Made 9th place at TCG States at Waco, Texas yesterday. Lost my win-and-draw-in match round 6; top 8 were locked in with draws in round 7. Changed my deck at the last minute to be more oriented toward control maindeck, which proved correct as I faced 6 control/midrange decks out of 7 rounds.
R1 Junk Midrange, won 2-0
R2 UW Control, won 2-1
R3 GW Flash, punted game 1, lost 0-2
R4 UB Control, won 2-1
R5 UW Control, won 2-0
R6 UW Control, lost 0-2
R7 BW Midrange, won 2-0
I liked the deck's configuration, but since I faced almost no aggro, some cards obviously under-performed (Magma Jet especially) but would have been better in a different meta.
A. Should the deck be slanted in this fashion? and
B. Which style should be hated in the main?
I chose Aggro to slant against, as I am more afraid of color-screw or drawing the wrong part of the deck in the early game against aggro, which would lead to more free wins by Aggro against us, than I am of those same concerns against control. But I do understand your position: An anti-aggro SB might be able to win 2 SB games quicker against, say RDW than an anti-contol SB would be able to win 2 against an Esper control deck.
I've been running this basic deck (and an alternate version without Desecration Demon but adding Stormbreath Dragon) on MTGO, mostly in the 2-mans and Tournament Practice room, and I ran the above deck to a 3-1 record in a DE today. Some thoughts:
You will note that this version is really skewed to be better game 1 against Aggro (no Thoughtseize main, only one Rakdos' Return main, and no Read the Bones). In this still-unsettled meta, when Dega can be tuned to either Aggro or Control, I would rather maindeck against one major archetype and have a much better overall game against them, and pick up the slack against the other in the SB, rather than have a fair matchup against everyone.
My opponents in the DE today were mostly mid-range (Todd Anderson with Uw Devotion - win; a MonoBlue Devotion deck that went 4-0 and was listed in first place for the tournament - loss; and 2 MonoBlack Devotion decks - both wins). My overall match wins with the Dega Demon deck over the last few days are:
vs. Aggro - 7-4
vs. Midrange - 11-6-1
vs. Control - 4-1
Admittedly a very small sample size, but positive percentages against the field even with a small sample is better than the alternative.
The control matchup in game one is terrible, I only won 1 G1 in the 5 matches, but even so the post-SB games are much better, even without Sin Collector, which I really wanted to add but couldn't find room for.
I really wanted to run Read the Bones or Underworld Connections (1 at least) in the main, but you are really punished by RDW or GW if you spend any of the first 5 turns doing nothing to the board. One of them might be good if you first stabilize and then you can afford to start paying some life, but the "first stabilize" part almost never occurs if you have a dead card on top of the 5 and 6 drop creatures. I almost went down to 1 Rakdos Keyrune for that reason, as drawing a second one against aggro makes me want to vomit, but at least it can become a creature and affect the board in some small fashion, as well as speed up those big guys.
I haven't posted much in this thread but I have been monitoring it very closely over the past few months. Now that MTGO has the Theros cards, I can finally begin doing some testing (I have no real test group and FNM for a couple of weeks is no solution).
I really like the Dega colors. The problem, as civilwargoat and Kamahl have each pointed out (in their inimitable ways) is that RWB has so many options, just like Jund in that past few rotations, and you can never anticipate what your matchups in a tournament will be. Skewing a deck against aggro will leave you open against control, and vice versa. The benefit Jund had, as Kamahl pointed out, was its 2-way and hard to handle single-card threats like Thragtusk and Huntmaster could be great against both poles, and Dega doesn't have that yet.
I am now trying out (in the 2-mans and the Tournament Practice Room) 2 types of decks, like Mr. Rotten, one with Desecration Demon and one without. My versions are somewhat similar to his -- and I note that a number of people are abandoning Stormbreath Dragon (can a creature really be "abandoned" after only 2 weeks?). I will try to post my lists and results shortly. At this early stage I have no real trends.
For those playing a version with Whip, is there any point in trying Sire of Insanity in the SB, possibly to replace the extra Rakdos's Return that is usually brought in against control or midrange? Since its "discard hand" trigger goes on the stack at the same time as Whip's exile trigger (I think), a control deck couldn't simply sit on their counters forever -- as long as you can get the Whip into play, of course.
