Dredge is a unique deck that plays out very differently from many other decks. The deck operates by milling itself, filling its graveyard with a lot of cards. There are several creatures that can be put onto the battlefield from the graveyard for 0 mana. The harder the Dredge deck mills itself, the more such cards will end up in its graveyard, and the faster it can beat down. A good hand can result in 10 or more points of power on the board by the second turn.
If you’ve played old Extended, Legacy, or Vintage, Dredge should be no stranger to you. The history of Dredge in Modern is a little rocky. At the outset, Golgari Grave-Troll and Dread Return were banned (although Grave-Troll was eventually unbanned....only to be banned again), and no Dredge deck was playable for a while. The next few sets gave rise to a “Dredgevine” deck, with additions like Faithless Looting, Gravecrawler, Lotleth Troll and Satyr Wayfinder. Shadows over Innistrad brought two huge improvements for the archetype: Insolent Neonate and Prized Amalgam. Later, Cathartic Reunion, aka Mom Hug, was printed and that put the deck over the top.
Dredge has seen play in any format that has the keyword available to it... and even some standard seasons without it. Truthfully, there is always a graveyard deck in magic, since the ability to use the grave as an "extended hand" or ways to cheat costs is a very good deal. But how far back does dredges roots go? Well it turns out pretty damned far, as it starts in 2007, right when Future Sight was printed.
At the start, when the key word dredge was printed, it was actually a very fair mechanic. Standard used Darkblast to get rid of mana dorks like birds of paradise, sometimes using something like Nightmare Void as a slow way to disrupt a combo piece. Overall, it was pretty lack luster, even in older formats that had tools you could use from the grave. Yes, even then, legacy would rather be playing with threshold than over committing to the grave. The reason for this was simply risk and reward. The risks out weighed the rewards. Then Future Sight happened, and with it, a dredge land, bridge from Below, and Dread Return. All of these were planned by Wizards of course, to make graveyard decks be a thing in standard, but they've openly admitted to not realizing how efficient dredge the mechanic was.
This deck was so powerful during its time, that it soon transitioned into legacy with the same basic idea, dredge a bridge, use a sac outlet, make tons of tokens, give them haste via dread return, and win the game. However, it is Vintage that shows how strong dredge is with availability to all of magics graveyard tricks. Further more, because it cheats on mana, and doesn't cast spells, it has been a bane of a blue deck since the start, something very good to be in legacy and vintage.
As you can see this deck barely runs any lands what so ever... In fact, Baazar doesn't even produce mana! That's right, at first glace it might see like the deck runs 7 mana lands, it actually runs 0 ways to get mana. Because who really wants to play magic anyways? It never spends mana, and it will only cast 1-2 spells the whole game... if any. This is dredge in its purest form. While this list comes from 2008, and thus lacks even more broken cards, the idea hasn't changed. Dredge a bridge, sac outlet from the yard, then give haste to all your tokens and win. It's sac outlets and discard enablers are the best they can be for 2008, Cabal Therapy, Ichorid, and Dread Return being your sacrifice package, Land Grant for Bazaar of Baghdad and Lion's Eye Diamond for the discard.
Dredge also made it's presence felt with extended and legacy during this time, which I won't post because the power level falls between vintage and standard, but you can be sure the game plan was very much the same.
Zoom to 2011, many new tools were added to the game for grave decks, but most importantly, and the reason you're here, is Modern was sanctioned as a format! But Dredge didn't become what it is today right away. No, it took 5 years to fill out, but it still existed in the format, as a lower power leveled deck called Dredgevine.
You might think that this list looks a little all over the place... and you'd be right. It lacks pretty much everything we've come to know dredge stands for, the bridge, Dread Return, Bloodghasts (which was printed by now, and quickly added to all dredge lists) and Narcomoeba. Grave-Troll and Dread Return were also banned. Well there was many reasons for this. Until around 2010, all dredge lists were 3 colors, black, green and blue. Discard and draw was color shifted to red, so now the decks needed to be rainbow to have access to all the tools, and it caused a strain on mana bases. Furthermore, there was no good reliable sacrifice engine in modern, especially one in the yard like Dread Return. So your normal dredge was impossible to run. But the deck still does roughly the same job as before. Enable discard, dredge a ton, make a hasty army. But the players have changed. Faithless Looting, mill creatures and Lotleth Troll are you main discards, dredgers are the same, and vengevine replaces the bridge.
Golgari Grave-Troll was unbanned in 2015, and promptly did nothing for the deck. But in 2016, 3 cards were printed that suddenly made dredge able to use old tech, and dredge itself from the depths of modern's tier 5 to tier 1. Those cards were Prized Amalgam, Insolent Neonate, and a little later, Cathartic Reunion.
Vengvine was replaced with amalgam, as it was easier to trigger, and without the need to cast creatures anymore, Narcomoeba and Bloodghast were great cards again. Insolent Neonate was the 1 mana loot the deck needed to pull fully out of blue and make their manabase consistent. Reunion gave the deck a critical mass of discard, draw needed to make the engine pur. The deck shot up like a rocket, and since it didn't use very many cards as other decks did, it was cheap. Both ingredients for an explosion of usage.
This deck is also substantially different than its standard, extended, legacy, and vintage counterparts. There is no bridge. This is because the deck still lacked a good sacrifice engine outside of Greater Gargadon, and no good ones from the grave.
At the beginning of 2017, Golgari Grave-Troll was banned to nerf, but not kill the deck. It had it's intended effect, as the deck lost 2-6 dredge power a turn, as well as having to devote more slots to discard and dredgers to shore up the gaps in the engine. It also lost one of it's built in win conditions, especially since Grave-troll was one of the best counters to the most played graveyard hate; Grafdigger's Cage.
The deck would remain powerful, but not oppressive.
When we returned to Ravanica in Guilds of Ravnica, golgari, the guild who gave us the word dredge, didn't help dredge at all as a deck... But leave it to the sneaky Dimir to give us the tools to win the mondern arms race. Enter Creeping Chill, a card that was briefly talked about,but quickly dismissed as a winmore card. As soon as the card became legal on magic online, results started pouring in. It was the shot in the arm to get dredge back to where it needed to be to compete. It sped the decks clock up a turn, giving it a real chance to race combo decks, and the 12 life gained allowed it to stall the game out longer vs fast aggro decks. This allowed the sideboard to also free up a bit, as a wide swath of the field became either favorable or close to it.
Overall, thanks to this single card, dredge enjoys tier one status during this time, becoming as much as a "sideboard boggy man deck" as affinity.
Dredge is a combo aggro deck. By that I mean, it has a combo feeling to how it plays out its game, but it mostly functions as an aggro deck, pushing out damage fast and hard. If Ad Nauseam was a pure aggro deck, it would feel like a assassin, lining up and prepping for the perfect shot. In that case, aggro might feel like a berserk, charging in wildly, slashing as much damage as he can. Dread would combine the two of these, and feel more like someone shotgunning burst damage, prepping again then bursting again.
Below you can read on which cards actually make the cut in the dredge, as well as cards that aren't quite good enough to.
These are how you discard your dredgers to the yard in order to dredge them up and then reuse them. As it stands the best options to use for this job is Faithless Looting, Insolent Neonate or Shriekhorn, and Cathartic Reunion. Looting and Neonate/Shriekhorn are both one drops, which puts them miles ahead of other options. Neonate is better when running more dredge cards. When you are running less, it is often better to use shriekhorn, as it will put in more work and dig deaper. Looting doesn't let you discard first, but it digs deep when you really need to find the right cards, and can flashback, so it acts as the glue in this deck. Reunion blows the game out of the water, its the explosive dredge you need.
This is your engine. Once enabled, your draw step becomes mill X, and in our deck, more like draw X. We have quite a few dredgers at our disposal, which is good because well never get anymore than the ones we already have. Out of them, these 2 will be your core: Stinkweed Imp and Golgari Thug. After that you use 2 Dakmor Salvage because those are "free" dredge slots. From there, you have to dig into your dredge 3ers for the rest; Darkblast and Life from the Loam, which would be 0-2 and 2-3 respectively.
