What do you guys consider to be the essential parts of the sideboard for this deck? I'm having some trouble with it. I think I want Wear // Tear because turn-2 Stony Silence is a thing that happens. I didn't have anything I could do about it when it did happen to me. I think I also want at least 1 Blood Moon. It wrecks Eldrazi decks that have to be able to provide colorless mana, and it's pretty effective against 3-color decks loaded with shock-lands and fetches (especially if red isn't one of the colors they're playing). I've been experimenting with Heroic Intervention and it's actually been pretty great. I've never really gotten great results with Thoughtseize but currently have 2 in the sideboard. Same goes for Grafdigger's Cage. If I play Wear // Tear, does it make sense to also use sideboard slots for Ancient Grudge?
I've noticed some decks choosing Island as the basic, I used to do that but I think Mountain is the correct choice. It's a small thing, but by not playing Island, you're denying Merfolk decks Islandwalk without Spreading Seas. Also the fact that I'm now playing 4x Bomat Courier makes it an even easier decision. I recommend considering this card as a maindeck staple (first new one in many years), it's been excellent every time I've gotten it.
Second question first: I use island because I run 4 masters of etherium. It depends on hwat your build needs more. If Path is prevalent you could probably run one of each even.
On sidebaord: I always have at least one Aether Grid, Etched Champions to make the total number 4, Grudges for the mirror and graveyard hate.
In my experience, wear//tear isn't a great answer to stony. You need to have access to the mana the turn it lands or hope to draw a glimmervoid/spire. A better (IMO) way to combat stony is a combination of thoughtseize/ghirapur aether grid. Thoughtseize works surprisingly well since people have a tendency to mull towards stony given how much of a beating it is. If you do want to keep wear/tear, i'd probably still run an ancient grudge given the prevalence of affinity decks.
Mountain vs. island really comes down to preference/build. If you're running more thoughtcasts/master of etheriums/glint nest, an island is good. If you're all in on galvanic blast/bomat, then mountain would be the choice. How it affects the merfolk MU shouldn't really play that big of a role given that we're favored there and we're only running 1 basic anyway.
I like Ethersworn Canonist for tech against Storm decks and decks that try to get their with a lot of spells for turn that aren't artifact based.
I see quite a bit Blood Moon use lately and I'm a bit curious to have in my sideboard as well. What do you all think?
No Thoughtseizes? You should definitely drop Torpor Orb for Thoughtseizes (takes stony silences/board wipes/storm pieces), Dismember should be replaced by Dispatch. The slots of Spellskite/Ethersworn/Pithing Needle all depend on you meta, and are quite great cards. Those are flexible slots that can be replaced with an extra Dispatch, Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, extra Ghirapur Aether Grid, extra grave hate. Also if you have more affinity/E-tron in your meta, look to add in 1 more Ancient Grudge.
Blood Moon is great for locking out some greedy 3 color landbases.
Had a really rough pptq today. I lost game 1 to UW Control which had 3 Supreme Verdict maindeck. That player went on to make top 8 in first place (this kind of thing seems to happen to me a lot at events, lose my first match to the player that wins). I got a bye for round 2. Round 3 was a much closer match against grixis death's shadow. I won game 1 and would have won game two had he not countered a mix Opal in my last turn. For round 4 I finally had my first real win, against some weird GR charbelcher deck. Round 5 was extremely painful. I was playing against BW eldrazi and won game 1. I brought in blood moon but never got it. Both game 2 and game 3 went the same way: mulligan to 5 and my opponent played stony silence turn 2. Round 6 I played against eldrazi tron, and lost in game 3. I even managed to get blood moon out game 3, but it wasn't enough. Walking ballista proved very effective against my deck.
Pretty discouraging all in all. I have always felt like affinity has an edge in general for game 1, but does poorly games 2 and 3. Stony silence seems to be everywhere nowadays. I get that there is sideboard material for every deck, but I feel like most decks aren't so completely disabled by one card. Wear // Tear actually isn't a great solution unless you have it and can cast it right away when stony silence is cast. Otherwise, it's too hard to cast the white half when all the mox opals and springleaf drums are shut off.
