Goodness, this is beautiful! Detailed sideboard guides like this are extremely helpful for new players as sideboarding is a big part of winning modern matches.
I believe GR Eldrazi deserves addition to the guide as it's sideboarding is different from other decks with Eldrazi in them, such as Eldrazi Tron. Things like Ensnaring Bridge you would bring in against Eldrazi Tron, but you probably shouldn't against GR Eldrazi as they tend to bring in Ancient Grudge from the side.
For Ponza, it's a really tough matchup, but boarding in Path and Palm is rough. It's very easy for them to cut you off white via Blood Moon or Molten/Stone Rain and you're likely already land-less by the time they'd play a threat you'd want to path. I actually keep Eidolon in as most of their deck is 3CMC or less and is also the part of the deck we care about. I try to be as fast as possible and kill literally everything they play, which means boarding in DRev for Utopia Sprawl, Blood Moon and Courser. I'm wondering if it's correct to board in Bridge and try to play the long game though. Perhaps trying to get out an early Bridge and then sandbag your white-producing lands for Path'ing their threats?
This new sideboard guide is amazing! Thanks eldonquistador85!
It does seem like Searing Blood is a notable exclusion from the potential sideboard options for decks like Affinty and Elves though if I had to make any recommendation.
Manabase question:
I run a 19 land RW list, no green splash.
I'm currently using 3x Mountain, 3xInspiring Vantage and 3xSacred Foundry, with 10 fetches.
However, I see lots of lists running 4xVantage.
Is there any advantage (pardon the pun) for me to do so? More fastlands increases the chance of it entering tapped when I might need it untapped...
If 4 fastlands is better, what do I cut - the 10th fetch?
PS I think I have 1 Mainboard flex slot - if I had a choice of 1 card to add, what would it be? I don't really like the idea of Shard Volley with 19 land, and am considering a Molten Rain or 2nd Grim Lavamancer.
Manabase question:
I run a 19 land RW list, no green splash.
I'm currently using 3x Mountain, 3xInspiring Vantage and 3xSacred Foundry, with 10 fetches.
However, I see lots of lists running 4xVantage.
Is there any advantage (pardon the pun) for me to do so? More fastlands increases the chance of it entering tapped when I might need it untapped...
If 4 fastlands is better, what do I cut - the 10th fetch?
PS I think I have 1 Mainboard flex slot - if I had a choice of 1 card to add, what would it be? I don't really like the idea of Shard Volley with 19 land, and am considering a Molten Rain or 2nd Grim Lavamancer.
I mean at that point regarding lands you're talking about fractions of a percentage point one way or the other. A 4th vantage means one less multicolor land dealing damage to you and helping some decks race you. Keeping it at two or three means less chance of a tempo loss or not being able to cast multiple spells in a turn to seal a win against slower decks. I'm not sure one is absolutely "better" than the other if you were walking into an unknown or wide meta.
I run 2 mountains and 4 Vantage, 2 Foundry 1 Stomping and 10 fetches. Works like a train, never do I concern myself with tapped lands as they’re probably dead or I haven’t reached my 4th land yet
About the manabase, I ran 19 with 10 fetches, 2 Mountain, 2 Foundry, 1 Stomping Ground and 4 Vantage. I felt not comfortable against Path to Exile with only 2 basics, so I increased the count to 20 with 3 Mountain. It feels fine to me.
General comment for everyone: I just updated the Matchups/Sideboarding section of the primer. Think of the sideboard suggestions as card ideas for constructing a sideboard rather than as a sideboard guide. Let me know if you have suggestions or criticisms.
Hello again, just looking for some deck tech, what do you guys think about Satyr Firedancer in a heavy creature meta?
How creature heavy is creature heavy? It's a very fragile creature itself and it requires itself to be in play and then other cards to be cast before it affects the board at all. I think you're probably better off using Searing effects to do what you need to do.
Random question: how does it stack up against ponza? My brother has been playing that for over a year, I know any modern event I play has a chance of running into him lol.
I don't think Burn is in good shape against Ponza and BBE made it worse. It's very tough for Burn to deal with the resource denial that comes out of Ponza.
I actually disagree with your assessment of the ponza match up. I have played the match up several times and fine it really easy to win. it always seems like if you sequence you spells correctly after board you are really likely to win.
A small issue with your advise for sideboarding vs. Humans: You write "Expect things like Kambal, Auriok Champion, and Sin Collector out of the side from them, so lifegain hate is important and you should be aware of more disruptive cards."
However, you list Skullcrack in the section of cards to board out
I have fixed that mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.
Manabase question:
I run a 19 land RW list, no green splash.
I'm currently using 3x Mountain, 3xInspiring Vantage and 3xSacred Foundry, with 10 fetches.
However, I see lots of lists running 4xVantage.
Is there any advantage (pardon the pun) for me to do so? More fastlands increases the chance of it entering tapped when I might need it untapped...
If 4 fastlands is better, what do I cut - the 10th fetch?
