It's a little more midrange than the standard lists, it has a lot of action and almost never has a hard time assembling the pieces.
This is the coolest deck in modern. No joke. And very reasonable for high school budgets
Does it actually perform? It looks really cool, but how does it do vs. the current meta?
Edit: How would the deck benefit from cards like Lingering Souls? I'm going to test this.
This deck is many things. "The Underdog" is not one of them. See recent GP results for details. (1st/2nd same decklist except a few sideboard slots)
I think this card has potential, but it depends on how much card recurring your deck does outside of loam. If you're running a build with any number of Eternal Witnesses, it gets much better.
Thanks. Here's what I'm looking to run as a budget list:
This is the coolest deck in modern. No joke. And very reasonable for high school budgets
Does it actually perform? It looks really cool, but how does it do vs. the current meta?
Edit: How would the deck benefit from cards like Lingering Souls? I'm going to test this.
I'm satisfied with it against most of the field, however it lacks the quick kills that the "standard" Assault Loam list can draw into. The storm match-up is poor game 1 and then a toss up game 2.
I've never had a hard time against affinity, bant, or delver/tempo. Jund and Pod are both even g1 and favourable after boarding. Our game against tron is soft across the board but salvageable if you get the combo together quickly or resolve an early Swan. I haven't tested against dredgevine thoroughly enough to comment on it, but keeping Vengevine off the table shouldn't be -too- hard considering the vast amount of removal. RDW can be troublesome (as I removed the Timely Reinforcements from the yard in favour of the counter suite). Given the rise of Eggs, Epic Storm and Dredgevine I think the sideboard needs a concession to graveyard strategies.
However, the core list is refined. I spent a lot of time testing and sculpting. The manabase is ugly. Very ugly, but the turn you sometimes lose in tempo is worth the 6-8 life you're saving from having a full set of shocks and fetches.
I can't say it's stronger than the Jund Assault Loam list.. but it's far, far more fun to pilot and arguably more skill intensive as our spells aren't as swingy.
I've got a couple cards I'm curious about but haven't seen much around here... can any vets of the deck tell me if they've got a place or not?
Gemstone Mine- Despite all the fixing we have, we've got a pretty ambitious manabase (particularly decks that run Smallpox and Seismic Assault together). Since we don't really have a high curve but tons of land, by the time you have to sacrifice this, you will likely have a Loam engine going and won't be too worried about the sacrifice clause.
Realms Uncharted- I only see it in the Swans list. Does it have enough value to make the deck in slower iterations, or is it just too far behind in general?
Grim Lavamancer- With all the graveyard presence that Loam and looting cause you, does this have a place? I'm not sure, but I've found that you rarely regret having this guy on the board to cool things off in almost any red deck vs aggro.
Deathrite Shaman- Relatively new, but it feels like a perfect fit for this deck. It's got lifegain to make the burn matchup actually reasonable, any-color mana ramp with both your and your opponent's fetchlands, can give you reach with extra binned retrace spells, hoses Pyromancer Ascension, the Unburial Gifts package, the mirror... it really seems to lend a hand against most all the decks that this has trouble with. It's become a cornerstone of Jund, and it seems to have even more synergy here.
Kher Keep- Unconditional tokens on a land? Don't mind if I do... this feels like one of our best ways to keep big fatties without trample like KoTR, Goyf, and dorks with Cranial Plating at bay. It also works as edict fodder. Does it work, or does it just durdle too much?
I've tried Realms Uncharted and it was alright but I never really felt it was advancing my game plan. So if I had an assault in play it was and extra 4 damage for 3 mana. But loam does the same thing but is more efficient. It isn't terrible, just not as effective as it sounds on paper.
Gemstone Mine is another card I tried for a bit. The fixing was nice but the interaction with Loam and fetch lands is better because it let's you continue to put lands into play. I'd rather not worry about keeping track of it when fetches and shocks work just fine. If you are trying to play Lillian, Assault, and Eternal Witness or the like then it seems more reasonable. Since you have a stronger mana requirement. Otherwise it's probably not worth it.
