Playing one land per turn is not up to par with the power-level of legacy, but this is helped by Mox Diamond and Exploration. Exploration is often considered the strongest, allowing you to quickly go ahead of the opponent in terms of mana, whilst disrupting them with Wastelands.

The 4 moxen aren’t as explosive, but in combination with Loam and being able to get put into play with Urza’s Saga their inclusion is imperative. If you wish to play this deck, it is mandatory to have the full 4 copies of Mox Diamond; no ifs, ands or buts.

Life from the Loam is the main “engine” of the deck, digging deeper for answers and disruption whilst almost being immune to the regular counterspell. It is one of the pillars holding up the archetype, and in combination with Exploration you bury your opponent in card advantage if the match-up requires it.

Swiftly being able to execute the combo is essential, and these 12 cards help immensely. Crop Rotation is a classic staple of the archetype, being able to tutor up exactly what is needed at a moment’s notice. More will be written about it in the coming “Tips and Tricks”-section, so keep an eye out for it.

Once Upon a Time is an odd card. Paying two mana for that effect is not useless, but it doesn’t really constitute Legacy viability. However, using its alternate casting cost is incredibly powerful. I feel that 4 of them is necessary since their strength is shown in the opening hand, but it is not a top card in the deck by any means.

Malevolent Rumble may trigger PTSD in Modern players, since it usually flips “Sol lands” and helps cast Eldrazis. But in this list, it is used for three main reasons. Primarily, the high density of permanents makes it a decent cantrip, somewhat like Consider or Thought Scour. Secondly, it ramps you by providing an Eldrazi Scion. The tertiary reason is that is mills the cards (as opposed to putting them back in the library, like Once Upon a Time). This doesn’t only make milled lands prime targets for Loam, but it can also find a Loam! Rumble has been an amazing inclusion into the archetype, and I believe that it is here to stay.

Urza’s Saga has been on players radars as of lately, since the rules change regarding it and Blood Moon-like effects. The power level of this card can’t effectively be compared to anything else, and my hot take is that this deck uses it better than any other. In cahoots with a single Mox, you may be able to produce Construct tokens as soon as turn 2. This is an alternative win condition, especially since opponents may lean into disrupting the Marit Lage and not have the necessary resources to deal with 2+ Constructs. The Saga sacrificing itself isn’t ideal, but getting it back turn after turn with Loam creates a real threat.

Pithing Needle is a very common card in all formats, being used to stop the most threatening abilities from your opponent. It is good to have one in the deck due to Urza’s Saga, and with Tamiyo roaming freely it can stop its ultimate ability once flipped.

Lavaspur Boots Makes the combo much quicker and hastier (pun intended) than normally. It allows you to get surprise kills with the Avatar, and don’t underestimate putting them on a newly made Construct.

A fifth Crop Rotation would be nice, which is the role which Expedition Map fills. It is more intense on the mana, but the upside is that it plays much better around counterspells. It gets you either the final piece of the combo or a much needed interaction piece; its inclusion seems mandatory.

With Oops! All Spells and UB Reanimator being the most feared decks at this time (and will be for the foreseeable future), having main deck graveyard interaction helps out a ton. Cage also helps against cards such as Green Sun’s Zenith, not allowing the opponent to search out creatures into play. It is a much-needed silver bullet in a few matchups, therefore earning a main deck slot.

To protect the combo, Disruptor Flute is a nice proactive card seeking to name disruptive pieces (Swords to Plowshares, Petty Theft, and so on) in order to win ASAP. Sejiri Steppe fits in here as well, protecting against removals and pushing through blockers when found with Crop Rotation at instant speed. The card is not strong on its own, but just having it forces the opponent to respect the possibility of you having back-up.

Finally, we have the most disruptive lands. Starting out with anything other than Wasteland should be considered a sin, because of how it is an epitome of the format. Punishing greedy manabases is the name of the game, and with Loam it happens as much as possible.

Boseiju and Otawara are kind of the same in some respects. They are as close to spells as possible, with the upside of being uncounterable. Boseiju is a powerhouse which gets rid of opposing hate pieces (Blood Moon, Ensnaring Bridge, etc), and as usual with this deck it is enhanced further by Loam. Otawara is more of a “removal spell”, with the downside that the only blue mana-source comes from the 4 Moxen. But even if it isn’t always reliable, it does too much to ignore and can often win the game by itself.

Bojuka Bog is a clean answer to graveyard shenanigans, removing everything at instant speed when paired with a Crop Rotation. In hand it isn’t the greatest, but at least it gets discarded to Mox Diamond!

Slowing down the game a notch is of the highest priority in some matchups, and that is helped with Karakas, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Maze of Ith. Each have their own uses (Karakas against legends, Maze against big creatures and Tabernacle against “go wide” strategies). However, since Tabernacle is at an unreasonable price, it isn’t compulsory to have it in the deck. You may lose a game here and there, but to start out with the deck you don’t really need it. But that doesn’t go for the others!

Sideboard choices:

As previously mentioned, the two boogeymen of the format relay on the graveyard a ton, so having more interaction is key. Faerie Macabre is good because it is 1: free to use, 2: uncounterable and 3: able to be found with Once Upon a Time (sometimes as soon as turn 0, perhaps against Oops!). Endurance is kind of similar, with the additional text of being an effective blocker against Tamiyo and Dragon’s Rage Channeler.

Both Flute and Needle are previously mentioned, but since they have such an upside it is nice to have extra copies post-board. The Ancient Tomb seems odd at first, but it is usually brought in when the remaining Flutes come in; making a turn 1 flute more consistent (also pairs great with Urza’s Saga).

These are mainly for two cards: Harbinger of the Seas and Magus of the Moon. Both are annoying to deal with, but they can be a blessing in disguise. You see, playing out Dark Depths when a Blood Moon-effect is present makes it so that the Depths doesn’t have counters. By first playing it out and then killing the Moon, you get a trigger from the now texted Depths, creating a token and most certainly winning the game! Magus even helps use the ability of Twinshot Sniper, which makes it even better! It is also similar to Faerie Macabre: uncounterable and found with Once Upon a Time.

Force of Vigor (shortened to FoV, not to be confused with Force of Will/FoW) has the same use as the previous removal, but against Blood Moon specifically. It is also a haymaker against any artifact-strategy, or even enchantress if you would encounter it. The card is very matchup dependent, but an absolute tank when it comes in!

Finally, we have Ghost Quarter. Let’s compare it to Wasteland. It doesn’t straight up take a land out, but it can take out basics; and when paired with Loam, it gets as close to Strip Mine as possible. It is mostly taken in when the opponents’ lands are disruptive or “comby”, as ours are. More about it in the next part!

With all this being said, this was the first part of the deck guide. There will be two following parts, discussing sideboarding and matchups as well as tips and tricks. Keep an eye out for that in the near future, but until next time, thank you for your attention!

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//Gustav Holmberg