Pioneer: Nykthos Stompy - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Pioneer continues to surprise with under-the-radar decks or innovations marking the Top 8 of Challenges week after week, even though the competitive Metagame has been well-defined in recent months.

The novelty this time was a list that fits the budget criteria when we talk about Magic Online. Costing just over 10 tix, Nykthos Stompy is a variant of the Devotion decks that swaps the Big Mana plan for Aggro with low-cost, high-power creatures and Tribute to the World Tree as a source of card advantage alongside Collected Company and Storm the Festival.

In this article, we delve into this variant of the green Pioneer decks, with a Sideboard guide for the main matchups of the current Metagame!

This is the same decklist used by AnotherStep in the Pioneer Challenge on March 4th. Personally, I don't see much reason to make any changes to the deck at this point because each card is serving a purpose in the current Metagame. Some of the legends could be adjusted to include other creatures and make our maindeck more comprehensive, but consistency is key in a beatdown archetype, and Nykthos Stompy delivers on that.

It's worth noting that, at the time of writing, this deck is very cheap on Magic Online, costing just under 11 tix, making it an excellent entry point to Pioneer with an archetype that's easy to understand but versatile enough to compete in the format.

Maindeck

Eight mana dorks are a must for a list that tries to cast cards as early as turn two to extract value from Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx on turn three.

In addition, with Tribute to the World Tree, our mana dorks can transform into 3/3 creatures when they come into play, mitigating their “bad topdeck.”

Our two-drops provide more devotion while having efficient bodies for their cost. Plus, each has a relevant ability to the current Metagame.

Keen-Eyed Curator is a more effective graveyard hate than Scavenging Ooze on this list, and its trigger is easier to enable in a Metagame where Fear of Missing Out and other enchantments are in high demand.

Webstrike Elite also deals with enchantments and is a key card against Unholy Annex and the like, and its body is good at blocking creatures like Aven Interrupter or Mockingbird.

Werewolf Pack Leader is the least impressive of the three because it requires a specific condition to generate card advantage that makes it a poor topdeck in games against a lot of removal, but it is still essential for ensuring second-turn consistency and more triggers with Tribute to the World Tree.

Tyvar, the Pummeler is our main payoff for the abundance of mana we generate. Two activations of it can win games with a creature with power four or greater on the board and a sufficient amount of dorks in play. Personally, four copies seem like a lot, and perhaps a copy of Ulvenwald Oddity in its place would be nice to give Haste and Trample* to your creatures, even though Collected Company doesn't hit it.

Polukranos Reborn is the biggest body we have, and if transformed, it virtually wins games against any Aggro if it stays on the board. Since it has Reach, it is also good against Arclight Phoenix.

Tribute to the World Tree is the heart of this deck. In addition to adding three devotion, it turns any creature on the list into an extra draw and can trigger in multiple copies, unlike Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner.

Storm the Festival and Collected Company have the same function of cheating on mana costs and enabling an unbeatable board position that forces the opponent to play back turn after turn. Sequencing them each turn is one of the main ways to ensure your victory, but be careful in games 2 and 3 because it is common for some opponents to add sweepers like Extinction Event.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is the other reason this list works and the main enabler of our most explosive plays. Despite this, we can follow a “fair” beatdown plan without it, not unlike what the Ramp versions do.

Lair of the Hydra is another payoff for our excess mana, but we rarely use it this way in this deck because we usually spend our resources on Storm the Festival or Tyvar, the Pummeler.

Sideboard

Our modal cards.

Inscription of Abundance often comes in against Aggro and other archetypes where we need to interact more with creatures than force a clock. Its counter mode and life gain tend to slow down most red decks in the current Metagame considerably, while its fight mode is core against Selesnya Company or other slower Aggro decks.

Tranquil Frillback is the most common side-in for Nykthos Stompy. Rakdos Demons, Izzet Phoenix, Enigmatic Incarnation, Mardu Greasefang and Jund Sacrifice are just a few of the archetypes where its flexibility allows it to deal with different situations in the Metagame.

Heroic Intervention is our solution against sweepers and more reactive archetypes. It may seem wrong, but I don't like its side-in against Rakdos Demons or Midranges, as we have to be proactive in those games, and with twelve sources of card advantage added to interactions against the opponent's sources, we can maintain good resource parity throughout the game.

Pick Your Poison plays mainly against Rakdos Demons, but it is an effective answer against Enigmatic Incarnation and the various Transmogrify and variant lists that try to bring Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Valgavoth, Terror Eater to the battlefield early.

Tormod’s Crypt may not seem like the ideal choice when we have Ghost Vacuum and Unlicensed Hearse, and it’s one of the slots that perhaps deserves other cards in its place, but Nykthos Stompy is extremely proactive and therefore having the luxury of investing our mana in proactive plays while having a free answer against Greasefang or Izzet Phoenix is ​​a plus.

Rakdos Demons

IN

OUT

Rakdos / Gruul Prowess

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Selesnya Company

IN

OUT

Jund Sacrifice

IN

OUT

Mardu Greasefang

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!