[Article] Unlocking Legacy: Yet Another Junk Deck

[hi-val]

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/14621.html

"Street Science, you're on the air. What do you feel when you hear a record like Tupac's new one?"

"I love Tupac's new record"

"Right, but don't you feel like that creates a tension between East and West? He's talking about killing people, I had sex with your wife and not in those words, he's talking about I wanna see you deceased"

[Bryant Cook]

I just read this article, I didn't bother looking at the cards. I thought it was alright, nothing over the top, but okay.

[scrumdogg]

I liked this one a lot. Acknowledging a deck as a work in progress rather than something Handed Down By God...what a concept. Neat ideas as well & presented well. The list of Legacy non-rare staples is a nice bit of community service as well, even if some of the choices are dubious. Kudos.

[hi-val]

Thanks! I'd like to return to Junk in a later article. I figured I could talk about it being developing when I saw Chapin wrote an entire article on how he made a Rain of Gore deck without RTFC : D

[Phantom]

I really, really liked the article Hival (2 in a row for you in my book, and I'm as shocked as anyone). The list of 100 commons is a fantastic idea, and is really going to help me. Thanks.

Now, I was a little disappointed in the list and discussion. I'm willing to forgive some of it due to lack of time, and just general good will toward writers, especially those not claiming that their deck has descended from on high. Anyway, my biggest question is, "Is this really the meta for regenerators?" I mean, they suck against Goblins and they suck against combo. I guess if 'Goyf decks go nuts, they might be worth it, but the thing that will go nuts with them is board control (and if you believe the Source tourney it already has) and it looks like your deck is wrecked by board control. You seem to suffer from the problem that the old Deadguy builds did, namely that you have one decent clock (and Confidant which is kind of an exception). Your regenerators present a problem when playing control. They either allow them many turns to draw into answers, or force you to over commit to the board. Neither of these seem like ideal situations, especially when you only run 4 discard spells that definitely hit removal (I completely disagree that Verdict is better than Hymn in almost any situation, as long as you ignore mana and life considerations).

Anyway, what I would really like to see is a thorough break down of 'Goyf decks. Variants are springing up all over the place (Deadguy Rock, GAGOMY, Xmas Ale, Goyf/Bob/Dryad Sligh, RedGreenDeath), and everyone is convinced theirs is the best (go Goyf/Bob/Dryad Sligh!). I guess this could be a Adept question (I sort of posed it over there, but not quite) but that would simply be educated guessing. I would really love to see a writer or two and their team hit the numbers hard and find out how these variants compare.

Anyway, once again solid work.

[Solpugid]

I have to say, I'm overjoyed to see spectral lynx in a deck. That guy needs to see more play. Overall I liked the article, but who plays cephalid sage?

[Bovinious]

Cephalid Sage (as a 1-of) is a staple of Ichorid decks, which I suppose would make it good to have.

[Illissius]

I don't really like all these small regenerators despite their apparent advantages, and upon thinking about why, I think it's because they don't actually fill their intended role as damage sources very well. That's why you play creatures, after all. They survive a lot of removal (including your own Deed, which is cute), and do a decent job at containing a Tarmogoyf, but you still need two of them to get in for damage at the same time (and less than half of what that Tarmogoyf would be dealing), and at the end of the day they're just tiny dorks. Your opponent can afford to have one plink away for up to nine turns before doing anything about it. You can either play a small number of large guys, or a large number of small ones, but a small number of small creatures doesn't work out, as you mentioned in the article. I feel like you'd be better off running removal if you want to kill Tarmogoyfs, or bigger creatures if you want to kill your opponent, rather than the regenerators which are mediocre at either task. Purely on first impressions, the deck overall seems like a weaker version of Hanni's Rockguy. It doesn't have Dark Rituals, for one thing.

