Unfortunately as I was going to Rome, I didn’t have anything special or interesting for Standard. On the other hand, I did feel pretty confident in the card choices we made for our Jund deck. Pretty much all of your writers here at channelfireball who played Jund ended up agreeing on what the seventy-five cards should be. This is the list we ran:
LSV/Wraptor (Josh Utter-Leyton) came up with Master of the Wild Hunt as a solution to the protection from black guys people tend to run against Jund. I decided that Putrid Leech was also really bad against all the protection guys we expected to face, and it was also a target for Celestial Purges people would sideboard in and it was just all-around not an overly effective card against what we expected to be the three most popular decks (Jund, Boros, and Elves). So that’s how we ended up with all the extra removal and masters instead of Putrid Leech and Garruks. I think that you really miss Leech against combo decks like any version of Time Warp or Mana Ramp, but against those big three it is definitely correct to not have them, so depending on how narrow the Standard field is, you may or may not want them. Web (David Ochoa) added the Borderland Rangers, which have been fantastic and PV came up with the Malakir Bloodwitches which have been a super strong sideboard against what has been quite a few Naya, Mono-White, and Boros decks.
Looking around the room here, our predictions as far as what people were going to play definitely seems about right. Jund and Boros are not really a surprise. However, there are a handful of rogue decks and combo strategies.
Round 1 I played against a Naya deck that I was quite happy to not have Leech against because it would have been very ineffective against his creatures. I watched my friend Zach Efland, who also played our Jund list, play against a Time Warp/]Pyromancer’s Ascension deck and got pummeled because our deck doesn’t apply pressure well without the Leech and we have extra removal which is dead against them, so it’s pretty hit or miss. The Japanese apparently went with Siege-Gang Commander and Rampant Growth, where we have Master of the Wild Hunt and more removal. Honestly I have no idea how good Siege-Gang is in the deck, but I will be trying it on Magic Online when I get home though, because it looks pretty spicy.
I am writing this right now in the middle of the day, live from the tournament site at Worlds, so I don’t have access to the numbers as far as what decks were actually played. It seems to me though that there is quite a bit of diversity. The French seem to mostly be running either Bant or cool combo decks in some form or another. The Michigan crew seems to be the only well-known players running 4-5 color control but I am sure there’s a smattering of other control decks all around the room. I happened to play against a nice Canadian opponent in round 2 who was playing a RWB control deck. It seemed to have a good assortment of creature control cards and Baneslayers and Guardian Seraphs to really stick it to beatdown decks. It couldn’t really keep up with the card advantage generated by the Jund deck though. A lot of the better Americans who didn’t play Jund seem to have chosen Boros. I am not really a big fan of the choice because I think its an easy deck to hate against if you want to. But that said, Jund, not Boros, is supposed to be the staple deck of the format, so I am sure their reasoning was that people will neglect Boros a little in their attempts to make their deck beat Jund. I am not sure exactly who has what lists but we saw one Arkasan Squire in some of the Boros decks. That seems like a very good addition that any Boros deck featuring Ranger of Eos should have from here on out. I was told that Ben Rubin came up with that tech.
Also there was splattering of WG decks. Cedric Phillips piloted a spicy brew involving Eldrazi Monument and Conqueror’s Pledge along with Lotus Cobra and Noble Hierarch to a 4-2 finish. Martin Juza was seen at 5-1 with a WG brew of his own but he was splashing black probably for Maelstrom Pulse (I didn’t actually see his list). There were actually quite a few different takes on WG. Our own Josh Wraptor put up a rather unspectacular record with a little different take featuring Vines of the Vastwood to protect Baneslayers and other such boom booms. I am sure he ran bad because the deck seemed pretty good when we played it before the tournament. It should be interesting to see if WG emerges as a new tier one deck by the conclusion of Worlds.
