DredgeVine as a deck has evolved constantly over the years to cope with new metas, new printings and new ideas. However the core focus of the deck remains the same. DredgeVine fills its graveyard to swarm the field with cheap recursive creatures, the most powerful of which being the deck's namesake, Vengevine. DredgeVine excels at aggressively swarming the field with powerful threats, playing a grindy game, and quickly destroying opposition with a powerful alpha strike of strong, hastey creatures. While most decks rely on their hand to cast spells, the fact that DredgeVine can use the power of the graveyard as a resource at all stages of the game gives it a strong and unique play-style with great resilience to common answers.
Value is good. But Dredgavine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Section 2: Building Dredgevine
DredgeVine has many builds that can be considered viable. All five of the colors can be used depending on how you wish your deck to play, but the two that every deck will want in its repertoire are access to BBlackB and GGreenG. Black gives access to recursive threats that help further the game plan like Gravecrawler and Bloodghast and contains the majority of creatures with the ability Dredge. Green allows you to run mana fixers like Birds of Paradise and Satyr Wayfinder, as well as allowing you to hardcast Vengevine.
When considering cards, a few ideas to keep in mind. We try to be a blistering fast explosive aggro deck.
1. A creature should either:
2. If it's over 2 CMC, it should say "Delve" or "Dredge X". Exceptions are Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Otherwise, forget it.
3. Removal should be at a minimum for game 1. Mainboard removal spells should have a perk in the form of being uncounterable, discard, etc.
Section 2.1: Creatures
Vengevine: The namesake of the deck. 4 power with haste coming out in multiples as early as turn two or three is a threat not many decks can deal with. Always run four, no matter what the rest of your build looks like.
Gravecrawler: Gravecrawler is an aggressively costed creature that can be cast from the graveyard. The fact that it says cast is a major bonus because of the synergy it provides in conjunction with Vengevine. Run 4, no exceptions.
Bloodghast: Provides large amounts of pressure to the opponent. A 2/1 that will almost always present a clock no matter how much removal that is thrown its way terrifies control decks, however the fact that it cannot block makes it weak against aggressive decks. This fact along with DredgeVine's habit of hurting itself with greedy shock+fetch manabases is a reason for many to cut Bloodghast from lists alltogether. If you are going to run Bloodghast, you will always want four.
Lotleth Troll: Troll has it all going for him. Zombie typing for Gravecrawler, Evasion, an ability that makes him a huge threat while removing unwanted chaff from our hands like Vengevine and Bloodghast, and regeneration to make him even more resistant to removal. There is no deck that wants to face down a turn 2 6/5 regenerating, trampling behemoth. Almost always run four.
Insolent Neonate: A one mana creature is great for triggering Dredgevine. Typical play is cast it, sac it, discard a dredge creature, dredge it back. Most lists run four of this awesome guy!
Prized Amalgam: While most three drops don't see play in Dredgevine, it's typically not cast from our hand. Combos really well with Bloodghast allowing for multiple triggers every turn. Being a zombie allows for nearly unlimited Gravecrawler triggers. A common play is to crack a fetch on the opponent's turn, get back Bloodghasts, and trigger Amalgams end of turn, allowing for a ton of attack power on the return combat step.
Birds of Paradise: A one drop for recurring Vengevine, a mana accelerant, and a flying beater if pumped through several of the packages detailed below. Birds is relevant in every stage of the game.
Satyr Wayfinder: Wayfinder has an amazing ability, but a 1/1 for two is lackluster. Running at least two is nice for the mana fixing and mill, but four is excessive because of the shrimpy combat stats.
Gurmag Angler: Similar to Grixis lists, Dredgevine abuses the delve mechanic to cheat this guy into play as early as turn 2. A 5/5 fattie for one mana that lets us continuously cast Gravecrawler is an auto include. The 4 turn clock that acts as zombie 9-12 is definitely the addition the deck needed to continuously force chump blocks and hack significantly at your opponents life total. Zombie Fish should be an auto 4-of in nearly every dredge version.
Golgari Grave-Troll: Finally unbanned. Took ya long enough Wizards! Grave-Troll has less utility than the other available dredge cards, yet it just does everything bigger. Bigger mana cost, bigger body, and bigger dredge count. Its very hard to reach 5 mana to cast him, but a 20+ p/t dude is hard to say no to, even with no evasion. Dredge creatures are still controversial, so run some mix involving Grave-Troll if you don't mind losing out on the utility of Golgari Thug and Stinkweed Imp.
Tymaret, the Murder King: A little bit of reach never hurts. Not being able to attack devastates DredgeVine, so a one of Tymaret in the main or side is a popular addition.
Stinkweed Imp: Cards with actual dredge have fallen out of favor because of inconsistency and weakness to the ever popular Collected Company and UR Delver. Stinkweed Imp is an unbeatable blocker and has the second highest available dredge count legal in Modern. Sometimes, opponents misread Imp and attack into him or they don't attack at all. Note: Imp does not say "Deathtouch", so his effect happens post combat. Still dies to First Strike damage without dealing damage to opposing creature.
Golgari Thug: The creature with the third highest dredge count in modern. Golgari Thug has lackluster combat stats as with most dredge creatures, but makes up for it with utility. The death trigger on Golgari Thug can range from amazingly useful to absolutely terrible depending on the situation.
Hedron Crab: The poster child for builds running blue. Does everything the deck wants. If you are not playing Bloodghast, remember to pop fetches in response to your own Hedron Crab triggers so you don't accidentally miss the land you are looking for, especially in such a mana greedy deck. Run 4 if you run blue.
Magus of the Bazaar: The second lead creature for blue builds. For self milling with Dredge cards, no one beats Magus. She is very weak to removal however. If she lives till your untap step, you are in a very advantageous position. Not reccomended unless you are going balls deep into the dredge plan.
Merfolk Looter: An alternative more budget friendly approach from Magus or Jace, but mills nonetheless.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy: Good at cycling through your hand and turns into a planeswalker. Can be effective in the right build of BUG-Vine.
Fatestitcher: Fatestitcher is the major blue utility creature. In full dredge builds, Stitcher was used to untap Magus of the Bazaar, be a free* zombie for Gravecrawler, and do all sorts of combat tricks and utility tapping/untapping. With the fall of full dredge builds, Fatestitcher is not often seen but still has the potential of an amazing utility creature.
Skaab Ruinator: Big, castable from the graveyard and evasive. Skaab Ruinator is expensive and the drawback of exiling 3 creatures from your grave on cast is a doozy. Be careful if you choose to run it with anything with delve or without much mill.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang: A sidegrade to Gurmag Angler. Tasigur trades trample for a point of toughness and an amazing ability which really helps in long grindy matchups. If you choose to run Tasigur, 2 is the max.
Hooting Mandrills: Another delve creature that was used to some success when it was first printed. It sacrifices a point of power and toughness to gain trample, which is relevant in grindy board stalls. With Angler being stronger and a zombie, it is usually the go-to over Mandrills. If you do decide to run Mandrills, 3-4 is correct.
Section 2.2: Spells
Faithless Looting: The entire reason to run Jund colors in this deck. Always keep a land with a Looting and one land. Digs 2, puts things in the graveyard, and has flashback. One of the best enablers we could ever want. Run 4.
Grisly Salvage: Digs five cards at instant speed and lets you grab a creature or land, sends the rest to the graveyard. With 75%+ of our deck being land/creature, it's extremely unlikely to whiff. Run 3-4.
Abrupt Decay: All-star removal spell that clears the way of most blockers, Liliana, or other enchantments. Can't be countered, so great vs aggro/control builds such as Twin, Merfolk, etc. Most run 2-3.
