C · Positioning & Configuration · §14Sideboard Philosophy
C · Positioning & Configuration · §14
Sideboard Philosophy
Stay a unit deck. Twenty-nine shuffled units or more, usually three to six swaps, and a reason for every card that comes in.
Meta snapshot · August 2026. Dated starting configurations from the source guide, not live, not auto-updated, and not immutable plans.
vs Kennen
Your role · Aggressor-disruptorRengar, Trophy Hunter
29shuffled units after boarding✓ Stable
2629 floor33
29 shuffled units after boarding · at or above the 29-unit floor.
＋ Bring in
2×spell / gear
2×spell / gear
− Take out
2×spell / gear
1×unit
1×unit
Qualifications
Their shell turns card selection and trash access into repeated outside-hand spell plays, and some builds keep a Hook branch, so Gear removal earns its slots.
attacks the non-unit engine before you have committed several bodies to a battlefield they were always going to answer.
Do not overload one battlefield with temporary Might. This is the deck best equipped to punish a single concentrated target.
Preserve · · · · Keep Falling Star: their support units are small enough for a three-and-three split to be a real two-for-one.
Avoid · Bringing before game one has shown that damage, rather than bounce, Stun or recursion, is how they break your board.
Sideboard philosophy in §14 · role assignment in §5.
Memory aids
Structural problem → the card that answers it. Each sideboard slot exists for a specific structural reason, not a general one.
99.91%→At least one shuffled unit in the opening four
97.80%→At least two shuffled units
71.12%→At least one natural one or two-Energy unit
43.62%→At least one Ambush unit: Inferna or Nidalee
28.76%→At least one six-Energy unit
26.70%→At least two natural one or two-Energy units
3.18%→Two six-Energy units, which is the hand to recycle
From the guide . §14 Sideboard Philosophy
The sideboard should not turn Rengar into a spell deck. The default targets are 29 or more shuffled units after boarding, usually three to six swaps, seven or eight only against structurally extreme control or Gear decks, and at least one reactive unit package still in the deck.
Cards that should almost never leave
Three , three , three , three , three , three , and . Thrill loses some value against certain removal, and the combination of replay, repositioning, object reset and Legend activation is too central to cut casually.
Default cuts
: against few units, targets above six Might, common Deflect or prevention, or an opponent who welcomes damage-based exchanges.
: when combat is not the axis, against efficient bounce or hard removal, when you are adding several spells, or when the plan is disruption plus persistent pressure.
: when early one-Might occupation is low value, when the battlefields can trap it, or when the game will go long.
: when attacks are hard to initiate or the board keeps getting cleared.
Brynhir and Ferrous: when the matchup is decided before six Energy, or when you need immediate interaction. Keep them against control and removal.
Problem to answer
A critical Mind-domain card: .
A non-unit engine or protection: .
Gear: .
Spell or ability damage: .
A crowded battlefield: .
Not enough reactive unit density: .
One lone defender: and Trophy Hunter.
A long removal game: .
One protected all-in turn: .
Post-board identity
After boarding you should still establish bodies, generate Legend triggers, force battlefield decisions, use disruption to clear one scoring window, and win before their engine stabilizes.
Rules noteDo not sideboard as though the goal were to answer every opposing permanent. The goal is to keep the engine that made their answers awkward in the first place.