If any of you want to discuss the deck on Skype, PM me and I'll think about adding you.
Here's the text version. I'll be making this pretty later once I double-check the Standard forum rules. You know, adding images, autocard links, and the like.
Special thanks to Nerubian, the original author of the Junk Tokens primer, as well as all the prolific posters in his thread. They gave me a lot of suggestions for writing this. Props to DNC for all the banner-work.
What is Junk Tokens?
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Junk Tokens is a midrange deck that seeks to overwhelm the opponent with massive numbers of token creatures backed by Intangible Virtue. Though tokens variants have historically been aggressive decks, this iteration of the archetype normally focuses on grinding the game out with threats resilient to removal.
Every variant has its own pros and cons. Though Bant, Dega, Raka, and other combinations give you more power, Junk gives you a lot of flexibility. The metagame is really unstable right now, and I feel it's best to strike the best balance between speed and efficiency when it comes to answers.
Fair warning before we get into the meat of the primer. This is a HIGHLY skill intensive deck and will punish you for even the smallest mistakes. Do not take this to a large event unless you have played at least fifty matches with it--preferably a hundred. You need a grasp on every nuance of this deck in order to play it well enough.
DECK CONSTRUCTION
The Core
These cards should always be in your 75 somewhere, preferably in your 60.
Intangible Virtue - Quite possibly the best anthem ever printed for Tokens. This card is the deck's lynch pin, turning our Haunts/Souls into mini-Serra Angels. You rarely want to make a large attack without this card on the table.
Quantity: 4 main
Lingering Souls - The best oneshot token producer in Standard. This is four tokens for one card that can be played just about anywhere on the curve.
Quantity: 4 main
Selesnya Charm - The best charm in the format, and we perhaps make the best use of it. As a buff spell, this can save our Centaur tokens from Searing Spear and the like. As removal, this kills pretty much every midrange or control finisher we care about (the only messy cards this doesn't hit are Sigarda and a Rancor'd Sliverblade Paladin.) As a token, a 2/2 with flash and vigilance built in is excellent. I find myself using the token mode a lot against the generic deck, but in specific matchups, you'll usually have a mode in mind.
After Gatecrash, Burning-Tree Emissary has caused the removal mode of Selesnya Charm to be much less useful maindeck. It's still awesome against midrange and control, but not every aggro deck will have a target for it.
Quantity: 2-4 main, 0-2 side
Call of the Conclave - A 3/3 on turn 2 walls or 2-for-1s so many aggro decks right now. They either have to swing over the top of it, remove it, or cry. This is easily our best 2-drop--I'd play this before any other 2-drop in hand. Our best populate target for Trostani.
Quantity: 4 main
Midnight Haunting - Usually this is two surprise 2/2s. This makes the aggro deck respect open 2W, and really upsets combat math if you dropped a Virtue last turn. This is also very good Wrath insurance, putting 4 or even 6 power on the board against control. In certain metas, this is not a 4-of in the main, but should always be 4 copies between your main and side.
Quantity: 2-4 main, 0-2 side
Gavony Township - Another anthem, and a repeatable anthem at that. This is a total headache for control, making you able to swing for 6 after a Wrath, and making every threat you cast must-answer. You should run at least one, but play more of these in a control heavy meta.
Quantity: 1-3 main, 0-1 side
Vault of the Archangel - Turns all your creatures into mini-Wurmcoil Engines. This card just flat-out WINS against aggro, making it just about impossible for them to make a profitable attack. Generally, you do not want to activate it on your turn unless you absolutely need the life. You should run at least one, but play more of these in an aggro heavy meta.
Quantity: 1-3 main, 0-1 side
The Rest
These are cards to consider in your 60. I'm going to be sorting them by role in the deck.
Continuous Token Production
Garruk Relentless - His day side is better for us, spitting out bigger bodies and able to act as removal once, but his night side is good, as well. If you play this guy, you may want to consider running some 1-ofs to fetch with his -1 ability. His ultimate is completely irrelevant, but most decks can't let him stick around making a 2/2 or a deathtouch body every turn.
Rating: {#####}
Quantity: 2-3 main
Garruk, Primal Hunter - Ugh, this guy is so expensive. Five mana is a lot, but he does so much for you. Spitting out a 3/3 every turn is excellent, probably at its best when midrange or control taps out for a sweep. Typically what you do with this guy is +1 to make a Beast, then -3 to Tidings. He's basically an "after Wrath" card. GGG can be an issue, but I find the bigger issue is the five mana. Better in decks that play dorks.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 0-2 main, 0-2 side
Precinct Captain - WW on turn 2 is hard. Don't get me wrong, this guy has merit in an aggro-heavy meta. The problem is he isn't buffed by Virtue, and he can be Pillar'd. The first strike is really good; the issue is our 2-slot is already full, and squeezing in another 2-drop just saturates the curve. He's at his best against W/x aggro, as he trades with Thalia. He's definitely a good sideboard card, and incredibly powerful alongside Vault.
Rating: {### } Quantity: 3 side
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Our BEST continuous token producer. Lifelink is HIGHLY relevant with aggro decks everywhere, and against midrange decks (ESPECIALLY Jund) he's an anthem that cannot be interacted with at all. If you're playing against a deck with Dreadbore or lots of permanent removal, you'll want to -2 him right away to make sure you get as much value out of him as possible. Even when you -2 him, Jund STILL has to spend a card dealing with him. The ultimate is relevant, too--with your wall of vigilant attackers, it's realistic to threaten his -6 and just win.
Rating: {#####}
Quantity: 3 main
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - Trostani is disgusting. She is such a house against aggro. She's a 2/5 so she deters x/2s, and she profitably blocks undying Geralf's Messeger. About the only creature removal that gets her is morbid Brimstone Volley/morbid Tragic Slip. She dodges Mizzium Mortars, she dodges Ultimate Price, she dodges Rancor+Selesnya Charm, she dodges Pillar of Flame...she's a real pain to kill. GGWW on turn 4 is tough, but not so much on turn 5, when she's arguably better. Turn 4 you're probably dropping a planeswalker, so you can play her on turn 5, +1 to make a dork and gain life, and maybe have W open to protect her if you're playing Faith's Shield.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 1-3 main, 1-2 side
Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage - Nerubian's pet card. She was very good before Pillar of Flame became popular, but I think she's marginal at best right now. I feel she's pretty strong with Call of the Conclave, and definitely good in the dork/Farseek versions. Only play her in a very specialized version of Tokens. She seems like a sideboard card for control if you feel you need it.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 2-3 main, 0-2 side
Wayfaring Temple - Do not play this unless you are playing a more aggressive version. He's a huge guy for 1GW, and he screams build-around-me with Geist-Honored Monk. With no evasion whatsoever, you need Rancor for him to do his job at all. He encourages overexending. He's an awful topdeck, especially after a sweep. He's very good in aggressive versions of Tokens, but if you want to play aggro, there are just better decks.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 3-4 maindeck
One-Shot Token Production
Armada Wurm - Not a fan. At six mana we want to play Collective Blessing and only Collective Blessing. I guess you could try it in a tokens/ramp hybrid deck, but I feel its best purpose is as a 1-of to fetch with Garruk.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 1 main
Doomed Traveler - Good vs. aggro on paper as it comes down early and blocks twice. In practice, though, it gets Pillar'd and just becomes an awful topdeck late game. Its only real use right now is in the Cartel/Artist/Orzhov Charm package, in which case Traveler is very good. I also don't like that you take 2 life to play it when it's relevant.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 4 main
Entreat the Angels - This card is, simply put, awful outside of UWx control. I've heard of some discussion of it as a randomly-win-the-game 1-of finisher, but I don't like the idea of relying on a Miracle topdeck, especially when we have so many instant-speed tricks. You can't realistically hardcast this for more than 2, either.
Rating: {# }
Quantity: 1 main
Gather the Townsfolk - This card just sucks with our current curve. We have more than enough 2-drops already. It's only good in decks that play Champion of the Parish. This isn't one of them.
Rating: {# }
Quantity: 3-4 main
Geist-Honored Monk - This girl actually doesn't seem bad against the Rancor decks that try to go over the top. Unlike Wayfaring Temple, she comes with two 1/1 Spirits, so she's automatically 5 power for 5 mana minimum. Useful in the version with dorks, but even with no dorks, she's fine as a 1-of to find with Garruk.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 1-3 main
Grove of the Guardian - I've seen this replacing Gavony Township in populate-heavy lists, but I don't like it. You already must have a board presence to use it, and I feel you have to count it as a spell and not a land when building your deck. If you play it, you have to run Trostani and Rootborn Defenses in your main.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 1 main
Thragtusk - I expect to get a lot of hate for this, but I do not like Thragtusk in here. I'm not arguing that Thragtusk is a really strong card. Before you guys yell at me, I'm going to explain WHY I do not like him. Think about the matchups you want Thragtusk in. Aggro, right? Well, aggro right now is so fast they they can often kill you before you play Thragtusk. If you're on the draw, the 5 life and single body don't matter--their Hellrider, Thundermaw Hellkite, or massive Rancor'd guy is going to kill you next turn anyway. Thrag is good against control, as well, but our matchup against control is already strong. I feel the deckspace is better filled by cards that actually help our bad matchups. He's better if you play Farseek/dorks, but dorks are just so vulnerable in the aggro matchup, and we want to spend turn 2 playing a blocker, not ramping.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 0 or 4 main, 0-3 side
Removal
Abrupt Decay - This is a really strong card. Against aggro, it handles any threat our Selesnya Charms can't, except maybe Hellrider. You can also generally use this to defend against Rancor. Against control, it's a nightmare for them, as they generally point their Detention Spheres at our planeswalkers, and cannot counter it to prevent us from having our planeswalker back. It's also good at defending tokens against Sever the Bloodline. It kinda sucks against midrange--the only thing it hits in Jund is their keyrunes and maybe Vampire Nighthawk. If you're going to play spot removal, this should be the first card you consider.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 3-4 main, 0-1 side
Erase - Strictly for dealing with Rancor. There's a lot less Rancor going around right now, but if you're scared of it still, run this card in your board.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 3 side
Golgari Charm - Some people like this as an answer to Bonfire of the Damned that has other modes, but I find the -1/-1 mode pretty much useless unless you have a Virtue, at which point you're probably already winning. Play 4 Abrupt Decay before you start considering this. If you're concerned about Illness in the Ranks or Bant Enchant in your local meta, play it over Rootborn Defenses.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 0-3 between main and side
Merciless Eviction - A more flexible Wrath than Terminus at the cost of being unable to Miracle against aggro. If you're looking for a flexible answer to late-game artifacts and things like Tamiyo, you can run it over Terminus. I still think Miracle is important enough to run Terminus over this, though.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 2-3 side
Murder - Murder looks really bad on paper, but consider this: What are you trying to kill that Abrupt Decay doesn't handle? Restoration Angel. Olivia Voldaren. Thundermaw Hellkite. They're all 4+ drops. Let's face it. The two-mana removal in this format is very narrow given the creatures being played in this format. You'll almost always have to take 2 to cast Victim of Night, and Ultimate Price is just bad with the overflow of gold creatures running amok. As it turns out, Decay handles most of the problematic gold creatures out there. I feel it's worth paying one extra mana for the added flexibility, especially for things like Obzedat that can cause major problems otherwise.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 2-4 between main and side
Oblivion Ring - A three-mana get out of jail free card, basically. It's a fine card, but I personally am not a fan of it because we should be developing board position on turn 3 rather than answering a problem permanent. Sorcery speed hurts, and there is a LOT of enchantment removal running around in sideboards.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 3-4 between main and side
Orzhov Charm - Run only in a specialized version of Tokens with a maindeck Cartel/Artist/Traveler package. As removal, I think it's way too hard on our life total. It's very good alongside Doomed Traveler, though.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 3-4 between main and side
Sever the Bloodline - If you're afraid of Entreat the Angels, it's worth running a copy or two in your sideboard. Other than that, I think it's too slow for the things you really want to answer. I guess it's okay against Olivia Voldaren, but you should be able to handle her with Selesnya Charm in most situations.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 1-2 side
Sundering Growth - One of our better options for enchantment hate, as it gives a body almost all the time. It still hits Staff of Nin, Runechanter's Pike, and keyrunes. If you need artifact hate in your board. run this. Enough people play enchantments that you can get away with running a singleton main if you want.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 0-1 main, 2-3 side
Ultimate Price - The only reason this card is worth mentioning is it is a 2-mana answer to Hellrider. I think there are way too many gold creatures running around for this to be good.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 1 main, 1-2 side
Terminus - Probably our best Wrath. For the most part we rely on a Miracle topdeck, but 6 mana isn't totally unrealistic. Sideboard against hyper aggro decks, Zombies in particular.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 2-4 side
Tragic Slip - This is pretty much just for Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, which absolutely eats us alive. I don't like having to take 2 for it, though.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 2-3 side
Victim of Night - With Godless Shrine available, this is suddenly an option. This is another two-mana answer to Hellrider and other annoying things, but with black being our splash color, BB on turn 2 is a huge hurdle.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 2-4 between main and side
Vraska the Unseen - She seems like a 5 mana Vindicate + absorb a few points of damage. Ultimate does NOT win the game, and her +1 doesn't impact the board. Your opponent can totally ignore her if they want to. Sideboard against control, maybe? I think our control matchup is fine as is.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 0-1 main, 0-1 side
Others
Beckon Apparition - Probably our best one-shot graveyard hate. It gives us a Spirit token and hits a Snapcaster/Rites target. You can play this over Deathrite Shaman if you're looking for a surprise card rather than something incremental.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 2-3 side
Biomass Mutation - Probably our best Gatecrash addition. You know how Tokens was lacking an Overrun effect? It's mana intensive, but this is an instant-speed overrun effect. Unfortunately we have to side it out against pretty much any blue deck because Syncopate/Dispel makes it cry, but otherwise, it just steals games we have no business winning.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 1-2 main
Blind Obedience - A dagger against aggro. We don't have flashbacks to really abuse it with other than Lingering Souls, but as a former Esper player, it makes me smile every time I see a tapped Lightning Mauler, Hellrider, or Thundermaw Hellkite.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 3 side
Blood Artist - With Godless Shrine available, Blood Artist is a much better option for stabilizing. Since we have a massive creature trade with aggro at some point, this can result in a big life swing. Usually you play this alongside Cartel Aristocrat.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 2-3 main or 2-3 side
Cartel Aristocrat - She stops tons of damage and makes late Burning-Tree Emissary chains suck. You can play this in the Selesnya Charm slot maindeck and move Charm to the board if you want. The idea is you block a fat guy with a token, block an x/2 with Aristocrat, then off the token to make sure your guy lives. She's a great way to deal with Boros Reckoner, too. She lives through Mortars, too. If you play this main, you should play Blood Artist main for maximum value.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 2-3 main or 2-3 side
Champion of Lambholt - This is a really niche card for more aggressive versions of tokens, only great against aggro decks that try to go over the top and don't play much removal. If you can protect her, though, she basically makes your army unblockable. A sideboard card.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 2-3 side
Collective Blessing - In versions with dorks, this is a very real card and can just seal the game once you drop it. Let's say you go turn 2 Virtue, turn 4 Linger Linger. Turn 5 you drop this and swing for 20 in the air. It is a very real card, but it's only playable in versions with 25+ lands or mana dorks. I think the card doesn't have merit in aggro-heavy metagames, but when the meta slows down and favors midrange again, this will be a card. Against white decks, you'll probably want to side it out--there is a lot of enchantment hate going around right now.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 1-2 main
Deathrite Shaman - If I had to pick a one-drop to run, it would be this bugger. He is great against Frites and Zombies by nailing Gravecrawlers, Unburial Rites targets, and undying guys. The extra life is a plus, too. Against control, he can turn spent Midnight Hauntings into that last bit of damage you need to get there. I'd play this thing in a general meta, for sure. If this card is absent from your list, you're making a meta call. This card has another nice perk to it--it can block and kill a battalion'd Legion Loyalist.
Rating: {#####}
Quantity: 3 main or 3 side
Druid's Deliverance - Generally, Rootborn Defenses is a better card. However, against the R/x aggro decks, especially if you're on the draw, Defenses may not be fast enough. This can buy you a turn and make another body, and can still let you pick off guys that they try to turn into damage. I wouldn't run this outside a heavy R/x meta though.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 3 side
Faith's Shield - There may be a bit of bias because this is my pet card, but I really like it. I'll just quote myself from the previous Junk Tokens thread.
Quote from Raikou Rider »
It is an incredibly versatile card! It's capable of doing all these things and more, all for the low, low price of W.
1) Protects our planeswalkers from Dreadbore, Oblivion Ring, Detention Sphere, and the like.
2) One-sided Fog on our planeswalkers in the event of an attack. You can still pick off their attackers as needed,
3) Protects Intangible Virtue from being destroyed, even in the middle of combat.
4) Prevents Detention Sphere blowouts. If you Faith's Shield the token that is targeted by Detention Sphere, none of your tokens will be exiled.
5) Prevents our planeswalkers from being burned out. This isn't a great application, since you have to use Faith's Shield in response to the burn spell and effectively take the damage yourself...but it's there.
6) If you can survive an alpha strike, Faith's Shield can set up a lethal crackback even if they leave creatures behind. If you're a few points short of lethal, you can also use it to make a single creature tough to block or even unblockable entirely.
7) Counter lethal burn. Don't forget that if you are at 5 or less life, Faith's Shield also gives you protection from the color of your choice.
You know how Selesnya Charm is really good because it's a modal spell? Well, think of Faith's Shield as a modal spell.
Rating: {#####}
QUantity: 3 between main and side
Mana Dorks - This is probably the most hotly debated issue from the previous Tokens thread. Some people swear by 8, others don't like them at all. The inclusion of dorks I feel is highly playstyle-dependent. Some people feel more comfortable trying to be explosive, getting that turn 3 Primal Hunter, Thrag, Sorin, etc. Personally, I feel that as a control deck, minimizing bad topdecks and having higher threat density makes the deck more consistent. We are the aggressor against only one deck in the format: UWx control. Life is an issue, too, as we're probably going to have to take 2 to drop it on turn 1.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 0 main or 4-8 main
Obzedat, Ghost Council - I haven't drawn Obzedat in any of the 20-some-odd games I've played since I put it in, but it seems disgusting alongside Trostani, and is just really hard to deal with right now, given the popular removals.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 0-1 main, 0-1 side
Odric, Master Tactician - I see this as a mirror breaker. Dodges Abrupt Decay, dodges Searing Spear, doesn't care about Rootborn Defenses, and has first strike. If you can untap with this guy, you generally win the mirror. The only issue is he's a 4-drop that barely impacts the board the turn you play him.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 2-3 side
Parallel Lives - Do not get trapped into playing this. This is a cool card, doubling our token production. However, there is a LOT of enchantment hate running around in sideboards right now. Against aggro you don't have time to drop a 4-cost enchantment that does nothing when it hits the board unless you already have a planeswalker, and against midrange/control they could have any solution.
Rating: {# }
Quantity: 2 main
Rancor - I'm probably going to get bombarded with arguments about this as well, but I don't like Rancor either. The most useful thing this does in the deck is allowing you to kill 3/X creatures with Selesnya Charm. Remember what I said about Wayfaring Temple regarding threat density and bad topdecks? That's exactly the same reason I do not like Rancor. I guess you could sideboard it against Vampire Nighthawk and control, but we're pretty strong in those matchups already.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 0 or 3 main, or 0 or 3 side
Rest in Peace - While it does nail your Lingering Souls, that's all it hits. You may have to take out some of your Lingering Souls to bring this in, but it's entirely worth it. This card CRIPPLES Zombies, Frites, and URx combo decks involving the graveyard...if it sticks. Unfortunately, the Junk Rites and Human Reanimator decks are playing Abrupt Decay, often maindeck. It's not as effective as it used to be, sadly.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 3 side
Rootborn Defenses - This thing is REALLY GOOD. You know how Bonfire of the Damned blows open aggro mirrors? You know how this is arguably the most powerful common in RTR Limited? This has exactly the same kind of effect in this deck. It gives us an extra body and is effectively a one-sided Safe Passage. It blanks sweepers not named Terminus, and can even blank spot removal if needed. You typically get at least a 3-for-1 with this card.
Rating: {#####}
Quantity: 3 main or 3 side
Vile Rebirth - Don't play this over Rest in Peace--that's a much better option than this highly conditional spell that only nails one creature.
Rating: {# }
Quantity: 2-3 side
MANABASE
Number of lands - 23-24 is the sweet spot, I find. We want to hit four to five mana then stop...maybe six in lists with Blessing and more reactive spells. You may even consider 24/61 to effectively play 23.5 lands.
Distribution - 10 shocklands is the magic number. They turn on your checklands and make your mana run smoothly. Running 12 shocks is suicide in such a fast format. Your exact distribution of spells determines how your checklands should be disrtibuted. Most lists like 4 Grove, 3 Chapel, and 1 Cemetery, but you should tool your manabase toward your exact list. Just make sure you run a few basics--Ghost Quarter IS out there and is very good against us. Don't allow yourself to be Strip Mined.
Colorless lands - 4 is the absolute max you can run. Any more and you'll be color screwed a lot. Also, Trostani with 4 colorless lands is a big risk. Expect to cast her on turn 5 quite often if you get stuck with colorless lands early on.
DECKLISTS
In a general meta, this is what I'm currently playing:
With the number of instant speed tricks our deck has, as well as the number of blowouts this deck can produce, the psychological side of Magic is very important when playing Junk Tokens. The easiest way to bluff is taking 2 life from a shockland to represent Abrupt Decay, Faith's Shield, Midnight Haunting, or Rootborn Defenses--especially Rootborn Defenses. Because that card can lead to giant board swings, try to have 2W open as often as possible, especially once your opponent knows you have it.
Once they know you're playing Faith's Shield or Rootborn Defenses, they will start being more conscious of them during their course of play. Use this to your advantage. Play a shockland untapped from time to time, even if you don't have a trick in hand. Once you have at least seven lands out, always hold at least one extra land. Shuffle the cards in your hand frequently so your opponent doesn't know what came off the top of your deck, if you've been cycling through your hand. If you feel your opponent is holding back because they think you have a trick, make it evident that a certain card in your hand has stayed there for the last several turns. If he continues to hold back when you don't have a trick, it gives you more time to actually draw one for when he thinks he can play around it.
MATCHUP ANALYSIS
In this section, I will cover specifics on each matchup in the Established Competitive subforum. Let me know if you want analysis for other matchups, including the mirror.
