Positive EV - Sideboarding, Extended, and Alara Reborn

As I’ve talked about Extended Faeries for the past few weeks, I now want to talk about several things that are on my mind. These include general sideboarding, two Extended decks with a lot of potential, and Alara Reborn.

Sideboarding

Before each Grand Prix and Pro Tour, I run through each matchup and create a sideboard plan. This changed for GP: Singapore; if I were asked how I would sideboard against a specific deck type at that tournament, I would have no answer. Each player plays a different style of Magic, and most of the people don’t run the perfect “average deck.” I played several matches against Naya during GP: Singapore, and I sideboarded different every round. Not only did I learn from previous rounds, I also wanted to adjust my deck list in accordance with my opponent and his play style.

Against people that wouldn’t attack with Mogg Fanatic to stop me from charging an Umezawa’s Jitte, I would sideboard out an Umezawa’s Jitte as it would not be very good against how my opponent played his game. If they were successfully playing around Mana Leak, I sideboarded out one of those. If I had the feeling he wouldn’t play around Cryptic Command I would leave the card in, even though it is pretty bad in the matchup. Against the first Domain Zoo opponent I played in Singapore, I kept all three Stifles in the sideboard, while I boarded them all in against the next Domain Zoo player as he showed me Tidehollow Sculler (and Duergar Hedge-Mage in the second game).

I think it is fine to discuss which cards are always good in the specific matchup, the ones you want to bring in for sure, and it helps to highlight that cards that are very bad… but they don’t have to be the same number. This doesn’t mean you should overload your sideboard for some matchups just because the numbers don’t have to be the same. You still have to have a plan. This is why Gabriel Nassif sideboards work. While he is running mostly one-ofs in his sideboard, he can adjust his deck to his opponent’s play-style and strategy excellently well. While Energy Flux might be better than Kataki most of the time, he is able to sideboard in Kataki for matchups in which he is searching for more early pressure, or maybe just creatures in general. I am not a huge fan of his individual sideboard choices in part, but I still respect those decisions, and I don’t think they are bad as other people make out.

There was a forum question last week asking me how I would sideboard against Naya.
Do they bring in Oblivion Ring or Duergar Hedge-Mage against you? Are they keeping hands without a one-drop? Or are they going to Paris, searching for a very aggressive hand? If they don’t, and they bring in Ring or Hedge-Mage, I want to bring in Stifle.

Do you expect them to take out their Tarmogoyf because they fear Threads of Disloyalty? And is their deck full of one- and three-drops after sideboard? You might think about cutting a Spell Snare or two.

Are they playing around your Umezawa’s Jitte? Are they running it themselves? You might either want to board one out, or keep the full set.

You should ask yourself questions like this every time you sideboard. You don’t sideboard against a specific matchup… you sideboard against a specific deck, and a specific player.

Extended

UB Trinket Control

Ruizi Lin

Test deck on 04-05-2009

Extended

Creatures (14)

Lands (23)

Spells (23)

Sideboard

The deck seems very solid in the current format, and it has a lot of potential. When I played against it, I was very impressed. Still, the creator of the deck, Ruizi Lin, seems unsure about the power-level of some cards like Mana Leak or Condescend.

Here are some changes I would suggest for the deck:

-2 Glen Elendra Archmage
+1 Venser, Shaper Savant
+1 Vendilion Clique

In the current format, I am not a huge fan of Glen Elendra Archmage. Most Faerie decks run main deck Sower of Temptation, while most other decks have access to cards like Volcanic Fallout. Venser, Shaper Savant is very good against the Faerie decks that try to control the board with Cryptic Command and Sower of Temptation, and it helps to fight cards like Woolly Thoctar and Sulfuric Vortex.

-1 Hallowed Fountain
+1 Academy Ruins

-3 Circle of Protection: Red
+3 Deathmark

The combination of Academy Ruins and Executioner’s Capsule is very hard to fight for a Faerie deck. Even though the land is legendary, it is totally worth it. I also like Deathmark more against the Red decks than Circle of Protection: Red, as the most important threats to deal with from the Red deck seem to be Woolly Thoctar and Tarmogoyf.

