[Standard] [BO3] Jund Ramp

This is my own brewed deck that I made just for fun but which ended up being especially effective in the current meta. It took me from mid-Plat to Mythic today with a win rate of 66% over 35 matches. The last version has a win rate of 71% over 21 matches. While the sample size is not very big, with reaching Mythic today, I thought the deck is fleshed out enough to merit sharing and discussion.

Here is the decklist:

>!Deck 4 Forest 1 Swamp 4 Mountain 1 Karplusan Forest 3 Go for the Throat 4 Copperline Gorge 2 Abrade 3 Burn Down the House 1 The Celestus 1 Rockfall Vale 1 Boseiju, Who Endures 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire 4 Topiary Stomper 4 Ziatora's Proving Ground 2 Tear Asunder 2 Brotherhood's End 2 Obliterating Bolt 4 Armored Scrapgorger 1 Nissa, Ascended Animist 2 Mirrex 3 Breach the Multiverse 2 Chandra, Hope's Beacon 3 Etali, Primal Conqueror 4 Invasion of Zendikar

Sideboard 1 Titan of Industry 2 Thrun, Breaker of Silence 2 Tyrranax Rex 2 Lithomantic Barrage 1 Go for the Throat 2 Phyrexian Fleshgorger 1 Brotherhood's End 1 Obliterating Bolt 1 Tyrranax Rex 1 Invasion of Fiora 1 Lithomantic Barrage!<

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5700913#arena

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PLAYSTYLE & WIN-CONDITIONS

This deck operates as a ramp deck. You want to ramp up and play your big threats to overwhelm your opponent. Therefore, you have [[Armored Scrapgorger]], [[Topiary Stomper]] and [[Invasion of Zendikar]] to reach higher mana breakpoints. You have a lot of removal options and board-wipes to keep board-control vs heavy creature decks.

Your win-condition is casting an unanswered [[Nissa, Ascended Animist]], [[Breach the Multiverse]], [[Chandra, Hope's Beacon]] or [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]]. Do not sleep on a double casted [[Burn Down the House]] through [[Chandra, Hope's Beacon]] to win the game.

The skill in this deck comes from knowing when to use your powerful bombs to avoid getting countered along with correct Mulligan strategy and sideboarding.

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MAJOR WEAKNESS

The biggest problem for this deck is if the other deck has a lot of card disruption and hand disruption such as Azorius Control and Esper Control. Even when against these archetypes you still have a good chance if they are not holding the right counterspells. Post sideboard you can easily sub in uncounterable threats such as [[Thrun, Breaker of Silence]] and [[Tyrannax Rex]]. Saying all of this, I still have a decent 60%+ winrate vs control archetypes.

Mono-red can also be a little hard to defeat if they get the perfect curve and are able to crush you before you can do any sort of ramping. Subbing in more removal and [[Phyrexian Fleshgorger]] makes this matchup winnable. I haven't faced many mono-reds in my climb but have around 50% winrate versus the few I faced.

THOUGHT PROCESS BEHIND CARD SELECTION

Ramp:

  • [[Armored Scrapgorger]]: One of the ramp enablers for the deck. Excellent card for stopping early aggression and providing graveyard hate. Getting three counters on it turns it into a 3-3 beater. Easy 4 off.
  • [[Topiary Stomper]]: One of the ramp enablers for the deck. While it can end up being annoying to cast it down and have it do nothing vs aggro, it is still very necessary to smooth out the ramp curve. There is also the dream of casting this on turn 3, leading into [[Invasion of Zendikar]] turn 4 to turn into a proper attacker blocker which can then be used to flip the battle and leave you with 8/8 worth of stats on vigilant creatures AND another mana source.
  • [[Invasion of Zendikar]]: One of the ramp enables for the deck. The lynchpin card which can win you the game by turn 4 if successfully ramped into. Very easy to flip it as well to get an excellent 4/4 vigilant creature which can even be tapped for mana. It also enables use of [[Topiary Stomper]].

