Silvestri Says – Jund Aggro in Standard
Posted by Josh Silvestri
June 15, 2009 | 
28 comments
Jund Aggro in Standard
So why do I like Jund Aggro now versus when it was new, shiny and had a little surprise value? Well, because now we actually had time to make good versions of the deck instead of sloppy B/R variants splashing for Putrid Leech and Bloodbraid Elf. Mana-wise the deck still might not be optimized, but I'm far more confident in how it holds up over 9 rounds of play than I was with any of the original builds. In addition, there's now a clear structure to them, abusing the tribal lands along with a niche of Changeling cards to make the mana function as well as keeping use of [card Wrens Run Vanquisher]Wren's Run Vanquisher[/card] and other G/B Elves mainstays.
Here's a few example decklists in case your not familiar with the version I'm talking about:
Jund as suggested by Sam Black, based on Nassif's GP: Seattle build.
My Jund build
You'll note the main difference between the two is my removal of Kitchen Finks in exchange for more creature removal, pump and Sygg. From the testing I've done, Sygg and Bloodbraid Elf are the life-blood of the deck and make it into a true monster by replenishing its force. The one card I'm unsure of is the 4th Pulse in the maindeck over the 4th Colossus, as the Colossi right now have a lot of power against the mirror, slower Jund 5cc, and against any midrange deck with significant black like Doran. Inversion is very important to keep not only for tribal purposes, but to take care of the many early threats running around with three toughness, like those present in Jund and Elves.
Now this deck might not come as that big a revelation, because Jund has always been very powerful, the problem always came from the lands themselves. Allow me to segue into the biggest problem with old Jund: The mana; and how the problem has been mostly corrected for Jund 2.0 models.
Sadly for the heroes, despite all the power the Jund deck has, the mana-base has been a constant disappointment since the deck came out. However recent advances in the construction of the deck have allowed for the full use of tribal lands, making the mana function far cleaner than previous incarnations of the deck. For reference, take a look at the mana from the list Sam Black listed recently, based off Nassif's build from GP: Seattle.
Isn't that a thing of beauty and wonder? Where the old Jund decks had a hodge-podge of pain lands and CIPT annoyances, this new version effectively runs only 7 of the latter and none of the pains. My main disagreement is, of course, the lack of Treetop Village in the deck, but ignoring that for the moment I'm impressed at how well the mana and deck seems to mesh together.
Mana breaks down like (cut 4 off each if you don't want to count Pool):
22 Black sources
18 Green sources
16 Red sources
This is a pretty sick spread, especially considering the number of Red cards only amounts to about 10 or so in every game. Of course, if we add Treetop Village, then we have to make some alterations. Even if we add Colossal Might to the deck as more of a miser 1-of, that still doesn't require too many Red sources and that would be the first thing I'd be looking at to cut back on a bit. Here are the must-have lands as far as I'm concerned:
This gives us the requisite amount of green and a good base for our splash colors and we've covered the manland. Twilight Mire is the obvious filter that goes here since it allows for the turn two Putrid Leech that everyone enjoys hitting. The real question is how many filters should we run here? I'm good with three, since the number of Red cards we run are minimal and I personally hate the basics in the deck anyway. Past that, a full set of Savage Lands and Pool just makes sense due to the number of non-basics and lack of 1-drops we need to hit.
That leaves 5-6 lands left to add. Due to Treetop Village being mono-color, we need to make a bit of a stretch to make sure all our red and black sources are accounted for. Instead of just throwing in the full set of Treetop Villages, we're going to be a little conservative and go with this:
3 Treetop Village
2 Vivid Grove
1 Swamp
This might be a little odd, but the 4th Treetop Village cut into the off-color sources and I wasn't comfortable running less than 14 red. That can be forgiven and you only need 12-13 sources if you only plan on running Bloodbraid, Anathemancer and not going too much higher post-board. The reason for the singleton basic Swamp was simple; I wanted something to fetch if a guy got Pathed and the basic Forest was literally worthless as a search land. So why not run the one-of each? It cuts into three precious land slots in an already tight mana-base to optimize a situation which only three decks will likely create (Lark, Doran and B/W Tokens). In addition, drawing the Mountain or basic Forest in the opener is all sorts of horrible, especially if paired with a Reflecting Pool.
