by Justin Richardson

Extended season is here and though Jund did not make a big splash at Worlds, JRich is here to tell you that it is definitely one of the better decks you should consider playing at your upcoming PTQs.  He goes over the many options Jund has in Extended and ends the article with his Jund decklist.

Winter has come and with it has come time for my favourite PTQ format, Extended. I have always liked playing Extended through the years, through rotations the format is usually big enough that there is not 1 dominant deck that you have to play or will just lose to it, but small enough that there are not too many decks that you need to prepare for. I remember Extended when it was Tempest to Champions of Kamigawa, while this was one of the best formats of all time, it was impossible to metagame and prepare for, there were a ton of different combo decks ranging from Mind's Desire, Aluren and Life.dec, Control decks in the form of Scepter-Chant, Tog, and the Rock and Aggro decks like Affinity, Red Deck Wins and White Weenie. This format had way too many viable options, even the Pro Tour for this format had around 30 different archetypes on Day 1 and 8 different decks in the Top 8.

Nowadays Wizards has gotten much better at managing Extended and now it only has 4 legal Blocks, Lorwyn to Scars of Mirrodin. Due to the small card pool there are going to be fewer decks than we have previously seen in Extended but since the sets are so recent it means that we have played against the decks before, like Faeries and Jund. Since we already know how to play agaisnt those decks this makes deckbuilding decicions easier as you already know what cards you want to play in most matchups.

It should come to no surprise to anyone that knows me that I think Jund is going to be one of the better decks for the upcoming PTQs. However with double the card pool since Jund was last played in Standard we have so many options on how to build the deck optimally. Today I'm going to go into detail on what I think all the viable card choices you should consider when building a Jund deck for the PTQ season.

The Lands

Savage Lands: I think this is considered an automatic 4 of in every Jund deck. Having too many comes into play tapped lands has always been one of Junds weaknesses but having access to all 3 of your colours is well worth the drawback.

Raging Ravine and Lavaclaw Reaches: Manlands are great, especially when they help fix your colours. Raging Ravine is far better in Jund and I would play 4 in my deck before I play any Lavaclaw Reaches. Being able to survive Lightning Bolt and Volcanic Fallout is definitely better than sinking all your mana into Lavaclaw only to be blown out by one of those spells.

Blackcleave Cliffs and Copperline Gorge: These new lands from Scars are incredible additions to Jund. Being able to Lightning Bolt turn 1 AND play Putrid Leech is what Jund players have been dreaming about doing for so long and now with these lands it is finally possible. Being able to come into play untapped early is exactly what Jund wants and with these lands you should never have to miss a drop on your curve due to playing a ton of tap lands early.  You probably want to play 4 Blackcleave Cliffs and 2-3 Copperline Gorge because you already have 4 RG Duals in the form of Raging Ravine.

Twilight Mire, Fire-Lit Thicket and Graven Cairns: These filter lands are just another great fixing option Jund has. Being able to consistenly cast Putrid Leech and Sygg on turn 2 is a great feeling and all Jund lists should play some number of these. Twilight Mire seems like the best one as it casts the previously mentioned creatures by itself and then some number of Thickets and Cairns should be added depending on what nonland cards you are running in your deck.

Reflecting Pool: We have seen this card put to great use due to Vivid lands in the past. In Jund there are no Vivid lands but Reflecting Pool is usually just a superior Savage Lands with all the duals Jund is running. You'll want to play 3-4 depending on the number of basic lands you plan on running.

Verdant Catacombs, Rootbound Crag and Dragonskull Summit: While these lands were staples in Standard Jund, I think with so many good nonbasic lands that you only want to play 2 or 3 basic lands in case of Path to Exile, and running so few basics means Verdant and the M10 duals are just worse than the other lands you are playing.

The Creatures

Bloodbraid Elf: Had to start with this one as it is an automatic 4 of in every Jund deck. Jund is the best Bloodbraid Elf deck as there are very few dead cards that you can cascade into unlike other decks that have a ton of mana creatures and such that you really never want to hit off of Bloodbraid. Just the look on your opponent's face when you topdeck Bloodbraid and cascade into the one card you needed is priceless.

Putrid Leech: Also another pretty unanimous 4 of in Jund although it sometimes found its way out of Jund in the past. Playing this on turn 2 is one of the scariest threats Jund has in its arsenal as it is very hard to deal with and deals damage very quickly. Even when you draw Putrid Leech later in the game it is still a huge problem for the opponent.

Kitchen Finks: One of the most efficient 3 drops ever printed, a 3/2 body trades with most creatures and comes back when it dies while gaining you some life allows you to be aggresive and defensive at the same time and that's what makes it a perfect fit into Jund.

Sygg, River Cutthroat: A quality 2 drop that Jund was missing. Makes pretty much every card in your deck into a cantrip as all your creatures have 3 or more power and Blightning and Lightning Bolt conviniently deal 3 damage. The only problem is that he is legendary and you really don't want to cascade into one while you have one in play so you prbably don't want to run more than 2 or 3 of him

Great Sable Stag: One of the many 3 drops available for Jund. If you expect a lot of Faeries than you want to play this card as it cannot be countered and attacks past Bitterblossom tokens.

Boggart Ram-Gang: One of the more aggressive 3 drops. The strengths to this card lie in its ability to kill a Kitchen Finks and shrink Wall of Omens with its Wither ability.

Anathemancer: The 5 Colour Control decks play upwards of 20 nonbasic lands so this card is a huge threat agaisnt them especially considering once it dies you can Unearth it for some uncounterable damage agaisnt decks that get greedy with their manabases.

Sprouting Thrinax: The last 3 drop I'm going to talk about. While this card was amazing in Standard I don't think it will be near good enough for Extended as all the other 3 drops are amazing, but if the format becomes full of Jund mirrors this card has potential to return to the spotlight.

Obstinate Baloth: A great sideboard card for mirror matches and agaisnt aggressive decks. A great answer to Blightning and its lifegain supplement Kitchen Finks very well and gives you a great plan vs decks that are trying to burn you out.

Demigod of Revenge: This card holds the top of the curve that was held by Siege-Gang Commander. 5/4 haste and flying is often too hard to deal with for most decks and if you draw 2nd one the first one will come back even if they counter the 2nd. Not an auto-include but if you want to have a 5 drop than this guy is what you want to be casting.

The Spells

Blightning: 4 of in every Jund deck. Discarding 2 cards and taking 3 damage, while convieniently triggering Sygg to draw a card, is amazing, so many games are just won by casting this card. The only downside to this card is they can dump an Obstinate Baloth or Wilt-Leaf Liege into play, but those cards are easy to play around once you see it coming.

Lightning Bolt: One of the most cost efficient removal spells ever printed with the option of burning them (also triggers Sygg) or killing a planeswalker, there is no downsides to playing this card and should be a 4 of.

Maelstrom Pulse: A great removal spell, unfortunately it is not that good in the format right now as it is bad agaisnt Faeries, 5cc and Jund, but I would still play at least 2-3 as it can solve almost any problems you have with its versatility to kill any nonland permanent, and you might get lucky and kill multiple things with it.

Thoughtseize: Probably one of the best cards in the format right now as there aren't many decks that can punish you for losing 2 life, and Kitchen Finks can off set the life loss from playing too many Thoughtseizes. This card is one of the best discard spells every printed and great agaisnt all of the top decks right now and compliments your Blightnings very nicely.

Volcanic Fallout: A great answer to the Faerie menace and against decks like Elves and Merfolk. Probably shouldn't maindeck this card unless you expect a lot of those decks but should be included in your sideboard.

Terminate, Doom Blade and Bituminous Blast: These cards can round out the removal package in Jund very nicely, depending on what decks you think are going to be popular. Terminate is the most efficient because it can kill any creature no matter what, while Bituminous Blast is a lot slower but very powerful because of the cascade mechanic. Personally I have never been a huge Bituminous Blast fan but its ability to kill Mistbind Clique while playing another spell for free make it a worthy inclusion.

Thought Hemorrhage and Memoricide: These cards basically do the same thing and that is strip combo and control decks of their win conditions like Prismatic Omen and Cruel Ultimatum. If you expect a lot of those decks then don't forget these when making your sideboard.

As you can see there are a ton of cards to consider when building a Jund deck. Many choices are obvious but many depend on what decks become popular in the weeks leading up to the PTQ season. Here is my current Jund list that I recommend as a starting point.

4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Copperline Gorge
4 Savage Lands
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Mountain
4 Twilight Mire
2 Fire-lit Thicket
4 Raging Ravine
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Sygg, River Cutthroat
4 Putrid Leech
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Blightning
4 Lighting Bolt
3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Anathemancer
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Terminate
2 Bituminous Blast

I hope you all enjoy Extended as much as I am, and may all your Bloodbraid Elves hit the right card (except agaisnt me of course).

Happy Holidays!