Hello everyone, I am PieGonti, and today I will illustrate my take on one of the best contenters in the Pauper metagame: Jund Gardens! I started my journey into the format a couple years ago playing Golgari Gardens, and I always kept an eye open on the evolution of the archetype. 

With this current iteration of the format, the best decks are either:

1. Redundant aggressive decks with decent midgame 

Mono Red can easily win the early game battles with a small Goblin followed by a Goblin Bushwhacker, but has the power to grind with Experimental Synthesizer or Reckless Impulse effects.

Mono Blue can set up multiple 5/5s, but also playing a longer game with Brainstorms, Loriens and Deep Analysis.

2. Midrange black-based decks full of disputes

BGx Glee has a strong A+B combo, but also a fast and efficient card advantage hate. Affinity is the midrange king, and with the MH3 addition of Refurbished Familiar can play either the aggro role or the control role, depending on the matchup. 

But Pauper is a really deep format, so I won’t be surprised to face Elves, Walls Combo or worse aggro decks, such as Mono White, in a 15 rounds format.

Papuer: Why Jund Gardens is a good choice

First of all, decks full of removal have a very good matchup vs. random decks, meaning that I won’t be unhappy to face any anti-meta deck (maybe besides Turbofog ...) in the first turns of the event, which are usually the most critical. 

Jund has access to Writhing Chrysalis, which is the most powerful card in the format. This card plays perfectly with the plan of the deck, and fuels the curve, allowing to cast two to three spells per turn from turn four to five until the late game. 

Jund Colors also have all the solutions for the metagame listed above: Shatters + Gorilla Shaman for Affinity, Weather the Storm + wrath effects for Mono Red, Monarch + discard spells + recursion for midrange decks. 

Blue decks, that historically were not great matchups for BG Gardens, are now way less present, as they’re being pushed out by Chrysalis and black card advantage. While I don’t fear UB Faeries / Jeskai Ephemerate too much, I think not having those on the radar for my future events is another good point for the deck. 

The last reason is people have close to zero ways to attack the deck: Duress can be annoying, but that’s mostly it. Graveyard hate doesn’t impact the deck, and Jund can easily win a midrange/combat battle for Initiative or Monarch. 

Pauper Jund Gardens: Decklist & Card Choices 

Pauper Jund Gardens: Maindeck

3 Defile / 3 Snuff Out / 4 Cast Down is likely the best split for removals. Defile is great in the early game, but in midgame might be a bit too light. I often like to fetch Red/Green with Twisted Landscape, meaning Defile might be off to kill a Chrysalis/Myr Enforcer.  On the other hand, Snuff Out is sometimes awkward to cast, especially vs. Mono Red/Madness threats - but also I am not a lover of losing 4 life vs. Affinity, a deck that plays 3 to 4 Galvanic Blast plus Makeshift Munitions. Cast Down is the premium doom blade of the format, and playing less than 4 is somehow wrong. 

3 Breath Weapon are huge to cover Mono Red: I used to play Crypt Rats, but the rats are slower, more expensive, and being an on-board trick make them easier to play around by just sandbagging Kuldotha + Bushwacker. 

4 Lembas / 2 Ichor / 2 Heaped Harvest is my ideal split. I really enjoy Lembas ' ability to gain life and to cycle itself in mid/late game, especially vs. Mono Red/Madness. If I’d expect a more midrangey metagame, playing a 3/3 split would be fine also. 

Heaped Harvest is a surprisingly strong card: It's not only a food, meaning you get to control your life total, but it’s also a valid way to ramp. I often found myself winning where I had most of my lands on board, meaning Twisted Landscape can cycle into a spell, and most of my top decks are spells / Lembas anyway. I tend to approach all the matches like I am the control player, and Harvest helps me pursue this gameplan. 

4 Deadly Dispute + 2 Eviscerator’s Insight is a clever split. I started with 4 + 3, but found myself cutting one Eviscerator a ton vs. Aggro, so I decided to directly play 2. Also hands with lands and Disputes are often mulligans, so playing more rocks and less Disputes is okay, mostly because Lembas is a decent cantrip. I prioritize Eviscerator over any other "dispute" effect because the recursion is great in midgame: also sacrificing Harvest with GY Eviscerator is a huge feelgood. 

