The problem many dredge decks face is a distinct lack of draw power. Though they can utilize the draw step incredibly effectively, it's far too slow for ordinary means.
In an effort to fix this, and to have a little fun... I designed this little piece of art - Dredgric!
In using Edric, however - the deck loses one key thing. Access to Black. To make up for black's tutors and reanimation, we'll just have to make do with green's equivalents. Something like Regrowth - which turns into a Demonic Tutor in this deck, or Genesis, our Volrath's Stronghold.
Hopefully, this deck proves that Black isn't necessary for dredge to do well. If anything, Black slows down the whole process!
One thing to note about this deck, I purposefully did not include some of the spotlight graveyard-based creatures, such as Vengevine, Tarmogoyf, Terravore, and such. They simply do not do enough to warrant a spot, as this is a Multiplayer deck. Besides, it's far more fun to swing with Kessig Cagebreakers and completely destroy someone while drawing/dredging half your deck.
This is one of the few decks that uses Hermit Druid "fairly"... kind of.
Dredgric is a green deck. This means we've got access to some of the best ramp in the game, and of course we're going to abuse it fully. However, we're not going to do it in the traditional way. Sol Ring? Mana Crypt? Terrible. Far Wanderings? Oh Baby!
Yup, that's it. Three cards. We don't use goodstuff like Cultivate or Skyshroud Claim. These are just too unwieldy. Instead, we get one-drop ramp, a flashbackable Rampant Growth, and my personal favorite, a threshold get-3. The turn after a resolved Far Wanderings is very, very dangerous.
Exploration deserves a bit more exploration. Why doesn't this deck use Oracle of Mul-Daya instead? The Oracle is a body, which is relevant for several of the cards in the deck, and it's only four mana to cast, not much of an issue... right?
No! By the time you're paying four mana for something, it better be doing something extremely helpful to the overall plan. Either it wins you the game, gets you a step nearer, or does something silly. Oracle is simply too slow. On the other hand, a turn one Exploration turns your deck into a mini-azusa driven pile of fury, and drawing cards off of edric ensures you never run out of gas... not that you want to be drawing cards.
This is not your typical bunch of mana dorks. For one, there are no Birds to Paradise, Bloom Tender, or others similar. It's a lot of bizzare little mana generators, some of which require a lot of explanation.
This card requires a good knowledge of the stack to use properly, particularly with Edric out. When it hits, it starts self-milling until it hits a land, which gets put into the battlefield untapped and ready to go (expect for CIPT lands.) If you've got edric, it's best to draw AFTER the mill effect. Why? Well, what if you hit a dredger? Avenging Druid can quickly go through the deck and set up a winning grave-state before you can blink. This is probably the best manadork.
Deranged Assistant is a very deranged mana dork recently from innistrad, and is seemingly unplayable. It's blue's version of Millikin (something that, except for Null Rod, would have a place here.) However, since the entire point of the deck is to mill yourself, why not generate mana while you're doing it? Win/win.
Dryad Arbor! It's a land! It's a creature! It's a ... .... ... something. Taps for one. Yay.
Hermit Druid - This deck uses Hermit Druid in a very odd way. Instead of using it to deck yourself in one go and win on the spot, Hermit Druid allows us to hit our land drops at the same time as milling away ten-fifteen cards. Like a Control deck, this deck really wants to hit all of its land drops. Might as well play the druid.
Krosan Restorer - Before threshold is acquired (turn 1 and 2) ..this card is terrible. Afterwards, it's the best mana dork in the deck except for Avenging Druid, and does some very silly things with the deck. In Example - Threshold coupled with Maze of Ith generates infinite mana, an untapped attacking creature of your choice, and a fully untapped mana base for main phase 2. You'd best win. Let's not get into the fun stuff it does with Bazaar of Baghdad.
Silverglade Pathfinder - An odd little dork. This guy acts as a rampant growth every turn at the cost of discarding a card. Normally, this is a very bad thing. In this deck, an upkeep Pathfinder activation to ditch a dredger is a solid play, and discarding any extra cards drawn off of edric is great too. Though slow, it enables long-term board states that are fairly hard to lose, with half your lands on the table.
Werebear - Fear him. He's coming for you. This is a manadork/fatty that can end games by itself.
So, why not Birds of Paradise as another one drop, one that taps for blue? Simple. It doesn't swing for damage. In edric, EVERYTHING needs to be able to do damage. This is quite literally the only reason why. No, I don't care if you want to use your foil signed artist proof pre-alpha BoP. It's not good here.
Lands
And of course, where would a deck be without lands? Here's a rundown of the best of them:
Bazaar of Baghdad - Awesome bomb land number one. Enables more out of the deck than most politicians think. One or two activations of this is enough to put everyone far, far behind.
Gaea's Cradle - If you don't know why this is good, you need to go back to playing mono white zombies. You have creatures. This card likes creatures. Taptaptaptaptap.
High Market - Exile effects suck, sometimes it's necessary to kill off one of your own to bring it back later anyways.
Maze of Ith - While its primary purpose is to go infinite with Krosan Restorer, it also does a nice job of deterring attacks and shutting down voltron.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge - Turn that Gaea's Cradle into something truly scary, keep edric untapped for the defense, or a whole host of other things.
