How does one create a good sideboard?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 11, 2012, 3:54 p.m. by MagicalHacker
The three decks I am currently working on need sideboards, and I'm not sure what I would need to put in them: To Err Is Human..., Draw Me Like One Of Your French Girls, and Stop, Drop, And Roll. Thanks in advance! :)
(Right now, the sideboard cards are just cards that I have that seem more sideboard worthy than average. I am just keeping them there to induce ideas.)
Cosmicfool says... #3
I agree with pookypuppy, but if your not familiar with whats popular, just keep track of every game you lose, and how were you beat, and what did that opponent rely on. Then find a card that will give that advantage to you, either browse the sites or ask others about strategy. Hell a lot of players can easily be coaxed into talking about what they are afraid to go up against.
November 11, 2012 4:23 p.m.
The thing with you sideboard is that you need to make sure that you don't replace anything key to your deck. A good way to check a sideboard is to play test it as if your deck is a 75 card deck.
November 12, 2012 12:49 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #5
So basically, I need to have...
- Cards that de-value the efficiency of a popular deck more than the anti-synergy that I am introducing by sideboarding out.
- Cards that replace all the key cards with another combo so that my opponent's sideboarding only hurt them.
- Increasing the amount of particular cards that seem to be helpful.
November 13, 2012 5:29 p.m.
Cosmicfool says... #6
Change to suit your needs but a good basic thought here is something like,
4 Anti-Red or Anti-Black cards ie Knight of Glory , card:Akroma's Memorial. 4 Removal cards ie Murder Oblivion Ring , Unsummon . 3 Anti artifact/enchantmen Naturalize , Sundering Growth . 2 Graveyard hate card:Tormod's Crypt, card:Grafdigger's Cage. 2 Hand/spell disruption Dispel , Cancel , Mindrot.
the 5 charms that were release in RTR are great sideboards if not already in your deck as well
November 13, 2012 6:04 p.m.
There are 2 ways to sideboard - Metagame and Transformational.
The bulk of sideboards are metagame sideboards - adding things like added removal, graveyard hate, hosers and added consistancy. If you use a white weenie-human deck for example, that would be, respectfully, a 4th Path to Exile , Rest in Peace , Celestial Purge , and Journey to Nowhere s in addition to maindeck Oblivion Ring s.
There are also Transformational sideboards - these decks are usually balanced with creatures and non-creatures, but win in a very specific way that is fairly easy to counter by sideboarding. So, when the opponent sideboards to protect themselves from, say, milling or a combo, you then sideboard out all the cards they are countering. This allows you to maintain the upper hand, because even if the last game was close, this game will be a wash because they have useless cards in their deck. For example, your GW Token transforms into a Frites deck, or your RW Aggro becomes a wrathful, controlling deck. Right before the rise of Zombie pod we saw some pod decks that would do similar things - transforming from traditional Merlia Pod into Splinter Twin combo and making opponents throw their graveyard hate in the air as they folded.
pookypuppy6 says... #2
Well, what can often be an insightful way of choosing your sideboard cards is to look at the most popular decks in your format and suss out how best to stop them. Sometimes they are so good they need to be stopped somehow, sometimes the deck just hoses your own strategy. You can use your sideboard to slot in specific answers to specific problems?
A particular card getting you down for example? Try Slaughter Games . Graveyards a danger zone in your meta? Give Rest in Peace a shot. Lots of aggressive swarming decks in your area? Mutilate , Golgari Charm and more can wipe them off the board. Planeswalkers pissing you off? Dreadbore . It often depends on what you need.
You could also use yuor sideboard to adapt how your deck runs. If your opponent's deck is too fast for your Splinterfright s and Boneyard Wurm s to develop, swap to Strangleroot Geist s and Dreg Mangler s to race them and catch your opponent by surprise. This approach can take a lot of space in your sideboard though.
Sometimes it can just be good to have extra copies of cards already in your deck to sit in your sideboard. Your two Spider Spawning s being particularly effective so far? Add a third.
November 11, 2012 4:17 p.m.