Hagra Diabolist + Rite of Replication also makes an opp lose 180 life. 5 tokens enter the battlefield, meaning 6 Hagra Diabolists see 5 triggers each of 6 Allies. 6x6x5 = 180.
Kalastria Healer on the other hand is 30 life drain from an opponent. 6 Healers see 5 triggers enter the battlefield for a 30 point life swing.
Played FNM for the first time in a couple of weeks to an official 4-0-1 finish, but with an ID last round into top 8 which I played out making the total record 5-0 in matches, 10-1 in games. Specifically, I got it 2-0 over UW Control, 2-1 over Mono-Red Prison, 2-0 over VialSlivers, 2-0 over Whirza, and 2-0 over Whirza. Here's my list:
Raven's Crime overperformed big time. It won me the match over UW, it won me one of my matches over Whirza, it was fine against the Slivers deck, and I think going up to a 3/3 split with inquisition would be great overall. I may have to change the sideboard slot to something more targeted, something like a Collective Brutality but that's fine because it seems like Raven's Card is one of the key reasons to play this deck.
Smallpox tended to be pretty bad in most cases, but I think that's because it's just a bad card in most of these MUs. I did cast it once against the slivers deck when they didn't have Vial, and the Pox essentially took my opponent out of the game by making them sac their last creature and discard their last card. If I faced more aggressive matchups or creature combo decks then it would have been more impactful probably, but it was pretty bad vs most of these control / prison decks.
The one of Mortuary Mire came in handy a couple times this tournament, once against UW, the other in a long game against Whirza. If you can loam back a Mire and have a way to draw a card for instance off of a cycle land or Clue, you can immediately draw a creature card from your graveyard for a very costly reanimate. vs UW, I was able to end step Bolt, reanimate a Bloodbraid Elf which was able to come down with haste and hit big Teferi to kill it. It's pretty nasty stuff, especially if you are playing extreme value cards like Seasoned Pyromancer or Bedlam Reveler.
I felt really good with this deck this week, and felt like there weren't many issues with it that had to be plugged up, other than a lackluster sideboard. I'm looking for ways to fill that out with more threats for the UW matchup while having enough answers for everything else. Still, I think this deck is sweet and one of the best decks for the metagame right now. If y'all want me to go match by match to help show how I think about the deck and describe some of the lines I take, I can, but I don't have time atm for that right now. Any suggestions are still welcome to help sure up the sideboard and maindeck numbers too if you think there are any things that stand out to you as strange or something.
It's kinda hard to say what the best deck is right now. Because of the Looting ban, the deck has to adapt to different play lines.
The Jund list is the most solid right now because it has a real easy replacement for Looting in targeted discard spells like Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, and Collective Brutality, a switch that many decks were already employing once Wrenn and Six was printed. I'd say this is the deck to play for now because it isn't really affected by the looting ban and it's more traditional than weird RG lists testing out cards like Magmatic Insight which have big downsides.
That being said, you can go even deeper into the individual card choices for each archetype and the deckbuilding gets deeper. Right now I'm on Pox Loam, an archetype that looks like this:
There are a lot of one ofs and weird numbers in this list, but let me run through some of the card choices real quick, and you'll see why I use it for my metagame.
My lgs is pretty large, like 60-70 person FNM each week with a pretty diverse set of decks. The most prominent decks however are creature-based strategies like Humans, Spirits, Company, Vizier Combo, Infect, and Bogles. Aside from that, there are a bunch of UW players alongside random UB or Grixis control strategies.
Smallpox is really good at decimating these decks that are trying to curve out on creatures. If I cast Pox turn two on the draw against a Storm player who went t2 land land Baral, casting a Smallpox puts them behind on threats, behind on mana, and behind on cards while we can discard any land and sac a land with Loam or Wrenn to get them back. The effect in this deck is symmetrical in the short term, but by one or two turns later, we're back ahead on cards and, in a weird way, tempo.
To quickly delve into the other parts of the deck...the manabase aims to get double black on turn two every time, and since Seismic Assault is only the late game plan and a 3 of, we don't have to worry too much about t3 RRR every time and we can focus on just casting pox and moving from there. I'm playing 6 fetches because I think that's a good number with all the extra cycling lands and other stuff we have to find spots for, and Polluted Delta is only in the list because I traded away a Bloodstained Mire plus some other cards for a Wrenn and Six. Either way, the important part is that you have a few black fetches to fetch basic swamp when you need to.
