[Deck] Aggro Loam

[Pilhas]

Lately I do not bring Leylines.
What I do is:
-4 Cotv
-1 Teeg
-1 Deluge
+3 swords
+2 charm
+1 rec sage

Sometimes I bring 2 thoughtseize instead of the 2nd charm and cut 1 GSZ , but I am not in love with this.

Note: I am not running planeswalkers, just upped the swords count by 1

[MatsOle]

Congrats @Stuhl on the finish.

I think vindicate might be a tad slow in the post top ban meta, it also doesn't look like aluren and food chain are as big as they used to be so maybe even playing brutality main might be good? Better vs s&t, elves, storm game one then most other options.


Also maze really doesn't do much in the mirror post board, all it does is fog for a turn. As all you care about is knight and if you're winning it could just be another card.

[Nocley]

Congrats @Stuhl on the finish.

I think vindicate might be a tad slow in the post top ban meta, it also doesn't look like aluren and food chain are as big as they used to be so maybe even playing brutality main might be good? Better vs s&t, elves, storm game one then most other options.


Also maze really doesn't do much in the mirror post board, all it does is fog for a turn. As all you care about is knight and if you're winning it could just be another card.

I've always liked Brutality in this deck recently, but I was only trimming it for the 3rd liliana, which I keep going back and forth about. I don't like having 0 vindicates in the 75, I sometimes really want a 1 spell destroy and problem 4 cmc walker. But I think that could be replaced with a Pulse, and that I'm comfortable with as a single one in the 75.

[Bosque]

I saw this list mentioned in an article about MKM Frankfurt, where it made top 8 (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles...ek-without-top). I'd never seen a blue splash like this before.

Creatures (10)
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Vendilion Clique

Planeswalkers (2)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Spells (10)
2 Flusterstorm
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Daze 1u
2 Life from the Loam
4 Punishing Fire
1 Council's Judgement

Artifacts (10)
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Mox Diamond

Enchantments (1)
1 Sylvan Library

Lands (26)
1 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Karakas
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Maze of Ith
1 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
2 Windswept Heath

Sideboard (15)
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Wear // Tear
1 Flusterstorm
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Containment Priest
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Meddling Mage
1 Dack Fayden
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Firespout
1 Telemin Performance

[Bobmans]

I saw this list mentioned in an article about MKM Frankfurt, where it made top 8 (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles...ek-without-top). I'd never seen a blue splash like this before.

Dropped at 5-2 because I had some medical issues and decided to go home. Deck was awesome. It would need someone who has more time than me to test the deck. A friend of mine played it as well and we had a lot of fun. Like Dazing your opponents FOW on your Chalice, hitting a Primeval Titan with Telemin Performance or stealing a Blightsteel Colossus with Dack Fayden. It was great :D

Yes, we know. Very interesting list. See Kronbergers post on the list.

[Bosque]

Yes, we know. Very interesting list. See Kronbergers post on the list.

Oops, sorry I didn't go back far enough!

[Treacleson]

I haven't read the list , but it's kind of a shame that all development efforts are being focused on the U version of the deck. I hope the stock build doesn't shift to another u/x goodstuff shell featuring jace and deathrite, theres a little to much of that in legacy already.

So long moderately budget builds of the deck.

[apocolyps6]

Wat. Niklas posts a loam-ish brew like a day ago and suddenly the archetype is dead? I think you are overreacting just a tad.

[Nocley]

I was jamming the blue version for a bit these past few days, it's cute, and extremely fun to play, but I'm not convinced it is any better than the traditional black version. Liliana is still absurdly good, and the blue version has less ways to deal with a JTMS that's resolved. But wow, with blue it feels like playing a legacy cube deck in a constructed tournament. Overall, having Jace in the 4 slot makes hands much more awkward than before - there's a lot of hands that are way too slow.

[Jo4source]

Hi everyone,

I'm the confused looking guy who top8'ed the MKM series with (classic) Aggro Loam this weekend. There is also one feature match on twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/139161769) covering my only loss in the swiss rounds (ironically against Eldrazi).

I will share my thoughts about the 75 and give you a tournament report. I did not write down any notes so it will be rather short.


Main Deck:

4 Dark Confidant
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mox Diamond
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Life from the Loam
2 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sylvan Library
3 Punishing Fire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wasteland
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 badlands
1 Taiga
1 Savannah
1 Barren Moor
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Maze of Ith
1 Karakas
1 Cabal Pit
1 Forest

Sideboard:

3 Leyline of the Void
1 Garruk Relentless / Garruk, the Veil-Cursed
2 Golgari Charm
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Containment Priest
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality

I think I played a pretty stock list (mixture of several MTGO results) this weekend. I will just point out the MD flex slots and the SB:

Main:

• No Deathrite Shaman: A lot of people play DS as a one off. In the opening hand he is a sweet card. Drawing him during the game with a Chalice on 1 is weird. Zenith for 1 on T1 (via Mox) is in my eyes either a "I don't have anything better to do" or "my opponent plays Reanimator" action. Often this play is bad anyways when you figure out your opponent is on Storm and you just wasted your Zenith to get Gaddock Teeg.
  Long story short: I felt like DS is not that impactful enough and decided to use this slot for Ghost Quarter.
  
• Ghost Quarter: I felt like there will be a lot 4c good stuff lists consisting of a Leovold BUG core. As these decks do not play any basic lands Ghost Quarter essentially functions as Wasteland #5. Mana denial is really strong against all these greedy 4c lists.
  
• Toxic Deluge: People have different tastes when it comes to the Deluge/Pulse/Vindicate slot. Inspired by MatsOle I started to test Vindicate. I never really liked it. In this new meta Elves, Stoneblade, Delver, DnT and other creature based decks seem to have a comeback and whenever I drew Vindicate I wished it was a Deluge.

Sideboard:

• Planeswalker: I only played one Planeswalker in my SB. I definitely would like to play Chandra, Torch of Defiance again but right now it seems like more Planeswalker in the SB make our better MUs better (i.e. 4c greed lists, Delver, grindy MUs in general) but do not help in worse MUs (i.e. fast combo, Burn, UR Delver). However, I'm not sure if Garruk is the right choice as a Planeswalker (never really saw him this tournament anyways). I'm sure this is also a matter of taste.
  
• Collective Brutality: Burn/UR Delver and fast combo decks are not a good MU for Aggro Loam. We also struggle with Deathrite Shaman. In my eyes Collective Brutality is a flexible card which can be used as a simple removal spell to handle a problematic creature (DS/Delver/Bob/...), taking a spell (combo piece/burn spell/removal/...) or simply gain some life against burn decks. The beaty is that all these possibilities can be combined by just discarding land cards (or recursion cards like Loam/PFire) to maybe grow our KotR or fill the grave for Cabal Pit. Moreover you can play this as a discard spell over Chalice on 1.
  
• Reclamation Sage: With the rise of DnT, Stoneblade and Sneak and Show (possibly also Aluren and Food Chain) decks I think we definitely want this card.
  
• Thoughtseize: In the fear of combo decks I decided to play 2 Thoughtseize as well. Against real combo we also want a T1 disruption which can handle everything. Especially in case of a no-Mox hand a T1 play is very important.
  
• Containment Priest: I just wanted to have some more hate against Sneak and Show decks.

I think the rest of the SB is pretty stock as well.

Tournament report:

Round #1: Mirror (2-1)

As it is the nature of Aggro Loam mirrors it was a grindfest. I won the 1st game with fast KotR.
Game #2 I started with Leyline but my opponent was able to stick his Bob early and take over the game.
Game #3 I again had a Leyline. After some grinding we both were in top deck mode. Besides my Leyline I had the better draws here so I was able to take over the game.


Round #2: Burn (2-0)

I think my opponent was pretty new to the format. He also seemed nervous. I won game #1 with a big KotR and Lili (for some reason he did not kill her, so he had to discard burn spells).
Game#2 he started with Goblin Guide. I played Brutality with all modes on T1 (living the dream, discarding two lands) followed by a 4/4 KotR T2.

Round #3: Elves (2-0)

Game #1 won Chalice on 1 and a timely Deluge.
Game #2 my opponent started with Leyline but the game was ruled by Gaddock Teeg, Lili and Ethersorn Canonist making it more or less impossible for my opponent to do anything. Yet, my clock was pretty slow (2/2 KotR) and I had to give him a lot of draws. In the end Lili ulti closed out the game.

Round #4: Infect (2-1)

Game #1 I was killed by a T3 Blighted Agent in berserk mode (did not find a removal).
Game #2 I killed his Hierarch and wasted his Topical Island. As it turned out he kept a one lander...
Game #3 I had a T1 Bob into several Decays so I could kill all the Infecters he played. Bob put me ahead from there.

Round #5: Jund (2-1)

Game #1 I had large KotR to grind the game out. Also Chalice on 1 did some little things like countering a cascaded DS.
Game #2 I was overrun by big Goyfs.
Game #3 my opponents mana base was soft and he could not handle my Wasteland/Loam hand. I finally won woth big KotRs.

Round #6: UR Delver (2-0)

We all know that this isn't the best MU. However, game #1 I resolved a Chalice on 1 and apparently got him totally on 1 cmc spells. After wasting one of his two Volcanic Islands the game was over.
Game #2 was also won by a Chalice on 1. He did not find his Smashes and Bedlam Reveller gave him three 1 cmc spells while being smaller than my KotR.


Round #7: Elves [Julian Knab] (2-0)

I honestly don't know how I won game #1. He was on the play, I mulled to five keeping a desperate one lander with Mox, PFire, Grove, Lili and KotR and scryed a land on top. All my draws were perfectly sequenced according to this starting hand so that I was able to fight through 2 active DS and take over the game.
Game #2 I had the nuts. T1 Ethersworn Canonist into T2 PFire with Grove into T3 Chalice on 1.

Round #8: Stoneblade (1-1-1)

Game #1 I lost to a TNN. He had 3 Noble Hierarchs not giving my Lili a chance to do something here. Did not find Deluge.
Game #2 I was able to take the game over with Wastelands.
Game #3 was a grindfest and at some point both of us had our hand full of removal spells but the battlefield was empty. Rec Sage killed his Batterskull which was very relevant.

Round #9: Eldrazi (1-2)

I did not play smooth in Game #1. As I did not know on what deck my opponent was I desiced to not play Mox on T1 but rater fake a BUG deck by just playing Catacombs. Apparently he knew that I was on Loam as he played his Chalice on 0 destroying my plan to play Lili on T2. He countered the Deluge I set up to get rid of 2 TNS and an Endless One. However, I should have known that he had Warping Wail as both TNS did not take my Deluge. With that in mind I shouldn't have wasted his Eye of Ugin but rather his mana producing land as this would have risen my chances that he does not have 2 mana to cast Warping Wail.
Game #2 I won through a very grindy fight.
Game #3 I kept a slow hand (Library, Zenith, Loam,Rec Sage) without Removal or Wastelands. As it turned out he had a super fast start. His board was weak but I was too slow to find answers. Should have mulliganed this hand for sure.

Round #10: 4c Czech Pile [Thomas Mar] (2-0)

Game #1 won a T1 Bob. He did not find an answer to Bob (concerning that he pondered really hard I think I was pretty lucky here) and soon a Chalice on 1 closed the game.
Game #2 I was on the Wasteland/Loam plan. With finally 6 Dual Lands in his graveyard the game was over.

Quarter Finals: BR Reanimator (1-2)

My opponent had a better placement so he was on the play and started with a T1 Griselbrand as he knew I was on Loam and had no disruption.
Game #2 I hade double Leyling into Ooze into Chalice on 1.
Game #3 I did not find a Leyline. My mulligan to 5 has at least a Chalice on 1. Well, he put a T1 Gravetitan on the battlefield...


I hope you found this useful. I felt very comfortable with the deck. However, I was lucky to never face any Sneak and Show decks in 10 rounds :D

Congratulations on the top 8

The blue version of this deck seems interesting. However, I don't like blue.deck :D

Hey sthul I like to ask why you did not include a tab or chains in the SB. I know they are expensive pices of card board but I like to know if they would help in any matchup?

[Treacleson]

suddenly the archetype is dead?

Your words not mine. I'm just loathe to see the deck devolve into ubgx good stuff like every midrange deck in the format.

[CptHaddock]

Hey sthul I like to ask why you did not include a tab or chains in the SB. I know they are expensive pices of card board but I like to know if they would help in any matchup?

I haven't tried chains but I like tabernacle, neither is 100% necessary though. Tablenacle is just a nice tool to have in any matchup where your opponent is going to be playing a bunch of creatures creatures. At the same time you are muddying up your already sketchy manabase and it the tax can hurt you in certain games.

[Bobmans]

I haven't tried chains but I like tabernacle, neither is 100% necessary though. Tablenacle is just a nice tool to have in any matchup where your opponent is going to be playing a bunch of creatures creatures. At the same time you are muddying up your already sketchy manabase and it the tax can hurt you in certain games.

I guess this confirms that 1000, - for a situational nice tool is not worth it.

[Stuhl]

Hey sthul I like to ask why you did not include a tab or chains in the SB. I know they are expensive pices of card board but I like to know if they would help in any matchup?

Hi,

well, first there is of course the money thing. I do not own either card although I had the possibility to play them as I have connections. However I decided to practice without those cards as I really like owning stuff and not being depended on other people. I know this is not a really competitive habitude but it's somehow my thing.

That is the reason why I did not practice with Tabernacle online although it is really cheap (like 13 tix). I don't like to practice with cards I may not have available in paper magic for 100%.

The night before the tournament however I played some games with Tabernacle (one always tends to netdeck and do things other good players do -> speaking of MatsOle's lists). Nevertheless, I felt uncomfortable as I had no experience with it and did not board very good enough so I decided to not play it. I think you always should play what you tested and stick to it. In legacy it is not paying out to copy good lists just because they won very often. You need the experience more than any online results.

Besides that I always felt like it isn't necessary in MUs like Delver or BUG. It always felt clunky in my hand and sometimes it is random whether your opponent keeps a land or creature heavy hand.

I think I had 2 online games against Storm were I would have won with KotR into Tabernacle against Empty the Warrens. Actually I think Tabernacle is at its best against Storm and DnT.

DnT feels actually pretty good these days (imo) and I feel like I have lots of tools to beat Storm. Against all other creature decks I think Swords or a clean answer often solves your problems in a better way.

Even against Elves Tabernacle is not an auto win. They often can negate it with Cradle and just go for Natural Order. Elves is a good MU anyways.

Yes it is a very good card. So I think it is totally legit to play Tabernacle as it is totally legit to not play it. It depends on what you want.

Chains on the other side I wouldn't play for sure despite owning it or not. I think the card is not necessary. We have Chalice to lock them from cantripping and other good answers to blue decks. Chains also put no pressure on the board, too.

[Digitend89]

Played a couple of standstill list online and am looking for tips.

Standstill on empty board: break at the end of their turn when their hand is full and they have to discard?
Standstill with a threat on their side: just pop it?
Standstill with a threat on your side: no reason to pop it?

[Jo4source]

@ sthul thanks for your time and reply. I'm a guy that wants to play this style of deck loam, grindy, jund like. Also I kept getting beaten by fish as a delver player. Any ways I own a beat up tabernacle and want to make sure my list is optimal because I do want to win and hone in on the deck. I also don't really find my self as a blue player but I like to win so I gravitated to blue. Do you think this is the best deck that dose not play blue?

Hey if your committed to aggro loam want to start a fb group?

[CptHaddock]

Played a couple of standstill list online and am looking for tips.

Standstill on empty board: break at the end of their turn when their hand is full and they have to discard?
Standstill with a threat on their side: just pop it?
Standstill with a threat on your side: no reason to pop it?

In most cases it's just correct to break it EOT.

[inevitablepnut]

I see people talking about "goodstuff" and I have been milling this around in my head lately. What about a bug list? It would almost be like bug control with a depths finisher. Bug imo just has the best tools at its disposal and the loam engine is just soo powerful. You be able to recure gouf and leovold with volraths stronghold. Also having access to brainstorm and abruptly decay alone is good! Any thoughts?

[Bobmans]

I see people talking about "goodstuff" and I have been milling this around in my head lately. What about a bug list? It would almost be like bug control with a depths finisher. Bug imo just has the best tools at its disposal and the loam engine is just soo powerful. You be able to recure gouf and leovold with volraths stronghold. Also having access to brainstorm and abruptly decay alone is good! Any thoughts?

I suppose you could take a look at UBGx Landstill. Another thing that has some interesting interaction is Intuition and Life from the Loam. But anyway, if we are going to talk U and Brainstorm, then the deck isn't really Aggro Loam anymore; besides, wasn't the Aggro Loam build not more of an ANTI blue deck?

[CptHaddock]

I see people talking about "goodstuff" and I have been milling this around in my head lately. What about a bug list? It would almost be like bug control with a depths finisher. Bug imo just has the best tools at its disposal and the loam engine is just soo powerful. You be able to recure gouf and leovold with volraths stronghold. Also having access to brainstorm and abruptly decay alone is good! Any thoughts?

There is a BUG Loam that someone has played to some success although it's more control based than midrangey.