I absolutely can! It's still the same as the last 2 times I posted it though. No spicy new tech from me. Here it is:Originally Posted by benjiman13
Maindeck (60)
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Thug
3 Shambling Shell
4 Narcomoeba
4 Ichorid
4 Nether Shadow
4 Prized Amalgam
3 Balustrady Spy
1 Flayer of the Hatebound
1 Progenitus
4 Phantasmagorian
4 Street Wraith
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Dread Return
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Bridge from Below
Sideboard (15)
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Unmask
4 Contagion
3 Vengeful Pharaoh
It's as straight forward as can be. All business, no fancy stuff at all. As it stands, I wouldn't change a single card in the main 60. It runs like a dream. Smash a lot of face and go for the combo whenever you see (or can force) an opening. Doing so is a lot easier than it used to be (which is thanks to Amalgam and does not apply to just my list specifically, obviously. This holds true for all lists that run Prized Amalgam). My meta turned out to be very poorly equiped to deal with graveyards today and I managed to capitalize on that. That, and I think I got pretty lucky with my MUs for the first 3 rounds. It's nice to be the biggest boogeyman in the room. Having your deck price in at <10% of what the person at the other side of the table is piloting is a fun bonus (or at least it tickles my fancy).
Edit: Another funny thing I noticed was that people tend to keep Thought-Knot Seer home when you have enough blockers to kill it. People do not want to give you extra dredges, lol. In one of my games I was holding 3 of them at bay with a zombie token, and 2 Nether Shadows. Awesome!
Last edited by Echelon; 06-05-2016 at 01:12 AM.
Went 6-3 with Blue Manaless (Amalgam) at Eternal Extravaganza 4. Details to follow.
Nowhere near as exciting as Hollywood's news but, another 5-0 on MTGO with this list: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/432468#online :)
It seems the deck is pretty well positioned at the moment. Cool!
@vieko: I have to ask - why the 2 MB Macabres?
Oh, and reports people!
- Feeds Ichorids
- Activates Nether Shadow
- Single Faerie Macabre in opening hand vs. Reanimator / Tin Fins / Dredge / Storm is unexpected and can be devastating (detrimental at least) to them. I prefer to have this ability as opposed to additional dredge cards. Also: these are the first couple cards I'll cut to bring in the counter package game two (unless relevant).
Points 1 & 2 - same goes for the Shambling Shells that normally take their place. That just leaves point 3. You sure they're worth it G1? 2 out of 60 cards for very specific MUs that don't win you the game on the spot seem like very little value.
I see your point :) Expanding on P3: the 2 Shells / 2 Faeries are my flex slots. I switch these around based on how the deck "feels" in the current meta. Right now, it makes sense (to me) to have some sort of G1 out to the decks I noted before. These cards seem to do the trick. I've tried:
- Surgical Extraction: up to 4 – fantastic when you get a 7 with Probe / Therapy / Surgical
- Vengeful Pharaoh: kinda ruins the Bridges but hey, they bought me turns.
- Noxious Revival: up to 4 – so, so... they do fix having Narcos in opening hand as you will put them back up on top for next dredge, can also help mess opponent.
- Force of Will: up to 4 – this is probably the one that makes the most sense but I prefer the surprise post board and additional dredgers MB.
Anyways, my point I suppose: right now, I feel more comfortable running Faeries MB than additional dredgers or anything else.
EDIT: you could make the argument for additional Return targets in place of the Faeries: Extra Flayer + Extra Spy (speed), Iona + Elesh (utility), etc.
I used to always play two Macabres main as a hedge to stop Loam strategies from recurring Chasm and Bog (Wasting themselves), in addition to the porous Reanimator match-up (which isn't nearly as bad anymore with Amalgam and Pharaoh against Elesh Norn). It also helps break Relic lock, as well. I didn't play with Faeries this weekend, but I certainly had three in my board. Here's the list I ran, for reference:
//Main
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Thug
2 Shambling Shell
4 Narcomoeba
4 Ichorid
4 Nether Shadow
4 Prized Amalgam
2 Chancellor of the Annex
1 Whirlpool Rider
1 Flayer of the Hatebound
4 Phantasmagorian
4 Street Wraith
3 Gitaxian Probe
3 Force of Will
4 Dread Return
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Bridge from Below
//Sideboard
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Faerie Macabre
3 Contagion
3 Disrupting Shoal
2 Ashen Rider
1 Force of Will
Match-ups:
R1: W vs. Miracles [2-0]
• Multiple Terminus and Swords could not stop the creature assault, and draw step or main phase Terminus could not handle EOT Amalgams. Surgical came in, and was countered by Street Wraith and Force of Will.
