Deathblade Sideboard
Legacy Deck Help forum
Posted on April 20, 2016, 9:09 p.m. by ToolmasterOfBrainerd
First a short backstory: my LGS started offering Legacy tournaments with 20 playtest cards so players can play without having to sell an organ. Between borrowing cards and cards I already had, I was able to play Grixis Delver for a few weeks. Delver was fun, but it wasnt really my playstyle and its hard to pilot in my meta. Last night I took another look at what cards I owned and realized I had a lot of Stoneblade, which happens to be my favorite Legacy deck. So now Im building Stoneblade! Well, Deathblade, to be exact. With 20 proxies in the main, I was able to put together a decklist (Deathblade).
However, now I need a sideboard. My meta is a lot of Storm and a lot of other Blade decks (especially Dead Guy Ale), so I definitely need a lot of hate for them. (The high Storm deck count is partially why I want to switch. It's favored, but so hard to pilot as Delver and not a very fun matchup, in my opinion) Sadly, here's the catch: I am low on funds and out of playtest cards, so it all has to be cheap stuff or stuff I already own. One more catch: I made a new friend at Legacy night last week who is willing to loan me cards, so if some cards are necessary, I can talk to him and see if he has any. I doubt he'll have something like Flusterstorm, though.
Plus anything in my modern deck Rocket Science and some of the Grixis Delver bulk.
I realize cards like Flusterstorm would be best, but I simply cannot afford them. Thanks in advance!
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #3
My main concern is Storm.
Decks I have seen at least 1 player playing are Elves, Miracles, Lands, Manaless Dredge, Eldrazi, and RUG Delver.
I have played against 3 Storm players in a single night. It is, without comparison, the most prominent deck at the shop, since it's so easy to build with 20 proxies.
I saw 1 person playing Dead Guy Ale / Junk Blade, but I also know the Elves player is considering switching over to Dead Guy Ale / Junk Blade as well. The Lands player occasionally plays Dega Blade (no idea if there's another name for that deck).
So I primarily want to have answers for the mirror and Storm.
Thanks for the link to mtgthesource; I've been reading that for a bit and it's been helpful.
April 20, 2016 10:56 p.m. Edited.
2 Pithing Needle, 2 Ethersworn Canonist, 3 Duress should cover you well vs storm. More RIP will help as well.
Lose a basic Island in the main (your curve stops at 2) and play a Duress main.
You can add 1 Manriki-Gusari to the side to deal with other equipment decks.
April 21, 2016 4:19 a.m.
EndStepTop says... #5
Needle does nothing vs storm, not that its a bad SB card, there's just zero reason to bring it in vs them. I like some combination of extra thoughtseizes, plus vendillion cliques and meddling mages if you need cards dedicated to combo. Hymn to tourach depending on how heavy into black your build is can be just gross. RIP is a weird mind game since some pilots will play around it by boarding out PIF and bringing in empty the wardens, so be warned.
April 21, 2016 8:05 a.m.
EndStepTop says... #7
Manriki-Gusari is hot garbage and you'll much rather a card like Council's Judgment that can deal with lots of things(read planeswalkers and random annoying things). Lingering souls is something else that can be disgusting in fair matches, it gums up the board and carries and equipment like a boss.
April 21, 2016 8:22 a.m. Edited.
EndStepTop says... #8
Some comments on your main board since I just looked too. Where's true name? Literally the best thing since sliced bread for this deck. I'd run a 3-2 split for thoughtseize and duress respectively. Hitting things like Jace or opposing batterskull or force of wills g1 to force a wincon through is extremely relevant.
April 21, 2016 8:29 a.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #9
I will say, unless you're storm, I REALLY don't like Extirpate or Surgical. Typically, they aren't going to provide you with card advantage or just win you the game. I'd rather be playing Nihil Spellbomb or more discard, as those more actively advance your game plan. And as [endsteptop] mentioned, Needle doesn't do ANYTHING against storm. You'll bring it in, name LED, and they'll smile because it's a mana ability. That said, Needle is a very good card, because you can name top against miracles, as well as lots of important cards in other matchups.
As for good cards to bring in against us (storm players), Spell Pierce is great, Nihil Spellbomb or Rest in Peace can function as a time walk, and discard is generally pretty good. Meddling mage 100% requires an answer, and a second one usually means it's game over. Ethersworn canonist is another must answer card, but it's not good against as many other decks as cards like Meddling Mage or RIP, so I don't like it as much, overall. In my experience, deathblade is generally better than other stoneforge decks against Storm decks, thanks to the fact that it has wastelands and built in graveyard hate. Turn one DRS into turn 2 wasteland, either holding up grave hate or putting down misty for a clock can be a pretty powerful strategy.
If you're worried about general combo, you can also run a maindeck V Clique or two.
April 21, 2016 8:31 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #10
Thanks for the help everyone! I'd love to run VClique and friends, but I'm out of playtest cards and low on budget.
I'll see what I can borrow and what I can afford. The mainboard upgrades tend to be pretty expensive, though. True-Name Nemesis is, like, one of my favorite cards in the game, so I'll try to squeeze 1 copy in if I can.
April 21, 2016 10:23 a.m.
EndStepTop says... #11
2+ is better than 1. You really want him to outrace other decks and God help your opponents if he gets a jitte strapped to him. I'd suggest cutting some number for strix, or all of them.
April 21, 2016 10:32 a.m. Edited.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #12
Interestingly, all of the stoneblade decks that have been successful recently have been Deathblade playing 4 Baleful Strix and 1 True-Name Nemesis. From what I understand, the reason for this is that without Dig Through Time, Stoneblade doesn't have much over Shardless Bug, so playing 4 Strix and 4 DRS gives them a way to compete again.
April 21, 2016 10:42 a.m.
EndStepTop says... #13
Thats fair, I haven't kept up to date on what they've been doing. TNN was THE x/blade card when I picked up the deck, and so I'm probably biased.
April 21, 2016 10:49 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #14
TNN is also among my favorite cards in the game, right with Baleful Strix and Stoneforge Mystic.
It would make a ton of sense for TNN to still be very relevant, especially in the mirror match. However, at this point I don't have enough proxies to add even Wasteland, which feels like a recipe for disaster.
April 21, 2016 11:24 a.m.
EndStepTop says... #15
Death blade doesn't need wasteland. It helps get you % points against storm, elves and it can be a sweet tempo play because you have drs, but it's really just gravy. I'd focus on more essential cards before getting wastelands into the 75.
April 21, 2016 12:11 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #17
Because I just got an Anguished Unmaking last night in a pack my Grandma bought for me (hilarious story, but for another time) and I don't own any Council's Judgement.
If I get the opportunity to trade though, Council's Judgement is almost strictly better so I'll have to try and pick it up. I might even do 1 main 1 side if I can since it can kill opposing TNNs.
April 21, 2016 12:39 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #18
Question: In the storm matchup, what do I name with Meddling Mage? Or I guess in general for various combo matchups, what do I name?
April 21, 2016 3:38 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #19
Tendrils? Naming any one ritual (dark/cabal/LED) opens you up to them having one of the others. You always have hand disruption to help with getting information.
April 21, 2016 3:58 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #20
I got in touch with my friend who can loan me cards and he had a lot more of the deck than I was expecting. Between borrowing and some trading that I did, I was able to get a Council's Judgment and open 2 playtest cards for the deck.
Any more expensive but really good sideboard cards I should add? Abrupt Decay?
Is Engineered Plague just better than Engineered Explosives? I own the Explosives, but it's not like Plague is that expensive, and it's a pretty popular sideboard card.
April 23, 2016 10:01 a.m.
EndStepTop says... #21
Plague is really narrow and not worth it imo. I like decay as a way to get rid of counterbalance and Lilly's and maybe some other random things (opposing jitte or swords of x and y). You could probably jam 2 in the sb and be good (at least that's what I did) I don't think you need EE if you're running judgment and decay to deal with problem permanents.
April 23, 2016 11:50 a.m.
EndStepTop says... #22
I'd also question if 3 RIP over a split or the inclusion of Nhil spellbomb, since RIP shuts of drs. I honestly don't know what option is better, but I think 3 SB sources of grave hate is a lot when you have 4 drs to function as gravehate already.
