[Deck] Nic Fit (GBx Explorer Zenith Control)

I was tunning my Nic Fit up. Here's the result.

Lands [21]
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
5 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Dryad Arbor

Creatures [23]
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Strangleroot Geist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Bone Shredder
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Restoration Angel
1 Shriekmaw
1 Acidic Slime
1 Thragtusk
1 Grave Titan


Spells [17]
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Birthing Pod
1 Recurring Nightmare
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Abrupt Decay

I like the cmc 3 - 4 - 5 against artifacts. I like dryad arbor since you can fetch for it and go for a DRS with pod and start a chain. You can play turn 2 POD on the draw... etc...

With all that artifact hate, may be it would be good agaisnt TNN decks

Davids list is pretty close to my own. I'm not a fan of not having the Fleshbag Maurader in the board though. I'm still glad I'm not the only one who thinks Aetherling is a great 6 drop in this deck

If nothin else, this gives me slim hope for Nashville next month

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Originally Posted by KntrellCL

I was tunning my Nic Fit up. Here's the result.

Lands [21]
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
5 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Dryad Arbor

Creatures [23]
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Strangleroot Geist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Bone Shredder
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Restoration Angel
1 Shriekmaw
1 Acidic Slime
1 Thragtusk
1 Grave Titan


Spells [17]
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Birthing Pod
1 Recurring Nightmare
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Abrupt Decay

I like the cmc 3 - 4 - 5 against artifacts. I like dryad arbor since you can fetch for it and go for a DRS with pod and start a chain. You can play turn 2 POD on the draw... etc...

With all that artifact hate, may be it would be good agaisnt TNN decks

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Wow your list is very similar to mine. I would suggest wall of blossoms over strangleroot geist and an academy rector over the second restoration angel :) A 4th copy of pod is necessary I think.

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Originally Posted by Blastoderm

Wow your list is very similar to mine. I would suggest wall of blossoms over strangleroot geist and an academy rector over the second restoration angel :) A 4th copy of pod is necessary I think.

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I used to have Wall of Blossoms, but I just found as a poor card (it is our own "baleful strix" since it's a wall which draw). Finally tooking it out, im giving a second chance of geist for its persist since I really love my CMC3 cards...

In fact, my CMC2 creature I used to play was Stoneforge Mystic but it was using a lot of space and i was usually using my mana on something else isntead of equiping creatures. any other thoughts?


Im going to try something like this on my sb

4 Thoughtseize
4 Natural Order
1 Progenitus
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Choke

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Originally Posted by Megadeus

Davids list is pretty close to my own. I'm not a fan of not having the Fleshbag Maurader in the board though. I'm still glad I'm not the only one who thinks Aetherling is a great 6 drop in this deck

If nothin else, this gives me slim hope for Nashville next month

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Any reason the list runs Redcap and Finks but NOT Melira? Seems like an easy 1 of although I know it's fragile.

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Originally Posted by KntrellCL

I used to have Wall of Blossoms, but I just found as a poor card (it is our own "baleful strix" since it's a wall which draw). Finally tooking it out, im giving a second chance of geist for its persist since I really love my CMC3 cards...

In fact, my CMC2 creature I used to play was Stoneforge Mystic but it was using a lot of space and i was usually using my mana on something else isntead of equiping creatures. any other thoughts?


Im going to try something like this on my sb

4 Thoughtseize
4 Natural Order
1 Progenitus
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Choke

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You should also add a Ruric Thar in your NO package.

Very nice finish, Gleicher! How was the Aetherling? I am taking the deck to another tournament next weekend, and could could be interested in testing some of the changes.

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Originally Posted by Kung Fu English

Any reason the list runs Redcap and Finks but NOT Melira? Seems like an easy 1 of although I know it's fragile.

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First you need a sac outlet to make it work

Second it's really hard to assemble a 3-card combo

Third melira is terrible on its own

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Originally Posted by pfiremc13

Third melira is terrible on its own

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I have to agree, hence why I keep Melira in the sideboard with Archmages for noncreature intensive combo.

