My
Deck

1. The three ways to win

No combo: the deck wins because it has more win conditions than the opponent has answers to stop them.

Serra Angel in the sky

Four damage per turn flying over any ground blocker. With four toughness, she survives Psionic Blast and Lightning Bolt: she is the only threat that truly closes the game against control.

Mishra's Factory

A clock that removal cannot touch, because it is a land until you animate it. Animate it on defense as well: two toughness blocks Savannah Lions, and the Lions do not return.

Icy Manipulator with low-curve creatures

Icy taps down their best blocker before attacks, or their fourth land during their upkeep. It is the pivot of the deck: effective on both offense and defense, and it requires no colored mana.

2. The opening hand

Keep two to five lands with at least one spell costing one or two mana. With this rule, the deck keeps seven cards 77% of the time, and only 5% of hands go down to two mulligans or more.
A six-land hand is a mulligan, even if it has Ancestral Recall. With 21 lands plus five artificial mana sources, the lands will draw themselves.
Do not keep single-color hands if the only threat is Serra: you need two white mana, and it is usually the dual lands that provide them. Sources are balanced — eleven for each color.
Library of Alexandria is worth one less mulligan. In a slow hand, it is the single card that lets you catch up on its own.

3. The four archetypes of opponents and sideboard usage

Against an unknown opponent, identify the archetype and apply its game plan: the thirteen winning decks tested all fall into one of these four categories. The thing that truly changes the way you play is the difference between the first game and the subsequent two. Against control, you start at 68.6% in game 1 and drop to 58.6% post-sideboard, because they bring in Moat and Circles of Protection, and your sideboard does not fully compensate.

Against burn, the exact opposite happens, gaining seven points. Against artifacts, it is almost neutral.

• Control — The Deck and creatureless lists — 65.7%

How to recognize it: Dual lands in the early turns without playing anything, Mana Drain, Jayemdae Tome, Disrupting Scepter, few or no creatures.

Game 1 is your best game, 68.6% compared to 58.6% in subsequent games: they are the ones who have to change their deck, not you. Win game 1 and defend it by playing fast, because these games finish around turn twelve for each player and the round time works against the person who is ahead. Apply pressure early but hold back only two threats at a time: one Serra Angel plus one Mishra's Factory kill them in five turns and survive a Balance. Post-sideboard, their Moats and Circles of Protection come in, and from there Disenchants are the game: they go on the prison pieces, not the Tome, and they are not to be held in hand hoping for a better target.

In: 3 Blue Elemental Blast, 2 Control Magic, 2 Whirling Dervish, 1 Disenchant.

Out: Swords to Plowshares (all four against creatureless opponents), Wall of Swords, 2 Erhnam Djinn, Sylvan Library, Ivory Tower.

Warning: Do not play a fourth threat into the void: Balance and The Abyss punish those who overextend.

Rokkjaer 58.1% · van der End 55.9% · Morri 84.8% · Lauter 55.1% · MirrorBall 74.7%.

• Red Aggro — Atog, burn, and lists with Black Vise — 86.0%

How to recognize it: Mountain on turn one, Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, Black Vise, Atog, Serendib Efreet. Short games, closing around turn eight.

It is your best matchup and the sideboard improves it even further, gaining seven points in games 2 and 3: it is the only archetype where you can lose game 1 with peace of mind. Out with everything that costs life, starting with the two Sylvan Libraries. Circle of Protection: Red shuts down half of their deck and must be played as soon as possible, before threats, remembering that each activation prevents one source only once. Erhnam Djinn and walls stay in: the 4/5 blocks a grown Atog and flying walls stop Serendib without costing you life.

In: 2 Circle of Protection: Red, 3 Blue Elemental Blast, 2 Divine Offering, 1 Wall of Swords.

Out: 2 Sylvan Library, 2 Counterspell, 2 Icy Manipulator, 1 Time Walk. Ivory Tower stays in.

Warning: Do not cut your threats to make room for hate: tested, it loses seven points. If you do not kill them, the second wave of burn spells will arrive anyway.

Magrann 93.9% · Landgraf 87.8% · Ejlertsen 76.3%.

• White Weenie — small white creature lists — 84.7%

How to recognize it: Savannah Lions and White Knight in the first two turns, Crusade, Mesa Pegasus, often their own Serra Angels at the top of the curve.

Balance is your best card: let them develop and sweep the board when they have four creatures against your one or two — playing it when your board state is already better means using it against yourself. Swords to Plowshares all stay in, but they go on flying creatures or those pumped by Crusade, not on the Lions. Flying walls are your best blockers and survive a Crusade. Control Magic steals their Serra Angel and turns the game around on its own, but it must be played ahead of time: the creature arrives with summoning sickness and cannot attack that turn.

In: 2 Control Magic, 2 Whirling Dervish, 1 Circle of Protection: White, 1 Wall of Swords, 1 Disenchant.

Out: 2 Sylvan Library, 2 Counterspell, 1 Ivory Tower, 1 Time Walk, 1 Icy Manipulator.

Warning: Do not block Savannah Lions with your White Knights: first strike will kill them with no losses.

Brumby 83.3% · Humphreys 86.0%.

• Artifacts — Robots, Workshop, and big artifact creature lists — 69.3%

How to recognize it: Mishra's Workshop, colorless lands, Su-Chi, Triskelion, Clockwork Beast, Colossus of Sardia, often zero colored cards.

Erhnam Djinns all stay in: it is the only archetype where the 4/5 body is worth more than any alternative, because it is what blocks Su-Chi and Clockwork Beast without dying. All Icy Manipulators stay in as well, and cutting them is the mistake that costs the most points in the entire gauntlet: tapping Colossus during their upkeep is the strongest move you can make. Stealing beats killing, so Control Magics go on the biggest creature. The sideboard here is almost neutral: these games are decided on the board, not on the fifteen cards.

In: 2 Control Magic, 2 Divine Offering, 1 Dust to Dust, 1 Disenchant, 1 Wall of Swords.

Out: 2 Sylvan Library, 2 Counterspell, 1 Time Walk, 1 Ivory Tower. Never cut Icy Manipulator.

Warning: Do not bring in Blue Elemental Blasts: against an almost colorless deck they are dead slots that dilute the plan, and leaving them out against Bruder Bots is worth about ten points.

Lobstercon 70.1% · Bruder Bots 67.4% · Stebbo 70.5%.

Percentages measured over 1,200 best-of-three matches per opponent, with sideboarding on both sides. Margin of error approximately 1.3 points.