Life from the Loam is a dredging machine that does a lot of things with the deck. With cycle lands, it enables a draw engine all its own. With Fetchlands, it enables land drops every turn. Tolaria West gives you a tutor engine, and of course Life gives lands to pitch for the retrace cost of Spitting Image or even to artifically inflate your handsize prior to a Jace's Archivist or Bazaar of Baghdad activation. Tilling Treefolk does this as a one-shot effect, but it can't come close to the pure power level of Loam. There is a reason LftL is played in Legacy.
As both of these cards can win the game on their own, it seems expedient that we want to be able to quickly tutor for them.
Creatures
The heart and soul of this deck's power lies in the creatures. These have been culled from the best of magic's UG creature selection, and all have incredibly important uses for this deck... like being fodder for giant Kessig Cagebreaker swings!
Body Double - This grave-yard clone does several very important things for the deck, namely comboing out with Mirror-Mad Phantasm or providing a second copy of our win-cons. Though it sits as a cost 5 mana, it's worth all of it.
Fatestitcher - While cast without the unearth, he is a mana dork that doubles as a second Bazaar activation. Coupled with enough creatures and a Gaea's Cradle, he can produce insanely large amounts of mana, which can be dumped into a spitting image for a very large number of tokens. This is usually the end of the line for everyone else. Unearthing him gives us the ability to turn U into G, or other tricks with tapping and untapping, like maybe removing a blocker to erase an opponent. There is no limit to the tricks he is capable of.
Fauna Shaman - Tutor on a stick, that ditches dredgers into the yard for dredging. With said dredger, you can basically tutor for free.
Genesis - This gives the deck late-game reach, and allows for reanimation of win-cons at that time. This deck would function a lot worse without the possibility of going straight out mill and recurring the creature at the last moment.
Golgari Brownscale/Golgari Grave-Troll/Golgari Mossdog - At last, the dredgers. While not necessary for the deck to work, they radically speed up the process of winning. Do not underestimate the ability to cast grave-troll or brownscale's lifegain.
Jace's Archivst - Windfall on a stick. Turn your hand of dredgers into a hand of dredgers, and your library about 20 cards smaller. At instant speed.
Kessig Cagebreakers - Win Con number one. Don't leave home without the ability to swing for over 60 at any given time.
Laboratory Maniac - Win Con number two. Pull wins out of nowhere, leave your opponents stunned!
Magus of the Bazaar - Bazaar is so good, we just had to have two of them. The fact that this is a creature gives it that much more power, as it can swing for damage if it needs to.
Mirror-Mad Phantasm - Mill your deck away for 2 mana. Repeatedly. It's a safer traumatize in that you control exactly when it mills. Do it EOT for a next turn win.
Narcomoeba - Do not underestimate free 1/1 fliers. The evasion ensures it's going to draw cards with Edric, and it helps reenable Gaea's Cradle if you need it.
Riftsweeper - Stop Exile effects from killing you off entirely. Can combo with Memory's Journey to ensure you can never mill yourself out. Ever.
Snapcaster Mage - With so few spells, this seems like a very bad card. However, the ability to have your entire deck in the grave by turn 5 makes this a great one-shot reuse of something like Intuition.
Splinterfright - Mill yourself every turn, and make it grow bigger. Only downside is inability to cast before a creature is in your yard.
Trygon Predator - Kills hate cards, draws cards, and swings for 2. win/win.
Waterfront Bouncer - This protection piece also pitches dredgers, giving it extra power for EOT bounces.
Wickerbough Elder - Yet more hate. Another weak card, but a necessary one.
Wonder - Because swinging with an entirely evasive army is fun and profitable!
Enchantments
Green and Blue have some of the strongest and most degenerate enchantments ever printed. With cards like Oath and Survival overpowering formats, with Power Artifact defining an entire rotation, how can we not seek to abuse them as well?
Attunement - A very simple instant-speed Dredge engine for three mana per use. Very good way to keep your graveyard filled after hate.
Compulsion - A staple in any U/x graveyard deck. The ability to discard unwanted cards and draw new ones is always important. Compulsion, however, serves an even greater function in this deck. Compulsion allows for instant speed dredging, for as much mana as you have available. Coupled with the Krosan/Maze infinite mana combo, this allows you to win on the spot, as you can pitch your entire deck and keep only what you want... like Laboratory Maniac, Pact of Negation, Forbid, and some regrowths.
Concordant Crossroads - Haste is the most underrated and most important ability printed. Ever. It's the reason Slash Panther is vintage playable, the reason Goblin Guide saw so much attention, and even now plays an important role in eternal decks. What better an ability to give everything? This turns Kessig Cagebreakers into a I win THIS turn card. It enables your mana dorks to accelerate you into even more broken, and allows you to draw incredible numbers of cards without warning. A solid must have.
Survival of the Fittest - One of the most broken enchantments to ever be printed, untapping with this virtually guarantees you the game. It is very hard to lose with this card out.
Sylvan Library - Drawing three cards a turn is a very powerful ability.. particularly coupled with dredgers. There is very little reason not to always take the eight.
Artifacts
There can be only one. A hate card without equal, one that also stops a large array of decks from being able to even function.
Null Rod - This serves but one purpose. Shutting down opposing mana rocks and graveyard hate cards. it's very hard to exile your library when your Relic is useless.
Instants
Many instants are among the most broken spells in magic, simply by virtue of being an instant. Tutoring or drawing whenever you like is incredibly broken, and being able to protect yourself whenever is likewise very, very good.
Forbid - This is a repeatable counterspell that also happens to discard dredgers. With such a variable counterspell, an Edric deck can do a lot of degenerate things... like winning.
Intuition - This is an incredibly broken tutor, one that probably deserves a ban. Being a graveyard deck, this basically tutors for three cards and puts them into your hand. The piles are beyond numerous, and none fail to be anything less than game-winning.
Memory's Journey - Innistrad's Krosan Reclamation. This has the advantage of being easier to cast and of shuffling in an extra card. Coupled with Riftsweeper, you can ensure you never mill yourself out on accident.
Worldly Tutor - You can tutor for a dredger pre-mill, tutor for something useful for next turn, or do just about anything.
Sorceries
Your traditional blow-em-up bombs of joy. Sorceries are the lifeblood of nearly every deck ever made. Ever!
Acorn Harvest - This one is simple. It makes squirrels. Why is this relevant? It takes an empty board state and turns it into a drawing machine with edric, or gives Gaea's Cradle a few more creatures to churn out even more massive amounts of mana next turn.
Deep Analysis - Draws cards, even if you mill it. A very, very good draw spell.
Green Sun's Zenith - A reuseable tutor for the wide range of dorks, utility, and hate that resides in the deck.
Grizzly Fate - Turns out really large numbers of angry bears quickly, and this card alone can end games.
Natural Order - Fetches your two main beatsticks for four mana - and ends the game.
Nostalgic Dreams - The best recursive spell in the deck, Dreams can turn your hand full of dredgers into a hand ready to combo out that turn. You cannot play without this card.
Scapeshift - Tutors for a good amount of lands all at once. Good ramp when you've got at least 5 lands out as well, provides fuel for Life from the Loam.
Spitting Image - Makes tokens, even from the grave. Spitting Image goes infinite with several creatures, but can be noted mostly for being able to one-shot the board with lots of Kessig Cagebreaker tokens.
Tracker's Insights - Gives us some draw/filter/dredge power for the low cost of 2 mana, 3 with flashback. Casting this is rarely a wrong play, and you'll always draw 4.
More Primer coming soon!
Changes:
Feb 10, 2012
- Brawn
- Jace's Erasure
- Deep Reconnaissance
- Forest
- Sylvan Hierophant
+ Primeval Titan
+ Petrified Field
+ Attunement
+ Lotus Cobra
+ Natural Order
Why Edric? Just for the draw? I like the idea, would Oona's Grace have a spot in here or is it too little of an effect for your tastes? I second the crucible suggestion but i also feel like this deck really wants access to black.
Interesting idea, I'm bookmarking this for future research and study
EDIT:
How does it play past the attacking? What kind of combos/card advantage engines are you abusing? Would you try this in BUG instead of UG?
I'll address crucible in a bit.
This is primarily a combat-step/upkeep dredge deck. A large portion of the dredge engines are best used at the beginning of both of these. Example - Silverglade Pathfinder or any of the other tap+discard effects are best done prior to drawing (either way, combat or draw step) for maximum effect. Upkeep discarding a dredger is a solid play.
Other engines include the Bazaar duo of the Magus and his land. These should be obvious why they are good, and with the card advantage edric brings you, discarding extra cards won't hurt you at all.
The final big one is Cycle land/loam engine common in many green/x decks. loam up the cycle lands, dredge loam back to hand, rinse, repeat.
There are a lot of mini-engines in the deck, but these are the three main ones.
What about Loaming Shaman? You can return key cards you don't want gone and can really mess up a reanimator edh
Loaming Shaman is something i'm keeping my eye on. It was in the original build, but was cut for various reasons, primarily that Memory's Journey/Krosan Reclamation serve this purpose a bit better for me.
Why Edric? Just for the draw? I like the idea, would Oona's Grace have a spot in here or is it too little of an effect for your tastes? I second the crucible suggestion but i also feel like this deck really wants access to black.
Yup, Edric is just for the card draw. It's a fun idea, that proves (hopefully) that you don't need black to do dredge well. Plus, where is the fun in showing up with Mimeoplasm dredge, when instead I can bring edric and take people completely by surprise?
Oona's Grace is yes, too little. I had Think Twice in here at one point, but it really isn't enough. Draw effects have to be mana-friendly or have a very nice burst effect. This isn't either.
Crucible of Worlds - I don't feel a need to include this right now. Yes, I can replay lands, and yes, it's great for graveyard decks... but between Loam and tilling treefolk, i have plenty of land-based recursion. That's not my top priority - churning out cards is.
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
Ok kool i respect your ideas and il keep an eye on this thread as it progesses ,have u had a chance to play a few matches with it? how do your games usually play out? This take on dredge has got me very intrigued i must say!
This is primarily a combat-step/upkeep dredge deck. A large portion of the dredge engines are best used at the beginning of both of these. Example - Silverglade Pathfinder or any of the other tap+discard effects are best done prior to drawing (either way, combat or draw step) for maximum effect. Upkeep discarding a dredger is a solid play.
Other engines include the Bazaar duo of the Magus and his land. These should be obvious why they are good, and with the card advantage edric brings you, discarding extra cards won't hurt you at all.
The final big one is Cycle land/loam engine common in many green/x decks. loam up the cycle lands, dredge loam back to hand, rinse, repeat.
