I wasn't satisfied with this concept for my flanking deck so I'm testing a new one. Basically I was looking for a Modern-legal way to run Crib Swap + Haakon, Stromgald Scourge combo (so, no Entomb or Buried Alive) and I came up with this:
- Raven's Crime if Haakon is in hand. It really isn't wasted since it's repeatable (especially with Dakmor Salvage);
- Darkblast (or Dakmor Salvage) if Haakon is still in the library. Once he's on the battlefield dredge becomes basically an alternative and more effective way to draw knights;
- Nameless Inversion and Crib Swap are both in the deck, but I think the latter has better sinergy with flanking (and Darkblast as well);
- With all these creature removals Pentarch Paladin can be used mostly for enchantments (and colored artifacts?). I have nothing against noncreature artifacts, but probably it's not a big deal;
- Haakon allows to reanimate the creatures that were put in the graveyard from the battlefield, but with Knight Exemplar (better if 2 of them) there's no more need to worry about that so all the mana can be used for removals and other knights to cast.
- I considered picking Valor but Kinsbaile Cavalier should do a better job.
There is an entomb effect in Modern, Corpse Connoisseur, if you want such an effect. Unearth also helps, since you are dredging and discarding. Get a 3/3 haste creature for a turn while putting Haakon or some other knight into the yard. Sounds good to me.
Using discard spells on yourself strikes me as a very bad idea. But your deck could be the perfect home for something like Delirium Skeins. This hits your opponent hard while you get to set up your pieces, Haakon and some other knights in the yard. Dark Deal works similarly. And there are many discard outlets, that give you something valuable for the discard. Why punish yourself with a discard effect, when you can be rewarded for doing the deed as a cost?
The thing with Delirium Skeins and most of other discard engines is that they cannot be cast/activated from your graveyard, so they're lost when they end up there with dredge. The only suitable cards I can think of are Phantasmagorian and Rotting Rats, but I'm not sure they are worth picking.
At the moment, dredge is not very efficient at launching Haakon, since if it doesn't appear you have essentially wasted your draw phase and 2/3 cards. I should probably choose between these two strategies:
- A more dredge-oriented deck, adding more cards that can be useful from the graveyard (Valor instead of Kinsbaile Cavalier, Corpse Connoisseur, maybe Rotting Rats, and obviously some other cards with dredge);
- A discard-oriented deck with Delirium Skeins and similar, speeding up the research with something like Read the Bones.
The dream discard card for this is Liliana of the Veil but I'll assume that its out of budget. One of my friends built a high budget knight tribal deck with Aether Vials, lilianas, Haakon and the same removal package (fetches and shock mana base). You don't usually need Haakon until later in the game, so your early turns can be dropping cheaper knights and playing disruption. I have to admit, I don't like 4x ravens crime. You only want to see one copy in a given game. Running some more targeted discard that lets you choose the card would make more sense.
I wouldn't recommend removing all of the Raven's Crimes, its a great card, just not one you want to see more than 1 of during a game. Retrace cards play best as 1-of or 2-of cards in a given deck. Check out this list. I made some changes to the numbers below and added student of warfare to allow for better early game pressure.
4x Benalish Cavalry
2x Knight of the Holy Nimbus
4x Outrider en-Kor
2x Pentarch Paladin
4x Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
3x Knight Exemplar
2x Kinsbaile Cavalier
4x Raven's Crime
4x Darkblast
2x Nameless Inversion
4x Crib Swap
Lands:
11x Plains
8x Swamp
2x Orzhov Basilica
2x Caves of Koilos
2x Dakmor Salvage
- Raven's Crime if Haakon is in hand. It really isn't wasted since it's repeatable (especially with Dakmor Salvage);
- Darkblast (or Dakmor Salvage) if Haakon is still in the library. Once he's on the battlefield dredge becomes basically an alternative and more effective way to draw knights;
- Nameless Inversion and Crib Swap are both in the deck, but I think the latter has better sinergy with flanking (and Darkblast as well);
- With all these creature removals Pentarch Paladin can be used mostly for enchantments (and colored artifacts?). I have nothing against noncreature artifacts, but probably it's not a big deal;
- Haakon allows to reanimate the creatures that were put in the graveyard from the battlefield, but with Knight Exemplar (better if 2 of them) there's no more need to worry about that so all the mana can be used for removals and other knights to cast.
- I considered picking Valor but Kinsbaile Cavalier should do a better job.
EDIT, at the moment I'm considering these changes:
-4 Raven's Crime
-1 Plains
-1 Knight Exemplar
-2 Kinsbaile Cavalier
+4 Rotting Rats
+2 Corpse Connoisseur
+2 Valor
Thanks for your feedback!
Using discard spells on yourself strikes me as a very bad idea. But your deck could be the perfect home for something like Delirium Skeins. This hits your opponent hard while you get to set up your pieces, Haakon and some other knights in the yard. Dark Deal works similarly. And there are many discard outlets, that give you something valuable for the discard. Why punish yourself with a discard effect, when you can be rewarded for doing the deed as a cost?
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
At the moment, dredge is not very efficient at launching Haakon, since if it doesn't appear you have essentially wasted your draw phase and 2/3 cards. I should probably choose between these two strategies:
- A more dredge-oriented deck, adding more cards that can be useful from the graveyard (Valor instead of Kinsbaile Cavalier, Corpse Connoisseur, maybe Rotting Rats, and obviously some other cards with dredge);
- A discard-oriented deck with Delirium Skeins and similar, speeding up the research with something like Read the Bones.
-4 Raven's Crime
-1 Plains
-1 Knight Exemplar
-2 Kinsbaile Cavalier
+4 Rotting Rats
+2 Corpse Connoisseur
+2 Valor
so the deck would be like this:
4x Benalish Cavalry
2x Knight of the Holy Nimbus
4x Outrider en-Kor
2x Pentarch Paladin
2x Knight Exemplar
4x Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
4x Rotting Rats
2x Corpse Connoisseur
2x Valor
4x Darkblast
2x Nameless Inversion
4x Crib Swap
Lands:
10x Plains
8x Swamp
2x Orzhov Basilica
2x Caves of Koilos
2x Dakmor Salvage
If this concept doesn't work I'll try to drop dredge and make it more "draw/discard"-oriented.
4x Student of Warfare
2x Knight of the Holy Nimbus
4x Outrider en-Kor
2x Pentarch Paladin
4x Knight Exemplar
4x Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
4x Rotting Rats
2x Valor
1x Darkblast
1x Raven's Crime
4x Nameless Inversion
4x Crib Swap
Lands:
10x Plains
8x Swamp
2x Orzhov Basilica
2x Caves of Koilos
2x Dakmor Salvage