Soldier Stompy (Tribal Tomb-Based Aggro)

[MGB]

Yes really good card if you have a deck that can play it turn 1-2. Open a Game with it can also prevent first turn removal so you can follow up with Chalice or Thalia 1.0 for more protection etc.

Still unsure about the right deck list, i think with Thalia 2.0 I don't want to use SField anymore which opens up many new stuff like playing Jitte, more karakas protection etc. I feel Winter Orb (as a sideboard card) is really good with the New thalia to break control decks. Unsure of this deck really needs Warchief or Ballyrush, both dont feel strong enough on it's own.

Maybe someone brew a new White Stompy Build with 8 Thalia and the good Eldrazi (Displacer, Seer, Smasher).

I never really liked Suppression Field and I was playing 4 Winter Orb maindeck in my soldier list and actually had some top-32 finishes at relatively large (300+ people) Legacy tournaments with it.

Now, since the Eldrazi have been printed MAYBE it's better just to play White Eldrazi with Thalias, but Preeminent Captain was one of the main reasons to play Soldiers and Preeminent Captain is a better creature than every Eldrazi except maybe Thought Knot Seer, so I still think there is some reason maybe to play 8 Thalias in a Soldier shell.

[rufus]

I mentioned it in the spoiler thread, but I think that leveraging tribal synergies is all about leveraging the interactions between multiple tribal cards, and that the chalice/aggro game plan is more about either getting creatures that also shut down the opponent, or ones that can close out the game quickly on their own.

From that perspective, it doesn't really make sense to run the tribal enablers like Ballyrush Banneret or Daru Warchief which really only pay off when you swarm.

Maybe something like Ranger of Eos and a smattering of interesting 0 and 1 cmc bodies - there are soldiers like Kytheon,Herald of Anafenza, and Dryad Militant, or non-soldier utility critters like Planar Guide and Salvage Scout, and X creatures like Endless One to play around chalice.

[Redkid43]

The lords are good when you are dumping them into play with Preeminet Captain. Otherwise, they are hard to cast and take up spots where somewhat more cost effective creatures would be.


Has anyone tossed around the idea of 8 Thalia? Both can be in play at the same time because of different names and both work incredible in tandem with each other. Put some Suppression field in there and that seems nuts

Something like

8 Thalia
4 Preeminet Captain
4 Enlistment Officer
4 Captain of the Watch
1 Brimaz
1 Gustcloak Savior

4 Suppression Field
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox

4 Cavern
4 Tomb
4 City
3 Karakas
5 plains

[MD.Ghost]

I would go with something like this as a first brew:

// Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
2 City of Traitors
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Karakas
8 Plains

// Creatures
4 Captain of the Watch
4 Enlistment Officer
2 Gustcloak Savior
2 High Sentinels of Arashin
2 Kor Hookmaster // Flexslot
1 Kor Skyfisher // Flexslot
4 Preeminent Captain
2 Relic Seeker // Jötun Grunt
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Thalia 2.0 NEW

// Spells
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
2 Umezawa's Jitte

// Sideboard
2 Containment Priest
2 Crackdown
2 Holy Light
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
2 Thorn of Amethyst // Warping Wail
2 Tsabo's Web // Winter Orb
1 Surgical Extraction // Flexslot

First Idea, without SField we can use Jitte and other Tools. Maindeck is mostly build around high value Soldiers instead of stuff like Warchief or Ballyrush. Relic Seeker is here for Jitte, because Jitte is Jitte especially with First Strike Creatures, Stompy-Land-Speed and Flying Soldiers (which don't die to Decay/Bolt^^)

Thalia 2.0 should be very strong here because you can play her turn 1 and naturally Soldiers had problems with early Gofy/BSkull and Thalia 2.0 buy at least one more turn. She is also nasty with Crackdown, Tsabo's Web and Winter Orb! Kor Hookmaster is here because he is solid vs Eldrazi/BGx Decks and can also work with Thalia 2.0 for another more lockdowns/turns.

