Quote from NewModern »Kurczak,
Lets examine the anecdote you present - what's fast here? The three mana sorcery that merely fills your hand (puts nothing into play)? Or the Heritage Druid/Nettle Sentinel interaction? I accept that Lead can pull you into the Heritage/Nettle interaction maybe slightly more consistently than the chord builds, but since Lead doesn't drop bodies into play, you still need to satisfy additional conditions to get the interaction working (like already having multiple sentinels on the battlefield). I think you're grossly misunderstanding the source of your speed.
Consider the two cards in a vacuum. Lead the Stampede is demonstrably slower than Chord of Calling. Lead builds rely much more on the Heritage Druid/Nettle Sentinel interaction to try to keep up with the Chord builds. The Chord builds receive all the same benefits of the Heritage/Nettle interaction but have additional ways to make tempo with summoning-sick bodies, can tutor up the missing parts of the heritage/nettle interaction, and can also put massive tempo generators like Copperhorn Scout into play on the opponent's end step.
Properly constructed Chord builds are faster, and its not particularly close. The chord builds have much, much better numbers consistently achieving Turn 4 kills. The lead builds are much better configured to fight through sweepers and survive attrition strategies.
This, all day this. I played the Lead the Stampede / Sylvan Messenger and while it was still good it was noticeably slower. If it comes to a race to see who can go off first its much slower. The current meta favors going off first over attrition staying ability. There are only a few matchups currently that do attrition fights and one of them (tron) auto wins assuming they stick a resolved Ugin which the Chord build has the option of tutoring a Phyrexian Revoker against which the Lead build cannot do as well. There is just no recovery plan from a resolved ugin unfortunately.
Chord of Calling also allows for a superior sideboarding plan. In my mind, Lead the Stampede is a better plan if there were a big shift to playing control as what was winning. There just aren't enough control decks out there though as it stands for me to think that mainboard Lead the Stampede / Sylvan Messenger is what will get us there over Chord of Calling. I think the possibility of sideboarding into some of them might be something to consider but for the most part I like the flexibility and speed of Chord of Calling over Lead the Stampede.
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https://twitter.com/StarCityGames/status/1134139822837305345
https://www.twitch.tv/scgtour
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The non-budget version of the deck (about $1100) makes strong use of Liliana of the Veil, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (in combination with utility lands or manlands), and Thoughtseize, among other cash cards. These are way out of the realm of a budget deck, but fortunately there are plenty of solid budget options to replace them, without the deck suffering too much.
The list below will run you ~$100 (paper), and should be able to win you FNMs and leagues/dailies, if only on rare occasion. (A worse version won me an MTGO daily a long time ago, for what it's worth.)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Blackmail
4 Wrench Mind
4 Raven's Crime
2 Delirium Skeins
Enchantments: 7
4 Shrieking Affliction
3 Necrogen Mists
4 Pack Rat
Artifacts: 3
3 The Rack
Planeswalkers: 1
1 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
Instants: 6
1 Dismember
3 Fatal Push
2 Funeral Charm
Lands: 23
21 Swamp
2 Bojuka Bog
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
3 Damping Sphere
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
3 Nyxathid
2 Ratchet Bomb
Compared to the full version, it plays similar and is quite consistent, although it's somewhat less powerful (but about as powerful as we can get on a budget).
If you want to make it even cheaper, the list below downgrades Inquisition and premium removal, bringing the cost to ~$50. It will be a little slower and less reliable, but makes for an okay FNM/MTGO league and kitchen table deck.
4 Divest
2 Blackmail
4 Wrench Mind
4 Raven's Crime
2 Delirium Skeins
Enchantments: 7
4 Shrieking Affliction
3 Necrogen Mists
4 Pack Rat
Artifacts: 3
3 The Rack
Planeswalkers: 1
1 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
Instants: 6
4 Victim of Night
2 Funeral Charm
Lands: 23
21 Swamp
2 Bojuka Bog
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
3 Damping Sphere
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
3 Nyxathid
2 Ratchet Bomb
Still not cheap enough? Below is a ~$20 list that's as about as bare bones as it gets. For the money, it does a good impression, but will be slower, less reliable, and more susceptible to removal. This is fine for the kitchen table but I wouldn't recommend it for FNM or MTGO leagues/dailies.
4 Divest
2 Blackmail
4 Wrench Mind
4 Raven's Crime
2 Delirium Skeins
Enchantments: 4
4 Shrieking Affliction
Creatures: 10
4 Pack Rat
3 Cunning Lethemancer
3 Nezumi Shortfang
1 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage
Instants: 6
4 Victim of Night
2 Funeral Charm
Lands: 23
21 Swamp
2 Bojuka Bog
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
3 Damping Sphere
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
3 Nyxathid
2 Ratchet Bomb
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https://twitter.com/utdzac/status/963086442548355072
https://twitter.com/SamuelHBlack/status/963094653775032320
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Swapped to maindeck Dismember because it helps more than it hurts and is more needed vs Eldrazi decks that have popped up (and Prey Upon is there to swap in vs Burn/whatever). And tweaked the sb - think I added Matrix, Bow, and Eyes. Matrix and Eyes should be obvious; Bow is nice utility. My full changelog here if you're interested.
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Introduction
Stompy is a long-running archetype which features efficient green creatures and pump spells. Its goal is always the same: deal as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. In Modern, we have lots of great, cheap options to facilitate this, many of which are inherently strong meta choices. These often make for explosive games which consistently end on turn 4-5 (in line with other decks in the format).
One of the advantages of Stompy in Modern is it's an inherently cheap deck that doesn't require any truly expensive cards. It's also fairly straightforward to play (although there is definitely a learning curve, and skill is required for optimal results). As such, if you're brand new to Modern and are looking for a starting point, this is a great one.
The Modern version of this deck was created in part by Hans Christian Ljungquist (who posts here as user_369654). You can see his original list below, and also newer lists by him if you explore the thread. The list I have created is based in part on his and partly on my earlier list from 2013. It has been tweaked extensively by myself, with help from others in this thread, including Hans.
The List
17 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Treetop Village
Creatures: 24
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Leatherback Baloth
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Avatar of the Resolute
Other spells: 13
3 Aspect of Hydra
3 Dismember
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Choke
1 Damping Matrix
1 Eyes of the Wisent
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Loaming Shaman
3 Prey Upon
3 Unravel the Aether
This is my highly refined list that's been tested and tweaked quite a bit and is quite strong.
Please note the creatures were very carefully chosen, and that when you are suggesting or testing creatures, they must be 3 toughness or higher, be able to get to 3 toughness or higher and stay there (Experiment One), or otherwise have a very relevant ability stapled onto them (Dryad Militant). This is because we need our creatures to dodge as much popular removal as possible (Electrolyze, Forked Bolt, Pillar of Flame, etc), and also be able to profitably block or trade with as many popular creatures as possible (Young Pyromancer, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Voice of Resurgence, etc). If we can't do that, we need to hurt popular decks hard enough that we don't mind so much that our creature dies easily. This is a strict approach, but it will get you the most competitive version of the deck possible.
Please do not suggest 5 drops; we're an aggro deck with 22 land and can't consistently cast them, nor do we want to. 4-drops are stretching it, but could be worth it. We also don't want more than 21-22 land, lest we turn into a midrange deck.
Splash Lists
Monogreen has its benefits (consistency, no life loss from lands or spells if we run Prey Upon instead of Dismember, the broken Aspect of Hydra), but splashing certainly has its benefits, too, so with that in mind, below are some user-made splash lists you may wish to try / use as a starting point for your own splash list.
This list trades the power of Aspect of Hydra and some higher creature stats for more game against blue and BGx decks. If these decks are heavy in your meta, this could be a great way to go. It also benefits from Path to Exile (great against Wurmcoil which we hate, and in general), as well as some reach from Horizon Canopy.
6 Forest
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
Creatures: 25
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Leatherback Baloth
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Loxodon Smiter
2 Giant Growth
2 Path to Exile
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Choke
2 Creeping Corrosion
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Unravel the Æther
3 Gut Shot
2 Hunt the Hunter
This version also ditches Aspect, and then attempts to abuse Tasigur while benefiting from some great removal in the form of Decay and Dismember. I'm not sure Tasigur is reliably cheap here, but I do like the reach he gives. I'm also not a fan of the anti-synergy of Matrix and Orb. But other than that, it's a great list, and a fine starting point regardless.
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Horizon Canopy
8 Forest
3 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures: 25
3 Kalonian Tusker
4 Leatherback Baloth
4 Experiment One
4 Young Wolf
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Dismember
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Deglamer
2 Choke
1 Torpor Orb
1 Obstinate Baloth
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Pithing Needle
2 Back to Nature
1 Bow of Nylea
1 Beast Within
1 Damping Matrix
Casual Lists
Below are some mostly or entirely untested lists intended for casual play/the kitchen table, although they could potentially put up a decent showing at FNM. If you want a sideboard for them, use the sideboard above as a starting point, but adjust it to reflect what you'll be taking in and out.
4x Charging Badger
20x Forest
2x Treetop Village
4x Garruk's Companion
4x Giant Growth
4x Groundbreaker
4x Rancor
4x Silhana Ledgewalker
4x Spire Tracer
2x Talara's Battalion
4x Vines of Vastwood
4x Mutagenic Growth
4x Garruk's Companion
2x Talara's Battalion
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Strangleroot Geist
4x Rancor
4x Giant Growth
4x Slaughterhorn
4x Æther Vial
4x Vines of Vastwood
20x Forest
4x Dryad Militant
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Garruk's Companion
4x Strangleroot Geist
4x Rancor
4x Giant Growth
4x Slaughterhorn
4x Mutagenic Growth
4x Vines of Vastwood
20x Forest
4x Young Wolf
4x Strangleroot Geist
4x Safehold Elite
4x Kitchen Finks
2x Aspect of Hydra
2x Prey Upon
4x Rancor
4x Vines of Vastwood
4x Life's Legacy
2x Dismember
20x Forest
2x Treetop Village
4x Experiment One
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Strangleroot Geist
4x Vinelasher Kudzu
4x Predator Ooze
4x Hardened Scales
4x Rancor
2x Aspect of Hydra
4x Vines of Vastwood
2x Mutant's Prey
2x Treetop Village
20x Forest
Card choices
Below you can find an in-depth look at the cards in Stompy, including reasons why they're chosen and how they're best used.
Treetop Village
An efficient manland, Village provides us with a much-needed extra body (with evasion no less) that gives us reach, especially against decks with wrath. Coming into play tapped can be a hindrance, but as a 2-of it helps a lot more than it hurts. Some prefer it as a 1-of, but I've never had any real trouble with it as a 2-of.
Dryad Militant
A 2/1 for 1 that hurts Storm, blue decks, and graveyard decks, and evolves Experiment One. Solid card.
Experiment One
One of the best green one drops in the format, Experiment starts off small but consistently grows bigger, often to the point where it can dodge popular removal, or just regenerate through it. It's a bad topdeck and can come at awkward times, but it's well worth it overall. Young Wolf may be better than this in extremely removal heavy metas.
Kalonian Tusker
It's not particularly exciting, but Tusker is undercosted, provides two devotion for Aspect, and dodges popular removal and fares well against most popular Modern creatures, and that makes it the best 2-drop for us, apart from Geist.
Leatherback Baloth
A bigger, better Tusker, Baloth is even more undercosted, dodges even more removal, makes Aspect even better, and fares even better against even more popular Modern creatures. For a lot of decks, this card is a nightmare. To be sure, it's the biggest reason the deck works as well as it does; if it wasn't for Baloth, we'd likely be better off splashing.
Strangleroot Geist
Fast, efficient, has a good devotion count, and typically forces your opponent to 2 for 1 themselves to get rid of it. Excellent card, and one of the other main reasons the deck works as well as it does.
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Scavenging Ooze
A key card to keeping this deck competitive, Ooze shrinks Goyfs and gives us serious game against Burn/RDW, Pod, UWR, and Cruise/Dig decks (mainly Delver).
Aspect of Hydra
Almost always at least a Giant Growth, Aspect often gets up to 4, 5, 6, and even 7 and steals games that couldn't be won otherwise. It's an unfair card, which this deck needs to compete. The first time, opponents never see it coming and after that you'll still likely be able to punish them hard regardless of what they do. You'll encounter a lot of situations where it's late game and the board is full on both sides; you go for the alpha strike and put Aspect on the one unblocked guy or the guy with trample and win. But also sometimes just the raw damage will get you the win a turn earlier than they go off with Splinter Twin or Scapeshift, for example.
Prey Upon
Green's Path to Exile. Some really hate this card for the sorcery speed and creature requirement, but I've done well with it and advocate it. It ensures you stay ahead or at parity in a lot of games where you wouldn't otherwise; the creature clause is very rarely an issue; 1cmc is very relevant because our manabase is tight and we want as much mana as possible to cast threats/pump. Dismember is likely better in metas light on aggressive decks.
Rancor
A very powerful enchantment, Rancor offers a lot for a little, including the ever-important evasion. Yes, you can get 2 for 1'd by it, but as mentioned, almost all of our creatures dodge popular removal, and we have Aspect and Vines, so between that and smart play, you'll be doing the 2 for 1'ing or even 3 for 1'ing most of the time (be sure to bait removal with Rancor then cast Vines or Aspect in response to really piss off your opponent).
Vines of Vastwood
Protection, pump, and hate for Twin and Infect all in one. Solid card.
Choke
Can be nasty against UWR and Twin (and various other blue decks) if dropped at the right time. Not extremely reliable, but when it's good it's really good, and works often enough to be a worthy inclusion.
Unravel the Aether
Critical to deal with Wurmcoil Engine, which is otherwise usually unbeatable for us. Also doubles as Affinity and Ascendancy hate.
Tournament results
Ranaldo Abrego, 5th-8th place at 2015 Modern State Championships - Oregon, 04/09/2015
destricted (3-1) Modern Daily #8124922 4/7/2015
Nick Newman, 1st place at 2015 Modern State Championships - South Carolina, 04/07/2015
Michael Oakes, 2nd place at 2015 Modern State Championships - South Carolina, 04/07/2015
Ferrari Luca, 6th place PPTQ Caos A.D., Savona, Italy, 08/02/2015 (34 players)
Chronoz (4-0) Modern Daily #7815980 on December 29, 2014
Leonardo Getuli, Top 4 PPTQ - Roma - 25/Gen/2015 (40 players)
kevdou, (3-1) Modern Daily 370844282 on December 24, 2014 (In-game screenshot, event screenshot)
Sekiguchi Tetsuya, Top8 in 晴れる屋モダン杯 (30 players) on November 22, 2014
Sekiguchi Tetsuya, Top8 in 晴れる屋モダン杯 (33 players) on November 15, 2014
Sekiguchi Tetsuya, 8th place at Hareruya Modern Cup, Japan (40 players) on November 11, 2014
Sekiguchi Tetsuya, Top8 in 晴れる屋モダン杯 (41 players) on November 9, 2014
Boris Bailloux, 8th place at GPT Madrid - MCB Toulouse (31 players) on October 26, 2014
Jose Alberto Rivera, Top16 in IV Arcanis Deluxe Modern Main Event (136 players) on September 28, 2014
bloodybill420 (3-1) Modern Daily #7466695 on September 15, 2014
Lorenzo Cerchecci, 7th place at GPT: Go To Madrid, Civitavecchia (30 players) on September 11, 2014
Grigelkotten (3-1) Modern Daily #7424668 on September 3, 2014
Benjamin Van Koekenbeek 1st place - PTQ Khans of Tarkir Lille, France (138 players) - August 24, 2014
byper (3-1) / Modern Daily #7401839 on August 24, 2014
2014 Modern State Championships - Montana #5/8 Mono Green Aggro - Kyle Miller - August 3, 2014
Alexander Kerr 5th place - Khans of Tarkir PTQ Bountiful - July 31, 2014
challinan (4-0) / Modern Daily #7283195 on July 16, 2014
William Reiber / HugeElfBoy - 5th place (out of ~55) at Star City Games IQ San Diego, May 24, 2014
HugeElfBoy (3 - 1) / Modern Daily #7074878 on May 10, 2014
Bazaar of Moxen tournament - Hans Christian Ljungquist - 5th place (307 players) - May 3, 2014
Videos
(Credit to to Fat_Buddha for the amazing banner above.)
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