Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

There’s something delicious about a red enchantment that leans into chaos, and Chance Encounter is the kind of card that makes players grin and groan in the same breath. From the Modern Horizons 2 set, this rare enchantment costs 2RR and enters the battlefield ready to gamble with fate. Its flavor text—"What are the odds, indeed?" — Yusri, to Desera—feels like a wink from the cosmos itself, especially when you’re staring down a coin-flipping frenzy across the table 🧙‍♂️. Steven Belledin’s art captures that spark of reckless bravado, the kind of moment where the table leans closer to the edge of the unknown. The card’s core mechanic is elegant in its simplicity: every time you win a coin flip, you place a luck counter on Chance Encounter, and once that enchantment has ten or more counters, you win the game at the start of your upkeep. It’s concise, it’s spicy, and it’s a challenge to outplay in a world where chaos often feels like a second color in your mana base 🔥.

In practice, that means Chance Encounter wants to tilt the game toward a long, chaotic race. It doesn’t crush opponents with raw mana efficiency or big creatures; it punishes patience and luck in equal measure. A single well-timed flip can turn the whole board state, pushing you toward an abrupt victory that might have looked improbable a turn earlier. But while the card thrives on unpredictability, there are robust, pro-grade ways to keep it honest from the sideboard. The concept is simple: disrupt the trigger—either remove the source, counter the spell, or blunt the payoff—so the luck-counter engine never reaches critical mass. And yes, that dedication to tempo and control makes for some spectacular matchups with a little swag and a lot of math 📈🎲.

Sideboard ideas that neutralize the luck-driven engine

First things first: when you’re facing a card that wins the game by a stack of luck counters, the most straightforward and reliable tactic is to destroy or exile the enchantment before it can accrue ten counters. In Modern horizons, you’ll find effective, widely available options across colors that can handle enchantments on the battlefield. Cards like Krosan Grip (green, instant, split second) or Nature’s Claim (green instant) are purpose-built for this kind of threat. You don’t need to commit to a dedicated green splash in every deck, but if you’ve got green in your sideboard, these tools cleanly erase Chance Encounter from the board, stopping its win condition in its tracks 🧙‍♂️💎. If you’re in white, a well-timed Disenchant or Return to Nature can also do the job, and in blue you can explore counters like Counterspell or Negate to stop it before it lands. The core idea is simple: don’t let the luck-lattice accumulate counters to ten; strip the engine away before it looks for the coin-flip encore ⚔️.

“What are the odds, indeed?” — Yusri, to Desera

Second, you can lean into counterplay that targets the trigger itself. Chance Encounter’s payoff is a triggered ability: “Whenever you win a coin flip, put a luck counter on this enchantment.” If your build can counter triggered abilities, you can effectively stifle the engine. A few blue-sideboard slots dedicated to Stifle or other countermagic can counter the trigger event, ensuring the moment of luck never materializes into progress. It’s a clever line: neutralize the trigger, deny the counters, and the board stays in your control. This approach works best when your deck has built-in resilience to blue permission—think through your mana base and anticipate the chance of needing a counter to land at the opportune moment 🧙‍♂️🎲.

Third, don’t overlook race and disruption strategies. Chance Encounter asks you to survive long enough for the coin-flip gambit to play out. If you can push to an aggressive, on-curve pace or present unavoidable pressure, your opponent may be forced to invest more resources into protecting or enabling the enchantment than it’s worth. Think fast threats, evasive creatures, or removal-light boards that still pressure their life total. It’s a gamble in the truest sense—one that can backfire on the pilot of the luck engine—but it’s a valid, often overlooked angle that reveals the art of sideboarding as much as it does the math of coin flips 🧭🔥.

Fourth, consider grinding control shells that chew through boats of copies. While Chance Encounter’s text sits solidly in red, the broader meta often rewards multicolored control decks that can leverage Wear // Tear, Return to Nature, or other versatile removals to clean up enchantments and provide a solvable path to victory. If you’re running red with a splash or a heavy green/white junction, you’ve got ways to counter the enchantment without sacrificing your primary game plan. The key here is not to overcommit on one anti-Chance Encounter plan; balance your lane for both early threats and late-game stability, so you aren’t leaving yourself open to more straightforward threats while you wait for the luck engine to stall your own win condition 🔥🎨.

Finally, let’s talk about the broader meta and why this sideboard tech matters beyond a single match. Chance Encounter lives at the intersection of luck and timing; it thrives on a slower game where a player can monetize coin flips and work toward an almost-certain conclusion. A well-tuned sideboard can keep that strategy honest and force your opponent to reevaluate their plan after a single removal spell or a successful counter. The exchange isn’t just about a card—it's about the rhythm of the match: tempo, choice, and the art of predicting what your opponent will do next 🧙‍♂️💎. And while you’re busy outmaneuvering, you can still admire the card’s design—an enchantment built to reward bold, coin-flip optimism and punish cautious play with a gleeful shrug 😄⚔️.

As you prep for weekend metas or casual Fridays at the table, a few practical notes about Chance Encounter help shape your sideboard plan. It’s a red, rare enchantment with a four-mana cost that leans into a luck-based victory condition. It’s legal in Modern and Legacy, but not standard, which gives you a unique window to tailor a sideboard that balances meta-read and deck identity. If you’re a collector or a lore hunter, the flavor text and art tie into a wider story about risk, fate, and the coin’s fateful roll—hard to resist when you’re rummaging through your binder for the perfect throwback play or a spicy new text to test at FNM 🧭🎲.

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