Michael Keller
06-24-2012, 11:46 PM
After doing some tweaking on a new LED list that I've been working on, I decided to head on out to Thanks For Playing in Maryland for their advertised Legacy event to give it a go. As it turns out, it was an incredibly diverse meta there. I was expecting a ton of Reanimator and Dredge, but those only showed up in short numbers there.
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/tarman.jpg
Here is the list I ran for reference:
LED Dredge by Michael Keller
// Lands
4 [AN] City of Brass
4 [TSB] Gemstone Mine
4 [OD] Cephalid Coliseum
1 [VI] Undiscovered Paradise
// Creatures
3 [TO] Ichorid
4 [RAV] Stinkweed Imp
4 [RAV] Golgari Grave-Troll
4 [FUT] Narcomoeba
3 [RAV] Golgari Thug
3 [TO] Putrid Imp
// Spells
1 [TSP] Dread Return
4 [FUT] Bridge from Below
4 [JU] Cabal Therapy
4 [OD] Careful Study
4 [MI] Lion's Eye Diamond
4 [DKA] Faithless Looting
4 [TO] Breakthrough
1 [ISD] Memory's Journey
//Sideboard
3 [ON] Chain of Vapor
3 [WWK] Nature's Claim
2 [OD] Tireless Tribe
2 [IA] Ashen Ghoul
1 [ISD] Memory's Journey
1 [WWK] Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 [AVR] Griselbrand
1 [VI] Undiscovered Paradise
1 [LOR] Ingot Chewer
So as the tournament begins, we are informed it will be five rounds with a cut to Top Four. Pairings are posted, and it's off to the races.
Round One vs. B/u Pox
Game One: We start up shuffling and do some small talk. I take the play and start off with an LED, land, Breakthrough, dredger, Looting. I eventually tear his hand apart and make a ridiculous amount of Zombies. The game ends on turn two. After allowing me to see his hand off Therapy's, I see Pox and Bob in his hand - interesting.
Game Two: Apparently, a game where I open with two land, a few Nature's Claim, a draw spell and dredger isn't good against a Leyline with no mulligans. I proceed to blow up his Leyline, and he proceeds to Extirpate (really?) my Claims out of my deck - and the other out of my hand. He then has a second turn Bob into Bitterblossom and Jitte and eventually more hate and I lose shortly thereafter as I couldn't hit anything relevant.
Game Three: My opponent starts off with a Leyline on a mull to six. I have multiple draw spells, dredgers and a few lands, so I decide to keep. I brought in three Claim and three Chain, so I figure I can (eventually) hit one if he does hit a Leyline. Unfortunately, after going twenty cards deep, I can't find either of those two. Meanwhile, he has double Bob on the table and Bobs into Extirpate(s) and...Tormod's Crypt. Still, I manage through all this time to go beat-down with Tireless Tribe and Putrid Imps, and eventually get him to four life. He manages to kill both of my creatures and narrowly escapes after finally hitting a Jitte and Sensei's Divining Top.
This guy was a Legacy novice and just overloaded his sideboard with everything to hate out graveyard decks. It was too much to overcome in the end.
http://content6.flixster.com/question/46/84/92/4684924_std.jpg
[0-1] [1-2-0]
Round Two vs. U/w/g CounterTop
Game One: My opponent takes the play and plays a land. I Careful Study into an LED and bin a few dredgers. I have a Looting in hand and wind up going crazy next turn after he drops a Counterbalance and misses blindly. I proceed to attack him out with multiple Zombies and Ichorids. I also have a 19/19 Troll in play at one point.
Game Two: The same as game one. He sees little action and has no hate in his hand. He mulliganed to six, which apparently gave him nothing but some draw spells and a few lands. I wind up grinding out the win with some Ichorid and Ashen Ghoul beats off a relatively careful, yet ultimately explosive start. (He obviously had nothing to stop what was happening or he would have earlier.) This game was really a no-contest.
[1-1] [3-2-0]
Round Three vs. Merfolk (Paul Lynch)
Game One: It's a grind-out affair, but after a relatively slow start from Paul I am able to grind out the win with multiple Ichorids and Zombies. This all occurred after I used my turn one LED and three Coliseums to go crazy. At one point he Vialed in an Image to exile a few of my Bridges, but it didn't matter as I overwhelmed him with threats and eventually just hit more Bridges. Memory's Journey also allowed me to reshuffle my Narcomoebas back into my library and eventually facilitated more tokens. I won the game with a single card left in my deck.
