[EDH] Vorosh, the Dredgenator

[Aggro_zombies]

This idea struck my fancy a while ago, but I've been having some issues implementing it. Basically, I'm trying to build an Ichorid-style dredge deck using Vorosh as the general (though I'm open to going five-color if there are sufficient benefits to doing so).

General: Vorosh, the Hunter


1 Bad River
1 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Island
5 Swamp
7 Forest
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Tropical Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Bayou
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Barren Moor
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Cabal Pit
1 High Market
1 Vesuva
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Wasteland

1 Dakmor Salvage
1 Darkblast
1 Golgari Thug
1 Life from the Loam
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Shambling Shell
1 Golgari Grave-Troll

1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Shriekmaw
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Innocent Blood
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Putrefy
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Barter in Blood
1 Damnation

1 Drowned Rusalka
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Trinket Mage
1 Mulldrifter
1 Entomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Windfall

1 Golgari Guildmage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Body Double
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Genesis
1 Nostalgic Dreams
1 Regrowth
1 Corpse Dance
1 Dread Return

1 Spore Frog
1 Spike Feeder
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Wonder
1 Mindslicer
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Primal Command

1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Grim Poppet
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Stormtide Leviathan
1 Terastodon
1 It That Betrays
1 Worm Harvest

1 Devoted Druid
1 Hermit Druid
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Urborg Elf
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Sol Ring
1 Rampant Growth
1 Far Wanderings
1 Harrow


Basically, the deck wants to dump itself into the graveyard and use that as its "hand." Because of this, it's got numerous dredge and mill cards, as well as cards that can be played out of the graveyard, or can recur things from it.

Any and all help would be appreciated.

Current as of 18 - xii - 2010.

[ddt15]

I also run Vorosh
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=15910 but in a control shell.
I also run Tog/Loam in mine. I think the deck is better with a control shell. Survival of the Fittest would be really good in your deck, it will allow you to tutor up several dredgers executing the game plan faster. Maybe some equipments to make your big guys untargetable or give em double strike.

[Shabbaman]

Sylvan library is great with dredge. Chains of mephistopheles is also great with dredge.

[keys]

You have too many things going on. The EDH staples like Damnation and Body Double aren't going to help your dredge plan. Where's your draw? Deep Analysis? Careful Study? Your good dredgers? Grave-Shell Scarab?

[ddt15]

You might want to run a Crystal Shard & Time Warp, also very good cards on their own.

Then you if you have demonic tutor:
Demonic Tutor -> Eternal Witness
Eternal Witness -> Demonic Tutor
Demonic Tutor -> Crystal Shard, bounce Eternal Witness
Eternal Witness -> Demonic Tutor
Demonic Tutor -> Time Warp
Win

Super lame but takes a boatload of mana to pull off. You can recur anything but Time Warp seems to most logical choice.

[Bryant Cook]

Look at the type 2 reanimator/dredge/mill yourself deck. It's based on unearth and that songs of the damned land.

[Aggro_zombies]

Yeah, I realized there's a bunch of things missing after I put the list up. For one thing, Genesis is infinitely better than Oversold Cemetery, and Survival is a really good idea. Grave-Shell Scarab is also a no-brainer, not sure how I missed that one. Crypt is a good suggestion (thanks Bryan), and I'll probably be adding a couple big fat dorks for reanimation purposes: stuff like Woodfall Primus and the 7/11 Serpent guy from Conflux.

I do need to cut a bunch of stuff out for artifact acceleration, though. The deck is kind of slow and mana-hungry.

Damnation is in there because every deck in EDH needs to have some board control element (unless its exclusive goal is to combo out by turn five or so). This deck doesn't really have anything to combo out into, so it can't just ignore the board. However, cards like Innocent Blood and Barter in Blood (and the 3/1 Zombie Innocent Blood guy) are probably good additions here because I can break the symmetry with recursion.

I'll put an updated list up tomorrow.

[94teen]

I think 5 color is going to end up being better for the deck. You get some of these:

Gamble
Wheel of Fortune
Recoup
Squee
Burning Inquiry
Book Burning
Control of the Court
Drastic Revelation
Goblin Lore
Anger


Enlightened Tutor
Idyllic Tutor
Academy Rector


Honestly, I'd like to see the deck tutor up Loam or Survival ASAP and start dredging up a storm, and I think the additional tutors/digging would help with that.

I also feel like Setting up Loam/Crucible + Cephalid Coliseum is pretty awesome for a deck like this.

Are you somehow opposed to proxying a Bazaar of Baghdad?

[Aggro_zombies]

Bumping because I updated the OP list. There's more draw power at the expense of some board control and some creatures. The creature base is also a little more streamlined and takes a cue from Dredge lists in Extended.