GW Rancor/Midrange
Probably our worst matchup. They make a giant guy and swing with it. Even if it doesn't have Rancor on it, Selesnya Charm can make it trample over for a ton. When they have two mana open, always think about situations in which you will be blown out by Selesnya Charm. The other two modes are awful against us. Always assume they have a Selesnya Charm if you haven't seen one come out yet.
Abrupt Decay really shines in this matchup if you use it carefully. It will kill anything they play except Thragtusk, which Selesnya Charm handles, or Restoration Angel, which Selesnya Charm also handles if Rancor'd. In general, don't use an Abrupt Decay unless it will save you at least 6 damage or you are countering a Rancor with it. The one exception is if they play maindeck Thalia.
After boards, bring in Terminus for sure, Erase if you have it, and any other small creature removal--you'll need it for Thalia. Take Faith's Shield out--it's really bad against this deck. If there is a lot of this deck in your meta, you may have to hate it out with your sideboard. This is not an unwinnable matchup by any means, but it is difficult. My list's sideboard hates this matchup out--that's why I have a high win rate against it. Thankfully, this deck has fallen well out of favor.
Preboard: 30%
Postboard: 40%
Frites
I don't have any experience playing against this deck, but it seems like Frites can be tough if you don't have Shaman in your main. Selesnya Charm is very good at making the flashback on Unburial Rites less useful, but because we like to drag out the game, it's not unrealistic for them to just hardcast a fatty or two.
After boards, bring in Rest in Peace--Frites can't do ANYTHING with it out. Wait to cast it until they have a graveyard worth using, like Rites + fatty, or several flashbacks. Make sure you get value out of it even if it gets Decay'd right away. Keep Faith's Shield in to protect your enchantments.
Preboard: 35%
Postboard: 60%
Jund
For the most part, a coin flip, and very skill-intensive. They have a lot of 1-for-1 removal, making Faith's Shield shine here. This is probably the matchup where Faith's Shield is at its best. They can't handle Lingering Souls outside overloaded Mizzium Mortars, which Rootborn Defenses handles nicely. Don't use Selesnya Charm to make dudes--save it for their Olivia/Thragtusk. We don't really care about Thragtusk much, as without Rancor, we can just throw 1/1s in front of it all day.
When you cast Sorin, always Emblem him right away before making dudes. Get the most value out of your planeswalkers, as they'll just Dreadbore him next turn anyway. If you +1 Sorin and leave W open, that's a big tell that you're holding Faith's Shield, and they'll start playing around it.
After boards, you may want to take out Trostani. I personally leave her in because she's almost like another planeswalker in that she makes guys every turn and has to be killed with Dreadbore or a miracle Bonfire. She is immune to every other removal spell Jund plays. Be very mindful of Rakdos's Return--that kills a planeswalker and wipes your hand. Don't hoard sorcery speed cards--try to retain the ability to dump your hand in response to one. When they cast Rakdos' Return, start attacking. Get in as much damage as you can before they Mortars your board away. For the most part, your maindeck should be fine vs. Jund, but watch out for Slaughter Games. Some opponents may bring it in against your Lingering Souls.
Preboard: 50%
Postboard: 55%
UW Tempo/Humans/Sublime
The only real problem in this matchup is Thalia. Most of their guys are x/1 flying guys, so your spirits can handle them nicely. Midnight Haunting is a blowout against them, and we can stall Sublime Archangel for ages. Trostani's life gain is great here. If you can't answer their early Thalia, they kinda win, but if they don't get one, you win pretty hard.
After boards, all you should need are Terminus and more ways to answer Thalia. They like to barf their hand on the table, so Terminus is usually a blowout against them. Overall, this matchup is in your favor, but it's heavily dependent on the die roll. If you see a lot of this deck at your meta, throw Tragic Slip in your sideboard. If you see Pikes, bring in Rest in Peace and maybe Sundering Growth.
Preboard: 55%
Postboard: 60%
UWx Control
By far our best matchup, but it's very easy to punt. This deck will punish you for the slightest misplay. Their maindeck is very anti-aggro, but they have almost no flying defense. Only run a couple threats out at a time, and don't let Lingering Souls get Syncopated unless you have another one in hand. Only run out a couple threats at a time. Two tokens + Virtue is still a five-turn clock, which is fast enough that control may want to use a sweeper on. Save your Hauntings for after sweepers or for use as a test spell.
Faith's Shield is a good hedge against Detention Sphere. I find they go after your planeswalkers more than your tokens, since 1) we make so many different kinds of tokens, and 2) we don't overextend enough to make a Detention Sphere worth it. As I said, make use of Midnight Haunting as a test spell. Garruk Relentless is a very good test spell, also.
After boards, bring in more enchantment removal for their spheres and such. Sundering Growth blows them out pretty badly, and if you have more planeswalkers, bring them in for sure.
Preboard: 75%
Postboard: 65%
UWr Flash
We're pretty big favorites in this matchup, as well. It comes down to fundamentals when playing against a control-ish deck. Don't overextend, use test spells, and make them tap out. They have tons of trouble answering planeswalkers outside Restoration Angel. Recent lists have dropped maindeck countermagic for more removal to keep up with aggro, though I'd still be wary of a Syncopate or two. Just bide your time until you have Virtue and Gavony or Vault online, then there's basically no way they can win.
After boards, bring in all your instant speed threats, and take out Biomass Mutation if you're playing it. This deck can potentially make infinite life, but you can still win through the draw step if you have to. Vault makes your life total get out of Harvest Pyre range, and you can just Decay their Reckoner if you need to. They also play Sphinx's Revelation, meaning they will deck first. If you get infi-life'd in game 1, scoop and move on to game 2 if there's a ton of time in the round. If you're up a game, keep playing--you can out-attrition them with your planeswalkers and Lingering Souls. They only run something like 14 creatures. Even if they get there through your Vault, the match will be a draw absolute worst-case scenario.
Preboard: 70%
Postboard: 60%
Zombies
We're an overwhelming favorite after boards. Trostani is a nightmare for them, able to block everything in their deck except Falkenrath Aristocrat. It can even block a resurrected Messenger. They can't kill her aside from morbid Slip/Volley. If you lose to anything in this deck, it's Blood Artist. Save your Abrupt Decays for those, or if they try to put a Rancor on something. Garruk can also peg an Artist without losing loyalty. Preboard it can be tough without a blowout card like Rootborn Defenses, but you can get there if you play smart.
After boards, Terminus is a blowout, and Rest in Peace stops their deck cold. Always, ALWAYS remember that Gravecrawler can't block. I've thrown away so many lethal-on-board games because I forgot that Gravecrawler can't block.
Preboard: 40%
Postboard: 80%
R/x Aggro
Holy crap can these decks burn you out fast. Get Trostani or Vault online as fast as possible. If you can't get either one going, you probably lose. Call of the Conclave stops damage pretty well. Hellrider gets damage in regardless of how many blockers you have, and can't be removed with Selesnya Charm or Abrupt Decay. Thundermaw Hellkite just obliterates us. Even if you have Selesnya Charm to kill it, its ETB ability just does so much damage to us even if our tokens live.
After boards, I'd take out all your five drops. Bring in more removal, Deathrite Shaman if you have it, and Terminus. Not an easy matchup, but winnable.
Preboard: 40%
Postboard: 50%
The Mirror
The mirror is incredibly challenging. At first, it looks highly draw dependent--whoever draws more Virtues/Townships wins. Beneath the surface, though, the mirror is incredibly complex. Normally in creature deck mirrors, you want to build a critical mass and win in one big attack. Because of Rootborn Defenses, though, that will not work. Typically, both sides will have walls of Spirit tokens. By the time one side can get enough of an army, the other will Defenses and make a big combat blowout. When you Defenses in combat, expect Defenses back. Keep track of the number of Rootborn Defenses both sides have played, and don't forget about Lingering Souls in graveyards.
The key to the mirror match is winning the planeswalker war. Every single source of continuous token production is either a planeswalker or Trostani. Trostani is very powerful in the mirror, especially if only one side is running it. When your opponent drops a planeswalker, drop what you're doing and planeswalker uniqueness rule it as soon as you can. If you don't, you may have to sacrifice a few guys to kill it. Use your Selesnya Charms as pump spells if you have to. If you are the first to drop a Sorin, emblem him right away. They're going to have to answer Sorin anyway. Plan on them having an answer for him, and get that guaranteed value. Do not play Garruk, Primal Hunter until you've seen at least one Garruk from them, or you're going to immediately crack him for cards.
Because the deck is typically on the long-game plan, this match will almost always go to time. I've had a number of matches go 0-0-1 before. When there's Virtue + Vault on both sides, think about offering your opponent a draw, especially preboard when you have almost no way to interact with either card. In those board states, the game is going to get nowhere fast with skyrocketing life totals and armies/Defenses that trade over and over again. It may be in your best interest to draw game 1 and move on to the board games, which tend to matter more due to having more specific answer cards.
Sideboarding does matter, but you'll rarely have time to play game 3. Bring in all of your late game. All of it. You may want to bring in some Oblivion Rings or general answers if they try to bring in mirror breaker cards like Odric, Champion of Lambholt, and so on. Bring in all of your enchantment removal. Winning the Virtue battle is important. A mirror match in which only one side has Virtue is pretty heavily lopsided.
Above all, have patience. Think about how you can get blown out in combat. Never alpha strike if your opponent has 3 or more mana untapped. You may also want to consider partial attacks to try to draw Rootborn Defenses out of your opponent's hand. There are dozens of other facets to the mirror that you'll have to learn just from playing mirror matches.
MATCH HISTORY
I'll leave personal match history at the end of the thread, sorted by archetype.
Die: Specifies who won the die roll.
Mulligans: Shows how mulligans went, game by game, in ###-### format, For instance, 577-776 indicates that I took a mulligan to 5 in game one, and my opponent took a mulligan to 6 in game 3.
Result: Shows game-by-game results in win-loss format. LWL for instance means a loss in games 1 and 3, and a win in game 2.
Zombies:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/8/12 Me 577-776 LWW
2 1/3/13 Him 476-676 LWW Terminus is pretty okay.
3 3/16/13 Me 777-776 LWW Zoms just can't handle RIP.
Jund:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/21/12 Him 767-777 WLL Opp peels runner runner Bonfires G3
2 1/3/13 Me 747-777 WLW Opp mistapped mana for Olivia
3 1/13/13 Me 577-777 LWW Tons of LS/Haunt mindgames
4 3/23/13 Him 776-776 WLW
Frites:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/14/12 Me 767-575 WLW Misplay with Garruk cost me game 2
2 12/22/12 Him 77- 77 LL Nothing special, just outdrawn
3 1/11/13 Me 77 -67 LL Punted due to Pack Rat misplay
American Midrange:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/14/12 Me 76 -77 LL Probably mulliganed wrong game 2
2 12/28/12 Me 777-777 WLL 4c midrange, didn't see anthem in 50 cards
3 3/16/13 Me 757-766 wLW
4 3/23/23 Him 777-767 LWW Very lucky series of topdecks in g3.
RDW:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/14/12 Me 677-766 WLW Opponent failed an 18-outer to kill me.
2 12/21/12 Me 665-777 WLL Durdled on 2 land holding 2xLinger g3
3 12/28/12 Him 777-677 WLL Drew 4 virtues and only one creature in g2.
4 1/18/13 Me 677-777 LWW Faith's Shield <3
5 3/16/13 Me 77 -77 WW
6 3/20/13 Me 667-676 WLW So many Boros Charms I had to fight through
7 3/23/13 Him 777-775 LWW Opp durdled on two land
8 3/23/13 Him 77 -77 WW Opp misplayed a ton
UW Aggro:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/14/12 Him 67 -74 WW Huge Abrupt Decay blowout in game 1.
2 12/28/12 Me 67 -77 WW Opp deck didn't look finished.
UWx Control:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/21/12 Him 777-777 WLW Opp struggled with mana entire match.
2 12/22/12 Me 76 -76 LT I flooded out badly.
GW Rancor:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/14/12 Him 776-777 WLW Trostani + Vault stabilized on mulligan
2 12/14/12 Him 776-777 WLW Won due to Garruk misplay on opp part
3 12/21/12 Me 77 -75 WW New player, made obviously awful mistakes
4 12/28/12 Me 767-767 WLW Countering Rancor with Decay is great.
5 1/ 3/12 Me 767-777 WLW Giant Defenses blowouts, four total in match.
6 1/11/12 Me 77 - 77 LL
Bant Enchant:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 1/11/13 Me 776-777 LWL
2 1/18/13 Him 77 -76 WW Opp flooded out
Rogue:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 12/14/12 Me 777-776 LWW GUB Hearless, opp manascrewed game 3
2 12/18/12 Him 74 -67 LL OmniDoor
3 12/18/12 Me 657-777 WLL MBC
4 12/19/12 Him 77 -77 WW Bant Tokens, had multiple Def. blowouts
5 12/22/12 Him 57- 76 LL Omnidoor, threw match at LS misplay
6 12/28/12 Him 777-776 WLW Kibler Rock. Someone always had mana issues.
7 1/ 3/13 Me 777-777 WLW Grixis Control
8 1/11/13 Me 77 -77 WW Grixis Control
9 3/23/13 Him 766-765 WLW RUG Biomancer
Mirror:
No. Date Die Mulligans Result Comments
1 1/11/13 Me 777-776 LWW
Anything else I'm missing content-wise, let me know.
Looks good, and while I disagree on some points, most of your card evaluations seem pretty spot on. And at least there is a consensus on the core of the deck.
As soon as break occurs I'll provide some info on how traveler is working in real life and not just on paper.
Very nice post! Keep up the good work! I like your decklist a lot but what really got me is how detailed you went for each matchup! That, my friend, is an A+++! (sorry I'm in finals week for school and studying up a storm lol)
I know it doesn't make tokens, but Centaur Healer is worth considering at least in the sideboard.
1 - 3/3 body is tough for Rakdos to get through.
2 - 3 life also slows aggro.
3 - It's in our colors and plays nicely with Trostani.
I agree, it's a great sideboard choice for us. Even with out it making tokens it can allow us to stabilize out the board while we get our bread and butter stuff online.
For it being a common it really does work well in getting over the first couple turns against aggro. And even late game getting a 3/3 with 3 life gain is never a dead draw.
I just realized that this deck actually contains 62 cards.. Is it just me, or does 62 cards deck is less "consistent" / "effective" (how should I say it) compare to a 60 cards deck
I just realized that this deck actually contains 62 cards.. Is it just me, or does 62 cards deck is less "consistent" / "effective" (how should I say it) compare to a 60 cards deck
Essentially he is trying to make the mana work a bit more smoothly. Actually, I play at 24 land with 61 cards to help with flooding.
Essentially he is trying to make the mana work a bit more smoothly. Actually, I play at 24 land with 61 cards to help with flooding.
I like 24/61 as well. 25/62 I think is like running 23.75 lands. Mana flood is so bad because we don't have any draw outside big Garruk.
I read Wescoe's article already. Thragtusk makes your midrange and control matchups better, yes, but I think with the meta the way it is, you need to focus more on beating the aggro deck. I wholeheartedly disagree with his assessment of the GW Rancor matchup--that deck just eats us alive. Taking out Virtue against Zombies is an awful idea as they simply can't remove it. I do agree with him on taking Haunting out vs. red aggro--it's just too slow.
Wescoe seriously underestimates Call of the Conclave in his article. Don't get me wrong, manadorks are fine. I just think running them in a meta full of Pillar/Slip is really risky. He also fails to mention that Vault of the Archangel + Lingering Souls is a perfectly valid plan vs. Thragtusk.
It's okay man, I know life happens. I just noticed you hadn't even accessed the forums in a while, and I was the most prolific poster at the time.
The archetype has changed a LOT since then, too. The core is a lot different, and the meta changes so fast you almost need a new build for every event.
I went 5-0 with my "aggro meta" list.
Took the "Aggro Meta" list to a 5-0 finish at FNM tonight.
Match 1: RDW
Game 1 I walked him into a blowout, 4-for-1 Rootborn Defenses on turn 4. Game 2 he barfed his hand on the table and killed me with Hellrider. Game 3 I was struggling a bit to stabilize, made another nice Rootborn Defenses, wiping most of his board but going to 2. I topdeck...an Overgrown Tomb. Had to play it tapped and pass the turn at 2. He fails to topdeck one of his eighteen outs, and Vault takes over the game.
Win 2-1 (2-1)
Match 2: UW Pike
This wasn't much of a match, really. He was pretty flooded in game 1 despite casting a Sphinx's Revelation, and a huge Abrupt Decay blowout on his Pike while he was holding two Negates. Game 2 he had to mulligan to 4. Win 2-0 (4-1)
Match 3: GW Rancor
Against the top player in Rockford, IL, too. We both played extremely tight the entire time, playing around Midnight Hauntings, Rootborn Defenses, Restoration Angels, Selesnya Charms...you name it, everything. Game 1 I had a good token force backed by Trostani, Abrupt Decay countering two Rancors. I found a Vault and took over the game. Game 2 I got obliterated by a god hand, and game 3 I won on a mulligan by two Rootborn Defenses blowouts in a row. Win 2-1 (6-2)
Match 4: GW Rancor
This was a very different build, with maindeck Centaur Healers. Not nearly as good a player as the previous one, he wound up losing the match by getting too greedy on Restoration Angels. I knew this player had Ray of Revelation in his sideboard, so I actually boarded out Intangible Virtue, and it seemed to work. Gavony Township REALLY went to town in this match. Win 2-1 (8-3)
Match 5: GUB Heartless Summoning
The deck took me by surprise. He dropped Summoning turn 2. I had a Decay in hand but no black mana. I went through 20 cards trying to find black mana before conceding to multiple Thragtusk triggers a turn. Then I bring in 11 cards, including six enchantment hates and Terminus. I Sundering Growth his turn 2 Heartless Summoning after a Call of the Conclave, then double Virtue for the game. Game 3 he's taken the combo out and is on the Ravenous Rats plan. I pitch lands to it, start making tokens, and get there with Township before he can drop fatties. Win 2-1 (10-4)
had a playtest session with my friend (he used Jund Midrange deck with olivia, huntmaster, thragtusk, mizzium mortars, bonfire, and several 4cmc 6/6 Demon - i forget the name).
I learn that when facing a midrange deck playing red, we should be careful with our planeswalker. He stole my Planeswalker using Zealous Conscript twice and used my PW's ultimate. The first one was Vraska, and the second one was Garruk Primal Hunter.
I also had a bad time with Rakdos' Return. He made me discarded my hand containing two Thragtusks twice. And whenever I don't have anything in my hand, I just felt terrible.
Yup I agree with Sir Aruos, I was playtesting vs my Jund friend as well... I took a hand with two charms and had them saved specifically for his Thundermaws. After we were finished he told me he was only running one of them, but it is worth holding to your charms as long as you can. 5 damage to the face is pretty brutal.
I've been doing well with my Junk Tokens deck recently (will post list later) and only seem to struggle with one deck, the UWr deck, that runs Bonfire of the Damned and Thundermaw Hellkite.
Wondering how everyone else has been fairing against this deck type and what you sideboard for it.
After some more testing:
I think vs Jund mid you need to make sure you have Faith's Shield to keep your tokens from being severed and your walkers from being Dreadboared. Maybe Rootborn is good here if they use Bonfire. But I have to say that you absolutely cannot let them abuse Hunstmaster. For some reason I just couldn't kill him, however Trostani was able to hold him off for quite a while and you shouldn't side her out in this match up. Dorks aren't horrible here seeing as they want to be the aggressive deck AND ramp into things, there were a few games where I couldn't keep up with his ramp into Thundermaw. Another thing you may be tempted to side out is Intangible Virture, just don't do it. That card is the reason we win a lot of our games and I think its better to take the chance that they aren't gripping a charm then them just -1 your board and you lose everything anyways. If you have gavony in your SB i would say side out your vaults, but with aggro taking the driver seat I don't think gavony SB is smart. Anyways that is how I feel about Jund, any other ideas?
I think having a Centaur and two spirits with a virtue on the field is the best situation to be in. It puts on major pressure while at the same time protecting from sever. thundermaw blowouts, and forces them to bonfire for more than they'd like.
I have found that against jund you want to have as many answers as possible but also be the aggressor, hard to do, but not impossible.
I have found that against jund you want to have as many answers as possible but also be the aggressor, hard to do, but not impossible.
Not always. I think Jund is weird in that it's build-dependent who is aggro and who is control. I don't think your answers are effective against Jund. They do have a lot of answers, yes, but I think we have enough instant-speed threats that we can just let Vault do the work. It depends on how many maindeck sweepers they have. I think you're aggro postboard if they have any sweepers in board, though.
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
I have won many tournaments in my area with this deck. I love the one ofs to keep my opponents guessing and to increase the random enjoyability of the deck.
Since Junk Tokens is all about synergy, I maximized what I thought our core should be and minimized our exposure to multiples of any single card that would give us diminishing returns. (It is good to have options)
Weak Parts:
Thragtusk, Garruk Primal, and Collective Blessing: are liabilities game one if we don't stabilize quickly against agro.
Rancor: is a combo card (S. charm to exile a 3 power, vampire token to gain 2 more health, G. Primal for 2 extra cards) and as a one of usually insures I am using all my mana efficiently. It can on occasion just be a dead draw.
Abrupt Decay: is the only answer to Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere in play but hits almost nothing else in a control deck that is worthwhile game one. Our Shining star against all agro decks. Try and kill the creature they are enchanting with rancor.
Garruk Relentless: I have almost no love for this guy. Killing something for 4 mana is underwhelming and making a 2/2 instead of a 3/3 for one more green makes me cry. That is why he is a one of. I run 27 mana sources so I can power out the 5 drops on turn 4 or 5.
Collective Blessing is our ace in the hole for game one, every time it lands I win the game. It's that ridiculous with our deck. For game 2 I almost always side it out if they have access to white. They will side in all enchantment hate anyways so it's (surprise) value is gone.
Vault of the Archangel is supposed to be our agro hate card but it can be worthless against a first or double striking rancor'd G/W creature. I debate going to 1 and adding a forest instead all the time. What do you guys think?
Sideboard:
Skirsdag High Priest: is amazing against the mirror match and other midrange decks with low amounts of non-red board sweepers (the 5/5 flyers typically survive red's wipe spells). I have 3 junk token decks in my meta thanks to winning a lot (damn copy cats). It shouldn't be considered against agro decks because it doesn't slow them down fast enough. Trostani is better for that.
Intrepid Hero: helps against G/W agro, combos with rancor to kill all their creatures, kills an enemy rancor'd Thalia.
Erase: Rancor in G/W decks is the problem, not the 8/8 doublestriker. Sundering Growth is a fun combat trick but you can still lose when they just play it again next main phase.
