Magic Sideboarding and the Metagame, for Beginners

At Level 3 so far, you have learned the stack, the odds, and your role in a matchup. This lesson takes all three to the place they matter most: a match of best two out of three, where you get to change your deck between games.

The rules for sideboards

From the Magic Tournament Rules, effective February 27, 2026:

• Constructed: a sideboard may hold up to 15 cards. Your deck and sideboard together still follow the four-copy limit, so three in the deck means at most one more in the sideboard.
• Limited: every card you opened or drafted but did not put in your deck is your sideboard.
• Between games in a match, you may swap cards between your deck and sideboard. Before game one, you play the deck you registered or built.
• Before each new match, your deck and sideboard go back to how they started. The exception is a limited event at Regular REL without decklists, where the organizer may let you change your deck freely between matches.
• Your opponent may count the cards in your sideboard at any time. They may not see what they are.

Commander nights rarely use sideboards. This lesson is for two-player matches: store events, prereleases, and drafts.

What a metagame is

The metagame is the set of decks you expect to face. At a Standard event, it is shaped by which decks are popular and winning. At a draft, it is shaped by the set and the people in your pod.

You do not need to know every deck. You need the few that make up most of the room. Three ways to find them:

• Your store’s regulars. After two or three Standard nights, you know what half the room plays.
• Published decklists. Wizards publishes results and decklists from its competitive events on magic.gg, and Magic Online publishes lists from its online events.
• Recent event coverage. Watching how top players play the popular decks shows you what they fear.

Building a 15-card sideboard

A sideboard is a set of answers to specific problems. Start from the expected metagame, then fill these roles:

1. Answers to the most popular deck. Three or four cards that are strong against the deck you will face most.
2. Answers to a whole style. Cards that are good against any aggressive deck, or any slow control deck.
3. Answers to a card type your main deck handles poorly, like artifacts, enchantments, or flyers.
4. A few flexible cards for decks you did not expect.

Avoid sideboard cards that are only slightly better than what they replace. A sideboard card should change a matchup, not polish it.

What to take out

Bringing cards in is the easy half. Taking the right cards out is the skill.

• Cut cards that do nothing in this matchup. Removal for creatures against a deck with few creatures. A slow card against the fastest deck in the room.
• Swap like for like when you can. Keep your curve and land count roughly where they were. Taking out three 2-drops for three 5-drops changes how your deck plays.
• Think about your role. If you are the control in this matchup, bring in cards that survive the early turns. If you are the beatdown, bring in cards that push damage through what they block with.

The play or the draw after game one

The loser of each game chooses who plays first in the next. After sideboarding, you may wait until you have sideboarded to decide. Use the odds from the probability lesson: on the draw you see an extra card, on the play you get a turn’s head start. Fast matchups usually favor playing first.

Sideboarding in limited

In sealed and draft, sideboarding is quieter but still useful.

• Bring in a narrow answer you left out, like artifact removal, when your opponent shows the card it answers.
• Against a deck of big flyers, bring in your creatures with reach.
• Against a fast deck, cut your most expensive card for a cheap creature.

Prereleases are a great place to practice, because every opponent’s deck is new and the stakes are low.

Write a sideboard guide

Before an event, write a short guide for each expected matchup: what comes in, what goes out, and whether you want to play or draw. At most events you may look at brief notes made before the match between games, but not during them, and not in the middle of a draft. A sheet or two at most. The tournament rules lesson covers the details.

Cube, where every deck is different, needs a looser approach. Our article on cube sideboard rules covers the house rules many cubes use.