Where oh where do we put these great Dimir cards?

I've spoken a few times about how good the trio of Dimir cards is in Standard, but they've still been struggling to find a good home. Straight Dimir isn't good enough, putting them in Sultai is awkward, and Esper Hero decks seem to win in spite of C rather than because of it because the Dimir cards carry the load.

However what if we steal a play from Modern humans and sound the horn in Standard?

Time Stamps:

Match 1 - 00:04:58

Match 2 - 00:26:26

Match 3 - 00:44:13

Match 4 - 01:04:17

Match 5 - 01:40:38

Esper Bugler | Allegiance Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 2 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 4 Hostage Taker
• 4 Kitesail Freebooter
• 4 Militia Bugler
• 4 Thief of Sanity
• 4 Tithe Taker

• Instants (6)
• 1 Mortify
• 2 Lookout's Dispersal
• 3 Cast Down

• Sorceries (5)
• 2 Duress
• 3 Thought Erasure

• Lands (25)
• 1 Swamp
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Basilica Bell-Haunt
• 4 Deputy of Detention
• 1 Duress
• 1 Mortify
• 2 Negate
• 2 The Eldest Reborn
• 1 The Immortal Sun
• 2 Vraska's Contempt

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Militia Bugler leads the charge!

The Bugler is a great value creature that hasn't seen too much play in Standard yet but works perfectly for us here. It helps to find us all of our best cards and provides us card advantage, all with a reasonably sized body. The deck-building cost isn't that high because we already want to be playing most of our creatures, and the ones that we maybe wouldn't have considered like Kitesail Freebooter and Ravenous Chupacabra play right into our strategy.

We've got a swath of great removal against the creature decks, good disruption against the control and combo decks, and Thief of Sanity and Hostage Taker ready to take over games against everyone else at a moment's notice. Don't underestimate the power of an early discard spell to take your opponent's removal spell into Thief of Sanity. It usually only takes one hit to get the snowball rolling and once it's going it becomes hard to lose.

One spot we seem a little weak is against aggressive White decks, but we can shave down on Deputy of Detention in our sideboard for a few copies of Fungal Infection to shore up that weakness. Fungal Infection is a cheap answer to Adanto Vanguard, while also often turning into a one mana two-for-one blowout on the early turns while you get yourself set up.

Esper Bugler is fun, powerful, and competitive. Besides, what could be more fun than winning with your opponent's cards?