Sideboard CYA

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We wanted to have a quick look at sideboards today as it can really make the difference against winning the next game or just getting owned over and over again.  Having freshly returned from Magic 2013 Game Day, we feel that although our decks did perform well, our sideboard certainly did not.

For those new to Magic the Gathering, a sideboard is a collection of 15 cards that a player may bring along to a game.  This is not a requirement but if you do have a sideboard, it must be exactly 15 cards, no more, no less. After the first and second game of a match, each player is allowed to swap cards in their deck for cards in their sideboard (aka "sideboarding"). This is a 1-for-1 swap, so both the player's deck and sideboard must remain the same size (often 60 main, and exactly 15 sideboard). Your sideboard should sit on the table in the open and not tucked away in your backpack or in a box.  Sideboarding helps a player address the weaknesses of his or her deck against a certain opponent's build, strategy or colour.

Some fairly conventional / popular sideboard cards in today's standard constructed game may be as follows . . .

• White : Celestial Purge, Timely Reinforcements, Oblivion Ring

• Blue : Phantasmal Image, Phyrexian Metamorph

• Black : Duress, Nihil Spellbomb, Dismember, Surgical Extraction

• Red : Ancient Grudge, Slagstorm

• Green : Beast Within,  Acidic Slime, Ranger's Guile

• Colourless : Ratchet Bomb, Torpor Orb, Grafdigger's Cage, Wall of Tanglecord

• Phyrexian Mana : Gut Shot, Apostle's Blessing

• Land : Ghost Quarter

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If you think we missed out on a critical card, drop a comment below along with your reason.  Your local metagame may be rather unique and would require a unique solution.  If you're missing a strategic card in your sidboard, drop by MTG Mint Card and get that hole in your sideboard filled before next Friday Night Magic.
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