its been a busy and sad week for me. we lost another one of our favorite elf. i really dont have time to vet through this gem of a article. many of us know what is inside a jund deck but do not know why they are there. lets read... with mournful tears.
Jund, the King of Midrange. Part 2 of 3
Hi everyone, I am back with Part 2 of my analysis of what I think is the best deck of the Modern format, Jund. I will be sharing my deck list as well as an analysis of the individual cards. Without further ado, here is the 75 I have been playing,
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Marsh Flats
3 Treetop Village
2 Raging Ravine
2 Blood Crypt
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
24 Lands
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
16 Creatures
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Inquistion of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Terminate
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Forked Bolt
20 Spells
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Wrench Mind
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Shatterstorm
1 Go for the Throat
15 Sideboard cards
There you have it. This is a pretty stock list modelled after the highly successful Jund list piloted by Reid Duke with minor overall changes. I have taken the liberty to cut 1 Pyromaster and 1 Blightning in favour of 2 Huntmaster of the Fells as well as substituted Pillar of Flame with Forked Bolt. As to why I made the changes will be explained later. The recent Jund list suggests that players have eschewed Chandra in favour of the legendary vampire Olivia in mainboard. Going forward, I might see myself trying that out.
Individual card analysis
I will be doing the breakdown according to the mana cost of the cards with the intention of showing how Jund is powerful early in the game and remains so all the way through mid to late game.
The lands
Fetch lands: An integral component of modern mana bases. No explanation needed. Why the 1 copy of Misty and not all 4 copies of Marsh Flats? The deck requires access to green mana more often than not and misty allows the Jund player to fetch stomping ground, overgrown tomb and forest. No green means no early beats with tarmogoyf or treetop, helping ooze scavenge, cast huntmaster, etc.
Shocklands: 2 Blood Crypt, 1 Overgrown Tomb and 1 stomping ground. The 2 Blood Crypts are there to ensure third turns Liliana and fourth turns Chandra.
SOM fast lands: I love Blackcleave Cliffs. Period. Turn 1 into DRS or IOK, painless and absolutely devastating.
Manlands: They are one of the reasons that makes Jund so powerful. Wrath of God? No problem. Heavy creature removal? No problem. Treetop Village is especially good against lingering souls with the trample. Ravine can grow monstrously huge without paying any ridiculous monstrosity cost. One thing to note is that the Jund player needs to know when to play this land so that you will not deprive yourself of mana when you need it. The feeling is terrible when you want to cast huntmaster and you are stuck with ravine in hand, wishing that you had laid that instead of the shockland.
Basics: 2 Swamp 1 Forests. Increase chances of turn 1 DRS, IOK, Seize etc. No Mountain because of Blood Moon.
The creatures
Dark Confidant: Greatness, at any cost, can sometimes mean card advantage, at no/minimal cost. A must kill creatures for your opponents, a game changer for the Jund player. It draws, attacks, blocks when it has outlived its usefulness. If you are able to land one after both players have exhausted their cards, this card will win the game for you. Absolute all star.
Tarmogoyf: 2 mana creature that can grow to 4/5 with ease. Tarmogoyf into Tarmogoyf can be back-breaking for your opponents. As a rule of thumb, always try to cast it as a ¾ so it does not die to a stray bolt. This creature defines what a beatstick should be. While some players raised the concern of this creature dying to removal, for example Path to Exile, my advice to them is just play Bogles.
Deathrite Shaman: The 1 mana Planeswalker! This is the utility creature of Jund which requires the player to activate his abilities at the right time to disrupt any graveyard based strategy. Ramping into a turn 3 Liliana through him is one of the most disgusting play you can make. It is simply powerful as a turn 1 play or a late game play where you drain your opponent bit by bit. Long live DRS and hope he never gets banned.
Scavenging Ooze: Can outgrow a goyf if left unchecked. Ensures that there are no scraps left in all graveyards. Its main weakness is its mana dependent ability. Without sufficient green sources, ooze will often fall prey to bolt. 2 is a good number to run.
