Modern

RG Ponza Primer Part 2: Sideboarding

Welcome to the second half of my RG Ponza deck primer. This half is all about boarding and how to approach the matchups you might face. As a refresher, here’s the list we’re working with:

[deck]
[Lands]
9 Forest
1 Mountain
3 Stomping Ground
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Spells]
3 Beast Within
4 Blood Moon
4 Bonfire of the Damned
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Primal Command
3 Stone Rain
4 Utopia Sprawl
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Arbor Elf
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Inferno Titan
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 Dismember
2 Sudden Shock
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Ancient Grudge
1 Stone Rain
2 Firespout
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Between now and the last time we talked, notice that the board has changed. We removed [card]Ricochet Trap[/card] as we believe it’s currently too situational as there are simply less powerful blue spells in the format. Additionally, Trap is awkward when facing a Grixis opponent who mainly plays [card]Kolaghan’s Command[/card]s, [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]s, and other non-blue spells. UW Control is also a deck we haven’t seen in a long time. So, how are we are approaching the matchups where Trap would be good? The fourth [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] is a crucial threat that is also resilient and helps against the rise of the Zoo decks. Additionally, the tempo and attrition decks usually rely on one solid threat to stabilize or win. Our current removal suite is sometimes awkward against these creatures as they have big butts. [card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card] and [card]Sudden Shock[/card] sometimes stare hopelessly at these big baddies. [card]Dismember[/card] makes these matchups better by removing their key threat or ‘wall’ to open our game back up. Read on for more matchup-specific notes.

8-Rack

This deck is worse than Lantern Control, but has [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card] and [card]Ensnaring Bridge[/card] to lock you preboard. Lower your curve post-board, use [card]Beast Within[/card] as permanent removal or aggression if necessary. Use [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] to deal with Bridges and The Rack. Minimize the damage that Liliana and Smallpox can do. Play up to six mana to unlock all your topdecks and get aggressive with Arbor Elf if necessary to get them low. Bonfires are Blazes here and that’s fine.

Out: 2 Dragon, 4 Moon, 3 Rain, 1 Titan
In: 2 Shock, 3 Grudge, 4 Finks, 1 Thrun

Abzan/Jund

These attrition matchups are good but can go south if they manage more than a couple solid threats like [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] and Tasigur backed up with poor draws on our part. They usually can’t handle LD well and it usually comes down to their board state when we go into the midgame. They play whatever they can to disrupt our early game while we play our lands and mana dorks. At some point, they run out of stuff or succumb to a Moon and we draw haymakers to blank whatever they have. Miraculous Bonfires can be great for cleaning up a board or killing [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]. Abzan can play Path, making our Titans and Finks not so great. Jund, however, plays more cheap damage-based removal and [card]Kolaghan’s Command[/card] so, while Finks is better, our dorks are worse.

Abzan
Out: 1 Titan, 1 Bonfire, 1 Baloth
In: 1 Rain, 1 [card]Dismember[/card], 1 Thrun

Jund
Out: 1 Scooze, 2 [card]Beast Within[/card], 2 Titan, 1 Bonfire
In: 1 Thrun, 3 Finks, 2 [card]Dismember[/card]

Abzan CoCo

This matchup is almost a bye. I’ve lost to it once and you have to get unlucky not to spike it. Titan, Bonfire, and Moon all thrash their small dudes and nonbasic lands. Don’t get too cocky though because an unfortunately lucky [card]Collected Company[/card] could get them back into the game. Your most powerful game plan here remains so and there’s no need to worry about playing midrange.

Out: 2 Baloth, 1 Thrun
In: 2 [card]Sudden Shock[/card], 1 Firespout/1 [card]Dismember[/card]

Ad Nauseum

This matchup can be tough as they don’t care about creatures and, as I mentioned before, we have to tap out to start winning game one at least. Game two, however, is better. THeir entire mana base is nonbasic and they need to assemble BBW over the course of the game to combo off. Usually, you can disrupt them enough with Grudge and [card]Beast Within[/card] post-board to get the match. Don’t be afraid to hit Prisms with Grudge.

