Sideboarding against UR Delver and R Aggro
Modern forum
Posted on Nov. 22, 2014, 2:24 p.m. by ChiefBell
Obviously these two decks now make up a massive proportion of the meta. Therefore it would be wise to consider sideboard strategies against them. In this thread I want to start thinking about how to counter these two decks effectively.
The incursion of aggro has changed the meta significantly. Notice that both of the highly placing Junk lists in the recent GP ran fewer copies of Liliana, and swapped Dark Confidant out completely, in favour of a mixture of Siege Rhino and Courser of Kruphix.
Some options I have been considering are: Sanctimony, Timely Reinforcements Pyroclasm, Volcanic Fallout, Drown in Sorrow, Kitchen Finks, Courser of Kruphix, Obstinate Baloth, Dragon's Claw.
What else do you think seems reasonable?
Anger of the Gods is better than Volcanic fall out given that you can push it through the counters of the Ancestral cruse decks. This is because it can deny them 3 or 4 delve targets forcing them to delve their instants lowering targets for Snapcaster. I've been playing Delver for years now and I have always found that with out Vapor Snag witch has lost popularity with all the burn and temp decks around a big creature is near to unbeatable. If you are running red Electrickery is good Forked Bolt too. If you are green Cheep big creatures, ones that gain you health. Some of my friends who run Pod have talked about putting Pelakka Wurm for the 7 health gain when it comes in. sort of like a Kitchen finks that they cant burn and kill.
November 22, 2014 2:40 p.m.
Soul sisters is perhaps the best deck when vs Delver or aggro or even burn. The life gain can't really be beat. Then Boggles in the next best deck. Delver doesn't have enough counters to stop all the creatures from hitting the field and the auras.
November 22, 2014 2:43 p.m.
Yeh but RDW and delver should be winning T5 latest. A lot of the large green creatures lose potency when they only come in a turn or two before they can win. I'm in favour of 2 or 3 mana answers.
Chalice of the void seems legit.
November 22, 2014 2:58 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #6
Ratchet Bomb Engineered Explosives ...both hit flipped Delvers & Pyromancer's Army at 0.
November 22, 2014 3:09 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #7
Pyroclasm should be your first line of defense if you're playing red. It's the cheapest and most widely playable of the tweaks you can make.
Chalice of the Void can be strong in your sideboard, as can the good old Anger of the Gods. Combust can help against Twin as well, but your best bet is just gaining a bunch of life and making a bunch of big guys. Siege Rhino is strong. :)
November 22, 2014 4:29 p.m.
Yeh I was going to include Siege Rhino but really if you're in BGW he's main board anyway.
November 22, 2014 4:55 p.m.
Yeah and if your running some blue Remand is amazing when against Treasure cruise your opponent exiles their graveyard and you return cruise to their hand and it is stranded there doing nothing.
November 22, 2014 4:59 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #10
Remand is horrible against Delver, and after Game 1 I advise siding out every copy in your deck if possible. It has exactly one reasonable target, a lot worse than most sideboard cards you could be bringing in.
November 22, 2014 5:04 p.m.
Kor Firewalker is also pretty good against Delver and Burn.
November 22, 2014 5:18 p.m.
miracleHat says... #12
My favorites are in order:
Dragon's Claw
Timely Reinforcements
Obstinate Baloth
Dragon's Claw completely wrecks burn unless they bring in Smash to Smithereens. Otherwise, they would need a ton of Skullcracks in their hand.
Timely Reinforcements is a great stabilizer. It gets you stabilized with the life gain, and keeps you that way with the tokens.
I like Obstinate Baloth because it screws Liliana of the Veil and 4 mana for a 4/4 is never bad with lifegain to boot.
November 22, 2014 6:03 p.m.
I like baloth too but have had problems with the 4 mana. Though if you have access to Scavenging Ooze you can often hold off a turn or two longer than most decks.
November 22, 2014 6:42 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #15
Leyline of Sanctity never hurt anyone against a heap of Lightning Bolts and burn spells.
November 22, 2014 9:29 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #16
Wouldn't bring it in against Delver. They have literally only Lightning Bolt and maybe Pillar of Flame.
November 22, 2014 9:43 p.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #17
I'm a huge fan of Dragon's Claw. Most burn decks don't bring in Smash to Smithereens unless you're playing a deck that's already artifact heavy. If both of you are in red, it's a really powerful card. Make sure you get them in foil.
MollyMab says... #2
Chalice of the Void on one
November 22, 2014 2:27 p.m.