Dredge is a deck that has received some new tools in the past year, with Theros Beyond Death really pushing it over the edge with cards like Ox of Agonas and Underworld Breach. While these powerhouse cards certainly allow for play patterns and combo lines unavailable prior to the sets release, but after playing this deck religiously for the past two weeks, neither Ox nor Breach is necessary for the success of this deck. I've long believed that Dredge has potential in the format, but have personally failed in producing a list (or at least a solid shell) that I was happy with. Thankfully, "The Premier Dredge Pilot" of the format, RootPotato, pulled through with the fruits of their extensive Dredge testing, really setting this archetype in motion.Once I started tinkering with it, I instantly fell in love with the archetype and the shockingly large pool of cards to further customize the list. I found myself so enthused that I decided to sleeve up the ol' Bazaar and take Dredge to a paper tournament. So, let's get into it. How did I do? Well, here are my matches.
Before we dive into things, I want to just comment on how difficult it is to track games of singleton Dredge with 100% accuracy, given the different zones you're required to track, and having each draw replaced with 3-6 cards as opposed to one. With this is mind, I apologize to any of my opponents if exact information isn't relayed.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/28-01-20-bFZ-dredge/
This isn't the exact list, as I made some changes between this event and the follow-up tournament I jammed on Feb. 10th, 2020 (which will also be receiving a tournament report). The overall deck is the same, albeit the original list was lacking Hermit Druid and Ancient Grudge/Shenanigans, but surely I won't run into any Academy decks.
R1 (0-0) vs Paradox Turns AcademyG1 - Draw: My opponent mulligans to 5, and I keep a hand with a full suite of card styles. I fire off an Inquisition of Kozilek T1, seeing a hand of mana rocks, land, and a Narset. I snap off the Narset, knowing that my opponent needs a little bit of oomph to get going, trying to capitalize on their mulligan. They drop a talisman, and reveal their draw for turn by casting a Ponder. They don't like what they see and shuffle up for the random draw before passing. I draw and pass, withholding what I'm cooking with, as they just spend their turn playing out their other mana rock. I use my 2 mana to cast an EoT Grisly Salvage, which is an absolute jackpot. I manage to pocket an Eternal Witness, while also putting an Underworld Breach, Gamble and Shambling Shell into my graveyard. I can already feel the juices flowing, as I'm about to T3 combo kill my opponent in the first game of my first tournament with dredge. I dredge Shambling shell for the turn, cast a Lion's Eye Diamond, follow up with an Eternal Witness, cracking my LED in response for Red. Witness returns Underworld Breach, and between fetch lands, Grisly Salvage and dredging Shambles I have enough fuel to go off. Unfortunately, when attempting to Gamble for Burning Inquiry, my opponent plops down a Mental Misstep.Oops."Well, at least they don't have anything going for them", I say as my opponent slams a Karn, Scion of Urza off the top of their deck. The rest of G1 involves me trying to get things going, while being blockaded by construct tokens, before several swings backed by Time Warps put me out of commission.G2 - Play:Unfortunate start to the event, but you can't let missteps get you down, especially when you've got a beaut like this 7. This was a bit of a quick one. I lead off with Deathrite Shaman, followed by a Faithless Looting putting BOTH Bloodghast and Prized Amalgam into my bin. My land for the turn, Wasteland, takes care of my opponents Seat of the Synod while putting an additional 5 power into play. Oh, and for good measure, I exile their land and decide to fire off a Thoughtseize taking their Timetwister. The following turns involve me turning my creatures sideways, casting a Lightning Bolt, and my opponent reducing their life total to 0.
G3-Draw:This one ends up being a bit trickier, but thankfully I'm packing a Survival Draw™. I start building some pressure T1 by deploying a Gravecrawler, which also puts a body for Hogaak into play. Survival dodges any counter magic, and then we just go to town setting up some massive attacks featuring Anger, Hogaak, Scourge of Nel Toth and Scourge Devils. Things get a bit sketchy when my opponent starts to take some extra turns, but without a planeswalker or draw engine into play, they're more or less just digging for something to survive. They manage to find a Mystic Confluence, saving them from a lethal attack, but not saving them from tutoring up a hasty Deathrite Shaman for the final 2 damage.
