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    A 5-3 Lodestone Golem’s story at SCG FW (27th place)

    A 5-3 Lodestone Golem’s story at SCG FW
    If you guys don't care for innovative decks or a 5-3 (27th) finish at SCG event, please feel free to trollz! Otherwise, this is my boring report on Steel Stompy

    Hey guys, this is the 2nd SCG Legacy event that I participated. Being primarily a Landstill player, I was tempted to bring UWb Landstill to the event. However, knowing my bad history of initial matches with Landstill (I get paired against Belcher Match 1 ALL THE TIME, read the first match report lol!), I decided that I would like to give Steel Stompy, a deck that I had been developing for over 2-3 months, a shot at the tournament.

    Before the report, I would like to present the decklist, and brief notes on what matchups Steel Stompy is strong/weak in.

    DECKLIST:
    Lands: 23
    4 Seat of the Synod
    1 Darksteel Citadel
    4 Wasteland
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    4 Inkmoth Nexus
    2 Blinkmoth Nexus

    Creatures: 20
    4 Steel Overseer
    4 Phyrexian Revoker
    4 Etched Champion
    4 Master of Etherium
    4 Lodestone Golem

    Accelerants: 6
    3 Mox Diamond
    3 Mox Opal

    Equipments: 6
    2 Cranial Plating
    2 Umezawa’s Jitte
    2 Sword of Fire and Ice

    Disruption: 6
    4 Chalice of the Void
    2 Crucible of Worlds

    Sideboard: 15
    3 Cursed Totem
    3 Ratchet Bomb
    3 Tangle Wire
    2 Winter Orb
    4 Thorn of Amethyst


    BRIEF NOTES ON DECK:
    Steel Stompy is an aggro Chalice deck that is focused primarily on winning by beaters while playing disruptions. Unlike traditional Stompy, Steel Stompy is not revolved around resolving game-winning lockpieces and win under them, instead, Steel Stompy plays more like Merfolks than anything else: It wants to keep applying pressure, and pump up a force of multiple creatures, maximizing board position with minimal mana spent, while at the same time disrupting an opponent’s tempo and board development with Wastelands, Revokers, Chalice, Lodestone Golem. In that respect, the style of playing is much different than regular Stompy, and instead is tied more similarly to how Merfolk plays.

    The good matchups of Steel Stompy include:
    - Merfolks
    - Goblins (if Lackey is out of the picture)
    - Countertop/Landstill/control
    - Combo
    - Classic Zoo and Bant (without GSZ and/or Natural Order)
    - Dredge
    - Affinity if I get Revoker online

    The bad matchups of Steel Stompy include:
    - Goblins (if lackey connects and I don’t draw Champion/Jitte)
    - Natural Order/Show and Tell
    - Junk
    - Possibly Team America (haven’t tested this matchup much but should be neutrally favorable)

    Since I knew I was expecting a ton of Merfolks, Affinity, Gobs, Bant, Junk, NO, I knew the deck was going to do well and have a tough time against various matchups. I wasn’t willing to face against a potential Belcher deck in game 1 with Landstill and lose to blue fishes, so I decided to fry them up with Sword of Fire and Ice instead.

    MATCH 1: Dude with SCG Green “I <3 fatties” sleeves playing Belcher
    Game 1:
    I took out my hand-drawn Landstill playmat and place my solider tokens next to my deck box. This guy had the SCG “I <3 fatties” sleeves and I thought to myself: “Great way to start game one, a bad matchup!”. We joked around a little and he won the die roll.

    He passed the turn and I immediately put him on Belcher/Dredge. On his next turn, he goes Land Grant (Thank God for me not playing Landstill!! Although I did go 2-0 on my Belcher opponent on Saturday in the Legacy Challenge, anyway back to topic). He reveals Rite of Flame, Ritual, Desperate Ritual, SSG, ESG after dropping 2 Petals.

    I answer his double Lotus Petal with Tomb + Revoker and he looks annoyed. Next turn I followed up with Chalice @1 and Wastes his dual. Played a Lodestone Golem and slapped Revoker with a Plating and get there in 2 turns.

    Game 2:-4 Overseer, -2 Crucible, -1 SoFI +4 Thorn of Amethyst, +3 Ratchet Bomb
    He goes first and passes the turn AGAIN! I guess I’m lucky. I draw the nuts and start my first turn with Mox Diamond + Land into Chalice@1 and Chalice@0. He Land Grants next turn revealing 1cmc spells + 3 Desperate Rituals. I was not entirely safe but if I can lock him out with the THIRD Chalice in my hand, I should win this easily. I didn’t draw lands for the next two turns (thanks 23 lands), and he didn’t draw outs/business as well, and 2 turns later, I followed up with a Chalice@2 + Lodestone + Wasteland to seal Match 1.