There are a lot of mini-engines in the deck, but these are the three main ones.
Loaming Shaman is something i'm keeping my eye on. It was in the original build, but was cut for various reasons, primarily that Memory's Journey/Krosan Reclamation serve this purpose a bit better for me.
Yup, Edric is just for the card draw. It's a fun idea, that proves (hopefully) that you don't need black to do dredge well. Plus, where is the fun in showing up with Mimeoplasm dredge, when instead I can bring edric and take people completely by surprise?
Oona's Grace is yes, too little. I had Think Twice in here at one point, but it really isn't enough. Draw effects have to be mana-friendly or have a very nice burst effect. This isn't either.
Crucible of Worlds - I don't feel a need to include this right now. Yes, I can replay lands, and yes, it's great for graveyard decks... but between Loam and tilling treefolk, i have plenty of land-based recursion. That's not my top priority - churning out cards is.
This sounds very disgusting. Seriously. Good Job.
I'll have to do my own take on the idea soon enough, possibly with a different commander if I find one better, with Credit and kudos to you.
Ok kool i respect your ideas and il keep an eye on this thread as it progesses ,have u had a chance to play a few matches with it? how do your games usually play out? This take on dredge has got me very intrigued i must say!
Fairly well. Once I get going, as I said, this deck is very hard to stop. The one major issue i've found with it I'm slowly fixing (lack of removal, I've got very few ways to deal with permanents) but otherwise it runs fairly smoothly.
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
Fairly well. Once I get going, as I said, this deck is very hard to stop. The one major issue i've found with it I'm slowly fixing (lack of removal, I've got very few ways to deal with permanents) but otherwise it runs fairly smoothly.
How do you feel about Saproling Cluster? It provides a re-usable discard outlet that also creates a bunch of tokens for you. The downside is that it lets other people also create a lot of tokens, which can make it difficult to get non-evasive guys through for damage, but if you're set up for more aggression you should be better able to fuel it than others, and if they're spending their cards to stop you from drawing cards (rather than bashing other people and drawing cards of their own), they're probably falling behind.
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How do you feel about Saproling Cluster? It provides a re-usable discard outlet that also creates a bunch of tokens for you. The downside is that it lets other people also create a lot of tokens, which can make it difficult to get non-evasive guys through for damage, but if you're set up for more aggression you should be better able to fuel it than others, and if they're spending their cards to stop you from drawing cards (rather than bashing other people and drawing cards of their own), they're probably falling behind.
The ability for others to get tokens is the sole reason why I wouldn't consider this in a multiplayer environment. Making tokens EOT and swinging at the guy with no blockers forces him to either discard similarly and possibly drive him out of the game or let someone else draw a ton of cards and basically ensure their victory anyways (assuming edric is out)
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
Hey Gaka, i played against you while you were playing this deck on cockatrice. Time reversal hosed your strategy a little, and pretty much any mass graveyard hate would probably do the same. I think you could use a little bit of countermagic. Not heavy counter, but just a little bit, like counterspell, spell crumple, hinder, maybe FoW.
No Gaea's Cradle? It seems like you have enough creatures to really abuse it, and especially with a wolf run activation you could make some stupid amounts of mana.
No Gaea's Cradle? It seems like you have enough creatures to really abuse it, and especially with a wolf run activation you could make some stupid amounts of mana.
Alright, now I feel silly. Added.
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
What about Breakthrough? Early game it's probably too risky to run i guess, but you'd fill your library right quick with a couple of dredgers in your yard. Plus late game you can still keep any neccessary cards you'd want to keep.
Also, do you find Pendantic Learning to be good? I knew someone who really abused the hell out of it(he liked using Wood Sage), but it always seemed janky to me.
Breakthrouh - yeah, too risky. There arent enough dredgers to be able to reliably use this except as a win-more card.
Risk is also why I don't use traumatize. A One-shot for half your deck and then getting it exiled sucks. The many small mill/dredgers in the deck add up quickly. Even after getting a third of your deck exiled you can win.
Pedantic Learning is quite good. Milling out lands, and then turning them into draw or even more dredge is great. Goes nicely with Life from the Loam.
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
After 7 ish hours of testing (hoorah for slow days) the deck has gone through some changes once more... too many too remember.
The deck is truly scary. Even hitting it with grave-hate doesn't do much. It wins quickly and efficiently, but has so many lines of play that actually hating on (or even using) the deck can be difficult.
Intuition is by far the best card in the deck. There are so many piles it's almost like playing Doomsday. Who would have thought Acorn Harvest/Nostalgic Dreams/Fatestitcher could be a winning Intuition pile?
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Tantarus: It didn't make the gaka greifer level, so it should be fine
The problem many dredge decks face is a distinct lack of draw power. Though they can utilize the draw step incredibly effectively, it's far too slow for ordinary means.
In an effort to fix this, and to have a little fun... I designed this little piece of art - Dredgric!
In using Edric, however - the deck loses one key thing. Access to Black. To make up for black's tutors and reanimation, we'll just have to make do with green's equivalents. Something like Regrowth - which turns into a Demonic Tutor in this deck, or Genesis, our Volrath's Stronghold.
Hopefully, this deck proves that Black isn't necessary for dredge to do well. If anything, Black slows down the whole process!
