value of Devour Flesh goes up in this deck, since you don't care about your opponent's life total, only his deck size.
Cards Like Last Thoughts, Midnight Recovery, Mental Vapors and Undercity Plaugue and Shadow Slice all seem like decent cipher spells, but don't do enough for you compared to their cost. Last Thoughts is the most beneficial with card draw.
With the right cards Dimir can easily change from milling to straight damage. This is the deck to play Keymaster Rogues and Shadow Slice as even one of this combo on the table puts your opponent on a three turn clock or less. If you're playing Guildgates (I recommend 4+) then run Way of the Thief to make your creature bigger and unblockable.
