[Deck] Elephant Stompy (formerly Elf Stompy)

[Nihil Credo]

I think the deck's potential lies in the White Landstill and general aggro matchups. The former gives fits to Dragon Stompy because it can often ignore Blood Moon and comfortably nullify the red zone; the latter because DS hates, hates, hates ground stalls, and Pit Dragon dies to both Bolts and black removal.

Garruk, CotH and Harmonize give Elf Stompy the ability to not run out of gas and keep churning out threats after each one is killed or traded with, whereas Dragon Stompy lives for Hellbent and Faerie Stompy has only Mulldrifter. Is this enough to compensate for the lack of evasion and bombs like Force of Will or Blood Moon? I don't know, but we're here to find out.

[Kuma]

So, here's the list I took to my local tournament yesterday:

10x Forest
4x Ancient Tomb
4x City of Traitors

4x Elvish Spirit Guide
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
4x Chrome Mox

4x Tarmogoyf
4x Spawnwrithe
4x Call of the Herd
3x Briarhorn
3x Chameleon Colossus

4x Chalice of the Void
3x Sword of Fire and Ice
3x Umezawa's Jitte
3x Harmonize

Sideboard:
4x Hail Storm
4x Choke
4x Pithing Needle
3x Krosan Grip

I went 3-2 and finished 8th, losing to It's the Fear in the first round of the playoffs. My three wins were Aggro Loam, White Weenie, and Triton's Minions. My two losses were UW Aggro/Control and It's the Fear (I lost to ITF twice.)

Sword of Fire and Ice was amazing. I wouldn't have beat Aggro Loam and White Weenie without it.

This deck absolutely folds to board control. I sided in ten cards vs ITF, and I still got stomped, losing both matches 0-2. EE and Deed are huge against this deck due to the large number of token generators we have. I honestly don't think that this deck is capable of beating ITF/VoroshStill/Landstill/Rock/Insert board control deck here. Vedalken Shackles just kills this deck pre-board, as we have no answer to it. Another potential problem is Tarmogoyf, as most decks that run him have cantrips/card draw to find their copies and can just counter/StP ours. A 3/4 goyf is bigger than every creature in this deck except Colossus, and this was a problem.

The only way we're going to have any kind of matchup against board control is to run some sort of artifact/enchantment removal in the maindeck. Indrik Stomphowler could fill this role, as could Krosan Grip. Still, improving that matchup sort of seems like a lost cause. This deck is very strong against most aggro strategies, including aggro/control, and that is probably the best reason to play this.

I think we should stop using "this deck" and refer to it as Elemental Stompy, since that is the most prevalent creature type in the deck.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

In my brief fling with this deck, I found Genesis to help greatly against problematic decks with removal and oppressive card advantage. Recurring a Tarmogoyf every turn helped post Deed and Wrath.

[Illissius]

I think we should stop using "this deck" and refer to it as Elemental Stompy, since that is the most prevalent creature type in the deck.

Faeries aren't the most common creature type in Faerie Stompy, nor Dragons in Dragon Stompy, and Demon Stompy very often doesn't even have any.

But Green doesn't seem to have any iconic creature type which really "feels" right. Jungle Stompy and Elephant Stompy are the only two I can think of which aren't completely horrible. I mean, what else? Wurm Stompy? Beast Stompy? Lhurgoyf Stompy? Centaur Stompy?

Maybe we should just go the classic Legacy route of confusing people, and call it just Stompy, or Senor Stompy, or 18-land Stompy.

[Kuma]

In my brief fling with this deck, I found Genesis to help greatly against problematic decks with removal and oppressive card advantage. Recurring a Tarmogoyf every turn helped post Deed and Wrath.

I think you may be on to something...

Faeries aren't the most common creature type in Faerie Stompy, nor Dragons in Dragon Stompy, and Demon Stompy very often doesn't even have any.

But Green doesn't seem to have any iconic creature type which really "feels" right. Jungle Stompy and Elephant Stompy are the only two I can think of which aren't completely horrible. I mean, what else? Wurm Stompy? Beast Stompy? Lhurgoyf Stompy? Centaur Stompy?

