In the first game, my opponent managed to develop the kind of board that G/W Devotion is usually looking for where they’ve gone over what most opponents can keep up with, but Setessan Tactics with deathtouch was easily able to go over the top of it, though it was easier because my opponent never found a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. In the second game, my Planeswalkers allowed me to go much bigger than my opponent much more quickly. These two games captured the paths I’ve seen most games of this matchup go, where Bees are favored either because of Planeswalkers or removal, but either way, it’s a very difficult match for G/W Devotion.

I don’t think my opponent’s deck was very good, and they’re a weak version of the kind of decks I’m best against. I likely shouldn’t have kept my hand in the first game, and it went as badly as possible from there, but in general, it should be very difficult to lose here.

I do think there was something interesting going on in sideboarding where I deemphasized my ramp elements while adding removal since I didn’t need to go as much bigger than them and just needed to stop them from getting an early win with a good combination of warriors.

I hadn’t played this matchup before, and it seems pretty difficult. I don’t have great answers to large numbers of tokens–Setessan Tactics technically works, but it’s hard to set up. Chandra is good, but she’s also slow. I think I should have done something like siding out all three Roasts for three Whisperwood Elementals.

I’m not exactly sure what my opponent’s deck actually was here, as their draws weren’t very good, but it felt like it had all the problems of other red decks without enough speed to really punish me. Fliers are theoretically good against Hornet Nest, but I’m good enough at making sure that it takes damage that really, they just end up losing to the Insect tokens.