I just finished playing the in 5K at SCG Baltimore. Did not do well. I had to mulligan far more often than I would have liked and I'd say I lost at least 3 games if not more due to having to mulligan to oblivion.
I like this new Shaman. She's easy to fetch with GSZ and can be repeatedly bounced and replayed with Wirewood Symbiote. The issue is the Black in the mana cost. DRS is great and we've got Bayous but running Shaman of the Pack as a win con would mean Elves would have to go up to 3 or 4 Bayous to consistently recast her. I don't think she'll replace Hoof as when the Hoof stomps, it stomps hard. Shaman seems good for games you expect to be grindy and have the time to repeatedly bounce and recast her.
Chalk up another IQ Top 8 for Dredge. Not gonna do a full report unless people want me to.
Round 1 vs UWR Stoneblade/Delver
2-0 win
Round 2 vs Lands (with maindeck Bojuka Bog)
0-2 loss
Round 3 vs Reaninmator
2-1 win
Round 4 vs Blue Brew - it was a Monoblue deck with Serum Powder, Misthollow Griffin, Ensoul Artifact, Phyrexian Metamorph, Stratus Dancer, and TNN. Had traditional anti-combo artifacts in Chalice and T-Sphere.
2-0 win
Round 5 vs RIP-Helm Miracles
Intentional draw into top 8
3-1-1 in Swiss, started top 8 at 4th seed.
Quarterfinals vs Death and Taxes
2-1 win
Semifinals vs ANT
2-0 win
Finals vs RUG Delver
Technically Loss. We agreed to split the cash & credit and they get the extra Open Series Point for getting first as they are vying for top 16 in the season and I already have my invite.
Congratz on your finish. How did 1 Iona+1 DR work for you? It seems really unreliable to hit both (roughly a 25% chance to hit both in the top half of your deck), though it seems like you got there a few times.
She's there as a hedge against combo decks just to lock them out if I'm not able to kill them on that specific turn. Being an Auto-win against Burn helped as he just scooped whenever I had Iona + DR in the graveyard before I ever reanimated her. I get a lot of concessions to DR in yard, flashback therapy, especially if Iona is also in there.
The games where I do hit both I tend to win on the spot, typically because I've just exploded on turn 1 or turn 2 and have milled over half my deck and few opponents want to continue against a Dredge player after they generated that much card advantage.
I wouldn't run FKZ over her because while both win me games the turn they come down, I don't need zombies to win with Iona.
I would have won game 1 vs Elves if I had a third creature as I had 2 Nacomoebas with Iona + DR in yard but I never got it. Locking them out of green would have left them with just a field of 1/1s and a 2/2.
When it happens I win, when it doesn't I still tend to win. I've only ever lost 1 game where I reanimated Iona and thats because I named the wrong color.
Dredge is a fun deck. Its the only deck that abuses the graveyard in that fashion. Its one of the 3 "engine" based decks of Legacy along with Elves and Enchantress. Though they operate differently, they feel similar. Dredge is a easy deck to pick up and can ignore most of what your opponent is doing, but its really difficult to play properly.
I'm not entirely sure the exact number of blue vs non-blue decks at the IQ but it was the smallest non-win-a-box constructed event I've played in.
If your friends are complaining that they can't fight OmniTell it just means they don't know how to and need to get better at building sideboards.
The thing about investing in Dredge is that very few of the cards see play in other decks. Apart from Therapy, LED, and Careful Study, everything is deck specific.
Round 1 vs Elves
Game 1: discard 2 Trolls to Careful Study. Didn't hit a single third dredger off of them. Or an Ichorid. Or a Therapy. Or a Bridge. I did hit 2 Narcomoebas. My opponent went off fairly unimpeded on like turn 3 or 4.
Game 2: Turn 1 Iona. GG
Game 3: Did not get good Dredges. Opponent lands turn 2 Scooze + Gaea's Cradle. Never really had a chance.
0-1
Round 2 vs Jund
Game 1: They start with a fetch for a basic forest and don't play a red source until like turn 5. They play Scooze on turn 2 so I Upkeep Darkblast, dredge is back, finish off Scooze. I just get on the zombie beats and win from there.
Game 2: They go turn 1 DRS, turn 2 Scooze. I don't have a fast enough start to overcome their hate. I die getting hit by an 8/8 Scooze.
Ganme 3: I Firestorm some stuff away. Get on zombie beats. Outrace them. Never see hate post firestorm.
1-1
Round 3 vs Death & Taxes (Paired up)
Game 1: Turn 1 Iona.
Game 2: I Therapy a RIP on t1. Firestorm away a SFM and C-Priest on turn 3. Firestorm a second SFM on t4. NO DREDGERS. I die to Brimaz beats and a germ token.
