Ichorid is a Legacy deck based off the same card from Torment, and the Ravnica Block Dredge mechanic. It is distinguished from it's Vintage counterpart of the same name due to Legacy's lack of the powerhouse card Bazaar of Baghdad. Legacy Ichorid is also slightly different from the Extended Dredge decks due to both the availability of Lion's Eye Diamond, and it's dependence on the deck's namesake card. A lack of early disruption in Extended makes the combo more viable.
For those unfamiliar, the strategy of the deck to to quickly overwhelm the enemy with targeted discard combined a rush of Hasted 3/1 and 2/2 creatures. Where the strategic superiority of this plan lies, is not only in it's speed, but in the Ichorid's abuse of a resource that the majority of Legacy's decks have no way to disrupt; the graveyard.
The basic plan is to get a card with Dredge(from now on known as a 'Dredger') into the graveyard,, and to then use this facilitator to get the rest of your deck to follow as rapidly as possible. This allows the recursion of Ichorids, and the resultant Zombie tokens for beaters. Dread Return is a secondary plan of attack, used to Haste your attackers with Flame-Kin Zealot, continue Dredging with Cephalid Sage, or re-animate some hugely expensive monster. I'll get into more detail later.
The purpose of this article is to give lists myself and others have had success with, explanation of their card choices and omissions, a guide to sideboard options, and match-up analysis with typical side boarding to accompany.
To begin, I'd like to list a short history of the deck's progression. For those uninterested, and to save space, I'll post links instead of the actual lists.
Ichorid had it's first public success in it's current incarnation with Ernest Tuck's version from 2007 Legacy Champs at Gen Con:http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=10336
The next change was toward shoring up the manabase, losing Leyline of the Void, and adding creature removal: http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=13448
Then came the adoption of Unmask as additional free disruption: http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=17796
And finally, the addition of Firestorm and Eternal Witness: http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=19430 ;which has become the standard base for most winning lists at recent recorded major tournaments.
For a reference point, here is my most current list:
Creatures (25)
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Golgari Thug
4 Putrid Imp
4 Narcomoeba
4 Ichorid
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Eternal Witness
Sorcery (15)
4 Breakthrough
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Unmask
2 Dread Return
2 Deep Analysis
Enchantments (4)
4 Bridge from Below
Instant (1)
1 Firestorm
Artifacts (4)
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
Land (11)
4 Gemstone Minne
3 City of Brass
3 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Undiscovered Paradise
Sideboard (15)
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Chain of Vapor
3 Firestorm
2 Wispmare
1 Unmask
1 Ancestor's Chosen
Ichorid is as much a Combo deck as anything, so every single card choice should be scrutinized. Keep in mind that switching one card can mess up the entire workings of some versions. I will try to explain reasoning for each as best I can below.
4 Golgari Grave-Troll/4 Stinkweed Imp/3 Golgari Thug: Some time ago, people much better at math than myself calculated that in a 60-card deck, the line for having the best chance of having a card in your opening seven without redundancy was at the number eleven. This is considered the minimum number of Dredgers that should be included, and any free space in your deck should seriously be thought toward more. I would estimate that 75% of opening hands not including a Dredger should be mulliganed. The Dredgers chosen are simply because they mill the highest number of cards, but please do not ignore their secondary applications. Grave-Troll can be re-animated to have a huge regenerating beat-stick. Thug can be an easily cast blocker who can either put a free Narcomoeba, or a needed Putrid Imp back on top of your deck. And Stinky can either fly in for extra damage, or block-and-kill almost any threat. The latter two also serve as Unmask and Ichorid fodder.
4 Putrid Imp: PImp, as the card is affectionally called, is the best discard engine available in this slot. It costs one, can discard an unlimited amount at instant speed, flys in for two damage a turn, and feeds Ichorid. The closest competitor for this slot, Tireless Tribe, is a better blocker, but this deck is all about offense. Tribe is also in a less compatible color for both Unmask and Ichorid. However, Tribe is an excellent addition if you feel you need more than four permanent creature discard outlets.
4 Narcomoeba: One of the cards that raised this deck from a simple Aggro deck that used the graveyard, to a true Combo threat. It's ability can be abused with Golgari Thug, as previously mentioned, and allows the use of a very early Dread Return with either a large or fortunate Dredge. Often can also be hard-cast, and fly in for damage. You always want four to maximize your chance of the early combo.
4 Ichorid: Last things first; always run four. Unlike other formats, not only is Legacy full of creature removal, it is plagued by Swords to Plowshares which is more far more relevant. Legacy is also a format of creature-based damage, so the higher number you have to attack with, the more often your attack will be lethal. Also, the greater number of Bridge tokens you will get, and the greater chance you will be able to continue a threat if your Dredge engine is disrupted. Also may be needed to feed themselves, or pitch to an Unmask. That said, they're still the keystone, and the best card in the deck.
