Hi, I'm Gami and this is my Pioneer Soulflayer list! If you want to play a graveyard combo deck that isn't Greasefang, you're in the right place!
This deck is built to maximise the power of Soulflayer and Urborg Scavengers to apply early pressure with a hard to remove threat.

SB guide currently mid-update as Ixalan cards are added.

Deck Info:

>Noteable Inclusions:

Banehound - Blocking vs aggressive decks and/or forcing opponents to trade into these is very strong, especially when we don't mind if it dies. Makes the aggro matchups better game one. May become less relevant if you decide to swing the deck to play more aggro hate mainboard, but in this current version they're invaluable.

Ledger Shredder - Shredder can block vs aggro and get damage in against control, all while forcing our opponents to think about how many spells they're casting and furthering or gameplan. A worthy four of in the deck.

Samut, Voice of Dissent - This deck is less all-in on creatures for Soulflayer to delve than most, only having six main exile targets. Zetapla is fairly standard, Samut less so. The reason why, is that almost any combination of Samut and another creature, is fairly powerful, where other options needed three to four different creatures to have been milled to be a real threat without Zetalpa. This means we can run fewer threats overall and have much higher card quality.

Bitter Triumph - A card that interacts with the opponent while also furthering our gameplan.

>Noteable Exclusions:

Cragplate Baloth - Hexproof and haste is fine, but only really good as the first Urborg Scavengers target, even then, Scavengers can still be removed in response.

Adult Gold Dragon - A similar story, extra lifelink is good, but I don't think it's better than Samut. Losing the ability to hardcast it over something like the Aetherborns, Vampire of the Dire Moon or Banehound also isn't ideal, when the reason you'd want more lifelink is more aggro in the meta, so early blockers are key.

Neoform / Atraxa, Grand Unifier - There's an argument that the Atraxa Neoform variant is a better deck, but I think we can be equally consistent, if not more so, and pose a bigger, harder to remove threat, even if it doesn't refill our hand.

Founding the Third Path - I like this card a lot, it's able to colour fix, cast two spells in one for Ledger Shredder and reuse spells from the graveyard, a lot of what the deck wants to do. But there's one issue, we want to do as much as we can at instant speed, to be able to hold up countermagic and removal when it matters most, so this being a non-creature sorcery speed spell isn't where we want to be in this deck.

Lands - Eighteen is low, but when the most expensive card we're actually trying to cast in the deck is Urborg Scavengers at three mana and we have 17 ways to filter and draw cards at two mana or less, (more if you count Ephara's Dispersal, although I don't, as it's more of a removal spell), we can run a comparatively low number of lands while still being consistent. Two land hands are perfectly keepable if they have 1-2 dig spells.
The average mana value of the maindeck is 1.56. If we take into account the mana we actually intend to pay for each card. Using Frank Karsten's fairly well respected method for calculating the minimum number of lands needed in a deck, that being 19.59 + (1.90 * average cmc) – (0.28 * cheap card selection spells), we get 19.59 + (1.90 * 1.56) – (0.28 * 18) = 17.51 lands, so hopefully that gives you some confidence!

>Currently Testing:

Bitter Triumph - A removal spell that also lets us discard a card has the potential to be very powerful in this deck.

Ashiok, Dream Render - Lotus will fold to this, as will most of the big mana Bring to Light or Enigmatic Incarnation decks. Three mana is actually relatively high for this deck but this will absolutely win games when it resolves.

Sideboard Theory:

> Rakdos (Midrange / Sacrifice):

Their Problem Cards:

Go Blank - Exiles graveyards, importantly sorcery speed.
Extinction Event - Kills any Soulflayer setup.
Liliana of the Veil - Can force us to sacrifice a Soulflayer, bypassing all our protection.
Unlicensed Hearse - Exiles graveyards at instant speed repeatably.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse - Represents a clock that they don't need to attack with.

