Sideboard


This deck is built mostly around one card: Life from the Loam and using the ability to repeatably get back two lands a turn to grind out games and control your opponent.

The Overall plan of this deck is to get both players into topdeck mode and have a Life from the Loam in your graveyard; whilst this deck functions without Life from the Loam , it is activated when you find it. Without loam, the aim is to slow down your opponent down with discard in the from of Thoughtseize , as well as using Abrupt Decay to get rid of their early game plays.(Note: I use Abrupt Decay over Assassin's Trophy because the deck runs a small mana denial package in the form of Smallpox .) Cards like Faithless Looting and Courser of Kruphix allow you to dig further and see more cards so you may eventually find your Life from the Loam . Raven's Crime , and Molten Vortex are the main payoffs for having Life from the Loam ; Raven's Crime is very good verse combo decks like gifts storm as well as control, wheras Molten Vortex is good verse creature decks like humans, spirits, and verse midrange decks like jund. When you don't draw your loam, these two payoffs will be fine ways to draw out the game until you find your loam by removing your opponent's creatures and putting both players into topdeck mode; and they are the reason this deck runs 26 lands. Traverse the Ulvenwald is a good toolbox card that can go find one of our numerous creatures to suit the situation or can find us a Ghost Quarter for tron, or if you can't get delirium they act as +2 lands for our land count. The main finisher for this deck is Worm Harvest .
This section need work due to changes in the metagame.

Control- Control is the best matchup for this deck, Raven's Crime is an all star here, being able to strip your opponent's hand of all cards and get your cards back each turn with life from the loam is card advantage control struggles to beat, and even Terminus won't stop a Worm Harvest in your graveyard, Crucible of Worlds is a card you need to look out for here though.

Humans- This is one of the matchups where Molten Vortex really shines, if you can get Molten Vortex and Life from the Loam you can effectively "lock them out of the game" with it. Their "topdeck mode" is a lot worse than ours, so Raven's Crime is also very good here, Smallpox is also an all star in this matchup.

Spirits- This is quite a similar story as with humans, Collected Company makes it slightly worse however, but still a good matchup.

Midrange (Jund, Pyromancer etc.)- Most midrange matchups are good matchups, hand hate can't take our key card: Life from the Loam . Molten Vortex kills their planeswalkers and a few buybacks of Worm Harvest and the game is ours, their removal is also quite bad verse this deck as there aren't many targets. Scavenging Ooze is the main card to watch out for however, as it can eat our graveyard.

Storm- This is still a favourable matchup, but not by much, it is mostly who has the best hand, and whether or not you have Raven's Crime in your opening hand, if so then you are greatly favoured in that game, or if you can find Scavenging Ooze in time.

Affinty (all variants)- Molten Vortex is really good if you can get one early before their creatures are too big to deal with. Smallpox is an allstar in this matchup as well. Cranial Plating is a card to watch out for, instant speed equipping can be an issue.

Tron- Tron is a 50/50 mathcup, it really depends on if you can find ghost quarter or if you can abrupt decay their map. If they assemble tron it is really hard to win, but not impossible. If tron is big in your meta, consider replacing abrupt decay for assassin's trophy. Smallpox can slow them down as well.

Death's Shadow- This is a fine matchup, it is quite hard to beat Temur Battle Rage , and a lot of their creatures don't die to Molten Vortex , that said, hand hate and removal are very ineffective against us most of the time. Smallpox is also a great card for dealing with one-of big creatures, save it until they play a Death's Shadow , Gurmag Angler etc.

Bridgevine- Like most aggro decks, this is a bad matchup for this deck, even with a Molten Vortex it is can be hard to control some of the more aggressive starts, smallopx will often give them a 2/2 zombie, or allow them to sacrifice Stitcher's Supplier and get more gas in their graveyard.

Hollow one- Another aggro deck, this is another bad matchup. Whilst Burning Inquiry can be alright for us, most of their aggressive starts are hard to beat even with Molten Vortex , and many of their creatures are too big to kill with it anyway. Most of their smaller creatures are recursive and can simply be sacrificed to a Smallpox only to return the next turn.

Boggles- Your main hope to beat this deck is to have thoughtsieze in your opener on the play and for them to not have Leyline of Sanctity , or to have Smallpox and for them to not have an umbra. Other than that, it is quite hard to beat boggles.

Burn- Burn is our absolute worst matchup, for a slow deck that has no way of countering burn spells to the face, a match win against burn is hard to achieve, though not impossible. Mina and Denn, Wildborn plus Radiant Fountain is your best hope pre-sideboard, (burn is the reason I run Mina and Denn, Wildborn over Azusa, Lost but Seeking ,) and post sideboard Pulse of Murasa plus Eternal Witness (wich can be found off a Traverse the Ulvenwald ) usually gets the job done.

In short: Longer, more controlling matchups are better than fast, aggressive matchups, with combo being around the middle.

If there are any matchups I haven't mentioned here that you would like to know about, feel free to ask in the comments and I will do my best to provide some information on them.

You might enjoy playing this deck if:

  • You enjoy a grindy, almost controlling feel

  • You enjoy playing longer games

  • You like 8-rack, but are looking for something a tad more competitive

  • You don't mind having some really hard matchups

  • You like graveyard based magic

And as always, if you like the deck, remember to hit that upvote button!

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 5 years
Legality

This deck is not Modern legal.

Rarity (main - side)

4 - 0 Mythic Rares

31 - 2 Rares

8 - 5 Uncommons

11 - 8 Commons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 1.94
Tokens Emblem Vraska, Golgari Queen
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