1 Flame-Kin Zealot: Proof that it is always better to win now than later. While a never-ending stream of replacements have been suggested for FKZ, none match his elegance. He very simply is a full Time Walk in almost any situation where you can re-animate him. While other creatures may be better attackers, defenders, or cause heaps more disruption, it is indisputable that in most any situation in Game One when you can effectively Dread Return a creature, he will cause the most wins.
1 Eternal Witness: One of the more controversial choices. For the longest time, Cephalid Sage was the choice for this slot. The object being to Dredge any remaining library you have in order to complete the combo immediately. While perfect for that use, I feel for a singleton slot, that Sage lacks versatility. Here is a short list of actual in-tournament actions I've performed with Witness:
Retrieve Breakthrough to play with either a land or LED already in play.
Retrieve Coliseum to play with a land in play and vice-versa.
Retrieve Coliseum to play with an LED in play.
Retrieve LED to pay for DA.
Retrieve LED to pay for Ghostly Prison.
Retrieve LED when I had all visible Dredgers in hand, and a Sage could have done nothing.
Retrieve LED to pay for a Dread Return through a 3Sphere I knew would be played the following turn when I couldn't win that turn.
Retrieve PImp to fly in for the win.
Retrieve Unmask to force through a Dread Returns with no mana available.
Retrieve Chain, Firestorm, and Needle to either win, or seal a win in following turns.
Return Dread Return, GGT, and Stinkweed with an LED in play to be hardcast when the extra 2/1 body, or extra tokens from his sacrifice made the difference in the win.
Return Dread Return to be hardcast in a 40 minute game when I had four lands in play.
And of course, swung for the win.
4 Breakthrough: The single most powerful card in the deck; providing not only an incomparable amount of draw power for it's cost, but also a complete discard outlet. If successfully cast with a Dredger in the graveyard, a win is almost guaranteed. Running less that four in any case is insanity.
4 Cabal Therapy: I honestly don't think a better disruption spell could be made for this deck. Costs one? Check. Gets you extra creatures if you cast it again? Check. Black? Check. In conjunction with Unmask, can create openings that no deck in the format can recover from. Again, run four always.
3 Unmask: Now we get to more controversial selections. Most feel that Unmask is a sideboard card at best. I think the total opposite. Unmask is best on the play in Game Three, is often useless in Game Two, and can not only give invaluable information in Game One, but can combine with Cabal Therapy to strip your opponent's hand on the first turn. This is especially important post-board, when quick, targeted discard is needed against the Hate brought in. In a pinch, it can also serve as a discard outlet for yourself. This can be evil when combined with a first-turn Breakthrough. I think Geoff Smelski described the card best when he first saw it in Ichorid; "What the f**k?! It's a free Thoughtseize without life loss for these guys!". Though I like four in the main for maximum chance in my opening seven, I'm trying three now for access to a main deck Firestorm.
2 Dread Return: The minimum number, and three is probably optimal. I can't find room in this configuration at the moment though. In some cases, this becomes the most important card in the deck. Not only does it allow the early turn wins by bringing a Flame-Kin back to Haste your Zombie tokens for a lethal attack, it will allow a 19/19 Grave-Troll to swing in against decks with sweepers or swarm defense. Combined with Eternal Witness allows access to any card in the deck.
2 Deep Analysis: One of the weaker cards in this version, but it is needed to maintain a minimum number of draw spells. DA's strength in conjunction with LED should be obvious, but it isn't that hard to get two lands to pay the Flashback cost either. I only run two since with neither of the mentioned mana sources available, it's a dead card. Eternal Witness makes it far stronger since you can always return a land or LED to activate.
4 Bridge from Below: This is the card that put this deck over the top. I can't really say anything about it that anyone reading this shouldn't already know.
1 Firestorm: An experiment out of the sideboard. While the chances of drawing a singleton are infintessimal after the opening hands with Ichorid, Witness makes it quite accessable. I'll get more into uses in the SB description, but I want one main deck as answer to the Tribal decks that are gaining popularity.
4 Lion's Eye Diamond: The terminator line between current Legacy Ichorid decks. Some feel that in a format with decks running Relic of Progenitus main that discarding your entire hand is too risky. They may be correct. But there is no single card that as quickly, cheaply, and efficiently facilitates the entire goal of the Ichorid deck as this one. Basically, it speeds the decks up from a half to a full turn if dropped early. It serves as both free discard, and free mana; making relatively slow cards like Cephalid Coliseum and Deep Analysis active on Turn One. It can be used to pay for additional costs such as Daze, and to pay through inhibitors like Trinisphere, or Ghostly Prison. LED is also excellent counter-magic bait, and in conjunction with an opening Gemstone Mine, can cause a read like a Storm Combo deck. It's uses with Witness are detailed earlier, and cannot be discounted. While some may argue that the risks outweigh the gains with LED, no version without ir has put up one-twentieth the results that the versions running four have.
