aahz
08-03-2012, 08:08 PM
This was the second Vintage for Cash in Vacaville, California. I usually play Drains but decided to change it up for this one and play Dredge. I was going to do it last time, but BC talked me out of it at the last minute. Now my playset of Russian Bridge from Below was finished and I had 15 Alpha Scathe Zombies to use as tokens, so there was really no other option. It took a while to settle on the final list due to apprehension about removing the Dread Return package. With all the creature decks coming out of the woodwork these days, maindeck Leyline of the Void seemed solid. This also makes Unmask more viable (and I love me some Unmask). There was just enough room left to shove in a few Nature's Claims and Mental Missteps. I intended to do a 3/3 split, but decided to cut a Misstep to fit the 3rd Ichorid in the main. Originally I had 4x Chalice of the Void in the side, but after seeing that there was a bigger turnout than expected (and a couple of people who seemed to be on Shops), I swapped them for a 3rd Chewer and 3x Petrified Field. Playing Dredge turned out to be quite entertaining and produced many interesting, interactive games (there are always some huge blowouts, but this is Vintage after all).
Here's the list I ended up playing:
"City in a Bottle"
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Serum Powder
4 City of Brass
4 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Golgari Grave Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
2 Golgari Thug
2 Darkblast
1 Dakmor Salvage
4 Bridge from Below
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
3 Ichorid
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Unmask
3 Nature's Claim
2 Mental Misstep
Sideboard:
4 Chain of Vapor
1 Nature's Claim
3 Ingot Chewer
2 Wispmare
3 Petrified Field
2 Mental Misstep
My notes are mostly bad, non-existent, or illegible, but I'll throw out what I can remember/decipher.
Round 1 - EJ (RUG Delver)
2-1
Game 1, I open with Leyline and do the dredge thing. He gets some delver/abberation beats in, but can't stop the zombie hordes. Game 2, he gets a cage that I can't seem to deal with and I just draw blanks. Game 3, zombies continue to eat brains. I took a damage somewhere (City of Brass to kill a Cage? Delver?).
Round 2 - BC (RUG Delver)
2-0
Game 1, Zombies would have eaten brains if he hadn't scooped when he saw the writing on the wall. He opted for the "Dredge Gambit" at this event, so he didn't really have a chance. Game 2, I opened with Leyline and Zombies proceed to gorge themselves.
Round 3 - Mike (Oath)
1-2
Mike is a great guy and we have a good time despite the weirdness of this particular match.
Game 1, I open with Leyline. All is going well for the zombie hordes until Mike casts Timetwister after oathing up Griselbrand. The problem is that most of his library is supposed to be exiled from the Leyline, but midshuffling we realize what just happened and call a judge. Oops. Ruling gives him his cards back because it's impossible to restore gamestate. I scoop cause he's got Griselbrand, enough life, a full hand, and his library back, while my hand (i.e. my graveyard) has just been purged.
Game 2, I misstep Ancestral after he mulls to 3, but then stumble along for a few turns until I can find a dredger to get the engine going. But I find one before he can do much and it's on to game 3.
Game 3, it's my turn to mull to 3. But I find the Bazaar and almost get there. After getting the engine going early, he pulls out a Ravenous Trap just in time to slow me down. As I recover, he gets an Oath online, but ends up hitting Chewer (killing his own mox since it was the only target). Then he drew and evoked a second Chewer to exile my last 3 Bridges. I already had a sizable Zombie army (plus some Bloodghasts) and I get him down to 3 or 4 life, but by that point he has two Oaths and out pops Griselbrand AND Blightsteel Colossus. It would have been my game without Grisel's lifelink. Damn lifelink! This one was really close and quite a good game despite my mull to 3. I think some of the people that hate dredge just haven't seen/experienced games like this one.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p74/TeamVacaville/Vintage%20in%20Vacaville/downsized_0728121634.jpg
Photo credit: Lotushead
Round 4 - Manny (Bob-Snappy Control)
2-1
Game 1, He gets turn 2 Blightsteel, but a couple of Narcomoebas save me for one turn until the Zombies come out of the woodwork and I win despite the 9 poison counters. Game 2, I mull to 3 (after powdering at least 3 times!). He's got the hate (2x Cage, Jailer), so I'm just not even in this one. Game 3, He gets Cage (by misstepping my misstep), but I've got a City of Brass and Nature's Claim for it. He ends up front and center for the Zombie Apocalypse.