Now if your meta was more combo based with decks like Ad Nauseum, Storm, Valakut, or any "critical mass" deck like Burn or Mill, you might want to cut Smallpox and play something with more discard spells and Liliana of the Veil. Raven's Crime is a hoser against any midrange deck or combo deck - when you can have cast 3 discard spells by turn 3, you really can ruin someone's day. With 9-10 discard spells plus Liliana of the Veil, you can play the gameplan of strip all of your resources, then use AssaultLoam to finish off the board then your opponent. This strategy can be kind of slow vs a Burn deck, but usually to combat that you play extra maindeck copies of Collective Brutality and bigger threats like Tarmogoyf, which you can't play in Pox since you have to sac a creature to the namesake card.
I haven't built one of those decks post looting ban, but if you think that's better for your metagame, I can help you build something in that shape.
RG is typically better against aggro in the sense that it deals less damage to itself because of its lands. In the past, the only thing the deck had to do on t1 was play Looting or "bolt the birds," but now the biggest t1 play is gone so we have to find something else to fill its slot. Because of this, for the moment I would stay away from RG and look at something more set in stone that has stood the test of time in Jund Loam, which is the deck that won a GP to put this deck on the map years ago, and is stronger than ever with cycling lands and Wrenn and Six to power it out into the late game.
TL;DR - I think some version of Jund Loam is the best choice right now because the other colors need to replace looting somehow. Let me know what your metagame is like and I can help you find a good list for you.
Wrenn and Six was a big addition to this deck from Modern Horizons, but the deck existed before it and we have some new tools from that set to help the deck in its place. I haven't made a new Wrenn and Six-less list, however, it would probably be similar to some of the pre-MH1 lists I have stored on my desktop. Most of those also have Faithless Looting, so I'd have to make some changes.
If you have a playset of Dark Confidant, those fit pretty well into Wrenn's slot though it's not exact. Confidant dies to removal way easier, and can deal you a bunch of damage - though with the amount of lands we play, it's less than usual. That being said, Bob has it's own advantages in being able to beat in and draw you spells as well as lands, which can't be overstated.
A playset of Confidant is somewhat similar to a playset of Wrenn though, so if you don't have them then it would almost be just as hard to get those. Still, the deck can function without either one and perform fine, just with a slightly different build.
Right now, imo the three playable "archetypes" of AssLoam right now are (in order) Jund, RG, and Naya. Jund can go in many different ways, currently I'm on a low creature count Smallpox list which you can see above. Instead of Wrenn and Six in that deck, you can play Bloodghast which is just a great threat in this strategy especially when combined with a spell like Pox. Bloodghast also makes it so if you are forced to cast a Pox late game, you don't have to sac a Tracker and lose value, you just sac a BG and get it right back. I couldn't find room for the card before, but BG just like Wrenn gives you fuel to get back from Pox, as you can discard it to that side of the card then play a land to get it right back.
If you want, DM me with your specific needs and I can help you figure out a decklist that seems good. We're technically not supposed to go too much into budget talk on this part of the forum, so it would be better to talk there. Hope this helped!
There's now an updated primer in Deck Creation where we have been discussing the deck though it will need updating postbans. I do like these decklists though, especially the Jund one a whole lot, and I'll add them to the primer in the results portion.
This Jund list is pretty similar to the one I'm running at the moment. My meta is being overrun by aggressive creature strategies, so I'm playing a playset of Smallpox which takes up some of the slots for PWs. The only thing I've found with this sort of build is I sometimes have a myriad of answers with no threats to back it up. This list is going all in on Bloodbraid Elf with AssaultLoam or Wrenn ult to win the game which I've found to be kinda threat light. I'm much more of a fan of moving some of the threats that they have in sideboard into the maindeck; with one or two Tracker, you can dig through your deck faster to find your threats. For that reason, I think a couple Bloodbraid Elf should be replaced with 1-2 Tireless Tracker, and adding a couple manlands like Hissing Quagmire or Raging Ravine wouldn't hurt.
RG list: I still don't like Commune in RG, though being able to find Blood Moon is a major plus. I've found Commune to be a stellar card when you can play it to find a Seismic Assault for turn 3 and then discard a couple lands to gain board control. If you don't find Assault, then you are taking up your whole second turn to cast a spell that didn't affect the board, and I'd rather just cast something like a Tarmogoyf. In this deck, you can hit Moon, Assault, or Vortex, all of which could come down turn 3 and start to control the game. I'm not sure I like having 6 Assaults + 3 Commune either, but I'd have to try out these numbers before I can definitely say that.
I like to change up my removal to have more options, so I like having the option of Lightning Axe, Dismember, Magmatic Sinkhole, that can kill bigger threats.
I'm most concerned at the number of lands here. Most decks that are hoping to get up to three drops and four drops to curve out play upwards of 23 lands, I'd play 24 myself. You may not want to cut spells to add lands, but if you want your deck to be consistent and to be able to battle other decks at FNM, you will greatly appreciate the change.
I think this list is pretty solid. Molten Vortex has gotten a lot better with Wrenn and Six, so I think it's a much more viable option now, and with Seasoned Pyromancer, you can just pitch extra enchants to the ETB trigger.
The thing about this archetype is that there are so many different ways to build around the Loam engine that you need to find a build that's good for each individual meta. While this list is suited to be great against aggro, I don't think it would do well against midrange decks like Jund or Pyromancers, as they have more disruptive elements with overall stronger threats and answers in Goyfs and Plague Engineer / hand disruption.
From a first glance, it seems that this list could easily just get some people with Blood Moon or a simple set up of AssaultLoam / VortexLoam, which is a big advantage to it. The midrange decks are designed to hedge against the field while the typical all in lists usually target a portion of the metagame.
The one major gripe I have is in your sideboard. I think Engineered Explosives or Ratchet Bomb is a necessity for Bogles while having utility in other matchups like Urza or Storm. If your lgs doesn't have any of those decks that's fine, but it's something I include in most of my RG lists as there is no other axis to fight a deck like Bogles in these colors except for that one. The other change I would make is 2 Cindervines over the 2 Destructive Revelry. Cindervines is the same up front cost with damage over time and can be cracked for a mana to essentially cast a [/card]destructive revelry[/card]. While it can be cheesed out by something like a Pithing Needle, but you can crack it in response to still destroy an artifact and deal 2 damage. The card has done a lot of work for me in these colors.
As for what the midrange deck can do differently now, since the graveyard hate has dwindled, I think it's safe to bring back Goyf into the deck. Goyf has long been the best beater for the archetype, but if our opp brought in Leylines against us, then it would just be something like a 2/3 vanilla creature, making it get easily outclassed by other stuff in the format. I was playing Young Pyromancer over it because it's a decent creature in the deck that still does work with all your instants and sorceries while not being hated out by GY stuff. I'm still trying to figure out the best configuration of the midrange deck - since Looting is now banned I've been testing a lot of Jund shells with Inquisition and Raven's Crime. Having a consistent clock gives us another axis which decks will have to fight us on, and I think the deck will do better because of it.
I'm still on Smallpox at my lgs for the moment which has gone exceedingly well. My meta is a bunch of creature / midrange / storm decks that get eaten by turn 2 Pox EZ, which I think is the best Loam shell for the moment at least. The metagame is just adjusting to the new banned list, so let's see how everything evolves and works itself out.
P.S. Sideboard guide is finally coming. I wanted to wait for things to cool down because I had a feeling there were gonna be changes in the format post-Hogaak, and now everything should work out fine. I'll post the general feel of the matchup for each deck and then might go in depth on certain archetypes, it's to be seen. With the amount of different shells out there, it's hard to tell people exactly what to cut and bring in because the cuts for the Jund list will be different than the cuts for the RG list than the Temur list etc. Keep your eyes on the primer in the coming weeks.
I don't have Lilianas in paper anymore (I traded them for 4 Wrenn and Six among other things) so I'm using 1 Sarkhan, Fireblood as a different 3 mana walker.
The key card in this deck is Smallpox. This card is insane when decks are playing fair, and that's what I'm expecting postban, a resurgence of fair decks or combo decks that rely on creatures like Infect or Druid Combo or Elves, etc. For this, you don't want to play many creatures, which is why most of the creatures in our deck do more than just be bodies. The alternate card to play would be Tarmogoyf, but it depends on if we want to be proactive vs noninteractive combo decks like Ad Nauseum or fair decks. Because we are playing Wrenn and Six on top of loam now, Pox is just a way to win games on turn 2 by getting so much value.
The rest of the deck is built to supplement this game plan. The mana base looks a little weird, but it works since we need double black turn 2, triple red two turns after on the god draw. Wrenn and Six plus a fetch fixes on its own, though you can't cast it off a Graven Cairns.
Instead of Looting, we have turn 1 discard in Inquisition of Kozilek and Raven's Crime. With all of the lands we play plus Loam and W6, I have often been able to get every card out of my opp's hand by turn 3 or 4, which in combination with a removal spell or creature, can shut down the opp without a Seismic Assault.
Seasoned Pyromancer can help get back all those cards while giving us the option to make tokens off of a dredge.
Mortuary Mire is a really good card with the new cycling lands. Now you can cast loam, get back a Mire + Forgotten Cave, then get back any creature in your yard for essentially 2 mana.
I think this will be the best version of the deck for now, at least with a few tweaks, but we will have to see how the meta develops.
I was just watching GP Vegas where in round one a player was playing with translucent sleeves. This sparked a lot of hate in twitch chat which was to be expected as it seemed that some cards were darker on stream, but it got to the point where people were arguing if sleeves were "required" in competitive REL.
So aside from the problems without sleeves, damaging your cards, marked cards, etc., are there any strict rules against playing without sleeves in non-limited formats for comp REL?
Went 3-1-1 at my lgs last night with the list I just posted, and the deck feels... okay.
I played against a random draft deck from a new player, Hogaak, Dredge, and Jund, and ID'd with my last opp. The deck preboard is pretty bad, as there are no really big threats to close out the game quickly. The point of the deck was to be good against leylines postboard which it was, and to be good with leylines in my deck postboard, which it also was, so I guess the experiment was a success?
I lost my game one to Hogaak and Dredge, and did the sideboard plan of board in Leylines and Blood Moon, cut graveyard synergy like Life from the Loam, Countryside Crusher, a Seismic Assault and more depending on the matchup. Postboard, I mulled to leylines each time as there is no other way this deck wins, but with the help of Seasoned Pyromancer, Anger of the Gods, and one for one removal, we got there. This list feels stellar against Hogaak and Dredge, but it has some holes...
Because it is more threat light, it is worse off vs midrange decks like Jund. I'm likely gonna cut Countryside Crusher entirely for Tireless Tracker as I think that's just a better threat that can draw me extra cards. That slot could also be Bloodbraid Elf, which I want to test but idk yet.
The long and short of it is, I think this deck could survive the degeneracy of Hogaak and Dredge with Leylines and Blood Moon. I think the deck is still good, we just need to find the right threat that is able to get in through leyline.
I've been staying away from Tarmogoyf for a while in RG because of how weak it is to graveyard hate, and it takes a while for it to grow into a big threat in the deck since we don't play hand disruption. I've leaned on the old strategy of Young Pyromancer instead with the backup plan of just casting a bunch of Bolts and Flame Jabs. With most decks running Leylines ATM I decided to try this list which tries to cut the graveyard synergy as much as possible while staying true to the archetype.
I've cut down on Countryside Crusher in favor of 3 Seasoned Pyromancer. The Pyromancer seems like it could be good in this archetype especially postboard being able to discard drawn leylines or other dead cards. Maindeck it draws you towards one of your three copies of Life from the Loam as well as refilling your hand when you get hellbent. For that reason, the card plays well with Seismic Assault and a lot of lands, as you can hellbent yourself real quick. I'll be testing out this list at FNM tomorrow night and will let y'all know how it goes.
You mentioned the "singleton" deck that came to mind, Esper Gifts. That deck can typically function without its graveyard because you run so many singleton copies of spells but I haven't seen lists for it in a while.
Aside from that, I'd say you could build an Esper Control shell that's a bunch of one-ofs, one Supreme Verdict, one Damnation, one Kaya's Wrath, one Terminus for example with the wealth of removal and countermagic you can choose from. New cards and old cards alike from Kaya's Guile to Esper Charm could be options there.
You could also play a toolbox deck, which would probably be the most competitive option. With the newly printed for modern Eladamri's Call alongside Chord of Calling, Collected Company, and Finale of Devastaion, you could build a pretty solid Naya or Bant creature deck, even some sort of Kiki-Chord / Vanifar shell. Here's a list from a few months ago from Jeff Hoogland:
You might be able to add even more spicy one-ofs to this deck like Breaching Hippocamp or Wall of Blossoms along with more copies of the new cards from WAR and MH1.
One last thing, fair decks are probably the decks we like to play against, but how do we combat a deck like Neobrand?
I would love to hear some opinions and tips on how to approach degenerate decks.
While RG is fairly consistent at taking out creature decks and going over the top of midrange decks like UW Control, it's downfall is its spread against degenerate decks like Neobrand. If a deck relies on creatures like Vizier Combo, then it's an easy matchup. Even unfair matchups like Storm are playable since you can force them to combo off without a cost reducer, but it lacks the hand disruption of Jund, the strong sideboard cards of Naya, and the countermagic of Temur. Which one you use in which metagame depends on which decks are on top. If you pick RG, you cede some edge to the unfair decks for an edge against aggressive decks.