Jund is obviously a powerful deck, but in playing it for the last few months I have noticed that many of my losses occur because of 2 reasons:
1. Mana flood, or
2. Drawing or having the wrong cards for the matchup.
1. Mana flood. Example: You keep a standard 3-land, Farseek, Thragtusk, Abrupt Decay, Tragic Slip hand. Perfect! And you proceed to draw 5 lands in a row and are buried by the opponent's creatures or card advantage. Example: You get the control opponent down to 2, but they clear the board, and you proceed to draw 5 lands in a row and die.
2. Wrong answers. Jund is basically an "answer" deck. The BGR colors have answers to virtually all problems, depending on how you make your deck. And in the current standard versions of the deck, there are a mix of removal, utility creatures, and game-ending threats. Unfortunately, if you draw the wrong part of your deck at the wrong time, you get far behind.
Could Faithless Looting, maybe as a 2-of, help these problems? Not to use it on T1, of course, but play out the "good part" of your hand, keep a land in hand, and then use FL to loot through a land pocket or the wrong cards for the matchup.
blood barron and unburial rites are the reasons to go white. Value from your creatures and one of the hardest to kill creatures out there. improves your mirror matchups and since your still a jund deck is good vs the field. Also gives you great sb options
I would hesitate to go with Unburial Rites in a Jund-heavy metagame, as there will be lots of Scavenging Oozes around, along with all of the other graveyard hate. It could still work, of course, but to be safe you might want to only use 1 or 2. Blood Baron of Vizkopa is very intriguing. I have run 4 in a Dega (BWR) midrange deck, but they will be so much more impressive when Thragtusk and Huntmaster rotate out of T2. I wouldn't disagree with anyone trying to make him work in Jund Light, but I think you would get more value out of Restoration Angel in the main.
I have been playing Jund Light for a few weeks. I really like the additional interactions that Restoration Angel gives you in a deck with Huntmaster of the Fells and Thragtusk. Here is my current list:
I have found that you have to be very careful to make sure that your White splash is just that -- a splash. I originally got carried away with the possibilities and tried Loxodon Smiter, Aurelia's Fury, Rest in Peace, and even Obzedat, Ghost Council. Those can all be powerful cards, but you have to balance the fact that Jund (3-colors) is probably the most powerful deck in the format without a splash, and you have to make sure that you don't mess it up (along with the mana base) by adding White things that don't really give you anything.
hey, I have been testing out a build focusing more on the possibility storm lock and i thought i would post it here. I built the deck more for multiplayer, and less for duel settings, but I have noticed that the deck just feels about a turn too slow. this may be due to my individual meta (bogles, UW tron, RDW, and various assorted combo decks) or it may be my version of the deck. I thought i would post it here to see what you guys think of it though.
I have really enjoyed possibility storm though, it allows you to hit enduring ideals with much less mana. a turn three possibility storm turn four supreme verdict into enduring ideals will both mess with your opponent's consitency and hit an extremely early enduring ideals.
What do you guys think? Do i have some weak links in here? Is this style of enduring ideals deck just strictly inferior too others?
Possibility Storm is a very interesting card, to be sure. I had not previously considered it for Ideal, but it might work out. I would hesitate to use PS as a shell card for casting before Ideal, simply because the Ideal deck is totally focused on actually casting Ideal, and to gamble on first casting PS and then casting a sorcery and hoping that Ideal is then revealed is not my idea of consistency. Go for it, though!
I will be attending a SCG IQ this weekend, and I would like some deck advice. I have no play-testing group, and so my only testing has been sporadic, FMN and MTGO (so no real M14 testing), and this forum and the testing you guys have been doing (Thanks, by the way!).
I won FMN 2 weeks ago, but last week I flooded out in almost every game, and flooding or land-screw (drought?) has seemed to be more and more of a recent concern. So I have now gone back to a few copies of Faithless Looting, which has been a nice addition to help the mana situation considerably, and it also filters out the poor matchup cards I may have in G1 (I will frequently board out 1 copy as the "poor matchup cards" should be much fewer).
FMN report. 5-1 matches, first place.
The deck was based in part on kensanity's deck and also Jacob van Lunen's, highlighted on ChannelFireball. Not many tournaments where I live, so I play mostly in MTGO 2-mans and the Tournament Practice room. It stomped aggro and control, but was only 50-50 against other midrange. I sleeved it up for FNM:
R1 vs Naya Humans. He was a little mana-light G1, and Boros Reckoner and Warleader's Helix held off his guys until a Thundermaw Hellkite flew over for the win. G2 he blitzed me. G3 was my worst of the tournament. I mulled to 4 and still almost came back on the back of Blood Baron of Vizkopa, but drawing 4 straight lands sealed it. Lost 1-2, 0-1 matches.
R2 vs UB Mill. He had no answer to a Blood Baron that grew to a 10/10 flyer in G1, and Boros Reckoner and Thundermaw ran him over G2. Won 2-0, 1-1 matches.
R3 vs Junk Midrange (no reanimation). We traded games 1 and 2 with good draws vs bad draws. Game 3 was epic, dueling Blood Barons and Obzedats kept the life totals swinging back and forth. Finally an overloaded Mizzium Mortars cleared her board for my Blood Baron to win. Won 2-1, 2-1 matches. I advanced to Top 8 based on tiebreaks -- the guy I lost to in R1 had gone undefeated.
1/8 vs GR Aggro. G1 he mulled to 4, but was on the play and killed me on T4 when I hiccuped on lands and ran out of removal. G2 and 3 I curved out with removal T1 and 2, creature on T3, removal or Olivia T4, and a 5-drop for the win. Won 2-1, 3-1 matches.
1/4 vs Junk Aristocrats. G1 he got me with the usual suspects - T1 Doomed Traveler, T2 Voice of Resurgence, T3 Lingering Souls. I killed the Spirits with Thundermaw, but many more Spirits came down and he was able to sac 2 guys a turn to give his Cartel Aristocrat pro-red and black, so he could hit me for 2 a turn. I never found a Blood Baron to gain some life, so when he found a Blood Artist he finished me off immediately. G2 he cast 2 Skirsdag High Priests early, and I was only able to kill one of them. Fortunately, he had no sac outlet, and I refused to block his guys, just continuing to attack with my Vampire Nighthawk and Thundermaw Hellkite for the win. G3 Blood Baron held off most of his guys, while Obzedat kept draining him until Thundermaw showed up for the final points. Won 2-1, 4-1 matches.
Finals vs BW Tokens. G1 I mulliganed to 6, but he was mana light. Thundermaw killed off 4 Spirits, and flew over for the win. G2 he had lots of small guys, and I found no Mizzium Mortars or Olivia. G3 Olivia and Blood Baron wreaked him. Won 2-1, 5-1 matches.
Overall, a very fun deck to play and I am pretty satisfied with the main deck. Liliana didn't do much, but I didn't face any control. I boarded in the Curse of Death's Hold against the last 2 decks, but never saw it. I might also want a 3rd Olivia in the SB. Sure, against aggro she's not the best, but when she is good (against midrange) she is REALLY good.
I like your overall SB plans, however, think again about using Sire of Insanity against Jund. They might have better topdecks than us, but an even better reason is that with the other SB cards you are bringing in, you are most likely the control deck -- Assemble the Legion and Obzedat, Ghost Counsel are end-game winners that Jund does not have access to. Jund will probably be ahead on the board and most likely ahead on life (depending on whether Blood Baron has gone unchecked), so Sire is likely to be uncastable. I loved Sire for the first few months it was out, but it just doesn't have the same effect anymore. Unless your meta is overrun with control decks in general and Sphinx's Revelation in specific, I think Sire might be out altogether.
Also, think about running one Rakdos Keyrune main. The deck runs 1 6-drop, 7 5-drops, and 2 Olivia Voldarens (a 4-drop that really wants to be a 6-drop). It has helped me out quite a bit.
My strategy if is I have her in turn 4 and nothing better to do or I don't have to answer an immediate board threat, then I play her. Just untaapping turn 5 and pinging to make her a 5/5 is a big deal. Not to mention her other ability. If she eats removal then that's fine. What I love about the deck is how once u hit the mana u curve into bomb after bomb
I agree totally. If I have something better to do, I will play that other thing. If not, a T4 Olivia is ok, not the best, but certainly not the worst. If they do not answer her, she can be a beast. If they do, well, you didn't have anything else to do (see above) and their removal on her won't be on the guy you play next turn.