Duress: Our biggest problems are typically non-creatures (except Thalia), this gets rid of our problems and gives us valuable info on how to play our deck.
Tragic Slip: Kills Thalia and dorks
Rootborn Defenses #3 : Played against a midrange (especially jund) deck it can make them cry. If you know a control deck isn't running Terminus (the general meta is reducing the number played main and side) then this is just another I win card.
Rest in Peace, Ground Seal, Deathrite Shaman: Our Graveyard hate, I like to diversify for fun. Although Ground Seal isn't strictly as good as rest in peace it is a cantrip, and allows us to flashback lingering souls.
The Rancor + Selesnya Charm was brilliant. I haven't think of using it like that. What do you think of Bloodline Keeper? I think the major consensus would suggest planeswalkers with 4cmc would be better.
Bloodline keeper is no good for us right now. Yes, you are right ANY walker is better on turn 4. Bloodline keeper might be good after GTC when we get Godless Shrine.
On another note, I just went 3-1 tonight with a slight variation of RR's grindy list taking 4th place. All in all not a bad night for a $3 tournament.
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Here's the text version. I'll be making this pretty later once I double-check the Standard forum rules. You know, adding images, autocard links, and the like.
Special thanks to Nerubian, the original author of the Junk Tokens primer, as well as all the prolific posters in his thread. They gave me a lot of suggestions for writing this. Props to DNC for all the banner-work.
What is Junk Tokens?
--------------------
Junk Tokens is a midrange deck that seeks to overwhelm the opponent with massive numbers of token creatures backed by Intangible Virtue. Though tokens variants have historically been aggressive decks, this iteration of the archetype normally focuses on grinding the game out with threats resilient to removal.
Why Junk over other variants?
-----------------------------
Blue gets you Snapcaster Mage, Moorland Haunt, Talrand's Invocation, and Cackling Counterpart, as well as Favorable Winds as a second cmc2 anthem effect, though you lose Vault of the Archangel and the flashback on Lingering Souls. Esper has the benefit of Lingering Souls and Vault, but you lose a lot of early defenses by not playing Call of the Conclave. After Gatecrash, one of the huge benefits to going Bant is Master Biomancer, which can be backbreaking with any sort of token production.
Every variant has its own pros and cons. Though Bant, Dega, Raka, and other combinations give you more power, Junk gives you a lot of flexibility. The metagame is really unstable right now, and I feel it's best to strike the best balance between speed and efficiency when it comes to answers.
Fair warning before we get into the meat of the primer. This is a HIGHLY skill intensive deck and will punish you for even the smallest mistakes. Do not take this to a large event unless you have played at least fifty matches with it--preferably a hundred. You need a grasp on every nuance of this deck in order to play it well enough.
DECK CONSTRUCTION
The Core
These cards should always be in your 75 somewhere, preferably in your 60.
4 Lingering Souls
2 Selesnya Charm
4 Call of the Conclave
4 Midnight Haunting
1 Gavony Township
1 Vault of the Archangel
Intangible Virtue - Quite possibly the best anthem ever printed for Tokens. This card is the deck's lynch pin, turning our Haunts/Souls into mini-Serra Angels. You rarely want to make a large attack without this card on the table.
Quantity: 4 main
Lingering Souls - The best oneshot token producer in Standard. This is four tokens for one card that can be played just about anywhere on the curve.
Quantity: 4 main
Selesnya Charm - The best charm in the format, and we perhaps make the best use of it. As a buff spell, this can save our Centaur tokens from Searing Spear and the like. As removal, this kills pretty much every midrange or control finisher we care about (the only messy cards this doesn't hit are Sigarda and a Rancor'd Sliverblade Paladin.) As a token, a 2/2 with flash and vigilance built in is excellent. I find myself using the token mode a lot against the generic deck, but in specific matchups, you'll usually have a mode in mind.
After Gatecrash, Burning-Tree Emissary has caused the removal mode of Selesnya Charm to be much less useful maindeck. It's still awesome against midrange and control, but not every aggro deck will have a target for it.
Quantity: 2-4 main, 0-2 side
Call of the Conclave - A 3/3 on turn 2 walls or 2-for-1s so many aggro decks right now. They either have to swing over the top of it, remove it, or cry. This is easily our best 2-drop--I'd play this before any other 2-drop in hand. Our best populate target for Trostani.
Quantity: 4 main
Midnight Haunting - Usually this is two surprise 2/2s. This makes the aggro deck respect open 2W, and really upsets combat math if you dropped a Virtue last turn. This is also very good Wrath insurance, putting 4 or even 6 power on the board against control. In certain metas, this is not a 4-of in the main, but should always be 4 copies between your main and side.
Quantity: 2-4 main, 0-2 side
Gavony Township - Another anthem, and a repeatable anthem at that. This is a total headache for control, making you able to swing for 6 after a Wrath, and making every threat you cast must-answer. You should run at least one, but play more of these in a control heavy meta.
Quantity: 1-3 main, 0-1 side
Vault of the Archangel - Turns all your creatures into mini-Wurmcoil Engines. This card just flat-out WINS against aggro, making it just about impossible for them to make a profitable attack. Generally, you do not want to activate it on your turn unless you absolutely need the life. You should run at least one, but play more of these in an aggro heavy meta.
Quantity: 1-3 main, 0-1 side
The Rest
These are cards to consider in your 60. I'm going to be sorting them by role in the deck.
Continuous Token Production
Garruk Relentless - His day side is better for us, spitting out bigger bodies and able to act as removal once, but his night side is good, as well. If you play this guy, you may want to consider running some 1-ofs to fetch with his -1 ability. His ultimate is completely irrelevant, but most decks can't let him stick around making a 2/2 or a deathtouch body every turn.
Rating: {#####}
Quantity: 2-3 main
Garruk, Primal Hunter - Ugh, this guy is so expensive. Five mana is a lot, but he does so much for you. Spitting out a 3/3 every turn is excellent, probably at its best when midrange or control taps out for a sweep. Typically what you do with this guy is +1 to make a Beast, then -3 to Tidings. He's basically an "after Wrath" card. GGG can be an issue, but I find the bigger issue is the five mana. Better in decks that play dorks.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 0-2 main, 0-2 side
Precinct Captain - WW on turn 2 is hard. Don't get me wrong, this guy has merit in an aggro-heavy meta. The problem is he isn't buffed by Virtue, and he can be Pillar'd. The first strike is really good; the issue is our 2-slot is already full, and squeezing in another 2-drop just saturates the curve. He's at his best against W/x aggro, as he trades with Thalia. He's definitely a good sideboard card, and incredibly powerful alongside Vault.
Rating: {### } Quantity: 3 side
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Our BEST continuous token producer. Lifelink is HIGHLY relevant with aggro decks everywhere, and against midrange decks (ESPECIALLY Jund) he's an anthem that cannot be interacted with at all. If you're playing against a deck with Dreadbore or lots of permanent removal, you'll want to -2 him right away to make sure you get as much value out of him as possible. Even when you -2 him, Jund STILL has to spend a card dealing with him. The ultimate is relevant, too--with your wall of vigilant attackers, it's realistic to threaten his -6 and just win.
Rating: {#####}
Quantity: 3 main
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - Trostani is disgusting. She is such a house against aggro. She's a 2/5 so she deters x/2s, and she profitably blocks undying Geralf's Messeger. About the only creature removal that gets her is morbid Brimstone Volley/morbid Tragic Slip. She dodges Mizzium Mortars, she dodges Ultimate Price, she dodges Rancor+Selesnya Charm, she dodges Pillar of Flame...she's a real pain to kill. GGWW on turn 4 is tough, but not so much on turn 5, when she's arguably better. Turn 4 you're probably dropping a planeswalker, so you can play her on turn 5, +1 to make a dork and gain life, and maybe have W open to protect her if you're playing Faith's Shield.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 1-3 main, 1-2 side
Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage - Nerubian's pet card. She was very good before Pillar of Flame became popular, but I think she's marginal at best right now. I feel she's pretty strong with Call of the Conclave, and definitely good in the dork/Farseek versions. Only play her in a very specialized version of Tokens. She seems like a sideboard card for control if you feel you need it.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 2-3 main, 0-2 side
Wayfaring Temple - Do not play this unless you are playing a more aggressive version. He's a huge guy for 1GW, and he screams build-around-me with Geist-Honored Monk. With no evasion whatsoever, you need Rancor for him to do his job at all. He encourages overexending. He's an awful topdeck, especially after a sweep. He's very good in aggressive versions of Tokens, but if you want to play aggro, there are just better decks.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 3-4 maindeck
One-Shot Token Production
Armada Wurm - Not a fan. At six mana we want to play Collective Blessing and only Collective Blessing. I guess you could try it in a tokens/ramp hybrid deck, but I feel its best purpose is as a 1-of to fetch with Garruk.
Rating: {## }
Quantity: 1 main
Doomed Traveler - Good vs. aggro on paper as it comes down early and blocks twice. In practice, though, it gets Pillar'd and just becomes an awful topdeck late game. Its only real use right now is in the Cartel/Artist/Orzhov Charm package, in which case Traveler is very good. I also don't like that you take 2 life to play it when it's relevant.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 4 main
Entreat the Angels - This card is, simply put, awful outside of UWx control. I've heard of some discussion of it as a randomly-win-the-game 1-of finisher, but I don't like the idea of relying on a Miracle topdeck, especially when we have so many instant-speed tricks. You can't realistically hardcast this for more than 2, either.
Rating: {# }
Quantity: 1 main
Gather the Townsfolk - This card just sucks with our current curve. We have more than enough 2-drops already. It's only good in decks that play Champion of the Parish. This isn't one of them.
Rating: {# }
Quantity: 3-4 main
Geist-Honored Monk - This girl actually doesn't seem bad against the Rancor decks that try to go over the top. Unlike Wayfaring Temple, she comes with two 1/1 Spirits, so she's automatically 5 power for 5 mana minimum. Useful in the version with dorks, but even with no dorks, she's fine as a 1-of to find with Garruk.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 1-3 main
Grove of the Guardian - I've seen this replacing Gavony Township in populate-heavy lists, but I don't like it. You already must have a board presence to use it, and I feel you have to count it as a spell and not a land when building your deck. If you play it, you have to run Trostani and Rootborn Defenses in your main.
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Quantity: 1 main
Thragtusk - I expect to get a lot of hate for this, but I do not like Thragtusk in here. I'm not arguing that Thragtusk is a really strong card. Before you guys yell at me, I'm going to explain WHY I do not like him. Think about the matchups you want Thragtusk in. Aggro, right? Well, aggro right now is so fast they they can often kill you before you play Thragtusk. If you're on the draw, the 5 life and single body don't matter--their Hellrider, Thundermaw Hellkite, or massive Rancor'd guy is going to kill you next turn anyway. Thrag is good against control, as well, but our matchup against control is already strong. I feel the deckspace is better filled by cards that actually help our bad matchups. He's better if you play Farseek/dorks, but dorks are just so vulnerable in the aggro matchup, and we want to spend turn 2 playing a blocker, not ramping.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 0 or 4 main, 0-3 side
Removal
Abrupt Decay - This is a really strong card. Against aggro, it handles any threat our Selesnya Charms can't, except maybe Hellrider. You can also generally use this to defend against Rancor. Against control, it's a nightmare for them, as they generally point their Detention Spheres at our planeswalkers, and cannot counter it to prevent us from having our planeswalker back. It's also good at defending tokens against Sever the Bloodline. It kinda sucks against midrange--the only thing it hits in Jund is their keyrunes and maybe Vampire Nighthawk. If you're going to play spot removal, this should be the first card you consider.
