For what it is worth, spell pierces are pretty good against tron. I am not just giving the typical conjectural line of forum b.s. here: they've been played personally to great effect against cloudpost(days of yore) and continued to do well against tron. Definitely a card that should be tried out before passing judgment on.
Spell pierce will also be quite good with there being at least two popular flavours of aggro-control that run iok/thoughtseize(gb and ub fae). Information is everything and that's especially true for uwr midrange, which has few ways to recoup an opponent knowing what you can and can't do.
anyone have any advice for running a straight stock (updated) UW midrange list? what are some pros/cons to the UWr lists? considering jumping in, thanks!
With UWR, you obviously get access to red now, but that opens up a whole new toolbox. Suddenly, you have the most efficient removal in the format in the form of Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, and Electrolyze. You have the option of topping out with Thundermaw Hellkite and annihilating those Lingering Souls and Bitterblossom tokens or going down a more controlly route with Ajani Vengeant. You basically trade some amount of counterspells and a board presence with staying power for more removal and a more efficient board presence (Geist, Thundermaw).
I personally think UWR is the better choice for your average meta, as it keeps the board clear of most enemy threats. And it's not like you won't run counters either, so you can still hold one up for their game winning threat. But, there are metas where UW will probably outperform UWR, I just haven't played it so I don't know what those would be; I'm sure someone else here can answer that.
Question to you vets, I recently got into modern and built this style deck. My friend has an affinity/infect deck and besides sideboarding in stony silence and engineered explosives what else can I do? I seem to keep getting crushed by him.(doesn't help I don't know how to maximize playing the deck.)
Question to you vets, I recently got into modern and built this style deck. My friend has an affinity/infect deck and besides sideboarding in stony silence and engineered explosives what else can I do? I seem to keep getting crushed by him.(doesn't help I don't know how to maximize playing the deck.)
You should have a decent matchup against Affinity preboard actually. It isn't easy, but with the amount of removal we run, they should be stretched thin. First question I guess are you running the playset of Bolt and Helix? How many Electrolyze, cause that card is a house against both their man lands and Vault Skirge, Signal Pest, Steel Overseer...etc. Saving Path for Master of Etherium, and making sure you play around Arcbound Ravager is important. Try and save your counterspells for big things like Thoughtcast or creatures that are out of bolt range, like Master of Etherium would most likely be.
Taking the correct starting hand is important too. I can't say exactly what you should or shouldn't keep, but if its a slow hand send it back. You can't afford to take your time in this matchup. One of the best hands might be Bolt, Helix, Geist, land land land, mana leak. Bolt their first threat eot, helix the second one, drop Geist and start swinging. He will close the game quickly if you can keep him attacking every turn.
It's worth nothing that post sideboarding, Remand is the first thing you should take out. They dump their hand so fast, Remand is quite useless.
Counters aren't very good vs affinity, but mana leak is definitely superior to remand here. Remember you are not the aggressor, they are.
As such, a card that delays them wont be good enough. Geist is a bit iffy in this mu too, i usually cut 1 or 2, since i really dont want to tap out on turn 3 and let a champion or a plating come in.
A turn 2 silence is basically game, but always try to save counters for the things you cant remove, mainly plating and champion, all the rest can be killed.
Use your life as a resource, if the affy guy wants to attack and hit with less than 4, let him. Its not worth to tap out to kill something during combat remember, the real threats are champion, plating and ravager.
2x Spellskite: Guy playes bogles in my playgroup is the main reason...
2x Thundermaw Hellkite: Good against faeries, but not sure about this guy. Maybe I should cut to a 1 of...
2x Wear//Tear: Bogles, faeries, affinity...I'm actually considering making it a 3 of...
2x Aven Mindcensor: Tron and Pod especially...
2x Stone Silence: Tron and affinity, also pod...
2x Engineered Explosives: Again, bogles, but this also acts as a decent sweeper against affinity, zoo, faeries...
1x Batterskull: Great against any fast deck essentially, and can also help against midrange strategies...
2x Spell Pierce: I think this card is more relevant now as zoo wants to ping you with their extra mana, it hits bitterblossom, helps against counters (aside from spellstutter), kills burn decks, and also can hose splinter twin pretty hard...