Regarding Unearth, Atwa has suggested Reanimates, which are liable to steal completely ridiculous shit out of your opponent's graveyards (Mystic Enforcer, Razormane Masticore, Eternal Dragon -- these things happen), in addition to reviving your own Goyf or Bob. I want to make a Tarmgoyf deck with Burning Wishes to fetch Reanimate, to circumvent its potential lack of usefulness at times, and this approach certainly seems less underwhelming than the Cycling :2: on Unearth.

Regarding the Verdict vs. Hymn debate, I'd be inclined to trot out the standard "if you're facing a bad player, you should win regardless, and it'll bite you when you actually face a good one" argument, but thanks to the whole hidden information aspect, if you can trick or bluff them into discarding the wrong cards by being a better player yourself, I suppose it might be debatable. Given that Hymn is flat out better against single minded decks, though, and even against hybrid ones it's debatable at best, I would still not hesitate to pick Hymn if the mana were not an issue.

[C.P.]

The uncommon list has some commons (Exhume, Counterspell) and some things that deserves attention are missing(Samurai of Pale Curtain, Ghostly Prison, Smother, ETC), but well done otherwise. I used to be a fan of PT junk, and I'm glad to see a effort to bring it back.

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

24 mana sources seems excessive. Perhaps drop it and add some Sensei's Divining Tops to smooth out draws and work with Confidant?

With 16 creatures, I'm tempted to want to add 2 or so more and throw in Jitte also.

I'm also not sure that Verdicts are worth it with only 4 Duress to supplement it. Therapy might simply be better, especially if the above-mentioned creature added was Witness, although you might want more beef like Hierarch, who also has synergy with Deed.

A pretty good article. I liked the list of uncommons, even if you skipped over Elephant Grass.

[Eldariel]

I found the article very much worth reading. The list of uncs-to-get looks handy (although if you include some other commons, might as well toss Lightning Bolt, Fireblast and Chain Lightning in as no-brainers in red) and the deck is a road that hasn't been talked much in Legacy but certainly appears to have some promise. Hymn looks like the better option still due to its improved efficiency against the combo-decks that are by no means a bye for you, while being about as good against aggro/control decks.

For some reason I'd want to see Eternal Witness in there in some quantities, but meh. I guess it's just I'm obsessed with that card in anything Rocky. Anyhow, props to you, your articles have definitely become very pleasant to read.

[Nihil Credo]

I believe that Vindicate is a mediocre card in the current Legacy format. It is not enough to gain a LD-tempo edge by itself, and as removal it will cost you a lot of tempo.

After quite a bit of playing with BWG "good stuff" decks (Rockin' Funkbrew and the like), I believe that there are two possible directions to lead the deck towards, and that trying to stay in the middle will only end up in a subpar deck.

The first one is to make the land- and hand-destruction a focal point of the list, and then rely on cheap beaters (Goyf first of all) to finish the opponent. This strategy is essentially a slower Red Death, except one that doesn't scoop in the face of an opposing Tarmogoyf. The best incarnation at the moment seems to be Hanni's B/w/g Rockguy (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6238), an evolution of Deadguy Ale that can actually kill the opponent.

The second direction is to capitalize on the inherent superiority of your creatures and removal, the classic Handleman school of deckbuilding. This leads to completely ignoring tempo* and relying on threats that, unlike Tarmogoyf, are practically guaranteed to be able to close the game by themselves. The deck I'm thinking about is IBA's Truffle Shuffle (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3816), a deck which I believe many are familiar with. After all, if it's turn 8, the board is clean and your opponent is out of creatures, would you rather play a Tarmogoyf or a Gigapede?



* More specifically: trying to slow down the entire game's tempo to a crawl, where your power cards can express themselves. "Ignoring tempo" seems to imply that you autolose to decks that do care about tempo.

[hi-val]

Thanks for the feedback! Junk is, I think, a metagame deck. I hate to say that but the 2cc regenerators will work best when facing other aggro control. The Midwest is full of it right now; a recent Mox tournament in Michigan had something like 14 Thresh-like decks out of 28 players.

Spatula, I sorely want Jitte in the deck. On something like a River Boa, it's pretty unfair. I actually had a train of thought that involved things like Curiosity on beaters, miming old U/G Fish decks from back in Vintage time. Regarding mana sources, I agree as well; I had been looking at Tithe in particular as a deck thinner. With Deed and Vindicate, I can't cheat so far down on my mana like Threshold does, but I think it's safe to drop between 1 and 3 sources for more goods in the deck.

Another point of discussion is Engineered Explosives versus Deed. Nihil, maybe EE is the Vindicate replacement?

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

What do you mainly use the Deeds for? What situations?

[Nihil Credo]

Another point of discussion is Engineered Explosives versus Deed. Nihil, maybe EE is the Vindicate replacement?
Wholeheartedly agree. I wrote this in June in the Rockin' Funkbrew thread:


Going back to Moczoc's pre-Wish build the deck performed much better, but at times it still got mana-choked, chiefly because of the need to keep regeneration mana up for the Lynxes and boas. This was most annoying when wanted to kill some creatures without also losing my own: to that end, I cut the expensive Vindicate from the removal suite, replacing it with a mixture of Engineered Explosives and Diabolic Edicts. Reasons for the cut are: 1) Over two thirds of the time, I just needed creature removal, and I wasn't willing to pay 1WB for that; 2) There aren't that many "must-answer" expensive artifacts or enchantments in the format, so 4 Deed are more than enough to answer them; 3) All too often, Engineered Explosives is actually cheaper than Vindicate, since I can spread the cost over two turns, thereby allowing me to keep regeneration mana open or swing with Monastery; 4) Capitalizing on mana denial was rarely, if ever, a viable game plan.

[hi-val]

I think I'll test up Explosives alongside Deed. Spatula, I think Deed is there for reinforcing the plan of just dropping one guy and holding steady with it. It's a reliable reset button and there's this huge fear factor involved with the card. It's way slow but people seem to stop playing anything when Deed is on the board, so it's at least good for virtual tempo. I sometimes think that it's too slow for the deck; I'm not sold on it, to say the least.

Nihil, interesting points. Vindicate was really good when Junk existed in Extended because there were no fetchlands then; you really could put the screw on people with it and Wasteland. Now, I'm not so sure. Manabases are built better and it's harder to lock people out of a color. I like being able to blow up stuff like Humility with Vindicate as well.

Finally, Monastery is interesting. What was your final evaluation of it? I'd like something like Monastery or Treetop Village in the deck to up the threat density and play nice with Deed/EE.

[Bane of the Living]

"If you have friends that draft, they will probably just give you a Flame-Kin Zealot or two, and that can be critical when you switch to playing a Dredge deck. "

This was my favorite part, great job Doug.

[Eldariel]

Thanks for the feedback! Junk is, I think, a metagame deck. I hate to say that but the 2cc regenerators will work best when facing other aggro control. The Midwest is full of it right now; a recent Mox tournament in Michigan had something like 14 Thresh-like decks out of 28 players.

Spatula, I sorely want Jitte in the deck. On something like a River Boa, it's pretty unfair. I actually had a train of thought that involved things like Curiosity on beaters, miming old U/G Fish decks from back in Vintage time. Regarding mana sources, I agree as well; I had been looking at Tithe in particular as a deck thinner. With Deed and Vindicate, I can't cheat so far down on my mana like Threshold does, but I think it's safe to drop between 1 and 3 sources for more goods in the deck.

Another point of discussion is Engineered Explosives versus Deed. Nihil, maybe EE is the Vindicate replacement?

If you're saying this in regards to the combo-match, I think you've got a playable combo match-up already since you have Warrens-answer and Duress, but Hymn over Verdict could probably push it further away from a one-sided bloodbath. EE would be another card that would further help here; having a large number of MD answers to Warrens really helps those critical G1s.

