Topic: [Standard][Opinions] Junk Midrange

Hello all, I'm hoping you can help me out with this Standard deck that I've been running. The list is here:

http://deckstats.net/decks/11583/80393-junk-midrange/en

You can additionally read the comments on that link for an idea about how the deck plays. I've been playing on MTGO for about a week and this deck has been performing pretty well, but I'm always looking to make things better.

This is a Junk midrange deck that aims to control the board with removal and win in the midgame with green, white and black's powerful creatures. Black's typical removal suite combined with Abrupt Decay gives me game against pretty much every deck in the format that plans on playing permanents. These removal cards make up all of my maindeck non-permanent spells.
There are two "utility" permanents that don't act as beatdown - Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix. Sylvan Caryatid is a solid early-game blocker that can't be burned out and allows me to ramp out my finishers earlier. Even more usefully is its mana-fixing property, which can be crucial in a 3-color deck. Fortunately I only have a few cards with double-colored casting costs, but mana screw can still occur in a 3-color deck and Caryatid helps with that. Courser of Kruphix is my most recent addition and is an absolute workhorse. This thing blocks a host of important creatures, can swing when necessary, but most crucially provides the only source of card draw in the deck. The ability to play lands off of the top and dig for my threats quicker is absolutely critical. The incidental lifegain is also helpful against aggro- and burn-based strategies.
There are six slots for some simple beatdown creatures - 4 Reaper of the Wilds and 2 Desecration Demon. Demon is simply a good, efficient beater that can do useful things like block Stormbreath Dragon and Polukranos while forcing answers out of any opponent. Reaper of the Wilds is slightly less powerful, but provides additional utility with the ability to trade with larger creatures through deathtouch and resist removal with hexproof. Reaper can effectively fill the 4, 5, or 6 drop slots on my curve with her abilities making it a fantastic 4-of.
The final six slots go for the 5 and 6 mana finishers - 2 Obzedat, Ghost Council, 2 Vraska the Unseen, and 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Obzedat is simply a fantastic all-around card that most decks struggle with immensely. The repeatable life-drain ability offers stabilization against burn and aggro and the body is solid as well. Elspeth is a fantastic closer as always, often wiping against R/G monsters with her -3 and providing board presence with her +1. Vraska can be an all-purpose removal spell with her -3 (and usually gets off this ability twice), or threaten a kill by turn 8 by plusing to the assassin tokens.

The sideboard is somewhat shaky, so I'd definitely like some additional help here. 2 Golgari Charm are useful in several matchups - against aggro with the -1/-1, against control, WWx and Naya Hexproof by destroying enchantments, and against Verdict via regeneration. Pithing Needle is good all-around, mostly for control but also for BUG Walkers and occasionally R/G monsters. 4 Duress is a saving grace against Boros Burn, Hexproof and fantastic utility against control. 2 Fiendslayer Paladin is an inclusion that I'm unsure of but is good against mono-black (because of its pseudo-protection) and red aggro builds (because of its pseudo-protection and lifelink). Glare of Heresy is nice to hit Detention Sphere and Elspeth against control and is critical against WWx and Naya Hexproof. 3 Mistcutter Hydra absolutely hoses MUD and control. Finally, the shakiest inclusion is 2 Advent of the Wurm, but flash is good against control and a 5/5 trampler really isn't a bad thing.

I'll include responses to the stickied post's suggestion questions as well:
1) What level of play is this expecting to see?  Are you going to play casually just for fun or are you taking it to competitive FNMs?  Are your FNMs full of top level players rocking tier 1 decks, or is it more of a bunch of home brews?
This is playing on MTGO and possibly (depending on my budget) in FNMs this summer. As such I'd like it to be able to compete against tier 1 decks.

2) Do you have a format restriction/preference?
Standard.

3) What are the win conditions of the deck?  Or, in other words, how do you envision the deck winning games?
Wins usually end with a planeswalker out or 2+ of my beatsticks. Remove their threats early game and transition into beatdown mode.

4) If you were to imagine an ideal 4-5 turns, how do you envision them playing out?
Diverse mana in hand. T2 Caryatid, T3 Courser, T4 Obzedat/Demon/Reaper, T5 Planeswalker. Mix in removal when necessary. Ultimately this deck is kind of reactive which makes this question difficult to answer.

5) What sort of budget do you have for improving the deck?  It's easy to suggest that you add $400 worth of cards, but if you're only looking to spend $20 to make improvements then suggesting 4x Snapcaster Mage isn't useful information.
Right now, my budget is low, but by summertime I should have enough for $80-100 of improvements. Please suggest any improvements regardless of price and I'll figure out what I can afford.


The things I'm least confident in are SB Advent of the Wurm and Fiendslayer Paladin, the balance between Reaper and Desecration Demon, do I have too much removal, should there only be 1 Vraska?
Cards I've considered:
Thoughtseize (price issue mostly)
Mutavault (rough on the manabase)
Lifebane Zombie (probably in the SB)
Underworld Connections (does Kruphix make it redundant?)
Polukranos (monstrosity provides a mana-sink, but pretty one-dimensional)
Brimaz (WW is pretty tough on turn three with Courser and Hero's Downfall already so important)
Golgari Guildgate (perhaps 1 or 2 in over the forests/Temple Garden?)
Scavenging Ooze (but it seems slow and where does it fit?)
Pack Rat (but I don't really want to be discarding cards and where does it fit?)

