Round 1 vs KotR Scapeshift: Game 1 was a close race until he landed an early Prime Time followed by Scapeshift next turn. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Spellskite, -4 Experiment One) I came out swinging again but a turn 3 Knight of the Reliquary reminded me that this kid plays a weird brew of Scapeshift so I would have been well served by my Relics. We race to the bottom and he knocks me down to one while I have him at 3, I have enough guys on board to block his lethal swing and a Rancor’d Baloth with Bow deathtouch to get me there if he doesn’t go all in, but I die to a topdeck Lightning Bolt.
Round 2 vs Affinity: I was doing well game 1 until he Cranial Plating’d his Vault Skirge, I died not long after that. Game 2 (+2 Unravel the Aether, +1 Creeping Corrosion, +2 Skylasher, +2 Spellskite -1 Thrun, -1 Wilt Leaf, -2 Ooze, -3 Tusker) I ship back an opening hand of 1 Rancor, 3 Forest, 2 Unravel, 1 Corrosion for a decently aggressive hand that includes a Skylasher. I flash in Skylasher to eat his Skirge but Lasher eats a Galvanic Blast instead.
Round 3 vs Monoblack Commons? After two 0-2’s in a row I was paired to the bottom table, game 1 my opponent played 4 Swamps and a Bane Alley Blackguard that he chumped with early and a Gravedigger that got nothing back since I ate his Blackguard with Ooze, I ran him over quickly. Game 2 (+2 Relic, -1 Prey Upon, -1 Tusker) was pretty much the same thing, he had Pharika’s Cure this time to kill an E1 and he played a few draft commons but I beat him not too long after that.
Round 4 vs Living End: Game 1 was very close and was the most interesting game I played all night. I got in some early beats with Militant and two Geists while he did his cycling thing but when he went off on his turn 4 he got 3 guys and I got my Geists back. My turn 4 I dropped an Ooze with Vines in hand to block a 5/6 but when he swung in next turn he played the +1/+0 cascade spell to force the trade and I ended up dying a few turns later. Game 2 (+2 Relic, +1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, -1 Prey Upon, - 2 Tuskers) I opened with a Relic and kept his yard mostly clear while beating down, by the time he drew Krosan Grip it was too late to be paying 3 mana to pop my Relic. Game 3 I had Ooze with Dismember Backup to kill him in response to Living End, but he never saw a cascade spell so couldn’t do much anyways.
A disappointing evening overall, I would certainly like to see the decks I saw in the last half of the night in the first two rounds. I never saw Wild Defiance, so I didn’t get a sense for how it plays, but it seems like it would be good in my UR/URW/URB heavy meta but those aren’t the decks I saw. Bow of Nylea was very good mainboard, its utility makes it a great lategame play and its deathtouch ability makes it a defensible turn 3 play. I found myself missing the second Prey Upon frequently, but I pulled it out for the Wild Defiance, so I wouldn’t have seen it anyways. I go back and forth between 21 and 22 lands, 22 is mathematically better and do find that I can cast Liege and Thrun more consistently at 22, but there are a lot of games where I see a ton of land and not enough gas.
Competition will continue to be stiff for the rest of the month while people playtest for a nearby Modern PTQ at the end of the month, so I may be going back to my tried and true Merfolk for a little bit. If I play this next week I’ll be putting Prey Upon back to 2 and dropping the Tusker to 2, it’s nice on paper to evolve E1 to a 3/3 with a 2 drop but it’s such a removal magnet it never makes it that far anyways, and if it does it’s usually on the back of a Undying Geist or a turn 3 Baloth. I’m considering finding room for a third Ooze, he also eats a ton of removal but hoses a ton of strategies if he can stick around, I may pull a Forest or Wild Defiance if it doesn’t play well. I also got my second Raking Canopy in the mail today so I’ll be jamming that in over Creeping Corrosion in the board, it deals with a much broader range of threats and Corrosion is so likely to get Spell Pierced against Affinity on turn 4 if the game even goes that long.
Looks like I need to learn how to read my cards all the way through, I'm so used to it blocking Delvers and Colonnades I assumed it could take to the skies So that makes the play extra dumb then, next time I'll just bring in the Collar and Unravels.
It's a non-budget move, but I've been experimenting with splashing black so I could replace the 2 Prey Upons and 2 Dismembers with 4 Abrupt Decay. A lot of times when i absolutely have to cast the Dismember, I end up paying 4 life and have it get countered anyway. Backbreaking.
Wondering what's the right way to go about it... Currently, I've been running 4 Verdant Catacombs w/ 4 Overgrown Tombs and 2 Woodland Cemetary. I think that might be too many Tombs.
What do you guys think of the move, and what's the ratio of fetch/shock/buddy lands?
FYI, I run Raking Canopy in the sideboard to deal with guys like Colonnade, Resto, etc.
You're forgetting that you're an aggro deck; include eight removal spells here and you're no longer an aggro deck.
Any thoughts on Thorn of Amethyst in the SB? I picked one up but didn’t know what to cut for it, I’m not even sure if it’s a good idea considering the deck likes the cheap pump spells.
I'm very aware of the card but it's been an easy exclusion for the reason you mentioned.
Yeah, I 'm trying to think of what to do for Storm matchups, especially if I take out the Relics. Wheel of Sun and Moon seems fine until they hit Echoing Truth, Choke is decent against UR and Unravel the Aether is probably fine against Pyromaster Ascension versions.
Also, has anyone played against KCI Eggs/Poached Eggs? KCI eggs has been 3-0-1 (splitting the finals) for the last month at my LGS so there's something about our meta that's letting it do really well. I haven't faced it yet but the Stompy player I lost to in round 2 went up against it in round 3 and he was pretty salty after losing. I haven't played against it yet so I don't know if it's a bad matchup or if it's just something that needs to sideboarded against properly. I would hope to outrace him game 1 and then mull to Wheel of Sun and Moon game 2. I don't think Unravel the Aether would be any good since he can sac KCI to itself in response or sac anything else to KCI/it's own sac ability.
