The Transformative Sideboard

One seldom used fact in Magic is that if you have the manabase right, it only takes 15 cards to transform a mostly-aggro deck into a mostly-control deck. 15 cards, conveniently, is the same amount of cards in a sideboard. So today we're going to talk about the Transformative Sideboard.

The example I will be using is the transformative sideboard I've invented for GSS Jund. I will most likely be playing GSS Jund at least until Zendikar, so expect to hear a lot about it. I'm convinced as to the power and consistency of the deck.

A brief aside: I was able to get 95% of a Jund list today: enough to play it. The sideboard was messy, and I was missing 2 Lightning Bolts, but other than that it was great. I went 3-1, losing to a Goblin deck that I probably would have beaten if I'd practiced rationing my sweepers.

The List:

I'm using the following list:

4 Savage Lands

4 Twilight Mire

3 Vivid Marsh

3 Vivid Grove

4 Reflecting Pool

3 Graven Cairns

1 Swamp

1 Forest

1 Mountain

1 Fire-Lit Thicket

Creatures (19)

4 Bloodbraid Elf

4 Great Sable Stag

4 Boggart Ram-Gang

3 Putrid Leech

4 Anathemancer

Spells (16)

2 Maelstrom Pulse

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Sign in Blood

4 Bituminous Blast

3 Jund Charm

After testing Jund Charm, I've determined that it is, in fact, nothing short of absolutely amazing. Throughout the day it's been an excellent combat trick, letting me run my Ram-Gangs and Bloodbraid Elves into Kitchen Finks all day, and a great sweeper as well. I wish I could play 4 maindeck but I can't justify cutting a Pulse or Bolt even for an amazing card like this. It's better than Fallout, and I can sideboard in Fallout against Faeries or Merfolk if need be.

The Sideboard:

Here's the sideboard I cooked up:

2 Maelstrom Pulse

3 Volcanic Fallout

2 Broodmate Dragon

2 Cruel Ultimatum

4 Mulldrifter

1 Doom Blade

1 Jund Charm

Sideboard Plans:

Here's my sideboard plan:

Vs. Elf Combo

-4 Great Sable Stag, -4 Anathemancer, -4 Boggart Ram-Gang, +1 Jund Charm, +4 Mulldrifter, +3 Volcanic Fallout, +2 Cruel Ultimatum, +2 Broodmate Dragon.

Maelstrom Pulse is rarely a use here: they can replace the Pulsed cards with one Ranger even in the unlikely event you hit two. Your plan here is to use your 7 sweepers to stop your opponent going off (using Mulldrifters to draw them) and then play a Broodmate Dragon or Cruel Ultimatum and win off that.

Vs. Kithkin

-4 Anathemancer, -2 Boggart Ram-Gang, -4 Great Sable Stag +1 Jund Charm, +3 Volcanic Fallout, +2 Maelstrom Pulse, +2 Broodmate Dragon, +2 Cruel Ultimatum

Keep the Ram-Gangs and Leeches in: they're good blockers and survive your sweepers. You want to save your Pulses for Honor of the Pure here, so you can kill all their guys with sweepers. Otherwise, same plan as against Elf Combo, except you don't want to tap out when they have armies-in-a-can, so no Mulldrifters. BMD's and Cruels are worth tapping out for.

Vs. B/R Burn

-4 Boggart Ram-Gang, -4 Putrid Leech, -4 Anathemancer, +1 Jund Charm, +2 Maelstrom Pulse, +1 Doom Blade, +4 Mulldrifter, +2 Broodmate Dragon, +2 Cruel Ultimatum

Putrid Leeches are bad here since you have to burn life to keep them alive, so they kill you quicker. Mulldrifters are good for refilling your hand and blocking / killing some of their creatures, whereas Broodmate and Cruel generally seal the game for you. In Broodmate's case it may not, but they'll need to use so much burn they won't catch up and you'll lay another finisher eventually.

Vs. Five-Color Control

-3 Jund Charm, +3 Mulldrifter

You generally want to use the Mulldrifters to draw into more aggro. Jund Charm is almost useless here.

Vs. Time Sieve Combo

-3 Jund Charm, -3 Bituminous Blast, +2 Maelstrom Pulse, +4 Volcanic Fallout

Target their Tezzerets. They only have 2. If preferable, get them with Lightning Bolts at instant speed. The main strategy for this is to avoid it. It's not too popular.

Vs. Warp World

-4 Anathemancer, +3 Volcanic Fallout, +1 Jund Charm

Grey Ogres bad. Sweepers good vs. Siege-Gang. Need I say more?

Vs. Jund

Option One: -3 Great Sable Stag, +2 Maelstrom Pulse, +1 Jund Charm

Use your Jund Charms as combat tricks, and cascade as much as possible. Pulses are dicey. Hold them back if you're ahead but if they get ahead, you can generally strategically even it out.

Option Two: -3 Putrid Leech, -4 Boggart Ram-Gang, -4 Great Sable Stag, +2 Maelstrom Pulse, +3 Volcanic Fallout, +2 Broodmate Dragon, +2 Cruel Ultimatum, +3 Mulldrifter

Option two is to transition into Five-Color Control and fight them that way, using sweepers and removal to hold them off until you play Broodmate Dragon or Cruel Ultimatum. Pick whichever choice you're more comfortable with, and be sure to playtest both.

So essentially, the idea of a transformational sideboard is not to side in CARDS that make your matchup stronger, which are of course, unreliable when not drawn, but to take on the role of aggro or control that your deck needs to take. Most decks can be beaten if you take the right role, and a transformational sideboard allows you to do so. Try it out, and see how it goes! But don't try to out-control a full Five-Color Control list. They hold the cards there.

Until next time, may you surprise your opponent by dropping a Cruel after a Bloodbraid Elf.

Lessons I've learnt today:

Broodmate Dragon is a great sideboard card.

Great Sable Stag is almost always relevant.

Sweepers are awesome. Very, very awesome.

See you tomorrow!

Next Level Faeries: First Impressions

Well, I've tested Next Level Faeries a bit today, and I've come to the following conclusion: it is awesome.

I changed the list slightly since yesterday. Here's the list I tested with for all the matches today:

Lands (25)

4 Cascade Bluffs

4 Crumbling Necropolis

3 Island

1 Mountain

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Secluded Glen

4 Sunken Ruins

1 Swamp

Creatures (13)

4 Mistbind Clique

3 Scion of Oona

2 Sower of Temptation

3 Spellstutter Sprite

1 Vendilion Clique

Spells (22)

4 Bitterblossom

3 Broken Ambitions

4 Cryptic Command

3 Firespout

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Terminate

Sideboard (15)

4 Anathemancer

3 Double Negative

2 Glen Elendra Archmage

2 Jace Beleren

2 Sower of Temptation

1 Flashfreeze

1 Puppeteer Clique

We have the decklist, now let's justify it's existence. Into the testing!

Match 1 vs. Elf Combo

He starts out fast and I start out slow. He plays 2 Elvish Visionaries, a Llanowar Elf, and a Devoted Druid. I kill the Devoted Druid with Lightning Bolt and play Bitterblossom. I Spellstutter Sprite a Heritage Druid, and flash in a Scion of Oona so I can block a Visionary with my now 2/2 token. He plays Heritage Druid and Ranger of Eos for 2 Nettle Sentinels and hits me to 11 next turn. I play another Scion of Oona and use my 3/3 army to swing for lethal.

Game 2, I sideboard in a Flashfreeze for a Terminate.

He plays 2 Llanowar Elves and Heritage Druid while I build my manabase. He plays Eos and Nettle Sentinel, and I sprite the Sentinel. After he draws, I Vendilion Clique him, seeing a Mirror Entity, Regal Force, Nettle Sentinel and Dauntless Escort. I toss the Regal Force (normally, I'd toss the Entity, but I have a Sower in hand which at the moment appears my one chance to win the game).

