Table of Contents
Hello everyone! I’ve been really enjoying Historic recently and Kaladesh has introduced a lot of new stuff to explore. However, as the initial hype to try new stuff dies down, people are coming back to a particular realization, a lot of the best decks that were around before Kaladesh are still around now, minus Omnath. You could say, the cat’s out of the bag. Horrible puns aside, one of the best decks from before Kaladesh was Jund Company, and when I picked it up again, it certainly didn’t disappoint. Let’s see the list.
[sd_deck deck=”PMkmqhrI5″]
Now that’s scrumptious. I would say the release of Kaladesh was about a net neutral for Cat decks in general. On one hand, Blooming Marsh is a huge add to the deck, on the other, Fatal Push is very good against the deck. However, if a set had a net neutral effect on what was one of the best decks, where do you think that positions it now? For all of my Best of One friends, I would swap at least one Midnight Reaper for another Bonecrusher in the main deck. The Historic meta is in flux for both Bo1 and Bo3 play so it’s hard to fully commit to an anti-aggressive game plan, but the swap is a pretty safe bet. Let’s talk cards.
CARD CHOICES
Companion: Jegantha, the Wellspring: Honestly, this deck plays Jegantha because it’s free. It’s not amazing or anything, but sometimes an 8 mana 5/5 can get you there.
4 Cauldron Familiar: I always write these lists in order for how they appear on streamdecker, but it’s nice how the marquee card appears first. Cauldron Familiar is innocuous by itself, but becomes an absolute monster when combined with Witch’s Oven and Priest of Forgotten Gods. Whether it’s stalling your opponent’s best attacker or pressuring their life total, Familiar is amazingly powerful for a 1 drop.
4 Dreadhorde Butcher: Dreadhorde Butcher was always the least powerful card in the deck, and the printing of Fatal Push has done it no favors. I’ve seen lists with Blood Artist instead, but I think Blood Artist is too reliant on already assembling Cat/Oven to really pay dividends. At the least, Butcher can pressure your opponent rather effectively and is great sacrifice fodder for Priest of Forgotten Gods.
4 Priest of Forgotten Gods: Priest is beyond excellent in this deck considering it’s nearly built around making it good. For the surprisingly low cost of two other creatures, edicting your opponent, getting mana, dealing 2, and drawing a card is a lot of value. Most of the time you’re using Priest as removal, but there have been plenty of games I’ve used it as a pseudo-ramp spell to great effect. Priest isn’t good in every matchup, but it’s one of the MVPs in creature matchups. As a cute note, Priest can target any number of players including yourself. This becomes relevant if you Claim the Firstborn an opposing Priest of the Forgotten Gods and don’t have another sacrifice outlet. If you target yourself, you’ll only have to sacrifice a creature and lose two, the other two abilities will just be for you.
2 Bonecrusher Giant: I feel like I’m the only person playing Bonecrusher main in my Company decks and I really don’t know why. Bonecrusher gives you a few more pieces of interaction, is another 2 mana play in a deck clogged with 3 drops, and is a good hit off Company. Bonecrusher was more relevant when the Mirror and Goblins were the most popular decks, but I’ve been a huge fan of Bonecrusher main ever since..
4 Mayhem Devil: Now this card is what pushes Jund over the edge from mediocre to obscene. Mayhem Devil combined with any sacrifice outlet creates a disgusting amount of pressure on your opponent. Whether you use it to kill creatures or double the speed of your clock, Devil is the most important part of your deck. With that in mind, try not to expose Mayhem Devil to removal needlessly as this will win you more games than any other card.
3 Midnight Reaper: Some decks are all about stopping you from having fun by killing everything you play, but Midnight Reaper is here to give them a hard time. Playing out a Midnight Reaper makes you feel very safe against Control decks as any creature dying nets you a card back. If you can assemble Cat/Oven and Reaper against Control, you can easily bury them in cards. Be careful with the life loss though, it can add up, especially in multiples.
4 Woe Strider: Woe Strider has a lot of functions in this deck, but the two biggest things it’s for is a one man Priest of Forgotten Gods trigger and an additional free sacrifice outlet outside of Witch’s Oven. It’s insanely important and the deck is pretty much unplayable without this. The Scry is just gravy but you can run this out turn 3 very safely as you’ll still get some value, even if it’s killed. In a pinch, you can recur this later in the game as well.
4 Claim the Firstborn: Considering all the best creatures are 3 CMC or less, stealing them for 1 mana is quite the rebate. Use this to take your opponent’s creature then sacrifice it to one of your sac outlets. Killing a creature for 1 mana, if Fatal Push has taught us anything, is very brutal, doubly so if you sacrifice it to Priest or you have a Mayhem Devil out.
4 Collected Company: Company is where Historic Jund decks predominantly differ, us with Company and others with the Food package. I think there’s a lot of merit to both, but I prefer Company because you’re a faster deck than the Food variant. The ability to get two high powered 3 drops is too appealing to me and even the first copy of Collected Company can bury your opponent in card advantage.
4 Witch’s Oven: Free sacrifice outlets are really important for this deck and the added benefit of being obscene with Cauldron Familiar is just gravy. Doubt I need to say more, we’ve all been on the receiving end of a Witch’s Oven I’m sure.
23 Lands
SIDEBOARD
3 Abrade: I try not to include too many non-Company hits in my sideboard, but Abrade is a very versatile card. I like having a lot of creature removal earlier in a newer metagame and the ability to snipe important artifacts, specifically Grafdigger’s Cage, is really important.
2 Bonecrusher Giant: To finish off the playset in the 75, bring this in against small creature decks.
2 Klothys, God of Destiny: Klothys is really good against any deck looking to utilize the graveyard in any form or against decks that can’t remove it easily. This will mostly be used for the Mirror and Sultai, but there are other niche strategies this can be great against.
1 Midnight Reaper: Sultai is really popular right now as are other random Control decks, and this is one of the best cards against them.
3 Murderous Rider: I know I’m going to get a lot of flack for this, but you don’t always have to use Jegantha as your companion. Murderous Rider serves double duty as a hard removal spell for important creatures and planeswalkers (especially Yasharn, Implacable Earth) and is a hit off Collected Company. Admittedly, the 25 Collected Company hits in the main deck is already somewhat low for Company (the heuristic is generally 28), so having good cards that can be found off Company is important.
1 Reclamation Sage: I’m not sure how many decks that care about artifacts and/or enchantments are around, but I like having at least one Reclamation Sage in the board to find off of Collected Company. Furthermore, if you think your opponent plays Grafdigger’s Cage and Abrade is bad against them, you can bring in the one Sage as a hedge.
2 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King: Sometimes we need some more power cards in the build if we’re facing a deck that’s looking to tax our resources heavily. Although Korvold doesn’t work well against Aether Gust, a lot of the time you can sneak Korvold in on a turn the opponent puts the shields down and draws a few cards out of the deal. If they can’t kill it immediately, this can win the game very quickly.
GAMEPLAY
MATCHUPS AND SIDEBOARD GUIDE
IN POST BOARD GAMES, THE COMPANION FILTER WILL BE TURNED ON AND YOU WON’T SEE MURDEROUS RIDER INITIALLY. MAKE SURE YOU CLICK THAT OFF SO YOU CAN SEE YOUR MURDEROUS RIDER WHEN YOU NEED IT!
MONO RED
| In | Out |
|---|---|
| +3 Abrade | -2 Dreadhorde Butcher |
| +2 Bonecrusher Giant | -3 Midnight Reaper |
| +1 Reclamation Sage | -1 Collected Company |
This matchup is likely your best one assuming they are on the creature version and not the burn version, but even Burn is a very good matchup. Take out your medium cards, add in all your removal. Reclamation Sage is surprisingly good here with the addition of Bomat Courier and Sage already hit Anax and Embercleave as well. I hate cutting Collected Company, but you’re going down to 22 hits which is very dangerous territory and they can be clunky against a deck looking to kill you by turn 4. Despite that, just kill their first few creatures and this matchup is a breeze.
GRUUL AGGRO
| In | Out |
|---|---|
| +2 Abrade | -4 Dreadhorde Butcher |
| +2 Bonecrusher Giant | -3 Midnight Reaper |
| +3 Murderous Rider |
This matchup is pretty similar to Monored, but they play more expensive threats so Murderous becomes way more reasonable. Just act as a Control deck in this matchup and you should take this easily, Gruul really struggles when they lose their first few threats.
SULTAI
| In | Out |
|---|---|
| +2 Klothys, God of Destiny | -3 Dreadhorde Butcher |
| +1 Midnight Reaper | -2 Bonecrusher Giant |
| +2 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King |
Depending on the list, this matchup can range from favorable to very difficult, but I mostly found it favorable against the stock lists. Since Jund hasn’t been popular, most Sultai lists no longer play Yasharn, but if they do, you need Murderous Rider over the last Butcher, one Priest, and a copy of Claim the Firstborn. The key to win Control matchups is to keep putting up enough board presence that they’re forced to deal with it, but not so much that you get ruined by a board wipe. You usually win this matchup by having a decent board, them not board wiping you one turn, and you pass with a Collected Company. They’re pulled so many directions that they generally can’t answer everything fast enough.
MIRROR
| In | Out |
|---|---|
| +3 Abrade | -4 Dreadhorde Butcher |
| +2 Bonecrusher Giant | -3 Priest of Forgotten Gods |
| +2 Klothys, God of Destiny | -3 Midnight Reaper |
| +1 Reclamation Sage | |
| +2 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King |
The mirror board plan is awkward as my list is generally stronger in the mirror, but we go down to 20 hits for Collected Company. This is a risk I believe we have to take as who resolves the first relevant Company is generally the winner of that game. For what it’s worth, a lot of other lists also significantly shave down on their hits after boarding as well. This list is really good at keeping their board clear and trying to act like a more controlling deck.
AURAS
| In | Out |
|---|---|
| +3 Abrade | -4 Dreadhorde Butcher |
| +2 Bonecrusher Giant | -3 Midnight Reaper |
| +3 Murderous Rider | -1 Collected Company |
The main reason to play this deck right now is because decks like Auras and aggro decks are very popular. Auras can be very scary, but we have so much removal the matchup generally should be very easy. Having to contend against Burn spells, Murderous Rider, Claim the Firstborn, and Mayhem Devil is generally too much for an Aura’s player to beat.
That’s what I have for today! If you like my content and want to see more of it, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and you can also check me out on Twitch! Have a great day!