One thing to note about this deck, I purposefully did not include some of the spotlight graveyard-based creatures, such as Vengevine, Tarmogoyf, Terravore, and such. They simply do not do enough to warrant a spot, as this is a Multiplayer deck. Besides, it's far more fun to swing with Kessig Cagebreakers and completely destroy someone while drawing/dredging half your deck.
This is one of the few decks that uses Hermit Druid "fairly"... kind of.
Credit to Jace_ for testing and tuning with me.
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Creatures - 34
1 Avenging Druid
1 Body Double
1 Deranged Assistant
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fatesticher
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Genesis
1 Golgari Brownscale
1 Golgari Grave-Troll
1 Greater Mossdog
1 Hermit Druid
1 Jace's Archivist
1 Kessig Cagebreakers
1 Krosan Restorer
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Magus of the Bazaar
1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm
1 Narcomoeba
1 Riftsweeper
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Silverglade Pathfinder
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Splinterfright
1 Tilling Treefolk
1 Trygon Predator
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Werebear
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Wonder
1 Attunement
1 Compulsion
1 Concordant Crossroads
1 Exploration
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
Instants - 8
1 Crop Rotation
1 Forbid
1 Intuition
1 Memory's Journey
1 Pact of Negation
1 Summoner's Pact
1 Visions of Beyond
1 Worldly Tutor
Sorceries - 13
1 Acorn Harvest
1 Deep Analysis
1 Far Wanderings
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Grizzly Fate
1 Life from the Loam
1 Natural Order
1 Nostalgic Dreams
1 Recollect
1 Regrowth
1 Scapeshift
1 Spitting Image
1 Tracker's Instincts
Artifacts - 1
1 Null Rod
Lands - 37
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Grove
1 Flooded Strand
6 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 High Market
1 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Maze of Ith
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Petrified Field
1 Polluted Delta
1 Remote Isle
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Slippery Karst
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolaria West
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Coast
Card Selection
Mana
Dredgric is a green deck. This means we've got access to some of the best ramp in the game, and of course we're going to abuse it fully. However, we're not going to do it in the traditional way. Sol Ring? Mana Crypt? Terrible. Far Wanderings? Oh Baby!
Let's start with the spell-based ramp cards:
Yup, that's it. Three cards. We don't use goodstuff like Cultivate or Skyshroud Claim. These are just too unwieldy. Instead, we get one-drop ramp, a flashbackable Rampant Growth, and my personal favorite, a threshold get-3. The turn after a resolved Far Wanderings is very, very dangerous.
Exploration deserves a bit more exploration. Why doesn't this deck use Oracle of Mul-Daya instead? The Oracle is a body, which is relevant for several of the cards in the deck, and it's only four mana to cast, not much of an issue... right?
No! By the time you're paying four mana for something, it better be doing something extremely helpful to the overall plan. Either it wins you the game, gets you a step nearer, or does something silly. Oracle is simply too slow. On the other hand, a turn one Exploration turns your deck into a mini-azusa driven pile of fury, and drawing cards off of edric ensures you never run out of gas... not that you want to be drawing cards.
TL;DR - Exploration ftw.
Mana Dorks
Next in line for mana are the creatures, which constitute the vast majority of the fast mana.
This is not your typical bunch of mana dorks. For one, there are no Birds to Paradise, Bloom Tender, or others similar. It's a lot of bizzare little mana generators, some of which require a lot of explanation.
First up, Avenging Druid.
This card requires a good knowledge of the stack to use properly, particularly with Edric out. When it hits, it starts self-milling until it hits a land, which gets put into the battlefield untapped and ready to go (expect for CIPT lands.) If you've got edric, it's best to draw AFTER the mill effect. Why? Well, what if you hit a dredger? Avenging Druid can quickly go through the deck and set up a winning grave-state before you can blink. This is probably the best manadork.
Deranged Assistant is a very deranged mana dork recently from innistrad, and is seemingly unplayable. It's blue's version of Millikin (something that, except for Null Rod, would have a place here.) However, since the entire point of the deck is to mill yourself, why not generate mana while you're doing it? Win/win.
Dryad Arbor! It's a land! It's a creature! It's a ... .... ... something. Taps for one. Yay.
Hermit Druid - This deck uses Hermit Druid in a very odd way. Instead of using it to deck yourself in one go and win on the spot, Hermit Druid allows us to hit our land drops at the same time as milling away ten-fifteen cards. Like a Control deck, this deck really wants to hit all of its land drops. Might as well play the druid.
Krosan Restorer - Before threshold is acquired (turn 1 and 2) ..this card is terrible. Afterwards, it's the best mana dork in the deck except for Avenging Druid, and does some very silly things with the deck. In Example - Threshold coupled with Maze of Ith generates infinite mana, an untapped attacking creature of your choice, and a fully untapped mana base for main phase 2. You'd best win. Let's not get into the fun stuff it does with Bazaar of Baghdad.
Silverglade Pathfinder - An odd little dork. This guy acts as a rampant growth every turn at the cost of discarding a card. Normally, this is a very bad thing. In this deck, an upkeep Pathfinder activation to ditch a dredger is a solid play, and discarding any extra cards drawn off of edric is great too. Though slow, it enables long-term board states that are fairly hard to lose, with half your lands on the table.
Werebear - Fear him. He's coming for you. This is a manadork/fatty that can end games by itself.
