MTG Salvation

Brought the following list to a local FNM after driving 2 hours to get back home. Went straight from the highway to the LGS and went 4-1 with the following Temur list. First I'll post a quick rundown of matches.


R1 vs. Matthew (MonoRed/RW/something) 2-1
The guy wasn't great. So a miserable matchup turned into a fine one. Game 1 I hit all 3 Thunderbreak Regents and he had to kill each one with burn spells, leading to 12 damage over the course of the game. Game 2 I had in the bag. I stopped a Deflecting Palm with Wild Slash to knock him to 3, but should have attacked with my mana guys. Because at 3 he had enough life to crack two fetch lands and hit me with 2 Exquisite Firecrafts for dead. Game 3 was easy. Just a whole bunch of Stubborn Denial making him sad.

R2 vs. Brian (UR Tutelage) 2-1
I lost game 1 to a mana screw and him hitting double/triple Tutelage. Not much to say there. Game 2 hit landed an early Xenagos and had Back to Nature for when he tried to draw off his double Tutelage. Game 3 he was never able to get more than a single tutelage up at a time, and Savage Knuckleblade did the rest of the work. Anger of the Gods and Encase in Ice look really silly against Papa Knucks.

R3 vs. Travis (Mardu Aggro/Midrage) 2-1
Not a Dragons deck. It was playing things like Sarkhan, Elspeth, Hordeling Outburst, and Butcher of the Horde. Game 1 I got kinda lucky. I hit his Butcher with a Reality Shift after he sacked a whole bunch of goblins to it, and he manifested a Crackling Doom. At that point I had enough pressure to just fly over the top and kill him. Game 2 I couldn't get my footing and he smashed me with Goblins and Rabblemaster. Game 3 was close, and he landed a Sorin to Stabilize and go from 4 to 10. But I was able to Stormbreath and Craters Claws for exactly lethal.

R4 vs. Joshua (Abzan Control) 1-2
Game 1 saw me hit every elf in my deck. And Xenagos. Not exactly what you want to see vs. some one playing Drown in Sorrow and Languish. Game 2 was a piece of cake. I had all the right threats to his removal and all the right answers (Stubborn Denial) to his other things. Game 3 finally looked like I might stabilize, but I was at 1 after landing Atarka, and he had 2 guys left to kill me with.

R5 vs. Steven (Bant Megamorph) 2-0
Pretty easy, all things considered. Game 1 saw Thunderbreak Regent jump in early. I actually missed two Regent triggers when he tried to Dromoka's command his Deathmist Raptor and fight my dragon...twice. I had to Reality shift his guy, and he responded with the second Command...so I responded with the second shift. So I missed 6 damage that way. Didn't really matter, since I then dropped Stormbreath and knocked him to 6 with lethal in hand. Game 2 was just about the same. Double Regents make for rough beats against Deathmist Raptor decks, and I knew I could race it pretty easily.





Notes on individual cards.
Reality Shift is the only card that answers everything. Unfortunately. It's really not my favorite thing to be doing, but it answers Hangarback, Dragonlords, and various other flying threats all at instant speed on the cheap. The manifest they get can go either way. Sometimes they'll manifest a key removal spell or planeswalker. Other times they'll get a creature and you'll be back to square one. It's something you have to really measure and I don't blame anyone else who doesn't want to play it.

I'm split on Shaman of Forgotten Ways. Sometimes it's absolutely great. Other times it doesn't do enough. That said, It was VERY easy for me to get to the required 11 mana during the night, and I was able to activate the Shaman against my Abzan opponent in Game 1. I didn't, because then I'd die on the crack-back. But I almost had it.

Xenagos is still the best card in the deck. Man. It's insane and probably not even close. I wish I could find a way to play more of him. Stormbreath might be next, but Xenagos gives you everything this deck needs in just about every matchup.

Stubborn Denial is unreal. It's just so good and probably exactly what this deck wants. It's such a blowout against Abzan and UB. In my mind it's the single reason to be playing Temur over GR Dragons/Midrange/Aggro. If you're not playing Stubbs, why bother playing Blue at all? It means you get to laugh at Languish and removal spells.

Dragonlord Atarka and Crater's Claws are simply the best things you can be doing with all the man the deck makes. If I can, I'll never tap out for either, because leaving one blue open to represent stubbs is fantastic.


I'd like to fit some of the following into the deck, at least to test.

Icefall Regent: It seems like a decent hedge against other creature decks. Plus you might get to live the dream with it and Thunderbreak to make removing it extra difficult.

Draconic Roar: With 9 dragons main-deck, I feel like some number of these is pretty good. Unfortunately, my non-creature spell slots are pretty tight. I don't think it's better than Crater's Claws, and it's definitely worse than Reality Shift against Siege Rhino and Hangarback Walker.

Magma Spray: This can easily be put in instead of Wild Slash to deal with Hangarback. I like Slash against the odd Deflecting Palm or Foggy deck, though. And most of the decks that play Hangarback are also decks you REALLY don't want Spray against either.

