Defending the boogeyman

Yes, I know, another post about Jund. It so happens I am a big supporter of the deck type, so I would obviously have a lot to say about it! This time around I want to hit on something I am increasingly seeing across the internets.

More and more I am seeing comments like “People who play Jund are not good players” or “Playing Jund requires no thinking, just playing and flipping cards.” Now, the majority of people who say that tend to fall into the “get beat by Jund a lot” category and refuse to say Jund is a good Tier 1 deck. Well folks this just is not true. While Jund is easier to play when compared to U/W control (or any control deck for that matter) it is far from easy to play. Countless times I have seen people come to FNM with a standard Jund build and fail to win a game while someone with the same exact build places top 4. This is due to the player, not the deck.

I first started piloting Jund back when Zendikar rotated in. My first builds included Madrush Cyclops, Sedraxis Specters and a few other odd cards. My first time out I placed top 4 and introduced that store to the boogeyman. No one was playing Jund before that and no one was prepared. After that I started looking at what the pro’s were playing and started changing my deck. Almost every week I would come in with a different version then I had the week before. After a while the store I played at started getting flooded with Jund builds. They all had the same core cards (Sprouting Thrinax, Bloodbraid Elf, Blightning, Lightning Bolt, etc) with a few odd builds, mine included. Now if the theory “anyone can play Jund” was true, you would expect to see a variety of people placing top 4 with Jund, correct? Well, this wasn’t true. Every week the same Jund decks would be near the top (mine included) and the others would have poor records. I had a few bad weeks myself, mostly when I played with some crazy idea’s that never worked, but when I stuck to the core set of cards that I felt worked, I won. I also noticed I would have a bad week if something was bothering me or if something was going on with my life. Back when my last relationship fell apart, I had a string of poor finishes. Was this due to my deck? No, it was due to the player.

You may ask yourself “Why do you play Jund every week? Don’t you know how to play anything else?” That is a pretty good question and one I get asked every week. I play Jund every week because I feel it has the tools to compete with every deck in the format. I have played many other decks using Magic Workstation and other testing means and I always find myself coming back to Jund. The meta where I play is also Jund friendly, so it makes more sense to run a deck that will do well. There was a time where all the non-Jund decks were stacked with Jund hate and that is when I started changing things up. The standard Jund builds would fall while the innovators would rise.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Shards/M10 rotates out. I am willing to wager you will see the same players who top 4 with Jund top 4′ing with whatever deck they choose to play.