Prismatic Strands is excellent here, preventing all red damage for a turn (and again via flashback) to blank a whole swing of Fiery Temper/Bolt/burn to the face. Thraben Charm's damage mode scales with our creature count and can kill small bodies like Kessig Flamebreather or Guttersnipe before they rack up damage, and its graveyard exile mode can also answer a Sneaky Snacker sitting in their graveyard, since it returns from the graveyard once they draw a third card in a turn. The removal/damage mode alone earns the slot. Rite of Consumption and Recommission are too slow and situational against a deck trying to race us with direct damage. Keep the lifegain shell (Lunarch Veteran, Marauding Blight-Priest, Cauldron Familiar) intact since gaining life is one of our best tools against a burn-to-the-face plan.

Faerie Macabre's discard-to-exile ability strips graveyard value from Snuff Out, Plunder the Trollshaws flashback, and any creatures in the yard, while still being a flying 2/2 body if drawn naturally. Standard Bearer forces removal like Snuff Out, Cast Down, or Agony Warp onto itself, protecting our real threats and blunting their removal-light but still relevant disruption suite. Marauding Blight-Priest is a worse fit against a deck full of cheap removal and counterspells that can pick it off before it matters, and Rite of Consumption is too narrow against a control deck that isn't flooding the board with cheap creatures to sacrifice. Keep the aggressive curve intact to pressure them before Lorien Revealed and card advantage take over.

Faerie Macabre's discard ability exiles cards from graveyards, directly hitting Dread Return targets and any creature cards they're trying to loop back, while also giving us a flying blocker. Arms of Hadar's -2/-2 kills their x/1 and x/2 creatures like Elves of Deep Shadow, Quirion Ranger, Gatecreeper Vine, and Mesmeric Fiend in one sweep (returning any card the Fiend exiled), which can cut into their early mana. Bigger bodies like Tinder Wall, Saruli Caretaker, and the other walls survive it, so time it for when several of the small ones are out. Rite of Consumption and Marauding Blight-Priest are lower priority since this matchup is decided by disrupting their engine and racing, not incremental life-drain synergies. Be proactive and disrupt their mana ramp/graveyard recursion before Lead the Stampede and Winding Way bury us in card advantage.