“Something that was real. Something they could see, and touch. An aim not devoid of merit.”
Art:Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant
by Lars Grant-West
Pricing Courtesy of Moxfield.com
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Welcome to Lost Caverns of Ixalan week here on TNT! This week will be jam-packed with 7 articles all featuring brand new LCI commanders! Ghalta is one of the coolest cards from LCI and can be built in a ton of ways and for that reason was chosen as the first entry for LCI week. Since this deck is in the interest of budget we decided that dinosaurs would not only be a fun and on flavor build but a great deck that will not hurt your wallet too much. This deck is a true mean-green machine and is just a blast for any player who enjoys dinosaurs or the stompy playstyle. For only $80 bucks you cannot go wrong with this one, without further adieu let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant $80 Dinosaur Stompy!
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Why Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant?
Ghalta is a huge part of our deck, so having access to them from the command zone is an invaluable ability. We can ramp out Ghalta pretty quickly and often cast them multiple turns early. Even if we only put 2 or 3 creatures into play that is an invaluable swing of momentum that can help turn the tides for us. In the perfect world, we will put 5 or 6 creatures into play.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! As well as highlighting some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
We have some early game ramp that is headlined by Llanowar Elves
, Elvish Mystic
, and Karametra's Acolyte
which are all strong ways to get ahead on mana. We also have some decent dinosaur payoff cards like Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
which discounts most of our creatures, and Knight of the Stampede
which discounts most of the creatures in our deck. Ornery Dilophosaur
, Pugnacious Hammerskull
, and Tranquil Frillback
which are three decent dinosaurs we can commit to the board early. We of course have some big late-game dinosaurs like Thrasta, Tempest's Roar
, Titanoth Rex
, and Rampaging Brontodon
which are all huge creatures that are pretty hard to stop in combat and allow us to swing for some huge damage.
Planeswalkers:
Garruk, Unleashed
is a very cool planeswalker that is a great piece of complementary support for our overall game plan. Garruk’s plus allows us to buff a creature and give that creature trample which can be a great way to guarantee getting some damage in. We don’t always use the minus but we can in a pinch, being able to make a blocker as needed is no doubt a strong ability. We are typically hoping to get up to Garruk’s ult which is very strong and we can grab any creature on our end step. Even though we only have one planeswalker Garruk is still very strong and a great inclusion in the deck.
Instants:
We have a decent amount of artifact and enchantment removal like Nature's Claim
, Naturalize
, and Krosan Grip
which can be strong against a variety of decks. Bite Down
and Ram Through
are great ways to turn our big creatures into basically missiles to knock down any creature our opponents have. Aspect of Hydra
is a great way to make a creature with trample really huge and get some big damage in!
Sorceries:
We have quite a few ramp spells in our sorcery package like Cultivate
, Kodama's Reach
and Skyshroud Claim
all of these are strong ramp spells that help us get ahead on mana. We also have Thunderherd Migration
which is a dinosaur-specific ramp spell that we can almost always meet the requirement. Primal Might
is a great card that can help us close out games and take out a huge creature or commander of our opponents. Genesis Wave
is another strong late-game spell that can help turn the game in our favor. My two personal favorite cards in our sorcery package are Overrun
and Overwhelming Stampede
which can be great game-enders when we have an established board.
Artifacts:
A lot of our mana ramp is through creatures and spells so we only have Sol Ring
and Moss Diamond
as our artifact ramp. In testing, I found these were nice complementary pieces of ramp and whether we get them or not does not matter. Lifecrafter's Bestiary
is a cheap artifact that can be a decent source of card draw and scrying is always nice as well. Tangleweave Armor
is a really strong card once we have Ghalta out since it makes an additional 8/8 for us!
Enchantments:
Our enchantment package has two strong pieces of card draw in Garruk's Uprising
and Colossal Majesty
which are great and help to address one of green’s biggest weaknesses in card draw. Dictate of Karametra
is not the strongest card in our deck since our opponents also get the mana benefit but typically we can get a little more advantage out of it by casting it in an opponent’s end step. Gigantiform
is a card I often put on one of our smaller dinosaurs or mana dorks which can be a great way to get a big attacker. Unnatural Growth
is the best enchantment in our deck and can make combat an absolute nightmare for our opponents especially when we have trample on all or most of our creatures.
Land Base:
Since we are on a budget there were a lot of cuts, especially in the land base. We do have the benefit of being in Mono-Green so we do not need a ton of specialized lands. We have some strong lands like the cycling lands, draw lands, and brand new Hidden Nursery
which is basically like a cascade effect! Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
is strong on the turn that we cast Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant since we can get an absolute ton of value out of it. Since we are in mono-green our land base is majority forests and we are perfectly ok with that. In testing, I found that this land base was quite effective.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We can overwhelm the board with our powerful creatures
- There is a decent amount of ramp
- Games come to an end pretty quickly once Ghalta hits the field
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Weak to creature hate
- The general weakness of being in mono-green
- Weak to control strategies or really any deck that controls hands / the board
5 Helpful Upgrades:
These are in no particular order but these are cards that I think would improve the deck greatly but were not included due to price!
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops in the deck and instead, we focus on ramping hard casting a ton of dinosaurs, and using cards like Overrun or Overwhelming Stampede to power our way through opponents. We also have some huge creatures like Rampaging Brontodon and Thrasta, Tempest's Roar which are both huge creatures that can be strong attackers and can easily help us end games quickly.
Conclusion:
Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant is a fun commander and a perfect way to kick off LCI week here on TNT. This deck is not only a strong casual deck and a ton of fun, it is perfect for a player of really any skill level and I think would be a strong way to introduce a new player to the game. Hope you are all as excited for LCI week as we are! Thanks for your support and thanks for reading to the end!