Here are some general notes on how to approach playing and sideboarding against most of the format. I’ll probably update it as I review ways to approach various matchups. Don’t follow these guides rigidly, obviously make tweaks based on what you see. I’m mostly going to discuss the less obvious boarding choices.
AK Mentor v4
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Ponder
2 Preordain
2 counterspell
3 Flusterstorm
4 Fow
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Terminus
2 Jace TMS
1 Engineered Explosives
1 councils judgment
3 snaps
3 mentor
2 plains
5 Island
3 Tundra
2 Volc
4 strand
1 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Pyroblast
2 Counterbalance
1 Pithing Needle
2 Back to Basics
2 Surgical
2 Disenchant
1 Supreme Verdict
2 clique
Grixis Control:https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-grixis-control-33330#paper
In:
3 Pyroblast
2 Counterbalance
1-2 Back to Basics (If you suspect they’re playing 0-2 Basic Lands. If you suspect they have more then don’t board this in)
2 Clique
Out:
2-4 Swords to Plowshares
2-4 Force of Will
1 Engineered Explosives
0-2 Plains (If you don’t board in B2B, otherwise keep them)
I think this matchup is generally favorable. They’re fairly reliant on a stack of 2 for 1’s that you can mitigate with Flusterstorm and AK. Grixis generally doesn’t pressure you that quickly so you have time to get your AK engine online. The early turns are mostly about establishing your mana while not losing to early Thoughtseize’s, Hymns, and Kommands. As you approach the mid game your opponent will try to leverage Snapcaster, Liliana the Last Hope, and Jace TMS. During this portion of the game, you want to try and establish your Counterbalance and AK engines to pull ahead. When you get to the late game if things are in their favor then they’ll have a mix of walkers and various threats. If it’s in your favor you’ll be up on cards and able to leverage Mentor/Jace/ Cb etc.
The cards that are getting boarded in are pretty self-explanatory. Pyroblasts because it’s a blue mirror and allows you to trade 1 for 1 with Snapcaster and Baleful Strix. Clique is a good card for forcing action. The body isn’t that great because it dies to basically everything, but info/clearing the way for you to establish CB, Jace, Mentor or B2B.
The cuts are a bit wonky. Swords to Plowshares isn’t that great against Grixis as a whole but you need something to mitigate Gurmag Angler. The number you want postboard is dependant on how many Angler you see game one. If you think they only have one copy then keep 0-1 STP in. If you see 2-3 copies of Angler then keep in 2ish copies of STP.
Engineered Explosives is really only good against Liliana, the Last Hope. Terminus/Plow are better mitigating effects for Grixis’s creatures than EE because the former effects won’t put the creatures in their graveyard thus making Kommand weaker. Also, the presence of Kommand means that you can’t afford to play EE out and crack it then next turn so I’d rather just not have the card in my deck.
Force of Will is classically one of the worst card in these grindy matchups but it’s one of our best stopgaps for their planeswalkers. Cutting all of them is also fine. Monastery Mentor + Ak can often overwhelm the opponent so a resolved Lili isn’t the end of the world. But I like keeping at least a couple in to keep their Planeswalkers off the board.
It seems counterintuitive to board out lands in a control mirror but you have to keep in mind that the density of white spells we’ll have in the deck postboard is very low. Blue mana sources are a huge premium but we don’t actually want to see a basic plains until turn 5+ because it doesn’t allow us to cast our cantrips and countermagic so it’s just a blank until we need to cast Council’s Judgement and Monastery Mentor. This same logic applies to boarding lands out against combo decks.
Sneak and Show: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-sneak-and-show-24417#paper
In:
3 Pyroblast
2 Counterbalance
1 Pithing Needle
1-2 Surgical Extraction
1-2 Disenchant
2 Clique
2 B2b
Out:
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Terminus
1 EE
3 Monastery Mentor
1 Tundra or Plains
The SNS matchup ranges from somewhat to very unfavorable. Game 1 they’re able to capitalize on the density of white cards which basically never convert against them. Having three copies of Flusterstorm in the main does help mitigate their Show and Tell with Force backup draws which is a huge boon. The main issue that miracles has in this matchup is that you’re not that great at applying pressure. Depending on the quality of your hand slamming a Snapcaster Mage on turn 2 to attack is highly recommended. There are a decent number of nuances to the matchup that are hard to explain without writing a book on the matter. Sometimes you take a control plan, other times you’re more of a pseudo tempo deck. Read your opponent and adjust accordingly.
