Introduction:
There aren't a ton of details
about decision making during the games themselves. I didn't see a ton of
GY hate but if I did I mention it. So in lieu of talking about
individual games, I'm going to try writing up a primer about the deck
with very brief descriptions of the matches.
Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1644081#paper
Building the deck:
Agents of Dread-ge
- Dredge # is the most important line of text on most of the dredge cards.
- There's only one card each for Dredge 6, Dredge 5, and Dredge 4.
Golgari Grave-Troll (Mr. 6) is banned, so we don't play him/it/that
card.
- Mr. 5 (Stinkweed Imp) is legal so we play 4 of this guy. Also sometimes he attacks and blocks.
- Mr. 4. He's okay, but never the first guy we call in for a job. He's
got two abilities that interact with the graveyard, so the opponent is
basically never incentivized to kill him. If the death trigger ever does
go off, it can get a Narcomoeba trigger but that like never comes up. Lists run 1 or 2 of this guy and I went with 1.
- At Dredge 3 is where card options technically open up. Ms. 3, or
Life from the Loam, is the all-star of the bunch. She's the Dredger that
pulls a ton of weight despite not being as buff and intimidating as the
higher Dredge agents. She hooks us up with additional lands past 2,
Bloodghast triggers, and huge Conflagrates for when you want to send a
message.
- As for Mr. 3, Darkblast is decent but situational so it's played as a
1-of in the main, with most lists sideboarding a second copy. The other
Dredge 3 cards are bad - they don't do anything, cost 3+ mana, and if
we wanted a do-nothing card that still has Dredge text we could be
playing strictly better Mr. 4.
- Dredge 2 has 5 options and is where we see hypothetically playable
utility cards. Golgari Brown-Scale used to be in sideboards but then
Creeping Chill is way better. Necroplasm requires BB, is cute, but would
need a very specific meta to be good. Dakmor Salvage is a card that
people sometimes play but you won't catch me playing this card ever. It
supposedly guarantees you land #2 (eventually) if you are forced to keep
a 1 lander, but in that scenario the odds are very much against you.
Firstly, Dakmor Salvage comes in tapped, so it won't actually do
anything until turn 3+. Secondly, it only taps for black so it doesn't
help cast any of the important spells (casting any black spell in Dredge
is already one of your bad/unfavored games). Thirdly, as a result of
point 2, the one land you keep needs to be RG-producing, further
restricting keepable hands. Lastly, it has Dredge 2, which only does
half the work of that no-good womanizing Mr. 4 so Dakmor Salvage is
pretty garbage at that too.
Enablers
Payoffs
Eh maybe I'll write these sections up later.
Gameplay:
Opening hand / mulligans:
- VERY IMPORTANT: two lands, at least one of which produces green (not 2x Mountain, 2 Blood Crypt)
- VERY IMPORTANT: dredge enabler: Shriekhorn or Faithless Looting
- Good but not necessary: dredge card IF hand also has Faithless Looting or Cathartic Reunion
- Good but not necessary: dredge payoffs that can be discarded (Prized Amalgam, Bloodghast)
- AS FEW AS POSSIBLE: payoffs that you don't want to be paying mana for (Narcomoeba, Creeping Chill)
- For instance, in one game I drew an opening 7 with 3 Creeping Chill which was effectively a mull to 4 already
- In post-board games you need to see hate cards in your opener or
else you're counting on the top ~5 cards from looting effects, since the
game plan aims to never draw another card naturally
Early turns:
- "One in the bin is worth two in the hand"
- Trying to pretty much dredge Stinkweed Imp as much as possible. Dredge other cards if Stinkweed is not available.
- Turn 1: Shriekhorn or Faithless Looting. Shriekhorn puts more cards
into the graveyard, but doesn't get rid of any dredge cards sitting in
the hand
- Best t1 Faithless Looting would be discarding Stinkweed Imp and
another useful card (dredger or Prized Amalgam). Okay Lootings involve
discarding Life from the Loam and/or Bloodghast. Discarding
Bloodghast+Prized Amalgam is a little weak but sets up 5 power on turn
2.
