I bring it in vs. Delver, Familiar, Stompy, WW, Soul Sisters, W Tokens, Infect, Elves, Delver Fiend, Delver Angler, and decks that I think have standard bearer (sometimes Affinity...if I see them playing a lot of white, sometimes Acid Trip, or sometimes Kuldotha Jeskai). Also, it can help bring Skarrgan Pit-Skulk into play with a blood thirst +1/+1 counter. Some of these matchups I bring all 3 in like Delver...others less.
I recently switched from 4 SB Gutshots to 1 main deck Prey Upon and 2 in the sideboard. I've found tat we don't need Gutshot vs Delver (it's favourable enough as is), and only really love it in Elves. Prey upon works a lot better in killing higher toughness critters in Slivers, UR Fiend, Witches, Affinity and the mirror. Admittedly, some of those a just a dog anyway, so should'nt be considered *hugely* in sideboard construction.
In terms of cards printed in the future, a hypothetical Innistrad set has me hoping for something more in the GG department.
I would think your only out against that deck is Fog. They can counter with Flaring Pain, but needing it will slow them down by a few turns. Also, never forget that you can use Vines of Vastwood to shroud their creatures.
EDIT: v Stronger effects, but not "better" - the increased cost is a nonzero expense.
Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
How does everyone feel about Stompy post-bans? Esper being gone certainly helps (not that we couldn't win but against a good pilot it was tough) however Delver taking a hit means one of our favorite opponents has seen a decline in popularity. It's still a playable deck for sure but not nearly as prevalent as it was pre-bans (based on personal experience and the published data). Affinity has seen an uptick in popularity which is not ideal. It's winnable but not an easy matchup. Tron has also been on the rise to combat Kuldotha Jeskai which is good for Stompy overall (just make sure to pack some enchantment removal to take down COP: Green). Angler Delver also seems popular right now which is slightly unfavorable in my experience (like Affinity we can win, but early Anglers can be tough if we don't have the right mix of pumps or can't go wide) and Jeskai is a presence still. Thankfully UR Fiend combo is not very popular since it's our toughest opponent. Cards that have changed in value (in my estimation):
Increase: Hunger of the Howlpack - I hated this card for a long time but I'm warming up to it now. With one of the Snap decks eliminated and the other weakened it may be at its highest value in a while. Not many of the top decks are easily equipped to handle it (many are relying on damage-based removal). MBC and Angler Delver can answer it sometimes but it's situational and Jeskai has been playing fewer copies of Journey to Nowhere. I got rolled by a Stompy deck that played two copies against me yesterday when I was running Kuldotha Jeskai since I didn't draw a JtN in time.
Vault Skirge/Silhana Ledgewalker - I found both of these bad in previous metagames as well because of the prevalence of Delver decks that could block them easily. I've also always hated how weak they are on their own - if you draw them without a continuous pump spell they're just really ineffective most of the time. Still, against certain decks they can run away with games. In the mirror Vault Skirge is a huge trump if you can get it to stick and it can do good work against Affinity. Silhana can also be tough for decks without sweepers to deal with. Still though, Kuldotha Jeskai exists as a popular deck that can wall these guys out so maybe they still aren't good enough even with less Delver of Secrets.
Mutagenic Growth - Burn is less popular of late and the metagame has slowed down so it might be better than Gather Courage now. It may not seem like a super big deal but it can gain you a small edge choosing the correct one and a lot of that is reading the metagame correctly.
Safehold Elite - With less Esper and less Delver racing is less important and there's more actual removal spells being thrown around so this guy is one of our best ways to get value against most of that removal. You could also count Nest Invader here too, but the Elite is usually better I find unless you really want the Hunger synergy the Eldrazi Spawn has.
Gleeful Sabotage - our best way to fight against Affinity (which is the most popular deck right now) and pretty useful against Kuldotha Jeskai (either setting their lands back or freeing a creature under a Journey). Pack at least 3 if not the full 4.
Decrease: Scattershot Archer - still a worthwhile sideboard card I believe but maindecking it is probably no longer ideal.
River Boa - One "island" deck is dead and another is less prevalent so it loses value based on that. It can be okay against MBC or Jeskai if they don't draw the right answers and it's still a good card for the mirror but it's not an absolute must anymore I don't believe.
Garruk's Companion - like I said for Safehold Elite, racing is less important so this guy loses value for the reason Safehold Elite gains value. He has great stats for racing but in the face of the removal of decks like Jeskai and MBC he struggles. He might still be worthwhile just based on stats alone but he's definitely worse now.
Feed the Clan/Nourish/Brindle Boar/Pulse of Murasa - Burn is less popular and those are the only decks you need them against. This should kind of go without saying though, put anti-Burn tech in your sideboard only when you need to or can afford the spots. Even without any dedicated Burn hate we're still about 50/50 in the matchup so it's not the end of the world to be unprepared.
The untouchables to me are the 16 core 1 drops (Nettle, Quirion, Pit-Skulk, Young Wolf), 4x Rancor, 4x Vines, 4x Groundswell, 1x Bonesplitter, and 17x Forest. Some people play 16 Forests but I believe in most configurations that's rarely correct, especially if you're running Bonesplitter (as most people are). That leaves about 14 cards to play around with maindeck, at least 9 of which should be creatures. I wouldn't consider playing fewer than 25 in this deck, especially given all the removal spell decks. You can have all the nice pump spells in the world but if your board is all dead because you don't run enough creatures it doesn't matter. Tentatively I would try:
The 1/1/1 split of Shinen/Companion/River Boa is not ideal but I'd want to test which is the best. Wild Mongrel is a card more people need to be playing. Especially given the metagame has slowed down it only goes up in value as a way to gain lategame value from extra lands. I usually like to pair Mongrel with its buddy Basking Rootwalla and that still might be correct but I'd want to at least test Vault Skirge and see if the meta has shifted enough in its favor. Rootwalla might still just be a better card, especially with games going longer (meaning you're more likely to be able to utilize the pump). Based on having Vault Skirge you also want Mutagenic Growth (since Gather Courage can't be convoked by it). 1 Hunger of the Howlpack because I don't like drawing it in multiples but I think it could be good right now. This is definitely not optimized but I'd start here for the time being. Slaughterhorn could be worth considering too as its a somewhat versatile card and more realistic to actually cast in a slower metagame.
