[Deck] Neo-Golgari (dredge creatures + retrace spells)

[Kevdog]

One of the great sleepers in modern times that exploded onto multiple formats and slowly faded into one deck is Life from the Loam. Its power lies in three prongs; resistance to disruption/counters, mana fixing, and massive capability of reach (i.e. your whole graveyard). What most people didn't realize at the time was the depth dredge possessed because most of the cards were creatures. At the time, I was probably one of the few people who played hard-core golgari deredge in type 2 and I loved the mechanic. As for the tournament scene, the dredge creatures didn't become popular until Bridge from Below was printed and they became gears to an engine that involved the other old sleeper; Ichorid. As the spoiler for eventide came together and the retrace mechanic was established the first thing I thought was "wow, there is the other half of golgari" as the only relevant non-creature dredges were darkblast and life from the loam. Given the new local popularity of discard and Counterbalance control, I decided to throw together a new golgari deck given the new power of retrace. While the deck is more aggro than control, it is only version 1.0 and has a great deal of flexibility and modifications that can be made. Spitting Image was the weakest card in the deck and will probably be dropped with the Grave Shell Scarabs to become Moment's Peace.
As of now, the early lynch pin of the deck is Life from the Loam and its auto-loss is combo as there is no discard.

Spells
4x Darkblast
4x Life from the Loam
4x Roar of the Wurm
3x Worm Harvest
1x Spitting Image

Enchantments
3x Moldervine Cloak

Creatures
4x Shambling Shell
4x Gigapede
3x Stinkweed Imp
3x Evershrike
2x Grave Shell Scarab

Lands
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Bayou
4x Baren Moor
4x Dakmor Salvage
3x Forest
2x Swamp

Sidebard
4x Reverent Silence
4x Putrefy
4x Pernicious Deed
3x Creakwood Liege

[thefreakaccident]

The list looks.... interesting...


What are the match ups?

Why play this over other already proven loam archtypes (agro-loam, 43-lands...etc.)?

Is it quick enough to fight off goblins?

Dreadstill?

Ichorid?

Agro-loam?

Stompy?


I am sure that since everything in the deck recurs, it will give control a run for its' money, but I do not think this packs the aggression or disruption to either race, or disrupt decks that exist in the current environment....


Perhaps cabal therapy, and other discard spell could be added?

Also, pernicious deed and moment's peace could work to stall agro until you can get worm harvest online...


How would you fare against cards like leyline of the void?

I would imagine the deck would just sit there and wait until it could get rid of the card before it can do anything (much like ichorid, except you do not have the capability of killing them immediately after...).

[Happy Gilmore]

Although deck list doesn't have much to offer legacy I find one interaction in the deck particularly intriguing.



+






Uncounterable 7/7 flyers for 5 that recur seem very good to me.

and combine it with this and things get even more insane=





4 mana for an uncounterable 4/4 flyer that can't be the target of spells or abilities. Oh and did I mention that it recurs?

[Fons]

ummm Rancor makes him a recurrable 6/4 flying trample for 3

[Illissius]

Interesting. That's sort of like Gigapede and Wonder, plus being uncounterable and vulnerable to Needle.

[Happy Gilmore]

Interesting. That's sort of like Gigapede and Wonder, plus being uncounterable and vulnerable to Needle.

Intuition for Evershrike, Evershrike, and Moldervine is a 7/7 flyer next turn no matter what. Not too shabby.

[Illissius]

Intuition for Gigapede, Wonder, Anger is an untargetable hasted 6/1 flyer next turn no matter what. Not too shabby.

Trouble is Aspect of Mongoose doesn't work with Intuition. It's not worth going to all that trouble when you're just going to lose it to a Swords. (Extirpate too, but at least at that point you've only spent three mana and not eight.)

[Clark Kant]

ummm Rancor makes him a recurrable 6/4 flying trample for 3

Well since we're just listing random Auras that don't synergize with dredge.

Edge of Divinity (one of the best commons in this block) makes him an uncounterable 7/7 flyer for just 3 mana.

[Kevdog]

While the deck may or may not reach tier 1 (hopefully testing and changes will move it up the appreciation scale) the Evershrike is definitely my favorite part of the deck. Unless my opponent was playing Swords to Plowshares, it was the best clock in the deck as a 3 turn flyer for 5 mana. It is tough for a deed or explosives to blow away on the same turn and the fact that it can be activated at anytime (one of the few cards wizards didn't nerf with "play this ability only during your upkeep") makes it amazing. Moldervine Cloak is one of a kind in that you can always skip a draw to get it back. Its immunity to Humility also makes it amazing in that as a 4/4 it kills everything AND can still recur for 5 mana which blows away all non-swords control. The combo itself can also be played with intuition in any dredge-a-tog deck as 1ofs (or in the Tallowisp deck as I mentioned on that thread).

As for this deck, I am planning on testing the following changes
-1 Spitting Image
-2 Grave-shell Scarab
-1 Bloodstained Mire
+4 Gleeful Sabotage/Krosan Grip
As a mainboard naturalize effect, it should improve matchups involving problematic heroes (dreadnought, crucible of worlds, sword of light and shadow...) and not be dead post board (leyline, blood moon, chalice). While it will be the only card that cannot be played/utilized from the graveyard (ray of distortion would be the one but not willing to splash white for it alone) it should prove to be more of a help than a hindrance. It also allows the board to be cleaned up to improve the combo and turbo aggro matchups such as:
4x Chalice of the Void (0-1 for combo)
4x Duress/Cabal Therapy
4x Moment's Peace (stall out until worm harvest can be used)
3x Meta Choice

[Dosan_the_Wisest_Leaf]

While the deck may or may not reach tier 1 (hopefully testing and changes will move it up the appreciation scale) the Evershrike is definitely my favorite part of the deck. Unless my opponent was playing Swords to Plowshares, it was the best clock in the deck as a 3 turn flyer for 5 mana. It is tough for a deed or explosives to blow away on the same turn and the fact that it can be activated at anytime (one of the few cards wizards didn't nerf with "play this ability only during your upkeep") makes it amazing. Moldervine Cloak is one of a kind in that you can always skip a draw to get it back. Its immunity to Humility also makes it amazing in that as a 4/4 it kills everything AND can still recur for 5 mana which blows away all non-swords control. The combo itself can also be played with intuition in any dredge-a-tog deck as 1ofs (or in the Tallowisp deck as I mentioned on that thread).

As for this deck, I am planning on testing the following changes
-1 Spitting Image
-2 Grave-shell Scarab
-1 Bloodstained Mire
+4 Gleeful Sabotage/Krosan Grip
As a mainboard naturalize effect, it should improve matchups involving problematic heroes (dreadnought, crucible of worlds, sword of light and shadow...) and not be dead post board (leyline, blood moon, chalice). While it will be the only card that cannot be played/utilized from the graveyard (ray of distortion would be the one but not willing to splash white for it alone) it should prove to be more of a help than a hindrance. It also allows the board to be cleaned up to improve the combo and turbo aggro matchups such as:
4x Chalice of the Void (0-1 for combo)
4x Duress/Cabal Therapy
4x Moment's Peace (stall out until worm harvest can be used)
3x Meta Choice

Sorry to say this but the deck is not going to make tier 1 wothout some radical changes. For starters you have few discard outlets and draw cards to utilise Dredge properly. Fix that up and ill have my eye on this deck. It certainly has some good ideas but seems kinda slow as it is.

Good luck and a good idea

[thefreakaccident]

Evershrike only works if you have the enchantment in hand...