It’s no secret that I love midrange decks and luckily I’ve been able to cruise on the back of a certain Rhino for the last 18 months in Standard. But the Abzan houses have put down their weapons, called off the siege and taken their Rhinos to a well-earned semi-retirement in Modern. So the question is, what 4 drop am I supposed to be looking to cast now? Let me answer that with this!

Jund – Mathew Tonkin

Creatures:

4 x Sylvan Advocate

4 x Den Protector

4 x Deathcap Cultivator

4 x Mindwrack Demon

2 x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

1 x Dragonlord Atarka

2 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer

Spells:

2 x Arlinn Kord

2 x Dead Weight

4 x Traverse the Ulvenwald

2 x Grasp of Darkness

1 x Ruinous Path

2 x To the Slaughter

2 x Kolaghan’s Command

Lands:

4 x Evolving Wilds

4 x Hissing Quagmire

2 x Llanowar Wastes

2 x Smoldering Marsh

2 x Cinder Glade

1 x Mountain

4 x Swamp

5 x Forest

Sideboard:

2 x Clip Wings

3 x Transgress the Mind

3 x Radiant Flames

2 x Ultimate Price

2 x Pulse of Murasa

1 x Season’s Past

2 x Virulent Plague

These are the four drop creatures you should be looking to cast. Mindwrack Demon is a 4 mana 4/5 flyer, stats that are above the curve for his mana cost, his ‘drawback’ can be utilised well in a deck that can use it’s graveyard. Delirium is surprisingly easy to enable in most match-ups, and those where you are not able to meet the conditions, well often you just get your opponent dead first.

We all saw how good Kalitas was in a variety of Midrange decks, and I don’t think this has changed with the introduction of SOI to Standard. When paired with cheap removal or sweepers, Kalitas can often just dominate the game.

This pairing of cards is going to be quite a familiar sight in Standard I feel! In the early game Deathcap Cultivator is going to help ramp you in to a turn 3 Mindwrack Demon or an early Dragonlord Atarka and in the late game he is going to attack and defend really well with Deathtouch. Traverse the Ulvenwald is going to ensure that you hit your land drops in the early game and then help you turn the corner in the mid-late game and start tutoring up your key threats.

This may not be the best deck for Arlinn Kord but I’m positive that she is the best Planeswalker from SOI, therefore I am keen to try her in a variety of decks to find out where she fits best. Her +1 will often help you break parity by allowing your biggest threat to attack and then remain on the defensive during your opponents turn. Her 0 ability will often be used on a set-up turn, where you are looking to overrun your opponent on the next turn. Her back face also has useful abilities, allowing your creatures to swarm over your opponents or just straight-up being a lightning bolt! I think the -6 ability will be rarely used and will almost certainly cause a bit of amusement if it is caught on camera.

The removal suite in the deck is diverse and designed to answer a wide array of threats, it is unlikely you will know what your dedicated spots will be until after the Pro Tour. It may be correct to switch the Kolaghan’s Commands to the sideboard and switch in the Ultimate Price, but I like the variety of options from the command and feel I’ll be killing some Hangarback Walkers in the first couple of weeks!

The lands are an interesting discussion point in SOI Standard, do you stick with the Battle-lands? Or do you twist and use the Shadow-lands? I have opted for the Battle-lands in this deck, I feel you’ll want your lands untapped from T4 onwards and you could be penalised for drawing a Shadow-Land and not being able to double-spell in one turn cycle. I think in more aggressive, 2 colour decks, then Shadow-Lands will be favoured.

The sideboard is the usual mix of Silver-bullets trying to fight what I would expect in a week one metagame. Clip WIngs is my answer to a flipped Westvale Abbey and answers many of the formats best flyers quickly and efficiently. Transgress the Mind is favoured over Duress or Pick the Brains because it’s generally going to be easier to cast on curve and does not help to enable an opponent’s Delirium. Radiant Flames will help pick off any aggressive decks, alongside Pulse of Murasa, and fights the token decks with the aid of Virulent Plague. Season’s Past is an unusual card that will often be a 6 mana spell that says ‘Draw 4 cards.’ A key bit of information to remember is that lands can be chosen as a 0 mana permanent!

Anyway, that’s all from me this time. I really hope you give the deck a try and let me know how you get on, if you have any thoughts on possible changes then let me know in the comments below!