How oh how are we supposed to play against jeskai decks? Ingot absolutely murdered by a nahiti harbinger deck yesterday. Everything I played was either electrolyzed, bolted, pathed or countered
The best cards to bring in for the mirror would be Ancient Grudge, Dispatch, Ghirapur Aether Grid and Spell Pierce (to counter opponent's sideboard cards). Take out all main board Etched Champions, then take out Master of Etherium (you can't afford too many spells that require colored mana, and Galvanic Blast is great removal in the mirror so we don't want to cut it). Then I'd take out the Overseers (usually dies too quickly to opponent's sideboard removal) and then finally if you really have to, take out Galvanic Blast to lessen the number of colored spells you run. Ideally you shouldn't exceed 9 or 10 colored spells in the main board.
Jeskai decks are admittedly a difficult matchup largely due to the sheer number of removal spells they pack. Beating them requires an early Etched Champion most of the time, preferably backed by Arcbound Ravager or Cranial Plating to close the game out before they can cast Supreme Verdict. Again this is tough because they will most likely counter Cranial Plating or kill Arcbound before you can place a bunch of counters on Champion.
Good sideboard cards against Jeskai decks are:
Aether Grid (if they pack Stony)
The problem I have with this is that if they land Stony Silence then 8 of the sources of colored mana in your deck are unusable. It makes it reasonably possible that you won't be able to cast the Aether Grid even if you have it in your hand.
Good sideboard cards against Jeskai decks are:
Aether Grid (if they pack Stony)
The problem I have with this is that if they land Stony Silence then 8 of the sources of colored mana in your deck are unusable. It makes it reasonably possible that you won't be able to cast the Aether Grid even if you have it in your hand.
Well the problem really revolves around how stony crushes us in general. I've found the best ways to combat stony is preemptively with thoughtseize and to hedge your bets with an aether grid. The added benefit aether grid provides in the board vs go wide decks/lingering souls outweighs running a card like wear//tear IMO.
snapcaster mage
thought knot seer
eldrazi mimic
soul sisters get completely shut off
tidehollow sculler
all flicker and bounce effects
it is a great card to have in SB i also run 2
ITs not that good. Snapcaster is better shut down with the various graveyard hate also needed for Dredge and CoCo. Mimic isnt played anymore, and a TKS doesnt really hit much as you hav eemtpied your hand on turn 3 anyways. I think its a waste of good space.
Ive won games bc of torpot orbs so I would disagree
It literally shuts down eldrazi and taxes, Soul sisters, UB fairies,
It definitely has the capacity to shut down decks, but your examples:
Taxes - we're favored already
Soul sister - tier 3/incredibly uncommon
Faeries - tier 3/uncommon/we're favored.
We're also very favored against E-tron, the current big eldrazi deck. And that deck isn't running mimics.
If you're meta has a ton of taxes, faeries, and soul sisters, totally jam it in your sideboard. Sideboards are for meta-calls anyway. But if you were to play at a larger event, it will more often than not be a dead card as it does very little against most tier 1/2 decks. Those where it would put in some work we just have better alternative SB cards.
Its key here to go wide and keep your power low to dive under the bridge. Signal pest is your mVP here as its bonus applies after the bridge check, and dont forget the instant equip of the plating. The matchup isnt unwinnable, but it is a tough one.
Second question first: I use island because I run 4 masters of etherium. It depends on hwat your build needs more. If Path is prevalent you could probably run one of each even.
On sidebaord: I always have at least one Aether Grid, Etched Champions to make the total number 4, Grudges for the mirror and graveyard hate.
Mountain vs. island really comes down to preference/build. If you're running more thoughtcasts/master of etheriums/glint nest, an island is good. If you're all in on galvanic blast/bomat, then mountain would be the choice. How it affects the merfolk MU shouldn't really play that big of a role given that we're favored there and we're only running 1 basic anyway.
