[Free Article] Vintage: The Return of Fatestitcher

[voltron00x]

And, we're back!

I know, worst retirement ever.

Well, I had the chance to (sort of) play the last Blue Bell, and I managed to locate a pretty insane Dredge deck on Morphling.  I tell you what makes this deck different, and why I think it's a great choice at the moment. 

Along the way, I give you some history of Vintage Dredge over the past 30 months and dispel some consistent (and inaccurate) myths about the deck.

Hope you enjoy!

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/22400_The_Long_And_Winding_Road_Vintage_The_Return_Of_Fatestitcher.html

[Odd mutation]

So... you are... back???

Thanks for the article!

Robrecht

[voltron00x]

I'm optimistically shooting for 2 articles a month.  I believe I'll be able to do this for at least the next few months, but I may have to take another break come the winter months, due to position I have at work really picking up Dec-Feb.  We'll see how it goes!

[marcb]

I like fatestitcher dredge because it's so fast, but most dredge builds will win game 1 anyway. Do you feel that this list compromises your G2 and 3 win percentages? If not, why not considering other builds could replace the fatestitchers with ancient grudge or nature's claim or chalice of the void (as examples) allowing for access to more hate in G2 and 3. Recently, we have seen this deck and now another which doesn't use dread return at all, shockingly. It seems these two decks are at the extreme opposites of pushing for speed potentially at the cost of potential hate cards or maximizing disruption at the cost of a slower game 1. What do you think is the right way to build Dredge and why?

Marc

[voltron00x]

Right now, I like a faster version.

Months and months ago, Brassman predicted that Europe was well ahead of our metagame with regard to how popular Gush and Time Vault were there relative to our Workshop-dominated quagmire.  It seems that we've caught up.  These blue decks are FAST.  To keep that game 1 win percentage, I want a fast Dredge like this one.  There's such a big difference between, say, a 75% and 90% game one win percentage because of how games 2 & 3 play out.

[TheClonedOne]

Right now, I like a faster version.

Months and months ago, Brassman predicted that Europe was well ahead of our metagame with regard to how popular Gush and Time Vault were there relative to our Workshop-dominated quagmire.  It seems that we've caught up.  These blue decks are FAST.  To keep that game 1 win percentage, I want a fast Dredge like this one.  There's such a big difference between, say, a 75% and 90% game one win percentage because of how games 2 & 3 play out.

Hey, Mat, good to see you back. Don't know if you recall my pm to you in Feb of this year where I needed advice on the Classic Dredge list I top 8'd on MTGO with using Fate+Leds and Titan as my DR target, you were curious why Titan and I remember telling you so many lines of play with it are just Dumb(small uses like Recurr Wsipmare for Oath, Serenity for Shops or the most common being Lands for Ghasts,Fates and Dredges). Look forward to your articles again. 

[voltron00x]

Right now, I like a faster version.

Months and months ago, Brassman predicted that Europe was well ahead of our metagame with regard to how popular Gush and Time Vault were there relative to our Workshop-dominated quagmire.  It seems that we've caught up.  These blue decks are FAST.  To keep that game 1 win percentage, I want a fast Dredge like this one.  There's such a big difference between, say, a 75% and 90% game one win percentage because of how games 2 & 3 play out.

Hey, Mat, good to see you back. Don't know if you recall my pm to you in Feb of this year where I needed advice on the Classic Dredge list I top 8'd on MTGO with using Fate+Leds and Titan as my DR target, you were curious why Titan and I remember telling you so many lines of play with it are just Dumb(small uses like Recurr Wsipmare for Oath, Serenity for Shops or the most common being Lands for Ghasts,Fates and Dredges). Look forward to your articles again. 

Makes sense to me now.  I think I just had to play with it once to really "get it".

[Bongo]

These blue decks are FAST.  To keep that game 1 win percentage, I want a fast Dredge like this one.  There's such a big difference between, say, a 75% and 90% game one win percentage because of how games 2 & 3 play out.

First off, good article, it's nice to see you back again. Don't overwork yourself though, just write an article when you have enough spare-time instead of having a regular schedule.

I disagree with this train of thought. I also play Dredge, and feel that you're actually losing percentages across the board in exchange for a slight increase in G1 win-percentage. Instead of speeding up and making yourself more vulnerable to Wasteland (which is a real card even in blue-dominated Europe), I think it is better to slow down the opponent. In particular, Chalice of the Void and Unmask have been excellent against blue-based decks and are useful postboard. This is important because it frees up valuable slots in the sideboard. When I played Fatestitcher Dredge, I almost always boarded out the Stitcher/Dread Return package, because it made you really vulnerable to Nihil/Tormod/Relic/Trap (and you need slots for the anti-hate).
The lack of Leyline of the Void in your 75 also has me worried about your chances in the mirror.

[Womba]

These blue decks are FAST.  To keep that game 1 win percentage, I want a fast Dredge like this one.  There's such a big difference between, say, a 75% and 90% game one win percentage because of how games 2 & 3 play out.

First off, good article, it's nice to see you back again. Don't overwork yourself though, just write an article when you have enough spare-time instead of having a regular schedule.

