How Magic: The Gathering Aggro Decks Sideboard Against Control Decks

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Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a complex and strategic card game where players build decks to compete against one another. An important aspect of competitive MTG is sideboarding—modifying your deck with a set of extra cards between games in a match to better adapt to specific opponents.

In this short blog post guide, we will focus on how aggro decks sideboard against control decks in Magic: the Gathering gameplay.

Understanding Aggro and Control Decks

Aggro Decks:

  • Goal: Aggro decks aim to win quickly by deploying a fast, aggressive strategy that overwhelms opponents with swift, continuous attacks.
  • Characteristics: Low-cost creatures, direct damage spells, and focusing on reducing the opponent’s life total as fast as possible.

Control Decks:

  • Goal: Control decks seek to slow down the game, neutralize threats, and gain card advantage to eventually take over the game and win in the late stages.
  • Characteristics: Counterspells, removal spells, card draw, and win conditions that often involve larger, more powerful cards.

Sideboarding Strategy for Aggro Decks

  • Increase Resilience Against Board Wipes:
  • Threat: Control decks often use board wipes (e.g., Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict) to clear the board of creatures.
  • Solution: Include cards that provide resilience or recovery after a board wipe.
    • Examples:
    • Heroic Intervention: Grants indestructible to your creatures.
    • Selfless Spirit: Sacrifice to give all creatures indestructible.
    • Loxodon Smiter: Can’t be countered and resolves through counterspells and small damage board wipes.
  • Diversify Threats:
  • Threat: Control decks have targeted removal and counterspells.
  • Solution: Add diverse threats that are harder to deal with or have built-in protection.
    • Examples:
    • Carnage Tyrant: It can’t be countered and has hexproof.
    • Thrun, the Last Troll: Regenerates and has hexproof.
  • Add Disruption:
  • Threat: Control decks rely on powerful spells to control the game.
  • Solution: Include cards that disrupt their strategy.
    • Examples:
    • Duress: Discard spell that targets non-creature spells.
    • Thoughtseize: Versatile discard spell.
    • Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast: Counters blue spells or destroys blue permanents.
  • Enhance Card Draw:
  • Threat: Control decks often have a card advantage.
  • Solution: Add cards that allow for additional drawing to keep up with having enough threats to your board.
    • Examples:
    • Light Up the Stage: Draws cards and is easy to cast in aggro decks.
    • Risk Factor: Forces the opponent to choose between taking damage or letting you draw.
    • Phyrexian Arena: Provides additional card draw at the cost of life.
  • Add Planeswalkers:
  • Threat: Control decks might lack efficient answers to non-creature threats.
  • Solution: Include planeswalkers that provide ongoing value.
    • Examples:
    • Chandra, Torch of Defiance: Provides card advantage and direct damage.
    • Gideon, Ally of Zendikar: Creates creatures and is hard to remove.

Conclusion

Sideboarding effectively against control decks requires understanding their strategies and having the right tools to counteract them. Aggro decks should focus on increasing resilience, diversifying threats, adding disruption, enhancing card draw, and including non-creature threats. This approach will help maintain pressure and overcome the control deck’s defenses. Remember to adjust your sideboard based on specific control decks you face and the meta of your play environment.