Welcome Magic lovers!
As rotation looms on the horizon, and Standard enters its twilight, there are but a few major tournaments left on the competitive calendar. Two of the remaining events were last weekend, as dozens of Pro Tour hopefuls packed up their well-worn Standard decks and headed to the Regional Championships which happened in Beijing, China and Napoli, Italy this past weekend.
While many familiar archetypes populated the top tables in Napoli, such as Esper Raffine, Azorius Control, Boros Convoke, Temur Ramp and 4-color Legends, it was an unconventional new list that had the players in the room buzzing. Yes, even at this late stage there are still rogue decks breaking through into the top 8 of the various large, Standard events happening every other weekend.
Placing in the top thirty-two of an eight-hundred player tournament with an as yet unseen deck is no small feat, yet one player managed to do it (spoiler: not cftsoc this time), with an innovative Jund Aggro list that's packing some serious power. Let's take a look at this new spin on Jund, break down how it works, and go over some sideboard plans!
Initially, it may seem like a typical midrange Jund deck. We see stock, black removal spells in Cut Down and Go for the Throat to manage the opponent's creatures, as well as Mosswood Dreadknight in the two-mana slot, as is typically seen in the Golgari decks that lurk just beneath the surface of tier 1 in Standard. However, after that it gets interesting. With only Topiary Stomper and the new Outcaster Trailblazer to cast on three mana, its clear the deck is trying to ramp up to six mana as quickly as possible. Once we get to the top of the curve, we can see why.
The Plan
The core gameplan the deck is trying to execute is to cast new Show and Tell variant, Smuggler's Surprise, paying the second Spree cost to unleash two massive creatures onto the battlefield, preferably Calamity, Galloping Inferno and Vaultborn Tyrant.
Calamity, Galloping Inferno is the main threat here, providing an insanely powerful bomb that can come down, get saddled by the Tyrant or Vein Ripper that also came in via Smuggler's Surprise, then immediately attack and trigger its ability, allowing its pilot to slam another huge threat into play tapped and attacking. Vaultborn Tyrant is ideal to pair with Calamity, as its copy will not only draw a card when it enters the battlefield tapped and swinging, but will also be sacrificed by Calamity's trigger on end step, spawning yet another Tyrant and drawing yet another card. For those keeping track, that's a paltry six mana for a Smuggler's Surprise on the front end in exchange for seventeen power worth of creatures, eleven of it attacking with haste, while also drawing four cards on the back end! That's basically game over for almost any opposing deck.
Vein Ripper is the other terrifyingly large threat lurking in the deck, which also pairs nicely with Calamity, as the token copies that get created, then sacrificed, trigger the vampire assassin's ability to drain the opponent for two life. Again, that's six mana on the front end for a Smuggler's Surprise, in exchange for eleven power on the board, attacking with haste, then draining for four on end step for a total of fifteen damage to the opponent plus four life for it's controller. Finishing the game from there is typically pretty straightforward.
With a Smuggler's Surprise being such a devastating spell in this deck, it allows its pilot to catch unwary opponents off guard, stealing a win before they even realize what's happening. The deck almost plays like a combo-ramp deck, trying to simply survive until it can generate the six mana required for its key sorcery to overwhelm the opponent and claim victory. Even without the Surprise, the deck can simply ramp to five, six or seven mana naturally and start throwing bombs at the opponent.
Outcaster Trailblazer does great work here, ramping once while also drawing cards off of every creature in the deck aside from the Mosswood Dreadknight, and when combined with Vaultborn Tyrant and The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride, form the main sources of card advantage in the deck. These creatures are critical to continue finding additional monstrous threats to put into the pilot's hands.
Mosswood Dreadknight is the perfect cowboy to saddle up a Gitrog, as sacrificing it to draw three and ramp simply puts it in the graveyard in order to cast its adventure half on the following turn.
The mana base is fairly straightforward, with plenty of dual lands, a playset of Ziatora's Proving Ground, as well as the crucial Cavern of Souls.
The Sideboard
In the sideboard, it's packing a trio of Path of Peril for any Boros Convoke, Gruul Aggro or Bant Toxic decks one may run into, as well as a Gix's Command against the Esper Raffine decks. Hidestsugu Consumes all is a relatively un-played card in Standard that's not only powerful against go-wide strategies, but also shuts down any graveyard hijinks.
In fact, there are plenty of graveyard-hate cards here to deal with Temur Ramp and Four-color Legends in the form of Unlicensed Hearse, Tranquil Frillback and the aforementioned Hidetsugu Consumes All.
A pair of Duress and Outrageous Robbery get side boarded in against the control decks like Azorius and Dimir in order to give the deck a way to pressure the reactive decks on their end step, at instant speed.
This sideboard definitely looks like it has the tools to cover every matchup, and when backed up by a powerful, proactive gameplan, it's a force to be reckoned with.
Conclusion
While this deck does some very powerful things, and can steal wins out of nowhere, it does have its vulnerabilities. It's particularly soft to counter-magic, so be sure to name the right creature type with Cavern of Souls, as there are many different types in the deck. In fact, if the Cavern gets taken out by a Field of Ruin it can spell disaster, so hold the mythic land as long as possible, ideally until it can be paired with a giant threat to slam onto the battlefield in the same turn.
If you're sick of the usual suspects in Standard, and want to try something new and powerful, take Jund Surprise for a spin and surprise people with a Vaultborn Calamity!
