Today, I’ll be talking about my time at Pro Tour: San Diego, sharing my thoughts about the individual formats. I’ll start with the Limited portion of the tournament.
The format was the current draft format, Zendikar / Zendikar / Worldwake. During my test drafts, I was always base-Green (except once). I think the color had a ton of its leaks plugged with the new set. The problem of Green in ZZZ was that all the guys cost a trillion mana, and the only real early drops were Grazing Gladehart, Oran-Rief Survivalist, and Nissa’s Chosen. All of those cards are okay on both defense and offense, but they’re not great. And cards like Timbermaw Larva and Territorial Baloth suggest an offensive strategy too. But the Aggro strategy of Green was simply a lot slower than similar strategies in any other color. With Worldwake, Green got some much needed early drops in Arbor Elf, Grappler Spider, and Gnarlid Pack. Feral Contest (especially good with Graypelt Hunter) and Explore give the deck some surprise effects which shouldn’t be undervalued. In addition, there are more blockers available in the new format, which lets Turntimber Basilisk two-for-one far more often. The best advantage of drafting Green is that no one else on the Pro Tour actually wants to draft Green, and therefore you get some juicy Green rares in super late picks.
It’s my first draft. I am at the table with my roommate Antoine Ruel.
6 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
11 Forest
1 Arbor Elf
1 Gnarlid Pack
1 Grappler Spider
1 Harabaz Druid
1 Leatherback Baloth
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Turntimber Basilisk
1 Grazing Gladehart
1 Timbermaw Larva
1 Voyager Drake
1 Graypelt Hunter
1 Territorial Baloth
1 Baloth Woodcrasher
1 Roil Elemental
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Explore
2 Harrow
1 Feral Contest
1 Mysteries of the Deep
1 Baloth Cage Trap
1 Bestial Menace
Notable Sideboard Cards:
1 Relic Crush
1 Cancel
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
The deck looks pretty solid, and promises pretty much the result I actually posted: 2-1.
I won my rounds against Mono-Red Aggro and Black/White Allies. Both of the rounds were not very spectacular. The round I lost saw my opponent playing a very strong Red/Black deck. Even though his deck was very strong, and my playing better would not have produced a different outcome, I played that round terribly. Including thinking that my Turntimber Grove in the sideboard suddenly transmuted to a Khalni Garden. Awkward situation if you put a Plant token into play after playing that land. Post combat.
My second draft pot was a lot stronger than the one before, featuring names like Tsuyoshi Ikeda, Hidenori Katayama, Aeo Paquette, Shuuhei Nakamura, and Guillaume Wafo-Tapa. Sigh.
This was the deck I drafted:
1 Scute Mob
1 Arbor Elf
1 Goblin Guide
2 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Gnarlid Pack
2 Highland Berserker
2 Akoum Battlesinger
2 Turntimber Basilisk
1 Goblin Roughrider
1 Hellfire Mongrel
1 Graypelt Hunter
1 Shatterskull Giant
1 Timbermaw Larva
1 Summit Apes
1 Grotag Thrasher
1 Burst Lightning
1 Groundswell
1 Savage Silhouette
1 Strength of the Tajuru
Notable Sideboard Cards:
1 Unstable Footing
1 Grappling Hook
2 Mold Shambler
1 Explore
1 Oran-Rief Recluse
1 Tajuru Archer
The deck looked very promising, but at a table like that I could easily go 1-2, where at many other tables I would be super optimistic with the deck.
I won my first round having two really good draws. Both include a turn 1 Arbor Elf. My second round was the very opposite, as I couldn’t get my deck to work; I screw one game and flood the other. Then I got paired against Guillaume, who was Blue/White Allies. It was a really rough matchup for me, as he had several Ondu Clerics, Shieldmates, and Join the Ranks. I boarded in almost my entire sideboard for the one-toughness creatures, but it was not good enough. Once again, I make one pretty bad mistake when we both had a ton of guys and I had Grappling Hook, and that was all she wrote.
For the Constructed portion of the event, I planned to play Heldron Crabs. You can find the list in Antoine’s article after the Pro Tour. I planned to run that until the day before the event. I didn’t tune any Jund decks before the event, as I was sure I was playing Crabs for several weeks before. When I was forced to play Jund in testing against several decks before the Pro Tour, I really liked what I saw. I was almost crushing everything I got paired against, and the deck was running smoothly.
This is the list I submitted to the tournament.
Creatures (17)
- 2 Siege-Gang Commander
- 1 Broodmate Dragon
- 4 Sprouting Thrinax
- 4 Putrid Leech
- 4 Bloodbraid Elf
- 2 Master of the Wild Hunt
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (16)
The list is definitely not perfect, but it is decent at least. There are several experiences I noted when playing the deck. Whenever I drew either Bituminous Blast or Broodmate Dragon, I wished they were Siege-Gang Commanders. Always. Master of the Wild Hunt was completely amazing for me, and I boarded in the third every single round. Putrid Leech is a must in today’s Jund decklists. There should be a fourth Raging Ravine in the deck, and the list is a little low on mana in general.
Round 1 versus U/W Control
My opponent Mark pretty much countered whatever spell I played in both of the two games we played, and both games are not close.
+4 Goblin Ruinblaster
+2 Mind Rot
+2 Borderland Ranger
+1 Master of the Wild Hunt
+2 Malakir Bloodwitch
-4 Lightning Bolt
-3 Terminate
-1 Bituminous Blast
-3 Maelstrom Pulse
Round 2 versus Naya
I lost game one quickly, as he had a really fast start while I didn’t get anything going during the first few turns. Game 2 was more interesting, but I ended up losing despite casting 4 Bloodbraid Elves. Eventually, the combination of Knight of the Reliquary, Sejiri Steppe, Stirring Wildwood, and Behemoth Sledge took care of my last five life points a few turns before I could win.