If you're looking for something with a bit more utility, go with Master Biomancer (turns Veteran Explorers into Nimble Mongooses) or Zameck Guildmage. I prefer Melira simply because, well, she works with persist for probably the cheapest cost.

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Originally Posted by pfiremc13

First you need a sac outlet to make it work

Second it's really hard to assemble a 3-card combo

Third melira is terrible on its own

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I agree. Especially since I only have 2 Green Sun's Zenith, plus I would need a sac outlet. There are honestly not many games that I have more than 2 dudes on board. Maybe I play differently though..

Like I said, seeing Gleicher do well has really raised my hopes for SCG Nashville. I will be switching up my list this week hopefully, dropping thrun, adding redcap, and adding recurring nitemare over either the second Green Sun, or one of the 5 drops which would go to the board. Also I would like to work Aetherling into my board, probably over the Third Krosan Grip, which I found I only really wanted 2 last week.

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Originally Posted by Megadeus

I agree. Especially since I only have 2 Green Sun's Zenith, plus I would need a sac outlet. There are honestly not many games that I have more than 2 dudes on board. Maybe I play differently though..

Like I said, seeing Gleicher do well has really raised my hopes for SCG Nashville. I will be switching up my list this week hopefully, dropping thrun, adding redcap, and adding recurring nitemare over either the second Green Sun, or one of the 5 drops which would go to the board. Also I would like to work Aetherling into my board, probably over the Third Krosan Grip, which I found I only really wanted 2 last week.

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Same, except instead of SCG Nashville, I've got my sights set on SCG Cincinnati. Still got a ton of grinding to do though.

Two thoughts that came to me while jogging today:
1) anyone tried Genesis recently as an additional way of grinding out longer games? A single Recurring Nightmare often feels difficult to dig for, while Genesis can be Podded or GSZ+suicided (and when you don't need him dead, he's still a 4/4 trampler)
2) anyone tried Primeval Titan + Stage/Depths? I don't play the Jund lists, so I don't know how often fetching Kessig Wolf Run comes into play, but at that point wouldn't Prime Timing for Marit Lage be better?

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Originally Posted by civet five

Two thoughts that came to me while jogging today:
2) anyone tried Primeval Titan + Stage/Depths? I don't play the Jund lists, so I don't know how often fetching Kessig Wolf Run comes into play, but at that point wouldn't Prime Timing for Marit Lage be better?

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Sure if you fetch it with Titan it is better (or win more). The Problem is, that you can't dig for the combo without loam or crop rotation. So you have random useless lands in the deck. With Prime Time you can get both towers, and/or kessig, and/or grove and/or treetop village (depends on your list, most of the time you have 2 utility lands, besides 4 groves). If you resolve a titan you are in a very good spot to win the game - Stage/Depths doesn't matter here and you will struggle with theses lands more often before you enter the "titan stage".

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Originally Posted by MD.Ghost

Sure if you fetch it with Titan it is better (or win more). The Problem is, that you can't dig for the combo without loam or crop rotation. So you have random useless lands in the deck. With Prime Time you can get both towers, and/or kessig, and/or grove and/or treetop village (depends on your list, most of the time you have 2 utility lands, besides 4 groves). If you resolve a titan you are in a very good spot to win the game - Stage/Depths doesn't matter here and you will struggle with theses lands more often before you enter the "titan stage".

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My main issue is that I encounter games where I simply cannot grind them out without the singleton Recurring Nightmare - MUD variants come to mind as being particularly awful, as do certain Reanimator and Dredge board states. Basically there are situations where Grave Titan ceases to be scary on its own, and in those situations, having something besides Baleful Strix to attack would be nice.

I currently run an Oona in BUG Pod for this reason, as she's blue for FoW, closes games out really quickly, and messes with their deck while doing so, making it harder to come back in any sort of Hellbent situation.

