Talking about Nissa, I can only give you my experience from legacy. She is amazing against control (and especially Jace/Teferi) mostly because people don't expect her. I wouldn't worry about her cmc as getting to 5 lands is never a problem against Ux decks, no matter whether playing 24 or 25 lands.
2nd Push might be a strong meta choice against Spirits/Humans but I am convinced that Pulse is the better card against Scales if you worry about that matchup. I think having 11 cmc 1 spells is enough (mostly because in my meta I have to board out push extremely often), but again, I can see the circumstances in which you might want a 2nd push in the mainboard.
Yeah, Lavamancer on turn 1 is something Spirits and Humans often can't beat in game 1, therefore (and for his many other applications) I like having 1 in the mainboard. I think Humans has become a 45/55 matchup, therefore I decided to give myself an advantage in g1. We currently witness a downfall of Humans, not because the deck has become weaker, but people decide to try out other things (no humans list went 5-0 last week), so I have to see whether he stays in the mainboard but for now I am very happy with the card.
Lavamancer main is a great choice imo, you also play 9 fetches in order to get the max out of him.
24 lands are enough. I am convinced that the deck doesn't need more lands, played some bigger tournaments in September with 24 lands and never felt the necessity of land #25.
I also believe 3 trophies is the ideal number to start with, the card is amazing but you don't want to cast it in the early game apart from the Tron matchup or in some hopeless situations.
So far I have been playing with 2/2 basics, no mountain. But a mountain has definitely some upsides, especially with your sb configuration.
I would absolutely play the 4th BBE over a 3rd K-command. BBE is Jund's best answer against UW and the meta is flooded with control at the moment. 3 K-commands seem unnecessary to me.
I only play 1 push but added 1 pulse beacause I still like the versatility of the card against tokens etc and it can often be the 4th trophy. Lavamancer and last hope make 2nd push not as important anymore imo.
This league showed a lot of Jund's current weaknesses. He was simply too often dependent on his topdeck, but he also had some unlucky draws, especially R1 and 2.
Tron: Blood Moon is not at it's best here, you simply buy yourself some turns. Most important thing is to implement a clock in this matchup.
Hollow One: Board out Blood Moon because it is useless in this particular matchup.
Humans: Blood Moon is very efficient in this matchup, especially postboard. A good Humans player will board out Aether Vial because they need more threats and because we have access to Kolaghan's Command, which means that postbaord you can play Blood Moon turn 3, kill their Hierarch and the game is basically over.
But what do I mean with having free wins when playing Blood Moon?
Think about it, usually your opponent doesn't know what deck you are playing, which means it is unlikely your opponent starts fetching a basic on turn 1. This deck has usually discard on turn 1 or 2, you can either pick their counter or discard and play Blood Moon on turn 3. There are many greedy manabases around in modern (look at all the 3 color midrange and control decks for example, Amulet Titan, Death's Shadow, Eldrazi Tron etc) which are all punishable when having Blood Moon in the deck.
Imagine you are on the play against UW Control. You play discard on turn 1, take their mana leak. Then you follow up with a Young Pyromancer while your opponent has a Glacial Fortress in play and plays a Hallowed Fountain tapped and paths your Pyromancer. You play turn 3 Blood Moon and your opponent is basically locked out of the game. Again, this is only a simple example and a perfect situation, but believe me, these kind of situations happen quite often in modern.
What this deck does is disrupting your opponent while gaining advantage through Young Pyromancer. You take their best spells from hand, kill their creatures and create tokens. In the lategame, Reveler should usually seal the deal. Blood Moon is only one of many disrupting pieces in the deck, and even if it doesn't win you the game on the spot, it does at least disrupt your opponent in a way they have to make suboptimal plays.
The deck doesn't look spectacular on paper, but it is an absolute blast to play, has very few bad matchups and is very hard to hate out from the meta. I can only advice you to give the deck a try.
Replaced my Liliana of the Veil with Liliana, the Last Hope in the mainboard, and she is doing a fantastic job. Oliver Tiu then confirmed in his article my feelings about the card. Against the top decks of the meta - Humans and Hollow One - I prefer the Last Hope and she is also amazing in any attrition-based matchup.
I do also see quite a lot of people cutting Blood Moon from the mainboard, which is a big mistake in my opinion. The card just gives you free wins and we all know how important free wins are in a bigger tournament.
@Delver, currently started testing 3 Swamps/2Mountains (ca 50 matches in) and I start liking that configuration. Makes having BB after a resolved Blood Moon way easier.
Don't you ever have problems with 3 Swamps/2 Mountains? I was on this configuration some weeks ago and see the reasoning with 2x Liliana in the mb, but I had some real awkward hands sometimes with only 1 Swamp and Looting which had to be a mulligan.
Now I play 3 Mountains and 2 Swamps and I think my openers are much "safer" when it comes to mulliganing.
Guys, there is a new Jund video available by Reid Duke in which he lowered his curve and tried some new things. It is not listed on Youtube (don't ask me why) but here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSE9oA2utso
I would turn that Mountain into a 4th Cliffs, the Brutality into a 4th Lili. Apart from that I like the mainboard, the decision to play only 2 BBEs is the way to go and makes the most sense at the moment.
One thing that grab my attention is that there are no Molten Rain but Fulminator Mage instead. Most decks play Molten Rain but I don't know which one is better in this deck and why. Could someone explain it to me (I'm new to the deck)? I apologize if this has already been discussed and didn't notice it. Thanks for any help.
Here is my thinking behind it:
They decided to play no Blood Moon. We know Molten Rain works better with Blood Moon because you can destroy their basics and cut them off a color completely. That is not always possible with Fulminator Mage. Molten Rain synergizes better with Bedlam Reveler, Fulminator on the other hand with K-Command. It makes sense to me that in matchups where you really need land destruction you prefer getting back a Fulminator Mage rather than playing Reveler one round earlier.
But I have not played enough with both of them in this deck to claim which one is the better choice. Lately, many lists included Molten Rain, some months ago we saw more Mages, so I don't think there is a correct answer which one is the better option (especially if you don't include Blood Moon in the 75).
Big fan of that Magma Spray in the board. Very good against Hollow One, Humans and all those value creatures like Voice and Finks.
Pamplemousse's mainboard looks interesting, and quite a bit different from the usual lists. 21 lands, no Moon, 3 Lilianas are all things I like. Might test their list this coming week.
LtLH and K-Command were just two examples of flexible and cheaper options compared to BBE. My point is, you can't survive with a midrange deck in this meta if you don't start interacting on turn 1. Look at yesterdays top 8, there was not a single deck where BBE really shines. When Control and Midrange finally come back (I am convinced they will, because Modern is constantly changing), I would also suggest playing 3 or 4 BBE again, but I can't justify it now when looking at the amount of unfair and uninteractive decks.
I would even cut another BBE, adding a second K-Command or moving LtLH to the mainboard. Keeps the grindy element of the deck, lowers the curve and makes your openers less awkward.
2nd Push might be a strong meta choice against Spirits/Humans but I am convinced that Pulse is the better card against Scales if you worry about that matchup. I think having 11 cmc 1 spells is enough (mostly because in my meta I have to board out push extremely often), but again, I can see the circumstances in which you might want a 2nd push in the mainboard.
Yeah, Lavamancer on turn 1 is something Spirits and Humans often can't beat in game 1, therefore (and for his many other applications) I like having 1 in the mainboard. I think Humans has become a 45/55 matchup, therefore I decided to give myself an advantage in g1. We currently witness a downfall of Humans, not because the deck has become weaker, but people decide to try out other things (no humans list went 5-0 last week), so I have to see whether he stays in the mainboard but for now I am very happy with the card.
24 lands are enough. I am convinced that the deck doesn't need more lands, played some bigger tournaments in September with 24 lands and never felt the necessity of land #25.
I also believe 3 trophies is the ideal number to start with, the card is amazing but you don't want to cast it in the early game apart from the Tron matchup or in some hopeless situations.
So far I have been playing with 2/2 basics, no mountain. But a mountain has definitely some upsides, especially with your sb configuration.
I would absolutely play the 4th BBE over a 3rd K-command. BBE is Jund's best answer against UW and the meta is flooded with control at the moment. 3 K-commands seem unnecessary to me.
I only play 1 push but added 1 pulse beacause I still like the versatility of the card against tokens etc and it can often be the 4th trophy. Lavamancer and last hope make 2nd push not as important anymore imo.
Hollow One: Board out Blood Moon because it is useless in this particular matchup.
Humans: Blood Moon is very efficient in this matchup, especially postboard. A good Humans player will board out Aether Vial because they need more threats and because we have access to Kolaghan's Command, which means that postbaord you can play Blood Moon turn 3, kill their Hierarch and the game is basically over.
But what do I mean with having free wins when playing Blood Moon?
Think about it, usually your opponent doesn't know what deck you are playing, which means it is unlikely your opponent starts fetching a basic on turn 1. This deck has usually discard on turn 1 or 2, you can either pick their counter or discard and play Blood Moon on turn 3. There are many greedy manabases around in modern (look at all the 3 color midrange and control decks for example, Amulet Titan, Death's Shadow, Eldrazi Tron etc) which are all punishable when having Blood Moon in the deck.
Imagine you are on the play against UW Control. You play discard on turn 1, take their mana leak. Then you follow up with a Young Pyromancer while your opponent has a Glacial Fortress in play and plays a Hallowed Fountain tapped and paths your Pyromancer. You play turn 3 Blood Moon and your opponent is basically locked out of the game. Again, this is only a simple example and a perfect situation, but believe me, these kind of situations happen quite often in modern.
What this deck does is disrupting your opponent while gaining advantage through Young Pyromancer. You take their best spells from hand, kill their creatures and create tokens. In the lategame, Reveler should usually seal the deal. Blood Moon is only one of many disrupting pieces in the deck, and even if it doesn't win you the game on the spot, it does at least disrupt your opponent in a way they have to make suboptimal plays.
The deck doesn't look spectacular on paper, but it is an absolute blast to play, has very few bad matchups and is very hard to hate out from the meta. I can only advice you to give the deck a try.
I do also see quite a lot of people cutting Blood Moon from the mainboard, which is a big mistake in my opinion. The card just gives you free wins and we all know how important free wins are in a bigger tournament.
@Delver, currently started testing 3 Swamps/2Mountains (ca 50 matches in) and I start liking that configuration. Makes having BB after a resolved Blood Moon way easier.
Here are some additional new resources for you guys:
Olivier Tiu's article on CFB: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/mardu-deck-guide/
Ryland Taliaferro's Competitive League with Mardu Pyromancer: http://modernnexus.com/video-series-with-ryland-mardu-pyromancer/
Now I play 3 Mountains and 2 Swamps and I think my openers are much "safer" when it comes to mulliganing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSE9oA2utso
Here is my thinking behind it:
They decided to play no Blood Moon. We know Molten Rain works better with Blood Moon because you can destroy their basics and cut them off a color completely. That is not always possible with Fulminator Mage. Molten Rain synergizes better with Bedlam Reveler, Fulminator on the other hand with K-Command. It makes sense to me that in matchups where you really need land destruction you prefer getting back a Fulminator Mage rather than playing Reveler one round earlier.
But I have not played enough with both of them in this deck to claim which one is the better choice. Lately, many lists included Molten Rain, some months ago we saw more Mages, so I don't think there is a correct answer which one is the better option (especially if you don't include Blood Moon in the 75).
Pamplemousse's mainboard looks interesting, and quite a bit different from the usual lists. 21 lands, no Moon, 3 Lilianas are all things I like. Might test their list this coming week.