PS I think I have 1 Mainboard flex slot - if I had a choice of 1 card to add, what would it be? I don't really like the idea of Shard Volley with 19 land, and am considering a Molten Rain or 2nd Grim Lavamancer.
I play 19 with 3 Mountain, 3 Vantage, 2 Foundry, and 11 fetches. While there are situations where you're screwed when you topdeck Vantage and need 4 mana that turn, I think it's ok to risk it because you're generally ok with your 4th land being tapped. If you were going to cut a land for another Vantage, I would cut the 3rd Foundry.
A singleton Shard Volley doesn't carry that big of a downside. I love Grim Lavamancer and play 2 myself. I would not play a maindeck Molten Rain without some wacky meta where it's extraordinarily good.
I actually disagree with your assessment of the ponza match up. I have played the match up several times and fine it really easy to win. it always seems like if you sequence you spells correctly after board you are really likely to win.
I've gotten wrecked the times that I've played it, but I haven't played against it in a while and it was before they got BBE. There's not a lot you can do about a turn 2 Blood Moon turning off your white cards, and if you have enough lands to weather Stone Rains then you aren't going to win the game because you're lacking spells. There's nothing in the maindeck to deal with Courser. Your best hope is to Blaze their dorks and beat them before it matters. I think BBE is a massive upgrade for them. I think the matchup is not good, though I could be convinced that it's just unfavorable rather than terrible.
I play with 4 inspiring vantage, 3 sacred foundry, 8 fetch , 4 mountains and a single stomping ground i get wrecked by land hate, is pretty strong despite most of the deck needing only 2 color, i cannto affort to get more fetches (arid mesa are stupid expensive where i live), any advice to improve my mana base?
If you're getting rekt by land hate and you can't get enough fetches, then your most obvious solution is to play straight Boros. You could just do 8 fetches, 4 vantage, 3 foundry, 3 mountain and 2 battlefield forge as a very reliable budget choice.
There's not much you can do about an opponent that hits several land-hate cards, regardless of your manabase. When something like that happens, it doesn't make sense to start thinking about a solution to it because it's an unlikely circumstance and it's not worth making an adjustment for. It's like saying "my opponent had an unbeatable hand, how do I beat it?" The answer is "you don't". Sometimes you have Aces full of Kings and someone else has Quads. It happens.
Playing RW makes you less susceptible to getting shut down by it, because you don't need a third color. Cutting colors is really the only change you can reasonably make to mitigate land hate.
There really isn’t much we can do to make the Bogles and Hollow One matchups better other than maybe adding both Ensnaring Bridge and Deflecting Palm to the sideboard, right? It looks like the Burn deck that top-8ed at GP Hartford did exactly that.
The MTGO meta has been a lot less fun to play in than it was a couple months ago just due to the higher frequency of those two decks (and Humans and Affinity, although those matchups at least feel reasonably even and fun to play against), so I’m just sort of trying to figure out what configuration would make coming across them feel less overwhelmingly futile. Is leaning heavier into green for Atarka’s Command (better potential trades and dodges Leyline) another option?
I don't think there's much you can do to handle a fast start from Hollow One other than that, yeah. Graveyard hate can shut down their recursion effects. Bridge might do the job, but you could be up a creek before the time you can play it.
Both are fine against Bogles, but they do play a few Disenchants in the side. Aura Barbs(edit: had "Shards" there originally) exists, and Spellskite can steal their auras but is a weird inclusion for Burn. My opinion is that it's not worth going out of your way for Bogles, because you have no outs to maindeck Leyline other than creature damage and that means that you're forced to hit your silver bullet twice in a row in order to win the match. I think it's better to call that match lost and sideboard for things that you can beat. Some matchups are bad and it's not worth making an 80:20 unfavorable matchup into 75:25.
AC does get around Leyline, but I don't value that as a deckbuilding consideration just like I don't value Skullcrack's damage prevention. That is to say, I choose AC because it's lifegain hate and can deal extra damage and I'm willing to lose extra life for it. I choose Skullcrack because it's lifegain hate and allows me to play straight Boros.
@elconquistador1985 been a while since I have posted in here but was curious if any cards lost/gained value from the planeswalker redirect erratas that came out on Friday? Thoughts?
Whoops, meant to say Aura Barbs not Aura Shards. In any case, yes, it's narrow. I wouldn't bring that card to a large tournament.
Playing Spellskite (ie: 2 mana and then 2 life) to protect your other creatures from removal in Burn is just a bad idea. In general, you want to get early damage out of your creatures and then you mostly don't care what happens to them. I mentioned it as a way to keep auras off of Slippery Bogle, but I don't think it's actually worth playing for that matchup either. The Jeskai player will just thank you for paying 2 mana and 2 life to do nothing to further your gameplan.
I believe GR Eldrazi deserves addition to the guide as it's sideboarding is different from other decks with Eldrazi in them, such as Eldrazi Tron. Things like Ensnaring Bridge you would bring in against Eldrazi Tron, but you probably shouldn't against GR Eldrazi as they tend to bring in Ancient Grudge from the side.