What's happening to this deck? Popularity on MTGO has plummeted over the past couple of days.
Whenever there is a "mature" format, people really want to be playing the next "new thing." Jund is considered old, while Junk Aristocrats, Naya Aggro, Big Naya aggro, etc. are newer or appear to have more new innovations. I would argue that Jund is still (almost) as good as ever.
I've found that a good card against Lifegain shenanigans is Stigma Lasher. While reliant on connecting with Stigma Lasher to nullify lifegain, it's also very strong against cards like Kitchen Finks (Persist is nullified by Wither) and Tarmogoyf (Because it can make it weak enough to be a non-entity if it chose to block). Also makes Spellskite less of a wall (if running a creature-heavy build)
The great thing is, in a deck full of Burn spells, it's not too hard to force it through if needed.
My answer would be a little less churlish than Necro's ;):
Stigma Lasher doesn't really fit the Burn deck, which must be more focused on directly reducing the opponent's life as quickly as possible. A minimum of creatures are optimal, that either directly burn the opponent (Grim Lavamancer, Deathrite Shaman, Vexing Devil) or are both fast and hasty so they essentially serve as burn (Goblin Guide). Lasher hits first on turn 3, if it hits at all, and he's not going to be reliable in the only thing you want him to do.
Lasher might fit in a RDW-type of deck that has more red creatures (like Figure of Destiny and Keldon Marauder) and more long-term staying power. A Burn deck deals with lifegain either by a) hoping to have a Skullcrack handy for the random lifegain cards that might be in various decks, or b) hoping to avoid playing a dedicated lifegain deck like Martyr.
R1 Junk Midrange, won 2-0
R2 UW Control, won 2-1
R3 GW Flash, punted game 1, lost 0-2
R4 UB Control, won 2-1
R5 UW Control, won 2-0
R6 UW Control, lost 0-2
R7 BW Midrange, won 2-0
4 Godless Shrine
4 Blood Crypt
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Mountain
3 Temple of Silence
1 Rakdos Guildgate
3 Temple of Triumph
3 Swamp
Creatures
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Desecration Demon
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Sin Collector
3 Dreadbore
1 Rakdos's Return
2 Chained to the Rocks
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Magma Jet
3 Thoughtseize
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Thoughtseize
2 Wear/Tear
1 Underworld Connections
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Pithing Needle
2 Slaughter Games
2 Devour Flesh
1 Doom Blade
I liked the deck's configuration, but since I faced almost no aggro, some cards obviously under-performed (Magma Jet especially) but would have been better in a different meta.
Sire of Insanity won me one game outright, Elspeth won another, and Rakdos's Return won 2 others. Obzedat and Desecration Demon were outstanding all tournament. Of the removal spells, Hero's Downfall over-performed. Chandra was meh.
You have raised a good question (along with your well-thought decks):
If you can slant the deck against a particular style of deck (for example, maindecking 4 Thoughtseize, 2-3 Sin Collector, and Underworld Connections/Read the Bones to start with a leg up on Control, or alternatively move those to the SB and maindeck instead 3-4 Anger of the Gods, Mizzium Mortars, and other removal spells to hit Aggro hard game 1):
A. Should the deck be slanted in this fashion? and
B. Which style should be hated in the main?
I chose Aggro to slant against, as I am more afraid of color-screw or drawing the wrong part of the deck in the early game against aggro, which would lead to more free wins by Aggro against us, than I am of those same concerns against control. But I do understand your position: An anti-aggro SB might be able to win 2 SB games quicker against, say RDW than an anti-contol SB would be able to win 2 against an Esper control deck.
4 Godless Shrine
4 Blood Crypt
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Temple of Silence
3 Temple of Triumph
1 Rakdos Guildgate
3 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Plains
Creatures - 14
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Desecration Demon
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
2 Magma Jet
3 Dreadbore
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Warleader's Helix
1 Rakdos's Return
Artifacts/Enchantments - 5
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Rakdos Keyrune
Plainswalkers - 1
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Anger of the Gods
4 Thoughtseize
2 Wear/Tear
1 Underworld Connections
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Pithing Needle
2 Slaughter Games
I've been running this basic deck (and an alternate version without Desecration Demon but adding Stormbreath Dragon) on MTGO, mostly in the 2-mans and Tournament Practice room, and I ran the above deck to a 3-1 record in a DE today. Some thoughts:
You will note that this version is really skewed to be better game 1 against Aggro (no Thoughtseize main, only one Rakdos' Return main, and no Read the Bones). In this still-unsettled meta, when Dega can be tuned to either Aggro or Control, I would rather maindeck against one major archetype and have a much better overall game against them, and pick up the slack against the other in the SB, rather than have a fair matchup against everyone.
