Killing X/2's with double Flame Jab is also very relevant when that X/2 is named Deathrite Shaman and you start off with Flame Jab and a land in hand. Just remember to not pass priority between Flame Jabs and Deathrite has no window to suck it up.
Also, wondering if anyone has tested Goryo's Vengeance as the reanimation spell of choice over Unburial Rites in the Borbory version? Giving your guy haste so that you get to swing for 7 trample right away plus trigger the flip three seems good. Also lets you cast Loam/Reanimate in the same turn at 4 mana.
I feel like this allows for much faster gold-fish wins, but also the potential to stall if you don't have enough lands in hand to kill the turn you reanimate. Would want to still have a seismic or two in the deck + bolt/flame jab to finish off in this event maybe.
Thoughts?
Borbo Reanimator Loam was born when its creator found that he had to keep Dredging LftL just to stay alive in a lot of match-ups. Goryo's Vengeance will never replace Unburial Rites because Rites can be cast from the graveyard (once).
It's great in Borbo Reanimator as a synergistic way to kill Deathrite early-game and Goyf mid-game, although it does suffer against combo and especially against Exarch Twin (where Abrupt Decay is worth a million bucks and Drown in Filth is worth a buck for offing Spellskite).
Mulch has been pretty good to me. With Borbo/Rites/Retrace/LftL, it's almost a Draw 3-4. It's actually one of the best cards in my hand surprisingly often (e.g. in a hand of 4 lands-Mulch-LftL-Crime, IoK the Mulch).
After a bit of testing, I'd rather take out Pyroclasms for Flame Jabs. Flame Jab still deals with late or summoning sick Deathrites, and the deck is actually fairly Goyf-weak.
It's hard to find maindeckable artifact/enchantment hate in RUG colours. I guess there's Viridian Zealot and Acidic Slime?
In Naya, you get Qasali Pridemage, and in Jund, you get Maelstrom Pulse/Abrupt Decay. I'm considering swapping my singleton Pulse for a Decay, but Decay does nearly nothing against RG Valakut Ramp while at least Pulse hits Primeval Titan.
I'd rather play Haunted Fengraf over Golgari Thug. Sure, no guarantees, but it returns dead guys to your hand and not your library, and it's a land that can be Loamed every turn.
Besides, this deck plays so few creatures that it may as well be a guarantee.
Raging Ravine is better than Lavaclaw Reaches because it is fatter. Yes, it costs more to activate, and yes, the green part is inconvenient, but it also produces green mana by itself, it swings like a pro, and outright squashes more creatures instead of trading with them.
I do have 1 of each in my current build, though, because Loam Control is rather threat-light, and I want to be able to get more win conditions while I'm still Dredging Loam and stripping hands, boards, and lands.
I have no clue what to strip from the Bronson mana base to fit in Horizon Canopy, as I don't remember his list, but this is my latest Loam Control mana base:
I like Eternal Witness in case I accidentally ditch Liliana OTV or Seismic Assault. She's sometimes a bit clunky, though.
I'm still not certain about Faithless Looting's position, but Countryside Crusher definitely makes the deck lean more aggro. He's also sometimes inconvenient when I want to hit my 4th land.
On another note, has anyone else considered Wild Guess for this deck? Imagine Looting without the card disadvantage (but being hit by Spell Snare and Remand now hurts)!
My preferred method of recursion is Eternal Witness. I like getting a body when I need to retrieve Liliana from the yard again. Then again, I'm currently running a Haunted Fengraf to act as a poor man's Volrath's Stronghold.
I think I used up a flex slot for a singleton Maelstrom Pulse; I really like that card, and it's always found a target when naturally drawn.
I'm trying Tibalt replacing Faithless Looting, and he's decent. He plays nice with Liliana because opponents tend to attack her instead. What he does not play nice with is Raven's Crime--I think I've activated his -4 once out of at least 6 games because Crime depletes opponents' hands. He also does not like being milled into the graveyard, unlike Looting.
Tibalt, however, enables sick plays that Looting cannot hope to do. Dealing 10 damage a turn with Seismic Assault is very feasible with Tibalt out (Dredge Loam on draw step, cast Loam, Dredge Loam again with Tibalt's +1 and pray you don't discard it, cast Loam again), and it's not even win-more if you're racing RG Artifact Tron or you're staring down 2 Kitchen Finks and a 5/6 Goyf (both actual game scenarios). I've ended at least two games with the Tibalt Assault endgame. I've also won against RG Artifact Tron with merely a Seismic Assault endgame; it felt crippled compared to the Tibalt Assault one because it only dealt 4-6 damage a turn.
Tibalt is also decent at handing you what you want. He is guaranteed to eventually let you access LftL. I tend to continuously +1 him unless I can take out a planeswalker with his -4 (unlikely) or steal creatures with his -6 (also unlikely, but at least opponents play around the threat). Yes, the random discard is worse than normal discard, but not significantly worse.
He's the red Jace Beleren. You may prefer the red Serum Visions (Looting), though. He shows his edge in grindy games, and Loam decks tend to be grindy.
Tron hates Goyfs. Goyfs are fast clocks against them. LD and discard are fun (so is popping Liliana OTV's ultimate), but you need to kill them fast. Goyfs and Seismic Assault (especially Tibalt Assault) kill Tron fairly fast.
I've tried Tibalt in Jund Aggro Loam, and he's fairly good--at least as good as Faithless Looting. Dredging LftL twice per turn (well, 75% of the time) with a Seismic Assault is insane, and his +1 definitely digs for what I want. His -4 is useless after he +1's into Raven's Crime, though. His -6 should be good, especially against Tron and Bant and if I also have Liliana OTV out, but he keeps dying to equipped Trafts before he can activate it.
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Killing X/2's with double Flame Jab is also very relevant when that X/2 is named Deathrite Shaman and you start off with Flame Jab and a land in hand. Just remember to not pass priority between Flame Jabs and Deathrite has no window to suck it up.
Borbo Reanimator Loam was born when its creator found that he had to keep Dredging LftL just to stay alive in a lot of match-ups. Goryo's Vengeance will never replace Unburial Rites because Rites can be cast from the graveyard (once).
It's great in Borbo Reanimator as a synergistic way to kill Deathrite early-game and Goyf mid-game, although it does suffer against combo and especially against Exarch Twin (where Abrupt Decay is worth a million bucks and Drown in Filth is worth a buck for offing Spellskite).
In Naya, you get Qasali Pridemage, and in Jund, you get Maelstrom Pulse/Abrupt Decay. I'm considering swapping my singleton Pulse for a Decay, but Decay does nearly nothing against RG Valakut Ramp while at least Pulse hits Primeval Titan.
Besides, this deck plays so few creatures that it may as well be a guarantee.
I do have 1 of each in my current build, though, because Loam Control is rather threat-light, and I want to be able to get more win conditions while I'm still Dredging Loam and stripping hands, boards, and lands.
I have no clue what to strip from the Bronson mana base to fit in Horizon Canopy, as I don't remember his list, but this is my latest Loam Control mana base:
Make your own conclusions about what to ditch.
I like Eternal Witness in case I accidentally ditch Liliana OTV or Seismic Assault. She's sometimes a bit clunky, though.
I'm still not certain about Faithless Looting's position, but Countryside Crusher definitely makes the deck lean more aggro. He's also sometimes inconvenient when I want to hit my 4th land.
On another note, has anyone else considered Wild Guess for this deck? Imagine Looting without the card disadvantage (but being hit by Spell Snare and Remand now hurts)!
I think I used up a flex slot for a singleton Maelstrom Pulse; I really like that card, and it's always found a target when naturally drawn.
I'm trying Tibalt replacing Faithless Looting, and he's decent. He plays nice with Liliana because opponents tend to attack her instead. What he does not play nice with is Raven's Crime--I think I've activated his -4 once out of at least 6 games because Crime depletes opponents' hands. He also does not like being milled into the graveyard, unlike Looting.
Tibalt, however, enables sick plays that Looting cannot hope to do. Dealing 10 damage a turn with Seismic Assault is very feasible with Tibalt out (Dredge Loam on draw step, cast Loam, Dredge Loam again with Tibalt's +1 and pray you don't discard it, cast Loam again), and it's not even win-more if you're racing RG Artifact Tron or you're staring down 2 Kitchen Finks and a 5/6 Goyf (both actual game scenarios). I've ended at least two games with the Tibalt Assault endgame. I've also won against RG Artifact Tron with merely a Seismic Assault endgame; it felt crippled compared to the Tibalt Assault one because it only dealt 4-6 damage a turn.
Tibalt is also decent at handing you what you want. He is guaranteed to eventually let you access LftL. I tend to continuously +1 him unless I can take out a planeswalker with his -4 (unlikely) or steal creatures with his -6 (also unlikely, but at least opponents play around the threat). Yes, the random discard is worse than normal discard, but not significantly worse.
He's the red Jace Beleren. You may prefer the red Serum Visions (Looting), though. He shows his edge in grindy games, and Loam decks tend to be grindy.
Tron hates Goyfs. Goyfs are fast clocks against them. LD and discard are fun (so is popping Liliana OTV's ultimate), but you need to kill them fast. Goyfs and Seismic Assault (especially Tibalt Assault) kill Tron fairly fast.