I block Ranger of Eos with the Clique, and he plays out his hand. I use Sower of Temptation to steal Mirror Entity. He plays an Imperious perfect and I take 7. He passes, and so do I. He plays Coat of Arms, setting himself up for a blowout Cryptic Command, which I gratefully take, tapping his guys and countering the trumping artifact.

I pass, and he plays Mirror Entity. I Broken it for 2, forcing him to tap two Llanowar Elves or let it get countered. After a think, he taps the Elves and swings. I flash in a Scion and block the Perfect with a 3/3 Sower, and he sacs the Escort to save it. I untap, activate Mirror Entity for all 6 of my mana, and swing with a 6/6 Scion, 7/7 Sower and 7/7 Sprite to win the game and the match.

1-0.

Match 2 vs. U/B Mill

I mulligan to 5. Not good. He plays a Turn 2 Howling Mine, and I flash in a Spellstutter Sprite. I swing, and pass. He passes, and I flash in a Scion. I swing for 3. He plays Infest. I use Cryptic Command, and he Countersqualls it. I pass. He plays Jace, which I Broken Ambitions, and he uses another Countersquall. He uses it's +2 ability, and I use double Lightning Bolt to kill it. I play Bitterblossom.

He untaps, and plays Time Warp go, Time Warp go, Wall of Frost (keeping in mind he's drawing 2 cards per turn off Howling Mine) and says go. I pass. He plays Mind Funeral, and Twincasts it, leaving me with 27 cards left in my deck. I play Mistbind Clique, which gets Essence Scattered. He passes, and my second Clique also gets Scattered. My Cryptic Command gets Countersqualled, and the same thing happens AGAIN next turn.

He plays Mind Funeral and mills 4 land in a row, but then plays another Mind Funeral dropping me to 6 cards. I play all my Faeries, but am unable to find the last Scion I need to win the game before I run out of cards.

Game 2 I side out my Firespouts, Sowers and Terminates for Glen Elendra Archmage, Double Negative and Anathemancer. He's not running many nonbasics, but it's better than a 4 mana 2/2.

I play a Turn 2 Bitterblossom, which he finds hard to deal with. He plays Howling Mine. I pass, and he goes for a second. I use Spellstutter Sprite, and Bolt him down to 17. I swing, and flash in a Scion. He plays Mind Funeral milling me for about twelve cards, and I swing for 7. Failing to find an answer at 10, facing 9 damage next turn and a Lightning Bolt as soon as I draw it, he concedes.

Game 3

I mulligan to 5 again, but he plays Turn 2 Howling Mine, alleviating my concerns of mana screw. I play Turn 2 Bitterblossom. He plays Turn 3 Howling Mine, and I match it with a second Bitterblossom! I start swinging in earnest, including a Spellstutter Sprite flashed in at EOT. He plays MF + Twincast for 22 cards. I take advantage of his being tapped out and swing with 6 Faeries, flash in a Scion of Oona, and play Lightning Bolt to take out his last 15 life in one hit.

Afterwards he showed me an Infest, and says he knew he should have played it, and that he made a mistake. I agree, tell him he'll get better with more testing, and we part ways.

2-0.

Match 3 vs. B/W Discard

He has an evil little deck with Duress, Thoughtseize and Scepter of Fugue, with Nyxathid and Baneslayer Angel as finishers.

Game 1 he plays Thoughtseize for my Turn 2 play, then Sign in Blood, then Scepter of Fugue, then Duress. I've basically already lost this game. He plays Thoughtseize, which I Broken, then play Bitterblossom. I go for a Mistbind Clique on his upkeep and he Doom Blades it. He takes my last card in hand with Scepter and plays Nyxathid. Next turn he plays Baneslayer Angel. I use Vendilion Clique to reveal 2 Path to Exile and Mind Shatter. I keep playing to find out what else is in his deck, but he plays a second Nyxathid and I scoop.

I sideboard out Firespouts for Anathemancers and something else for Archmages.

Game 2 he plays Scepter of Fugue, and I play Anathemancer Turn 3 and Archmage Turn 4. He plays double Path to Exile, and I play a second Archmage. I play Lightning Bolt, and hit him to 14, then play Jace, last card in hand. He plays Baneslayer Angel a couple of turns later. I use a third -1 to kill my Jace, then play another one from my hand and draw with that. He Paths my Archmage and kills Jace, then plays a second Baneslayer Angel. I play Bitterblossom. He purges it, and that's the game right there.

2-1.

Match 4 vs. Grixis Mannequin

At first I think it's the mirror match Game 1 as we both play identical lands. I play a Jace, which gets Broken Ambitioned, and then he evokes a drifter. I play Jace 2, and he plays Mulldrifter at full price. I Sower it, and use Jace's +2 to go to 3 counters. He evokes Shriekmaw to kill my Sower, and I play end of turn Spellstutter Sprite, which gets through, and end of turn Scion, which gets hit with Double Negative. I use Terminate and Mistbind Clique when he taps out, and he uses Cruel Ultimatum. Ow.

I've never, ever won a game where my opponent has resolved Cruel Ultimatum. Nor have I lost a duel where I resolved it. But I play on anyway. I Mistbind Clique my last guy, and pass. He evokes Shriekmaw to kill it and then plays a full-price Mulldrifter. I use Sower of Temptation, and he uses Bogardan Hellkite to kill Sower and Jace. I draw land, Broken Ambitions, and Bitterblossom and die to the dragon.

Game 2 I sideboard in my Puppeteer Clique and my Flashfreeze for Firespouts. I might have sided in Archmages too. Can't remember.

Game 2 I play Bitterblossom, and he passes for a couple of turns. I start attacking. When he evokes a Mulldrifter, I Spellstutter Sprite it. I Puppeteer Clique his Mulldrifter and swing. He plays a Mulldrifter and I Bolt it, and he concedes, and just like that it's on to Game 3.

Game 3 I play a Bitterblossom, and he uses Broken Ambitions. He gets stuck on 3 mana, and I play Jace. He draws a Crumbling Necropolis as his fourth mana, and I use Jace and pass. He Makeshift Mannequins for a discarded Hellkite, and I Cryptic Command it. He Makeshift Mannequins during his turn for a Hellkite, killing Jace. I Lightning Bolt it, and it dies thanks to the mannequin counter on it. I draw into a second Mistbind Clique with no other Fae, but I've drawn lots of lands with Jace, thinning my deck.

I draw the bomb, playing Puppeteer Clique. By some miracle it resolves, and I aim the Hellkite squarely at his face, knocking off half his life total. Next turn I Terminate my own Clique, stealing his Mulldrifter. I swing, he uses Volcanic Fallout. I CC to bounce my Clique and draw, and he Fallouts in response. Fine by me. He drops to 6, and I play the double Lightning Bolts I'd been saving in my hand for the win.

3-1.

So all in all I'd say that Lightning Bolt is very useful in the Faeries deck, and I would continue to use it if I was a Fae player. I might also consider taking out a Firespout and Terminate for 2 Time Warps, and 2 Double Negatives in the sideboard for Firespouts, which without green mana can't hit any of your guys! I think with tuning and testing, Next Level Faeries is a viable deck for FNM or even a PTQ. I'd love to hear any success you have with the deck, either by Twitter (my username is mtgsalivanth) by blog comment, or by e-mail (at www.salivanth@live.com).

Until next time, may you test before taking my word for it:)

Lessons I've Learnt Today:

It can be very hard to get people to play a match to conclusion in MWS. Especially if it's your last match of the day.

Lightning Bolt is AWESOME. Terminate is less awesome due to the mana, and nonblack is almost never relevant. I would consider replacing it with Doom Blade maindeck.

Grixis Mannequin runs Cruel Ultimatum! Don't tap out against it!

Time Warp + Howling Mine is a powerful tempo boost.

See you tomorrow!