Manabase should work well. If you like the risk to splash something i would test R for Nahiri because she can support this deck nice after Thalia 2.0 is out (kills stuff under Thalia/Hookmaster, draw cards if you have useless Mox/Thalia copies in hand and Ultimate with Captain of the Watch should be strong enough). Another idea is Green for Choke (and Library). Thalia 2.0 (or 1.0) and Choke should be a strong combo vs blue decks. So only downside for this underrated Tribe is that "Chalice Stompy" is currently "everywhere" (thanks to Eldrazi) so the meta is prepared to beat this game plan. Good news are, the monowhite version doesn't die to Blood Moon/Land Hate and with Thalia Duo and some Flyers even a Moat is beatable.

Afterall it would be interesting to compare this deck vs eldrazi stompy after Thalia 2.0 is out. The new Thalia is definite a huge push for the brave Soldiers.

[MGB]

Here's the list I will be testing with the new card:

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
2 City of Traitors
3 Karakas
5 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy

3 Ballyrush Banneret
3 Captain of the Watch
4 Enlistment Officer
4 Gustcloak Savior
2 Kor Skyfisher
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Thalia, Heretic Cathar

4 Chrome Mox
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Winter Orb

SB:
4 Rest in Peace
3 Damping Matrix
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Magus of the Moat
4 Banishing Light

[porcupinetreeman]

The only reason to play this deck is suppression field. The new Thalia should make this a solid tier 2 deck. I would start with something like this.

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Suppression Field

4 Captain of the Watch
4 Ballyrush Banneret
4 Enlistment Officer
4 Daru Warchief
2 Field Marshal
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Thalia 2.0
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

3 Karakas
7 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Chrome Mox
4 Cavern of Souls


SB:


1 Oblivion Ring
4 Rest in Peace
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Ravages of War
2 Armageddon

[MGB]

The only reason to play this deck is suppression field. The new Thalia should make this a solid tier 2 deck. I would start with something like this.

The primary reason to play this deck is actually Preeminent Captain. Captain is one of the most powerful creatures at 3 mana in the game if he's played in a deck with lots of Soldier card types. And of course, Thalia and Chalice.

Suppression Field is a very overrated card, imho. I've had much more success with Winter Orb in that slot in my soldier deck than Suppression Field.

[MD.Ghost]

SField is great in some cases, but since Thalia 2.0 also wrecks Fetches I see no reason to play SField, because our own Karakas is much better now. Jitte is very strong with all the First Strike Creatures and you can play a lot of more stuff like High Sentinels, Planeswalker, own Fetches with Splash etc.

[Jon]

I'm back. No idea what list I like more but now with new Thalia I am fine playing orb.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[Fatal]

I seen few games with Thalia 2.0 and Suppresion field - both works great :-)

[TLK]

Soldier list made top 8 of a recent event.

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=13150&d=276997&f=LE

[Xod]

For information about his losses. In the Top 8 hé lost against the reanimator deck. And he got 4-1 before the top 8, losing only to me, the Big Red deck. (I was very lucky)

[DarthVicious]

No Catapult Squad?

Edit: Metagame blah blah blah

[MGB]

For information about his losses. In the Top 8 hé lost against the reanimator deck. And he got 4-1 before the top 8, losing only to me, the Big Red deck. (I was very lucky)

And his Reanimator matchup would be improved if he was playing 4 Rest in Peace in SB and 3 Karakas MD like he probably should.

[s&s]

SField is great in some cases, but since Thalia 2.0 also wrecks Fetches I see no reason to play SField, because our own Karakas is much better now. Jitte is very strong with all the First Strike Creatures and you can play a lot of more stuff like High Sentinels, Planeswalker, own Fetches with Splash etc.

suppresion field is great against some key legacy cards which thalia 2.0 does not affect

against miracles it is a great asset against top, lategame it makes jace activations costly, it makes wirewood symbiote and the other utility elves and DRS near-impossible to use, it slows lands down a great deal, its usually pretty easy to remove a thalia through pf / molten vortex, but only the decks running abrupt decay have a counter to suppression field game 1 ..

it also comes out earlier then thalia 2.0 and protects from wasteland, seems important since the deck does have a chance to get wasted out and doesn't have the manipulation to do much about it after the fact

finally also stacks well with thalia 2.0 to make fetching even worse

i don't think it can be cut without significantly weakening the deck

[kwèk]

Soldier list made top 8 of a recent event.