Round 1 Vs. America Control: Game 1 I was on the draw, he blew through his Paths early which ended up being a big help for me because all his countermagic was Remands and Mana Leaks, Rancored Baloths closed out the game. Game 2 (+2 Choke, +1 Raking Canopy, +2 Skylasher, +2 Torpor Orb, +2 Relic of Progenitus, -4 Experiment One, - 1 Bow of Nylea, -2 Kalonian Tusker, -2 Prey Upon) he was able to control the early game with counters and Bolts and swung in with Celestial Colonnade a few times to win. Game 3 I was able to stick an early Choke and Raking Canopy to basically lock him out of doing anything relevant.
Round 2 Vs. Mono Green Stompy: Game 1 on the draw, he curved out for the turn 4 kill. Game 2 (+1 Basilisk Collar, +2 Skylasher, -2 Dismember, -1 Kalonian Tusker) Turn 1 Basilisk Collar clinched the game for me, he conceded after I equipped it on a Rancored Leatherback Baloth on turn 4. Game 3 he mulled to 5 and I kept a reasonable 7, his 5 was the nuts though, t1 Experiment One, t2 Geist, t3 double Rancor t4 Thrun, at least it was over quickly. Siding in Skylasher was dumb, I was thinking of gumming up the ground and going over his head, I would have been much happier with Unravel the Aethers in their place.
Round 3 Vs. UWR Kiki Twin: Game 1 on the draw, I was able to put on a ton of pressure early but it wasn’t enough, he eventually hit Kiki and made a million Resto Angels, I wasn’t expecting that because he was playing it like regular UWR control, I don’t know if that’s a standard wincon for them or not. Game 2 (+2 Choke, +2 Skylasher, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Torpor Orb, +1 Raking Canopy, -4 Experiment One, - 1 Bow of Nylea, -2 Kalonian Tusker, -2 Prey Upon) I stuck Skylashers and Thrun and quickly beat him down before he could draw too many cards. Game 3 I got in some good early beats with a Rancored Dryad Militant but I made a huge misplay by trying for a Choke when he had 4 mana up with a Mana Leak in his yard and I only had 5 mana available. It all went downhill from there culminating in a loss to the combo again.
Round 4 Vs. RG Aggro: Got paired up in the last round so I was not pleased, on the draw again but he bolted himself to get a turn 1 Kird Ape off of Stomping Grounds, he got in some early beats and tried to fight my early smaller guys with a Domri Rade, but eventually my guys got much bigger and became immune to his removal. Game 2 (+1 Basilisk Collar, -1 Kalonian Tusker) he started off with an unexpected turn 2 Spellskite into a turn 3 Domri Rade, but I was able to stick Bow of Nylea on my turn 3 and it turns out gaining three life per turn and losing all of his blockers to Strangleroot Geists was a bad deal for him. He kept his Spellskite around until the bitter end so I had a handful of pump spells and a rancor that weren’t doing much, but eventually I pecked him down to 2 life and was able to trample lethal through.
Dryad Militant was my superstar of the night, even though I ended up losing round 3 to the Snapcaster deck I severely limited his options, it’s important to stay on people though about the exile trigger since both of my graveyard matters opponents kept trying to keep things in the yard. I was also happy with maindeck Bow of Nylea, I cut a forest for it and was still seeing way too many lands most games, I’ll have to keep testing to see if 21 or 22 is where I want to be. I was also happy with Raking Canopy; I’ll pump that up to a two of. Someone finally started playing Affinity this week (and split for first) so Creeping Corrosion will need to stay as a two of; I’m thinking that Relic of Progenitus is the cut here, Mainboard Ooze and Militant seem to be doing fine work on their own although at the expense of losing out a bit to Living End and Tarmogoyf Decks. I’m also going to slot in Wild Defiance over Triumph of Ferocity, I have yet to draw a card off of it in playtesting, I’m thinking I’d prefer to have my guys survive damage based spot removal over the possibility of playing Triumph on an empty board. I’ve been thinking about giving Primal Rage a go as well, especially with maindeck Bow; maybe in place of a Kalonian Tusker.
Any thoughts on Thorn of Amethyst in the SB? I picked one up but didn’t know what to cut for it, I’m not even sure if it’s a good idea considering the deck likes the cheap pump spells.
Edit: Also, I've been considering working in a Maindeck Urborg as a one-of to help with Dismembers but also to work Spreading Algae into the sideboard. I think it's way too cute to be viable but there's a lot to be said for punishing the super greedy manabases. I've also more seriously considered working in a Tec Edge or two, I would hate to see one in the opening hand but sometimes pulling someone off one color can be devastating.
First off, let me give props on the Primer. It's great. So is the deck. I just got into Modern and this deck has been awesome for me. Cheap, easy to play and matches up well against seemingly every deck.
I think the Mainboard list in the Primer works best. I've tried Bow main board and while it's good (especially against Delver and Affinity), it's a bit slow. I'd rather run another creature or a 3rd Aspect of Hydra.
That all said, I wanted to get some takes on Raking Canopy vs. Creeping Corrosion in the sideboard. Raking is great against Delver, Geist Angels, Colonnade and the Affinity Flyers, but Corrosion destroys Vials, equipment, etc. So what's the answer? One over the other, run a combination of both?
Also, thoughts on Eyes of the Wisent... I play in a very Snapcaster/counter heavy meta, so I was thinking of bringing it in over Torpor Orb.
I'm new to Modern, so any insights based on previous experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Canopy could be better than Corrosion; I suppose it can be used against more decks, and it's cheaper and adds to devotion. I'll probably try it out again. If I do I may drop Thrun and Liege to smooth out sideboard plans, and to drop forests for more stuff (maybe Slaughterhorn or Aspect). The downside of Canopy is Affinity may better be able to play around it.
Eyes is nice but I'm not sure it's worth it. I think I'd rather just play Skylasher and call it a day.
I’ll probably be giving Canopy a try since my meta seems to be Affinity light. There are a few Geist of St. Traft and Celestial Colonnade decks floating around so I may get more mileage out of it.
