Hello all, I run traditional dredge in paper form. I am contemplating bringing in some Nether Traitor's into my list and looking for some input, or if anyone else has done so with success. The card rarely seems to come up in dredge lists despite what I think could add some good synergy and recursion with normal dredge staples. Play testing has had interesting results, and if anything mana base issues have been my largest drawback so far if I am triggering more than one a turn. Also, despite it being a slow clock they continue to add pressure and are almost never blocked so I do not run into a bridge getting killed from a traitor killing something. Any thoughts? Thank you for any input.

That's a pretty cool find. I wouldn't have thought of that card.

I'm not sure what it's best use is. 1 damage really isn't very much and they might well be able to just ignore it. Maybe if you get paid off for the body with extra ways to sacrifice it, like 4 dread return and a few extra targets.

@POXEVERYTURN said in Nether Traitor in Dredge:

The card rarely seems to come up in dredge lists despite what I think could add some good synergy and recursion with normal dredge staples.

I think the main drawback of Nether Traitor is that he needs mana to get back from the graveyard, not to mention another creature getting into the graveyard somehow. Bloodghast, on the other hand, doesn't require actual mana, only a land drop and doesn't depend on other creatures; and with Dakmor Salvage or Undiscovered Paradise you can have land drops when you need.

On a separate note, if you like Shadow mechanics, you may try Dauthi Horror and/or Dauthi Slayer + Hatred for your casual nostalgia deck, as this used to be a nice combination back in the day.

@Chronatog , that's the problem I have been having in test play is they're mana heavy. I run 4 bloodghasts and I've added in 3 nether traitors for the test run. When they hit and stick they work well with the Bloodghasts coming on and off the board. However, I usually don't have mana to spare or the mana is hurting me to do so. I.e. Mana confluence activations. Bloodghast is definitely far superior.

Seems like prized amalgams are better. What would you cut for these out of current dredge builds?

@mourningpalace, I thought about those as well. I do not like that that come into play tapped but they are definitely a good option.
I removed: 1x dragonlord Kolaghan, 1x Barbarian Ring, and 1x Elesh Norn.
At the time they made the most sense to remove to see how it ran with the traitors instead. Griselbrand is in my list which I was liking more than Elesh Norn and the Dragonlord main deck, especially game one.
More of an experiment to see how they would fair in the deck

main problem I have with nether traitor is that it takes both mana and other creatures to come back. in the former requirement it compares unfavorably to fatestitcher; in the latter case to prized amalgam. hell, ashen ghoul is probably better. most dredge lists don't max out on ichorid and amalgam, and I feel this card is on a tier below those.

@BlindTherapy yea that definitely makes sense. It is a compounded problem. It doesn't look like they're long for my list. I'm only running 3 Ichorid in the list so they def aren't maxed. I want to play test with some prized Amalgam as well. Also interested to see if Hollow ones make any sort of impact on dredge lists.