This issue week explore the power house that is Jund. Jund has an array of powerful cards in the current standard. So, let's take a look at the cards and see what Jund can really do.
For any of you that have been in a box the last few months, Jund is the shard of Alara that lacks Life and Order. Jund's primary color is red and is helped by green and black. This combination of colors has quite a few awesome cards. Not only in the Shards of Alara block but in the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block as well.
Lor/Sha block cards in Jund colors
- Cloudthresher
- Garruk Wildspeaker
- Profane Command
- Thoughtseize
- Bitterblossom
- Chameleon Colossus
- Mind Shatter
- Mutavault
- Boartusk Liege
- Demigod of Revenge
- Fulminator Mage
- Graven Cairns
- Reflecting Pool
- Vexing Shusher
- Ashenmoor Gouger
- Boggart Ram-Gang
- Firespout
- Flame Javelin
- Guttural Response
- Kitchen Finks
- Murderous Redcap
- Figure of Destiny
- Stigma Lasher
- Twilight Mire
- Fire-Lit Thicket
Blightning changed the format of standard. Giving Red/Black decks away to rid the fae decks of crucial parts. RDW shifted into Red/Black. Being able to tear apart your opponent's hand on turn 3 is fantastic. I have even played against a RDW deck that targeted himself with the blightning to discard 2 Demigods of Revenge. I didn't see that coming. Blightning Aggro became a new deck type quickly.
Broodmate Dragon was another card in Shards of Alara that would shake the walls. Giving you 8 power with evasion for 6 mana is amazing. This card smelled instantly of card advantage. This card is hard to deal with.
These two cards alone defined a new deck type. A deck type that would keep evolving.
With the release of Conflux, came a bunch of cards to change the deck. Unearth is an interesting mechanic. Kind of like a flashback for creatures.
Hellspark Elemental, a slightly better version of Spark Elemental, showed up in RDW decklist quickly. Made for a great 2 drop that could come back for another 2. You can look at this as having the equivelent of have say eight Spark Elementals or even eight Incenerates.
A friend of mine believes that Hellspark is a crappy card and can be replaced easily by a handful of others. The big thing you have to keep in mind here is the card advantage taht Hellspark gives you. If you have no relevant cards in your hand you can unearth him and swing again. No "Draw, Go" here.
Shambling Remains is another card that would help out the Red/Black version of RDW. Another creature with unearth, but with a longer lifespan and a better power and toughness. Shambling Remains was said to replace Ashenmoor Gouger when the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block rotates out of standard.
Volcanic Fallout was probably one of the best cards from Conflux. This card was pretty much the one responsible for the decline of Fae dominance in standard. Many on RDW's creature base can withstand a fallout's wrath. Making it a great card for the deck to include.
With a meta now filled with Path to Exile, Goblin Outlander would see its days of glory. A small 2/2 would be crashing into the red zone against kithkin and white aggro decks for wins. Who doesn't like a Red/Black pro white bear? White players do.
With the release of Alara Reborn, we would see a shift in power. Alara Reborn brought a new mechanic that would up set the balance of power greatly. Cascade was introduced and proved to be a great mechanic for players to feed off of.
Bloodbraid Elf is said by many to be the best card in the entire set. Mind you that Bloodbraid Elf is uncommon. A 3/2 with haste and cascade for 2RG shook the meta game. Most of the cards above cost 3 or less mana to play. Can you say, "Instant card advantage"? This card in nothing but that. Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ramgang. Thats 6 power with haste for 4 mana. kind of a pseudo Broodmate Dragon really.
Currently on Starcity Games, Bloodbraid Elf is selling for $2.50 and remember that this is an uncommon. A normal uncommon from Alara Reborn is selling for about 15-20 cents. So, Bloodbraid is selling for roughly 16 times the normal uncommon rate. If we use this logic, a normal rare sells for about $1. Do that math and if Bloodbraid was a rare it would be selling for around $16. Bet your happy it is an uncommon.
Anathemancer is another player happy card. In a nonbasic land filled meta, Anathemancer is there to teach your opponents a lesson. And it is recursive. Pretty sweet! Been seeing him in a lot of sideboards.
Bituminous Blast help fuel the Jund Control decks out there. Who doesn't want to get a free spell and take out about any creature for 5 mana? Cascade into Bloodbraid into Ramgang spells great times.
Jund Hackblade was another great creature for the two drop slot in the Jund deck. Getting a 3/2 with haste for two mana is no laughing matter. In an all multicolored enviroment, its kinda hard to see this little dude in his 2/1 nonhasty form.
Terminate came back. This card gave the deck an even better fighting chance. Awesome card overall.
There were so many great cards to come out in Alara Reborn. The set showed what the power of multiple colors could do. Trying to pick and choose which cards to use is a difficult task. So many combinations.
There is Jund Aggro, Jund Elves, Jund Control, Jund Midrange, etc.... As said, so many combinations and which one to choose. Each of the deck subtypes have made it to top tables. As for me, I prefer my own deck unique decklist.
Deck Tech - Jund Cascade
Lands
2 [SHM] Graven Cairns
3 [10E] Treetop Village
4 [SHM] Fire-Lit Thicket
5 [10E] Forest
2 [SHM] Swamp
5 [SHM] Mountain
3 [LRW] Vivid Crag
Creatures
4 [ARB] Bloodbraid Elf
4 [SHM] Boggart Ram-Gang
3 [ARB] Jund Hackblade
3 [ALA] Rip-Clan Crasher
3 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker
2 [ALA] Broodmate Dragon
Spells
1 [CFX] Banefire
4 [ARB] Violent Outburst
4 [SHM] Flame Javelin
4 [ARB] Terminate
4 [ARB] Bituminous Blast
Sideboard
4 [ALA] Blightning
4 [SHM] Firespout
3 [CFX] Goblin Outlander
4 [ALA] Magma Spray
This deck is fast and effective. Many of the Jund decks I have played don't run Violent Outburst. I think that is a big mistake. If you want to aggro out, you want to drop as mana threats as you can and deals as much damage as you can. Turn one, you drop say Vivid or Treetop. Turn two, drop a clasher and swing in. Turn three, drop a Ram-gang and swing with team or play the out burst. You cascade into a Terminate to remove their creature and swing or you hit another Clasher or the Hackblade. Turns keep growing from there. Its hard to deal with this deck. A Fallout and take it down quickly, but since you can cascade and recover very well. Wrath again kills it, but Wrath is leaving standard so playing a white deck on turn four isn't really scary anymore.
The Future
The Lorwn/Shadowmoor block brought very powerful cards. Alot of these cards shadowed many of the cards from the Shards of Alara block. I forsee many cards im Shards block gaining a lot of use once Lor/Sha rotate in October.
One card I believe will see more usage is Goblin Assault. Goblin Assault is an under rated card in my opinion. Goblin Assault has been in the shadow of Bitterblossom and the draw back is kinda interesting. Yes, I know that having all your goblins attack each turn is a drag, but I don't see this card in a Goblin tribal deck. I see it in a Jund control deck. It may even find a place in my Jund Cascade deck. I think cascading into Goblin Assault would be a great instance. Throwing down little buggers each turn and then casting threats sounds like a good plan to me.
Well that's all I have for today. So until next time, this is Deppe passing the turn.
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