Steel Stompy 2.0 / Ravager Shops

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.

When you say more manlands, what exactly were you thinking? In terms of guys that become artifact creatures (aside from what u r playing already) all i could find are Dread Sanctuary and Stalking Stones. I guess you could run mutavault but that doesn't interact with Ravager or Overseer.

I'd probably just run a Ghost Quarter or 2 to go along with your Crucible of Worlds. Most decks don't play many basics anyway. Or maybe Inventor's Fair and/or Buried Ruin.

Seems janky, but what about Tezzeret's Gambit? Card draw that proliferates your army.

Why Spine of Ish Sah over All Is Dust? You have no metalworker or workshop that profits it being an artifact. I guess there's the ravager-synergy, but this seems kind of slow. Against decks that swarm the board with TNN or Mentor I'm pretty sure you want the Eldrazi spell over the artifact, even if that's a flavor-fail :wink:

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Originally Posted by Agrippa91

Why Spine of Ish Sah over All Is Dust? You have no metalworker or workshop that profits it being an artifact. I guess there's the ravager-synergy, but this seems kind of slow. Against decks that swarm the board with TNN or Mentor I'm pretty sure you want the Eldrazi spell over the artifact, even if that's a flavor-fail :wink:

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I'm guessing Spine is for Show and Tell strategies and Ratchet Bomb/Powder Keg is for swarm decks.

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Originally Posted by Wilkin

I'm guessing Spine is for Show and Tell strategies and Ratchet Bomb/Powder Keg is for swarm decks.

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That is correct. Show and Tell is a fixture in my meta, and All is Dust is difficult to cast without Eldrazi lands or mana rocks like Monolith/Dynamo.

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Originally Posted by Wilkin

When you say more manlands, what exactly were you thinking? In terms of guys that become artifact creatures (aside from what u r playing already) all i could find are Dread Sanctuary and Stalking Stones. I guess you could run mutavault but that doesn't interact with Ravager or Overseer.

I'd probably just run a Ghost Quarter or 2 to go along with your Crucible of Worlds. Most decks don't play many basics anyway. Or maybe Inventor's Fair and/or Buried Ruin.

Seems janky, but what about Tezzeret's Gambit? Card draw that proliferates your army.

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Mishra's Factory was what I meant by extra manlands. It wasn't in the first draft although I did think about including it. All the other lands are definitely possible, not sure if any of them is better than keeping on a couple of Caverns though. I'm not sure there's room for proliferate shenanigans in here, I have another deck idea for that ;).

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Originally Posted by Admiral_Arzar

That is correct. Show and Tell is a fixture in my meta, and All is Dust is difficult to cast without Eldrazi lands or mana rocks like Monolith/Dynamo.



Mishra's Factory was what I meant by extra manlands. It wasn't in the first draft although I did think about including it. All the other lands are definitely possible, not sure if any of them is better than keeping on a couple of Caverns though. I'm not sure there's room for proliferate shenanigans in here, I have another deck idea for that ;).

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Oh wow Factory. Completely forgot that one.

Hmm.....yeah Inventor's Fair is great for me when I've played MUD but your deck has a ton of redundant pieces so I'm not sure it's as good in your deck. However, with Crucible of Worlds it's pretty much Demonic Tutor every turn....

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Originally Posted by Wilkin

Oh wow Factory. Completely forgot that one.

Hmm.....yeah Inventor's Fair is great for me when I've played MUD but your deck has a ton of redundant pieces so I'm not sure it's as good in your deck. However, with Crucible of Worlds it's pretty much Demonic Tutor every turn....

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The recurring tutor part is attractive for sure, it just costs a ton of mana to pull off. The redundancy is by design - it doesn't matter much what you draw in this deck as long as it's lands and spells, outside of combo matchups where you need to draw lock pieces of course. Part of the reason I don't play MUD anymore is because the high-cost cards force you to draw large amounts of mana in order to do anything, which adds to the inherent instability of the stompy shell even more. Stompy decks with lower curves tend to be more consistent as you end up unable to cast your business spells much less often.

