Ok guys, did a lot of testing last night with the Jund Traverse version I mentioned in my post from yesterday. Here is a brief synopsis of the list and thought process so far that's gone into it that I wrote for my testing group.
The mindset was to make a Traverse/Delirium list much like the 19-land Abzan lists that have been running around but I wanted to run Jund as it is the better shell for running Dark Confidant. This also let me test out the new Claim // Fame. For the sake of testing, I ran a full suite of 3 instead of 2 and 1 K. Command like I initially had planned. It was great essentially every single time I cast it and I never missed it being a K. Command. The card is seriously bonkers in this shell. Onto the list:
All in all a lot of things are still flexible as is pretty typical with most GBx lists. I would like to put a Reclamation Sage somewhere in the SB since it can be Traversed. I am still undecided on that Goblin Dark Dweller slot in the Sideboard as well. I want that slot to be something that helps in longer grindier games as a great traverse target. GDD is great for that since you can instantly flash back Traverse to go get another fatty and would love to get something "immune" to Fatal Push if possible. The other options I can think of are:
Tireless Tracker: Was great in Traditional Jund for me before but I feel like we just have too few lands here and the other options in this list are likely better, but he's worth a mention.
Thundermaw Hellkite: I've seen an uptick in Thundermaw's in Jund sideboards as a way to fight Lingering Souls as well as being a big hasty flier which is good against Death Shadow.
Stormbreath Dragon: Similar reasonings to Thundermaw, doesn't kill Lingering Soul type fliers and has 1 less P/T but does come with pro white which can be relevant.
Ishkanah, Graf Widow: I tested Ishkanah last week in Abzan and this card was truly insane in every game I cast it. 4 bodies for 5 mana is nothing to be trifled with.
Silvermoon Cavalier: This is mainly a small thought because of how busted it is against removal heavy decks. Without Bolt running around this is going to stick around in many of those matchups and can make things exceedingly awkward. It doesn't close out quickly though which is part of the reason we are playing Jund over Abzan.
Liliana, the Last Hope: I feel like this Lili has a home somewhere in the 75 as a 1x but haven't quite figured out where I want her just yet. Currently I am thinking of that second Anathemancer slot.
Those are the options I have considered so far for that Goblin Dark Dweller's slot in the Sideboard. If yall have other recommendations let me know.
Now to talk about the elephant in the room (well zombie wizard but still). Anathemancer. So part of my brewing process is I wanted to find good tutorable creatures in red that could either act as silver bullets or help in certain matchups. My initial thought process to fight big mana decks was Magus of the Moon. The problem with this though is that on only 19 lands, there is no room for the extra basics to feel comfortable running a Blood Moon plan without putting a HUGE damper on my own plan. Too much so I think. That's where Anathemancer steps in. The thought process and plan is that I am going to be bringing him in anytime I feel like I can or should be the beatdown deck in the matchup. He should hit for 2-5 damage when he comes down in most of those matchups and the fact it's damage means it can be redirected to planeswalkers if those are an issue (which they can sometimes be). I never thought I would use his Unearth ability but it did come up in testing during games that went long and almost always ended the game. It's possible I trim down to 1 in the board after a while but like with Claim // Fame, I wanted to ensure it came up often enough so I could make a determination if I liked it.
Anyway, this is likely within a card or two I plan to play for the PPTQs coming up this weekend. It felt smooth as butter and reasonably well positioned for my local metagame.
People are complaining delirium/traverse isn't consistent in shadow jund/abzan with 4 bauble and 4 wraiths, so it won't be consistent here.If I'd play traverse in a list like this I'd not play the full 4.
Exatraz, thanks for all the research you're doing, it actually looks legit.
I usually get super annoyed with people coming into the threads and proposing janky brews, but yours at least looks like it has a little merit. Keep up the good work, a little tempted to try it out on mtgo
Based off of what I just wrote, would you take Jund to an open field?
Absolutely. One factor that you are missing here is passion, experience, skill and joy, which can shake those numbers up a bit. Not that unfavourable matchups get favourable but I like it how Willy Edel said: Its better to take 100 % of a 70 % deck than 70 % of a 100 % deck. And Jund will always have my 100 % for sure. I just love that deck. I am in strong belief that you can pilot the deck in such a way to get close to 50/50 for every matchup right now and probably generally (besides Tron). And thats what I love about this deck. Figuring out the perfect configuration and using skill and experience to squeeze out wins. It might be just me but I don't like decks which just prey on certain decks absolutely hard (like Tron on us) because I feel there is not much skill involved in such a case. I want to win because I played well not because the matchup was good (of course if a deck is just bad than the deck is bad, not trying to say to playing worse decks on purpose). Maybe you want to play magic differently, but I feel with Jund you really want to fight for you wins and thats what keeps me interested and motivated. Its challanging.
