Jund Poison [Primer]

Standard* BRG (Jund) Combo Competitive Counters Primer Tokens

jaylawlerrr

Spells (25)

• 1x Blazing Volley
• 3x Bone Splinters
• 3x Consuming Fervor
• 2x Fatal Push
• 3x Grasp of Darkness
• 2x Grind / Dust
• 4x Magma Spray
• 3x Nest of Scarabs
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Sweltering Suns
• 2x Tormenting Voice

Land (20)

• 4x Blooming Marsh
• 3x Canyon Slough
• 4x Foreboding Ruins
• 3x Game Trail
• 1x Mountain
• 2x Sheltered Thicket
• 1x Swamp
• 2x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Creatures (15)

• 2x Ammit Eternal
• 2x Bontu the Glorified
• 4x Channeler Initiate
• 3x Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
• 4x Soul-Scar Mage

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Sideboard

Other (15)

• 3x Abrade
• 1x Dispossess
• 2x Fatal Push
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 2x Lost Legacy
• 1x Painful Truths
• 3x Stinging Shot
• 1x Sweltering Suns
• 1x Tormenting Voice

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Maybeboard

Other (6)

• 2x Key to the City
• 3x Obelisk Spider
• 1x The Scorpion God

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Creature Heavy Build: Why All the Negativity? [Vol. II]
->->Created 6.18.17
->->UPDATED 7.11.17

Potential Implementations
Lethal Sting - Blur of Blades - Claim / Fame - Ifnir Deadlands - Sweltering Suns - Hour of Devastation - Torment of Venom - Grind / Dust - Altar's Reap - Painful Truths / Painful Lesson - Bone Picker - Magmaroth - Archfiend of Ifnir - Ob Nixilis Reignited - Heaven / Earth - Eliminate the Competition - Take Down

Jund Poison
Competitive Deck Development

Images courtesy of mtgmintcard.com

This deck is beautiful and full of synergies. Our main goal is to use combos and go wide with tokens and creatures, unsurprisingly...with the help of dispensing -1/-1 counters on opposing creatures. Plan B, which is the most feasible- Sac the tokens to Westvale Abbey  , which can turn the game around in one turn. Consuming Fervor , Channeler Initiate & Our token generators are a match made in heaven. Basically a never ending supply of mana & tokens if they stay on the board.

Currently, I am play testing this deck, trying to make it as competitive as possible. Now that Aetherworks Marvel has been banned, the opportunity to brew something different is once again viable. This is a more "controlling & aggressive" approach to "Jund Poison"- Whereas most other builds implement more synergies with different creatures. Soul-Scar Mage is certainly the all-star in this deck (while on the board with Nest of Scarabs, or Hapatra, Vizier of Poison). Any burn outlet, combo'd with these two key cards will quickly produce a board full of tokens. The plan B is strictly aggro, so we aren't too heavily reliant on the necessity of other creatures if things don't happen the way we intend them to. Any suggestions are certainly welcome.

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Card Options

The majority of the main deck components work very well with the style of this particular build. There are many card choices to implement in this archetype and, as mentioned above, not everyone will build the same. With that being said... in this section you will find a compiled list, featuring the majority of playable cards for any typical deck structure. Cards will be added and this will be updated when the opportunity of new additions present themselves.

Mana Base

Generally, depending on how you build this deck, I would recommend the minimum amount of lands you include should be 20. Keep in mind, we are using Channeler Initiate in order to provide any of the four colors we need by turn three (which provides a wee bit of ramp as well). I wouldn't dip below that number, but depending on what your curve looks like, you may want to add a couple more. 20-22 is an ideal number. Obviously, in this format, we don't have as many options when it comes to a proper functioning mana base (As Vintage or Modern) so it isn't that difficult to decide what works best for you. Below are the recommended lands to play in each version of the deck.

• Canyon Slough: In red heavy decks, this is an important land card to add. As fore-mentioned, we really only need one red mana for this deck to thrive... However, we want this deck to be as efficient as possible, so having card choice is an added bonus.


• Westvale Abbey  : Having an opportunity to flip this land will win you the game, which should be relatively easy to do since you are going to be producing an army of creature tokens.


• Sheltered Thicket: Being able to cycle cards we no longer need is great in any deck, really. This build, in particular, needs a well-balanced mana base providing us access to all three colors.


