[Deck] Dragon Stompy

[damionblackgear]

-4 Taurean Maulers

+1\2 Goblin Assault

I like this idea. I think it may be ok to run as a 4 of. It may only be a 1/1 that has to attack but it adds up. and 2 or 3 is insane. If left uncontested a single Assault means a 5 turn clock. Plus, you don't worry about sweepers because they just come back.

I would say try it out with 4 assaults and see what happens.

[Charlatan]

I've been testing Goblin Assault...

And all i can say that is NUTS!!!!

I dont now if is better than Mauler....

But i like this card...

[cheezyhead]

can i see the deck list with goblin assaults?
i am having difficulty to decide what to side out.
many thanks sirs!

[0dysseus]

First of all, the 2nd build's sideboard I posted had 16 cards. Sorry about that. Secondly, maybe we could save some space by cutting the Pyrokinesis in that Burning Wish build and adding a single Pyroclasm, a Last Chance perhaps and Graveyard hate. Something like:

1 Anarchy
1 Shattering Spree
1 Boiling Seas
1 Pyroclasm
1 Aftershock / Pillage / Stone Rain / Threaten / Empty The Warrens / Last Chance

3 Tormod's Crypt / Relic of Progenitus

3 Trinisphere
4 Pithing Needle

If left uncontested a single Assault means a 5 turn clock.

Why do you say that? Is it not a 7 turn clock? 1+2+3+4+5+6 dmg beginning at 2nd turn, is it not?

can i see the deck list with goblin assaults?
i am having difficulty to decide what to side out.

The core of Dragon Stompy is at page 87. Do not add Maulers after that in the non-standard slots, but 1-4 Gob.Assaults plus your choice of threats till you reach 24.

[Joe_C]

Dragon stompy Top*'d at the GP.. HOLY SHIT

[Charlatan]

Dragon stompy Top*'d at the GP.. HOLY SHIT

Oh yeah! I was cheering up for DS!

Nassif is a god damned lucky man, he won the match against DS!

That mull for 5 may be the reason...

[Skeggi]

Here's the list by the way: clicky.

[lolosoon]

That mull for 5 may be the reason...

20 lands and Sower of Temptation are the other reason Nassif's MD had a better matchup than traditional Threshold.

Going all-in for a chalice@1 then 1 turn later drop a slogger just to see him join the opponent's army 2 turns after is not that good.

An unanswered Moon-effect is great play I concurr, but Chalice and 3Sphere hurt NLU//Baseruption a bit less than traditional Thresh I think.

Still GG DS !!

[Arsenal]

I think at a tournament as large as a GP, maindeck 3sphere was the right call. However, in a "normal" sized tourney, I don't see how/why maindeck 3sphere gets the job done. You have no disruption to backup a 3sphere, so you really just buy yourself 3 turns if you get it out turn 1 on the play. After that, you're going to be trading one-for-one with your opponent.

[Joe_C]

I think at a tournament as large as a GP, maindeck 3sphere was the right call. However, in a "normal" sized tourney, I don't see how/why maindeck 3sphere gets the job done. You have no disruption to backup a 3sphere, so you really just buy yourself 3 turns if you get it out turn 1 on the play. After that, you're going to be trading one-for-one with your opponent.

seeing that there would be a TON of blue decks, maindecking trini isnt such a bad idea. Although I question running 4 instead of running a 3/3 split of trini/moon. Does he post on this site? Im sure we would all love some discussion on his build in his point of view. His board is quite interesting also, boil can be huge against merfolk, along with pyroclasm as well...

What I would have played for a DS list at the GP:

10 Mountain
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb

4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Chrome Mox
4 Arc Slogger
4 Rakdos Pit Dragon
3 Sulfur Elemental(purely for his elspeth token killing ability, and uncounterableness0
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Gathan Raiders
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Vexing Shusher
3 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Seething Song

SB:

3 Trinisphere
1 Blood Moon
3 Pithing Needle
3 Pyrokinesis
2 Powder Keg
3 Boil

[nodahero]

From what I saw of the match Skeggi/Mink had no business making top 4. Kowal had him dead to rights and lost due to a mistrigger off his Confidant. Personally I feel the call by the judge was a little poor although I can see it. What happened (as I remember although I was watching two matches at this point) was Kowal had two confidants in play and revealed for one, placed it into his hand, and then picked up another card and moved it towards his hand keeping it still seperate and then started to move his hand with the card towards the table when the judge called a mistrigger.

The board position Fink was in had him beyond dead as long as he didn't get lucky...

