swarmlord in reserves

Nid friend of mine asked me if his swarmlord in a "drop pod" still gets to modify his reserve rolls even though he's not on the table.

The wording says "While the swarmlord is alive, you get +1 to your reserve rolls.". Does being in reserves count as alive?

No book on hand for the exact wording but, simply put, yes.

No reason why not - if you think of it from a fluff point of view it's a case of manipulating reserves, you don't have to be on the table to do that

That's what I thought too. I'll let him know. He was afraid to play it at our LGS until he figured the rules out.