How are none of these lists running The Abyss? Card is nuts in Affinity shells.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by mgrinshpon

How are none of these lists running The Abyss? Card is nuts in Affinity shells.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

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Paging Vintage Greg! He did fairly well at EW playing Affinity with a full set of The Abyss.

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Originally Posted by Dice_Box

http://series.magiccardmarket.eu/201...run-men-steel/

MAIN DECK:
4 Walking Ballista
2 Lodestone Golem
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Vault Skirge
2 Hangarback Walker
3 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Karakas
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Inventor's Fair
4 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD:
2 Spellskite
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Ensaring Bridge
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Sorceress Spyglasses
2 Ratchet Bomb

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I like the idea of moving Revoker to the side for Hangerback and Golem.

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Originally Posted by Dice_Box

I like the idea of moving Revoker to the side for Hangerback and Golem.

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I played a few hours with the new MKM list. Revokers were nuts. Can't imagine cutting them.

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Originally Posted by itrytostorm

I played a few hours with the new MKM list. Revokers were nuts. Can't imagine cutting them.

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This is my experience playing various Stompy-decks too. Revokers usually do some very good stuff, pulling you out of matches you weren't winning otherwise and interacting with many difficult-to-interact-with things (DRS, LED, Heritage Druid, Sneak Attack, Jace, Vial, Grim Monolith, etc.) and in the worst case, they're still 2/1 artifact creatures in a deck with Ravager, Steel Overseer and some equipment. They particularly help with many of the more difficult/coinflippy G1s, which is really nice. Sadly they aren't amazing vs. Lands or Eldrazi, but you can still nail the occasional artifact from Lands and there are various uses that range from extremely important to niche vs. Eldrazi. Maindecking them is probably a metagame call but with how prevalent DRS is, I don't think it's a bad call at all.

Comparing my testing with the MKM list, you definitely want 4 Hangarback. It is probably the best card you have against Czech Pile. The most cuttable cards to fit in the final two are the SoFI and 1 Vault Skirge in my opinion. I don't like random one offs in these shells (for my dislike of using Inventor's Fair as a tutor, see the next point). Vault Skirge is the least impactful of the creatures and offers the least amount of utility. Don't cut Revokers. They are very rarely dead and often invaluable as has been pointed out.

I've cut Inventor's Fair from my list. I had 1-2 for the longest time and have never used it's effect (much too expensive for the mana base, the deck is not MUD or Tezzeret) and can't recall the life gain ever mattering. I've been much more happy with some number of Cavern of Souls or even Blinkmoth Nexi.

As for Golem, it's a meta call. I love the card and where I'm playing there are a lot of Storm players. But the deck can struggle to hit four mana, especially in a version using Lotus Petal. If you want to play the full playset, you probably have to slightly up the land count and exchange some Petals for Mox Diamonds. The MKM list runs 20 lands and 7 Petals/Opals, in some of my versions aiming to run 3-4 Lodestone I ran a mana base of 22-23 lands and 4-5 Opals/Diamonds sometimes +1 Petal for 27-28 mana sources total, making the deck slightly less explosive but more likely to hit 4 mana in time for Lodestone to be effective.

Cutting sofi is nuts.

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Originally Posted by kinda

Cutting sofi is nuts.

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Oh my gosh golly what a thoughtful and in depths analysis. The deck does not have SFM to increase the chance of finding the card. Running a one off without any tutor gives you 11% to see it in your opening hand, 20% to see it by turn 5 and only 28% to hit before turn 10. Not having access to SFM also means that you can't cheat in onto the board. So the % of games the card is actually relevant in, is even smaller than the percentages given as you also need the opponent to not have a counterspell. So taking into account that the card only is drawn in approximately 1 out of 5 games in time to be even possibly relevant, which is pretty low, the only scenario where it is indeed nuts to consider cutting the card would be if it wins those 20% of games pretty much on its own, as the card would have to significantly overperform given the low amount of times it comes up. And while the card is good, it is not that good.