My opponents in the DE today were mostly mid-range (Todd Anderson with Uw Devotion - win; a MonoBlue Devotion deck that went 4-0 and was listed in first place for the tournament - loss; and 2 MonoBlack Devotion decks - both wins). My overall match wins with the Dega Demon deck over the last few days are:
vs. Aggro - 7-4
vs. Midrange - 11-6-1
vs. Control - 4-1
Admittedly a very small sample size, but positive percentages against the field even with a small sample is better than the alternative.
The control matchup in game one is terrible, I only won 1 G1 in the 5 matches, but even so the post-SB games are much better, even without Sin Collector, which I really wanted to add but couldn't find room for.
I really wanted to run Read the Bones or Underworld Connections (1 at least) in the main, but you are really punished by RDW or GW if you spend any of the first 5 turns doing nothing to the board. One of them might be good if you first stabilize and then you can afford to start paying some life, but the "first stabilize" part almost never occurs if you have a dead card on top of the 5 and 6 drop creatures. I almost went down to 1 Rakdos Keyrune for that reason, as drawing a second one against aggro makes me want to vomit, but at least it can become a creature and affect the board in some small fashion, as well as speed up those big guys.
Any comments would be appreciated.
I really like the Dega colors. The problem, as civilwargoat and Kamahl have each pointed out (in their inimitable ways) is that RWB has so many options, just like Jund in that past few rotations, and you can never anticipate what your matchups in a tournament will be. Skewing a deck against aggro will leave you open against control, and vice versa. The benefit Jund had, as Kamahl pointed out, was its 2-way and hard to handle single-card threats like Thragtusk and Huntmaster could be great against both poles, and Dega doesn't have that yet.
I am now trying out (in the 2-mans and the Tournament Practice Room) 2 types of decks, like Mr. Rotten, one with Desecration Demon and one without. My versions are somewhat similar to his -- and I note that a number of people are abandoning Stormbreath Dragon (can a creature really be "abandoned" after only 2 weeks?). I will try to post my lists and results shortly. At this early stage I have no real trends.
Jund is obviously a powerful deck, but in playing it for the last few months I have noticed that many of my losses occur because of 2 reasons:
1. Mana flood, or
2. Drawing or having the wrong cards for the matchup.
1. Mana flood. Example: You keep a standard 3-land, Farseek, Thragtusk, Abrupt Decay, Tragic Slip hand. Perfect! And you proceed to draw 5 lands in a row and are buried by the opponent's creatures or card advantage. Example: You get the control opponent down to 2, but they clear the board, and you proceed to draw 5 lands in a row and die.
2. Wrong answers. Jund is basically an "answer" deck. The BGR colors have answers to virtually all problems, depending on how you make your deck. And in the current standard versions of the deck, there are a mix of removal, utility creatures, and game-ending threats. Unfortunately, if you draw the wrong part of your deck at the wrong time, you get far behind.
Could Faithless Looting, maybe as a 2-of, help these problems? Not to use it on T1, of course, but play out the "good part" of your hand, keep a land in hand, and then use FL to loot through a land pocket or the wrong cards for the matchup.
Has anyone tried this in the past?
I would hesitate to go with Unburial Rites in a Jund-heavy metagame, as there will be lots of Scavenging Oozes around, along with all of the other graveyard hate. It could still work, of course, but to be safe you might want to only use 1 or 2. Blood Baron of Vizkopa is very intriguing. I have run 4 in a Dega (BWR) midrange deck, but they will be so much more impressive when Thragtusk and Huntmaster rotate out of T2. I wouldn't disagree with anyone trying to make him work in Jund Light, but I think you would get more value out of Restoration Angel in the main.
