A Journey into the Lands of Gitrog

Modern* Budget Dredge Infinite Combo Loam Midrange

Lilbrudder

Instant (7)

• 1x Darkblast
• 3x Lightning Bolt
• 2x Lightning Helix
• 1x Path to Exile

Sorcery (16)

• 4x Commune with the Gods
• 4x Faithless Looting
• 4x Life from the Loam
• 2x Pyroclasm
• 2x Unburial Rites

Enchantment (6)

• 3x Seismic Assault
• 3x Utopia Sprawl

Creature (9)

• 4x Knight of the Reliquary
• 3x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
• 2x The Gitrog Monster

Land (22)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Fire-Lit Thicket
• 3x Forest
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 2x Rootbound Crag
• 2x Sacred Foundry
• 2x Stomping Ground
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 4x Wooded Foothills

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Sideboard

Instant (9)

• 3x Ancient Grudge
• 1x Lightning Helix
• 3x Ray of Revelation
• 2x Terminate

Sorcery (3)

• 2x Languish
• 1x Raven's Crime

Land (3)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

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Maybeboard

Instant (1)

• 1x Grisly Salvage

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Maelstrom Pulse

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Illness in the Ranks

Creature (2)

• 2x Vengeful Pharaoh

Land (1)

• 1x Horizon Canopy

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Deck History & Philosophy

As the name implies, this deck has been a journey of sorts in modern deck building. I have tinkered with about 20 failed assault loam brews over the past year. I was searching for something that was my own creation, yet still competitive enough to win more than half my games at my local card shop.

I wanted to play an outside the box midrange deck that was full of overlapping synergies and could consistently generate insane amounts of card advantage. I did not want to use any of the "auto include" cards that every powerful archetype builds around like Snapcaster Mage, Liliana of the Veil and Tarmogoyf, and I sure as hell wasn't going to play burn.

I set out to prove that competitive modern deck could work within a reasonable budget (i.e. no cards over $20). I have been able to keep the deck within a reasonable budget by buying most of the key cards before they were on the modern radar and thus below their current price level. For instance I bought a copy of Cavern of Souls for $8 right after it rotated out of standard. I was also able to get playsets of Life from the Loam and Knight of the Reliquary for $20 each.

I initially tried out Swans of Bryn Argoll and Seismic Assault, but soon realized that transforming my opponents Lightning Bolts into Ancestral Recalls is kind of a terrible drawback.

After a bit more testing I decided that Seismic Assault + Life from the Loam was a bit more workable. I also really liked Knight of the Reliquary and its interaction with seismic loam.

I tried every card combination I could think of to make a consistently good deck built around these three cards. However, the majority of my brews were pretty terrible and I definitely learned why those cards I was avoiding were $100+ dollars each...

I eventually concluded that the cards I needed did not exist and I gave up on Modern. That was until The Gitrog Monster was spoiled. It seemed perfect in a 4 color shell that I had been tinkering with before I went back to playing EDH. It used Faithless Looting and Commune with the Gods to dig for pieces and fill the graveyard for Knight of the Reliquary and Tasigur, the Golden Fang. When I added Hypnotoad to the mix it instantly made every key card in the deck significantly better. It also gave the deck an "I win" button with Seismic Assault and Dakmor Salvage. So after some frantic brewing I finally have the deck I first envisioned.

Card Choices & Interactions

Sorceries

Faithless Looting: Digs for the cards I need and dumps the stuff I don't. Forms a great draw engine with Life from the Loam and facilitates a turn two Tasigur, the Golden Fang.

Commune with the Gods: Does so much in this deck and all of it is good. Dumps lands, flashback and dredge cards, and excess creatures into the graveyard for later reanimation, while digging for the enchantments and creatures I need right now into my hand. Even dumping cards like Lightning Bolt into the graveyard is a good thing, because it allows Tasigur, the Golden Fang to delve something besides my precious lands.

Life from the Loam: The best card in this deck and probably the best source of pure card advantage in modern. Synergizes with everything.

Unburial Rites: Discard fodder with a tremendous upside. Allows me to put The Gitrog Monster in play a turn earlier on average.

Pyroclasm: Cheap sweeper that kills most of the aggressive and hexproof creatures in the format. Usually buys me a turn or two longer to stabilize. Is switched out against midrange and control decks.

Instants

Lightning Bolt: Cheap versatile removal.

Lightning Helix: Removal that provides this deck with some much needed lifegain.

Darkblast: Tremendous value in this deck as a 1 of. Is a useful combat trick, can ping creatures like Delver of Secrets   and Dark Confidant, and can even take out 2 toughness creatures if I cast it during my upkeep. Its dredge 3 can also contribute to the occassional explosive start.

For example:

Turn 1) Play and Sac a fetchland. Use Darkblast to kill opponents Birds of Paradise or other turn 1 creature.

Turn 2) Dredge 3, play a land, cast Tasigur, the Golden Fang for 2.

Path to Exile: Unconditional removal for large threats

Creatures

Knight of the Reliquary: Does degenerate things with The Gitrog Monster, mana ramps, gets scary big fast, and tutors for utility lands.

Tasigur, the Golden Fang: Essentially a one mana 4/5 most of the time with pseudo card drawing upside. Is also a human, which helps out with Cavern of Souls.

The Gitrog Monster: Can be put into play on turn 3 with Utopia Sprawl and Knight of the Reliquary / Unburial Rites. Dodges most removal in modern, is an amazing draw engine, and combos with any card that puts lands in the graveyard.

Enchantments

Seismic Assault: Is a pain to cast, but well worth it. Is a must answer card that either wins the game or puts me way ahead within a couple turns. Can be played on turn 2 with a turn 1 Utopia Sprawl.

Utopia Sprawl: Mana ramp/ color fixing that is more resilient than Birds of Paradise. A reliable target for Commune with the Gods. Allows the deck to make 4 colors work and is immune to my board wipes.

How to Play This Deck

This deck is strong in the mid to late game. Seismic Assault + Life from the Loam can burn down most threats once it gets online and my creatures usually outclass the opposition. The key to success is stabilizing in the early game. This requires an appropriate balance of speed and patience. There are times when bringing in lands untapped is an absolutely necesssity to ensure that turn one Utopia Sprawl or turn two Pyroclasm. On other occassions simply threatening with a fetchland can be enough to sneak an untapped shockland in at the end of turn to prevent a self inflicted Lightning Bolt. 4 colors can seem a bit daunting at first, but keep in mind this is primarily a red/green deck and I only need multiple sources of red for Seismic Assault, which can be played easily once Knight of the Reliquary is in play. White and black are usually not needed until turn 3 or 4 and Cavern of Souls helps with casting Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Knight of the Reliquary. I would encourage you to playtest a bit before making card suggestions to get a better idea of how the deck functions and the overlapping synergies between cards. Here is a rundown of my early turn decisions/ options against an aggro deck:

Turn One: The best play is almost always Utopia Sprawl on a Stomping Ground to set up a turn 2 Seismic Assault or Knight of the Reliquary or Commune with the Gods and a Lightning Bolt/Tasigur, the Golden Fang. I don't play Faithless Looting on turn one unless I need to play Tasigur, the Golden Fang early, my hand is land flooded, or I have plenty of dredge or flashback cards in hand and need to dig for a specific card. If I have a Darkblast or Lightning Bolt in hand I play a fetchland and play reactively. If I am playing first or against a deck that doesn't present a turn 1 threat I put a land into play tapped to conserve my life total.

Turn 2: If I managed to drop a turn one Utopia Sprawl I continue with the lines of play outlined in turn 1. Against a swarm strategy I go with Pyroclasm or blast the biggest threat with a Lightning Helix. Against a single threat I put a land into play tapped and play a Lightning Bolt. If I need to find a combo piece or want to ensure my turn 3 Knight of the Reliquary is out of bolt range or Tasigur, the Golden Fang has sufficent targets I will play Commune with the Gods. I also commonly play Faithless Looting for the same reasons on turn two, which can also sometimes set up a turn 3 The Gitrog Monster with Unburial Rites. If I have nothing else to play and used a fetchland on either of my first two turns I will play Life from the Loam for one or two lands. This gets it in the graveyard to dredge extra lands and/or ensure my turn 3 Seismic Assault has a couple lands to pitch.

Turn 3: This is often the cruical turn where I need to establish a board presence of some kind to have a chance of winning or clear my opponents board with some combination of removal in my hand. I can usually drop a between a 5/5 to 8/8 Knight of the Reliquary by this point or cast a 1-2 mana card and a Tasigur, the Golden Fang. If I am lucky I can play The Gitrog Monster and trigger his draw once off a fetchland. Or I can play a Seismic Assault if I have at least two lands in hand. If not I wait until the following turn to play seismic so I have plenty of lands in hand.

Strengths & Weaknesses

This deck excels in the following areas:

1) The card advantage engines in this deck are pretty insane. Finding answers and win conditions are rarely a problem since I can consistently dig through half my library by turn 4 or 5. This is especially true when I sideboard in Ancient Grudge or Ray of Revelation in game 2.

2) The deck is fairly resilient to counterspells and hand hate, since many of the cards can be dredged or flashed back from the grave.

3) The deck has several viable win conditions: I can turn my big creatures sideways; I can burn them slow and steady with assault loam; Or I can combo kill them with Hypnotoad.

4) Land flooding and getting mana screwed is rarely an problem for this deck since I have many different ways to fix imbalanced hands. I rarely ever have to mulligan.

This deck struggles in the following areas:

1) Graveyard hate is a big problem for this deck (obviously) but it only shuts me down completely if I overextend myself.

2) This deck is sometimes slow getting out of the gates and my land base is damaging. Therefore aggressive strategies like zoo and burn can sometimes overwhelm me before I can stabilize.

3) Non interactive fast combo decks that can outrace me are a bad matchup, since I only have reactive removal (no countermagic).

Sideboard

I definitely need some help with my sideboard. As of right now I have:

Lightning Helix: Against burn.

Terminate: Against decks that contain creatures too big to be burned.

Ghost Quarter: Against Tron and infect.

Languish: Is a one sided board wipe in this deck 95% of the time. I sub it in with the black lands and Raven's Crime to go into battlecruiser mode.

Ancient Grudge: Against affinity and infect.

Ray of Revelation : Against Boggles and other decks with nasty enchantments like Rest in Peace.

Raven's Crime and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Allows me to Mind Twist control and midrange decks.

Bojuka Bog: Against graveyard shenanighans

Note: I only run one copy of each utility land because Knight of the Reliquary and Life from the Loam make a single copy essentially count as 4+ copies.

The maybeboard includes cards I hope to eventually afford (Horizon Canopy) or would like to find a spot for in my sideboard. Please let me know if you like the deck and/or what you would change.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	7 years
Key combos	Life from the Loam + Seismic Assault
Legality	This deck is not Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 31 - 3 Rares 11 - 5 Uncommons 11 - 7 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.50
Folders	Modern, Interesting ideas, Fun Deck Ideas
Based on	Janky land destruction reanimator featuring KOTR Lilbrudder MDN