Lightning Axe: Great creature removal spell that kills high-toughness creatures with built-in bonus of allowing us to discard a dredger or other relevant spell. Kills the annoying Tarmogoyf, Exarch that Twin variants plays, Tasigur, or Angler that all the Grixis variants are playing. Run 1-2 if you play red.
Darkblast: Most lists run 1-2 in their 75. Dredge is a plus. Has many good targets in a lot of matchups. Often a card that gets sided out. Note: combat trick is target a 2 power toughness in your upkeep, dredge it back and retarget the creature.
Murderous Cut: Delve spell usually castable for 1 black mana that kills most any creature in the format. Be cautious when playing this with other delve spells like Gurmag Angler. If you run this, 2 is usually correct.
Thought Scour: A good card for decks playing blue. Mills yourself and allows for a potential dredge.
Life from the Loam: A solid one-of if you are playing Golgari Grave-Troll to hit your next few land drops. Also beneficial alongside Raven's Crime or Ghost Quarter in certain matchups.
Section 2.3: Lands
Fetches:
Verdant Catacombs: Every Dredgevine build runs black and green for primary colors. Fetches all of our basics and gets any land we run in our core colors. Run 4.
Wooded Foothills: Needed for fetching your basic forest. Good in Jund colors for fetching the Stomping Ground, Overgrown Tomb, or Blood Crypt. Run 1-2.
Polluted Delta: Only play this if you run BUG-Vine colors, i.e., with blue. Good for fetching the basic island, and gets the Watery Grave, Overgrown Tomb, or Breeding Pool the BUG color lists run. Run 2-4.
Bloodstained Mire: Run if you play Jund colors. Needed to guarantee extra fetches for basic swamp. Able to fetch every dual color in the Jund variant. Run 2-3.
Basics:
Swamp: Most decks want two basic swamps to help combat Blood Moon and save on life totals.
Forest: All decks want one for the same reasons as Swamp.
Island: Only run one if you play BUG-Vine colors.
Mountain: No deck wants to run a basic mountain. Since Blood Moon turns our non basics into Mountains, it's better to devote the slot(s) to other basics.
Ghost Quarter: Good vs Tron and 4/5-c decks that utilize many different colors of lands.
Thoughtseize: Great to disrupt combo decks, control decks, etc. There's a reason every black deck in Modern plays this! Run 3.
Darkblast: Great card to help kill small creatures in aggressive decks with a lot of tokens or X/1's. Don't run more than 1 in the sideboard as it can be reused from the graveyard.
Essence Warden: Cheap 1 CMC creature that gains life. Good in a lot of matchups alongside Gnaw to the Bone. Pizzap has run this to success.
Stubborn Denial: Cheap counter for decks splashing blue. We usually have a 4 power creature on board, so typically the second text is doable.
Duress/Inquisition of Kozilek: Cheaper alternatives to Thoughtseize. Usually better vs Burn. More budget friendly.
Illness in the Ranks: Great tech vs decks that use a lot of tokens. Meta specific card that should only be played if tokens is a thing.
Raven's Crime: Combine with Life from the Loam and pick apart your opponent's hand. Force your opponent to discard up to three cards per turn with this combo. Great in the control and combo matchups. Make sure you've got at least three mana in play before discarding all of these lands.
Ancient Grudge: Great in the Affinity/Tron matchups. Flashback makes it amazing to mill. Most Jund builds run around 4.
Spellskite: Amazing in a ton of matchups. Redirect burn spells, pump spells, enchantments kill spells, etc. Every version should run 2. Including a Watery Grave in the Jund version to fetch for saves your life total from constant redirecting in the burn matchup.
Golgari Charm: Good vs Control decks (regen clause after sweepers), enchantment decks (Bogles, Twin), and good at sweeping token/elves decks. Run 1-2.
Pyroclasm: Alternative cheaper sweeper. Good on our low manabase.
Terminate: Good at clearing problematic creatures. Stops regen creatures aka Trolls.
Izzet Charm: Utility card for 4-c decks. Counter clause and extra Looting effects makes it decent.
Ray of Revelation: Good utility card vs Bogles and other enchantment decks. Specifically for decks with a white splash.
Firespout: Alternative sweeper and kills the vast majority of creatures in the format.
Kolaghan's Command: A great utility card. Clears artifacts, burn spell, discard spell, etc. Great 1-of inclusion in Jund sideboards.
Gnaw to the Bone: All lists want this card. Lifegain + flashback for more lifegain! Great vs aggro matchups/Burn. Run at least 2.
Molten Rain: Great cheap card that does two things at once. Keeps greedy decks off their mana, especially Tron decks. Also burns your opponent, which is always relevant.
Choke: Great tech against blue decks. Totally destroys their mana base and can fit into any version of the deck running green. Don't run more than one and side it out in game three if revealed in game two.
Slaughter Games: Some decks have run this to success. Great vs combo and control decks. Sitting at 4 CMC means it might get stuck in your hand.
Crumble to Dust: Great card specifically to help the Tron matchup. Takes one of their pieces and exiles it. On the pricy side of 4 CMC, but what
Damnation: Some more midrange builds utilize this to some success against faster aggro decks. Never run more than one.
Murderous Cut: Great kill spell that can be cost for a single black mana with our graveyard deck. Wouldn't run more than 1 since we have other delve spells mainboard.
Section 2.5: Special Surprises:
Who doesn't love the look on your opponent's face when you swing with a 13/14 flier or flashback a 5/7 creature that sweeps their board or repeatedly kill Tron's Mines?! That's what I thought. The following are a few nice inclusions that don't disrupt our gameplan and utilize the graveyard while doing so!
Rites Package:
Unburial Rites: Dredge it into your yard and flashback that big fattie that is typically uncastable otherwise. Most run 1 MB and 1 SB with this package. Combine it with one or more of the following creatures:
Elesh-Norn, Grand Cenobite: Big fattie that buffs our board and kills nearly every creature on your opponents side.
Burn of all variants (Mono-Red, Naya, Gruul, Boros, etc...) is considered a very tough matchup game one. We take a lot of damage from our manabase since we're a three color deck. They usually start attacking us with a turn one haste creature aka Goblin Guide, so we need to be extremely fast and/or lucky to beat them. Post sideboard, our chances improve significantly. Cast lifegain after they tap out and kill their creatures early.
Affinity can win at any point. A skilled pilot can sacrifice everything and win on the spot, and it might not be recognizable to every player. Darkblast everything you can and don't hesitate to be aggressive. Overwhelm them with recursion and it shouldn't be too difficult to pull out a win. Post sideboard, it's rare to lose a match with the extra Darkblast and Ancient Grudge.
Perhaps one of the most uninteractable decks in the entire format. Turn three Tron is a scary nightmare for any deck. What's coming down...Karn Liberated, Wurmcoil Engine?! Play aggressive game one and hope you can outlast them. Try not to rely on your graveyard in this matchup as they typically run three-four Relic of Progenitus. Side in your artifact hate and disruption and play aggressive!
Scapeshift is another very uninteractable deck. They can kill anyone with 6 lands at 18 life. Their first few turns will include countering relevant spells and cheating extra lands into play. Stay above 20 life and fetch conservatively. They have a quite low creature count, so play aggressive. Side in your lifegain and land destruction.
Life total is not a concern in the Infect matchup. However, they can win on the spot if left unchecked. Between flying manlands, exalted triggers, and pump spells, this deck is extremely aggressive. Darkblast is an allstar in this matchup. They're threat light, so clearing the way of two or three threats makes for a relatively easy win. Golgari Charm kills a lot of their creatures and is more efficient than some of the heavier removal. Watch out for the pump spells as they run a decent number. Don't leave a creature unblocked as it could be game with double pump spells for two mana.
