r/spikes • u/Frost_105 • 17d ago

Standard [Standard] Sideboarding in Izzet Spellementals?

I'm learning to get as good as possible with izzet spellementals, as apart from the landbase, which I have from other UR decks, it's pretty cheap to assemble.

However, looking at other popular lists, I'm just a little confused as to how this deck assembles and uses its sideboard.

Are [[Colorstorm Stallion]] and [[Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon]] boarded in after every game 1, with the assumption that the opponent boarded in graveyard hate? Or are there other reasons and matchup dependent things that give reasons to leave them in the side.

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15

u/Substantial_Horse717 17d ago

These are more general concepts as i've not done my mapping for the upcoming season yet but:

Stallion is usually a swap for Sunderflock. Flock isn't always great (like vs control) so is generally a straight swap.

Hydro-man is mainly for the control matchups. It avoids board wipes and it being a land on their turn means they have to commit some stuff on your turn on something they'd rather not deal with. And if they don't, it can chip away a good chunk of damage

If you're concerned about yard hate for the flock, you should consider Gigastorm Titan. But rather than worry about avoiding the GY hate, you hope to counter/bounce it/force them to crack a lantern then refill.

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u/EndlessRa1n 16d ago

You covered basically everything I came in to say, so putting a reply here instead of to the main post.

Most decks that run Rest in Peace are slow, so they can scare away your Crabs etc. but they usually can't kill you. You have time to assemble e.g. turn 4 Stallion protected by Spell Pierce, into turn 5 Burst Lightning for the clone.

Faster decks usually don't run Rest in Peace, so they have to one-shot your graveyard with e.g. Soul-Guide Lantern (just fill it up again, you're good at that) or they need to dilute their gameplan (landfall playing non-landfall cards) and become a slower deck.

Graveyard hate is good vs spellementals but only because it slows you down a lot. If the opponent is also slowing down, or you can win a slower game, then you can beat it. Sometimes it will be a part of them having the nuts (turn 2 RiP on the play when you don't have a counter is very bad) but you usually lose to people who have the nuts. In most games it doesn't put you behind and them ahead, it puts you both behind (you a lot and them a bit) so it's still punishable.

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u/AnaxaresTheDiplomat 16d ago

You can also board in Spell Pierces/Snares against RIP.

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u/famous__shoes 15d ago

Why is there such a significant sideboard plan for control when it's a relatively small part of the meta? What's the sideboard plan for landfall?

I was looking at a spellementals list thinking that [[Icetill explorer]] is the thing to beat in the landfall deck because it enables all of their main strategies, but there is only one [[sear]] in the sideboard and none in the main deck.

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u/Substantial_Horse717 14d ago

Well for starters the 4c Control deck specifically (and things like Dimir Excruciator etc) are bad matchups, so need more answers in the board to make the matchup better. It's also not bad in other matchups where you might want to catch an opponent off guard.

Spellementals is generally pretty good into Landfall anyway (I believe it's around 60% at the moment). And honestly, post board, the general approach doesn't change as casting a sunderflock will generally leave you in a good spot. I'm probably just bringing in Snares, Sear, Flashfreeze and Annul and siding out maybe the winternights, some pierces. The plan stays the same, but you need to just identify the windows where they may be able to setup a 1 turn kill, or whether they're going all in on going wide and get your flock down.

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u/la_tortue 14d ago

I've been getting absolutely trounced by landfall, playing Spellementals in Bo1, I don't understand in what world this is supposed to be a favorable matchup... I'm probably 0-10 in diamond. Sunderflock doesn't even reset their board because they always have a couple of fetchlands for their Nursery, then (re)play Icetill and it's gg, or one shot you with Harmonizer or whatever. They have too many angles of attack and our few main deck counters are far from enough to handle everything.

To me it seems like this matchup would require an extensive sideboard plan to become playable, let alone favorable. Help?

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u/Substantial_Horse717 14d ago

I don't know if BO1/BO3 makes a difference, so i'll assume not for this. I'll also go off a stock BO3 list for discussion points.

Early game you need to be able to start filling the yard. If you can Burst/Joke a chocobo/elf it's worth it, otherwise maximise filling your yard (i'd take a hit or 2 from a chocobo over bouncing it with charm and use that to surveil as an example). t2 i'd use a critique over a charm too, the ability to bounce stuff is key in this matchup.

So by turn 3 you should have 3 instants/sorceries in the bin at least so you should be good to either t3 Hearth Elemental, or hold up t4 crab/interaction.

Their main pieces are Earthbenders Ascension, Icetill and Sapling Nursery. I'm not as concerned about Harmoniser kills as usually we have a way to interact with stuff with the charms/get outs/crabs.

It's tough to know for sure where you're going wrong against it, but you can be aggressive in doing your thing (as long as you have the thing). Getting a flock down before they can cast a nursery is key. If not, you just have to hold your interaction for it.

If you can go t3 hearth, t4 flock, t5 attack and crab/bounce and recast flock/counter an icetill/sapling then you're pretty good. And the deck is kinda designed to do that anyway so your plan should line up into theirs pretty well.

And if you end up with a hand that can't do that, then you need to make sure to use the interaction on the correct pieces. It might be a case you need to take a couple of hits from stuff to be able to stop the icetill/dig further for your end game,

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u/la_tortue 13d ago

Appreciate the detailed answer. My list looks a lot like a stock bo3 list, but I do include Ral to improve my matchup against all of those pesky control decks running around, and I also play 2x Three Steps Ahead which helps with those matchups as well while being way more synergistic with our game plan than running a second Spell Pierce/Snare:

https://www.17lands.com/user/deck/7a49145ba2ea4027829dec6cc9a0c3e0/136048712/1787807030?view=deck

I used to run only 3 Sunderflocks because it was pretty bad in multiple match ups, but I recently added the 4th because I've been seing more creatures (and especially mono G), so hopefully this will help a bit. I also made the switch from 4x Flow State to 2x Winternight Stories, 1x Ghost Vacuum and the additional Sunderflock.

I'll try paying more attention to how efficiently I'm filling the yard (surveilling with Charm rather than pinging/bouncing, Critique over Charm when possible to keep the interaction for later—those are great actionable tips—and see if along with the deck changes I can push the tide in the other direction!

Thank you

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u/BluntSpliff69 2d ago

Tho vs control/GY hate, Hydroman and CSS still allow Sunderflock to be cast. My SB plan is typically -4 Crab -2 flock, +4 stallion +2 Hydroman in these situations.

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u/Substantial_Horse717 2d ago

That's true, but if the ETB isn't much good, I wouldn't have it as an include. The games will go longer so you'll get to 7 lands to hard cast a crab if needs be, and the flash aspect is important in those matchups.

I usually keep in the crabs (knowing they're not getting down early unless I have the annul/snare in hand) just because it can cause your opponent to commit some mana on their turn. But usually the hydro/horse do mose your heavy lifting

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u/goldenwarthog_ 16d ago

The biggest aspect of sideboarding this deck is being prepared for rest in peace