I run RUG Loam and Lavamancer isn't ideal because I try to make use out of all the cards in my graveyard. I never really feel like I have a lot of extra cards to pitch. It could be decent as a two-of in the Jund version since you only really care about the lands and the rest can be turned into 2 damage without much worry.
Deathrite Shaman should definitely be in the Jund Loam decks. For all the reasons you stated. It is an extremely multifaceted and useful card.
Jaya and Kher Keep feel too durdly too me. If you think they would be useful in your meta then go for it by all means but colorless lands that aren't ghost quarter/Tec Edge are most likely not worth it. If you really want to chump dudes, you could take a page from Jund and splash Lingering Souls. I'd rather just throw some lands at creatures though. Haha. Jaya could be a decent sideboard card against blue control decks but those are few and far between. It is probably unnecessary tech currently but a decent card to keep in mind.
I've felt that RUG Loam has had a good seat in the metagame for a long time. It gets to run counterspells and other disruption with the added benefit of having an awesome, grindy game ender in the Assault+Loam combo. I haven't been able to work on the deck recently with my computer having died and moving and no Modern players/events that I know of here. I feel like the deck still has a lot of promise and the addition of Izzet Charm was really good for the deck. Everyone I have played against says the deck has a ton of synergy and power. I just can't seem to get anyone here to help me move it along unfortunately.
I don't want this thread to die because in general this is my favorite type of deck in all of magic. It's just hard to contribute or start discussion in my current situation. However, in response to TalonXXX, I think Deathrite Shaman should go in the Jund versions of this deck. It is a fantastic card in Modern. It helps you drop turn 2 Lilianas and Assaults and gives the deck lifegain that it really needs. I don't think you will really want to hit your own lands with the mana ability but there will definintely be enough to have her active on turn 2. I haven't personally played the Jund version in a long time but it seems like a really solid inclusion to me.
The thing about Deathrite Shaman is that he's both good in the deck and good against it. Jund can nail you to the wall with it by dropping it on T1, but on your side of the field he's a swiss army knife, serving as grave hate, color-fixing, and a lifegain/loss machine when necessary.
I would run Bolt in the maindeck in just about every list to deal with him. Flame Jab may be better at killing Bob, but Shaman shuts down your deck before it even gets started.
Bolt is a given. And with this deck we've always had to play around graveyard hate. Granted it sucks that people have it mainboard now but it isn't impossible to change your play style to accommodate a turn 1 Deathrite. We can add more hate to the main in order to deal with the influx of DRS. Jund variants of Loam can run Disfigure as additional kill spells. Magma Spray and Forked Bolt are also decent options. I'd like to keep the Flame Jabs in my deck but with the meta being like it is, then the deck needs to adjust to accommodate.
It's been 4 days, so I hope double posting is alright. I just want to bump the thread to try and get some advice. I figure I'll post my most updated list to hopefully spark some conversation as well. I've only played a few test games against semi-competitive local decks so I need any help I can get. I'm trying Magma Spray over Flame Jab since Deathrite Shaman is a highly played card now. I need to test this change but if anyone else has experience with this card or ones like it, I'd be very interested to hear about it. Anyways, here is the list.
Any advice or thoughts would be awesome. I'm testing out 1 Tec Edge by suggestion of another player. I'm not sure if I like it since they are mainly in there for Tron and letting them get to 4 mana is probably a terrible idea but he said it was good late game against Jund and other grindy decks. I remain uncertain.
Also, I was thinking that with the rise of the Boggle deck, running 2 Engineered Explosives and an Academy Ruins MB might be a decent idea. Any thoughts on this?
That's a lot of creature removal you're running, though I suppose it makes sense to protect Jace. How do you manage storm? It looks like a bad matchup for you. I suppose the burn matchup is a total punt as well.
Anyone wanna try Thespian's Stage here? It's probably bad, but it looks like fun and can ETB to tap for mana right away, unlike Vesuva. Budget lists can use it with bouncelands as well.
Having a well timed counter spell game 1 against them while they are comboing has worked well for me. Just making sure you go with them step by step as they spend mana to keep track of them "tapping out" for a ritual or some such and grabbing them with a Spell Pierce or Deprive breaks the chain and can end their turn. Post-Board, Mindbreak Trap and Nature's Claim (for Pyromancer Builds) come in to replace the dead removal spells.
