2009 Gencon Legacy Champoinship Dredge list.

[Majin_ZERO]

Ive gotten alot of questions about my version of dredge. So I thought I'd just post my list and people can have it or ask any questions that they may have. So here goes:

Artifacts:
4x Lotus Petal
4x Lion's Eye Diamond

Land:
4x City of Brass
3x Cephalid Coliseum
1x Gemstone Mine

Dredgers:
4x Golgari Grave-Troll
4x Sinkweed Imp
3x Golgari Thug

Other Critters:
1x Flame-Kin Zealot
2x Sadistic Hypnotist
1x Tireless Tribe
4x Putrid Imp
4x Narcomoeba
4x Ichorid

Sorcery:
3x Dread Return
4x Cabal therepy
2x Deep Analysis
4x Breakthrough

Enchantment:
4x Bridge from Below

Side Board:
4x Pithing Needle
4x Firestorm
4x Leyline of the Void
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Ray of Revalation

My board will probably be under construction, but this is the one I used in the Championships. So feel free to ask any questions or leave comments on my list. All I ask is please do so in a kind manner. Thanks for looking guys.

Ernest

[beastman]

What was the reasomning behind having 2 hypnotist? Was he very good?

[Koby]

I'm not the pilot, but from my experience with the Dredge deck:

Sometimes, your dredges arn't rock solid and you need a way to stall for a turn or 2. Sadistic Hypnotist gives you 2 very important functions:

1) Sacrifice outlet to make zombies
2) Mind Twisting your opponent to put them in topdeck mode.

The stronger of the two is #2, as once they are in topdeck mode you can just play slow-dredge and still not be in a bad spot.

Question to the OP: Has Hypnotist performed well in the slot that was once Unmask? Where there situations that made it better than the Unmask?

[Nihil Credo]

An open-ended question to tackle the big one: what experiences can you recall with hands with Petal and no lands?

[rockout]

What I don't understand about hypnostist is if you can put him into play via dread return then why aren't you already winning because you had 3 creatures to sac to dread return?

[cwt1220]

What I don't understand about hypnostist is if you can put him into play via dread return then why aren't you already winning because you had 3 creatures to sac to dread return?

You may not have any bridges or a FKZ, or troll won't be big enough to get there.

-Chris-

[Kilz88]

Hey Ernest, you and I spoke at the event, I was wearing a cap with a "R" on the front and a brown shirt with "Melee Gaming" on it. I dont remember if I told you my name. Its KC. Anyway, I have a few questions: What did you bring firestorm in against and also, what was your plan against leyline? I am missing the chain of vapors in your board for that reason. Doesn't it just deal with all of the non pith-able problems? (Enchantments/Teeg/Meddling Mage/Etc) Lemme know when you can. Congrats again and I hope to hear from ya soon.

KC

[ghindo]

Why didn't you play Careful Study?

[Majin_ZERO]

Sorry it took me so long to respond to you guys. Ive been busy with work and and all that stuff. But on to the answers.

@Beastman: Hypnotist is stupid good if he comes in while you have 2-3 critters you can feed him. depending on their hand size, hes good if you only have 1 or no guys to sac to him. He is definitely a slower win than Zealot, but hes so much better than most of the other slot options, especially against control. He did in fact win a couple games. I originally had Woodfall Primus in the Zealot's slot, but decided to change him out the night before. It was a good choice.

@Rukcus: You made two very good points. No body likes to be in TD mode. We've all been their, and I think we all agree that it sucks. I have never run Unmask. It was a "one of" the night before this tourney, but I decided against it. A "one of" of that card isnt really that good because 97% of the time it ends up in the yard and you cant use it. The reasoning behind me not running it as a four of is because the deck already has card disadvantage. odds are 20 to 1, that turn one, if you have Unmask and want to use it, youre gonna have to "exile" (god I hate the new terminology) a relevant black card, one that you should cast, (Putrid Imp or Therepy), or a card that should be put in the yard (Stinkweed Imp or Thug). All of those creatures play an important role in the yard. And Id rather have PImp in play. And therepy you can use twice. Put overall I believe its all preference just like the Lotus Petals.

@Nihil Credo: I have had several hands with Lotus Petal and no lands. The choice whether or not to mulligan is heavily influenced by what your opponent is playing, and the rest is decided by what else is in your hand. If you have breakthrough, LED and a dredger, you keep. If my opponent isnt playing blue, id keep it if I had the petal a PImp. Or the petal and a lonely breakthrough. But the latter of the two is a bit more ballsy. With any luck id already have a dredger in hand so I wasnt trying to find one off of the 4 draws. Alot of people question the petal. I personally like it because it gives you a higher percentage chance of getting a turn 1 kill. I also like it because if I have two land opening hand I can only play one a turn. But if I have a land and a petal, Ive essentially played two land in the same turn. It has potential to let me do more early on to put more pressure on my opponent.

@Rockout: See cwt1220's response. Sometimes you only have 1 bridge in the yard and you have to settle with dismantling their hand. They cant really win if they dont have a hand, unless they have amazing board position. But that early in the game, you will normally have enough time to stabilize and put the game in your favor fairly quickly.

@Kilz88: KC, im trying to remember who you are exactly. were you the one that was gonna run Slivers in the sunday tournament???? If so, I do remember. If not, im sorry, saturday night was filled with lots and lots of alcohol. but on to your questions. Firestorm comes in against Goblins and decks of the like. Anything that puts alot of guys in play fairly quickly. Elves is another good example. As far as against Leyline......eh? Leyline as been slowly falling out of boards. I dont know if its because people see less and less dredge and have forgotten about it or what. But definitely reminded them that its still around lol. I believe that relic and crypt are seen more than leyline. If I try and bounce relic or crypt they blow them in response anyways. If I needle them turn 1, they have dead cards in their hand. But if they have leyline, Im boned. It was a gamble Either way. But with chain of vapor, i could have forced them to pop them when I wanted them them to. Overall I think the needle in the board was a minor mistake that happened to work out for me in this tourney. Plus I dont own 4 foil chain of vapor lol.

@ghindo: My original list had 2 careful study in it, but I wanted to fit in the 4th therepy. Careful study was my only viable option. So I chose -1 careful study and +1 therepy. That still left me with on study in the main, which I viewed as not very effective, so I went with replacing the last careful study with a tireless tribe. Which is essentially the 5th Putrid Imp.

I hope this answers all of your questions. If I missed anything please dont hesitate to ask. Thanks to all for reading.

Ernest

[Kilz88]

Yes Ernest that was me, lol. I played a buddy of yours on sunday playing painter with that very sliver deck (I like to call it "Meathooks"). Ask him about my pithing needle, hehe. Anywho, yes that answers my question and rather, I don't see you replacing needle with the vapors more as the firestorms. I understand that sometimes the aggro creature decks can win faster than you but....I dunno. I feel like if you manage to have pith and vapor then you cover all bases that pwn you. Again, it was great talking to you and watching your matches was awesome. Thanks for the insight in to your decisions and I wish you luck in the future. I plan to attend some of those "meandeck open" events soon over in Columbus. I don't remember where you said you were from but they are for cash and not too far from me so maybe I will see ya there.

[Jedi Knight]

Ernest,great magic all around....and mad prop's on telling that Past Times brother to fuck off with his JANK ASS TOKENS!!!! HAHA...By the way that's why he didn't give you an interview....

[Jedi Knight]

Ernest,great magic all around....and mad prop's on telling that Past Times brother to fuck off with his JANK ASS TOKENS!!!! HAHA...By the way that's why he didn't give you an interview....