Round 5 - Frankie
ID
I'm in 5th and Frankie's in 6th in the standings, so we ID into Top 8.
Quarterfinals - Matt (RUG Delver)
2-0
This is my 3rd match against Matt ever (we were 1-1 going into this match). We first played at the SCG: Sacramento Legacy event, where we had a tense match in the last round playing for top 32 (Enchantress vs. Esper Stoneblade if anyone cares). Then he crushed me last time in the first Vintage 4 Cash event (Bob-Snappy vs. Bob-Snappy).
Game 1, I powder twice and end up mulling to 6. He comes out of the gates with the beats and gets me down to 6 before Zombies devour all in their path. I might have had a Leyline. Game 2, I think I open with another Leyline. I only manage to get off a single Therapy in this game, but miss the 2 Crypts he's got in hand. Luckily for me, Matt didn't deploy them fast enough to stop my initial surge completely. Since I know to play around them, I dig in for the slow dredging. He deploys both crypts to keep me off the nuts, but also shrink his Goyfs in the process. I eventually get a small army of Zombies, Bloodghasts, and Narcomoebas that push through his Snapcasters and Goyfs, so he extends the hand.
Semifinals - Jeff/Lotushead (Goat tokens!)
1-2
He's playing MUD with Trading Posts. We joke around about how in this match the die roll is the early game, mulligans are the midgame, and turn 1-2 is the late game. Even though that is mostly an unfair stereotype of Vintage, it is definitely true in this particular match up. I manage to lose game 1 because he wins the die roll, then goes Turn 1 Chalice for 1, Turn 2 Crucible-->Wastelock. Then turn 3, he plays Smokestack, Trading Post to deal with the Narcomoeba and Bloodghast I managed to cough up before getting shut out. Boo!
Game 2, I open with Leyline and he gets two early spheres. However, actually casting spells is for chumps, so with 3 Ichorids and 3 Bridges in the yard, the army of the undead is unstoppable. I think this was the game where he used Duplicant (and Metamorph of Duplicant) to remove 2 of my Bloodghasts and slow me down a turn or two.
Game 3, I have a weird hand that I ALMOST mulled because I had a bad feeling about it: Bazaar, Troll, Chewerx2, Claim, Powder, Bloodghast. It would have been perfect with City of Brass or Undiscovered Paradise (or if I'd have drawn one with the first (and only) Bazaar activation). I kept because, although this hand felt strange, mulling a hand with Bazaar felt stranger. He opens with Relic. I manage to get a dredge in, but he's got Wasteland, then Cage. If I had a single mana producing land before the Metalworker into Lodestone came down, I think I would have been okay. Oh well. I'm actually glad the goats went on to win it all. Goat tokens are the real deal in Vintage apparently.
Overall record was 4-2-1, not bad considering this is the first time I've actually played Dredge in a tournament.
I was pretty happy with my list overall. Maindeck Leyline was phenomenal all day (shutting off Snapcasters, protecting Bridges, would have been nice vs. Wastelock). I was initially skeptical of dropping the Dread Return package, but it actually seems mostly fine. The only thing I really miss from it is the additional sac outlets. Also, Grafdigger's Cage is about the least scary piece of hate to face as a Dredge pilot. I was able to play through it easily more often than not (though it did get me a few times, but that was usually in multiples in conjunction with something else like spheres or Jailer). The most devastating hate I faced all day turned out to be Timetwister and Wasteland. Firestorm might have been nice with all the delver/creature decks running around, but I seemed to be crushing those decks anyway, so it may just be win more. I think there really needs to be 1-2 more rainbow lands somewhere in the deck. It feels like it's really hard to hit Bazaar, anti-hate, plus mana to cast anti-hate in the opener. I had a couple of occasions where I had the Chewer/Claim/whatever, but just couldn't find any mana in time, even digging with Bazaar. Maybe I was just unlucky though. Overall, playing Dredge was much more fun than I expected, so I will probably bust it out again in the future.