Bro, if this were Dragon Ball Z, that ***** would have hyped me up so much that I'd be ******* super saiyan it up.
I did read that article by Willy, he's right about that line there. It did make me feel bad when a month later I read Covals article on his invitational win and said specializing in modern doesn't work as well.
I very much am into midrange decks, I love them, I have a burn deck I never use but can't seem to get rid of it, because a part of me is terrified Tron could wreck a local FNM.
I've been on grixis, but i still always check up on jund and junk
People are complaining delirium/traverse isn't consistent in shadow jund/abzan with 4 bauble and 4 wraiths, so it won't be consistent here.If I'd play traverse in a list like this I'd not play the full 4.
Bear in mind those decks also only run like 9 maybe 10 actual threats. They HAVE to use their Traverses to get threats or they can't win. This deck is traditional Jund baby. You don't need a Traverse online in the first 3 turns. You stop your opponents shenanigans and then drop a threat and try to close out the game. The main difference here is that instead of drawing a land off the top late, you are drawing a Traverse which equals another threat. So while those decks might grumble and have issues getting delirium consistently. I never really felt like I had that problem because if they have dealt with my threats, I have delirium. If they didn't deal with my threats, I won.
Exatraz, thanks for all the research you're doing, it actually looks legit.
I usually get super annoyed with people coming into the threads and proposing janky brews, but yours at least looks like it has a little merit. Keep up the good work, a little tempted to try it out on mtgo
Thanks bro. I spend a LOT of time tweaking and testing various midrange and control strats (occasionally dipping into other decks that show a bit of power like Blue Steel did recently). The name of the game isn't to mess with what isn't broken. Jund em out. I've added some new cards and such but the general style of the deck is still the same as it's always been.
Maybe this is the direction (maybe not particularly THIS version) jund needs to go. With the emergence of Jund shadow and Grixis shadow and their 18-19 land base, the added 6 lands from the traditional midrange is SO noticeable now. Having traverse as an early land and then a tutored threat sounds like a good idea.
Without K Command in the 60, it looks like the 2nd copy of Decay is pretty important.
I'm not a fan of the dweller, it just looks wrong.
Maybe this is the direction (maybe not particularly THIS version) jund needs to go. With the emergence of Jund shadow and Grixis shadow and their 18-19 land base, the added 6 lands from the traditional midrange is SO noticeable now. Having traverse as an early land and then a tutored threat sounds like a good idea.
Without K Command in the 60, it looks like the 2nd copy of Decay is pretty important.
I'm not a fan of the dweller, it just looks wrong.
Totally agree, which is why I wrote about all the many options that could theoretically go in that SB slot. Also I had 1 K. Command slotted in the Main for a 2:1 spit with Claim // Fame but for testing purposes (and that alone) I was running 3 Claim // Fame instead. It's hard to test to see how good a card is if it doesn't come up so I typically overload on it at first and then ween it back. I agree a 2nd Abrupt Decay main might be worthwhile though as K Command didn't always feel needed (and claim has been awesome every time I've had it.
Maybe this is the direction (maybe not particularly THIS version) jund needs to go. With the emergence of Jund shadow and Grixis shadow and their 18-19 land base, the added 6 lands from the traditional midrange is SO noticeable now. Having traverse as an early land and then a tutored threat sounds like a good idea.
Agree on this one - after playing a few months w 19ish lands + traverse I dont know if I could really go back to the classic 24 land builds. Having 4 tutors in a midrange deck is sick, especially if you can manage to get a good mix of threat / bullets / utility out of the creatures and lands.
Ok, tested the deck out in practice, it's not bad.
First game was some dank I beat down
Lost the next game against Slivers, but it was mainly some crazy hands he got
Beat lantern, game 1 was rough and I lost convincingly, but after the SB it was brutal for my opponent. He constantly had to deal with multiple ancient grudges, threats, and tutors, so even the discard against me didn't feel bad. Tutoring for fulminator was game winning on game 2. Game 3 he was afraid to cast Academy and holding it in hand
Slowly beat down UR Storm, they were ugly and grindy; freaking guy killed me on his turn 3 while he was on the play which was frustrating. Flayer digging for discard just had him losing game 2 and 3 slowly
Just got absolutely beaten down by Abzan, lingering souls is so incredibly difficult to deal
Deck operated smoothly outside of one game against Abzan, mana was never too bad, delirium wasn't super easy to achieve, but it wasn't impossible hard on average.
