I like your Deck!at the First Time your decision of Tasigur Looks weird but it works good for you:)!do you Play him because he is fatal Push Proof or is His ability also important for you?and why you kicked out lilly the Last hope completely?
Both. Push becomes useless and then a good body + very nice ability choose me to play it 2 copies of maindeck.
About Lilly. In my test it was too low, and I decided to play Golgari Charm in order to beat all small creatures, and in addition destroy all enchantments or save my creatures by a Supreme Verdict.
I love to choose all flexible cards in Jund. And this one is a good choice.
I side out all discard spells because I want to put pressure against his hand and I want to put him in a condition where he doesn't know which card to discard me.
Thanks and that's against Grixis deaths shadow right?
Yes. So, there are some people that decide to keep all discard spells...but I'm not sure this is a good idea.
I have tested so much more against my friend and we choose to side out all of them.
just returned home from the mkm series in prague this weekend and decided to do this small writeup of my experience. I went there by friday and stayed in prague for 4 days. On Friday I played a modern grand trial which would give winners byes for the main event, but I did not very well during the trial, it was 2-3 drop. But it didn't bother me too much, I found it great to being able to play some matches before the actual main event, to reduce stress and get a feeling of how the tournament functions. Also, you could play a different decklist on that trial compared to the main event, which was also pretty nice.
For the main event, I registered this list after all:
In that tournament where 296 people, which meant 9 rounds of swiss, followed by a top 8 cut off.
Round 1: Elves (won 2-1)
My opponent said it was the first time that he played elves in a tournament, but he played quite well. Luckily for me, I did find an early Lavamancer which helped me in game 1, which I won. Game 2 I was overrun by a timely Ezuri + pump topdeck, and I didn't have enough removal and blockers for staying alive.
Round 3 was pretty close, I tried to hold up removal for Ezuri or Archdruid, but my opponent just build up a board with small creatures and 2 Shaman of the pack, which hurt me quite a bit. I had 2 Goyfs and one ooze. Goyfs where only 2/3s because the GYs only had instants and creatures in it. I then could cast my Anger keeping my goyfs alive and killing all of this creatures. I also pumped my ooze out of Anger range, only letting 1 creature in the yard because otherwise my goyfs would have died (falling back to 2/3 and then dying through the Anger dmg). This made me won the first round.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (lost 0-2)
Pretty tough matchup and my opponent played it really well. I had multiple Bobs, but my opponent had removal for each and everyone of them. I could not resolve a LoTV either. And the games all did last too long which got to a point where my opponent took over. I am wandering if keeping hand without discard is ok to do against control. The hands I kept felt overal "ok", but quite a bit clunky (like only some 2 and 3 drops and 2-3 lands). I don't know if this is a keepable hand against control. What do you guys think? Not sure this was my mistake.
Round 3: Affinity (won 2-0)
At the beginning of the tournament my deck felt mostly clunky at times, either having too many lands or too few of them, but starting with this matchup my deck started to play flawless. It was just great. I had everything I needed to destroy my opponent. It was not even close.
Round 4: Merfolk (won 2-1)
I was a little bit surprized to see merfolk at the tournament. All the matches where pretty interesting. Spreading Seas and Kira are all very annoying cards to deal with. I could remove one Kira with a Decay and had extra lands to maintain my black sources, but one game my opponent overrun me with lords. For the other 2 games, I had enough removal to keep his board mostly clean, which is highly important here.
Round 5: Naya Zoo (won 2-0)
This matchup can be tough sometimes, since this deck runs a coupld of PWs which are hard to answer, but key here is to deny mana ramp. So killing mana dorks is highly important. I managed to do so and took both games easily due to this.
Round 6: Abzan (won 2-1)
I lost the first game because of Souls and then Rhino for the win. The other 2 games was a grindfest. In game 2 I got ahead with an early goyf and LtLH, my opponent played Souls + flashback, but at this poiint Souls are not very good anymore, he had to use all the tokens for jump blocking. Also LtLH was MVP here.
Round 7: Grixis Control (draw)
I am still not sure you want to cut discard after g1 or not. Hitting Snapcaster is so crucial in my opinion. I cut Pushes and Decays instead I think, bc those cards won't hit anything relevant. They only have Snapcaster and delve creatures. I brought in my Spellbombs and CB, as well as Finks. All games where a grindfests. In the end, my opponent didn't find a threat and countered all my threats I tried to resolve. Ended up in a draw.
Round 8: Abzan (lost 0-2)
This Abzan list was a annoying one including multiple Tasigurs, which are tough to deal with. I tried to resolve Bobs and Goyfs, but my opponent had 3 LoTV in a row to kill all of them. In the second game my opponent resolved an early Tasigur and began to grind me out with his activations. I just could find removal for him. I was quite pissed because if I would have won this game, top 8 would have been possible at this point.
Round 9: Mono White Death and Taxes (lost 0-2)
Since top 8 was not possible anymore after the last round, I did not pay too much attention anymore. There was also no chance of winning any prizes at this point. I therfore lost both games.
So all in all I ended up 5-1-3 during the main event. I would have tloved to at least reach top 8, but with almost 300 people battling there, its quite tough. Overall I am still happy for the record, after all I won more rounds than I lost. And all people I met gave me credit for running traditional Jund again, which was quite nice.
Concerning my SB, I was not really satisfied with the Fulminators and the second Damnation. According to the metagame breakdown, the topdecks were Grixis Shadow, Tron, Affinity and the GBx midrange decks. No sight of Tron or Eldrazitron for me tough, which was fantastic.
