Gallia, of the Endless Danc ... Dredge

lvg · Post by **lvg** » 4 years ago

Introduction

Some years back there was a thread on the Salvation board for an Edric Dredge build, using Edric's draw power to turbo dredge through the deck. I love the graveyard and dredge so I've always somewhat admired that build as it was cool to see a new strategy for a popular commander and then also one you wouldn't expect, a dredge deck without black. I love 'breaking' the color pie like that. Recently I have felt that too many of my decks and the decks I play against are too obvious, by seeing the commander I can guess half the cards that will be in there and it's strategy. Enter Gallia, when I first saw her she seemed like the obligatory Satyr commander that wizards put out. My second thought was that she would be good in an RG aggro build as a CA engine from the command zone. My third thought was: Dredge, and how she possessed some of the same qualities that made Edric an interesting option at the helm of a dredge list.

Deck list

Decklist

Approximate Total Cost:

This is my current list, purely theory and some goldfishing. Right now there is nearly no interaction in this list but as I play and tune further the weaker pay offs and enablers will be cut for more interactive elements.

The plan

Section is a bit rough as it's all theory and goldfishing but this is at least the plan:

Early game: Start the game by setting up your mana base using dorks and the land ramp in the deck. Establish your graveyard through self mill, hopefully hitting a dredger in the process.
Mid game: Play Gallia to get extra draws (hopefully replacing them with dredgers). Hopefully you will also get to resolve one of the big ramp spells in the deck Harvest Season, Far Wanderings or Splendid Reclamation to set you up for the late game.
Late game: By now your yard should be filled or you should have enough mana to fill it further. You can win with a huge Golgari Grave-Troll, Kessig Cagebreakers or do some combo shenanigans with Underworld Breach and Strength from the Fallen.

Card choices

//Commander

Gallia of the Endless Dance She allows for extra draws, hopefully dredges in the mid and late game once you are set up. It's also card advantage that you are generating with her ability. The random discard is hit or miss ofcourse but I does make games interesting.

//Creatures

Llanowar Elves Mana dork #1
Arbor Elf Mana dork #2
Boreal Druid Mana dork #3
Fyndhorn Elves Mana dork #4
Birds of Paradise Mana dork #5
Elvish Mystic Mana dork #6
Werebear Mana dork #7 but also a nice beater in the late game.
Krosan Restorer Mana dork #8, super charges when you hit threshold.
Sakura-Tribe Elder Land ramp on a body that can serve as an attacker for Gallia and adds towards your graveyard creature count.
Avenging Druid This card is amazing as it ramps and mills at the same time.
Silverglade Pathfinder Discard outlet that ramps you. Remember to use on upkeep if you have a dredger in hand.
Greenseeker Another discard outlet and one that helps you to hit land drops.
Llanowar Mentor Discard outlet that cre
Insolent Neonate Hard to block attacker and discard outlet. Also great in combination with underworld breach.
Noose Constrictor Discard outlet that can be activated at instant speed and as many times as I want. Also fine attacker and can become a sizable threat.
Wild Mongrel See above.
Ox of Agonas Can help you turbo dredge from the graveyard in the mid/late game.
Seasoned Pyromancer Another discard outlet, important that this discard and then draws, great for dredging. Helps you to get three attackers and has some marginal graveyard value.
Fauna Shaman Survival is busted and although this is much slower it's still worth it.
Anje's Ravager Madness synergizes with all the discard outlets. This is also great when you have a dredger.
Cavalier of Flame Another discard outlet but also provides mass pump and haste as well as a wincon when it dies.
Glint-Horn Buccaneer Not super sure about this one but the damage from his discard trigger can add up. His second ability is a great mana sink in the late game. Again important that this discards, then draws.
Satyr Wayfinder Satyr tribal representation! But really just fills the yard and gets you a land.
Splinterfright Beefy better and mill engine, all in one package.
Loyal Apprentice Helps meet Gallia's requirement of three attackers. Unsure if really needed.
Eternal Witness Recursion on a stick.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers Recursion on a beefier stick. Great to flashback Harvest Season,Far Wanderings or any of the regrowth effects especially.
Golgari Brownscale Dredger and some incidental lifegain. Have loved this guy from my days of playing zombieloam in modern.
Golgari Grave-Troll The card that really makes this deck go fast. Having a Grave-Troll going vs. not having one is a huge difference. Can also just be cast as a massive threat.
Squee, Goblin Nabob Some value from the yard and helps all your discard engines running.
Vengevine Additional threat from the yard and helps rebuild after potential wipe to meet the three attacker clause again.
Genesis Black has Volrath's Stronghold, green has Genesis. Great recursion engine. It's ability is costly and the reason why there is quite some ramp in this deck.
Brawn Trample helps win games.
Anger I love haste and as such love this card.
Kessig Cagebreakers Probably the number one win con. Can easily make 10+ wolves. Especially effective with haste.

// Instants

Worldly Tutor Mostly here to help find Golgari Grave-Troll but obviously has more utility.
Grapple with the Past Self mill and recursion for key creatures.

// Sorcery

Gamble Tutors for key cards (GGT early). List runs enough recursion for the random discard to not be a huge deal
Traverse the Ulvenwald Great creature tutor. Delirium shouldn't be too hard to hit.
Faithless Looting Probably my favourite card ever and I can't play it in modern anymore
Acorn Harvest Some graveyard value and attackers to help with Gallia's requirements.
Rofellos's Gift There is a small enchantment package in the deck (might build on this more in the future and this can help recur key pieces and provide CA in the process.
Regrowth Recursion that feels like a demonic tutor in the late game.
Nostalgic Dreams Mass recursion and a discard outlet? Yes, please. Great card for the deck.
Recoup Recursion that can be milled and still work.
Life from the Loam I love loam, it's a dredger that helps you hit land drops and in the process bins itself again.
Gather the Pack Self mill.
Mulch Self mill.
Winding Way Self mill.
Commune with the Gods Self mill.
Harvest Season This deck is quite mana hungry and resolving a decent sized harvest season can really set you up for the win. I'm happy with 3 lands, anything beyond that is obscene.
Far Wanderings Far wanderings doesn't have the same high ceiling as harvest season but is very consistent.
Splendid Reclamation Our last absurd ramp card. This one can really set you up for the rest of the game.

// Enchantments

Exploration Helps ramp and combos with Life from the Loam.
Survival of the Fittest Survival is almost a one card combo. If you have this on the board.
Strength from the Fallen This might seem odd with not that many enchantments and maybe I'll have to add more in the future but I wanted a wincon that that was not a creature as those can get answered more easily. This let's me do that and also adds a combo element to the deck when paired with the next two cards.
Underworld Breach Yawgmoth's will is good and this is the red will, except you don't need to exile anything important. This can serve as great recursion as well as enable combo turns with Strength from the Fallen.
Unbridled Growth Mostly here for it's combo potential with breach and strength from the fallen.The draw also let's you dredge.
Rhythm of the Wild Haste is good and I wanted to up my enchantment count. Could also perhaps be a [cardFires of Yavimaya[/card] as that can help combo on breach + strength turns.
Greater Good Drawing and discarding is what this deck wants to do. Even discarding dorks can help you dig and discard stuff you want in your yard. Combine with GGT for massive CA.
Vessel of Nascency An additional enchantment and self mill card.

// Artifacts

Smuggler's Copter This does three things the deck likes; draw, discard and attack.
Bonehoard Massive threat that can make all your creatures huge.

// Planeswalkers

Chandra, Acolyte of Flame More recursion. Like Goblin Dark-Dwellers Great to flashback Harvest Season,Far Wanderings or any of the regrowth effects especially.

// Lands
Not that many noteworthy lands.

Kessig Wolf Run If you have ramped throughout the game this can serve as an additional wincon.
Barbarian Ring Little bit of interaction.
Grove of the Burnwillows Not that noteworthy now but allows the addition of [punishing fire] once the deck starts packing more interaction.
Forgotten Cave, Tranquil Thicket, Sheltered Thicket as always combine these with Life from the Loam for a nice little engine.

Notable omissions: Gaea's Cradle and Bazaar of Baghdad. I don't own a Cradle anymore and Bazaar has always been out of my price range. Both would be great for the deck so if you have them then I would include them.

Future considerations

As mentioned this is currently a very linear and untuned list. I'm trying to already think ahead of some different options to try. Some stuff on the list:

Firestorm This is high on the list of more interactive cards to add.
Punishing Fire Already alluded to this when talking about Grove of the Burnwillows but this could add some extra, recurable, removal to the deck.
Heartpierce Manticore Another graveyard threat but one that doesn't need to get into the redzone to win. Seems clunky but the non-combat angle could be interesting.
Ancient Grudge Another great interactive card.
Greater Mossdog If I find I need more dredgers.
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove More ramp, another creature and another enchantment to help the Strength from the Fallen plan.
Collector Ouphe I'm scared of graveyard hate and this helps to stop the most common forms of that as well as shut down artifact mana bases.
Altar of Dementia, [Mesmeric Orb[/card] I'm not sure I want to add to many artifacts to the deck and these also only mill but don't do much else. The orb being symmetrical is also a bit scary if there are other graveyard decks at the table.
Hermit Druid Considered it but ultimately decided against it as I think I'm running too many basics for this to really give me the boost I would want.
Running some additional goodstuff utility creatures. I have quite some ways to find and recur creatures so those would fit right in. Also want my removal etc to be mostly creatures as a high graveyard creature count is needed for my wincons.
To aid the Strength from the Fallen plan even further I'm considering an alternate list that is using enchantress effects. Makes Roffelos's Gift more potent and the draw from the enchantresses could be used for dredging. Unsure if it will end up trying to do too many things at once though.

lvg · Post by **lvg** » 4 years ago

Reserving this.

DirkGently · Post by **DirkGently** » 4 years ago

I threw together a Gallia list last week and have been enjoying it. Thread is here: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=23889

I took a somewhat similar route, focusing on getting value from the discard and grave. It's definitely a little different, but I'll give you some info I've gleaned from playing my version and you can decide how applicable you think they are.

At least imo, having a decent number of 1-drops is well worth it. dragonmaster outcast, for example, has been a real all-star. He makes it easy to get a crack on someone T3 to trigger Gallia, and then if he doesn't get killed he has major presence later on, he's really never a dead draw, and he's easy to weave into the mid turns when Gallia is keeping your hand full. grim lavamancer also great. Scute mob. You get the idea. These obviously pair great with 3-drop haste creatures like glint-horn buccaneer, though you can also just drop a regular 1-2 on turn 2 and follow up with a gallia on turn 3.

Evasion is also really crucial for keeping Gallia going. My build uses phoenixes for the grave synergy and evasion (and often haste) combination.
The discard being random makes it really difficult to get too much value out of the discard. Gallia does a great job of keeping the value rolling while you're getting into the red zone, and it's sweet when you discard something for value, but it's kinda rare, there just aren't enough cards in RG that give good grave value. I see you're including some selective discard outlets to give you more precision, but none of those cards are very good imo, and it kinda defeats the purpose of having Gallia in the command zone in the first place.

The other issue is that I don't know that there's enough grave value to justify dredging a non-card like golgari brownscale in order to put a couple cards in the grave. I think I'd rather just draw a normal card. Plus, if you're not getting lucky and you have to discard the brownscale to mongrel or whatever, you're kind of just breaking even on cards even with Gallia triggering. Maybe if you had more grave synergy it'd be justifiable but right now it seems too sparse to me. There's a medium number of cards that care about cards in graves, but very few that want to be in graves themselves. Personally I've been liking some of phoenixes as ways to get grave value and help trigger Gallia, but that was just my method.

I'm really doubting the viability of strength from the fallen. You said you want a non-creature wincon, but that still looks pretty creature-dependent to me, plus it has a lot of moving parts. You need a target, multiple if your opponents have removal or you want to kill multiple people, and you'd better have evasion or something on those creatures unless the field is wide open. You need strength from the fallen in play, when it's easy to mill and hard to tutor or recur. You need underworld breach also in play, with the same difficulty in getting it. And you need one of two enchantments in play to combo with it. And a lot of mana, since most of your creatures are pretty small to start off. And a lot of cards in grave so you don't run out. Plus it's all sorcery speed so it's super easy to blown out when you move to combat. That sounds really unlikely to work to me. Plus it's all sorcery speed so it's super easy to blown out when you move to combat. But I guess it depends how serious you want the deck to be.

lvg · Post by **lvg** » 4 years ago

DirkGently wrote: ↑
4 years ago
I threw together a Gallia list last week and have been enjoying it. Thread is here: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=23889

I took a somewhat similar route, focusing on getting value from the discard and grave. It's definitely a little different, but I'll give you some info I've gleaned from playing my version and you can decide how applicable you think they are.

Thanks for providing your insights. I saw your list while I was in the process of putting this thread together. My plan indeed leans a little harder on the graveyard though.

At least imo, having a decent number of 1-drops is well worth it. dragonmaster outcast, for example, has been a real all-star. He makes it easy to get a crack on someone T3 to trigger Gallia, and then if he doesn't get killed he has major presence later on, he's really never a dead draw, and he's easy to weave into the mid turns when Gallia is keeping your hand full. grim lavamancer also great. Scute mob. You get the idea. These obviously pair great with 3-drop haste creatures like glint-horn buccaneer, though you can also just drop a regular 1-2 on turn 2 and follow up with a gallia on turn 3.

I have a loot of 1 drops, mostly manadorks though but I don't mind chump attacking with them when needed to trigger Gallia. I have considered Grim Lavamancer especially but am wary of cannibalizing my graveyard.

Evasion is also really crucial for keeping Gallia going. My build uses phoenixes for the grave synergy and evasion (and often haste) combination.
The discard being random makes it really difficult to get too much value out of the discard. Gallia does a great job of keeping the value rolling while you're getting into the red zone, and it's sweet when you discard something for value, but it's kinda rare, there just aren't enough cards in RG that give good grave value. I see you're including some selective discard outlets to give you more precision, but none of those cards are very good imo, and it kinda defeats the purpose of having Gallia in the command zone in the first place.

The discard outlets are mostly there to help enable GGT, which in my version of the deck is really good, and I think you could probably also benefit from running it if only just as a recursive monster. I mostly use Gallia for the extra draws, in hope of replacing them with dredges and the discard and card advantage is secondary to me. That is why I have included the selective discard outlets.

You are right that I could use more evasion. When I first build the deck I thought Gallia needed to attack herself to get the trigger and then she would just get blocked and killed. I build the deck with that in mind and when I realized she doesn't need to attack I didn't really reconsider some of my choices. Thanks for reminding me.

The other issue is that I don't know that there's enough grave value to justify dredging a non-card like golgari brownscale in order to put a couple cards in the grave. I think I'd rather just draw a normal card. Plus, if you're not getting lucky and you have to discard the brownscale to mongrel or whatever, you're kind of just breaking even on cards even with Gallia triggering. Maybe if you had more grave synergy it'd be justifiable but right now it seems too sparse to me. There's a medium number of cards that care about cards in graves, but very few that want to be in graves themselves. Personally I've been liking some of phoenixes as ways to get grave value and help trigger Gallia, but that was just my method.

Brownscale is high on the list of cards I could see myself cutting, the lifegain is nice but dredge 2 is a really small number. In terms of phoenixes only flamewake phoenix really seems appealing and maybe centaur vinecrasher as another recursive threat. You are right in saying that a lot of the cards that care about the graveyard don't necessarily want to be there. That's also why I'm running so many recursion cards (and why I probably will end up adding recollect also), those cards almost turn into demonic tutor around turn 5-6.

I'm really doubting the viability of strength from the fallen. You said you want a non-creature wincon, but that still looks pretty creature-dependent to me, plus it has a lot of moving parts. You need a target, multiple if your opponents have removal or you want to kill multiple people, and you'd better have evasion or something on those creatures unless the field is wide open. You need strength from the fallen in play, when it's easy to mill and hard to tutor or recur. You need underworld breach also in play, with the same difficulty in getting it. And you need one of two enchantments in play to combo with it. And a lot of mana, since most of your creatures are pretty small to start off. And a lot of cards in grave so you don't run out. Plus it's all sorcery speed so it's super easy to blown out when you move to combat. That sounds really unlikely to work to me. Plus it's all sorcery speed so it's super easy to blown out when you move to combat. But I guess it depends how serious you want the deck to be.

I'm also a bit skeptical of this plan myself but like I said I wanted a non-creature wincon. I should have been more specific and said I wanted a wincon that didn't rely on specific creatures surviving (cagebreakers, splinterfright etc.) Strength turns manadorks etc. into threats in the late game and I can spread the triggers. With regrowth, witness, nostalgic dreams, rofellos's gift and chandra, goblin dark dwellers and recoup to get double up on those it hasn't been to big an issue to get strength and breach to return to hand. I could probably use more enchantments to help trigger strength and make rofellos's gift more potent. Klothys, Sylvan library and The Binding of the Titans come to mind. This I will just have to test and tweak. As for it's combo potential, not expecting that to come up every game but is a nice option for the late game. Underworld breach is also a great card on it's own for this deck.

Your Community

Top Sections

Deck Formats

Cards & Previews

Delve Further

Community Content

Game Tools

Site Tools

Other Resources