R2: W vs. Shardless BUG [2-0]
• A blistering start pinned him down early, as a mulligan strategy on his part was done to find a Deathrite Shaman - which was countered in Game 2.
R3: L vs. Aluren [Feature] [0-2]
• I had a mediocre hand game one, but he did nothing for three turns but play lands. I was a Therapy away from sealing the game. The second game saw him starting on a Deathrite Shaman, and I had no way to stop it from doing its thing over the course of five turns.
R4: W vs. Burn [2-0]
• Buried my opponent under a mountain of zombies, followed by a Chancellor hitting play. Game two I had a Force at the ready, but he played nothing but a Lava Spike the whole game.
R5: W vs. Grixis [2-0]
• Scared my opponent into mulling to find Deathrite in game one, but that wouldn't matter with multiple Street Wraith and Force on the first draw. Second game was slightly more competitive, but he was destroyed by a mountain of zombies after ripping his hand apart.
R6: L vs. Sneak and Show [1-2]
• I named "Force" blindly game one after he mulled to five and dropped two Islands. He drops in Emrakul and I try to close it out, but can't hit the Dread Return to finish the game. I destroy him game two after another mulligan, and wipe out his hand. Game three my opponent goes all-in on a turn-two Show. I have two Street Wraiths in hand, with a Probe. If he drops Griselbrand, I might be okay. I tank and let it resolve. He drops Omniscience into Griselbrand, and I drop Stinkweed Imp. I concede after he finds an Emrakul after drawing seven, and I casually look at the top two cards of my deck (which the Street Wraiths would have drawn) and they are Chancellor of the Annex and Ashen Rider. Needless to say, there was no reason what so ever I should have passed on cycling, because I could find any answer like a Force, Shoal (pitching Amalgam), Ashen Rider or Chancellor to shut down his play off Omniscience. I beat myself here.
R7: W vs. Lands [2-1]
• Dave Long and I go the distance in three grueling games. Leyline of Sanctity shines game three against Bog, and on turn four of turns with a crowd watching and a crazy amount of gas in play, I dredge into Ashen Rider. I bring him back and knock off Glacial Chasm - but not before he copies it with Stage. Outside of his next turn, he knows he's in trouble with the potential for a dredged Therapy or another Dread Return off the top to trigger Rider, so Dave graciously concedes knowing that a dredge-six off a Troll would theoretically be lethal. After the concession, the top six are flipped and sure enough the lethal sacrifice outlets are there to enable Rider shenanigans.
R8: L vs. Lands [0-2]
• I'm spent after the previous round going the distance in a sweat-box, and have to pick up my cards and trolley over to my table almost immediately. Game one he somehow has Wasteland, Bog and Loam with Exploration. I lose that game, unsurprisingly. Game two I not only don't hit business, but with my opponent mulling into oblivion I don't see a single dredger twenty (!) cards into the match. He can't find a red source to cast his spells, and is forced to just play draw-go for eternity. I have a triple-Street Wraith opener with Force backup, so any dredger - in theory - would have enabled some apocalyptic beats.
R9: W vs. ANT [2-1]
• PirateKing from The Source and I do battle. Game one I manage to hit a Force to counter his shenanigans, and I have a lot of gas on the table. Game two he shreds my hand with discard, and while I open with multiple counters he just keeps hitting the key discard spell before I can pitch a dredger. He gets there. Game three I have Shoal and Force, and after making me discard key cards he draws blanks and I go to town. I dread Return a lethal Troll with Zombies in play, stripping his hand a part with nothing but three mana sources in play and an empty hand. He chains cantrips, depleting his resources in the process. He succumbs the following turn.
