Sideboarding with Heartbeat

[Sgt. Pepper]

@ Moderators: I know that there are 2 heartbeat threads already in this forum, but the last replie in those threads are about a month old and I didn't want to be accused on brining back an old thread from the dead. Feel free to merge my post with any of those threads if this new topic is unnecessary.

Regionals is currently going on in my country (Holland/The Netherlands) and I'm trying to qualify with Heartbeat at the next tournament. Unfortunately we usually draft at my local FNM scene so haven't been able to practice at much as I would like. As a result I'm not a 100% sure about my main- and sideboard and have no idea how to use my sideboard for any specific matchup. Here's what I've got so far:

22 Land (1 Mountain, 1 Swamp, 9 Island, 11 Forest)

4 Tribe Elder
4 Drift of Phantasms
1 Maga

4 DiviningTop
4 Tribe Elder
4 Kodama's Reach
4 Remand
4 Muddle the Mixture
4 Heartbeat
4 Early Harvest
1 Invoke the Firemand
0-1 Pyroclasm
1-3 Weird Harvest
0/2 Gigadrowse
0/2 Savage Twister

SB:
4 Carven Caryatid
1 Research//Development
1 Crime/Punishment
0-4 Kudzu's
0-3 Simic SKy Swallower
0-2 Meloku
0-2 Keiga
0-1 Ryusei
1/3 Gigadrowse
1/3 Savage Twister
0-2 Naturalize

As you can see I still have yet to decide on a definitive main- or sideboard. Right now I've been testing with 2 Maindeck Gigadrowse, 1 Pyroclams and 1 Weird Harvest and so far they've been decent to great depending on the matchup. Still, there are times when I really wanted a Savage Twister or 3 maindeck to be able to clear the table of Kird Apes and Watchwolfs.

The sideboard is still completely up for grabs. I want some kind of man plan in there but I have no idea which plan is better. Further more, I have no idea when to bring in the man plan and what to take out when I do.

So basically I would like to hear of some of your experiences playing heartbeat and what has been working for you guys.

[Anusien]

Unless you're going with the French build (2 maindeck Gigadrowse, no red in the main) and some other changes, all the advice in the old threads still applies.  I really like the Kudzu plan since it helps in the mirror.  Right now, you're aiming for the mirror, Solar Tide (which you just own), and Vore.  Vore it really helps if you're on the play; I'm wondering if Spell Snare is a good board choice versus them.  It seems like the only way they can win is if they get the nuts turn 2 opening, so turning some of your maindeck cards (like Twister and 1-2 Remands or the Maga if you have 2 kill mechanisms) into Spell Snares will help you out on the draw.

[Roxas]

I've found sideboarded Mana Leaks to be extremely good against Vore, while also useful when transforming against other decks.  Spell Snare might very well be better than Mana Leak, however.

I've also had huge success with Simic Sky Swallower, and wholeheartedly advocate it over Meloku or dragons.

Before I switched decks, this was my sideboard:

4 Carven Caryatid
3 Vinelasher Kudzu
3 Simic Sky Swallower
2 Savage Twister
3 Mana Leak

It worked awesomely; the only change I'd consider making is switching Mana Leak for Spell Snare.  My maindeck is the "standard" list, with Crime/Punishment, Pyroclasm, and either Train of Thought or Research/Development in the last slot. 

[kirdape3]

You know, I've literally never lost a match with Vore to Heartbeat.  Nice Sakura-Tribe Elder... Magnivore for 4?  Bat bat bat... okay I just killed you before you figured out how to win around this Mana Leak.  Magnivore can be a VERY tough out for a Heartbeat deck, especially postboard when they have some numbers of Remands, Flectomancers, and possibly Spell Snares.

[Roxas]

Right, I've found the matchup to generally be in Vore's favor as well.  I don't know why the hell Flores thinks it should be in Heartbeat's favor.  I have found extra counterspells to be the best way to shore up that matchup though; in tournaments I've managed to keep a roughly 50% win ratio against it, the games I win mostly consisting of something like "counter turn turn 2 Eye, counter your turn 3 Stone Rain, counter your turn 4 Demolish, win on turn five."  The Vore matchup is, however, the biggest reason I've switched to playing decks other than Heartbeat. 

[Anusien]

The thing is it really depends on what Vore brings in.  The way for Vore to win the matchup is by being an aggro-control deck, throwing down hasty Magnivores with counter-backup, since if you go the land destruction route, Heartbeat is going to pull through.

[Anusien]

By the way, it's worth pointing out that nowadays you definitely want access to Maga between sideboard and main, preferably main.  I've won several games in the mirror where all he had was Muddle, and I had a critical mass of Early Harvests that his countermagic didn't count.  Had he been able to counter Invoke, I might have lost.

[scribe888]

i've seen people use bound//determined in our meta against control back when UR decks were the decks to play. but nowadays it depends on your meta. the way heartbeat wins against Ux decks according my friend who's been doing well in nationals is to board out half the combo. bait the opponent into thinking that you went for the whole man plan.

[Keno]

Question: when you board in the man plan (either 3 SSS or 5 Dragons/Meloku's) what do you take out? Obviously certain cards like Pyroclasm or Gigadrowse can be taken out against certain matchups, but what about the rest?

Also, has anyone tested against Counterbalance? That card seems really troublesome against heartbeat if they keep an 3cc card on top.

[Roxas]

The "man plan" is generally a transformational sideboard.  Against anything black/white and anyone who I expect to bring in a substantial amount of hate, I side out all of the combo-related cards and then random other cards for my entire sideboard - generally something like -4 Heartbeat -4 Harvest -1 Maga -1 Invoke -1 Weird Harvest -2 Drift -1 Muddle -1 metagame slot.  Against control decks, I generally cut my metagame slots for counters (though I leave Crime/Punishment in if I suspect Needles).  Against Gruul, I either full transform or cut random stuff for Caryatids.

I don't expect Counterbalance to see all that much play, but it would indeed be rather troublesome.  Crime/Punishment or Boomerang can deal with it too.

[Anusien]

I've started leaving Invoke in when I transform (just transformed for the first time), since it's a random burn spell.  Beat, Demonfire you?  seems fairly good.