Beggars CAN Be Choosers: It’s Stompy, I’m in Love

I don’t care if Monday’s blue
Tuesday’s gray and Wednesday too
Thursday I don’t care about you
It’s Friday, I’m in love
-The Cure

Okay, so it takes a lot for me to start an article quoting The Cure, but that’s what you are getting. (For full effect you need to have this verse stuck in your head during the duration of reading this article because, well, I do. Suffer with me). I went into the month prepared to do Mono Black Control (MBC). My Rats have been set up and treating me nicely, and I love the deck. Everything is going well. Then, as a preparation for future stuff, I mocked up Affinity, and that deck is awesome as well. Gotta love Atog combo-ing with Fling. Or, at least, I do… And don’t get me started on Vedalken Certarch. What a monster! One-mana Icy Manipulator? Yes, please!

Then comes an article on PureMTGO.com that caught my eye (and yes, I was well behind, as this one had been up for some time). Thank you, Adrien Marsden. This deck stole my heart instantly: Stompy (a.k.a. “Friday” … ’cause I’m in love with it and all). It took me a long time to track down four copies of Quirion Ranger (three to four Tix apiece), a card apparently no one sells, but I got them and have not turned back since. So let me tell you a secret: I can’t actually stop playing Pauper just to report on matches for this series. So I have played seven matches in the Tournament Practice room before starting on this article. And guess what? I have not lost ONE match since I picked up this deck. I faced MBC and won. I faced Esper Storm and won. I faced TPPS (The Pauper Perfect Storm) and WON. This deck is amazing. Well, the first thing you aught to do is go ahead and read Adrien’s article over on PureMTGO.

Done that? Good, now we can get into the meat of my play with this one.
Most of what I will say about this deck has been said the aforementioned Marsden article (except that he doesn’t start spouting off Cure lyrics), but I want to go ahead and tell you some things I picked up on being new to it.

1) Quirion Ranger is awesome. Really awesome. Almost never is your Groundswell going to be +2/+2. And your Gather Courages are ALWAYS free. Quirion Ranger is a HOUSE. That said, many, many times I have played my land for the turn, then picked it back up, forgetting that I could not play it again. Don’t be like me. Remember the one-land per turn rule

2) No one plays around Shinen of Lifes Roar. EVER. It is as if there were no text on the card. This card beats TPPS. All day. I’m not sure they can beat it even if they do know how it works. Usually by the time they need to read it, it is during your lethal swing.

3) Just because this deck is fast, it does not mean it has no mid-game. Lots of times the inability to target your creatures leads to a slower attrition war. When you have “unblockable” Silhana Ledgewalkers and Skarrgan Pit-Skulks on board, they can just get there. The one risk of heading into long-game mode is effects like Crypt Rats, which can still wreck you.

4) Did I mention this deck is fast? I have ended matches with a grand total of 7 turns going by during the entire MATCH. The hyper-synergy of the “unblockable” creatures, along with the best pump spells green has to offer, lead to sickeningly fast demise for your opponents sometimes.

Metagame analysis:
So I made another startling revelation this month, and one that will not surprise some of you who have commented previously. PDCMagic.com is an AMAZING resource! Now, not only do they have great forums and discussions of every deck in the format, but I found a little gem in the metagame forums. I cannot link to it directly, as you’ll need to join the site and log in to see it, but, basically, the thread author provides a weekly updated analysis of EVERY event that fires on MTGO in Pauper. So, it appears that my metagame analyses have been childish at best. So, I ask you, dear reader, is it worth me going over the past four to six events before diving in to my deck of the month, or should I just send you out to this analysis each month? I’m tempted to keep doing my thing, but it does feel a little futile knowing such in-depth analyses are being done simultaneously. Let me know how you feel in the comments.

That said, onward with the childish attempt to understand this format!

Pauper Daily Event 5-4-2011 (WOW, this was a 41-person event!)

4-0

• Frantic Storm
• Affinity

3-1

• Frantic Storm x3
• RDW
• Mono Blue Control
• Izzet Control x2
• TPPS x2
• White Weenie x3

Pauper Daily Event #1 5-5-2011

4-0

• Frantic Storm
• MBC

3-1

• Eldrazi Green Ramp
• BW Rats/Control
• Affinity x2
• Red Deck Wins (RDW)
• Goblins

