Sideboard Plan

**Tron

This match-up is hard, REALLY HARD, although we have more maindeck ways to deal with it than the other BGx decks like Jund and Junk. Tectonic Edge pulls its weight in this game as does Treetop Village and Thoughtseize.

The main way to deal with Tron is to disrupt its mana and discard its threats. Destroying an Urza land and discarding their threats sets Tron back a lot. Unfortunately, Tectonic Edge usually isn’t active until they have Urzatron set up, it does help slow them down though so that’s a legitimate strategy. I tend to prioritize a tec edge for dealing with their singleton Eye of Ugin as that plan of action sets them back considerably due to then needing to draw into their threats naturally (or by forcing them into using Stirrings to find their threats rather than additional mana). After that’s been taken care of, additional Tec edges can be used for their Urza lands in order to disrupt the Urzatron synergy (Favor Urza Tower if multiple of each land are in play).

In addition to constantly disrupting, be aggressive as possible, land a Tarmogoyf and attack with both Goyf and Treetops every turn possible. You need to keep them under constant pressure as their late game is so much stronger than ours and they will easily win.

(U-Tron)

This match-up is hard, but easier than RG Tron. We have Tectonic Edges to destroy their Urzatron and Academy Ruins game plan and Scavenging Ooze to hinder their main combo too. Also, their Tron set up is usually much slower than RG Trons as they need to prioritize access to Islands early on for counterspells.
Having said that, U Tron have access to numerous spells that can really mess us around like: Cyclonic Rift, Spell Burst and Platinum Angel as well as their use of Sundering Titan, Wurmcoil Engine and Steel Hellkite as heavy finishers.

Expect to see counters and bounce spells, aim to land an early Scavenging Ooze and use Tec Edges carefully to disrupt their Tron set up or Ruins combo and use you hand disruption wisely prioritizing things that will disrupt you the most or their biggest threat.

Also like RG be aggressive, their inevitability is much stronger than ours and we can only disrupt them for so long.

+2 Extirpate
+3 Rain of Tears

**POD

Like Kiki Pod, Melira Pod can be recognized easily by its color combination (GBW, any of the four main creatures hitting the battlefield or by seeing either/both Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling through being played/through hand disruption. Fortunately for us, we have a full playset of Deathrite Shaman and Scavenging Oozes maindeck able to respond to the Persist triggers by exiling either Finks or Redcap from the graveyard which makes setting up the combo challenging for our opponent (although not impossible, watch out for Linvala, Keeper of Silence!!).

-IOK
-Abrupt Decay

+sweepers (drown in sorrow, golgari charm, EE, etc)
+grafdiggers
+removal
+ Thoughtseize

**Jund/BGx/Junk/Most midrange

-discard

+creatures
+removal


**Merfolk

This match-up is decent as long as you know what to aim for. I ideally use your discard to take away their card advantage or disruption cards (prioritizing Silvergill, Spellskite, Spreading Seas and their counterspells) and save my removal for their lords. Dismember is one of our only removal spells that can hit Mutavaults so bare that in mind if you can avoid using them.

+sweepers

**Bogles

This MU is very dependant upon getting lucky with hand with both hand and permanent disruption. Abrupt Decay, hand disruption and Liliana of the Veil really pull their weight in this MU.

-targeted removal

+Engineered Explosives
+discard
+Golgari Charm

**Scapeshift

A lot of the time, we are able to outrace the deck with use of our Tectonic Edges and efficient beaters, however, if we can’t we’re dependent upon taking a Scapeshift/alternate win con with our discard and hope that they don’t draw ant additional threats or remove the Scapeshift with either DRS or Scooze.

-removal (but leave some for the big hitters)

+discard
+land destruction


**Storm

Storm can be a very fast deck, however, we have hand disruption and permanent destruction and graveyard disruption which makes things much, MUCH, harder for our Storm opponent. When it comes to using our hand disruption you should analyze their hand carefully and take the spell cards that they’re lacking in. If they’re not lacking in any particular spell I prioritize taking Manamorphose, their cantrips, then their Storm spells and finally their Rituals. Use Dismember, whenever possible, to kill their Electromancers prioritizing Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse to deal with their troublesome Permanents. Scooze can make things difficult for the more graveyard-centric versions of the deck that depend on Pyromancer Ascension and Past in Flames to gain a sufficient Storm count.

-creature Removal

+Gradigger's Cage
+Sweepers/Golgari Charm (kills empty the warrens tokens and pyromancer's ascension)

**Affinity

Beware of Etched Champion as he is very difficult for us to deal with, also, try to use your primary permanent removal (like Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse) on Cranial Plating whenever possible. My best advice against this MU is to prioritize their biggest threats first, my order is: Plating, Ravager (and his Modular target), MoE, Overseer then Pest – Etched Champion is one of the major threats too but it’s unlikely that we’ll get a chance to target him.

