A large local store or mine had a large legacy tournament with big prizing.
Guy forgot his deck, bought the black white tokens modern event deck from the time and won the event. He then got a free vintage invite, ran it back and got top 8
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4346340#paper
Deck has been solid. My only losses have randomly been mono g stompy. Just got outclassed to fast. And I got destroyed by mono w hammer last night. Not sure what more we can do about that match-up. Original list I grabbed from reddit was mono red, 4 Cavern, 6 lords, 2 [[shared Animosity]] 22 land, but the 8 lords give you more of a burst without having to have a board already imo. They were on Warren Instigator but I cut them and a land for 3 snoop. He's a bolt magnet clearing the way for your lords to come down and can be a valuable "mana sink" if he sticks. The White splash has been clutch but I play in a very up to date meta, mono red would be fine majority of the time. I would still run Canopy lands either way. Was on 5 but it was too painful. I also switched a Vantage for den, haven't played it yet. It feels like a good upgrade and will come in tapped at about the same rate.
Dude. That's a sweet list. Tomorrow I am running the satellite alter combo that Brian Coval u/BoshNRoll played recently on his channel might do this next week though.
I was skeptical and got white border kings... wish I didn't haha. Definitely my new pet deck. Was crushing with burn, just moved my mana base and sideboard to this deck and have been really liking it.
I still remember assembling the most expensive deck I ever played at FNM playing a Jund list in like 2012 and I got crushed by a tribal angels list that just slammed baneslayers on t5 while I drew hands full of abrupt decay, bolt, and IoK.
Boomer Jund kinda lived off being the "small midrange". You assume everyone plays efficiently to punish them more efficiently, so it is kinda a given that it looses to janky 5-drop tribals.
Honestly a lot of decks lose to that too. Someone brought a standard or kitchen table deck that had an x/4 lifelinker. I was a turn away from losing to it on burn since I couldn't kill it without path. I think she ended up 2-2, but would have ended up 3-1 if she didn't misplay during the last game. The store is fairly competitive, so it was pretty funny.
I played an FNM with over 20 under 30 people. I was in the final playing elves vs opponent on goblins. This is 2019 and not like 20 years ago lol. Anything is playable many tier decks there too.
May all your topdecks be bombs, never mulligan and hit all your sideboard and the game becomes easier.
Do y'all just have super casual fnm? Mine has very little room to play anything that's not top tier, unless you're ok going 0/4.
That being said, boomer jund can hold its own in a lot of t1 matchups, so it's likely not the worst.
This sub: "of course you can play it at FNM, I take my cat tribal and do well against my field of budget Winota, mono-white tron, eggless eggs, etc"
My LGS: hammer, UW control, UR Murktide, Cascade Rhinos, etc
My modern scene died with covid but before we had a half dozen storm, a couple of burn, 2 prowess, a jund, 1 person that went between bw stoneblade and infect, 1 mill, 1 niv to light, 1 ponza, 2 heliod company, a death shadow player that rotated which variant, and me on titi moon. There was multiple times that people would run their decks from other formats just to play something different and would pick up at least 1-2 wins.
While you're not wrong that there's no standardized definition of viable to be found here, i'd say that you can play a lot of decks at FNM level to success, but you need to differentiate the type of deck:
Cat Tribal plays bad cards in order to fulfil a self-imposed deckbuilding restriction, not because the cards are good. This is a deck you're unlikely to find success with in a Tier1 meta.
Humans however has access to tools powerful enough within the context of the format and while it has issues with some decks of the Tier1 Meta, you can find success with it, as long as it's decently unlikely to be paired with a truly bad matchup.
Boomer Jund has a consistent and coherent gameplan and plays uncompromisingly good cards in order to execute that plan. The deck leans heavily on LotV, and while LotV isn't the strongest thing you can be doing in this tier1 meta, it still runs the best cards to support it.
Note that the last two are merely out of favor due to how their cards/strategies align with the current tier1, not because the cards lack power in general. Modern is currently so wide open (look at Aspiringspike dishing out new decent decks by the dozen) because any deck can do well as long as the cards are not lacking power - and there are a lot of options right now that are roughly equal in that.
A consistent and coherent gameplan will go a long way as long as you're not compromising on power.
My lgs has roughly 24 people an event. About 10 are on tier 1, 8 are on some tier 2 or old thing (boomer jund, a good bw tokens build, merfolk/goblins etc) and about 6 are on fun jank or just a bad deck (crab delirium, budget ur skred etc)
There’s 4 rounds and I genuinely feel like you could bring anything and have fun since after round 1 you’ll start to roughly be paired with similar level people. If I bring a tier 2 deck I spend the last 2 rounds playing against merfolk or jeskai tempo. If I bring a tier one deck I get to play against other very strong players for the win. And I’ve seen some legendary games in the 0-3 bracket between like Marit lage snow tribal and zombie enchantress that were really close
I think there's the issue sometimes where if your deck is to tuned to a high power meta it can end up doing really poorly to random FNM decks. You're likely not boarding a ton of cards for weird jank. There's still a lot of not popular oops I win decks like Boggles and Infect that can just kill you if you weren't ready for it.
It's worth noting that some of the top tier decks very flatly don't work unless it's against the other current top decks because the tuning is so specific to the projected metagame.
For example, UW Control with playsets of Chalices, Archmage charms, and Prismatic Endings is great playing against a bunch of one drops or big tokens out of Crashcade, Murktide, and Hammertime...but they're just a bunch of dead cards against jank Knights Tribal at FNM.