So there was a lot of Jund, Boros, and Elves as we thought. Well maybe a little less Elves than we thought, but it was played. Also WG and Naya decks seemed to make an unexpected splash into the Standard metagame. I was disappointed to not see very many people running Vampires, but I guess it would be tough for it to compete in such a Jund heavy field. While the new decks seemed to have more differences in card choices than the more established decks like Jund, we were still able to do some pretty radical things to our Jund deck and put up pretty good results as a whole.
The day is over now and here’s a little update on most of channelfireball in case you didn’t get to check the standings. Web continued his bashing with a 5-1; that’s the best record for our Jund list. Keep a lookout for David Ochoa at the top of the standings, he seems to be playing great Magic right now, and is probably long overdue for a Pro Tour top eight. Conley also went 5-1 with a deck featuring Mold Shambler and Violent Ultimatum. Brad Nelson went 4-2 with Boros. LSV went 2-4 with the Jund but he just continues to run terrible, I personally think he might be tanking matches to let the light shine on the rest of the players writing for the site (just joking). I finished out my day after the 2-0 start going 1-1 in the Jund Mirror, losing to a Naya deck that I feel like I was a big favorite against, and beating a “Dredge” deck that didn’t draw very well against me, leaving me at 4-2.
I would strongly recommend our Jund list. I only missed Leech against the Dredge deck and unless there is a resurgence of blue or an abundance of combo in your fields, I don’t think that you will miss them either. I definitely am looking forward to the upcoming Standard tournaments. The field appears a lot more wide open than people thought and there should be a healthy variety of decks played in the foreseeable future.
good job and good luck to the channel fireball team and the rest of the americans
Comment by Daniel Ryan Balderas — November 19, 2009 @ 9:16 pm
well…Jund is all about creatures that are harder to kill/handel then normaly…
like Leech is a respone to trigger kill
Sprouting Thrinax brings 3 Tokens
Bloodbraid Elf has hast und brings some more spells
Broodmate Dragon brings 2 dragons etc etc
Master of the Wild Hunt is just a 3/3 ape that will not do anything and if your opponent now you play it then it wont live to tell the tale
Comment by da_hachel — November 19, 2009 @ 11:53 pm
//edit
yeah where is Master of the Wild Hunt better then Garruk? If the opponent has the removel Garruk will be way better giving you a 3/3… like if wont die to terminate or tendrils or path or or or
Comment by da_hachel — November 19, 2009 @ 11:58 pm
What is the reason for the Akrasan Squire in boros [that has Ranger]? It seems like when you fetch the squire from the ranger, you’re going to be taking the slot of a lynx (if you have a sacland) or a vanguard (one extra damage), because generally you’re going to be attacking on turn 5 with 1-2 creatures you had out already, plus the ranger, plus the two creatures you grabbed with ranger (since bushwhacker gives them haste) in attempt to finish them off
Comment by Kevin H — November 20, 2009 @ 12:10 am
lol Cedric’s WG deck seems awfully similar to my WG Beastmaster’s Ascension monstrosity. That deck is so fun! I am very interested to see Brad Nelson’s Mold Shambler/Violent Ultimatum list…
Comment by Blind Fremen — November 20, 2009 @ 12:36 am
Conley Woods**** (not Brad Nelson; he was apparently playing Boros)
Comment by Blind Fremen — November 20, 2009 @ 12:37 am
Fremen check wizard’s website - a deck tech with Conley was posted, quite interesting I must admit.
