The Deck:
This is a low-to-the-ground Soldiers deck that focuses on early aggression with flash threats backed up with some counterspells. The first 3 turns are usually spent curving out followed by playing a land and saying "go" with flash threats or interaction in hand, hopefully with a Recruitment or Skystrike Officer in play as well to draw cards if nothing happens. Useful abilities are baked into all of the creatures like card advantage, tokens, protection, anthems, and even graveyard recursion - all on relevant soldier bodies. There's no better feeling than playing a land and passing the turn with your opponent dead-on-board and a Protect The Negotiators in hand or Harbin to surprise fly in for the win.
Beating Aggro:
This is our hardest matchup because it is very play/draw dependent and our build is slightly less aggressive than other aggro lists so we can easily become overwhelmed. Our deck has the tools to beat aggro, however, you just need to know your role within the context of the board state and be aware when it is correct to turtle up with blockers, or start racing. After game 1, I would swap out counterspells and Zephyr Sentinels for more removal and life gain to slow our opponent's down and win the race.
Beating Midrange:
This matchup is actually our easiest because of the flash elements in this list. We curve out to beat them down and then hold up flash threats and interaction for their bombs or protection against their removal while grinding with our built-in advantage and recursion. All you have to do is play smart and use all of your mana every turn to keep up. After game 1, I usually just trim some numbers like -1 Yotian Tactitian, -1 Dennick, -1 Valiant Veteren, -1 Plains if you need the space and then add in whatever sideboard cards you like for the matchup.
Beating Control:
This matchup can be tough depending on how many sweepers they have. We can power through spot removal pretty easily, but if they manage to wipe our board more than once without a counterspell from us, it's usually over unless we can close out with recursion and man-lands. After game 1, I would take out Brutal Cathars and trim a couple of other cards to load up on Spell Pierce and Tocasia's Welcome. Don't sleep on Nettle Guard for those heavy Temporary Lockdown draws!
