Going to the Jankyard: Playing and Understanding Jank

    Dr. Jankenstein, also known as Joe, is taking over this week as our resident. Senator Spike, AKA Levi, is preparing for our Magiccon Chicago debut. We are extremely excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to bring you many different scenarios, asking, “Am I the Archenemy?” Make sure to submit any stories you feel comfortable speaking about at thoughtvesselshow@gmail.com!

    This week, we will be directing you to the Jankyard to better understand what it is, how to play it, and how to win with it. Jank is one of my favorite ways to play games, as I usually approach most games from a backwards perspective. For example, entering a game like Destiny and its sequel, Destiny 2, I focused more on trying to defeat all enemies using only melee in a class that most people associated with being more focused on mid to long-range combat. And that’s the fun of doing something like that! The challenge of engaging in something that doesn’t seem optimal, but when you do it and become proficient, it’s hard not to feel the rush of dopamine.

    The first step is to understand what sets Jank apart from the usual strategies we mainly see in games. Think of most strategies as well-tuned machines that will perform their function 10 out of 10 times with very few exceptions. Jank strategies are like Rube Goldberg machines that you set up during the course of the game, which means they’re likely to work 3 out of 10 times every time you play, either due to not getting the pieces you need or having your pieces removed from the board.

    Now, you might question, “Why would I want to play something that isn’t going to work all the time?” To this, I say because it teaches you to be a better player and to think of cards in new ways when playing with a higher quality deck. Magic’s rules and cards have become so diverse that all it takes is seeing a card in the right scenario and an interaction with the rules to help you out of a scenario.

    To provide a scenario from one of my games, I was playing my group hug deck. I had allowed the players at the table to play at Flash speed with my Tidal Barracuda, AKA Flash Fish. One player took advantage of this to try and win the game by casting a Wrath of God on a full board of creatures, holding priority, then casting Revel in Riches, hoping to let it resolve and win on his next upkeep. The rest of the table saw this as the end, but I had a trick up my sleeve. I had Hive Mind on my board, and in my hand was a Day’s Undoing. In combination with the Tidal Barracuda, I was able to cast Day’s Undoing, giving each player a copy of it. Time Twistering until it got to the current player's turn activated the last clause of Day’s Undoing, ending the player’s turn. If you are familiar with what ending a turn does to spells, the reminder text tells you that all abilities and spells are exiled off the stack, effectively countering both spells on the stack.

    Now that we’ve covered what Jank is and how to play it with an example, it’s time to discuss winning with Jank. As was stated, this is a Rube Goldberg machine, meaning that you are looking at what it takes to win in the most interesting ways possible. One way is by using The Prismatic Bridge to get the one singular creature or planeswalker out of your deck to build your entire strategy around, such as my Brash Taunter version or my Ovika version. You could also be looking at 4 to 5 card combos that synergize so well together that it can only cause your opponents to go, “I don’t know what you did, but I’m glad I died to that awesome combo!” These combos take a bit of research to find the right cards, but they usually start with a single card that you want to take to its limits, such as Hylda of the Icy Crown. The combo I found with this utilized Hylda, a creature to tap another creature your opponent controls, an in-color mana dork, and Intruder Alarm to make an infinite amount of elementals. Add in the Crashing Drawbridge, and you can win that turn too!

    But that’s all about Jank today! Tune in next time when Senator Spike decides to really hammer home consistency above all else, even though we all know in our hearts of hearts that the victories from Jank are just a little bit sweeter. Until next time, roll out the Jank and fire away!"