Steel Stompy 2.0 / Ravager Shops

[Tucane]

@Tucane:

Tower of the Magistrate are in the deck for two reasons.

1. Attack into Baleful strix and give the blocked Creature protection
2. Give opposing Creatures, wich are equipped, protection so that the equitment falls of. Mainly Batterskull (SFM)

In cornercase scenarios it breaks the mirror and wins against MUD, but the two reasons listed above are what made them make the list

It might be more Useful to play more manlands, but the towers impressed me against Strix so much, that i will keep them

Btw. Copter is a great Cardselection Tool and with chief its bolt- and Delverproof

Good points about Tower, seems like I've missed out on some nice tech for some time^^ Gonna try a singleton in one of the flex-landslots.

Currently I'm toying with a blue-splashed version; Academy Ruins, Engineered Explosives and Master of Etherium with SB Padeem and maybe Antiquities War. Don't know if it's better positioned metawise than pure generic or green with SB Choke, but it feels fun/fresh.

[Man of Steel]

Good points about Tower, seems like I've missed out on some nice tech for some time^^ Gonna try a singleton in one of the flex-landslots.

Currently I'm toying with a blue-splashed version; Academy Ruins, Engineered Explosives and Master of Etherium with SB Padeem and maybe Antiquities War. Don't know if it's better positioned metawise than pure generic or green with SB Choke, but it feels fun/fresh.

splashing blue Always feels out of place in the deck. If you want to Play something blue, Play the following list:

//Lands:
4 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
2 Island
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Underground Sea
4 Vault of Whispers

//Creatures:
4 Master of Etherium
3 Trinket Mage
4 Walking Ballista

//Spells:
4 Force of Will
4 Thoughtcast

//Other Permanents:
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 the Antiquities war
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Opal
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Zuran Orb

//Sideboard:
2 Battle at the Bridge
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Flusterstorm
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Toxic Deluge

[walked]

How are folks finding the traditional stompy build performing lately?

I picked it up on a whim and have been having a pretty ridiculous hot streak; not sure if I'm on a fluke heater or if it's good in the meta right now - curious how others have fared lately..

[Tucane]

splashing blue Always feels out of place in the deck. If you want to Play something blue, Play the following list:

//Lands:
4 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
2 Island
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Underground Sea
4 Vault of Whispers

//Creatures:
4 Master of Etherium
3 Trinket Mage
4 Walking Ballista

//Spells:
4 Force of Will
4 Thoughtcast

//Other Permanents:
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 the Antiquities war
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Opal
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Zuran Orb

//Sideboard:
2 Battle at the Bridge
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Flusterstorm
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Toxic Deluge

I've thought about that route aswell, tempting being a Tezz player previously... but I think losing most of the low CC beats hurts in too many matchups to be worth it.

My idea actually, was going somewhere in this direction, potentially tweaking in a couple of basic lands):

Creatures:18
3 Hangarback Walker
4 Walking Ballista
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
3 Master of Etherium

Spells:19
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Mox Diamond
4 Mox Opal
3 Smuggler's Copter
3 Karn, Scion of Urza

Lands:24
1 Academy Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
1 Inventors' Fair
2 Karakas
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Wasteland

This gives 12 blue sources and 10 white ones, which should be enough to utilize a few SB-slots in those colors, oneoffs Crucible and Winter Orb SB among other stuff. White opens up for Canonist/C.Priest, blue has bounce-spells.

Just tinkering with it, so no IRL data yet. More manlands might be better for obvious reasons, as I've only had success with straight colorless and light green splash so far.

[Megadeus]

How are folks finding the traditional stompy build performing lately?

I picked it up on a whim and have been having a pretty ridiculous hot streak; not sure if I'm on a fluke heater or if it's good in the meta right now - curious how others have fared lately..

I should've had a clean sweep if it weren't for me punting completely on Ravager math last weekend. Deck felt incredibly powerful.

[Albarkhane]

I've thought about that route aswell, tempting being a Tezz player previously... but I think losing most of the low CC beats hurts in too many matchups to be worth it.

