Zombie Pox Pod

Hello everyone, Marshall here! For my first post I'll be sharing one of my favorite styles of deck with you, my take on Dredgevine. For those that don't know, Dredgevine is a deck that is built around the card Vengevine:

       

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The concept for the stock version of that deck is to discard Vengevine, Demigod of Revenge and Bloodghast for value, recur them quickly and put some serious pressure on the opponent. The inherent flaw with Dredgevine is that it has too many "fair" draws. There are plenty of hands that just don't play out quickly enough, or get slowed down early and can't pack enough punch to close out the game.

The list I'm sharing today was built to address this by adding more "engine" cards so that there are strong backup plans which are synergistic with our main goal, in case plan A doesn't work out.


4 Vengevine 4 Bloodghast 4 Gravecrawler 4 Birds of Paradise 3 Geralf's Messenger 1 Elves of Deep Shadow 1 Lotleth Troll 1 Falkenrath Aristocrat 1 Blood Artist 4 Faithless Looting 4 Smallpox 3 Birthing Pod 3 Abrupt Decay 4 Marsh Flats 4 Overgrown Tomb 2 Woodland Cemetery 2 Blood Crypt 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 3 Swamp 4 Verdant Catacombs SB: 4 Pillar of Flame SB: 4 Inquisition of Kozilek SB: 1 Obstinate Baloth SB: 1 Skinrender SB: 3 Ancient Grudge SB: 1 Abrupt Decay SB: 1 Spellskite
This deck does a lot more than discard Vengevine. I would say that plan A still involves recurring dudes as quickly as possible, but there are a lot of other routes to victory. Smallpox has really become plan A and B, because of how incredibly synergistic and disruptive it is. You have not lived until you've cast turn two smallpox discarding Vengevine (while your opponent squirms) into turn three birds of paradise + Gravecrawler.

Of course, we can't always live in Magical Christmas Land, which is why Birthing Pod has been added to the deck (hint; birthing pod is MCL all on it's own). Birthing Pod has two roles, the first is to enable plan B. This looks something like turn one Birds of Paradise, turn two Pod, turn three Bloodghast or Geralf's messenger, which is immediately podded away for some serious value. From there killing your opponent with pod is pretty straightforward.  Tutor up messengers, then get a Falkrath Aristocrat and go nuts. If your opponent can put together a good defense on the ground, simply tutor for Blood Artist and watch as the hope leaves their eyes.

The second role that Pod plays is the finisher. As I mentioned before, the original version of this deck was prone to running out of real gas spells if the opponent could slow you down early. Birthing Pod is all the gas you could ever need in the mid to late game. Even if your board presence has been reduced to one or two creatures, Pod can carry you to the win on its own given a couple of turns to close the game out. Especially in tandem with Smallpox. I've won games with this deck by Smallpoxing twice after casting Birthing Pod so that my opponent and I were on one land, and then activating pod every turn.

All of this is well and good, but we should also be examining this strategy by looking at its matchups against some of the most popular decks to see if there is a reason to play it.

Vs. UWR Control
This match up is one of the reasons to play the deck. Smallpox, Birthing Pod and recursive creatures are all things that give control players fits. Path to Exile plus Snapcaster Mage is annoying, but this deck stretches their paths very thin while rendering their burn spells almost useless. The card this deck actually has trouble with is Anger of the Gods, which is partly why four copies of Inquisition of Kozilek have been included in the sideboard.

Vs. Tribal Zoo
I have not thoroughly tested this match up, but I do know that Smallpox is extremely effective against this deck, and post board things get much easier when you gain access to more removal and Obstinate Baloth. I would think the big zoo match up is even easier as long as you save an abrupt decay for scavenging ooze.

Vs. Affinity
Game one is rough due to the fact that they are faster than you, and don't take damage from their lands, while you do. Games two and three you get to side in nine cards and just kill everything. Blood artist is your friend.

Vs. Splinter Twin
This is a pretty solid match up. Smallpox and Abrupt Decay really shine here. Be on the lookout for Anger of the Gods post board, but between Smallpox and Inquisition you should be Ok.

Vs. Storm
Another match up where Smallpox really shines. Yes, they have flashback spells they can discard, but mana denial plus pressure is a good way to attack storm. Especially if you take out their Pyromaster's Ascension with Abrupt Decay. Post board Inquisition is an all star.

Vs. Melira Pod
This is not a match up I've had an opportunity to test yet. That being said, I think it's close as long as you prevent them from comboing. Unfortunately, Smallpox is quite weak here, but Pillar of Flame is fantastic in games two and three, as is Podding into Skinrender because Kitchen Finks is enemy number 1.

Over the next week I will be testing this deck a lot, working on perfecting the numbers and tweaking the sideboard. My next post will be about the changes its gone through and a more detailed look at more of its matchups. Thanks for reading, and please comment with any ideas you may have for this deck.