The odds are ever in our favor. Path is the only real answer to our creatures. Wrath is a sideboard card that can shutdown our Lotleth Troll. Aside from this, attacking for a few turns and recurring everything typically runs control out of answers real fast. Esper Control loves Lingering Souls, so Darkblast is the perfect answer. Jeskai Control loves Anger of the Gods, so sacrificing a creature isn't a bad deal, i.e, with Tymaret, the Murder King. UW Control runs more creatures, so siding in a Murderous Cut/Terminate can help deal with their primary win condition. Stealing their Sphinx's Revelation or sweeper with hand disruption and being able to redirect a burn spell can usually steal the match with all the recursion we run.
There are many different variants of Grixis decks overpopulating the format. They too abuse the delve mechanic to attempt to land a turn two Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Gurmag Angler. Darkblast overperforms in the Grixis Delver matchup. Lightning Axe became a staple in our deck because of the number of these creatures running around, so always side these in. Also side in your other creature removal. Pretty uninteractive for a few turns as they typically cantrip draw spells to fill their yard. Beware of cheap counters and removal. These variants are winnable after we run them out of initial resources. Abrupt Decay is typically pretty weak vs the Grixis Delve. Stinkweed Imp is amazing value in this matchup as they typically cast one threat at a time. Post sideboard, be on the lookout for opposing Leylines or Blood Moons.
Jund is a deck that relies on value. They are heavily focused on discard game one, namely Liliana of the Veil, Thoughtseize, etc. Don't be surprised to see mainboard Scavenging Ooze. It can get big pretty quick against us, so be sure to utilize any spot removal for this guy and Tarmogoyf, as they typically cause us problems if left unchecked. Most run sideboard graveyard hate, so sideboarding out dredgers for some extra spot removal and enchantment hate is the way to go. They take a lot of damage from their manabase, so a solid attack or two and it might result in a scoop, especially with an opposing active Bob.
Not the toughest matchup. Pretty standard linear aggro deck. Abrupt Decay and Darkblast are all-stars. Their counter spells are irrelevant. Darkblast their first one or two creatures and save the better spot removal for the lords. The only real threat is Spreading Seas to our manabase.
What more to say but pray they don't have the turn two kill. Sideboard well and pray some more. Not a fair matchup by any means. Their turn two titan is our turn two double Vengevine swinging for eight. Swap out spot removal for disruption and artifact hate.
With only twelve creatures in their deck, we can usually count on two threats per game on average. Game one is typically a race to the finish, but if they resolve a Daybreak Coronet, it's usually too late. They usually try for a Hexproof, Lifelink, Vigilance, Trample, Totem Armor, 10/10 creature, and that's near impossible to stop. Sideboard out kill spells since most of their creatures have hexproof and bring in enchantment hate and disruption. This deck runs the typical white enchantment graveyard hate, Rest in Piece, so play around it before you go all in on the graveyard plan post sideboard.
Extremely grindy matchup. Tons of fatties with Tarmogoyf, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Siege Rhino, etc. They have mainboard and sideboard answers for us in the form of Scavenging Ooze and Rest in Peace, alongside disruption and discard. They will most likely go to turn ten each game, so pack answers ourselves and outvalue them! Depending on the version, some run four copies of Lingering Souls, so Darkbast is good at clearing the chump blockers. Be careful with the Liege version as everything becomes a massive threat when he is dropped. Save the creature removal for the larger threats and Abrupt Decay the smaller cmc creatures.
Tips: Don't be too quick to waste removal on a threat. They will try and bait removal to play a better creature. Use Stinkweed Imp to kill their stuff or cause board stalls.
It's funny what a bunch of 1/1 mana dorks can do, but don't overlook them. Elves is an extremely explosive deck, but definitely winnable in our favor. Darkblast the first few dorks they play to keep them off Collected Company for another turn. Save the removal spells for one of the eight or so lords they run. Sideboard in relevant spells like extra Darkblasts and Golgari Charm and it's fairly difficult to lose. Mirror Entity is a thing that devastates any board and Scavenging Ooze is their only real hate against us.
Living End is the other relevant graveyard strategy in the Modern format. They cycle their entire hand until they hit either a Violent Outburst or Demonic Dread. Play aggressive game one. Sideboard out dead removal spells as they don't play any targets for Abrupt Decay and Darkblast and bring in whatever disruption you stack.
Delver is a fast deck full of tiny X/1 creatures. Darkblast is an allstar in this matchup as it can kill nearly everything they play. Value is the namesake of the deck. With our recursion, we can usually go over the top and force bad blocks after a few cycles of Darkblast. Note that RUG Delver runs Tarmogoyf and Grixis Delver runs [card]Tasigur, the Golden-Fang[card]/[card]Gurmag Angler[card], so use the spot removal for their big threat. Don't over sideboard too hard for this matchup, just swap in relevant removal spells and it should be a well-favored match.
Apparently this deck is still a thing. They're a blistering fast aggro deck that focuses on tons of one drops. They're manabase is quite painful, so quick damage is beneficial. If you can survive the initial onslaught, games are winnable. Side in lifegain and force bad blocks. Against the Suicide Zoo version, save a removal spell for Death's Shadow. Some decks also mainboard Scavenging Ooze.
Things to watch out for:Knight of the Reliquary, whatever hate their colors allow them to sideboard
Tokens loves to create an army of 1/1 creatures and pump them with planeswalkers and anthem effects. Don't be surprised to have a lot of attacks just get continuously chump-blocked. After a few turns, it should be fairly easy to overwhelm your opponent. Post sideboard, watch out for Rest in Peace and be wary of Grafdigger's Cage. Some versions run this so don't devote to the graveyard full fledged post sideboard until you know what you're dealing with. Save your Abrupt Decay for their non creature spells.
Nyxwave runs a lot of mana acceleration and devotion creatures to utilize Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to its fullest extent. Their fatties include Primeval Titan and Craterhoof Behemoth. They generate tons of card advantage through chains of Eternal Witness and Genesis Wave. If the game goes long enough, they can cheat out half their library with Genesis Wave. Darkblast is an allstar for this matchup as it kills their mana dorks and Eternal Witnesses.
If you're familiar with birthing pod decks, you'll recognize the infinite combos this deck utilizes. It's a value deck with sac outlets, infinite damage and lifegain, and some mainboard graveyard hate. Some lists pack Wilt-Leaf Liege in the sideboard. Most run a playset of Fulminator Mage, which is insane off a Collected Company, so watchout. Kill one of their combo pieces, i.e. Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Viscera Seer. It will turn it into a "who can out-value who?" matchup. Games can get pretty grindy, so prepare for a long matchup.
Whether it's Azorius, Jeskai, or Esper, the baseline creature package includes Restoration Angel, Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique, and last, but not least, Geist of Saint Traft. They flash in a lot of creatures and clear the way with cheap removal in the form of path, bolt, etc. Expect a creature or two to get the Path to Exile, but this isn't a tough matchup. Run them out of resources and continuously recur our threats and push through. Our creatures are typically bigger than theirs and we can usually go wider. Stinkweed Imp stonewalls this deck!
This deck utilizes the Ad Nauseum plus Angel's Grace / Phyrexian Unlife to draw nearly its entirely library. Then it discards land cards to Lightning Storm to deal a ton of damage. Spot removal is near useless here as the only creature is Simian Spirit Guide. Switch out your spot removal for hand disruption and artifact hate. Use the artifact hate to force the use of their mana acceleration: Pentad Prism and Lotus Bloom.
Similar to Tron, this deck runs a lot of lands and spells that make Eldrazi spells cost less. Once they land Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, it's game over. They have maindeck five or more discard spells and a playset of Relic of Progrentius, making this matchup a nightmare. When casting a Gurmag Angler, try to do so by delving away nonland cards, so that opposing Oblivion Sower don't have as great effect. Side out your reliance on your graveyard in exchange for disruption and spot removal. Note that their colorless creatures are not artifacts!
