I am 110% on the Tarfire train. The extra type has come up for me repeatedly across a multitude of games at this point, and has often been more important in winning games than the extra point of damage Bolt provides. It's also really impressive to have your Tarmogoyfs be 7/8s in game 1, which any average Traverse list running Tarfire and at least one planeswalker can do. Tarfire helps leverage the specific strengths that Tarmogoyf has over Gurmag Angler, and I consider it to occupy a similar space to Thoughtscour in Grixis, though it's not as necessary or reasonable to run 3/4 copies.
As far as Stubborn Denial goes, I always ask what matchups its winning that I'm otherwise struggling in. I still don't think it does enough to warrant the 4th color, because our worst matchups are typically straight B/G and U/W/x. By splashing the 4th color you're giving more power to their mana denial strategy, so while it might be easier to protect your creatures you're still giving them another avenue to victory. This is the core of my issue with splashing for Stubborn Denial, it's making our good matchups better and our bad matchups worse, which I don't think is necessary. It also makes your creature-based matchups worse, which are favorable for the straight Jund version, by virtue of not having as much removal in game 1.
Hoping y'all can help me with sideboarding. I'm pretty terrible at it. What are some good cards for specific matchups? What are must haves against our worst matchups? I always seem to struggle games 2 and 3 because of this.
Here's my deck as of right now. Ive tried to diversify my sideboard but not really sure how to use it properly I guess. Any help would be appreciated.
Quick question. Why don't any lists run Seal of Fire? Having an Enchantment just gives us easier access to Delirium, and it seems near functionally identical to Tarfire.
Quick question. Why don't any lists run Seal of Fire? Having an Enchantment just gives us easier access to Delirium, and it seems near functionally identical to Tarfire.
Quick question. Why don't any lists run Seal of Fire? Having an Enchantment just gives us easier access to Delirium, and it seems near functionally identical to Tarfire.
Your opponent is more likely to have an enchantment than a tribal card, and with two types Tarfire will more consistently add an additional type for Tarmogoyf and delirium than Seal. It being an instant makes it better when you draw one off of a Mishra's Bauble on your opponent's turn, as well. They look the same at first glance as "1 mana 2 damage to anything", but there are a bunch of details that make Tarfire better overall in this shell. Seal was really only ever played when Jund was playing 2 Kalitas shortly after he was printed.
@Shuck Based on the categories you listed, it seems like you're designing your sideboard based on an arbitrary checklist of effects instead of a series of matchup-specific gameplans. When designing a sideboard, my process is usually:
Make a list of the top Modern decks listed on MTGGoldfish.
Add/remove to the list based on a general sense of the format. As an example, Hardened Scales is barely on the MTGGoldfish listings right now, but is 100% a deck I know I need to be prepared for.
Make a note of any decks that have been recently doing well, and check on developing decks that are starting to put up results. As an example, Mono-R Phoenix had a strong showing at this past weekend's SCG Open, so people are likely to be trying it out right now.
Categorize the above list based on which types of sideboard cards are effective. Examples would be creature removal, non-creature permanent removal, land destruction, graveyard hate, life gain, etc.
For each matchup, determine which cards I would want to cut from my main deck when sideboarding. Early on, I would routinely show up to tournaments with a well-tuned sideboard that was completely at odds with what I wanted to cut from my main deck.
For each matchup, determine how I want to interact with my opponent. This is even more important for 4-color than Jund, you need to consider if you want to be interacting with your opponent via discard, removal, land hate, graveyard hate, or on the stack.
For each matchup, determine what my ideal post-board configuration looks like.
With all of the above context, I then look to build my sideboard based on the greatest amount of overlap, hedging more towards my bad matchups than my good ones. This is why I favor cards like Fulminator Mage over Alpine Moon, because both are good against Tron but Fulminator is better against my bad matchups.
