Not sure how to feel about Voldaren Pariah. Obviously we don't want to be hardcasting it but we have a lot of discard outlets. Three Black is rough but I run Urborg and only 4 non-black sources so it's not too unrealistic to faithless looting on turn four and slam this into play. The ability is actually pretty nuts because sacrificing some bloodghasts, amalgams, gravecrawlers, etc isn't a big deal and then you blow your opponent out and get a mssive 6/5 flyer. It's just concerning if they try to kill it in response to the trigger but it is an instant speed effect so it just has to be well-timed.
The card is probably not worth it but it seems worth testing.
Another recently spoiled card is Stromkirk Condemned which is cool but not good enough imo.
I've been playing this at my LGS and my average record has been 3-2. My last FNM I went 3-2 and both match losses were to Merfolk. Is Merfolk a bad matchup or am I just getting unlucky/playing badly? I know for a fact that I would have done better if I didn't get really crappy starting hands in the first games of each match but I still lost in the following games. Spreading Seas always hurt although to be fair one of the games I would have probably won if he didn't topdeck the relic of progenitus on turn two.
Also I'm really digging my current sideboard but I am considering cutting a rakdos charm for a jund charm because I want a pyroclasm effect to deal with decks like Merfolk and Elves (elves was even harder to beat than merfolk) which happen to be frequently seen at my LGS. Any thoughts? Has same graveyard hate effect as rakdos charm and while rakdos charm is great against affinity, so is Jund charm and finally the two +1/+1 counters can occasionally put in work. I'm really liking the idea of it but I haven't done any playtesting yet but I appreciate everyone's opinions.
I almost always prioritize Vault Skirge. Zambrah mentions an exception where you can get more damage in with pest if you play it along with multiple one drops. I would only play pest over skirge on turn one if there is at least two other creatures already in play and even then I might not do it if I think that gaining life is important in the matchup.
New Affinity player here. Can you kindly check my deck list. Can you also give me tips on using arcbound ravager and cranial plating. Thanks guys!
Your deck seems fine, only suggestions are that I don't like Nature's Claim that much and Rest in Peace isn't very good because it makes it so your Arcbound Ravager cannot move its counters. I'd suggest adding two Ghirapur æther Grid instead because the card is super sweet.
Cranial and Arcbound are some of the more skill-intensive cards in the deck, I'd suggest reading guides and looking up tips & tricks but some basic stuff is:
If your creature gets hit with removal, you can eat it with Ravager. If they bolt your Ravager, sometimes it is right to sac three artifacts so you have a 4/4 beater that can pump another creature assuming you have one. Sometimes (especially if your opponent is tapped out) it is right to sacrifice your entire board to Ravager for lethal, you can also do this if it is blocked by moving the counters to an unblocked creature. Sometimes you pull wins out of your ass by sacrificing your board to Ravager and then move the counters onto Inkmoth Nexus for a one-shot poison kill. If your opponent tries to electrolyze two of your guys, if you sac them both they do not draw a card. You were probably going to sac them anyway but could be relevant if they target a steel overseer and you consider sacing ravager to save it, you might not want to because they get to draw (although you might want to anyway just because overseer is a beating haha). Cranial plating generally goes on a weak critter because you want them to waste removal on a ornithopter instead of a signal pest and sometimes it is right to put your plating on an ornithopter instead of a vault skirge, you have the potential to gain a lot of life but you also have the potential to deal no damage for turn and lose your vault skirge to a bolt. If you put the plating on the thopter then the skirge won't get bolted and could potentially win you the game if you keep hitting in with it. Plating can be placed at instant speed by using two black mana so you can put a plating on a guy and then attack and if they kill it/block it then you can move it to a creature that is not being blocked. Activating Ravager makes your Plating do less damage (this seems obvious but I've seen a few people forget about it).
There's probably a lot more but that was all on the top of my head and I hope at least some of it is helpful.
I played in a GPT over the weekend and I figured I'd post a tournament report. I was originally going to play Affinity because I'm much better at playing it and it's a better deck overall but I already have my byes for GPLA (I won a GPT with Affinity already) and my friend needed to borrow a modern deck so I loaned him Affinity and picked up Dredgevine.
This is my first time playing Dredgevine in an actual tournament (I've played it on cockatrice and with friends a few times but nothing more than that) so I wasn't sure how things were going to go and I don't know if I am sideboarding correctly but that's what practice is for anyway.
I didn't think Dredgers were super necessary considering I can dig for them and once you get one you can always get more. I decided to play a bunch of different dredgers because loam is great with bloodghast and hitting land drops or having ***** to discard with Looting or Neonate, Darkblast is solid removal, and I opted to play a 2/1 split of Stinkweed and Grave-Troll because Stinkweed can be case along with a one-drop to trigger Vengevine much more consistently and I like it as an evasive attacker or insane blocker whereas Grave-Troll is almost never cast. I like having a lot of removal game one because I feel like aggro matchups are very difficult otherwise and it means I don't need to side removal in game two. I tested two Amalgams and liked that many, I didn't have a need for blue mana in playtesting so I did not include any sources. Anyway on to the games!
ROUND 1
First game and my opponent is playing some cards that usually don't see any modern play like Sylvan Caryatid, Witchstalker, and Troll Ascetic. I get him to 4 with lethal guaranteed next turn and he lands a Worship. Suddenly all the bad hexproof cards make sense and I concede to go to game 2.
I sided in Slaughter Games, Golgari Charm, and Thoughtseize cutting Prized Amalgam and a few other cards (I don't remember).
Game two I land a turn four Slaughter Games naming Worship, I look through his deck see some tormod's crypts as the hate and then see some other janky things. I end up drawing another Slaughter Games and I name Sun Titan. I am not really getting damage in because he has a bunch of sylvan caryatids in play and so I keep passing each turn while he uses Gavony Township to make his guys get bigger and bigger. The game ends up taking forever until near the end of the round because neither of us has good attacks. Eventually I start bashing in when I get enough dudes but he has sigarda, host of herons beating in each turn and while I do manage to get him to 4, he eventually gets in for lethal.
0-1
ROUND 2
I see a turn one Noble Hierarch and put him on Infect. I bash in with gravecrawlers and bloodghasts each turn (which gets him to four life) but I never draw green mana and even though I have abrupt decay in hand, I lose to a pumped Blighted Agent.
Game two, I control the board with my removal and win easily.
Game three he has the nuts turn 3 win with spellskite back up and I get crushed.
0-2
ROUND 3
Another infect guy, he draws really poorly and an uneventful two wins occurs. Sided the same as the first time I played against infect.
1-2
ROUND 4
I play against UB Faeries and end up wrecking him game one (blew him out when he tried to champion a faerie with mistblind clique by abrupt decaying his only possible target).
Game one he ramps fast, uses Ulamog to exile Vengevine and Stinkweed Imp, and proceeds to win.
Game two I side in Fulminator Mages, Thoughtseizes, and a Lave Axe. He misses a land drop and never catches up on tempo as I hit him with Vines and Bloodghasts.
Game three is more back and forth but I manage to get in there for lethal the turn before he lands an Ulamog.
3-2
ROUND 6
Infect yet again, he pulls off a quick win and apparently one Abrupt Decay isn't enough to save me.
I sideboard the same as the last two games.
Game two I play removal spell after removal spell, Ancient Grudge nails his Spellskite and I win quickly.
Game three I am stuck on two lands forever. I golgari charm on my turn to kill his Blighted Agent but he has a Mutagenic Growth. He floods out but manages to get some poison in before I draw abrupt decay. He lands an Inkmoth Nexus and a Spellskite before I finally hit my third land drop so I can smash down a Fulminator Mage. He attacks with his inkmoth and instead of sacrificing my mage, I take the poison, then he lands another Inkmoth Nexus. I attack with my Fulminator Mage and he guesses I have a bolt or a trick so he takes the damage. Main Phase 2 I land a second Mage. He attacks in with both Nexuses and I still don't sacrifice my Mages and take the damage bringing me to 6 poison. Next turn I cast two dudes to bring back our favorite Vine and then I swing with the mages and my Vine. One mage gets blocked by the kite and they take four bringing them down to 8 life. My board is two gravecrawlers, two mages, and the Vengevine. I pass turn and he realizes he needs to win this turn. He has the two nexuses, spellskite, a crap load of lands (one pendelhaven), and three cards in hand. He attacks with the Nexuses, no blocks, he casts a pump spell on a Nexus and I sac a Fulminator to kill it, he responds by casting vines of vastwood on it and I respond again by sacing a mage to kill it. He pendelhaven pumps the other nexus and brings me to 8 poison. I have 8 power on board to his 8 life but he has the Spellskite in play and I need to win this turn. I pray to the topdeck gods and they deliver as I topdeck the ancient grudge to kill the spellskite.
