Hi there! I've been watching this forum from a distance for a while, whilst tweaking and building my own Loam-Assault variant. My biggest problem with the deck was the diverse mana pool; multiple shocks and fetches, creating a white knuckle suicide ride which ultimately result in losing. Having mainly played 2/3 colour variants and struggled; I was loathe to add a 4th but I reread the forum and saw that people had been adding white to run a token side strategy, revolving around Young Pyromancer & Lingering Souls. So I thought why not and in all honesty haven't looked back! The token strategy, through the addition of white, gave me multiple ground and air chump blockers to reduce my life loss and additionally white unlocked more life gain. I found these two elements were seeing me reach the mid to late game far more frequently; where, I believe, this deck comes into its own. Often by mid to late game you have removed the majority of your opponents threats and they are starting to stall which opens up the path to victory.
The Deck
Without any more further ado or gilding the Lilly; I present a 4 colour good stuff Loam variant LAST (Loam-Assault-Smallpox-Tokens):
Molten Vortex over Seismic Assault: Running 4 colours makes RRR a harder thing to achieve if you want to keep the doors open to the threats brought about by your other 3 colours. I also find that having a source of removal on the board from T1 is extremely potent. A one land Molten Vortex, Life From the Loam and one land is infinitely more keep able than if you needed triple red before you can get going. It is with regret that I've made this cut as I did love the The Gitrog Monster+Dakmor Salvage combo for the win!
Crawling Sensation: This card IMO is very underrated on this forum, with a lot of naysayers, however it allows you to drop your land count by finding loam more frequently which opens up for slots for threats. When coupled with the flashback and dredge mechanic, which this deck revolves around, it becomes a must. It also routinely gives you 2 tokens between your opponents attacks to chump away damage.
Sorin, Solemn Visitor: For any wide creature strategy which runs WB, he is a must. A one of as once he is in the graveyard he is a dead card but the lifegain & flying tokens he gives once dropped is important in getting to the mid to late game.
Smallpox: This routinely ruins a wide majority of decks! Most 3c+ decks rely on T1 Dual Colour Land and/or a mana dork, this hits both! Against the super fast aggro decks who are looking to keep a one-lander come T2 they are struggling particular if they are trying to draw into land 2/3 when they often are running just 18-20. The sac a creature, which won't hit your Young Pyromancer is also ridiculously potent as we are only sac a token at worst.
The rest of the main deck are routine inclusions in any Loam-Assault strategy so I will not cover further.
The sideboard is a removal and lifegain package designed to target your opponents threats and get to the mid to late game.
Engineered Explosives or Nihil Spellbomb + Glissa, the Traitor: Explosives hits so many things and the ability to reccur the explosives with Glissa or find explosives if its already hit our grave is a potent threat. Dredge has made a resurgence and there are multiple other graveyard strategies in the meta; spellbomb doesn't hit us like Relic making it the preferred choice, in a worse case scenario with Glissa its a 2 mana recurring draw spell.
Blessed Alliance: This card is so good it almost warrants a place in the main! Its life gain and removal brilliant! You can also untap Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet to get even more lifegain from him.
Ray of Revelation = get rid of Rest in Peace plus other threats, cast-able from the grave with RiPs trigger on the stack.
Darkblast: Instant speed means I prefer it to Flame Jab; the second copy is in the side to deal with all the weenie threats out there and dorks. As our tokens are predominantly 1/1s conventional board wipes such as Pyroclasm are unfavourable. I trailed Savage Alliance but the 3 mana upfront seemed too steep when we can weed out his weenie creatures with this card and three copies of Molten Vortex is the main.
The rest of the sideboard is more removal, graveyard hate and lifegain; like the main I feel the inclusion of these cards is obvious and not in need of further comment.
Performance
In my intro I stated I haven't looked back that is because it has proven to be consistent! Recent matches:
Collected Spirits 2-1: Lingering Souls gave me enough chump blockers in the air to deal with his threats. With Smallpox and Blessed Alliance giving me outs to hexproof (Geist, Rattlechains, Captain).
Boggles 2-0: Smallpox hosed slim mana base causing him to stall, with the sac element getting around hexproof. Molten Vortex dealt effectively with the Spiritwalkers winning the game in G1 and tokens winning in G2.
Really looking forward to testing something like this - the 4-color greed is real, but there are a ton of very sweet synergies there that really caught my eye. As a huge fan of Smallpox and Young Pyromancer I must say I'm very impressed. It's hard to evaluate how such a list would play, but nevertheless I'm curious
I also agree on Crawling Sensation being a powerhouse - wins matches on its own sometimes.
