- Dryad Militant

[MaximumCDawg]

Another potential Vintage playable spoiled on the mothership:



This seems... really good.  It is a 2/1 for 1, which is something either white or green weenie decks want to be doing, and it interferes with Snapcaster, Yawgwill, Dread Return.... now, sadly it doesn't hit Bridge from Below, which would make it seriously bonkers, but this still seems very good.

Added Pic.
-MM

[Saya]

Awesome.Vintage aggro w/G,W hardly uses their graveyard.The decks may well run her.

[serracollector]

This also removes cabal therapy, dread returns, and ancient grudge from dredge lists.  Not uber, but it does something.  Alongside being a psuedo leyline verus big blue, this is a very interesting card.

[aforce808]

Wow, this seems like a pretty strong card.  What would it replace in the decks that would use it though?  Pridemage?  I guess it would make some matchups stronger, and some weaker (shops).

[StanleyAugust]

I don't know. G/W already runs Grafdigger's Cage.

[xouman]

For 2 mana it would be interesting, for 1 mana is great! Would you imagine a savanah lions for W/G some years ago? It fills a gap in the mana curve.

The ability it's marginal though. It "shuts" snapcaster, but only if dryad is played before all those instants and sorceries.  Will is also severed, mentioned cards with flashback, and maybe oath lists focused on get some extra turns replaying time walk. A marginal benefit is making worse surgicals and extirpates (thought they are not really played now).

Will this dryad be played in vintage? Some people will test it, but is not a human or a wizard, so I suppose it won't see much play.

[Guli]

Dryad Militant is the result of the mentality '"t is ok to print 1 drops with 2 power" "let's give it something relevant too".

So guys, this card is really awsome, not just as a card and what it does, but this means they are going to print more of this cheap utility bears with relevent power (2/x)

As for the card goes:

It is graveyard hate, and that means it will hit Snapcaster Control/Combo and Dredge. This is extremely relevant because you will face both these decks. The card actually hates Dredge pretty hard in my opinion. Darkblast is exiled even if you try to kill this because the -1/-1 is applied after resolution right? And once they use darkblast on another bear, it will be a 1 time thing. Without Cabal therapy and Dread Return, the job becomes much more easier for Beatdown. There will be no quick continuous stream of zombies. It hates out the AK engines too.

EDIT: If Disenchant is used on it, Planar Void goes to the graveyard, then Disenchant goes to the graveyard and stays there. [DeLaney 1999/01/18] Darkblast on Dryad anyone? Similar? I think it is not similar, because planar void is a triggered effect and Dryad is a replacement effect.

This also hates out Y Will Ritual decks nicely.

I think a very interesting and powerful design. It is not hard to understand how sad I am to see this is not a Human type creature?

[tito del monte]

With this and the Cursecatcher Owl guy, I wonder if we're getting a whole cycle of hybrid 1-drop disruptive creatures? Should make for more options for Fish pilots, although with Misstep and Bolt all over the place their impact on Vintage may be slim. Will be very interesting nonetheless to see how the rest of the cycle might play out.

EDIT: Guli, at least he's a Soldier like Thalia - any other disruptive soldiers out there for a Cavern-based deck?

[Guli]

With this and the Cursecatcher Owl guy, I wonder if we're getting a whole cycle of hybrid 1-drop disruptive creatures? Should make for more options for Fish pilots, although with Misstep and Bolt all over the place their impact on Vintage may be slim. Will be very interesting nonetheless to see how the rest of the cycle might play out.

EDIT: Guli, at least he's a Soldier like Thalia - any other disruptive soldiers out there for a Cavern-based deck?

It is not because of Cavern. The mana base can EASILY support a 1 drop like this. It will be counterable though, but REALLY NO ISSUE THERE.

The thing is that it doesn't get the bonus of MAYOR. It would have made things REALLY shiny, but I can live with it, can't have it all ^^


How does Dryad Militant do versus Oath of Druids by the way? I am wondering because Oath usually gets splash damage from graveyard hate. Dryad Militant online and ways to deal with creatures (karakas, waterfront bouncer, stun sniper, stp, ...) seems like a way to deal with Oath decks without addressing their oath.

For me the most important argument is that it has LEGS and doesn't die to Ingots, Claims, ... It pairs nicely with Jailer vs Dredge. Better than Cage does..

[StanleyAugust]

Oh, for some reason I thought the casting cost was GW, not G/W. That obviously makes the card a whole lot better. I actually think it's a very good card now.

[Meddling Mike]

Wow, remember when Savannah Lions was a premium beater at that cost? Seems like an auto include for every Vintage G/W aggro deck going forward. Maybe any aggro deck that supports either green or white too.

