Hello again gang.  As the summary indicates, I was able to run the Legacy DE for once.  I was off of work due to working four 10-hour shifts, so I decided that given the beautiful time, 10AM local, I'd join if I was around.  After watching my kids most of the morning, the baby went to sleep, and my daughter decided it was Spongebob Squarepants time, so I was able to play.  I wanted to come up with a new deck, as I generally run Zoo or Loam in Legacy, but I just like Loam.  It's kind of a trap for me, but it plays Dark Confidant, Tarmogoyf and Life from the Loam, which are all really fun to run, plus Mox Diamond.  Diamond is really exciting to abuse when you get a "nut" hand. 

Lately the Legacy meta has been heavy on Thopter-Counterbalance, Dredge, Zoo (in small amounts but it seems to do well), Merfolk and Goblins, and then a lot of random junk.  Loam always sucks me in because I feel like I can devise ways to beat Zoo, Dredge, and Thopter (and other control decks), and my weak matchups would be to the tribal decks and any sort of storm deck that might show up.  Here is how I built my deck.  I updated very little from previous lists, but did make some minor tweaks and considerations.  Finally, my choice was influenced by seeing Elves! 3-1 and 4-0 the last DE.   Loam just does illegal acts to Elves! 

Loam

By Walkerdog

Creatures 4 Dark Confidant 1 Eternal Witness 4 Tarmogoyf 4 Countryside Crusher 13 cards Other Spells 2 Seismic Assault 3 Devastating Dreams 4 Mox Diamond 3 Innocent Blood 1 Engineered Explosives 4 Life from the Loam 4 Maelstrom Pulse 21 cards

Lands 1 Swamp 1 Volrath's Stronghold 2 Taiga 3 Forgotten Cave 2 Badlands 1 Bayou 4 Wasteland 4 Wooded Foothills 3 Bloodstained Mire 1 Forest 2 Tranquil Thicket 1 Barren Moor 1 Verdant Catacombs 26 cards Sideboard 3 Leyline of the Void 1 Great Sable Stag 4 Chalice of the Void 2 Zuran Orb 2 Vexing Shusher 3 Extirpate 15 cards

I would like some more instant-speed removal, since Engineered Explosives (x1) is my only out to things I want to take out on their turn.  I considered swapping Terminate in for Innocent Blood, but Blood is really good at taking out one-drops and two-drops that can cause trouble.  Goblins, Merfolk, and Zoo all can present this type of problem, along-side Death and Taxes, which has been dropping off in the meta.  Seismic Assault is another card that is really hard to decide on.  I could see running four, as it just wins games, but I could see dropping to one copy, or even cutting it, depending on the meta.  I like having it to dig for as a finisher/removal-machine, so I feel pretty good about two copies.  Since combo has dropped off a little, and control decks are less-present (to some extent) in the meta, I've brought back Devastating Dreams, and it has been a champ.  It is really strong against everything that isn't Counterbalance or combo (and even then it can be relevant).
 

My sideboard is a mix of simple (Leyline and Extirpate are good dredge and useful against a lot of other decks) to slightly more esoteric choices like Vexing Shusher and Stag.  Basically, my plan against control is to get out a Shusher or Stag, and use them to push spells or damage through, backing them up with disruption from Extirpate, Chalice, and Devastating Dreams sometimes.  Against Aggro, I'll bring in the Chalices most of the time, and some Orbs if they have burn, but I feel set to beat them with my main-deck mostly.

Combo is another story.  Storm-based combo is a matter of "mull to Chalice and pray".  I don't like many other options that I've tried, and you end up cutting cards that are good across the board to try to beat 1-2 decks in an event.  Thorn of Amethyst is one card I've ran in the sideboard to help this matchup, but unless there are a lot of combo decks in the field, it's unexciting.  If Dredge is the opponent, we're in solid shape.  Between a maindeck of acceptable sweepers (Dreams, Pulse, EE, Assault), and six strong cards from the board, we put up a strong fight when people start discarding their hand to attempt to profit.

Pyroblast is another card I gave heavy consideration for my sideboard, because it does a lot of the work of my cannot-be-countered men, and pulls duty in some combo and all Merfolk matchups, so it probably is actually better than the duders, but I like playing creatures, so...