4-2
I'm pretty jazzed about going 4-2 on my first tournament and I was pretty scared after losing my first two rounds.
I think I sided pretty well in most games but it is hard to say for sure and I forgot a lot of my sideboarding choices. I really liked how I sided for infect (maybe I shouldn't be cutting Rotting Rats but I don't know what else to cut?) and it seemed to be pretty effective. Generally I like siding some number of dredgers out games two and three because dredge is less good when you are siding in cards that don't do anything when they are put into the graveyard (like Slaughter Games, Thoughtseize, and Fulminator Mage) but I could be wrong.
Now to the changes in the decklist, I know my list is different than most (less Dredgers and WAY more Abrupt Decays) but it was what I wanted to play. After playing 6 rounds I realize I should be playing more dredgers but I do like having four abrupt decay main, even in matchups where they do nothing I can always discard them with faithless looting or insolent neonate. Even though everyone seems to be hyping up Prized Amalgam, it underperformed for me. It always felt too slow and it just didn't seem necessary. Perhaps this is because I should be playing four to maximize the power it provides but I'm not sure if that is the problem. The problem isn't my lack of blue mana either because I never had a chance/reason to cast it during all six rounds. Currently I am thinking off cutting both Amalgams for two other cards. Originally I was going to add one stinkweed and one grave-troll to replace them but I realized that my zombie count goes down quite a bit which makes it harder to cast gravecrawler from the yard. Because of this conundrum, I think I am going to add one grave-troll and one Shambling Shell because it still costs 3 mana, it is a zombie for gravecrawler, it can save Vengevine from bolt, and it can go back to the yard if I ever really need to dredge and I cannot find a way to.
Hope this wasn't too boring and let me know if you disagree with my deck choices or sideboarding choices or anything really and I can answer any questions you may have but then again I've only played six rounds haha.
I'm curious as to how many Dredgers we should have MB? 10-15? Thanks
Depends on the list but honestly I feel like people really overdo the number of Dredge cards. 10 to 15 seems ridiculous to me, I'd say somewhere around 4-8. My reasoning is that a lot of Dredge cards are subpar on their own so you don't want to be topdecking them so they're only for dredging. It's not hard to get a dredge card in the yard even with as few as four in the deck because of all the other self-mill and draw power from looting and neonate. Once you get one in the yard, dredging it back can quickly get you more in the yard and you really only need two dredgers at any given time anyway as long as you can keep getting them back in the graveyard.
EDIT: My opinion is based on the average Dredgevine lists I've seen and the ones I play but more all-in versions might want to play more.
I haven't commented in a while but now that Innistrad is coming back, I am excited for new cards that we can use. Madness is such a perfect mechanic for us and it's obvious that we capitalize off of it moreso than most decks (we got Lotleth, Looting, and Lightning Axe).
So far no one has mentioned the newly spoiled Falkenrath Glutton (possibly Vampire Glutton, not sure about the translation). I'm waiting for the entire spoiler but if there aren't a whole lot of playable Madness cards it might even be correct to alter our deck dramatically to include Vampires so this newly spoiled card can do some work. It honestly seems insane in our deck considering it's a one-drop and allowing everything to gain madness makes Faithless Looting with untapped lands super likely to cast creatures to trigger Vengevine. I've been playtesting a deck that runs 4 of the Glutton, 4 heir of falkenrath, and 2 viscera seer (it is one mana and it can sac bloodghast before each land drop or even sac gravecrawler so it can be recast for Vengevine).
While playtesting there were turns where I'd have a glutton and a looting in hand with a Vengevine in the yard. I'd cast the glutton and then cast looting then madness in another vampire from the looting to trigger Vengevine.
It makes me a little sad because I prefer zombies over vampires any day of the week but vampires might be the way to go with this deck (although I am still keeping in Lotleth and Gravecrawler for sure).
