Dreadnought

General Plan#

The matchup against Mono U Dreadnought depends heavily on the opponent’s hand.

That’s because Dreadnought can approach the game in two different ways: as a control deck, trying to slow you down with counters and interaction, or as a combo deck, trying to quickly put a Phyrexian Dreadnought into play.

The problem is that the opponent’s combo is extremely compact. It’s essentially two cards, and once the Dreadnought is resolved you have very little interaction in Game 1. A 12/12 with trample closes the game in two attacks, and if you’ve already taken damage from your manabase, it can drastically shrink your available time.

For this reason, the matchup is a very technical race: you have to figure out whether you can afford to play around counters, or whether you have to prevent the opponent from resolving the Dreadnought at all costs.

Game 1#

How You Interact with the Dreadnought#

In Game 1, your main way to interact with the Dreadnought plan is through discard spells:

• Duress;
• Cabal Therapy.

If you cast Cabal Therapy in the early turns and don’t have specific information, the natural call is often Phyrexian Dreadnought. This is especially true if you don’t yet have an immediate win plan and you just want to slow down the opponent’s combo.

If instead you have a card in hand that, once resolved, can quickly win the game, like Survival of the Fittest or Hermit Druid, the choice changes. In these cases, it can be more correct to name the card that would prevent your key piece from resolving or functioning.

The most common calls are:

• Counterspell;
• Foil;
• Gush, in some situations;
• Chain of Vapor, if you suspect the list still runs it.

Lately you see fewer versions with Chain of Vapor, but it’s still a card to consider. It’s important to remember, though, that once the opponent has a Dreadnought in play, Chain of Vapor becomes riskier for them too. If they use it to bounce a lethal Volrath’s Shapeshifter, you can sacrifice a land, copy Chain of Vapor, and bounce their Dreadnought back. From there the situation can get much more complex for both sides.

Your Main Plans#

In Game 1, as in many other matchups, both Hermit Druid and Survival of the Fittest are valid plans. The difference is that here both of them have to be fast enough. You can’t afford a long game if the opponent can resolve a 12/12 in the early turns and protect it with counters.

Hermit Druid is very strong if you can open a clean window, but it’s also fragile against some matchup-specific interactions.

Survival is often very good because, once resolved, it’s impossible for Mono U do interact with. It can quickly become a source of advantage and a kill line.

The point is that resolving an engine isn’t enough: you have to convert it into a win before the Dreadnought kills you.

Cards to Respect#

Counterspell, Foil, and Classic Interaction#

The first category of interaction is obvious: counters.

Mono U Dreadnought can stop your key pieces with:

• Counterspell;
• Foil;
• Daze, if present in some versions;
• Miscalculation or other situational counters, depending on the list.

These are the easiest interactions to read: if the opponent leaves or not mana open, you have to ask yourself whether you can afford to walk into a counter, or whether you should first go through Duress or Cabal Therapy.

Stifle#

Stifle is one of the most important cards to respect.

It doesn’t just serve to make Phyrexian Dreadnought work. It can also interact with many of your lines.

It can shut off:

• the activation of Hermit Druid;
• the trigger of Karmic Guide;
• the untap trigger of Palinchron;
• other relevant triggered or activated abilities during the combo.

This means that even when you think you have the line ready, you have to ask whether you lose to Stifle.

For example, if you try to win with Hermit Druid and the opponent has Stifle, they can simply shut off the Druid’s activation. In that case you don’t win that turn, and if there’s already a Dreadnought on the other side, you may not have another turn.

Likewise, if you cast Volrath’s Shapeshifter with Palinchron on top of the graveyard and you’re counting on the trigger to untap your lands, a Stifle on that trigger can completely break your sequence.

Vision Charm#

Vision Charm is a particularly problematic card, and often a less intuitive one.

Everyone thinks of Vision Charm as part of the Dreadnought plan, but its mode that mills four cards can interact very well against you.

The most important case is with Hermit Druid.

If you activate Hermit Druid and then use Krosan Reclamation to put two cards back on top of your library, the opponent can use Vision Charm to mill those cards. At that point, if you have to draw in your draw step, you have no cards left in your library and you lose the game.

So Vision Charm can turn an apparently safe line into an immediate loss.

It can also interfere with Volrath’s Shapeshifter. For example, if you have Palinchron on top of the graveyard and cast Shapeshifter counting on the untap trigger, the opponent can use Vision Charm to mill cards and change the creature on top of the graveyard. If Palinchron is no longer the relevant creature at the right moment, you lose the trigger or the line doesn’t work as planned.

Against Mono U Dreadnought you therefore have to respect Vision Charm not just as the opponent’s combo card, but as real interaction against your lines.

Brain Freeze#

Some versions can play Brain Freeze.

It’s not always in the list, but it’s a card to consider because it can punish lines where you end up with few or zero cards in your library after Hermit Druid. Like Vision Charm, Brain Freeze can make a full-mill plan very risky if you aren’t sure you can win immediately or protect yourself from losing on the draw step.

Managing Life Total#

In this matchup it’s important to take as little damage as possible from your manabase.

Against a 12/12 trampler, every life point matters. The goal is to make sure the opponent needs at least two attacks to win, not just one.

It isn’t always possible, because your deck needs specific colors and often has to use painlands or City of Brass. But you should avoid unnecessary damage, especially in the early turns.

The question to ask is:

Does this painful mana source actually accelerate my win, or is it just pushing me into Dreadnought range?

If one extra point of damage doesn’t change your line, it’s often better to avoid it.

Post-Sideboard#

Game 2 and Game 3 change significantly because you have access to more interaction.

The cards that usually come in are:

• more discard spells, Duress;
• Xantid Swarm;
• artifact removal, Naturalize or Crumble;
• Uktabi Orangutan;
• at least one Swords to Plowshares, if available.

Swords to Plowshares is very reasonable in this matchup. Giving the opponent 12 life is rarely the main problem: if you’ve removed the Dreadnought, you’ve probably bought enough time to win with one of your combos.

Post-Sideboard Plan#

Post-board your plan is similar to Game 1, but with more tools.

You want to use discard to prevent the opponent from resolving Dreadnought, then try to close in the following turns, ideally protected by Xantid Swarm.

The difficulty is that the opponent often shifts too. Post-board, Dreadnought tends to become even more combo-oriented: the opponent may try to put a 12/12 in play very early, as soon as turn two or turn three, forcing you to have an answer right away.

In these scenarios, Naturalize or Swords alone isn’t enough. You also have to figure out whether the opponent has a counter to protect the Dreadnought.

An ideal sequence can be:

Duress or Cabal Therapy to strip Counterspell/Foil. Then Naturalize, Crumble, or Swords on the Dreadnought. Then use the window you’ve earned to assemble your kill.

If you simply try to remove the Dreadnought without first checking the opponent’s hand, you risk losing to a single counter.

Xantid Swarm#

Xantid Swarm is very strong in the matchup because it forces Mono U Dreadnought to interact preemptively.

If Xantid attacks and the trigger resolves, you can try to win that same turn without fearing Counterspell, Foil, Stifle, or Chain of Vapor. This is especially important because most of the opponent’s interaction is instant-speed.

Xantid also works as a psychological threat: the opponent has to decide whether to counter it, bounce it, or let it resolve, knowing that if it sticks they might lose the ability to interact on the decisive turn.

Back to Basics#

Post-board you also have to consider Back to Basics, present in some lists.

It’s not a card you’ll always see, but it can be very annoying for your manabase. For this reason, when you have multiple answers in hand, you also have to think about how to preserve them.

For example, if you have both Swords to Plowshares and Naturalize, and you need to answer a Dreadnought, it can be correct to use Swords on the Dreadnought and save Naturalize for a potential Back to Basics.

It depends on the spot and on the opponent’s hand, of course, but it’s an important detail: post-board your answers don’t just remove the Dreadnought, they also keep you from losing to problematic permanents.

A Resolved Survival#

A resolved Survival of the Fittest is very strong in this matchup.

Mono U Dreadnought can interact with Survival on the stack, or try to bounce it with Chain of Vapor if they play it, but once Survival sticks it becomes hard to deal with. Without normal access to Disenchant or similar effects, the opponent has to win fast or stop you from using it decisively.

For this reason, when you have Survival, you have to figure out whether it’s better to force it now or protect it with discard. If you think it can resolve, it can become the best plan of the game.

Don’t Be Too Aggressive#

One possible mistake is playing too aggressively with Hermit Druid without respecting the matchup-specific interactions.

Cards like Vision Charm, Brain Freeze, and Stifle can punish lines that would be safe in other matchups. This doesn’t mean Hermit is a bad plan, but it means you have to know exactly which cards make you lose.

Sometimes it’s better to slow down by one turn, use discard, or switch to Survival, rather than activating Hermit Druid in a window that looks fine but is vulnerable to a single card.