[Deck] Dragon Stompy

[CptHaddock]

4 fiery confluence eh? These guys sure didn't want to lose to D&T.

[Zirath]

This is very exciting. It's also interesting how different their lists are to what we have been working on.

However, I'm not a huge fan of Shaman of the Great Hunt. It seems most powerful against combo decks, where we are more advantaged generally. In the fair match ups, our creatures aren't connecting unless we set up a lock.

[L10]

So the decks are set up like this:

Mana (26)
10 Mountain
4 Chrome Mox
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb

Locks (14)
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
3-4 Blood Moon
2-3 Trinisphere

Threats (12)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3-4 Sin Prodder
3 Thunderbreak Regent
0-2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
0-1 Thundermaw Hellkite

Removal || To the Face (8)
4 Fiery Confluence
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Magma Jet || Sudden Shock

Sideboard
0-1 Scab-Clan Berserker
0-1 Sudden Shock
0-2 Koth of the Hammer
0-2 Pyroblast
1 Frenzied Fugue
1 Shattering Pulse
2 Pyrokinesis
2 Sudden Demise
2 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

I practice, Shaman of the Great Hunt has been stellar vs. Shardless, Miracles, and Delver, but weak against DnT. However, with so many removal spells, I can see it work. I want try a 1/1 split between Shaman and Hellkite.

[AceOfJacks]

First of all, I do not consider myself an authority or an expert in any form, however, I have a few opinions.

Of course there is no perfect deck. Every match relies a combination of luck, skill, and card selection. While I cannot deal with the skill or luck departments in this particular rant, I can state my opinion regarding the card selections for the above stated decks.

Shaman of the Great Hunt seems "high risk, high reward." 4 mana, 2 toughness, no evasion. Dies to any 2 power blocker, and DiceGods forbid they have first strike!

Also, I find the abundance of 4 drops, especially with RR in mana costs, very difficult to maintain with 18 lands. 8 Blood Moon effects will guard against Wastelands, but it is also a double edged sword. Shutting off double lands, missing land drops after using a Spirit Guide, in addition to the lower land count, seems very risky. You might land a Thunderbreak or a Chandra, but a lot of removal spells from your opponent, combined with you throwing only one haymaker out there by losing your City of Traitors or using that SSG, means that unless you can maintain 4 mana on the table, you might just lock yourself out of the game.

Why is there only 1 Scab-Clan Berserker in that sideboard? Assuming the only real "card draw" is Sin Prodder and Chandra, it seems very strange to have 1x Magma Jet, 1x Scab-Clan, 1x Sudden Shock, etc. We don't have the ability to Brainstorm, Scroll Rack, Sensei's Divining Top, Sylvan Library, or "find the right answer at the right time" in a deck like this. We NEED CONSISTENCY, not 1x copies of cards that are gone once they've been cast or exiled.

Lastly, there are a lot of good matchups based on the card selection, such as non-red dual land decks, decks that rely on 1 mana spells, decks that do not have a high density of creatures, etc. However, there are a LOT of "inexpensive" decks out there, that give us some trouble. Mono colored decks can be a pain. DnT and Merfolk are both inexpensive to build, when compared to a lot of the "popular" decks out there. Eldrazi, if they get the right draw, does NOT care about Blood Moon. I found this out the hard way ON CAMERA at EE5. Any deck that has the right removal spells can potentially work around Blood Moon effects, and even kill them, and then continue unhindered.

If anything/everything I've said is completely off-base, then please enlighten me. I am 1000000% willing to learn from my mistakes and the experience of others. Thanks.

[Zirath]

If anything/everything I've said is completely off-base, then please enlighten me. I am 1000000% willing to learn from my mistakes and the experience of others. Thanks.

I don't think you're wrong but we have limited slots. To make room for Jet/Shock, we need to cut Confluence. The same issue comes in consideration for the board. I'm not sure why they wanted so much variety in cards but Japan also has a different metagame (much more Sneak Show and Esperblade). I would like to assume they tried to make sure as many cards doubled up on use as possible.

[Ace/Homebrew]

I would enjoy seeing a tourney report from either of the GP players, but that seems unlikely. I am guessing the high curve was partially to exploit Sin Prodder, but I personally have been caught with 3 uncastable Fiery Confluence in hand after turning off a sol land with Blood Moon or just failing to draw into a 4th land in a timely manner...

It is possible these players mulligan more/less aggressively to get the hand they need. The sheer length of the event (15 rounds) implies variance didn't screw them that much. My personal style likes having a 2 mana 'shock' against a format of X/2's, but if all you play in a tourney is Sneak and Show, Storm, and Lands, Fiery Confluence is the better card.



Edit:
I've been thinking more on Shaman of the Great Hunt...

This card more than any I can think of gives us the ability to turn 3 a goldfish. There is a fair amount of Magical Christmasland involved... but it's almost December.