Game 3: Therapy away the RIP on t1 again. Have much better Dredges. Putrid Imp to discard stuff and loot the following turn.
2-1
Round 4 vs Burn (Only undefeated player)
Game 1: I Iona on turn 1.
Game 2: I kept a hand with no dredgers but quite a few loot effects and a LED. His turn 1 Goblin Guide gives me a land and I draw a Troll for my turn. I lead with Putrid Imp and get to go off and Dread Return Iona on my second turn.
3-1
Cut to top 4. Top 8 got prizes. We in the top 4 chose to split and then had to play for the Invite.
Semifinals vs Abzan
I ask him if he wants to play and myself and my round 4 opponent tell him where the 2 upcoming Invitationals are. He doesn't plan to go to any of them so he agrees to concede to me though we play out 2 games for fun.
Game 1: I dredge, not well. He gets an active Scooze. Doesn't end well. 4 Counters on Scooze + Sword of Light and Shadow.
Game 2: Get mediocre dredges, we don't get to finish the game as the other semifinal match ended but he had a strong board state, I would probably lose.
4-1
Finals vs Burn (my round 4 opponent)
Game 1: I combo out fast I think like turn 2 or 3 and he concedes.
Game 2: I have a really slow start and don't hit many Bridges or Ichorids he's able to burn me out. He had brought in Searing Bloods which I found odd as you typically don't want to a Dredge player's creatures.
Game 3: I mull to 4 keeping Gemstone Mine, Mana Confluence, Careful Study, and Breakthrough. The Study hits a Troll and a Coliseum. Turn 2 I play Coliseum and cast Breakthrough dredging a lot. Turn 3 I got to activate Coliseum and he concedes.
5-1
One very important thing to note. I never played against a Blue deck which I felt was really strange. There was at least 1 Miracles, 1 Omnitell, and 1 BUG player but I was never paired against them. The top 4 didn't have a single Island. I was really glad my semis opponent agreed to concede as I feel Abazan is a terrible match up for Dredge. The other Semifinal match was my round 1 opponent (Elves) vs my round 4 (Burn) so either way its a rematch and Elves is toss up (as first seed I get to play) and Burn is very favored so I was confident I could win the invite and I did.
Elesh Norn is for Elves, Infect, and the Mirror. While I should normally be faster, I still like having a little bit of extra insurance. With the rise of Young Pyromancer Elesh Norn is getting a bit better.
So I'm planning to attend a SCG IQ this weekend in hopes of qualifying for the New Jersey Invitational.
My main deck is a slight variant of Quadlaser. I'm maindecking 1 Darkblast because I feel Young Pyromancer decks are getting a little too popular on MTGO and I'm not sure how big they are in paper.
I like my main deck but with regards to my sideboard, I just can't decide on what anti-hate package I want to bring. I have 7 slots to work with, the rest of my sideboard I'm happy with.
I'm not sure what the meta will be. If anyone plays at Curio Cavern and can give me a better idea of what to prepare for I'd greatly appreciate it. I haven't been to the store in a really long time.
You list looks fine but I'm personally not a fan of 3 Ichorids. I tried running 3 in one tournament and found I was missing my fourth 3/1 so much. It was likely because I often shave 1 copy of Ichorid when I'm playing against combo decks but going from 3 to 2 is very different from 4 to 3.
In the sideboard I recommend either Vapor Snag or Surgical Extraction for that last 2 slots. Snag is a catch all and a snag on the end step typically means a win on the following turn. Surgical Extraction because your list has no cards for opposing graveyard strategies. Reanimator is a difficult match up for Dredge and being able to remove Ichorids in the mirror is very useful.
This is my current sideboard. I prefer Evoke Creatures to Nature's Claim because they dodge Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm but I still run Claim as additional removal. I don't have Iona in the sideboard as I run her in the main deck to hedge against fast Combo decks. I have her instead of a fourth Breakthrough, but that's a personal choice and a meta call.
Fuel for the ForgeR
Sorcery
Until the end of the turn all artifacts you control have "Sacrifice this permanent: add R to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells and activate artifact abilities."
Math Time:
You draw 7 times with a Griselbrand activation. Average dredge is 4.5 cards assuming 4 copies of Shell, Thug, Imp, and Troll. That's 31.5 cards. The maximum number of Dredged cards would be 39, minimum 24. You probably will have Dredged between 1-3 times before reanimating Griselbrand which adds between 4.5 and 13.5 additional cards to the graveyard. A deck starts with 53 cards left after drawing your opening 7. You will be left with around 13 cards left in your deck following a Griselbrand activation.