I honestly am leaning mainly towards cutting the thundermaws as they really haven't proved amazing for 1 more Wear//Tear and another counter spell of some sort in the sideboard. The main deck I'm facing that is giving me fits is the guy that plays bogles in my playgroup obviously, but there is also an affinity, burn, tron, and splinter twin deck that are all complete. There is also a UWR control player, but I don't really face much Pod, Scapeshift, or Living End...
Would love some comments on how I should tweak my deck for a grand prix, and also how I should tweak it even more than it already is for my local meta...
Hi guys, I started playing this deck when Larry first won the online PTQ with it over a year ago, causing the RWU craze. I shortly moved to the full blown control version, but abandoned that after losing too many matches online due to timing out since that deck takes forever to win (and is extremely boring IMO). When Eggs and Storm took a hit from last year's bannings coupled with Melira Pod winning everything in sight, I hopped on the Gr Tron train. I'm not sure how well that deck is positioned anymore, though, since the new banning is seriously going to hurt the popularity of its best matchup (Jund). So I'm back here for a while to gain some insight from you guys about the deck as well as share my experience with the RWU shell (though it was a different deck, the core spells are still the same).
I guess I definitely need the Spellkite in the side, but what other matchup does that shine in? And can we really ever win game 1 versus bogles...
I presume that this is our worst matchup (was the worst RWU control matchup in my experience). This matchup is the primary reason for Engineered Explosives in the sideboard. Spellskite is probably your best versatile card here. Hallowed Burial is the best sweeper as it ignores Umbras, but that's not really a card you are likely to want to play in this deck. Tempest of Light very good, but also very narrow. Unless this matchup is very popular in your area you probably are better off running EE over Tempest.
I'm comfortable considering Tron a bad matchup and being OK with that. Their endgame of Eye is just better than anything we can do. If they Karn and kill a land, you've got Bolts and Cliques to kill it off. If they Wurmcoil, you've got Paths and Bolt-Snap-Bolt. They can't reliably beat a Geist.
I bring in Mindcensors post board and plan to kill them early. They have good turns from 3-5 and then again from about 8 onward, and it's in that middle area where you've got to be sure you kill them.
Mindcensors are excellent against Tron. It's not a terrible matchup. The RWU Control vs. Gr Tron matchup was about 3-2 in favor of Tron IME (slightly more if they ran Defense Grid in the board). Not only do they prevent searching, which is huge, but they apply pressure. The most important thing for this matchup is to consistently apply pressure. Never board out your creatures. You can even just flash in a Snapcaster on turn 2 to start beating. Tron has inevitability against us (and every other deck) so you have to kill them before they can do their thing. But if you threaten Sowing Salt/Attackers + Burn then they often have a difficult decision between searching for Grove to cast Pyroclasm, searching for Tron to cast big spells, or searching for Ghost Quarter to guard against Sowing Salt. When you land Geist, ignore Karn until he hits 14 Loyalty, then just hit Karn with Geist and them with the Angel. The faster the clock the harder it is for them. Clique is also fantastic here. So is Stony Silence.
I prefer mindscensor as a more universal answer rather than any amount of LD. It slows them down but can be used against Pod and scapeshift (effectively 'counters' it). I also dislike stone/molten rain as they're only good at slowing them down a tad and salt tends to be a bit narrow as it can't do double duty like molten/stone rain.
What? Sowing Salt owns Tron and definately pulls double duty if you end the tron set up. That is 4 Lands gone? Snapcaster says hello with it again on the search lands or Grove the Burnwillows. One in the side board plus Mindscensor seems fine. I would have lost to tron without 1 or 2 Sowing Salt.
I have played with sowing salt a lot and it has done a lot but I still always lose, I just have no pressure and they just kill me with a wurmcoil.
Sowing Salt is the single best card you can play against Tron provided you can back it up with pressure. Facing pressure, the Tron player often doesn't have the luxury of protecting his lands with a Ghost Quarter, he has to get tron to actually start doing something (this usually happens when he has no Pyroclasm). Without pressure, Sowing Salt will just stall them to the point that they just play a land every turn until they start casting their things the old fashioned way. I've cast plenty of Emrakuls after being Sowing Salted. As a Tron player, Sowing Salt makes your heart sink. But the best games are the ones where you win through Sowing Salt, and those happen a lot more often than one might expect.
