[B]The Primer for Legacy Sideboarding and Sideboard Material![/B]
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[B]Table of Contents[/B]
[B] I. Introduction
[/B]
a. Self-Introduction and The Rules
b. Bluff Boarding
[B]II. Sideboard Composition Strategies[/B]
a. Covering All Your Bases
b. Anti-Meta
c. Transformational Sideboard
d. The Wish Board
[B]III. The Comprehensive and Continually Updated Sideboard Card Pool[/B]
a. White
b. Blue
c. Red
d. Black
e. Green
f. Multicolor
g. Lands
[B] Everything after this point is located in Post #2, as this primer exceeds the maximum character length for a single post.[/B]
[B]IV. Sideboarding Against Specific Deck Archetypes[/B]
a. Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Threshold
b. Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Ichorid
c. Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Goblins
d. Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Stax
e. Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Dreadnought/Dreadstill
f. Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Burn
g. Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Evagreen
Hi, my name is Tom! You can call me Tom, Xanth, or whatever you like. So why write a primer about Legacy sideboards? Well, as many of you may know, I love to make decks, both casual and competitive, and I love to play competitively. For a while I had rather neglected the importance of sideboards; I was too lazy to give them much consideration. But one of the key aspects to playing competitively is a useful sideboard! Every sideboard can be just as unique as the deck fielding it, and sideboards can be used in a variety of ways, from a Wish-board to a sideboard that hates on key deck archetypes. Sideboards now very much intrigue me; sideboarding can drastically improve your odds of winning against many a deck.
So first lets discuss the very basics, because, well, this is a primer. [B]The Rules:[/B]
Quote from Floor Rules for Tournaments »
114. Pregame Procedure
Before a game begins, players determine who plays first (see section 113). This may be done any time during the pregame procedure before the players look at their hands. (Note that players are not required to decide who plays first before sideboarding.) The following steps must be performed before each game begins:
1. Players may exchange cards in their decks for cards in their sideboards (only after the first game of the match).
2. Players shuffle their decks (see Universal Tournament Rules, section 21). Note that players may stop shuffling to perform additional sideboarding but must then shuffle sufficiently.
3. Players present their decks to their opponents for additional shuffling and cutting.
4. If the opponent has shuffled the player’s deck, that player may make one final cut.
5. Players present their sideboards and put them in a clearly distinguishable place.
6. Each player draws seven cards. Optionally, these cards may be dealt face down on the table.
7. Each player, in turn order, decides whether to mulligan (see section 115).
That should clear up some basic questions you have about how to sideboard. Keep in mind, as per the rules, you are not required to show your opponent how many cards you are sideboarding (though when you present your deck to them to cut/shuffle, they may indeed count your deck, or view your face-down sideboard afterward, to make sure you didn't add or remove an extra card). However, there are some subtle strategies to the action of sideboarding:
[B]Bluff Boarding:[/B] Yes! You can indeed bluff with sideboarding. We're manipulating cards that our opponents can't see, afterall! Lets say after Game 1, you make a remark about how nasty that, oh, Tarmogoyf was in your opponent's deck, and then smile as you openly sideboard in eight cards. Those eight cards may very well have nothing to do with handling Tarmogoyf and are instead helpful against other cards in your opponent's deck, such as Price of Progress versus nonbasic lands. Your opponent may then very well decide to sideboard in cards to help protect his Tarmogoyfs, such as Divert or Misdirection, versus targeted removal, or even, albeit quite unlikely, sideboard out his Tarmogoyfs.
Another form of bluff, especially for when you have little or no sideboard answers to the deck you're facing, is to put all 15 cards (or less, but enough to make it convincing) from your sideboard into your deck, shuffle your deck, then go through and remove 15 (or however many you chose to add/remove) cards from it. This way your opponent has no idea whether or not you sideboarded 15 cards, none, or any number in between. It can do wonders for confusing your opponent, and can possibly cause them to sideboard in reactionary cards to what they think you may have sideboarded in, or sideboard out cards in their deck that they know are vulnerable to popular sideboard hate.
Alternatively, you can sideboard multiple times in the same time frame between the game (ideally as long as this is done under three minutes via the time allotment given to you) to possibly generate some added confusion in your opponent's mind (confusion potentially generates play-errors! :p).
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[B]II. Sideboard Composition Strategies[/B]
There are multiple ways to how one can go about sideboarding, and this primer seeks to discuss those in detail.
[B]Covering All Your Bases[/B]
This strategy is to basically provide yourself a sideboard that allows your deck to answer a variety of different threats and problems that you predict you may face every other round or so in the tournament scene, but not often enough to maindeck such responses, or to simply risk having a said response maindecked and it end up being a dead card versus other decks. "Bases" that you usually want to cover consist of dealing with the following problems, some encompassing others (like "combo" encompassing "enchantments" for example):
There are many cards to handle these variety of bases, and certainly cards that will handle a number of them, such as Disenchant. Ideally you want to look at what bases your deck does weakly against or has no real response to, and include an even or somewhat even distribution of responses to these bases in your 15-card sideboard. This sideboarding strategy is very basic, but ideal for the tournament scene when you have little to no knowledge of what metagame you'll be facing.
Here's an example sideboard for a mono-blue control deck, following this strategy:
This sideboard covers Artifacts and Enchantments through Annul, Discard, Targeted Damage and Counterspells through Misdirection, Creature Saturation and Key Creatures through Propaganda and Vedalken Shackles, and Nonbasic Lands through Back to Basics. Board Sweepers are naturally not much of a problem for mono-blue control as they don't play many non-land permanents. Activated and Triggered Abilities can be dealt with by making room in the sideboard for cards like Trickbind or Stifle.
Here's an example sideboard for a red-black Goblins deck:
This sideboard covers Graveyard Manipulationthrough Tormod's Crypt, Creature Saturation through Goblin Sharpshooter, Board Sweepers through Patriarch's Bidding and Cabal Therapy, Counterspells and Combo through Cabal Therapy, and potentially a variety of bases through Pithing Needle. Discard is not dealt with as the deck is fast and usually empties its hand rather quickly, while Non-basic Lands are not dealt with (other than a few notable ones via Pithing Needle) because the deck itself runs non-basic lands and would be hurt by cards like Blood Moon.
You basically want to spread your sideboard out to give you an average improved Game 2 and Game 3 match-up versus the average deck you would struggle against.
[B]Anti-Meta[/B]
This sideboard strategy is for when you know pretty well what the popular decks are in your metagame, either through personal observation, local top-4/top-8 listings, word of mouth, or just common sense (everybody loves Tarmogoyf! :rolleyes:). It's a very responsive strategy with a sideboard tailored to dealing with key cards and deck archetypes.
I'll cut straight to an example sideboard, this one for a Monoblack Control build:
This sideboard is specifically tailored to perform well against two particular deck archetypes: Ichorid and Affinity. In this deck's meta, we can naturally assume these two decks are very popular. Ideally you want at least half of the cards in your sideboard to be at least somewhat useful in completely different matchups, and we can see some of that here- Null Rod stops Sensei's Divining Top, for example, while Powder Keg can perform well versus decks that produce a lot of cheap creatures and/or artifacts. Knowing your meta is of course better than not, but keep in mind that there is always the possibility of running into uncommon or rouge decks that can have immunity to many of the sideboard cards used against more mainstream decks.
[B]Transformational Sideboard[/B]
While this method won't really take advantage of the sideboard cardpool provided in this primer, it's nonetheless an interesting strategy The idea is to basically use the 15 cards (or perhaps some less) in your sideboard as a way to transform the purpose of your deck for Game 2 and Game 3. This is often used to transform win conditions, such as from aggro to comb or vice-versa, but has other uses as well.
An example of a transformational deck and sideboard for a Mono-Red Burn->R/G Aggro archetype:
For this build, Game 1 is a pretty obvious and simple Burn strategy. Game 2 gets interesting, as your opponent will likely side out some or all of whatever forms of creature removal he or she has, and will likely sideboard in responses to direct damage, such as Misdirection, Circle of Protection: Red, etc. This is a great time, by the way, to use that "bluff" technique we talked about earlier- add in all 15 cards from your sideboard, then go through your deck and remove 15. They won't know what to expect, and will likely not assume you actually sideboarded in all 15 cards. Here's what to add and take out for this decklist:
We removed four land to make room for five, including another color, as we want a reliable Turn 2 Tarmogoyf or Slith Firewalker. We removed Lava Spike because it cannot alternatively help in clearing a path for our beaters. We removed Price of Progress because we're adding 4 non-basics (which we'll be fetching consistently), though Price of Progress may be kept in over Flame Rift if your opponent runs many non-basics. We also removed our board sweeper, Cave-In, so we don't hit our own creatures with it.
