Modern sideboard: Zoo, yo!
Deck Help forum
Posted on Feb. 26, 2015, 8:23 p.m. by cosmokai2000
Hey all,
Currently reworking my sideboard. Yes, I know sideboards are completely meta-dependent. Currently....
2x Counterflux
1x Path to Exile(3 in the mainboard)
2x Swan Song
I'm looking to add 2x Lingering Souls for the abzan match. Since Storm is falling in the meta, would my swap be alright for the 2x Counterflux?
SoggyGecko says... #3
Well, what are your bad matchups? And I think you can remove the Counterflux. I don't know how Lingering Souls is in the Abzan match. Can you flash it back at least?
February 26, 2015 8:27 p.m.
lemmingllama says... #4
Why so much affinity hate? It seems like most of this is hating on enchantments and artifacts rather than specific matchups.
Anyways, I personally would swap Kataki, War's Wage for another card. Some great cards that could replace it include Choke, Combust, Kitchen Finks, and Kor Firewalker.
Your Counterfluxes and Swan Songs should probably be Spell Pierces, since you don't want to give them blockers and Counterflux costs too much.
You could swap an Ancient Grudge or two for Destructive Revelry, the extra damage is worthwhile.
Finally, Celestial Purge is a great way to kill Siege Rhino and Tasigur, the Golden Fang. It also hits Splinter Twin, Liliana of the Veil, and Blood Moon, which is worthwhile.
February 26, 2015 8:43 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #5
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben should take the place of Counterflux. She attacks for damage, and is as good (if not better) than the counterspells at stopping opposing plans. Storm can't do anything, and Thalia also gives Twin fits.
February 26, 2015 8:46 p.m.
cosmokai2000 says... #6
Geist is Actually a Pretty Decent Zookeeper... Playtest
Modern
SCORE: 4 | 9 COMMENTS | 574 VIEWSYes, this is my Zoo sideboard, specifically domain zoo. I probably should have linked the deck in the main post.. I apologize for not making that more clear >_>
Kataki, War's Wage demands an immediate, instant speed response or affinity just loses, verses slowed down by Stony Silence
Ancient Grudge is the thing I've found that deals with the Tron match-up the best, it just happens to double as affinity hate. Is the damage from Destructive Revelry more relevant than hitting a second artifact?
I had not really thought of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben instead of Counterflux as Storm hate. Is taking the chance of her dying better than hoping for storm to have a counterspell?
Ive found that Swan Song deals with splinter twin better than Spell Pierce, is it really better and I'm just not seeing it?
February 26, 2015 9:25 p.m.
lemmingllama says... #8
Ancient Grudge and Destructive Revelry are both good. I guess it really just depends on your meta and how frequently you need the extra hate over the shock.
Also Storm doesn't run too many damaging spells, and it will delay them a turn if they need to use 
for a Lightning Bolt. Counterflux also needs 4 mana, and Storm often will go off before you land a 4th land.
As for Swan Song over Spell Pierce, it's mainly that the 2/2 is relevant since you don't get damage in. It will help your dirty combo matchups, but it will also be worse in every other situation. A nice thing about Spell Pierce though is that it also hits planeswalkers and artifacts, which could help the aforementioned Tron and Affinity matchups.
All in all, these are a bunch of options. Sideboards should really be tailored to how your deck does and what matchups it's strong/weak against. Try a sideboard plan, and you will then see how you can shore up it's weaknesses and strengths.
February 26, 2015 9:42 p.m.
Kataki, War's Wage demands an immediate, instant speed response or affinity just loses, verses slowed down by Stony Silence
cosmokai2000 Interesting, as someone that used to play affinity, I find that exactly backwards. There are a lot more boardstates that affinity can win through a Kataki, War's Wage than a Stony Silence.
Here's how I see it -
Stony Silence is best when backed up with lots of removal.
Kataki, War's Wage was good in decks that could tutor for it.
Ancient Grudge is just always a solid 2-for-1. Affinity is a lot of crappy cards to fuel some powerful ones. If you're frequently putting a good clock on the game this is usually plenty.
Shatterstorm and other sweepers are if your deck is really soft to affinity or its just super prevalent in your metagame.
February 26, 2015 11:22 p.m.
cosmokai2000 says... #10
Sweet, I would love to hear your input Slycne. When I've played against affinity, I've found that Kataki, War's Wage has to be dealt with before upkeep (usually with Galvanic Blast), or most of the boardstate is sacced, vs stalling the board state with Stony Silence and needing to back it up. How wrong is that? I would love to pick your mind about it
February 26, 2015 11:30 p.m.
Kataki, War's Wage can certainly be better devastating. If you catch them on the right draw they either lose most of their board or get stalled out. That said, Kataki, War's Wage also has a lot of times when it isn't as good. For starters, like you mentioned, it can be interacted with removal - something they are already going to be bringing in against you. It's not something a lot of folks consider but you're not sideboarding against only their maindeck. There are also some draws where Kataki, War's Wage isn't great, with the right number of mana sources or cards on the field it's not quite lights out.
Stony Silence basically demands that affinity has an Etched Champion with a Cranial Plating on it already for it to be bad. As I mentioned, Affinity is sort of a combo deck. It's got a lot of junk in order to make a few cards really good. Arcbound Ravager, Steel Overseer, Cranial Plating and Mox Opal - which is most of their good cards - get locked out. These leaves the number of outs extremely slim. It would need to be something like a fast draw with a bunch of Signal Pest and other flyers.
February 26, 2015 11:47 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #12
You could be a troll and play Worship. Just take note that Worship is not that great.
GlistenerAgent says... #2
Just to confirm, this is your Zoo sideboard?
February 26, 2015 8:24 p.m.