M11 is a marvelously designed set and has a lot of new, exciting cards to play. Ever since the full spoiler was released, I’ve been busy having a tea party and getting to know good new friends I suspect will end up in a lot of my decks. Conundrum Sphinx, Destructive Force, and Mass Polymorph are all cards I have already built strategies around, each more promising than the last.
However, mixed in with all of these old decks are some of the old standbys. U/W. Mythic. And, of course, Jund. There are a number of new players in Standard I’d love to show you guys, and I’ll definitely look at some in upcoming weeks. In particular, there’s an exciting and potentially format-changing Destructive Force deck I’ve been working on. But, seeing as how the most popular request in my email/Facebook/Forum/Person-to-person conversations has been updating Jund, let’s start there.
Jund is a deck I have been working on a lot. Every week, I’ve been updating it, tweaking it, and working toward the next step. Even if you don’t plan to play Jund in any upcoming events, it is fundamentally crucial to have an updated version in your playtest gauntlet. If you’re still testing against old, pre-M11 lists, then your results are going to be entirely skewed.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
First of all, as I predicted in my Jund article two weeks ago, Blightning is not good anymore. This could change at some point, but it is out of my builds for the foreseeable future.
There are a few things converging together to make this a truism for the deck. First, Obstinate Baloth. Casting Blightning and having them serve a free 4/4 into play is a gigantic setback that will often cause you to start the long fall to a loss. The problem is not just that they ended up a life, or that they didn’t really have to discard a card. More problematic is that the Bloodbraid Elf you just cast can no longer attack, and that a 4/4 essentially renders your whole squadron of creatures obsolete. Sure, you can untap and Maelstrom Pulse of Bituminous Blast it, but that doesn’t help make up for the ridiculous tempo swing already lost.
You can counter-argue this by saying most people are going to sideboard their Obstinate Baloths, and so you can just always sideboard out Blightning. That’s a pretty good conclusion to reach — but it’s not without its flaws. That means against every deck with access to Green mana — arguably the matchups Blightning is best in — you are going to take it out. At that point, aren’t you just better running another card?
Maybe, or maybe not. There are arguments both ways. Some might say you retain a lot of game one value, others might say that they’d rather have more versatility. But, either way, there’s another compelling argument running the other direction. That argument is a 2GG 4/3 with haste.
The fact of the matter is that Blightning was already just a little above Vengevine on the Jund hierarchy. With M11, not only is there a strong hate card for Blightning, but Mana Leak, an excellent answer to the dreaded Bloodbraid Elf into Blightning, is going to be a common maindeck choice. Why fight that war when you can juke to the left instead?
So Vengevine is in. That’s going to cause some changes. Notably, the non-creatures end up out. But, before showing my new list, I wanted to talk about a card which didn’t work as well as I wanted it to: Fauna Shaman.
So, here’s the deal. Fauna Shaman is insane. It delivers, and possibly exceeds, on the hype around it. However, Fauna Shaman comes at a price — and not just $12 each. Its presence alters your deck significantly. The truth of the matter is that, while Fauna Shaman is insane, it is a counterproductive element to this deck. When you want to tap out every turn, sequence your plays properly, and eventually end up with no hand and activating manlands every turn, Fauna Shaman ends up an underwhelming 2/2. It is a great card in certain situations, but unfortunately those situations do not appear as often as you would like. In Naya, on the other hand, Fauna Shaman is much better, as that deck both has more fuel for the Shaman and can take better advantage of playing off-curve. If you want to play a Fauna Shaman deck, go the Naya route. For the time being in Jund, I’m playing Shamanless.
With that said, let me provide you the newest list and reasoning behind some of the changes.
