Is everybody ready for an awesome new deck that is awesome?
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That’s what I thought! Now, you either stopped reading this article, or you are revved up!
How about we just start with a decklist, and then we will get to the explanation of the card choices and such?
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (26)
Spells (12)
At first, I tried playing a Jund Ramp list that I found online that featured both Rampant Growth and Sphere of the Suns that would focus on ramping up into Inferno Titan, Batterskull, Garruk, Primal Hunter, and Batterskull. The problem is that in aggressive matchups, I would always want to sideboard out my ramp spells for more removal.
Next, I wanted to take a page out of the book called “Block Constructed.” Currently, there is a Jund deck that is creatureless and wins with Garruk Relentless and Devil’s Play. If the Jund deck is to play creatures, Olivia Voldaren and Bloodgift Demon are the recommended ones. However, I do not think Standard is ready for Bloodgift Demon right now due to the abundance of Vapor Snags. Olivia Voldaren, on the other hand, is quite the girl. She can singlehandedly turn around games, from killing small dudes to stealing Hero of Bladeholds and huge Champions of the Parish in order to block your opponent’s Mirran Crusader.
Another auto-include for me was Daybreak Ranger. This guy really wants a home, and I think my deck provides some shelter for it. While its applications are narrow, it is very good at what it does. For instance, it (usually) wins a straight-up battle against Delver of Secrets.
First, let’s consider them unflipped. Well, you have a 2/2 against their 1/1. Looking good so far. The question is: would they dare to flip their Delver of Secrets when your Daybreak Ranger is unflipped? Of course not! You would just shoot it for two. Who ever knew that having flying would ever be a disadvantage?
On the flipside, your 4/4 fighter can slay Hero of Bladehold, Delver of Secrets on both sides, Phyrexian Crusader, Lord of the Unreal, etc. The list just goes on and on, but let’s just say that it is pretty sweet to have a flipped Daybreak Ranger against any aggressive deck.
While Thrun, the Last Troll has been a mainstay in these green ramp-ish style decks, I have to admit that the real Sukenik touch is in the Massacre Wurm. How many people honestly remembered that he was even a card? White and blue aggro players should be terrified to see the suggestion of this card. Here’s a situation that happened to me recently on Magic Online:
My opponent had Doomed Traveler, Geist of Saint Traft, and Mirran Crusader. He was at six life, while I was at three. Praying for Slagstorm or Whipflare (a card I will get to later), I clicked okay to untap my lands and draw my card for the turn. Lo and behold, I saw the perfect answer appear in my hand. Massacre Wurm! Nice knowing you W/u Humans; I hardly knew you.
While this is just a specific example, the major thing worth noting is that I cut the fourth Inferno Titan for the Massacre Wurm. Massacre Wurm does not get countered by Flashfreeze, can punish your opponent for playing a few Grave Titans too many, kills both Geist of Saint Traft and Mirran Crusader, murders that Phyrexian Crusader and makes them kiss all of those Illusions or Humans goodbye. A flipped Garruk Relentless also justifies this type of singleton; I know that I have wanted to tutor for Massacre Wurm instead of Inferno Titan on multiple occasions. My only fear is that someone will have double Phantasmal Image and Gut Shot, but I suppose that is one more Gut Shot that they will need to kill your Inferno Titan…
Onto the non-creature spells!
Batterskull serves as our life gain card against the aggressive decks, particularly red. Sure we may be dead by turn four/five, but this card gives us a fighting chance. In today’s world of Vapor Snag, I’m pretty sure Batterskull is better than Wurmcoil Engine, and there is a gaping hole in the five-drop slot.
The removal split of 1 Whipflare, 3 Doom Blade, 4 Liliana of the Veil, 2 Slagstorm, 1 Devil’s Play, and 4 Garruk Relentless was carefully chosen and tweaked. Liliana of the Veil and Garruk Relentless are simply removal spells that can create a sub-game. What I mean by that is that after they kill a creature, they stick around. Now, you create a situation where you are forcing your opponent to go out of their way to kill your planeswalker. Sometimes, he/she will just gain you a few life (which is perfect against aggressive decks), but sometimes, they will just take over the game if unanswered.
The real secret is that I want Liliana of the Veil to die almost every time. Our deck is not able to take advantage of the +1 ability on Liliana of the Veil, so in a way, she is just a Tribute to Hunger. However, in the late game, you can +1 her freely, which allows her to kill multiple creatures, and threatening ultimate should be enough to make your opponent play badly. Personally, I’d rather my first Liliana of the Veil just die and just land another one to Chainer’s Edict them again. Note: you never ever want to discard a Liliana of the Veil to your Liliana of the Veil. In Block, in Standard, in Limited… just never do it!
While Liliana of the Veil is really only there to kill Geist of Saint Traft and Mirran Crusader, Garruk Relentless handles almost every aggressive deck. The 2/2 Wolf is the perfect blocker against dudes like Grand Abolisher, while the ability to fight an unflipped Delver of Secrets or Phantasmal Bear is really attractive.
One split that I have been working on is the one Whipflare and three Doom Blade. Originally, I had four Doom Blades, but my other Legacy Specialist James Wohlmacher asked me what Doom Blade kills that Shock doesn’t? The answer is Titans, Hero of Bladehold, and creatures when Tempered Steel is in play. However, Shock does kill quite a bit, and Whipflare kills even more! Man… Geist of Saint Traft and Mirran Crusader are annoying!!
Slagstorm is there for a similar reason, but I don’t want to be cold to Tempered Steel or Honor of the Pure. It just so happens that the singleton Naturalize came to be for a similar reason. While Acidic Slime seems like it could be better, being able to nail an Angelic Destiny on your opponent’s turn is quite good along with all of the juicy equipment in the format. One change that is very metagame dependent is whether it should be one Ancient Grudge maindeck or one Naturalize. However, as far as Magic Online goes, I have to admit that I have been happy and catching people off guard with a maindeck Naturalize.
Sphere of the Suns is necessary to keep up with fast decks sometimes. Also, you may want to have more mana against control. A question you may be asking is why not just play Rampant Growth? The mana in this deck is a little bit shaky, and sometimes, you want to keep hands without green mana because it has a Sphere of the Suns and a Garruk Relentless in it. A special thanks goes out to Logan Nettles aka Jaberwocki on Magic Online for suggesting Scars of Mirrodin lands. For some reason, I only played M10 lands in my build… whoops!
As for the sideboard, we have some of the usual suspects. Ancient Grudge comes in against the equipment base decks, while Naturalize is preferred against those decks with pesky enchantments. Extra Slagstorms, a Whipflare, and a Doom Blade shore up your aggressive matchups.
Curse of Death’s Hold has become quite the mainstay these days. It allows you to singlehandedly shut down Moorland Haunt unless they play Honor of the Pure. Good thing we run Naturalize! However, I could see the sideboarded Naturalize become an Acidic Slime because of Garruk Relentless, but once again, being an instant and cheaper is just too important in my opinion.
Nihil Spellbomb is another card that is seeing play in a ton of control deck sideboards to make Snapcaster Mage nearly worthless, while preemptively shutting down Moorland Haunt. It could be possible that there should be more in the sideboard.
One problem I have been having is with the control matchups. I have been trying a variety of cards in those five spots, but for now, they are two Druidic Satchels and three Heretic’s Punishment. I will admit that I do not think the Druidic Satchels are that good. They can be better as Garruk, Primal Hunter. Or maybe Charmbreaker Devils. Hmmm…
Anyhow, the card I really do like is Heretic’s Punishment. Oh boy has this little number caught people by surprise. Once again, this card is a common sideboard in the Block Constructed Jund decks, so I didn’t see a reason to not try it out in Standard. It turns out that this card is very hard for decks to answer and will usually demand an Oblivion Ring. This card in the sideboard is part of the reason why there is a singleton Devil’s Play in the maindeck. Combined, you are able to put your opponent on quite the clock. The problem is that your opponent will have to assume the worst, which is that your four mana will deal six damage from revealing a Titan. Just this presence will put a lot of pressure on your opponent. I think that this card could possibly be good in the sideboard of Wolf Run Ramp. Food for thought!
There is the breakdown to my “Block Constructed” in Standard Jund list. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to attack the Moorland Haunt menace. It allows you to play quite a different game in the form of a tap-out control deck with a ton of threats. It is very fun to play, and unless everyone listens to this article, you will almost never face a mirror match! Enjoy and remember that there is always room to brew!
Thanks for reading,
Jonathan “Watchwolf92” Sukenik