While I’ve had a few close calls, I have to admit that I was not overly optimistic about my chances of spiking a Top 8 in the new era of massively attended Grand Prix. It feels pretty good to finally break through even if my weekend did end in a loss.
For those who didn’t catch the coverage, I played Jund at Grand Prix Toronto. Here is my story.
I sort of settled on Jund by default. I played Affinity at Pro Tour Seattle and am convinced it was the right deck for that tournament. We correctly anticipated a sea of Jund and loved the matchup. Aside from the emergence of fringe decks like Eggs and Infect, and the addition of [card]Goblin Electromancer[/card] to Storm lists, the Pro Tour did little to shake up the metagame. With 10 rounds against high level competition under my belt, I was pretty much set on playing Affinity again in Toronto.
That all changed when Jacob Wilson defeated Josh Utter-Leyton in a [card]Lingering Souls[/card] Jund mirror match in the finals of Grand Prix Chicago.
Objectively speaking, [card]Lingering Souls[/card] is not much different from alternatives like [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] or [card]Geralf’s Messenger[/card]. All of these give you a lot of value and help you grind out mirror matches and other mid-range opponents. In the context of the metagame, however, the ability to block fliers completely changes the Affinity matchup. Main deck [card]Whipflare[/card]s and extra copies of [card]Master of Etherium[/card] mitigate the damage, but there just isn’t the same incentive to sleeve up a variety of mechanical monstrosities.
After giving up on Affinity, I narrowed my focus down to Splinter Twin, Eggs, RG Tron, and Jund. I expected roughly 25% of the field to be on Jund with Affinity, UW Angel, RG Tron, and Birthing Pod decks all making their presence known.
Twin is a solid choice right now, but the printing of [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] caused us to dismiss it early on in testing for Seattle so I just didn’t have a lot of practice with the deck. I gave up on Eggs early on as well because I just couldn’t stomach the idea of forcing friends to test against it, attempting to beat the chess clock online, or goldfishing against imagined opponents.
Finally, testing Tron against Jund confirmed my suspicions that, while Tron does seem to be the favourite, the matchup is not as skewed as people think. The die roll is pretty important as your discard spells can snag an [card]Expedition Map[/card] and, perhaps more importantly, you can commit enough to the board to limit Karn to being an expensive [card]Vindicate[/card]. Just the ability to answer a turn 3 Karn with a turn 4 [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card] makes a huge difference.
And so, Jund. Here’s what I registered:
[deck title=Jund – Jon Stern – GP Toronto Top 8]
[Lands]
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
4 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Plains
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
4 Bloodbraid Elf
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Lingering Souls
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate
2 Abrupt Decay
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Batterskull
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Olivia Voldaren
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Thoughtseize
2 Stony Silence
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Rakdos Charm
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Shatterstorm
1 Sowing Salt
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Day 1 was the usual grind. I started with two byes during which I soundly defeated Tim Hortons 2-0 while working out my sideboard plans for some fringe matchups that I thought could show up in small numbers.
Round 3: Won 2-0 vs. Jake Fruehauf (Affinity)
After abandoning Affinity because of a perceived difficulty with [card]Lingering Souls[/card], I was definitely happy to be on the Jund side of things. It’s always nice when pre-tournament theory pays off immediately.
Overall: 3-0
Round 4: Won 2-1 vs. Erick Mongeau (Eggs)
This is not a great matchup, especially if you lose the die roll. He attempted to go off on turn 4 rather than risk losing to an end of turn [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] into a [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card]. Despite casting multiple Sunrise effects and spending over twenty minutes making tiny incremental decisions, my opponent eventually fizzled and lost. After a mulligan in Game 2, I kept a hand with three discard spells and lost to [card]Leyline of Sanctity[/card]. I won Game 3 essentially because he didn’t have it.
Although my opponent seemed to be playing the deck well, he did not seem practiced enough to operate on auto-pilot. I was a little frustrated that his attempt to combo ate up so much time in Game 1 that I was forced to concede Game 2 prematurely in order to have time to finish the match. While I don’t think any single play was deliberate enough to warrant a slow play warning, he was easily responsible for using up 80% of the clock. Properly addressing this issue once and for all is definitely on my WotC wish list for 2013.
