MTG Salvation

Deck update!

Iron Myr => Wild-Field Scarecrow

Iron Myr was usually just a vulnerable mana rock. The Scarecrow is a decent wall against early aggression and gives card advantage when sacrificed, ensuring we continue to hit our land drops. (The Scarecrow is basically Armillary Sphere #2.)

O-Naginata => Blood Mist

I like O-Naginata, but it's a remnant from an earlier deck design when I was trying to make the deck do too many different things. Now, it doesn't seem to further the deck's goals in any particular way. In contrast, Blood Mist can give double strike to a stolen creature without requiring an equipping cost or can turn one of our dragons into a force to be reckoned with. There are other double strike enchantments that are arguably better (Berserkers' Onslaught/Rage Reflection), but 4 mana is a pretty reasonable CMC and typically we're only swinging with one or two creatures per turn.

Rite of the Raging Storm => Sentinel Totem

Rite of the Raging Storm is a fun card that I really want to play, but every time it showed up there were more pressing matters requiring my attention. Previously, the deck lacked any graveyard hate, so Sentinel Totem helps fill that role. All we need is a copy of Scavenger Grounds and that weakness should be filled.

Commune with Lava => Darksteel Pendant

Commune with Lava is a best for decks capable of sudden mana surges using rituals or mana doublers. This deck is more about incremental advantage while locking people down with Omen Machine/Uba Mask/Possibility Storm. Crystal Ball is amazing for that purpose and, while substantially weaker, I'm hopeful the Darksteel Pendant can fill a similar role.

Jar of Eyeballs => Sunbird's Invocation

Generally, this deck doesn't actively sacrifice its own creatures and it can't steal & sac enough of the opponents' creatures to dig deep with the Jar. Costing 6 total mana to get the first card is a pretty steep price and without reliable ways to accumulate eyeball counters the card rarely pulls its weight. On the other hand, the number of 6 mana spells in this deck make it likely that Sunbird's Invocation will pay for itself on the first spell cast after it is in play.

Phyrexian Portal => Bloodmark Mentor

I'm still unsure about this change. I'm not worried about the cards exiled by Phyrexian Portal as I'll never dig through my entire deck anyway (I'm still running Orcish Librarian). The main concerns are (1) the recurring 3 mana cost per card gained and (2) the way the card slows the game down as the opponent separates the cards into two piles. Bloodmark Mentor is being tested as a low CMC card that makes our defensive wall all the more formidable. The big concern here being that Bloodmark Mentor eats removal after assigning blocks, resulting in our defensive line taking heavy casualties that would have been prevented by first strike.

Display of Dominance was brought up in the old Stompy thread and shot down as being too narrow. With Jace being unbanned, it's definitely worth discussing again, but it still seems narrow. Wouldn't Pithing Needle still be better in the sideboard as it also can disable planeswalkers and can hit a much broader set of threats against other decks?

At its core, this still is a Mono-Green Stompy thread. Based on your previous deck lists and your suggestion that I splash Red, you obviously believe splashing another color is necessary, and that's fine, but not all of us are on board with that approach. There is a great upside to having a consistent, painless mana base. While this is a competitive thread, I personally play budget decks, so adding a single fetchland and a single dual land literally doubles the price of my deck.

Boggart Ram-Gang does what I need without compromising mana consistency, pinging me for damage, or requiring me to drop big money to get creatures that are marginally better. As stated in a previous post, I see a lot of Burn and Affinity these days. A 3/3 with haste is exactly what I've needed on a number of occasions and for one more mana it can become a 6/3 6/6 with Aspect of Hydra or a 5/3 trampler with Rancor doing same-turn damage. I'm almost never sad to see a Ram-Gang in my hand. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Boggart Ram-Gang is for everyone or for every meta, but it fills a particular role very well. It is arguably better than Leatherback Baloth, Groundbreaker, or Dungrove Elder depending on the situation. As such, I think it is far better in Mono-Green Stompy than you gave it credit for in your previous post.

