Jund is a midrange deck named after the shard Jund from Alara block. Jund established itself early in the Shards of Alara/Zendikar standard season as "the deck to beat" and remained a strong deck throughout the season.
The principle behind Jund is to generate card advantage while putting pressure on the opponent.
Jund obtained several important cards from M10. It gained two dual lands (Dragonskull Summit and Rootbound Crag); this improved the mana base. Lightning Bolt replaced more expensive removal. It also gained a few creatures: Great Sable Stag, Master of the Wild Hunt, and Siege-Gang Commander.
With the printing of Verdant Catacombs, Jund's mana continued to improve; however, its mana base remained fragile. Two other cards from Zendikar allowed decks to exploit that weakness: Spreading Seas and Goblin Ruinblaster. Some Jund decks started to splash blue hoping to negate the Spreading Seas (often relying on Birds of Paradise and Terramorphic Expanse in case spreading seas wasn't cast), but this strategy never became common.
Kor Firewalker from the Worldwake expansion also saw action as a creature and life gain source against Bloodbraid Elf, Lightning Bolt, and Blightning.
The Standard Jund deck rotated out with the release of Scars of Mirrodin in Fall 2010. Jund is notable because it marks one of the few years where the "Top Deck" in Type 2 does not usually contain any Blue.
External links[ | ]
- Event Coverage Staff (Sunday, November 22, 2009). "Deck Lists: Top Standard Lists". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.