“Why did you play Dredge today?”
“Because I’m a psychopath.”
After a long string of disappointing Legacy finishes with decks like Esper Stoneblade and RUG Delver, I finally broke through for the first time in a while. My deck of choice was Dredge of all things. All psychological issues aside, I played Dredge because I felt like it was well positioned, it was unofficially on the bucket list, and I was kind of sick of playing interactive Magic (at least in Legacy).
Yes, I realize that Dredge won the SCG Legacy Open the weekend before Nashville, but I didn’t think it mattered. For the most part Legacy has regional metagames, and the results of an SCG Open Series don’t typically influence those. The players that play Legacy usually have one pet deck that they want to play every tournament, and Dredge randomly winning a tournament isn’t going to change anything.
Even if someone did take their sideboard and add a fourth Tormod’s Crypt to it, it probably wouldn’t affect me much. Some people are going to make that move, but others will probably take out their graveyard hate expecting Dredge not to show up because the hate would increase.
Either way, I wasn’t too concerned. I wanted to be the bad guy, and I wanted to eschew as much interaction as I possibly could. Plus, Dredge looked fun!
We all play Magic, and sometimes it’s a grind. It’s nice to get away every once in a while and play something refreshing and outside your normal range and comfort zone. I’ve played Friggorid before, but I had yet to play actual Dredge in a real tournament.
So where to start? Well, I moseyed on over to MTGTheSource.com and read the primer by Hollywood, aka Michael Keller. I had ideas for what type of Dredge list I wanted to run, and his post confirmed a few things. On top of that, I had Richard Feldman voice in the back of my head telling me to be fearless. After all, if you’re planning on playing Dredge, how could you have not read THIS article?
Going into Nashville, I had a sweet U/B Stifle-Nought deck all brewed up, courtesy of some Russian Legacy players. It felt like a RUG Delver deck that would crush the mirror with its two-card, high variance combo and would similarly walk all over random aggro decks. After some games against Brad Nelson playing RUG, I realized the matchup was still very close. I still liked its chances versus the field, so I left Roanoke with this in my backpack ready to go.
Creatures (10)
Lands (19)
Spells (31)
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Force of Will
- 1 Diabolic Edict
- 4 Daze
- 4 Stifle
- 3 Snuff Out
- 2 Trickbind
- 4 Ponder
- 2 Thoughtseize
- 3 Spell Pierce
Sideboard
Maverick is tricky game 1 since they have so many things that kill your Dreadnought. You can craft a sideboard plan where you take them out, kill all their stuff, and cast Reanimate on their big guys, but Cursed Totem seems better.
The various combo matchups should be easy, but RUG was still a grind. On the drive to Nashville, I asked Drew Levin if he had his Dredge cards on him. Since he had most of the deck, I went about doing a bunch of research.
This isn’t a primer, so I’m going to assume you know how Dredge works. Here is the decklist I played in Nashville:
Creatures (22)
Lands (14)
Spells (24)
For the most part, I’m conventional. I think the biggest thing I don’t have that other people do is a maindeck fatty to Dread Return. In Europe, some Dredge decks aren’t playing Dread Return at all! Dredge is mostly seen as a deck that flips its deck then Dread Returns a Flame-Kin Zealot to deal a bunch of hasty damage.
Seriously, though, if you get some good dredging in, Cabal Therapy their hand away, and make a bunch of Zombies, what is going to beat you? There are so few situations that actually win them the game that it’s not worth it to play a fatty maindeck.
People might point out Sensei’s Divining Top with a Terminus on top as a reason you’d want to kill them that turn, but why wouldn’t Terminus just stop your attack that turn? You all know that Terminus won’t matter—you’ll just bring back more dudes next turn.
What combo deck could possibly kill you with an empty hand? Yes, some weird permanent based control deck could draw a Propaganda or Ensnaring Bridge, but you weren’t beating those cards if they drew them on any other turn of the game. Most decks don’t play cards like that, and they also tend to have bad Dredge matchups. Decks like those are why the Flayer is in the sideboard, but you don’t need that maindeck either.
You should just be trying to win, not win big. If you’re only happy when you’re winning big, go ahead and add some crazy creature like Griselbrand, but it’s not necessary for the deck to function or be competitive.