    1-0 (2-0-0)

    MATCH 2: Chris with Death and Taxes
    Game 1:
    He leads with Plains + Vial and I sigh inside. Death and Taxes isn’t a favorable matchup despite no testing since flyers + Mangara owns my ass hard. I answered his turn 1 with an Overseer. On turn 2 he Revoked my Overseer making me more sad and I followed up with a Crucible + Inkmoth. The Inkmoth + Crucible turned out to be crucial in this game, answering his Serra Avenger. He plays a Port shortly to answer my Inkmoth, and I waste his Port (I have Crucible out). He drops Mangara and I answer with my own Revoker and play out an Etched Champion. He cannot swing in the air as Inkmoth keeps it in check while I slowly push in with an immortal Etched Champion.

    Game 2:+2 Cursed Totem, +3 Ratchet Bomb, -4 Steel Overseer, -1 Darksteel Citadel
    I answer his Mother with a Cursed Totem (in bed!). My hand was x2 Golem. I resolved them one by one and each ate an StP (he was low on lands). Meanwhile a Serra Avenger is chipping my face in the air. He got another Avenger online and a Flickrwisp and it was GG in 2 turns when he’s beating for 9 in the air.

    Game 3:
    I kept a good hand that is good when stompy goes first: Tomb + wasteland + Chalice + Champion + Plating + Revoker + Stuff
    Turn 1 Chalice@1 and he looks a little in trouble. I drop Champion on turn 2 without metalcraft since his StP is locked under Chalice and Oring/Mangara don’t matter on turn 2. I equip Plating turning on Champion (lol this sounds wrong) and Champion gets in there as a 5/2 and grows to a 7/2 next turn to seal up the game fast.

    Chris was a cool guy. He mentioned that he found the deck interesting. I wished him good luck and we met each other in almost every round after (sitting and playing next to each other in other matchups lol)

    2-0 (4-1-0)


    MATCH 3: Chris with GW NOrder (finished 6th place!)
    Game 1:
    I played Chris and lost to him on Saturday’s Legacy Challenge playing UWb Landstill. His deck was fairly strong, but I was ready to surprise him with a new deck. We talked to each other and he comments on our matchup yesterday (good games BTW) and as I lay down my Landstill playmate and soldier tokens I win the die roll and lead with an Inkmoth. He looks at me “Inkmoth? That’s not the same deck!” He plays a forest + Hierarch and on my turn 2 I play another Inkmoth + Steel Overseer. He drops a goyf turn 2 and I play out a Chalice@1 protecting Inkmoths from StP. He StPs Overseer in response and I pump two Inkmoths to 2/2. I drop an Etched Champion next turn, play another Inkmoth and hit him to 4 poison. Eventually the board position was:

    Him: 4 lands, Goyf, 7 Poison, 12 life
    Me: 3 Inkmoth (two 2/2) + lands, Etched Champion, Phyrexian Revoker (2/1 with +1/+1 counter), Chalice@1, 13 life

    This is where I punted and costed me the matchup entirely. He plays out a Noble Hierarch and grabs a Natural Order sacking Hierarch into a Terrastadon nuking my 3 Inkmoth (which will kill him next turn). We both forget to check that Hierarch should be countered by Chalice. When I realized the mistake after my draw step and playing a land, I called for a judge and asked if it was possible to rewind. The judge confirmed with the head judge that they are not going to rewind, and I sit there hitting myself so hard. He would have natural ordered anyway but he had to sac a Goyf, and it was precisely the goyf that was stopping me from being able to race his 12 life with the three 3/3s, Champion, 3/2 Phyrexian Revoker that I had in play. I lost this. I’m really annoyed I lost an otherwise winnable game, but I learned a big lesson regardless.

    Game 2:-4 Overseer, -2 SoFI, +3 Cursed Totem, +3 Tangle Wire
    This was a close game I don’t remember much except that he was locked under Cursed Totem (killing 2 Knights, Hierarch and a Pridemage). Regardless his knights were still big from fetches and he was going to kill me next turn. I had him at about 4 poison tokens from a lone Inkmoth (not drawing creatures), and finally needed to topdeck one card to win: Plating. A jitte would have been a turn slow since it doesn’t pump instantly, and Plating putting Inkmoth to just a 6/1 won the game.

    Game 3:
    He leads with a turn 2 Pridemage. I open a strong hand of 2 Chalice, 1 Crucible, 2 Inkmoth, 2 Champion (i.e. Champion is all I need in this matchup). I play Inkmoth he waste, I play Inkmoth he wastes). Pridemage gets there and I don’t see lands (got my 3rd land in play but my hand was dead at that point).

    Wasteland is THAT good. I drew very below average, but that’s what you get sometimes when decks shit on you.

    2-1 (5-3-0)


    FEATURE MATCH 4: Chris Vanmeter with Team America
    Game 1:
    At this point, I was a little unstable from my punt against GW. I was in a feature match and since I’m not really been to big competitive circuits, I went to my table number like a n00b and was called to the feature match table after 2 minutes passed. I shuffled up and Chris was a nice guy to talk with. I told him that this is the 3rd Chris in a row I’m playing against.

    I win the die roll and lead with Ancient Tomb playing Revoker, blindly (since I have 2 revokers in hand) naming a Pridemage (my hand was double Revoker, Plating, Tomb, City, Jitte and I figured that it was aggressive enough to utilize Revoker’s disruption to get some counters on Jitte fast).

    He follows up with a Wasteland on my tomb and comments “I just gave away a lot of information on what I’m playing”. We laughed since Wasteland is played in like every deck? He brainstorms next turn off a Sea and initially I put him on UB Merfolks although it’s clear now that he’s playing TAmerica. He drops a goyf as my Revoker + Plating is eating in. He swings with Goyf and I resolve a Jitte and get I again. He follows up with an EE@2 clearing his Goyf and my Revoker + Jitte + Plating. I hit myself for not playing the 2nd Revoker forgetting that TA lists now play 2 EE maindeck. I play my 2nd Revoker but it was no match for Tombstalker GG.

    This game, I drew a bunch of lands since the only cards relevant were already in my opening hand.

    Game 2:-2 SoFI, -2 Umezawa’s Jitte (these suck since they cost too much and get Stifled or Snuff Out = huge tempo loss), +4 Thorn of Amethyst
    I lead with an Tomb + Chalice which resolves, keeping a hand of Opal, Champion, Tomb, Thorn, Inkmoth, Chalice, Crucible. He hymns away my Thorn and 2nd Opal drawn (making it a less powerful hymn). I resolved Champion. He grips Chalice@1 EOT and gets a Tombstalker online which I shrink to a 2/2 with 2 inkmoth + 1 Blinkmoth pump. I can now try to race with my Champion. He gets a Jace online, Snuffs out my manland at one point, and Champion is without metalcraft. A second Tombstalker comes in to fateseal my game.

    I saw 2 Revokers in game 1, and 1 Etched Champion in game 2. I don’t like bitching, but Chris Vanmeter was a great player and I know I wasn’t a great player, but I knew my deck runs 20 creatures and this was not representative on what the deck could have done. The whole 2 games, I was getting very impatient/annoyed that I was not drawing into any threats while he was playing out more threats than I was running 8 creatures and having cantrips locked under Chalice.

    2-2 (5-5-0)


    INTERVIEW:
    SCG called me over for an interview cause I guess my deck looked like a weird pile lol. I answered their questions happily, glad that the deck got some notice. I tried explaining the point of the deck and its interactions and philosophy, and its approach to winning games. I’m not very good with interviews but I think I did a good job regardless.

    MATCH 5: BYE
    At this point, I was about to just say fuck it and drop. I was really pissed at my punt against GW, and just having drawn terrible 3 games in a row (game 3 against GW, two games against TA). But I knew that after the interview, I had to do this deck some proud. I mustered some morale and head to my table.

    To some good news, I got a bye although I would have wished to earn it legitimately. SCG didn’t update their system I guess so I was luckily paired against a person who dropped. I’ll take this win regardless and try my best

    3-2 (7-5-0)


    MATCH 6: Justin with UB Merfolks
    Game 1:
    He leads with an Island and I pray hard inside to play against Merfolks. He plays a Mutavault and Standstill and I try my best not to look too happy. My hand was: Blinkmoth, Wasteland, Champion, stuff. I waste his Mutavault and he wastes my Seat. This made my Blinkmoth very happy as it starts ‘pounding the shit out of him’ for 1 damage a turn until he was at 13. “I have never done this before,” and Justin cracks his own Standstill. I draw to 10 cards with double champion, double revoker, SoFI, Lodestone Golem. He plays a Adept revealing Coralhelm and pass turn. I bait FoW with Etched Champion which resolves, so I played out another champion, and baited his daze with Revoker. He dazes, drops Coralhelm, and next turn I play out another Revoker naming coralhelm, slap on a SoFI and the game ended shortly.

    Game 2:
    I finally draw some creatures: I keep an insane hand of Tomb, 2x Revoker, Champion, Lodestone, wastelands. He mulls to 6 and leads with vial. I turn 1 Revoker he doesn’t have the Daze. I wasteland his lands, follow up with Champion + Lodestone and it was over soon.

    Justin was a cheerful funny guy. I told him to shake him off since my list just has an inherent good merfolk matchup.

    4-2 (9-5-0)

    MATCH 7: Quinn with Goblins
    Game 1:
    He leads with Mountain Lackey and I go fuck. My hand was: 1 Overseer, 1 Tomb, 1 Master, 1 Opal, 1 Diamond, 1 Jitte, 1 Seat so I know that either I win this incredibly fast or lose incredibly fast if he had multiple removal.

    I respond with Overseer which he bolts, Lackey resolves and he drops a Ringleader fueling a hand of Incinerator, Sharpshooter, Chieftain. Thank god my 2nd turn was Seat + Opal + Diamond + 5/5 Master unkillable by Incinerator + combat maths. He plays a Chieftain and passes turn. I get a Jitte equip next turn and start bashing in with a 6/6 Master. Quinn kept up with Jitte because goblins is that stupid, but Jitte ends up sniping every gob he eventually plays.

    Game 2:
    He leads with Mountain Lackey and I go fuck again. I have turn 1 Overseer as a response. He swings in and I block successfully phew! With Lackey out of the picture, this game becomes much easier. I get Champion + Lodestone online which stops his attackers, Overseer pumping them larger each turn made it impossible for him to block/race.

    5-2 (11-5-0)

    MATCH 8: Drew with Imperial Painter
    Game 1:
    Drew and I are buddies back at Houston/Asgard and I’ve played his Painter list a ton. I joked to him that he should had played his (CAB)-Jace control deck which I would had crushed (we had to convince him to play Painter against a field of Merfolks, WTH!!! :P) I’m glad we both came this far. Our other buddy playing PFires Big Zoo with Zenith ended up having to play two counterthopter in a row, forcing his matchups to go to draw and not having a better record. Drew and I were in contention for top 16. I knew this was my chance to beat him (tested this matchup before and it’s about 60-40 in my favor due to Chalice/Revoker/Ratchet Bombs). Oh how wrong was I. When Drew’s in his hood playing Painter, you don’t win. (Drew Top 4’d Dallas a year ago with Imperial Painter)

    He wins the die roll and leads with Grindstone. I mull to 6 and have Revoker answering Grindstone and resolved Chalice@1 to shut off his blast to protect my Revoker. Drew follows up with Painter + Jaya and makes me feel dumb that Revoker + Chalice are going to die and that I’m going to lose. Yupp, I lose.

    Game 2:-2 Crucible, -1 Overseer, +3 Ratchet Bomb
    I lead with a non-sol land (sadly but my hand was insanely good: 2 Revokers, 1 Chalice@1, Champion). Drew sneaks a Grindstone into play. I play a turn 2 Chalice@1. He gets Painter online. I play Revoker naming Jaya and Grindstone just in case. Drew Stingscourgers my Revoker naming Jaya blasts off my Chalice and REBs my replayed Revoker next turn and grinded me with just enough mana.
    I LOSE!!!!! I was kinda pissed that he had outs to something as insane as 2 Revoker + Chalice@1 (no bolt/no REBs for him to get out of the mess). Drew told me he was considering not boarding his lone Stingscourger and decided to. He drew everything against me!  So I QQ’d more that I missed Top 16, but I was happy regardless that Drew did well!

    5-3 (11-7-0)

    So there’s a 5-3 Lodestone Golem at SCG FW. I knew the deck was well-capable of a strong 6-2 contention had I played a little better and drawn just a little better in one match, or Drew drawing a little less retardedly. Regardless, I also knew that there were some mistake in the decklists. I should have gone 4 Platings, and probably have played 2 Ornithopters. Theses decisions were decided against due to limited playtesting. I wasn’t ready to let my emotions take the results of multiple testing and switch my list.



    PROS
    - Eugene and Drew for driving the Asgard crew up and back respectively.
    - Asgard crew for bearing with this annoying deck and helping me playtest quite extensively over the past few months
    - The deck for being a blast to play, and blowing out unprepared opponents, and having the solid potential to go 6-2 if it had a better pilot.
    - SCG Interview for this deck although I can’t find the link 
    - SCG for successfully holding these circuits and increasing the popularity of Legacy AND card prices :P
    - Merfolk resolving Standstill against me :D
    - Lodestone Golem for being awesome.
    - Plating for being a lifesaver topdeck and the best equipment in the deck.

    SLOPS
    - Drawing 3 creatures (2 revokers, 1 champion) against Team America
    - Punting the GW NOrder matchup
    - Playing drew in Round 8 and losing to his stone-cold nuts (that’s what she said), therefore finishing 27th while Drew takes 12th. Grats!
    - Getting home at 2am and work next day.
    Last edited by GGoober; 03-25-2011 at 09:57 PM.
    Decks that I care about:
    Steel Stompy
    UWx Landstill
    Dreadstalker
    DDFT (10% practice)

    Mangara on MWS? You must be masochistic. -kiblast
    Quote Originally Posted by Gheizen64 View Post
    REB is a fantastic sideboard card against blue... in blue decks :/

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