Return of Steel-Cannon Pummeler (AKH - Retired)

Casual Aggro Energy RG (Gruul)

clayperce

Creature (22)

• 4x Bristling Hydra
• 4x Electrostatic Pummeler
• 4x Longtusk Cub
• 2x Rhonas the Indomitable
• 4x Servant of the Conduit
• 4x Voltaic Brawler

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Attune with Aether

Land (21)

• 4x Aether Hub
• 7x Forest
• 4x Game Trail
• 2x Mountain
• 4x Sheltered Thicket

Instant (13)

• 4x Blossoming Defense
• 2x Fling
• 3x Harnessed Lightning
• 4x Invigorated Rampage

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Sideboard

Instant (5)

• 2x Heroic Intervention
• 3x Magma Spray

Artifact (2)

• 2x Key to the City

Creature (6)

• 3x Manglehorn
• 3x Prowling Serpopard

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Sweltering Suns

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Insult / Injury
• 1x Nature's Way

Land (1)

• 1x Forest

Artifact (1)

• 1x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance

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Electrostatic Pummeler is back ... bigger and badder than ever!

I retired this deck on 6/13/2017, with a 74% win percentage (26-9 matches) in tournament and casual play. Thanks for all your comments, suggestions, and questions along the way!

Turn 4 win

The deck's got serious game against Marvel (I'm 5-2 on matches so far) ... even on the draw.

T1: Attune with Aether (2 total).
T2: Servant of the Conduit (4 total).
T3: Electrostatic Pummeler (7 total); hold Servant up for Blossoming Defense.
T4: Attack with Pummeler. Cast Invigorated Rampage , making it a 5/1 with Trample. Pay to pump Pummeler to 10/6, then to 20/16. Cast Blossoming Defense or Fling if needed.

Please note this is rare, but is not a totally Magical Christmasland scenario. Christmas happens 0.27% of the time (1 day out of 365), and the draws play out like this 3.5% of the time on the Play and 5.4% of the time on the Draw ... or 1.7/2.8% including the Blossoming Defense and 0.5/0.9% including both Blossoming Defense and Fling.

Sideboarding

TEMUR MARVEL:

• In: 3x Manglehorn
• Out: 3x Bristling Hydra
• I've actually started 'preboarding' like this. It makes the match-up vs. Marvel really easy, and doesn't seem to set me back too much against other decks.

CONTROL:

• In: 3x Prowling Serpopard
• Out: 3x Electrostatic Pummeler
• I'm also considering adding a Forest for this match-up, to help give enough mana to play a Serpopard plus another Creature on the same turn. Another good option here is Chandra, Torch of Defiance.

ZOMBIES:

• In: 3x Magma Spray; 2x Key to the City
• Out: 2x Bristling Hydra, 2x Longtusk Cub, 1x Invigorated Rampage
• If my opponent saw an Electrostatic Pummeler in Game 1, I will also side in 3x Prowling Serpopard and side out all 4x Pummelers (leaving an extra Hydra as well). This is because most decks will bring in 2x Dispossess from the sideboard and it's hilarious when folks search for cards that aren't there.
• Lots of people at r/Spikes recommend Sweltering Suns for this match-up, but I have not (yet) seen the need. Heroic Intervention may be a good option too.

MIDRANGE DECKS WITH RED:

• In: 2x Heroic Intervention, maybe some Magma Spray
• Out: I'm not sure yet
• I've played RG Midrange and Temur Midrange once each, and got wrecked by Sweltering Suns and Glorybringer. I'm not sure yet if Heroic Intervention is enough to swing the match-up in Pummeler's favor. If not, Magma Spray might help (allowing me to save Harnessed Lightning for Glorybringer in the late game). Forest + Skysovereign, Consul Flagship is another good option.

TEMERGE:

• In: 2x Heroic Intervention
• Out: I'm not sure yet
• I've only played this deck once so far, but I got wrecked by Kozilek's Return.

MONO-B REVOLT

• In: 2x Sweltering Suns , maybe 2x Key to the City
• Out: I'm not sure yet
• I've only played this deck once so far, but it's been my worst match-up by far. I got wrecked by Bone Picker among other things.

Good cards I'm not using and why

These are all fine cards, but they don't fit my meta or playstyle as well as the ones already on the list ...

• Arlinn Kord  : Arlinn is bae, and she has been responsible for winning some memorable games. But she's EXTREMLY hard to keep alive in the current meta, so she doesn't win many matches.
• Built to Smash: Awesome when it works, but I've been stuck with it as a dead card in my hand too many times ... wishing it pumped on Defense, or gave Trample to non-Artifact Creatures.
• Cultivator of Blades, Glorybringer, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, Samut, Voice of Dissent , and Verdurous Gearhulk : These are all great 5-drops. But so far, this deck doesn't want 5-drops.
• Glorious End: Often, this deck needs "just one more turn" to win, and this card allows that. But it doesn't happen often enough to justify using up a card slot.
• Greenbelt Rampager: Solid in a "generic" RG Energy build, but kind of meh with Pummeler, since it eats Energy rather than producing it.
• Highspire Infusion : Maybe if it offered Trample or some other type of evasion ...
• Larger Than Life: I love the card, and used it throughout Kaladesh Standard. But Fling is much better IMO ... it's is great against Zombie hordes and other clogged boards, is a great response to Removal (kind of like a Red counterspell), and generally wins games that would otherwise be unwinnable.
• Lathnu Hellion: Solid in a super-fast or Planeswalker-infested meta. Especially with more Flings, so that you don't have to worry about it eating Energy at EOT.

Win percentage and match-ups

Results from tournaments (e.g., Friendly Standard 5-Match League play on MTGO and tournaments at my LGS) and casual play (e.g., the Tournament Practice Room on MTGO and pick-up matches at my LGS):

Overall: 74% (26-9 matches).

Win percentages (and matches):

• 100%: 4c Walkers (1-0), Bant Ramp (1-0), Bant Tokens (1-0), BG Eldrazi (1-0), BG Elves (1-0), BR Hellbent (1-0), BW Tokens (1-0), BW Zombies (1-0), GW Cats (1-0), Mardu Vehicles (1-0), Mono-B Zombies (1-0), Mono-R Aggro (1-0), RG Pummeler (2-0), Sultai Midrange (2-0), UB Colossus (1-0), UG Crush (1-0), UR Eldrazi (1-0)
• 71%: Temur Marvel (5-2)
• 50%: UR Control (1-1), UW Control (1-1)
• 0%: Mono-B Revolt (0-1), RG Midrange (0-1), Temerge (0-2), Temur Midrange (0-1)

Playtips

GENERAL TIPS:

• Manage Energy Counters carefully, as Electrostatic Pummeler needs a multiple of 3 to combo off.
• I like casting Electrostatic Pummeler on Turn 4 with protection MUCH better than on Turn 3 without.
• Consider possible pumps before you cast Harnessed Lightning. Along those lines, make sure you're using Harnessed Lightning right, because some people still don't. You chose the target when you cast, then your opponent has priority and can pump, then (assuming the spell resolves) you get the Energy counters and chose how much damage to deal. Here's the Gatherer text for reference: "You choose the target creature as you cast ~. You don't choose how much Energy to pay until ~ is resolving. No player may take actions between the time you choose how much Energy to pay and the time the creature takes damage equal to the Energy paid this way."
• Some more Harnessed Lightning tips: Cast it earlier rather than later against Creatures that pump up during Begin Combat (e.g., Toolcraft Exemplar ) or Declare Attackers (e.g., Voltaic Brawler). You can pick up extra Energy counters by casting it but not dealing damage. Against a Vehicle deck, remember that a Creature can Crew in response.
• With extra Energy counters, Longtusk Cub can get enormous at Instant speed. Because the threat of activation is so powerful, I often cast other creatures in the first main phase just to get extra Energy counters.
• Don't attack just one Creature into 1W if you can help it. Blessed Alliance is still a thing.

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If you haven't already, I recommend you drop by this thread sometime: All things Pummeler. We'd love to add your voice to the conversation! You can also just ...

Subscribe to the All things Pummeler thread

Shout-outs to ...

• Everyone who made comments on Steel-Cannon Pummeler (KLD - Retired), my Pummeler deck from Kaladesh Standard.
• My favorite AKH Pummeler decks (so far) here on T/O.
• All the Spikes who commented on Competitive Electrostatic Pummeler? Really?!? over on Reddit.
• SaffronOlive, who brewed a fun AKH Temur deck (search for 'Poisonless Infect' in this article), as an update to his KLD Pummeler videos and article at MTGGoldfish.
• Craig Wescoe, who wrote a great article about different KLD Pummeler strategies at TCGplayer.
• xahhfink6 and NinjaTheNick, who wrote early and insightful pieces about KLD Pummeler on Reddit.
• Frank Karsten, who brewed the first Pummeler deck I ever saw: Deck #10: Red-Green Double Strike at ChannelFireball.
• michael921 as always, for his superb suggestions and advice.

Please don't hesitate to +1 Upvote this deck if you like it ... and especially if you like it enough to put it in a folder :-)

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Casual legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 16 - 9 Rares 27 - 3 Uncommons 6 - 3 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.15
Folders	Standart, Cool concepts, Cool Decks, AKH, Yup, Gruul, Cool Decks, Decks, Etc, Gruul (Modern/Standard)
Based on	Steel-Cannon Pummeler (KLD - Retired) clayperce CAS