Welcome to what GB/X decks all want to be. Loam / Pox, the great granddaddy of the archetype: denial, disruption, removal and beat molded into a brutally frustrating shell to play against. I've been on and off this plan for a long time, so I thought I'd make a kind of 'primer' for those new to the format or the idea.
Now un-shelved, due to the banning of Dig Through Time in Legacy, which reopens discard and creature-based decks. This deck should have much less issue dealing with the meta as it will soon stand. Here's the deck in its most current iteration. This is V 2.0, with a description to follow.
This deck can best be described as a 'prison' or 'denial' deck. There is a severe disruption suite mixed with mid-range creatures and removal. I have temporarily shelved my Liliana of the Veils, which feels really weird, but will probably return to them quickly. This deck has more in common with control than it does with aggro strategies.
This is not a "mavericks" deck, as it has minimal creatures: four Knight of the Reliquary, one Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. to recur the knights, and one Eternal Witness, in case I need to recur one of the few spells that I can't recur normally.
This deck has a large toolbox of lands that all do different things for me under different circumstances, depending on need, which can be fetched either with the knights or with Crop Rotation. This deck is not, however, a classic "lands" deck, either. It has elements of both lands and mavericks, but is very much my own Life from the Loam /
Smallpox
based brew.
The Win Cons:
1: The sweet, sweet knights beats.
Of course there are all those lands, and they need to be tutored, which pumps the knights when they hit the yard. The knights can emerge at 3/3 or 4/4, easily and will largely pump quickly past that. With Life from the Loam to recur "plains" and "forest" based lands, this strategy gets brutal quickly.
2: Dark Depths /
Thespian's Stage
combo, fetched with either the knights or the crop trot. Instant speed on their end step, and swing for 20/20 on your next combat phase. Ouchie.
3: Worm Harvest tokens, which stack with the general land sacking and tutoring with knights and crop trot, and the use of dredging loam. They can populate the field beyond a deal-with-able amount very quickly. This is particularly good game one vs. any control based decks, which have limited outs. If jace hits, screw him. Just keep beating face and creating worms. Bounce this, baby!
Mana Denial:
Land Destruction, especially in the form of
Smallpox
, which is where this kind of deck gets it archetype name. "Loam / Pox" decks work to deny the ability of opponents to get and effectively use their mana. The pox comes down, and then is made infinitely more brutal with fetching in or otherwise playing
Wasteland
s, hitting yet more of your opponent's mana. Other lands, the basics that they will begin to hunt for can also be torched with Sinkhole, and Vindicate, which, incidentally, can also be used to hit creatures and planeswalkers (see: any permanent).
Disruption:
Of course, Hymn to Tourach is the best disruption, but have you thought on why? I mean, Liliaan of the veil's +1 can be recurred, as can Raven's Crime, which I run in two color pox. Hymn stresses the crap out of opponents. It almost always meets with a Force of Will, which is excellent because it functionally still causes a 2 for 1 use of a card, putting my hand ahead of my opponent, using one of his force of wills and exiling another blue card, or, otherwise, getting them to Brainstorm and stack their deck and allowing my possible 2 for 1ing their lands away, if they were greedy and kept lands in their hands at the expense of other cards. Hymn can be great when opponents react poorly, and they usually do.
Smallpox
also causes discard, as well as land/creature sacking and 1 life loss, which I have killed opponents with at the end of the game.
Liliana of the Veil is my girl, and has always been a staple of the deck. She is currently hanging out on the SB, but will likely return to the main deck as she always has been, a two-of. She moonlights as removal, and also is a great source of recurring discard. If you've been lucky or smart, and have a Life from the Loam in hand, you should have no shortage of lands to discard ang get back, or life can also be discarded and dredged back, itself.
- Why I don't use Thoughtseize: Many people love it, but the two life loss, and the idea of only 1-1ing an opponent with no recursion possibilities is lame in legacy. Even Raven's Crime is better, ad synergies better with the deck, too.
Removal:
1: Your usual gbx Abrupt Decay which hits almost all threats in legacy other than delve cards, and jace. the mindsculpter, which gets nailed by either Vindicate or, post board, Red Elemental Blast. Because, why not?
2:
Smallpox
. Yes, again. It's that good.
3: Vindicate, which is a catch all, or can be used as Sinkhole number 5 and 6.
4: Nameless Inversion, which is hilarious with haakon out. It's a shapeshifter, so it's a knight, so it gets to recur with haakon and be uncounterable with Cavern of Souls, which, of course, you've already set on knights. Lolz for days, that no one ever sees coming.
5: Swords to Plowshares. The OG. The big, bad, booty mommy. It hits all the usual suspects, and exiles them forever. Get out of here. No. You can't have that Grislebrand, Iona, Shield of Emeria, etc. Never, ever, ever. They always set iona to black, and I've never figured out why.
Utility cards:
1: Life from the Loam, which is the backbone of the deck. I only run two, because if they're both removed, I've either gotten unlucky with Rest in Peace or Surgical Extraction, post board, or I somehow massively misplayed. In situations where you feel that they may be removed, they can be protected by instant speed dredging with a Tranquil Thicket.