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=13150&d=276997&f=LE

Yeah I had a great run out there. LOL


Annyway... been tweaking and testing the deck for a while. I bought it years ago, because I've been playing all kinds of "stompy" variants. But Soldiers, for me, was the least impressive. I kinda went to Angel Stompy, and had some succes in small FNM-Legacy evenings.

http://tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=14050&iddeck=103349

Tweaked and played around with it... talked to Matthew quite a lot too (thanks for the help).


But with the emerging of "Thalia 2.0" (it's Britney B*tch), and my weird relationship with "Loxodon Gatekeeper"... I wanted to give it another try.
"Loxodon Gatekeeper" as an effect was great... as a body and his CMC were not. Ussually he came to late, and the 2/3 just wasn't that great in later top deck mode. At least Thalia comes with First Strike... and is a good clock by herself.

The Core of the deck... is pretty solid. You can't really change a lot about it.

Aggro stuff:

4x Preeminent Captain (Man... he can be really back breaking)
4x Captain of the Watch (With cost reducers, you can just cast it turn 4 sometimes)
4x Enlistment Officer (Just way to good to cut down on)
4x Daru Warchief (In my opinion way better then the Field Marshall, because of +2 Toughness, and reduces cost)
4x Ballyrush Banneret (Another cost Reducer, that is pretty weak on it's own)

2/3x Field Marshal (Pretty good in Creature Vs Creature match ups... making a wall of First Strikers till they all get vigilace, is pretty cool)

Disruption:

4x Chalice of the Void (way to good not to play MD)
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (way to god not to play MD)
3/4x Thalia, Heretic Cathar (Good in a lot of match ups, but sometimes a bit over excessive... I cut down on 1)

Then there is a choice to make between:

4x Suppresion Field
OR
4x Thorn of Amethyst


Suppresion Field: Pretty good in a metagame with equipment and sensei's diving top. You can't really beat Equipment mainboard, because there is NO soldier that destroys artifacts (why... damned ). Disrupting the Wastelands can also be a good thing... since your mana-base plan isn't the most solid. BUT, like I discussed with Matt and some other guys that play prisonlike effects, if you only want to hit the fetchlands... then Suppresion field should be boarded out. Why?

Just watch the 3th game of "Stephen Sachs Vs Andrew Boswell" SCG circuit 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY7E4z7WikE

His opponent just draws the lands he needs, never fetches. Brainstorms put fetches back in the library... uses ponders to shuffle. Suppresion field was pretty much a dead card.

Thorn of Amethyst: Is always good if you play against a "non-creature" match up. (tempo games included) Thorn + Thalia 1.0 , creates a lot of time walks. The new thalia just helps time walking, while you keep hitting for 2, 5, 8, ... as you deploy the garrison.

This is the danger, but also the tactic that makes sure you stick in your roll. You are playing aggro, you don't want to answer stuff... you just want them not to play it, while you beat away. They have to answer your stuff, that's the game you want to play. You don't have the space to be a control match up... your core is aggro. You just prison a little bit, because if you don't (in legacy) you just loose. (plays a sad song on a small violin for "zoo")

If at anny point, you find yourself in a situation... that you need to answer in the form of a "non-creature"... then maybe it's time to shuffle it up and try not to get in the same position the next time you play.

This leaves you with at least 1/2 free/flex slot mainboard, depending on your choices. And 11/12 sideboard slots (since you want the Suppresion Field/Thorn of Amethysts in sideboard).

So the addaptions of the deck, need to go in SB, that's the place where you tweak the deck.

I have a love/hate relationship with Brimaz. That guy brings his own army... but you already have 2 legendary creatures in the form of Thalia. Sometimes They just get randomly bounced by the karakasses that are naturally flowing around. I also sometimes get stuck with thalia's in hand btw... that's why I kinda cut 1 out already. Having thalia 1.0 and 2.0 already in play... and then hitting another 2 thalias, and 2 lands, doesnt make you really happy, because in most cases you just want to swarm the board and bring the pain.


Yesterday... I experimented with "Ballyknock Trapper" instead of Brimaz mainboard.

http://magiccards.info/eve/en/2.html

It was pretty fun. LOL
Doesn't remove a threat like "O ring". But it has this little trick that D&T used to play with Sneak and Show. When they sneaked in an emrakull, D&T went for the Leonin Bola play. Now this is a 2/2 that costs only one W (which is important with cost reducers). If suppresion field is not online, you can tap a creature (end of turn), untap and tap a creature, play a white spell (untap)... and decide to attack or not. Against heavy beaters this is a great card. And when it gets Vigilance (Captain of the watch) you can declare him attacking, and before blockers tap another creature. 2nd mainphase play a creature and untap him for more tricks.

Similair effects can be found in the body of:

Master Decoy: http://magiccards.info/tp/en/241.html
Benalish Trapper: http://magiccards.info/in/en/8.html

If you wanna block fliers, or big guys that don't have trample or shroud/protection.

Trap Runner: http://magiccards.info/mm/en/55.html

It even blocks creatures that can't be blocked!!! (like Blighted Agent, if you can stall the game for so long)

All of these options keeps creatures on the table. If your creatures gets removed, their big guy will have a party.

Intrepid Hero: http://magiccards.info/query?q=intre...v=card&s=cname

However... Kills them outright. But doesn't deal with Marit Lage or a Blightsteel Collosus or an Ulamog.


Just choices you have to make... but all these options can be hit by "enlistment officer", and you don't need to randomly draw them. And if they have no target to tap/block/kill, at least they can do some damadge... which still is your plan. Kill before you are killed.

The Umezawa's Jitte in the sideboard was just there for "Elves". Thalia 2.0 disrupts elves already, but "suppresion field" and "thorn of amethyst" don't really do enough. Also thalia 1.0 is just a 2/1 First strike in that match up. ... But I found out Elves have enough answers to the jitte, so I don't want to gamble on playing an answer, that can be to easily disrupted. (Bouncing elves with wirewood/sybiote / Just getting a reclamation sage)

Since we don't have anny real spot removal... Wirewood/symbiote pretty much makes Jitte a joke. So ... I've been testing with "Holy Light" which is a bit better I guess. It can be cast next to "Chalice of the Void" (which still is disrupting enougn) (http://magiccards.info/query?q=holy+...v=card&s=cname)

Another card that can be really nice, but also a legend, is Commander Eesha (http://magiccards.info/query?q=comma...v=card&s=cname). Blocks most creatures for ever... and can't be abrupt decayed. Can't be bolted... So StP and Karakas are the best removal spells that are commonly used. In a BUG meta game she can do some serious damadge. Also, once she is all buffed up... she can swing for lethal, all on her own, since no one will be able to block her. Not even "Trap Runner" LOL.


Winter Orb... I love it. But I'm not sure if I would go beyond 2. Armageddon ussually is way to steep of a cost to pay because of thorn-effects. The fact that you only play 18/19 lands, makes your "land" top deck a lot worst then your opponents. But Thalia 2.0 + Winter Orb + Chrome Mox + Sol land + Cost reductions ... is pretty cool. You just wait till they tap out for something big... then you cast "winter orb", and it's almost feels like "armageddon", while you have your garrison in play.

What's cool about this deck, against "non-creature match ups" ... is that you higher the cost of their spells, while in the same time lowering the cost on your soldiers. You gain an enormous amount of tempo by just playing that game, and your creatures get huge pretty quick.


