{"id":1501,"date":"2012-10-22T01:34:17","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T05:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ajmtg.com\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2012-10-22T01:34:17","modified_gmt":"2012-10-22T05:34:17","slug":"true-jund-my-deck-of-choice-for-states-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ajmtg.com\/?p=1501","title":{"rendered":"True Jund – My Deck of Choice for States 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

When cards first started being spoiled for Return to Ravnica, I kept talking to my friends about how good I thought Jund was. \u00a0It was a big deal at the Pro Tour for Block Constructed and it only seemed to get better with cards like Abrupt Decay<\/a>, Thragtusk<\/a>, and of course the Shock Lands. \u00a0I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0sit down and brew different decks over and over to try different things, I just kept brewing the same deck in my head and kept wondering how to make it better. \u00a0Here was my thought process and my decklist that I decided on.<\/p>\n

The very first Alpha list, which I referred to as the “Secret Sauce”, was all over the place. \u00a0In my head it had everything I wanted and I was excited. \u00a0I was actually playing 5 Color Jund splashing white for Restoration Angel<\/a>s main, blue for Snapcasters main, and Ray of Revelation<\/a>\u00a0in the side. \u00a0My mana base was actually quite good since I was able to use Farseek<\/a>‘s to my advantage and tutor up any land to meet my heavy color requirements. \u00a0I wanted Snapcaster Mage<\/a> to replay Dreadbore<\/a>, Searing Spear<\/a>, and Pillar of Flame<\/a>. \u00a0I also was looking to the Standard warping Restoration Angel<\/a> for her almost\u00a0infinite\u00a0card advantage with Thragtusk<\/a>, Huntmaster of the Fells<\/a>, and Snapcaster Mage<\/a>. \u00a0After playing about two dozen games against various decks, I re-evaluated\u00a0my Secret Sauce as it was hard to digest. \u00a0I first cut out blue and tested some more. \u00a0Still\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0right. \u00a0My fellow Joes I was testing with at the time (Shawn Ellis & Bryan Elliot) convinced me that I should just stick to playing True Jund so I caved and stripped the white as well. After I cut the fat from the deck it seemed as I had what I initially wanted: A Lean Mean Jund Machine.<\/p>\n

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This now Beta list was getting closer to the final product but since I cut some cards that I considered real players in the Alpha list, they needed to be replaced. I needed to find a Restoration Angel<\/a> replacement. \u00a0Besides having a flashy creature that did cool things, I really loved her because she was a flier. \u00a0I was, at the time, packing just one Kessig Wolf Run<\/a> in my deck and with those two in the same room, I was able to close out games in a hurry. \u00a0I knew Pillar of Flame<\/a>s was going to be a big player since Todd Anderson showed off how good a set of those are in a deck. \u00a0My initial thoughts were to try and be aggressive with Jund and possibly use Strangleroot Geist<\/a> or Dreg Mangler<\/a>. \u00a0I didnt like Strangleroot as then I would have my 2 drop slot clogged with Ramp or being aggressive and it can just be removed by Pillar. \u00a0I liked Dreg Mangler<\/a> more but I didnt feel like it was enough board presence against other aggro decks. \u00a0I looked through some decklists and stumbled upon Vampire Nighthawk<\/a>. \u00a0HE WAS PERFECT! \u00a0It allowed me to have a creature in the three drop spot and make a sudden impact on the board. \u00a0After testing with it against a number of decks, it did pretty much everything. \u00a0I could trade with an Angel of Serenity<\/a>, block 2 power aggressive decks all day while gaining life, fly over and kill Planeswalkers, or just Kessig someone for 8 and almost never lose, all while not dying to Pillar of Flame<\/a>. \u00a0I instantly shoved 4 in my deck.<\/p>\n

Since I was playing Green, I wanted a powerful Planeswalker on my side to help me fight. \u00a0I thought of little Garruk first (Garruk Relentless<\/a>) since he could fight a small creature or, once flipped, could tutor me up any creature and put deathtouch tokens into play. \u00a0On the flip side, I didnt like that he wasnt what I was trying to do. \u00a0I tested with the big Garruk, Primal Hunter<\/a> and the 3\/3 Beast tokens he pumps out was what my deck needed. \u00a0I tested with 1, then 2, and finally settled on 3 copies. \u00a0The tokens beat out Pillar of Flame<\/a> which I knew was going to be a major player for States and they beat or traded with almost every other midrange creature. \u00a0My favorite play to make with him was to cast him on turn 5, make a guy, next turn play Thragtusk<\/a> and draw 5. \u00a0Go.<\/p>\n

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Now that my deck seems to be taking shape, I moved to my focus to spells. \u00a0From the start I knew I was going to have 4 Dreadbore<\/a> in the deck. \u00a0That card is awesome. \u00a0With all the Jace’s and the Angel’s floating around, it was a great weapon to have by my side. \u00a0I tested with and\u00a0didn’t\u00a0like Mizzium Mortars<\/a>. \u00a0To me it did the same thing as a narrow Dreadbore<\/a>. \u00a0Yes sometimes you can\u00a0Overload\u00a0and potentially blow out an opponent, but I just liked Bonfire of the Damned<\/a> instead. \u00a0It has the ability to blow out an opponents army AND a Planeswalker! \u00a0Another card I knew I wanted to beat was Entreat the Angels<\/a> so I put in a single Sever the Bloodline<\/a> and after about a dozen matches, I added a second. \u00a0All the games came down to me either miracling a Bonfire or Severing the Angels if they cast them. \u00a0Everything else was a breeze. \u00a0Sever was also an All Star in the Zombie matches. \u00a0The last slot in my deck I needed something to do with my mana since there were a lot of games where I had a lot of mana but nothing to do if I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0draw a Kessig Wolf Run<\/a>. \u00a0My choices were Rakdos’s Return<\/a>, Devil’s Play<\/a>, or one more Bonfire of the Damned<\/a>. \u00a0I settled on Devil’s Play<\/a> because of the flash back, it gave me a lot more reach and I can kill a pesky little creature early.<\/p>\n

This is the list I registered with my sideboard choices:
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Adam Arndt - States 2012 - True Jund<\/h4><\/div><\/div>