I find it difficult to build in Modern since it's a format that I rarely play these days but I'm always thinking about fun card interactions. Recently (and forever) I've been playing landfall in Standard that does all kinds of degenerate things I rarely get to see through to the end before the inevitable scoop.
I wish there were more interesting ways to send land through many states of being (hand, battlefield, exile, graveyard) with recursion but the end result isn't just a swarm of insects or a really beefed up creature or two.
This is where my mind always falls back to a sort of holy Trinity of Jund Land Shenanigans. The Gitrog Monster, Life from the Loam, and Seismic Assault. Pretty simple idea, pitch lands to deal damage to anything while drawing cards, get the lands back from the graveyard and do it all over again.
It doesn't take much to explode once the setup is there, so it doesn't need a ton of help other than some extra draw mechanics which can pitch land to the bin for good measure. Gitrog on the field and Cathartic Reunion can discard two lands from your hand to draw five cards for two mana at instant speed. That's crazy. But the main two card combo here is pitching lands with Seismic Assault which also draws a card from Gitrog triggers. Sometimes that's all you need to do if you just keep drawing land but if you don't you can just trigger Loam from the graveyard, mill three (which might trigger more land draws) and for two mana refill three land to your hand for more gas. You should be able to do this at least twice depending on what turn it happens, but Lotus Cobra enables both Gitrog and Assault on the board by turns 3 and 4 so the end of turn 4 could be GG and fairly guaranteed by turn 5. You do have to draw well, such as most combo situations, but a starting hand with a Cobra and a Gitrog Monster and at least one fetch land should very consistently get to the winning setup.
Some extra value from Valakut Expedition can take the handful of landfall triggers per turn to either draw even more cards or dump more into the graveyard for extra damage and draw triggers. It's there for the latter, but if you actually need to play land or something else before the end of your turn it just gets you there.
Ghost Quarter is some funny tech to blow up your own land for two landfall triggers, two draw triggers, and has the extra utility to deal with opponents lands if needed. Obviously Loam makes this repeatable as well which could also be used to abuse Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle.
Lotus Cobra is amazing ramp and color fixing that allows Gitrog to find the battlefield fairly consistently by turn 3 or 4. That means the full setup should be online by turn 4 or 5 every single game (except shuffle rng...) but obviously can be delayed by spot removal. That's fine because it distracts from your own life total which can be maintained with Druid Class from the sideboard if you need it. The life gain triggers should happen every single turn to keep you alive against aggro or burn and the extra land drops means you could play at least three lands a turn. Easy to keep up with all the draw and high land count. It only takes discarding 10 of those lands to the face to kill your opponent and Loam guarantees you'll see at least three land every turn.
Is it competitive? Maybe. It's fun and different and consistent which checks all the boxes for me. It feels a bit like Scapeshift but with different tech and I think it's a bit more exciting to play.
Turns out "Assault Loam" was a thing but I'd never seen it played. In researching that deck a little bit I can say that The Gitrog Monster was never used or likely even considered because of it's 5 cmc and requires splashing black. I get it. I think I figured out pretty well how to use it too. Hmmm...
The sideboard is shaping up with some commonly used answer cards as well as an unexpected shift in strategy if you wanted to throw off your opponent with the Tunneling Geopede. Smaller burn spells and spot removal may be boarded out for enchantment removal so damage can sneak in another way instead. Mind games.
Time to start testing and see how well it does. I went into this build with a fairly narrow scope of cards that I wanted to feature. Cost plays a little bit of a factor but I'm also just getting back into deck building after a long hiatus and a few years trapped in the Arena. Paper magic is the way to go. There's nothing quite like it.
Lol, what? Just found out Zuran Orb is in Modern? Instant speed sac a land, gain two life, draw a card to Gitrog? It also guarantees there are always three land in the graveyard for Loam. Oh my god... That's awesome!