4 Chrysalis + 3 Troll of Khazad-Dum is how the deck wins: spamming big unbeatable creatures that will eventually take down the game while you kill every other opposing creature. I tend to count Pulse of Murasa as the 5th Chrysalis, since that’s its role often. I started with this card in the sideboard, but decided quickly to move into the main, as it’s good against basically all decks besides combo decks, that are usually good anyway. I prefer Pulse over Blood Fountain (that I run in the sideboard) because gaining 6 life is a huge tempo swing vs. red decks and Affinity. 

I used to play Avenging Hunter, but having 4 copies of emblems is often strange when you want to be the control player, both facing flyers or a bunch of Goblins, and I decided to cut it. Thorn of the Black Rose is a bit more manageable, costs one less, and if it happens that your opponent gets to steal it, it’s not immediately game over (as it's often with Initiative). 

2 Nihil Spellbomb is my last addition to the deck. I was missing two slots and decided to add something to make game 1 vs. Affinity/Monoblue a bit better. Spellbomb is quite free here, as you can just cycle it or sacrifice with disputes, drawing three for three mana. 

I thought about adding one Bojuka Bog, counting it as Spell, but I prefer the flexibility of Nihil Spellbomb a bit more, and the deck isn’t prone to mana screw. It can still be a consideration though. 

Pauper Jund Gardens: Sideboard

4x Weather the Storm is your best sideboard card for Mono Red / Madness matchup, but also plays a role in a lot of other matchups, including Cycle Storm or Dredge. 

2x Drown in Sorrow are here to support 3x Main Deck Breath Weapon: Against Burn, they’re a bit less impactful, but they play better vs. white decks that can’t respond with Prismatic Strands. 

2x Cast into the Fire are mostly for Affinity, but they can also punish greedy artifact mana bases + Wildfire vs. Jeskai or Jund Glee. I usually enjoy to side those in vs. Mono Red too, as it’s often equal to Cast Down, with the upside of exiling Clockwork Percussionist or 2x1 with Epicures and Goblins. 

1x Gorilla Shaman is for Affinity and Madness. I am not a lover of the Gorillas, as sometimes they don't do much, especially when you’re losing, so I like to just have one (+1 Fountain +1 Witch’s Cottage). I also have 1x Collector Ouphe, mainly here to remove Blood Fountains or unprotected Myr Enforcers. 

1x Blood Fountain is for mirror/blue based midrange/control decks, where Chrysalis gets removed and the 3x1 value of Fountain can shine, expecting a longer game. Same is true for the extra copy of Monarch, that I also side in vs BGx Glee, as they usually spend the first turns building the combo so slamming an extra threat to draw one more card every turn can be strong. 

1x Snuff Out is mostly for BGx Glee, since life isn’t super relevant in these matchups, while spending zero mana to hold an extra removal is. The card also plays vs Mono Blue terror, Walls and any deck that plays Murmuring Mystic. 

2x Pilfer is the best card I could come up with vs BGx Glee, as it removes any card. Since the combo is composed of creature + noncreature, I think Pilfer plays better than Duress.  Also Pilfer is okay to side vs Blue decks, trying to remove a Murmuring Mystic / whatever limitates you from winning the game. 

Pauper Jund Gardens: Cards I don’t play

Avenging Hunter: Too clunky when you want to be the control, the card plays awkwardly and it’s often a dead card until you’re already winning. 

Crypt Rats: Not really good vs. Mono Red, and it’s the matchup where it should shine. It has some applicability vs. Glee, but I feel the matchup is good anyway. 

Bojuka Bog: Strange card, often you can’t hold it in hand, meaning that you’re playing a tapland and losing value. 

Toxin Analysis + Krark Clan Shaman: I thought about this route, but it would take too many slots for not a great interaction considering my deck. Playing 7 (+) main deck removals already for Chrysalis / Monsters makes those decks not really scary. 

Red Elemental Blast: I expect little blue decks, and I feel the matchup is alright anyway. It might be fine sleeving a couple only for Mono U Terror. 

Duress: I think Pilfer is a bit better at doing that effect. Considering how I develop the mana, paying one extra mana for a better effect should be fine. 

Spinning Darkness: I am not sure you can make the case for this card here. I hate unreliable removals, especially because if I want Spinning Darkness, it must be active early vs. Mono Red. 

Tithing Blade: Another card only good vs. Terror, that likely sides Annul vs. us anyway because it’s the only playable sideboard card they have. This card is unplayable now, unless you expect somehow a comeback for Bogles.

Ancient Grudge: Worse than Cast into the Fire, even if it is 2x1s. Being able to exile in this format is so much better, both for Blood Fountain and also for the ability of Sink Holing. 

Campfire: the card always looks like it’s low impact, and you really need to draw it early to make it work. If you do though, you’re not progressing your gameplan, meaning that red decks can eventually out grind it. I guess it has legs in the mirror, but you’re likely going to draw those games anyway, unless you’re vs. a kind opponent. 

Pauper Jund Gardens: Sideboard Guide

Mono Red

+4 Weather the Storm

+2 Drown in Sorrow

+2 Cast into the Fire

OTP: +1 Troublemaker Ouphe

-2 Nihil Spellbomb

-3 Snuff Out

-2 Thorn of the Black Rose

-1 Eviscerator’s Insight

OTP: -1 Cast Down

I teched hard to beat this matchup, but now I can call it favorable. Try to fetch out both non-black colors in the early game, according to your hand. Generally speaking, it is better to fetch red as red cards are more impactful and you have more green sources. 

Casting Disputes on Lembas isn’t great, but it’s fine to progress your gameplan. Once you’re gaining board presence, start immediately to attack: their topdecks are sometimes backbreaking, so having them in chump-block mode reduces the agency of Bushwacker. 

Postboard they have basically nothing: the more they side, the more our odds increase, as they’re likely siding in CITF/End the Festivities, cutting Bolts. 

Grixis Madness

-2 Breath Weapon

-3 Snuff Out

-1 Thorn of the Black Rose

+1 Gorilla Shaman

+4 Weather the Storm

+1 Troublemaker Ouphe

Played matchup, G1 I feel we’re the underdogs, while postboard it’s easier to win. Gorilla is there to remove all the bloods, while Troublemaker Ouphe helps vs Trespasser’s Curse (yes, someone really sided it in vs us), and artifact lands. 

I like to keep in Nihil Spellbomb, as someone doesn’t side out Snackers, but mostly do, so I remove Breath Weapons. Postboard games are much more built around non creatures than creatures, as creatures are often a liability vs Writhing Chrysalis being able to block the ground and the sky. 

If your opponent keeps in all the creatures, you can do -1 Thorn and leave in the second Breath Weapon. 

Affinity

-3 Breath Weapon

-3 Snuff Out

+2 Cast into the Fire

+1 Troublemaker Ouphe

+1 Gorilla Shaman

+1 Thorn of the Black Rose

+1 Blood Fountain

Played matchup, depending how they start. Try to use your removals wisely, considering Chrysalis often stops them from attacking. They should play 2-3 Cast down to answer your threats, meaning once they use those, our board should be better. 

Cast into the Fire / Defile are your premium removals, as they’re the only capable of answering Kenku’s 3/3 Land. 

Jund Glee

-3 Breath Weapon

-1 Pulse of Murasa

+2 Pilfer

+1 Thorn of Black Rose

+1 Snuff Out

Good matchup - they try to do what we do, but with worse cards. Look out for Duress + Protection spells + Splinter Twin by keeping a lot of removals up. Monarch is one of your best cards; make sure to put stuff on the table at some point to clock them before they assemble the 5 card combo hand. You should eventually be fine, as most of their turns are just cycling cards. 

Mono U Terror

-3 Breath Weapon

-1 Heaped Harvest

+1 Snuff Out

+1 Thorn of the Black Rose

+2 Pilfer

Good matchup, the only way they win is by presenting a very strong board super early. Pilfer should help remove a threat/protection from the hand. I am not sure if Harvest is worse than Ichor, but it trades much worse mana wise. 

Defile isn’t great here, but being able to kill turn one Delver is huge. 

As always, Chrysalis is your best card: it's a triple timewalk that, if it doesn't get answered, might become bigger than terrors. 

RG Monsters

-3 Breath Weapon

-2 Nihil Spellbomb

+1 Snuff Out

+1 Thorn of the Black Rose

+2 Pilfer

+1 Blood Fountain

Played matchup, but should be good unless, as always, they highroll slamming 18 cmc creatures for 7 mana. Not having initiative hurts a bit, because it’s more difficult to steal it from them. I am not 100% sure about Pilfer, but I feel clearing what they have in hand might be a good way to decrease the pressure. 

Once you have the control of the game, Pulse of Murasa and Blood Fountain helps you to set up an unbeatable boardstate. Monarch helps and should be played in the set up turns, where they’re still deploying non-problematic creatures. Save your spot removal for creatures with trample, and you should be fine solving boardstates later. 

I considered a couple of Weather the Storm OTD, as sometimes you want to take a breath, but they’re a bit inconsistent, and you get to gain life with Foods anyway. 

UB Terror

-3 Breath Weapon

-1 Defile

-1 Heaped Harvest

+2 Pilfer

+1 Thorn of the Black Rose

+1 Snuff Out

+1 Blood Fountain

Similar matchup to mono U, but they play zero early game threats, leaving all to our big removals. Try to use Snuff Out on Terror, since it can’t kill Gurmag. It’s the classic Tempo vs Control game: sequencing and using all the mana all the turns is the key to success. 

UR Terror

-2 Breath Weapon

-1 Cast Down

-1 Eviscerator’s Insight

-1 Lembas

+2 Pilfer

+1 Blood Fountain

+1 Thorn of the Black Rose

+1 Snuff Out

Control mirror, where they have zero card advantage cards besides Lorien. Should be easy: do your stuff, kill whatever they play, and play around counterspells with your premium card. Chrysalis T6 allows you to also play the monarch. Postboard playing monarch first is usually terrible, as they can kill yours and play theirs, winning the game with that move (since usually Skred is bigger than Chrysalis). 

I like to keep in one Breath Weapon just in case something goes wrong with Murmuring Mystic - and I board in one extra Snuff Out to kill it: life shouldn’t matter much anyway. Look out for Spell Pierce when they have one mana and they feel super confident with their play. 

BG Broodscale

-2 Heaped Harvest

-1 Pulse of Murasa

-1 Breath Weapon

+2 Pilfer

+1 Snuff Out

+1 Thorn of the Black Rose

Breath isn’t the best card here, but it’s good at removing small tokens and Mesmeric Fiend. Harvest is a risky play for three mana, so I decided to cut it. I’d rather have more copies of the Monarch, as they’re never going to race it, so it’s a safe card advantage engine each turn. 

You often have the possibility to have multiple removals, meaning they need to sculpt for Duress + Tamiyo + A + B + C. Once you can hold 2-3 removals, immediately switch to aggro attacking with Chrysalis. 

Pauper Jund Gardens: Tips & Tricks

1) Lands + Spells are often a keep. Having a turn two play, one or two removals, and something to play later (either a Dispute or a creature) is always fine. This deck mulligans very well, because you gain back the cards with just a couple disputes, and vs. red decks, you have ways to sweep the board or stop the game, like Chrysalis.

2) You play 7 fetches. I always go for Red, as we got more green sources in the deck. But of course this might change if we already have Heaped Harvest or Pulse in hand. I like to fetch in the first turns of the game, since the premium spells we have all cost 3 and 4 mana, so it’s fine to use the first turn to build our gameplan. Late game, when we have 7+ mana sources, it’s fine to hold fetches in hand (if we already have all the colors) to cycle them. 

3) Counting and planning is the key to play the deck well. How much mana do you need in your next turn? Which sources are involved? How many damage can you deal if you sacrifice all the Chrysalis tokens? And what happens if you do?

4) Cycling Lembas when the game is in a stalemate is always correct (you of course need to have other artifacts on board). Lembas are always better on the deck, than on the battlefield. Against red decks, you can also crack it with the scry trigger on the stack, so you increase the odds of drawing another one. 

5) Switching some cards to your liking is okay, but try to not alter the balance of rocks, enablers, payoffs, removals, card advantage. As I said, I heavily teched the deck to beat mono red, the deck that’s historically more present and I expect a ton in the tournament, but it’s also fine to move one breath weapon in the side to play something else in the mana, etc. 

6) Play as fast as you can, especially if your opponent is slow, or it’s a slow matchup. A loss is almost the same as a draw, so spending useful time doing nothing important is huge. As my friend Mogged says, play fast not play good (meaning you practice a lot at home, with friends and/or on MTGO so you have all the heuristics to play fast turns, and only think in specific spots.

Conclusion

After the last Paupegeddon Pisa, I thought the deck was unplayable, but now thanks also to the great Elia Morgese (aka the master) the deck is at its best! I hope this read entertained you, and encouraged you to try this marvelous Jund Control deck. 

For any questions, I am down to talk on twitter/instagram. 

Stay hungry, stay pauper!