I went to a modern tournament tonight and went 3-1 over Combo tron, U tron and RG tron. Lost to Jund, not usually a matchup I'd lose but if I recall correctly he way outvalued me one of the games I lost and got a scooze I couldn't kill the other. It was a free tournament so there was no t4 cut but had there been I would have made it I believe. Anyway still pretty happy with NY list. Sideboard could use some improvements and I've got a spot or two main board that I flex. I'll put a list up tomorrow.
Edit: Yay toppers quote made it in the primer!
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
I'm sincerely hoping we get some madness creatures soon--when I had a build of this deck, I always felt as though I wanted something else I could cast quickly with value. I tried big game hunter, but typically ended up shooting my own creatures when he went off early (which is the whole reason I ran him!). I'm really excited to see this is still a thing and I hope it continues to get better! I might put it back together--I think I've got extras of the jund stuff to make it again. It was really fun when it worked.
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Porting over some Pauper madness tech, would gravescrabbler make the cut as a 2-of? A relevant ability and type attached to a serviceable body. I would use it if I had the lightning axe in my deck as well.
Honestly, I want the madness cost to be very cheap, i.e. 1 or 0. Basking rootwalla would be ideal, if he were modern legal. I just had several turns where, through the power of lotleth troll, things could get bonkers fast, if there were cheap cast-from-graveyard or cast-from-discard creatures. Unfortunately, not many exist.
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And I've been getting my ass kicked with it, haha. I'm finding that the deck's game plan never seems to come together properly and I'm always trying to catch up and start dredging while my opponent is winning the game without any real resistance. Does my list look okay, and are there any card choices that you'd change? And does anyone have general gameplay advice for this version of the deck? I feel like I almost need a dredgevine mentor to teach me how to play it properly, haha. Might switch back to Jundvine if this current version continues to underperform. Went 0-4 at fnm earlier tonight :/
Basically changing the flex spot weekly. Darkblast is lackluster in most matchups. Dead drop straight up sucks, way too much to cast even with dredge. Shambling shell was OK but I played tron 3/4 matchups last night so I didn't really get to try it to full effect. I think I'm going to go back to a flamewake phoenix. Haven't tried it with angler and I think it would be really good. Also not sure how I like life from the loam. It's pretty good when I need a dredge and sometimes gets me lands back but really for the grindier matchup.
On a different note erebos, god of the dead is really good. He stops opponents lifegain and generates card advantage, also easy to make him a creature with bloodghasts and gravecrawlers. The opponents is really important because he pulls through it matchups like jund and abzan where we still need our gnaw to the bone.
Also with my 3 tron matchups I would like to say ghost quarter is perfectly sufficient. I still feel like fulminator mage would be better but basically ghost quarter pushes your opponents off of tron long enough for us to win. Becomes super combo with life from the loam. The colorless does really hurt so it's nice to have an uborg out and at least two other lands besides it so you can blow stuff out without shafting yourself.
Edit: It's also worth noting that it's fun to shock yourself for mana to keep a grisly salvage open in your opponents turn because they often expect and abrupt decay and it messes up their play.
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
Here are a few things I noticed might need an edit:
- Section 1, line 2: just missing a ´ in "decks namesake"
- Section 2: something seemed to have messed up the font. It says "BBLACKB" and "GGREENG"
- Gurmag Angler and Tasigur both still mention Hooting Mandrills, while those are not found anywhere in the Primer. It also says under Tasigur that 2-3 is the correct number of delve creatures to run.
- the text for Stinkweed Imp and Golgari Thug still imply Golgari Grave-Troll is banned.
- Darkblast: I think it might be a good idea to mention the dredge-trick that allows you to kill 2-toughness creatures
- Watery Grave: I'd add that this is a viable addition as a 1-of in Jund builds when running Spellskite. I think I actually got that idea from you, Creamy. Might be worth to add
All in all, this is a great primer and I'm super glad you took the time to put it together. Thanks!
Hey Manfred, thanks for pointing that stuff out. I changed what you pointed out. I appreciate the feedback a lot! It took a while!
Future edits this weekend including another decklist or two, matchups including what to expect and a general sideboard guide, and some reference articles/videos.
If anyone else has suggestions or wants more inclusions, feel free to PM me with your content and I'll throw it up on the front page.
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Modern decks: BGRDredgevineBGR UWRJeskai ControlUWR
Hello! I'm starting take interest and always wanted to play a Dredge deck since I always have a love for playing goofy graveyard decks. I have been playing some of the BW Pox decks and really enjoy Smallpox and was wondering if there was any way to fit it into this style of deck? I saw the Loam Pox deck thread but I think I'd rather play with a bit more Dredge than just Life from the Loam. Any suggestions/thoughts?
Hello! I'm starting take interest and always wanted to play a Dredge deck since I always have a love for playing goofy graveyard decks. I have been playing some of the BW Pox decks and really enjoy Smallpox and was wondering if there was any way to fit it into this style of deck? I saw the Loam Pox deck thread but I think I'd rather play with a bit more Dredge than just Life from the Loam. Any suggestions/thoughts?
I've only tried smallpox as a sideboard card and it doesn't really work that great. When you're dredging hardcore you're almost guaranteed to mill through them. Also our land base is fragile as all heck and I don't like messing up my own lands. I'm wondering are you thinking of playing smallpox as an addition to dredgevine or dredge as an addition to loam pox?
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
The two times I've played vs Loam Pox, it's always been Jund colors. I bend it over and make it cry. If you're going with a graveyard deck, this is the one to go with. The other is more budget friendly and requires less risk/decision making, but that's entirely up to you. We all have our bad matchups.
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Modern decks: BGRDredgevineBGR UWRJeskai ControlUWR
Gotcha. I was thinking of adding more Dredge to LoamPox since I don't see a ton of graveyard based decks at my LGS. Though I might give this a try if this is considered the better of the two. It just feels strange not to see some of the cards from LoamPox like Raven's Crime or Flamejab, or more land destruction like Ghost Quarter or Tectonic Edge. And I just enjoy Smallpox with Bloodghast and probably more so with Gravecrawler.
Also, I was looking on Youtube for more Dredge Modern playing and saw one that was more of a reanimator style with Unburial Rites and fatties like Iona and Elesh Norn.
Gotcha. I was thinking of adding more Dredge to LoamPox since I don't see a ton of graveyard based decks at my LGS. Though I might give this a try if this is considered the better of the two. It just feels strange not to see some of the cards from LoamPox like Raven's Crime or Flamejab, or more land destruction like Ghost Quarter or Tectonic Edge. And I just enjoy Smallpox with Bloodghast and probably more so with Gravecrawler.
Also, I was looking on Youtube for more Dredge Modern playing and saw one that was more of a reanimator style with Unburial Rites and fatties like Iona and Elesh Norn.
I don't want to sound like some sort of salesperson but dredgevine is probably one of the most fun decks I've ever played. It's just really tough to get outvalued and even when they have graveyard hate were still a pretty good aggro deck. Darkblast is close enough to flame jab? It's fun mowing down elves or memnites. Anyway if you have any questions just ask them.
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
Oh, no worries on the pitch. Dredge is one of the mechanics I've been wanting to play for a long time in Legacy. I'm probably gonna give your list a shot with all the zombies. Darkblast is super good in my local meta cause it mows down Snapcasters and Infect creatures. I might fiddle around with the flex slots and some of the creatures and throw in some other craziness, at least a Raven's Crime. How does it fair with only one Life from the Loam?
