A (Very) Brief History Of The Deck

Dredge was a keyword that came with the Ravnica Block. The keyword immediately spurred a deck, that saw limited success in Standard. In Extended, however, the deck really took off as being both viable, and brutal. Using cards like Ichorid, Cephalid Coliseum and Cephalid Sage from the Odyssey Block, as well as Narcomoeba, Bridge from Below and Dread Return from Time Spiral, the deck could easily and efficiently power out an army of 3/3 hasty zombies via Flame-Kin Zealot.

After Extended rotated, Dredge continued on. Making use of Hedron Crab, Drowned Rusalka and Glimpse the Unthinkable to help put cards in the graveyard, it seemed to have lost little to no gas in the transition.

Dredge is now a very successful Legacy deck, keeping all of its original tools and gaining some new ones. Whether or not it will survive in Extended in some way shape or form is yet to be seen.

Very brief, as promised.

A Less Brief Look At Dredge In Standard

Dredge, as it stands, is much less a keyword and much more an archetype. Pretty much any kind of deck that revolves around graveyard recursion and self-milling can be called Dredge. To make it even simpler, if you can look at your deck and say, "Gee, a Ravenous Trap, Tormod's Crypt or Leyline of the Void would really ruin my day.", you're probably looking at a Dredge deck. The Alara Block brought with it the Unearth mechanic, allowing for dead dudes to take one more shot at your opponent. While powerful, this mechanic did little more than supplement decks than run them. Enter Zendikar and we have access to Hedron Crab and Crypt of Agadeem. With these cards the original Standard Dredge deck came to be. We filled our graveyard with black cyclers from Alara Block, milled ourselves with Hedron Crab and Tome Scour, and eventually generated a ton of mana with Crypt of Agadeem to unearth a horde of Extractor Demons, Sedraxis Specters, Rotting Rats and even Viscera Draggers.

Early incarnations of the deck  used Traumatize and an Extractor Demon / Kederekt Leviathan combo to further their self-milling agenda, but that was short lived. The deck was already fairly slow and unstable enough as it was, so these expensive ideals were quickly cut. Unearth Dredge was created in the same vein as jacerator: A surprise deck for the meta. There wasn't a whole lot that unsuspecting decks could do against it, and even if they were prepared for it, the deck could seamlessly shift to milling your opponent out in a timely manner. Worldwake is what really shook this deck out of the format. Spreading Seas, Tectonic Edge and all around better deck structure were too much for this deck to keep up with, and it no longer had a place in the format. Naturally, having explosive potential it's expected that Dredge will steal games, but its consistency is all but lost.

 An Homage

This article's a little video heavy, and we're not quite done yet! Dredge was the first deck I built for online play, even before Spread Em', and I was actually able to dig up a video of what may have been the first game I had ever played with it.

 Dredge vs Naya Allies

Dredge vs Mono White Eldrazi

Dredge vs Esper Mill - Game 1

Dredge vs Esper Mill - Game 2

When Things Just Make Too Much Sense...

The number one issue with Standard Dredge as it was, was that it was a one shot deal. It wasn't enough that your combo was easily disrupted, but all it took was a lone Angelsong to shut you down. Once your unearthed monsters were off the clock, that was it!

Enter Dredgevine The most recent TCGPlayer 5k brought with it a new kind of Dredge deck, piloted by Devon O'Donnell, using Bloodghast and Vengevine for more persistent pressure. Recurring both are very easy, with Cascade effects, one drops and Sedraxis Alchemist for the Vengevines, and fetchlands and borderposts for your Bloodghasts. Unlike Unearth Dredge, this variation could explode into a strong board position and actually keep it there. Renegade Doppelganger was much better than I expected, acting as Vengevine 5-7, as well as interacting with your crabs and looters for even more milling. There was also nothing better than slapping down a fetchland with Hedron Crab in play, revealing two Bloodghasts, than popping it to put them both in play! This deck has a lot going for it, but also a good deal working against it...

