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You Lika The Juice? – Dredging through Planar Chaos

I spent last week in a bit of a funk over the impact of Damnation and having two virtually identical copies of the incredible Wrath of God in Standard and Extended. While I reached some conclusions on how creature decks can fight the expected increase in control decks, I wasn’t completely satisfied with going the smash-mouth haste route, and the flash creatures by and large aren’t exactly powerhouse cards. However, there is a silver lining for me in this new format – one of my “pet” strategies happens to thrive in Wrath of God dominated formats. Yep, I’m talking about Dredge, baby!

I hope many of you had the opportunity to attend a Planar Chaos prerelease over the weekend and play with some of these awesome new cards! I help Pete Hoefling and his incredible tournament machine each prerelease, and I really enjoy watching people play with brand new cards for the first time. One of the best things about the game of Magic is how it is constantly infused with new “juice,” adding new strategies, new directions, and new ideas to the continuum of cards. The release of a new set is a time for reinvigorating your love of the game.

I got some boosters as compensation for working the prerelease, and before I madly cracked open the packs, I had a vision…

It’s late, the wife and kids are in bed, and Lost in Translation is playing on the TV. While Scarlett Johanson normally commands my full attention onscreen, I’m hunched over a pile of Planar Chaos packs on my coffee table. Sealed up, full of potential.

Somewhere in there is a foil Damnation. I can feel it. And while I don’t play with foils, I know it would be worth a mint and would throw it on eBay to see what I could get for it. The cash flow into my PayPal account would help defray the costs of purchasing the playset of 4 that I know I have to have, along with everyone else in the Magic omniverse.

I begin to crack the packs…

Sadly, there is no foil Damnation. In fact, there is no Damnation at all. Damnation!!

I spent last week in a bit of a funk over the impact of Damnation and having two virtually identical copies of the incredible Wrath of God in Standard and Extended. While I reached some conclusions on how creature decks can fight the expected increase in control decks, I wasn’t completely satisfied with going the smash-mouth haste route, and the flash creatures by and large aren’t exactly powerhouse cards. The fact is, the creatures I enjoy playing most don’t typically have haste nor flash (with the exception of the amazing Scryb Ranger). However, there is a silver lining for me in this new format – one of my “pet” strategies happens to thrive in Wrath of God dominated formats.

Yep, I’m talking about Dredge, baby!

Since I got lucky and made Top 8 at Champs two years back with a dedicated Dredge deck, I’ve had a fondness in my heart for the mechanic and the implications it has on deckbuilding. I even made a budget build for my Battle Royale match (though sadly my opponent happened to make just about the worst possible deck for me to face and annihilated me). Sadly, the metagame since my Champs run turned into a beatdown and combo-fest, which wasn’t exactly a wonderful environment for Dredge strategies to thrive in.

Now, though… Damnation and Wrath. It might be time to come back to my old favorite and take another gander at what we have available. Planar Chaos brings a bumper crop of powerful cards and role players for both Green and Black – the colors of Golgari – so I thought I’d go over the cards in the new set I think could make an impact for Dredge this week, and next week present some Dredge decks and strategies minty fresh for the new Standard!

Extirpate — B
Instant (R)
Split Second
Choose target card in a graveyard other than a basic land. Search its owner’s graveyard, hand and library for all cards with the same name and remove them from the game.

The first card out the gate is actually a huge pain in the watoochi for a dedicated Dredge deck. Since your goal is to fill your graveyard with a ton of cards to eventually overwhelm your opponent with, by the time your opponent casts this he will likely have plenty of targets to choose from. One potent complement to a dedicated Dredge strategy is the Haakon, Stromgald Scourge engine, and one Extirpate can snuff that right out. Life from the Loam is also a very critical card in dedicated Dredge, allowing you to continue to develop your mana once you stop drawing off the top of your deck completely, and removing those from the game will be a huge problem. Right now I see Extirpate as a sideboard problem, one to be aware of and, if it shows up regularly in games 2 and 3 then you’d need to evaluate and adjust. If we add Blue to the deck you could possibly fight with Research / Development, and I also have a radical reworking of the Dredge strategy I’ll share next week that might be more resistant to this hoser.

Magus of the Coffers – 4B
Creature – Human Wizard (R)
{2}, {T}: Add {B} to your mana pool for each Swamp you control.
4/4

He can be a heckuva mana producer – especially if Dredging and Life from the Loam have unearthed an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for you – and he is of fair size for his cost. While I don’t immediately see a role for him in Dredge, you can cheat a bit on creatures further up the casting cost continuum (yes, it’s the word of the day) since Dredging a lot gives you more opportunities to find and access toolbox-type creatures. I could see running this as a one-of depending on your end-game plan, and with Extirpate running around, you may need to have Plans B and C and D…

Phantasmagorian – 5BB
Creature – Horror (U)
When you play Phantasmagorian, any player may discard three cards. If a player does, counter Phantasmagorian.
Discard three cards: Return Phantasmagorian from your graveyard to your hand.
6/6

Speaking of Plans B, C or D, I can see this as a one-of in your deck. Late game, with Life from the Loam keeping your hand flush with discard material, this guy will eventually stick, and 6/6 is a pretty significant threat. For non-Dredge players out there, don’t discount this guy as a fairly solid Madness outlet if you’ve got other cards you don’t mind hitting the graveyard.

