The real trigger you want to remember is the Prized Amalgam trigger. I announce it when a creature enters the battlefield from the graveyard but if it's a particularly busy turn and you dredged during your upkeep which created the amalgam triggers you can easily miss returning the amalgams during the end step, which is not a may ability so it definitely gets upgraded into potentially game losses.
The part that makes Dredge difficult for me to play is that there are several times you have to think hard about the correct line of play and then after all that remember the triggers. Sometimes I use a dice that I place on my library whenever I have something I want to remember to do like place the dice on 6 when I wanted to dredge GGT or 3 for Life from the Loam, and you can do the same thing with a coloured bead that you put on your library when you have an Amalgam coming back and you just have to get into the habit of not passing the turn with a bead on your library.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the first tip is also addressed in the primer by Lantern which is convenient.
Quote from Primer: Mis. Tips »
Prized Amalgam is a delayed trigger. This can get you into trouble if someone rule sharks you at higher events. When something enter the battlefield, it triggers prized amalgam's effect. YOU MUST ANNOUNCE IT (keep it on the side of the grave, or put a dice on it.) as long as you announce this, should it slip your mind, the entering of amalgam is mandatory and a judge will rule in your favor and he will still enter play. His entering is still a separate trigger, so yes, amalgam has 2 triggers you need to keep track of, not one.
So for the past year or so that I've played Dredge, I've committed it to muscle memory to ALWAYS announce when the Alamgams in the yard get triggered off a Narc/Ghast/Amalgam, and then turn them diagonally, or set them aside from the gy pile, or indicate it physically in some way. This is the most important half since it enables the inability of the second trigger to "not happen." Then, once that habit is established it becomes a bit easier to remember to bring them back at the next end step.
And as a second tip I've found organizing your graveyard and cards in play is useful, but it mostly goes without saying for Dredge. I keep my 'yard widely splayed out in rows so all the top-left corners of cards are visible, which helps me keep any eye on any Amalgams and Bloodghasts waiting there. Additionally, intentionally dredging each individual card can help with remembering i.e, you dredge a Stinkweed Imp, and individually reveal the top 5 into your palm, taking a mental note for every Narc that is shown, then putting them in the yard. All in all just adapting best practices to what suits you best!
Modern Dredge certainly has a lot of complex lines and play to it given how much of the deck can trigger and operate at instant speed, so just try and be mindful of it and practice, practice, practice, goldfish it if you have the time. Important things to practice are the many uses of Insolent Neonate, and remembering that you can use things like Haunted Dead and Bloodghast with a fetch in play to add removal/sweeper resilience to your board which can make it a nightmare for your opponent!
Edit: In summary, welcome Dredge as a vehicle to establish good mtg habits, and Lantern's primer has an embarrassment of riches for playing the deck, I refer back to it periodically!
Truth is, I made that primer the way it is for guys like ya'll. Modern dredge, unknown to a lot of players, is absurdly complicated in terms of lines of play. Finding the right one after a while and correcting habits is easier over time. If there is a draw to this deck, then its actually that; getting better.
The primer was set up to be very readable, but very in depth. So you can refer to it between rounds, or before a touri and brush up, as well as taking 2 or 3 days to read the whole thing through and start to digest it and understand it. All the info is there, you just gotta work on it without being discouraged.
No one is too bad to play dredge. Their innate play-style may be better suited for a different deck however. Dredge rewards people who can see big picture, want to be aggressive, and likes to figure out his or her "outs" when ***** hits the fan. It also helps if they play more light-hearted so when we get blown out to grave hate you aren't sore.
Personally, I don't think you should practice by ordering your graveyard. That puts you and your opponent on training wheels. Practice with the graveyard as if you were playing Legacy, and while it isn't "concealing" information in a rules sense, you certainly aren't displaying your plan and capabilities front and center.
I played the Ghost Quarter main because I have played about half my matches at that store against Tron. I never played Tron, and I've learned to play the match better anyway. That will be a Blackcleave Cliffs probably.
I am also considering, for future events, replacing more Golgari Thugs with Darkblasts. Elves are a big thing because of their Death's Shadow match and the new Vizier. Besides that, I am just struggling for sideboard space, wanting to get another Collective Brutality and Lightning Axe in.
