The following post contains a discussion of the decks I'm working with in current competitive M:TG standard format. For the vast majority of readers it will consequently be of no interest, so if you are among them, don't waste your time. Maybe I should publish these niche posts at a different blogging location, but that would mean at minimum several weeks without a readership to speak of. It's taken time to earn the attention of those eyeballs, and I'll be damned if I'm going to squander rather than utilize my modest reach! Just forgo this post and forgive its author if you're not a fellow (or former?) planeswalker*.
For those still with me, I'm soliciting thoughts, critiques, and suggestions regarding the three deck types I'm currently tinkering with. I implore you to share them.
My top tourney deck is jund aggro, although I classify it as aggro-control because relative to the jund of the global meta, it puts heavy emphasis on the latter.
Jund Aggro-ControlCreatures (17)
4x
Bloodbraid Elf4x
Sprouting Thrinax4x
River Boa3x
Broodmate Dragon2x
Garruk WildspeakerSpells (18)
4x
Blightning4x
Jund Charm4x
Maelstrom Pulse3x
Bituminous Blast3x
TerminateLand (25)
4x
Rootbound Crag4x
Dragonskull Summit4x
Savage Lands4x
Verdant Catacombs3x
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood2x Forest
2x Swamp
2x Mountain
Side
3x
Duress3x
Goblin Ruinblaster3x
Goblin Outlander2x
Lightning Bolt2x
Pyroclasm1x Bituminous Blast
1x Terminate
River Boa is obviously less aggressive than
Putrid Leech, the jund standard. I like boa better for a few reasons: 1) It's an more assured second turn drop than leech is. Jund's mana base is a wreck, as jund players who've played
Spread 'Em have inevitably find out firsthand. Mountain, Rootbound Crag, and Oran-Rief to open doesn't feel as bad with boa as it does with leech. 2) Even late game, boa's valuable as a chump. Paths, terminates, and O-rings are the only ways it goes. The key to cascading is ensuring that whatever pocket the ball lands in, you're better off. leech is better than a rampant growth, but thrinax always feels better than leech. With boa, by contrast, I'm often more pleased than I would've been with thrinax. 3) I started out using leech, but became perpetually frustrated by removal on the stack after I pumped, especially in the mirror match. Take two and lose my 2-drop for a bolt? Awful.
States are still packed with leeches, while some are foregoing the 2-drop creature entirely, in favor of siege gang, so this contrarian is yet to be vindicated. The latter is usually accompanied by mana acceleration via rampant growth. That version of jund has the upperhand in mirror, but it's extremely vulnerable to RDW (see below), which is why I'm not keen on it.
An even more significant variation on my part is in electing to include charm maindeck at the expense of bolt, which I relegate to side in a diminished capacity. To play red and not use bolt is almost sacreligious, but so long as I have the mana for it, I'm almost always happier to see charm than I am to see bolt. Part of this is due to my local meta. Tokens (
Conqueror's Pledge,
Emeria Angel,
Siege-Gang Commander) have an enormous presence, and jund charm is a crucial answer to them. In response to your dropping
eldrazi, I'll jund charm. Eldrazi has a one turn clock and you're tapped out. Pwned! Cascading into a charm instead of a bolt also often means a +2/+2 pump on one of my creatures instead of throwing (away) 3 damage at his face.
Duress is a recent addition to the board for
Mind Sludge, which wrecked me three games (first round) in a recent tournament. I got hit with it each game on his turn 5 (he won the roll, and also game 1 and 3)--twice my turn 4--for my entire hand. Jund wins on 2-for-1s and card advantage. Five for one in his favor is
not how that is accomplished.
Outlander is for Green/White beast decks that are currently king in my meta. Yes, they are even getting the better of jund most of the time. I've not seen this deck with much of a presence yet in states, but I imagine that it's only a matter of time. It uses
Noble Hierarch and
Lotus Cobra for acceleration into Emeria,
Knight of the Reliquary, Baneslayer, and
Dauntless Escort (a stupidly overpowered card), as well as
Thornling after game 1. Since it's only removal is path, slapping a jund charm on outlander presents a serious threat.
Pyroclasm is extra ammo for the token decks. It was tough to drop
Great Sable Stag, but vampires look to be dead, and almost all the jund in my meta has dropped leech and most have added siege gang, so stag's gone from being game-changing to simply being good in the mirror match.
After the Zendikar pre-release, I got the bug. I'd been clean for six years, but a few old friends convinced me to go. A few weeks and one weekend of extensive Magic playing with several old friends back from all over the country later and 4x of the full common and uncommon library of each of the five current sets was on its way. I've still only played jund in tournaments, but the meta is so saturated with jund hate that I'm going to be mixing it up soon.