[n00bas4urus_r3x]

First off, pretty decent article. I too dinked around with Funkbrew right as 'goyf came out and thought he was fantastic in it. I agree with Nihil, that Vindicate is just too expensive for creature removal, which it often is. I'd suggest a Darkblast/EE split. Darkblast has worked out really well for me, and this deck needs more than 4 solutions to a first turn lackey on the draw. Plus, you get the ever broken play of darkblasting a first turn 1/1, dredging, and playing a tarmogoyf. Overall, I've been unimpressed with river boa and spectral lynx. They're too damn weak to really put any pressure on as Illissius pointed out, and they die way to easily. My current list is running 4 Dark Confidant, 4 'goyf, 4 Troll Ascetic and 2 Mystic Enforcer.

As for the mana base, I'm not quite sold on moxen. Nuking your mana base on a deed isn't very pleasent. I'm not sure on the man lands either. I tried monestary for a while, and while it was nice, some mana issues came up. This deck is very mana intensive, and a colorless producer can screw you in some situations. Treetop Village might be worth a shot.

[Nihil Credo]

When I played Rocking Funkbrew, Monastery (as a 3-of) contributed to my wins more often than not. Even without Life from the Loam, it was very rarely killed; this is because regenerators and Hierarchs tend to attract Swords to Plowshares like flies to honey. Once their StP are out of their hands, they'd realize they have no way to kill Monastery: it's immune or resilient to burn, EE, Wrath, Deed, and blockers smaller than 4/5 (read: other than 'Goyf). In the end, it only died to land destruction, topdecked StPs, and before-blockers-are-declared-cycle-Incinerator.

For reference, here's the deck as I last ran it before abandoning it:

// Lands
4 [PR] Bayou
3 [PR] Scrubland
2 [PR] Savannah
3 [UNH] Swamp
1 [UNH] Forest
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
2 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
1 [UNH] Plains
3 [JU] Nantuko Monastery
1 [SH] Volrath's Stronghold

// Creatures
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant
4 [AP] Spectral Lynx
2 [VI] River Boa
3 [RAV] Loxodon Hierarch
3 [PLC] Hedge Troll

// Spells
4 [AP] Pernicious Deed
4 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
4 [GP] Castigate
4 [PR] Duress
2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
2 [TE] Diabolic Edict

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 [TE] Diabolic Edict
SB: 1 [RAV] Darkblast
SB: 3 [TSB] Withered Wretch
SB: 4 [7E] Engineered Plague
SB: 3 [PR] Cabal Therapy
SB: 2 [PLC] Extirpate

Oh, looking at this old list made me remember one thing: Castigate is miles better than Verdict here. Aside from the obvious implications against all forms of recursion (from Survival to LftL), because of the large amount of board power in the deck, I wasn't usually afraid of most of my opponents' hand, only of some specific cards. Examples: I could deal with double Mongoose, but it was the Counterbalance that I really, really wanted to see in the graveyard. I could eventually punch through those Wraths and Humilities, but the Crucible of Worlds just had to go. And so on.

In other words, I found out I needed an improved Duress for WB more than I needed a slightly improved Mind Rot for WB.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

Another deck that abuses Tarmogoyf, woo-hoo.

I liked the list of cards with two exceptions; What deck uses Psionic Blast? and; Sea Drake is barely an uncommon.

[thefreakaccident]

I don't get the fuss... the deck is funkbrew, plain and simple... albeit a lowsy build, but still funkbrew.

Funkbrew is an awesome deck, perhapes you guys could check it out... it's in the N&D (although jake has been working on it for years).

The guy has simply thought up of something team funk thought up years ago... the deck just got even better with the addition of Tarmogoyf, which is now being run as a four of.

Wasteland is terrible in the deck btw, he should be running nantuko monastary.

