Now look at what I found:
28th November 2010 Legacy Tourney:
13 artifact hate, 37 creature hate (Survival + Farie), 5 lands hate, 30 instant hate, 16 enchantment hate (Enchantress).
Grand total of 101 hate spread across 21 decks, and average of 4.81 graveyard hate per deck.
16th January 2011 Legacy Tourney:
25 artifact hate, 3 creature hate, 14 lands hate (KotR package), 4 instant hate (Cunning Wish package), 0 enchantment hate.
Grand total of 46 hate spread across 16 decks, and average of 2.88 graveyard hate per deck.
13th February 2011 Legacy Tourney:
16 artifact hate, 4 creature hate, 5 lands hate, 9 instant hate, 3 enchantment hate.
Grand total of 37 hate spread across 16 decks, and average of 2.31 graveyard hate per deck.
I hope you now know why I piloted this:
Dredge (61 cards)
4 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Gemstone Mine
3 City of Brass
2 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Dakmor Salvage
Disruption (4)
4 Cabal Therapy
Dredgers (11)
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Golgari Thug
Discard Outlets (6)
4 Putrid Imp
2 Tireless Tribe
Draw (7)
4 Breakthrough
3 Careful Study
Free Creatures (14)
4 Bridge from Below
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bloodghast
2 Ichorid
Win (5)
3 Dread Return
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
1 Flame-kin Zealot
Sideboard (15)
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Chain of Vapor
2 Pithing Needle
1 Serenity
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Woodfall Primus
How about this time round? Take a look at the decklists and you'll find 32 graveyard hate in 23 decks (an additional 8 Enlightened Tutor and 7 Knight of the Reliquary if you count tutors). That's an amazing 1.5 cards per deck (or just above 2 cards per deck counting the tutors)! Now why didn't anyone else play Dredge?
Playtesting
There's much more work behind preparing for a tournament apart from looking at past tourneys (more information about Singapore Metagame here). You still have to playtest the deck and get familiar with it!Though I know that Dredge or any other graveyard based deck will probably perform well this time round (I had Reanimator ready), I approached Dredge with caution. It's just not known to be able to win tournaments! In fact, I had gone as far to say that Dredge is at most a tier 1.5 deck in Legacy. Some initial playtesting did prove my worry right.
I did not feel very comfortable with Dredge during playtesting, the deck did not speak out to me. I started with a version that included Brainstorm in order to maximize the probability of drawing a god-hand (land, discard outlet, dredger, draw spell) and at times, the deck delivered (think dredging 7-8 times turn 2). At other times, I just got blown out.
Then I switched to a more traditional build upon encouragement from my teammate, Chris, and I realized that I've been playing it all wrong! Unlike Vintage Dredge, the Legacy version isn't about fanning open the god hand (there's no Bazaar). In Legacy, you actually have to play real Magic while piloting Dredge (ok, maybe that's a hyperbole but strategies are involved instead of mulliganing to find a single card).
Due to a lack of time and players, I playtested somewhat against ANT, Hive Mind, and extensively against Merfolk and Affinity. Playtesting against Hive Mind suggested an even matchup against slower combo decks. The problematic matchups in my opinion are against blue-based aggro-control decks like Merfolk (those kamikaze Cursecatchers!) and fast combo decks (eg Storm). That's when strategy comes in.
Against blue-based aggro-control decks like Merfolk and Bant, Max McCall seemed to win quite consistently with the draw, discard, dredge strategy. Despite playing this strategy right from the start with the Brainstorm list, I only managed to get it right the night before the tourney.
Apparently, I was too focused on protecting Bridge from Below from Cursecatchers and not aggressively playing Cabal Therapy. Once Therapy cleared the way of counters, a Breakthough almost spells good game (unless they have Cursecatcher and you have no second land/they Waste your second land).
If you wish to learn more about Dredge and its matchups, click here.
On to the tourney report proper.
