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By: SpikeBoyM, Alex Ullman
Feb 16 2011 11:00am
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Starting at the ending, here is a deck list:

 

 

 

 

Stompy, as presented here, is probably the best aggro-control option in Pauper right now.

Time to rewind for a history lesson.

In the first half of 2010, a mono Green beatdown deck placed in the top 8 of a Pauper Challenge. Talking with Greg Weiss (ghweiss) about the format, the early stages of the list made it into his hands. Greg is a master (and is fond of attacking with Green creatures), and was able to whittle the blunt block of soap that was given to him into something that was truly prison soap art. The deck above is a spiritual descendant of those lists that dominated the few tournaments in which it was run.

At this time, the dominant school of thought regarding Stompy was to play it as Red deck, forcing damage in through pump spells and attempting to end the game in short order. The biggest problem with this mode of thought is that Pauper already has a fantastic Red deck in the form of Goblins. Cutting the Red cards for comparable Green ones might have made the creatures better, but if attacking for two is the goal, why go with anything other than the best option? Stompy, though, is something else entirely. It is an approximation of aggro-control.

Aggro-control is a term that is often misused (and in all likelihood, the term is being butchered here as well). The earliest decks of this style were Counter-Sliver, laying impressive, hard to deal with threats early and protecting them with counters, winning on the back of an army of creatures. Decks such as UG Madness and Faeries have followed suit and can be shoehorned into this category.

But this is a Green deck. Green does not have counterspells, in the traditional sense.

This is where the benefit of Forests comes into play. The pump spells, often maligned in competitive Pauper, are the protection. With the release of Vines of Vastwood, Green had access to a critical number of “save me” spells that could wreck havoc on removal. Vines is the ultimate “no” for a creature deck, saving a monster that was otherwise destined for the bin Thee fact that Vines can prevent your opponent from targeting a creature as well, causing all sorts of trouble for a certain combo deck, helps to give this pump spell some versatility. The fact that it can also raise power by four is pretty good to boot.

The other “counter” is Gather Courage. Sure, it may look like a “bad” Giant Growth, but the ability to cast it for “free” is so valuable, and the toughness boost is nothing to sneeze at. Much of the removal in Pauper is toughness based (out of the Red decks, at least), and taking out a Lightning Bolt can be devastating. Lining up blocks and then tapping a creature to play Gather Courage can totally wreck combat for the aggressor and can be a huge tempo shift.

If Goblins is a 10 on the scale from control to aggro, Stompy clocks in at a solid 7. It will beat down more often that not, and it is the control elements that allow the deck to compete, but no one is going to mistake this list for Faeries.

The other big portion of the deck are the creatures. Like Goblins, Stompy has access to a ton of 2/2 creatures that can come into play on turn one. Unlike Goblins, however, the drawback on most of them are too large to seriously consider running (sorry Pouncing Jaguar). Nettle Sentinel, on the other hand, is absolutely perfect. It can attack without any help, and the draw back is negligible. It also casts Gather Courage for free (as in there will be an untapped creature even after Convoke) and can play the role of surprise block (more on this later). Nettle is incredibly important to the early stages of development for Stompy as it can apply pressure and help the deck move forward with a game plan without being a totally dead draw late. Similar to the Sentinel is Quirion Ranger, which allows Stompy to keep pumping out the hits even in land light draws. Untapping creatures to block or for a Gather Courage blowout are also valuable assets. Oh, and triggers landfall, which helps with Stompy', arguable, most powerful card.

Groundswell is something else. Fireblast costs six or forces two Mountains to the bin. To get a similar effect in Green, all that needs to be done is get a Forest into play and tap. Who cares if there are blockers, since your creature will either trample or be unblockable!

Trample comes from Rancor in most cases. The ability to suit up any creature makes the Green army tough to defend. The abusive aura should only be cast during a shields-down moment, when resolution is all but certain. Even if they remove the creature afterwards, Rancor will come back, ready to find another person to wear the traveling pants.

