Who Needs Lands?

By Adam Prosak

From Friday Night Magic to the Pro Tour, Adam Prosak loves all types of tournament Magic. Currently, Adam is working in R&D as a developer.

One of the great things about Legacy is that the limits of Magic are often pushed to its extremes. This dredge deck is an example of this—it has no lands or other mana sources whatsoever!

This deck works by using the dredge mechanic to fill your graveyard full of things. Ideally, you will go second so you can discard on your first turn. That is nearly the only way you can get the first card into your graveyard! Once you start dredging, all sorts of creatures can return from your graveyard. These are used to flash back Dread Return, targeting Balustrade Spy. Then the Spy will mill your entire library because you have no lands! This is a good thing, because Flayer of the Hatebound can be brought back with Dread Return, and a final reanimated Golgari Grave-Troll will deal lethal damage to your opponent.

With other decks, you will want to play first in matches whenever possible. However, this deck is one of the only competitive Constructed decks that prefers to go second. If your opponent wins the roll and decides to draw, you can probably guess he or she is playing this Manaless Dredge deck!

Shako's Manaless Dredge

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (44)

3 Balustrade Spy 4 Chancellor of the Annex 1 Flayer of the Hatebound 4 Golgari Grave-Troll 4 Golgari Thug 4 Ichorid 4 Narcomoeba 4 Nether Shadow 4 Phantasmagorian 4 Shambling Shell 4 Stinkweed Imp 4 Street Wraith