Modern Dredge by Gavin Verhey
Modern forum
Posted on Feb. 3, 2015, 1:11 p.m. by JWiley129
I think this should be in the Modern forum, but for fear of movement I'm putting this here for now.
On the mothership, Gavin Verhey put up some Sultai lists for Modern, since the PT is modern this weekend. And in the article he puts forth two Dredge decks, one of which I've linked below. What I want to know is whether or not the T/O community thinks this deck is viable or what tweaks it might need to have done to be competitive.
Gavin Verhey's Greater Dredge Playtest
Modern
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 1 VIEWSServo_Token says... #3
It certainly looks cool, but you can never tell the viability of something until you play with it.
Therefore, testing this thing.
February 3, 2015 1:23 p.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #4
I have no idea why the Elves of Deep Shadow is in there. Is there a reason to play it over Birds of Paradise?
February 3, 2015 1:42 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #5
Probably just to have the option of getting an attack in. Or to use more cards out of the Izzet golgari duel deck.
February 3, 2015 1:44 p.m.
Yeah, after looking at the deck, I think I'd rather the Elves of Deep Shadow be a Birds of Paradise so it can be another 
source to flashback Unburial Rites.
February 3, 2015 1:45 p.m.
Maybe this is just me, but it seems like a deck like this that dredges so much opens itself up to being milled really easily. Just something to consider when looking at viability.
February 3, 2015 1:48 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #8
I'm guessing Elves of Deep Shadow is because, unlike Birds, when you don't need the mana anymore it can be turned into dredges with Greater Good.
February 3, 2015 1:49 p.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #9
There we go. I knew it had something to do with that 1 power, I just didn't see what card cared about that
February 3, 2015 2 p.m.
Seems like at the very least, Arbor Elf would be better than Elves of Deep Shadow. Although I agree that personally, I would run Birds.
February 3, 2015 2 p.m.
cosmokai2000 says... #11
Arbor Elf can't always provide the black mana thats needed might be why, not 100% sure
February 3, 2015 2:07 p.m.
I mean, that's true. But probably 8 times out of 10 the first land you'll fetch is Overgrown Tomb. And Arbor Elf could also generate blue with Breeding Pool in play, and potentially even be a white source if you played Temple Garden instead of Hallowed Fountain. Not that any of that is all that applicable, but it just seems better than Elves of Deep Shadow. It's all pretty marginal though.
February 3, 2015 2:17 p.m.
I agree with kmcree that this talk over "optimal mana-elf" is pretty marginal and up to personal preference. Do we have any other thoughts on the deck as a jumping off point? There is also the matter of a sideboard that went unlisted. I know that the sideboard will depend greatly on local/tournament metagame, but does anyone have a cursory idea in that regard?
February 3, 2015 2:31 p.m.
I agree with kmcree that this talk over "optimal mana-elf" is pretty marginal and up to personal preference. Do we have any other thoughts on the deck as a jumping off point? There is also the matter of a sideboard that went unlisted. I know that the sideboard will depend greatly on local/tournament metagame, but does anyone have a cursory idea in that regard?
February 3, 2015 2:31 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #15
I feel that with a meta that has Blood Moon either mainboard or as an option in the sideboard in 26% of decks that relying on a mana base that includes no basics is risky. That is probably why Elves of Deep Shadow over Arbor Elf but even then I'd be uncomfortable running such a greedy mana base personally.
February 3, 2015 2:43 p.m.
As I said earlier, I think this heavy of a dredge deck is vulnerable to being milled. I run UWR control, and I already run Rest in Peace, which really hurts a deck like this. But possibly throwing in a Jace, Memory Adept or something like that could be really dangerous for this kind of deck. I mean with one of your primary cogs (Golgari Grave-Troll) dredging you 6 a turn, you'll be out of a library pretty quickly.
February 3, 2015 2:46 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #17
I feel like the vulnerability to Rest in Peace is what drives the nail in the coffin for me.
February 3, 2015 2:49 p.m.
CanadianShinobi says... #18
Honestly, this could probably use a little less dredge. Rest in Peace is going to murder you. Or better yet, you'll murder yourself and fast. I also don't like not having a white mana source to flashback Unburial Rites aside from the Birds. Hmmmm I might play with the deck list a little and throw it up in a few days.
February 4, 2015 12:30 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #19
Rest in Peace is a sideboard card, though, meaning that it will never be seen in G1. Also, nobody really runs more than 2, so I wouldn't worry about it all that much. It's not like it's Goyf. Sure, you will lose a game every now and then to it, but a sideboard card which is sometimes played as a 2 of isn't a reason not to play a deck. That argument is like saying Tarmogoyf is bad because it dies to Doom Blade.
February 4, 2015 2:35 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #20
Rest in Peace is just one example of a style of card made to hose this deck. You also have Relic of Progenitus and Scavenging Ooze which have both seen play. It's more a statement that you can't expect this deck to have an extended life in it's current form because it's kind of glass cannon-y. That doesn't mean it's not a tweakable shell to play with that could catch people off guard though.
Epochalyptik says... #2
Pro/top-8 lists are the only exception to the "no decklists" rule in format forums. As long as the deck is only an exact list and not a customized one, then it's relevant to format discussion and not to deck help.
Moved.
February 3, 2015 1:15 p.m.