Going for the Throat: Dragon Stompy and a Grand Prix

There’s nothing better than going to a tournament and knowing that the field you’re coming up against isn’t prepared for what you’re packing. It’s not that your opponents haven’t seen this all before. But sometimes, just sometimes a deck comes along that doesn’t care about your opponent’s plan. In fact, most times your opponent will just have to sit back while you smash their face in- and with silly creature types that make your inner Timmy come out smiling. To say I have a heartfelt connection to Dragon Stompy would be an understatement.

But first, let me put things into perspective. My name is James Mink, and I know two of MTGOAcademy’s very own (Travis and Chris) from our once boiling, but now lackluster, central Indiana Magic community. I’ve been playing off and on for quite awhile now, but I’m no professional by any stretch of the imagination. I play Magic to have fun… and honestly I think that change of mindset has actually helped my overall game. I’m less stressed, therefore making better in-game decisions. When I’m too stressed out, I’m prone to “tunnel-vision;” where every move is automatic and without the total consideration of game state. That’s a huge thing to overcome in any game, but especially when you’re playing a Grand Prix- which I think more of a tournament of mental endurance. But boy, Grand Prix are fun when you Top 8: such as GP Chicago 2009. (And yes, I do look out of it in these pictures… that’s how it is at the end of any endurance race…)

I’ve already written quite a large tournament report for this particular deck, but I will be pointing out a few things that I feel are important, while giving some more background on my journey to the Top 8. Here is the link for those interested: my tournament report. Of course, the main purpose of this article will be to take notice of the upcoming Magic Online Exodus release (and how City of Traitors will change the face of the Classic format).

Let’s start with the deck list from the GP and move on from there. It should be noted that the Grand Prix Trial and Grand Prix were the first times that I’d ever played Legacy Format. And yes, this deck was given to me as a slight joke. Sure it could possibly win some games, but it really wasn’t considered a viable deck. I mean, just look at it! You’re attacking with dragons and dropping fatbacks like Arc-Slogger. Arc-freaking Slogger. When’s the last time you played him outside of contemporary Standard or a fringe format like 100 Card Singleton?

But there is no question about it, the deck feels like fun. You attack for the win, and you hope that your little kid cards get there. But people hadn’t really been playing with the right list. I found many builds listed online to be outright clunky. With Seething Song, various equipment like Sword of Fire and Ice and Umezawas Jitte competing with 5cc threats and massive disruption effects.

Oh, and most of them wanted to play Trinisphere in the sideboard! Of course it feels bad to have more than one Sphere in your hand, but honestly Trinisphere usually feels like a Time Walk x2 with this deck. You always want to draw it. There is a reason that Trinisphere is restricted in Vintage. It gave me multiple game one wins while completely shutting down certain decks… so I suspect that it doesn’t do badly against Dredge and much of the Vintage decks running around the Classic tournaments depending on little to no land. It also serves as a main deck Defense Grid for Force of Will and other menacing Blue tools.

After much tweaking I came to this main deck:

I discussed each card in detail in my tournament report, but I want to take the time to reiterate and visit a few things here.

• There are mostly 3cc and 5cc threats in this list. This gives the deck a more streamlined feeling while playing. By including Taurean Mauler, you’ve upped your threat count with a substantial body. Trust me when I say that his power is subtle, but effective. He becomes your Tarmogoyf, as the opponent is forced to deal with him (many times through Senseis Divining Top, Ponder and Brainstorm manipulation that feed his power) before he gets out of hand.

• The biggest thing about this version is the eleventh Mountain. Most decks I’ve seen have one less land to pack in something like another Blood Moon or Sword of Fire and Ice. While testing, it seemed like multiple opening hands would be just wonderful if only it had one more Red mana source. It could be anything, but all you needed was another Red. A simple answer to this problem comes in the form of another Mountain. So by adding this one measly land, I feel like my opening draws and hands after the mulligan were vastly improved. I used this exact same 60 for both the GPT and GP. (That’s 20 rounds taking out intentional draws and other odd circumstances).

While Dragon Stompy is the star of this piece, I’d be silly to not give some limelight to the co-star: ME! This next section is part prose, but don’t let that fool you- there are still lessons to be learned. Let’s look how this story started:

So how does a particularly average player like myself prepare for a format where the metagame is wide open, in a format that you haven’t played before, and win 16 of 20 rounds? I had one loss at the Grand Prix Trial (to Blue/White control), and three at the Grand Prix. (One loss to Blue/White control, one loss to Merfolk, and one loss to Gabriel Nassif- does the deck he played even matter?!) We’re not talking about an FNM opponent that will shrug off a mistake because he or she is having a good time playing the game that they love; we’re talking about opponents like Owen Turtenwald, Conley L. Woods (although before his string of amazing finishes starting with Honolulu and continuing with a stream of decks wilder than ChrisKool’s sugarplum delights) and many more of Magic’s professional scene.

