I played Modern on MKM Series in Prague with Dredge. There were 296 players, I ended in finals and lost to RG Titan.
My list:
Main Deck:
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Bloodghast
4 Narcomoeba
4 Insolent Neonate
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Golgari Thug
4 Faithless Looting
4 Cathartic Reunion
4 Life from the Loam
1 Darkblast
3 Conflagrate
1 Driven // Despair
3 Copperline Gorge
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Stomping Ground
2 Blood Crypt
2 Mountain
1 Gemstone Mine
2 Dakmor Salvage
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard:
4 Nature's Claim
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Driven // Despair
3 Lightning Axe
3 Collective Brutality
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
My friends told me day before that on big trial there were a lot of affinity and Company decks so I changed my Amulet Titan deck for Dredge. Couple thoughts about my 75:
1. I'm a big fan of Driven//Despair. I was 100% sure that it's much better than Thoughtseize in sideboard and I wanted 2 copies for game 2 and 3 against combo and ramp decks. Playing 1 main in Scourge Devil's place was last minute addition. Driven main was good, it won me 2 games by discarding opponent's whole hand.
2. Maindeck should still have Scourge Devil, I don't know where I should look for extra space for him.
3. I like having 4 claims side - it's the cheapest response to hard hate - Leyline, Rip and Cage, of course don't side them against for example Nihil Spellbombs or lone Relics. Other alternatives like Maelstorm Pulse are too slow - it will destroy hate but our opponent would be so far ahead that we usually won't return from this.
4. Driven//Despair solve so many problems that could shave cards dedicated to combo decks. I got extra slots and focused on having more removal to creatures. Lightning Axes overperformed, lone Pharaoh was too clunky, that should be something else.
5. Collective Brutality was like always very good, with 3 Axes they created nice side plan against creature decks like Coco.
To be honest I was lucky and dodged bad match ups like Storm or Ad Nauseam.
Match ups:
R1 Affinity 2-1
R2 Grixis Delver 2-0 - Despair won game 1, it let me dodge blocking Tasigur and discard 4 cards from opponents hand.
R3 Counters Company 2-0
R4 Affinity 2-1
R5 Eldrazi Tron 0-2 - he knew what I was playing and on a play kept 2 lander with 2 Relics
Game 2 I mulligan to 5 and he had relic + fast Smasher.R6 Grixis Shadow 2-1 - Game 3 I won through Grafdiggers Cage played on turn 1. He drew 3 Delve Creatures, I drew 3 Lightning Axes
won with 2 Imps and Neonate beatdown.R7 Eldrazi Tron 2-0 - luckily G1 without hate and game 2 he kept bad hand with Cage but I had Claim.
R8 Counters Company 2-0
R9 Counters Company 2-0 - game 1 Driven was my only out to my opponents plan - he had 4 cards in hand, 4 lands and Hierarch on play and pass. I realised that he wanted to play Chord in endstep and combo me next turn. I didn't have lethal in my turn but Dredged Driven//Despair. I forced him to discard Vizier, Eternal Witness and blank, on endstep he played Chord but without more gas he conceded.
1/4 RG Tytan 2-1 - in game 3 my opponent lost his hand on turn 4 becouse of Despair
1/2 Grixis Shadow 2-0 - you can read about both semis and final on MKM Modern coverage.
Final RG Tytan 0-2 - in game 2 I was on mull to 5 but managed to have 3 Bloodghasts and Narcomoeba on turn 2 and turn 3 I casted Driven to draw 4 cards and was so exited that I did this that I forgot to write down that my opponent lost 7 life
that's why I missplayed on Conflagrate 2 turns later and lost otherwise won game. Overall deck was great, I saw very little grave hate. Maybe players on MTGO will shave their grave hate and will focus on other match ups? We will see
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Seriously this has been fun to play in the competitive league since Saturday. It'll set you back about $40, entry fee included.
18 Mountain
4 Nivmagus Elemental
4 Kiln Fiend
3 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Manamorphose
4 Ground Rift
4 Gut Shot
3 Slaughter Pact
4 Temur Battle Rage
4 Assault Strobe
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Shattering Spree
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Wastes
The deck may be better to include Surgical Extractions, Blood Moons, and Pacts of Negation in the side, but hey. I wanted to sling together a budget list to enjoy myself until people quit playing Tron variants.
