I am sure you have seen Mono Green Stompy list several times. There is almost no Red-splashed stompy list, so this page will hopefully serve as a RG Stompy Primer.
The gameplan is generally simple, we want to cast increasingly powerful threats every turn and finish the opponent quickly while leaving some room for one or two reactive instant spells. This deck archetype is fairly budget oriented (especially for modern) and is simple on paper, but it requires a bit of knowledge of the format and a lot of playing experience to yield the best results.
Card choices
Creatures
One-drops
Experiment One
- 1 mana 1/1 that can and will grow to at least a 3/3, potentially to a 5/5. The only downside is, if it comes down late, it's just a 1/1.
Pelt Collector
- only grows with greater power (not so important since we don't run Baloths), but also triggers when a larger creature dies. This makes it a better topdeck than E1. Potentially grows quicker than E1 and has trample with at least 3 +1/+1 counters, which is a really relevant ability.
Dryad Militant
- 1 mana 2/1 that grows the other 1-drops and cripples several modern staple decks. There is nothing better for that slot. Instant and sorcery spells get exiled if they would enter the graveyard from anywhere, not just from casting them.
Two-drops
Strangleroot Geist
- 2 devotion haster that may force your opponent to 2 for 1 themselves. Can even grow a 1/1
Pelt Collector
two times when it (un)dies.
Avatar of the Resolute
- a 3/2 body with Reach and Trample for 2 mana is not enough for some reason. In addition it grows with every creature we own with a counter. Synergizes with E1, Pelt, Geist and Oozes. The number of creatures with a counter on them is checked when casting the Avatar, it is not a triggered ability.
Scavenging Ooze
- 2 mana 2/2 is not that great, but it eats our and opponent's fallen creatures while growing and gaining us some life. Essential for graveyard matchups (Jund, Phoenix, Dredge). It is possible to even eat Undying and Persist creatures when they enter the graveyard as a response to the triggers.
Three-drops
Steel Leaf Champion
- the biggest beater of the deck. It alone gives us 3 devotion and is sometimes unblockable.
Rhonas the Indomitable
- it's the perfect additional 3 drop. It can give our creatures pseudo-Rancor on demand and is devastating in combat. But it comes with a few disadvantages. Needs another 4 power creature (not that hard to achieve), yields only 1 devotion and is legendary. We run only 1 for these reasons.
Noncreature spells
Aspect of Hydra
- basically a
Giant Growth
that gets bigger with every additional permanent on our side of the battlefield. It should almost always be at least +3/+3, it's ceiling is very high up to about +7/+7 or more and it's floor is only a +1/+1, but that would mean you have no boardstate and are probably not winning anyway.
Vines of Vastwood
- an amazing cheap green combat trick you just cannot skip. Defensive spell, counterspell and a pump in one card. You could almost view this card as a mono-green charm with 3 modes:
-
Target creature you control gains hexproof until end of turn.
-
Target creature your opponent controls gains "hexproof from its owner" until end of turn.
-
Kicker {G}: Target creature you control gains hexproof and +4/+4 until end of turn.
I have already used its "second mode" several times and won thanks to it against Infect trying to pump a creature or Amulet
Primeval Titan
that was to gain haste and attack for at least 16 trample damage.
Rancor
- a repeatable pump spell giving trample to all of our creatures except Avatar. Will be lost for good though if the targeted creature gets removed in response (
Vines of Vastwood
to the rescue), or Rancor itself gets countered.
Lightning Bolt
- cheap removal of important creatures or planeswalkers. It acts a little bit like a
Giant Growth
, but instead of pumping an unblocked or trampling attacker, the damage goes directly to the face, which is sometimes a better thing.
Sarkhan Vol
- hands down the best Gruul planeswalker. Every mode is very useful for an aggro deck like this. Sarkhan supports our gameplan later in the game or acts as a 4th turn curve topper. Most importantly, he can have an immediate impact on the battlefield, which is just not true for
Domri, Chaos Bringer
.
Domri Rade
on the other hand can at least remove a creature and is cheaper.
-
+1 a double Riot for all creatures for our turn only. Imagine playing a
Steel Leaf Champion
as a 6/5 with haste for a turn.
-
-2 removes blockers and lets us use them against the opponent. It can be even activated twice in a row if Sarkhan is not answered.
-
-6 one of the fastest ultimate abilities with only 2 turns of plusing Sarkhan. 20 flying power is a very serious threat.