It's a pretty drawn out process, and at this point I do a number of these things mentally, but its worked for me so far. In all honesty you could probably skip steps 4-6 and be okay, the most important thing is to know the decks you want to beat and know how you beat them. It's also good to know how they beat you, and typically I'll look at a couple lists for each archetype to get a sense of their post-board configuration and keep an eye out for "gotcha" cards like Blood Moon.
If you're really unsure I would recommend trying out a couple different lists that did well without changing anything, to get an idea for how other people are building the deck and doing well with it. I'll also continue to plug Reid Duke's videos because the way he approaches sideboarding can be very illuminating.
Regarding Stubborn Denial: The way I see, it all depends on what you want to be prepared for. Do you want to prepare for your worst match-ups, where it's difficult to gain percentage points no matter how you cut it (though a smoother mana base helps) or do you want to be prepared for the decks that are most popular? I'll assess the value of Stubborn Denial, and the opportunity cost of running the 4th color, against some of the biggest contenders.
Izzet Phoenix (8.5% meta share) - Stub is a house, one of your best cards for the match. Easily worth the splash mana
Grixis Shadow (6.75% meets share) - Stub is useful but not always live, but good as a force Spike because they play a low and on curve. Not much effort to run the 4th color since they don't attack our mana. Red mana isn't important in this match so blue is arguably the next third color here (if let's say you have Snapcaster or Delay)
Burn (5.75% meta share) - Stub is once again your best card for the match-up. It's worth packing a 4th copy in SB if your meta is burn heavy. No contest that blue is a necessary color for a considerable win % increase here, even at risk of mana base life loss.
Affinity (including Scales) (4.5% meta share) - this match-up I am most on the fence about which is better to play. While they're both creature-based aggro, they both have crucial targets for Stub. The mama base pain should be considered. And personally I don't feel either traverse shadow variant should struggle in this match.
Dredge (4.25% meta share) - Extremely versatile card that stops all their key enablers. Not essential to maintain a positive win % for this match-up but also little to no risk by running a 4th color.
Bant Spirits (3.75% meta share) - Stub is mediocre here but has a few key targets that can swing the tide of the game. Overall I would estimate that Jund Shadow probably has a better win % however, due to less damage from your mana base. In my 4C list, I keep 1x Stub post SB.
Straight Jund (3.75 meta share) - Our worst (or close 2nd) match-up. Stub isn't going to help much as they are heavily interactive and always have extra mana to pay the force Spike. 3C Shadow clearly has a better win rate (though still not great by any standards)
Jeskai (3.5% meta share) - IMO our worst match-up. While stub is slightly more useful here than against Jund, the 4th color isn't free because they are both a burn deck and a control deck. Either version of our deck is going to have a tough time gaining % points no matter how you Sideboard.
Humans (2.9% meta share) - Stub is awful and you're clearly better off playing Jund Shadow if you're preparing for a Humans meta game.
Amulet Titan (2.9% meta share) - While it doesn't help with their key threat, it stops crucial combo pieces such as Amulet or Summoning Pact. Since they don't attack our mana and they're not aggro, there's virtually no cost to running the 4th color and increasing your win % here.
4C Whir (2.75% meta share) - Stub is a house and dominates the match-up. Though Shadow is heavily favored here regardless.
G/x Tron (2.5% meta share) - same as above. Very useful for the match-up but we're favored either way.
UW control (2.5% meta share) - stub is more useful here than against jeskai because of Terminus, but UW also leans heavily on the mana Denial plan so the 4th color is a big liability. Jund Shadow is far from favored in this match, however slightly more favored than GDS or 4C.
So how do we assimilate this information? Do we take the scariest, most difficult to win matches, and build based on what works best there? Humans, UWx, and BGx are certainly the most difficult to win, and Jund colors will prove more consistent and useful, but to what degree? And what share of the meta are you really prepared for here? Or do we prepare for the considerably larger share of the meta against which Stubborn Denial will add win % at little to no cost regarding mana base? Humans is the only deck where stub is completely dead, and it's dropped to a pathetic 3% meta share.