Round 1 vs Joel with ANT
I won the dice roll and chose to start first. Against an unknown deck, there's still a chance of busting through counterspells by casting multiple discard outlets.Game 1
I played a turn 1 Putrid Imp while he played a basic Swamp. Turn 2 upkeep, I discard a dredger to give my Imp flying and dredge during my draw phase. 2 more dredges followed with Careful Study and I gained access to 3 Cabal Therapy. I recalled the lesson to play aggressively with Therapy and Flashbacked 1 targetting Joel. Basic Swamp led me into putting him on Rock though I got a shock when he revealed Infernal Tutor, Grim Tutor, and Ill-Gotten Gains amidst some Rituals. SCARY!To be on the safe side, all of those were discarded with follow-up Therapies. I won readily soon afterwards.
Sb: - 2 Tireless Tribe, - 1 Flame-Kin Zealot, - 2 Bloodghast, - 1 Ichorid, + 4 Chalice of the Void, + 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Against fast combo, it's a race to see whether I can get Iona online first. With the low number of lands, free hate is much needed and Chalice was included over Mindbreak Trap because a desperate Breakthrough will discard any Mindbreak Traps drawn. On hindsight, Leyline of Sanctity might be a better fit here, though it's too late to do anything about it.
Game 2
I got turn 1 Storm-ed out of the game via Ill-Gotten Gains loop! Sometimes, life's like that. At least I get to say “Am I dead yet?” a couple of times.Game 3
I kept a hand with a Chalice, a land, a Cabal Therapy, a dredger, and a Breakthrough, practically the best hand my deck can churn out against ANT. Thought I did think of casting Therapy targeting Joel (naming Dark Ritual as Chalice will lock down other mana sources at 0cmc, buying me more time) on turn 1, I went ahead Therapy-ing myself with a Chalice on 0. I just need 1 turn. 1 turn before a Breakthrough!And he killed me on that turn with 3 Dark Rituals and a top-decked Ad Nauseam.
W-L-D
0-1-0
Sometimes, life's like that. Lucky that I didn't tilt after this. Life goes on.
After the games, Joel affirmed that my play in game 3 is the better play. He also answered my question that the best card to name against ANT with Therapy is Infernal Tutor. Do you agree on these? Let me know by commenting!
Round 2 vs Ryan with Hive Mind
Since my crushing defeat by Ryan the previous time, I was kinda afraid of the deck. Thankfully I had playtested against Hive Mind previously and the even matchup boosted my confidence.I'm going to turn around my lifetime 0-4 record against Hive Mind!
Game 1
I did not have a god hand but I did have Cabal Therapy which hit Show and Tell. Unfortunately, he revealed a Hive Mind, an Ancient Tomb, and a Summoner's Pact. If I can dredge into more Therapies in the next 3 turns, I'm still in the game.That did not happen. What else did you expect?
He played land, land, land, Ancient Tomb, Hive Mind and won the game with a Pact.
Lifetime record against Hive Mind: 0-5.
Sb: - 2 Tireless Tribe, - 1 Flame-Kin Zealot, - 1 Bloodghast, + 3 Ancient Grudge, + 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria.
Iona > Flame-Kin and Ancient Grudge can at least deal with Grim Monolith to slow him down a little. It's also good against artifact graveyard hate.
Game 2
I won on the back of Therapies removing his Intuition. He could not draw relevant cards within the small window of opportunity he had.Game 3
Iona, I love you deep deep! Plus he did not draw a Slaughter Pact. Lucky!W-L-D
1-1-0
Ryan had nothing for me except Leyline of Sanctity to stop Therapies.
Number of graveyard hate seen: 0.
Round 3 vs Gan Meng San with Green Sun Rock
My teammate has previously dueled against Meng San and I knew he was playing his usual Rock, but with Green Sun's Zenith. People are attracted to new things you see.Game 1
Did I mention I'm playing Dredge? Did I mention he's playing a deck with Hymn to Tourach? Breakthrough for the win!Sb: - 4 Breakthrough, + 2 Ancient Grudge + 2 Chain of Vapor
I sideboarded Breakthrough out this time because I was aiming for a slower game, anticipating some graveyard hate. It's quite dead against a Leyline of the Void, or when a Crypt/Relic is in play. Chain of Vapor came in against potential Leylines.
