Someone talk me out of this...

[Phantom]

I've been thinking about building a deck with Hunted Wumpus under the following assumption:

1) Goblins is down.

2) Thoughtseize is awesome.

3) It actually kills Goyf (usually) unlike Iwamori.

4) Thresh and most aggro control have dropped their fatties for 1-3cc critters so the creature they might drop would probably be outclassed. This also leaves the door open for Deeds @3.

5) It would work well with Vial and Goyf.

6) I could board it out vs decks that can really capitalize on it like Reanimator (and Breakfast?).

Am I crazy here? I would like some more info before I dive into the deep end.

[hi-val]

Wumpus has historically been used in tournament decks.

I'd ask whether you can find a way to discard Roar of the Wurm before considering Wumpus.

Other than that, I don't really think you're crazy. 4 Mana can be Roxodon Hierarch or Ravenous Baloth or for one more, it can be Spiritmonger. Just some thoughts. It's probably not good enough though.

[Illissius]

I've been wanting to put the Wumpus into decks for the past 3-4 months, so if you're crazy, I'm right there with you. It's a card looking for a deck, though, especially with all the cheaper fat we've gotten lately. Most decks don't want to curve up to four to use it, and most of the ones which do probably suck. Maybe some sort of green Stompy-esque thing? They've just printed Garruk, who is purportedly insane in such a deck. And then Wumpii, Chalices, Spheres, Equipment, Calls of the Herd, ESGs, maybe Goyfs...

[Phantom]

Thanks for the responses fellas.

@Hi-Val: I had considered Roar, but it is problematic for a few reasons. It doesn't work with Vial, is terrible with and against Deeds, Kegs, and Explosives (all of which seem to grow in popularity every day) and is shut down by Stifle, Needle, and yard hate (ditto). The biggest thing is that it leads me down a path I've been before (madness or ZI madness). Maybe I should try that path again in the new meta (as goblins was a big problem) but I would prefer a Wumpus shot first.

Spiritmonger is tempting but the extra mana doesn't seem worth the regeneration and +1/+1 abilities. In the games I don't draw Vial ramping up to 5 against Daze/Stifle/Waste seems downright impossible. Hell, I might even be dreaming with 4.

@Illissius: Good to know I'm not alone. I won't put Garruk in my first build since I'm going for a Vial build at first, but I'll keep him in mind.

Here's a build off the top of my head:

//Spells (16)
4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
4 Vial
2 Rancor?
2 Jitte

// Creatues (20)
4 Hunted Wumpus
4 Goyf
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Dark Confidant
4 River Boa

//Land (24)
4 Mishras
20 Other

[zulander]

ESG's and Negators.

[Phantom]

ESG's and Negators.

Zu, thanks for the succinctness. I did consider both of these. I'm not nuts about Negator in the current meta. Too much UGR Thresh, Goyf Sligh, and GAGOMY for my taste. Not to mention this deck runs little removal (I'd like to fit in something like Putrefy or Explosives) so opposing Goyfs would make big Negs ineffective.

ESG is always nice but I'm not sure it goes in a deck with Vial. I think I'm running enough land to hit my higher casting cost creatures so ESG would simply be an accelerant and Daze dodger. I'll keep it in mind it I ever get to do some testing.

[Bovinious]

Wait a sec, someone, somewhere, plays GAGOMY???

[zulander]

Ok, let me explain a bit more my suggestions. I've always felt that if you're playing pure aggro that you need to play mana excel, and the viable aggro excel for this deck would be chrome/diamond/esg/petals.

[Phantom]

Ok, let me explain a bit more my suggestions. I've always felt that if you're playing pure aggro that you need to play mana excel, and the viable aggro excel for this deck would be chrome/diamond/esg/petals.

This is an interesting point. I'm not so sure you need accel anymore in aggro as long as you can disrupt combo enough. Other than combo nothing is really busting out of the gate and winning that fast these days, and against Control and Aggro Control maintaining card advantage (or in this case not killing yourself with card disadvantage) is key. Plus it seems to me that accel goes poorly with Vial.

Still, if I'm wrong I'd go for the best accel in the format in the form of dark ritual and probably run something like this:

// Spells
4 Thoughtseize
4 Duress
4 Vial
4 Dark Ritual
3 Jitte

// Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Nantuko Shade
3 Phyrexian Negator
4 Goyf
3 Hunted Wumpus

// Land
4 Mishras
19 Other


I haven't been loving the builds so far. They all feel like they're missing something.

[Illissius]

For the record, here's a first draft of the sort of thing I was thinking of for a mono green Stompy list (Ugly Stompy?):

4 Tarmogoyf
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Call of the Herd
4 Hunted Wumpus
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Trinisphere
4 Land Grant
4 Chrome Mox
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
6 Forest
SB: 4 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 Choke
SB: 4 Hail Storm
SB: 3 Tsabo's Web / Krosan Grip / Sylvan Library

Land Grant pitches to Mox and pumps Goyf, but can screw you over if they Duress or counter it, so it may or may not be worth it. I'm not sure if you can reliably get for Garruk and Hail Storm (wish there were a better sideboard card against Goblins), but dunno what to do about it if not.

Thoughtseize has synergy with Wumpus, but I have this feeling that any deck you try to make to use both of them will end up being better off without one or the other, because one of them wants a low curve and the other a high one with acceleration. Dark Ritual seems like a good first step if you want to meld them, though.