As for using Inventor's Fair as a tutor, you need to have five mana to activate plus Fair itself, so we are talking about tutoring on turn 3 at best, more probably turn 4. That means you give up one of these turns not doing anything else to advance your board position. Continuing the secenario you will have to spend your next turn to play and equip the sword, requiring not only an additional land to get up to five mana again but also there not being a Thorn of Amethyst on the board, otherwise the time you're wasting is even more.

If you want to run 1-2 cards to add card selection and more evasion against TNN, play Smuggler's Copter.

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Originally Posted by mgrinshpon

How are none of these lists running The Abyss? Card is nuts in Affinity shells.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

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1. This isn't Affinity
2. See 1.

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Originally Posted by Sisyphos

Comparing my testing with the MKM list, you definitely want 4 Hangarback. It is probably the best card you have against Czech Pile. The most cuttable cards to fit in the final two are the SoFI and 1 Vault Skirge in my opinion. I don't like random one offs in these shells (for my dislike of using Inventor's Fair as a tutor, see the next point). Vault Skirge is the least impactful of the creatures and offers the least amount of utility. Don't cut Revokers. They are very rarely dead and often invaluable as has been pointed out.

I've cut Inventor's Fair from my list. I had 1-2 for the longest time and have never used it's effect (much too expensive for the mana base, the deck is not MUD or Tezzeret) and can't recall the life gain ever mattering. I've been much more happy with some number of Cavern of Souls or even Blinkmoth Nexi.

As for Golem, it's a meta call. I love the card and where I'm playing there are a lot of Storm players. But the deck can struggle to hit four mana, especially in a version using Lotus Petal. If you want to play the full playset, you probably have to slightly up the land count and exchange some Petals for Mox Diamonds. The MKM list runs 20 lands and 7 Petals/Opals, in some of my versions aiming to run 3-4 Lodestone I ran a mana base of 22-23 lands and 4-5 Opals/Diamonds sometimes +1 Petal for 27-28 mana sources total, making the deck slightly less explosive but more likely to hit 4 mana in time for Lodestone to be effective.

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I will have to test Revoker main, but I really don't like it over any of the creatures I am currently running. Definitely agree on Hangarback Walker, that card is nuts against any deck that wants to grind you out. Vault Skirge I am suspicious of - without Cranial Plating and Signal Pest it doesn't seem all that strong, and paying 2 life actually matters in Ancient Tomb-heavy draws. I like a pile of manlands to interact favorably with Ravager/Overseer and ensure you don't run out of threats.

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Originally Posted by kinda

Cutting sofi is nuts.

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I don't like 1-ofs in decks with no card selection.

It does have card selection, there are two inventor's fairs.

I would go straight with this list:

// 60 Maindeck

// 14 Artifact
3 Mox Diamond
2 Mox Opal
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Crucible of Worlds

// 22 Creature
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Walking Ballista
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
3 Lodestone Golem
3 Phyrexian Revoker

// 24 Land
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
4 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
2 Inventors' Fair
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Mishra's Factory

// 15 Sideboard
SB: 2 Karakas
SB: 3 Sorcerous Spyglass
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 1 Batterskull
SB: 4 Faerie Macabre
SB: 3 Etched Champion

Maindeck is without many spicy ideas, its simple beatdown and disruption (tax/landdestruction) with grindy options. Sideboard you can adjust but i think Spine/Karakas for Show&Tell, while Spine hits all, Karakas is more flexible and will helps vs DDepths&Reanimate too, Etched Champion+Umezawa's Jitte is for fair Matchups, Batterskull as a 1off Tutortarget (Inventors' Fair) if you need more grindy options, it can be a Sword-Equipment too if needed, but Batterskull works alone and can be hard to remove. Unless nobody runs Null Rod i think Steel Stompy can be good enough at current meta game because it offers a fast, disruptiv shell that can also be used to grind out in various ways (needed vs C.Pile).