[AmbivalentDuck]

It is not because of Cavern. The mana base can EASILY support a 1 drop like this. It will be counterable though, but REALLY NO ISSUE THERE.

Soldier isn't that uncommon a type in your decks. He shares it with at least Thalia.

[Guli]

Yes I also reacted with: "OMG a savanah lion and it has some utility"

But it still needs to be checked for relevance, reliability and validity

So what are we trying to do? We are trying to beat the tier 1 decks. According to the latest reports and lists what are the expected tier 1 decks?

In my book this is Snapcaster Control/Combo, Workshop and watch out for Ritual or Cobra Combo. And the typical Gush decks. In essence we can just name these decks Blue since they all are decks that generate a lot mana and cards and have bombs that put them ahead.

Then there is Workshop and Dredge I guess. You just have to be prepared to a turn 1 Golem or game 2 and game 3 versus dredge.

Furthermore there are Delver lists that can out tempo and out race you while also occasionally wipe your board with removal and snapcaster. Let us also not forget standstill, a deck that can burrow you in card advantage once they have you in their 'loop'.

How does Dryad fit in all this?

[AmbivalentDuck]

How does Dryad fit in all this?

Like other folks have said, it shuts off Cabal Therapy and Dread Return. They get 4 recurring 2/1s and 4 1/1 fliers to kill you with.

[Meddling Mike]

Yes I also reacted with: "OMG a savanah lion and it has some utility"

But it still needs to be checked for relevance, reliability and validity

So what are we trying to do? We are trying to beat the tier 1 decks. According to the latest reports and lists what are the expected tier 1 decks?

In my book this is Snapcaster Control/Combo, Workshop and watch out for Ritual or Cobra Combo. And the typical Gush decks. In essence we can just name these decks Blue since they all are decks that generate a lot mana and cards and have bombs that put them ahead.

Then there is Workshop and Dredge I guess. You just have to be prepared to a turn 1 Golem or game 2 and game 3 versus dredge.

Furthermore there are Delver lists that can out tempo and out race you while also occasionally wipe your board with removal and snapcaster. Let us also not forget standstill, a deck that can burrow you in card advantage once they have you in their 'loop'.

How does Dryad fit in all this?

I don't believe that Dryad is a bad card to have in just about any of the matchups that you listed here. The applications against any deck with graveyard recursion are obvious, whether that be via Yawgmoth's Will or Snapcaster. The applications against Dredge are also obvious. Shutting off Dread Return and Cabal Therapy can buy some valuable time and a cheap efficient beater lets you maximize that time. The weakest matchup is probably against workshops where the ability is unlikely to be relevant. That said, a 1 drop is still nice as it shouldn't be too hard to sneak through spheres and gives some casting cost diversity to play around Chalice of the Void. I also don't believe it's bad against standstill, again, more for the p/t to cc ratio than the ability. Usually when you play Standstill you would like to have the advantage on board or at the very least parity. Dropping this guy on turn 1 would seem to make that condition more difficult to achieve.

[Meddling Mike]

How does Dryad fit in all this?

Like other folks have said, it shuts off Cabal Therapy and Dread Return. They get 4 recurring 2/1s and 4 1/1 fliers to kill you with.

Yeah, this card certainly doesn't make Dredge dead in the water or anything. Even beyond Bloodghast and Narcomoeba, Ichorid is generally unhindered by this and will trigger Bridges in the process. That said, between 4 of this guy, 4 Wasteland and a Strip Mine in the maindeck that's certainly enough tools to steal a game 1 from Dredge without being quite as narrow as something like Grafdigger's Cage.

[vaughnbros]

How does Dryad fit in all this?

Like other folks have said, it shuts off Cabal Therapy and Dread Return. They get 4 recurring 2/1s and 4 1/1 fliers to kill you with.

Yeah, this card certainly doesn't make Dredge dead in the water or anything. Even beyond Bloodghast and Narcomoeba, Ichorid is generally unhindered by this and will trigger Bridges in the process. That said, between 4 of this guy, 4 Wasteland and a Strip Mine in the maindeck that's certainly enough tools to steal a game 1 from Dredge without being quite as narrow as something like Grafdigger's Cage.

Or 4 of this guy 4 cage and 5 strip effects. Then you might not really even need a sideboard for dredge.

[Prospero]

The fact that he's a 2/1 beater for one, castable off white or green, and hoses Dredge is pretty impressive.  Even if you want to board him out after game one (because they're not on Dredge, but something where vanilla 2/1 beaters aren't amazing, i.e. Shops), is this really such a bad card?  It cleans up the sideboard of an aggressive deck like RUG Delver or Noble Fish pretty nicely, giving them more spots to run hate for other decks. 

[Blue Lotus]

I think this is very good against dredge in gw. Really slows them down and if you can get a big tarm or knight out + this then their deck is pretty shut down. Quite good. This t1 qasali t2 is also quite a clock.