While this strategy can be a great surprise and can greatly increase your win percentage for Game 2, it comes at the sacrifice of a responsive sideboard to particular cards that may throw a wrench in your chain, or archetypes that you're vulnerable to, such as combo for this decklist. It can also be a detriment if you're in the top-8, for example, and either one of your future opponents is watching your match or your decklist is provided to the public, giving away your secret. This isn't a total loss as you can bluff in all 15 cards from your sideboard again, shuffle your deck, then pull them right back out, leaving your opponent wondering which "deck" they're playing against and potentially leaving them with many dead anti-creature cards in their decklist.
[B]The Wish Board[/B]
This sideboard strategy turns your sideboard into a 15 (often a bit less) card extension of your deck that is accessible Game 1 and on, through Wish cards, such as Burning Wish, Living Wish, Glittering Wish, and Cunning Wish. This strategy gives you an immediate toolbox of responses to manage your opponent's strategies. Some examples of various Wish Boards:
This sideboard devotes 11 slots to Cunning Wish, and 4 to the metagame.
As I hope you see, sideboards and even the act of sideboarding is a very important and dynamic part of the competitive [B]Magic: The Gathering[/B] scene. Just like there are many variants of decks, each deck can have many variants of sideboards. Sideboards help keep top tier decks from completely dominating the tournament scene, while also helping new rouge decks to have the ability to stand a chance in the competitive environment.
[B]III. The Comprehensive and Continually Updated Sideboard Card Pool[/B]
How it's sorted:
Every card is grouped firstly into its most basic designated branch ([B]White[/B], [B]Blue[/B], [B]Red[/B], [B]Black[/B], [B]Green[/B], [B]Multicolor[/B], [B]Artifacts[/B], and [B]Lands[/B]). Each branch except Lands is broken down into sections for each casting-cost value, such as "1cc" (meaning "one casting cost"), "2cc", "3cc", and so forth. For [B]Lands[/B], instead of listing casting cost values (as lands have none, sans "zero" if you want to get technical), this branch is broken down into sections for White, Blue, Red, Black, Green, Multicolor, Colorless, and Other, referring to what type of mana the land can produce (color overrides colorless if a land produces both), or if the land can't produce mana (such as Maze of Ith), it is placed in the Other section. Each card except for those in the Lands branch has a visual mana-symbol casting cost value represented next to it for easier viewing.
For each card in a given section, first the card name itself is given, which is also a card link via card tags. Then a brief explanation of the card's uses is given, including what deck archetypes or other cards it is useful against.
I chose not to break the branches or sections down into different deck archetypes these cards are useful against instead of the current procedure For a variety of reasons. First of all, several sideboard cards are useful against a variety of different deck archetypes and cards. In the Legacy environment, many decks' popularities are constantly in flux, and with each new set, and each new [B]Banned/Restricted List[/B] change, certain decks can become better while certain decks can become obsolete (the banning of Gush, for example :p). [B]However[/B], after the comprehensive list of cards, I am including lists of various notable "tier 1" and "tier 2" Legacy deck types and am compiling brief descriptions of what sort of cards to sideboard against them.
Ideally, when browsing this primer for sideboard material for your deck, you can go directly to your color section(s) and find cards there to your liking. If your deck struggles vs. a certain popular deck archetype, such as Thresh, you can either read the card explanations to help you find what will work, or you can scroll down to the bottom and view a direct explanation of useful sideboard strategies against it. If you then want explanations of cards you found in those lists, you can scroll back up to the branches and find the card's explanation. Alternatively, you can just browse and have a read to help you decide what would make your fifteen-card sideboard good versus your current metagame.
-(:symw:) [B]Orim's Chant[/B]: Helps you get spells through versus control, helps you stall versus aggro and pretty much anything else. Very effective against combo as well.
-(:symw:) [B]Swords to Plowshares[/B]: The cheapest and most effective creature removal in the game.
-(:symw:) [B]Condemn[/B]: Poor man's Swords to Plowshares 5-8. Note- the controller gains life equal to its toughness rather than its power, which can be better in some situations (Ball Lightning for example :p).
[B]2cc[/B]
-(:1mana::symw:)[B] Disenchant[/B]: For obvious reasons.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Kami of Ancient Law[/B]: Enchantment destruction on a stick.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Abeyance[/B]: Similar to Orim's Chant, more useful in the control matchup and great for stalling.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Jotun Grunt[/B]: If your opponent is either graveyard-dependant, puts a lot of cards in either player's graveyard, or wins through milling you (Brain Freeze, Painter's Servant + Grindstone, etc.) then Jotun Grunt is a very efficiently-costed and incredibly useful card to have access to. Keep in mind that versus mill wins, they can mill you on your upkeep after you put the cards from your graveyard back into your library, but this can be made difficult for them if you have an available answer to, say, Painter's Servant (such as Swords to Plowshares) and they would be required to combo out on their turn before things go awry.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Morningtide[/B]: Strong graveyard hate at sorcery speed. Hits your own graveyard too.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Ethersworn Canonist[/B]: Useful versus fast decks and decks that rely on high storm counts.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Suppression Field[/B]: Hoses fetchlands, Engineered Explosives, Sensei's Divining Top, and the like.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Spiritual Focus[/B]: Versus discard, of course.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Sacred Ground[/B]: Versus land destruction in a deck where you don't need more than three lands to function.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Serenity[/B]: Very cheap but delayed response to artifacts and enchantments. Powerful versus Affinity, Stax, Countertop, Dreadnought (assuming you can take one hit), and Enchantress.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Circle of Protection: Red[/B]: For obvious reasons. Useful against Goblins, Sligh, Burn, etc. May require an abundance of colorless mana however.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Rune of Protection: Red[/B]: Better than Circle of Protection: Red if white mana over colorless mana isn't an issue.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Circle of Protection: Green[/B]: For obvious reasons. Useful versus decks that pack painful green creatures, such as Xland Stompy, Thresh, and anything with Tarmogoyf.
-(:1mana::symw:) [B]Rune of Protection: Green[/B]: Better than Circle of Protection: Green if white mana over colorless mana isn't an issue.
-(:symw::symw:) [B]True Believer[/B]: Beater and useful combatant versus a variety of spells that target you, such as discard, direct damage, Brain Freeze, and Tendrils of Agony.
-(:symw::symw:) [B]Samurai of the Pale Curtain[/B]: Another response to decks that rely on graveyard manipulation.
-(:symw::symw:) [B]Runed Halo[/B]: An effective answer to decks that rely on particular cards to win, such as Grindstone, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Brain Freeze, Tendrils of Agony, etc.
[B]3cc[/B]
-(:2mana::symw:) [B]Ghostly Prison[/B]: Great sideboard material versus Aggro rush variants.
-(:2mana::symw:) [B]Hannah's Custody[/B]: Useful in a deck that relys on artifacts, such as Monowhite Stax.
-(:2mana::symw:) [B]Karmic Justice[/B]: Useful versus decks that run a lot of targeted noncreature removal, including Wasteland.
-(:2mana::symw:) [B]Glowrider[/B]: Thorn of Amethyst on a stick; useful versus combo and fast aggro.
-(:2mana::symw:) [B]Aven Mindcensor[/B]: Useful response to a deck that searches itself for cards oftenly, such as with fetchlands, tutors, Intuition, and even Extirpate.
-(:2mana::symw:) [B]Rule of Law[/B]: Slows down combo and aggro decks.
-(:2mana::symw:) [B]Oblivion Ring[/B]: Targeted permanent removal on an enchantment. Sometimes fetchable (Enlightened Tutor) and obviously more purposeful in a sideboard then; also useful when your opponent doesn't run much in terms of enchantment hate and has a smaller number of more important permanents you'd like to remove (Counterbalance for example).
-(:1mana::symw::symw:) [B]Abolish[/B]: "Free" artifact and enchantment hate that can alternatively be cast for three mana, which isn't that bad either.
-(:1mana::symw::symw:) [B]Tivadar of Thorn[/B]: Versus Goblins, of course
-(:1mana::symw::symw:) [B]Pulse of the Fields[/B]: Useful versus aggro, burn, or a matchup where you can expect your opponent to constantly have more life than you (and they win by removing your life points rather than, say, milling).
-(:1mana::symw::symw:) [B]Aura of Silence[/B]: Useful anti-artifact/enchantment card (that doesn't detriment you :)) that can help on multiple levels for a slightly more expensive casting cost.