Where I am sitting, it looks like the deck that did well is a close to straight port from the Vintage deck. Revoker in Vintage is a land distruction card, killing Moxen. In Legacy it's role is less important. So I looked at editing the deck a little and came up with this:

//Creatures:
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Hangarback Walker
2 Lodestone Golem
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Walking Ballista

//Artifacts:
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lotus Petal
3 Mox Opal
3 Smuggler's Copter
4 Thorn of Amethyst

//Lands:
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland

//Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Spellskite
2 Equipment

I plan to play it this week.

Revoker affecting DRS and Aether Vial is pretty big in the tempo plan though. I like it more than Vault Skirge based on what I've seen thus far; while Skirge being a 1-drop is sometimes relevant, the deck just doesn't feel like it has enough ways to make it more than a 1/1 lifelink flier, which doesn't influence the game enough to be worth a card. Though of course, Smuggler's Copter might or might not make it a tad better, being a 1/1. I personally also like Inkmoth over Mishra's just for the Ravager oneshot potential. Even with just a Blinkmoth, it's a veritable extra threat. The dissynergy between Thorn and Smuggler's feels like it could be a problem at times.

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Originally Posted by MD.Ghost

I would go straight with this list:
[...]
2 Crucible of Worlds
[...]

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Seriously... What is it with your obsession of putting Crucible in these decks? You did the same in Thalia Stompy. I'm wondering how long it will take you this time to realize that this deck does not want this type of card either. There is a reason why the only deck that runs the card maindeck in any form of regularity is Stax.

RuG Lands.

It's not a bad card to run as a secondary game plan. It also makes the Mox Diamond less painful.

While I agree we dont have many ways to pump Skirge, that with fair was the only way I beat a turn 1 flipped delver. the life gain that fair gives us as early as turn one is not to be underestimated. Also searching up SoFi is great. I wouldn't waste SB spots on Karakas but I do want to fit Blinkmoth in. Revokers I feel should be in the main since almost every single deck has a reasonable - great card to name. With how much pile is around I think 4 Hangars are reasonable. I guess it's just a matter of getting the numbers correct. Do we need for City? I want the answer to be no but I feel it is a yes. My opinion right now:

4x Ravager
4x Overseer
4x Ballista
4x Hangarback
4x Skirge
4x Revoker

4x Chalice
4x Thorn
3x Opal
4x Petal
1x SoFI

4x Tomb
3x City
1x Karakas
4x Wasteland
4x Factory
2x Fair
2x Blink

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4x LoTV
4x Bridge
2x Lodestone
2x SpyGlass
2x Ratchet
1x SoFi

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Originally Posted by Dice_Box

RuG Lands.

It's not a bad card to run as a secondary game plan. It also makes the Mox Diamond less painful.

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Lands plays a singleton Crucible because it can't run 5 Loams and because it is a Loam replacement that can be recurred with Academy Ruins. The point is that Lands and Stax are Prison decks that want to grind the opponent out and do not only use Crucible to mitigate City of Traitors/Mox Diamond disadvantages but to actively further their game plan, providing a permanent Smokestack lock or a recursion engine. Neither Thalia Stompy nor this deck has such an additional use for the card. Yes you will win random games because of Wasteland recursion with this deck if you include Crucible. But in the vast majority of games spending three mana and a turn simply to produce a couple of additional mana by bringing back sacrificed Citys or Lands discarded to Mox is just not worth the card slot and the card will either do nothing relevant or won't even be castable under multiple Thorns.

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Originally Posted by itrytostorm

While I agree we dont have many ways to pump Skirge, that with fair was the only way I beat a turn 1 flipped delver. the life gain that fair gives us as early as turn one is not to be underestimated. Also searching up SoFi is great. I wouldn't waste SB spots on Karakas but I do want to fit Blinkmoth in. Revokers I feel should be in the main since almost every single deck has a reasonable - great card to name. With how much pile is around I think 4 Hangars are reasonable. I guess it's just a matter of getting the numbers correct. Do we need for City? I want the answer to be no but I feel it is a yes.