You’re basically drawing six cards per turn with Dredge and sometimes a whole lot more, which is what makes the deck so powerful. Some of them don’t interact in your graveyard, like lands or Lion’s Eye Diamond, but that’s just like any game of Magic.
When you’re drawing that many cards per turn and you’re trying to kill them as soon as possible, you really want as many cards that you dredge into to matter. For every random fatty or extra Dread Return you have, that’s one less card that you actually need to win the game.
Obviously casting Dread Return is a powerful thing, but is it necessary? I would argue no just based on the decks that exist in Legacy and how each game played out for me last week. I had one virtual turn 1 kill (Therapy your hand, make some Zombies, next turn bring back some Ichorids and deal well over 20) and several turn 2 virtual kills. The Dread Returns weren’t necessary.
With that in mind, here is the list that I’m planning on playing at the SCG Legacy Open in Columbus:
Creatures (23)
Lands (14)
Spells (23)
In game 1, you’re a huge favorite. People might have things like Green Sun’s Zenith for Scavenging Ooze, but for the most part, you’re racing them and they can’t interact with you. Postboard you need to worry about the various graveyard hate cards like Surgical Extraction, Tormod’s Crypt, Grafdigger’s Cage, and Leyline of the Void.
Fighting The Hate
Thankfully, black decks are usually the only ones playing Leyline of the Void, and black isn’t very good in Legacy right now. Leyline and Grafdigger’s Cage are by far the hardest cards to beat because they actually shut down your engine. Tormod’s Crypt often functions as a double Time Walk. You have to spend a couple turns rebuilding, but if they have no pressure it doesn’t matter.
With Surgical Extraction, you’re aiming to take out a key part of the Dredge deck, which is usually Bridge from Below. However, Dredge still has several ways to win, including any Zombies they’ve already made, Dread Return on Golgari Grave-Troll, or anemic beats from Narcomoeba, Ichorid, and Putrid Imp.
Since one Surgical is never enough to beat Dredge, Tormod’s Crypt is basically a better hate card to play. Some people play both, but if you’re aiming to Surgical stuff, you want the full amount. Removing their graveyard for a turn has no synergy with nuking their Bridge from Belows.
Surgical requires multiple copies to be cast in order to beat Dredge, which makes it a slightly better choice in decks with Snapcaster Mage. Tormod’s Crypt is merely a tempo tool, which means that you need a clock. Most people adhere to these rules, such as playing Crypt in RUG Delver and Surgical in Stoneblade, but there are those few people who play Surgical and Crypt.
Extraction isn’t entirely dead against other decks since you can use it to effectively counter an Intuition or get rid of their Lingering Souls, but it’s still not very good. Crypt is fine because it’s cheap, but Grafdigger’s Cage is usually just better. I could see an argument for Cage being killable whereas you still get value from Crypt, but Cage should be pretty easy to protect.
From the Dredge side of things, I’m way more scared of Leyline or Cage. You can’t devote eight sideboard slots to killing those cards even though you might want to, because then your sideboarding dilutes your deck too much. You have to hope you can draw one of your answers, force it through, and hope you can kill them before they kill you. Against most decks in Legacy, that’s a tall order.
Richard Feldman advocated playing without fear against Leyline of the Void, but I don’t buy into that. You don’t need things like Winds of Change against combo. Your Cabal Therapies and now Faithless Looting give you the speed and disruption you need. Playing five answers to Leyline of the Void isn’t that difficult, and then you’re never truly drawing dead.
Playing against Surgical Extraction can be taxing, as winning without Bridge from Below is a grind. Thankfully, we have a sideboard plan for that! Against decks with Surgical you can often cast Dread Return once so you have to make it count, hence the sideboarded fatties.
In order to make sure we get to that point, we have to sideboard some more creatures. That way even if they Surgical Narcomoebas, we can get to three creatures. This is why Nether Shadows (formerly Bloodghast) are in my sideboard.
Against RUG and Stoneblade decks, there isn’t a great target that fixes both matchups. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a fatty that kolds Stoneblade at all. Because of that, I’m playing an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite since RUG can’t beat it once it’s in play, it’s good in the mirror, and it’s pretty good against the majority of the Stoneblade deck.