I would definitely play this over cage in gw because you're already strong against tinker and oath and this allows gsz to played.

[bactgudz]

EDIT: If Disenchant is used on it, Planar Void goes to the graveyard, then Disenchant goes to the graveyard and stays there. [DeLaney 1999/01/18] Darkblast on Dryad anyone? Similar? I think it is not similar, because planar void is a triggered effect and Dryad is a replacement effect.

If you cast Darkblast on Dryad, Darkblast will end up exiled, if you cast doom blade on Dryad, doom blade will end up in your graveyard:
-Darkblast on Dryad: During the resolution of Darkblast, Dryad gets -1/-1 and becomes 1/0, then after Darkblast's resolution, it is put in the gy, but this is replaced by being exiled as Dryad is still on the field...then sba's are checked and Dryad is put in the gy from having 0 toughness
-Doom Blade on Dryad: During the resolution of doom blade, Dryad gets destroyed and goes to the gy, then after doom blade's resolution, it is put in the gy...and it stays there b/c Dryad is not longer on the field

note that if Dryad created a triggered ability rather than a replacement effect, the answers would still be similar...it has to do with Dryad still being on the field when the card actually goes to the gy, not whether it's a triggered ability or replacement effect.

[brokenbacon]

HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT. THIS IS REALLY GOOD. WHY IS IT A 2/1. WHAT THE FUCK. I JUST WOKE UP.

[bactgudz]

This hates out bridge too, if dredge can't get therapy or dr in the yard, they have no way to sac doods aside from evoke critters.

[MaximumCDawg]

This hates out bridge too, if dredge can't get therapy or dr in the yard, they have no way to sac doods aside from evoke critters.

And Ichorid.  

HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT. THIS IS REALLY GOOD. WHY IS IT A 2/1. WHAT THE FUCK. I JUST WOKE UP.

This is my favorite reaction to any spoiled card in the last 3 years on these forums.  And yet, I hope it's another three years before I see something like it again.

[Guli]

By no means this slows down dredge to the point they can't kill you fast or something. GW beats (or other fish doesn't matter) can not handle the stream of creatures (even if it is slowed down) dredge is putting out with Ichorid, Bridges, Narcoemba triggers, Bloodghast, ... And some lists don't even run Dread Return anymore. But as a support unit, Dryad does good splash damage versus dredge. This is good! But here is the thing:
GW beats or GWB or Noble or variants can not afford to run a card like Y. Jailer main deck. The match ups versus Workshop and Blue are far too important and tight as it is. So what I like and I encourage others to do is to run cards that are strong in a specific match up and do splash damage versus dredge (and if possible other match ups). There might be exceptions to this if you really know you will need a certain card or you know it will be good in a certain meta. So Thalia is my main mana denial card against combo decks and control decks. But due testing I realized that Thalia is also one of the strongest cards you can get against Dredge.

Thalia is the one that stops them from going all too crazy and protects your HATE cards. But Thalia is not my HATE versus dredge. In the same way, I feel a card like Ooze does something similar. Ooze is tremendous in aggro wars, but does splash damage versus Snapcaster and Dredge. An Ooze can shut down a dredge deck once it is crippled, but a dredge deck that has already dredged (train has left the station) is not going to be bothered with an Ooze that needs green mana. Ooze is the nail in the coffin.

My last change in my human deck was to add 4 MAINDECK Leyline of the Void. It stops Crucible which is a card that is so essential for Workshop when fighting my humans, destroys dredge, and makes any blue deck with Snapcaster and without Snapcaster a lot less strong. Especially when your working shell (a concept that I use to frame the cards that I kept main deck test after test, cards that have proven themselves as staples) is doing great against blue, those Leylines really overload them and they come in before the game actually starts for free.

Today I saw this new card spoiled. I don't know if this is really what beats/aggro need right now. There are a lot of options out there right now, designing is not so easy with all those choices and a lot of configurations are possible. And every time I test a card known or unknown to me, in game things are different. I usually discover new synergies, and get new idea's to get a working strategy. Dryad does not seem clear for me. We stated the obvious things. I tested some and realized that against dredge, it is very handy, but only as a sideline player.

So what match up will Dryad shine most? In the decks that run the most instants and sorceries obviously. Delver is a card that also likes to see instants and sorceries, but top deck, so in theory, Dryad should be good against Delver, because they need a good amount of those two card types. Then there is Snapcaster Mage in blue control or blue aggro. Gush decks with Storm kill or at least Yawgmoth's Will. I think against these decks Dryad is at its best. Also with a card like Karakas, Dryad can be very interesting against Oath/Grisel. The ritual, ritual, Y will followed by again ritual, ritual line of plays are shut off by Dryad.

