The deck's changed a bit since OGW released. Changes to the primer forthcoming when I have time to put effort into it.
Welcome to the Junderdome. This deck is the end result of a long series of revisions to a BFZ port of my Jund Dragons list from last season. It started as a ramp deck but it quickly became apparent that without Elvish Mystic, Sylvan Caryatid, and Courser of Kruphix, we are sorely short of speed, consistency, and card advantage unless we go all-in on resolving huge threats like the current Eldrazi Ramp decks. Instead, I decided to go with a more aggo approach and work around the Megamorph package.
Why run Jund instead of Abzan or G/W? The short answer is that I had a set of Wooded Foothills and Bloodstained Mires left over and didn't want to invest in a new manabase. Turns out we have a high degree of consistency in wedge colors with the high amount of allied fixing in this format, and Jund has a lot of powerful cards in it. Let's look at some now!
Card Choices:
Deathmist Raptor: I don't really feel like I need to explain this one. It's got recursion, it blocks anything, and it beats in for 3, which is great in this format. It's basically never dead in hand. I can't think of a matchup where I'd side this out.
Den Protector: The other half of Megamorph. Coming down for 5 mana as an evasive 3-power beater is fantastic. Playing her for 2 feels really bad, but it can get the job done. Dead in hand if you're stuck on 4 mana against removal-heavy decks; either cast her for 2 or wait until you can flip her in response to removal Paying her face down and losing her is terrible, terrible value. Side one or two out when we need to play faster.
Warden of the First Tree
: I've seen some people talk about how this card is clunky, and there might be some truth to that. That said, if you're playing an aggressive or value-based green deck and you aren't running the four-of, I have a hard time taking you seriously. Almost any hand with a Warden and some way to get him beating in for 3 on turn 2 is a keep; it buys me a lot of time to find other action later in the game. It's a rare one-drop that doesn't feel useless topdecking in the late game, and he does work in nearly every matchup. Rarely dead in hand, almost never side out.
Thunderbreak Regent: Dragons. I love 'em. Thunderbreak is cheap, evasive, protects itself, enables Draconic Roar, and ends a game fast if unanswered. It's nice to power out to block Mantis Riders before you're put on a clock, and it wins versus Wingmate Roc. It's awkward to see more than one before turn 4, though. Dead in hand very rarely, but side out a few against fast decks or when we want to be on a balls-to-the-wall aggro plan.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
: This is a 4/5 for B very, very frequently. That is usually enough, but it also draws you a card for 4 mana. He is very, very good. May go up one in a later revision. Only dead in hand if you're out of delve fuel, which isn't very often. Never sided it out, but I could see doing it if I needed the slot that badly.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury: Swinging in as a 5/5 haste that pumps your team wins a lot of games. She's an awkward card in the opening hand, though, and hardcasting her feels pretty bad. Dead in hand if you draw her in your opener. Side out when we need to aggro. Great versus ramp and Jeskai, though!
Painful Truths
: This card is just bonkers. Pay three/draw three/lose three is really, really good. Gassing back up versus Abzan or Jeskai after putting up a strong first couple turns is almost always game. It's even modal, if you need to conserve life! Super good. Almost never dead in hand, but maybe side out versus Atarka Red.
Kolaghan's Command: Kommand is a real card. It's made a huge splash in modern where 2 damage is lethal to most creatures, but not as much in standard. It still kills a lot, however, and it's almost always a 2-for-1 in your favor. My favorite play in standard is to blow up a Hangarback and make them discard in response to their casting a Dromoka's command; I wept tears of value. It is a little slow in some matchups, though. Side out versus Atarka Red and sometimes Jeskai and Ramp.
Transgress the Mind
: Hand disruption is really, really good, and it's better when we're racing to the top end of our mana curves. I have won several games where I Transgress a Dig Through Time or
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
out of hand and just win on the next turn. A lot of players will keep bad hands hoping to live to the end game, and hand disruption just gives you free wins, though. It's worth noting, however, that this hits exactly one card in Atarka Red's entire maindeck, though. When it's a dead card, it's really dead. Side out versus Atarka Red and sometimes Esper Tokens.
Roast: A super solid removal spell. It kills almost anything that doesn't fly. Answers Rhino really well. I don't have much more to say, 1R to kill a guy is just good. Dead against flyers, obviously, but almost always has a target. Almost never side out, except versus control.
Draconic Roar: I will stand by Draconic Roar as the best removal spell in standard. It's so, so good. Even without the reveal it does a whole lot of work. A neat side effect is sometimes against a more controlling deck they will purposely keep creatures off the field to stay alive in case I have this card. It just does so much work, and I'm almost never unhappy to see it. Side out a few copies if they are running no targets, like Esper Dragons, but I would think hard before committing to that.
Murderous Cut: I was running Ultimate Price here, but then I came to my senses. This deals with a lot of problem creatures and this deck has no trouble filling the 'yard. I feel a lot safer running at least a few cards that just unconditionally remove a creature. Not great in a super-fast matchup, but rarely totally dead.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker: I've played around with a lot of cards in this slot, but I like Sarkhan here (it helps that I pulled two out of packs and really want it to find a home!). A 4/4 flying haste indestructible is really hard to deal with for most decks, and he can close out games quickly. That fact that he doubles as removal reduces the likelyhood that he'll be totally dead, but like my other big mana cards, he is really awkward in the opening seven. The main matchup to side him out against is Ramp, as he's usually a turn too late to seal the deal there.