R2 (1-0) vs 4C Kiki-Pod
G1 - Play:I went into this match thinking it would be quite difficult to develop a slower engine kill, given the plethora of creature tutors mean setting up Survival or a THICC graveyard can easily be answered through Knight of Autumn or Scooze. Thankfully, I absolutely dunked on my opponent (my good friend, and Highlander Councillor, Sean Lo) by getting an early Wrenn & 6 + Wasteland to stifle their development, supplemented by and absolutely backbreaking Firestorm for 3 in response to an Ephemerate on their Spellseeker.G2 - Draw:Sean drops a T2 Birthing Pod, which I immediately Abrupt Decay, and then we spend the next couple of turns developing our boards. He's got dorks galore, and unfortunately while my board of unassuming threats would get the job done in a grindier match, they're not able to reliably push past the opposing Wall of Roots. The damage isn't entirely insignificant, as the most expensive threat Sean has managed to stick is a Goblin Settler, and his life total is slowly getting chipped away. I knew I was more or less operating on borrowed time however, as Sean manages to find a Scavenging Ooze to pull apart my graveyard. While I'm not entirely out of it yet, an Eternal Witness returning Pod more or less locks me out of victory.
G3 - Play:Finally, we get there with a Breach. Admittedly, Sean went for a bit of an aggressive line, trying to set off a T4 Ephemerate on a Spellseeker, only to get got by Entombing for a Darkblast, cycling a Barren Moor, and countering the loop. I spend the next turn dredging Darkblast twice between my draw step and a Bazaar activation, killing off Sean's army of dorks. Sean sighs, casts a Goblin Settler getting rid of my Bazaar of Baghdad. I draw for the turn, take a gander at my graveyard, slam an Underworld Breach and combo-kill for the win.For the sake of those not familiar with the combo:Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond + Burning Inquiry/Faithless Looting + Dredger- Every 3 cards in your graveyard give us an LED- We use 1 of the 3 mana generated by LED to cast either Inquiry or Looting, costing us 3 cards, but ultimately being replaced by many more from dredging.- We proceed to dump our entire library into our graveyard, until we have enough fuel to fire off a barrage of Lightning Bolts.
R3 (2-0) vs Jeskai Control
G1 - Play:This. This is what dredge is all about. Killing your opponent with dumbass Dredge threats and enablers. It was a slow fight, but the curve of Putrid Imp -> Scrapheap Scrounger + Bloodghast -> Shambling Shell was enough to break through my opponents defensive line of Soulfire Grandmaster and Warleader's Helix. Being able to get a free Bloodghast on T2, and ending the game with a 4/4 Putrid Imp really sealed the deal. Shambling Shell was an absolute all-star of the match, and my opponent was more or less prepared to combat potential combo lines, but not the dismal beatdown.G2 - Draw:
Unfortunately, this match was somewhat anti-climatic. While my opponent started off strong with a suspended Ancestral Visions and a Pteramander to chip away at my life total, the little Salamander that could didn't match favourably with Wrenn and Six. What made the Wrenn and Six extra brutal however, was my handy dandy Crop Rotation searching up a Strip Mine, to tear away at my opponents manabase. My pressure this game was notably unimpressive, being a freely acquired Narcomoeba and a Golgari Brownscale, confused as to why it found itself on the battlefield. After the Visions failed to find any lands for my opponent, they resigned with just a basic mountain in play.
Finishing my match, I expected to play a fight against the other undefeated attendee, only to find that the pair-downs (caused by unintentional draws) had won their match-ups, leaving me as the only undefeated player after three rounds, thus winning the event. While I was happy to have taken down the event, my Dredge bloodlust was not sated yet, driving me to pilot an updated version (as included in the TappedOut link) at the next weekly event. I'll be uploading another tournament report within the next couple of days, and plan to do so for every IRL event I participate in. What's more, I'll be turning to the patrons for decklist recommendations, meaning I'll be putting my fate in your hands.Stay tuned for my second tournament report for February 10th, 2020.