I know you guys don't like Shriekhorn, and that's fair. I will address one more point about Neonate and Gnaw to the Bone vs. Shriekhorn. If you are following Zen's sideboard advice from his post-GP article, then you are siding out 2 Neonate for 2 Lightning Axe in the Burn matchup. So when Gnaw comes in, you still have 2 Neonates either way.
Has anyone considered reduce to rubble as an anti-combo sideboard card?
I don't think so. Id rather run lost legacy or thought seize. Yes cant be used from the grave, but if I was buying a turn comply seems better.
Why do you think that seems better? Why is not casting one card during their turn better than not casting any cards during their turn or your next? Casting Exhaustion is a lot better than casting Silence because the former works for two turns. If you hit a second Reduce to Rubble on your next Dredge, then it is like chaining Conflagrates together, attacking for the amount of power you built up during turns 1-3 while preventing them from doing anything. It seems perfect against Ad Nauseam and other troublesome match-ups. Ad Nauseam in particular laughs at Failure to Comply. Please explain the situation where you think it's better.
Well Id doubt Id use both regardless and they seem extremely win more to me. Thats why I said Id rather use seize or a dedicated hate card. Also spending 3 mana, which is generally where we max out isnt ideal either because you just pause the game for a turn. If youre doing that, and dont win, it was a worthless card.
Thoughtseize may be better against hate cards, but against control and combo I really like not depending on seeing it in the opening hand.
Faithless Looting's flashback is not win more, nor is it a worthless effect. In fact it's what we do on most turn 3s unless we are Loaming to hit more land drops.
"Win more" is doing cool things when the game is already won. Reduce to Rubble, while perhaps not worth slots, is worth considering because it presses the advantage built in the early turns. The game is certainly not in the bag turns 3-4, no matter how much power you have on the board; opponents can combo out, cast Anger, assemble Tron, etc. Reduce to Rubble prevents these things without needing to be in your opening hand. Further, they can be chained together, which is the element that is most intriguing to me, just like Taking Turns chains together Exhaustion with Time Warp effects.
I dont think you are doing your argument a service by comparing looting's flashback, a card relevant in the hand as a core staple of the deck, and it's flash back which provides the deck value in ANY matchupt no matter what to a card that "sometimes is good against one super archetype."
Truthfully, the anti combo card you are looking for IS thoughtseize. You replace that with this card and sure, sometimes it will be cool, but it will overall win you less games than the seize.
Suddenly lists seem to be running 3 Life from the Loam. I thought the general consensus was 4, but it looks like some are going down to 3 to MD Vengeful Pharaoh. Any insight as to why?
I dont think you are doing your argument a service by comparing looting's flashback, a card relevant in the hand as a core staple of the deck, and it's flash back which provides the deck value in ANY matchupt no matter what to a card that "sometimes is good against one super archetype."
Truthfully, the anti combo card you are looking for IS thoughtseize. You replace that with this card and sure, sometimes it will be cool, but it will overall win you less games than the seize.
just two/three pages ago you were talking about picking up start//end or finish or whatever it is. Was that a three mana, win the game card?
You said investing three mana without winning the game is win more. Looting is an obvious reason you're wrong, and your own recent suggestions for amonkhet contributions are also contradictory.
No one needs to replace thoughtseize. Collective brutality is the first cut, and this is only if elves and abzan combo do not pick up. The sideboard would look like
3 seize
3 claim
3 rubble
1 grudge
1 d.blast
1 bog
1 gnaw
Flex- axes, pharaoh, extra grudge/bog
the 6 anti-combo pieces come in for 2 neonate, 1 conflagrate, 1 land, 1 weakest dredger, and 1 narcomoeba or bloodghast. against ad nauseam in particular, another conflagrate or 2 can go out for grudge/claim. For what I am sure are good reasons, GP finalist Zen says drop all 3 conflagrates vs. AN.
All that being said, the odds of hitting 1-3 thoughtseize in an opening hand are significantly worse than hitting 1-3 rubble by turn 3 in the top 20+ cards. Rubble may have a worse effect in its games than thoughtseize, but it will have more games where it has an effect. Also, I have lost to storm and ad nauseam plenty of times after thoughtseizing them.
Last point- rubble lets you use turns 1-2 to get your own party started and put pressure on the board, then start to disrupt. This is key compared to thoughtseize which time walks yourself.