Game Two: Paul mulls and leads off on Grafdigger's Cage, which I knew he was playing as I had saw a portion of his previous match. I draw into a ridiculous amount of cards and don't see any anti-hate to blow the game open with. Paul's start was slow though too, as he couldn't get a clock going until a few turns down the road. He wins the game on the back of a few Cursecatchers, Mutavault and Adept.
Game Three: As time winds down, Paul graciously elects to concede to me as he has no chance of making Top Four, as I was paired down against him.
[2-1] [5-3-0]
Round Four vs. Sneak and Show
Game One: This game was over with before anything could even happen. I win the roll and open with a draw spell, binning a few dredgers and giving me a Breakthrough and Coliseum. I wind up dredging into a few Narcoemoebas, Cabal Therapy, Bridge and a dredger. Upon trying to see his hand off a flashbacked Therapy to protect my Breakthrough, he concedes to protect information.
Game Two: He begins the game with Leyline of Sanctity and a Grafdigger's Cage. I start off with a Putrid Imp and a few lands. After filtering out my hand for a new turns, I Chain of Vapor his Cage at the end of his turn with Coliseum and a few draw spells in hand. While I wasn't able to rip the Cage out of his hand due to Leyline, I made a few dozen Zombies the following turn and Dread Returned Griselbrand back into play. He scoops them up.
Note: I also had the Griselbrand in my hand for a few turns, which was obviously done for Show and Tell purposes.
[3-1] [7-3-0]
Round Five vs. Metalworker
Game One: I'm on the play and start the game off with land, LED, Troll, Looting, Breakthrough. The game is over after I dredge thirty-six cards deep and make a ridiculous amount of of tokens. I also blind-rip a Grim Monolith out of his hand to cripple his turn one play - which is generally on the back of that card. It didn't matter as he was staring down almost three times' worth of lethal damage the following turn.
Game Two: After an incredibly broken start, he drops a Chalice at one with Monolith and Opal - in addition to Crypt. I go with the DDD plan and start hitting some good stuff, including Ichorid and Ashen Ghoul - which are reall important in this match-up as they bypass Trinisphere, stay in play and grind the game out with more pressure. He cracks the Crypt, and I DDD again. After about six or seven turns of his passing with a Metalworker with Greaves attached, I wind up grinding out the win with all four Narcomoebas pecking away at him. I actually Dread Return the Ingot Chewer, which wound up destroying the Chalice and allowing me to go bonkers with all the draw spells in my hand. I proceed to blow the game out in one turn and he draws and concedes.
[4-1] [9-3-0]
So at the end of the Swiss, I am in third (3rd) and make it to the elimination rounds. I'm on a roll and ready to keep it going. I refuse the split and want to play it out like men.
Top Four vs. Combo Elves
Game One: I open the game up on the draw, playing land, LED, cast Breakthrough, crack for RRR and proceed to dredge the Stinkweed Imp into Looting and a Troll. That wound up chaining into some serious action and he was just blown out on turn two with no hand.
Game Two: I wasn't sure what hate he was on, so I open with a relatively slow start with a Therapy for some info. I name Faerie Macabre, as I've seen some Elves lists run it, and he shows me a Surgical Extraction and a few other random Elves. I proceed to follow up with a Putrid Imp and try to flash it back. He hits the Imp, and sees only one more in my library. My hand is a land and Careful Study, so I figure if I can get something going, now is the time. I wind up drawing into draw spell after draw spell and just can't get anything. I do, however, know he is on Surgical - which is good that even in a game that was lost from the very beginning I picked up the information I needed.
Game Three: I keep a relatively good hand with multiple draw spells and dredgers, in addition to an LED. After seeing his hand off a Therapy, I proceed to blow the game open. I eventually have multiple Ichorids, Zombies and Ashen Ghouls in the graveyard and pummel him in one turn for lethal.
[5-1] [11-3-0]
Finals vs. EsperBlade
Game One: My opponent isn't familiar with how to play against Dredge, which gives me an advantage. I wind up starting the game off with the nuts off a mull to six (LED, land, Breakthrough, dredger), hoping he doesn't have a Force. I play out the LED and cast Breakthrough - holding priority and cracking for RRR - which winds up resolving. My dredge was disgusting, hitting two Trolls and other gas. I proceed to create a ridiculous amount of tokens and rip his hand apart. He plays a land on his turn and passes, and after I bring in my Ichorids and attack for an arbitrary amount, I Dread Return a Troll for good measure. He looks at his top card and scoops.