My meta has always been more creature heavy. Izzet Charm helps cover a lot of bases in one card. I haven't really had trouble with creature decks other than Affinity but the sideboard helps with that match up significantly. I've tuned the deck to deal with the typical "fair" decks that will show up and the Blue helps keep the combo decks in check for the most part.
Burn hasn't been an issue for me. I have removal to keep them off of the burn style creatures and counter spells are saved until they get me down to low life. It isn't a fantastic match up, but it is hardly a punt. You just need to read the opponent's plays carefully.
I don't see why would need a Vesuva effect in the deck. Maybe if we had bounce lands but I can't really see running those in here. On top of that, it produces colorless in an already mana hungry deck. It does seem interesting as a card in general, but it doesn't really provide any synergy here.
So I splashed blue for Quicken and Treasure hunt. Treasure Hunt may not work it out, but I cannot understate the value of Quicken in this deck. It's draw clause means it can turn on Loam, it's instand speed clause is super effective when most of the good spells are sorcery speed.
I had thought about Quicken in the deck. I do like the interactions that it provides but, at least for the way I have my deck set up, everything except Loam is an instant. So Quicken loses some of its value there. Thought Scour cantrips and has the potential or mill Loam and draw it off the mill. It's a pretty sweet interaction and let's you dredge loam in response to graveyard hate.
I'd be interested in seeing your deck list Owlington. Are you splashing Blue on top of the Jund list, or are you going straight RUG?
So I've been trying to find a build I like with assault loam, some things keeping me from building jund loam are a lack of IoK, thoughtseize and Liliana. But I've been wondering what people might think of something like this:
With a sideboard with more qasali against deck thats are vunerable, more lingering souls against jund, and some white "no" effects and maybe some duress against combo.
The mana base is definitely a little odd, but I don't have any budget for more fetches so I feel like its as strong as I can make it. I only have two tarmos so more of those are not going to happen either.
Does anyone think this will be solid? What are some changes I can make to improve some matchups? My current local meta as of the last FMN was couple storm, couple eggs, couple tron, a few merfolk, one pod, one twin, and a number of zoo decks.
Thanks for any advice.
edit: I do have 4 U/R fetch, probably worth tossing those in anyway?
To be honest it looks like you are just wanting to play Spirit Jund with Seismic Assault and LftL slotted into it. Which just seems to me like it would dilute the effectiveness of either deck strategy. There is a bit of overlap between the decks but with the heavy mana requirements of Seismic Assault, I'd probably just choose a 3 color combination and stick with that. I like the idea of Naya Loam and I believe I posted a starting point that I would work from a few pages ago. Having Lightning Helix and Path available is decent but I think you should really look into having Knight of the Reliquary in the deck if you want to splash White.
I have a tournament report from last Friday to share. I played my current RUG Loam list. Which is this:
Round 1: Mono-U Artifact Ramp
This was a homebrew. I rolled out a quick Assault both games and kept him off of Grand Architect and counter anything that he was doing with ramp. Dug into Loam and sealed up both games fairly easily.
Sideboard: +2 Nature's Claim; -2 Volcanic Fallout
1-0
Round 2: GURB Scapeshift
This was my first time playing this match up. I was able to counter his 2 Scapeshifts in game one and assembled the combo to finish him off in game 1. Game 2 he had all the counter magic and I couldn't get anything to stick, he combo'd out on me and countered my only counter. Game 3 I punted, I had a Mindbreak Trap in hand but decided to play a LftL for no gain and put me at 3 open mana. He dropped land 7 and Scapeshifted for the win.
Round 3: WUR Tempo
This was a pretty fun match up. Game 1 I lost the roll but I was able to keep him off of anything. I stuck a Goyf and a couple turns later found an Assault. He was at 7, I burnt him for 8, he Helixed in response but I had Deprive. Game 2 he stuck a turn 3 Geist of St. Traft. I dropped a Goyf. He Pathed my Goyf. I drew an Explosive and was able to pop his Geist. He dropped another, I followed with an Assault. Then it was just a race from there. 6ing each other a turn. I was able to Deprive a burn spell to off set the difference and came out ahead.