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I really like maximizing the number of turn 1 Chalices. To that end, 4 Cities feels pretty obvious. This deck definitely wants to come out of the gates guns blazing anyways and to that end, City helps a lot. Of course, it tends to accelerate for a couple of turns and turn into net negative thereafter but if we're willing to play Lotus Petals, this feels natural.

One of the reasons I questioned Vault Skirge was actually Mox Opal. It seems to me like you'd want to again maximize your turn 1 Chalices and a 0-drop artifact like Ornithopter would activate Opal on turn 1 more consistently, which would in turn reinforce the Chalice plan. Vault Skirge needs to hit twice to make up for the lifeloss casting it accrued so barring cases where you cast it for 2, it takes 3 turns for it to gain 1 point of life. To offset one Delver hit, you need 5 turns. That just doesn't feel that amazing unless you get to dump counters on it. Though being able to fetch up SoFI is certainly nice and the lifegain from Fair is likely to not be entirely irrelevant in races either.

Are you sure you wouldn't want to try Inkmoth Nexus? Inkmoth + Ravager is a potent combo indeed. I think there's a chance that Blinkmoth + Inkmoth might be more powerful than Factory + Blinkmoth. Blinkmoth can pump Inkmoth and Inkmoth presents a fairly fast clock alone and threatens constant kill with Ravager around. Factory can be strong, but a 10/10 Infect creature is literally a one-hit kill and aside from Delver, flying blockers aren't very common in Legacy so they kinda have to save removal for it (or die trying, particularly with Chalice around).

Inkmoth is better when you have 8 ways to pump it. (Plating too) This deck has only four. Your better off having all your damage be the same then splitting it over two types with that hope it will sometimes work out.

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Originally Posted by Sisyphos

Seriously... What is it with your obsession of putting Crucible in these decks? You did the same in Thalia Stompy. I'm wondering how long it will take you this time to realize that this deck does not want this type of card either. There is a reason why the only deck that runs the card maindeck in any form of regularity is Stax.

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Crucible negates the drawbacks of Mox Diamond and City of Traitors, enables free wins via Waste-lock, and ensures you never run out of manlands. In my build, which runs all of these cards, it is quite strong.

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Originally Posted by Sisyphos

Seriously... What is it with your obsession of putting Crucible in these decks? You did the same in Thalia Stompy. I'm wondering how long it will take you this time to realize that this deck does not want this type of card either. There is a reason why the only deck that runs the card maindeck in any form of regularity is Stax.

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I will answer it with some quotes first:

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Originally Posted by Admiral_Arzar

3 Mox Diamond
2 Crucible of Worlds

I draw Crucible while he durdles and he scoops to impending Wastelock.

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Originally Posted by Wilkin

I'd probably just run a Ghost Quarter or 2 to go along with your Crucible of Worlds. Most decks don't play many basics anyway.

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Originally Posted by Dice_Box

It's not a bad card to run as a secondary game plan. It also makes the Mox Diamond less painful.

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Originally Posted by Admiral_Arzar

Crucible negates the drawbacks of Mox Diamond and City of Traitors, enables free wins via Waste-lock, and ensures you never run out of manlands. In my build, which runs all of these cards, it is quite strong.

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Crucible isnt the holy grail thats right and i currently play 0 copies at Thalia Stompy and i am fine with a cut of here too - but the card isnt bad in a Stompy Shell if paired with fast cheap beaters (check), wastelands (check), tax pieces (check), using Mox Diamond (check), getting. Starting with Turn 1 Chalice/Thorn and Turn 2 Beater + Wasteland is strong in most cases, getting Wastelands back should be the last nail in the coffin. Note i also included 2 Ghost Quarters in this build!

Getting Wasted out of the Game is also one of the biggest problems for Stompy shells since it aims to run higher cc cards than most other decks - even if steel stompy has a lot of cheap cc2 cards is still cc2 compared to DRS/Delver/Cantrips without any realy draw effect/manipulation. So having a backup (Crucible) isnt bad, especially with a Playset City of Traitors that tends to backfire sometimes.

