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.

» Download a PDF sideboard guide

If discard is less reliable than the past, what’s the plan?

I’ve found that punishing our opponent in other ways has been a much better strategy via Hope of Ghirapur or Defense Grid. These cards change the way the games are played by forcing the opponent to find an immediate answer or often lose the game on the following turn. What’s nice about these cards is they both avoid Flusterstorm while Hope of Ghirapur also dodges Spell Pierce, Dovin’s Veto, and Force of Negation. But perhaps my favorite thing about these cards is that they allow you to safely cast Echo of Eons as a “storm-engine” against these blue-based control decks.

Recently, I’ve been testing different configurations with Defense Grid main-deck, sometimes an additional copy in the sideboard, or more-often a pair of Hope of Ghirapur in the sideboard. There are downsides to these cards though, they aren’t super effective against black-based control decks as they don’t really prevent the opponent from shredding your own hand with discard via Thoughtseize or Hymn to Tourach.

Sideboarding Concepts

While Empty the Warrens is certainly weak to cards such as Terminus or Plague Engineer, it’ll win you more games in the long-term compared to a Tendrils of Agony in your main deck. While I certainly understand the feels-bad of a Plague Engineer ruining your day, the Goblin Token plan (if naturally drawn) will do more than a Tendrils of Agony off of the top of your library.

You may think it’s silly, I know that I just said Defense Grid still isn’t good against the black-based Control strategies due to discard. But it’s still good enough versus Snapcaster Mage, Flusterstorm, and Pyroblast that I believe it’s worth it. A lot of people are hesitant on this card because it can be destroyed via Abrupt Decay or even Kolaghan’s Command. It’s important to keep an open mind and try out new things, concepts, and strategies. If people tested Defense Grid more often, I think they’d find that it’s much better than they expected. Their worry or concern about the permanent destruction cards can be mitigated by not casting Defense Grid until the combo turn, similar to the plan we’re already doing with discard — you don’t have to pass the turn. A hidden benefit of Defense Grid is it’s ability to shut off Leovold, Emissary of Trest from drawing 10-15 cards and then casting a Flusterstorm on your Tendrils of Agony. In most situations, your opponent won’t have four open mana and they’ll lose the game.

Hope of Ghirapur is a card I really like versus the Swords to Plowshares and Terminus based decks, but I’ve found that it’s not good enough against the black-based Control strategies due to Baleful Strix, Wrenn and Six, a variety of versatile removal, Plague Engineer, and much more. Basically, let’s keep it Tundra.

For siding cards out, keep in mind that you’ll need a density of artifacts for Mox Opal. Because of this, I often side out Rite of Flame versus the Tundra strategies — it even becomes a Burning Wish target! But against the Underground Sea Control decks, I skim a bit on Chrome Mox due to the card disadvantage being a tough ask against the decks with discard in them.

Important Cards in the Match-up

Control’s Key Cards

Main Deck

Sideboard

TES’s Key Cards

Main Deck

Sideboard

Sideboarding

Resource Links

Articles

09-25-2019 TES Matchup Battles: UW Stoneblade by Alex Poling on theepicstorm.com

08-22-2019 Through the Looking Glass: 4c Snow Control with Rugved Karhade by Anthony LaVerde on theepicstorm.com

08-13-2019 Matchup Mulligan: 4c “Snow” Control by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

07-12-2019 TES Matchup Battles: 4c Control II by Alex Poling on theepicstorm.com

06-24-2019 Through the Looking Glass: Miracles II with Lawrence Harmon on theepicstorm.com

06-17-2019 Matchup Mulligan: Miracles II by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

04-24-2019 Matchup Mulligan: UW Stoneblade by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

01-28-2019 TES Matchup Battles: Miracles by Alex Poling on theepicstorm.com

12-24-2018 TES Matchup Battles: Landstill by Alex Poling on theepicstorm.com

11-14-2018 TES Matchup Battles: Grixis Control by Alex Poling on theepicstorm.com

11-07-2018 Combating Miracles by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

10-16-2018 Through the Looking Glass: Grixis Control with Brian Braun-Duin by Anthony LaVerde on theepicstorm.com

10-10-2018 Matchup Mulligan: Grixis Control by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

09-20-2018 TES Matchup Battles: Esper Stoneblade by Alex Poling on theepicstorm.com

02-19-2018 Through the Looking Glass: Miracles with Anuraag Das and Sam Roukas by AJ Kerrigan on theepicstorm.com

02-07-2018 Matchup Mulligan: 4c Pile by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

01-17-2018 Matchup Mulligan: Miracles by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

07-04-2017 Fighting Miracles in the Post-Top Era by AJ Kerrigan on theepicstorm.com

04-20-2017 TES Matchup Battles: 4c Control by Alex Poling on theepicstorm.com

02-02-2017 TES Matchup Battles: Leovold Sultai by Alex Poling on theepicstorm.com

08-04-2016 Fighting the Miracles Menace by AJ Kerrigan on theepicstorm.com

09-04-2015 Xantid Swarm Vs. The Metagame by Bryant Cook on theepicstorm.com

Videos

09-29-2019 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. WarAndMagicTV with Grixis Control on Magic: the Gathering Online

09-29-2019 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. _maddy with Miracles on Magic: the Gathering Online

03-24-2019 Q1 Legacy Playoff – 03/24/19 – Bryant_Cook vs. Ark4n with UW Stoneblade on Magic: the Gathering Online

03-24-2019 Q1 Legacy Playoff – 03/24/19 – Bryant_Cook vs. PhilLesh with UW Stoneblade on Magic: the Gathering Online

03-24-2019 Q1 Legacy Playoff – 03/24/19 – Bryant_Cook vs. stainerson with Miracles on Magic: the Gathering Online

02-17-2019 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. Stryfo with 4c Control on Magic: the Gathering Online

02-17-2019 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. t_gaule with Grixis Control on Magic: the Gathering Online

02-17-2019 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. Ozymandias17 with Grixis Control on Magic: the Gathering Online

01-20-2019 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. FirstToThirst with Miracles on Magic: the Gathering Online

12-02-2018 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. Denym with Miracles on Magic: the Gathering Online

11-04-2018 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. Convo with Shardless BUG on Magic: the Gathering Online

10-07-2018 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. AnziD104 with Miracles on Magic: the Gathering Online

10-07-2018 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. flowerdayonyon with Grixis Control on Magic: the Gathering Online

10-07-2018 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. Redviking1993 with Grixis Control on Magic: the Gathering Online

10-07-2018 Legacy Challenge – Bryant_Cook vs. Condescend with Miracles on Magic: the Gathering Online

08-08-2018 Bryant Cook vs Brian Braun-Duin with Grixis Control on Legacy Premier League

07-14-2018 Michael Connin vs. Ali Mirghahari with UW Stoneblade at Prodigy Games: Lake Worth, FL

06-24-2018 Bryant_Cook vs. atdawn_theysleep with 4c Control on Magic: the Gathering Online

06-24-2018 Bryant_Cook vs. Iwouldliketorespond with UW Control on Magic: the Gathering Online

04-29-2018 Bryant_Cook vs. flowerdayonyon with Deathblade on Magic: the Gathering Online

04-29-2018 Bryant_Cook vs. Mikeantor11 with UW Stoneblade on Magic: the Gathering Online

03-04-2018 Bryant Cook vs. Jim Davis with Miracles at StarCityGames: Worcester, MA

08-06-2017 Albert Lindblom (alli) vs atdawn_theysleep with 4c Control (Round 4) on Magic Online (MTGO)

08-06-2017 Albert Lindblom (alli) vs Momsen with 4c Control (Round 3) on Magic Online (MTGO)

05-04-2017 Romario Neto vs Anuraag Das with UWr Stoneblade on Legacy Premier League

04-17-2017 Nick Linder vs. Gabriel Meier with Miracles at Gameplace in Lucerne, Switzerland

03-18-2017 Bryant Cook vs. Joe Stempo with 4c Control at Eternal Extravaganza VI in Washington, DC

04-22-2016 Steven Fierro vs. Fred Chen with Deathblade at Fire & Dice in Woodland Hills, CA

08-22-2015 Joey Valente vs. Corey Armstrong with Shardless BUG at Fire & Dice in Woodland Hills, CA

08-11-2015 Jordon Robbins vs. Jon Ha with Miracles at Ready to Play Trading Cards in Columbia, SC

01-10-2015 Bryant Cook vs. Zane Knapp with Esper Deathblade at StarCityGames: Philadelphia, PA

08-10-2014 Bryant Cook vs. Lloyd Kurth with Shardless BUG at StarCityGames: Syracuse, NY

06-13-2014 Bryant Cook vs. Reid Duke with Miracles at StarCityGames Invitational: Columbus, OH

08-27-2013 Bryant Cook vs. Harry Corvece with Shardless BUG at StarCityGames: Baltimore, MD

06-23-2013 Matthew Bevenour vs. Brad Nelson with Esper Deathblade at StarCityGames: Philadelphia, PA

03-17-2013 Bryant Cook vs. JD Nir with Esper Stoneblade at StarCityGames: Washington, DC

05-12-2012 Bryant Cook vs. Sam Roukas with BUG Control at Jupiter Games in Binghamton, NY

02-11-2012 Bryant Cook vs. Tariq White with Stoneblade at Jupiter Games in Binghamton, NY

In general, The EPIC Storm main-deck is set up to combat these styles of decks. You want to stay mana efficient and flexible on your game-plan, if your opponent has a fast start, maybe you should consider another option other than Ad Nauseam (possibly lean into Defense Grid paired with Echo of Eons for example). I wouldn’t recommend playing your discard spells into possible Daze effects, if you can discard a copy or two of Force of Will, you can plow through their soft counter magic.

Over the last few years The EPIC Storm has added one Basic land and then a second, match-ups such as Delver of Secrets decks with Wasteland are why they’re here. Search for these lands! Often these decks try to keep you off of mana using Wasteland and Stifle. How you can fight back is to search up your basics, then sit on your fetchlands, non-basic lands, and artifact mana until you need to use them to weaken the land-destruction effects.

What is effective in this matchup?

Empty the Warrens is incredibly good here! For lists playing more than a single copy of this card in the sideboard, you should be siding in the additional copies immediately. With Young Pyromancer seeing very little play due to Wrenn and Six, this has made Empty the Warrens more likely to ensure a victory in these match-ups. What’s nice about these matchups is Flusterstorm isn’t played in the same numbers as control decks, it’s rare to see more than a single copy in most Delver of Secrets sideboards. If your opponent is playing black, keep Plague Engineer in the back of your mind!