Nemesis
Modern*
SCORE: 54 | 128 COMMENTS | 10569 VIEWS | IN 16 FOLDERS
SCG Regionals Report. —Feb. 7, 2016
I attended SCG Regionals In Raleigh. I went 6-3 netting 76th Place out of 390 in attendance. Here is how it went. I saw a lot of burn deck lists being written as I was walking in, so I decided to make an audible and remove a copy of Slaughter Games from my SB for a second copy of Feed the Clan, we will get to how that may have been a bad decision later.
Round 1: vs Jund. I win the die roll, and kept a pretty good hand, but there was a problem. My opponent, expected Tron something fierce, and main boarded 3 Fulminator Mages!!! It did not go very well for me. As he kept drawing into them Game 1 and keeping me off green mana, which turned my nutty hand into a very very bad hand. Game 2, was even worse. I ended up mulling to 5, and got literally out junded on every angle.
OUT: 3 Inquisitions, 3 Thoughtseize
In: 2 Fulminator, Huntmaster, Finks, Explosives, Olivia
0-1
Round 2: Ally Rally. This opponent pretty much signed up for a modern regionals with a standard deck. I did feel pretty bad, but after my last loss, I felt that a really easy matchup would get me back into the fight for some cash at the end.
OUT: 2 Confidant.
IN: Anger of the Gods, Damnation
1-1
Round 3: Scapeshift (the old school all in version). I turn 1 Inquisition him to reveal a hand full of counters and search for tomorrow. I knew what I did wrong immediately. That slaughter games I took out earlier was taunting me. I got him down to 6 life before he went off. Game 2, was more of a fight as he went to 3 before he combo-ed.
OUT: Tasigur, Kalitas, 1 Scavenging ooze, 2x terminate
IN: 2 fulminator mage, 2x feed the Clan, finks
1-2
Round 4: Naya Burn. I was ready to see this matchup. And it did not disappoint. Game 1, a turn 4 kalitas made me go the distance and forced him to preemptively waste his atarka's commands. Game 2 the game ended for me at 30 life. I activate a 4/4 scooze, and he responds with skullcrack, I respond with 2 copies of Feed the Clan, gaining 17 life at the end of it. he scooped.
OUT: 2 bob, 3 thought seize.
IN: Huntmaster, 2x Feed the Clan, Finks, Duress.
2-2
Round 5: Burn. Again, I was ready for this type of stuff. This one was almost too easy. The guy did not run any basics, and I found that out by ghost quarter-ing his sacred foundry to keep his Nacatl small enough to die to a 2/3 Goyf. He never searched for a basic land, and I reminded him. He slumped in his chair and said, "I am not running basics..." WOW.
OUT See last match
IN see above
3-2
Round 6: Burn, again. this game was more of a slugfest. he boarded into more of a midrange burn for a bit. something to note: a judge crop dusted us in game 2, so we asked another judge if we could get a time extension to let the air clear. it was granted.
OUT: same as last
IN: see above
4-2. i am in a rally to try and get in the money. lets see if i can do it...
Round 7: infect. dude folded the second we started. my opening hand was inquisition, cliffs, foothills, bob, goyf, bolt, bolt. i drew 2 more bolts and a terminate. he never gained ant traction, and actually dropped after that game 1.
OUT: N/A
IN: N/A
5-2. oh shit, movin on up the ladder. (punctuation is out the window right now, i am holding a baby as i write this one handed)
Round 8: Coco elves/infect. my opponent was exactly 72 years old. really nice guy. i lost game 1 off the back of the typical elf ball strategy, he went too wide for me to handle. game 2, i landed a turn 3 olivia (pathed a goyf earlier) and machine gunned every elf i could. dude never had a chance. Game 3 is where it got crazy. it was normal at first, nothing wild until a surprise CoCo appears and the guy slams a bunch of infect elves. whoa. then next turn was archdruid and ezuri. next turn, he was able to activate ezuri twice. i was forced to block the poison menace for three turns, killing my guys, hoping for damnation to show up, or any sweeper for that matter. death by infect...
OUT: 2 bob, 3 thoughtsieze, 2 lily
IN: damnation, anger of the gods, explosives, gravedigger's cage, 2x feed the clan, Olivia
5-3, one round left. Might as well stick around and see what happens. Chances are, I won't be getting any cash when I leave. Lets play this last one out for points.