Affinity
Death & Taxes
Mardu Nahiri
Forcing people to merge with twitch is stupid
1 Dismember
1 Etched Champion
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Rest in Peace
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spellskite
2 Torpor Orb
1 Wear // Tear
1 Whipflare
I like Ethersworn Canonist for tech against Storm decks and decks that try to get their with a lot of spells for turn that aren't artifact based.
I see quite a bit Blood Moon use lately and I'm a bit curious to have in my sideboard as well. What do you all think?
What is Torpor Orb for? It doesn't seem necessary generally these days although it might be in your neighborhood.
I don't see any bad cards there but I would not leave home with only one copy of Ghirapur Aether Grid or only one copy of Whipflare. I just wouldn't.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
No Thoughtseizes? You should definitely drop Torpor Orb for Thoughtseizes (takes stony silences/board wipes/storm pieces), Dismember should be replaced by Dispatch. The slots of Spellskite/Ethersworn/Pithing Needle all depend on you meta, and are quite great cards. Those are flexible slots that can be replaced with an extra Dispatch, Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, extra Ghirapur Aether Grid, extra grave hate. Also if you have more affinity/E-tron in your meta, look to add in 1 more Ancient Grudge.
Blood Moon is great for locking out some greedy 3 color landbases.
Affinity
Legacy:
GBCombo Elves
EDH:
GEzuri, Renegade Leader's Elf Ball
Cube:
180 Peasant Micro Cube
Pretty discouraging all in all. I have always felt like affinity has an edge in general for game 1, but does poorly games 2 and 3. Stony silence seems to be everywhere nowadays. I get that there is sideboard material for every deck, but I feel like most decks aren't so completely disabled by one card. Wear // Tear actually isn't a great solution unless you have it and can cast it right away when stony silence is cast. Otherwise, it's too hard to cast the white half when all the mox opals and springleaf drums are shut off.
And what's the best way to side for the mirror?
Etched Champion
Aether Grid (if they pack Stony)
Grafdiggers Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Rest In Peace (nowadays lots of Jeskai decks play 4 Logic Knot and 4 Snapcaster)
Spell Pierce
Thoughtseize (can pluck Wraths or Cryptic Command or Nahiri)
Pia's Revolution is awesome in removal-heavy match-ups.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
The problem I have with this is that if they land Stony Silence then 8 of the sources of colored mana in your deck are unusable. It makes it reasonably possible that you won't be able to cast the Aether Grid even if you have it in your hand.
Well the problem really revolves around how stony crushes us in general. I've found the best ways to combat stony is preemptively with thoughtseize and to hedge your bets with an aether grid. The added benefit aether grid provides in the board vs go wide decks/lingering souls outweighs running a card like wear//tear IMO.
Affinity
Death & Taxes
Mardu Nahiri
Forcing people to merge with twitch is stupid
snapcaster mage
thought knot seer
eldrazi mimic
soul sisters get completely shut off
tidehollow sculler
all flicker and bounce effects
it is a great card to have in SB i also run 2
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
ITs not that good. Snapcaster is better shut down with the various graveyard hate also needed for Dredge and CoCo. Mimic isnt played anymore, and a TKS doesnt really hit much as you hav eemtpied your hand on turn 3 anyways. I think its a waste of good space.
It literally shuts down eldrazi and taxes, Soul sisters, UB fairies,
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
It definitely has the capacity to shut down decks, but your examples:
Taxes - we're favored already
Soul sister - tier 3/incredibly uncommon
Faeries - tier 3/uncommon/we're favored.
We're also very favored against E-tron, the current big eldrazi deck. And that deck isn't running mimics.
If you're meta has a ton of taxes, faeries, and soul sisters, totally jam it in your sideboard. Sideboards are for meta-calls anyway. But if you were to play at a larger event, it will more often than not be a dead card as it does very little against most tier 1/2 decks. Those where it would put in some work we just have better alternative SB cards.
Affinity
Death & Taxes
Mardu Nahiri
Forcing people to merge with twitch is stupid
Is the matchup really as bad as my w/l%? I gave played it 3 times and been pummelled three times.
I feel like the match shouldnt be as bad as it feels - is it just a case of having the turn 2 kill before they can get a Bridge online?