[B]4cc[/B]
-(:3mana::symw:) [B]Sphere of Law[/B]: Often used in Monowhite Stax builds, it can secure a win versus Goblins, Burn, and Sligh variants.
-(:3mana::symw:) [B]Windborn Muse[/B]: Ghostly Prison on a stick. Great versus aggro without much creature removal.
-(:3mana::symw:) [B]Worship[/B]: Useful in a deck where you can protect your creatures and your opponent has little or no enchantment hate (and wins through damage).
-(:3mana::symw:) [B]Armageddon[/B]: For when your opponent is much more mana-dependant than you and doesn't run Crucible of Worlds or Life from the Loam.
-(:3mana::symw:) [b]Academy Rector: Useful in some match-ups to side in where your opponent is either aggro (so you can chump block) or runs a lot of mass creature removal, and Rector dying would reap you some certain benefits.
-(:2mana::symw::symw:) [B]Cataclysm[/B]: For when your opponent runs several of the same type of permanent, where as you ideally run an even distribution.
-(:2mana::symw::symw:) [B]Moat[/B]: Grants immunity to most aggro decks.
-(:2mana::symw::symw:) [B]Humility[/B]: Useful versus decks that rely on creatures that are either on average above 2 power, or have important activated abilities. Somewhat useful against Goblins and Xland stompy; more useful against Thresh, Affinity, and decks with heavy creature finishers such as Exalted Angel and Tarmogoyf.
-(:2mana::symw::symw:) [B]Ivory Mask[/B]: Useful combatant versus a variety of spells that target you, such as discard, direct damage, Brain Freeze, and Tendrils of Agony.
-(:2mana::symw::symw:) [B]Wrath of God[/B]: Versus creature swarms of course.
[B]5cc[/B]
-(empty currently)
[B]6cc[/B]
-(:5mana::symw:) [B]Duskrider Peregrine[/B]: Useful answer against black decks, heavy beater. Often played via suspend.
-(:0mana:) [B]Pact of Negation[/B]: Free counterspell, sometimes used as a one-of for a Cunning Wish target to stop something bad from happening.
[B]1cc[/B]
-(:symu:) [B]Spell Snare[/B]: Useful if your opponent is running several 2cc spells of course.
-(:symu:) [B]Blue Elemental Blast[/B]: Great, cheap response versus red spells and permanents. Often found in sideboards to help handle matchups versus the popular Goblins, Sligh, and Burn archetypes.
-(:symu:) [B]Hydro Blast[/B]: Same as above. Running both helps to acheive consistency through redundancy. Running two copies of Hydroblast and two copies of Blue Elemental Blast instead of four copies of one of them is also useful when dealing with cards such as Cabal Therapy or Meddling Mage.
-(:symu:) [B]Stifle[/B]: Sideboarded in when your opponent has cards it's useful against. Keep in mind Stifle can hose fetchlands and cards with storm!
-(:symu:) [B]Chain of Vapor[/B]: Cheap efficient bounce that can work well for you if you run little to no non-land permanents, such as in a control deck, or permanents that you don't mind being bounced (i.e. CITP effects like Wall of Blossoms).
-(:symu:) [B]Annul[/B]: Blue anti-artifact, anti-enchantment sideboard for cheap. Good versus Stiflenought, Stax, Counterbalance, Sensei's Divining Top, etc.
-(:symu:) [B]Mind Harness[/B]: Great against R/G aggro, Goblins, Tarmogoyf, etc.
-(:symu:) [B]Divert[/B]: Similar to Misdirection but doesn't cost an additional blue card. Useful in situations where your deck doesn't run many blue cards (to RFG for Misdirection) or your opponent doesnt run on much mana.
-(:symu:) [B]Disrupt[/B]: Cheap cantriping response to a deck that runs may instants and sorceries, and also ideally doesn't run much mana.
[B]2cc[/B]
-(:1mana::symu:) [B]Echoing Truth[/B]: Efficient bounce that can handle multiple permanents at once, and can stop a swarm of tokens (goblin tokens, saproling tokens, zombie tokens, pegasus tokens, you get the point).
-(:1mana::symu:) [B]Trickbind[/B]: Same uses as Stifle (see above) but much more permanent and secure. Of course, you pay an extra mana for that bonus.
-(:1mana::symu:) [B]Chill[/B]: For obvious reasons. Greatly slows Goblins, Sligh, Burn, etc.
-(:1mana::symu:) [B]Hurkyl's Recall[/B]: Cheap instant-speed answer to Affinity, Stax, artifacts.
-(:1mana::symu:) [B]Gilded Drake[/B]: For when your opponent is running large creature threats you'd rather have. Especially effective when you have a way of bouncing it back to your hand.
-(:1mana::symu:) [B]Teferi's Response[/B]: Wonderful response to anti-land. Handles Wasteland, Sinkhole, etc, while giving a rather nice boost of card advantage as well.
-(:symu::symu:) [B]Stern Proctor[/B]: Artifact and Enchantment hate on a stick.
[B]3cc[/B]
-(:2mana::symu:) [B]Propaganda[/B]: Great sideboard material versus Aggro rush variants.
-(:2mana::symu:) [B]In the Eye of Chaos[/B]: Greatly slows certain decks, often seen used in Blue Stax variants.
-(:2mana::symu:) [B]Rebuild[/B]: Slightly more expensive Hurkyl's Recall with cycling. Bounces all artifacts instead of just one player's, so useful if you have artifacts you like being bounced.
-(:2mana::symu:) [B]Energy Flux[/B]: Useful against affinity, somewhat useful against Stax variants.
-(:2mana::symu:) [B]Back to Basics[/B]: Against a meta with many nonbasics. Ideally you won't have many. Unlike Bloodmoon and Magus of the Moon, it doesn't stop fetchlands.
-(:2mana::symu:) [B]Arcane Laboratory[/B]: Slows down aggro and combo decks.
-(:1mana::symu::symu:) [B]Threads of Disloyalty[/B]: Cheap answer to sideboard in versus decks that run some cheap but particularly useful creatures, such as Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, and Phyrexian Dreadnought. Seen in several Threshold sideboards to give them some/more 3cc cards to reveal via Counterbalance as well.
-(:1mana::symu::symu:) [B]Wipe Away[/B]: Nearly uncounterable bounce. Useful against Sensei's Divining Top, Counterbalance, combos relying on permanents, and expensive threats (like Morphling).
[B]4cc[/B]
-(:3mana::symu:) [B]Ensnare[/B]: Free response to aggro. Returning extra islands to the hand can be useful as well when you run cards like Brainstorm + fetchlands, or Psychatog.
-(:3mana::symu:) [B]Pendrell Mists[/B]: For those creature-heavy decks. Often used in Blue Stax variants.
-(:2mana::symu::symu:) [B]Sower of Temptation[/B]: More vulnerable than Vedalken Shackles sometimes, and requires 4 mana to cast rather than 3, but can take control of larger threats like Phyrexian Dreadnought and gives you a flying beater to boot (you don't want to boot it though, as then you'll lose the creature you stole :p).
[B]5cc[/B]
-(:4mana::symu:) [B]Submerge[/B]: Free, strong creature "bounce" and cancels an opponent's draw in the right matchups.
-(:3mana::symu::symu:) [B]Misdirection[/B]: Free redirection, useful versus discard, direct damage, even counterspells. If you play a spell and your opponent Counterspells it, you can use Misdirection to redirect the Counterspell to targeting itself.
-(:symr:) [B]Red Elemental Blast[/B]: Great, cheap response versus blue spells and permanents. Often found in sideboards to help handle matchups versus Control, Thresh, and pretty much any of the popular decks that run blue.
-(:symr:) [B]Pyroblast[/B]: Same as above. Running both helps to acheive consistency through redundancy. Running two copies of Pyroblast and two copies of Red Elemental Blast instead of four copies of one of them is also useful when dealing with cards such as Cabal Therapy or Meddling Mage.
-(:symr:) [B]Shattering Spree[/B]: Popular and effective response versus artifacts. Can destroy multiple artifacts. the Replicate copies can't be countered by Chalice of the Void or Counterbalance, and have to be dealt with individually.
-(:symr:) [B]Overmaster[/B]: Cheap cantripping response versus counters. Obviously you should be playing mostly instants and sorceries.
-(:symr:) [B]Goblin Welder[/B]: For decks that can abuse him, Goblin Welder is sometimes ran in the sideboard because he has such a huge target on his head. If you find out game 1 that your opponent lacks much in terms of creature removal, side in the Welder. If he sides a bunch of cards in game 3, you might want to side him back out ;).
[B]2cc[/B]
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Hearth Kami[/B]: Anti-artifact on a stick. Sacrifices for free to nuke artifact lands, moxes, Chalice of the Void, Engineered Explosives, etc.
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Smash to Smithereens[/B]: A response to artifacts that also damages the controller; useful in decks that focus on finishing the opponent off quickly, such as Sligh or Burn.
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Tin Street Hooligan[/B]: Similar to above, Tin Street Hooligan is anti-artifact on a beatstick. Useful in both Goblin decks and G/R aggro decks.
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Pyroclasm[/B]: Cheap answer to critter swarms. Popular versus Goblins, Elves, and the like.
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Breath of Darigaaz[/B]: Similar to Pyroclasm but hits players too. Less damage at first, so ideal if you're facing creatures with 1 toughness (Goblins, Dark Confidant, etc.), lovely kicker effect.
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Sirocco[/B]: Was a much more popular sideboard card back when Solidarity (a deck of basically mana and blue instants) was much popular. Still has its uses of course.
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Pyrostatic Pillar[/B]: Usually utilized as a mono-red answer to decks that play a plethora of 0cc, 1cc and 2cc spells; often found in the sideboards of Goblins, Sligh, and Burn, sided in versus decks like Threshold.
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Price of Progress[/B]: Very potent sideboard material in the common red deck; provides an average between six and eight damage for two mana, and gets progressively better the longer the game lasts.
-(:1mana::symr:) [B]Flaring Pain[/B]: Often a meta choice. Useful against Solitary Confinement, Glacial Chasm, Worship, etc.
-(:symr::symr:) [B]Stigma Lasher[/B]: Useful beater that can damper Life.deck and cards such as Umezawa's Jitte, Exalted Angel, Sword of Light and Shadow, etc. Also a sufficient chump blocker due to Wither.
[B]3cc[/B]
-(:2mana::symr:) [B]Sulfur Elemental[/B]: Strong sideboard card versus decks that run white creatures with 1 toughness (Savannah Lions, Mother of Runes, cycled Decree of Justice, Sacred Mesa, Nomads En-Kor [Life.dec], etc.), also strong versus control due to both Flash and Split Second.
-(:2mana::symr:) [B]Blood Moon[/B]: Self explanatory; usually meta-dependant.
-(:2mana::symr:) [B]Magus of the Moon[/B]: Same as above, better in matchups where the opponent has little in the form of creature hate or already has enchantment hate. Running Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon can help to acheive efficency through redundancy of course.
-(:1mana::symr::symr:) [B]Sulfuric Vortex[/B]: Sideboarded often in Burn and Sligh variants; helps secure a win and stop your opponent from gaining too much life to the point where you're stuck topdecking for answers. Efficient vs. Ravenous Baloth and Exalted Angel as well.
-(:1mana::symr::symr:) [B]Zo-Zu the Punisher[/B]: Ankh of Mishra on a stick. Great against fetchlands and decks that put a lot of land into play. Also a goblin, and sometimes sideboarded in goblin decks.
-(:1mana::symr::symr:) [B]Goblin King[/B]: Useful when your opponent is running mountains and when you need to pump your goblins a bit against board sweepers like Pyroclasm or Breath of Darigaaz (not so much you can do about it being cast with kicker though :p)
-(:symr::symr::symr:) [B]Flamebreak[/B]: Aggresive and effective response to creature hordes while still keeping your opponent on a clock.
[B]4cc[/B]
-(:3mana::symr:) [B]Boil[/B]: Usually a mega-based decision where control is dominant; a resolved Boil can quickly put the game in your hands versus the right decks.
-(:2mana::symr::symr:) [B]Anarchy[/B]: Red's way to answer Circle of Protection: Red, pro red creatures such as Silver Knight and Paladin En-Vec, and other white permanents. Usefully in a white-heavy meta.
[B]5cc[/B]
-(:4mana::symr:) [B]Ingot Chewer[/B]: Cheap early artifact hate, potential mid/lategame 2-for-1 artifact hate + beater. Decent at slipping through Counterbalance as well, though they can reveal a Force of Will.
-(:3mana::symr::symr:) [B]Cave-In[/B]: "Free" Pyroclasm that hits players too.
[B]6cc[/B]
-(:4mana::symr::symr:) [B]Pyrokinesis[/B]: Sideboard material for Red Aggro or R/x Aggro variants; a "free" spell that can help clear the path for your creatures.
-(:4mana::symr::symr:) [B]Pulverize[/B]: A free anti-artifact spell with a hefty drawback. Nukes all artifacts though, as early as turn two.
[B]Xcc[/B]
- (:xmana::symr:) [B]Meltdown[/B]: While not as popular as some other anti-artifact cards, Meltdown is particularly nice at destroying several 0cc (including artifact land) artifacts for one red mana.
- (:xmana::symr:) [B]Rolling Earthquake[/B]: Efficient response to decks that field a lot of creatures. The benefit of running this over Earthquake is of course because it hits flyers too.
- (:xmana::symr:) [B]Earthquake[/B]: See above. Earthquake is option #2 if you don't have access to Rolling Earthquake.
- (:xmana::symr::symr:) [B]Starstorm[/B]: See above. Useful in a deck where mana is more plentiful. You can cycle it if its uneeded.
-(:1mana::symr:/:5mana::symr:) [B]Rough//Tumble[/B]: Similar to Pyroclasm, but potentially more effective if you're facing threats like Exalted Angel, Serindib Efreet, Sea Drake, and the like.
-(:0mana:) [B]Slaughter Pact[/B]: "Free" creature hate that you can pay for the following turn; useful versus combos where it's imperative (such as vs. Painter's Servant, if they don't name black ;)), and also helps versus aggro.
[B]1cc[/B]
-(:symb:) [B]Extirpate[/B]: A very popular answer for graveyard hate, combo hate, and even control hate. Often used against Ichorid builds, where you can Extirpate Bridge from Below, Ichorid, or even Dread Return. Other notable cards to target: Life from the Loam (and basically any card with dredge), fetchlands, counterspells, Nether Spirit, essential combo pieces such as Tendrils of Agony, and any deck that works with manipulating their graveyard.
-(:symb:) [B]Cabal Therapy[/B]: While often maindecked, another strategy is to sideboard it in after game one once you've figured out some good card choices to name.
-(:symb:) [B]Deathmark[/B]: For obvious reasons, also, meta-dependant. Great versus Tarmogoyf of course :p. Sorcery speed gives it a slight downside, but useful in a deck that doesn't see a lot of mana.
-(:symb:) [B]Planar Void[/B]: A decent and perament answer to graveyard manipulation. Two downsides- doesn't handle cards already in the graveyard when cast, and also prevents you from manipulating your own graveyard. If that isn't an issue however, it's very efficient and cheap.
-(:symb:) [B]Thoughtseize[/B]: Useful as sideboard material for matchups versus combo.
[B]2cc[/B]
-(:1mana::symb:) [B]Yixlid Jailer[/B]: Anti-graveyard on a stick, albeit more conditional than say Withered Wretch, but much less mana-intensive. Particularly effective versus dredge.
-(:1mana::symb:) [B]Smother[/B]: Strong and cheap creature removal when it's applicable.
-(:symb::symb:) [B]Gate to Phyrexia[/B]: Monoblack way to deal with artifacts; can be feuled efficiently with cards like Bitterblossom.
-(:symb::symb:) [B]Withered Wretch[/B]: Anti-graveyard on a stick.
-(:symb::symb:) [B]False Cure[/B]: Useful against Tendrils of Agony, Exalted Angel, sometimes Umezawa's Jitte, and if you're running Swords to Plowshares :).
[B]3cc[/B]
-(:2mana::symb:) [B]Contamination[/B]: Useful against mana-reliant decks that dont run black. Can perform a permanent lock in conjunction with Nether Spirit among other strategies.
-(:2mana::symb:) [B]Engineered Plague[/B]: Great against Goblins, Elves, Slivers, etc. Any deck that relies on a heavy creature base, Engineered Plague has some use against, even naming "Cat" versus Savannah Lions.
-(:2mana::symb:) [B]Perish[/B]: Pretty self-explanatory. Seeing more play now that Tarmogoyf is so popular.
-(:2mana::symb:) [B]Gloom[/B]: Sideboard against decks that play white of course. Can ideally come down Turn 1 via Dark Ritual and really rain on your opponent's parade (haha! it will be gloomy, get it?). Easily splashable too, but of course only really useful in a white-heavy meta.
-(:1mana::symb::symb:) [B]Dystopia[/B]: Monoblack way to deal with Green and White non-creature permanents; particularly useful versus Enchantress builds.