So, why not Birds of Paradise as another one drop, one that taps for blue? Simple. It doesn't swing for damage. In edric, EVERYTHING needs to be able to do damage. This is quite literally the only reason why. No, I don't care if you want to use your foil signed artist proof pre-alpha BoP. It's not good here.
Lands
And of course, where would a deck be without lands? Here's a rundown of the best of them:
Bazaar of Baghdad - Awesome bomb land number one. Enables more out of the deck than most politicians think. One or two activations of this is enough to put everyone far, far behind.
Cephalid Coliseum - Stealing tech from dredge - we like to have a one-shot Bazaar activation on occasion, particularly one recurrable through Life from the Loam or Tilling Treefolk.
Gaea's Cradle - If you don't know why this is good, you need to go back to playing mono white zombies. You have creatures. This card likes creatures. Taptaptaptaptap.
High Market - Exile effects suck, sometimes it's necessary to kill off one of your own to bring it back later anyways.
Maze of Ith - While its primary purpose is to go infinite with Krosan Restorer, it also does a nice job of deterring attacks and shutting down voltron.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge - Turn that Gaea's Cradle into something truly scary, keep edric untapped for the defense, or a whole host of other things.
Tolaria West - This tutors for any land you might want, or for other 0cmc cards like Pact of Negation or Summoner's Pact to pull out a win quickly.
Cycling Lands - Dredges. At instant speed. Draws a lot with Life From the Loam. Taps for mana. +1
LD - Life from the Loam. Tilling Treefolk. Because you can.
More
Now that we've seen what the deck uses for mana, there are a few cards that use the manabase effectively, without really ramping.
These three cards are Life from the Loam, Tilling Treefolk, and Crop Rotation.
Life from the Loam is a dredging machine that does a lot of things with the deck. With cycle lands, it enables a draw engine all its own. With Fetchlands, it enables land drops every turn. Tolaria West gives you a tutor engine, and of course Life gives lands to pitch for the retrace cost of Spitting Image or even to artifically inflate your handsize prior to a Jace's Archivist or Bazaar of Baghdad activation. Tilling Treefolk does this as a one-shot effect, but it can't come close to the pure power level of Loam. There is a reason LftL is played in Legacy.
Crop Rotation does exactly two things.
One: It searches for Bazaar of Baghdad.
Two: It searched for Gaea's Cradle.
As both of these cards can win the game on their own, it seems expedient that we want to be able to quickly tutor for them.
Creatures
The heart and soul of this deck's power lies in the creatures. These have been culled from the best of magic's UG creature selection, and all have incredibly important uses for this deck... like being fodder for giant Kessig Cagebreaker swings!
Body Double - This grave-yard clone does several very important things for the deck, namely comboing out with Mirror-Mad Phantasm or providing a second copy of our win-cons. Though it sits as a cost 5 mana, it's worth all of it.
Eternal Witness - Demonic Tutor for the graveyard.
Fatestitcher - While cast without the unearth, he is a mana dork that doubles as a second Bazaar activation. Coupled with enough creatures and a Gaea's Cradle, he can produce insanely large amounts of mana, which can be dumped into a spitting image for a very large number of tokens. This is usually the end of the line for everyone else. Unearthing him gives us the ability to turn U into G, or other tricks with tapping and untapping, like maybe removing a blocker to erase an opponent. There is no limit to the tricks he is capable of.
Fauna Shaman - Tutor on a stick, that ditches dredgers into the yard for dredging. With said dredger, you can basically tutor for free.
Genesis - This gives the deck late-game reach, and allows for reanimation of win-cons at that time. This deck would function a lot worse without the possibility of going straight out mill and recurring the creature at the last moment.
Golgari Brownscale/Golgari Grave-Troll/Golgari Mossdog - At last, the dredgers. While not necessary for the deck to work, they radically speed up the process of winning. Do not underestimate the ability to cast grave-troll or brownscale's lifegain.
Jace's Archivst - Windfall on a stick. Turn your hand of dredgers into a hand of dredgers, and your library about 20 cards smaller. At instant speed.
Kessig Cagebreakers - Win Con number one. Don't leave home without the ability to swing for over 60 at any given time.
Laboratory Maniac - Win Con number two. Pull wins out of nowhere, leave your opponents stunned!
Magus of the Bazaar - Bazaar is so good, we just had to have two of them. The fact that this is a creature gives it that much more power, as it can swing for damage if it needs to.
Mirror-Mad Phantasm - Mill your deck away for 2 mana. Repeatedly. It's a safer traumatize in that you control exactly when it mills. Do it EOT for a next turn win.
Narcomoeba - Do not underestimate free 1/1 fliers. The evasion ensures it's going to draw cards with Edric, and it helps reenable Gaea's Cradle if you need it.
Riftsweeper - Stop Exile effects from killing you off entirely. Can combo with Memory's Journey to ensure you can never mill yourself out. Ever.
Scavenging Ooze - A grave-hate card that... grows on you.
Snapcaster Mage - With so few spells, this seems like a very bad card. However, the ability to have your entire deck in the grave by turn 5 makes this a great one-shot reuse of something like Intuition.
Splinterfright - Mill yourself every turn, and make it grow bigger. Only downside is inability to cast before a creature is in your yard.
Trygon Predator - Kills hate cards, draws cards, and swings for 2. win/win.