Yes, they can Swords it, but they’ve probably used them at that point plus you have Cabal Therapy. The biggest thing you’re worried about is Batterskull, but again, Cabal Therapy is pretty money against that card. I think I was worried too much about that matchup. If they want to have any shot against you, they need to start playing Leyline of the Void.
Tormod’s Crypt is pretty easy to play around, since you basically do nothing. Try to sandbag a dredge card, preferably with a Putrid Imp, so that you can start all over again. As I said before, Crypt only matters if you’re under pressure.
RUG
They usually have Surgical Extraction, which is a holdover from when they used to play Snapcaster Mage. Smart players will have Tormod’s Crypt or Grafdigger’s Cage instead. In the dark, I would sideboard like they had Crypt and/or Surgical though.
+ 2 Nether Shadow, 1 Tarnished Citadel, 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, 1 Dread Return
– 2 Breakthrough, 2 Cabal Therapy, 1 Golgari Thug
Delver of Secrets is basically the only card that matters. You can block Tarmogoyf and Nimble Mongoose all day long. It’s even at the point where I’m considering boarding in Firestorm. You can use it to kill Delver, plus it’s an uncounterable discard outlet. If they are siding in Scavenging Ooze, then it’s even better.
Most people say to side out Lion’s Eye Diamonds, but I don’t think that’s correct. If they have no pressure you probably draw and discard, but if they have a Delver or some such you really need to explode. In a lot of the games I’ve played, I’ve cast a turn 1 discard outlet, it’s gotten Dazed, Pierced, or Forced, and then I’d get Wastelanded. Hopefully on the next turn I can do the same thing, but that’s not very fast.
LED allows you to play multiple spells they want to counter in a single turn. Also, if they sandbag Tormod’s Crypt, you can potentially explode with a flashbacked Looting or Cephalid Coliseum. At that point, you should be able to establish a board presence with Zombies and Therapy their hand away.
Putrid Imp is solid against Tormod’s Crypt, but you can board one or more out if they have Surgicals.
As always, sideboarding isn’t set in stone, and you should do whatever feels right.
Maverick
This matchup can be easy or a nightmare depending on how hateful they want to be. Another issue is how diverse their hate is. How exactly do you sideboard against Scavenging Ooze, Purify the Grave, and potentially Enlightened Tutor for Wheel of Sun and Moon? On the bright side, their deck is very slow, and Cabal Therapy can be a house against them on the play.
+ 3 Firestorm, 1 Dread Return, 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
– 4 Putrid Imp, 1 Golgari Thug
If they end up having a Tutor sideboard, you’re going to want the Chain of Vapors as well.
Esper Stoneblade
Stoneblade should be pretty easy, especially the versions that exist now. Draw, discard is a fine plan against them since their clock is incredibly slow. Sadly, this deck is waning in popularity, but it still exists!
+ 2 Nether Shadow, 1 Dread Return, 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
– 2 Breakthrough, 1 Golgari Thug, 1 Putrid Imp
This should be another one of those matches where you’re grinding versus Surgical Extraction. It’s possible that they have Leyline, but most of the time they should be on Surgicals.
Batterskull is by far the worst card for you, but thankfully it’s vulnerable to Cabal Therapy.
Sneak and Show
This matchup is kind of close, but you should win barring insane draws from them. They are super weak to Cabal Therapy and don’t necessarily win when they combo. After all, three Bridge from Belows and some Narcomoebas and Ichorids tend to beat Emrakul.
That said, I did cut the worthless Sundering Titan from my last list for a Blazing Archon just for this matchup. Based on most lists they literally can’t beat it, so I figured why not?
+ 1 Blazing Archon, 1 Dread Return, 2 Chain of Vapor
– 3 Putrid Imp, 1 Golgari Thug
***
Those are all the matchups I’m going to cover. Legacy is a huge format with a billion different decks, so it’s kind of tough to cover everything. Dredge is a very powerful deck that you should be aware exists. While it won’t dominate tournaments every week, there are occasionally weeks that are perfect times to play Dredge and you’ll find it tough to lose.
As I finish this, I just got done with SCG Legacy Open Columbus where I played this list of Dredge to a 7-2 record. Unfortunately, just like the Standard Open, I lost my win and in round.
I’m not sure if I’ll keep playing Dredge, but I feel comfortable with it and am sure I’ll bust it out from time to time.
GerryT