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Quantity: 3-4 main, 0-1 side
Erase - Strictly for dealing with Rancor. There's a lot less Rancor going around right now, but if you're scared of it still, run this card in your board.
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Quantity: 3 side
Golgari Charm - Some people like this as an answer to Bonfire of the Damned that has other modes, but I find the -1/-1 mode pretty much useless unless you have a Virtue, at which point you're probably already winning. Play 4 Abrupt Decay before you start considering this. If you're concerned about Illness in the Ranks or Bant Enchant in your local meta, play it over Rootborn Defenses.
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Quantity: 0-3 between main and side
Merciless Eviction - A more flexible Wrath than Terminus at the cost of being unable to Miracle against aggro. If you're looking for a flexible answer to late-game artifacts and things like Tamiyo, you can run it over Terminus. I still think Miracle is important enough to run Terminus over this, though.
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Quantity: 2-3 side
Murder - Murder looks really bad on paper, but consider this: What are you trying to kill that Abrupt Decay doesn't handle? Restoration Angel. Olivia Voldaren. Thundermaw Hellkite. They're all 4+ drops. Let's face it. The two-mana removal in this format is very narrow given the creatures being played in this format. You'll almost always have to take 2 to cast Victim of Night, and Ultimate Price is just bad with the overflow of gold creatures running amok. As it turns out, Decay handles most of the problematic gold creatures out there. I feel it's worth paying one extra mana for the added flexibility, especially for things like Obzedat that can cause major problems otherwise.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 2-4 between main and side
Oblivion Ring - A three-mana get out of jail free card, basically. It's a fine card, but I personally am not a fan of it because we should be developing board position on turn 3 rather than answering a problem permanent. Sorcery speed hurts, and there is a LOT of enchantment removal running around in sideboards.
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Quantity: 3-4 between main and side
Orzhov Charm - Run only in a specialized version of Tokens with a maindeck Cartel/Artist/Traveler package. As removal, I think it's way too hard on our life total. It's very good alongside Doomed Traveler, though.
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Quantity: 3-4 between main and side
Sever the Bloodline - If you're afraid of Entreat the Angels, it's worth running a copy or two in your sideboard. Other than that, I think it's too slow for the things you really want to answer. I guess it's okay against Olivia Voldaren, but you should be able to handle her with Selesnya Charm in most situations.
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Quantity: 1-2 side
Sundering Growth - One of our better options for enchantment hate, as it gives a body almost all the time. It still hits Staff of Nin, Runechanter's Pike, and keyrunes. If you need artifact hate in your board. run this. Enough people play enchantments that you can get away with running a singleton main if you want.
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Quantity: 0-1 main, 2-3 side
Ultimate Price - The only reason this card is worth mentioning is it is a 2-mana answer to Hellrider. I think there are way too many gold creatures running around for this to be good.
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Quantity: 1 main, 1-2 side
Terminus - Probably our best Wrath. For the most part we rely on a Miracle topdeck, but 6 mana isn't totally unrealistic. Sideboard against hyper aggro decks, Zombies in particular.
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Quantity: 2-4 side
Tragic Slip - This is pretty much just for Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, which absolutely eats us alive. I don't like having to take 2 for it, though.
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Quantity: 2-3 side
Victim of Night - With Godless Shrine available, this is suddenly an option. This is another two-mana answer to Hellrider and other annoying things, but with black being our splash color, BB on turn 2 is a huge hurdle.
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Quantity: 2-4 between main and side
Vraska the Unseen - She seems like a 5 mana Vindicate + absorb a few points of damage. Ultimate does NOT win the game, and her +1 doesn't impact the board. Your opponent can totally ignore her if they want to. Sideboard against control, maybe? I think our control matchup is fine as is.
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Quantity: 0-1 main, 0-1 side
Others
Beckon Apparition - Probably our best one-shot graveyard hate. It gives us a Spirit token and hits a Snapcaster/Rites target. You can play this over Deathrite Shaman if you're looking for a surprise card rather than something incremental.
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Quantity: 2-3 side
Biomass Mutation - Probably our best Gatecrash addition. You know how Tokens was lacking an Overrun effect? It's mana intensive, but this is an instant-speed overrun effect. Unfortunately we have to side it out against pretty much any blue deck because Syncopate/Dispel makes it cry, but otherwise, it just steals games we have no business winning.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 1-2 main
Blind Obedience - A dagger against aggro. We don't have flashbacks to really abuse it with other than Lingering Souls, but as a former Esper player, it makes me smile every time I see a tapped Lightning Mauler, Hellrider, or Thundermaw Hellkite.
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Quantity: 3 side
Blood Artist - With Godless Shrine available, Blood Artist is a much better option for stabilizing. Since we have a massive creature trade with aggro at some point, this can result in a big life swing. Usually you play this alongside Cartel Aristocrat.
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Quantity: 2-3 main or 2-3 side
Cartel Aristocrat - She stops tons of damage and makes late Burning-Tree Emissary chains suck. You can play this in the Selesnya Charm slot maindeck and move Charm to the board if you want. The idea is you block a fat guy with a token, block an x/2 with Aristocrat, then off the token to make sure your guy lives. She's a great way to deal with Boros Reckoner, too. She lives through Mortars, too. If you play this main, you should play Blood Artist main for maximum value.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 2-3 main or 2-3 side
Champion of Lambholt - This is a really niche card for more aggressive versions of tokens, only great against aggro decks that try to go over the top and don't play much removal. If you can protect her, though, she basically makes your army unblockable. A sideboard card.
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Quantity: 2-3 side
Collective Blessing - In versions with dorks, this is a very real card and can just seal the game once you drop it. Let's say you go turn 2 Virtue, turn 4 Linger Linger. Turn 5 you drop this and swing for 20 in the air. It is a very real card, but it's only playable in versions with 25+ lands or mana dorks. I think the card doesn't have merit in aggro-heavy metagames, but when the meta slows down and favors midrange again, this will be a card. Against white decks, you'll probably want to side it out--there is a lot of enchantment hate going around right now.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 1-2 main
Deathrite Shaman - If I had to pick a one-drop to run, it would be this bugger. He is great against Frites and Zombies by nailing Gravecrawlers, Unburial Rites targets, and undying guys. The extra life is a plus, too. Against control, he can turn spent Midnight Hauntings into that last bit of damage you need to get there. I'd play this thing in a general meta, for sure. If this card is absent from your list, you're making a meta call. This card has another nice perk to it--it can block and kill a battalion'd Legion Loyalist.
Rating: {#####}
Quantity: 3 main or 3 side
Druid's Deliverance - Generally, Rootborn Defenses is a better card. However, against the R/x aggro decks, especially if you're on the draw, Defenses may not be fast enough. This can buy you a turn and make another body, and can still let you pick off guys that they try to turn into damage. I wouldn't run this outside a heavy R/x meta though.
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Quantity: 3 side
Faith's Shield - There may be a bit of bias because this is my pet card, but I really like it. I'll just quote myself from the previous Junk Tokens thread.
Rating: {#####}
QUantity: 3 between main and side
Mana Dorks - This is probably the most hotly debated issue from the previous Tokens thread. Some people swear by 8, others don't like them at all. The inclusion of dorks I feel is highly playstyle-dependent. Some people feel more comfortable trying to be explosive, getting that turn 3 Primal Hunter, Thrag, Sorin, etc. Personally, I feel that as a control deck, minimizing bad topdecks and having higher threat density makes the deck more consistent. We are the aggressor against only one deck in the format: UWx control. Life is an issue, too, as we're probably going to have to take 2 to drop it on turn 1.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 0 main or 4-8 main
Obzedat, Ghost Council - I haven't drawn Obzedat in any of the 20-some-odd games I've played since I put it in, but it seems disgusting alongside Trostani, and is just really hard to deal with right now, given the popular removals.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 0-1 main, 0-1 side
Odric, Master Tactician - I see this as a mirror breaker. Dodges Abrupt Decay, dodges Searing Spear, doesn't care about Rootborn Defenses, and has first strike. If you can untap with this guy, you generally win the mirror. The only issue is he's a 4-drop that barely impacts the board the turn you play him.
Rating: {### }
Quantity: 2-3 side
Parallel Lives - Do not get trapped into playing this. This is a cool card, doubling our token production. However, there is a LOT of enchantment hate running around in sideboards right now. Against aggro you don't have time to drop a 4-cost enchantment that does nothing when it hits the board unless you already have a planeswalker, and against midrange/control they could have any solution.
Rating: {# }
Quantity: 2 main
Rancor - I'm probably going to get bombarded with arguments about this as well, but I don't like Rancor either. The most useful thing this does in the deck is allowing you to kill 3/X creatures with Selesnya Charm. Remember what I said about Wayfaring Temple regarding threat density and bad topdecks? That's exactly the same reason I do not like Rancor. I guess you could sideboard it against Vampire Nighthawk and control, but we're pretty strong in those matchups already.
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Quantity: 0 or 3 main, or 0 or 3 side
Rest in Peace - While it does nail your Lingering Souls, that's all it hits. You may have to take out some of your Lingering Souls to bring this in, but it's entirely worth it. This card CRIPPLES Zombies, Frites, and URx combo decks involving the graveyard...if it sticks. Unfortunately, the Junk Rites and Human Reanimator decks are playing Abrupt Decay, often maindeck. It's not as effective as it used to be, sadly.
Rating: {#### }
Quantity: 3 side
Rootborn Defenses - This thing is REALLY GOOD. You know how Bonfire of the Damned blows open aggro mirrors? You know how this is arguably the most powerful common in RTR Limited? This has exactly the same kind of effect in this deck. It gives us an extra body and is effectively a one-sided Safe Passage. It blanks sweepers not named Terminus, and can even blank spot removal if needed. You typically get at least a 3-for-1 with this card.
Rating: {#####}
Quantity: 3 main or 3 side
Vile Rebirth - Don't play this over Rest in Peace--that's a much better option than this highly conditional spell that only nails one creature.
Rating: {# }
Quantity: 2-3 side
MANABASE
Number of lands - 23-24 is the sweet spot, I find. We want to hit four to five mana then stop...maybe six in lists with Blessing and more reactive spells. You may even consider 24/61 to effectively play 23.5 lands.
Distribution - 10 shocklands is the magic number. They turn on your checklands and make your mana run smoothly. Running 12 shocks is suicide in such a fast format. Your exact distribution of spells determines how your checklands should be disrtibuted. Most lists like 4 Grove, 3 Chapel, and 1 Cemetery, but you should tool your manabase toward your exact list. Just make sure you run a few basics--Ghost Quarter IS out there and is very good against us. Don't allow yourself to be Strip Mined.
Colorless lands - 4 is the absolute max you can run. Any more and you'll be color screwed a lot. Also, Trostani with 4 colorless lands is a big risk. Expect to cast her on turn 5 quite often if you get stuck with colorless lands early on.
