Hi John. First of all, thank you for writing this article. I had already decided on playing Maze's End in standard for a while, but didn't have any idea what I wanted my sideboard to look like. After I read your article, I understood the deck much better than I had previously. I based my build off yours for a 152-man tournament I played in yesterday. Here is my list:

4 Maze's End
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
20 2 of each gate
1 Simic Guildgate (a third one)
27 Lands

4 Fog
4 Druid's Deliverance
4 Defend the Hearth
4 Riot Control
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Detention Sphere
3 Merciless Eviction
1 Planar Cleansing
3 Urban Evolution
2 Quicken
1 Sphinx's Revelation
34 Spells

SIDEBOARD
4 Wear//Tear
4 Turn//Burn
4 Crackling Perimeter
2 Bow of Nylea
1 Assemble the Legion

I chose Temple Garden over Breeding Pool because I feel like I'm more likely to need a second white mana untapped turn four for Verdict than I am a first blue. In hindsight, I think that was incorrect, and that I should have cut the Temple for a second Fountain. I'm going to try that going forward.

I got incredibly unlucky yesterday. I went 2-3 drop. I played 5 control decks, and I feel like I should have beaten all five. My buddy was playing Bw, expecting a field of control, and got five aggro decks. He dropped at 3-2. It was bizarre. Anyway, here's a round by round recap. The sideboarding is from memory and may not be 100% accurate.

Round 1 vs. BR control
I drop game one. He plays a Mogis that I don't draw an answer to and wrecks my hand with Rakdos' Return. Both cards suck for us big time. I bring in my whole board, leaving a Riot Control in, but debating between it and a Fog. Game two goes pretty quickly in my favor, but I get the sense he's not running Pithing Needle, so I board out 2 Wear//Tear and something else to bring back a full set of Riot Control. Game three looks bad for me. He got a couple cards out of my hand and had a Mogis on board. Luckily I was able to barely outrace it and more Returns, thanks in part to a Bow of Nylea. 2-1, 1-0/

Round 2 vs. BUW Control
Game one I encounter no resistance whatsoever. I didn't see Mutavault, so I brought in everything but it, leaving Fogs. Game two goes really long, and with about 19 minutes left, the fire alarm in the venue goes off. It's a hotel conference hall and it seems a guest attempted to microwave some metal. My opponent offers me a draw as we're evacuating, as he is about to Sphinx for 9. I know this is a fantastic matchup, so I just can't accept. He could have had the game wrapped up, but there's just no way to know for sure. I don't blame him for trying, though. After about an hour delay, we restarted game 2 with 30 minutes on the round clock. He doesn't draw a Pithing Needle and I win easily. I'm feeling really good about my chances. 2-0, 2-0.

Round 3 vs. UW Control
This guy used to play at my local shop, and I regard him as one of the better local Magic players. I kept a two land hand game one-- the colors were right-- and don't draw a third for six turns. He ultimates Jace, AoT and casts Urban Evolution. Have you ever noticed that a player who resolves that spell almost always wins? I sure did, because I didn't cast one. I brought in everything and left a Fog. Game two I stick a Perimeter, and then don't draw enough support cards for it to matter. I made a couple minor play mistakes this round, like tapping incorrectly to reduce Perimeter's usefulness, but playing it correctly wouldn't have mattered. The deck totally whiffed this round. It happens, and I shrug it off, eager to re-prove myself next round. 0-2, 2-1.

Round 4 vs. BUR Control
So I'm chugging along game one. He drops Ashiok, something I know I don't want to see, but I have an answer in hand. He activates and the top two cards of my library are both Rakdos Guildgate. Bet you didn't see that coming, eh? I board everything in because I saw a Mutavault, leaving a Riot Control. Game two he drops Nightveil Specter and boy does he do some work before I can Sphere him. Remember last round when I mentioned that I've never seen anyone cast more Urban Evolutions and lose? I thought I was going to stabilize at four until he Rakdos' Returned me for 4. 0-2, 2-2.

Round 5 vs. UG Ramp/Tempo/???
This deck was definitely not something I thought to expect, and as such with my two really crappy losses in a row, I'm paired against it at 2-2. He gets going with a Kiora turn 3, and I don't have a blue mana to Detention Shpere, and I don't get one. She goes off, but this is pre-board, so my fogs are still in. He ramps up to a Sylvan Primordial hitting one of my gates. Fortunately I didn't have Simic on board yet, so I tutored it up next, bluffing it as a two-of so he can't do that again to lock me out. I think that was a really good play, but it didn't matter. I'm at seven gates with two Mazes on board and the tenth gate in hand, then he Primordials again. I don't draw another fog spell, so I'm toast. Guess which 5 drop UG sorcery he runs? Game two I can't get white mana, and I finally lose my cool after he whips my ass. "WTF do I have to do to win a GD game!?" I didn't yell at him or anything, and I immediately apologized for my outburst. Truth be told, if I wasn't sitting across from that deck, losing to it, I'd be very interested in it because I like that style. 0-2, 2-3, drop.

I just can't believe I dropped six straight games. Those game ones that I'm supposed to win... it's not that I don't believe you about it because I've seen it for myself. But damn. I went 1-4 in game ones. That's not going to get it done at any event.

In the end, I noticed that Wear//Tear basically sucked for me because while it could kill Needle, it does squat against indestructible gods. It is also susceptible to counter magic. Turn//Burn also just didn't do enough, but Abrupt Decay can't kill Mutavault. Basically, I kept them off devotion like I needed to, and then couldn't kill gods because of it. I faced zero aggro decks, though. I think I want to change Wear//Tear to Revoke Existence. The two-for-one was never relevant, and I can't imagine I will actually care about two things I can't win through at the same time.

I think I want to change Quicken as well. I don't know what to, but something that is impactful by itself, for sure. I don't think Kiora is good enough. Perhaps a second main-deck wincon, but I don't know. Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you. Good luck!

Josh S