My last suggestion for the split flashback cards, since this is going so well :p, is Insult//Injury. It is mainly good for the front end, since it is equal to Rally with Bloodghasts, less with narcos, and greater with amalgams.
My last suggestion for the split flashback cards, since this is going so well :p, is Insult//Injury. It is mainly good for the front end, since it is equal to Rally with Bloodghasts, less with narcos, and greater with amalgams.
Yeah, but Insult is also sorcery speed, only castable from hand, and averages out to the same amount of damage as Rally.
I think its worth looking at how the hivemind has been tuning dredge lately, and what small changes have happened from 2 months ago. Overwhelmingly then people were running 21-22 lands, 2 being gemstone mines, 4 loams, and 3 thugs, 1 main deck haunted dead. We also saw a rise in running a rally or a devil along side dead to speed the deck up
The sideboard was a core of 3 seize, 2 collective 2 axe, 2 decay, 2 darkblast and pharaoh was picking up steam.
Lets compare that to the average of the last 7 placing decks:
I didnt put down exact numbers because, well the "X"s are the ones that very still. The core remains the same, and Thugs stick at a 3 of. Loam is now shifting from a 3 of or 4 of depending on the deck, and haunted dead was not always there, but mostly was. So no real big changes to the deck in terms of spells core. Thug settling as a 3 of makes it clear we think his dredge 4 is a must, but he is really bad casted. Loams ups and downs is weither the deck felt slow or not, and haunted has mostly become a staple, but you can likely cut it to test out other tech.
Devil seems still being debated to speed the deck up. its around 60% used and trending stable.
The mana base is the most wildly different. 2 darkcleave, 3 copperline, 6 fetches, 2 stomping, 1 blood crypt, 2 mountain, 2 dakmor are the new core of the deck, but filling the rest in with rainbow lands, a BiCycle Land, or an extra shock or 2 (blood crypt and or steam vents) is the part that is up in the air. Likely how many loams you run effects this too.
The sideboard core has changed too. 2 decay, 1 gnaw, 2 grudge, 2 axe, 1 darkblast are the new standard. The discard side has started to very. It used to be a hard set rule to do 3 seize and 2 collective, but now thats 75% in useage, looks like because nature's claim is making a comeback.
It also seems like decay has become the more used anti hatecard, likely because it also kills shadows. Pharaoh went up from being a cool tech, to a more used than not tech, but still seems cuttable if you need the space. With the rise of dredge, alot of dredge players are also running gravehate too.
Overall
The decks core is pretty figured out and stock now. Only part that changes are the couple flex spots. Do you wanna be more dredge heavy? Run 4 loams. Do you want to be a little faster? Run a devil. Do you want to be a little more reliable? Run an extra shriekhorn. Do you wanna meta game? Run a main pharaoh or darkblast.
The lands are still up for debate it seems like. 60% are on gemstones however.
Sideboard has changed to counter more dredge and more shadows and affinity. So we see more grudge, bones, decays, grave hate and pharaohs in lists.
Yesterday I came 6th at a 64 players tourney. I went 4-1, winning my matches 2-0 and loosing 1-2...against jund...
First match was against 4 colour aristocrats. The game went quite smooth and as he uses the graveyard too, I outraced him.
Second match was against UW control. The first game was easy, the second game was intese, specially with a Jace from return to ravnica and a RIP late in game but I managed to hit him to 1 life and topdecked a Collective Brutality and went 2-0.
Third match was against Jund. Firt game was quite damn easy, but games 2 and 3 he surgical extracted my amalgams, on turn 2. Twice. I wasn't able to recover from that sadly. Lost 1-2.
Fourth match was against Klin Fiend/Thing in the Ice UR suicide. Both games were a race, but damn conflagrate did the job so hard in this match. Went 2-0.
Fifth match was against nahiri control, first game was fast, second game I bested a Graffdiggers cage, nahiri and giddeon of the trials board with emblem thanks to abrupt decay and conflagrate. It was hard but I won too.
It was Top8 via standings the price, I came 6th out of 64 and 9-2 in games. Quite damn pleased. Also, glad to see us at tier 1 again.
And right after I say that I get my first 5-0 competitive league result! Finally!