Really unsure on what else to say other than this list looks sweet, and don't know whether I'll be able to playtest it anytime soon to provide more helpful feedback. But congratulations, man, just the idea of running these cards and game plans together warms my heart.
Haven't been able to playtest your 4C list, I'll just jam my usual Red-Green build tonight. It's been 10 days and no further activity on this thread, which is kinda sad.
Ok, this last week's FNM was weird. There were only 9 players, field looked like this:
- 2 Grixis Delver
- 2 Grixis Control
- 1 RG Titanshift
- 1 UG Infect
- 1 Dredge
- 1 Naya Allies
- 1 RG Assault
I performed very poorly - went 0-3 and a bye. Will go into detail on what I believe I did wrong, and what could've been better regarding my current list.
First thing, right off the bat - don't EVER assume that I'm a good player. I believe I make a lot of mistakes, and really find myself having to crawl back into the game most of the time. That said, here we go.
Friday Night Magic - Leitura Parque D. Pedro
November 18
Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil
Attendance was low that night due to a myriad of factors. Another popular store moved to a better location recently, which has been drawing players there for the past few weeks. Also, finals are approaching, and a number of regulars missed this FNM to prepare (or something).
Round 1 - Grixis Control
Got paired against my friend who was trying Corey Buckhart’s Grixis Control (with a different SB, aimed toward what we usually have here, of course). He’s very experienced with Control, and manages his resources very well.
It was mostly an awesome game, I believe I put up a good fight. He countered my Crawling Sensation and delayed Molten Vortex action by countering the Life from the Loam and giving me little to no breathing room.
Game 2 I keep a very bad opener (Hindsight). Again, I rely too much on my creatures and a lonely Molten Vortex to stop the flood gates (?), and get punished by abundant removal + Engineered Explosives. This game was also very fun and intense - to the point I slammed a Thrun, the Last Troll and began the clock, which he answered with a Tasigur, the Golden Fang. We got to the point where he was very low on life (3-ish) and chained Cryptic Commands for “Tap all; bounce Raging Ravine”. He even played around Lightning Bolt (which I didn’t have) until the very last turn, when he bashed for lethal with Tasigur and Tar Pit.
Hindsight 20/20: I’d totally side the Cages, everytime. Also, I knew what I was playing against, and should’ve mulliganed more aggressively toward an early Crawling Sensation and Life from the Loam, since I have 8 Assault effects - even on Game 1. Total brainfart - kept creature-heavy hands against “removal.deck”. Other than that, totally should’ve kept some number of Lightning Bolts for Game 2. Really need to improve my sideboarding skills (fair warning: more cringe ahead)
Loss: 0-2
Overall: 0-1
Round 2 - Grixis Delver
This one came back to bite me in the butt. I tend to be overly confident against Grixis because no Rest in Peace usually means I can play around the graveyard hate, and Crawling Sensation at times takes the game by itself.
Also, I take pride on running a ton of recursive damage, which makes the deck solid against small-creature strategies, so when I realized I was paired up against Grixis Delver I thought to myself “What could possibly go wrong? Everything seems aligned in my favor, right?”
Oh boy.
This guy is the original “Dredge Guy” on the store. Since he’s afraid of a banning, he has been borrowing different decks to try them and see that he’s not completely set adrift should a ban arise in the near future. He’s a cool guy, and plays mostly well (better than I do, at the very least), though he isn’t as experienced as my Round 1 opponent.
Game 1 is a blur. I was under the impression I kept a very solid hand, since I knew what I was playing against. Removals here and there, then Tasigur, the Golden Fang happened, and numerous discards and… Really, something bad happened, and I can’t seem to remember precisely - I assume, however, that I misplayed somehow and/or never found Life from the Loam. Also, Crawling Sensation was discarded (I guess) early in the game.
Game 2 I get completely, absolutely, totally, definitely, undoubtedly destroyed. First of all, I keep Anger of the Gods, Destructive Revelry (idk, Leyline), Lightning Bolt and Molten Vortex. I mean, come on, so much value - Turn 1 Vortex, playing around discard spell and all.
Hindsight 20/20: Less Thragtusk, more Tarmogoyf. Also, mulligan aggressively toward the engine, not good - just keep removal and wait for the engine to come online by itself. Don’t side out Crawling Sensation since it could’ve possibly won me the game there (blocking Tasigur, finding Loam, fueling the grave for Goyf…), even against Delver.
