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Jund Land Denial

Modern BRG (Jund) Land Destruction Pox Stax

reoree

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Creature (17)

Planeswalker (2)

Land (21)

Enchantment (2)

Instant (3)

Sorcery (15)

Sideboard

Artifact (2)

Instant (10)

Sorcery (3)

Maybeboard

Creature (22)

Land (1)

Enchantment (2)

Instant (7)

Update on Naya version

Explanation of Update

I often found that white was rarely used for anything. The only matchups it does something is when we need Engineered Explosives at 3, or casting Rest in Peace. I found that to be too narrow, especially when we can't play Path to Exile due to the nature of our deck.
Premium removal and premium delve creatures. This helps address 2 big problem of the old deck:

  1. Hooting Mandrills was often too small to contend with Jund's and Eldrazi's creatures without dying. Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Gurmag Angler both live vs most of their creatures (assuming we're when delving so Tarmogoyf isn't a 5/6) and can actually kill a decent amount.

  2. Lightning Bolt was just not cutting it against the big creatures we have trouble dealing with. Splashing black gives us access to the clean answers of Murderous Cut and Terminate, and opens up options in the form of Abrupt Decay. We lose a few points vs infect, burn, and some aggro matchups due to the slower speed of our removal, but we gain points in our goyf/delve/eldrazi matchup. Losing to them resolving a creature is not where we want to be.

Yes, but we replace it with surgical extraction which should shut down most of the deck if used smartly. Once we get 2 and exile Bloodghast & Narcomoeba/Prized Amalgam, and continue to shut down their lands, we should be safe.

You might think that Tarmogoyfs and Tasigur, the Golden Fang will be harder to fight, but since our creatures and removal can actually kill them, blanking the entire graveyard is no longer needed. This makes our Goblin Dark-Dwellers and Faithless Lootings happy!

Primer

Jund Land Denial is a Gruul deck whose main goal is to lock your opponent out of the game by denying them lands via removal & Blood Moon effects. Once you do that, you dig for a win condition and kill your opponent. Generally, Chandra, Torch of Defiance is the best route, since most decks have no way to deal with her, and she can kill most low cost creatures. Delve creatures can be played before a lock out, and usually close out games quickly. Goblin Dark-Dwellers is the slow way to completely lock our opponents out of the game when they try to rebuild their land base via flashbacking the bust side of Boom/Bust.

If you aren't able to lock your opponent out of the game, you need a delve creature or else you're pretty much dead. Don't feel disheartened, because the sideboard contains A LOT of hate for decks that don't care about their land count.

In essence, the deck plays a few powerful cards while preventing your opponent from playing anything at all. So keep in mind that the deck is not powerful, but similar to control it makes your opponents powerless and kills them with something they can't handle.

To ensure smooth draws, the deck runs 4-5 dig effects in Faithless Looting/Cathartic Reunion/Read the Bones as well as 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance for backup.

As for the colors:

Red
We run this for our main tools of destruction. 14 ways to deny lands from our opponents! It also contains digging tools plus about half our ramp & win cons. In the sideboard, it gives us ways to deal with aggressive decks that are too low to the ground to care about losing lands.

Green
True ramp comes from 6 green manadorks, enables flashback on sideboard cards and opens up options for our removal suite/sideboard. Don't forget it allows us to use Tasigur, the Golden Fang's activated ability!

Black
3 delve creatures, 3 removal spells, 3rd color for Engineered Explosives. It's a splash that has been made to address previous weaknesses of the deck's former version. You never need to aggressively fetch for it, but it's always nice to have around.

Jund Land Denial is a fast, consistent, land denial deck that can often steal game 1 (possibly the match) if your opponent doesn't know how to play against it. It has generally positive match-ups against all decks other than decks that don't care about lands (Affinity, Dredge & Elves). It has the unique distinction of being one of the few decks in Modern that can start destroying lands as soon as turn 1, and generate 3 mana the following turn. Being able to shift gears so quickly is what makes the deck incredibly fun to play.

However, while the goal is relatively simple, there are a lot of intricacies in terms execution. Proper sequencing, and making the right decisions with looting, removal and land destruction need to be mastered to firmly lock opponents out of the game.

Finally, playing with all 4 abilities of Chandra, Torch of Defiance feels really, really good.