Waterfront Bouncer - This protection piece also pitches dredgers, giving it extra power for EOT bounces.
Wickerbough Elder - Yet more hate. Another weak card, but a necessary one.
Wonder - Because swinging with an entirely evasive army is fun and profitable!
Enchantments
Green and Blue have some of the strongest and most degenerate enchantments ever printed. With cards like Oath and Survival overpowering formats, with Power Artifact defining an entire rotation, how can we not seek to abuse them as well?
Attunement - A very simple instant-speed Dredge engine for three mana per use. Very good way to keep your graveyard filled after hate.
Compulsion - A staple in any U/x graveyard deck. The ability to discard unwanted cards and draw new ones is always important. Compulsion, however, serves an even greater function in this deck. Compulsion allows for instant speed dredging, for as much mana as you have available. Coupled with the Krosan/Maze infinite mana combo, this allows you to win on the spot, as you can pitch your entire deck and keep only what you want... like Laboratory Maniac, Pact of Negation, Forbid, and some regrowths.
Concordant Crossroads - Haste is the most underrated and most important ability printed. Ever. It's the reason Slash Panther is vintage playable, the reason Goblin Guide saw so much attention, and even now plays an important role in eternal decks. What better an ability to give everything? This turns Kessig Cagebreakers into a I win THIS turn card. It enables your mana dorks to accelerate you into even more broken, and allows you to draw incredible numbers of cards without warning. A solid must have.
Survival of the Fittest - One of the most broken enchantments to ever be printed, untapping with this virtually guarantees you the game. It is very hard to lose with this card out.
Sylvan Library - Drawing three cards a turn is a very powerful ability.. particularly coupled with dredgers. There is very little reason not to always take the eight.
Artifacts
There can be only one. A hate card without equal, one that also stops a large array of decks from being able to even function.
Null Rod - This serves but one purpose. Shutting down opposing mana rocks and graveyard hate cards. it's very hard to exile your library when your Relic is useless.
Instants
Many instants are among the most broken spells in magic, simply by virtue of being an instant. Tutoring or drawing whenever you like is incredibly broken, and being able to protect yourself whenever is likewise very, very good.
Forbid - This is a repeatable counterspell that also happens to discard dredgers. With such a variable counterspell, an Edric deck can do a lot of degenerate things... like winning.
Intuition - This is an incredibly broken tutor, one that probably deserves a ban. Being a graveyard deck, this basically tutors for three cards and puts them into your hand. The piles are beyond numerous, and none fail to be anything less than game-winning.
Memory's Journey - Innistrad's Krosan Reclamation. This has the advantage of being easier to cast and of shuffling in an extra card. Coupled with Riftsweeper, you can ensure you never mill yourself out on accident.
Pact of Negation - Free protection on your combo turn. Tutorable by Tolaria West!
Summoner's Pact - Free tutor on your combo turn. Tutorable by Tolaria West!
Visions of Beyond - Ancestral Recall in this deck. The best draw spell available to us.
Worldly Tutor - You can tutor for a dredger pre-mill, tutor for something useful for next turn, or do just about anything.
Sorceries
Your traditional blow-em-up bombs of joy. Sorceries are the lifeblood of nearly every deck ever made. Ever!
Acorn Harvest - This one is simple. It makes squirrels. Why is this relevant? It takes an empty board state and turns it into a drawing machine with edric, or gives Gaea's Cradle a few more creatures to churn out even more massive amounts of mana next turn.
Deep Analysis - Draws cards, even if you mill it. A very, very good draw spell.
Green Sun's Zenith - A reuseable tutor for the wide range of dorks, utility, and hate that resides in the deck.
Grizzly Fate - Turns out really large numbers of angry bears quickly, and this card alone can end games.
Natural Order - Fetches your two main beatsticks for four mana - and ends the game.
Nostalgic Dreams - The best recursive spell in the deck, Dreams can turn your hand full of dredgers into a hand ready to combo out that turn. You cannot play without this card.
Recollect - A demonic tutor in this deck. Very powerful recursion.
Regrowth - When one demonic tutor isn't enough.. two!
Scapeshift - Tutors for a good amount of lands all at once. Good ramp when you've got at least 5 lands out as well, provides fuel for Life from the Loam.
Spitting Image - Makes tokens, even from the grave. Spitting Image goes infinite with several creatures, but can be noted mostly for being able to one-shot the board with lots of Kessig Cagebreaker tokens.
Tracker's Insights - Gives us some draw/filter/dredge power for the low cost of 2 mana, 3 with flashback. Casting this is rarely a wrong play, and you'll always draw 4.
More Primer coming soon!
Changes:
Feb 10, 2012
- Brawn
- Jace's Erasure
- Deep Reconnaissance
- Forest
- Sylvan Hierophant
+ Primeval Titan
+ Petrified Field
+ Attunement
+ Lotus Cobra
+ Natural Order
Sep 19, 2012
- Primeval Titan
+ Scapeshift
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
The sheer card advantage off of a Kessig Cagebreakers attack is usually more than enough to win easily.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
Interesting idea, I'm bookmarking this for future research and study
EDIT:
How does it play past the attacking? What kind of combos/card advantage engines are you abusing? Would you try this in BUG instead of UG?
