This deck is built around Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Knight of the Reliquary, with a supporting cast of Knights. It's a pet project.
The idea is that HSS and KotR both make sense in a dredge-y build, and they combine with other Knights to make a very resilient creature deck.
Note: It will probably take me a while to really put this deck together properly, mostly because of Marsh Flats, but also because of Cavern of Souls and Horizon Canopy.
How it Works:
Knights: HSS doesn't just give us resilience, he gives us tremendous card advantage, as we can use him on any creature in our graveyard. Dumping cards into the graveyard also makes KotR big, which is how we'll likely do most of our damage. Throw in Knight Exemplar, Mirran Crusader, and Fiendslayer Paladin, and your opponent is going to have a very tough time keeping your guys and gals off the board and attacking.
Digging/Dredging/Pitching Spells: In order to get our troop of resilient Knights on the battlefield or into the graveyard, we have Collected Company (if only it dumped cards into the graveyard!), plus Life from the Loam, and Grisly Salvage. Any one, or a combination of them can get the deck's engines turning over by filtering and dredging bunches of cards.
Disruption: Between creatures, land, and digging, we don't have much room for disruption. That's why everything we do pack is recur-able. Nameless Inversion for removal, Ghost Quarter for land, Raven's Crime for their hand.
Land: Since we don't have a ton of room for spells, and we've got a playset of KotR and some LftL which mean we can access land anywhere and recycle triggers, we've got a bunch of utility lands that give us access to a decent, recur-able toolbox.
Card Choices/Notes:
Haakon, Stromgald Scourge - This guy rules. Use the diggers/dredgers to get him where he needs to be, and enjoy.
Knight of the Reliquary - Can get really big, really fast. Allows you to access your land-based toolbox as well. Pretty much the captain of the squad.
Knight Exemplar - Giving our key players a pump and indestructible is huge. Sure, she's weak to removal, but we can often play her out of the yard.
Fiendslayer Paladin and Mirran Crusader - Good against BGx, and I suspect Fiend is good against Grixis, and anything packing bolts. We've hedged our bets by splitting them mainboard, but you can go all-in for one of them post-board where needed.
Knight of the White Orchid - Here to give you the occasional land bonus where needed, for reasons we'll get into below. Only a 1-of because the ETB trigger doesn't always work, so this is better off cast intentionally from the graveyard in the middle or late game, to make up for a sac'd land.
Knight of Meadowgrain
- Decent value to fill out the roster. The deck needed a few 2-drop Knights, and she fits the bill, and brings some very useful lifelink to the party.
Hero of Bladehold - 1-of fun-of largely because CoCo can't hit her. She can be a great way to win, but she's more often a win-bigger card.
Collected Company - Not an all-star here, because it doesn't get the graveyard shenanigans going, but still great. Can cheat out HSS and instantly presents your opponent with a threatening board. Only a 3-of because we rarely want multiples and we will occasionally board it out. One possibility I've considered is sideboarding an aggro package including an extra CoCo and maybe Wreath of Geists.
Grisly Salvage - Nice to have in the opening hand. Digs for a primo card, and gets stuff in the graveyard (LftL, lands for KotR, HSS, etc.). Value-wise, it's pretty much a fringe card. May drop for the last LftL plus 1-2
Darkblast
, plus IDK.
Life from the Loam - Gets stuff in the graveyard, can be played from the graveyard, and gets utility land out of the graveyard if need be. CoCo and GS can kickstart the deck, but this can keep it going.
Nameless Inversion - Because it can pretend to be a Knight spell, it's recur-able removal at it's normal price.
Raven's Crime - Can whittle down the opponent's hand, can get land into the graveyard for KotR, or can target us if we have HSS stuck in hand.
Ghost Quarter - Primarily a disruption tool, we can also use it here for mana-fixing (with Flagstones of Trokair), or to recycle Kabira Crossroads in a pinch. Regardless of what we're using it for, KotWO can help us catch up on lands.
Horizon Canopy - We'll usually have enough advantage to not have to worry too much about drawing cards, but this can be looped through with Loam if we need cards or dredge triggers.
The Bench:
Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse - Can board in and deal with numerous problems.
Path to Exile, Fatal Push - When Inversion fails, we pull these out.
Wrath of God - Here for swarmy decks. Bonus points if Exemplar is on the board.
Cavern of Souls - The deck is a bit weak to blue/counters/control, but this will blow them away if we can get it on the board.
Flagstones of Trokair - Really important land. Helps us make up a land drop if we sac it to KotR.
Comments, Suggestions and +1's Appreciated.