I’ve found Thrun to be a card that can turn games around by himself while Liege is better at turning around games where there’s already a decent board presence, especially if that presence includes more than one Militant. I would think that Liege would be easier cut, but topping out at three would make going down to 19-20 lands more palatable. Even with two 4 drops I think 20 lands is doable, maybe finding a way to work in 2 Slaugterhorn and 1 more Aspect.
I think Eyes might be worth a shot, I’ve come across a few players locally who try to do most of their tricks during my turn at the beginning of my upkeep, presumably to force Vines/Aspect early so I can’t use whatever I draw. Skylasher has been able to fill a good role against blue decks though. Eyes does have the fringe disadvantage of giving Goyf an extra point if it gets blown up.
Thanks for the primer guys, I've built this deck in paper and am enjoying the clear and focused game plan: STOMP FACE. Keep it coming
Yeah but in what condition or against which deck do u wanna bring this into the main?
It's for decks with lots of removal (BGx, UWR); it keeps you at an even keel with all their removal, ensuring you never run out of threats. I've dropped it recently, but that's mainly so sideboarding is smoother. I still like it and it could be ideal in my build and others.
Have you tested it mainboard or sideboard? I rarely run into game 1’s where I don’t have the biggest guy, but I’d prefer to not have something with the potential to be a blank card in the main.
3-1 last night at a local modern event with the list above (6th out of 30), I took out the SB Obstinate Baloth and put in Bow of Nylea.
Round 1 vs. UB Mill: I was on the play game 1, ran him down quickly with about half my deck intact. Game 2 (+1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, +2 Skylasher, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Choke, -1 Thrun, -1 Wilt-Leaf Liege, -2 Kalonian Tusker, -2 Prey Upon, -1 Leatherback Baloth.) In retrospect I should have just added the 7 cards in and not taken anything out, but it didn’t really matter as a turn 3 Choke shut him out of the game.
Round 2 vs. UWR Twin: Game 1 was over pretty fast, his early Paths gave me room to drop bigger stuff early and hold up Vines to keep my guys on the board to win. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Skylasher, +2 Unravel the Aether, +2 Relic of Progenitus, -4 Experiment One, -2 Prey Upon, -2 Kalonian Tusker) Mulled to 6 for an okay hand and was able to maintain a board presence through removal for a long time but didn’t see much gas (I ended up seeing 13 of my 20 forests), and he had enough time to get Celestial Colonnade active and swinging to wear me out. Game 3 I was able to stick turn 2 Torpor Orb into turn 4 Thrun and push through damage before he could respond to it.
Round 3 vs. Melira Pod: Game 1 I had a strong start so he had to focus on defense. A well-timed Prey Upon on Strangleroot Geist screwed up his combat math and he couldn’t block enough power to survive. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Unravel the Aether, +2 Relic of Progenitus) I kept a very greedy one lander that would have been great with turn 2 land draw, unfortunately I didn’t see the second until turn 4 and it was way over before then. Game 3 was going my way until he had Finks and Township online, he went from 3 to 23 over the course of a few turns and I was beat to death by a Reveillark once he was stable and I was out of cards.
Round 4 vs. Nivmagus Combo: Game 1 I was on the play, t1 E1, t2 Strangleroot with Gut Shot on E1 in response to the trigger. T3 Rancor on Geist, play a second Geist but leave it back to block. On his turn 3 he tried to go off but ended up being 1 spell short, he held back one copy of ground rift to stop Geist from blocking but was only able to pump his Nivmagus to 17/18. He blew most of his life on Phyrexian Mana so my 2 Geists were able to finish him off the next turn. Game 2 (+2 Skylasher, -2 Prey Upon) I mulled to 6 for a Skylasher hand and played t1 Dryad Militant who received a Gut Shot and t2 draw go. On his turn 3 he went off successfully and swung with a 6/6 infect double strike Nivmagus but Skylasher stopped him cold. His hand was empty and I was able to finish him off without any trouble. We played some for fun games after since we were done in about 10 minutes, the rest of them went about the same for him.
I also played more practice games against my friend who runs Angel Pod. This week was much worse for me against him, I lost every game although some were pretty close. Torpor Orbs are great until they Pod into Quasali Pridemage or draw Abrupt Decay so they’re not all that great once they know to kill Orb instead of Rancor. Unravel the Aether ended up being quite irritating as both times I shuffled it away against my friend he topdecked another one after the shuffle, but I still think it’s preferable to Nature’s Claim/Naturalize given that Eternal Witness is a thing and Scavenging Ooze never lives that long on his own.
Mainboard Thoughts: Prey Upon- I was very skeptical of Prey Upon when putting this deck together but it does a ton of work. T1 E1, T2 Geist, T3 Prey upon Geist fighting anything with 2 toughness, return evolve E1 to 3/3 play another Geist swing for 8 is great. On the other hand, there are many times where I would love to fight something at instant speed later in the game with Pit Fight. In response to removal, at the end of turn, killing their attackers with tapped down blockers, and so on. I know the mana is tight but I may give it a go, maybe as a 1-of or maybe replacing Dismember. Bow of Nylea- I’d like to work this in mainboard as a 1 of but I’m not sure where the cut is. Probably a Kalonian Tusker since a lot of other stuff evolves E1 on turn 2. Primal Rage or Nylea, God of the Hunt- Basically I’d like to see more trample in the deck, there are many situations where trample on the whole team would turn games completely around. Another local Stompy player runs Garruk’s Companion over Kalonian Tusker for this purpose, but I’m not convinced it’s worth losing the ability to evolve a Rancored E1 with a counter on it or trading with every utility 2/1.
