{"ops":[{"insert":"This is a big-mana green Stompy deck that's meant to be accessible to newer players, but provide some entertaining plays for veterans. Just because it's simple, doesn't make it boring! Since this is a Bracket 2 build, I've omitted the obvious combos and included some hilariously weak creatures just for nostalgia's sake (Ulasht, we barely knew ye).\n\nThe key to this deck is, of course, using Shalai and Hallar to damage opponents whenever we put a +1/+1 counter (hereinafter abbreviated as just \"+1\") on one of our creatures. What's important is the way Shalai and Hallar is written: it's not limited to once-per-turn, and triggers separately for each creature we put a +1 on. That means, if we put a +1 on each of 5 creatures, we deal 5 total damage and can split it however we want amongst our opponents. That might not seem like a lot, but we have several options to maximize this. Fortunately for us, there is a creature type that just LOVES counters: Hydras!\n\nGETTING COUNTERS:\n Lots AND LOTS of counters. The simplest way to get lots of counters on our creatures, is just to cast them with lots of counters. Most of our Hydras (and a few non-hydra creatures with similar mechanics) are \"X\" spells that enter play with as many +1 counters as we can pay for. With our Commander on the board, they turn each Hydra into a Fireball as well!"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Incremental counters. A few of our Hydras, as well as some other support pieces, add counters to themselves or to the board incrementally. Some, like Managorger Hydra, happen for free; others, like Mikaeus the Lunarch and Abandoned Air Temple, have a cost involved. Uncivil Unrest is one of the best, since it can give our creatures Haste if they already have enough counters; it also doubles the damage they deal."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Doubling Counters: the best way to increase our counters is simply to get more counter per counter. The Earth Crystal, Branching Evolution, and a leveled-up Innkeeper's Talent all double the counters we put on our creatures. These increases stack; so if we happen to get all 3 on the field, each +1 we add actually produces 8 counters! Opposing life totals will dwindle quickly."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nMAKING MANA:\nHydras are, appropriately, very hungry creatures. To feed our big X spells, we need big mana! Since this is a Bracket 2 build, I've chosen to include mid- and late- game mana multipliers rather than a slew of 2-drop rocks (mostly). Mirari's Wake, Mana Flare, Heartbeat of Spring, Mana Reflection, and most of all Nyxbloom Ancient, supercharge our mana base. The Earth Crystal and Emerald Medallion discount all of our green spells (which is nearly every spell in the deck) and Unbound Flourishing doubles any \"X\" costs we pay. \nI'm testing whether Elementalist's Palette or Brass Infiniscope is more beneficial; Palette provides constantly-increasing mana, but Infiniscope gets us life and more cards. I'll update this if I come to a firm conclusion.\n\nINTERACTION:\nMath is for Blockers, or so they say. This deck takes a similar stance on spell interaction. We do have a couple of staples in here, as well as Steelbane Hydra and Damning Verdict as a sweeper; but mostly, if we can't squash it with big creatures we're not interested. Interaction should be reserved for opposing permanents that significantly shut down our deck, such as Propaganda to prevent us attacking or a Darksteel Mutation on our commander.\nWe also don't have much recursion or protection, because our Hydras are largely expendable once they've hit the field and burned our opponent. Few of our creatures are individually valuable enough to try to protect. Generally speaking, we have the resources to recover from Wraths quickly. Of course, a full board-wipe that removes our mana acceleration is devastating, but hey you can't control every possibility.\n\nWINNING THE GAME:\nOur Hungry Hungry Hydras do equally well smashing our opponents in combat, or burning them with Shalai and Hallar damage. It's also possible, though a bit awkward, to load up Shalai and Hallar for a Voltron kill.\nIf turning creatures sideways isn't working, and someone has shut down our Commander, we have a secret weapon in Soul Immolation. This deck can EASILY get 40 or more counters on a single creature; at which point, Soul Immolation becomes an insta-kill.\n\nBUDGET OPTIONS\nI've included some high-dollar cards here, just because I was lucky enough to have them in my collection; but fortunately, most of these can be easily omitted or replaced. The only cards over $10 that are truly important are, I think, Innkeeper's Talent and The Earth Crystal.\nThe Ozolith: The Ooze does a decent imitation at $5.\nUncivil Unrest: Rhythm of the Wild does most of this, at a cheaper mana cost.\nBloom Tender: the reprint in Lorwyn Eclipsed has dropped the price on this, or Faeburrow Elder is a cheap replacement.\nThe Great Henge: there are a slew of cards that replicate parts of this artifact. Choose which aspect is most important: mana, card draw, or counters, and replace with the rock or enchantment of your choice.\nNyxbloom Ancient: true, no other card in Magic TRIPLES all of your mana production, but other mana accelerants do exist. We have enough redundancy in this department that choosing a less-efficient option won't degrade the gameplan much.\n\nAnd that's it, thanks for reading! If you like the deck or have suggestions, please leave a comment!\n\n"}]}