Standard Dredge is fun!
17 Dec 2009 | Graham Croucher
Standard Dredge is fun!
a Standard Tournament Report for FNM at Good Games Sydney
By Graham Croucher
Last Friday I got another chance to hit up GGs Sydney FNM and play Dredge. This time I changed it up a little, which worked out to have the same result, but give me a bit more game against things I’d lost to last time (control, walls) I maindecked the Kederekt Leviathans which last time came in against every deck except Boros. To fit these I cut a Ponder and a Tome Scour. I also dropped a swamp-fetch for a swamp, preferring to have more mana potentially available if matches turn into slug-outs.
Decklist was:
3 Island
4 Swamp
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Crypt of Agadeem
2 Drowned Catacombs
4 Rotting Rats
4 Viscera Dragger
4 Architects of Will
3 Monstrous Carabid
4 Extractor Demon
4 Sedraxis Specter
4 Hedron Crab
2 Fatestitcher
2 Kederekt Leviathan
1 Corpse Connoisseur
3 Grim Discovery
3 Tome Scour
SB:
3 Pithing Needle
4 Spreading Seas
3 Blister Beetles
3 Deathmark
2 Immortal Coil
Round 1 vs. Grixis Creature Control
The poor guy had a deck dedicated to sorcery speed (mostly) removal and rockslide elementals which got completely walked over by my unearthing critters. A couple of solid lightning bolts to my specters saw him stay in games for longer, but never have the upper hand. A game 2 mistake of kicking a Goblin Ruinblaster without realising that I didn’t, in fact, HAVE a Crypt out meant he had to destroy his own Crumbling Necropolis. After that, he conceded, knowing that he’d lost it.
1-0 and feeling good.
Round 2 vs. Jund (John Quenoy)
This matchup was one I feared, as it was my own Jund deck I’d lent out, and there were Jund Charms in the sideboard. I know I can win game 1, but it’s hard to win the decider.
Game 1 I dredged over half my library in the first few turns, and just flew over his blockers for lethal.
Game 2 I struggled for mana and a timely Goblin Ruinblaster took out my 3rd source before I could get crypt online and be in the game.
Game 3 was a nail biter, with me hard-casting multiple creatures just to stay in the game, trading draggers for Bloodbraid Elves at a net loss. He helped me fill my yard with a Blightning, and the turn I drew and played a crypt, I passed and tapped his 2nd red source in his upkeep with Fatestitcher. He and spectators groaned at the card he drew, which I incorrectly guessed was a Bituminous Blast (4 mana up after Fatestitcher). He passed the turn, and I put him on Jund charm as his only out.
I started unearthing slowly, making sure to pass priority. I kept unearthing until lethal was on the board, and then he extended his hand, saying how good that Fatestitcher was. Turns out the card he’d drawn was a Goblin Ruinblaster which he was unable to kick.
2-0 and feeling great.
Round 3 vs. Jund (Edison)
Game 1 goes like all game 1s in this matchup: He plays some irrelevant stuff, I run over him.
Game 2 was quite the opposite, where I sit on 3 mana with a crab on the board and an empty GY thanks to a turn 3 Jund charm. When I finally hit fetch-island-tome scour and pass, he hits another Jund charm off his 2nd Bloodbraid elf and I scoop it up.
Game 3 was, frankly, disappointing. I kept a hand of 2 crypts, island, drowned catacombs, fetch, spreading seas and rotting rats. He comes out with turn 1 swamp-duress (WHAT THE?) taking my spreading seas. I proceed to draw 4 more land in a row, with nothing but a Rotting Rats removed and 2 lands in my bin.
He curved out perfectly, and when I finally hit a crab-into-fetch and looked like I’d get somewhere, he Jund Charmed away my graveyard.
After the game he tells me he kept a hand of Swamp, Forest, Duress, 2x Jund charm, 2 x Bloodbraid Elf. It was pretty impressive that he raw-dogged 3 M10 lands in 5 cards to curve out all over my face.
2-1 and thoroughly annoyed
Round 4 vs. 5 colour charm control (a borrowed Alara Block deck)
Game 1 I slowly filled my bin and attacked with rats until he hit 3 Walls of Denial, a Wall of Reverence and a Bloodbraid Elf (which didn’t attack for fear of me blocking with rats). My opponent started going obscene with his life total topping out at 57. In the meantime I slowly milled HIM with Hedron Crabs and Tome Scours.
There were a couple of (dare I say) brilliant plays where I cast an Architects of will, gave him some more tri-lands, hid the threats a card down, and in his draw step I cracked a fetchland to mill away the Sphinx of the Steel Wind/Broodmate Dragon/Child of Alara/Martial Coup.
Eventually he was looking at starting to beat down with 2x Bloodbraid elf, and I hit critical mana, unearthed an Extractor Demon followed by a Kederekt Leviathan to mill him for exactly lethal.
Game 2 He missed his walls of denial, so I focused on dredging and his wall of reverence ate a Deathmark. He played a Child of Alara, but on that turn I unearthed enough fliers to simply kill him.
All up I finished with a 3-1 record, which was only good enough for 5th on breakers (2nd place was also 3-1, a fellow dredger (Mackenzie) who beat 3 Jund decks that ALSO ended up 3-1)
The 1st place $75 was taken away by an Eldrazi Green deck which I never saw all night.
I’m a bit disappointed by the loss to Jund, as I feel that this deck has quite a lot of potential, and, given the chance can perform even post-board against Jund. Pithing needles in the board give it game against any other deck’s hate (Relic), but nothing can be done about Jund charms except playing around them (Never go all-in on your GY, mulligan to spreading seas).
I quite like the feel of playing with this deck as well, so unless I inherit some money and can afford Baneslayers or new super-fun tech comes out of American States, I’ll be sticking with this for the upcoming FNMs.
For discussion.