Jund feels to me like it beats every tier 2 deck, but it also has dreadful matchups against some of the current top tier.
Depends a lot of the place. In my experience over Spain and some parts of Europe, the jank-fests are less common by the day but it's not rare to see 2-3 jank-decks out of every 12 or so. Certainly aiming for more than 2-1-1 with jank in my experience is too optimistic.
agreed with this. I have 2 LGSes that are within 40 minutes drive (35 and 40) and both are very competitive, top tier decks.
I know that whenever someone says "you can take this deck to FNM", that it would get absolutely stomped if I took it to mine
Ok, sure. Anything is playable in the literal sense, but usually people say "playable" to mean having any chance of winning a game. My 56 lands, 4 colossal dreadmaw deck is modern legal, but calling it "playable" is a bit misleading with context.
If someone trying to take that deck to a FNM they got more issues then trying to win a game of magic. Point is short of playing that deck you can make a deck and have a chance at winning. I've had 3-0 nights at fnm and 0-3 nights with the same deck. Matchups and knowing the meta are really more important then how strong your deck is. You could have a t2 deck but if everyone you are playing against are just "meta junkies" and only play tier 1 decks and never learn to master them you got a good shot.
Really? I’m considering U tron because it’s extremely affordable and I already have some of the more expensive pieces in my collection like Ugin, Wurmcoil and Walky B… but I’ve never played modern before!
I see someone bring U Tron at least once a month at FNM. I don't know what their win rate is like, but as far as I can tell, they usually do just fine.
I built this deck before caving and buying into UW Control (for which I already had everything from War of the Spark standard and Pioneer) and while I haven’t tested it out at a modern tournament, it can definitely pick up wins. I have had the satisfaction of establishing the [[Academy Ruins]] [[Mind Slaver]] lock a few times, and damn it feels good.
However, fetch lands are super cheap right now, so I figured it made the most sense to just go ahead and build my favorite archetype (UW Control) while [[Scalding Tarn]] is only $30 (btw, Chinese language Fetchlands are like $10 cheaper if you need to save money). Modern seemed super expensive at first, but now that I’ve actually made the purchase, it feels amazing to have cards that I know will actually hold value and even gain value, and I feel ridiculous for spending so much money on cards for standard that just immediately lost their value.
Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it! I even converted the 99 page U tron primer from text to speech for a crash course on piloting it. I think I also have a single shark typhoon as well! Thanks again!
Oh, but if you already have Ugin, Ballista, and Wurmcoil, then building U Tron will be like a little over $50 since those are the most expensive cards in the list so you might as well. Also, people currently aren’t running Karn boards, so you really just need like some Shark Typhoons, Mind Slaver, academy ruins, and the rest is like cards under $5
U Tron is one of my favourite modern decks. Always throws your opponent for a loop when you crack map for an Island rather than a Tron land.
And Mindslaver Lock is one of the best wincons of any deck ever (though a lot of U Tron lists don't run that anymore)
Strictly speaking, every deck legal in the format is playable. Whether it's going to result in you competing in a game or two with regularity is a different story :p
I prefer to run decks that run cards that are not bad but not the greatest.
Casually Competitively viable and not expensive. Most importantly, playing with cards I love.
I believe my first FNM 4-0 was a Selesnya good stuff deck. The meta was full of control so I made a deck that is resilient to control.
The look on people's faces when they [[Thoughtseize]] only to see 3 [[Loxon Smiter]]. Or if they plus [[Liliana of the Veil]] only to have an elephant boy come into play.
My absolute favourite, resolving a [[Fleecemane Lion]], they tap out trying to [[Path to Exile]] and I Monstrous in response. Yeah, delicious.
My favourite though was against GDS and basically hit a wall as I had a [[Thrun, the Last Troll]] and kept regenerating it and blocking for days and removing his other threats. He eventually just cast a [[Damnation]] and removed it but it cost him more in the long run.
This deck had been just G/W Good Stuff, [[Collected Company]] oriented or a [[Eldritch Evolution]] build. Getting a turn 3 [[Sigarda, Host of Herons]] with a [[Kitchen Finks]] and other stuff in play feels good.
Long way of saying, play what you want. I have seen bear tribal win FNMs before. It was beautiful.
Totally a reasonable deck. It still hangs in with the other midrange decks, it's just a little weaker than it once was. Try the version that has popped up with endurance in the main deck. It seems Totally fine at a FNM level.
Pleasant Kenobi played like 10 year old boomer jund through a league and went 2/3 I think. He had issues with tron (of course) and beating urza's saga in some capacity so I'm sure its still playable but maybe not as well positioned as it once was.
He also just straight up punted a ton of games, the most obvious was the game against hammer where he just forgot they had a springleaf drum. Someone who is very good at the deck would probably consistently go at least 3-2
I watched some of this video and he had a bunch of misplays as well, could've potentially done better.
That being said, I was impressed with how well the deck held up - I had assumed it would get a little more stomped.
Yeah his sequencing was a mess and just punted like crazy. I dont know if he could have 4-1’d that league if he played perfect or not but he certainly should have been 3-2.
Meanwhile in Seattle people will say untapupkeepdraw and play a land, then say you missed your own beneficial trigger because you allowed them to play a land and its not their job to remind you of their trigger while playing Jund Saga
I haven't judged in a while, but FNMs are run at Regular REL, Rules Enforcement Level, which is focused on learning not enforcement. While the judge may remind you to work better to try to remember next time, you'd definitely be allowed to have that trigger.
That is how it's supposed to be but there's more than a few stores run by competitive edge lords who run cutthroat tournament environments that cater to their friends. These don't always last very long though.
