Hiya! Joe here with a tentative look at a possible Jund build for RNA.

For Jund Midrange in RNA Standard, you want flexible removal to control the battlefield in the early game, along with high utility 2- and 3-drops to set up powerful creatures that you can use to close out the game. Many of the cards that show up in Golgari Midrange, especially, in current Standard are candidates for this deck, and the improved fixing (as well as some powerful Gruul cards) that we’ll get in RNA will hopefully make this a viable archetype.

Here are some cards for consideration, broken down by category:

Finishers



Doom Whisperer is a big, well-costed flyer with the upside that you can at least Surveil with it if it is immediately dealt with by the opponent. This shows up in current Standard in some versions of Golgari Midrange, as well as in Dimir Control.







A hard-to-handle, absurdly-costed, recurring evasive threat, Rekindling Phoenix has been popping up in Standard since it was introduced in Ixalan, and seems like it would be right at home in the kind of value deck that Jund Midrange aims to be.







Carnage Tyrant is one the go-to answers to control. It can’t be countered or easily dealt with via targeted removal. Paired with anything that gives you hexproof as well (i.e. Gruul Spellbreaker), it can even dodge Settle the Wreckage, which is one of the hardest cards for it to attack around in current Standard.







Banefire almost strictly takes a place as a finisher in a deck like this to be brought in from the sideboard against base-Blue counterspell-heavy control decks. It can be used as removal in a pinch, but it goes in the “finisher” category because that’s how you want to use it.







As a finisher that also takes care of small creatures that an opponent’s deck is spitting out at you, Skarrgan Hellkite is another potential candidate for Jund Midrange. At its most basic level it comes in as a hasty 4/4 flyer and just starts beating down, but its flexibility beyond that means it’s quite a powerful card.







Biogenic Ooze seems like a fun candidate for a finisher in RNA Standard, as well. It’s definitely a card that must be dealt with or it will take over the game. I feel like it’s fragile compared to Carnage Tyrant and Rekindling Phoenix, but I would love to see someone going off with this.







Speaking of fun potential finishers that spew out tokens, Legion Warboss seems like a possible candidate for a more aggressive version of Jund Midrange. Throw this out there early and attack, attack, attack. Also seems like a possible sideboard card vs. control.







Electrodominance is an instant-speed Banefire-style card that also gives you another spell “for free”. As far as overall power goes, I would put this on a level above Banefire, but as a card that you are specifically bringing in from the sideboard against control, Banefire‘s uncounterability likely means it’s still the better choice.





Supporting Cast



Gruul Spellbreaker is a great flexible three-drop that was recently spoiled for RNA. Just as a 3-mana 4/4 or 3/3 with haste (as well as trample, regardless of which of those options you choose), it might be considered. Giving you and itself both hexproof on your turn helps dodge a lot of instant-speed removal that is currently in the format, most notably Settle the Wreckage, making this a strong candidate for inclusion.







Explore is a great mechanic for smoothing out draws. Helping to hit your land drops when you need it, and in the case of Merfolk Branchwalker, giving you small attackers/blockers at the beginning of the game. This is my “explorer” of choice, as it gives you decent attacking stats for a cheap mana cost, and sometimes a blocker that can trade up.







Midnight Reaper creates value as an early attacker that replaces itself, as well as your other creatures. It can combo especially well with a recurrent creatures like Rekindling Phoenix.







Plaguecrafter is a decent source of card draw that I could see being brought in from the sideboard, especially in a more aggressive Jund build. It gives you utility similar to Arguel’s Blood Fast, while providing an additional aggressive body.







As far as explore creatures go, Jadelight Ranger is one of the most impressive ones, exploring twice when it enters the battlefield. The biggest knock against this card for this deck is that we might not be able to get double-green on turn three consistently enough for this to be a top choice.







Llanowar Elves is the OG mana dork, and can ramp you up to your most expensive spells in a hurry. Since I expect for this deck’s curve to top out at five or six mana, I don’t know whether we want to use a card slot of these, and also I don’t know if we want to play the number of green sources that we’d need to reliable cast this on turn one.