Kalastria Healer on the other hand is 30 life drain from an opponent. 6 Healers see 5 triggers enter the battlefield for a 30 point life swing.
Played FNM for the first time in a couple of weeks to an official 4-0-1 finish, but with an ID last round into top 8 which I played out making the total record 5-0 in matches, 10-1 in games. Specifically, I got it 2-0 over UW Control, 2-1 over Mono-Red Prison, 2-0 over VialSlivers, 2-0 over Whirza, and 2-0 over Whirza. Here's my list:
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Canyon Slough
2 Forgotten Cave
3 Graven Cairns
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Raging Ravine
1 Hissing Quagmire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Mortuary Mire
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Raven's Crime
3 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Smallpox
4 Life from the Loam
2 Wrenn and Six
2 Assassin's Trophy
3 Seismic Assault
Creatures: 7
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Tireless Tracker
2 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Assassin's Trophy
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Shenanigans
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Infinite Obliteration
1 Weather the Storm
1 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Worm Harvest
1 Raven's Crime
Raven's Crime overperformed big time. It won me the match over UW, it won me one of my matches over Whirza, it was fine against the Slivers deck, and I think going up to a 3/3 split with inquisition would be great overall. I may have to change the sideboard slot to something more targeted, something like a Collective Brutality but that's fine because it seems like Raven's Card is one of the key reasons to play this deck.
Smallpox tended to be pretty bad in most cases, but I think that's because it's just a bad card in most of these MUs. I did cast it once against the slivers deck when they didn't have Vial, and the Pox essentially took my opponent out of the game by making them sac their last creature and discard their last card. If I faced more aggressive matchups or creature combo decks then it would have been more impactful probably, but it was pretty bad vs most of these control / prison decks.
The one of Mortuary Mire came in handy a couple times this tournament, once against UW, the other in a long game against Whirza. If you can loam back a Mire and have a way to draw a card for instance off of a cycle land or Clue, you can immediately draw a creature card from your graveyard for a very costly reanimate. vs UW, I was able to end step Bolt, reanimate a Bloodbraid Elf which was able to come down with haste and hit big Teferi to kill it. It's pretty nasty stuff, especially if you are playing extreme value cards like Seasoned Pyromancer or Bedlam Reveler.
I felt really good with this deck this week, and felt like there weren't many issues with it that had to be plugged up, other than a lackluster sideboard. I'm looking for ways to fill that out with more threats for the UW matchup while having enough answers for everything else. Still, I think this deck is sweet and one of the best decks for the metagame right now. If y'all want me to go match by match to help show how I think about the deck and describe some of the lines I take, I can, but I don't have time atm for that right now. Any suggestions are still welcome to help sure up the sideboard and maindeck numbers too if you think there are any things that stand out to you as strange or something.
The Jund list is the most solid right now because it has a real easy replacement for Looting in targeted discard spells like Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, and Collective Brutality, a switch that many decks were already employing once Wrenn and Six was printed. I'd say this is the deck to play for now because it isn't really affected by the looting ban and it's more traditional than weird RG lists testing out cards like Magmatic Insight which have big downsides.
That being said, you can go even deeper into the individual card choices for each archetype and the deckbuilding gets deeper. Right now I'm on Pox Loam, an archetype that looks like this:
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Canyon Slough
2 Forgotten Cave
3 Graven Cairns
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Raging Ravine
1 Hissing Quagmire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Mortuary Mire
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Raven's Crime
3 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Smallpox
4 Life from the Loam
2 Assassin's Trophy
2 Wrenn and Six
3 Seismic Assault
1 Worm's Harvest
Creatures: 6
3 Tireless Tracker
3 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Infinite Obliteration
1 Assassin's Trophy
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Alpine Moon
1 Shenanigans
1 Force of Vigor
My lgs is pretty large, like 60-70 person FNM each week with a pretty diverse set of decks. The most prominent decks however are creature-based strategies like Humans, Spirits, Company, Vizier Combo, Infect, and Bogles. Aside from that, there are a bunch of UW players alongside random UB or Grixis control strategies.
Smallpox is really good at decimating these decks that are trying to curve out on creatures. If I cast Pox turn two on the draw against a Storm player who went t2 land land Baral, casting a Smallpox puts them behind on threats, behind on mana, and behind on cards while we can discard any land and sac a land with Loam or Wrenn to get them back. The effect in this deck is symmetrical in the short term, but by one or two turns later, we're back ahead on cards and, in a weird way, tempo.
