Magic: The Gathering – 5 Tips For Building A Great Sideboard
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of Magic: The Gathering to master is the art of sideboarding. This is partly due to the fact that many other card games similar to Magic don't involve sideboarding at all, However, sideboarding is one of the ways in which Magic most clearly values player skill over luck.
Consequently, players who are interested in Magic due to the game's added focus on skill need to be familiar with how to sideboard properly. Otherwise, you are abandoning one of the most important tools in your arsenal as a Magic player. That being said, building a seven-of-fifteen-card sideboard requires a deep understanding of not only your own deck, but all of the other decks that make up a format's metagame too. Let's dive in.
THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Confront Your Deck's Weaknesses
The first step in building a great sideboard lies in confronting your own deck's weaknesses. What kinds of strategies are good against it, and what cards can you put in your sideboard to give your deck an edge when facing a bad matchup? For example, typical control decks are weak against aggro, since aggro decks are capable of killing them before they are able to play their most impactful cards.
Consequently, it's often good for control decks to put sweepers (board wipes) and low-cost removal spells like Portable Hole or Flame Blessed-Bolt in their sideboards, in order to combat these decks. The first step to building a great sideboard comes with the humble understanding of what your deck isn't good at beating.
After all, there's no such thing as a deck that doesn't have any weaknesses. If there were such a deck, Magic wouldn't be nearly as entertaining, since everyone would be playing the same cards.
4 Provide Answers To The Meta
Once you understand the weaknesses of your own deck, it's time to take a look at the larger metagame of the format. After all, there's no reason to shore up your sideboard with a bunch of anti-aggro cards if hardly anyone is playing aggro in the first place. The sideboard is the perfect place for threats and answers that are great in specific situations, but aren't as efficient overall.
For instance, a recent example of this phenomenon has been the inclusion of Riveteer's Charm in the Standard Jund (red/black/green) deck's sideboards. While this card is too expensive to keep up with the threats that aggressive decks present, it's the perfect answer to a card like Goldspan Dragon. Consequently, it's a perfect sideboard inclusion for Jund to bring in whenever they are up against any deck running Goldspan Dragons.
3 Know What's Coming Out
The most painstaking part of sideboarding isn't putting cards into your deck; it's taking them out. This is especially true in the case of combo decks that rely on a critical mass of combo pieces in order to win the game. In all cases, you have to find the happy medium between slotting in appropriate answers and threats, while still keeping intact your deck's original game plan.
As opposed to throwing in all of the cards from your sideboard that are good in a specific matchup, we've found that it's better to first figure out the cards that are coming out. This way, you know how many deck slots you have to sideboard with against a specific deck. It won't do you any good to put ten cards in your sideboard that are good against control, only to find out later that you've only got five cards in your mainboard that you want to pull out.
It may seem counterintuitive, but it's best to start with what you're taking out when building a sideboard. Then, consider what cards to include in your sideboard that you would like to pull in.
2 Predict Opponent Sideboarding
One thing that's often forgotten during sideboarding is the fact that your opponent has a sideboard as well. The deck that you're about to face isn't the exact same deck that you just won or lost to in round one, and it's important to take this into account if you want to sideboard with the best of them.
For example, it's a common strategy amongst Izzet (blue/red) Phoenix decks in Pioneer to bring in Thing in the Ice or Young Pyromancer from the sideboard after round one. This is because opponents often realize that their removal isn't very effective against Arclight Phoenix, so they often take a lot of it out.
If your opponent takes the majority of their removal out, Thing in the Ice and Young Pyromancer become exceptionally better threats than they should be. By properly predicting how your opponent will sideboard, you can stay one step ahead of the game.
1 Adjust For Play/Draw
The final and least understood point of properly building a great sideboard comes from adjusting your sideboard for being on the play as well as the draw. This is one of the most difficult points in Magic for players to understand, but whether you're on the play or on the draw makes a huge difference on the efficacy of many cards.
For the sake of this example, let's consider Disdainful Stroke. This counterspell is known to be a great sideboard card against control decks, since it is capable of countering the majority of a control deck's threats. However, most players aren't aware that you often want more copies of Disdainful Stroke in your deck when you're on the draw than when you're on the play.
This is because Disdainful Stroke's greatest asset lies in its ability to steal back tempo (the pace of played threats) from the opponent. Stroke is a two-mana card that answers a card with mana value four or greater. By its very nature, Disdainful Stroke takes tempo away from your opponent and hands it over to you. When you're on the play, the tempo of the game is already on your side as a benefit of going first. Consequently, Disdainful Stroke becomes a less meaningful card.
At the end of the day, sideboarding is an incredibly complex topic that even the best Magic players in the world struggle to master. However, using these five tips, you'll be well on your way to becoming a sideboarding sage.
Related News & Content
-
Limit taxonomy terms added to a custom post type
Limit taxonomy terms added to a custom post type,I've created a Custom Post Type and a Custom Taxonomy. In WP Admin, how can I limit amount of taxonomy terms that are added to the custom post type? I want to add no more than one tag into the post. -
Query top level custom post in taxonomy
Query top level custom post in taxonomy,This is my first post, I'm a bit stuck. I have a custom post (dan) and taxonomy (dnas), with hierarchical categories. I want to make a query resulting in posts at toplevel (hoofdcategorie01, -
Gutenberg: Restrict Top Level Blocks, But Not Child Blocks
Gutenberg: Restrict Top Level Blocks, But Not Child Blocks,Background I've created a custom top level "page section" block, to work with my existing theme. I've like to restrict top level blocks to ONLY that one block. However, I don't want to di... -
How do I load styles into the block editor admin screen?
How do I load styles into the block editor admin screen?,The core file 'load-styles.php' generates css styles. Some of the styles interfere with the block editor. I would like to pass in my own style rules that override the styles generated by 'load-styl... -
Installing WordPress in a subdirectory
Installing WordPress in a subdirectory,I am trying to install wordpress into a subdirectory of a website. I simply want to build the client's new site in this subdirectory, so a separate and new WP install in this subdirectory, and the... -
Custom theme and plugin updating
Custom theme and plugin updating,History: I'm working on a project for a client that involves building 27 unique websites that are built on wordpress. I say unique, because (for reasons that are not worth going into here) they ar... -
Rewrite nested urls for custom post type
Rewrite nested urls for custom post type,I have a problem with nested permalink. I have a structure of urls like that: Catalog -> Category -> Product My urls are: www.domain.com/catalogs (for archive catalog) www.domain.com/catal... -
Ajax not working to insert, query and result data
Ajax not working to insert, query and result data,On my site, through a form I send/register same information in database, do a SELECT/query and return it! Return the last table saved in database, just that user just entered on the form (along wit... -
Israel at war, day 204: Hamas airs video of Israeli hostages, one with U.S. citizenship
Israel at war, day 204: Hamas airs video of Israeli hostages, one with U.S. citizenship,Hamas Studying Israel's Response to Position on Cease-fire Talks Gaza Aid Shipments Resume From Cyprus IDF: Two Palestinians Killed After Firing on IDF Outpost in the West Bank Pro-Palestinian Protest Leader Banned From Columbia Campus Here's What You Need to Know 204 Days Into the War -
5 Ways To Customize Your Nintendo Switch Just For You – SlashGear
5 Ways To Customize Your Nintendo Switch Just For You - SlashGear,If you want to stand out from all your Nintendo gaming friends, customizing your Switch is a great way to do it. Here are five cool things you can do. -
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos,CAROL Kirkwood stunned in a figure-hugging dress amid a technical blunder. BBC Breakfast was flung into chaos this morning after a string of sound issues. However Carol, 61, was all smiles as she p… -
Families ‘to sue prison’ where loud inmates ‘terrorise kids’ with screaming
Families 'to sue prison' where loud inmates 'terrorise kids' with screaming,Residents living next door to a new prison who say their kids have to sleep wearing headphones and some leave during weekends due to the racket are threatening to sue the prison service -
Doctor Strange’s Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought – Looper
Doctor Strange's Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought - Looper,According to entertainment leaker Alex Perez, Doctor Strange will find himself confronting his inner struggles as he headlines "Avengers: Secret Wars." -
Choctaw artist Jeffrey Gibson confronts history at US pavilion as its first solo Indigenous artist
Choctaw artist Jeffrey Gibson confronts history at US pavilion as its first solo Indigenous artist,Jeffrey Gibson’s takeover of the U.S. pavilion for this year’s Venice Biennale contemporary art show is a celebration of color, pattern and craft -
Mexican film wins top prize at Moscow International Film Festival while major studios boycott Russia
Mexican film wins top prize at Moscow International Film Festival while major studios boycott Russia,A Mexican film has won the top prize at the Moscow International Film Festival which took place as major Western studios boycott the Russian market and as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds into its third year -
German study pavilion wins EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture 2024
German study pavilion wins EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture 2024,The German project outshined 39 other finalists from across Europe, including a mystical garden near Lund, Sweden, a vertical school in Madrid, Spain and a floating university in Berlin. -
The queer vegan punk band changing perceptions on the Faroe Islands
The queer vegan punk band changing perceptions on the Faroe Islands,Ahead of their third album launch, Euronews Culture spoke to Fríði Djurhuus, frontman of the barnstorming Faroese band Joe & the Shitboys. -
Los Angeles Angels Among Teams Blacked Out In Comcast Carriage Dispute
Los Angeles Angels Among Teams Blacked Out In Comcast Carriage Dispute,A carriage dispute has meant the Los Angeles Angels are blacked out. -
Donald Trump Posts $175 Million Bond To Appeal Civil Fraud Judgment — Update
Donald Trump Posts $175 Million Bond To Appeal Civil Fraud Judgment — Update,UPDATE: Donald Trump has secured a $175 million bond as his appeals a New York civil fraud judgment against himself, family members and his business empire. According to a filing tonight. the bond came from the Knight Specialty Insurance Company in Los Angeles.
Warning: file_get_contents(https://www.scienceradars.com/wp-output-content.php?pg=1&cat=&kw=&lvl=): Failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 526 in /home/wwwroot/xuenou.com/wp-content/themes/chromenews/template-parts/content.php on line 169
Warning: file_get_contents(https://www.bayuexiang.com/wp-output-content.php?pg=1&cat=&kw=&lvl=): Failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 526 in /home/wwwroot/xuenou.com/wp-content/themes/chromenews/template-parts/content.php on line 173
Bulgaria and Romania open up to more tourists: Here’s what to expect
Here’s how to access fancy hotel pools for one day only
'We need hope' says German chancellor at EU election campaign kick-off
Criminal fraud trial of UK tech star Mike Lynch to kick off today