Round one started with me paired with deamos.  I win the roll and keep fetch, Wasteland, two Goyfs, a Pulse, and a Big Country.  He led with Underground Sea and Duress, taking Pulse.  Welp, this isn't a positive sign.  I'm guessing that he might just be Ad Nauseum, which is about as bad a matchup as exists, although not as bad since the banning of Mystical Tutor.  I draw Mire, Wasteland his crap, and pass the turn.  He has City of Brass, Lotus Petal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Ritual, AN, and I scoop.

I side in Chalices, Leylines, and an Extirpate, cutting removal from the deck.  I keep in Maelstrom Pulse as an out to Empty the Warrens. Game two, I keep Chalice, Loam, two lands, Goyf, Witness and Crusher.  I play Chalice for 0, and a land.  He Duresses my Loam.  I draw Tranquil Thicket and play the Goyf.  He Ponders, and plays a land.  I dredge Loam, finding Wasteland and Bloodstained Mire.  I Loam back Wasteland and waste him.  Then I attack.  He plays Brainstorm and a land, then Ponders again.  I dredge, Waste him, attack.  He untaps, plays another land (for a total of two), and runs Burning Wish for Shattering Spree.  I get him down to 6, but don't dredge that turn on accident... so I can't waste his land one more time.  He untaps and shoots my Chalice.  Next, he ramps up his mana, then Infernal Tutors... without cracking his Lion's Eye Diamond.  He concedes, but it does feel a little bittersweet to win off of his mistake after I make mine.

Game three, I mulligan into Chalice, three lands and two Bobs.  He opens with Volcanic Island and Ponder.  He doesn't shuffle (Bummer!).  I draw Chalice.  Hot!  I run out Wasteland and Chalice, then pop his land.  He has a City of Brass, and Ponders again.  I draw and play Wasteland on his City.  He plays Gemstone Mine and passes.  Nice 3/14s of your lands.  I draw a land, play it, and pass.  He Brainstorms on his turn and plays land.  I untap and play Dark Confidant. He does nothing.  I untap, reveal a Mire to Bob, attack, and play Chalice for one.  He has Echoing Truth.  So he untaps and kills me.  4/14s of his lands and after he AnT'd, he showed one other solution to Chalices in twenty-some cards (albeit with Burning Wishes too), but 0 that worked at instant-speed.

I feel like I got a little unlucky in that series of plays, but at the same time, this isn't a great matchup, so I'm not too frustrated.  I play a game of League of Legends while I wait for round two.  Round two has me matched up with Meoblade.  From a quick glance at round one replays, he is some sort of Dragonstompy/Imperial Red type of deck, featuring Magus of the Moon, Imperial Recruiter, Ancient Tomb, Grindstone, and Lodestone Golem.  This seems like a border-line bye, but I didn't want to slack off because I thought I had the edge.  I keep Badlands, Bayou, Forgotten Cave, Dark Confidant, Maelstrom Pulse, Life from the Loam, and Devastating Dreams.  He drops a Mountain and passes.  I pretty much hope that his disruption is Magus of the Moon, since it would fold to Dreams like a house of cards.  I draw Big Country, play Bayou (mistake, I should have played Badlands so I can cycle the Cave), and pass.  He plays City of Traitors and drops Magus of the Moon.  I am gleeful, and it gets better when I draw my basic Swamp.  I drop Bob and pass back.  He plays Thorn of Amethyst and attacks.  I take it.  I reveal a Loam to Bob, then draw a Thicket.  I play Badlands and CC.  Then I beat down.  He has City of Traitors for four lands total, and then drops Imperial Recruiter (isn't that card like $100 irl?) to fetch up a Painter's Servant.

At this point I am a little worried.  Servant/Stone are his only real threat to me.  I decide that the best way to deal with it is hope that he doesn't have a hand of lands + the combo.  I untap, reveal Innocent Blood and then draw Dark Confidant... after milling four lands!  Wooooooooooooooooo.  Dreams works for four, and I discard IB, Loam, CC and another Loam.  Countryside is a 10/10 and he scoops.  The only way I could see him winning that game was a 2-mana land + Chrome Mox + Imperial Recruiter to tutor and block, then two dudes (including Servant) the next turn off of another land, and Grindstone the following turn.  By Dreaming it up, I was able to cut off his options pretty severely.