Game One:

Favoured for us, their only relevant interaction mainboard is Graveyard Trespasser and Bloodtithe Harvester because it gets around indestructible. Both are only at sorcery speed, so can be played around pretty easily.

Post-Board:

A little harder as any number of Extinction Event, Unlicensed Hearse, Liliana of the Veil, Sheoldred's Edict, Go Blank and Necromentia come in.
Be careful if Sacrifice reveals Jegantha, the Wellspring game one but not game two, this means they likely have brought in Leyline of the Void.
Gameplan is mostly the same, but this time we can answer their board a little more efficiently.

Changes:

In:
3x Abrupt Decay - Hits most threats and graveyard hate.
1x Assassin's Trophy - Can remove Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or any other problem permanent. Gives them a land, but a land should always be much less scary than the thing it removes.
1x Haywire Mite - Kills Leyline if they have it, otherwise can hit other graveyard hate or Fable of the Mirror Breaker.

Out:
2x Thoughtseize - While hand disruption is good, it's a terrible draw when both players are low on resources.
2x Banehound - No deathtouch means that this is a much less threatening blocker.
1x Duress - Worse than Thoughtsieze here as a lot of their threats are creatures.

> Nykthos Ramp:

Their Problem Cards:

Karn, the Great Creator - Access to sideboard and silver bullets game 1.
Storm the Festival - Generates a lot of advantage that is difficult to come back from.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - Nykthos is manageable as long as we can keep devotion off the board and answer whatever they play.
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner - Untaps Nykthos and generates tons of mana.

Game One:

Tough, but winnable. If they get a good hand, we have to interact early or we lose, if they get a normal hand, interacting early makes it likely we win.
Keep them off high devotion if you can, don't focus desperately hard on getting a max-power Soulflayer, anything that fights a Cavalier and lives is good enough.

Post-Board:

Slightly better, but still not great. Nykthos almost never sideboards though, making Game 2-3 almost objectively better for us.
Assassin's Trophy is mostly there to disrupt their combo, hitting any Planeswalker or Nykthos itself. Can kill a Cavalier in a pinch if we need to push damage through.

Changes:

In:
2x Abrupt Decay - Removes devotion or Kiora, keeps them on their combat plan. Doesn't hit quite as much as we want though so only two come in.
1x Duress - Taking away their planeswalkers or other big plays can be very impactful.
1x Assassin's Trophy - Removes any permanent that is presenting a threat.

Out:
2x Ledger Shredder - Blocking won't be much use unless we put 2+ counters on it, attacking won't be much use as Cavalier of Thorns and Polukranos Reborn have reach. Don't want to completely cut our discard outlets though.
2x Banehound - Lifelink and haste aren't key in this matchup, shaved for more relevant cards.
1x Striped Riverwinder - Outside of Karn wish targets, they have no way to remove a Soulflayer, and most of their wishboard doesn't deal with it well, going down a hexproof creatures is safe here.

> Azorius Control:

Their Problem Cards:

Farewell - Exiles any Soulflayer setup.
Rest in Peace - Shuts down our entire gameplan
Absorb / Make Disappear - Counters our creatures, worst with Soulflayer who delves as a cost.

Game One:

Do not overextend, they have quite a few blowout cards, take your time, don't rush. Force them to use their interaction on less important things, if you suspect they have a counterspell and have the option, cast Scavengers first, as if it gets countered you still have cards in graveyard to use., Cast instants when/if they tap out on your end step. This is not a race.
Don't be afraid to cast Urborg Scavengers early with no value, if you think you can get them to resolve and start getting damage in, do. If you can start exiling relevant things as well, even better.

Post-Board:

Rest in Peace absolutely destroys our gameplan, so try to always have removal or counters for it. Other than that, very similar to Game One but we have more disruption and they have Rest in Peace.

