Let’s get it out of the way up front. Jund: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. And, since I don’t have any help on how to beat Jund, it may be time to hold your nose and get behind the beast.
Okay, with that taken care of we can move on to discussion of the largest StarCityGames.com Open event to date. 667 players showed up in Indianapolis, blowing the roof off the previous record set just two weeks before in Richmond. What does this mean? Well, for starters, check out my article on the changes to the StarCityGames.com Open Series, but what it really means is even more information to break down! When you have six archetypes with 40 or more players, there is lots of great data.
Let’s break down the field:
If we want to play a deck that did well (50%+) at the Indianapolis event, we find ourselves with only six archetypes: Jund, Naya, U/W Control, Knightfall Mythic, Nissa Monument and Open the Vaults. Let’s look a little closer at some of the top archetypes:
JUND — 26.69% of the Field — Won 61.67% of Matches
So, I don’t know what to tell you. Strong numbers against Naya, Vampires, U/W Control and Knightfall means that, if you aren’t in a mirror match, you are likely to have a good match-up. I would love to dig up an archetype that fells the giant, but when what passes for a bad match-up is Red Deck Wins, which is hovering around 50%, there’s not much to say. I expect to see an even higher percentage of the field toting Jund decks in Orlando.
NAYA — 10.34% of the Field — Won 55.00% of Matches
The dominant build of Naya these days is the Boss Naya build that showed up at Pro Tour: San Diego, I keep listing it as a Sub-Archetype for consistency, but it’s about time to give that up. The bottom line on this deck is that you are a 40/60 dog to Jund, and that’s just a bad place to be in the current metagame.
U/W Control — 7.35% of the Field — Won 50.18% of Matches
How’s that control thing working for you? Not too well, sorry Mr. Chapin. The only encouraging thing about the numbers against the major decks is that the numbers against the rest of the field must be spectacular to drag them back up to just over 50% overall. So if you don’t recognize the deck across from you, you probably have the advantage. I know it’s not what you want to hear about a control deck, but I’m trying to be positive.
FEATURE DECK — JEFF WINTERS — RED DECK WINS (+B)
Creatures (20)
Lands (18)
Spells (22)
Sideboard
For those of you who need some glimmer of hope that there may be a deck that beats Jund, I give you Jeff Winter’s take on Red Deck Wins. Jeff splashed Black and managed an impressive 4-1 against Jund opponents and on the day. Maindeck Blightnings give Jund a taste of its own medicine, and Deathmarks out of the board help with Jund, Naya, and Knightfall match-ups. Blightning was the force behind the B/R builds before the Zendikar rotation; might it be part of the solution to Jund now? Overall, Red Deck Wins came out ahead against the Jund Juggernaut, but barely.
I hope to see everyone in Orlando! Don’t forget to stop by Phoenix Games for their $500 FNM where StarCityGames.com will be buying cards and taking Preregistration for the Open Weekend. See you there!