Comment by Ledif — November 20, 2009 @ 12:47 am
you can see Conley’s deck on the wizards event coverage deck tech, its pretty lol
Comment by Josh — November 20, 2009 @ 1:08 am
“Magical Christmas Land” played by Conley Woods
Creatures - 22
4x Lotus Cobra
4x Goblin Ruinblaster
4x Mold Shambler
4x Acidic Slime
4x Rampaging Baloth
2x Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Spells - 15
4x Khalni Heart Expedition
4x Harrow
3x Terminate
4x Violent Ultimatum
Lands - 23
4x Savage Lands
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Misty Rainforest
4x Mountain
4x Forest
3x Swamp
Sideboard - 15
4x Cruel Ultimatum
4x Jund Charm
3x Crater Hellion
1x Terminate
2x Island
1x Swamp
Comment by Jon Lewis — November 20, 2009 @ 1:11 am
Stark Reality - Worlds Report: Standard Version…
Your story has been summoned to the battlefield - Trackback from MTGBattlefield…
Trackback by MTGBattlefield — November 20, 2009 @ 1:12 am
That is a new Tier 1 deck. It auto stomps anything that isnt boros/monored but has a good sb for those matchups. Conley is Mr. Innovation Jr.
Comment by Tuffy — November 20, 2009 @ 2:27 am
While the japanese Rampant Growth/Siege-Gang Commander setup allows some sweet plays like turn 3 Bloodbraid Elf and faster Dragons, i think something else is worth noting.
The japanese use of Rampant Growth means that the 2cc-slot gets more plays, than the already filled 3cc-slot. This is a good thing, but cascading into Borderland Ranger (and only 2 of them), is a better way of mainaining Jund’s powerful cascade abilities, than randomly hitting Rampant Growth.
The Master of the Hunt/Borderland Ranger version seems more appealing to, for this reason alone. The Japanese version seems a bit more explosive, while this version seems a bit more solid and poweful. Also Bituminous Blast can yield Master of the Hunt, while Siege-Gang Commander can’t be cascaded into play. I actually don’t know if this is actually good or bad, since you probably want to hit Bloodbraid Elf anyway…
Comment by Random — November 20, 2009 @ 2:30 am
Love conley’s list. Love it.
Just 2 comments : 4x Khalni Heart Expedition instead of Rampant Growth ??
( I see how the expedition can lead to explosive starts but isn’t the growth more consistent ?)
-2 Ob Nixilis, -2 Ruinblaster +4 Bloodbraid Elves ?
What do you guys think ?
Comment by Scott — November 20, 2009 @ 9:11 am
What I’m curious about is where to find the list for whatever’s making Emeria Angel and Aven Mimeomancer suddenly sell as if we were selling Baneslayers for $.25
Comment by B19 — November 20, 2009 @ 9:19 am
Expedition is more explosive. That’s the point. And if you can chain a couple of them together, you suddenly have a LOT of untapped land. Rampant Growth is good, but not for this style of deck, I don’t think. I mean, a single Ob Nixilis becomes nearly leathal with just two Expeditions out and active.
Ob Nixilis is a pretty important win condition. Can’t really cut it. Ruinblaster is a pretty important Plan B/stall mechanism. Can’t really cut it. Bloodbraid Elves doesn’t hit enough relevant cards.
Of course, I’d wait til Conley talks about his list (probably next week) and let him explain it.
Comment by Rick — November 20, 2009 @ 9:22 am
Awesome job on a “live” report - it is always interesting to hear how things look on the front lines (as opposed to the WOTC coverage). Even when they agree I enjoy the different perspectives.
Good Luck!
Comment by Robin — November 20, 2009 @ 10:43 am
Master of the Wild Hunt! oh-em-gee, maybe finally my playset will see value! But of course I will want to try out this tech in my jund build tonight!
Comment by GODSRAGE — November 20, 2009 @ 11:15 am
On minor correction on the decklilst I posted. Obv Crater Hellion is not Standard legal and that should read 3x Caldera Hellion in the sideboard. When you’ve been playing for as long as I have, all the names start to run together……
Comment by Jon Lewis — November 20, 2009 @ 12:21 pm
I cannot believe that you decided to cut putrid leech from jund to run master of the wild hunt and borderland ranger………are you daft?
This is yet another example of pros inbreeding so far to try to find tech that they cut the best two drop since tarmogoyf to play cards that are only good in limited. You guys did this last Type 2 by playing master of the wild hunt in jund then and it was even WORSE!
Honestly what are you thinking. You even have the best magic player on your team and he lost……oh yea he’s running bad I’m sure. That’s bullcrap. Maybe you should look at the real reason he did badly, he’s playing a horrible deck. I mean come on borderland ranger…..you can’t honestly think thats good, you just can’t.
You have some of the best members of the magic community on your team and you all posted relatively mediocre results, 4-2 isn’t that great for people as good as you, but who could expect much more considering your list.
An appalling and depressing performance by good US pros only to be outdone by Gindy disqualifying himself.
Comment by TheVoiceofReason — November 20, 2009 @ 2:14 pm
I was going to comment about the Leech removal vindicating the few who’d dared to suggest it 2 weeks ago (and were crucified in subsequent comments). But in light of the above comment I see that internet opinions change more slowly than reality.
Comment by Amarsir — November 20, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
Not playing Leech is correct. It’s that simple.
TheVoiceofReason is just being the opposite of his name.
Comment by Rak — November 20, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
Putrid leach is an amazing card, yes. It’s one of the best two drops printed, yes. The problem with Putrid leach is since every deck in existence right now is faster and more lethal then any deck playing it, it’s too slow. Yes i did just say a 2 drop that swings for 4 is too slow. Jund want’s to spend turns 1-3 fixing it’s mana and surviving (if that sounds like a control deck it’s because it is, midrange is the only thing that’s close to control that’s viable right now), and a 4/4 that makes you loose life and doesn’t block a one drop (steppe lynx is a 4/5) is a problem right there. If there was a real control deck in the format and if Jund was an aggro deck, like it was last season, then putrid leech would still be the right call. if you put leech in a deck that was similar to boros in speed then it would shine again.
Comment by LoganSV — November 20, 2009 @ 4:17 pm
it’s not that leech is bad guys, it’s that leech isn’t the right pick for this deck at this time.
Comment by LoganSV — November 20, 2009 @ 4:20 pm
@ so called VoiceOfReason
If you’ve actually playtested some standard, you’d know that just about 50% of all Putrid Leech pump activations is met by Lightning Bolt, Terminate, Path or similar.. In the current meta it is not a 4/4. Most of the time it’s a 2/2 with awkward mana cost that costs you 2 life when it dies.
Comment by Random — November 21, 2009 @ 12:34 am
I was pretty amazed to hear that a vampire deck went 6-0 in the standard portion
Comment by Daryn — November 21, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
Dropping leech is bad. I can understand that the card is underperforming in some circumstances but its crucial to have a 2-drop. Without it the curve will suffer, unless you replace it with something like lotus cobra/rampant growth/terminate etc. The problem with these replacements is that they are just not as good as leech. Too much removal sucks against some of the random decks and makes bit. blast less good because of the ‘double kill’ scenario, ie. cascading into removal when they only have 1 viable target something that comes up more often then you think. Leech is just the best 2-drop that is good all-around and still good off a cascade (which is a problem with cobra and rampant growth). It’s not bad at all vs boros etc, because it’s a 2 drop and the best chance you have there is start trading with them right away, you just have to avoid getting the bolt when you pump.
Also master of the wild hunt seems a bit worse then garruk, simply because garruk is a 2 for 1 nearly all the time. Perhaps 2 garruk 2 master of the wild hunt is a good split.
I wonder why noone considered extra land (exotic orchard) for the mirror in jund. The matchup seems to come down to card attrition and thus mulliganing severely decreases your win chances. A little flood however doesn’t matter too much because there are goblin ruinblasters and blightnings that take care of your access lands.
Comment by Markwerf — November 21, 2009 @ 2:14 pm
@voice of reason, do you know what decks are currently doing to beat jund ?? they are running spreading seas .seriously yes they are, look it up. or maybe ruinblaster . leech , although good, is the weakest card in the deck. and if you plan on playing against the mirror than you have to have a plan against ruinblaster. rampant growth is that anwser in a nutshell.
seige gang does seem alot better than master . i have not tried it out yet but thought about nissa chosen and nissa ? bad huh lol
Comment by draw5 — November 21, 2009 @ 8:01 pm
Ben Stark,
Just wanted to let you know that I liked the deck techs that you did during Worlds coverage. I saw you involved with a limited interview and a constructed interview, and you seemed to be able to show us your choices, and good solid reasoning behind your decisions. You did a good job of communicating even to people like me who dont really know anything about formats like extended right now.
Any chance we could have you do some of the types of drafts that LSV does for this site, or perhaps some constructed matches or something? that would be very informative and entertaining.
Thanks
Andy
Comment by Andy Hurst — November 22, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
@Markwerf
You’re misunderstanding the actual power of cascade. Sure, it can be tuned to do absurd things. Hypergenesis is a good example, so was Swans combo, thats when cascade gets to have it absolute most power. However cascade isn’t about Bloodbraiding into Ram-Gang, though that is always fantastic. Cascade is good because it speeds up your deck. If you Enlisted Wurm into 2 lands and a Birds of Paradise that’s ‘awkward’ right? But you built a deck that needs lands and Birds, when you’re at 6 mana, would you rather your 6 drop come down and then see no gas for the next 3 turns? Cascade is great because it makes for some explosive plays sometimes, but its even better because it gets past the draws you don’t want.
This is why noone plays Captured Sunlight anymore, it was played before because people though ‘Cascade is the greatest thing ever lets make more of it,’ now the only cards used in cascade (outside of combo tricks) are the cards that are decent enough to see play as it is. Bituminous into Terminate with no second target for the terminate means that you won’t draw that terminate with no target the next turn, putting you that much closer to the gas that will win you the game.
Comment by B19 — November 22, 2009 @ 9:46 pm
Nicely written article i feel, haha but i was the naya player whom you thought you had a good matchup against! Personally, i went 4-0 against all versions of the jund deck, with the rest of my teammates who ran the deck posting a combined loss of 3 out of 18 rounds against jund. Unfortunately, one of those losses came in the semis with terry throwing away the match.
but i do agree that the malakir bloodwitch in the sideboard was brilliant!
Comment by Heartbreak Kid — November 23, 2009 @ 6:45 am
Putrid Leech is great against control and combo, poor against Jund, Boros, Naya and other creature decks. If you look at the stats from worlds, not playing it was an excellent choice. However I only recommend cutting it verse a fairly narrow field. If people are playing a wide variety of different decks you may want them.
@Andy thanks for the compliment. I will definitely do some of those draft and constructed match up type articles in the future. I really enjoy discussing strategy and am very glad to hear I am expressing myself clearly in those interviews.
@HeartBreak kid. I know the Naya deck was quite good against a stock jund list, but I feel like with us playing no Putrid Leechs, extra removal, Master of the Hunt, and Bloodwitch sideboard. You’re a pretty big underdog. I am not taking away from your win. You played great, which is a lot more then I can say for most of my worlds’ opponents. I can’t think of anything you should have done differently during our match. That said, You did pretty much nutdraw me on the play games 1 and 3, and game 3 I was a couple life from winning because I didn’t draw a lightning bolt, only a burst lightning, and you drew 2 stags. Don’t get me wrong you choose an excellent decklist and you played great, congratulations to Terry and you guys excellent results, but I definitely feel our Jund list is a firm favorite. If you want, msg me on mtgo, I am AtogAtog10 and we can test the matchup some.
Comment by BenS — November 23, 2009 @ 10:19 pm
@ BenS
haha, as much as i would love to, i don’t even have an mtgo account, and my weekly internet cap at my university hall isn’t high enough to even download MTGO. thats why i didn’t get much practice in for worlds, and suffered greatly during the draft rounds as a result of that!
Comment by Heartbreak Kid — November 24, 2009 @ 12:19 am