Round 4: Mono-R Burn
Game 1 I was fortunate and saw all of my Snapcasters along with 2 Bolts and a Magma Spray. Only his turn 1 Goblin Guide and some burn spells hit me. Game 2 he had turn 1 GG into turn 2 double Rift Bolt. I tried to Izzet Charm one of them, he paid two, dropped a Teetering Peaks and hit me for 10 down to 6. I had to tap out to kill off his GG and Hellspark Elemental and he showed me two Lava Spike with two mana open. Game 3 I hit my two Magma Sprays and keep him off of creature attacks. Drop Assault turn 3 and next turn cast Loam and he scooped.
Sideboard: +2 Spellskite; -2 Volcanic Fallout
3-1
Round 5: UW Merfolk
Game 1 he had a pretty slow start with a couple Silvergill Adepts I was able to get a 3-for-1 off of a Fallout. But he followed it up with Lord, after Lord, after Lord. I didn't see an Assault and he Islandwalked in for exactly lethal on turn 7. Game 2 he had turn 1 Aether Vial and had 4 Lords in play ridiculously fast. There really wasn't anything I could do. Not sure what to do about this match up. Haha.
I think the deck performed well. It had answers for everything and was able to get me through a large swath of decks. It is definitely tuned for a "fair" style deck meta and I think the results show that. I felt very in control for the games I won.
With more practice against Scapeshift, I should be able to play better against it and improve the match up. I definitely had the answers, I feel like I didn't maximize my plays as well as I think my draws were a little bit awkward in that game. For example, Izzet Charm EoT drawing Assault, pitching something I could have used, then draw another Assault the next turn.
Merfolk is the only wild card I don't think I really have much I can do against. I don't know if I can race them, nor do I think I can adequately control them. If anyone has any thoughts on what to do there, I'd be happy to hear what you have to say.
I think the deck is really solid and it is a blast to play. Hopefully this is helpful for you guys. Any questions or criticisms or whatever, let me know.
Merfolk doesn't look too scary with all the spot removal and even fallout you run. Your priority here should be to keep hands with those cards to be able to survive long enough to establish Assault/Loam.
I felt it would be fine as well but I spent game two sitting on Fallout with all his 3/3 and 4/4 lords. I felt like I was 1 point of damage short across the curve. But I also had some awkward draws in those games and from what I can tell he had some pretty nutty hands. So it may have just been a outlier in a small sample size. I'm not certain though.
I generally have four cards in hand through the game. Ensnaring bridge seems interesting but I don't think it will stop weenies effectively enough to warrant an inclusion. The only time my hand is empty is if I have assault and loam online and I'd just be winning then anyways.
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This is the coolest deck in modern. No joke. And very reasonable for high school budgets
Does it actually perform? It looks really cool, but how does it do vs. the current meta?
Edit: How would the deck benefit from cards like Lingering Souls? I'm going to test this.
Thanks. Here's what I'm looking to run as a budget list:
3x Grim Lavamancer
2x Bloodghast
4x Quirion Dryad
1x Eternal Witness
Noncreatures: 24
4x Faithless Looting
3x Raven’s Crime
3x Flame Jab
2x Putrefy
3x Life From the Loam
4x Smallpox
2x Seismic Assault
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Worm Harvest
Lands: 26
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Haunted Fengraf
1x Dakmoor Salvage
1x Urbog, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Raging Ravine
1x Rakdos Carnarium
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Copperline Gorge
2x Rootbound Crag
2x Golgari Rot Farm
2x Evolving Wilds
3x Forest
3x Swamp
3x Mountain
3x Duress
1x Tormod's Crypt
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Buried Ruin
2x Pyroclasm
1x Bitter Ordeal
1x Darkblast
Any obvious failings here? Or other cheap additions that would help out?
