Liliana of the Veil might be a semi-obvious choice, but in a meta increasingly tilting towards tempo decks, she's an all-star. Making tempo sac its only creature is pretty good, and then she shreds their hand so they can't get back as easily. She competes for the same niche as Ajani Vengeant (as a stabilizer Rock-walker) but is actually winning that battle because she's 1 mana cheaper and only requires black.
She also screws with U/X Tron's head by threatening to make them sac Kozilek or threatening to bust up the UrzaTron and helps midrange against combo by shredding hands.
That looks a lot like the Exalted Worship Bant lists going around. Nice take on it, although I personally prefer fewer Hexproof guys (ditch Invisible Stalker; he hits and blocks like a wuss without pump). Maybe try some fatties like Mirran Crusader, more Elspeths, more equipment, or more protection (like Spell Pierce).
Besides, the Moon won't be always full when it's night. The Full Moon also occurs at daytime, the other Moon phases also occur at nighttime. The only way to make werewolves stick in a single form is to blow up the Moon, and I figure that simply hiding the Moon behind sunlight would be much easier.
Eath's Full Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise, its New Moon rises at sunrise and sets at sunset, and its other phases rise in between. Assuming Innistrad both rotates and has a moon that rotates around it, I'd assume the same thing happens on Innistrad.
Of course, this is the multiverse of planes--how am I to assume that Innistrad or its moon are round?
My hunch is that he boarded them in against the same decks he boarded in the 4th Finks.
Must admit that Huntmaster actually has a ghost of a chance of killing Squadron Hawks and Spirit tokens, while Obby Baloth just gets ignored. Chances are that W/x Tokens will overrun unless it gets a Plague WindMaelstrom Pulse to the knee, though, so I don't think Huntmaster fares much better than Baloth in that match-up.
Obby Baloth also ruins Liliana OTV's day by being discarded, while Huntmaster does not until he flips. Obby Baloth has one big body; Huntmaster has (at least) two. Huntmaster's primary body gets Bolted, Disfigured, and ruined by Grim Lavamancer and Murderous Redcap all day; Baloth does not but is entirely wiped out by a Path to Exile. I still believe Obby Baloth is better overall, but Huntmaster juuuuust might be a valid meta call.
Where's the Thoughtseize in your deck list? Most of the other cards you mentioned are in it, and your deck is only 53 cards. (That reminds me--if you run 4 Thoughtseize, what are the other 3 cards? Liliana 2.0, perhaps?)
Also, I'd imagine you'd be pretty set back if your Fauna Shaman eats targeted removal before she loses summoning sickness. Have you generally been able to fight through disruption?
One more thing is that you need a Goryo's Vengeance hand to fend off UR Storm, as they'll be able to combo off Turn 4 otherwise. Try Mindbreak Trap in the sideboard.
There's also Turn 1 Aether Vial, Turn 4 Vialed-in Mangara of Corondor, bye-bye Iona. (It might be a little slow, though, but at least Iona is only a 3-turn clock.)
Looks tuned to rip apart decks full of X/1's and mana dorks, along with having a decent game against combo (one of Aggro Loam's traditional weaknesses, especially if you build the deck wrong).
Aha! That's what makes Geralf's Messenger playable in your build--your lack of Mutavault! (Mutavault really shines against combo, as it's an extremely efficient manland, so you can still swing and hold countermagic/removal mana up.)
I have the feeling Geralf's Messenger is better against ground-based aggro like Jund and Bant, while worse than Vendilion Clique and Mutavault against combo because of the sorcery speed and comparative lack of disruption.
Does anyone have experience vs. Jund? How does the match play out? What sideboard cards beat it? Is the Gifts combo good against it?
Thanks,
Brad
I've had a little experience with Jund (Game 1s, at least). Isochron Scepter imprinting Lightning Helix is a boss in that match-up because of the zap and life gain (imprinting Bolt just doesn't compare). Imprinting Path to Exile and counterspells aren't shabby, but Helix Scepter is a win-con that fries Liliana OTV. Save your PtEs for Goyf and you should be good.
Jund is also a little slow. I once had a game where they IoK'd me and had to choose between Helix Scepter and Geist of Saint Traft. They chose Scepter. I won on the back of Traft.
Note that, from the above, Jund doesn't have that many ways of dealing with Traft (Liliana, blockers, what?), so he is also an MVP in that match-up.
Sometimes you keep an iffier hand and they discard and card advantage the snot out of you, though.
A ton of decks running 1-mana cantrips run Delver of Secrets. Serum Visions is the best in Delver decks (and there are a ton of Delver decks) because it fixes your next draws so Delver can flip more easily. Seeing three cards total also isn't shabby, but automatically getting the first one is sub-par.
Gitaxian Probe's main home is in UR Storm as a free card. It doesn't help you search for the precise gas you need, unlike the other two options, but figuring out whether you have to play around Lightning Bolt or Spell Snare or not is pretty good. In all other cases, you should have a pretty good read of what your opponent's deck is by Turn 4, so late-game, it's not so great (while the other two at least hand over card quality).
As you can probably tell from the mana base, traditional UB (Delver) Tempo runs more blue mana sources than black mana sources, often to accommodate Cryptic Command. I don't think most builds would ever be able to cast Geralf's Messenger in a reasonable amount of time.
(That being said, I'm trying out a few Tribal Zombies builds and that guy is easily the best mono-black slugger Zombie when none of your lords show up to the party. He helps with the aggro plan and his Undying vexes Jund and control. At the very least, he's far better than Unbreathing Horde, even with the ugly mana cost.)
