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Sideboard Theories

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:41 pm
by DamienX207
Greetings fair folk (and apologies if this is a duplicate thread; nothing similar coming up in my search),

I was intrigued by BT's response to this post, which suggested that any seasoned player would surely pack 3 Blind to the West/Ire of the East in every sideboard of every deck:
viewtopic.php?f=128&t=3154
I feel like I've seen a fair number of decklists that don't pack obligatory Blinds/Ires, although certainly some that do -- so I'm guessing that BT was speaking more in terms of tournament rather than ("competitive") casual play? Though I also expect BT that will reply here with some clarification. ;)

In any case, it got me thinking, not just for myself but also novices who have perhaps never built a sideboard: What other cards do y'all consider must-includes for the majority of sideboards that you build?

Personally, I tend to put 3 Twilight and 3 Marvels Told/Voices of Malice split between most of my decks/sideboards (due to extreme usefulness and relative lack of "cheeze"-iness), but would be curious what others may think/practice. Am I missing the boat on Blinds/Ires? Is Rolled Down to the Sea a must-include, or do you prefer alternatives that aren't as annoying for your Ring-dunking opponent?
(I will say up front that my goal is usually to provide a fun experience for everyone in the game, and thus I've recently been trying to build sideboards that facilitate my own strategy/cover general holes in my hazard strategy rather than trying to completely hose whatever random strategy my opponent is employing -- but would be curious about your other perspectives regardless!)

P.S. If you've never built a sideboard and are coming to this thread looking for answers, this article might be a useful primer: http://www.guildcompanion.com/scrolls/1999/sep/

Re: Sideboard Theories

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:12 am
by Kjeld
On a complete tangent, I couldn't help but notice that the link you provided also covers this historically very sad article:

"ICE FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION" :(

http://www.guildcompanion.com/scrolls/1 ... ter11.html

Re: Sideboard Theories

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:50 am
by Bandobras Took
If you don't have Blind/Ire in your extra sideboard vs. FW, you're not going to hit them as hard. If opponents didn't get an extra sideboard vs FW, you wouldn't expect to see Blind/Ire as often, but they are among the strongest anti-FW cards in the game.

Re: Sideboard Theories

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 4:43 pm
by DamienX207
Ahhh thanks, that does make more sense. If it wasn't obvious, my brother and I never used to play with sideboards so I'm relatively new to thinking about this stuff and the 10-extra-FW-cards escaped me. (with that said -- 40 card sideboards?! Really ICE, Fallen Wizards are THAT scary???)

Anyway, still would welcome any thoughts/expertise on other sideboard staples!

Re: Sideboard Theories

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 6:07 pm
by Bandobras Took
FWs can be that scary, yes, in the hands of skilled players.