Back to the beaters, the remaining “must runs” are Wild Mongrel, Basking Rootwalla, and Skarrgan Pit-Skulk. The first two on the list are damage machines. The Lizard can come down on turn one and immediately apply pressure if a hand is low on gas, and makes blocking a pain. Mongrel works wonders with the Lizard, as it can be cast for free and for extra damage. The Savage Dastard also has the benefit of turning late lands into more damage points, as once the mid-game is reached, most lands are redundant and not needed on the battlefield, but using them to cause more carnage is just plain fun. Pit-Skulk is a workhorse, but it is not a one drop. While sometimes it is correct to play it out without Bloodthirst, the bonus is just huge. Slap a Rancor or give it a Bonesplitter and suddenly the Skulk becomes a serious threat that is hard to stop.

And if it is killed, just move the ax and Rancor. Ta-da.

The last vital card is Khalni Garden. Being able to attach one of the +2/+0s to what amounts to land is huge. Forcing an opponent to waste a removal spell on a land drop is incredibly valuable, as the Plant functions as additional protection for the creatures that are going to the legwork. Do not forget to attack with the 0/1 sometimes, as an unblocked Plant can often pick up 8 power at the drop of a hat. Good times Seymour.

To whit, the Stompy core (in the main) should include:

 

4 Nettle Sentinel

4 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk

4 Groundswell

4 Basking Rootwalla

3 Wild Mongrel

3 Vines of Vastwood

3 Gather Courage

3 Rancor

3 Quirion Ranger- this is almost two, but having one early can be incredibly important.

2 Bonesplitter

2 Khalni Garden

16 Forest

 

That makes 51 cards, leaving 9 slots to play against the metagame. In the version listed above, the additional Mongrel is there to create two-drop redundancy and because many players will blindly throw resources at a Mongrel while you simply throw away lands. It gets worse the better the bad guy is, but is never a terrible card. The third Bonesplitter is to help punch through the abundance of Affinity in the wake of Scars of Mirrodin. The final Forest is to ensure the deck always has mana to operate. The last two creatures are inverse, but both serve important roles. Nissa's Chosen is a fantastic blocker that shines against Goblins and other random beatdown- three toughness is huge in a format where a best deck runs a ton of two drops. Garruk's Companion helps to break stalemates, as Rancors can be distributed elsewhere and the Beast can pick up the ax (in its jaws, one guesses) and wears pump quite well.

 

Other options for Stompy include:

Nest Invader: Operating on a similar principle to Khalni Garden, being able to get an additional “threat” for free can be huge. The 2/2 body, however, is less than impressive on its own merit. If Stompy ever wants multiple blockers, though, this is the guy.

Silhana Ledgewalker: Built in Troll-Shroud makes it tough to kill, but Affinity (a deck which many people cite as a reason to include the pseudo-flyer) can still remove it with a Krark-Clan Shaman. Investing two mana in a 1/1 is highly meta dependent, but the ability to “fly” can sometimes win games.

Shinen of Life's Roar: This one can pull all sorts of shenanigans. Combine with Ranger to untap opposing creatures and force them to block or hard cast and protect for an alpha-strike. If the format evolves into convoluted board states, 2 of these main is not such a bad idea. If this becomes the case, having two or three Shield of the Oversoul in the sideboard is a safe bet, creating a creature that approaches The Abyss while also clearing the path for its friends.

Rogue Elephant: Not a fan. Yes, it is a 3/3 for one mana, but both Lightning Bolt and Spellstutter Sprite solve the Elephant, at which point the Green mage just two-for-oned him/herself.

Briar Shield: For those times when Stompy wants to be more Red, the Shield can create some difficult combat phases, but is often too slow and easily defended, since the Shield itself acts as a telegraph.

 

The sideboard of Stompy is an extension of the deck, in that between each game, the pilot must rebuild from the available pool of cards.

