The Pro Tour came and went, and I didn't win anything again, but I did build and play what I thought was the most interesting, and fun, deck in the room.
I've always been a bit of a rogue deck builder, playing UW Counter Worship with Pristine Angel at last years English Nationals (finishing in the Top 16, with the other person playing the deck finishing in the Top 8) and coming second at Nationals a few years back with a BG aggro control deck with Buried Alive and Ichorids (back when you actually had to pay 4 mana for them!).
Without any further ado, here's what I came up with for Ravnica Block Constructed:
That's right… a Dredge deck!
Don't laugh, its better than you think. First up, the obligatory card by card run-down…
Delirium Skeins
Quite literally the best card in the deck, getting your dredge cards in the graveyard as soon as possible and usually wrecking your opponent's plans. Three cards really is a lot, and you're more than happy playing with an empty hand 99% of the time.
Avatar of Discord
The other main way of getting dredge cards in the bin. It doesn't usually go all the way with all the removal running around, but trades for pretty much everything, keeping you alive until the big trolls come out to play.
Jagged Poppet
The weakest link in the maindeck. It should almost certainly be replaced by either the harder-to-cast Augermage or Guildmage from the sideboard. The idea was that the drawback of discarding cards wouldn't matter with this deck, and Hellbent is reasonably likely due to Skeins, but it turns out this guy just dies when he matters and doesn't do enough when he doesn't.
Birds and Elves
Mana acceleration and fixing - what more is there to say? The deck can be quite slow and has a lot of good three-drops so these are very important. I would have liked to fit in a couple of Utopia Sprawls too for an extra boost, but they were in use in another deck.
Life from the Loam
A key card in the decks engine, and the reason that discarding so many cards is never an issue. Turn 2 Skeins discarding a Life and at least one land is one of the best draws this deck can get. Sometimes you discard other dredge cards to your early plays and have to dredge up Imps and Trolls for a couple of turns to find the Life, but with the high dredge count cards it never usually takes too long.
Golgari Grave-Troll
The Big Daddy, this guy just keeps coming and coming and is bigger than everything else in the format buy quite a way. The first round I played he came down as a 21/21, and he was often at least a 12/12. The regeneration ability is just icing on the cake.
Grave-Shell Scarab
The backup. This guy is there for when you've dredged away most of your library and want to commit another threat to the board. It never came up in the tournament, but it did a few times in testing and he's still a reasonable card either way.
Stinkweed Imp
This guy is the absolute nuts in some matchups, trading for pretty much every beatdown monster and letting you get your dredge on. Most of the time just having him in play will hold off two or three guys, as they don't want to let you dredge.
Darkblast
More early defence and dredging. Not the most powerful card in the deck, due to so many of the format's good creatures having two or more toughness, but fills a good slot in the deck.
Skarrg, the Rage Pits
This is the card that really makes the deck work. Always retrievable due to dredging first it then Lifeing it back, this makes your 21/21 Troll into an awesome trampling monster instead of just chump-block magnet.
The Manabase
The mana isn't fantastic, even in a format with so many duals due to Green requirements for Birds and Elves and RB requirements for the Avatar, Poppet, Augermage, and Guildmage, but its usually pretty good with Life to back it up.
The Sideboard
Rakdos Augermage
This guy is a complete house if he's castable and survives, Coercing them every turn while you throw away useless lands and dredge cards. Unfortunately, both casting him and having him survive are reasonably difficult, so he gets a slot on the board and comes in for Darkblast against control.
Carven Caryatid
The wall against beatdown. Coming down turn 2 gives you so much time to make big Trolls. Drawing a card is just gravy, especially if you get an extra dredge out of it.
Rakdos Guildmage
An extra way to discard cards against aggro, and pseudo-removal. Against beatdown I was boarding out Poppets, Avatars, the Grave-Shell, a Grave-Troll, and two Elves, so this guy gives you another way to discard the big Dredge cards you draw.
