I have been practicing Turboland (Zvi’s ‘proper’ Oath version rather than the Call of the Herd variant) and I finally feel that I have a grip on all of its subtle powers. This is a deck of savage complexity and subtlety and playing it well is a discipline unto itself. I’m gonna bite the bullet and play Turboland to defend my title at a PTQ this weekend, but I have two problems that I was hoping some experienced Turboland disciples might be able to help me with: (1) Time Limits and (2) Sideboarding
(1) Time Limits
I generally play at a reasonable speed, but I am finding that it is very difficult to finish 3, and sometimes even 2 games in 50 minutes. I know that this is a generally accepted feature of decks like Stasis and Turboland, but I was hoping that people might have some suggestions about an aggressive sideboarding strategy that might be adopted if I lose game 1 and need to win the next two in a hurry. I saw that Hegstead (a known slow player) added four Hidden Gibbons to his decklist, but I'm not sure that this is the way to go. Any thoughts?
(2) Sideboarding
Zvi is absolutely adamant that the main deck is untouchable and I very much agree. In fact its so untouchable, that I find it difficult to decide what to remove in favor of sideboard cards.
The sideboard cards that I am considering are (most are from Zvi's version that placed 15th in GP Houston):
Powder Keg (Very useful in the current metagame)
Back to Basics
Emerald Charm
Extra Weavers
Extra Feeders
Submerge ? (anti Miracle-Gro)
Daze ?
Extra Morphling
Hidden Gibbons?
Phyrexian Furnace?
Annul?
Deciding which cards to bring in for specific matchups is quite self-explanatory, but what is more of an issue is what comes OUT in each matchup. Maybe someone could give me an idea of what maindeck cards they generally remove against the expected metagame. i.e. Miracle Gro, Junk, Rock, Sligh and maybe even some Aluren/Trix.
Thanks in advance for the help.
i played a turboland varient with red in it at a ptq a couple of weeks ago. the red actually made my games go faster. firestorm saved me twice(?) in extra turns, and ended about half my games before they should have ended (either opposing weaver, or morph). i also had ruination which is an odd choice since i ran 1/2 non basics (gush). that brought dowm many an opponent that could have dealt with me otherwise. i don't think you need extro feeders anymore (maybe 1).
hidden gibons are good. quite god actually. my biggest problem was spectral lynx.... they are very annoying and the pro grre stops anything that dosn't trample. i ran 1 fire/ice which ened up tapping more stuff that it killed.
About the time thing, a smart opponent should concede instead of making you go through the combo if he has no chance.
I think it's either you lose fast or you take a long time to win and lock up the match at 1-0.
Your big problem is when you win game 2 but take 30 minutes to do it, right?
A smart opponent concedes game 1 when he sees it's lost, but he will never concede game 3. If he won game 1 and is losing game 2, he should let the clock drain enough so that he can win game 3 possibly, but you probably won't be able to (and/or you'll have to change your setup to try to win quickly). A smart opponent who manages the clock well can gain a substantial advantage over a super-slow deck. It is one of the things you have to live with. I think that turboland's "aggro" plan is to add more morphlings. In addition to being good against slower decks (with their own morphlings), that setup should make you more likely to win quickly.
As for the Q on what to side out, in those bad matchups it's usually the combo cards that get sidelined in favor of the Kegs, etc.