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Dredge: The Monster of Legacy
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Introduction
LED Dredge (more commonly known as just Dredge) is the graveyard-based, aggro-combo hybrid deck that has long been considered a boogeyman of the Legacy format. The deck’s potential to combine pressure with creatures and combo plays with explosive graveyard interaction makes it both unpredictable and easy to underestimate. Dredge gives pilots the rare advantage of treating the graveyard like an extension of the hand, meaning the Dredge player will see many more of their cards each game than their opponent will. This deck wins by using Dread Return to reanimate a creature like Flame-Kin Zealot or Flayer of the Hatebound to achieve a quick combo finish, or by overwhelming the opponent over time with zombie tokens and Ichorid.
This deck was originally named Ichorid after its key creature, the self-reanimating and super-scary Ichorid himself. More recently this deck has been called Dredge because of its key mechanic* that allows the pilot to interact with and build his or her graveyard each time he or she would draw a card. Golgari Grave-Troll is the poster boy for the Dredge mechanic, as he has the mighty Dredge 6.
*702.51a Dredge is a static ability that functions only while the card with dredge is in a player’s graveyard. “Dredge N” means “As long as you have at least N cards in your library, if you would draw a card, you may instead put N cards from the top of your library into your
graveyard and return this card from your graveyard to your hand.”
I want to give a special thanks to those who did so much to help me update our LED Dredge primer. SHABOOGS, eAlphax, and GoldenOldBoy worked hard to support this project. Thanks, guys!
–Eretoryi, 8/1/16 -----
Table of Contents
Impact – History, Misconceptions, & Variations
Card Selection – Mainboard & Sideboard
Mechanics – Rules & Rulings, Proper Play
Sample Decklists – Ichorid 2007 & LED Dredge 2016
Matchup Analyses
Resources – Articles & Videos
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History
Dredge decks became possible in 2005 when the static ability of the same name was introduced as the Golgari mechanic for Ravnica: City of Guilds. Since then, Dredge has made a huge impact on Magic because it allows pilots to play in a completely unique style that challenges opponents to even interact, especially if they are unprepared. More recently, at the release of Dark Ascension in 2012, Dredge received a great new tool in Faithless Looting. Today most of the successful Dredge decks are called LED Dredge because of the potent synergy between Faithless Looting and Lion’s Eye Diamond.
Misconceptions
Doesn’t Dredge play 0 lands? No! You’re actually talking about Manaless Dredge which, while also a very cool Dredge based deck, is significantly different from LED Dredge.
Doesn’t Dredge instantly lose to graveyard hate? No! Dredge has some very good sideboard options against graveyard hate and can sometimes even outpace it. These options are covered in the Card Selection portion of the primer.
Isn’t Dredge a boring, uninteractive deck? No! Dredge has some excellent mainboard interaction in Cabal Therapy. Besides that, Dredge presents the pilot with plenty of interesting decisions to make during the game, including some of the most unique effects in the game.
Variations of Dredge
This primer is for discussions focused on LED Dredge. While there are a few variations of Dredge that have gone in and out of style over the years, it is widely considered that LED Dredge is the most viable version of any Dredge deck in today’s meta. Below is a list of some common variations from the past and the present.
LEDless Dredge: This is a budget version of LED Dredge. The most common substitution is Tireless Tribe or other fringe cards for Lion’s Eye Diamond.
Quadlazer Dredge: This is perhaps the simplest version of LED Dredge. It plays 4 of each card and leaves out Dread Return entirely.
Manaless Dredge: This version of Dredge plays no lands and no Lion’s Eye Diamond, preferring to eschew producing mana entirely and relying on Balustrade Spy to put the entire library into the graveyard. This deck can be viable in a combo-heavy metagame, but it is extremely weak to graveyard hate and therefore less well-rounded compared to LED Dredge.
Bloodghast Dredge: This is a somewhat dated version of Dredge that plays both Bloodghast and Undiscovered Paradise as an alternative or supplement to Ichorid. It is not considered superior to LED Dredge.
Mainboard
There is a surprising amount of flexibility in Dredge decks, although some cards are always included as four copies because of their strength. Below is my current list as of June, 2016. It is not meant to be the only good list, just an example of a viable one.
Creatures: Creatures make up a large portion of the deck because Dredge is, at its heart, an aggressive deck with the ability to win with a combo, not a combo deck with the ability to win by attacking.
Dredgers: These are the four creatures with the highest Dredge numbers. It is important to play at least 12 of these in the maindeck in order to have a reasonable chance of seeing multiple dredgers every game.
Darkblast is a tempting choice for use against 1 toughness creatures, or even 2 toughness creatures if you’re able to use Darkblast twice on the same turn by casting it during your upkeep, dredging it back to your hand, and casting it again. It has definite value in matches against creature swarm decks like Elves.
Shambling Shell is not usually played because 12 dredgers should be enough.
Dread Return targets: There are several good options for the maindeck provided it runs a number of Dread Returns.
Flame-Kin Zealot allows you to make a bunch of zombies, pump them, and attack with the whole group for an unexpected and huge swing.
Dragonlord Kolaghan is a newer option for Dredge. Although it doesn’t buff your other creatures, it is harder to kill by itself and can be used to return Ichorid to the battlefield, unlike Flame-Kin Zealot, because it is a black creature.
Golgari Grave-Troll gets an honorable mention here because it is often quite large when reanimated. The card rulings also say that when Golgari Grave-Troll checks the number of creatures in the graveyard it counts itself before entering the battlefield.
Griselbrand allows you to continue dredging as soon as you reanimate him and is a hefty body. This guy is less recommended though because you usually don’t need to continue dredging after casting Dread Return. The other options usually allow a direct win after the first reanimation.
(Other huge creatures) are all good options for Dread Return just like they are in Reanimator, but these are often included in the sideboard for Dredge. The best creatures for this list are Iona, Shield of Emeria, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and Ashen Rider. If including Legendary creatures in the deck be aware that Karakas can pose a significant threat to your Dread Return win.
