IN with the ... rotten?: blood artist is in. While not a zombie, our zombies die so much left right and center that this is an interesting add to the deck butcher ghoul replaces the diregraf ghoul. Costs one more, but has undying and is untapped on entry.
Fleshbag marauder is in SB ... don't know why I didn't include him earlier ... shame on me.
That's about it. The extra blocker that is butcher ghoul adds some more resilience. The artist is just plain good ... but he will still need to plrove himself or it's back to the little league with him.
Is there any particular reason for choosing Blood Artist over Diregraf Captain? I understand there are several possible reasons (it's blue, 3 cost, doesn't gain life, etc) but I'd like to know which is the reason you chose what you did.
What do you think about Grand Abolisher? Seems like it would just destroy most blue based decks and would hurt a lot of others that want to do things on your turn.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll see what balance of discard seems right against combo. Mutavault is a good idea, it would allow me a way to get a zombie into play without needing an unearth or infestation.
After reading the dredge thread in the standard forums, I got an idea for a modern dredge deck. It's far from complete and I could use a lot of help refining it.
The manabase is incomplete because I'm unfortunately bad at making good manabases, so contributions in this area would be welcome.
I think the strategy is fairly clear: dredge a lot, use crypt to flashback army or spider spawning, swing for game. The creatures also double as another win condition as they are all playable from the graveyard (gravecrawler uses either an unearthed zombie or an infestation token). Gnaw is used to hold off aggro decks long enough to get going. Combo seems to be the weakpoint of the deck, and I think boseiju will take care of control.
Other cards to consider: Unburial Rites
Target a gamewinning creature like Iona, Shield of Emeria as either a sideboard strategy or alternate win condition. Lingering Souls
Cheap, makes tokens, castable from the graveyard. Ancient Grudge and Ray of Revelation
Sideboard hate that's castable from the grave. Grudge can be cast from the hand if a cage is out.
If you like the idea, please help me make it better! I think this has potential, so let's make it the best we can.
Changelog
+2 Mutavault; +4 Raven's Crime, +4 Inquisition of Kozilek, +4 Ancient Grudge to sideboard
I would drop sangrophage for Stromgald Crusader. It's castable with haakon, has pro white and can give itself flying, making it far more resilient and useful than sangrophage.
B/W is probably the best choice with mono black being the other likely option.
What do you think of black cat? If they kill it it's a 2 for 1 for us and with Death Baron and Lord of the Undead it's repeatable and a good chump blocker.
I've had an idea like this as well. One thing I considered was splashing white for Rule of Law or Ethersworn Canonist to stop them from transforming back.
The existence of a deck like this could likely greatly depend on the remaining cards in Innistrad. So you might want to wait until the rest is spoiled and then revisit this idea.
I find it a bit amusing that I suggested Delay on page 2 and was told it was probably not good enough.
Edit: Also going to suggest Echoing Truth again. It should be quite good against anything that's throwing multiples of any permanent out, resulting in a pretty big tempo loss for them.
Edit 2: Just looked at the list from the tournament and he has Echoing Truth in the sideboard. This is an interesting day.
I agree that Withered Wretch is one of our best available 2 drops and it allows us to deal with decks that consider their graveyards important for some reason easily and without requiring SB spots.
As for using Darksteel Citadel for the lich, that will depend on the amount of other colorless lands we use, and it has some pretty heavy competition for the spot with Mutavault, Ghost Quarter, and Tectonic Edge. Also, should we be so lucky as to get a reprint of Unholy Grotto it's highly likely a spot would be spent on that.
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Is there any particular reason for choosing Blood Artist over Diregraf Captain? I understand there are several possible reasons (it's blue, 3 cost, doesn't gain life, etc) but I'd like to know which is the reason you chose what you did.
Sam Black's Zombies
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Dark Confidant
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Gravecrawler
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to Exile
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Pillar of Flame
Lands
4 Arid Mesa
3 Blood Crypt
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Swamp
1 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Combust
2 Disenchant
2 Path to Exile
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Thoughtseize
To me it doesn't look like a zombie deck as much as a deck that happens to run zombies.
Edit: Forgot the swamps.
4 Golgari Thug
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Bloodghast
4 Gravecrawler
4 Dregscape Zombie
2 Viscera Dragger
Instants and Sorceries
4 Life from the Loam
3 Gnaw to the Bone
4 Faithless Looting
2 Shattered Perception
1 Army of the Damned
1 Spider Spawning
3 Zombie Infestation
4 Crypt of Agadeem
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
2 Mutavault
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Raven's Crime
4 Ancient Grudge
The manabase is incomplete because I'm unfortunately bad at making good manabases, so contributions in this area would be welcome.
I think the strategy is fairly clear: dredge a lot, use crypt to flashback army or spider spawning, swing for game. The creatures also double as another win condition as they are all playable from the graveyard (gravecrawler uses either an unearthed zombie or an infestation token). Gnaw is used to hold off aggro decks long enough to get going. Combo seems to be the weakpoint of the deck, and I think boseiju will take care of control.
Other cards to consider:
Unburial Rites
Target a gamewinning creature like Iona, Shield of Emeria as either a sideboard strategy or alternate win condition.
Lingering Souls
Cheap, makes tokens, castable from the graveyard.
Ancient Grudge and Ray of Revelation
Sideboard hate that's castable from the grave. Grudge can be cast from the hand if a cage is out.
If you like the idea, please help me make it better! I think this has potential, so let's make it the best we can.
Changelog
+2 Mutavault; +4 Raven's Crime, +4 Inquisition of Kozilek, +4 Ancient Grudge to sideboard
What do you think of black cat? If they kill it it's a 2 for 1 for us and with Death Baron and Lord of the Undead it's repeatable and a good chump blocker.
Edit: Also going to suggest Echoing Truth again. It should be quite good against anything that's throwing multiples of any permanent out, resulting in a pretty big tempo loss for them.
Edit 2: Just looked at the list from the tournament and he has Echoing Truth in the sideboard. This is an interesting day.
As for using Darksteel Citadel for the lich, that will depend on the amount of other colorless lands we use, and it has some pretty heavy competition for the spot with Mutavault, Ghost Quarter, and Tectonic Edge. Also, should we be so lucky as to get a reprint of Unholy Grotto it's highly likely a spot would be spent on that.