Congrats, it actually posted, too! Welcome to the club. I like the style of your list, but I still feel (especially with Darkblast main) that the second Blood Crypt is better than the second Blackcleave Cliffs during the games when Darkblast is good. Also, post-sideboard, you sometimes need another black mana for second Thoughtseize or other situations.
Did you cast Shriekhorn? It's pretty easy to go through a league without casting a 1-of, but if you did, how was it? I'd like to see you try at least 2-3, dropping Neonates, but we've been around that block before.
Prized Amalgam is a delayed trigger. This can get you into trouble if someone rule sharks you at higher events. When something enter the battlefield, it triggers prized amalgam's effect. YOU MUST ANNOUNCE IT (keep it on the side of the grave, or put a dice on it.) as long as you announce this, should it slip your mind, the entering of amalgam is mandatory and a judge will rule in your favor and he will still enter play. His entering is still a separate trigger, so yes, amalgam has 2 triggers you need to keep track of, not one.
The part about announcing the Amalgam trigger is actually incorrect. Since Amalgam does not require you to choose a target, and produces a delayed trigger which does not change the visible game state, it does not require us to acknowledge it until the end step where it is placed onto the batlefield. From the Infraction Procedure Guide: "Triggered abilities that do nothing except create delayed triggered abilities automatically resolve without requiring
acknowledgment. Awareness of the resulting delayed trigger must be demonstrated at the appropriate point."
I usually do not bother to announce the trigger when it happens, but do not say "go" or pass the turn before saying "Go to my end step" and move the Amalgams into play. Of course, it does not hurt to acknowledge them as they trigger, but it is not required.
I think it's a fairly easy match. Sometimes it feels bad when Gx Tron gets their maindeck hate, and the GW version is harder than all the rest. Eldrazi Tron is probably the easiest of the three you listed, and I haven't played against Bant Eldrazi in a long time. It has answers but no deck manipulation other than Ancient Stirrings (which conveniently doesn't find Rest in Peace).
I side out a basic, a dredger, a Conflagrate, and a Narcomoeba (I don't always want it to enter the battlefield) for some number of Ancient Grudge and Thoughtseize against Gx Tron. I side Dakmor Salvage, Bloodghast, a dredger, and Conflagrate against Bant Eldrazi. Finally, a basic, Conflagrate, and a Dredger against Eldrazi Tron. Lightning Axes and Grudges go in for the latter two matches.
Haunted Dead is invaluable in the Tron matchup, to play around Ugin, but I find that it is usually better to play around Relic of Progenitus until their turn 4 than to play around a future Ugin. I get pressure on the board (about 7 power) then save up for a Fetch -> Bloodghast or Haunted Dead turn. Sometimes Conflagrate and a land drop, Bloodghast rush ends it too.
Dinausorus, what is your manabase now? If it is still the fastlands and 5 color lands, then that would explain the Tron troubles (no triggers at end of opponents' turns).
Thanks! I was just curions, haven't played against them in a while.
I'm not sure we want ancient grudge against bant Eldrazi, do we? How good is thoughtseize there?
Yes I'm still playing blue. The lack of fetches do come up sometimes, but tome scour has become better than neonate with the banning of Ggt. I've seen many turning to shriekhorn, its in the same logic.
Playing in a GPT this weekend I'll report if it fires.
I am curious about the 2x Blackcleave Cliffs in the fetch manabase. I find that R/B lands to be essentially mountains with a downside a large percentage of the time...of course after sideboard black mana becomes more important. I have moved away from the cliffs in run another blood crypt and a fetch instead and found it to be much smoother as I can fetch up a green source if I want and still have another R/B land to get as well. I understand that it is more painful this way, but I think the consistency in mana makes up for it.
Am I missing something or does it really just come down to making the mana less painful?
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the first tip is also addressed in the primer by Lantern which is convenient.
So for the past year or so that I've played Dredge, I've committed it to muscle memory to ALWAYS announce when the Alamgams in the yard get triggered off a Narc/Ghast/Amalgam, and then turn them diagonally, or set them aside from the gy pile, or indicate it physically in some way. This is the most important half since it enables the inability of the second trigger to "not happen." Then, once that habit is established it becomes a bit easier to remember to bring them back at the next end step.
