Happy with this list.
Not a ton of updates to anything as of late, except that I'm interested in Maelstrom Pulse quite a bit right now. Murderous Rider is a perfectly fine card, but it doesn't shine in any of the biggest matchups at the moment. Pulse can hit Felidar Retreat, Shark Typhoon, and gives you some free wins if your opponent draws multiples of stuff. Murderous Rider's 2/3 Lifelink body isn't really doing much right now, and in the matchups where that would be good, they have sacrifice abilities to counter the spell and not let you adventure anyways.
Omnath has certainly reared its ugly, uh, head I guess. And in Historic, not only is there Uro still around, but there's Oracle of Mul Daya and Explore and Growth Spiral if you're so inclined. It's a strong deck, but Historic has a lot more tools. We've definitely moved to a place where Historic isn't just Standard plus some other stuff, it's its own beast. Omnath is certainly good, perhaps even the best thing going on, but it's beatable and amongst a crowd of other very good stuff.
I'm going to go in-depth a little bit on each of the major matchups.
Goblins
-1 Klothys, -1 Radha, -1 Mammoth, -3 Gifted Aetherborn, -2 Liliana
+3 Shivan Fire, +2 Abrade, +3 Cage
I'm not certain that this is actually the best sideboard plan, but it's what I've been going with. Mostly, I'm on the fence about Thoughtseize, because the game will turn into a topdeck war at some point. In the first game, it's the only really good way to deal with Muxus, but when there are Cages in the deck, you're a little safer. This matchup is one of the reasons I like Abrade over Eliminate, because we can take out a Krenko, which is their only realistic way of beating a Cage that sticks. Shivan Fire, in a pinch, is also good against Krenko, while Disfigure is not for that slot. Chevill is incredible in this matchup, Ooze is okay.
Sultai/Bant/Nonsense
-3 Bonecrusher Giant, -1 Mammoth, -1 Gifted Aetherborn, -1 Bloodchief's Thirst
+2 Duress, +2 Davriel, +2 Phyrexian Arena
I very much dislike bringing in Grafdigger's Cage in these matchups. Uro is their biggest problem for you, but letting it hang out in their graveyard and waiting for them to find an answer to Cage isn't a good plan. Lately I haven't run into a lot of Ugin, so that makes Klothys a big problem for them. Try to empty out both hands and win with Castle Locthwain.
Jund Sacrifice
-1 Radha, -2 Liliana, -2 Mammoth, -1 Gifted Aetherborn
+3 Cage, +2 Abrade, +1 Shivan Fire
I like leaving in the Thoughtseizes against this matchup because Collected Company and Korvold are so deadly and it's important to know if they have Claim the Firstborn. Chevill and Ooze are great again here, of course, but don't get attached to them because they can get hit by Claim the Firstborn pretty easily. This is one of the matchups where Inscription of Ruin shines, because it deals with their best creatures but also is able to get back Ooze.
Red
-1 Radha, -4 Thoughtseize, -2 Mammoth
+1 Sporeweb Weaver, +3 Shivan Fire, +2 Abrade, +1 Cage
If you see Hazoret, then definitely don't bring in Cage. If you see Experimental Frenzy, bring in a couple, or if you don't want to, then bring in Duress. Drawing one Cage usually isn't going to make or break anything, plus it's not a terrible hedge if they have Earthshaker Khenra. I've been seeing a lot more Frenzy than Hazoret lately, so be prepared for that reality. The games themselves go about how you would expect. Protect your life total above all else. They can certainly kill you if you stabilize the board at 7 life, but 15 or something is not going to happen.
Rakdos Arcanist
-2 Liliana, -4 Thoughtseize, -1 Mammoth
+3 Cage, +2 Abrade, +2 Shivan Fire
First of all, they can't really beat a Klothys, so that's good to know. Ooze is your best card here of course, but again, don't get too attached. I like cutting Thoughtseize because it doesn't seem like it really does anything of substance. If you take their creature, they Claim/Fame it. If you take their Claim/Fame, they flash it back on Arcanist. I like just playing to the board better. I spent a long time thinking that I should use Thoughtseize to protect Cage in post-board games, but it never really works out that way. I like just having more knock-out cards than they can deal with through their Bedevil effects, and we have that in Chevill, Ooze, Inscription to rebuy them, Klothys, and Cage. Let them Thoughtseize your hand apart, sure, but if you can keep the board somewhat stable, you'll eventually draw something they can't really deal with.
Also, why am I always boarding out Mammoth? Can't really think of anything else to take out, but also you've gotta imagine that your deck is a little more streamlined post-board that flexibility isn't quite as necessary. You can kind of adjust your land count in your 60 by trimming Mammoths.
Gruul
-4 Thoughtseize, -1 Radha
+3 Shivan Fire, +2 Abrade
If you can keep pace early, you're usually good to go. Chevill is awesome here, but don't be afraid to just throw it out there early and cross your fingers. If they have Domri's Ambush it kind of stinks, but lots of them play Primal Might instead, and even if they have it, it often means they have to take a turn off from curving out. Don't be afraid to just nail their last two cards with Inscription of Ruin to try and play around Embercleave.
Mono Blue
- 2 Mammoth, -1 Klothys, -1 Radha, -2 Inscription of Ruin
+3 Shivan Fire, +2 Abrade, +1 Sporeweb Weaver
Inscription is just a little slow for what's going on here. The idea is that you want to just have as much instant speed and cheap interaction as possible. Unlike most of the other aggro decks in the format, I don't usually like to just jam Chevill on turn 2 if I can help it. If you run into this a lot, try putting Murderous Rider back in the deck over Pulse, it's really good here.
Omnath
-3 Gifted Aetherborn, -4 Mammoth
+2 Duress, +2 Davriel, +2 Phyrexian Arena, +1 Shivan Fire
My best results against Omnath have come from turning into a control deck that seeks to win with discard and just amass more cards. That seems a little crazy, I know, but the games really don't come down to Elvish Warrior and Trained Armodon. A much better plan is to play a low-land count and answer everything you can, snag their key pieces, and keep up on cards from Chevill and Phyrexian Arena. Try to save Maelstrom Pulse for Felidar Retreat if possible, which is strangely their best card against us. Please, if given the chance to kill a Lotus Cobra, take it.
~
Magic is a weird game. Omnath is clearly the most powerful deck out there, but in a format like this, you can't really ever be too far ahead of everyone else. Historic is in a pretty nice spot right now where the power level is low enough for interesting games but the card pool is large enough to provide you with lots of answers for the stuff you might see. I like where we're at with this list, but I would imagine the Omnath lists get streamlined some and we might have to adapt. It's a tough deck to attack, but when you've got Thoughtseize and Chevill on your side, anything is possible.
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