It’s not always the big rares or mythics from a new set that have the biggest impact on constructed formats. Sometimes a humble uncommon, such as the new MTG card Lively Dirge, can be just as, if not more, game-changing. We’ve certainly seen this so far, as the Thunder Junction sorcery has taken up slots in a range of decks, across a range of highly competitive formats.
It’s always great to see a card that went under the radar succeed like this. It reminds us all that, no matter how long we’ve played Magic, or how good we think we are at evaluating cards, something will always slip through our nets. In celebration of this facet of the game, let’s take a look at Lively Dirge, and how it’s managed to find its way into competitive decks from Standard to Modern.
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The Liveliest Of Dirges
Before we sing its praises, let’s recap what Lively Dirge actually does. It’s a two mana sorcery, one and a black, with Thunder Junction’s new Spree ability, allowing two extra modes to be tacked on. For one extra mana, you can put a creature from your library into the graveyard, just like
Entomb
Entomb
Search your library for a card, put that card into your graveyard, then shuffle.
. For two mana, you can resurrect up to two creatures, with a total mana cost of up to four, from your graveyard.
The power of Spree cards lies in their flexibility, and Lively Dirge has that in spades. Paying four mana to reanimate two cheap creatures is a solid deal in many scenarios. Paying five to tutor one of them first is even better. The only mode on the card that really underwhelms is the three mana Entomb effect, but they can’t all be winners.
The fact that this card can put two cheap creatures into play has elicited comparisons to green powerhouse
Collected Company
Collected Company
Look at the top six cards of your library. Put up to two creature cards with mana value 3 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
. For better or worse, it’s not quite that good, of course. Compared to Collected Company, Lively Dirge is a sorcery, it’s more expensive to cast at full power, and it generates less creature mana value when cast. That said, the tutor effect makes it better in Combo decks, and sometimes even in Midrange toolbox decks.
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Pioneer Performance
The MTG format in which Lively Dirge is seeing the most success so far is undoubtedly Pioneer. Abzan Amalia Combo has been a solid deck in the format for a while now, and the card is just a perfect fit there. Essentially, the deck revolves around getting Amalia Benevides Aguirre and Wildgrowth Walker into play, then gaining life via something like
Lunarch Veteran
Lunarch Veteran
Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life.
Disturb {1}{W} (You may cast this card from your graveyard transformed for its disturb cost.)
or
Prosperous Innkeeper
Prosperous Innkeeper
When this creature enters, create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")
Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life.
. This will trigger a loop in which you constantly Explore and gain life. In the end, Amalia will reach 20 power, and wipe the rest of the board. Unless your opponent has an answer, they’ll go down in one swing on the next turn.
Lively Dirge is ideal here because it can bring back both combo pieces at once, and even tutor for one if you haven’t drawn it yet. It’s also on-color, so no splashing is necessary. The deck already plays the likes of
Return to the Ranks
Return to the Ranks
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for {1} or one mana of that creature's color.)
Return X target creature cards with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
and Collected Company, but I could see them being phased out due to the sheer consistency Dirge offers the strategy.
Beyond this deck, Lively Dirge is also seeing Pioneer play in other Combo lists. Both Sultai Rona Combo and Esper Greasefang are trying the card since they can easily search up Combo pieces for more consistent wins.
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Standard Success
Pioneer isn’t the only MTG format getting some Lively Dirge love. Standard is too, most notably in the 4-Color Cauldron Combo decks floating around at the moment. These decks leverage
Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate abilities of creatures you control.
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
{T}: Exile target card from a graveyard. When a creature card is exiled this way, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
alongside creatures with activated abilities to generate infinite mana and burn the opponent down with Realm-Scorcher Hellkite. Lively Dirge can bring back the deck’s two most important combo pieces,
Sleep-Cursed Faerie
Sleep-Cursed Faerie
Flying, ward {2}
This creature enters tapped with three stun counters on it. (If it would become untapped, remove a stun counter from it instead.)
{1}{U}: Untap this creature.
and Kami of Whispered Hope, simultaneously. The tutor effect, as always, is appreciated here too.
Interestingly, Lively Dirge is also seeing play in some non-Combo lists in Standard as well. Some Dimir Midrange decks are starting to incorporate the card, using it purely for its toolbox utility rather than a combo finisher. Such decks can grab cards like
Graveyard Trespasser
Graveyard Trespasser
Ward—Discard a card.
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, exile up to one target card from a graveyard. If a creature card was exiled this way, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
and
Night Clubber
Night Clubber
When this creature enters, creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn.
Blitz {2}{B} (If you cast this spell for its blitz cost, it gains haste and "When this creature dies, draw a card." Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.)
as needed, reacting to the opponent’s plans on the fly. It can also just bring back some of your straightforward power cards, like
Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to one of your opponents, its controller may pay 1 life. If they do, they draw a card.
{4}{B}{B}{B}, Discard X cards: Exile the top X cards of target opponent's library. You may play lands and cast spells from among cards exiled this way without paying their mana costs.
and
Tinybones, the Pickpocket
Tinybones, the Pickpocket
Deathtouch
Whenever Tinybones deals combat damage to a player, you may cast target nonland permanent card from that player's graveyard, and mana of any type can be spent to cast that spell.
to boot. It’s early days for the card in Midrange decks, but the fact that it’s seeing play outside of Combo decks speaks to its well-rounded overall power.
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Modern Mayhem
Standard and Pioneer aren’t too surprising as homes for a new card. What’s more surprising is that Lively Dirge is also seeing play in the far more competitive Modern. Yawgmoth decks, Midrange-Combo hybrids that can win both fairly and not-so-fairly, have already started trialing the card. This makes a lot of sense since the card supports both sides of the deck’s game plan well. It can grab your
Young Wolf
Young Wolf
Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.)
to set up the combo, along with any other utility creature in the deck. Alternatively, it can tutor Yawgmoth himself right into play from your deck. Either way, a remarkably good fit.
Similarly, Lively Dirge is also seeing play in some Crab Vine lists. The synergy here is even better than in Yawgmoth, since Dirge can drop your copy of
Stinkweed Imp
Stinkweed Imp
Flying
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature.
Dredge 5 (If you would draw a card, you may mill five cards instead. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand.)
into the graveyard to set up Dredge, then reanimate a creature to enable
Prized Amalgam
Prized Amalgam
Whenever a creature enters, if it entered from your graveyard or you cast it from your graveyard, return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped at the beginning of the next end step.
and
Gravecrawler
Gravecrawler
This creature can't block.
You may cast this card from your graveyard as long as you control a Zombie.
. While it is expensive for the deck, Dirge can easily set up lethal turns if cast for five, and as such is likely an addition to Crab Vine that will stick around.
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