Your core will never change: Bloodghast, Prized Amalgam, Narcomoeba These are the creatures that come back from the grave for very little effort. Narcs come back just from milling them, and take amalgam along for the ride. They also proved the deck with great blockers for later game to buy time. Bloodghast is amazing with fetchlands, and are an easy repeatable way to trigger amalgam. You can also fetch on their turn for tricks. Amalgam is the workhorse. He is the beater, and while a 3/3 body doesn't seem that good, four 3/3 bodies is still 12 damage.
You can if you feel like it, fix a few more creatures, but you can read those in other options or Flex Spots.
To start, you'll have to decide on which land base you want to run, the jund land base or the rainbow colored one. Rainbow colored is more consistent, but very painful, which will hurt your aggro and tempo matchups, as well as make bolt, snap, bolt an actual threat to you. The jund lands however, corner you into using mostly jund colors and makes double colored spells tougher. Currently, the Jund lands are favored since modern has a lot of aggro as well as anger of the gods, meaning a fetch on endstep is a lot better to trigger Bloodghast
For the Jund Lands set up you will want 6-8 fetchands, then 4-5 shocklands, likely a 2/2 split of Blood Crypt and Stomping Ground, as well as 2 Dakmor Salvage (which we also covered why in the dredgers section) then 4 Copperline Gorge. You should have 2-3 basics, leaning more on mountains, then forests. From here you should fill the rest out with Fastlands, other shocks, then rainbow lands if you have space left.
Flex spots are openings in the deck to add extra options to your deck. The deck is a very tight core, and the combo aspect of the deck needs most slots to run the engine. In most cases, this should be a plan B should things go awry, or a way to combat tough match-ups. However, I want to stress that these slots are not for putting in cards for no real reason. Each of them should have a role in the deck that allows you to straight up win with it, rather than be "Win More" for classic cases of winmore, look down at the Other Options section.
Plan B Packages-
This small section will be about adding a second layer to your deck, as another option to winning should somehow the core doesn't work. Dredge has been doing this from its inception, and the concept is still the same. Force the opponent to deal with the core, and then if they do, unleash your game winning plan B. If the plan B cant potentially win the game, it is not good enough for the deck. Here are currently the best options:
This is the conflagrate option, and the one currently favored. It is a way to win without attacking, costs 2 mana, can help with discard in a pinch, kills problem hate creatures like scavenging ooze, while also taking out chump blockers. For all of these reasons, it is the best option because it is both flexible and powerful, and takes very little slots and resources to use.
Creeping Chill is sort of a bridge between the Plan A and B allowing you more time to kill with either option if neeeded, but always shortening the race.
Normally all dredge lists would contain this, but Modern doesn't have the greatest sac outlets, so this plan suffers from it. However, it is still an option to beat out exile effects and make a million tokens.
Reanimation is a staple in dredge, but without dread return, we are left to pay 4 mana to win the game. Still its a very valid package that can win the game on its own and is highly tune-able to different effects.
This package supplements the core beatdown package. Its main job is to speed up the core beatdown wins, as well as provide an out to selective graveyard hate.
Single Flex Cards
This isn't a package, but in dredge you will often have a few slots left over you can tune the deck to hate on other decks. These are often cards that are mostly used in the sideboard, but can see main deck play Darkblast- An easy way to trigger dredge as well as kill little creatures. Life From the Loam- An easy way to trigger dredge and re buy effect lands Gnaw to the Bone- A counter to aggro decks. Scourge Devil, Rally the Peasants- It can be a package or a single use card. It does the same job as the package. Haunted Dead- Adds discard outlets to the deck while giving chump blockers and extra attackers Shriekhorn- A colorless "discard" option if you need more 1 drop discards. Collective Brutality- Adds more discard options to the deck, while also boasting powerful effects Ghost Quarter- often paired with loam, you can use this to hinder ramp or greedy mana decks. Vengeful Pharaoh- Used to take out repeat attackers, best against combo aggro or midrange. Lightning Axe- A 1 mana kill creature spell that also can get your engine going.
Mill is not always used in dredge, but has shown up here and there when the mill effect was strong enough. In legacy, manaless dredge uses Balustrade Spy to mill your self out completely in one swoop. However, modern doesn't have this option and is forced to rely on these 3 cards: Hedron Crab, Tome Scour, and Shriekhorn. Each has benefits over one another. Crab will mill the most for no effort, tome scour has the most impact right away, and Shriekhorn is colorless so it doesn't require running blue in.
Currently none of these options are all that great, and its just better to discard dredgers.
These are other cards that might be brought up from time to time, but are generally considered below average or not playable in the deck. There may come a time when they are great, but they need card support or the meta to change in order to get to that point:
Bridge From Below- The card desperately lacks support, rather than power. There is no good way to have a reliable sac outlet from the graveyard, and so the power of this card doesnt have a chance to be abused. Vengevine- Largely outclassed by Prized Amaglam. While the later has less power, and no haste, it is much much harder to "cast". Stitcher's Supplier- A card with promise, but better used in the vengevine decks. Currently the other 1 drop options are better as they take better color of mana, but should we end up in a more bridge from below plan, this card will increase in value. Demigod of Revenge/Extractor Demon/Worm Harvest- These are "game enders" that are generally outclassed by other game ending cards such as conflagrate and renaimator targets. Gravecrawler/Lotleth Troll- This deck isn't dredgevine. These are powerful cards to be sure, but they both cost mana to be as effective as they can be, thus the core creatures beat them out through efficiency. Rotting Rats- More or less replaced by Haunted Dead which discards better, and gives you more flexible options. Flame Jab/Raven's Crime- Good options for but pretty low power level. Drowned Rusalka- This is almost exactly like Insolent Neonate. The downside is that you have to use mana, and the upside is it can be a sac outlet for bridge. Street Wraith- Its a free Dredge for 2 life! Simian Spirit Guide- This is a way to speed the deck by a turn, allowing for some broken turns, but at the cost of deck constancy.
Understanding the deck in terms of how it functions, rather than just as a set of cards will go a long way into making your deck into a finely tuned engine. It will also help you know where you can cut corners or combine jobs, like Dakmor Salvage being able to help the land count and the dredge count. Play with the numbers and see if you can find the right ones for you!
Sideboarding in dredge is a much more complex process than most decks. Unlike in a deck like Jund or Zoo, its not as simple as "against affinity, you can use Stoney Silence." There are 3 separate things to consider when boarding as a dredge player: What does the archetype board in vs me, What counters the cards they board in vs me, What other cards are good vs them, and do I have room?
In the end, you'll find that its not a one for one sub when boarding, but a balancing act of how to not kill your engine while countering what they are doing. At the end of the day, this deck is a game one deck, and the goal here is to null their strong and narrow hate against you to make game 2 basically game 1.
This is the first step, and most important. Its also the most neglected step by new and long playing dredge players. You should know EXACTLY what hate cards are being boarded in against you, and what they do. Once you can go into any match armed with that knowledge you can move to Step 2. Here is a list of all good anti-dredge cards, take a read of all of them:
The best way to know what decks are currently using what hate cards is to go to a site like MTGGoldfish and look at the deck lists yourself. But I've added a list here of what each popular archetypes use to reference as you need it. Make sure to memorize this list and move to step 2.
