Leyline of the Void is one of the game’s most iconic graveyard hate cards. So how should you build your sideboard with Dredge in mind? You should consider the options available to you, and if you find them appealing, you should play them in as many copies as you can fit. Why limp across the finish line when you can blow past it in a blaze of glory? Why get to 51% against Dredge when a few extra cards might allow you to pummel it? I believe that he arrived at this sideboard because these were the cards that most dramatically improved his equity in the important matchups. Something tells me that he didn’t arrive at this sideboard by determining that he needed seven cards to be 51% against Dredge and eight cards to be 51% against Hypergenesis Combo. His main deck is as strong as possible for “normal” matchups, and his sideboard is simply seven cards against Dredge decks and eight cards against spell-based combo decks. Saito’s sideboard features just four distinct cards-the four highest-impact sideboard cards available to him, in the largest numbers he could legally play them. The reason I’ve remembered it for all these years is because it taught me such a clear and important lesson about deckbuilding. Ten years later, I still know the exact tournament (Worlds 2009) and feature match (round 18 against All-In-Red) where I can look to dig up this deck list. Why, you might ask, am I featuring a ten-year-old deck list from a format that no longer even exists? How, you might also ask, did I even find it? Take a look at this deck, and in particular the sideboard: Saito Zoo Tomoharu Saito My point is, if you have access to high-impact cards for a certain matchup, then play with them! If you don’t have access to high-impact cards for a matchup, then maybe you shouldn’t work too hard to put a band-aid on the problem. Increasing your chances to win a matchup from 25% to 35% is great! Improving from 65% to 75% is great! Improving from 49% to 51% is marginal, so why get hung up on it?
But there’s absolutely nothing unique about the number 51% where your tournament equity is concerned. The second way to interpret the question is, What’s the optimal way to build my sideboard in a world where Dredge is popular? This version of the question is far more important but in my experience, it’s the version that’s asked far less often.īeing “favored” in a matchup feels nice. I’ve struggled against Dredge playing Jund with three Scavenging Ooze in the main deck and additional pieces of hate in my sideboard. If your deck is slow and grindy, then an opponent who puts wave after wave of creatures into play from their graveyard is not exactly whom you want to face. Certainly, if you’re playing something in the category of Infect or Amulet Titan, then a good draw with one piece of graveyard hate ought to allow you to win the race. If your deck is fast enough, then you might be able to win some games in the absence of graveyard hate. The first is, How much hate do you need in order to be favored against Dredge? My rough answer would be 4-8 pieces of graveyard hate in your sideboard, depending on your archetype, and which hate cards you pick. There are two ways to interpret this question.
Mtg dredge cards how to#
So let’s discuss how to beat ‘em! How Much Graveyard Hate Should You Play? Beating ‘em and joining ‘em are both valid options, but ignoring ‘em and hoping they go away is not. To make a long story short, Dredge is here to stay. These things combined mean that Dredge can potentially mulligan three or four times to look for key cards, and still have a great chance to win many of those games. Second, Dredge doesn’t mind being down cards, since it plays primarily out of the graveyard instead of out of its hand.
First, it would increase your ability to search for key cards while mulliganing (say, Faithless Looting and a dredge card), because you get to see more cards on a mulligan before you decide whether or not you’re keeping. The reason that this would benefit Dredge is two-fold. But if history is any indicator, it’s possible that this rule could be adopted for all levels of play, so long as the feedback from the players is positive. Note that so far this is only announced as a test to be used specifically for Mythic Championship London.
And for anyone not familiar with the news of the London Mulligan, here’s how it works (taken from the official WotC announcement): “When you mulligan for the Nth time, you draw seven cards, then put N cards on the bottom of your library in any order.”