I disagree with this train of thought. I also play Dredge, and feel that you're actually losing percentages across the board in exchange for a slight increase in G1 win-percentage. Instead of speeding up and making yourself more vulnerable to Wasteland (which is a real card even in blue-dominated Europe), I think it is better to slow down the opponent. In particular, Chalice of the Void and Unmask have been excellent against blue-based decks and are useful postboard. This is important because it frees up valuable slots in the sideboard. When I played Fatestitcher Dredge, I almost always boarded out the Stitcher/Dread Return package, because it made you really vulnerable to Nihil/Tormod/Relic/Trap (and you need slots for the anti-hate).
The lack of Leyline of the Void in your 75 also has me worried about your chances in the mirror.

I disagree with this train of thought. Your playing dredge, you HAVE to keep a hand with Bazaar of Baghdad, I would say the consistancy and speed difference definitley make up for the fact for not running Chalice and Unmask. Odds are if Chalice and Unmask arent in your hand off the start or in the first draw your not playing it game one anyway. I mean those cards are def good but you can say that about a lot of different cards, it doesnt make it optimal for the current metagame. As for the mirror, in testing you are just faster than they are, and its not close at all. Sure, sometimes they hit leylline but how is that much different if you had a lelylines in your deck and didn't hit one. Once again you NEED a opening hand with Bazaar of Baghdad, and pure speed and consistancy more than make up for the other stuff that slows the deck down.

[voltron00x]

These blue decks are FAST.  To keep that game 1 win percentage, I want a fast Dredge like this one.  There's such a big difference between, say, a 75% and 90% game one win percentage because of how games 2 & 3 play out.

First off, good article, it's nice to see you back again. Don't overwork yourself though, just write an article when you have enough spare-time instead of having a regular schedule.

I disagree with this train of thought. I also play Dredge, and feel that you're actually losing percentages across the board in exchange for a slight increase in G1 win-percentage. Instead of speeding up and making yourself more vulnerable to Wasteland (which is a real card even in blue-dominated Europe), I think it is better to slow down the opponent. In particular, Chalice of the Void and Unmask have been excellent against blue-based decks and are useful postboard. This is important because it frees up valuable slots in the sideboard. When I played Fatestitcher Dredge, I almost always boarded out the Stitcher/Dread Return package, because it made you really vulnerable to Nihil/Tormod/Relic/Trap (and you need slots for the anti-hate).
The lack of Leyline of the Void in your 75 also has me worried about your chances in the mirror.

I understand what you're saying; playing Dredge without disruption is unusual for me.  Not saying I totally disagree with your point of view.

I was a huge advocate for Chalice and Leyline plus Petrified Field early last year.  However, I think we need to respect the fact that there are blue decks with fundamental turns occurring much earlier than they were last year, and the best chance you have of racing them game one are cards that go into your graveyard, not cards that need to be in your hand to open the game.  I liked those cards when I needed to extend the game to turn three / turn four against blue decks while building in resistance to medium to slow Workshop decks.  Now, even though Rituals still aren't that popular, the format is faster, so I want to push the deck the other direction. 

Saying that, I still considered playing CotV over Mox/Lotus/Petal/LED and I'm sure that's right in some metagames.  I'm not saying that this is THE Dredge deck to play, just that I think it's a good choice in the metagame I'm competing in (and clearly some in Europe, given the results).

As far as LotV, the last Blue Bell had 2 Dredge decks (including me).  The last Bloomsburg had 1 Dredge deck.  There aren't really a lot of mirrors to consider, at the moment.

[Troy_Costisick]

Two articles by Elias this week?  Retirement my @$$.  Great reads, Matt.  It's good to see your writing once again

Peace,

-Troy

[TheClonedOne]

Mat, you told em' so

Oh, and Demars must be in shock and I'm sure he will have a good excuse next article, something like little hate, bad keeps and lucky top decks.

[MaximumCDawg]

So, did Fatesticher Dredge win Champs?  According to the final standings, and some live feeds I caught, it looks like it.

[voltron00x]

Mat, you told em' so

Oh, and Demars must be in shock and I'm sure he will have a good excuse next article, something like little hate, bad keeps and lucky top decks.

I mean, there's a difference between using tone for effect, and just being flat-out wrong.  It's pretty obvious which one happened in this case.  I guess we'll see what tactic Brian uses to examine what led him to his incorrect conclusions, if he in fact decides to acknowledge it at all.

One of the things I've always tried to do is look at the non-blue control decks that have the ability to win tournaments.  The reality is that the blue control deck is, most of the time, the best option for the best players to have the best chance of winning.  However, there are often windows of opportunity where this can be exploited, whether that's (in Legacy) something like Zoo, Elves, or Affinity, or in Vintage, Workshops or Dredge, etc.  

If you go back and look at Steve's SCG output, he often did the same thing (and continues to do so in his podcast); obviously he was a key player in the early stages of Vintage Ichorid, played Workshops at last year's Champs, often noted Zoo's strong performance in Legacy events when others were basically calling it a garbage deck, and also vocally stood behind Merfolk when people all over the internet thought that was a joke deck, too.

Format analysis is really difficult, but I think people with an eye for it will always have a built-in audience, because so many people approach Magic with blinders on.