Fighting the Good Fight, Boarding with N.Y.S.E. Stax

I – The Road to Victory
Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam

   This thread is meant as a follow up to the StarCityGames.com article that I wrote over the summer for Matt Elias. The original article explained Shop theory, specifically that of 5CStax, though it did not spend a great deal of time focusing on potential sideboard strategies.
    At least half of the tournament games that we play are boarded. More often than not (for me it least) our matches will run 3 games, meaning that 67% of our games played are played with our sideboards.
   When I first picked up Workshops I found sideboarding to be exceptionally difficult. While there were cards that I certainly wanted to board in, there were also cards that I wasn’t sure about. While the cards I’ve used in my sideboard have changed in the last several years, there are quite a few usual suspects.

II – Potential Sideboard Cards
Aut Disce Aut Discede

   I have run many different sideboard cards over the last few years. In the interest of relevance, I’m only going to bring up cards that I have boarded within the last year. This is by no means a comprehensive list of everything that I believe 5CStax is capable of boarding.

White:
Balance
Ray of Revelation
Seal of Cleansing
Sword to Plowshares

Blue:
In the Eye of Chaos

Black:
Darkblast
Leyline of the Void

Red:
Red Elemental Blast
Ancient Grudge
Pyroclasm
Firespout
Viashino Heretic

Green:
Choke
Gaea’s Blessing

Artifact:
Chalice of the Void
Tormod’s Crypt
Pithing Needle
Relic of Progenitus
Powder Keg
Jester’s Cap
Silent Arbiter
Platinum Angel

III – Fighting the Good Fight
Emitte Lucem Et Veritatem

   The sideboard that I ran for Nick Coss’s Philly Open IV looked like this:
1x Balance
4x Leyline of the Void
3x Red Elemental Blast
1x Ancient Grudge
3x Chalice of the Void
1x Tormod’s Crypt
2x Pithing Needle

   When choosing cards to sideboard, the first question you should ask yourself is: What do I expect the metagame to be, and against which decks do I have the most trouble?
   The Stax player traditionally has the most trouble with Dredge. Bazaars are a predator of Workshops because they ignore the hate that we have for the most part. The Dredge player can win the game with Ichorid’s and Bloodghast’s and never worry about the Spheres that you have in play. Additionally, because of how the triggers resolve, you won’t be able to tap down your opponents threats with Tangle Wires. Smokestacks are too slow to stop the Bazaars before they’re out of control, and they don’t nullify the Dredge player’s board well enough.
   When boarding against Dredge, I generally recommend boarding in:
4x Leyline of the Void
3x Red Elemental Blast
1x Tormod’s Crypt
2x Pithing Needle

   The clearest cuts that you can make are the Wires and then Smokestacks. While some 5CStax players have been known to cut Titan, I generally don’t. I like the option of having a fast kill in the deck – so that I don’t have to fight to keep a piece of hate on the board for a very long time. Eventually they find an answer for your hate, and if you don’t have multiple pieces, you may be in trouble.
   If you know that your opponent isn’t running Chalice of the Void, you can cut your Gorilla Shamans.
   Oath is a much more popular deck choice in today’s metagame. I would strongly recommend running more hate for Oath in your board. Card choices like Ray of Revelation, which had been slightly narrow in the past, may be less so now in the proper metagame. While Energy Flux was the only other real target for Ray (and REB functioned better in this slot than Ray did/does) Oath has become such a major player in the metagame that I would consider running either Ray of Revelation or Seal of Cleansing in the sideboard. While you generally do want recur-able hate, Seal may be the better choice because of its versatility.
   When boarding against Oath you generally want to keep your sphere effects in (because their curve is so low.) This ignores the traditional rule of Spheres – they generally stay in if your opponent is running Yawgmoth’s Will, or come out if they’re not. I would look to board in:

3x REB
3x Chalice of the Void

Balance might seem like it’s worth boarding in, but it’s not. Your creature count is generally even, or greater than, theirs.
I would look to board out Triskelion, both Gorilla Shamans, Goblin Welder, Mox Pearl (if I’m on the draw) and one Thorn (if I’m on the draw.) Shaman’s aren’t terribly useful – as Oath isn’t very reliant upon it’s artifact mana (since its curve is so low) and additionally because you don’t want creatures in play against Oath until you have some form of a lock on them. Triskelion does shoot tokens, but he doesn’t address the major problems that you face, and at the very best he’s either a one trick pony or a beat stick. If you’re tutoring for a beat stick you want Titan. While Thorn is useful as it slows them down, it’s not as devastating as it is against TPS or various Tezzeret builds. You may want one, but you probably don’t want multiples.
Next up is Tezzeret. Tezzeret is a deck that I love playing. I know that many Workshop players feel the same way. If your deck is built properly you should hammer Tezzeret in game one. While having a sideboard with a plethora of options against Tezzeret might be nice you generally don’t need much to seal the deal in the average match.
I would look to bring in:

   3x REB
   3x Chalice of the Void
   1x Pithing Needle

      I would bring that in when on the play, cutting:

   2x Powder Keg
   1x Crop Rotation
   1x Bazaar of Baghdad
   1x Triskelion (depending on whether or not they’re running Bobs)
   1x Crucible of Worlds
   I would cut one additional card that usually depended on the feel of the first game. When on the draw, I would board the Chalices back out, bringing the Powder Kegs and Crucible back in.
   The logic behind Chalice/Powder Keg is relatively straightforward. You want to be able to shrink their board as quickly as possible, and if you are on the draw a Powder Keg is often able to net two for one card advantage with your opponents Moxen. Keg is an answer of sorts to the Vault/Key combo, as you can set a Keg on two and leave it there until they’re ready to combo (or bounce you with Hurkyl’s Recall or Rebuild.)
   Chalices are powerful on the play, effectively nullifying your opponents Moxen while you’ve already played yours. Additionally, the ability to drop a Chalice on two against most Tezzeret decks is particularly enamoring. It is a powerful play that can put your opponent quite a ways out in their effort to win the game.
   Finally there is TPS. In the tri-state area the only TPS player that my teammates and I tend to run into is Steve Nowakowski. Steve’s TPS build has quite a bit of bounce and is particularly strong against Workshops, though the match is still 50/50 in my opinion. While combo is not what you’d prefer fighting, it is a match that you can play and win.
   When boarding against Combo, you should look to board in:

   3x REB
   3x Chalice of the Void

   You should also consider bringing in your Leylines, as they serve to put your opponent off Yawgmoth’s Will until they’re dealt with. Additionally, because they’re an enchantment, your opponent must expend a real bounce spell on them, and not just expect to be able to flick them with an artifact bounce spell.
   Crucible of Worlds is particularly weak against Combo, especially since most builds bring in additional basic lands against you. I generally board all three out. Triskelion, one Gorilla Shaman and Bazaar of Baghdad have been cards that I have cut in the past when fighting Combo.

IV – Final Tips
Experientia Docet

   5CStax lacks a draw engine, and generally has lacked one since Roland Chang ran Thirst for Knowledges back in 2005. While the deck did have one at its inception (in Meditate) and eventually advanced its engine with Thirsts, the deck no longer has one.
   This means that you must mulligan aggressively in order to find what you need. If you draw a good hand, but a hand without hate, against a deck like Dredge, you will lose. You can’t be afraid to mull to lesser hand sizes in order to try to win games.
   While at the most recent Waterbury, I was watching a match a true Shop master, Raffaele Forino was playing. His opponent was on Dredge and it was game 3. Raf had, strangely, managed to win game 1 and then lost game two. His opening 7, 6 and 5 were all weak – without the hate necessary in order to win the game. He mulled to four. His four card hand? Leyline of the Void, Trinisphere, Gemstone Mine and Crop Rotation. He had his opponent effectively locked out of the game on the first turn.
   At the Dan Herd Memorial Tournament I had to fight Dredge in the semifinals, piloted by Conor Moran. Conor thoroughly stomped me in game 1, but I knew to mull until I hit sufficient hate in games two and three. I mulliganed to Leyline and Relic of Progenitus in game two. I mulliganed to double Leyline and a tutor for a Trinisphere in game three.
   You can’t be afraid to sacrifice cards in order to have the hand you need to win. You’re not trying to win the card advantage war – when you’ve achieved the hard lock there is nothing that they can do about it.

V – Final Thoughts
Excelsior

   These are outlines; they are by no means gospel. Your sideboard is the most liquid part of your deck - you should know the rough percentages of your metagame. Don’t just copy what you think the best cards are, know that Oath is criminally under or overplayed in your area, and board accordingly. I would never cut all my Dredge hate, but maybe you can run six cards that function as Dredge hate, instead of seven or eight, because you know that it’s not as popular in your area as it may be in others.
   No matter what the situation though, test. Play with the cards and determine what you like best. Sideboarding is part art form – there is no hard and fast rule that one given card or another will always be better than another. You are looking to create an overall effect. If you find that you can do that with a different configuration of cards, go for it.