Never really got to use claim//fame in a good spot, even though I saw it several times. To be fair, K Command wouldn't have been that amazing either in those spots
The deck needs tweaking but it seems like a good spot to start. Damnation felt not amazing to cast here due to 19 lands, kinda wonder if Bontu's Last Reckoning is a legit idea, the deck seems to reach 3 lands easily but sometimes felt difficult to see or want land past 3.
I do think the 2nd Decay is the right call without any K Commands.
I didn't play bolt, but in every single game today it would have been an awful card.
Maybe this is the direction (maybe not particularly THIS version) jund needs to go. With the emergence of Jund shadow and Grixis shadow and their 18-19 land base, the added 6 lands from the traditional midrange is SO noticeable now. Having traverse as an early land and then a tutored threat sounds like a good idea.
Agree on this one - after playing a few months w 19ish lands + traverse I dont know if I could really go back to the classic 24 land builds. Having 4 tutors in a midrange deck is sick, especially if you can manage to get a good mix of threat / bullets / utility out of the creatures and lands.
Yeah, a year ago topdecking those lands was just a thing, now my soul yells at me when I topdeck lands in a 24 land midrange deck. Grixis has made it difficult to compete with 24 lands. Abzan can get away with basically playing 25 lands because lingering souls itself is so gamebreaking against Shadow.
How necessary are the Claim // Fame in the traverse list, at least in the main deck? On paper, they only seem good in grindier matchups, which would lead me to want to have them in the sideboard. I'll echo what Spsiegel said about the extra lands in Abzan/Jund being super noticeable now, I went from the traverse Abzan build to the Noble version (+3 lands) and it felt like I was always drawing way too many of them. I'm pretty intrigued by Exatraz's traverse list, I liked the Traverse shell in Abzan, but those colors just feel so slow at closing out games. I love Lingering Souls, but it is a very slow card.
I've been thinking about giving Jund another shot because Abzan lately has just felt clunky. I'm too slow when I'm the beatdown, I don't have enough removal when I'm trying to control the field, and I still get beat up by the slower control decks because of Supreme Verdict and Izzet Staticaster. The meta seems super hostile to 1/1 spirits right now, and if Bitterblossom keeps picking up steam then it's only going to get worse. Overall, I feel like I'd rather be playing Dark Confidant than Grim Flayer in the current meta, and I think that the way you usually build your sideboard for Jund matches up pretty well with where things currently are. From the Jund perspective, it doesn't seem like we're facing very different decks than we were in 2015, only we've swapped Twin for Grixis Shadow and Amulet Bloom for Scapeshift (which is still bad, but better than bloom was).
Thats why I'm also kinda taking a break from Junk, lingering souls is a great card, but so slow when I need to beat down a non-midrange deck. I feel like I'm not seeing enough threats when I need to beat down, not enough answers when I need to be the control deck, and the lands, bro.
Jund and Junk feel kinda stuck in-between grixis, land decks and now UWx/Jeskai.
I'm not gonna lie, whether I'm playing Jund, Junk or grixis, the whole meta feels hostile, I've never quite felt like this, at the same time, that may just be the meta really being open to everything, variance seems crazy in modern, I have performed very poorly at my fnms the past three weeks.
My sideboard is pretty heavy on anti-burn because the main deck is so soft to it. I also like Thrun a lot in a world where U/W control is a tier 1 deck. I think that the second Tarfire could also be the second nihil spellbomb, but my meta is creature heavy. Overall, I like having those 3 slots dedicated to 1 mana cards that give uncommon types for delirium while also being slightly better top decks than Bauble.
I won't be able to test this for a few days, so I make no promises.
Do we still want Raging Ravine in a Traverse build? It seems like a lot to ask even when we can tutor for it. Claim // Fame generally seems better but I'm working on a stranger build. Any opinions?
I cut the ravine, 19 lands doesn't excite me to play it, I used treetop since it's a 3/3 trampler thats cheap to activate. I replaced it with a fetch to make the pushes better
Do we still want Raging Ravine in a Traverse build? It seems like a lot to ask even when we can tutor for it. Claim // Fame generally seems better but I'm working on a stranger build. Any opinions?