Oddly enough, our biggest threat is not graveyard hate, but rather, simple creature removal. The engine is based around Hedron Crab, Merfolk Looter and Enclave Cryptologist at one level counter. Without these cards it becomes very difficult to stock your graveyard. As a result, I find it's often a good play to sit on your Hedron Crabs until you have the means to actually use them when expecting any form of removal. Even just getting 3-6 cards milled is good enough in bad circumstances. Kathari Remnant is very good at hitting mill enablers, so it's sometimes best to wait until you have an active land drop in hand before playing it. Additionally, before sideboarding anyway, the Remnant is guaranteed to hit a creature, assuring you uproot a Vengevine. On that note I'd like to point out another example of why this version's so much better than Unearth Dredge! Originally, every single card in your deck had to be 100% devoted to the combo. Sure, that may sound all well and good, but it made sideboarding extremely difficult. What good are Duress and Doom Blade if you're just going to mill them away before you can draw them?

 By using a draw-discard engine, you have much more say in what ends up in the 'yard, and what stays in your hand. Sadly, gone are the days of Compulsive Research, Careful Consideration and even Ideas Unbound, but we can only take what we get. Hopefully, and everyone say it with me now, Scars will bring something nice to the table. Speaking of upcoming game changes, another advantage we have in Dredgevine is that it survives the rotation. We'll have to make some obvious tweaks, but the whole of it will remain.

Speaking of the deck, how about a list?

Dredgevine

As Played By Jeff Torres

Creatures 4 Bloodghast 4 Enclave Cryptologist 4 Extractor Demon 2 Fatestitcher 4 Hedron Crab 3 Kathari Remnant 4 Merfolk Looter 3 Renegade Doppelganger 4 Sedraxis Alchemist 3 Vengevine 35 cards Other Spells 2 Mistvein Borderpost 2 cards

Lands 3 Creeping Tar Pit 3 Drowned Catacomb 7 Island 3 Misty Rainforest 3 Scalding Tarn 4 Swamp 23 cards Sideboard 4 Duress 4 Spreading Seas 3 Doom Blade 2 Consume the Meek 2 Consuming Vapors 15 cards

Okay first thing's first: Yes, there's only three Vengevines. That's neither correct, nor incorrect. What I mean is, the deck should have a full set, but I couldn't afford the fourth copy just yet! It's coming though, you mark my words.

The deck has proved pretty consistent, winning me about 60% of my matches after a full evening of trolling the Tournament Practice room. I would like to take this chance to point out, that unless otherwise stated, every video I post was recorded in the TP room. I have no control over the decks my opponents' play, or whether or not MTGO will actually record the replay. With that said, how about a few videos?

Dredgevine vs Jund - Game 1

Dredgevine vs Jund - Game 2

Dredgevine vs Mono White Control

Dredgevine vs RDW

Shifting Gears

With the coming of M11 this deck will need to change to stay competitive. Fauna Shaman is simply amazing here, and is very reasonably costed. Jace's Ingenuity is definitely a bad card, but might be worth at least considering to fill either a looter or alchemist slot post rotation.

Leyline of the Void I think is something of the boogy man for this deck. With its return, some consider Dredge to be dead. I do not think this is the case. We're starting to look more and more like Extended Dredge in our colors, and Fauna Shaman only solidifies this. We're going to have to further emphasize the green in the deck beyond Vengevine, and I honestly don't think that's going to be too terribly hard. Between Misty Rainforest and Verdant Catacombs we're not losing a whole lot of stability in our mana base, and could get away with as little as two Forests.

Prophetic Prism could replace Mistvein Borderpost and act as further mana fixing. With easy access to green splash, we can now board Naturalize, and possibly even Obstinate Baloth. Having a more pronounced green base will also let us hardcast Vengevine, something I always seem to wish I could do at present.

Extended still has access to Narcomoeba, Bridge from Below and Dread Return until October, and I expect them to all see some play until then. The fact is, as long as there's a way to abuse your graveyard, there will always be Dredge decks. That, to me, is a very good thing.

Until next time!

-Jeff Torres