MTG Salvation

Quote from Velthov »

So, for everyone interested. Michael Olson, the winner of SCG Indianapolis posted a brief writeup of the tournament. You can find the post @ MTG Jund City, or in the spoiler below.

Hey all! I was just told about this group during the weekend. Here is my tournament report from winning the SCG Open.

Dear Jund,

My love, my pride, my joy, and my accomplice to winning SCG Indianapolis Modern Open. In this tournament report I plan on explaining some card choices, recounting my tournament matches, and changes moving forward. Let me preface this; I’ve played solely Jund in Modern for the past year and a half, played many iterations, and experimented with “abstract” cards. Hopefully you read this with an open mind and learn something, if anything, from my experience!

Here is the link to the 75 I won with - http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122711

While my choices were cognizant of Humans, and, since it’s an scg tour with a large prevalence of Jeskai, my expectations were: Jeskai Control, Mono Green Tron, Mardu Pyromancer, and 5c Humans. Here’s what I have to share:

Maindeck

Dark Confidant – While people might believe that it is heresy to not play four Dark Confidants, I’ve found that Bobby is quiet the liability against Humans and anemic against Jeskai and Mardu’s removal suite. Bloodbraid Elf offers similar card advantage, creates tempo, while still helping close the game. With this in consideration, if you’re playing four Bloodbraid Elf, you only need to play three Dark Confidants.

Scavenging Ooze – For reasons mentioned above, this card takes the place of the “4th” Dark Confidant. Jund necessitates on narrowing/closing the game as fast as possible by narrowing your opponents options/routes to victory. Playing a two-drop on turn two helps enable your aggressive roles, while also operating as both a life cushion and targeted graveyard hate.

Liliana of the Veil – This card plays a vital role in the Jund shell. Like mentioned before, Jund wants to narrow/close the game, and limiting your opponents hands or board presence is just what we are up for. Unfortunately, she does have her weaknesses, but her viability in any game one scenario is worth playing four in the main deck, and is often the best card in an array of match-ups. Of note, whenever I activate her -2 ability, I like to say, “Sack ‘em if you got ‘em!”

Basic Mountain – To no-one’s surprise, Jeskai Control and U/W Control is a pet deck to many on the SCG Tour. A route to victory they have over Jund is to eliminate our Red mana sources. Foiling their efforts, while also affording the option of a non-shockable fetch target for our bolts, is a huge reason to play it. Because of the Basic Mountain choice, you will notice that I have only included one Treetop Village and no Twilight-Mire, just to limit the corner case scenarios for awkward mana draws.

25 Lands – Since Bloodbraid Elf is our most powerful source of card advantage, hitting our fourth mana source, so as not to lose out on tempo, is crucial. How I chose to stack my 25 lands was adding an additional attacker/blocker in Treetop Village.

Sideboard

Fulminator Mage – I chose to hate out on tron using the same card to “annoy” U/W/x Control. While damping sphere is a very good card against Tron and a few other combo decks, I wanted to try and level my opponents by stranding Nature’s Claim’s in their hand.

Ancient Grudge – While affinity is always a contender in the Modern meta game, this is a concession to KCI. In a not-so-profesional admittance, I can’t think of a Jund list I submitted that didn’t have two ancient grudge in the side. I’ve found that it’s just that good.

Nihil Spellbomb – Another nod to KCI, this card has been Grafdigger’s Cage or Golgari Charm. I used to be a fan of Golgari Charm:
1) Jeskai - Destroy their Search for Azcanta while doubling as wrath insurance. However, this is a horrible cascade from Bloodbraid Elf; something you need to be cognizant of during your sideboarding and deck construction.
2) Mardu – Sweep their board while also potential to kill a Blood Moon. How most games finish play out, however, Bedlam buries you before they create the board.
So, I went for attacking their enablers, rather than “X problem card/scenario.” This has been working out since it buys time, replaces itself, and fills other sideboard options against other decks. And as for Grafdigger’s Cage, never should you side this in against Snapcaster Mage or Kolaghan’s Command decks. It was an easy exclusion.

Chandra Pyromaster – This is the one I’ve had the most questions about, and probably for good reason. I wanted another Liliana, the Last Hope in my 75, against Jeskai, Humans, Mardu, and the occasional spirits. Having a howling mine affect each turn is a great way to secure a victory in gridny match-ups, also. This one is here to stay, my friends.

Tournament and Sideboarding

My record in the swiss was 12-3, squeeking in at 8th place with a tie-breaker better by only .0033%. While I faced a lot of unexpected decks, I only felt like a dog in one match-up due to lack of familiarity. Here are the rounds, their results, and what I sideboarded:

R1) Jund 2-0
Out: Draw – 2 Thoughtsieze, 2 Inquisition, 3 Dark Confidant
In: Draw – 1 Liliana, the Last Hope, 1 Chandra,
Pyromaster, 1 Huntmaster of the Fells, 1 Collective brutality, 1 Fatal Push, 2 Nihil Spellbomb
I’m not a fan of spending three mana on a card (Fulminator Mage) for a negligible card, like a land. I like two Inquisition of Kozilek on the draw to make sure you don’t lose to a tempo draw from your opponent. On the play I take out all my discard spells all together, the second spellbomb, and bring the Dark Confidants back in. It’s almost stock that Jund lists have Liliana, the Last Hope in their SB. These, coupled with K Commands, make Dark Confidant a huge liability on the draw.

R2) Amulet Titan 2-1
Out: 2 Fatal Push, 1 scavenging ooze
In: 2 Ancient Grudge, 1 fulminator mage

R3) KCI 2-1
Out: 2 Fatal Push, 1 Terminate, 1 Abrupt Decay
In: 2 Ancient Grudge, 2 Nihil Spellbomb
Scavenging Ooze acted as another hate spell that also applied pressure. Glad I had the third one in my maindeck for this match up.

R4) Eldrazi Tron 2-0
Out: 1 Abrupt Decay, 2 Fatal Push, 2 Lightning Bolt
In: 2 Ancient Grudge, 1 Liliana, the Last Hope, 1 Huntmaster of the Fells, 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
I’m always relieved when my opponent assembles tron and only plays Reality Smasher, not a Karn Liberated. Ancient Grudge helps match their sb plan of “going big.”

R5) Humans 2-0
Out: Draw - 1 Dark Confidant, 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Liliana of the Veil, 2 Bloodbraid Elf
In: Draw – 1 Fatal Push, 1 Anger of the Gods, 1 Engineered Explosives, 1 Collective Brutality, 1 Liliana, the Last Hope, 1 Chandra, Pyromaster, 1 Huntmaster of the Fells
Usually Humans runs over Jund in game one, but Tarmogoyf made quick work of game one. Game two Anger of the Gods gave me enough breathing room to stabilize. Here is the first instance of my sideboarding plan to have two four drops to replace Bloodbraid Elf out when I also want to have Engineered Explosives in my deck. Swapping out two Bloodbraid Elf for a Huntmaster of the Fells and Chandra, Pyromaster helped make the Engineered Explosives a better card in my deck. This is a strategy you need to consider and employ if you are going to put Engineered Explosives in your sideboard.

R6) Eldrazi Tron 2-1
See R4.
Serious misplays by my opponent allowed me to capitalize on a match I should’ve lost.

R7) Abzan Counters Company
See R5. Similar to humans.
I only lost a game because of Rhonas, the Indomitable on the draw.

R8) Humans 0-2
See R5
Bob flipped only lands in three turn cycles, enough to give my opponent draws to get back in the game. The other loss was stumbling on land drops.

R9) Affinity 2-1
Out: 2 Thoughtsieze, 4 Liliana of the Veil, 2 Bloodbraid Elf
In: 1 Fatal Push, 1 Engineered Explosives, 2 Ancient Grudge, 1 Anger of the Gods, 1 Liliana, the Last Hope, 1 Chandra, Pyromaster, 1 Huntmaster of the Fells
Affinity will always be a deck that you play against. Luckily for us, there is a lot of transient cards in sideboard configurations that apply to humans and KCI that battle against them. I prefer to attack their Etched Champions with Engineered Explosives and Inquisitions, rather than Liliana of the Veil edicts. I’ve found that discard spells keep pace help keep pace against Affinity, since their sideboard plan is to mitigate/weaken our removal spells.

R10) Burn 0-2
Out: 2 Thoughtsieze, 3 Dark Confidant
In: 1 Fatal Push, 1 Collective Brutality, 1 Anger of the Gods, 1 Huntmaster of the Fells, 1 Ancient Grudge

R11) Jund 2-0
See R1
I’ll admit, I had it all. But, my sideboard strategy on the draw in game two put me in a winning proposition starting with a Collective Brutality targeting his Dark Confidant with escalate.

R12) UR Wizard Fae 0-2
Out: 2 Thoughtsieze, 1 Dark Confidant
In: 1 Fatal Push, 1 Collective Brutality, 1 Huntmaster of the Fells
While I understood this was a Tarmogoyf matchup, I don’t think I played well due to lack of familiarity.

R13) Bant Spirits 2-0
Out: 2 Thoughtsieze, 3 Dark Confidant
In: 1 Fatal Push, 1 Collective Brutality, 1 Anger of the Gods, 1 Liliana, the Last Hope, 1 Chandra Pyromaster
Leading my Scavenging Ooze into a path to exile instead of my Tarmogoyf on turn two allowed me to win the race in game one. Game two she stubbled and Chandra, Pyromaster took over the game immediately on turn four. This match up is about racing their flying creatures, and the power level of our four-drops, coupled with the loss of life, is the reason to take out Dark Confidant. Liliana, the Last Hope and Chandra, Pyromaster can’t be stopped by Mausoleum Wanderer, and Engineered Explosives captured by Spell Queller is back breaking.

R14) Grixis Death Shadow 2-0
Out: 1 Tarmogoyf, 1 Kolaghan’s Command, 2 Lightning Bolt
In: 1 Fatal Push, 2 Nihil Spellbomb, 1 Huntmaster of the Fells
Keep your discard spells in against counter magic decks, and Liliana of the Veil takes care of the rest.

R15) Burn 2-1
See R10
Usually you want to use your turn one on the draw to make them discard eidolon if you only have one removal spell, otherwise having efficient trades with a Tarmogoyf clock is how these games are usually won.

Deck Wrap Up
My tournament match-ups were consistently inconsistent, but having familiarity of Jund and the Modern format allowed me to assess important cards to mulligan to. Engineered Explosives is an odd card to have in your 75 with Bloodbraid Elf in your deck. The tension was real, even with my sideboard plan of when to cut some. Though the tension isn’t real when you’re playing against Mardu Pyromancer (the cascade casts the EE for zero, being able to kill their tokens), playing a second Anger of the Gods was a consideration I had during the tournament.

The real menace of SCG Indy was Militia Bugler in Humans. My round eight opponent saw four in game two and the second made the game unwinnable. It might be possible that Jund needs to have eight versitle “destroy” effects that can transition to other match-ups.

Thanks for reading! This is my first tournament report, so feel free to give suggestions on what else to incorporate in my future writings. If you have any questions and would like to talk privately, reach out to me and I’ll get around to answering you when I can! Cheers!

Michael Olson

Quote from Brightmist »

I've been on Sigarda, Host of Herons for a bit, I like it better tbh.

You can also play Thrun too, it dodges a lot of things yet gets chumped by snaps or tokens.

LoTV and souls are pretty effective. Recurring Fulminators with LtLH also can run them out of the game.

Gaddock Teeg also nice, shutting off their payoffs. I don't think I board it in against UWR tho.

UWR matchup is pretty favorable since they can't really bolt our 4/4s but UW control is slightly worse, especially with terminus. 4th basic helps a lot tho.