I'm an early adopter of Turbo Fish when Friedman wrote about it months ago. I hated how durdly and slow Serum Visions is and how the deck just spins its wheel often with other cantrips with the more grindy 18-land version. When I tried the Bauble version which focuses more on powering out Anglers on turn 2 and playing the tempo game more, I got hooked. I eventually added two copies of Looting too. However, all the cantrips we play with the exception of Looting and its inherent card disadvantage, most of it does not have filtering (Bauble has to some extent in conjuction with Fetchlands, Wraith or Scour). Sometimes we get punished with our opening hands and succeeding mulligans, especially when we want to keep a one-lander. So I tried some of the recent 5-0 GDS from MTGO (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1464794#paper) which plays at least 3 copies of SV, cutting a Bauble, Scour and a Bolt/Push and surprisingly, I was impressed. SV added some needed consistency and improves our opening hand a lot. Scour and Bauble were untouchable in my list before, even Magnus Lantto recommended to never board those out as they are essentially Dark Rituals and Lotus Petals for our Anglers. Serum Visions though and knowing when to use it is a revelation. It's good early to late game. It helps us draw closer to threats or answers or even hate cards from the SB. Although I must admit, experience in sequencing your spells play a huge role. Learning when you need to dig or firing off that discard or saving a mana up for Stub is very important in maximizing Serum Visions.
As for maindeck spellbombs even if it cantrips, it still cost us one more mana so unless your meta is full of graveyard shenanigans, I rather play SV still.
Here's my list. My meta is mostly aggro and ramp decks. We are generally favored vs midrange so I skipped on Elspeth. I like Gideon of the Trials but he could be polarizing depending on the meta. He is mediocre against aggro decks and a bit slow against ramp. Probably okay against combo as his emblem provides a road block and he can clock too. Against midrange decks, he can +1 and force opponent to overextend on creatures to make our boardwipe better. Play him according to meta.
List looks solid. I liked 1-2 Runed Halos in the SB. It is functionally a permanent removal against decks that play a few threats (Bogles, Death's Shadow, Infect) and troublesome permanents (Etched Champion, Valakut, TKS, Reality Smasher, Eidolon). Spell-based combo decks (Storm, Ad Naus) are among the worst matchups and Halo can help provide speed bumps against them by naming Gifts, Grapeshot, or Lightning Storm. Quellers are mainly for combo matchups and the mirror but as you said Clique maybe better here unless we still have sideboard space.
Creature decks i.e. Humans. We go full control against these decks, If you are on Friedman's list, board out some Anglers, Wraiths and Denial and bring in all removal spells. Try to stabilize the board then start dropping giant Shadows.
I'm tuning and testing UW Miracles based on the recent lists and here are some of my opinions:
24-25 Lands
I'm currently testing 4 Colonnades but going down to 2-3 if mostly against fast aggro/combo decks is usually correct. 4-5 Land Destruction in FoR and/or single GQ to kill manlands, cut opponent's color or slow down Tron. With only 4 fetches, do not shy away on using FoR to shuffle away useless cards after a Brainstorm.
6 Cantrips: 4 Opt, 2 Telling Time/ Think Twice
Opt let you trigger Miracles at an instant speed as well as Think Twice which also provides card advantage. Telling Time being an instant is so good at setting Miracles along with JTMS. It also digs deeper for answers. Serum Visions is not so bad however being a sorcery makes it inferior compared to the other cantrips.
6-7 Counter spells
We want early interactions. The deck is slow and top heavy and plays minimal spot removals. A 2/2/2 split of Cryptic, Mana Leak and Logic Knot/Negate seems okay. Leak looks bad with PtE but we have JtMS to shuffle away late game Leaks.
5-6 Planeswalkers
I prefer 3 JtMS, 2 Teferi, 1 Gideon Trials. I'm not going less than 3 Jace in a Miracle list. Being able to cast him even as an expensive Brainstorm to setup Terminus or Entreat can swing the game sway. Having Both Jace and Teferi on the board is usually game over. I like one Gideon as he can protect himself too and his +1 forces opponents to over extend on creatures for a huge Terminus. He can also clock fast once the board is clear.
4-6 Spot removals
4 PtE is a must. We can add Condemn or Oust as extra removals for troublesome mana dorks or utility creatures like Teeg/Confidant.