2: Crop Rotation and Entomb, which are your instant speed tutors to either get the ball rolling, to answer specific threats, or to just win. Winning is usually the best answer, anyway. Entomb targets are always anything recurable. So, Life from the Loam, Haakon, Stromgald Scourge (which also protects your Knight of the Reliquary), lands of various types, or a late game Worm Harvest for the win. Bating graveyard removal at times opportune for your panic-driven by opponents is sometimes a must, so be judicious with your use of Entombs. Sometimes you actually want an opponent to throw the switch and remove your graveyard. Look, if they're gonna do it anyway, just get it over with when you have the best possibility of being hurt the least.
3: Mox Diamonds are your ramp effect. Use them wisely, but know that they are rarely if ever countered. Why, is really beyond me, as they let your get going quickly. Game two it is more likely that they'll be countered than game one.
4: Sylvan Library is the best utility card in the deck. It almost never stays on the field long, as it is a way to keep the game perpetually in your favor, keep your hand full, and to always see exactly what you want exactly when you'd like to see it. A t1 library (utilizing Mox Diamond usually indicates a long night for your opponent.
The lands:
There are really only 11 land targets that provide useful mana on the field, and everything else is toolbox. The 3 Bayous, 1 Cavern of Souls, 1 Forest, 1 Swamp, 3 Scrublands and 2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoths are your land base. Remember that urborg is legendary. Only one can be functionally useful at a time. Between the urborgs, and the Riftstone Portal, though, all your lands are abzan "junk" lands, even ones that don't normally tap for mana. The portal needs to be in the yard to help out, but I think that it's pretty possible that it'll be there at some point. Taiga is in the mix just for its use with the Red Elemental Blast in the board. I am also thinking of putting a
Molten Vortex
or Seismic Assault in the board, in which base I may have to go to two taigias.
Your toolbox is meant to answer specific questions.
Bojuka Bog, Reanimator.
The Tabarnacle at Pendrell Vale, which is a really, really expensive card that you could always try to replace with something else, answers early threats or mid to late game swarm, when they've got very few lands, no cards, and a hoard of
Monastery Mentor
or Young Pyromancer tokens. Enjoy paying for all those tokens, opponent!
Tranquil Thicket protects your loam, and also can be used to grab an extra card on an opponent's turn or yours. it doesn't get around Chains of Mephistopheles in game two. Don't try.
Vault of the Archangel is a great way to get back into a grindy, brutal game. it can gain your a pretty ridiculous amount of life pretty quick with either the knights, or even the worm tokens.
Thespian's Stage
plus Dark Depths equal Marit Lage. Please understand your trigger properly before trying this. In tournaments, people are going to be pretty unforgiving if you screw the order of the trigger up.
Also, Riftstone Portal, which will actually mana fix you right through a Blood Moon. Just FYI.
And, lastly, Karaks, because it says: Legendary? Was there one here? I don't remember. Is that a lands deck you're playing? Well, now you're on the
Punishing Fire
route.
SB:
The sideboard always shits to answer the meta I find myself in. Usually, it's safe to include some number of Engineered Explosives as a sweeper.
One deck that this has some issue with is Death and Taxes.
Dread of Night
is a giant screw you to D&T. Also, one must expect to use at least one Abrupt Decay on at least one Aether Vial. Plan ahead and side in that, too.
Graffdigger's Cage and Leyline of the Void mess up re-animator's and dredge's whole day. They nix the plan of stuff entering from the yard. Enough said. In a mirror or lands match, DO NOT side in the cage. It doesn't stop the loam effect.
Chains of Mephistopheles messes with all control decks, especially Miracles. Feel free to watch the table flip.
Ensnaring Bridge stifles sneak and show and other large creature based decks. If you've stabilized and need it gone, hit it with an Abrupt Decay and swing for the win.
Krosan Grips should be in the board in some number. They are an answer to manner of artifact and enchantment phenomenon, such as Blood Moon, Aether Vial, and etc, when you think that some other spell (ahem: Abrupt Decay might meet with a Misdirection or Venser, Shaper Savant.
Surgical Extraction says combo, what combo?
Red Elemental Blast is a way of saying, Force of Will? No. No to your no. It also blows up Jace, the Mindsculpter and the ever annoying Back to Basics, which a buddy of mine runs in his Esper decks, because, why not? It's really good and really disruptive.
Notable missing cards from my version:
These might also be usable in your own build, and I run some of these on occasion in a two-colored, golgari pox. Cabal Pit, Liliana of the Veil,
The Abyss
, Raven's Crime, Dark Ritual, Extirpate, Diabolic Edict, Barren Moor,
Mishra's Factory
, Lingering Souls, Nether Void (SB tech), Pithing Needle (SB tech), and trinosphere (SB tech, and damn good stuff in this context).
I'll probably swap back in two trinosphere into the sb and two Lilis into the MB, but for now, this is what I've got. I hope that you got something from this, and +1 if you liked my material. Thanks for dropping by.
My original two-color version of this deck, which I will run currently: Legacy Loam Pox Depths.
Two 'modern format' takes on Pox that I have made, too:
Junk (Prison Loam): Modern Junk Loam / Pox
Jund (Assault Loam) Modern Jund Assault Loam Pox Pyromancer.