Sideboard thoughts: Skylasher- A good sideboard card, I can see a meta existing where this would be great as a 3 or 4-of Choke- Performs very well, I’ve found it’s biggest weakness to be the relatively high number of checklands I’ve been seeing. Unravel the Aether- Probably the best we’re going to do in this spot, if Twin wasn’t so common locally I’d consider Oxidize in it’s place. Krosan Grip is also a possibility, but three mana is steep for the minor utility it adds Creeping Corrosion- Still haven’t seen Affinity but I’ll keep it just in case Relic of Progenitus- The utility is wide enough that I don’t mind bringing this in against any match where they’re messing with the graveyard, at worst it’s a two mana cantrip. Torpor Orb- A great sideboard card that is unfortunately susceptible to hate most opponents are bringing in for Rancor anyways. I like it better in the Twin matchup than the Pod matchup, which is the inverse of how I’d feel about switching them out for Grafdigger’s Cage. I may give that switch a go since the local meta seems to have an even distribution of Pod and Twin. Wheel of Sun and Moon- Still want to try this out, it would have been great to play this against the mill deck and has pretty decent game against many other fringe decks I’ve seen here. Bow of Nylea- Want to move this one mainboard, may replace it with an extra Orb, Ooze, Relic, Choke, or Skylasher Basilisk Collar- Still want to try this out, doubt it will be a long term inclusion.
I've been running this deck for a few weeks now, playing it over the Merfolk deck I've been running for about a year. I gave the Vial version a shot initially because I had all the pieces and it looked more powerful on paper but it had a hard time getting there consistently, it seems like it needs more disruption or something to shore itself up for when it doesn't open with a perfect hand. I took this version with me to a weeknight Modern event last week and went 3-1:
Round 1 vs Living End: I'd never seen End played before so I wasn't sure why my opponent was cycling a mess of Alara block commons and ignoring what I was doing. I had him dead next turn when he cascaded into Living End, crushing my hopes and dreams. -2 Prey Upon +2 Relic of Progenitus, had a Scooze in my opening hand game 2 and a Relic and Scooze opener game 3 and I ran him over without much resistance.
Round 2 vs Junk: Game 1 the opponent didn't really do much, I don't know if he kept a bad hand or if he was trying to figure out I was playing, but I finished him off by turn 4. +1 Obstinate Baloth -1 Leatherback Baloth, game 2 I was stuck on two lands but fortunately had a handful of Strangleroot Gesits, Rancors, and Vines of Vastwood so his Abrupt Decays were much worse. I knocked him down to three and he died to his Bob trigger.
Round 3 vs Twin: Game 1 my opponent had more Bolts and Snapcasters than I had bodies. +2 Torpor Orb +2 Choke -4 Experiment One, had Orb in my opening hand, it turns out Snaps and Exarch are not very good when they're relegated to flash chumper duty. Game 3 I was able to stick a Choke on turn three but he drew mostly non-Islands so it didn't help much. His Spellskite wrecked my Vines of Vastwood plan and he was able to combo off.
Round 4 vs Infect: Game 1 I was able to Vines in response to his Vines, leaving him out of gas and letting me swing in for lethal the next turn. No sideboard changes, game 2 I had two Strangleroot Geists on the field, turns out they're pretty good chumpers for an unbuffed Glisener Elf and I was able to build up enough of a board presence to finish him off.
Other matches I've played for fun in the last week that are fresh in my mind:
Burn: A very tough race that goes quickly. Out of the 10ish or so games I played against a very skilled burn player I think I won 3-4 of them. A turn 3 Leatherback Baloth on the play was very hard for him to deal with, as were games where his Goblin Guides consistently hit lands. Games without Geist, Scooze, or Leatherback were rough. We didn't run any sideboard games but I'm not sure what I would have brought in, probably Obstinate Baloth and maybe the Relics to keep him off his Lavamancers.
Angel Pod: Putting down a lot of early pressure was key, forcing him to chump before he could start getting value out of Podding things away made things difficult for him, my guys were just bigger faster and the life he spent fetching lands and using Pod early made life very hard for him and the alternative of waiting until he could cast and use Pod without playing life slowed him down too much. I won all but one of the 4-5 games I played. I think Torpor Orb would be quite good against this deck, it shuts off a lot of the value they get out of podding, especially when they need bodies to block.
Merfolk: This one probably isn't an entirely fair representation of how Merfolk matches would go as the matches I played were with a friend who is both new to modern and was borrowing my deck and playing against him to teach it to him before the event started. Knowing that there's not much creature countermagic in my Merfolk deck I was able to run guys out with impunity until I could play around flashed Cursecatchers and Spell Pierces, but a string of early Spreading Seas can be very difficult to deal with. I won every match we played, but I can see a skilled player with a good hand causing a lot of problems for the deck.
This week I'm taking the same maindeck except for the addition of the Wilt-Leaf Liege in place of the Dungrove Elder (so the same as the primer) since I was able to grab one with my store credit winnings. Dungrove Elder was a huge underperformer, seeing him in the first few turns was always a letdown, especially if I saw any Treetop Villages, and drawing him later in the game wasn't all that great because he would either a:) be big enough to pump my E1's at a time in the game where if I still had E1's on the table to evolve I was already winning or b:) would come down on a board where I was out of/low on gas and not do much but threaten to block. I could see him being useful in situations where he could be multi-Rancored and Vinesed, but I think Liege will be able to do a lot more by spreading out the power or immediately eating a piece of removal that would otherwise take out one of my guys who is already swinging in.
Here's my sideboard plan for this week and my rationale for my inclusions:
2 Skylasher- I hadn't considered it against Twin, but I'll give it a try.
2 Choke-Hosing on Blue Decks.
2 Unravel the Aether- General artifact and enchantment hate.
2 Creeping Corrosion- Here for Affinity, I have yet to see an Affinity deck locally but I'd hate to be surprised.
2 Relic of Progenitus- Nice to have against anyone who cares about their graveyard, at worst it cycles for 1.
2 Torpor Orb- It's not my favorite thing in the world to pull out all 4 E1's, but it takes unfamiliar opponents by surprise game 2 if they saw E1 in the first game and it cripples the game plan for a lot of decks.
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon- I'm trying this one out to see how it goes, it will help against the Living End deck and I'm thinking that the benefit of taking away the ability to use the yard for value will outweigh the risk of them getting an extra use out of the card with shuffle or tutor effects.
