“And I-I had a feeling that I belonged”
Art:Earthrumbler
by J.P. Targete
Please note: Rule Break Month Two is not officially sanctioned until July 2025. We are currently building and testing these decks, so by July, you will already have lists and ideas ready. These are not officially legal until July 2025. For a full breakdown of Rule Break Month Two, check this link: (https://www.reddit.com/r/PauperEDH/comments/1kcnxnv/breaktherulesmonth_two_electric_boogaloo/)
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Earthrumbler is here to drive over all of the competition, yes i know that’s a terrible joke that could be used for all of our rule break month two decks but i really mean it this time, a creature who is very aggressively stat-ed and has trample and vigilance commands this deck and does it well. While we are just a straight-up stompy deck, and we don’t typically go for a commander damage kill, our commander provides a ton of extra damage that allows us to hit very hard. Combine a very aggressive commander that can hit like a truck with a deck full of all of the classic big-mana stompy creatures like Ulamog's Crusher
and Annoyed Altisaur
. We are a deck that cares about one thing and one thing only, running over our competition. Without further ado, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Earthrumbler Stompy!
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Why Earthrumbler?
Earthrumbler is a great asset for our deck to have but one of the big benefits is that we don’t rely on them, while they are great and we would certainly like them on the field, we do not need them, this is a stompy deck through and through and can absolutely function without them. I am a really big fan of ramping Earthrumbler out early for a big attack, but if they keep getting targeted and killed, that’s ok, the game plan still remains the same, turn things sideways! I also really like being able to free crew by exiling stuff from our graveyard, while crewing is typically easy for us, if we fall behind, this can be a very strong option.
Deck Matchups:
Since this is Pauper EDH, there are an absolute ton of things that can tip a game in your favor or out of it. While an archetype may seem favorable, there are absolutely good and bad commanders for our deck to go up against; I have included both these, which were all played among my testing groups using various decks, and I have included the sample size for clarity purposes. This is just meant to be a guide after testing a bunch of games with this deck!
The information below is notes about specific decks that were featured in our testing pods and how we fared against them. Naturally, Pauper EDH is a multiplayer game, so these are just a summary of my notes against different commanders and strategies. When we test these decks we try to test to its strengths and weaknesses to give a full spectrum of what the deck has to offer. Various commanders and archetypes/strategies are used to get the most accurate information.
Commanders, we have a good matchup against:
Cori Mountain Stalwart
Record against Cori Mountain Stalwart 4-0
I had no trouble against this deck, while they are pretty good at dealing non-combat damage we are just a lot faster than them a good majority of the time, they can really struggle against us and our onslaught of huge attacks, cards like Nylea's Disciple
also shine in this matchup as we can often erase the damage they did.
Quina, Qu Gourmet
Record against Quina, Qu Gourmet 3-0
A true mono-green vs mono-green matchup! While Quina is pretty good at going wide, they have a lot of trouble dealing with our huge commander and all of our other huge creatures; we can often go wider than they can, and that truly spells disaster for them. This is a great matchup for our deck.
Diamond Weapon
Record against Diamond Weapon 4-2
A winnable matchpu that i absolutely considerable favorable but can have some rough games against, using cards like Prizefight
to get their commander off the board helps a lot, if not its a lot of big creatures swinging into each other, a lot of Diamond Weapon decks focus a lot on their commander and have small boards outside of them, we have more than enough go-wide big stuff and trample to run them over. In my experience, while this matchup is favorable, do not take this deck lightly; they are quite powerful.
Commanders, we have a tough matchup against:
Zada, Hedron Grinder
Record against Zada, Hedron Grinder 1-2
This is a tough matchup for our deck, it can be really hard for us to get an upper hand against them and while we do have a decent amount of creatures on the board they often go way wider than us, if they stumble at all this game is pretty easy, but if they are on it and moving fast it can be pretty rough.
Neva, Stalked by Nightmares
Record against Neva, Stalked by Nightmares 0-3
This is a tough matchup in multiple ways, for one Orzhov can be rough for us since they have quite a bit of removal, more than we are ready to deal with, in addition to that Neva has quite a few Pacifism
that can really slow us down and cause us troubles, pretty much all our deck wants to do is attack and if we get stopped from doing that we can really struggle.
Black Waltz No. 3
Record against Black Waltz No. 3 2-4
I really tried hard against this deck but overall I would call this matchup unfavorable, it was really rough because they basically play like a control deck with how many non-creature spells they have, I had some success and just like some of the other unfavorable matchups it was when i was moving quickly and they were stumbling, overall would not call this matchup favorable.
Strategy Overview:
Go wide:
We are a stompy deck. This is absolutely our primary strategy. Any time we can take advantage of a combat situation, we absolutely take it.
