Subtle Ways to Diversify Your Doomsday Sideboard
- Eric
- 0
- on Feb 06, 2023
As much as I'd like this to be an evergreen article, sideboards are topical. As of this writing, Initiative Stompy is still popular, but Doomsday had a great weekend. So while Doomsday may seem to be on top of the world, the hate is going to increase. Prepare Gaea's Blessing or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. My success rate has not been its best recently. But in playing these past few weeks I have two gut feelings:
- Leyline of the Void is less important than it was a year ago.
- Subtlety is a versatile sideboard card for Doomsday.
Remember: When you stare long into the Void it begins to stare back into you. Leyline is great because it is turn zero interaction. But where does it shine? Dredge, whose numbers are down. Versus other Bazaar decks it does a lot less. And drawing multiples is a big bummer. So can we do better?
Surgical Extraction has play against all varieties of Bazaar, Oops, and, if you're greedy, Breach. Unlike Leyline, drawing into this can be good. I had a recent match against Oops where I was able to win by using Demonic Consultation to find a Surgical. I'm not convinced dropping Leylines for other options is the right choice yet. But Extraction has done work and I don't exactly feel like I've been missing the Leylines. We've always played four, but does that mean we always play four?
I wish I could take credit for this one. It almost seems obvious. People started playing it in Legacy Doomsday for Initiative Stompy. discoverN started playing it in Vintage. But it's not only for Initiative Stompy.
I had success with it against Oops, All Spells. Trimming some fat for extra interaction has done wonders. Sure, they can put the creature back on top of their deck. But if they cast it with Black Lotus, Dark Ritual, Mana Vault, and so on? This can stifle their plans. Plus as any good Magic card, it pitches to Force of Will. Remember, it hits planeswalkers too. Versus Oath it seems counterintuitive. We don't want creatures. Execpt this one doesn't have to stay in play.
To finish off, I'll give one spicy little story. I was playing against a Lurrus deck, so I tried putting in Subtlety. I had built a pile, and still had one in my hand. With my deck empty, I cast my last Oracle. They had Force of Will. I cast Subtlety, targeting my own Oracle. It went on top of my deck. Next turn I drew it and won.
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Best of luck to everyone playing this weekend!
Remember: Always Be Casting Doomsday.
And thanks! I love you.