Overall, the deck was incredibly solid and performed extremely well. Amalgam was broken. In every sense of the word. Force was all-star, and my bone-headed non-cycling play in round six, game three cost me a (virtual win). The deck generated a lot of interest by spectators and opponents alike. I shredded Miracles and Delver all day, and didn't see a single Cage, Rest in Peace or Leyline. The counters were there and I drew them all day in case, so they were incidentally good to backup the dredge plan. I mulliganed a few times against slower match-ups, and pulled some good six-card hands. As far as fourteen dredgers go, I can see the desire to push to fifteen (as I've played that number for years, obviously), but I never really had too many glaring issues with fourteen. Most of my mulligans weren't because of non-dredging hands; they were predicated on finding speed or protection in Leyline. The Chancellors were good and forced opponents to rethink their turn-one plays. In the end I won $100 in credit for a 6-3 finish.
All in all, a very successful day.
Glad you're back to your old love Mr Keller
congrats for the finish
for what i know it's lands that won EE4 right ?
I don't recall off-hand, but Lands may have won if I remember correctly...
So in hindsight, our game 1 was piloted pretty poorly by me. Though it's totally fine, I mean, having my first really egregious misplay on round 9 is a pretty good record for me.
I had perfect information on 2 Cabal Therapies, knew you had the Force and let you keep it, all the while building a hand that knowingly lost to a single counter.
I can't figure out what I was thinking, beyond maybe getting lost in some attempt to keep you from winning without realizing I could have just won instead.
Curious to know, I took some cantrip with the first Therapy, had I taken Force with the second, what were your outs when I showed my hand?
Thanks and congrats on the finish!
Great match, Matt - very well played.
I definitely had outs at that point. I believe I had a Narcomoeba in my hand, so I could have theoretically drawn into another Force, a Disrupting Shoal or a Street Wraith into either since (if I remember correctly) you had an Infernal Tutor on the stack to fetch up Past in Flames. So any other counter would have been relevant. Actually, now that I think about it a Faerie Macabre (which I brought in as a hedge against Past in Flames or Cabal Ritual acceleration) would have also theoretically done something, as the graveyard at that point was acceleration spells, discard in Therapy and a single Infernal Tutor. There also may have been a cantrip in there, but I can't remember.
Talk of Blue Manaless over on the LED-dredge page had me wanting to take this list last night, happy I did!
My list;
4x Golgari Grave-Troll
4x Golgari Thug
4x Stinkweed Imp
2x Shambling Shell
4x Ichorid
4x Narcomoeba
3x Nether Shadow
4x Prized Amalgam
4x Phantasmagorian
4x Street Wraith
2x Whirlpool Rider
1x Flayer of the Hatebound
4x Cabal Therapy
4x Dread Return
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Force of Will
4x Bridge from Below
SIDEBOARD
4x Contagion
2x Disrupting Shoal
2x Unmask
3x Faerie Macabre
4x Mindbreak Trap
Went 4-1!
Miracles 2-0, Combo-Elves 2-1, 2nd Miracles deck 2-1 & WR Goblins 2-1.
Got crushed by BUG 2-0, landing multiple DRS in both games to keep me from doing anything meaningful.
Hated only 4 times if you exclude DRS.
They successfully landed Surg. Extraction (BUG) once, RiP twice (Miracles & Goblins).
I "Forced" RiP once (Miracles), and Sc-Ooze (BUG) once.
I feel my list is compromised, still unsure on a few numbers, but a few like Flayer I just can't live without.
I wanted to max out of Force maindeck, as we have a few regular Death & Taxes players who play with RiP/Helm in the main.
Overall pretty happy. Force was amazing, Prized Amalgam was so strong against control I didn't miss the 4th Shadow.
Goblins was hilarious for how many creatures ended up on the board, after he whacked me with T1 Lackey in every game, but this matchup highlighted Amalgam for me, in that a matchup where Bridges don't usually last very long, PA got the job done.
Can't wait to start with this deck. I already had a few pieces, but finishing the mainboard cost me less than $70. Thinking of trying an Elesh Norn as an extra finisher.
@slave: Congrats!