Oh, no worries on the pitch. Dredge is one of the mechanics I've been wanting to play for a long time in Legacy. I'm probably gonna give your list a shot with all the zombies. Darkblast is super good in my local meta cause it mows down Snapcasters and Infect creatures. I might fiddle around with the flex slots and some of the creatures and throw in some other craziness, at least a Raven's Crime. How does it fair with only one Life from the Loam?
Good. I've found I only really need it in the grundy match ups when I'm running out of gas. You could run 2 or 3 if you're playing crime.
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
I am brewing a list slightly different to the stock list. It doesn't run red but instead plays more of a grindy game with Lilianas and discard. Here's the list.
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
In my sideboard, I switched out Nihil Spellbomb for Terminate since I had it in their for the fast graveyard decks. I realize that Terminate kills whatever threat they play and is more useful in a lot of other matchups, mostly as another way to kill problematic high toughness creatures. To anyone running Terminate, how many copies do you run?
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Modern decks: BGRDredgevineBGR UWRJeskai ControlUWR
Hello forum, I've played this dredgevine list for a quite a while. This list is the result of a lot of advices I read on this forum, I thank you for that.
My opinion about Flamewake phoenix is that is like an upgraded bloodghast (2/2 with evasion yes please!), but just as bloodghast it's lackluster if it's not in multiples, that's why adding just one felt like just fifth ghast with evasion, So I added two more and it worked quite well for me, it looks like three it's the magic number, and the landbase can support it, (a Set of Red/black Fast lands are a must to mitigate life lost). having at least two red sources can be attained in the first turns. Also I've considering swapping a number Golgari trolls for imps changing one dredge for a potential blocker on turn three it looks like a better choice.
The sideboard is a work in progress
Hello forum, I've played this dredgevine list for a quite a while. This list is the result of a lot of advices I read on this forum, I thank you for that.
My opinion about Flamewake phoenix is that is like an upgraded bloodghast (2/2 with evasion yes please!), but just as bloodghast it's lackluster if it's not in multiples, that's why adding just one felt like just fifth ghast with evasion, So I added two more and it worked quite well for me, it looks like three it's the magic number, and the landbase can support it, (a Set of Red/black Fast lands are a must to mitigate life lost). having at least two red sources can be attained in the first turns. Also I've considering swapping a number Golgari trolls for imps changing one dredge for a potential blocker on turn three it looks like a better choice.
The sideboard is a work in progress
Reading your advices it's most welcome.
Thanks for the information on flamewake! I used to play it and it was really good but I only played one, I'll try and free up more space for two more.
I feel like dredgevine has potential to be tier 2 we just lack the playerbase so seeing new players here is awesome!
Also could everyone post their results, even if you go 0-4. It helps us figure out what does and doesn't work.
Thanks!
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
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DredgeVine as a deck has evolved constantly over the years to cope with new metas, new printings and new ideas. However the core focus of the deck remains the same. DredgeVine fills its graveyard to swarm the field with cheap recursive creatures, the most powerful of which being the deck's namesake, Vengevine. DredgeVine excels at aggressively swarming the field with powerful threats, playing a grindy game, and quickly destroying opposition with a powerful alpha strike of strong, hastey creatures. While most decks rely on their hand to cast spells, the fact that DredgeVine can use the power of the graveyard as a resource at all stages of the game gives it a strong and unique play-style with great resilience to common answers.
DredgeVine has many builds that can be considered viable. All five of the colors can be used depending on how you wish your deck to play, but the two that every deck will want in its repertoire are access to BBlackB and GGreenG. Black gives access to recursive threats that help further the game plan like Gravecrawler and Bloodghast and contains the majority of creatures with the ability Dredge. Green allows you to run mana fixers like Birds of Paradise and Satyr Wayfinder, as well as allowing you to hardcast Vengevine.
When considering cards, a few ideas to keep in mind. We try to be a blistering fast explosive aggro deck.
1. A creature should either:
3. Removal should be at a minimum for game 1. Mainboard removal spells should have a perk in the form of being uncounterable, discard, etc.
Section 2.1: Creatures
Fetches:
Basics:
Shocklands:
Jund:
Others:
Depending on your colors, some people run 3-5 fast lands in some combination of:
Rites Package:
Cast the Shadow onto a Birds of Paradise or Lotleth Troll and watch your opponent concede on the spot.
4 Gravecrawler
4 Gurmag Angler
4 Lotleth Troll
3 Satyr Wayfinder
3 Stinkweed Imp
1 Tymaret, The Murder King
4 Vengevine
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Darkblast
4 Faithless Looting
4 Grisly Salvage
2 Lightning Axe
2 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Darkblast
2 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Golgari Charm
1 Molten Rain
2 Spellskite
1 Terminate
3 Thoughtseize
4 Bloodghast
3 Death's Shadow
4 Gravecrawler
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Lotleth Troll
2 Satyr Wayfinder
2 Spellskite
3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
4 Vengevine
4 Faithless Looting
4 Grisly Salvage
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Forest
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Ancient Grudge
3 Essence Warden
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Seal of Primordium
4 Gurmag Angler
4 Hedron Crab
4 Lotleth Troll
1 Rotting Rats
4 Satyr Wayfinder
1 Skaab Ruinator
2 Stinkweed Imp
4 Vengevine
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Darkblast
4 Grisly Salvage
1 Murderous Cut
1 Sultai Charm
1 Darkslick Shore
1 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
2 Woodland Cemetery
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Duress
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Life from the Loam
1 Memory's Journal
1 Spellskite
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Thoughtseize
Burn:
- Things to watch out for: Skullcrack, Monestary Swiftspear
- Sideboard plan: Gnaw to the Bone, Essence Warden in. Darkblast, Stinkweed Imp out.
- Tips: Fetch conservatively. Cast lifegain when your opponent taps out.
Burn of all variants (Mono-Red, Naya, Gruul, Boros, etc...) is considered a very tough matchup game one. We take a lot of damage from our manabase since we're a three color deck. They usually start attacking us with a turn one haste creature aka Goblin Guide, so we need to be extremely fast and/or lucky to beat them. Post sideboard, our chances improve significantly. Cast lifegain after they tap out and kill their creatures early.
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Affinity:
- Things to watch out for: Cranial Plating, Etched Champion, Arcbound Ravager, Steel Overseer
- Sideboard plan: Ancient Grudge, Darkblast in. Tymaret, the Murder King, Lightning Axe out.
- Tips: Darkblast is an allstar. Grudge is at its finest here!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Affinity can win at any point. A skilled pilot can sacrifice everything and win on the spot, and it might not be recognizable to every player. Darkblast everything you can and don't hesitate to be aggressive. Overwhelm them with recursion and it shouldn't be too difficult to pull out a win. Post sideboard, it's rare to lose a match with the extra Darkblast and Ancient Grudge.
RG Tron:
- Things to watch out for: Karn Liberated, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Eye of Ugin
- Sideboard plan: Ancient Grudge, Thoughtseize Molten Rain (*insert other land destruction here*) in. Lightning Axe, Abrupt Decay, Darkblast out.
- Tips: Destroy their Expedition Maps, keep them off Tron with your land destruction, and play aggressive.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Perhaps one of the most uninteractable decks in the entire format. Turn three Tron is a scary nightmare for any deck. What's coming down...Karn Liberated, Wurmcoil Engine?! Play aggressive game one and hope you can outlast them. Try not to rely on your graveyard in this matchup as they typically run three-four Relic of Progenitus. Side in your artifact hate and disruption and play aggressive!
Scapeshift:
- Things to watch out for: Scapeshift, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
- Sideboard plan: Gnaw to the Bone Molten Rain (*insert other land destruction here*) in. Lightning Axe, Darkblast out.
