Catalogue
Aggro
Burn
| 55-45
Burn has a lot of low-cmc spells so Armageddon is less effective, but white tax creatures like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Sanctum Prelate are really good in the matchup since they don’t have Fireblast to get underneath those effects like they do in Legacy. Prelate names two more often than one, but if you have Thalia out and your opponent hasn’t played many one-cmc spells yet she can go on one as well.
Post-board, you’ll want to cut some number of Eladamri’s Call because they are way too slow if you don’t draw Aether Vial on turn one. Depending on how many sideboard cards you have available, you can board out one Ugin’s Conjurant or an additional copy of Ranger-Captain of Eos as well; the Armageddon combo becomes a Plan B here because of their low curve and the presence of Roiling Vortex in their sideboard.
In: 1 Prismatic Ending, 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Knight of Autumn, 1 Brutal Cathar
Out: 4 Eladamri’s Call, 2 Ranger-Captain of Eos
Recommendations: Kor Firewalker
Prowess
| 60-40
This deck is very fast and plays a lot of burn to close the game through blockers. However, they’re very susceptible to Ghostly Prison and Sanctum Prelate out of the sideboard since they have to cast spells to activate their creatures.
Izzet Prowess’s best card in the matchup is Stormwing Entity, a creature that’s near the top of our hitlist. Try to save Oust and Solitude for Entities if you can afford to. Boros Prowess is an easier matchup than Izzet for the sole reason that they don’t play Stormwing.
I’ll sometimes cut a copy of Noble Hierarch on the draw since it’s susceptible to Lava Dart. Eladamri’s Call and some Ranger-Captain of Eos are cut because they’re slow.
In: 1 Prismatic Ending, 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 2 Brutal Cathar, 0-1 Knight of Autumn
Out: 4 Eladamri’s Call, 2 Ranger-Captain of Eos, 0-1 Noble Hierarch
Recs: Ghostly Prison, Kor Firewalker, Sanctifier en-Vec, Auriok Champion, Prismatic Ending
Humans
| 45-55
The 5c Humans deck’s main sources of counterplay against Kirin are Aether Vial, Meddling Mage, and Tourach, Dread Cantor if they’re playing it. In this matchup, I recommend you play out your Celestial Kirins pretty aggressively and use Skyclave Apparitions or Conjurants to sweep their board whenever you can (unless you have a good opportunity to go for Armageddon). Try to go after their mana sources (Vial, Noble Hierarch) early on to slow down their board development.
The sideboard plan is relatively simple; just swap out the tax creatures for removal. If there’s space I also like to bring in a Phyrexian Revoker for Pyre of Heroes, Grist, the Hunger Tide, and/or Aether Vial. Ghostly Prison in the sideboard helps this matchup a ton.
In: 2 Brutal Cathar, 1 Knight of Autumn, 1 Phyrexian Revoker
Out: 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (can cut 1-2 Ranger-Captain of Eos for additional sideboard cards)
Recs: Ghostly Prison, Prismatic Ending, Hushbringer
Domain Zoo
| 60-40
There are a lot of different builds of Domain Zoo out there, but they all have one thing in common: a dependence on lands. Territorial Kavu and General Ferrous Rokiric are particularly weak to the Kirin combo; General Ferrous makes tokens, and Kavu straight-up dies alongside their lands.
The two cards you have to watch out for are Wrenn and Six and Scion of Draco. If either of those come down early and you don’t have an answer, you will probably lose the game.
In: 1 Prismatic Ending, 2 Brutal Cathar, 1 Knight of Autumn
Out: 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Recs: Ghostly Prison, Prismatic Ending
Affinity
| 40-60
Fortunately, most versions of Affinity have moved away from large numbers of Bridge lands since Treasure Vault was printed, but I’ve still seen lists that play up to eight indestructible lands. Your plan post-board is to find a sideboard card like Kataki, War’s Wage or Collector Ouphe as soon as possible and ride it to victory. You should keep the combo in because it answers Urza’s Saga, Memnite/Ornithopter, and their non-indestructible lands, but you can cut some copies of Ranger-Captain since he’s relatively slow and his sac ability isn’t that useful (though that depends on whether they play Metallic Rebuke in their sideboard). If you expect to play against this deck you’ll want to pack Collector Ouphes, Kataki, and Ghostly Prison.
The Hardened Scales matchup has a similar sideboard plan, but with more Revokers for Walking Ballista, Hangarback Walker, and Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp. Also bring in two Rest in Peace to turn off their Modular creatures.
In: 1 Phyrexian Revoker, 2 Brutal Cathar, 1 Knight of Autumn
Out: 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Recs: Kataki, War’s Wage,Collector Ouphe, Leonin Relic-Warder, Ghostly Prison
Mill
| 40-60
Pre-board games against Mill are rough because we play a lot of search effects between Eladamri’s Call, Ranger-Captain of Eos, and fetchlands. In the worst case, they can spike one of our combo pieces with a Surgical Extraction to force us into playing a fair game.
Post-board, Rest in Peace is important to shut off Visions of Beyond, Drown in the Loch, and Surgical shenanigans. I also bring in one or two Lavinia for Archive Trap and Prelate for Tasha’s Hideous Laughter and Fractured Sanity.
In: 3 Rest in Peace, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
Out: 3 Eladamri’s Call, 1 Oust, 2 Solitude
Recs: Veil of Summer, Gaea’s Blessing
Next: Midrange