Duress
: Duress is just as good as Transgress 90% of the time. That fact that it hits planeswalkers is a big plus. Turn one Duress you is a pretty big feel-bad moment for the other guy. Side it in versus control and Jeskai, keep it out versus Atarka and Abzan.
Fiery Impulse
: Cheap early removal really improves our aggro matchup. 2 damage kills a lot and 3 kills even more. Bring it in if we're concerned about getting out-raced.
Heir of the Wilds: This is a flex slot. I was testing out Dromoka's Command, and I might keep it that way, but I've found that some slower matchups would benefit a lot from having a higher threat density to kill them a turn or two earlier. I've also considered Bloodsoaked Champion in this spot. Ramp, control, and Jeskai are good places to bring this in. It also kills Rhinos if we're really worried about that!
Radiant Flames
: 3-mana sweepers are a lifesaver in aggro matchups. This is even better than Anger of the Gods because we can Flames for 2 and kill their Swiftspears and Zurgos while leaving our Wardens and Deathmists alive! Super good against any deck that goes too wide or too fast.
Evolutionary Leap
: This card is a beating against Jeskai and control. Blanking their removal and churning out threats wins enough games that we run three, even though the second copy does nothing (I guess it hedges against Dromoka's Command?).
Matchups:
Abzan: A good matchup against Abzan is one of the main reasons to run this deck. In the early game we can go toe-to-toe with them, in the mid game we have plenty of answers to Rhino and Anafenza, and in the late game we have a bit of inevitability with our recursion engine and card advantage from things like Kolaghan's Command and Painful Truths. I'd confidently put game 1 at 65-35 in our favor. Games 2 and 3 we sideboard lightly; bringing in a few Heirs might help our early game a little, but our deck is pretty much optimized to have a good matchup here so there aren't really any silver bullet answers to bring in. Our overall matchup by my estimation is 60/40 in our favor.
Megamorph: This was the other big reason to run Jund. G/W has a better removal suite and access to Gideon, and so was better against more of the field early in the season, but we have a really solid edge in the mirror. Like Abzan, we can go 1-for-1 in the early game, but if we keep their board relatively clear we can kill their turn 4 Gideon before they get too much value off him. Thunderbreak and Kolaghan beat Wingmate Roc, and our removal handles their late threats better. Tasigur is a bit of a beating here. In the sideboard, Radiant Flames gives us access to sweepers a two turn earlier than them. Fiery Impulse lets us control the board even more. This deck seems to have died off a bit lately. Overall: 65/45 in our favor.
Jeskai: The most common variant you might face in a wide field in Jeskai Black with Mantis Riders, but here in my local meta Jeskai Black control with Dragonmaster Outcast
+
Ojutai's Command
is a big player, as is Jeskai Aggro running Swiftspears and Monastery Mentors. They are all slightly favored against us, especially game 1. I find that we have to draw really well to make it to the mid-game against aggro and we don't quite have the threat density to kill controlling variants before they stabilize with Outcast and
soulfire grandmaster
. We sideboard heavily here: Bring in Evolutionary Leap, Duress, and Heir of the Wilds versus control and Fiery Impulse and Radiant Flames against aggro. Post board we can hold our own, but we have to draw a good opening hand and draw some of our sideboard cards to stay afloat. Overall I'd put our matchup at slightly below 50/50.
Atarka Red: You probably gathered from my comments on card choices above that this is a rough matchup for us. Game one we are looking at something like 30/70 odds favoring them. Without a way to clear the board before they assemble critical mass and combo us out by going wide, we can't reach the late game where they run out of gas. Siding in Heir, Radiant Flames, Fiery Impulse, and maybe even a Duress or two and taking out all of our spells over 3 cmc as well as Trangress the Mind (which blanks on their deck save Become Immense) improves our matchup immensely. Game 2 and 3 I'd say we have a 60/40 chance to control the board and trade blockers until we can take over in the mid game. It's still a rough matchup, though, and it's easy to draw 7 cards of nothing and die suddenly. Probably something like 40/60 favoring them overall.
Eldrazi Ramp: This is a great matchup as long as we can keep them from resolving Ugin in whatever way possible. If he sticks to the board we are dead. We just have to jam every threat that we draw and toss as much damage to face as possible in order to kill them before they hit 8 mana. Hitting hand disruption is crazy good in this matchup. We're really only worried about Ugin, because they're almost always down to less than 5 life by the time they resolve him and we can just leisurely burn them out before we're actually dead. In fact, I've won several games where they died because their threat gave several Draconic Roars that were previously dead in hand a target and I could just burn them out. Game 2 we bring in Heir and Duress to keep them off Ugin and go ball-to-the-wall damage dealing. I'd say out overall percentage is close to 60/40; we can win a lot but it's almost never one-sided, and they'll usually have you dead the next turn when they go to 0.
Control: I only have one dedicated control player at my local meta who I haven't played in a while. Thus, I don't have a lot of useful info in this matchup because my deck has changed a lot since the last time I ran into him. I will say that controlling versions of Jeskai Black have good game against us game 1, but as discussed above we have a powerful set of tools to bring in to improve our later games. Protip: hand disruption yanking Dig Through Time is very powerful, and gives you a lot better chance of killing them before they can stabilize.
Well, that's about it. I have really enjoyed the deck at FNM at a fairly competitive LGS, and hope to take it to a few competitive events starting with an IQ on December 12th. Thanks for looking, and feel free to comment with suggestions or questions!