Arcbound Ravager is so central to this deck's strategy and has accounted for so many wins that I seriously cannot believe anyone would consider cutting it.
Maybe you haven't been playing the deck long enough or don't know how to use Ravager but the card is insanely good.
Played UR Twin, Merfolk, GW Hatebears, Naya Burn, Ad Nauseum, then drew my last round of Swiss. Top 8 was TarmoTwin, Merfolk, Junk. Playing Merfolk twice was lucky but I did manage to fight through Twin twice on the day so I guess it balances out.
First off, congratulations!
Secondly, I haven't been following this thread as closely as I used to but I was under the assumption that Hangarback Walker was deemed underwhelming. What are your thoughts on the card?
On another note, how did you feel about two aether grids in the side? I've been rolling with one but I've never drawn it in any of my games. What decks do you side it in against, just Affinity and Infect or anything else?
Lastly, would you keep your list the same or would you make any changes?
Sorry for the billion questions but I haven't been playing as much modern as I would like to ever since school started but I want to get back into it again soon so little things like this help despite the fact that I've already been playing Affinity for quite a while now.
ghirapur aether grid is good against mirror, elves, infect, bw tokens, abzan's lingering soul. against tron, i suggest taking out etched champion as it is too slow. it is bad against wurmcoil engine and spellskite which they will board in. infect win is the better choice here in my opinion. if they can tron on third turn, it is very hard. thoughtseize and spell pierce will be good here.
I feel like the aether grid would not be that good against Tokens considering they run anthem affects like intangible virtue and honor of the pure, plus you're tapping down a lot of artifacts to deal with 1/3 or 1/4 of a spell (spectral procession/lingering souls). I do think the aether grid might be worth it against abzan though, considering the only tokens are the ones made by lingering souls.
I've noticed a lot of people are playing Ghirapur Æther Grid in the side. How is that card been playing for you guys? What do you side it in against? I'm guessing Infect and the Mirror but is there anything else?
Found two interesting cards: Bone Splinters - it's not instant speed, which probably kills it, but it helps in matchups where you can't afford to exile cards for Murderous Cut Fa'adiyah Seer - has to sit back for a turn, but dredges on command and can get us lands or things in the grave.
Sometimes sacrificing a dude isn't a big deal but sometimes it is and like you said, it being a sorcery instead of an instant is huge. We usually have cards in the grave for murderous cut anyway so I don't think bone splinters is good.
The seer seems way too slow to me, I'd rather run life from the loam if I want lands + dredge.
Maybe it isn't good enough but it has potential.
The card is probably not worth it but it seems worth testing.
Another recently spoiled card is Stromkirk Condemned which is cool but not good enough imo.
1x Blood Crypt
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Forest
1x Mountain
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Verdant Catacombs
1x Watery Grave
1x Wooded Foothills
4x Bloodghast
3x Golgari Grave-Troll
4x Gravecrawler
4x Insolent Neonate
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Prized Amalgam
1x Rotting Rats
2x Stinkweed Imp
4x Vengevine
1x Darkblast
1x Lightning Axe
4x Faithless Looting
1x Life from the Loam
1x Abrupt Decay
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Fulminator Mage
2x Gnaw to the Bone
2x Golgari Charm
2x Rakdos Charm
1x Slaughter Games
3x Thoughtseize
I've been playing this at my LGS and my average record has been 3-2. My last FNM I went 3-2 and both match losses were to Merfolk. Is Merfolk a bad matchup or am I just getting unlucky/playing badly? I know for a fact that I would have done better if I didn't get really crappy starting hands in the first games of each match but I still lost in the following games. Spreading Seas always hurt although to be fair one of the games I would have probably won if he didn't topdeck the relic of progenitus on turn two.
Also I'm really digging my current sideboard but I am considering cutting a rakdos charm for a jund charm because I want a pyroclasm effect to deal with decks like Merfolk and Elves (elves was even harder to beat than merfolk) which happen to be frequently seen at my LGS. Any thoughts? Has same graveyard hate effect as rakdos charm and while rakdos charm is great against affinity, so is Jund charm and finally the two +1/+1 counters can occasionally put in work. I'm really liking the idea of it but I haven't done any playtesting yet but I appreciate everyone's opinions.
