Nihil Spellbomb, when it's not chilling in the mainboard of some BGx deck, has taken a backseat to blazing-fast blowout answers like Ravenous Trap, a card that's slumbered since the Troll ban.įor its part, Dredge has adapted slightly to circumvent the hate. Does the deck still force a battle of sideboards? Based on the lists I've seen online, I'm leaning towards yes: players are packing more graveyard hate than we've seen in years, and heavier graveyard hate to boot. Whether Dredge is safe from the banlist depends on whether things are different this time around. We chose to ban the most explosive graveyard card rather than leave that subgame present. Although games against it are often interesting, the larger game of deciding whether to dedicate enough sideboard slots to defeat it or ignore it completely and hope not to play against it is one that is not very satisfying for most tournament players. But a similar justification had been used for Dread Return at the format's outset:ĭredge is not known for being fun to have around. Never had a card been banned for creating a so-called 'battle of sideboards.'Īt least, never before in those exact words. Previous offenders had been axed from Modern on the basis of causing diversity issues or violating the Turn Four Rule. When the ban was announced, I and some other Modern devotees saw this rationale as a new criterion in Wizards's arsenal.

While those cards were discussed, the real offender always has been the dredge mechanic itself. With the printing of Cathartic Reunion and Prized Amalgam, the deck once again became unhealthy for the format. Why was Golgari Grave-Troll banned in the first place? Here's Wizards's rationale for the ban:ĭredge, the mechanic and the deck, has a negative impact on Modern by pushing the format too far toward a battle of sideboards. The Dredge Effect: 'A Battle of Sideboards' We'll also weigh the respective merits of some of the top tools available to fight Dredge. This article examines Dredge's known effects on Modern and whether they hold true without Golgari Grave-Troll in the picture. So, is Dredge really back to stay? And how can Modern players beat it? David's article from last week met the deck's rise with an optimism I'm no longer sure I can personally espouse: despite the hate, Dredge put three copies into the Top 32 of GP Atlanta and, more recently, twice that many copies in the Top 32 of the latest Modern Challenge. Creeping Chill has been sanctioned for a month now, and Dredge is steadily regaining its former status as format boogeyman.

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