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Is Jund for Everyone? (and How to Get the Most from the Deck You Choose)

Hello everyone!

Since opening my first booster pack half a decade ago, I’ve managed to play one archetype with little variation, Jund. Throughout the bannings of [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card] and [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] I’ve rarely strayed from the idea that it is one of the best decks to take into any unpredictable meta. The deck is streamlined in such a way that if deck design is coupled with critical decision making, you will win. After thousands of hours with the deck over the last five years, the only way I can describe my experience in Red Deer is: “Sorry, those were really great games.” followed by a handshake when my opponent was ready.

I won’t go into great detail regarding the meta or my deck list as Peter Schreier’s comprehensive tournament report can be found here along with my 75. However what I’ll be focusing on is the simple fact that while Jund was one of the most largely represented decks, there was only one Jund pilot in the Top 8. Which begs the question proposed in the title, “Is Jund for everyone?” This is a question that can be applied to any deck in any format.

The fact of the matter is that we as Magic players are faced with a simple question every single time we sit down before round one… “What deck should I play?” immediately we start thinking about the meta, how well we know it, what will win, and lastly, what is fun. It does not really matter if we are going to an FNM, WMCQ, 2K’s or 5K’s, PPTQ’s and PTQ’s, we all ask ourselves, the question of ‘what deck’ is always in the front of our minds.

For me the answer has always been simple, I love Jund and I’ve always had the most fun playing it. I’m going to be perfectly honest here, I never posted results better than 2-2 at an FNM for the first two years with the deck, (this was when I could have a turn two [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card].) Owning one of the best positioned decks in the entire format of Modern made very little difference on my record… But I loved it.

Having lost many games to [card]Splinter Twin[/card], Affinity, Tron, etc., there were many times when I considered selling Jund, buying “the best deck in the format” and (because it’s Jund) placing a healthy down payment on a nice car. But I didn’t. I played on and I was consistently 4-0/3-1 and Top 8ing almost every Modern event I went to before the eventual introduction of Eldrazi Winter. Interestingly enough my enjoyment of the game changed very little despite a positive record… I still loved it.

What happened? By no means was Jund better positioned in the format than when I started, I’m doubtful that will ever happen again. [card]Summer Bloom[/card] was still in the format, (an atrocious matchup), Burn was becoming more efficient, and [card]Splinter Twin[/card] (a good matchup despite my historical record of losing to it) was banned! A few things changed and these can be applied to any deck you choose to play: Deck Familiarity, Format Familiarity, Deck Enjoyment, Format Enjoyment. Before we unpack these in a little more detail to help you pick the right deck for your next event, I’d like to preface with this:

Deck Familiarity + Format Familiarity = Winning

Deck Enjoyment + Format Enjoyment = Game Health

***Pretty simple however these four pillars can borrow aspects from each other***

Deck Familiarity: First and foremost Modern is, for the most part, an Eternal format (if you disagree and bring up “artificial rotation” in the comments I will not indulge). This means that, ideally, once you invest in a deck you will get to play it as long as the format is supported. Therefore considering that very few people have an infinite amount of dollars to invest into a deck, the deck we choose is likely to stay with us for a while. Therefore we have time to get to know our deck, and WE NEED IT!

I can’t count how many times I’ve asked other Jund players about their main deck or sideboards and the three reasons they have for including a certain card is: 1.) I saw it online. 2.) It blows stuff up. or 3.) Reid Duke says to. Only one of those reasons is good. And it isn’t 1 or 2!

It took almost five years for me to know why I have every single card in my 75, what matchups I want to see each card and why each card is in my sideboard.

I use this rule of thumb when picking decks: if I can’t offer a comprehensive explanation why every single card is in my 75 along with the quantity I should not be playing this card… or deck. Don’t worry there is hope! If your answer to the question is “no” you get to practice, and that means playing Magic: The Gathering! By doing this you will not only get to know your deck better, the format as well! On that note let’s move on!

Format Familiarity: Had I known that I’d matched up against two Infect players in the top 8 I would have undoubtably elected to add [card]Disfigure[/card] along with [card]Seal of Fire[/card] in my 75. However I was mostly occupied with Nahiri Jeskai, Abzan CoCo, and RG Tron. Thankfully I was half right, playing two games against Abzan CoCo and one against GR Tron (the Boogyman for Jund.)

Format Familiarity is critical for success, especially in Eternal formats. Modern, a format with 9981 legal cards at this time is incredibly diverse! Therefore to avoid reading every card our opponents play, we must invest time learning the format! If we know our deck inside and out yet fail to understand the majority of the cards in our format we will lose. This is due to being unprepared. Being surprised in this game generally means our tournament is over. This is perhaps most true with Jund. For example, [card]Thoughtseize[/card] is an incredibly powerful spell, however if I remove the wrong card from my opponent’s hand, losing is almost always inevitable. I’m quite certain that this is why most Jund players, including myself at times, fail to put up the results the deck is capable of. Every single choice is crucial, and surprises are costly.