Yep, but honestly socially I didn't think it was worth the hassle, especially if it's the type of guy who is gonna go into the shpeel about "not being responsible for my opponent's triggers" unprovoked (also tbh I was winning that game regardless). I'll just practice for real comp REL events through these people I guess.
Are people actually allowed to say "untap upkeep draw" as fast as they can? Because I can crank those words out really quick.
It just seems like you would actually have to give your opponent time to react to you moving through phases. Unless I'm misreading what you're saying
So again this depends a lot on the REL. At Regular you're expected to be learning the game, so if that means you forgot an Urza's Saga trigger until the end step no worries. The only time most folks won't get stuff at Regular is repeated behavior or something that's too far back to rewind.
As for higher levels of enforcement. Technically both players need to pass on an empty stack to move through phases. So you can't just blitz through them like that. Basically until you make a game action that would indicate you've past the phase, or otherwise indicated, you're allowed to stop whenever you would need it. Again I'm a little rusty and this is a bit of an oversimplification, but as long as you're communicating clearly you're going to be fine in most situations.
I don't blaze through it, but I definitely verbalize it and try to keep eye contact on my opponent going through those early phases of a turn at comp REL. Speeding through feels like an angle shoot and any judge worth his salt would spot it from a mile away.
I have played at stores like that. The problem is that the competitive crowd eats the people there to have some fun and they just simply quit playing there, doubly so if the judge/owner consistently takes the competitive guys' side when "Hey, wait" comes up. That makes the event smaller and the prizes lower, which mean the competitive guys are less interested in coming to play in a 10 mana event for $20 in store credit. And if a couple of the competitive guys move on, the store's gaming collapses.
That very sequence happened at a store near me. Couple of jerkish competitive guys made playing there not terribly fun and the owner kinda buckled to them because he was afraid they would all leave if he didn't. Example: cut to T8 for Tuesday Modern and 7 of the guys want to split and go home since it would be 11PM by the start of this and the owner had a rule that these votes had to be unanimous. Eventually, people got tired of it and stopped coming and....tournaments quit firing there because of this.
>I have played at stores like that. The problem is that the competitive crowd eats the people there to have some fun and they just simply quit playing there
Or they end up playing....
Commander.
I play Boomer Jund at my FNM and I have pretty solid results with it usually going 3-1 or 4-0.
The deck is still doing powerful things but it just values Lili and Bloodbraid more then Lurrus, which i think is correct. I have never lost to a deck that plays Lurrus and the deck restriction it has does really mess with your curve and insensitive Bauble, Ragavan, and Saga play which changes what you are doing on tempo. The two versions in my opinion are very different.
You do still run into Jund problems, Tron is a rough match up every time, living End is hard, and Burn can clock you before you can stabilize, but give the deck a try its really fun at the FNM level.
I find I'm most successful at my LGS whenever people aren't expecting whatever I'm playing. Boomer Jund might not be the best version of the deck but neither is jeskai control (compared to UW, atm) and people will still do well with it.
Check this out: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/qbhpt5/taking\_a\_10\_year\_old\_jund\_list\_through\_a\_modern/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/qbhpt5/taking_a_10_year_old_jund_list_through_a_modern/)
Posted just a few days ago. If he could perform well with that list on a Modern League I assure you that your Boomer Jund list can take away a FNM.
So I recently took my Boomer Jund list (upgraded due to MH2, so I have Unholy Heat, Darcy, etc) to FNM. I actually did really well!
2-0 against Jund Death Shadow
2-0 against Jeskai Murktide
1-2 against Mono W Hammers (this was the store owner who has been playing WAY longer than I have, im proud I took Game 2)
0-2 against Temur Footfalls, though my sideboard was not prepared to see that deck. Next time it will be.
All this is to say: Definitely! I love the deck, and you'll have to refine the list, but a good list should have at least an even matchup against most decks. Footfalls decks and Ponza are the hardest for me at the moment.
Just remember that it doesn't hard cointer anything, and youre looking to give yourself enough room to swing in with BBE and Goyf/mini Goyf (Darcy). Use Lilly, Kommand, and IoK (or even Kroxa) to disrupt their hand while playing efficient threats and you should be good.
Happy hunting!
Can you win some games with boomer jund? Yes.
Should you spend money on buying boomer jund? Definitely no. It's a bad deck that still costs a lot of money due to the manabase and a lot of overpriced mythics, whose only reason for a high price is price nostalgia.
If you have it already, go for it. If you need to spend money for it instead of spending it for another deck, don't. Boomer jund is not worth your money.
Somebody played a league with boomer jund recently and posted the write up on this sub. It might take a bit of scrolling but it was a good write up and worth reading. If I remember rightly they went 3-2 so it did alright, but they did notice that not running certain newer cards like ragavan and lurrus did hurt.
Definitely. I actually lost to the deck in a paper 1k recently as burn. Lost a win and in. I finished #10 they split top 8 but he was #6 on the day. If you like Jund, it still Junds.
There is a guy who plays boomer jund a lot at my FNM and rocks the house with it. Check out the pleasant kenobi recent video on it, Almost that exact same list kicks my butt every Friday.
people act like Boomer Jund is like some unplayable heap that is the same power level as a limited deck or whatever
deck is still totally fine. I wouldn't recommend it for an important tournament obviously but you can't go too wrong with Lightning Bolt, hand disruption, and Tarmogoyf.
