Steel Stompy 2.0 / Ravager Shops

[Qernavak]

Another 5-0 with Steel Stompy

Here's my current list:


Faced:
D&T
Reanimator
TurboDepths
Reanimator
Painter

I loved the Primer by Sisyphos and wholeheartedly agree with Quadich's feedback. Except for the Crucible of Worlds part, since I have not tested. That said, I wouldn't agree that the best way to stabilize vs. lands is by dropping Crucible, since they can drop multiple lands per turn with Exploration. I think Thorn is a much better answer for slowing them down - and Thorn can constrict your Crucible even more.

I tested Karn and... I'm convinced that's not what I want for my 4-drop. I usually either couldn't cast because I had landed a Thorn earlier, or I would have other things to cast that were actually better because they would help me win the game and Karn wouldn't.

I think Karn needs to go on a shell that doesn't have Thorns, so perhaps it may be a spin-off archetype, but I'm convinced not this one.


Started playing this deck on and off ever since Amadeus made it popular and only in the most recent weeks have I learned how to play it and performed better with it. One of the most valuable lessons so far is to strategize when to play Steel Overseer. I used to play it on Turn 1 almost as an auto play, and now I know that's probably the wrong pay on a vacuum. One wants to protect that card as much as possible and most of the times the creature played on turn 1 is either something I'm willing to lose to removal, or a Vault Skirge. I also noticed that opponents tend not to kill Skirge on the spot, which seems intuitive, but I think that's the crux of their eventual loss.

I will keep playing this deck as long as it keeps me winning :)

[from Cairo]

I’m pretty new to trying out this archetype and was curious about some of the differences I’ve seen in configurations.

The flex land slots seem split between people using Cavern of Souls, Inventor’s Fair, and additional man lands. My initial thinking is manlands strike me as having broader strengths across matches. Their floor is less impacted by what’s in play/hand and I feel like their ceiling can also be quite high depending on game state.

There was some talk of Foundry Inspector in Vault Skirge’s place at some point. Did that configuration put up results anywhere?

I’ve been a bit surprised to see lists with less than 4 Thorn of Amethyst and less than 3 Lodestone Golem, sol land powering out disruption seems like where this deck wants to be starting games.

Anyone know another discussion location for Steel Stompy / Ravager Shops that’s more active than here? Just trying to gather up more perspectives on this deck.


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[Dice_Box]

With a bit of poking, you can get everyone talking in the Stax part of the Lands Discord. It's basically turned into a Prison Discord.

https://discord.gg/rxb7rUr

[Qernavak]

Was testing a different Blinkmoth Nexus in lieu of Mishra's Factory and accidentally 5-0'd another league. Here's the list:



Being that the current online metagame is light Miracles and heavy in creature based decks, Blinkmoth seemed (and was) a better choice. Many were the times in which my opponent had creatures on board and we were both stalled except for the Nexuses, which cumulatively dealt the winning damage.

In most games, I use Factories to mainly produce mana, and not as a creature, neither attacking or defending. This is why I thought it might be worthwhile switching to Nexus.

You'll also note that I have dropped all the equipment from the deck: this comes from the realization that many times I'd have an equipment in hand, but my mana was more efficiently used either casting other spells, or pumping ballistas/hangarbacks. Or I would have equipment, but a small flow of creatures which were trading with opponent's removal.

Faced:

Elves
Death and Taxes
ANT
TES
Eldrazi

[jolssoni]

Time to rename the thread? /s

[imaginaryunit]

BTW, there's now an Affinity/Robots Discord at https://discord.gg/yr62bbe, with a Legacy section we can post in.

[Krarkeon]

I get the appeal of running crucible for infinite tutors, but personally I think the deck has so much redundancy already you can shed it for some other pieces. Maybe a few Jitte's?

[Captain Hammer]

Traxos, Scourge of Kroog seems like it could be very strong in this list. It has trample, and a 7/7 on turn 1/2 (4 mana is very easily achievable) with vigilance (given the number of artifacts the deck runs) that is immune to most of the removal that sees play seems like a great alternate route to victory/way to stabilize or recover if the opponent manages to shut down your initial plan of attack.

[Fjaulnir]

My buddy Johan made top 3-4 at GP Birmingham with the deck, definitely piqued my interest in the deck more

[aslidsiksoraksi]

My buddy Johan made top 3-4 at GP Birmingham with the deck, definitely piqued my interest in the deck more

Same here. It looks fun as hell, I was just waiting to see if it could put up numbers. But the proof is there!

[malfie13]

Hi guys! I usually post and play 12 post metalworker mud, but I have been lurking and thinking about playing this deck for a little while, especially if spheres start locking me out. so I was wondering about two things about the deck: 1, how bad does the new sphere wreck this deck, if at all? 2, how set in stone is the lands package for the deck? I feel like some extra drawn cards could seriously benefit the deck if it stalled. The city's blessing land seems like it would fit well. Also i feel like the deck could die fairly quickly to delvers. Have any of you all tested with multiple blinkmoths?

