This is a grindy midrange matchup decided by removal quality and discard sequencing, so Duress helps strip their noncreature spells, such as Thoughtseize, Abrupt Decay, Fatal Push, or Professor Dellian Fel, before they land. It can't take Sheoldred or any other creature, so save our removal for those. Go for the Throat is a clean answer to Sentinel of the Nameless City and Graveyard Trespasser, since neither is an artifact creature and Sentinel sits above Fatal Push's base mana value limit of 2. Gix's Command is strong here. Its sacrifice mode hits whichever creature has their greatest power, usually Sheoldred, and its destroy mode kills Badgermole Cub. It can also return our fallen creatures to hand. Be careful with the destroy mode, because it also kills our own creatures with power 2 or less. Faerie Miscreant is weak since it rarely finds a second copy against their removal-heavy list, and Nowhere to Run is marginal because its -3/-3 can't kill resilient threats like Sheoldred.

Selesnya Company floods the board with small creatures like Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, and creatures put onto the battlefield by Collected Company, plus Soldier tokens from Elspeth, Storm Slayer. Path of Peril and Languish are excellent sweepers that reset the board in our favor. We can't produce white mana, so Path of Peril is cast for its base mode only, destroying all creatures with mana value 2 or less. That still hits their mana elves, Badgermole Cub, and Thalia. Faerie Miscreant and Mockingbird are weak blockers and poor attackers against their wide boards, so both come out to make room for the sweepers. Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is still a fine threat, and he is hexproof only as a creature during our own turn. On their turn he is a plain planeswalker with mana value 4, so Skyclave Apparition can exile him, so deploy him with that in mind. Keep Thoughtseize to strip Elspeth, Storm Slayer or Collected Company before they can deploy their game plan.

Izzet Cauldron is built around Vivi Ornitier and Agatha's Soul Cauldron, backed by cheap noncreature spells like Stormchaser's Talent, Proft's Eidetic Memory, Academic Dispute, Winternight Stories, Boomerang Basics and Torch the Tower, with Quantum Riddler and Fear of Missing Out as the other threats. Change the Equation is well-positioned. Its first mode counters any spell with mana value 2 or less (Fear of Missing Out, Stormchaser's Talent, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Proft's Eidetic Memory, Torch the Tower and Boomerang Basics are all legal targets), and its second mode counters a red spell with mana value 6 or less, which lets it stop the blue-red Vivi Ornitier. It cannot stop the blue Quantum Riddler or Winternight Stories, which are neither red nor mana value 2 or less. Go for the Throat cleanly answers Vivi Ornitier and Quantum Riddler, and Fatal Push is unreliable here: it cannot touch Quantum Riddler, and it only reaches Vivi Ornitier when revolt is on. Faerie Miscreant underperforms because it is a fragile 1/1 that Torch the Tower easily handles and it does little against Vivi Ornitier or Quantum Riddler, so it comes out. Keep Thoughtseize and discard to strip Vivi Ornitier or Agatha's Soul Cauldron before they resolve.