DECKLISTS
In a general meta, this is what I'm currently playing:
4 Temple Garden
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Godless Shrine
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Gavony Township
2 Vault of the Archangel
Oneshot Token Production: 11
4 Lingering Souls
3 Midnight Haunting
4 Call of the Conclave
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
The Rest: 18
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Biomass Mutation
3 Selesnya Charm
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Faith's Shield
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Rootborn Defenses
2 Murder
3 Cartel Aristocrat
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Faith's Shield
1 Midnight Haunting
3 Deathrite Shaman
3 Blood Artist
Joseph Vasquez - 1st place, Platinum TCQ in Brooklyn, NY (PRE-GTC):
3 Arbor Elf
3 Borderland Ranger
4 Thragtusk
1 Deathrite Shaman
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
Instant: 7
1 Ultimate Price
3 Midnight Haunting
3 Selesnya Charm
Sorcery: 5
1 Sever the Bloodline
4 Lingering Souls
Enchantment: 5
1 Collective Blessing
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Land: 25
4 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Isolated Chapel
2 Gavony Township
2 Vault of the Archangel
4 Temple Garden
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Restoration Angel
3 Centaur Healer
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Knight of Glory
3 Rest in Peace
2 Rootborn Defenses
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Liliana of the Veil
Brian Eason - 2nd place - GP Charleston (PRE-GTC):
3 Gavony Township
3 Isolated Chapel
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Swamp
4 Temple Garden
1 Vault of the Archangel
3 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Borderland Ranger
4 Thragtusk
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Lingering Souls
3 Midnight Haunting
3 Selesnya Charm
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Ultimate Price
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
3 Centaur Healer
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Intrepid Hero
3 Rest in Peace
2 Restoration Angel
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Slayer of the Wicked
1 Ultimate Price
BLUFFING
With the number of instant speed tricks our deck has, as well as the number of blowouts this deck can produce, the psychological side of Magic is very important when playing Junk Tokens. The easiest way to bluff is taking 2 life from a shockland to represent Abrupt Decay, Faith's Shield, Midnight Haunting, or Rootborn Defenses--especially Rootborn Defenses. Because that card can lead to giant board swings, try to have 2W open as often as possible, especially once your opponent knows you have it.
Once they know you're playing Faith's Shield or Rootborn Defenses, they will start being more conscious of them during their course of play. Use this to your advantage. Play a shockland untapped from time to time, even if you don't have a trick in hand. Once you have at least seven lands out, always hold at least one extra land. Shuffle the cards in your hand frequently so your opponent doesn't know what came off the top of your deck, if you've been cycling through your hand. If you feel your opponent is holding back because they think you have a trick, make it evident that a certain card in your hand has stayed there for the last several turns. If he continues to hold back when you don't have a trick, it gives you more time to actually draw one for when he thinks he can play around it.
MATCHUP ANALYSIS
In this section, I will cover specifics on each matchup in the Established Competitive subforum. Let me know if you want analysis for other matchups, including the mirror.
GW Rancor/Midrange
Probably our worst matchup. They make a giant guy and swing with it. Even if it doesn't have Rancor on it, Selesnya Charm can make it trample over for a ton. When they have two mana open, always think about situations in which you will be blown out by Selesnya Charm. The other two modes are awful against us. Always assume they have a Selesnya Charm if you haven't seen one come out yet.
Abrupt Decay really shines in this matchup if you use it carefully. It will kill anything they play except Thragtusk, which Selesnya Charm handles, or Restoration Angel, which Selesnya Charm also handles if Rancor'd. In general, don't use an Abrupt Decay unless it will save you at least 6 damage or you are countering a Rancor with it. The one exception is if they play maindeck Thalia.
After boards, bring in Terminus for sure, Erase if you have it, and any other small creature removal--you'll need it for Thalia. Take Faith's Shield out--it's really bad against this deck. If there is a lot of this deck in your meta, you may have to hate it out with your sideboard. This is not an unwinnable matchup by any means, but it is difficult. My list's sideboard hates this matchup out--that's why I have a high win rate against it. Thankfully, this deck has fallen well out of favor.
Preboard: 30%
Postboard: 40%
Frites
I don't have any experience playing against this deck, but it seems like Frites can be tough if you don't have Shaman in your main. Selesnya Charm is very good at making the flashback on Unburial Rites less useful, but because we like to drag out the game, it's not unrealistic for them to just hardcast a fatty or two.
After boards, bring in Rest in Peace--Frites can't do ANYTHING with it out. Wait to cast it until they have a graveyard worth using, like Rites + fatty, or several flashbacks. Make sure you get value out of it even if it gets Decay'd right away. Keep Faith's Shield in to protect your enchantments.
Preboard: 35%
Postboard: 60%
Jund
For the most part, a coin flip, and very skill-intensive. They have a lot of 1-for-1 removal, making Faith's Shield shine here. This is probably the matchup where Faith's Shield is at its best. They can't handle Lingering Souls outside overloaded Mizzium Mortars, which Rootborn Defenses handles nicely. Don't use Selesnya Charm to make dudes--save it for their Olivia/Thragtusk. We don't really care about Thragtusk much, as without Rancor, we can just throw 1/1s in front of it all day.
When you cast Sorin, always Emblem him right away before making dudes. Get the most value out of your planeswalkers, as they'll just Dreadbore him next turn anyway. If you +1 Sorin and leave W open, that's a big tell that you're holding Faith's Shield, and they'll start playing around it.
After boards, you may want to take out Trostani. I personally leave her in because she's almost like another planeswalker in that she makes guys every turn and has to be killed with Dreadbore or a miracle Bonfire. She is immune to every other removal spell Jund plays. Be very mindful of Rakdos's Return--that kills a planeswalker and wipes your hand. Don't hoard sorcery speed cards--try to retain the ability to dump your hand in response to one. When they cast Rakdos' Return, start attacking. Get in as much damage as you can before they Mortars your board away. For the most part, your maindeck should be fine vs. Jund, but watch out for Slaughter Games. Some opponents may bring it in against your Lingering Souls.
Preboard: 50%
Postboard: 55%
UW Tempo/Humans/Sublime
The only real problem in this matchup is Thalia. Most of their guys are x/1 flying guys, so your spirits can handle them nicely. Midnight Haunting is a blowout against them, and we can stall Sublime Archangel for ages. Trostani's life gain is great here. If you can't answer their early Thalia, they kinda win, but if they don't get one, you win pretty hard.
After boards, all you should need are Terminus and more ways to answer Thalia. They like to barf their hand on the table, so Terminus is usually a blowout against them. Overall, this matchup is in your favor, but it's heavily dependent on the die roll. If you see a lot of this deck at your meta, throw Tragic Slip in your sideboard. If you see Pikes, bring in Rest in Peace and maybe Sundering Growth.
Preboard: 55%
Postboard: 60%
UWx Control
By far our best matchup, but it's very easy to punt. This deck will punish you for the slightest misplay. Their maindeck is very anti-aggro, but they have almost no flying defense. Only run a couple threats out at a time, and don't let Lingering Souls get Syncopated unless you have another one in hand. Only run out a couple threats at a time. Two tokens + Virtue is still a five-turn clock, which is fast enough that control may want to use a sweeper on. Save your Hauntings for after sweepers or for use as a test spell.
Faith's Shield is a good hedge against Detention Sphere. I find they go after your planeswalkers more than your tokens, since 1) we make so many different kinds of tokens, and 2) we don't overextend enough to make a Detention Sphere worth it. As I said, make use of Midnight Haunting as a test spell. Garruk Relentless is a very good test spell, also.
After boards, bring in more enchantment removal for their spheres and such. Sundering Growth blows them out pretty badly, and if you have more planeswalkers, bring them in for sure.
Preboard: 75%
Postboard: 65%
UWr Flash
We're pretty big favorites in this matchup, as well. It comes down to fundamentals when playing against a control-ish deck. Don't overextend, use test spells, and make them tap out. They have tons of trouble answering planeswalkers outside Restoration Angel. Recent lists have dropped maindeck countermagic for more removal to keep up with aggro, though I'd still be wary of a Syncopate or two. Just bide your time until you have Virtue and Gavony or Vault online, then there's basically no way they can win.
After boards, bring in all your instant speed threats, and take out Biomass Mutation if you're playing it. This deck can potentially make infinite life, but you can still win through the draw step if you have to. Vault makes your life total get out of Harvest Pyre range, and you can just Decay their Reckoner if you need to. They also play Sphinx's Revelation, meaning they will deck first. If you get infi-life'd in game 1, scoop and move on to game 2 if there's a ton of time in the round. If you're up a game, keep playing--you can out-attrition them with your planeswalkers and Lingering Souls. They only run something like 14 creatures. Even if they get there through your Vault, the match will be a draw absolute worst-case scenario.
Preboard: 70%
Postboard: 60%
Zombies
We're an overwhelming favorite after boards. Trostani is a nightmare for them, able to block everything in their deck except Falkenrath Aristocrat. It can even block a resurrected Messenger. They can't kill her aside from morbid Slip/Volley. If you lose to anything in this deck, it's Blood Artist. Save your Abrupt Decays for those, or if they try to put a Rancor on something. Garruk can also peg an Artist without losing loyalty. Preboard it can be tough without a blowout card like Rootborn Defenses, but you can get there if you play smart.
After boards, Terminus is a blowout, and Rest in Peace stops their deck cold. Always, ALWAYS remember that Gravecrawler can't block. I've thrown away so many lethal-on-board games because I forgot that Gravecrawler can't block.
Preboard: 40%
Postboard: 80%
R/x Aggro
Holy crap can these decks burn you out fast. Get Trostani or Vault online as fast as possible. If you can't get either one going, you probably lose. Call of the Conclave stops damage pretty well. Hellrider gets damage in regardless of how many blockers you have, and can't be removed with Selesnya Charm or Abrupt Decay. Thundermaw Hellkite just obliterates us. Even if you have Selesnya Charm to kill it, its ETB ability just does so much damage to us even if our tokens live.
After boards, I'd take out all your five drops. Bring in more removal, Deathrite Shaman if you have it, and Terminus. Not an easy matchup, but winnable.
Preboard: 40%
Postboard: 50%
The Mirror
The mirror is incredibly challenging. At first, it looks highly draw dependent--whoever draws more Virtues/Townships wins. Beneath the surface, though, the mirror is incredibly complex. Normally in creature deck mirrors, you want to build a critical mass and win in one big attack. Because of Rootborn Defenses, though, that will not work. Typically, both sides will have walls of Spirit tokens. By the time one side can get enough of an army, the other will Defenses and make a big combat blowout. When you Defenses in combat, expect Defenses back. Keep track of the number of Rootborn Defenses both sides have played, and don't forget about Lingering Souls in graveyards.
The key to the mirror match is winning the planeswalker war. Every single source of continuous token production is either a planeswalker or Trostani. Trostani is very powerful in the mirror, especially if only one side is running it. When your opponent drops a planeswalker, drop what you're doing and planeswalker uniqueness rule it as soon as you can. If you don't, you may have to sacrifice a few guys to kill it. Use your Selesnya Charms as pump spells if you have to. If you are the first to drop a Sorin, emblem him right away. They're going to have to answer Sorin anyway. Plan on them having an answer for him, and get that guaranteed value. Do not play Garruk, Primal Hunter until you've seen at least one Garruk from them, or you're going to immediately crack him for cards.
Because the deck is typically on the long-game plan, this match will almost always go to time. I've had a number of matches go 0-0-1 before. When there's Virtue + Vault on both sides, think about offering your opponent a draw, especially preboard when you have almost no way to interact with either card. In those board states, the game is going to get nowhere fast with skyrocketing life totals and armies/Defenses that trade over and over again. It may be in your best interest to draw game 1 and move on to the board games, which tend to matter more due to having more specific answer cards.
