Playing Pauper: Dreadmaw Stompy (Pauper, Magic Online)

Playing Pauper is back! Last week, we had an Instant Deck Tech for Pauper Dreadmaw Stompy, one of the jankiest, Timmiest Pauper decks in existence. Today, we're going to take the meme out for a spin, to see if Colossal Dreadmaw actually has what it takes to compete in Pauper. The main idea of the deck is simple: we ramp in the early turns of the game, and hopefully by Turn 3, we will start casting massive green commons like Colossal Dreadmaw, Thundering Tanadon, and Tangle Golem. Then, we beat our opponent down and cross our fingers that our big green tramplers can close out the game before our opponent manages to recover. Is it time for Colossal Dreadmaw to shine in Pauper? Let's get to the video and find out; then, we'll talk more about the deck!

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Playing Pauper: Dreadmaw Stompy

Discussion

• Heading into our matches, I was pretty worried that Dreadmaw Stompy wouldn't work at all, but it seems the worry was misplaced. While our league was a bit weird, we ended up going 4-1, which is a pretty impressive performance for a really strange deck. Of course, we were aided by one of our opponents disconnecting from n a match that we probably would have lost, but even considering this free win, the deck was a lot more powerful than expected. 
• That said, there is one big exception: we somehow managed to completely dodge Delver decks for the first time ever on Playing Pauper, and it seems like Delver is probably one of the worst matchups for Dreadmaw Stompy. Spending six mana for Colossal Dreadmaw only to have it countered by a Daze seems brutal. 
• As for the deck itself, it really doesn't do anything special. We ramp as quickly as possible, cast big creatures, hope they resolve, and if they do resolve, hope that they are enough to win the game. Surprisingly, this plan actually works fairly well.
• So, why does Dreadmaw Stompy work? Pauper decks aren't that good at dealing with a bunch of big creatures. A lot of decks rely on cards like Lightning Bolt and Chainer's Edict for removal, and neither of those cards are all that good against our deck. The other big upside of the deck is that it is pretty fast. Thanks to Wild Growth, Utopia Sprawl, and Arbor Elf, we can start casting four drops like Blastoderm on Turn 2 and Colossal Dreadmaw as early as Turn 3. Considering that most Pauper creatures are tiny, it's pretty hard for most decks to stop a 5/4 or 6/6 trampler once they hit the battlefield.
• Maybe the biggest downside of the deck is that there isn't much flexibility. It has one plan, and if that plan doesn't work out, there isn't much we can do other than scoop it up and head to the next game. We also sometimes run into the ramp problem of drawing all ramp and no finishers or all finishers and no ramp, since we don't have any card draw or filtering to smooth out our draws.
• All in all, it's hard to be anything but impressed with Dreadmaw Stompy. While we certainly got a bit lucky with our matchups and with one opponent timing out, it was way more competitive than I could have imagined. If you like casting huge Timmy creatures quickly and beating down your opponent, it's a great first Pauper deck, especially considering it's super cheap, even by the Pauper standards.

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.