Maybe we should just go the classic Legacy route of confusing people, and call it just Stompy, or Senor Stompy, or 18-land Stompy.

Jungle Stompy has a nice ring to it, and was what I originally called the deck, but it bucks the trend of naming the decks after creature types. Elephant Stompy works too, but if we're going to go that route, I'd rather just do Elemental Stompy for the simple fact that they are the most prevelant and (argueably) the most iconic creature type in the deck.

I prefer Elemental and Jungle in that order.

EDIT: Screw it, the more I think about it, the more I like Lhurgoyf Stompy. I mean, Tarmogoyf is only the best creature in Legacy.

[Illissius]

I would never guess from "Elemental Stompy" that the deck is green. The prevalence of the creature type in the deck has fuck all to do with it; what matters is how iconic it is for the color, and how cool the resulting name sounds.

Therefore: Squirrel Stompy!

[Nihil Credo]

I'm voting for Elephant Stompy. There is one non-Changeling Elephant in the deck, just like Dragon Stompy has one Dragon and Faerie Stompy has one Faerie (and Demon Stompy often has Grinning Demon).

Lhurgoyf is witty, but a pain to type and speak. Elemental and Beast aren't green iconics (neither is Lhurgoyf, now that I think about it). Elf and Squirrel don't mesh well with "Stompy"

[Zork]

Or, instead of Lhurgoyf Stompy, we just call it Goyf Stompy.

[Illissius]

Or, instead of Lhurgoyf Stompy, we just call it Goyf Stompy.

I'm vetoing this idea.

And while I agree that Elf Stompy sounds stupid, I also think Squirrel Stompy sounds awesome. Shrug.

(So I'm at 1. Squirrel Stompy, 2. Elephant Stompy.)

[Mental]

Elephant Stompy all the way.

[Kuma]

Come on. "Squirrel Stompy?" I could buy it if there was even a single squirrel in the deck. And don't say Chameleon Colossus. Changlings ruin everything.

I'm not a big fan of ironic names either. If it ends this, I vote Elephant Stompy.

[Valtrix]

I like Garruk Stompy, just because he's cool. After that, I'd go for Elephant stompy, just to keep with the creature namesakes.

[Mordenkaynen]

He-he or Wooden Stompy. Just because Pinokio is a wooden child

[tsabo_tavoc]

I like Elephant Stompy

Wicker-bough Elder
Creature - Treefolk Shaman
Wicker-Bough Elder comes into play with a -1/-1 counter on it.
, Remove a -1/-1 counter from Wicker-bough Elder : Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
4/4

The elder seems to be designed for Elephant Stompy: It comes into play a turn earlier than Indrik Stomphowler, and doesn't destroy your own artifact which happens to the Stomphowler nearly half of the time!

to Kuma: How does Harmonize work for you? Is it worth the inclusion with SoFI?

[Jaiminho]

Elephant Stompy is the best deck name ever.

[Illissius]

I think we're agreed, then.

[insertnamehere]

Elephant Stompy is the best deck name ever.

It justs sounds right.

[Jaiminho]

It justs sounds right.

I wish I was called Elephant Stompy. Damn, so awsome.

[Hopo]

No votes for Green Stompy??

How has Spawnwrithe been like? I'm thinking of approaching the deck with something like this:

4 ESG
4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Spawnwrithe
3 Garruk
4 Might of Oaks/Stonewood Invocation

Plus the regular stompy disruption/equipment package with Plow Unders.

I see huge potential in Spawnwrithe, but it is easily hated with all the relevant creature removal in format or fast 2/3 goyf. First turn Spawnwrithe with second turn Might of Oaks/Invocation seems massive, though, and the latter also saves the monsters from most removal.

No testing done yet so it might just suck, but I'm really into this aggro build and it could fit quite well for my local meta.

[tsabo_tavoc]

I see huge potential in Spawnwrithe, but it is easily hated with all the relevant creature removal in format or fast 2/3 goyf. First turn Spawnwrithe with second turn Might of Oaks/Invocation seems massive, though, and the latter also saves the monsters from most removal.

Ja, Spawnwrithe is the card that could make Elephant Stompy competitive, and now you must know why we opt for Briarhorn.