-2 Condescend
+2 Mana Leak

Mana Leak seems very important against the Red decks, enabling you to deal with a one-drop on the second turn.

-1 Repeal
+1 Thirst for Knowledge

As this deck has no access to Ancestral Vision due to its manabase, I would suggest you max out on Thirst for Knowledge. It also helps you slam down an early Tombstalker.

-2 Cranial Extraction
+2 Extirpate

I think Cranial Extraction is a bit too slow for the format. Extirpate does the same thing very often. Bear in mind that you are able to Extirpate Mind’s Desire when the Storm Triggers of Mind’s Desire are on the stack, ensuring that your opponent is unable to reveal another copy and you got a higher chance he fizzles during the combo.

Overall, the deck has a lot of potential, but it seems to struggle against an Ancient Grudge. If you are a fan of Blue-based decks, but you don’t want to play Faeries or Strom, you should definitely try his build.

Bant splash Red

Manuel Bucher

Test deck on 04-05-2009

Extended

Creatures (24)

Lands (23)

Spells (13)

Sideboard

Most Bant decks I’ve seen so far have a huge problem against both Faeries and Combo. With Vendilion Clique and Stifle, I max out on disruption and still keep up enough pressure through the addition of Wild Nacatl.

Against Faeries, the additional spot removal (in the form of Lightning Helix) and more early pressure from Wild Nacatl gives them trouble stabilizing. Ranger of Eos is pretty good at fighting both Faeries and Red-based Aggro Decks.

Similar decks had a lot of success in Italy. Still, most of the lists I saw were outdated (in my opinion). They ran cards like Glen Elendra Archmage or Bant Charm. Bant Charm seems far too slow in this format. It can deal with most of the problem cards, but stuff like Venser, Shaper Savant seems to do the same job without losing the speed.

If you are searching for an alternative to your Wild Nacatl or Rhox War Monk deck, you should try this mix. Obviously the sideboard is only a suggestion, and I could see even a move towards more Riftsweepers as this list has a huge problem with Ancestral Vision. Don’t forget that the card can also deal with Chrome Mox, as you can shuffle the imprinted card back to its owner’s library.

Alara Reborn and Quick n’ Toast

As we’ve known for a while now, Alara Reborn will be completely multicolored. Several people have asked me if I am happy about a multicolor set, since Quick n’ Toast will most probably get a lot of goodies to play with.

First, when Shards of Alara was released, I thought how great the set would be for the deck. Sadly, I came to the conclusion that a mono-colored set would be far better. It was easy enough to have a solid manabase which can cast Cloudthresher, Cryptic Command, Wrath of God, Mind Shatter and the Red part of Firespout — even when the Eventide hybrid lands had not been printed yet. When I tried to include Cruel Ultimatum, Esper Charm, Volcanic Fallout, and Cloudthresher in the same deck, I had far more problems building a constant manabase. With mono-colored cards and hybrid lands, it is pretty easy to be able to cast all the most powerful cards in the format. With multicolored cards, you now have to actually decide which cards you want to run. Quick n’ Toast might actually still profit the most from the new set, but there is a big chance that it won’t.

I already miss the weather in Singapore, and I can’t wait for Pro Tour: Honolulu.

Thanks for reading. If you have any topics you’d like me to write about next week, feel free to post it in the forums and I’ll try to include it if I can.

Manuel B

*** Spoiler Warning — the following bonus section includes a card from Alara Reborn… if you don’t want to see it, you shouldn’t read on! ***

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Spellcrusher Behemoth
1RGG
Spellcrusher Behemoth can’t be countered
Creatures you control with power 5 or more can’t be countered.
5/5

Another great card against the Fae. Besides being a huge threat on its own if they don’t control Bitterblossom, it is an excellent card if you combine it with Cloudthresher. For Kyoto we had the problem of including Vexing Shusher in our deck, because we wanted to run Volcanic Fallout. This card actually has synergy with it, but you might want to move to a Greener plan (including Cloudthresher) versus Fae. The card is also big enough to stop most of the Red aggro creatures easily, and still dodge the burn spell they are running. Sadly, the card seems only mediocre against any White-based aggro deck. The card might be over-hyped, like Rumbling Slum, but it is a good new tool for Five-Color Control to fight the Fae.