My idea actually, was going somewhere in this direction, potentially tweaking in a couple of basic lands):

Creatures:18
3 Hangarback Walker
4 Walking Ballista
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
3 Master of Etherium

Spells:19
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Mox Diamond
4 Mox Opal
3 Smuggler's Copter
3 Karn, Scion of Urza

Lands:24
1 Academy Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
1 Inventors' Fair
2 Karakas
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Wasteland

This gives 12 blue sources and 10 white ones, which should be enough to utilize a few SB-slots in those colors, oneoffs Crucible and Winter Orb SB among other stuff. White opens up for Canonist/C.Priest, blue has bounce-spells.

Just tinkering with it, so no IRL data yet. More manlands might be better for obvious reasons, as I've only had success with straight colorless and light green splash so far.

I am not an expert of the deck but when reading that list the first thing that comes to mind is : basically you switch etched champion with master of etherium. master of etherium is a great card but is it really worth the blue splash ? Unless you have other blue cards that could fit in well, i am not really convinced.

By the way, Esperzoa is an underrated blue card IMHO, maybe it could fit in.

[walked]

I should've had a clean sweep if it weren't for me punting completely on Ravager math last weekend. Deck felt incredibly powerful.

Mind sharing your list? I've been toying with builds and curious what's been working for others.

Curious about:
- Lodestone count?
- Jitte, SoFaI, or both?
- Hangarback or no?

Etc

[Tucane]

I am not an expert of the deck but when reading that list the first thing that comes to mind is : basically you switch etched champion with master of etherium. master of etherium is a great card but is it really worth the blue splash ? Unless you have other blue cards that could fit in well, i am not really convinced.

By the way, Esperzoa is an underrated blue card IMHO, maybe it could fit in.

My experience with Etched Champion has been that it does too little on its own, with equipment it was great though... so I've been on 4x Hangarback for a long time, as it's good vs non-white removal as in Grixis, which has a bigger metapresence than Miracles in my area.

Not sure myself if blue is the way to go, but I want to try each splash-color in a tournament setting before dismissing it.

I really like Academy Ruins and EE though, deck needs some removal:-)

Esperzoa seems fun and has some utility with Bridge and resetting Ballistae/Walkers/Chalices... so it's worth considering.

[Megadeus]

Mind sharing your list? I've been toying with builds and curious what's been working for others.

Curious about:
- Lodestone count?
- Jitte, SoFaI, or both?
- Hangarback or no?

Etc

This is the list I've got on Topdecked so I think it's the exact list I played.

Steel Stompy:

Maindeck (60)
3 Hangarback Walker
4 Walking Ballista
4 Arcbound Ravager
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
3 Etched Champion
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Lotus Petal
3 Mox Opal
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Inventors' Fair
1 Karakas
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland

Sideboard (15)
2 Warping Wail
1 Dismember
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Ensnaring Bridge

SB is pretty tossed together. Probably could use another ratchet bomb. I played against cloud posts a couple times so Spyglasses were great for me. I think I want a couple Karns though I'm not sure what for. I'll be playing next Sunday at our monthly probably with this deck. I expect a number of burn decks and miracles which is why I'm interested in hearing others thoughts on that matchup.

[Albarkhane]

My experience with Etched Champion has been that it does too little on its own, with equipment it was great though... so I've been on 4x Hangarback for a long time, as it's good vs non-white removal as in Grixis, which has a bigger metapresence than Miracles in my area.

Not sure myself if blue is the way to go, but I want to try each splash-color in a tournament setting before dismissing it.

I really like Academy Ruins and EE though, deck needs some removal:-)

Esperzoa seems fun and has some utility with Bridge and resetting Ballistae/Walkers/Chalices... so it's worth considering.

Well, i am just saying that any splash weaken the mana base so must be really worth it. I think too that blue has some potential here but i am not sure what should be added there, something that could help the bad matchup i presume.
I remembered also etherium sculptor, it has the good mana cost and its effect is nice. Maybe it is overkill and i was more looking at CA cards but its effect is quite neat for tempo.

[Mister_Lamp]

11 person legacy event at LGS last night

I ran this list:
26]

2 Etched Champion
2 Lodestone Golem
3 Hangarback Walker
3 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Master of Etherium
4 Steel Overseer
4 Walking Ballista
Artifacts [13]

1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mox Opal
4 Thorn of Amethyst
Lands [21]

2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Inventors' Fair
2 Island
3 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Wasteland


3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Spellskite
3 Faerie Macabre
1 The Antiquities War
2 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Karn, Scion of Urza

Rd 1: Bye... just stood around and talked to my buddies all round

Rd 2: Eldrazi Stompy Game 1 was prettt back and forth but after a while an unchecked Overseer and Master of Etherium just overwhelmed her. Game 2 chalice on 0 on the play followed but 3 sol lands and a waste for my tomb just wrecked me. Game 3 I had a fast start and Padeem did some work drawing gas.

