Life from the Loam
is a beautiful card. Not many other cards can act as engines to rev up an entire deck and fuel themselves at the same time. Luckily, there are many options for us to use and abuse this powerful card advantage machine.
To build a successful loam deck, you are going to need to ask yourself a few questions. First off, how long do I want the game to be? How many triggers do I want to remember? How close to the grindstone do I want to jam my opponent’s face? After we figure these things out, we realize that there is a loam deck for everyone. Let’s look at some essentials first…
Core Pieces
Life from the Loam
: As mentioned already, this is our card advantage engine. We are going to use this card to dump a bunch of other cards into our graveyard, pick up some lands from our yard to abuse our other spells, and potentially even get some triggers just by casting it. All lists need to have this card as a 4 of.
Seismic Assault
: This card was the first win condition used with Life from the Loam, and is still a good one today. It is a bit hard to cast, but once it hits, it is an advantage machine, mowing over an opposing army or just smashing in for 6 every turn. Red lists run between 1 and 4.
Ayula's Influence
: A new addition from MH1, this is basically the green Seismic that’s like 1000% better and maybe 50% worse than Seismic at the same time. There’s a lot that 2/2s can do, and often they’re just better than 2 damage, but sometimes you really need that removal element as well, especially as planeswalkers start to become more popular. Numbers will vary on build.
Faithless Looting
: This is our best buddy when it comes to dredging up answers. Off of the draw, we can dredge back a Loam, draw another card, then pitch two more cards that we either don’t need or can immediately get back with Loam. All red lists need this as a 4 of.
Smallpox
: Another blindside card advantage machine as it is difficult to see coming and if your opponent isn’t ready for it it can be absolutely devastating. Black lists run as a 4 of.
Raven's Crime
: A staple in all black builds, this card basically just poops on combo decks. Reuse it over and over to create a virtual soft-lock by keeping the opponent's hand empty, or just keep them on the edge with maybe one or two cards depending on how evil you are. Black builds run some number, depending on the build.
With these cards as our core, we are ready to fill in the rest of our build.
What’s a Loam Deck?
Loam decks are a broad array of Midrange to Control decks that are looking to use
Life from the Loam
as a source of late game card advantage. Usually midrange decks start to run out of gas by the time they hit their bigger threats, and if the opponent can deal with their singular threat then the deck has basically lost. Loam makes it so that we never run out of gas by letting us effectively spend all of our available mana every turn for some marginal effect that adds up to a board state that the opponent won’t be able to overcome. With access to the Cycle lands from MH1, we now have every tool we need to drown opponents in card advantage drawing up to 4 cards a turn, or shoot them for 6 every turn forever thanks to Seismic, or even now put down 6 power worth of 2/2s every turn thanks to Ayula’s Influence. Loam isn’t looking to win the 100 meter dash, it wants to take down the marathon.
The Archetypes
There are many different forms of Loam viable in the format. From RG Aggressive lists to 4 Color hyper grind control, pretty much anything is possible here. 5 color may even be a possibility if you are daring enough. For now, let’s stick with some basic builds.
GR Loam Assault
This is your most basic version of the red shell, utilizing
Seismic Assault
and some of its friends. The main plan is to play a midrange strategy, removing your opponents creatures while jamming in your own hard to deal with threats. Its very similar to playing jund without the black. This is one of the decks that benefitted most from the MH1 lands matter theme as we got a bunch of new toys to try out.
Decklist: RG Loam Assault
Jund Loam Assault
“Jund for the long game” aka “Jund on a budget” aka “Tarmogoyf isn’t good in the format anymore, Jund loam is the quintessential Loam deck. It looks to make game one as long and grindy as possible and then take it down so that we don’t need to rely on winning any sideboard games so we can play around grave hate as efficiently as possible. Funnily, this version doesn’t rely on any of our three main win conditions - being smallpox, Seismic, and Ayula’s influence - because we really just don’t need the raw power here. We’re trying to work Loam to it’s fullest to lock down the board then eventually win with a flame jab, Nether Spirit, or opponent concession.
Decklist: Jund Loam
Abzan Loam
For fans of
Knight of the Reliquary
, don’t worry, we didn’t forget about you. Knight is super clutch in loam decks because of its high lands synergy and ability to fetch out utility lands at will. This deck looks to capitalize on that in a grindy midrange shell backed up by some of our favorite Abzan colored disruption and removal.
Decklist: Abzan Loam
GB Loam Pox
The essential Loam Pox variant, this is for all those sadists who want to watch opponents cry as they get beaten down with a 2/2. We’re aiming for a super grindy control game where we totally shut down the opponent’s resources and take over with our own resilient threats. Plus you get to play
Deathsprout
. What’s not to love?
Decklist: BG Loam Pox
G/W Astral Loam
We got
Astral Slide
in modern, and it’s bigger and better than ever (it actually only has cycling, but don’t tell anyone that that’s the only difference). Astral Loam is less of a Loam deck and more of a deck with Loam in it. The plan is to jam excellent threats that can be flickered out with
Astral Drift
whenever we need to make combat math impossible for the opponent. They’ll never know when we have a cycler to blink out our dude, their dude, gain some life, ramp us, phase out a blocker, expand our army. The combination of cycle lands, loam, astral drift, and ETB Value creatures makes it so that the deck can answer any situation, and can grind with the best of them.
Decklist: G/W Astral Loam
Sultai Cycling Loam
This list looks to take advantage of
Drake Haven
as well as the many other cycling matters cards. It’s more of a conceptual list than something to sleeve up and take to a tournament, and more to show you all the new things that are possible now that we have access to the best cycling lands.
Decklist: Sultai Cycling Loam
There are many, many lists and strategies besides those shown here that can take advantage of
Life from the Loam
. This is meant as just an example of all of the different play styles possible with the card. Feel free to try your own strategies and brews, or alter these lists however you like. If you would like your list featured here, please just shoot me a message or comment with a list and description!
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Budget Series
A lot of these decks are fairly expensive, but they don’t have to be! Loam allows you to put an engine together with whatever random garbage you have lying around, it’s just that powerful that it can support itself regardless of what you put with it. The budget constraints will be $100 for these lists, at time of posting. Unfortunately, loams are pretty pricy, so these decks won’t be as consistent as the fully kitten out versions.
Budget Loam Pox
Your classic GB Loam Pox deck on a budget for the control players.
Decklist: Here
Budget Loam Assault
For the midrange players, RG Loam Assault, akin to the full version posted in this primer.
Decklist: Here
References
MTG Salvation Loam Primer:
Raphael Levi’s Loam Pox series:
-Dredging with Loam Pox:
-Dredging with Loam Pox 2:
-Loam Pox at PT FRF:
-Loam Pox Version 4:
Gerry Thompson’s preview on Jund Loam Assault:
Remember to leave an upvote if you liked this primer! If you want to learn more, feel free to drop some comments or message me directly.
