Here is my version of manaless dredge.
I was looking for a deck that attacks games from a completely different angle, and here it is, the cheapest archetype in Legacy, mostly due to the complete lack of lands.
To provide a bit of a guide:
- The hardest part about the deck is getting the first card in the graveyard, so always play second if you can, so you can discard something to hand size
- Your first discard is really important, always discard something to get your engine going, most often the best dredger (Golgari Grave-Troll)
- Phantasmagorian is always better than a dredger as your first discard, because the second ability allows you to discard more cards, also the second ability can be responded to by activating it again, getting you up to six discards instead of one. Note that this is a cost so it can't be responded to in a way that would prevent you discarding, also the cards will be in the graveyard before the ability resolves so you can cycle a Street Wraith to get a dredger back to discard again
- The dredge mechanic allows you to decide the order that the cards will be in your graveyard, always stack Nether Shadows the lowest, and be aware that your graveyard order matters!
- You have three creatures which come back from your graveyard by themselves: Narcomoeba, Ichorid and Nether Shadow, as well as Prized Amalgams which will follow at the end of the turn, keep in mind that Prized Amalgams will trigger other Prized Amalgams
- In terms of how to win there are two main ways, however both will likely require you to have most or all of your deck in your graveyard and there are three main ways to do this: Balustrade Spy, target yourself and you will get your entire deck because you have no lands, Whirlpool Rider and Griselbrand let you draw a lot of cards, all of the draws can be dredged with, Dread Return allows you to get these into play
- With your graveyard full you can win with either Flayer of the Hatebound or Flame-Kin Zealot
- Flayer of the Hatebound will enter, dealing 4 damage to your opponent, can be sacrificed to deal another 5,
and will likely trigger off your Prized Amalgams dealing another 12, or will trigger off reanimating something else, like Griselbrand for 7, Phantasmagorian for 6 or Chancellor of the Annex for 5, or Golgari Grave-Troll for a very large amount
- Flame-Kin Zealot allows you to give the zombies from your Bridge from Belows haste and attack for lethal (wins through Leyline of Sanctity)
- Use Cabal Therapy to get rid of your opponent's interaction, often Force of Will, Daze and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, but don't be afraid to use it on yourself to get dredgers, etc. into your graveyard
- sideboard-wise, Bayou and Nature's Claim for opposing graveyard hate (making mulligans survivable), Mindbreak Trap for storm, Surgical Extraction for enemy graveyards, and Progenitus (or anything else with the same shuffle ability, Progenitus is in here for the tiny edge against Show and Tell) if you want protection from milling out
As for the advantages of being manaless:
- It will teach you a lot about being a good Magic player
- It is often cheaper
- Wasteland and Blood Moon do nothing to you
- You have very few truly dead cards you can draw (pretty much just Narcomoeba in the opener)
I am not sure I have the perfect build here, as I still have trouble with Glacial Chasm, at the moment the plan is to wait for it to be sacrificed and then use Surgical Extraction, however I was playing Magus of the Moon for a while for this exact reason, so if you see a lot of lands in your local meta, put one in the sideboard, probably trim a surgical extraction or a disrupting shoal, but be warned, unless a card is in your opening hand, you are unlikely have it in your hand at any time later in the game. Against burn or other damage based aggro decks I have Elderscale Wurm to reanimate, something burn can't really kill and means I cant die while it is till around, buying me the time to set up a win
Unfortunately Thalia, Guardian of Thraben exists, a card which shuts down the deck's plan A of Dread Return, and slows down the plan B of Ichorids etc. Don't just scoop when your opponent plays it, but know you are in for a hard time, particularly as it means the opponent will have Rest in Peace in the sideboard, so know you are in trouble. I have decided to ignore the D&T match-up when building this deck because it is so obnoxiously bad. I made the decision that 7 sideboard slots is not worth using up to make a 10% win rate against D&T a 25% win rate
The Gitaxian Probe banning hurt a lot, because it means that the deck is down to just 4 Street Wraith, which was often better than Gitaxian Probe in a lot of situations