4-6 Sweepers
I like playing 5 in an unknown meta. Usually a split of 4 Terminus, 1 Wrath/Supreme or 3/1/1.
2-3 Snaps/Vendillion Clique
Clique targetting ourself can cycle Miracle cards stranded in our hand. Can also trigger instant speed Miracles. 2 Snaps feels just right for the number of spells we want to flash back.
2 Search for Azcanta
A flipped Azcanta is hard to beat in this shell. We have so many answers and Azcanta helps us find it and fuel us with cards late game.
Utilities/Flex Spots
Rounding up the list we can mainboard some cards depending on your expected meta. 1-2 Detention Sphere as a catch all spell against Tokens, Planeswalker and Enchantments. Timely Reinforcements help protect our walkers and buy us time against aggro decks. Runed Halo can be unanswerable game 1 and can shutdown combo decks along with Gideon's emblem. Noxious Revival can set up Miracles or just return a threat or an answer. I do not like playing subpar cards with cycling in particular like Censor or Cast Out just to trigger Miracle at an instant speed.
These are all based on my early testing so far and I'm liking it better than Jeskai so far because my meta has mostly Tron and Aggro decks. Combo matchups are tricky but white has a lot of hate cards that can bring in postboard.
Blood Moon also shuts down your own manabase so this is a whole lot better if you want to hose Scapeshift and Tron. 1 and 3 CMC is also world's apart when you are trying to pressure these decks.
It's also effective in shutting down manlands, and Temple. Don't want to dismiss the card too early as narrow. We can definitely try some combination of Alpine Moon, D-Sphere and Fulminator Mages in the SB depending in your meta.
Yeah control would be hard especially UW as they attack our mana base too. Souls shore the match up a bit, but if you see lots of control and grindy decks in your meta, Shadow is a bad choice.
Looting has been a great Delirium enabler, allows us to bin useless discards, Bauble and lands late game, and helps find threats. Tarfires can be bolts, extra Decays or pushes depending on the meta. If we want Souls in the SB for grindy match ups and more looting value, change one Tomb or Crypt into Sacred Foundry. A copy of Claim//Fame also looks spicy with this shell when we need to bin a Goyf or Shadow.
I'm testing Friedman's Bauble and Looting list and liking it so far. Even before adding Looting, I'm already on the Bauble train. But if you expect a lot of fair grindy decks in your meta, the 18-land with KCommands maybe the better choice. Looting also complimented Bauble well as it is a bad topdeck late game and Looting allows you to bin it along with dead discards, Stubs or extra lands. I'm currently playing 3 copies of Looting but may drop to 2. It's amazing just how the deck can consistently power out Anglers.
I'm skeptical keeping that hand against Affinity on the draw. Bolt is serviceable on your turn 1, but turn 2 they might already have dump their hand including Plating or Etched Champion if they have an Opal or Drum, rendering your discards dead. Lily is bad against that board and you need to rip two lands in consecutive to cast Command which may already be too late by then.
@Delver: Thanks for the advice on my sideboard. I can easily switch the Surgicals for Spellbomb, but I need to find a slot for Cage. With 3 Ooze main, will the Spellbombs be enough?
Matches and sideboarding:
2-1 Mono Green Land Destruction
Bob singlehandedly won me this match. Game 3, I'm down to 2 lands with a 5/5 Ooze and Bob against an overwhelming board. He was down to 3 and Bob revealed Bolt and I ripped the fetch on top to get red and win.
-2 Kolaghan's Command
+2 Collective Brutality
I miss Abrupt Decay. Multiple Sprawls is a beating. In hindsight, I should have brought in EE and Back to Nature maybe but I don't know what to cut.
2-1 Gwb Elves
Lost game 1 trying to stablize. He has an Archdruid and a Mystic. I killed the Archdruid and he CoCo in response revealing another Archdruid and Ezuri. It was downhill from there. Jund him out game 2 and 3 with LoTH and Lavaman.
2-0 UR Gifts Storm
Discard into Ooze and Bloodbraid game 1. He misplayed game 2 with 11 Storm count, he casted 3 Piece to Puzzle trying to find Past in Flames which was already in the yard. He discarded it earlier to Lily and forgot it's there. Hit me with Grapeshot for 12. I untap and exiled Past in Flames with Ooze and attacked along with with 2 Goyfs.
I'm not sure if cutting BBE is correct but I certainly don't feel good tapping out on turn 4.