And So It Begins

The turn of events leading up to the Grand Prix were quite odd. You see, I live in Indianapolis, but I hadn’t really played Magic for quite a few months since our local shop closed and I became more focused on work. But with a silly deck like Dragon Stompy, I figured: Why not spend a weekend traveling and playing Magic?

After a few sporadic nights of testing, I trekked up to Chicago with some friends and stayed at one of their Aunt’s houses the night before the GP Trial. (Of course it entailed sleeping on a cot in a very cold basement the night before a snow storm; we woke up to the winter frost, but it was worth the considerably shorter trip to the tournament site.)

I had fine tuned the deck list by looking at various forums and DeckCheck.net and then compulsively test drawing. (You can even see: my GP Trial list at DeckCheck.net.) The sideboard was pretty rough, but Powder Keg did prove to be an integral player (which I’ll get into later, as a Powder Keg replacement is needed in some form or another for Classic Dragon Stompy).

Anyway, while there I found something I had forgotten could happen while playing Magic- having fun. Yes, I know hard to believe, but the day went by without a hitch. By moving Trinisphere to the main, I tended to lock the opponent out of making any decisions beyond saying, “Land, go” and then I would go on to ride some large creature to victory. With Sphere’s three cost crew (Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon), I bashed part two Blue-Black-Green Team America decks with no basics in the Top 8. On the back of Blood Moons, I received three byes for the upcoming Grand Prix.

Also while playing, I learned that Dragon Stompy has a funny way of getting rounds finished quickly while it was winning in a hilarious fashion. It’s great to pilot a deck where you get an extra 30 mins each round to go to the bathroom, eat (take note- a backpack full of good snacks to replenish yourself is probably the best thing you can do to improve your performance during a long day of gaming, but I tend to stay away from caffeine as I get the jitters after being too “amped” up all day), a quick mid-round rest, etc.

The Main Event, Almost

The days leading up to the Grand Prix were interesting- my friends decided to go up before hand to try to get three byes. So I was stuck Friday night with a decision- drive up to Chicago in my so called “Death Van” (1994 Toyota Previa with upwards of 200,000 miles that likes to take turns at 40mph), or stay home. I had three byes from two weeks previous and hadn’t picked up the Dragon Stompy since the trial…

So I make the only realistic decision possible, whiz up to Chicago Friday after work and sign-in only to find that the tournament was going to be larger than they had anticipated, and I wouldn’t be getting a nifty Akroma playmat- SAD FACE! (No need to worry, though, as I eventually tracked down my precious playmat.) What a way to start what would end up being my most accomplished Magic performance…

But I’ve written about that experience in-depth already, and I need to talk a little bit about the deck before I get too into reminiscing!

As I mentioned earlier, my GPT sideboard was a mess. For the Grand Prix, I decided to try out Boil as Blue-White seemed like a huge threat. And though I was only able to draw Boil once in a matchup where I boarded it in, it was a blowout: Fact or Fiction EOT, response Boil, destroy three Tundra. Blue-White wasn’t able to get the tempo back after that. It wasn’t the best sideboard card (nor is it very desirable at 4cc), but I believe it is needed to have a chance against decks that totally wreck this archetype (such as Control running a lot of basic lands). The event’s matches are detailed in my report, but there are a few things to remember:

• Your choice to mulligan is the most important decision with this deck. By mulliganing aggressively, I was able to win games that I might have otherwise lost. Even going down to four cards seemed to be the right call if you have a bad hand- the deck’s power is its ability to put the game in your favor with a good turn one play. I often would look at my opening hand and almost verbally ask myself, “Can this hand win?” If there was even the slightest question, I would send it back. I really believe that the eleventh Mountain helped give the deck a little more needed edge when it came to mulliganing as well.

• Save Arc-Slogger activations for things like Tarmogoyf, etc. It often seems like you could just go to the face, but this is many times the wrong decision. For example, early in a match I had an Arc-Slogger Swords to Plowshared away. Arc-Slogger went into the Exiled pile without a thought. Later, I was kicking myself for not dealing 2 damage to the head… but when I played my second Arc-Slogger and was able to take down a Tarmogoyf because of the extra cards in my deck, I made a mental check to make sure that I don’t waste his activations until needed. Arc-Slogger is the virtual card advantage that this deck needs.

Now, there have been some experiments with taking the ol’ Slog out of the deck entirely… the reasoning being that by taking him out you can also take out Seething Song, thereby giving the deck a leaner strategy. But what can replace that virtual card advantage that I just talked about? Well the thing is, Umezawas Jitte does much of the same things. Sure it’s a little clunky (and you need threats to stick it on) but it’s a valuable possible addition… To give an example of this sort of decklist, I’ll show you one of the first sparks of Slogless Stompy.

In my tournament report I also suggested working with Goblin Assault as a possible sideboard option. The thinking behind this is thus: against Blue-White control, cards like Wrath of God and Swords to Plowshares are focused on eating away my limited aggressive resources. Because Goblin Assault keeps pumping out guys, I’ll be much more likely to have a little suicide bomber to keep up the beats or wield a handy Umezawas Jitte.

The problem with Jitte in previous builds was always that I never could find a guy to put it on. I’d always rather have a guy to commit to the field than having to spend a turn casting a card that may or may not do anything when the opponent has a kill spell in hand. Goblin Assault takes this risk out of the equation with a steady stream of removal resilient threats… and has an interesting side effect of giving your Taurean Maulers haste.

In Classic there is also the question of Mana Crypt‘s role. It seems obvious that this sort of mana accelerant would be perfect for the deck, but what to cut? I like having an extra Red mana source honestly, but maximizing your accelerants seems like a no brainer. Consider this list for Classic:

If I were to run into trouble with having Red mana sources again I’d switch out a City of Traitors or Ancient Tomb for the eleventh Mountain, but for now I consider this to be a good introductory list to Classic. The three-of Magus of the Moon main is to decrease the answers of Canadian-style Threshold decks (with their main deck Fire Ice and Lightning Bolts) to the Moon effect that I have seen in the Classic Decks of the Week. Blood Moon seems a little better at the moment.

Also consider that Mana Crypt can’t be destroyed with Wasteland, but can be fodder for Engineered Explosives. Both seem very good against this deck (which is why Pithing Needle is an auto-include in the sideboard). This list hasn’t been tested yet, but because of how close it is to my tournament main deck, I’m sure it’s very solid.

Now for something a little different:

Aspiring to free myself from the need for Seething Song, here’s a list that ups the threat density, the number of lock pieces (adding another Blood Moon effect), and is probably a bit more stable than the previous version. There is also a full complement of eight Moons after board, with four Magus main to maximize the number of Jitte carriers.

Flametongue Kavu is my answer to losing Powder Keg… because no one really plays Phyrexian Dreadnaught at the moment, and Powder Keg was usually there for Tarmogoyf, Flametongue may be good enough to take him out before he gets big (and coupled with Jitte, his ability seems strong enough to take out 5/5 Flying demons as well).

As I detailed earlier, Boil is there again because of the strength of the card to overcome certain Control matches. They aren’t a huge part of the metagame online it seems, but it’s good to have a back-up plan. Anarchy was also considered but would need more testing. Sulfur Elemental may also be worthy of attention.

Sword of Fire and Ice (aka SoFI) is the answer for Merfolk and Goblin silliness. To make my Assaults useless in these matches, I need a way to augment the power of the tokens. Hopefully it’s not too clunky (as I consider both it and Akroma, Angel of Fury to be marginal cards when considering the sideboard), but until Keg comes online it will have to suffice. (Quick note: I wouldn’t play Red Akroma in a deck without Seething Song, because even when you have them she’s really hard to flip.)

Now, because Dragon Stompy works well within certain metagames (but completely fails in others), you have to do your duty to try and get a handle of what you’re going up against. Online it seems that there is a dominance of Vintage-styled decks without all the Power 9. These types of decks are naturally prone to failing to Trinisphere and Chalice of the Void locks. There are also less basic lands running around, allowing Blood Moon to wreak havoc.

Here are some sideboard plans for major archetypes with the Goblin Assault list. Notice that some decks have different strategies based on who is going first- this is important for a deck that thrives on a strong Turn 1. Feel free to discuss in comments below (as I’m sure these aren’t optimal yet, but they’re a good starting place):

Cards to take notice of: Daze, Trygon Predator, Force of Will Wasteland, Burn, Tarmogoyf

Add
+3 Flametongue Kavu
+2 Pyrokinesis
+1 Blood Moon

Take out (on draw):
-4 Rakdos Pit Dragon (easy to hit with burn, always side out when oppo has 1cc burn)
-2 Trinisphere

Take out (on the play):
-4 Rakdos Pit Dragon
-2 Gathan Raiders

Things to take notice of: if they’re not mono-Red, or if they have a lot of nonbasics like Wastelands, then Blood Moon may be better than against other versions. Aether Vial is the main thing here as it gets around most of your disruption.