Make good combat decisions:
If an opponent has been casting a lot of combat tricks, you have to be wary. We really don’t have a lot of ways to recover if we lose a majority of our board. We still want to go wide and be really aggressive, but that doesn’t mean acting stupid for possible damage.
Use your limited removal wisely:
Pretty much our only removal is Prizefight. Make sure to use this wisely and not waste it on something that is not a huge threat. Even though we have next to no removal, it is important to remember we can resolve a lot of our creature problems through combat!
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
We have to start off at the foundation and the foundation of any great stompy deck is our mana-ramp and boy do we have a shocking amount of it, with classics like Llanowar Elves
, Elvish Mystic
, Boreal Druid
and Fyndhorn Elves
as well as ramp that works really well with our commander like Sakura-Tribe Elder
. Yavimaya Elder
is another great creature that works super well with our commander. The fact of our creature package is that we are really good at ramping out big stuff. At the same time, we love our big creatures like Ulamog's Crusher and Eldrazi Devastator
. They contribute a ton to helping us end the game we also have some very strong mid-game creatures that we can ramp into and help us stabilize our board like Owlbear
which also provides some card draw which is always needed in our deck and Greater Tanuki
which is a true best of both worlds situation, getting either a big creature or ramp depending on the situation is very good. Combat can be tough for us sometimes, and it can be hard to clear the way as well. That’s why we are running Taunting Elf
, which can clear the way and easily allow us to take out all of our opponents. I also really like the landfall creatures we have in the deck in Territorial Scythecat
and Grazing Gladehart
, Sycthecat can get really big really quick and be an amazing offensive asset for us, and Gladeheart positions us very nicely against aggressive strategies that try to knock down our life total.
Instants:
There is so much removal floating around this format that you always need to stay vigilant and protect the best creatures you have. Because of that, we are running Gaea's Gift
, Ranger's Guile
, and Tamiyo's Safekeeping
as well as a few others to protect our board. After all, they are pretty much all we have. But don’t worry, our instant package has some fun for us too, like Aspect of Hydra
, which I have personally used to commander damage kill opponents, and it can make any unblocked attacker a truly legitimate threat if we have a big board. We also have cards like Awaken the Bear
and Giant Growth
, which are really nice because almost no opponents expect combat tricks coming out of mono-green; that element of surprise can be really nice and lead to opponents not taking us seriously, which typically ends with them getting annihilated.
Sorceries:
Flyers beware! We have Atraxa's Fall
which is one of the few ways we can actually interact with Flying creatures, so don’t run into any Kangee players or we are going to be in serious trouble, its a cheap and efficient spell that hits quite a few types and can be relevant. And beyond that, the rest of our sorcery package is full of true stompy goodness, and by that I mean ramp, and pretty much only ramp. We ramp like crazy from our sorcery package as well as our creatures, casting big stuff is great for our deck, and overall, the primary goal.
Artifacts:
We have a very small artifact package because a majority of our mana production comes from our spells and creatures we do have Bonder's Ornament
and Moss Diamond
which are nice extra mana sources and in the case of Bonders is a nice extra source of card draw for the deck. We finish off with a true TNT classic, the Pauper EDH GOAT Wedding Invitation
. I don’t think I need to explain how great this card is in a stompy deck, getting not only a card but an unblockable can easily allow us to end the game.
Enchantments:
While all of these auras are pretty bad to put on our commander they are very good on any of our other big stompy creatures, Predatory Hunger
can get super out of hand if cast early and on one of our creatures with trample it can allow us to output a ridiculous amount of damage. Snake Umbra
is a small buff, but more importantly, a very good way for us to draw cards, which, being in mono-green, is something we desperately need. We finish off with a true mono-green classic in Rancor
, which is just a cheap and efficient damage dealer for our deck, and it’s very nice to give a creature without trample, trample.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We actually have a decent amount of protection spells, allowing us to perform ok against control-heavy decks.
- We are a force to be reckoned with in combat and can be very tough to deal with.
- If we are able to get to our late-game creatures, we are really hard to kill.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Being in mono-green can be really tough, especially in the card draw department; we do not have very much card draw.
- Besides some fighting effects like Prizefight
we really don’t have much removal. - We spend most of our early turns ramping and can take a lot of damage from aggressive strategies. We do have cards like Nylea's Disciple which can help but that early damage can be rough.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Conclusion:
Thanks so much for reading to the end! The Rule break month two journey has been so much fun, and I want to thank you all for your support! We have had an amazing reception and feedback, and it encourages us to test and write even more. I hope you all like Earthrumbler! While it isn’t super different from a lot of stompy decks, it is really nice to have a huge commander that is a great attacker/blocker and can be animated pretty easily. While this isn’t a unique experience within the format, it is a really fun one. Stay tuned and TAP IN!