-(:1mana::symb::symb:) [B]Infest[/B]: Mass creature removal for three mana. Black's Pyroclasm that gets around regeneration.
-(:1mana::symb::symb:) [B]Faerie Macabre[/B]: Free, uncounterable, instant-speed graveyard removal. A decent beater with evasion in situations where graveyard removal is uneeded.
[B]4cc[/B]
-(:3mana::symb:) [B]Unmask[/B]: Fast, free discard in matchups where it's needed immediately. Of course requires a saturation of black cards in your deck to reliably cast it for free.
-(:3mana::symb:) [B]Cranial Extraction[/B]: Strong versus combo or decks with only a few finishers. Sideboards in after you figure out what card(s) to name, of course
-(:2mana::symb::symb:) [B]Leyline of the Void[/B]: One of the most effective answers to an opponent's deck that uses its graveyard. Can come down before they can do anything about it, but this ideally requires the dedication of four spots for Leylines in the sideboard.
-(:2mana::symb::symb:) [B]Plague Sliver[/B]: A heavy beater for black that can really turn the tables against a Sliver deck. Obviously dependant on a Sliver-populated meta.
-(:2mana::symb::symb:) [B]Massacre[/B]: A free Infest if you're facing white. Obviously run this over Infest in a white-heavy meta if mass creatures are a problem.
-(:2mana::symb::symb:) [B]Damnation[/B]: Versus creature swarms of course.
[B]5cc[/B]
-(:3mana::symb::symb:) [B]Contagion[/B]: "Free" creature removal or dampener at instant speed. Can potentially eliminate two targets.
-(:3mana::symb::symb:) [B]Haunting Echoes[/B]: Can devastate a deck that puts a lot of cards in its graveyard.
[B]6cc[/B]
-(:4mana::symb::symb:) [B]Spinning Darkness[/B]: Sideboard material for Black Control/Aggro decks (usually ones that aren't running Dark Confidant), Sometimes ran in the sideboard for Pox Control variants. Helps vs. aggro and decks with particular three-or-less-toughness creatures that need removal.
-(:symg:) [B]Emerald Charm[/B]: Can provide a versitile and cheap source of utility. Sometimes seen in Goblin sideboards for example, using the untap ability to take advantage of AEther Vial or Rishadan Port if no enchantment is out to target.
-(:symg:) [B]Root Maze[/B]: Strong versus an opponent who fields a lot of fetchlands (fetch land comes into play tapped, land fetched comes into play tapped).
-(:symg:) [B]Hidden Gibbons[/B]: Strong versus an opponent who relys on several instants, such as Thresh or your given control variant.
-(:symg:) [B]Elephant Grass[/B]: Useful stalling tactic in a control deck, often seen in Enchantress sideboards.
-(:symg:) [B]Xantid Swarm[/B]: Cheap response against control decks.
-(:symg:) [B]Insist[/B]: Cheap cantripping response against counters. Obviously you should be playing mostly creatures or a few very important creatures.
-(:symg:) [B]Skyshrould Elite[/B]: Aggressively and efficiently costed beats for when your opponent runs a reliable source of nonbasic lands.
-(:symg:) [B]Spreading Algae[/B]: Cheap land removal versus swamps. Can also be effective when combined with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and a way to forcibly tap the land it enchants.
[B]2cc[/B]
-(:1mana::symg:) [B]Naturalize[/B]: A respone to artifacts and enchantments at cheap, instant speed.
-(:1mana::symg:) [B]Seal of Primordium[/B]: A response to artifacts and enchantments that can be played prior to their appearance in your opponent's play area. Can be useful merely as a deterrent, also can have more synergy in certain deckbuilds than, say, Naturalize, if such decks include cards like Enlightened Tutor, etc.
-(:1mana::symg:) [B]Eyes of the Wisent[/B]: Green response to blue control. Cheap to play, and being Tribal has its uses; if it gets in the graveyard, gives Tarmogoyf +2/+2 for example.
-(:1mana::symg:) [B]Ground Seal[/B]: Cantripping protection (and sometimes hate) for graveyards. Can stop reanimation such as Dread Return or Animate Deadl.
-(:1mana::symg:) [B]Gaea's Blessing[/B]: Helps versus mill. Particularly effective versus the Painter's Servant + Grindstone combo.
-(:symg::symg:) [B]Viridian Zealot[/B]: Beater that can sacrifice to Naturalize.
[B]3cc[/B]
-(:2mana::symg:) [B]Krosan Grip[/B]: A response to artifacts and enchantments that is nearly unstoppable by your opponent, but you pay a bit more for this added bonus (3 mana instead of 2 :p). Cards that can responsively stop it: unmorphing Willbender, using Counterbalance with a 3cc card already on top of the library.
-(:2mana::symg:) [B]City of Solitude[/B]: Useful anti-control card that also secures your ability to combo out. Often used in Enchantress deck sideboards.
-(:2mana::symg:) [B]Caller of the Claw[/B]: Has a place in green aggro decks with enough mana to run it, such as Elves. Provides an answer to mass kill, such as Wrath of God, Damnation, Infest, Pyroclasm, etc.
-(:2mana::symg:) [B]Uktabi Orangutan[/B]: Artifact hate + beats.
-(:2mana::symg:) [B]Viridian Shaman[/B]: Same as above; more useful in an Elf deck.
-(:2mana::symg:) [B]Choke[/B]: Useful non-blue answer to decks with islands. Can spell doom for Thresh and many control variants, and cheaper than Boil. However, they can still play new islands untapped in an effort to respond to Choke, such as with bounce.
-(:1mana::symg::symg:) [B]Hail Storm[/B]: An interesting card that sees some play in Green and G/x control variants, and even U/G Threshold. Decent respose to Goblins and the like in a color that wouldn't normally have such a response.
[B]4cc[/B]
-(:3mana::symg:) [B]Reverent Silence[/B]: A "free" Tranquility, and often slips right through Counterbalance (while nuking it :))
-(:3mana::symg:) [B]Vine Dryad[/B]: Obviously for when your opponent is running forests.
-(:2mana::symg::symg:) [B]Ravenous Baloth[/B]: For those race matches where a 4/4 body and 4 life goes a long way towards dampering your opponent's plans.
-(:2mana::symg::symg:) [B]Leyline of Lifeforce[/B]: Useful against counterspell decks of course!
-(:0mana:)[B] Tormod's Crypt[/B]: Cheapest anti-graveyard option available to any color.
-(:0mana:) [B]Welding Jar[/B]: Decent, free, proactive response to artifact hate.
[B]1cc[/B]
-(:1mana:) [B]Pithing Needle[/B]: A popular answer to many different cards with activated abilities that either can't be stopped otherwise or are hard to deal with. Notable cards to name include Wasteland, Tormod's Crypt, Sensei's Diving Top.
-(:1mana:) [B]Relic of Progenitus[/B]: Anti-graveyard option that can gradually maintain graveyard removal via its first ability, or handle it all at once via its second. Removes your own graveyard too in this case, which make make it less appealing than Tormod's Crypt in certain decks. It cantrips and handles Tarmogoyf extremely well.
[B]2cc[/B]
-(:2mana:) [B]Tsabo's Web[/B]: A cantriping permanent answer to lands such as Academy Ruins, Mishra's Factory, and the like. Particularly effective versus the popular 43land.deck.
-(:2mana:) [B]Null Rod[/B]: A Very effective answer versus Affinity decks, also has uses versus many other decks, especially those that utilize Sensei's Divining Top, Engineered Explosives, Powder Keg, Equipment, etc.
-(:2mana:) [B]Cursed Totem[/B]: A response to decks that rely on certain creatures with activated abilities. Popular versus Elf decks; also hoses mana producers in certain variants of X-land Stompy.
-(:2mana:) [B]Dragon's Claw[/B]: A seemingly poor choice of sideboard material, it can surprisingly greatly improve a deck's matchup versus Burn or Sligh variants.
-(:2mana:) [B]Winter Orb[/B]: Sometimes used in decks that can get by on a few lands to sideboard in versus decks that require at least 4-5 lands to function well, and function better with the more land they get (Mono-U control for example).
-(:2mana:) [B]Thorn of Amethyst[/B]: Potentially powerful damper on your opponents' plans in an aggro deck's sideboard, sided in after you've determined your opponent runs a majority of non-creature spells of course.
-(:2mana:) [B]Ankh of Mishra[/B]: Great versus fetchlands, Flagstones of Trokair, recurring lands via Crucible of Worlds, and control decks that win through getting a lot of lands out and landing big finishers. Has good synergy with Ghost Quarter.
