MTG Strategy Guide for a Jund Deck With 4 Great Sable Stag Maindeck
August 9, 2009 | Posted by Dee
This is a guest post written by Salivanth of mtgsalivanth.blogspot.com. Visit his blog for more Magic The Gathering strategy tips.
A few days ago, I posted a decklist on my blog, which turned out to be surprisingly strong. That decklist was GSS (Great Sable Stag) Jund. GSS Jund has turned out to be surprisingly good, so when I offered to write an article for Magic Game Plan and was told a midlevel-PTQ aimed strategy article would be good, I decided to write a primer on how to play GSS Jund.
Here’s the current list:
| GSS Jund | |||||||||||
Creatures (19) Spells (16) | Lands (25)
Sideboard 1: Conventional (15) Sideboard 2: Transformative (15) |
| |||||||||
As you can see, there are two options for your sideboard. One is a conventional choice:
1 Jund Charm
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Deathmark
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Infest
And the other, the one I’m currently experimenting with, is a less convential choice: a transformative sideboard.
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Jund Charm
3 Volcanic Fallout
2 Broodmate Dragon
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Mulldrifter
1 Doom Blade
The conventional sideboard attempts to improve your matchups by sideboarding specific cards that give you an advantage against certain decks. The transformational sideboard attempts to improve your matchups by allowing you to change into a more controlling, Four-Color Control build whenever you feel it necessary. I will provide sideboard plans for each matchup for both the conventional sideboard (CS) and the transformational sideboard (TS).
Analyzing The Deck
The general idea of GSS Jund is a more metagamed Jund deck, where it renders two-thirds of two of the popular decks irrelevant with one creature: Great Sable Stag. Those decks are Next Level Faeries / Grixis Faeries / Uber Faeries / Red Faeries (also written about at mtgsalivanth.blogspot.com) and Five-Color Control.
A Jund deck generally wants to start off strong and then use cascades to win the game. The idea of the Jund deck is to always cascade into a very good card. The possible cascades off a Bloodbraid Elf are:
Anathemancer
Boggart Ram-Gang
Great Sable Stag
Putrid Leech
Maelstrom Pulse
Lightning Bolt
Sign in Blood
Jund Charm
The same is with Bituminous Blast, but adding Bloodbraid Elf to the list of possible cascades. With the exception of Maelstrom Pulse, all of these cards will never be blanks when you cascade into them (and if you have no targets for Maelstrom Pulse you’re probably already winning.)
Quality removal, quality creatures, and 11 sources of card advantage essentially make Jund an aggro-control deck. The idea is to overwhelm your opponents with card advantage and card quality, or, against a more aggressive deck, to accrue card advantage until you can cascade into enough threats to win against their guys which have been thinned by your removal.
Matchups
Elf Combo:
Elf Combo has one weakness you can exploit: they have to lay out their hand quickly, leaving them vulnerable to a sweeper. Unless you have to, save your single-creature removal for Elvish Archdruid which in multiples can drag an Elf deck out of Jund Charm range.
In Game 1, you want to use your Jund Charms the turn before they combo off, while saving Lightning Bolts for their Archdruids. Playing a Bloodbraid Elf or Bituminous Blast into a sweeper is just so sick that you’ll almost certainly win if you do.
CS Plans:
+1 Jund Charm, +1 Infest, +4 Volcanic Fallout, +3 Deathmark, +2 Maelstrom Pulse
-4 Great Sable Stag, -3 Putrid Leech, -4 Anathemancer
Game 2 and 3 the advantage is yours. You are now the control deck, with 9 sweepers and 11 pieces of other removal. Bloodbraid Elf becomes an awesome card here since you’re exponentially more likely to cascade into a sweeper. Same with Bituminous Blast. Once you get a couple of Elves or Ram-Gangs, you can win pretty easily. Post-board, the Elf Combo match is usually a win for you.
TS Plans:
+2 Maelstrom Pulse, +1 Jund Charm, +3 Volcanic Fallout, +4 Mulldrifter, +2 Broodmate Dragon, +2 Cruel Ultimatum, +1 Doom Blade
-4 Great Sable Stag, -3 Putrid Leech, -4 Anathemancer, -4 Boggart Ram-Gang
Your opponent will probably have a heart attack here, as in order to transition to Five-Color Control, you want to sideboard in everything, removing every creature except Broodmate Dragon and Bloodbraid Elf. The match here is similar to Five-Color Control vs. Elves, except you need to be bolder in tapping out for a finisher since you don’t have Cryptic Command.
Kithkin:
Kithkin seems like a bad matchup, but the only way their tokens can withstand your sweepers is if they play double Honor of the Pure: a perfect Maelstrom Pulse target. You can use your single removal on cards like Knight of Meadowgrain, Wizened Cenn, and if they run it, Captain of the Watch. Cloudgoat Ranger without his tokens is almost useless. You can just kill him in combat if need be.
