[DECK] Loam Control

[Mr. Safety]

I have been heavily developing this deck for a little while now and Glenn Jones' article at SCG (Living La Vida Loam) gave me some really good direction. This version isn't AggroLoam, which I believe has it's own thread anyways. This is a control deck based on dredging loam for absurd value, heavily using the retrace mechanic and Seismic Assault to create inevitability. This is, at it's core, an attrition-based control deck that wants games to go late so you can leverage your card advantage engine. I feel that there are two distinct versions that could be built, one focusing on Smallpox without creatures and one focusing on Dark Confidant. Faithless Looting gets really good in the Smallpox version when paired with Loam, in a nutshell replacing Dark Confidant as your go-to card draw. It foregoes creatures, excepting man-lands, to provide virtual card advantage as well as minimize the need for working around Smallpox. In the Bob version you are using him as your draw for the turn while still allowing you to dredge Loam. Both have their strengths and weaknesses depending on your metagame. Smallpox seems better suited against Tron, RDW, and UWR control/mid-range. Dark Confidant seems better against Jund, Twin, B/G mid-range, and Pod.

The core of the deck:

4x Life from the Loam
4x Raven's Crime
1-3x Flame Jab
3x Seismic Assault
2-4x Faithless Looting
25-27 Lands


Additional support options:

Dark Confidant
Eternal Witness
Lightning Bolt
Smallpox
Liliana of the Veil
Maelstrom Pulse
Abrupt Decay
Pyroclasm
Firespout
Anger of the Gods
Lightning Bolt


Other options to consider:

Mulch
Worm Harvest
Garruk Wildspeaker
Garruk Relentless
Darkblast
Damnation
Terminate
Tribute to Hunger


Part 1 - How does this deck work?

Everything revolves around Life from the Loam first and foremost, from the high land count to creating inevitability with Seismic Assault. A starting hand with Loam, a retrace spell, and three or more lands is almost an auto-keep against most matchups. Smallpox plays a strong role in keeping early problematic threats off of the battlefield. The foremost goal of this deck is pure consistency, playing in a similar fashion in every game. You will always be controlling the board while also attacking their hand, looking for an opportunity to dredge the game into oblivion once advantage is achieved. Flame Jab is an abysmally slow win condition but can usually be augmented with man-lands, thanks to Loam, to quicken the clock so you don't lose to decks that can top-deck their way out of losing. Seismic Assault is the best card to pair with Loam in the mid-game, basically ensuring that nothing smaller than an X/6 will live more than a turn. Perpetual availability of Flame Jab, Raven's Crime, and to a smaller extent Worm Harvest, gives the deck good odds against anything powerful in the control, mid-range, and aggro categories. The discard factors with Crime, Smallpox, and Liliana are also quite valuable in the combo matchups.

Part 2 - Why play this deck?

