Jund/Naya Cascade Control Deck for Standard
October 29, 2009 | Posted by Dee
I’ve been winning a lot on Magic-League.com with this strong four color cascade control deck.
| Four Color Cascade Control | |||||||||||
Creatures (15) Spells (19) | Lands (27)
Sideboard (15) |
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Mana Base Analysis
I got the initial list from Chris Jobin’s article. I didn’t change the spells and creatures in the main deck but I tweaked the mana base.
Chris only had 15 white sources for the 3WW of Baneslayer and the 2WW of Day of Judgment so I upped it to 16 sources. He only had 10 black sources for 11 black cards including two of his early plays, Maelstrom Pulse and Sprouting Thrinax. So, I increased it to 13 sources.
These two changes lowered the green and red sources. Chris had 18 green sources, which I found to be overkill since he didn’t have any double green casting cost cards. I dropped the green source count to 17. He had 15 red sources and I dropped it to 14. I do have Goblin Ruinblaster, which costs double red for the kicker. But for many of the matchups where you board in the goblin, the one Exotic Orchard will count as a red source.
Also, Chris had 26 lands but I found that I wanted more land. I cut an Enlisted Wurm for a land but then I started flooding. So, I went with 27 lands and 61 cards by bringing back the 3rd Enlisted Wurm. This move has worked out well. I know I break the golden rule of having exactly 60 cards but I think you can make an exception with this deck to get the mana ratio just right.
Creatures and Spells Analysis
3 Enlisted Wurm: Great card that I initially undervalued. I’m glad I put the 3rd copy back in. You don’t want a full set because it’s expensive. With so many cascade cards, this creature often provides a ton of card advantage.
I remember one game where I was at one life with no cards in hand. My opponent had Chandra Nalaar with one counter and three saproling 1/1 tokens. I topdecked Enlisted Wurm and cascaded into Bloodbraid to kill Chandra and Pulse to kill his tokens. I came back to win that game.
4 Baneslayer Angel / 4 Bloodbraid Elf: The best creatures in the whole format. And cascading into Baneslayer is pretty sick.
4 Sprouting Thrinax: Great card that’s good against control and aggro.
4 Lightning Bolt: One of the premier removal spells in the format. Stops Great Sable Stag and keeps you from losing to the hyper-aggro decks like Boros Bushwhacker and Mono Red.
3 Maelstrom Pulse: Most versatile removal in the format. I’ve been happy with three copies since it is kinda slow.
4 Captured Sunlight: This card seems pretty bad but the Magic League metagame is filled with a lot of hyper-aggro decks trying to beat Jund. This card is really good against those decks. Plus, it’s not too bad against slower aggro decks like Jund. In game one, it buys you time to make your land drops to play your big spells and it will always cascade to a removal spell or Sprouting Thrinax. And you can always board it out versus midrange aggro and control.
2 Ajani Vengeant: Another card that’s good against hyper-aggro. Also, it’s great versus control. I would play more copies but it’s pretty weak against Jund, the most popular deck at the moment.
3 Day of Judgment: Great card advantage versus creature decks and kills shroud creatures. I think three is a good number. It is kinda slow versus hyper-aggro. It sucks versus haste creatures like Ball Lightning, Hellspark Elemental, and Goblin Bushwhacker. Also, it’s pretty bad versus Jund’s Sprouting Thrinax.
3 Bituminous Blast: The only cascade removal spell and it’s a good one. I only play three because of the cost.
Sideboard Analysis
I kept Chris’ sideboard mostly intact with just the following substitutions:
-3 Thought Hemorrhage
-1 Day of Judgment
+4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Goblin Ruinblaster: Chris said that one of the biggest problems versus Jund was Goblin Ruinblaster. So I thought, “Why not fight fire with fire?” These are great against Jund and control decks with a lot of non-basic lands. Also, we have more red sources and land than Jund so we should be able to cast our goblin more easily than them.
2 Pithing Needle: These come in against the planeswalker deck and Luminarch Ascension.
4 Celestial Purge: For Mono Red, Jund, and the Pyromancer Ascension combo deck. If you’re playing Boros Bushwhacker and they bring in Goblin Ruinblaster, you might want to play 1-2 over Enlisted Wurm.
4 Blightning: For any deck that’s not hyper-aggro.
1 Pyroclasm: For Boros Bushwhacker, Mono White Soldiers, and any other deck with a bunch of small creatures.
Playing the Deck and My Results
The biggest thing to keep in mind is that this deck needs a lot of mana so I mulligan all my two land hands unless I have a lot of early plays (Bolts, Thrinaxes, and Pulses) and the proper colored sources of mana to cast them.