- Turn 2: Looting is still a fine play, but Cathartic Reunion here is
explosive. Ideally Cathartic Reunion wants 2 dredge cards to be in the
bin when it starts resolving, since the odds of hitting a second dredger
off 1 dredge aren't fantastic.
- Turn 2: Life from the Loam is the worst good play? Sometimes it's
the best line because you have no other way to put a dredger in the
yard, and sometimes there's not even a land to target.
- Before fetching, check the graveyard for fetchable lands - there's
only 6 total, and it's totally possible to flip 2 of the same even on
the first dredge.
Mid/late-game (turn 3 onwards):
- Try to avoid playing lands until second main phase to maximize Bloodghasts
- Turn 3 onwards: Dredging & resolving the first Life from the
Loam should set up your mana for the rest of the game. Then it's back to
aggressively dredging.
- After going through ~1/2 of the deck, it's time to start dredging up
Life from the Loams and setting up huge Conflagrates, either to clear
the board or for lethal.
- The maximum reasonable Conflagrate is 10 ... starting the turn with a
7 card hand, Life from the Loam among them. Dredge Loam for the turn.
Cast both Loams, going to 10 cards. Spend RR and discard the entire hand
for 10 damage. More than 6 mana isn't a reasonable situation, but they
do exist. Flashback Looting + Life from the Loam + flashback Conflagrate
costs 7 mana so that also comes up.
GP Toronto Main Event (5-3 with a no-show)
Round 1 vs Rusty on Living End (1-2, 0-1)
Game 1 feels unfavored. He's able to reanimate an Archfiend of Ifnir and wipe my board away.
Game 2 I keep the 7 with a Leyline of the Void and win.
Game
3 mull to 5 - unkeepable 7 and 6. 1 lander, no Leyline, but he had
Fulminator and Beast Within. Maybe should have bet on the four-card
god-hand?
Round 2 vs Nick on bad/budget Delver (2-0, 1-1)
Game 1 I see a bunch of cantrips, Pteramander, and a Runechanter's Pike??? Then he ded
Game
2 I board in some Ancient Grudges figuring Pike might spike me with an
end-step Snapcaster, and any graveyard hate would be artifact-based. He
plays Dissolve, Search for Azcanta, and not a ton of action.
I somewhat played around Cryptic Command, but his budget list didn't have
Round 3 vs Paul on Bant Spirits (2-1, 2-1)
Game
1 he mulls to 5 but it's a good 5. Keep a couple Narcomoebae back for
blockers and I get through with recursive threats. Thanks to 3 Creeping
Chills, I finish him while sitting at 8 life.
Game 2 has RIP. Claim it and he rips another RIP.
Game 3... he mulls to 4 and doesn't even touch my life total.
Round 4 vs Nick Cummings on Bogles (0-2, 2-2)
Local name, recognize him
The
matchup is basically two ships racing in the night, but Bogles has the
edge with their access to first strike, vigilance, reach, lifelink, and
protection from creatures.
He knows the matchup well, and
identifies Daybreak Coronet as the key card in the matchup. Honestly
most impactful part of the match is the Bogles player's mulligan
decision.
Round 5 vs Alex on Bant Spirits (0-2, 2-3)
I'm playing against a woman and I tilt myself. I keep weak 7s in both games and am punished by a lack of action.
Game 1 she casts flash/instant spells on her turn, fails to activate Mausoleum Wanderer and Selfless Spirit.... tilt city.
Game
2 I keep another mediocre 7 with Claim, Lightning Axe, and I think
Faithless Looting. I fumble a Conflagrate -could have hardcast for 2R to
kill an Hierarch and delay CoCo for a turn.
Round 6 vs Michael on Forbidden Orchard jank (2-1, 3-3)
Game
1 I see Forbidden Orchard into Illness in the Ranks. Another Orchard
and an Expedition Map finds third Orchard. Plays Trespasser's Curse but I
get him.