Sideboard Gut Shot for any stray mono-U Delver decks and also for Standard Bearer, Elves, the mirror match depending on their build. Extra Bonesplitter against decks with lots of big blockers (Affinity especially) and also against grindy decks as repeatable pump. Scattershot for mono-u Delver and white tokens. Gleeful for many decks (primarily Affinity, Jeskai, and Hexproof but it has utility elsewhere). Extra Safehold for control/midrange decks and extra River Boa for Delver, the mirror, and other island-based control decks. It's fine against MBC and Jeskai too (probably better than Vault Skirge for instance). Aerial Volley I think has good value right now. Many of mono-U Delver's creatures die to it and it kills the flipped Delvers and Sultai Scavengers in UB Angler as well as Glint Hawk or Kor Skyfisher in Jeskai and 3 bird tokens against White tokens (or 3 Squadron Hawks). Might be right to run even more copies. Moment's Peace is for UR Fiend combo, the mirror, and Goblins. If Burn makes a comeback I would cut Volley, Moment's Peace, and one of either River Boa or Safehold Elite to make room for 3 lifegain spells.
First of all, congrats! Your opinions look very solid.
I'd like to add 3 Scattershot Archer, 3 Gleeful Sabotage and 2 Epic Confrontation as SB untouchables. The rest is meta-dependent but these cards are too powerful not to SB them right away IMO.
I still love Garruk's Companion. It's close to be untouchable in my deck. The evasion and power counts.
I love Nest Invader because this plant token helps against Daze, Edict effects, fatties, you name it.
I'd like to test Imperiosaur and/or Hooting Mandrills (2 total) and see how they perform.
But I'll never take my Scryb Sprites outta my SB
I'm finding Stompy to be really good for me post bans in league play. Perhaps I'm very lucky, or there's a lot of affinity/kiln fiend pilots out there still learning their decks, but I'm currently over 50% vs all the major matchups. I keep stats on my matches and here's what I've found since the bans:
Affinity, Delver Angler, MBC, Tron, and Kuldotha Jeskai are the most popular decks I've played against (there's been a large noticeable drop in the number of MonoU Delver decks played...at least for me). Every league entry I play at least one of these decks and in some cases, 2-3 of the 5 matches I play are against one of these matchups (different pilots of course). With my current Stompy build, I'm at about:
69% vs Delver Angler (27 matches played)
58% vs Kiln Fiend (31 matches played)
57% vs MBC (52 matches played)
56% vs Tron (includes all versions...39 matches played)
52% vs Kuldotha Jeskai (47 matches)
51% vs Affinity (49 matches)
Of the above, I really only feel favored against Delver Angler and Tron. The rest are 50/50 matchups in my mind except Affinty and Kiln Fiend which are unfavorable.
I seem to go 4-1 or 5-0 every other league entry right now as I'm grinding leagues...followed by a 3-2 or 2-3 showing :(. I very rarely play the mirror. The only below 50% matchup I've faced is Elves (33% vs them with 12 matches played). I think my Kiln Fiend stats are inflated since it seems there's a lot of new pilots for that deck in league play right now. When they figure out the Stompy matchup better, I expect to lose more.
I cannot stress Natural State enough right now. That card has led to some amazing blowouts vs Affinty (there's still a lot of artifacts to target that are under 3CC), Kuldotha Jeskai, and Tron. The 1CC is very important and allows us to put threats down while keeping 1 forest untapped for a potential artifact/enchantment removal spell. The instant speed is critical to remove COP:Green at the end of Tron's turn instead of Sorcery speed Gleeful Sabotage. I like having the option to instant speed destroy an artifact land in response to a Glint Hawk entering the battlefield with no other artifacts in play...or to destroy the current artifact land on turn 2 vs a bounce land entering play. The 2 Gleeful Sabotage seems to be enough for me right now, although I may up that to 3 and remove the singleton Thermokarst. However, I'm not ready to have Natural State as the only artifact/enchantment removal in the sideboard as we still need something to hit 4CC+ artifacts and enchantments.
Affinity, Delver Angler, MBC, Tron, and Kuldotha Jeskai are the most popular decks I've played against (there's been a large noticeable drop in the number of MonoU Delver decks played...at least for me). Every league entry I play at least one of these decks and in some cases, 2-3 of the 5 matches I play are against one of these matchups (different pilots of course).
That's mostly been my experience too. Yesterday I played as Jeskai I played against 2x Affinity, MBC, UR Fiend and Goblins. I think Goblins has been on the uptick as well lately, I've seen it 3 or 4 times in the last 5 leagues I've played whereas pre-bans I saw it maybe once every 5 leagues. Goblins isn't too bad though as long as they don't get to grind you out with Sparksmith/Lifestaff or race you with a Bushwhacker swarm.
