I made mythic with Jund and tweeted it to ArenaDecklists Podcast (which is gas btw). They have a thing that says "Encouraged: MTGA Deck Code, Sideboard Guide, Thoughts or Changes, Plug Twitch and/or Youtube." So that's all I'm doing here, I'm going to write a bigger post-Uro write up on Monday, since we don't know what else will be banned. But, of course, lots of this will change on Monday.
Deck code: How do you do a deck code? What does that even mean? Anyways, here's a link.
Sideboard Guide:
Sultai: -2 Sarulf, -1 Chevill, -1 Bonecrusher, -1 Thirst, +1 Duress, +2 Map, +2 Angrath. Keep in Thirsts if you see Doom Whisperer.
Sacrifice, Jund and/or Rakdos: -2 Valki, -1 Radha, -3 Bonecrusher, -2 Chariot, +2 Shivan Fire, +3 Abrade, +3 Cage. Don't love Bonecrusher when it's so unlikely that Stomp will actually resolve.
Gruul: -4 Thoughtseize, -1 Valki, -1 Radha, +3 Shivan Fire, +3 Abrade.
Rakdos Arcanist: -2 Thoughtseize, -1 Bonecrusher, -2 Sarulf, -1 Radha, +3 Cage, +3 Abrade.
Mono Blue Tempo: -1 Ooze, -1 Klothys, -1 Radha, -1 Sarulf, -2 Chariot, +3 Shivan Fire, +3 Abrade. Not sure that this deck is that popular but MTGGoldfish says it is.
Gandalf: -1 Eliminate, -1 Bloodchief's Thirst, -1 Ooze, -1 Bonecrusher, -1 Chevill, +1 Duress, +2 Map, +2 Angrath. Hope more people pick up the term Gandalf, that's a nice one.
Goblins: -2 Thoughtseize, -4 Ooze, -1 Klothys, -1 Radha, +3 Abrade, +3 Shivan Fire, +2 Cage. If they have black mana, then you can usually expect graveyard shenanigans and will want to keep Ooze in.
I've liked bringing in Treasure Map along with the removal spells against more midrangey creature decks, like GW Company, where you have some time to utilize it. Most of the most popular/streamlined decks pressure your life total too much for that though.
Sideboarding isn't really rocket science with the deck, but figuring out how to build the sideboard is pretty complicated. No one is going to believe that Shivan Fire is better than Fatal Push but it is, I'm sorry.
Thoughts or Changes:
First off, if you don't learn anything else from this post, try Esika's Chariot in Historic. It's very similar to Huntmaster of the Fells. Just a stellar card that's under the radar right now and it's strong against a pretty significant part of the meta. With that...
Clearly it's hard to tell what things are going to look like going forward. In the latest Ban Wagon video with LSV and Matt Nass, they noted that Uro is really good vs Control, Aggro, and Midrange, but not vs Combo. It may not look like it but that is definitely reflected in the decks people play in the format, since most of the aggro decks are really basically combo decks. There's Auras, both varieties, Mayhem Devil decks, Rakdos Arcanist, and Goblins, which are all basically combo decks that don't really have to be anymore.
I expect basic aggro decks to become more of a thing. Mostly I'm thinking mono-Red, but any mono-color aggro deck starts to look pretty good, especially when Faceless Haven is around. It's going to be easier for them to kill opponents when they don't start at 23 life and an extra land in play.
For the most part, I think we're set up well with Jund to beat this kind of thing. Low curve, cheap removal, good top end defensive/corner-turning threats, plus Chevill to steal games. I would say Radha and Klothys are on the shortlist for potential cuts, since they are kind of the slowest, in that it takes the longest for their mana investment to pay off. Also, Angrath's best usage was nailing an opposing Uro, so that can be replaced with whatever anti-control/midrange stuff we want in the board, like maybe Vraska or more Maps. Also I'm not sold on Map being the best card for that slot but haven't been able to come up with anything better, and I do think it's slightly better than Mazemind.
Even though losing Uro is a major shakeup to the format, Jund has a lot of versatility and universal effectiveness built in, so it's not like the stuff we had to beat Uro is useless everywhere else. Ooze is still great, Thoughtseize is still great, etc. That said, if the format speeds up we should think about overall reducing the mana curve of the deck to try and keep pace.
Like I said, hard to have a lot of clear answers right now but we'll see what's up on Monday.
Plugs: Twitch, Youtube, and also I post on this blog a lot. Thanks for reading.
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