Question to you vets, I recently got into modern and built this style deck. My friend has an affinity/infect deck and besides sideboarding in stony silence and engineered explosives what else can I do? I seem to keep getting crushed by him.(doesn't help I don't know how to maximize playing the deck.)
These are your best two matchups. You need to get into a controlling mindstate for these matchups, as they are the aggressors. You don't need pressure at all here. You just need to take out every one of their threats. Luckily, your spells are excellent against that.
Affinity almost auto loses to Electrolyze. Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, and Path to Exile are also excellent. Be careful of Inkmoth Nexus + Cranial Plating/Arcbound Ravager. That guy can kill you out of nowhere. As long as you have other lands to play, sandbag your Tectonic Edges until they hit four lands. Let your opponent be the one to initiate the "big plays" of moving counters around with Ravager or equipping Cranial Plating. For Steel Overseer, kill him before he loses summoning sickness. For Arcbound Ravager, Path to Exile is your best bet. Otherwise, you'll just have to get fancy by either flashing in Snapcaster to block and giving a removal spell flashback (this forces him to make the decision of whether or not to save his Ravager by sacrificing a bunch of artifacts) or just holding up two removal spells, using one on Ravager and responding by hitting the Modular target with the other. If you can kill Ravager while there are no other creatures on board you should usually do it (be mindful of his having mana up to activate Inkmoth or Blinkmoth as Modular targets). For Cranial Plating, wait until he declares his attackers before you kill creature with the Plating because they usually don't have the mana to equip at instant speed. Your only out to Etched Champion is likely just to counter it game 1. That guys is usually how they beat you. Their tricks are mostly all on board. Just examine the board, making sure they can't foil your plans (don't split Electrolyze damage when they have a Steel Overseer active, for instance). Over half of Affinity's deck is harmless. Stay reactive and take out the heavy stuff (Ravager, Plating, Overseer, Signal Pest, and Etched Champion) and you'll steamroll them.
The same game plan is to be utilized against Infect. All you have to worry about are the threats (Blighted Agent, Plague Stinger, Glistener Elf, and Inkmoth Nexus). All the other cards are irrelevant (on rare occasions they can suit up a Noble Hierarch with a Rancor and go to town, but those are fringe cases). Use your removal at the end of their turn. Force them to make the first move. What you don't want to do is try to Bolt their Glistener Elf in the middle of Combat only to have them pump it to a 4/4. If they go for a pump spell, then you can respond with a bolt. Otherwise, just take a poison counter and then bolt it at the end of their turn, forcing them to choose to waste a pump spell to save it. Also, they have no way to give their creatures haste. So if you can't remove one of the creatures at the end of their turn, do it on your own (the most common situation for this is when they are on the play and cast a turn one Glistener Elf. You can then play a fetch, grab a Steam Vents and bolt it on your turn 1. Don't be afraid to take damage from your shock lands at all - they aren't trying to win through damage).
In both matchups, you'll want to mulligan creature heavy hands. Fliers are decent against Affinity because they can block. But you want hands with multiple copies of burn/path and the lands to cast them.
Sideboard
2x aven mind censor
1x batter skull
1x celestial purge
1x counter flux
1x dampening matrix
1x engineered explosives
1x path to exile
1x sowing salt
2x stony silence
2x threads of disloyalty
1x thundermaw
1x wear/tear
I'm having huge problems with him dumping his creatures out and playing against arch bound
Here I would board like this against Affinity: -4 Geist, -3 Remand, -2 Mana Leak, +2 Aven Mindcensor, +1 Damping Matrix, +1 Engineered Explosive, +1 Path to Exile, +2 Stony Silence, +1 Thundermaw Hellkite +1 Wear/Tear. Geist is bad because you don't need to kill them quickly. You aren't going to race them, so you have to deal with their creatures. Once you deal with their creatures their deck is awful. They have horrendous topdecks since 2/3 of their deck is nearly useless without the good stuff. Geist also doesn't block. Other than Memnite and Etched Champion, their whole deck flies. And Champion usually can't be blocked by Geist either. Counters are bad for reasons others have mentioned, especially on the draw. The one exception is Spell Snare. Spell Snare is stellar against them. It hits all of their 2 drops, even when they are on the play. And most of the important cards are 2 drops (Overseer, Plating, Ravager). Another benefit to boarding out your counterspells is it makes your decision of whether or not to play your removal during combat easier (though they often play their spells precombat, and usually this is correct for them). If you don't have to hold up mana to counter what they play post combat, you no longer have to engage in this guessing game. Aven Mindcensor comes in because he blocks and trades. Damping Matrix is a bad Stony Silence, but Stony Silence is so good that even a bad one is good (as an aside, I don't like Damping Matrix at all in the current format - I'm not really sure why people run it). EE can take out the 2 drops (or the 0 drops when you are on the play - if you go first play a land, say go, they dump their hand full of 0 drops, you then play EE on your turn 2 and crack it). I'm actually not crazy about EE in this matchup but it's better than the stuff you are taking out. Path is awesome removal, Stony Silence shuts down almost everything in their deck, and Wear/Tear hits their whole deck. Thundermaw I don't know. It could be better as a Threads (in which case so would the MD Thundermaw). I'm just speculating here; I haven't much experience with him in Modern. But he would nuke many of their creatures when he hit as well as closing the game out quickly afterward (not that you really need to close it out quickly). The problem is that this matchup is usually decided by turn 5.
For Infect, I would board like this: -4 Remand, +1 Path to Exile, +2 Threads of Disloyalty, +1 Wear/Tear. They tend to be fairly mana light, so Remand isn't the worst. But it's too much to be paying for a spell that might buy you a turn. Path is excellent for obvious reasons, Threads is because their deck is very threat light and it hits 75% of those threats, and Wear/Tear hits both Inkmoth Nexus and Wild Defiance (which is their best defense against you).
I don't see it anywhere and am curious why nobody is playing it...it is pretty much an auto concede against burn/scapeshift/ad nauseum etc... I don't know the metagame that much, I've only been playing modern for a few months but it's insane against any B/x matchup where they try to rob your hand and it protects against liliana on T3 when you just dropped your geist.
I mostly only play online..but the metagame is MUCH more diverse, which causes me to be all over the place with trying to sideboard...Tear my list apart, I've won a few daily events but still just 0-2 drop 50% of the time, and maybe that's just variance.
Leyline isnt bad, but it really isnt amazing either. Almost all the protections leyline can give you, you can get trough other more versatile cards, and you dont even need to run 4 of them and have them in your op 7 to be actually any use.
Scapeshift is a decent enough MU, burn shouldnt be that hard either with the correct SB, and ad nauseaum is non existent.
What im amazed at is how people can run this deck without counterflux on your sideboards. Really, i cant help but wonder what kind of metagame you guys play in.
Leyline isnt bad, but it really isnt amazing either. Almost all the protections leyline can give you, you can get trough other more versatile cards, and you dont even need to run 4 of them and have them in your op 7 to be actually any use.
Scapeshift is a decent enough MU, burn shouldnt be that hard either with the correct SB, and ad nauseaum is non existent.
What im amazed at is how people can run this deck without counterflux on your sideboards. Really, i cant help but wonder what kind of metagame you guys play in.
I only run 1. My meta consistently has a Pyro Storm deck, and an UWR Control. One is more than enough. Against Storm it's GG, but really Mana Leak and Remand are enough. Against UWR Control it basically just removes Ajani from the game. I was running two and it was too many.
Although I also agree, how can you not have at least one in your SB lol
I don't see it anywhere and am curious why nobody is playing it...it is pretty much an auto concede against burn/scapeshift/ad nauseum etc... I don't know the metagame that much, I've only been playing modern for a few months but it's insane against any B/x matchup where they try to rob your hand and it protects against liliana on T3 when you just dropped your geist.
I mostly only play online..but the metagame is MUCH more diverse, which causes me to be all over the place with trying to sideboard...Tear my list apart, I've won a few daily events but still just 0-2 drop 50% of the time, and maybe that's just variance.
Well, your list would more closely belong in the UWR Control (Wafo-Tapa Draw Go) thread. Similar shells for sure, but this thread is more for decks running various creatures with flash (Restoration Angel, Aven Mindcensor, and Vendilion Clique mostly) as well as things like Geist of Saint Traft main, but not sweepers like Supreme Verdict or big mana spells like Sphinx's Revelation. That said, I'll be happy to comment while you're here.
I am a big fan of Leyline in general, but you shouldn't be having a lot of trouble with any of those decks really. Because you have no pressure, Burn can get you even after you gain life with Helix and Ajani. To help out, you may want to sideboard some Timely Reinforcements (good against Gruul Aggro too), Kor Firewalker (will apply pressure and can block) or Rest for the Weary (excellent with Snapcaster). To help with the pressure, you may want to board in Geist of Saint Traft here, as odd as that sounds. Spellskite also helps with this matchup.
For Scapshift, you probably just want more counterspells. Negate, Dispel and Counterflux are solid. Aven Mindcensor is also solid. If you threaten them with Tectonic Edge, they have to get 7 mountains (or six basics) because if they only have 6 mountains you can Tectonic Edge one of the nonbasic mountains while the Valakut triggers are all on this stack. When the triggers resolve, only one will have the "if you control at least five other mountains" clause met and so the other triggers will fizzle upon resolution. I assume the Cryptic Command versions are the ones giving you trouble. They usually cannot afford to run five basic mountains.
I don't have much experience with Ad Nauseum.
My final suggestion is run 4 Cryptic Command in this deck. This card is the reason to play this deck. Cryptic Command is quite possibly the best card in the format and RWU Control is the deck that is best equipped to use it.
Spell pierce will also be quite good with there being at least two popular flavours of aggro-control that run iok/thoughtseize(gb and ub fae). Information is everything and that's especially true for uwr midrange, which has few ways to recoup an opponent knowing what you can and can't do.
With UW, you get to go deeper into those colors. Things like Blade Splicer, Wall of Omens, Restoration Angel, (sometimes) Kitchen Finks suddenly become relevant. You'll probably play Sphinx's Revelation too cause the card is bonkers. UW tends to be proactive with its removal, running the full suite of Mana Leak and Cryptic Command, rather than reactive, like UWR. It also has a more stable mana base allowing you to run more Tectonic Edges.
With UWR, you obviously get access to red now, but that opens up a whole new toolbox. Suddenly, you have the most efficient removal in the format in the form of Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, and Electrolyze. You have the option of topping out with Thundermaw Hellkite and annihilating those Lingering Souls and Bitterblossom tokens or going down a more controlly route with Ajani Vengeant. You basically trade some amount of counterspells and a board presence with staying power for more removal and a more efficient board presence (Geist, Thundermaw).
I personally think UWR is the better choice for your average meta, as it keeps the board clear of most enemy threats. And it's not like you won't run counters either, so you can still hold one up for their game winning threat. But, there are metas where UW will probably outperform UWR, I just haven't played it so I don't know what those would be; I'm sure someone else here can answer that.
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
You should have a decent matchup against Affinity preboard actually. It isn't easy, but with the amount of removal we run, they should be stretched thin. First question I guess are you running the playset of Bolt and Helix? How many Electrolyze, cause that card is a house against both their man lands and Vault Skirge, Signal Pest, Steel Overseer...etc. Saving Path for Master of Etherium, and making sure you play around Arcbound Ravager is important. Try and save your counterspells for big things like Thoughtcast or creatures that are out of bolt range, like Master of Etherium would most likely be.
Taking the correct starting hand is important too. I can't say exactly what you should or shouldn't keep, but if its a slow hand send it back. You can't afford to take your time in this matchup. One of the best hands might be Bolt, Helix, Geist, land land land, mana leak. Bolt their first threat eot, helix the second one, drop Geist and start swinging. He will close the game quickly if you can keep him attacking every turn.
It's worth nothing that post sideboarding, Remand is the first thing you should take out. They dump their hand so fast, Remand is quite useless.
UWRUWR Midrange/GeistRWU
Retired
GWBMelira PodBWG
4x Geist
1x resto angel
4x snapcaster
1x thundermaw
3x v-clique
3x cryptic command
3x electrolyze
4x bolt
4x helix
2x mana leak
3x path to exile
3x remand
4x arid Mesa
4x colonnade
1x celestial fortress
2x hallowed fountain
1x island
1x snow covered island
1x mountain
1x plain
1x sacred foundry
4x scalding tarn
2x steam vents
1x sulfur falls
2x tectonic edge
Sideboard
2x aven mind censor
1x batter skull
1x celestial purge
1x counter flux
1x dampening matrix
1x engineered explosives
1x path to exile
1x sowing salt
2x stony silence
2x threads of disloyalty
1x thundermaw
1x wear/tear
I'm having huge problems with him dumping his creatures out and playing against arch bound
Path to Exile is just simply the most hilarious card against Affinity. Just remember that Modular doesn't work when Arcbound gets exiled.
I guess I definitely need the Spellkite in the side, but what other matchup does that shine in? And can we really ever win game 1 versus bogles...
This is true, but any Affinity player worth his salt will sac the Ravager to itself after being targeted by Path.
That is, unless they *really* want that 1 basic Island they usually play for Path purposes.
As such, a card that delays them wont be good enough. Geist is a bit iffy in this mu too, i usually cut 1 or 2, since i really dont want to tap out on turn 3 and let a champion or a plating come in.
A turn 2 silence is basically game, but always try to save counters for the things you cant remove, mainly plating and champion, all the rest can be killed.
Use your life as a resource, if the affy guy wants to attack and hit with less than 4, let him. Its not worth to tap out to kill something during combat remember, the real threats are champion, plating and ravager.
2x Spellskite: Guy playes bogles in my playgroup is the main reason...
2x Thundermaw Hellkite: Good against faeries, but not sure about this guy. Maybe I should cut to a 1 of...
2x Wear//Tear: Bogles, faeries, affinity...I'm actually considering making it a 3 of...
2x Aven Mindcensor: Tron and Pod especially...
2x Stone Silence: Tron and affinity, also pod...
2x Engineered Explosives: Again, bogles, but this also acts as a decent sweeper against affinity, zoo, faeries...
1x Batterskull: Great against any fast deck essentially, and can also help against midrange strategies...
2x Spell Pierce: I think this card is more relevant now as zoo wants to ping you with their extra mana, it hits bitterblossom, helps against counters (aside from spellstutter), kills burn decks, and also can hose splinter twin pretty hard...
I honestly am leaning mainly towards cutting the thundermaws as they really haven't proved amazing for 1 more Wear//Tear and another counter spell of some sort in the sideboard. The main deck I'm facing that is giving me fits is the guy that plays bogles in my playgroup obviously, but there is also an affinity, burn, tron, and splinter twin deck that are all complete. There is also a UWR control player, but I don't really face much Pod, Scapeshift, or Living End...
Would love some comments on how I should tweak my deck for a grand prix, and also how I should tweak it even more than it already is for my local meta...
I presume that this is our worst matchup (was the worst RWU control matchup in my experience). This matchup is the primary reason for Engineered Explosives in the sideboard. Spellskite is probably your best versatile card here. Hallowed Burial is the best sweeper as it ignores Umbras, but that's not really a card you are likely to want to play in this deck. Tempest of Light very good, but also very narrow. Unless this matchup is very popular in your area you probably are better off running EE over Tempest.
Mindcensors are excellent against Tron. It's not a terrible matchup. The RWU Control vs. Gr Tron matchup was about 3-2 in favor of Tron IME (slightly more if they ran Defense Grid in the board). Not only do they prevent searching, which is huge, but they apply pressure. The most important thing for this matchup is to consistently apply pressure. Never board out your creatures. You can even just flash in a Snapcaster on turn 2 to start beating. Tron has inevitability against us (and every other deck) so you have to kill them before they can do their thing. But if you threaten Sowing Salt/Attackers + Burn then they often have a difficult decision between searching for Grove to cast Pyroclasm, searching for Tron to cast big spells, or searching for Ghost Quarter to guard against Sowing Salt. When you land Geist, ignore Karn until he hits 14 Loyalty, then just hit Karn with Geist and them with the Angel. The faster the clock the harder it is for them. Clique is also fantastic here. So is Stony Silence.
Sowing Salt is the single best card you can play against Tron provided you can back it up with pressure. Facing pressure, the Tron player often doesn't have the luxury of protecting his lands with a Ghost Quarter, he has to get tron to actually start doing something (this usually happens when he has no Pyroclasm). Without pressure, Sowing Salt will just stall them to the point that they just play a land every turn until they start casting their things the old fashioned way. I've cast plenty of Emrakuls after being Sowing Salted. As a Tron player, Sowing Salt makes your heart sink. But the best games are the ones where you win through Sowing Salt, and those happen a lot more often than one might expect.