Huntmaster of the Fells: I call him the roti prata creature because of his transform ability. Huntmaster represents value. It is at its best when both players are in the top deck mode, making it easy for Huntmaster to flip. I have had good results using him in the main board and would pick him as my first choice 4 drop over Olivia, Thrun and Baloth.
The spells
Liliana of the Veil: Modern’s greatest planeswalker. Liliana applies so much pressure on her opponents and it’s not just because of her sultry looks. Her first ability pressures her opponents to cast cards to risk them being discarded. If you are forced to cast a creature, then it will be “edicted” by her second ability. Her ultimate is not an instant win but it certainly helps speed up the inevitable. 3 mana 3 loyalty points make her simply irresistible.
Lightning Bolt: Best removal for creatures, burn to the face, and whatever that you want to do, all at instant speed for 1 mana.
Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize: 6 copies is a comfortable number to run. Jund wants to strip opponent of their key cards as soon as possible and running 3 copies of each pinpoint discard increases your chances. Depending on what you are up against, decide whether to go with IOK or Seize first to avoid a whiff. The way I see it, Jund is essentially trading 1 mana for your opponent’s best card. Wicked!
Terminate: The premier in removal spells. BR, destroy target creature, no regeneration. No conditions, no drawback. Jund needs 2 to deal with the myriad fatties that are in format. Works extremely well against manlands too, which cards like Smother, Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse cant hit.
Maelstrom Pulse: While this is no Vindicate, Pulse has strengths of its own. It can hit multiple tokens or when you are lucky, catch 2 creatures of the same name. More importantly, it increases our chances against an early Karn. Planeswalkers are hard to deal with, especially if their loyalty points are out of bolt range. Pulse is our catch all answer to that and more.
Chandra, Pyromaster: She can certainly take over games with her card advantage engine. Her first ability is useful in pinging off the many X/1s in the format, win goyf wars, render a blocker useless to push through the final damage etc etc. 4 mana 4 loyalty means she will survive a colonnade strike. Running 2 is not advisable as you might “draw” into the second copy when using her card advantage ability. When the board is liliana and Chandra, you know your opponent is in for trouble.
Forked Bolt: This is a concession to Affinity and opposing turn 1 DRS. I want to ensure that Jund has a more than decent rate of survival against Affinity game 1 and thus Forked Bolt. I also want to
have more ways to kill Turn 1 DRS against BGx decks. I have once used Forked Bolt to off opposing confidant and a 1 loyalty liliana. Shiok!
Sideboard
Kind of tired typing this lengthy review so I will just cut to the chase on sideboard.
4 Fulminator Mage: Could be a 2/2 split with Sowing Salt but I prefer Mage because it is a turn faster. This is a concession to Tron, which is one of our worst matchups. If you are able to recur this with Sword of Light and Shadow, you are in good shape.
2 Wrench Mind: Modern’s Hymn to Tourach. Devastating against UWR decks without Leyline, combo, artefact light control decks. This is usually a 2 for 1. I have no plans of replacing it so far.
2 Anger of Gods: Against pod, tokens, soul sisters or the resurgent u/r delver decks. Exiling creatures is a nice touch, though that means your ooze will have to go hungry.
The 1 ofs
These are customisable and depends on what I feel like adding to prepare for a tourney. The lavamancer is good against creature based strategies, the swords against lingering souls and uwr decks, grudge and shatterstorm is my respect for affinity decks, go for the throat as extra removal. Olivia and Baloth are there to shore up any midrange mirrors.
Hope you have enjoyed reading my breakdown of my favourite deck Jund. I am pleased to say that sticking to this deck for months in a row has really improved my skills piloting Jund. I can now make key decisions quicker and play this deck with more confidence. Yes there are bad matchups which I do not like to face but overall I feel confident playing Jund against an unknown field, knowing that my IOK and Seize will light the way ahead. Once the plan is revealed, the Jund player can then plot his way to victory.
My trusty Jund deck will take a break while I try out other decks. When the time comes though, I will not hesitate to join a tourney with this deck though.
Best regards,
Qs
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