Loss: 0-2
Overall: 0-2
Round 3 - RG Titanshift
It’s been a long time since I had last played against a Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle deck. Of all blends and flavors, I’d rather get obliterated by honest-to-god ramp into Primeval Titan and actual individual Valakut triggers than all that Through the Breach-Emrakul, the Aeons Torn mumbo-jumbo, so I found this match very fun to play.
The player is also very experienced with Magic and Modern, and I enjoy playing against good players because of the feedback after each game, since we get to discuss what we did right, wrong or what could’ve worked, what we played around… This applies to all 3 of my opponents, but due to time constraints this was the round I actually had the opportunity to talk about plays and all.
Game 1 is a head-to-head race. He finds a lot of ramp, I get the Molten Vortex engine early, assisted by Tarmogoyf for the sick beats. However, he reaches 8 lands and Scapeshifts for 36 damage, which is more than enough. This game, though uneventful, had both of us thinking about potential damage and how long the game could take, whether we would have another turn or not… So it was pretty intense in its last turns.
Tough game, very intense and fast-paced, we both had a blast.
Hindsight 20/20: Really have to learn to sideboard better, I got traumatized by graveyard hate and keep bringing Destructive Revelry even in matches where it doesn’t belong. The Lightning Bolts are better than I value them, even if less synergistic with the deck - I should be more conscious about how to value reach.
Loss: 1-2
Overall 0-3
Round 4 - Bye
I like to joke around that the perfect record is “0-3, cry in the bathroom for round 4, get dropped out for not showing, lose lottery prizes”. Well, while I was somewhat inclined of following the plan, I have to work better on untilting myself and getting some perspective so I can improve as a magic player, Assault Loam or not.
Result: 2-0 Bye
Overall: 1-3
Verdict - Scrub
//
To anyone who read this far, thank you very much for your support - I’ll keep trying to get better and better so I can provide more helpful advice, but truth is I’m a bit bummed out (even disregarding this FNM), so I’ll stop playing Modern for a while. As soon as I get excited about some new tech or strategy, will be sure to come back here, since Assault Loam will always have a special place in my heart.
All the best to all of you, hope you enjoyed this scrub’s report! ^^
I think it is interesting that you are concerned for cage from the opponent yet you run it in your board. You could run Spellbombs or Tormod's Crypt to counteract dredge or additional anger of the gods. If you Anger away multiple amalgams you are pretty easily capable at killing all the Ghasts and Narcos. As for bringing in Revelry in most match ups, it is likely fine overall for some decks, but against decks that may run snapcaster mage they likely aren't running non surgical graveyard hate.
My only issue with all the assault effects is that you are pretty all in on the loam engine. If makes it much harder if surgical is the hate of choice and you lose life from the loam with all assault effects.
Regarding Dredge, I see Anger of the Gods as a paliative measure - they are resilient enough as to rebuild their position. It's Cage that really matters, imho. Having the Assault-Loam engine online also helps a lot, indeed, and Goyfs/Crushers tend to block Amalgams very well. I usually board in Fog as well in favor of the slower cards.
And you're absolutely correct regarding the Snapcaster Mage matchups, I really should sideboard more carefully.
I don't see having Loam extirpated as game over because of these other threats/game plans. Of course things still need to align somewhat well (deck would absolutely love having access to another Loam-like recursive effect), but I guess that's playing game 2 with a synergy-based deck, regardless.
I have had loam extracted in a couple match ups and naturally drawing lands to get in with assault effects is definitely not efficient enough. Which is why I am concerned for an essentially 10 "assault" build. If you are heavy on your creatures it is definitely fine, but drawing 3 or 4 assault effects when you lose loam is pretty terrible. I guess you do have scavenging ooze to protect against surgical and it also helps against snapcaster mage from the other side of the table.
Anger of the Gods shouldn't be underestimated against dredge. Bloodghast and narcos are easily handled with assaults and amaalgam although easily blocked is easier to manage if you just get rid of them without having to be concerned with them coming back.
Yeah, I agree with you on the extraction part - it is pretty awful to draw multiple Assaults when they're nothing more than discard fodder for Faithless Looting
And by no means I wanted to say that naturally drawing lands is efficient - I just meant it sometimes gets me there. Of course I rely heavily on creatures on these games ^^
(EDIT)
I really like how versatile Fog is (Infect/Aggro/Griselshoal/Affinity), and I don't think dropping down to 2 Destructive Revelry would be a good idea.
That said, while I do like my current sideboard (as in "I think I have a lot of useful tools"), I'm terrible at actually sideboarding (as showcased on the report).