Consitency is very strong with the deck, and every mulligan from an opponent is a free Raven's Crime. Some decks can pull out a win after a mulligan to five, but not many can win after a mulligan to five and then hit with Raven's Crime three times in the span of turns one and two. The biggest and most common threats to this deck are Scavenging Ooze and sideboarded grave hate, especially Rest in Peace.. Jund, or black/green 'good stuff', is one of the hardest matchups pre-board but gets significantly better post-board. While never good, it becomes about even post-board if you have the right tools to deal with Jund. Against most control variants, whether they be strictly blue-white or splashing red, this deck is strongly favored. Countering spells just doesn't get them ahead like in other matchups and resolving a Liliana, or simply retracing Raven's Crime, is devastating. It also thrives against anything attempting to win through swarming such as Merfolk, Goblins, or Elves. Most of the early plays are dealt with easily with Flame Jab, Bolts, Smallpox, or Pyroclasm/Firespout/Anger of the Gods. Loam added to Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge are devastating against Tron. Maindeck Relic of Progenitus from the green-red version is tricky to work around, but possible. This is the biggest reason to stick to four copies of Loam; you will sometimes need multiples. Maindeck hate such as Maelstrom Pulse and Abrupt Decay is heavily recommended to deal with Ooze, and Relic. Sligh decks can sometimes steal fast wins, but if you can deal with their creatures you can usually buy quite a bit of time. Boros seems to be easier to deal with because of the focus on creatures, while pure red decks with only eight to twelve creatures are more problematic. You may be the tortoise in the race but make no mistake, you're racing. Splinter Twin seems to be about the worst matchup for the deck, able to assemble their combo at instant speed with Exarch/Twin forcing you to have a Decay in hand in order to not auto-lose. If you can get Crime going early you can sometimes steal a win, but they still only need two cards to win and they play some cheap dig spells. Post-board gets significantly better with additional copies of Abrupt Decay, or other preferred enchantment hate, targeted discard, and Pithing Needle. In fact, the matchup is bad enough to warrent three or four copies of Torpor Orb. I've been using Pithing Needle to-date, but I can see Torpor Orb being a strong option in a Twin-heavy metagame. Affinity is an easily dealt with matchup. Their early creatures are killed with Flame Jab, Bolt, or Decay. All but Etched Champion die to Pyroclasm or Firespout, and Etched Champion can be dealt with by using Liliana and Smallpox.

Part Three - Current List (personalized)


Sorceries - 23
4x Life from the Loam
4x Smallpox
4x Raven's Crime
2x Faithless Looting
1x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Flame Jab
3x thoughtseize
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Worm Harvest

Instants - 6
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Abrupt Decay

Planeswalkers - 3
3x Liliana of the Veil

Enchantments - 3
3x Seismic Assault

Lands - 25
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Arid Mesa
4x Blood Crypt
2x Stomping Ground
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Graven Cairns
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Rootbound Crag
1x Woodland Cemetery
1x Mountain
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Treetop Village
2x Raging Ravine

Sideboard

4x Dark Confident
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Pithing Needle
3x Ancient Grudge
1x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Thragtusk

[Mr. Safety]

{Reserved for matchup analysis}

Hoping to get some feedback and activity with the deck!

[cherub_daemon]

A few thoughts:

1) If you're making a lot of use of the retrace mechanic, and you're in red, can you work in Pyromancer Ascension? The retraced card (in the graveyard) has the same name as itself, so you should be able to make it active very quickly with Flame Jab or Raven's Crime. I've been trying to make something using this concept (retrace and PA) work, but I was always trying to jam it in a B/R Burn shell; you may have more luck than I did with something more like your list.

2) If you want to make room for PA, I would consider cutting Garruk Relentless and one or more Seismic Assault or Liliana of the Veil. I have to confess that there might be a Garruk interaction that I'm not thinking of, because that card seems like a really random addition. Cutting SA or LotV seems like crazy talk, but I'm not sure that doubling the effect of half your deck with PA is less good than what those are giving you, considering the cost.

3) Another card that might be considered if you do try out PA would be the new card from Theros, Commune with the Gods. It can dig for enchantments, and unlike some similar dig spells like Commune with Nature, it feeds the graveyard. If employed, it would probably be as a replacement for one or more of its potential targets as well as replacing one or more Faithless Looting.

[YamiJoey]

When you Retrace you put the Spell on the Stack, so you don't get counters for Pyro unless you have 2.

[cherub_daemon]

When you Retrace you put the Spell on the Stack, so you don't get counters for Pyro unless you have 2.

I did not realize that. I figured flashback didn't work, but I never looked retrace up; my apologies.

(Edited for pronoun clarity.)

[Mr. Safety]

A few thoughts:

1) If you're making a lot of use of the retrace mechanic, and you're in red, can you work in Pyromancer Ascension? The retraced card (in the graveyard) has the same name as itself, so you should be able to make it active very quickly with Flame Jab or Raven's Crime. I've been trying to make something using this concept (retrace and PA) work, but I was always trying to jam it in a B/R Burn shell; you may have more luck than I did with something more like your list.

2) If you want to make room for PA, I would consider cutting Garruk Relentless and one or more Seismic Assault or Liliana of the Veil. I have to confess that there might be a Garruk interaction that I'm not thinking of, because that card seems like a really random addition. Cutting SA or LotV seems like crazy talk, but I'm not sure that doubling the effect of half your deck with PA is less good than what those are giving you, considering the cost.

3) Another card that might be considered if you do try out PA would be the new card from Theros, Commune with the Gods. It can dig for enchantments, and unlike some similar dig spells like Commune with Nature, it feeds the graveyard. If employed, it would probably be as a replacement for one or more of its potential targets as well as replacing one or more Faithless Looting.

Mulch is league's ahead of commune with the gods and looting is also better. I started with a full set of mulch, but ended up dropping it because it didn't play as well as looting.

Liliana isn't going anywhere, she is just too good. Garruk seems random, and he is. I like his fight ability but more importantly he is a token engine not reliant on the graveyard. If I had the fourth Liliana I'd be using that instead.

[Mr. Safety]

Is this the deck that could finally use Realms Uncharted? If it is worth including, maybe a singleton, then I think I'll start looking into other utility lands such as Bojuka Bog, Mystifying Maze, etc.

[Parax]

Is this the deck that could finally use Realms Uncharted? If it is worth including, maybe a singleton, then I think I'll start looking into other utility lands such as Bojuka Bog, Mystifying Maze, etc.

I don't think that realms would be that great as a singleton. If you are using it as a psedo-intuition from the lands deck, its not as good. You'd want to run 3-4(4 is probably the right number) because you'd want to use it early and dredge it away let. By playing 1 you're basically saying, "I'll stall until i can cast it" but you're never going to cast it, because once you have your loam engine up and running you're dredging and it'll just hit the grave and you'll never see it.

[Mr. Safety]

Good call.

Update to the primer is in the works. I feel that there are two distinct versions of this deck that could be built, one focusing on Smallpox and one focusing on Dark Confidant. I hesitate to play the full AggroLoam version with Crushers and Goyfs, simply because I feel that pure, 'Good Stuff' Jund is a better mid-range deck than AggroLoam. Once I add in Tarmogoyf, I want Deathrite Shaman. Once I add in Shaman I'm basically playing Jund. I think in order to keep this focused on Loam, and as a control deck, is to play Bob as a simple draw engine (so you can dredge and draw the same turn) along with a dash of utility creatures such as some number of Eternal Witness and most likely Scavenging Ooze for it's repeatability and instant use (instead of Deathrite.)

[Megadeus]

Needs more demigod of revenge

[Mr. Safety]

Interesting idea. It is certainly a fast clock that can benefit from loam/looting. I would hesitate to include it in the Bob list, but in the Smallpox list it could be really tech.

[cherub_daemon]

Is this the deck that could finally use Realms Uncharted? If it is worth including, maybe a singleton, then I think I'll start looking into other utility lands such as Bojuka Bog, Mystifying Maze, etc.

If you do include it, I'd run at least one Dakmor Salvage so that you can tutor up a dredger. And I think Realms would be good as a 1-2. If anything, you don't want to see too many of the combination of Loam and Realms; too much engine, not enough gas. I think it's something like an extra Loam in that you can use it to get retrace fuel and utility, but it's not something you need to stall starting your Loam engine for.

[Mr. Safety]

I should probably put a dakmor salvage into the deck anyways, regardless of realms or not.

[Megadeus]

Just a thought. My buddy played an intuition loam deck in legacy. Big end game? Intuition for triple demigod

[Megadeus]

Sorry for the double post. I think gifts un given is superior to realms uncharted here. Finds your flame jab, loam, all that good stuff

[cherub_daemon]

Sorry for the double post. I think gifts un given is superior to realms uncharted here. Finds your flame jab, loam, all that good stuff

Having not played the list myself, I can't say for sure, but Gifts Ungiven costs one more mana in a color that is not currently in the deck. There might well be a better Loam Control deck that runs Gifts, but it's not trivial to wedge one into the current list.

[Mr. Safety]

Gifts is a build around card, not a shoe in, so I agree. I'm looking for pure consistency here and wondering if Realms would increase consistency or take away from it. My gut says don't use it, better to just stick with the dredge plan to get extra lands. If I want more man-land accessability all I really have to do is add more man-lands in a nutshell. It was a passing idea, not a serious one. Mystifying Maze isn't that great either, honestly.

The most difficult hate card so far is Rest in Peace by far. I have adjusted the lists accordingly to include a 3rd Decay in the main. Thragtusk has been really good against the decks that use Rest in Peace (which is mostly WUR control.) Relic/Grafdiggers Cage are answered easily by siding in some Grudges, and those matchups usually benefit from using Needle out of the board as well.

[GtF]

Gifts is a build around card, not a shoe in, so I agree. I'm looking for pure consistency here and wondering if Realms would increase consistency or take away from it. My gut says don't use it, better to just stick with the dredge plan to get extra lands. If I want more man-land accessability all I really have to do is add more man-lands in a nutshell. It was a passing idea, not a serious one. Mystifying Maze isn't that great either, honestly.

The most difficult hate card so far is Rest in Peace by far. I have adjusted the lists accordingly to include a 3rd Decay in the main. Thragtusk has been really good against the decks that use Rest in Peace (which is mostly WUR control.) Relic/Grafdiggers Cage are answered easily by siding in some Grudges, and those matchups usually benefit from using Needle out of the board as well.

Has anyone tried this deck out with Pack Rat? It works pretty well with Loam and is a kill condition that doesn't rely on the graveyard.

[Mr. Safety]

Man-lands are also a non-graveyard way to win and don't take up deck space as a weak two drop. The primary engine of Seismic Assault/Loam is enough of a win condition. Liliana and Smallpox are more effective discard options that support the attrition-based game plan. If you can attack your opponent's hand effectively and kill whatever does land on the board you will win. The trick isn't to try and find more ways to interact with Loam, of which there are many to use. The trick is to utilize Loam while minimizing the graveyard hosing risk. If your deck can't stand alone without Loam it isn't the right list. Loam is the lynchpin in the deck for sure but thinking you will be able to rely on it games 2-3 is magical christmas land. Use it if you can, minimize impact from grave hate, and play around their hate if you can. Pithing Needle and Ancient Grudge out of the sideboard deal with Tormod's Crypt/Relic of Progenitus. Maindeck Abrupt Decay/Maelstrom Pulse deal with Rest in Peace (but I haven't seen this tech in a long time, honestly.) Bolt, Decay, Pulse, Pyroclasm, removal in general, deal with Scooze and Dshaman.

Also, in my opinion, the only 2-drop creatures worth taking up space are Dark Confidant, Scavenging Ooze, and maybe Tarmogoyf (but you can't really convince me of that one either.)

EDIT: I have also been working on a hybridized list that uses Bob main, Smallpox out of the sideboard. I had to sacrifice the Thragtusk tech out of the sideboard but so far it has promize. As I've stated earlier, each card attacks the metagame from a different angle but both support the attrition plan.

[cherub_daemon]

EDIT: I have also been working on a hybridized list that uses Bob main, Smallpox out of the sideboard. I had to sacrifice the Thragtusk tech out of the sideboard but so far it has promize. As I've stated earlier, each card attacks the metagame from a different angle but both support the attrition plan.

Why not flip this around, and run a "transformation" to a Bob&Scooze list? Most people are going to go into game 1 with some creature hate in their deck, which they will largely remove after facing you game 1, other than some obvious dual-use stuff like Bolt.

Also, as far as playing around hate, instant-speed draw (which these colors are admittedly not rich in) would also allow you to save Loam from Deathrite Shaman and Scavenging Ooze. I had forgotten that the removal is not part of the cost on those cards. The only instant draw in RGB with CC<=2 that doesn't seem terrible in this deck is Reroute, which is hilarious, but maybe too narrow still.

[Mr. Safety]

If I'm reading your correctly, you're saying play Smallpox in the main and swap to Bob out of the board? I think that may be wise.

[cherub_daemon]

If I'm reading your correctly, you're saying play Smallpox in the main and swap to Bob out of the board? I think that may be wise.

That was what I was saying, based only on the fact that you might be able to render MD Path to Exile and friends dead in game one, and then (maybe) run Bob against a list without them in game two.

[Mr. Safety]

Already testing this, so far it looks promising.

[Mr. Safety]

Is Waste Not worth testing in this deck? It seems to work really well on paper. I haven't proxy-tested it yet but it is definately in the works.

[cherub_daemon]

Is Waste Not worth testing in this deck? It seems to work really well on paper. I haven't proxy-tested it yet but it is definately in the works.

My prediction, which I have absolutely no data to support, is that Waste Not will end up being useless in every deck not built to completely abuse it. My best guess for THAT deck is that it will use things like Reforge the Soul, Magus of the Jar, Wheel of Fate and Burning Inquiry and be built by someone much smarter than me. /BOLDPREDICTION

Even if I'm wrong (likely), your discard is all opponent's choice, so you're going to end up with the least optimal resource a lot. All that said, what are you thinking of pulling out for it?

[Mr. Safety]

I think Smallpox would be the only place I could cut for space. My current list is a hybrid of the two lists in the primer (Smallpox in the main, Bob in the board.)

My sneaking suspicion is that Waste Not is a card that has 'the danger of cool things.' It allows the Raven's Crime engine to get more value but that engine is already good at what it does: attacking an opponent's hand. I would have to agree that cards like Burning Inquiry and Blightning would fit a deck built around Waste Not much better. Reforge the Soul seems bonkers really.

[FTW]

My prediction, which I have absolutely no data to support, is that Waste Not will end up being useless in every deck not built to completely abuse it. My best guess for THAT deck is that it will use things like Reforge the Soul, Magus of the Jar, Wheel of Fate and Burning Inquiry and be built by someone much smarter than me. /BOLDPREDICTION

That deck has a major hardon for Notion Thief

[raphinhu]

Have you thought of playing Young Pyromancer?
You will be able to get a token out of each retrace you cast....

[Mr. Safety]

It's an idea for sure, but I'd rather play maindeck Pyroclasm. It's just a preferance, I've seen other lists that use YP. It's great with Smallpox because you can sack the token it creates with the trigger.

[danielhicks]

I really like the idea of this deck, it feels like every card, turn, and move you do is crucial when playing. However, Loam Control is kind of a lame name. How about something like Super Compost.

Also, here is a more balls to the walls version of this deck that I have been trying:

Spells(30)
4 Faithless Looting
4 Flame Jab
4 Raven's Crime
4 Mulch
4 Life from the Loam
4 Summer Bloom *
4 Smallpox
2 Worm Harvest

Lands (30)
4 Blood Crypt
4 Stomping Ground
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Fire-Lit Thicket *
4 Graven Cairns
4 Twilight Mire
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Forest

*The summer bloom and mulch are nice when playing 30 lands and you can just start churning through your deck with faithless looting for loam.

*The Shadowmoore lands are really helpful when you want to cast 3 ravens crimes on one turn and switch to 3 flame jabs the next.

[YamiJoey]

I'd rather just play Explore than Summer Bloom. Less Land Drops, but better when you're not already winning.

[Mr. Safety]

You want balls to the wall? Spellweaver Helix.

I tried mulch, wasn't a fan. Summer Bloom doesn't do anything powerful here other than set up 5 lands for harvest. I don't think that is good enough. Also, not playing manlands is 100% wrong.

[danielhicks]

kk no summer bloom :(

Man lands sounds awesome, but what lands to cut? and if im not playing summer bloom, then maybe i shouldnt be playing 30 lands.

[Mr. Safety]

If you want to play 30 lands, then splash blue for Treasure Hunt. Honestly, that lends itself to Seismic Swans as a more powerful engine, but it could be good. This thread is mostly to discuss Loam-based control (the usual suspects of Ravens' Crime, Flame Jab, Liliana, graveyard-based card advantage, etc.)

[cherub_daemon]

So, I was thinking about a different deck altogether, when it occurred to me that Noxious Revival might be able to be used like a tutor in this deck. In particular, I'm wondering if you can use it to run fewer copies of the cards that you can't automatically recur, like Seismic Assault. Just for purposes of having a concrete suggestion, I'm wondering whether

+3 Noxious Revival
-1 Seismic Assault
-1 Smallpox
-1 Lightning Bolt

makes this deck more consistent.

[Mr. Safety]

How is Noxious Revival even remotely close to the power level of Infernal Tutor, a card that is so much stronger and yet I wouldn't play in this deck? Infernal is legal in modern and can allow you to double up on cards like Loam for protection or become a straight-up tutor once Liliana and Smallpox do their thing. The deck is already packing a metric ton of consistency; it plays the same in almost every game. I see Noxious Revival as redundancy that isn't neccessary. Faithless Looting is really good in this deck, especially once Loam gets available. You are essentially drawing two extra cards for one red mana. The flashback means it's always live, even when you discard it. I would play four Lootings before I played one Revival, and right now I can only (comfortably) squeeze in three.

Just my $0.02, but I tried out Revival and it wasn't that great. Granted it was only a singleton, but I still don't like it much. Hitting three lands isn't hard, even with Smallpox, so why wouldn't a card like Eternal Witness be a better plan? Honestly, from my point of view, I'd rather just stick to plan A: attack their hand, attack their board, use Loam to create inevitability and 'combo out' with Seismic Assault/Flame Jab.

However, I am not so bullheaded as to shoot down a potential idea. Have you tried this yet? I think the real selling point is that it's an instant that can put Loam on top of your library to save from Graveyard hate (ooze, deathrite, etc.)

[cherub_daemon]

However, I am not so bullheaded as to shoot down a potential idea. Have you tried this yet? I think the real selling point is that it's an instant that can put Loam on top of your library to save from Graveyard hate (ooze, deathrite, etc.)

I have not tried it. As I said, it was an idea that occurred to me when I was thinking about a different deck, and I was just spitballing here. You make good points, and the fact that it's instant protection for Loam is unlikely to be enough to make it worth it.

[fogxanic]

Im planning to change from Jund to aggroloam list something like this one http://mtgpulse.com/event/15181#213684. What do you think about playing Ray of Revelations on sb and add like one godless shrine? Destroys rip and leyline. Also 1 of young pyromancer in countryside crushers slot.

[Mr. Safety]

Splashing white with loam? Ahem, Knight of the Reliquary .

Also, how is ray better than abrupt decay?

Edit: sorry, missed the leyline part. Still, we have plenty of options in jund colors. Ray works if dredged, but I don't think its worth the mana fragility without knights. Deathrite could pull it off, but that is moot. Nature's claim seems good, or simply getting some number of pulse into the deck. I play 2 in the main.

[fogxanic]

Splashing white with loam? Ahem, Knight of the Reliquary .

Also, how is ray better than abrupt decay?

Edit: sorry, missed the leyline part. Still, we have plenty of options in jund colors. Ray works if dredged, but I don't think its worth the mana fragility without knights. Deathrite could pull it off, but that is moot. Nature's claim seems good, or simply getting some number of pulse into the deck. I play 2 in the main.

Ok, maybe im not splashing white. I would play the reanimator version with unburial rites with white color.

I also bought worm harvest and smallpoxes for creatureless version. I like that list, path and terminate does nothing against it.

Did some playtesting on friday with infect. Seems ok matchup but have to have something like flame jab or inquisition for win. Inkmoth nexus is their best creature against us.

[Mr. Safety]

Bolts and GQ in the main, ancient grudge out of the board. I really like Dragon's Claw in this matchup, the incidental lifegain from retracing jab and flashing back grudge is very good. Smallpox is 100% awesome in this matchup as well.

[fogxanic]

Went today 4-0 at local modern tournament with 23 players. Deck was very good an aggro list with 1 worm harvest. Maybe next time im playing smallpox version.

Matches: Livind end 2-1, Scapeshift 2-1, WW martyr 2-0, rock 2-1.

[Mr. Safety]

List?

The higher the saturation of zoo, the better smallpox gets.

[fogxanic]

List?

The higher the saturation of zoo, the better smallpox gets.

Here is my list: I think some more fetches are needed because in few games I didn't have any green mana :cry:

Creature [10]
2 Countryside Crusher
4 Dark Confidant
3 Tarmogoyf
1 Young Pyromancer
Sorcery [17]
4 Life from the Loam
3 Raven's Crime
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Faithless Looting
3 Flame Jab
1 Worm Harvest
Enchantment [3]
3 Seismic Assault

Land [27]
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Twilight Mire
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Arid Mesa
1 Raging Ravine
3 Graven Cairns
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Marsh Flats
1 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Blood Crypt
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Planeswalker [3]
3 Liliana of the Veil



Side
2 Torpor Orb
2 Spellskite
2 Contaminated Ground
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Creeping Corrosion
2 Pillar of Flame

[Mr. Safety]

Just some observations:

1) None of your threats have evasion. Bitterblossom is a thing.
2) Jund has gone to 3-4 abrupt decay in the main, its probably correct here.
3) It looks like Anger of the Gods would also be good. It dodges all but bob.
4) As stated earlier, zoo is prevalent again. I like smallpox and kitchen finks better than goyfs, seriously.
5) Traditional jund seems to be a better beatdown deck. Smallpox is a better control deck. You're somewhere in limbo, trying to be both and dealing with the resulting variance. If you want aggro, put in playsets of your threats and play accordingly. If you want control, I stro gly suggest bob in the board and only kitchen finks in the main. It lets you play a much consistent game plan, whichever is your focus. If you want a balance, traditional jund makes more sense. Check out Willy Edels deck tech from PT Valencia.

[fogxanic]

Hey your primer has something wrong with smallpox version list. Wrong total number of cards.

Sorceries - 23
4x Life from the Loam
4x Smallpox
4x Raven's Crime
3x Faithless Looting
2x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Flame Jab
1x Worm Harvest

Instants - 5
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Abrupt Decay

[Mr. Safety]

Whoopsy...will correct soon.

I don't see any reason why anger of the gods shouldn't be used. I picked up a playset with the intent of testing it out.

[fogxanic]

I tried your list (+1 anger because of there are only 59 cards) today at FNM. Went 2-2. I think bob version is better it gives more pressure. Also more things for opponent to counter. I couldn't get through RUG player counters.


Whoopsy...will correct soon.

I don't see any reason why anger of the gods shouldn't be used. I picked up a playset with the intent of testing it out.

[Mr. Safety]

Primer has been updated. Currently using anger and thoughtseize in the maindeck, seems good with pod and combo being so prevalent.

[Megadeus]

Primer has been updated. Currently using anger and thoughtseize in the maindeck, seems good with pod and combo being so prevalent.

Anger is unfortunately not modern legal. Or I'd play it

[Mr. Safety]

Short for Anger of the Gods, not anger the card. :)

Sideboard is in flux. I have a rough one in the primer, but I'm thinking about huntmaster teaming with bob.

[Mr. Safety]

Bloodghast-powered version took 18th at SCG Premier IQ last weekend in Washington.


http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=79239

[YamiJoey]

I apologise for everything about this post, but this is the list a friend of mine uses. This was pre Delve bannings.

https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10929224_10153521523763942_2299668493036105637_n.jpg?oh=b4ba39d03555e504459df42bf0807188&oe=5526291B