So Cedric Philips wrote this article on SCG today regarding what to expect at the SCG Invitational this weekend. In it he says this
What We Know #3: Jund is not a good choice this weekend.
I know a lot of people love casting Olivia Voldaren and miracling Bonfire of the Damned. But there's a time and place for that, and that time is not right now. Simply put, Jund has never been this poorly positioned before and trying to "dodge" G/B/W Reanimator is a strategy that will see you on the sidelines Saturday morning.
Don't do it.
So is Phillips right? With the rise of Junk Reanimator is Jund viable at the moment?
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I'm sure you could make a "rogue" version of Jund that maindecks random stuff like Ground Seal, DRS, Thundermaw and at least 3 Olivia and you'd probably do okay against Junk... but then you open yourself up to getting beat by aggro.
Honestly, whenever I see Cedric Phillips he's always just bashing Jund, and I honestly disagree with him on it most of the time. Jund is a fine deck, but it's a fine deck that is starting to having problems with the big deck on block, and I'm okay with that because we are in a rock-paper-scissors type of meta (Aggro beats Reanimator, midrange beats Aggro, Reanimator beats Midrange)
I wonder if the circle will continue and eventually the format will shift to bring Junk down. I've never paid this close attention to what decks were good at different points in the year. I just remember hearing Delver being good and then the year before that the whole Cawblade thing. But I don't think I've ever seen the format shift in an actual paper rock scissors manor like it has the past year.
You started the season off with Zombies being the aggro deck that dominates. Then Jund, Bant and UWR midrange all kind of had their time in the spotlight, then it was Junk, then around November/December you see Zombies and then Mono Red really show up... and that's kind of how the format went until Gatecrash where you saw Jund dominate for like a month, and now Junk again.
Again... I didn't follow the format until this year. Is this normally how it works? I remember back in the day you basically only had the 1-2 decks that were dominating and every other deck in the format was built with those decks in mind. Affinity/Goblins/UW back in Mirrodin or even UG Madness/Psychatog back in Oddessy that's how I remembered those formats, but maybe that was a time when the internet wasn't as hardcore as it is now and a lot more people have access to the latest tournament results.
No, this is a fiarly unusual format. It indicates that there is no "best" deck.
However, Junk has now been on top for longer, and with more dominance than any other deck has really achieved to this point, so that format may just be ending.
I think Jund is a strong deck despite the fact that it loses to Junk Rites. I think that all you can do is hedge your bets and sideboard properly in order to beat Junk Rites.
Sure, you may lose 9/10 times, however there may come a time that you will get lucky and pull out wins against it.
I believe that while Junk is a strong deck, it's far from unbeatable from Jund's standpoint.
I say just keep plugging away, our time will come soon enough.
No, this is a fiarly unusual format. It indicates that there is no "best" deck.
However, Junk has now been on top for longer, and with more dominance than any other deck has really achieved to this point, so that format may just be ending.
I really have a hard time buying this... Junk didn't really add any cards of significance in Gatecrash (I guess Obzedat?), which means the main reason for it's rise to power is due to the fact that the decks that took it out the first time aren't that popular in the metagame right now. And it probably helps that one of it's strongest matchups is Jund, which was the previous flag-bearer.
I guess that's just me though. We'll see what ends up happening. And I'm playing Junk right now so if it ends up running away with the format until October, then that's good for me. Although Junk v Junk mirror isn't exactly fun to play IMO.
I'm sure you could make a "rogue" version of Jund that maindecks random stuff like Ground Seal, DRS, Thundermaw and at least 3 Olivia and you'd probably do okay against Junk... but then you open yourself up to getting beat by aggro.
Funny, I was playing just that tonight and while my mid-range and Junk match-ups were solid, Naya Blitz was killing me. I won 1 out of 5 games (no board). Small sample, but still. . .
Also, the rise of the internet has a huge effect on MtG.
Funny, I was playing just that tonight and while my mid-range and Junk match-ups were solid, Naya Blitz was killing me. I won 1 out of 5 games (no board). Small sample, but still. . .
Also, the rise of the internet has a huge effect on MtG.
Haha, sorry, "rise of the internet". That comment made me laugh very hard. The internet has certainly "risen" and will be here till the end of man.
Honestly, Jund is in the same position as last format. The only gatecrash cards Jund added was Stomping Grounds, and it still ended up being a smattering of removal with an OK creature suite, despite Primal Hunter and Lili now able to be cast side-by-side.