As an example:
Turn 1 Goblin Rabblemaster => Make a token, swing for 1 (1 damage total)
Turn 2 Shaman of the Great Hunt => Make a token, swing for 10 (11 damage total), put +1/+1 counters on your 4 creatures
Turn 3, Swing for lethal (16 additional damage)

Or

Turn 1 Hanweir Garrison
Turn 2 Shaman of the Great Hunt => Swing for 8 (8 damage total), put +1/+1 counters on your 4 creatures
Turn 3, Swing for lethal (14 additional damage)

[benjiman13]

I like the 3 fiery main, maybe 4 is overkill...

Something missing (in my opinion) in the 2 lists of GP Chiba :
Ensnaring Bridge which in my testing is an all star! (Against Lands, Eldrazi, Tarmo, Sneak and Show, KotR, reanimator)

[amppyou]

The tilt away from Koth is interesting. I wish I owned 3 Chandra's to test them as a 3 of in the main.

[ZTurgeon]

I like the 3 fiery main, maybe 4 is overkill...

Something missing (in my opinion) in the 2 lists of GP Chiba :
Ensnaring Bridge which in my testing is an all star! (Against Lands, Eldrazi, Tarmo, Sneak and Show, KotR, reanimator)

It's much harder to play bridges when you don't have too many threats that win without attacking. Goblin Stompy can get away with it because it's high end threats do other things, but its real hard to slam a turn 2 bridge and then look at your thunderbreak regent in hand.

[AceOfJacks]

High likelihood it's a metagame call for Confluence, but the more I look at it, the more I hate it. 4 cmc, double red, seems bad against the decks it claims to be good against.

DnT, costs 5/6 mana, and Mother of Runes saves the dude they use to swing in for lethal next turn.
BUG, likely eats a Force of Will, or wipes the small dudes like Deathrite and Delver, but then that Goyf is free to hit you now that you wiped your OWN creatures as well.
Merfolk, doesn't do enough damage unless you lose all your creatures from attacks first. Then the TNN bends you over without a condom.
Eldrazi, kills Mimics? Ratchet Bombs? Maybe?
Lands, kills the mighty MOX DIAMOND! Omg broken card! /sarcasm


Unless there's something I'm not seeing?

[Zirath]

High likelihood it's a metagame call for Confluence, but the more I look at it, the more I hate it. 4 cmc, double red, seems bad against the decks it claims to be good against.

DnT, costs 5/6 mana, and Mother of Runes saves the dude they use to swing in for lethal next turn.
BUG, likely eats a Force of Will, or wipes the small dudes like Deathrite and Delver, but then that Goyf is free to hit you now that you wiped your OWN creatures as well.
Merfolk, doesn't do enough damage unless you lose all your creatures from attacks first. Then the TNN bends you over without a condom.
Eldrazi, kills Mimics? Ratchet Bombs? Maybe?
Lands, kills the mighty MOX DIAMOND! Omg broken card! /sarcasm


Unless there's something I'm not seeing?

There is also the race potential. It deals 6 to the dome. I imagine a number of games ended this way between Chandra and the highly aggressive suite.

4 is almost 100% the wrong number. It has to be 3. Max.

[Controlmasterksa]

This build has been doing me well in the last couple weeks in practice and live events.
Creatures
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Thopter Engineer
3 Pia Nalaar
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Hangerback Walker
Artifacts
3 Smuggler's Copter
4 Chrome Mox
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Trinisphere
Enchantments
3 Blood Moon
Sorceries
3 Fiery Confluence
Lands
10 Mountain
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
Sideboard
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Trinisphere
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Koth of the Hammer
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Kozilek's Return
2 Sudden Shock

Ensnaring Bridge has been the MVP of the deck, with the thopter tokens able to bypass the bridge lock and over stalled blockers. The artifacts theme is a bit personal, but Thopter Engineer allows for faster games, keeping me from losing to miracles since the addition. The Fiery Confluence is back and forthed with the new Chandra, but haven't decided on final list before GP Louisville. Kozilek's Return in testing has been far superior to Sulfur Elemental against DnT.
I don't know if this build is for everyone, but works for me, and any others who like to bridge control with little fliers.

[AceOfJacks]

I like Thopter beatdown. I wonder if you could use some rogue card like Purphoros or maybe even Obelisk of Urd to catch your opponent off guard and alpha strike? Probably too "cute" and not powerful enough. Love the Aether Grid in the board too! You can hide behind the Bridge and ping them to death. Great concept.