But overall i can also see builds without Crucible and i still test different cards here. Cutting 2 Ghost Quarters for 2 Karakas (see MKM build) is also fine, running Lotus Petal over Mox Diamond and cutting Crucible for something like Smugglers Copter (good card especially with Revoker that more or less only attack if the opponent has no blockers).

Check the list a friend of mine has been playing on MKM Series Frankfurt (a fairly big tournament for german standards, 380 players just in Legacy ), that i have also contributed a tiny bit to ==>
Its somewhat hard to properly pilot, but really rewarding and just an overall blast to play :)
He went 4-0 in the qualifier and 8-0(-2, ID into T8) in the tournament, and overall the only game he lost was in the finals.

https://www.cardmarket.com/de/Magic/...6e0c4298281547

MAINBOARD
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Walking Ballista
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Lodestone Golem
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
2 Inventors' Fair
2 Karakas


SIDEBOARD
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Spellskite
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

Played last night. 4/1 finish. I lost to a Nic Fit Enchantment deck, I won again Lands, Pile, Pox and DnT.

What I learnt was thus:
Mox Opal is a good card for getting to 4 mana on your second turn. That's what it's for. It let's me go Sol land into artifact into a second artifact, land Mox. That said, I didn't really care for it.

Steel Overseer is the decks secret MVP. I actually tapped man lands in the early stages of the game more just to activate themselves. Then in the late game they became really hard to deal with. A hand with Overseer in fairer matches is better than a hand with a lock piece.

The lock pieces don't really matter a ton. At least not as much as they do in other Stompy decks. Your out of the gate at such a clip that fair decks are going to have to keep up somehow or lose. A turn one Chalice might not even be right if you have a turn one Overseer into turn two Chalice, Ballista.

The deck needs the Copter, you need to hold a card. Don't play that turn five Petal unless you really need to feed Ravager. Hold it. You will want it when you draw a Thopter. Thopter and man lands did a lot against heavy removal games. Letting me claw back in after Pox did its thing. I think that's a good plan.

The Karakas are going to be a lifesaver against Reanimator, it's not a good match from the looks of it. But in other matches having the man lands is better, make your own call.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dice_Box

Played last night. 4/1 finish. I lost to a Nic Fit Enchantment deck, I won again Lands, Pile, Pox and DnT.

What I learnt was thus:
Mox Opal is a good card for getting to 4 mana on your second turn. That's what it's for. It let's me go Sol land into artifact into a second artifact, land Mox. That said, I didn't really care for it.

Steel Overseer is the decks secret MVP. I actually tapped man lands in the early stages of the game more just to activate themselves. Then in the late game they became really hard to deal with. A hand with Overseer in fairer matches is better than a hand with a lock piece.

The lock pieces don't really matter a ton. At least not as much as they do in other Stompy decks. Your out of the gate at such a clip that fair decks are going to have to keep up somehow or lose. A turn one Chalice might not even be right if you have a turn one Overseer into turn two Chalice, Ballista.

The deck needs the Copter, you need to hold a card. Don't play that turn five Petal unless you really need to feed Ravager. Hold it. You will want it when you draw a Thopter. Thopter and man lands did a lot against heavy removal games. Letting me claw back in after Pox did its thing. I think that's a good plan.

The Karakas are going to be a lifesaver against Reanimator, it's not a good match from the looks of it. But in other matches having the man lands is better, make your own call.

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When you say “Thopter”, do you mean Hangarback Walker?


Can you post your decklist?


I have been jamming the MKM version of the deck on mtgo. It’s very very powerful and it fits right into the current online meta. With the testing I had so far, and having some experience with Workshop and Eldrazi Stompy, I am going to make the following modifications, with some of the suggestions previously posted here.

The most obvious change is SoFI for Jitte. Jitte is not only inherently more powerful, but it’s easier to cast and provides a more reliable supplemental form of removal.

