Playing Pauper: Stompy
Welcome to a brand new episode of Playing Pauper! This week we're showing off Stompy. It's a deck that's been in the format for a while, but has been growing in popularity in the current metagame.
Check out the matches, then read the discussion below. If you enjoy Playing Pauper, subscribe to the MTGGoldfish YouTube channel! It helps us draw more people to the channel, and it helps you to never miss any of our great video content.
Stompy Intro
Stompy vs Izzet Blitz
Stompy vs Burn
Stompy vs Affinity
Stompy vs Drake Tron
Stompy vs Elves
The Deck
Stompy revolves around playing cheap aggressive creatures that outclass the opponent's early plays. Each of the creatures has their own unique upside.
Nettle Sentinel practically has vigilance, Quirion Ranger makes landfall easy to trigger, Young Wolf has to die twice, and Skarrgan Pit-Skulk is great once you've dealt damage.
Nest Invader helps trigger morbid for Hunger of the Howlpack and is just efficient, River Boa dodges removal and is great against blue decks, and Shinen of Life's Roar is a great trump card in a board stall.
Silhana Ledgewalker is green's Invisible Stalker and Vault Skirge is great in damage races. Each can wear a Rancor rather well and are good with our other pump spells.
These are the most efficient pump spells that green has to offer. They help ensure our creatures survive combat and removal spells and can attack for the win as quickly as possible.
The Sideboard
Scattershot Archer snipes Mono Blue Delver creatures and Epic Confrontation takes out most small things that we need to deal with.
Gleeful Sabotage is completely absurd against Affinity and has utility in a few other matchups as well.
Tangle works wonders against opposing aggressive decks, while Elephant Guide can help us power our way through a control match.
The Matchups
Against decks that can combo off quickly such as Elves or Bogles/Hexproof, Stompy fails to interact and often loses.
Against decks that don't go completely out of control when left to themselves, Stompy can ignore the opponent's game plan, smash face, and win as early as turn four.
Beating Stompy
To beat Stompy, follow these tips:
- Try to remove threats on your own turn so that Groundswell can either save a creature OR do four extra damage. Not both.
- The exception to the rule is that removing creatures while Rancor on the stack means it can't be recurred. If you can manage this, it's a great two-for-one.
- Beware of Vines of Vastwood. It makes creatures shrug off removal with ease and can also target your own creatures if you try to buff them.
- Beware of Mutagenic Growth. It costs zero mana.
- Beware of Hunger of the Howlpack. You may not want to kill creatures right before an attack step.
- Beware in general. Know when your opponent might be able to kill you. Know how many pump spells you can beat, and only play as conservatively as you can afford to.
Conclusion
Stompy is a fun choice for players who enjoy aggressive decks that have a little more nuance and finesse. Having a deck full of one and two drops leads to ridiculously fast starts, and it's always fun to catch an opponent unaware. It's a little annoying trying to beat Elves or Bogles when they have a good start, but there are enough favorable matchups to balance it out.
Submissions
Viewer submissions are open! I'll still be playing known decks occasionally, but I'll mostly be playing:
- Decks submitted by viewers
- Decks created from viewer challenges (e.g. build a deck around Horned Kavu)
- Decks created by Jake (especially ones comprised of cards from new sets such as Kaladesh)
Email me at pauper@mtggoldfish.com or Tweet to me @JakeStilesMTG with your decklist or challenge, and I'll give you a shout-out if I use your submission!