+2 Malakir Bloodwitch
+2 Burst Lightning
+2 Deathmark
+1 Master of the Wild Hunt
-1 Broodmate Dragon
-1 Mind Rot
-4 Putrid Leech
-1 Garruk Wildspeaker
Against White/Green based Aggro decks, Putrid Leech is just terrible.
Round 3 versus Esper Control
My opponent seemed to be flooded both games without getting anything going on.
+4 Goblin Ruinblaster
+2 Mind Rot
+2 Borderland Ranger
+1 Master of the Wild Hunt
+2 Malakir Bloodwitch
-4 Lightning Bolt
-3 Terminate
-1 Bituminous Blast
-3 Maelstrom Pulse
Round 4 versus Vampires
Both games were pretty close, as he Mind Sludged me on turn 5 twice. Both turns it was at a time when neither of us had a board, but I drew very well, with most of my lands being Raging Ravines and the majority of my cards being spells. He seemed to flood twice after Sludging me.
+2 Borderland Ranger
+1 Master of the Wild Hunt
+1 Mind Rot
-4 Putrid Leech
Putrid Leech is just the easiest target Gatekeeper of Malakir can get. Without Leeches, all your creatures (aside from Master of the Wild Hunt) are immune to the card advantage of the Edict Vampire. I like Master of the Wild Hunt a lot in this match up too, as your opponent won’t have a ton of removal and the Master can determine the game by itself as soon as you untap with it.
Round 5 versus Jund
When both players have mediocre to strong draws, the matchup is both interesting and skilful. There are blowout draws when one guy has multiple Bloodbraid Elves and Blightnings and the other guy doesn’t, but otherwise so many factors are important. The amount of lands, life points, cards in hand, and creatures on the board all matter. All of those factors have to be weighed when you decide on a spell to play, how to attack, or even when you’re simply playing a land. I don’t remember a lot of about the games I played, but this was the first round in which I made a big mistake. I ended up Lightning Bolting his Sprouting Thrinax in response to a discard two spell, when I had him dead otherwise the next turn. It didn’t matter much, as he didn’t have any cards in hand and only 4 lands and the Thrinax on the board, but it still gave him a sick combination of running outs where otherwise he would be drawing dead.
+2 Borderland Ranger
+4 Goblin Ruinblaster
+1 Malakir Bloodwitch
+1 Master of the Wild Hunt
+2 Mind Rot
-4 Lightning Bolt
-3 Terminate
-3 Maelstrom Pulse
I sideboarded the same in all my games against Jund, and I really like having the zero removal spells. Post board your hand is force-discarded a lot, and you start into topdecking mode pretty quickly. With this sideboarding plan, you will be in perfect position once this happens, as all your spells are live.
Round 6 versus Patriot Control
Game 1 he didn’t have a third land drop, and when he got there he never found the fourth. Game 2 he played Baneslayer Angel (check out how I sideboarded). Game 3 was the most interesting of the set. Goblin Ruinblasters and Mind Rot/Blighting kept his hand and land total low, which ended up powering me to the win as he didn’t have enough resources.
+2 Malakir Bloodwitch
+1 Master of the Wild Hunt
+2 Borderland Ranger
+2 Mind Rot
+4 Goblin Ruinblaster
-4 Lightning Bolt
-3 Terminate
-3 Maelstrom Pulse
-1 Bituminous Blast
I was arguing with Guillaume Matignon, my opponent for this round, if my sideboarding was correct, especially if I knew he was running Baneslayer Angel. I still like my sideboarding, as it leaves me with very good Bloodbraid Elves on turn 5. Being able to kill Planeswalkers shouldn’t be an argument here, as all the Planeswalkers are pretty bad against Jund.
Round 7 versus Patriot Control
I won game 1, but I screw both remaining games. He played Ajani and Jace in both those games to keep the screw alive.
I sideboarded the same as in the previous match.
Round 8 versus Jund
I boarded the same as I did against the previous Jund player. I knew he kept a fair amount of his removal spells in post board, which gave me a good advantage.
Round 9 versus Jund
This round was against Tomoharu Saito, and the first two games might have been the best two games of Magic I have ever played. In the first, he took a trip to Paris, and I Blightninged him twice. I screw a little on three lands while he was building pressure with one or two Bloodbraid Elves from the top of his deck. Eventually I drew the fourth land and started my comeback by cascading into Sprouting Thrinax. Eventually, after dealing with Broodmate Dragon, I stabilized and started attacking him to Bolt range. He drew one of his burn cards and killed me the turn he would be dead. Game 2 was very similar but this time I had the early aggression while he had all the card advantage. He stabilized as well, and started attacking me, but I was skilful enough to get there too. Game 3 was really disappointing, as he was screwed for Green and wasn’t able to deal with my aggressive start, as he wasn’t able to cast any spells, even on turn 4.
Round 10
I got my revenge on Guillaume Wafo-Tapa. He won game 1, while both games 2 and 3 were pretty close. In both post-board games, my deck was extremely threat-heavy, and I was “screwed” on four mana twice. Eventually he ran out of counterspells in both those games, and I was able to sneak through Malakir Bloodwitch. His deck seems unable to deal with that. (Aside from countermagic and double Bolt).
…
The Standard portion of this event saw me having more fun than I’d had in any tournaments last year. Jund has evolved into a smooth, aggressive deck that seems fairly skilful to play. The Jund mirror might be my favorite matchup for a very long time, as I think that good play gets rewarded.
I’ll be attending Grand Prix: Brussels in a couple of week, and there is only a small chance that I won’t be playing Jund.
Thanks for reading…
Manu B