removal sweet spot?
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on Oct. 6, 2018, 8:41 p.m. by tragic_64
I'm wondering. now with the printing of assassin's trophy what is the best removal suite for a jund deck? currently running as follows
4 bolts
2 terminate
2 abrupt decay
2 maelstrom pulse
2 kolaghan's command
4 liliana of the veil
1 what goes for trophy?
2 how many should I run?
3 what decks are still a weakness for mid-ranged strategies?
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #3
Definitely keep 4 Bolt.
Drop 2 Terminate for 2 Trophy
How relevant is Abrupt Decay? Is trophy just better? Given you can use Trophy to destroy Tron lands, Teferi, Azcanta, and anything else, all at instant speed, I'd think that you'd want the full playset.
Tron will still be a problem. Trophy will make life better, but I don't expect to single-handedly fix the matchup. Jund is a 50/50 deck, so not many things are true problems. Tron was (in my opinion) the biggest problem for Tron before Trophy, and it will continue to be something worth sideboarding for.
Actually, Assassin's Trophy is worse than Terminate or Abrupt Decay vs, say, Humans or Burn, since they get a land and can use it. Nonetheless, it's so efficient vs problematic Azcanta's and Karns and such that it's still certainly worth playing.
October 7, 2018 1:15 a.m.
Abrupt Decay is still relevant against Tron in case they have Chalice of the Void, which they most definitely want in play on 2 versus G/B/x Midrange. It's always sided out against Control, but so is Assassin's Trophy. The important part is that it's uncounterable to blow up random cards like Search for Azcanta Flip.
I'd cut a single Maelstrom Pulse and a single Abrupt Decay for 2x Assassin's Trophy. Maelstrom Pulse has always been a slow, terrible card G/B/x had to put up with because it's the only thing that does one particular job (unconditional, universal removal). It's still relevant that you'll occasionally get 2+ Goblin Guides with it, or Lingering Souls tokens.
You also still want Terminates because it's one of Jund's strongest removal spells. If anything, you're boarding out Lightning Bolts and keeping Terminates because it kills Tarmogoyf, Griselbrand, Thought-Knot Seer, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, and so on and so forth. In other words, it's good against Control and Midrange who have large creatures that can't be killed by Lightning Bolt.
October 7, 2018 3:38 a.m.
i don't know how i feel about dropping bolt. bolt is the one drop removal that doubles as burn damage it can also knock out planeswalkers and occasionally its the difference between those last few points of damage that goyf couldn't deal before he died. I've been thinking pulse and terminate because abrupt decay is faster and more universal but the greedier part of me wants to run both maelstrom pulse and assassin's trophy because of the versatility they both provide.
October 7, 2018 4:42 p.m.
@tragic_64: Oh I don't mean cutting Lightning Bolt out of the deck. I meant that against some decks, Lightning Bolt just turns into Lava Spike because it can't kill anything. In those cases, you board Lightning Bolt out, but will keep Terminate in.
Tron and Grixis Control are good examples of this. Terminate will kill their Tasigur, the Golden Fang, but Lightning Bolt will have few (if any) targets the entire game.
October 7, 2018 7:44 p.m.
DragonKing90 says... #7
cut Maelstrom Pulse and Kolaghan's Command for 4 Assassin's Trophy, sideboard the Abrupt Decay and put 2 more Terminate mainboard.
October 7, 2018 8:02 p.m.
I'd play:
- 3-4 Lightning Bolt
- 0-2 Fatal Push
- 3 Assassin's Trophy
- 2 Kolaghan's Command
- 3-4 Liliana of the Veil
- 0-1 Liliana, the Last Hope
vorpalaxe says... #2
lava spike, vorpalaxe this deck is always trouble. i may do one or two trophys main and another one in the sideboard. Abrupt Decay and Terminate are both worse, right?
October 7, 2018 12:17 a.m.