I'd like to run Blood Moon in my sideboards. Although I have lots of practice playing against this card, I have little practice actually using it. I have three questions about using this card:
How do you set up your mana to never be disadvantaged by your own blood moon?
(i.e., for dual and tri coloured decks running red)
What decks should it come in against and which ones should it not?
How many is the right number in the sideboard?
I would like to discuss these questions in regards to any r/x or r/x/x deck looking to run it as a sideboard option. As a common defence in any of my decks I never skimp on basics, but I've never had to try making a mana base that can balance using Blood Moon as a consistent option. From what I've played with, running it in the Affinity sideboard was great because that deck cares very little about having coloured lands so I could run 3 Blood Moon in the sideboard without much worry. I feel like Blood Moon shines against Tron, Infect, and greedy mana bases. I'm just not sure if it's always worth running Blood Moon just because you can.
The reason I'm so curious now is that I've been thinking about trying a new deck for an upcoming FNM but the meta is unkown to me. Here are two deck lists that I'm debating between playing. Feel free to suggest changes if you see large room for improvement. Could this deck be okay with Blood Moon in the sideboard as is? Or would a more focused U/R build be significantly more stable against its own Blood Moon?
Would a Flash deck like this next list even want something like Blood Moon in the sideboard? What changes could be made if I wanted to include it? I'm also wondering which of these two lists would be wiser to use. I'll take any advice on card choices too!
For both decks you posted, I'd play Crumble to Dust over Blood Moon in the SB. Moon will hurt your deck more than it helps it, and if you try to build your 3-color deck to support Moon, that's also hurting your deck. The Delver deck in particular has a basic Forest, which is extremely out of place, given that none of your turn 1 plays uses G, and the only green spell you have main is Tarmogoyf.
I don't build decks for the purpose of supporting Blood Moon in the board. Most 2-color decks can support Blood Moon without having to do anything special. If your main color in a 2-color deck is red, then great, Blood Moon won't interfere with casting most of your spells. If your main color is not red, then you're probably playing at least 3 basics of that color, and all your fetches can search for a basic of that color, so there isn't much to worry about either.
If your deck is 3 colors, then it probably can't support Blood Moon, and is the kind of deck that opponents would bring Moon in against. The plus side is that, if you think about the way Magic is meant to be played (TM), having access to all those colors means you have more SB options to choose from. So maybe your deck can't play Moon, but you have SB cards that wouldn't be available if you were in 2 colors only. You should be looking at including those SB cards, or if you can't, consider dropping to 2 colors.
As for the decks that you bring Blood Moon in against, mostly it's ramp decks. That's why I suggested Crumble to Dust. The more conditions below satisfied by the opposing deck, the better Blood Moon is against it:
- 3 or more colors
- Doesn't play red
- Doesn't play mana dorks or other color filterers
- Slow
- On the draw
How many Blood Moons should you play in the SB? 2 or 3. I understand Affinity plays 1. You don't want 4 because they're bad in multiples. Some decks do play 4 Moon main, but that's because their gimmick is, well, playing Blood Moons main. (And also because they might have Nahiri to discard multiples).
I would like to discuss these questions in regards to any r/x or r/x/x deck looking to run it as a sideboard option. As a common defence in any of my decks I never skimp on basics, but I've never had to try making a mana base that can balance using Blood Moon as a consistent option. From what I've played with, running it in the Affinity sideboard was great because that deck cares very little about having coloured lands so I could run 3 Blood Moon in the sideboard without much worry. I feel like Blood Moon shines against Tron, Infect, and greedy mana bases. I'm just not sure if it's always worth running Blood Moon just because you can.
The reason I'm so curious now is that I've been thinking about trying a new deck for an upcoming FNM but the meta is unkown to me. Here are two deck lists that I'm debating between playing. Feel free to suggest changes if you see large room for improvement. Could this deck be okay with Blood Moon in the sideboard as is? Or would a more focused U/R build be significantly more stable against its own Blood Moon?
1x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
2x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
2x Wooded Foothills
Sorcery (8)
2x Flame Slash
4x Serum Visions
2x Sleight of Hand
2x Electrolyze
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Mana Leak
4x Remand
2x Spell Snare
2x Tarfire
2x Vapor Snag
Creature (16)
4x Delver of Secrets Flip
4x Goblin Guide
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Ancient Grudge
3x Blood Moon
2x Destructive Revelry
2x Huntmaster of the Fells Flip
2x Hurkyl's Recall
2 Dispel
3x Negate
Would a Flash deck like this next list even want something like Blood Moon in the sideboard? What changes could be made if I wanted to include it? I'm also wondering which of these two lists would be wiser to use. I'll take any advice on card choices too!
4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Mystic Gate
4x Island
1x Mountain
2x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
2x Cryptic Command
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
2x Mana Leak
4x Path to Exile
4x Remand
2x Spell Snare
2x Restoration Angel
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Spell Queller
2x Vendilion Clique
Sorcery (4)
4x Serum Visions
I don't build decks for the purpose of supporting Blood Moon in the board. Most 2-color decks can support Blood Moon without having to do anything special. If your main color in a 2-color deck is red, then great, Blood Moon won't interfere with casting most of your spells. If your main color is not red, then you're probably playing at least 3 basics of that color, and all your fetches can search for a basic of that color, so there isn't much to worry about either.
If your deck is 3 colors, then it probably can't support Blood Moon, and is the kind of deck that opponents would bring Moon in against. The plus side is that, if you think about the way Magic is meant to be played (TM), having access to all those colors means you have more SB options to choose from. So maybe your deck can't play Moon, but you have SB cards that wouldn't be available if you were in 2 colors only. You should be looking at including those SB cards, or if you can't, consider dropping to 2 colors.
As for the decks that you bring Blood Moon in against, mostly it's ramp decks. That's why I suggested Crumble to Dust. The more conditions below satisfied by the opposing deck, the better Blood Moon is against it:
- 3 or more colors
- Doesn't play red
- Doesn't play mana dorks or other color filterers
- Slow
- On the draw
How many Blood Moons should you play in the SB? 2 or 3. I understand Affinity plays 1. You don't want 4 because they're bad in multiples. Some decks do play 4 Moon main, but that's because their gimmick is, well, playing Blood Moons main. (And also because they might have Nahiri to discard multiples).
|
|
Big Johnny.