Yeah it sucks its gotten so pricey, but considering how many sideboards can benefit from it, i think it's worth biting the bullet. Personally what I've always done is just have a small box of sideboard cards for all decks and build them on the fly, rather than having a dedicated board for each deck. Doing it this way makes it easier to keep the board current, and saves me from needing to buy more than a playset of any one sideboard card.
I've started to do the same with the catch all sideboard cards. I get my playset of them and keep them all in a binder. Anything that has been of use before I throw in there. It's separate from my deck binder. I try to keep all my decks in perfect fits and in a binder in case I want to play them.
On another note. Right now, nothing has replaced Ad for me. I have gone to control, UR Storm (a fav of mine), Jeskai Combo, Living End, Abzan Junk and others but nothing gives me as much joy or is as consistent as Ad for me. I'm a combo minded player and when I can go off on their end step, it's even better.
Given your land base I feel like I like Seachrome more, but there's no concrete evidence to back that up. I agree that Labman is not so great in this meta. I'm liking the idea of beating Lifegain by running both Lightning Storm and Conflagrate like , but haven't played enough games with it to make any conclusions.
I'm running Seachrome Coast with pretty good success. I'm not a huge fan of running the full set of the two temples. I'd rather run a split of Polluted Delta and Flooded Strand to smooth out my early draws. The 3 Gemstone Mines have been awesome for me so far as well. Lifegain is definitely something to worry about. If that gets to be a problem, I'm not opposed to running [card}Erebos, God of the Dead[/card] or even Leyline of Punishment. But lifegain isn't something I'm overly concerned with running into a ton of.
@gus_13
I doubt this is very relevant, but is there any reason for running disenchant over revoke existence?
If possible, I'd really love to see your decklist! I'm trying to fine tune my list before I pour out the big buxs
Like was stated above, instant speed makes it better IMHO as well.
Here's my current deck list. The sideboard and land base have changed a bit over the weekend. I really liked the land base someone else posted in here (sorry I can't remember who's exactly!!) But, the mana is very smoother out for me now. I'll be doing a lot of in person playtesting this weekend. Local meta tends to be Robots and UWR control high. I'll be playing Ad and 4C gifts this weekend to see what's positioned best.
I will say I keep going back and forth on Nimbus Maze and Seachrome Coast. Both really have their merits. Although I hated to do it, I took out Laboratory Maniac from my sideboard. As much as I love winning with that card, it's not as relevant right now.
@Gus_13
Hey Gus,
I was wondering if I could take a peek at your sideboard as I feel mine is lacking quite a bit currently. I would really appreciate it!
Thanks,
Tokyo
This is my current sideboard. It's working fantastic right now. I've actually been putting in Damnation to deal with Bogles, Affinity and the creature based burn.
1 Phyrexian Unlife
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Favor of the Mighty
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Disenchant
1 Echoing Truth
2 Grave Titan
1 Drown in Sorrow
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Silence
1 Darkness
Update on my list. Mana is still a bit wonky. I need something to smooth that out. Faithless Looting is perfect for shuffling your GY back in with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Izzet Charm works well there for that, counters and if need be, killing a creature. The rituals make it easy to Through the Breach early and also land the Possibility Storm a turn early. This could actually be a real deck with the right mana base. Remand would not be terrible somewhere in the shell as well. Lightning Bolt as a 3 of is perfect to throw the last remaining damage to their face if you get one swing with Emrakul. I've even finished someone off with the charm. One thing I noticed, 4 Fabricate may be necessary. Just not sure what to cut to bring it in. Maybe going down to 3 Idyllic Tutor since there is 4 Possibility Storm that makes it an actual 7. Could be right.
My sideboard has been a hose against a ton of matchups. Affinity can't handle the Stoney Silence and that delay lets me get the fatty out quickly. Access to Blood Moon is never bad. Defense Grid has been an allstar as well as Leyline of Sanctity of course. Infect is a hard matchup unless you rip Anger of the Gods but with 3 main and the ability to search your deck that's not too tough.
Late game is , not surprisingly, not your friend with this deck. So it's a must to try to kill turn 4 or 5. That's totally possible with how the deck is right now though.
I absolutely love bringing Grave Titan out of the board after G1. It is really hard for the opponent to beat as they usually remove most of their removal. Has anyone thought about trying Geist of Saint Traft or even maybe Blade Splicer with some counters to swap to almost a control shell with the combo backup after board? Could be relevant. I don't have any Geists online to try it out.
