GWR Aggro Loam

[Satanarchrist]

I want to build a GWR Aggro Loam deck for two reasons, one: I want to play Seismic Assault, Life from the Loam, and Swords to Plowshares in the same deck, and two: I want to actually build a deck that's my own idea, instead of just net-decking, which is how most of my decks get built.

Here's a list I put together. It's mostly everything I could think of that I want in the deck, with the exception of Burning Wish, because I couldn't think of a large enough pool of cards for wish targets (and I also don't know what to cut), but I'm open to using it in the deck.

Lands:
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Wasteland
2 Taiga
2 Savannah
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
3 Tranquil Thicket
3 Forgotten Cave
1 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy

Creatures:
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Countryside Crusher
2 Terravore

Artifacts:
4 Mox Diamond
3 Sensei's Divining Top

Enchantments:
3 Seismic Assault

Instants:
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Punishing Fire

Sorceries:
4 Life from the Loam

SB:
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Nothing else yet because I'm bad at magic

The basic idea is to use Punishing Fire + Grove of the Burnwillows and Swords to Plowshares to remove creatures or tick down your opponent's life til you get Seismic Assault and Life from the Loam active, or beat them to death with a huge Knight of the Reliquary, Countryside Crusher, or Terravore. Sensei's Divining Top lets me see if dredging is the best option, protect my Life from the Loams at instant speed, or stall the game.

I haven't playtested it much other than on mtgdeckbuilder, and I already know it falls flat against combo, so I'l need to shore up that defense. I would love to have Burning Wish in the deck, because Legacy-legal Demonic Tutor is extremely powerful, and I love the idea of a wish board. If I can fit B Wish in, a single copy of Life from the Loam will go into the SB, along with things like Dreadbore, Chainer's Edict, Shattering Spree, Devastating Dreams and anything else I can shamelessly rip from Belcher, Jeff Hoogland's 4-color Loam, or any other decklist.

But as it stands, I would love to get some feedback on the manabase, or what creatures to run, or if something like Green Sun's Zenith would be useful in the deck. Also, would Volrath's Stronghold be a viable card, even if the only black production is from Mox Diamond?

[Megadeus]

Having a main board way to kill rest in peace would be excellent. Green suns zenith with pridemages possibly?

[KazinMtg]

GSZ and pridemage/teeg would be a solid idea. It also fetches your knight. You could cut a couple land, 28 seems a bit much.

[Satanarchrist]

GSZ and pridemage/teeg would be a solid idea. It also fetches your knight. You could cut a couple land, 28 seems a bit much.

Having a main board way to kill rest in peace would be excellent. Green suns zenith with pridemages possibly?

So like 2 or 3 GSZ's, a pridemage, and Teeg?

and if I do add Burning Wish to the deck, would I put a GSZ in the sideboard?

And how many lands do you think is the minimum for Seismic Assault to still be viable?

[Madmankevinx]

Drop the horizon canopies. You don't need them if you have tranquil thicket and forgotten cave. Add 2 Devastating Dreams. They are almost always GG with a KotR out.

[KazinMtg]

So like 2 or 3 GSZ's, a pridemage, and Teeg?

and if I do add Burning Wish to the deck, would I put a GSZ in the sideboard?

And how many lands do you think is the minimum for Seismic Assault to still be viable?

2 gsz in this kind of deck seems fine.

As for how many land to run with seismic assault, I guess it would depend, but certainly under 28. I feel like 25-26 is the right number depending if you run 2 or 3 assaults.

For instance, if you cut 3 land down to 25, and 1 seismic assault, you could add 1 pridemage, 1 teeg, and 2 gsz, which would help shore up some of your less than stellar matchups.

Also I've always been a fan of sylvan library in this deck over top. It might be personal preference, but I've always felt it offered more options, and is fantastic against many combo or control decks.

Here's a list of every agro loam deck that placed in a tournament recently, check it out and see what is proven to be successful, then take the things you like to make it your own: http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/tipo.php?archetype=Aggro%20Loam&format=Legacy

[Satanarchrist]

Thanks KazinMtg!

[klaus]

I could see Chalice of the Void alongside a E. Tutor toolbox being a decent SB choice. Further decent options: Leyline of Sanctity, Pyroclasm (against fast aggro), Wear/Tear, Bojuka Bog and Canonists.

Edit: moar potentail SB stuff:
* Crop Rotation (get Karakas, Bojuka Bog when you need it)
* Choke
* Gaddock Teeg
* Swords to Plowshares (could theoretically be MD material)
* The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
* Engineered Explosives (catch all against permanent-heavy archetypes)
* Naya Charm (especially handy for alpha striking creature-heavy decks)

[KntrellCL]

I think chalice is a must have in MD playing such a low count of creatures. You should play goyf since you are in naya colours (i play dc in 4c). You can also use bloodbraid elf since it can get you seismic kotr or countryside hehe.... if you are not going to use chalice, you should use a lot of 1 cmc spells such as stp lightning bolt or even chain lightning. You can also go full aggro with wild nacatl haha very aggro loam

[thefreakaccident]

I think chalice is a must have in MD playing such a low count of creatures. You should play goyf since you are in naya colours (i play dc in 4c). You can also use bloodbraid elf since it can get you seismic kotr or countryside hehe.... if you are not going to use chalice, you should use a lot of 1 cmc spells such as stp lightning bolt or even chain lightning. You can also go full aggro with wild nacatl haha very aggro loam

I wonder what exactly a 'very agro loam' would look like.

[KntrellCL]

I really recommend to use Jund colours for Aggro loams decks... or jund splashing W. In any case you dont want to play those colours, I put this deck list for you (is just an idea):

Creatures [14]
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Countyside Crusher
4 Kavu Predator
1 Qasali Pridemage

Removal [13]
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Punishing Fire
2 Devastating Dreams

Engine [9]
4 Life from the Loam
3 Seismic Assault
2 Green Sun's Zenith //1 GSZ and 1 Sylvan Library?

Lands [24]
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Taiga
1 Savannah
2 Plateau
1 Forest
4 Wasteland
1 Karakas
3 Tranquil Thicket
2 Forgotten Cave

I really love mox diamond, but cascade into that is pretty crappy. Green Sun's Zenith can fetch KOTR or Predator. Now you can combo Grove of the Burnwillows with Kavu Predator and Punishing Fire... these cards also have a nice interaction with Swords to Plowshares (you can get back your punishing without having the grove).

As I said before, if you are not going to play chalice of the void main... you need to play more creatures. I play 9 creatures in my loam deck (with chalice) and they get destroyed by abrupt decay or stp if I didnt hit a chalice in the battlefield. They will ALWAYS have the removal since loams deck almost dont have more permanents than lands in play.

Life from the Loam is a pretty sick card which generates 1x3 card advantage, but you need to transform that card advantage into something... if you cannot achieve that... you will only have a hand full of lands. That's why people play seismic assault... but this card is pretty hard to cast and plenty of decks now have abrupt decay to get rid off it. Punishing Fire generates almost the same job, but its more resilient (just like loam vs crucible of worlds). With this deck list, you can transform your hand full of lands into devastating dreams (2nd form to transform your card advantage).

I took Terravore out, its worst than KOTR or Crusher... now you have Trample with Kavu Predator... I put a Qasali instead (since you dont have abrupt decay). Countryside Crusher is nice too, but I think 2 is the perfect number since you are not running Dark Confidant (which have nice interactions with Cside Crusher)

About the manabase, you had a pretty standar manabase except for Horizon Canopy. This card is just tricky... this land use your land drop, it does 1 point of damage for G or W (being W the least use... you will always fetch for Taiga or Plateau), then it needs to stay untapped with another land and it ends up in your graveyard (losing board). Cycle lands do the very same thing with just 1 land untapped and you dont lose lands... Also, you should use Nantuko Monastery... since is a respetable beater for late game and it's great with punishing fire (he can take down Goyfs pretty easily). Dryad arbor is a must have too... you can do some nasty tricks with it against lilianas (you can play your creatures with a fetch in play and sacrifices Dryad arbor), can block a t1 lackey or just block forever a goyf along life from the loam. Volrath's Stronghold only workds for grindy match ups, which you are already favorable... you need black mana to support it and it gets a lot worse against DRS.

You can do whatever you want with this archetype of decks... is so flexible. I will put my current deck list if you want to get another idea.

Creatures [9]
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Dark Confidant
1 Gadock Teeg

Engine [9]
3 Life from the Loam
1 Sylvan Library
1 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Burning Wish

Removals [8]
2 Devastating Dreams
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Punishing Fire

Artifacts [8]
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mox Diamond

Lands [27]
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Taiga
1 Badlands
2 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Bayou
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Forgotten Cave
3 Tranquil Thicket
1 Nantuko Monastery
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Wasteland
1 Maze of Ith
1 Karakas
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

SB [15]
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Thoughtseize
1 Life from the Loam
1 Devastating Dreams
1 Dreadbore
1 Reverence's Silence
1 Hull Breach
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Slaughter Games//Worm Harvest (metacall against combo or control)


Why play a Thoughtseize Package on board? Usually you will be on the play g2 against combo. The chance of hitting Mox diamond + 2 lands + 1 Chalice of the void/Thalia/Canonist is less than 20% on the initial hand. A hand with turn 1 discard, turn 2 Thalia, Canonist, Chalice it shouldnt be bad at all. In any case you draw thoughtseize in late game, you are already in the state of game you want... usually in this state you skip your draws with Loam, or just accept you will have a dead card to draw because of chalice @1.... you can also do chalice @0 against Storm decks and go for discard turn 1... cutting the best enabler they have (LED).


If you have any question about Aggro loam, you can message me... I have been playing loams deck since Ravenica :P

[KntrellCL]

I wonder what exactly a 'very agro loam' would look like.

Some years ago... i saw an "very aggro loam" archetype with kird ape, wild nacatl, wild mongrel (excelent with life from the loam), goyfs...even nimble mongoose, lightning bolt, chain lightning, diabolic edict... it was a pretty straight foward deck... it was a Zoo with life from the loam and wastelands hahaha

[paradigm72]

I'm working on an idea like this for a combo- and delver-heavy meta: lots of maindeck hatebears + chalice to slow down combo and have a decent aggro clock (often turn 4 with the Diamond acceleration), plus a strong late-game against fair decks, going to either Punishing Fire/Grove or Depths/Stage with Loam backup. Here's my current list:


Land (25)
4x Arid Mesa
2x Bloodstained Mire
3x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Plains
1x Plateau
1x Savannah
2x Taiga
1x Dark Depths
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Karakas
1x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Wasteland

Creature (18)
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Gaddock Teeg
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Tarmogoyf

Artifact (8)
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Mox Diamond

Instant (4)
4x Punishing Fire

Sorcery (4)
4x Life from the Loam

Enchantment (1)
1x Seismic Assault

Sideboard (15)
1x Bojuka Bog
2x Lightning Helix
3x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Oblivion Ring
2x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Sejiri Steppe
1x Umezawa's Jitte
2x ???

I think it really wants a black splash to get 2 or 3 Abrupt Decays in there, but I'm not sure the manabase can handle 4 colors without cutting Grove, Depths, and/or Stage. Maybe Mox Diamond plus one Scrubland is enough, not sure. Also considering Green Sun's Zenith, but I really do want maindeck Teeg and Thalia and the anti-synergy is a problem.

One obvious sacrifice here is no Burning Wish/Devastating Dreams, so I lose significant game against tribal/D&T decks where Devastating Dreams is game-ending. I'm ok with the tradeoff there though given my meta. What else obvious am I missing in that list?

[Asthereal]

-1 Ooze, -1 Teeg, -2 Canonist, +4 Green Sun's Zenith?
Being able to find the bear you need seems better than just hope you draw the right one.
Thalia has no synergy with Loam either, perhaps you should just put the Thalias in the sideboard.