Removal:

  • [[Abrade]]: I keep of two of these as an insurance for artifact heavy opponents. You might want to either take these out completely or add more according to your localized meta. I have found two copies to be the sweet spot for taking out early creatures or the occasional artifacts.
  • [[Go for the Throat]]: Three copies of these for taking out must remove creature threats such as Sheoldred, Atraxa, Obliterator etc. You can swap these out if you are not facing too many of such decks.
  • [[Tear Asunder]]: Earlier versions of this deck had more copies of this card, but it ended up being dead in my hand too many times for me to have more then two. It is still excellent removal especially vs enchantment heavy decks such as Mono-W or 5C ramp.
  • [[Obliterating Bolts]]: Standard removal option for 4 toughness creatures or planeswalkers with a built exile for sticky threats.

Board-wipes

  • [[Brotherhood's End]]: Excellent board wipe against soldiers or aggro creatures or even planeswalkers. Can be subbed in or out depending upon matchup.
  • [[Burn Down the House]]: This card can win you the game if the opponent overplays into it with heavy creature and planeswalker damage. Especially good versus both control and legend decks. The alternate mode is also really good for getting a bunch of chip damage vs control.

High mana bombs

  • [[Nissa, Ascended Animist]]: We only keep one copy of this planeswalker to provide threat diversity. She is still really good and WILL win you the game if you are able to keep her around for a few turns. Generating giant creatures on her +1 while have the option to remove an artifact or enchantment as -1 is what makes her very versatile.
  • [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]]: You would either love or hate this card depending upon the RNG god's favor. Casting it on turn 4 or 5 due to ramping will win you the game if you are able to hit any of your or opponents high-end cards. The ability will be rarely used as generally the opponent would seek to kill it fast when it comes down. Do not spend mana on the ability unless you are sure the opponent won't be able to remove it leading you to wasting 10 mana.
  • [[Breach the Multiverse]]: I literally brewed this deck just to be able to play this card. It is an immensely satisfying card to use. Mill your opponent and cast two big threats, what's not to like? The bombs you pick to cast depend upon what you are facing. While it can be tempting to cast [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]] to really bury the opponent, you might be better off instead getting your planeswalkers on the field for higher consistency.
  • [[Chandra, Hope's Beacon]]: Really powerful threat with excellent removal, mana ramping, resource generation and double casting all built into one card. Use her to either remove two of opponent's threat, double cast removal or double cast [[Breach the Multiverse]] to instantly win.

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SIDEBOARD STRATEGY

Generally you want your sideboard to have tech and threats to increase your winrate versus specific matchups which can be highly dependent on your local meta. That said, I believe my current sideboard to be very effective vs most of the matchups you would end up facing.

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MATCHUPS

  • Mono-white Midrange: Easy to moderate matchup depending upon if they are able to heavily disrupt your hand with the [[Invasion of Gobakhan]] or [[Anointed Peacekeepers]]. If they are not able to disrupt your gameplan, it is easy enough to win with a ramped up [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]] or [[Breach the Multiverse]].
    • -2 Abrade, -3 Go for Throat
    • +3 Lithomantic Barrage, +1 Obliterating Bolt, +1 Brotherhood's End
  • Azorius/Esper Control: Moderate to difficult matchup depending upon if they are holding the right counterspells at the right moment. Mirrex is your friend in this matchup. You have to hold onto your late game threats until they have used up mana to cast their own planeswalkers. It can be correct to use your mana on Mirrex on their turn instead of casting a bomb on your turn. A successfully cast Breach the Multiverse means you get to play one of their big planeswalker and one of your own which can be very hard for them to deal with.
    • -3 Go for Throat, -2 Abrade, -2 Etali, -1 Breach the Multiverse, -1 Chandra
    • +3 Lithomantic Barrage, +1 Obliterating Bolt, +2 Thrun, +3 Tyrannax
  • Mono-red: Basically coin-flip, you have a really good chance of winning if on play otherwise you lose on draw if they have a good curve.
    • -2 Breach the Multiverse, -2 Etali, -1 Nissa
    • +1 Brotherhood's end, +1 Titan of Industry, +2 Phyrexian Fleshgorger, +1 Obliterating Bolt

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CONCLUSION

This deck is very fun to play due to being able to cast large powerful spells to win. There is nothing better then, T2 Armored Scrapgorger, T3 Invasion of Zendikar, T4 Breach the Multiverse and having the opponent instantly concede while they have only three lands. While above is the dream scenario, there are still lots of ways to win with some ramp. In the worst case, just getting upto the 7 mana breakpoint normally while removing the opponent's threats with your removal suite can be enough.

Test it out and let me know your thoughts or ask for tips on any specific matchups you are having difficulty against.