Hey Team Stompy, been a long time since I've posted on here. I upgraded decks over the past couple of years, but always loved this deck. I recently sold the majority of my expensive Modern cards, but kept this deck to play whenever I get the chance. About a month and a half ago, I went to FNM and played my old Dungrove list. First Magic event in over three months and went 3-1. I was happy. However, with the new Aether Revolt cards, I decided to build a new deck to try and take advantage of the Revolt mechanic. Here is what I threw together, mistakes and all!
In Round 1, I got paired up against a deck I always lose to, regardless of what I'm playing. Elves. Even tinier green men. I was on the play Game 1 and had no Turn 1 play. Got outraced fast, with two Ezuri triggers in one turn. Game two, he got all the mana dorks. I got him as low as 10 life, but then they played Nissa Revane and gained 14 life. 0-1
For Round 2, I was paired up against Abzan. Game 1, I kept a one lander on the play, because I had lots of action. I didn't see a 2nd land til Turn 7, and a third took a while. I still got him as low as 3 though. Game 2, he had double IoK, but I had a ridiculous amount of threats and pushed the damage through. In Game 3, I had to mulligan due to no land. They had two Thoughtseizes, but I was able to get him down to 6 with Militant beatdown. He pulled off a Damnation to survive, but I was able to Beast Within my own Forest, and finished him off with a Vines kicked. 1-1
My third match I was paired against the resident Burn player. This match raced to three games very quickly. He got me games one and three due to Grim Lavamancer. Game three I had him at 1 life, but was unable to seal the deal. 1-2
The final match of the night had me battling with UW Control. This was another 3 game round, with a close third game. The first game had my opponent keeping a one lander, and I was able to Rancor up a Militant for the win. I kept another bad one-lander in Game 2 and didn't get a 2nd for several turns. Game three I kept a two lander, but that's all I saw until the game was already almost over. I was fighting back after one Supreme Verdict, but then they had to go and get a second one off a small Sphinx's Revelation. He only went back up after he was at 5 and beat me down with Collonades. 1-3
First off, I know I screwed up big with the Mandrills instead of Dismembers. I was trying to be too cute with the extra fetches to try and feed into the delves, but it never made any difference. I also feel that if my mana had been more helpful in a couple of games, I could have gone 2-2 or even 3-1. The Elves matchup was unwinnable, so I don't even worry about that one. I also chose to use B. Defense instead of Aspect simply due to the reduced number of Green mana symbols, since I wasn't playing Baloths. I also felt it was important to try and protect these earlier and bigger threats. A turn 2 4/3 is pretty sweet, I must admit.
I'm debating going back to traditional Stompy for FNM tonight or modifying this list. If I can remember to, I'll try and keep track of what happens and get a report back a little sooner than it took for this one.
I will admit I haven't devoted enough practice time to Aspect over Groundswell, but I really do like the Landfall trigger, and with fetches being more readily available, I am very confident in the card. The fetches also serve a dual purpose in feeding into Become Immense, a card I've been trying out lately. While I'm not 100% sold on it, I definitely think it is something that should be explored more.
I am very excited to see the new Avatar and am glad that Stompy finally got such a fantastic upgrade such as this. I think one part of him that lots of people are skimming over is his reach ability. Now we finally have a mainboard blocker against Infect and Affinity! Smack down those Inkmoths and Vault Skirges!
The main difference from other decklists that I have seen is the inclusion of Temur Battle Rage. I know that in the past this deck has shown difficulty getting past Siege Rhino, but I feel this card can help accomplish that. If you are able to attack with your Rabblemaster and 2 or more goblins, you can cast this on him to trade with the Rhino but also get a few points of damage through. You can also use Titan's Strength on a Swiftspear and then follow up with Battle Rage and all of a sudden you are swinging for 12 points of trample damage.
I do feel the number of creatures may be a bit low, and I may take out the Outbursts for the new Mardu Scout and trim one other card.
Please feel free to critique this very rough and sideboard-less decklist.
Against Splinter Twin, try and save your Vines, or if you know that's their win-con, mulligan down some to try and get one at the beginning of the game.
Also, I know Garett in real life and he took the same deck (some changes to the side) to a PTQ in August that he Top 8'd. I played him in the Swiss and actually managed to beat him, but I will admit it was scary playing against. I got him 2-1, but the two wins were very close even with me having fantastic draws.
While Knuckleblade is pretty freakin' awesome, I have already seen a major uptick in my win percentage both online and in paper by dropping the blue. It is also nice to not have to devote so many slots for mana dorks, with the list running only 4 Elvish Mystics to be able to get out a turn 2 Rabblemaster, Boon Satyr, or Fanatic.
I went to FNM tonight and was able to trade for the last few cards that I needed. I ran Bolt's deck completely except instead of Chandra x2, I played Barrage of Boulders, and 1 Destructive Revelry was a Back to Nature. The store that I prefer to attend has had attendance dropping lately, and with the holidays we only had 18 for FNM. To give you an idea of the drop, just a little over a year ago they had a couple of FNM's with over 100 people. Thankfully, there were some pretty good players (and friends) there tonight. Here's a quick synopsis of how things went:
Round 1-I get paired against a Jeskai Tokens (?) list, but I didn't find out until Game 2 for sure due to my opponent getting land screwed in Game 1. I assumed that he was playing Jeskai instead of just R/W (only saw a Temple of Triumph and a Battlefield Forge) due to the fact he wasn't Sam Black (the only guy who plays only R/W). I sided in Arc Lightnings and Destructive Revelries. My opponent started off slow and I was able to Arc Lightning his Rabblemaster a turn after I had already played my own. From there, I just drew more threats and ran him over. 1-0
Round 2-For this match, I had to play against someone who I always seem to have a hard time beating. He's on U/B Control and I just pace my threats against his kill spells and Vaults. I was able to deal the last 3 damage with a good ol' Lightning Strike. Game 2 he is able to answer my first few threats, but eventually I am just able to stick an Ashcloud Phoenix to finish him off. 2-0
Round 3-My opponent for this game has had some recent success with his deck, winning an IQ/GPT Combo tournament. It's the classic version of Abzan Midrange, as piloted by PT champ Ari Lax. I am able to steal Game 1 because he didn't have a white mana to cast any of his good stuff (Sorin, Rhino, etc.). Game 2 he draws many kill spells and eventually I run out of gas. Game 3 it went the opposite and I was able to use 2 Fated Conflagrations to get rid of a Rhino and then a Courser to stem his mana flow. He ended up with 2 Elspeth's in his hand at the end of the game. He then advised me that our friendship was over. 3-0
Round 4-Myself and the only other 3-0 player decided to split the prize pool but played it out to get the promo. He's on Temur (the deck I just got off of), with the more aggro-esque build complete with Rabblemasters. Game 1 I was able to live the dream and had a turn 2 Rabblemaster. His minions, Fanatics, and Dragons are able to finish him off relatively quickly. It also helped that he got stuck on 2 lands for a bit, although he did have one of each kind of Mystic. In Game 2 I kept a slow hand, but with a lot of strength. I had brought in Barrage to take care of his Goblin tokens, but I was able to use it on turn 3 to kill one of each Mystic, slowing him down greatly. I think that if I had played the Rabblemaster there, I would have lost because his hand was full of gas at that point. I go down to 9 over the next few turns, but then I was able to turn things around and just kept hammering away at his life total, finishing off with a Boon Satyr bestowed on an Ashcloud. 4-0
I did end up as the #1 overall player and got the promo, and my opponent in the last round ended up in second place, so he got one as well. We were both happy to take home shiny Stokes (even though neither of us is using them).
If I were to play this deck again tomorrow at a large event, I really don't know if I would change anything about it. It's a blast to play, consistent, and has lots of power and explosiveness. After playing a sometimes inconsistent Temur deck, this felt so much like my playing style. Overall, a great night and great deck!
I started out this Standard season as a Green Devotion player, first splashing Red, then Green. I then made the switch over to Temur and have been running it with average results for about the past two months. I almost made the change last week, but I ended up because of card availability, but I got the cards last night on MTGO and have most of the paper copies already for Bolt's SCG list. Honestly what really influenced me was watching Frank Lepore's videos last night. It was awesome seeing a non-Elf fan still being able to do well with the deck.
I plan on keeping Bolt's mainboard list intact (assuming I get the other Ashcloud and 2x Rabblemasters, which I should), but will probably make some changes to the side. I'll work on brainstorming throughout the day and will think about what I like and what I don't like.
If I can remember to take good notes, I will try and do a quick write-up on here and let everyone know how my FNM goes with R/G Monsters.
I've been testing Kibler's list on MTGO the past couple days in preparation for an IQ this weekend, so I thought I'd share some thoughts on my time with the deck.
1) Ashcloud Phoenix is awesome, plain and simple. I wasn't really that sold on the card before, but after playing with it for a couple days, it's one of my favorite cards in the deck. It can win a game against control on its own and just wrecks planeswalkers (I was able to get past an Elspeth and Ashiok with it).
2) I don't miss Stormbreath Dragon as much as I'd thought I would. I had tried a more mid-range version of the deck with Coursers, Caryatids, and SBD's, but went 2-2 at FNM twice. While the power level was there, it just didn't seem to get there as much. One instance that I recall distinctly is getting beaten by a control deck with 3 Caryatids on board and my opponent with a grip full of spells. I feel that instead of Stormbreath, it's better to have a Phoenix and that one extra mana up for a Stubborn Denial.
3) Sultai Reanimator is a rough matchup! The only time I win is if I get a much better draw than my opponent or if I get my sideboarded cards at a perfect time to destroy their whip. Last night playing, I got lucky and my opponent cast Satyr Wayfinder, only to mill 2 Whips. I was able to get a strong enough board presence going (including 2 Ashclouds) before he was able to find a 3rd Whip (I was surprised to see the third, to be honest). If this deck continues to see more and more play (which I think it will), a Tormod's Crypt or 2 in the sideboard might be necessary.
4) Heroic decks can be annoying in Game 1, but generally a decent draw with sideboard stuff can do wonders, especially with a full set of Magma Spray in the board. Don't worry about trading threats, such as Heir of the Wilds. If they burn a protection spell in the early game to prevent a trade, that's one less trick up their sleeve.
5)Finally, don't overload your board if you have any counterspells at all in hand. I was able to beat an Esper Control player with only an Heir for most of the game because I didn't overload my board to speed up the damage clock and was instead able to play around board wipes, counter timely kill spells, and even got a Dig Through Time countered with a Disdainful Stroke. I was also able to force my opponent to use an End Hostilities on one guy, which I was then able to follow up with a Knuckleblade with haste.
I'll probably test this deck one more day as is before I start making any changes to the sideboard and maybe deck (it's very solid as is IMO). I think the biggest change will be to put in 1 or 2 Tormod's Crypts to hedge up against Reanimator.
One thing to also consider is Planeswalker Points. If you are wanting to save up points for byes in future GP's, the multiplier at GP's is 8x, so even if you go 0-3 drop, you can still get a substantial amount just for participating.
My wife and I have had this idea for a couple years too, and it does seem like it would be fun. However, the major snag for it is that if I'm not mistaken, Wizards requires you to have a brick & mortar store to be able to host sanctioned tournaments.
The Next Level Gaming is my own LGS and I'm 100% confident that they'll provide a great experience. They have a pretty great singles selection, but I'm guessing there will be other vendors there as well.
See you there
As someone who also goes to TNLG regularly, I feel that I can say they do have a very good selection, but not great. They have some pretty good eternal selections, but their Standard stock is almost always out on some staples. Of course, this could be because so many people buy cards and don't sell as many back to the store.
According to Donnie Noland's Twitter (the TO for GP: Nashville), there will be Cool Stuff, Gaming Etc., Legit MTG, Strike Zone, Channel Fireball, and Alter Reality. They did the vendor invites based off of the number of preregistrations to keep it at about 1 vendor for every 200 players.
My personal favorite of all-time Magic card is hands down Weatherseed Treefolk. I remember it being in the Beatdown preconstructed deck from Urza's Legacy and absolutely loving it! My friends in high school hated it because they couldn't get rid of the thing. I love it so much that years ago at a prerelease tournament in Louisville, KY I was able to get Heather Hudson, the artist, to sign a playset for me. I still have the entire set and haven't split them up.
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
4 Narnam Renegade
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Greenwheel Liberator
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Hooting Mandrills
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
Land
12 Forest
1 Treetop Village
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Beast Within
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Gutshot
1 Oxidize
2 Pulse of Murasa
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Skylasher
2 Unravel the Aether
In Round 1, I got paired up against a deck I always lose to, regardless of what I'm playing. Elves. Even tinier green men. I was on the play Game 1 and had no Turn 1 play. Got outraced fast, with two Ezuri triggers in one turn. Game two, he got all the mana dorks. I got him as low as 10 life, but then they played Nissa Revane and gained 14 life. 0-1
For Round 2, I was paired up against Abzan. Game 1, I kept a one lander on the play, because I had lots of action. I didn't see a 2nd land til Turn 7, and a third took a while. I still got him as low as 3 though. Game 2, he had double IoK, but I had a ridiculous amount of threats and pushed the damage through. In Game 3, I had to mulligan due to no land. They had two Thoughtseizes, but I was able to get him down to 6 with Militant beatdown. He pulled off a Damnation to survive, but I was able to Beast Within my own Forest, and finished him off with a Vines kicked. 1-1
My third match I was paired against the resident Burn player. This match raced to three games very quickly. He got me games one and three due to Grim Lavamancer. Game three I had him at 1 life, but was unable to seal the deal. 1-2
The final match of the night had me battling with UW Control. This was another 3 game round, with a close third game. The first game had my opponent keeping a one lander, and I was able to Rancor up a Militant for the win. I kept another bad one-lander in Game 2 and didn't get a 2nd for several turns. Game three I kept a two lander, but that's all I saw until the game was already almost over. I was fighting back after one Supreme Verdict, but then they had to go and get a second one off a small Sphinx's Revelation. He only went back up after he was at 5 and beat me down with Collonades. 1-3
First off, I know I screwed up big with the Mandrills instead of Dismembers. I was trying to be too cute with the extra fetches to try and feed into the delves, but it never made any difference. I also feel that if my mana had been more helpful in a couple of games, I could have gone 2-2 or even 3-1. The Elves matchup was unwinnable, so I don't even worry about that one. I also chose to use B. Defense instead of Aspect simply due to the reduced number of Green mana symbols, since I wasn't playing Baloths. I also felt it was important to try and protect these earlier and bigger threats. A turn 2 4/3 is pretty sweet, I must admit.
I'm debating going back to traditional Stompy for FNM tonight or modifying this list. If I can remember to, I'll try and keep track of what happens and get a report back a little sooner than it took for this one.
4 Experiment One
4 Dryad Militant
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Leatherback Baloth
4 Groundswell
4 Rancor
2 Become Immense
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
I will admit I haven't devoted enough practice time to Aspect over Groundswell, but I really do like the Landfall trigger, and with fetches being more readily available, I am very confident in the card. The fetches also serve a dual purpose in feeding into Become Immense, a card I've been trying out lately. While I'm not 100% sold on it, I definitely think it is something that should be explored more.
I am very excited to see the new Avatar and am glad that Stompy finally got such a fantastic upgrade such as this. I think one part of him that lots of people are skimming over is his reach ability. Now we finally have a mainboard blocker against Infect and Affinity! Smack down those Inkmoths and Vault Skirges!
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Collateral Damage
3 Dragon Mantle
4 Titan's Strength
4 Lightning Strike
4 Temur Battle Rage
3 Hordeling Outburst
4 Stoke the Flames
18 Mountain
The main difference from other decklists that I have seen is the inclusion of Temur Battle Rage. I know that in the past this deck has shown difficulty getting past Siege Rhino, but I feel this card can help accomplish that. If you are able to attack with your Rabblemaster and 2 or more goblins, you can cast this on him to trade with the Rhino but also get a few points of damage through. You can also use Titan's Strength on a Swiftspear and then follow up with Battle Rage and all of a sudden you are swinging for 12 points of trample damage.
I do feel the number of creatures may be a bit low, and I may take out the Outbursts for the new Mardu Scout and trim one other card.
Please feel free to critique this very rough and sideboard-less decklist.
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/necrotic_ooze_combo_deck_tech_.html
Also, I know Garett in real life and he took the same deck (some changes to the side) to a PTQ in August that he Top 8'd. I played him in the Swiss and actually managed to beat him, but I will admit it was scary playing against. I got him 2-1, but the two wins were very close even with me having fantastic draws.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpden15/top8decklists
His build seems to be a bit more slow than some of the recent agro builds, but overall I think it's pretty close to where we want to be right now.
Round 1-I get paired against a Jeskai Tokens (?) list, but I didn't find out until Game 2 for sure due to my opponent getting land screwed in Game 1. I assumed that he was playing Jeskai instead of just R/W (only saw a Temple of Triumph and a Battlefield Forge) due to the fact he wasn't Sam Black (the only guy who plays only R/W). I sided in Arc Lightnings and Destructive Revelries. My opponent started off slow and I was able to Arc Lightning his Rabblemaster a turn after I had already played my own. From there, I just drew more threats and ran him over. 1-0
Round 2-For this match, I had to play against someone who I always seem to have a hard time beating. He's on U/B Control and I just pace my threats against his kill spells and Vaults. I was able to deal the last 3 damage with a good ol' Lightning Strike. Game 2 he is able to answer my first few threats, but eventually I am just able to stick an Ashcloud Phoenix to finish him off. 2-0
Round 3-My opponent for this game has had some recent success with his deck, winning an IQ/GPT Combo tournament. It's the classic version of Abzan Midrange, as piloted by PT champ Ari Lax. I am able to steal Game 1 because he didn't have a white mana to cast any of his good stuff (Sorin, Rhino, etc.). Game 2 he draws many kill spells and eventually I run out of gas. Game 3 it went the opposite and I was able to use 2 Fated Conflagrations to get rid of a Rhino and then a Courser to stem his mana flow. He ended up with 2 Elspeth's in his hand at the end of the game. He then advised me that our friendship was over.
Round 4-Myself and the only other 3-0 player decided to split the prize pool but played it out to get the promo. He's on Temur (the deck I just got off of), with the more aggro-esque build complete with Rabblemasters. Game 1 I was able to live the dream and had a turn 2 Rabblemaster. His minions, Fanatics, and Dragons are able to finish him off relatively quickly. It also helped that he got stuck on 2 lands for a bit, although he did have one of each kind of Mystic. In Game 2 I kept a slow hand, but with a lot of strength. I had brought in Barrage to take care of his Goblin tokens, but I was able to use it on turn 3 to kill one of each Mystic, slowing him down greatly. I think that if I had played the Rabblemaster there, I would have lost because his hand was full of gas at that point. I go down to 9 over the next few turns, but then I was able to turn things around and just kept hammering away at his life total, finishing off with a Boon Satyr bestowed on an Ashcloud. 4-0
I did end up as the #1 overall player and got the promo, and my opponent in the last round ended up in second place, so he got one as well. We were both happy to take home shiny Stokes (even though neither of us is using them).
If I were to play this deck again tomorrow at a large event, I really don't know if I would change anything about it. It's a blast to play, consistent, and has lots of power and explosiveness. After playing a sometimes inconsistent Temur deck, this felt so much like my playing style. Overall, a great night and great deck!
I plan on keeping Bolt's mainboard list intact (assuming I get the other Ashcloud and 2x Rabblemasters, which I should), but will probably make some changes to the side. I'll work on brainstorming throughout the day and will think about what I like and what I don't like.
If I can remember to take good notes, I will try and do a quick write-up on here and let everyone know how my FNM goes with R/G Monsters.
1) Ashcloud Phoenix is awesome, plain and simple. I wasn't really that sold on the card before, but after playing with it for a couple days, it's one of my favorite cards in the deck. It can win a game against control on its own and just wrecks planeswalkers (I was able to get past an Elspeth and Ashiok with it).
2) I don't miss Stormbreath Dragon as much as I'd thought I would. I had tried a more mid-range version of the deck with Coursers, Caryatids, and SBD's, but went 2-2 at FNM twice. While the power level was there, it just didn't seem to get there as much. One instance that I recall distinctly is getting beaten by a control deck with 3 Caryatids on board and my opponent with a grip full of spells. I feel that instead of Stormbreath, it's better to have a Phoenix and that one extra mana up for a Stubborn Denial.
3) Sultai Reanimator is a rough matchup! The only time I win is if I get a much better draw than my opponent or if I get my sideboarded cards at a perfect time to destroy their whip. Last night playing, I got lucky and my opponent cast Satyr Wayfinder, only to mill 2 Whips. I was able to get a strong enough board presence going (including 2 Ashclouds) before he was able to find a 3rd Whip (I was surprised to see the third, to be honest). If this deck continues to see more and more play (which I think it will), a Tormod's Crypt or 2 in the sideboard might be necessary.
4) Heroic decks can be annoying in Game 1, but generally a decent draw with sideboard stuff can do wonders, especially with a full set of Magma Spray in the board. Don't worry about trading threats, such as Heir of the Wilds. If they burn a protection spell in the early game to prevent a trade, that's one less trick up their sleeve.
5)Finally, don't overload your board if you have any counterspells at all in hand. I was able to beat an Esper Control player with only an Heir for most of the game because I didn't overload my board to speed up the damage clock and was instead able to play around board wipes, counter timely kill spells, and even got a Dig Through Time countered with a Disdainful Stroke. I was also able to force my opponent to use an End Hostilities on one guy, which I was then able to follow up with a Knuckleblade with haste.
I'll probably test this deck one more day as is before I start making any changes to the sideboard and maybe deck (it's very solid as is IMO). I think the biggest change will be to put in 1 or 2 Tormod's Crypts to hedge up against Reanimator.
As someone who also goes to TNLG regularly, I feel that I can say they do have a very good selection, but not great. They have some pretty good eternal selections, but their Standard stock is almost always out on some staples. Of course, this could be because so many people buy cards and don't sell as many back to the store.
According to Donnie Noland's Twitter (the TO for GP: Nashville), there will be Cool Stuff, Gaming Etc., Legit MTG, Strike Zone, Channel Fireball, and Alter Reality. They did the vendor invites based off of the number of preregistrations to keep it at about 1 vendor for every 200 players.