Baneslayer is huge against many decks so I try to save her and make them use their removal on my other creatures. Of course, if you’re about to die, you should just play her and hope they don’t have a removal to kill her. Also, don’t save Baneslayer versus Jund unless you have cards in hand to protect her from Blightning.
Think of Bloodbraid Elf as a removal spell. Try not to play it unless they have something for you to kill. You don’t want to want to play it on an empty board and cascade into Bolt or Pulse. Of course, if you have no other play, then go ahead and cast it.
Against hyper-aggro decks, your late game cards are so much better. Therefore, you should be blocking a lot early in the game to conserve life so you don’t die to double Bolt.
For example, trade Thrinax for Hellspark Elemental, Plated Geopede, and Ball Lightning. And don’t be afraid to trade Bloodbraid for Hellspark Elemental and Ball Lightning if you’re low on life and your opponent still has a lot of life. The trample damage you save can often be crucial.
Also, try not to tap out unless you absolutely have to since Ball Lightning and Goblin Bushwhacker can deal a ton of damage. Leave mana up on their turn and save a Lightning Bolt or a Celestial Purge for those haste creatures.
Don’t play your fetch lands unless you absolutely have to because each life point counts versus decks with burn. And if you’re up against Red Deck Wins (RDW or Mono Red Aggro), watch out for Act of Treason. Many RDW have a couple main so be careful with Baneslayer because they could steal it for the win.
With this deck, I’ve gone 13-5 in matches and 28-15 in games. Here are my match results versus different archetypes:
Boros Bushwhacker 2-1
Jund 2-1
RDW 1-1
Mono Black Vampires 1-1
GW Midrange 1-0
Pyromancer Ascension Combo 1-0
UR Polymorph Combo/Control 1-0
Mono White Soldiers 0-1
Oracle of Mul Daya/Lotus Cobra Midrange 1-0
Grixis Cruel Control 1-0
GRB Warp World 1-0
RWU Luminarch Ascension Control 1-0
I think the deck is positioned well in metagame. It has game versus Jund and the hyper-aggro decks trying to beat Jund. It may be a slight dog versus control in game one, but Blightning, Goblin Ruinblaster, and Pithing Needle from the sideboard are pretty powerful.
Anyways, try it out the deck and let me know what you think. If you have any questions like sideboarding plans, just leave a comment.
7 Responses to “Jund/Naya Cascade Control Deck for Standard”
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Just curious, does Rupture Spire really work for you? I know you don’t have any turn 2 plays game 1 but still, after that the extra mana commitment plus a CiPT hurts you until you have at least 5 lands on the board. Aren’t there a couple of refuges, or common zendi lands that would do a little better? At least keep you from committing too much for not much payoff early game?
i think 3 is the number just for not draw 2 in the initial hand(a little awkward). In other hand is totally necesary due there is only a single spell monocolor(bolt) whit that in mind, i still play 3.
bye
pd: Mike flores write a article when rupture is mentioned http://fivewithflores.com/
Curious as to what happened in the VS. Soldiers match, I ran a mono-white soldier deck the last weeks of Lorwyn and it was really impressive, beat Kithkin, Elves and Jund, but not U/W Lark, Cruel Control or 5CC. Play by play, or a quick summary, too much to ask?
Rob,
Rupture Spire is pretty necessary. Eddie in the 2nd comment has a good point. All my spells are multicolor except for Bolt. If I cut it, my mana sources for the colors will be too low.
Right now, the mana sources per color is:
G 17
W 16
R 14
B 13
If there was a land that produced WRB, I would play it over Rupture Spire since I don’t mind the green source count to go to 14. But the white, red, and black sources shouldn’t go below their current numbers.
White needs 16 for Baneslayer and Day of Judgment. Red and Black need 14 and 13 since those colors have my early plays (3 drops and 1 drops including Blightning from the sb).
Also, in actual game play, Rupture Spire has been very good and only in a very few instances did it mess me up. With only 3 in the deck, I usually won’t draw two in a game. And when I draw one, I can often play it as my turn two play. And even if it slows me down for a turn, my spells especially cascade is powerful enough to get me back in the game.
JParks,
I do remember that game. I think it’s an easy matchup because I have Day of Judgment, cascade, Baneslayer, and Thrinax.
I could be wrong though.
I lost 2-0 because I got mana screwed both games. Plus, my opponent had good starts. But a Day of Judgment in either game would’ve devastated him. I don’t know how Mono White Soldiers beats Day of Judgment. Maybe splash green for Dauntless Escort, but even then, most decks playing Day of Judgment can deal with Escort before wrathing the board.
Good points. I see RS in more builds lately. I am working on a 5CC deck with a Cruel/Broodmate win condition and just wanted to know if RS worked or caused issue. thanks for the speedy replies..
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