Creatures (25)
- 1 Siege-Gang Commander
- 4 Sprouting Thrinax
- 4 Putrid Leech
- 4 Bloodbraid Elf
- 4 Lotus Cobra
- 4 Cunning Sparkmage
- 4 Vengevine
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (27)
Spells (7)
Sideboard
The mana is mostly the same, with a small swap to account for more green cards. It’s important to note that it seems like you could try 26 lands with 4 Lotus Cobras in your deck, but really, your mana is just as important as ever. Even with 27 lands, I can’t tell you the number of times I have skipped my fourth land drop — but I’ll let you know it’s a lot. This deck always has tons of things to do with its mana. Why play less? If you’re mana flooded you still have a lot you can do. Mana screwed? Not so much.
The spells is where things really start to change. No Bolts? 2 Maelstrom Pulse? Three one-ofs!? What’s going on here?
With Vengevine in your deck, you want to cascade into creatures as often as possible. Now, after sideboarding, the wars get a little more intricate and you can be okay with that happening. But in game one situations, you want to be assured of your cascades. This might all seem obvious, yet you might still question the exclusion of Lightning Bolt.
Simply put, Bolt has been on the downswing. I was down to two for a while in my old Jund list, and even top eighted an online PTQ in that fashion. The problem was that they’re so crucial against Mythic. Sure, they’re good against red and okay against the mirror too. But, above all else, you need Bolts to deal with Mythic’s fast starts.
But, what if you replaced Bolts with an equally good card against Mythic?
Enter: Cunning Sparkmage.
Sparkmage is insane game 1 against Mythic, and still solid elsewhere. Although you will notice is he boarded out a lot, he fills a gap well in the first game while still being a solid cascade that deals damage and brings Vengevine back. In fact, most of the time he is a better cascade than Bolt, and is miles better against cards like Elspeth.
Maelstrom Pulse is much the same story. At one point I had entirely cut Pulse out of the picture, but the simple point is you do need some in your deck. You can’t remove them entirely. However, with only two, you can cascade without fear. For comparison, the originally Gerry Thompson Naya deck only played two non-creature cascade targets, and that worked out just fine. Coincidentally, having less Pulses maindeck in the first game makes your Jund mirror much better.
Important to note is that, without Bolt and with fewer Pulses, you want to still have access to removal. If there was still any question before, four Bituminous Blast is entirely necessary now so you can still deal with problematic threats your opponent might cast. (Like an Obstinate Baloth.)
I prefer Lotus Cobra to Nest Invader. Cobra can accelerate you to five on three, allowing for Bituminous Blasting to happen early, and helps you dodge around Spreading Seas. Yes, he is easily killed, but I feel Cobra’s effect is worth more than Nest Invader since we aren’t relying on tokens for a consistent Eldrazi Monument endgame. Another option was Overgrown Battlement. I tried Battlement maindeck, and having them main was insane in the mirror. The problem, though, is there are few more embarrassing spells you could cast against U/W or Mythic than a turn 2 0/4. While battlement was better in the mirror, you already have enough edge there I would rather go with the Cobra.
Now, down to the three one-ofs. The simple, short answer is that there was a careful string and balancing of all three to get to this number. The longer answer is something like this. I knew I wanted Eldrazi Monument in my deck as an ultimate endgame inevitability plan, but never ever wanted to draw two, nor wanted to see it in my opener. One gives me pretty good odds at all of that, while still providing access to it going long.
Next, I knew I wanted one Sarkhan the Mad. Three is the magical number after sideboarding, and I could only sideboard two. In a lot of matchups you don’t really want to draw two, so, similar to Monument, one felt correct.
So, I had one more slot left. I wanted one more big creature threat, and preferably one that worked well with Monument and doubled as a good threat against control and removal. Which guys was up to the task? Well, Siege-Gang of course! With my deck already stacked on four cost cards, a five drop seemed better than something like Master of the Wild Hunt, so the Goblin ended up with the nod.
As far as the sideboard goes, I think a lot of the cards are self-explanatory. Note that a 4/4 that gains you four life is still very good in the mirror even if they sideboard out Blightning. That combined with the fact that it’s great against mono red gives it four solid slots for me. The Doom Blades and Maelstrom Pulses compensate for removal elsewhere, and allow you to craft your cascades after sideboarding for when always hitting a creature on Bloodbraid Elf just isn’t as important.