  • 2-4x Crack the Earth
    Symmetrical effect that allows us to kill lands T1 without extra help. On the draw with a Simian Spirit Guide, it becomes a stone rain that opponents can't avoid via indestructible or fetching. You can get some crazy starts with it, but it is inherent card disadvantage and a horrible top deck so you don't need the full 4.

  • 4x Boom/Bust
    This acts as a 2 mana Stone Rain in our deck. Targeting our own Darksteel Citadel or a fetchland (which we crack in response) enables it to be asymmetric. Simian Spirit Guide allows it to be cast as a turn 1 Stone Rain with Darksteel Citadel, or turn 2 with any fetchland.

  • 4x Stone Rain
    The basic land destruction spell with three simple words: destroy target land. 3 mana means a turn 1 dork or turn 2 Simian Spirit Guide allows us to cast this spell consistently on turn 2 and deny our opponents from getting their 3rd land.

  • 2-4x Blood Moon
    Land denial instead of land destruction. Hits ALL lands instead of only 1, so it is able to punish opponents who start with land heavy hands and no basics. Being 3 cmc, it can be consistently played on turn 2. Also denies manlands while our mana dorks and smart fetching allow us to play normally. Running 2 is always nice for insurance versus affinity, eldrazi and 3 color decks, but the exact number played is dependent on your meta and how relevant it can be.

  • 0-2x Fulminator Mage
    A slightly harder to cast conditional Stone Rain that is also a 2/2. Allows us to commit something to the board while having land destruction available if we don't want it right away (like when your opponent leaves fetchlands open to mess with you). If you cut on Blood Moons, then fill the slot with these.

  • 4x Simian Spirit Guide
    A necessary evil that allows us to have quick starts and destroy lands earlier than we normally should. Basically replaces Utopia Sprawl that you see in RG Ponza decks. We run a full set to ensure we hit the ground running.

  • 3x Elves of Deep Shadow
    These used to be Avacyn's Pilgrim in the naya version and that always felt nice. These painful mana dorks are a necessary evil to help us cast our removal spells and delve creatures. The life loss is the price we pay for getting a better creature and removal suite. You might ask "Why not run Birds of Paradise?", and my answer is that sometimes we need a mana creature that can actually do damage without assistance. It also works better on assisting delve creatures on blocks vs 4/5 or larger Tarmogoyfs. Lastly, since infect is on the rise, we want to have mana dorks that don't die to Twisted Image. Just remember to use these sparingly when facing burn.

  • 3x Elvish Mystic
    The main role of these are to make our turn 2 Stone Rains, Blood Moons and other 3 cost stuff possible without costing us life. We only run 3 because green is a useless color aside from casting other mana dorks. This will increase if you switch to a more delirium focused build with Tarmogoyf and Ishkanah, Grafwidow . Again, we run these over Noble Hierarch to have mana dorks that don't die to Twisted Image and are better on blocking duty.

  • 3x Faithless Looting
    Each copy lets use dig 4 cards deeper, and it's a decent turn 1 play to help us with mana or find the right turn 2 plays. Beware it is card disadvantage on the front side, but just normal looting when you use flashback. Usually never correct to cast 2 in a row aside from dire situations.

  • 2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
    Most decks have no way to get rid of her game 1. Even if they do, land destruction usually stops them from having enough mana to do so. On top of that, the flexibility of her abilities do so much to shut the game in your favor that I don't consider there to be any good replacement.
    +1 She generates mana, gives card advantage or deals 2 to face
    -3 She kills most creatures your opponents are able to play
    -7 She gives everything you cast an uncounterable Thunderous Wrath for free. Closes out the game really fast/clears the board if needed. Best abused with Goblin Dark-Dwellers.

  • 1x Blood Crypt , 2x Stomping Ground
    Shocklands are almost always fetched first and fix the mana in this deck. Red is the most important color, so Overgrown Tomb isn't used. The split depends on if you feel black or green is more important in the deck.

  • 4x Darksteel Citadel
    The main reason we run it is for targeting it with Boom/Bust. It doesn't get destroyed simply because it is indestructible.