For game two, I keep my deck the same.  I keep CC, two cycling lands and four other lands, including a basic Forest.  He leads with Ancient Tomb and Painter's Servant, naming Blue, which also indicates Jaya and Pyroblasts in his deck.  I drop a Bloodstained Mire after drawing CC.  He has a Mountain and a Magus of the Moon.  I pop my Mire for a Swamp and cycle the Barren Moor, drawing Volrath's Stronghold.  He attacks.  I draw Devastating Dreams and laugh to myself.  Badlands hits my board and I pass.  He has a Relic, taps it to make me kill a land from the GY, and attacks for three.  I draw Wasteland, play Bayou and Crusher and pass.  He taps Relic, plays Lodestone Golem and gives it back.  I mill a Mire, draw a Goyf, and cycle a Cave.  Big Country is a 5/5 now, so I use Dreams for three, saccing everything but the Bayou and blow up his board.  I hit him for nine (having discarded a land to Dreams).  He has City of Traitors and Imperial Recruiter for another IR. 

I reveal Loam, play Stronghold, Loam back three lands, and attack.  He chumps.  He has a Mountain (up to four mana again), a Recruiter for Recruiter, pops Relic, and passes.  I reveal Bob and draw him, then play a Forest and Bob.  He chumps my attack again.  Then he plays Wasteland and has Recruiter for Recruiter.  I draw Big Country.  Then I play Witness for Wasteland, waste his land, attack with my team (he chumps down to five), and pass the turn.  He plays Figure of Destiny and Lightning Bolt on Bob, then passes.  I play Bob, attack, and he dies after playing another Magus on his turn.

This matchup was made much easier by Devastating Dreams, a big point in its favor.

I know my opponent for round three is dredge.  I keep a hand with two Bobs, Innocent Blood, Wasteland, and another land.  He has Tarnished Citadel.  I draw a Forest and Wasteland him.  He has Cephalid Coliseum with Breakthrough.  Three Bridges, Ichorid, and a Grave-Troll hit his GY among other cards.  I play Bob.  His Ichorid comes back.  He dredges into a Narcomoeba.  Then he passes without attacking, getting three 2/2 tokens in the process.  I have Pulse, so I can see a chance, but it looks bad.  I reveal Mox Diamond, draw a second, and play Innocent Blood.  He gets 3 more tokens and removes the Bridges.  I play Mox Diamond, Loam back two lands, play the second Mox and Wasteland, and waste his land.  He dredges into Narcomoeba, and has an Ichy out of course.  I take fifteen on his attack.  I untap and dredge Loam.  It shows another Cycling land, so I can Loam back three lands.  I do so and Pulse his tokens, leaving him with Narcomoeba. 

He brings back one of two Ichorids (since he was lacking the second Black creature).  Wow I just realized, from looking at Bridge from Below's sweet old-school comic book art that it has a mana cost... I forgot about that!  Anyway, I take four, and he passes.  I dredge back Loam and play it on the Taiga I just revealed in the graveyard.  Then I play out Seismic Assault, holding two cycling lands.  He declines to return Ichorid and attacks.  I shoot his dude.  He does nothing else and I cycle Barren Moor on his end of turn.  On my turn, I draw a second Loam, drop him to eleven with Loam/Assault (or Lo-Ass if you prefer) machinations, and pass holding two extra lands.  He does jack, so I cycle one land and shoot the other at him.  I blow him up on my turn.
 

I side out Dreams and Innocent Bloods in favor of Extirpates and Leylines.  Of the Void that is, since there is now more than one that is conceivable that you'd play.  I guess I should have ran a mix of White Leylines and Chalices for storm!  Cutting Orbs for White Leylines would have been spicy I think, given the chance to look at it again.

