Dredge.
Vintage's Boogeyman.
I've been playing the deck since january and have fallen in love with it!
It's superconsistent (mull to Bazaar and enjoy) and flexibel in it's build (Unmask, Pitch Counters, deiffrent Dread Return targets, play mana or not, add Bloodghast, etc.).
One of the problems of Dredge is that in games 2 and 3 you're facing huge amounts of hate. Yesterday I saw Grafdigger's Cage, Containment Priest, Leyline of the Void, Nihil Spellbomb, Tormod's Crypt, Ravenous Trap and Rest in Peace.
Pitch Dredge has an advantage by transforming into a Dark Depths combo deck, and thus dodging those cards.
Pitch Dredge
Anne Frits Joldersma
8/10/2016
//Land (8)
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Petrified Field
//Creatures (25)
1 Ashen Rider
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Golgari Thug
4 Ichorid
4 Narcomoeba
4 Stinkweed Imp
2 Vengeful Pharaoh
//Other Spells (27)
4 Bridge from Below
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Dread Return
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Serum Powder
//Sideboard (15)
4 Dark Depths
1 Riftstone Portal
4 Thespian's Stage
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Vampire Hexmage
While my opponents were busy in games 2 and 3 mulliganing for hate and rushing through their libraries looking for more hate, I assembled a turn 2, 3 or 4 20/20 flying, indestructible Marit Lage. The looks on their faces were priceless!
There were 7 players and we decided to play Round Robin.
Round 1: Jan (Nakamura Pitch Dredge)
G1: After both of us filling our graveyards, I was the first to Dread Return, targeting Elesh Norn. Game.
G2: I dredge poorly and he just wins.
G3: Same as game 1, but now Jan was the one with Elesh Norn.
0-1 (1-2)
Round 2: Arjan (5c DRS Mentor)
G1: I have to mull to 1 and keep Cabal Therapy. I scry an Ichorid to the bottom. Turn 2 I draw Bazaar and win on turn 4.
G2: Arjan plays a turn 1 Ancestral Recall, which I Misstep. He's quite happy about that, because his Mox into Grafdigger's Cage resolves. I go T1 Dark Depths, T2 Urborg & Hexmage and attack T3 with Marit Lage.
1-1 (3-2)
Round 3: Bye
2-1 (3-2)
Round 4: Koos (Kelly Oath)
G1: I have to mull to 1 again. I never find Bazaar. He starts with Mox Emerald, Mox Ruby, Oath, Orchard. That finds him Salvagers and a turn later he alsohas Black Lotus and Pyrite Spellbomb. Next please.
G2: After Koos quickly assembles Oath and Orchard, Oath triggers. With that activation ALL of his hate goes to the graveyard (3 Tormod's Crypt, 2 Rest in Peace, 1 Nihil Spellbomb). This means I can start dredging. His Oath brings him Magus of the Moat and a Blazing Archon. This means I can't attack. I manage to Dread Return Ashen Rider, exiling his Archon. I than cast Cabal Therapy, sac Ashen Rider and kill Magus. I attack for 52.
G3: This was an intense game. In the early game I had Thespian's Stage, Dark Depths, Bazaar and Urborg. He had Rest in Peace and Dromoka. Koos attacks with Dromoka. I decide to create Marit Lage and block. In his second main he played Balance. This means I have to reassemble.
His Mana Crypt brings him to 6. He tries to Ancient Grudge it, but I can counter. Next turn he can destroy it with Beast Within. This meant I could trigger Oath. I did, but shouldn't have.
I already had a new Dark Depths on the battlefield and Hexmage in my hand. I knew his last Oath target would be Blazing Archon. I had no way to remove that.
Anyway, Oath triggers and gives me Narcomoeba. I then played Hexmage (wich I shouldn't have). This triggers Oath in Koos' advantage and he gets his Archon.
Due to the fact that I could assemble Marit Lage any time and he didn't have any removal or Oath targets left, we were in a stale-mate.
We played draw-go but when Koos realized he had less cards in his library than me, he concedes. Very kind of him!
3-1 (5-3)
Round 5: Rick (Angel City Oath)
G1: No chance. Turn 1 he plays Time Vault, turn 2 Key and activates the combo. Turn 3 Dack Fayden. I had seen enough.
G2: Again, not a chance. Rick plays turn 2 Tinker -> Sphinx of the Steel Wind and starts eating my lifetotal. I can't find any counterspell nor the right combopieces.
3-2 (5-5)
Round 6: Rutger (PyroMentor)
G1: Turn 2 he goes nuts with Black Lotus, Pyromancer, Gush, Time Walk and Treasure Cruise. Next turn I counter his Mentor and Dread Return Elesh Norn.
G2: Rutger is digging through his deck with multiple cantrips, Gush and Ancestral Recall. He doesn't find a third mana for his Mentor and no graveyardhate. He did have Karakas. This meant that Elesh Norn and Kolaghan were out of the picture.
Because of the lack of graveyardhate I dredge away and manage to Dread Return Ashen Rider for his Karakas. A turn later I Dread Return Elesh Norn and ge doesn't have Swords to Plowshares.
4-2 (7-5)
Round 7: Allard (Eldrazi)
G1: Despite multiple Wastelands, I start to eat away his lifetotal with all 4 Ichorids. He removes my Bridges by casting Endless One for X=0.
Later he removed my other Bridges by attacking with Reality Smasher, while I had Vengeful Pharaoh in my graveyard. Mandatory trigger...
He stabilizes on 2 life. I manage to eat 1 with Narcomoeba, but it was to late. The tentaclemonsters were to big and delivered a fatal blow.
G2: Allard starts with Leyline of the Void. This meant I had to win with Marit Lage. A timely Wasteland took care of Dark Depths. With Urborg on the battlefield I desperatly hardcast some Thugs and Imps, but his double TKS, Reality Smasher and Endbringer were simply too much.
4-3 (7-7)
Conclusion:
I was very happy with the deck. Unfortunately I never got to Mindbreak Trap someone. Also the Pharaohs were dissapointing and Riftstone Portal did nothing, since all of the post-sideboard games I drew it, I had no graveyard.
MVP was Ashen Rider. He managed to win me games I otherwise wouldn't have been able to win!
In the end I came in 3rd.
