Why 10 land stompy is the most charming deck in premodern

Do you want to play a fun premodern deck, but don’t like basic lands?

Do you want to play a fun premodern deck, but don’t like creatures with low power?

Boy do I have the deck for you!

10 land stompy is just as the name implies, a stompy deck with 10 lands. I can manage to win some unwinnable games with it, and I’m a bad player, so imagine what a good player can do with the deck!?

Creatures:

Elvish lyrists main is there to slow down all the enchantment based decks that just dominate the mate with their waves, tides and replenishes.

The elvish spirit guides might be one too many, when you hardcast one you’ve usually lost.

Mtenda lion could probably be swapped for wild dogs if you know your meta, or even ghazban ogres if you like the classics. If you like echo you can play pouncing jaguar. The drawback for the lion isn’t too bad in most games though.

Quirion rangers could be mana dorks, but that is a lot worse. While the ranger can give you some extra mana, it also gives you pseudo vigilance, being able to keep up some pressure and still having a blocker around to discourage unprofitable attacks.

River boa is the real MVP here. Regenerate lets you do weird stuff and screws up things for the opponent. It’s also an amazing carrier of both rancor and briar shield. Islandwalk is not just and empty line either, it gets damage through in a lot of games.

I would not play this game if not for rogue elephant, just stomping around, destroying forests, smacking tiny creatures around. Getting one down on turn one can be backbreaking.

Scryb sprites is another part of the evasive pack, being able to fly is huge in premodern, very few decks have fliers, and specially ones that can stand up to a rancored up sprite.

Skyshroud elite is seldom a dead card, a lot of decks play non-basics, and having a 2/3 for 1 is great value.

Vine dryad is card disadvantage, but it is also a creature that doesn’t die to 2 power blockers, forestwalk is just like islandwalk a real keyword in premodern.

Sorceries and instants:

For sorceries and instants, we keep up the “disadvantage but free” theme.

Land grant is what lets us play 10 lands. Not much to say about it really, a work horse, but you have to show the opponent your hand. If the game goes long you’ve probably lost, but then you can play land grant with lands and lessen the risk that you draw a land and not gas on your next turn!

Bounty of the hunt lets you exile a card to deal 3 extra damage. Like a GG but for free. Or for a naturalize. Or whatever. Use it to win. At the same time giant growth is like bounty of the hunt but you get to pay one. Or exile an elvish spirit guide! Your choice.

One naturalize makes it into main. You can run more, but naturalize doesn’t do any damage, and so doesn’t get us any closer to winning. Such a boring card.

Artifacts, enchantments, auras and lands:

Winter orb is great. You can just pay one and discard cards from hand to get around it, your opponent has to make harder choices. Pro tip: play winter orb when your opponent is tapped out.

Briar shield and rancor are what makes the deck go around. Make sure to have one or the other in your opening hand. Sure, you run the risk of getting 2-for-1ed, but the extra damage is the most fun you can have in a game of magic.

Sylvan library is important if the game goes beyond turn four. Since you are able to dump your hand on turn one or two, being able to refill it for the low cost of 8 life is great.

10 forests. Duh.

Sideboard:

Ok, on to sideboard choices. I’m not good enough to give you a sideboarding guide, I mostly go with my guts, so I’m not even gonna try, but I’m gonna tell you the general feel for which decks to bring cards in against.

Compost goes in against anything black. Seriously, being able to draw a card when a black card goes into the graveyard from anywhere is a great feeling. Crumble is there to pressure shrimps. Cursed totem is to stress out elves. Hidden gibbons do work against both blue decks and red decks, 4 toughness is huge! Extra naturalizes when needed. Rushwood legate is there because it’s a lot better against blue decks than Mtenda lion. Scavengers goes in over lyrists against brown decks. Tormod’s if the opponent likes their graveyard. And hey, sometimes you just want to play a fourth winter orb!

The deck seems pretty straightforward, right? Play stompy things, stomp. And it kinda is. But the deck is full of interesting choices, such as which cards to pitch, when to pump defensively, how to attack, and what to sacrifice.

What the deck lacks is reach, so closing out games where the opponent manages to stabilize can be very hard. For those of you that enjoy winning more games, I’d recommende mono-b aggro or burn, where you have amazing cards like Kaervek’s spite or Lightning bolt. But if you really like to play quick games, being able to take bathroom breaks during tournaments, and hitting your opponent with giant souped up elephants and faeries, I’d recommend this deck for you.

Have you tried the deck? Do you like it? Hate it? Totally neutral? Let me know in the comments or on bluesky or mastodon!