I was chatting with a guy playing Junk last night. I lost G1 due to flooding and never finding Ad Nauseam. G2 I had a turn 4 Grave Titan he just had no answers to. G3 I combo'd on turn 4 to win the match. It was fun to see how the deck matched up against a very predominate deck that is everywhere in the meta right now. I haven't played Junk online a ton but the match up is tough if they have all their discard.
Here is my current list with this combo. It's early but it has been working out really nice. I was surprised to see a deck built around this card. It was hilarious in Innistrad/Ravnica standard.
Thanks for sharing! I'll read back to see your list. Nimbus Maze does seem a lot better than Gemstone Caverns. I just picked one of those up to try out. My meta is pretty heavy control locally. Still lots of UWR players there.
This happened to me last night. I played Ad Nauseam then the guy play Mana Tithe, which I was NOT expecting from his deck at all. I then played Pact of Negation. He responded with another Mana Tithe. Really?? 2?? Good thing I had ANOTHER Pact of Negation. He sent his first series of "lolz" out after his first Tithe. I responded with "lol." He came back with the... Well you get it in the picture. It was a hilarious interaction. He was a good guy and we had 3 really good games. He ended up winning because as we were chatting I forgot to hold Ctrl to hold priority in casting the last Lightning Storm. Lesson learned. ALWAYS hold Ctrl.
I do not like playing with Conflagrate MB, it's always a dead card IMHO. Be seized for conflagrate is just an dumb opponent not a trick! I like your sideboard, in my tests 4 Leyline are too much maybe i'm going down to 3 like u did, but i'm afraid of Abzan deck so IDK if its the right move now
Idk about the Temple of Silence. Seems to be the worst land you could get in your opening hand. Agree on the conflagrate. Play the bauble!
I'll try switching out for the bauble. That's what I had originally in there. What do you guys suggest on the lands? Or what have we decided is the optimum set of lands. I've run it with 4 each of Deceit and Enlightenment before as well. Some degree of temples is good I feel with scry being very useful.
3 Leylines has been working perfectly for me. I have not had too much trouble with Abzan as of yet. I agree about a dumb opponent as well. If they don't know what the card is then they just choose it. Bauble actually helped me in a battle of counters where I put a previously discarded pact back in my deck. When I drew the deck I needed all 3 pacts to get through their counters.
Edit: Maybe two Temple of Enlightenment over the solo Temple of Silence?
Here is what I'm running currently. Just changed the SB a little last night. It's pretty much jackhohlen's list with a few tweaks. I really like getting Thoughtseize'd and people taking Conflagrate because they don't understand. We have the element of surprise right now.
I'll be tweaking the SB some more. Laboratory Maniac is probably not needed but it's fun to win that way. When they take out all creature removal, I take out Mystical Teachings and 2 Peer Through Depths to put in 2 Grave Titan and Laboratory Maniac. They usually don't have a way to answer. I'll play some more events and random battles to collect some info.
Has someone try Engineered Explosives in SB? I feel that against hard MU is good (infect, boogle set at 1). Probably better than other sweepers that we might have.
I think I may try this as well. It would help against a ton of decks. Even the new prevalent creature/burn.
I've started to do the same with the catch all sideboard cards. I get my playset of them and keep them all in a binder. Anything that has been of use before I throw in there. It's separate from my deck binder. I try to keep all my decks in perfect fits and in a binder in case I want to play them.
On another note. Right now, nothing has replaced Ad for me. I have gone to control, UR Storm (a fav of mine), Jeskai Combo, Living End, Abzan Junk and others but nothing gives me as much joy or is as consistent as Ad for me. I'm a combo minded player and when I can go off on their end step, it's even better.
I'm running Seachrome Coast with pretty good success. I'm not a huge fan of running the full set of the two temples. I'd rather run a split of Polluted Delta and Flooded Strand to smooth out my early draws. The 3 Gemstone Mines have been awesome for me so far as well. Lifegain is definitely something to worry about. If that gets to be a problem, I'm not opposed to running [card}Erebos, God of the Dead[/card] or even Leyline of Punishment. But lifegain isn't something I'm overly concerned with running into a ton of.
Like was stated above, instant speed makes it better IMHO as well.
Here's my current deck list. The sideboard and land base have changed a bit over the weekend. I really liked the land base someone else posted in here (sorry I can't remember who's exactly!!) But, the mana is very smoother out for me now. I'll be doing a lot of in person playtesting this weekend. Local meta tends to be Robots and UWR control high. I'll be playing Ad and 4C gifts this weekend to see what's positioned best.
I will say I keep going back and forth on Nimbus Maze and Seachrome Coast. Both really have their merits. Although I hated to do it, I took out Laboratory Maniac from my sideboard. As much as I love winning with that card, it's not as relevant right now.