I think since its prob one of the big reasons to run Jund in the first place I would run 1 copy still.
My first draft of such an approach looks like this:
I think you want 9 fetches still for Push. Running more Blooming Marshes now due to no need of red on turn 1. Might want to run no Cliffs at all. For basics I still want 2 swamps to have more outs vs BM and have more to search with non delirium Traverse. Delirium will not be easy activated in such an approach in my opinion, Traverse's primary function serves as extra lands. Also 1 KCommand an 1 Pulse is also necessary I think. The rest is stock.
Thats why I'm also kinda taking a break from Junk, lingering souls is a great card, but so slow when I need to beat down a non-midrange deck. I feel like I'm not seeing enough threats when I need to beat down, not enough answers when I need to be the control deck, and the lands, bro.
I've been thinking about giving Jund another shot because Abzan lately has just felt clunky. I'm too slow when I'm the beatdown, I don't have enough removal when I'm trying to control the field, and I still get beat up by the slower control decks because of Supreme Verdict and Izzet Staticaster.
Thats the reason I am running Jund over Junk from the very beginning on (since the meta shake up). Finding it interesting that people come to the same conclusion right now. But better later than never I guess
I cut the ravine, 19 lands doesn't excite me to play it, I used treetop since it's a 3/3 trampler thats cheap to activate. I replaced it with a fetch to make the pushes better
I originally wasn't looking to include Ravine, but I came around to it based on a few factors:
One of the unsung synergies in traditional Jund is Dark Confidant and Ravine. Confidant wants to see lands, and Ravine helps to make the lands revealed off of Confidant into a "threat".
In my list, I'm running a Bojuka Bog in the side. My expectation is that, for the matchups when I expect to be activating Ravine because my creatures have been dealt with (midrange/control), I'm also going to be bringing in the Bog, which puts my land count up to 20. Between U/W control, Jeskai, and Abzan, Path to Exile is also seeing a healthy amount of play, so in those matchups I think that being able to fire up Ravine in the late game is very realistic.
Ravine is great against Cryptic Command and sweepers, and there's a U/W control deck in tier 1. The biggest problem I've been having with Abzan vs the super durdly blue control decks is that my manlands are just not threatening. Jund can punish it's opponent tapping down it's creatures by firing up a Ravine after the Cryptic resolves, which is something I'm interested in having access to.
Flood insurance. While the traverse decks flood out a lot less frequently than the more traditional Abzan/Jund lists, it's still nice to have a big mana sink for when you've drawn half the lands in your deck.
With all of that in mind, I basically came to the conclusion that I wasn't paying a big cost to run Raging Ravine, and the payoff is one of the best manlands in Modern. Ravine is one of the things pulling me back towards Jund, so I feel obligated to at least give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, I'll do the same thing and just swap it with a Treetop Village.
Thats the reason I am running Jund over Junk from the very beginning on (since the meta shake up). Finding it interesting that people come to the same conclusion right now. But better later than never I guess
My excuse is that six months ago I was young and naive.
Thanks for all the feedback folks! Stomped pretty easily at my LGS last night although Claim // Fame isn't legal yet so I replaced it for the event. I did some testing before and after as well with Claim // Fame. Here is the list I ran last night:
Round 1 Abzan (0-2)[0-1]: Game 1, So my opening hand had 0 lands. So did my 6 card hand. 5 card hand was keepable 2 lands, Traverse, Goyf, Terminate. He cast Thoughtseize Turn 1 and took the Traverse. This was a very very weird game where both of us got caught on 2 lands and eventually went into top deck mode. I found an Inquisition on turn 2 and took a Lingering Souls because if he had found his 3rd land, I knew my hand wasn't beating "both copies". My increased threats nearly dug me out of it but every threat I drew, he immediately found a removal spell so his increased land numbers never came up. *Shrugs shoulders*, what are you gonna do. I will say this is a game where Claim//Fame would have been just a bonkers draw. Rebuying a Grim Flayer against Lingering Souls is massive game. Game 2 I had another 0 lander for 7 (ironically this match is the first I've experienced a real hemorrhaging for lands), 1 lander unplayable 6, 1 land dreadful 5, meh 4 but had lands and spells. Notably I got run over this game. So far this is the only times I've opened hands that have been completely unplayable. It's bound to happen on 19 lands, just got unlucky it happened multiple hands in a row in the same match.