Bolt is only as common as you state because Burn is the most common deck in Modern. If it's a burn player using Bolt on my Ram-Gang instead of sending it to my face, it probably means that they're getting desperate and on track to lose anyway. To prevent Ram-Gang damage on a cleared field, the opponent still needs to have the mana open and removal in hand (and hope I don't have one of my 6 hexproof spells with extra mana to cast it). That's pretty unlikely if they just wiped the board. Honestly, I can't remember a time when my Experiment Ones survived a board wipe. My opponents almost always remove them before they get a second counter. Geist has fared better, but is a Path magnet, which is more popular around here than Bolt (unless you're a Burn player). As far as Rhonas or Scooze, they are good cards, but I don't run either because they are slower mana-wise than everything in my deck but my two Leatherbacks and they're outside my budget restrictions (though it looks like Scooze's price has dropped significantly since I originally put my deck together).

Regarding the Bushwhackers, you'll note from my signature that I already run 8-Whack as my alternate Modern deck, in which I run a play set of Burning-Tree Emissary. My new respect for haste based creatures came from developing a mono-Red, duel commander deck. It forced me to do the math and I was pretty surprised how far ahead same turn damage could put you.

EDIT: Aspect makes the Ram-Gang 6/6 not 6/3.

Quote from amicdeep »

Boggart Ram-Gang honestly if this cost 1 mana less i would still be hard to convince me to play it, only being a 3/3 is a huge (HUGE!) downside, Flinthoof Boar doesn't make the cut in zoo any more and we play a very similar game. (if you look at other colors and the stuff they don't bother with with +3 and haste cmc 3 you get an idea how poor this card is i'm not even convided i would run it in standard)

I have to strongly disagree on this as I think you're undervaluing haste. If it cost one mana less, the Boggart Ram-Gang would be hands down one of the best two drops available to this deck (I'd probably stop playing 3-drops altogether). It takes the Leatherback Baloth 3 swings before it breaks even with the Boggart in terms of raw damage output. I can't count how many times the board has been cleared and I'm staring at my hand wishing I had same-turn damage to close out the last few points of damage and win the game. Casting a creature and waiting a turn just enables my opponent time to blow it up before I can swing in for the kill the next turn. For that reason, I'm now running 3 Boggarts and only 2 Leatherbacks main board. Yes, Groundbreaker would be better in those situations, but is less consistent in most other situations where I need a creature that sticks around for another swing.

A 3/3 with haste at 3 CMC is decent even for a Red, but we can play the Boggart in mono-Green, which is huge. You can't really compare it to the Flinthoof Boar because now you're comparing a deck with access to red which has a lot more haste options AND direct damage, so the competition in that area is a lot higher. Sure, it dies to Bolt, but I see so much Path and Push these days, the 3 toughness seems less important than the same turn damage. I particularly can't believe you're supporting Tireless Tracker over the Boggart since it's way slower and gives 2 less devotion...but I play a mono-Green budget build without fetches, so maybe that makes the difference.

I view as Runamap Ruins neither good nor bad. I see a lot of burn and affinity, so the last thing I want to do is lower my life total for them. In most match-ups, it probably won't make a difference one way or the other. Then, on rare occasions it will win a matchup. I think it's just a personal choice card.

Same goes for Contested War Zone. I agree, it's more of a spell than a land. If you view it that way, it costs 2 mana pump all my creatures for +1 damage. The problem is that it is practically a direct competitor with Goblin Bushwhacker and Reckless Bushwhacker, which give me a body to boot. Do I really need a 9th effect of that type or is 8-whackers good enough?

Both are okay cards, but neither is a shoe-in for the deck.

Sundering Growth only copies tokens. Natural State costs 1 less mana and for big artifacts/enchantments (or vial chalice on 1) Deglamer/Unravel the Aether have the benefit of also tucking cards that give us problems either in the graveyard or on their way to the graveyard (e.g., Wurmcoil Engine).

I run four Burning-Tree Emissary in my deck. I think it lowers the deck's consistency a bit, but it can lead to some amazingly explosive games chaining two Emissaries followed by a Reckless Bushwhacker on turn 2. I'm a budget player, so I play Tattermunge Maniac in place of Goblin Guide, giving me another card that can be cast with the green mana. Since I don't have all the premier cards, I'm willing to sacrifice a little consistency to give myself a better chance at taking down a Tier 1 deck.

Quote from acman54321 »

Devastating Summons...Don't forget that you can sacrifice 0 lands and pump your FSD by +2/+0!

I had not thought of that. Thanks for pointing that out! I currently have two in my main deck for, but I have rarely drawn either of them so I haven't been able to determine their usefulness.


Re: Mono-Red Anti-Lifegain

For me it was between Skullcrack and Everlasting Torment. I settled on the former because it cosst one less mana and gives 3 instant damage to the opponent. Plus, it catches pro-red players off-guard the first time and they have to play around it whether you have it in hand or not once they know you have it.

Mogg War Marshal pumps Foundry Street Denizen three times by itself. It also gives a disposable body for Goblin Grenade. The main downside is its slowness due to summoning sickness, but that's mitigated by the 8-whack effects granting haste. Including it outside of 8-whack is a tougher question.

Two Goblin Piledrivers main deck is about right. Your finishers are your 8-whack effects, so it's better to go wide with more bodies. You could consider going to a third and see if you think the deck plays better. Four is probably too much.

What are your thoughts on playing two Devastating Summons versus just one?

Orcish Artillery has been around since the beginning of MtG. It has always been too slow for 1v1 games. Back in the day, it was best used in Red-White multiplayer decks so you could cast Circle of Protection: Red, essentially granting you a repeatable shock for every artillery on the board.

Nowadays, I prefer Bloodshot Trainees and Spikeshot Goblins with Bonesplitters. Another alternative is Spikeshot Elder, which is much more mana intensive, but doesn't need to tap on use.

Quote from KapowLtd »

Field of Ruin is good for us, or even Tec Edge.

Neither of those supply green mana. If you're running a high devotion deck with Aspect of Hydra, they're going to be problematic.

Deck update!

Here's the latest version of my ultra-budget decklist. Nothing on this list cost me more than 50 cents acquire. I fully recognize the deck could be improved by adding Past in Flames/Mizzix's Mastery, Siege-Gang Commander, Krenko, Mob Boss, and Ruby Medallion/Helm of Awakening. However, I'm not really looking to purchase cards at this point, just play the deck occasionally and enjoy it for what it is. If there is anything that looks out of place, I'd certainly appreciate the feedback so I can take it out.


Note: Due to difficulties hitting my 4th and 5th land drops, I increased the land count from 36 to 38. Should I decide to remove some land, I have the following cards waiting in the wings: Possibility Storm, Burn at the Stake, Overblaze, and Recoup.

Excluding mountains, my entire deck costs less than $15 including shipping on TCGplayer.com right now. The most expensive card is Goblin Bushwhacker at just over $1, which could easily be omitted from the deck.

Fanatical Firebrand looks great, but I still like Mogg Fanatics versatility better than the potential to swing for 1 first turn assuming no blockers.

Thanks for the response! The one advantage I see for Land's Edge is that you can draw it late, cast it for 3 mana, and still dump all your lands for damage. Psychosis Crawler has to be in play early before most of your draw for it to be effective.

Any thoughts on Guttersnipe? Assuming 3 other players, it does 6 damage per spell when storming off. Ten spells cuts every opponent at the table to half life.

@MagicYio
Mutant's Prey only belongs in a counters list. It's too unreliable otherwise. Not only do you need to have a creature in the field, but it has to have a +1/+1 counter on it and be big enough to kill the target. Leatherback Baloths are the best target for fight mechanics and in the standard Stompy you'll never have a counter on them.

Thinking about Nature's Way more, I suspect it gained traction when players started removing Baloths and Dungrove Elders from their list and playing lower to the ground with more one and two drops. When everyone was running Baloths and Elders, Prey Upon was used frequently.

@EonAon
If you want haste, I suspect you'd have better luck running Boggart Ram-Gang. I currently run 3 of them in my deck for same-turn damage. On the other hand, Lightning Greaves works on Avatar of the Resolute, so it might be worth testing.