Cubetutor Link
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Graven Cairns
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Countryside Crusher
3 Dark Confidant
1 Eternal Witness
4 Tarmogoyf
Instant
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Darkblast
Sorcery
3 Faithless Looting
2 Flame Jab
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Life from the Loam
3 Raven's Crime
Enchantment
3 Seismic Assault
Planeswalker
3 Liliana of the Veil
2x Thoughtseize
1x Ancient Grudge
2x Terminate
2x Pyroclasm
1x Worm Harvest
2x Nature's Claim
2x Obstinate Baloth
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Rakdos Charm
Decks played were: TurboFog, Soul Sisters, Elves, Jund, and B/W Tokens.
Sideboard still needs work, and mainboard is getting close to where it needs to be; however, I still think it still needs some fine polishing.
I'm satisfied with it against most of the field, however it lacks the quick kills that the "standard" Assault Loam list can draw into. The storm match-up is poor game 1 and then a toss up game 2.
I've never had a hard time against affinity, bant, or delver/tempo. Jund and Pod are both even g1 and favourable after boarding. Our game against tron is soft across the board but salvageable if you get the combo together quickly or resolve an early Swan. I haven't tested against dredgevine thoroughly enough to comment on it, but keeping Vengevine off the table shouldn't be -too- hard considering the vast amount of removal. RDW can be troublesome (as I removed the Timely Reinforcements from the yard in favour of the counter suite). Given the rise of Eggs, Epic Storm and Dredgevine I think the sideboard needs a concession to graveyard strategies.
However, the core list is refined. I spent a lot of time testing and sculpting. The manabase is ugly. Very ugly, but the turn you sometimes lose in tempo is worth the 6-8 life you're saving from having a full set of shocks and fetches.
I can't say it's stronger than the Jund Assault Loam list.. but it's far, far more fun to pilot and arguably more skill intensive as our spells aren't as swingy.
Gemstone Mine- Despite all the fixing we have, we've got a pretty ambitious manabase (particularly decks that run Smallpox and Seismic Assault together). Since we don't really have a high curve but tons of land, by the time you have to sacrifice this, you will likely have a Loam engine going and won't be too worried about the sacrifice clause.
Realms Uncharted- I only see it in the Swans list. Does it have enough value to make the deck in slower iterations, or is it just too far behind in general?
Grim Lavamancer- With all the graveyard presence that Loam and looting cause you, does this have a place? I'm not sure, but I've found that you rarely regret having this guy on the board to cool things off in almost any red deck vs aggro.
Deathrite Shaman- Relatively new, but it feels like a perfect fit for this deck. It's got lifegain to make the burn matchup actually reasonable, any-color mana ramp with both your and your opponent's fetchlands, can give you reach with extra binned retrace spells, hoses Pyromancer Ascension, the Unburial Gifts package, the mirror... it really seems to lend a hand against most all the decks that this has trouble with. It's become a cornerstone of Jund, and it seems to have even more synergy here.
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage- Getting a little bit silly here, but repeatable Pyroblast and Incinerate seems fun in theory.
Kher Keep- Unconditional tokens on a land? Don't mind if I do... this feels like one of our best ways to keep big fatties without trample like KoTR, Goyf, and dorks with Cranial Plating at bay. It also works as edict fodder. Does it work, or does it just durdle too much?
Cubetutor Link
Gemstone Mine is another card I tried for a bit. The fixing was nice but the interaction with Loam and fetch lands is better because it let's you continue to put lands into play. I'd rather not worry about keeping track of it when fetches and shocks work just fine. If you are trying to play Lillian, Assault, and Eternal Witness or the like then it seems more reasonable. Since you have a stronger mana requirement. Otherwise it's probably not worth it.
I run RUG Loam and Lavamancer isn't ideal because I try to make use out of all the cards in my graveyard. I never really feel like I have a lot of extra cards to pitch. It could be decent as a two-of in the Jund version since you only really care about the lands and the rest can be turned into 2 damage without much worry.
Deathrite Shaman should definitely be in the Jund Loam decks. For all the reasons you stated. It is an extremely multifaceted and useful card.
Jaya and Kher Keep feel too durdly too me. If you think they would be useful in your meta then go for it by all means but colorless lands that aren't ghost quarter/Tec Edge are most likely not worth it. If you really want to chump dudes, you could take a page from Jund and splash Lingering Souls. I'd rather just throw some lands at creatures though. Haha. Jaya could be a decent sideboard card against blue control decks but those are few and far between. It is probably unnecessary tech currently but a decent card to keep in mind.