Against Nassif in one of the games he lost he had a slightly sketchy hand with access to turn 1 Chalice at 1 off city on the play followed by turn 2 Magus off a mountain with still another city in his hand along with one other business spell which he shipped back for a very bad all in turn 1 on chalice hand... I.E. he had to go Mountain, Mox (imprint) Chalice at one and pray for no force or be left with 2 cards in hand... Needles to say Gabriel, the next LSV streak, Nassif wasn't a poor player and made sure to have the FoW for the Chalice.

P.S. an "LSV streak" is my new nickname for a Pro winning multiple high level event back to back... I also don't see Nassif cooling off any time soon...

[damionblackgear]

Why do you say that? Is it not a 7 turn clock? 1+2+3+4+5+6 dmg beginning at 2nd turn, is it not?

Bad math on my part. I may have been including damage from other things as well. I don't remember exactly. I'll just chalk it up to bad math. Still seems better than Mauler to me. Especially in multiples.

[uberfrank]

I think the reason for main deck Trinisphere is to disrupt the "free" Force of Will/Daze that are one of the few responses to your early Moons or Chalice. It's also very strong against storm based combos and with most decks having a very low curve vs. yours starting mostly at 3 anyway, it's not such a bad card for game 1 in a lot of match ups.

[Anarky87]

Mink had been playing Magic for like...3-4 weeks before he came to Chicago. We gave him the deck and he won a GPT with it. Then blew everyone away to make T4. -Shrug- If he didn't deserve to be there, then maybe people should have sucked less and stopped losing to prison pieces backed by beats. Just an idea.

[jazzykat]

Mink had been playing Magic for like...3-4 weeks before he came to Chicago. We gave him the deck and he won a GPT with it. Then blew everyone away to make T4. -Shrug- If he didn't deserve to be there, then maybe people should have sucked less and stopped losing to prison pieces backed by beats. Just an idea.

There is a third option, Mink may be really good. Regardless, kudos to him and busting everyone's heads open like cantaloupes. What I want to know is how he kept the deck from losing to itself for so many rounds. My experience is that you have to mulligan relatively aggressively and sometimes you mull yourself into oblivion.

[Joe_C]

There is a third option, Mink may be really good. Regardless, kudos to him and busting everyone's heads open like cantaloupes. What I want to know is how he kept the deck from losing to itself for so many rounds. My experience is that you have to mulligan relatively aggressively and sometimes you mull yourself into oblivion.

The deck can be alittle unforgiving with its opening grips sometimes. Mulling to 6 happens often. I find myself keeping hands that do nothing on turn 1 but then develop after turn 2-4. The deck doesnt do well in topdeck mode, it needs an early win con with disruption to hit early and hopefully ride the game out

[Esper3k]

Trinisphere is also great against all the decks running Brainstorm/Ponder. Those cantrips aren't nearly as nice when you're playing 2U for them :)

[Kuma]

-1 Arc-Slogger, +1 Rakka Mar (suggestion by georgjorge)

I don't think you understand the role of Arc-Slogger in the deck. Arc-Slogger's ability is phenomenal at clearing away blockers and dealing the last few points of damage to the opponent. Arc-Slogger makes Dragon Stompy ridiculously fast and smooth. He's the best creature in the deck and running less than four is a mistake.

"But Kuma, Rakka Mar ends the game quickly too."

Rakka Mar is a 2/2 that creates 3/1 creatures. It's a lot easier to block/burn 2/2s and 3/1s than 4/5s. Also if dropped on turn one and left unmolested they're both turn four kills. Arc-Slogger is burn and creature in one. Rakka Mar is at best several small chumpable creatures.

-1) With Seething Song, Rakka Mar creates a 1st turn 3/1 threat, (and each turn after) or is Daze-proof. 3 turn clock, as Slogger, in the first case.

Casting Arc-Slogger creates a turn one 4/5 threat with four built-in Shocks. Also, if you're afraid of being Dazed, play a different deck. You can't play afraid of countermagic with Dragon Stompy.

By the way, the look on a Thresh player's face when you remove SSG to pay for Daze is priceless.

-2) Slogger is StoP-able and Path-able if you play him 1st turn. Rakka Mar is also boltable without chalice, but will possibly leave at least a 3/1 behind. Of course Slogger is die harder.

Is this an argument for Rakka Mar? It reads as an argument for Slogger.

-3) Cheaper than Slogger, fixes hellbent better (that's another reason why I don't want 4 Beast-grandpas-with-moustache).

Cheaper than Slogger; way worse than Slogger. The hellbent argument is too minor to refute.