Crime / Punishment
Almost mass removal versus the beatdown decks and doubles up as enchantment removal against Glare of Subdual, which is pretty much game versus this deck.
Tips and Tricks to Playing the Deck
Discard as early as possible. This seems like a no-brainer, but if you've got a dredge card and discard outlet, go for that over making a Poppet or Imp. The one exception to this rule is when you've drawn the nuts of Bird/Elf, Poppet, Skeins on the play (or on the draw after a mulligan). This draw gets you Hellbent on turn 3 and hits them for their whole hand.
Always dredge. Even if you're only getting back a Life from the Loam with no targets, it's still better to dredge than draw as, apart from Delirium Skeins, every good spell can be “drawn” from the graveyard anyway. Don't be afraid to cast Life with no targets either - pretty soon you'll dredge up to lands to get back, and your Trolls will be that much bigger when you do start making them.
The Team
I felt our team was one of the stronger of the English teams, but our results probably prove me wrong. Seat A was long-time undiscovered genius and The Great White Hype: Dave Grant, playing a UG aggro deck that seemed okay in testing but turned out to be a little underpowered. Admittedly Dave had bad matchups and lots of mulligans on the day, but his 1-6 record wasn't overly inspiring. Seat B was slightly-more-discovered genius and burgeoning alcoholic Stuart Wright, playing easily the best deck on the team: a URB burn deck. And finally, it was my good self in Seat C.
The Tournament*
We started with the usual English Pro Tour preparation; do some testing, get to America, realise all your decks are terrible, build new ones, go out drinking.
Round 1 versus Andrea Nediani of Lamento Team
Andrea was playing a UG aggro control deck, which is a really good matchup.
Game 1, and a turn 3 Stinkweed Imp keeps his Kudzu at bay while I slowly dredge up a small arm of defence monsters. I start dredging Trolls, and by the time his counterspells and bounce runs out it's a 21/21 and I'm down to about 10 cards in my library. Luckily, I've a Life from the Loam in hand from earlier in the game, and can dredge the Grave-Shell, Life back Skarrg, and trample over for the win in two attacks.
I bring in the Crime / Punishments and two Guildmages for Poppets and two Avatars.
Game 2 I get an early Avatar, but choose not to trade for one of his Kudzus as I can kill them both with Punishment next turn. This turns out to be a huge mistake, as he has the obligatory Remand and forces me into trading the attack after so as not to drop to too low life. I start the engine off but it's too late, and he forces through enough damage to kill me with Coiling Oracles and Civic Wayfinders.
I change my boarding a little here, as he seems to be more of a control deck than aggro. I bring in the Augermages for Darkblasts.
Game 3 I get the awesome draw of turn 2 Augermage, and proceed to dredge for huge amounts while taking his hand to pieces. Once all his good cards are gone I make 2 huge Trolls, and easily trample over for the win.
Stu wins his game too, putting us off to a good start.
Team record 1-0. My record 1-0
Round 2 versus Jason Terry of Team Blue Dragon Games
Jason is playing a GWBu control deck with Supply / Demand for Glare – not good for me.
Game 1 I get off an early Skeins, and he Demands for Congregation at Dawn, not knowing what he's playing against. I start making Trolls with only 5 mana, and they proceed to get Mortified, Mortified, Mortified, Putrefied, Fettered (in that order). Luckily, I have another even bigger Troll, and Jason can only Congregate for three creatures much smaller than mine. If he'd had the seven mana required for Angel of Despair, he could have Vindicated my Carnarium and ruined me… but luckily, he'd had to discard his extra lands to my Skeins.
Game 2 and he's learnt his lesson, Demanding up a Glare and Supplying for four tokens. I desperately try and draw a Punishment, but he makes a Loxodon Hierarch and finishes me pretty quickly.
Game 3 is a non-event, as I mulligan down to a four-card no land hand, and he makes Glare before I even have two lands!