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Darkslick Shores
2x Flooded Strand
3x Gemstone Mine
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
1x Plains
2x Polluted Delta
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Swamp
2x Temple of Deceit
2x Temple of Enlightenment
1x Tolaria West
1x Watery Grave
4x Ad Nauseam
4x Angel's Grace
1x Lightning Storm
1x Mystical Teachings
3x Pact of Negation
2x Peer Through Depths
1x Slaughter Pact
Artifact (9)
1x Conjurer's Bauble
4x Lotus Bloom
4x Pentad Prism
Sorcery (8)
4x Serum Visions
4x Sleight of Hand
3x Phyrexian Unlife
Creature (4)
4x Simian Spirit Guide
1x Darkness
1x Drown in Sorrow
1x Echoing Truth
1x Favor of the Mighty
2x Grave Titan
2x Hurkyl's Recall
3x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Disenchant
1x Phyrexian Unlife
2x Timely Reinforcements
I don't know why, but winning with Laboratory Maniac is one of the most satisfying things to do in magic for me. I love it.
This is my current sideboard. It's working fantastic right now. I've actually been putting in Damnation to deal with Bogles, Affinity and the creature based burn.
1 Phyrexian Unlife
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Favor of the Mighty
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Disenchant
1 Echoing Truth
2 Grave Titan
1 Drown in Sorrow
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Silence
1 Darkness
My sideboard has been a hose against a ton of matchups. Affinity can't handle the Stoney Silence and that delay lets me get the fatty out quickly. Access to Blood Moon is never bad. Defense Grid has been an allstar as well as Leyline of Sanctity of course. Infect is a hard matchup unless you rip Anger of the Gods but with 3 main and the ability to search your deck that's not too tough.
Late game is , not surprisingly, not your friend with this deck. So it's a must to try to kill turn 4 or 5. That's totally possible with how the deck is right now though.
I was chatting with a guy playing Junk last night. I lost G1 due to flooding and never finding Ad Nauseam. G2 I had a turn 4 Grave Titan he just had no answers to. G3 I combo'd on turn 4 to win the match. It was fun to see how the deck matched up against a very predominate deck that is everywhere in the meta right now. I haven't played Junk online a ton but the match up is tough if they have all their discard.
1x Academy Ruins
3x Arid Mesa
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Island
4x Mountain
1x Plains
2x Sacred Foundry
3x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Tolaria West
Enchantment (4)
4x Possibility Storm
4x Desperate Ritual
3x Izzet Charm
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Pyretic Ritual
2x Through the Breach
Sorcery (18)
3x Anger of the Gods
3x Fabricate
4x Faithless Looting
4x Idyllic Tutor
4x Serum Visions
Creature (4)
3x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1x Ornithopter
1x Anger of the Gods
3x Blood Moon
1x Defense Grid
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Molten Rain
1x Sowing Salt
2x Stony Silence
2x Wear / Tear
Gifts package in sideboard is pretty interesting. That would make you totally transform though.
I'll try switching out for the bauble. That's what I had originally in there. What do you guys suggest on the lands? Or what have we decided is the optimum set of lands. I've run it with 4 each of Deceit and Enlightenment before as well. Some degree of temples is good I feel with scry being very useful.
3 Leylines has been working perfectly for me. I have not had too much trouble with Abzan as of yet. I agree about a dumb opponent as well. If they don't know what the card is then they just choose it. Bauble actually helped me in a battle of counters where I put a previously discarded pact back in my deck. When I drew the deck I needed all 3 pacts to get through their counters.
Edit: Maybe two Temple of Enlightenment over the solo Temple of Silence?
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Marsh Flats
1 Flooded Strand
2 Poluted Delta
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Tolaria West
1 Gemstone Caverns
4 Pentad Prism
3 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
1 Lightning Storm
1 Mystical Teachings
3 Pact of Negation
2 Peer Through Depths
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Conflagrate
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
1 Phyrexian Unlife
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Favor of the Mighty
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Disenchant
1 Echoing Truth
2 Grave Titan
1 Drown in Sorrow
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Silence
1 Darkness
I'll be tweaking the SB some more. Laboratory Maniac is probably not needed but it's fun to win that way. When they take out all creature removal, I take out Mystical Teachings and 2 Peer Through Depths to put in 2 Grave Titan and Laboratory Maniac. They usually don't have a way to answer. I'll play some more events and random battles to collect some info.
I think I may try this as well. It would help against a ton of decks. Even the new prevalent creature/burn.
Exactly what I was going to suggest.