Hogaak

Let’s start with the most important one. Hogaak is relatively new in Modern, and I think this is the place where the most misconceptions exist. First of all, THIS IS NOT A 20% MATCH UP! I agree that our game one is terrible, and the only way to steal the game is Surgical into Snapcaster. Postboard though, if we board correctly and understand the match up, we’re huge favorite.

It’s not a surprise that we have to take a defensive role. Hogaak is an aggressor, and we have to do our best to destroy their gameplan. There are two things we have to do in order to achieve our goal. Interrupt their graveyard synergies, and stop their cheap aggro plan.

The first is easy, and I believe everyone understands what to do. There are 《Surgical Extraction》, and 《Rest in Peace》 making a job done. If we do step one, we still have to take care of the battlefield. Usually there are some survivors still threatening our life total. The best way to deal with them with 《Rest in Peace》 in play is 《Timely Reinforcements》, six life usually means canceling two or three of their previous attacks. Basically everything that can block is good in that spot. 《Monastery Mentor》 makes blockers, Snapcaster trades with whatever forever, we just need to survive.

Two important notes from testing are “one Surgical is never enough” and “《Rest in Peace》 on the draw might be too slow”. If they have a good start on the play, it’s possible we will face more than 15 power on the board before we play our second land. That being said, the best case scenario is to draw one Surgical and one RIP every game. To max out our chance for that I think the correct approach is to have 3 Surgicals and 3 RIPs postboard. I thought about this during testing, but wasn’t confident enough that’s the right move, and in the end went with the community consensus with 4 enchantments. Moving forward I would advise for -1 RIP + 1 Surgical in SB.

Let’s talk about sideboard. People playing UW for a long time in Modern have rooted deeply in their minds “always board out Snapcaster, when you board in RIP”, and that might be the biggest mistake someone can make playing UW nowadays. If we stick RIP, all we need to do is to stop random 2/1s from attacking us. 2/1 flash vanilla guy is as good as 《Celestial Purge》 in that task, so his floor is not that low. It’s never a dead card, even if graveyards are empty. On the other hand, if we don’t draw our best weapon, or it gets discarded/destroyed we have to rely on Surgicals.

As you know, one is usually not enough, so we need another copy. What’s better than another copy of Extraction? Well, Extraction with a free 2/1 body attached to it! With 3 Surgicals, 3 Snapcasters, 3 RIPs, and 3 Purges I believe we’re far over 70% against Hogaak in postboard games, and even with very bad game one, the overall match up is so much better than everyone says.

Against Hogaak

Out

In

If you play 3rd 《Surgical Extraction》 over 4th 《Rest in Peace》, just board in it instead of the enchantment.

UR Phoenix

This is an actively good match up, and also very skill demanding from both sides. In game one you should focus on dealing with every single threat, they don’t have that many. Surgical helps a lot, if you hit 《Arclight Phoenix》 it’s almost impossible to lose. 《Aria of Flame》 is the scariest card, but with 3 FoNs, 《Detention Sphere》, and baby Teferis we’re ready for that.

Postboard it gets more tricky, because all depends on what they have in their sideboard. If they’re ready for UW, with planeswalkers like 《Saheeli, Sublime Artificer》, Narset, or Jace, it might be a challenging match. If they stick with game one plan, just adding few more counterspells it should be very easy.

The biggest mistake I see my opponents are doing (even during the Mythic Championship) is keeping 《Thing in the Ice》 postboard. First of all, it’s embarrassing against 《Teferi, Time Raveler》 and Jace, but what’s more important, it actually helps us. When they flip TiTi you cast Snapcaster in response for the trigger, flashback your 《Path to Exile》 or whatever, and bring Snapcaster back to your hand. FREE VALUE!

Against UR Phoenix

Out

In

UW Control Mirror

Game one is mostly all about who draws more dead cards. I think our version is quite good with 3x Jace, 2x Baby Teferi, 3x FoN, and 《Spell Pierce》 over 《Spell Snare》, but other people might have maindeck 《Vendilion Clique》 which is also very strong. The way you win is sticking and protecting your planeswalkers. Whoever starts snowballing with PW activations usually takes the control over the game.

Postboard the most powerful tool is 《Monastery Mentor》, that’s why I love to keep one 《Supreme Verdict》 postboard and give myself an insurance for that.

Against UW Control Mirror

Out

In

If you know your opponent doesn’t play their own 《Monastery Mentor》, then you can board out 2nd 《Supreme Verdict》 and leave 1 《Surgical Extraction》.

5C Humans

As I warned you before, this is the place where I made sacrifices to improve other match ups, so game one is terrible. Our main plan is to get rid of 《Meddling Mage》s naming 《Supreme Verdict》, and clearing the board with our sweeper. Without public decklists it might be a little easier, as they might want to name 《Wrath of God》, or attack with Mage expecting 《Oust》 instead of 《Condemn》 in our list, so take that in mind while setting your game plan during early turns.

Postboard the idea is to kill whatever we can early and take control over the game with quick 《Monastery Mentor》. 《Vendilion Clique》 is very good versus 《Mantis Rider》, and helps us with setting our long term plan revealing secrets from opponent’s hand.

Against 5C Humans

Out

In

Jund

It’s all about card advantage, so cards like 《Force of Negation》 are not as good as you might think. Obviously countering 《Liliana of the Veil》 or 《Wrenn and Six》 is a nice thing to do, but spending two cards for that usually puts us in a worse spot than letting them resolve. 《Celestial Purge》 is our best card, as it answers everything, and I’m really happy we have 3 in the sideboard.

Don’t slam 《Monastery Mentor》 on turn three. It’s a late game card, that allows us to close the game, early should be all about countering their stuff, and answering permanents. We do have the best chance if we play the classic draw-go mode for the first 4-5 turns. 《Rest in Peace》 is not an all star here, but I like having one to shut down 《Tarmogoyf》 and Wrenn later in the game. As I said before, don’t play it on turn two (unless they have Wrenn, and you don’t have a counterspell), just try to make value out of 《Snapcaster Mage》s first.

Against Jund

Out

In

Eldrazi Tron

Decent match up with our current build. 《Condemn》 is definitely better than 《Oust》. The games we win usually look the same way. Counter something in the early game, cast planeswalkers and protect them. Dealing 《Reality Smasher》 in their combat with 《Condemn》 is a huge upgrade. FoN makes a decent job with countering 《Chalice of the Void》 and 《Karn, the Great Creator》, so we can safely tap out for Jace or Narset. Tron is not as big deal as versus green version, so I don’t like to spend Surgical on a Tron piece. From my experience it’s better to save it for Karn, Smasher, or 《Thought-Knot Seer》 in game one, and then sideboard it out and forget about it.

Against Eldrazi Tron

Out

In