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Strategies for Dogpile in the Sideboard
Dogpile is a spicy red instant that rewards a plan built around aggression and board presence. In Ravnica Remastered, where the reprint sits among a sea of red spells, this card invites you to lean into a strategy that leverages numbers—namely, the number of attacking creatures you control. With a mana cost of {3}{R} and the ability to deal damage to any target equal to your attacking count, it becomes a potent finisher in the right metagame. The lore of Ravnica’s guilds provides a perfect backdrop for a card that punishes blocked lines and overconfidence with a single, explosive blast. Think of it as a dramatic guild enforcer erupting from the crowded battle lines—an embodiment of red’s love affair with tempo and bold decisions 🧙🔥💎⚔️.
In modern play, Dogpile sits at an intriguing crossroad. It’s a common reprint in a masters-era set, which means you can expect it to appear in budget-leaning red shells as well as more recipe-driven role-playing decks. The card’s value isn’t about rich, multi-card combos; it’s about timing, calculation, and capitalizing on the momentum you’ve built by turning a growing army into a life-slinging hammer. The moment you’ve stacked your battlefield with attackers—be they low-cost serviceable creatures, a swarm of tokens, or a clever combination of pump effects—the door opens for a single, devastating payoff. It’s red through and through: fast, straightforward, and punishing when you’ve earned it with pressure 🎲🎨.
Disrupt, Outpace, and Rally: a threefold sideboard plan
Shaping your sideboard around Dogpile means thinking not just about what you remove, but what you add to ensure Dogpile can cash in when the moment arrives. Below are three practical angles you can explore, each anchored by the card’s core mechanic: number of attackers you control. Where possible, tie these ideas to real-world red staples and common matchup themes in Modern, Legacy, or Commander formats 🧙🔥.
- Disrupt: tempo and fragile-stabilize breakers
When you’re facing control or midrange decks that want to slow the game down, you want to keep your opponent from stabilizing while you accumulate a critical force. Your sideboard can lean on fast, efficient removal (cheap burn and creature removal) and targeted disruption that helps you keep the pressure on. In addition, sprinkle in artifact/enchantment hate and cheap countermagic-adjacent tools (where the color pie allows) to blunt game plans that would otherwise buy time for sweepers or bigger haymakers. The goal is to ensure your tides keep rising so your board lands a large Dogpile spike the moment your opponent is tapped out or overextended. A few well-timed removals and disruption spells can turn a simple 3/2 into a game-ending blast 💥. - Outpace: more bodies, faster threats
If you’re locked into a game where you need to sprint before your opponent can answer you, your sideboard should tilt toward additional, efficient threats and ways to push through damage quickly. Include cards that help you flood the board with cheap, aggressive creatures or tokens, plus a handful of haste enablers to give your attackers the ability to threaten lethal plays the turn they arrive. The objective is to maximize your attacking count as fast as possible so Dogpile can deliver a devastating amount of damage to a single target in a single shot or over a rapid succession of turns. When your board is wide enough, Dogpile can become an unexpected, game-ending blow that your opponent simply didn’t see coming 🧙🔥⚔️. - Rally: turn the battlefield into a force multiplier
The most dramatic Dogpile moments come when you can stack a chorus of attackers that constrains what your opponent can block, then finish with a precise Dogpile that distributes damage to the most relevant target. For this angle, include token producers, anthem effects, and other buff spells that raise your total power and push more bodies onto the battlefield. Haste enablers, omnipresent pump effects, and even draw-forward spells that refill your hand after you’ve spent resources can all contribute to a single, explosive mining of damage. When the stars align, you’ll slam a large crowd of attackers into a single target and watch the red shockwave ripple across the battlefield 🔥🎲.
Here are some concrete ideas you might consider for a robust sideboard, expressed in broad terms so you can adapt to your local meta: targeted removal to clear blockers, artifact and enchantment hate to blunt controlling builds, efficient cheap threats to maintain tempo, and a few “pump and haste” options to speed up your Dogpile payoff. The beauty of the plan is its flexibility—Dogpile rewards aggression, but only when you’ve prepared a battlefield that makes those attackers count. It’s a spell that thrives on momentum, so use your sideboard to keep the pressure relentless rather than letting the game stall on one big play.
From lore to practice: turning battlefield energy into ritual finishes
Ravnica Remastered’ s environment is steeped in guild synergy, and Dogpile captures a moment of guild chaos where a few well-timed blows can cascade into a victory. The card’s oracle_text—“Dogpile deals damage to any target equal to the number of attacking creatures you control”—is an invitation to craft a narrative of overwhelming force. In practice, that means you don’t always want to rely on a single big attack; you want the damage to scale with your board presence. The sideboard becomes your mentoring staff, guiding a simpler, more reliable path to victory when the game demands it. If your plan succeeds, your opponent faces a flurry of attackers, a sudden surge of red heat, and a final act of Dogpile that makes the table remember why red can be merciless in the late game ⚔️🧙♀️.
As with many offbeat, exciting cards, the quality of your Dogpile dreams depends on the tech you bring in from the sideboard. It’s not just about having a big number of attackers; it’s about delivering that number at the right moment. The synergy with token generators, a handful of pump effects, and reliable removal is what takes a clever Dogpile plan from novelty to a credible game plan in the right metagame. And if you’re prepping for a fun, weekend romp with friends or a local tournament grind, a well-tuned sideboard around this spell can be a delightful, memorable ride through the chaotic streets of Ravnica 🧙🔥🎨.
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