4 Gemstone/3 City/3 Coliseum/1 Undiscovered: Again, I run eleven lands for the optimal chance of having exactly one in my opener. Gemstone is the generically best 5-color land. The life loss from City of Brass is worth avoiding with one Undiscovered Paradise, but not enough of a danger to risk a second. Undiscovered's returning to hand can also help to force discard in a pinch. Unlike some, I only run three Coliseums. I have tried time and time again to run a fourth, and have never liked it. The broken options it gives along with a first turn 5C land+discard, or god help your opponent, an LED, have never outweighed it's inability to produce Black. If running twelve lands, I still wouldn't run a fourth, as I have tried this also with little success. Versions running more than twelve should almost always add the fourth though.
Before moving on to sideboard selections, I want to go over some commonly used cards that I have decided not to include in this list.
Careful Study: Weak. Seriously. I have run this card in every iteration of the deck, and in numbers from one to four. I've never been anything but dissapointed. Yes, it does function as both draw, and discard. Yes, it can dig for answers, especially post-board. Unfortunately, it does none of this well; in most cases not even adequately. In almost every situation, I would prefer a more powerful and/or cheaper spell that might be limited in it's variety of uses.
Akroma: Fast and evasive, but dies to most Legacy removal.
Woodfall Primus/Angel of Despair: These are good in the maindeck only. And only if you have an extra slot. Their utility doesn't make up for their lack of attack/defense capability in most cases though.
Empyrial Archangel: While she seems good, think of the realities of when she would be useful. Her attack capability is the worst of these options. And any attack from the enemy that would be worrisome enough to block and/or use her ability, will kill her anyway. On the other hand, it's highly doubtful that the opponent can do an extra 20+ damage and survive your conter-attack if you re-animate Ancestor's Chosen
Inkwell Leviathan: If you feel you need a big beater other than Grave-Troll, this is probably your best bet. The problem with this in theory is, if you expend a the needed resources to Dread Return him and your opponent can deal with him then you will likely lose.
Lotus Petal: I don't get this one. The deck can rarely even use more than one mana on Turn One anyway. Permanent mana sources are always better, even if using LED.
Brainstorm: I really tried to make this card viable. It boils down to two things that are as yet unsolveable. First, much like Careful Study, it encourages you to keep poor hands. And second, unlike Careful Study, it only has one mode of use; draw. The fact that it requires a discard outlet still makes it weaker than Breakthrough, which will at least discard your hand. Brainstorm tends to slow the deck down for this reason, and because it lends to a more conservative style of play.
And now, on to current sideboard choices and reasoning:
4 Greater Gargadon: Yeah, bizarre...I know. Some time ago, a discussion I had with the Hatfields and David Gearhart went deep into how truly weak a card Pithing Needle was in an aggressive deck. That realization, along with the recent melding of Relic of Progenitus with Tormod's Crypt as standard Ichorid hate led to my searching for an alternate answer. Literally, a stroll by the vendor's case while waiting for Jesse H. to finish Top, Fetch, Brainstorm, Top, etc, etc., gave me the lightbulb.
Gargadon costs one; easily accomplished. Gargadon sacrifices Creatures, Lands, and Artifacts, all expendable assets in this deck, to bring out a huge creature. Gargadon gives an additional Dread Return target. Most importantly, Gargadon allows sacrifice at instant speed. That is insane in this deck. "While still in Upkeep, Swords your Ichorid." Uh...no. I'll remove a counter from Gargadon to fizzle your Swords. Oh, and get two Zombies. Punk. "Waste your Coliseum." Nice try. Sac it to Gargadon, my turn? Swing for lots. "During your draw, after Bridges hit, sac Fanatic to kill your Ichorid." In response, get tokens, and here comes Big Red.
I know, none of this deals with Hate cards. Or can it? Not only can the instant speed of Gargadon's ability get maximum use in the face of a graveyard hoser, it can in some cases void it. Any combination of Putrid Imp and Golgari Thug makes an endlessly repeatable combo to where the enemy has virtually no good options. With PImp in play, you can recover from any grave-sweeper. With Thug in play, you can always return PImp to play by saccing Thug to Gargadon. If they can't kill PImp, you EOT sac Thug to return a Narcomoeba instead. Each of these cycles should also be gaining you Zombies. Board sweepers become irrelevant as well. If you have Thug and Narco, you get tokens. If you have Thug and PImp, you just continue Dredging the next turn. If you only have tokens, since they swept your board, and then they emptied your graveyard, well....they still have to deal with Big Red. He makes decisions for Aggro decks very difficult, and in conjunction with PImp and Thug, makes it impossible for control decks to win. Outside of Crypt and Relic, Jailer isn't really a threat compared to a resolved Gargadon.
I need to add though, that this power is not without cost. Needle does answer things other than Crypt/Relic. And Needle is a mindless card; once cast you can forget it until it is removed. Gargadon makes you think about every priority pass in every phase. Especially when a Crypt, or Deed is active on the table. The reason I chose it, is if played right, not only can Gargadon allow you to win through those cards, it places an unbelievable amount of pressure on your opponent not only to answer your graveyard and creatures on board, but also the 9/7 coming in at a moment's notice. No Crypt or Chalice can do this. Try it for yourself, and see what tricks you can find.
