Wanted to jump into the sideboard discussion to stump for Phyrexian Metamorph. Less life loss is legit in the Eldrazi matchup. Plus, if any enters the battlefield triggers are relevant, you gain those. Worth 1 or 2, maybe even in addition to act of aggression.
I'm running two Scavenging Ooze and two Collected Company right now. I've found Collected Company to be most useful against merfolk, actually. If we're on the play we can drop a CoCo at the end of their fourth turn and survive a blast of elementals from Master of Waves. Even with a couple of lords on the field, an extra leatherback and scooze, or even a pair of geists, can help us survive the onslaught.
I also have two spellskite in the sideboard, and it's probably the most versatile thing in there. Incidentally, it's one of my favorites against bogles. Good for snapping up their auras and keeping them off their strategy otherwise. I also like Phyrexian Metamorph against Tron right now, even though I've only had that matchup a couple of times in the last few months. It's nice for cancelling out a Wurmcoil Engine or even a Primeval Titan if you're up against Amulet Bloom. I need to test it more, but I'm a fan of its utility for 3 mana right now.
Affinity is still a tough matchup for me, and I keep 2 Creeping Corrosion and 2 or 3 Unravel the AEther in the board pretty much all the time. I need to get better as a player, period, but I really need to pay attention against affinity. For those of you who have had success against it, what is your strategy, and what threats do you focus on when you do draw up AEthers or deglamers? How early do you drop Corrosion? Stuff like that will go a long way for me. Thanks, everybody!
Went 3-2 in FNM last night at my lgs. Was 6-0 through the first three rounds and ended up in 5th place, just out of the money, but had a great time and saw a big improvement in my play over last week!
First two rounds were back to back jund matchups, complete with Tarmogoyfs and Lilianas. I was worried about jund coming in, but Dungrove Elder and dismember did real heavy lifting, blasting out the 4/5 goyfs in the first round and wrecking huntmasters in the second. Sideboarded in Display of Dominance to take out Liliana, but it never came up and she only saw the board once in those 4 games. The first dude was definitely SALTY that he lost to some Dungroves and Strangleroot Geists. I had to laugh.
Third round was a Mardu...something. Lightning bolt, lingering souls, crackling doom, cartel aristocrat, blood artist, bloodsoaked champion. Interesting brew. Rancor just plain went through him in the first game. Even with two aristocrats with protection from green, it wasn't enough. Game two was more of the same and he didn't find any red mana for the two kolaghan commands and lightning bolts in his hand so I cruised.
Fourth round was splinter twin, and I broke up his combo with a dismember in the first game, but he kept my threats off the board too well and I eventually went down. Sideboarded in Skylashers for the Rancors in the second game but they never came up. It's definitely a winnable matchup, but one I didn't play well against and need to sideboard more aggressively for in the future.
Final round was affinity, and I had nothing to go against him in the first game. He just outclassed me and went over the top with his flying thopters and what-not. Second game I boarded in Unravel the Aether, but it wasn't enough. He could get too much out too quickly. Definitely needed Creeping Corrosion or Fracturing Gust for this one. Any other suggestions for how to deal with affinity would be nice. This was the only matchup where I didn't at least put him on the ropes at some point.
I sideboarded out both of the Leatherback Baloths for something after the first game in every.single.matchup. So, I'm thinking of just replacing them with two more Scoozes and pulling back a bit on the aspect strategy. It's nice to be able to be a little more grindy when necessary, and scooze does that very well.
Display of Dominance is a real thing in this sideboard. I felt very safe having it available.
I was always happy to see Dungrove Elder, and while it didn't fare well against anger of the gods, that isn't always going to come up. If he gets to turn sideways things go our way.
Finally, the four dismembers mainboard was one of the biggest changes to my deck from last week. It changed everything for me. Having an answer to the biggest threat early for one mana was just insane. I felt like I could hang in there with $1,000 plus decks just because of it. I seriously recommend four of those in the MB for everybody running stompy. It clears a path.
This deck can be respected in any matchup if it's played well, I'm realizing. My opponents this week really didn't think it deserved to win anything, and their group was kind of snickering at it in the first round, but it played well and blew three of them out of the water. I can't wait to get back next week and hopefully see it go even farther! Any suggestions and help is appreciated. This thread has been invaluable to me. Thanks to everybody for contributing!