Therefore when picking the right deck for you, figure out if you have the time to learn every deck you might sit across from, if the answer is no, perhaps a deck that interacts with your opponent less is better and you can invest more time learning your own deck. If you are prepared to spend multiple hours, learning from mistakes, and the opponent interaction component of Magic: The Gathering is something you love… Sleeve up Ol’ faithful and Jund em Out!

Deck Enjoyment: As I said, I love playing Jund, other decks I’ve piloted to consistent positive records are Infect (2 months), Affinity (3 months), American (Sorry “Jeskai”) Control (1 month). All very diverse, all while Jund collected dust, all while I wished I was casting [card]Lightning Bolt[/card], [card]Tarmogoyf[/card], and [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card]. Did I do better with other decks? Yes. Did I feel a deep sense of satisfaction throwing up a ton of cheap artifacts onto the battlefield turn one? For about fifteen minutes. Afterwards no.

I suggested earlier that despite my record changing from negative to positive my enjoyment of the game was not necessarily predicated on winning, rather the deck I chose to play. I enjoyed playing Jund.

If you are struggling to decide what deck to play and one of the challenges is whether or not to play a deck you think will win or a deck you will enjoy. Let me remind you that you are often at the mercy of not only your own, but your opponent’s top decks. This is a game of skill, but also luck. Don’t sell off a deck you love to pilot because you think you will do better playing a deck posting results. You may not win a 50+ person tournament, and statistically you’re unlikely to (#sorrynotsorry)… and that can be detrimental to your enjoyment of the game. Choose a deck you love.

After taking a long hiatus from the game due to working in East Africa I came back to the game with my competitive edge rather dull. I didn’t come straight to Modern, rather I found a small local shop with a diverse Legacy community (One can guess the deck I played.) I found great satisfaction playing a version of Jund with a starting life total above 15. Eventually I dusted off the shocklands, put my playsets of [card]Punishing Fire[/card], [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card] and [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] back in the “Ban Binder” and headed to a Modern event.

Format Enjoyment: Deck and format enjoyment are indeed intrinsically similar however their fundamentals divergently contribute to the overall sum being game health. If deck enjoyment is high, it should transition into the format as well. However there are aspects of MTG that we will never be able to control, mainly our opponents.

Modern is a “Hyper Competitive” format there are a lot of people who attend local FNM’s, PPTQ’s, 2&5K’s with one goal. To win. I feel strongly that they could benefit a great deal from reading this article. Many people come out to Modern events with what they would consider the “best deck” and due to the fact that they have chosen a deck to “win with” rather then a deck they love, not only is their Deck Enjoyment compromised other people’s Format Enjoyment is as well.

I have thankfully been able to mitigate this hyper competitivity by choosing a deck I love, therefore my format enjoyment is actually quite high. In the case of Jund I would describe each matchup is 40-60 in favour of my opponent. Don’t listen to anyone who says it’s 50-50, unless you are a pro, it is 40-60.

These statistics are one of the reasons I love Jund, I know that every single match I am going to have to rely on my Deck and Format Familiarity in order to succeed. When I am focused I know I can skew the statistics slightly in my favour, and that no matter how hyper competitive my opponent is, the game will be decided sometimes our luck, but usually by player competency.

While the statistics do change based on the deck you choose to play if you are not competent with your Format or Deck Familiarity, you will lose favourable matchups, thus compromising your enjoyment. Which is why, especially in a hyper competitive environment such as Modern, I suggest choosing a deck you love and working on your fundamentals. Change your perspective for a couple months to learn the ins and outs of your deck, study your format, enjoy the game. Then take your deck, regardless of where it is positioned in the metagame and win games. If you have ample time it will not take half a decade. If you are 10/10 regarding familiarity of multiple decks in a format pick the one you love the most. Ff you love 2 or more decks the same and your familiarity with them is also equal, then you don’t need to be reading this!

Essentially the hyper competitive nature of Modern is established by those that don’t enjoy the deck they are playing, invested too much time or money in ‘the best deck in the format’ and that negatively impacts other people’s Format Enjoyment, thus having a negative impact on the game. So before your next event, when you are asking yourself what deck should I play, consider your familiarity with these intrinsic pillars for choosing the “your best deck” rather then the “best deck”. And remember that learning takes time. Again, you could probably hand me the best 75 in Vintage right now and I would do awful for the next 5 years.

Thanks friends,

Riley

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