My take on ye ol stompy. Mono Green Stompy was my first modern deck and I never really put it away.
The thing that keeps drawing me back to the deck is the feeling of blowing out people with Aspect of Hydra, in a format that is as explosive as modern having a card that has a higher ceiling than Become Immense is just what a fair creature deck needs.
The game plan is straight forward, play above the curve creatures and turn them sideways. As for the creature suite here are my choices and the rationale behind them.
Experiment One; the best one drop we have, while it looks mediocre it scales and synergises with the rest of your curve. Some of the fun synergies include those with Strangleroot Geist, being able to trigger evolve twice through geists undying ability is incredible. This also turns a 5 turn clock into a 3 turn clock. The regenerate clause does come up occasionally and can help you rebuild after a sweeper.
Dryad Militant; the next best one drop we have. The 2/1 body is ok, not great by modern magics standards, but it is service able. The main reason militant deserves it's 4x in the deck is the exile clause for instants and sorceries. This shuts down a ton of plans for a ton of decks, ie; it turns off Snapcaster Mage's flash back, hinders the delve for cards like Gurmag Angler and Logic Knot. It completely shuts down Bedlam Reveler, and keeps the opponents Tarmogoyf from being bigger than your threats. The other relevant part of militant is the ability to grow experiment one, the best case senario for this is being able to drop a T1 amd T2 experiment followed by a militant then evolving both putting 6 power on the board on T2.
Elvish Mystic; this guy looks a little out of place in a stompy list but I found that I wanted an extra 1 drop and neither Kessig Prowler
or Narnam Renegade fit the game plan I wanted. So I decided to see whether a small amount of mana acceleration worked and it did! Allowing me to curve elf into any of my 3 drops on T2 and then another on T3 with a Vines of Vastwood, Blossoming Defense or an aspect up is exactly what I was looking for. Other than that the elf allows you to start double spelling a turn earlier than normal which is a really good tempo play. It isn't good outside of those two scenarios so I can't justify more than a 1x but I am will to test a 2x for consistencys sake.
Strangleroot Geist; I've mentioned this guy already, but he is the best 2 drop we have access to. Essentially 2 bodies in one, both having haste is the nuts for green decks which normally don't have access to that keyword. As I've said it enables some impactful early turn plays with experiment one, it also synergises with avatar with the undying counter allowing the avatar to grow. The double green casting cost helps in making Aspect of Hydra a game ending play.
Avatar of the Resolute; the next best 2 drop! Though this is contextual, in some games it can easily out class strangleroot. Avatar trades in haste for both trample and reach, both can be blowout for the opponent. Trample is straight forward as the avatar grows the trample becomes more relevant especially with an aspect thrown on top. Reach is the secret keyword on avatar as no one seems to remember it is there, Lingering Souls lines up extremely poorly against avatar as it tramples over them on offence and handily blocks them on defence. The same goes for Young Pyromancer tokens.
Scavenging Ooze; this card is just too good to not include. While it doesn't fit into the aggressive curve all that well it will evolve an experiment on on T2. Where this card shines is the midgame (hence the 1x), if you can drop it with a mana or two open in which to eat a couple cards in graveyards it has more than done enough to warrant its inclusion. Being able to gain life and create a big body vs burn/other aggressive creature decks can mean the difference between a win and loss. The ability to grow an avatar shouldn't be over looked either. The last part of why ooze is so key to the deck is very similar to Dryad Militant it can keep decks off their game plan, so between the two of the them the deck should be have game against graveyard utilising decks game one.
Leatherback Baloth; the classic stompy T3. It does everything the deck wants to do, it's a undercosted large body, it always evolves experiment one, adds a ton of devotion for Aspect of Hydra. It has been slightly out classed with the printing of other 3 drops in the deck, so it has fallen to a 2x at this point in time.
Rhonas the Indomitable; the biggest boy we have. He's stats are amazing, so he is almost never getting removed besides a Path to Exile. The drawback of needing a 4 power creature to attack isn't that big a drawback but couple that along with the legendary clause, we never want to draw more than one so Rhonas is a 1x right now. If a more resilient 4 power creature is printed I'm sure the number of rhonas' will increase. As for the gameplay positives, deathtouch kill basically everything and the 5 power is a very quick clock. It always evolves the experiment, and the ability to give trample and +2+0 is a perfect way to help push through damage and coupled with aspect can close a game out of no where.
Steel Leaf Champion; the new kid on the block, this guy is a house! Its the card that pushed Leatherback Baloth down to a 2x. Champion laughs at chump blockers, provides a 4 turn clock on its own, add 3 more devotion to aspect and always evolves experiment one. Along with baloth it dodges most removal. On T2 it is just as scary as gurmag angles only it doesn't eat as many resources as the zombie fish. So the chamos don't tend to clog up your hand so much.
As for non-creature spells, we aren't running many but the ones we are have have to be high impact.
Vines of Vastwood; arguably the most versatile pumpspell in modern. The first mode is essentially a green counterspell. Being able to target your opponents creatures can be a huge tempo swing, and most people don't realise you can do it. The kicker giving +4+4 usually makes any of our creatures eat any opposing threat, or it just allows you to close out a game.
Blossoming defence; green counterspell 2.0, I'm honestly not sure which is better between defence and vines. There are strong cases for both being better, which is why I have a 2/2 split. So the gameplay is much the same as vines only it can only target your creatures, give +2+2, but it only a single green.
Rancor; the most iconic green pumpspell, it gives a boost in power to our already big creatures, gives them trample and recurres itself if the creature is dealt with. All for a single green mana, what else could you ask for!? It also works amazingly well with aspect, it adds a sneaky extra devotion and gives trample to allow for more targets which could end the game.
Aspect of Hydra; the card I've mentioned most throughout this entire description. It is the best card in this deck. Without it stompy wouldn't be competitive at all, with it you are able to win games that you otherwise would have been to slow to win. Every creature helps it become more impactful. It usually isn't cast for less than +5+5 which for a single mana at instant speed is insane. The synergy between aspect and any trampler or the psuedo unblockability of steel leaf is perfect for the stompy strategy.
The mana base is one of the major strengths for stompy. Being mono coloured, the ability to run mainly basics means damage from lands is very minimal and next to all your lands are untapped.
Hashep Oasis; having next to all forests affords the use of this card. Being pinged every now and then isn't too bad given it is the only land that does it and its a 1x. The +3+3 only comes up sporadically hence the 1x.
Treetop Village; the only tapped land in the deck. It wouldn't be here unless it provided an invaluable part of the gameplan. Treetop allows us to play another 3/3 creature with trample for 2 mana. It helps push through those final bits of damage. It also allows us to keep applying pressure during mana flooding.
I think that covers everything in the main deck, the sideboard is kind of in a state of flux as it is very meta dependant. As always all comments a welcome and appreciated so please leave any feedback!
Thanks, Valuebear.