Just wanted to share this tidbit from the FNM event I went to. It was my first event ever so there were a couple of terrible misplays on my part, but I won at least one game in every matchup despite that, and kept it close in every loss. This mono-green version is the business. Best part of the night, as I was shuffling up for the third game against a G/R Burn deck, one of the guys at the table next to us said, "Man, I gotta make a stompy deck!" And his opponent nodded in agreement. If nothing else, this thing is fun as hell to play.
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I also have two spellskite in the sideboard, and it's probably the most versatile thing in there. Incidentally, it's one of my favorites against bogles. Good for snapping up their auras and keeping them off their strategy otherwise. I also like Phyrexian Metamorph against Tron right now, even though I've only had that matchup a couple of times in the last few months. It's nice for cancelling out a Wurmcoil Engine or even a Primeval Titan if you're up against Amulet Bloom. I need to test it more, but I'm a fan of its utility for 3 mana right now.
Affinity is still a tough matchup for me, and I keep 2 Creeping Corrosion and 2 or 3 Unravel the AEther in the board pretty much all the time. I need to get better as a player, period, but I really need to pay attention against affinity. For those of you who have had success against it, what is your strategy, and what threats do you focus on when you do draw up AEthers or deglamers? How early do you drop Corrosion? Stuff like that will go a long way for me. Thanks, everybody!
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First two rounds were back to back jund matchups, complete with Tarmogoyfs and Lilianas. I was worried about jund coming in, but Dungrove Elder and dismember did real heavy lifting, blasting out the 4/5 goyfs in the first round and wrecking huntmasters in the second. Sideboarded in Display of Dominance to take out Liliana, but it never came up and she only saw the board once in those 4 games. The first dude was definitely SALTY that he lost to some Dungroves and Strangleroot Geists. I had to laugh.
Third round was a Mardu...something. Lightning bolt, lingering souls, crackling doom, cartel aristocrat, blood artist, bloodsoaked champion. Interesting brew. Rancor just plain went through him in the first game. Even with two aristocrats with protection from green, it wasn't enough. Game two was more of the same and he didn't find any red mana for the two kolaghan commands and lightning bolts in his hand so I cruised.
Fourth round was splinter twin, and I broke up his combo with a dismember in the first game, but he kept my threats off the board too well and I eventually went down. Sideboarded in Skylashers for the Rancors in the second game but they never came up. It's definitely a winnable matchup, but one I didn't play well against and need to sideboard more aggressively for in the future.
Final round was affinity, and I had nothing to go against him in the first game. He just outclassed me and went over the top with his flying thopters and what-not. Second game I boarded in Unravel the Aether, but it wasn't enough. He could get too much out too quickly. Definitely needed Creeping Corrosion or Fracturing Gust for this one. Any other suggestions for how to deal with affinity would be nice. This was the only matchup where I didn't at least put him on the ropes at some point.
Here's the deck I ran:
4 Experiment One
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Dryad Militant
3 Dungrove Elder
2 Leatherback Baloth
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
3 Aspect of Hydra
4 Dismember
3 Vines of Vastwood
1 Collected Company
Enchantments
4 Rancor
Land
21 Forest
3 Display of Dominance
3 Feed the Clan
4 Skylasher
3 Unravel the Aether
2 Witchstalker
Thoughts from this week:
I sideboarded out both of the Leatherback Baloths for something after the first game in every.single.matchup. So, I'm thinking of just replacing them with two more Scoozes and pulling back a bit on the aspect strategy. It's nice to be able to be a little more grindy when necessary, and scooze does that very well.
Display of Dominance is a real thing in this sideboard. I felt very safe having it available.
I was always happy to see Dungrove Elder, and while it didn't fare well against anger of the gods, that isn't always going to come up. If he gets to turn sideways things go our way.
Finally, the four dismembers mainboard was one of the biggest changes to my deck from last week. It changed everything for me. Having an answer to the biggest threat early for one mana was just insane. I felt like I could hang in there with $1,000 plus decks just because of it. I seriously recommend four of those in the MB for everybody running stompy. It clears a path.
This deck can be respected in any matchup if it's played well, I'm realizing. My opponents this week really didn't think it deserved to win anything, and their group was kind of snickering at it in the first round, but it played well and blew three of them out of the water. I can't wait to get back next week and hopefully see it go even farther! Any suggestions and help is appreciated. This thread has been invaluable to me. Thanks to everybody for contributing!
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