Important effect creatures: These creatures are essential to the deck because they come back from the graveyard (mostly) for free or they help put cards from your hand to the graveyard.
Ichorid, while requiring a certain density of black creatures to sustain 3-4 of these in the maindeck, is an excellent option for consistent pressure. It is also a steady source of zombie tokens because it sacrifices itself at the end of your turn. Many games will be won just by attacking with Ichorid and his zombie friends.
Narcomoeba is a free creature if you turn it over while dredging. This guy is very good to pay the Flashback cost of a Dread Return or Cabal Therapy, especially if it means you’ll get one or more zombie tokens from Bridge from Below.
Putrid Imp acts like a repeatable discard and sacrifice fodder for Dread Return and Cabal Therapy. A lot of his value is in allowing us to keep hands with one dredger, but he can also be used to discard cards like Ichorid and Bridge from Below at instant speed to surprise opponents.
Tireless Tribe is very similar to Putrid Imp thanks to its ability to constantly put cards in your graveyard. This creature is not black so it cannot feed Ichorid, so consider it slightly weaker than Putrid Imp. These are usually only included in budget lists that do not run Lion’s Eye Diamond.
Bloodghast could be run in addition to or instead of Ichorid, but relying on land drops to get your free creatures is a weak plan. It is possible to play a Dredge variant that includes Dakmor Salvage and Undiscovered Paradise to run Bloodghast, but it is not as competitive as LED Dredge.
Prized Amalgam has potential as another free creature from the graveyard. While this creature has proven to be strong in Modern Dredge, it may not be necessary in LED Dredge because we already have access to Ichorid. Even so, it has value in grindy matchups and may be worth a slot or more after all.
Instants & Sorceries: Mainboard sorceries are usually the bulk of this category because they allow us to accelerate the dredging process by looting (drawing and then discarding), which allows whatever cards we just dredged from our graveyard to be put right back into it.
Cabal Therapy allows Dredge pilots to attack their opponents’ hands, gaining both information and the opportunity to take whatever card is most threatening at the time. While Cabal Therapy does take practice and metagame knowledge to be used “blind,” without previous knowledge of your opponent’s hand, the payoff is quite worth the skill requirement. Cabal Therapy’s ability to be cast with Flashback is invaluable, as it will often be in the graveyard as a result of dredging. The fact that it costs no mana and can be used to generate zombie tokens by sacrificing Narcomoeba, Ichorid, or any of our other nontoken creatures with Bridge from Below is a strong synergy for the deck. It is also important to remember that it can target any player and can therefore be used to discard our own dredgers when necessary. Note: when casting Cabal Therapy the active player must name a target player, but upon resolution a card name is chosen. This means your opponents cannot ask you what card you will name before deciding to respond to the spell.
Faithless Looting is perfect for turn 1 or 2 because it can be used to put dredgers in the graveyard and or to get some dredging started. Its Flashback is perfectly costed for our Lion’s Eye Diamonds.
Breakthrough is a bit of an all-in combo style card because you usually have to pay X of 0. That said, the danger is usually very low in game 1 and drawing (read: dredging) four times is quite explosive.
Deep Analysis is not often included in newer Dredge lists because it has been replaced by Faithless Looting. It could see some fringe use, but is considered obsolete by the majority of Dredge players.
Others: There are at least two essential cards that do not fit in the above categories.
Lion’s Eye Diamond speeds up the deck by allowing you to discard your hand. It also gives you easy mana to Flashback Faithless Looting. It is widely accepted that Lion’s Eye Diamond is one of the most powerful cards in Dredge, and any lists excluding it are most likely doing so for budget reasons. As mentioned above, budget players may replace Lion’s Eye Diamond with Tireless Tribe, but only after their list already has four Putrid Imp.
Bridge from Below usually generates enough zombie tokens to win on its own. This enchantment, which only works from the graveyard, is the main enabler for the reanimation combo of Dread Return + a haste-granting creature like Flame-Kin Zealot or Dragonlord Kolaghan. One important thing to know about Bridge from Below is how to order its triggers when creatures die. If an opponent’s creature dies then the exile trigger goes on the stack, but if your creature also dies (perhaps as a result of a boardwipe like Toxic Deluge) then so does the “create a zombie” trigger. Because the Dredge pilot controls both triggers he or she chooses which one to put on the stack first and therefore which trigger will resolve first. Always put your exile triggers on the stack first, because whatever is put on the stack first will always resolve last. Proper ordering means that yes, you will have to exile your Bridge from Below(s), but not before also getting your zombie(s).
Lands: Dredge lists tend to run very low land counts because usually only one or two mana is required to start the Dredge engine.
Mana Confluence is a reasonably new card to Dredge. It is excellent because it can produce any color and has very little drawback in such a fast deck.
Gemstone Mine is the second best mana producing land for Dredge because it can be used three times for any color. We will rarely need more than three mana in a game so this is a practically nonexistent drawback.
City of Brass is usually included as the third type of mana producing land depending on how many rainbow lands the pilot wants in their list. It is technically a downgrade from Mana Confluence because if the City of Brass gets tapped somehow (like by an opponent’s Rishadan Port), even if you are not using it for mana, you still take 1 damage.
Cephalid Coliseum is amazing because not only can it can cast our blue enabler spells like Careful Study and Breakthrough, and sideboard cards like Chain of Vapor, but it has a fantastic Threshold ability that allows us to loot three times.
Sideboard
Sideboards always include ways to fight the most common graveyard hate in the format. Sideboards will vary depending on the expected metagame but some cards, like Ashen Rider, are almost always included.
Creatures: Keep in mind that if you are sideboarding in Legendary creatures Karakas becomes a very strong card against us.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is a trump card against creature strategies like Merfolk, Elves, Delver, and other Dredge players.