Roiling Horror – 3BB
Creature – Horror (R)
Roiling Horror’s power and toughness are each equal to your life total minus the life total of the opponent with the most life.
Suspend X – {X}{B}{B}{B}. X can’t be 0
Whenever a time counter is removed from Roiling Horror while it’s removed from the game, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
*/*

Speaking of a Dredge Toolbox and Magus of the Coffers, with Golgari Thug you could set up a mid-to-late game where this card slowly seals the game for you. Yeah, it’s a reach but the possibility is there.

Damnation – 2BB
Sorcery (R)
Destroy all creatures. They can’t be regenerated.

Ah yes, the 800-lb Gorilla of the new Standard. Dredge actually really needed this since aggressive beatdown decks were a huge problem for dedicated Dredge. The existence of this card helps two-fold: not only will a two-Wrath metagame keep the number of weenie aggro decks down a bit, Dredge decks can actually run this card too, and buy time to set up.

Dunerider Outlaw — BB
Creature – Human Rebel Rogue (U)
Protection from Green
At end of turn, if Dunerider Outlaw dealt damage to an opponent this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Tales of the outlaw’s cruelty and might grew more embellished with each crime.
1/1

We have options for dealing with White creature beatdown… it’s nice to have this option to deal with Green creature beatdown. The one sad thing is that you can’t drop a Moldervine Cloak on this guy to make him a really potent blocker. Still, if you want to hold off Ohran Viper or Loxodon Hierarch, this isn’t a bad option.

Null Profusion – 4BB
Enchantment (R)
Skip your draw step.
Whenever you play a card, draw a card.
Your maximum hand size is two.

This card is the nuts with Dredge provided you don’t find yourself with zero cards in hand. Chris Millar on Magicthegathering.com already pointed out just how ridiculous this could be with Darkblast, hitting a creature with -1/-1 for each black mana you spend, Dredging it back for each trigger of the Null Profusion. I can see this being pretty nuts with a Dredge-fueled Haakon engine too, which can dig you out of a no-hand hole if need be. Playing this card in a Dredge deck would be tricky though, since you’d have to worry about the very real possibility of decking yourself by Dredging too much.

Ana Battlemage – 2G
Creature – Human Wizard (U)
Kicker {2}{U} or/and {1}{B}
When Ana Battlemage comes into play if the {2}{U} kicker cost was paid, target player discards 3 cards.
When Ana Battlemage comes into play, if the {1}{B} kicker cost was paid, tap target untapped creature and that creature deals damage equal to its power to its controller.
2/2

The Black kicker on this card could deal the last critical points of damage to your opponent, especially if they have an Akroma, Angel of Wrath staring you down. I mentioned splashing blue for Research / Development above, if you’re going that route, Ana Battlemage might be worth considering since kicking to force a three card discount is bound to hurt.

Citanul Woodreaders – 2G
Creature – Human Druid (C)
Kicker {2}{G}
When Citanul Woodreaders comes into play, if its kicker cost was paid, draw 2 cards.
1/4

An early blocker or a later-game double cantrip, seems useful to me!

Deadwood Treefolk – 5G
Creature – Treefolk (U)
Vanishing 3
When Deadwood Treefolk comes into play or leaves play, return another target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
3/6

I had a discussion with Ben Bleiweiss about this card, and he described it as “poop,” and slandered this poor ‘Ent with comparisons to Exhumer Thrull. Let me say right here and now that this card is miles better than Exhumer Thrull, and I predict this will eventually be a sleeper hit from Planar Chaos once people actually start playing with it (especially multiple copies). Going on a bit of a tangent from the Dredge focus of this column, I expect Deadwood Treefolk to give Green-based creature decks a way to fight against the mass-removal-happy control decks sure to spawn from Damnation and Wrath of God. Once you draw your second copy, you can set yourself up to basically never run out of creatures so long as you don’t eat a counter or an Extirpate at the wrong moment—that’s the important distinction between this and Exhumer Thrull, since Deadwood doesn’t remove itself from the game. I’ve talked a lot about Saffi Eriksdotter before, but just imagine her and Deadwood Treefolk in play at the same time! Now, I know the casting cost makes it seem like much more Limited gem than Constructed staple, but the casting cost is actually just fine – later in the game is when you’d have targets in the graveyard for it anyway. Also, by the time you cast this guy, Green decks will already have played out their beatdown threats, from Loxodon Hierarch to Spectral Force. Lastly, six mana is really not all that expensive in a Green deck with mana acceleration.

