Why is this Deck?
Anzrag, the Quake-Mole is a new Gruul god that, honestly, makes my heart go pitter patter. It’s the patron saint of big Timmy stomp nonsense, and I had to put together a shell that could take advantage of its unique skills, even if those skills might not line up well against the current power level of Standard.
Given that we’re going for the fun of the build and an opportunity to do the big dumb thing, I’ve decided to showcase a couple other cards from Murders at Karlov Manor over established powerhouses – notably, It Doesn’t Add Up, Deadly Cover-Up, and Long Goodbye.
Disclaimer
This article discusses a brew in progress. To keep up with future iterations, follow the videos posted here at MTGCircle tagged ‘Jund Rigging’ or 'Jund Reanimator' by HamHocks42.
Notes on the Brew Process
In deciding I wanted to build around Anzrag, I needed to decide what elements of this card I wanted to highlight. Obviously, with its high power and ‘if blocked’ ability, Anzrag is meant to turn sideways, so haste enablers as well as other attackers could be very useful. To that end, I added Reckless Stormseeker and Bitter Reunion. Also, because we have a high-power four-drop, it was easy to justify adding my beloved Fight Rigging.
Once we identified these cards were going to be added, I needed to make sure we had payoffs for them, so I added Ziatora, the Incinerator and Yargle and Multani to round out the frog fling package that people ran back when March of the Machine first came out. It felt like a good fit because these bodies provided payoffs for getting the Fight Rigging to trigger while also offering backup plans in case Anzrag didn’t show up.
Card Selection
One of the biggest problems with this deck is the lack of card draw. If Fight Rigging isn’t going off, we have no way to generate card advantage. This is a problem I aim to solve with future iterations and that will likely come from the creature suite. In the meantime, we have cards like Bitter Reunion and Demand Answers as well as surveil lands like Raucous Theater to help us look at additional cards.
Other options I’ve considered and will likely test include Case of the Crimson Pulse, Preacher of the Schism, and/or Phyrexian Arena.
When We Aren’t the Beatdown
Obviously, our deck wants to punch our opponent in the mouth, but as all midrange players know, that’s not always an option. Because our aggressive creatures don’t hit the battlefield early, we have a number of sweepers in Brotherhood’s End and Deadly Cover-Up that we can prioritize to punish our opponents when their aggressive plans get a bit greedy. When going up against aggressive decks like Bant Toxic or Mono Red, be sure to prioritize staying alive long before mobilizing any threats.
In the way of single-target removal, we have options at our disposal like Assassin’s Trophy or Long Goodbye to help in this endeavor, and these can be removed in games two and three if our opponent isn’t presenting enough targets for them. The main deck is designed practically as a control deck with the stompy finish operating almost like a combo.
The Ideal Rig
Fight Rigging is an interesting card because the turn you drop it, it often does nothing or simply buffs one creature negligibly. Given that we are going for a more controlling early game against the aggressive decks in the format, don’t be afraid to hold it back and keep mana open rather than play it out. This play pattern helps facilitate instant-speed removal and is also why Demand Answers is in the deck despite being somewhat redundant with Bitter Reunion. Instant-speed action is often twice as good as the same action at sorcery speed.
Don’t be afraid to play out Fight Rigging and not capitalize on it immediately. If you play Fight Rigging before Anzrag, you need to ask how situationally valuable the hideaway card is before determining when to drop the mole and trigger it. Often, this deck will drop Fight Rigging then follow it up with tap lands and/or a board sweeper and simply leave it as a ticking timebomb ready to pop if our opponent lets their guard down. Putting them on the defensive will often cause them to fire off removal early or hold up mana for fear of Fight Rigging triggering. This is good. Let them fear you.
The Outlier
Everything we’ve discussed makes it clear how what the deck is trying to do, and none of it has involved reanimation. So why is It Doesn’t Add Up in this deck?
You may think Cruelty of Gix would be a better wholesale reanimator, or Breach the Multiverse would be a better Fight Rigging free cast, and you’d be right. What those cards lack, though, is speed. It Doesn’t Add Up can reanimate any one of our big chonkers at instant-speed and get it onto the battlefield on our opponent’s end step. They certainly won’t be ready for it even if we don’t have any of our haste enablers.
Having this in the deck also means we can discard our Ziatora or Yargle without guilt in the early game.
So is this Deck Any Good?
As mentioned in the disclaimer up top, this is a day-one experimental brew and I have no doubt fine tuning will be necessary. Early results have been less than ideal, but whenever we brew on Magic: the Gathering Arena, it’s important to note that the in-game economy prevents many players from accessing all the new cards right away. As a result, we will be testing our experimental brews against the best decks in the format that have been tried and tested over months of grinding.
It isn’t fair to expect our creations to pop off right away, so don’t let a few losses discourage you. Take them as learning opportunities and try to innovate. Also, don’t be afraid to scrap an idea of, after a number of matches, the core concept isn’t lining up against the meta. The best jank ends up being tomorrow’s meta, and in today’s large Standard especially, jank has a harder and harder time being viable.
Keep up the good fight, though. I trust your brews will get there. And if you have any comments about this deck or suggestions on improvements, stop by when I’m live on Twitch and let’s have a chat.
Happy Brewing!
