Bloodbriad Jund vs Jund Death's Shadow
Modern forum
Posted on Dec. 30, 2018, 9:22 a.m. by SpliceIntoCantrip
Hello everyone, I have a question. My fiance has been playing Magic for a little over a year now and has been playing Bloodbraid Jund thus far, but she has contemplated about also using a more aggro Death's Shadow variant of the deck. So what would be the key differences between the decks that I could tell her? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Which one do you feel is strong and why? Thank you.
I agree with lukas96. While they're both similar, they do have their differences. Since she's been playing Jund for a year, clearly she's familiar with the deck's capabilities so as someone who's been playing Death's Shadow for a long time (myself) I'll move on and talk about why Death's Shadow is a great choice, and how Death's Shadow is criminally underplayed in a Jund build.
Death's Shadow is an extremely efficient and disruptive deck for very cheap Mana, making it fast and daunting for your opponent if they feel unprepared. Given the nature of the card itself, it's very counterintuitive for the opponent, making it awkward and difficult to play against when the entire objective is to reduce your opponent to 0.
There are those who will always complain that it's a broken card but they'd be wrong. Playing a Death's Shadow deck comes with a sword and shield no other deck has: your life total. Your life is a valuable asset and resource just like your Mana, and properly managing them both as a package is key. Similarly to Jund, value creatures and mostly cheap spells are what help make the deck shine- things like Snapcaster Mage, and the delver threats like Gurmag Angler. Even Stubborn Denial. They're great, however, this is where I'd like to draw the line in the sand and explain to you what actually makes Jund Shadow better than Grixis Shadow.
While Grixis Shadow is a great deck and can put up good results at competitive events, there are certain factors I feel, in my opinion, that make Grixis more wasteful with it's resources than Jund. Take Thought Scour for instance (pun intended).
With a delve creature like Gurmag Angler or Tasigur in hand, one is inclined to quickly crack fetches, self-mill, and slam a 4/5 or 5/5 onto the battlefield as early as turn 2. Wow, that's great!
Yes it is- but at what cost?
A: You uncontrollably ditch a couple resources with Thought Scour. They could've been cards you wanted, they could've been cards you hated. It's a risk, and it's wasteful. We're not Dredge or Hollow One.
B: With all the resources you committed to a fast clock it's now open to being killed or exiled practically on the spot. All those other committed resources we're for nothing.
With Grixis afforded the opportunity to Stubborn Denial, protecting their threat, this is a reactive strategy, not a proactive strategy.
Death's Shadow is very much a proctive strategy, so with that, we have better options than what I've described above, all while still keeping Death's Shadow a control deck as well.
Jund Shadow should have a larger discard package than Grixis. We want to go all in on the disruption. No lying in wait with countermagic. You want to attack your opponent's hand. You want to put them at the mercy of the draw.
Hand disruption:
A playset of Thoughtseize and 3-4 Inquisition of Kozilek is crucial and is a proactive strategy. Being able to selectively sap your opponent's hand of valuable resources has always been one of the most powerful things in Magic, so you should rightfully do so. If the opponent counters discard, they have something more important and that gives you an angle to play a threat and be proactive with countermsgic down (see?). Drop the Stubborn Denials.
Creatures:
Since I stated why I think delve threats are actually bad, Jund Shadow doesn't run them. Instead you want 4 Tarmogoyf and 2-3 Grim Flayer. These are value creatures and clocks that grow with progression, not wastfully commiting other resources for a single creature. Grim Flayer gives you amazing card selection when he tramples through, allowing you to make an informed decision with plenty information that you can keep, rearrange, or throw away at your choosing. Tarmogoyf is Tarmogoyf, so no explanation needed. And believe me, he grows fast in a Shadow deck.
Cantrips:
Faithless Looting. Once again, unlike Thought Scour, Faithless Looting gives you the power of selection and can buff Grim and Goyf in a pinch, as a bonus. She should run 2-3.
Removal:
Green and Black are two beautiful, unforgiving colors. She should run 2-3 Assassin's Trophy, and an additional in the sideboard. I do.
Grixis Shadow is incapable of unconditional removal this way.
Tutors:
Traverse the Ulvenwald. I would run 2 of these. Great flexibility.
So there you have it. I explained why I believe Jund Shadow is the better choice over Grixis (as I have rigorously played both) and she will now be aware that Jund is favored in a Shadow mirror match.
Since she already plays standard Jund, you practically already own everything you need (and the most expensive things at that), so I'd give it a go.
It's aggro, mid-range, and control.
Shadow has three gears, so depending on what you're facing the decision is yours to attack the situation on three different fronts. Give it a go and see if she likes it!
Here's my personal Jund Shadow list, for reference:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/25-05-18-jund-shadow/enter link description here
lukas96 says... #2
well jund shadow was the popular shadow variant before grixis and later traverse shadow became a thing. Jund tends to durdle around often and sometimes has issues to close out the game. deaths shadow can close out games quicker and thus has better combo and tron MUs. Its lifeloss and less removal makes their aggro Mus worse though
December 30, 2018 6:42 p.m.