Personally, in an open meta like GP LA which I'll be attending, I'd like to be prepared for the 29% of the meta (Tron, Whir, Dredge, Affinity, Burn, Phoenix, Storm, Infect) against whom I want stub and don't mind the 4th color, rather than be worried about the 13% of the meta (UWx, BGx, Humans) where stub and 4th color are a big opportunity cost that will cost you percentage points against opponents that are near impossible to beat anyway. I did not include in these cuts the 12.5% meta share from GDS, Amulet Titan, and Spirits because I feel that stub and the 4th color are not a huge hindrance but are likely only slightly helpful. Personally I strongly recommend blue for these matches but because of Delay which has been great for me.
To attack this from an angle relative to Defish's point: what matches are you undoubtedly worse off against without stub? I'm not taking about Tron, Affinity, Spirits, or Amulet because while stub is applicable in those matches, Jund Shadow can be tuned to be highly favored. But my primary concerns are Phoenix, Dredge, and Burn which occupy a considerable meta share and our win % is definitely higher with stub than without.
Personally, I'm keeping my stubs. No qualms about Jund Shadow players or the results they put up. All of my analysis really shows that there's a valid argument for both sides. I just like Stub. I feel that the best cards in the deck are Death's Shadow, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Stubborn Denial and Temur Battle Rage. And they're each the respective reason why I play each color
To attack this from an angle relative to Defish's point: what matches are you undoubtedly worse off against without stub? I'm not taking about Tron, Affinity, Spirits, or Amulet because while stub is applicable in those matches, Jund Shadow can be tuned to be highly favored. But my primary concerns are Phoenix, Dredge, and Burn which occupy a considerable meta share and our win % is definitely higher with stub than without.
I think that the matchup where Stub is most relevant is Burn. The 4 color build can get away without needing Collective Brutality in the sideboard because of the presence of Stubborn Denial, and I'll echo a lot of love for Delay in 4 color Traverse. 2 Brutalities is a mandatory minimum in straight Jund, and the more I see of post-RNA Burn the more I'm considering either a 3rd Brutality or something really nutty like Life Goes On.
Against Dredge, Stub takes you from "favored" to "heavily favored", by limiting their ability to Conflagrate you for lethal. I haven't found the matchup to be a problem for any version of Shadow because they're so bad at blocking and your creatures are so big. I think it's a little easier for Traverse than Grixis because Tarmogoyf is always big.
I actually wasn't super impressed with Stub against Phoenix when I was on Grixis. They run so few threats, and so few ways to protect them, that if I could Surgical the Phoenixes I could just beat their other threats with my normal removal suite. On Jund I feel even more favored because in addition to that I can fetch Swamp -> Forest and play a Tarmogoyf that they can't remove while staying at a high life total. Liliana of the Veil is also difficult for them to deal with, which is why I'm still on 3 copies. They also typically run Blood Moon in the sideboard, which is less of a problem for straight Jund.
I know I've been pretty critical of Stubborn Denial, but I do want to reiterate that I'm very aware of the power level of the card and am by no means saying it has no place in the deck. If a deck like Storm suddenly shot up in meta share I'd definitely be looking towards the blue splash again, but in the meantime I think Jund can reasonably deal with the current meta and I like to be able to alter my playstyle in-game in a way that doesn't really work with 4 colors. But ultimately the 3/4 color decision is partly a stylistic one, so its as much about pilot comfort as anything else.
I'm honestly pretty surprised that Traverse, in general, is still as underplayed as it is. I thought it would pick up more after Peter Hollman won his Open a few months ago, but I guess the KCI and Phoenix hype had people more interested then and now everyone's just back on Grixis.
Seriously confused as well why everybody is playing Grixis over Traverse. They're both fairly challenging to pilot and very powerful in their own rights. I'd at least expect something like a 70/30 split rather than what, 95/5? If that?
Oh well, good for us I guess, keeps people underestimating the deck.