@cartoonist: If you're strapped for cash don't bother with getting an Elesh Norn. Just get any 10 cent library flipper. Whether it's Elesh Norn or the 10 cent library flipper, resolving Dread Return means you win the game. Going for the combo even wins the game on the spot rather than over a few turns.
Why bother with Elesh Norn/whatever when you can just kill your opponent then and there..?
Already have the Elesh. The last combo deck I played was Booberries (Was that the right name? Shuko-Cephalid combo.) I guess it just bored me after awhile. I've never been a big combo guy. Couldn't hurt here, though...
I'm not sure it's needed, but feel free to test it out and see how you roll with it. (Elesh always felt like win-more to me in any form of Dredge)
Personally, when it comes to targets for Dread Return;
I want a single alt-win like Flayer of the Hatebound and 2 to 3 combo library-flippers (think Griselbrand, Balustrade Spy, River Kelpie, Whirlpool Drake/Rider etc.) in the main.
In the side I would consider answers. For these, I simply can't go past Ashen Rider to deal with trouble perms and Show and Tell, and Iona, Shield of Emeria to turn off combo/control decks.
There's plenty of other cards to consider, like Terastodon and Blazing Archon which I've run before.
Took manaless dredge to a small tourney last Saturday. I went 2-3.
List I used was identical to Hollywoods.
R1 1-2 against Shardless BUG. G1 fast beatings from me. G2 is a Shardless Agent into Grafdiggers cage GG. G3 gives me a slow hand and my first dredge for 6 give me no other dredgers. He lands T2 double DRS and I'm never able to keep a dredger in the grave.
R2 2-0 against Esper Deathblade. G1 fast beats from me. In G2 is my opponent colorscrewed for 4 turns with the RiP at hand. Lucky me I guess...
R3 2-0 against 12-post. Fast and easy games with a Flayer combo-kill.
R4 1-2 against Miracles. G1 the game goes as it's supposed to go with a fast kill. G2 & 3 both give me a slow dredge-hand and I'm never able to get a creature in play. He sees his one of Surgical G2 T3 to remove my dredger and then goes SCM into flashback Surgical for Ichorid. I draw for a few turns, but never see another dredger. G3 he resolves a T3 Containment Priest (also a one of...) and extracts my contagions. I had a Contagion in de GY due to my first (and only) dredge.
R5 0-2 against ANT. Both games he opens with Probe, Cabal Therapy and I'm way to slow to ever play a decent game. Guess I should've mulled to the leyline for these games...
I had lots of fun, but some bad dredges cost me at least 2 games. Variance is a b*tch :)
So, variance does catch up to us all. It happens. But don't forget: if your hand is slow and you know it doesn't get you anywhere (especially if an opponent mistakenly takes the play - which happens more than you think - and snap-keeps), you can absolutely mulligan that hand. It's not like the BUG player is going to win the game in two turns. Or the Miracles player. If your hand is slow and susceptible, give them a Time Walk - why not? Sure, it sets you back a turn. But you're giving yourself a chance to open with more explosiveness, counters, a Leyline, or drawing into a counter, Phantasmagorian or Street Wraith. I just think people have this preconceived notion that you can't mulligan with this deck, and that's totally wrong. It's obviously ill-advised if your hand is above-average against a faster deck, but against slower decks you can absolutely ship if you feel like you have to.
If you mulligan to six and find Force with a blue card, or something comparable to fight a game-ending spell, sure you've set yourself back a few turns. But isn't that better than losing the game? It's no different than playing the green version which would do the same. I mean, your opponent may have two or three hate cards out of their board. If they find one of those in their opening draw (Cage, to be exact), then Forcing that and setting yourself back is absolutely worth it. This is why I like the two Chancellors, because they give you a nice buffer to start the game, makes for a good Dread Return target, but also doesn't clutter your dredges or make for an awful top-deck as a pair only.
Also, an opponent who hits a Containment Priest and a Surgical Extraction - on turn three, no less - off a dredged Contagion does seem a bit fortunate. I suppose going with a single Vengeful Pharaoh would be cool, but again - to each their own. Shifting the deck around based on a small sample size is not what you want to do. Play the hell out of it, and see what you'd change.
You beat me to it :) 100% agree with this statement.
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