Steel Stompy 2.0 / Ravager Shops

[Admiral_Arzar]

Intro/Explanation

Steel Stompy was a deck built by a friend (Metalwalker) a long time ago. This one is a bit of a callback in some ways, although it owes a lot to Vintage in cards and concept. Anyways, I'd been pondering whether it was possible to port the Vintage Workshop deck to Legacy for quite a while. The manabase is far worse as everyone knows, but we get to play all the non-mana toys without being burdened by the restricted list, which counts for something. I had a discussion with a buddy who doesn't post on here, where I played the part of the skeptic due to the aforementioned issues with the manabase. He thought the issue had merit but I kind of shelved it for a while due to not believing in the heart of the cards. Recently, I came around to trying it out when I considered the synergy between Arcbound Ravager and Walking Ballista/Hangarback Walker. I like all of these cards but hadn't played them in Legacy outside of Ballista in Bomberman, a very different deck with different reasons for playing the card. The +1/+1 counter theme, and remembering Metalwalker's old stompy deck, pointed me to Steel Overseer which is fantastic with these kind of things. Manlands, as in Modern Affinity, go great with Ravager + Overseer. My favorite card - Chalice - is not restricted in this format, and the one drops the Modern deck plays are far too underpowered to be an alternative. For once I find myself actually playing Thorn of Amethyst, since pretty much the whole deck costs 2, Trinisphere actually messes with the curve a lot. Lodestone Golem stacks well with Thorn and can be protected from removal by Chalice, Ravager, and Overseer. After that all came together, I filled in the other nonland slots with Moxen and a couple of flex slots. With the creative process out of the way, the first list:

4 Hangarback Walker
4 Walking Ballista
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
4 Lodestone Golem

3 Mox Diamond
3 Mox Opal
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Crucible of Worlds

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Cavern of Souls
4 City of Traitors
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Wasteland

Sideboard

3 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Powder Keg
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Etched Champion
4 Faerie Macabre
2 Spine of Ish Sah

The sideboard is a bit of a mess but the main felt very solid at the first local event. As expected from a Chalice deck, any game where you are on the play feels extremely strong, but the presence of Thorn and potential turn 2 Golems makes this even more noticeable than normal. Turn one Deathrite when you're on the draw of course feels bad, but can be played around. I will likely make the following changes the next time I play the deck (which won't be for a while as our local event is Monday which falls on Christmas/New Year's).

-3 Mox Opal
-2 Cavern of Souls

+1 Mox Diamond
+4 Mishra's Factory

Mox Opal was underwhelming because it's next to impossible to activate it turn one unless your hand is already bonkers. More lands is likely better. Cavern is a mixed bag because of the variety of creature types in the 75, and I found myself wishing it was just another manland. More manlands makes Ravager and Overseer even better and ensures you just don't run out of dudes. Also, despite the relatively low curve you really don't want to miss land drops, and the 8 dudes with "XX" in their cost really soften the impact of any potential mana flood. I almost want to play a couple copies of Wastes because of the multiple Veteran Explorer decks in my meta right now, but that might be a little much. Side note: this deck is deceptively strong against the Rector/Enchantments VE deck due to the combination of taxing effects and +1/+1 counters. My first event went like this:

Round 1: WGB Rector/Veteran Explorer

Game one I win the roll and have turn 1 Thorn, turn 2 Golem, turn 3 Golem. Not much to say about this one as he really didn't cast anything at all. Game 2 is more of the same but slower, which allowed him to GSZ for Explorer to slow the offense. Two Golems, Ravager, and I think a Hangarback Walker made appearances. 2-0

Round 2: Casual Mono-Red Goblins

Pretty sure this was basically a starter deck, but he won round one so who am I to judge. Game one I'm on the play with Chalice and Lodestone Golem, which slows him down enough for me to get there. Game two I die to a bunch of hasty Goblins as my draw is insufficiently explosive. Game three I have Chalice and we trade removal on things (Bomb and Keg for me, various burn spells for him). Eventually a decently sized Ravager gets there. 2-1

Round 3: Grixis Delver

I once again win the die roll (I usually lose them all when playing Chalice so this is awesome). I open with turn one Walking Ballista off of land, Mox Diamond. He plays Delver which dies to Ballista, and then I have double Wasteland. I draw Crucible while he durdles and he scoops to impending Wastelock. Game two I awkwardly play Mox Diamond into Daze and then get my Wasteland both Wastelanded and Surgically Extracted. I'm stuck on two lands and my first couple things get countered or killed by Ancient Grudge, but he lacks pressure with just a Deathrite. Eventually I started sticking dudes with "x" in their cost and I think a Ravager, while he floods out. 2-0

Not a bad showing for a first test run, although winning all the die rolls definitely made things easier than they probably should have been. Anyways, pick up the deck, play it, tell me I'm terrible at magic, whatever. It's fun to play and might have potential.