I think GDS reminds people of a legacy deck, but also because people overestimate the power of Snapcaster Mage. Don't get me wrong, it's a great card. But we've already seen players drop their snaps to 3x and I wouldn't be surprised if GDS is just one new utility creature away from dropping snap to 1-2 copies if not all together. Death's Shadow is very land-light so its not always easy to take advantage of snappy
Back in 2015 when the first "Shadow Control" list placed top 8, I used to run Esper Shadow where I didn't even use snap but rather Meddling Mage (alongside 4 TS, 4 IOK, and 4 Gitaxian Probe Rip...) and I never felt like I needed snappy.
I think ^^ about sums it up. When the deck works, it feels unstoppable, but the cantrips aren't good enough to guarantee that every game and there are some hands that just never get off the ground because you either can't hurt yourself enough or can't get enough cards in the yard to fuel delve.
I ran through a quick league last night and played against an updated version of Boros Burn, which was pretty terrifying. I'm going to drop the Languish in my sideboard for a third Brutality until I can get a better handle on it, but I did notice a few weaknesses that I think we can exploit. The nature of Spectacle means that their creatures are more important than ever, which I think puts more pressure on us having a critical mass of 1 CMC removal. When you can answer their creatures early on, the deck struggles even more than previous versions to actually play all of its spells in a timely manner. The Spectacle cards both being sorcery speed also creates a tension for them in the matchup. It seemed like a reasonable plan to focus on discarding instant-speed spells first to force them to play burn spells on their turn, which is really risky against Death's Shadow. I could actually see this being like Dredge, where the change in the deck's construction leads to losses at first as we adjust our gameplan sideboard, but ultimately ends up being very manageable.
I decisively beat Mono R Phoenix twice in the same league, I think that matchup is super favorable if you just fetch basics and lean on Tarmogoyf.
Ok the Incubation theme is officially on the shelf. As much as I'd really like to develope that idea, I think it's overall weaker to affinity, humans, and spirits - which is not where I want to be. Back to my main list, with some Sideboard updates. Gearing up for GP LA
Against GDS:
-3 Temur battle rage
-3 Stubborn Denial
-2 Inquisition of Kozilek
-1 Fatal push
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Delay
+1 Kolaghan's command
+1 Nihil Spellbomb
Against UW Miracles:
-3 Temur Battle Rage
-3 Fatal Push
-1 Stubborn Denial
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Collective Brutality
Against Izzet Phoenix:
-1 Fatal push
-2 Grim Flayer
-2 Street Wraith
+2 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Abrupt Decay (in case they bring Blood Moon)
+1 Collective brutality
Against Humans:
-3 Stubborn Denial
-2 Street Wraith
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Radiant Flames
+1 Kolaghan's command
Against Spirits:
-2 Stubborn Denial
-3 Street Wraith
+2 Delay
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Radiant Flames
+1 Collective brutality
Against Amulet Titan:
-2 Stubborn Denial (adjust Stub vs IOK depending on play or draw)
-2 Grim flayer
-1 Inquisition of Kozilek (not sure about this one)
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Delay
Against Jund and BGx:
-3 Stubborn Denial
-3 Temur Battle Rage
-3 Inquisition of Kozilek
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Delay (not sure about this either)
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Kolaghan's command
Against Affinity and Scales:
-1 Stubborn Denial
-2 Street Wraith
-2 Thoughtseize
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Radiant Flames
+1 Kolaghan's command
+2 Collective Brutality (just to kill and recover health)
Against Dredge:
-2 Street Wraith
-2 Dismember
+2 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Radiant Flames
Against Tron:
-2 Dismember
-3 Fatal Push
+3 Fulminator Mage
+1 Kolaghan's command
+1 Abrupt Decay (for O-stone, Chalice, or Map if I'm on the play)
Against Jeskai:
-2 Stubborn Denial
-2 Temur Battle Rage
-2 Street Wraith
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Collective Brutality
+1 Abrupt Decay (for Azcanta, Detention, & Clique)
Against Burn:
-1 Thoughtseize
-3 Street Wraith
-2 dismember
+2 Collective Brutality
+2 Delay
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Kolaghan's command
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Assuming I'm married to Stub and won't be dropping blue, does anyone have any suggestions or modifications?
