Hey everyone! I know I took a short break, but, I'll try to get two articles in this week for everybody! I'm going to take a short break from my World Championship Qualifier articles from something that applies to those articles, but, also applies to just about everything else at the same time: Sidedecking.

Sidedecking, in my opinion, it probably one of the hardest aspects of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and card games, in general. It's hard to say where to begin, so I'll start off with the basics. 

1. Use all 15 cards.

I'm not sure on the exact rules right now with sidedecks, but, sometimes one has been allowed to play between 0 and 15 cards. There are also times where it has been 0 OR 15 cards. Nothing in between. Always use 15 cards. Even if it is something that doesn't seem very useful, a matchup might come up where even that Summoned Skull seems useful, it's amazing what a 2500 atk beater can do sometimes.  

2. Recognize your matchups

Don't lie to yourself and say your deck has zero bad matchups. Other than the Dimension Fusion deck with Dark Armed Dragon, I'm pretty sure every deck in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! has had at least a single bad matchup. We all want our decks to be the best, but, we need to accept that all of them lose to something. Side more for your bad matchups. Side less for good ones. It sounds obvious, but, some people will just try to set numbers for everything. For example

3 cards for Inzektors
3 cards for chaos Dragons
3 cards for Dyno Rabbits
3 cards for Wind-ups
3 cards for Heroes

This is definitely the WRONG way to construct your sideboard. 

3. Play cards with more than one use

 

Versatility is good. This is obvious. It's why Book of Moon is so good. It has several different purposes, all of which are fantastic. We can apply the same logic to sideboarding. Don't be afraid to sacrifice a little bit of power in order to have a card that is good against multiple Matchups. The Emperor's Holiday is good against Inzektors. It hoses just about the everything the deck wants to do. Try Shadow Imprisoning Mirror instead. It doesn't stop Giga-Mantis like Holiday does, but, it also stop Darkworlds, as well as Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, so you basically got 3 sideboards slows for the space of 1 (assuming you play 1).

 

4. Try new things

 

Another thing that sounds obvious, but, you'd be amazed at how many times I've heard "Well, this has been great for years" when I tell somewhat to take D. D. Crow out of their sideboard or something like that. Don't be afraid to 'stray from the beaten path' perse`.

 

5. Have a plan

Again, it sounds obvious, but, don't just put cards in your sideboard for matchups and consider yourself done. Plan what cards you are going to take out for each matchup and what cards you will put in. Don't take longer than you have to while sideboarding. I can't count the number of times that I've gone to time because myself or my opponent took 10 minutes sideboarding.

 

6. Don't over-compensate for a matchup

 

This is probably the most important point in this whole article. We've all heard Rotten Ricky across the table grumble out:

"It doesn't matter if you got game 1, I'm gonna sideboard all 15 cards against you."

This is horrible. Decks nowadays are built to be consistent and have a steady gameplan. 15 cards is nearly half of the deck. You would have to take out either half your staples, or half of your actual 'business' to put sideboard cards in. There is basically nothing smart or intuitive about this. Sure, you might mess with your opponent for an unnecessarily long amount of time, but, on the other hand, you will also have a very hard time actually WINNING. Try to have the amount of cards you board in for any given matchup less than 8 or 9 cards. 5 is about the magic number in my opinion. Between 5 and 8 being the 'sweet spot' where you are bound to get between 1 and two throughout the course of a game, while still being able to function. Boarding 15 hosers is not a good gameplan. Don't listen to people who tell you differently.

 

7. Know what decks to expect

 

I've already mentioned that you should be aware of your bad matchups and what to side for them. I've also said that you should board more for your bad matchups. This does not mean include 5 cards in your sidedeck for the Naturia matchup if your deck has problems for it. If you have problems with a 'jank' deck, it is probably ok to only board 1 or 2 cards for it.

 

8. Always slam 15 cards in your main deck when side decking

 

Have the same sleeves on your main and side deck. After game 1, shuffle all 15 cards into your maindeck, then, take the 15 worst cards in the 55-57 card pile out of your deck. Your opponent doesn't need to know how many cards you boarded. It could be 0, it could be 15, they don't know.

 

9. Sideboard differently games 2 and 3

 

Different situations warrant different gameplay. Take Wind-Ups, for example. You only want to board so many cards, so, some cards are better going first, and some are better going second. If I'm going second against Wind-Ups, I'll probably take out a couple of trap cards for me Maxx "C"s and extra Effect Veiler. Going first, I might take out one of those 'Veilers for a Chain Disappearance. You have to think about what is good when, and what you need to actually prevent, via side-deck. 

That's most of what I think needsto be talked about in this article in the way of side-decking tips, but, I would also like to spoil some myths about side-decks that many people commonly get wrong. Use these to your advantage!

 

Side-deck myth #1 "I boarded out 5 for 5"

You do not have to tell your opponent how many cards you side-deck. You only have to verify that after presenting your deck to your opponent, there are the same number of cards in your side deck as previously.

 

Side-deck myth #2 Extra deck?

You can side deck cards in and out of your extra deck. You have to remove the same number of cards from the extra deck though.

 

Side-deck myth #3 You always have to side deck

It is good to at least side deck something, but, it is not always necessarily correct to side deck.

What should I be side decking, though?

This is where it gets really tricky. I'm not going to lay out an entire side deck for you, because it varies from deck to deck, but, I'd say the best 20 side deck cards (in no particular order) right now are:

1. Effect Veiler
2. Snowman Eater
3. Maxx "C"
4. Chain Disappearance
5. Shadow Imprisoning Mirror
6. Koa'Ki Meiru Drago
7. Super Polymerization + E-Hero Fusions
8. Thunder King Rai-Oh
9. D.D. Crow
10. Royal Decree
11. Soul taker
12. Cyber Dragon + Chimeratech
13. Messenger of Peace
14. Prohibition (my 'when in doubt' card)
15. Dimensional Fissure (Macro Cosmos can be negated with Solemn Warning)
16. Closed Forest (if you expect Gravekeepers and/or Dark Worlds)
17. Starlight Road
18. Gellenduo
19. Gorz, the Emmissary of Darkness
20. Skill Drain

Honorable Mentions: The Emperor's Holiday, Mask of Restrict, staples*, Puppet Plant/Kinetic Soldier, Gemini Imps, Consecrated Light,

 

So, hopefully, this article has helped you with ways to improve your game, in between games. If I left out a fantastic sideboard card, feel free to contact me and blow up about what a noob I am and everything, I love to talk about the game

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Never stop learning
Sean Handy
The McShake Alchemist

 

*Some people won't maindeck all of their staples, and it's not horrible to side deck them for the matchups where they are relevent. For example, it isn't uncommon for people to cut mirror force.