April 23, 2016 2:04 p.m. Edited.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #23
Good points. In the matchups where I'd side in RIP, if I get it online, I've already won or can win without DRS, like with Dredge or Storm, to some extent. You're right though, so I'll cut back to 2 RIP. Spellbomb seems good, but I think I'd rather just play RIP.
I normally wouldn't consider plague, but it's a 4-of in most recent deathblade boards that I've seen. All I can think of that it's good against are Elves, Empty the Warrens, Eldrazi, Merfolk, and that's about it. Are those that bad of matchups?
April 23, 2016 2:40 p.m.
Hello, I have started to play this deathblade deck few months ago with decent results. 4C Blade
About the sideboard:If you play 4x Swords to Plowshares and Baleful Strix (I recommend 4), you actually do not care about single creatures. Trouble makers are non creature cards like Counterbalance, Sylvan Library, Sneak Attack, and swarm cards like Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor (Merfolk, Elf and Death and Taxes also belongs to this category). I tried out Supreme Verdict, Engineered Explosives and Engineered Plague. The Engineered Plague seems the best option so far as it is selective and does not clear your own board. I haven't tried it against Eldrazi yet as it is great matchup already with the mainboard (T2 Mystic, T3 Batterskull, T4 TNN or Strix => game). For the non creature cards I have the best results with Abrupt Decay and recently I tried out Negate which turned out to be basically Counterspell for 1U. Against decks like storm and miracles I have tried several things with best results with Flusterstorm, Sword of Fire and Ice which gives early pressure and card advantage, Vendilion Clique which is also great in the mirror (it is huge when played in reaction to Stoneforge Mystic activation) and Notion Thief for stopping card engine and miracles in your turn. Few guys mentioned that Surgical Extraction is not good but I have great results with it actually. When you play 4x Thoughtseize, it is possible to get rid of key piece of the combo in the T1. It also provide the probe effect - it reveals the opponent hand which is sometimes critical to you to set up strategy. Before Surgical Extraction I played Relic of Progenitus on these slots, but it wasn't that good. I also still consider playing Rest in Peace but I feel like the Deathrite Shaman is really important in this deck.
It would be great if you can share some experience with your sideboard. My meta consists of lot of delver decks (grixis, UR, BUG), several Shardless BUG and Eldrazi, and few Miracles, Nic Fit and combo decks (elves, storm, dredge, belcher, cloudpost).
June 1, 2016 6:38 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #25
Thanks for the long post!
I just played deathblade last night, actually. A friend was borrowing some cards and forgot to return them, so I was missing my pithing needle and some other cards from the board. The sideboard I played was 3 Abrupt Decay, 2 Rest in Peace, 2 Engineered Explosives, 2 Lingering Souls, 1 Life from the Loam, 1 Councils Judgment, 2 Inquisition of Kozilek, 1 Painful Truths, and 1 Supreme Verdict.
It was not a very good board, which I knew walking in, and I also boarded wrong. I think I'll make the switch to Engineered Plague since it seems much better than Explosives. Have you ever tried Toxic Deluge? It hits both sides, and costs life, but can kill more stuff than plague.
In the matchups where I board in rip, I think if I can resolve rip, turning off drs is probably okay since I've already won. Or deathrite would not have made a difference.
I was very happy with Abrupt Decay in my board, so I'll likely keep that at 2 or 3. Lingering Souls seemed bad to me, so I'll likely cut that. Painful Truths will likely get replaced by sylvan library after ema comes out. My meta has a lot of storm, so I'll likely keep Inquisition in the board since I can't afford flusterstorm.
I might increase to 4 strix. Haven't decided yet. It is really good vs delver decks and grindy decks, but bad against combo and lands.
I liked verdict vs BUG delver, but they didn't get any wastelands, which would likely change my opinion quite a bit. How do you board against bug delver?
June 1, 2016 2:27 p.m.
If you like long posts, this one will make you happy :)
Deathblade is Jack of all, master of none. In other words, you have answer to almost everything, you can be offensive from different angles in single match and your opponent often doesn't know what to expect after sideboard. I feel like it is more important what you put out than what you put in. More and more I side out based on what I expect my opponent sides in so that I do not have dead cards in hand. Opponents usually side in artifact hate, bounces or discards so that I often side out two Mystics. It also depends if you won the first game.
"Have you ever tried Toxic Deluge? It hits both sides, and costs life, but can kill more stuff than plague."-> I haven't try Toxic Deluge yet but so far I can say that all what hits my board too is not very good. The deck doesn't have any single strong thing (except of Jace) and opponent is often able to rebuild much more quickly. Recently I replaced Supreme Verdict and Council's Judgment because it has double white in the cost and I needed better answer to fast decks which utilize things like Young Pyromancer.
About RiP, I definitely give it a try. It is true that I still can't answer Nic Fit and Lands properly.
I have great results with Decay even in the main board. After putting it in I started to winning the first game against delver decks which I was not able to do before.
IMHO Lingering Souls is good only in combination with Cabal Therapy. I can also imagine it as a good sideboard option against Miracles as they usually side in Clique. So far I am really happy with Strix as it often generates card advantage and provides faster recovery in the late game. Strix is huge against all delver decks and Eldrazi which is big portion of current meta.
Actually I played Duress in slots of Vendilion Clique and Notion Thief. I did the change because I wanted a pressure instead of control against some decks.
"I liked verdict vs BUG delver, but they didn't get any wastelands, which would likely change my opinion quite a bit. How do you board against bug delver?" -> The wastelands are one of the main reason I had dead Supreme Verdict or Council's Judgment in the hand a lot of times. The BUG decks in general have problems with all things which has CMC > 3. In our case Jace, Batterskull and in my case also Notion Thief, which is great especially against Shardless BUG. They are usually trying to cut your mana base with wastelands, destroy the other things with Decay combined with discards and Liliana and beat you with Goyf. Usually, I put out one or two Stoneforge Mystic, all Force of Will and Umezawa's Jitte and put in Life from the Loam, Abrupt Decay, Pithing Needle, Notion Thief and possibly some other disruption based on what type of BUG it is.
June 1, 2016 6:23 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #27
Thanks for the thorough explanation of all of that. Sorry it took me so long to respond. For some reason it didn't show up on my notifications so I didn't see your post until now.
Your reasoning on not liking Councils Judgment makes sense, so I'll probably cut that and play 3 decay in the board. My meta has too much storm to allow decays in the main on top of swords to plowshares, but it's definitely one of the best sideboard cards for my meta. I'll probably cut verdict too. It's good vs elves, but plague is better.
The one thing that confuses me a little is the deathrite curve, or lack thereof. I recall that deathblade decks pre-eldrazi sometimes played Liliana and lots of true-names because landing one of them on turn 2 with deathrite is back breaking for many decks. The newer deathblade decks play 2 true-name at most and no lily's, so there is almost no deathrite curve. Should the newer decks be playing more 3-drops? It feels counter-intuitive to play deathrite and no good way to curve out with it. What am I missing?
June 8, 2016 12:28 a.m.
It probably really depends on the meta. I tried liliana and did not like it because I felt like I am loosing too much good cards for little value. There is a lot of delver decks in my meta and liliana often didn't survive more than two turns due to bolt, decay, delver etc. I like 4-5 lands in play so discarding lands also didn't end up well.
Deathrite curve - I play just few three drops but many one/two drops. If I resolve T1 shaman, I usually play T3 thoughtseize to check what is opponent working with. If it is clear, I land Mystic. If it is not clear, I land baleful strix, resolve removal, play a wasteland or wait. It happened several times that I played T1 shaman, T2 thoughtseize + land and at the end of the opponent turn I resolved snapcaster (just for pressure) and than T3 land, jitte, equip, swing with snap and that was it. In the past I played two spell pierces to backup my T2 mystic but I have better results with proactive play with thoughtseize.
June 8, 2016 10:09 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #29
That makes sense. I'm going to try and play deathblade tomorrow, so I might have more questions tomorrow night, but for now that's all I've got. Thanks so much for all of your help!
June 13, 2016 10:34 a.m.
Well, good luck than!
I attended the GP Prague last week, finishing 5-2-2 (without byes). After discussion with my friends I decided to play 2 Surgical Extraction instead of Rest in Peace. There are two reasons for that. The first is that extraction is cheaper and can be played anytime, even as T1 response with no lands in play (a.g. against reanimator). The second reason is that I find out that RIP just slows the opponent down until he gets rid of it by destroy/bounce. Instead, extraction can be used to shut down the opponent completely (e.g. extracting Dark Depths).
I had also discussion with my friend who is very skilled legacy player with several TOP 8 finishes in big tournaments like GP. He plays miracles but in the past he also played blade. We talked about the side against BUG decks and he suggested to side in clique, Life from the loam and decay. He also suggested that I could try replacing two thoughtseize with flusterstorms. In his opinion, Notion Thief shines against shardless BUG but is not good against BUG delver because of Disfigure. I tried that and I must say the clique was really great. In one game against shardless BUG opponent even conceded after I resolved clique with notion thief and karakas in play.
June 14, 2016 6:40 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #31
Congrats on gp Prague! So close to day 2!
I think I'll stick with rip since I have them already, although your reasoning for surgical makes sense.
I've played deathblade at a few different small events since I last commented. I'm starting to learn the deck better as well as pick up on what has and has not been working. For starters, I have not been impressed with Wasteland at all. The dream t1 deathrite into t2 Wasteland just hasn't happened for me and it otherwise just hasn't been performing. I've trimmed to 2 copies in order to add a basic island and a basic Swamp, which will give me an edge vs price of progress decks (guy in my store plays burn) as well as just give me more consistent mana, which it has felt like I've needed. As I become a better pilot, I might go back up as I learn how to sequence better as well as utilize them better, but for now I'm dropping to 2. With this change, I'm dropping life from the loam from the sideboard.
I feel like I want to be playing vendilion clique and karakas. Probably 1 clique main and 1 clique side. I can't really justify why, but I think I can justify why not. I definitely feel like I should be playing some grindy stuff in the board since it's somewhat necessary for matchups like shardless, maverick, nic fit, miracles, etc. Most lists I see have 2-3. I love the potential of notion thief, but that's only a 1-of, meaning I still should have 1-2 more grindy cards for those matchups. I've seen a lot of lists running Elspeth, Knight-Errant, which is an interesting choice that looks spectacular vs miracles. Sylvan library doesn't seem quite right to me. A lot of lists run swords, but if everyone is boarding in stoneforge mystic hate, boarding in stuff that is vulnerable to that just seems wrong. So because of that, that leaves me with vendilion clique, which is a card I like quite a bit.
I've been very on the fence over Spell Pierce. I'm thoroughly convinced that it doesn't work as a 1-of in my deck I know that I either want 2 main or 2 side, and nothing else. It's good in my meta, so I want it in the 75, but it is a terrible 1-of. I'm inclined to play pierce main if I'm playing 2 vendilion, then drop to 3 thoughtseize, play 1-2 Inquisition of Kozilek side, and play 2-3 strix. If I side pierce, then I'd keep thoughtseize at 4, do a 1-1 or 1-0 or 0-1 split on vendilion, board 0 Inquisition, and play 3-4 strix. I think in both cases I play 1 TNN.
I've loved meddling mage a ton every time I've drawn it. I might go up to 3 if I mainboard pierce, but I will only play 2 if pierce is in the board.
Just checked your list and saw that you're on the 2 Wasteland plan. I love it. 4 strix is too many for me. We have other ways to deal with delver and eldrazi, and strix is a terrible clock when we need to get a little more aggressive, like vs miracles, lands, storm, etc.
Any thoughts? The analysis of bug your friend did makes a lot of sense. What land should I drop for karakas? Should I play other legendaries too? Finally, should I play bayou or tropical island? I think with vendilion, trop would be better, although bayou is much more popular.
Thank you so much for your help worth this deck! I'm going out of town, so probably won't respond for 2 weeks.
EndStepTop says... #2
Here's a link to Mtgthesource, probably the best place for legacy deck help. I started on a deathblade and have since moved to miracles, but I can try and help. What matchups are common/you worried about to start making a SB?
April 20, 2016 9:31 p.m.