-(:2mana:) [B]Powder Keg[/B]: Great versus artifact lands (Affinity), token swarms, Mox Diamonds, Chrome Moxes, Chalice of the Voids, token swarms, and cheap creatures (notably Goblins, Slivers, even Tarmogoyfs).
-(:2mana:) [B]Defense Grid[/B]: Cheap anti-control card, obviously used in a deck where you don't expect to need to play many spells on your opponent's turn.
-(:2mana:) [B]Sphere of Resistance[/B]: For when it hurts them a lot more than it hurts you. Useful against combo and aggro rush.
[B]3cc[/B]
-(:3mana:) [B]Vedalken Shackles[/B]: Good option for dealing with a semi-aggro deck, or a deck that relies on certain creatures to win whose power generally does not exceed the amount of islands you expect to have by the time you need to use the Shackles.
-(:3mana:) [B]Crucible of Worlds[/B]: Versus land destruction, Wastelands, etc.
-(:3mana:) [B]Trinisphere[/B]: Useful in matchups where it will be much more detrimental to your opponent than to yourself.
-(:3mana:) [B]Ensnaring Bridge[/B]: Versus aggro, and particularly useful versus aggro that runs discard (so you'll have little to no hand).
-(:3mana:) [B]Crawlspace[/B]: Versus aggro that attacks with a lot of creatures, such as Goblins, or even Ichorid.
-(:3mana:) [B]Tangle Wire[/B]: Greatly slows decks that don't play many permanents early in the game, such as control.
-(:3mana:) [B]Damping Matrix[/B]: A Null Rod + Cursed Totem that doesn't stop artifact lands or mana elves (and similar creatures). Useful in metas that lack Affinity and Elves but sees a lot of Sensei's Divining Tops, Life.decks, Cephalid Breakfast, etc.
[B]4cc[/B]
-(:4mana:) [B]Dodecapod[/B]: Against discard of course.
-(:4mana:) [B]Bottled Cloister[/B]: Personal Howling Mine that helps vs. discard, though make sure they don't have much in the terms of artifact removal so you don't lose your hand for good.
-(:4mana:) [B]Noetic Scales[/B]: Response to aggro that dumps its hand quickly or versus heavy hitters like Tarmogoyf. Particularly useful when run in conjunction with discard, such as Cabal Therapy.
[B]Xcc[/B]
-(:xmana:) [B]Engineered Explosives[/B]: Can sometimes require multiple colors availabe in the deck they're sideboarded in, but are often played for zero, being sacrificed to destroy cards such as Chalice of the Void, Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox, and creature tokens, among many others.
-(:xmana::xmana:) [B]Chalice of the Void[/B]: While sometimes meta-dependant, Chalice of the Void can answer a variety of problems and render several cards in your opponent's deck obsolete until they find an answer.
-(:2mana::symbr:) [B]Everlasting Torment[/B]: Multipurpose respone to life gain and creature hate. Makes creatures you would normally chump-block with, such as Mogg Fanatic, more useful.
-(:2mana::symrg:) [B]Firespout[/B]: Efficient board sweeper, useful way to remove Nimble Mongoose, a popular critter in Thresh.
-(:1mana::symu::symg:) [B]Trygon Predator[/B]: An offensive anti-artifact and anti-enchantment tool that also packs evasion. The downside is not being able to answer a problem immediately, being a creature and thus vulnerable, and sometimes the 3cc; the upside is everything else.
-(:1mana::symb::symg:) [B]Pernicious Deed[/B]: Great versus decks that produce a lot of low casting cost permanents and quickly. Particularly devastating against Affinity.
-(:1mana::symw::symg:) [B]Harmonic Sliver[/B]: Anti-artifact or enchantment hate on a stick. Particularly effective in a sliver build or a deck that lets you replay your creatures to take advantage of the CITP ability.
-(:1mana::symw::symg:) [B]Dueling Grounds[/B]: Strong versus decks that attack with a lot of creatures. Belongs in decks with a few heavy finishers, or one that doesn't win through the combat phase.
- (:1mana::symb::symr:) [B]Fire Covenant[/B]: Instant-speed creature/creature swarm removal at three mana, with a cost, but a cost often well-paid.
- (:1mana::symr::symg:) [B]Burning-Tree Shaman[/B]: Useful and effeciently costed answer to enemy fetchlands, Sensei's Divining Top, AEther Vial, etc.
[B]4cc[/B]
-(:2mana::symw::symg:) [B]Mystic Enforcer[/B]: Useful versus black of course, and ideally in a situation where your opponent lacks graveyard hate to remove your threshold.
-(:2mana::symw::symg:) [B]Loxodon Heirarch[/B]: For those race matches where a 4/4 body and 4 life goes a long way towards dampering your opponent's plans.
[B]5cc[/B]
-(empty currently)
[B]6cc[/B]
-(:3mana::symr::symw::symw:) [B]Firemane Angel[/B]: A decent answer to burn if you have a way to get it in your graveyard, such as with Mesmeric Orb or Pox.
-[B]Tomb of Urami[/B]: A neat surprise versus decks that lack black creature removal or bounce. Particularly effective versus control decks that lack those. Often seen in some SI sideboards.
[B]Green[/B]
-(empty currently)
[B]Multicolor[/B]
-(empty currently)
[B]Colorless[/B]
-[B]Wasteland[/B]: Sideboarded versus those decks that run a lot of nonbasic lands, of course.
-[B]Ghost Quarter[/B]: The "poor man's Wasteland", it can be better in some ways rather than worse. Recurring it with Crucible of Worlds allows for you to gradually eliminate any basic land left in your opponent's deck, and most top-tier decks don't run many basic lands. You can also target yourself with it if you need to get a certain color.
-[B]Tower of the Magistrate[/B]: Useful in an aggro deck versus Affinity, also makes Umezawa's Jitte and any other equipment slide right off the target
-[B]Quicksand[/B]: An uncounterable response to small aggro, and gets around regeneration.
-[B]Blinkmoth Nexus[/B]: An evasive beater, useful when your opponent has no flying blockers; sometimes sideboarded in decks that run Arcbound Ravager.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [B]Continued into next post! [/B](exceeded maximum character limit for one post :()
Threshold is an incredibly popular deck that focus on cheap, effective card advantage, tempo, and beaters. It's most notable threat is Tarmogoyf, and most builds also run Nimble Mongoose. When sideboarding against Threshold, you may think to yourself that graveyard hate is the way to go, but don't fall for the trap of cards like Leyline of the Void and Tormod's Crypt. You'll still be providing cards in your graveyard to pump their Tarmogoyfs, so ideally you want to be using cards like Planar Void and Relic of Progenitus.
Goblins relies on a fast swarm of creatures that can easily overwhelm your opponent, and goblins are one of the best tribes for doing so. A Turn 1 Goblin Lackey can spell doom for many decks. To handle Goblins, you'll ideally want cards that deal with creature swarms. The following cards are pretty decent answers: Pyroclasm, Breath of Darigaaz, Cave-In, Infest, Engineered Plague, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda.
Stax builds are generally weak to both certain nonbasic land hate and artifact hate. Cards such as Price of Progress and Back to Basics are usually better than Wasteland and Bloodmoon/Magus of the Moon, as Stax builds often run Crucible of Worlds maindecked or in the sideboard, and their nonbasics often aren't their source of colored mana so making the nonbasics into mountains just slows them down a bit. Then there's the artifact hate, from Naturalize to Shattering Spree, Krosan Grip to Pulverize; you get the point.
-Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Dreadnought/Dreadstill
This entire synopsis provided by Griever9977
Any decks running blue that run Control magic like Threads of Disloyalty should board them in. The deck is light on kills, usually only running Nought, and in some splashes Goyf meaning stealing one of their creatures can be a huge swing. It's also true that the best way to answer an incoming Nought is with one of your own.
Another thing to consider is every blast effect you have if you're running red. You can count on the Dreadstill player boarding in between 3-6 blue blasts. So SB accordingly.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the deck is Krosan Grip. Board it in. It will win you games. Its ability to withstand Counterbalance and Countermagic makes it the single most effective removal against the deck. It kills all of their important pieces. Counterbalance, SDT, and the Nought itself.
Moon effects have limited viability against Dreadstill, but can still be considered. Especially against Green splash lists. As most of those only run Tropical Islands to get their Goyfs into play. As such landing an early Moon effect can go a long way. It's also helpful if you have a lot of threats at the 3cmc slot. As it will generally negate their third color for Engineered Explosives. It's still something to consider even against a 2 color list however. As it shuts down a large section of their Countertop Engine in their Fetchlands.
If your deck is running manlands in the board they should be given some consideration. As they can greatly help Standstills. (Pun intended)
Burn probably isn't the biggest concern for most players in terms of representation in meta. Or for the deck you may happen to be playing. But it's main strategy will leave you with cards that have little effect, especially if you were already running targeted removal in the main board. Which makes for an easy choice of cards to side out.
Burns biggest weakness is in it's limited ability to disrupt. The only reactive cards they have are in their board. So most burn players will rely on winning game 1, seeing what you board in game 2, and then react to it in game 3. Cards like Chalice of the Void @1-2, or Trinisphere are an easy way to shut the burn player out of a game.
The aim of Eva Green is to produce a stream of very effective creatures that hit hard and can come down very early in the game. These creatures are generally a suite of the following 16:
This aggressive pool is backed by a support of cheap, effective hand and board control, cards such as Snuff Out, Sinkhole, Hymn to Tourach, and Thoughtseize. The deck can easily fit in 4x Wastelands, and almost always runs Dark Rituals for that devastating turn 1 Hypnotic Specter or Hymn + Thoughtseize, as well as accelerating and early Tombstalker.
So how does one deal with a deck that can effectively attack your hand, land, and life total on a consistent basis? Lets start with some of the natural immunities you can present yourself with:
-If your deck is running black creatures or no creatures for its win condition, it has natural immunity to Eva Green's only creature hate- Snuff Out. If you happen to be playing Meddling Mage in a deck that also plays other creatures, I would most certainly name Snuff Out to secure your position.
-If you're running fetches and nonbasics, with a small pool of basic lands for back up, most certainly search for those instead of your nonbasics. Between 4x Wasteland and 4x Sinkhole, cutting their land hate in half can help you a lot. Sideboarding in Teferi's Response is another effective option.
Eva Green usually runs at least 16 targeting hate spells:
Sideboarding in cards like Divert or Misdirection can also turn things in your favor. While Snuff Out can only be turned onto their Tarmogoyfs, making them pay 2 life to Thoughtseize themselves is lovely.
Finally, graveyard hate can be pretty effective here as well. Of the three common options- Tormod's Crypt, Leyline of the Void, and Relic of Prodgenitus, Crypt is the least useful versus 'Goyf and Tombstalker, while Relic is probably your best bet. Relic cantrips while instantly turning their Goyfs into 0/1s, and rather dampers their plans to play Tombstalker. Leyline of the Void however can make it so they'll almost never be able to cast their Tombstalker without hoarding thier Dark Rituals.
So, in a sideboard that can deal with Eva Green, I would suggest cards from the following pool, depending on what colors you're playing:
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V. Update and Edit Log
-October 14th, 2008:
-Added a "Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Burn" synopsis to section IV, provided in its entirety by forum member Eseph.
-Put the decklist links for the various decklists in section IV in easy and more aesthetically pleasing hypertext link format rather than just copy/pasting the URL.
-Added Choke to the Green cardlist of section III. (Thanks poppeleseed!)
-Added Leyline of Lifeforce, Ground Seal, Everlasting Torment, Zo-Zu, the Punisher, and Goblin King to section III. (Thanks Eseph!) -Fixed Dystopia card link. (Thanks Eseph!)
-Grammatical editing of section IV's "Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Burn" (Thanks Eseph!)
-October 15th, 2008:
-"Surpression Field" rightly changed to "Suppression Field" (Thanks Mishramtg!)
-Gloom added to section III. (Thanks stiltskin!)
First of all, thanks for reading! I hope you've found this primer of at least some use, and now in turn you have the ability to help it improve! Ideally this primer will be under continual revision as each new deck archetype, card expansion, and Banned/Restricted List emerges. While I certainly plan to keep putting work into this primer, as it is indeed my baby (^_^), I would greatly appreciate constant feedback from the forum members on suggestions, critiques, etc., so we can make this primer something useful for all of us each time it comes to constructing a new sideboard.
Right now, the two areas that could use the most suggestions are of course the card pool and the "Sideboarding Against Specific Deck Archetypes" section.
Really really great guide. Just random tiny little things i noticed, stupid little nitpicks.
Windborn muse: I assume you meant Ghostly Prison not Ghostway.
Orim's Chant: I'd add that it's useful vs combo, definetly useful against aggro/control decks, but i think it shines vs combo.
Really really great guide. Just random tiny little things i noticed, stupid little nitpicks.
Windborn muse: I assume you meant Ghostly Prison not Ghostway.
Orim's Chant: I'd add that it's useful vs combo, definetly useful against aggro/control decks, but i think it shines vs combo.
Thanks for the catches (and the praise! :glee:)
Fixed the errors & credit given in section V
Quote from Griever9977 »
Xanth would you like me to PM you some boarding strats for/against Dreadstill?
Putting 4 Taigas in the board seems unnecessary. If you play them maindeck over 4 mountains, you can put 4 more business cards in the board (Grim Lavamancer perhaps, or Krosan Grip if you feel the Goyf Sligh element is strong enough.), and the deck won't be weaker. There's a slight loss to wasteland, but with 9 mountains it'll probably not be a problem, and you'll be getting more use from the board.
The problem with playing Taiga maindeck is if your opponent sees them at all, you give away a great deal of your plan. Your opponent will more than likely expect to see creatures, and if he sees none game 1, he will naturally assume there may indeed be some game 2. Granted, you could then bluff-board to throw your opponent off, but if the scenario your in would be much better with creatures in your deck, and your opponent decides not to sideboard out his creature hate vs. what appears to be burn with Taigas and some sinister plan, you're in a predicament. Some of the very points of appearing as a pure burn deck with zero twists game 1 is that your opponent will sideboard out (or not sideboard in) creature, artifact, enchantment, and nonbasic land hate.
Updates: -March 8th, 2009:
-Section IV:
-Sideboarding against Dreadstill synopsis provided by Griever9977 added (Thanks Griever9977!)
-New, current links for Evagreen, Threshold, Ichorid, Goblins, Burn, Dreadstill, & White Stax threads (all mtgsal threads :-))
Green: Compost. Still good against black decks. Also good in U/G against Storm. It's pretty hard to resolve against either, but
The list has a lot of in general cards that shouldn't ever go into a sideboard (like Goblin Welder... how is it possibly worth the bluff not to have it in G1? If you have Red and Artifacts, he's obviously going to know you have Welder anyway).
Bottled Cloister as well. What deck would you possibly board that in against, and which deck could possibly make use of that?
A lot of the cards in the list just seem like they're random buffer cards to make the list bigger. If you can't use Mystic Enforcer/Loxodon Hierarch in the main, why would boarding it help?
Seems to me that your options are Gate to Phyrexia and Phyrexian Tribute (searched "destroy" and "artifact" under black). Either one of those requires you having expendable troops, though.
Otherwise, you do have access to artifacts, Nevinyrral's Disk and Powder Keg, and, to a lesser extent, Engineered Explosives. For the most part, it really depends on what you're looking to take out. Keg can help you out against Chalice of the Void and affinity, Explosives work similarly, but lack the ability to take out the artifact lands. Tribute is shakey at best, but can be used to take out one big guy that's wrecking your fun. I'd steer clear of the Gate altogether.
Thank you for the good advice.
I have a Canadian Thresh deck, and my usual opponent is an Eva Green deck owned by my friend. I've been using Spell Pierce as sideboard against his Hymns, but now I'm going to try using some Diverts instead (after buying / trading for a playset :)).
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[B]Table of Contents[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]I. Introduction[/B]
Hi, my name is Tom! You can call me Tom, Xanth, or whatever you like. So why write a primer about Legacy sideboards? Well, as many of you may know, I love to make decks, both casual and competitive, and I love to play competitively. For a while I had rather neglected the importance of sideboards; I was too lazy to give them much consideration. But one of the key aspects to playing competitively is a useful sideboard! Every sideboard can be just as unique as the deck fielding it, and sideboards can be used in a variety of ways, from a Wish-board to a sideboard that hates on key deck archetypes. Sideboards now very much intrigue me; sideboarding can drastically improve your odds of winning against many a deck.
