Holy Light gives -1/-1 to all nonwhite creatures, shrinking down Voldaren Epicure, Kessig Flamebreather, and Guttersnipe (the latter two drop to 0/2, taking them off their damage triggers for the turn) while leaving our white board untouched. Standard Bearer forces the opponent to target it with Lightning Bolt, Fiery Temper, or Lava Dart instead of our real threats, soaking up removal aimed at our aggressive creatures. Prismatic Strands is actually excellent here (choosing red prevents all burn damage for a turn) so it stays in; we trim Elite Interceptor's weaker half-copies instead since this is a race we want to win with bigger bodies and lifegain from Lunarch Veteran. Keep Guardians' Pledge and Battle Screech as the primary race-winners.

Standard Bearer soaks up Snuff Out, Cast Down, and Agony Warp, protecting our real threats from their removal-heavy suite. Goliath Paladin is a big body that dodges their Spellstutter Sprite/Counterspell plan less but gives us a resilient vigilant threat and the initiative against a deck low on creatures. We trim the weakest, most easily Snuff Out'd small bodies in Elite Interceptor and cut the situational Ramosian Rally since we want steady pressure rather than a one-shot pump against their removal and counterspells. Thraben Charm remains important both as removal for Ninja of the Deep Hours/Augur of Bolas and graveyard hate against Gurmag Angler.

Dust to Dust exiles two artifacts at once, which is devastating against an artifact-lands-and-affinity deck full of Refurbished Familiar, Myr Enforcer, and their artifact-land manabase. Journey to Nowhere answers their evasive threats like Glint Hawk and Utrom Monitor that our ground creatures struggle to block. Prismatic Strands is weak here since their damage output is creature-based rather than a single-color burn spell, and Guardians' Pledge is less valuable against a deck that can out-block us with 3/3s and 4/4s, so those come out in favor of hard answers to their permanents.