Hate Cards used by Every Modern Archetype
Affinity:
Boards in little hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Azban:
Boards in moderate hate
Scavenging Ooze
Nihil Spellbomb
Surgical Extraction
Rest In Peace
Tron:
Boards in heavy hate
Relic of Progenitus
Ravenous Trap
Rest in Peace
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Burn:
Boards in little hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Jund:
Boards in moderate hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Surgical Extraction
Anger of the Gods
Ravenous Trap
Scavenging Ooze
Bant Eldrazi:
Boards in moderate hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Rest in Peace
Worship
Titan Shift/Breach:
Boards in moderate hate
Anger of the Gods
Relic of Progenitus
Death's Shadow:
Boards in Moderate hate
Surgical Extraction
Anger of the Gods
Ad Nauseam:
Boards in little hate
Fog Effects
U/W Control:
Boards in heavy hate
Rest in Peace
Surgical Extraction
Amulet Titan:
Boards in moderate hate
Bojuka Bog
Ravenous Trap
Grixis Control:
Boards in heavy hate
Surgical Extraction
Anger of the gods
Goryo's Vengeance:
Boards in little hate
Blood Moon
Dredge:
Boards in little hate
Bojuka Bog
Leyline of the Void
Memory's Journey
Death and Taxes:
Boards in little hate
Rest in Peace
Sun and BloodMoon:
Boards in heavy hate
Anger of the Gods
Blood Moon
Exile effects
Rest in Peace
Knightfall:
Boards in little hate
Loaming Shaman
Bojuka Bog
Jeskai Control:
Boards in heavy hate
Surgical Extraction
Anger of the Gods
Rest in Peace
Abzan Company:
Boards in little hate
Anafenza, the Foremost
Loaming Shaman
Infect:
Boards in little hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Kiki-Chord:
Boards in little hate
Anafenza, the Foremost
Loaming Shaman
Ravenous Trap
8 Rack:
Boards in moderate hate
Surgical Extraction
Leyline of the Void
Scapeshift:
Boards in moderate hate
Anger of the Gods
Surgical Extraction
Fae:
Boards in Moderate hate
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Ravenous Trap
Surgical Extraction
Zoo:
Boards in little hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Soul Sisters/Martyr Proc:
Boards in little hate
Surgical Extraction
Leyline of the Void
Storm:
Boards in little hate
Blood Moon
Living End:
Boards in little hate
Faerie Macabre
Leyline of the Void
Boogles:
Boards in little hate
Rest in Peace
Infect:
Boards in little hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Relic of Progenitus
UR Prowess:
Boards in moderate hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Surgical Extraction
Ravenous Trap
Merfolk:
Boards in little hate
Grafdigger's Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Lantern Control:
Boards in little hate
Surgical Extraction
Relic of Progenitus
Tormod's Crypt
Grafdigger's Cage
Grixis Delver:
Boards in little hate
Ravenous Trap
Surgical Extraction
Skred Red:
Boards in heavy hate
Blood Moon
Relic of Progenitus
Anger of the Gods
Grafdigger's Cage
If you havent looked over that massive archetype list I posted in the spoilers, do it, you can't complete this step without it. Some of those archetypes I color coded with Green, Orange, and Red. This color means how much are they siding in against you, and it directly correlates to how much you should be trying to counter their hate cards. See the list below of the best cards to bring in vs what.
Green listed decks will barely side in against you. This is because they would rather race you, or don't mind non interactivity. Against these decks you should side in 0-1 cards to combat them. There is very little chance they will hit their boarded in cards and you are better off just trying to race them yourself or siding in good cards against them that aren't anti-hate cards.
Orange listed decks will have a fair amount of hate for you. It will be enough that 1 hate card SHOULD show up games 2 and 3, and as such you should have enough anti hate boarded in that you should see 1 answer to counter it. That should be 3 anti hate cards.
Red listed decks will be overboarding for you. This is likely because they have a bad match-up and need to do this to have a shot at winning. If you can answer their hate cards it should be an easy win. However, some of these listed, like skred red or tron, just naturally use cards that are good for you, and it will be a bad match up anyways. Regardless, you need to board on equal terms and be able to answer at least 2 hate cards per game. That means you will want to board in about 5 anti hatecards
List of Best Cards that Counter Hate Cards
In order of effectiveness
Leyline of the Void
Nature's Claim
Fragmentize
Golgari Charm
Ravenous Trap
Thoughtseize
Collective Brutality
Rest in Peace
Nature's Claim
Natural State
Fragmentize
Abrupt Decay
Golgari Charm
Thoughtseize
Step 1 is to know what the hate cards do, and who plays what. Step 2 is knowing what cards you should be playing against said hate cards, and how many of them. So in your sideboarding process, you should have made a pile of cards you want to board in... but what do you board out!? Well, you'll have to bare through yet another list. But this will teach you what you generally for sub out for what.
Important note:This deck is part combo, which means while siding you should not take out a full piece of the engine, but rather, start with your flex cards, then 1 card from the Enablers, Dredgers, and Creatures, like we talked about earlier in the primer. And remember, sometimes its OK to go to 61 cards in this deck
Thoughtseize- Narcomoeba or a Flex Spot, or package slot. Generally if you are thoughtseizing, you are trying to strip a hate card or hurt their combo while maintaining aggression. In both these cases, going down to 3 narcs is perfectly fine. Nature's Claim/Natural State/Fragmentize- Narcomoeba or a Flex Spot, or package slot. Generally if you are Naturalizing, you are trying to destroy a hate card or hurt their combo while maintaining aggression. In both these cases, going down to 3 narcs is perfectly fine. Lightning Axe- An easy 1 for 1 sub withInsolent Neonate. Both discard to start a dredge engine, while one dredges, this one interacts Collective Brutality- An easy 1 for 1 sub with Cathartic Reunion. They both have the same function, discarding cards, but reunion gives you dredge power, and Brutality gives you interactivity Abrupt Decay- A Flex spot only, or package slot. Golgari Charm- A Flex spot only, or package slot Ancient Grudge- a flashback spell, darkblast, flex slot, or loam.
But wait! You still have to cut a few more cards?!
Have no fear, you can still make a few cuts. Heres where you'll find the last few card slots:
If its against a deck that's faster than you, like an aggro deck, cut 1 bloodghast.
If its against a deck thats slower than you, like a control deck, cut 1 Narcomoeba
If its against a deck that has counter spells, cut a loam and conflagrate
If its against a creatureless/creature light deck, cut a loam and a conflagrate.
If its against a deck you don't need to race, cut Scourge Devil.
If its a deck you don't need to have blockers for, cut Haunted Dead.
It will always be better to understand why and when to make cuts, but if you need a guide to start out with a good example of it would beZen Takahashi's Sideboard Guide
Now, in step 2 we decided how many anti hate cards we should use in the particular matchup, green getting 0-1, Orange getting 3, and red getting 5. Sometimes that leaves you room to wiggle in extra sideboard cards to beat them. For example, Darkblast isn't a very good anti-hate card, but it is great at killing off affinity's creatures. Affinity also happens to be one of those green listed decks, meaning you can fit 3-4 sideboarded cards in along with 1/2 anti hate cards! So in review
Green listed decks can have 0-1 Anti hate cards, and 3-4 generally useful sideboard cards.
Orange listed decks can have about 3 Anti hate cards, and 1-2 generally useful sideboard cards.
Red listed decks can have about 5 Anti hate cards, and 0 generally useful sideboard cards.
What are these extra sideboard cards that could be useful? Well here's a list! Darkblast- This card is recycleable and lets you kill dorks dead, giving it a ton of uses. Its best used on mana dork decks like melira company or decks that go wide like Affinity Vengeful Pharaoh- This is ok against aggro decks like burn or zoo, but its at its best against midrange decks that put their stock less in lots of little creatures, but in quality creatures like tarmogoyf. Bojuka Bog- Really only playable if you run 3 life from the loam, otherwise use journey or leyline. This can keep grave strategies from getting anywhere. Ghost Quarter- Useful against manlands, killer against tron and eldrazi. Like Bog, only playable with 3 loams. Memory's Journey- Surgical grave hate, it's the worst of our options, but also the least hardest on deck building. Doesn't need more than one copy, or additional cards. Abrupt Decay- Can double as an anti-hate card as well as a random removal spell or anti combo card. Assassin's Trophy- Like abrupt decay, with a steeper draw back and a stronger effect. Usually better than Decay. Damping Sphere- A sideboard condensing card, allowing you to hit multiple decks at one time. While not as strong as any of the sideboard cards that can destroy one single matchup, this card has its strength by opening up the board to a wider array of decks. Thoughtseize- Can double as an anti-hate card as well as a proactive way to deny something. Works best on decks that are later game decks or need to have a few cards at the same time. Works best against combo and big mana. Collective Brutality- Can double as an anti-hate card as well as a proactive way to do a lot of good things. Its best use is when it can kill a dork, strip an important card. Very good against Company and All in aggro decks like burn or infect. Ancient Grudge- Can double as an anti-hate card as well as something you can do in your yard. Its best against artifact matters decks like lantern, tron, and affinity. Ray of Revelation- Don't be fooled, this is NOT an anti-hate card, but instead should only be used as the grave version of Grudge, best against Boogles and enchantment matters decks. Haunted Dead- Reuseable chump blockers. Very very good against all in aggro decks, where it can buy you time. Scourge Devil/Rally of the Peasants- simply a way to race. Its at its best against decks that don't interact with you, and you can't interact with them. Stuff like Scapeshift decks. Leyline of the Void- Graveyard hate that doesnt effect us. Only useful if you devote 3-4 slots in the board. Lightning Axe- A cheap way to get rid of problem creatures. Best use for aggro, midrange, and combo that uses creatures. Engineered Explosives- Has a lot of random uses, but the biggest is taking down aggro that goes really wide, while also being able to kill hate cards if needed. Gnaw to the Bone- Your go to anti aggro card. Usually only a 1 of, but push it to 2 if your meta is all aggro.
