Dredgeless Dredge in Pioneer :)
I started playing Dredgeless Dredge in October 2018, first building it back when Frontier was still hanging on by a thread (I know, I know, nobody else played that format :P). I played lists such as to some success in casual leagues with friends, coming in the top 8 of multiple events on Cockatrice and Untap.in, and had a blast doing so. I wound up taking a break from Magic right after Pioneer was announced, though, and am just coming back to Magic after a little over a year. So I figured, why not try to update my favorite old deck for Pioneer?
I don't consider myself qualified enough on the format to give real advice on this deck right now, but I can explain some of my card choices and some tricks with the deck.
First of all,
Haunted Dead
is maybe the deck's most important card. This guy serves as a combination of a returnable threat and a great discard outlet. His synergy with
Prized Amalgam
allows for some of the most explosive turns you can have, putting anywhere from 7 to 16 power onto the board for only 2 mana. In addition, he gives a nice boost to
Driven / Despair
, allowing for some quick card advantage in the early game, and works nicely with
Village Rites
, one of the deck's newer additions, which provides enough fuel on its own to bring
Haunted Dead
back again.
Speaking of
Village Rites
, this card, even as a 1-of, has made the deck run very smoothly, allowing for sacrifices of not only
Haunted Dead
but also
Stitcher's Supplier
to allow for extra mill. And after all, in a deck full of so many 1/1s that have already fulfilled their purpose, it's not like we mind sacrificing a creature that much.
Creeping Chill
is fantastic. It helps break the aggro matchup, and allows for some of the most dramatic plays the deck can have. In particular, I remember one game where I was close to death, and flipped two
Creeping Chill
s off of a
Stitcher's Supplier
dying. No surprise, this put me back in the game, and I won within a few turns.
Driven / Despair
is incredible. In many games, it leads to them discarding five or more cards by turn three or four, which puts you far ahead in almost any matchup. The front half is also good, especially in games that go long, but Despair is where it really shines. I don't play the full set because having more than one just feels like overkill, but it's one of the most powerful cards you play.
Most of the deck is pretty self explanatory, to be honest. You have your lands, your
Prized Amalgam
and
Narcomoeba
, your mill enablers,
Gurmag Angler
as a large beater, etc.
Collective Brutality
is a great piece of interaction and a discard outlet, and also can burn them out or even kill
Stitcher's Supplier
for a quick mill boost if it has to.
One of my favorite cards in the deck is the
Distended Mindbender
in the sideboard. This card, which often comes as a surprise to my opponents, is insanely good against control and midrange, and can work wonders against slower combo decks as well. It comes in cheaply off a
Gurmag Angler
or
Haunted Dead
, which it also sends back to the graveyard to be re-used.