And as a second tip I've found organizing your graveyard and cards in play is useful, but it mostly goes without saying for Dredge. I keep my 'yard widely splayed out in rows so all the top-left corners of cards are visible, which helps me keep any eye on any Amalgams and Bloodghasts waiting there. Additionally, intentionally dredging each individual card can help with remembering i.e, you dredge a Stinkweed Imp, and individually reveal the top 5 into your palm, taking a mental note for every Narc that is shown, then putting them in the yard. All in all just adapting best practices to what suits you best!
Modern Dredge certainly has a lot of complex lines and play to it given how much of the deck can trigger and operate at instant speed, so just try and be mindful of it and practice, practice, practice, goldfish it if you have the time. Important things to practice are the many uses of Insolent Neonate, and remembering that you can use things like Haunted Dead and Bloodghast with a fetch in play to add removal/sweeper resilience to your board which can make it a nightmare for your opponent!
Edit: In summary, welcome Dredge as a vehicle to establish good mtg habits, and Lantern's primer has an embarrassment of riches for playing the deck, I refer back to it periodically!
C Beep Boop Robots / KCI
UR ThunderbURds
URG Some Terrible Pile of RUG Cards
Legacy:
URG Noble RUG
GWU Infect
Truth is, I made that primer the way it is for guys like ya'll. Modern dredge, unknown to a lot of players, is absurdly complicated in terms of lines of play. Finding the right one after a while and correcting habits is easier over time. If there is a draw to this deck, then its actually that; getting better.
The primer was set up to be very readable, but very in depth. So you can refer to it between rounds, or before a touri and brush up, as well as taking 2 or 3 days to read the whole thing through and start to digest it and understand it. All the info is there, you just gotta work on it without being discouraged.
No one is too bad to play dredge. Their innate play-style may be better suited for a different deck however. Dredge rewards people who can see big picture, want to be aggressive, and likes to figure out his or her "outs" when ***** hits the fan. It also helps if they play more light-hearted so when we get blown out to grave hate you aren't sore.
I split top prize at a local event with this:
2 Stomping Ground
2 Blood Crypt
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Steam Vents
2 Mountain
2 Dakmor Salvage
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
Creatures (22)
3 Golgari Thug
4 Stinkweed Imp
2 Insolent Neonate
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
1 Haunted Dead
2 Shriekhorn
Other Spells (15)
4 Faithless Looting
4 Cathartic Reunion
1 Darkblast
3 Life from the Loam
3 Conflagrate
2 Bojuka Bog
1 Lightning Axe
1 Darkblast
2 Collective Brutality
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Nature's Claim
3 Thoughtseize
1 Gnaw to the Bone
I played the Ghost Quarter main because I have played about half my matches at that store against Tron. I never played Tron, and I've learned to play the match better anyway. That will be a Blackcleave Cliffs probably.
I am also considering, for future events, replacing more Golgari Thugs with Darkblasts. Elves are a big thing because of their Death's Shadow match and the new Vizier. Besides that, I am just struggling for sideboard space, wanting to get another Collective Brutality and Lightning Axe in.
I know you guys don't like Shriekhorn, and that's fair. I will address one more point about Neonate and Gnaw to the Bone vs. Shriekhorn. If you are following Zen's sideboard advice from his post-GP article, then you are siding out 2 Neonate for 2 Lightning Axe in the Burn matchup. So when Gnaw comes in, you still have 2 Neonates either way.
Why do you think that seems better? Why is not casting one card during their turn better than not casting any cards during their turn or your next? Casting Exhaustion is a lot better than casting Silence because the former works for two turns. If you hit a second Reduce to Rubble on your next Dredge, then it is like chaining Conflagrates together, attacking for the amount of power you built up during turns 1-3 while preventing them from doing anything. It seems perfect against Ad Nauseam and other troublesome match-ups. Ad Nauseam in particular laughs at Failure to Comply. Please explain the situation where you think it's better.
Faithless Looting's flashback is not win more, nor is it a worthless effect. In fact it's what we do on most turn 3s unless we are Loaming to hit more land drops.
"Win more" is doing cool things when the game is already won. Reduce to Rubble, while perhaps not worth slots, is worth considering because it presses the advantage built in the early turns. The game is certainly not in the bag turns 3-4, no matter how much power you have on the board; opponents can combo out, cast Anger, assemble Tron, etc. Reduce to Rubble prevents these things without needing to be in your opening hand. Further, they can be chained together, which is the element that is most intriguing to me, just like Taking Turns chains together Exhaustion with Time Warp effects.