Game 2
As I had a slow hand, his 2 lands and 1 Birds of Paradise had me worried that he'll win through Natural Order. This led me into casting Chain of Vapor on his Birds to slow him down a little. Luckily, he did not have the Natural Order and I stomped through with Ichorids and Bloodghasts.W-L-D
2-1-0
After the game, Gan answered my question by showing me Nihil Spellbomb, Loaming Shaman, and I think 1 more artifact graveyard hate. Thankfully he didn't draw them.
Number of graveyard hate faced: still 0.
Round 4 vs Benjamin with RWU Stoneforge
If you follow the Singaporean meta, you'll find out that Benjamin is one of those rare players who had 100% top-8 rates. Looking at his decklist, I'm glad I made a Breakthrough (:P) and did not play Merfolk. In fact, I made it a point not to play Merfolk ever since I last saw him play Grim Lavamancer maindeck! It seems he'll definitely crush Merfolk with his list packing 5 burn spells, 4 Plows, 3 Lavamancers main and 4 red blasts, 2 Llawan side.Scary, isn't it?
Game 1
Not if you're playing Dredge! Though he expertly named Dread Return with Meddling Mage, I wasn't really playing Magic.Sb: - 4 Breakthrough, + 3 Ancient Grudge, + 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Blue-based aggro-control?
Game 2
Draw, discard, dredge, Dread Return Iona, win! Though I did make an idiotic move of stopping him when he drew a card off Ice. Apparently, I forgot Ice cantripped. Me dumb dumb.W-L-D
3-1-0
Though there was a lot for Merfolk, there's nothing for Dredge. You win some, you lose some.
Number of graveyard hate faced: huh? What graveyard hate?
Round 5 vs Derek with Green Sun Rock
25 players only and 3 wins guaranteed a top-8 slot with an ID.W-L-D
3-1-1
Top-8 vs Derek with Green Sun Rock
Yet we are fated to meet.Game 1
This was a long and drawn out game, all due to 2 cards: Pernicious Deed and Umezawa's Jitte. A Pernicious Deed in hand kept me from going all in with my Zombie minions and a Tarmogoyf equipped with Jitte kept the damage low despite a 9/9 Golgari Grave-Troll. I even had to Dread Return a Tireless Tribe in fear of having insufficient blockers against his 4 (yes, all 4) Tarmogoyfs.And did I mention he cast 4 Kitchen Finks as well? My goodness!
At the end, he was forced to use his Deed to blow up my Zombies and his tiredness must have got into him more. I somehow won on the back of recurring Bloodghast (love you, Undiscovered Paradise!), Ichorid, 2 BIG Golgari Grave-Trolls, and my ever growing army of Zombies.
Sb: - 3 Breakthrough, + 3 Ancient Grudge
I was just hoping he had no Leylines.
Game 2
It was getting late and I think he didn't really want to play much. He tried mulliganing into a Leyline of the Void and when he went down to 2 cards without a Leyline in sight, he scooped. Desire wins, I guess...W-L-D
4-1-0
After the game, I realised he had 3 Leyline of the Void and 3 Extirpate in his sideboard. I guess I earned some positive karma points after losing turn 1 twice in the first round. If Derek managed a turn 0 Leyline, I'd probably have to resort to fighting using 1/1 Putrid Imps, Tireless Tribes, and Narcomoebas.
Top-4 vs Keng Yin with Psychatog
It was late and we split and went home happy.Thoughts
Making the right deck choice is one of the more important parts of the tourney. As you can see from my previous tourney reports, I've put in quite a lot of effort into thinking what opponents may bring. As a result, that paid its dividends.
Although I performed rather well this tourney with Dredge, I'm still hesitant that I can pilot it well enough against hate. I'm not as good a player as I'd like to think I am (I'm just lucky!), and playing Legacy Dredge really is playing a game of Magic (unlike playing Solitaire with Vintage Dredge). In addition, since I'm one of the more vocal players in the local scene, I expect to see an increase in the number of graveyard hate in the next tourney, so Dredge is out for me next time.
I'll just have to continue working on the Mono-Green Tomb Aggro decklist! I heard Infect was played in Legacy!
Props
Beer!It makes your mind clearer when you play!
Seeing new faces at the tourney (with more to come)!
My teammate making his first top-8!
Slops
Being wrong about presence of Null Rod.
My teammate discouraged by his lost. (Come on man, we'll make it together next time!)
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