- Tips: Gain lots of life and play aggressive.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Scapeshift is another very uninteractable deck. They can kill anyone with 6 lands at 18 life. Their first few turns will include countering relevant spells and cheating extra lands into play. Stay above 20 life and fetch conservatively. They have a quite low creature count, so play aggressive. Side in your lifegain and land destruction.
Infect:
- Things to watch out for: Vines of Vastwood, Inkmoth Nexus
- Sideboard plan: Darkblast Golgari Charm in. Lightning Axe, relevant number of Bloodghast out.
- Tips: Darkblast them to death!!!.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Life total is not a concern in the Infect matchup. However, they can win on the spot if left unchecked. Between flying manlands, exalted triggers, and pump spells, this deck is extremely aggressive. Darkblast is an allstar in this matchup. They're threat light, so clearing the way of two or three threats makes for a relatively easy win. Golgari Charm kills a lot of their creatures and is more efficient than some of the heavier removal. Watch out for the pump spells as they run a decent number. Don't leave a creature unblocked as it could be game with double pump spells for two mana.
UWx Control:
- Things to watch out for: Path to Exile, Supreme Verdict/Wrath of God
- Sideboard plan: Golgari Charm Thoughtseize, Spellskite in. Lightning Axe, Darkblast, other spot removal out.
- Tips: Keep attacking. Turn everything sideways. Leave up Golgari Charm mana after turn four to regen your team and prevent a sweeper.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The odds are ever in our favor. Path is the only real answer to our creatures. Wrath is a sideboard card that can shutdown our Lotleth Troll. Aside from this, attacking for a few turns and recurring everything typically runs control out of answers real fast. Esper Control loves Lingering Souls, so Darkblast is the perfect answer. Jeskai Control loves Anger of the Gods, so sacrificing a creature isn't a bad deal, i.e, with Tymaret, the Murder King. UW Control runs more creatures, so siding in a Murderous Cut/Terminate can help deal with their primary win condition. Stealing their Sphinx's Revelation or sweeper with hand disruption and being able to redirect a burn spell can usually steal the match with all the recursion we run.
Grixis Delve/Control:
- Things to watch out for: Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Snapcaster Mage
- Sideboard plan: Spellskite Terminate/Murderous Cut in. Abrupt Decay, Darkblast out.
- Tips: Beware of hate enchantments after sideboarding.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There are many different variants of Grixis decks overpopulating the format. They too abuse the delve mechanic to attempt to land a turn two Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Gurmag Angler. Darkblast overperforms in the Grixis Delver matchup. Lightning Axe became a staple in our deck because of the number of these creatures running around, so always side these in. Also side in your other creature removal. Pretty uninteractive for a few turns as they typically cantrip draw spells to fill their yard. Beware of cheap counters and removal. These variants are winnable after we run them out of initial resources. Abrupt Decay is typically pretty weak vs the Grixis Delve. Stinkweed Imp is amazing value in this matchup as they typically cast one threat at a time. Post sideboard, be on the lookout for opposing Leylines or Blood Moons.
Jund:
- Things to watch out for: Fulminator Mage, Olivia Voldaren, Scavenging Ooze
- Sideboard plan: Spellskite Terminate/Murderous Cut in. Bloodghast, Darkblast out.
- Tips: Beware of silver bullets. Some versious run Olivia Voldaren and Huntmaster of the Fells.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jund is a deck that relies on value. They are heavily focused on discard game one, namely Liliana of the Veil, Thoughtseize, etc. Don't be surprised to see mainboard Scavenging Ooze. It can get big pretty quick against us, so be sure to utilize any spot removal for this guy and Tarmogoyf, as they typically cause us problems if left unchecked. Most run sideboard graveyard hate, so sideboarding out dredgers for some extra spot removal and enchantment hate is the way to go. They take a lot of damage from their manabase, so a solid attack or two and it might result in a scoop, especially with an opposing active Bob.
Merfolk:
- Things to watch out for: Spreading Seas
- Sideboard plan: Golgari Charm, Terminate/Murderous Cut, 1-2 Ancient Grudge in. Bloodghast, Lightning Axe out.
- Tips: Bring in some hate for both artifacts and enchantments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Not the toughest matchup. Pretty standard linear aggro deck. Abrupt Decay and Darkblast are all-stars. Their counter spells are irrelevant. Darkblast their first one or two creatures and save the better spot removal for the lords. The only real threat is Spreading Seas to our manabase.
Amulet Bloom:
- Things to watch out for: Hive Mind, Pact of Negation, Primevil Titan
- Sideboard plan: Ancient Grudge, Thoughtseize, Terminate/Murderous Cut in. Bloodghast, Lightning Axe, Darkblast out.
- Tips: Pray...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What more to say but pray they don't have the turn two kill. Sideboard well and pray some more. Not a fair matchup by any means. Their turn two titan is our turn two double Vengevine swinging for eight. Swap out spot removal for disruption and artifact hate.
Bogles:
- Things to watch out for: Daybreak Coronet, Rest in Peace
- Sideboard plan: Golgari Charm, Thoughtseize, Spellskite in. Bloodghast, Lightning Axe, Darkblast out.
- Tips: Use Golgari Charm to sweep two of their threats before they're equipped or kill an aura before Coronet resolves and it is usually backbreaking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------With only twelve creatures in their deck, we can usually count on two threats per game on average. Game one is typically a race to the finish, but if they resolve a Daybreak Coronet, it's usually too late. They usually try for a Hexproof, Lifelink, Vigilance, Trample, Totem Armor, 10/10 creature, and that's near impossible to stop. Sideboard out kill spells since most of their creatures have hexproof and bring in enchantment hate and disruption. This deck runs the typical white enchantment graveyard hate, Rest in Piece, so play around it before you go all in on the graveyard plan post sideboard.
Abzan Midrange(Junk):
- Things to watch out for: Scavenging Ooze, Gavony Township
- Sideboard plan: Golgari Charm, Terminate/Murderous Cut in. Darkblast, some number of Bloodghast out.
- Tips: Don't be too quick to waste removal on a threat. They will try and bait removal to play a better creature. Use Stinkweed Imp to kill their stuff or cause board stalls.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Extremely grindy matchup. Tons of fatties with Tarmogoyf, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Siege Rhino, etc. They have mainboard and sideboard answers for us in the form of Scavenging Ooze and Rest in Peace, alongside disruption and discard. They will most likely go to turn ten each game, so pack answers ourselves and outvalue them! Depending on the version, some run four copies of Lingering Souls, so Darkbast is good at clearing the chump blockers. Be careful with the Liege version as everything becomes a massive threat when he is dropped. Save the creature removal for the larger threats and Abrupt Decay the smaller cmc creatures.
Elves:
- Things to watch out for: Mirror Entity, Scavenging Ooze
- Sideboard plan: Golgari Charm, Darkblast in. Lightning Axe, 1 Bloodghast out.
- Tips: Darkblast, Darkblast, Darkblast...oh, did I mention Darkblast?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It's funny what a bunch of 1/1 mana dorks can do, but don't overlook them. Elves is an extremely explosive deck, but definitely winnable in our favor. Darkblast the first few dorks they play to keep them off Collected Company for another turn. Save the removal spells for one of the eight or so lords they run. Sideboard in relevant spells like extra Darkblasts and Golgari Charm and it's fairly difficult to lose. Mirror Entity is a thing that devastates any board and Scavenging Ooze is their only real hate against us.
Living End:
- Things to watch out for: Leyline of the Void, Fulminator Mage
- Sideboard plan: Thoughtseize in. Abrupt Decay, Darkblast out.