ID UR Gifts Storm
Decided to split but played a friendly game which I lost 0-2. Game 1 was close. Opened with 2 discard removing a ritual and Manamorphose. He was left with a hand of Grapeshot and Noxious Revival. I played Ooze and he Grapeshot it. I played BBE into LotH nex turn returning Ooze. He gifts end of turn. I Binned the second Grapeshot and another ritual with 3 open green mana. I tried to exile the 2 Grapeshots to which he responded with Noxious on the other copy but I did another Ooze activation in response leaving me tapped out. He played Baral on his turn with Past in Flames on hand and comboed off.
Game 2, I mulled down to 4 trying to find interaction. Kept a hand of 3 lands with LoTV. Couldn't do anything else. He sided out all bears for Pyromancer's Ascension and stormed off.
The list is similar to Jadine minus the Abrupt Decays. 25 land was okay. Treetop didn't really shined in my matchups today but it was so good in my testing against other fair decks and Tron as it is good in answering planeswalker. 2 is probably the correct number as it can really be clunky sometimes when drawn in multiples in the opening hand and is worse with color fixing.
Moving forward, I'll try Delver's list with 24 lands and try to squeeze at least a single copy of Abrupt Decay and a 3rd Ooze. Ponza style decks are gaining popularity in my LGS due to its good showing lately and being cheap. Abrupt Decay comes handy against Sprawls and Blood Moon. Scooze was impressive. Reid said he feels like getting away from murder with an unchecked Ooze and I agree. It provides so much utility in the deck. Appreciate any advice and feebacks. Thank you guys!
My sideboard also needs adjustments. No graveyard hate got me punished against Storm. Did't get to cast Surgical, it was mainly there for Tron but the card is just so hard to setup. even against Storm unless you get to discard their payoff cards. I'll try 2 Nihil Spellbomb and 1 Cage next time.
Thanks man that was indeed insightful. I'll try this list on my next tourney, tuning it in my meta of Bogles, Tron, Ponza, Storm and Mardu/Abzan. I left in 2 TBR for the un-interactive matchups. It's a bad cascade without any big creatures on the board but helps close the game. I've stolen so many matches with this card. If the meta is grindy/interactive then it's an easy cut. A single Abrupt Decay for some non-sense shenanigans, also hedging to hit Blood Moon against Ponza pre-board. But as mentioned, the mana is pretty resilient but still don't wanna get caught with my pants down.
The sideboard is full of one-ofs mainly because I don't wanna be over side-boarding. I feel that in comparison to other fair/midrange decks which can board in more hate cards, with this deck we lose some synergy and aggression if we do the same.
Well the current version I'm playing has 21 red spells in the 75 (2 of which are Anger), 23 black spells, and 14 green.
So as crazy as it sounds, I need red just as much as black! So while mountain would have been awful in previous versions of the deck (I thought similarly to you, and cut the basic mountain at first) I quickly added it back in. Field of Ruin is rampant, the deck leans on Traverse as a manasource more often than ever, and I'm playing a lot of reach and kcommands and dreadbores and such.
Would love to try this list. I'm a bit concerned though against non-interactive decks due to less discard and no stubborn. Could you share your match ups against Storm, Tron/Etron, Bogles?
I would encourage you to keep sticking with it. How long have you been playing modern and jund in general? It takes a while to just learn about the format and how to fight it. I think jund players also don't mull aggressively enough. I think people in modern don't mull aggressively enough.
You facing tron and ponza is awful luck. Is this a small store or just unlucky pairings? If you keep getting matched up week in and week out a shadow deck of sort is an option. A few years ago in Texas everyone kept playing rg tron and I still brought jund. I would have lost a ton of practice time with my best deck had I not
If your store is super tiny I can't fault you to meta against them, but if it's bad pairings and you're just losing I definitely recommend powering through it and improving
The nice thing about jund is I rarely feel out of it, like I always had a chance
Thanks bro. I bought into Jund after Pro Tour OGW, made some fortunes from those Eye of Ugin and Temples. I also swap my Snaps for Goyfs (got my URx back again). Admittedly, I don't get to play much due to work. Mostly just some play tests with friends and 3-4 FNMs per month. Yes, it's only a small community so the folks I play with are usually the same and they would stick with those decks. For an 8-10 person tourney, it be hard to dodge these guys. If I'm lucky I get to feast on the Elves and Humans players. Good tip in the mulligans, sometimes I settle for mediocre, but keepable hands because I'm afraid to get punished with a worse hand. Need to have more reps with Jund. Thanks again bro and congrats on the top 8!