Saving your Maelstrom Pulses unless you’re going to die is generally a good idea. It may seem the right play to wipe out 3 Spirits with 1 Pulse, but if they play 2 Honor of the Pure and get out a single army, you’re toast unless you have another Pulse. With only 2 maindeck, it’s not likely.
CS Plans:
+1 Jund Charm, +1 Infest, +4 Volcanic Fallout, +3 Deathmark, +2 Maelstrom Pulse
-4 Great Sable Stag, -4 Anathemancer, -3 Boggart Ram-Gang
The only difference between this matchup and Elf Combo is conserving your Pulses and the fact that you want Putrid Leech in. As a 4/4, it’s just too big for most of your opponent’s creatures to deal with, even with Honor of the Pure. It’s a great blocker and attacker.
Your main target with Deathmark and Lightning Bolt is Figure of Destiny, but remember to keep one removal spell handy for Captain of the Watch unless you know your opponent isn’t running them.
Their Path to Exiles are quite useful for getting to 5 mana or playing 2 spells on the same turn as well, so let them Path your guys. You have more.
TS Plans:
+1 Jund Charm, +3 Volcanic Fallout, +2 Broodmate Dragon, +2 Cruel Ultimatum, +2 Maelstrom Pulse, +1 Doom Blade
-4 Great Sable Stag, -4 Anathemancer, -3 Boggart Ram-Gang
Similar to Elf Combo except Kithkin doesn’t have as much inevitability as Elf Combo, so you don’t need Mulldrifter and can instead save your mana rather than risk tapping out. Other than that, the plan is identical: sweep when they hit critical mass, then lay a Broodmate Dragon or Cruel Ultimatum.
B/R Burn
B/R Burn isn’t the easy matchup I thought it was. They have Anathemancer, and their Anathemancers are simply better than yours. They also have enough burn to hurt you bad. Basically it’s Jund with more burn, but without the cascade engine. Therefore, you need to take advantage of that by using Bloodbraid Elf and Bituminous Blast to abuse the area of the game where you are better than them Game 1. Bituminous Blast is great, as it’s almost always a 2 for 1.
CS Plans:
+4 Kitchen Finks, +2 Maelstrom Pulse, +1 Jund Charm
-3 Putrid Leech, -4 Anathemancer
The three important things to remember here:
1. Jund Charm is a great combat trick.
2. Jund Charm + a persisted Kitchen Finks = broken against the red deck.
3. Before using 1 or 2, beware of Lightning Bolt.
The match basically revolves around Kitchen Finks, Lightning Bolt, and Jund Charm. Most of your other cards just trade with them. Maelstrom Pulse is useful, but in the end, it’s usually just a 1-for-1. Also, try not to block Boggart Ram-Gang with your Kitchen Finks, and remember: Jund Charm DOES have a third option. Removing their graveyard is a great idea in the late game against Anathemancer recursion and Demigod of Revenge spawning. Essentially, Jund Charm is the nuts. I wish I could run eight in this matchup.
TS Plans:
+2 Maelstrom Pulse, +1 Jund Charm, +1 Doom Blade, +3 Mulldrifter, +2 Broodmate Dragon, +2 Cruel Ultimatum
-3 Putrid Leech, -4 Anathemancer, -4 Boggart Ram-Gang
You only want to side in 3 Mulldrifter because the 12th cut is Great Sable Stag, and that’s very good against this deck. The plan here is to use Jund Charm and Mulldrifter to gain card advantage, but paradoxically, feel free to burn cards to kill their guys. Without Kitchen Finks, the matchup gets difficult, but if you drop a Broodmate Dragon or a Cruel Ultimatum, it’s very difficult to lose unless you’re already at < 7 life.
Five-Color Control
This is a fairly difficult matchup except for the fact that you have Anathemancers and ways to cascade into them. Use Maelstrom Pulse and Bituminous Blast on Plumeveil: you basically have to deal enough damage that when he drops a finisher you can finish him off before he kills you. Cascade is your only real weapon since he can’t counter both spells. Abuse the hell out of it at every opportunity. Also aim Lightning Bolt directly at your opponent’s face. Of course, Great Sable Stag helps in this matchup. Putting Jund Charm counters on one is just tech.
CS Plans:
+1 Jund Charm
Jund Charm on Great Sable Stag is really your best chance to win this matchup, especially when combined with Lightning Bolt and any other source of damage you can get through. This one really comes down to the draws, and if he has Hallowed Burial in hand or not. It’s frustrating to say that the matchup comes down to mostly luck, but it does. Just don’t overextend: holding a Bloodbraid Elf in your hand for after a Hallowed Burial is an excellent idea.
TS Plans:
+1 Jund Charm
Your plan here is exactly the same as with a conventional sideboard. If you transform, you’ll be playing against a deck that’s better than yours in every way. You need to use your aggressive deck to win this matchup.