• Blooming Marsh: This is one of the best lands in the deck. The most important colors being Black & Green, it is vital that we establish those colors by (preferably ON) turn two.


• Foreboding Ruins: Certainly, the most important card in the deck if using Soul-Scar Mage. Although we do need a Swamp or Mountain in our hand along side it to make sure it enters the battlefield untapped. If not, we will be a turn behind. One red mana is really all we really need throughout the game.


• Game Trail: Along side a proper mana base, it shouldn't be difficult to get this into play untapped. We don't have many options in standard, compared to modern (obviously), so balancing a three colored deck demands as much synergy between lands as possible.


• Mountain: This card is important to the deck because it is neutral between both black and green, our other colors. While playing cards such as Foreboding Ruins and Game Trail, having this in our hand to simply reveal compliments them both. Also, if we want to play Soul-Scar Mage on turn one, even if we don't have the duals, we can just drop this down.


• Forest: While we don't have to worry about cards like Path to Exile, having at least one or two basic lands in our deck is probably a good idea. You never know when you will need to reveal one. The same is true for a Swamp.

Here are some more lands that, although don't see much play here- still are viable to some extent. It is solely up to the player whether he or she would like to use these lands in his or her deck.

Additional Land Choices Show

Any Color Lands
-Aether Hub:
- Painted Bluffs :
-Holdout Settlement:
-Survivors' Encampment:

Basic Fetches

-Warped Landscape:

Creature Debuff
-Ifnir Deadlands:
- Grasping Dunes :

Cycling Lands
-Desert of the Fervent:
- Desert of the Indomitable :
-Desert of the Glorified:

Man / Tap Lands
Smoldering Marsh: This card isn't really great, but it is a dual. Unless you have a lot of basics in your deck- this will almost always come into play tapped.
Cinder Glade: Like Smoldering Marsh, this isn't the best option unless you add a few basics. Having the opportunity to come into play untapped, they are however, better than the typical tap land.
- Timber Gorge :
-Hissing Quagmire:
-Cinder Barrens:
-Foul Orchard:

Creatures

               Creature Base

Some of the creature base is already locked in, for the most part. Regardless how you go about building it, whether it is creature heavy or, more spell-heavy and controlling- these are the core creature cards that you will see in just about every deck.

• Channeler Initiate (4 copies): Not only are you going to have an unlimited mana source, providing any color you need, with Consuming Fervor , but you are going to have token(s) every upkeep, as long as he's on the board. You might be able to get some beats in with Initiate, but that's not the reason we play it.


• Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons (3 Copies): One of the key pieces to the deck. This bad bitch, along with Nest of Scarabs can fill up the board and get out of hand fast. Though, she is legendary, so 3 copies is plenty.


• Obelisk Spider (3-4 Copies): Depending on how you plan on building this deck, the Spider can offer you a solid defense, pump out counters- which in turn is going to pump out tokens...and on top of that, you have an additional method of draining out your opponent's life points. Kind of like being poisoned...no pun intended. Side by side with creatures like Archfiend of Ifnir, Ruthless Sniper & Merciless Javilineer, things can and will get very brutal fast.


• Soul-Scar Mage (4 Copies): Our best turn one option if you plan on building with him. Not only is it a 1/2 body for with prowess...he turns any burn outlet into a token generator, as long as Nest of Scarabs or Hapatra, Vizier of Poison is in play as well.

Here are some creatures that show up in sometimes, but aren't necessarily considered "core" pieces of the deck. It is up to each player whether he or she wants to play with these creatures, but they are not vital. Generally, I would not go over 23 creatures (25 is pushing the envelope) in this deck total. In fact, the most common number is around 20. We really need room for some of the more disruptive & combo spells if you really want your deck to tick.

Flex Creatures Show

-The Scorpion God (1-2 Copies): The God of -1/-1 counters, this deck is home only to The Scorpion God. The only drawback being the mana cost, of course. He gives us card advantage, tokens, and should present lethal to your opponent if played on curve (In a perfect world)...Nicol Bolas has come bearing gifts for this deck.

-Archfiend of Ifnir: Some cards just fall into place when decks get built...this is one of those cards. In the right deck, this guy can be an all-star. However, Archfiend will not work well in every deck.

