I run a G/w Stompy for fun sometimes and have a question....

[jawman16]

I run a G/w Stompy for fun sometimes and have a question.  I have been runnning briar shield for a long time and have had no problems with it.  I have seen many a stompy deck running Giant Growth though.  I dont see any advantage to Giant Growth instead of the Shield but I figure those people have some idea as to what they are talking about.  So let me know what you guys think is best.

Briar Shield
Pros
1.) permanent +1/+1  until you need to use the +3/+3

Cons
1.) not instant speed

Giant Growth
Pros
1.) Instant speed beef

Cons
2.) Does not offer the permanent boost of Briar Shield

[MTG_Djinn]

It would helpfull to see your deck list.
But the Briar Shield looks cool. Giving +1/+1 untill you use it. But its not cool if you loos your creature to a non damage spell like Terminate, Edict or StP because you loos your +3/+3 boost. Thinks its a matter of taste and what would fit in your deck.

-MTG_Djinn

[cssamerican]

I am not a Stompy guru, but...
Against a deck that has direct direct damage for removal what senario would you rather have?
1.) You have 2 Savannah Lions in play and a Giant Growth in hand. Your opponent has a Lightning Bolt.
2.) You have 1 Savannah Lion with a Briar Shield on it, and another Savannah Lion with nothing enchanting it. Your opponent has a Lightning Bolt.

Option one you lose nothing.
Option two you lose the un-enchanted Savannah Lion.

The suprise factor also makes it difficult for people to block properly. What senario would you rather have?
1.) You have 2 Savannah Lions in play and a Giant Growth in hand. Your opponent has a Rogue Elephant in play.
2.) You have 1 Savannah Lion with a Briar Shield on it, and another Savannah Lion with nothing enchanting it. Your opponent has a Rogue Elephant in play.

Option one you lose nothing. If opponent blocked, you do 2 points of damage to him and destroy his Rogue Elephant. If he didn't block you do 7 points of damage to him.
Option two you will lose the unenchanted Savannah Lion and do 5 points of damage to your opponent.

[jawman16]

I think the last post says it all and now I understand why people run Giant Growth.  While the shield may be better when you have one creature in play, it is not better when you have two.  Thanx for the replies.

[CAMooSE]

I run both, and i see no reason not to.  If you have no room, take out some creatures.  Both cards are good enough to make the cut to get into the deck.

[Comrade Seraph]

Uh... how do you figure? With rancor x4, giant growth x4 and potentiall bonesplitter x xx, I don't think stompy needs any more pump. What makes stompy such a nightmare for my budget keeper (and by extension I'd guess many control decks) is it's ability to put out creature after creature after creature, no matter the number of removal spells, even when topdecking... too much pump is really bad.

[g0dzillA]

Quote (Comrade Seraph @ Nov. 24 2003,19:46)Uh... how do you figure? With rancor x4, giant growth x4 and potentiall bonesplitter x xx, I don't think stompy needs any more pump. What makes stompy such a nightmare for my budget keeper (and by extension I'd guess many control decks) is it's ability to put out creature after creature after creature, no matter the number of removal spells, even when topdecking... too much pump is really bad.

Truth. Hell, Rancor, Bonesplitter, and Bounty of the Hunt are all you really need.

[blue_negator]

I've always felt bounty of the hunt + briar shield was the way to go.  Briar shield lets your 1/1s block their 1/1s and your 2/2s block their 2/2s.  I can see the arguement for giant growth being more flexible in a sense but thats what bounty of the hunt is for.

[BuboniC]

well the way i see it with the amount of control going on, and the less flexibility of Briar shield, seeing as there are 3 ways too target it/remove it, 1) Hand 2) Remove the Creature 3) Remove the shield.

When giant growth is a "surprise" in your meta if they attack with a lets say nantuko shade with 2 lands open and you have a Pouncing Jaguar out, you can kill shade and beat with jag, but with a shield out they dont attack, remove the jaguar with an edict or whatever, then attack and kill you. I (once again) am not a Stompy guru- but those are my thoughts.

[jawman16]

I have played mono-green stompy and done reasonably well in a lightly powered meta.  I have played all the +3/+3 spells there are and of the 3 big ones (GG, BotH, Briar Shield) Giant Growth has been the best because of the suprise factor.  BotH is a good choice if you are playing mono-green but i do not play mono-green anymore b/c i feel that G/w is the best and only way to go since it allows you so many more options.  So in a G/w stompy deck BotH is not that good.  Giant Growth is the best as seen by the following

Quote 1.) You have 2 Savannah Lions in play and a Giant Growth in hand. Your opponent has a Lightning Bolt.
2.) You have 1 Savannah Lion with a Briar Shield on it, and another Savannah Lion with nothing enchanting it. Your opponent has a Lightning Bolt.

Option one you lose nothing.
Option two you lose the un-enchanted Savannah Lion.

The suprise factor also makes it difficult for people to block properly. What senario would you rather have?
1.) You have 2 Savannah Lions in play and a Giant Growth in hand. Your opponent has a Rogue Elephant in play.
2.) You have 1 Savannah Lion with a Briar Shield on it, and another Savannah Lion with nothing enchanting it. Your opponent has a Rogue Elephant in play.

Option one you lose nothing. If opponent blocked, you do 2 points of damage to him and destroy his Rogue Elephant. If he didn't block you do 7 points of damage to him.
Option two you will lose the unenchanted Savannah Lion and do 5 points of damage to your opponent.

[g0dzillA]

In a non-mono green build, I'll agree that Giant Growth is a better choice than Bounty of the Hunt. Rancor is a given, and Bonesplitter is much better than Briar Shield because it has more versatility and less potential card disadvantage. In my opinion, the optimal layout is as follows:

mono-green: Rancor, Bonesplitter, Bounty of the Hunt
G/w: Rancor, Bonesplitter, Giant Growth