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Posted on Oct. 17, 2014, 11:27 p.m. by DarkMagician
Which competitive decks typically utilize a transformational sideboard and how do they normally go about it?
Transformational sideboards were just not really a thing, I'm fairly positive Abrupt Decay had nothing to do with it. Having a transformational sideboard implies that your deck's strategy completely changes, I.e aggro to control. The only drck I know of that even attempts it is Titan bloom which occasionally runs Hivemind with pacts in the sb.
October 18, 2014 12:33 a.m.
Storm used to often board into splinter twin but that died when abrupt decay was printed due to it being heavily played and good against both decks. There were a few other decks that liked to board in combos as well that also are weak to abrupt decay pre and post board.
October 18, 2014 12:54 a.m.
VampireArmy says... #5
I used to think TSB was like...the most witty shit on the planet but alas. It only fucks you up. It's a lot more likely you'll win if you're only boarding to beat matchups rather than boarding to change the deck because at the end of the day, that shit just gets exhausting.
October 18, 2014 1:02 a.m.
VampireArmy says... #6
That being said, sometimes you'll see Tarmotwin go all out on the tempo and cut down to nearly no ways to combo. Maybe that counts?
October 18, 2014 1:06 a.m.
smash10101 says... #7
Scapeshift control can board out the Scapeshift s and put in Obstinate Baloth to become a midrange deck.
Storm can board into Splinter Twin .
Tarmotwin can board out the Splinter Twin s and become midrange.
Amulet of Vigor combo can be either a beatdown deck with Primeval Titan and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or a Hive Mind combo deck, and switch with sideboarding. I've even seen a version that plays Banefire in the main and boards into Hive Mind
October 18, 2014 1:32 a.m.
Scapeshift never boards out its scapeshifts for baloths... Even in the matchups where scapeshift is bad it's still an "Oops I win" a lot of the time.
October 18, 2014 1:55 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #9
Correct. I have boarded out 1 copy when I bring in all my creatures from the sideboard, though.
October 18, 2014 6:55 a.m.
smash10101 says... #10
A friend of mine did it to me once. I think he put in all his dudes and all his counterspells. Maybe he had one in, but I don't think so.
October 18, 2014 10:28 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #11
Well, if you were on some sort of highly controlling deck that sideboard plan is fine. He shouldn't be taking out more than one Scapeshift , though.
I have tried sideboarding Scapeshift into Splinter Twin , because I expect them to side out most of their creature removal. It had moderate success.
October 19, 2014 10:31 a.m.
DarkMagician says... #12
@GlistenerAgent That ploy is actually the reason behind my post, i lost first place to scapeshift after they boarded in the twin combo and i boarded out my paths
October 19, 2014 1:23 p.m.
Scapeshift is better off just boarding inferno titans in if you want to win some other way.
October 19, 2014 1:45 p.m.
A transformative sideboard isn't something you do just to trick your opponent. You do it because certain matchups hose your deck and you have to switch gears.
For example, Splinter Twin will transform into a tempo deck by boarding out all of its Splinter Twin s and several of the combo creatures. It then boards in cards like Obstinate Baloth or Thrun, the Last Troll . The reason you'd want to do this is against a deck where the combo just isn't a viable option. Jund, for example, will tear apart your hand with enough spot removal to stop you from going off. By boarding out Splinter Twin and bringing in more disruption of your own, you're able to grind them out since your deck plays value cards.
Against a deck like Affinity, Splinter Twin stays in. Affinity has limited disruption to stop the combo. You're more focused on blowing them out with Ancient Grudge or Anger of the Gods . Then, it's "Untap, kill you."
This is a really specific example, but you can extrapolate the concept to other decks. I had such a horrible time against U/W/x Control this past Standard season playing Dredge. What I did was is board in something like 14 cards and turned my deck into Golgari Aggro.
The transformative sideboard has to have a specific purpose, other than "Hahaaha I can confuse my opponent!" Some matches, you have such as shitty winrate that you have to switch decks against them.
xlaleclx says... #2
Transformational sideboards basically died when Abrupt Decay was printed.
October 18, 2014 12:08 a.m.