Game Two: Much like game one. My opponent doesn't have any hate, but a reasonable keep with Spell Pierce, Mystic, Brainstorm, Sword of Feast and Famine and Batterskull. I rip the Spell Pierce out of his hand first (which he kept after Brainstorming), and with an LED go crazy with Coliseum(s). I dredge through practically my entire deck and with a Memory's Journey available, I am able to protect any Brainstorm shenanigans into Surgical. I rip his hand apart and make ten Zombie tokens. I then bring back Ashen Ghoul and a few Ichorids and swarm him for the win.
[6-1] [13-3-0]
So after playing it all the way from start to finish, I receive $220 in credit. I pick up a set of Wastelands and hook a friend up with a Volcanic Island. All in all, a great tournament. Kicking ass with my Zombies is always a good feeling.
http://www.smashboxstudios.com/yello/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/nightlivingdeadgirl.jpg
A few thoughts:
I absolutely loved the Memory's Journey in the main. It's application is incredibly multilateral and not only offers protection against some of the more challenging game one match-ups like opposing Dredge and Reanimator, but also allows you to recover your Narcomoebas when they're discarded in the open-hand, killed or sacrificed. Memory's Journey is a really versatile card and I will reserve one slot in my main to smooth out these aspects of the deck and improve some situations where it would be useful.
Ashen Ghoul wound up coming in a lot in this tournament, as the primary choice of hate was Surgical Extraction. I brought the Ghoul into play more than once in the entire event, which was nice because of the pressure and support it provides. Whenever he came in, the extra Paradise in the sideboard came in as well. I know how to fight Surgical Extraction, which to be honest doesn't concern me too much post-board. I've got that shored up pretty well.
I liked the Chewer, and thought it came in hand when it was needed. Apparently, with Cage everywhere, making Zombies and destroying artifacts is nice, so it was a flex slot and something to work with. It became highly relevant in a situation where Top Four was on the line, so I can't complain. It might not be optimal, but against MUD/Metalworker decks it's a nice catch-all.
The list is very tight and I am very pleased with it. I might tweak a few things here and there in the board, but my main is pretty much set and I like where it stands. Props to the guys in the Dredge forum for at least encouraging me to run four Breakthrough; I was wrong. Running four right now is the right call.
Thanks for reading!
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/tarman.jpg
Here is the list I ran for reference:
LED Dredge by Michael Keller
// Lands
4 [AN] City of Brass
4 [TSB] Gemstone Mine
4 [OD] Cephalid Coliseum
1 [VI] Undiscovered Paradise
// Creatures
3 [TO] Ichorid
4 [RAV] Stinkweed Imp
4 [RAV] Golgari Grave-Troll
4 [FUT] Narcomoeba
3 [RAV] Golgari Thug
3 [TO] Putrid Imp
// Spells
1 [TSP] Dread Return
4 [FUT] Bridge from Below
4 [JU] Cabal Therapy
4 [OD] Careful Study
4 [MI] Lion's Eye Diamond
4 [DKA] Faithless Looting
4 [TO] Breakthrough
1 [ISD] Memory's Journey
//Sideboard
3 [ON] Chain of Vapor
3 [WWK] Nature's Claim
2 [OD] Tireless Tribe
2 [IA] Ashen Ghoul
1 [ISD] Memory's Journey
1 [WWK] Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 [AVR] Griselbrand
1 [VI] Undiscovered Paradise
1 [LOR] Ingot Chewer
So as the tournament begins, we are informed it will be five rounds with a cut to Top Four. Pairings are posted, and it's off to the races.
Round One vs. B/u Pox
Game One: We start up shuffling and do some small talk. I take the play and start off with an LED, land, Breakthrough, dredger, Looting. I eventually tear his hand apart and make a ridiculous amount of Zombies. The game ends on turn two. After allowing me to see his hand off Therapy's, I see Pox and Bob in his hand - interesting.
Game Two: Apparently, a game where I open with two land, a few Nature's Claim, a draw spell and dredger isn't good against a Leyline with no mulligans. I proceed to blow up his Leyline, and he proceeds to Extirpate (really?) my Claims out of my deck - and the other out of my hand. He then has a second turn Bob into Bitterblossom and Jitte and eventually more hate and I lose shortly thereafter as I couldn't hit anything relevant.
