Sideboarding Theory

[Shortguy]

Sideboarding

Some of the most important aspects of tournament play are games 2 and 3. These games are influenced by one thing more than any other, Sideboarding. Most players simply put in a number of cards that would work against, or even destroy, the opposing deck. This simply does not work well enough- I was (and in some ways still am) one of those players. The inability to create a Sideboard, and execute it correctly is not ignorance or a weakness, yet it is simply an oversight.

Many players spend countless hours tweaking their Maindecks to perfection, down to the last detail, and at the last moment put together a set of cards to hose other decks in general, usually to beat the decks they are expected to face in the upcoming field. In my opinion, the general metagame of your area has less an influence on the contents of the Sideboard then the actual contents of the deck itself. If you wish to hose a specific Metagame, choose the correct deck to combat it, or change or maindeck accordingly.

The sideboard is mainly there to address certain points of your game that cannot simply be done by changing a card or two in the main, those points are the decks you lose to. You simply cannot give up half of your sideboard space to a match-up you expect to face more often than any other, you have to adjust your maindeck to address that issue, this is called 'metagaming' . On the other hand, one has to analyze and playtest enough to realize which decks beat the one you are currently playing, those decks, no matter how obscure, are what the bulk of your sideboard space is better dedicated to.

When one creates a sideboard, you cannot simply pick one major aspect of an opposing deck and nullify it (let's say you side out cards that are dead against that particular deck because of that one aspect, and you side in cards to nullify it- you gain almost no advantage). Yet instead, it is much more effective to find the single weakest point, and abuse that fact until broken. Non-Basic hate is more effective against Keeper than Blasts or any other archtype hosing card not only because Keeper is so diverse, yet because the weakest aspect of the deck is it's mana base. Sligh is strong because of consistency and its Extremely Fast initial rush, blunt that first attack, and you will find yourself with enough time to pull ahead enough to most likely go and win the game. Another very important facet to this idea is that the card(s) you choose to render your opponents deck useless must have synergy with your own goals. For example, if you were to play Stompy, and have a certain Sligh variant as a bad matchup, you cannot simply hope to slow their assault and go to win. You are trying to win fast as well, yet their burn and dorks are usually enough to kill off your creatures and nullify the advantage you have just created. What you try to do is to set up enough of a tempo advantage that you could race them to the end more effectively than Sligh could, or some other method that is also synergistic with your idea of getting their life total from 20 to 0 ASAP.

After knowing a certain pool of cards that could be effective against your opponent, one then has to figure out what cards could be sided out, and how many copies of each SB card would be optimal. Another important aspect of sideboarding is knowing what to take out and what to put in against most matchups. It is very hard to know exactly what to take out to compliment your sideboard strategy without diluting the maindeck focus. Be very strict on how many cards to dedicate to each matchup, and plan ahead of time how many, and which, slots you can afford to take out. Many people who simply sideboard on the go have a hard time deciding which spell to cut, and at some point will eventually take out cards which are practically as good as the cards they are siding in. Doing this dilutes the maindeck and makes it weaker. So with this I have come up with my general sideboard strategy.

Four Basic Rules

1. Use your sideboard slots to help against the decks you are weak against, not the decks you already beat.

2. Make sure your sideboard compliments your maindeck strategy, and helps your deck achieve its goals with more ease. It is also important not to try and introduce a new concept in your deck from your sideboard, for this will complicate and dilute the focus of your deck, unless it is a transformation sideboard.

3. Have in mind the correct cards to sideboard out and in for most matchups, make sure as you do this you are not losing focus in your deck.

4. TEST your sideboard ahead of time, and make sure it compliments your maindeck strategy.

That, as of now, is my sideboarding strategy, on how to develop and use the sideboard to its fullest extent. I am open to any comments or criticism on points that are misjudged or on topics, which I have overlooked.

With this I would like to share my opinions on sideboarding and to learn the strategies of others, maybe with this we all could get better at sideboarding and then Magic in general .

Good Luck.

-Dustin

[aaron]

This seems very familiar...

[Freddie]

On a side note, make sure (especially at large tourney) to put your entire side board into the deck, then pick out 15 cards that you want to cut.

This is extremely important when your opponet is trying to size you up, and figuring out what pace his / her should be playing against you and your sb.

Also after game 2, if the count is 1-1, look threw your sb, and add 1-3 cards, to your deck, then take out the same cards from different parts of your deck, so that the deck and Sb contents did not change, but your opponet thinks you just realized something, and may have secret tech against them.

Mind games, I know, but still within good sportsmanlike fun.

-Freddie

[jpmeyer]

The 15-in-15-out is less for psyching your opponent out than to keep them from knowing how many cards you are siding in or out since most people are aware of the trick.  The better way to scare them is to side in around half of your sideboard since it is reasonable that a deck could realistically side in 8-10 cards.

[Milamber]

what is the general consensus on transformational sideboards.  shortguy briefly mentioned it in his essay, but only mentioned it.  

i know in combos this is a fairly common practice, but how well do you think a deck that is, md, aggro, and then goes to combo in the side.  i think this would work rather well.  most people don't expect the transformation, and if they do consider it, they almost always expect combo to aggro, not vice versa.  would the surprise factor be enough to warrant this unorthodoxed approach?

something in particular i thought about this in would be ose (no r).  second game, side in the worldgorger combo.  this would be completely unlooked for.  i haven't tested this or anything, but i think it could do okay.  i don't know, though, if this would be better than just going with a normal board.

[jpmeyer]

Quote (Milamber @ June 28 2002,20:50)what is the general consensus on transformational sideboards.  shortguy briefly mentioned it in his essay, but only mentioned it.  

i know in combos this is a fairly common practice, but how well do you think a deck that is, md, aggro, and then goes to combo in the side.  i think this would work rather well.  most people don't expect the transformation, and if they do consider it, they almost always expect combo to aggro, not vice versa.  would the surprise factor be enough to warrant this unorthodoxed approach?

something in particular i thought about this in would be ose (no r).  second game, side in the worldgorger combo.  this would be completely unlooked for.  i haven't tested this or anything, but i think it could do okay.  i don't know, though, if this would be better than just going with a normal board.

So far, I haven't seen any really succesful transformational sideboards other than Combo-Aggro, Combo-Control, and Control-Aggro.  My reasoning is that it is significantly easier to board out a combo than to board in a combo because combo decks now have become so streamlined in the last few years that the combo is often just a few cards (Trix, High Tide, Turboland, and Bargain for example.)  Since combo decks now are mostly either fake control decks (High Tide/Turboland) or play 1-3 specific cards and win (Trix/Bargain,) there are very few "essential" cards making it easy to just cut out some Illusions and Donates for Negators in a deck like old school Trix and go beatdown.  Combo-Control and Control-Aggro also tend to work in the same way in that these decks can remove their "combo" (which can be as simple as "Oath of Druids" as well as something more complex like Illusions/Donate) for more cards of the desired "type" (like Roar of the Wurm for Control-Aggro and Morphlings for Combo-Control.)

If you look at Trix in Extended now, it does not look very different from a 1998-era Type 2 Draw-Go deck.  All that it did was replace the weaker kill mechanisms of the time (like Rainbow Efreet and Silver Wyvern) with the much more powerful kill cards of Illusions/Donate.  Old school Trix was like Extended Necro but with Illusions/Donate over Drain Life/Corrupt.  I'm currently working on a Psychatog deck for November Extended that is practically just a current Trix deck that kills with Psychatog instead of Illusions/Donate.  These decks exist because of a powerful existing engine.

This isn't really true for Type 1 since combo cards get restricted (look at decks like Academy or Power Artifact,) making them more like old school "engine" combo decks as opposed to current two card kill combos or faux control combos.  However, Enter the Dragon is definetly a "new" style combo deck in that it takes 3 cards and kills with them.  The deck could side out cards like Whispers of the Muse and Stroke of Genius and add more reanimator-style creatures like Avatar of Woe, side out pure combo cards like Entomb for Negators, or side out a few of each allow the possibility for combo or aggro or reanimator.

[Ufactor, the Restricted]

there's also Aggro-Control.  sligh, in game two, can sb more removal, card advantage dwarves, or up to eight counterspells.

[TracerBullet]

Quote there's also Aggro-Control.  sligh, in game two, can sb more removal, card advantage dwarves, or up to eight counterspells

Not really.  Sligh doesn't become a true control deck because it's still based around disabling the opponent long enough to beat them down with it's creatures, not gaining complete and total control over the game.

[Whistler]

A usefull link for this topic:

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=1896

Whistler

[Cuandoman]

In the match up of Keeper vs XYZ deck what cards are taken out?

What are viable board options against the deck type?

Mirror
ROSE
Mono Blue
     w/  Ophidian
     w/o Ophidian
Sligh
Suicide
Stopmy
Funker
Tubbies (Like anyone plays it  )
TurboLand (Not TurboNevyn)
Stacker
Parfait
Neo-Academy (Who plays this? As if! )
Other decent decks that i missed...

[spin13]

I'm confused.  What exactly are you asking?  The proper sideboarding techniques for Keeper while playing against said decks, or the changes those other decks would do to deal with Keeper?  If you want to know what to take out and put in while playing Keeper, you definatly need a list of both maindeck and sideboard cards, otherwise all we can do is guestimate.

 -Eric

[Cuandoman]

Ok, so as an example take this list:

Mana:28
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 City of Brass
4 Tundra
4 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea

Counters:10
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Counterspell
1 Misdirection

Card Drawing:4
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Braingeyser

Search:4
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

Removal:9
1 Balance
1 Dismantling Blow
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
1 Diabolic Edict
1 The Abyss
1 Mind Twist
1 Gorilla Shaman

Other:3
1 Timewalk
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Zuran Orb

Creatures:2
2 Morphling

Sideboard:15
4 Red Elemental Blast
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Disenchant/Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura Fracture
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 CoP:Red
1 CoP:Black/Ensnaring Bridge
2 Powder Keg
1 Moat/Perish

What to take out vs. those decks is what I was asking. Although, I'm always willing to change my sideboard for a better preformance.

I'm kinda shaky on some of the sideboard. My meta-game has perhaps 1 other Keeper Deck. Most is aggro, with a touch of cheap to build combo. Oh, and it's low powered too.

The lack of the normal 5th anti-Keeper card is a result of my meta-game.

The 2 Blue Elemental Blasts are there for various Blood Moons.

A store in my area decided to start holding Type 1. Some of the players know what to play, but haven't played Type 1 since Mystical Tutor wasn't restricted. Others just have a lack of card pool.

[spin13]

For your deck, I'd do this:

Keeper:
-1 ZOrb
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 The Abyss
+4 REB
(possible, -1 Fire/Ice, +1 Powder Keg)

OSE:
Similar to Keeper, perhaps keeping 1 Swords for the extra Mishra's.

Mono-U (no Ophid):
-1 ZOrb
-2 Swords
-1 The Abyss
-1 Fire/Ice
+1 Aura Fracture
+4 Red Elemental Blast

Mono-U (Ophid):
-1 ZOrb
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Fire/Ice
+4 Red Elemental Blast

Sligh:
-1 Stroke of Genius (too expensive)
-1 Braingeyser
-1 Vampiric Tutor (not so much the lose of life, but you are adding bulk removal, so the extra tutor isn't really necessary, especially with only 3 Seas)
-1 Gorilla Shaman (Kegs come in to deal with Scrolls)
-1 Dismantling Blow (ditto)
-1 Diabolic Edict (see Vamp)
+2 Blue Elemental Blast
+2 COP:Red
+2 Powder Keg

Suicide:
-1 Stroke
-1 Geyser
-1 D.Blow/Gorilla Shaman (Keep which ever you think you'd like to see more against Null Rod (or Keg), or just in general)
+1 Swords
+1 COP:Black/Bridge
+1 Moat

Stompy:
-1 Stroke
-1 Geyser
-1 D.Blow
-1 Misdirection (once you have a Mis-D target (Morphling) you should win anyway, besides 5 pitch counters sucks once you cut 2 of your 'expendable' blue cards)
+1 Moat/Perish
+1 Swords
+2 Keg

Funker (this is a guess, never played against it):
-1 Stroke
-1 Geyser
-1 Vampiric Tutor
+1 Disenchant/Seal
+2 Keg
(with potential sider inners being 2 BEB and 1 Swords)


Turboland:
-1 ZOrb
-1 The AByss
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Fire/Ice
-1 Diabolic Edict (keep if they are playing Blessing recursion with Morphling)
+1 Aura Fracture
+4 REB
+1 Seal/Disenchant (comes in last, so if you keep Edict, cut this)

Parfait:
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Fire/Ice
-1 Diabolic Edict
+1 Aura Fracture
+1 Disenchant/Seal
+2 Powder Keg

Academy:
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Fire/Ice
-1 Diabolic Edict
-1 The Abyss
-1 ZOrb
+4 REB
+2 Keg
(hopefully you can use Kegs and Balance if you really need to against any sided in Negators, otherwise use them as artifact destruction and hand destruction)

Thats what I'd do, though I only play OSE on a regular basis, and not Keeper.  I generally find that siding Miners in against Keeper is better than REBs, but if you don't see enough of it and see more Mono-U/Combo, I'd stay at 4 REB (otherwise you could consider 3 and 1 Miner).

 -Eric

[Cuandoman]

On the issue of which cards for me to keep in the board:

Moat vs Perish and CoP:Black vs Ensnaring Bridge

Thoughts?

The number of Seas is up for testing. I may cut a Wasteland for the 4th Sea.

Is taking out Vampiric vs Funker and Sligh all that great of an idea? Vampiric can get me ZOrb, COP, Keg etc.

Funker that I play against (albeit proxied) boards in Blood Moon against Keeper too. I don't want to have to find my Pearl or Lotus and hold on to it until I find the D. Blow, Disenchant/Seal, or Aura Fracture.

I've considered a CoP:Blue against Mono-Blue.

[FeverDog]

Are you sure you really want CoP: Blue vs MonoU? Sure it stalls Morphling until they find Capsize but it wont stop them from drawing with their Phids. As for my assumption that they run Capsize, every MonoU deck should run ONE card that can deal with enchantments, for me its Capsize but a Disk or Wash Out can do the job as well.