4 Thermokarst: That Familiar Storm deck that is running around likes to use Ravnica Karoos. This card likes to stop them and generate tempo. Much better on the play than on the draw in that matchup. Also useful against regular Storm and Cloudpost decks.

3 Sandstorm: At its best against Storm (eat that Empty the Warrens) but has utility against both Goblins variants (aggro and Storm) and against random aggressive decks.

3 Hidden Spider: If they have Errant Ephemeron or for the Auriok Sunchaser builds of Affinity.

3 Gleeful Sabotage: Affinity (and any deck with Enchantments, as rare as those are). Conspiring this thanks to Nettle Sentinel is a huge swing, and can often neuter a mechanized assault.

1 Vines of Vastwood, 1 Gather Courage: To help craft the perfect pump package against in games two and three. Vines tends to come in against Black decks or decks where you absolutely want another +4/+4. Gather Courage finds its way into the main deck when combat is expected or the removal of choice is burn.

Stompy is far more than just a beatdown deck. It can present imposing threats and protect them. Attacking with little regard for an opponent's game plan, the Green Machine can win from nowhere.

Keep slingin' commons-

-Alex

 

30 Comments

I like the article; it has by Flaming_Dragon_777 at Wed, 02/16/2011 - 12:36
Flaming_Dragon_777's picture

I like the article; it has fair explanations of card choices and analyses. I would comment on the following however:

Briar Shield - I often auto-include this as a 4-of, as the gains from it are often huge. Sure, it may be an obvious telegraph but it interacts with the pit-skulk very nicely as there is a big difference between 2 power and 3 power against pauper goblins. In addition, many of the aggro decks you look to control in the metagame often tap out early, so responding to an early shield is not as simple as one might think.

Rogue Elephant - I agree with your comment here, however it is hugely meta-dependent and definitely puts a good dent in certain matchups. Resolving one on the play against mono-U or UB on turn one can be devastating (bar edict-shenanigans of course), and lays down some good early beats, especially if backed up by a briar shield on turn 2 against aforementioned mono-U control deck. It also provides storm with a very nasty clock, though comes at the cost of delaying thermokarst which many see as critical for dealing with non-traditional storm variants.

Shinen of Life's Roar - This again is an often undervalued card, even a miser's copy drawn and played in game 1 can throw off your opponent (even if the odds are a little low). It also acts very efficiently against Martyr of Ashes post-board, if it is cast turn 2 on the play.

Quirion Ranger - This is where I disagree with your article the most; I would say running 4-of this in every pauper stompy deck is not only a good idea, it is essential. The ability to cast this allows you to safely reduce your land count (thus spell-drawing probability is higher, and gives you more bodies for rancor and splitter) and even acts as a late-game enabler of groundswell. It also helps fill up your hand for mongrel if you have ~3 lands out that you don't need anymore. It also untaps your sentinel if it gets stuck. It untaps a creature for gather courage. It can get in for a critical bloodthirst damage for your pit-skulk against a deck that misses its one drop (granted, this is a rare case against aggro, but I digress). This kind of versatility means you not only have more options, but also allows for some very interesting mind games. Speaking of mind games...

Gather Courage - I am very happy you mentioned this, when I started running stompy in pauper very few people were using it so it had a lot of surprise value. It still does, but I'm not sure just how much anymore as pauper PE players will definitely expect it. It's certainly a card you want in there, but the question is how many to run without neutering your pump capabilities. I would consider lowering to 2, but thats personal preference imho.

Vines of Vastwood - This is purely a matter of taste, but again I would always maindeck four of these. There's rarely a point where I've found a vines and wished it was a GC or something else. Perhaps your experience differs.

Giant Growth - I feel this deserves a mention in the other options section, since it is the go-to card for a more explosive, albeit less consistent stompy builds. It was almost always a 4-of in stompy builds of old and certainly has not outlived it's time in the sun.

Interesting read (certainly worthy of a long comment :p), though I would prefer some different formatting. Breaking up the text with card images and perhaps formatting your subheadings would certainly aid readability.

Keep on writing :p.