I'm not saying these spoilers are fake, but I really, really doubt they are accurate. 6 Colorless mythics? Rise of the Eldrazi had 4. I don't think the rarities of the cards are all right, while I think most of the listed cards will show up in MM2, I don't think that list is completely accurate.
Ilia, Geist of the Mist 2UG
Legendary Creature - Spirit
Flying
Hexproof 3UGt: Other creatures you control gain +2/+2 trample and hexproof until the end of the turn.
3/3
Round 1 vs UWR Stoneblade/Delver
2-0 win
Round 2 vs Lands (with maindeck Bojuka Bog)
0-2 loss
Round 3 vs Reaninmator
2-1 win
Round 4 vs Blue Brew - it was a Monoblue deck with Serum Powder, Misthollow Griffin, Ensoul Artifact, Phyrexian Metamorph, Stratus Dancer, and TNN. Had traditional anti-combo artifacts in Chalice and T-Sphere.
2-0 win
Round 5 vs RIP-Helm Miracles
Intentional draw into top 8
3-1-1 in Swiss, started top 8 at 4th seed.
Quarterfinals vs Death and Taxes
2-1 win
Semifinals vs ANT
2-0 win
Finals vs RUG Delver
Technically Loss. We agreed to split the cash & credit and they get the extra Open Series Point for getting first as they are vying for top 16 in the season and I already have my invite.
Overall
5-2-1 after split.
I've got one more IQ before my next SCG Open.
She's there as a hedge against combo decks just to lock them out if I'm not able to kill them on that specific turn. Being an Auto-win against Burn helped as he just scooped whenever I had Iona + DR in the graveyard before I ever reanimated her. I get a lot of concessions to DR in yard, flashback therapy, especially if Iona is also in there.
The games where I do hit both I tend to win on the spot, typically because I've just exploded on turn 1 or turn 2 and have milled over half my deck and few opponents want to continue against a Dredge player after they generated that much card advantage.
I wouldn't run FKZ over her because while both win me games the turn they come down, I don't need zombies to win with Iona.
I would have won game 1 vs Elves if I had a third creature as I had 2 Nacomoebas with Iona + DR in yard but I never got it. Locking them out of green would have left them with just a field of 1/1s and a 2/2.
When it happens I win, when it doesn't I still tend to win. I've only ever lost 1 game where I reanimated Iona and thats because I named the wrong color.
I'm not entirely sure the exact number of blue vs non-blue decks at the IQ but it was the smallest non-win-a-box constructed event I've played in.
If your friends are complaining that they can't fight OmniTell it just means they don't know how to and need to get better at building sideboards.
The thing about investing in Dredge is that very few of the cards see play in other decks. Apart from Therapy, LED, and Careful Study, everything is deck specific.
I did not expect to win the very first one I went to....yay?
It was a really tiny IQ (12 people) so we only did 4 rounds and cut to top 4.
This is the list I played:
4x Golgari Grave-Troll
3x Golgari Thug
4x Ichorid
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
4x Narcomoeba
3x Putrid Imp
4x Stinkweed Imp
Instant (1)
1x Darkblast
Enchantment (4)
4x Bridge from Below
3x Breakthrough
4x Cabal Therapy
4x Careful Study
1x Dread Return
4x Faithless Looting
Land (12)
4x Cephalid Coliseum
4x Gemstone Mine
4x Mana Confluence
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Ashen Rider
1x Dread Return
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3x Firestorm
2x Ingot Chewer
2x Nature's Claim
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Wispmare
Round 1 vs Elves
Game 1: discard 2 Trolls to Careful Study. Didn't hit a single third dredger off of them. Or an Ichorid. Or a Therapy. Or a Bridge. I did hit 2 Narcomoebas. My opponent went off fairly unimpeded on like turn 3 or 4.
Game 2: Turn 1 Iona. GG
Game 3: Did not get good Dredges. Opponent lands turn 2 Scooze + Gaea's Cradle. Never really had a chance.
0-1
Round 2 vs Jund
Game 1: They start with a fetch for a basic forest and don't play a red source until like turn 5. They play Scooze on turn 2 so I Upkeep Darkblast, dredge is back, finish off Scooze. I just get on the zombie beats and win from there.
Game 2: They go turn 1 DRS, turn 2 Scooze. I don't have a fast enough start to overcome their hate. I die getting hit by an 8/8 Scooze.
Ganme 3: I Firestorm some stuff away. Get on zombie beats. Outrace them. Never see hate post firestorm.
1-1
Round 3 vs Death & Taxes (Paired up)
Game 1: Turn 1 Iona.
Game 2: I Therapy a RIP on t1. Firestorm away a SFM and C-Priest on turn 3. Firestorm a second SFM on t4. NO DREDGERS. I die to Brimaz beats and a germ token.