Round 2 Abzan (2-0)[1-1]: Game 1, Boy did the tables flip when I actually didn't start my opponent up multiple cards. Game 1 went pretty long and grindy but I was able to resolve a huntmaster and flip him back and forth twice before he found the path. We then had opposing Goyfs staring down at each other and my quality of draws from drawing fewer lands prevailed. Game 2 was also a grind fest. I trumped this grind by using Traverse and my draws to steadily apply more and more threats as well as deploying a well timed Damnation. Highlight of this match was Traversing for Goblin Dark Dwellers, playing it, casting Traverse again, getting Goyf, playing Goyf. Next turn I ripped Ishkanah and on the next turn I unearthed Anathemancer doming my opponent for 5 and crashing in for lethal with the team.
Round 3 Eldrazi Tron (2-0)[2-1]: I'll say upfront that I have never lost to this match with Jund. Part of that is me being a bit lucky and the other part of it is that I think this deck isn't actually good but is just well placed in the current metagame. Case and point, game 1. He assembles natural tron from hand. Before I can put the gun to my own head, he drops a Thought-knot Seer. Sure, whatever take 1 of my 2 removal spells. I fetch, push and play a 5/6 goyf on my next turn. He plays Reality Smasher but can't attack (thanks goyf). I play Liliana, edict, crash in for 5. He plays Endbringer, I terminate and play goyf #2. That's pretty much how game 1 ended. Game 2 he stumbled around with awkward tron lands (double tower playing and cracking a map in the first 2 turns to get a mine), Meanwhile I stuck double Grim Flayers, thoughtseize his All is Dust and just kept crashing in. I had several attacks where he chumped with Reality Smashers on Goyfs and had he not blocked he'd be dead to Anathemancer I had stashed in hand. That card is being really good at applying the beats when I need to be aggressive.
Round 4 Lantern Control (2-0)[3-1]: Both games went the way of Discard, Grim Flayer/Goyf, Maelstrom Pulse the multiple Codex Shredders you have in play, stick a Liliana and uptick the last card out of your hand. Lethal quickly. All in all this still likely isn't a very fun matchup, although we have lots of tools to blow up the artifacts. The one huge improvement is that we can actually play a beatdown game plan. Occasionally 23-24 land Jund could but they were very reliant on getting the Goyf and hoping it got there. With essentially 8 big threat 2 drops, you almost always have one and many times have multiples so decks that aren't looking to interact or block can now be run over.
My side testing went pretty well again all things considered. Claim // Fame continues to enable some very interesting lines of play and some massive blowout potential. Sitting on 3 mana but only 1 green source, my Abzan opponent had just cast a Lingering Souls to try and beatdown my Liliana of the Veil and I had a Scavenging Ooze in hand. I rip Claim // Fame off the top. Uptick Liliana, discard Scooze, Claim him back, eat the Lingering Souls and pass the turn with push open if my opponent played a goyf (they did). Definitely the list could still be tweaked and polished but for the most part it feels extremely smooth running to me compared to the Abzan versions. Just remember to try and not go out of your way to run bad cards just for the sake of delirium (Tarfire, Bauble, Street Wraith etc.). If you aren't running Claim // Fame (I really disagree with that decision), I'd probably look into 3 cmc options like Courser of Kruphix since it'll give you that bonus type in the yard but is also a decent creature on it's own. I still highly recommend giving the Claim // Fame a shot though. For every time you cast Kommand with the primary mode of "return a creature to hand" and then you played the creature for a 5+ mana turn, you now get to get those big threats for just B. Haste also means you aren't likely to be stuck behind a Liliana of the Veil in the midrange mirror either.
Spsiegel1987: I agree that Lingering Souls is still going to be a pain as it is for all Jund decks. There isn't a ton we can do about it as usual but since this deck acts as a better beatdown deck, I have forced my opponent to chump with souls more and that means they are killing me and my LotV's less.
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People are complaining delirium/traverse isn't consistent in shadow jund/abzan with 4 bauble and 4 wraiths, so it won't be consistent here.If I'd play traverse in a list like this I'd not play the full 4.