Truthfully, the anti combo card you are looking for IS thoughtseize. You replace that with this card and sure, sometimes it will be cool, but it will overall win you less games than the seize.
You said investing three mana without winning the game is win more. Looting is an obvious reason you're wrong, and your own recent suggestions for amonkhet contributions are also contradictory.
No one needs to replace thoughtseize. Collective brutality is the first cut, and this is only if elves and abzan combo do not pick up. The sideboard would look like
3 seize
3 claim
3 rubble
1 grudge
1 d.blast
1 bog
1 gnaw
Flex- axes, pharaoh, extra grudge/bog
the 6 anti-combo pieces come in for 2 neonate, 1 conflagrate, 1 land, 1 weakest dredger, and 1 narcomoeba or bloodghast. against ad nauseam in particular, another conflagrate or 2 can go out for grudge/claim. For what I am sure are good reasons, GP finalist Zen says drop all 3 conflagrates vs. AN.
All that being said, the odds of hitting 1-3 thoughtseize in an opening hand are significantly worse than hitting 1-3 rubble by turn 3 in the top 20+ cards. Rubble may have a worse effect in its games than thoughtseize, but it will have more games where it has an effect. Also, I have lost to storm and ad nauseam plenty of times after thoughtseizing them.
Last point- rubble lets you use turns 1-2 to get your own party started and put pressure on the board, then start to disrupt. This is key compared to thoughtseize which time walks yourself.
My last suggestion for the split flashback cards, since this is going so well :p, is Insult//Injury. It is mainly good for the front end, since it is equal to Rally with Bloodghasts, less with narcos, and greater with amalgams.
Yeah, but Insult is also sorcery speed, only castable from hand, and averages out to the same amount of damage as Rally.
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Bloodghast
3 Golgari Thug
4 Narcomoeba
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Stinkweed Imp
1 Haunted Dead
Spells (15)
3 Conflagrate
4 Faithless Looting
4 Cathartic Reunion
4 Life from the Loam
1 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Copperline Gorge
2 Dakmor Salvage
2 Gemstone Mine
2 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Darkblast
2 Lightning Axe
3 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Collective Brutality
1 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
I think its worth looking at how the hivemind has been tuning dredge lately, and what small changes have happened from 2 months ago. Overwhelmingly then people were running 21-22 lands, 2 being gemstone mines, 4 loams, and 3 thugs, 1 main deck haunted dead. We also saw a rise in running a rally or a devil along side dead to speed the deck up
The sideboard was a core of 3 seize, 2 collective 2 axe, 2 decay, 2 darkblast and pharaoh was picking up steam.
Lets compare that to the average of the last 7 placing decks:
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Bloodghast
3 Golgari Thug
4 Narcomoeba
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Stinkweed Imp
1 Haunted Dead
Spells (14-15)
3 Conflagrate
4 Faithless Looting
4 Cathartic Reunion
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Copperline Gorge
2 Dakmor Salvage
2 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Darkblast
2 Lightning Axe
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
I didnt put down exact numbers because, well the "X"s are the ones that very still. The core remains the same, and Thugs stick at a 3 of. Loam is now shifting from a 3 of or 4 of depending on the deck, and haunted dead was not always there, but mostly was. So no real big changes to the deck in terms of spells core. Thug settling as a 3 of makes it clear we think his dredge 4 is a must, but he is really bad casted. Loams ups and downs is weither the deck felt slow or not, and haunted has mostly become a staple, but you can likely cut it to test out other tech.
Devil seems still being debated to speed the deck up. its around 60% used and trending stable.
The mana base is the most wildly different. 2 darkcleave, 3 copperline, 6 fetches, 2 stomping, 1 blood crypt, 2 mountain, 2 dakmor are the new core of the deck, but filling the rest in with rainbow lands, a BiCycle Land, or an extra shock or 2 (blood crypt and or steam vents) is the part that is up in the air. Likely how many loams you run effects this too.
The sideboard core has changed too. 2 decay, 1 gnaw, 2 grudge, 2 axe, 1 darkblast are the new standard. The discard side has started to very. It used to be a hard set rule to do 3 seize and 2 collective, but now thats 75% in useage, looks like because nature's claim is making a comeback.
