In Magic the Gathering, what is the sideboard for and how is it used in gameplay?

Question

In Magic the Gathering, what is the sideboard for and how is it used in gameplay?

Answer 1

Here is a short and simple way to put it.

Before a tournament, you make your deck of 60 cards and then a sideboard of 15.  These 15 are not in your deck.  What you do is if you're playing a best 2-outa-3 game, you are allowed to move whatever cards you need/want into the main deck from your sideboard in between rounds.  So you want your sideboard to be cards that can help you out in whatever way you see fit.

Example: For your first round, your opponent plays Platinum Angel, a 4/4 Artifact Flyer whose ability is: "You can't lose the game, your opponent can't win."  The round eventually ends and you lost because you couldn't do anything about Platinum Angel.  Now, in your sideboard, you remember you put 2 Naturalizes in there incase you had a tricky artifact or enchantment that might need to go.  You then, before the next game starts, switch the Naturalize(s) into your deck, and swap out the same amount of cards that you put in (since your deck has to be 60 cards).

It's just an extra 15 cards that you have to make some minor changes to your deck before another round.  Put in cards that you may need for later use or other cards that you can change your strategy with.

Answer 2

a sideboard or side deck is 15 cards has to be 15 cards outside of your deck. After one game u can edit your deck with cards in the sideboard for example

my opponent uses a red burn deck i lose so i sidedeck in

circle of protection red

rules::

u must keep the same amount of cards in your deck and cards must go back after the match so the seck is as it was before the match  

Answer 3

A sideboard is a set of exactly 15 cards that you are allowed in addition to your deck. Before games 2 and 3 of a match, you may replace cards in  your deck for cards in your sideboard... but this must be on a 1 for 1 basis. Your deck goes back to it's original configuration after the match. If you use a sideboard, then the 4 of limit applies to your deck and sideboard combines (you can't have more than 4 between your deck and sideboard).

Sideboards are generally used to either deal with the weaknesses of your deck, strengthen certain match ups, or give answers to potential threats you will face.

Answer 4

A sideboard is a set of 15 cards that are not part of the original/initial deck. These are cards that aim to allow a deck to perform better against a specific archetype and improve a deck's overall chances of winning. These cards have to be set in stone and cannot be changed in the middle of an event. In competitive play, sideboards are a key component to every deck list. Casual play, however, hardly ever sees its use.

For example, in a tournament with best-of-three matches, both players will play the first round with their stock decks. In the second round, both players will then remove certain cards from their stock decks and replace those slots with sideboard cards. The number of cards in the deck must be the same as the stock number - a player cannot just throw in a certain number of sideboard cards and not remove others from the stock list. The two players will then continue play with their modified decks until someone wins the match; if the game goes to the third round, the players may again modify their decks.

A more distinct example: Say Player 1 has a red aggressive deck and Player 2 has a blue artifact combo deck. Player 1 just barely loses to Player 2 in the first round, so Player 1 sideboards in red spells that destroy artifacts. Player 2, sensing that he just got lucky, sideboards in some defensive blue spells to slow down Player 1. As such, in round two, it could be said that both players have arguably better chances of beating the other.

An advanced take on sideboards is the "wish board." This tournament-level type of sideboard aims to take advantage of a set of immensely powerful cards called "Wishes." For example, Cunning Wish:

http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDeta...

So instead of switching out cards at the end of every round, a player equipped with Wishes is capable of fielding a deck that's effectively more than 60 cards (stock deck of 60 plus the sideboard of 15). Plenty of successful decks in tournament history have taken advantage of this  mechanic.