In my Junk list, which is Podless, GSZ-based, I run a Primeval Titan to GSZ into and fetch Volrath's Stronghold, which basically serves as an extra Recurring Nightmare. However, I realized that at the point that I'm grabbing Volrath's Stronghold or Phyrexian Tower, I could just grab Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage and completely break the deadlock with Marit Lage.

Likewise my question about Genesis. He functions as a Volrath's Stronghold or a body, and sometimes I could see that being useful. Less so than Primeval Titan I think, but he does have the advantage of the Stronghold of not taking your draw step.

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Originally Posted by civet five

My main issue is that I encounter games where I simply cannot grind them out without the singleton Recurring Nightmare - MUD variants come to mind as being particularly awful, as do certain Reanimator and Dredge board states. Basically there are situations where Grave Titan ceases to be scary on its own, and in those situations, having something besides Baleful Strix to attack would be nice.

I currently run an Oona in BUG Pod for this reason, as she's blue for FoW, closes games out really quickly, and messes with their deck while doing so, making it harder to come back in any sort of Hellbent situation.

In my Junk list, which is Podless, GSZ-based, I run a Primeval Titan to GSZ into and fetch Volrath's Stronghold, which basically serves as an extra Recurring Nightmare. However, I realized that at the point that I'm grabbing Volrath's Stronghold or Phyrexian Tower, I could just grab Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage and completely break the deadlock with Marit Lage.

Likewise my question about Genesis. He functions as a Volrath's Stronghold or a body, and sometimes I could see that being useful. Less so than Primeval Titan I think, but he does have the advantage of the Stronghold of not taking your draw step.

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You're actually thinking the same way I did when I decided to run both Volrath's Stronghold+Phyrexian Tower and double Creeping Tar Pit: some games require the recursion of value creatures such as Eternal Witness and Thragtusk to outrace the opponent in terms of value, while other games require the quick clock of a man-land or Marit Lage because you're already way ahead of them in terms of value and just need to end it.

As for Genesis, he requires a bit of set up as Swords to Plowshares and Terminus is still a thing: I feel that Recurring Nightmare and Volrath's Stronghold are the better options.

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Originally Posted by civet five

My main issue is that I encounter games where I simply cannot grind them out without the singleton Recurring Nightmare - MUD variants come to mind as being particularly awful, as do certain Reanimator and Dredge board states. Basically there are situations where Grave Titan ceases to be scary on its own, and in those situations, having something besides Baleful Strix to attack would be nice.

I currently run an Oona in BUG Pod for this reason, as she's blue for FoW, closes games out really quickly, and messes with their deck while doing so, making it harder to come back in any sort of Hellbent situation.

In my Junk list, which is Podless, GSZ-based, I run a Primeval Titan to GSZ into and fetch Volrath's Stronghold, which basically serves as an extra Recurring Nightmare. However, I realized that at the point that I'm grabbing Volrath's Stronghold or Phyrexian Tower, I could just grab Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage and completely break the deadlock with Marit Lage.

Likewise my question about Genesis. He functions as a Volrath's Stronghold or a body, and sometimes I could see that being useful. Less so than Primeval Titan I think, but he does have the advantage of the Stronghold of not taking your draw step.

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That is why I like the Aetherling that Gleicher played. It beats a stalled board, is actually basically unkillable, and is a great defender as well.

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Originally Posted by Svknoe

Very nice finish, Gleicher! How was the Aetherling? I am taking the deck to another tournament next weekend, and could could be interested in testing some of the changes.

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Yeah my keep in that on camera match was really bad. I was rushing to finish the match in time and just made a bad decision there. Probably shoulda kept my first hand.
Anyway I think the deck is as good as ever. It does have a problem with dark depths loam combo and there's not a great way to answer it with creatures since they can make it at the end of your turn. Possible solutions I've considered are:
1. Chord of calling for sower/fleshbag/venser. Chord is also a good card in general but maybe a bit slow for legacy.
2. Some pithing needles to name thespians stage. These would have some added use against other random stuff like jace but don't play well with deed.
3. Ignore it.