Changes:

In:
3x Mystical Dispute - Interacting early is key here, hitting RiP or resolving something through an Absorb is great.
2x Duress - For shredding their hand, keeping them low on resources and trying to pick a hole in their defences.
1x Assassin's Trophy - Removes any big threat if they manage to resolve one. With Bitter Triumph also hitting Planeswalkers we can afford to only bring in one Trophy here.

Out:
2x Otherworldly Gaze - Not needing to go as fast means we can trim the more all-in dig spells
2x Banehound - Not enough of a threat and keywords aren't the most useful
2x Fatal Push - Next to no targets in their deck.

> Lotus Combo:

Their Problem Cards:

Lotus Field - Gives them the mana to win fast.
Emergent Ultimatum - Tutors for their combo
Languish / Sunfall - Kills any Soulflayer setup.

Game One:

Thoughtsieze their hand, apply pressure as fast as possible. We have relatively few ways to deal with their combo mainboard.

Post-Board:

Slightly better, as we have fewer dead cards, but the same still applies. Disruption and pressure wins games here.

Changes:

In:
3x Mystical Dispute - Catches a lot of important spells, most notably Emergent Ultimatum and Pore Over the Pages.
2x Duress - Taking draw / search spells and untap cards leaves them low on resources and buys us time to execute our plan.

Out:
2x Banehound - Haste is nice, but lifelink doesn't help here and it's hard to argue that chip damage with a 1/1 is relevant. Playing something that does nothing to stop their gameplan, or further ours is an easy cut.
2x Fatal Push - Nothing to target.
1x Striped Riverwinder - Very little targeted removal coming from Lotus so we can get away with less hexproof.

>Abzan Greasefang:

Their Problem Cards:

Greasefang, Okiba Boss - Reanimates and crews vehicles.
Parhelion II - Cheated into play.
Liliana of the Veil - Can force us to sacrifice a Soulflayer, bypassing all our protection.
Unlicenced Hearse - Disrupts our Soulflayer delve fuel.

Game One:

Getting a strong Soulflayer is borderline game over. Both decks combo at similar speeds, but we have seven threats and they only have four, some are running six if you count Eldritch Evolution or Traverse the Ulvenwald, but these take much more time than the dreaded turn three Greasefang.

Post-Board:

They have more removal sideboard, with Liliana of the Veil and sometimes Vanishing Verse, so now the requirement for an immoveable Soulflayer is hexproof, indestructible and to have one other creature on board. Matchup feels like it leans in our favour.

Changes:

In:
3x Abrupt Decay - Kills Greasefang and a variety of other things that stop our gameplan like Unlicensed Hearse.
2x Ray of Enfeeblement - Kills Greasefang.

Out:
2x Fatal Push - Doesn't kill Greasefang so these come out.
2x Spell Pierce - Few important non-creature spells.
1x Stubborn Denial - Few important non-creature spells. Removal prioritized over counters.

> Creativity (Temur / Izzet):

Their Problem Cards:

Indomitable Creativity - Main path to them winning the game
Make Disappear - Hits creatures, can't be stopped by a single counterspell if they cast it with Casualty.
Disdainful Stroke - Only good against Soulflayer, so they might not bring it in, but something to be aware of
Divide by Zero - Counterspell or bounce spell, makes hexproof important.

Game One:

Temur needs to get to five mana and two tokens to flip into Worldspine Wurm and Xenagos, God of Revels to one-shot the opponent. Izzet only needs four and one, but their payoff is much less impactful.
Soulflayer can combo faster than creativity and then play the control game, but there's an element of luck to it, the matchup isn't terrible, but you need to be careful. Either resolve Soulflayer fast and close the game, or wait until they're low on resources and capitalise.
The plan game one is simply to resolve a Soulflayer, doesn't have to be particularly strong, just hexproof or indestructible will do. Once we have pressure, hold up mana and counter any attempts to cast Indomitable Creativity.

Post-Board:

After boarding it's quite similar. Take your time and be ready for a fight on the stack.

Changes:

For Izzet:

In:
3x Mystical Dispute - More disruption early, hits their counters and makes sure our threats resolve.
2x Duress - Taking their combo pieces or interaction, either slowing them down or poking a hole for us to combo through.

Out:
2x Banehound - Haste and lifelink aren't impactful enough against combo control.
1x Striped Riverwinder - Very little removal that kills a Soulflayer. Can afford to trim one Riverwinder.
1x Stubborn Denial - Paying 1 isn't too difficult as the game goes longer, after we've resolved a Soulflayer, having a hard counter matters a lot less. We can rely on the Mystical Disputes and Spell Pierces to do the job.
1x Bitter Triumph - They have few creatures or planeswalkers to hit and we don't need to fill the graveyard as fast, discard outlets are less necessary.

For Temur:

In:
All cards for Izzet
1x Ephara's Dispersal - Can bounce their Fable tokens and also hit Wurm when and if they resolve their combo.

Out:
All cards for Izzet
1x Otherworldly Gaze - Don't need to be as fast so can trim the more all-in dig spells.

For Izzet:

>Mono-White Humans:

Their Problem Cards:

Brutal Cathar - Exiles a non-hexproof Soulflayer. Even if we get it back, it loses the keywords.
Rest in Peace - Shuts down our Soulflayer gameplan.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - as a low curve deck with few lands, adding 30-50% to the cost of our spells hurts.

Game One:

Has the potential to be one of our worst matchups.
Will be difficult to win this one unless you run pretty well on your mill and draw. They can't beat a full Soulflayer setup, but they will not give little time to get there. Prioritize lifelink, hexproof and blockers first. hope to close the gates before they kill us.

Post-Board:

Quite a bit better with plenty of sideboard cards in. Same as game one, prioritize lifelink and hexproof to make an impossible to remove Soulflayer as soon as possible.

Changes:

In:
3x Abrupt Decay - Hits every creature and Rest in Peace.
2x Ray of Enfeeblement - Hits every creature in the deck.
1x Vampire of the Dire Moon - Makes combat difficult, another source of lifelink for Soulflayer.
1x Haywire Mite - Stops RiP and can chump block attackers if needed.
1x Path of Peril - Can be used to come back from the jaws of defeat.

Out:
4x Thoughtseize - Hand interaction is much less important in the aggro matchup.
2x Spell Pierce - Can hit Ossification or RiP, but mostly dead.
1x Stubborn Denial - They have few noncreature spells, much less useful here.
1x Tainted Indulgence - Need to fill the graveyard faster than this allows.

>Spirits (Mono-Blue / Azorius / Bant):

Their Problem Cards:

Lofty Denial / Geistlight Snare - Easily counters a Soulflayer
Rest in Peace - Shuts down our Soulflayer gameplan.

Game One:

As with most aggro decks, they can't beat a resolved Soulflayer with good keywords, they offer similar pressure to other aggro decks and significantly more disruption.
Game one should be relatively straightforward, if difficult. Block with Ledger Shredders, fight through disruption, resolve a Soulflayer when you can, win from there.

Post-Board:

Mostly the same, apart from the vague threat of turn two Rest in Peace, if this happens our gameplan turns to Shredders, no-value Scavengers and trying to find Abrupt Decay. It's harder, but not impossible. Most lists seem to have steered away from RiP, so hopefully your Spirits opponent has too.

Changes:

In:
3x Mystical Dispute - Will hit most, if not all of their spells.
3x Abrupt Decay - Removes RiP if they have it, safely destroys any threat as it can't be countered.

Out:
4x Thoughtseize - Their creature are their card draw, so removing their attackers is our form of resource denial.
1x Stubborn Denial - Even though they have lots of disruption, they're a tempo deck, creatures are their main plan, Mystical Dispute & Spell Pierce are our counter of choice.
1x Striped Riverwinder - They run 3-4 removal spells sideboard, but often we can counterspell these. Once we have a Soulflayer in play, little else matters, so all our counters can become protection for our threat.