Basically, Thorns are not maindeckable in the current metagame. I learned that a long time ago with Eldrazi decks. Current meta is dominated by creature decks. Ensnaring Bridge makes better sense, but I don’t see it as a 4x, since there isn’t really any pressure to drop it in early in the game.

Lodestone Golem, while powerful, it’s not easy to put into play, and even if it does eventually come into play, it no longer has a meaningful impact. Instead, I the card that I needed more frequently was hangarback walker, so I upped its count.

I understand that the 4x Petals complement the 3x Opals… but I think both of these are examples of cards you don’t want to draw multiples of, therefore reduced the Petal count to 3x.

Inventor’s Fair is OK. In locked out games, the life game is nice. But even when I have the mana available, I didn’t end up activating it because: a) I already need to do something more useful with the mana. b) the cards that I could bring are not that impactful, c) it takes another turn for the card to come down. I will keep an eye on this one, but for now I will follow the above suggestion to use Blinkmoth Nexus as manlands #1 and #2.

Many games got stalled and my flyers were the only way for me to do damage. I’m adding 2x Smugglers’ Copters for additional flying power.

I was surprisingly happy with Revoker in the main, and Spellskite in the SB. These two are key role players in winning games. Socerous Splyglass was another MVP.

My future decklist will look like this:

MAINBOARD
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Walking Ballista
2 4 Hangarback Walker
2 Lodestone Golem
1 Sword of Fire and Ice Umezawa’s Jitte

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Thorn of Amethyst 3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Mox Opal
4 3 Lotus Petal
2 Smuggler’s Copter

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
2 Inventors' Fair Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Karakas


SIDEBOARD
4 Ensnaring Bridge 4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Spellskite
1 Sword of Fire and Ice Umezawa’s Jitte

Sorry, meant Copter. My phone Auto corrected.
Totally agree on Spellskite, with a deck that works best with all its moving pieces left alone that card is very useful.

//Creatures:
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Hangarback Walker
2 Lodestone Golem
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Walking Ballista

//Artifacts:
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lotus Petal
3 Mox Opal
3 Smuggler's Copter
4 Thorn of Amethyst

//Lands:
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland

//Sideboard:
2 Etched Champion
4 Faerie Macabre
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Spellskite
2 Umezawa's Jitte

How was vault skirge for either of you?

Is there something that can exist in that slot that is better than skirge, or is the 1 mana 1/1 lifelink flier that strong? I have not played the legacy version of this deck so I am totally in the dark. I just know in modern " affinity" its mostly good due to pest/ plating.

It's got a hidden mode, Turn on Metalcraft, that I find useful. Also Lifelink can do a ton. Is it the most likely card to get cut though? Yep.

This deck is siiick! I know it's not affinity, but what about a light blue splash for Thoughtcast and maybe Tezzeret's Gamble? Seat of synod would up the artifact count and maybe facilitate mox opals...

I played some games against a Grixis Control deck and the one card I always wanted was Hangarback Walker. I think with Kolaghan's Command as popular as it is it would IMHO be foolish not to play 3-4 of them here, where it has so many synergies.

I think, depending on the metagame, you can go up to 4 hangarback walker. But Cutting vault skirge is a mistake. I tested the deck all possible Numbers of Lodestone Golem from 0-4. In my opinion 2 is correct, but you can make an argument for 3. But every other number is incorrect unless you change the deck completly

If you are not maindecking thorns, play an other deck or at least a whole other version. I designed this deck to take advantage of playing 8 to 12 (12 if you count revoker) two mana lock pieces.

Steel overseer is not the secret mvp, he is the obvious MVP of the deck. He turns bad cards to good cards and so on

Sword of fire and ice is in the deck because of its strengh ageinst strix and TNN. Funny enough i started my testing with two copter then changed them to two jitte and ended with two sofi

For those of you who want to know more about the Frankfurt list, I had the pleasure to have the Man of Steel himself on my little show on YouTube. :wink:

I posted the video on the Format & Article Discussion section, right here:

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...94#post1034494

Is there any gameplan against mass artifact hate such as Null Rod and Hurkyl's Recall

Yep, lose.