Mainboard (60)
Creatures (26)
Instants (10)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (20)
Mono Red Madness wins by flooding the board with cheap creatures like Kessig Flamebreather and Voldaren Epicure while using Faithless Looting to pitch Fiery Temper and other madness spells, then closing with Guttersnipe pinging you each spell. Holy Light is a blowout against their token-heavy and small-creature strategy, hitting Epicure, Kessig Flamebreather, and Sneaky Snacker simultaneously. Journey to Nowhere gives you clean answers to Guttersnipe, which is otherwise very hard for your deck to race. Guardians' Pledge and the high-cost utility creatures come out since you need to stay low to the ground and answer their threats before you can afford to go wide and pump. Your lifegain from Lunarch Veteran and Novice Inspector helps you weather early damage while you stabilize and go wide with Battle Screech tokens.
Grixis Affinity wins by flooding the board with artifacts and drawing cards through Ichor Wellspring and Thoughtcast, then closing with Myr Enforcer and Utrom Monitor beats or Makeshift Munitions chip damage. Dust to Dust is your most impactful sideboard card — exiling two artifacts at instant speed at sorcery timing disrupts their artifact synergies and permanently removes key pieces like Myr Enforcer and bridges. Journey to Nowhere handles large threats that Dust to Dust can't reach, and Dawnbringer Cleric can gain life to offset Galvanic Blast damage and incidental artifact recursion from Blood Fountain. Cut the top-end pump spells and slower utility creatures since this matchup is about trading resources efficiently and maintaining board pressure before they assemble a critical artifact mass.
Dimir Terror is a tempo-control deck built around cheap interaction and large graveyard threats — Tolarian Terror and Gurmag Angler dominate the board once established, so your primary goal is to apply pressure before their delve threats come online. Journey to Nowhere answers Tolarian Terror and Gurmag Angler cleanly without caring about Snuff Out's protection clause, making it essential here. Holy Light can blow out their Sneaky Snacker tokens and disrupt their defenses if they try to stabilize behind a board of small creatures. Salt Road Packbeast and the one-ofs Eagles of the North and Ramosian Rally are trimmed as they are too slow or situational against a deck full of counterspells and removal — you want your curve to stay aggressive and coherent. Keep Prismatic Strands up as your primary protection against Suffocating Fumes and combat tricks, and lean on Thraben Charm to manage any enchantments they might board in.