Eternal Conflict – Fighting Dredge in Classic

Neuter the Graveyard

The most popular hate card for Dredge doesn’t actually clear out the graveyard, but instead neuters it: Leyline of the Void. This card is absolutely dynamite in your opening hand – not only does it come into play for free and avoid any sort of counter-magic, but it prevents anything from hitting Dredge’s graveyard until they can figure out a solution. The major bummer with Leyline is that it doesn’t do nearly as much if it comes down later in the game. If your opponent has already reached a critical mass of graveyard options, then Leyline does absolutely nothing for you.

Another option to neuter Dredge’s graveyard is the two-mana freaky beater from Future Sight: Yixlid Jailer. The Jailer is a complete solution to every card in every graveyard, and fits in nicely with any sort of aggressive strategy. Not only does the Jailer turn off cards that have already been dredged, but he stops just about all Dredge excitement in the future – as long as the man from Yixlid manages to stay on the table. The real bummer is that Yixlid Jailer doesn’t come out until turn two, which can often be too late when we’re talking about Dredge. The good news is that Jailer shuts off everything in the graveyard, so if Dredge has a solution – then it has to come out of their hand.

Pinpoint Graveyard Removal

Some cards in the graveyard for Dredge are more important than others. Instead of clearing out the entire graveyard, another strategy is to pinpoint important cards for removal. Dredge has a whole bunch of cards that are important when in the graveyard, so this can be a tough route to victory unless you can implement it at the very beginning of the game. Let’s say that early on in the game your opponent only has one or two cards with dredge in his graveyard. If you’re able to strip away both of these cards, then Dredge may be in topdeck mode – which is not a good place for Dredge to be. There are plenty of other cards that are helpful to remove. Taking out Ichorid/Bloodghast can hurt Dredge’s long game, removing Bridge From Below prevents explosiveness, and exiling reanimation targets reduces the overall power level of the deck.

There are a few solid options when it comes to pinpoint graveyard removal. Faerie Macabre is appealing due to the cost of zero and the fact that it isn’t a spell when discarded. Extirpate is an enormously powerful card that was initially criticized as “not affecting the board,” but with Dredge operating the way it does – affecting the graveyard is sometimes even better than affecting the board. Resolving Extirpate on a key card such as Bridge From Below can also strike out an entire plan of attack for the deck.

Attack Bridge From Below

In many ways, this entry is a subset of ‘Pinpoint Graveyard Removal’. Bridge From Below has a clause that says, “When a creature is put into an opponent’s graveyard from the battlefield, if Bridge from Below is in your graveyard, exile Bridge from Below.” This ability gives you an additional chance to remove a key card from Dredge’s graveyard, assuming you can manage to self-destruct one of your own creatures.

For some decks this is easier than others. Something like Zoo can just burn one of its own creatures with Lightning Bolt to clear Bridge From Below out of Dredge’s graveyard. If this Zoo build happens to be running Mogg Fanatic, then this creature hits the graveyard on command. Cursecatcher can perform this same function for Merfolk decks. Qasali Pridemage, Heap Doll, Vampire Hexmage, Arcbound Ravager, Shriekmaw, Tinder Wall, and Burrenton Forge-Tender can all fill this role to varying degrees of success. If you want to get really creative, then animate your Mutavault or Mishra’s Factory and then take it down with Wasteland or Strip Mine!

Fight Discard/Dredge Outlets

In order for Dredge to get its game on, it needs to get cards into the graveyard. In the olden days Breakthrough, Putrid Imp, and Lion’s Eye Diamond were the main discard outlets of choice – along with cards like Tireless Tribe, Careful Study, and Cephalid Coliseum as tier-two options. What’s the good news about fighting Breakthrough, Putrid Imp, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Tireless Tribe and Careful Study? Each of those cards are spells, therefore can be countered. Force of Will trumps them all.

The one card in that list that’s not like the others is Cephalid Coliseum. Lands are obviously immune to Force of Will and only specialized hate like Stifle can counter the Coliseum’s ability. Of course, Cephalid Coliseum requires threshold – so you already need to have your discard action going before the ability comes online. Of course, Cephalid Coliseum is no longer the land anti-Dredge players need to worry about.