Druid of the Cowl is a Llanowar Elves that also functions as a decent early blocker. In a Jund build that is more green-heavy and wants more ramp, this would be a possible inclusion, maybe even alongside Llanowar Elves as a less-than-four-copies utility creature.







When all you want in life is a way to destroy an opponent’s artifact or enchantment, Reclamation Sage does the trick. It’s fairly cheap, blows up a problematic Search for Azcanta, Dawn of Hope, or whatever, while leaving a body behind that can attack or often trade up as a blocker.







A star player in one of the more currently popular Golgari Midrange builds, Wildgrowth Walker can keep you alive against aggressive decks, both as a blocker and by gaining you life, and if you are able to trigger it a few times without it being dealt with, it becomes a real threat. I suspect you’d only play this in a more green-heavy version of the deck along with Llanowar Elves and Jadelight Ranger.





Removal



Assassin’s Trophy is cheap, instant-speed removal that takes care of just about everything (barring indestructible, or hexproof from black) with the minor downside of getting a land for your opponent. The power level and value of this card makes it a perfect way to Jund ’em Out.







And for more cheap, instant-speed removal that deals with most threats (not enchantments), Jund gets Bedevil in RNA. It requires double-black, but as you don’t necessarily need it on turn three, it’s not a huge issue.







Vraska’s Contempt is how decks playing black permanently deal with recursive and/or indestructible threats in current Standard, and I don’t think it will be displaced by anything coming in with RNA. A few of these are a must in Jund Midrange.







Doing double duty as a way to recur creatures as well as a boardwipe against aggro, it’s hard for me to imagine Jund Midrange without Find // Finality. The Find side becomes even more important in any build featuring Wildgrowth Walker as a win-con (or just a way to survive until your real win-con comes online), as you very often end up needing to bring it back after it’s killed the first time around.







Lava Coil is another spell on the order of Vraska’s Contempt that can help deal with problematic threats permanently. You want these to deal with Rekindling Phoenix in the mirror, as well as against other creature-centric midrange decks, but they will need to be sided out against certain kinds of control and aggro opponents.







Another cheap, instant-speed removal spell we are likely to bring forward from current Standard is Cast Down. Initially this might be a sideboard card to be brought into matchups where its condition isn’t a drawback and/or where ramping an opponent via Assassin’s Trophy is too much of a drawback.







Ritual of Soot is another great card for the removal portion of the sideboard. This is a great “small sweeper” for Black (and for Jund, by extension), and you want this against aggressive decks playing mostly 1-3 mana creatures, but it’s a blank against anything else.







Lightning Bolt is a staple of Jund in Modern, and Skewer the Critics gives you similar value in RNA Standard. It is Sorcery speed, which takes a way a lot of the potential utility, but the fact that it can go to face and give you a little extra reach is a bonus.







Sometimes you’re up against a control deck that has a very short window where they may need to let their guard down after playing a creature or Planeswalker finisher and you have one turn to deal with it. That’s the turn you want to have The Eldest Reborn in your hand to deal with the threat and hopefully turn it (or something better) into your threat.





Utility



Arguel’s Blood Fast is a good source of additional card selection/advantage (and eventually life gain) when you need it. It pairs especially well with Rekindling Phoenix, allowing you to sacrifice it repeatedly on your opponent’s end step, when that’s appropriate.







If there’s one sideboard card that decks playing any amount of black tend to have three or four of, it’s Duress. This is an amazing card against control and combo decks, allowing you to get rid of your opponent’s key cards early in the game and screw up their game plan.







Tired of your control opponent countering all of your creature spells? Wish they could swing in faster and harder? If so, Rhythm of the Wild out of the sideboard seems like it might be a good decision. This protects your threats while allowing them to get in for damage a turn earlier, or get in for more damage than they otherwise would (great in the case of creatures that already have haste). Also, remember these stack, so if you have two out all of your creatures are bigger and faster.







Scrabbling Claws seems like a good sideboard card against decks with recursive threats. The trick will likely be keeping their graveyard empty so you can repeatedly exile any problem cards that might end up there, but it always has a backup plan of exiling a specific card (maybe a Rekindling Phoenix?) while replacing itself.







