This is a variation of my Gruul Guild deck. I wanted to make use of some of the new gruul-themed lands-matter cards from Ravnica Allegiance and War of the Spark, and also I was inspired by Ruination Rioter and Wrenn and Six from Modern Horizons.
I visualize this deck to be something akin to an unholy combination of modern archetypes, pretty much it breaks down as 33% Loam, 33% Scapeshift, 33% Lands. In reality, it's "Loam without Life from the Loam", "Scapeshift without Scapeshift", and "Lands - Now with fewer lands!" The Vorthos inside me really wanted to make a Gruul-themed deck that didn't overly rely on creature damage, but instead focused on their penchant for wanton destruction, since the Gruul really love to destroy city blocks for fun. There are a myriad of R/G cards that sweep up lands and discard them for benefit, and with the new cards from Modern Horizons, I saw potential for the land destruction side of Gruul to finally be realized in a unique yet flavorful way.
In my test runs of the deck in it's current state, it leaves quite a lot to be desired. A bit too slow to "get going". Here are some thing I noticed in my playthroughs:
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I rarely use the effects of Ramunap Excavator or Crucible of Worlds. Wrenn and Six does a great job of ensuring that I have used my one land drop on the card he scooped up that turn. They often sat idle in my hands because I didn't want to take a turn off to play them unless I had no other play. Thinking about cutting both of them to make some room for other cards.
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Magmatic Insight is hit-or-miss. Sometimes I will badly need to draw into some cards, but I don't have any lands in my hand and no way to get the ones on the field back into my hand. Other times, I can chain Magmatic Insights into a finisher like Countryside Crusher or Ruination Rioter. May come down one copy to make room for something else.
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Destructive Urge, although on point flavor-wise, doesn't yield results. I think this deck doesn't do quite enough attacking to make it worthwhile.
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Crop Rotation feels underwhelming. I should be using them to get Valakuts from my deck, but most of the time when I draw a Crop Rotation, I don't have enough lands on the field for it to matter much. Perhaps Scapeshift would be a better option in it's place, but that's yet another 4 CMC card that is difficult to play in this deck without the assistance of an Orcish Lumberjack, and I can't always count on those plays to be available. Other 4 CMC cards like Oracle of Mul Daya and Mina and Denn would sit in my hand a lot of the time because I would be one land short of casting them usually.
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Splendid Reclamation has the same problem as Ramunap and Crucible, along with the 4 CMC issue mentioned above. Either I have a ton of lands in the GY and I'm winning the game with Countryside Crusher or Ruination Rioter, or they're all in play already and I'm way ahead mana-wise after a devastating Impending Disaster trigger.
Short version.
Cards I like / Performing Well: Countryside Crusher, Goblin Razerunners, Impending Disaster, Orcish Lumberjack, Wrenn and Six.
Cards I have no opinion about: Living Twister, Oracle of Mul Daya, Mina and Denn Wildborn
Cards I dislike / Perform poorly: Crop Rotation, Crucible of Worlds/Ramunap Excavator, Destructive Urge, Magmatic Insight, Splendid Reclamation
I could use some advice from Lands/Scapeshift/Loam players. Keep in mind, the deck is tuned for multiplayer casual, not strictly modern. Thanks.
