I actually do have 2 Horizon Canopies in there MagicYio, just forgot to include them in the list.
I'm actually looking to start a bit more of a mathematical discussion. Lets start by talking about our most explosive hand possible. The fastest line I can think of is:
T1 Ex1 > T2 Ex1 + Dryad, swing 2 > T3 Narnam(2/3) + Avatar(6/5), swing 10 > T4 SLC + Aspect Swing 20+9 = 41 damage over 4 turns (Ex1 are both a 5/5)
A Geist in place of either the Avatar or the SLC nets a T4 kill as well.
I haven't been able to formulate a T3 kill and frankly I don't think it's possible unless the opponent aggressively fetches and shocks, in which case they're removing our creatures, and we're not getting the T3 kill anyways. Even a hand with 1 E1, 4 Geists and an Aspect is a T4 kill.
I know this is not the current list but;
T1 - E1
T2 - Strangleroot geist, mutagenic on one of them = -6
T3 - Groundbreaker, Mutagenic on two creatures = -15
Total cards spent: 3 forests, 3 mutagenics, 3 creature cards = 9
Even in your corner case exertion justification, you still haven’t presented a scenario where it’s preferable to the Dismember is it likely replacing.
In theory, in match-ups such as merfolk, elves, and even affinity, this could prove to be useful. We have a good collection of creatures that are cmc to p/t efficient and although I hate the part of that card that says "Tap:", I would rather tap my creatures than die horribly to, say, double Elvish Champions. However, this card is falsely advertising card advantage, I think: Sure we can kill two or more creatures with this and we do not lose life, but we still need two creatures to kill two creatures and three to kill three, etc., so I say we can try it as a 1-off in the 60 for a time and see how it goes. I wish we had 1 mana Monstrous Onslaught or a 1 mana instant Nature's Way instead but that's too much I guess.
Also, don't forget that Rhonas can't attack or block alone but can fight till the morning light : P
And the guy who says "splash a color with fetches or your mono color deck is bad": Thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated. You have reminded us of something we had long forgotten.
Ok, based on people's responses I guess the Thrashing Brontodon doesn't make the cut into the our deck.
Another question to the members here. If you have to add one of them to your deck,, which would you add.. a Rhonas or a Ghalta, Primal Hunger? I have been undecided which one of these legendary creatures to use.. Rhonas is easier to cast and resistant to boardwipes + terminate, but having him does not put as much pressure as having a 12/12 ghalta. Ghalta is harder to get onto the battlefield and uncastable as a topdeck on an empty board, but once he hits the board and not killed.. he is a two turn clock.
As much as I like the big dino, I must say that rhonas wins versus ghalta.
1- easier to cast,
2- earlier attack,
3- pumps other guys/double as rancor for a turn,
4- I will say harder to remove because it is only vulnerable to path, whereas ghalta can also die to terminate and other traditional black removal if someone plays, say doom blade or go for the throat. However, rhonas dies to dismember, ghalta dies to 3 dismembers!!!
5- Immune to most mass removal,
So, running Rhonas is better now. If I had one, I would definitely run it over ghalta because it is a team player with expensive rancor ability when necessary and shrugs off most mass removal.
The Thrashing Brontodon is a good creature for its CMC. However, I agree with MaxWB; it is not both things but one of the things and that makes it weaker than ETB creatures like reclamation sage in the utility game and sage is not an efficient beater,so we don't play either. In our deck we always need to find creatures that are "both things"= body to beat with + utility to cripple/hate as are the cases for a lot of our creatures like Dryad, Avatar, Dungrove, Scooze (I will risk being quoted, go ahead and say that "Hexproof is removal hate!" lol). If there existed cards that cared about controlling basic lands and/or had an effect that was based on their counts on the BF, we could use them. Same is true for devotion. We could play something like:
1GG: 3/4, Verdant Stomperhowler
When Verdant Stomphowler ETB, destroy target artifact or enchantment if [you control three basic forests]/[your devotion to green is 4 or more], etc.
It could be an activated ability as well: [Return a basic forest to your hand: destroy target artifact or enchantment]. There is a lot of unexplored design space revolving around budget play.
P.S: I played at another small event again today. 12 players, proxies allowed. I will report later but things didn't go well this time (4 games, 2 losses to two very green decks, 1 win against a dredge variant, 1 draw to UR storm :D).
@Phaircaron:
Great to see the deck steamroll so many other decks like that. Actually when I had first put my stompy deck together, I had four verdant catacombs and a dryad arbor and I used to use it to surprise block Dark Confidants, mana dorks, and chump big dumb things out of nowhere. I like reading reports like that as it gives a lot of insight to how other decks play against ours and how it shows that they are beatable with a few variations and good plays. If the fetches are the key to those victories perhaps we can try them out again. Like I said, I originally ran them in my first iteration of the deck.
@JorgeVyarza:
I am very much interested in your sideboard choices so looking forward to that report. I thought of going the GR way more than once before (actually nearly every year), but was always turned off by the shockland damage and I am seeing you were also afraid of it judging by the split between Stomping Grounds/Cinder Glade (I don't think that is a budget decision at this point with all the moons and fetches). Looks like playtesting this list will be a lot of fun!
@Lugger:
There is a lot of facebeating synergy and disruption. I especially like the hazoret in the sb. which reminds me of cursed scroll somehow. However, the fetch damage seems intimidating. I know the deck runs only one Dismember, but I would -1 the magus and +1 the scooze, anyway. And the inclusion of Thundermaw (even with 4x noble) tells me you got chumped a lot by spirit tokens. But I don't know your deck, and it is is so full of surprises, and the dragon has haste so I cannot really oppose it. Like I said of Jorge's deck: looks fun. Though his looks a bit more streamlined and yours looks even more exciting to play because of the randomness that Bloodbraid brings.
The fetches vs. no fetches / non-budget vs. budget issue:
If you want to playtest the deck with fetches borrow them or proxy them for RL play, see if they really suit your play style or build. Online testing should not be a problem.
In the past, I advocated that new players would be turned off by fetches and I still think the same. On top of that, I think that the mono green version has been baited (greenwheel, rabblebelt elephant, the reverse rogue elephant, etc.)and supported (Scavenging Ooze in the core set, Avatar of the Resolute in Khans, and now Steel Leaf Champion in Dominaria) through the years and it will stand its ground again unless a new combo deck like Splinter Twin dominates the meta once more, so there is not a need to splash right now. But there might be versions and splashes and we can call them stompy as long as the deck plays and feels like a stompy deck (cheap beaters, pumps, low land count, cheap disruption in mb. or from sb., etc). If you have the money, it does not matter. I used to think "the more people play it, the hive mind will grow and people will come up with newer ideas to improve it". That was my reasoning, my rationale. Now that I think of it, there are just as many combinations in magic and in a deck like this less so. Some people open up new combinations by adding in a new color? Fine. And if you are constructing your deck solely on the advice of some people on a forum, you should do more playtests and decide for yourself. It all boils down to how much time and money you got, really. Personally, I cannot spend on MtG as much as I used to because basically it got more expensive as I got older and my priorities have changed, but I have friends to borrow from if need be.
Anyway, I feel a bit awkward saying this but I used to terrorize the Magic Workstation and Cockatrice for sooo many hours and people used to ask for decklists a lot, so I might actually be one of the anonymous fathers of this deck. I am no spike and not a competitive level player and the biggest event I have joined was a national's qualifier(???). The last three years, have been a bumpy ride for me and I could not pay a lot of attention to Modern (although we used to play commander regularly) but I wanted this underdog to come on top, so seeing it become popular and on its feet again makes me so happy.
Thank you. From my experience most aggro have a hard time dealing with Ghalta and most decks which do not run white have a hard time dealing with it (condemn, path to exile, despatch, deflecting palm, etc.). Also, the fear of getting trampled over by a 12/12 pre-historic monstrosity is, I think, one of the worst nightmares a control player might have, so advertising that you have one in your 75 (or 60 in my case) is an advantage. I know people say that it is a win more card, and I agree with them. However, the it also has the win-on-the-spot effect against certain decks: You don't even have to attack with it because god knows what pump spell will buff it the other turn and it secures a win by being there, by providing inevitability. Another thing in favor of it is that the opponent has to deal with as many of your creatures asap. The most efficient way to do this is by boardsweepers so control decks have an edge there. However, if it is not a control deck they are piloting, that poses a problem as the Greenness and power to cmc ratio of our creatures combined with rancor and other pump spells makes us play it for 2-3-4 pretty easily even though one or two of our critters are removed. This is very scary as 12 power (potentially 14 with rancor, aspect and blossoming defense, 16 with vines, 7 with dismember lol) is usually a game ender in turns 3-4-5-6 and so on. So in short it is a good card for us but only as a one-off, like Thrun.
So on February 24th,2018, just affter the unbanning of Jace, The Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf, our local shop owner and TO decided to run a limitless proxy modern tournament to see (I'm guessing) what the meta would be like. When I heard that, as usual I left the shade of my rock, grabbed my deck, and after a few changes to sb and adding in Ghalta, Primal Hunger that I had bought earlier, I decided to join. My main aim was slamming Ghalta onto the board as often as possible but I had doubts about how many times that would be since I thought I would run into Grixis, Tron, and other unfavorable matchups. Our TO and I made a deal as he also approves of Timmy decks to a degree and awards fun interactions: If I can slam Ghalta in all four matches on the battlefield, he will give me an extra prize for that achievement. This was how it went:
Decklist:
Match 1: Janky Tainted Remedy deck with condemn, heroes' reunion, wall of shards, fiery justice and other crazy cards that tried to give me life. 2-1
Game1: I gain some life, lose some life, slam my creatures against the wall of shards a turn or two but win thanks to a timely dismember.
Game2: I side in enchantment hate but see none, I beat some face. The remedy, the wall, and reunion get me to 8. I slam a Ghalta and attack but die to a Condemn
Game3: I keep a Natural State + Deglamer and remove 2 remedies, trample over the wall and win.
Match 2: Mono Blue Merfolk piloted by a promising but inexperienced player. 2-1
Game1: No spreading seas or sea's claim, he hesitates to attack with his 3 lords + cursecatcher, while I also wait for a profitable attack with Strootgeist, 4/4 E1, 4/3 avatar, and a dryad. Then comes Ghalta and we have a combat where most of his team dies. The next turn the 12/12 power pulls a concede from him.
Game2: He has a fast one while I mull to 6: he has aether vial and CA. His side card that taps green dudes arrive. I lose to 4/4 lords. I had sided in chokes but decide to side them out in favor of thrun and natural states.
Game3: We both mull to 5. I keep a Militant, E1, rancorx2 forest hand. He plays island vial. If he had sea's claim I would have lost. I take the turn and attack with the 2/2 E1. Turn 3 he plays a 2 mana merdude. On my turn I slam the rancors on both he does not block and goes down to 10. The other turn he cant find a dude and concedes when I play the baloth (I drew 2 forests). He later tells me he had 4x spreading seas and 4x sea's claim but did not draw any. I exclaim "phew" as that was a narrow escape.
Match 3: Red deck wins with white splash. 2-0
Game1: He plays a 2x monastery Swiftspears, rides the dmg. train till I'm 11 on T3 or so. I also keep attacking with my E1 and Strootguy. Then drop a Dungrove on my T3, a scooze and then another after combat trades. And then he learns who the aggro is.
Game2: Both of us mull to 5 or 6. I keep a 1 forest hand with E1, Avatar, 2xScooze. I see a forest on scry and barely keep my relief in. He is on the go and starts with a Goblin Guide giving me that forest. So far so good. I play E1 and pass. He attacks revealing a Ghalta. We laugh and I don't block. He then searing blazes E1, pass the turn. I draw another land play the avatar and pass. He attacks no blocks and he lightning bolts it. I show no signs of despair and let the fear of Ghalta settle in. I draw 3 more lands, a rancor and a baloth. When the game ended I had a baloth with a rancor on it, 6 lands and a Ghalta in play. He draws his card and scoops. I show him the Feed the clan and he calls BS
I see no path to exiles, or runed halos which he shows were sided in.
Match 4: Nahiri Control piloted by one of my best magic magic buddies with whom we often playtest. This is a 35/65 on his favor.
Game1: I fast aggro him, he has no answers. Ghalta comes in and draws a concede.
Game2: I play choke with Nahiri, the Harbinger on board. I forget that she exiles ench. because I get cocky after G1. 1 cryptic command and two board wipes later, I m looking at Celestial Colonnade chewing on my hps.
Game3: Goes to time as we both had to keep subpar hands and militants+scooze destroy his snappies but dungrove gets countered. He survives my last feeble attacks after pathing the 4/4 scooze and boardwiping some others.
no top 8 as there were only 13 players and we want to do a mixed draft of MM, Eternal, Iconic afterwards. So Ghalta is doable and a star in aggro to aggro matches which are not affinity and which do not attack your CA.
At the end, I win first place (3-3-3-1), 2+1 showdown boosters (+1 bonus for playing a no-proxy deck) and a full art promo Ghalta because I managed to slam it into the board in all 4 matches!!!
Our deck is still kicking now with 12-monstrous-dino-power! Fun times...
P.S: With the inclusion of the new elf, it will be much easier to pull off victories and early Ghaltas as 5 power means a faster clock than Baloth and a lot more rancor friendly (can't be blocked by small dudes, can trample over and kill big dudes, because math!). I am thinking of replacing all baloths with the Steel Leaf Champion as one hidden advantage is that when we dismember a big dude like a 6/6 or a 7/7, even if it does not die this guy will go in for the damage.
Also, I will write a tournament report for a tournament from two weeks ago(!) and in it you can see how easy it was to slam Ghalta, Primal Hunger when the meta is so open for it.
Would definitely try that as a single... but not more than one for me... I hope I'm wrong, but feels like a win-more card, and could easily get stranded in hand if opponent has board wipes.
I don't see it as a 'drop it as soon as possible' card. I think that it's for the decks that keep removing our stuff and then stall the game, win slowly, this stops them from stalling with chumps. Turn 5-6, you should have the power to test with a creature, then drop this if the coast is clear.
Besides, what kills this? Push doesn't, burn doesn't, Dismember doesn't.....so Path and wipes, but our deck already has a brutally hard time with wipes. This isn't part of our aggro plsn, this is a good late game that doesn't impede the rest of our plan. It's like Scooze, play it, if it helps, great, if it eats removal, fine.
I really want to agree with you because paying in creature power instead of mana is such a freebie for a deck like our Stompy...
And on second thought I think I can give it a try in a 3+ Dungrove Elder list with 21 forests. Dungrove can help him drop more reliably than other more removal prone creatures.
Having said that, it still looks like it has narrow playability unless we play mutagenic growths and build around it. That is, if it is good against slow decks only.
Potentially usable in Mono Green Stompy in Modern?
I don't know if it will be any good, but I am sure as heck going to try! Bonus, it makes Scooze even better for us! This could be the card we needed to be a serious deck.
Turn 1: Experiment One
Turn2: Dryad Militant + Rancor on E1 (6 power)
Turn 3: Rancor on Militant and attack. Cast mutagenic growth on one of them (10 power). Vines of Vastwood/Blossoming Defense if necessary and postpone the dinozilla. If not, drop the dinozilla.
or
Play it on turn 4 with creature back-up to get it probably removed.
My verdict: He requires too much work in modern stompy.
Commander stuff.
Some players being more experienced with the deck and magic in general might mistake your lack of experience with them as "thoughtlessness." You might lack the critical number of patterns to recognize that Yisan will do very bad in this kind of deck. However, instead of saying this plainly other users might resort to literary devices. When they do, ignore the devices and if you want to prove them wrong, go test the card that you want to test 20+ matches or so. People who have trodden the same paths usually find common ground. And plz use the "search this thread" function and type in the card that you think will do well in this deck. There is a high probability that people will have already talked about/discused it.
These forums are international grounds. So misunderstandings may happen, there is no need for harsh measures.
If anyone is interested in LD or tax, try running Root Maze instead. T1 one drop, T2 one drop + maze means cumulative extra pseudo-turn(s) against certain decks.
I know this is not the current list but;
T1 - E1
T2 - Strangleroot geist, mutagenic on one of them = -6
T3 - Groundbreaker, Mutagenic on two creatures = -15
Total cards spent: 3 forests, 3 mutagenics, 3 creature cards = 9
I've actually pulled this off once.
I have also done this once:
T1 - Dryad
T2 - Rancor + rancor = -6
T3 - Rancor + aspect = -12
opponent was mana screwed after T1 serum from shock
In theory, in match-ups such as merfolk, elves, and even affinity, this could prove to be useful. We have a good collection of creatures that are cmc to p/t efficient and although I hate the part of that card that says "Tap:", I would rather tap my creatures than die horribly to, say, double Elvish Champions. However, this card is falsely advertising card advantage, I think: Sure we can kill two or more creatures with this and we do not lose life, but we still need two creatures to kill two creatures and three to kill three, etc., so I say we can try it as a 1-off in the 60 for a time and see how it goes. I wish we had 1 mana Monstrous Onslaught or a 1 mana instant Nature's Way instead but that's too much I guess.
Also, don't forget that Rhonas can't attack or block alone but can fight till the morning light : P
And the guy who says "splash a color with fetches or your mono color deck is bad": Thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated. You have reminded us of something we had long forgotten.
Well at least black has Death Pit Offering and Bad Moon so I guess we'll have to make do.
See one of the top comments on Gatherer for Narcissism. Green is sometimes too isolationist like its neighbor white.
As much as I like the big dino, I must say that rhonas wins versus ghalta.
1- easier to cast,
2- earlier attack,
3- pumps other guys/double as rancor for a turn,
4- I will say harder to remove because it is only vulnerable to path, whereas ghalta can also die to terminate and other traditional black removal if someone plays, say doom blade or go for the throat. However, rhonas dies to dismember, ghalta dies to 3 dismembers!!!
5- Immune to most mass removal,
So, running Rhonas is better now. If I had one, I would definitely run it over ghalta because it is a team player with expensive rancor ability when necessary and shrugs off most mass removal.
I still want to run ghalta with mercy killing or fling or rite of consumption
1GG: 3/4, Verdant Stomperhowler
When Verdant Stomphowler ETB, destroy target artifact or enchantment if [you control three basic forests]/[your devotion to green is 4 or more], etc.
It could be an activated ability as well: [Return a basic forest to your hand: destroy target artifact or enchantment]. There is a lot of unexplored design space revolving around budget play.
P.S: I played at another small event again today. 12 players, proxies allowed. I will report later but things didn't go well this time (4 games, 2 losses to two very green decks, 1 win against a dredge variant, 1 draw to UR storm :D).
Great to see the deck steamroll so many other decks like that. Actually when I had first put my stompy deck together, I had four verdant catacombs and a dryad arbor and I used to use it to surprise block Dark Confidants, mana dorks, and chump big dumb things out of nowhere. I like reading reports like that as it gives a lot of insight to how other decks play against ours and how it shows that they are beatable with a few variations and good plays. If the fetches are the key to those victories perhaps we can try them out again. Like I said, I originally ran them in my first iteration of the deck.
@JorgeVyarza:
I am very much interested in your sideboard choices so looking forward to that report. I thought of going the GR way more than once before (actually nearly every year), but was always turned off by the shockland damage and I am seeing you were also afraid of it judging by the split between Stomping Grounds/Cinder Glade (I don't think that is a budget decision at this point with all the moons and fetches). Looks like playtesting this list will be a lot of fun!
@Lugger:
There is a lot of facebeating synergy and disruption. I especially like the hazoret in the sb. which reminds me of cursed scroll somehow. However, the fetch damage seems intimidating. I know the deck runs only one Dismember, but I would -1 the magus and +1 the scooze, anyway. And the inclusion of Thundermaw (even with 4x noble) tells me you got chumped a lot by spirit tokens. But I don't know your deck, and it is is so full of surprises, and the dragon has haste so I cannot really oppose it. Like I said of Jorge's deck: looks fun. Though his looks a bit more streamlined and yours looks even more exciting to play because of the randomness that Bloodbraid brings.
The fetches vs. no fetches / non-budget vs. budget issue:
If you want to playtest the deck with fetches borrow them or proxy them for RL play, see if they really suit your play style or build. Online testing should not be a problem.
In the past, I advocated that new players would be turned off by fetches and I still think the same. On top of that, I think that the mono green version has been baited (greenwheel, rabblebelt elephant, the reverse rogue elephant, etc.)and supported (Scavenging Ooze in the core set, Avatar of the Resolute in Khans, and now Steel Leaf Champion in Dominaria) through the years and it will stand its ground again unless a new combo deck like Splinter Twin dominates the meta once more, so there is not a need to splash right now. But there might be versions and splashes and we can call them stompy as long as the deck plays and feels like a stompy deck (cheap beaters, pumps, low land count, cheap disruption in mb. or from sb., etc). If you have the money, it does not matter. I used to think "the more people play it, the hive mind will grow and people will come up with newer ideas to improve it". That was my reasoning, my rationale. Now that I think of it, there are just as many combinations in magic and in a deck like this less so. Some people open up new combinations by adding in a new color? Fine. And if you are constructing your deck solely on the advice of some people on a forum, you should do more playtests and decide for yourself. It all boils down to how much time and money you got, really. Personally, I cannot spend on MtG as much as I used to because basically it got more expensive as I got older and my priorities have changed, but I have friends to borrow from if need be.
Anyway, I feel a bit awkward saying this but I used to terrorize the Magic Workstation and Cockatrice for sooo many hours and people used to ask for decklists a lot, so I might actually be one of the anonymous fathers of this deck. I am no spike and not a competitive level player and the biggest event I have joined was a national's qualifier(???). The last three years, have been a bumpy ride for me and I could not pay a lot of attention to Modern (although we used to play commander regularly) but I wanted this underdog to come on top, so seeing it become popular and on its feet again makes me so happy.
Sorry for the long post here take this:
Decklist:
4 Experiment One
4 Dryad Militant
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Dungrove Elder
4 Avatar of the Resolute
3 Leatherback Baloth
1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
4 Rancor
// Instant
4 Vines of Vastwood
2 Dismember
2 Blossoming Defense
2 Aspect of Hydra
// Land
20 Forest
1 Treetop Village
2 Torpor Orb
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Dungrove Elder
2 Choke
1 Deglamer
2 Feed the Clan
2 Gut Shot
2 Natural State
1 Unravel the Aether
1 Creeping Corrosion
Match 1: Janky Tainted Remedy deck with condemn, heroes' reunion, wall of shards, fiery justice and other crazy cards that tried to give me life. 2-1
Game1: I gain some life, lose some life, slam my creatures against the wall of shards a turn or two but win thanks to a timely dismember.
Game2: I side in enchantment hate but see none, I beat some face. The remedy, the wall, and reunion get me to 8. I slam a Ghalta and attack but die to a Condemn
Game3: I keep a Natural State + Deglamer and remove 2 remedies, trample over the wall and win.
Match 2: Mono Blue Merfolk piloted by a promising but inexperienced player. 2-1
Game1: No spreading seas or sea's claim, he hesitates to attack with his 3 lords + cursecatcher, while I also wait for a profitable attack with Strootgeist, 4/4 E1, 4/3 avatar, and a dryad. Then comes Ghalta and we have a combat where most of his team dies. The next turn the 12/12 power pulls a concede from him.
Game2: He has a fast one while I mull to 6: he has aether vial and CA. His side card that taps green dudes arrive. I lose to 4/4 lords. I had sided in chokes but decide to side them out in favor of thrun and natural states.
Game3: We both mull to 5. I keep a Militant, E1, rancorx2 forest hand. He plays island vial. If he had sea's claim I would have lost. I take the turn and attack with the 2/2 E1. Turn 3 he plays a 2 mana merdude. On my turn I slam the rancors on both he does not block and goes down to 10. The other turn he cant find a dude and concedes when I play the baloth (I drew 2 forests). He later tells me he had 4x spreading seas and 4x sea's claim but did not draw any. I exclaim "phew" as that was a narrow escape.
Match 3: Red deck wins with white splash. 2-0
Game1: He plays a 2x monastery Swiftspears, rides the dmg. train till I'm 11 on T3 or so. I also keep attacking with my E1 and Strootguy. Then drop a Dungrove on my T3, a scooze and then another after combat trades. And then he learns who the aggro is.
Game2: Both of us mull to 5 or 6. I keep a 1 forest hand with E1, Avatar, 2xScooze. I see a forest on scry and barely keep my relief in. He is on the go and starts with a Goblin Guide giving me that forest. So far so good. I play E1 and pass. He attacks revealing a Ghalta. We laugh and I don't block. He then searing blazes E1, pass the turn. I draw another land play the avatar and pass. He attacks no blocks and he lightning bolts it. I show no signs of despair and let the fear of Ghalta settle in. I draw 3 more lands, a rancor and a baloth. When the game ended I had a baloth with a rancor on it, 6 lands and a Ghalta in play. He draws his card and scoops. I show him the Feed the clan and he calls BS
I see no path to exiles, or runed halos which he shows were sided in.
Match 4: Nahiri Control piloted by one of my best magic magic buddies with whom we often playtest. This is a 35/65 on his favor.
Game1: I fast aggro him, he has no answers. Ghalta comes in and draws a concede.
Game2: I play choke with Nahiri, the Harbinger on board. I forget that she exiles ench. because I get cocky after G1. 1 cryptic command and two board wipes later, I m looking at Celestial Colonnade chewing on my hps.
Game3: Goes to time as we both had to keep subpar hands and militants+scooze destroy his snappies but dungrove gets countered. He survives my last feeble attacks after pathing the 4/4 scooze and boardwiping some others.
no top 8 as there were only 13 players and we want to do a mixed draft of MM, Eternal, Iconic afterwards. So Ghalta is doable and a star in aggro to aggro matches which are not affinity and which do not attack your CA.
At the end, I win first place (3-3-3-1), 2+1 showdown boosters (+1 bonus for playing a no-proxy deck) and a full art promo Ghalta because I managed to slam it into the board in all 4 matches!!!
Our deck is still kicking now with 12-monstrous-dino-power! Fun times...
P.S: With the inclusion of the new elf, it will be much easier to pull off victories and early Ghaltas as 5 power means a faster clock than Baloth and a lot more rancor friendly (can't be blocked by small dudes, can trample over and kill big dudes, because math!). I am thinking of replacing all baloths with the Steel Leaf Champion as one hidden advantage is that when we dismember a big dude like a 6/6 or a 7/7, even if it does not die this guy will go in for the damage.
Also, I will write a tournament report for a tournament from two weeks ago(!) and in it you can see how easy it was to slam Ghalta, Primal Hunger when the meta is so open for it.
Totally agree with that:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/785197-ghalta-primal-hunger-store-championship-promo?comment=76
I really want to agree with you because paying in creature power instead of mana is such a freebie for a deck like our Stompy...
And on second thought I think I can give it a try in a 3+ Dungrove Elder list with 21 forests. Dungrove can help him drop more reliably than other more removal prone creatures.
Having said that, it still looks like it has narrow playability unless we play mutagenic growths and build around it. That is, if it is good against slow decks only.
Turn 1: Experiment One
Turn2: Dryad Militant + Rancor on E1 (6 power)
Turn 3: Rancor on Militant and attack. Cast mutagenic growth on one of them (10 power). Vines of Vastwood/Blossoming Defense if necessary and postpone the dinozilla. If not, drop the dinozilla.
or
Play it on turn 4 with creature back-up to get it probably removed.
My verdict: He requires too much work in modern stompy.
Commander stuff.
Some players being more experienced with the deck and magic in general might mistake your lack of experience with them as "thoughtlessness." You might lack the critical number of patterns to recognize that Yisan will do very bad in this kind of deck. However, instead of saying this plainly other users might resort to literary devices. When they do, ignore the devices and if you want to prove them wrong, go test the card that you want to test 20+ matches or so. People who have trodden the same paths usually find common ground. And plz use the "search this thread" function and type in the card that you think will do well in this deck. There is a high probability that people will have already talked about/discused it.
These forums are international grounds. So misunderstandings may happen, there is no need for harsh measures.