Pauper Daily Event #2 5-5-2011

4-0

• Affinity

3-1

• MBC
• TPPS
• RDW with Eldrazi ramp
• Mono Green Stompy

Pauper Daily Event #3 5-5-2011

4-0

• MBC
• Frantic Storm

3-1

• White Weenie
• Frantic Storm
• Izzet Control
• TPPS
• MBC
• Affinity x2
• RDW

Pauper Daily Event 5-6-2011

4-0

1. Mono Black Aggro
2. MBC

3-1

• RDW
• Affinity x2
• Frantic Storm x2
• TPPS
• RWU Control
• Goblin Storm

Summary

4-0

• Frantic Storm x3
• MBC x3
• Affinity x2
• Mono Black Aggro

3-1

• Frantic Storm x6
• Affinity x6
• RDW x5
• TPPS x5
• White Weenie x4
• Izzet Control x3
• MBC x2
• Mono Blue Control
• Eldrazi Green Ramp
• BW Rats/Control
• Goblins
• Mono Green Stompy
• RWU Control
• Goblin Storm

So, by popularity:

1. Frantic Storm (9)
2. Affinity (8)
3. MBC (5)
4. RDW (5)
5. TPPS (5)
6. White Weenie (4)
7. Izzet Control (3)

All of the remaining decks appeared only once. It is interesting to note that both White Weenie and Izzet Control builds have grown in popularity recently, at least according to my brief snapshots of the format. As has been the case for some time, the events are dominated in numbers at least by Frantic Storm and Affinity. I also would like to note that this is the first time I have seen the Stompy list appear in the prizes of an event, and that just does not seem correct to me. The deck appears to be just as strong as the current top tier, at least in my testing. So, let’s get on to some of my games.

The Matches:

Jumping right in, I start this time with a 2-Man Queue. As I mentioned, I have played this deck a bit more than my previous experiments, and I feel very comfortable with it.

Match #1, Pauper Constructed 2-Man Queue: vs. Goblin Storm

My opponent in this match was playing a variant of Goblins that I have not seen much of. It is at heart a Goblin deck but runs odd cards like Brightstone Ritual and Skirk Prospector to produce lots of mana in one turn so as to generate a large storm count for an Empty the Warrens. So, Game 1, I won the die roll and played first. I opened with Nettle Sentinel, and he responded with Goblin Arsonist, the fixed version of Mogg Fanatic from Rise of the Eldrazi. Honestly, I want to like this card, but I just really don’t think it is good enough for this format. The fact that my opponent opened with a card I really don’t respect gave me a fair bit of confidence in this match-up. Turn 2: I swing in unblocked, throw a Groundswell on my Sentinel and bring him to 14 life. We went back and forth a bit with him doing the Goblin thing and dumping out lots of little guys, while I dropped bigger, more efficient creatures. He chump-blocked a lot, not losing tempo due to Mogg War Marshal, and he eventually went off on the storm, generating 14 tokens. This eventually did the job and killed me. Games 2 and 3 were lost to the abyss of MTGO recording (I know, I know, you commenters gave me great options as to how not to have this happen, and I failed you). Lucky for us, though, I am writing this mere minutes after the match, so it is plenty fresh. Game 2 went according to plan with a fast beating Nettle Sentinel with Rancor. The Sentinel was quickly bolted after getting in once, but by then I had Silhana Ledgewalker out to pick up the Rancor and seal the deal. Game 3 went very similarly, with my opponent flooding a little bit, and me generating inevitability via Skarrgan Pit-Skulk with Rancor and two Silhana Ledgewalkers.

The most interesting part of this game occurred when my opponent, upon my lethal attack phase, decided to spend approximately six minutes explaining to me why his deck was better than mine, and that this match-up was great for him. I don’t really understand the point of this mentality. It is easily possible to lose your best match-ups (which this was not for him) even with good board position, something he never had beyond Game 1. I’m just not sure if he was trying to convince me to concede or what, since he just talked the clock down forever before letting the attack through. I bring up the point about concession since he started to whine about those being his last Tix spent to enter this Queue. Oh. Well. It’s Friday, I’m in love. And my baby is not losing to you.

Ding! + 1 Pack. (By the way, this is now nine matches in a row with no losses.)

Dressed up to the eyes
It’s a wonderful surprise
To see your shoes and your spirits rise

Match #2, Pauper Constructed 2-Man Queue: vs. B/W Hybrid

This is one of the cooler decks out there, in my opinion, but also one not well-positioned in the metagame. I have included a list that a friend of mine has played a bit for reference, as this is not that common of a deck to see. Lots of popular decks have a good matchup against it, and mine actually is one of them (I think). The premise is to play lots of the Guildpact and Eventide Hybrid creatures, then use Hybrid buff spells like Edge of Divinity to make them absurdly large. Many of them naturally have lifelink, making the life exchange get out of hand quickly. The plan, as usual, is beat them down FAST. Game 1, I did just that, smashing in with Nettle Sentinel and Rancor. My opponent actually lost this game due to incorrect blocking, allowing lethal through, I believe because he thought the lifegain would occur before he died to the damage. Nope. One down. Games 2 and 3, my opponent got very good hands with lots of flying lifelink synergy, and I could not keep the race up, though both were close. The straw that broke the Rogue Elephant‘s back is another of my favorite cards, Guardian of the Guildpact. OH NO, it’s my first match loss since starting this deck! Well, I guess I’ll have to be happy with nine out of ten matches won. Seriously, why does no one play this deck?

Four Tix total invested so far, with one pack out. Guess I gotta go win more.

Monday you can fall apart
Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart
Oh, Thursday doesn’t even start
It’s Friday I’m in love

Match #3, Pauper Constructed 2-Man Queue: vs. MBC Rats

Turns out unblockable guys with pump spells that empty your hand are good against discard. At least in Game 1 that was the case. I quickly played out my fast, efficient beaters, and emptied my hand of all pump spells to get in for massive damage. I was “sleek as a sheik spinning round and round.” By the time my opponent got into the game, he was casting discard rats to my empty hand, which was not good value for him. I should note that by Game 2, I was three beers deep, and likely should have stopped playing money queues (not that I am blaming the eventual loss on this, nor could I have stopped mid-match anyway). I do actually believe this match-up is favored to the opponent. In both Games 2 and 3 he held off my initial onslaught, stabilized with hand disruption and removal, then killed me with Corrupt. I don’t think I made any play errors, except missing a single attack for 1 point of damage that was ultimately irrelevant. Shrivel/Nausea and Crypt Rats really shine against the Stompy deck, taking out all of the untargetable creatures. What I had left, of course, succumbed to the rest of the removal suite. Overall, the match was close, but he took it in the long game.

Throwing out your frown
And just smiling at the sound
And as sleek as a sheik
Spinning round and round

Match #4, Pauper Constructed 2-Man Queue: vs. Frantic Storm

So this match was an interesting one for me, since I experienced something close to this when I did my first article on Frantic Storm. The Green player smashed me with Silhana Ledgewalkers that I could not target. Did the same work for me here? Well, Round 1, I kept a hand of Silhana Ledgewalker, Skarrgan pit-Skulk, Gather Courage, and four Forest. This was just not enough gas, after pulling two more Forests off the top. My opponent stormed on turn 5, and I just got rolled. The most interesting part of this round was that my opponent played a Seat of the Synod early in the game. I asked him what it was there for, and he replied it was a defensive measure against Wrench Mind. I think this is an interesting call, but it does put this deck at even more risk of land destruction, which is one of the key ways to combat Frantic Storm. Game 2, I applied lots of early heat with a Skarrgan Pit-Skulk, two Nettle Sentinels and a Rancor. I had Thermokarst in hand but won before getting to three mana. That is how fast this deck can be, and how crushingly inevitable. Unfortunately for my opponent, he mulliganned to a five-card no land hand, and I answered with a Skarrgan pit-Skulk and two Rancors. He conceded three turns later, never having played a land. I think this is a close match-up overall, and really requires lots of fast attacks from the Stompy deck to hold the game. If it drags on too long, the Storm player is likely to win out.

Match #5, Pauper Constructed 2-Man Queue: vs. B/U Faeries

Game 1, my opponent played an Island, then two Zephyr Sprites. He conceded turn 3 after not playing another land. Game 2, I lost due to a misplay, which really irks me. Honestly, I had gotten up to answer the phone and was talking to a friend briefly during this misplay, but I still should have been more disciplined. I had a Skarrgan Pit-Skulk in play and a handful of pump spells. I was tapped out on Turn 2, but had a Gather Courage in hand that I failed to play in response to Peppersmoke. I lost that game, never drawing another creature. I saw lots of Ninjas and Faeries from my opponent in the process of being pummeled by my misplay. Game 3 was not even remotely fair to my opponent. I had Turns 1 and 2 Hidden Spider, and that deck is just neutered by that. He never played a flier, and got smushed by an ax-wielding Silhana Ledgewalker.

Saturday, wait
And Sunday always comes too late
But Friday, never hesitate…

So at this point I have paid 10 Tix to play, and have three Packs of M11 to show for it, so I am about even, maybe a little down. But the deck has performed tremendously, and I have no reservations telling all of you to go give it a spin, assuming you have or can find Quirion Rangers. This deck is truly a Tier 1 deck, and played correctly, is very hard to stop. Go out there and Smash some face! And listen to The Cure while you do it. It’s Friday. I’m in love.