[Deck] Loam Pox ft. Eumidian Hatchery

[PirateKing]

2025 Loam Pox

In an exercise of not going quietly into the night, I am writing a deck intro for Loam Pox featuring the new darling Eumidian Hatchery. Fresh off the heels of 2025 NA Eternal Weekend where Jacob Murray went on a tear to finish top 4 with a stunning debut of the deck. This deck leverages the devastating power of Smallpox to ruin your opponent while negating the symmetrical effects on yourself, even turning them into outright advantages. Combined with Life from the Loam, Urza's Saga & Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, this deck can produce a tremendous amount of power on board while keeping the opponent stuck in a Turn 1 Groundhog Day of land-pass until they die. If watching the light drain from your opponent's eyes is something you're into, this might be the deck for you.

Threats of Loam Pox - aka how we win

Despite being a 25-27 land deck (more if you consider Mox Diamond), Loam Pox is a low resource deck. Every permanent is leveraging some advantage to further it's game plan. Mana curves stop hard at 3 and the deck isn't looking for more lands beyond that. Games are scrappy and require high quality threat assessment to avoid embarrassing losses to a 1-drop creature going coast to coast. Getting your various interlaced engines online quickly as you grind them out of the game is critical in the early turns. From there you can proactively disrupt their gameplan while maintaining a near constant barrage of must answer threats until they ultimately succumb. In no particular order, here are some ways you can expect to kill your opponent:

Urza's Saga

Urza's Saga's ability to produce 2 bodies per use while fetching Mox Diamonds and other silver bullet effects often yields 6-11 power on board. 1-ofs like Pithing Needle and Nihil Spellbomb can shore up problematic board states while Lavaspur Boots can push damage before the opponent can brace for it. Recurring Saga through Loam presents a never ending source of creatures that will eventually overpower your opponent unless they can challenge your graveyard or present their own win before that. Current Moon effect rulings freeze Urza's Saga at whatever chapter it's on currently, so a copy on chapter 2 becomes a never ending robot factory. Leverage this to your opponent's detriment. At this point in Legacy the power of Urza's Saga should be well documented to any established player.

Eumidian Hatchery

The card that catapulted Pox into relevance. An untapped on-color mana source that produces value on dying in the form of 1/1 black flying insects does just about everything you could ask from it. Once at 2-4 counters it can stall combat to force them to leave otherwise lethal attackers back lest they die from the crack back. At 6-8+ counters it become a lethal must answer problem for them with no easy solutions. The black color identity is valuable to casting Hogaak as well, representing a double threat of small flying creatures going wide and the large trampler going deep. Representing a "free" sacrifice to Smallpox or just as a target for your own Wasteland/Ghost Quarter powers this deck to it's current form.

Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis

Hogaak is a hard to answer finisher in the likes of Murktide Regent in blue decks. Once the initial flurry of spells and removal pass and the dust is settled, one or two hits with an 8/8 Trampler can be lights out. It's place as another way to break parity of Smallpox as a free discard makes it a key player in keeping the deck functioning despite the self-harming nature of the gameplay. Combined with Haste through Lavaspur Boots will challenge your opponents to find a Swords to Plowshares or some other exile based removal, while leaving them open to the swarm of smaller creatures from Hatchery and the medium sized Saga constructs.

Orcish Bowmasters

Depending on the state of the game, Orcish Bowmasters is 2 power or 20 power. It's use as a flash threat to punish Brainstorm is well documented, and any seasoned player will be aware when casting into 2 open mana. In addition to that layer of stress we can offer our opponents, its ability to produce the requisite colored creatures to cast Hogaak in a single card makes in relevant even in games where opponents never draw an extra card. Often games can become very close and a single point of damage can be the difference, so keeping your opponents fearful can force them to concede to suboptimal lines of play that can accrue you enough time to close out the game.