Here's the list I ended up playing:
"City in a Bottle"
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Serum Powder
4 City of Brass
4 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Golgari Grave Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
2 Golgari Thug
2 Darkblast
1 Dakmor Salvage
4 Bridge from Below
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
3 Ichorid
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Unmask
3 Nature's Claim
2 Mental Misstep
Sideboard:
4 Chain of Vapor
1 Nature's Claim
3 Ingot Chewer
2 Wispmare
3 Petrified Field
2 Mental Misstep
My notes are mostly bad, non-existent, or illegible, but I'll throw out what I can remember/decipher.
Round 1 - EJ (RUG Delver)
2-1
Game 1, I open with Leyline and do the dredge thing. He gets some delver/abberation beats in, but can't stop the zombie hordes. Game 2, he gets a cage that I can't seem to deal with and I just draw blanks. Game 3, zombies continue to eat brains. I took a damage somewhere (City of Brass to kill a Cage? Delver?).
Round 2 - BC (RUG Delver)
2-0
Game 1, Zombies would have eaten brains if he hadn't scooped when he saw the writing on the wall. He opted for the "Dredge Gambit" at this event, so he didn't really have a chance. Game 2, I opened with Leyline and Zombies proceed to gorge themselves.
Round 3 - Mike (Oath)
1-2
Mike is a great guy and we have a good time despite the weirdness of this particular match.
Game 1, I open with Leyline. All is going well for the zombie hordes until Mike casts Timetwister after oathing up Griselbrand. The problem is that most of his library is supposed to be exiled from the Leyline, but midshuffling we realize what just happened and call a judge. Oops. Ruling gives him his cards back because it's impossible to restore gamestate. I scoop cause he's got Griselbrand, enough life, a full hand, and his library back, while my hand (i.e. my graveyard) has just been purged.
Game 2, I misstep Ancestral after he mulls to 3, but then stumble along for a few turns until I can find a dredger to get the engine going. But I find one before he can do much and it's on to game 3.
Game 3, it's my turn to mull to 3. But I find the Bazaar and almost get there. After getting the engine going early, he pulls out a Ravenous Trap just in time to slow me down. As I recover, he gets an Oath online, but ends up hitting Chewer (killing his own mox since it was the only target). Then he drew and evoked a second Chewer to exile my last 3 Bridges. I already had a sizable Zombie army (plus some Bloodghasts) and I get him down to 3 or 4 life, but by that point he has two Oaths and out pops Griselbrand AND Blightsteel Colossus. It would have been my game without Grisel's lifelink. Damn lifelink! This one was really close and quite a good game despite my mull to 3. I think some of the people that hate dredge just haven't seen/experienced games like this one.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p74/TeamVacaville/Vintage%20in%20Vacaville/downsized_0728121634.jpg
Photo credit: Lotushead
Round 4 - Manny (Bob-Snappy Control)
2-1
Game 1, He gets turn 2 Blightsteel, but a couple of Narcomoebas save me for one turn until the Zombies come out of the woodwork and I win despite the 9 poison counters. Game 2, I mull to 3 (after powdering at least 3 times!). He's got the hate (2x Cage, Jailer), so I'm just not even in this one. Game 3, He gets Cage (by misstepping my misstep), but I've got a City of Brass and Nature's Claim for it. He ends up front and center for the Zombie Apocalypse.