Out: 4 Bonfire, 2 Dragon, 2 Titan, 1 Scooze
In: 3 Grudge, 4 Finks, 1 Thrun, 1 Rain

Affinity

Game one depends on luck. [card]Steel Overseer[/card] can overpower Bonfire, but we can also wreck them with a timely sweeper or early Titan. It’s generally not good for us as our removal is inefficient and our LD is not good. Games two and three flip drastically, but can be lost if they draw and play two or more [card]Etched Champion[/card]s. Basically, you want to make sure it’s never bigger than a 2/2 and go over the top. Every game is a little different though and you can lose to three Champs or win against an opponent who only has one permanent in play. Keep at least three Moons in here as they turn off the Nexus lands.

Out: 3 Rain, 1 Moon, 1 Acid-Moss, 1 Scooze, 2 Dragon
In: 2 Shock, 3 Grudge, 1 [card]Dismember[/card], 2 [card]Firespout[/card]

Aggroloam/Dredge

This can be tough depending on their build and luck. It’s very winnable, however, if you play carefully, make good blocks, shut off their lands with Moon, and manage their yard with Scooze and Command, though this is more difficult now. If they’re playing [card]Bridge from Below[/card], don’t forget that you can kill your own dorks or whatever with Titan to exile them. Don’t be too unhappy if they nut draw you though, we’re not heavily equipped against the graveyard decks for a reason (they’re not that popular or consistent). Finks plays an important role here as both pressure for the Aggroloam deck and defense against the Dredge decks.

Out: 2 Dragon, 3 [card]Beast Within[/card]
In: 1 Thrun, 4 Finks, (2 [card]Firespout[/card] could also come in)

Blue Moon

We’re the better [card]Blood Moon[/card] deck here. Watch for big permanents like planeswalkers and [card]Batterskull[/card] to determine that it’s Blue Moon and not UR Tempo (a mistake I’ve made; we board very differently here). Generally, they’re going to try counter your stuff and land big permanents. The thing is, while we both play Moon, we leverage it better and can eventually cut them off of blue with LD. Trap would have been useful here, but Finks is a very good, must-counter threat. Also, post-board, you still want Moon. While they can play around it, the game goes long and they slowly play their nonbasic lands.

Out: 1 Moon, 4 Bonfire, 1 Scooze, 1 Titan, 1 Acid-Moss
In: 1 Thrun, 4 Finks, 1 Rain, 2 Grudge

Bogles

The strategy here is to cut off their plays with LD and Moon. This, in turn, limits the size of their creatures. Use sweepers when you can and play [card]Beast Within[/card] to destroy key enchantments. It’s a tougher matchup without [card]Engineered Explosives[/card], but you can put them on the back foot quickly. Thrun also blocks most of their dorks perpetually.

Out: 1 Scooze, 2 Baloth
In: 1 Thrun, 2 [card]Firespout[/card]

Burn

Smart burn players makes this matchup much harder as they rely less on the creatures and will keep their mana open to [card]Skullcrack[/card] or [card]Atarka’s Command[/card] when the time is right. That being said, it’s about 50/50. LD is bad, but Moon cuts them off of their most powerful spells. Post-board the curve gets lower and more aggressive. And moving to the fourth Finks has to tip the scales a bit. Don’t forget your techy plays like killing a Finks to gain some extra life out of nowhere.

Out: 1 Dragon, 1 Bonfire, 2 [card]Beast Within[/card], 3 Rain
In: 4 Finks, 1 Thrun, 2 Shock

RG Tron

We’re playing [card]Blood Moon[/card] and land destruction. While they can draw lands constantly, we can destroy them or make them irrelevant. When playing against Tron, don’t freak out and destroy every land at every opportunity. If they’re two land plays away from assembling Tron, take that turn to play a threat. They win if we give them enough time. Also, post-Moon, don’t ignore their Tron pieces or assume that our enchantment is enough. They win games by suddenly getting out from under our lock and exploding. Their key cards are [card]Warping Wail[/card], [card]Oblivion Stone[/card], [card]Crucible of Worlds[/card], and [card]Nature’s Claim[/card]. Keep them off green if possible, but it’s more important that they’re far from Tron and activating O Stone.