So first lets discuss the very basics, because, well, this is a primer. [B]The Rules:[/B]
That should clear up some basic questions you have about how to sideboard. Keep in mind, as per the rules, you are not required to show your opponent how many cards you are sideboarding (though when you present your deck to them to cut/shuffle, they may indeed count your deck, or view your face-down sideboard afterward, to make sure you didn't add or remove an extra card). However, there are some subtle strategies to the action of sideboarding:
[B]Bluff Boarding:[/B] Yes! You can indeed bluff with sideboarding. We're manipulating cards that our opponents can't see, afterall! Lets say after Game 1, you make a remark about how nasty that, oh, Tarmogoyf was in your opponent's deck, and then smile as you openly sideboard in eight cards. Those eight cards may very well have nothing to do with handling Tarmogoyf and are instead helpful against other cards in your opponent's deck, such as Price of Progress versus nonbasic lands. Your opponent may then very well decide to sideboard in cards to help protect his Tarmogoyfs, such as Divert or Misdirection, versus targeted removal, or even, albeit quite unlikely, sideboard out his Tarmogoyfs.
Another form of bluff, especially for when you have little or no sideboard answers to the deck you're facing, is to put all 15 cards (or less, but enough to make it convincing) from your sideboard into your deck, shuffle your deck, then go through and remove 15 (or however many you chose to add/remove) cards from it. This way your opponent has no idea whether or not you sideboarded 15 cards, none, or any number in between. It can do wonders for confusing your opponent, and can possibly cause them to sideboard in reactionary cards to what they think you may have sideboarded in, or sideboard out cards in their deck that they know are vulnerable to popular sideboard hate.
Alternatively, you can sideboard multiple times in the same time frame between the game (ideally as long as this is done under three minutes via the time allotment given to you) to possibly generate some added confusion in your opponent's mind (confusion potentially generates play-errors! :p).
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[B]II. Sideboard Composition Strategies[/B]
There are multiple ways to how one can go about sideboarding, and this primer seeks to discuss those in detail.
[B]Covering All Your Bases[/B] [B]Anti-Meta[/B] [B]Transformational Sideboard[/B] [B]The Wish Board[/B] As I hope you see, sideboards and even the act of sideboarding is a very important and dynamic part of the competitive [B]Magic: The Gathering[/B] scene. Just like there are many variants of decks, each deck can have many variants of sideboards. Sideboards help keep top tier decks from completely dominating the tournament scene, while also helping new rouge decks to have the ability to stand a chance in the competitive environment.
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[B]III. The Comprehensive and Continually Updated Sideboard Card Pool[/B]
How it's sorted:
Every card is grouped firstly into its most basic designated branch ([B]White[/B], [B]Blue[/B], [B]Red[/B], [B]Black[/B], [B]Green[/B], [B]Multicolor[/B], [B]Artifacts[/B], and [B]Lands[/B]). Each branch except Lands is broken down into sections for each casting-cost value, such as "1cc" (meaning "one casting cost"), "2cc", "3cc", and so forth. For [B]Lands[/B], instead of listing casting cost values (as lands have none, sans "zero" if you want to get technical), this branch is broken down into sections for White, Blue, Red, Black, Green, Multicolor, Colorless, and Other, referring to what type of mana the land can produce (color overrides colorless if a land produces both), or if the land can't produce mana (such as Maze of Ith), it is placed in the Other section. Each card except for those in the Lands branch has a visual mana-symbol casting cost value represented next to it for easier viewing.
For each card in a given section, first the card name itself is given, which is also a card link via card tags. Then a brief explanation of the card's uses is given, including what deck archetypes or other cards it is useful against.
I chose not to break the branches or sections down into different deck archetypes these cards are useful against instead of the current procedure For a variety of reasons. First of all, several sideboard cards are useful against a variety of different deck archetypes and cards. In the Legacy environment, many decks' popularities are constantly in flux, and with each new set, and each new [B]Banned/Restricted List[/B] change, certain decks can become better while certain decks can become obsolete (the banning of Gush, for example :p). [B]However[/B], after the comprehensive list of cards, I am including lists of various notable "tier 1" and "tier 2" Legacy deck types and am compiling brief descriptions of what sort of cards to sideboard against them.
Ideally, when browsing this primer for sideboard material for your deck, you can go directly to your color section(s) and find cards there to your liking. If your deck struggles vs. a certain popular deck archetype, such as Thresh, you can either read the card explanations to help you find what will work, or you can scroll down to the bottom and view a direct explanation of useful sideboard strategies against it. If you then want explanations of cards you found in those lists, you can scroll back up to the branches and find the card's explanation. Alternatively, you can just browse and have a read to help you decide what would make your fifteen-card sideboard good versus your current metagame.
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[B]White:[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]
Blue:[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]
Red:[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]
Black:[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]
Green:[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]
Artifacts:[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]
Multicolor:[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]
Land:[/B] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[B]Continued into next post! [/B](exceeded maximum character limit for one post :()
-Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Threshold -Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Ichorid Combo -Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Goblins -Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Stax -Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Dreadnought/Dreadstill -Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Burn -Sideboarding Against Deck Archetype: Eva Green or B/g Suicide
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V. Update and Edit Log
-October 14th, 2008: -October 15th, 2008: -October 21st, 2008: -October 24th, 2008: -October 26th, 2008: -October 29th, 2008: -November 27th, 2008: -November 30th, 2008: -January 27th, 2009: -February 21st, 2009: -March 8th, 2009:
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VI. Your Mission, Our Mission!
First of all, thanks for reading! I hope you've found this primer of at least some use, and now in turn you have the ability to help it improve! Ideally this primer will be under continual revision as each new deck archetype, card expansion, and Banned/Restricted List emerges. While I certainly plan to keep putting work into this primer, as it is indeed my baby (^_^), I would greatly appreciate constant feedback from the forum members on suggestions, critiques, etc., so we can make this primer something useful for all of us each time it comes to constructing a new sideboard.
Right now, the two areas that could use the most suggestions are of course the card pool and the "Sideboarding Against Specific Deck Archetypes" section.
Windborn muse: I assume you meant Ghostly Prison not Ghostway.
Orim's Chant: I'd add that it's useful vs combo, definetly useful against aggro/control decks, but i think it shines vs combo.
Thanks to Spiderboy4 of High~Light Studios!
Thanks for the catches (and the praise! :glee:)
Fixed the errors & credit given in section V
I would love that.
The problem with playing Taiga maindeck is if your opponent sees them at all, you give away a great deal of your plan. Your opponent will more than likely expect to see creatures, and if he sees none game 1, he will naturally assume there may indeed be some game 2. Granted, you could then bluff-board to throw your opponent off, but if the scenario your in would be much better with creatures in your deck, and your opponent decides not to sideboard out his creature hate vs. what appears to be burn with Taigas and some sinister plan, you're in a predicament. Some of the very points of appearing as a pure burn deck with zero twists game 1 is that your opponent will sideboard out (or not sideboard in) creature, artifact, enchantment, and nonbasic land hate.
Updates:
-March 8th, 2009: Logged in section V.
White: Burrenton Forge-Tender (Ichorid, Goblins, Burn, Sligh, DS, etc.) and Kataki, War's Wage (Affinity, Stax, Storm variants).
Green: Compost. Still good against black decks. Also good in U/G against Storm. It's pretty hard to resolve against either, but
The list has a lot of in general cards that shouldn't ever go into a sideboard (like Goblin Welder... how is it possibly worth the bluff not to have it in G1? If you have Red and Artifacts, he's obviously going to know you have Welder anyway).
Bottled Cloister as well. What deck would you possibly board that in against, and which deck could possibly make use of that?
A lot of the cards in the list just seem like they're random buffer cards to make the list bigger. If you can't use Mystic Enforcer/Loxodon Hierarch in the main, why would boarding it help?
Standard
Goblins
Extended
Nothing
Legacy
Spring tide
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Seems to me that your options are Gate to Phyrexia and Phyrexian Tribute (searched "destroy" and "artifact" under black). Either one of those requires you having expendable troops, though.
Otherwise, you do have access to artifacts, Nevinyrral's Disk and Powder Keg, and, to a lesser extent, Engineered Explosives. For the most part, it really depends on what you're looking to take out. Keg can help you out against Chalice of the Void and affinity, Explosives work similarly, but lack the ability to take out the artifact lands. Tribute is shakey at best, but can be used to take out one big guy that's wrecking your fun. I'd steer clear of the Gate altogether.
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
-Mike
Standard
Blows
Modern
BWUTeachingsBWU
GUGU TempoGU
WLifeW
RWValakut ControlRW
UBModern MillUB
Legacy
UMUCU
BPoxB
BWRTokensBWR
Pauper
UBGRW Domain UBGRW
Vintage
RVise-Burn!R
"Out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing straight was ever made" - Immanuel Kant
Thank you for the good advice.
I have a Canadian Thresh deck, and my usual opponent is an Eva Green deck owned by my friend. I've been using Spell Pierce as sideboard against his Hymns, but now I'm going to try using some Diverts instead (after buying / trading for a playset :)).
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