OH my god, I got hit with an LD deck today.. Holy. ****.
This is probably getting off-topic, but fast LD hurts. I once lost a game against Living End because he Fulminator Mage'd me out of the game. (He said the equivalent of "your deck sucks" afterwards and didn't play Game 2, possibly not knowing I was piloting UR Storm and therefore did not want to go off until the last minute and when I had enough mana.)
Certain match-ups are a disaster. Anyone who can play constant discard is actually worse then decks with counters. Thoughtseize followed by Lilliana can get out of hand pretty fast.
Maybe it's because the build I test against uses 3 Blightning 2 Liliana OTV, but I've found that Storm crushes Jund Game 1. We can fight through a metric ton of targeted discard as long as they don't have a clock, and I've generally found Jund's clock to be a little too slow.
Them picking off one spell after we've wasted a ton is far more devastating than them picking off one spell while we haven't cast any, which is why I've found blue-based tempo to be a worse match-up than black-based tempo (and I count UB Tempo as blue-based tempo for the purpose of this discussion, as they run counterspells).
She also screws with U/X Tron's head by threatening to make them sac Kozilek or threatening to bust up the UrzaTron and helps midrange against combo by shredding hands.
I love Moorland Haunt and the manlands; they keep your Worship lock going through a Wrath of God.
Eath's Full Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise, its New Moon rises at sunrise and sets at sunset, and its other phases rise in between. Assuming Innistrad both rotates and has a moon that rotates around it, I'd assume the same thing happens on Innistrad.
Of course, this is the multiverse of planes--how am I to assume that Innistrad or its moon are round?
Must admit that Huntmaster actually has a ghost of a chance of killing Squadron Hawks and Spirit tokens, while Obby Baloth just gets ignored. Chances are that W/x Tokens will overrun unless it gets a
Plague WindMaelstrom Pulse to the knee, though, so I don't think Huntmaster fares much better than Baloth in that match-up.Obby Baloth also ruins Liliana OTV's day by being discarded, while Huntmaster does not until he flips. Obby Baloth has one big body; Huntmaster has (at least) two. Huntmaster's primary body gets Bolted, Disfigured, and ruined by Grim Lavamancer and Murderous Redcap all day; Baloth does not but is entirely wiped out by a Path to Exile. I still believe Obby Baloth is better overall, but Huntmaster juuuuust might be a valid meta call.
Also, I'd imagine you'd be pretty set back if your Fauna Shaman eats targeted removal before she loses summoning sickness. Have you generally been able to fight through disruption?
One more thing is that you need a Goryo's Vengeance hand to fend off UR Storm, as they'll be able to combo off Turn 4 otherwise. Try Mindbreak Trap in the sideboard.
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Graven Cairns
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
Spells
3 Flame Jab
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Life from the Loam
4 Raven's Crime
3 Seismic Assault
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Darkblast
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Jund Charm
2 Nature's Claim
3 Obstinate Baloth
1 Pyroclasm
2 Torpor Orb
Looks tuned to rip apart decks full of X/1's and mana dorks, along with having a decent game against combo (one of Aggro Loam's traditional weaknesses, especially if you build the deck wrong).
I have the feeling Geralf's Messenger is better against ground-based aggro like Jund and Bant, while worse than Vendilion Clique and Mutavault against combo because of the sorcery speed and comparative lack of disruption.
I've had a little experience with Jund (Game 1s, at least). Isochron Scepter imprinting Lightning Helix is a boss in that match-up because of the zap and life gain (imprinting Bolt just doesn't compare). Imprinting Path to Exile and counterspells aren't shabby, but Helix Scepter is a win-con that fries Liliana OTV. Save your PtEs for Goyf and you should be good.
Jund is also a little slow. I once had a game where they IoK'd me and had to choose between Helix Scepter and Geist of Saint Traft. They chose Scepter. I won on the back of Traft.
Note that, from the above, Jund doesn't have that many ways of dealing with Traft (Liliana, blockers, what?), so he is also an MVP in that match-up.
Sometimes you keep an iffier hand and they discard and card advantage the snot out of you, though.
Gitaxian Probe's main home is in UR Storm as a free card. It doesn't help you search for the precise gas you need, unlike the other two options, but figuring out whether you have to play around Lightning Bolt or Spell Snare or not is pretty good. In all other cases, you should have a pretty good read of what your opponent's deck is by Turn 4, so late-game, it's not so great (while the other two at least hand over card quality).
(That being said, I'm trying out a few Tribal Zombies builds and that guy is easily the best mono-black slugger Zombie when none of your lords show up to the party. He helps with the aggro plan and his Undying vexes Jund and control. At the very least, he's far better than Unbreathing Horde, even with the ugly mana cost.)
This is probably getting off-topic, but fast LD hurts. I once lost a game against Living End because he Fulminator Mage'd me out of the game. (He said the equivalent of "your deck sucks" afterwards and didn't play Game 2, possibly not knowing I was piloting UR Storm and therefore did not want to go off until the last minute and when I had enough mana.)
Maybe it's because the build I test against uses 3 Blightning 2 Liliana OTV, but I've found that Storm crushes Jund Game 1. We can fight through a metric ton of targeted discard as long as they don't have a clock, and I've generally found Jund's clock to be a little too slow.
Them picking off one spell after we've wasted a ton is far more devastating than them picking off one spell while we haven't cast any, which is why I've found blue-based tempo to be a worse match-up than black-based tempo (and I count UB Tempo as blue-based tempo for the purpose of this discussion, as they run counterspells).