MTG Salvation

my current competitive list has a strong white splash, and is arguably more zoo now than stompy, (there is link in my footer to a tapped out deck list) (white splash hugly helps against decks that are traditionally almost unwinnable when piloted well. like tron and once affinity and to a lesser extent jund.

after a lot of play with the traditional lists (pre kaladesh this was my main modern deck i still miss vines interaction against infect and twin) of the deck, i've gone with the philosophy of to be consistently effective in modern going all in aggro you need another color (or be mono red), what stompy does well is that it midgames better than most aggro (at the cost of a 1-1/2 a turn of speed), can win out of nowhere on a stalled board, finally its difficult to effectively interact with (due to the amout of inbuilt and dedicated protection) so that is where i've tended to lean in my game play and design of the deck. from experimentation i've tended to find leaning into a area where stompy is a little weak as a aggro deck (all out speed, reach, card draw ect), can improve it but you tend to loose to much of the inherent advantages while still being less effective than other options.



i consider the current optimal mb deck list to be something like this


give or take a rhonas and a couple of veils (depending on current meta)
hexdrinker, narnam and giest are the best things the deck can do most of time
followed closely by dryad militant (slightly less after snow ban) but the shut down so much of the meta in small but relevant ways that they are still very worth there slot,

the most flexible slots tend to be the rancors i personally like two but after trying without them the deck functions about as well.

there is also a argument for 1-2 hooting mandrills in a fetch heavy list but i personally feel like hexdrinker and the need for devotion shaves them just below the cut

there is also a argument for Syr Faren lean, i feel like the card lends itself to a 4 savage swipe, 4 rancor build with mandrills.

if we are going for a fetchless/budget (60-70) build then

then something close to this would be my go two. usually i don't include a solid sb, but for this list it needs dismembers, spheres and finks in the 75 to be viable.

hope this helps to understand where i'm coming from

3 Mana? Are you including Rancor? I've rarely had any issue killing things with it. Between Steel Leaf Champion, multiple evolved EOs/PCs, and Avatar they deal with most things. Sure excess damage is fine, but it isn't required.

What do you think about inscription of abundance ? A mono g dromoka’s command

Its not bad unkicked, not that great either but not bad. In Stompy id be more interested in swarm shambler since it can plus itself later on and it has a semi replacement effect in the insect token. Dunno if it replace anything mind but its something to test at least. Admittedly I'm interested in g/w and Conclave Mentor with some of this stuff, but that's just me

could be another tool for us?

maybe builds that already use narnam renegade.. so it would have fetchland support.

I can see what your leaning toward but the issue is as always going to be the re equip cost, and Adventuring Gear has that beat hands down and we still don't play it. If we bounced artifacts or permanent's in some way beneficial to us overall then it wouldn't be a issue. As it stands anything we would equip it to basically has a target painted on it, that it may only get one swing or two if possible and while those swings could be very very big ones it still shrinks at end of turn.

Quote from The Fluff »

could be another tool for us?

maybe builds that already use narnam renegade.. so it would have fetchland support.

If only we'd gotten the color shifted Steep Lynx. But we did get Skyclave Pick-Axe.

EDIT: sorry didn't recognize the alt art. Thought you were talking about Kazandu Mammoth

Quote from EonAon »

I can see what your leaning toward but the issue is as always going to be the re equip cost, and Adventuring Gear has that beat hands down and we still don't play it. If we bounced artifacts or permanent's in some way beneficial to us overall then it wouldn't be a issue. As it stands anything we would equip it to basically has a target painted on it, that it may only get one swing or two if possible and while those swings could be very very big ones it still shrinks at end of turn.

Don't agree that Adventuring Gear beats it hand downs.

what I like about the pick axe is it is a free equip when cast. Also gives one devotion for those still using Experiment One and Aspect of Hydra.

I agree the free equip is a great benefit and I hate to use the dies to removal argument but the re-equip cost is really high for this deck so if/when the creature its on is removed by path, push, bolt, smother, ect it just lays there doing nothing and the mana you would need to re equip it is probably going to be used to cast a creature or spell rather than re-equip regardless of the devotion it brings. Don't get me wrong its initial usefulness can be tremendously swingy but if it cant get there after its been un-equipped it is really dead for the board state. That is why even without the free equip the adventuring gear is superior in that regard as we could actually swing the 1 equip cost and play another beater even though it wont initial equip to the creature. If we ran extra mana sources in the deck I would say the pickaxe would be the superior card since the offset of mana sources could re-equip the card.

what do you think about Kazandu Mammoth // Kazandu Valley instead of treetop village

early game are both taplands but treetop can become a creature later
in mid/ late game mammoth is a bigger creature that give us devotion

for now i run 2 treetop village in my deck but my guts tell my Kazandu Mammoth // Kazandu Valley is just a better replacement

what do you think?

Quote from mithrios11 »

what do you think about Kazandu Mammoth // Kazandu Valley instead of treetop village

I was wondering about this myself. I would suggest there are pros and cons for each. Treetop Village dodges sorcery speed removal and wrath effects, but can be a poor top deck and costs mana to activate each turn you want to attack with it. Kazandu Mammoth on curve is a 3/3 for 3 - not good enough for this deck. If you get to untap with it and you play a build with fetch lands it would hit hard, but lacks evasion.

My gut shot feeling is that it isn't quite good enough in a non fetchland build, but might be worth trying with fetches. Needs testing, which is difficult with how little Modern is actually being played at the moment (not very much, thanks to Pioneer and Covid). I also suspect this deck is falling out of favour a bit, as people look to play newer decks. But it's one I would love to come back to - I've still got an older version of this deck sleeved up. I'd like to upgrade it with some of the newer cards and take it along to FNM to play between draft rounds . . . if anyone else actually has a Modern deck with them!

Does anyone have a more recent list, one they've tested with / used in the last few months?

on the off chance anyone ever checks in

tried the mammoth in a fetch/narnam list, i'm not convinced, if the deck had some more ramp then maybe but in a list that not got alot of lands in rather have a hexdrinker in that slot 9-10 times

have tried Inscription of Abundance in a more budget list and i'm more impressed than i thought i'd be. the +2 counters tends to get stuff out of bolt range and can be used to immediately regenerate a e one, the removal is a little overpriced but at instant speed still solid, and the life gain has been relevant once or twice against burn. it's not a 4 of but 1-2 copy seems to fit nicely (been trialing 2 dismembers 1 inscription 1 Khalni Ambush for my removal package, with the inscriptions sitting in a flexi slot and khalni in a treetop village slot). i also run another inscription in the sb again due to the versatility. they seem to be a little more versatile that a savage swipe build but less directly powerful

Khalni Ambush was a big surprise, and definitely a meta call, but if your in a meta with balanced creature / spell heavy lists its normally better than a
second tree top, and having another mb removal spell in the deck has made games against tribal strategies a more viable.

also tried Swarm Shambler and its ok... im not in love but it plays a little better than you'd think, again its not a card you'd want to draw multiples of, (takes mana to grow, does not trigger eone/pelt.) but if your on a strict budget and cannot afford your 2 hexdrinkers its a very viable option in that slot

as for a current list, i don't have a set one form my budget version as i use them mainly to test new possibilities but this is what id probably go with as being the best option for fnm lvl


chopping the veils of summer and hex drinkers brings the list down the $50 is range but they are both very very good.

Inscription of Abundance and Swarm Shambler both look interesting. Could work in certain builds. Since we use plenty of creatures that use counters.

Also glad that the development of this deck is still ongoing.

Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind Savage Swipe and why it's a lot of peoples go to? I've been using ram through as my cheap removal of choice but I've been told I'm slightly wrong.

So I run 17 basic forests, 4 nurturing peatland, and 2 treetop villages. Do you think that your mana base is better with the thicket and oasis?

Savage Swipe vs Ram Through.. which is the better removal? The swipe cost less and comes with a situational power boost, while ram through is instant speed and no danger of our creature getting killed.. but costs one more. Also interested on the opinions of others on this.

I would personally say rams though since while it does cost one more if used with a large Avatar you get excess burn dmg. Also instant speed. Both are of course better with death touch creatures and the 1cc for swipe would make that shine better if this deck did run such creatures. But the sorcery speed timing in a deck loaded with sorcery speed casts seems ok but not great. Admittedly this is without any gameplay backing either of the assumptions up.

I have no gameplay backing as well... but if I had the chance to play this deck again, would go with ram through - the chance to do extra damage, and instant speed makes it feel more usable for me.

What do you think about the new spoiled card “Old-growth troll” ?
It could replace steel leaf champions in 3 cmc slot?

imho yes, it has an auto protection from removal ( if it die it just return ) and a 4/4 trample is not that worse than a 5/4 pseudo unblockable


also entering in the battle twice is good for experimente one and or pelt collector