I don't want this thread to die because in general this is my favorite type of deck in all of magic. It's just hard to contribute or start discussion in my current situation. However, in response to TalonXXX, I think Deathrite Shaman should go in the Jund versions of this deck. It is a fantastic card in Modern. It helps you drop turn 2 Lilianas and Assaults and gives the deck lifegain that it really needs. I don't think you will really want to hit your own lands with the mana ability but there will definintely be enough to have her active on turn 2. I haven't personally played the Jund version in a long time but it seems like a really solid inclusion to me.
I would run Bolt in the maindeck in just about every list to deal with him. Flame Jab may be better at killing Bob, but Shaman shuts down your deck before it even gets started.
Cubetutor Link
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Tarmogoyf
Spells: 29
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Magma Spray
3 Thought Scour
2 Spell Pierce
3 Izzet Charm
3 Deprive
4 Life from the Loam
2 Volcanic Fallout
2 Jace Beleren
4 Seismic Assault
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
3 Copperline Gorge
1 Raging Ravine
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Cascade Bluffs
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Volcanic Fallout
2 Nature's Claim
2 Spellskite
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Back to Nature
Any advice or thoughts would be awesome. I'm testing out 1 Tec Edge by suggestion of another player. I'm not sure if I like it since they are mainly in there for Tron and letting them get to 4 mana is probably a terrible idea but he said it was good late game against Jund and other grindy decks. I remain uncertain.
Also, I was thinking that with the rise of the Boggle deck, running 2 Engineered Explosives and an Academy Ruins MB might be a decent idea. Any thoughts on this?
Anyone wanna try Thespian's Stage here? It's probably bad, but it looks like fun and can ETB to tap for mana right away, unlike Vesuva. Budget lists can use it with bouncelands as well.
Cubetutor Link
My meta has always been more creature heavy. Izzet Charm helps cover a lot of bases in one card. I haven't really had trouble with creature decks other than Affinity but the sideboard helps with that match up significantly. I've tuned the deck to deal with the typical "fair" decks that will show up and the Blue helps keep the combo decks in check for the most part.
Burn hasn't been an issue for me. I have removal to keep them off of the burn style creatures and counter spells are saved until they get me down to low life. It isn't a fantastic match up, but it is hardly a punt. You just need to read the opponent's plays carefully.
I don't see why would need a Vesuva effect in the deck. Maybe if we had bounce lands but I can't really see running those in here. On top of that, it produces colorless in an already mana hungry deck. It does seem interesting as a card in general, but it doesn't really provide any synergy here.
I'd be interested in seeing your deck list Owlington. Are you splashing Blue on top of the Jund list, or are you going straight RUG?
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
Instants/Sorceries: 21
4 Lightning Helix
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Life from the Loam
3 Faithless Looting
3 Path to exile
2 Ravens Crime
1 Lingering Souls
3 Seismic Assault
Lands: 26
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Arid Mesa
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Stomping Ground
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
2 Treetop Village
2 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Swamp
With a sideboard with more qasali against deck thats are vunerable, more lingering souls against jund, and some white "no" effects and maybe some duress against combo.
The mana base is definitely a little odd, but I don't have any budget for more fetches so I feel like its as strong as I can make it. I only have two tarmos so more of those are not going to happen either.
Does anyone think this will be solid? What are some changes I can make to improve some matchups? My current local meta as of the last FMN was couple storm, couple eggs, couple tron, a few merfolk, one pod, one twin, and a number of zoo decks.
Thanks for any advice.
edit: I do have 4 U/R fetch, probably worth tossing those in anyway?