Overall: 106th place at 4-0
Round 5: Won 2-0 vs. Rob Anderson (Twin)
He surprised me with a turn 3 [card]Blood Moon[/card] in Game 1 when my board consisted only of a [card]Raging Ravine[/card], a [card]Blackcleave Cliffs[/card], and a 0/1 [card]Tarmogoyf[/card]. I slow-rolled the basic [card]Forest[/card] in my hand while deciding whether to play a second [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] or an [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] that, for some reason, I thought I could cast. I won fairly easily after that.
Overall: 48th place at 5-0
Round 6: Won 2-1 vs. Alex Majlaton (Affinity)
I lost a close Game 1 and, after starting with a [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] in Game 2, watched while Alex unloaded on his first turn with a [card]Darksteel Citadel[/card], two [card]Ornithopter[/card]s, and two [card]Springleaf Drum[/card]s. I surveyed the board and decided that the only way my turn 2 [card]Stony Silence[/card] could possibly lose would be to a random [card]Spell Pierce[/card], so I burned a [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] on his untapped [card]Ornithopter[/card] to pave the way. No idea if he had it at the time, but I was pretty happy when they passed out the Top 8 deck lists and I saw two Pierces in his sideboard.
Overall: 24th place at 6-0
Round 7 (feature match): Won 2-1 vs. Owen Turtenwald (Zoo)
I was a little surprised to get a feature match this round since I had refused to sign the coverage waiver. My reasoning was simply that if I was doing well enough to get a feature match, I would not want my deck choice made public or the contents of my sideboard discussed by the coverage team in a video that players could watch after Day 1. It was a pretty marginal concern, however, so I decided not to make a big deal out of it.
I lost Game 1 handily and won Game 2 when my turn 1 Inquisition revealed a mulligan into a six-lander. Game 3 was a nail biter as I was just barely able to play around a handful of burn.
If anyone is interested, the video coverage is still available here:
Game 1: http://www.twitch.tv/magicprotour/b/346374731?t=3h57m00s
Game 3: http://www.twitch.tv/magicprotour/b/346374731?t=4h32m27s
Overall: 14th place at 7-0
Round 8: Lost 0-2 vs. Kale Thompson (Jund)
Not much to say here as neither of these games were particularly close.
Overall: 30th place at 7-1
Round 9: Won 2-1 vs. Kar Yung Tom (Zoo)
The most interesting thing about this matchup was that KYT had asked me for deck and sideboarding advice the night before. I was busy testing Jund mirrors at the time and was only able to look at his list briefly and advise him to play something else. I just didn’t understand why he wanted to play a worse Jund deck. While I don’t remember the details of the match too clearly, I was able to back up my criticisms with a win.
Overall: 17th place at 8-1
I managed to get a good night’s sleep and had time to work out the cutoffs for various prize payouts. The real goal was obviously Top 8 which would require a record of 12-2-1 with decent tiebreaks. I would probably be able to draw in with a 4-1 start.
Round 10: Won 2-1 vs. Julien Normandeau (Tron)
When I realized what I was facing, I wished I hadn’t cut the second [card]Sowing Salt[/card] for a [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card] at the last minute. Still, I was confident in the testing that showed this matchup to be relatively close.
I managed to force a tiebreaker with an early [card]Stony Silence[/card] in Game 2. In the third, we settled into an attrition battle where my opponent assembled an early Tron while I desperately tried to draw into Wurmcoil answers with two [card]Dark Confidant[/card]s.
With time expiring, my opponent searched for Emrakul with his [card]Eye of Ugin[/card] rather than just tutor up and play another Wurmcoil. This gave me an unexpected window to [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] and [card]Terminate[/card] all his Wurm tokens and attack for exactly lethal on the second extra turn. Though I think I draw was probably likely, I definitely felt lucky to escape with a win.