Looking for the team to carry me through here, I find Stu has already won and Dave was in a bitter mirror-match struggle. We have some small confusion in our communication and Dave blocks with the wrong monster, allowing his board to be Savage Twistered away leaving both players in topdeck mode. Dave's opponent must have a degree in topdeckery as he draws like a master, while Dave's BA in manafloodery leaves us at a decidedly average 1-1
Team record 1-1. My record 1-1
Round 3 versus John Penick of Team Intergalactic Rap Battlers
John was playing an aggro Boros deck. This is not the best matchup as the deck is a little slow sometimes, but not unwinnable by any means.
Game 1 I Skeins him turn 3 and he responds with Char, discarding another Char and a Solifuge. Having taken all his late game I start making Imps and Trolls, and he never draws anything to recover.
I board in the full twelve anti-beatdown cards (everything but the Augermages) and take out Avatars, Poppets, a Grave-Troll, the Grave-Shell, and two Elves.
Note: the sideboarding with this deck is pretty straightforward; either bring in Augermage for Darkblast against control, or change the twelve anti-beatdown cards against aggro.
Game 2 I get a really good start of turn 2 Caryatid followed by Skeins, keeping Punishment as my last card. He burns me pretty low, and a Boros Guildmage means his Legionnaire can attack past my Imp until it gets double Darkblasted away. I start making Trolls and manage to beat him down before his Bottled Cloister can draw enough burn to finish me.
Team record 2-1. My Record 2-1
Round 4 versus John Fiorillo of Team Punting Baxter
John is a Pro I've played a couple of times on Tour, and we always seem to get a really good game. This time he's playing a UGRB control deck with Simic Sky Swallowers, Twisters, and generally excellent cards.
Game 1 he draws many Remands, keeping me from making my Avatar of Discord and starting my dredge engine, and by the time I really get going he's made a Swallower that just manages to race me.
I boarded the usual Augermages for Darkblasts
Game 2 starts of badly as my Avatar gets Twisted Justiced netting him a an 8-1, luckily for me the five cards he drew must have been pretty bad as I just start making Trolls and beat him down.
At this point Stu has won and Dave has lost, leaving it all up to me in this final battle.
Game 3 starts badly, as I lose a Bird and a dual land to Rolling Spoil, but I recover nicely with Life of the Loam and start pumping out the big guys. He has a Swallower to race me, but my Trolls are 14/14 and 13/13 and looking pretty threatening. The final few turns get pretty complicated, as I try to work out which of my Trolls need to trample over his 2 Caryatids and what other spells I should dredge and cast while trying to play around Putrefy, Wrecking Ball, and Demonfire. The deciding factor comes from John Wrecking Balling a Troll in combat, forcing me to regenerate and lose a counter, while also Wrecking Balling a Skarrg, forcing me to spend a turn Lifeing it back instead of making another beater or Imp to trade for his Swallower. When I attack on my final turn, pumping both Trolls, he has a Putrefy for one and takes the damage from the other, going down to one life. The one extra damage I could have done if I'd not had to regenerate earlier. It turns out after the game that he actually had the Putrefy, Wrecking Ball and Demonfire I was trying to play around, and could have just topdecked a land a turn earlier to kill me.
Team record 2-2. My record, 2-2
Round 5 versus Tsuyoshi Ikeda of Team Vanilla Ice
Tsuyoshi was playing an aggressive UGB deck with Dimir Cutpurses and Plaxcaster Froglings.
Game 1 I mulligan and don't keep a particularly good hand. Luckily for me he has it much worse and scoops in response to my five mana 0/0 Troll with only one land in play.
I board the usual twelve anti-aggro cards for the usual tat I have in my maindeck.
Game 2 I Skeins away most of his hand, leaving me with a Punishment and facing down a Wayfinder and a Frogling. He draws, makes a land, and taps three for a Dimir Cutpurse, allowing me to Wrath his team, leaving him with nothing but lands. I dredge up an Imp, then a Troll, and beat face.
The team lets me down here, as Stu loses a mirror-match, and Dave gets rivered by Aethermage's Touch hitting a Skeletal Vampire on the fourth card.
Team Record 2-3. My Record, 3-2
Round 6 versus Chad Kastel of Team Feimfrazzle
Chad's Team features John Fiorillo's younger brother (I think - they might be cousins), and they're playing the same three decks but in a different order. This time I get paired against the UWR control deck with Searing Meditation, Skullmead Cauldron, and Firemane Angels.
Game 1, I mulligan to five but get the nuts draw of turn 2 Poppet, turn 3 Skeins which should even things out. Chad plays first, and when I make my Poppet onto a board of 2 Hallowed Fountains he drops a Sacred Foundry, takes two and Chars my guy, leaving me with no cards in hand and only a Stomping Ground, a Forest and an Elf in play. Even worse is that I discarded no dredge cards, and I'm drawing off the top and lose in pretty short order.
Game 2 starts off better, as I Skeins turn 2 and start dredging back Life from the Loam. Unfortunately that's where my luck ends in this game, as I get through about thirty cards just dredging Life, never hitting a Troll or Imp to speed myself up. Eventually he makes a Meditation and starts pinging me with his Cauldron. Looking through my graveyard and counting my life, I realise the only way I have a chance of winning this game is by drawing normally for a turn and ripping a Troll. A quick tap on the top of the deck calls the Troll right up, and I bust out my 8/8 monster. Unfortunately, even this isn't enough, as Chad starts discarding cards to his Cauldron and gaining three life, and a Lightning Helix changes the math enough that he kills me the turn before I kill him.
It turns out all my bad luck evens out over the team, as Dave finally wins a match and the team carry me through.
Team Record 3-3. My Record, 3-3
Round 7 (playing for day 2) versus Shingo Adachi
Great. Playing for Day 2 of the Pro Tour and we get paired against Masashi Oiso's team, probably one of the best Constructed minds in the world.
Shingo was playing a similar deck to Tsuyoshi in round 5, but with Red for Lyzolda, the Blood Witch; Rakdos Guildmage; and burn.
Game 1 he doesn't get a very fast start, while I Skeins away his hand and pump out huge trampling monsters.
Game 2 is slightly more interesting, as I take quite a lot of damage from his burn and monsters, and we get to the point where I am on five with an 18/18 Troll and a Darkblast in hand, versus his board of Lyzolda and Rakdos Guildmage with no cards in hand. I swing with my guy, trampling over the Guildmage he blocked with, and Darkblast Lyzolda away, taking four from the Witch and drawing him two cards. He draws his card for the turn, looks at me… and offers his hand, throwing three lands onto the table.
Looking across to my team, I see Dave has impressively finished his day of quality Magic by losing to a girl (who, incidentally, finished in the money; the first time a girl ever has), and Stu has lost to the mighty Oiso, leaving the dream lost and in tatters.
Team Record 3-4. My Record, 4-3
So, how did the deck perform? Pretty well, I think: losing one round to its awful matchup can't be helped, and the other two rounds were either very close or what I felt was a good matchup where I got very unlucky. I realise Ravnica Block Constructed is a pretty dead format now, with no more premier events being run in real life, but if you fancy a fun and different deck for MTGO or local tourneys, you should give it a try. (I'd recommend changing the Poppets for Guildmages or Augermages, too; they really did suck all day.)
Now for the final question… could the deck work in Standard? Short answer – No. The deck isn't particularly fast, and Standard has a lot more counterspells that can stop your early discard outlets leaving you with a bunch of expensive Trolls in hand. The manabase gets better, however, meaning you could probably play maindeck Augermages without worrying about casting them. It may work if the deck morphed into a BR base deck, with Trolls and Life as a backup, but that loses the speed of Birds and Elves. Keep it in mind for next time Standard rotates - you could be facing down 21/21 monsters!
Cheers for listening
Tom Harle
* It seems these days that every Magic article includes some sort of footnote and some text with a line through it so I thought I better include some too.
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