I am not sure I want to keep the Olivia in the MB now, I need to change a few things I think. I will definitely return next year with Jund!
just returned home from the mkm series in prague this weekend and decided to do this small writeup of my experience. I went there by friday and stayed in prague for 4 days. On Friday I played a modern grand trial which would give winners byes for the main event, but I did not very well during the trial, it was 2-3 drop. But it didn't bother me too much, I found it great to being able to play some matches before the actual main event, to reduce stress and get a feeling of how the tournament functions. Also, you could play a different decklist on that trial compared to the main event, which was also pretty nice.
For the main event, I registered this list after all:
In that tournament where 296 people, which meant 9 rounds of swiss, followed by a top 8 cut off.
Round 1: Elves (won 2-1)
My opponent said it was the first time that he played elves in a tournament, but he played quite well. Luckily for me, I did find an early Lavamancer which helped me in game 1, which I won. Game 2 I was overrun by a timely Ezuri + pump topdeck, and I didn't have enough removal and blockers for staying alive.
Round 3 was pretty close, I tried to hold up removal for Ezuri or Archdruid, but my opponent just build up a board with small creatures and 2 Shaman of the pack, which hurt me quite a bit. I had 2 Goyfs and one ooze. Goyfs where only 2/3s because the GYs only had instants and creatures in it. I then could cast my Anger keeping my goyfs alive and killing all of this creatures. I also pumped my ooze out of Anger range, only letting 1 creature in the yard because otherwise my goyfs would have died (falling back to 2/3 and then dying through the Anger dmg). This made me won the first round.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (lost 0-2)
Pretty tough matchup and my opponent played it really well. I had multiple Bobs, but my opponent had removal for each and everyone of them. I could not resolve a LoTV either. And the games all did last too long which got to a point where my opponent took over. I am wandering if keeping hand without discard is ok to do against control. The hands I kept felt overal "ok", but quite a bit clunky (like only some 2 and 3 drops and 2-3 lands). I don't know if this is a keepable hand against control. What do you guys think? Not sure this was my mistake.
Round 3: Affinity (won 2-0)
At the beginning of the tournament my deck felt mostly clunky at times, either having too many lands or too few of them, but starting with this matchup my deck started to play flawless. It was just great. I had everything I needed to destroy my opponent. It was not even close.
Round 4: Merfolk (won 2-1)
I was a little bit surprized to see merfolk at the tournament. All the matches where pretty interesting. Spreading Seas and Kira are all very annoying cards to deal with. I could remove one Kira with a Decay and had extra lands to maintain my black sources, but one game my opponent overrun me with lords. For the other 2 games, I had enough removal to keep his board mostly clean, which is highly important here.
Round 5: Naya Zoo (won 2-0)
This matchup can be tough sometimes, since this deck runs a coupld of PWs which are hard to answer, but key here is to deny mana ramp. So killing mana dorks is highly important. I managed to do so and took both games easily due to this.
Round 6: Abzan (won 2-1)
I lost the first game because of Souls and then Rhino for the win. The other 2 games was a grindfest. In game 2 I got ahead with an early goyf and LtLH, my opponent played Souls + flashback, but at this poiint Souls are not very good anymore, he had to use all the tokens for jump blocking. Also LtLH was MVP here.
Round 7: Grixis Control (draw)
I am still not sure you want to cut discard after g1 or not. Hitting Snapcaster is so crucial in my opinion. I cut Pushes and Decays instead I think, bc those cards won't hit anything relevant. They only have Snapcaster and delve creatures. I brought in my Spellbombs and CB, as well as Finks. All games where a grindfests. In the end, my opponent didn't find a threat and countered all my threats I tried to resolve. Ended up in a draw.
Round 8: Abzan (lost 0-2)
This Abzan list was a annoying one including multiple Tasigurs, which are tough to deal with. I tried to resolve Bobs and Goyfs, but my opponent had 3 LoTV in a row to kill all of them. In the second game my opponent resolved an early Tasigur and began to grind me out with his activations. I just could find removal for him. I was quite pissed because if I would have won this game, top 8 would have been possible at this point.
Round 9: Mono White Death and Taxes (lost 0-2)
Since top 8 was not possible anymore after the last round, I did not pay too much attention anymore. There was also no chance of winning any prizes at this point. I therfore lost both games.
So all in all I ended up 5-1-3 during the main event. I would have tloved to at least reach top 8, but with almost 300 people battling there, its quite tough. Overall I am still happy for the record, after all I won more rounds than I lost. And all people I met gave me credit for running traditional Jund again, which was quite nice.
Concerning my SB, I was not really satisfied with the Fulminators and the second Damnation. According to the metagame breakdown, the topdecks were Grixis Shadow, Affinity and the GBx midrange decks. No sight of Tron or Eldrazitron, which was fantastic.
I am not sure I want to keep the Olivia in the MB now, I need to change a few things I think. I will definitely return next year with Jund!
Thats it for now, take care
Delver
Thanks for the report as well. I have been torn on how to properly sideboard Lilliana the last hope properly. When playing against junk what do you take out for Lilliana the lost hope? How do you sideboard against this matchup?
Thanks for the report as well. I have been torn on how to properly sideboard Lilliana the last hope properly. When playing against junk what do you take out for Lilliana the lost hope? How do you sideboard against this matchup?
Against any GBx deck or in grindy matchups generally, side out all discard spells and bring grindy cards in. By doing so, you minimize the amount of bad topdecks later in the game.
Came home from Prague yesterday, I played the trial on Friday and the main event on Saturday. I really enjoyed both days, had some amazing games, and thought you guys might enjoy one more tournament report.
Here is the decklist I played with on both days:
I used the trials to test the flex slots and whether I needed to make any changes regarging the sideboard for the following day.
In seven rounds, I played against Burn, Affinity, Titanshift, Abzan Hardened Scales, Bant Spirits, Grixis DS and Burn again, going 5-2. The two losses happened against Titanshift and Abzan Hardened Scales. I loved the second Huntmaster in the mainboard, as he did a tremendous job in a variety of matches and gives me a good matchup against burn. Grim Lavamancer was a beast against Affinity and Spirits, but there were also matches where he was useless. Nevertheless, I liked him as a 1-off in the mainboard.
MKM-Series Prague, Main Event:
Round 1: Eldrazi and Taxes (2-0)
Game 1 he is able to path most of my threats, in the lategame he uses a Wasteland Strangler to kill my Grim Lavamancer. I am on 2 life, have 5 lands in play (1 of them is a Ravine), 1 Grim Lavamancer and 1 Bob. He has two creatures on board, one of them is a tapped Thalia. He is on 4 life, so I decided to kill his Strangler with Grim Lavamancer before his ability resolves. I reveal Bolt on my upkeep, survive with 1 life and finish him with Ravine. Game 2 he was not able to handle Huntmaster of the Fells.
Round 2: Eldrazi Tron (0-2)
Not a deck I am excited to play against, in game 1 he handles my two Goyfs with double Relic of Progenitus before he finishes me with Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher. Round 2 he mulligans to 5, has natural Tron on turn 3 and finishes me with double Smasher. I didn`t see Damnation, but there is not a lot you can do against a nut draw.
Round 3: Through the Breach Scapeshift (0-2)
My opponent made several misplays during both games, but this matchup is just abysmal. Liliana and Goyf were not enough to finish him in game 1, as he plays 3 Valacuts, topdecks Through the Breach and kills me. Game 2 was the classic Scapeshift kill. Fulminator Mage was not really helpful either.
Round 4: Bring to Light Scapeshift (2-0)
Very unexperienced, but very friendly opponent. He missed his seventh land drop with Scapeshift in hand, and I am able to kill him the next turn.
Game two his deck tried to control the board, he wiped my creatures twice, countered Liliana but I managed to drop a Huntmaster and finished him.
Round 5: Storm (2-1)
Game 1 I manage to kill Baral and Electromancer, but he casts Empty the Warrens with Storm counter 5 and I coudn't find Maelstrom Pulse. Game 2 was one of the weirdest games from the whole tournament: On turn 3 he casted Blood moon after I exiled his gy with Spellbomb and tore his hand apart with Inquisition and Thoughtseize. I had one Swamp and two fastlands in play, was tapped out and had Decay, Pulse and two Goyfs in Hand. I never drew my single Forest, but managed to kill Baral and Electromancer several times with Bolt and Push and attacked him 9 turns with Bob. Game 3 I had gravehate, hand disruption and an early Goyf, which was enough to win me the game.
Round 6: Jund Death's Shadow (2-0)
Probably the two easiest games on the whole day. I was surprised to even see the deck, as I don't see any advantages the deck has over the Grixis variant. Both games my removal kills Goyfs, Flayers and Shadows, Liliana controls his hand and I can kill him with Raging Ravine as he was already on low life. Wasn`t prepared for two Bitterblossoms in game 2 but Decay and Pulse are natural answers against it once they resolve. It was the first game I saw my Goyf being on 8/9.
Round 7: Titanshift (0-2)
After seeing Cinder Glade on turn 1 I was really pissed, as this was the 4th time I played against Scapeshift in two days. Somehow, none of my friends even played a single game against the Titan in two days, but hey, what can you do? Sakura Tribe Elder is basically a time walk in this matchup before he kills me with Scapeshift on turn 6. Not even close in both games, it just felt hopeless.
Round 8: Jund (2-1)
I always love playing the mirror. Round 1 I have problems removing his Tasigur, which generates an incredible lot of value in the mirror but I finally found a Terminate and killed him with a transformed Huntmaster. Round 2 he played Liliana, the Last Hope on turn 3, had answers against all my creatures and I scooped after he got the emblem on 16 life. The last game he is not able to find an answer on my second Bob, which draws me several cards an wins me the game.
Round 9: Bloomless Titan (2-0)
I was afraid of the matchup since I remembered how Reid got destroyed by the deck at SCG Charlotte. However, I found enough disruption to kill Azusa and Titan in game 1, and killed him with Goyf. Game two Fulminator Mage was MVP as he destroyed two Gruul Turfs, which slowed him down tremendously and Huntmaster killed him eventually.
Overall I went 6-3 on day 2, after finishing 5-2 in the trials the day before. I won all the games I needed to win, but Scapeshift prevented me to finish off better. I was very happy with my mainboard and never missed Kalitas or Olivia instead of the second Huntmaster. He is just a beast in so many matchups.
About Fulminator Mage: He only helped me against Bloomless Titan, but he was basically a dead card against all the Scapeshift decks. I realized that hand disruption prevented them to kill me before turn 5, so maybe Crumble to Dust could have been quite useful, but I am not sure about it.
However, I loved to play with Jund and didn't regret my decision to play with the deck for a single moment.
Came home from Prague yesterday, I played the trial on Friday and the main event on Saturday. I really enjoyed both days, had some amazing games, and thought you guys might enjoy one more tournament report.
Here is the decklist I played with on both days:
I used the trials to test the flex slots and whether I needed to make any changes regarging the sideboard for the following day.
In seven rounds, I played against Burn, Affinity, Titanshift, Abzan Hardened Scales, Bant Spirits, Grixis DS and Burn again, going 5-2. The two losses happened against Titanshift and Abzan Hardened Scales. I loved the second Huntmaster in the mainboard, as he did a tremendous job in a variety of matches and gives me a good matchup against burn. Grim Lavamancer was a beast against Affinity and Spirits, but there were also matches where he was useless. Nevertheless, I liked him as a 1-off in the mainboard.