Support of Loam Pox - aka how we work

The name of the game is recursion. Any card worth using is worth using twice. Since the deck so aggressively uses it's own livelihood to punish the opponent, having a multitude of ways to replay or repurpose cards is key to not suffering from your own machinations. Early interaction protects you from cheap threats that can push you into a tempo disadvantage and move you to the midgame where our deck thrives. Keeping our opponents stuck on low to no resources let's us leverage our threats before they can recover. Recognizing your opponent's decision tree and carefully cutting off paths to lead them to a point they can't recover is a critical skill in a deck without safety valves of Ponder or Force of Will. These are some of the spells that will get you there:

Smallpox

One half of the deck's namesake, Smallpox is the key spell to keep the board growing out of our control. The symmetrical nature can dissuade some players, but recognize the entire deck is aimed at leveraging as much advantage possible. Our creatures are largely expendable, our cards in hand function just as well in the graveyard, and our lands can return to be replayed. Functioning as removal and land destruction without incurring any of the effect yourself can make this backbreaking for opponents. Casting it is not without skill, often just jamming it because you can will punish you just as much as you punish your opponent. A good rule of thumb is to have at minimum 2 of the 4 options be nonissue for you, either by having no creatures in play or discarding a card with Dredge. Sacrificing a Hatchery is an excellent use of Smallpox and why this deck functions so well today.

Life from the Loam

The second half of the deck's namesake. A paramount spell in the deck, it's ability to recur lands discarded or sacrificed while a valid card to be discarded as well makes it the MVP of the deck. Beyond helping us maintain a functioning manabase in the face of our own Smallpox, it enables us to use utility lands like Wasteland and Boseiju as recurring spells. Dredging Loam also functions to fill our graveyard to both find Hogaak and to assist casting him early. A majority of our games will revolve around casting, dredging and recasting Loam. Players unfamiliar with the Dredge mechanic should make efforts to practice not immediately drawing their card for the turn, these simple mistakes could be deleterious to the match.

Witherbloom Command

A modal spell that is never without two positive options. Mill target yourself can kickstart the game and open a variety of options. Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar and Cori-Steel Cutter are current threats that are answered by Witherbloom Command. At sorcery speed, -3/-1 is often a dud, but has found use to cheat in combat against a Barrowgoyf or Atraxa and make the opponent's anticipated lifegain fall short of keeping them alive. Lastly, a simple drain 2 effect is always welcome. While never run as a 4-of, this card nevertheless functions well in the whole arc of our gameplan.

Mox Diamond

Mox Diamond is the rocket fuel that keeps the deck running at top speed despite constantly destroying itself. A reusable mana source and color fixer that survives Smallpox, the small cost of discarding a land is almost laughable in the face of our land recursion. In both early turns played from hand or as a target for chapter 3 of Urza's Saga you will rely on this card to keep you playing your game. Combined with the construct tokens, each copy can also represent 2-3 additional damage that will quickly add up over time. Unfortunately it represents the largest financial burden to the deck. Budget alternatives exist for dual lands, but no card can accomplish what Mox Diamond can in the deck. I suggest players seek out proxy-friendly stores or practice online, but this is a hurdle a paper player must eventually face.

Sideboard of Loam Pox - aka how we don't die

Loam Pox is at it's core a fair deck. Opponents who seem to cash in 3-4 mana on turn 1 to produce game winning effects will always be a challenge to any deck looking to resolve 2CMC Sorceries, no matter how well positioned they might otherwise be. Our sideboard has options to try an keep relevant against these faster decks and also includes some additional help against decks well suited to our slow grind of a game to avoid having our own gameplans turned against us. Typical inclusions of most sideboards will include the following:

Barrowgoyf

Barrowgoyf is on the high end of our curve, but it's ability to solo games against certain popular matchups makes it a necessary inclusion in our lists. Any deck that seeks to race on damage will be prioritizing removing this creature from play. Your opponents will be forced into bad blocks because a single hit connecting risks making their situation so much worse with a strong mill and potential value of another creature added to the board. Don't be surprised if decks like UR Cutter makes the whole game revolve around this card, it's their most dreaded answer against them.

