Primordial Jund

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For the next few posts, I will give you the skinny on each Shards of Alara 41-card Intro Packs (previously theme decks). These packs come with a foil card, a learn-to-play insert, a strategy insert, and an additional booster pack (w00t!). These are a great way to get into the game. As these decks are all similarly built (mana cost and strength), several players I know enjoy picking these up for casual play . . . so get thee hence to a gaming store !

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Primordial Jund

The plane of Jund is a savage, volcanic world of infinite dangers where dragons top the food chain. Amass a swarm of barbarians, vicious predators, and even dragons, and swallow up the meek forces of your fellow planeswalkers.



Jund Intro Deck

41 cards

3 Forest
2 Jund Panorama
{T}: Add 1 to your mana pool.
1, {T}, Sacrifice Jund Panorama: Search your library for a basic Swamp, Mountain, or Forest card and put it into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
7 Mountain
2 Savage Lands
Land Uncommon
Savage Lands comes into play tapped.
{T}: Add {B}, {R}, or {G} mana to your mana pool.
3 Swamp

17 lands

2 Carrion Thrash
2{B}{R}{G}, Creature - Viashino Warrior, Common
When Carrion Thrash is put into a graveyard from play, you may pay 2. If you do, return another target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. 4/4
1 Flameblast Dragon
4{R}{R}, Creature - Dragon, Rare, Flying
Whenever Flameblast Dragon attacks, you may pay {X}{R}. If you do, Flameblast Dragon deals X damage to target creature or player. 5/5
2 Goblin Deathraiders
Creature - Goblin Warrior? Common
Trample, 3/1
2 Goblin Piker 2 Hissing Iguanar 2 Jund Battlemage
2{R}, Creature - Human Shaman, Uncommon
{B}, {T}: Target player loses 1 life.
{G}, {T}: Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play. 2/2
1 Mycoloth
3{G}{G}, Creature - Fungus, Rare
Devour 2 (As this comes into play, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This creature comes into play with twice that many +1/+1 counters on it.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play for each +1/+1 counter on Mycoloth. 4/4
1 Rip-Clan Crasher 2 Sprouting Thrinax
{B}{R}{G}, Creature - Lizard, Uncommon
When Sprouting Thrinax is put into a graveyard to play, put three 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens into play. 3/3
2 Thorn-Thrash Viashino 1 Thunder-Thrash Elder

18 creatures

2 Dragon Fodder
1{R}, Sorcery, Common
Put two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens into play.
1 Obelisk of Jund
3, Artifact, Common
{T}: Add {B},{R}, or {G} to your mana pool.
1 Resounding Thunder
2{R}, Instant, Common
Resounding Thunder deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Cycling 5{B}{R}{G}
When you cycle Resounding Thunder, it deals 6 damage to target creature or player.
2 Shock

6 other spells

Stay tuned for the rest of the intro decks and more spoiler goodness.

Eventide Release

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As far as my performance goes for release tournaments, this was by far the most epic fail I had experienced . . . I lost 3 and won 1 - but only because I was lucky to get a 'bye' due to an odd number of players.

When I left, I was less than satisfied with my pool of cards (1 sealed Shadowmoor tournament pack and 2 Eventide booster packs), and even less satisfied with my ability to pull together a deck that would win at least once.

Once home, I contemplated on the good things that happened that afternoon - I did get a nice foil promo (Figure of Destiny), and I was able to get a few trades done before the tournament - I now have my black-blue Ghastlord deck pretty much complete. After this, I helped myself to several tasty cold carbonated beverages from my fridge and had a second look at my card pool.

I realised that when I build a deck, it takes several days or weeks - this is not the collecting or purchasing of desired cards, just the thoughts about what card synergies obtains the best 'bang for the buck'.

The less-than-adequate deck I put together at the tournament basically enlisted almost anything that was black and green. With a sombre (and much more longer) look at my pool, I can see a lot more possibilities.

Anywho . . . here is what I got ->

RARES
Witherscale Wurm 4 GG Creature - Wurm 9/9 Shadowmoor
Regal Force 4 GGG Creature - Elemental 5/5 Eventide
Worm Harvest 2 {B/G}{B/G}{B/G} Sorcery Eventide
Knollspine Invocation 1 RR Enchantment Shadowmoor
Sunken Ruins Land Shadowmoor

Uncommons
Canker Abomination 2 {B/G}{B/G} Creature - Treefolk Horror 6/6 Eventide
Noxious Hatchling 3 {B/G} Creature - Elemental 6/6 Eventide
Hag Hedge-Mage 2 {B/G} Creature - Hag Shaman 2/2 Eventide
Sturdy Hatchling 3 {G/U} Creature - Elemental 6/6 Eventide
Slinking Giant 2 RR Creature - Giant Rogue 4/4 Shadowmoor
Boggart Ram-Gang {R/G}{R/G}{R/G} Creature - Goblin Warrior 3/3 Shadowmoor
Noggle Ransacker 2 {U/R} Creature - Noggle Rogue 2/1 Eventide
Glamer Spinners 4 {W/U} Creature - Faerie Wizard 2/4 Shadowmoor
Kithkin Rabble 3 W Creature - Kithkin */* Shadowmoor
Inkfathom Witch 1 {U/B} Creature - Merfolk Wizard 1/1 Shadowmoor
Dream Salvage {U/B} Instant Shadowmoor
Lockjaw Snapper 4 Artifact Creature - Scarecrow 2/2 Shadowmoor
Illuminated Folio 5 Artifact Shadowmoor
Trip Noose 2 Mana Artifact Shadowmoor

Here is the mess of commons I received . . .

WHITE
Rune Cervin Rider, Ballynock Cohort, Last Breath (2), Apothocary Initiate, Strip Bare, Cenn's Enlistment
BLUE
Whimwader, Wiulderness Hypotist, Parapet Watchers, Briarberry Cohort, Drowner Initiate
BLACK
Ashenmoor Cohort, Smodering Butcvher, Disturbing Plot, Smolder Inititate
RED
Chaotic Backlash, Hotheaded Giant, Cinder Pyromancer, Rustrazor Butcher, Smash to Smithereens, Flame Jab, Intimidator Inititate, Blistering Dieflyn
GREEN
Wickerbough Elder, Presence of Gond, Toil to Renown, Gleeful Sabotage, Nettle Sentinel
BLACK / WHITE HYBRID
Unmake, Nightsky Mimic, Edge of the Divinity, Nip Gwyllion
BLUE / BLACK HYBRID
Helm of the Ghastlord, Gravelgill Duo, Scarescale Ritual
BLACK / RED HYBRID
Sootwalkers
BLUE / RED HYBRID
Riverfall Mimic, Inside Out, Clout of the Dominus
RED / WHITE HYBRID
Scourge of the Nobilis, Double Cleave, Duergar Assailant
RED / GREEN HYBRID
Morselhoarder, Scuzzback Marauders
GREEN / BLUE HYBRID
Grazing Kelpie (2), Shorecrasher Mimic
GREEN / WHITE HYBRID
Shield of the Oversoul
ARTIFACTS
Thornwatch Scarecrow, Watchwing Scarecrow, Scrapbasket, Hoof Skulkin, Chainbreaker.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that I care for most of these cards and very few will actually make it into any future decks I build . .. BUT having now the time to carefully consider the cards in this pool, I think that I would have built a very different deck.

For tips on building a Shadowmoor / Eventide Sealed deck, see Steve Sadin excellent article titled 'Unsealing Shadowmoor/Eventide' HERE. I truly wish this article was available to read prior to the Release Event . . . it would have saved me a whole lot of frustration.

Deck Types

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As there are 451 magic cards in the Lorwyn block, one would be able to play a multitude of different types of decks constructed around mana colour, card combinations, creature race, or class. Most Magic players enjoy constructing a deck just as much as playing the deck itself.

Whatever you may have strategically incorporated into your magic deck, it may be classified as one of three basic deck types and futhermore into several different subtypes. The three basic types are as follows;

Control Deck - This type of deck contains cards intended to control or interupt your opponents play by a variety of methods such as creature removal or counterspells. The strategy with this sort of deck is restrict your opponent from ever gaining an upper hand and then to produce one or more cards or card combinations to win the game.

Aggro Deck - The name for this deck type is a diminutive for 'aggresive'. As the name suggests, the cards within this deck has been included to deliver the most amount of damage possible. An Aggro deck would typically contain a large amount of creatures which can overwhelm blockers early in the game and begin dealing damage directly to the opponent before they would be able to mount a resistance.

Combo Deck - As you may have guessed, this type of deck uses a combination of cards chosen to deal a large amount of damage to an opponents, often in just a limited number of turns. To be able to bring out the strategic combination of cards quicker, the player often includes cards which allow them to search their library for them. The Lorwyn block provides eight such cards called 'Harbingers'.

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As a singular blog post is insufficient to even attempt to provide exiguous examples of Lorwyn block constructed deck types, I will resign myself to suggesting cards which may lend itself well to these decks.

Control Example: Some colours naturally lend themselves naturally to certain deck types. Blue has traditionally seen itself being considered for inclusion in control-type decks. There are several white and blue Merfolk cards which may be candidates for inclusion in a control deck. One strategy is to 'mill' (from the older Magic card 'Millstone') until all their cards are removed thus winning the game. Some cards to consider here are Drowner of Secrets, Ink Dissolver, Grimoire Thief, and / or Jace Beleren.

















Aggro Example: If you are looking to overwhelm an opponent, there are many cards available which crank out a multitude of tokens which will take care of business. Cards such as Lys Alana Huntmaster, or Elvish Promenade may be considered for this task.









Alternatively, a player may decide to deliver massive hits and include cards with 'trample' which are able to deal damage to their opponent even when blocked. Some examples may include Nova Chaser or Boldwyr Heavyweights.









Combo Example: Some players build a deck around one or two very effective card combinations. Given the size of the Lorwyn Block one can imagine the great number of combinations available. These range from from fairly simple and effective combinations such as coupling Kinsbaile Borderguard and Graceful Reprieve to more complex ones requiring two or more. Another example of a simple and effective combo is Militia's Pride and Dolmen Gate.

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Remember, the deck you decide to build is bounded only by your imagination.