[Controlmasterksa]

The Ghirapur Aether Grid side trick works a lot better than it would seem. Because a lot games post board drag on, the increased damage output betters the odd of not going to time. Also makes excess utility artifacts usable. I had tried using power boosting effects but couldn't get them into the 75. The Pia Nalaar boosting effect works well enough.
The main issues Iv come across is the flex spot in using Hangerback Walker. It was the new Chandra and another Pia and Kiran Nalaar, but having too many 4 costs slowed the deck down pre-board. It works well in stalled games, build up then sacrifice to get 3 or 4 tokens. It's good against eldrazi as it is usually bigger then the free creatures they get before a Moon lock. But the argument of new Chandra's ability as a PW is hard to dismiss. Could is in place of Koth in board but it's faster in stalled games. Miracles is the only long game where Chandra was better in testing.
Smuggler's Copter is what made the deck be able to function. The looting helped make dead hands have meaning, and the flying and low cost made for faster games. Most decks the the bridge is brought in against don't need a full hand commitment so it gets through the lock.
Fleetwheel Cruiser was in the original sideboard but needed help against reanimator, but it was a huge hitter against DnT and control decks.

[amppyou]

The Ghirapur Aether Grid side trick works a lot better than it would seem. Because a lot games post board drag on, the increased damage output betters the odd of not going to time. Also makes excess utility artifacts usable. I had tried using power boosting effects but couldn't get them into the 75. The Pia Nalaar boosting effect works well enough.
The main issues Iv come across is the flex spot in using Hangerback Walker. It was the new Chandra and another Pia and Kiran Nalaar, but having too many 4 costs slowed the deck down pre-board. It works well in stalled games, build up then sacrifice to get 3 or 4 tokens. It's good against eldrazi as it is usually bigger then the free creatures they get before a Moon lock. But the argument of new Chandra's ability as a PW is hard to dismiss. Could is in place of Koth in board but it's faster in stalled games. Miracles is the only long game where Chandra was better in testing.
Smuggler's Copter is what made the deck be able to function. The looting helped make dead hands have meaning, and the flying and low cost made for faster games. Most decks the the bridge is brought in against don't need a full hand commitment so it gets through the lock.
Fleetwheel Cruiser was in the original sideboard but needed help against reanimator, but it was a huge hitter against DnT and control decks.

do you ever miss Blood Moon in your 75? Is your meta just not as susceptible to moon, so you don't care to go all in? Also, have you tried Ravager? I saw another player who posted artifact stompy a few pages back mention it working well in his testing.

[Controlmasterksa]

Blood Moon is in it, 3 of them, just forgot to add to list (edited in).
Tried the Ravager, and for its strengths it did not have the same benefits Hangerback Walker has in terms of token generation, and it was counter productive with Ensnaring Bridge.
In terms of Blood Moon, it's the core of the deck strategy, so wouldn't go below 3 of them. They do get taken out before Magus of the Moon though.

[TLK]

Interesting Dragon Stompy list won a local 50+ person Legacy event:

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
1 Forgotten Cave
8 Mountain
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Magus of the Wheel
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Fiery Confluence
3 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Chrome Mox
3 Lotus Petal
3 Trinisphere

1 Blood Moon
2 Confusion in the Ranks
1 Faerie Macabre
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Pyrokinesis
3 Sulfur Elemental
1 Trinisphere

Magus of the Wheel is an inclusion I don't believe I've seen.

[Octopusman]

Hey hey, prodder getting some mentions. Still running 4 in my list.
The Rabblemaster plus Shaman seems hilarious. Will definitely be testing some of these variants. Seem so fun but going to miss Stormbreath.

Been a lot of talk about the count for confluence but didn't see anyone mention that we're often pitching cards to mox so 4 might be the right number.

I know some Japanese so I'll see if I can hunt these guys down on a Japanese forum. Are they homies? Their lists are so similar...

Exciting developments. I really want to see the decks they were paired against. Kind of important to see if confluence was an all star wiping the board against D&T, or if they mooned out greedy decks all day.

[Jakobian1010]

Here's some of the metagame breakdown for that event.
https://www.meta-chart.com/share/leg...ire-dice-12416

[ZTurgeon]

Interesting Dragon Stompy list won a local 50+ person Legacy event:

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
1 Forgotten Cave
8 Mountain
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Magus of the Wheel
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Fiery Confluence
3 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Chrome Mox
3 Lotus Petal
3 Trinisphere

1 Blood Moon
2 Confusion in the Ranks
1 Faerie Macabre
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Pyrokinesis
3 Sulfur Elemental
1 Trinisphere

Magus of the Wheel is an inclusion I don't believe I've seen.

I tried him for a while and he was okay. Being a 3/3 was huge, but his ability ended up going unused most games. It was too much of a risk of a draw 7 leading to lands going in the yard for deathrite or a fresh 7 having a basic land. It was normally just better to beatdown with a 3/3 and if we are doing that, prodder or garrison seems better. The best thing about Magus was you could break up terminus or stoneforges ability by wheeling away hands at the right time.