Boarding-wise, Surgical Extraction is an okay card in this matchup. You can utilize it to strip your opponent of countermagic. But the cards primary function is to strip their enablers after a huge counter war. It’s common that they’ll cast Show or Sneak, you win the fight and then they go off again the next turn from a point of low resources. As such being able to cut off their enablers is huge at this point so you can afford yourself time to gas back up and win in the mid to late game.
Disenchant is for Defense Grid and Sneak Attack. You want at least one copy but the second can be very good.
Back to Basics seems odd but it’s one of your better answers for Bitch Tree (Boseiju).
Sneak and Show is an incredibly mana hungry deck so B2B often just puts them in a spot where they can’t really function.
Counterbalance is very medium against this deck because the relevant CMC’s are three and four. I commonly play is as a blue “hymn to Tourach”. I’ll play it mostly to get a Force + Blue card out of the opponent’s hand. I generally won’t fight heavily to get the card to resolve but if you spell weakness and want to snipe cantrips then do so.
I generally shave or cut all copies of Mentor in this matchup. It doesn’t interact with their gameplan so casting it can often just leave you dead. The card is a bit better when you’re on the tempo gameplan but otherwise, it’s often a liability to draw the card.
If you dislike boarding in Back to Basics then you can do something like this:
In:
3 Pyroblast
2 Counterbalance
1 Pithing Needle
1-2 Surgical Extraction
1-2 Disenchant
Out:
all white removal
2 Mlains
x Mentor
2 CliqueMiracles: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1269339#paper
In:
3 Pyroblast
2 Counterbalance
0-1 Disenchant
2 Clique
Out:
4 Stp
1 Terminus
0-2 Plains
0-1 EE
By playing Ak you give yourself a huge leg up against the Predict builds. The postboard games heavily revolve around Pyroblast. By having a higher density of powerful blue effects you can force your opponent to cast their blasts on your terms. A common play pattern is to jam a V clique, Snapcaster or an AK for 2+ on your opponent’s end step to force action, intentionally losing the counter war and then untapping and playing a Jace or Mentor with protection. From there it’s pretty trivial to snowball into a win. During game one you are soft to Counterbalance so in the early turns try to take lines that leave you with countermagic for it or either EE or CJ to get it off the board. This weakness is mitigated in the postboard games because you’ll have red blast effects to protect yourself.
Boarding is pretty straightforward, cut the white cards for blue and red cards. Keep a couple Terminus in the deck to have a way to answer an opposing Mentor. Disenchant is kind of an answer for counterbalance but it’s mostly an answer for Search for Azcanta and Back to Basics against the UW builds that may leave it in. I generally don’t board a copy in if I don’t know that the opponent has Search for Azcanta. EE is fine in the postboard games because it can answer Counterbalance but otherwise it’s a clunky effect that you don’t necessarily need.
UBx Shadow: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-grixis-shadow#paper
In:
2 Counterbalance
1-2 B2b
0-1 Disenchant
1 Supreme Verdict
2 V Clique
Out
4 Force of will
2 Counterspell
The Shadow mu is generally favorable. The game mostly revolves around mitigating their discard effects with Flusterstorm and trying to keep Lili the Last Hope off the board. A nice aspect of this matchup is that you can sometimes tempo them out with V clique/ Snapcaster because they’ll commonly deal a lot of damage to themselves. Disenchant is for Dread of Night, and Winter Orb if they play those effects. I generally won’t board it in for game two but will for game three if I feel the need. I’ve also spoken to a few players that opt to beat Dread by cutting all copies of Mentor and instead opting to lean heavily on Snapcaster, Clique, Counterbalance, and Back to Basics to win the game.
Counterbalance is pretty good since their average spell converges around 1-2 cmc so it’s not that hard to lock them out of the game. There is a decent argument for keeping some number of Counterspell in the deck as a way to keep lili off the board but I generally like having a higher density of cards that allow me to use my mana proactively. It’s not that hard for them to leverage a point in the game where they can cast a spell into a known CS and make sure it resolves.
Don’t be shocked if your Shadow opponent casts Surgical on Terminus and or Swords to plowshares. Luckily, Monastery Mentor can wall out their non Delver threats so you have a natural counter to the surgical plan. If STP gets surgicalled you can block Delver with Clique or often you can race it.