>Mono Red Aggro:

Their Problem Cards:

Kari Zev's Expertise - Can steal a Soulflayer without a full setup.
Roast - Kills a Soulflayer without indestructible or flying.

Game One:

They will be fast, but have literally no way to remove a resolved Soulflayer, if we get indestructible and lifelink, it's basically game over.

Post-Board:

Very similar, but we have more disruption, eight damage a turn is hard to race, especially if they're losing attackers running into a Soulflayer with vigilance.

Changes:

In:
3x Abrupt Decay - While not ideal, forcing them to find another creature is relevant tempo against a very fast deck.
1x Vampire of the Dire Moon - Makes combat difficult and getting lifelink on a Soulflayer wins us the game.
1x Path of Peril - Can be used to come back from the jaws of defeat.

Out:
3x Thoughtseize - The life loss hurts more than it helps here
1x Tainted Indulgence - Need to be going slightly faster than Indulgence let's us.
1x Stubborn Denial - We want to disrupt their creatures more than their spells.

> Dimir Rogues:

Their Problem Cards:

Sheoldred's Edict - Will kill a Soulflayer if we have no other creatures to sacrifice.
Drown in the Loch - Fairly easily turned on by our self mill, hard counter.

Game One:

Outside of an edict, they cannot beat a strong Soulflayer. Early pressure is key, we can go over the top of them, but have to make sure the gates are down before they get going.

Post-Board:

They don't have a huge amount to bring in against us, which is beneficial, Into the Story and Cling to Dust are fine against us, but mostly ineffective, gameplan stays very similar to game one, just with better sideboard options from us.

Changes:

In:
3x Mystical Dispute - All their counters are blue, allows us to fight through and resolve something.
3x Abrupt Decay - Hits many of their bigger threats and grave hate like Unlicensed Hearse.

Out:
2x Otherworldly Gaze - They will actually do a lot of the milling for us, many of their creatures mill an opponent, so we can cut sone of our own.
2x Banehound - They don't put out as much pressure as the aggro decks, so we can afford to go down on lifeline for more interaction.
1x Tainted Indulgence - The game won't go long enough for this to be relevant, especially when they're filling our graveyard for us.
1x Striped Riverwinder - Almost all their targeted removal is 'destroy' and not 'exile' so we can afford to go down on hexproof.

*Less Tested Matchups

> Gruul Midrange:

Their Problem Cards:

Skysovereign, Consul Flagship - Very evasive to all of our removal as it'll most likely only be a creature on their turn. Needs a Zetalpa Soulflayer to get through it.
The Akroan War - Will steal a non-hexproof Soulflayer for multiple turns.
The Stone Brain - Can exile our Soulflayers if they get it down fast enough.
Klothys, God of Destiny / Unlicensed Hearse - Repeatable graveyard hate, notably Klothys can't be removed by Abrupt Decay or countered by any counterspells we have, luckily, it's much easier to play through than Hearse.

Changes:

In:
3x Abrupt Decay - Destroys every creature in the deck.
1x Assassin's Trophy - For destroying Skysovereign or The Akroan War
1x Vampire of the Dire Moon - Makes combat difficult and lifelink helps us stabilise.
1x Haywire Mite - We have to use this in response to them crewing a vehicle, as it specifies non-creature, but can really swing the tempo back in our favour.

Out:
4x Thoughtseize - They're a very resilient deck, so throwing away a card isn't as impactful.
1x Banehound - No deathtouch means it's a less impactful blocker.
1x Otherworldly Gaze - We can afford to go slightly slower and prioritize keeping cards in hand here.

> Selesnya Angels:

Their Problem Cards:

Shapers' Sanctuary - To slow them down enough to set up Soulflayer, we're going to need to remove their creatures, Sanctuary gaining them a card each time we do is pretty bad.
Rest In Peace - Shuts down the graveyard.