To quickly delve into the other parts of the deck...the manabase aims to get double black on turn two every time, and since Seismic Assault is only the late game plan and a 3 of, we don't have to worry too much about t3 RRR every time and we can focus on just casting pox and moving from there. I'm playing 6 fetches because I think that's a good number with all the extra cycling lands and other stuff we have to find spots for, and Polluted Delta is only in the list because I traded away a Bloodstained Mire plus some other cards for a Wrenn and Six. Either way, the important part is that you have a few black fetches to fetch basic swamp when you need to.
Now if your meta was more combo based with decks like Ad Nauseum, Storm, Valakut, or any "critical mass" deck like Burn or Mill, you might want to cut Smallpox and play something with more discard spells and Liliana of the Veil. Raven's Crime is a hoser against any midrange deck or combo deck - when you can have cast 3 discard spells by turn 3, you really can ruin someone's day. With 9-10 discard spells plus Liliana of the Veil, you can play the gameplan of strip all of your resources, then use AssaultLoam to finish off the board then your opponent. This strategy can be kind of slow vs a Burn deck, but usually to combat that you play extra maindeck copies of Collective Brutality and bigger threats like Tarmogoyf, which you can't play in Pox since you have to sac a creature to the namesake card.
I haven't built one of those decks post looting ban, but if you think that's better for your metagame, I can help you build something in that shape.
RG is typically better against aggro in the sense that it deals less damage to itself because of its lands. In the past, the only thing the deck had to do on t1 was play Looting or "bolt the birds," but now the biggest t1 play is gone so we have to find something else to fill its slot. Because of this, for the moment I would stay away from RG and look at something more set in stone that has stood the test of time in Jund Loam, which is the deck that won a GP to put this deck on the map years ago, and is stronger than ever with cycling lands and Wrenn and Six to power it out into the late game.
TL;DR - I think some version of Jund Loam is the best choice right now because the other colors need to replace looting somehow. Let me know what your metagame is like and I can help you find a good list for you.
If you have a playset of Dark Confidant, those fit pretty well into Wrenn's slot though it's not exact. Confidant dies to removal way easier, and can deal you a bunch of damage - though with the amount of lands we play, it's less than usual. That being said, Bob has it's own advantages in being able to beat in and draw you spells as well as lands, which can't be overstated.
A playset of Confidant is somewhat similar to a playset of Wrenn though, so if you don't have them then it would almost be just as hard to get those. Still, the deck can function without either one and perform fine, just with a slightly different build.
Right now, imo the three playable "archetypes" of AssLoam right now are (in order) Jund, RG, and Naya. Jund can go in many different ways, currently I'm on a low creature count Smallpox list which you can see above. Instead of Wrenn and Six in that deck, you can play Bloodghast which is just a great threat in this strategy especially when combined with a spell like Pox. Bloodghast also makes it so if you are forced to cast a Pox late game, you don't have to sac a Tracker and lose value, you just sac a BG and get it right back. I couldn't find room for the card before, but BG just like Wrenn gives you fuel to get back from Pox, as you can discard it to that side of the card then play a land to get it right back.
If you want, DM me with your specific needs and I can help you figure out a decklist that seems good. We're technically not supposed to go too much into budget talk on this part of the forum, so it would be better to talk there. Hope this helped!
This Jund list is pretty similar to the one I'm running at the moment. My meta is being overrun by aggressive creature strategies, so I'm playing a playset of Smallpox which takes up some of the slots for PWs. The only thing I've found with this sort of build is I sometimes have a myriad of answers with no threats to back it up. This list is going all in on Bloodbraid Elf with AssaultLoam or Wrenn ult to win the game which I've found to be kinda threat light. I'm much more of a fan of moving some of the threats that they have in sideboard into the maindeck; with one or two Tracker, you can dig through your deck faster to find your threats. For that reason, I think a couple Bloodbraid Elf should be replaced with 1-2 Tireless Tracker, and adding a couple manlands like Hissing Quagmire or Raging Ravine wouldn't hurt.
RG list: I still don't like Commune in RG, though being able to find Blood Moon is a major plus. I've found Commune to be a stellar card when you can play it to find a Seismic Assault for turn 3 and then discard a couple lands to gain board control. If you don't find Assault, then you are taking up your whole second turn to cast a spell that didn't affect the board, and I'd rather just cast something like a Tarmogoyf. In this deck, you can hit Moon, Assault, or Vortex, all of which could come down turn 3 and start to control the game. I'm not sure I like having 6 Assaults + 3 Commune either, but I'd have to try out these numbers before I can definitely say that.