As for maindeck spellbombs even if it cantrips, it still cost us one more mana so unless your meta is full of graveyard shenanigans, I rather play SV still.
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Field of Ruins
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Mystic Gate
6 Island
2 Plains
2 Creatures
2 Snapcaster Mage
6 Planeswalker
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
4 Terminus
1 Wrath of god
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Timely Reinforcements
16 Instant
4 Opt
2 Telling Time
3 Cryptic Command
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
1 Logic Knot
4 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Detention Sphere
15 Sideboard
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Damping Sphere
1 Celestial Purge
2 Dispel
2 Runed Halo
1 Vendillion Clique
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Settle the Wreckage
24-25 Lands
I'm currently testing 4 Colonnades but going down to 2-3 if mostly against fast aggro/combo decks is usually correct. 4-5 Land Destruction in FoR and/or single GQ to kill manlands, cut opponent's color or slow down Tron. With only 4 fetches, do not shy away on using FoR to shuffle away useless cards after a Brainstorm.
6 Cantrips: 4 Opt, 2 Telling Time/ Think Twice
Opt let you trigger Miracles at an instant speed as well as Think Twice which also provides card advantage. Telling Time being an instant is so good at setting Miracles along with JTMS. It also digs deeper for answers. Serum Visions is not so bad however being a sorcery makes it inferior compared to the other cantrips.
6-7 Counter spells
We want early interactions. The deck is slow and top heavy and plays minimal spot removals. A 2/2/2 split of Cryptic, Mana Leak and Logic Knot/Negate seems okay. Leak looks bad with PtE but we have JtMS to shuffle away late game Leaks.
5-6 Planeswalkers
I prefer 3 JtMS, 2 Teferi, 1 Gideon Trials. I'm not going less than 3 Jace in a Miracle list. Being able to cast him even as an expensive Brainstorm to setup Terminus or Entreat can swing the game sway. Having Both Jace and Teferi on the board is usually game over. I like one Gideon as he can protect himself too and his +1 forces opponents to over extend on creatures for a huge Terminus. He can also clock fast once the board is clear.
4-6 Spot removals
4 PtE is a must. We can add Condemn or Oust as extra removals for troublesome mana dorks or utility creatures like Teeg/Confidant.
4-6 Sweepers
I like playing 5 in an unknown meta. Usually a split of 4 Terminus, 1 Wrath/Supreme or 3/1/1.
2-3 Snaps/Vendillion Clique
Clique targetting ourself can cycle Miracle cards stranded in our hand. Can also trigger instant speed Miracles. 2 Snaps feels just right for the number of spells we want to flash back.
2 Search for Azcanta
A flipped Azcanta is hard to beat in this shell. We have so many answers and Azcanta helps us find it and fuel us with cards late game.
Utilities/Flex Spots
Rounding up the list we can mainboard some cards depending on your expected meta. 1-2 Detention Sphere as a catch all spell against Tokens, Planeswalker and Enchantments. Timely Reinforcements help protect our walkers and buy us time against aggro decks. Runed Halo can be unanswerable game 1 and can shutdown combo decks along with Gideon's emblem. Noxious Revival can set up Miracles or just return a threat or an answer. I do not like playing subpar cards with cycling in particular like Censor or Cast Out just to trigger Miracle at an instant speed.
These are all based on my early testing so far and I'm liking it better than Jeskai so far because my meta has mostly Tron and Aggro decks. Combo matchups are tricky but white has a lot of hate cards that can bring in postboard.
It's also effective in shutting down manlands, and Temple. Don't want to dismiss the card too early as narrow. We can definitely try some combination of Alpine Moon, D-Sphere and Fulminator Mages in the SB depending in your meta.
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Blood Crypt
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Street Wraith
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Deathshadow
1 Grim Flayer
30 Spells
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Faithless Looting
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
2 Manamorphose
2 Fatal Push
2 Tarfire
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
2 Temur Battle Rage
@Delver: Thanks for the advice on my sideboard. I can easily switch the Surgicals for Spellbomb, but I need to find a slot for Cage. With 3 Ooze main, will the Spellbombs be enough?
