[Deck] Swans-Loam

[Honoluluicecaps]

So I've been trying to think of ways to abuse Swans of Bryn Argoll in Legacy, and while bouncing around deckcheck I found this deck which won a small tournament in Europe:

http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=21662
(Hope the attached link doesn't violate ToS, couldn't find it)

Meat (35):
1x Eternal Witness
3x Swans of Bryn Argoll
3x Terravore

3x Chain of Plasma

4x Burning Wish
1x Conflagrate
3x Life from the Loam

3x Seismic Assault
3x Solitary Confinement

4x Chalice of the Void
3x Engineered Explosives
4x Mox Diamond

Lands (25):
2x Bloodstained Mire
1x Forest
4x Forgoten Cave
1x Mountain
1x Plateau
1x Savannah
2x Taiga
4x Tranquil Thicket
4x Wasteland
1x Windswept Heath

Board:
3x Ingot Chewer
3x Krosan Grip
3x Swords to Plowshares
1x Firespout
1x Hull Breach
1x Life from the Loam
1x Regrowth
1x Shattering Spree
1x Tsunami

I don't think in it's current form that this deck is as good as it can be. For one, I don't like the wishboard... if you are going to use the power that is Burning Wish I'd like there to be more targets. I think Devastating Dreams can be considered as opposed to the large amount of artifact hate, even though I play in a heavy countertop meta. I'm not a big fan of the fetchland-fetchable land ratio either...

I'd like there to be more answers to Zoo/otherpureaggro than there are maindeck, but maybe I'm just blowing smoke up my a$$ and the list is already ideal, I'm just not sure that it is yet. I think this deck can really be good, but I always get uncomfortable when I'm playing a green deck and there's no Tarmogoyf, but maybe this is the deck to ignore it. And thoughts on Countryside Crusher instead of Terravore? Getting some blue sources to run an Academy Ruins/EE lock? There has also been some discussion as to whether or not to take out Solitary Confinement and put something more proactive in there. All thoughts are welcome.

Hopefully with some input I can begin to post some matchups, but first I want to make sure that this is in fact a viable deck as it is very fun to play. Thanks for reading!

[MTG-Fan]

Swans seems sort of win-more in AggroLoam, imho.

[coraz86]

I think if you're going to run a controllish deck with white in it like this, StP seems like a necessity to get you to the late game, especially considering that the opponent's life total is almost irrelevant by the time this deck gets around to winning.

I also wonder about the potential of a Seismic Swans deck with the CounterTop shell (CB, Top, Brainstorm, maybe Force), although I don't know if you intended to go that route or if we should start another thread for it.

[Zork]

I'm surprised at the lack of Devastating Dreams. The possability of wiping your opponent's entire board while also filtering your own hand AND keeping a threat in play seems like some-good.

At least a wishboard slot.

[DragoFireheart]

I'm surprised at the lack of Devastating Dreams. The possability of wiping your opponent's entire board while also filtering your own hand AND keeping a threat in play seems like some-good.

At least a wishboard slot.


Gonna have to agree with this. I see the potential of main-decking mass red removal like DD, Volcanic Fallout or Firespout.

[Honoluluicecaps]

@Zork+Drago: I agree that the lack of devastating dreams is a glaring issue, but the only slot I can see really dropping something would be in the Solitary Confinement slot. So something along the lines of +3 Devastating Dreams, -3 Solitary Confinement, +1 DD in the board. I suppose we could put one VF in the board too, but DD seems so much more effective with what we're trying to do here.

@MTG-fan: Swans allows for a turn 4 or 5 win, albeit at this point I do not have extensive testing with this deck, it's not hard to see the power. Casting swans may be difficult to get through a counter-wall, but there are a few different win-cons and the deck isn't dependent on them.

@coraz: I wasn't really going towards a controllish route to be honest, the confinement was left over from the build that I found while doing research and is honestly my least favorite part of this deck.

More thoughts on additions/subtractions to the wishboard?

[Shanghi Knights]

this might come off as mana heavy but what about powerstone mindfield in this deck?

doesn't bother swans on the attack or block and its a constant red removal that stay on the field.

Card type: Enchantment

Casting cost: 2RW

Card text: Whenever a creature attacks or blocks, Powerstone Minefield deals 2 damage to it.

[Pulp_Fiction]

This could actually be really good but you would have to put the Confinements in the SB. As it is, the deck is WAY to reliant on the graveyard. Also, why not include Goyf ...

I like the focus of the deck but really is seems to fall into the "danger of cool things" zone since it has all of the weaknesses of Aggro Loam and then some. Why someone would want to play this over Aggro Loam ... I have no idea, through tweaking it could probalby be made very competetive but it seems just inferior to straight up Loam.

I suppose if you wanted to make it better you could add black (between 4 moxes WW in Swans should not be hard to cast) for Maelstrom Pulse which is essential in dealing with Leyline of the Void and other garbage like Withered Wretch and Relics. I think a good starting point would be:
-1 Seismic Assault
-1 Eternal Witness
-3 Soltari Confinement
-3 Terravore
-1 Chain of Plasma
-1 Forgotten Cave

+1 Volrath's Stronghold
+3 Tarmogoyf
+2 Maelstrom Pulse
+2 Countryside Crusher
+2 Devastating Dreams

That form of configuration would act like typical Aggro Loam (to an extent) with a combo finish. You could also remove Chalice and put in Thoughtseize/Cabal Therapy but Chalice seems better in the build as it just flat out stops StP and you have no creature that you actually want to sac to flashback Therapy.

[Honoluluicecaps]

I've been testing some versions with goyf but I'm not really sure that Terravore isn't just better in this deck. I'll need more testing, but in some matchups he's not really getting bigger than a 3/4 by turn 4 or 5, which is the ideal turn for me to combo-off. Goyf is easier to counter for Counter-top decks that Vore is because of the CC, and Terravore is good because if nothing else he ends the game in usually two turns assuming he doesn't get removed, whereas Goyf can take 3 or 4 assuming he's unblocked. While he's better than every other creature 98% of the time, I don't think he is in this deck.

For consideration, I've begun testing Knight of the Reliquary as a means of running a land toolbox main, and while he doesn't have trample, he does allow me the possibility of running Nantuko Monestary, Wasteland, and the like, in addition to any other suggestions you guys may have that makes him valuable.

I don't know if adding a fourth color for two pulses, a stronghold, and maybe a thoughtseize in the board (for when I don't draw chalice) is worth it. Leyline sucks that's true, but Wretch is hardly played anymore if at all in my meta. If anything Krosan Grip main for Leyline and CB would be more consistent than running a fourth color, imo. Relic also costs one, which is stopped by Chalice at 1, and MD three grips would mean 7 slots aimed at stopping that particular card. If they play it turn one, I still have a decent chance once I start dredging my deck at finding a Grip if they hold off on cracking the Relic too long.

At the end of the day the problem for this deck is STILL combo, not any build where Strongholds, Goyfs, and Crushers matter all that much. There combo is faster than mine, so possibilities of SB Silence, Orim's Chant, or other combo disrupters that are in the blue vein are probably what we should think about. I continue to appreciate all comments and suggestions.

[Shanghi Knights]

just to second pulp you really need to make room for Dreams. It can be the decks non graveyard dependent win. working better with knight i think. either you go for an insane land wipe with swans combo or just go for the usual knight and dreams effect.

second its hard to squeeze them in but when i ran swans in a blue control style i found simian spirit guide really helpful for comboing out. but i assume the moxs will be sufficient. i mean if conflagrate is removed then the only other option is a heavy 3 red sesmic assault if it isn't already in play yet.

[Wargoos]

Hey,
I actually participated in the same tourney when this guy won.
I was playing an early version of TA and defeated him 2-1.
I was also pretty much surprised, when I realized that he was playing Swans in a Loam Shell and asked him, why he was playing this deck and why over straight loam.

His answers:
-First of all, he's a type2 player only.

-He was playing it, because it was kinda the tech that time (assault + swans) in type2.

-He played no goyfs because he didn't owned any.

-He played no DD because he does not know of this cards existence since he does not give a damn about legacy.

-He is also an arrogant ass who does not regard legacy players to be competetive and legacy as a real format.

-I hate that prick.

-He just went first, because he had better opp-score than me.
I finished third ...

Also the local legacy meta is as good as non-developed, which also helped him to the top quite a bit.

Also I don't see, why this should be better than ordinary loam, but you could maybe try some 5c-intuition-loam-control-pile with the swans finish.

[Honoluluicecaps]

Hahaha EaD I appreciate your inside information, I have been wondering about the Devastating Dreams and the Terravores. The deck however is testing incredibly well, and once I added Simian Spirit Guides I found that I could pretty consistently combo off on turn 3 or 4, and even if plasma gets countered, the traditional loam shell allows me to win games.

The reason I like this build right now is that if Seismic Assault gets countered, I can usually cast a second one with the SSG and the Mox Diamonds allow me to flashback Conflagrate as well, all in one turn. Granted disruption is always prevalent, so I'm not getting ahead of myself with testing. I intend on running this version at Dream Wizards in Maryland on August 14th, and I'll give you guys a detailed tournament update (assuming I can remember).

The current version I'm testing is the following:

Creatures (10):
3x Swans
3x Tarmogoyf (at the end of the day, he's just the best :cool: )
1x Eternal Witness
3x Simian Spirit Guides

Meat (26):
3x Life from the Loam
3x Seismic Assault
2x Devastating Dreams
4x Burning Wish
4x Chalice of the Void
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Conflagrate
3x Chain of Plasma
4x Mox Diamond

Lands (24):
4x Tranquil Thicket
3x Forgotten Cave
2x Taiga
2x Plateau
1x Savannah
3x Wasteland
1x Forest
1x Mountain
1x Stomping Grounds
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Windswept Heath

[Shanghi Knights]

you packing any particular sideboard cards that stand out for this build? Over normal stuff you'd find in a regular aggro loam sideboard.