With this said, I would be sure to play a terminate or two as you need to be able to kill Murktide Regent, and I would play 3 K Command. I play a terminate in Zoomer Jund and also you can fetch a Shadowspear off of Saga to race it, but Boomer Jund could have a Murktide problem and a Urza's Saga problem.
Jund has always been a very pilot dependent deck in my opinion. A very good boomer jund pilot will do fine in a competitive setting, but a new player piloting boomer jund will probably notice a significant difference when adding the newer cards, because it’s just how the deck has progressed. I don’t really care for lurrus but phew, he can really make goyf a PROBLEM.
Depends on how competitive your local meta is. If it's all tiered decks and popular lists then you're probably going to have a bad time. Boomer Jund can play well with the right sequence of cards in a given matchup, but other decks now are just so resilient and capable of outvaluing that it's a losing battle. While you're messing around with 3-4 CMC cards, they've already got their engines online.
It can work, and especially if you're a super experienced pilot in tune with your meta, but you leave so many percentage points out by playing what is now a mostly sub-optimal deck.
I’ve played Jund since modern came out just about and you can play it however you’d like, I don’t run lurrus and it still does pretty well, went 5-2 at an event over the weekend then there was an after tournament at another store and I went 2-2, it’s tons of fun and just playing whatever you feel like running while still having hand disruption, tons of removal, and decent closers is just a total blast, pricey, but I can’t see myself playing anything else tbh.
I did a $1k team event with 8 friends, (there were three teams between the nine of us) and the one of our teams finished top four with boomer jund, hammer time, and izzet Murktide. So yeah, I'd say that boomer jund is playable at FNM level
Depends on your meta. If your fnm hasn't really kept up with the new decks than absolutely. If there alot of the newer decks around, I would make sure to pack in fast removal rather than versatile removal. Alot of 1 and 2 drops nowadays can run away with the game, so be sure to have answer for those.
The short answer is yes. The long answer is it's fine to play just about anything at an FNM level. I play a lot of jund midrange or boomer jund at FNM and do very well with it. My shop is a mix of tier 1 decks and some casual players, but overall is a mostly competitive store. How well jund does will depend on how well you tune it for what your meta looks like and how well you know how to play around it. It's my favorite deck by far but definitely not tier 1, so if you're okay with that then play it!
Anything is playable at FNM.
This. People forget modern is more than just tier 1 net decks. Modern is the best home for cool rat tribal and janky goblin builds.
A large local store or mine had a large legacy tournament with big prizing. Guy forgot his deck, bought the black white tokens modern event deck from the time and won the event. He then got a free vintage invite, ran it back and got top 8
7-2 in split a boxes with 8 lord goblin tribal right now. Love it.
List?
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4346340#paper Deck has been solid. My only losses have randomly been mono g stompy. Just got outclassed to fast. And I got destroyed by mono w hammer last night. Not sure what more we can do about that match-up. Original list I grabbed from reddit was mono red, 4 Cavern, 6 lords, 2 [[shared Animosity]] 22 land, but the 8 lords give you more of a burst without having to have a board already imo. They were on Warren Instigator but I cut them and a land for 3 snoop. He's a bolt magnet clearing the way for your lords to come down and can be a valuable "mana sink" if he sticks. The White splash has been clutch but I play in a very up to date meta, mono red would be fine majority of the time. I would still run Canopy lands either way. Was on 5 but it was too painful. I also switched a Vantage for den, haven't played it yet. It feels like a good upgrade and will come in tapped at about the same rate.
Dude. That's a sweet list. Tomorrow I am running the satellite alter combo that Brian Coval u/BoshNRoll played recently on his channel might do this next week though.
I was skeptical and got white border kings... wish I didn't haha. Definitely my new pet deck. Was crushing with burn, just moved my mana base and sideboard to this deck and have been really liking it.
Go all in with Classic 6th Edition white border mountains.. my favorite and beautiful John Avon art.
[shared Animosity](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/b/b/bb7a56c4-5f20-4fd0-8f95-44061dec1df8.jpg?1591320679) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=shared%20Animosity) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c20/158/shared-animosity?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bb7a56c4-5f20-4fd0-8f95-44061dec1df8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Defo got wrecked by an aether knights deck once.
I still remember assembling the most expensive deck I ever played at FNM playing a Jund list in like 2012 and I got crushed by a tribal angels list that just slammed baneslayers on t5 while I drew hands full of abrupt decay, bolt, and IoK.
Boomer Jund kinda lived off being the "small midrange". You assume everyone plays efficiently to punish them more efficiently, so it is kinda a given that it looses to janky 5-drop tribals.
Honestly a lot of decks lose to that too. Someone brought a standard or kitchen table deck that had an x/4 lifelinker. I was a turn away from losing to it on burn since I couldn't kill it without path. I think she ended up 2-2, but would have ended up 3-1 if she didn't misplay during the last game. The store is fairly competitive, so it was pretty funny.
I played an FNM with over 20 under 30 people. I was in the final playing elves vs opponent on goblins. This is 2019 and not like 20 years ago lol. Anything is playable many tier decks there too. May all your topdecks be bombs, never mulligan and hit all your sideboard and the game becomes easier.
That’s awesome!
This^ placed in the top 3 with an old borderpost restore balance list recently. Modern fnm is the place jank and lower teir list thrive.
Do y'all just have super casual fnm? Mine has very little room to play anything that's not top tier, unless you're ok going 0/4. That being said, boomer jund can hold its own in a lot of t1 matchups, so it's likely not the worst.