I think that is it. I have been playing full acceleration lately. And when I don't, I will use ESG. I have been casting my two drops on turn 1 consistently the last couple of months. The amount of turn 1 Thalia or turn 1 Bob or turn 1 Mayor is sick... And they avoid Mental Misstep. So I have been more critical on bears that knock on my door and want a job in my deck I am excited when cards like Dryad are spoiled, and I test them a lot before making statements. My prediction and gut feeling is that in order to make Dryad work, we will need to start from ground zero and slowly form a new frame.

[gkraigher]

I've got a white black bears deck and this guy just replaced yixlid jailer in the main. 

It does enough against dredge on the play, not allowing them to sac guys for dread return and cabal therapy and much more against snapcaster mage and yawgmoth's will that it is the better of the two cards.  Great jobs wizards with this set already.   The only cards I want have been uncommons so far.  Good for the pocketbook. 

[serracollector]

Any deck thats would run this more than likely runs 4 Pridemage also, thus using Pridemage to remove bridges, and this guy to stop the rest, I don't feel fear of the Narco's/Ghasts/Ichorid's.  4 of this Guy, 5 strips, 4 pridemage, and 4 Thalia all easily maindecked, severely hurt dredge IMO.  Or they all at least give you time to get that Ooze into play.  Not to mention STP.

I personally love how this 1 guy can really hurt most versions of oath since most oath decks are grisle.  Seems this might push Golden Gun back into style since it doesn't affect Dragon's Breath.

[brokenbacon]

This thing is 99 goddamn cents on Star City. Why, oh Lord, why is it NOT BEING SO HYPED UP.
1. IT'S A 2/1 FOR ONE MANA WITH NO DRAWBACKS.
2. IT'S A HOSER. FOR ONE MANA. THAT SLOWS DOWN DREDGE AND BLUE.
3. IT'S A CLOCK.
4. IT'S 99 CENTS.

People, I play Blue, so I will never play this card. But Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, does it make me excited.

[Smmenen]

This card is playable in blue, in a Noble Fish or Bant deck.

I'm really glad this was spoiled last night because we got to talk about it in our podcast.   This card is really exciting. 

[Ten-Ten]

I'd be more excited if it were not hit by Misstep; Grafdigger's cage is still better in most situations. (especially against blue)

This card gets worse later in the game* and does not stop Tinker>bot/ Oath.

Doesn't even do a great job at fighting Delver. (doesn't help that you can't block the flying Insectile once transformed)

*If your opponent manages to get key spells/artifacts in GY before you land that dryad, they can still Yawg Win in your face once you have Dryad Militant out.

Cards most likely/relevant to be Willed/ reccured back that Dryad Militant can't exile:

Black lotus
Time vault
Voltaic key
Engineered Explosives
Baleful strix
Dredge Creatures/ Ichorid/bloodghast
....

[StanleyAugust]

I'd be more excited if it were not hit by Misstep; Grafdigger's cage is still better in most situations. (especially against blue)

This card gets worse later in the game* and does not stop Tinker>bot/ Oath.

Doesn't even do a great job at fighting Delver. (doesn't help that you can't block the flying Insectile once transformed)

*If your opponent manages to get key spells/artifacts in GY before you land that dryad, they can still Yawg Win in your face once you have Dryad Militant out.

Cards most likely/relevant to be Willed/ reccured back that Dryad Militant can't exile:

Black lotus
Time vault
Voltaic key
Engineered Explosives
Baleful strix
Dredge Creatures/ Ichorid/bloodghast
....

It's all true and of course Cage's ability is better than Dryad Militant's. But you have to take into account that Dryad Militant adds to your clock, meaning your opponent has less time to find that game ending spell, which Cage doesn't. And even if your opponent finds Yawgmoth's Will, he'll still have to fight through Thalia, Qasali, Stony Silence etc., which are all very common. Tinker still has to fight through Thalia as well and of course Stony helps here too.

Look at these pretty common opening sentences:

Cage opening:

T1: Cage
T2: Thalia
T3: Qasali
T4: Stony
T5: ?

At this point, the "Cage deck" has dealt a total of 11 damage.

Dryad Militant opening:

T1: Dryad Militant
T2: Thalia
T3: Qasali
T4: Stony
T5: ?

At this point, the "Dryad Militant deck" has dealt a total of 18 damage.

18 damage is often enough to kill, so when "goldfishing", the "Dryad Militant deck" is at least one turn faster than the "Cage deck", and I think it's fair to say that it's closer to two turns faster.
Of course this is very black and white and not taking into account various factors like counters, blockers etc. but dealing two damage extra a turn can be very important for a deck that quickly runs out of gas and hence wants to kill as quickly as possible.