[The Rack]

First of all this isn't another Tarmogoyf deck, it was created long before Tarmogoyf was printed and even before Dark Confidant. The deck utilizes these cards as additional strength to the deck. Secondly, I took many ideas from many B/W/G decks and PT Junk was the main one. The power of regenerate is pretty underrated in this format and PT Junk puts the ability as its strong point. This isn't a Junk deck but it is derived from the original extended build. I really don't want to derail this thread so please let me know if you want me to take off this primer. It's a more stream lined version of funkbrew so here it is. Thanks

Rockin Funkbrew!

History:

Here is a brief history of the deck. I began Magic a few years ago and was always obsessed with the discard mechanic. I began to play a monoblack discard deck. (I know you are all wondering how this relates, but it does.) The deck sucked crap at the beginning but then placed between 8-12 regularly in a tournament held of 35-50. I worked on it for about 3-4 months until I accumulated a big enough cardpool to play competitive Legacy. I shelled out 40 for some Bayous and grabbed some Overgrown Tombs from some friends. The deck became B/G Discard. I put some neat green stuff like Deed and Witness. With the inclusion of Ravnica I added in some Putrefies. The deck then placed regularly between 4-10. A big improvement from when I started. My friend’s signature deck is a Braid’s LD deck that’s pretty nasty so I took some ideas from it and threw in some Vindicates and StPs. I recently have bought a play set of the Duals I need and am finally playing the deck in real life (instead of lame proxies or MWS). I’ve looked at so many BGW lists it’s kind of disgusting. I grabbed aspects from all of them and threw it into this pet deck of mine. Here’s all the decks I’ve checked out.


The Deck


// Lands
1 - Forest (3)
1 - Plains (3)
1 - Swamp (4)
1 - Bloodstained Mire
4 - Windswept Heath
4 - Bayou
4 - Scrubland
2 - Savannah
2 - Nantuko Monastery
1 - Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

// Creatures
4 - Dark Confidant
2 - River Boa
2 - Mire Boa
4 - Spectral Lynx
4 - Tarmogoyf

// Spells
3 - Pernicious Deed
3 - Glittering Wish
3 - Vindicate
3 - Darkblast
4 - Swords to Plowshares
4 - Duress
4 - Hymn to Tourach

// Sideboard
SB: 4 - Engineered Plague
SB: 3 – Krosan Grip
SB: 1 - Pernicious Deed
SB: 1 - Vindicate
SB: 1 - Gerrard's Verdict
SB: 1 - Mystic Enforcer
SB: 1 - Loxodon Hierarch
SB: 1 - Dueling Grounds
SB: 1 - Grave-Shell Scarab
SB: 1 - Castigate



CARD EXPLANATIONS

Disruption:
Duress- So with the decks weaker matchups such as MUC and MBC this card adds a lot to the deck. It is a very strong card against ANY control deck along with so many combo decks. It can basically be a Time Walk in your favor if used in a correct time. The timing to play this card is at best 1st turn and basically whenever you are in topdeck and need to take a peek at the opponents hand. The card has been switched out with Funeral Charm for the versatility but the effectiveness of Duress has held it a spot in this deck.

Hymn to Tourach- Ok so pretty much one of the greatest tempo cards made in the game. A Hymn coming down turn 2 is very powerful against ANY deck. This card also adds a lot of bluffing for the deck, i.e. if you played a turn two hymn last game against a blue control deck, they will save that counterspell for that Hymn so that meanwhile I can bluff in a few critters and get some points away from them. The double black was at first an issue, but the manabase is very very stable now so about 90% of the time you will have mana open for it. A truly great card against Control, Aggro, and Combo.

Removal:
Vindicate- The most efficient removal for anything in the game. It takes out the pesky manlands, Solidaritys precious Islands, Goblins Vials and Warchiefs, and Thresholds Werebears and completely wrecks their manabase. It is so effective that there is ALWAYS a target it can hit. It’s never dead. In the combo matchup, it hits those Belchers, lands, and Moxen. The aggro matchup it’s slow but still a great topdeck late game. It is simply a must have in all BW decks, too versatile to not have in here.

