by Jake Meszaros
Our resident "professor" returns with a new brew: Jund Aggro. With all the cards that it has lost, does Jund still have enough cards to work with? Professor M believes so and he is hoping you agree enough to give his deck a try!
It seems as if from week to week, the metagame shifts in a drastic way. From the initial thoughts that a relatively unchanged U/W would shape the decks around it to a relatively ramp-oriented style of deck, it is nearly impossible to know what the right metagame call is for your area. Based on this assumption, the best bet is usually to go with a consistent deck that has a 50/50 matchup against the majority of the field, which is why Jund was so popular in the days of Shards Block. Ostensibly, the deck had a chance to beat anything with very few bad matchups. But why would a deck where removal runs rampant and 3-4 power creatures are the “bombs” win so much? Personally, I believe the color scheme of Black, Green and Red has so much versatility that together, they can overcome so many decks, and that’s exactly why I brewed an R/B/G aggro list.
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Goblin Guide
3 Abyssal Persecutor
3 Nest Invader
2 Vampire Hexmage
2 Inferno Titan
2 Eldrazi Monument
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Doom Blade
3 Sarkhan the Mad
1 Consuming Vapors
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Sword of Body and Mind
3 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Swamp
3 Raging Ravine
3 Copperline Gorge
3 Blackcleave Cliff
4 Verdant Catacombs
This deck is by no means the Jund that has been seen winning in the past. While removal does play a key role in this list, the deck seems to have more firepower than the old Jund which took down so many tournaments. However, even without the huge removal package, I find the deck is quite consistent, despite its aggro look and feel.
First off, I really think that Abyssal Persecutor is one of the biggest and baddest potato-like creatures around in the format. With the only decks really running any hard removal being U/B, most other decks will have to find another possible way to deal with it. For example, a mono red player will have to use at least 2 burn spells to get rid of your pesky Persecutor, which buys you time and thins out his potential burn spells to the face to kill you with. With the last of Maelstrom Pulse in standard, Abyssal Persecutor got a huge boost.
While the rest of the deck may seem inconsistent, some of the early-game cards may be surprisingly consistent. Goblin Guide is a card which is in the deck to push in early damage, but may seem like a bad draw late-game. While drawing Goblin Guide late might look bad, it can be a lifesaver late-game thanks to Garruk and Sword of Body and Mind. At worst, Guide becomes Sarkhan the Mad fodder if there is no Persecutor in play to kill. The same applies for Birds of Paradise, which early game can allow you to get an insane amount of creatures/mana open for removal early game, but late game can be another creature to overrun with or food for a hungry death-metal singer who really likes dragons.
While Goblin Guide and Birds of Paradise might initially seem like bad late game draws, the same can definitely not be said about Vampire Hexmage. With the exception of Fauna Shaman decks, there are not that many decks that do not rely on Planeswalkers. Playing 2 Vampire Hexmages mainboard gives you a quick answer to that pesky Jace or Koth that you’d have to bolt or attack to get rid of.
Initially, Eldrazi Monument and Nest Invader weren’t in the deck at all, but after some testing against the Valakut matchup, I and a few others realized that the matchup is nearly impossible without Eldrazi Monument. Valakut cantrips you too much with Lightning Bolt and Overgrown Battlement for them to care about Abyssal Persecutor; they just win the race. By adding in Eldrazi Monument and Nest Invader, you get added ramp and a win condition that flies over the Avenger of Zendikar and his arms of annoying, cantrippy 0/1 tokens. [Improper usage of cantrip all over this paragraph. So much for being a "professor"! -KYT]
An important thing to getting people to actually try your deck is to present them with a fully detailed sideboard and boarding plan for every big matchup. Brian-David Marshall told me that before going to Nationals Qualifiers, he was going to play a Lost Auramancer deck until Gerry Thompson provided him with a list with exact sideboarding plans. So, without further ado, here’s a possible sideboard and boarding plan!
Sideboard
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Mark of Mutiny
3 Duress
1 Vampire Hexmage
2 Staggershock
2 Naturalise
Most sideboards run cards like Arc Trail over Staggershock but I prefer shock because it’s an instant and I personally prefer instant-speed removal. However, the call is a personal choice, I’m just putting mine here.
U/W
+3 Ruinblaster
+3 Duress
+1 Hexmage
-4 Bolt
-1 Doom Blade
– 2 Sword of Body and Mind
Based on what my friend Vasil and I have seen in testing, Goblin Ruinblaster is an extremely relevant card in the matchup. The U/W player has to make a choice between trying to cantrip the creatures you play early, or keeping counterspell mana open to Leak a potential big beats threat. In terms of taking Sword of Body and Mind out, I think it’s the right call as the only creature it avoids is Colonnade, thus making sword a little unnecessary. Duress and Hexmage are pretty much self explanatory.
U/B
+3 Goblin Ruinblaster
+3 Duress
+1 Hexmage
-4 Doom Blade
-2 Sword of Body and Mind
-1 Consuming Vapors
The board is basically identical, with the only change being taking nonblack removal out against a black deck (go figure!). If the opposing list is playing creatures (Persecutor, Grave Titan) maybe leave Vapors in and take out a Sarkhan the Mad, although he’ll be MAD about it (you see what I did there? I sound like LSV!)
Valakut
+3 Goblin Ruinblaster
+4 Mark of Mutiny
-4 Lightning Bolt
-2 Inferno Titan
-1 Consuming Vapors
This matchup is a race. If you can get him to 10 life or less by turn 6, you’re in the pipe, otherwise you’re gonna have to hope for the Eldrazi Monument on the top, Monument is the MVP of the matchup. If you can Blaster any Valakuts away, mission accomplished. Also, Mark of Mutiny is pure insanity in a jar when Sarkhan the Mad is in play. Hooray for taking his Primeval Titan and blowing it up after!
Eldrazi Green
+3 Ruinblaster (this is getting repetitive)
+4 Mark of Mutiny
-4 Lightning Bolt
-2 Vampire Hexmage
-1 Inferno Titan
This is probably one of the deck’s better matchups, seeing as there is a response to all the big bombs and they have few responses to Sword of Body and Mind pre-board. Luckily, there are goodies in our board to beat the deck. Mark of mutiny is disgustingly good here; using Eldrazi's against the guy who played them is so much fun! Also, I believe that this is the last matchup where Goblin Ruinblaster is necessary, YAY!
Elves
+2 Staggershock
-2 Hexmage
This matchup should be heavily in your favor, seeing as you have removal and speed, and they have no removal. Sword of Body and Mind is crazy here, such a crazy card because they cant kill the creature and it gives you a valid case for decking them out. Staggershock just adds some removal and gives you time to stick a threat and wreck face with it.
Mono Red
+2 Staggershock
+1 Hexmage
-2 Sword of Body and Mind
-1 Sarkhan the Mad
Mono red can be extremely easy or extremely difficult, and it’s totally dependent on keeping removal in hand. Mulligan aggressively until you see a Bolt, Doom Blade, or Staggershock. Don’t try to race them, they’ll beat you most of the time. Hexmage is brought in for Koth and since it has first strike.
R/U/G Ramp
???
Honestly, I have no clue how to board against this matchup. I’m pretty sure you can bring in 3 Mark of Mutiny and 1 Hexmage, but I’m not quite sure what to take out. If you think you have a good board plan for this matchup, be sure to let me know. I’d be glad to hear it!
Well that’s enough of me talking about the deck, next thing to do is to hope you people like it! If you have suggestions for the deck or just general comments, my email is mr.goatee@hotmail.com, feel free to write!
Until next time
Jake “Professor M” Meszaros
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.
