“Sideboarding is hard.” That’s often newer Magic players’ first complaint, as they venture to their local FNM and start playing best-of-threes. Given a reasonable draw and a good match-up, most new players know their own deck well enough to win a game one. But those same players can get DESTROYED after sideboarding, as their more experienced opponents use those 15 extra cards to adapt their game plan.
I do not profess to be a sideboarding expert. In fact, I’d say just the opposite; I’m still figuring it out. But I’ve developed a process that largely works for me, a casual-competitive player. And I think I can distill it down into something that will help those just starting to sideboard.
So let me give it a shot. Assuming you’ve built a sideboard, played a game one, and you’re headed into game two, this is what you should do next.