Swords to Plowshares- This is simply THE BEST creature kill in the entire game. It takes care of anything and everything. It sometimes comes in handy against matchups like Burn and Combo. I can always sac a creature for one W to gain enough life to survive, not too bad. The reason there are only three in here is because I simply value the third Vindicate over the 4th StP. Plain and simple. If you have a convincing enough argument to make the split 4:2 then let me know.

Pernicious Deed- So the best board sweeper in the game. The deck is basically built around this card. The regeneration and manlands are very synergistic with Deed. Vindicate backs up the Game 1 P Needle and helps keep it out. Deed is so phenomenal in here, it honestly changes games in an instant. A late game topdeck is usually better than a Standstill. It keeps the opponents at bay and allows you to finish them with quick beats.

Darkblast- At first I was a bit skeptical of the uses it has in here but has proven very useful. It can kill MMs naming StP and basically keeps Goblins under my reigns. The redundancy of the Dredge is very ridiculous when you need to pick up some thresh for the House. It takes care of manlands and a lot of other little threats that can be hazardous. Definitely a surprise card, because the fact that close to no decks play this card. It can be very powerful.


Utility:
Glittering Wish – This card adds sooo much to the power of this deck. It creates awesome condistency while giving you a Dirt-like wishboard for only 2 mana. I really like the variety the wish adds to the deck. It really was the card that this deck needed. For only 2 mana you can get a fatty, a discard spell, removal, and a goblin hoser. What else needs to be said?

Critters:
Dark Confidant- The main card engine in the deck. If it stays for about 2 turns it can change games. The fact that it beats turn three and block turn two is big too. It adds a lot the deck didn’t have before it came in. Night’s Whisper has been tried along with Phyrexian Furnace, but neither have stood there ground as well as Confidant. It chump blocks and creates advantage, a great card in this deck.

Spectral Lynx- Lynx, and Boas are the best 2 drops for these colors. Lynx makes Threshold a very easy matchup and reads “Protection from Threshold” when I play them. The regenerate is very synergistic with deed and creates a lot of pressure right after a popped deed. It only regenerates for B, which I ALWAYS have open and usually comes down turn two.

River Boa- River Boa is almost the same purpose as Spectral Lynx as it also walks right in the front door to threshold and greatly helps the MUC matchup. If it resolves it usually goes for broke. The regenerate adds more synergy with deed and creates pressure after a pop. The G regenerate cost is usually always open and adds some tricks during the combat step.

Mire Boa- Almost identical to River Boa except the fact that this helps out the Deadguy Ale, MBC, and Suicide matchups a lot. It provides the same exact pressure as River Boa and Spectral Lynx after a popped deed. It adds yet more synergy with deed and creates the must get rid of soon fell for the opponent.

Tarmogoyf – This deck was made long before the introduction of Tarmogoyf into this format so don’t think it is based around this deck at all. Tarmo’ utilizes all potentials of it being a 6/7 when deed hits and Engineered Explosives pops. It’s a great addition and more so a great distraction to opponents. I love watching them go through loops to get rid of it so I Wish for the game ending fatty.

Lands:
Nantuko Monastery- Why run 2 manlands? The answer is simple, it’s huge. This isn’t Mishra’s Factory, it is much much bigger and better. The threshold is never a hard thing to reach and even in tight situations, I can dredge Darkblasts for some Thresh. The main thing about House is that it has First Strike, this ability is sooo huge in the Goblins matchup, threshold, UWB Fish, Suicide, and sooo many more. I have beaten decks singlehandedly with this card before. So badly in fact that they sideboarded in graveyard hate to keep my thresh gone. That’s saying something.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth – This was a fetchland but I realized it would much better if I could go turn 1 Basic turn two Hymn. It has saved me in games where I wouldn’t have one without it such as games when my opponents got the black lands off the board and I could topdeck this into a ded or hymn. It’s a very powerful land.

The rest of the lands are self explanatory.

Side Board:
Pernicious Deed – This adds some consistency to the deck being deed 4-7. I rarely wish this up unless its an absolute neccessity so that I can always have a out to everything.

Vindicate – This adds some more consistency and gives another out to anything. I really like the versatility this card adds in some matchups that deed won’t take care of. This can take care of some big dudes and some game ending cards.

Gerrard’s Verdict – This is added consistency against any deck that can generate card advantage quickly. I occasionally get the 6 life from a bluffer who sandbags lands, but I usually use it to rip apart combo or control hands. Life is always a bonus too.

Mystic Enforcer – This is my Go-To Guy. He’s the strongest beater and has awesome evasion. Thresh is easily acquired in this deck and he is always a 6/6 Flying Pro Black for me. The pro black is awesome against Pikula by the way. He’s a strong dude in here.

Loxodon Heirarch – Incase I get in some tight situations with Goblins and especially against burn. It acts as a strong body and can block just about anything in the format. It even regenerates my other dudes. The combo with this and StP is awesome in the red matchups. A great card in the SB.

Dueling Grounds – An awesome Goblin hoser. This really helps out the matchup because it gives you a lock with a regenerate creature on the board. Post board it gives you a hard lock with regen and needle on Siege Gang Commander. It is more of a stall tactic till I get superior board position. I really like this card against Goblins.

Grave-Shell Scarab – I really like this guy. I always wish for him against any deck with white because it bugs the heck out of the control player. Late game I can sometimes swing for 4 then sac it and drop it untapped. The dredge works out with the Tarmo but that really isnt the reason hes in here.

Castigate – This card is searched out before Verdict on some occasions against the combo matchup. It really gets that meat card out of their hand and buys a few turns. I like the RFG effect of it also. It’s a really strong addition to the Wish Board.

Engineered Plague – This really helps out the Goblin and Sliver matchups. 2 Plagues on either spell gg with added removal. I usually Side Board out the Duress for these and another card I don’t think need be. A better game against Goblins is always good.

Krosan Grip – This is the meta slot. Grip is a house in San Diego due to all the Survival, Scepter Chant, Tormod’s Crypt, and all the sideboard tech that other aggro control decks bring in against me. I also use Pithing Needle and Engineered Explosives in the same Sideboard slot.

MATCHUPS


GOBLINS-

- Preboard 50/50. You have swords to plowshares, dark blasts, deed, and a lot of discard. Discard will break down the tempo and dark blasts and stps will stop a first turn lackey. Your creatures that regenerate will also help you out in this match able to block anything that goblins throws at you is key to winning the match. Deed will help clear the board of goblins if it gets too ugly in favor of the goblin player. I would also recommend to drop Tarmogoyfs as quickly as possible because they don’t die as 4/5s. Glittering Wish creates a soft lock down with Dueling grounds and can grab a Pernicious Deed.
-3 Duress
-1 Mire Boa

+4 Engineered Plague


- Postboard 60/40 in favor of funkbrew against goblins. I would recommend sideboarding all four of your engineered Plagues in this matchup and your pithing needles for Aether Vial, Siege Gang Commander, Wasteland, and Rishadan Port. Plague is really good in here in addition to Darkblasts.Because Ringleader adds so much game changing card advantage you should apply as much pressure to the goblin player as soon as possible. I usually wish for a Heirarch to create a life bumper bettween you and the goblin player. Dueling Grounds, a regen, and Pithing Needle is a hard lock against goblins also.



THRESHOLD-

-Preboard 60/40. Funkbrew has a much stronger threat density than Threshold. With the addition of Tarmogoyf in their arsenal it makes Darkblast that much more important in this matchup. Spetral Lynx is a 4 of because of Threshold and River Boa makes a very nice walker on my side of the board. You can deed away the mongooses and Tarmogoyfs are easily dealt with 4 StP, D Blast with my Tarmo, Deed, Vindicate, anfd Glittering Wish for other fatties. You want to watch out for the stifles so try to rip their hand apart before deed activation if at all possible. I personally Hymn turn 2 right into the daze because it gives yourself to set up a deed or vindicate on their land turn 3. Monastery can also block Mongeese and make combat tricks with darkblast too.

I really don;t want this to be a Funkbrew discussion and am just putting out a list to further help the discussion of PT Junk.

[hi-val]

Other solutions for increasing threat density include Call of the Herd. It doesn't do much for Goblins, though. What about Lose Hope in contrast with Darkblast? I'd also been thinking a little about Contagion, since it'll ruin a heck of a lot of creatures. Another tantalizing 4-drop is Okiba-Gang Shinobi, but I'm unsure of whether it accomplishes what you want the deck to do.

I need to put further testing into Tithe; it's unglamorous but it's another turn-1 play, which the deck is unfortunately bereft of.

Sacul Kamadaka, Faerie Stompy runs/ran Blast, and it's also good in the U/G Goyf deck that nobody has built yet and only exists in portions of my brain : D

thefreakaccident, perhaps you haven't heard of the deck from the 2001-2002 Extended season called PT Junk. While originally GW, it later ran black for Duress, Deed, Vindicate and Verdict. This deck is a close analogue to that. Legacy adaptations of Junk had no influence in my (albeit preliminary) list.

And Counterspell was, at one point, uncommon : )

[Mister Agent]

Not to mention Funkbrew has a good game versus combo such as TES and Cret belcher. Also yes i agree with my teammates that the list in the article looks very similar to funkbrew there is no buts about it. I would strongly consider funkbrew at gencon as well as I think it has good matchups against most of the field.

[The Rack]

Other solutions for increasing threat density include Call of the Herd. It doesn't do much for Goblins, though. What about Lose Hope in contrast with Darkblast? I'd also been thinking a little about Contagion, since it'll ruin a heck of a lot of creatures. Another tantalizing 4-drop is Okiba-Gang Shinobi, but I'm unsure of whether it accomplishes what you want the deck to do.

I need to put further testing into Tithe; it's unglamorous but it's another turn-1 play, which the deck is unfortunately bereft of.

Call of the Herd looks interesting but as you mentioned it doesn;t add a heck of a lot against goblins. Nantuko Monastery by itself has made people board in Leylines against me just to get rid of it (long before Goyf was here). Last Gasp does look interesting but what does it kill that a Darkblast on the upkeep and then dredging it back cant? It is a 1 drop which you said the deck is lacking and it recurs against goblins. Contagion is good but is it good enough as a 2 for 3 at best case scenario (bearing that you have to remove a black card because 5 is a little high) It doesn't work well with confidant and frankly I'd rather run Plague before I ran contagion. Gang could be good but the mana cost is tough, and I'm not sure if I'd rather have that over say Mystic Enforcer or Loxodon Heirarch. Now Tithe is something I have not tested and think I will now. I have no idea what would be dropped for it but it does add awesome deck thinning and a good tempo on the draw.

[Solpugid]

Tithe, I think, is too slow for junk-style decks. It doesn't affect the board or hand, so I doubt it will be any good. The idea of lose hope over darkblast in the decks that run it is an interesting one. It bypasses unneeded lands, and makes confidant less painful. I need to go test it in a deck.

[Mister Agent]

I actually agree with solpugid about tithe especially in a deck like this. Dark confidant and fetchlands already provide the same role as tithe but in a more convient way in my opinion. Although if your going to use tithe why not just use Sakura Tribe Elder instead besides they can be used as goblin lackey chump blocking and such. Just some thoughts though.