Slimefoot the Stowaway emerged as the fan-favorite of the uncommon Legendary creatures in Magic the Gathering’s Dominaria expansion. His color pairing of Black and Green, as well as his supported theme of Saproling tokens, have been a runaway success in both Draft and Sealed formats. Most professionals and everyman players alike are in agreement that when it comes to Limited play, Slimefoot and his army of 1/1 minions are exactly where you need to be at every Friday Night Magic table.
In Standard, however, Slimefoot hasn’t had nearly the same impact that Wizards of the Coast wanted. The emergence of Tendershoot Dryad as a Limited-superstar-turned-constructed-stud, a cheap Saproling lord in Sporecrown Thallid, and excellent common and uncommon ways of generating Saprolings all account for nothing thanks to a single little Goblin that has rendered entire decks useless with his overpowered ability.
Until Goblin Chainwhirler gets himself banned for his utter dominance for the format, Brawl appears to be the most prevalent place for Slimefoot to turn up as a staple. Slimefoot’s life-draining ability is easily exploited with a fair dose of ramp, sacrifice outlets, and of course, Saproling generation, All of these themes combined grant him the long-game strategy to hang with several of the slower, all-powerful Mythic Rare generals of the format.
Not bad for an uncommon.
The rotation
Now, I believe in the future of Brawl, but I am also aware that its announcement has came at a bad time. Nobody is really ready to invest in the format just yet thanks to a huge Standard rotation coming up later in the fall. Four sets, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, and Hour of Devastation, will no longer be playable, and they’ll be taking a good many powerful cards along with them.
Unlike EDH, which allows for cards from any era to be used, many cards you love to use in your Brawl decks will no longer be legal from this October, turning the young format on its head. Why bother taking it so seriously when it’s going to be completely different just around the corner?
Consider Dominaria’s release and healthy dose of Legendary creatures to be a test run, one that gauges interest in the new style of play and helps work out any kinks. When Core 2019 comes out next month and the rotation occurs with yet another return to Ravnica in October, we’ll have a good solid year or two to turn Brawl inside out and find out what really works.
And luckily, Slimefoot the Stowaway’s deck will emerge from the 2018 rotation relatively unscathed. Many of his cards stem from the Dominaria expansion, and only two or three essential cards will need to be replaced with newer ones. Today, we’ll be looking at several of these important cards and any alternatives that might already exist or have been spoiled.
Post-rotation
As you can see, losing only two or three back-breaking cards, one of which has plenty of nearly efficient replacements, means that the Slimefoot Brawl deck is going to be a contender once Standard finally rotates this coming October. Core 2019 is still slowly being spoiled, and while I don’t see any “must haves” among their ranks yet, you can bet that Slimefoot is going to be the focal point of any Brawl deck I slap together in 2018.
I mean, his name alone is enough to inspire me.
