The Transformative Sideboard - Preliminary Testing

Before today's blog post, I would like to draw your attention to this piece of news: I have a guest post up on Magic Game Plan this week! The guest post is an exhaustive primer on GSS Jund, and can be found here. It's a long read, even by my standards (2,200 words) but if you're thinking about playing GSS Jund, or even regular Jund, it's an excellent read.

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Here's the thing about this blog: I'm not going to back anything up on it's own merit. I'm going to test ideas that come to me. So when I made the transformative sideboard, I decided I had to try it out for myself. As per my tradition, I hopped on to Magic Workstation to play a few matches. I used the exact list from yesterday's post.

Match 1: Matte's U/R Control

We play land-go for the first few turns. I play a Bloodbraid Elf cascading into Boggart Ram-Gang, and it gets hit with Double Negative. DAMN, who plays that maindeck? I mean, seriously. Next turn I play a second Bloodbraid Elf which also gets Double Negatived, but luckily I cascade into Great Sable Stag which can't be countered. He passes again. I play Boggart Ram-Gang, and swing. He casts Flame Javelin on Great Sable Stag and falls to 17.

He plays Jace and draws, and I Lightning Bolt him in the end step. I draw and attack with Boggart Ram-Gang. He plays Lightning Bolt on it, and I respond with Jund Charm to pump it. Jace dies. I then play Anathemancer for 3, knocking him to 11. He passes. I swing with Boggart Ram-Gang, he bounces the 5/5 and draws a card. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Maelstrom Pulse, which I decline to play. He uses Volcanic Fallout in his turn.

I play Boggart Ram-Gang, and it meets an Essence Scatter. I play a second Boggart Ram-Gang and he Flame Javelins it. We pass. I play Great Sable Stag and pass. He plays Swans of Bryn Argoll, and Lightning Bolts Great Sable Stag. He passes. At end of turn, I Lightning Bolt Swans of Bryn Argoll. Refilling my empty hand I remind him why Ancestral Recall is broken by playing Putrid Leech, Anathemancer, and a seventh land. He swings me to 16, so obvioulsy he has a Cryptic Command. During my upkeep, he bounces my seventh land to prevent unearthing and taps my guys. I play Boggart Ram-Gang and swing him down to 4. He draws and concedes.

Game 2 I play Sign in Blood, and he uses Double Negative. He plays Jace, and I kill it with Lightning Bolt during the end step. I untap, lay a land and pass. He plays Plumeveil at end of turn, then passes. I pass again (s0 much land), and so does he. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ram-Gang, and swing. He uses Lightning Bolt on Boggart Ram-Gang and blocks Bloodbraid Elf with the Plumeveil. I use Jund Charm to save Boggart Ram-Gang, and he Flame Javelins my Ram-Gang in response. Everything dies except for Plumeveil. He plays another Plumeveil, then passes. We both pass for a few turns as I creep past seven land. I get to about eleven land before I draw a non-reactive card. I play Anathemancer, and he Essence Scatters it. During the same turn, I unearth it for 6 damage to hit him to 14, then attack. He blocks with Plumeveil. I pass.

He plays a Bogardan Hellkite at EOT, hitting me to 15. I try for Bituminous Blast, and he Double Negatives it, then swings with the Hellkite. I go to 10. I untap, and play Maelstrom Pulse on the Hellkite. At end of turn, he activates Gargoyle Castle. I use Bituminous Blast into Lightning Bolt, aiming the Blast at his Castle and the Bolt at him. He goes to 11. He plays Oona, Queen of the Fae, and I use Maelstrom Pulse. He Cryptic Commands Maelstrom Pulse, tapping out. I use Jund Charm and Lightning Bolt to kill Oona. He passes, and I play Putrid Leech. We both pass for a few turns: I don't want to lose Leech to a Plumeveil. He draws, plays Bogardan Hellkite, and then Lightning Bolt for the win.

Game 3 I play Sign in Blood, then Great Sable Stag. He Lightning Bolts the Stag. I play Anathemancer, which gets Essence Scattered. Next turn I play Anathemancer for 2 (18) and pass. I swing twice more (14) and he passes. Then he plays Oona, tapping out, and I use 2 Lightning Bolts to kill it, untap, and play my own threat I'd been sandbagging: Broodmate Dragon from the sideboard. I swing him to 12 with Anathemancer. He passes. I go to attack, he taps my creatures and bounces the token. He passes. I swing, he attempts Flame Javelin on the Broodmate. I cast Jund Charm, he casts Flashfreeze, I cast another Jund Charm, he goes to 4, passes, and I unearth Anathemancer for the win.

1-0

Match 2 vs. BeerAtog's Time Sieve Combo

He plays Elsewhere Flask, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Jace, I play a Boggart Ram-Gang to kill it. I swing, he lets it through, and I Jund Charm the Ram-Gang. He goes to 15. On his turn, he Cryptic Commands to bounce / draw, then Silences me on my upkeep. I respond with two Lightning Bolts to the face (9) and pass. He plays Jace, we both draw. I play Boggart Ram-Gang, he plays Pollen Lullaby, tying the clash. I play Sign in Blood. He plays Time Warp, Time Warp, Elsewhere Flask and Howling Mine. He plays Time Sieve and shows me Open the Vaults and Tezzeret in his hand, and I concede.

I suddenly have an epiphany of how to beat this deck: Maelstrom Pulse their Borderposts. I side in the Maelstrom Pulses and a Jund Charm for 3 Bituminous Blasts.

He plays a Turn 1 Mistvein Borderpost, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Elsewhere Flask, I play Putrid Leech. He plays a second Mistvein Borderpost. I Maelstrom Pulse them, and basically win right there. I swing for 4 (16, 16) and pass. He plays another Mistvein Borderpost and an Elsewhere Flask. I swing with Putrid Leech, and Jund Charm it. (14, 10). He draws and concedes.

Game 3 he plays Mistvein Borderpost and passes. I lay a land and pass. He plays Elsewhere Flask, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Kaleidostone, and Silences me during upkeep. I Bolt him to 17 in response, lay a land, and pass. He plays Vedalken Outlander and passes. I play Sign in Blood, lay land 4, and pass. I Bolt him to 14 and play Great Sable Stag. He plays Time Warp, then Vedalken Outlander, and passes. I play a full Mulldrifter and swing. He uses Pollen Lullaby. He plays Mistvein Borderpost and Tezzeret. Hw swings with the Vedalken Outlanders, knocking me to 12, and passes. I attack Tezzeret, and get hit with Pollen Lullaby. I play Maelstrom Pulse to kill Tezzeret, and play Putrid Leech. He passes. I Pulse the Vedalken Outlanders and attack for 10, knocking him to 4. He draws, and concedes.

2-0

Match 3 vs. Lorenzo Gerry's U/B Fae

He plays Turn 2 Bitterblossom, I play Turn 3 Putrid Leech. He flashes a Scion and hits me for 3 (17). I attack, and pump PL (15, 18). He uses Agony Warp. I play Great Sable Stag. He attacks for 5. During my upkeep he uses Mistbind Clique, and so far behind, I concede.

I side in Fallouts and a Jund Charm for something.

I play Turn 2 Sign in Blood and Turn 3 Great Sable Stag. He uses Vendilion Clique to take my Volcanic Fallout, and I draw Bloodbraid Elf. Nice. I Lightning Bolt the Clique and attack for 3. He goes to 17. He passes, and I play Bloodbraid Elf into Boggart Ram-Gang. He plays Broken Ambitions to counter the Ram-Gang, and I swing for 6. He goes to 11. He passes. I swing, he Agony Warps Bloodbraid Elf and goes to 8. He passes. I swing him to 5. He draws and concedes.

Game 3 he goes on the attack, playing Spellstutter Sprite and attacks. EOT he flashes a Scion, I bolt it. He swings (18) and I get stuck on 2. He swings again (17) and I draw Savage Lands and play it. He plays Bitterblossom. I play Bloodbraid Elf into Volcanic Fallout (probably a mistake to play it). He Brokens the Elf. He Mistbind Cliques me in my upkeep. I pass. He swings me to 9, I draw and play Maelstrom Pulse on Mistbind Clique. He plays Scion in response, and I lose.

And who said Faeries was dead? Even WITH Great Sable Stag it's not the auto-win I expected.

2-1

Match 4 vs. Caonima's Five-Color Control

I play Turn 2 Sign in Blood and Turn 3 Great Sable Stag. He passes. I swing for 3, then play Sign in Blood. He Brokens it. I use Bloodbraid Elf into Jund Charm, and try to pump the stag. He points out Great Sable Stag has protection from black, so I exile the one card in his graveyard instead. I swing him to 11 and end my turn. He passes, then Cryptic Commands to tap and draw. I play Anathemancer for 3 and Lightning Bolt him to 5, then swing for the win next turn.

Game 2 I choose to sideboard nothing at all.

He stumbles on his second land. I play Boggart Ram-Gang and attack. He gets his second land. I play Boggart Ram-Gang 2 and swing to 11. He passes. I attack, he AW's. I pump the -0/-3 one, and he goes to 6. He plays Runed Halo naming Boggart Ram-Gang. I play Maelstrom Pulse, and he dies incredibly quickly.

3-1

So there you have it! Although in none of the matches I used the transformational sideboard to transform fully, I did use 12 of the cards at some point during the day (all except Cruel Ultimatum and Doom Blade) and I was playing against a bevy of control and aggro. I'll do some more testing over the coming weeks.

Lessons I've Learnt:

Scion of Oona + Bitterblossom can and will outrace Great Sable Stag.

Great Sable Stag is very useful against Faeries, but it's not an auto-win.

Maelstrom Pulsing 2 Borderposts with one Pulse will win you the game 90% of the time against Time Sieve Combo. If you have at least one creature out, or need tempo to get to Bloodbraid Elf, use it on a single Borderpost. The tempo against Time Sieve is the only way you can really interact with them.

See you tomorrow!