For my version of the mana we still have:
21 Black sources
19 Green sources
14 Red sources
As long as we don't go overboard with the Red in any board matches (And there's no real reason to), this base is still valid for the needs of our deck. Now assuming you buy into the reformation of the mana for Jund, let's go over why it becomes a better choice than its two closest competitors: B/R Aggro and G/B Elves.
Reasons to play it over B/R: Bloodbraid Elf, Maelstrom Pulse, Treetop Village, Putrid Leech and [card Wrens Run Vanquisher]Wren's Run Vanquisher[/card].
The big gains over the standard B/R aggro deck come from the amount of reach you have. Bloodbraid Elf and Treetop Village slide right in and are annoying at almost any point of the game, as well as being especially difficult for control and Faeries to deal with efficiently. Wren's Run Vanquisher and Putrid Leech can just dominate a game. As many people can tell you, whether it is in a creature fight or against Seismic Assault, these two creatures demand a little bit extra from your opponent to kill.
Maelstrom Pulse is unique in that it doesn't give the deck reach in the traditional manner. It doesn't even deal damage or draw you into cards that will, but rather it stops cards that just outright beat you. Cards like Behemoth Sledge, Seismic Assault or Planeswalkers are typically putting you on the back foot in an attempt to deal with them. Half of them B/R has no real answer to outside of narrow cards like Everlasting Torment. The utility Pulse provides is incredibly useful in keeping your percentages up in a Game One situation against a permanent that would normally hose aggro strategies, while being good in every match.
The only real loss you get in this transition is Figure of Destiny, which sadly doesn't work with this mana base unless you want to run a 5c Chapin-esque Cryptic splash type of manabase which goes to great pains to make it function correctly. Since 99% of you will not do this, we can safely remove FOD as a potential addition and instead focus on the impact of this. Losing Figure from the equation means two things: one is that the 1cc slot is now vacant and we can safely run comes-into-play-tapped lands. The second thing this means is more weight is placed on the rest of the deck to pick up the slack for missing our one-drop. Since this deck plays fairly with the field, it means if were going to start making mana and curve concessions all your other drops need to be very strong.
Thankfully they are, so that's why I feel this switch isn't any drop from the standard B/R arrangement. Only the mana issues persist as any valid reason why to play B/R over its tri-colored cousin, but even those aren't as valid with the tribal lands for additional non-CIPT multicolored lands. As a result, I think anyone considering B/R should switch over into Jund aggro.
Reasons to play it over B/G: Bloodbraid Elf, Anathemancer and the ability to board in sweepers
Arguments against B/G are a lot trickier, because you don't gain quite as much, especially outside of the control matches. Really the best argument for the Red splash is that it gives you a boost against Faeries and 5cc, both of which will probably see an uptick due to their respective Grand Prix performances. B/G Elves against Faeries, from my experience, is very close to an even split and really depends on how well each player can adapt their role. Elves hands can play out vastly different in the match-up. Some are best as just overwhelming aggression from the 1st turn and hoping to force Fae to catch up. Other hands, especially on the draw, are more like controlled aggression where you get to leverage your Thoughtseizes and larger creatures against their supply of counters. Terror and Agony Warp aren't too backbreaking considering the size of the creatures involved, but can make life miserable if you ignore them completely.
So is that gain against Fae and 5cc worth giving up some mana stability? This is much closer than the previous, but I still think Jund is superior. Cascade is a broken mechanic and taking advantage of that is a pretty good plan in my book. Add to this that Anathemancer kicks the crud out of any normal Green or Black threat (not named Chameleon Colossus) against control and I'm opting for the power boost. Jund allows for more hands that can just go all-out aggression and leads to many more wins before Faeries can stabilize. The loss of Thoughtseize and Profane Command is regrettable, but Thoughtseize can still stick as a sideboard card and with the extra threats you usually don't need to steal control's best card. Only Mistbind Clique is truly a disaster if you can't shut it down before attacking into it, and even then you can get bailed out of that via Colossal Might.
Now I know I haven't listed an actual sideboard and that's because I'm still trying to hammer out a good one. Right now there are a number of options and I'll hit some of the ones I've been considering.
Thoughtseize: An obvious one, but sometimes the best options are. Seize is good against Swans, not awful in the mirror and batters any version running Cruel Ultimatum by yanking it before it becomes the swing factor they were counting on. This version even has multiple ways of casting it turn one. The main issue is that by adding this to your deck, you’re adding more spells that lose value over time. Right now a strong point in favor of Jund is that almost all of it's spells still retain value as the game goes on. Some have haste, the removal is pretty good and even Colossal Might provides a big enough pump to make any creature a potential killer. Thoughtseize gets pretty bad after turn five except for very specific circumstances, and the life-loss isn't a non-factor when combined with Putrid Leech.