I have a tournament report from last Friday to share. I played my current RUG Loam list. Which is this:
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Tarmogoyf
Spells: 29
3 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Magma Spray
2 Spell Pierce
4 Life from the Loam
3 Deprive
3 Izzet Charm
2 Volcanic Fallout
4 Seismic Assault
2 Jace Beleren
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Raging Ravine
3 Copperline Gorge
2 Cascade Bluffs
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Back to Nature
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Spellskite
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Nature's Claim
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Volcanic Fallout
Round 1: Mono-U Artifact Ramp
This was a homebrew. I rolled out a quick Assault both games and kept him off of Grand Architect and counter anything that he was doing with ramp. Dug into Loam and sealed up both games fairly easily.
Sideboard: +2 Nature's Claim; -2 Volcanic Fallout
1-0
Round 2: GURB Scapeshift
This was my first time playing this match up. I was able to counter his 2 Scapeshifts in game one and assembled the combo to finish him off in game 1. Game 2 he had all the counter magic and I couldn't get anything to stick, he combo'd out on me and countered my only counter. Game 3 I punted, I had a Mindbreak Trap in hand but decided to play a LftL for no gain and put me at 3 open mana. He dropped land 7 and Scapeshifted for the win.
Sideboard: +3 Mindbreak Trap, +1 Ghost Quarter; -2 Volcanic Fallout, -2 Magma Spray
1-1
Round 3: WUR Tempo
This was a pretty fun match up. Game 1 I lost the roll but I was able to keep him off of anything. I stuck a Goyf and a couple turns later found an Assault. He was at 7, I burnt him for 8, he Helixed in response but I had Deprive. Game 2 he stuck a turn 3 Geist of St. Traft. I dropped a Goyf. He Pathed my Goyf. I drew an Explosive and was able to pop his Geist. He dropped another, I followed with an Assault. Then it was just a race from there. 6ing each other a turn. I was able to Deprive a burn spell to off set the difference and came out ahead.
Sideboard: +1 Volcanic Fallout, +2 Engineered Explosives; -2 Magma Spray, -1 Spell Pierce
2-1
Round 4: Mono-R Burn
Game 1 I was fortunate and saw all of my Snapcasters along with 2 Bolts and a Magma Spray. Only his turn 1 Goblin Guide and some burn spells hit me. Game 2 he had turn 1 GG into turn 2 double Rift Bolt. I tried to Izzet Charm one of them, he paid two, dropped a Teetering Peaks and hit me for 10 down to 6. I had to tap out to kill off his GG and Hellspark Elemental and he showed me two Lava Spike with two mana open. Game 3 I hit my two Magma Sprays and keep him off of creature attacks. Drop Assault turn 3 and next turn cast Loam and he scooped.
Sideboard: +2 Spellskite; -2 Volcanic Fallout
3-1
Round 5: UW Merfolk
Game 1 he had a pretty slow start with a couple Silvergill Adepts I was able to get a 3-for-1 off of a Fallout. But he followed it up with Lord, after Lord, after Lord. I didn't see an Assault and he Islandwalked in for exactly lethal on turn 7. Game 2 he had turn 1 Aether Vial and had 4 Lords in play ridiculously fast. There really wasn't anything I could do. Not sure what to do about this match up. Haha.
Sideboard: +2 Engineered Explosives, +1 Volcanic Fallout; -2 Spell Pierce, -1 Jace Beleren
Final score: 3-2
I think the deck performed well. It had answers for everything and was able to get me through a large swath of decks. It is definitely tuned for a "fair" style deck meta and I think the results show that. I felt very in control for the games I won.
With more practice against Scapeshift, I should be able to play better against it and improve the match up. I definitely had the answers, I feel like I didn't maximize my plays as well as I think my draws were a little bit awkward in that game. For example, Izzet Charm EoT drawing Assault, pitching something I could have used, then draw another Assault the next turn.
Merfolk is the only wild card I don't think I really have much I can do against. I don't know if I can race them, nor do I think I can adequately control them. If anyone has any thoughts on what to do there, I'd be happy to hear what you have to say.
I think the deck is really solid and it is a blast to play. Hopefully this is helpful for you guys. Any questions or criticisms or whatever, let me know.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/654861-lyzolda-blood-fiend
I generally have four cards in hand through the game. Ensnaring bridge seems interesting but I don't think it will stop weenies effectively enough to warrant an inclusion. The only time my hand is empty is if I have assault and loam online and I'd just be winning then anyways.