Hornet Nest: If Goblins/Mono-red Dudes becomes more of the red-based meta than MonoRed Burn, Hornet Nest gets the nod over Feed the Clan. Man, I really hate Feed the Clan, but it's a pretty solid chunk of life...

Quote from EL997 »

Thanks alot for your help man, super informative and useful

I was thinking maybe on doubling up my pain lands (going 4x shivan reef) and looking for some stomping grounds. Wooded foothills are definitely out of my budget right now though.

I'd hold off on Stomping Grounds...they're not Standard legal...soooo...

But I'd buy foothills. If you want to play a 3-color deck in standard you kinda need Fetch lands. There's really no comparison.

My question essentially is what are you trying to get out of Purphoros? He seems fine in those hands where you flood the board and can drop him sometime around Xenagos. But he's a pretty miserable top deck most of the time. And is especially useless on an empty field. What I'm getting at is why him? If you're looking for a 1-of/fun-of wouldn't it be better to get something with higher impact? Almost any of the other Temur Gods seem preferable. I mean...I've even had great luck with the Dragonlord since it's usually a great top deck and awesome when you flood out. The face is your deck is built a lot like CVMs initial GR dragons list from Syracuse where topping off at Atarka was the end goal. You even have multiple ways to ramp it out even faster with flipped rattleclaw and Xenagos.

Again, just a thought. I'm not sure your reasoning on Purphoros, so maybe I missed something.

Quote from ryansolid »

First, no 4th Yavimaya Coast. I know it's a small thing but the odds of T2 Knuckleblade go up so much from it's inclusion. I guess the only 8 red untapped sources T2 after that is limiting factor enough. It's probably why I was doing so much pain to myself when I was playing Knuckleblade. It was still super powerful. Short of them having T2 Valorous Stance you were so ahead. That leverage elf angle is a lot less here maybe it's not that significant. I think it's generally fine but ups the probability of clunky hands.

I had that 4th Coast for the longest while...on top of a 2nd Mana Confluence. When I was going harder on the Aggro plan (with Frost Walker, Heir of the Wilds, Boon Satyr, etc) I felt there was no room for discussion when it came to that Coast. It was just THERE. That said, going Sarkhanyer generally meant making sure the land-drops also weren't as painful because I was expecting a slightly longer game. Dropping the 1 Coast was tough, but I needed to make sure I could still hit double-red on turn 3 or 4. Playing a Temple of Mystery over it generally helps in the longer games that I'm expecting. On top of that, the odds aren't THAT much worse. Your turn1 play HAD to be either Coast or Confluence into Elf. Which then had to be either Mountain, or a Pain/Fetch land. It wasn't the least-usual occurrence. But it did lead to some trap hands. Going forward it might be the right move, but only time will tell. Final note: my preferred method of playing a Knuckleblade is on turn 3 with 1 blue-red land untapped...and passing the turn.

The second is more general. I've been trying to determine why we would ever side Wild Slash over say Magma Spray. Main deck hits the player is a great argument but I mean when are you bringing shock in. The upside against Raid and Morph decks seems huge. Maybe you wouldn't bring them in there but it's considerable.

I only ever really side Wild Slash in against the Atarka Red or Monored Decks...maybe Heroic on the play. Those matchups are pretty abysmal. I REALLY wish we had a less narrow answer card. But that's what I've come to. Worse comes to worse, those decks stumble and you can start shooting them in the face.

Finally is Crater's Claws still a thing? I've been wondering this for a while. I stopped playing it a month and half or so back. I did lose in the mirror to it once yesterday which is the first time I've lost in the mirror since February. Usually it feels like something easy to mitigate and if the postboard plan involves Disdainful Stroke it usually equals Time Walk. But obviously the mirror doesn't matter. It's more of what has fundamentally changed in the format that it isn't as good anymore (same reason unfortunately I hung up my pet card Shaman).. Surrak the Hunt Caller means other aggressive green decks aren't giving you the time. It's a kin to more people playing Siege Rhino. Yes Claws kills Siege Rhino but it also generally costs you 4 mana to do so. They play the 2nd one and you are probably in trouble unless you were significantly ahead. It's the fact they can race you with Surrak now. Additionally while at 2 mana it's a nice temporary foil to Deathmist the timing of Deathmist means you aren't getting in as much damage early so Claws as a finisher is a lot weaker. Arguably it's still a planeswalker killer but generally the increased efficiency of threats now doesn't give the time to waste most of a turn. People are playing big Dragons and counterspells. Claws was always weak against control but it's now a bit of a trap. Unless they tap out you are in this situation where you got go for it and spend a turn but you know you are probably going to get out done on mana efficiency, allowing them to say counter your spell and dig in the same turn. It was common in old lists to trade out Claws for better specific removal and keep it as a sort of concession game 1 but it's verging on not even relevant g1. I like it better than say Roast main deck but I'm trying to figure out if there is anywhere you even passably want it. Like would you ever side into in a matchup if it was in your sideboard as cards 16/17?

I side 1 claws out against the typical Esper list...Initially I had more Roast in the main, but drawing them against Esper when it was the most represented deck in the meta was miserable. Sometimes though, you just gotta get 'em. I don't know if I'd sideboard the Claws in against anything if they were in the board. But I only ever really sideboard them out against Esper. Maybe I'd drop to 1 against MonoRed. But there it's basically a Pillar of Flame.