That's a lot of grave hate, Faerie seems somewhat niche but I like that it can fulfill the role of an additional Wraith-style beater if the situation asks for it.
I don't think you want Delay against Jund, but I might be wrong. I'd personally also consider an Assassin's Trophy over Decay just to hit Jace / Teferi / Leyline / Tron lands.
Against Affinity I would cut all the Wraiths, probably, and possibly all the Thoughtseizes. You really don't want to hurt yourself in that matchup as they will just overrun you out of nowhere (especially the Scales variant - Ballista is a big deal and you need to be able to deal with Hangarback spam). Also don't think I would cut Stub against Amulet, Engineered Explosives is a blowout against us and you need to be able to counter their Pacts. People are also running Hive Mind again, which I'd really hate to have to deal with if it resolves.
Just thinking out loud here with all of this, I don't think I'm a sideboarding expert by any stretch of the imagination but that's what stood out for me. Do let us know how you get on, I'm a bit torn on the very real mana base risks of running blue vs. how badly we do seem to need that fourth color these days with Burn / Amulet / Tron popping up everywhere.. but I think it's correct to run 4c right now in the final analysis.
Grave hate is usable against all the most popular decks so I soberly want to be prepared. I prefer Spellbomb over surgical because it helps against delve and dredge as well as fuels the delirium theme.
Might be right to shave all Thoughtseize against Affinity but I don't know if I could cut all Wraiths. I'd be worried I wouldn't hit my land drops.
I also forgot to write a plan for burn, so I'll edit that in now.
Valid concern regarding the lands. I'm on the fence about Spellbomb as it costs 2 mana to replace itself which is a bit steep, but it does hit delve pretty hard. Then again, GDS can be very fast to recover from an exiled graveyard.
I like to keep a small number of Wraith (usually 1) in against burn because, like Godrik said, it does help with delirium in a pinch. Also I've been lucky enough (several times) by bait my opponents removal by playing a 2/2 and backing it up with Wraith to effectively counter their burn spell.
The tricks that can be pulled off to buff shadow at instant speed (besides fetch lands, because they see those plays coming) are not to be overlooked. It's one of my favorite aspects of playing burn spells over other removal because of the tricks you do by burning yourself. Bolt yourself into TBR with shadow swinging is 6 extra damage
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In a recent article by Ben Friedman he mentions using Spellskite as a Sideboard tool against Burn and UWx control. Any thoughts on that?
Could you please link the actual article? Friedman's a GDS player as far as I'm aware, so I'm not sure if it applies here. We don't have a lot of blue mana to sink into Spellskite, for starters, but there is the fun fairyland trick where you can crack a fetch, redirect the effect 9 times to Spellskite and swing for 24 with TBR on the spot.
No idea why I'd want Spellskite against UW builds, maybe there's an argument to bring it in against Jeskai to redirect some burn spells but you can easily play around those anyway if you stay focused.
As far as Stubborn Denial goes, I always ask what matchups its winning that I'm otherwise struggling in. I still don't think it does enough to warrant the 4th color, because our worst matchups are typically straight B/G and U/W/x. By splashing the 4th color you're giving more power to their mana denial strategy, so while it might be easier to protect your creatures you're still giving them another avenue to victory. This is the core of my issue with splashing for Stubborn Denial, it's making our good matchups better and our bad matchups worse, which I don't think is necessary. It also makes your creature-based matchups worse, which are favorable for the straight Jund version, by virtue of not having as much removal in game 1.
Here's my deck as of right now. Ive tried to diversify my sideboard but not really sure how to use it properly I guess. Any help would be appreciated.