MKM-Series Prague, Main Event:
Round 1: Eldrazi and Taxes (2-0)
Game 1 he is able to path most of my threats, in the lategame he uses a Wasteland Strangler to kill my Grim Lavamancer. I am on 2 life, have 5 lands in play (1 of them is a Ravine), 1 Grim Lavamancer and 1 Bob. He has two creatures on board, one of them is a tapped Thalia. He is on 4 life, so I decided to kill his Strangler with Grim Lavamancer before his ability resolves. I reveal Bolt on my upkeep, survive with 1 life and finish him with Ravine. Game 2 he was not able to handle Huntmaster of the Fells.
Round 2: Eldrazi Tron (0-2)
Not a deck I am excited to play against, in game 1 he handles my two Goyfs with double Relic of Progenitus before he finishes me with Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher. Round 2 he mulligans to 5, has natural Tron on turn 3 and finishes me with double Smasher. I didn`t see Damnation, but there is not a lot you can do against a nut draw.
Round 3: Through the Breach Scapeshift (0-2)
My opponent made several misplays during both games, but this matchup is just abysmal. Liliana and Goyf were not enough to finish him in game 1, as he plays 3 Valacuts, topdecks Through the Breach and kills me. Game 2 was the classic Scapeshift kill. Fulminator Mage was not really helpful either.
Round 4: Bring to Light Scapeshift (2-0)
Very unexperienced, but very friendly opponent. He missed his seventh land drop with Scapeshift in hand, and I am able to kill him the next turn.
Game two his deck tried to control the board, he wiped my creatures twice, countered Liliana but I managed to drop a Huntmaster and finished him.
Round 5: Storm (2-1)
Game 1 I manage to kill Baral and Electromancer, but he casts Empty the Warrens with Storm counter 5 and I coudn't find Maelstrom Pulse. Game 2 was one of the weirdest games from the whole tournament: On turn 3 he casted Blood moon after I exiled his gy with Spellbomb and tore his hand apart with Inquisition and Thoughtseize. I had one Swamp and two fastlands in play, was tapped out and had Decay, Pulse and two Goyfs in Hand. I never drew my single Forest, but managed to kill Baral and Electromancer several times with Bolt and Push and attacked him 9 turns with Bob. Game 3 I had gravehate, hand disruption and an early Goyf, which was enough to win me the game.
Round 6: Jund Death's Shadow (2-0)
Probably the two easiest games on the whole day. I was surprised to even see the deck, as I don't see any advantages the deck has over the Grixis variant. Both games my removal kills Goyfs, Flayers and Shadows, Liliana controls his hand and I can kill him with Raging Ravine as he was already on low life. Wasn`t prepared for two Bitterblossoms in game 2 but Decay and Pulse are natural answers against it once they resolve. It was the first game I saw my Goyf being on 8/9.
Round 7: Titanshift (0-2)
After seeing Cinder Glade on turn 1 I was really pissed, as this was the 4th time I played against Scapeshift in two days. Somehow, none of my friends even played a single game against the Titan in two days, but hey, what can you do? Sakura Tribe Elder is basically a time walk in this matchup before he kills me with Scapeshift on turn 6. Not even close in both games, it just felt hopeless.
Round 8: Jund (2-1)
I always love playing the mirror. Round 1 I have problems removing his Tasigur, which generates an incredible lot of value in the mirror but I finally found a Terminate and killed him with a transformed Huntmaster. Round 2 he played Liliana, the Last Hope on turn 3, had answers against all my creatures and I scooped after he got the emblem on 16 life. The last game he is not able to find an answer on my second Bob, which draws me several cards an wins me the game.
Round 9: Bloomless Titan (2-0)
I was afraid of the matchup since I remembered how Reid got destroyed by the deck at SCG Charlotte. However, I found enough disruption to kill Azusa and Titan in game 1, and killed him with Goyf. Game two Fulminator Mage was MVP as he destroyed two Gruul Turfs, which slowed him down tremendously and Huntmaster killed him eventually.
Overall I went 6-3 on day 2, after finishing 5-2 in the trials the day before. I won all the games I needed to win, but Scapeshift prevented me to finish off better. I was very happy with my mainboard and never missed Kalitas or Olivia instead of the second Huntmaster. He is just a beast in so many matchups.
About Fulminator Mage: He only helped me against Bloomless Titan, but he was basically a dead card against all the Scapeshift decks. I realized that hand disruption prevented them to kill me before turn 5, so maybe Crumble to Dust could have been quite useful, but I am not sure about it.
However, I loved to play with Jund and didn't regret my decision to play with the deck for a single moment.
You said you were on the fence about Fulminator. Are you considering cutting him? Or is he still a worthwhile flex card for when you have nothing else to fill slots in certain matchups?
Also how well did Kitchen Finks serve you? I recently cut mine because I found them underwhelming.
I really like Kitchen Finks, mainly because of their flexibility. They are obviously good against burn, but they often come in against grindy decks, when they often are a 2 for 1 with additional lifegain. On an empty board, Finks are a pretty decent clock as well.
About Fulminator Mage: I board him in fairly often, not only against big mana, but also against decks with a greedy manabase or decks with utility lands.
And that's my point: He does a far better job for me against decks like Grixis DS or Affinity than against Tron or Scapeshift, but the former named matchups are easily winnable without him, whereas the latter ones are still close to unwinnable despite drawing him. That's why I would somestimes prefer something different, more efficient. But as I said, I need more testing, it might also be that 2 are simply not enough and that 3 is the correct number of Mages in the sb.
Hey guys, planning on returning to Modern. I am considering playing Jund and would like to hear what you guys feel about the decks current position in the meta at the moment. I would like to play a deck that is interactive and that isn't stale (win with pretty much the same process every game-like burn), would you say Jund meet these criteria?
Yes it's interactive and no it doesn't get stale, but you have to work hard for your wins with Jund and doubly so in this metagame. It's hardly ever more than a 50/50 deck and the percentage points you gain on top of that are only earned through tons of practice. ETron and Scapeshift will just run you over regardless and they're ubiquitous.
I'd suggest proxying the deck and getting at least 100 test matches in before you decide you really want to buy the most expensive deck in Modern at a time when it's not a great competitive choice.
Hey guys, planning on returning to Modern. I am considering playing Jund and would like to hear what you guys feel about the decks current position in the meta at the moment. I would like to play a deck that is interactive and that isn't stale (win with pretty much the same process every game-like burn), would you say Jund meet these criteria?
Jund isn't doing too hot at the moment but BG/x is always a safe choice. Metas are cyclical and something may be printed in an upcoming set to restore jund's position (hopefully but don't count on it). Grixis Shadow may scratch your itch for an interactive deck and it's solidly tier 1
I have been looking into a Death Shadow deck and a Jund version seems pretty sweet as well. Is it anything you would recommend? Seems like Claim // Fame might make Jund Shadow stronger now.
There's no real reason to run Jund Shadow over Grixis Shadow right now. Claim // Fame got hyped up a bunch but hasn't put up any results so far.
Hey guys, planning on returning to Modern. I am considering playing Jund and would like to hear what you guys feel about the decks current position in the meta at the moment. I would like to play a deck that is interactive and that isn't stale (win with pretty much the same process every game-like burn), would you say Jund meet these criteria?
The honest truth is Jund isn't so hot right now, but all it takes is some new cards to push it back into tier 1, since it's a good stuff deck. Jund is a very interactive deck and it wins all sorts of ways, sometimes you starve your opponents resources with LOTV, sometimes you drown them with card advantage from Bob, spot removal for Goyf to get beats in, etc. Deck takes a ton of practice and rewards knowledge of the format. The deck is probably on the medium-easy scale on terms of difficulty.
You should really ask yourself if you want to buy into the most expensive deck that's currently tier 3 and not going anywhere right now
The deck is a blast to play if you like fair magic though.
Jund Shadow is trash, don't buy into that, it was honestly really good because the format was super linear after the dredge/infect ban and players were testing the waters for the format. Once the meta adapted Jund Shadow became unplayable, I think, the deck can't handle interactive decks and delirium is just an awful mechanic. The deck is honestly a 2.5 tier deck, I'm really unsure why MTGsalvation doesn't move it out of the tier 1 forums, where it certainly does not belong.
Grixis Shadow is better in every way, although you should know the deck is really difficult to play well and it has a massive target on its head, if you're playing it you better be prepared to see a ton of hate
Eldrazi Tron is an amazing mid-range deck right now that borders on big mana.
I'm hoping we see Jund get some results in the upcoming GP's, but I'm not hopeful
Thank you so much for your detailed answer! I will look into Eldrazi Tron.
I'd be wary of picking E-Tron if you're looking for a deck that doesn't get stale quickly. You basically jam big threat after big threat with some disruption inbetween until you win the game. This isn't the place for ban talk but I'd say it's also a riskier deck to pick up because of its unfair manabase.
Last but not least, it's easier to transition into other decks with the cards you get for Jund once you make that call. Eldrazi Tron cards, well.. they just go into other Eldrazi decks (which aren't very viable right now) or into classic Tron, which is pretty much gone as well.
Goyf, Liliana, KCommand, Decay, Push, Ooze, Thoughtseize, Inquisition, Bolt are all cards you can use in a variety of decks, such as Abzan variants, The Rock, Faeries, Grixis Shadow, Lantern, etc...
E-Tron is a strong deck but it's a bit like Affinity, you either go all the way or you sell out completely once you're bored of it because the pieces aren't easily reused.
Whocansay is definitely right that once you buy into Jund, transitioning into other decks is easy. I barely spent any money buying into Death Shadow Jund and Grixis Death Shadow since I had all the staples minus some stuff.
I'm not finding E-Tron stale at all, it wasn't as brainless auto-pilot as I thought, there's definitely some sequencing and decisions to make. The deck is certainly easier to play than Jund, and nowhere near as difficult as Shadow decks.
I disagree that regular big Tron is gone, it's actually gaining traction on MTGO, and while the paper meta is different, I do think MTGO is often a good predicator on what the pro's pick up, and where the grinders and average FNM players look to. Tron's stocks are going up, and as anyone playing a fair deck, we should be wary of it. Trons too fundamentally good to ever hit tier 3, unless some devastating land destruction is printed through standard.
Whocansay is also right that if you buy into E-Tron, you're pretty much stuck with those pieces for the archetype, nothing else transitions into other decks except Dismember, relics, surgicals and cages---the rest goes into other Eldrazi or Tron decks, and even then you'd have to spend 300+ to play those decks.
If you don't have another deck in modern, you should REALLY make sure you like a deck that doesn't have many transition pieces, otherwise you're stuck with it. Jund leaves you multiple lines into other decks for fairly cheap in comparison.
I had Affinity, I honestly was just not good with the deck and wasn't seeing improvement in my play, so I sold it as a whole, which was a pain---it doesn't go into other decks except Lantern, which I despise playing against.
June's not a bad choice though, I'd at least recommend Grixis Shadow if your skills can handle the hate.
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Both. Push becomes useless and then a good body + very nice ability choose me to play it 2 copies of maindeck.
About Lilly. In my test it was too low, and I decided to play Golgari Charm in order to beat all small creatures, and in addition destroy all enchantments or save my creatures by a Supreme Verdict.