Your deck seems fine, only suggestions are that I don't like Nature's Claim that much and Rest in Peace isn't very good because it makes it so your Arcbound Ravager cannot move its counters. I'd suggest adding two Ghirapur æther Grid instead because the card is super sweet.
Cranial and Arcbound are some of the more skill-intensive cards in the deck, I'd suggest reading guides and looking up tips & tricks but some basic stuff is:
If your creature gets hit with removal, you can eat it with Ravager. If they bolt your Ravager, sometimes it is right to sac three artifacts so you have a 4/4 beater that can pump another creature assuming you have one. Sometimes (especially if your opponent is tapped out) it is right to sacrifice your entire board to Ravager for lethal, you can also do this if it is blocked by moving the counters to an unblocked creature. Sometimes you pull wins out of your ass by sacrificing your board to Ravager and then move the counters onto Inkmoth Nexus for a one-shot poison kill. If your opponent tries to electrolyze two of your guys, if you sac them both they do not draw a card. You were probably going to sac them anyway but could be relevant if they target a steel overseer and you consider sacing ravager to save it, you might not want to because they get to draw (although you might want to anyway just because overseer is a beating haha). Cranial plating generally goes on a weak critter because you want them to waste removal on a ornithopter instead of a signal pest and sometimes it is right to put your plating on an ornithopter instead of a vault skirge, you have the potential to gain a lot of life but you also have the potential to deal no damage for turn and lose your vault skirge to a bolt. If you put the plating on the thopter then the skirge won't get bolted and could potentially win you the game if you keep hitting in with it. Plating can be placed at instant speed by using two black mana so you can put a plating on a guy and then attack and if they kill it/block it then you can move it to a creature that is not being blocked. Activating Ravager makes your Plating do less damage (this seems obvious but I've seen a few people forget about it).
There's probably a lot more but that was all on the top of my head and I hope at least some of it is helpful.
This is my first time playing Dredgevine in an actual tournament (I've played it on cockatrice and with friends a few times but nothing more than that) so I wasn't sure how things were going to go and I don't know if I am sideboarding correctly but that's what practice is for anyway.
Here was my list:
4x Bloodghast
1x Golgari Grave-Troll
4x Gravecrawler
4x Insolent Neonate
4x Lotleth Troll
2x Prized Amalgam
1x Rotting Rats
4x Satyr Wayfinder
2x Stinkweed Imp
4x Vengevine
Noncreature Spells (10)
4x Faithless Looting
1x Life from the Loam
4x Abrupt Decay
1x Darkblast
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blood Crypt
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Forest
1x Mountain
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wooded Foothills
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Fulminator Mage
2x Gnaw to the Bone
2x Golgari Charm
1x Lightning Axe
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Slaughter Games
2x Thoughtseize
I didn't think Dredgers were super necessary considering I can dig for them and once you get one you can always get more. I decided to play a bunch of different dredgers because loam is great with bloodghast and hitting land drops or having ***** to discard with Looting or Neonate, Darkblast is solid removal, and I opted to play a 2/1 split of Stinkweed and Grave-Troll because Stinkweed can be case along with a one-drop to trigger Vengevine much more consistently and I like it as an evasive attacker or insane blocker whereas Grave-Troll is almost never cast. I like having a lot of removal game one because I feel like aggro matchups are very difficult otherwise and it means I don't need to side removal in game two. I tested two Amalgams and liked that many, I didn't have a need for blue mana in playtesting so I did not include any sources. Anyway on to the games!
ROUND 1
First game and my opponent is playing some cards that usually don't see any modern play like Sylvan Caryatid, Witchstalker, and Troll Ascetic. I get him to 4 with lethal guaranteed next turn and he lands a Worship. Suddenly all the bad hexproof cards make sense and I concede to go to game 2.
I sided in Slaughter Games, Golgari Charm, and Thoughtseize cutting Prized Amalgam and a few other cards (I don't remember).
