Traverse Junk

Modern BGW (Abzan, Junk) Competitive Midrange

brianpeppers

Land (19)

• 2x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 3x Marsh Flats
• 2x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Snow-Covered Plains
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Treetop Village
• 4x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath

Sorcery (14)

• 4x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3x Lingering Souls
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 2x Thoughtseize
• 4x Traverse the Ulvenwald

Instant (8)

• 3x Assassin's Trophy
• 4x Fatal Push
• 1x Path to Exile

Artifact (4)

• 4x Mishra's Bauble

Creature (10)

• 4x Grim Flayer
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Siege Rhino
• 1x Tarmogoyf
• 3x Tarmogoyf

Planeswalker (5)

• 3x Liliana of the Veil
• 2x Liliana, the Last Hope

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Sideboard

Creature (5)

• 1x Fulminator Mage
• 1x Gaddock Teeg
• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1x Knight of Autumn *f-pre*
• 1x Shriekmaw

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Instant (3)

• 1x Path to Exile
• 2x Surgical Extraction

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Bitterblossom
• 2x Stony Silence

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Collective Brutality
• 1x Damnation

Artifact (1)

• 1x Nihil Spellbomb

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Maybeboard

Creature (4)

• 1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1x Thrun, the Last Troll
• 1x Tireless Tracker
• 1x Walking Ballista

Instant (1)

• 1x Grisly Salvage

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Veil

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Traverse Junk is a midrange deck that runs a bit lower to the ground than traditional Junk or Jund lists. The deck only runs 19 lands since the traverses can grab you lands early on. This list is faster than traditional lists in these colors for midrange, and it does not go quite as big. This allows the deck to switch to the aggro plan faster and really apply pressure once you have disrupted the opponent. Also, having Traverse allows you to have silver bullet answers in the sideboard, and allows you to have a lot of one ofs of creatures that you would normally have taking up multiple spots. However the deck is not without its weaknesses. It still has the traditionally bad midrange match ups, such as Tron or Scapeshift, and a lot of times in the late game grind top decking Mishra's Bauble feels pretty bad. However, the deck has great match ups vs aggro, specifically Five Color Humans, and I feel that the list can be tuned to do well in almost any meta.

Right now I am still tuning the board. A notable feature is the 3/2 split on the Lilianas. for the longest time I ran four, but I have been satisfied with going up on the Last Hope since she is so good in a lot of match ups, although if the meta shifts the fourth Lili of the Veil will make her way back in. I am also going to try the one brutality in the main instead of the side at some point. I am also experimenting with replacing a traverse for a grisly salvage, since it can enable quick delirium and grab a creature or land. Another possible addition is a one of walking Ballista in the main, since it can be cast for zero to get turn one delirium, and it also can be used as removal for troublesome creatures such as Thalia. I want to try out Thrun in the side, but I fear that this list does not run enough lands to profitably use Thrun, and also Thrun gets nae nae'd by Terminus so he would be sub-par in the one match that I really need him. I do not run Tireless Tracker for a similar reason, the deck just does not run enough lands for Tracker to be really good, even though I believe that Tracker is leagues better than Dark Confidant and I really want to use him.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 3 Mythic Rares 27 - 9 Rares 17 - 2 Uncommons 0 - 1 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.71
Tokens	Emblem Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Emblem Liliana, the Last Hope, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Knight Ally 2/2 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Zombie 2/2 B