Right now my results in the past few weeks in little tournaments:


BLC-Trial: (31 players)

2-1 vs Dark Maverick (win)
2-1 vs Miracles (win)
1-2 vs Big Red (loss)
2-1 vs ANT (win)
2-0 vs BUG Opposition (win)

8th Finals: 0-2 vs Reanimator (loss)



Small tourney under friends (8 players)

1-2 vs Infect (loss)
2-0 vs Miracles (win)
2-1 vs GWr Enchantress (win)




FNM Legacy (14 players)

2-1 vs Miracles (win)
1-2 vs Cw Eldrazi (loss)
2-1 vs Black Stax (win)
2-0 vs Death and Taxes (win)



It's not stable... or a tier 1 deck. But it can deliver a punch. And testing it, makes me feel that it's better then "Eldrazi", which I considered the best stompy deck option since the new thalia came around. The "enlistment officer" + "Cavern of souls" just gives you that edge that the eldrazi deck hasn't... namely, drawing loads of cards after you run out of gas.

If you vial the enlistment officer in, with a "preemptive captain" trigger... you sometimes can just cast all the WX spells for 1 mana, because of costs reductions... making sure you have lethal on board the next turn.

But you lose to the same spells eldrazi loose too. "Moat" , "Humility" and "Ensnaring Bridge".
You can solve "Moat" with "Aven Cloudchaser" (http://magiccards.info/od/en/7.html) ... It's not great, but it flies, and it destroys an annoying enchantment (Omniscience/Sneak attack). Another problem could be "Torpor Orb" and "Hushwing Gryff"... since it cancels out a lot of the value triggers of creatures comming into play.

"True Name Nemesis" is also a problem... since you don't play blue, and can't counter it. Just make sure it NEVER EVER gets equiped. If it's not equiped, you can just swarm the True Name. "Holy Light" also solves the problem.

[ESG]

Great input on testing, kwèk, and thanks for sharing your results! But no need for quote marks on the card names.

It's interesting that you say you feel Soldier Stompy is not Tier 1 but is better than Eldrazi, when Eldrazi is generally considered a Tier 1 deck based on results.

[kwèk]

... Maybe we should "define" tier 1.

Annyways. I played Eldrazi too for a bit. I'm not an expert with it.
But I think the power of the Eldrazi deck is in it's opening. It can be more explosive then soldiers.


Turn 1: Eye of Ugin -> 1/2x Eldrazi Mimic
Turn 2: Eldrazi Temple -> Thought-Knot Seer (discard) + Hit for 4/8
Turn 3: Cavern of Souls -> Reality Smasher + Hit for 14/19

Is something Soldiers can't do.

This is also one of those openings that only works if they are undisrupted.
If anny of these plays gets disrupted, things turn sour for the eldrazi deck.
And with this opening, they havent deployed a chalice / thorn of amethyst. But they did discard one targeted card (which can be really rough).

Sometimes they play the soldier game, by deploying a chalice/thorn first. And play a tought-knot seer turn 2.

The Thought knot seer, turn 2 and sometimes turn 3 as well, was the reason of most of my wins with the deck. Reality smasher is a good card to finish tings off. But again. If your opponent kills your creatures or counters them (specially after sideboard)... the deck will run out of gas. They only have between 22-24 creatures... where Soldiers play between 28-30 ... and after sideboard (in my build right now) even 33. This makes your top decks a lot better to apply any form of pressure on the board. And with the 24 Eldrazi creatures, ussually 4 spirit guides are included.

When it comes to explosiveness, eldrazi has a better start if they have the right hand.
If you are looking at consistency... I honestly have the feeling Soldiers are more consistent, and can rebuild easier after your opponent found some answers.

[Sidneyious]

While not a soldier, I think mom would have a home here?

[Scott]

While not a soldier, I think mom would have a home here?

High bar for non-soldiers, high bar for 1 CMC spells, very high bar for something that's both. Nixed.