In review: Step 1: Know what the hate cards are used to beat dredge, and which decks use what. Step 2: Know what Anti-Hate cards you must board in for the match-up and how many. Step 3: Make the correct cuts from your flex spot and engine so you don't mess up your combo Step 4: Fill in the extra sideboard cards if you have the space to do so.
Now you know how to do steps 1-4, you wont need a guide. Which is good, because sideboarding in this deck is one of the most complicated parts of it!
Below is a list of details and tips to help you play dredge. They are very boring, and read like a textbook, but they are key to running the deck correctly as possible. I also want to give a shout out to Izzetmage who wrote these!
Read up on these rules to be the best dredge player you can be!
There’s a lot of reminder text on dredge, but honestly no TL;DR version. Just read the text and it should explain everything just fine. Basically, if you would draw a card while you have a dredge card in your graveyard, you have two options:
1) draw the card normally
2) put the dredge card into your hand and mill X
In both cases, you would have one more card in hand than you had before the draw. The difference in case 2 is that you have X more cards in your graveyard. That’s where Dredge (the deck) draws its strength from. Also, when you dredge, you get to choose which card you add to your hand. Need removal? Get Darkblast. Need lands? Get Dakmor Salvage or Life from the Loam.
Dredge is a static, replacement ability. If you decide to dredge, your opponent cannot remove the card that you’re going to dredge “in response”.
You can only dredge X if you have that many cards in your library, or more. So you can’t dredge 3 to get a game-winning Darkblast back in hand if you have 2 or less cards in your library. Be careful!
Dredge replaces any card draw (i.e. any of the red enabler cards), not just the one that you get during your draw step.
It’s said that Dredge is not “real Magic”. In this section I’m going to explain why this is so: first by examining how Dredge operates, and second, by examining how it stacks up against conventional “answers”.
If you look at Dredge’s creature base (Narcomoeba, Bloodghast, Prized Amalgam), you should notice that all of them can be put into play for 0 mana. This bypasses the fundamental principle of Magic, where the amount of stuff you can play is limited by the amount of mana you have. Instead, with Dredge, the amount of creatures you can put out is dependent on the amount of creatures you have in your graveyard. And with Imp/Thug dredging 4 or 5 cards per draw, including additional draws from Looting or Inquiry, it’s not hard to get your graveyard filled quickly while hitting a few Narcomoebas along the way. Once that happens, a single land drop will bring all of your Bloodghasts back. How many Bloodghasts, exactly? As many as you milled - mill hard or get lucky and you can have all four for the price of one land drop! Then this sets up Prized Amalgam’s trigger, and like Bloodghast, the amount of Amalgams you can get depends on how many there are in your graveyard, not the amount of mana you have.
There are three main categories of “answers” that other decks play. Dredge matches up favorably against all of them. Removal: How much mana does it take for Dredge to put a creature into play? Answer: zero. How much mana do removal spells cost? Answer: certainly more than zero. This explains why removal is not cost-efficient against Dredge. Furthermore, if Dredge’s creatures are killed, they go back to the graveyard, but are ready to jump back into play at any moment (that you can play a land). Bridge from Below also neutralizes removal by giving you a Zombie token whenever one of your creatures dies. Counterspells: How do Dredge’s creatures enter the battlefield? Answer: triggered abilities. They are not casted, so there is nothing to counter unless the opponent is playing Trickbind or Voidslime (which practically nobody does, and even then it costs them more mana to play their counter than it costs you to revive your creature). The only things that can be countered are the enabler cards, which brings up the question: how exactly do you plan on doing so? Most enabler cards cost 1 mana, which is way before you can get most counters ready. Dispel/Spell Snare doesn’t work on them. Remand and Mana Leak cost 2 mana, and in the case of Remand, the countered spell will be easily re-casted. Spell Pierce is the best counter, although it doesn’t stop Insolent Neonate. Discard: Casting a discard spell to take anything except an enabler is fueling Dredge’s game plan. Even if they do take an enabler, it’s useless if you have another enabler in hand - the odds are good, given that the deck has at least 12 enablers main and up to 4 additional discard outlets if you bring in Lightning Axe. Darkblast, and to a lesser extent Life from the Loam can also be hardcasted to start the dredge chain rolling.
All said, the most effective way to attack Dredge is to attack its graveyard. Grafdigger’s Cage and Rest in Peace will stop Dredge cold. Nevertheless, Dredge can steal games against such hate cards by simply going under them (i.e. getting out a bunch of creatures before they hit the field), or randomly discarding them to Burning Inquiry. Graveyard exilers like Relic of Progenitus can stop the first wave of creatures, but the Dredge deck can beat it by setting up a second wave. Surgical Extraction and Extirpate are problematic if they nab Bloodghast or Amalgam, but they are either rarely played or played in small amounts, giving Dredge a chance of going under them.
In the absence of grave hate, the other way to beat Dredge is to race it. Aggro and combo decks will have a much easier time doing this. Dredge can put a bunch of creatures into the battlefield on turn 2, but it typically takes two turns of attacks to kill a defenseless opponent, unless he took a lot of damage from his lands, or you have Rally the Peasants. This means that Dredge goldfishes at about turn 4, a speed which most aggro and combo decks should be comfortable racing. With Bloodghast being incapable of blocking and Prized Amalgam entering the battlefield tapped, this opens the door wider for aggro decks. The matchup may swing in either direction based on the trump cards that each player has: Dredge has Darkblast, Gnaw to the Bone and Vengeful Pharaoh, while opposing decks may have lifelink or damage prevention effects.
The most effective removal against Dredge is the kind that doesn’t put the creatures in the graveyard, as Dredge can get those creatures back into play easily. Anger of the Gods is a common one. Bounce is less common, but still effective - Dredge needs to take the extra step of getting those creatures back into the graveyard again. Merfolk plays plenty of bounce (Vapor Snag, Harbinger of the Tides), and some decks play Thing in the Ice, which can flip, wipe Dredge’s board, and threaten immediately with its 7 power. That said, Conflagrate allows Dredge to dump its hand and deal a ton of damage.
TL;DR: dredge beats fair decks and loses to grave hate, “anti-meta” decks that maindeck/SB multiple copies of hate cards, and faster decks.
Since Dredge works differently from other decks, constructing it also goes against most accepted deckbuilding principles. For Dredge, there is a simple rule of thumb that I use to eliminate card choices:
- Does this card help get more cards into the graveyard?
- Can this card be cast/activated/triggered from the graveyard?
If the answer to either of these questions is no, the card in question is not maindeckable. When you start dredging, you’ll be putting Imps and Thugs into your hand instead of cards that you could draw normally. You can’t draw cards normally, unless you are willing to stop dredging.
- Are you playing this card/effect as a 3/4-of?
- Can this card be cast/activated/triggered from the graveyard?
If the answer to either of these questions is no, the card in question is not sideboardable. Again, dredging means that if the sideboarded card isn’t in your opening hand, it’s going to be in your graveyard. If you can’t cast it from the graveyard, you should play 4 copies to maximize the chances of it being in the place where it matters, i.e. your opening hand.
- You can rearrange your graveyard at any time. This rule is unique to Modern (and Standard), but does not apply to Legacy or Vintage where graveyard-order-matters cards like Nether Shadow exist. This makes remembering triggers and viewing your dredge/flashback options much easier: you can simply put all the irrelevant cards at the bottom.
- You should have your graveyard spread out instead of in a stack, so that you can see every card. If you’re playing online, the graveyard window should always be open.
- Remember your triggers. Your creatures enter the battlefield via triggers, and if you forget them, your opponent isn’t going to point them out. After playing a land, especially if you’re playing the land so that you can cast a spell, check for Bloodghast. After milling yourself, check for Narcomoeba, especially if you dredge twice or more. At the end of the turn, check for Prized Amalgam. When anything dies, or before you kill something, or before you enter combat, check for Bridge.
