Over the past few months I’ve taken a break from writing and streaming, though I haven’t taken a break from playing Magic. My list of accomplishments since last November range from Top 16’ing GP New Jersey to scrubbing out of many Standard PPTQs to breaking even on RIX draft leagues to making day two of an SCG Open with Soldier Stompy this past weekend. For those unfamiliar with the deck, here are some important bullet points:

Decklist

Soldier Stompy

Resources

While I came up with this particular bastardization of the deck, Soldier Stompy is a known-ish strategy:

Deck Intro

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about what is going on here. Soldier Stompy, like other stompy strategies, is built around lock pieces in order to disrupt our opponent’s plan. In this deck, we have Chalice of the Void (X=1) and Suppression Field alongside eight Thalias. This deck really needs to play one of these on turn one in order to compete, so we also run four Chrome Mox and six “sol” lands–Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors–to help facilitate that. While most people are familiar with Chalice of the Void and Thalia 1.0 and 2.0, this deck is built around Suppression Field. Field makes opponents’ fetch lands embarrassing, Death Rite Shaman‘s awkward, slows down planeswalkers, renders Jitte actually unplayable, and shuts down Maverick—the whole deck.

While Suppression Field is really powerful, it is a build around card, which is why there are no Wastelands, Mother of Runes, or Stoneforge Mystic in this deck. Instead Soldier Stompy runs a cast of cards that were questionably playable in limited. We get card advantage through Enlistment Officer, “cheat” creatures into play with Preeminent Captain, clear the way with Palace Jailer, and pump the team with Daru Warchief. Aerial Responder is a concession to Delver decks and the life lost from Ancient Tomb and Recruiter of the Guard fetches up a reasonable number of creatures despite Soldiers not being a toolbox deck.

In terms of the sideboard, well, mine is a mess. As someone who plays a lot of Magic but a criminally small amount of Legacy, I was unsure of what to expect and cobbled together these 15 cards. We have a mix of disruption against Reanimator (Faerie Macabre, Rest in Peace, Containment Priest), Storm (Ethersworn Canonist, Sanctum Prelate), catch all removal (Cast Out, Gideon’s Intervention), tutorable disruptive creatures (Phyrexian Revoker, Leonin Relic Warder), super Suppression Field (Damping Matrix), and Holy Light which is a spicy way to wreck Elves, Young Pyromancer, and True Name Nemesis. I will post an updated sideboard in Part II of this article as this is far from ideal and did not do me any favors throughout the weekend.

Day One

ROUND ONE—Corey with Turbo Depths (1-2)

In game three, I had two Chalices (x=1, x=2), Phyrexian Revoker naming “Vampire Hexmage“, and a Suppression Field. Unfortunately, I had no way to stop him from tapping four mana, using Thespian’s Stage to copy Dark Depths, and putting out a giant Marit Lage token. I managed to stop the turbo but couldn’t contain the depths. Perhaps I shouldn’t have cut Armageddon from my sideboard.

ROUND TWO—Roberto with Maverick (2-0)

In games where you don’t play an early Suppression Field, the Maverick match-up is pretty abysmal. In the games where you do, Mother of Runes just kind of sits there next to some fetch lands while Preeminent Captain leads Captain of the Watch into battle.

ROUND THREE—Ryan with Burn (0-2)

Ryan was wearing a Khemmis shirt and we spent most of the match talking about metal. The pivotal play in game two started off with Ryan being at six life and me at five. I had a Gideon’s Intervention naming Eidolon of the Great Revel which he had out and was dangerously close to locking him out of playing spells. He cast a non-landfall Searing Blaze on my Enlistment Officer, my lone creature, and attacked with his now 2/3 Monastery Swiftspear. He had two cards in hand. I decided to use my Shining Shoal to exile a four cost creature from my hand, prevent the damage from Swiftspear and send it back on him which would effectively lock him out of playing spells. He responded with a Fireblast. Medic needed on the field.

ROUND FOUR—Anthony with Lands (2-0)

The thing I remember most about this match is pointing to Suppression Field.

“Maze your Warchief” Points to Suppression Field

“Karakas your Thalia” Points to Suppression Field

Also in game two, Anthony Gambled twice for Krosan Grip. He discarded it both times.

ROUND FIVE—Matt with UB Reanimator (2-1)

I lost game one very quickly. In the following games, I had tax effects and Faerie Macabre at the ready.

ROUND SIX—Bo with Colorless Eldrazi (2-1)

Eldrazi is usually a pretty terrible match-up given that we have a similar plan but they go bigger. Game one, my opponent led on Chalice (x=1) and I silently rejoiced. I was able to become the Monarch, thanks to Palace Jailer, and leave my first strikers back while I gradually got ahead on cards and the board. Game two, Bo had an awkward hand with multiple City of Traitors. He wasn’t ever able to get up to Endbringer/All is Dust mana and I eventually got there.

ROUND SEVEN—Patrick with Sneak and Show (2-0)

In game one, Patrick led with a turn two Show and Tell. I sent in my Captain of the Watch and he put in Griselbrand. He drew some cards before I used Karakas to clear the way for my infantry. The game was over shortly after.

ROUND EIGHT—Chad with Czech Pile (2-0)

ROUND NINE—Chris with Czech Pile (2-0)

The last two rounds have been blending together for me. It’s possible one of these dudes was playing Grixis control. The thing I remember most about the last two rounds is the chatter around me as I named “Soldier” with Cavern of Souls, drew a bunch of cards off Enlistment Officer, and sailed over [casthaven]Gurmag Anglers[/casthaven] with Aerial Responder.

The last turn of the game involved me playing a Captain of the Watch and sending in my vigilant soldiers. Chris offered up the handshake and just like that I would be leading the infantry to Day Two of the open.

Next week I’ll go over the nightmare of a ride that almost killed Ben Feingersh and I, the video coverage of my match against Jim Davis, an updated list, and a few final thoughts on the best Daru Warchief deck in Legacy.

Thanks for reading.

In terms of Magic, Shawn Massak is a Modern enthusiast, with a penchant for tier two decks, counterspells, and pre Eighth Edition frames. In terms of life, Shawn lives in Brighton, MA where he works as an employment director for people with disabilities, plays guitar in an indie-pop band, and spends his free time reading comics, cursing capitalism, complaining about pro-wrestling, and wishing his apartment allowed dogs as pets.