[H]

Hi guys! I usually post and play 12 post metalworker mud, but I have been lurking and thinking about playing this deck for a little while, especially if spheres start locking me out. so I was wondering about two things about the deck: 1, how bad does the new sphere wreck this deck, if at all? 2, how set in stone is the lands package for the deck? I feel like some extra drawn cards could seriously benefit the deck if it stalled. The city's blessing land seems like it would fit well. Also i feel like the deck could die fairly quickly to delvers. Have any of you all tested with multiple blinkmoths?

Damping Sphere? I can't imagine anyone really boarding that in against you and if they did, they probably just played a Time Walk against themselves, but maybe they slowed you down a turn. I wouldn't worry about it. It seems like most of the time it would barely effect you.

Not sure which land you are talking about, but I'd guess it's Arch of Orazca? Problem here (and mind you, I've only played the deck for about 2 months now) it's actually rather rare for you to have 10 permanents. And even more rare (I'd think) to have 10 permanents and 5 mana, plus that land. I mean, I'd say try it and see, but I have some doubts.

Last time I played, I did include a couple Blinkmoths and they did a bit of work in one game where the Flying was relevant. I'm not sure they are great, but they are definitely worth considering, because Overseer makes everything ridiculous, honestly.

On GP Birmingham, I think Johan could have won the whole thing, if he lets that Overseer actually block the Ringleader, then swings back and gains 4 off the Jitte, I think he wins that game. Easy to say from my armchair, but I was rooting for him and was glad to see him do well, even if that puts this deck on people's "radar."

[aslidsiksoraksi]

I agree, as an outsider looking in that g3 was a bit misplayed. I thought if he goes all in on the etched champion he could at least threaten lethal, or if he had blocked more aggressively...

But then again I have zero experience with the deck. seems like Ballista is the best card in the deck in that matchup and he never seemed to get any

Have people tried more than 2 inventor's fair? I'm putting the deck together and that card seems particularly useful. It's legendary and all, so maybe 3x?

[Man of Steel]

I also think that damping sphere is garbage against us. I was playing 2 Fairs for a long time and was convinced that they will stay in the deck forever, but there are a number of lands that felt better. For example Blinkmoth, Ghost Quarter etc.

Has anyone tested a deck with for blinkmoth instead of the factories?

Btw after a lot of Testing i cut all the Lodestone Golems and was pretty impressed with "man of Steel" without the golems

[Qernavak]

I also think that damping sphere is garbage against us. I was playing 2 Fairs for a long time and was convinced that they will stay in the deck forever, but there are a number of lands that felt better. For example Blinkmoth, Ghost Quarter etc.

Has anyone tested a deck with for blinkmoth instead of the factories?

Btw after a lot of Testing i cut all the Lodestone Golems and was pretty impressed with "man of Steel" without the golems

I have replaced Factories with Blinkmoths and it feels like a more reliable thread. They especially shine in standoff games, where the 1 or 2 damage eventually wins the game. It has also won me games by blocking 20/20 flying indestructibles, allowing me time to find answers,etc. I am not disappointed and I'm leaving it as a 4-of for the foreseeable future.

I also agree that Fairs can be flex slots. I have been thinking about Darksteel Citadel for a while and seeing Johan have great success with them leads me to believe they're worth exploring.

I am also thinking about Welding Jar: sometimes, protecting the one key creature or artifact makes the difference between winning or losing. With Jar, I can also make my Opals active at a much faster pace.

Unfortunately the MTGO metagame has turned a bit sour: too many main deck Back to Basics. The card on itself is not too bad, but when you combine it with Terminus, it can be devastating. And Back to Basics can often mean game over... it feels worse than vs. Lands, because is like if they Wastelanded 2, 3 or 4 lands in one shot. If B2B prevails in the metagame, then I will have to add a color for a reliable enchantment removal strategy.

I'm curious to see your current test deck, without Golems and without Fairs.

[Man of Steel]

I have replaced Factories with Blinkmoths and it feels like a more reliable thread. They especially shine in standoff games, where the 1 or 2 damage eventually wins the game. It has also won me games by blocking 20/20 flying indestructibles, allowing me time to find answers,etc. I am not disappointed and I'm leaving it as a 4-of for the foreseeable future.

I also agree that Fairs can be flex slots. I have been thinking about Darksteel Citadel for a while and seeing Johan have great success with them leads me to believe they're worth exploring.

I am also thinking about Welding Jar: sometimes, protecting the one key creature or artifact makes the difference between winning or losing. With Jar, I can also make my Opals active at a much faster pace.