I liked fleshbag as a kind of answer to true name (and merit lage if you can fog it for a turn). But it is cuttable.
Aetherling was the only card I didn't board in but I like it as another threat against slower white decks like miracles as an unkillable threat.
You could try cutting the grave Titan in the main and replacing it with aetherling to save space. I'm not sure if that's a good idea though. Usually grave Titan will be better but it also might not matter most of the time.
I liked the maindeck a lot and used every card. There's 61 cards and I don't really feel comfortable cutting any of them.
Only 1 recurring nightmare is fine because with all the brainstorms fetches and podding you can probably see it and you don't need it necessarily.
But yeah the deck is still strong. I don't think a white splash is needed or good, stick to 3 colors. 4 brainstorms was awesome and I am stupid for having argued against it. The sb plan against combo is still good, I beat sneak and show and dredge on the day. I'll definitely run it back at the first opportunity.

Sweet! Yeah Im a believer of 4 Brainstorms as well. I have just really liked Fleshbag in my local meta at least, hence why I like it as a MB slot. I havent been running Nitemare, but I will this week. It just seems awesome. I was stuck on last year when I played GB fit I never really used it, so I just dismissed it. Answer to Lage is a bit awkward. Outside of putting in some sort of maybe Loam package in our own board with a wasteland or something... I'm not sure what our best course of action would be there.

Edit: Oh and of course Congrats on the Finish!

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Originally Posted by GtF

Yeah my keep in that on camera match was really bad. I was rushing to finish the match in time and just made a bad decision there. Probably shoulda kept my first hand.
Anyway I think the deck is as good as ever. It does have a problem with dark depths loam combo and there's not a great way to answer it with creatures since they can make it at the end of your turn. Possible solutions I've considered are:
1. Chord of calling for sower/fleshbag/venser. Chord is also a good card in general but maybe a bit slow for legacy.
2. Some pithing needles to name thespians stage. These would have some added use against other random stuff like jace but don't play well with deed.
3. Ignore it.

I liked fleshbag as a kind of answer to true name (and merit lage if you can fog it for a turn). But it is cuttable.
Aetherling was the only card I didn't board in but I like it as another threat against slower white decks like miracles as an unkillable threat.
You could try cutting the grave Titan in the main and replacing it with aetherling to save space. I'm not sure if that's a good idea though. Usually grave Titan will be better but it also might not matter most of the time.
I liked the maindeck a lot and used every card. There's 61 cards and I don't really feel comfortable cutting any of them.
Only 1 recurring nightmare is fine because with all the brainstorms fetches and podding you can probably see it and you don't need it necessarily.
But yeah the deck is still strong. I don't think a white splash is needed or good, stick to 3 colors. 4 brainstorms was awesome and I am stupid for having argued against it. The sb plan against combo is still good, I beat sneak and show and dredge on the day. I'll definitely run it back at the first opportunity.

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Sower of Temptation and Phantasmal Image also help, though they aren't permanent solutions.

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Originally Posted by GtF

Anyway I think the deck is as good as ever. It does have a problem with dark depths loam combo and there's not a great way to answer it with creatures since they can make it at the end of your turn. Possible solutions I've considered are:
1. Chord of calling for sower/fleshbag/venser. Chord is also a good card in general but maybe a bit slow for legacy.
2. Some pithing needles to name thespians stage. These would have some added use against other random stuff like jace but don't play well with deed.
3. Ignore it.

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Just to mention a few more alternatives:

Tradewind Rider could be a permanent solution. Sounds a bit far-fetched. Which most answers seem to do. Perhaps it could at some point fit in the meta; it's not horrible against Show and Tell.