Thanks in advance for the help!

Last edited by jpw234 (2014-04-08 20:37:40)

Re: [Standard][Opinions] Junk Midrange

So a few things, as I actually piloted Junk Midrange at GP Vancouver with some moderate success:

1) You have 15 removal spells, but no way to really draw cards.  Sure, most of your threats are bigger than theirs and will need addressing more than your opponent's threats, but once you're in top-deck mode, you're stuck there.  To the extent that you can toss in some added card draw, it will go a long way.

2) I didn't have access to Courser of Kruphix when I played it, but I would imagine some other type of life gain would be ideal.  I'm thinking you would want to slide in something like Blood Baron of Vizkopa over the two Desecration Demons - both for the added life-gain and also for the simple fact that he is among the hardest creatures to kill in the whole format.  You may not have the evasion that the demons give with flying; however, with all the removal you're going to be running, you can just go through their blockers anyway.

3) Advent of the Wurm is a sick card and I would actually suggest running 3x of them over one Abrupt Decay, one Doom Blade, and one Reaper of the Wilds.  My logic here is that it actually will work as a removal spell in many instances as you can let them attack you, thinking you only have a Sylvan Caryatid only to *SURPRISE* windmill the wurm out after they've declared attackers.  Killing their creature AND netting you a 5/5 trample to boot.

4) Archangel of Thune could be funny in here... although I certainly wouldn't go dropping the cash on her at the moment just for a "win more" kind of card in this deck.  Odds are by the time she makes a difference, the game is well in hand.

Obviously suggestions may vary depending on whether Pharika or Athreos are worth anything in terms of her abilities or any of the other pieces from JOU as they're spoiled.

For the SB:

1) I would say to skip Fiendslayer Paladin in favor of something like Drown in Sorrow or even Bile Blight.  My logic is that you need to be ready to combat Pack Rat (quite the troublesome little fella) while also dealing with more aggro-based decks.  Sure, the life-gain you have is good and Courser goes a long way here, but a well designed aggro deck can deal with those.  Without a Caryatid and you're just too slow.  However, if you toss in a low-end sweeper like Drown, your t2 Caryatid gives way to a t3 wipe of everything except it.  Additionally, it just does deal with Pack Rat more efficiently than any of your other options.  I say over Fiendslayer because Reaper has the pay hexproof and Blood Baron has pro-black, making Pack Rat the only real threat mono-black would have on you.

2) Golgari Charm should be a 3x.  It will seldom ever be a wasted card in your hand.  I'd actually advocate it to be main, but your list is already pretty solid in the main.

3) I would probably actually drop Mistcutter to 2x in the board.  How frequently are you playing mono-blue?  Furthermore, you'll have the upper hand against practically everything they're running anyway.  Outside of Cyclonic Rift (which hits Mist anyway), what are they packing that you don't already have an answer for?  If anything, I'd slide in Whip of Erebos there for the added life gain AND the combo with Obie.

4) I would probably go with Revoke Existence over Glare of Heresy just to deal with opposing gods, but that's just me.

I guess that's about it.  The deck is certainly well suited to be a force to be reckoned with moving forward.

Good luck!

Re: [Standard][Opinions] Junk Midrange

Hey TyWooOneTime, thanks for the assist.

For card draw, I used to have Underworld Connections, but I found it redundant with Courser. Do you think that a couple of copies of Read the Bones might be a good idea? The fact that it's only one black mana is attractive and it does offer some very nice smoothing.

Blood Baron is definitely something I'd consider, but I view it as more of a sideboard option. Given that I already like my matchup against mono-black/Orzhov control, it doesn't seem worth the evasion that Desecration Demon gives. Do you think it might be a replacement for Obzedat rather than DD?

I'll definitely test some extra Advents in the main, it's obviously a great card, just not sure exactly how it fits in the deck.

Archangel looks interesting, but it's quite expensive tongue I might consider it later.

I'm running with Drown in Sorrow > Fiendslayer in the side, I think you're right that it's just better and it gives me some gas against Pack Rat. The rat hasn't been an issue so far but if it becomes one I might consider Bile Blight.

I'll also test an extra Golgari Charm, probably take out some removal.

Mistcutter has been awesome and Esper in particular has been common, so I think I'll stick with 3 there.

Definitely running with Revoke Existence over Glare, actually might go up to 2 of them. Only thing it really misses that Glare of Heresy hits is Elspeth (which I should kill anyway) and it also hits Madcap Skills, Courser, Underworld Connections, Thassa, etc.

Thanks again for the help!

Re: [Standard][Opinions] Junk Midrange

-4 Devour Flesh
-2 Ultimate Price
-1 Vraska
-1 Doom Blade
-2 Desecration Demon

+3 Scavenging Ooze
+4 Thoughtseize
+2 Archangel of Thune
+1 Underworld Connection

Standard is a format where you need to disrupt whatever your opponent is doing. Junk should play out like old Modern Jund did. You should destroy their hand with thoughtseize, trade removal 1 for 1, and then kill them by doing something better than they can do. Cheap threats like Scavenging Ooze should prove more potent than DD in your already clogged 4 drop slot. Devour Flesh, Ultimate Price, and Doom Blade are not consistent enough to play right now especially since thoughtseize will "kill" those cards anyway.

Running Archangel just makes sense in a deck where you are already running 4 Coursers and Elspeth.