Game Three: My opponent starts off with a Leyline on a mull to six. I have multiple draw spells, dredgers and a few lands, so I decide to keep. I brought in three Claim and three Chain, so I figure I can (eventually) hit one if he does hit a Leyline. Unfortunately, after going twenty cards deep, I can't find either of those two. Meanwhile, he has double Bob on the table and Bobs into Extirpate(s) and...Tormod's Crypt. Still, I manage through all this time to go beat-down with Tireless Tribe and Putrid Imps, and eventually get him to four life. He manages to kill both of my creatures and narrowly escapes after finally hitting a Jitte and Sensei's Divining Top.
This guy was a Legacy novice and just overloaded his sideboard with everything to hate out graveyard decks. It was too much to overcome in the end.
http://content6.flixster.com/question/46/84/92/4684924_std.jpg
[0-1] [1-2-0]
Round Two vs. U/w/g CounterTop
Game One: My opponent takes the play and plays a land. I Careful Study into an LED and bin a few dredgers. I have a Looting in hand and wind up going crazy next turn after he drops a Counterbalance and misses blindly. I proceed to attack him out with multiple Zombies and Ichorids. I also have a 19/19 Troll in play at one point.
Game Two: The same as game one. He sees little action and has no hate in his hand. He mulliganed to six, which apparently gave him nothing but some draw spells and a few lands. I wind up grinding out the win with some Ichorid and Ashen Ghoul beats off a relatively careful, yet ultimately explosive start. (He obviously had nothing to stop what was happening or he would have earlier.) This game was really a no-contest.
[1-1] [3-2-0]
Round Three vs. Merfolk (Paul Lynch)
Game One: It's a grind-out affair, but after a relatively slow start from Paul I am able to grind out the win with multiple Ichorids and Zombies. This all occurred after I used my turn one LED and three Coliseums to go crazy. At one point he Vialed in an Image to exile a few of my Bridges, but it didn't matter as I overwhelmed him with threats and eventually just hit more Bridges. Memory's Journey also allowed me to reshuffle my Narcomoebas back into my library and eventually facilitated more tokens. I won the game with a single card left in my deck.
Game Two: Paul mulls and leads off on Grafdigger's Cage, which I knew he was playing as I had saw a portion of his previous match. I draw into a ridiculous amount of cards and don't see any anti-hate to blow the game open with. Paul's start was slow though too, as he couldn't get a clock going until a few turns down the road. He wins the game on the back of a few Cursecatchers, Mutavault and Adept.
Game Three: As time winds down, Paul graciously elects to concede to me as he has no chance of making Top Four, as I was paired down against him.
[2-1] [5-3-0]
Round Four vs. Sneak and Show
Game One: This game was over with before anything could even happen. I win the roll and open with a draw spell, binning a few dredgers and giving me a Breakthrough and Coliseum. I wind up dredging into a few Narcoemoebas, Cabal Therapy, Bridge and a dredger. Upon trying to see his hand off a flashbacked Therapy to protect my Breakthrough, he concedes to protect information.
Game Two: He begins the game with Leyline of Sanctity and a Grafdigger's Cage. I start off with a Putrid Imp and a few lands. After filtering out my hand for a new turns, I Chain of Vapor his Cage at the end of his turn with Coliseum and a few draw spells in hand. While I wasn't able to rip the Cage out of his hand due to Leyline, I made a few dozen Zombies the following turn and Dread Returned Griselbrand back into play. He scoops them up.
Note: I also had the Griselbrand in my hand for a few turns, which was obviously done for Show and Tell purposes.
[3-1] [7-3-0]
Round Five vs. Metalworker
Game One: I'm on the play and start the game off with land, LED, Troll, Looting, Breakthrough. The game is over after I dredge thirty-six cards deep and make a ridiculous amount of of tokens. I also blind-rip a Grim Monolith out of his hand to cripple his turn one play - which is generally on the back of that card. It didn't matter as he was staring down almost three times' worth of lethal damage the following turn.
Game Two: After an incredibly broken start, he drops a Chalice at one with Monolith and Opal - in addition to Crypt. I go with the DDD plan and start hitting some good stuff, including Ichorid and Ashen Ghoul - which are reall important in this match-up as they bypass Trinisphere, stay in play and grind the game out with more pressure. He cracks the Crypt, and I DDD again. After about six or seven turns of his passing with a Metalworker with Greaves attached, I wind up grinding out the win with all four Narcomoebas pecking away at him. I actually Dread Return the Ingot Chewer, which wound up destroying the Chalice and allowing me to go bonkers with all the draw spells in my hand. I proceed to blow the game out in one turn and he draws and concedes.
[4-1] [9-3-0]
So at the end of the Swiss, I am in third (3rd) and make it to the elimination rounds. I'm on a roll and ready to keep it going. I refuse the split and want to play it out like men.
Top Four vs. Combo Elves
Game One: I open the game up on the draw, playing land, LED, cast Breakthrough, crack for RRR and proceed to dredge the Stinkweed Imp into Looting and a Troll. That wound up chaining into some serious action and he was just blown out on turn two with no hand.
Game Two: I wasn't sure what hate he was on, so I open with a relatively slow start with a Therapy for some info. I name Faerie Macabre, as I've seen some Elves lists run it, and he shows me a Surgical Extraction and a few other random Elves. I proceed to follow up with a Putrid Imp and try to flash it back. He hits the Imp, and sees only one more in my library. My hand is a land and Careful Study, so I figure if I can get something going, now is the time. I wind up drawing into draw spell after draw spell and just can't get anything. I do, however, know he is on Surgical - which is good that even in a game that was lost from the very beginning I picked up the information I needed.
Game Three: I keep a relatively good hand with multiple draw spells and dredgers, in addition to an LED. After seeing his hand off a Therapy, I proceed to blow the game open. I eventually have multiple Ichorids, Zombies and Ashen Ghouls in the graveyard and pummel him in one turn for lethal.
[5-1] [11-3-0]
Finals vs. EsperBlade
Game One: My opponent isn't familiar with how to play against Dredge, which gives me an advantage. I wind up starting the game off with the nuts off a mull to six (LED, land, Breakthrough, dredger), hoping he doesn't have a Force. I play out the LED and cast Breakthrough - holding priority and cracking for RRR - which winds up resolving. My dredge was disgusting, hitting two Trolls and other gas. I proceed to create a ridiculous amount of tokens and rip his hand apart. He plays a land on his turn and passes, and after I bring in my Ichorids and attack for an arbitrary amount, I Dread Return a Troll for good measure. He looks at his top card and scoops.
Game Two: Much like game one. My opponent doesn't have any hate, but a reasonable keep with Spell Pierce, Mystic, Brainstorm, Sword of Feast and Famine and Batterskull. I rip the Spell Pierce out of his hand first (which he kept after Brainstorming), and with an LED go crazy with Coliseum(s). I dredge through practically my entire deck and with a Memory's Journey available, I am able to protect any Brainstorm shenanigans into Surgical. I rip his hand apart and make ten Zombie tokens. I then bring back Ashen Ghoul and a few Ichorids and swarm him for the win.
[6-1] [13-3-0]
So after playing it all the way from start to finish, I receive $220 in credit. I pick up a set of Wastelands and hook a friend up with a Volcanic Island. All in all, a great tournament. Kicking ass with my Zombies is always a good feeling.
http://www.smashboxstudios.com/yello/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/nightlivingdeadgirl.jpg
A few thoughts:
I absolutely loved the Memory's Journey in the main. It's application is incredibly multilateral and not only offers protection against some of the more challenging game one match-ups like opposing Dredge and Reanimator, but also allows you to recover your Narcomoebas when they're discarded in the open-hand, killed or sacrificed. Memory's Journey is a really versatile card and I will reserve one slot in my main to smooth out these aspects of the deck and improve some situations where it would be useful.
Ashen Ghoul wound up coming in a lot in this tournament, as the primary choice of hate was Surgical Extraction. I brought the Ghoul into play more than once in the entire event, which was nice because of the pressure and support it provides. Whenever he came in, the extra Paradise in the sideboard came in as well. I know how to fight Surgical Extraction, which to be honest doesn't concern me too much post-board. I've got that shored up pretty well.
I liked the Chewer, and thought it came in hand when it was needed. Apparently, with Cage everywhere, making Zombies and destroying artifacts is nice, so it was a flex slot and something to work with. It became highly relevant in a situation where Top Four was on the line, so I can't complain. It might not be optimal, but against MUD/Metalworker decks it's a nice catch-all.
The list is very tight and I am very pleased with it. I might tweak a few things here and there in the board, but my main is pretty much set and I like where it stands. Props to the guys in the Dredge forum for at least encouraging me to run four Breakthrough; I was wrong. Running four right now is the right call.
Thanks for reading!