Sometimes you hit a board stall against another midrange deck (mostly Abzan), and you just need that last bit of reach to punch through. It's why I dropped down to 2 of them. We don't have many mana-efficient answers to big dragons (short of Reality Shift or the very narrow Plummet-type spells), and sometimes you just need to shoot something big. What's nice about Crater's Claws is its scaling effect, which is pretty typical for Temur. If you have board presence and are either even or ahead on the field, you're doing great. When you're behind it's a bit of a slog.

Went 3-0 at a little FNM with the following list. It was a barely-competitive crowd, so I didn't know whether to expect brews or actual decks. Still, the mark of a decent deck is the ability to not really care either way and just win regardless.



R1 vs Abzan Megamorph: I'm assuming Megamorph, at least. There were Deathmist Raptors and Den Protectors on his end too. Game 1 I flooded pretty hard, but Games 2 and 3 were pretty par for the course. If the Abzan deck can't get a raided Wingmate Roc going, I don't find many issues with the matchup at all. There are certainly situations where you can't catch up from behind, but that's more the exception than the rule.

R2 vs Abzan Fly-Guys: The deck was playing mostly like an Abzan Aggro deck, but it also had Herald of Torment and Dragonlord Dromoka to close out the game. Which is what he did Game 1. Game 2 I was able to Roast a Hornet Nest and keep him at bay with those and some Xenagos tokens. While Game 3 ended with a huge Crater's Claws, despite a bestowed Herald of Torment on a Siege Rhino.

R3 vs Grixis Control: I'm guessing. It was big on Anger of the Gods, which kept my Deathmist shenanigans in check. Once I was past that, however, bigger creatures like Savage Knuckleblade and some dragons closed out the games. Game 2 saw me lose to my own dudes off an Ashiok. But Game 3 was an easy sweep. Anger of the Gods looks silly when you play it against Big Knucks and Thunderwings.

Quote from Ramon H »

Brian Dolan's Deck:

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures (23) 4 Savage Knuckleblade 4 Stormbreath Dragon 4 Sylvan Caryatid 4 Thunderbreak Regent 3 Whisperwood Elemental 4 Courser of Kruphix Lands (24) 3 Forest 3 Mountain 4 Frontier Bivouac 2 Shivan Reef 2 Temple of Abandon 2 Temple of Mystery 4 Wooded Foothills 4 Yavimaya Coast	Spells (13) 3 Lightning Strike 4 Stubborn Denial 3 Wild Slash 3 Crater's Claws	Sideboard 3 Ashcloud Phoenix 1 Encase in Ice 4 Disdainful Stroke 1 Feed the Clan 1 Plummet 1 Anger of the Gods 2 Roast 2 Seismic Rupture

I must say it looks wonky. No Mystics, heavy top end, I don't really like the removal suite or the creaturebase. Yet he got 10th with this, so there's that.

My biggest issue with his list (other than the creature suite) is the 4 Stubborn Denial. I only ever ran 3 when UB(g) was a big part of the meta during FRF. Now with so many control and midrange finishers being creatures it just seems like a risky move to run a full 4. Against Whip it essentially only counters Whip itself...maybe a removal spell. Having 4 against Abzan Aggro and watching them curve from Lion into Anafenza into Rhino is another miserable feeling. I fully support 2, and can understand 3. But 4? I think that's going too deep.

Quote from Dhamkhari »

3rd matchup was vs. Abzan aggro. 1st game was close, but Thunderbreak Regents killed him in the end. G2 I boarded in the Disdainful Strokes to counter his Rhino's. That worked out great.

What are the other targets for Disdainful Stroke against Abzan Aggro though? Other than Rhino, a Sorin, and maybe a Wingmate Roc if they bring those in, everything on their curve dodges it. And they're perfectly happy just playing those 1-3 drop creatures and making them impossible to deal with.

Tournament Report – April 18th, 2015
Gamers Helping Gamers Charity 2K - Catskill, NY
Record: 6-2-1
Final Standing: 2nd place

Working for TCGplayer is a blast. One of the best things about the company is how much it wants to give back to the community. My supervisors have a ton of amazing long-term ideas for getting involved with the community and giving back in a big way. One of the big Magic-related ones is a charity tournament. We decided that the best thing to do in order to prepare for that would be arming ourselves with as much knowledge and information on how charity events are run as possible. We were lucky to find a 2K charity event at Kirwan's Game Store just a few hours down the road.

I went with two friends and co-workers from TCG: "Cool Guy" Jon, and Dan, the guy who's really pushing for all our community outreach. Traveling with friends is a great way to make time pass quickly, and the 3 hour car ride flew by.

I wasn't expecting much going into the event. I'd played only a little bit of magic post-DTK, finishing pretty dismally at SCGSyracuse with Temur Aggro/Midrange. I was excited watching PT coverage, because I saw all the UBx Control decks. As a die-hard Stubborn Denial player, nothing made me happier than that. So I continued playing with Temur, while Jon brought his PPTQ-winning Abzan Aggro deck, and Dan decided to play "Sidisi-Atarka Whip."

