Hand#1: Against Affinity, on the draw:
2x Scavenging Ooze, Lightning Bolt, Liliana of the Veil, Raging Ravine, Verdant Catacombs, Dark Confidant
Prior to reading the other replies I wanted to keep this because you have a good mix of lands and spells but in hind sight I wasn't taking the matchup that you gave us notice of into enough consideration. Just one bolt is not close to enough interaction to blunt their early game and I agree that ooze is not the blocker we need to keep a hand similar to this one. Against a random opponent I would definitely keep this on the draw but I'm not sure that's right. To be clear I don't value ooze in opening hands and having two is really bad but there are scenarios where the creatures could be fine (e.g. turn 1 ravine turn 2 ooze see if opponent kills it follow up with a confidant later). It's not a great outcome but that's how I'm thinking about it.
Hand #2: Against Random Opponent, G1, on the play:
2x Liliana of the Veil, Swamp, Forest, Overgrown Tomb, Thoughtseize, Kolaghan’s Command
My thought process is that thoughtseize is a good turn one play against almost everything, I've got three lands which I value pretty highly and LOTV is similarly good against the field so I feel drawn to keep even though it's not perfect with no castable removal spells. I'm reluctant to go to six cards when I have the potential to make two good plays in the first three turns of the game.
Hand #3: Against Tron, G2, on play (so you lost g1):
2x Inquisition of Kozilek, 2x Liliana of the Veil, Verdant Catacombs, Stomping Ground, Lightning Bolt
Honestly I want to keep this one too even though it's not applying the right kind of pressure to our nemesis. I'm hoping to nab a stirrings or a map early with the two IOKs (or a rest in peace if they're on GW Tron) and then draw the third land for LOTV - maybe it's good enough. I think that DeFish's argument to mull because there's no two drop creature is very reasonable and I want to agree with him but on my own I would keep it and probably be wrong to do so.
Hand #4: Against Random opponent, G1, on draw:
Swamp, Bloodstained Mire, Tarmogoyf, 2x Scavenging Ooze, Liliana of the Veil, Maelstrom Pulse
I don't like this hand because I dislike fetching so early when I want the third land ASAP with the oozes the LOTV and the pulse all in the opener. I think that I value deck thining more than I should and this impacts my decision to mull this. I would like the hand much more if the basic swamp was any other land. This being said I think it's defensible to keep as we are likely one draw step away from doing things so long as we draw a land or an interactive spell. Once again I think the other responses have convinced me that it's right to keep even if I might not have kept it myself.
Hand #5: Against Grixis Shadow, on the draw:
Verdant Catacombs, Bloodstained Mire, 2x Inquisition of Kozilek, Scavenging Ooze, Fatal Push, Kolaghan's Command
I would keep this hand. It has most of the elements that I want against shadow in the early game and is somewhat resilient to their turn one discard spell they almost always have even after sideboarding (is it just me?). I don't love IOKs against them and I probably would have boarded them out for some card advantage/better answers but they are situationally great against snapcasters/kcommands/shadows so maybe I'm wrong to cut them (for reference I usually good all IOKs and keep my thoughtseizes).
Thanks FlyingDelver for posing these scenerios. I'm curious what others would do.
Do you always mull for turn one discard on play and turn one kill spell when on the draw? How low do you mull down to?
Do you keep hands with 3 lands with 2 two drops but without a turn one play?
I'm running 23 lands and I ran 2x Blooming Marsh and 8 Fetches, would 9 fetches be better? because I seem to draw into A LOT of tapped lands
Thank you for asking these questions. Can anyone who is more experienced advise?
I also wonder about how many threats is too few/too many to keep. I think keeping hands with lots of disruption and good mana but no threats are easy to keep but hands with good mana and lots (2+) threats but no disruption are pretty sketchy but not sure if you must mulligan them hoping for the disruption you need in certain matchups. I think that hands with a couple 2 drop creatures, lands and a LOTV can be ok but not ideal with my logic being that LOTV is both a threat and relevant disruption vs most of the field.