Iona, Shield of Emeria is a trump card against many decks that heavily rely on one color to win. Examples of these types of decks are obvious one color decks like Death & Taxes (although they can still use Aether Vial to flash in creatures), Elves, and Merfolk. Multi-color decks like Storm, Show and Tell, Infect, and Miracles can also be seriously hindered.
Faerie Macabre has utility against opposing graveyard strategies and the fact that it is a black creature means it can be exiled to Ichorid. Because Faerie Macabre’s value is found in its activated ability, it costs us no mana and cannot be stopped by standard counterspells like Force of Will.
Ingot Chewer is good against artifact hate for our strategy and has the benefit of triggering our Bridge from Below for zombie tokens because Evoke causes it to die after entering play. It is only usable at sorcery speed though, which is a disadvantage.
Street Wraith is a decent choice against individual card graveyard hate like Surgical Extraction and Extirpate if they target a dredger because you can just dredge that card in response. Otherwise, Street Wraith can be helpful in accelerating the deck by practically giving us a free dredge. Worst case scenario, it can be exiled by Ichorid or reanimated by Dread Return. While this card has potential it is not generally considered an optimal use of a sideboard slot.
Instants & Sorceries:
Chain of Vapor is an interesting card because it allows your opponent the chance to turn it back on you somewhat. However, it is still a strong temporary answer to permanent graveyard hate like Rest in Peace or Grafdigger’s Cage. Of course, in many scenarios a temporary answer is sufficient because you can bounce the permanent on your opponent’s end step and then win on your own turn. Chain of Vapor has excellent synergy with Cabal Therapy because it gives you a known target in the opponent’s hand.
Nature’s Claim is an excellent choice for a flexible anti-hate card. It is good at killing your opponent’s Rest in Peace or forcing an activation of Tormod’s Crypt on their turn so you can start dredging again on your own turn. The drawback is giving your opponent 4 life (if you force the activation of single-use hate like Nihil SpellbombNature’s Claim becomes countered by the lack of a target and your opponent does not gain life), but that will rarely decide a game because opponents will often keep a hand with graveyard hate and nothing else.
Abrupt Decay is a strong option for the sideboard. It has a lot of potential because it cannot be countered, and it is also flexible in that it is able to kill both enchantment hate like Rest in Peace, artifact hate like Relic of Progenitus, and creature hate like Containment Priest. The main drawback is that you must devote two mana in one turn to cast Abrupt Decay.
Firestorm is excellent against creature based decks and hate because not only will it remove creatures, but it allows you to discard cards as well. This is the perfect example of a card that enables our strategy as much as it hates on competing strategies. Note, discarding cards is part of the cost of casting Firestorm, therefore, even if Firestorm becomes countered, the cards are still discarded as the spell goes on the stack. Another trick is to target both players even if there are no creatures on board, therefore allowing you to discard twice regardless without any conditions.
Others: Sometimes lands are also included in the sideboard to help with the issue of casting anti-hate cards in games 2 and 3.
City of Brass would usually be the land of choice to include in the sideboard if there are not already four in the mainboard.
Lotus Petal performs a similar function as extra lands do in the sideboard, except it is possible to have your Lotus Petal countered. Lotus Petal does allow you to play more spells on one turn than you could with only your land drops, a quality that can be extremely valuable in racing the fast combo decks.
Leyline of the Void is of course very useful against other graveyard decks. One nice bonus is that Leyline of the Void stops your opponents’ non-token creatures from entering the graveyard, and activating your Bridge from Below’s exile trigger when they die.
Rules & Rulings
702.51a Dredge is a static ability that functions only while the card with dredge is in a player’s graveyard. “Dredge N” means “As long as you have at least N cards in your library, if you would draw a card, you may instead put N cards from the top of your library into your
graveyard and return this card from your graveyard to your hand.”
702.51b A player with fewer cards in his or her library than the number required by a dredge ability can’t put any of them into his or her graveyard this way.
(Ruling 6/7/13) Dredge lets you replace any card draw, not just the one during your draw step.
119.2 Cards may only be drawn one at a time. If a player is instructed to draw multiple cards, that player performs that many individual card draws.
(Ruling 6/7/13) Once you decide to replace a draw using a card's dredge ability, that card can't be removed from your graveyard "in response." (Replacement effects don't use the stack.)
(Ruling 6/7/13) You can't use dredge unless you're going to draw a card and the card with dredge is already in your graveyard.
Proper Play
Knowing how and when to dredge is just as important as knowing how to set your graveyard up. Most ideal turn 1 plays will involve some kind of looting effect that will allow you to start dredging turn 2. Very strong hands will even allow you to start dredging turn 1 due to having a land, a Lion’s Eye Diamond, and a loot spell. Here is an example:
With this hand you are able to play your land, cast your Lion’s Eye Diamond (although you may wish to cast Lion’s Eye Diamond before playing your land so your opponent may confuse you for Storm [watch out for Daze, though]), cast Faithless Looting and retain priority* to crack LED for three red mana, dredge your Golgari Grave-Troll and Stinkweed Imp, discard them both, and use your Lion’s Eye Diamond mana to Flashback Faithless Looting to dredge twice again. Next turn you’ll be set up to reanimate at least one Ichorid and get at least one zombie token when Ichorid dies.
*Holding priority is essential when you cast a looting spell (like Faithless Looting, Careful Study, or Breakthrough) and have a Lion’s Eye Diamond in play. You can use Lion’s Eye Diamond’s ability to discard your hand and put Dredge creatures into your graveyard before your looting spell resolves. Make sure you indicate to your opponent whenever you intend to do this, so there is no confusion about when they receive priority. They do not receive priority until you pass it to them.
Of course, not all hands will be as easy to play out as our example. It is important to always try and start with a hand that has at least one dredger, a way to put that dredger in your graveyard very soon, and a way to do something else meaningful. Usually these hands have one or two lands, and hands with zero or 3+ lands are usually not acceptable.
