I took a Jund Mana Ramp variant to FNM this past Friday and won first, securing my FNM Merrow Reejerey.

MR

While I had fun playing the deck, I know it needs some fine tuning. I wanted to utilize Jund’s more powerful cards all the while making the deck more post-rotation friendly, so I didn’t rely on a lot of Lorwyn block cards. Let’s have a look at the list:

This deck is begging for Terminate’s impending reprinting in Alara Reborn. The Incinerates aren’t enough, and Terror is just a little too narrow for my liking. When Tower Gargoyles and Tidehollow Scullers are everyone’s favorite creatures, I probably should just sideboard Filigree Fractures and say to heck with it.

Garruk Wildspeaker on turn three (with Fertile Ground) into turn four Violent Ultimatum came up twice, and both times it only sealed victory. Violent Ultimatum did win one game for me, stemming the tide of exalted attackers like Sigiled Paladin, there are much cheaper alternatives.

One overall concept I went with in this deck is making my creatures removal-proof;Goblin Outlander laughs at Terror, Path to Exile, and Oblivion Ring. Troll Ascetic can’t be shot at and can regroup after a shot of 1G. Broodmate Dragon comes in twos and Sprouting Thrinax bounces back from Wrath of God like no other. This worked great for me all night, particularly Troll Ascetic as he walked in seven times for victory. The weakest among them is Sprouting Thrinax, which I consistently sided-out for Kitchen Finks, which bounce back after Wrath of God too.

Without knowing what will be reprinted in Magic 2010, I’m not sure how this deck will survive the rotation of 10th edition out of Standard. Shock could be Magma Spray, Treetop Village could be cut for more Forests, but the loss of the pain lands (Karplusan Forest and Sulfurous Springs) could really hurt the mana base, not to mention losing Troll Ascetic. With that in mind, I look to play this in the upcoming FNM, with Incinerates being traded straight across for Terminates post Alara Reborn.