1 Obstinate Baloth- My least favorite card in the board, it'll be a good surprise for any discard effects where I choose or it's the only legal target and the lifegain will be nice occasionally, but I'm thinking bringing something else up to a 3-of will be better. I may also put Bow of Nylea in this spot to give that a try instead this week.
1 Basilisk Collar- This is a pure meta call, there's one or two other players giving this list a go and this seems like a good way to turn the mirror match around. The lifegain also wouldn't hurt against other aggro/burn strategies.
I quite enjoy this deck, thanks to everyone for putting so much work into developing it!
Deck: MonoG Modern Stompy
//Lands
20 Forest
2 Treetop Village
//Spells
2 Aspect of Hydra
1 Bow of Nylea
2 Dismember
1 Prey Upon
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Wild Defiance
//Creatures
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
3 Kalonian Tusker
4 Leatherback Baloth
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
//Sideboard
1 Choke
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Raking Canopy
2 Unravel the Æther
2 Skylasher
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Torpor Orb
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Spellskite
Round 1 vs KotR Scapeshift: Game 1 was a close race until he landed an early Prime Time followed by Scapeshift next turn. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Spellskite, -4 Experiment One) I came out swinging again but a turn 3 Knight of the Reliquary reminded me that this kid plays a weird brew of Scapeshift so I would have been well served by my Relics. We race to the bottom and he knocks me down to one while I have him at 3, I have enough guys on board to block his lethal swing and a Rancor’d Baloth with Bow deathtouch to get me there if he doesn’t go all in, but I die to a topdeck Lightning Bolt.
Round 2 vs Affinity: I was doing well game 1 until he Cranial Plating’d his Vault Skirge, I died not long after that. Game 2 (+2 Unravel the Aether, +1 Creeping Corrosion, +2 Skylasher, +2 Spellskite -1 Thrun, -1 Wilt Leaf, -2 Ooze, -3 Tusker) I ship back an opening hand of 1 Rancor, 3 Forest, 2 Unravel, 1 Corrosion for a decently aggressive hand that includes a Skylasher. I flash in Skylasher to eat his Skirge but Lasher eats a Galvanic Blast instead.
Round 3 vs Monoblack Commons? After two 0-2’s in a row I was paired to the bottom table, game 1 my opponent played 4 Swamps and a Bane Alley Blackguard that he chumped with early and a Gravedigger that got nothing back since I ate his Blackguard with Ooze, I ran him over quickly. Game 2 (+2 Relic, -1 Prey Upon, -1 Tusker) was pretty much the same thing, he had Pharika’s Cure this time to kill an E1 and he played a few draft commons but I beat him not too long after that.
Round 4 vs Living End: Game 1 was very close and was the most interesting game I played all night. I got in some early beats with Militant and two Geists while he did his cycling thing but when he went off on his turn 4 he got 3 guys and I got my Geists back. My turn 4 I dropped an Ooze with Vines in hand to block a 5/6 but when he swung in next turn he played the +1/+0 cascade spell to force the trade and I ended up dying a few turns later. Game 2 (+2 Relic, +1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, -1 Prey Upon, - 2 Tuskers) I opened with a Relic and kept his yard mostly clear while beating down, by the time he drew Krosan Grip it was too late to be paying 3 mana to pop my Relic. Game 3 I had Ooze with Dismember Backup to kill him in response to Living End, but he never saw a cascade spell so couldn’t do much anyways.
A disappointing evening overall, I would certainly like to see the decks I saw in the last half of the night in the first two rounds. I never saw Wild Defiance, so I didn’t get a sense for how it plays, but it seems like it would be good in my UR/URW/URB heavy meta but those aren’t the decks I saw. Bow of Nylea was very good mainboard, its utility makes it a great lategame play and its deathtouch ability makes it a defensible turn 3 play. I found myself missing the second Prey Upon frequently, but I pulled it out for the Wild Defiance, so I wouldn’t have seen it anyways. I go back and forth between 21 and 22 lands, 22 is mathematically better and do find that I can cast Liege and Thrun more consistently at 22, but there are a lot of games where I see a ton of land and not enough gas.
Competition will continue to be stiff for the rest of the month while people playtest for a nearby Modern PTQ at the end of the month, so I may be going back to my tried and true Merfolk for a little bit. If I play this next week I’ll be putting Prey Upon back to 2 and dropping the Tusker to 2, it’s nice on paper to evolve E1 to a 3/3 with a 2 drop but it’s such a removal magnet it never makes it that far anyways, and if it does it’s usually on the back of a Undying Geist or a turn 3 Baloth. I’m considering finding room for a third Ooze, he also eats a ton of removal but hoses a ton of strategies if he can stick around, I may pull a Forest or Wild Defiance if it doesn’t play well. I also got my second Raking Canopy in the mail today so I’ll be jamming that in over Creeping Corrosion in the board, it deals with a much broader range of threats and Corrosion is so likely to get Spell Pierced against Affinity on turn 4 if the game even goes that long.
Here’s what I’m planning to bring next week:
Deck: MonoG Modern Stompy
//Lands
20 Forest
2 Treetop Village
//Spells
2 Aspect of Hydra
1 Bow of Nylea
2 Dismember
2 Prey Upon
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Wild Defiance
//Creatures
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
2 Kalonian Tusker
4 Leatherback Baloth
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
//Sideboard
2 Choke
2 Raking Canopy
2 Unravel the Æther
2 Skylasher
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Torpor Orb
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Spellskite
Looks like I need to learn how to read my cards all the way through, I'm so used to it blocking Delvers and Colonnades I assumed it could take to the skies
Fair enough, the other stompy player wasn't running any Militants that I saw so I assume that helped him along the way to crushing defeat.
Yeah, I 'm trying to think of what to do for Storm matchups, especially if I take out the Relics. Wheel of Sun and Moon seems fine until they hit Echoing Truth, Choke is decent against UR and Unravel the Aether is probably fine against Pyromaster Ascension versions.
