LONG time lurker here. I figured it was time to start posting, and what better way is there be to start than to post a decklist of my long time favorite archetype Assault Loam. I've been playing it for a while now at my LGS which used to run proxy tournaments, and once they stopped I built this budget version. This is the iteration I have been working on for 5 months now, and it has been doing well for me at my local FNMs.
The traditional Assault Loam deck is Jund, and plays just like Jund except with a combo finish. With Seismic Assault and Life from the Loam you can get back three lands per turn and discard them, dealing 6 damage each turn to kill all of your opponent's threats. Then, with your Goyfs and other threats you beat through while dealing the rest of the damage straight to their face with the AssaultLoam combo. The deck goes way bigger than the traditional Jund deck and has a better matchup against control because of the dredge on Loam.
RG Loam is weird because you don't get any special intricacies, but instead you just get the traditional Loam shell with less removal, less interaction, and less threats. A huge restriction is put onto the deck, and it being a budget version does not help.
That being said, I am very happy on how it turned out.
In the early game, the goal is to control the board with removal like Lightning Bolt, Lightning Axe, and Flame Jab while setting up your hand and graveyard with filtering like Faithless Looting and Satyr Wayfinder. Bolt and Axe are two fairly standard cards while Flame Jab is probably really weird. By itself, it is relatively good on the draw, as you are able to kill early creatures fairly well with it. It absolutely hoses some decks as a reccurable Gut Shot like Affinity and Elves, but it really shines in conjunction with Life from the Loam. The two cards make it so that you can Arc Lightning every turn for five mana by retracing the Flame Jab. This may not sound like much, but when you are grinding and your opponent is consistently killing your Seismic Assault and you need your last few points of damage, it is passable.
This combo is also good in conjunction with all of your threats. With a Young Pyromancer on the battlefield, you Arc Lightning every turn while making four tokens. With Countryside Crusher, you clear blockers with the Bolt while pumping it to be considerably more large. And with Burning Vengeance, each Flame Jab turns into a Lightning Bolt. Flame Jab + Life from the Loam is one of the defining combos of the deck that ties the pieces of the puzzle together.
Most of the threats were brushed over there, but here they will be explained more in depth. Young Pyromancer makes tokens in conjunction with all the removal in the deck, and when comboing off with AssaultLoam, you also create a token each turn which can be used to chump big things that you can't kill yet. Countryside Crusher is arguably a better Tarmogoyf in this deck. First, it makes you never draw lands while giving you information on whether you should dredge or not, which is pretty good by itself. It's second ability is what makes it shine however, for whenever you discard a land to Seismic Assault or Flame Jab or dredge up a land, it grows. And because our deck is really good at killing our opponent's things, Crusher can crash through to win us the game on its own when it goes unanswered. Also, Heaven//Earth and Sweltering Suns are in the deck to catch up if we fall behind on board.
Seismic Assault is a pretty self explanatory entry in the AssaultLoam deck, but Burning Vengeance is really not. Burning Vengeance is purely in the deck to capitalize on Loam + Flame Jab, which is actually a really good three card combo. It can also get triggered by Faithless Looting flashback, but that's just incidental. I have tested many cards in this slots, from creature threats like Managorger Hydra to filtering spells like Insolent Neonate, Tormenting Voice and Cathartic Reunion. Out of all of these, surprisingly Burning Vengeance is the card that has had the greatest impact. You can cast it turn 3 then turn 4 double bolt something, or just cast a Flame Jab from your yard without a Loam to bolt something instead. The card is surprisingly good, and is a really decent threat in this deck. I would not play more than 2 however.
The best addition to the Loam deck in the past few years are the cycle lands. Sheltered Thicket makes this deck soooo much better. Once the deck hits AssaultLoam, you can deal 6 damage as you choose among your opponent's board. Generally, you save up the lands until you need to use them to kill a big threat or kill your opponent in one shot, but still, you get the ability to deal 6 more damage every turn. In the new loam decks, as you do this, you play lands until you get up to 6 mana. At that point, you can dredge Life from the Loam, cast Loam, cycle Sheltered Thicket, dredge Life from the Loam, and cast dredge Life from the Loam to get a total of 5 lands back dealing 10 damage per turn. This makes you grind harder and kill faster.
The sideboard is kind of built for my meta, so I can't say much if it is right or not (at my LGS I also have 2 Back to Nature in SB since there are two bogles players there which is the worst matchup for a deck based around a million removal spells). With this version I am currently 7-0-1 with a draw against a grindy Collected Company deck. I could make this a fully fledged primer for the deck with specific matchup spreads,but for now I think this is a fine overview of the deck. If you have any suggestions, those would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
EDIT: Forgot to include in title, but the deck is ($150). Most of that money is from Loam and Seismic Assault. My starting list before I bought cards over time was around $70, but seeing how the price of Loam has gone up from just under 10 dollars to just under 20, I guess the deck is decidedly less budget friendly now. The first version I played had 3 Loams, Molten Vortex instead of Seismic Assault and Desert of the Fervent instead of Sheltered Thicket to save money but still - if anyone would like to see that more budget, less powerful deck let me know.
Deck is now 10-2-1 with losses to KCI and 8-Rack and a tie with Counters Company.
Really like this list, there are so many Loam variants around that it can get overwhelming. The amount of combos set up in this deck is pretty sweet for a budget version, it doesn't feel like an expensive deck with cheap replacements, but actually a completely thought out version with all the intricacies. I really like Dredge Loam, but this looks like another cool take. Countryside Crusher is REALLY impressive.
The traditional Assault Loam deck is Jund, and plays just like Jund except with a combo finish. With Seismic Assault and Life from the Loam you can get back three lands per turn and discard them, dealing 6 damage each turn to kill all of your opponent's threats. Then, with your Goyfs and other threats you beat through while dealing the rest of the damage straight to their face with the AssaultLoam combo. The deck goes way bigger than the traditional Jund deck and has a better matchup against control because of the dredge on Loam.
Nowadays, the deck can be built in any RGx shell. Jund Loam has Fatal Push, Dark Confidant, Liliana of the Veil, targeted discard spells, etc. Temur Loam has countermagic and often plays Skaab Ruinator. Naya Loam plays Path to Exile, Knight of the Reliquary, Monastery Mentor, and good sideboard cards. All of these versions have there own intricacies and are viable depending on the metagame.
RG Loam is weird because you don't get any special intricacies, but instead you just get the traditional Loam shell with less removal, less interaction, and less threats. A huge restriction is put onto the deck, and it being a budget version does not help.
That being said, I am very happy on how it turned out.
3 Flame Jab
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Axe
1 Heaven // Earth
4 Life from the Loam
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Seismic Assault
2 Burning Vengeance
4 Countryside Crusher
2 Sweltering Suns
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Game Trail
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Sheltered Thicket
1 Forest
9 Mountain
1 Worm Harvest
2 Damping Sphere
2 Beast Within
1 Lightning Axe
1 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Dragon's Claw
1 Abrade
1 Pulse of Murasa
1 Nature's Claim
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ancient Grudge
In the early game, the goal is to control the board with removal like Lightning Bolt, Lightning Axe, and Flame Jab while setting up your hand and graveyard with filtering like Faithless Looting and Satyr Wayfinder. Bolt and Axe are two fairly standard cards while Flame Jab is probably really weird. By itself, it is relatively good on the draw, as you are able to kill early creatures fairly well with it. It absolutely hoses some decks as a reccurable Gut Shot like Affinity and Elves, but it really shines in conjunction with Life from the Loam. The two cards make it so that you can Arc Lightning every turn for five mana by retracing the Flame Jab. This may not sound like much, but when you are grinding and your opponent is consistently killing your Seismic Assault and you need your last few points of damage, it is passable.
This combo is also good in conjunction with all of your threats. With a Young Pyromancer on the battlefield, you Arc Lightning every turn while making four tokens. With Countryside Crusher, you clear blockers with the Bolt while pumping it to be considerably more large. And with Burning Vengeance, each Flame Jab turns into a Lightning Bolt. Flame Jab + Life from the Loam is one of the defining combos of the deck that ties the pieces of the puzzle together.
Most of the threats were brushed over there, but here they will be explained more in depth. Young Pyromancer makes tokens in conjunction with all the removal in the deck, and when comboing off with AssaultLoam, you also create a token each turn which can be used to chump big things that you can't kill yet. Countryside Crusher is arguably a better Tarmogoyf in this deck. First, it makes you never draw lands while giving you information on whether you should dredge or not, which is pretty good by itself. It's second ability is what makes it shine however, for whenever you discard a land to Seismic Assault or Flame Jab or dredge up a land, it grows. And because our deck is really good at killing our opponent's things, Crusher can crash through to win us the game on its own when it goes unanswered. Also, Heaven//Earth and Sweltering Suns are in the deck to catch up if we fall behind on board.
Seismic Assault is a pretty self explanatory entry in the AssaultLoam deck, but Burning Vengeance is really not. Burning Vengeance is purely in the deck to capitalize on Loam + Flame Jab, which is actually a really good three card combo. It can also get triggered by Faithless Looting flashback, but that's just incidental. I have tested many cards in this slots, from creature threats like Managorger Hydra to filtering spells like Insolent Neonate, Tormenting Voice and Cathartic Reunion. Out of all of these, surprisingly Burning Vengeance is the card that has had the greatest impact. You can cast it turn 3 then turn 4 double bolt something, or just cast a Flame Jab from your yard without a Loam to bolt something instead. The card is surprisingly good, and is a really decent threat in this deck. I would not play more than 2 however.
The best addition to the Loam deck in the past few years are the cycle lands. Sheltered Thicket makes this deck soooo much better. Once the deck hits AssaultLoam, you can deal 6 damage as you choose among your opponent's board. Generally, you save up the lands until you need to use them to kill a big threat or kill your opponent in one shot, but still, you get the ability to deal 6 more damage every turn. In the new loam decks, as you do this, you play lands until you get up to 6 mana. At that point, you can dredge Life from the Loam, cast Loam, cycle Sheltered Thicket, dredge Life from the Loam, and cast dredge Life from the Loam to get a total of 5 lands back dealing 10 damage per turn. This makes you grind harder and kill faster.
The sideboard is kind of built for my meta, so I can't say much if it is right or not (at my LGS I also have 2 Back to Nature in SB since there are two bogles players there which is the worst matchup for a deck based around a million removal spells). With this version I am currently 7-0-1 with a draw against a grindy Collected Company deck. I could make this a fully fledged primer for the deck with specific matchup spreads,but for now I think this is a fine overview of the deck. If you have any suggestions, those would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
EDIT: Forgot to include in title, but the deck is ($150). Most of that money is from Loam and Seismic Assault. My starting list before I bought cards over time was around $70, but seeing how the price of Loam has gone up from just under 10 dollars to just under 20, I guess the deck is decidedly less budget friendly now. The first version I played had 3 Loams, Molten Vortex instead of Seismic Assault and Desert of the Fervent instead of Sheltered Thicket to save money but still - if anyone would like to see that more budget, less powerful deck let me know.
Deck is now 10-2-1 with losses to KCI and 8-Rack and a tie with Counters Company.