4 Death's Shadow
4 Tarmogoyf
Powerup
1 Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 Temur Battle Rage
Card Draw
4 Street Wraith
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Interaction
2 Fatal Push
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Tarfire
4 Thoughtseize
2 Assassin's Trophy
1 Dismember
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Blood Crypt
1 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Cindervines
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damping Sphere
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Radiant Flames
1 Hazoret the Fervent
Tokens:
Izzet staticaster
Liliana, he Last Hope
Burn:
Collective Brutality
Cindervines
Damping Sphere?
GY Hate:
Nihil Spellbomb
Surgical Extraction
Artifacts:
Ancient Grudge
Cindervines
Assassin's Trophy
Sweepers:
Radiant Flames
Izzet Staticaster?
Mid-range:
Hazoret, the Feverent
??
Tron:
Damping Sphere
Surgical Extraction
Assassin's Trophy
Control:
Cindervines
Stubborn Denial
Assassin's Trophy?
Storm:
Damping Sphere
Cindervines
Stubborn Denial?
What else is Collective Brutality good against?
Because...Tarfire?
Your opponent is more likely to have an enchantment than a tribal card, and with two types Tarfire will more consistently add an additional type for Tarmogoyf and delirium than Seal. It being an instant makes it better when you draw one off of a Mishra's Bauble on your opponent's turn, as well. They look the same at first glance as "1 mana 2 damage to anything", but there are a bunch of details that make Tarfire better overall in this shell. Seal was really only ever played when Jund was playing 2 Kalitas shortly after he was printed.
@Shuck Based on the categories you listed, it seems like you're designing your sideboard based on an arbitrary checklist of effects instead of a series of matchup-specific gameplans. When designing a sideboard, my process is usually:
It's a pretty drawn out process, and at this point I do a number of these things mentally, but its worked for me so far. In all honesty you could probably skip steps 4-6 and be okay, the most important thing is to know the decks you want to beat and know how you beat them. It's also good to know how they beat you, and typically I'll look at a couple lists for each archetype to get a sense of their post-board configuration and keep an eye out for "gotcha" cards like Blood Moon.
If you're really unsure I would recommend trying out a couple different lists that did well without changing anything, to get an idea for how other people are building the deck and doing well with it. I'll also continue to plug Reid Duke's videos because the way he approaches sideboarding can be very illuminating.
Personally, in an open meta like GP LA which I'll be attending, I'd like to be prepared for the 29% of the meta (Tron, Whir, Dredge, Affinity, Burn, Phoenix, Storm, Infect) against whom I want stub and don't mind the 4th color, rather than be worried about the 13% of the meta (UWx, BGx, Humans) where stub and 4th color are a big opportunity cost that will cost you percentage points against opponents that are near impossible to beat anyway. I did not include in these cuts the 12.5% meta share from GDS, Amulet Titan, and Spirits because I feel that stub and the 4th color are not a huge hindrance but are likely only slightly helpful. Personally I strongly recommend blue for these matches but because of Delay which has been great for me.
To attack this from an angle relative to Defish's point: what matches are you undoubtedly worse off against without stub? I'm not taking about Tron, Affinity, Spirits, or Amulet because while stub is applicable in those matches, Jund Shadow can be tuned to be highly favored. But my primary concerns are Phoenix, Dredge, and Burn which occupy a considerable meta share and our win % is definitely higher with stub than without.
Personally, I'm keeping my stubs. No qualms about Jund Shadow players or the results they put up. All of my analysis really shows that there's a valid argument for both sides. I just like Stub. I feel that the best cards in the deck are Death's Shadow, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Stubborn Denial and Temur Battle Rage. And they're each the respective reason why I play each color
Draft My Cube!
I think that the matchup where Stub is most relevant is Burn. The 4 color build can get away without needing Collective Brutality in the sideboard because of the presence of Stubborn Denial, and I'll echo a lot of love for Delay in 4 color Traverse. 2 Brutalities is a mandatory minimum in straight Jund, and the more I see of post-RNA Burn the more I'm considering either a 3rd Brutality or something really nutty like Life Goes On.
