I don't think Dredgevine needs to worry about Fatal Push in the least, so I don't really think we should necessarily play Gurmag Angler just because he doesn't get hit by Fatal Push.
Prized Amalgam was the payoff card that made Dredge so good and not only is it a payoff card in Dredgevine, it's a zombie and allows Gravecrawler to be cast from the graveyard. If the decision is between Prized Amalgam and Gurmag Angler I lean strongly towards Prized Amalgam.
Those decks aren't running Gravecrawlers or Vengevine, so they aren't Dredgevine, but rather Dredge. I like Dredge but they completely fold up to well timed graveyard hate, while Dredgevine only partially folds up.
lately i've been underwhelmed with lotleth troll, it's normally in the graveyard doing nothing or the game is already on our favor for it to have an impact. i also observed that while watching twoo's dredge swarm video and he normally chooses the troll when siding out cards.
i've replaced the playset of lotleth troll with stitchwing skaab and satyr wayfinder.
i'm really happy with the performance of those two. satyr wayfinder with 2-cmc is easy to cast to trigger vengevine, acts as graveyard enabler and also helps us finding our land, playing with 19 lands, the wayfinder really helps.
For stitchwing skaab, its a graveyard enabler, amalgam trigger and also a zombie.
i haven't miss lotleth troll since the switch.
Watching most of those videos, I think he made a mistake siding out Lotleth Troll in a lot of those matches. I'm not sure how you justify your claim that "Lotleth Troll is normally in the graveyard doing nothing." Sure, Lotleth Troll is terrible in the graveyard, I'll give you that, but if you've already dredged multiple times it's likely a moot point that Lotleth is in the graveyard as you've likely chained or will chain Bloodghasts into Amalgams into Gravecrawlers. Satyr Wayfinder is equally as bad in the graveyard as Lotleth Troll. Both creatures are enablers for the deck, one mills (and oftens draws a land) and one discards card(s) from your hand. If you prefer the enabling that Satyr Wayfinder brings to the table that I can understand, even if I disagree with your opinion.
I like Stitchwing, he's better in the graveyard than Lotleth Troll, but I'm not sure what your manabase looks like. If you're running the mana confluence/city of brass/gemstone mines manabase maybe Stitchwing is a good inclusion.
ground seal can only protect you on some hate cards (ex. scavenging ooze) but the deck can go under those hate even without ground seal, the most annoying hate card for dredge is probably grafdigger's cage and rest in peace and ground seal can't protect you against those 2.
btw, I got an enjoyable game against an 8-Rack deck (budget no liliana).
Game1: win, easy game
Game2: loss, turn 2 grafdigger's cage and a surgical extraction on my nature's claim
Game3: suspense game, opponent got a turn 3 grafdigger's cage, I almost conceded but decided to push the game just for fun. I played a turn 5 golgari grave troll (w/ 9 counters) and got the win.
Your Game 3 story, shows why Rest in Peace is a far better hate card than Grafdigger's Cage.
Golgari Grave-Troll is completely blanked by RiP. Even if GGT beatdown is a last resort, it's an option.
While you're using Looting and Neonates to dig for answers to Grafdigger's Cage you're setting up future turns. You can just sit on the answer building up a better graveyard until you EOT take out the Cage and flood the board with Zombies and Vengevines.
When you're digging for answers for an RiP you're basically just hemorrhaging cards, and if you do find the answer, you're looking at a game where you have 2 cards in hand and no graveyard and those games are hard to win.
The problem I have with Stitchwing Skaab is that it really stresses the blue mana in a Fetch/Shock mana base. I think the only way to run Stitchwing is if you run more blue shocks (which stresses you in a different way) or if you run the mana confluence, city of brass, gemstone mine mana base. It might be possible to also just run more copies of Life from the Loam (to get back the milled Watery Grave), but I'm not sure I want to increase the number of Life from the Loam (a flex card) just to be able to run a Stitchwing Skaab (another flex card).
I really liked Satyr Wayfinder, it was really awesome when Dredgevine was essentially a Green/Black deck that splashed red for Faithless Looting. I feel that with the addition of Insolent Neonate, the deck is more of a Red/Black that splashes some green spells. Essentially the Neonate replaced the Wayfinder for 1 mana less. If I was going to build a Sultai Dredgevine list I would probably include Hedron Crabs and Wayfinders to take the place of Faithless Looting and Insolent Neonate.
Leyline is hardly a you lose the game card. If it starts in play you can somewhat play around it: Lotleth Troll is still a reasonable beater and you can't forget that your opponent sided in 3+ copies of Leyline, the rest are almost certainly dead draws. If they sided Leyline in and didn't see it their opener we can easily get a pretty large board before they can even hope to cast it.
Faithless Looting helps dig for answers and Maelstrom Pulse use to be included in a lot of Dredgevine sideboards, maybe it's time to go back to it.
There are quite a few variations of Dredge and Dredgevine lists running around right now. There is Dredge with a reanimator package, we have Dredge with Bridge from Below, we have Dredgevine without Vengevine, we have Dredgevine without Dredge, we have 4-colour Dredgevine with Hedron Crabs, we have Jund Dredgevine + Prized Amalgam. By no means is there a consensus best version of either Dredge or Dredgevine so that gives me a lot of hope going forward that over time the decks' performance will improve as more people test with it.
I will say that the reason I'm on Dredgevine as opposed to Dredge is that in the worst case, against very heavy graveyard hate, Dredgevine can just turn guys sideways as a mediocre aggro deck and have a chance of winning the game through the hate.
When Dredgevine has to start packing hate for Dredge decks I think that's the sign for me to put the deck down for a while and play something else.
I see two completely different mana bases being played right now, both having success in Modern Leagues.
The traditional Dredgevine manabase (if a traditional Dredgevine mana base is even a thing) involving fetches/shocks some fastlands and some basics.
The new version that runs Dakmor Salvage, Gemstone Mines, a lot of fastlands and some basics. This looks more like a list that a straight up Dredge deck would run.
I feel like the new version might just be a budget approach. I do like the interaction of Gemstone Mine and Life from the Loam, but in general I feel like if you want to be casting Life from the Loam playing with the traditional mana base is a better idea as you can get your lands into play untapped more often.
The problem I see with Dakmor Salvage, is that while Dakmor allows you can hit your land drops, the land comes into play tapped (a loss of tempo) and instead of Dredging 5 or 6 you're dredging 2 so your graveyard isn't being filled as fast, which means future turns will be less explosive. I can see running 1 Dakmor salvage if you can fit it in your mana base and you need to up your dredge count. Before I added a second copy of Dakmor I would really examine whether Life from the Loam would be better as I feel they often have the same role in the deck.
For the 4 colour decks playing Narcomoebe, I really think they should include Golgari Thug in some number. The Golgari Thug adds even more lines to a very complicated deck to play.
When a Golgari Thug dies you can put the Narcomoeba on top of your library, and then on your next card draw you can Dredge back the Golgari Thug and put the Narcomoeba and all Prized Amalgams into play.
You can cast an Insolent Neonate, sac it and Dredge the Golgari Thug and then cast the Golgari Thug to get back Vengevines and Prized Amalgams (if you have Vengevines that return), for just 3 mana. You also have a Thug for chump blocking which when he dies you can either set an Insolent Neonate back on top of your library and repeat the process or you can set a Narcomoeba on top and Dredge it away.
@ Baorap - keep the lists coming, its a good thing!
@ vollick & Gabriel - those decks aren't stone-cold dead to scavenging ooze. They can amass an army as early as T2, simply by going T1 Loot, discard ghast + amalgam. Add any dredger to that list and it gets better. Opponent playing scooze on 2 then activating three times on 3 is good, but that's a world where you've done nothing more (e.g. activated no more creatures on T3), they have 3 green sources and the named scooze. I've found scooze to be easier to beat now that we go wider.
Having said that, I would want some answers to creatures. Lightning Axe and Murderous Cut both seem better than Ultimate Price, and that's the route i'd take.
Has anyone got a link to the dredge-bridge from below primer? That deck has picked up some traction recently too!
I know there are a lot of lines that this deck can take and having multiple creatures on the board on turn 2 is a good way to beat Scavenging Ooze, but I don't think 5 power in the form of a Bloodghast and an Amalgam is enough to beat a turn 2 Scavenging Ooze.
I just don't understand why the list doesn't involve any Lightning Axes. Lightning Axe is just such a huge tempo play, it likely puts 2 cards in the graveyard that we want in the graveyard all for 1 mana.
The 5-0 lists are impressive but what troubles me is how these decks are stone-dead to Scavenging Ooze. I know there are very quick lines that the deck can take but having 0 answers for an early ooze in the entire 75 seems crazy to me. Is this a case of we can't beat an ooze so don't worry about it?
Another good player to watch if you're interested in various Dredge strategies (not necessarily Dredgevine) is Magus of the Moon: www.twitch.tv/magus_of_the_moon.
Dredgevine is pretty tame in comparison to some of complete Dredge lists, but it's also a lot more resilient to actual graveyard hate as well.
Travis Woo has been working on a 4-colour Dredgevine, the blue splash being 4 Hedron Crabs and a Stichwing Skaab. I watched his primer last night and a round against Red Green Tron. The deck looks super explosive but I'm still not entirely sure it's worth it to play the Hedron Crabs. I also don't know how his deck can beat a resolved Scavenging Ooze.
I don't have a super detailed tournament report but I'll do my best
[b]Round 1[/b] - UWR Geist
Game 1 - I look at a hand with 3 lands, Faithless Looting, Insolent Neonate, Dredge creature, Vengevine. I'm very happy with this hand and I run him down quite quickly.
Game 2 - I look at an opener with 2 red sources, 1 Faithless Looting, 2 Insolent Neonate, 2 Vengevine. Again I'm super happy with this hand. My line of play is Looting, discard the 2 Vengevines and on turn 2 run out 2 Insolent Neonate to trigger both Vengevines.
[b](1-0)[/b]
[b]Round 2[/b]- UB Ancestral Vision/Thoptor/Sword/Thing in the Ice Combo deck
Game 1 - I can't recall anything special about this game but I manage to beat him down with Bloodghasts and Amalgams while he's suspending Vision.
Note: Thing in the Ice was very good against my deck. A lot of time it just reduces the clock significantly because it blocks the Amalgam and allows a Bloodghast through. I saw the Sword of the Meek, so I sided in Ancient Grudge and an Abrupt Decay
Game 2 - This game I also started strong (so at this point in the tournament I'm thinking I'm doing quite well), I had Looting discarding Bloodghast and Amalgam and then on turn 2 from Landfall trigger I had Bloodghast and Amalgam. Here's where the Thing in the Ices did so much work. I was hitting him each turn for 2 while he developed his board because he kept blocking my Amalgam and only taking 2. So I'm working him down, he lands a Bob and gets land land Slaughter Pact off of it. I'm dredging super hard, I eventually get a big board state and get him down to 7 or 8 life, he flips Thing in the Ice, swings and then plays Kalitas. The next turn I dredge hard play 2 creatures from my hand get back 3 Vengevine, a land to get 3 Bloodghasts and swing team, but has Slaughter Pact and Doom Blade to kill 2 Vengevines and make 2 Zombies onto game 3. I take out Ancient Grudge to put in a Lightning Axe (to kill Kalitas).
Game 3 - This game was a lot of fun, I keep a land with 2 lands, Lotleth Troll and Dredge Creatures, and he turn 1 Inquisitions me! I was surprised to see him keep Inquisition in against me (I asked him later and he said he didn't have anything else better to put in from the sideboard) I won't go into too many details (because it was a long game, lots of Dredging) but needless to say he landed the Thoptor/Sword combo and I was attacking with 3 Vengevine/3 Amalgam/3 Gravecrawlers/1 Bloodghast each turn. It went to turns and I conceded because I had no way of winning and he was able to make enough blockers and gain life.
I feel like I could have won this match, maybe even game 2.
[b](1-1)[/b]
[b]Round 3[/b] - Scapeshift with Prismatic Omen.
Game 1 and Game 2 - I kept a slow hand game 1 and in game 2 I kept a slow 6 that I probably should have mulled. I boarded in 3 Thoughseize and took out Darkblast, Lightning Axe and I think a Gravetroll.
Matchup seems very difficult they just ramp, and I can't interact very easily with them and then they just cast Scapeshift dealing 54 damage or something from 3 Valakuts and 3 Mountains. I don't know if Gnaw to the Bone is even worth it if they have Prismatic Omen because they can do so much more damage than Gnaw usually will gain.
[b](1-2)[/b]
[b]Round 4[/b] - Elves
Game 1 - He mulled to 5 and I steamrolled him. In came Golgari Charm, Abrupt Decay, Lightning Axe, Darkblast out went Stinkweed, Gravetroll and 2 Neonate
Game 2 - He landed a turn 2 Ooze, and that was basically it, as I didn't see any interaction in Abrupt Decay or Lightning Axe.
Game 3 - I kept a 6 card hand with Darkblast, a Neonate, and a Bloodstained Mire, so I thought I could keep him off early mana dorks, while also potentially digging for a second land with Neonate, but I missed drawing a second land by a couple turns. He ends up Chording for Scavenging Ooze and that's all she wrote.
[b]1-3[/b] but not dead for top 32 so I give it a go.
[b]Round 5[b] - Affinity
Game 1 - On a mull to 6 my opponent drops 5 cards including a Cranial Plating and my life total goes 20-13-1 dead.
Game 2 - I side in Ancient Grudges and Darkblast, can't remember what I take out but I'm sure it's some Dredgers and maybe a Neonate. I manage to win game 2 on the back of some timely Ancient Grudges and a Stinkweed Imp holding off his team.
Game 3 - I had to mull to 4 as I saw no lands in my 7,6, or 5 card hands. I keep my 4 card hand with Ancient Grudge, Bloodstained Mire, Vengevine and some other card so not great. I manage to win but my opponent (a super great guy) makes a play sequencing error and I manage to win on turn 4 of extra turns.
[b]2-3[/b] Have to win 3 straight matches for a chance of top 32.
[b]Round 6[/b] - UR Storm
Game 1 - I keep a hand with Lotleth Troll and a Gravecrawler but I draw a lot of lands and don't pressure my opponent and he storms out. I bring out Darkblast, Lightning Axe, some Dredgers and bring in 2 Abrupt Decay and a Golgari Charm (for Pyromancer's Ascension) and I think a Gnaw to the Bone.
Game 2 - I keep a forest an overgrown tomb and an Abrupt Decay to hit any Pyromancer's Ascension and I manage to destroy one on my opponents turn 2. I end up dredging pretty hard but the Dredge's are just whiffs most of the time. Several times I dredge 5 or 6 to just reveal lands, spells I can't cast from the yard and more Dredge cards (so I basically time walked myself) and my opponent eventually combos off with Empty the Warrens, and my only Golgari Charm was in the graveyard so I concede.
[b]Match Record:2-4 Game Record:6-9[/b]
Overall, I think I made a lot of misplays by dredging blindly just hoping to hit more Dredgers, or recurring creatures. In game 1 I think that's fine but I think in sideboarded games I have to play a lot more conservatively. Draw cards, hope to hit my sideboard cards and lands and then when I have a line, involving Dredge cards or just Neonates, then I go for it, I can't just blindly Dredge and hope to get there.
Also, I think when siding out creatures I should side out Golgari-Grave Trolls before Stinkweed Imps, but I'm unsure of how to allocate what spells come out when I put sideboard cards in. If in post board games I'm drawing more cards I probably don't want to draw Prized Amalgams, so perhaps some number of those should come out. I also am not sure whether I should leave in Neonates when I remove the big dredgers, or should I take out 1 Neonate for every big Dredge cards I take out, or is it a ratio of 2 Big Dredgers:1 Neonate, I really don't know.
[b]TLDR I think I played pre-sideboard games well, I know the lines, but the whole sideboarding process is a mystery to me, and the post-sideboard games were also quite a disaster.[/b]
The Downside: Thug is a horrible creature in play that is little more than a speedbump. Thug also has Dredge 4 instead of Dredge 5 and occasionally his death ability is a negative (it isn't optional).
The Upside: He costs 1 less than Stinkweed and when he dies he can either put a Neonate on top, which can then sac to Dredge back the Thug and then if you have the mana cast the thug to bring back all the Vengevines and Amalgams from the yard (you do need a card to discard to sac the Neonate, so this line doesn't work if you're hellbent). Another line is when the Thug dies is to put a Lotleth Troll on top, cast it a Gravecrawler from the yard to bring back all the Vengevines and Amalgams.
Is there anything I'm missing?
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Prized Amalgam was the payoff card that made Dredge so good and not only is it a payoff card in Dredgevine, it's a zombie and allows Gravecrawler to be cast from the graveyard. If the decision is between Prized Amalgam and Gurmag Angler I lean strongly towards Prized Amalgam.
Those decks aren't running Gravecrawlers or Vengevine, so they aren't Dredgevine, but rather Dredge. I like Dredge but they completely fold up to well timed graveyard hate, while Dredgevine only partially folds up.
Watching most of those videos, I think he made a mistake siding out Lotleth Troll in a lot of those matches. I'm not sure how you justify your claim that "Lotleth Troll is normally in the graveyard doing nothing." Sure, Lotleth Troll is terrible in the graveyard, I'll give you that, but if you've already dredged multiple times it's likely a moot point that Lotleth is in the graveyard as you've likely chained or will chain Bloodghasts into Amalgams into Gravecrawlers. Satyr Wayfinder is equally as bad in the graveyard as Lotleth Troll. Both creatures are enablers for the deck, one mills (and oftens draws a land) and one discards card(s) from your hand. If you prefer the enabling that Satyr Wayfinder brings to the table that I can understand, even if I disagree with your opinion.
I like Stitchwing, he's better in the graveyard than Lotleth Troll, but I'm not sure what your manabase looks like. If you're running the mana confluence/city of brass/gemstone mines manabase maybe Stitchwing is a good inclusion.
Your Game 3 story, shows why Rest in Peace is a far better hate card than Grafdigger's Cage.
I really liked Satyr Wayfinder, it was really awesome when Dredgevine was essentially a Green/Black deck that splashed red for Faithless Looting. I feel that with the addition of Insolent Neonate, the deck is more of a Red/Black that splashes some green spells. Essentially the Neonate replaced the Wayfinder for 1 mana less. If I was going to build a Sultai Dredgevine list I would probably include Hedron Crabs and Wayfinders to take the place of Faithless Looting and Insolent Neonate.
Faithless Looting helps dig for answers and Maelstrom Pulse use to be included in a lot of Dredgevine sideboards, maybe it's time to go back to it.
I will say that the reason I'm on Dredgevine as opposed to Dredge is that in the worst case, against very heavy graveyard hate, Dredgevine can just turn guys sideways as a mediocre aggro deck and have a chance of winning the game through the hate.
When Dredgevine has to start packing hate for Dredge decks I think that's the sign for me to put the deck down for a while and play something else.
I feel like the new version might just be a budget approach. I do like the interaction of Gemstone Mine and Life from the Loam, but in general I feel like if you want to be casting Life from the Loam playing with the traditional mana base is a better idea as you can get your lands into play untapped more often.
The problem I see with Dakmor Salvage, is that while Dakmor allows you can hit your land drops, the land comes into play tapped (a loss of tempo) and instead of Dredging 5 or 6 you're dredging 2 so your graveyard isn't being filled as fast, which means future turns will be less explosive. I can see running 1 Dakmor salvage if you can fit it in your mana base and you need to up your dredge count. Before I added a second copy of Dakmor I would really examine whether Life from the Loam would be better as I feel they often have the same role in the deck.
I know there are a lot of lines that this deck can take and having multiple creatures on the board on turn 2 is a good way to beat Scavenging Ooze, but I don't think 5 power in the form of a Bloodghast and an Amalgam is enough to beat a turn 2 Scavenging Ooze.
I just don't understand why the list doesn't involve any Lightning Axes. Lightning Axe is just such a huge tempo play, it likely puts 2 cards in the graveyard that we want in the graveyard all for 1 mana.
Dredgevine is pretty tame in comparison to some of complete Dredge lists, but it's also a lot more resilient to actual graveyard hate as well.
4 Gravecrawler
4 Bloodghast
3 Lotleth Troll
1 Tymaret, the Murder King
1 Golgari Thug
3 Stinkweed Imp
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Vengevine
4 Golgari-Grave Troll
4 Faithless Looting
1 Life from the Loam
1 Darkblast
1 Lightning Axe
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
1 Watery Grave
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Copperline Gorge
2 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Thoughtseize
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Murderous Cut
1 Darkblast
1 Golgari Charm
1 Lightning Axe
I don't have a super detailed tournament report but I'll do my best
[b]Round 1[/b] - UWR Geist
Game 1 - I look at a hand with 3 lands, Faithless Looting, Insolent Neonate, Dredge creature, Vengevine. I'm very happy with this hand and I run him down quite quickly.
Game 2 - I look at an opener with 2 red sources, 1 Faithless Looting, 2 Insolent Neonate, 2 Vengevine. Again I'm super happy with this hand. My line of play is Looting, discard the 2 Vengevines and on turn 2 run out 2 Insolent Neonate to trigger both Vengevines.
[b](1-0)[/b]
[b]Round 2[/b]- UB Ancestral Vision/Thoptor/Sword/Thing in the Ice Combo deck
Game 1 - I can't recall anything special about this game but I manage to beat him down with Bloodghasts and Amalgams while he's suspending Vision.
Note: Thing in the Ice was very good against my deck. A lot of time it just reduces the clock significantly because it blocks the Amalgam and allows a Bloodghast through. I saw the Sword of the Meek, so I sided in Ancient Grudge and an Abrupt Decay
Game 2 - This game I also started strong (so at this point in the tournament I'm thinking I'm doing quite well), I had Looting discarding Bloodghast and Amalgam and then on turn 2 from Landfall trigger I had Bloodghast and Amalgam. Here's where the Thing in the Ices did so much work. I was hitting him each turn for 2 while he developed his board because he kept blocking my Amalgam and only taking 2. So I'm working him down, he lands a Bob and gets land land Slaughter Pact off of it. I'm dredging super hard, I eventually get a big board state and get him down to 7 or 8 life, he flips Thing in the Ice, swings and then plays Kalitas. The next turn I dredge hard play 2 creatures from my hand get back 3 Vengevine, a land to get 3 Bloodghasts and swing team, but has Slaughter Pact and Doom Blade to kill 2 Vengevines and make 2 Zombies onto game 3. I take out Ancient Grudge to put in a Lightning Axe (to kill Kalitas).
Game 3 - This game was a lot of fun, I keep a land with 2 lands, Lotleth Troll and Dredge Creatures, and he turn 1 Inquisitions me! I was surprised to see him keep Inquisition in against me (I asked him later and he said he didn't have anything else better to put in from the sideboard) I won't go into too many details (because it was a long game, lots of Dredging) but needless to say he landed the Thoptor/Sword combo and I was attacking with 3 Vengevine/3 Amalgam/3 Gravecrawlers/1 Bloodghast each turn. It went to turns and I conceded because I had no way of winning and he was able to make enough blockers and gain life.
I feel like I could have won this match, maybe even game 2.
[b](1-1)[/b]
[b]Round 3[/b] - Scapeshift with Prismatic Omen.
Game 1 and Game 2 - I kept a slow hand game 1 and in game 2 I kept a slow 6 that I probably should have mulled. I boarded in 3 Thoughseize and took out Darkblast, Lightning Axe and I think a Gravetroll.
Matchup seems very difficult they just ramp, and I can't interact very easily with them and then they just cast Scapeshift dealing 54 damage or something from 3 Valakuts and 3 Mountains. I don't know if Gnaw to the Bone is even worth it if they have Prismatic Omen because they can do so much more damage than Gnaw usually will gain.
[b](1-2)[/b]
[b]Round 4[/b] - Elves
Game 1 - He mulled to 5 and I steamrolled him. In came Golgari Charm, Abrupt Decay, Lightning Axe, Darkblast out went Stinkweed, Gravetroll and 2 Neonate
Game 2 - He landed a turn 2 Ooze, and that was basically it, as I didn't see any interaction in Abrupt Decay or Lightning Axe.
Game 3 - I kept a 6 card hand with Darkblast, a Neonate, and a Bloodstained Mire, so I thought I could keep him off early mana dorks, while also potentially digging for a second land with Neonate, but I missed drawing a second land by a couple turns. He ends up Chording for Scavenging Ooze and that's all she wrote.
[b]1-3[/b] but not dead for top 32 so I give it a go.
[b]Round 5[b] - Affinity
Game 1 - On a mull to 6 my opponent drops 5 cards including a Cranial Plating and my life total goes 20-13-1 dead.
Game 2 - I side in Ancient Grudges and Darkblast, can't remember what I take out but I'm sure it's some Dredgers and maybe a Neonate. I manage to win game 2 on the back of some timely Ancient Grudges and a Stinkweed Imp holding off his team.
Game 3 - I had to mull to 4 as I saw no lands in my 7,6, or 5 card hands. I keep my 4 card hand with Ancient Grudge, Bloodstained Mire, Vengevine and some other card so not great. I manage to win but my opponent (a super great guy) makes a play sequencing error and I manage to win on turn 4 of extra turns.
[b]2-3[/b] Have to win 3 straight matches for a chance of top 32.
[b]Round 6[/b] - UR Storm
Game 1 - I keep a hand with Lotleth Troll and a Gravecrawler but I draw a lot of lands and don't pressure my opponent and he storms out. I bring out Darkblast, Lightning Axe, some Dredgers and bring in 2 Abrupt Decay and a Golgari Charm (for Pyromancer's Ascension) and I think a Gnaw to the Bone.
Game 2 - I keep a forest an overgrown tomb and an Abrupt Decay to hit any Pyromancer's Ascension and I manage to destroy one on my opponents turn 2. I end up dredging pretty hard but the Dredge's are just whiffs most of the time. Several times I dredge 5 or 6 to just reveal lands, spells I can't cast from the yard and more Dredge cards (so I basically time walked myself) and my opponent eventually combos off with Empty the Warrens, and my only Golgari Charm was in the graveyard so I concede.
[b]Match Record:2-4 Game Record:6-9[/b]
Overall, I think I made a lot of misplays by dredging blindly just hoping to hit more Dredgers, or recurring creatures. In game 1 I think that's fine but I think in sideboarded games I have to play a lot more conservatively. Draw cards, hope to hit my sideboard cards and lands and then when I have a line, involving Dredge cards or just Neonates, then I go for it, I can't just blindly Dredge and hope to get there.
Also, I think when siding out creatures I should side out Golgari-Grave Trolls before Stinkweed Imps, but I'm unsure of how to allocate what spells come out when I put sideboard cards in. If in post board games I'm drawing more cards I probably don't want to draw Prized Amalgams, so perhaps some number of those should come out. I also am not sure whether I should leave in Neonates when I remove the big dredgers, or should I take out 1 Neonate for every big Dredge cards I take out, or is it a ratio of 2 Big Dredgers:1 Neonate, I really don't know.
[b]TLDR I think I played pre-sideboard games well, I know the lines, but the whole sideboarding process is a mystery to me, and the post-sideboard games were also quite a disaster.[/b]
The Downside: Thug is a horrible creature in play that is little more than a speedbump. Thug also has Dredge 4 instead of Dredge 5 and occasionally his death ability is a negative (it isn't optional).
The Upside: He costs 1 less than Stinkweed and when he dies he can either put a Neonate on top, which can then sac to Dredge back the Thug and then if you have the mana cast the thug to bring back all the Vengevines and Amalgams from the yard (you do need a card to discard to sac the Neonate, so this line doesn't work if you're hellbent). Another line is when the Thug dies is to put a Lotleth Troll on top, cast it a Gravecrawler from the yard to bring back all the Vengevines and Amalgams.
Is there anything I'm missing?