Right now, bounce decks are making a splash in Standard, with many players eager to try them out. You have options like the Esper Pixie deck and its Dimir counterpart. Both strategies utilize Hopeless Nightmare alongside spells like This Town Ain't Big Enough to bounce and deal damage, forcing your opponent to discard a card. Some players are even reviving Bandit's Talent for its ability to deliver consistent damage while generating card advantage.

Discard mechanics are certainly making a comeback, especially since the Atlanta Spotlight series. These decks heavily rely on enchantments that can be bounced to drive their strategy. However, their main removal, Nowhere to Run, has its limitations—it bypasses ward and hexproof but only applies -3/-3 until the end of turn. With a limited number of Go for the Throat, dealing with larger creatures can be quite the challenge, often requiring a combination of Nowhere to Run and Cut Down to clear a single threat.

Now, let’s explore some sideboard options for a discard deck.

Agro Decks (Red / Anything, Boros Convoke, Blue Rush, etc.)

In this matchup, your objective is to outpace your opponent’s removal and secure victory before their draw engine starts tipping the scales in their favor. Lean into haste and swift damage as your allies. If you choose to sideboard, consider adding more fast creatures that can spread across the board, like Resolute Reinforcements or Overlord of Mistmoors. Since your opponent mainly relies on low-toughness creatures, it’s wise to remove your creature removal spells and focus on an aggressive attack strategy.

Mid-Range Decks (Dimir, Golgari, etc.)

In this matchup, your opponent’s deck is designed to cause significant damage. You'll want to adjust your sideboard to include threats that can capitalize on being discarded. For the Golgari deck, cards like Obstinate Baloth and Wilt-Leaf Liege come to mind.

The Baloth gives you an immediate benefit with an enter-the-battlefield effect of gaining 4 life, helping to counteract those annoying nightmares. Plus, it’s a creature that’s tough to remove—it demands either a "Go for the Throat" or multiple spells to take care of. You can return the Baloth to your hand, though doing so means you lose the chance to use discard effects later. Fortunately, it only costs one green mana, allowing you to hard cast it if you don’t get to discard as planned.

On the other hand, Wilt-Leaf Liege drops in as a powerful 6/6 creature and boosts your other green or white creatures. A 6/6 is a formidable threat for a discard-focused strategy and usually requires at least two spells to handle, or perhaps a return to hand. Getting that sort of presence on the board by turn one can dramatically turn the tide of the game. The only downside is that Wilt-Leaf demands a total of three green/white mana, which can be a considerable investment in one color.



Both of these cards are excellent sideboard options for navigating this challenging matchup.

Control Decks (Domain / white)
Card advantage is critical in domain it will have the hardest time against this type of bounce deck. I suspect while we see the bounce deck become more used domain will die for a while (which is a same because sunfall only has six months left in standard – then indestructible becomes important again). The all-white token control deck has some solid players against this deck since it goes wide it can be a little slow. Discard will interrupt the play pattern it is critical that white protect its card drawing capabilities. Wilt-Leaf might make a great sideboard that just buff’s everything in this deck. Sideboard out get lost for other removal or more wide abilities.

Graveyard decks (blue / white)
Discard might be your best friend it allows you to choose how to fill the graveyard. Discard what you want to re-animate and have a nice day killing your opponent with large creatures.

Quick note if you are running black Sheoldred’s edict is a majorly under rated card that can remove a threat but more importantly remove Kaito avoiding the hexproof. If you are running any black this is a main deck or sideboard must have right now. Kaito is the number one draw engine in the bounce deck.

The bounce deck has altered the landscape of standard play, introducing a policing effect. While it won’t curb the aggression of red decks, it does exert influence over slower control and mid-range strategies. It’s essential to have a solid sideboard strategy in place for this deck, as you’re guaranteed to encounter it. The deck struggles against large creatures assuming the meta is mostly small fast creatures.