Here’s a sideboarding guide.
Mirror
-4 Cunning Sparkmage, -2 Maelstrom Pulse
+4 Obstinate Baloth, +2 Sarkhan the Mad
I think this is pretty straightforward. Sparkmage isn’t bad, but it’s worse than something like Leech. My previous sideboard advice rings true, except you are almost always the aggressor in this matchup because of Vengevine. You can sideboard in some Doom Blades to nail Obstinate Baloths, but keep in mind that you aren’t guaranteed to bring back Vengevine in that case — and Vengevine advantage is the key to the future Jund matchup. After all, Vengevine makes for a pretty good Obstinate Baloth removal spell itself, and it’s a lot easier to bring back when nobody is casting Blightning on you.
If they’re playing an old list of Jund, it’s worth noting this build is highly favored.
U/W
-4 Cunning Sparkmage, -3 Bituminous Blast, -1 Sarkhan the Mad
+4 Duress, +3 Doom Blade, +1 Maelstrom Pulse
Vengevine is much worse at coming back after sideboarding. Sideboarding in Duress makes him suck, and I had tried both Liliana’s Specter and Hypnotic Specter in that slot, as well as a bunch of Bloodwitches. However, it’s actually not as bad as it sounds for two reasons. First of all, targeted discard is crucial to the matchup. You’re often okay cascading into a Duress, even with Mana Leak around, so you can grab their Elspeth, Jace, Day, or other disastrous card. Second of all, think about how U/W is going to deal with your Vengevines for a second. They almost never just Day of Judgment them away. Instead, they have to Path or Oblivion Ring them. That means they really don’t come back that often anyway. If this is a big concern for you, then switch to one of the aforementioned sideboard options. Otherwise, just grind them out.
Mythic
-4 Sprouting Thrinax, -1 Sarkhan the Mad
+4 Doom Blade, +1 Maelstrom Pulse
No, you don’t have any Bolts, but this matchup begins to feel pretty good with Sparkmages maindeck and the full set of Doom Blades after sideboarding. I like keeping in the one Monument just as an extra way to sneak damage in or beat a Sphinx long game, but you can also take that out if you want to.
Turboland
-4 Sprouting Thrinax, -4 Bituminous Blast, -1 Eldrazi Monument
+4 Doom Blade, +2 Sarkhan the Mad, +2 Duress, +1 Maelstrom Pulse
As Turboland began to move more in the Sphinx of Jwar Isle direction, plans like Blood Seeker became a lot worse. However, you now have a new plan. If they’re going to be Sphinxing you, Sarkhan is great against that. It also flies over Avenger tokens and is a lot better in the matchup that I originally thought. Otherwise, just play as I previously recommended: kill their creatures and race them. Not too much has changed.
Mono Red
-4 Cunning Sparkmage, -2 Maelstrom Pulse, -1 Siege-Gang Commander, -1 Eldrazi Monument, -1 Sarkhan the Mad, -1 Bituminous Blast
+4 Obstinate Baloth, +4 Doom Blade, +2 Duress
The Red matchup is mostly the same, except you lose Bolt for the first game which is a big problem. However, you make up for it after sideboarding with a 4/4 that gains you life. This matchup is fairly close, but if you play tightly I’ve found myself winning more than losing. Also, I highly recommend Bituminous Blasting into Obstinate Baloth. The twisted look on their face is almost as sweet as the four life you gain.
Hopefully you enjoyed this foray into post M11 Jund, and it helped set the stage for the deck going forward. If the response I’ve received is any indication, I know it’s something you guys wanted to hear about. Definitely tell me know how playing it works out for you — it’s always good to hear some feedback from others who have tried it out. I’ll be back next week with something a little less traditional, but until then, feel free to continue sending me any questions you have via e-mail or on the forums.
Talk to you soon!
Gavin Verhey
Rabon on Magic Online, Lesurgo everywhere else