Round 5 - Frankie
ID
I'm in 5th and Frankie's in 6th in the standings, so we ID into Top 8.
Quarterfinals - Matt (RUG Delver)
2-0
This is my 3rd match against Matt ever (we were 1-1 going into this match). We first played at the SCG: Sacramento Legacy event, where we had a tense match in the last round playing for top 32 (Enchantress vs. Esper Stoneblade if anyone cares). Then he crushed me last time in the first Vintage 4 Cash event (Bob-Snappy vs. Bob-Snappy).
Game 1, I powder twice and end up mulling to 6. He comes out of the gates with the beats and gets me down to 6 before Zombies devour all in their path. I might have had a Leyline. Game 2, I think I open with another Leyline. I only manage to get off a single Therapy in this game, but miss the 2 Crypts he's got in hand. Luckily for me, Matt didn't deploy them fast enough to stop my initial surge completely. Since I know to play around them, I dig in for the slow dredging. He deploys both crypts to keep me off the nuts, but also shrink his Goyfs in the process. I eventually get a small army of Zombies, Bloodghasts, and Narcomoebas that push through his Snapcasters and Goyfs, so he extends the hand.
Semifinals - Jeff/Lotushead (Goat tokens!)
1-2
He's playing MUD with Trading Posts. We joke around about how in this match the die roll is the early game, mulligans are the midgame, and turn 1-2 is the late game. Even though that is mostly an unfair stereotype of Vintage, it is definitely true in this particular match up. I manage to lose game 1 because he wins the die roll, then goes Turn 1 Chalice for 1, Turn 2 Crucible-->Wastelock. Then turn 3, he plays Smokestack, Trading Post to deal with the Narcomoeba and Bloodghast I managed to cough up before getting shut out. Boo!
Game 2, I open with Leyline and he gets two early spheres. However, actually casting spells is for chumps, so with 3 Ichorids and 3 Bridges in the yard, the army of the undead is unstoppable. I think this was the game where he used Duplicant (and Metamorph of Duplicant) to remove 2 of my Bloodghasts and slow me down a turn or two.
Game 3, I have a weird hand that I ALMOST mulled because I had a bad feeling about it: Bazaar, Troll, Chewerx2, Claim, Powder, Bloodghast. It would have been perfect with City of Brass or Undiscovered Paradise (or if I'd have drawn one with the first (and only) Bazaar activation). I kept because, although this hand felt strange, mulling a hand with Bazaar felt stranger. He opens with Relic. I manage to get a dredge in, but he's got Wasteland, then Cage. If I had a single mana producing land before the Metalworker into Lodestone came down, I think I would have been okay. Oh well. I'm actually glad the goats went on to win it all. Goat tokens are the real deal in Vintage apparently.
Overall record was 4-2-1, not bad considering this is the first time I've actually played Dredge in a tournament.
I was pretty happy with my list overall. Maindeck Leyline was phenomenal all day (shutting off Snapcasters, protecting Bridges, would have been nice vs. Wastelock). I was initially skeptical of dropping the Dread Return package, but it actually seems mostly fine. The only thing I really miss from it is the additional sac outlets. Also, Grafdigger's Cage is about the least scary piece of hate to face as a Dredge pilot. I was able to play through it easily more often than not (though it did get me a few times, but that was usually in multiples in conjunction with something else like spheres or Jailer). The most devastating hate I faced all day turned out to be Timetwister and Wasteland. Firestorm might have been nice with all the delver/creature decks running around, but I seemed to be crushing those decks anyway, so it may just be win more. I think there really needs to be 1-2 more rainbow lands somewhere in the deck. It feels like it's really hard to hit Bazaar, anti-hate, plus mana to cast anti-hate in the opener. I had a couple of occasions where I had the Chewer/Claim/whatever, but just couldn't find any mana in time, even digging with Bazaar. Maybe I was just unlucky though. Overall, playing Dredge was much more fun than I expected, so I will probably bust it out again in the future.