I Won Emperor of Vintage 11! Here’s How I Sideboarded

Holy shit.
When I won back in March, I thought I had done the impossible. When I won again this time, I thought I was dreaming.
No round reports. I find those kind of tedious to write.
Here's my list.


Some notes. Last minute I decided to cut two Preordain (Thanks, Chat.) and put in Spell Pierce and Daze. The wild thing is both of those cards won me games. So, that's the luck of the one-off.

Round 1 vs Aggro Shops 🧜‍♀️🪦🧜‍♀️

Out: 2 Flusterstorm, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Necropotence, Gitaxian Probe, Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise, Misdirection
In: 2 Cut Down, 2 Steel Sabotage, 2 Force of Negation, Mindbreak Trap, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Dress Down

The logic was I didn't want to die to a lock piece. Vexing Bauble means I'm keeping in Mental Misstep against Shops now.

Round 2 vs Doomsday 🧜‍♀️🪦🧜‍♀️


Out: Treasure Cruise, Island, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Daze (Draw), Chain of Vapor (Play)
In: 2 Force of Negation, Mindbreak Trap, Opposition Agent, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

It might be better to keep in Treasure Cruise and just cut Chain on the Play and Draw, but I wanted to make sure I dealt with everything as soon as it happened. I saw an Opposition Agent in their exile game two, so that's a reason to leave Chain of Vapor in.

Round 3 vs 4C Lurrus 🧜‍♀️🪦🪦


Out: Necropotence, Daze, Treasure Cruise, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor
In: 2 Cut Down, Dress Down, Opposition Agent, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Multiple copies of Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Lavinia, Azorius Renegade meant I wanted Cut Down to keep myself alive and casting spells. Sadly I had Land Problems 101 and 102 (Screw and Flood.) games two and three and didn't even play.

Round 4 vs UW Tinker Init 🪦🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️


Out: 2 Preordain, Necropotence, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Treasure Cruise, Daze (Draw)
In: 2 Cut Down, 2 Steel Sabotage, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Opposition Agent, Force of Negation (Draw)
I really don't know how to side for this matchup, and I might be overdoing it. I want Lavinia dead as soon as possible. They also played multiple copies of The One Ring, which made Sheoldred, the Apocalypse feel like a good idea, and The Apocolypse did win me game two.

Round 5 vs RG Init 🧜‍♀️🪦🧜‍♀️


Out: 2 Flusterstorm, Vampiric Tutor, Necropotence, Mental Misstep, Misdirection, Treasure Cruise
In: 2 Cut Down, 2 Steel Sabotage, 2 Force of Negation, Mindbreak Trap
My opponent unfortunately got a game loss for a deck registration mistake. Then beat the shit out of me Game 2. Luckily, I had a fast enough hand to finish game three before Hamsters and Ouphes beat the shit out of me.

Round 6

Ah, the good ol' ID into top 8. Hate the game, not the player, as they say.

Top 8 vs 4C Lurrus 🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️


Out: Necropotence, Daze, Treasure Cruise, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor
In: 2 Cut Down, Dress Down, Opposition Agent, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

Same opponent that I lost to, but this time I had clean draws and my opponent's Four Color pile suffered how Four Color piles sometimes do. That's Magic.

Top 4 vs UW Tinker Ring 🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️


Out: Necropotence, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Treasure Cruise, Daze (Draw)
In: 2 Cut Down, Dress Down, Opposition Agent, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

My opponent was a friend of mine who I know plays lots of Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, and four copies of The One Ring. Siding didn't matter. He had to mull, and I had quick and clean wins.

Finals vs Oath 🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️


Out: Island, Daze, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor
In: 2 Force of Negation, Mindbreak Trap, Dress Down

I know this guy likes to side in Chains of Mephistopheles to deal with combo decks.
I also know that when you resolve Misdirection on their turn one Ancestral Recall, you have a good chance to win the game.

I'm quite happy with how I played. My losses felt like Magic happened rather then me making mistakes – something I do a lot when under pressure. But here I am, still the Emperor of Vintage.

Are all these sideboard choices perfect? I don't know. A lot of it comes from the vibes of knowing my opponents. That's one thing I find harder to replicate with Magic Online. Sometimes you see how they play that Mox and you know in the pit of your stomach that Dazing it means they won't get to use their Lórien Revealed.

And sometimes, things go your way.

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Best of luck to everyone playing this weekend!
Remember: Always Be Casting Doomsday.
And thanks! I love you.