Out: 4 Bonfire, 1 Scooze, 2 Titan, 1 Dragon
In: 4 Finks, 1 Thrun, 1 Rain, 2 Grudge

RG/Bant Eldrazi

Hearkening back to the cold days of yore, this deck needs its lands and the colors or colorless, that they produce. While I’ve only beat the RG iteration, the Bant version of this deck seems even worse against us. Destroy lands, lock them out with Moon. [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] is still an accessible play via [card]Noble Hierarch[/card], which is annoying, but whatever. Post-Moon, the list that Top 16’d the Indianapolis Open cannot produce colorless (it plays Path, but no [card]Wastes[/card] so it can’t even Path itself out of that situation). That being said, they play a few basics that should be dealt with, but keeping them off their top end is what we do in these shadows.

Out: 1 Scooze, 1 Command, 2 Baloth
In: 1 Rain, 1 Thrun, 2 [card]Dismember[/card]

Elves!

This matchup is tough. Many games it’s a blowout one way or the other. With a card like Bonfire, you can imagine the swings that happen against a deck with an army of dorks. But, the reality here is that it’s very difficult without either a Bonfire or two, specifically a miraculous one, and/or an early Titan. They can recover quickly, easily outclass our from-hand sweepers with lords and LD doesn’t do much. That being said, Moon can slow them down and lock them out post-sweeper. And knowledge of the match can make your pinpoint removal that much more effective. I won a close game that looked much worse by simply using [card]Beast Within[/card] to target Azuri, Renegade Leader at the right moment. Post-board, don’t get greedy with your sweepers. Fire them off even if you can only kill two or three things. You have to keep them fair and earn enough time for your Bonfires to be amazing and your Titans to be dominant.

Out: 3 Rain, 1 Moon, 2 Dragon
In: 2 Shock, 2 [card]Dismember[/card], 2 [card]Firespout[/card],

Fish

This is another creature deck where they can get too big, too fast. They can also play disruption in the form of [card]Spreading Seas[/card] (messing with lands?! What meanies!). Games against Fish become much more difficult if they open with [card]Aether Vial[/card]. That being said, if they don’t, they’re unlikely to win. Use [card]Beast Within[/card] when necessary to kill lords. If your mana is unmolested, go nuts! In one game, he had super lethal on board but had allowed me to play solitaire. I was able to Bonfire from my hand for three paying for [card]Cursecatcher[/card] and play Moon to lock him out of the game IN THE SAME TURN. Moon is another card that changes drastically with their build. If they’re playing white or red, it can be game-breaking. If not, it’s still okay at turning off [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] and [card]Mutavault[/card]s. Post-board, they have many options for interaction: [card]Harbinger of the Tides[/card], [card]Tidebinder Mage[/card], [card]Vapor Snag[/card], and [card]Spell Pierce[/card], among others. Our deck is fairly well suited against those cards as they have ETB effects, haste, or can’t be targeted.

Out: 3 Rain, 1 Moon, 1 Acid-Moss, 1 [card]Beast Within[/card], 1 Command
In: 2 Shock, 2 [card]Dismember[/card], 2 [card]Firespout[/card], 1 Thrun

Goblins/8-Whack

This matchup can be scary. They have ways to deal damage out of nowhere and, game one, we’re only blocking with a creature or two. As if that wasn’t enough, they have [card]Goblin Grenade[/card] to just end the game. Luckily they go wide and stay small, so Bonfires here are juicy. Early Titans are also effective, but can arrive too late. And Moon is a hilariously useless card. Post-board, it gets much better as we are able to tangle with Finks and more dudes. [card]Beast Within[/card] is awkward as it’s only good if you can destroy a Finks or other irrelevant permanent whereas [card]Stone Rain[/card] can be surprisingly effective against decks with very low land counts. We also have a bit more removal and fewer dead cards. Game one aside, we’re the favorite here.