Verdict: Pretty good, but it depends on precisely how much control there will be.
Kitchen Finks: Anti-aggro, derf.
Verdict: If burn makes a resurgence due to Fae coming back strongly, definitely consider a set; the same goes for if Jund becomes the new go-to aggro deck. If not, it doesn't really pack the same punch against Tokens and other midrange.
Taurean Mauler: Nassif played this in his board and at first I couldn't see why, but after I tried him out I started to see why he was fine as a 1-of for him. Mauler is a changeling, which means he can safely board out a CC or Inversion if he feels the need too without hurting his overall tribal counts for land purposes. It actually grows at a pretty rapid pace against red and token decks, while still being respectable against older control variants.
Verdict: I certainly wouldn't want more than 1 or 2 of these guys, but in the matches where CC is invalidated or just plain bad, this guy can come in as a replacement and not stink up the joint.
Guttural Response: Good against Fae and Cryptic Command in general, at times it just blows the opponent out. Other times it sits around and you wish it was a spell that actually did stuff.
Verdict: Meh, very narrow usage, but stopping a Cryptic Command usually gives you a huge advantage. I wouldn't run it unless I explicitly knew the best players were running Cryptic decks.
Primal Command: Another anti-aggro tool, that also can double as anti-Swans* in a limited sense.
Verdict: Likely a 3-of in red infested metagames and probably a 2-of elsewhere. It can provide a pretty big swing in the Jund mirror by finding the stoneblade and giving you enough life to play it, and red obviously just scoops to Primal for +7 and Finks.
*Anti-Swans in that if you turn 5 it, you can sometimes gain enough life to buy an extra turn while slowing them down at the same time by bouncing a Vivid land. I've also won by bouncing a land and finding Anathemancer for lethal for the following turn. It isn't some silver bullet, but merely an OK card to replace a bad one with.
This article is already pretty long, so next week we'll take a look at some of the more uncommon possibilities and narrow down a board as well as going more in-depth with the actual matches. Short story on matches is that I believe a majority to be even-ish to giving you the edge, but Swans and Faeries are both difficult, albeit winnable and the mirror is a crap-shoot.
Josh Silvestri
Email me at: joshsilvestriATgmailDOTcom
(p.s. I ALWAYS answer my e-mails, maybe not for a few days due to outside factors, but I always answer them. If you haven't gotten a response from me it's because I never received your e-mail! Resend it or leave me a PM and I can ship you an alternate address.)
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TA says: June 15, 2009 @ 10:33 pm
I don’t think Auntie’s Hovel comes into play untapped often enough to play over a vivid land. I would recommend Chris Greene’s list from the Atlanta 5K. It should be up in the next few days or so.
Also Guttural Response is great, but having a card that is awful to cascade makes me not want to play it. Thoughtseize seems better in that spot, since cascading into it is ok, and it is more aggressive and you don’t have to sit back on mana waiting to cast it.
TA says: June 15, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
I didn’t see the nameless inversions, forget the part about auntie’s hovel.
Chris Greene says: June 16, 2009 @ 1:16 am
I would recommend Chris Greene’s list as well.
Ryan says: June 16, 2009 @ 1:46 am
Played a list similar to this, past weekend at PTQ and mana ran just fine. Though I was playing 2 Volcanic and 2 Pulse, as Pulse is just garbage in the Fae match-up, only being decent on the play, allowing you to hit their Blossom.
ludz says: June 16, 2009 @ 7:19 am
What about Volcanic Fallout?
Blake says: June 16, 2009 @ 8:48 am
Nameless Inversion, Maelstrom Pulse, and Colossal Might.
What are “cards I don’t want to cascade into on an empty board,” Alex.
I’ve been running a version of this online for a while now, and I’ve gone down to 3 Pulse and turned Might into Puncture Blast so that, at the very least, Blast can dome the player. Also, with Colossus regaining popularity, he’s your best weapon against them.
I also found a way to add a 4th Treetop (which is the best reason to run this over 5CBlood). It’s just that good.
Blake says: June 16, 2009 @ 8:49 am
Edit: Blast is also your best removal against opposing Putrid Leeches.
And consider Puppeteer Clique for the SB.