Game 3: Therapy away the RIP on t1 again. Have much better Dredges. Putrid Imp to discard stuff and loot the following turn.
2-1
Round 4 vs Burn (Only undefeated player)
Game 1: I Iona on turn 1.
Game 2: I kept a hand with no dredgers but quite a few loot effects and a LED. His turn 1 Goblin Guide gives me a land and I draw a Troll for my turn. I lead with Putrid Imp and get to go off and Dread Return Iona on my second turn.
3-1
Cut to top 4. Top 8 got prizes. We in the top 4 chose to split and then had to play for the Invite.
Semifinals vs Abzan
I ask him if he wants to play and myself and my round 4 opponent tell him where the 2 upcoming Invitationals are. He doesn't plan to go to any of them so he agrees to concede to me though we play out 2 games for fun.
Game 1: I dredge, not well. He gets an active Scooze. Doesn't end well. 4 Counters on Scooze + Sword of Light and Shadow.
Game 2: Get mediocre dredges, we don't get to finish the game as the other semifinal match ended but he had a strong board state, I would probably lose.
4-1
Finals vs Burn (my round 4 opponent)
Game 1: I combo out fast I think like turn 2 or 3 and he concedes.
Game 2: I have a really slow start and don't hit many Bridges or Ichorids he's able to burn me out. He had brought in Searing Bloods which I found odd as you typically don't want to a Dredge player's creatures.
Game 3: I mull to 4 keeping Gemstone Mine, Mana Confluence, Careful Study, and Breakthrough. The Study hits a Troll and a Coliseum. Turn 2 I play Coliseum and cast Breakthrough dredging a lot. Turn 3 I got to activate Coliseum and he concedes.
5-1
One very important thing to note. I never played against a Blue deck which I felt was really strange. There was at least 1 Miracles, 1 Omnitell, and 1 BUG player but I was never paired against them. The top 4 didn't have a single Island. I was really glad my semis opponent agreed to concede as I feel Abazan is a terrible match up for Dredge. The other Semifinal match was my round 1 opponent (Elves) vs my round 4 (Burn) so either way its a rematch and Elves is toss up (as first seed I get to play) and Burn is very favored so I was confident I could win the invite and I did.
1x Dread Return
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3x Firestorm
2x Surgical Extraction
Which leaves me with 7 slots for anti-hate
My main deck is a slight variant of Quadlaser. I'm maindecking 1 Darkblast because I feel Young Pyromancer decks are getting a little too popular on MTGO and I'm not sure how big they are in paper.
I like my main deck but with regards to my sideboard, I just can't decide on what anti-hate package I want to bring. I have 7 slots to work with, the rest of my sideboard I'm happy with.
I have access to: Nature's Claim, Ingot Chewer, Wispmare, Vapor Snag, Abrupt Decay, Ancient Grudge, and Unmask.
I'm not sure what the meta will be. If anyone plays at Curio Cavern and can give me a better idea of what to prepare for I'd greatly appreciate it. I haven't been to the store in a really long time.
Thoughts?
In the sideboard I recommend either Vapor Snag or Surgical Extraction for that last 2 slots. Snag is a catch all and a snag on the end step typically means a win on the following turn. Surgical Extraction because your list has no cards for opposing graveyard strategies. Reanimator is a difficult match up for Dredge and being able to remove Ichorids in the mirror is very useful.
This is my current sideboard. I prefer Evoke Creatures to Nature's Claim because they dodge Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm but I still run Claim as additional removal. I don't have Iona in the sideboard as I run her in the main deck to hedge against fast Combo decks. I have her instead of a fourth Breakthrough, but that's a personal choice and a meta call.
1x Dread Return
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3x Firestorm
3x Ingot Chewer
2x Nature's Claim
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Wispmare
Sorcery
Until the end of the turn all artifacts you control have "Sacrifice this permanent: add R to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells and activate artifact abilities."
You draw 7 times with a Griselbrand activation. Average dredge is 4.5 cards assuming 4 copies of Shell, Thug, Imp, and Troll. That's 31.5 cards. The maximum number of Dredged cards would be 39, minimum 24. You probably will have Dredged between 1-3 times before reanimating Griselbrand which adds between 4.5 and 13.5 additional cards to the graveyard. A deck starts with 53 cards left after drawing your opening 7. You will be left with around 13 cards left in your deck following a Griselbrand activation.
Is that reliable enough to combo off for you?
Legendary Creature - Spirit
Flying
Hexproof
3UGt: Other creatures you control gain +2/+2 trample and hexproof until the end of the turn.
3/3
Next: A cook or chef.