Also, has anyone played against KCI Eggs/Poached Eggs? KCI eggs has been 3-0-1 (splitting the finals) for the last month at my LGS so there's something about our meta that's letting it do really well. I haven't faced it yet but the Stompy player I lost to in round 2 went up against it in round 3 and he was pretty salty after losing. I haven't played against it yet so I don't know if it's a bad matchup or if it's just something that needs to sideboarded against properly. I would hope to outrace him game 1 and then mull to Wheel of Sun and Moon game 2. I don't think Unravel the Aether would be any good since he can sac KCI to itself in response or sac anything else to KCI/it's own sac ability.
Deck: MonoG Modern Stompy
//Lands
19 Forest
2 Treetop Village
//Spells
2 Aspect of Hydra
1 Bow of Nylea
2 Dismember
2 Prey Upon
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
//Creatures
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Leatherback Baloth
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
//Sideboard
2 Choke
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Raking Canopy
2 Unravel the Æther
2 Skylasher
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Torpor Orb
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Triumph of Ferocity
1 Basilisk Collar
Round 1 Vs. America Control: Game 1 I was on the draw, he blew through his Paths early which ended up being a big help for me because all his countermagic was Remands and Mana Leaks, Rancored Baloths closed out the game. Game 2 (+2 Choke, +1 Raking Canopy, +2 Skylasher, +2 Torpor Orb, +2 Relic of Progenitus, -4 Experiment One, - 1 Bow of Nylea, -2 Kalonian Tusker, -2 Prey Upon) he was able to control the early game with counters and Bolts and swung in with Celestial Colonnade a few times to win. Game 3 I was able to stick an early Choke and Raking Canopy to basically lock him out of doing anything relevant.
Round 2 Vs. Mono Green Stompy: Game 1 on the draw, he curved out for the turn 4 kill. Game 2 (+1 Basilisk Collar, +2 Skylasher, -2 Dismember, -1 Kalonian Tusker) Turn 1 Basilisk Collar clinched the game for me, he conceded after I equipped it on a Rancored Leatherback Baloth on turn 4. Game 3 he mulled to 5 and I kept a reasonable 7, his 5 was the nuts though, t1 Experiment One, t2 Geist, t3 double Rancor t4 Thrun, at least it was over quickly. Siding in Skylasher was dumb, I was thinking of gumming up the ground and going over his head, I would have been much happier with Unravel the Aethers in their place.
Round 3 Vs. UWR Kiki Twin: Game 1 on the draw, I was able to put on a ton of pressure early but it wasn’t enough, he eventually hit Kiki and made a million Resto Angels, I wasn’t expecting that because he was playing it like regular UWR control, I don’t know if that’s a standard wincon for them or not. Game 2 (+2 Choke, +2 Skylasher, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Torpor Orb, +1 Raking Canopy, -4 Experiment One, - 1 Bow of Nylea, -2 Kalonian Tusker, -2 Prey Upon) I stuck Skylashers and Thrun and quickly beat him down before he could draw too many cards. Game 3 I got in some good early beats with a Rancored Dryad Militant but I made a huge misplay by trying for a Choke when he had 4 mana up with a Mana Leak in his yard and I only had 5 mana available. It all went downhill from there culminating in a loss to the combo again.
Round 4 Vs. RG Aggro: Got paired up in the last round so I was not pleased, on the draw again but he bolted himself to get a turn 1 Kird Ape off of Stomping Grounds, he got in some early beats and tried to fight my early smaller guys with a Domri Rade, but eventually my guys got much bigger and became immune to his removal. Game 2 (+1 Basilisk Collar, -1 Kalonian Tusker) he started off with an unexpected turn 2 Spellskite into a turn 3 Domri Rade, but I was able to stick Bow of Nylea on my turn 3 and it turns out gaining three life per turn and losing all of his blockers to Strangleroot Geists was a bad deal for him. He kept his Spellskite around until the bitter end so I had a handful of pump spells and a rancor that weren’t doing much, but eventually I pecked him down to 2 life and was able to trample lethal through.
Dryad Militant was my superstar of the night, even though I ended up losing round 3 to the Snapcaster deck I severely limited his options, it’s important to stay on people though about the exile trigger since both of my graveyard matters opponents kept trying to keep things in the yard. I was also happy with maindeck Bow of Nylea, I cut a forest for it and was still seeing way too many lands most games, I’ll have to keep testing to see if 21 or 22 is where I want to be. I was also happy with Raking Canopy; I’ll pump that up to a two of. Someone finally started playing Affinity this week (and split for first) so Creeping Corrosion will need to stay as a two of; I’m thinking that Relic of Progenitus is the cut here, Mainboard Ooze and Militant seem to be doing fine work on their own although at the expense of losing out a bit to Living End and Tarmogoyf Decks. I’m also going to slot in Wild Defiance over Triumph of Ferocity, I have yet to draw a card off of it in playtesting, I’m thinking I’d prefer to have my guys survive damage based spot removal over the possibility of playing Triumph on an empty board. I’ve been thinking about giving Primal Rage a go as well, especially with maindeck Bow; maybe in place of a Kalonian Tusker.
Any thoughts on Thorn of Amethyst in the SB? I picked one up but didn’t know what to cut for it, I’m not even sure if it’s a good idea considering the deck likes the cheap pump spells.
Edit: Also, I've been considering working in a Maindeck Urborg as a one-of to help with Dismembers but also to work Spreading Algae into the sideboard. I think it's way too cute to be viable but there's a lot to be said for punishing the super greedy manabases. I've also more seriously considered working in a Tec Edge or two, I would hate to see one in the opening hand but sometimes pulling someone off one color can be devastating.
I’ll probably be giving Canopy a try since my meta seems to be Affinity light. There are a few Geist of St. Traft and Celestial Colonnade decks floating around so I may get more mileage out of it.