It also seems like decay has become the more used anti hatecard, likely because it also kills shadows. Pharaoh went up from being a cool tech, to a more used than not tech, but still seems cuttable if you need the space. With the rise of dredge, alot of dredge players are also running gravehate too.
Overall
The decks core is pretty figured out and stock now. Only part that changes are the couple flex spots. Do you wanna be more dredge heavy? Run 4 loams. Do you want to be a little faster? Run a devil. Do you want to be a little more reliable? Run an extra shriekhorn. Do you wanna meta game? Run a main pharaoh or darkblast.
The lands are still up for debate it seems like. 60% are on gemstones however.
Sideboard has changed to counter more dredge and more shadows and affinity. So we see more grudge, bones, decays, grave hate and pharaohs in lists.
First match was against 4 colour aristocrats. The game went quite smooth and as he uses the graveyard too, I outraced him.
Second match was against UW control. The first game was easy, the second game was intese, specially with a Jace from return to ravnica and a RIP late in game but I managed to hit him to 1 life and topdecked a Collective Brutality and went 2-0.
Third match was against Jund. Firt game was quite damn easy, but games 2 and 3 he surgical extracted my amalgams, on turn 2. Twice. I wasn't able to recover from that sadly. Lost 1-2.
Fourth match was against Klin Fiend/Thing in the Ice UR suicide. Both games were a race, but damn conflagrate did the job so hard in this match. Went 2-0.
Fifth match was against nahiri control, first game was fast, second game I bested a Graffdiggers cage, nahiri and giddeon of the trials board with emblem thanks to abrupt decay and conflagrate. It was hard but I won too.
It was Top8 via standings the price, I came 6th out of 64 and 9-2 in games. Quite damn pleased. Also, glad to see us at tier 1 again.
Congrats, it actually posted, too! Welcome to the club. I like the style of your list, but I still feel (especially with Darkblast main) that the second Blood Crypt is better than the second Blackcleave Cliffs during the games when Darkblast is good. Also, post-sideboard, you sometimes need another black mana for second Thoughtseize or other situations.
Did you cast Shriekhorn? It's pretty easy to go through a league without casting a 1-of, but if you did, how was it? I'd like to see you try at least 2-3, dropping Neonates, but we've been around that block before.
The part about announcing the Amalgam trigger is actually incorrect. Since Amalgam does not require you to choose a target, and produces a delayed trigger which does not change the visible game state, it does not require us to acknowledge it until the end step where it is placed onto the batlefield. From the Infraction Procedure Guide: "Triggered abilities that do nothing except create delayed triggered abilities automatically resolve without requiring
acknowledgment. Awareness of the resulting delayed trigger must be demonstrated at the appropriate point."
I usually do not bother to announce the trigger when it happens, but do not say "go" or pass the turn before saying "Go to my end step" and move the Amalgams into play. Of course, it does not hurt to acknowledge them as they trigger, but it is not required.
How would you sideboard against? I'm not entirely convinced by takahashi sb guide.
Thanks!
I side out a basic, a dredger, a Conflagrate, and a Narcomoeba (I don't always want it to enter the battlefield) for some number of Ancient Grudge and Thoughtseize against Gx Tron. I side Dakmor Salvage, Bloodghast, a dredger, and Conflagrate against Bant Eldrazi. Finally, a basic, Conflagrate, and a Dredger against Eldrazi Tron. Lightning Axes and Grudges go in for the latter two matches.
Haunted Dead is invaluable in the Tron matchup, to play around Ugin, but I find that it is usually better to play around Relic of Progenitus until their turn 4 than to play around a future Ugin. I get pressure on the board (about 7 power) then save up for a Fetch -> Bloodghast or Haunted Dead turn. Sometimes Conflagrate and a land drop, Bloodghast rush ends it too.
Dinausorus, what is your manabase now? If it is still the fastlands and 5 color lands, then that would explain the Tron troubles (no triggers at end of opponents' turns).
I'm not sure we want ancient grudge against bant Eldrazi, do we? How good is thoughtseize there?
Yes I'm still playing blue. The lack of fetches do come up sometimes, but tome scour has become better than neonate with the banning of Ggt. I've seen many turning to shriekhorn, its in the same logic.
Playing in a GPT this weekend I'll report if it fires.
Many thanks again!
Am I missing something or does it really just come down to making the mana less painful?