Round 9: TRON!!!! Shit. Well it has been fun guys. Great run. But it was bound to happe- Oh wait, he mulled to five? Lets see how this turns out. Turn 1 Thoughtseize showed me he had 1 tron land and a bunch of cantrips. Cool. I took an expedition map and passed. Over the course of the next few turns, I dropped a bob, and lily and proceeded to pop him in the head for 2 and force him to top deck mode. Lily ult-ed twice this game, (pyroclasm caught me with bob out) Eventually, I drew 3 bolts and cashed them out when he was at 8 life. Whew. Game 2. it was typical tron stuff. But now we are on game three. Once again, I was pretty certain I would end it out at 5-4. But fate gave Jund the upper hand. I had the "hand disruption nut hand". The judges were hanging out during this one. My opponent mulled to 6 and kept. Turn 1 thought seize, He has natural tron in hand. wurmcoil and ugin. hmm. Take wurmcoil. He had no cards in hand after 3 turns. He had tron, but thats it. Lily was ticking up like a sexy time bomb. I had some bob beats coming in and just played an olivia. He slams a late game wurmcoil and places a fate counter on it with O stone. tapping him out. I untap, bob reveals a swamp. I draw a blood crypt. I count my lands... exactly seven counting a land for the turn, perfect. I ping wurmcoil with olivia, and steal it in the same turn. I NOW HAVE A FATE COUNTER WURMCOIL ENGINE!!!!! My opponent looked shocked. The judge gasped. The small group gathering around went "whoa", and I about shit my pants. I swing in with olivia and bob. My tron opponent draws a Star, plays it, activates it. draws Pyroclasm... pops O-Stone. Killing bob and olivia... but not my seriously angry looking wurmcoil. he extends his hand and says, "so Jund CAN beat Tron, Good game, man".
OUT: 2 Decay, Kalitas, Goyf
IN: 2x Ancient Grudge, 2x Fulminators
I went 6-3. I am actually pretty happy about my run. It could have been a lot worse.
Things I really liked: Not seeing a bunch of tron everywhere. It made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I liked adding a second copy of feed the Clan in the SB. It felt right and made for some really gnarly comebacks. I also really really like Kalitas. It never disappointed me, and even if it died, I knew that all i was doing was technically discarding a removal spell, (funny that people will path a Kalitas over a goyf these days). I hope these agree decks become the "thing" for a while. My burn game is fire.
Things I would change: I want to add slaughter games somewhere in the 75. Or something to stop wild combo decks from getting lucky wild "draw for turn, oh I win". Or I should just get more practice on my scapeshift game. It has been over a year since I have seen it played... and now all of a sudden i see it once a week at different venues.
gnarlicide says... #2
Azure124, this particular set up is geared towards a heavy aggressive meta. I went 5-1 against nothing but zoo and burn one week, the next week, I went undefeated against a zoo and midrange meta. Last weekend, I made top 8 with nothing but Tron and scapeshift.
Truth be told, I do own 72 more cards on top of this list that occasionally make their way into the SB. Its a good practice to try to own all of the possible flex cards for the deck, that way you can ensure you are ready for any meta.
Glad you made it to the jund side, man. Look up MTG Modern Jund on Facebook, and see about getting added. I was not lying about a members only group.
February 2, 2016 10:06 a.m.
Right now modern isn't huge in my lgs but i want to have a competitive deck for when it finally pick up does so im picking up the pieces when i see them until then.
Also why Kozilek's Return over Pyroclasm is the threat of the instant speed sweeper worth the extra mana in your testing?
February 2, 2016 12:01 p.m.
Azure124 Instant speed is great for getting Manlands and such but I think the biggest draw is that Kozilek's Return kills Etched Champion and Anger of the Gods or Pyroclasm don't.
February 2, 2016 12:12 p.m.
I didnt even think of that, what are the worst matchups for jund and what cards should i watch out for?
February 2, 2016 12:46 p.m.
Jamesfurrow says... #6
I would recomend changing tasigur out with Olivia! Olivia has a hidden synergy with kali. She steals vampires that she creates and kali then buffs himself to said stolen creature. So you can make it so it's not always exiled and give scavenging ooze some targets to eat in the gy
February 2, 2016 12:48 p.m.
gnarlicide says... #7
Azure124, worst matchups:
RG Tron, we are too slow to deal with it. Our best hand does not usually beat their okay-est hand.
Scapeshift, our life being used as a resource, makes for easy scapeshift victory. It is best to deny them the green mana and Slaughter Games naming Scapeshift.
Those are the worst, every other tier 1 deck is at least a 50/50 matchup post board. Making Jund the "best deck" for a known meta. As you can have a fighting chance.
Since your LGS does not have an established modern scene, this can work in your favor. Most people are drawn to budget friendly and fringe modern decks when they get started. Allowing you to have a reasonably easy tournament. Gain experience, learn the ins and outs and you will be ready to take on anything.
With twin and bloom banned, you can literally not be afraid to tap out on turn 3 or 4.
Jamesfurrow, there was a discussion about that a while ago. It seems crazy enough to work, but very mana intensive. I am not quite sold on going for THAT particular interaction. Nor would I be keen on dumping tasigur (which invariably is your "5th Goyf") just yet. Right about the time I want to get rid of Tas, it tends to give me more card advantage than I can handle and wins a few games on its own. Its a love hate relationship[.
February 2, 2016 1:09 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #8
How does Jund fare against eldrazi, oh master o' Jund?
February 2, 2016 1:15 p.m.
gnarlicide says... #9
Ohthenoises, haven't played much against it, but I have recently been testing 2 copies of Doom Blade along with the regular removals. So far I can kill most of the early eldrazis to squeak out a win.
February 2, 2016 3:07 p.m.
can you give me a few pointers on the jund list i have right now, kalitas jund right now the players in my area are playing a total of 8 creature based aggro decks(mostly budget) and 1 copy of tron, faeries and grixis delver
Azure124 says... #1
what meta is this jund list tuned for? If im expecting to play against a heavy delver and burn meta should i change anything? Thanks
February 2, 2016 9:48 a.m.