Overall: 11th place at 9-1
Round 11: Won 2-0 vs. Daniel Cecchetti (Affinity)
Not much else to say about this matchup, except that [card]Lingering Souls[/card] continued to show its value, as did [card]Stony Silence[/card]. I never actually cast [card]Shatterstorm[/card] in the tournament, but, on several occasions, it forced my opponent’s hand with [card]Thoughtseize[/card] and allowed my other sideboard cards to shine. After sideboarding, every card in your deck is amazing and they need to get really lucky to win.
Overall: 5th place at 10-1
Round 12: Won 2-0 vs. Erik Moskal (Boros Landfall)
I did not expect this deck to show up at all, and certainly not in this bracket. Boros might have other good matchups, but these two games were my easiest of the weekend. My creatures outclassed his, and my quality removal easily negated any lasting threat.
Overall: 3rd place at 11-1
Round 13 (feature match): Won 2-1 vs. Will Archer (Burn)
While this was technically a video feature match, very little actually made it on camera. We always seemed to be between games when the coverage team wanted to switch over.
Burn is traditionally a difficult matchup for Jund, but I did not give the deck a lot of credit. [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] has to be killed on sight, and as soon as they start wasting burn spells on creatures, it becomes very difficult for them to assemble enough direct damage.
That said, my sideboard was not designed with this matchup in mind. Both [card]Dark Confidant[/card] and [card]Thoughtseize[/card] are uncastably bad and all seven copies pretty much have to be boarded out. With only five reasonably cards to bring in, I eventually decided on a [card]Stony Silence[/card] and an [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] because I had seen [card]Relic of Progenitus[/card] and [card]Ensnaring Bridge[/card] in older versions.
Of course, I drew both of these cards over the course of the second game while my opponent did not have any artifacts in his deck. I ended up discarding [card]Stony Silence[/card] on turn 2 to get an extra [card]Goblin Guide[/card] trigger before bolting it. That proved useful as I hit a [card]Raging Ravine[/card] and put an enchantment into the graveyard for future Goyfs. [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card] clinched things in Game 3.
Overall: 1st place at 12-1
Round 14: Intentional Draw vs. Sam Pardee (Melira)
I was a little annoyed that standings were removed before I had a chance to see them, but my decision to draw was fairly academic. What I really wanted to do was figure out whether I should draw in Round 15 or play for seeding.
Overall: 3rd place at 12-1-1
Round 15: Intentional Draw vs. Alon Chitiz (Scapeshift)
With Top 8 on the line, I wanted to be completely sure I’d be in with a loss in order to avoid an ID that might put me on the draw for the quarterfinals which would determine invitations to the Pro Tour.
I really do not understand the new policy of putting the higher seed on the play. If the goal is to reduce the number of intentional draws, the policy clearly fails in that regard since very few are actually willing to risk a Top 8 in order to play for seeding. What really happens is that players with better records going into the last round are forced to draw into a lower seeding than those with worse records who have to play.
The math for the final round was very complicated. An entire article could probably be written on the process, but suffice to say that I was able to calculate that a draw would ensure either the 4th or 5th seed and a matchup against Melira in the quarterfinals. A win would give me the 1st seed but a potentially tough matchup against BW Tokens. A loss would put me in the lower half of the bracket with only a 1.8% tiebreak cushion. That’s actually a pretty safe cushion in a 15-round tournament, but did I really want to risk my first Top 8?
I literally had one minute to calculate the possibilities and knew that drawing myself into 9th would be a really tough pill to swallow. If the only goal was winning the tournament, I almost certainly should have played. The only thing I can say is that it really sucks to be put in that position after starting the tournament so strongly.
Overall: 4th seed at 12-1-2.
Quarterfinals: Loss 2-1 vs. Sam Pardee (Melira)
My Top 8 match was fairly anti-climactic. My testing against Melira was limited to an 8-game set I played while killing time at a PTQ in Connecticut. I won most of those games on the back of an early [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] which may of caused me to overestimate my chances. In retrospect, it’s possible that I should have mulliganed a little more aggressively since the games where you don’t have a Shaman are very difficult.
