Howdy folks! It’s Joe here again with another edition of Men of Steel: The Actors Who Played Superman and Why We Love Them. This week we’re deviating a little from meme spice town to a deck that’s been popping up here and there from time to time in MTGO League. It is a deck that seems tailor made to beat up on Delver. We’re also trying out a new way of displaying decklists, by using the visual view of MTGGoldfish!
I’m talking of course, about Steel Men Stompy! This deck is about the closest thing you’re gonna get to playing Workshops in Legacy, and the deck is definitely powerful. Let’s take a look at the list, shall we?
The Deck
One of the biggest things about this list is how prevalent an ultra-threatening turn 1 play is with this deck. Between the obvious Chalice of the Void T1 play, between the Sol lands and the fast mana of Lotus Petal / Mox Opal, you can also jam threats like Thorn of Amethyst and Lodestone Golem T1, which makes for a very super powerful shutdown of your opponent.
Beyond that, the rest of the deck is packed with legitimately powerful threats. With maindeck Phyrexian Revoker and Sorcerous Spyglass packing 6 “Pithing Needle”-like effects most things get shut down super quickly, and Hangarback Walker + Walking Ballista are absurdly gross with Steel Overseer and Arcbound Ravager. We may not have Mishra’s Workshop, but we make it work for this format.
The sideboard includes cards that answer various problem matchups, primarily big creature combo like Reanimator (through Ensnaring Bridge / Leyline of the Void), Show and Tell, and then also includes additional Spyglasses to shore up matchups where activated abilities matter a bunch. Ratchet Bomb / Sword of Fire and Ice help clean up small permanent matchups like Elves and DnT while Spellskite is absurd against any deck that’s playing spot removal.
I ran this list through a few matches on XMage, and recorded some video (another first for me!) to show off what this deck can do. Let’s take a look at some of the games, shall we?
Match 1 vs BUG Nyx Fit (Record 2 – 1 WIN)
As we can see, in Game 1 I never really got off the ground, and failed to establish a decent lock piece before my opponent could just rock me out of the game with Curse of Misfortunes. However, since I’m a Nic Fit pilot myself, I know exactly how to deal with it, so in came the rest of Spyglasses and the Leyline of the Voids, because shutting off Veteran Explorer and Academy Rector are key. Games 2 – 3 went much more smoothly, with Hangarback Walkers + Lodestone Golem putting on the pressure in Game 2, and Game 3 being decided by beats off a pumped up Mishra’s Factory thanks to Steel Overseer.
Match 2 vs 4C Maverick (Record 2 – 1 WIN)
Game 1 put us right out the gate with some rough disruption on our part, forcing him to deal with 1 Steel Overseer only to see 2 more. However, it was the Wasteland that clinched the game, since putting him off Umezawa’s Jitte for even a single turn would be enough to let the Steel men stomp over his little Stoneforge. Game 2 was a little more awkward and Thorn of Amethyst didn’t really do much here other than delay, so we cut it for Game 3. Game 3 was absurdly strong with a Spellskite right out of the gate into a Steel Overseer among other things, but the Lodestone Golem shutting off his ability to cast Knight of the Reliquary in a timely fashion is what set things up nicely.
Match 3 vs Miracles (Record 0-2 LOSS)
Game 1, I started off somewhat okay, but the Monastery Mentor beats combined with my own Ancient Tomb damage racked up and puts me down deep. Game 2, I kept a pretty atrocious hand and got punished for it with no land drops. This happens and it’s important to see that while these decks look great on paper, Stompy can occasionally have these inconsistent hands. I also sideboarded improperly, thinking I needed to board out Chalice when I probably didn’t.
Wrapping Up
That’s all the time we have this week folks! We’re definitely going to continue this trend of using video with my matches though, and next week is a real treat because I’m going to be doing video on my actual paper Legacy deck! That’s right, tune in next week for a little old ditty we like to call “Scapewish.”
Until next time, I’ll catch you on the flip side of This Island Earth!
Joseph is an avid player of eternal Magic formats, including Vintage and Legacy. As a Nic Fit player who will tell anyone who will listen about his deck, Joe spends his time analyzing and playing on Magic Online and various online platforms, while prepping for competitive events. To follow more Joe, check out his Twitter!