How do you prefer to build a sideboard in general? One full of 1 and 2 offs that just win certain matches but are very situational, or do you like to go 5 sets of 3 versatile cards that have broad applications?
I've always gone with a lot of sliver bullets in the past, but the more I play, the more I like having several copies of powerful, broad cards more. Obviously this changes based on the deck (I.E., if you run 8 cantrips you have a much higher chance of finding what you need), but in general I'm really liking how a tight sideboard plays more.
Well Modern has decks that demand silver bullets or you pretty much auto-lose. Affinity is a great example, and Burn is pretty up there too. It really does depends on the deck too since lots have mainboard answers to various things (ie stuff like Abrupt Decay).
If you are going to a GP with a wide open meta then have some silver bullets and some slots dedicated to suring up your worse matcups. If you are playing FNM and know the field of what everyone brings every week then you can load up on hosers and not care about unexpected fringe matcups worrying as much.
A mixture is my preference.
Some silver bullets for things like burn and Affinity are necessary, while I like to keep the rest of the 8-11 cards in my board as flexible as possible. In my grixis Delver deck I run things like Rakdos Charm as both a slot against Affinity and as something that can win on the spot vs Splinter Twin.
I like cards more that are more broad and are useful in more matchups. Kataki, War's Wage vs Stony Silence for example is a discussion that came up in the Abzan Company thread and I like Silence more. It's useful against Affinity but it's also good against Tron and even fringe decks that use artifacts like Ad Nauseam or Restore Balance. It has broader applications. Golgari Charm is another example of a card that I really like since it's so flexible that you can bring it in in a lot of matchups and have it be useful.
I will be honest though and say that I may be biased on this. Im used to play with stuff like discard or Abrupt Decay for example which can deal with a lot of stuff that other decks need sideboard cards for.
Whenever I see a 3/3/3/3/3 or 4/4/4/3 sideboard, my first thought is "this guy built his SB wrongly". It's very likely that one of the following would serve you better instead:
1) shifting the hate around because you don't need them in equal amounts - e.g. 4/4/3/2/2
2) replacing one of the 3s with bullets - e.g. 3/3/3/3/1/1/1
3) splitting one of the 4s into 2/2 or 3/1, or one of the 3s into 2/1
Whenever I build a sideboard, I first consider what my bad matchups are. For each bad matchup I find some silver bullets so that I never get steamrolled by those specific decks (e.g., Affinity is a big one). After I've included a few bullets, I add in some general answers that affect lots of decks or will help against the cards other decks want to sideboard against me (e.g., Negate is a very broad answer). So for me it's always a two step process of combining both strategies.
Depends on the meta. If it's a small predictable meta just take the cards you know you'll use. If you're going to a big tournament just bring what'll help the most against tier 1 decks.
I build my sideboard the way I build my mainboard. In general I favor having lots of 1 of's that overlap. The easy example is I prefer 1 Doom Blade, 1 Go for the Throat, 1 Ultimate Price to 3 Doom Blade.
In the sideboard that means I might prefer something like 1 Dragon's Claw, 1 Auriok Champion, to 2 Kor Firewalker for an anti burn plan. An anti affinity plan could involve 1 Electrolyze, 1 Kolghan's Command, 1 Stony Silence (ignore that this is 4 color, just giving an example) to 3 Shattering Spree.
This approach gives you both versatility and consistency.
I always build e main deck with cards that have broad application and the side board with cards that enforces the main if needed. Eg pridemage in e main and stony on the side.
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I've always gone with a lot of sliver bullets in the past, but the more I play, the more I like having several copies of powerful, broad cards more. Obviously this changes based on the deck (I.E., if you run 8 cantrips you have a much higher chance of finding what you need), but in general I'm really liking how a tight sideboard plays more.
Modern - GB Elves, UW Ojutai Control
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If you are going to a GP with a wide open meta then have some silver bullets and some slots dedicated to suring up your worse matcups. If you are playing FNM and know the field of what everyone brings every week then you can load up on hosers and not care about unexpected fringe matcups worrying as much.
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More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Some silver bullets for things like burn and Affinity are necessary, while I like to keep the rest of the 8-11 cards in my board as flexible as possible. In my grixis Delver deck I run things like Rakdos Charm as both a slot against Affinity and as something that can win on the spot vs Splinter Twin.
Kataki, War's Wage vs Stony Silence for example is a discussion that came up in the Abzan Company thread and I like Silence more. It's useful against Affinity but it's also good against Tron and even fringe decks that use artifacts like Ad Nauseam or Restore Balance. It has broader applications.
Golgari Charm is another example of a card that I really like since it's so flexible that you can bring it in in a lot of matchups and have it be useful.
I will be honest though and say that I may be biased on this. Im used to play with stuff like discard or Abrupt Decay for example which can deal with a lot of stuff that other decks need sideboard cards for.
Whenever I see a 3/3/3/3/3 or 4/4/4/3 sideboard, my first thought is "this guy built his SB wrongly". It's very likely that one of the following would serve you better instead:
1) shifting the hate around because you don't need them in equal amounts - e.g. 4/4/3/2/2
2) replacing one of the 3s with bullets - e.g. 3/3/3/3/1/1/1
3) splitting one of the 4s into 2/2 or 3/1, or one of the 3s into 2/1
Jim Davis has wrote a little on hedging your SB, here are two articles:
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28036
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/25657 (the Twin deck might seem a bit weird, but keep in mind this was from 2013, before Tempo Twin became THE way to play the deck)
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
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I will always firmly stand by the belief that Magic is a game first and a collectable second.
In the sideboard that means I might prefer something like 1 Dragon's Claw, 1 Auriok Champion, to 2 Kor Firewalker for an anti burn plan. An anti affinity plan could involve 1 Electrolyze, 1 Kolghan's Command, 1 Stony Silence (ignore that this is 4 color, just giving an example) to 3 Shattering Spree.
This approach gives you both versatility and consistency.
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU