Sideboard Guide

A guide for sideboarding against each Legacy archetype – explaining what to take out and bring in against those decks. Keep in mind that this is a rough tutorial and sometimes straying from these instructions is correct. Situations, game states, and the opponent often call for a different plan of attack.

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03-26-2018 TES Mailbox #12 by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

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[[Daze|]]

[[Spell Pierce|]]

[[Delver of Secrets|]]

The tempo decks are the one archetype that became more difficult from the switch to [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and [[Mox Opal]] based lists. The EPIC Storm added a fourth color and cut the basic [[Island]], which obviously isn’t ideal against [[Stifle]] and [[Wasteland]] strategies.

What is effective in this matchup?

How TES beats these decks is by setting up its mana efficiently. With decent mana, the rest will become much more obtainable. Sitting on your fetchlands and then using [[Mox Opal]] and [[Chrome Mox]] to cast your set-up spells can do wonders. If you can set it up, protecting [[Orim’s Chant]] with [[Veil of Summer]] goes a long way as [[Orim’s Chant]] can shut down [[Stifle effects]].

A few tips: [[Stifle]] can still counter abilities through [[Veil of Summer]], don’t fall into this trap. [[Stifle]] can also stop [[Wishclaw Talisman]], do not forget this!

A good practice is not to cast spells into the opponent’s copies of [[Daze]]. The easiest way of beating the opponent is to turn their cards into dead cards as [[Delver of Secrets]] strategies live on thin margins. If just a few of their cards become not effective, it’s a lot easier to navigate through whatever is left in the opponent’s hand.

A more recent addition to The EPIC Storm is [[Peer into the Abyss]]. Previously, our options for tempo match-ups were either pressured by our life total ([[Ad Nauseam]] or [[Empty the Warrens]]) or symmetrical ([[Echo of Eons]]). Against these tempo decks, the life-total concern is very real against [[Delver of Secrets]] or [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]], while [[Echo of Eons]] gives our blue opponents access to more copies of [[Force of Will]] and [[Force of Negation]]. It was a real tough spot to be in. Enter [[Peer into the Abyss]]! While it does use the life total — it doesn’t really. [[Peer into the Abyss]] can be cast from two life! This allows some time to set up a less-risky kill. The concern here is that [[Burning Wish]] into [[Peer into the Abyss]] is a nine-mana line.

A more cost-efficient method has arrived from Modern Horizons 2 (MH2) — [[Galvanic Relay]]. A great option in the match-up as a [[Burning Wish]] target to bull-doze through the multiple copies of [[Force of Will]], [[Force of Negation]], and [[Daze]]. This is a match-up where the “During your next turn, you may play that card.” part of the text is actually relevant. Against the deck with [[Delver of Secrets]], [[Dragon’s Rage Channeler]], and [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] backed by [[Lightning Bolt]] and [[Chain Lightning]] it can be difficult to time correctly. Admittedly, this card is more devastating post-board in our opening hands.

Sideboarding Concepts

With the rise of [[Null Rod]] as well as [[Collector Ouphe]] in the Tempo archetype, TES’s answer to [[Deafening Silence]] against Control strategies doubled as an answer to these two permanents — of course, we’re talking about [[Abrupt Decay]].

MH2 completely changed our approach for post-board games. For the last few years, we’ve been looking to side out cheap acceleration such as superfluous copies of [[Chrome Mox]] and/or [[Mox Opal]] for more stable mana such as [[Carpet of Flowers]] — those days are gone. With [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] in the format, [[Carpet of Flowers]] value has never been lower. These tempo decks no longer need to play an [[Island]] to accomplish their game-plan, they can survive off of [[Mountain]] and some copies of [[Wasteland]]. Not to mention, today’s [[Delver of Secrets]] variants are extremely fast — [[Carpet of Flowers]] is a card that gains value over the course of a longer game as a continuous mana source which isn’t what’s happening at the moment. That said, it’s only partially the reason the game-plan adjusted.

One of the best things you could do with [[Mind’s Desire]] is to reveal another copy of it to itself. That also applies to [[Galvanic Relay]]. To increase our odds of finding [[Galvanic Relay]], there are four total, with the idea that we’ll side in three copies and leave one as a [[Burning Wish]] target. In order to maximize this strategy, we’re keeping in all of those additional copies of [[Chrome Mox]], [[Mox Opal]], and [[Rite of Flame]] which are cards that would’ve left our deck after game one in the past. Instead, we’re siding out [[Ponder]] which might seem wild, but with good reason.

Each piece of acceleration cast, essentially replaces itself with [[Galvanic Relay]] which helps us continue the overall goal of achieving a dominating board-presence early against the control deck. You need lots of mana both pre- and post- [[Galvanic Relay]] to make this concept work. Meanwhile, the opponent is siding in effects such as [[Pyroblast]]. By reducing our number of blue draw spells, we’re naturally making ourselves better against the opponent. We’re trading card selection for a mass-volume of cards which is extremely desirable against the deck with [[Force of Will]], [[Force of Negation]], and [[Daze]].

Speaking of red Storm spells, [[Empty the Warrens]] has a natural friction in the deck because giving the opponent a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] at some point during the game and then turning off all of TES’s Storm cards. [[Empty the Warrens]] isn’t a reasonable plan if the opponent gets a tool to search up an answer to a horde of [[Goblin Token]]s.

Important Cards in the Match-up

Tempo’s Key Cards

Main Deck

[[Daze]]
[[Stifle]]
[[Spell Pierce]]
[[Force of Will]]
[[Delver of Secrets]]
[[Wasteland]]

Sideboard

[[Null Rod]]
[[Collector Ouphe]]
[[Plague Engineer]]
[[Blazing Volley]]
[[Flusterstorm]]
[[Surgical Extraction]]

TES’s Key Cards

Main Deck

[[Swamp]]
[[Mox Opal]]
[[Lotus Petal]]
[[Veil of Summer]]
[[Orim’s Chant]]
[[Burning Wish]]