Opposition is a possible answer, but it needs some backup if they keep loaming and replaying the combo once every few turns. Perhaps together with Recurring Nightmare + Venser, Shaper Savant / Acidic Slime. And I can't stop thinking the Opposition might prove useful against a whole plethora of fat beast decks (Sneak and Show, MUD, Cloudpost etc). Sorry for being a bit repetitive on that point.

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Originally Posted by pettdan

Just to mention a few more alternatives:

Tradewind Rider could be a permanent solution. Sounds a bit far-fetched. Which most answers seem to do. Perhaps it could at some point fit in the meta; it's not horrible against Show and Tell.

Opposition is a possible answer, but it needs some backup if they keep loaming and replaying the combo once every few turns. Perhaps together with Recurring Nightmare + Venser, Shaper Savant / Acidic Slime. And I can't stop thinking the Opposition might prove useful against a whole plethora of fat beast decks (Sneak and Show, MUD, Cloudpost etc). Sorry for being a bit repetitive on that point.

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Opposition is one of my favorite cards and is very powerful. The deck might need to play some more token producers if it goes that route. The issue of not being able to tutor for it is pretty annoying though. If only we could afford to splash white for something like academy rector. But I don't think it's possible. It is a pretty solid solution to 20/20 from dark depths since it is legendary so they can't just make a billion of them

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Originally Posted by GtF

Opposition is one of my favorite cards and is very powerful. The deck might need to play some more token producers if it goes that route. The issue of not being able to tutor for it is pretty annoying though. If only we could afford to splash white for something like academy rector. But I don't think it's possible. It is a pretty solid solution to 20/20 from dark depths since it is legendary so they can't just make a billion of them

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Deranged hermit plus nightmare is pretty good. I think. And those decks are generally pretty slow so it's possible to find the opposition off of a brainstorm.

Don't forget about Gifts in blue. May be a little slower, but you're not going for a quick fix with Opposition.

I could see doing the blue/white splash with Lingering Souls as well as Enlightened Tutor for search. Less green intensive Gifts piles might want Nature's Spiral.

Intuition is better for that purpose.

I'm not convinced by your argument. I can see pros and cons for both.

Gifts
Pros: Card advantage, more lines of play.
Cons: Slower, needs 4 different cards.

Intuition:
Pros: Faster, can get 1 of a 3-of (such as Cabal Therapy).
Cons: Fewer lines of play, no card advantage

If it's about racing to get it in play, both are terrible. Better to just use Enlightened Tutor.

Played BUG fit to a 2-1-1 finish tonight. Here is my current list I tried out tonight:
3 Veteran Explorer
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Baleful Strix
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Wood Elves
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Thragtusk
1 SHriekmaw
1 Acidic Slime
1 Grave Titan

1 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Brainstorm
2 Pernicious Deed
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Recurring Nitemare
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Birthing Pod

1 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
3 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacomb
3 Forest
2 Island
2 Swamp

SB:
3 Swan Song
3 Thoughtseize
1 Zur's Weirding
2 Golgari Charm
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Notion Thief
2 Krosan Grip
1 Aetherling
1 Toxic Deluge

Round 1 vs Dredge
I've never losta match to Dredge when playing a Nic Fit variant so I was decently confident. Game 1 he gets triple bridge from below and makes like 6 Zombies, I am able to get his bridges off of saccing explorer, but unfortunately I dont find deed and he kills me. Game 2 We both have awkward draws. My opener was like Explorer, Tropical, Scooze, Brainstorm, Therapy and spells. Seemed doable. Unfortunately I brick for a few turns after double brainstorm until I find Deathrite. Luckily he had a very slow start and I was able to keep him off of dredgers with DRS. Game 3 I get a nut hand if I dont die fast with Vet, Scooze, Therapy, and a couple of lands. He mulls to 5, I rip DRS off the top and play it and I just keep him off of dredgers with Scooze and DRS.