Against the grishoalbrand deck fog is actually pretty good..though I think I would prefer to just have cage out for that. The more we talk about match ups the more I like cage depending on your meta. If you actually have dredge and brand in your meta then cage is great. Shutting down mage alone doesn't seem worth it. Back on topic though infect should be easy with all removal we tend towards.I babe found infect to almost be a bye. Naturally cage and worm harvest are for different match ups so I don't believe the overlap is an issue.
Problem with Infect is getting the time to react to their fast openers - If I depend on getting Molten Vortex online, and having bolts, it may or may not be enough. That's pretty much the only reason I keep Sudden Shock around, so I can side out my slow/grindy cards (Crusher, Sensation) and side in more removal and disruption such as Revelries, Angers and Shocks. And it might as well be due to being a bad player, but I don't find the matchup easy at all.
What would you recommend to improve my Infect matchup? I find it hard to be this favored ("almost a bye") against such an explosive/consistent/resilient deck.
Well on my jund variant I have 2 decay, 2 Terminate, 1 flame jab, 4 bolt, 3 assault and Bob and young pyro to block. I also have 3 ghost quarter mainboard to disrupt inkmoth. Given the 8 assault effects and decent blockers you should be fine. Never try and kill the infect creature until they either go all in or at end step. In this match up you have to play the control deck. Once you have assault online the match should be a lock since you'll have 3x 2 damage to hit their creatures each turn. Again, you generally want to be reactive.
For you scavenging ooze is a great way to shut down become immense. Getting creatures down can be good, but be wary of distortion strike
Are we interested in Yahenni's Expertise? It seems pretty good for us since we don't play many creatures (aside from pyro) and helps vs Jund, affinity, merfolk, etc. Also helps with RRR on Seismic Assault...
I would rather lean towards red and go sith anger if the gods. The exiling clause is just to good to ignore. If we wanted to run a 4 mana sweeper damnation is likely still the better option as it won't leave behind tasigur, angler, goyf and the like which we need to be able to answer and are very difficult to answer on occasion with just assault since they usually take 3 activations
Hey everyone, I've got a question to pitch at you. I run a RG budgety Loam deck and in the early build used Wild Hunger as a way to push damage through. I currently use Ghor-Clan Rampager and a lone Skarrg, the Rage Pits. Now I was looking over ideas to toy with and thought of Mina and Denn, Wildborn. The card works kind of like Skarrg, the Rage Pits although more vulnerable and with an added cost but it also lends an added benefit and allows you to pick up a land to chuck with Seismic Assault or Molten Vortex. What are your thoughts? It sounds neat but with the card being a creature it's vulnerabilities are a problem.
Having the extra land drop is nice. Being able to pick up a land and give trample is fine depending on your creature suite. It also means you can give trample and kill a chump blocker at a moments notice. I think the land is better as a kessig wolf run since it give the same effect and gets better as the game progresses.
I think Mina and Denn work nicely in a budget list. They survive Bolt and have a kind of useful ability, so why not? I've had fun with Huntmaster in that slot too.
Agreed that Kessig Wolf Run is better for you here. I also like Treetop Village in RG since it's a useful threat (and on theme with your trample build) but it's much easier to recycle with Loam when it dies.
In a creature-centric RG list, you might be able to get some mileage out of Pulse of Murasa to pull back your creatures or to recycle your Ghor-Clans. I would definitely run Countryside Crusher in your type of build - who doesn't want to give him trample?
I'll have to come back around with a list to show you guys (tis late when I remembered to check here). Given that my local store hasn't held modern in a while I'm not sure what the current meta environment looks like so I'm struggling on what to do for a sideboard...
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Hi there! I've been watching this forum from a distance for a while, whilst tweaking and building my own Loam-Assault variant. My biggest problem with the deck was the diverse mana pool; multiple shocks and fetches, creating a white knuckle suicide ride which ultimately result in losing. Having mainly played 2/3 colour variants and struggled; I was loathe to add a 4th but I reread the forum and saw that people had been adding white to run a token side strategy, revolving around Young Pyromancer & Lingering Souls. So I thought why not and in all honesty haven't looked back! The token strategy, through the addition of white, gave me multiple ground and air chump blockers to reduce my life loss and additionally white unlocked more life gain. I found these two elements were seeing me reach the mid to late game far more frequently; where, I believe, this deck comes into its own. Often by mid to late game you have removed the majority of your opponents threats and they are starting to stall which opens up the path to victory.
