MTG Salvation

I agree with taking the enchantment heavy theme further. The trick is to go all or nothing. You end up with a super synergistic deck that gets to do super powerful things and plays very much like a combo deck.

Ok, here is a primer for a significant change in this archetype that I haven’t been able find dissected anywhere. It is Conley Woods’ Enchantment version of Dredge. Here is the list as listed in his article scroll to the bottom: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/breaking-through-three-ways-to-dig-a-grave/.



People have tried hybrid Enchantment/Dredge lists, but the way to go is fully commit to the enchantment theme. The reasons for doing this are two cards: Kruphix’s Insight and Strength of the Fallen. One of the biggest beefs with the Original Standard Dredge deck is that, if you go all in without Nemesis of Mortals, the deck can flounder when you don’t draw Nighthowler. Well, now you have up to 4 more Nighthowlers and oh so much more.. And as far as Kruphix’s Insight goes, well let’s just say the most common result It gives is “Draw 3 relevant cards”. For 3 mana in standard.. Hell yes, plz. The card is busted like a crackhead’s lips in this deck.
Here’s my current list.




Differences in the Conley list

-4 Sylvan Caryatid
+4 Satyr Wayfinder

Yes, Caryatid fixes mana, but anyone that has played the original dredge list will tell you, they don’t like casting the card and it usually gets some cutbacks. Caryatid is awful to draw in the late game. Satyr Wayfinder, on the other hand, at worst puts more fuel in your graveyard and at best grabs you the land you need while milling 3 creatures while also acting as a bestow target that can actually attack. Satyr Wayfinder over Sylvan Caryatid, no question, IMO.

-1 Doomwake Giant
+1 Nylea, God of the Hunt

This is the change I have put in the least amount of testing. But here is the reasoning. I NEVER enjoyed casting Doomwake Giant. The creatures that it easily kills aren’t a problem for the deck and the only way to be tricky with it is if you have Pharika in play. Doomwake costs 5 and that’s a bit high on the curve for my comfort. What Nylea does for you is solve the same problem doomwake solved without requiring other cards to be cast while costing 4 instead of 5. That problem is taking care of annoying chump blockers. Doomwake requires multiple cards or a Pharika to be super successful, while Nylea just straight up turns your creatures into maniacal beasts with trample. While Nylea may not be the correct answer, she’s better than doomwake IMO and testing. If anyone has any opinions, let me know.

-1 Pharika, God of Affliction
+1 Strength of the Fallen

Pharika is good. Don’t get me wrong. I just don’t ever need to draw two of her. And after cutting the subpar Doomwake, the urgency of drawing Pharika is decreased. While what we put in instead is one of the sickest things I’ve seen in recent memory. Strength of the Fallen is beast mode… Strength of the Fallen allows this deck to win the game out of nowhere with a single creature attack that was a 1/1 at the beginning of the turn. With the change of Satyr Wayfinder over Sylvan Caryatid, the graveyard gets full even faster and warrants another Strength of the Fallen. Hell, if I’m honest with myself, I want 4 of these *****es, but it is fairly lackluster early in the game and an opener with two of them would most likely be a mulligan. But even still.. Jesus.. The sheer stupidity of this card comes from casting two of them in the same turn. For 4 mana, 3 of my creatures get +8/+8? Yeah.. Strength of the Fallen is what feels like a combo finisher in this deck.

Other best cards in the deck.

Nyx Weaver- Welllll Heelllooo… Where have you been all Block, my eight legged beauty?? Out of all other the cards in this deck that do some seriously busted things; this is still my vote for best card in the deck. It does so much, and I rarely if ever use her reclaim ability and she’s still that good. Great blocker body (same ass as Caryatid which makes that cut even easier), great mana cost, and that triggered ability is honestly what makes this deck tick. You invest 3 mana for some serious incremental advantage. This deck wouldn’t work without this card.

Kruphix’s Insight

Speaking of seriously busted cards; Green now has the most powerful card drawing spell in standard. That is, if you can support it. And, boy, can this deck do just that. This card straight up draws you 3 cards a staggering amount of the time. Oh, AND it puts the other 3 in your graveyard for fuel. I feel like I’m cheating when I cast this card.

Eidolon of Blossoms

Duh. It’s an enchantress that is an enchantment herself.. I’ll take it. A 4 of, no debate. Why am I still talking about this?

Nighthowler

Once again, duh.. But the coolest thing about Nighthowler is that when you play it with a Strength of the Fallen on the board things get Ratchet for your opponent real quick. You get 2 for 1 Nighthowler action and that gets out of hand.

Brain Maggot

This card is dead sexy in this deck. Its job is to burrow its way into the opponent’s hand and take the removal that will kill your fatties. It does its job well. I never thought I would feel so strongly for cerebral larvae... It is almost just Thoughtseize that happens to be a creature that happens to be an Enchantment. You remember how good Tidehollow Sculler was? Now imagine that Tidehollow Sculler ALSO drew you a card and gave one of your creatures +8/+8 when it enters the battlefield, because that is what brain maggot does sometimes..


Sideboard is still in flux. I’m still trying to pinpoint weaknesses while evaluating how many cards I can cut for boarded cards. I really believe this to be the correct evolution of this deck. It has powerful cards, tons and tons of synergy, and the list is more focused and has actual card draw which makes it much much more consistent.

I honestly believe this to be the best version of the Dredge deck. Wins out of nowhere. This build rewards well thought out lines of play