EDH:
UBGMimeoplasm (Reanimator Control)
WGBURProgenitus (Dream Halls//Good Stuff)
RNorin, the Wary (Metaddited Gaka List)
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
What about Loaming Shaman? You can return key cards you don't want gone and can really mess up a reanimator edh
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething SpicyI'll address crucible in a bit.
This is primarily a combat-step/upkeep dredge deck. A large portion of the dredge engines are best used at the beginning of both of these. Example - Silverglade Pathfinder or any of the other tap+discard effects are best done prior to drawing (either way, combat or draw step) for maximum effect. Upkeep discarding a dredger is a solid play.
Other engines include the Bazaar duo of the Magus and his land. These should be obvious why they are good, and with the card advantage edric brings you, discarding extra cards won't hurt you at all.
The final big one is Cycle land/loam engine common in many green/x decks. loam up the cycle lands, dredge loam back to hand, rinse, repeat.
There are a lot of mini-engines in the deck, but these are the three main ones.
Loaming Shaman is something i'm keeping my eye on. It was in the original build, but was cut for various reasons, primarily that Memory's Journey/Krosan Reclamation serve this purpose a bit better for me.
Yup, Edric is just for the card draw. It's a fun idea, that proves (hopefully) that you don't need black to do dredge well. Plus, where is the fun in showing up with Mimeoplasm dredge, when instead I can bring edric and take people completely by surprise?
Oona's Grace is yes, too little. I had Think Twice in here at one point, but it really isn't enough. Draw effects have to be mana-friendly or have a very nice burst effect. This isn't either.
Crucible of Worlds - I don't feel a need to include this right now. Yes, I can replay lands, and yes, it's great for graveyard decks... but between Loam and tilling treefolk, i have plenty of land-based recursion. That's not my top priority - churning out cards is.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
This sounds very disgusting. Seriously. Good Job.
I'll have to do my own take on the idea soon enough, possibly with a different commander if I find one better, with Credit and kudos to you.
EDH:
UBGMimeoplasm (Reanimator Control)
WGBURProgenitus (Dream Halls//Good Stuff)
RNorin, the Wary (Metaddited Gaka List)
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Fairly well. Once I get going, as I said, this deck is very hard to stop. The one major issue i've found with it I'm slowly fixing (lack of removal, I've got very few ways to deal with permanents) but otherwise it runs fairly smoothly.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
Would you consider cutting the Sorcery Speed Token Producers in favor of Beast Within/Pongify/Relic of Progenitus?
Runic Repetition for Capsize?
Llanowar Elves for Krosan Grip/Bramble Crush?
EDH:
UBGMimeoplasm (Reanimator Control)
WGBURProgenitus (Dream Halls//Good Stuff)
RNorin, the Wary (Metaddited Gaka List)
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Think creatures.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
- River Kelpie - Too cute, never really performs
- Runic Repetition - Too cute
+ Trygon Predator
+ Viridian Zealot
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
Woodfall Primus and Terastodon are too slow?
Acidic Slime? Wickerbough Elder?
EDH:
UBGMimeoplasm (Reanimator Control)
WGBURProgenitus (Dream Halls//Good Stuff)
RNorin, the Wary (Metaddited Gaka List)
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Yes, way too slow without resorting to Natural Order, and I really don't feel like playing with NO. (this will probably change in a week or two)
Elder is already in, and Slime is too much mana.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
The ability for others to get tokens is the sole reason why I wouldn't consider this in a multiplayer environment. Making tokens EOT and swinging at the guy with no blockers forces him to either discard similarly and possibly drive him out of the game or let someone else draw a ton of cards and basically ensure their victory anyways (assuming edric is out)
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
GRRWHazezon Tamar (Valakut)GRRW
UKami of the Crescent Moon (
Group Hug)UUHeidar, Rimewind Master [Mini-Primer]U
WKemba, Kha Regent (Stax)W
GEzuri, Renegade Leader [Primer]G
Wizards! Why no dredging counters?!
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
+ Null Rod
+ Intuition
+ Fact or Fiction
+ Concordant Crossroads
- Chatter of the Squirrel
- Call of the Herd
- Krosan Reclamation
Land Changes.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
Alright, now I feel silly. Added.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
Also, do you find Pendantic Learning to be good? I knew someone who really abused the hell out of it(he liked using Wood Sage), but it always seemed janky to me.
Risk is also why I don't use traumatize. A One-shot for half your deck and then getting it exiled sucks. The many small mill/dredgers in the deck add up quickly. Even after getting a third of your deck exiled you can win.
Pedantic Learning is quite good. Milling out lands, and then turning them into draw or even more dredge is great. Goes nicely with Life from the Loam.
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary
The deck is truly scary. Even hitting it with grave-hate doesn't do much. It wins quickly and efficiently, but has so many lines of play that actually hating on (or even using) the deck can be difficult.
Intuition is by far the best card in the deck. There are so many piles it's almost like playing Doomsday. Who would have thought Acorn Harvest/Nostalgic Dreams/Fatestitcher could be a winning Intuition pile?
EDH:
RNorin the WaryR <-Link! (Primer - Mono Red Control)
GUEdric, Spymaster of TrestUG <- Link! (Mini-Primer - Dredge)
Duel Commander:
WUGeist of Saint TraftUW <- Link! (Aggro-Control)
BGSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGB <- Link! (Aggro)
BUGDamia, Sage of StoneGUB <- Link! (Extinction Control)
Church of the Wary