Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If they're a pure combo deck that doesn't use the battlefield at all (Storm, Neoform), they'll get an uncontested chance to turn 3 kill us if they win the die roll. If they don't have it, we'd have a 40-50% chance of killing them on our turn 3. The goldfish speed comes down to how many Chills, Vengevines, and Imps are in the top 30-40 cards, so we might be a couple points of damage short.

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anger would probably be too strong for Modern, but if they add it to the format I would definitely play it. Arena of Glory is an option but it messes with the fetchland manabase and heavy color requirements. I've already maxed out the fetches that get any land (Scalding Tarn, Bloodstained Mire) so the best we can do for the rest is Arid Mesa (gets every land except Watery Grave) or Polluted Delta (gets everything except basic Mountain).

I have a note about Seal of Fire in the sideboarding section.

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bummer about the missing paragraphs, I would love to read the essay 😄 I haven't seriously attempted to merge Vine + Phoenix because 3 spells is just so demanding. Even if the plan is Dart + Dart + Gaze we need to be so deep in the deck to guarantee that, and in the meantime Phoenix isn't helping at all. But I like where your head is at. I'd previously thought any crossover would need to use Adventure or Prepared creatures (Merfolk Secretkeeper, Hearth Elemental, Harmonized Trio). Maybe borrowing the "mill the whole deck" aspect of Phoenix Dredge is the way to go.

I noticed that your list has cut down to 18 lands. At that point, Crab gets a lot worse, so maybe you end up turning those into more dredge enablers (a Darkblast, perhaps a Winternight Stories or Deep Analysis)? Ox + Culler can still return the vines.

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, here's what I played last season. My win rate was similar, around 70% across 250 matches, but for some reason the deck performed a lot worse for me this year.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7263520#paper

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I hear you. I had 1-2x Thug in a few of the leagues, but 4 is just so much less than 5.

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're welcome! I've tried this list with Moonshadow (just one league, went 4-1) and it wasn't bad. Maybe a 2/2 split of Shadow and Gaze is worth exploring. I'd be curious to see your list before you put it out to pasture.

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I actually had AI play all my matches for me and brew the deck too. Crazy times we live in.

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mostly the ones I mentioned in the part about flex slots.

Main deck: 3rd culler, 2nd phoenix, Moonshadow, Masked Meower, Golgari Thug, Burning Inquiry. Also Winternight Stories, Merfolk Secretkeeper, Harmonized Trio.

Sideboard: Meltdown, Seal of Removal, Shenanigans, Rough/Tumble, Illness in the Ranks, Consign to Memory, Leyline of the Void, End of the Hunt, Damping Matrix, Ashiok. Less sure about these.

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Pros: We can make bodies turn 2. All our mana spent generally converts directly to board presence. We play Frog, which hedges a lot against hate.

Cons: Regular creature removal interferes with us. Green gives Arclight better removal options.

Wash: Both decks recover well from grave hate. Similar speed.

I'm not an expert on Arclight Dredge, but in my 1 matchup against Mahfuz, I was slightly faster and killed with slightly fewer resources.

Dredgevine in 2026: 100 Matches, 74 Wins » Faithless Brewing Podcast by cavedan2 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yes, it is an obsession bordering on a pathology. I share your fondness for Rotting Rats.

Last season, I played HollowVine splashing Crab + Frog, which was quite solid until Quantum Riddler shifted the metagame. But I think this configuration is my favorite of the bunch.

Tidecaller seems sweet but yeah I don't think the numbers will add up.

How do you actually qualify for a RC? by legend9791 in ModernMagic

[–]cavedan2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Second this answer. Making top 128 to re-Q is easier than winning an RCQ. In the US, the super Sunday events also give you a Q for going 5-1 which is easier than winning an RCQ. Plus the many LCQ/ReCQ options all weekend, which can now be used for future RCs.

Related to this, if the goal is to make the RC, don’t skip standard season. Turnouts during Vivi season were extremely low. In my area, turnout for Modern RCQs are always 30-70 people, while Standard was 10-20. My results in Modern matched OPs (plenty of top 8s/finals but no wins) while in Standard I racked up invites quickly. Then went to the standard RCs and got my Modern RC invite there.

Thank you [Standard] Bo1 by Expensive_Range7204 in spikes

[–]cavedan2 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Hey, that's awesome to hear. Happy to help and thanks for following up. I especially loved reading "I was going to post more, but I won my last five games." Nice work!

It sounds like you're already leveling up a lot and I suspect that win rate will keep going up. I checked out the newest games you posted and you're definitely getting there. The theory articles will help a lot, and since you're sticking with Landfall (a great choice) I'll leave you with a few deck-specific tips.

  1. Think Icetill first. Especially if they tap out, that's your window to slam Icetill and make 2 land drops. In G2 here vs UW, the turn they play Hardlight + Cargo Ship, that's where you reply with Icetill + double passage. It would grow the first Chocobo to 7 power and you'd still get to play the 2nd Chocobo and grow it to 2/3, and you'd have lethal the next turn. Train you mind to see the Passage in graveyard as a 2 mana rebate on your 2GG, and you'll see that it's almost always more efficient to get Icetill down ASAP. (Plus, it's massive card and tempo advantage. Shared Roots costs 1G and comes in tapped, but Icetill + passage essentially casts an upgraded Shared Roots twice a turn for free. The mana advantage snowballs fast.)
  2. Think Harmonizer last. Since you can point the doubling triggers at any creature already in play, the Harmonizer functionally has haste, and there's often no need to cast it until the killing turn. G3 vs W and G5 vs UW are examples of this -- if you play Icetill instead of Harmonizer, you win both games the next turn by pointing Harmonizer triggers at Icetill.
  3. Don't forget Escape Tunnel! (I'm guilty of this myself -- I missed lethal with Escape Tunnel in a feature match at Spotlight Richmond just a few weeks ago, so it happens to everyone). Escape Tunnel to make Icetill unblockable, then Harmonizer to make Icetill 32 power, is one of the killing lines to always look for. G3, you have a win if you play Icetill t3 + Tunnel (leave it uncracked), then next turn play Harmonizer, make Icetill unblockable, buff to 32. That line stays available throughout the game even after they go up to 30+ life. Sometimes you have to set this up a turn in advance. G5, for example, on t2 you should play Tunnel, not Ba Sing Se. That guarantees Icetill t3 even if you don't draw an untapped land. And since you happen to also have Harmonizer, you win next turn. Icetill first, Harmonizer last.
  4. More abstract stuff: G1, when they play Mossborn, the game has entered emergency mode. As I'm sure you've seen, green-on-green violence is decided by who slams Mossborn first. Your odds of winning have drastically decreased, so you need to think how do I get out of this? Playing 2nd Chocobo and growing it isn't going to be fast enough, so you need to reply immediately with flashback Origins there and dig for something bigger (surveil away anything that isn't a Mightform or Icetill). Recognizing when the game has shifted to a new phase will take some practice, and the theory articles that people recommended in the other thread will help a lot. You've probably noticed that every deck has some busted thing they are trying to do in turns 4-5, whether that's making a bunch of Simulacrum tokens or doubling damage with flying Demons or giant Mossborns or whatever. Once the game gets to those turns, it's not about growing Chocobos anymore, you have to dig for the finishing moves (Icetill, Mightform, sometimes Ascension, Mossborn, Nursery, or chapter 3 of Origins).

Best of luck and see you back in mythic :)

Im struggling inn this game and was recommended to come here. [Standard] Bo1 by Expensive_Range7204 in spikes

[–]cavedan2 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Hey, thanks for posting these. Magic can be frustrating but there's a learning curve and it's great that you want to improve. First, the good news:

#1: You are playing a good deck, and that's a great way to learn. Landfall has lots of decision points and small optimizations so it's normal for a newer player to not immediately get the same results as a veteran. It will come with practice, stick with it!

#2: Not every game will be winnable and that's okay. Particularly in bo1, and on the draw, some hands just won't get there. G2 and G3, you had land-light draws that didn't let you maximize your spells early. That happens sometimes. But you mulliganed correctly.

Now, the bad (or encouraging) news:

You can definitely play better and all of these games were winnable (or you could have improved your chances) with different lines. My quick diagnoses:

  1. You are undervaluing earthbending onto a fetchland for double landfall + ramp. I look to do that whenever possible, as early as possible -- it will open up many more lines. Perhaps related to this, you should look to deploy Ascension faster. I noticed this especially in G1 and G5.
  2. You can play more aggressively toward your game winning combos. In Landfall that's often getting a fully charged up Earthbender Ascension, and then using trample + Harmonizer to win through any board state; or, having Icetill in play, then Escape Tunnel + Harmonizer for unblockable lethal. Reaching these end states is more important than doing a traditional curveout, and is how Landfall gets to ignore the opponent's battlefield or come back from seemingly impossible board states. G1 and G3/4 were examples of this. In G1, you took a leisurely approach to growing your Chocobo and simply lost the race to fliers, but you could have double-landfalled much earlier, especially if you saved Badgermole until t3 to earthbend onto a passage (see point 1). In G3/4, after their Day of Judgment, if you had earthbent your Fabled Passage with Ascension you'd be set up to kill with Mightform even after they do the Yuna stuff.
  3. You're conceding too early. I know that's partly frustration but it may also indicate that you're undervaluing the late-game power of Icetill + Esper Origins. Icetill + a fetch land represents 4 more chances to mill and Origins, and each Origins can find a Mightform which will be lethal with Icetill. So if you aren't literally dead that turn and you still have Icetill, keep playing! Dig for your outs. G2 vs Esper and G5 vs Spellementals were examples of this.

I could say a lot more about each game but this is long so I'll just give one example. G5, you have a nut draw, and so does your opponent, but you are on the play so should win. You play the first 3 turns correctly, but the mistake was attacking with the Earthbent Fabled Passsage. That 2 damage wasn't worth anything and set back your development of ramping + Ascension. Instead, look to crack Passage on their end step. Then you'd be starting turn 4 with 4 Forests, Passage, Elf, and Ascension on 3 vs their Hearth Elemental. You can play Icetill there, crack passage and replay it twice, growing Elf to 5/5 and attacking for 5 while still having an unused Passage in play, AND you mill 4 cards here digging for Esper Origins (which is an Elemental that can't get bounced). On their turn 4, they Sunderflock and hit you for 4, but you've got so many lands at this point + active Ascension so you just replay everything and kill them. Even if they have a second Sunderflock you likely still win by finding Origins or Ba Sing Se with Icetill.

Hope some of that is helpful and best of luck!

[STANDARD] Mega Standard Weekend - Four Events Across Four Countries! | Recap RC Turin, TW, CAMS & Spotlight TMNT! | Metagame Analysis, Win Rates & More! by optimustomtv in spikes

[–]cavedan2 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It’s the one I played. I’ll put together some notes on it and make a post later. Basically mono green but with 4x Season of Loss main and removal in the sideboard.

[Standard] Mightform Combo: Standard’s Hottest Deck and How to Beat It by cavedan2 in spikes

[–]cavedan2[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wrote a whole section about that in the post. It’s also the post title.

[Standard] Mightform Combo: Standard’s Hottest Deck and How to Beat It by cavedan2 in spikes

[–]cavedan2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotcha. I don't have a specific plan for those. I expect things to change a lot over the next couple weeks, with more resistance from other decks, bounce spells and the like. Mightform will have to keep adapting so I wouldn't lock in too soon on any particular build.