3 Blood Crypt
2 Dragonskull Summit
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
3 Stomping Ground
3 Rootbound Crag
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Godless Shrine
2 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Sunpetal Grove
Creatures - 17
4 Thragtusk
3 Olivia Voldaren
3 Restoration Angel
4 Huntmaster of the Fells/Ravager of the Fells
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Farseek
2 Putrefy
3 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Dreadbore
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Tragic Slip
1 Doom Blade
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Rakdos's Return
2 Tragic Slip
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Duress
2 Gaze of Granite
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Golgari Charm
1 Underworld Connections
I have found that you have to be very careful to make sure that your White splash is just that -- a splash. I originally got carried away with the possibilities and tried Loxodon Smiter, Aurelia's Fury, Rest in Peace, and even Obzedat, Ghost Council. Those can all be powerful cards, but you have to balance the fact that Jund (3-colors) is probably the most powerful deck in the format without a splash, and you have to make sure that you don't mess it up (along with the mana base) by adding White things that don't really give you anything.
Possibility Storm is a very interesting card, to be sure. I had not previously considered it for Ideal, but it might work out. I would hesitate to use PS as a shell card for casting before Ideal, simply because the Ideal deck is totally focused on actually casting Ideal, and to gamble on first casting PS and then casting a sorcery and hoping that Ideal is then revealed is not my idea of consistency. Go for it, though!
I won FMN 2 weeks ago, but last week I flooded out in almost every game, and flooding or land-screw (drought?) has seemed to be more and more of a recent concern. So I have now gone back to a few copies of Faithless Looting, which has been a nice addition to help the mana situation considerably, and it also filters out the poor matchup cards I may have in G1 (I will frequently board out 1 copy as the "poor matchup cards" should be much fewer).
1 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Sacred Foundry
3 Clifftop Retreat
1 Slayers' Stronghold
2 Cavern of Souls
Creatures - 15
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Faithless Looting
3 Pillar of Flame
2 Dreadbore
3 Mizzium Mortars
1 Doom Blade
1 Victim of Night
2 Liliana of the Veil
3 Warleader's Helix
1 Rakdos's Return
2 Sin Collector
2 Appetite for Brains
2 Slaughter Games
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Rest in Peace
1 Crypt Incursion
2 Ratchet Bomb
The deck was based in part on kensanity's deck and also Jacob van Lunen's, highlighted on ChannelFireball. Not many tournaments where I live, so I play mostly in MTGO 2-mans and the Tournament Practice room. It stomped aggro and control, but was only 50-50 against other midrange. I sleeved it up for FNM:
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Clifftop Retreat
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Mountain
4 Godless Shrine
4 Blood Crypt
3 Sacred Foundry
Creatures - 18
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Sin Collector
3 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Olivia Voldaren
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Pillar of Flame
3 Dreadbore
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Rakdos's Return
2 Liliana of the Veil
3 Warleader's Helix
1 Rakdos Keyrune
1 Sin Collector
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Appetite for Brains
2 Rest in Peace
2 Rolling Temblor
1 Underworld Connections
2 Slaughter Games
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Crypt Incursion
1 Curse of Death's Hold
R1 vs Naya Humans. He was a little mana-light G1, and Boros Reckoner and Warleader's Helix held off his guys until a Thundermaw Hellkite flew over for the win. G2 he blitzed me. G3 was my worst of the tournament. I mulled to 4 and still almost came back on the back of Blood Baron of Vizkopa, but drawing 4 straight lands sealed it. Lost 1-2, 0-1 matches.
R2 vs UB Mill. He had no answer to a Blood Baron that grew to a 10/10 flyer in G1, and Boros Reckoner and Thundermaw ran him over G2. Won 2-0, 1-1 matches.
R3 vs Junk Midrange (no reanimation). We traded games 1 and 2 with good draws vs bad draws. Game 3 was epic, dueling Blood Barons and Obzedats kept the life totals swinging back and forth. Finally an overloaded Mizzium Mortars cleared her board for my Blood Baron to win. Won 2-1, 2-1 matches. I advanced to Top 8 based on tiebreaks -- the guy I lost to in R1 had gone undefeated.
1/8 vs GR Aggro. G1 he mulled to 4, but was on the play and killed me on T4 when I hiccuped on lands and ran out of removal. G2 and 3 I curved out with removal T1 and 2, creature on T3, removal or Olivia T4, and a 5-drop for the win. Won 2-1, 3-1 matches.