Junk being the deck to beat really isn't revolutionary. It died at the end of RTR / beginning of GTC due to new decks being tested. Reanimating Thragtusk/AoS a bunch of times was always their gameplan, and just remains an extremely powerful play in type 2, especially with all the dig and synergy in their deck.
Jund is far from dead, but some of the aggressive decks emerging, or even ones splashing white for Assemble the Legion, might be the right way. My advice would be to innovate and test some different cards outside the Reid Duke list.
I really have a hard time buying this... Junk didn't really add any cards of significance in Gatecrash (I guess Obzedat?), which means the main reason for it's rise to power is due to the fact that the decks that took it out the first time aren't that popular in the metagame right now. And it probably helps that one of it's strongest matchups is Jund, which was the previous flag-bearer.
I guess that's just me though. We'll see what ends up happening. And I'm playing Junk right now so if it ends up running away with the format until October, then that's good for me. Although Junk v Junk mirror isn't exactly fun to play IMO.
People retuned the lists, though.
The old Junk lists had a much, much harder time winning without the graveyard, meaning they could easily be hated out.
The current ones are much more resistant.
So really, I would say that its more of an improvement in the lists that has put Junk on top right now.
I love how rock paper sissors started as (COntrl beats COmbo, combo beats aggro, and aggro beats control) and has now been warped to Reanimator(junk, which i hate calling a true reanimator deck), Midrange, and Aggro.
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Hmm...
I think jund is a solid choice no matter what, honestly. Its my opinion that its a deck that doesn't have very much hate against it and can level hate against most of its competitors... It has room for innovation, assuming its a deck that can pretty much deal with most aggro main.
So sideboarding... Slaughtergames, sever the bloodline, and appetite for brains seems like a good plan vs reanimator... and abrupt decay, vs aggro but... also against a number of other decks.
So while I"m primarily and aggro player I wouldn't be afraid to sit down and play jund, even in the face of reanimator.
Its still generally a good choice vs an open and diverse field, if you're a skilled jund pilot.
Junk Rites is pretty far from being dominant in the same vein as Affinity, Faeries or whichever other oppressive standard deck of yore you care to mention. Already it's being hated out and isn't posting better results than any other archetype out there. It jumped up after being off the radar for some time and won a bunch of tournaments, now people have had time to adjust it's - at best - only as good as the other tier 1 decks such as Naya Blitz, Esper or yes, Jund.
And the matchup is not an auto lose. Game one is probably about 70-30 in their favour, with games 2-3 being closer to 50-50. As several in this thread seem to have done, including some miser's maindeck graveyard hate can help your chances if Junk is particularly rampant in your region.
But like... what are you sideboarding that gives you such a swing in their favor? I imagine Slaughter Games and Deathrite Shaman if that isn't main decked. Junk Rites can go mid-range mode on you games 2-3. Side in Slimes, Abrupt Decay and their mid-range stuff (Obzedat, Resto, Smiter, w/e). Go down to 2-3 Rites and take out Mulch. They'll still get value from the usual Resto + Thragtusk midrange tricks and you still have to deal with resilient threats like Obzedat. And then because Jund durdles around a lot, you can actually hardcast all the stuff you would've Rites'd out before and still get the same value. Late in the game just hard cast AoS or Craterhoof. Although... admittedly something is going to get SG'd... probably the AoS.
What about SG on Craterhoof Behemoth?
That tends to be what beats me.
I think its generally possible to interrupt AoS loops, or otherwise deal with the CA it provides.
Just dying in one turn seems worse.
Also, something like Staff of Nin is really good against Junk.
In G2/3, I'm casting SG on Obzedat. That is probably the hardest card we have to deal with, so I'll typically blindly name Obzedat. Second target is AoS, only because not all lists run Craterhoof
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What about SG on Craterhoof Behemoth?
That tends to be what beats me.
I think its generally possible to interrupt AoS loops, or otherwise deal with the CA it provides.
Just dying in one turn seems worse.
Also, something like Staff of Nin is really good against Junk.
SG on Craterhoof Behemoth... which they play only 2 of.
Then you get beat with AoS. Now, you can just play Sever and beat AoS loops that way, but they will still always get the first use of the ability. You can also play stuff like Ultimate Price in response to the ability... but that only works if they are looping and it doesn't work if they remove stuff on your side of the table.
But then you have to deal with stuff like Restoration Angel, Thragtusk, maybe Smiter, maybe Obzedat, maybe Troll. Getting all that card advantage back with Staff of Nin or Underworld Connections is good too, but they are already probably bringing in Slimes for the Kessig Wolf Run. Garruk Primal Hunter is going to be solid for you.
It's not an easy matchup to win post board either is what I'm saying. Certainly isn't 50/50. Usually the way you win games against this deck is with speed. Force them to go mid-range on you, and then beat them before they can hardcast their stuff. They don't play much removal, so if you come at them with T3 Olivias... that's actually hard for them to deal with.
SG on Craterhoof Behemoth... which they play only 2 of.
Then you get beat with AoS. Now, you can just play Sever and beat AoS loops that way, but they will still always get the first use of the ability. You can also play stuff like Ultimate Price in response to the ability... but that only works if they are looping and it doesn't work if they remove stuff on your side of the table.
But then you have to deal with stuff like Restoration Angel, Thragtusk, maybe Smiter, maybe Obzedat, maybe Troll. Getting all that card advantage back with Staff of Nin or Underworld Connections is good too, but they are already probably bringing in Slimes for the Kessig Wolf Run. Garruk Primal Hunter is going to be solid for you.
It's not an easy matchup to win post board either is what I'm saying. Certainly isn't 50/50. Usually the way you win games against this deck is with speed. Force them to go mid-range on you, and then beat them before they can hardcast their stuff. They don't play much removal, so if you come at them with T3 Olivias... that's actually hard for them to deal with.
Well its not like you're playing Slaughter Games to thin out their deck...
With the amount of card selection they're playing they will generally see most of the cards in their deck. An Angel is certainly a big threat, but Craterhoof is simply going to end the game a lot of the time, whereas you can recover from an Angel.
That other stuff is all pretty beatable, nothing we haven't faced from other decks, though it could beat you, you're not going to lose to Resto/Tusk beat too often.
Like, a Turn 3 Olivia is a great start, but it doesn't really kill them very fast, especially if play it smart and just use selection spells instead of playing out creatures. A turn 6 or 7 AoS eats the Olivia and they're still at 12ish life.
If they Mulch into Rites and AoS, your Olivia might not get much more than 3-6 damage off them.
That other stuff is all pretty beatable, nothing we haven't faced from other decks, though it could beat you, you're not going to lose to Resto/Tusk beat too often.
Like, a Turn 3 Olivia is a great start, but it doesn't really kill them very fast, especially if play it smart and just use selection spells instead of playing out creatures. A turn 6 or 7 AoS eats the Olivia and they're still at 12ish life.
If they Mulch into Rites and AoS, your Olivia might not get much more than 3-6 damage off them.
Well... Mulch in to Rites/AoS is the reason you play Ground Seal and/or DRS somewhere in the 75. So presumably they can't count on the reanimate plan games 2/3.
But that's kind of what I was getting at. You sideboard Slaughter Games, Staff/UC, DRS and maybe swap around some removal spells... all the while they go with the mid-range plan. And the mid-range plan can still beat Jund because one of Jund's weaknesses is we tend to durdle around and let people get into the late game. Against any other deck in the format, we want to get into the late game.
I mean, in theory we have all the answers to their deck. Sever can exile AoS to prevent Angel loops (still get hit with the first trigger though). Bonfire clears mana dorks to stall for time. Sever/Slip can hit stuff like Trolls and kill them through regeneration. DRS stops Unburial Rites and puts them on a clock. Slip/Victim of Night can hit Obzedat. Victim/Slip/UP hits Resto Angel. Slaughter Games can take out key cards. And so on and so on. But if they play AoS and you don't have the Sever in hand (which, it's not like you side into 4) then that's an issue. Or if they play Troll and leave regeneration mana up, you got to have one of those two cards that hits it. Same with Obzedat. And if you don't have the answer that turn, then they untap and you potentially have to deal with Resto Angel nullifying either of those removal spells.
I dunno. I just really don't like trying to go aggressive on them.
They have so much lifegain, they ramp, they have cards that hose aggro...
I just feel like trying to be the control in that matchup is a better proposition than trying to be a lukewarm aggro deck or hoping Olivia gets there.
Like you said, we have the answers, we just need to find them. Maybe some sort of draw power would help, though I can't think what we would use.
I really have a hard time buying this... Junk didn't really add any cards of significance in Gatecrash (I guess Obzedat?), which means the main reason for it's rise to power is due to the fact that the decks that took it out the first time aren't that popular in the metagame right now. And it probably helps that one of it's strongest matchups is Jund, which was the previous flag-bearer.
While it probably doesn't matter anymore it's still worth saying that the best deck of the format are not always the the most popular or the most well known. Junk Reanimator didn't get better - people were just better able to assess its matchups and metagame position.
I mean, in theory we have all the answers to their deck. Sever can exile AoS to prevent Angel loops (still get hit with the first trigger though). Bonfire clears mana dorks to stall for time. Sever/Slip can hit stuff like Trolls and kill them through regeneration. DRS stops Unburial Rites and puts them on a clock. Slip/Victim of Night can hit Obzedat. Victim/Slip/UP hits Resto Angel. Slaughter Games can take out key cards. And so on and so on. But if they play AoS and you don't have the Sever in hand (which, it's not like you side into 4) then that's an issue. Or if they play Troll and leave regeneration mana up, you got to have one of those two cards that hits it. Same with Obzedat. And if you don't have the answer that turn, then they untap and you potentially have to deal with Resto Angel nullifying either of those removal spells.
The problem with being a Jack-of-all-trades deck is that you can't effective answer everything. When Jund focuses on graveyard hate then Junk focuses on Midrange and the other way around too.
If I remember correctly, In the pre-Gatecrash metagame Reanimator fell out of favor because Mono Red would just beat it too fast. Additionally, part of Naya Blitz's popularity at the moment is because of its good matchup against Reanimator. I think being aggressive might be a better way for Jund to beat Reanimator instead of trying to cover all of the the hate bases. Playing aggressively against Reanimator has been successful for me when I play Dark Naya but I'll admit it might not be the best approach.
On another note. In an article posted in this thread, someone mentions that they side Slaughter Games for Junk Reanimator and said that the best target is Unburial Rites - which he says several times throughout the article is often sided out. Out of genuine curiosity, I want to know if naming Unburial Rites is the right thing call. It's not the card advantage from Unburial Rites that ends in loss - it's the card advantage from the reanimated creature. Wouldn't it be better to name the creatures that are the actual problem? If your strip Junk from the their threats like Angel of Serenity, Obzedat, or Craterhoof they're just a Midrange deck trying to squeeze advantage out of Thragtusk and friend. It's no doubt a long grindy game of attrition but those are the kind of games Jund is supposed to good at.
The more popular that Junk Reanimator gets, the worse that Jund becomes as a deck choice. It is really that simple. The matchup is completely miserable for Jund(and worse for every other Midrange deck).
On another note. In an article posted in this thread, someone mentions that they side Slaughter Games for Junk Reanimator and said that the best target is Unburial Rites - which he says several times throughout the article is often sided out. Out of genuine curiosity, I want to know if naming Unburial Rites is the right thing call. It's not the card advantage from Unburial Rites that ends in loss - it's the card advantage from the reanimated creature. Wouldn't it be better to name the creatures that are the actual problem? If your strip Junk from the their threats like Angel of Serenity, Obzedat, or Craterhoof they're just a Midrange deck trying to squeeze advantage out of Thragtusk and friend. It's no doubt a long grindy game of attrition but those are the kind of games Jund is supposed to good at.
Rites does play a huge part of it, though. If you take out the Rites, a lot of their cards become a lot worse. Angels are also a lot easier to get around when you only have to deal with them once. And suddenly whenever their Mulch goes past a creature, that creature is gone forever, not just sitting in the grave waiting to be reanimated. And they have to start taking their big creatures with Grisly Salvage instead of other spells.
I dunno if its always the right call, but it will be some percentage of the time I would say. Possibly against Junk its a very situation based call as for what you should Slaughter Games.
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So is Phillips right? With the rise of Junk Reanimator is Jund viable at the moment?
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You started the season off with Zombies being the aggro deck that dominates. Then Jund, Bant and UWR midrange all kind of had their time in the spotlight, then it was Junk, then around November/December you see Zombies and then Mono Red really show up... and that's kind of how the format went until Gatecrash where you saw Jund dominate for like a month, and now Junk again.
Again... I didn't follow the format until this year. Is this normally how it works? I remember back in the day you basically only had the 1-2 decks that were dominating and every other deck in the format was built with those decks in mind. Affinity/Goblins/UW back in Mirrodin or even UG Madness/Psychatog back in Oddessy that's how I remembered those formats, but maybe that was a time when the internet wasn't as hardcore as it is now and a lot more people have access to the latest tournament results.
However, Junk has now been on top for longer, and with more dominance than any other deck has really achieved to this point, so that format may just be ending.
Sure, you may lose 9/10 times, however there may come a time that you will get lucky and pull out wins against it.
I believe that while Junk is a strong deck, it's far from unbeatable from Jund's standpoint.
I say just keep plugging away, our time will come soon enough.
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I really have a hard time buying this... Junk didn't really add any cards of significance in Gatecrash (I guess Obzedat?), which means the main reason for it's rise to power is due to the fact that the decks that took it out the first time aren't that popular in the metagame right now. And it probably helps that one of it's strongest matchups is Jund, which was the previous flag-bearer.
I guess that's just me though. We'll see what ends up happening. And I'm playing Junk right now so if it ends up running away with the format until October, then that's good for me. Although Junk v Junk mirror isn't exactly fun to play IMO.
Funny, I was playing just that tonight and while my mid-range and Junk match-ups were solid, Naya Blitz was killing me. I won 1 out of 5 games (no board). Small sample, but still. . .
Also, the rise of the internet has a huge effect on MtG.
Haha, sorry, "rise of the internet". That comment made me laugh very hard. The internet has certainly "risen" and will be here till the end of man.
Honestly, Jund is in the same position as last format. The only gatecrash cards Jund added was Stomping Grounds, and it still ended up being a smattering of removal with an OK creature suite, despite Primal Hunter and Lili now able to be cast side-by-side.
Junk being the deck to beat really isn't revolutionary. It died at the end of RTR / beginning of GTC due to new decks being tested. Reanimating Thragtusk/AoS a bunch of times was always their gameplan, and just remains an extremely powerful play in type 2, especially with all the dig and synergy in their deck.
Jund is far from dead, but some of the aggressive decks emerging, or even ones splashing white for Assemble the Legion, might be the right way. My advice would be to innovate and test some different cards outside the Reid Duke list.
People retuned the lists, though.
The old Junk lists had a much, much harder time winning without the graveyard, meaning they could easily be hated out.
The current ones are much more resistant.
So really, I would say that its more of an improvement in the lists that has put Junk on top right now.
This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.
And would we really expect the game to stay the same for 19 years?
I think jund is a solid choice no matter what, honestly. Its my opinion that its a deck that doesn't have very much hate against it and can level hate against most of its competitors... It has room for innovation, assuming its a deck that can pretty much deal with most aggro main.
So sideboarding... Slaughtergames, sever the bloodline, and appetite for brains seems like a good plan vs reanimator... and abrupt decay, vs aggro but... also against a number of other decks.
So while I"m primarily and aggro player I wouldn't be afraid to sit down and play jund, even in the face of reanimator.
Its still generally a good choice vs an open and diverse field, if you're a skilled jund pilot.
But like... what are you sideboarding that gives you such a swing in their favor? I imagine Slaughter Games and Deathrite Shaman if that isn't main decked. Junk Rites can go mid-range mode on you games 2-3. Side in Slimes, Abrupt Decay and their mid-range stuff (Obzedat, Resto, Smiter, w/e). Go down to 2-3 Rites and take out Mulch. They'll still get value from the usual Resto + Thragtusk midrange tricks and you still have to deal with resilient threats like Obzedat. And then because Jund durdles around a lot, you can actually hardcast all the stuff you would've Rites'd out before and still get the same value. Late in the game just hard cast AoS or Craterhoof. Although... admittedly something is going to get SG'd... probably the AoS.
That tends to be what beats me.
I think its generally possible to interrupt AoS loops, or otherwise deal with the CA it provides.
Just dying in one turn seems worse.
Also, something like Staff of Nin is really good against Junk.
In G2/3, I'm casting SG on Obzedat. That is probably the hardest card we have to deal with, so I'll typically blindly name Obzedat. Second target is AoS, only because not all lists run Craterhoof
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SG on Craterhoof Behemoth... which they play only 2 of.
Then you get beat with AoS. Now, you can just play Sever and beat AoS loops that way, but they will still always get the first use of the ability. You can also play stuff like Ultimate Price in response to the ability... but that only works if they are looping and it doesn't work if they remove stuff on your side of the table.
But then you have to deal with stuff like Restoration Angel, Thragtusk, maybe Smiter, maybe Obzedat, maybe Troll. Getting all that card advantage back with Staff of Nin or Underworld Connections is good too, but they are already probably bringing in Slimes for the Kessig Wolf Run. Garruk Primal Hunter is going to be solid for you.
It's not an easy matchup to win post board either is what I'm saying. Certainly isn't 50/50. Usually the way you win games against this deck is with speed. Force them to go mid-range on you, and then beat them before they can hardcast their stuff. They don't play much removal, so if you come at them with T3 Olivias... that's actually hard for them to deal with.
Well its not like you're playing Slaughter Games to thin out their deck...
With the amount of card selection they're playing they will generally see most of the cards in their deck. An Angel is certainly a big threat, but Craterhoof is simply going to end the game a lot of the time, whereas you can recover from an Angel.
That other stuff is all pretty beatable, nothing we haven't faced from other decks, though it could beat you, you're not going to lose to Resto/Tusk beat too often.
Like, a Turn 3 Olivia is a great start, but it doesn't really kill them very fast, especially if play it smart and just use selection spells instead of playing out creatures. A turn 6 or 7 AoS eats the Olivia and they're still at 12ish life.
If they Mulch into Rites and AoS, your Olivia might not get much more than 3-6 damage off them.
Well... Mulch in to Rites/AoS is the reason you play Ground Seal and/or DRS somewhere in the 75. So presumably they can't count on the reanimate plan games 2/3.
But that's kind of what I was getting at. You sideboard Slaughter Games, Staff/UC, DRS and maybe swap around some removal spells... all the while they go with the mid-range plan. And the mid-range plan can still beat Jund because one of Jund's weaknesses is we tend to durdle around and let people get into the late game. Against any other deck in the format, we want to get into the late game.
I mean, in theory we have all the answers to their deck. Sever can exile AoS to prevent Angel loops (still get hit with the first trigger though). Bonfire clears mana dorks to stall for time. Sever/Slip can hit stuff like Trolls and kill them through regeneration. DRS stops Unburial Rites and puts them on a clock. Slip/Victim of Night can hit Obzedat. Victim/Slip/UP hits Resto Angel. Slaughter Games can take out key cards. And so on and so on. But if they play AoS and you don't have the Sever in hand (which, it's not like you side into 4) then that's an issue. Or if they play Troll and leave regeneration mana up, you got to have one of those two cards that hits it. Same with Obzedat. And if you don't have the answer that turn, then they untap and you potentially have to deal with Resto Angel nullifying either of those removal spells.
They have so much lifegain, they ramp, they have cards that hose aggro...
I just feel like trying to be the control in that matchup is a better proposition than trying to be a lukewarm aggro deck or hoping Olivia gets there.
Like you said, we have the answers, we just need to find them. Maybe some sort of draw power would help, though I can't think what we would use.
Owen Turtenwald just wrote about this, too
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/owens-a-win-jund-versus-reanimator/
While it probably doesn't matter anymore it's still worth saying that the best deck of the format are not always the the most popular or the most well known. Junk Reanimator didn't get better - people were just better able to assess its matchups and metagame position.
The problem with being a Jack-of-all-trades deck is that you can't effective answer everything. When Jund focuses on graveyard hate then Junk focuses on Midrange and the other way around too.
If I remember correctly, In the pre-Gatecrash metagame Reanimator fell out of favor because Mono Red would just beat it too fast. Additionally, part of Naya Blitz's popularity at the moment is because of its good matchup against Reanimator. I think being aggressive might be a better way for Jund to beat Reanimator instead of trying to cover all of the the hate bases. Playing aggressively against Reanimator has been successful for me when I play Dark Naya but I'll admit it might not be the best approach.
On another note. In an article posted in this thread, someone mentions that they side Slaughter Games for Junk Reanimator and said that the best target is Unburial Rites - which he says several times throughout the article is often sided out. Out of genuine curiosity, I want to know if naming Unburial Rites is the right thing call. It's not the card advantage from Unburial Rites that ends in loss - it's the card advantage from the reanimated creature. Wouldn't it be better to name the creatures that are the actual problem? If your strip Junk from the their threats like Angel of Serenity, Obzedat, or Craterhoof they're just a Midrange deck trying to squeeze advantage out of Thragtusk and friend. It's no doubt a long grindy game of attrition but those are the kind of games Jund is supposed to good at.
Rites does play a huge part of it, though. If you take out the Rites, a lot of their cards become a lot worse. Angels are also a lot easier to get around when you only have to deal with them once. And suddenly whenever their Mulch goes past a creature, that creature is gone forever, not just sitting in the grave waiting to be reanimated. And they have to start taking their big creatures with Grisly Salvage instead of other spells.
I dunno if its always the right call, but it will be some percentage of the time I would say. Possibly against Junk its a very situation based call as for what you should Slaughter Games.