  • 2x Forest, 1x Mountain, 1x Swamp
    Basics protect us from our own Blood Moon as well as being painless fetch targets. Extra forest since green is pretty important under a Blood Moon and turn 1 forest into elf is better than turn 1 swamp into nothing. Also notable is that under Blood Moon we can cast Elves of Deep Shadow off a basic forest, but basic swamps can't help us the other way around.

  • 4x Wooded Foothills
    Fixes our mana, and we can target them with Boom/Bust, hold priority and fetch in response so we don't lose a land. This is a definite 4 of because we want to fetch basic red and green sources more than black.

    • 1x Cathartic Reunion
      A fourth loot effect is crucial to keep the deck going. As Ponza decks play 11-12 win conditions, while we play 7, these effects act as ways to find those win conditions, as well as extra land denial to keep opponents down. The 4th effect makes it so we have similar consistency.

  • Faithless Looting copy #4 can be run instead, but I prefer Cathartic Reunion to reduce card disadvantage every so slightly. Both are fine cards to run in this slot.

  • Tormenting Voice is a consideration due to less discard, but digs much less than the others. Slightly better topdeck than Cathartic Reunion for those who don't want card disadvantage but want a smaller risk & reward.
    • 2x Gurmag Angler

    • 1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
      3 relatively big creatures that compete with the other creatures opponents usually try to cast while we limit their land count. They allow us to block and stall, or act as our win conditions if our opponent has a clear board. Being able to cast these for as little as for each make them more attractive than most other things as we can cast them alongside slinging land destruction spells with ease. Current 2/1 split is due to the extra power on Gurmag Angler being important versus Tarmogoyfs, while still respecting the value of Tasigur, the Golden Fang's ability.

  • Hooting Mandrills used to be here, but he gets outclassed by Tarmogoyf and any other delve creature that sees play. Current split is for testing, but the extra power of Gurmag Angler seems to be more relevant for us than Tasigur, the Golden Fang's ability. Other good delve creatures cost 2 colored mana minimum which strains our manabase too much, thus we don't even try to run them.

  • Tarmogoyf is a good alternative with a fixed cheap cost. It is usually a 3/4 in the base build with potential to reach a 6/7 (land, creature, sorcery, instant, enchantment, artifact). This means it is usually pretty weak and not worth it in the base builds, but in delirium focused builds it is a much stronger card. Replace delve creatures as you acquire these if your build can support it.
  • Bedlam Reveler can be a replacement for up to 2 since it plays relatively nicely with other delve cards as long as you play it first. Extra cards are a nice plus and offsets the in its cost, but the weak body and build-around nature will restrict how many copies you play.

    • 2x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
      2 slots for a creature that is more expensive than our delve suite, but are able to generate enough value while threaten to take over the game. I've chosen Goblin Dark-Dwellers due being a value-generating game closer that is hard for them to interact with as you'll often cast Stone Rain or the bust side of Boom/Bust to clear them of any remaining lands. If their board is more worrisome flashback a removal spell instead. The flexibility makes the cost worth it.

  • Huntmaster of the Fells   is the runner up for value, but falls a bit short in terms of flexibility on cast. Once he gets going, he generates more value and long game inevitability than Goblin Dark-Dwellers while having a lower cost. Downside is that it doesn't destroy lands or big creatures. It's essentially the better game closer if it lives AND your opponent can't pressure you to block with it.

  • Bedlam Reveler is a nice consideration if you want to keep the deck lean and run 20+ instants and sorceries. Refueling your hand is nice, as well as playing nice with later delve creatures. The main problem is that it has a relatively small body on defense and makes Blood Moon and earlier delve creatures lose value in the deck. It is still a strong consideration if your deck can support it and you sequence plays correctly.
  • Ishkanah, Grafwidow is a strong contender for decks able to support delirium. 6/11 worth of stats over 4 bodies with reach, plus inevitability in the ability make it easy to both stabilize and close out the game. However, you may note that it won't keep our opponents from executing their own game plan and that the base list needs several tweaks before it can achieve delirium reliably. If you can't hit delirium, it's not worth it.
  • Shivan Wumpus is a decent cheaper option that can kill multiple lands by itself if our opponents don't want it to resolve. If they do let it resolve, the game is over quickly. The main weakness is that it is a punish effect, so your opponent often chooses the worst option for you.
  • Thrun, the Last Troll is a notable mention as it chumps big creatures forever and is almost impossible to get rid of. It pairs well with your mana creatures to take out large threats at card parity. Its weakness is that is doesn't close out the game as well; but it is a better stall card when you're behind.
    • 2x Terminate

    • 1x Murderous Cut
      3 slots for removal. I've chosen this split because 1 mana removal is helpful, but too many delve cards make it a problem to have more. Being unconditional also makes these top contenders, but other options exist.