These are your best two matchups. You need to get into a controlling mindstate for these matchups, as they are the aggressors. You don't need pressure at all here. You just need to take out every one of their threats. Luckily, your spells are excellent against that.
Affinity almost auto loses to Electrolyze. Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, and Path to Exile are also excellent. Be careful of Inkmoth Nexus + Cranial Plating/Arcbound Ravager. That guy can kill you out of nowhere. As long as you have other lands to play, sandbag your Tectonic Edges until they hit four lands. Let your opponent be the one to initiate the "big plays" of moving counters around with Ravager or equipping Cranial Plating. For Steel Overseer, kill him before he loses summoning sickness. For Arcbound Ravager, Path to Exile is your best bet. Otherwise, you'll just have to get fancy by either flashing in Snapcaster to block and giving a removal spell flashback (this forces him to make the decision of whether or not to save his Ravager by sacrificing a bunch of artifacts) or just holding up two removal spells, using one on Ravager and responding by hitting the Modular target with the other. If you can kill Ravager while there are no other creatures on board you should usually do it (be mindful of his having mana up to activate Inkmoth or Blinkmoth as Modular targets). For Cranial Plating, wait until he declares his attackers before you kill creature with the Plating because they usually don't have the mana to equip at instant speed. Your only out to Etched Champion is likely just to counter it game 1. That guys is usually how they beat you. Their tricks are mostly all on board. Just examine the board, making sure they can't foil your plans (don't split Electrolyze damage when they have a Steel Overseer active, for instance). Over half of Affinity's deck is harmless. Stay reactive and take out the heavy stuff (Ravager, Plating, Overseer, Signal Pest, and Etched Champion) and you'll steamroll them.
The same game plan is to be utilized against Infect. All you have to worry about are the threats (Blighted Agent, Plague Stinger, Glistener Elf, and Inkmoth Nexus). All the other cards are irrelevant (on rare occasions they can suit up a Noble Hierarch with a Rancor and go to town, but those are fringe cases). Use your removal at the end of their turn. Force them to make the first move. What you don't want to do is try to Bolt their Glistener Elf in the middle of Combat only to have them pump it to a 4/4. If they go for a pump spell, then you can respond with a bolt. Otherwise, just take a poison counter and then bolt it at the end of their turn, forcing them to choose to waste a pump spell to save it. Also, they have no way to give their creatures haste. So if you can't remove one of the creatures at the end of their turn, do it on your own (the most common situation for this is when they are on the play and cast a turn one Glistener Elf. You can then play a fetch, grab a Steam Vents and bolt it on your turn 1. Don't be afraid to take damage from your shock lands at all - they aren't trying to win through damage).
In both matchups, you'll want to mulligan creature heavy hands. Fliers are decent against Affinity because they can block. But you want hands with multiple copies of burn/path and the lands to cast them.
Here I would board like this against Affinity: -4 Geist, -3 Remand, -2 Mana Leak, +2 Aven Mindcensor, +1 Damping Matrix, +1 Engineered Explosive, +1 Path to Exile, +2 Stony Silence, +1 Thundermaw Hellkite +1 Wear/Tear. Geist is bad because you don't need to kill them quickly. You aren't going to race them, so you have to deal with their creatures. Once you deal with their creatures their deck is awful. They have horrendous topdecks since 2/3 of their deck is nearly useless without the good stuff. Geist also doesn't block. Other than Memnite and Etched Champion, their whole deck flies. And Champion usually can't be blocked by Geist either. Counters are bad for reasons others have mentioned, especially on the draw. The one exception is Spell Snare. Spell Snare is stellar against them. It hits all of their 2 drops, even when they are on the play. And most of the important cards are 2 drops (Overseer, Plating, Ravager). Another benefit to boarding out your counterspells is it makes your decision of whether or not to play your removal during combat easier (though they often play their spells precombat, and usually this is correct for them). If you don't have to hold up mana to counter what they play post combat, you no longer have to engage in this guessing game. Aven Mindcensor comes in because he blocks and trades. Damping Matrix is a bad Stony Silence, but Stony Silence is so good that even a bad one is good (as an aside, I don't like Damping Matrix at all in the current format - I'm not really sure why people run it). EE can take out the 2 drops (or the 0 drops when you are on the play - if you go first play a land, say go, they dump their hand full of 0 drops, you then play EE on your turn 2 and crack it). I'm actually not crazy about EE in this matchup but it's better than the stuff you are taking out. Path is awesome removal, Stony Silence shuts down almost everything in their deck, and Wear/Tear hits their whole deck. Thundermaw I don't know. It could be better as a Threads (in which case so would the MD Thundermaw). I'm just speculating here; I haven't much experience with him in Modern. But he would nuke many of their creatures when he hit as well as closing the game out quickly afterward (not that you really need to close it out quickly). The problem is that this matchup is usually decided by turn 5.
