Hydroblast counters or destroys any red spell or permanent, making it excellent against Fiery Temper, Lightning Bolt, Guttersnipe and Kessig Flamebreather alike. Drown in Sorrow's -2/-2 wipes Voldaren Epicure, Sneaky Snacker and Guttersnipe, though it leaves the 1/3 Kessig Flamebreather alive. Spell Pierce is weak since the opponent's cheap spells easily play around a 2-mana tax, so it comes out, along with Extract a Confession which is too slow and symmetric-feeling against a deck with few creatures worth sacrificing. Keep Snuff Out and Cast Down live against their few creatures, and prioritize racing/stabilizing with life gain and removal over card quality.

This is a mirror-ish matchup against another Dimir pile, so incremental card advantage and protecting your own threats matters most. Dispel protects your key spells or Counterspell wars by countering their Counterspell, Snuff Out, or Cast Down at instant speed. Relic of Progenitus can strip value from their Plunder the Trollshaws flashback and cantrips off for a card later. Both Campfires come out because the life gain is low-impact against a deck with no real race plan. Suffocating Fumes stays in: its -1/-1 kills their 1/1s, including Baleful Strix, Spellstutter Sprite and Faerie Seer, though it won't kill Thorn of the Black Rose or Ninja of the Deep Hours.

Spy Combo wants to fill its graveyard for Dread Return (including its flashback, which sacrifices three creatures) and to find Balustrade Spy; graveyard hate like Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb directly disrupts that plan, and apart from Masked Vandal the deck has little to stop you from using them. Spell Pierce is weak here: it only hits noncreature spells, so it can't touch their creature spells, and the noncreature ones they do play (Winding Way, Lead the Stampede, Land Grant) are easily paid for with the mana from their dorks and Lotus Petal in the early turns. Arms of Hadar's -2/-2 picks off their smaller creatures like Elves of Deep Shadow, Quirion Ranger, Mesmeric Fiend and Gatecreeper Vine, though it won't kill Tinder Wall, Saruli Caretaker, Overgrown Battlement or Wall of Roots, so it is a modest sweeper rather than a clean wipe. Extract a Confession is replaced since their board can be wide and low-power, so they can sacrifice their least valuable creature and the effect is less reliably impactful than a sweeper.