Draw, Discard, and Dredge
“Draw, discard, and dredge” is the description given to turns that involve no action but discarding to hand size. As the Magic rules limit players to seven cards in their hand, if we draw a card and pass the turn without playing any spells or lands we will be required to discard the eighth card in our hand. This play, also called “DDD,” allows us to discard a dredger without exposing our land to Wasteland and start dredging the next turn without even needing a loot spell.
Keeping this technique in mind, we can keep hands that would otherwise be questionable, for example: Breakthrough, Stinkweed Imp, Gemstone Mine, and four Bridge from Below (just to make things simple in this hypothetical situation, your last four cards aren’t very useful in your hand). If you are on the draw you can pass your turn and put Stinkweed Imp into your graveyard, which will allow you to save your Breakthrough for a potentially much larger payoff on turn 2. Note: the Cleanup Step happens after the End Step. After your opponent relinquishes priority on your End Step, you discard, and nothing further (besides other Cleanup Step actions) may take place.
”Draw into Good Old Dredge” by GoldenOldBoy
One of our members came up with a nice memory aid to help with mulligan decisions. Here is his summary of it.
"Draw Into Good Old Dredge" is a fairly simple phrase that will guarantee you a 30% increase in winning your games. Probably. I'm not a mathematician, don't quote me on that.
"Draw Into Good Old Dredge" helps you figure out which hands are keepable and which are not. It's not any more complex than that!
Into - Nothing to see here. If you have this card in your hand, increase your chances of keeping by 0%.
Good - This right here is your golden egg, quite literally. When you say this, look for a gold land in your hand. Gold lands are Mana Confluence, City of Brass, and Gemstone Mine. Since both Good and Gold start with the letter G, this shouldn't be hard to forget. If you have any gold lands in your hand, increase your chances of keeping by 25%.
Old - When you say "Old", please don't look at the token 40 year old dude in your shop who has been playing since Alpha. You should look at your hand and search for a discard outlet. The two most common discard outlets are Putrid Imp and LED. Note that Careful Study and Faithless can also be discard outlets. Budget builds may include Tireless Tribe as an outlet, typically in place of LED. Old and Outlet both start with the letter O, so try not to forget this one either. If you have a discard outlet in hand, increase your chances of keeping by 25%.
Dredge - The big kahuna and the namesake of the deck. Look through your hand and see if you ripped a Dredger. If you have one, increase your chances of keeping by 40%. You always want a Dredger in your hand to start. If you don't see one, you should probably pitch your whole hand.
If you have only two of the pieces in your hand, chances are high you should pitch it unless it's something busted like Cephalid Coliseum into LED, which is honestly the best turn 1 play in Legacy. If you have three of the pieces, chances are high you should keep it. Don't believe me? Go combo LED into Looting into double Grave-Troll and get back to me. If you have all four of the pieces, it's a snap keep. Don't even try arguing with me, I've been playing Dredge for 45 years.
And that's all there is to it! Just always draw into good old Dredge and you'll be playing like a pro in no time.
Ichorid 2007
For novelty’s sake, here is a more classic Ichorid list piloted by Tibo Andrien in 2007.
Grixis Delver has more counter-magic for the early turns so redundancy is the key here. Same with Miracles, a first turn Cabal Therapy on Force of Will or baiting them with Putrid Imp and looting spells is necessary to ensure that you get dredgers in the graveyard. You can go the draw, discard, dredge route only if they don't have a turn 1 Deathrite Shaman. With that said, Grixis Delver only has one green source (a singleton Tropical Island) so multiple Deathrite Shamans on the battlefield are not as scary as they look. If you were able to put at least two dredgers in the graveyard on your first turn, then an active Deathrite Shaman on his turn can no longer stop your Dredge engine. They can also opt for a first turn Cabal Therapy to remove your draw spells but that doesn't happen too often. Since this is another counter-magic deck, Cabal Therapy is extremely helpful in determining the right time to go off.
This match up is a little tricker than Grixis Delver since it has more green mana sources for multiple Deathrite Shamans. But as long as you start the dredge engine early, you have a high chance to win by overwhelming their Deathrite Shaman. Draw, discard, dredge is also viable when they don't open with a turn 1 Deathrite Shaman. A timely Abrupt Decay on their own creature can exile all your Bridge from Belows so always remember to cast Cabal Therapy before going all in with Breakthrough and Lion’s Eye Diamond.
Unfortunately, UB Reanimator is a difficult match up. They can lock us out of the game quickly and have free counterspells. Cabal Therapy is again your best bet at any chance of winning. If you have an explosive opening hand, name Force of Will or even Daze (on the draw) with Cabal Therapy. If you have a slow hand (which is not ideal), Entomb or any reanimation spell is a good choice. Be aware that a resolved Brainstorm in response to Cabal Therapy changes your naming decisions. Postboard games, your only chance will be Leyline of the Void or a timely Faerie Macabre when they cast their reanimation spells.
Ad Nauseam Tendrils/ANT by SHABOOGS
Mainboard threats:
Storm can be classified into two variants: The Epic Storm and Ad Nauseam Tendrils. TES is faster and has Burning Wish and Rite of Flame, while ANT is more consistent at winning half a turn or a turn slower than TES by relying more on black ritual spells like Cabal Ritual. There are two ways to win against Storm: 1) Going off before they do with Flame-Kin Zealot, Dragonlord Kolaghan, or Flayer of the Hatebound or 2) Ripping their hand apart with multiple Cabal Therapys to slow them down. Rituals (usually Dark Ritual or Cabal Ritual) and Infernal Tutor are the usual things to name with a blind Cabal Therapy. It's also good to think about their line to victory when you first see their hand to determine what to remove next.