[AngryTroll]

1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Golgari Signet
1 Dimir Signet
1 Simic Signet
1 Coalition Relic

I'd cut all four relics for some combination of Rampant Growth, Into the North, Farseek, Nature's Lore, Three Visits, and Edge of Autumn. Farseek and Edge of Autumn are probably the worst of those, but Edge will let you dredge for free at instant speed. Kodama's Reach is also probably worth a slot.

I prefer Darksteel Ingot over Coalition Relic, but Ingot doesn't get you to six on turn four (which I guess is relevant with a 6cc general). My Signets always end up blown up. It's not always on purpose, but they end up wiped off the board with everyone elses dudes and artifacts.

[Blitzbold]

I am playing both Darksteel Ingot and Coalition Relic in all my 3cc+ EDH-decks. I like the combined fixing and small ramping they provide.

I like Signets for 2-color-decks, but as AngryTroll already pointed out they get blown up quite often.

[Aggro_zombies]

Played this a little tonight, but with a slightly different version than the OP. I couldn't find a couple cards before I left, so I just grabbed some stuff.

Highlight of the evening was winning with Bitter Ordeal (how did I miss that card the first time around?!) against three opponents. I activated Hermit Druid and milled 36 cards before hitting my first basic (I'd fetched a bunch because I followed AngryTroll's suggestion of using land fetch spells over Signets), but in the process I milled Lord of Extinction, Wonder, Bridge from Below, Dread Return, and Bitter Ordeal among others. I then did the following:

Play Krovikan Horror
Sacrifice Eternal Witness to ping an opponent (20 gravestorm)
Sacrifice Druid, Horror, and Mindslicer to flashback Dread Return on Witness (31 gravestorm thanks to discards)
Use Eternal Witness to get back Bitter Ordeal
Play Bitter Ordeal for 32 with copies

I knew what the other guys were playing so I was able to lobotomize every remaining removal spell out of each of their decks. I'd already gotten Genesis into the yard earlier in the game, and a 70+/70+ flying Lord would have popped back on my next turn to begin the one-hit K.O. game.

So, in sum: I'll be looking to make Mindslicer, Windfall, Bitter Ordeal, and land search spells permanent additions.

[Shabbaman]

If Bitter Ordeal only were an instant I'd be in love with the card. If you're looking for card draw, try Syphon Mind instead of Syphon Soul. And have you tried Tortured Existence?

[Aggro_zombies]

If Bitter Ordeal only were an instant I'd be in love with the card. If you're looking for card draw, try Syphon Mind instead of Syphon Soul. And have you tried Tortured Existence?

I don't run Syphon Soul and don't need additional card draw that costs more than two mana.

Tortured Existence is okay, but this deck is actually kind of light on creatures, and I'd prioritize pitching things to Survival over pitching the to Existence, especially with the possibility of Genesis. That said, it might be worthwhile backup if graveyard hate begins to show up around here.

I'm really digging the global Mind Twist effect of Mindslicer. Recurring that card is often game over.

I'll post an updated list tonight when I get off work.

[Shabbaman]

Weird, I must've been looking at a different thread when I wrote that.

[Aggro_zombies]

Weird, I must've been looking at a different thread when I wrote that.

No, I think it's my fault. The first build had it, but I dropped it shortly thereafter and I may have just forgotten to edit it out of the OP.

Soz.

[Anusien]

Would Cephalid Illusionist and some things like Greaves or Shuko be useful in here?

[Aggro_zombies]

Would Cephalid Illusionist and some things like Greaves or Shuko be useful in here?

Greaves would be useful for killing people with Lord of Extinction. Illusionist...I dunno. I don't really have a problem with milling myself - actually, in most cases I have to be careful lest I go overboard and completely deck myself (which has almost happened a couple times now).

I won a five man game with this last Friday. The last opponent left standing was mono-white Sweepers.deck and died to 40+ Worm tokens from two turns' worth of Worm Harvest. Guess he couldn't find a sweeper in time.

[Shabbaman]

I like cards like Greaves and Whispersilk Cloak to keep cards safe. Especially Greaves is nice as it grants haste besides shroud. I'm not sure it's worth it in this deck though. But Greaves and Illusionist go well together :)

Another thing I was wondering: why are you playing Mana Vault over Mana Crypt?

[Aggro_zombies]

I like cards like Greaves and Whispersilk Cloak to keep cards safe. Especially Greaves is nice as it grants haste besides shroud. I'm not sure it's worth it in this deck though. But Greaves and Illusionist go well together :)

Another thing I was wondering: why are you playing Mana Vault over Mana Crypt?

Well, I really don't want to play either of them, but I wanted something fast mana-ish for turn one and Vault stuck out as adding more mana and not randomly Lightning Bolting me.

I'm kind of thinking of dropping it, though. If I did, I'd probably add Top in. The deck can struggle a little bit to set up on mana in the first couple of turns and Top allows me to make more informed decisions over whether to draw or dredge.