The sideboard. It’s one of the most important parts of a Magic deck. But unfortunately, it’s also one of the most neglected—especially amongst new players. In fact, proper sideboarding is one of the hardest lessons for new players to pick up, purely because it’s so simple to ignore and gloss over.

I’m here to put a stop to that with five quick sideboarding tips for players new and old. So let’s get right to it!

#1: Netdecking your sideboard isn’t always a great idea

I know how it goes. High level players that are the most invested in the game have the most time to test and brew decks. So if you want to win, it only makes sense to follow their lead, right? Well, while that may be true most of the time, it isn’t necessarily such a good idea when it comes to constructing the sideboard for a deck.

Many sites that pull tournament results and decklists get their data from Magic Online events. It’s important to recognise how different the MTGO metagame can be to that at the top tables of a paper tournament. People’s sideboards will be geared to fighting that meta, so while you might be able to pick up some good ideas for what to include, you’re probably not going to want to copy the exact numbers they’re running.

#2: Don’t get “the fear”

When building a sideboard it’s only natural to think about your really bad match ups first. Maybe there’s a player that beats you every time you play, and you want some tricks up your sleeve to catch them out and crush them. Well, you’re going to need to keep that in mind, but just make sure you don’t overreact to it.

Your sideboard is a 15 card toolkit against the entire field of decks that you expect to face. Avoid taking up too many slots with answers for a specific deck just because it sticks in your mind or because you’ve had a knee jerk reaction to it.

#3: Don’t skimp on your sideboard

Make no mistake, your sideboard is an ESSENTIAL part of your deck. It’s almost as critical as your land base. I know from my own experiences that when you’re trading and acquiring the cards for a new deck, it can feel like the job is done when your 60 is complete. Then, you opt to cut corners and use budget friendly or sub‐optimal sideboard options, just because you don’t really want to spend more or trade for more new stuff.

This is extremely bad practice. There are essential sideboard cards that you need to value highly when build your new decks. Always think of a deck as 75 cards, and never cut corners where possible.

#4: Make the most of all the information available to you

For local tournaments, players have an arsenal of sideboard information at their disposal, and they should be making use of it all. Draw from a mixture of your own experience, advice and articles from pros, online discussions about your decks, and tournament results and metagame analysis.

But perhaps the most important source of information is the fact that you probably know a good portion of the field already. In any local scene, players typically face off against the same group of people week in, week out. You know their decks, you know the level of pilot skill, and you know what you’re likely to face off against when you head into your local store for a tournament. Allow that information to inform and guide your sideboarding choices, and supplement it with the other information out there for a focused, well‐rounded sideboard.

#5: The sideboard isn’t just for silver bullets

This is an important one. Your sideboard isn’t just a place to stuff narrow hate cards that offer huge upsides in particular match ups. Your sideboard can effectively transform your deck and enable you to play a drastically different kind of game in games 2 and 3.

Perhaps the most notable and recognisable example of this is Splinter Twin decks in Modern. While the combo is an effective way to take a fast victory in game one, it’s also something that people pack a lot of sideboard cards to interrupt. The Splinter Twin player’s sideboard allows them to pivot against this and remove the combo from their deck, replacing it with additional counter spells and strong card advantage engines such as Keranos, God of Storms and Jace, Architect of Thought.

Any specific hate cards that the opponent boards in against the combo then effectively become dead draws and the Twin player is free to play out a longer, more control oriented game.

That’s just one example, but I’m sure you get the picture. The sideboard isn’t just a defensive arsenal, it’s also a way catch your opponent off guard and switch up the way your deck functions.

I really hope you’ve found these tips and insights useful, whether they’re your introduction to good sideboarding, or just a refresher. If you’ve got any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments below.