Retracing the Loam (MYOS)

Lynolf · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 256

The first time people saw the mechanic Retrace, they thought: "OMG, this combos so well with Life from the Loam!" (this is just a metaphore Razz

) But, unfortunately, Life from the Loam is no longer in standard, so a deck around Retrace would never be possible.

But in MYOS, that's a different story. Surprised

I don't know if it can be competitive enough to be used on MYOS, but I would still like to try that idea. This is the deck I've built:

// Lands (26)
1 [GP] Gruul Turf
2 [SHM] Fire-Lit Thicket
2 [EVE] Twilight Mire
2 [SHM] Graven Cairns
2 [LRW] Vivid Grove
2 [LRW] Vivid Marsh
2 [LRW] Vivid Crag
1 [RAV] Golgari Rot Farm
1 [DIS] Rakdos Carnarium
2 [DIS] Blood Crypt
2 [GP] Stomping Ground
4 [SHM] Reflecting Pool
1 [SHM] Mountain (2)
1 [SHM] Forest (3)
1 [SHM] Swamp (4)

// Creatures
4 [RAV] Birds of Paradise
4 [MOR] Countryside Crusher
2 [EVE] Tilling Treefolk
4 [RAV] Stinkweed Imp

// Spells
1 [EVE] Oona's Grace
1 [EVE] Call the Skybreaker
4 [SHM] Firespout
3 [EVE] Raven's Crime
3 [EVE] Worm Harvest
4 [RAV] Life from the Loam
2 [EVE] Syphon Life
2 [10E] Seismic Assault

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [10E] Naturalize
SB: 2 [10E] Pyroclasm
SB: 3 [SHM] Wheel of Sun and Moon
SB: 2 [10E] Razormane Masticore
SB: 4 [LRW] Thoughtseize

The strategy is clear: use Life from the Loam to recover the lands spent on your retrace spells to play them again and again, going nuts!

Of course the deck can have some problems. Graveyard hate is particularly bad, as well as some aggro decks.

Comments and suggestions are welcome! Mr. Green

Trotsky1 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 941

If your gonna do a loam deck you probably also want to play kami block no idea what in replacement of but gifts for loam plus your retrace spells is simply sick. Then you also get top which is good, meloku as an alternate win condition and i think kodamas reach may well also be awsome with the retrace option.

Looking through your deck now, i think rav block is prob the set to drop as, you can make a perfectly good mana base with out it from lowryn, shadowmoor block and the stinkweed imps well there no where near as good as gifts at setting your deck up.

mTk-Away · Joined: 02 Apr 2005 Posts: 80

The problem, of course, is that Loam is in RAV block...

Trotsky1 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 941

Oh so it is:< forgot that lol well okay ignore all that in that case, I've never played the format but im guessing its two sets plus a standard so not possible lol, shame it would be so much better with gifts.

Lynolf · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 256

No problem. Smile

So anyone else has suggestions to make this deck better?

Zerotlr · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 18

Countryside crusher seems bad in the deck, you may also want more creatures to hold the ground, like kitchen finks, and more mana acceleration.

Ownj00 · Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 78

first, play 4 of the best retrace spell, raven's crime. second, you're most likely better off building this deck off of the old standard GB dredge deck, basically make the deck have a reliable engine for dredging to get rid of the need to play so many expensive retrace spells you never want to draw anyway. (merfolk looter/oona's prowler are pretty much your only options). so basically, this deck is probably strictly worse then going with Rav/Ody, Ichorid, or Bridge.

Lynolf · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 256

Playing 4 Raven's Crime is bad, because the chance of getting multiples, either in the hand or in the graveyard, increases, and the deck doesn't need dead cards. I haven't tried Countryside Crusher yet, but I believe it can be a good bet: it helps you search faster for Life from the Loam, puts lands on the graveyard and gets stronger whenever I play a retrace spell. Kitchen Finks is worth a shot.

The deck so far:
// Lands
2 [DIS] Blood Crypt
2 [SHM] Fire-Lit Thicket
1 [SHM] Forest (3)
1 [RAV] Golgari Rot Farm
3 [SHM] Graven Cairns
1 [GP] Gruul Turf
1 [DIS] Rakdos Carnarium
4 [SHM] Reflecting Pool
3 [GP] Stomping Ground
1 [SHM] Swamp (4)
1 [EVE] Twilight Mire
2 [LRW] Vivid Crag
2 [LRW] Vivid Marsh
2 [LRW] Vivid Grove

// Creatures
4 [RAV] Birds of Paradise
4 [MOR] Countryside Crusher
4 [RAV] Stinkweed Imp
2 [SHM] Kitchen Finks

// Spells
1 [EVE] Call the Skybreaker
4 [SHM] Firespout
4 [RAV] Life from the Loam
1 [EVE] Oona's Grace
3 [EVE] Raven's Crime
3 [10E] Seismic Assault
2 [EVE] Syphon Life
2 [EVE] Worm Harvest

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [10E] Naturalize
SB: 2 [10E] Pyroclasm
SB: 2 [10E] Razormane Masticore
SB: 4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
SB: 3 [SHM] Wheel of Sun and Moon

I would like to add a second Oona's Grace, but I'm not sure which card to take out. But I'll see that later after some testing. Mr. Green

Any more suggestions?