Happy new year!

Its been a long time since my last article so I will not postpone it any longer.  Today I will give you short sideboarding guide for the Knight of the Reliquary version of Counters Company. As the Modern format changes, our deck must adapt. I will explain some of small changes I’ve made in my decklist and say something about our chances in the current meta.

For a list of recent finishes from Laplasjan, follow this link to MTG Goldfish.

Laplasjan’s Counter’s Company [Jan 2019]

If you’re looking to identify the tier one decks in Modern, you’ll find different results based on where you look.  Overall, it seems that the most represented decks across the format include 5c Humans, Bant Spirits, Dredge, KCI, Mono G Tron and UR Phoenix. I will focus on these match-ups in the sideboarding tips below. If you want me to write my thoughts about other match-ups just let me know in the comments or via email (laplasjanmtgo@gmail.com).

The metagame has sped up drastically. UW Miracles (fortunately for us) has all but disappeared, BGx decks are not nearly as prevelant. Because of this, I’ve cut Courser of Kruphix. Bolt decks are no longer scared of four toughness creatures and slow, systematic but small lifegain is not a viable plan anymore. We have to be fast and our creatures should put us ahead in the race or threaten to finish the game. I decided to include three Tireless Tracker as they can take over the game quite quickly. I value them highly in postboard games when I look for silver bullets (Kataki, War’s Wage, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Faerie Macabre or Bojuka Bog) and mulligan aggressively to find them. Tracker’s card draw can often mitigate the disadvantages of the mulligan.

Because of Dredge and UR Phoenix (fast graveyard strategies), I play two Scavenging Ooze in my main. They are effective in the lategame and much faster than some other hate cards (like Anafenza, the Foremost). Ooze is a very potent threat in midrange games as well. It is a fast clock and a hate card at once. Faerie Macabre (a new member of my sideboard team) plays in similar match-ups but fulfills different roles (goldfish hate card). We can Chord of Calling for it or put it into play with Company when we are in the market for a 2/2 flyer.  This makes it a bit more flexible than Surgical Extraction. It helps us survive the most dangerous turns from UR Phoenix by exiling the deck’s namesake, Arclight Phoenix, and slowing down the clock. I initially started playing this card during the Team Modern GP where I couldn’t play Surgical Extraction. I found playing Faerie Macabre in place of Surgical to potentially be a better solution. Sometimes we want to get two different cards, sometimes we would prefer to exile all copies of one certain card.

I’m trimming Assassin’s Trophy. Partially because of disappearance of UWx decks with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Jace, the Mind Sculptor but another good reason is how it performs vs. recursive graveyard threats. Beyond that, my Tron match-up is already satisfyingly good. That’s why there is only one copy in my 75. Abrupt Decay feels safer against Bant Spirits but also does not speed up our opponents clock like Assassin’s Trophy does.

Bojuka Bog, in conjunction with KoTR, let us keep more hands against fast decks, although be ready to die from their most oppressive draws.

You may ask why only singleton Knight of Autumn. Well, it’s simple; I don’t feel that I need more. I never did. Against artifact/enchantment strategies, we already have plenty other cards. Moreover, we have Kitchen Finks for lifegain, which is better in grindy match-ups than KoA.

Finally, Kor Firewalker helps me against the popular Mono R build of Phoenix (AKA Runaway Red, Mono R Hollow One, Mono R Phoenix) but don’t underestimate his abilities against UR decks.

SIDEBOARDING

5c Humans

We can win through a single Reflector Mage but two is usually too much to handle. Ground creatures are easier to stop via KoTR and Tireless Tracker while Mantis Rider is a problem in pre-board games. Post-board, I always hesitate about whether I want to leave in more KoTR or Trackers. The first locks the ground for good while the second can draw us into our combo earlier. In my opinion, both options are similarly good.