Here's the list I was playing:



A lot of the sideboard is a concession to the pretty abysmal Mono-Red matchup. The UBx Control match is pretty easy, especially post-board. I was somewhat concerned with the Abzan Aggro matchup, but I wasn't terribly worried about it. Most of the deck's matches want to be the ones where you're on the offensive.

Round 1 vs. Scott M (Mono-Red Devotion) 2-1 - WIN
Interesting deck, and Scott completely ran me over the first game...though I almost had lethal. Game 2 was much better; I had all the right aggression and removal to keep him clear of anything he was going to do. Game 3 was more of a nail-biter; with both of us drawing things out. I had a Hornet Nest and 4 insect tokens out and just slowly chipped away at him over the course of a few turns. He tried one last time to have some blockers in the way, but I landed a Surrak, the Hunt Caller and that was that.

Round 2 vs. Dan F (Sidisi-Atarka Whip) 1-2 - LOSS
I got paired up against my friend Dan this round. And while I ran him over in the first game, he managed to hit Hornet Queen in the second with Whip of Erebos out and I knew I couldn't win. The third game ended with him dropping a Dragonlord Atarka to my 3 lands, and there was no way I was winning that.

Round 3 vs. Mark M (UB Dragon Control) 2-1 - WIN
I noticed that Mark was on the Dragon-Control deck while walking around the venue, so I was feeling pretty confident in the matchup, even though he was on the play. Pre-board I have so many good spells against him, and almost everything I play has haste. The only damage I took all the first game was due to my own pain and fetch lands. Game 2 was different; I opened way too slowly and gave him too much chance to respond to what I was doing. I did manage to knock him down to six, but he'd already stolen 2 of my creatures with Ashiok and countered my last-ditch Crater's Claws for lethal. Game 3 was more of the first. I had insurance against Crux of fate by having a mix of dragons and non-dragons out, was able to counter his AEtherspouts with Stubborn Denial, and just held up threats until he was forced to play on his turn. He ended up unable to do that and just died.

Round 4 vs. Jeremy L (Jeskai Aggro) 2-1 - WIN
This matchup has always been rough for me and Game 1 showed it. He had an insane amount of aggression with Raise the Alarm, Dragon Fodder, and Goblin Rabblemaster...with just enough removal to keep me from doing anything. Game 2 was the opposite. I had everything I needed: Wild Slash for the Rabblemaster, Fanatic of Xenagos, and a Hornet Nest. He hit Anger of the Gods on my board to give me three insect tokens, and I dropped a Surrak next turn to swing for 8 damage. He killed the Surrak and an insect and was forced to 2. Then to 1. And then died. I did the same in Game 3, except this time I hit the Roast on my Hornet Nest to give myself 5 flying attackers.

Round 5 vs. Chris S (Abzan Company) 2-0 - WIN
I had no idea what he was playing at first, but some early attacks and a timely Boon Satyr bestow helped me clear his board. Game 2 came close, he clogged up the ground with Pharika snakes, Coursers, Warrior Tokens, and a Siege Rhino. So even with my Thunderbreak I was in trouble at 3. All the same, I hit a Stormbreath off the top and killed him at the last possible minute.

Round 6 vs. Max M (Abzan Aggro) 0-0-3 ID - DRAW
We were locked for Top 8 and drew in.

Top 8 vs. Randall S (Bant Heroic) 2-0 - WIN
The eight of us decided to split the 2K prize evenly since the payout was so top-heavy. In that case we just chose to play for glory. I was feeling no pressure at all against one of my worst matchups in Heroic. Still, I had some early aggression and despite being knocked to 5 I was able to wrap up the win with some Stormbreath and Thunderbreak flying action. Game 2 was even more in my favor. I roasted his 5/5 Hero of Iroas, leaving him with just some 1/2's and 0/4's. He had Encase in Ice for two of my creatures, but Surrak was still on the field giving everyone haste regardless, and I wrapped up the win.

Top 4 vs. Chris P (Esper Dragon Control) 2-0 - WIN
As we sat down, my opponent was very cordial and excitedly explained how happy he was to beat his worst matchup in Mono Red while on the draw last round. I suspected he was on UBx since those decks have a tough time with Mono Red...and that was great news for me! The only damage I ever took that game was to my own lands, and I just continued churning out threats he couldn't deal with. Game 2 was all in my favor. Again I had a good mix of dragons and non-dragons to keep him stuck off Crux of Fate. And I had the Disdainful Stroke for his attempt at a Dragonlord Silumgar. After he tapped out for that, I had enough mana to cast a Xenagos, the Reveler and just continue making 2/2 tokens to join the remaining 11 power on my board and attack with. Not even Ojutai and a Foul-Tongue Invocation could help him.

Finals vs. Jon C (Abzan Aggro) 0-2 – LOSS
Cool Guy Jon is MUCH better at Wizard Squares than I am. He's been playing competitively for MUCH longer and just has a better sense for the game. He's one of the (if not THE) first people I go to when I'm looking for card choices and deck advice. I've played against his Abzan deck a lot, and it's probably 60-40 in his favor. Unfortunately for me, the games in the Finals were pretty solidly in that 60 percentile, and he ran me over pretty handily. Still, we had a great time. Jon is always a blast to play.