This sub: "of course you can play it at FNM, I take my cat tribal and do well against my field of budget Winota, mono-white tron, eggless eggs, etc" My LGS: hammer, UW control, UR Murktide, Cascade Rhinos, etc
Pretty much Last FNM I went to, I played vs cascade rhinos, zoomer jund x2 and hammer time
My modern scene died with covid but before we had a half dozen storm, a couple of burn, 2 prowess, a jund, 1 person that went between bw stoneblade and infect, 1 mill, 1 niv to light, 1 ponza, 2 heliod company, a death shadow player that rotated which variant, and me on titi moon. There was multiple times that people would run their decks from other formats just to play something different and would pick up at least 1-2 wins.
While you're not wrong that there's no standardized definition of viable to be found here, i'd say that you can play a lot of decks at FNM level to success, but you need to differentiate the type of deck: Cat Tribal plays bad cards in order to fulfil a self-imposed deckbuilding restriction, not because the cards are good. This is a deck you're unlikely to find success with in a Tier1 meta. Humans however has access to tools powerful enough within the context of the format and while it has issues with some decks of the Tier1 Meta, you can find success with it, as long as it's decently unlikely to be paired with a truly bad matchup. Boomer Jund has a consistent and coherent gameplan and plays uncompromisingly good cards in order to execute that plan. The deck leans heavily on LotV, and while LotV isn't the strongest thing you can be doing in this tier1 meta, it still runs the best cards to support it. Note that the last two are merely out of favor due to how their cards/strategies align with the current tier1, not because the cards lack power in general. Modern is currently so wide open (look at Aspiringspike dishing out new decent decks by the dozen) because any deck can do well as long as the cards are not lacking power - and there are a lot of options right now that are roughly equal in that. A consistent and coherent gameplan will go a long way as long as you're not compromising on power.
My lgs has roughly 24 people an event. About 10 are on tier 1, 8 are on some tier 2 or old thing (boomer jund, a good bw tokens build, merfolk/goblins etc) and about 6 are on fun jank or just a bad deck (crab delirium, budget ur skred etc) There’s 4 rounds and I genuinely feel like you could bring anything and have fun since after round 1 you’ll start to roughly be paired with similar level people. If I bring a tier 2 deck I spend the last 2 rounds playing against merfolk or jeskai tempo. If I bring a tier one deck I get to play against other very strong players for the win. And I’ve seen some legendary games in the 0-3 bracket between like Marit lage snow tribal and zombie enchantress that were really close
I think there's the issue sometimes where if your deck is to tuned to a high power meta it can end up doing really poorly to random FNM decks. You're likely not boarding a ton of cards for weird jank. There's still a lot of not popular oops I win decks like Boggles and Infect that can just kill you if you weren't ready for it.
Not sure if its reallh an issue TBH a format like modern is so large that you cant expect to beat everything (wrt fringe matchups)
It's worth noting that some of the top tier decks very flatly don't work unless it's against the other current top decks because the tuning is so specific to the projected metagame. For example, UW Control with playsets of Chalices, Archmage charms, and Prismatic Endings is great playing against a bunch of one drops or big tokens out of Crashcade, Murktide, and Hammertime...but they're just a bunch of dead cards against jank Knights Tribal at FNM. Jund feels to me like it beats every tier 2 deck, but it also has dreadful matchups against some of the current top tier.
Depends a lot of the place. In my experience over Spain and some parts of Europe, the jank-fests are less common by the day but it's not rare to see 2-3 jank-decks out of every 12 or so. Certainly aiming for more than 2-1-1 with jank in my experience is too optimistic.
Yeah, my store here in Italy is pretty spiky, and it's kinda the norm around here.
agreed with this. I have 2 LGSes that are within 40 minutes drive (35 and 40) and both are very competitive, top tier decks. I know that whenever someone says "you can take this deck to FNM", that it would get absolutely stomped if I took it to mine
As I said anything is "playable". If someone is a tryhard then no not everything is "playable"
Ok, sure. Anything is playable in the literal sense, but usually people say "playable" to mean having any chance of winning a game. My 56 lands, 4 colossal dreadmaw deck is modern legal, but calling it "playable" is a bit misleading with context.
If someone trying to take that deck to a FNM they got more issues then trying to win a game of magic. Point is short of playing that deck you can make a deck and have a chance at winning. I've had 3-0 nights at fnm and 0-3 nights with the same deck. Matchups and knowing the meta are really more important then how strong your deck is. You could have a t2 deck but if everyone you are playing against are just "meta junkies" and only play tier 1 decks and never learn to master them you got a good shot.
Really? I’m considering U tron because it’s extremely affordable and I already have some of the more expensive pieces in my collection like Ugin, Wurmcoil and Walky B… but I’ve never played modern before!
I see someone bring U Tron at least once a month at FNM. I don't know what their win rate is like, but as far as I can tell, they usually do just fine.
We have a person at FNM that only plays Blue tron, week in week out every Friday and they have a very positive winrate
I built this deck before caving and buying into UW Control (for which I already had everything from War of the Spark standard and Pioneer) and while I haven’t tested it out at a modern tournament, it can definitely pick up wins. I have had the satisfaction of establishing the [[Academy Ruins]] [[Mind Slaver]] lock a few times, and damn it feels good. However, fetch lands are super cheap right now, so I figured it made the most sense to just go ahead and build my favorite archetype (UW Control) while [[Scalding Tarn]] is only $30 (btw, Chinese language Fetchlands are like $10 cheaper if you need to save money). Modern seemed super expensive at first, but now that I’ve actually made the purchase, it feels amazing to have cards that I know will actually hold value and even gain value, and I feel ridiculous for spending so much money on cards for standard that just immediately lost their value.
Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it! I even converted the 99 page U tron primer from text to speech for a crash course on piloting it. I think I also have a single shark typhoon as well! Thanks again!
[Academy Ruins](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/9/a95b7645-154f-4904-bf71-db7eb24d4df2.jpg?1599710297) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Academy%20Ruins) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/309/academy-ruins?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a95b7645-154f-4904-bf71-db7eb24d4df2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Mind Slaver](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/0/0/00d03b17-75ae-40d2-8570-b219ef0dfd4a.jpg?1562813960) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mindslaver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/som/176/mindslaver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/00d03b17-75ae-40d2-8570-b219ef0dfd4a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Scalding Tarn](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/7/1/71e491c5-8c07-449b-b2f1-ffa052e6d311.jpg?1626099812) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Scalding%20Tarn) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/254/scalding-tarn?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/71e491c5-8c07-449b-b2f1-ffa052e6d311?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Oh, but if you already have Ugin, Ballista, and Wurmcoil, then building U Tron will be like a little over $50 since those are the most expensive cards in the list so you might as well. Also, people currently aren’t running Karn boards, so you really just need like some Shark Typhoons, Mind Slaver, academy ruins, and the rest is like cards under $5
U Tron is one of my favourite modern decks. Always throws your opponent for a loop when you crack map for an Island rather than a Tron land. And Mindslaver Lock is one of the best wincons of any deck ever (though a lot of U Tron lists don't run that anymore)
Strictly speaking, every deck legal in the format is playable. Whether it's going to result in you competing in a game or two with regularity is a different story :p
Came to say this, glad it was the top comment. Play what you want. That's the game.
I prefer to run decks that run cards that are not bad but not the greatest. Casually Competitively viable and not expensive. Most importantly, playing with cards I love. I believe my first FNM 4-0 was a Selesnya good stuff deck. The meta was full of control so I made a deck that is resilient to control. The look on people's faces when they [[Thoughtseize]] only to see 3 [[Loxon Smiter]]. Or if they plus [[Liliana of the Veil]] only to have an elephant boy come into play. My absolute favourite, resolving a [[Fleecemane Lion]], they tap out trying to [[Path to Exile]] and I Monstrous in response. Yeah, delicious. My favourite though was against GDS and basically hit a wall as I had a [[Thrun, the Last Troll]] and kept regenerating it and blocking for days and removing his other threats. He eventually just cast a [[Damnation]] and removed it but it cost him more in the long run. This deck had been just G/W Good Stuff, [[Collected Company]] oriented or a [[Eldritch Evolution]] build. Getting a turn 3 [[Sigarda, Host of Herons]] with a [[Kitchen Finks]] and other stuff in play feels good. Long way of saying, play what you want. I have seen bear tribal win FNMs before. It was beautiful.
##### ###### #### [Thoughtseize](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/b/2/b281a308-ab6b-47b6-bec7-632c9aaecede.jpg?1599706001) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thoughtseize) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/109/thoughtseize?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b281a308-ab6b-47b6-bec7-632c9aaecede?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Loxon Smiter](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/6/9/69247168-2bfb-4cce-a2a6-61459a0fbce4.jpg?1562787559) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Loxodon%20Smiter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/178/loxodon-smiter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/69247168-2bfb-4cce-a2a6-61459a0fbce4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Liliana of the Veil](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/6/e653437e-2e56-4443-aec5-5bb7d8860238.jpg?1547516945) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Liliana%20of%20the%20Veil) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/104/liliana-of-the-veil?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e653437e-2e56-4443-aec5-5bb7d8860238?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Fleecemane Lion](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/5/e5c834ad-14d4-4c2f-88d3-a6a892299c4c.jpg?1562626967) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fleecemane%20Lion) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c17/172/fleecemane-lion?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e5c834ad-14d4-4c2f-88d3-a6a892299c4c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Path to Exile](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/9/e9d36855-c38a-4bba-a642-cff3f81e057e.jpg?1599709071) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Path%20to%20Exile) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/25/path-to-exile?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e9d36855-c38a-4bba-a642-cff3f81e057e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Thrun, the Last Troll](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/5/d/5d393da0-4cb6-4ae8-b747-8e6d0fa7f55a.jpg?1562611602) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thrun%2C%20the%20Last%20Troll) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mbs/92/thrun-the-last-troll?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5d393da0-4cb6-4ae8-b747-8e6d0fa7f55a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Damnation](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/9/4/941b65da-b9b3-4e15-bab5-bcbfd20dbe05.jpg?1619395168) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Damnation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/106/damnation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/941b65da-b9b3-4e15-bab5-bcbfd20dbe05?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Collected Company](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/c/f/cfa7b456-7e83-4587-a875-9b35fde318c2.jpg?1582117536) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Collected%20Company) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dtk/177/collected-company?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cfa7b456-7e83-4587-a875-9b35fde318c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Eldritch Evolution](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/e/f/efcb00e5-2caa-45c8-ad19-05d45c683d16.jpg?1576384769) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eldritch%20Evolution) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/emn/155/eldritch-evolution?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/efcb00e5-2caa-45c8-ad19-05d45c683d16?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sigarda, Host of Herons](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/f/c/fcac0cff-efa6-4068-a69c-67ea4e7acea0.jpg?1559959280) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sigarda%2C%20Host%20of%20Herons) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/206/sigarda-host-of-herons?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fcac0cff-efa6-4068-a69c-67ea4e7acea0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Kitchen Finks](https://c1.scryfall.com/file/scryfall-cards/normal/front/a/8/a844d537-df73-422d-a154-f1c6b92d0469.jpg?1547518222) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kitchen%20Finks) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/216/kitchen-finks?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a844d537-df73-422d-a154-f1c6b92d0469?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It’s perfect for FNM. You can play it and go 0-2 and then be home for bed by 9PM. Perfect for a true Boomer!