So, back to Dredge – one issue in a dedicated Dredge deck is being able to access non-Dredge cards that get flipped into the graveyard by the Dredge mechanic. I used Golgari Thug to access late-game hard-hitters like Kokusho, the Evening Star and Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni. Deadwood Treefolk could serve a similar role, and also stand there as a damn fine blocker in the meantime.

Kavu Predator – 1G
Creature – Kavu (U)
Trample
Whenever an opponent gains life, put that many +1/+1 counters on Kavu Predator.
2/2

I could see some of these Martyr of Sands decks being a royal pain for Dredge’s slow win to overcome, and Kavu Predator seems like the perfect silver bullet to fight that strategy.

Magus of the Library — GG
Creature – Human Wizard (R)
{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
{T}: Draw a card. Play this ability only if you have exactly seven cards in hand.
The ancient books slowly crumbled, their secrets turning to dust. But their every word sings within the magus’s head.
1/1

We all know how awesome this card is, and in a Dredge deck with Life from the Loam it should be fairly easy to keep your hand filled so you can activate this card quite often. With a Moldervine Cloak he could even be a solid blocker, or even an attacker if you’re tired of drawing mad cards. Being able to retrieve a critical Dredge spell at instant speed could help fight Tormod’s Crypt, though sadly not the Split-Second speed Extirpate.

Mire Boa – 1G
Creature – Snake (C)
Swampwalk
{G}: Regenerate Mire Boa.
Mire slime courses through its veins in place of blood. No sooner does it bleed than it opens its mouth to replace the loss.
2/1

Dredge decks often need to play defense, and nothing gums up the ground like a cheap regenerator alongside a Wall of Roots.

Utopia Vow – 1G
Enchantment – Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block.
Enchanted creature has “{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”

Protection from Black creatures have always been a huge pain for Dredge decks to get a handle on, and now we even have Akroma, Angel of Wrath to deal with (often on turn 4). This green neo-Pacifism is one possible answer to the problem.

Fa’adiyah Seer – 1G
Creature – Human Shaman (C)
{T}: Draw a card and reveal it. If it isn’t a land card, discard that card.
1/1

When Sindbad was reprinted in Time Spiral, my Dredge-eye took note: hmm, replace the draw with the Dredge ability and you don’t need to discard! I didn’t think Sindbad alone warranted splashing Blue in a Dredge deck… but now we have Sindbad in Golgari green! Magus of the Library is sure to be expensive to buy or trade for — and it’s condition of having seven cards in hand to draw may not always work in all Dredge decks – so Fa’adiyah Seer offers a budget alternative that may actually be better in some builds.

Harmonize – 2GG
Sorcery (U)
Draw three cards.

Did you catch Mike Flores preview of Harmonize last week? He normally reads as confident and cocky in his writing, so I found it amusing that he nearly sounded stunned and dazed in his preview. It was like he had a hard time even wrapping his brain around a Green Concentrate. For long-time Magic players, Harmonize is just a flat-out alien card, a Dodo bird in our nice orderly Magic nest. In a Dredge deck, drawing cards means super-charging your graveyard, and this card certainly does so. If one of the cards you Dredge back is Life from the Loam, Harmonize effectively says “draw five.”

Keen Sense — G
Enchantment – Aura (U)
Enchant Creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to a player, you may draw a card.

Since we’re talking about card-drawing, Keen Sense is a great little Green trophy that happens to be the third Aura we’ve touched on here (along with Moldervine Cloak and Utopia Vow), and we’ve also mentioned an enchantment or two. I’ve got a budget Aura deck I’ve been kicking around online that uses Dowsing Shaman, there might be something we can put together with Dredge stocking the graveyard for enchantment-treasure hunting.

Darkheart Sliver — BG
Creature – Sliver (U)
All Slivers have “Sacrifice this creature: You gain 3 Life”
2/2

Dredge decks are slow, and life buys you time. This seems like the perfect bear to play early and add some extra turns to your clock.

Teneb, the Harvester – 3BGW
Legendary Creature – Dragon (R)
Flying
Whenever Teneb, the Harvester deals combat damage to a player, you may pay {2}{B}. If you do, return target creature card from a graveyard to play under your control.
6/6

I mentioned Golgari Thug targets for your late-game creature punch, and if you splash White in your deck, Teneb seems like an incredibly good option in a deck with a big graveyard.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Legendary Land (R)
Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other land types.

I can’t see not running one copy of this in your deck simply for its Black-mana fixing ability, but it also makes potential Life from the Loam targets more appealing, like Arena, Dark Depths or Safe Haven.

Okay, join me next week when I present several new Dredge builds, including one radical departure that I think you might find interesting!

Until then,

Bennie