I've always liked modern Junk decks (here's my dark confident and Tarmagoyff, deal with it!) and ever since pulling a Pain Seer in Born of the Gods I've wandered if something similar might be viable in standard. Finally I've trawled through all the modern Junk decks on TO, worked out which cards feature over and over and looked for appropriate substitutes in standard. This is the result, and while it probably needs a lot of work, I'm hoping it will end up being half-decent.
Note that this is rotation-ready, hence the lack of Scavenging Ooze, Abrupt Decay and shock lands.
Here are the modern Junk staples and their standard counterparts;
dark confident - Pain Seer is harder work than Bob but by using
Springleaf Drum
and Witches' Eye you can get some consistent extra draw out of him.
Tarmagoyff - This has been difficult as there's nothing quite like the Goyff in standard (loleth troll would be a contender from the Ravnica block but I wanna keep this post-rotation). I've settled with Polukranos, World Eater as he's the biggest relatively-cheap beater in standard at the moment.
Path to Exile - The closet I could find to this was Banishing Light.
Bitterblossom - I think Spirit Bonds is a pretty decent replacement token generator, especially for 1% of the price! Brimaz, King of Oreskos can also fill this role.
Tidehollow Sculler - Brain Maggot is almost identical!
Fauna Shaman - Yisan, the Wanderer Bard is somewhat similar, but he's a bit slow. I've left him in the maybeboard for now, but given the low CMC of the deck he might be worthwhile.
Maelstrom Pulse - I figured Bile Blight was the closest I was gonna get here; not quite as strong, but cheaper and serves a similar purpose.
Liliana of the Veil - I guess Liliana Vess is a handy match, but she's a lot more expensive so she's just a maybe for now.
Thoughtseize - ...
Courser of Kruphix - ... (This guy works especially well with Pain Seer as you can prepare to take the CMC hit!)
The cards I'm least sure about are Sylvan Caryatid (mana fixing, ramp and defence), Courser of Kruphix (I'm not sure if 4 is too many or not),
Fleecemane Lion
(basically there to balance the colours a bit...) and Brimaz, King of Oreskos (probably worth keeping but not sure). Also I don't know whether or not I need more lands. I've got a bit of creature ramp plus
Springleaf Drum
as well as an average CMC of 2.25 so maybe it's okay...
The sideboard is very rough, but simple; if you're having problems with specific cards bring in
Stain the Mind
, if those cards are walkers bring in Phyrexian Revoker too and if your up against constellation fetch
Hushwing Gryff
and Back to Nature (I love how WotC made constellation a thing and then printed two cards that completely ruin it; troll-level 99!).
Thanks for reading! Any playtesting would be greatly appreciated; same goes for suggestions and +1s :)