Elves is a combo deck that we can race with relative ease since their clock is at least one turn slower. They main Deathrite Shamans and will usually abuse them with Quirion Ranger or Wirewood Symbiote when they face graveyard-based decks if they have the chance. However, this is something that can be easily played around. The real threat is Scavenging Ooze (usually a one-of) that they can bring into play with Green Sun's Zenith or, one turn slower, Natural Order. Since an active Scavenging Ooze is usually the end of our plan, a Cabal Therapy naming Green Sun's Zenith is important or else they can cast it as a 2nd or 3rd turn play. Thus, if in game 1 you can go for an all-in win within the first two (on the draw) or three (on the play) turn, go for it. However, our game plan changes significantly in games 2 and 3. We possess a nuclear bomb that Elves have little to battle against: Firestorm. A well-resolved Firestorm offers us an empty field and plenty of graveyard to work with, thus we need to play the waiting game for full efficiency. Watch out for a couple of [card\Surgical Extraction[/card]s that they bring in and their own post-sideboard Cabal Therapy that they can use to remove our Bridge from Belows, or even to discard our Firestorms. As for Dread Return targets, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is an instant win. Iona, Shield of Emeria is excellent too. A favoured match-up for Dredge in general.
Lands is one of the few matchups that doesn’t get much worse after sideboarding. The reason for this is that Lands already has an extremely powerful mainboard against Dredge. While our own graveyard hate can help considerably against their ability to find lands with Life from the Loam, there is only so much we can do against Glacial Chasm. Ashen Rider is a clear choice against all the permanents Lands uses against us, but it is important to either Cabal Therapy and take away their ability to use Gamble or Crop Rotation and therefore avoid getting blown out by Bojuka Bog, or to keep a hand that can fight through one Bojuka Bog.
Shardless BUG is one of the happy decks that gets to play Deathrite Shaman and Force of Will against us from the beginning of the match. However, one of either or both of these cards can be fought through with relative ease. Cabal Therapy can, as always, check for Force of Will, and Deathrite Shaman will have difficulty exiling the sheer number of creatures we can put in our graveyard. Just be careful that you do not cast Dread Return into an untapped Deathrite Shaman. From their sideboard it is fairly common to see artifact type graveyard hate, and single-use hate like Nihil Spellbomb can be beaten with measured, as opposed to all-in, dredging.
As a newly established archetype, Eldrazi Stompy can be unpredictable. One card that will be sure to ruin our day is Chalice of the Void, and we can expect to see that in every competitive Eldrazi list. While they have little else that can hurt us severely in game 1, be careful of Warping Wail targeting Dread Return, as it is possible that your army of zombie tokens will not be enough on their own to get through the huge Eldrazi on the other side of the table. In games 2 and 3 watch out for Leyline of the Void and maybe even Phyrexian Revoker naming Lion’s Eye Diamond. Unfortunately, the fact that Eldrazi is a new archetype and the fact that the colors are not yet perfectly defined, it is entirely possible to see artifact hate like Relic of Progenitus and even Karakas.
As Death & Taxes is a white deck we have to expect the inevitable Swords to Plowshares. While this card from the mainboard can slow down our Ichorid plan, it is far more dangerous if they use it on our Dread Return target, therefore if Dread Return is our main plan, Iona, Shield of Emeria should be the first choice of reanimation targets, although we do have to watch out for Karakas. Wasteland and Rishadan Port can be hard on our limited manabase, but if we can use our mana on turn 1, and hopefully also turn 2, then the damage will have already been done and their mana denial loses its effectiveness against us. Be especially careful of Rest in Peace and Containment Priest from the sideboard, not forgetting that the latter can be brought in at instant speed. The good news for the Dredge pilot in this matchup is that both of these powerful hate cards come down turn 2 at the earliest.
(The previous version of the primer can be found here.)
I want to thank everyone from the old Dredge primer who contributed to creating this new one. Zirath was the author of our previous primer and he did an excellent job. I hope that we have done both our deck and his primer justice with this brand new version.
As this is a brand new primer, suggestions are always welcome, especially if a typo or mistake is identified while reading. I hope everyone enjoys this primer as much as we have enjoyed working on it!
Nicely done, Eretoryi. Is it just me or did we miss Cabal Therapy in the card selection section? It is one of the most skill intensive cards in Legacy and is one of the most important cards in Dredge. A successful Therapy or two combined with an army of zombies can get us the win most of the time.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Is it just me or did we miss Cabal Therapy in the card selection section?
Check post #4753 (page 189) in the old thread
I defs think a link to *how to play therapy* is a good idea, see my old post stated here for an example link.
Sure, ExpiredRascals, next time I'm at my computer I will add the link.
Slave, I did actually include a link to a "How to Therapy" article, but I still need to fix the Card Selection section because it does not have Therapy at all. I'm so silly.
Alright guys I want to kick this thread off right away with a question about my list. I want to jam in another LED but I'm not sure if I want to cut something from the main. The obvious first choice is Iona but I really like her in game 1 when I don't think Flame-Kin Zealot and Zombie tokens will do the trick. I'm also debating on putting in a 4th Golgari Thug, but again, don't know what to cut.
Here's my list. What, if anything, should I cut/move?
By including *fat* in the maindeck (ie Iona, Zealot, DR), you're decreasing your consistency.
I would up the numbers of LED & B-thru to 4, before doing anything else, as they can give you the most explosive chance against other fast decks.
Then I'd up Thug to 4 for consistency. After that it's an issue of choice.
In game 1, I've found Iona to be useful (been there) but I've also had players running Reanimate-style cards steal her and use it against me.
As decks rarely have gravehate in game1, most often you only need to race them, therapy, attack, repeat.
On Zealot, if you really want that effect, have you considered the new-ish Dragonlord Kolaghan?
Personally I haven't run a DR target in the main for a while, only from the side.
The most flexible/useful target for me has been Ashen Rider to deal with trouble perms like Glacial Chasm etc., but Iona has been great against a lot of decks, like Miracles naming white.
Putrid Imp would get my vote to squeeze in the 4th LED and/or the 4th Thug. I dropped all PImps in my list sometime ago and never looked back. I think PImp is the weakest card to have in multples in your opening hand so cutting 1 or 2 would be fine IMO. Looking at your list tho, I think cutting an Ichorid wouldn't be a bad idea so that you can squeeze in the 4th LED. I also agree with slave's comment on increasing consistency by maximizing the draw spells and dredgers if you're going the supercombo finish route.