I lost Game 1 mostly to the threat of him activating [card]Gavony Township[/card] and won Game 2 with a top-decked [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]. Knowing that they board out some number of combo pieces, I tapped out early on when only facing a pair of [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] and was promptly blown out by the [card]Viscera Seer[/card] and [card]Melira, Sylvok Outcast[/card] he was sandbagging. Infinite life and infinite scry turned out to be, unsurprisingly, too much to overcome.
Final Standing: 7th Place
Since the Grand Prix, the question I keep getting asked is whether I’d recommend the same Jund list for the upcoming PTQ season.
Jund is a powerful, consistent deck with no unwinnable matchups and a relatively low level of complexity. With that said, I think it’s important to realize that there’s a human tendency to establish rules or shortcuts to help us make decisions. Play the most consistent deck. Play something pro-active. Play something unfair. Of all these, the most quoted tenet is probably that you should just play the best deck.
But what exactly is the best deck? Generally speaking, the best deck for a given tournament would probably be considered the one with the best overall win percentage against the field. The deck you should play, however, is the one that gives you the best possible chance of accomplishing whatever goal you set out for yourself. For most PTQ players, that means winning the tournament.
With three Jund decks making Top 8 and one taking the title, I don’t expect Jund’s role in the metagame to diminish any time soon. When a single deck is played by such a large percentage of the field, following the crowd becomes a bit of a dangerous proposition. As the tournament progresses, decks with bad Jund matchups gradually fall by the wayside while Jund’s predators inevitably rise to the top. Jund is a good deck, but it’s not as dominant as something like Caw Blade or Delver. While it might be a great choice if your goal is to finish with a positive record or even make Top 8, I don’t think it’s the deck that gives you the best chance to actually qualify for the Pro Tour.
With that said, it’s definitely the deck I’m most qualified to talk about right now. So if you are planning to jump on the Jund bandwagon for one reason or another, here’s a breakdown of the list I played.
The Mana Base:
4x [card]Blackcleave Cliffs[/card]
4x [card]Marsh Flats[/card]
4x [card]Verdant Catacombs[/card]
4x [card]Raging Ravine[/card]
1x [card]Overgrown Tomb[/card]
1x [card]Blood Crypt[/card]
1x [card]Stomping Ground[/card]
1x [card]Godless Shrine[/card]
1x [card]Temple Garden[/card]
1x [card]Swamp[/card]
1x [card]Forest[/card]
1x [card]Plains[/card]
The full set of eight fetch lands is completely necessary to fuel [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card]. Ironically, while the life payments may seem problematic, you actually save life on occasion because you often have the option to fetch basics rather than untapped shock lands.
Replacing [card]Treetop Village[/card]s with [card]Raging Ravine[/card]s is not a decision to take lightly. [card]Treetop Village[/card] does a lot of work in clock-based matchups where it’s important to apply as much pressure as possible while still casting or keeping mana up for disruption. Unfortunately, the cost of playing four [card]Forest[/card]s that come into play tapped was just too high.
Personally, I like having my Jund mana on time, so I cut the fifth manland for a [card]Temple Garden[/card] as Jacob Wilson suggested in his GP Chicago report. While I did fetch the Garden on several occasions, I don’t think it was ever strictly necessary. It’s possible that a second copy of [card]Overgrown Tomb[/card], [card]Blood Crypt[/card], or even an extra basic [card]Swamp[/card] might be correct. Without more data, I’d probably stick with the [card]Temple Garden[/card] for now.
The Creature Suite:
4x [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card]
4x [card]Dark Confidant[/card]
4x [card]Tarmogoyf[/card]
4x [card]Lingering Souls[/card]
4x [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card]
Although Willy Edel’s [card]Lotus Cobra[/card]s and [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]s definitely challenge the notion, my feeling is that the creature list is more or less untouchable.
If anything, the one card could possibly be shaved is the fourth [card]Lingering Souls[/card]. Despite being the reason I gave up on Affinity and played Jund, [card]Lingering Souls[/card] is too slow in a lot of matchups and gets boarded out fairly frequently. I’d probably keep the fourth copy for now, but would consider cutting it later in the season once people stop playing Affinity.
Disruption & Removal:
3x [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]
2x [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]
3x [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
4x [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]
2x [card]Terminate[/card]
2x [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]
I was pretty happy with this mix. The only pre-tournament considerations were adding a [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card] and/or the third [card]Terminate[/card] over some number of [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]s.
[card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card] is a good all-purpose removal spell that also deals with very specific problems like [card]Karn Liberated[/card], [card]Batterskull[/card] and [card]Leyline of Sanctity[/card]. While one copy might be fine, I thought it was really important to keep the curve as low as possible, and decided to put a Pulse in the sideboard for those matchups where you really need that effect.
Jacob Wilson also suggested cutting an [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] for a third [card]Terminate[/card], presumably to deal with things like [card]Restoration Angel[/card], [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card], and various manlands. While that’s certainly reasonable, [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] has some very important applications. I wanted an extra answer to cards like [card]Vedalken Shackles[/card], [card]Pyromancer Ascension[/card], [card]Threads of Disloyalty[/card], [card]Sword of Light and Shadow[/card], [card]Blood Moon[/card], an opposing [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card], and, perhaps most importantly, [card]Cranial Plating[/card]. I expected the metagame to react slowly to the results from Chicago and wanted to respect the Affinity matchup and preserve as high a win percentage against them as possible.
One card I did not think of that definitely deserves consideration is [card]Dismember[/card]. PV played two copies and that’s something I can definitely get behind, especially if [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card] gains in popularity. The option to cast it for a single mana is huge, and overshadows many of the minor benefits of the other removal spells.
If I was playing this deck in a PTQ tomorrow, I would likely cut an [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] and either a [card]Terminate[/card] or [card]Lingering Souls[/card] for two [card]Dismember[/card]s.
The Sideboard:
1x [card]Batterskull[/card]
1x [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
2x [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
1x [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
1x [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
2x [card]Stony Silence[/card]
1x [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card]
2x [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
1x [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
2x [card]Shatterstorm[/card]
1x [card]Sowing Salt[/card]
I cut a [card]Sowing Salt[/card] for a [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card] at the last minute because I wanted something against Pod decks and Storm. I only boarded Cage in for my Top 8 match, but I still think it belongs, though I would probably cut a [card]Shatterstorm[/card] instead.
Building a good sideboard is a complicated process that’s impossible to do without considering the context of the specific metagame you are preparing for. Still, I’ll do my best to explain the choices I made so you can hopefully make an informed decision for your local tournament.
[card]Batterskull[/card]: This is probably the best card for the mirror match and was showing up almost universally as a 2-of in pre-tournament Jund sideboards. Predictability can be a curse, however, and I was worried that people would be proactively boarding in [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]. Whether or not that’s correct, I wanted to minimize my vulnerability through diversification. I decided to play one [card]Batterskull[/card] since, at worst, we’d be trading one sideboard card for another.
[card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]: This was my replacement for the second [card]Batterskull[/card]. I didn’t copy it from any other list but a number of other players, most notably Willy Edel, came to the same conclusion that this card is a very powerful threat in the current metagame. It’s probably marginally worse than [card]Batterskull[/card] in the mirror, but has widespread applications in other matchups, including clock-based matchups where [card]Batterskull[/card] would simply be too slow.
[card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]: I was a little skeptical about a supposed trump for the mirror that was vulnerable to [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]. The selling point is really what it does in other matchups. Untapping with Olivia against any creature-based strategy is almost always decisive.
[card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]: As I mentioned earlier, this was put in the sideboard to deal with very specific threats. But the real justification is the versatility that allows you to board in Pulse in almost matchup where you have extra cards to cut. I’m not even unhappy bringing this in against Burn in case they do have [card]Blood Moon[/card] or [card]Ensnaring Bridge[/card] since it can also just kill a [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card].
[card]Thoughtseize[/card]: The fourth [card]Thoughtseize[/card] in the sideboard was not simply due a lack of space in the main deck. It was not part of lists from GP Chicago and was only considered because I really didn’t like [card]Rule of Law[/card]. The one spell per turn restriction is good against Storm, but it doesn’t stop them from loading up an Ascension or sculpting their hand with cantrips while they wait for an [card]Echoing Truth[/card]. The problem is that this slot really needed to be useful against other combo decks like Eggs, Twin, and Scapeshift. It obviously does nothing against the latter two and is surprisingly mediocre against a good Eggs player. They can still play out their baubles in the early turns and can still Sunrise for value on your turn without fear of disruption. It won’t take them long to find an answer if they’re drawing 4-5 extra cards per turn. I didn’t like adding another card that was vulnerable to [card]Leyline of Sanctity[/card], but couldn’t really think of anything better. It got the nod over [card]Duress[/card] because of Twin and its application in non-combo matchups where you often want to snag a creature.
[card]Stony Silence[/card]: This was a new inclusion as well and is the perfect kind of sideboard card that has a massive impact in a several matchups. It’s obviously amazing against Affinity and Eggs, but also very useful against Tron decks that rely heavily on baubles, [card]Expedition Map[/card]s, [card]Oblivion Stone[/card]s, and [card]Relic of Progenitus[/card].
[card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card]: I’ve talked about this a little already. It was a last-minute nod to Pod decks and a bit of an attempt to shore up the Storm matchup which I felt underprepared for after cutting the [card]Rule of Law[/card]s.
[card]Rakdos Charm[/card]: Although you would never play [card]Shatter[/card] in your sideboard just to help with the Affinity matchup, the other modes of this spell put it over the top. It’s mere existence forces Twin players to play differently since they can’t just make infinite guys with only [card]Mizzium Skin[/card] as backup. Although a good Twin player will sometimes be able to play around that, the ability to kill an early [card]Spellskite[/card] makes the gambit worthwhile. Similarly, a timely graveyard wipe can potentially blow out a careless Storm player, but the Charm can also be used as a burn spell if they make a bunch of Goblins. And, lastly, I love having an answer to [card]Birthing Pod[/card] that can also disrupt the persist creatures.
[card]Ancient Grudge[/card]: Still one of the best cards against Affinity, and good enough to be sideboarded in a some other matchups even if they only have a few good targets.
[card]Shatterstorm[/card]: This card definitely makes a huge impact when cast, but might be too narrow to justify as the popularity of Affinity begins to wane. If I need space for something else, the second copy could easily find itself on the chopping block as well.
[card]Sowing Salt[/card]: I would definitely want at least two copies of this going forward, especially if Scapeshift continues to grow in popularity. Last PTQ season, I was playing [card]Fulminator Mage[/card] instead because I wanted something that could come down before Karn. That really only works when you’re on the play, though, and costs you a turn to delay them for the same. [card]Sowing Salt[/card] might be a turn slower, but there’s a very good chance that it will win you the game outright. This is also true in the Scapeshift matchup where, even if they don’t expose a Valakut, hitting a red shock land will likely make it very difficult for them to kill you. I’ve heard it argued that [card]Fulminator Mage[/card] can also be brought in for the mirror and other matchups where manlands are important. That’s an argument that I don’t really buy. Besides the fact that you don’t have much to board out in the mirror, the reason manlands are so good is because they don’t cost you a spell slot. Boarding in spells to deal with your opponent’s lands on a one-for-one basis sounds like a good recipe for flooding out.
One notable omission is [card]Zealous Persecution[/card], only because I had two copies in my sideboard up until Friday night. It sounded like a powerful solution to gummed up board states and a good way to cripple decks reliant on mana dorks. With sideboard space at a premium, I decided at the last minute that this theory really needed to be tested.
With only an hour or so available, my first thought was to start with a copy of [card]Zealous Persecution[/card] in my opening hand while my opponent started with a [card]Batterskull[/card] instead. These are both cards you would actually prefer to draw into, however, and I didn’t like that starting with a spell in hand would increase the number of land light draws. Instead, we each shuffled the card in question into the top 12 cards of our respective decks. In order to compare, we wanted to draw them over the course of the game but not necessarily in our openers. It only took a few games to realize that [card]Zealous Persecution[/card] was completely outclassed. Thankful for the lesson, I borrowed a [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card] from my Standard deck and never looked back.
Although a sideboard definitely has to be built with a specific metagame in mind, it is useful to have a starting point. So here’s the sideboard guide I came up with for Grand Prix Toronto. As you’ll be able to tell, I was more concerned with decks like UW Angel, Tron, and Affinity than others like Burn or Scapeshift. Changes will also have to be made if you take my recommendations about adding [card]Dismember[/card]s and an extra [card]Sowing Salt[/card] to the sideboard.
Also, please remember that this was only intended as a basic guideline. With only three minutes for sideboarding and shuffling, I like to have a basic fallback plan on paper, but will often deviate to account for the specific contents of my opponent’s deck or his or her play style.
vs. Jund:
– 3 [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]
– 2 [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]
+ 1 [card]Batterskull[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
option: – 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card], + 1 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
vs. Affinity:
– 3 [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]
– 3 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
– 4 [card]Dark Confidant[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 2 [card]Stony Silence[/card]
+ 2 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
+ 1 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
+ 2 [card]Shatterstorm[/card]
vs. UW Angel:
– 4 [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]
– 2 [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]
+ 1 [card]Batterskull[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
vs. RG Tron:
– 4 [card]Lingering Souls[/card]
– 2 [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]
– 2 [card]Terminate[/card]
– 2 [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 2 [card]Stony Silence[/card]
+ 1 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
+ 1 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
+ 1 [card]Sowing Salt[/card]
vs. Kiki Pod:
– 2 [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]
– 4 [card]Lingering Souls[/card]
– 3 [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card]
+ 2 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
+ 1 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
vs. Infect:
– 4 [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
vs. Storm:
– 4 [card]Lingering Souls[/card]
– 2 [card]Terminate[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card]
+ 2 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
vs. Eggs:
– 4 [card]Lingering Souls[/card]
– 2 [card]Terminate[/card]
– 2 [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 2 [card]Stony Silence[/card]
+ 2 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
+ 1 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
vs. Splinter Twin:
– 4 [card]Lingering Souls[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 2 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
+ 1 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
vs. Gifts:
– 4 [card]Lingering Souls[/card]
– 2 [card]Terminate[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card]
+ 2 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
option: [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card] instead of Pulse and/or Liliana?
vs. GW Aggro:
– 2 [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]
– 3 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Batterskull[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
vs. Scapeshift:
– 2 [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]
– 2 [card]Terminate[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card] (as a catch-all to a transformational sideboard)
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Sowing Salt[/card]
option: keep [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] and/or [card]Terminate[/card] for creature threats or [card]Threads of Disloyalty[/card]
note: probably need more sideboard options for this matchup if it becomes popular
vs. Melira:
– 1 [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]
– 4 [card]Bloodbraid Elf[/card]
– 3 [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card]
+ 2 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
vs. Burn:
– 3 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
– 4 [card]Dark Confidant[/card]
+ 1 [card]Batterskull[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Stony Silence[/card]
+ 1 [card]Ancient Grudge[/card]
vs. Zoo:
– 3 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Batterskull[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
option: cut 1 or 2 [card]Dark Confidant[/card] for [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card] or [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
vs. Merfolk:
– 3 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
– 1 [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]
+ 1 [card]Batterskull[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
vs. Soul Sisters:
– 4 [card]Lingering Souls[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
vs. BW Tokens:
– 3 [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]
– 4 [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]
+ 1 [card]Batterskull[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
+ 1 [card]Rakdos Charm[/card]
vs. UWR Delver:
– 2 [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]
– 3 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
– 1 [card]Dark Confidant[/card]
+ 1 [card]Batterskull[/card]
+ 1 [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]
+ 2 [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card]
+ 1 [card]Maelstrom Pulse[/card]
+ 1 [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card]
option: [card]Rakdos Charm[/card] if they are definitely boarding in [card]Gifts Ungiven[/card]
Jon Stern is a grinder who has won over a dozen PTQs in his career. In 2010, he returned to the game after a 4-year hiatus, leading him to win another PTQ in 2012 for Pro Tour Seattle.