- Magmaroth : If you can keep the counters off of this guy, he is a decent beater. Most importantly, having to put a -1/-1 counter on him every upkeep is another sure fire way to not only generate tokens every turn, but to ping away at your opponents life total with the help of Obelisk Spider .

- Festering Mummy : This guy is surprisingly very playable- Especially against tokens decks. Block a 1/1 creature token, killing both, and have the ability to take out yet another token. This obvious triggers your -1/-1 effects as well...with Nest of Scarabs on the battlefield, you will basically be taking out two creature tokens and still have a body on the table, except with deathtouch. This is actually a VERY good card.

- Exemplar of Strength : a 4/4 body for two mana is great. Not only that, but we can re-fuel Channeler Initiate this way. If timed right, you will be pleased with the amount of tokens it can generate. Tokens, mana, AND a large body is certainly a GREAT deal for two mana...Even take out a token with him to activate Bontu if need be.

-Bontu the Glorified: This beast can help win you the game. Having a plethora of methods to distribute poison counters, you should almost always find a way to attack with him. Drop a Splendid Agony on a 1/1 token, leaving possibly 3 more behind and activating Bontu in the process is one method. Bone Splinters is another, while helping to clear his path at the same time.

- Banewhip Punisher : Bone Splinters in a 2/2 body, a revolted Fatal Push, activated Bontu the Glorified...pretty solid choice in the main deck I suppose, you can be the judge of that yourself.

-Ammit Eternal: Alright this guy is awesome, look at those creature types!! Such a great card here. Getting a 5/5 body for 3 mana is great, but we want every opportunity to distribute poison counters...on opponents creatures and ours. We are benefiting from opponents casting spells, they are basically giving us free token creatures. Hapatra's Mark could help you rinse him off, but we don't plan on letting our opponent stick around that long, so Consuming Fervor is ideal when the chips are down. This can fill the slot of Exemplar of Strength .

Spells

         Non-Creature Spells

Since the average landbase in a typical decklist is around 22 mana, with an average of 20 creatures, this leaves us room for about 18 other non-creature spells.

• Abrade: Any burn outlet works wonders with Soul-Scar Mage on the battlefield. Paying an extra red mana for a Lightning Bolt may be worth it- because it gives us a removal option as well if the combo isn't on the table. We don't have many open slots in this build so the more things we can jam into one card the better.


• Bone Splinters: Garunteed creature removal, Revolt, and Bontu the Glorified activation. You should have plenty of tokens at your disposal, so sacrificing one is well worth it. You will gain more than you lose.


• Fatal Push: Revolt shouldn't be hard to trigger. Even if we have to take out a token of our own, being able to swing with Bontu the Glorified is a sacrifice well spent if need be.


• Grind / Dust: This replaces Splendid Agony , giving us the opportunity to wipe the board from the graveyard with the help of Channeler Initiate.


• Nest of Scarabs: This is the best card in the deck for getting to where we want to go. Along side Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, these two cards will be pumping out tokens left and right. They are both great cards for different reasons and should be played together. Westvale Abbey   will take over the board sooner than later this way.

Although, if you would rather a play spell-heavy deck, you can use up to 25 non-creature spells-which will yield a broader build that you can add more combo pieces to, more removal, maybe some planeswalkers, etc. Here is a list of more cards that are playable here.

Flexible Non-Creature Options Show

- Liliana, Death Wielder : This is actually a very good planeswalker in this deck...she does everything we need her to do here- produce counters, destroys creatures & returns our combo pieces to us. This may not be a bad idea to play if you are running creature-heavy.

-Ob Nixilis Reignited: Here is another great walker for us. Gives us some card advantage, helps get rid of creatures, and will help ping away your opponents life total if you can ultimate him.

- Consuming Fervor : A great card choice along side Channeler Initiate. After being pumped you can get some damage out of him if need be, and this combo will produce an additional mana, every turn for the rest of the game if it remains on the board. Basically look at this as another way to produce tokens if Hapatra, Vizier of Poison or scarab nest is in play.

- Splendid Agony : Dumb down your opponents board with this card. This works great in conjunction with Blazing Volley if timed right...Don't forget- more tokens!

-Hapatra's Mark: If you end up having to drop some poison counters on an undesirable creature, which will happen, this will fix that, as well as protect the creature for a turn. Maybe not a bad sideboard option.

