Baloths have been great. So i used to run a thrun in the board for mirror match and control. the problem I noticed was i never drew it as a single copy and did not want to have a second in the 75. So I put in baloths and took out the thrun and moved the lavamancer to the main. What a difference. It helped close the gap in the Hollow one, Grixis Control and Burn MU.
Thanks for the reply! Baloths are absolutely backbreaking in the mirror, they block creatures all day (especially BBE), and can aggro a grixis player. I've had nothing but success with mine as well and think it's a matter of time before others adopt the card
How have the Baloths been for you? I feel like they're very playable now that Liliana/KCommand are major players in the format, not to mention its interaction with Burning Inquiry against Hallowed One.
It seems the only lists doing well online are 25 land builds, running few or now terminates, mostly 2 Pulses and 5-6 discard. I have no idea how these lists can consistantly beat Hollow One, Affinity or Humans.
Don't the lists that drop terminates usually pick up 2-3 Fatal Push? That should cover Affinity and Humans appropriately and then the extra pulse covers decks like Hallow One.
Do any of you have the deck foiled out? Or mixed foils? I've currently got scattered foils here and there due to card availability. I'dd say about 70% of the deck is unfoiled, and I'm debating whether I should downgrade the foils or slowly start upgrading the deck. Jund is the only deck I really like playing, and I've had it for a couple years now. But some of the foils are very expensive, and I don't know if there's any merit for it outside of some possible "intimidation" factor.
I think there's a few of us here the beauty of Jund in modern is that the cards are playable and good in all formats. So they'll be around for a long time. There's also no need to rush because modern is eternal. The investment is probably more sound than foiling most decks.
It's a long and hard journey; and in the end, foils play the same as non-foils. If you view the cards as JUST cards, I'd say just keep it non-foiled. If you're questioning if you should foil it out, you probably shouldn't.
I wish I could test both decks all day, but I have to finish my paper on treatment methods for the mentally ill and then read and write more about trauma
Gah. In the same boat with my school work. I feel that, my dude. I would be out playing Jund allllll week if I could!
I've got a question for you guys : what are your real feelings about BBE ?
Personally I find the card strong but we are no more in a proactive / reactive way to play our deck than we used to be.
I see so many streamers / players casting their BBE like : "Just turn the wheel and cross fingers to hit what we need" whereas we used to build our strategy and keep in hand needed cards for specific threats.
The fact that Jund is so popular right now piss me off too because I see soooo many bad or medium players trying to pilot our deck just because BBE was unbanned ...
I start to miss the era before unbanning when I played at a GP a T1 Raging Ravine then a T2 Dark Confidant, my opponent looked at me : "Oh ! Traditionnal Jund player still exist ?"
What are your thoughts about this statement ?
Gus
I'm not gonna lie, it's very hard to watch streamers and new players sometimes. I personally am very conservative about my elfs. I have a buddy that's back on Jund and has never played with the elf before in his life. He didn't understand why I was winning all the matches when playtesting, and it came down to how I played my BBE's vs himself.
I'm not a fan of the phrase "spinning the wheel". When playing BBE I try and set the game up to a point where when I play her - no bad card could come off the top. Unless the situation is critical, I'll never run an elf out without 100% confidence.
That being said, deck construction takes a little bit of a turn when trying to play the elf like that. To make this sort of play style optimal; in my mainboard I'm on no Fatal Push, Last Hope, 2 Scavenging Ooze , and 5 (approaching 6) man lands.
So it takes a bit of engineering but I've found it personally rewarding play traditionally is playing safe, playing patient, and knowing your windows of opportunity.
Yep! That's basically what I'm in. It's pretty cheap too. I'm all about helping MTG artist when I can, especially if it's with my own personal collection. I finally took the plunge to try it out.
-What are your basics of choice (as in what sets) for this deck and why?
Unhinged is the way to go. Their art is just so pretty. Although, mine are in the mail currently, so I'm rocking some Onslaught basics that match my older fetches
-Which Terminate do y’all run?
Planeshift all dey wey. Had mine from when I played during that set back in the day.
-Has anyone sprung for fancy Lightning Bolts?
Yep. Picked up a few Judge Bolts by trading at larger events I've traveled to, and decided to go all in and purchase the rest of the set. One of my favorite investments so far.
-Does everyone run the FNM BBE’s? If not, is it because you prefer another set/art or you just can’t find them at the moment?
Similarly to planeshift, I got my BBE's when I played them in standard. I traded/bought some promo's when they came out cuz they were just so gosh darn pretty and they're also by Argyle, who is a really cool dude and has a soft spot for Jund as well.
I think you have to tick LoTV up against Ponza regardless of Obstinate Baloth. LoTV is one of the best cards we have them because of her +1 ability which can tear their hand apart which is exactly what we want to do. Obstinate Baloth doesn't change that, you simply can't afford to board her out not to play her because you fear of Baloth.
If they have it they do, but otherwise she will always do a good work for us.
And I would simply disagree. Again, only certain cards matter. They can still run us over with titans, PK Nallar, and their BBE's. Them having an empty hand is only an extension of what is truly effective, which is taking away their power cards, and leaving them with the cards that do nothing or we can work around i.e. dorks, stone rain abilities, and Blood Moon (if you get lucky fetches).
Heart of the cards, man. Would you stop ticking LOTV up against Titanshift because of Baloth?
The edict isn't what makes LOTV so good, it's destroying the resources in their hand.
Ponza feels like a mixed bag to play against, it never feels easy, but it feels 50/50ish.
Well, you have a point. I wouldn't stop ticking her up if I still have her in the deck post-board. Usually I side them out.
