Sideboard for SS

[wethepeople]

I need to create a sideboard for my Sullivan Solution deck, the MD is listed below, so check that out before you post. i need to know what to side in, what to side out, and what exactly to put in the sideboard. please have reasons to back up your choices however.

current choices:

arcane laboratory- if i can drop it early enough, it stops storm in its tracks.

more bounce (Rushing River, unless i maindeck it over Echoing Truth)

diabolic edict- i have always used this card to get ride of DSC and Oath, it rarely fails me.


i am not positive on my meta really, i need to watch out for some Oath, Gifts, and possibly Dragon. not sure about G/L or Pitch, but i wouldnt be surprised if one showed up. So i am going to try and go for a list with answers to almost everything (i really need to worry about Oath however..)

heres my decklist as on August 23(off the top of my head):

Creatures:
4 Dark Confidant
4 Dimir Cutpurse
1 Darksteel Colossus

Card Draw/Tutoring:
1 Demonic
1 Vampiric
1 Mystical
1 Ancestral
4 Brainstorm

Misc:
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker

Disruption:
4 Stifle
4 Force of Will
4 Duress
1 Hymn to Tourach

Removal/Bounce:
1 Darkblast
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Echoing Truth
1 CoVapor

Mana Base:
5 Moxen
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black lotus
2 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Strips

EDIT: modified decklist, i forgot to add Chain of Vapor.


i may have missed something, probably not if that is exactly 60 cards.

but anyway, suggestions on the decklist itself are appreciated as well, but what i am worried about at the moment is the SB. so i need to figure out what to side in, side out, and what is required for the list itself. thanks everyone.

-dan (wtp)

[MonoE]

What do you mean, '4 Strips'? Is that 3 Wasteland and 1 Strip Mine? To maximize the Stifle tempo (when used as LD), cut the random singleton Hymn for the final Wasteland.

As far as The DSC Solution, you have 3 MD solutions (if you count your own Tinker) as well as a good draw engine to find them. And that's only if he resolves. You've got some mana denial, 4 Duress, and 4 FoW. Siding into more than 3 Edicts would be a mistake, I think. Consider Shadow of Doubt in addition to or in place of Edict. It's FoW 4-8 for Tinker (although it costs 2 instead of 0, of course), and is almost never dead, and can serve as a neo-Sinkhole if that's a good play (he's manascrewed or you drew The Disruption Hand and want to go for the kill).

Oath: Your DSC Solutions work even better against Oath, except that FoW is slightly less potent because Oath can come out turn 1, and after that there's nothing to FoW. Of course, Stifle comes online in a big way as a Time Walk vs. a resolved Oath or a Forbidden Orchard's use. Shadow of Doubt isn't as good here. Again, I'd recommend 3 Edicts maximum.

Eric

[wethepeople]

when i say "4 Strips" i mean 3 Wasteland and 1 Strip Mine, i just call them all Strips due to the fact that they all do the same thing. Hymn as a singleton was suggested by some dude named "78" on MWS, apparently he took part in creating SS, so he certainly knows his stuff. i have had sucess in using it as a singleton. I am looking to add another Wasteland because they help me quite greatly, giving me the advantage on mana. i dont always use stifle to stop fetches, often times it is for Storm and to stop various abilities. i am going to find something else to cut for wasteland, that isnt bounce, because i need that.

i am going to run edicts versus oath rather than more bounce, i have learned that oath can not only Brainstorm it back, but also drop Show and Tell for an alternat cost. the best plan is too just get rid of it in entirety.

Shadow of Doubt seemed to slip my mind on this sideboard, i have used it successfully in almost all of my previous decklists, that is a must on this one because its an easy CC in U/B.

what should i get to stop Belcher. i have learned that screwing their mana base causes me to suceed, i use engineered explosives on theyre moxen, waste their land, and in the end i just counter the belchers (if they find a way to get it out). bounce is always fun to do to belcher because it basically stops them for a few turns, since it is very hard for them to get belcher back into play after using their lotuses, guides, and petals, and they cant welder it back. speaking of that, do most 2 land belcher decks run Goblin Welder? i have seen it a couple times, but never heard of it being used.

i usually keep my maindeck when playing Grim Long (unless i can think of a way to get out arcane lab turn 1-2). running four Stifles helps greatly to stop Storm, so G/L hate is already in action.

[Harlequin]

My current SS Deck and Sideboard are:
All the regular stuff

3 Erayo
2 Hymn
3 stifle
1 Repeal
1 E-Truth
1 Rushing River
1 Explosives

board
3 energy flux (stax, shops)
3 diabolic edict (oath, dragon, shop aggro?)
3 planar void (gifts, slaver, long, dragon, oath?, Random stuff like Ichorid or Salvager)
2 shadow of doubt (gifts, slaver, long)
2 Old man of the sea (fish/aggro)
1 Sword of fire and Ice (fish/aggro, Stax)
1 Jitte (fish/aggro, Slaver)

I think that board is solid against the metagame.  It gives you consistant solutions without clusting too much focus in one spot. 

I think the best, and most contraversial card in the sideboard is Planar void.  And before everyone goes bla-bla-welder, and bla-bla-Necromancy ... I just want to say that it doesn't matter IF it CAN be played around.  What matters is does it pressure thier deck?  And the answer is yes.   The most logical subsitution for PVoid is Leyline of the Void.  The number of times when your opponent wins because of a crtical weld in response to the trigger (and you don't have stifle) or Necromancys for the win (and you don't have stifle, or edict, or a counterspell)... is dramatically outwieghed by PVoid being re-castable (after a bounce spell) and most importantly: tutorable in the early game.  You can't tutor for LLotV unless its too late in the game for it to matter or you have one crazy lotus hand.  Back to the bounce spell, your opponent (say playing long) can easily chain of vapor your turn 0 Leyline and take a few turns to win out before you ever get  4 mana up.  Planar void however puts much needed pressure on thier graveyard, and if they want something to stick in the yard, they need to bounce it and play thier stuff all before you get another turn.  Agian not an impossible play for them, but it pressures them enough (and I think: more than LLotV).

[MonoE]

(1) I just noticed that your current decklist is 61.

(2) I still disagree with 1x Hymn. The problem with running a tempo card (one which works best in the first few turns) in your toolbox is that you negate its slight advantage when you have to dig for it. The following happens, if you need it and don't have it: (1) Demonic makes Hymn cost 1BBB and 2 cards, negating card advantage and making Mind Twist a better choice; (2) Vampiric makes it BBB and 2 cards and a turn's draw, negating card advantage again, and costing as much as a single Mind Twist for 2 (but more specific); (3) Mystical makes it a multicolor card at BBU, 2 cards, and a turn's draw, for, again, a Mind Twist at 2. Of course, (4) sometimes you draw it just when you need it, but at 1, you seriously can't count on that. I mean, does this deck need it or doesn't it? It seems like a wishywashy include.

Now I'm not recommending Mind Twist. All that will do is make your tutor + discard move cost even more mana and cards and time, and choke off the possibility of adding more (restricted). I'm just using it as a yardstick, since it is generally known that, since Hymn is an early-game card, Mind Twist is really just an overcosted Hymn when you're not playing Drain.

Drawing it is only going to happen infrequently. And tutoring for it is akin to Demonic Tutoring up a Dark Ritual. The tempo gained = tempo spent, and you just played Le Vanilla.

If, on the other hand, you're not tutoring it up, but are content to just draw it sometimes, then I don't really understand its usage here. Either it's a card you want to see, or a card you don't. I don't think a strategy as tempo-dependent as SS's can legitimately need a card 1/60 of the time.

Eric

[wethepeople]

my sideboard is going something like this.

3 Diabolic Edict (works very well against oath, g2 i drew two of these and they were only able to stop one)

2 Shadow of Doubt (i have only been able to successfully use this once, because my opponent playing gifts for some reason didnt have any counter back-up.)

X- Umezauasggawawa Jitte (i have had great success with these guys, i am thinking of running even 2 or 3)

3- Planar Void//Tormod's Crypt (all sideboard need graveyard hate.)

i am testing Sword of Fire and Ice, i havent really figured out what its best against, itd probably own other SS decks as well as Fish.

MonoE- I cut hymn because i guess i did have 61 cards, in MWS i had 60 because i was missing Lotus Petal. So the list should be sixty.

[scutakicker]

Run a second Sword instead of Jitte. I know that Jitte is the the nutz in every other format, but that's because there is creature combat and you can afford to ram your guys into things. --Against fish/aggro SS can not afford to trade creatures.-- Swords keeps your guys from dying, makes them unblockable a good portion of the time (Confidant is about the only played creauture that can do so), still gives you the ability to ping off their stuff, makes your guys immune to Darkblast/Massacre/Pyroclasm/Old Man of the Sea, AND gives you more card draw which the deck just loves. The one extra mana for it is regrettable but not that much of an issue since you're trying to get your creatures down right away anyway.

[wethepeople]

i just tested a Sword and it did very well in a mirror versus another SS (using Erayo however). i was able to take out cutpurse and confidant with ease leaving them with no draw engine, or creatures. i on the other hand had a good sized hand (three draws a turn is nice), more life, and the ability to ping away every nuisance that were to come forth. he conceded. 

maybe two swords would be good in sideboard, because it certainly owns SS and it can do the same to Fish.

[M.Solymossy]

With the acception of Dave (Scutakicker) you all are trying to make a decent tempo deck into a terrible aggro deck.

First:  CUT THESE SHITTERS.  THEY DO NOTHING!!!!one!1eleven!!1!1
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Demonic
1 Tinker
1 Hymn to Tourach

WHERE ARE YOUR ERAYO!?!?!?!??!!?
Where is Rushing River?
Where is your basic ISLAND?

Playing 5 strip effects is terrible, as is playing Jitte.    PLAY THE DECK HOW TK AND I@N DO.   ICBM and other vintage "semi-pro's" test to make sure their deck is good. 

[scutakicker]

I'm in agreement with Soly. The SS decklist is really tight--there's a few slots that are variable but most (including having Erayo in the deck!!) are pretty important. I've considered upping my Island count to two even, so at least run 1 in the deck. Drop Tinker/DSC, it isn't needed and will occassionally kill you. For bounce, if you're running 2 spells, start with CoV/R River.