-Heroic Intervention: This is self explanatory...A board wipe in the late game means game over in most cases while playing a deck like this. I would heavily consider this as a sideboard option, considering we have are not going to be playing any counterspells...I mean you can get brave and run Glorious End . It can work in your favor here.

- Blazing Volley : A lot of people say this card is unplayable...But- under the right circumstances, this can be one of the best cards in the deck. I wouldn't have more than 2 spread across your main & side board.

-Burn from Within: Indestructibility isn't an issue we face most of the time here, dishing out poison counters on everyone's turn, but this certainly is a great card is the combo's aren't going off in time. Having Channeler Initiate or two on the board, we can do as much damage as we need usually (Early-Mid Game) to counter any early threats.

-Grasp of Darkness: Played for obvious reasons...although is doesn't give us anything but removal- being able to have some control over our opponent is a must.

-Magma Spray: With Soul-Scar Mage on the battlefield, this not only can take out creatures early, but can give us more tokens.

-Claim//Fame: If you have trouble keeping Haptra, Vizier of Poison on the battlefield, this is the card you want to draw in that case. You can bring her back from the graveyard to the battlefield for one mana. Now the other half of the card isn't terrible either.

-Cut / Ribbons: Double Shock? Alright. The aftermath is alright as well!

-Galvanic Bombardment: Maybe not as great of a card as Magma Spray, in terms of having the ability to send a creature to exile...but can potentially be more powerful. Along with Soul-Scar Mage, the more of these in your graveyard means more -1/-1 counters, which in turn means...you guessed it, more tokens.

Card Advantage

           Card Advantage

Of course we need a way to sift through what we need and don't need, especially early in the game to get things going. These aren't necessarily essential for the deck, but drawing cards is almost always a good thing. Here are your best choices for gaining card advantage.

• Altar's Reap: A great choice for the mid to late game. Another way to activate Bontu the Glorified and revolt, while drawing cards at the same time. One of the best choices on the list.


• Cathartic Reunion: Although there will be times when you don't need some of your hand, I would certainly be careful throwing away what you don't have on the board unless you absolutely need to. Tormenting Voice is probably a better choice between the two because of the fact that almost every card in the deck is beneficial one way or another.


• Merciless Resolve : Just like Bone Splinters & Altar's Reap- this is a great card to have in a deck that wants to use Bontu the Glorified. We should have plenty of creature tokens at our disposal for this card.


• Tormenting Voice: Not a bad choice for card draw...ditch the extra copies of your combo pieces or throw away the extra land you don't need.


• Painful Lesson : There aren't many card draw options yet in Jund color. This barely makes the cut. Succumb to Temptation fits here as well.


• Painful Truths: This is a much better choice than Painful Lesson , having the option to draw 3 cards instead of two for the same cost.

Deck Lists

Jund Poison Ft. Bontu
Snakes & Spiders
Turbo-Poison

Future Additions
Dinosaurs & Pirates??
Next Block Rotation: September 29, 2017

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Deck Guide

Provided here is a basic overview of how this deck operates, including- a guide for sideboarding, a break down of potential match ups (detailing how games will generally pan out), an explanation of the combos that are used as well as play testing statistics and results. Updates will be done periodically, as more testing is done, games are played and cards are updates and outdated.

Sideboarding

As for the sideboard, many different options are available to compensate for a players local or personal meta. Due to the fact players will build differently, not all sideboards will be the same; therefore, I will try to touch on the most important options in general (according to the meta-game as a whole) instead of solely what's in this deck. However, there are some key cards that show up in just about every "Jund Poison" build. These decks basically fall into two categories- those that play Soul-Scar Mage, and those that don't.

So, a sideboard for a more "controlling", combo heavy build (like the decklist above with Soul-Scar Mage), a typical sideboard would contain the following.

1-3 Stinging Shot
1 Lost Legacy
1 Blazing Volley
3-4 Abrade
2-3 Natural State
1-2 Heroic Intervention
2 Never//Return
2-4 Flex Slots

A more creature heavy build, especially those running Obelisk Spider over Soul-Scar Mage (Or together), we have another open slot for potential other threats and can make adjustments.