But if I straight-up cut Putrid Imp and max out Dredgers, LED and draw spells, won't it hurt consistency? Won't I be holding out for that turn 1 LED? Maybe I'm overthinking it, trying to cover too many bases at once.
In my experience, not really. I don't usually go off on turn 1 even if I have LED and a Draw spell in my opening hand. Your first play changes from "Land, PImp, Go" to "Land, Loot, Go" but that's about it. But I suggest try goldfishing with cutting 1-2 PImps first. If you like it, then you can try cutting them all and test it as well.
Hey everyone, I just bought most of the LEDless Dredge deck in a package deal. I have been interested playing Dredge for years, but was very iffy about making the plunge. Well I finally did and I have my first noob question.
First Noob question: So I do not have Tireless Tribe in my collection but I have Insolent Neonate. What do you guys think of running the neonate over the Tireless Tribe?
Sorry if this question has been asked already. I couldn't find it in the Archive.
I think Tribe is better than Neonate in Legacy because of its repeatable ability. Neonate's synergy with Bridge is irrelevant since most of the time Neonate would be activated on the first turn when the graveyard is empty and would need to rely on hitting dredgers with your only activation. I think it's even better to simply maximize your draw spells before squeezing in Tribes. If Tribe or PImp was Modern legal I think it would certainly give Neonate a run for its money.
But if I straight-up cut Putrid Imp and max out Dredgers, LED and draw spells, won't it hurt consistency?
Yes and no. The advantage PIMP gives you is the ability to drop anything in hand into the yard, dredgers included. Whilst this is not always important, being able to repeatedly drop your best dredgers is useful.
Lately I've been running Prized Amalgam in the main in small numbers. It's a beast VS Miracles. At first I cut the Pimps entirely, but I missed them.
Yeah I was just looking at your list. Is the single dread return only there to bring back a GGT? And I imagine going with the two Street Wraiths is so you have additional black creatures for Ichorid, and a few extra "draw spells"? Interesting choices for sure. How does this usually play out for you?
Is the single dread return only there to bring back a GGT? And I imagine going with the two Street Wraiths is so you have additional black creatures for Ichorid, and a few extra "draw spells"?
I can't speak for Yannutwin, but I can offer why I've run those cards in the same numbers.
A single DR in the main with no target is potentially for a giant sized GGT and for making zombies, with the emphasis on making zombies in my experience. GGT is pretty easy to chump. In the past I've used it to bring back Stinky to chump/kill flying threats also. The reason for me, why DR-single is useful, is because there are some matchups where Bridges don't last very long, so you'll want to create as many zombies ASAP before they get exiled.
Wraith is all about protection, not just DDD. Keep it in hand until they target a dredger with Surgical Extraction, Deathrite Shaman etc. and then cycle it for an instant-speed, uncounterable way to stop that card being exiled.
That's a perfect response and all things, as a new player of dredge, that I haven't thought of myself. Thank you for taking the time to write it all out here.
How many zombie tokens do you guys bring in tournaments? I have a deckbox full of tokens but I usually bring around 20 unglued zombie tokens. I'm currently trying to get those foil zombie tokens but the prices (for tokens) are insane right now.
I only own 10 Zombie tokens right now, but I'm trying to pick up more (preferably the foil Eldritch Moon double-sided ones). I'm planning on having 30 in a deck box for emergency Dredge Wombo Combos.
Edit:
I mean seriously. That right Zombie is so frickin sweet.
Aren't the new zombie tokens so nice? I look forward to getting some when the price goes down.
For now I usually bring about 10 unique zombie tokens because I like having the different arts. I could see three being the maximum you actually need though: one to represent tapped, one for untapped, and one for untapped but summoning sick.
I prefer the one on the left but that's just me. I already got 5 pcs of foil zombies that I traded a playset of winds of change and nether shadow for so I just might bite the bullet and pay for 5 more at 5 bucks a pop. Ridiculous, I know. But I don't think they'll do these again any time soon. There are days when 10 tokens are enough but sometimes the deck just goes bonkers and you get 20+ tokens on the board.
I mean seriously. That right Zombie is so frickin sweet.
Ooooo... they're purty lookin.
I bring all the zombies I own, about 15 or so, they're all different. There's been times I've needed more, but not often. Whenever a new set comes out with zombie tokens I buy a single of each different art to add to the horde, but I missed these ones. I'll pass on foil tokens though, I agree that they probably won't come around again anytime soon, but I'd rather spend that money on guitar effects pedals (I don't know which addiction is worse!).
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Dredge: The Monster of Legacy
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Introduction
LED Dredge (more commonly known as just Dredge) is the graveyard-based, aggro-combo hybrid deck that has long been considered a boogeyman of the Legacy format. The deck’s potential to combine pressure with creatures and combo plays with explosive graveyard interaction makes it both unpredictable and easy to underestimate. Dredge gives pilots the rare advantage of treating the graveyard like an extension of the hand, meaning the Dredge player will see many more of their cards each game than their opponent will. This deck wins by using Dread Return to reanimate a creature like Flame-Kin Zealot or Flayer of the Hatebound to achieve a quick combo finish, or by overwhelming the opponent over time with zombie tokens and Ichorid.
This deck was originally named Ichorid after its key creature, the self-reanimating and super-scary Ichorid himself. More recently this deck has been called Dredge because of its key mechanic* that allows the pilot to interact with and build his or her graveyard each time he or she would draw a card. Golgari Grave-Troll is the poster boy for the Dredge mechanic, as he has the mighty Dredge 6.
*702.51a Dredge is a static ability that functions only while the card with dredge is in a player’s graveyard. “Dredge N” means “As long as you have at least N cards in your library, if you would draw a card, you may instead put N cards from the top of your library into your
graveyard and return this card from your graveyard to your hand.”
I want to give a special thanks to those who did so much to help me update our LED Dredge primer. SHABOOGS, eAlphax, and GoldenOldBoy worked hard to support this project. Thanks, guys!
–Eretoryi, 8/1/16
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Table of Contents
History
Dredge decks became possible in 2005 when the static ability of the same name was introduced as the Golgari mechanic for Ravnica: City of Guilds. Since then, Dredge has made a huge impact on Magic because it allows pilots to play in a completely unique style that challenges opponents to even interact, especially if they are unprepared. More recently, at the release of Dark Ascension in 2012, Dredge received a great new tool in Faithless Looting. Today most of the successful Dredge decks are called LED Dredge because of the potent synergy between Faithless Looting and Lion’s Eye Diamond.
Misconceptions
This primer is for discussions focused on LED Dredge. While there are a few variations of Dredge that have gone in and out of style over the years, it is widely considered that LED Dredge is the most viable version of any Dredge deck in today’s meta. Below is a list of some common variations from the past and the present.
Mainboard
There is a surprising amount of flexibility in Dredge decks, although some cards are always included as four copies because of their strength. Below is my current list as of June, 2016. It is not meant to be the only good list, just an example of a viable one.
3 Breakthrough
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Dread Return
4 Faithless Looting
(4 Enchantments)
4 Bridge from Below
(17 Mana sources)
4 Cephalid Coliseum
1 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
4 Mana Confluence
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Golgari Thug
4 Ichorid
4 Narcomoeba
4 Putrid Imp
4 Stinkweed Imp
1 Tireless Tribe
Creatures: Creatures make up a large portion of the deck because Dredge is, at its heart, an aggressive deck with the ability to win with a combo, not a combo deck with the ability to win by attacking.
Dredgers: These are the four creatures with the highest Dredge numbers. It is important to play at least 12 of these in the maindeck in order to have a reasonable chance of seeing multiple dredgers every game.
Instants & Sorceries: Mainboard sorceries are usually the bulk of this category because they allow us to accelerate the dredging process by looting (drawing and then discarding), which allows whatever cards we just dredged from our graveyard to be put right back into it.
Others: There are at least two essential cards that do not fit in the above categories.
Lands: Dredge lists tend to run very low land counts because usually only one or two mana is required to start the Dredge engine.
Sideboard
Sideboards always include ways to fight the most common graveyard hate in the format. Sideboards will vary depending on the expected metagame but some cards, like Ashen Rider, are almost always included.
Creatures: Keep in mind that if you are sideboarding in Legendary creatures Karakas becomes a very strong card against us.
Instants & Sorceries:
Others: Sometimes lands are also included in the sideboard to help with the issue of casting anti-hate cards in games 2 and 3.
Rules & Rulings
Knowing how and when to dredge is just as important as knowing how to set your graveyard up. Most ideal turn 1 plays will involve some kind of looting effect that will allow you to start dredging turn 2. Very strong hands will even allow you to start dredging turn 1 due to having a land, a Lion’s Eye Diamond, and a loot spell. Here is an example:
Your opening hand is very good. You’ve drawn Golgari Grave-Troll, Stinkweed Imp, Faithless Looting, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Mana Confluence, Ichorid, and Bridge from Below.
With this hand you are able to play your land, cast your Lion’s Eye Diamond (although you may wish to cast Lion’s Eye Diamond before playing your land so your opponent may confuse you for Storm [watch out for Daze, though]), cast Faithless Looting and retain priority* to crack LED for three red mana, dredge your Golgari Grave-Troll and Stinkweed Imp, discard them both, and use your Lion’s Eye Diamond mana to Flashback Faithless Looting to dredge twice again. Next turn you’ll be set up to reanimate at least one Ichorid and get at least one zombie token when Ichorid dies.
*Holding priority is essential when you cast a looting spell (like Faithless Looting, Careful Study, or Breakthrough) and have a Lion’s Eye Diamond in play. You can use Lion’s Eye Diamond’s ability to discard your hand and put Dredge creatures into your graveyard before your looting spell resolves. Make sure you indicate to your opponent whenever you intend to do this, so there is no confusion about when they receive priority. They do not receive priority until you pass it to them.
Of course, not all hands will be as easy to play out as our example. It is important to always try and start with a hand that has at least one dredger, a way to put that dredger in your graveyard very soon, and a way to do something else meaningful. Usually these hands have one or two lands, and hands with zero or 3+ lands are usually not acceptable.
Draw, Discard, and Dredge
“Draw, discard, and dredge” is the description given to turns that involve no action but discarding to hand size. As the Magic rules limit players to seven cards in their hand, if we draw a card and pass the turn without playing any spells or lands we will be required to discard the eighth card in our hand. This play, also called “DDD,” allows us to discard a dredger without exposing our land to Wasteland and start dredging the next turn without even needing a loot spell.
Keeping this technique in mind, we can keep hands that would otherwise be questionable, for example: Breakthrough, Stinkweed Imp, Gemstone Mine, and four Bridge from Below (just to make things simple in this hypothetical situation, your last four cards aren’t very useful in your hand). If you are on the draw you can pass your turn and put Stinkweed Imp into your graveyard, which will allow you to save your Breakthrough for a potentially much larger payoff on turn 2. Note: the Cleanup Step happens after the End Step. After your opponent relinquishes priority on your End Step, you discard, and nothing further (besides other Cleanup Step actions) may take place.
”Draw into Good Old Dredge” by GoldenOldBoy
One of our members came up with a nice memory aid to help with mulligan decisions. Here is his summary of it.
"Draw Into Good Old Dredge" helps you figure out which hands are keepable and which are not. It's not any more complex than that!
the endthe moniker. When you say this word, you should look for a draw spell in your hand such as Breakthrough, Faithless Looting, or Careful Study. A non-spell draw mechanic Dredge also has is the Roman Coliseum, circa 2001. If you have Breakthrough or Cephalid Coliseum in hand, increase your chances of keeping by 10%. If you have Faithless Looting or Careful Study, increase your chances of keeping by 20% instead.And that's all there is to it! Just always draw into good old Dredge and you'll be playing like a pro in no time.
Ichorid 2007
For novelty’s sake, here is a more classic Ichorid list piloted by Tibo Andrien in 2007.
4 Cephalid Coliseum
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
(24 Creatures)
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
2 Golgari Thug
4 Ichorid
4 Narcomoeba
4 Putrid Imp
4 Stinkweed Imp
1 Wonder
2 Breakthrough
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Deep Analysis
3 Dread Return
4 Tolarian Winds
(8 Other spells)
4 Bridge from Below
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Sickening Dreams
4 Stifle
Dredge 2016
Here is a more recent list piloted by Keane Frady on 6/26/2016.
3 Cephalid Coliseum
2 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Mana Confluence
(22 Creatures)
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Golgari Thug
1 Griselbrand
3 Ichorid
4 Narcomoeba
2 Putrid Imp
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Breakthrough
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Careful Study
1 Dread Return
4 Faithless Looting
(8 Other spells)
4 Bridge from Below
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
3 Abrupt Decay
1 City of Brass
1 Dread Return
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Firestorm
1 Ichorid
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Lotus Petal
1 Nature’s Claim
2 Thoughtseize
Mainboard threats:
BUG Delver by SHABOOGS
Mainboard threats:
Reanimator by SHABOOGS
Mainboard threats:
Ad Nauseam Tendrils/ANT by SHABOOGS
Mainboard threats:
Elves by nikos731
Mainboard threats:
Lands by Eretoryi
Mainboard threats:
Shardless BUG by Eretoryi
Mainboard threats:
Eldrazi Stompy by Eretoryi
Mainboard threats:
Death & Taxes by Eretoryi
Mainboard threats:
(The previous version of the primer can be found here.)
Articles
As this is a brand new primer, suggestions are always welcome, especially if a typo or mistake is identified while reading. I hope everyone enjoys this primer as much as we have enjoyed working on it!
Welcome to LED Dredge, everyone.
Haha oh my gosh, we did. I'll be sure to update that today.
Eretoryi, would you consider adding this link to the OP?
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
Check post #4753 (page 189) in the old thread
I defs think a link to *how to play therapy* is a good idea, see my old post stated here for an example link.
Slave, I did actually include a link to a "How to Therapy" article, but I still need to fix the Card Selection section because it does not have Therapy at all. I'm so silly.
I changed my avatar so that I won't forget about Cabal Therapy again LOL
Here's my list. What, if anything, should I cut/move?
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Ichorid
4 Nacromoeba
4 Putrid Imp
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Golgari Thug
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Artifacts/Enchantments
4 Bridge from Below
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Faithless Looting
3 Breakthrough
3 Careful Study
2 Dread Return
Lands
4 Cephalid Coliseum
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Mana Confluence
1 Lotus Petal
1 Pithing Needle
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3 Chain of Vapor
2 Echoing Truth
3 Firestorm
4 Nature's Claim
By including *fat* in the maindeck (ie Iona, Zealot, DR), you're decreasing your consistency.
I would up the numbers of LED & B-thru to 4, before doing anything else, as they can give you the most explosive chance against other fast decks.
Then I'd up Thug to 4 for consistency. After that it's an issue of choice.
In game 1, I've found Iona to be useful (been there) but I've also had players running Reanimate-style cards steal her and use it against me.
As decks rarely have gravehate in game1, most often you only need to race them, therapy, attack, repeat.
On Zealot, if you really want that effect, have you considered the new-ish Dragonlord Kolaghan?
Personally I haven't run a DR target in the main for a while, only from the side.
The most flexible/useful target for me has been Ashen Rider to deal with trouble perms like Glacial Chasm etc., but Iona has been great against a lot of decks, like Miracles naming white.
First Noob question: So I do not have Tireless Tribe in my collection but I have Insolent Neonate. What do you guys think of running the neonate over the Tireless Tribe?
Sorry if this question has been asked already. I couldn't find it in the Archive.
Yes and no. The advantage PIMP gives you is the ability to drop anything in hand into the yard, dredgers included. Whilst this is not always important, being able to repeatedly drop your best dredgers is useful.
Lately I've been running Prized Amalgam in the main in small numbers. It's a beast VS Miracles. At first I cut the Pimps entirely, but I missed them.
Yeah I was just looking at your list. Is the single dread return only there to bring back a GGT? And I imagine going with the two Street Wraiths is so you have additional black creatures for Ichorid, and a few extra "draw spells"? Interesting choices for sure. How does this usually play out for you?
I can't speak for Yannutwin, but I can offer why I've run those cards in the same numbers.
A single DR in the main with no target is potentially for a giant sized GGT and for making zombies, with the emphasis on making zombies in my experience. GGT is pretty easy to chump. In the past I've used it to bring back Stinky to chump/kill flying threats also. The reason for me, why DR-single is useful, is because there are some matchups where Bridges don't last very long, so you'll want to create as many zombies ASAP before they get exiled.
Wraith is all about protection, not just DDD. Keep it in hand until they target a dredger with Surgical Extraction, Deathrite Shaman etc. and then cycle it for an instant-speed, uncounterable way to stop that card being exiled.
Edit:
I mean seriously. That right Zombie is so frickin sweet.
For now I usually bring about 10 unique zombie tokens because I like having the different arts. I could see three being the maximum you actually need though: one to represent tapped, one for untapped, and one for untapped but summoning sick.
Ooooo... they're purty lookin.
I bring all the zombies I own, about 15 or so, they're all different. There's been times I've needed more, but not often. Whenever a new set comes out with zombie tokens I buy a single of each different art to add to the horde, but I missed these ones. I'll pass on foil tokens though, I agree that they probably won't come around again anytime soon, but I'd rather spend that money on guitar effects pedals (I don't know which addiction is worse!).