Game two I land a turn four Slaughter Games naming Worship, I look through his deck see some tormod's crypts as the hate and then see some other janky things. I end up drawing another Slaughter Games and I name Sun Titan. I am not really getting damage in because he has a bunch of sylvan caryatids in play and so I keep passing each turn while he uses Gavony Township to make his guys get bigger and bigger. The game ends up taking forever until near the end of the round because neither of us has good attacks. Eventually I start bashing in when I get enough dudes but he has sigarda, host of herons beating in each turn and while I do manage to get him to 4, he eventually gets in for lethal.
0-1
ROUND 2
I see a turn one Noble Hierarch and put him on Infect. I bash in with gravecrawlers and bloodghasts each turn (which gets him to four life) but I never draw green mana and even though I have abrupt decay in hand, I lose to a pumped Blighted Agent.
I sideboard out 4 bloodghast, Life from the Loam, both Prized Amalgams, Golgari Grave-Troll, and Rotting Rats. I side in Golgari Charm, Ancient Grudge, Fulminator Mage, Thoughtseize, and Lightning Axe.
Game two, I control the board with my removal and win easily.
Game three he has the nuts turn 3 win with spellskite back up and I get crushed.
0-2
ROUND 3
Another infect guy, he draws really poorly and an uneventful two wins occurs. Sided the same as the first time I played against infect.
1-2
ROUND 4
I play against UB Faeries and end up wrecking him game one (blew him out when he tried to champion a faerie with mistblind clique by abrupt decaying his only possible target).
Game two I sided in golgari charm and Fulminator Mage and maybe Thoughtseize but I don't remember.
I crush him again.
2-2
ROUND 5
Eldrazi Tron with eldrazi mimic, matter reshaper, endless one, reality smasher, oblivion sower, and Ulamog, the ceaseless hunger
Game one he ramps fast, uses Ulamog to exile Vengevine and Stinkweed Imp, and proceeds to win.
Game two I side in Fulminator Mages, Thoughtseizes, and a Lave Axe. He misses a land drop and never catches up on tempo as I hit him with Vines and Bloodghasts.
Game three is more back and forth but I manage to get in there for lethal the turn before he lands an Ulamog.
3-2
ROUND 6
Infect yet again, he pulls off a quick win and apparently one Abrupt Decay isn't enough to save me.
I sideboard the same as the last two games.
Game two I play removal spell after removal spell, Ancient Grudge nails his Spellskite and I win quickly.
Game three I am stuck on two lands forever. I golgari charm on my turn to kill his Blighted Agent but he has a Mutagenic Growth. He floods out but manages to get some poison in before I draw abrupt decay. He lands an Inkmoth Nexus and a Spellskite before I finally hit my third land drop so I can smash down a Fulminator Mage. He attacks with his inkmoth and instead of sacrificing my mage, I take the poison, then he lands another Inkmoth Nexus. I attack with my Fulminator Mage and he guesses I have a bolt or a trick so he takes the damage. Main Phase 2 I land a second Mage. He attacks in with both Nexuses and I still don't sacrifice my Mages and take the damage bringing me to 6 poison. Next turn I cast two dudes to bring back our favorite Vine and then I swing with the mages and my Vine. One mage gets blocked by the kite and they take four bringing them down to 8 life. My board is two gravecrawlers, two mages, and the Vengevine. I pass turn and he realizes he needs to win this turn. He has the two nexuses, spellskite, a crap load of lands (one pendelhaven), and three cards in hand. He attacks with the Nexuses, no blocks, he casts a pump spell on a Nexus and I sac a Fulminator to kill it, he responds by casting vines of vastwood on it and I respond again by sacing a mage to kill it. He pendelhaven pumps the other nexus and brings me to 8 poison. I have 8 power on board to his 8 life but he has the Spellskite in play and I need to win this turn. I pray to the topdeck gods and they deliver as I topdeck the ancient grudge to kill the spellskite.
4-2
I'm pretty jazzed about going 4-2 on my first tournament and I was pretty scared after losing my first two rounds.
I think I sided pretty well in most games but it is hard to say for sure and I forgot a lot of my sideboarding choices. I really liked how I sided for infect (maybe I shouldn't be cutting Rotting Rats but I don't know what else to cut?) and it seemed to be pretty effective. Generally I like siding some number of dredgers out games two and three because dredge is less good when you are siding in cards that don't do anything when they are put into the graveyard (like Slaughter Games, Thoughtseize, and Fulminator Mage) but I could be wrong.