1-0

Round 2 vs UB Smallpox Reanimator Pirates Thing
It was awkward. The guy generally plays the same few different creatures but in different shells. He T3 Small Poxes my Strix and one of my lands, then casts reanimate, targetting his Cutpurse something while Im tapped out to make me sacrifice a permanent, my only land. I end up dying because I can't find lands. G2 I get explorer which is great vs him, and end up actually using recurring nightmare to get it back a couple of times to just start podding things like crazy. G2 he Smallpoxes my DRS and land on T2, then next turn reanimates it, but I get enough lands from explorer to get Sower of Temptation and take back my DRS, he never keeps me off of mana and I get grave titan and copy it with Image.

2-0

Draw with a guy into T8 because unfortunately the toilets were busted so they wanted to only do 3 rounds :/

Top 8 vs BUG Delver.
I played poorly and lost. G1 He gets a big board presence and I deed it away, unfortunately he gets Tomb Stalker. I rip deed and Crack it for 8. Sadly he has more deck manipulation than I do and he draws threats with both of us at low life totals and I dont have the answers.

Game 2 was awkward as I brainstorm lock myself out of lands with only 2 on board. He gets a tomb stalker and his delver had knocked me to 12. Stalker hits me to 7 and I have to eWitness back Strix to use as a wall. Unfortunately I forget I have a Deathrite on board so I don't cast Strix and get knocked to 2. He gets DRS down and I have to keep saving mana for my Scooze and DRS to keep his DRS from killing me. Slwoly I get Deed out, ready to crack for 1, but he rips disfigure to kill off my Strix and kill me. I misplayed a few times and it cost me the match. I think this is a very winnable, possibly even favorable, match up. Tombstalker is a bitch, but if I had one more turn I could've gotten out pod and gotten Sower to Take it. I'm willing to say that I definitely misplayed that one though and it cost me. Still have a few more weeklies to test before Nashville though. I'll have about 2 months of playing the deck under my belt by then to have gotten into the groove with it.

I did trade for a Natural order, and we were thinking about maybe a Natural Order Variant? I think I remember people in here trying, or at least talking about it at some point. What was the verdict on that?

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Originally Posted by waSP

I'm not convinced by your argument. I can see pros and cons for both.

Gifts
Pros: Card advantage, more lines of play.
Cons: Slower, needs 4 different cards.

Intuition:
Pros: Faster, can get 1 of a 3-of (such as Cabal Therapy).
Cons: Fewer lines of play, no card advantage

If it's about racing to get it in play, both are terrible. Better to just use Enlightened Tutor.

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Sorry for the double Post, but how is Intuition not Card Advantage? I mean sure you only get 1 card in hand, but generally you are using some sort of GY engine or something to turn it into card advantage. Otherwise it is just Vampiric Tutor right? Add to the fact that you don't have as much deck building restraint because you don't have to build with a pile of 1 of's that do somewhat similar things seems nice too.

Point 1: Your argument that Intuition is card advantage in the same way as Gifts is self-defeating.

Point 2: Your only restraint is running a singleton Regrowth as most lists already have Eternal Witness. If you think Regrowth is terrible, then you probably fall on the Intuition side of the debate.

I think they're probably both pretty poor. But if you want a creature friendly tutor (i.e. not Diabolic Intent), that's what you're left with.

In tutoring for opposition specifically, intuition is much faster if you run 3 and still faster even if you don't. Gifts gives you another cards which is relevant in different situations.

Intuition is better for finding silver bullets, as you don't have to include Regrowth to go for one to two Eternal Witness or Green Sun's Zeniths or one and one of each and one to two of your bullet. Actually, Intuition is a bit superior if it needs to be used again: Fetching two GSZs and a bullet means that you go grab another two GSZs or two witness or one and one of each more easily than not, especially when backed with Volrath's Stronghold to put "used up" Witnesses back into the library.

Gifts, however, is better for setting up powerful engines, particularly those with graveyard plays. Taking the above, you could go for Green Sun's Zenith, Recurring Nightmare, Eternal Witness, and Thragtusk with one more Eternal Witness in the library.

I agree.

