Mid range/combo deck based on getting unburial rites into the graveyard.
About the deck:
Why aren't you playing a Gifts Ungiven deck?
Three main reasons.
Dredge is awesome.
I don't especially like playing control. This deck can transition between all-in combo and grindy mid range.
Gifts decks usually only play 1-2 reanimation targets in the main, and just a singleton Unburial Rites. This list allows multiple reanimations in a single game, as well as providing more versatility and choice as to what to bring back.
Why aren't you playing a Vengevine or Bridge from Below variant?I like Dredgevine, but I wanted to brew up something stupid and unfair. What's more fun than a turn four Iona or dredging thirty cards off a Griselbrand activation? As for Bridge from Below, I don't think Bridge variants are especially viable in modern without Dread Return.
Card choices:
Dredgers:
Golgari Grave-Troll. Although he didn't shake up the format at all when he was unbanned last year, he's the best at what he does. Drawing 10% of your library each turn is pretty powerful. This variant is a little light on creatures compared to other dredge decks, so you're not casting that often, but you still can in a pinch.
Stinkweed Imp. The second best dredger. Dredge 5 is still pretty powerful and you're going to hard cast Imp far more often than Troll. The pseudo deathtouch makes him a great blocker.
Life from the Loam. Dredge 3 isn't particularly impressive, but being able to consistently hit your land drops and the synergy with Raven's Crime,
Flame Jab
, Ghost Quarter, and Borborygmos Enraged makes it a great choice
Why no Darkblast or Golgari Thug? Darkblast just doesn't do much in the current meta as it can only ever kill an X/2. While recurrable removal is powerful, Flame jab does a better job and Elesh Norn is a pseudo board wipe against the decks you want Darkblast against. Thug just isn't good enough. The Dredge 4 is nice, but hard casting him feels bad and you basically never want to use his ability.
Land base: this land base was put together on a budget. Ideally we want a playset of Verdant Catacombs, but this is what you want if you're using only Khans fetches. The rest should be self explanatory. Ghost Quarter for Tron and 3+ color decks, Boseiju, Who Shelters All against control, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for Raven's crime.
Reanimation Targets:
Iona, Shield of Emeria. Though kind of weak against three colored decks, Iona just shuts some decks down. It breaks burn, it turns off Twin, and does something against most decks besides Affinity and Tron.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Elesh Norn destroys a lot of creature decks. Additionally, it turns all your Lingering Souls tokens into 3/3s.
Borborygmos Enraged. This is a win con in case the game goes long or if your opponent doesn't just scoop to Iona or Elesh Norn. Two resolved Life from the Loams gives you 18 uncounterable damage.
Griselbrand. Big Grizz is just a good card. He can help you stabilize if you're low on life, and let's you dig for removal if your opponent has a must answer threat, and he lets you dredge most of your library if you have a Troll or two in your graveyard.
Other Spells:
Faithless Looting and Tormenting Voice. These cards do a very poor, but modern viable, impression of Lion's Eye Diamond. You keep basically any hand with a red source and a Faithless Looting. Looting is great for sculpting your hand and looking for some interaction. Tormenting Voice is great because you can discard a dredger as part of the cost and then replace the first draw by dredging that card. Six draw spells seems like the right number to me, especially with the three Lightning Axe. I've seen some similar lists running as many as 12 looting effects, but that feels way to excessive to me and it takes away too many removal slots.
Lingering Souls and Raven's Crime. These cards give the deck some versatility. Without souls and the Loam/crime package we'd be unable to grind out against aggro decks. Souls has the added benefit of being able to beat down with the help of Elesh Norn. Crime/Loam/Urborg let's you empty your opponent's hand and put them in top deck mode. Pro-tip: you can target yourself with Raven's crime to get a dredger or reanimation target in the yard.
Lightning Axe, Abrupt Decay, and Murderous Cut. Every deck needs some interaction. Lighting Axe takes care of most creatures in the format, and its drawback is actually a benefit for our deck. Cut cleans up the rest of the field and in conjunction with Boseiju, Who Shelters All, you can power removal through counter spells. Decay is a flexible early game removal spell that hits a lot of problem permanents.
Unburial Rites. Our combo piece. Lets us play big broken creatures on turn 4.
Why no Bloodghast/Lotleth Troll/Gurmag Angler? Unlike Dredgevine and more aggro variants, we want to dredge basically every draw step starting on turn two. Unless they're in our opening hand, Angler and Troll don't do anything, and even then they don't advance our game plan. I experimented with Hooting Mandrills a bit to help stabilize against creature based midrange decks, but I've landed on a couple Zombie Infestation in the sideboard as the repeatability is very important. Bloodghast is a good card that I like a lot, but we want to be able to block until we can flashback Rites, and at that point we simply have better options for attacking.
Why no Satyr Wayfinder/Grisly Salvage? I'm not a fan of these cards. Other cards dig you deeper and Loam gets you more lands. I can see an argument for Salvage in Vengevine decks since you want to hit your Anglers and Lotleth Trolls, but this deck has better things to do on turn two. I'd rather be flashing back Lingering Souls, holding up removal, or dredging as far as possible trying to find the combo.
Why no Vengeful Pharaoh? Not a huge fan of this card either. I can understand it as a 1-2 of in Dredgevine to help clear the board, but in a four color deck we can't afford to take a hit just to get rid of a creature. Between our 7 removal spells and the 4 Lingering Souls, we have enough interaction to stay alive until we can combo.
Sideboard:
Ancient Grudge. Everyone needs hate for Affinity, and luckily Grudge is already one of the best at its job. Also decent in other matchups.
Resolute Archangel/
Gnaw to the Bone
. For burn and aggro matchups. Archangel gets around Skullcrack and is generally back breaking.
Terastodon and Ghost Quarter. Basically our only interaction against Tron.
Ray of Revelation
. Bring this in if you expect Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void. This is basically the only way we can win through enchantment based graveyard hate. Also good against Twin.
Flame Jab
and Zombie Infestation. Some extra reach to help stabilize against creature decks.
That's pretty much all I can think to tell you off the top of my head. Turn 4 Unburial Rites is pretty reliable with a decent hand and the deck mulligans fairly well. Otherwise, just goldfishing is a pretty good way to get a feel for the deck.