I like to change up my removal to have more options, so I like having the option of Lightning Axe, Dismember, Magmatic Sinkhole, that can kill bigger threats.
I think this list is pretty solid. Molten Vortex has gotten a lot better with Wrenn and Six, so I think it's a much more viable option now, and with Seasoned Pyromancer, you can just pitch extra enchants to the ETB trigger.
The thing about this archetype is that there are so many different ways to build around the Loam engine that you need to find a build that's good for each individual meta. While this list is suited to be great against aggro, I don't think it would do well against midrange decks like Jund or Pyromancers, as they have more disruptive elements with overall stronger threats and answers in Goyfs and Plague Engineer / hand disruption.
From a first glance, it seems that this list could easily just get some people with Blood Moon or a simple set up of AssaultLoam / VortexLoam, which is a big advantage to it. The midrange decks are designed to hedge against the field while the typical all in lists usually target a portion of the metagame.
The one major gripe I have is in your sideboard. I think Engineered Explosives or Ratchet Bomb is a necessity for Bogles while having utility in other matchups like Urza or Storm. If your lgs doesn't have any of those decks that's fine, but it's something I include in most of my RG lists as there is no other axis to fight a deck like Bogles in these colors except for that one. The other change I would make is 2 Cindervines over the 2 Destructive Revelry. Cindervines is the same up front cost with damage over time and can be cracked for a mana to essentially cast a [/card]destructive revelry[/card]. While it can be cheesed out by something like a Pithing Needle, but you can crack it in response to still destroy an artifact and deal 2 damage. The card has done a lot of work for me in these colors.
As for what the midrange deck can do differently now, since the graveyard hate has dwindled, I think it's safe to bring back Goyf into the deck. Goyf has long been the best beater for the archetype, but if our opp brought in Leylines against us, then it would just be something like a 2/3 vanilla creature, making it get easily outclassed by other stuff in the format. I was playing Young Pyromancer over it because it's a decent creature in the deck that still does work with all your instants and sorceries while not being hated out by GY stuff. I'm still trying to figure out the best configuration of the midrange deck - since Looting is now banned I've been testing a lot of Jund shells with Inquisition and Raven's Crime. Having a consistent clock gives us another axis which decks will have to fight us on, and I think the deck will do better because of it.
I'm still on Smallpox at my lgs for the moment which has gone exceedingly well. My meta is a bunch of creature / midrange / storm decks that get eaten by turn 2 Pox EZ, which I think is the best Loam shell for the moment at least. The metagame is just adjusting to the new banned list, so let's see how everything evolves and works itself out.
P.S. Sideboard guide is finally coming. I wanted to wait for things to cool down because I had a feeling there were gonna be changes in the format post-Hogaak, and now everything should work out fine. I'll post the general feel of the matchup for each deck and then might go in depth on certain archetypes, it's to be seen. With the amount of different shells out there, it's hard to tell people exactly what to cut and bring in because the cuts for the Jund list will be different than the cuts for the RG list than the Temur list etc. Keep your eyes on the primer in the coming weeks.
P.P.S. Turn 2 Stoneforge Turn 3 Seismic Assault or Batterskull is pretty cool. That list is in the works too.
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Graven Cairns
1 Canyon Slough
1 Mortuary Mire
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Gemstone Mine
2 Forgotten Cave
1 Raging Ravine
2 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Seasoned Pyromancer
2 Bloodbraid Elf
Spells:
1 Sarkhan, Fireblood
3 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Assassin's Trophy
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Raven's Crime
4 Smallpox
4 Life from the Loam
3 Seismic Assault
2 Wrenn and Six
2 Weather the Storm
2 Alpine Moon
1 Leyline of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Force of Vigor
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Shenanigans
1 Infinite Obliteration
2 Anger of the Gods
The key card in this deck is Smallpox. This card is insane when decks are playing fair, and that's what I'm expecting postban, a resurgence of fair decks or combo decks that rely on creatures like Infect or Druid Combo or Elves, etc. For this, you don't want to play many creatures, which is why most of the creatures in our deck do more than just be bodies. The alternate card to play would be Tarmogoyf, but it depends on if we want to be proactive vs noninteractive combo decks like Ad Nauseum or fair decks. Because we are playing Wrenn and Six on top of loam now, Pox is just a way to win games on turn 2 by getting so much value.
The rest of the deck is built to supplement this game plan. The mana base looks a little weird, but it works since we need double black turn 2, triple red two turns after on the god draw. Wrenn and Six plus a fetch fixes on its own, though you can't cast it off a Graven Cairns.
