MTG Salvation

Any BG players has heard of the Dakmor Gitrog Constrictor combo. Basically the effect is "0:Mill two cards"

Dredge makes sense.
Madness makes sense.
Retrace makes sense.

My objective is to make a deck that is graveyard intensive. And my initial thought is a creature-based dredge deck.

Two things the deck absolutely has to do:
A. Get to Gitrog
B. Go off on turn Gitrog is played, or protect him until next turn.

One card that can get the Dredgeball rolling is: Sinister Concoction. It's cheap attrition that will leave opponent's best creature in hand, mostly.

Life from the Loam is a crucial card, not just for Gitrog, but also Raven's Crime. If opponent is top-decking while we play Gitrog. Yes. Yes. That is one way to do it.

Here's where I'm at right now:



Noose Constrictor / Splinterfright seems good? in a deck that wants to pump the graveyard.

Lotleth Troll seems so good here, but sadly, it won't do the trick for discarding lands. There's another troll that has dredge 5 or 6 thats kind of similar to splinterfright, Golgari Grave-Troll.

Slitherhead and Rendclaw Trow seem like decent cards to play?

I would use Simian Brawler, maybe, maybe if he had evasion of a sort.

I'm not trolling, its just odd that like half the trolls in magic kind of fit the deck premise. Kind of. Any insight would be helpful because I tend to go off on a lot of tangents. Thanks.

Here's an update of what I've been tinkering with.

Plan A. Lotleth/Brownscale/Pharaoh Value Train

Plan B. Asylum Visitor + Raven's Crime in a Dredge deck

Plan C. Splinterfright



Didn't do sideboard yet, but you get the idea.

And yes, I would like to use Golgari Grave-Troll he's just super expensive, and Splinterfright is a pretty good trade-off:
+: cheaper, trample, dredges 2 automatically while in play
-: doesn't dredge, no regeneration, weaker to graveyard hate.

I do not agree with Goryo's being the best way. It's just the cheapest way. I go off on the turn I play Gitrog too, and I don't need Dakmor which really only fulfills that sole purpose because dredge 2 is hardly worth it.

I also do not agree that Gitrog should be in the same sentence as Dredge. What happens if you dredge Goryo's? Dredge doesn't really help Gitrog... until you play Gitrog.

This isn't Gitrog Dredge... This is Lotleth Dredge. Where Dredge serves an automatic purpose: more beef on a creature that already has trample AND regeneration.


Another option you have to play Gitrog is controlling your opponents hand. Black offers discard both offensively and defensively. If I play Gitrog, while you have 1 or 2 cards, maybe even zero... you're basically topdecking, and I don't even need to go off on a turn if I have cards in my deck that STILL SERVE A PURPOSE OTHER THAN COMBO PIECES.

Here's the functions Lotleth Troll offers as early as turn 2, maybe even turn 1:
-> 4/3(on average) creature that can still grow more. The more he grows the more relevant trample becomes.
-> Regeneration, chump for days
-> Enables Brownscale and Pharaoh at instant speed(combat tricks)

Let's just say you attack with two 5/5's on turn 3. Here's what could happen:
I'm going to block with Lotleth. I'm going to discard Brownscale and Pharaoh with Lotleth, and if I can discard another creature: Lotleth is now a 5/4. I'm going to take 5 damage, kill both of your 5/5's... and then gain 2 life next turn, while dredging 2 cards into my graveyard(one of them being Pharaoh). Rather than trying to speed into Gitrog, I'm controlling the board, and its highly repeatable thanks to Dredge.

Next step, with any luck is (Life from the Loam/Raven's Crime) or Splinterfright. If you don't outright kill Splinterfright, its probably a pretty good clue I can play Gitrog safely. If I get Loam and Crime, your hand is done. At which point, yes its definitely safe.

Then I just dredge the majority of my deck and pump the hell out of splinterfright.

Dredge belongs with a GB creature-based deck. Yeah, there are cards like Eternal Witness, but black offers SO MANY ways to recur creatures, specifically. In a deck that might like to kill lands, hello Loam, hello Mortuary Mire... Goryo's can be countered, this can't.
The good: I can dredge at will, there's 4 cards in my entire deck I can't play from my graveyard, and they're all Sinister Concoction.
The bad: I'm restricted to make a heavy creature deck if I like those cheap black options.

And that's what I'm making, a creature based dredge deck.

If you want to build a Gitrog deck, your best cards is Seismic Assault. There are tons of ways to generate 3 red mana, without making the deck primarily red. Manamorphose, Lotus Cobra, etc.

The engine is Lotleth Dredge. The turbocharger is Gitrog.

And probably the very best enabler(in color) in the entire game for Gitrog isn't Dakmor. It's Edge of Autumn. Especially if you're trying to pop off--> 0: draw 2 cards. Instant speed, cannot be countered. Or its just a rampant growth, which isn't bad for a 5 cmc centerpeice. I realize that Dakmor is free too and infinite, BUT Edge of Autumn needs no enabler.

Isn't this just a worse version of the Tier 1 Dredge deck ?

What is the reason to with approach over the established one ?

I'm not saying that this deck is better than the tier 1 version, but it could end up being a really good deck after more fixing. I've won most matches I've played while using 55 card deck "first draft" with no sideboard. I don't have an anti-self mill card or a few other expensive cards of the deck as well.

This deck just doesn't lose to aggro. Well, that's not true, 1 aggro guy beat me before he lost the match(again no sideboard). In fact it has a great matchup against just about everything, except graveyard hate.

Reasons? This deck is slower but it has better consistency, resilience, and finishers. Not to mention: cost. Maybe even versatility coming soon.

Example: His turn 1 ideal play is Faithless Looting. Mine is probably Sinister Concoction.

I'm just riding the [Lotleth].[Brownscale].[Pharaoh](^^)> value train while he's trying to dredge as fast as possible.

- take combat damage
+ +1/+1 counter on Lotleth
+ gain 2 life
+ creature removal
+ Dredge 1
+ Pharaoh right back into graveyard

I take whatever damage the creature deals but he goes to graveyard. The combo recurs, and costs me nothing but my draw. Notice how Pharaoh says "Whenever you take Combat damage"----> "Destroy target attacking creature" + Lotleth regeneration = you will never do combat damage to me with your biggest creature.

If you attack with lone big creature, I'm just going to regenerate Lotleth: 0 damage
If you attack with multiple creatures, I'm going to block your biggest attacking threat with Lotleth, regenerate. If Lotleth can't kill him, Pharaoh will. Even if you do more than 2 damage, that's a clock I'm going to fly past with dredge/draw

But I haven't played a Zoo deck yet.

God forbid you mention some critical construction tthatt helps move forward

Example:
Here's a list of draw cards that might help your deck.



Asylum Visitor, in particular, seems like it has an ABSURD amount of potential in a Lotleth/Raven's Crime deck. Just take a look at how many non-creature spells I can't cast on turn 2. Lotleth can literally discard everything else and tank.

Have you considered subbing a single Loam for a Tilling Treefolk?

Have you considered subbing Gitrog for something else? Creature: Butcher of Malakir/ Grave Pact can add a dimension to the deck, and gives added reason to play Worm Harvest.

Or maybe swapping out an Undertaker for an Eternal Witness and an extra Mire

Cycling could be good too

I might be able to get away with a low land count, but added consistency to get the Troll could help.