Endurance

Our instant speed graveyard answer, with lots of upside. Casting it for the 3/4 body isn't unfeasible for us once the immediate combo threat has passed. It's a valid get off Once Upon a Time in an emergency, so make sure to fully count your outs if your opponent is speeding towards Thassa's Oracle. It's a well known answer of the format at this point, so don't expect your opponents to walk into an ambush in combat, at least not more than once in a match.

Force of Vigor

A premium pitch spell with the best of them, Force of Vigor answers many of our sore spots we can expect our opponents to target with their own sideboard hate. Blood Moon and graveyard replacements like Leyline of the Void and Rest in Peace both are ruinous to our gameplan, so a careful combination of informed plays around these risks and having answers prepared is critical to avoid getting locked out of the game. Some decks can utilize Urza's Saga as well as we can, so avoiding getting betrayed by our own tech is welcome as well.

Void Mirror

The rise of monobrown decks utilizing Vintage levels of mana production to maximize Kozilek's Command and Glaring Fleshraker necessitates a high quality response. While not prefect, Void Mirror offers the best option to shut such strategies down. Certain land's abilities to filter mana into any color can unlock their spells in a limited regard, and our own Hogaak's become uncastable in the meantime. Other options have similar pros and cons, Null Rod shuts down our own Mox Diamonds while leaving their own Eldrazi spells free to resolve. Void Mirror has the added benefit of shutting down the swath of free spells like Daze, Force of Will, and anything of Omniscience.

Decklists of Loam Pox - aka if you don't like learning for yourself

These are some of the current examples of the deck to consider:

Jacob Murray's 2025 NA Eternal Weekend Top 4 Loam Pox

2 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Boseiju, Who Endures
4 Eumidian Hatchery
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Swamp
1 Underground Mortuary
4 Urza's Saga
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
2 Barrowgoyf
2 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
4 Orcish Bowmasters
1 Fatal Push
2 Life from the Loam
3 Malevolent Rumble
4 Smallpox
4 Thoughtseize
3 Witherbloom Command
2 Grist, the Hunger Tide
1 Lavaspur Boots
4 Mox Diamond
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle

Sideboard
1 Barrowgoyf
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
2 Fatal Push
2 Force of Vigor
1 Haywire Mite
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Void Mirror

In this list you can see Jacob hedged against the decks that Barrowgoyf overperforms in and pushed these into the main deck. Feedback from after the event decidedly put them back into the sideboard. Facing 6 Mystic Forge based decks, 3 Nadu decks, and 5 total Atraxa deck outside of the 3 standard Reanimator decks, this finished 12-3 in the swiss. As the debut list for the deck, you can observe a lot of the key synergies described above working to power this deck to a spectacular finish.

My current 2025 list

2 Bayou
1 Blast Zone
2 Boseiju, Who Endures
3 Eumidian Hatchery
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Swamp
1 Underground Mortuary
4 Urza's Saga
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
2 Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
4 Orcish Bowmasters
1 Entomb
4 Life from the Loam
4 Once Upon a Time
4 Smallpox
4 Thoughtseize
3 Witherbloom Command
2 Grist, the Hunger Tide
1 Lavaspur Boots
4 Mox Diamond
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sylvan Library

Sideboard
2 Barrowgoyf
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
2 Dauthi Voidwalker
2 Endurance
2 Fatal Push
2 Force of Vigor
1 Haywire Mite
2 Void Mirror

This is my current list, modified from what I was on at the same Eternal Weekend. I've trimmed from the pseudo quadlaser brute number style it many more 1-ofs to try and maintain flexibility in an open meta. If you're in possession of good data for your local meta environment, many of these choices can default back to their base slots and be a cleaner, more streamlined list.