Game 2 he manages to pull some nonsense off. No Illness,
but gives me tokens with Orchard and Hunted Phantasm. I swing with a
board into BATWING BRUMA WTF, eat 7 then next turn he Rakdos Charms me
for lethal.
Game 3 I do my thing and he dies.
Round 7 vs Drazon on no-show (infinity-0, 4-3)
Round 7 vs another guy with a no-show (Dennis) on RB burn (2-0)
Game
1 He's pretty fast out of the gate, putting me to 2 life. Conflagrate
to clear the board, then I flip two Creeping Chills which buys me more
than enough time to win.
Game 2 Conflagrate the board again at
some point. I flip two Chills even earlier than last time, going from 10
to 16 and ending at 9.
So the upside of RB burn is I think being faster than RW, but I'm way less scared of Rakdos Charm than RIP.
Round 8 vs Shawn on Phoenix (2-0, 5-3)
Game
1 At one point he reanimated two Phoenixes with Gut Shot as the third
spell and swung for 6. The next turn? I double blocked one with
Narcomoebae, and he had another in the yard but I flipped Creeping
Chills to stabilize and take the game.
Game 2 he's doesn't have as good of a start as previously and I take it.
Modern side event 1 - Double-Up (2-0)
Round 1 vs Lee on standard Bant control (2-0, 1-0)
Game 1
7 card hand with 3 Creeping Chill nope
6 card hand composed of only lands and those creatures I don't want to be casting (Amalgam, Bloodghast, Narcomoeba) nope
5 spells no lands nope
4
cards: Gemstone Mine, Faithless Looting, Conflagrate, Stinkweed Imp
wow. Find a second land off the Looting and go off from there.
Game 2 He has Deputy of Detention which is decent but modern Dredge is just way more powerful
Played
around his Settle the Wreckages a couple times, only swinging with 3 or
4 of the ~6 creatures I had on board. I think Narcomoeba is my least
valued creature on the board, but Amalgam and Bloodghast threaten
different angles of recursion. Also because he was on a standard deck,
he didn't have that game-deciding pieces of graveyard hate in the
sideboard.
This was also Lee's first modern event, trying to get a
taste for the field and find a deck he might enjoy playing. Welcome to
modern, Lee!
Round 2 vs Steve on Jund Living End (2-0, 2-0)
Game
1 His Living Ends aren't great for him, since I have some Stinkweed
Imps. Late in the game I've whittled him down and he Faerie Macabre's
the two Conflagrates in my yard. I win without it with four cards left
in my deck. Check my sideboard check my deck double check count my deck
AHHHHH OH NO ILLEGAL DECK thank goodness it was being judged at regular
REL. Grab a third from the vendor and we go to to game 2. Very
understanding opponent, if you read this thanks being so patient!
Game
2 He has an Anger of the Gods (which I didn't know of) but I've already
bashed in a couple times and am able to find some more hasty
Bloodghasts to finish him off.
At one point in game 2 I
tried to clearly separate my creatures on the battlefield and the ones
in the graveyard while resolving a Living End and got confused about an
Amalgam that I wasn't sure where it started, so I left it in the
graveyard.
Different thing - Steve questioned me about missing a trigger on Prized Amalgam from a creature entering the battlefield and
to my understanding
I don't have to announce it immediately when the creature comes in
though it's proper and helps both players (and I did do so throughout
the weekend). I's similar but not quite the same as other delayed zone
changes, like those caused by tokens made from Kari Zev/Geist of Saint
Traft or Gods from Hour of Devastation returning to their owners' hand
after dying. Yes, the triggers do specify certain timings but it doesn't
make a huge difference if you fail to acknowledge these things with
zero impact on the game state.
Then I did the 2-0-1 drop thing for 400 tickets instead of gambling 200 vs 600.
Modern side event 2: regular prizing (2-0)
Round 1 vs Nick on Jeskai (2-0, 1-0)
Didn't
see a ton from him. He got full value Timely Reinforcements in both
games but they were not nearly enough to save him from the dredge
scourge.