Add:
+4 Pyroclasm
+2 Pyrokinesis
+2 Pithing Needle
+3 Flametongue Kavu
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice

Take out (on draw):
-4 Trinisphere
-3 Blood Moon
-4 Magus of the Moon
-1 Chalice of the Void

On the play:
Don’t add the 2 Pithing Needles and put 2 Trinisphere back in (they’re much better on the play since they stop Turn 1 Vials).

Add:
+2 Pithing Needle (usually to combat Bazaar of Baghdad)
+4 Pyroclasm
+1 Blood Moon (turns off their lands)
(possibly Pyrokinesis also if they have a lot of small enablers)

Take out:
-4 Rakdos Pit Dragon
-3 Taurean Mauler

Add (on the play):
+3 Flametongue Kavu
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Blood Moon

Take out (on the play):
-3 Rakdos Pit Dragon
-2 Goblin Assault

Add (on draw):
+3 Flametongue Kavu
+1 Sword of Fire and Ice
+1 Blood Moon
+2 Pyrokinesis
+4 Pyroclasm
(Pithing Needle may be an option against man lands and Aether Vial, but here we’re focused on creature kill).

Take out
-3 Goblin Assault
-4 Trinisphere
-4 Chalice of the Void (in addition to AEther Vial, they often have many different casting costs: 1,2, and 3)

Add:
+1 Blood Moon
+3 Flametongue Kavu
+2 Pyrokinesis
(add 2 Pithing Needle on the draw)

Take out on play
4 Rakdos Pit Dragon (again, due to the burn)
2 Goblin Assault
(on draw also take out the third Goblin Assault and a Chalice of the Void)

Add:
+2 Pithing Needle
+1 Blood Moon
(+2 Pyrokinesis on the draw)

Take out (on the play)
-2 Jitte
-1 Rakdos Pit Dragon
(on draw, take out additional 2 RPD)

Add:
+1 Blood Moon
+2 Pyrokinesis (for desperation Spirit token kills)

Take out:
-3 Rakdos Pit Dragon

Hopefully that goes over a lot of archetypes to be present during the early days of Exodus release. In the coming weeks I plan to test out this experimental deck list- and I’m pretty excited about it. The lack of Seething Song allows for a build that takes full advantage of Mana Crypt (due to the Jitte) AND increases the threat and soft lock density.

Though it’s an archetype that many would snicker at, you can’t deny the power of the deck. Trinisphere adds quite a bit to the Dragon Stompy arsenal. By putting out a lock piece like Chalice, Trinisphere, or Moon your first turn, you’re greatly diminishing the ability of your opponents to do anything. This isn’t an all-in Red deck; it’s a soft lock deck with a fast clock.

Oh Yeah! That Tournament I Was Talking About…

My final note goes back to the Grand Prix. After three byes, I wasn’t fully in game mode sitting down for my first round of play. I won that round, but the next two I lost to both Merfolk and Blue-White Control. Suddenly, I had different goals- I simply aimed to win the current round, to have fun, and to play with a deck that makes me smile a little bit. I recognize now what power that has- being free to just enjoy the deck you’re playing without the pressure to perform.

When I made Day Two, I kept the same goal and ended up winning every round up to the one directly before the Top 8. Because of my byes I was able to I.D. and relax a bit longer before the main show. My little goals had helped me stay focused on the round at hand and to remain calm during the downtime between rounds.

By that time I had cemented Top 8, I was simply happy to be there. The head judge even mentioned how tranquil I seemed to be. (Of course, I was a little bit worn out, but every one else was too.)

My first round against Brian Kowal was unfortunate for him, as can be seen in the coverage. Playing against Nassif was an experience too. Even after I took Game One quickly, he was able to persevere. My hands weren’t that great, but my sideboarding for those last games was awful (Chalice should really stay in against a deck like his that’s so dependent on Brainstorming and laying down a threat like Tarmogoyf from the get-go). Not that I should put all of the blame on my own shoulders- Nassif is great!

After the round finished there was only one more thing to do- drive back to Indy in my Death Van, in the pouring rain, completely exhausted. I ate some Chinese with a friend before leaving… still a little awe-struck at what a wild ride had just happened. My rating jumped considerably, and I was on my way to the next Pro Tour: Honolulu… The “Cascade Pro Tour” was far away, but I was thinking about how great my honeymoon would be (Hawaii, what a great destination!) and how wonderful the whole experience had been.

A Lesson Learned

There’s something that you forget when you only consider your end goals- you lose sightof what’s happening in the present, in the game you are actually playing. Mostly, I’ve been on autopilot when playing Online, but that’s about to change. I haven’t been able to simply let myself think and take in all that is happening in the current game I am playing at any given moment. It’s time to apply what I learned during my delightful experience:

Check yourself. Breathe in; ask yourself what you need to be doing at that very moment. Then make the better play.

See you in the trenches,

James (Deathcloud9)