  • Abrupt Decay hits more things, and 3 cmc should be the biggest cost opponents can get. The problem is with delve creatures. It has its merit for killing hate cards like Pithing Needle, planeswalkers and game 1 Aether Vials. A strong contender for this slot.

  • Dismember has the problem of often costing 4 life and not killing 5/6's and being countered by pump spells. It does, however, have the benefit of being cast early and for generic mana which helps in some match-ups. Often worth consideration.
  • Lightning Bolt is the removal that was run before. Being able to aim at players, kill opposing mana dorks early and costing 1 mana on turn 1 vs aggro decks make it attractive. The problem was that it does almost nothing versus midrange which we have no sideboard for. We have plenty of sideboard for decks that Lightning Bolt is good against, so it's better when midrange disappears from the meta.

  • Verdant Catacombs can replace this slot, or you can have a mix of the two, but nothing else. Your split will depend on how much your deck requires non-shocked red or green sources.

  • Copperline Gorge is a close second since it functions the same, but coming into play tapped when we want to cast Chandra, Torch of Defiance or Goblin Dark-Dwellers can cost us the game.

  • Karplusan Forest is the last good option, but dealing damage to ourselves on top of Elves of Deep Shadow will make burn miserable and stabilizing versus aggro much harder.

    • 1 Maindeck flex spot

    Put whatever suits you best here. 22nd land, extra Dig/loot, more land denial, another win con, anything.

    Tech Cards

    Essentially cards that are more meta dependent
    - Ghost Quarter
    If you aren't satisfied with the amount of land destruction we have, but have no slots in non-land cards. Also works nicely with Boom/Bust.
    - Crucible of the Worlds
    Mainly used with ghost quarter and fetches for value and negating the cost of Crack the Earth or getting back lands that we loot away.
    - Bloodghast
    Re-curable threat that allows you to go more aggressive and works well with Crack the Earth heavy builds. Hard to cast, and prone to graveyard removal. Better in a build running Smallpox.
    - Falkenrath Aristocrat
    Best Top end finisher of choice for slower metas that don't run path due to built in protection. Encourages use of Noble Hierarch instead of Elvish Mystic.
    - Stormbreath Dragon
    One of the best Top end finishers of choice for slower metas that mainly run path. Nothing special otherwise.
    - Olivia Voldaren
    Is mainly good versus the decks we dedicate our sideboard for, but has the unique role of being able to steal out opponent's creatures in the late game. It CAN be an answer to big threats, but it's a fragile one if they get the right removal spell.

    Most of the sideboard should be pretty straightforward. Dedicated hate for affinity & dredge, plus a few sweepers for aggro decks in general. Below are guidelines for those new to modern unsure of specific choices.

    I will update this section with more options for other cards as I find new tech.

    Turn 1

    This is the setup turn. your best options are: - Green source + mana dork
    - Red source + Faithless Looting to set up next turn
    - Simian Spirit Guide + Crack the Earth + one of the above 2 plays
    - Darksteel Citadel + Simian Spirit Guide = Boom/Bust
    - Fetchland => tapped shockland
    - Black source + Simian Spirit Guide = Terminate Only for emergencies!!

    Turn 2

    Hopefully you have access to 3 mana via a mana dork or Simian Spirit Guide in hand. If so, best options:
    - Red source = Stone Rain or Blood Moon (hopefully you have a basic out by now)
    - Play untapped fetchland = Boom/Bust targeting your fetchland and fetching in response
    - Boom/Bust with Darksteel Citadel, then Fetchland => untapped shockland for one of the first 2 options from the turn 1 section (or tapped shockland if nothing to play)
    If you have have an extra Simian Spirit Guide with 3 mana sources then:
    -Chandra, Torch of Defiance should be your play, and kill anything they have. Proceed to continue to deny lands via her uptick, ultimate and win!
    If you only have 2 mana available:
    - Boom/Bust + Darksteel Citadel => target your own Darksteel Citadel
    - Fetchland => tapped shockland and one of the first 2 options from the turn 1 section

    Turn 3

    Pretty simple, just follow the same guidelines as turn 2 for the different amounts of mana. The exception is if you have 4 mana available, you need to evaluate the board if it is safe for Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Most of the time, it is better to continue to cut them off of lands and get tapped shocklands.
    If you can play land denial and a delve threat, that is usually worth it.