Rd 3: 8 post Game 1 Wasted a sol land and my overseer was Warping Wailed. Had a skirge getting in there but double thorn was ignored by a double voltaic key and double grim monolith hand. Game went on for a few turns with them drawing gas into Ulamog and Ugin while I drew lands and modern. Game 2 my turn 2 Padeem was warping wailed and then I just durdled with an overseer and skirge that was rr taken care of by another Ulamog.

Rd 4: DnT - he was only 3-0 so he was paired down. Both games were very similar. Chalice on 1 turn 1 and a slog fest with my just having bigger creatures and able to fly over his grown pounders. Game 2 ended (very luckily for me) when I was facing down a SFM with a SoFI, Batterskull and Jitte equipped to it. Ravager off the top allowed my 3 skirges to get in for final points of damage. Phew.

It was a pretty good night overall. Had a few misplays due to not sleeving a legacy list up for a few weeks. Sometimes it just felt like top deck mode was just praying for playable spells. Against 8 post I drew 4 lands in a row. Not sure if I was winning that game anyways facing down Ugin and Ulamog....

Next week I’ll probably try the white splash for Thalia, Ethersworn Canonist and out of the board Containment Priest, Rest In Peace and Disenchant.

[Hanni]

There are quite a few interesting cards available in a blue splash, although whether or not they are good enough is certainly debatable.

Of the options available, these are my favorite:

Etherium Sculptor
Master of Etherium
Faerie Mechanist
Thoughtcast
The Antiquities War

[Megadeus]

White splash seems to me like the splash to play. Priest and Thalia are probably the main cards I'd want. I could see an argument maybe for some disenchant effect of some sort too. In lists splashing colors, how do you guys find the lack of factories?

[Johanovich]

@ Hinterweltler: Thanks for your input, but i have some questions for you

1. Do you really like lodestone golem in the MU against Miracles? I think most of the time we expent to much resources to cast it and as a creature its to easy to handle for them. I aggree on Thorn of Amythist. At the moment i run 3 main and 1 in the sb.
2. How good is Etched champion and Sofi? My plan at the moment is 2 Smugglers Copter and Chief of the foundry, which works quiet well. And why jitte against Miracles?
3. What are you taking out in the Matchup?

I agree with Hinterweltler, lodestone golem for me used to be one of the better cards against miracles. It represents a fast clock while taxing literally everything they play. A friend of mine who is a die-hard miracles player has repeatedly stated that lodestone golem is one of the cards he is most afraid of, especially in the early game. The main reason I stopped playing lodestone is because he is relatively bad against grixis control.
I've always loved etched champion, even without equipment. If you get either an equipment under him or put a few +1+1 counters on him he often closes the game out by himself. I've personally never liked the looter scooter much due but I can see why it is good especially with chief of the foundry.

@Tucane:

Tower of the Magistrate are in the deck for two reasons.

1. Attack into Baleful strix and give the blocked Creature protection
2. Give opposing Creatures, wich are equipped, protection so that the equitment falls of. Mainly Batterskull (SFM)

In cornercase scenarios it breaks the mirror and wins against MUD, but the two reasons listed above are what made them make the list

It might be more Useful to play more manlands, but the towers impressed me against Strix so much, that i will keep them

Btw. Copter is a great Cardselection Tool and with chief its bolt- and Delverproof

Tower sounds like a nice plan. If I get around to playing the deck again I think I'll give it a spin.
Opposing equipments is one of the reasons I used to play phyrexian metamorph. Copying batterskull is pretty damn good, as is copying TNN, leovold, gurmag angler and marit lage.

After the Testing yesterday, i have to consider another bad MU (Grixis Control).

In my experience Miracles and Grixis Control are bad MUs, but i think both MUs can be solved via the same Sideboard cards Karn, Scion of Urza.

Against Miracles:

- 4 Lotus Petal
- 1 Revoker

+ 4 Karn
+ 1 Thorn of Amythist


Grixis Control

- 3 Thorn of Amythist
- 1 Karakas
- 2 Lotus Petal

+ 2 Spellskite
+ 4 Karn

Thoughts??