2 Claim//Fame
1 Release the Gremlins
2 Heroic Intervention
1-2 Heaven / Earth
2-3 Natural State
1-2 Lost Legacy
1-2 Prowling Serpopard
1-2 Flex Slots

These cards are also available to use in the sideboard:

Flex Sideboard Cards Show

Coming Soon

Match Ups

*Coming Soon
Grixis Control:
Golgari Constrictor:
Mono Black Zombies:
Red Deck Wins:
Temur Energy:
Mardu Vehicles:

Gameplay

This non-traditional deck build utilizes -1/-1 (poison) counters to help control the board, kill opposing creatures, and eventually- win the game. Being a relatively new deck in standard, as far as competitiveness, I'm sure it will build some steam come future releases.


- We have a few options on curve, but we will get to that in a minute. Turn one, we want Soul-Scar Mage in our opening hand. This will lay the foundation for the rest of the game, as all damage dealt to creatures from our spells will be resolved in the form of -1/-1 counters.

-On the second turn, even if we don't manage to land Hapatra, Vizier of Poison, if an opponent casts a creature in response to the Mage, any burn spell should take care of it. Even if it doesn't, the dumbed down creature will be vulnerable to a future Grind//Dust. Ideally, we will cast Hapatra, Vizier of Poison on this turn...if it resolves, things start getting interesting and the game starts shifting in our favor.

- Turn 3 we have a couple of options. On curve, the most logical choice will be Nest of Scarabs. If that card lands, we have our token engine on the table and will need to be answered. As far as token generating goes- Nest of Scarabs is better than Hapatra because of the fact that it produces as many tokens as counters are placed, where Hapatra will only yield one, with deathtouch...which is still great, but those are the differences. Obelisk Spider is probably the best turn 3 play because you have a strong blocker with reach that produces tokens as well. Ammit Eternal is another good play.

Summary of Key Combos Show

Coming Soon

Ideal Hands & Mulligans Show

Coming Soon

Play Testing

Jund Poison Vs. R/G Pummeler - 2-0-1 Show

-Game 1: We flooded the board and got lucky...swinging big with Bontu the Glorified and closing out the game.
-Game 2: With a Rhonas the Indomitable breathing down our neck now, being activated almost each turn by Longtusk Cub or Electrostatic Pummeler, pumped with Larger Than Life and Blossoming Defense, it is needless to say we had to make some changes.
-Game 3: With some more spot removal boarded in, we still had a tough time winning and came out with the skin of our ass in the final match. Against the odds, we flipped a Westvale Abbey   at ONE life and managed to Swing with Bontu the Glorified the same turn- managing to make a major come back and turn the game around.

This was a very close matchup. The synergies and combos did SUCH a good job at controlling the board and doing what we needed to do.

Jund Poison Vs. Esper Spirits - 1-0-2 Show

-Game 1: Channeler Initiate was shut down quick, getting rid of a mana source...which really didn't effect things too much. This is a good realization, knowing we don't need to rely on him for mana, our the actual mana base itself is pretty well balanced. Selfless Spirit kept the opponent's board alive, allowing them to beat us in the air.
-Game 2: Up against an all-flying army, Stinging Shot was boarded in and did very well. Since removal is the only option we have to answer the opposing creatures, we added even more removal. The rest of our Fatal Push was brought in as well. We managed to get a combo on the table unscathed and somehow achieved victory, through Westvale Abbey  .
-Game 3: Spell Queller was our worst enemy in this scenario. We had some issues, but our deck doesn't rely on the combo to win, so we still were able to hold on. Our opponents Nebelgast Herald & Rattlechains kept things spicy and interesting, but the Archangel Avacyn  , Gideon, Ally of Zendikar & Lost Legacy put us in check.

Control decks are certainly a problematic match-up...especially when it's packed full of fliers. Another goal now is finding a way to survive when our combo's are broken up. Our deck didn't really perform that badly, even in that case...it was close most of the time, but if we don't draw into answers quickly, things will certainly take a turn for the worst even quicker.

Jund Poison Vs. Mono Red Aggro 2-0-0 Show

This was surprisingly a one-sided match up. The mono-red deck was very aggressive, but just simply was not able to keep creatures on the table.

Top Ranked	Achieved #39 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Splash colors	W
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 6 Rares 8 - 5 Uncommons 13 - 4 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.00
Tokens	Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Insect 1/1 B, Snake 1/1 G, Snake 1/1 G w/ Deathtouch
Folders	Nice, HOU Brews, Competitive, Developing Competitive, jund, Legit, Standard Competitive, Standard, Hapatra Decks, Cool