Death and Taxes: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-death-and-taxes-21908#paper
In:
1 Pithing Needle
2 B2B
2 Disenchant
1 Supreme Verdict
0-2 V clique
Out:
2 Counterspell
3 Flusterstorm
1 Force of Will (Play)
1 Monastery Mentor (Draw)
Dnt is another generally favorable matchups. As long as you can mitigate Aether Vial it’s fairly trivial to stymie their creature plan.
Back to Basics is primarily in the deck to answer Rishadan Port which is one of their best tools for keeping you off of casting your spells.
Pithing Needle is just a flexible answer for a lot of their cards. It can answer Gideon, Mother of Runes, Port, the bounce effect of Karakas, Aether Vial, Stoneforge Mystic, Brightling ETC.
Be wary of Gideon and Cataclysm in the postboard games. These cards in conjunction with Aether Vial are why we leave Force of Will in the deck.
V Clique is good against their general plan but this build doesn’t have enough cards to cut in order to fit it in. On the play I think it may be reasonable to board it in but on the draw I could see it being too slow. I plan to do a bit more testing to see which way I want to go.
Eldrazi Stompy: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-eldrazi-stompy-24654#paper
In:
2 B2b
2 Disenchant
1 Supreme Verdict
0-2 V Clique
Out:
2 Counterspell
3 Flusterstorm
X Preordain
This matchup is unfavorable. The mix of Chalice of the Void + pressure is very troublesome for the deck to deal with. Play as much as you can around Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher.
Pre top ban I was very happy with Clique as a way to proactively ‘counter’ their threats but I’m not sure that really a good angle at this point. This is another matchup that I want to get more reps against to really hammer out a plan for. I think overall we’re just trying to leverage Monastery Mentor as much as possible against them. It’s our best way to wall out their non Smasher threats and kill them before they’re able to get Eye of Ugin online.
Cutting some number of Preordains is fine against Chalice of the Void decks to make you a bit less reliant on one mana effects to function.
Rug Delver: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1277631#paper
In:
2 Counterbalance
2 V Clique
1 Supreme Verdict
1-2 Disenchant
1-2 Back to Basics
Out:
2 Counterspell
0-2 Jace TMS
1-2 Snapcaster
0-1 STP
The Rug Delver matchup is generally favorable but player skill/knowledge is a huge deciding factor. The primary objective in the early game is to get your manabase established around their stifle effect. Luckily Flusterstorm is a great stopgap for Stifle. After that you just want to make sure you don’t die to their threats. The postboard games are a bit more of a toss-up. Some RUG players will stay on the Delver + Goyf aggro plan. Others will cut their Goyfs and board into a TNN + Mongoose control deck and will try to grind the game out and heavily leverage Winter Orb. How you board and play will be vastly different against these plans.
Against the lists that have Goyf in them, your play patterns won’t be vastly different than your game one plan. So there isn’t much adjusting there. Against the “thresh” control plan Swords to Plowshares and Snapcaster Mage get vastly worse. The hardest aspect of the matchup is knowing which plan the opponent is on. The best way to go about game two is to make hedges. Shave a Snapcaster and an STP. Board in a Disenchant in the dark. Winter Orb and Sylvan Library are common enough in lists that it’s not unlikely that the card will convert in some way.
We cut Jace because it’s a clunky card and hard to leverage against a deck with cheap threats and Lightning Bolt. With AK you have enough of a card advantage engine to be able to pull ahead after making a bunch of one for one trades. I’m not opposed to keeping a singleton copy in at times but I generally opt to board them all out.
BR Reanimator: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1277623#paper
In:
2 Counterbalance
2 Surgical
2 Disenchant
2 Clique
0-1 Pithing Needle
Out:
2 Plains
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Councils Judgement
3 Monastery Mentor
1 STP (Play)
1 Terminus (Draw)
How favorable this matchup is varies. Their deck is most potent on turns 1-2 and your survival matters on mulling to interaction. Just try to have Force, Surgical, or fluster in hand. If my 7 card hand doesn’t have some sort of interaction I’ll generally mull toward a hand that does. I generally feel that if I make it to turn 4 I’m heavily favored to win. But otherwise
Boarding in this matchup is also pretty straight forward. Surgical + blue interactive spells. Disenchant is for random Pithing Needles, Sneak Attack, and Animate Dead. A little trick against AD is to kill it with its ETB trigger on the stack. Whatever creature your opponent targeted won’t enter play.
I keep some removal because this is one of the few Griselbrand decks where a big thing can enter play, get removed and you’ll still be able to win. Also, it’s not uncommon that they reanimate a Chancellor which is a card that you can beat with relative ease. On the play I like having 4 STP because it’s more likely that you can either keep them off of comboing off and if you fail just Plow their idiot. I like having an extra copy of Terminus on the draw because it increases the odds of Cantripping into Terminus against a Sire of Insanity.
Pithing Needle could be a reasonable measure to mitigate Griselbrand, but I don’t think you need it.
The best tip I can give for this matchup is to counter their Entrombs and depending on your hand Faithless Looting. Reanimator shells have more reatimate effects than they have ways to get the creatures into the yard. So generally if your counter their first Entomb they struggle to do anything and you can afford yourself a decent amount of time to pull ahead.
UB Reanimator: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-ub-reanimator-57552#paper
In:
3 Pyroblast
2 Counterbalance
2 Surgical
2 Clique
0-1 Disenchant
0-1 Pithing Needle
Out:
2 Plains
4 STP
3 Terminus
1 EE
1 Council’s Judgement
The UB Reanimator matchup can be a bit wonky at times. They have more disruption than the RB list so you have to bob and weave through both countermagic and discard. Just play around Daze as much as you can.
I think UB Reanimator is generally a worse version of BR reanimator. The addition of blue disruption and cantrips slows the deck down a great deal and makes it susceptible to Pyroblast effects and just gives opponents more time to find disruption.
The Disenchant is to answer a random Pithing Needles and Animate Deads if they play them.
Pithing Needle is a pseudo Pyroblast for answering Jace VP and Arcane Artisan if the reanimator player has those cards. At the worst you can name Griselbrand.
Grixis Delver: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1277638#paper
In:
1 Supreme Verdict
1-2 B2B
1-2 Clique
0-1 Disenchant
Out:
2 Counterspell
1-2 Jace TMS
Play around their discard or whatever. Board in Disenchant for Sulfuric Vortex or Worb if they have it.
Adnauseum Tendrils: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1269318#paper
In:
2 Counterbalance
2 Clique
3 Pyroblast
2 Surgical
Out:
1 Council’s Judgement
2-4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Terminus
2 Plains
X Monastery Mentor
I think the storm shells are slightly unfavorable to even matchups but you have the tools to beat them. Game one you have an awkward density of white spells that are blanks but the three maindeck Flusterstorms really shine against them. Try to Brainstorm into Snapcaster Brainstorm to get a threat on board and dig to your relevant effects. It’s key to not give them infinite time to build up a super good hand.
Sometimes keep in a couple copies of Swords to Plowshares to answer Xantid Swarm. Terminus and Engineered Explosives stay in as answers for Empty the Warrens. I generally like having three sweepers but if you know your opponent tends to aggressively go for goblins then you’ll want to keep in 4 sweepers.
Surgical Extraction has a few applications. It’s a good way to cut off Past in Flames lines as long as you keep it in hand. The biggest mistake I see is players firing off Surgical just because they can. In a similar way to If your opponent casts Infernal Tutor to get a second copy of an effect in their hand then you may want to surgical tutor as that means they may have a second one. Sometimes you can bait your opponent into casting the card on a copy of Counterbalance or one of your threats. If so, Surgicalling Decay in order to make sure they can’t get a copy of Counterbalance off the board and thus you’ll probably be able to lock them out of the game.
I generally avoid casting Surgical in the draw step against storm. A lot of the time it’s +1 storm and 2 life which is often the extra bit they need to win the game.
The last use of Surgical is displayed here. https://twitter.com/Vendilion/status/801463454347370496
The winning line here is to fetch, maintain priority, Counterspell Pif and before your fetchland resolves cast Surgical on Pif. The main thing to learn from this is to sandbag a fetchland or some spell that you can cast in order to create a “gating” effect on the stack so your opponent can’t get priority back to cast a game winning sorcery. This trick can be done if your opponent goes on the “grinding station” plan where they intend to cast multiple copies of Tendrils from hand .
The Epic Storm: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1187576#paper
In:
2 Counterbalance
2 Clique
2 Pyroblast
2 Surgical
Out:
1 Council’s Judgement
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Plains
3 Monastery Mentor
Sideboarding is basically the same as against ANT but you want all of your sweepers in against them. You don’t need all 3 copies of Pyroblast so two is sufficient.
Surgical functions a bit differently in this matchup. Instead of holding it to cut off Pif lines you’ll instead surgical their discard spells. Tes struggles to win if they can’t use discard spells to clear the way. Ant, on the other hand, is a bit better at grinding so I only use the Surgical discard line if I really need to protect my hand. On occasion, you can get the game to a point where you can cut off a PIF line but that’s far less common.
Mono Red Prison: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-mono-red-prison-45507#paper
In:
1 Pithing Needle
1-2 Back to Basics
2 Disenchant
2 Clique
Out:
1 STP
3 Flusterstorm
1 Volcanic Island
Another favorable matchup. Having basic lands are huge here. We keep in Plow/ Terminus to answer Goblin Rabblemaster/Magus of the Moon. If you’re able to mitigate their early lock pieces then the cards you have to worry about are Hazoret, Chandra TOD, Karn and sometimes Fiery Confluence. Just make sure to fetch your basic lands and you’ll generally be fine.
UWx Stoneblade: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-wu-stoneblade-51822#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-esper-control-53698#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-wur-54016#paper
In:
2 Clique
2 Disenchant
2-3 Pyroblast
1-2 Back to Basics (against esper variants)
0-1 Supreme Verdict
Maybe Pithing Needle
Out:
2 STP
1 EE
2ish Force of Wil
Sideboarding is a bit tight against Stoneblade Shells. You board similarly to the Miracles mirror but you have to keep in more removal than you normally would. There’s some contention as to which deck is favored in this matchup but AK is just an insane blue mirror breaker that I think this list specifically is favored.
Swords to Plowshares isn’t really that great in this matchup but I like a couple as ways to mitigate early copies of Stoneforge Mystic but otherwise it doesn’t have many good targets. Generally, you’re going to balance managing their threats with your sweepers while you try to bury them with your card advantage effects.
Pithing Needle could be worth boarding in as an extra answer for Gideon and various equipment. Also some lists play Brightling so you want to be able to put an end to those cards shenanigans.
Force of Will isn’t the best in this matchup but I like having a couple copies so I don’t die to a random Jace or Gideon
Steel Stompy: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-affinity-54020#paper
In:
2 Disenchant
2 Back to Basics
1 Pithing Needle
2 Disenchant
Out:
2 Counterspell
3 Flusterstorm
2 Preordain
I think this deck is generally a weaker version of Eldrazi. It struggles to provide relevant disruption while applying a significant amount of pressure. Just mitigate their lock pieces and your sweepers should do the rest for you.
Lands: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-lands-24410#paper
In:
2 Disenchant
2 Back to Basics
1 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical
1-2 Clique
Out:
2 Counterspell
3 Flusterstorm
3 Terminus
0-1 EE
With this build I think the g1 against lands is a bit rough. It’s one of the few matchups where the lack of maindeck Counterbalance is a noticeable loss. The postboard games get a lot better since you can leverage your lock pieces in B2B and CB along with Surgical.
Aggro Loam: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-4c-loam-24407#paper
In:
2 Disenchant
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Back to Basics
2 Clique?
Out:
1 STP
3 Fluster
3 Terminus?
1-2 Preordain
The aggro loam is awkwardly unfavorable. They have the right mix of threats and lock pieces to impede your ability to get your engine online. Priority one is to not get locked out by chalice from there Lili OTV is the next threat you have to mitigate. From this point you need to make sure to keep Dark Confidant off the table. Knight of the Reliquary is by far their easiest threat to keep from doing anything and you can often ignore it. It’s not uncommon for Aggro Loam players to even board KOTR out and instead lean on Punishing Fire to grind you out in the late game.
Eldrazi Post: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-eldrazi-post-53584#paper
In:
2 Disenchant
2 Back to Basics
2 V Clique
0-1 Pithing Needle
Out:
3 Terminus
3 Flusterstorm
Cloudpost Shells are traditionally bad matchups for Miracles but they have a few holes that you can exploit. The deck has a very low threat density and takes a while to get off the ground. In the few turns that they’re spinning their wheels you can use your cantrips to find and leverage Monastery Mentor. In the postboard games they struggle to beat Back to Basics. If you cantrip properly and don’t waste your countermagic on trivial spells you’ll be able to win with relative ease.
Elves: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1269330#paper
In:
1 Supreme Verdict
Out:
1 Volcanic island
Playing against Elves is pretty straightforward. Keep the board clear and don’t lose to Natural Order, Glimpse of Nature or Nissa, Vital Force. Game one is pretty straightforward but the postboard games have a bit more play to them.
It may seem odd that I don’t board in Counterbalance but I think that a lot of the Elves shells have adapted enough to not have to care about the card. Abrupt Decay, Green Sun’s Zenith, and Cavern of Souls are all prevalent effects that can open this game plan up. I prefer to have Flusterstorm for GSBZ and Natural order and use my removal + Monastery Mentor to keep their creature plan at bay.
B2B, Clique, and Disenchant are all serviceable in this matchup so as always just be flexible
Turbo Depths: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-turbo-depths-43171#paper
In:
2 Counterbalance
1 Pithing Needle
2 Disenchant
2 Clique
0-1 B2B
Out:
1 EE
1 Terminus
1 Councils Judgement
1-2 Plains
This matchup mostly comes down to how well you can protect your hand from discard. Game one is the easiest of the three and you should prioritize finding and protecting your Swords to Plowshares. Once you stop the first Lage it often takes them some time to assemble another combo so that *should* give you a few turns to pull ahead and either stop the second Lage or kill them with Mentor.
Sideboarding wise keep a few copies of Terminus in as a way to answer Sylvan Safekeeper. I think two copies will be enough but a third on the draw is likely acceptable.
Back to Basics is simultaneously good and bad. You can only really leverage it once you answer or can answer the first Lage so I only like having zero to one copy as a thing to play towards.
Disenchant is to answer cards like Pithing Needle, Sylvan Library and if for whatever reason they have it in the deck then you can also answer Sphere of Resistance.
Enchantress: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-enchantress-53847#paper
In:
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Counterbalance
2 Disenchant
2 Clique
Out:
4 STP
3 Fluster
1 Volcanic Island
I think the Enchantress matchup is generally bad but with proper play you can completely dismantle them. You’ll want to prioritize keeping their engine cards off the table. The deck is filled with a lot of effects that we don’t care about at all. The way they beat you is by being able to churn through their deck and overwhelm you with prison pieces. Individually you can often ignore their lock cards but as a whole, the cards don’t really beat you. Notably, I will often opt to not attack with Mentor if they have Elephant Grass when I have counterspells in hand or anything else to do with my mana. You have Engineered Explosives in the deck to clear that card and can always just win with Jace. Obviously, this depends on the board state but it does commonly come up.
Sideboarding is once again fairly straightforward. You board in Disenchant for problem permanents. Counterbalance is amazing in this matchup as it can counter most of their relevant spells and let you lock the opponent out of the game.
I board Surgical in solely to take their engines out of their deck. Once you get one or both Enchantress effects out of the game they’ll struggle to get any real traction.
Terminus stays in as a way to answer Argothian Enchantress off the table but I still prioritize countering that card unless I have a Terminus at the ready.
Outside of their engine cards the only things you lose to are Emrakul + Karakas or Choke + some random effect. Both of which you have the means to keep off the board.
Omnishow: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/legacy-omni-show-53615#paper
In:
3 Pyroblast
2 Counterbalance
2 Disenchant
2 Surgical
2 Clique
Out
4 STP
3 Terminus
1 EE
1 CJ
2 Plains
This matchup is pretty similar to Sneak and Show. Just remember to aggro snap them on turn 2 to kill them.
Almost all lists have 1-2 Bojeiju so be careful. A fun little trick for beating a Show and Tell with Bitch Tree into Omniscience is holding onto a Snapcaster or V Clique. When Show and Tell resolves, but one of these creatures into play. With the trigger on the stack Pyroblast or Disenchant the Omni. This forces your opponent to try and go off at instant speed and by that point your hand is hopefully strong enough to win the subsequent counter war. If you do win then you can leverage a Surgical Extraction on Show and tell to for the most part lock your opponent out of the game.
Shardless BUG: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1277636#paper
In:
3 Pyroblast
1-2 Back to Basics
0-1 Disenchant
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Clique
Out:
4 Fow
2 STP
0-1 EE
I think that this matchup is generally favorable with AK. As long as you mitigate their card draw effects, Liliana and any random Bitterblossoms then you can grind them out of the game.
Boarding wise, we cut Stp because Shardless isn’t that threat dense of a deck and a lot of their creatures are two for ones. As such it’s better to lean on your sweeper effects to deal with their creatures. You want a couple plows to answer random copies of Tarmogoyf but past that you’ll find it hard to trade the card in any favorable way. In a bind, you can Pyroblast or Disenchant Strix or Shardless Agent
How good B2b is varies based on how well the opponent plays around it. I generally board in a single copy on the draw and if there is a game three and the opponent didn’t play around the card I’ll board the second copy in on the play.
Thirst For Knowledge 