I'll give Natural State a try sometime, I can certainly see it being better vs Tron specifically. It's easier to disrupt an early Expedition Map or Prophetic Prism with which can keep them off either Tron lands or the colored mana they need to cast Fangren Marauder and like you said killing COP: green EOT is much more useful than on your turn when they have mana to still activate it. Gleeful usually only gets to hit one thing against them anyways. Still Gleeful is our best answer to Affinity and can be really important against decks like Hexproof where you often need to blow up multiple auras. The value of killing two Journeys is also huge against Kuldotha decks when it comes up though Natural State has some nice interactions as you said. I think maybe a 3/2 split in favor of Gleeful would be good though.
The hype is real, people. Maybe this could even start its own spinoff deck...?
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The nimble mongoose is awesome for sure but it is definitely more of a build around and doesn't really fit into this. I was think sultai tortured existence with our nimble friend.
I have been playing a casual legacy 9-land stompy deck for a long time, but I'm interested in transitioning to Pauper. I have a few questions about the cards you use.
Is Shinen of Life's Roar really that valuable? 2 mana seems like a lot for a card with 1 power, and it can simply be removed before making use of its ability. Why not use something cheaper like Taunting Elf? It costs 1 mana, and you could use it for triggering Hunger of the Howlpack instead of Nest Invader.
River and Mire Boa seem a little weak too, but Island and Swampwalk is solid, and there really aren't many better 2 drop commons. Garruk's Companion has good power, but it still will get eliminated by any sort of removal. I'm not a huge fan of it.
After thinking about it, the typical pauper stompy deck is pretty solid. Being limited to commons, I'm not sure there are better alternatives.
Round 1: 2-0 vs. Mono-Green Stompy
Round 2: 2-0 vs. Goblins
Round 3: 0-2 vs. Elves
Round 4: 2-1 vs. Mono-Green Ramp
Round 5: 2-0 vs. Dimir Control
Top 4 Cut-off
Semifinals: 2-1 vs. Naya Slivers
Finals: 2-0 vs. GW Hexproof
I love this deck and I was killing it in MTGO open play tournament practice. I got ballsy enough and joined a league and went 0-3. Got crushed by valakut, UW control, and jund. Am i doing something wrong, this deck doesnt seem like it can compete?
Have you guys ever had a bug with Hunger of the Howlpack? It sometimes didn't give the additional counters with morbid. It happened some months ago, but I just got pissed off and never played the deck again (since I tried to play without it, but hunger is just awesome).
Has it ever happened to you? Does it happens sometimes nowadays?
I'm thinking about Seeker of Skybreak instead of Quirion Ranger
Then you have to deal with:
1)summoning sickness
2)twice as expensive in a deck that is running an anorexic land base
3)inability to use it on their turn after you use it on your turn
4)inability to "generate" an extra green mana
5)inability to enable landfall
Swordwise Centaur or Garruk's Companion instead of the Nettle Sentinel
1)twice as expensive in a deck that is running an anorexic land base
2)they lack surprise untaps for defensive plays
3)if you run Gather Courage, it enables it to be played for free
Have you guys ever had a bug with Hunger of the Howlpack? It sometimes didn't give the additional counters with morbid. It happened some months ago, but I just got pissed off and never played the deck again (since I tried to play without it, but hunger is just awesome).
Has it ever happened to you? Does it happens sometimes nowadays?
There was a bug a few months ago where Hunger wasn't putting any counters on, it is fixed though.
I think Dromar's excellent post from February last year still stands.
I'm an avid Stompy player, but I've been fairly unhappy with the deck's performance - especially against a field of Hexproof, UR Fiend, Elves & Affinity. The decline of Delver has been a big problem, as it was such a good match up for us.
It feels like Stompy doesn't quite have the tools it needs out of the sideboard: an instant speed fight effect @ 1 mana would be wonderful.
WR Rally can be dicey unless they get clunky draws, and Prismatic Strands out of the sideboard (or, Moment's Peace from Tron) is very, very difficult to get through before they stabalise.
From the UB side of things, I still feel favoured - unless they get off a Crypt Incursion, and then things are dicier: Mongrel is worth it's weight in gold in terms of dodging Evincar's Justice however.
Affinity *can* stumble, but I never feel like it does versus me - Convoked Sabotage never seems as backbreaking as it should be, and we suffer from not having access to Mox Monkey.
Whilst I'm not huge on Vault Skirge, I think it's a necessity to hedge some of our poorer match ups.
I'm still impressed with Wild Mongrel, but it does lose some of it's edge in a Bolt/Blast heavy meta.
I run a pretty similar list, but go for Nest Invader over Elite for it's synergies with Bonesplitter/Skirge/Howlpack, and play a maindeck Shinen as an out to a stalled boardstate.
I think we may be at a point where the biggest advantage of a mono-color deck (consistency) has lost a little bit of value as there are a lot of ways to fix your manabase so that you can get access to other colors to fill in the holes that a mono color deck has, without hurting the consistency of the deck as much as you would have if you attempted it even a year ago.
Also, the banning of Peregrine Drake leaves the format rather light on non-combat based combo decks, which is what aggro tends to have the best match up against. More and more decks fall on the mid-range or control spectrum and they have enough answers to stall aggro. So much so it seems that if the aggro deck can't threaten with some sort of game ending combo (i.e. Kiln Fiend, Infect, Atog/Fling) it's at a real disadvantage in the current metagame.
I think Dromar's excellent post from February last year still stands.
I'm an avid Stompy player, but I've been fairly unhappy with the deck's performance - especially against a field of Hexproof, UR Fiend, Elves & Affinity. The decline of Delver has been a big problem, as it was such a good match up for us.
It feels like Stompy doesn't quite have the tools it needs out of the sideboard: an instant speed fight effect @ 1 mana would be wonderful.
WR Rally can be dicey unless they get clunky draws, and Prismatic Strands out of the sideboard (or, Moment's Peace from Tron) is very, very difficult to get through before they stabalise.
From the UB side of things, I still feel favoured - unless they get off a Crypt Incursion, and then things are dicier: Mongrel is worth it's weight in gold in terms of dodging Evincar's Justice however.
Affinity *can* stumble, but I never feel like it does versus me - Convoked Sabotage never seems as backbreaking as it should be, and we suffer from not having access to Mox Monkey.
Whilst I'm not huge on Vault Skirge, I think it's a necessity to hedge some of our poorer match ups.
I'm still impressed with Wild Mongrel, but it does lose some of it's edge in a Bolt/Blast heavy meta.
I run a pretty similar list, but go for Nest Invader over Elite for it's synergies with Bonesplitter/Skirge/Howlpack, and play a maindeck Shinen as an out to a stalled boardstate.
I don't think Stompy is in too bad of a place right now going off of mtggoldfish's metagame breakdown. Delver is still prominent even if it's not the most popular deck. UB decks tend to be a good matchup (UB Teachings is basically a cake walk while UB Flicker is a bit more competitive but still favorable overall), Tron is around 50/50 depending how heavy they go on hate like Moment's Peace, Circle of Protection: Green, etc. I agree Kuldotha can be tough if they bring a bunch of Standard Bearers to the table but they also durdle around a lot so like Tron we can just crush them before they do anything troublesome. Affinity is a little rough but definitely winnable even if slightly unfavorable.
Hexproof actually isn't that big of a deal. They're probably favored slightly overall just because we have no maindeck hate against their gameplan and they often get a free game 1 win, but after board they get hit by the splash hate for Affinity via Gleeful Sabotage. If Hexproof ever gets really popular we also have the option of Serene Heart to absolutely crush them in post-board games. So I'm not particularly worried about Hexproof at the moment.
Elves and Izzet Blitz on the other hand are tough. Against Elves you just need to bring in whatever removal spells you have (Gut Shot, Epic Confrontation), hope you actually draw them, and hope it's enough to pick off the Elves that matter against you(Wellwisher, Timberwatch Elf, Lys Alana Huntmaster to a lesser degree). If you can pressure them with a Rancor draw and throw them off balance long enough then you can win, but it's not easy. Izzet Blitz is usually a race so fog effects are a nice way to tilt the race in your favor. But they can board dispel to stop them. Game 1 we have little to stop them if they get a good draw. Vines can possibly delay them a turn if we draw it. There's a good chance they just turn 3 you with Kiln Fiend though and there's not a lot we can do about it. Epic Confrontation has come up big for me against them sometimes but the card usually needs help to take out a Cyclops. Luckily Elves and Blitz are only around 10% of the metagame combined.
One of the big things to keep in mind is the mirror of course. Stompy is the most popular deck in the format at the moment so you need to have a plan for the mirror. Vault Skirge is one of the easiest ways to cheese wins in the mirror but I'm really not fond of the card in the current metagame otherwise. It just doesn't do enough against control and is outright bad against decks like Delver and Kuldotha that have ample flyers. So maybe packing 3 Skirge in the board for the mirror (and possibly Affinity) is the best course of action at the moment. Hunger of the Howlpack tends to be very good in the mirror too, so if you can fit more copies of it in your deck that will give you a leg up.
So, Burning-Tree Emissary has been shifted down to common. This is a pretty big game changer for Stompy. I honestly have kind of a love-hate relationship with this card and didn't think it was going to be that good when it was in Standard 5 years ago but I was wrong. The tempo aspect it provides far outweighs it being "merely" a bear. So even though I do hate how it makes you a bit worse in the late game I think it absolutely still has to be played moving forward. It's just too damn good at what it does. Tentatively I'd look at something like this for the maindeck moving forward:
In the past I used to really like running 18 one drops in the main (usually either 2 Basking Rootwalla or 2 Scattershot Archer if Delver was very popular) since
a) it's really important to have a turn 1 creature in your opener (and Pit-Skulk isn't really an ideal turn 1 play) and
b) it gives you a better opportunity to play 3 things by turn 2. That's how you get ahead on tempo which is a key to Stompy's success.
Now however, BTE kind of turns that on its head. Now you can play a 2 drop AND a 1 drop (or another 2 drop) on turn 2....as the old saying goes you get to have your cake and eat it too.
I'm not sure this is the exact right set of 2 drops and pump spells to go with, the important thing to consider when building with BTE in mind is how to maximize the mana it creates. Since it makes a red mana, we need to try and prioritize cards that can actually use this mana if possible. Garruk's Companion is therefore out, even though I do like it. It's fragile but also unique as the only 3 power 2 drop we have access to. And its built in evasion can be a boon when you don't draw a Rancor. But there's nothing we can replace it with so we'll just have to rely on the tempo advantage of BTE to compensate for the loss of that extra point of power (which I think it more than does).
The 2 drop configuration I've chosen is probably not optimal but Mongrel, Safehold Elite, and River Boa are some of the stronger options to consider. Nest Invader could easily slot in for Elite if you want to go on the Hunger plan. Shinen of Life's Roar is another, as is Silhana Ledgewalker. I strongly dislike Ledgewalker in this deck because it's a poor standalone threat but if you do run it then you should certainly be running Hunger of the Howlpack and
probably the full set of Nest Invaders. Possibly Vault Skirge too. Another option is Leafcrown Dryad though I've felt like that card is kind of underpowered for this deck in the past. There's also Brindle Shoat as another resilient threat.
Bonesplitter goes up in stock a bit too. A turn 2 play of BTE + 1 drop + Bonesplitter is really solid and sets up a strong attack force for the following turns. It's possible that we want to go up to 2 Bonesplitters. If the Bonesplitter is already in play then you can use the red mana to equip it too.
Gather Courage could be Mutagenic Growth depending on the meta. I like that BTE dumps a bunch of bodies in play that will happily convoke Gather Courage though.
Since hitting 2 lands is even more important now that we're running fewer 1 drops and more 2 drops we want to play on curve, we absolutely want to be running 17 imo.
edited because I was half asleep and for some reason thought Safehold Elite was (g/w)(g/w)
I've been playing with slightly different version of MonoG for a couple years. I run a specific core of cards and then fill in slots from time to time with new stuff or adjust to a specific metagame. From here on out, my core looks like this
The 4 cycling spells give me at least a small shot at some game one meta against a diverse field. If I really know what to expect, I might tweek these, but, generally I don't. From here, I feel the rest of the deck is optional. I wouldn't give up the convoke package for anything. I have been testing this for years without BTE and have had some mixed results, but, when you run out some turn two convoked creatures, it just creates a board state that many people aren't prepared to handle. Turn 1 Nettle Sentinel into turn 2 BTE -> Nest Invader -> Convoke creature puts you're opponent on a turn 4 clock without any pump spells. and this is with bodies that can get past the 1/3 chaff that a lot of non-agro decks will run. they don't quite get out of range of bolt but there are plenty of options you can include if you need to get there. Land count fluctuates between 17 and 19 depending on if I anticipate I'll face a lot of other agro decks and I want the option to go more midrange.
Once MM3 is legal, I strongly recommend starting with this core and tweeking it to your liking
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In terms of cards printed in the future, a hypothetical Innistrad set has me hoping for something more in the GG department.
EDIT: v Stronger effects, but not "better" - the increased cost is a nonzero expense.
Moment's Peace (and/or Tangle in MTGO) are better Fog effects.
Commander: Child of Alara BURGW, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind UR
Tiny Leaders: Gwafa, Hazid Profiteer UW
Regular Pauper: Stompy G, Mono-G Tron G, Infect G
Increase:
Hunger of the Howlpack - I hated this card for a long time but I'm warming up to it now. With one of the Snap decks eliminated and the other weakened it may be at its highest value in a while. Not many of the top decks are easily equipped to handle it (many are relying on damage-based removal). MBC and Angler Delver can answer it sometimes but it's situational and Jeskai has been playing fewer copies of Journey to Nowhere. I got rolled by a Stompy deck that played two copies against me yesterday when I was running Kuldotha Jeskai since I didn't draw a JtN in time.
Vault Skirge/Silhana Ledgewalker - I found both of these bad in previous metagames as well because of the prevalence of Delver decks that could block them easily. I've also always hated how weak they are on their own - if you draw them without a continuous pump spell they're just really ineffective most of the time. Still, against certain decks they can run away with games. In the mirror Vault Skirge is a huge trump if you can get it to stick and it can do good work against Affinity. Silhana can also be tough for decks without sweepers to deal with. Still though, Kuldotha Jeskai exists as a popular deck that can wall these guys out so maybe they still aren't good enough even with less Delver of Secrets.
Mutagenic Growth - Burn is less popular of late and the metagame has slowed down so it might be better than Gather Courage now. It may not seem like a super big deal but it can gain you a small edge choosing the correct one and a lot of that is reading the metagame correctly.
Safehold Elite - With less Esper and less Delver racing is less important and there's more actual removal spells being thrown around so this guy is one of our best ways to get value against most of that removal. You could also count Nest Invader here too, but the Elite is usually better I find unless you really want the Hunger synergy the Eldrazi Spawn has.
Gleeful Sabotage - our best way to fight against Affinity (which is the most popular deck right now) and pretty useful against Kuldotha Jeskai (either setting their lands back or freeing a creature under a Journey). Pack at least 3 if not the full 4.
Decrease:
Scattershot Archer - still a worthwhile sideboard card I believe but maindecking it is probably no longer ideal.
River Boa - One "island" deck is dead and another is less prevalent so it loses value based on that. It can be okay against MBC or Jeskai if they don't draw the right answers and it's still a good card for the mirror but it's not an absolute must anymore I don't believe.
Garruk's Companion - like I said for Safehold Elite, racing is less important so this guy loses value for the reason Safehold Elite gains value. He has great stats for racing but in the face of the removal of decks like Jeskai and MBC he struggles. He might still be worthwhile just based on stats alone but he's definitely worse now.
Feed the Clan/Nourish/Brindle Boar/Pulse of Murasa - Burn is less popular and those are the only decks you need them against. This should kind of go without saying though, put anti-Burn tech in your sideboard only when you need to or can afford the spots. Even without any dedicated Burn hate we're still about 50/50 in the matchup so it's not the end of the world to be unprepared.
The untouchables to me are the 16 core 1 drops (Nettle, Quirion, Pit-Skulk, Young Wolf), 4x Rancor, 4x Vines, 4x Groundswell, 1x Bonesplitter, and 17x Forest. Some people play 16 Forests but I believe in most configurations that's rarely correct, especially if you're running Bonesplitter (as most people are). That leaves about 14 cards to play around with maindeck, at least 9 of which should be creatures. I wouldn't consider playing fewer than 25 in this deck, especially given all the removal spell decks. You can have all the nice pump spells in the world but if your board is all dead because you don't run enough creatures it doesn't matter. Tentatively I would try:
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
4 Young Wolf
2 Vault Skirge
3 Wild Mongrel
3 Safehold Elite
1 Shinen of Life's Roar
1 River Boa
1 Garruk's Companion
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Groundswell
1 Hunger of the Howlpack
2 Mutagenic Growth
1 Bonesplitter
1 Bonesplitter
3 Gut Shot
3 Scattershot Archer
4 Gleeful Sabotage
1 Safehold Elite
1 River Boa
1 Aerial Volley
1 Moment's Peace
The 1/1/1 split of Shinen/Companion/River Boa is not ideal but I'd want to test which is the best. Wild Mongrel is a card more people need to be playing. Especially given the metagame has slowed down it only goes up in value as a way to gain lategame value from extra lands. I usually like to pair Mongrel with its buddy Basking Rootwalla and that still might be correct but I'd want to at least test Vault Skirge and see if the meta has shifted enough in its favor. Rootwalla might still just be a better card, especially with games going longer (meaning you're more likely to be able to utilize the pump). Based on having Vault Skirge you also want Mutagenic Growth (since Gather Courage can't be convoked by it). 1 Hunger of the Howlpack because I don't like drawing it in multiples but I think it could be good right now. This is definitely not optimized but I'd start here for the time being. Slaughterhorn could be worth considering too as its a somewhat versatile card and more realistic to actually cast in a slower metagame.
Sideboard Gut Shot for any stray mono-U Delver decks and also for Standard Bearer, Elves, the mirror match depending on their build. Extra Bonesplitter against decks with lots of big blockers (Affinity especially) and also against grindy decks as repeatable pump. Scattershot for mono-u Delver and white tokens. Gleeful for many decks (primarily Affinity, Jeskai, and Hexproof but it has utility elsewhere). Extra Safehold for control/midrange decks and extra River Boa for Delver, the mirror, and other island-based control decks. It's fine against MBC and Jeskai too (probably better than Vault Skirge for instance). Aerial Volley I think has good value right now. Many of mono-U Delver's creatures die to it and it kills the flipped Delvers and Sultai Scavengers in UB Angler as well as Glint Hawk or Kor Skyfisher in Jeskai and 3 bird tokens against White tokens (or 3 Squadron Hawks). Might be right to run even more copies. Moment's Peace is for UR Fiend combo, the mirror, and Goblins. If Burn makes a comeback I would cut Volley, Moment's Peace, and one of either River Boa or Safehold Elite to make room for 3 lifegain spells.
I'd like to add 3 Scattershot Archer, 3 Gleeful Sabotage and 2 Epic Confrontation as SB untouchables. The rest is meta-dependent but these cards are too powerful not to SB them right away IMO.
I still love Garruk's Companion. It's close to be untouchable in my deck. The evasion and power counts.
I love Nest Invader because this plant token helps against Daze, Edict effects, fatties, you name it.
I'd like to test Imperiosaur and/or Hooting Mandrills (2 total) and see how they perform.
But I'll never take my Scryb Sprites outta my SB
Cheers!
Commander: Child of Alara BURGW, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind UR
Tiny Leaders: Gwafa, Hazid Profiteer UW
Regular Pauper: Stompy G, Mono-G Tron G, Infect G
Affinity, Delver Angler, MBC, Tron, and Kuldotha Jeskai are the most popular decks I've played against (there's been a large noticeable drop in the number of MonoU Delver decks played...at least for me). Every league entry I play at least one of these decks and in some cases, 2-3 of the 5 matches I play are against one of these matchups (different pilots of course). With my current Stompy build, I'm at about:
69% vs Delver Angler (27 matches played)
58% vs Kiln Fiend (31 matches played)
57% vs MBC (52 matches played)
56% vs Tron (includes all versions...39 matches played)
52% vs Kuldotha Jeskai (47 matches)
51% vs Affinity (49 matches)
Of the above, I really only feel favored against Delver Angler and Tron. The rest are 50/50 matchups in my mind except Affinty and Kiln Fiend which are unfavorable.
My current sideboard is:
3 Natural State
2 Gleeful Sabotage
2 Gut Shot
2 Epic Confrontation
2 Feed the Clan
1 Thermokarst
I seem to go 4-1 or 5-0 every other league entry right now as I'm grinding leagues...followed by a 3-2 or 2-3 showing :(. I very rarely play the mirror. The only below 50% matchup I've faced is Elves (33% vs them with 12 matches played). I think my Kiln Fiend stats are inflated since it seems there's a lot of new pilots for that deck in league play right now. When they figure out the Stompy matchup better, I expect to lose more.
I cannot stress Natural State enough right now. That card has led to some amazing blowouts vs Affinty (there's still a lot of artifacts to target that are under 3CC), Kuldotha Jeskai, and Tron. The 1CC is very important and allows us to put threats down while keeping 1 forest untapped for a potential artifact/enchantment removal spell. The instant speed is critical to remove COP:Green at the end of Tron's turn instead of Sorcery speed Gleeful Sabotage. I like having the option to instant speed destroy an artifact land in response to a Glint Hawk entering the battlefield with no other artifacts in play...or to destroy the current artifact land on turn 2 vs a bounce land entering play. The 2 Gleeful Sabotage seems to be enough for me right now, although I may up that to 3 and remove the singleton Thermokarst. However, I'm not ready to have Natural State as the only artifact/enchantment removal in the sideboard as we still need something to hit 4CC+ artifacts and enchantments.
That's mostly been my experience too. Yesterday I played as Jeskai I played against 2x Affinity, MBC, UR Fiend and Goblins. I think Goblins has been on the uptick as well lately, I've seen it 3 or 4 times in the last 5 leagues I've played whereas pre-bans I saw it maybe once every 5 leagues. Goblins isn't too bad though as long as they don't get to grind you out with Sparksmith/Lifestaff or race you with a Bushwhacker swarm.
I'll give Natural State a try sometime, I can certainly see it being better vs Tron specifically. It's easier to disrupt an early Expedition Map or Prophetic Prism with which can keep them off either Tron lands or the colored mana they need to cast Fangren Marauder and like you said killing COP: green EOT is much more useful than on your turn when they have mana to still activate it. Gleeful usually only gets to hit one thing against them anyways. Still Gleeful is our best answer to Affinity and can be really important against decks like Hexproof where you often need to blow up multiple auras. The value of killing two Journeys is also huge against Kuldotha decks when it comes up though Natural State has some nice interactions as you said. I think maybe a 3/2 split in favor of Gleeful would be good though.
The hype is real, people. Maybe this could even start its own spinoff deck...?
MODERN – LANTERN (aka Fateseal or Barbershop)
Primer – Subreddit – Facebook – Decklist – Gameplay
Thnkr's Content: Gameplay – Datasheet
Each eye sees a different possibility for tomorrow.
CWUBBCCCCCCCBGBGBGCCCCCCCGGURC
Is Shinen of Life's Roar really that valuable? 2 mana seems like a lot for a card with 1 power, and it can simply be removed before making use of its ability. Why not use something cheaper like Taunting Elf? It costs 1 mana, and you could use it for triggering Hunger of the Howlpack instead of Nest Invader.
Young Wolf seems really bad. I can't imagine it being anything other than a 1/1 for 1 in most games. Aren't there any better 1 drops? Some I'd consider: maybe Nimble Mongoose with Land Grant and more pump, Gladecover Scout, Scryb Sprites. Wouldn't Jungle Lion and Mtenda Lion do more damage than Young Wolf, on average?
River and Mire Boa seem a little weak too, but Island and Swampwalk is solid, and there really aren't many better 2 drop commons. Garruk's Companion has good power, but it still will get eliminated by any sort of removal. I'm not a huge fan of it.
After thinking about it, the typical pauper stompy deck is pretty solid. Being limited to commons, I'm not sure there are better alternatives.
4x Young Wolf
4x Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Nest Invader
2x River Boa
2x Silhana Ledgewalker
2x Vault Skirge
4x Rancor
4x Vines of Vastwood
4x Groundswell
3x Hunger of the Howlpack
2x Mutagenic Growth
16x Forest
4x Gleeful Sabotage
4x Scattershot Archer
3x Epic Confrontation
2x Feed the Clan
2x Fog
Round 1: 2-0 vs. Mono-Green Stompy
Round 2: 2-0 vs. Goblins
Round 3: 0-2 vs. Elves
Round 4: 2-1 vs. Mono-Green Ramp
Round 5: 2-0 vs. Dimir Control
Top 4 Cut-off
Semifinals: 2-1 vs. Naya Slivers
Finals: 2-0 vs. GW Hexproof
Has it ever happened to you? Does it happens sometimes nowadays?
Then you have to deal with:
1)summoning sickness
2)twice as expensive in a deck that is running an anorexic land base
3)inability to use it on their turn after you use it on your turn
4)inability to "generate" an extra green mana
5)inability to enable landfall
1)twice as expensive in a deck that is running an anorexic land base
2)they lack surprise untaps for defensive plays
3)if you run Gather Courage, it enables it to be played for free
You can get a playset of Quirion Ranger for seven and a quarter on TCGPlayer currently. Nettle Sentinel isn't that much worse.
RGWNaya BurnRGW+++RGWKiki ComboRGW
UGInfectUG+++++++++.++++++++UGMerfolkUG
GGNykthos WaveGG++++++++++GGStompyGG
BRVampiresBR+++++++.+++++++BRGoblinsBR
WGBogglesWG+++++++++++++CRSkred RedCR
UBRGDredgeUBRG++++++++++BB8 RackBB
URWJeskaiURW+++.++UBRGrixis DelverUBR
URStormUR++++++++UWGBant CompanyUWG
WUBRGHumansWUBRG+CCEldrazi TronCC
There was a bug a few months ago where Hunger wasn't putting any counters on, it is fixed though.
I'm an avid Stompy player, but I've been fairly unhappy with the deck's performance - especially against a field of Hexproof, UR Fiend, Elves & Affinity. The decline of Delver has been a big problem, as it was such a good match up for us.
It feels like Stompy doesn't quite have the tools it needs out of the sideboard: an instant speed fight effect @ 1 mana would be wonderful.
WR Rally can be dicey unless they get clunky draws, and Prismatic Strands out of the sideboard (or, Moment's Peace from Tron) is very, very difficult to get through before they stabalise.
From the UB side of things, I still feel favoured - unless they get off a Crypt Incursion, and then things are dicier: Mongrel is worth it's weight in gold in terms of dodging Evincar's Justice however.
Affinity *can* stumble, but I never feel like it does versus me - Convoked Sabotage never seems as backbreaking as it should be, and we suffer from not having access to Mox Monkey.
Whilst I'm not huge on Vault Skirge, I think it's a necessity to hedge some of our poorer match ups.
I'm still impressed with Wild Mongrel, but it does lose some of it's edge in a Bolt/Blast heavy meta.
I run a pretty similar list, but go for Nest Invader over Elite for it's synergies with Bonesplitter/Skirge/Howlpack, and play a maindeck Shinen as an out to a stalled boardstate.
Also, the banning of Peregrine Drake leaves the format rather light on non-combat based combo decks, which is what aggro tends to have the best match up against. More and more decks fall on the mid-range or control spectrum and they have enough answers to stall aggro. So much so it seems that if the aggro deck can't threaten with some sort of game ending combo (i.e. Kiln Fiend, Infect, Atog/Fling) it's at a real disadvantage in the current metagame.
I don't think Stompy is in too bad of a place right now going off of mtggoldfish's metagame breakdown. Delver is still prominent even if it's not the most popular deck. UB decks tend to be a good matchup (UB Teachings is basically a cake walk while UB Flicker is a bit more competitive but still favorable overall), Tron is around 50/50 depending how heavy they go on hate like Moment's Peace, Circle of Protection: Green, etc. I agree Kuldotha can be tough if they bring a bunch of Standard Bearers to the table but they also durdle around a lot so like Tron we can just crush them before they do anything troublesome. Affinity is a little rough but definitely winnable even if slightly unfavorable.
Hexproof actually isn't that big of a deal. They're probably favored slightly overall just because we have no maindeck hate against their gameplan and they often get a free game 1 win, but after board they get hit by the splash hate for Affinity via Gleeful Sabotage. If Hexproof ever gets really popular we also have the option of Serene Heart to absolutely crush them in post-board games. So I'm not particularly worried about Hexproof at the moment.
Elves and Izzet Blitz on the other hand are tough. Against Elves you just need to bring in whatever removal spells you have (Gut Shot, Epic Confrontation), hope you actually draw them, and hope it's enough to pick off the Elves that matter against you(Wellwisher, Timberwatch Elf, Lys Alana Huntmaster to a lesser degree). If you can pressure them with a Rancor draw and throw them off balance long enough then you can win, but it's not easy. Izzet Blitz is usually a race so fog effects are a nice way to tilt the race in your favor. But they can board dispel to stop them. Game 1 we have little to stop them if they get a good draw. Vines can possibly delay them a turn if we draw it. There's a good chance they just turn 3 you with Kiln Fiend though and there's not a lot we can do about it. Epic Confrontation has come up big for me against them sometimes but the card usually needs help to take out a Cyclops. Luckily Elves and Blitz are only around 10% of the metagame combined.
One of the big things to keep in mind is the mirror of course. Stompy is the most popular deck in the format at the moment so you need to have a plan for the mirror. Vault Skirge is one of the easiest ways to cheese wins in the mirror but I'm really not fond of the card in the current metagame otherwise. It just doesn't do enough against control and is outright bad against decks like Delver and Kuldotha that have ample flyers. So maybe packing 3 Skirge in the board for the mirror (and possibly Affinity) is the best course of action at the moment. Hunger of the Howlpack tends to be very good in the mirror too, so if you can fit more copies of it in your deck that will give you a leg up.
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Young Wolf
4 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
3 Safehold Elite
3 Wild Mongrel
2 River Boa
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Groundswell
1 Bonesplitter
2 Gather Courage
In the past I used to really like running 18 one drops in the main (usually either 2 Basking Rootwalla or 2 Scattershot Archer if Delver was very popular) since
a) it's really important to have a turn 1 creature in your opener (and Pit-Skulk isn't really an ideal turn 1 play) and
b) it gives you a better opportunity to play 3 things by turn 2. That's how you get ahead on tempo which is a key to Stompy's success.
Now however, BTE kind of turns that on its head. Now you can play a 2 drop AND a 1 drop (or another 2 drop) on turn 2....as the old saying goes you get to have your cake and eat it too.
I'm not sure this is the exact right set of 2 drops and pump spells to go with, the important thing to consider when building with BTE in mind is how to maximize the mana it creates. Since it makes a red mana, we need to try and prioritize cards that can actually use this mana if possible. Garruk's Companion is therefore out, even though I do like it. It's fragile but also unique as the only 3 power 2 drop we have access to. And its built in evasion can be a boon when you don't draw a Rancor. But there's nothing we can replace it with so we'll just have to rely on the tempo advantage of BTE to compensate for the loss of that extra point of power (which I think it more than does).
The 2 drop configuration I've chosen is probably not optimal but Mongrel, Safehold Elite, and River Boa are some of the stronger options to consider. Nest Invader could easily slot in for Elite if you want to go on the Hunger plan. Shinen of Life's Roar is another, as is Silhana Ledgewalker. I strongly dislike Ledgewalker in this deck because it's a poor standalone threat but if you do run it then you should certainly be running Hunger of the Howlpack and
probably the full set of Nest Invaders. Possibly Vault Skirge too. Another option is Leafcrown Dryad though I've felt like that card is kind of underpowered for this deck in the past. There's also Brindle Shoat as another resilient threat.
Bonesplitter goes up in stock a bit too. A turn 2 play of BTE + 1 drop + Bonesplitter is really solid and sets up a strong attack force for the following turns. It's possible that we want to go up to 2 Bonesplitters. If the Bonesplitter is already in play then you can use the red mana to equip it too.
Gather Courage could be Mutagenic Growth depending on the meta. I like that BTE dumps a bunch of bodies in play that will happily convoke Gather Courage though.
Since hitting 2 lands is even more important now that we're running fewer 1 drops and more 2 drops we want to play on curve, we absolutely want to be running 17 imo.
edited because I was half asleep and for some reason thought Safehold Elite was (g/w)(g/w)
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Nest Invader
3 Living Totem
2 Kavu Primarch
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Claws of Wirewood
1 Hush
1 Repopulate
1 Lull
The 4 cycling spells give me at least a small shot at some game one meta against a diverse field. If I really know what to expect, I might tweek these, but, generally I don't. From here, I feel the rest of the deck is optional. I wouldn't give up the convoke package for anything. I have been testing this for years without BTE and have had some mixed results, but, when you run out some turn two convoked creatures, it just creates a board state that many people aren't prepared to handle. Turn 1 Nettle Sentinel into turn 2 BTE -> Nest Invader -> Convoke creature puts you're opponent on a turn 4 clock without any pump spells. and this is with bodies that can get past the 1/3 chaff that a lot of non-agro decks will run. they don't quite get out of range of bolt but there are plenty of options you can include if you need to get there. Land count fluctuates between 17 and 19 depending on if I anticipate I'll face a lot of other agro decks and I want the option to go more midrange.
Once MM3 is legal, I strongly recommend starting with this core and tweeking it to your liking