Red Deck WinsCreatures (20)
4x
Raging Goblin4x
Plated Geopede4x
Ball Lightning4x
Hellspark Elemental4x
Hell's ThunderSpells (16)
4x
Lightning Bolt4x
Burst Lightning4x
Quenchable Fire4x
EarthquakeLand (24)
12x Mountain
4x
Teetering Peaks4x
Scalding Tarn4x
Arid MesaSide
4x
Swerve3x
Unstable Footing3x
Dragon's Claw3x
Volanic Fallout2x
BanefireI built this thing independent of any knowledge of it existing as a top-tier deck. One of the two differences I opted for is the use of raging goblin instead of the more favored
Goblin Guide. I play the dek in a very disciplined manner--direct damage is to be reserved for players, not creatures, except for in the most exceptional circumstances. Creature drops first. Ball lightning before Hell's Thunder and geopede before hellspark because of unearth in the face of blightning. The staying creatures, especially the 1-drop goblin (whether raging or guide) becomes a chump blocker after two or three turns. I'm not sold on giving a 1 or 2 card advantage for a couple extra points of damage. I'm potent enough mid-game to still threaten if his life total is in the single-digits.
The other variance with the standard RDW is in using quenchable fire instead of elemental appeal. Wizards is currently giving blue the middle finger. It is the color with the least presence in the current environment, to such an extent that I'm comfortable running quenchable fire maindeck. Elemental appeal doesn't drop until turn 4, at which point it's an easy target for removal. Plus, I want to be throwing direct damage rather than creatures from turn 4 onward (it's not unusual to win on turn 6 or 7). In friendly games, I get jund 2-to-1 pre-board, but I haven't had much exposure with it against other decks.
Unstable footing and banefire are both for
mill. Although I've not play-tested against it yet, on paper it's a tough match for me. If those aren't enough, I'll find room for
Lich's Mirror.
Swerves are for spread 'em. I can't wait for the first time I get to throw that down in tournament play!
Dragon's claw is for mirror.
The third of my ongoing projects is by far my favorite. It's an AE original (it's nonexistence in competitive play should probably be taken as an indication that it is not a top-tier deck, but nothing is until someone introduces it, right?) with a cute name. What's not to like? As a Type I player (now "vintage"), my home has always been mono-blue control. Ever since coming upon the
Wall of Air/
Prodigal Sorcerer 'combo' back in the halcyon days of Fourth Edition's reign (I've since grown to
Power Ten/
Morphling, but we all have to start somewhere), my heart has yearned for islands. Unfortunately, mono-blue simply is not a viable option in the current standard environment because of the pitiable state of counterspells.
Shroud ControlCreatures (11)
4x
Deft Duelist4x
Wall of Denial3x
Sphinx of Jwar IsleSpells (24)
4x
Flashfreeze4x
Oblivion Ring3x
Path to Exile3x
Negate3x
Hindering Light3x
Mind Control2x
Day of Judgment2x
Mind SpringLand (25)
8x Island
5x Plains
4x
Fieldmist Borderpost4x
Sejiri Refuge4x
Glacial FortressSide
3x
Quest for Ancient Secrets3x
Celestial Purge3x
Baneslayer Angel2x
Luminarch Ascension2x
Devout Lightcaster1x Negate
1x Day of Judgment
Because it renders terminate and bit blast dead cards while severely lessening the utility of pulse and bolt, this gets jund 2-to-1 in game 1. Deft duelist rapes bloodbraid, and wall of denial throws jund into slow motion. Hindering light is an amazing answer to blightning, turning a 1 card disadvantage plus 3 damage into a 1 card advantage without any loss of life. It also works to protect O-ring and mind control against the pulses jund is waiting for a target to throw at (flashfreeze and negate both work as well, without card advantage but with greater general utility). Sphinx can't be killed by anything in the entire deck save for a broodmate together with its, uh, broodmate.
Flashfreeze is dead against vamps and white weenie, neither of which have much of a presence in my meta (and deft duelist is amazing against both of them). But it's utility is huge against 80% or so of what's being run out there. It's a risk I'm comfortable taking.
Why baneslayer in board? To catch jund with its pants down game 2. Let him side out all his removal only to find I've brought a more potent (but removable) creature to pinch-hit for sphinx. Additionally, it's helpful against the green/white token matchup, which will be a tough one for me.
The quests are for mill. My kill is slow, but they allow it to still beat the mill clock, and at 1 cost, I have the counterspells to protect it even on the turn it is dropped (which is
not turn 1 unless I happen to have two in hand).
* Using jargon associated with a nerdy activity in a public, generalist setting definitely marks one as a nerd, I know.