I would never take out thorn against grixis control. I even prioritize it over chalice in terms of keeping opening hands. It just slows them down by so much. Against grixis control the best threaths to have against them (apart from the core of the deck) are etched champion, karn and hangarback walker. All of these are very hard to answer and/or negate their cardadvantage strategy. I also take out revokers postboard in favor of spyglass as revoker dies to much more stuff than spyglass and shutting down liliana can be important. My current winrate vs grixis control is around 60-70%.

[walked]

I agree with Hinterweltler, lodestone golem for me used to be one of the better cards against miracles. It represents a fast clock while taxing literally everything they play. A friend of mine who is a die-hard miracles player has repeatedly stated that lodestone golem is one of the cards he is most afraid of, especially in the early game. The main reason I stopped playing lodestone is because he is relatively bad against grixis control.
I've always loved etched champion, even without equipment. If you get either an equipment under him or put a few +1+1 counters on him he often closes the game out by himself. I've personally never liked the looter scooter much due but I can see why it is good especially with chief of the foundry.



Tower sounds like a nice plan. If I get around to playing the deck again I think I'll give it a spin.
Opposing equipments is one of the reasons I used to play phyrexian metamorph. Copying batterskull is pretty damn good, as is copying TNN, leovold, gurmag angler and marit lage.



I would never take out thorn against grixis control. I even prioritize it over chalice in terms of keeping opening hands. It just slows them down by so much. Against grixis control the best threaths to have against them (apart from the core of the deck) are etched champion, karn and hangarback walker. All of these are very hard to answer and/or negate their cardadvantage strategy. I also take out revokers postboard in favor of spyglass as revoker dies to much more stuff than spyglass and shutting down liliana can be important. My current winrate vs grixis control is around 60-70%.

I've been struggling with Grixis but think I'm on a suboptimal list; mind sharing yours so I can mix it and maybe see a bit more success? I've similarly found Thorn to be much better; but I'd like to see the rest of your outfit!

[Johanovich]

I've been struggling with Grixis but think I'm on a suboptimal list; mind sharing yours so I can mix it and maybe see a bit more success? I've similarly found Thorn to be much better; but I'd like to see the rest of your outfit!

The list I last played with competitively was this one, but bear in mind this was in december. Regardless I think grixis control has not changed much in the meantime.

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's factory
4 Wasteland
2 Inventor's Fair
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Karakas

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
4 Walking Ballista
4 Vault Skirge
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Etched Champion
2 Hangarback Walker
1 Chief of the Foundry

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 karn, scion of urza

3 Lotus Petal
3 Mox Opal

SB:
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Umezawa's Jitte

The chief of the foundry maindeck used to be a third champion. If you really have loads of grixis in your meta I'd opt to play a third champion, second karn or third hangarback walker maindeck.

Out of curiosity: anyone going to MKM Ghent in april?

[Cryoclasm]

@Johanovich
If I add second Karn instead of Chief, what would you add to the sideboard?
I personally think that playing less than 2 Karn in main is a mistake. =)

Also, what do you think about TKS in Main and Choke in side in this list?

https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21030&d=339608&f=LE

[Albarkhane]

@Johanovich

I tested the deck today against a stoneblade (my 75 are similar to yours but with 3 etched champion and no chief). Each games were quite close and balanced but in the end i loose ... I am quite new to the deck so i most probably played it bad. However i find it difficult to deal at the same time jace, tnn and battleskull/jitte. I tried several side in/out but i am not really sure about them. What would you suggest for boarding and do you have any hint about that matchup ?

[Airwave]

@Johanovich
I'm going to MCM series Ghent, probably with steel stompy but I'm not 100% sure yet. Want to do some more testing first. Trying green splash now against blue menaces

My list at the moment:


4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's factory
4 Wasteland
1 Inventors' Fair
2 Tree of Tales
2 Karakas

4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
4 Walking Ballista
4 Vault Skirge
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Etched Champion
2 Hangarback Walker

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Karn, Scion of Urza

3 Lotus Petal
3 Mox Opal

SB:
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Choke
1 Krosan Grip

[Wordslinger]

How is the grixis control matchup normally handled? Ive tried seemingly everything, from winter orb/port to even just splashing thalia, i cant make heads or tails of that matchup. I just get grinded out by snapcasters and kholigans commands.