Rogue and Budget Decks – My Persecutor Jund
22 May 2010 | David Li Wang
I’m back again! Sadly to those of you who’ve personally told me you missed reading about some of the budget deck lists I’ve come up with, I won’t be able to give you one this week. However, I promise to bring you an innovative budget deck soon.
Recently since coming back from exams, I’ve been playing a bit of Jund online and testing different builds, ranging from lists with Plated Geopede and Sedraxis Specter to lists with Abyssal Persecutor shown to me by a friend. The strengths and weaknesses of the decks vary depending on the metagame but I can tell you personally from my experience that Persecutor Jund is a lot more fun to play. Why is that? Let’s just say Sarkhan the Mad + Abyssal Persecutor is awesome and leave it at that for now…
The list I started off with and came up with myself was a little too clunky, trying to do too much and lacked in consistency, though managing to some pretty crazy things. It soon looked more like a list that a friend made that I had played with some minor differences. Its match up was focused primarily on U/W and U/W/r, which I originally thought would be the more popular decks but I then gave the next another fresher and more streamlined look, improving its consistency and its match up in the mirror was certainly slightly better than before and quite incredible until I managed to pull off some crazy things while playing the deck. Though that testing was not extremely reliable to go by considering I only had time to play 20 odd matches, losing on 3 occasions.
If bought from Good Games, the total Cost is $487 ($430 for maindeck and $57 for sideboard).
Lands (26)
4 Savage Lands $8.00
4 Raging Ravine $36.00
2 Lavaclaw Reaches $16.00
4 Verdant Catacomb $64.00
4 Forest
4 Swamp
4 Mountain
Creatures (15)
4 Sprouting Thrinax $8.00
4 Bloodbraid Elf $20.00
4 Abyssal Persecutor $60.00
3 Broodmate Dragon $24.00
Non-Creature Spells (24)
4 Blightning $6.00
4 Maelstrom Pulse $112.00
3 Lightning Bolt $9.00
2 Sarkhan, the Mad $44.00
2 Terminate $2.00
2 Trace of Abundance $1.00
2 Consuming Vapors $20.00
Sideboard
4 Goblin Ruinblaster $6.00
3 Malakir Bloodwitch $24.00
3 Duress $3.00
2 Consuming Vapors $20.00
2 Trace of Abundance $1.00
1 Lightning Bolt $3.00
Manabase – I won’t really go through the manabase as it’s very obvious and can change, depending on what changes you make to the deck. Dragonskull Summits and Rootbound Crag can be added etc.
Sprouting Thrinax – It has awesome synergy with Sarkhan the Mad as well as just being an awesome card.
Bloodbraid Elf – It’s Bloodbraid Elf. Need I say more?
Abyssal Persecutor – It is the namesake of the deck. Persecutor is very powerful and can end games quite quickly if not dealt with.
Broodmate Dragon – We all know why this is in here. It also has brilliant synergy with Sarkhan the Mad’s 3rd ability which can cause some blow out wins.
Blightning – It’s a self explanatory card and if you don’t realise it’s power, you’ve obviously haven’t experienced it yet.
Maelstrom Pulse – With Planeswalkers and enchantments like Oblivion Ring and Eldrazi Conscription around, this card is necessary as a 4 of. It also provides another way to kill your own Persecutor to win.
Lightning Bolt – My choice of 3 Lightning Bolts may be quite controversial. Sometimes I only play 2 with 3 Trace of Abundances maindecked. The deck doesn’t really need bolt as a 4 of in the U/W match up and is often sided out against U/W and sometimes against Jund. Bolt is best in the Mythic match up and helps relieve early game pressure.
Sarkhan the Mad – This guy is nuts sometimes. He can help kill your own Persecutor and has synergy with Thrinax. Sarkhan’s 1st ability can also come in handy.
Terminate – Extra removal is needed to kill off your Persecutor, as well clear a path for your own creatures. I find that 2 in the maindeck is just right and it can be a bad cascade sometimes.
Trace of Abundance – A potential turn 3 Abyssal Persecutor is very good in several match ups. Trace of Abundance also provides immunity for your Raging Ravine and can be great fixing. I like to change it to a 3 of a lot of the time but with more Mythic decks, you need your 3rd bolt so the extra 2 are in the sideboard, helping against those Spreading Seas.
Consuming Vapors – This card is really awesome! Did I say really? I meant really really awesome. This card gets you out of awkward situations and can kill off your opponent’s creature to gain life and to clear a path for your Persecutor, before rebounding and finishing off your own Persecutor to win the game. Also it’s awesome against Wall of Omens and Mythic decks if you’ve dealt with their mana birds and they’re left with their massive creature. There are 2 more in the sideboard too.
Goblin Ruinblaster – Important card in the Jund mirror as whoever can mana screw their opponent first, can often win.
Malakir Bloodwitch – Strong card against decks playing Baneslayers etc.
Duress – This card can easily change depending on your metagame but I find Duress is great with taking away some of your opponent’s key cards that can stop you from winning.
Strengths of the deck: The deck has quite a lot of synergy overall and with the power of Abyssal Persecutor, can beat down bad decks very quickly. This deck can have a slight edge in the Jund mirror though like most Jund mirrors, cascading well is still very important. The advantage that Consuming Vapors, less maindecked Bolts and Persecutor provides can sometimes give this deck just enough to withstand the quicker onslaught of faster Jund builds that run Putrid Leech and Plated Geopede. Trace of Abundance can help slightly in the U/W and U/W/r match up though the difference it makes when playing 2 in the main deck is barely noticeable until numerous games are played.
Weaknesses of the deck: It lacks early game pressure and isn’t the best form of Jund decks against aggressive decks. No Siege-Gang Commander and Putrid Leech contribute to this and often you can feel that these 2 cards are sorely missed, though you can’t always get what you want and there will always be an opportunity cost foregone. Despite the inclusion of Trace of Abundance, mana screw can lead to a later casting of Abyssal Persecutor, meaning it loses some value. When you’re on the draw and you’ve been Spreading Seas before you cast Trace of Abundance, you may face issues casting it and thus lose another element of the deck’s specialty and advantage.
Overall opinion: It is worth running and certainly a strong deck, able to cause some blow out wins and pull you out of difficult situations. It can be refined, through many changes such as Sedraxis Specter but personally I prefer a more solid manabase as it is rather than marginally better match ups in the mirror and against U/W.
That’s all for this week! Give this deck a run! Good Games! Good Times! GG!
By David Li Wang aka RedBluePlayer on Good Games Forums and MTG Salvation
For discussion.