Jacob's Ladder - Updating R/U/G Cobra and Sideboarding

First I’d like to congratulate all the winners of States, especially those who chose to play U/G/R Force.
Using the handy dandy
metagame summary
provided by StarCityGames.com, we can see that it was a mere 3.69% of the field, yet got as many first place finishes as U/W Control and Mono-Green
Eldrazi, which had a much larger showing. This means it was a pretty good choice for the first major event using Scars, and will remain a

force
to be reckoned with.

I’ve written about building a deck around a linchpin and how to playtest/modify the maindeck, but I
have yet to go into how to properly sideboard. This is mostly because they’re hard to create without knowing what sort of things you need to answer. You
could have a need for some artifact destruction to deal with Lux Cannon or some graveyard hate for an abusive combo deck utilizing Hedron Crab, but
Manic Vandal and Nihil Spellbomb are pretty poor at beating Mind Sludge and Quest for the Holy Relic.

Sideboarding is crucial to deck design, because
you will play more sideboarded games than non-
sideboarded games in an event.
This overlooked aspect of design is the place that will give you the most return for time invested if you want to
improve a deck’s matchups.

1. The Metagame

Finding out what you’ll likely face in a tournament is your first order of business. I refer again to the
excellent
metagame
analysis
for Standard. It’s not important to have exact numbers, but it’s important to know what the top archetypes are. I’ve grouped and categorized what’s
in the current metagame here.

Planeswalker control

These are typically U/W decks that run 6-8 planeswalkers.

Primeval Titan ramp

Both Valakut and MGE (Mono-Green Eldrazi) fall into this category.

Interactive aggro

Decks with removal and threats from many different angles, like Mono-Red Aggro.

Non-interactive aggro

These are generally mindless aggression with no way to interact with the opponent outside the attack
phase. Mono-Green Elves, Infect, and most combo decks fall here.

Attrition control

These are decks that specialize in cheap one-for-one removal and several ways to get card advantage.
U/R and U/B are examples of this type of deck.

2. Paths to Defeat

Even in the best of matchups, there are still games you lose. What you need to figure out is how you
lose, so that you can board the appropriate remedy to the situation.

Example: Mono-Red vs. U/W Control. An unchecked Kor Firewalker or Baneslayer Angel is game over for
the Mono-Red deck, so he needs to board answers. (Brittle Effigy)

Example: U/G/R Cobra vs. MGE. Primeval Titan and Summoning Trap are both bad news. (Volition Reins)

Finding out how you lose against all the major decks is key to knowing how to sideboard.

3. Identifying your Role

To determine whether you need to board answers or threats, you need to figure out what your role is
against each of the archetypes, aggro or control. This is important because sideboarding follows the same rules as deckbuilding. An aggressive role
wants you to kill your opponent, so you need to board threats. A controlling role is concerned with
not losing

,
and generally wants to
board removal.

Example: W/G/R Fauna Shaman is an
aggro
deck; it tries to search up and play as many
Vengevines and boom-booms as it takes to finish the game. However, against opponents Vengevine is poor against (non-interactive decks like Mono-Green Elves),
it instead becomes a
control
deck, searching up Cunning Sparkmage and Stoneforge Mystic/Basilisk Collar as fast as possible to remove
threats.

It is possible that both players wish to be aggro or control; this is especially true in mirror
matches. An example of this would be the Mono-Red mirror, where both players generally board out Goblin Guide for bigger threats like Devastating
Summons.

4. Cutting the Chaff

Now that you know what you lose to, and whether you’re the aggro or control, you can figure out the
weakest cards in your deck you need to take out. Some are pretty obvious, like Searing Blaze against a creatureless deck, but others are more
complex.

Example: U/G/R Cobra against Mono-Red. U/G/R is the control deck. Lotus Cobra is ineffective at
blocking and would aspire to be a removal spell at best, so it can be flagged for sideboarding. Frost Titan answers Koth, Molten-Tail Masticore, and
Kargan Dragonlord perfectly, so it doesn’t need to be cut.

Example: U/W Control against Mono-Green Elves. Cancel is removal for cards that cost more than
itself. Mono-Green has few cards that qualify for this, so it should be boarded out.

5. Versatility

When you finally figure out which cards you need to cut, you’ll find that you need far more than
fifteen cards to fill all the requirements. This means you need cards that fulfill multiple roles, so that you aren’t stuck with having to keep a bunch of
bad cards in because you have nothing better for games 2 and 3.

Example: Kor Firewalker is an excellent card against Mono-Red. However, Journey to Nowhere is also
good against that deck, and can also be brought in over Cancel against a Mono-Green Elves deck.

Example: Naturalize is great at destroying Pyromancer Ascension, and Goblin Ruinblaster is great at
destroying lands against the ramp decks. Acidic Slime could be used to fulfill both roles and leave room for the Pyroclasm you need against Mono-
Red.

Some final notes on sideboarding: be on the lookout for cards you board in and take out in a
majority of the games. It’s possible that card shouldn’t even be in your 75.

As always, theory put into practice.

U/G/R Cobra

Michael Jacob

Test deck on 10-24-2010

Standard

Creatures (10)

Planeswalkers (5)

Lands (27)

Spells (18)

I don’t have a sideboard yet, so I need to first see how I lose against each of the major
archetypes.

Planeswalker control

My Role:
Aggressor

I’m especially vulnerable to any planeswalker when I don’t have a board presence. I need some way to
stop a “counter your spell and untap into planeswalker.” My removal is also not close to being good enough to stop enemy Titans. I need better
threats.

-1 Into the Roil, -1 Flame Slash, -4 Lightning Bolt for sure, with -2 Spreading Seas possible

6-8 Slots, mostly threats.

Volition Reins is the best answer to planeswalkers and is even a passable threat. Counterspells on
my Oracle and Titans suck, so perhaps some Negates/Spell Pierce. The best possible threat is likely Gaea’s Revenge, so maybe some of those.

2 Gaea’s Revenge
2 Volition Reins
3 Negate
1 Spell Pierce

Primeval Titan ramp

My Role:
Aggressor

Ramp decks in general are bad matchups because I have no way to interact with them outside of Frost
Titan. I need some ways to disrupt their mana or answer their threats. Counterspells are not the answer, as being a bad control deck is not the way
to beat them.

-4 Lightning Bolt, -1 Into the Roil, -1 Inferno Titan, -1 Flame Slash

7 Slots, disruption and removal needed.

Volition Reins is pretty good against these decks, and Acidic Slime or Goblin Ruinblaster coupled
with Jace could easily win. Tectonic Edge and Lodestone Golem are also possibilities. Chandra kills Primeval Titan, but isn’t that great against
Summoning Trap. Brittle Effigy costs the same amount, but also deals with trap quite nicely.

2 Volition Reins
2 Acidic Slime
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Brittle Effigy

Interactive aggro

My Role:
Control

My ramp (Lotus Cobra and Oracle) is vulnerable to cheap removal, and I don’t have any mass removal,
so if I get behind I lose.

-4 Lotus Cobra, -1 Oracle of Mul Daya, -1 Jace Beleren

6 Slots, a way to come back if behind, removal, and card advantage needed.

Pyroclasm seems just the ticket, and I’m already taking out some lower drops to fit them in.
Obstinate Baloth also provides a way to come back if behind.

3 Pyroclasm
3 Obstinate Baloth

Non-interactive aggro

My Role:
Control

I have no answer to Eldrazi Monument; one at any point is game over. I also don’t have enough
removal for a fast draw. Frost Titan is also probably not good enough.

-1 Deprive, -2 Frost Titan, -2 Spreading Seas, -1 Jace Beleren

6 Slots, removal and a better win condition required.

Pyroclasm would be an easy fit, but Lotus Cobra is actually quite good here. Well, this deck’s worst
nightmare is probably Cunning Sparkmage + Basilisk Collar, which we can do pretty quickly with Preordain and Jace. Could even be considered an
alternate win condition, something we needed anyways.

2 Basilisk Collar
1 Trinket Mage
3 Cunning Sparkmage

Attrition control

My Role:
Aggressor

My worst matchup by far. I only have ten ways to actually win a game (Oracle, Titans, and Jace), so
a few cheap removal followed by some Cancels is game over.

-4 Lightning Bolt, -1 Flame Slash, -1 Into the Roil, can cut Cobras if slots are available

6-10 Slots, need threats badly. Gaea’s Revenge seems pretty sweet here, and Volition Reins might be
good as well. Acidic Slime could be a decent card against a lot of them, and Negates to finish it off.

2 Gaea’s Revenge
1 Volition Reins
2 Acidic Slime
3 Negate
1 Spell Pierce

Now to see where we are.

2 Gaea’s Revenge
2 Volition Reins
3 Negate
1 Spell Pierce
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Brittle Effigy
3 Pyroclasm
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Basilisk Collar
1 Trinket Mage
3 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Acidic Slime

This is 25 cards, and we need to cut it down to 15.

Cutting a Brittle Effigy because we already have a Trinket Mage.

Cunning Sparkmage and Pyroclasm sort of do the same thing; Pyroclasm can go.

Obstinate Baloth only comes in one matchup, and so does Tectonic Edge, so we should probably cut
down one of each of those.

Gaea’s Revenge is sweet, but it costs a lot and gets a lot worse in multiples. We can probably bring
that down to a one-of.

Acidic Slime and Volition Reins do very similar things, so one could probably be cut. I’ll lean
towards keeping Acidic Slime, as I already have some six-drops, and Jace loves a Slime.

I’ve also already got a Deprive maindeck, so I could cut a Negate.

What we are left with:

U/G/R Cobra

Michael Jacob

Test deck on 10-24-2010

Standard