Instead of Looting, we have turn 1 discard in Inquisition of Kozilek and Raven's Crime. With all of the lands we play plus Loam and W6, I have often been able to get every card out of my opp's hand by turn 3 or 4, which in combination with a removal spell or creature, can shut down the opp without a Seismic Assault.
Seasoned Pyromancer can help get back all those cards while giving us the option to make tokens off of a dredge.
Mortuary Mire is a really good card with the new cycling lands. Now you can cast loam, get back a Mire + Forgotten Cave, then get back any creature in your yard for essentially 2 mana.
I think this will be the best version of the deck for now, at least with a few tweaks, but we will have to see how the meta develops.
I was just watching GP Vegas where in round one a player was playing with translucent sleeves. This sparked a lot of hate in twitch chat which was to be expected as it seemed that some cards were darker on stream, but it got to the point where people were arguing if sleeves were "required" in competitive REL.
So aside from the problems without sleeves, damaging your cards, marked cards, etc., are there any strict rules against playing without sleeves in non-limited formats for comp REL?
Thanks in advance!
I played against a random draft deck from a new player, Hogaak, Dredge, and Jund, and ID'd with my last opp. The deck preboard is pretty bad, as there are no really big threats to close out the game quickly. The point of the deck was to be good against leylines postboard which it was, and to be good with leylines in my deck postboard, which it also was, so I guess the experiment was a success?
I lost my game one to Hogaak and Dredge, and did the sideboard plan of board in Leylines and Blood Moon, cut graveyard synergy like Life from the Loam, Countryside Crusher, a Seismic Assault and more depending on the matchup. Postboard, I mulled to leylines each time as there is no other way this deck wins, but with the help of Seasoned Pyromancer, Anger of the Gods, and one for one removal, we got there. This list feels stellar against Hogaak and Dredge, but it has some holes...
Because it is more threat light, it is worse off vs midrange decks like Jund. I'm likely gonna cut Countryside Crusher entirely for Tireless Tracker as I think that's just a better threat that can draw me extra cards. That slot could also be Bloodbraid Elf, which I want to test but idk yet.
The long and short of it is, I think this deck could survive the degeneracy of Hogaak and Dredge with Leylines and Blood Moon. I think the deck is still good, we just need to find the right threat that is able to get in through leyline.
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Raging Ravine
2 Rootbound Crag
3 Forgotten Cave
1 Sheltered Thicket
2 Stomping Ground
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
5 Mountain
1 Forest
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
Spells: 21
1 Dismember
1 Lightning Axe
2 Wrenn and Six
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Life from the Loam
2 Flame Jab
4 Seismic Assault
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Young Pyromancer
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Countryside Crusher
3 Seasoned Pyromancer
1 Living Twister
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Weather The Storm
1 Beast Within
1 Cindervines
2 Force of Vigor
2 Blood Moon
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Anger of the Gods
I've cut down on Countryside Crusher in favor of 3 Seasoned Pyromancer. The Pyromancer seems like it could be good in this archetype especially postboard being able to discard drawn leylines or other dead cards. Maindeck it draws you towards one of your three copies of Life from the Loam as well as refilling your hand when you get hellbent. For that reason, the card plays well with Seismic Assault and a lot of lands, as you can hellbent yourself real quick. I'll be testing out this list at FNM tomorrow night and will let y'all know how it goes.
Aside from that, I'd say you could build an Esper Control shell that's a bunch of one-ofs, one Supreme Verdict, one Damnation, one Kaya's Wrath, one Terminus for example with the wealth of removal and countermagic you can choose from. New cards and old cards alike from Kaya's Guile to Esper Charm could be options there.
You could also play a toolbox deck, which would probably be the most competitive option. With the newly printed for modern Eladamri's Call alongside Chord of Calling, Collected Company, and Finale of Devastaion, you could build a pretty solid Naya or Bant creature deck, even some sort of Kiki-Chord / Vanifar shell. Here's a list from a few months ago from Jeff Hoogland:
While RG is fairly consistent at taking out creature decks and going over the top of midrange decks like UW Control, it's downfall is its spread against degenerate decks like Neobrand. If a deck relies on creatures like Vizier Combo, then it's an easy matchup. Even unfair matchups like Storm are playable since you can force them to combo off without a cost reducer, but it lacks the hand disruption of Jund, the strong sideboard cards of Naya, and the countermagic of Temur. Which one you use in which metagame depends on which decks are on top. If you pick RG, you cede some edge to the unfair decks for an edge against aggressive decks.