UWRUWR Delver/Lynx TempoUWR-------UWRUWR Midrange GeistUWR-------UWRUWR Nahiri ControlUWR-------UWRUWR SaheeliUWR
BGRJund / Jund ShadowBGR-------BGWAbzan / Abzan ShadowBGW
Commander (Leviathan/MTGO): UWGeist of Saint TraftUW
I usually get super annoyed with people coming into the threads and proposing janky brews, but yours at least looks like it has a little merit. Keep up the good work, a little tempted to try it out on mtgo
Bro, if this were Dragon Ball Z, that ***** would have hyped me up so much that I'd be ******* super saiyan it up.
I did read that article by Willy, he's right about that line there. It did make me feel bad when a month later I read Covals article on his invitational win and said specializing in modern doesn't work as well.
I very much am into midrange decks, I love them, I have a burn deck I never use but can't seem to get rid of it, because a part of me is terrified Tron could wreck a local FNM.
I've been on grixis, but i still always check up on jund and junk
Bear in mind those decks also only run like 9 maybe 10 actual threats. They HAVE to use their Traverses to get threats or they can't win. This deck is traditional Jund baby. You don't need a Traverse online in the first 3 turns. You stop your opponents shenanigans and then drop a threat and try to close out the game. The main difference here is that instead of drawing a land off the top late, you are drawing a Traverse which equals another threat. So while those decks might grumble and have issues getting delirium consistently. I never really felt like I had that problem because if they have dealt with my threats, I have delirium. If they didn't deal with my threats, I won.
Thanks bro. I spend a LOT of time tweaking and testing various midrange and control strats (occasionally dipping into other decks that show a bit of power like Blue Steel did recently). The name of the game isn't to mess with what isn't broken. Jund em out. I've added some new cards and such but the general style of the deck is still the same as it's always been.
Without K Command in the 60, it looks like the 2nd copy of Decay is pretty important.
I'm not a fan of the dweller, it just looks wrong.
Totally agree, which is why I wrote about all the many options that could theoretically go in that SB slot. Also I had 1 K. Command slotted in the Main for a 2:1 spit with Claim // Fame but for testing purposes (and that alone) I was running 3 Claim // Fame instead. It's hard to test to see how good a card is if it doesn't come up so I typically overload on it at first and then ween it back. I agree a 2nd Abrupt Decay main might be worthwhile though as K Command didn't always feel needed (and claim has been awesome every time I've had it.
Agree on this one - after playing a few months w 19ish lands + traverse I dont know if I could really go back to the classic 24 land builds. Having 4 tutors in a midrange deck is sick, especially if you can manage to get a good mix of threat / bullets / utility out of the creatures and lands.
First game was some dank I beat down
Lost the next game against Slivers, but it was mainly some crazy hands he got
Beat lantern, game 1 was rough and I lost convincingly, but after the SB it was brutal for my opponent. He constantly had to deal with multiple ancient grudges, threats, and tutors, so even the discard against me didn't feel bad. Tutoring for fulminator was game winning on game 2. Game 3 he was afraid to cast Academy and holding it in hand
Slowly beat down UR Storm, they were ugly and grindy; freaking guy killed me on his turn 3 while he was on the play which was frustrating. Flayer digging for discard just had him losing game 2 and 3 slowly
Just got absolutely beaten down by Abzan, lingering souls is so incredibly difficult to deal
Deck operated smoothly outside of one game against Abzan, mana was never too bad, delirium wasn't super easy to achieve, but it wasn't impossible hard on average.
Never really got to use claim//fame in a good spot, even though I saw it several times. To be fair, K Command wouldn't have been that amazing either in those spots
The deck needs tweaking but it seems like a good spot to start. Damnation felt not amazing to cast here due to 19 lands, kinda wonder if Bontu's Last Reckoning is a legit idea, the deck seems to reach 3 lands easily but sometimes felt difficult to see or want land past 3.
I do think the 2nd Decay is the right call without any K Commands.
I didn't play bolt, but in every single game today it would have been an awful card.
Yeah, a year ago topdecking those lands was just a thing, now my soul yells at me when I topdeck lands in a 24 land midrange deck. Grixis has made it difficult to compete with 24 lands. Abzan can get away with basically playing 25 lands because lingering souls itself is so gamebreaking against Shadow.
I've been thinking about giving Jund another shot because Abzan lately has just felt clunky. I'm too slow when I'm the beatdown, I don't have enough removal when I'm trying to control the field, and I still get beat up by the slower control decks because of Supreme Verdict and Izzet Staticaster. The meta seems super hostile to 1/1 spirits right now, and if Bitterblossom keeps picking up steam then it's only going to get worse. Overall, I feel like I'd rather be playing Dark Confidant than Grim Flayer in the current meta, and I think that the way you usually build your sideboard for Jund matches up pretty well with where things currently are. From the Jund perspective, it doesn't seem like we're facing very different decks than we were in 2015, only we've swapped Twin for Grixis Shadow and Amulet Bloom for Scapeshift (which is still bad, but better than bloom was).