All in all I was quite happy with how the day went. Frost Walker was fine, but I'm not sure how happy I was with it throughout the day. I'm going to test Scaleguard Sentinels instead of it. It doesn't turn on Ferocious, but it can become a 3/4 and compete with a good chunk of the rest of the format.

Quote from Dhamkhari »

Concerning the rplacement of Temur Sabertooth, I tried Yasova, but she never did anything for me. Her ability wasn't something I really used, I needed the mana for more threats or some removal most of the time, so she ended up being a 4/2 trampler. Not too shabby, but nothing stellar. The bigger butt on the Sabertooth came in quite handy, and the bounce ability saved 2 cards a few times, with me getting another trigger of ascendancy from time to time. All in all handy, but I'm not sure that's the best to come up with. Polukranos might be an idea, I'll have to test that, although I don't really like the mana investment that much. Time and testing will have to tell.

Both cost the same and Poly-K has a lot more general upside. 5 power puts it out of burn range, and its ability can close out a game if you get flooded later on.

Quote from twicky_kid »

I really don't know how you can innovate this deck. I think the current build is good but just that. You have to work for every single win. There is no free match up like some other decks.

The freest win I've ever had in Magic was the Temur Midrange/Aggro list against UBx Control. I've lost maybe...a single game (?) against it sine KTK first came out. With UBx taking up the Blue-based control spot in the meta (for some ungodly reason. I don't get it. It's not good) Temur just walks all over them. Stubborn Denial just trumps anything they're trying to do.

any changes you would make to the deck?

Not in the main deck. I was very happy with it overall. I am, however, trying Destructive Revelry in place of Back to Nature, and 2 Hornet Nest instead of Burn Away and Aetherspouts.

I hadn't played in a competitive Standard event since the release of Fate Reforged, nor had I played in one during the latter few weeks. I'd played in one of the last (actual) PTQs in the area with the 4-Color Soul/Delve deck. I brought both the 4-Color Delve deck and the Temur Monsters deck with me for the event, eventually deciding on Temur because of my familiarity with the archetype, and the plethora of U/B Control lists I was expecting.

Fate Reforged brought a bunch of new cards for Temur: Shaman of the Great Hunt, Yasova Dragonclaw, Wild Slash, and Reality Shift. I had contemplated things like Flamewake Phoenix, Frost Walker, Monastery Siege, and Whisperwood Elemental; but the Phoenix seemed less impressive than my current 3-drops and unable to turn on Ferocious by itself. Frost Walker was a bit too fragile for my tastes. Monastery Siege didn't have enough immediate impact. And Whisperwood Elemental competed with Stormbreath Dragon, Surrak Dragonclaw, and Nissa, Worldwaker for 5-drop spots.

I went with Derek, a friend and coworker from TCGplayer.com, and played the following list to a 2nd place finish: Temur Dragonclaws, Monsters of the Great Hunt

Round 1 vs. Derek P. [UB Control] 2-0 WIN
Getting paired against Derek was both hilarious and unfortunate...for him. I was his worst matchup, and we've played enough games for him to know the matchup inside and out...and that it was basically a freebie for him. When most of my deck reads: "you take 4," then it's hard for a control deck to come back from that. Indeed, when backed up by counter magic like Stubborn Denial and Disdainful Stroke it's almost impossible. Game 2 ended off the back of a timely Surrak Dragonclaw coming down on his end step after he had exhausted all his removal spells.

Round 2 vs. Orren T. [Jeskai Tokens] 2-1 WIN
Jeskai Tokens is one of the deck's hardest matchups. Game 1 was close. With both of us at 2 while he had the last pieces of burn to take me out. I misused Yasova; instead of attacking with her, I should have just continued to steal his creatures and hold her back. Instead he was able to kill her in combat and keep me on the back foot. Game 2 was different. I had compete control. Arc Lightning and Wild Slash were all stars in keeping his board clear. Game 3 was much closer. But those same cards kept me from dying.

Round 3 vs. Jake K. [RW Aggro] 1-2 LOSE
The RW deck shares many cards with Jeskai, so the matchup is equally difficult. I was able to take Game1 pretty handily. Though I stumbled in Game 2. In the clincher, I kept 1 land mull-to-6 and didn't hit the second land until it was way too late.

Round 4 vs. Stephen R. [RW Aggro] 2-1 WIN
I managed to take the last two games of this round. I wasn't able to get my footing in the first though. As with Jeskai Tokens, Wild Slash and Arc Lightning were all stars. And between them and my much larger creatures, I took the last two.

Round 5 vs. Andrew G. [Sultai Control] 1-1-1 ID
After doing some quick math, we both realized we were locked in for Top 8 as long as we drew.

Quarterfinals (Top 8) vs. Andrew G. [Sultai Control] 2-0 WIN
As it always seems to go, I end up playing my draw from the previous round of Swiss I. The Top 8. He was on Sultai Contril. But like UB, these matchups are very easy. I took damage from my fetch and pain lands, and that was it. Everything else was my creatures pushing through.