-4) If Slogger uses his "charges" and/or another one comes later, the 2nd will be a tough but ungraceful 4/5 for 5 mana. 1 Rakka Mar isn't. Okay, he'll block with(out) his pet for only 2(3) dmg the turn after he comes in, but he can deal a haste fatality on an open opponent with 2/3.

So your argument is that a second Slogger is worse than the first? 99% of the time if you've used all your charges there is no second Slogger -- you've already won.

5) R.M. not only applies pressure with attackers, it also creates excellent blockers AND constant equipment carriers.

I wouldn't call a 3/1 an "excellent blocker". I'd call it a chump blocker. Also, Dragon Stompy doesn't have a problem finding carriers for Jitte -- it runs 21-24 creatures.

6) Protection against Pox removal with sacrifice, token Generator immune to Nethervoid(not Snuff Out, okay), good against WWeirding - Keg & Engineered Explosives, etc..

If you have a Slogger on the table when your opponent casts Nether Void, you should thank them for handing you the game.

7) 1 is my favorite number for many Legends, and I won't give that a second thought here because 3 vs. 4 Sloggers are heavily debated by most of the good players. I also think 3 RPDragons is bad, and one reason would be that 2 Sloggers are worse than 2 Flying Hellbent (Pump-the-other-in-case-of-emergency) Dragons, in my humble opinion. So the "expensive" slots are full, 1+3+4.

Slogger is the better creature. Yes, RPD swings games like no other, but with Slogger you get out front and you stay there.

The correct number of Sloggers and RPDs is four. There really isn't any meaningful debate about it.

Because so many of you seem to have forgotten:

So, in essence, here are the points to consider from most of us who are experts in the deck. Read and review:

1. No, there isn't a better 5-drop than Arc-Slogger.
2. No, we can't fit another 5-drop in the deck unless it can get out of your hand and do something cool for or less.
3. No, there isn't a better 4-drop than Rakdos Pit Dragon.
4. No, we can't fit another 4-drop in the deck unless it can get out of your hand and do something cool for or less.
5. No, we can't ever fit anything with three red mana symbols in the deck.
6. No, we can't ever fit anything besides Arc-Slogger or Rakdos Pit Dragon with two red mana symbols in the deck.
7. Taurean Mauler is probably the best choice for the last slot. Sulfur Elemental is acceptable in certain metagames. Akroma is arguably playable still.

[Esper3k]

My issue with Rakka Mar is also that she loses to mass red removal like Pyroclasm or Volcanic Fallout.

Slogger is great because he's one of the few ways in DS that you can actually remove blockers other than just attacking.

[uberfrank]

I think the philosophy of any Stompy archetype is to pose a number of threat and challenge your opponent to find the right answer.

In the case of Dragon Stompy, you got your Maulers, RPD, Gathan Raiders and Sloggers that are your main path to victory. The complimentary strategy of the deck is the disruption, in the form of CotV, Blood Moon and Trinispheres.

When you put CotV@1, you're basically locking a lot of answers and means of finding answers from your opponent, which further advances your plan. You eliminate their options of dealing with your threats. With moon effects, you're saying can you deal with me without your nonbasic lands?

Given the speed of the format, the acceleration from Chrome Mox, SSG and Seething Song helps you take the initiative.

I'm not sure if no disruption is an automatic mulligan. I think your starting resources are very valuable and with basically no card advantage engine in the deck, you may be better off trying to take a high threat hand the distance rather than risk mulling into oblivion.

Starting with turn 1 Mauler, turn 2 RPD, turn 3 Slogger means they have to find 3 answers right away. If they do have the counter magic, swords or whatever to deal with them, it will leave them vulnerable to your lock pieces that you can find later on.

As someone pointed out, you cant fall in to the fear of counter magic or whatever. I think this is where a lot of people wander off playing this deck. I think the best new suggestion to the deck might be Goblin Assault, since it provides a different angle of attack that grow exponentially in the form of a swarm.

A lot of people compared Goblin Assault to Bitterblossom when it came out and I think most people view it as strictly inferior. However, I think there's a key difference between the two and that's that you'd rather see Bitterblossom once at the beginning and make it stick, whereas with Goblin Assault you'll want to get as many as possible on the table. The card's value increases the more you draw of them, which is not necessarily true for Bitterblossom.

I haven't done the math, but I'm sure 2 Goblin Assaults on turn 1 and 2 turns on a pretty fast clock. If you can supplement that strategy with great equipment, I think it becomes even better.

The downside might be the effect that forces your Maulers to attack, so maybe you'd be better off running Sulfur Elemental alongside.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents for now and congrats to Mink on his great run at the GP.