In

• 3 Path to Exile
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Assassin’s Trophy
• 1 Kitchen Finks
• 1 Knight of Autumn

Out

• 2 Scavenging Ooze
• 2-3 Knight of the Reliquary
• 1-2 Tireless Tracker
• 2 Collected Company

Bant Spirits

Our midrange draws will not do it. Even the biggest KoTR or Tireless Tracker will just be chump-blocked and we will just die in the back swing. Birds of Paradise are valuable chump-blockers. This match-up is very opening hand dependent as there is often no time to refill your hand and get back into the game. I expected that, with addition of Reflector Mage, this match-up will become unwinable, but somehow it did not. A ground creature that is not a Spirit and can easily get killed (in contrary to Reflectors in the 5c Humans build) slows the clock of the Spirits deck. But don’t count on too many additional turns. Post-board, I value Trackers very highly. Sometimes they got Path to Exile and this is a huge win for us. Save removal spells for lords and Spell Quellers. Sadly, we have to mulligan to fast hands.

In

• 3 Path to Exile
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Assassin’s Trophy
• 1 Kitchen Finks
• 1 Knight of Autumn

Out

• 2 Scavenging Ooze
• 3-4 Knight of the Reliquary
• 0-1 Tireless Tracker
• 2 Collected Company

Dredge

The most oppressive draws are gonna beat us, but don’t worry, their gonna beat any deck in Modern. Besides that, I feel ok about this match-up. We can win fast with Devoted Druid unless they hit Conflagrate (what is their only out in pre-board games). Since our deck produces lots of mana, Scavenging Ooze works even better than in other shells. End step Collected Company or Chord of Calling usually gives us the win although it is often difficult to wait until that moment. Post-board, it is much harder to stick a threat. Be prepared for Abrupt Decay, Collective Brutality, Lightning Axe, and maybe Assassin’s Trophy. Fortunately there is wide variety of hands that we can keep: mana dork plus KoTR, anything that includes Ooze, most Druid hands, fast Company, etc. Whatever it is, just make sure it is fast.

In

• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Fearie Macabre
• 1 Kitchen Finks
• 1 Knight of Autumn

Out

• 1 Tectonic Edge
• 3 Tireless Tracker

KCI (Ironworks Combo)

I’ve never won a pre-board game with regular damage. Their combo is too fast for our ground clock. Post-board, I’m trying the hate package plus an option for the combo (stick Druid and try to finish with singleton Vizier of Remedies backed up with multiple Chord of Callings). Chord for Eidolon of Rhetoric is one of our best ways to steal the game. The number of Path to Exile we side in depends on how good we feel about beating Sai, Master Thopterist. At times, a timely Path on Scrap Trawler can give us some advantage as well.

In

• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 2 Path to Exile
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Assassin’s Trophy
• 1 Kataki, War’s Wage
• 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1 Knight of Autumn

Out

• 1 Tectonic Edge
• 3 Vizier of Remedies
• 1-2 Tireless Tracker
• 0-1 Knight of the Reliquary
• 3 Collected Company

Mono G Tron

I never thought I will say it – this is our best match-up from the top tier Modern decks. We are heavily favored unless we face turn three Tron on the draw. Field of Ruin buys us time, Tectonic Edge stops the activation of Oblivion Stone. I’ve cut to one Assassin’s Trophy post-board as it is less and less useful in the metagame as a whole. 

In

• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Assassin’s Trophy
• 1 Knight of Autumn

Out

• 2 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 1 Collected Company

UR Phoenix

One of the worst, if not the worst match-up we can face. This statement is probably true for almost any creature deck. The only good news is that UR Phoenix mostly replaced Storm in the metagame share (don’t treat it too straight on, I just feel that UR mages switched their decks from Storm onto UR Phoenix). Game one is almost unwinable as we can’t deal with Thing in the Ice. Board out the combo as the flip trigger on Thing paired with plenty of removal means that we are very unlikely to go off. Sadly, it is also difficult to win with our midrange plan. The way out is a fast Eidolon of Rhetoric or big KoTR. Abrupt Decay, although it hits only Thing, is one of our best cards here. Don’t underestimate lifegain of Kor Firewalker and try to play KoTR’s and Scavenging Ooze as a minimum 4/4. Playing around Lightning Axe is asking too much but we are obligated to play around Lightning Bolt and Anger of the Gods. 

In

• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 3 Path to Exile
• 2 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Assassin’s Trophy
• 1 Kor Firewalker
• 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1 Fearie Macabre
• 1 Kitchen Finks
• 2 Sin Collector

Out

• 1 Tectonic Edge
• 2 Devoted Druid
• 4 Vizier of Remedies
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 4 Chord of Calling
• 1 Walking Ballista