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Bant Eldrazi was the other. Both are blasts from the past!
Also, Goblins was listed in the day 2 metagame! I would love to see a list. When Grixis Shadow and UW Control were ruling the roost, I was able to sneak in two trophies in competitive leagues. Now that the meta has transitioned to more scapeshift, eldrazi, and storm, I can barely maintain fifty percent.
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How often is Monastery Swiftspear getting there? I used to play them in the Rakdos, Grixis, and Jund builds I used to play, but I ended up replacing them (or at least 2 of them) with Flamekin Harbingers. Sometimes in removal heavy events I'd play 13 creatures, with 2 Harbingers and 3 Swiftspears, but even then I just hoped Swiftspear would take an early hit.
Spark of Creativity and the upcoming Rile from Ixalan got me excited to brew with this and Dirty Red again. I think in the absence of Gitaxian Probe I am more interested in playing Desperate Ritual lists, but I am always up for some Nivmagus action.
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4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
7 Mountain
4 Goblin Guide
3 Vexing Devil
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
3 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
3 Claim//Fame
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
1 Rain of Gore
2 Forked Bolt
1 Electrickery
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Mogg Fanatic
4 Smash to Smithereens
3 Dragon's Claw
There is little that feels better than
T1 Goblin Guide, swing for 2
T2 War Marshal, swing for 2
T3 Don't pay echo, Claim War Marshal, Whack, swing for 13
Against so many decks, that's game. This is forgetting simple Devil, Claim Devil, Grenade and chip in shenanigans.
If you guys can figure out the Eldrazi Tron match (people that suggest Blood Moon need not apply), Storm, and the RG Valakut match, then you'll really be on to a contender. As it is, those are common, and those are tough.
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You guys got a post on mtgtop8!
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Here are the most recent Dredge results on Goldfish.
8-1 deck at the Modern PTQ (4 Neonates)
7-2 deck, same event (3 Neonate)
6-2 deck, Modern MOCS (2 Neonate)
Modern Challenge winner (2 Neonate)
What I'm getting at is people are trying to squeeze things in new spots. The Haunted Dead/Rally/Scourge Devil/21st land slots were always seeing some customization, but now people are playing with dropping more Golgari Thugs and Neonates.
Nature's Claim is also on the rise in sideboards, which makes sense, because there is a lot of Affinity.
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Borborygmos Enraged - Maybe Death's Shadow Zoo? After Loaming?
Blazing Archon - affinity, Infect, Dredge (well, they still have Conflagrate..), Merfolk
Iona - Burn, Jund
Sire of Insanity- blue
Realm Razer - Tron?
Craterhoof Behemoth - Anything that you can kill with it that turn?
Stormtide Leviathan - Zoo
Ghosts of the Innocent - STORM LOL
Ruric Thar - Storm
Saheeli Rai, Sun Titan - Something?
Woodfall Primus - Lantern
It's tricky to think of something against Eldrazi. Terastodon or Hoof, I guess. They have Paths.
Still need something against Ad Nauseam too. There's a Devour Mind Twist guy.
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As far as Dredge being bad against the top decks, I couldn't disagree more. Right now I would prefer to play against the top 30% of the field, looking at MTGGoldfish. I only start to worry when the field gets to RG Valakut and Ad Nauseam, which are the 9th and 10th most popular decks. Before that we have Death's Shadow, Affinity, Eldrazi Tron, Bant Eldrazi, Tron, Abzan, Jund, and Burn. I am not crazy about the Bant Eldrazi matchup, and none of these are cakewalk, but I feel like they are slightly favorable. Most local paper metas, from anecdotal evidence, seem to have a few Burn players, a lot of midrange, a Tron guy, and a few wacky combos or budget/new player brews. Dredge is an easy choice, especially for a player like I am: an occasional visitor to the LGS.
In terms of MTGO, my past 5 leagues have been 19-6. It's been frustrating that I haven't hit 5-0 once, going 4-1 four times and 3-2 once, but still there is nothing else I'd rather play locally (I've never *not* cashed since Cathartic Reunion was printed at the LGS), and I would gladly sleeve it up for a big event.
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