1/4 vs Junk Aristocrats. G1 he got me with the usual suspects - T1 Doomed Traveler, T2 Voice of Resurgence, T3 Lingering Souls. I killed the Spirits with Thundermaw, but many more Spirits came down and he was able to sac 2 guys a turn to give his Cartel Aristocrat pro-red and black, so he could hit me for 2 a turn. I never found a Blood Baron to gain some life, so when he found a Blood Artist he finished me off immediately. G2 he cast 2 Skirsdag High Priests early, and I was only able to kill one of them. Fortunately, he had no sac outlet, and I refused to block his guys, just continuing to attack with my Vampire Nighthawk and Thundermaw Hellkite for the win. G3 Blood Baron held off most of his guys, while Obzedat kept draining him until Thundermaw showed up for the final points. Won 2-1, 4-1 matches.
Finals vs BW Tokens. G1 I mulliganed to 6, but he was mana light. Thundermaw killed off 4 Spirits, and flew over for the win. G2 he had lots of small guys, and I found no Mizzium Mortars or Olivia. G3 Olivia and Blood Baron wreaked him. Won 2-1, 5-1 matches.
Overall, a very fun deck to play and I am pretty satisfied with the main deck. Liliana didn't do much, but I didn't face any control. I boarded in the Curse of Death's Hold against the last 2 decks, but never saw it. I might also want a 3rd Olivia in the SB. Sure, against aggro she's not the best, but when she is good (against midrange) she is REALLY good.
I like your overall SB plans, however, think again about using Sire of Insanity against Jund. They might have better topdecks than us, but an even better reason is that with the other SB cards you are bringing in, you are most likely the control deck -- Assemble the Legion and Obzedat, Ghost Counsel are end-game winners that Jund does not have access to. Jund will probably be ahead on the board and most likely ahead on life (depending on whether Blood Baron has gone unchecked), so Sire is likely to be uncastable. I loved Sire for the first few months it was out, but it just doesn't have the same effect anymore. Unless your meta is overrun with control decks in general and Sphinx's Revelation in specific, I think Sire might be out altogether.
Also, think about running one Rakdos Keyrune main. The deck runs 1 6-drop, 7 5-drops, and 2 Olivia Voldarens (a 4-drop that really wants to be a 6-drop). It has helped me out quite a bit.
I agree totally. If I have something better to do, I will play that other thing. If not, a T4 Olivia is ok, not the best, but certainly not the worst. If they do not answer her, she can be a beast. If they do, well, you didn't have anything else to do (see above) and their removal on her won't be on the guy you play next turn.
BTW, kensanity, I really like your deck. Interestingly, it is very similar to the deck featured in this article by Jacob Van Lunen on Channel Fireball: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/valuable-lessons-super-ghouls-and-ghosts/
In his deck, I'm not sure I would want to play a 3rd Obzedat, Ghost Council (all in the main, even!) with all of the Putrefys and Turn/Burns running around, and the Assemble the Legion in the main only seems to be strong against certain control and Jund-y decks, but I do like the Rakdos Keyrune in the main and the Curse of Death's Hold in the SB.
Whenever there is a "mature" format, people really want to be playing the next "new thing." Jund is considered old, while Junk Aristocrats, Naya Aggro, Big Naya aggro, etc. are newer or appear to have more new innovations. I would argue that Jund is still (almost) as good as ever.
My answer would be a little less churlish than Necro's ;):
Stigma Lasher doesn't really fit the Burn deck, which must be more focused on directly reducing the opponent's life as quickly as possible. A minimum of creatures are optimal, that either directly burn the opponent (Grim Lavamancer, Deathrite Shaman, Vexing Devil) or are both fast and hasty so they essentially serve as burn (Goblin Guide). Lasher hits first on turn 3, if it hits at all, and he's not going to be reliable in the only thing you want him to do.
Lasher might fit in a RDW-type of deck that has more red creatures (like Figure of Destiny and Keldon Marauder) and more long-term staying power. A Burn deck deals with lifegain either by a) hoping to have a Skullcrack handy for the random lifegain cards that might be in various decks, or b) hoping to avoid playing a dedicated lifegain deck like Martyr.