This is a follow-up to Mark's prior article on Levia, "Have We Misunderstood Levia All Along?", and goes into matchup-specific advice and sideboarding. If you wound up here first by accident, jump back to that article before proceeding!
Matchup Guide
This matchup guide is still incomplete, because we're still working through all the relevant matchups. However, these are the broad strokes of the matchups, including how to shift your strategy and what to side out.
Rhinar
Against Rhinar, you'll want all 11 of your defense reactions- blocking is extremely relevant to the matchup. Tear Limb from Limb and Plunder Run are both out; the former can't be used to block, making it a liability, while the latter takes too many steps to get fully online.
Bravo
This matchup plays out similar to Rhinar, where we do a lot more blocking. We keep Plunder Run in this time, but we take out Howl from Beyond. Hold your best blocks, including Carrion Husk, for punishing Crush attacks like Crush Confidence.
Prism
Cut all your defense reactions except Reckless Swing (this card is pretty much core to the list). Prism is an extremely favorable match for you, because you have so many cards that trigger Phantasm when defending. Just be careful about taking your time.
Dash
Playing against Dash is a bit of a race, where you want to out-swing what Dash is capable of blocking while staying ahead of her go-wide game. Try to go as wide as you can yourself, making frequent use of your Ghostly Visit to pressure her.
Katsu
Aggro Katsu is like Dash: lay on the pressure as hard as you can.
Azalea
Against Azalea, you have to run your full defense reaction package. Keep Sleep Dart at bay at all costs; over-block it with Razor Reflex in mind, just to be safe! Block the stuff that matters, pressuring back with 6-12 damage each turn. Recur Guardian of the Shadowrealm when you can to be ready for those dominated effects.
Chane
Your defenses aren’t good enough to outlast Chane, so we’ve found some success trying to race him in the early game. Being able to present 10-12 damage each turn usually means that his hand is eaten in the early game, and pressured in the late game. If you sneak in some damage in the early game, he can only do two or three high-Shackle turns before your swings become too much.
Viserai
Run the two Nullrunes, of course, Don’t get got by Vexing Malice. Keep as many blues in your deck as possible. Outblock him, and send some damage back for best results. Cut some of the red attacks in favor of red defense reactions- you won’t have time for Tome of Torment, Shadow of Blasmophet, or Howl from Beyond, as they do not provide the blocks you’ll need. Getting the Blasmophet token in the late game is very powerful in this matchup in particular, as they usually only have nine cards that can kill the thing on its own- cards that they would rather not spend in that way.
Kano
Bring in the full Nullrune suite, complete with Skullhorn, making the magic number of 4 to stifle his big turns. Cut all the reds you can spare: Plunder Run, Tome of Torment, and the full defense package. Mmmaybe keep a Guardian of the Shadowrealm? just so you can block the Nourishing Emptiness if you can smell it coming. Swinging for 6 every turn and holding back 6 resources to stuff his attempts to freak out and kill you can make for a tough row to hoe on their end.
Boltyn
This is one of your hardest matchups. The best thing you can do is try to pressure out his hand with full aggro. Special shut-outs to Soul Harvest and Doomsday for being absolute all-stars in this horrible matchup.
Dorinthea
As you'd expect, you bring in the defense package with this one, so that you can effectively block out the Dawnblade or the up-and-coming Axes build. Swing Hexagore a little more frequently in the early game so that you aren’t susceptible to being Steelblade Shunted to death in the end game.
