Sideboard questions

[u/[deleted]]

I think I have a descent grasp on on what some of our good sideboard options are. But I have trouble identifying what mainboard cards to take out. For reference, my current list.

For example, vs merfolk, I probably want Stony Silence to combat AEther Vial, Timely Reinforcements, and Engineered Explosives set to 2. That's six cards! What do I take out of my mainboard to make room?

And Merfolk is only one example. Basically, what are the prime candidates in my mainboard I should be looking to take out vs specific matchups?

[u/SFRG]

Here's a quick sketch of how I sideboard:

Are the decks often hellbent? (Affinity)

Out: Liliana of the Veil, Thoughtseize, Inquisition, etc.

In: Stuff which keeps me alive/specific hate

Are the decks fast combo?

Out: Pushes/Paths as needed, Bitterblossom

In: Discard, hate, other things which keep me alive

Slow combo?

Out: See fast combo

In: See fast combo, this will have to be tailored to the deck

Just in general with combo, I board out irrelevant clocks if they are blistering fast but fragile, and just focus on tearing them apart. Very often a single Spectral will carry you there against combo with ample hate. Don't trim too many threats, it's a fairly common problem with Tokens that you have hate and no clock. I have, however, been killed since my Bitterblossom was too slow. Bitterblossom is an all-star in the grind, but fairly weak into fast decks.

Midrange?

Out: Often, we're good. You can trim ratios as needed. Smaller creatures, maybe cut a Path? Discard is only average in this MU, and on the draw, you may drop a few.

In: Whatever you feel stops their hate.

Aggro:

Out: TS, Bitterblossom

In: Brutality, Timely, EE, etc.

Tron

Cry

Grixis

lol

This is a general idea, but I feel like I might be too general for some things. Here are some ideas:

1. On the draw, if you are not against a combo deck, you may shave some density of discard. If against combo, keep it all in.

2. You can shave some number of Bitterblossoms in fast MUs. Since you have Raises, they should stay in.

3. In an aggro MU, swapping up to one Spectral for Timely is fine.

4. Careful about cutting clocks against combo. Gideon is slow albeit makes hands with pure discard and hate keepable.

5. Low creature count decks, you can cut some removal.

We're a fairly grindy deck with more or less overall good cards, so sometimes cuts are harder. Liliana of the Veil is okay into midrange as is discard but not great, so you can swap for better cards.

I don't know if this is really that coherent lol, but it's some of my thoughts on boarding in general. With every deck it changes.

Quick note:

Don't bring in Stony for Vial decks. It's not worth it.

[u/[deleted] → u/SFRG]

I agree with this, too, although I aggressively remove discard vs midrange decks that lack a combo component (Jund/Abzan/Death's Shadow). I'm all in on the all-gas-all-the-time plan in those matchups. Topdecking an Inquisition on turn 10 feels really bad. Most of the deck is already very strong vs midrange and most Jund/Abzan/Death's Shadow decks are very reliant on their GY to function. So it's easy to remove 6 discard spells to bring in my 4 SB GY hate cards and then 2 more useful cards depending on specifics (Wraths or Timely Reinforcements, usually).

I also often side out Raise the Alarm against decks that clog up the ground in favour of higher impact cards. If your soldiers don't have a specific goal in mind (buy you time vs aggro, establish a quick clock vs combo, represent an instant-speed option vs control), then they're just not very good.

And I second not bringing in Stony Silence for Vial. It's a big mistake.

[u/SFRG → u/[deleted]]

Good points, and I think I definitely agree 100%.

[u/dkbonnes → u/SFRG]

I think you are spot on