Changes:

In:
3x Abrupt Decay - Removes every non-land permanent in their deck, including RiP
2x Ray of Enfeeblement - Removes any creature for one mana, great way to stop their early developments.

Out:
2x Banehound - Lifelink is nice, but they have too much inevitability for us to win by drawing the game out.
1x Stubborn Denial - They have a few good targets, but mostly dead.
1x Striped Riverwinder - Very little removal that hits Soulflayer, Scavengers is a bit more vulnerable, but cutting some Hexproof doesn't feel too bad.
1x Tainted Indulgence - Indulgence gets better the longer the game lasts, here we have to be faster than them as they have an almost unbeatable endgame.

>Izzet Phoenix:

Their Problem Cards:

Thing in the Ice - Can force us to return a Soulflayer to our hand if it flips.
Disdainful Stroke - Counters our Soulflayer.

Changes:

In:
3x Mystical Dispute - Will hit all of their counters
1x Abrupt Decay - Hitting Thing in the Ice is key as it's one of their only ways of stopping Soulflayer. Fatal Push and Bitter Triumph mainboard means that we only need to bring in one Decay here though.

Out:
2x Otherworldly Gaze - Needing to interact early means Gaze is slightly less good, trimmed two.
1x Stubborn Denial - Bringing in Mystical Dispute means that we can afford to cut the worse counterspell.
1x Striped Riverwinder - They run limited removal. We should aim to have counterspells up or have already discarded their tempo plays, so going down on other angles of protection is fine.

>Five-Colour Fires:

Their Problem Cards:

Fires of Invention - One of the engines of the deck.
Enigmatic Incarnation - One of the engines of the deck.
Rest in Peace - Shuts down our entire gameplan.
Various targeted exile effects - Need Hexproof.

Changes:

For Keruga:

In:
2x Duress - They are heavily enchantment based so this can take a lot of relevant cards.
1x Assassin's Trophy - Kills the bigger threats if they have time to stabilise.
1x Haywire Mite - Removes all their value enchantments.
1x Back to Nature - Our blowout comeback card. Should hopefully win us the game

Out:
2x Banehound - Chip damage isn't relevant.
2x Fatal Push - They rarely have creatures small enough to hit with this.
1x Otherworldly Gaze - The game will likely go long, so we can afford to cut some of our more all-in dig spells.

For Yorion:

In:
All Keruga cards
1x Abrupt Decay - Doesn't hit Fires or Enigmatic Incarnation, but does hit a significant amount of their deck. Bring one in, rather than the full three as we already have quite a lot of removal and disruption.

Out:
All Keruga cards
1x Stubborn Denial - Whilst they do have some good comeback cards, Denial is dead unless we already have a Soulflayer resolved.

>Bring to Light:

Their Problem Cards:

Bring to Light - The engine of the deck.
Rest in Peace - Shuts down our entire gameplan.
Various targeted exile effects - Need Hexproof.
Slaughter Games - Uncounterable Necromentia that can be searched for relatively early.

Changes:

In:
2x Abrupt Decay - Removes their early enchantments, notably RiP.
2x Duress - They are heavily non-creature based so this can take a lot of relevant cards.
1x Assassin's Trophy - Kills the bigger threats if they have time to stabilise.
1x Haywire Mite

Out:
2x Banehound - Chip damage isn't relevant.
2x Fatal Push - They rarely have creatures small enough to hit with this.
1x Otherworldly Gaze - The game will naturally go longer so we can afford to cut some of our more all-in dig spells

>Boros Convoke:

Their Problem Cards:

Gleeful Demolition - Essentially Dark Ritual in this deck, insane acellarant.
Venerated Loxodon - Gives a buff to their creatures and adds a medium sized body.
Reckless Bushwhacker - Turns a small push into a lethal attack.
Knight-Errant of Eos - Draws them cards and allows them to keep up pressure.

