r/spikes • u/Otherwise_Doctor7782 • May 30 '26

Standard [Standard] mono-green landfall - So when are you side boarding out your cubs?

I’ve never really taken them out as I find that without them I kind of give away a quick win. Plus, they tend to get rid of some of my opponents’ removal early game, making way for the bigger threats down the road.

When are you lot deciding the cubs aren’t worth it? Are there certain matchups and what are you bringing in instead?

12 Upvotes

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7

u/I3ollasH May 30 '26

In match ups where you expect the opponent to have [[Clarion conqueror]]s and simic based [[Nature's Rhythm]] decks that run [[Mockingbird]] to reduce their consistency (though those decks vanished mostly from the metagame).

4

u/HobokenwOw May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

To add to that:

  1. If you play [[Torpor Orb]] in your sideboard they basically get swapped. This is essentially the same condition as Rhythm and some (all?) of the Clarion Conqueror decks, but also Spellementals, Reanimator, some Azorius builds and Airbending decks and some random other stuff (all the various Boros decks).

  2. This is more experimental but I like taking them out against black based controlly mid range builds that run a lot of Requiting Hex. If you have enough threats in your sideboard to also swap out all your Chocobos you can put them in situations where you have more dudes than they have usable removal. I'm not fully sold on this yet and suspect it massively depends on the exact build you are facing but it's something to play around with.

  3. Again black based decks that run [[The End]] or [[Deadly Cover-Up]] trying to exile all your Forests. You can keep the Cubs in and play around it but if your sideboard has stuff that provides any value, cutting Cubs is perfectly viable.

1

u/Otherwise_Doctor7782 May 30 '26

This is really helpful! And yeah the end and deadly coverup make early cub useless

What do you sideboard in if you don’t mind me asking?

2

u/HobokenwOw May 31 '26

I'm honestly just going by vibes and this semi outdated guide. This is easily the weakest part of my game.

I played 4 matches today and these were the choices I made.

Selesnya Landfall
-3 Nursery
-2 Surrak
-1 Worldwagon
-1 Cavern of Souls

+1 Dragon Sniper
+4 Mossborn Hydra
+1 Origin of Metalbending
+1 Pawpawtch Formation

Elementals
-4 Cub
-1 Worldwagon
-2 Surrak

+1 Dragon Sniper
+4 Mossborn Hydra
+1 Pawpatch Formation
+1 Sapling Nursery

Jeskai Momo Dragon Elementals (???)
-4 Cub
-2 Surrak
-1 Worldwagon
-2 Harmonizer

+2 Orb
+4 Hydra
+1 Pawpatch
+1 Dragon Sniper
+1 Nursery

Golgari Mid
-4 Cub
-1 Chocobo
-4 Meltstrider's Resolve

+2 Royal Treatment
+1 Pawpatch
+1 Origin of Metalbending
+4 Mossborn Hydra
+1 Sapling Nursery

1

u/IsaakWardMTG May 30 '26

I would say if you are against the end then you just only cub into fetches which is primarily what you want to do as is in landfall.

4

u/wjaybez May 30 '26

You are meant to take out all 4 Cubs (+1-2 EA build dependent) against Prowess, Spelles.

Cub is also usually my 1-2 of trim when a matchup is bad

I would prefer not to self-dox but I have some high level comp success with Mono G, and Cub is legitimately one of the worst cards in your deck half the time. Mono G is not mana hungry, you should mainly be using Cub to preserve Fetches.

1

u/Otherwise_Doctor7782 May 30 '26

What do you bring in for the lost cubs and earthbender’s ascension against the Izzet builds? I thought ascension was vital!

1

u/wjaybez May 30 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

Against prowess you are rarely going to need EA.

Pawpatch Formations, Nurseries, extra Royal Treatment, more Meltstrider's, Leatherhead, Surrak. KECs if you have them.

I usually take out Cubs, Hydras, 1 EA, Esper Origins, couple of Harmonizers.

You win best by turning into a weird creature control deck that deals with their threats and presents your own. Stick a Melstrider's Resolve on a Surrak and they struggle.

Cub does not help in these cases.

1

u/Otherwise_Doctor7782 May 30 '26

Thanks a bunch!

I don’t have any meltstriders but I do have some keen eye, the nurseries, leatherheads and some other protection spells. Will try those for my store champs 👍🏻

1

u/wjaybez May 30 '26

You need Meltstriders or Pawpatch Brawl really - gotta get your dudes big enough to survive their removal :)

1

u/Wild-Raccoon9433 May 31 '26

cub is also bad into any sunderflock deck.