I’ve found Thrun to be a card that can turn games around by himself while Liege is better at turning around games where there’s already a decent board presence, especially if that presence includes more than one Militant. I would think that Liege would be easier cut, but topping out at three would make going down to 19-20 lands more palatable. Even with two 4 drops I think 20 lands is doable, maybe finding a way to work in 2 Slaugterhorn and 1 more Aspect.
I think Eyes might be worth a shot, I’ve come across a few players locally who try to do most of their tricks during my turn at the beginning of my upkeep, presumably to force Vines/Aspect early so I can’t use whatever I draw. Skylasher has been able to fill a good role against blue decks though. Eyes does have the fringe disadvantage of giving Goyf an extra point if it gets blown up.
Have you tested it mainboard or sideboard? I rarely run into game 1’s where I don’t have the biggest guy, but I’d prefer to not have something with the potential to be a blank card in the main.
Round 1 vs. UB Mill: I was on the play game 1, ran him down quickly with about half my deck intact. Game 2 (+1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, +2 Skylasher, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Choke, -1 Thrun, -1 Wilt-Leaf Liege, -2 Kalonian Tusker, -2 Prey Upon, -1 Leatherback Baloth.) In retrospect I should have just added the 7 cards in and not taken anything out, but it didn’t really matter as a turn 3 Choke shut him out of the game.
Round 2 vs. UWR Twin: Game 1 was over pretty fast, his early Paths gave me room to drop bigger stuff early and hold up Vines to keep my guys on the board to win. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Skylasher, +2 Unravel the Aether, +2 Relic of Progenitus, -4 Experiment One, -2 Prey Upon, -2 Kalonian Tusker) Mulled to 6 for an okay hand and was able to maintain a board presence through removal for a long time but didn’t see much gas (I ended up seeing 13 of my 20 forests), and he had enough time to get Celestial Colonnade active and swinging to wear me out. Game 3 I was able to stick turn 2 Torpor Orb into turn 4 Thrun and push through damage before he could respond to it.
Round 3 vs. Melira Pod: Game 1 I had a strong start so he had to focus on defense. A well-timed Prey Upon on Strangleroot Geist screwed up his combat math and he couldn’t block enough power to survive. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Unravel the Aether, +2 Relic of Progenitus) I kept a very greedy one lander that would have been great with turn 2 land draw, unfortunately I didn’t see the second until turn 4 and it was way over before then. Game 3 was going my way until he had Finks and Township online, he went from 3 to 23 over the course of a few turns and I was beat to death by a Reveillark once he was stable and I was out of cards.
Round 4 vs. Nivmagus Combo: Game 1 I was on the play, t1 E1, t2 Strangleroot with Gut Shot on E1 in response to the trigger. T3 Rancor on Geist, play a second Geist but leave it back to block. On his turn 3 he tried to go off but ended up being 1 spell short, he held back one copy of ground rift to stop Geist from blocking but was only able to pump his Nivmagus to 17/18. He blew most of his life on Phyrexian Mana so my 2 Geists were able to finish him off the next turn. Game 2 (+2 Skylasher, -2 Prey Upon) I mulled to 6 for a Skylasher hand and played t1 Dryad Militant who received a Gut Shot and t2 draw go. On his turn 3 he went off successfully and swung with a 6/6 infect double strike Nivmagus but Skylasher stopped him cold. His hand was empty and I was able to finish him off without any trouble. We played some for fun games after since we were done in about 10 minutes, the rest of them went about the same for him.
I also played more practice games against my friend who runs Angel Pod. This week was much worse for me against him, I lost every game although some were pretty close. Torpor Orbs are great until they Pod into Quasali Pridemage or draw Abrupt Decay so they’re not all that great once they know to kill Orb instead of Rancor. Unravel the Aether ended up being quite irritating as both times I shuffled it away against my friend he topdecked another one after the shuffle, but I still think it’s preferable to Nature’s Claim/Naturalize given that Eternal Witness is a thing and Scavenging Ooze never lives that long on his own.
Mainboard Thoughts:
Prey Upon- I was very skeptical of Prey Upon when putting this deck together but it does a ton of work. T1 E1, T2 Geist, T3 Prey upon Geist fighting anything with 2 toughness, return evolve E1 to 3/3 play another Geist swing for 8 is great. On the other hand, there are many times where I would love to fight something at instant speed later in the game with Pit Fight. In response to removal, at the end of turn, killing their attackers with tapped down blockers, and so on. I know the mana is tight but I may give it a go, maybe as a 1-of or maybe replacing Dismember.
Bow of Nylea- I’d like to work this in mainboard as a 1 of but I’m not sure where the cut is. Probably a Kalonian Tusker since a lot of other stuff evolves E1 on turn 2.
Primal Rage or Nylea, God of the Hunt- Basically I’d like to see more trample in the deck, there are many situations where trample on the whole team would turn games completely around. Another local Stompy player runs Garruk’s Companion over Kalonian Tusker for this purpose, but I’m not convinced it’s worth losing the ability to evolve a Rancored E1 with a counter on it or trading with every utility 2/1.
Sideboard thoughts:
Skylasher- A good sideboard card, I can see a meta existing where this would be great as a 3 or 4-of
Choke- Performs very well, I’ve found it’s biggest weakness to be the relatively high number of checklands I’ve been seeing.
Unravel the Aether- Probably the best we’re going to do in this spot, if Twin wasn’t so common locally I’d consider Oxidize in it’s place. Krosan Grip is also a possibility, but three mana is steep for the minor utility it adds
Creeping Corrosion- Still haven’t seen Affinity but I’ll keep it just in case
Relic of Progenitus- The utility is wide enough that I don’t mind bringing this in against any match where they’re messing with the graveyard, at worst it’s a two mana cantrip.
Torpor Orb- A great sideboard card that is unfortunately susceptible to hate most opponents are bringing in for Rancor anyways. I like it better in the Twin matchup than the Pod matchup, which is the inverse of how I’d feel about switching them out for Grafdigger’s Cage. I may give that switch a go since the local meta seems to have an even distribution of Pod and Twin.
Wheel of Sun and Moon- Still want to try this out, it would have been great to play this against the mill deck and has pretty decent game against many other fringe decks I’ve seen here.
Bow of Nylea- Want to move this one mainboard, may replace it with an extra Orb, Ooze, Relic, Choke, or Skylasher
Basilisk Collar- Still want to try this out, doubt it will be a long term inclusion.
2x Dismember
2x Prey Upon
4x Dryad Militant
4x Experiment One
20x Forest
4x Kalonian Tusker
4x Leatherback Baloth
4x Rancor
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Strangleroot Geist
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Treetop Village
4x Vines of Vastwood
1x Dungrove Elder
2x Choke
1x Creeping Corrosion
1x Nature's Claim
3x Skylasher
2x Unravel the Æther
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Obstinate Baloth
2x Torpor Orb
1x Triumph of Ferocity
Round 1 vs Living End: I'd never seen End played before so I wasn't sure why my opponent was cycling a mess of Alara block commons and ignoring what I was doing. I had him dead next turn when he cascaded into Living End, crushing my hopes and dreams. -2 Prey Upon +2 Relic of Progenitus, had a Scooze in my opening hand game 2 and a Relic and Scooze opener game 3 and I ran him over without much resistance.
Round 2 vs Junk: Game 1 the opponent didn't really do much, I don't know if he kept a bad hand or if he was trying to figure out I was playing, but I finished him off by turn 4. +1 Obstinate Baloth -1 Leatherback Baloth, game 2 I was stuck on two lands but fortunately had a handful of Strangleroot Gesits, Rancors, and Vines of Vastwood so his Abrupt Decays were much worse. I knocked him down to three and he died to his Bob trigger.
Round 3 vs Twin: Game 1 my opponent had more Bolts and Snapcasters than I had bodies. +2 Torpor Orb +2 Choke -4 Experiment One, had Orb in my opening hand, it turns out Snaps and Exarch are not very good when they're relegated to flash chumper duty. Game 3 I was able to stick a Choke on turn three but he drew mostly non-Islands so it didn't help much. His Spellskite wrecked my Vines of Vastwood plan and he was able to combo off.
Round 4 vs Infect: Game 1 I was able to Vines in response to his Vines, leaving him out of gas and letting me swing in for lethal the next turn. No sideboard changes, game 2 I had two Strangleroot Geists on the field, turns out they're pretty good chumpers for an unbuffed Glisener Elf and I was able to build up enough of a board presence to finish him off.
Other matches I've played for fun in the last week that are fresh in my mind:
Burn: A very tough race that goes quickly. Out of the 10ish or so games I played against a very skilled burn player I think I won 3-4 of them. A turn 3 Leatherback Baloth on the play was very hard for him to deal with, as were games where his Goblin Guides consistently hit lands. Games without Geist, Scooze, or Leatherback were rough. We didn't run any sideboard games but I'm not sure what I would have brought in, probably Obstinate Baloth and maybe the Relics to keep him off his Lavamancers.
Angel Pod: Putting down a lot of early pressure was key, forcing him to chump before he could start getting value out of Podding things away made things difficult for him, my guys were just bigger faster and the life he spent fetching lands and using Pod early made life very hard for him and the alternative of waiting until he could cast and use Pod without playing life slowed him down too much. I won all but one of the 4-5 games I played. I think Torpor Orb would be quite good against this deck, it shuts off a lot of the value they get out of podding, especially when they need bodies to block.
Merfolk: This one probably isn't an entirely fair representation of how Merfolk matches would go as the matches I played were with a friend who is both new to modern and was borrowing my deck and playing against him to teach it to him before the event started. Knowing that there's not much creature countermagic in my Merfolk deck I was able to run guys out with impunity until I could play around flashed Cursecatchers and Spell Pierces, but a string of early Spreading Seas can be very difficult to deal with. I won every match we played, but I can see a skilled player with a good hand causing a lot of problems for the deck.
This week I'm taking the same maindeck except for the addition of the Wilt-Leaf Liege in place of the Dungrove Elder (so the same as the primer) since I was able to grab one with my store credit winnings. Dungrove Elder was a huge underperformer, seeing him in the first few turns was always a letdown, especially if I saw any Treetop Villages, and drawing him later in the game wasn't all that great because he would either a:) be big enough to pump my E1's at a time in the game where if I still had E1's on the table to evolve I was already winning or b:) would come down on a board where I was out of/low on gas and not do much but threaten to block. I could see him being useful in situations where he could be multi-Rancored and Vinesed, but I think Liege will be able to do a lot more by spreading out the power or immediately eating a piece of removal that would otherwise take out one of my guys who is already swinging in.
Here's my sideboard plan for this week and my rationale for my inclusions:
2 Skylasher- I hadn't considered it against Twin, but I'll give it a try.
2 Choke-Hosing on Blue Decks.
2 Unravel the Aether- General artifact and enchantment hate.
2 Creeping Corrosion- Here for Affinity, I have yet to see an Affinity deck locally but I'd hate to be surprised.
2 Relic of Progenitus- Nice to have against anyone who cares about their graveyard, at worst it cycles for 1.
2 Torpor Orb- It's not my favorite thing in the world to pull out all 4 E1's, but it takes unfamiliar opponents by surprise game 2 if they saw E1 in the first game and it cripples the game plan for a lot of decks.
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon- I'm trying this one out to see how it goes, it will help against the Living End deck and I'm thinking that the benefit of taking away the ability to use the yard for value will outweigh the risk of them getting an extra use out of the card with shuffle or tutor effects.
1 Obstinate Baloth- My least favorite card in the board, it'll be a good surprise for any discard effects where I choose or it's the only legal target and the lifegain will be nice occasionally, but I'm thinking bringing something else up to a 3-of will be better. I may also put Bow of Nylea in this spot to give that a try instead this week.
1 Basilisk Collar- This is a pure meta call, there's one or two other players giving this list a go and this seems like a good way to turn the mirror match around. The lifegain also wouldn't hurt against other aggro/burn strategies.
I quite enjoy this deck, thanks to everyone for putting so much work into developing it!