Semifinals (Top 4) vs. Carlos C. [GR Aggro] 2-0 WIN
It had been quite a while since I'd played a GRx mirror. I was undefeated in Monsters Mirrors lifetime during the RTR-THS era standard, and was hoping to continue my streak through this season too. Game 1 was tough, but I had it in the bag. He was a bit more Aggro-centric than my build, which allowed me to slow down and take a punishing route. The end was a Crater's Claws to the dome. Game 2 was VERY close. He got me down to 2, while I swung to clear his entire board except an elvish mystic and drop him to 1. He drew an Ashcloud Phoenix that I saw revealed off ofCourser of Kruphix. And I was pretty sure I was set. Then he revealed a Chandra, and I thought I was dead; thinking he could cast the Chandra, ping me, and attack for lethal with his elf. His lands, however, betrayed him. One of his 4 lands was a Mana Confluence, and he wouldn't have been able to cast Chandra and attack on the same turn.

Finals vs. Zach M. [RW Aggro] 0-2 LOSE
Zach and I split the prize payout before playing and decided to just play for the invite to the Regional PTQ. I did my best Game 1, and almost had it. But some timely burn put me out of range. By the start of Game 2, I'd been playing for more than 7 hours and was tired. I took a mulligan to 6 and kept a hand with 4 Elvish Mystics and 2 lands...they almost got me there. But in the end it just took me WAY too long to get anything going.

Here are my general sideboard notes for the day, broken down by archetype.

UBx Control:

IN: 1x Stubborn Denial; 2x Disdainful Stroke; 1x Surrak Dragonclaw; 1x Nissa, Worldwaker; 2x Xenagos, the Reveler.
OUT: 2x Wild Slash; 2x Polukranos, World Eater; 2x Crater's Claws; 1x Elvish Mystic

Notes: If they're playing Green, they often end up playing Kiora. In that case it's sometimes right to keep a Wild Slash in as insurance. Elvish Mystics are also notoriously bad Topdecks, so if you're on the draw, you don't mind removing one.

RWx Aggro:

IN: 1x Stubborn Denial, 3x Arc Lightning, 1x AEtherspouts, 1x Reality Shift, (2x Back to Nature)
OUT: 3x Boon Satyr, 2x Stormbreath Dragon, 1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

Notes: Sometimes it feels right to bring in Back to Nature. It's a solid card when your opponent is casting Chained to the Rocks and Jeskai Ascendency. I'm still not sure if that's the right thing to do though.

GRx Aggro:

IN: 1x Burn Away; 1x Nissa, Worldwaker; 1x Surrak Dragonclaw; 1x AEtherspouts; 2x Disdainful Stroke; 1x Reality Shift.
OUT: 2x Stubborn Denial; 2x Wild Slash; 1x Boon Satyr; 1x Yasova Dragonclaw; 1x Shaman of the Great Hunt

Notes: I brought out a lot of 1-ofs because I wasn't quite sure which of them was best/worst in this matchup. The deck runs a lot of 4/2 creatures, so with my opponent playing Magma Jet and Lightning Strike I knew they probably weren't great. There was, of course, the chance that the opponent sided-out those burn spells, but having those out already seemed like a good idea.

Overall I had a great time. The deck performed really well, even if I didn't at times. Would I play this deck again? Absolutely. I'm still King of the Monsters.

Quote from Strawberry »

Great report Kamotz, and well tuned list. The plays were quite good too, as far as I saw. There was one point where I noticed you could/should've attacked with Mutavault (which the streamers pointed out), but I'll give you props for the uncommon line of Monstrous:ing a Pack Rat to force a Mutavault activation.

All in all your performance seems to prove Jund M is not yet dead. I think Nissa is not only a great card, but also improves important matchups (black, blue, uw) quite a bit when she hits.

Myself I'm considering if I can keep on not using Ultimate Price main deck (I only run 2 Golgari Charm/2 Mizzium Mortars at the moment) in favor of squeezing in an extra planeswalker (3 Domri/3 Xena/1 Chandra/1 Nissa). Maybe if I add the third Ghor-Clan Rampager (seeing as Desecration Demon is the creature I'm most eager to kill anyway).

I think if you want to kill the demon, Ultimate Price/Dreadbore is the way to go. Too often, they simply kill your bloodrushed creature, and then you're out of luck. Demon is the one creature that Black-based decks have over us. A pack rat can run over us if left unchecked, but we have outs to it. But the Demon and Master of Waves are both trickier to deal with (Tidebinder is another creature I like having an instant-speed, eot answer to). I've moved Golgari Charms from the maindeck, since in all but one matchup they're much less useful than other spells. I'm less impressed with Chandra these days. I really like the card, but it just seems mostly lackluster.

I probably SHOULD have attacked with the Mutavault. At the same time. I was wary of removal spells and getting overrun by rats. I went for caution. Since if the next turn went as it did, he could've attacked for at least 10, and I'm not sure I could race 5/5+ rats.

Now that I live in Syracuse, I was excited to be in town for the SCG Open. I made sure months in advance to get the Saturday off. Going into the tournament, I was trying to decide between the Jund Planeswalkers or the Jund Monsters decks. I have a whole lot of experience with Monsters, but the Planeswalker deck seemed pretty good too. In the end, I made a quick decision to play what I was familiar with rather than just the deck of the moment.

Here's my list:



Round 1 vs. Benjamin K. (Mono-Blue Devotion) 2-0
I won the dice roll and was off to a good start, even with a mull-to-6. I saw the Turn 1 Cloudfin Raptor, I knew not to drop my Turn 1 Elvish Mystic. I just played removal and Sylvan Caryatid until I was sure he wasn't holding a Tidebinder Mage anymore. After that point, my Scavenging Ooze came down and began eating up his graveyard. I shut Thassa down and put him to bed. In Game 2 it was a lot of the same. I kept a very greedy hand with 3 removal spells, 1 land, 2 Caryatid, and an Ooze. I drew a land on my first turn and knew I was okay. My removal was enough to keep him off Nightveil Specter and Master of Waves, even though I was rather limited on mana at first. Polukranos and Mistcutter Hydra came down as finishers, and that was that.

Round 2 vs. Brian H. (Generator Jund) 2-1
I found myself playing against another Syracuse local, someone who I'd played at FNM a few weeks prior. He was on a Generator Servant sort of deck, which ramped out very quickly. He'd talked about it before and had mentioned Underworld Cerberus, so I knew it was an issue. He took Game 1 pretty solidly off of a Stormbreath Dragon. Game 2, however, ended with me ramping into Polukranos and 2 consecutive Rakdos's Return (for 2 and 3). All he had left were Caryatids, and my Hydra proved superior. Game 3 really wasn't a game. He was forced to mulligan to 3, and that was really all it took.

Round 3 vs. Timothy D. (Rabble-Red) 2-0
This was my first experience playing against the Rabble Red deck. I knew I had to rely on things like Sylvan Caryatid, Scavenging Ooze, Courser of Kruphix, and Polukranos if I was going to win. Both games boiled down to the Ooze and the Courser. In the second game, my opponent knocked me to 1 life 3 times! But because of my plethora of removal, there were lots of creatures in the graveyard for me to eat. Eidolon of the Great Revel almost cost me the match, but I was able to kill it with Polukranos before it forced me to take too much damage. At the end of game 2 I was at 4 life and he was left with only a Rabblemaster on the field against my Poly, Courser, Ooze, and Caryatid. I had considered killing the rabblemaster with an Ultimate Price on my turn, but I decided to leave mana up for one last Ooze activation. It's a good thing I did, because he ripped a Stoke the Flames off the top. I scrambled and used my ooze once more to survive at 1! And that was all she wrote.

Round 4 vs. Jared Boettcher (B/u Devotion) 2-0 [FEATURE MATCH]
This round was probably my favorite round of magic I've ever played, for a number of reasons. One, it was my first feature match and round on camera. Two, I was 4-0 and playing against the Pro Tour Rookie of the Year in Jared. Three, I got to represent TCGplayer.com (who I work for) wearing the bright blue. Four, I and all my friend watching had an absolute blast. Five: I won. I'm not going to post the details of the match here. Instead I'll just link to the coverage video of it.

Round 5 vs. Paolo C. (UW Cleansing Control) 2-0
Neither of the games were very difficult for me. A lot of fighting against UW (especially the Cleansing route) is simply not running all your threats into a sweeper. In game 1, I attacked with Oozes, Mutavaults, and Satyrs, and finally Bloodrushed for exactly lethal. Game 2 was a lot more of the same, with me holding back threats until I could protect them with Golgari Charm. Even when my board was wiped, I managed to snag a Stormbreath Dragon off the top and finish him off.

Round 6 vs. Jeremy S. (Mono-Black Devotion) 1-2
My first loss of the night was not a fun one. I took the first game pretty handily, but games 2 and 3 were much more difficult. And I found myself dying to combinations of Pack Rats and Grey Merchant.

Round 7 vs. Jacob B. (BW Midrange) 1-2
As with the last round, I took the first game pretty handily. Though Game 2 ended with me being beaten down by an Obzedat. Game 3 might have ended differently if I'd drawn a red source, but I was a bit stuck on mana for quite some time, and I drew all my Polukranos, leaving me with cards stranded in hand and Pack Rats bearing down.

Round 8 vs. Scott C. (Mono-Black Devotion) 2-1
Finally I got my vindication. As with the other rounds, I took the first game without much difficulty. Grey Merchant got me in the second game, but Dragons and continuous pressure let me take the second game without much difficulty at all.

Round 9 vs. Andrew Y. (Naya Hexproof) 0-2
These were some of the fastest games of Magic I've ever played, and my opponent clobbered me. Without a way to deal with his hexproof creatures, I was overrun in game 1. In game 2, I was stuck on 1 mana for too long and was unable to get my defenses going.