Unfortunately the MTGO metagame has turned a bit sour: too many main deck Back to Basics. The card on itself is not too bad, but when you combine it with Terminus, it can be devastating. And Back to Basics can often mean game over... it feels worse than vs. Lands, because is like if they Wastelanded 2, 3 or 4 lands in one shot. If B2B prevails in the metagame, then I will have to add a color for a reliable enchantment removal strategy.

I'm curious to see your current test deck, without Golems and without Fairs.

I also play 2 welding jar at the moment and it feels right. The 2 maindeck Jars have replaced the 2 Spellskites in the board. B2B is a problem. I try 4 mox opal in my current list to fight B2B and make the starts more broken. I also test 4 Karn in the main, which is also very good againsr B2B and terminius.

But back to the topic. Do you think of playing more than 4 creature lands or playing only Blinkmoth?

[Qernavak]

I also play 2 welding jar at the moment and it feels right. The 2 maindeck Jars have replaced the 2 Spellskites in the board. B2B is a problem. I try 4 mox opal in my current list to fight B2B and make the starts more broken. I also test 4 Karn in the main, which is also very good againsr B2B and terminius.

But back to the topic. Do you think of playing more than 4 creature lands or playing only Blinkmoth?

I think there may be a configuration that benefits from more than 4 creature lands. But right now I don't think the Stompy version of the deck needs more than 4 creature lands. In my opinion, the main goal of the deck in its more common versions is to have an early lock or a must deal threat. The most effective way of achieving this is via Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors. If I use Tomb, then it follows that I would take considerable damage through the progression of the game, eventually making it too risky to produce mana from it. If I use Traitors I will have a fast start but often my mana production will stagnate as trade land drops for the previously played Traitors. In both cases, I often find myself in developed games where access to mana is at a premium. Under this premise, I don't see myself in a late game using my mana for activating several creature lands.

I think if the deck shifted to a much more aggressive deck style, much like its Modern version, then I can see having more creature lands would be successful.

[aslidsiksoraksi]

I saw it mentioned a few pages back, but what is the thought on scrap trawler?

Almost the entire curve is at 2, but a lot of it is also at zero (technically). seems like trawler would make ravager go properly insane and could be some protection against Supreme Verdict/burn/push/etc.

obviously a card for a more grindy build but it seems such builds exist.

[H]

I saw it mentioned a few pages back, but what is the thought on scrap trawler?

Almost the entire curve is at 2, but a lot of it is also at zero (technically). seems like trawler would make ravager go properly insane and could be some protection against Supreme Verdict/burn/push/etc.

obviously a card for a more grindy build but it seems such builds exist.

I think someone mentioned it earlier in the thread, but the fact that the Artifact returned needs to be less than and not equal to the CMC of the dying one really kills the utility of Scrap Trawler. It makes it so that our two drops only get back zeros and our zeros get back nothing, which really doesn't do all that much in reality. It might by you 1 or maybe 2 more things for Ravager to eat, but I don't know that this is all the great, considering the cost of having Scrap Trawler in your deck in the first place (it might just do nothing).

[Johanovich]

I agree, as an outsider looking in that g3 was a bit misplayed. I thought if he goes all in on the etched champion he could at least threaten lethal, or if he had blocked more aggressively...

But then again I have zero experience with the deck. seems like Ballista is the best card in the deck in that matchup and he never seemed to get any

On GP Birmingham, I think Johan could have won the whole thing, if he lets that Overseer actually block the Ringleader, then swings back and gains 4 off the Jitte, I think he wins that game. Easy to say from my armchair, but I was rooting for him and was glad to see him do well, even if that puts this deck on people's "radar."

You are both absolutely right, the second game was one massive tilt from my part. I should have either blocked the rabblemaster with the ravager earlier and put the counters on champion, which would have made it a three turn clock, or I should have made it a 12/12 at the end, keeping mox but losing metalcraft, then play an artifact in my turn to gain protection and swing for lethal. The third game was pretty unwinnable I think, there's an argumant for immediately making a token with karn, but it was impossible to guess that he would topdeck spyglass there. Gary actually gave me a fighting chance by abrading the first opal and imprinting the second abrade instead of going for the spyglass and using hazoret to kill me quicker. What really did me in that game was the magus, shutting off my lifegain and tutoring ability from fair.

Although there's no real excuse for playing like a baboon, I do have to point out that I was pretty exhausted at the time and we were both warned by the judge between G1 and G2 that he would start giving out warnings and game losses for slowplay from then on, and every time we paused for more than four seconds or so the judge would whip out his watch and started timing us. Gary actually got a warning during game 2 I believe.

Oh well, everybody makes mistakes I guess. Still very happy with how the deck performed and still really happy with the configuration.