Thor says: June 16, 2009 @ 9:31 am
what do you think of junk hackblade and tattermung maniacs over cameleon collosus and ramgang, with the collosul mights, maniac having to attack each turn doesnt seem much like a liability, and these cards would likley improve your clock without costing you much in the long game. flipping a hackblade with bloodbraid is about as good as fliping a ramgang.
Walker says: June 16, 2009 @ 11:33 am
I like Snakeform in the sideboard for the mirror/5CB.
john says: June 16, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
I maindecked 2x Loxodon Warhammer and it worked out good. EOT Bituminous into it is strong. After testplaying I cut 1x Hammer and added a 1x of Jund Charm. I’ve had moderate success with this deck going 11-2 over the past 2 weeks.
austin says: June 16, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
i definitely have played this deck for a while now and i definitely won 18 2 mans in a row at one point, not that its very hard or anything, but i feel like this deck doesen’t have very many awful matchups, UW lark and the new elementals deck are some of the matches i lost or almost lost, one of the only times i actually felt like i could lose i guess, but besides that i was always dominating.
I definitely had 4 treetops and only 2 aunties hovels and i dont play sygg because he just isnt good, you’re tricking yourself i promise. colossal might is the stones with putrid leech coming in 2nd
Josh Silvestri says: June 16, 2009 @ 3:14 pm
Don’t have infinite time before heading out, but I’ll answer some of these.
Auntie's Hovel is amazing and I wouldn’t run less than 3. Even if you just lay it tapped on t1, the fact that it never runs out of counters like Vivids is pretty sweet. Really though you almost always have a Ram-Gang, CC or Inversion over your first 3 turns.
Guttural Response does suck to cascade into, but this isn’t a cascade deck. You aren’t trying to optimize your Bloodbraid Elves, you just want them to hit something that gets you ahead of the opponent in a stalemate or racing situation. If they have an empty board, your already coming out ahead most of the time even if you whiff. In addition, with the current lack of Wrath effects in the format, the number of times you have a completely empty board (same with opp) is very low.
So what was the original question? Guts? Right. Yeah Guts rangers from crap to amazing blow-out. That probably isn’t better than just running the quad Seizes in the board, but 1 or 2 as additional support has been working fine on modo vs. Fae and Lark.
Puncture Blast is an interesting choice that could be good. It does take care of CC and Putrid Leech well and also can dome if you need it too. After playing more though, I really doubt I’d drop the 4th Pulse, the format has too many Elves, Doran and 5cc Blood players running around where it’s just very powerful.
What is Puppeteer Clique for exactly? Great against Lark and Anathemancer, but I’m not seeing a ton of use other than that.
p.s. Volcanic Fallout seems really poor outside of the Fae match. Against Tokens, Pulse is just better and really Fallout has lot a lot of luster outside of those 2 matches.
john says: June 16, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
Sygg is not a gimmick.. There are so many instances where he’s so useful. He has a lot of synergy with the cards in the deck. Colossal Might seems good, I am constantly switching up the deck, and trying out options.
Junchi says: June 16, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
I’m thinking of playing this deck at my First standard PTQ.
i just wonderd what you though of vexing shusher in the side board instead of Guttral response?
thanks
Aaron
Dan says: June 16, 2009 @ 6:39 pm
me and a close family member share our collection… therefore i can’t run reflecting pool. what do you think is the best way to budge-itize the mana base?
Drew says: June 16, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
i really like the idea of the deck but with mana bases like that are you really all that much faster than chapins 5color blood deck? thats 9 into play tapped lands and another 8 that could also depending on your draw especially the hovel, and your mana still isnt that much better and you loose some really good cards main and sideboard which would be fine if you were faster
matheo says: June 16, 2009 @ 8:19 pm
why not try mogg fanatics they help with the hovels and are decent 1 drops
Alvin Chen says: June 16, 2009 @ 11:59 pm
Josh, I wouldn’t count Reflecting Pool as a source of red, green, and black since it only provides a color when you already have access to that color. More realistically, it counts toward the second black on Sygg and the additional R/G on Ram-Gang. In fact I’d consider dropping the Pools altogether since they only help when your mana is already working.
teliot says: June 17, 2009 @ 12:14 am
Any Blightning consideration?
Alan says: June 17, 2009 @ 3:47 am
I like Thought Hemmorhage in the board. Obviously it’s good against swans, but it’s also actually really good in the mirror match. Naming Bloodbraid Elf can easily be the difference I’ve found, having experienced it from both sides.
dowjonzechemical says: June 17, 2009 @ 10:03 am
Blightning is still kind of a liability because of wilt-leaf liege, I however have brought it back to my SB and it works wonders. I also play chapins 5cb because Cryptic Command is just that good. This deck seems to run at the same mid-rangey pace, but without the tap down effects. that is what seals the game for me most of the time.
The problem with the presented option is that it can be particularly weak to fatties, esp Chameleon Colossus. I understand that your list also has the Vanquisher, but i would not run my colossus into your Vanquisher unless I was horrible at magic.But this deck has CC too, Dow, Fight Fire with Fire, right? Well in theory this would work but what ends up happeneing most of the time is a stalemate in the mirror, which is why I feel Chapin’s Cryptic version works for me. You need to be able to do a tap down effect in order for this deck to have any reach.
Travis Cullum says: June 17, 2009 @ 10:29 am
I would cut 1 might and 1 pulse for 2 jund charm. Jund charm helps you against faries, kithkin, and bw and the pump can help a lot in the mirror and doesn’t make it dead like fallout. Also i think cutting 1 gilt leaf and 2 hovels for filter lands would be good because getting that double mana can help in a lot of situations.
Travis Cullum says: June 17, 2009 @ 10:33 am
Also i really like kitchen finks right now. I ran no sygg at the ptq and it ran fine just losing to b/r/g demi and swans. It can be amazing but i think kitchen finks is too good espically with all the b/r demigod and jund running around. I can’t see cutting anything else.
Killer Bee says: June 17, 2009 @ 7:56 pm
I tried goblin outlander in mine and they basically just made untapped aunties hovels in the current metagame. they were good in testing, except against the 5color bloodbraid control deck, which I played against three times after being smashed by elves at the 5k.
Josh Silvestri says: June 17, 2009 @ 9:49 pm
Maniac just doesn’t pack enough ‘oomph’ to justify the slot. A ton of creatures in the format are x/3 or bigger, which means the 2/1 just isn’t all that threatening. Think of it like this, your 1-drop slot can run Noble Hierarch (which is what the Atlanta 5K winner did), which gives a boost to your other creatures when attacking and can accelerate out your Ram-Gang / Colossus / Bloodbraid Elf. That’s pretty solid on the whole.
Maniac on the other hand doesn’t really do anything damage-wise until turn 3, where it's coming in for ‘not a shock!' amount of damage. If your more aggressive with Jund, then it’s a bit better with stuff like Jund Hackblade or something, but then the problem becomes that they just don't work well later in the game. A lot of the cards currently in the deck retain value if you don’t see them for a couple of turns. Maniac is GARBAGE after turn 2 and Hackblade really isn’t that much better, especially against control where it’s likely you’ll be losing your multicolored guys.
you CAN run the 4th Treetop, but I just feel more comfortable with the current mana. Maybe I could fit it in over a Hovel or the basic Swamp though.
Snakeform I’m unconvinced on versus Puncture Blast, both beat Chameleon Colossus, Putrid Leech, etc. but one is a lot better of cascade and can dome the opponent in a pinch. It also doesn’t require a guy in play to be good.
Amarsir says: June 18, 2009 @ 9:40 am
I need more testing but I’ve been having decent results (i.e. Haven’t lost yet, but only in Tournament Practice) by not hopping on the Colossus bandwagon. I just don’t like him that much in the current white resurgeance. Instead I use Hackblades for a higher Goblin Count, and Demigod of Revenge at the high end.
I do need more answers to an opponent’s Colossus. However, I don’t feel that one of my own is that answer.
adam says: June 18, 2009 @ 10:04 am
snakeform also deals with paladin en-vec and BFT and replaces itself..
puncture blast isnt horrible either.. but..
Frank says: June 18, 2009 @ 2:55 pm
Snakeform also has an edge vs. an un-evoked reveillark, which is a tough matchup for this deck. I keep snakeform in the board and actually run eyeblight’s ending in the maindeck (instead of nameless, cutting down to 2 Auntie’s hovels) because eyeblight’s help vs. mistbind clique and doran, which have surged in popularity lately. Eyeblight’s naturally helps out with vanquisher and gilt-leaf palace as well and I feel it’s better than terror in terms of its constraints because there are enough black creatures running around (and fewer elf creatures) that you need to deal with. The extra mana does clutter up the 3-slot, but I still like it over nameless right now.