Round 10 vs. Michael G. (GW Aggro) 2-1
I put up a valiant struggle game 1, but a quick Advent of the Wurm and Selesnya Char sealed it for him. In games 2 and 3, double Stormbreath Dragons made short work of whatever he tried to send my way. The best part about this match, however, wasn't that I won. It was the fact that my opponent said he'd been following my progress throughout the day. That was insane. It felt great.

There were some standout all-stars for the day. Stormbreath Dragon, Scavenging Ooze, and Golgari Charm were the real deal, as expected. Xenagos is fantastic, obvi. I never actually got to play Vraska or Garruk, so I can't really comment there. Though I imagine there are better options for me over big daddy-G. In the future, I'd like to try and play some number of Nissa, Worldwaker or Liliana Vess in the deck, and I think Devour Flesh really shores up a miserable hexproof match for me. I'm not sure what else I could play (other than Glaring Spotlight), but devoting whole sideboard slots for JUST that matchup seems bad.

In the end though, I finished 37th, high enough to cash $50. I got to be on SCGLive and represent TCGplayer.com (the company I work for), and I beat the Pro-Tour Rookie of the Year on camera. All in all, it was a pretty awesome weekend.

Quote from TrappedUnderIce

I have been losing miserably to BW Midrange. What are other people's sideboarding moves and general strategies against that deck?

I have been siding in Thoughtseize and Rakdos's Return and hoping to wipe out their hand before they wipe out mine and out card advantage them with Courser and planeswalkers.

Really? I've found that to be one of the easier matchups. I don't think I've ever lost a round against it. Planeswalkers, Dreadbores, and Mizzium Mortars are pretty key. I also think Rakdos's Return is pretty solid, since making them play in topdeck mode is pretty awful for them. I also sideboard 2 Putrefy, which takes care of Obzedat.

Hi there, fellow Jund-ers. In an attempt to finally nail down my sideboard and, well, even the main deck, I come to you. Before I go shoving my list down yours and your screen's throats/pixels, I think it's prudent to mention a 5-sentance analysis Patrick Chapin said in his article today (on the paid SCG side) with regards to Jund Monsters and the winning list from Grand Prix Buenos Aires.

In many ways the Argentinian metagame looks like the US metagame from two weeks ago[...]US players certainly had access to this style of Jund deck, but it didn't have quite enough raw power to keep up. This deck is supposed to be bringing enough Mizzium Mortars to keep Blood Baron of Vizkopa in check. With it falling short in the US, Blood Baron is just running rampant.

Now, I'm not quite sure that's really what Jund is supposed to be doing. However, I do think that only a single Jund Monsters list in the top 16 in SCG Seattle says something. Keeping all that in mind, I went about re-tooling the deck to try and optimize my matchups and cut down on cards that were either redundant in multiples, or that I felt were becoming weaker due to the metagame shifts.

So here's my list as it was this morning:


And here is the list as I've edited it today:



Summary:
I've dropped to 3x Courser & Caryatid (controversial, I know, but it has definitely served me well in the past, and I've rarely hoped to actually draw more of them); I've dropped to 2 Xenagos, PWer; went back up to 24 lands (including 2nd Mutavault); and managed to squeeze in 2 Ghor-Clans. Vraska is gone. She was neat in some matchups, but I think I'd rather just use other cards in here place most of the time rather than spend 5 mana for the same effect.


Sideboard:


My sideboard hasn't changed today, but I'm trying a few different ideas, as you can tell. However, I've done some fun analysis.

I've identified 10 "necessary" cards. 2x each of Golgari Charm, Abrupt Decay, Ultimate Price, and Rakdos's Return. The last 2 spots usually involve 2 more removal spells. Right now I'm looking at a 3rd Dreadbore and 2nd Putrefy, simply because of their versatility. Putrefy also hits Obzedat. Which isn't insignificant. I might do a 3rd Mortars though (Baron-dependant).

The remaining 5 spots seem flex-spots. In those last 5 spots, I currently have Ruric, Whip, 2x Thoughtseize, and Bow. Ruric is self-explanatory. He's pretty cool. Whip does a lot of work in many different matchups. Especially vs. Mono-black, where both its static/activated abilities seem very useful. Bow is more a concession to the Burn decks that are popping up. Thoughtseize is something I'm trying...to varying levels of success. I've brought it in against Control, but I'm not sure if that's the way I should be going. In those cases, it's possible that Slaughter Games is the right thing. But the difference of 1 -> 4 mana is substantial.

I'm still thinking about fitting a Chandra and Xenagos, PW into the board. I'm never sad to run more Walkers. And I really want to.

That being said, the following is now out of Sideboard contention: Garruk. With him only grabbing creatures, and with Jund's more-impactful spells, I don't think this is the right place for him. I'd love to be able to pull off what happened in Melbourne, but I think hoping for that to be the norm rather than the exception is...a little foolish.

So that's really my question. I'd really like to run a 3rd Xenagos, a Chandra, and possibly a 3rd Mortars. But I don't know what to cut, keeping everything in mind. Hell, I'd LOVE to fit in a 2nd Xenagod, but I don't think there's room.

I'd play Ultimate Price before doom blade. The Desecration demon matchups are some of the hardest, and Ultimate Price takes care of everything in the deck barring Specter and Baron/Obzy