Changes:

In:
3x Ray of Enfeeblement - Removes their one drops or bigger threats.
1x Vampire of the Dire Moon - Extra sources of lifelink help us stabilise and make it harder for them to put up as much if a clock

Out:
1x Striped Riverwinder - Next to no removal in their deck. A Giant Killer is all that we need to worry about.
1x Stubborn Denial - Easy to play around and only really hits Gleeful Demolition.
1x Ephara's Dispersal - Giving them the chance to play their big convoke creature again is bad for us, bouncing their smaller creatures isn't impactful enough.
1x Tainted Indulgence - The longer the game goes, the better Indulgence becomes, if the game goes long, it's highly likely we win as we can overwhelm them unless they get their explosive start.

>Boros Pia Aggro:

Their Problem Cards:

Chained to the Rocks - Not awful as we have enchantment removal and hexproof, but something to watch out for.
Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival - Goes very wide if left unchecked.

Changes:

In:
3x Abrupt Decay - Some decks run Rest In Peace, this hits that while also removing creatures if needed. Also hits Invasion of Gobakahn from the board.
1x Vampire of the Dire Moon - Extra lifelink slows down their clock or wins us the game if we get an immoveable Soulflayer.

Out:
2x Thoughtseize - They are a resilient deck with lots of card advantage, Thoughtseize loses it's value.
1x Tainted Indulgence- Doesn't full the grave as fast as we want here.
1x Stubborn Denial - Hitting their spells is fine, but they already get value from casting it from Pia.

>Lotus Control:

Their Problem Cards:

Strict Proctor - Slows down Urborg Scavengers, allows them to play Lotus Field with no downside.
Discontinuity - We need to be careful doing things on their end step as they can just exile our spell for two mana, as with regular control, we have to wait until we have counterspell backup or they tap out before trying anything important.
Sunfall / Farewell - Three exile-based wraths mainboard is difficult, watch out for these and be ready to fight them.
Rest in Peace - Shuts down our gameplan hard.

Changes:

In:
3x Mystical Dispute - Interacting early is key here, hitting RiP or resolving something through an Absorb is great.
2x Duress - For shredding their hand, keeping them low on resources and trying to pick a hole in their defences.
2x Assassin's Trophy - Hits any of their Planeswalkers or Thespian's Stage if they try to copy Lotus Field.

Out:
2x Banehound - Not enough of a threat and keywords aren't the most useful
2x Fatal Push - While this can remove Strict Proctor, it doesn't hurt our gameplan too much and Push is dead everywhere else
1x Otherworldly Gaze - The earlier turns will be spent interacting, so going down some Gazes here feels safe. Don't need to fill the graveyard as fast.
1x Ephara's Dispersal - They will rarely be attacking enough to trigger this early.
1x Striped Riverwinder - They have relatively little removal and you're going up a lot of interaction, feels safe trimming one.

>Archfiend Combo:

Their Problem Cards:

Archfiend of the Dross / Metamorphic Alteration - these, together, can make us lose the game on our upkeep.
Extinction Event - Can remove a Soulflayer no matter what we do. Hold your counters for these if you can.

Changes:

In:
3x Mystical Dispute - Creature-light matchup, countering wraths and draw spells will be important.
2x Duress - Discards their Fable of the Mirror Breakers, Metamorhpic Alteration etc.
2x Assassin's Trophy - Can remove any permanent if and when we need it.

Out:
2x Fatal Push - Very few targets for Push here.
2x Banehound - While haste and lifelink are nice, neither are required.
1x Striped Riverwinder - Outside of Alteration, very little actually can remove our creatures, trimmed one.
1x Otherworldly Gaze - While they are a combo deck, they play much more like a midrange or control deck, don't need to go as fast.
1x Ephara's Dispersal - Few targets and bouncing back to hand when we're trying to deprive them of resources isn't great.