Did you know that Innistrad is a graveyard set? Obvious, I know, but many of the big decks in Block don’t utilize the graveyard much at all. Boros and token decks just smack you with weenies. Invisible Stalker hooks up equipment and minimizes interaction. The control decks are all focused on removal and planeswalkers, not graveyard interactions outside of Devils Play‘s incidental flashback. Burning Vengeance as an archetype has fallen in popularity. So where’s the graveyard deck?
Luckily for Innistrad, the “graveyard deck” is definitely the biggest possible utilizer of the zone. This Block archetype has received many names from many columnists, including Spider Control, 5-Color Splinterfright, Blue-Green Mill. I prefer to call it Dredge, continuing the long-standing tradition of calling graveyard decks (that involve milling yourself) without the Dredge mechanic some variation of the name “Dredge”, initiated by Brian David-Marshall’s Dredgevine deck.
Here’s the list I’m playing in the following videos:
ISD Block Dredge by Gard
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Decklist Video
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.Innistrad Block Constructed Match 1
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.Innistrad Block Constructed Match 2
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.Innistrad Block Constructed Match 3
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.Innistrad Block Constructed Match 4
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.I don’t know why the last video I record always ends up being the longest, but I do most of my closing thoughts after the end of the round, so be sure not to miss that if you can’t watch the whole round. To recap:
- 4-0 is a very good record, especially when I’m distracted by recording. Dredge is a very good deck and choice for Block right now, so I recommend it.
- I can’t wait for Dark Ascension to shake up the format, but Magic Online doesn’t have the luxury of getting cards released at the same time as the real world, so we’ll keep on trucking until Dark Ascension comes out.
- I still have a few more decks lined up for showcasing, but is there anything in particular y’all would like to see?
- Contact me in the comments or here:
gardevior[at]gmail[dot]com
Gard on MTGO
@leemcleo on Twitter
Thank you for watching!
-Lee McLeod
In M2G1 turn 2 I would have played mulch off pilgrim and forest in hopes to hit a blue source so I could also play dream twist in the same turn.
If you go to this page:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temblor
And click on the little speaker icon you will find that there is no trembling going on in this set.
Thanks for the free content!
^^eh. Both words are from the same root, so much so that definitionally there’s trembling happening in a temblor.
@Rhizom: Yes, you’re definitely right. At the time I was thinking about attacking with the pilgrim because the chances of hitting a blue source (6 in deck that come into play untapped) was low. But then I didn’t end up attacking with Pilgrim and my play looks suboptimal.
@Tokamak: Ha! You’re right, I mispronounce that word a lot. In my defense, my creatures were definitely trembling – I could see them quaking in their boots.
*rimshot*
(….Wow that was horrible. )
Hey I was thinking about building this deck. i have a couple questions that weren’t really answered in the videos
1) How is the matchup with the three control decks in the format (RUG, RUG burning vengeance, and Jund)? I would imagine that the matchup is very difficult because it would be hard to deal with Garruk relentless.
2) I’ve seen decklists that include Garruk and even snapcaster mage. Would you recommend that?
@ticki: 1) Dredge isn’t really afraid of Garruk Relentless. You can kill him rather easily, since he only spits out 2/2s that are easily trampled over. Dredge IS afraid of Garruk the Veil-Cursed. Deathtouch wolves kill all of your creatures, Garruk can tutor for Bloodgift Demons, and sometimes can Overrun himself.
Jund is a fairly even matchup, getting in their favor after board. They have tons and tons of removal (Sever, Act, Liliana, Tribute), but if you get off to a quick start with mana dorks, you can play around Liliana and Tribute and force them to have the Sever.
Burning Vengeance with Garruk is a good matchup. They rely completely on Garruk and Vengeance to kill you. So if you kill Garruk and/or land a Splinterfright, they can’t deal with Splinterfright. And if you mill into a Gnaw to the Bone, the Vengeance clock is unrealistic. The only worrisome card they have for you is Dissipate, in my experience. Obviously you can’t let Garruk get out of control, but the same can be said for every planeswalker.
RUG control is more difficult, because they’re not playing cards that are bad against you like Burning Vengenace, think Twice, etc. Since they don’t have Vengeance, they play more win conditions like Manor Gargoyle, which is REALLY annoying.
2) I haven’t tried Garruk, because he doesn’t seem good. He isn’t a creature, is only limited removal, and is very very slow while at the same time operating on a different axis than the rest of your deck. Which means you’re basically playing Garruk simply because he’s a good card. In a deck that relies completely on synergy. Splinterfright is powerful enough that sometimes you’ll see Garruk in lists, but he’s nothing special.
I’ve tried Snapcaster Mage, though. He was… decent. He makes your board cards (specifically Blasphemous Act) much better, but he doesn’t really do much otherwise. He may be better than Boneyard Wurm and you can play more spells in your sideboard to make him better. But Boneyard Wurm is good enough against the control decks that I’d still rather have him.
M2G2 – When he has the second Undead Alchemist out. You could’ve double Dream Twisted yourself at end of turn. Gives him 2-3 creatures and makes your Blasphemous Act cheap enough to play when you untap.
Worth noting that if you do this and hit 3 creatures, you free up 3 mana to cast an Armored Skaab
Thanks for the article – been trying to figure out how I should get into ISD Constructed tournaments as a new(ish) player, and this deck looks a lot more interesting to play and less blunt than all the blue/red’s out there right now.
Two questions:
1) Why not Forbidden Academy over Dream Twist? Is it purely about the mana and flexibility?
2) How would 1-2 Skaab Ruinator’s go with this deck? I don’t see any point in a playset, but he has a special relationship going with Unburial Rites and would deal with the Intangible Flying Tokens nicely. Of course you don’t want to cast him traditionally but if the situation is tight enough… (maybe I just really really want to see this card work in tourney-format because I love him!!!)
Cheers!
Gave the deck a shot in last nights ISD Constructed Daily, didn’t get much chance to practice first, time was short and because i’m in Australia there aren’t many events I can jump into when I’m available. I only won 1 of 4 rounds but most were close, 2 games was against W/R (Boros?) – one of them I stood no chance with rough draws and mulligans and both times he landed 2 Champions of Parish in his opening hand. Did play against a W/B which looked more interesting, went to a 3rd game here but he out paced me. Final match-up was against Jund, Garruk wasn’t to much of an issue but an early Liliana I couldn’t keep pace with and didn’t draw or mill my spider spawning so I had sacrifice fodder… in the 3rd he kept killing my Splinterfright and Cagebreakers, once I finally got spiders onto the field he came out with a Curse of Death’s Hold and I didn’t have enough Unburial Rites to out-pace his Devil’s Play and Sever to mount an attack and I hadn’t sided in Naturalize.
So aside from 1 game where my draws were bad I put up a strong fight and I enjoyed playing the deck (except when it just got to the waiting game, this deck makes long games!). I did make a mistake in my first game by not Gnaw to the Bone early enough, I counted the direct damage he could do but he was able to make the difference. I did also make a mistake in a later game that may have saved me but I wasn’t totally convinced.
Having a play with the deck, going to try siding in a couple of Divine Reckoning as I’m not scared of their biggest drop but I would like to keep my Splinterfright or Cage Breakers if possible. Also testing with a singular Skaab Ruinator and 2 Forbidden Alchemy (definitely keeping the Dream Twist contrary to my previous question, I don’t really want 4 in the deck but I definitely want it in my opening hand).