Merfolk
Merfolk isn’t a match that will come up very often. It’s fairly difficult to win Game 1, although if you can get them to tap out so you can play a sweeper it’s all good. Be wary of the fact that they have Harms Way, which is quite dangerous. As usual against a deck with counters, cascade is king. Cascading into a sweeper, again, is quite brutal. Other than that there’s not much to say about this matchup: I haven’t tested it much.
CS Plans:
Option One:
-4 Anathemancer
This is for an aggro build. Volcanic Fallout in the absence of Harms Way is generally a blowout, and you aim to overpower the opponent.
Option Two:
+1 Jund Charm, +1 Infest, +4 Volcanic Fallout, +2 Maelstrom Pulse
-4 Anathemancer, -3 Putrid Leech, -1 Boggart Ram-Gang
This is for a control build. Your aim is to use sweepers and removal to control the opponent, and to win with the protection-from-Merfolk Great Sable Stag. Of course, they’ll sideboard in Path to Exile, which is why you have cascade.
TS Plans:
+1 Jund Charm, +3 Volcanic Fallout, +2 Maelstrom Pulse
-4 Anathemancer, -2 Putrid Leech
They have Cryptic Command, so don’t attempt to go full control over them. You instead want a control build that can switch to aggro with Bloodbraid Elf at a moment’s notice. The key to this sideboard plan is knowing when you shift from control to aggro.
Jund
The mirror match (but without Great Sable Stag maindeck, most likely). Here, you want to decide what role you are in Game 2. For game 1, the game is all about aggro. Great Sable Stag may provide you an advantage if you draw out their Lightning Bolts. Anathemancer also matters, and don’t hesitate to kill your own Anathemancer with Jund Charm for later recursion. This, like many mirror matches, will be decided on skill. If skill is even, he who cascades most ridiculously shall win.
Sideboard (CS or TS):
Here, there’s no correct answer. If you want to be aggro, sideboard out Maelstrom Pulse for Kitchen Finks. If you want to be control, sideboard in Maelstrom Pulse for Boggart Ram-Gang. Obviously aggro with 4 Pulses isn’t a good idea, since you’ll kill your own attackers. You probably don’t want to transform into control against the mirror.
There are a couple of other decks I could write about, such as Mannequin, but they aren’t the most common and I haven’t tested them well enough to be able to tell. My advice against either mannequin (Grixis or Conley Woods) is to be the aggressor, and sideboard in Jund Charms to stop recursion. As long as you’re winning, go ahead and keep 3 mana open for Jund Charm at all times so you can exile their graveyard in response to Makeshift Mannequin. By the time they have Mannequin with counter backup, you should have won, or close enough to it.
This primer has now gone for over 2,000 words, so I’ll wrap up. In conclusion, Jund is a very powerful and consistent archetype, and I would highly recommend it for FNM or a PTQ. It’s strength lies in it’s card quality, and the card advantage accrued through cascade. I would recommend a transformational sideboard, since most people won’t expect it and will board in sweepers, and end up with dead cards. It’s up to you, but I try to go with the option less metagamed against.
I’ll also be writing more about the transformational sideboard and GSS Jund in general at my blog, www.mtgsalivanth.blogspot.com in the days to come. Farewell!
-Salivanth
7 Responses to “MTG Strategy Guide for a Jund Deck With 4 Great Sable Stag Maindeck”
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Hey I love the idea of a transforative side. I am for sure going to play a round with that idea and also the deck is cool to thanks for a great read
Just one little nitpick. You said that putting Jund Charm counters on GSS is great tech, but with the Pro. Black GSS has, you can’t target it with Jund Charm.
Otherwise, it was a very nice article.
Daniel is right….
Elves: It’s funny i thought the matchup against elves was easy but i always end up sideboarding more cards than kith. I haven’t beat this match up once yet. It’s sad even thought it’s suppose to be my best match up right?
Kith: against kith i ususally lock them down with a leech i swing every turn even if they have a blocker in play because when i attack it’s usually a good trade. I haven’t lose to kith in swiss I always end up winning 2-0 or 2-1.
Fae: easy match up
Merfolk: i only play against this deck twice but i lose to it because of sygg river guide. that thing is soo good against jund…..
5CC: i think it’s about 50-50 cruel and rune halo is just too good.
I beat BR aggro without sideboard and elementals those were simple matchups
and I haven’t play against the mirror match yet, but overall I like your reveal it will help me in future matches. thanks. if you are interested in my deck list u can send me a email at alanthedorko@hotmail.com
Thanks for the feedback guys: and yeah, GSS does have Prot. Black. My bad!
How can you put counters on Great sable stag with Jund Charm? The Stag has protection from black, and the charm is a black spell (in addition to red and green).