Jund and Junk feel kinda stuck in-between grixis, land decks and now UWx/Jeskai.
I'm not gonna lie, whether I'm playing Jund, Junk or grixis, the whole meta feels hostile, I've never quite felt like this, at the same time, that may just be the meta really being open to everything, variance seems crazy in modern, I have performed very poorly at my fnms the past three weeks.
3x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Blooming Marsh
1x Forest
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Raging Ravine
1x Stomping Ground
1x Swamp
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wooded Foothills
Enchantment (1)
1x Bitterblossom
Artifact (1)
1x Nihil Spellbomb
4x Liliana of the Veil
Instant (12)
2x Abrupt Decay
3x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
2x Tarfire
3x Terminate
Sorcery (11)
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Thoughtseize
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
Creature (12)
3x Dark Confidant
3x Grim Flayer
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Bojuka Bog
2x Collective Brutality
1x Flaying Tendrils
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Grim Lavamancer
3x Kitchen Finks
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Thoughtseize
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
My sideboard is pretty heavy on anti-burn because the main deck is so soft to it. I also like Thrun a lot in a world where U/W control is a tier 1 deck. I think that the second Tarfire could also be the second nihil spellbomb, but my meta is creature heavy. Overall, I like having those 3 slots dedicated to 1 mana cards that give uncommon types for delirium while also being slightly better top decks than Bauble.
I won't be able to test this for a few days, so I make no promises.
I think since its prob one of the big reasons to run Jund in the first place I would run 1 copy still.
My first draft of such an approach looks like this:
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Blooming Marsh
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Raging Ravine
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Dark Confidant
3 Grim Flayer
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Olivia Voldaren
Spells [28]
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Fatal Push
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Claim // Fame
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Terminate
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Liliana of the Veil
I think you want 9 fetches still for Push. Running more Blooming Marshes now due to no need of red on turn 1. Might want to run no Cliffs at all. For basics I still want 2 swamps to have more outs vs BM and have more to search with non delirium Traverse. Delirium will not be easy activated in such an approach in my opinion, Traverse's primary function serves as extra lands. Also 1 KCommand an 1 Pulse is also necessary I think. The rest is stock.
Thats the reason I am running Jund over Junk from the very beginning on (since the meta shake up). Finding it interesting that people come to the same conclusion right now. But better later than never I guess
Jund for life!
I originally wasn't looking to include Ravine, but I came around to it based on a few factors:
With all of that in mind, I basically came to the conclusion that I wasn't paying a big cost to run Raging Ravine, and the payoff is one of the best manlands in Modern. Ravine is one of the things pulling me back towards Jund, so I feel obligated to at least give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, I'll do the same thing and just swap it with a Treetop Village.
My excuse is that six months ago I was young and naive.
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Grim Flayer
3x Dark Confidant
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Huntmaster of the Fells
1x Ishkanah, Grafwidow
Spells(22)[S:14 I:8]:
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Fatal Push
3x Terminate
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
1x Kolaghan's Command
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Liliana of the Veil
1x Liliana the Last Hope
Artifact(2):
2x Nihil Spellbomb
Lands(19):
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Bloodstained Mire
3x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Stomping Ground
1x Blood Crypt
1x Treetop Village
1x Raging Ravine
2x Collective Brutality
2x Fulminator Mage
2x Anathemancer
2x Kitchen Finks
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Damnation
1x Shatterstorm
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Goblin Dark Dwellers
1x Abrupt Decay
Round 1 Abzan (0-2)[0-1]: Game 1, So my opening hand had 0 lands. So did my 6 card hand. 5 card hand was keepable 2 lands, Traverse, Goyf, Terminate. He cast Thoughtseize Turn 1 and took the Traverse. This was a very very weird game where both of us got caught on 2 lands and eventually went into top deck mode. I found an Inquisition on turn 2 and took a Lingering Souls because if he had found his 3rd land, I knew my hand wasn't beating "both copies". My increased threats nearly dug me out of it but every threat I drew, he immediately found a removal spell so his increased land numbers never came up. *Shrugs shoulders*, what are you gonna do. I will say this is a game where Claim//Fame would have been just a bonkers draw. Rebuying a Grim Flayer against Lingering Souls is massive game. Game 2 I had another 0 lander for 7 (ironically this match is the first I've experienced a real hemorrhaging for lands), 1 lander unplayable 6, 1 land dreadful 5, meh 4 but had lands and spells. Notably I got run over this game. So far this is the only times I've opened hands that have been completely unplayable. It's bound to happen on 19 lands, just got unlucky it happened multiple hands in a row in the same match.
Round 2 Abzan (2-0)[1-1]: Game 1, Boy did the tables flip when I actually didn't start my opponent up multiple cards. Game 1 went pretty long and grindy but I was able to resolve a huntmaster and flip him back and forth twice before he found the path. We then had opposing Goyfs staring down at each other and my quality of draws from drawing fewer lands prevailed. Game 2 was also a grind fest. I trumped this grind by using Traverse and my draws to steadily apply more and more threats as well as deploying a well timed Damnation. Highlight of this match was Traversing for Goblin Dark Dwellers, playing it, casting Traverse again, getting Goyf, playing Goyf. Next turn I ripped Ishkanah and on the next turn I unearthed Anathemancer doming my opponent for 5 and crashing in for lethal with the team.
Round 3 Eldrazi Tron (2-0)[2-1]: I'll say upfront that I have never lost to this match with Jund. Part of that is me being a bit lucky and the other part of it is that I think this deck isn't actually good but is just well placed in the current metagame. Case and point, game 1. He assembles natural tron from hand. Before I can put the gun to my own head, he drops a Thought-knot Seer. Sure, whatever take 1 of my 2 removal spells. I fetch, push and play a 5/6 goyf on my next turn. He plays Reality Smasher but can't attack (thanks goyf). I play Liliana, edict, crash in for 5. He plays Endbringer, I terminate and play goyf #2. That's pretty much how game 1 ended. Game 2 he stumbled around with awkward tron lands (double tower playing and cracking a map in the first 2 turns to get a mine), Meanwhile I stuck double Grim Flayers, thoughtseize his All is Dust and just kept crashing in. I had several attacks where he chumped with Reality Smashers on Goyfs and had he not blocked he'd be dead to Anathemancer I had stashed in hand. That card is being really good at applying the beats when I need to be aggressive.
Round 4 Lantern Control (2-0)[3-1]: Both games went the way of Discard, Grim Flayer/Goyf, Maelstrom Pulse the multiple Codex Shredders you have in play, stick a Liliana and uptick the last card out of your hand. Lethal quickly. All in all this still likely isn't a very fun matchup, although we have lots of tools to blow up the artifacts. The one huge improvement is that we can actually play a beatdown game plan. Occasionally 23-24 land Jund could but they were very reliant on getting the Goyf and hoping it got there. With essentially 8 big threat 2 drops, you almost always have one and many times have multiples so decks that aren't looking to interact or block can now be run over.
My side testing went pretty well again all things considered. Claim // Fame continues to enable some very interesting lines of play and some massive blowout potential. Sitting on 3 mana but only 1 green source, my Abzan opponent had just cast a Lingering Souls to try and beatdown my Liliana of the Veil and I had a Scavenging Ooze in hand. I rip Claim // Fame off the top. Uptick Liliana, discard Scooze, Claim him back, eat the Lingering Souls and pass the turn with push open if my opponent played a goyf (they did). Definitely the list could still be tweaked and polished but for the most part it feels extremely smooth running to me compared to the Abzan versions. Just remember to try and not go out of your way to run bad cards just for the sake of delirium (Tarfire, Bauble, Street Wraith etc.). If you aren't running Claim // Fame (I really disagree with that decision), I'd probably look into 3 cmc options like Courser of Kruphix since it'll give you that bonus type in the yard but is also a decent creature on it's own. I still highly recommend giving the Claim // Fame a shot though. For every time you cast Kommand with the primary mode of "return a creature to hand" and then you played the creature for a 5+ mana turn, you now get to get those big threats for just B. Haste also means you aren't likely to be stuck behind a Liliana of the Veil in the midrange mirror either.
Spsiegel1987: I agree that Lingering Souls is still going to be a pain as it is for all Jund decks. There isn't a ton we can do about it as usual but since this deck acts as a better beatdown deck, I have forced my opponent to chump with souls more and that means they are killing me and my LotV's less.