Bazaar of Baghdad is the strongest discard outlet available to modern day Dredge decks. Not only does Bazaar avoid counter-magic and provide a discard outlet, but it’s also a draw engine, has no real requirements for usage, and is reusable. Fighting Bazaar of Baghdad is tough, but there are a few options. Wasteland and Strip Mine (and less frequently, Molten Rain) can destroy the land, Stifle and Trickbind can counter the effect, Suppression Field increases Bazaar’s mana requirements, and Pithing Needle naming ‘Bazaar of Baghdad‘ shuts the land down completely.

Stop Their Attack

Dredge’s game plan often revolves around filling the battlefield with Zombies and attacking all at once. Ensnaring Bridge, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, and Moat halt an all-out attack in its tracks under the proper conditions. Orims Chant, Fog, and Moment’s Peace can provide a brief respite from the pain. This is not the easiest way to fight Dredge, since most of these options are either tough to get down before you’re dead, nor are they a long-term solution – but it’s still a strategy nonetheless.

Stop Dread Return

As mentioned above, most Dredge decks plan on creating a critical mass of Zombies, reanimating Flame-Kin Zealot with Dread Return, and striking immediately for the win. A lot of lists only run two copies of Dread Return – so if you can manage to prevent either one from resolving, then you force your opponent into a longer game of attacking with his Zombie tokens the slow way or beating down with Ichorid/Bloodghast. Even if you do manage to stop Dread Return, chances are that your opponent will have superior board position, so it’s not exactly the ideal place to be.

Preventing Dread Return is also extremely difficult. Generally Dredge decks do not attempt to cast the reanimation spell until they have resolved two, three, or even four copies of Cabal Therapy.

Fight the Long Game

Let’s say you’ve managed to stop Dredge’s explosive start, and move into the mid or late game. Generally Dredge’s plan from this point is to recur either Bloodghast or Ichorid and beat down with its other pesky threats. If you can manage to keep these creatures in the graveyard for any length of time, then any of the graveyard removal options mentioned above can take them out for good. Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile can help fight this long game, but fighting these threats on a one-to-one basis is not exactly my idea of a good time.

Just Kill Them Anyway!

It can be really easy to become overwhelmed by the power of Dredge, but it is possible to construct a deck that can just win quicker than it. A highly tuned Ad Nauseam combo list has a pretty decent chance of just outracing Dredge – just hope that you’re able to avoid too many Control match ups.

Final Words

Before I wrap this one up, there are three more thoughts I want to mention.

1.) Let’s say you do manage to land a strong hate card against Dredge, such as Leyline of the Void. Generally they pack a relatively small number of answers to something like this, and they can often be manabound in their effort to resolve a solution. These answers include Emerald Charm, Chain of Vapor, Ray of Revelation, and Ancient Grudge. It’s important to note that Ray of Revelation and Ancient Grudge are usually the only two answer cards that can be dredged into a flashback. If your opponent wants to use a Chain of Vapor they’ll have to draw it the only fashioned way.

2.) Discard spells along the lines of Duress and Thoughtseize are usually dynamite, but not so much in the Dredge match up. They can occasionally be useful post-board to remove answer cards before deploying your hate – but this strategy is very slow. Also there’s nothing worse than casting Thoughtseize and being forced to dump a dredger into your opponent’s graveyard.

3.) Reactively battling Dredge’s threats is often a losing battle due to the presence of Cabal Therapy. Make sure that every card you consider for hate is viewed through the lens of a potential triple Cabal Therapy. Unfortunately this cuts out many options.

So there’s a whole long list of different ways to battle Dredge. Hopefully newer readers learned a bit more about how the monster called Dredge gets the job done, and some points of weakness to exploit in order to defeat it. I also hope that this article can provide more experienced players with a more structured way to think about their Dredge match up.

Thanks for reading!

Steve Gargolinski

spgmtg@gmail.com

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