The Deck
Without any more further ado or gilding the Lilly; I present a 4 colour good stuff Loam variant LAST (Loam-Assault-Smallpox-Tokens):
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Balckcleave Cliffs
1 Dakmor Salvage
1 Graven Cairns
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 The Gitrog Monster
1 Borborygmos Enraged
Instants & Sorc. 20
4 Faithless Looting
4 Life from the Loam
4 Lingering Souls
4 Smallpox
2 Unburial Rites
1 Darkblast
1 Raven's Crime
Other Spells 7
3 Molten Vortex
3 Crawling Sensation
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Glissa, the Traitor
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Blessed Alliance
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Darkblast
1 Ray of Revelation
Explanation
Molten Vortex over Seismic Assault: Running 4 colours makes RRR a harder thing to achieve if you want to keep the doors open to the threats brought about by your other 3 colours. I also find that having a source of removal on the board from T1 is extremely potent. A one land Molten Vortex, Life From the Loam and one land is infinitely more keep able than if you needed triple red before you can get going. It is with regret that I've made this cut as I did love the The Gitrog Monster+Dakmor Salvage combo for the win!
Crawling Sensation: This card IMO is very underrated on this forum, with a lot of naysayers, however it allows you to drop your land count by finding loam more frequently which opens up for slots for threats. When coupled with the flashback and dredge mechanic, which this deck revolves around, it becomes a must. It also routinely gives you 2 tokens between your opponents attacks to chump away damage.
Sorin, Solemn Visitor: For any wide creature strategy which runs WB, he is a must. A one of as once he is in the graveyard he is a dead card but the lifegain & flying tokens he gives once dropped is important in getting to the mid to late game.
Smallpox: This routinely ruins a wide majority of decks! Most 3c+ decks rely on T1 Dual Colour Land and/or a mana dork, this hits both! Against the super fast aggro decks who are looking to keep a one-lander come T2 they are struggling particular if they are trying to draw into land 2/3 when they often are running just 18-20. The sac a creature, which won't hit your Young Pyromancer is also ridiculously potent as we are only sac a token at worst.
Unburial Rites: Allows the deck to run The Gitrog Monster & Borborygmos Enraged as one of threats. It also allows you to have one of threats in the side. Improving consistency all round.
The rest of the main deck are routine inclusions in any Loam-Assault strategy so I will not cover further.
The sideboard is a removal and lifegain package designed to target your opponents threats and get to the mid to late game.
Engineered Explosives or Nihil Spellbomb + Glissa, the Traitor: Explosives hits so many things and the ability to reccur the explosives with Glissa or find explosives if its already hit our grave is a potent threat. Dredge has made a resurgence and there are multiple other graveyard strategies in the meta; spellbomb doesn't hit us like Relic making it the preferred choice, in a worse case scenario with Glissa its a 2 mana recurring draw spell.
Blessed Alliance: This card is so good it almost warrants a place in the main! Its life gain and removal brilliant! You can also untap Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet to get even more lifegain from him.
Ray of Revelation = get rid of Rest in Peace plus other threats, cast-able from the grave with RiPs trigger on the stack.
Darkblast: Instant speed means I prefer it to Flame Jab; the second copy is in the side to deal with all the weenie threats out there and dorks. As our tokens are predominantly 1/1s conventional board wipes such as Pyroclasm are unfavourable. I trailed Savage Alliance but the 3 mana upfront seemed too steep when we can weed out his weenie creatures with this card and three copies of Molten Vortex is the main.
The rest of the sideboard is more removal, graveyard hate and lifegain; like the main I feel the inclusion of these cards is obvious and not in need of further comment.
Performance
In my intro I stated I haven't looked back that is because it has proven to be consistent! Recent matches:
Collected Spirits 2-1: Lingering Souls gave me enough chump blockers in the air to deal with his threats. With Smallpox and Blessed Alliance giving me outs to hexproof (Geist, Rattlechains, Captain).
Boggles 2-0: Smallpox hosed slim mana base causing him to stall, with the sac element getting around hexproof. Molten Vortex dealt effectively with the Spiritwalkers winning the game in G1 and tokens winning in G2.
Affinity 2-1: After the side in of Engineered Explosives, Blessed Alliance & Ancient Grudge, I could swiftly with the MB threats halt his swarm of creatures relatively swiftly.
There have been many more matches, I just wished to give you a taster!
Constructive feedback and comments is always welcome; look forward to hearing from you!
Really looking forward to testing something like this - the 4-color greed is real, but there are a ton of very sweet synergies there that really caught my eye. As a huge fan of Smallpox and Young Pyromancer I must say I'm very impressed. It's hard to evaluate how such a list would play, but nevertheless I'm curious
I also agree on Crawling Sensation being a powerhouse - wins matches on its own sometimes.
Really unsure on what else to say other than this list looks sweet, and don't know whether I'll be able to playtest it anytime soon to provide more helpful feedback. But congratulations, man, just the idea of running these cards and game plans together warms my heart.
Anyhow, will edit this later with my report.
Unfortunately for me, I don't really get to play Modern anymore. I do miss me some Jund Aggro Loam though
- 2 Grixis Delver
- 2 Grixis Control
- 1 RG Titanshift
- 1 UG Infect
- 1 Dredge
- 1 Naya Allies
- 1 RG Assault
I performed very poorly - went 0-3 and a bye. Will go into detail on what I believe I did wrong, and what could've been better regarding my current list.
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Stomping Ground
4 Copperline Gorge
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Raging Ravine
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Haunted Fengraf
2 Mountain
2 Forest
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Countryside Crusher
//Spells
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Life from the Loam
//Enchantments
4 Molten Vortex
2 Vessel of Nascency
4 Seismic Assault
2 Crawling Sensation
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Fog
2 Sudden Shock
2 Feed the Clan
3 Destructive Revelry
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Thragtusk
1 Worm Harvest
First thing, right off the bat - don't EVER assume that I'm a good player. I believe I make a lot of mistakes, and really find myself having to crawl back into the game most of the time. That said, here we go.
Friday Night Magic - Leitura Parque D. Pedro
November 18
Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil
Attendance was low that night due to a myriad of factors. Another popular store moved to a better location recently, which has been drawing players there for the past few weeks. Also, finals are approaching, and a number of regulars missed this FNM to prepare (or something).
Round 1 - Grixis Control
Got paired against my friend who was trying Corey Buckhart’s Grixis Control (with a different SB, aimed toward what we usually have here, of course). He’s very experienced with Control, and manages his resources very well.
Game 1 I begin with early pressure - Molten Vortex into Tarmogoyf and then Countryside Crusher. It takes me a while to find Life from the Loam, and in this time he manages to properly address all my threats and grind me out on a dragged game, finishing off with Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Snapcaster Mages and Creeping Tar Pit.
It was mostly an awesome game, I believe I put up a good fight. He countered my Crawling Sensation and delayed Molten Vortex action by countering the Life from the Loam and giving me little to no breathing room.
I side out the Lightning Bolts and a Countryside Crusher in favor of Thrun, the Last Troll, Thragtusk, Worm Harvest and 2 copies of Destructive Revelry just in case. I wonder if I should bring the Grafdigger’s Cages, but since the match is set up to be a grindfest, I thought I’d need to flashback my Faithless Lootings to keep up the pressure.
Game 2 I keep a very bad opener (Hindsight). Again, I rely too much on my creatures and a lonely Molten Vortex to stop the flood gates (?), and get punished by abundant removal + Engineered Explosives. This game was also very fun and intense - to the point I slammed a Thrun, the Last Troll and began the clock, which he answered with a Tasigur, the Golden Fang. We got to the point where he was very low on life (3-ish) and chained Cryptic Commands for “Tap all; bounce Raging Ravine”. He even played around Lightning Bolt (which I didn’t have) until the very last turn, when he bashed for lethal with Tasigur and Tar Pit.
Hindsight 20/20: I’d totally side the Cages, everytime. Also, I knew what I was playing against, and should’ve mulliganed more aggressively toward an early Crawling Sensation and Life from the Loam, since I have 8 Assault effects - even on Game 1. Total brainfart - kept creature-heavy hands against “removal.deck”. Other than that, totally should’ve kept some number of Lightning Bolts for Game 2. Really need to improve my sideboarding skills (fair warning: more cringe ahead)
Loss: 0-2
Overall: 0-1
Round 2 - Grixis Delver
This one came back to bite me in the butt. I tend to be overly confident against Grixis because no Rest in Peace usually means I can play around the graveyard hate, and Crawling Sensation at times takes the game by itself.
Also, I take pride on running a ton of recursive damage, which makes the deck solid against small-creature strategies, so when I realized I was paired up against Grixis Delver I thought to myself “What could possibly go wrong? Everything seems aligned in my favor, right?”
Oh boy.
This guy is the original “Dredge Guy” on the store. Since he’s afraid of a banning, he has been borrowing different decks to try them and see that he’s not completely set adrift should a ban arise in the near future. He’s a cool guy, and plays mostly well (better than I do, at the very least), though he isn’t as experienced as my Round 1 opponent.