Great article Alex! Now I by PiDave at Wed, 02/16/2011 - 13:45
PiDave's picture
5

Great article Alex! Now I want to play the deck as soon as I can! :)

There's one thing I need your opinion about: Copperhorn Scout has tingled my interest since the SOM spoiler...Do you think he could have a spot in this deck, providing "mass vigilance on a stick"?

Stompy is an old favorite by Paul Leicht at Wed, 02/16/2011 - 15:11
Paul Leicht's picture

Stompy is an old favorite from back in the day (I mean last century even :p). Senor Stompy too. Unfortunately it is often outclassed in the format it is intended for by other options. How does it fair in the current Pauper meta? Does it have decent sideboard options against the major players?

the first half of the article. by Gordo789 at Wed, 02/16/2011 - 19:27
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is very hard to read. blank lines between paragraphs would make it easier.

I've won a lot recently by deluxeicoff at Thu, 02/17/2011 - 03:05
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3

I've won a lot recently playing stompy in the 4 round pauper tourneys...usually 4-0ing at least 60%...at worst 3-1ing. It has game against everything except infect and WW, even then, it can win. I've played it straight for almost 4 months, and see no place for Nissa's Chosen. For my money, Silhana Ledgewalker is insane currently, single handily winning vs. Izzed post style decks and the rise of MBC. Additionally, I've never needed artifact hate to beat Affinity, 3 fogs in the board are enough to win vs. it and goblins the majority of the time. I find the above to be flooded often, and recommend 17 forests and all 4 rangers, as they are always good to see for tricks and such :)

Shinnen's are game vs. WW by deluxeicoff at Fri, 02/18/2011 - 01:42
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3

Shinnen's are game vs. WW too, able to smack and kill their Flagbearers, which are the single reason WW can beat stompy post boarding. Very fun to remember that the ranger can untap any creature, even your opponents! I've won many a goblin game by untapping their sledders etc.., and using Shinnen as a removal spell...coupled with Rancor and with a Groundswell, its usually a totally nasty one-sided wrath of god.

This stompy list has won a by deluxeicoff at Fri, 02/18/2011 - 01:48
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3

This stompy list has won a lot recently:

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital...

deluxeicoff, you say "This by ghweiss at Fri, 02/18/2011 - 10:52
ghweiss's picture

deluxeicoff, you say "This stompy list has won a lot recently" but i really think you should give yourself credit.

You deserve the credit, and by deluxeicoff at Fri, 02/18/2011 - 13:29
deluxeicoff's picture
3

You deserve the credit, and possibly 'aclog' :) But I've always disagree with you regarding Silhana Ledgewalker..., ESPECIALLY right now! It's an auto win vs. anything running cloudposts. I also love not running the tap 0/1 lands, but that's just me probably! YOUR the guy who should be writing about stompy ;)

FINALLY A PAUPER PE SAT 10am by deluxeicoff at Sat, 02/19/2011 - 00:32
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3

FINALLY A PAUPER PE SAT 10am PST. Hope to see you all there, enough of these peddly little 4 rounders :)

FINALLY A PAUPER PE SAT 10am by deluxeicoff at Sat, 02/19/2011 - 00:32
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3

FINALLY A PAUPER PE SAT 10am PST. Hope to see you all there, enough of these peddly little 4 rounders :)

FINALLY A PAUPER PE SAT 10am by deluxeicoff at Sat, 02/19/2011 - 00:34
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3

FINALLY A PAUPER PE SAT 10am PST. Hope to see you all there, enough of these peddly little 4 rounders :)

lol..sorry about the tripple by deluxeicoff at Sat, 02/19/2011 - 01:10
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3

lol..sorry about the tripple post above, puremtgo kept saying it didn't post, so I hit 'submit' about three times...then BOOM, bit like a storm count :)

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/ by deluxeicoff at Sun, 02/20/2011 - 12:59
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3

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital...

Lost the VERY first round to MBC, but won after that - quite a stressful tourney begining like that :)

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