For Infect, I would board like this: -4 Remand, +1 Path to Exile, +2 Threads of Disloyalty, +1 Wear/Tear. They tend to be fairly mana light, so Remand isn't the worst. But it's too much to be paying for a spell that might buy you a turn. Path is excellent for obvious reasons, Threads is because their deck is very threat light and it hits 75% of those threats, and Wear/Tear hits both Inkmoth Nexus and Wild Defiance (which is their best defense against you).
I don't see it anywhere and am curious why nobody is playing it...it is pretty much an auto concede against burn/scapeshift/ad nauseum etc... I don't know the metagame that much, I've only been playing modern for a few months but it's insane against any B/x matchup where they try to rob your hand and it protects against liliana on T3 when you just dropped your geist.
My SB otherwise is:
1x Path to Exile
2x Spell Pierce
1x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Stone Rain
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Wrath of God
2x Leyline of Sanctity
My main board is:
Spells: 30
3x Serum Visions
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Path to Exile
1x Pyroclasm
3x Lightning Helix
3x Mana Leak
3x Remand
4x Electrolyze
3x Cryptic Command
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Sphinx's Revelation
Creatures: 4
4x Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers: 1
1x Ajani Vengeant
Lands: 25
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Glacial Fortress
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Island
4x Arid Mesa
3x Celstial Colonnade
I mostly only play online..but the metagame is MUCH more diverse, which causes me to be all over the place with trying to sideboard...Tear my list apart, I've won a few daily events but still just 0-2 drop 50% of the time, and maybe that's just variance.
Scapeshift is a decent enough MU, burn shouldnt be that hard either with the correct SB, and ad nauseaum is non existent.
What im amazed at is how people can run this deck without counterflux on your sideboards. Really, i cant help but wonder what kind of metagame you guys play in.
I only run 1. My meta consistently has a Pyro Storm deck, and an UWR Control. One is more than enough. Against Storm it's GG, but really Mana Leak and Remand are enough. Against UWR Control it basically just removes Ajani from the game. I was running two and it was too many.
Although I also agree, how can you not have at least one in your SB lol
Well, your list would more closely belong in the UWR Control (Wafo-Tapa Draw Go) thread. Similar shells for sure, but this thread is more for decks running various creatures with flash (Restoration Angel, Aven Mindcensor, and Vendilion Clique mostly) as well as things like Geist of Saint Traft main, but not sweepers like Supreme Verdict or big mana spells like Sphinx's Revelation. That said, I'll be happy to comment while you're here.
I am a big fan of Leyline in general, but you shouldn't be having a lot of trouble with any of those decks really. Because you have no pressure, Burn can get you even after you gain life with Helix and Ajani. To help out, you may want to sideboard some Timely Reinforcements (good against Gruul Aggro too), Kor Firewalker (will apply pressure and can block) or Rest for the Weary (excellent with Snapcaster). To help with the pressure, you may want to board in Geist of Saint Traft here, as odd as that sounds. Spellskite also helps with this matchup.
For Scapshift, you probably just want more counterspells. Negate, Dispel and Counterflux are solid. Aven Mindcensor is also solid. If you threaten them with Tectonic Edge, they have to get 7 mountains (or six basics) because if they only have 6 mountains you can Tectonic Edge one of the nonbasic mountains while the Valakut triggers are all on this stack. When the triggers resolve, only one will have the "if you control at least five other mountains" clause met and so the other triggers will fizzle upon resolution. I assume the Cryptic Command versions are the ones giving you trouble. They usually cannot afford to run five basic mountains.
I don't have much experience with Ad Nauseum.
My final suggestion is run 4 Cryptic Command in this deck. This card is the reason to play this deck. Cryptic Command is quite possibly the best card in the format and RWU Control is the deck that is best equipped to use it.