I love to choose all flexible cards in Jund. And this one is a good choice.
+4 Fulminator Mage +3 Kitchen Finks +1 Engineered Explosives +1 Nihil Spellbomb
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek -3 Thoughtseize -2 Lightning Bolt
I side out all discard spells because I want to put pressure against his hand and I want to put him in a condition where he doesn't know which card to discard me.
[sorry for my bad english, mate]
Yes. So, there are some people that decide to keep all discard spells...but I'm not sure this is a good idea.
I have tested so much more against my friend and we choose to side out all of them.
just returned home from the mkm series in prague this weekend and decided to do this small writeup of my experience. I went there by friday and stayed in prague for 4 days. On Friday I played a modern grand trial which would give winners byes for the main event, but I did not very well during the trial, it was 2-3 drop. But it didn't bother me too much, I found it great to being able to play some matches before the actual main event, to reduce stress and get a feeling of how the tournament functions. Also, you could play a different decklist on that trial compared to the main event, which was also pretty nice.
For the main event, I registered this list after all:
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
3 Raging Ravine
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blooming Marsh
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
1 Forest
Creatures [13]
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
3 Scavenging Ooze
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Olivia Voldaren
3 Fatal Push
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
2 Lightning Bolt
3 Terminate
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Damnation
2 Collective Brutality
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Anger of the Gods
In that tournament where 296 people, which meant 9 rounds of swiss, followed by a top 8 cut off.
Round 1: Elves (won 2-1)
My opponent said it was the first time that he played elves in a tournament, but he played quite well. Luckily for me, I did find an early Lavamancer which helped me in game 1, which I won. Game 2 I was overrun by a timely Ezuri + pump topdeck, and I didn't have enough removal and blockers for staying alive.
Round 3 was pretty close, I tried to hold up removal for Ezuri or Archdruid, but my opponent just build up a board with small creatures and 2 Shaman of the pack, which hurt me quite a bit. I had 2 Goyfs and one ooze. Goyfs where only 2/3s because the GYs only had instants and creatures in it. I then could cast my Anger keeping my goyfs alive and killing all of this creatures. I also pumped my ooze out of Anger range, only letting 1 creature in the yard because otherwise my goyfs would have died (falling back to 2/3 and then dying through the Anger dmg). This made me won the first round.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (lost 0-2)
Pretty tough matchup and my opponent played it really well. I had multiple Bobs, but my opponent had removal for each and everyone of them. I could not resolve a LoTV either. And the games all did last too long which got to a point where my opponent took over. I am wandering if keeping hand without discard is ok to do against control. The hands I kept felt overal "ok", but quite a bit clunky (like only some 2 and 3 drops and 2-3 lands). I don't know if this is a keepable hand against control. What do you guys think? Not sure this was my mistake.
Round 3: Affinity (won 2-0)
At the beginning of the tournament my deck felt mostly clunky at times, either having too many lands or too few of them, but starting with this matchup my deck started to play flawless. It was just great. I had everything I needed to destroy my opponent. It was not even close.
Round 4: Merfolk (won 2-1)
I was a little bit surprized to see merfolk at the tournament. All the matches where pretty interesting. Spreading Seas and Kira are all very annoying cards to deal with. I could remove one Kira with a Decay and had extra lands to maintain my black sources, but one game my opponent overrun me with lords. For the other 2 games, I had enough removal to keep his board mostly clean, which is highly important here.
Round 5: Naya Zoo (won 2-0)
This matchup can be tough sometimes, since this deck runs a coupld of PWs which are hard to answer, but key here is to deny mana ramp. So killing mana dorks is highly important. I managed to do so and took both games easily due to this.
Round 6: Abzan (won 2-1)
I lost the first game because of Souls and then Rhino for the win. The other 2 games was a grindfest. In game 2 I got ahead with an early goyf and LtLH, my opponent played Souls + flashback, but at this poiint Souls are not very good anymore, he had to use all the tokens for jump blocking. Also LtLH was MVP here.
Round 7: Grixis Control (draw)
I am still not sure you want to cut discard after g1 or not. Hitting Snapcaster is so crucial in my opinion. I cut Pushes and Decays instead I think, bc those cards won't hit anything relevant. They only have Snapcaster and delve creatures. I brought in my Spellbombs and CB, as well as Finks. All games where a grindfests. In the end, my opponent didn't find a threat and countered all my threats I tried to resolve. Ended up in a draw.
Round 8: Abzan (lost 0-2)
This Abzan list was a annoying one including multiple Tasigurs, which are tough to deal with. I tried to resolve Bobs and Goyfs, but my opponent had 3 LoTV in a row to kill all of them. In the second game my opponent resolved an early Tasigur and began to grind me out with his activations. I just could find removal for him. I was quite pissed because if I would have won this game, top 8 would have been possible at this point.
Round 9: Mono White Death and Taxes (lost 0-2)
Since top 8 was not possible anymore after the last round, I did not pay too much attention anymore. There was also no chance of winning any prizes at this point. I therfore lost both games.
So all in all I ended up 5-1-3 during the main event. I would have tloved to at least reach top 8, but with almost 300 people battling there, its quite tough. Overall I am still happy for the record, after all I won more rounds than I lost. And all people I met gave me credit for running traditional Jund again, which was quite nice.
Concerning my SB, I was not really satisfied with the Fulminators and the second Damnation. According to the metagame breakdown, the topdecks were Grixis Shadow, Tron, Affinity and the GBx midrange decks. No sight of Tron or Eldrazitron for me tough, which was fantastic.
I am not sure I want to keep the Olivia in the MB now, I need to change a few things I think. I will definitely return next year with Jund!
Thats it for now, take care
Delver
Thanks for the report as well. I have been torn on how to properly sideboard Lilliana the last hope properly. When playing against junk what do you take out for Lilliana the lost hope? How do you sideboard against this matchup?
Against any GBx deck or in grindy matchups generally, side out all discard spells and bring grindy cards in. By doing so, you minimize the amount of bad topdecks later in the game.
Naturally you don't keep LOTV against a Souls deck..
As for the Prague metagame, Tron was the second-most played archetype, right behind Shadow.. So I don't know what Flying Delver is talking about here.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Yeah, I play 6 Lilis then. But its not wrong to board some copies out bc of Souls. Its a matter of preference.
Phrased it wrongly, I personally did not face it, which was nice.
Here is the decklist I played with on both days:
1x Grim Lavamancer
4x Dark Confidant
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Scavenging Ooze
2x Huntmaster of the Fells
Noncreature Spells
4x Liliana of the Veil
3x Fatal Push
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Abrupt Decay
3x Terminate
1x Kolaghan's Command
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Thoughtseize
1x Maelstrom Pulse
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Wooded Foothills
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
3x Raging Ravine
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blooming Marsh
2x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
2x Fulminator Mage
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Collective Brutality
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Damnation
I used the trials to test the flex slots and whether I needed to make any changes regarging the sideboard for the following day.
In seven rounds, I played against Burn, Affinity, Titanshift, Abzan Hardened Scales, Bant Spirits, Grixis DS and Burn again, going 5-2. The two losses happened against Titanshift and Abzan Hardened Scales. I loved the second Huntmaster in the mainboard, as he did a tremendous job in a variety of matches and gives me a good matchup against burn. Grim Lavamancer was a beast against Affinity and Spirits, but there were also matches where he was useless. Nevertheless, I liked him as a 1-off in the mainboard.
MKM-Series Prague, Main Event:
Round 1: Eldrazi and Taxes (2-0)
Game 1 he is able to path most of my threats, in the lategame he uses a Wasteland Strangler to kill my Grim Lavamancer. I am on 2 life, have 5 lands in play (1 of them is a Ravine), 1 Grim Lavamancer and 1 Bob. He has two creatures on board, one of them is a tapped Thalia. He is on 4 life, so I decided to kill his Strangler with Grim Lavamancer before his ability resolves. I reveal Bolt on my upkeep, survive with 1 life and finish him with Ravine. Game 2 he was not able to handle Huntmaster of the Fells.
Round 2: Eldrazi Tron (0-2)
Not a deck I am excited to play against, in game 1 he handles my two Goyfs with double Relic of Progenitus before he finishes me with Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher. Round 2 he mulligans to 5, has natural Tron on turn 3 and finishes me with double Smasher. I didn`t see Damnation, but there is not a lot you can do against a nut draw.
Round 3: Through the Breach Scapeshift (0-2)
My opponent made several misplays during both games, but this matchup is just abysmal. Liliana and Goyf were not enough to finish him in game 1, as he plays 3 Valacuts, topdecks Through the Breach and kills me. Game 2 was the classic Scapeshift kill. Fulminator Mage was not really helpful either.
Round 4: Bring to Light Scapeshift (2-0)
Very unexperienced, but very friendly opponent. He missed his seventh land drop with Scapeshift in hand, and I am able to kill him the next turn.
Game two his deck tried to control the board, he wiped my creatures twice, countered Liliana but I managed to drop a Huntmaster and finished him.
Round 5: Storm (2-1)
Game 1 I manage to kill Baral and Electromancer, but he casts Empty the Warrens with Storm counter 5 and I coudn't find Maelstrom Pulse. Game 2 was one of the weirdest games from the whole tournament: On turn 3 he casted Blood moon after I exiled his gy with Spellbomb and tore his hand apart with Inquisition and Thoughtseize. I had one Swamp and two fastlands in play, was tapped out and had Decay, Pulse and two Goyfs in Hand. I never drew my single Forest, but managed to kill Baral and Electromancer several times with Bolt and Push and attacked him 9 turns with Bob. Game 3 I had gravehate, hand disruption and an early Goyf, which was enough to win me the game.
Round 6: Jund Death's Shadow (2-0)
Probably the two easiest games on the whole day. I was surprised to even see the deck, as I don't see any advantages the deck has over the Grixis variant. Both games my removal kills Goyfs, Flayers and Shadows, Liliana controls his hand and I can kill him with Raging Ravine as he was already on low life. Wasn`t prepared for two Bitterblossoms in game 2 but Decay and Pulse are natural answers against it once they resolve. It was the first game I saw my Goyf being on 8/9.
Round 7: Titanshift (0-2)
After seeing Cinder Glade on turn 1 I was really pissed, as this was the 4th time I played against Scapeshift in two days. Somehow, none of my friends even played a single game against the Titan in two days, but hey, what can you do? Sakura Tribe Elder is basically a time walk in this matchup before he kills me with Scapeshift on turn 6. Not even close in both games, it just felt hopeless.
Round 8: Jund (2-1)
I always love playing the mirror. Round 1 I have problems removing his Tasigur, which generates an incredible lot of value in the mirror but I finally found a Terminate and killed him with a transformed Huntmaster. Round 2 he played Liliana, the Last Hope on turn 3, had answers against all my creatures and I scooped after he got the emblem on 16 life. The last game he is not able to find an answer on my second Bob, which draws me several cards an wins me the game.
Round 9: Bloomless Titan (2-0)
I was afraid of the matchup since I remembered how Reid got destroyed by the deck at SCG Charlotte. However, I found enough disruption to kill Azusa and Titan in game 1, and killed him with Goyf. Game two Fulminator Mage was MVP as he destroyed two Gruul Turfs, which slowed him down tremendously and Huntmaster killed him eventually.