Game 1 is a blur. I was under the impression I kept a very solid hand, since I knew what I was playing against. Removals here and there, then Tasigur, the Golden Fang happened, and numerous discards and… Really, something bad happened, and I can’t seem to remember precisely - I assume, however, that I misplayed somehow and/or never found Life from the Loam. Also, Crawling Sensation was discarded (I guess) early in the game.
I sideboard badly - out with Tarmogoyfs and both Crawling Sensations (since it was Delver, not Control), in with Anger of the Gods, Sudden Shock and Thragtusk. After all, “what else could possibly go wrong?”...
Game 2 I get completely, absolutely, totally, definitely, undoubtedly destroyed. First of all, I keep Anger of the Gods, Destructive Revelry (idk, Leyline), Lightning Bolt and Molten Vortex. I mean, come on, so much value - Turn 1 Vortex, playing around discard spell and all.
He goes turn 1 Pithing Needle for Molten Vortex. That’s fine. I manage to topdeck Faithless Looting that finds me Seismic Assault and Life from the Loam. Long story short - he exiled my Loam with Nihil Spellbomb, discarded Seismic Assault and wrecked my board with Tasigur, again, and follow-up removal spells. I never find another Faithless Looting nor Life from the Loam, Seismic Assault or Thragtusk, but that was well deserved.
Hindsight 20/20: Less Thragtusk, more Tarmogoyf. Also, mulligan aggressively toward the engine, not good - just keep removal and wait for the engine to come online by itself. Don’t side out Crawling Sensation since it could’ve possibly won me the game there (blocking Tasigur, finding Loam, fueling the grave for Goyf…), even against Delver.
Loss: 0-2
Overall: 0-2
Round 3 - RG Titanshift
It’s been a long time since I had last played against a Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle deck. Of all blends and flavors, I’d rather get obliterated by honest-to-god ramp into Primeval Titan and actual individual Valakut triggers than all that Through the Breach-Emrakul, the Aeons Torn mumbo-jumbo, so I found this match very fun to play.
The player is also very experienced with Magic and Modern, and I enjoy playing against good players because of the feedback after each game, since we get to discuss what we did right, wrong or what could’ve worked, what we played around… This applies to all 3 of my opponents, but due to time constraints this was the round I actually had the opportunity to talk about plays and all.
Game 1 is a head-to-head race. He finds a lot of ramp, I get the Molten Vortex engine early, assisted by Tarmogoyf for the sick beats. However, he reaches 8 lands and Scapeshifts for 36 damage, which is more than enough. This game, though uneventful, had both of us thinking about potential damage and how long the game could take, whether we would have another turn or not… So it was pretty intense in its last turns.
I sideboard my Lightning Bolts out (and something else, Crawling Sensations if I had to guess), get a Thragtusk, 2 copies of Destructive Revelry (just in case) and Feed the Clan each. I realize I don’t actually have a sideboard plan against Valakut - older versions of the deck used to run 3 Ghost Quarter and 2 Tectonic Edge, so, for the first time since my last Tron matchup, I miss them.
Game 2 I keep an aggressive hand, with Countryside Crusher + fetchland on turn 4 to play around Lightning Bolt, Seismic Assault on 3 and Tectonic Edge to keep my opp down a land. Even though I had to fetch for shock twice, I pressure him enough so he Summoner’s Pact for a Courser of Kruphix to hit land drops and net some life, but ultimately I threaten lethal with a giant Countryside Crusher and Life from the Loam+Seismic Assault to clear the path. He concedes.
(for anyone who’s counting, that was my first Game Win that night)
Game 3 I open with Vessel of Nascency into Tarmogoyfs. 3 of them. They all grow to be 5/6s, opponent gains a bunch of life out of Obstinate Baloths, Courser of Kruphix and used up a lot of Valakut triggers to finish off my board. He’s at 4 life, I never found Life from the Loam, though already have Molten Vortex on the field and a land in hand. He has 2 online Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, topdecks a fetchland. I’m at 6.
Tough game, very intense and fast-paced, we both had a blast.
Hindsight 20/20: Really have to learn to sideboard better, I got traumatized by graveyard hate and keep bringing Destructive Revelry even in matches where it doesn’t belong. The Lightning Bolts are better than I value them, even if less synergistic with the deck - I should be more conscious about how to value reach.
Loss: 1-2
Overall 0-3
Round 4 - Bye
I like to joke around that the perfect record is “0-3, cry in the bathroom for round 4, get dropped out for not showing, lose lottery prizes”. Well, while I was somewhat inclined of following the plan, I have to work better on untilting myself and getting some perspective so I can improve as a magic player, Assault Loam or not.
Result: 2-0 Bye
Overall: 1-3
Verdict - Scrub
//
To anyone who read this far, thank you very much for your support - I’ll keep trying to get better and better so I can provide more helpful advice, but truth is I’m a bit bummed out (even disregarding this FNM), so I’ll stop playing Modern for a while. As soon as I get excited about some new tech or strategy, will be sure to come back here, since Assault Loam will always have a special place in my heart.
All the best to all of you, hope you enjoyed this scrub’s report! ^^
My only issue with all the assault effects is that you are pretty all in on the loam engine. If makes it much harder if surgical is the hate of choice and you lose life from the loam with all assault effects.
Regarding Dredge, I see Anger of the Gods as a paliative measure - they are resilient enough as to rebuild their position. It's Cage that really matters, imho. Having the Assault-Loam engine online also helps a lot, indeed, and Goyfs/Crushers tend to block Amalgams very well. I usually board in Fog as well in favor of the slower cards.
And you're absolutely correct regarding the Snapcaster Mage matchups, I really should sideboard more carefully.
On 8 Seismic Assault effects, I just like the redundancy to find them faster (and discard extras to Looting) because it makes me more resilient against enchantment removal. While I'm pretty much "all in", I've won more than once after getting Surgical Extraction/Extirpate'd - if it's not Rest in Peace/Leyline of the Void, Countryside Crusher still grows, Tamogoyf presents a clock and I can always naturally draw lands (it actually works). Raging Ravine and Crawling Sensation are also very real threats that don't depend on Life from the Loam, and that being the case I'd probably side in Thrun, the Last Troll, Thragtusk and Worm Harvest to get that extra edge if the matchup is grindy enough.
I don't see having Loam extirpated as game over because of these other threats/game plans. Of course things still need to align somewhat well (deck would absolutely love having access to another Loam-like recursive effect), but I guess that's playing game 2 with a synergy-based deck, regardless.
Again, what terrifies me is Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void. I believe Relic of Progenitus, Scavenging Ooze, Nihil Spellbomb, Tormod's Crypt, Surgical Extraction and Extirpate all have ways to play around. Not easy, by any means, but manageable.
Thank you very much for your thoughts ^^
Anger of the Gods shouldn't be underestimated against dredge. Bloodghast and narcos are easily handled with assaults and amaalgam although easily blocked is easier to manage if you just get rid of them without having to be concerned with them coming back.
And by no means I wanted to say that naturally drawing lands is efficient - I just meant it sometimes gets me there. Of course I rely heavily on creatures on these games ^^
Regarding Anger of the Gods, I understand what you're saying - but what would you recommend? Swapping Worm Harvest for Anger #3? Or Maybe one of the Feed the Clans?
(EDIT)
I really like how versatile Fog is (Infect/Aggro/Griselshoal/Affinity), and I don't think dropping down to 2 Destructive Revelry would be a good idea.
That said, while I do like my current sideboard (as in "I think I have a lot of useful tools"), I'm terrible at actually sideboarding (as showcased on the report).
Problem with Infect is getting the time to react to their fast openers - If I depend on getting Molten Vortex online, and having bolts, it may or may not be enough. That's pretty much the only reason I keep Sudden Shock around, so I can side out my slow/grindy cards (Crusher, Sensation) and side in more removal and disruption such as Revelries, Angers and Shocks. And it might as well be due to being a bad player, but I don't find the matchup easy at all.
What would you recommend to improve my Infect matchup? I find it hard to be this favored ("almost a bye") against such an explosive/consistent/resilient deck.
For you scavenging ooze is a great way to shut down become immense. Getting creatures down can be good, but be wary of distortion strike
what do you guys think?
Agreed that Kessig Wolf Run is better for you here. I also like Treetop Village in RG since it's a useful threat (and on theme with your trample build) but it's much easier to recycle with Loam when it dies.
In a creature-centric RG list, you might be able to get some mileage out of Pulse of Murasa to pull back your creatures or to recycle your Ghor-Clans. I would definitely run Countryside Crusher in your type of build - who doesn't want to give him trample?
I'll have to come back around with a list to show you guys (tis late when I remembered to check here). Given that my local store hasn't held modern in a while I'm not sure what the current meta environment looks like so I'm struggling on what to do for a sideboard...