Round 2 vs Steve on Mill (2-1, 2-0)
Super
interesting matchup, though definitely way in my favor. He tells me
that the match is pretty unfavorable for him, and then figuratively
shows his hand with a turn 1 Shelldock Isle.
Game 1 goes smoothly for me.
Game
2 comes down to the wire, and I misplay a bit. I Conflagrate for
something like 6 instead of 7, leaving him at 7 life with two Creeping
Chills left in my deck. He is then able to mill me out on his turn - if I
had gone for the extra point he would be forced into a different line. I
think he has an early Ravenous Trap but it just slows me down.
Game
3 again another early Ravenous Trap to slow me down, but the rest of
his mill effects give me some free Narcomoebae and a variety of
creatures to beat down with. He holds an Echoing Truth for too long
while I swing with Narcomoebae, getting him low enough to Conflagrate for lethal.
Then I drop for 200 more tickets woohoo
Turbo Town (7-1)
Turbo Town is a bunch of on-demand Magic matches, where people show up to have a nice quick bit of Magic and then somebody shows up with the most inherently unfair deck in the format. Sorry everyone.
Brady on UB Processors: seemed to have some mana woes, but afterwards he showed me Haunting Echoes which would have absolutely ruined me. Hopefully I didn't turn the kid off modern forever. Although I do feel like Ingest/Processors were pretty bad mechanics even in its own format. Flavorfully there, but mechanically... awful.
Richard on Hardened Scales: I keep my 7 with a Darkblast. He plays an Arcbound Worker and I am giddy. He pulls out game 2 but I overtake him in the 3rd.
Muffin on UB Faeries: I switched to 8 rack. Lost game 1, stabilized game 2 running my Kalitas into a Bitterblossom token turn after turn while Vendilion Clique + token clocked me every turn. Get to 4 life and I have two outs, then top Night of Soul's Betrayal to clear out his board WHOOAAAA. Game 3 Kalitas pulls me out of it again and a Rack seals the deal.
Brittany on Esper Zur Solemnity combo: Her heart wasn't in it, and she conceded after game 1. I'm glad that she knew what she wanted out of the GP and a
grudge match against dredge was not it.
Adam on BW Eldrazi: Just too slow vs dredge. I think he sideboarded incorrectly as well and offered some thoughts afterwards.
Sal on Jund: My only loss outside of the main event. Lost to Scavenging Ooze and Tarmogoyf beats.
Matt on Jeskai: Dude was playing too fair. Turn 1 and 2 played Celestial Colonnade while I'm just churning my deck into the graveyard. Game 3 he mulls to 6 with 1 land, and I flip triple Creeping Chill for hasty Bloodghast beats.
Marcus on Ad Nauseam: Supposedly quite a favorable matchup for them, but game 1 I'm able to push through lethal Conflagrates/attacks over a couple turns, and game 2 he goes 1 land into cantrips into all of the lands and none of the Ad Nauseam.
Thoughts:
- Dredge was definitely a solid pick for the tournament. Saw a lot of folks on it, and not a ton of hate.
- Should have gotten luckier in round 1, and played way more intelligently in round 3.
- For Turbo Town I feel pretty bad about running Dredge into all those fair and newb decks. In the future I'll try to bring more of my "technically interactive" decks to the format ex. mono W Emeria, Fevered Visions, Waste Not, etc. Pull off some utter nonsense.
- Should pick up a second Darkblast for the side.
- I think I got a lot better at mulliganing over the weekend. Staying away from 1 landers with Faithless Looting, mainly.
- Writing up a sideboard guide seems pretty handy - let your mind relax a bit during the sideboard process by preparing ahead of time. Faced three opponents and they all had roughly a dozen matchups listed which for modern may include all your opponents for a weekend or only a couple of them. If I were to write up a SB guide for myself, I would include the following: Burn, UW/UWR, Jund/GBx, Dredge, UR Phoenix, Spirits, Humans, Ad Nauseam, Scapeshift (Titanshift), GDS, 8 rack, Bogles, Storm, Tron, Hardened Scales, and Eldrazi Tron for an even 16.
