Loam Assault on a budget?
Modern forum
Posted on July 7, 2015, 11:12 p.m. by jandrobard
What's the cheapest a modern Loam Assault deck (I understand there are variations of the deck) could made if:
a) you keep the deck's main engine intact
b) the cuts don't completely cripple it
Does anyone have a budget decklist?
The deck looked interesting and I've considered it as my entry point into non-casual modern. I hope to play at my FNM.
jandrobard says... #3
I'd prefer an attrition-based build without reanimator, but aggressive is fine.
July 7, 2015 11:24 p.m.
jandrobard says... #5
ThatJunkMage Oh, and I forgot to thank you for the decklists!
July 7, 2015 11:30 p.m.
jandrobard says... #7
It sounds fun in an ideal scenario, but it feels weak against delver, burn, tokens, and affinity, which are decks I know I'll play against.
July 8, 2015 12:57 a.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #8
You guys read my mind, man: Loam Pox, Post-Origins (made today). This isn't super-budget, but this is pretty good for around $300. Could be cheaper with some sideboard cuts, land base tweaks, no Phyrexian Arena, and maybe no Abrupt Decay if you were really strapped. Would love to hear your thoughts on it, ThatJunkMage.
In Loam Assault, I really like Smallpox. The discard, sac creature, and sac land should barely matter to you in the right list. Even against the above decks that don't care about one aspect so much, at least 2 of them should hurt. That's some decent advantage for 2 mana. To be fair, my list is really built around maximizing the effectiveness of Smallpox, with extra card advantage, no creatures, and a touch of ramp. I just wish I had a better way of re-playing it than Noxious Revival.
July 8, 2015 1:26 a.m.
Servo_Token says... #9
So here, I'd advise cards like Raven's Crime, Syphon Life, and Zombie Infestation as 3-4 ofs in whatever list you choose, as they are the biggest keys to the attrition style deck. Personally, I'm a fan of a blue splash right now for taking on the meta because it allows you to dig deeper, dredge more, and gives access to countermagic for the difficult matchups like tron. Red splashed are always fine too if you want to take a more aggressive approach, especially considering that Molten Vortex is going to be a thing. What your splash is, if any, will determine where to take your build and just how grindy you will want to go. Blue is more grindy than no splash, which is more grindy than red splash, so keep that in mind.
July 8, 2015 3:02 a.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #10
Good food for thought. Red and attrition strategies seem pretty unnatural together, I know. But my thinking is that an early Molten Vortex as a board controller can work with the attrition strategy way better than Seismic Assault ever could, so I'm testing the idea out. Same goes for Magmatic Insight which gives us card advantage in this deck, where Faithless Looting was really filtering.
Compulsive Research and Thought Scour make the Sultai version compelling, but for me, the kicker would have to be using Snapcaster Mage on Smallpox, and that doesn't quite fit the budget.
Zombie Infestation may end up being the right call, over the spare Worm Harvest and/or Creakwood Lieges, at least as an alternate token strategy. As for Syphon Life, I agree it may end up being a must, and it's on the sideboard for now.
Thanks for the input.
July 8, 2015 3:46 a.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #11
Posted the above to the wrong place. Talking about Loam decks in any case (hence the confusion), so I guess it's relevant!
July 8, 2015 3:53 a.m.
I've thought about trying out Loam before, but fancied a variant with Creakwood Liege and a more token focus. Guessing Zombie Infestation would be another crucial part of such a deck, I'd only considered Worm Harvest before (For some strange reason) -- In such a deck, out of interest, would a one-off Parallel Lives be good along with maybe a one-off Garruk Relentless Flip?
I really like the Sultai Variant with Psychic Spiral on your profile, ThatJunkMage
Servo_Token says... #2
What kind of thing were you looking to do with this deck? Just beat face? do you have some sort of secondary strategy in mind here, like reanimation? There's literally like 7 or 8 different ways to make loam assault in modern, so it really comes down to how you want the deck to function.
In any case, check out my profile for a primer on loam decks in modern. I don't presently have a budgeted section complete yet, but can work with whatever information you give me to find a list that works for you.
July 7, 2015 11:23 p.m. Edited.