FJS "Jund" Midrange

Hello Eternal Community!

I'm sharing this deck with you because I'm excited by the potential it has, and think it can be made even better with community input. I piloted this decklist from Diamond 3 to Masters in just a couple days, with a high rate of success. Below, I'll be giving a synopsis of what the deck's strategy is, and the reasons behind the card selections.

THE GAMEPLAN

The reason I make a shoutout to MtG's Jund color pie is because this deck feels very similar to it in play style. We play the most efficient beaters on curve, with the best removal in the game, to play a fair game that can contend with pretty much every deck. This is a deck where you can play flexibly, switching between offense and defense as the situation dictates. If you can read your opponent to figure out who's the beatdown, you'll be in good shape.

CARD CHOICES

4x Seek Power - We're a three faction deck running lots of double influence cards. The first draft of this deck ran 3, and it wasn't nearly enough fixing.

4x Torch - Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Efficient removal that can burn your opponent's face to close out a game.

3x Annihilate - Fast removal that eats lots of big threats - Darude chief among them. Efficient for it's power cost, rarely has trouble finding a target.

4x Argenport Instigator - a 2 power 3/3 is super efficient and attacks and blocks well on curve. His effect often helps push through damage, especially with all the removal we play.

2x Quarry - Another card that digs for power, units, weapons, removal, you name it. It's powerful, but you don't want too many. 2 has been a fine number for me.

2x Vanquish - Great, cheap removal spell that handles big dudes that Annihilate might not be able to hit. Can be dead in some matchups so we run 2.

2x Vara's Favor - A slight concession to being a 3 faction deck, but it's the best favor in our colors to run; removes Ronin's/Pyroknight's while gaining life, and can team up with combat damage/torch to remove bigger things without you feeling too bad about it.

4x Champion of Chaos - Cha-Cha's nerf does hurt since she's vulnerable to Torch now, but she's still a 3/3 with tons of upside. Despite being 3 faction instead of purely Stonescar, it's not uncommon to get her on turn 3 as a 4/3 deadly or overwhelm; sometimes a 5/3 with both! She's too powerful to ignore at 3, and plays well with Statuary Maiden.

3x Slay - The newest removal spell in Argenport is one of the primary reasons to play this deck. A 3 power answer to any threat in your way is brutally efficient. It trades up with a ton of cards; we run 3, but you could argue 4 is correct if you wanted.

3x Sword of Icaria - Removal that fights against Aegis units trying to hide from our spells. Helps against Rakano Plate's Silverwing's if they dare throw them out naked, and sometimes just beats the opponent's face for multiple turns as you remove their threats. Feln Control still has issues with relics too, and this gives you a powerful, proactive thing against them that also buffs your units.

4x Impending Doom - Again, efficiency is our game. A 5/5 flier for 4 is ridiculously powerful. And with the plethora of ways to kill Darude, he'll get through plenty of times. His anti-synergy with your weapons is annoying, but can be played around.

4x Statuary Maiden - Maiden took some time off, but she's back in a big way in this deck. She hoses Dark Roaches revenge BS, Haunting Scream, and powers your units to boot. Turning all your removal into beef for your units is a good way to close out a game.

2x Auric Runehammer - An efficient beatstick that can 2 for 1 your opponent. It has anti-synergy with Impending Doom and Argenport Instigator though, so you have to be aware of interactions and situations that may occur with this after the turn you play it. That's why we only play 2.

2x Harsh Rule - Harsh Rule is the best sweeper in the game, and can save you against aggro decks, or if you lose the board against other decks. Our deck is weak against Permafrost too, and wiping our own units can be acceptable if we have Smuggler's Stash available. That said, we're not armory, and we play a different game. 2 is a good number to hedge bets.

3x Inquisitor Makto - Another reason to play this deck. Against control, Makto will just keep coming back over and over again. Silence is the best answer to him, but we play lots of units that eat silence effects. He's also just plain efficient at beating an opponent's face with Impending Doom. I think 3 is correct because of his influence and you don't really want too many in your opening hand.

2x Smuggler's Stash - Our late game source of card advantage. We can recur 6 weapons in the deck, not including Maiden's cudgels, but additionally we can get very powerful units back from our void. Here as a 2 of for that reason - if you don't run it, you'll likely lose gas if the game goes late.

1x Stonescar Maul - Starsteel Daisho is another card worth experimenting with here, but Maul has the power to handle lots of threats and push face damage. High up on the curve, and we're about efficiency, so 1 suffices.

1x Icaria, the Liberator - A powerhouse late game finisher that buffs your units and weapons. She's a one of since you only want to draw her later in the game.

4x Seats of Vengence, Chaos, and Glory - Best way to not be power screwed. Works well with Seek Power and Vara's Favor.

2x Banners (Argenport, Chaos) - We only play 20 units; the banners won't be live that often, and too many can lead to hands of two seats and one banner. If that happens, you'll be off curve unless you're lucky enough to topdeck power. And removing a deck's efficiency when that's the gameplan is pretty bad. We pick those two over the Rakano banner because of Cha-Cha and Inquisitor Makto.

1x Diplomatic Seal - Helpful for making sure your influence is right early on, but you don't want too many when you want to hit Cha-Cha, Makto, and other big influence requirements.

4x Shadow Sigil, 3x Fire Sigil, 3x Justice Sigil - Shadow influence is the most prevalent, so we play that one the most.

The sideboard is mostly theorycrafting at this point, but I would love it if people wanted to help me refine and tweak the numbers. Theory is as follows.

4x Sabotage - Against control and armory, removal like Annihilate or Vanquish is mostly a dead draw. Giving us something proactive to do that can protect our threats is powerful.

3x Suffocate - Dedicated aggro decks can rush us down - Skycrag in particular. Adding more early interaction that can removal threats efficiently is helpful.

2x Furnace Mage - Removes relics as a 2 for 1. Helpful against armory, obelisk wide decks, etc.

2x Steward of the Past - Another form of grave hate to pair with or sub for Statuary Maiden. Dawnwalker recursion can hurt us if we don't draw Maiden, so adding redundancy and a bigger butt helps. Steward is also better against Skycrag since he can't be mortar'ed.

2x Spirit Guide - Completely untested, but against aggro he can trade while gaining life and giving one of your big beaters lifesteal. I'm curious to test it with Argenport Instigator and Impending Doom.

1x Righteous Fury - Again, I think the SB plan against aggro is using your threats to gain life, and this does it best. Needs testing, but I can't wait to stick it on Makto.

1x Azindel's Gift - Wonderful took against control decks that can give you a free win.

That's it for now! If anyone wants to add me and help with the SB or Main, my username on Eternal is TheStormMTG +1983. Hope this deck helps, and as I play more games and get more data, I'll include a MU section as well!