For Ponza, it's a really tough matchup, but boarding in Path and Palm is rough. It's very easy for them to cut you off white via Blood Moon or Molten/Stone Rain and you're likely already land-less by the time they'd play a threat you'd want to path. I actually keep Eidolon in as most of their deck is 3CMC or less and is also the part of the deck we care about. I try to be as fast as possible and kill literally everything they play, which means boarding in DRev for Utopia Sprawl, Blood Moon and Courser. I'm wondering if it's correct to board in Bridge and try to play the long game though. Perhaps trying to get out an early Bridge and then sandbag your white-producing lands for Path'ing their threats?
It does seem like Searing Blood is a notable exclusion from the potential sideboard options for decks like Affinty and Elves though if I had to make any recommendation.
Whoops, about Searing Blood! That was an oversight on my part.
I run a 19 land RW list, no green splash.
I'm currently using 3x Mountain, 3xInspiring Vantage and 3xSacred Foundry, with 10 fetches.
However, I see lots of lists running 4xVantage.
Is there any advantage (pardon the pun) for me to do so? More fastlands increases the chance of it entering tapped when I might need it untapped...
If 4 fastlands is better, what do I cut - the 10th fetch?
PS I think I have 1 Mainboard flex slot - if I had a choice of 1 card to add, what would it be? I don't really like the idea of Shard Volley with 19 land, and am considering a Molten Rain or 2nd Grim Lavamancer.
I mean at that point regarding lands you're talking about fractions of a percentage point one way or the other. A 4th vantage means one less multicolor land dealing damage to you and helping some decks race you. Keeping it at two or three means less chance of a tempo loss or not being able to cast multiple spells in a turn to seal a win against slower decks. I'm not sure one is absolutely "better" than the other if you were walking into an unknown or wide meta.
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I actually disagree with your assessment of the ponza match up. I have played the match up several times and fine it really easy to win. it always seems like if you sequence you spells correctly after board you are really likely to win.
I have fixed that mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.
I play 19 with 3 Mountain, 3 Vantage, 2 Foundry, and 11 fetches. While there are situations where you're screwed when you topdeck Vantage and need 4 mana that turn, I think it's ok to risk it because you're generally ok with your 4th land being tapped. If you were going to cut a land for another Vantage, I would cut the 3rd Foundry.
A singleton Shard Volley doesn't carry that big of a downside. I love Grim Lavamancer and play 2 myself. I would not play a maindeck Molten Rain without some wacky meta where it's extraordinarily good.
I've gotten wrecked the times that I've played it, but I haven't played against it in a while and it was before they got BBE. There's not a lot you can do about a turn 2 Blood Moon turning off your white cards, and if you have enough lands to weather Stone Rains then you aren't going to win the game because you're lacking spells. There's nothing in the maindeck to deal with Courser. Your best hope is to Blaze their dorks and beat them before it matters. I think BBE is a massive upgrade for them. I think the matchup is not good, though I could be convinced that it's just unfavorable rather than terrible.
Playing RW makes you less susceptible to getting shut down by it, because you don't need a third color. Cutting colors is really the only change you can reasonably make to mitigate land hate.
The MTGO meta has been a lot less fun to play in than it was a couple months ago just due to the higher frequency of those two decks (and Humans and Affinity, although those matchups at least feel reasonably even and fun to play against), so I’m just sort of trying to figure out what configuration would make coming across them feel less overwhelmingly futile. Is leaning heavier into green for Atarka’s Command (better potential trades and dodges Leyline) another option?
Both are fine against Bogles, but they do play a few Disenchants in the side. Aura Barbs(edit: had "Shards" there originally) exists, and Spellskite can steal their auras but is a weird inclusion for Burn. My opinion is that it's not worth going out of your way for Bogles, because you have no outs to maindeck Leyline other than creature damage and that means that you're forced to hit your silver bullet twice in a row in order to win the match. I think it's better to call that match lost and sideboard for things that you can beat. Some matchups are bad and it's not worth making an 80:20 unfavorable matchup into 75:25.
AC does get around Leyline, but I don't value that as a deckbuilding consideration just like I don't value Skullcrack's damage prevention. That is to say, I choose AC because it's lifegain hate and can deal extra damage and I'm willing to lose extra life for it. I choose Skullcrack because it's lifegain hate and allows me to play straight Boros.
Although it’s immediately a better card on paper just because half the fun of playing it would be to see the look on their face.
Playing Spellskite (ie: 2 mana and then 2 life) to protect your other creatures from removal in Burn is just a bad idea. In general, you want to get early damage out of your creatures and then you mostly don't care what happens to them. I mentioned it as a way to keep auras off of Slippery Bogle, but I don't think it's actually worth playing for that matchup either. The Jeskai player will just thank you for paying 2 mana and 2 life to do nothing to further your gameplan.