Sideboarding does matter, but you'll rarely have time to play game 3. Bring in all of your late game. All of it. You may want to bring in some Oblivion Rings or general answers if they try to bring in mirror breaker cards like Odric, Champion of Lambholt, and so on. Bring in all of your enchantment removal. Winning the Virtue battle is important. A mirror match in which only one side has Virtue is pretty heavily lopsided.
Above all, have patience. Think about how you can get blown out in combat. Never alpha strike if your opponent has 3 or more mana untapped. You may also want to consider partial attacks to try to draw Rootborn Defenses out of your opponent's hand. There are dozens of other facets to the mirror that you'll have to learn just from playing mirror matches.
MATCH HISTORY
I'll leave personal match history at the end of the thread, sorted by archetype.
Die: Specifies who won the die roll.
Mulligans: Shows how mulligans went, game by game, in ###-### format, For instance, 577-776 indicates that I took a mulligan to 5 in game one, and my opponent took a mulligan to 6 in game 3.
Result: Shows game-by-game results in win-loss format. LWL for instance means a loss in games 1 and 3, and a win in game 2.
Zombies:
Jund:
Frites:
American Midrange:
RDW:
UW Aggro:
UWx Control:
GW Rancor:
Bant Enchant:
Rogue:
Mirror:
Anything else I'm missing content-wise, let me know.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Just glad we get a primer update as I really feel this deck is quite strong now and is sitting in a nice place before GTC.
As soon as break occurs I'll provide some info on how traveler is working in real life and not just on paper.
Thanx to Bookworm10 for the Sig.
Check out my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ThyrixSyx
Cockatrice: shadowkill
Rules Adviser
Any thought on matchup against Naya Midrange?
1 - 3/3 body is tough for Rakdos to get through.
2 - 3 life also slows aggro.
3 - It's in our colors and plays nicely with Trostani.
I agree, it's a great sideboard choice for us. Even with out it making tokens it can allow us to stabilize out the board while we get our bread and butter stuff online.
For it being a common it really does work well in getting over the first couple turns against aggro. And even late game getting a 3/3 with 3 life gain is never a dead draw.
I'm gonna start leaving match histories at the end of the primer, getting some solid stats in here.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
I just realized that this deck actually contains 62 cards.. Is it just me, or does 62 cards deck is less "consistent" / "effective" (how should I say it) compare to a 60 cards deck
Essentially he is trying to make the mana work a bit more smoothly. Actually, I play at 24 land with 61 cards to help with flooding.
Article by Craig Wescoe about Junk Tokens. He gives his opinions or Brian Eason's list and why he likes it as well as some side boarding help.
I like 24/61 as well. 25/62 I think is like running 23.75 lands. Mana flood is so bad because we don't have any draw outside big Garruk.
I read Wescoe's article already. Thragtusk makes your midrange and control matchups better, yes, but I think with the meta the way it is, you need to focus more on beating the aggro deck. I wholeheartedly disagree with his assessment of the GW Rancor matchup--that deck just eats us alive. Taking out Virtue against Zombies is an awful idea as they simply can't remove it. I do agree with him on taking Haunting out vs. red aggro--it's just too slow.
Wescoe seriously underestimates Call of the Conclave in his article. Don't get me wrong, manadorks are fine. I just think running them in a meta full of Pillar/Slip is really risky. He also fails to mention that Vault of the Archangel + Lingering Souls is a perfectly valid plan vs. Thragtusk.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
You're more than welcome to use anything I wrote if you'd like!
Once again, sorry for the lack of updating to anyone who's interested in the archetype.
Modern:
Abzan Company
Abzan Midrange
GB Collected Elves
Legacy:
Junkblade
EDH:
Erebos, God of Black
You won't like Omnath when he's angry...
CEDH:
Meren, Clan of Vzlue
The archetype has changed a LOT since then, too. The core is a lot different, and the meta changes so fast you almost need a new build for every event.
I went 5-0 with my "aggro meta" list.
Took the "Aggro Meta" list to a 5-0 finish at FNM tonight.
Match 1: RDW
Game 1 I walked him into a blowout, 4-for-1 Rootborn Defenses on turn 4. Game 2 he barfed his hand on the table and killed me with Hellrider. Game 3 I was struggling a bit to stabilize, made another nice Rootborn Defenses, wiping most of his board but going to 2. I topdeck...an Overgrown Tomb. Had to play it tapped and pass the turn at 2. He fails to topdeck one of his eighteen outs, and Vault takes over the game.
Win 2-1 (2-1)
Match 2: UW Pike
This wasn't much of a match, really. He was pretty flooded in game 1 despite casting a Sphinx's Revelation, and a huge Abrupt Decay blowout on his Pike while he was holding two Negates. Game 2 he had to mulligan to 4. Win 2-0 (4-1)
Match 3: GW Rancor
Against the top player in Rockford, IL, too. We both played extremely tight the entire time, playing around Midnight Hauntings, Rootborn Defenses, Restoration Angels, Selesnya Charms...you name it, everything. Game 1 I had a good token force backed by Trostani, Abrupt Decay countering two Rancors. I found a Vault and took over the game. Game 2 I got obliterated by a god hand, and game 3 I won on a mulligan by two Rootborn Defenses blowouts in a row. Win 2-1 (6-2)
Match 4: GW Rancor
This was a very different build, with maindeck Centaur Healers. Not nearly as good a player as the previous one, he wound up losing the match by getting too greedy on Restoration Angels. I knew this player had Ray of Revelation in his sideboard, so I actually boarded out Intangible Virtue, and it seemed to work. Gavony Township REALLY went to town in this match. Win 2-1 (8-3)
Match 5: GUB Heartless Summoning
The deck took me by surprise. He dropped Summoning turn 2. I had a Decay in hand but no black mana. I went through 20 cards trying to find black mana before conceding to multiple Thragtusk triggers a turn. Then I bring in 11 cards, including six enchantment hates and Terminus. I Sundering Growth his turn 2 Heartless Summoning after a Call of the Conclave, then double Virtue for the game. Game 3 he's taken the combo out and is on the Ravenous Rats plan. I pitch lands to it, start making tokens, and get there with Township before he can drop fatties. Win 2-1 (10-4)
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
I learn that when facing a midrange deck playing red, we should be careful with our planeswalker. He stole my Planeswalker using Zealous Conscript twice and used my PW's ultimate. The first one was Vraska, and the second one was Garruk Primal Hunter.
I also had a bad time with Rakdos' Return. He made me discarded my hand containing two Thragtusks twice. And whenever I don't have anything in my hand, I just felt terrible.
But I can say that it is actually a 50:50 match.
After some more testing:
I think vs Jund mid you need to make sure you have Faith's Shield to keep your tokens from being severed and your walkers from being Dreadboared. Maybe Rootborn is good here if they use Bonfire. But I have to say that you absolutely cannot let them abuse Hunstmaster. For some reason I just couldn't kill him, however Trostani was able to hold him off for quite a while and you shouldn't side her out in this match up. Dorks aren't horrible here seeing as they want to be the aggressive deck AND ramp into things, there were a few games where I couldn't keep up with his ramp into Thundermaw. Another thing you may be tempted to side out is Intangible Virture, just don't do it. That card is the reason we win a lot of our games and I think its better to take the chance that they aren't gripping a charm then them just -1 your board and you lose everything anyways. If you have gavony in your SB i would say side out your vaults, but with aggro taking the driver seat I don't think gavony SB is smart. Anyways that is how I feel about Jund, any other ideas?
I have found that against jund you want to have as many answers as possible but also be the aggressor, hard to do, but not impossible.
Thanx to Bookworm10 for the Sig.
Check out my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ThyrixSyx
Cockatrice: shadowkill
Rules Adviser
Not always. I think Jund is weird in that it's build-dependent who is aggro and who is control. I don't think your answers are effective against Jund. They do have a lot of answers, yes, but I think we have enough instant-speed threats that we can just let Vault do the work. It depends on how many maindeck sweepers they have. I think you're aggro postboard if they have any sweepers in board, though.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Overgrown Tomb
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Woodland Cemetery
2 Forest
2 Gavony Township
2 Vault of the Archangel
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
The Beatsticks: 16
4 Lingering Souls
4 Call of the Conclave
4 Selesnya Charm
3 Midnight Haunting
1 Thragtusk
3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Garruk Relentless
The Rest: 11
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Rootborn Defenses
1 Faith's Shield
1 Collective Blessing
1 Ultimate Price
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Rancor
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
1 Skirsdag High Priest
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Rest in Peace
1 Ground Seal
2 Sundering Growth
1 Erase
1 Duress
1 Tragic Slip
1 Ultimate Price
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Rootborn Defenses
1 Sever the Bloodline
I have won many tournaments in my area with this deck. I love the one ofs to keep my opponents guessing and to increase the random enjoyability of the deck.
Since Junk Tokens is all about synergy, I maximized what I thought our core should be and minimized our exposure to multiples of any single card that would give us diminishing returns. (It is good to have options)
Weak Parts:
Thragtusk, Garruk Primal, and Collective Blessing: are liabilities game one if we don't stabilize quickly against agro.
Rancor: is a combo card (S. charm to exile a 3 power, vampire token to gain 2 more health, G. Primal for 2 extra cards) and as a one of usually insures I am using all my mana efficiently. It can on occasion just be a dead draw.
Abrupt Decay: is the only answer to Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere in play but hits almost nothing else in a control deck that is worthwhile game one. Our Shining star against all agro decks. Try and kill the creature they are enchanting with rancor.
Garruk Relentless: I have almost no love for this guy. Killing something for 4 mana is underwhelming and making a 2/2 instead of a 3/3 for one more green makes me cry. That is why he is a one of. I run 27 mana sources so I can power out the 5 drops on turn 4 or 5.
Collective Blessing is our ace in the hole for game one, every time it lands I win the game. It's that ridiculous with our deck. For game 2 I almost always side it out if they have access to white. They will side in all enchantment hate anyways so it's (surprise) value is gone.
Vault of the Archangel is supposed to be our agro hate card but it can be worthless against a first or double striking rancor'd G/W creature. I debate going to 1 and adding a forest instead all the time. What do you guys think?
Sideboard:
Skirsdag High Priest: is amazing against the mirror match and other midrange decks with low amounts of non-red board sweepers (the 5/5 flyers typically survive red's wipe spells). I have 3 junk token decks in my meta thanks to winning a lot (damn copy cats). It shouldn't be considered against agro decks because it doesn't slow them down fast enough. Trostani is better for that.
Intrepid Hero: helps against G/W agro, combos with rancor to kill all their creatures, kills an enemy rancor'd Thalia.
Erase: Rancor in G/W decks is the problem, not the 8/8 doublestriker. Sundering Growth is a fun combat trick but you can still lose when they just play it again next main phase.
Duress: Our biggest problems are typically non-creatures (except Thalia), this gets rid of our problems and gives us valuable info on how to play our deck.
Tragic Slip: Kills Thalia and dorks
Rootborn Defenses #3 : Played against a midrange (especially jund) deck it can make them cry. If you know a control deck isn't running Terminus (the general meta is reducing the number played main and side) then this is just another I win card.
Rest in Peace, Ground Seal, Deathrite Shaman: Our Graveyard hate, I like to diversify for fun. Although Ground Seal isn't strictly as good as rest in peace it is a cantrip, and allows us to flashback lingering souls.
On another note, I just went 3-1 tonight with a slight variation of RR's grindy list taking 4th place. All in all not a bad night for a $3 tournament.