- Perform actions in the order that they are written on the card. Look out for the word “then”. With Faithless Looting, you draw first, then discard. For Insolent Neonate’s cost, it’s a little different: you can pay in whatever order you want, but the order that’s printed on the card is the order that you want to follow anyway (discard Bridge, then sac to get a token). Stitchwing Skaab can discard and trigger a Prized Amalgam in your hand: you discard as a cost first, then Skaab enters the battlefield.
- For cards that say “draw X cards” (i.e. Looting/Inquiry), cards are drawn individually, so you get to dredge for each card that would be drawn. This also means that you decide to dredge before each card is drawn, not upon resolution of Looting/Inquiry. If you happen to mill a Stinkweed Imp or a Dakmor Salvage that you really need on the first dredge, you can choose to dredge that card on the second draw.
- Abilities cannot resolve while another spell/ability is resolving. This is targeted at Narcomoeba - if you play Looting/Inquiry and mill a Narcomoeba on the first dredge, the Narcomoeba trigger goes on the stack after the Looting/Inquiry has finished resolving. Narcomoeba itself is still in the graveyard while you’re doing the second or third dredge. If you mill a Prized Amalgam on the second or third dredge, or discard one to the Looting/Inquiry that's resolving, it will trigger off the Narcomoeba - after Looting/Inquiry finishes resolving, the Narcomoeba trigger goes on the stack, it enters the battlefield, then Amalgam triggers for that.
Another example: if you play Looting/Inquiry, after resolving your first dredge/draw, your opponent cannot cast something like Surgical Extraction before your second draw. He must wait for the Looting/Inquiry to finish resolving.
- Position your Narcomoebas/Amalgams slightly differently to remind yourself of their triggers. For example, if you have your graveyard lined out in a row, you can leave the triggered Narcomoebas/Amalgams sticking out slightly above all your other cards. If you line your graveyard out in columns, you can tap those cards instead (although tapping a card in a graveyard is sometimes used as an indicator that the card has been exiled, so make a separate pile for exile if you’re doing this). With Narcomoeba, it reduces the chance of forgetting about it after completely resolving a multiple-draw card like Looting or Inquiry. With Amalgam, it removes confusion as to which Amalgams have been triggered and which have not (if they were put into the graveyard at different times). If you use tricks like these, remember that the cards are still in the graveyard, and they’ll be lost like anything else if your opponent wipes your graveyard. Also remember that they count towards Gnaw to the Bone.
The concept of “card advantage”, when applied to Dredge, is roughly “number of cards in your graveyard”. That said, mulligan aggressively to get good hands. Being low on cards in hand doesn’t matter if you’re still able to get a lot of cards into your graveyard. This is apparent when you realize that all your 1-mana enabler cards leave you down 1 card in hand after you cast them.
Your ideal hand should have two lands and two enablers. Insolent Neonate only counts as an enabler if you have a dredger in hand - with the other enablers you can hope to draw/mill into a dredger. This gives you a turn 1 and turn 2 play, and the second land guarantees a Bloodghast trigger if it ends up in your graveyard. Having an Imp/Thug to discard to one of the enablers makes it a snap keep.
Two lands and one enabler is not too exciting, but keepable. It goes up in keepability if there’s a Darkblast or Life from the Loam in it which you can hardcast, should the enabler fail to find a dredger. This hand is weaker against discard, as they can take the enabler, unless it’s Conflagrate, in which case you just play both your lands and dump your hand on turn 2.
One land hands should not be kept unless there’s a Faithless Looting in it to dig for a second land. Even if you have the most amazing dredges, the only way to get more lands into your hand is to hit Dakmor Salvage, or to decline dredging and draw normally.
Narcomoeba is a dead card in hand (in fact this is one of the disadvantages of the deck: that there are four cards that you want in your library, but never want to draw). Don’t go mulliganing every hand with a Narcomoeba in it “because it’s already a mulligan” though - if the hand is keepable even if you were to remove Narcomoeba from it, keep it!
For post-board games, remember the “Dredge Mentality”: there are two ways to beat hate cards, first is drawing the counter-hate, second is just being faster than them. If you have a good hand that can spit out a lot of creatures by the second turn (plenty of enablers/Looting + Bloodghast/Amalgam), it’s keepable even if there are no anti-hate cards in it.
Dredge playing can be tricky because we don't play like a normal magic deck. So while its technically against the rules to rearrange your play like this when you are at a gp, its more than fine at an fmn. This is the most efficient way to display your cards in order to show your triggers and options.
Dredge is a self-perpetuating engine. When you dredge a card, it puts more cards from your library into your graveyard. Ideally, one of those cards will have dredge, so you can repeat this process. This comes to a jarring stop as soon as you run out of dredgers in your graveyard - you’d have to find a way to get a dredge card back into your graveyard before you can begin anew.
One common trap is to get greedy and discard Prized Amalgam to Faithless Looting instead of a dredger. For example, you might be tempted to Loot on turn 1, discard Bloodghast and Amalgam, then play a land on turn two and bring them both back. A better play, however, would be to discard Bloodghast and a dredger - this gives up the immediate benefit of an extra 3/3 body, but won’t leave you spinning your wheels if they manage to deal with your creatures.
When playing this deck, it’s easy to forget that your dredgers can do more than dredge. Imp makes a decent blocker with pseudo-deathtouch, and Grave-Troll is a massive regenerating attacker.
Bloodghast, Amalgam and Narcomoeba can also be hardcasted. This does not come up too often though, as Narcomoeba and Amalgam require blue mana, and Bloodghast costs double black.
If your opponent plays Grafdigger’s Cage, your plan from that point on changes to “hardcast creatures”. Grafdigger’s Cage may turn off Bloodghast and stop you from flashing back Ancient Grudge, but it doesn’t stop you from dredging Imps, Thugs and Loams. Trying to beat your opponent with what is effectively a bunch of recurring Pestilent Katharis and a bunch of 1/1s is a long shot, but it’s better than nothing.
It’s important to mill hard in the early stages of the game, but as the game goes on and they’re not dead yet, there arises the possibility of losing by deck out. The last few cards in your deck become precious, like the last few pieces of toilet paper on the roll when you’re pooping.
You’ll want to switch to drawing normally instead of dredging. Hardcasting Imp or or grave creatures becomes an option, so be sure to use Loam to get enough lands into your hand before then. Darkblast must be rationed, since it takes out 3 cards every time you dredge it. Dakmor Salvage is always a good option because it only digs two and can recur ghasts.
If you open a hand with looting and neonate, it is usually better to neonate first if you have a dredger in hand to discard. so you can dredge twice with faithless. If you need to find a dredger, faithless first, so you have a discard outlet ready immediatly.
If you are using Neonate, try to use it on their turn rather than yours, if you aren't looking to dredge right away. This will give you a body to block with against aggressive decks. Also, use him on their second main, rather than end, just in case you hit a Narcomoeba and Amalgam.
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.
A common thing people will forget is Prized amalgam has a delayed trigger, which you can use to your benefit. It says "Next end step" not "your endstep." This means it can come back at the end of the opponents turn. If you have a trigger on a amalgam because of a Narcomoeba, then dredge more and find 2 amalgams, the first will trigger at the end of your turn, then trigger the 2 in the yard, meaning 2 amalgams will return at the end of the opponents turn.
Bloodghasts landfall is very important. It will trigger twice off fetchlands, and once off ghost quarters or paths to exile. If you aim to return them to the battlefield, resolve the fetch first, then crack it later as removal insurance. Also, there will be times ghast will be safer in the yard than the battlefield. This mostly comes from path, ugin or anger of the gods. In that case, you should crack your fetch at the end of their turn to bring them back. HOWEVER this will delay the trigger on amalgam to your turn. Sometimes its best to do it on their second mainphase so you get ghasts AND amalgams.
Narcomoeba is a trigger you can respond to. If you run ways to dig harder instantly like shriekhorn or Neonate, you can respond to dig deeper to find amalgams.
Faithless looting's effect lasts until you discard. This is important because it doesnt mean Narcomoeba's effect has triggered yet, letting you discard amalgams to see that trigger.