Now to the changes in the decklist, I know my list is different than most (less Dredgers and WAY more Abrupt Decays) but it was what I wanted to play. After playing 6 rounds I realize I should be playing more dredgers but I do like having four abrupt decay main, even in matchups where they do nothing I can always discard them with faithless looting or insolent neonate. Even though everyone seems to be hyping up Prized Amalgam, it underperformed for me. It always felt too slow and it just didn't seem necessary. Perhaps this is because I should be playing four to maximize the power it provides but I'm not sure if that is the problem. The problem isn't my lack of blue mana either because I never had a chance/reason to cast it during all six rounds. Currently I am thinking off cutting both Amalgams for two other cards. Originally I was going to add one stinkweed and one grave-troll to replace them but I realized that my zombie count goes down quite a bit which makes it harder to cast gravecrawler from the yard. Because of this conundrum, I think I am going to add one grave-troll and one Shambling Shell because it still costs 3 mana, it is a zombie for gravecrawler, it can save Vengevine from bolt, and it can go back to the yard if I ever really need to dredge and I cannot find a way to.
Hope this wasn't too boring and let me know if you disagree with my deck choices or sideboarding choices or anything really and I can answer any questions you may have but then again I've only played six rounds haha.
Depends on the list but honestly I feel like people really overdo the number of Dredge cards. 10 to 15 seems ridiculous to me, I'd say somewhere around 4-8. My reasoning is that a lot of Dredge cards are subpar on their own so you don't want to be topdecking them so they're only for dredging. It's not hard to get a dredge card in the yard even with as few as four in the deck because of all the other self-mill and draw power from looting and neonate. Once you get one in the yard, dredging it back can quickly get you more in the yard and you really only need two dredgers at any given time anyway as long as you can keep getting them back in the graveyard.
EDIT: My opinion is based on the average Dredgevine lists I've seen and the ones I play but more all-in versions might want to play more.
So far no one has mentioned the newly spoiled Falkenrath Glutton (possibly Vampire Glutton, not sure about the translation). I'm waiting for the entire spoiler but if there aren't a whole lot of playable Madness cards it might even be correct to alter our deck dramatically to include Vampires so this newly spoiled card can do some work. It honestly seems insane in our deck considering it's a one-drop and allowing everything to gain madness makes Faithless Looting with untapped lands super likely to cast creatures to trigger Vengevine. I've been playtesting a deck that runs 4 of the Glutton, 4 heir of falkenrath, and 2 viscera seer (it is one mana and it can sac bloodghast before each land drop or even sac gravecrawler so it can be recast for Vengevine).
While playtesting there were turns where I'd have a glutton and a looting in hand with a Vengevine in the yard. I'd cast the glutton and then cast looting then madness in another vampire from the looting to trigger Vengevine.
It makes me a little sad because I prefer zombies over vampires any day of the week but vampires might be the way to go with this deck (although I am still keeping in Lotleth and Gravecrawler for sure).
Maybe you haven't been playing the deck long enough or don't know how to use Ravager but the card is insanely good.
Secondly, I haven't been following this thread as closely as I used to but I was under the assumption that Hangarback Walker was deemed underwhelming. What are your thoughts on the card?
On another note, how did you feel about two aether grids in the side? I've been rolling with one but I've never drawn it in any of my games. What decks do you side it in against, just Affinity and Infect or anything else?
Lastly, would you keep your list the same or would you make any changes?
Sorry for the billion questions but I haven't been playing as much modern as I would like to ever since school started but I want to get back into it again soon so little things like this help despite the fact that I've already been playing Affinity for quite a while now.
I feel like the aether grid would not be that good against Tokens considering they run anthem affects like intangible virtue and honor of the pure, plus you're tapping down a lot of artifacts to deal with 1/3 or 1/4 of a spell (spectral procession/lingering souls). I do think the aether grid might be worth it against abzan though, considering the only tokens are the ones made by lingering souls.
Sometimes sacrificing a dude isn't a big deal but sometimes it is and like you said, it being a sorcery instead of an instant is huge. We usually have cards in the grave for murderous cut anyway so I don't think bone splinters is good.
The seer seems way too slow to me, I'd rather run life from the loam if I want lands + dredge.