Ever since Magic 2010 made it’s appearance, I’ve been tinkering with my current favorite deck, Jund Mana Ramp. The loss of Treetop Village concerned me as it was one of the decks most surprising tools. Well, I hadn’t had a chance to try it out, as I’ve been drafting mostly, but finally a standard event rolled and I was ready to give it a shot. Here is what I sleeved up:

Round one I got a bye. Yea.

Round two I played a Haunting Echoes deck. Something I noticed in this match was my threat density is lower than I like since I no longer had Treetop Village serving double duty. After a very long game one in which I didn’t draw into my mana acceleration early, I finally drew a couple Broodmate Dragons while she dug for Haunting Echoes to rip my deck apart. Game two I sided in two Mind Shatters and the Makeshift Mannequin for a Garruk and the Shriekmaws. This game was won on Broodmate Dragons into lethal Banefire.

Round three I played against Faeries. Cloudthresher and Volcanic Fallout are still very good in this matchup, and my fortuitous draws allowed me to 1 (accelerate), 2 (sweep), and 3 (bomb) both games quickly. Game two I sided in two Mind Shatters for two Shriekmaws, but they weren’t needed. When they must counter everything you do, you just overwhelm them.

big cowouch

Round four I played against Blightning Beatdown, a scary matchup to me as I don’t like getting hit with Blightning. Game one I went down in flames; I was in single digit life before I had four mana. Game two I took out Cloudthreshers for Primal Command, one Garruk for Makeshift and opened a hand of Forest, Fire-lit Thicket, Rampant Growth, Primal Command, Primal Command, Broodmate Dragon, and Kitchen Finks. Within four turns I had five mana and two Kitchen Finks. I proceeded to bury him with Primal Plow Under Angel’s Mercy Commands until I finished him with Kitchen Finks. Game three followed the same pattern only he was mana screwed from black.

Round five I faced the illustrious Time Sieve combo. Game one I was on the draw and looking at a hand of Savage Lands, Forest, Rootbound Crag, Rampant Growth, Rampant Growth, Banefire, Banefire. The ridiculous amount of acceleration I drew into from his Jace allowed me to EOT Cloudthresher, attack into Banefire for twelve while 3/4 of my library was Jace-ultimated into my graveyard. Game two I removed said Cloudthreshers, Terminates, Lavalanches, Garruk Wildspeakers, and Shriekmaws for Primal Commands, Filigree Fractures, Pithing Needles, Makeshift Mannequin, and two Mind Shatters. I opened up with Pithing Needle on Time Sieve, then bidded my time as I hit and missed with Fractures and Commands through counters. When I finally amassed enough mana to drop Broodmate Dragon, Path to Exile bought him another turn in which he drew Tezzeret the Seeker and Time Warp. I looked at my double Banefire and decided to roll into game three.

seekerburnt

Game three for all the marbles. After much shuffling and banter, we opened our grips and began again much the same as game two, with Pithing Needle on Sieve and double Howling Mine. I drew all the right cards as he lost tempo to a Primal Commanded Borderpost, two Fractured Borderposts, and Kitchen Finks working in early damage. As he struggled to get to enough mana to EOT Cryptic and Open the Vaults, I Banefired him and took it home.

So chalk victory up to Primal Command, the decks MVP by far. I do not think I would have made it to the final table without, nor do I think I could have won it all. The deck needs some more tinkering for sure, but I’m not sure if I want to worry too much about it with Zendikar on the horizon, taking some key cards with it. As for now, I would love to fit Primal Command main deck, cutting Garruk and probably Lavalanche. If you love Broodmate Dragon and Banefire, give it a whirl at your next FNM.

MVP