Loamin' it Up in Legacy

[CynicalSquirrel]

This thread is for the discussion of my latest article, Loamin' it Up in Legacy. We would be grateful if you would let us know what you think, but please keep your comments on topic.

[ShadowFactoryX]

dude the loam with cycling lands is absolute balls \m/
my buddy runs it with seismic assault, its a fun deck

and i do like the article, keep up the good work

[RanDomino]

I traded 2 of these for two Crime // Punishments a few weeks ago, and people told me I ripped off the other guy. Those people are fools.

[LukeFoley]

Wow. I knew LftL was amazing but I never thought of some of the crazy stuff in there... Awesome article!

[JayC]

I noticed you said 'Ravnica Block is Over' - what does that mean? As in all 3 of it's set's have been released? Because if I'm not mistaken the set will be in Standard for another year?

Just curious why you worded it that way...

[einhorn]

Originally Posted by JayC

I noticed you said 'Ravnica Block is Over' - what does that mean? As in all 3 of it's set's have been released? Because if I'm not mistaken the set will be in Standard for another year?

Just curious why you worded it that way...

The article was about Legacy, not Standard. Of course he means "all sets have been released"...after that, in Legacy, there will be no further developments of the block. It's all out, no more surprises, ok, have fun with it.

I think it's a bit innacurate to say Life from the Loam makes Glacial Chasm like an uncounterable Solitary Confinement...because, well, you can just counter the LfTL! Although, it makes the counter more like a Boomerang. Interesting article.

[Twinkee]

Originally Posted by einhorn

I think it's a bit innacurate to say Life from the Loam makes Glacial Chasm like an uncounterable Solitary Confinement...because, well, you can just counter the LfTL! Although, it makes the counter more like a Boomerang. Interesting article.

It is also accurate to say that Boomerang just doesn't see play. echoing truth or Chain of vapor is the choice bounce in legacy.

[gnawph]

Here is a link to a thread discussing a Loam/Assault deck that took T8 at the Duels for Duals in February.

http://www.starcitygames.com/phpBB2/...stating+dreams

The deck's most notable tech is using Devastating Dreams as a board sweaper, discard outlet, and land destroyer. Since Devastating Dreams is also Extended legal you do have to ask why players aren't running this over Thoughts of Ruin.

[Finn]

Good idea for an article, CS. You could not have included everything, so I will add my own thoughts.

I am still bewildered that so few people have seen the insanity of Devastating Dreams. The major problem with Wildfire in Legacy is that the turn it kills all the Goblins is about two turns after you die.

And no mention of Roar of the Wurm or Firestorm. This deck and its variants work on far fewer resources.

[LukeFoley]

I personally think LftL sees best use in LD decks because a fast LD deck that doesn't care about protecting his own stuff is krazy if he can kepp lands coming back. Devastating dreams is agreat point there.

[knightfall]

I play Terravore Assault (or AgrroCal) deck often and I often wondered why Devastating Dreams didn't get played so I thought about it. Here is what I came up with:

1) Losing those cards is sometimes gonna lose you those games. The reason is that those cards (often lands from the loam) would have helped you recover faster from the land sweeping.

2) The deck plays 8 mana creatures. The deck generally does not want their Birds and/or Werebears dying, as they help with recovery and the bears also beat down for 4. You also don't want to kill your own Mongrel or Hierarchs (some lists use Hierarchs). And you almost never want to geddon for less than 4. The counter argument to this would be that you could use DD to kill opposing creatures. However, this deck often has creature superiority. And when it doesn't DD wouldn't have killed the opposing creatures anyways.

3) You don't always have Loam (to get discard fodder) when you need to geddon. While some lists only have both in the board, There will be times where you need to geddon but cannot afford to pitch cards.

4) Perhaps the biggest problem with DD is getting countered. Sometimes losing the extra cards is worth it if and only if geddon will resolve. Sadly that is not always the case and a countered DD may lose you the game.

The one advantage DD has is mana cost. This is probably alot more important in Legacy but not as much in Extended given what Thoughts is often Wished in against.

I think the biggest factor is that they are flat out different decks. I know they are in different formats but that is not even a consideration. The decks are vastly differently from each other with the exception of intended to blow lands up.

[SRdude]

Squirrel, you said Life didn't make any T8s. Well it just made T8 ay 1 of scg dual for duals. I don't knwo if you consider that a big tournament, but form what I hear, the attendance was fairly high. Of all those decks, I have to say Dredge-Tog appears to be the best. Have you seen Ray D 3's list?

[Sakura]

Awesome article and good lists.

Only nitpick. The article states how loam is expected to be so strong but falls short of its mark yet does nothing to explain why or offer ways to fix this problem.

[Belgareth]

Really good article CS , nice to see you write something to encourage people to our format.

[Twinkee]

Originally Posted by ShinDash

Awesome article and good lists.

Only nitpick. The article states how loam is expected to be so strong but falls short of its mark yet does nothing to explain why or offer ways to fix this problem.

In my opinion, a couple elements is really stopping this is:

• The graveyard hate often prepared in the sideboard due to the popularity of threshold.
• Inherient sluggish speed of life from the loam. Granted it can do things on turn2 (1 with accel ofcourse), but then in most cases, it doesn't do anything for the board. And with an environment of Goblins, threshold, and solidarity, Life of the loam is just another mid to late game card.
• Lack of major showing, I don't think too many people took it to major events, although those that do seems to get good results in return.

Personally, I think a list of uber madness would have been nice since it averts for the most part the relience of the list of problems I see with life from the loam. It doesn't rely on the life from the loam terribly as it has the aggro plan, the sluggish speed is replaced by the Maddog and his crew.

Oh, awesome article cynical squirrel