-discard
-Courser/Finks

+removal
+land destruction
+fast sweepers

**Twin

This match-up is made challenging only by its use of main deck disruption and flash creatures. Our Abrupt Decays can be met with their Mizzium Skin or diverted to their Spellskites. Our Dismembers are usually diverted to Skite or met with Skin, Remand or Dispel. And our Sorcery removal is too slow as they’ll, almost always, play Exach or Mite at the end of your turn. Ideally, wait for them to cast a Splinter Twin then, while it’s on the stack waiting to resolve, kill its target sending both parts of the combo to the graveyard. Alternatively, if they’re going for the Kiki win, wait for them to target the creature with Kiki and respond to the triggered ability of the targeted creatures ETB/CIP ability targeting Kiki by killing him. Discard is useful in this match-up, use it primarily to take their combo pieces or disruption.

**Against Pure Combo
-Pulse
-Courser
-Thrun/Oblit/ 1-2 Scooze

+Instant speed Removal/Golgari Charm
+land destruction

**Against Tempo Twin

+golgari Charm
+instant speed removal
+thrun

**UWR

(Midrange)
Like UWR Control, it’s a problematic deck to face as it runs so many ways of disrupting our win conditions. Our Tarmogoyfs and Scavenging Oozes are strong against them so long as we can get Ooze out of Bolt/Helix reach and they get unlucky with finding their Paths. Like UWR Control, this match-up is also made a lot easier for those decks that run Thrun, the Last Troll main deck, as if we find it, we will usually win. Liliana of the Veil is particularly strong against UWR due to their main win condition having Hexproof. Also, Tectonic Edge is also very useful for both cutting of colored sources of mana and killing their Colonnades.

(Control)
It’s a problematic deck to face as it runs so many ways of disrupting our threats. Our hand disruption is strong against them, as are our Tarmogoyfs and Scavenging Oozes, however, it’s trying to get them past their wall of counters and surviving their cheap removal that’s the issue – Even if we manage to do that, they still have Supreme Verdict to take care of them. If we’re lucky and can land an Ooze and pump it and/or a Tarmogoyf without them drawing a Path or Verdict we do stand a very good chance of victory though. This match-up is also made a lot easier for those decks that run Thrun, the Last Troll main deck, as if we find it, we will usually win.

Our Tec Edges, are invaluable against them as you can hinder them from triple blue for their Cryptics, kill their Collonnades and hinder them from their red (or even their white) mana if lucky.

-removal that isnt Slaughter Pact

+land destruction
+Thrun
+Lifegain (Obstinate baloth, kitchen finks, bow of nylea)

**UR Delver

As a midrange deck we perform strongly against this type of deck. We have maindeck Abrupt Decay which cripples their gameplan of protecting their cheap efficient beaters with counter magic. An early Dismember can be strong in this MU too as your opponent will be wanting to ideally land a threat turn 1 and having an active removal spell ready can put your opponent behind quite a bit. Scooze and DRS essentially turn off their Snapcaster Mages and forces them to aim removal at them rather than you.

-thoughtseize

+sweepers
+lifegain

**Living End

The main strategy here is to land Ooze and exile their creatures from their graveyard as they put them in there.

-Abrupt Decay

+GY hate
+land destruction

**GW Hatebears

Taking away their Vials puts them on a very level playing field as it makes them cast their creature at Sorcery speed and using their mana, stopping them further disrupting you. Play their own game, expect to be disrupted by Mindcensor and Arbiter and hold removal for when they attempt their disruption. Basically, switch to a control paradigm of play yourself. Use hand disruption not only to remove threats/removal but to predict their strategy. Decays and Pulses are good for destroying their Vials and most of their threats, Dismember is cheap and kills all their threats but use it wisely; don’t walk into their Flickerwisps or Restoration Angels with it. The D&T match-up is one that rewards skilful play. Be aware of their interactions and synergy like flickering their cip ability creatures with Flickerwisp/Restoration Angels for value (such as Blade Splicer and Kitchen Finks). Be aware also of their combat shenanigans such as blinking away one of your blockers with Flickerwisp too. If you play carefully you stand a strong chance of victory.

Depending on the build you may keep the same SB strategy as other midrange decks and take out the discard for removal/creatures
If youre on the play I'd go with land destruction, on the draw I'd leave in some amount of discard.

**Infect

Hand disruption is useful in this match-up. Ideally, using it to discard either their creatures or pump spells – prioritizing their Infect creatures if both in equal numbers due the low number of them. Alternatively, if you have removal you can simply take their removal disruption.

I find the best way to tackle this match-up is by responding to their pump spells with your removal 2+ for 1ing them. Save your Dismembers for their Inkmoths, if possible, and prioritize Abrupt Decay for their threats.

Take out your slow threats and put in more removal and discard

**Fae

This plays out a lot like UWR control. Stick thrun and win. Side in lifegain if they're splashing red and snaps.

**Zoo

Their end game is quite big, not overwhelmingly so like Tron but enough so that it makes them more and more a challenging threat as the game goes on. Ooze is great in this match-up but be aware that they run their own, as well as bolts. They also run Paths which can hurt us quite a bit. We do however run Dismembers which is funny when they - Domri to kill our creature and it deals no (or very little) damage. They also use a few cards with Exalted so be careful of unfavourable blocking. Just keep the pressure on and we should pull through. Dismember is actually very strong in this MU as it kills most of their larger threats and having Scooze to deal with their KotRs hurts their deck a bit too. Our Decays pull some weight too as it can kill all of their main problem cards.

-Thoughtseize

+lifegain
+sweepers
+Thrun
+removal