- Tips: Go after their hand with discard and remove the cascade spells.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Living End is the other relevant graveyard strategy in the Modern format. They cycle their entire hand until they hit either a Violent Outburst or Demonic Dread. Play aggressive game one. Sideboard out dead removal spells as they don't play any targets for Abrupt Decay and Darkblast and bring in whatever disruption you stack.
URx Delver:
- Things to watch out for: Young Pyromancer, Snapcaster Mage
- Sideboard plan: Darkblast, Terminate/Murderous Cut in. Bloodghast out.
- Tips: Kill Pyromancer. Fetch for Blood Moon post sideboard.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Delver is a fast deck full of tiny X/1 creatures. Darkblast is an allstar in this matchup as it can kill nearly everything they play. Value is the namesake of the deck. With our recursion, we can usually go over the top and force bad blocks after a few cycles of Darkblast. Note that RUG Delver runs Tarmogoyf and Grixis Delver runs [card]Tasigur, the Golden-Fang[card]/[card]Gurmag Angler[card], so use the spot removal for their big threat. Don't over sideboard too hard for this matchup, just swap in relevant removal spells and it should be a well-favored match.
Zoo:
- Things to watch out for: Knight of the Reliquary, whatever hate their colors allow them to sideboard
- Sideboard plan: Gnaw to the Bone, Terminate/Murderous Cut in. Darkblast, Bloodghast out.
- Tips: Depending on the colors, side appropriately for graveyard hate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Apparently this deck is still a thing. They're a blistering fast aggro deck that focuses on tons of one drops. They're manabase is quite painful, so quick damage is beneficial. If you can survive the initial onslaught, games are winnable. Side in lifegain and force bad blocks. Against the Suicide Zoo version, save a removal spell for Death's Shadow. Some decks also mainboard Scavenging Ooze.
Tokens:
- Things to watch out for: Honor of the Pure, Grafdigger's Cage, Rest in Peace
- Sideboard plan: Golgari Charm, Darkblast in. Lightning Axe, Bloodghast out.
- Tips: Keep their anthem effects clear. Keep turning everything sideways.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tokens loves to create an army of 1/1 creatures and pump them with planeswalkers and anthem effects. Don't be surprised to have a lot of attacks just get continuously chump-blocked. After a few turns, it should be fairly easy to overwhelm your opponent. Post sideboard, watch out for Rest in Peace and be wary of Grafdigger's Cage. Some versions run this so don't devote to the graveyard full fledged post sideboard until you know what you're dealing with. Save your Abrupt Decay for their non creature spells.
Mono Green Devotion:
- Things to watch out for: Genesis Wave, Craterhoof Behemoth
- Sideboard plan: Thoughtseize, Terminate any sweepers, land destruction in. Bloodghast, Abrupt Decay out
- Tips: Darkblast their early threats and take the Genesis Wave with the hand disruption.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nyxwave runs a lot of mana acceleration and devotion creatures to utilize Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to its fullest extent. Their fatties include Primeval Titan and Craterhoof Behemoth. They generate tons of card advantage through chains of Eternal Witness and Genesis Wave. If the game goes long enough, they can cheat out half their library with Genesis Wave. Darkblast is an allstar for this matchup as it kills their mana dorks and Eternal Witnesses.
Abzan Collected Company:
- Things to watch out for: Collected Company, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
- Sideboard plan: Thoughtseize, Terminate, sweepers in. 1-2 Grisly Salvage, Darkblast, Bloodghast out
- Tips: Save spot removal for the combo pieces. Use hand disruption to take the company/chord.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you're familiar with birthing pod decks, you'll recognize the infinite combos this deck utilizes. It's a value deck with sac outlets, infinite damage and lifegain, and some mainboard graveyard hate. Some lists pack Wilt-Leaf Liege in the sideboard. Most run a playset of Fulminator Mage, which is insane off a Collected Company, so watchout. Kill one of their combo pieces, i.e. Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Viscera Seer. It will turn it into a "who can out-value who?" matchup. Games can get pretty grindy, so prepare for a long matchup.
UWx Midrange:
- Things to watch out for: Geist of Saint Traft, Restoration Angel
- Sideboard plan: Thoughtseize, Spellskite, Terminate in. Bloodghast, Darkblast, Abrupt Decay out
- Tips: Take the Geist with Thoughtseize.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Whether it's Azorius, Jeskai, or Esper, the baseline creature package includes Restoration Angel, Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique, and last, but not least, Geist of Saint Traft. They flash in a lot of creatures and clear the way with cheap removal in the form of path, bolt, etc. Expect a creature or two to get the Path to Exile, but this isn't a tough matchup. Run them out of resources and continuously recur our threats and push through. Our creatures are typically bigger than theirs and we can usually go wider. Stinkweed Imp stonewalls this deck!
Ad Nauseum Unlife:
- Things to watch out for: Angel's Grace, Phyrexian Unlife
- Sideboard plan: Thoughtseize, Ancient Grudge in. Darkblast, Abrupt Decay out
- Tips: Take a combo piece with the discard spell.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This deck utilizes the Ad Nauseum plus Angel's Grace / Phyrexian Unlife to draw nearly its entirely library. Then it discards land cards to Lightning Storm to deal a ton of damage. Spot removal is near useless here as the only creature is Simian Spirit Guide. Switch out your spot removal for hand disruption and artifact hate. Use the artifact hate to force the use of their mana acceleration: Pentad Prism and Lotus Bloom.
B/W Eldrazi:
- Things to watch out for: Relic of Progenitus, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- Sideboard plan: Thoughtseize, Terminate, Fulminator Mage in. Darkblast, Abrupt Decay, Stinkweed Imp out
- Tips: Slow them down as with disruption and play as aggressive as possible.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Similar to Tron, this deck runs a lot of lands and spells that make Eldrazi spells cost less. Once they land Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, it's game over. They have maindeck five or more discard spells and a playset of Relic of Progrentius, making this matchup a nightmare. When casting a Gurmag Angler, try to do so by delving away nonland cards, so that opposing Oblivion Sower don't have as great effect. Side out your reliance on your graveyard in exchange for disruption and spot removal. Note that their colorless creatures are not artifacts!
B/x Eldrazi:
- Things to watch out for: Relic of Progenitus, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- Sideboard plan: Thoughtseize, Terminate, Fulminator Mage in. Darkblast, Bloodghast, Stinkweed Imp out
- Tips: Turn into an aggro deck that doesn't utilize your graveyard nearly as much.
Similar to Tron, this deck runs a lot of lands and spells that make Eldrazi spells cost less. Once they land Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, it's game over. They have maindeck six or more discard spells and some combination of eight or more graveyard hate in the form of Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progrentius, making this matchup a malicious nightmare. The red version focuses more on spot removal, with Anger of the Gods in the sideboard. The black version has 1-2 Scrabbling Claws mainboard, making it even tougher. When casting a Gurmag Angler, try to do so by delving away nonland cards, so that opposing Oblivion Sower don't have as great effect. Side out your reliance on your graveyard in exchange for disruption and spot removal. Note that their colorless creatures are not artifacts!
BGRDredgevineBGR
UWRJeskai ControlUWR
Pauper:
GMono-Green AggroG
MTGO Username: creamy99
Twitch Stream: www.twitch.tv/coachcreamy
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/Cherokee3210
Check it out for the latest testing, gameplay, and dailies!
Link to old Dredgevine thread
BGRDredgevineBGR
UWRJeskai ControlUWR
Pauper:
GMono-Green AggroG
MTGO Username: creamy99
Twitch Stream: www.twitch.tv/coachcreamy
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/Cherokee3210
Check it out for the latest testing, gameplay, and dailies!
I went to a modern tournament tonight and went 3-1 over Combo tron, U tron and RG tron. Lost to Jund, not usually a matchup I'd lose but if I recall correctly he way outvalued me one of the games I lost and got a scooze I couldn't kill the other. It was a free tournament so there was no t4 cut but had there been I would have made it I believe. Anyway still pretty happy with NY list. Sideboard could use some improvements and I've got a spot or two main board that I flex. I'll put a list up tomorrow.
Edit: Yay toppers quote made it in the primer!
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
Honestly, I want the madness cost to be very cheap, i.e. 1 or 0. Basking rootwalla would be ideal, if he were modern legal. I just had several turns where, through the power of lotleth troll, things could get bonkers fast, if there were cheap cast-from-graveyard or cast-from-discard creatures. Unfortunately, not many exist.
Here's what I've been running for a couple of weeks:
1x Fatestitcher
4x Golgari Grave-Troll
4x Gravecrawler
3x Gurmag Angler
4x Hedron Crab
3x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
4x Lotleth Troll
2x Satyr Wayfinder
1x Skaab Ruinator
2x Stinkweed Imp
4x Vengevine
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Gnaw to the Bone
4x Grisly Salvage
Land (20)
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Darkslick Shores
1x Forest
1x Island
3x Overgrown Tomb
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
1x Verdant Catacombs
2x Watery Grave
1x Abrupt Decay
2x Darkblast
2x Gnaw to the Bone
2x Golgari Charm
1x Gurmag Angler
2x Murderous Cut
3x Scavenging Ooze
3x Thoughtseize
And I've been getting my ass kicked with it, haha. I'm finding that the deck's game plan never seems to come together properly and I'm always trying to catch up and start dredging while my opponent is winning the game without any real resistance. Does my list look okay, and are there any card choices that you'd change? And does anyone have general gameplay advice for this version of the deck? I feel like I almost need a dredgevine mentor to teach me how to play it properly, haha. Might switch back to Jundvine if this current version continues to underperform. Went 0-4 at fnm earlier tonight :/
Thanks in advance, and happy dredging
Dredge (117-70 W/L in games) (Pre-GGT ban: 103-70 W/L in games)
4x Vengevinge
4x Gravecrawler
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Golgari Grave-troll
4x Gurmag Angler
4x Bloodghast
1x Golgari Thug
Instants(9)
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Grisly Salvage
2 Murderous Cut
1 Gnaw to the Bone
4 Faithless looting
1 Life from the Loam
Lands(20)
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Stomping Grounds
2 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Blacklcleave cliffs
1 Urborb, tomb of yawgmoth
2 Swamp
2 Forest
1x Shambling Shell
1x Darkblast
1x Dead Drop
2 Spellskite
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Darkblast
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Ghost quarter
1 Erebos, God of the dead
1 Gnaw to the Bone
Basically changing the flex spot weekly. Darkblast is lackluster in most matchups. Dead drop straight up sucks, way too much to cast even with dredge. Shambling shell was OK but I played tron 3/4 matchups last night so I didn't really get to try it to full effect. I think I'm going to go back to a flamewake phoenix. Haven't tried it with angler and I think it would be really good. Also not sure how I like life from the loam. It's pretty good when I need a dredge and sometimes gets me lands back but really for the grindier matchup.
On a different note erebos, god of the dead is really good. He stops opponents lifegain and generates card advantage, also easy to make him a creature with bloodghasts and gravecrawlers. The opponents is really important because he pulls through it matchups like jund and abzan where we still need our gnaw to the bone.
Also with my 3 tron matchups I would like to say ghost quarter is perfectly sufficient. I still feel like fulminator mage would be better but basically ghost quarter pushes your opponents off of tron long enough for us to win. Becomes super combo with life from the loam. The colorless does really hurt so it's nice to have an uborg out and at least two other lands besides it so you can blow stuff out without shafting yourself.
Edit: It's also worth noting that it's fun to shock yourself for mana to keep a grisly salvage open in your opponents turn because they often expect and abrupt decay and it messes up their play.
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
Future edits this weekend including another decklist or two, matchups including what to expect and a general sideboard guide, and some reference articles/videos.
If anyone else has suggestions or wants more inclusions, feel free to PM me with your content and I'll throw it up on the front page.
BGRDredgevineBGR
UWRJeskai ControlUWR
Pauper:
GMono-Green AggroG
MTGO Username: creamy99
Twitch Stream: www.twitch.tv/coachcreamy
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/Cherokee3210
Check it out for the latest testing, gameplay, and dailies!
I've only tried smallpox as a sideboard card and it doesn't really work that great. When you're dredging hardcore you're almost guaranteed to mill through them. Also our land base is fragile as all heck and I don't like messing up my own lands. I'm wondering are you thinking of playing smallpox as an addition to dredgevine or dredge as an addition to loam pox?
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
BGRDredgevineBGR
UWRJeskai ControlUWR
Pauper:
GMono-Green AggroG
MTGO Username: creamy99
Twitch Stream: www.twitch.tv/coachcreamy
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/Cherokee3210
Check it out for the latest testing, gameplay, and dailies!
Also, I was looking on Youtube for more Dredge Modern playing and saw one that was more of a reanimator style with Unburial Rites and fatties like Iona and Elesh Norn.
I don't want to sound like some sort of salesperson but dredgevine is probably one of the most fun decks I've ever played. It's just really tough to get outvalued and even when they have graveyard hate were still a pretty good aggro deck. Darkblast is close enough to flame jab? It's fun mowing down elves or memnites. Anyway if you have any questions just ask them.
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
4 Bloodghast
3 Gurmag Angler
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
2 Mortuary Mire
1 Stinkweed Imp
Quick Kills
3 Gravecrawler
3 Grisly Salvage
4 Lotleth Troll
3 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Vengevine
Control
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Darkblast
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Murderous Cut
2 Thoughtsieze
3 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Treetop Village
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Woodland Cemetery
2 Forest
1 Twilight Mire
2 Swamo
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Damnation
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Spellskite
2 Thoughtseize
1 Gravecrawler
1 Darkblast
1 Creeping Corrosion
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
My decks:
Modern
B[url=http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive/220250-dredgevine?page=89#c2235]Dredgevine[/url]G
Amulet Bloom
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
BGRDredgevineBGR
UWRJeskai ControlUWR
Pauper:
GMono-Green AggroG
MTGO Username: creamy99
Twitch Stream: www.twitch.tv/coachcreamy
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/Cherokee3210
Check it out for the latest testing, gameplay, and dailies!
4x Bloodghast
3x Flamewake Phoenix
3x Golgari Grave-Troll
4x Gravecrawler
4x Gurmag Angler
4x Lotleth Troll
3x Satyr Wayfinder
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4x Vengevine
Sorcery (5)
4x Faithless Looting
1x Life from the Loam
1x Darkblast
3x Grisly Salvage
Land (20)
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Ancient Grudge
2x Gnaw to the Bone
2x Spellskite
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Tymaret, the Murder King
My opinion about Flamewake phoenix is that is like an upgraded bloodghast (2/2 with evasion yes please!), but just as bloodghast it's lackluster if it's not in multiples, that's why adding just one felt like just fifth ghast with evasion, So I added two more and it worked quite well for me, it looks like three it's the magic number, and the landbase can support it, (a Set of Red/black Fast lands are a must to mitigate life lost). having at least two red sources can be attained in the first turns. Also I've considering swapping a number Golgari trolls for imps changing one dredge for a potential blocker on turn three it looks like a better choice.
The sideboard is a work in progress
Reading your advices it's most welcome.
Thanks for the information on flamewake! I used to play it and it was really good but I only played one, I'll try and free up more space for two more.
I feel like dredgevine has potential to be tier 2 we just lack the playerbase so seeing new players here is awesome!
Also could everyone post their results, even if you go 0-4. It helps us figure out what does and doesn't work.
Thanks!
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard: