KntrellCL
05-28-2013, 04:52 AM
Ive been working on a Control deck which use Life from the Loam engine for card advantage and develop mana base without failing land drops.
Spells [34]
Counterspells [11]
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Spell Snare
Cantrips [7]
4 Brainstorm
3 Life from the Loam
Assist [3]
3 Intuition
Board-Control [10]
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Punishing Fire
4 Swords to Plowshares
Win Condition [3]
3 Jace, the Mindsculptor
Lands[27]
Mana Source [18]
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Savannah
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Forest
Utility Lands [4]
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
2 Tranquil Thicket
Control [3]
3 Wasteland
Manlands [2]
2 Mishra's Factory
Cards selection:
Counters: I like the idea of playing counters on this deck in a big number (trying to support Force of will on early turns). Spell pierce is really good at spells which are really annoying against this deck (since this deck plays a lot of creatures removal). Spell snare has shown to be really good, it gets rid of Dark Confidant, Sylvan Library, Snapcasters, GOYFS (too much pressure if you dont have StP on hand) and Hymn to Tourach (which is almost useless if you have loam online) but it hurts on early game.
Cantrips:
Brainstorm is just a 4-of on any U-based deck and is just Nuts with LFTL. Is just one of the best cards on legacy and I take full advantage of this card on this deck. You can use any of its draw to dredge loam back to your hand. This has shown to be very useful in plenty of diferent situations.... you can get back multiple copies of loam (ie... two copies on GY, and take 1 back to the deck and shuffle) or some other times you need to hit Punishing Fire into the GY or Wasteland/Academy or EE. If you cast a loam BEFORE BS... you can get back some dual lands you dredge away with 1 fetch, taking back those dual lands and then fetch again. In any other case, you can just brainstorm as normal.
Life from the Loam... this card has been my favorite since its release. You can create entire decks around it or using it as an assist card. I like the fact it helps to almost never fail a land drop, which is VERY important on control decks. It also provides cycle lands to keep drawing, a lot of fetchlands, fix mana colors and recursible wastelands.
I like the idea of playing wasteland with LFTL but it's not the main strategy, i like them on this deck to waste opossing groves of the burnwillows, which is a very powerful engine against control.
Assists:
Intuition: with this card you can get part of the engines you need on that or future moments. You can create a bunch of diferents package with intuition. Also a blue card to pitch with FOW. For 2U you can ensure to land grove/punishing engine and loam or Academy/EE/loam engine against aggro. Or Loam/thicket/thicket against control or something simple like 3 EE against a bunch of Goyfs attacking.
Board Control:
I know this is a very slow deck, so Im trying to keep it alive against aggro decks.
White provides us with the best creature removal, Swords to Plowshares. Enough reason to play it. I usually used this cards just for big creatures I usually cant get rid with Punishing Fire. White also provides good cards for SB.
Punishing Fire: This card gives you the advantage in long therms. Having "infinite" removals is just fantastic, you are trying to keep this game as long as you can. You can control easily opossing PWs with this card.
Engineered Explosives.... I chose this card for many reasons... you can blow out multiples Goyfs.... multiple dark shamans and some other permanents which I dont have any other answer (like artifacts and enchantments). With 4C, you can take care almost everything important you should be worried about.
PWs
Jace, TMS: Just the best PW in magic. You can take a lot of advantage with this card (as I explained on the Brainstorm section). It's a good finisher but Ive been using it very aggresively.
Mana base:
The mana base is PRETTY greedy and it needs protection.... I fetch ONLY if I needed it...
The single Forest has been my heroe (here... and in my Lands deck) is just fantastic... it ensures you can play LFTL everytime.
Utility Lands:
Academy ruins is used to abuse with EE, but it has some other functions.... Usually this deck goes through the entire deck. Sometimes if I want loam back but I want to protect the amount of cards my deck has left, I can get back EE in my oponents EOT and then doing it again on my Upkeep... ensuring i will dredge away 2 artifacts + 1 random card.
Karakas... is a really great card, its has almost no drawback.... so having it around has been very useful. I like playing 1 on MD for any urgency. (Also, I play Vendilion Clique on SB, it has a great interaction).
Tranquil Thicket: I usually used it to keep my LFTL safe, but it also works for drawing new spells. Every single card you draw, you can turn it into LFTL or a random card from the top. But sometimes, you need to drop a land AND draw a spell, so this card make this happen. It works wonderful for playing around oposing Cliques. You can draw on your draw step and the cycle on your main phase, get back loam.... casting it and then get back your Tranquil Thicket
Control Lands:
Wasteland: you can abuse of wasteland+LFTL but this is not the main strategy. I put this card to protect myself from other groves, cavern of souls or plenty of other utility lands which gives my oponent some recursion (ie. Volrath's Stronghold).
Man Lands:
Mishra's Factory.... this is just for flavor... I love mishra's factory but I have to admit that I started with 4 copies and now I have 2. Probably with the new rules, this cards will be change for 1 Thespian's Stage + 1 Dark Depths.
But I must say... on many cases... Factories were very good against Liliana, Mongoose and other cards!
Match Ups
Ive been testing on Cockatrice against random people and also with some friends. I also went to a 4 round Swiss tournament and did 4-0 against Esper Deathblade, Reanimator, Belcher and BUG Tempo. The deck's perfomance was awesome and I didnt do any changes until now.
Until now, Ive this results:
Esper Deathblade: Very Favorable. Punishing Fire does most of the work and LFTL is just too much for their greedy manabase. The only card you should worry is DRS.
RUG Delver: Even to favorable. It depends if they play Stifle or not. Stifle version has a little edge over the Non'Stifle version on this MU. This deck plays a little amount of creatures, so usually you have response with Goyfs and Delvers, but Mongoose is a real deal here. You should try to land a EE at 1 and destroy as many mongoose you can. Taking care of the R sources is also very important (more than the G sources), because you can Stabilize with very low life and they can reach you with some bolts.
BUG Delver: Favorable, this deck is just like RUG delver but just worst. Decays are death cards and they play no mongose. Tombstalker can be removed with StP or bounce with Jace. Some versions plays with Clique, so watch out with your loams or a bad Punishing Fire.
Show and Tell: Very Unfavorable, I can almost say you have no outs against this deck. They play the same amount of counters, but they have to protect just 1 time the Show n Tell and GG, especially if they go for Sneak Attack. Karakas is just not enough and StP gets countered 90% of the times with Griselbrand. You need Heavy SB on this MU
nd
Goblins: Even to Favorable.... if they started too quickly, almost no deck can beat that. Try to take care of Lackey and counter Aether vial and then stall the game with Punishing Fire. EE is "good" on this match up, but they play a lot of diferent CMC creatures. Swords are used to get rid of warchief and chieftain (most important creatures in mid game) and Fire should be used against Piledriver and other stuff. SB heavily on this MU too since your Counterspells are almost dead cards. Supreme Verdict and Blue Elemental Blast are good removals to keep up this MU.
Belcher: Very favorable. With 11 counters and 3 EE... they cant go for chalbelcher or goblins.
UW Miracles: Very Favorable.... same as esper.... Punishing Fire is just too strong on this MU. You can use EE against Counterbalance if they are playing any and also against their angels. Counters should be used against RIP if they are playing it....and watch out with Vendillion or Blood Moons. REB in SB is pretty sweet against opossing Jaces. Watch out for Back to Basics.
Jund: Favorable.... Punishing fire take care of DRS, Bobs, BBE. StP for Goyfs and Spell Snare does a lot of work on this MU. Sylvan Library is a card you should be worried. It gave them gas and you usually use a lot of groves so they can keep paying lifes!
Storm: Very Favorable. I cant tell that much on this MU but with 11 counters you should be doing great....
UB Tezzerator: Very Favorable... Until now, EE has been really good on this MU.... they produce a lot of Mana, especially with Sol lands, so spell pierce usually gets worse through the MU, but if you can keep wastelands in play, they get value again.... Spell Snare are use to keep Chalice out of the Way.... Baleful Strix is very slow clock, so dont worry about him... try to keep Tezz out of the board and Jace.
Burn: Very Unfavorable. Price of Progress will catch you up. Even if you could Stabilize, they will draw some burns and win at the end. Without a card like Counterbalance I think this is one of the most difficult MUs. Blue elemental blast and Vendilions comes in on G2.
I would like to hear some opinions and try new stuff! This is DEVELOPMENT section... many times I post a new deck I got posts like " TRY THIS DECK..." or I dont know... If I want to play a Top Tier deck, I would it done long time ago. I really want to create a LFTL control deck since I play Lands in real life and I think the card can bring some new decks besides Aggro Loam and Lands. Thanks!
Spells [34]
Counterspells [11]
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Spell Snare
Cantrips [7]
4 Brainstorm
3 Life from the Loam
Assist [3]
3 Intuition
Board-Control [10]
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Punishing Fire
4 Swords to Plowshares
Win Condition [3]
3 Jace, the Mindsculptor
Lands[27]
Mana Source [18]
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Savannah
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Forest
Utility Lands [4]
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
2 Tranquil Thicket
Control [3]
3 Wasteland
Manlands [2]
2 Mishra's Factory
Cards selection:
Counters: I like the idea of playing counters on this deck in a big number (trying to support Force of will on early turns). Spell pierce is really good at spells which are really annoying against this deck (since this deck plays a lot of creatures removal). Spell snare has shown to be really good, it gets rid of Dark Confidant, Sylvan Library, Snapcasters, GOYFS (too much pressure if you dont have StP on hand) and Hymn to Tourach (which is almost useless if you have loam online) but it hurts on early game.
Cantrips:
Brainstorm is just a 4-of on any U-based deck and is just Nuts with LFTL. Is just one of the best cards on legacy and I take full advantage of this card on this deck. You can use any of its draw to dredge loam back to your hand. This has shown to be very useful in plenty of diferent situations.... you can get back multiple copies of loam (ie... two copies on GY, and take 1 back to the deck and shuffle) or some other times you need to hit Punishing Fire into the GY or Wasteland/Academy or EE. If you cast a loam BEFORE BS... you can get back some dual lands you dredge away with 1 fetch, taking back those dual lands and then fetch again. In any other case, you can just brainstorm as normal.
Life from the Loam... this card has been my favorite since its release. You can create entire decks around it or using it as an assist card. I like the fact it helps to almost never fail a land drop, which is VERY important on control decks. It also provides cycle lands to keep drawing, a lot of fetchlands, fix mana colors and recursible wastelands.
I like the idea of playing wasteland with LFTL but it's not the main strategy, i like them on this deck to waste opossing groves of the burnwillows, which is a very powerful engine against control.
Assists:
Intuition: with this card you can get part of the engines you need on that or future moments. You can create a bunch of diferents package with intuition. Also a blue card to pitch with FOW. For 2U you can ensure to land grove/punishing engine and loam or Academy/EE/loam engine against aggro. Or Loam/thicket/thicket against control or something simple like 3 EE against a bunch of Goyfs attacking.
Board Control:
I know this is a very slow deck, so Im trying to keep it alive against aggro decks.
White provides us with the best creature removal, Swords to Plowshares. Enough reason to play it. I usually used this cards just for big creatures I usually cant get rid with Punishing Fire. White also provides good cards for SB.
Punishing Fire: This card gives you the advantage in long therms. Having "infinite" removals is just fantastic, you are trying to keep this game as long as you can. You can control easily opossing PWs with this card.
Engineered Explosives.... I chose this card for many reasons... you can blow out multiples Goyfs.... multiple dark shamans and some other permanents which I dont have any other answer (like artifacts and enchantments). With 4C, you can take care almost everything important you should be worried about.
PWs
Jace, TMS: Just the best PW in magic. You can take a lot of advantage with this card (as I explained on the Brainstorm section). It's a good finisher but Ive been using it very aggresively.
Mana base:
The mana base is PRETTY greedy and it needs protection.... I fetch ONLY if I needed it...
The single Forest has been my heroe (here... and in my Lands deck) is just fantastic... it ensures you can play LFTL everytime.
Utility Lands:
Academy ruins is used to abuse with EE, but it has some other functions.... Usually this deck goes through the entire deck. Sometimes if I want loam back but I want to protect the amount of cards my deck has left, I can get back EE in my oponents EOT and then doing it again on my Upkeep... ensuring i will dredge away 2 artifacts + 1 random card.
Karakas... is a really great card, its has almost no drawback.... so having it around has been very useful. I like playing 1 on MD for any urgency. (Also, I play Vendilion Clique on SB, it has a great interaction).
Tranquil Thicket: I usually used it to keep my LFTL safe, but it also works for drawing new spells. Every single card you draw, you can turn it into LFTL or a random card from the top. But sometimes, you need to drop a land AND draw a spell, so this card make this happen. It works wonderful for playing around oposing Cliques. You can draw on your draw step and the cycle on your main phase, get back loam.... casting it and then get back your Tranquil Thicket
Control Lands:
Wasteland: you can abuse of wasteland+LFTL but this is not the main strategy. I put this card to protect myself from other groves, cavern of souls or plenty of other utility lands which gives my oponent some recursion (ie. Volrath's Stronghold).
Man Lands:
Mishra's Factory.... this is just for flavor... I love mishra's factory but I have to admit that I started with 4 copies and now I have 2. Probably with the new rules, this cards will be change for 1 Thespian's Stage + 1 Dark Depths.
But I must say... on many cases... Factories were very good against Liliana, Mongoose and other cards!
Match Ups
Ive been testing on Cockatrice against random people and also with some friends. I also went to a 4 round Swiss tournament and did 4-0 against Esper Deathblade, Reanimator, Belcher and BUG Tempo. The deck's perfomance was awesome and I didnt do any changes until now.
Until now, Ive this results:
Esper Deathblade: Very Favorable. Punishing Fire does most of the work and LFTL is just too much for their greedy manabase. The only card you should worry is DRS.
RUG Delver: Even to favorable. It depends if they play Stifle or not. Stifle version has a little edge over the Non'Stifle version on this MU. This deck plays a little amount of creatures, so usually you have response with Goyfs and Delvers, but Mongoose is a real deal here. You should try to land a EE at 1 and destroy as many mongoose you can. Taking care of the R sources is also very important (more than the G sources), because you can Stabilize with very low life and they can reach you with some bolts.
BUG Delver: Favorable, this deck is just like RUG delver but just worst. Decays are death cards and they play no mongose. Tombstalker can be removed with StP or bounce with Jace. Some versions plays with Clique, so watch out with your loams or a bad Punishing Fire.
Show and Tell: Very Unfavorable, I can almost say you have no outs against this deck. They play the same amount of counters, but they have to protect just 1 time the Show n Tell and GG, especially if they go for Sneak Attack. Karakas is just not enough and StP gets countered 90% of the times with Griselbrand. You need Heavy SB on this MU
nd
Goblins: Even to Favorable.... if they started too quickly, almost no deck can beat that. Try to take care of Lackey and counter Aether vial and then stall the game with Punishing Fire. EE is "good" on this match up, but they play a lot of diferent CMC creatures. Swords are used to get rid of warchief and chieftain (most important creatures in mid game) and Fire should be used against Piledriver and other stuff. SB heavily on this MU too since your Counterspells are almost dead cards. Supreme Verdict and Blue Elemental Blast are good removals to keep up this MU.
Belcher: Very favorable. With 11 counters and 3 EE... they cant go for chalbelcher or goblins.
UW Miracles: Very Favorable.... same as esper.... Punishing Fire is just too strong on this MU. You can use EE against Counterbalance if they are playing any and also against their angels. Counters should be used against RIP if they are playing it....and watch out with Vendillion or Blood Moons. REB in SB is pretty sweet against opossing Jaces. Watch out for Back to Basics.
Jund: Favorable.... Punishing fire take care of DRS, Bobs, BBE. StP for Goyfs and Spell Snare does a lot of work on this MU. Sylvan Library is a card you should be worried. It gave them gas and you usually use a lot of groves so they can keep paying lifes!
Storm: Very Favorable. I cant tell that much on this MU but with 11 counters you should be doing great....
UB Tezzerator: Very Favorable... Until now, EE has been really good on this MU.... they produce a lot of Mana, especially with Sol lands, so spell pierce usually gets worse through the MU, but if you can keep wastelands in play, they get value again.... Spell Snare are use to keep Chalice out of the Way.... Baleful Strix is very slow clock, so dont worry about him... try to keep Tezz out of the board and Jace.
Burn: Very Unfavorable. Price of Progress will catch you up. Even if you could Stabilize, they will draw some burns and win at the end. Without a card like Counterbalance I think this is one of the most difficult MUs. Blue elemental blast and Vendilions comes in on G2.
I would like to hear some opinions and try new stuff! This is DEVELOPMENT section... many times I post a new deck I got posts like " TRY THIS DECK..." or I dont know... If I want to play a Top Tier deck, I would it done long time ago. I really want to create a LFTL control deck since I play Lands in real life and I think the card can bring some new decks besides Aggro Loam and Lands. Thanks!