I keep Leyline, Bob, Mox Diamond and four lands, 0 cycling, 1 waste-variety.  He mulled to six, then did nothing.  I play a turn one Bob after drawing another land.  He does nothing.  I reveal another Mox, draw Extirpate HOT! and attack.  Then I play the second Mox and a fetch.  He has no gas, discarding Grave-Troll.  I reveal Bob to Bob, draw Barren Moor, and attack.  Then Bob the second joins Bob the first, and I cycle Moor (mistake!  I should have waited in case he has Cabal Therapy) and draw Assault.  He has nothing and discards a Therapy.  Bobs reveal Wasteland and Pulse, and I draw a Cave.  I play Assault and attack.  He has Tarnished Citadel.  I Wasteland it, and he has Nature's Claim in response.  That is okay.  I reveal Pulse and Extirpate, and draw Badlands.  Then I attack.  I cycle a Cave, drawing Witness and play Badlands.  I have one Wasteland for lands in my hand, and two Pulses, two 'Pates, and a Witness.  He has nothing and I kill him.

The last round saw Onthestack as my opponent.  With a name like that, I would have guessed Ux would be his deck of choice, but replays showed Dredge to be his poison.  He went first.  I kept Dreams, two Crushers, three lands and a Mox Diamond.  He opens with Citadel into Tireless Tribe.  I have a second Mox Diamond and play the both to get a Crusher out.  He pitches two Golgari Thugs and then casts Breakthrough.  He dredges into a ton of Bridges and Ichorids.  I try to disrupt him with Devastating Dreams, but I can't overcome his ability to repeatedly build dudes.

For game two, I had an okay hand.  Just Leyline.  Extirpate.  Mox Diamond (oh my) Bob twolands and. a. cycling. land!  Yay.  I really can't think of a much better land unless it had rb, rg duals and Loam/Assault along with the hate cards.  He scooped to the Leyline...

Okay, some explanation: 

Onthestack: haha so i put u on crypt
Onthestack: and... my sb is pretty awk
Onthestack: so... yeah

I mull to Extirpate, Leyline, and four lands.  He mulls also.  He has a Leyline also?  How interesting.  He does nothing aside form Leyline.  I draw a Loam and drop a land.  He plays Breakthrough off of a Gemstone Mine... for 0 cards in his hand.  He explains that he'd forgotten about Leyline!  Ouch!

He discards Bridge, two Narcomoebas, a Golgari Thug, Coliseum, Leyline, Dread Return, Gemstone Mine, and a Stinkweed Imp.  I draw Witness, play a land and pass.  I should have played Witness to start pressuring, but I held back for post-Pulse value.  He does nothing.  I draw and play Goyf and a land.  I also crack a fetch.  Again, he does nothing.  I draw Bob and play him. He plays Putrid Imp.  I reveal Leyline to Bob, dropping to 15.  I attack with Bob.  He drops to 18.  He does nothing.  Bob reveals Bob and Bob joins Bob and Tarmogoyf on the battlefield.  Beatdown continues.  He plays Golgari Thug.  I reveal Loam and Seismic Assault OWWW.  I am at eight, but I have three lands in-hand with Assault.  I mistakenly play Assault and blast his men, when I should have let him block if he wanted.  I beat down and pass with one land in-hand.  He drops to twelve, and I have one land.  City of Brass gives him some mana. I reveal Goyf and Extirpate, then draw Pulse!  Sweet. 

I play it, then play the land in my hand; a mistake I think.  I should have instead attacked, then shot a Bob, and Loamed back the land (the only one since he had the stupid Leyline out) to shoot the second Bob.  I crack the land anyway, get a dual and Loam it back so I can kill at least one Bob.  I am at three life, while he is at seven. 

Onthestack: well lets see if bob kills u haha

I shoot one Bob, and Extirpate Pulses from my deck to cut down on three-drops ever so slightly.

Phew!  He died to my dudes plus a ridonk 3-land flip of Life from the Loam.

So I beat dredge at one life twice and made a decent 3-1 finish.  I don't think that Loam is the best deck, and it may not be one of the five best choices to play.  It is so fair most of the time.  The most broken thing it does it turn one Chalice for one or Bob on turn one.  That's solid, but not amazing.  I guess the 2 Mox Diamond, 2 land, Loam, Assault hand is kind of silly, but still, the broken hands don't occur that frequently. At the same time, if people aren't storm-combo heavy, and aren't tribal-heavy (or if you want to shift the deck some to address tribal decks), it is a solid FoW-less option, and it does have some really good matchups.  If you have the cards, you should give it a shot because it is a blast to play.