Always cathartic reunion before collective brutality if you can. Reunion nets you 0 cards in hand, but brutality nets you -2, meaning you'll be hardpressed to reunion after.
When nothing really important is happening in a game stall, always start loading on Life from the Loam so you can work on conflaging them.
Stinkweed should be hardcasted more often than you'd expect. It is a flying deathtouch blocker.
Golgari Thug can be used to reset Narcomoebas
Darkblast and conflag can be used to reset bloodghasts to trigger amalgams or to make them avoid anger of the gods.
Haunted Dead can be used on upkeep to reload an empty grave with dredge cards
Haunted Dead can be used to discard amalgams and revive them at the same time.
Two Thugs can be chained together to create a loop to keep you at 1 card in your library.
There are many decks in modern that use the graveyard, but not all of them have overlapping cards. Below here is our sister decks!
DredgeVine
This deck is much more midrange grind than combo graveyard then we are. It still dredges, but also draws too, and often win the game with tall creatures than going wide. Its flaw is there is much less deck space to work with, and not every card synergies with itself as much as Dredge. However, it doesn't roll over to grave hate, which is a strong point. If you like a more "jund" feeling Dredge, check out Dredgevine!
This deck is the aggro counterpart to dredge. While it isn't "all in" on the graveyard, it is an all in deck. If you perfer speed and smashing face, this would be right up your alley. Often this deck is the better pick if dredge is being really hated out of the meta, as it is fast enough to go under most peoples hate cards. Its also a better pick for the meta if you need speed.
This deck loses ground to dredge when the meta is more grindy or interactive. Dredge also has a bit more adaptability than this deck, able to shuffle its game strategies according to the current meta.
It has much less in common with Dredgevine than you would think, this is a very all in combo deck. The idea behind it is to get bridge into the grave as fast as possible, then cast cards that will die right away, to make a quick army of zombie tokens and win the game. If you like All in combos, than this is much better for you. Fair warning, being all in, it is much less stable (and probably more fun when it goes off)
Here we have a more focused on Reanimation dredge. It does this through Llanowar Mentor and Greenseeker to ramp into a quick Unburial Rites targeting Craterhoof Behemoth, then running over them. If you want to play elves the dredge, here you go!
Bans are a real concern for this format, and something that needs to be addressed in this primer. Before we go into this, I should remind everyone this is not the correct thread to talk about bans.If you would like to please instead go to this thread.
With that PSA out of the way, lets get into it. Modern is a format that has historically been pretty ban heavy. Decks that are "too consistently good", make the format more of a sideboard lottery, or are flat out unfun, have been banned before, and we have hit all 3 of those. Its also well known that Wizards has deemed the Dredge Mechanic a massive mistake on their end. So I can not say that this deck is safe from bans. I will say however, that in any eternal format a graveyard based deck will always exist, and they always print graveyard eccentric cards, so dredge will continue to exist in one form or any other regardless. Wizards has made it quite clear they want to control power level, not kill decks, so we should fit into this boat.
In most formats, we are a "sideboard lottery" and with the banning of troll we fold to hate quite easily, so this should be our lifeline. However, if you have reservations to the idea that something may be banned, this deck probably isn't a good fit. However, I'd venture to say that modern is currently in a ban mania time, so any well preforming deck could be hit with bans.
And thats Dredge! I hope this primer has been chalk full of information for you. If it has, leave me a like on this post, so I can see! The idea was to make this knowledgeable enough, that after reading you should be comfortable with the deck, and refer to this primer when you hit some tricky spots. If you have any questions, deck review, or match-up reports, feel free to post it on here!
WARNING: These records were gleaned from tournament reports or videos which people took the time to write/record, and thus may not provide a representative view of Dredge’s matchups. I mean, if I went 0-3 with Dredge, I’m sure not going to waste time writing a tournament report, am I?
With the move up to the Developing Competative section the new dredge primer is here! The old thread can still be found here but will be view-only from here on out.
Great job on the primer! I'm currently building the Unburial Rites version on MTGO and in Paper. Plan on taking this deck some PPTQ's starting in July. Hopefully, I'll be able contribute on the deck soon.
I think swan song deserves a spot in the sideboard cards option. The card is a powerhouse against Ad Naus, Anger of the Gods and Rest in Peace. It really helps shore up the worst match ups.
Primer looks awesome and I am happy to not have to read three threads now and we can focus on this one. Thank you.
So, I guess this is down to personal preference more than anything, but i'm struggling a bit at coming up with a list. My main questions are:
What are the benefits/downside of Bridge from Below
Same question for Greater Gargadon
I'm testing lists with and without, and its unclear to me. Clearly there's a cost to having access to these cards!
To Izzetmage - Travis Woo is playing dredge on his youtube channel a bit, it may be worth putting in your primer!
Bridge laughs at non-exile removal and makes combat hard. If you would trade, Bridge makes it such that you end up ahead instead. If you would lose, Bridge makes it even. You can "chump attack" with your Bloodghasts/Amalgams when Bridge is in the graveyard for free tokens.
Bridge is not good in the matchups where your opponent has sac outlets, i.e. Affinity and Abzan Company. You want to board Darkblast against them, so it makes sense for the Bridges to come out anyway. I played some random Goblins deck with Mogg Fanatic, so there's that too.
Gargadon is a sac outlet. Basically anything I mention in the Darkblast section about killing your own creatures applies to Gargadon too. It gets really nutty with Bridge since you can pile on more creatures even if they don't block.
Getting all ten time counters off Gargadon is actually a viable strategy. Your creatures cost 0 mana anyway. Once it's in play pretty much only Path to Exile, Terminate, Maelstrom Pulse, and random stuff from Tron kill it. It's nice that it dodges Abrupt Decay despite costing 1 mana.
The problem with Gargadon is that it doesn't help you get started in dredging, and it does nothing while in the graveyard. You can recover it by playing a Golgari Thug and letting it die, or Life from the Loam + Mortuary Mire (I haven't seen anyone playing the latter though).
Personally I don't like Gargadon for reasons mentioned above. I maindeck 2 Darkblasts so I have a sac outlet if I need it, just that it costs mana to sac and I can only do it once a turn. Still, paying B and discarding Darkblast to get 1-3 2/2s is a good deal.
I think swan song deserves a spot in the sideboard cards option. The card is a powerhouse against Ad Naus, Anger of the Gods and Rest in Peace. It really helps shore up the worst match ups.
Primer looks awesome and I am happy to not have to read three threads now and we can focus on this one. Thank you.
I haven't seen Swan Song in any decklists. I saw Spell Pierce once though, it seems better.
Swan Song reminds me of one thing: Bridge is unfair. It doesn't trigger off our tokens dying but it triggers off the opponent's tokens dying .
It's fast and resilient. Dredge feels like its 1 reprint/print away from being at least tier 2 status.
Ideas as what that could be? Thanks.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
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I believe it's already Tier 2 level in terms of power just not in popularity or in terms of tournament showings. It however, has been consistently putting up 5-0 results online so we know its decent enough. Now, if they would ever let Cabal Therapy in Modern...
I also discussed Bridge from Below with a friend of mine. I wanted to try it, but he said that Bridges are actually not helping. While it is kinda cute to make trades better, but then on the other hand, if our creatures trade, we are ahead anyway. Also against non exile removal, our creatures return with the next Moeba or with the next land.
Therefore I think Bridge will often be win more than useful.
What do you guys think of phantasmagorian? In my testing I've been finding that it's very easy to have a good opening hand but not hit any dredgers on your initial dredge on t1, so you have to use another enabler and waste your draw steps in order to discard your dredgers back again. Maybe 2 could be good to let you discard three dredgers at instant speed so you can keep going? It also works extremely well with insolent neonate, letting you discard 3 cards instead of just 1 (hold priority after pitching phantasmagorian to neonate and cycle it back to your hand)
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Modern Dredge (117-70 W/L in games) (Pre-GGT ban: 103-70 W/L in games)
But this is like the only scenario where Phantasmagorian is good. I like the Stitchwing Skaab better, he is just doing more in the mid game. Obviously weaker than Phantasmagorian in the beginning, but skaab can bring Analgams back and it hits quite hard.
It's fast and resilient. Dredge feels like its 1 reprint/print away from being at least tier 2 status.
Ideas as what that could be? Thanks.
I think Cabal Therapy or Ichorid would make the deck very competitive but not oppressive. Dread Return would put it over the top and allow Oops all Spells in modern so I wouldn't get my hopes up for that ever.
It's fast and resilient. Dredge feels like its 1 reprint/print away from being at least tier 2 status.
Ideas as what that could be? Thanks.
I think Cabal Therapy or Ichorid would make the deck very competitive but not oppressive. Dread Return would put it over the top and allow Oops all Spells in modern so I wouldn't get my hopes up for that ever.
Thanks. Cabal Therapy would be a nice fit. Too bad we can't access it.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I like his build a lot. Playing 3 colors instead of the rainbow mana base saves life and makes hardcasting Grave-Troll/Imp more realistic. He has 4 Loam to solve the "milling shocklands and not having anything to fetch" problem - just Loam the shocks back into your hand. Conflagrate gives you a surprising amount of reach with Loam. It doubles as an enabler too: you can lead T1 Conflagrate for 0, T2 flash back Conflagrate, discarding your hand and wiping the opponent's board. Being able to burn your opponent's early creatures makes up for it tying up all your mana for turns 1 and 2.
Personally I think swan song is way better the 2/2 bird to me never throws off my game plan because you normally use swan song the turn before you win. Such as you counter Ad naus hit lethal next turn, you counter anger of the gods, hit lethal next turn.
I wont ever play a list without burning inquiry either it does everything we want it to, rarely has any side effects against our game plan and can be a game winner against combo decks which happen to be our worst match ups.
Concerning Lee Shi Tian's article, can anyone enlighten me on this quote of his:
"Provided that you have a Dredge cards in hand, which is the better turn 1 play [Insolent Neonate or Faithless Looting, ed]? Most of the time it is correct to cast Faithless Looting. This is mainly because of the chance of bricking if your first Dredge with Insolent Neonate, which results in you not finding another Dredge card. Not only will you be wasting your draw step in turn 2, you will also draw one less card from Faithless Looting."
Why would you draw one fewer card from Looting this way? Personally I feel like starting with Neonate is usually better in a hand with Neonate, Looting, Dredger and at least one land, since it allows you to dredge immediately and at least puts you in a position to never draw a card for the rest of the game. But perhaps I'm overlooking something.
If you go T1 Neonate/T2 Looting with Grave Troll and Imp in hand, your draws look like this if you don't hit another Dredge card off the first Dredge:
Discard Troll, Dredge 6, Draw a card, Draw two, Discard Grave Troll and Imp.
If you go T1 Looting/T2 Neonate, your draws look like:
Draw two, discard Grave Troll and Imp, Dredge 6, Discard Grave Troll, Dredge 6, Imp in GY T3.
The first option is only better if there is a dredge card in the first six cards in library or if there is a Narcomoeba and Prized Amalgam in your top 6.
I won't run the numbers (on mobile atm), but the second option presents greater consistency while the first one risks stranding you with no dredgers for your turn 2 draw with a chance of flipping almost a third of your library before your T3 (if your first Dredge 6 flips three Trolls or Imps).
If you go T1 Neonate/T2 Looting with Grave Troll and Imp in hand, your draws look like this if you don't hit another Dredge card off the first Dredge:
Discard Troll, Dredge 6, Draw a card, Draw two, Discard Grave Troll and Imp.
If you go T1 Looting/T2 Neonate, your draws look like:
Draw two, discard Grave Troll and Imp, Dredge 6, Discard Grave Troll, Dredge 6, Imp in GY T3.
The first option is only better if there is a dredge card in the first six cards in library or if there is a Narcomoeba and Prized Amalgam in your top 6.
I won't run the numbers (on mobile atm), but the second option presents greater consistency while the first one risks stranding you with no dredgers for your turn 2 draw with a chance of flipping almost a third of your library before your T3 (if your first Dredge 6 flips three Trolls or Imps).
Given a hand of at least Neonate, Stinkweed, Looting, and red-making land, I definitely prefer T1 Neonate/T2 Looting. I hit a better-than-Dakmor Salvage-Dredger in my first 5 the clean majority of the time, and Neonate enables pretty nutty aggro starts that Looting cannot do, thanks to self-milling on Turn 1.
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Text Articles
iostream: Enabler-heavy, land-light, Bridge but no Gargadon
Xlapus88 part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4: Unburial Rites, PPTQ 1st: Conflagrate, Street Wraith
Lee Shi Tian: Red enablers + Conflagrate
CharkAttack: Enabler-heavy
Zen Takahashi WMCQ, WMC: Red enablers + Conflagrate
Marijn Lybaert: Red enablers + Conflagrate
Nathaniel Snyder: Red enablers + Conflagrate, Street Wraith
jdmflcl: Red enablers, SSG
Olivier Darmouni: Red enablers, Tome Scour
Brian Braun-Duin part 1, part 2: Red enablers
Videos
Corbin Hosler: Gargadon + Bridge
AJ Sacher: Gargadon + Bridge
madhatted1: Unburial Rites
Sam Black: Gargadon + Bridge
Travis Woo: Gargadon + Bridge
Frank Lepore: Street Wraith
Ari Lax: Land-light, Pharaoh + Gnaw main
Sam Black: Red enablers + Conflagrate
Todd Anderson: Gargadon + Bridge (deck tech, no games shown)
Ari Lax: Red enablers
Brian Braun-Duin: Red enablers
Enabler-heavy
iostream
Jeskai Nahiri: 2-1, 2-1, 2-0
Abzan Company: 2-1
Jund: 2-1, 2-0
Affinity: 2-0, 1-2
Suicide Zoo: 0-2
Bogles: 1-2
Bant Eldrazi: 1-2
Infect: 1-2
RG Tron: 2-0
CharkAttack
Suicide Zoo 2-0
BW Tokens 2-1
RG Tron 2-0
Merfolk 1-2
Esper 2-0
daviusminimus
RG Tron 0-2
Affinity 1-2
Abzan Company 2-0
Burn 0-2
Elves 2-0
Jeskai Nahiri 2-0
Kiki Chord 2-1
Gargadon + Bridge
Corbin Hosler
RG Tron: 2-0
Jund: 2-1
Infect: 2-1
Dredge (enabler-heavy): 0-2
AJ Sacher
Jund 2-0
Eldrazi and Taxes 1-2
1-drop Zoo: 2-0
Infect: 1-2
Lantern Control: 0-2
Sam Black
Esper Mentor: 2-0
Elves: 1-2
Suicide Zoo: 2-1
Kuldotha Goblins: 2-1
Bogles: 2-1
Travis Woo
Lantern Control 0-1, ragequit
Temur Delver 2-1
Burn 2-0
Temur Scapeshift 1-0, no G2
RG Scapeshift 1-2
GW Hatebears 2-0
Ad Nauseam 1-2
Unburial Rites
Xlapus88, part 1
Infect: 2-1, 2-1, 2-1
Zoo Company: 1-0-1
Sun Titan Control: 2-0
Xlapus88, part 2
Infect: 2-0, 2-0
Abzan: 2-0
Mardu: 2-0
Xlapus88, part 3
Amulet 1-2
UW Hexproof 1-1-1
Burn 2-0
Lantern Control 2-1
Jund 2-0
Abzan Aristocrats 2-1
Xlapus88, part 4
Mardu 2-0
Jeskai Nahiri 2-0
Jeskai Nahiri 2-1
RG Titan Scapeshift 0-2
Grixis Delver 2-0
madhatted1
Affinity: 2-0
Merfolk: 2-0
RW Lockdown: 2-1
Jeskai: 2-0
Living End: 2-0
Street Wraith
Frank Lepore
Storm 1-2
8Rack 2-1
Temur Scapeshift 0-2
White Weenie 0-2
Pharaoh + Gnaw main
Ari Lax
UR Prowess 2-1
Burn 0-2
Bant Eldrazi 2-0
Bogles 0-2
Naya Brew 0-2
Red enablers + Conflagrate
Stabiloblau
BG Infect 2-1
RG Nykthos Ramp 2-0
Abzan Company 1-2
Jeskai Nahiri 2-0
Eldrazi and Taxes 2-0
Kiki Chord 1-2
RG Tron 0-2
Naya Company 2-1
Monkey Grow 2-1
Affinity 2-0
Jeskai Nahiri 2-0
RG Tron 0-2
FLCL (Traverse the Ulvenwald)
Grixis Delver 2-0
BW Tokens 2-1
Affinity 2-0
Grixis Delver 2-1
Bant Eldrazi 1-2
JeffBoBHerrera
Abzan Company 1-2
Abzan Company 1-2
Merfolk 2-1
RG Tron 2-0
Prismatic Omen Scapeshift 2-1
Abzan Company 0-2
FLCL (1 Scourge Devils)
Grixis Delver 2-0
Mardu Aggro-Control 2-0
RG Tron 0-2
Mardu Aggro-Control 2-0
UR Burn 1-2
Merfolk 2-0
Affinity 2-0
Zen Takahashi
Naya Company 2-0
Grixis Delver 2-1
Jund 2-1
Grixis Delver 2-0
Melira Company 1-2
Naya Burn 2-0
BW Hatebears 2-0
Melira Company 2-0
BTL Scapeshift 2-1
ivorcosta
Abzan Company 2-0
Storm 2-1
Jund 2-1
Burn 2-1
Jund 2-1
Grishoalbrand 2-0
Living End 2-1
Grishoalbrand 2-0
Jund 2-0
Living End 2-0
Kenji Tsumura
Burn 2-0
Jeskai Control 2-1
Infect 2-1
Ad Nauseam 0-2
Burn 2-1
Thing in the Ice/Pyromancer Ascension 2-0
Affinity 2-1
Grixis Goryo's 2-0
Sam Black
RG Ramp 2-1
Tron Eldrazi 2-0 (opponent scoops G1)
RG Valakut 2-1
Jeskai Geist 2-1
Bant Eldrazi 2-1
jwelt
Elves 2-1
Tron Eldrazi 2-1
GW D&T 2-0
Infect 2-0
Ryan Koven
RG Zoo (budget) 2-0
Kiki Evolution 2-1
Abzan 2-0
Bant Eldrazi 2-0
Mardu 1-2
Grixis Control 1-1
(probably Jeskai, 2-0?)
4C Humans 0-2
Possibility Storm 2-1
Bant Angel Chord 2-1
Jeskai Control 2-0
Merfolk 1-2
Grixis Delver 2-0
Jeskai Ascendancy 2-1
RG Tron 2-1
jdmflcl (SSG)
Ad Nauseam 2-0
Goblins 2-1
BTL Scapeshift 1-2
Jeskai Nahiri 2-0
Ad Nauseam 0-2
Infect 2-1
Infect 2-1
Infect 2-1
Titanshift 2-0
Jund 2-0
Suicide Zoo 2-0
Infect 0-2
Suicide Zoo 0-2
Affinity 0-2
Xlapus88 (Street Wraith, Collective Brutality)
Affinity 0-2
Mono-U Tron 2-0
Burn 2-1
Bant Eldrazi 2-1
Esper Mill 2-1
Burn 2-1
Storm 2-1
Olivier Darmouni (Tome Scour)
Lantern 2-0
Jund 2-0
Affinity 1-2
WG Tron 2-1
Infect 2-0
RG Valakut 2-1
RG Valakut 2-0
Melira Company 2-1
Jund 2-1
RG Valakut 2-0
Suicide Zoo 1-2
Ari Lax
Temur Scapeshift 1-2
Lantern Control 0-2
Merfolk 2-0
GW Enchantress 2-0
Affinity 2-0
Brian Braun-Duin
UW Blink 2-0
Grixis Delver 1-2
Lantern Control 2-0
Dredge 2-0
Blood Moon Jund 2-1
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Big Johnny.
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StaffMTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Primer looks awesome and I am happy to not have to read three threads now and we can focus on this one. Thank you.
This match shows how ridiculous Bridge can get:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC39L5mh_ko
Bridge is not good in the matchups where your opponent has sac outlets, i.e. Affinity and Abzan Company. You want to board Darkblast against them, so it makes sense for the Bridges to come out anyway. I played some random Goblins deck with Mogg Fanatic, so there's that too.
Gargadon is a sac outlet. Basically anything I mention in the Darkblast section about killing your own creatures applies to Gargadon too. It gets really nutty with Bridge since you can pile on more creatures even if they don't block.
Getting all ten time counters off Gargadon is actually a viable strategy. Your creatures cost 0 mana anyway. Once it's in play pretty much only Path to Exile, Terminate, Maelstrom Pulse, and random stuff from Tron kill it. It's nice that it dodges Abrupt Decay despite costing 1 mana.
The problem with Gargadon is that it doesn't help you get started in dredging, and it does nothing while in the graveyard. You can recover it by playing a Golgari Thug and letting it die, or Life from the Loam + Mortuary Mire (I haven't seen anyone playing the latter though).
Personally I don't like Gargadon for reasons mentioned above. I maindeck 2 Darkblasts so I have a sac outlet if I need it, just that it costs mana to sac and I can only do it once a turn. Still, paying B and discarding Darkblast to get 1-3 2/2s is a good deal.
I haven't seen Swan Song in any decklists. I saw Spell Pierce once though, it seems better.
Swan Song reminds me of one thing: Bridge is unfair. It doesn't trigger off our tokens dying but it triggers off the opponent's tokens dying
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Big Johnny.
It's fast and resilient. Dredge feels like its 1 reprint/print away from being at least tier 2 status.
Ideas as what that could be? Thanks.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Therefore I think Bridge will often be win more than useful.
My setup will be something like this:
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Dangerous Wager
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
1 Golgari Thug
2 Life from the Loam
2 Darkblast
4 Bloodghast
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Narcomoeba
2 Stitchwing Skaab
2 Conflagrate
4 Mana Confluence
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Dakmor Salvage
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Nature's Claim
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Darkblast
1 Rally the Peasents
2 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Lightning Axe
I think Cabal Therapy or Ichorid would make the deck very competitive but not oppressive. Dread Return would put it over the top and allow Oops all Spells in modern so I wouldn't get my hopes up for that ever.
Thanks.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I like his build a lot. Playing 3 colors instead of the rainbow mana base saves life and makes hardcasting Grave-Troll/Imp more realistic. He has 4 Loam to solve the "milling shocklands and not having anything to fetch" problem - just Loam the shocks back into your hand. Conflagrate gives you a surprising amount of reach with Loam. It doubles as an enabler too: you can lead T1 Conflagrate for 0, T2 flash back Conflagrate, discarding your hand and wiping the opponent's board. Being able to burn your opponent's early creatures makes up for it tying up all your mana for turns 1 and 2.
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Big Johnny.
I wont ever play a list without burning inquiry either it does everything we want it to, rarely has any side effects against our game plan and can be a game winner against combo decks which happen to be our worst match ups.
"Provided that you have a Dredge cards in hand, which is the better turn 1 play [Insolent Neonate or Faithless Looting, ed]? Most of the time it is correct to cast Faithless Looting. This is mainly because of the chance of bricking if your first Dredge with Insolent Neonate, which results in you not finding another Dredge card. Not only will you be wasting your draw step in turn 2, you will also draw one less card from Faithless Looting."
Why would you draw one fewer card from Looting this way? Personally I feel like starting with Neonate is usually better in a hand with Neonate, Looting, Dredger and at least one land, since it allows you to dredge immediately and at least puts you in a position to never draw a card for the rest of the game. But perhaps I'm overlooking something.
Discard Troll, Dredge 6, Draw a card, Draw two, Discard Grave Troll and Imp.
If you go T1 Looting/T2 Neonate, your draws look like:
Draw two, discard Grave Troll and Imp, Dredge 6, Discard Grave Troll, Dredge 6, Imp in GY T3.
The first option is only better if there is a dredge card in the first six cards in library or if there is a Narcomoeba and Prized Amalgam in your top 6.
I won't run the numbers (on mobile atm), but the second option presents greater consistency while the first one risks stranding you with no dredgers for your turn 2 draw with a chance of flipping almost a third of your library before your T3 (if your first Dredge 6 flips three Trolls or Imps).
Given a hand of at least Neonate, Stinkweed, Looting, and red-making land, I definitely prefer T1 Neonate/T2 Looting. I hit a better-than-Dakmor Salvage-Dredger in my first 5 the clean majority of the time, and Neonate enables pretty nutty aggro starts that Looting cannot do, thanks to self-milling on Turn 1.