Hi, I'm an MTGO player new to modern and new to classic jund midrange. I really struggle against D&T in the tournament practice room. Does anyone have any tips for the matchup or thoughts about my list? I'm trying a "balanced" sideboard plan right now as I'm not preparing to attack a specific meta, I just play because I love the cards and the strategy. The way games against D&T play out for me is that they lock me down with Leonin Arbiter + Ghost Quarter, kill all my lands and kill me in the late game with an overwhelming board of small to medium sized creatures after I fail to draw enough spot removal to stabilize, then after sideboarding I can't cast my wraths and they kill me with Miran Crusaders. I'm sure there are lots of changes I could make to my gameplan and to my in-game decision making to improve my match win percentage against them but I don't know where to start. I can appreciate that in theory the matchup shouldn't be terrible because they're trying to kill with creatures but in practice the mana denial really hurts.
Prior to reading the other replies I wanted to keep this because you have a good mix of lands and spells but in hind sight I wasn't taking the matchup that you gave us notice of into enough consideration. Just one bolt is not close to enough interaction to blunt their early game and I agree that ooze is not the blocker we need to keep a hand similar to this one. Against a random opponent I would definitely keep this on the draw but I'm not sure that's right. To be clear I don't value ooze in opening hands and having two is really bad but there are scenarios where the creatures could be fine (e.g. turn 1 ravine turn 2 ooze see if opponent kills it follow up with a confidant later). It's not a great outcome but that's how I'm thinking about it.
My thought process is that thoughtseize is a good turn one play against almost everything, I've got three lands which I value pretty highly and LOTV is similarly good against the field so I feel drawn to keep even though it's not perfect with no castable removal spells. I'm reluctant to go to six cards when I have the potential to make two good plays in the first three turns of the game.
Honestly I want to keep this one too even though it's not applying the right kind of pressure to our nemesis. I'm hoping to nab a stirrings or a map early with the two IOKs (or a rest in peace if they're on GW Tron) and then draw the third land for LOTV - maybe it's good enough. I think that DeFish's argument to mull because there's no two drop creature is very reasonable and I want to agree with him but on my own I would keep it and probably be wrong to do so.
I don't like this hand because I dislike fetching so early when I want the third land ASAP with the oozes the LOTV and the pulse all in the opener. I think that I value deck thining more than I should and this impacts my decision to mull this. I would like the hand much more if the basic swamp was any other land. This being said I think it's defensible to keep as we are likely one draw step away from doing things so long as we draw a land or an interactive spell. Once again I think the other responses have convinced me that it's right to keep even if I might not have kept it myself.
I would keep this hand. It has most of the elements that I want against shadow in the early game and is somewhat resilient to their turn one discard spell they almost always have even after sideboarding (is it just me?). I don't love IOKs against them and I probably would have boarded them out for some card advantage/better answers but they are situationally great against snapcasters/kcommands/shadows so maybe I'm wrong to cut them (for reference I usually good all IOKs and keep my thoughtseizes).
Thanks FlyingDelver for posing these scenerios. I'm curious what others would do.
Thank you for asking these questions. Can anyone who is more experienced advise?
I also wonder about how many threats is too few/too many to keep. I think keeping hands with lots of disruption and good mana but no threats are easy to keep but hands with good mana and lots (2+) threats but no disruption are pretty sketchy but not sure if you must mulligan them hoping for the disruption you need in certain matchups. I think that hands with a couple 2 drop creatures, lands and a LOTV can be ok but not ideal with my logic being that LOTV is both a threat and relevant disruption vs most of the field.
Thoughts?
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Scavenging Ooze
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Liliana of the Veil
Spells (18)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Abrupt Decay
4 Terminate
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blooming Marsh
2 Swamp
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
2 Collective Brutality
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Damnation
Edit: Formatting