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
2 Raging Ravine
3 Treetop Village
2 Swamp
2 Forest
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Scavenging Ooze
21 Spells
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana the Last Hope
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Terminate
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Collective Brutality
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Back to Nature
1 Golgari Charm
1 Liliana the Last Hope
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Engineered Explosives
Matches and sideboarding:
2-1 Mono Green Land Destruction
Bob singlehandedly won me this match. Game 3, I'm down to 2 lands with a 5/5 Ooze and Bob against an overwhelming board. He was down to 3 and Bob revealed Bolt and I ripped the fetch on top to get red and win.
-2 Kolaghan's Command
+2 Collective Brutality
I miss Abrupt Decay. Multiple Sprawls is a beating. In hindsight, I should have brought in EE and Back to Nature maybe but I don't know what to cut.
2-1 Gwb Elves
Lost game 1 trying to stablize. He has an Archdruid and a Mystic. I killed the Archdruid and he CoCo in response revealing another Archdruid and Ezuri. It was downhill from there. Jund him out game 2 and 3 with LoTH and Lavaman.
-2 LoTV
-4 IoK
+2 Collective Brutality
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Liliana the Last Hope
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+1 Golgari Charm
2-0 UR Gifts Storm
Discard into Ooze and Bloodbraid game 1. He misplayed game 2 with 11 Storm count, he casted 3 Piece to Puzzle trying to find Past in Flames which was already in the yard. He discarded it earlier to Lily and forgot it's there. Hit me with Grapeshot for 12. I untap and exiled Past in Flames with Ooze and attacked along with with 2 Goyfs.
-1 Terminate
-1 Liliana the Last Hope
-2 Kolaghan's Command
-2 Bloodbraid Elf
+2 Surgical Extraction
+2 Collective Brutality
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Golgari Charm
I'm not sure if cutting BBE is correct but I certainly don't feel good tapping out on turn 4.
ID UR Gifts Storm
Decided to split but played a friendly game which I lost 0-2. Game 1 was close. Opened with 2 discard removing a ritual and Manamorphose. He was left with a hand of Grapeshot and Noxious Revival. I played Ooze and he Grapeshot it. I played BBE into LotH nex turn returning Ooze. He gifts end of turn. I Binned the second Grapeshot and another ritual with 3 open green mana. I tried to exile the 2 Grapeshots to which he responded with Noxious on the other copy but I did another Ooze activation in response leaving me tapped out. He played Baral on his turn with Past in Flames on hand and comboed off.
Game 2, I mulled down to 4 trying to find interaction. Kept a hand of 3 lands with LoTV. Couldn't do anything else. He sided out all bears for Pyromancer's Ascension and stormed off.
The list is similar to Jadine minus the Abrupt Decays. 25 land was okay. Treetop didn't really shined in my matchups today but it was so good in my testing against other fair decks and Tron as it is good in answering planeswalker. 2 is probably the correct number as it can really be clunky sometimes when drawn in multiples in the opening hand and is worse with color fixing.
Moving forward, I'll try Delver's list with 24 lands and try to squeeze at least a single copy of Abrupt Decay and a 3rd Ooze. Ponza style decks are gaining popularity in my LGS due to its good showing lately and being cheap. Abrupt Decay comes handy against Sprawls and Blood Moon. Scooze was impressive. Reid said he feels like getting away from murder with an unchecked Ooze and I agree. It provides so much utility in the deck. Appreciate any advice and feebacks. Thank you guys!
My sideboard also needs adjustments. No graveyard hate got me punished against Storm. Did't get to cast Surgical, it was mainly there for Tron but the card is just so hard to setup. even against Storm unless you get to discard their payoff cards. I'll try 2 Nihil Spellbomb and 1 Cage next time.
The sideboard is full of one-ofs mainly because I don't wanna be over side-boarding. I feel that in comparison to other fair/midrange decks which can board in more hate cards, with this deck we lose some synergy and aggression if we do the same.
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Mountain
16 Creatures
4 Death Shadow
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Street Wraith
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Thoughtseize
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Tarfire
2 Fatal Push
3 Kolaghan's Command
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dreadbore
2 Temur Battlerage
15 Sideboard
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Collective Brutality
1 Duress
1 Back to Nature
1 Golgari Charm
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Dreadbore
1 Hazoret the Fervent or Scavenging Ooze