You could always get stronghold, loam, and creature. That's a solid pile that in the end, gets you your creature, though it is extremely slow.

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Originally Posted by Megadeus

You could always get stronghold, loam, and creature. That's a solid pile that in the end, gets you your creature, though it is extremely slow.

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If you choose to play Stronghold, you can Intuition for anything together with Stronghold and Witness. I've considered Loam too but can't figure out a good couple of cards to play along with it. Brainstorm obviously and fetches but that's not enough I think. Liliana works but not well enough to motivate it.

On another topic, basic deck building, I intend to continue my deck building efforts by focusing on what pod chains I want to run. First in general (aggro, combo, control), and then possibly vs specific matchups. Perhaps this is obvious and what everyone is already doing.

My thought process with pod is that I would like to have some sort of line of play for all sorts of situations. The only situation that I seem to be having difficulty with is when my opponent has an active planes walker

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Originally Posted by Megadeus

My thought process with pod is that I would like to have some sort of line of play for all sorts of situations. The only situation that I seem to be having difficulty with is when my opponent has an active planes walker

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Planeswalkers are a big problem for this deck, Jace much moreso than Liliana. However, they're only really bad if they come down early or are backed up with defensive measures to keep us from building board position (like counterspells for pod or setting up terminus/entreat with jace). I'm not worried about having a 1 to 1 answer for planeswalkers when I have an active pod, because that active pod will compete with and likely beat that planeswalker with its card advantage. In a pinch, murderous redcap can assist a 1/1 to take out a jace.
The problem comes when the walker lands before an active pod is in the mix. Baleful strixes,veteran explorers and deathrite shamans just aren't too good at attacking as it turns out.
In my experience the best way to handle them is pre-emptive therapies and going about your own plan of establishing a board presence as soon as you can. If you wanted you could SB maelstrom pulse but if you shave too many creatures for it, you'll be reducing the power of birthing pod, and I personally don't have room with the dedicated combo board set up the way I do (which has been highly effective).
However, a poddible option I've heard mentioned is Vengevine - It attacks them well and unlike phyrexian revoker, it's not a card you are afraid to pod away. I could see it having some profitable returns as even a 1-of pod target out of the SB. It does get realy embarrased by true-name nemesis though.

That is an interesting one actually. I kinda like it, though it seems difficult to actually trigger its return ability

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Originally Posted by GtF

Planeswalkers are a big problem for this deck, Jace much moreso than Liliana. However, they're only really bad if they come down early or are backed up with defensive measures to keep us from building board position (like counterspells for pod or setting up terminus/entreat with jace). I'm not worried about having a 1 to 1 answer for planeswalkers when I have an active pod, because that active pod will compete with and likely beat that planeswalker with its card advantage. In a pinch, murderous redcap can assist a 1/1 to take out a jace.
The problem comes when the walker lands before an active pod is in the mix. Baleful strixes,veteran explorers and deathrite shamans just aren't too good at attacking as it turns out.
In my experience the best way to handle them is pre-emptive therapies and going about your own plan of establishing a board presence as soon as you can. If you wanted you could SB maelstrom pulse but if you shave too many creatures for it, you'll be reducing the power of birthing pod, and I personally don't have room with the dedicated combo board set up the way I do (which has been highly effective).
However, a poddible option I've heard mentioned is Vengevine - It attacks them well and unlike phyrexian revoker, it's not a card you are afraid to pod away. I could see it having some profitable returns as even a 1-of pod target out of the SB. It does get realy embarrased by true-name nemesis though.

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Any thought to Hexmage?

How would you tutor for it?

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What do you guys think about a sac-heavy nic fit with 3 diabolic intent and 3 kitchen finks?

The deck can/has SB'd some number of Pithing Needle in the past, which is good against Planeswalkers and Thespian Stage. It's not horrible against some combo decks too - Sneak Attack, Elves, etc.

Is revoker not just better?

They both die to deed, which could be an issue depending on the deck you're playing