Sideboard options for ANT

[Ten-Ten]

I would like to discuss the sideboard options for ANT.

Along with the best and worse matchups for this deck (Other than Shops).

I have seen transformational SB into Oath or Bob Tendrils but i'm not sure on the Oath SB. I do not like Oath but will run it in the SB if it would be the best option for ANT.

For reference im trying a list similar to this.
Except my sideboard is:

4 Dark confidant
3 Xantid swarm
1 Hurkyl's recall
1 Slaughter pact
1 Perish
3 Yixlid jailer
1 Tormod's crypt
1 Surgical extraction

Since my experience with this deck is limited, I seek the assistance of more experianced players here on TMD.

-what would the best sideboard options be for an unknown/varied meta? Vintage Champs for example.

-I have not tried the transformational into Oath. Would that be better than the sideboard I have now?

-Is BoB the correct call against Shops?

-Would Orim's chant be better than Xantid swarm?

-I am mostly worried about the Shops and Dredge matchup but is there other matchups in the current meta I should worry about?

I thank you in advance, for your time and help. All comments and sugestions are welcome.

[emidln]

Serenity is the card you're looking for to beat Workshops.

I never wanted to side in more than 2 Dark Confidant in any matchup when I played this deck. The first two I could usually make room for without ruining my deck though.

[Ten-Ten]

Thank you for the reply emidln.

I knew of serenity, just never tried it.

i figured more hurk's in the side would work just as well..
along with keeping me from having to splash into white and opening myself up more to wasteland.

how about dredge hate?
I wanted to cut down from 5 pieces of hate to just 3 Yixlid jailer but reading up on fatesticher dredge kept me from doins so.
If i did cut some dredge hate in SB, I would probably include Tinker/BSC in those slots. Thoughts?

[Purple Hat]

how would boarding in tinker-dsc work?  you'd have to side out all your ad nauseams and you end up just being a bad deck. 

[Ten-Ten]

If im siding out the ad nauseam, i am bringing in Bob w/ tinkerBot.

[Commandant]

I believe you need to ask yourself why one would play ANT over other options in the metagame.

For all intensive purposes Fatestitcher Dredge is as fast as ANT. Chalice at one is a wrecking ball vs. most ANT lists. Dedicated control is far more resilent and most likely in the coming months we will see a shift to Mystic Remora builds to counter Gush which does not bode well for team rituals.

I've tried a lot of sideboard plans for ANT including some heralded by Emidln and to be frank most are a pipe dream at best taking into account what Workshop decks look like these days. Bob is too slow to compete in todays meta.

Sorry to be a nancy.

My 2 cents.

[Eastman]

I believe you need to ask yourself why one would play ANT over other options in the metagame.

For all intensive purposes Fatestitcher Dredge is as fast as ANT. Chalice at one is a wrecking ball vs. most ANT lists.

ANT and Ichorid are drastically different decks. I don't really know what else to say. Other than sharing a strength--speed, they aren't really alike. They have a completely different plan of attack,  completely different weaknesses, and are adaptable in completely different ways.  

Edit: as for a suggestion, when I played ANT I used red and sided in empty the warrens and BoB against shops. It worked OK, but not great. I'm not sure that matchup can be turned into a positive one, but the empties at least gave me a fighting chance.

[Commandant]

You are correct Dave.

Perhaps we hold true to different criteria when determining our deck choices. I'd like to choose a relatively optimal archetype from the current metagame and work from there in order to min max my chances for success.

Storm is quite excellent. On the flip side I do not believe Dark Ritual to be a strong choice for the combo archetype based on the current and projected metagame. Ad Nauseam is rather dependent on ritual effects.

This gentleman can still play Storm. Dark Ritual and Ad Nauseam are both poor means to an end in the current environment.

Dredge is faster.

By nature Ad Nauseam is weak to Workshops.

Blue based control and non ritual combo-control are both far more resilient to the other archetypes.

No form of sideboard will change this. At least that's what I have experienced over the past year.

[Ten-Ten]

thank you all for the posts. I apologize for the lateness of my reply, been busy at work and my Brother came in from outta town

on topic:
I figured going into ANT that Shops would be tough but not impossible to beat.

Every deck out there has the one deck it will almost never beat or at least have to work extra hard in order to succeed agianst.
I am very aware that rituals suck against sphere effects but unlike other decks that might not be as explosive as ANT, a single chain of vapor or Hurkyl's recall in ANT can mean game over for a shop player, because you can go off then and there.

Aggro shop builds are another story completely. Especially with that Panther what-cha-ma-call-it.dec
I might give Empty the warrens a whirl in this case.


I am not afraid of control decks or Remora decks at all. I actually switched out the 3 Xantid Swarm for 3 Flusterstorm against these type of decks. Been testing this against a Bomberman and a GushRemora build w/ Mindbreak traps and Flusterstorm. Will post results later.

My main concern was AggroShops and Dredge. I might accept the fact that shops are tough to beat and just take the beating like a man but not from dredge, no sirs.

My question is: will 3 yixlid, 1 tormod's crypt, 1 surgical extraction be enough to beat dredge or are the jailers enough?

Again thank you all for the comments and suggestions.
 

 

[Commandant]

I've been running 3 Yixlid Jailer, Ravenous Trap, Pithing Needle, Nihil Spellbomb package. I have been very pleased. You could sub out the Ravenous Trap for a fourth Jailer though Jailer removal is at a high with a lot of the current builds. In addition you could sub out the Spellbomb for a Crypt as most Fatestitcher builds do not run Chalice of the Void. In my area not everyone plays Fatestitcher so I still have to worry. I do believe Spellbomb to be better.