Treasure Map fills a similar role as Arguel’s Blood Fast (card selection/advantage), and you probably want either one or the other in your sideboard, but not both. Treasure Map doesn’t require paying life up front, so that’s something to keep in mind. Also, it doesn’t have the synergy with Rekindling Phoenix that Arguel’s Blood Fast has.





Planeswalkers



Domri, Chaos Bringer looks like a great candidate Planeswalker for inclusion in Jund Midrange. It ramps you into a threat (while also making it bigger or giving it haste), can help you find those threats (and your utility creatures) when you haven’t drawn them yet, and if you can ultimate him, you get a growing horde of trampling beasts.







In current Standard, when I’m playing against Golgari Midrange, Vivien Reid is one of the most annoying cards to see resolve on the other side of the table. It blows up your flyers and enchantments (which are often what you are relying on to finish the game in that match-up), and when it’s not doing that, it draws its controller toward their win condition at a much faster clip.







Vraska, Golgari Queen kills small (and sometimes not so small) threats handily, trades extra permanents (usually unnecessary lands) for additional card draw and life gain, and in a pinch just inevitably grows in loyalty until winning you the game outright. This is a great addition for just about any deck playing Black/Green.







A Threaten effect with the sacrifice built-in, or a repeatable discard effect that prolong the game (usually in favor of its controller), Angrath, the Flame-Chained does some real work in many match ups, and is a definite candidate for the Jund Midrange sideboard.







Vraska, Relic Seeker represents either an inevitable army of small, evasive attackers, or the death of your opponent’s best threat (and ideally, both). I think we start her in the sideboard as she shines best against control decks in games 2 and 3, but you’ll almost always be happy to see her in your hand.





Lands

Of course, you want the rare dual lands in Jund colors, including Blood Crypt, Dragonskull Summit, Overgrown Tomb, Rootbound Crag, Stomping Ground, and Woodland Cemetery. Another candidate for inclusion could be Memorial to Folly, which gives you another source of recursion for your creature finishers.

This is a work in progress and will likely change based on discussion. First, the deck so far:

RNA Jund Midrange Creatures (17)

2 Carnage Tyrant

2 Doom Whisperer

4 Gruul Spellbreaker

4 Merfolk Branchwalker

2 Midnight Reaper

3 Rekindling Phoenix



Instants (9)

2 Assassin’s Trophy

3 Bedevil

1 Cast Down

3 Vraska’s Contempt



Sorceries (5)

2 Find // Finality

3 Lava Coil



Planeswalkers (5)

1 Domri, Chaos Bringer

3 Vivien Reid

1 Vraska, Golgari Queen

Lands (24)

3 Blood Crypt

4 Dragonskull Summit

1 Forest

2 Memorial to Folly

4 Overgrown Tomb

2 Rootbound Crag

3 Stomping Ground

1 Swamp

4 Woodland Cemetery



Sideboard (15)

1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained

2 Arguel’s Blood Fast

1 Banefire

1 Cast Down

3 Duress

1 Lava Coil

2 Rhythm of the Wild

1 Ritual of Soot

1 Scrabbling Claws

1 The Eldest Reborn

1 Vraska, Relic Seeker

Export to MTGA





And here’s the Maybeboard:

Skewer the Critics

Skarrgan Hellkite

Biogenic Ooze

Legion Warboss

Plaguecrafter

Jadelight Ranger

Llanowar Elves

Druid of the Cowl

Reclamation Sage

Wildgrowth Walker

Electrodominance

Treasure Map

Also, here are links to some of the lists and discussions I looked at while working on this article:

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jund-em-allegiance/

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/try-jund-ravnica-allegiance/

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/allegiance-of-jund/

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jund-midrange-allegiance-standard/

What do you think? What would you do differently?

If you have any comments, questions, or criticisms, please feel free to contact me here in the comments, on Reddit, on Twitter via @DailyArena, or on Facebook on the @DailyArenaMTG page.

Peace.

Joseph Eddy is a Father, Husband, Son, Brother, Software Developer, and Gamer. Magic is his favorite hobby, and he’s looking forward to seeing you all on Arena. He streams Magic Arena on a weekly basis (or more), but currently is unable to keep to a set schedule.