    Turn 4+

    Continue with the guidelines for previous turns. Or just play a land and follow these steps in order:
    1. Deny lands if possible
    2. Kill opposing threats if possible3. Play threats if possible
    4. Play draw or loot cards if possible
    5. Start back at step 1 if you still have mana OR pass the turn if you have no cards

    Eventually, you will find a window that your opponent is devoid of lands and you have a threat of some sort. This usually means you win the game soon, and you just keep repeating the steps until you win!

    Important!
    Sequencing your plays is very important. The above is just a general guideline for actions in a turn, but the sequence of what to play will depend on the context of the game. The only way to get the sequencing down correctly is to practice. The deck is simple in idea, but navigating decision trees is more complex in practice (just like zoo, burn and affinity).

    This section is under construction as I continue to test the deck. Please be patient as I will be adding every match-up I face with this deck or any variation of it.

    - In: 3x Acient Grudge, 2x Engineered Explosives, 2x Firespout , 3x Gut Shot, 1x Shatterstorm- Out: 2x Crack the Earth, 1x Boom/Bust, 4x Stone Rain, 2x Fulminator Mage, 2x Goblin Dark-Dwellers

    Game 1 always seems to be a losing proposition for us given that they don't care much about their lands. Post board, we are much more favored boarding out most of our land destruction and some top end cards for shatterstorm, ancient grudges, firespouts, gut shots and engineered explosives. We keep Blood Moons to shut off their manlands and make it difficult for them to cast their blue cards. We keep most of our Boom/Busts to punish their slow starts.
    Overall, it feels like the match-up is favored for us. Play the control game and just kill anything relevant that they land as most of your hate generates card advantage. If the mana creatures don't kill them, you'll eventually loot/draw into a win condition and close out the game pretty quickly from there.

    - In:- Out:

    This matchup is pretty bad since they usually have enough mana dorks to keep them live while they have enough basics to get through Blood Moon. Boarding in EE and gut shots to keep them off dorks is our post board plan, but any stumble on our part causes us to lose to smiter, liege and voice.

    - In:- Out:

    Matchup seems pretty favorable due to their low land count and low creature count vs our large land and creature removal suite.

    - In:- Out:

    Matchup seems good if your opponent doesn't play around land destruction properly like mine. Otherwise we get outclassed in terms of creatures. The solution seems to be to land an early delve creature or chandra while killing dorks, then destroying their lands.
    Same as before, matchup seems good if your opponent doesn't play around land destruction properly. Otherwise we get outclassed in terms of creatures. The solution seems to be to land an early delve creature or chandra while killing dorks, then destroying their lands or just resolve a T2 blood moon and gut shot the dork. Extra blood moons may be needed if Eldrazi continues to be a problem.

    - In:- Out:

    Matchup feels bad due to us being unable to kill thing in the ice reliably. They also don't care about blood moon much, and essentially don't interact with us while we have no sideboard hate. Horrible matchup unless we draw an early threat and they end up stuck on lands. I think we just hope to dodge the deck as it's not too popular at the moment and focus on the Tier 1 matchups where we are very weak Game 1 (dredge & affinity).

    - In:- Out:

    Matchup feels okay, since we only need to hit them in a face once or twice, but need to draw removal. Death's shadow is almost impossible to kill, but grove helps us shrink it if needed. We're not favored, but not heavily disfavored either.

    - In:- Out:

    Matchup seems slightly disfavored due to him having dorks. Without dorks, it should be even. Goyf and tasigur hurts us most here, but if we deny them we easily win.

    - In:- Out:

    Match-up feels just like affinity: impossible preboard, favored post board. 4 sweepers and 3 more "bolts" just screws them over. Add the fact that the land destruction makes chord and Coco dead cards and tough for them to recover or cast shaman of the pack. Basically it's the type of deck our sideboard is made for.

    - In:- Out:

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