Alara: Jund Devour (Modern) [Revisione 49]

A favourite of mine that has been a staple of kitchen-table play with my friends. Has changed a lot over the years, though it has never truly been optimized for competitive play. Imho, the "devour" mechanic, due to the self-inflicted losses with questionable gains that it requires, is not really meant for that anyway. The deck is about flavour and vibes before anything else. Some obvious cues from the ever-popular Jund Midrange have been taken without compromising on the core theme on the deck.

Since I am including a lot of the quintessential devour cards, this might as well serve as a primer, I guess. A couple of thoughts:

• In general, it is very important for devour creatures to have immediate effects on arrival, i.e. card draw, direct damage, haste, discard. Otherwise, the devoured creatures will have been consumed only for their consumer to immediately be removed from the board. Sometimes you will just have to roll with the punches. But minimizing losses is key. This deck is fairly casual. A more competitive approach would be to leave out Mycoloth and possibly Hellkite Hatchling and to lean more into Tar Fiend and Skullmulcher.
• The mana base is just what I had at hand. Has worked out quite well for me thus far. Since the current version of the deck is VERY creature heavy, Ancient Ziggurat is amazing. Might have to change if other spell types are cycled in. Adjust to measure.
• Birds of Paradise competes with Tukatongue Thallid for the 1 CC G-spot. Included the birds because of possible mana issues. Non-creature mana fixes like Utopia Sprawl do not fit this deck as well since a) creature consumption is the end goal and b) Ancient Ziggurat.
• Mogg War Marshal trumps Dragon Fodder. It sometimes gives you three instead of just two creatures. Also, again: Ancient Ziggurat.
• Putrid Leech is just a good card. Also synergizes well with Bloodhall Ooze.
• Both 2 CC drops compete with either utility like Fists of Ironwood or mana fix like Rampant Growth.
• Sprouting Thrinax has beautiful hot-potato energy. Block / destroy it and create more tokens? Or let its damage go through? Gives your adversary tough choices.
• Thelonite Hermit has been a late addition. Sits in that weird spot between 3 CC and 5 CC. Good synergies due to token boost and morph ability. Slow though. And the boost might be questionable since the tokens are meant to be consumed. Can be an alternative win condition due to creature count.
• Hellkite Hatchling. First devourer of the curve. Decent gains (flying, trample) even if few tokens are consumed.
• Skullmulcher provides card draw and is therefore one of the better devourers out there.
  As said above, Mycoloth is easily sniped and might go down without immediate gains. If it survives the round, it gets nasty though. God forbid you let it consume more than one token. Hard not to include. This one can win games on its own.
• Dragon Broodmother, as well as good old Predator Dragon are just solid.
• Hellkite Overlord is just there for flavour and memes.
• cards to think about: Obviously: removal spells. See sideboard and maybeboard. Synergies with "once a creature dies" effects are also obviously there. Also: Overwhelming Stampede. Amazing one-shot card. Just one Sprouting Thrinax and some tokens are usually enough. See pure token decks for a more stable version of this idea. Marrow Chomper could regain life points lost due to Putrid Leech. Questionable though. Thunder-Thrash Elder grows fast but needs utility enchanments to truly be of use.

Probably more to say, but I am rambling. Enjoy the deck, it sure as hell has been a flavourful blast for me!