Out: 4 Moon, 2 Dragon, 1 Acid-Moss, 2 [card]Beast Within[/card]
In: 4 Finks, 1 Thrun, 2 Shock, 2 [card]Firespout[/card]

GrisShoalBrand

This is a stressful matchup that requires some luck on our part to win. Moon is our best disruptive spell, but it’s still not great. LD in also not great here because they can go off with as few as one land in play. It is, unfortunately, necessary to keep them off [card]Through the Breach[/card] mana. Also, this is one of those matchups where we have to flip the order in which we attack and disrupt, so lowering our curve to become a mediocre beatdown deck is what’s necessary. Save [card]Beast Within[/card] to kill [card]Griselbrand[/card] before it connects and try not to tap out unnecessarily for threats after turns three or four. Don’t feel bad if you lose because you tap out to play a Thrun or Baloth; sometimes you just have to give them a turn early or you risk giving them many more later.

Out: 4 Bonfire, 2 Dragon
In: 4 Finks, 1 Thrun, 1 Rain

GW/BW Hatebears/Eldrazi/BW Tokens

This matchup is fairly easy but can be lost in annoying ways. Basically, they’re going to try disrupt your early to mid-game plans. [card]Flickerwisp[/card] is probably the most annoying card here, especially in multiples, as it flickers your Sprawl’d-up [card]Forest[/card]. They can also annoy you with [card]Tidehollow Sculler[/card] or [card]Leonin Arbiter[/card]. Fortunately for us, they’re not fast and one miraculous Bonfire can blow them out of the game. Our topdecks are also solid, as is our LD. Postboard, board in a bit more removal to keep them behind, but don’t stray too far from your powerful game plan. This is a general board plan, but don’t forget you have more options if they’re a bit more creature-heavy or a bit bigger.

Out: 1 Scooze, 1 Command, 3 [card]Beast Within[/card]
In: 2 Shock, 2 [card]Dismember[/card] (2 [card]Firespout[/card] vs BW Tokens), 1 Thrun

Infect

This is a good matchup but one that is losable if misunderstood. The keys here are keeping their green sources in check and killing creatures on our turn. Bonfire, Titan, Moon and LD are all good here. Bonfire early and force them to have and/or waste pump spells on your turn. Utilize Moon to shut off [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card] and avoid targeting it with Rain and especially Acid-Moss. If they have an open mana, they’ll often make their Nexus into a protected or hexproof creature with [card]Apostle’s Blessing[/card] or [card]Vines of Vastwood[/card]. Understand that their green sources give them power and options, kill those first if you can. The worrisome card in this matchup is [card]Wild Defiance[/card]. Defiance is the only card in the deck, and one of the only in the format, that ‘counters’ [card]Sudden Shock[/card]. Use [card]Beast Within[/card] to get it off the board. If you don’t see Defiance, [card]Sudden Shock[/card] is nutter butters and feel free to let them attack you. If they pump, kill it. If they don’t, evaluate when you’ll be able play Shock again and make your decision. [card]Dismember[/card] does a lot here as well, but obviously isn’t as powerful. The Thrun/Baloth switch may seem odd, but we’re boarding out a few threats and being more resilient to their [card]Dismember[/card]s is good. Last, watch out for [card]Spell Pierce[/card].

Against the BG variant, be more mindful of what removal you use when and how. Bonfire and Shock can’t kill Phyexian Crusader, so [card]Dismember[/card] and [card]Beast Within[/card] have their jobs cut out for them.

Out: 2 Dragon, 1 Command, 1 Scooze, 2 Acid-Moss, 1 Baloth
In: 2 [card]Dismember[/card], 2 Shock, 2 [card]Firespout[/card], 1 Thrun

Naya Chord-Combo

This matchup is favorable but slightly more difficult than Abzan for two main reasons. First, they can use both red mana and creatures via convoke to assemble their combo. There are times when the game looks under control, but they suddenly play [card]Restoration Angel[/card] at the end of our turn and [card]Chord of Calling[/card] a [card]Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker[/card] to win. Always be aware of Chord, its size and possibilities. More recently, they added [card]Nahiri, the Harbinger[/card] for additional power and resilience. Second, they play a more varied mix of small and tougher creatures. [card]Wall of Roots[/card] is one of their best cards in this matchup as it allows them to stay in the game post-Moon or LD. Don’t be afraid to [card]Beast Within[/card] it early. Additionally, they play [card]Reveillark[/card], which is a great value option against us. Outside of that, they have access to annoying creatures like [card]Qasali Pridemage[/card], [card]Orzhov Pontiff[/card], [card]Aven Mindcensor[/card], and [card]Reclamation Sage[/card]. Be cognizant of their outs and play around them as best as you can. Post-board, they have [card]Burrenton Forge-Tender[/card] which can blank a Bonfire. Titan is good and bad here because you can probably expect it to kill something and get Path’d. [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card], on the other hand, is basically unkillable and is especially important for killing Nahiri.

Out: 1 Command, 1 [card]Beast Within[/card], 1 Scooze, 2 Baloth
In: 2 [card]Dismember[/card], 1 Thrun, 2 Shock

Lantern Control

Ugghghhhggghghghhghgggggggghhhh……………

Fine.

This matchup is challenging. Sometimes you have to kill a [card]Lantern of Insight[/card] to get unlocked. Other times you have to go after [card]Ensnaring Bridge[/card]. Sometimes they have two [card]Welding Jar[/card]s. Be patient. Game one can be a slog and is not favorable. Moon can be effective at shutting off [card]Academy Ruins[/card]. Sometimes you get lucky and they only have one Mox Opal for relevant mana. LD is fine here as it keeps them off plays like [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]. Generally, your big creatures are horrible here, so you have to get smaller, thus making [card]Beast Within[/card] worse. Getting smaller also allows you to play more of your deck if [card]Pyroclasm[/card] kills or [card]Pithing Needle[/card] neutralizes your mana dorks. Luckily, post-board it can get better. [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] and [card]Beast Within[/card] are clutch here. Wait for openings to go after their lock pieces or Bridge. Use Bonfires as Blazes that have to be milled and try to get them low quickly, so the openings you have can be smaller.

Out: 2 Dragon, 4 Titan, 1 Bonfire, 1 [card]Beast Within[/card]
In: 1 Thrun, 3 Grudge, 4 Finks

Living End

So I tapped my best buddy and 2015 Missouri State Modern Champ, James Mellish, to write this bit. His Modern success has largely come from [card]Living End[/card], but he’s now a Blood Bestie. Thanks, James!

“This matchup can be easy if you come prepared and knowledgeable on the capabilities of the deck. The worst-case scenario is playing against an LD-heavy list of [card]Living End[/card] because blowing up a Sprawl’d land is an easy way to get 2-for-1’d. Similarly, if you don’t have a hand packing sufficient LD of your own, you’ll be in trouble. Your primary goal is to keep them off their third land. Sounds pretty tough, I know. But if there’s a deck equipped for the task, it’s ours! If you fail in your quest to prevent them from cascading, I’m afraid your only hope will be to topdeck a big Bonfire, because that deck is swimming with big butts, so [card]Inferno Titan[/card] will simply be on blocking duty. [card]Blood Moon[/card] is quite good against most of the recent [card]Living End[/card] lists. They’ve moved away from land cyclers like [card]Pale Recluse[/card] that can get them out of the jam, and they only play four fetchlands. The deck usually has just one basic forest and one basic swamp. If you have a hand containing Moon, it’s likely to be brutal. [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] and [card]Primal Command[/card] can get their graveyard as well. If they have a weak [card]Living End[/card] with only a few creatures, Thrun backed up with regeneration mana can whittle down their strike force, or completely thwart it. Good luck out there, this matchup can be a nailbiter!”

Out: 2 Baloth, 2 Dragon, 2 Titan
In: 4 Finks, 1 Thrun, 1 [card]Stone Rain[/card]

Scapeshift

There a few different versions of the deck, but the general strategy is the same: land Moon and go after green sources. Under Moon, they basically become derpy Titan decks and we have all the equipment to handle them. Each color combination has its strengths and weakness. The RG version can ramp more quickly, but has fewer answers to resolved permanents, especially Moon. If possible, use [card]Beast Within[/card] to blow up [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card] as that is a significant source of tempo for them. The blue deck has less stable mana, but can [card]Cryptic Command[/card] or [card]Bring to Light[/card] itself out of bad situations. And, rather than ramp like the RG version, the Temur variants play tempo spells. If allowed to have their druthers, the Temur list is better against us as they have either kept us off threats or LD and neither scenario is good. Approach this matchup like many other combo decks: attack and disrupt.

Out: 4 Bonfire, 1 Scooze, 1 Dragon
In: 4 Finks, 1 Thrun, 1 Rain

Soul Sisters

This matchup is very easy. They’re one out is a turn-two 6/6 [card]Serra Ascendant[/card] and this is beatable with [card]Beast Within[/card]. The matchup can take a while simply because they delay the inevitable so well, but our spells wipe their board or deal huge chunks of damage. Additionally, [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card] is amazing (they sometimes play [card]Dismember[/card] as an out so keep that in mind). Be aware that they can put us on the back foot with Honor of the Pure-powered swarms combined with life gain to keep them ahead. Fortunately, those games don’t happen very often. Moon is odd here as it can be very effective or very bad. Generally, I board it out and leave in Rain to buy myself some tempo as I go over the top. Post-board, [card]Firespout[/card] can be an important sweeper that only hits fliers and Shock zaps [card]Martyr of Sands[/card] dead.

Out: 4 Moon, 1 Acid-Moss (on draw), 1 Scooze
In: 2 Shock, 2 [card]Firespout[/card], 1 [card]Dismember[/card] (on draw)

Storm

Storm is another matchup where they require little mana to go off. Success or failure largely depends on both luck and how you can interact with [card]Goblin Pyromancer[/card], [card]Pyromancer Ascension[/card], or their graveyard. Bonfire helps against the goblin wizard, but it’s not great. [card]Beast Within[/card] is also taxed here. Scooze and [card]Primal Command[/card] are also crucial. Our basic strategy is to, once again, flip the script and be aggressive. Post-board, it’s better. They usually don’t bring [card]Empty the Warrens[/card] in against us, but I’m not against keeping a Bonfire or two in just in case. As we don’t expect to see this often, our options reflect that and we have to play tight, keep their land-count low and hopefully deal with their stuff on time.

Out: 4 Moon, 2 Titan, 2 Bonfire
In: 4 Finks, 2 Shock, 1 Thrun, 1 Rain

UR Tempo/Grixis Control/Grixis Delve(r)

If they’re UR, the matchup is much easier. Their plan usually revolves around [card]Delver of Secrets[/card], [card]Young Pyromancer[/card], [card]Thing in the Ice[/card], or [card]Pia and Kiran Nalaar[/card]. So, they’re going to burn some of our stuff and counter our things. We can usually overpower this strategy as their grasp on the game is much more precarious. They also go wide, which makes Bonfires and Titans better. Moon is worse here, but still keeps them off important blue sources. When we lose, it’s usually to their above-average draws where nothing resolves and they burn us out quickly while we flounder.

That being said, the Grixis matchup is much more difficult. They play Kolaghan’s Command to reload, [card]Terminate[/card], more burn and discard. Their cards are stronger and their removal is better. Additionally, they play tougher threats like [card]Tasigur, the Golden Fang[/card], [card]Gurmag Angler[/card], and [card]Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet[/card]. Post-board, the UR decks bring in more counterspells. This strategy is generally weaker against us as we populate our deck with more resilient threats. In addition to counterspells, the Grixis deck brings in discard, some number of [card]Damnation[/card] if they’re control and suspect Thrun and [card]Engineered Explosives[/card] if they see Moon. If they’re Delve(r), expect more [card]Spell Pierce[/card], [card]Countersquall[/card], [card]Magma Spray[/card], and [card]Go for the Throat[/card]. The one huge benefit this deck has against the blue decks is lack of targets for [card]Spell Snare[/card]. The Grixis matchup is tougher and more unpredictable and we’re still feeling that one out. Generally, if you see more delve spells or enablers like Angler and [card]Thought Scour[/card], [card]Stone Rain[/card] will get better because their land count is lower and they have to choose between holding up countermagic or playing cantrips to draw more land. Moon is also more effective against the Grixis decks as it usually cuts them off of black and their threats. As mentioned at the top, [card]Ricochet Trap[/card] is no longer in the deck and our new strategy is to kill their threat to buy us the time we need to regain advantage and resolve our haymakers. From best to worst, I think we’re best against UR and worst against Grixis Delve(r).

An important note about [card]Beast Within[/card]. Be careful that you don’t misplay it. Part of the reason we added [card]Dismember[/card] was so we could have a powerful removal spell that didn’t leave our tempo opponents with a creature. While it can have some applications against the Grixis Control deck, I do not think it’s a good spell against either of the tempo decks and should be mostly boarded out.

UR
Out: 1 Scooze, 1 Command, 1 Bonfire, 1 Moon, 1-2 [card]Beast Within[/card]
In: 1 Thrun, 2 Shock (if you see or suspect Delver), 4 Finks

Grixis Delve(r)
Out: 1 Command, 4 Bonfire, 1 Titan, 2 [card]Beast Within[/card], 1 Scooze
In: 4 Finks, 2 [card]Dismember[/card], 2 Shock, 1 Rain, 1 Thrun

Grixis Control
Out: 1 Command, 4 Bonfire, 1 Acid-Moss, 2 Titan
In: 4 Finks, 2 [card]Dismember[/card], 1 Thrun, 1 Rain

Esper, Mardu, Jeskai, UW Control

These have, historically, been good matchups. Landing Moon, especially early, can be devastating and often wins the game on the spot. Additionally, these decks can run out of gas while lacking a significant board advantage. We also can utilize [card]Beast Within[/card] to tap maneuver around countermagic or kill planeswalkers. Each deck has its specific challenges. Esper Control plays a maindeck answer to Moon in [card]Esper Charm[/card] which can wreck you if you’re not careful. Jeskai now has Nahiri, a fast and powerful mini-game. UW plays more cards that hose green and red spells or permanents like [card]Flashfreeze[/card] (shudder) and [card]Celestial Purge[/card]. They also play more blockers and Path, which makes Finks worse. Mardu plays [card]Crackling Doom[/card], a powerful answer to our Titans and even Thrun. But it can’t counter anything, and Moon plus an LD spell to destroy their one [card]Plains[/card] can be crippling. Granted, this sequence has to work around Nahiri and discard. I’m lifetime positive against all four decks and I’m confident these are good matchups to varying degrees.

Esper, Mardu, and Jeskai
Out: 4 Bonfire, 2 Titan, 1 Scooze
In: 4 Finks, 1 Thrun, X [card]Dismember[/card] (depending on their threats)

UW Control
Out: 4 Bonfire, 2 Titan, 1 Scooze/Command
In: 1 Thrun, 1 Rain, 3 Finks, 2 [card]Dismember[/card]

Naya Zoo/Blitz and Death’s Shadow Zoo

Almost all the Zoo variants are tough but winnable. Big Zoo and [card]Death’s Shadow[/card] are the types of creatures we don’t want beating down our door. The Bushwhacker variants, however, send a flurry of hasty dudes around your house and through the windows. [card]Sudden Shock[/card] is often awkward because it only kills about half the creatures in these decks. Conversely, [card]Beast Within[/card] and [card]Dismember[/card] replace a creature with another creature or cost you precious life, which can be bad depending on the deck. Different parts of our decks are better at different times against the Zoo variants. What’s great is that Moon can be good against all of them. It’s less so against the [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card] version, but can make [card]Wild Nacatl[/card] smaller or make a Kird Ape less ape and more ham. The rest of the LD package, however, is not.

Out: 1 Bonfire, 1 Scooze, 2 Dragon, 3 Rain, 1 Acid-Moss, 1-3 [card]Beast Within[/card] (keeping one in vs Big Zoo or [card]Death’s Shadow[/card] is necessary)
In: 4 Finks, 2 [card]Dismember[/card] (if they’re bigger), 2 Shock (if they’re smaller), 1 Thrun, 2 [card]Firespout[/card] (if they’re smaller)

Phew! Well that’s definitely not all the decks in Modern, but, hopefully, this article will be a valuable piece while you prep for LA or Charlotte.

Next week, I’ll write about some of the cards we have, can, may, or didn’t include. Looking further in the future, I’m going to dive deeper into specific matchups, card choices and interactions and all that. As always, if you have any questions, I’m on email mattjmendoza@gmail.com and I have a Twitter @mattmendoza. Or, leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this guide!

Until next week, may all your Bonfires be miraculous!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments