MTG Salvation

God forbid they try new things right?

I grinded out a lot of DSJ over the past few weeks along with some Junk. I decided to come back to Jund and even if it's not in the greatest place there's something about it that I still love. I've been trying Kalitas and Mom & Pop as my four drops and I've liked it so far. I'm also running two Damnations and two EE in my sideboard. I tried Yahenni's for fun but it's only good in certain situations and I'd rather have Anger of the Gods.

I couldn't find the Jund forum in the tier 1 section. I never thought I'd see it down here in the tier 2 subforum.

I was thinking about something like that recently. It seems like a sweet deal overall and even if whatever is using it gets removed, we get the card back. I used to really like Mutagenic Growth but it doesn't seem all that great in this iteration.

This may be out of place but it has a lot to do with the deck. I'm starting to really enjoy playing DSJ because the first week or so of trying to play it was pretty brutal. I'm going to start jamming more games over the coming week since I have time off. I'm also going to track my matchups and results so I can get some good data. Getting a good number of games with a faster deck like DSJ isn't as rough because I can close games quicker I feel like.

I've thought about adding it to my sideboard but the card advantage they get from it is something I really don't like. I would rather run Surgical Extraction even if it requires the graveyard or Slaughter Games. I really like Crumble to Dust also for lands.

Even though it's just one side of the meta I was surprised how far midrange GBx has dropped popularity wise while looking at the online meta on MTGoldfish. Both Junk and Jund have dropped quite a bit but that's understandable with the presence of DSJ and big mana decks around. I never thought I'd say I'd miss the days of Infect and Dredge. Maybe not the latter but still.

I went and got a MM17 box from the local LGS. I got a Liliana of the Veil, Inquisition of Kozilek and Scavenging Ooze. I'd like to build BGx in paper so it definitely helps getting the pieces here and there. I don't like the local LGS though because they tend to be very insular towards outsiders and the guys behind the register are jackasses. It will still be a long time before I play paper but I'm happy with the pulls. The sad thing is that the price isn't holding me back from playing paper, it's the toxic local scene.

I've had some rough matches lately against Bogles. It's never felt like a complete blowout but hexproof does present some issues to my removal. I'm guessing the best thing to do is disrupt their hand and force them to sacrifice creatures with LotV's -2 while possibly hitting them with a Damnation? Does Anger of God's actually do anything against hexproof? The wording kind of makes it sound like it doesn't directly target creatures which would invalidate Hexproof.

Yeah I definitely don't doubt that it's a powerful deck. I know with time I could get it down but for now I'll focus on my main decks since trying to split my attention across three choices, even if they are similar, isn't optimal for me. It's been weird going from Ad Nauseam and Burn to BGx but so very rewarding.

So far it's definitely been a learning experience after about two weeks of playing GBx. I mostly played Jund this week on MODO and even though I've lost my fair share of games it never felt like I never had a chance. It's frustrating not being able to find a hate card after mulliganing or not top decking it right when you need it but it comes with the territory. The feeling of winning by Junding them out feels great though. I'm still going back and forth between Junk and Jund but I don't enjoy playing Death's Shadow Jund at all. I haven't touched in since about a week ago and may not for a while. I know it's mostly because I can't get the sequencing down and I end up overextending but I'm still enjoying the midrange style a lot more. Since I'm invested in the deck though I'm now noticing the "Jund is dead" hype that is going around. It can get kind of stupid because unfortunately the modern community loves it's hyperbole, salt and hype but it's a nice feeling not worrying about a target on your back because of whichever card that may get hit with the axe in the coming months or years.

Forgot to add that I saw that split with Sorin in Junk. But still what advantage does running 5 Liliana's have in Jund. Whether it be 3-2 between Veil and Last Hope or 4-1? There's a list out there recently I think from one of the MTGO leagues that has a maindeck Chandra, Torch of Defiance along with 4 Liliana of the Veils.

Why are some recent lists running 4-5 planeswalkers? I know 4 x LotV or 3 x LotV - 1 x Liliana Last Hope seems pretty standard especially lately. But I've seen 4 x LotV and 1 x Sorin, Solemn Visitor maindeck for Junk along with 3 x LotV and 2 x Last Hope.

I used to run Ad Nauseam so it's kind of weird being on the other side. I would rather run Leyline of Sanctity mostly because the chance that I could open up with it on the draw, delay information on my hand for a bit and that I was never crazy about colorlesss lands. Dreadship Reef seemed like a cool utility slot but it always felt slow also. There are other utility lands that I would rather run like Tolaria West, etc.

I recently added Flaying Tendrils to my sideboard also but I haven't actually been able to use it much lately. I'm starting to think I may end up liking Drown in Sorrow instead because of the scry effect.