Control Slaver vs. Gifts - What to Sideboard Out?

[Turtle]

Hello Everyone,

I've been working on getting familiar with Control Slaver lately and I am having trouble identifying the cards that I need to sideboard out vs. Gifts. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

The list is pretty standard. I'm running two Mindslavers with the following cards in the maindeck metagame slots:

1 Echoing Truth
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Triskelion
1 Sundering Titan
1 Fire/Ice

My sideboard is still in developement, but I have a decided on 10 out of 15 so far. With the remaining five slots I would like to shore up my match up vs. Oath and Combo.

3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Pyroclasm

Vs. Gifts, my sideboard strategy so far is:

+3 Red Elemental Blast
+2 Tormod's Crypt

-1 Fire/ice
-1 Triskelion

What else should I pull from the maindeck or are there just plain better sideboard options for this match up in general? I can provide my whole deck list if necessary. Thanks for your time!

[forests failed you]

My plan at GenCon against Gifts was

-Rack and Ruin
-Goblin Welder
- Pentavus
-Fire / Ice
- Mana Drain
- Echoing Truth

+3 REB
+ 2 Crypt
+ 1 shaman


You should Definatey add some amount of either Stifle or Duress to your sideboard to help you against Dragon and TPS.  Also, Blue Elemental Blast is pretty saucy against FCG.  It stops their creatures from triggering when they come into play (rather than killing them)  Also, Lava Dart is good against Xantd Swarm.  An extra Echoing truth is really helpful against decks that play In the eye of Chaos and Chains of Mephostopholes, because there is no other way to deal with those cards.

[Turtle]

My plan at GenCon against Gifts was

-Rack and Ruin
-Goblin Welder
- Pentavus
-Fire / Ice
- Mana Drain
- Echoing Truth

+3 REB
+ 2 Crypt
+ 1 shaman

Thanks for the suggestions! I just have a few questions as I don't fully understand your choices. Why sideboard out the Pentavus over Triskelion? Pentavus is bigger and allows for the slave lock (even though a lock is not always neceassry to secure the win) and they don't have any little men to shoot with the trike. Secondly, why did the Echoing Truth come out? I though bounce was one of the best ways to deal with a Darksteel Colossus once he's in play if there are no artifiacts in your opponents graveyard.

[Moxlotus]

The best way to deal with DSC is to make sure it never hits play.  Besides, do you think they are going to tinker out him against a deck that runs Welder unless they won't give you another turn?

[forests failed you]

Mox Lotus is right, your answer to Darksteel Colossos is to Weld him out.  Also, Triskellion is a little bit of a faster kill because you can beat for four and then start doing Welder tricks for extra Damage without tapping out to make Pentavites.  You don't need to Slaver lock in this matchup because if you Slaver once you usually win, especially if you can find a Gifts, because you remove all their win conditions from the game and then draw a bunch of cards.

I also played the Trisk because some Gifts decks still play with Goblin Welders (similar to Kowal's SCG list)  I don't think that is the optimal list of Gifts, but you never know.  You could really board either guy out, because it serves one function, Tinker for beatdown.  It isn't a good option, but you have to keep it as a possibility.  Mons Goblin Welder is not always the most efficient way to deal twenty damage.