Against them, targeted discard is the way to go. My reasoning on this is that in Titanshift and Scapeshift, I don't think every card in their deck matters in the matchup. Only certain cards like Through the Breach, Scapeshift, Titan's, Bring to Light, and other combo-centric matter. In our deck, I believe that EVERY card of ours matters. So I prefer to approach them with low cost selective hand disruption with thoughtseize, inquisition, and collective brutality.
That being said, assessing the two modes on LoTV; her +1 is now not exactly to our benefit because some of their cards don't matter and all of ours do. And her -2 doesn't matter much either thanks to dorks or hasty breaching. Which, in my opinion, makes her mediocre at best; and our deck trims mediocre cards for other cards post board.
What's your experience against the new BBE Ponza decks? Tested against the deck yesterday and it always felt like an uphill battle. Stone Rain, Blood Moon and threats like Inferno Titan and Stormbreath Dragon are a big problem for Jund, especially when being on the draw.
Edit: (Postboard) Knowing they boarded in several Baloths, would you board out Lili, gamble with +1 or only use her edict effect?
The matchup is how it always is, it really hasn't changed. Early disruption followed up by a goyf is where you wanna be. Make sure to fetch your basic forest before anything so you can play your 'threat' creatures under a Blood Moon. With BBE I think our deck improved more than theirs. I've had mull to 5's beat that deck quite frequently.
I personally board out LoTV in most potential Baloth situation. It's so backbreaking to our deck (which is why I give a sideboard slot to the card). LoTV's edict effect isn't too good here anyways since they got dorks and cards that don't matter in the long-run. But then again, it's all how you set up the deck post-sideboard. My feelings are different than @FlyingDelver's
Thanks for the reply! Baloths are absolutely backbreaking in the mirror, they block creatures all day (especially BBE), and can aggro a grixis player. I've had nothing but success with mine as well and think it's a matter of time before others adopt the card
How have the Baloths been for you? I feel like they're very playable now that Liliana/KCommand are major players in the format, not to mention its interaction with Burning Inquiry against Hallowed One.
Don't the lists that drop terminates usually pick up 2-3 Fatal Push? That should cover Affinity and Humans appropriately and then the extra pulse covers decks like Hallow One.
I think there's a few of us here
It's a long and hard journey; and in the end, foils play the same as non-foils. If you view the cards as JUST cards, I'd say just keep it non-foiled. If you're questioning if you should foil it out, you probably shouldn't.
Gah. In the same boat with my school work. I feel that, my dude. I would be out playing Jund allllll week if I could!
I'm not gonna lie, it's very hard to watch streamers and new players sometimes. I personally am very conservative about my elfs. I have a buddy that's back on Jund and has never played with the elf before in his life. He didn't understand why I was winning all the matches when playtesting, and it came down to how I played my BBE's vs himself.
I'm not a fan of the phrase "spinning the wheel". When playing BBE I try and set the game up to a point where when I play her - no bad card could come off the top. Unless the situation is critical, I'll never run an elf out without 100% confidence.
That being said, deck construction takes a little bit of a turn when trying to play the elf like that. To make this sort of play style optimal; in my mainboard I'm on no Fatal Push, Last Hope, 2 Scavenging Ooze , and 5 (approaching 6) man lands.
So it takes a bit of engineering but I've found it personally rewarding
I know... this is my first time with it and my nerves are running high. We'll see how it goes!
Unhinged is the way to go. Their art is just so pretty. Although, mine are in the mail currently, so I'm rocking some Onslaught basics that match my older fetches
https://shop.tcgplayer.com/magic/onslaught/swamp-341
https://magiccards.info/on/en/347.html
-Which Terminate do y’all run?
Planeshift all dey wey. Had mine from when I played during that set back in the day.
-Has anyone sprung for fancy Lightning Bolts?
Yep. Picked up a few Judge Bolts by trading at larger events I've traveled to, and decided to go all in and purchase the rest of the set. One of my favorite investments so far.
-Does everyone run the FNM BBE’s? If not, is it because you prefer another set/art or you just can’t find them at the moment?
Similarly to planeshift, I got my BBE's when I played them in standard. I traded/bought some promo's when they came out cuz they were just so gosh darn pretty
And I would simply disagree. Again, only certain cards matter. They can still run us over with titans, PK Nallar, and their BBE's. Them having an empty hand is only an extension of what is truly effective, which is taking away their power cards, and leaving them with the cards that do nothing or we can work around i.e. dorks, stone rain abilities, and Blood Moon (if you get lucky fetches).
Well, you have a point. I wouldn't stop ticking her up if I still have her in the deck post-board. Usually I side them out.
Against them, targeted discard is the way to go. My reasoning on this is that in Titanshift and Scapeshift, I don't think every card in their deck matters in the matchup. Only certain cards like Through the Breach, Scapeshift, Titan's, Bring to Light, and other combo-centric matter. In our deck, I believe that EVERY card of ours matters. So I prefer to approach them with low cost selective hand disruption with thoughtseize, inquisition, and collective brutality.
That being said, assessing the two modes on LoTV; her +1 is now not exactly to our benefit because some of their cards don't matter and all of ours do. And her -2 doesn't matter much either thanks to dorks or hasty breaching. Which, in my opinion, makes her mediocre at best; and our deck trims mediocre cards for other cards post board.
The matchup is how it always is, it really hasn't changed. Early disruption followed up by a goyf is where you wanna be. Make sure to fetch your basic forest before anything so you can play your 'threat' creatures under a Blood Moon. With BBE I think our deck improved more than theirs. I've had mull to 5's beat that deck quite frequently.
I personally board out LoTV in most potential Baloth situation. It's so backbreaking to our deck (which is why I give a sideboard slot to the card). LoTV's edict effect isn't too good here anyways since they got dorks and cards that don't matter in the long-run. But then again, it's all how you set up the deck post-sideboard. My feelings are different than @FlyingDelver's