Overall I went 6-3 on day 2, after finishing 5-2 in the trials the day before. I won all the games I needed to win, but Scapeshift prevented me to finish off better. I was very happy with my mainboard and never missed Kalitas or Olivia instead of the second Huntmaster. He is just a beast in so many matchups.
About Fulminator Mage: He only helped me against Bloomless Titan, but he was basically a dead card against all the Scapeshift decks. I realized that hand disruption prevented them to kill me before turn 5, so maybe Crumble to Dust could have been quite useful, but I am not sure about it.
However, I loved to play with Jund and didn't regret my decision to play with the deck for a single moment.
You said you were on the fence about Fulminator. Are you considering cutting him? Or is he still a worthwhile flex card for when you have nothing else to fill slots in certain matchups?
Also how well did Kitchen Finks serve you? I recently cut mine because I found them underwhelming.
About Fulminator Mage: I board him in fairly often, not only against big mana, but also against decks with a greedy manabase or decks with utility lands.
And that's my point: He does a far better job for me against decks like Grixis DS or Affinity than against Tron or Scapeshift, but the former named matchups are easily winnable without him, whereas the latter ones are still close to unwinnable despite drawing him. That's why I would somestimes prefer something different, more efficient. But as I said, I need more testing, it might also be that 2 are simply not enough and that 3 is the correct number of Mages in the sb.
Yes it's interactive and no it doesn't get stale, but you have to work hard for your wins with Jund and doubly so in this metagame. It's hardly ever more than a 50/50 deck and the percentage points you gain on top of that are only earned through tons of practice. ETron and Scapeshift will just run you over regardless and they're ubiquitous.
I'd suggest proxying the deck and getting at least 100 test matches in before you decide you really want to buy the most expensive deck in Modern at a time when it's not a great competitive choice.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Jund isn't doing too hot at the moment but BG/x is always a safe choice. Metas are cyclical and something may be printed in an upcoming set to restore jund's position (hopefully but don't count on it). Grixis Shadow may scratch your itch for an interactive deck and it's solidly tier 1
There's no real reason to run Jund Shadow over Grixis Shadow right now. Claim // Fame got hyped up a bunch but hasn't put up any results so far.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
The honest truth is Jund isn't so hot right now, but all it takes is some new cards to push it back into tier 1, since it's a good stuff deck. Jund is a very interactive deck and it wins all sorts of ways, sometimes you starve your opponents resources with LOTV, sometimes you drown them with card advantage from Bob, spot removal for Goyf to get beats in, etc. Deck takes a ton of practice and rewards knowledge of the format. The deck is probably on the medium-easy scale on terms of difficulty.
You should really ask yourself if you want to buy into the most expensive deck that's currently tier 3 and not going anywhere right now
The deck is a blast to play if you like fair magic though.
Jund Shadow is trash, don't buy into that, it was honestly really good because the format was super linear after the dredge/infect ban and players were testing the waters for the format. Once the meta adapted Jund Shadow became unplayable, I think, the deck can't handle interactive decks and delirium is just an awful mechanic. The deck is honestly a 2.5 tier deck, I'm really unsure why MTGsalvation doesn't move it out of the tier 1 forums, where it certainly does not belong.
Grixis Shadow is better in every way, although you should know the deck is really difficult to play well and it has a massive target on its head, if you're playing it you better be prepared to see a ton of hate
Eldrazi Tron is an amazing mid-range deck right now that borders on big mana.
I'm hoping we see Jund get some results in the upcoming GP's, but I'm not hopeful
I'd be wary of picking E-Tron if you're looking for a deck that doesn't get stale quickly. You basically jam big threat after big threat with some disruption inbetween until you win the game. This isn't the place for ban talk but I'd say it's also a riskier deck to pick up because of its unfair manabase.
Last but not least, it's easier to transition into other decks with the cards you get for Jund once you make that call. Eldrazi Tron cards, well.. they just go into other Eldrazi decks (which aren't very viable right now) or into classic Tron, which is pretty much gone as well.
Goyf, Liliana, KCommand, Decay, Push, Ooze, Thoughtseize, Inquisition, Bolt are all cards you can use in a variety of decks, such as Abzan variants, The Rock, Faeries, Grixis Shadow, Lantern, etc...
E-Tron is a strong deck but it's a bit like Affinity, you either go all the way or you sell out completely once you're bored of it because the pieces aren't easily reused.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
I'm not finding E-Tron stale at all, it wasn't as brainless auto-pilot as I thought, there's definitely some sequencing and decisions to make. The deck is certainly easier to play than Jund, and nowhere near as difficult as Shadow decks.
I disagree that regular big Tron is gone, it's actually gaining traction on MTGO, and while the paper meta is different, I do think MTGO is often a good predicator on what the pro's pick up, and where the grinders and average FNM players look to. Tron's stocks are going up, and as anyone playing a fair deck, we should be wary of it. Trons too fundamentally good to ever hit tier 3, unless some devastating land destruction is printed through standard.
Whocansay is also right that if you buy into E-Tron, you're pretty much stuck with those pieces for the archetype, nothing else transitions into other decks except Dismember, relics, surgicals and cages---the rest goes into other Eldrazi or Tron decks, and even then you'd have to spend 300+ to play those decks.
If you don't have another deck in modern, you should REALLY make sure you like a deck that doesn't have many transition pieces, otherwise you're stuck with it. Jund leaves you multiple lines into other decks for fairly cheap in comparison.
I had Affinity, I honestly was just not good with the deck and wasn't seeing improvement in my play, so I sold it as a whole, which was a pain---it doesn't go into other decks except Lantern, which I despise playing against.
June's not a bad choice though, I'd at least recommend Grixis Shadow if your skills can handle the hate.