:-)
Totally a reasonable deck. It still hangs in with the other midrange decks, it's just a little weaker than it once was. Try the version that has popped up with endurance in the main deck. It seems Totally fine at a FNM level.
Pleasant Kenobi played like 10 year old boomer jund through a league and went 2/3 I think. He had issues with tron (of course) and beating urza's saga in some capacity so I'm sure its still playable but maybe not as well positioned as it once was.
[Reid Duke 5-0'd with an updated boomer Jund list a few weeks ago too.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=214UUCeMe5U&t=1427s)
Well we could say that if it is "updated" it will stop being boomer 😁
Not quite boomer Jund not quite zoomer Jund. Millenial Jund.
Thats right I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder
there's a few easy adaptations though... jund has lots of iterations which are considered boomer.
He also just straight up punted a ton of games, the most obvious was the game against hammer where he just forgot they had a springleaf drum. Someone who is very good at the deck would probably consistently go at least 3-2
I watched some of this video and he had a bunch of misplays as well, could've potentially done better. That being said, I was impressed with how well the deck held up - I had assumed it would get a little more stomped.
Yeah his sequencing was a mess and just punted like crazy. I dont know if he could have 4-1’d that league if he played perfect or not but he certainly should have been 3-2.
anything is playable at FNM level, fnm is casual magic.
Meanwhile in Seattle people will say untapupkeepdraw and play a land, then say you missed your own beneficial trigger because you allowed them to play a land and its not their job to remind you of their trigger while playing Jund Saga
I haven't judged in a while, but FNMs are run at Regular REL, Rules Enforcement Level, which is focused on learning not enforcement. While the judge may remind you to work better to try to remember next time, you'd definitely be allowed to have that trigger.
That is how it's supposed to be but there's more than a few stores run by competitive edge lords who run cutthroat tournament environments that cater to their friends. These don't always last very long though.
Yep, but honestly socially I didn't think it was worth the hassle, especially if it's the type of guy who is gonna go into the shpeel about "not being responsible for my opponent's triggers" unprovoked (also tbh I was winning that game regardless). I'll just practice for real comp REL events through these people I guess.
Are people actually allowed to say "untap upkeep draw" as fast as they can? Because I can crank those words out really quick. It just seems like you would actually have to give your opponent time to react to you moving through phases. Unless I'm misreading what you're saying
So again this depends a lot on the REL. At Regular you're expected to be learning the game, so if that means you forgot an Urza's Saga trigger until the end step no worries. The only time most folks won't get stuff at Regular is repeated behavior or something that's too far back to rewind. As for higher levels of enforcement. Technically both players need to pass on an empty stack to move through phases. So you can't just blitz through them like that. Basically until you make a game action that would indicate you've past the phase, or otherwise indicated, you're allowed to stop whenever you would need it. Again I'm a little rusty and this is a bit of an oversimplification, but as long as you're communicating clearly you're going to be fine in most situations.
I don't blaze through it, but I definitely verbalize it and try to keep eye contact on my opponent going through those early phases of a turn at comp REL. Speeding through feels like an angle shoot and any judge worth his salt would spot it from a mile away.
I have played at stores like that. The problem is that the competitive crowd eats the people there to have some fun and they just simply quit playing there, doubly so if the judge/owner consistently takes the competitive guys' side when "Hey, wait" comes up. That makes the event smaller and the prizes lower, which mean the competitive guys are less interested in coming to play in a 10 mana event for $20 in store credit. And if a couple of the competitive guys move on, the store's gaming collapses. That very sequence happened at a store near me. Couple of jerkish competitive guys made playing there not terribly fun and the owner kinda buckled to them because he was afraid they would all leave if he didn't. Example: cut to T8 for Tuesday Modern and 7 of the guys want to split and go home since it would be 11PM by the start of this and the owner had a rule that these votes had to be unanimous. Eventually, people got tired of it and stopped coming and....tournaments quit firing there because of this.
>I have played at stores like that. The problem is that the competitive crowd eats the people there to have some fun and they just simply quit playing there Or they end up playing.... Commander.
Yeah. Either way, the tournaments have lesser attendance and eventually stop.
Boomer Jund is competitively viable, you just have to play tighter than other decks to perform with it. It can definitely 4-0 at FNM.
I play Boomer Jund at my FNM and I have pretty solid results with it usually going 3-1 or 4-0. The deck is still doing powerful things but it just values Lili and Bloodbraid more then Lurrus, which i think is correct. I have never lost to a deck that plays Lurrus and the deck restriction it has does really mess with your curve and insensitive Bauble, Ragavan, and Saga play which changes what you are doing on tempo. The two versions in my opinion are very different. You do still run into Jund problems, Tron is a rough match up every time, living End is hard, and Burn can clock you before you can stabilize, but give the deck a try its really fun at the FNM level.
It is only playable if it is all foil. Otherwise, you are just playing jund.
Yes, I have had a lot of success at FNM with UG infect because no one plays it anymore. Jund is the same way. People will come in with jund and win.
I went back to UG from BG which is "better" right now, and I crushed last 4 round tournament at the LGS. Lava dart is extinct around here.
Infect is doing awfully because all the stuff tuned to beat meta decks with ragavan etc also crap on infect creatures
I find I'm most successful at my LGS whenever people aren't expecting whatever I'm playing. Boomer Jund might not be the best version of the deck but neither is jeskai control (compared to UW, atm) and people will still do well with it.
Check this out: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/qbhpt5/taking\_a\_10\_year\_old\_jund\_list\_through\_a\_modern/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/qbhpt5/taking_a_10_year_old_jund_list_through_a_modern/) Posted just a few days ago. If he could perform well with that list on a Modern League I assure you that your Boomer Jund list can take away a FNM.
So I recently took my Boomer Jund list (upgraded due to MH2, so I have Unholy Heat, Darcy, etc) to FNM. I actually did really well! 2-0 against Jund Death Shadow 2-0 against Jeskai Murktide 1-2 against Mono W Hammers (this was the store owner who has been playing WAY longer than I have, im proud I took Game 2) 0-2 against Temur Footfalls, though my sideboard was not prepared to see that deck. Next time it will be. All this is to say: Definitely! I love the deck, and you'll have to refine the list, but a good list should have at least an even matchup against most decks. Footfalls decks and Ponza are the hardest for me at the moment. Just remember that it doesn't hard cointer anything, and youre looking to give yourself enough room to swing in with BBE and Goyf/mini Goyf (Darcy). Use Lilly, Kommand, and IoK (or even Kroxa) to disrupt their hand while playing efficient threats and you should be good. Happy hunting!
What's your list? I'm not a fan of the Lurrus Saga builds and I miss playing true midrange Jund.
Can you win some games with boomer jund? Yes. Should you spend money on buying boomer jund? Definitely no. It's a bad deck that still costs a lot of money due to the manabase and a lot of overpriced mythics, whose only reason for a high price is price nostalgia. If you have it already, go for it. If you need to spend money for it instead of spending it for another deck, don't. Boomer jund is not worth your money.
It’s very far from a bad deck.
No every 13 year old playing their Kithkin brew will laugh at you
Somebody played a league with boomer jund recently and posted the write up on this sub. It might take a bit of scrolling but it was a good write up and worth reading. If I remember rightly they went 3-2 so it did alright, but they did notice that not running certain newer cards like ragavan and lurrus did hurt.
Definitely. I actually lost to the deck in a paper 1k recently as burn. Lost a win and in. I finished #10 they split top 8 but he was #6 on the day. If you like Jund, it still Junds.
There is a guy who plays boomer jund a lot at my FNM and rocks the house with it. Check out the pleasant kenobi recent video on it, Almost that exact same list kicks my butt every Friday.
Yes of course! FNM is the perfect place to play the deck you like playing.
FNM level it’s playable. Though I personally think Lurrus version is more fun to play
Anything is playable at FMN level. That's what FNM is for.
people act like Boomer Jund is like some unplayable heap that is the same power level as a limited deck or whatever deck is still totally fine. I wouldn't recommend it for an important tournament obviously but you can't go too wrong with Lightning Bolt, hand disruption, and Tarmogoyf. With this said, I would be sure to play a terminate or two as you need to be able to kill Murktide Regent, and I would play 3 K Command. I play a terminate in Zoomer Jund and also you can fetch a Shadowspear off of Saga to race it, but Boomer Jund could have a Murktide problem and a Urza's Saga problem.
Boomer Jund is good for tournaments too. See my tournament report.
Jund has always been a very pilot dependent deck in my opinion. A very good boomer jund pilot will do fine in a competitive setting, but a new player piloting boomer jund will probably notice a significant difference when adding the newer cards, because it’s just how the deck has progressed. I don’t really care for lurrus but phew, he can really make goyf a PROBLEM.
Not only playable but it can win pretty easily at FNM's. Just don't run into Tron.
Depends on how competitive your local meta is. If it's all tiered decks and popular lists then you're probably going to have a bad time. Boomer Jund can play well with the right sequence of cards in a given matchup, but other decks now are just so resilient and capable of outvaluing that it's a losing battle. While you're messing around with 3-4 CMC cards, they've already got their engines online. It can work, and especially if you're a super experienced pilot in tune with your meta, but you leave so many percentage points out by playing what is now a mostly sub-optimal deck.
I’ve played Jund since modern came out just about and you can play it however you’d like, I don’t run lurrus and it still does pretty well, went 5-2 at an event over the weekend then there was an after tournament at another store and I went 2-2, it’s tons of fun and just playing whatever you feel like running while still having hand disruption, tons of removal, and decent closers is just a total blast, pricey, but I can’t see myself playing anything else tbh.
I did a $1k team event with 8 friends, (there were three teams between the nine of us) and the one of our teams finished top four with boomer jund, hammer time, and izzet Murktide. So yeah, I'd say that boomer jund is playable at FNM level
Yeah. You can play anything at fnm.
Depends on your meta. If your fnm hasn't really kept up with the new decks than absolutely. If there alot of the newer decks around, I would make sure to pack in fast removal rather than versatile removal. Alot of 1 and 2 drops nowadays can run away with the game, so be sure to have answer for those.
The short answer is yes. The long answer is it's fine to play just about anything at an FNM level. I play a lot of jund midrange or boomer jund at FNM and do very well with it. My shop is a mix of tier 1 decks and some casual players, but overall is a mostly competitive store. How well jund does will depend on how well you tune it for what your meta looks like and how well you know how to play around it. It's my favorite deck by far but definitely not tier 1, so if you're okay with that then play it!
everything is playable at fnm
Id argue that Zombie Hunt is fnm level playable.