Against Dredge, Stub takes you from "favored" to "heavily favored", by limiting their ability to Conflagrate you for lethal. I haven't found the matchup to be a problem for any version of Shadow because they're so bad at blocking and your creatures are so big. I think it's a little easier for Traverse than Grixis because Tarmogoyf is always big.
I actually wasn't super impressed with Stub against Phoenix when I was on Grixis. They run so few threats, and so few ways to protect them, that if I could Surgical the Phoenixes I could just beat their other threats with my normal removal suite. On Jund I feel even more favored because in addition to that I can fetch Swamp -> Forest and play a Tarmogoyf that they can't remove while staying at a high life total. Liliana of the Veil is also difficult for them to deal with, which is why I'm still on 3 copies. They also typically run Blood Moon in the sideboard, which is less of a problem for straight Jund.
I know I've been pretty critical of Stubborn Denial, but I do want to reiterate that I'm very aware of the power level of the card and am by no means saying it has no place in the deck. If a deck like Storm suddenly shot up in meta share I'd definitely be looking towards the blue splash again, but in the meantime I think Jund can reasonably deal with the current meta and I like to be able to alter my playstyle in-game in a way that doesn't really work with 4 colors. But ultimately the 3/4 color decision is partly a stylistic one, so its as much about pilot comfort as anything else.
I'm honestly pretty surprised that Traverse, in general, is still as underplayed as it is. I thought it would pick up more after Peter Hollman won his Open a few months ago, but I guess the KCI and Phoenix hype had people more interested then and now everyone's just back on Grixis.
Oh well, good for us I guess, keeps people underestimating the deck.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Back in 2015 when the first "Shadow Control" list placed top 8, I used to run Esper Shadow where I didn't even use snap but rather Meddling Mage (alongside 4 TS, 4 IOK, and 4 Gitaxian Probe Rip...) and I never felt like I needed snappy.
Draft My Cube!
I ran through a quick league last night and played against an updated version of Boros Burn, which was pretty terrifying. I'm going to drop the Languish in my sideboard for a third Brutality until I can get a better handle on it, but I did notice a few weaknesses that I think we can exploit. The nature of Spectacle means that their creatures are more important than ever, which I think puts more pressure on us having a critical mass of 1 CMC removal. When you can answer their creatures early on, the deck struggles even more than previous versions to actually play all of its spells in a timely manner. The Spectacle cards both being sorcery speed also creates a tension for them in the matchup. It seemed like a reasonable plan to focus on discarding instant-speed spells first to force them to play burn spells on their turn, which is really risky against Death's Shadow. I could actually see this being like Dredge, where the change in the deck's construction leads to losses at first as we adjust our gameplan sideboard, but ultimately ends up being very manageable.
I decisively beat Mono R Phoenix twice in the same league, I think that matchup is super favorable if you just fetch basics and lean on Tarmogoyf.
Or are you referring to the "exile two cards, you may play them until your next turn" spell?
Draft My Cube!
4 Death's Shadow
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Street Wraith
2 Grim flayer (my 2 flex slots)
Spells
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Fatal Push
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Temur Battle Rage
2 Dismember
1 Tarfire
18 Lands (including breeding pool)
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Collective Brutality
2 Delay
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Kolaghan's command
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Radiant Flames
Against GDS:
-3 Temur battle rage
-3 Stubborn Denial
-2 Inquisition of Kozilek
-1 Fatal push
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Delay
+1 Kolaghan's command
+1 Nihil Spellbomb
Against UW Miracles:
-3 Temur Battle Rage
-3 Fatal Push
-1 Stubborn Denial
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Collective Brutality
Against Izzet Phoenix:
-1 Fatal push
-2 Grim Flayer
-2 Street Wraith
+2 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Abrupt Decay (in case they bring Blood Moon)
+1 Collective brutality
Against Humans:
-3 Stubborn Denial
-2 Street Wraith
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Radiant Flames
+1 Kolaghan's command
Against Spirits:
-2 Stubborn Denial
-3 Street Wraith
+2 Delay
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Radiant Flames
+1 Collective brutality
Against Amulet Titan:
-2 Stubborn Denial (adjust Stub vs IOK depending on play or draw)
-2 Grim flayer
-1 Inquisition of Kozilek (not sure about this one)
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Delay
Against Jund and BGx:
-3 Stubborn Denial
-3 Temur Battle Rage
-3 Inquisition of Kozilek
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Delay (not sure about this either)
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Kolaghan's command
Against Affinity and Scales:
-1 Stubborn Denial
-2 Street Wraith
-2 Thoughtseize
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Radiant Flames
+1 Kolaghan's command
+2 Collective Brutality (just to kill and recover health)
Against Dredge:
-2 Street Wraith
-2 Dismember
+2 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 Faerie Macabre
+1 Radiant Flames
Against Tron:
-2 Dismember
-3 Fatal Push
+3 Fulminator Mage
+1 Kolaghan's command
+1 Abrupt Decay (for O-stone, Chalice, or Map if I'm on the play)
Against Jeskai:
-2 Stubborn Denial
-2 Temur Battle Rage
-2 Street Wraith
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Collective Brutality
+1 Abrupt Decay (for Azcanta, Detention, & Clique)
Against Burn:
-1 Thoughtseize
-3 Street Wraith
-2 dismember
+2 Collective Brutality
+2 Delay
+1 Abrupt Decay
+1 Kolaghan's command
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Assuming I'm married to Stub and won't be dropping blue, does anyone have any suggestions or modifications?
Draft My Cube!
I don't think you want Delay against Jund, but I might be wrong. I'd personally also consider an Assassin's Trophy over Decay just to hit Jace / Teferi / Leyline / Tron lands.
Against Affinity I would cut all the Wraiths, probably, and possibly all the Thoughtseizes. You really don't want to hurt yourself in that matchup as they will just overrun you out of nowhere (especially the Scales variant - Ballista is a big deal and you need to be able to deal with Hangarback spam). Also don't think I would cut Stub against Amulet, Engineered Explosives is a blowout against us and you need to be able to counter their Pacts. People are also running Hive Mind again, which I'd really hate to have to deal with if it resolves.
Just thinking out loud here with all of this, I don't think I'm a sideboarding expert by any stretch of the imagination but that's what stood out for me. Do let us know how you get on, I'm a bit torn on the very real mana base risks of running blue vs. how badly we do seem to need that fourth color these days with Burn / Amulet / Tron popping up everywhere.. but I think it's correct to run 4c right now in the final analysis.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Might be right to shave all Thoughtseize against Affinity but I don't know if I could cut all Wraiths. I'd be worried I wouldn't hit my land drops.
I also forgot to write a plan for burn, so I'll edit that in now.
Draft My Cube!
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
You are right about land drop but the biggest reason is to enable traverse.
Affinity doesnt kill your threat so having creature in your GY is though.
BGUSultai Shadow
BURGrixis Shadow
BGUSultai midrange
BRWMardu Pyromancer
BGRJund
My Wraiths are the first thing that comes out against Burn, and I mean all 4.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
The tricks that can be pulled off to buff shadow at instant speed (besides fetch lands, because they see those plays coming) are not to be overlooked. It's one of my favorite aspects of playing burn spells over other removal because of the tricks you do by burning yourself. Bolt yourself into TBR with shadow swinging is 6 extra damage
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In a recent article by Ben Friedman he mentions using Spellskite as a Sideboard tool against Burn and UWx control. Any thoughts on that?
Draft My Cube!
No idea why I'd want Spellskite against UW builds, maybe there's an argument to bring it in against Jeskai to redirect some burn spells but you can easily play around those anyway if you stay focused.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki