[Deck] Nic Fit (GBx Explorer Zenith Control)

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Originally Posted by Tao

- Exchanging Plague and Damnation is fair. Damnation is good against Jund, Aggro BUG and RUG which is why I chose it. Plague is good vs. Goblins, Elves, Enchantress, Dredge and Balustrade Spy decks. Both are great against Maverick/Death and Taxes. That is your call, you could also run both and cut something else.

- When you test the list, tell me how often you wished to be able to GSZ for Primeval Titan (finding 2 Creeping Tar Pits). I am very unsure if cutting Primeval was the right choice or if the deck lacks gas now.

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I was playtesting this on Cockatrice last night. I am starting to believe that Prime Time is still needed, even without 2 Creeping Tar Pits. I tried removing 1 U. Sea for 1 Creeping Tar Pit and 1 Liliana for 1 Prime Time as it will be a tiny bit harder to get the right mana anyway as I also have a habit of trying to fetch less duals as much as possible. Also traded out 1 Tower for 1 Volrath's Stronghold. Albeit the minor changes, the decks runs more smoothly for me now. Liliana was still very conditional. She's pretty good in matchups that she's good in, but bad when you're trying to save up spells for the right time. I find that I board her out a lot, and am thinking of cutting her out and probably add 1 more Thragtusk and 1 Scavenging Ooze in her place as a meta choice. Maelstrom Pulses could also take her place, but am not yet sure about that. Will continue testing :smile:

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Originally Posted by yutang

Hi

I'm interested in getting started with a BG Nic Fit deck. I'm typically a UW Miracles and a Storm player but have been recently playing Rock. Unfortunately I am terrible with it and suck at midrange in general. I am looking for a deck which would run differently to Storm and UW Miracles and would do well against the bad matchups of Storm/Miracles should my metagame shift. My metagame is pretty well developed with a large proportion of Blue. Decks typically seen are Canadian Thresh, Rock, Imperial Painter, Omnitell, Stoneblade (quite a few) and various BUG elements.

I have been looking at Qweerios' BG deck as a good starting point and want to go in that direction. I already have most of the pieces from my Rock deck and have been following this thread every now and then.

I have a few questions for NicFit players
1) Should I get into this deck given the information above?
2) What are the good and bad matchups of this deck?
3) Are there any suggested amendments to be made to Qweerios' BG deck of December 2012?
4) Why is everyone else splashing in BG? What benefits do the splashes provide?
5) Any other tips for getting into BG NicFit?

Thanks!

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1) Other than OmniTell, the deck does 50-50 or better against the decks you mentioned above. At least, that's what I think.
2) The deck does well against midrange decks as well as most aggro decks. It struggles against most combo decks while it is capable of fighting through control decks at least 51-49 in our favor. :smile:
3) I like Qweerios' list, I started with it as well. But I tweaked my list to my liking and seems to do well in my meta (almost similar to yours, but we have a lot of burn). You can check my list in the sig. I cut Lili as it didn't work well with the deck too much. I want to hold answers, play mind games with my opponents. And often you'll be holding on to that GSZ as the board is stalled and all you're waiting for is to get enough mana to find Prime Time and break the stalemate. While I've almost never lost a game where my opponent left a Garruk PH unchecked.
4) Splashing red for Punishing Fire makes Nic Fit the best deck against all other forms of fair decks. It also gives you access to red blasts on the side against blue-based combo/control which the deck struggles against. Splashing blue gives you more ways to look for your answers, as well as the ultimate wincon: JTMS. Splashing white gives you Rector, the end-all-be-all answer to everything... As long as you get there on time. Some white splashes go the Rock path. I am not a fan of this last one, as I find the GB colors sufficient enough to answer most problems you should encounter.
5) PLAYTEST, PLAYTEST, PLAYTEST! The deck needs some getting used to in order to perform significantly well. You'll find the deck has plenty of flex spots while you're just starting out, cutting cards here and there. But as you play it more, it starts getting tighter and its all up to you on how you want to play against your meta. :smile:

Just my 2 cents!

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Originally Posted by sherko7

4) Splashing red for Punishing Fire makes Nic Fit the best deck against all other forms of fair decks. It also gives you access to red blasts on the side against blue-based combo/control which the deck struggles against. Splashing blue gives you more ways to look for your answers, as well as the ultimate wincon: JTMS. Splashing white gives you Rector, the end-all-be-all answer to everything... As long as you get there on time. Some white splashes go the Rock path. I am not a fan of this last one, as I find the GB colors sufficient enough to answer most problems you should encounter.

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Just as a quick aside here, red splashes in general make Nic Fit into a fair-deck-shredding machine. PFire and Scapewish are both absurdly good against other fair decks. I would say that Scapewish is probably even more all-in on the enemy fair deck plan than PFire is, because at least PFire allows you to dedicate your sideboard to combo.

I didn't really come out of my stupor until around 3pm yesterday, so I don't really have much to say this morning =/

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A non-Nic Fit aside, for those who'd asked questions about the sedation dentistry:

Well, I'd say it worked. I took two pills before bed Monday night, then another an hour before the appointment, so I was a little wobbly but I was still okay to walk around and such. They took me back to the chair, and started giving me more sedatives. I vaguely remember some weird one that they crushed up and used a spoon to put under my tongue to dissolve. I think that they had to give me three doses of whatever that was before I was actually out. But at some point, I was sound asleep. I have a vague memory of them putting some kind of prop in my mouth to keep it open at some point during the process, but that's about it.

My dad has since informed me that we stopped at a gas/fast food hybrid place that's local to PA called Sheetz on the way home and that I requested hotdogs and chicken strips. The sole reason I know this happened is that there were chicken strips in the refrigerator last night and I was wondering how they got there. Apparently I ate two hotdogs and don't remember at all. Anyway, I got home at I think sometime around 11 or 12, and passed out until about 3/3:30. Then I was kind of groggy and half-there until about 8, at which point everything finally wore off.

So there's my "tournament report" for that whole mess. I remembered that when I'd asked if anyone had had it done before, I got a few people asking me to tell them how it went once I was through it....so there you go. Definitely highly recommend. The whole thing was a surreal experience for sure, but waking up with a clean mouth, sealed teeth, and a couple of filled cavities....and NOT having to consciously go through all that....well worth it.

Now I get like a week and a half of peace, and then it's wisdom teeth time. Woohoo -.-

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Originally Posted by yutang

Hi

I'm interested in getting started with a BG Nic Fit deck. I'm typically a UW Miracles and a Storm player but have been recently playing Rock. Unfortunately I am terrible with it and suck at midrange in general. I am looking for a deck which would run differently to Storm and UW Miracles and would do well against the bad matchups of Storm/Miracles should my metagame shift. My metagame is pretty well developed with a large proportion of Blue. Decks typically seen are Canadian Thresh, Rock, Imperial Painter, Omnitell, Stoneblade (quite a few) and various BUG elements.

I have been looking at Qweerios' BG deck as a good starting point and want to go in that direction. I already have most of the pieces from my Rock deck and have been following this thread every now and then.

I have a few questions for NicFit players
1) Should I get into this deck given the information above?
2) What are the good and bad matchups of this deck?
3) Are there any suggested amendments to be made to Qweerios' BG deck of December 2012?
4) Why is everyone else splashing in BG? What benefits do the splashes provide?
5) Any other tips for getting into BG NicFit?

Thanks!

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1. Well lets see, storm is obviously best against non-blue decks. UW is best against combo, and decent against midrange. So if the meta shifts to a combination of fair blue decks (esper/uw/RUG/BUG) and midrange decks, you wont have a "tool" to fight them. Nic fit luckily does do well here.

2. It depends if you splash a color or not, but nic fit generally beats mid range, tribal, aggro/burn, and blue fair decks. Esper, UW miracles, and BUG tempo are the only ones close to 50/50, and depending if you splash a color or what your SB looks like, even those matches can be improved.

Some rough estimations for GB for some popular decks:

UR Delver - 80/20
Burn - 75/25
Dredge - 70/30
Elves - 70/30
RUG - 70/30
Jund - 70/30
Fish/golbins - 60/40
Maverick - 60/40
Junk - 60/40
BUG delver - 55/45
UW (no RIP) - 55/45
Esper - 50/50
UW RIP - 45/55
S&T decks - 40/60
Reanimator - 40/60
Storm combo - 30/70
Belcher/spy combo - 30/70
MUD - 20/80
Turbo Eldrazi - 20/80


3. The list in Qweerios sig is definitly a good place to start. No major changes. Personally Id do some small changes but nic fit has a lot of flexibility so test it and see what you like and what you dont like.

4. GB is the most consistent but lacks raw power and additional SB hate cards. Theres nothing wrong with just GB though. White spashes are generally better vs Midrange and a bit better vs combo. Red demolishes fair and blue decks. Blue is better vs combo, but a bit less developed than the other colors.

5. Starting with just GB is a great idea. But test a lot. Also, get fast/comfortable with your tops. When I first started playing the deck most tournys I ended 1-1-3 or something stupid because it is such a grindy deck it always goes to time.

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Originally Posted by yutang

Hi

I'm interested in getting started with a BG Nic Fit deck. I'm typically a UW Miracles and a Storm player but have been recently playing Rock. Unfortunately I am terrible with it and suck at midrange in general. I am looking for a deck which would run differently to Storm and UW Miracles and would do well against the bad matchups of Storm/Miracles should my metagame shift. My metagame is pretty well developed with a large proportion of Blue. Decks typically seen are Canadian Thresh, Rock, Imperial Painter, Omnitell, Stoneblade (quite a few) and various BUG elements.

I have been looking at Qweerios' BG deck as a good starting point and want to go in that direction. I already have most of the pieces from my Rock deck and have been following this thread every now and then.

I have a few questions for NicFit players
1) Should I get into this deck given the information above?

Yes. When Pernicious Deed is a game-ender in your meta, Nic Fit is a good choice. It has favorable matchups against most of the non-combo field. It brings decks in a late-game zone where most are uncomfortable, and it does so surprisingly fast.

2) What are the good and bad matchups of this deck?

Anything affected by Deed or that cannot surmount certain high-cost cards are favorable. Decks that pack a lot of hard counterspells or have massive card advantage can be problematic (Cascade, Hymn, Ancestral Visions, unanswered Jace for example). The classical way to build a Nic Fit deck is to have a strong deck against any fair deck with maindeck bullets against dedicated control, tempo, burn, and midrange. This, in turn, comes at the price of forfeiting G1 against any combo deck. Sometimes you will win, but don't expect it in the slightest, that's not what this deck does or should aim to do because it becomes a diluted pile of junk once you try to.

3) Are there any suggested amendments to be made to Qweerios' BG deck of December 2012?

Innocent Blood and Liliana have lost a lot of their appeal lately. I will update it if you are interested. A fellow Nic Fitter asked me to review his BG deck yesterday so why not share.

4) Why is everyone else splashing in BG? What benefits do the splashes provide?

Splashing white or red is extremely easy for this deck. Most of the cards you want in those colors offer you different angles of attack against certain decks that you otherwise cannot access without the color splash (I.E.: REB/Pyro, Slaughter Games, Huntmaster, Teeg, Sigarda, Vindicate, Sun Titan, Angel of Despair). As long as your splash color does not interfere with how you build your manabase for your first few turns, there is no harm in having the additional tools against decks that don't thwart it or simply can't. BUG Nic Fit is a different story. Going for blue is far from being a splash when you want Brainstorm on T2, Jace on T3-4, and Negate/FoW postboard as those blue cards require a heavier commitment in blue. The major benefit of not splashing and staying pure GB is being able to play cards like Garruk Primal Hunter, Treetop Village, Liliana of the Veil, and Kodama of the North Tree more smoothly.

5) Any other tips for getting into BG NicFit?

Start with BG versions, it will give you a better understanding of how the deck functions at its core. Focus on getting good with Cabal Therapy, it will boost your game awareness and give you a lot of satisfaction. My personal advice is to stay away from BUG versions for a while because they are shit storms as far as linearity goes. I suggest building towards GBw because they offer the best GSZ targets and the best SB options against SnT-based decks.

Thanks!

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Here's my latest GB Nic Fit list:


Creatures (11)
4 Veteran Explorer
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Eternal Witness
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan

Spells (18)
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Thoughtseize
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Maelstrom Pulse

Others (9)
4 Pernicious Deed
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter

Lands (22)
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Treetop Village
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Bayou
3 Forest
3 Swamp

Finished 2-2 at a local weekly with the following list:

3 Bayou
4 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Phyrexian Tower
3 Swamp
2 Treetop Village
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
2 Eternal Witness
1 Primeval Titan
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Veteran Explorer
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Hymn to Tourach
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Kitchen Finks
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
SB: 3 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Engineered Plague
SB: 2 Memoricide
SB: 2 Obstinate Baloth
SB: 2 Extirpate
SB: 2 Maelstrom Pulse


Won against Goblins, UWR Aggro; lost against Shardless BUG Aggro, SnT. The losses were heartbreaking as they were misplays on my part really. I am planning to cut the DRS and get the Pulses into the main as they just suck in the board. The double Thragtusks were my best decision in the deck and it probably doesn't need the Finks anymore. I am not convinced about getting Acidic Slime back though, as I feel like 3 Decays 2 Pulses are good enough. I don't see enough lands I should be scared of anyway. :tongue:

Been a while since I posted. Legacy events have been few and far between recently.

We have one coming up tomorrow though and I think I will bring BUG Fit based on Tao's most recent list. I think it will be solid against most of the field and I expect a lot of top tier decks. RUG, BUG, maybe burn, maverick, probably reanimator, def show and tell.

My biggest concern though is going to be a local playing High Tide (Michael Tabler). He has Top 4d a few SCGs with his list and he's very good at it. I've almost gotten him a few times but he always comes out on top. Wondering if there are any SB changes I should consider for this or should I go a different direction entirely? I think a 1-of Ichneumenon Druid in the SB will help but I don't get to test much in town so most of my playtime comes at these small tournaments so adjustments are hard to make retroactively.

If High Tide is a concern and you play a deck with 4 GSZ go for Ichneumon Druid, that sounds solid. It will force him to spend resources to find bounce before (!) comboing.
But I am not sure if it is worth it for just one deck. With a list similar to the one in my sig you should be quite far ahead against Spiral Tide post board anyway. My SBing against Spiral Tide would be - (3 Explorer, 3 Deed, 3 Decay, 1 Thragtusk, 2 Wurmcoil), + (3 Surgical, 4 Force, 3 Negate, 2 Mindbreak Trap). And I also find it hard to find a card in the SB I would cut. Surgical is great with Reanimator, Sneak and Tell (And Spiral Tide) in the Meta and the blue count for Force is at 17 which is considered the "reliable minimum" so you can't replace one of those with a green card. I also wouldn't want to reduce the Damnation count, with RUG and Maverick in the Meta.

Is Liliana really all that strong for you, Tao? I'm sure you're aware of how she's weaker here than in other decks (due to losing cards in our own hand, and dying to abrupt decay in a deck that is otherwise "Decay-proof", mainly), but more particularly, in your list, she's the only BB card and thus strains your mana base when you need to think about getting UU and GG as well. I'd suggest -3 cutting Liliana for flip-Garruk if you want some removal-planeswalker, or Garruk 1.0, just because ramp is good and 3/3 tokens are large. Tokens are nice because they'll protect your planeswalkers.

I agree with the concerns which is why my lists usually don't include her. But in this case Liliana has three big advantages which is why I am willing to play a card that is often only a 3-Mana Edict: She complements the removal suit for BUG against creatures like Tombstalker that Deed and Decay can't get, there are lots of Combo decks in the meta that she is solid against and she is an almost unbeatable tag team when combined with Jace TMS.

I have recently cut Garruk PH from the list. But this is just a Meta call because there are basically no Swords to Plowshares anywhere. If UW makes a comeback, I'd play some Garruks again and I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for adding them to the deck right now. But I wouldn't cut all Lilianas for them, maybe 1 Inquisition and 1 Liliana for 2 Garruks if you are worried that you are too light on win conditions.

@TheArchitect and @ Qweerios

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions!

I will start off with the BG version of the deck and start playtesting. It sounds like a fun deck to play.

Qweerios, with regards to your list, do you feel like 11 creatures would be too few for a GSZ attrition deck?

@yutang,

No. I've played with as few as 7 creatures before and it works just fine. You want GSZ early for Explorer, and you usualy don't need to resolve more than 2-3 after that to have everything on the board to win.

I finally got to play Scapewish this week. I went undefeated in a small local tournament. I added a second Primeval Titan because I didn't know what else to put there. I am thinking of adding different lands in my SB. This deck ramps really quick and to be able to kill someone with a 1/1 seems very viable with Kessig.

On the Rector version, not many people play Miracles anymore but since I've added Recycle and Thrun it is no longer a bad matchup.

Hi guys, what do you think is the best side against show and tell decks? I have discard + O. Rings / Detention Spheres / angel of despairs but i want something else. I am running GBR Scapeshift list.

Hey Guys!
Played Scapeshift for the first time today and went 5-1 at our local.

Matches were:

Dragon Stompy 2-1
UB Dreadstill 2-0
Burn 2-0
Omni Show 1-2
Belcher 2-0 (Yeah right ^^)
RUG Delver 2-1

The deck is so much fun to play! Thragtusk was my MVP all day long!

The Match against Belcher was obv very lucky. Game 1 he mulls to five on the play. I blind hit two Burning Wishes with Therapy and he never gets back into the game. Game 2 he keeps his 7, thinks a lot but passes the turn without playing anything. I Therapy him on my turn naming LED, thinking that he must he mana short not to off first turn, so he has either BW + LED or Belcher + LED. Turns out he had the Belcher + LED and lacked one mana to play it. Luckily he doesn't find a mana source next turn but draws into another charbelcher which makes my therapy flashback the following tu even better. I draw into more discard and he does not find anything relevant until the Mountains get very angry on him.
The Omni Tell Match was a little annoying since I could have won the third game if I had left one Thoughtseize in the Side to wish for in one critical situation. Anyway game 1 I got him with therapy on Show and Tell followed by double Slaughter Games on S&T and Burning Wish.

The other 4 Matches were quite easily. One situation against Burn came close, but Thragtusk saved the day.

All in all I am really thrilled playing the deck, as you can play so many fun cards like Huntmaster Thragtusk or Primeval Titan. As was stated earlier on this page, the Jund versions of Nic Fit really rape all kinds of fair decks. Problem being Show and Tell decks and other Combo.
Early discard + Slaughter Games seems to be the only way here, thus I could definitely see a fourth Slaughter Games in the Board.

What are your experiences concerning Combo?

I took Scapewish into a small local event on Sunday, because of an expected metagame of heavy Esperblade.

I tried out a little technology. Since I was expecting a lot of slow, grindy games, I opted to shave 1x Sakura-Tribe for 1x Promise of Power. In the sideboard, I also cut the pair of Pithing Needles, which were a relic of the Jund era, for a 2nd copy of Promise of Power and the third copy of REB.

Round 1 I'm paired up against UWr Miracles, without RIP/Helm combo. Game one my deck decides it doesn't want to draw lands after I keep a perfectly acceptable hand. Instead, I draw all Explorers and no way to off them. He proceeds to Miracle for 5 angels, counters my attempt at a Deed, and then I die.

I board out the Burning Wishes because I know that he's going to keep Counterbalance in, and board the relevant wish targets in. I also shave Explorers and Therapies to incorporate the REBs and Slaughter Games. I remember Slaughtering his Jaces, and then he eventually dies through unknown means.

Game three I get a good mindfuck on him. I have 7 lands, one of which is a Tower. He'd just nigh-tapped out for Jace TMS, but with two available mana and Counter/Top online. I have Scapeshift in hand, and he's in lethal Shift range. I draw Huntmaster. I think for a second, and lead with Huntmaster. He checks his Top, and confirms it resolves. I then sacrifice the Wolf token to Tower for BB, and Scapeshift him. I liked this line because if he was sandbagging a Force, he likely would have Forced the Huntmaster, since I would have only had 3 mana up and I couldn't cast Scapeshift on that same turn.

Round 2 I go up against a traditional Deadguy (not my frequent car-mate). Game one we're both mana-borked (I'm screwed, he's flooded). I Wish for Pyroclasm to clear out his board, and later E.Wit it back to clear out again, because fuck Mirran Crusader. I eventually Shift for lethal, after he takes Avenger of Zendikar over Scapeshift with a Sculler. I rip the 7th land off the top to kill him. Weird note: I'm screwed for black really badly this game, which forces me to value-shift to fix my mana. Never ever ever forget that you can value-shift for perfect mana!

I don't board anything.

Game two is the classic "he gets me to lethal on board and I topdeck Scapeshift for the kill." Nothing interesting here.

Round 3 is vs BUGStill. My deck basically doesn't feel like playing Magic, and I help it along with that by misboarding. I play against this deck again in the top 4 (spoilers), so I don't remember all the details. I know that game one I just ran out of gas too quickly while he had a jace refueling him, and then game 2 I got horrifically mana flooded. Like, I would Top, and my Top would be like, Land, Land, Tribe-Elder. So I Tribe-Elder to shuffle, and my new Top is Land, Land, Veteran Explorer. Kill me.

Round 4: 12-post.

We're fairly sure that we want to gamble and ID to try to get both of us in the top 4, but we play it out for fun anyway.

Game one we both ramp like mofos. I Wish for Ruination but I can't slam it down, and pass with it in hand. He drops Kozilek into Candelabra into Primeval Titan into Repeal/replay Candleabra into Emrakul. K.

Game two I ramp up hyper fast and kill him on turn 3 or 4.

Game three is the nutty one. We're both doing our thing as usual. I've got a Primeval Titan with two active Valakuts at 4 mountains in play. He also has a BEB in hand, so I can't really use the Burning Wish->Ruination that I'm floating with Top. He drops a Primeval to get Glacial Chasm, and spams Glimmerposts to go to 39. I can't kill him because Chasm, so I get 1x Mountain and kill his Primeval. Okay, cool. I re-Top, Burning Wish is still there. Great. He untaps and drops Kozilek + Primeval Titan #2, tapping out in the process. I draw, pop Top to Therapy him just in case, and swing with Primeval. Two mountains + 2 Valakuts = a dead Kozilek. I then slam Wish into Ruination, leaving me with like 6 basics and him with an Island and a Forest; with a Primeval Titan apiece. I then Zenith up Eternal Witness, getting back Valakut and playing it for turn. he starts to dig out, aided by his Primeval Titan, but he can't get back into the game quickly enough, and I am the victor.

Karma then proceeds to reward us for an insane match, and we both luck out and slip into the top 4.

So, I'm paired up against BUGStill again in the top 4.

Game one, I have a decent start and I manage to run him out of gas by dropping bomb after bomb for three or four turns straight, all while sandbagging the shit out of my Avenger of Zendikar. Finally he runs out of gas, and I slam Avenger + land drop. He looks for an out and fails to hit one. I jokingly cast the Scapeshift I topdeck beforeturning 10 FURIOUS plants sideways.

Game two I have an -insane- start, fueled by Phyrexian Tower. He has no hand at all by like turn 3. He eventually starts to dig out of it, and Jace helps get him back into the game while I flood out. I run with the same plan as the last game: I wait until I'm pretty sure that he's out of answers, and then I drop Avenger. He like straight up telling me not to bother putting the tokens out because they aren't going to live, and I'm like, okay, he has a Deed and then Jace is just gonna tick up a few more turns and then I die. Cool.

As I pass the turn, I remember that there was still one more Therapy in my graveyard to flashback. And I have 14 fucking plants. #PUNTS.

Game three. I threw that game away, so now I have to calm down and get my head back into it. Okay, fine. We have a long, drag-out game, -again-. I try the Avenger plan, but he's gotten wise to me and Cliques it away. I jedi-mind-trick the hell out of him one turn, by popping a useless Top to play a Veteran Explorer. Like, my Top was literally Land, Land, Explorer. I have an active Valakut in play. He's half-talking to himself that he doesn't know if he should swing or not, because giving me lands. I make an off-hand remark about how it would suck to lose my Top. Like two seconds later, Creeping Tar Pit, Factory, and Snapcaster are all crashing into the red zone. I happily block Snap, take some damage, and get two basic mountains to kill his manlands....while getting fresh cards on top of my deck. Eventually I'm staring down lethal. I topdeck a Green Sun. There's a Wish in my graveyard that had gotten countered earlier. I have like 12 lands out. I cast Zenith for 3. He sees what I'm trying to do, and digs for the counterspell. He fails. I resolve my Zenith, noting while I'm searching that I have 5 or 6 mountains left in my deck. Okay, sweet. I win.

Except I had boarded the Eternal Witness out, like a fucking dumbass [note: for some reason he was bringing in Leyline of the Void against me, so I guess that's why I'd chosen to board it out. Still a horrible, horrible mistake].

To say I was tilted was an understatement.

So yeah. That was my event. At least I still doubled my entry fee, but blegh.

A closing note: SCG:DC. That top 16. Scapewish would FEAST on that top 16. While I'm not expecting the metagame to shift at Jupiter or Mythic anytime soon, it warms the cockles of my heart to see that much Esperblade and Miracles. I think that as far as the larger overall metagame is concerned, Scapewish is going to have its time in the sun again very soon.

Also: I'll be at GP Pittsburgh this weekend getting various-language foil Pernicious Deeds signed. I'll also be jamming 12post in legacy win-a-boxes all weekend, because if ever there was a deck to run in a win-a-box, 12post is it. So yeah. If anybody happens to be there, feel free to say hi, as always =)

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Originally Posted by Arianrhod

Game three is the nutty one. We're both doing our thing as usual. I've got a Primeval Titan with two active Valakuts at 4 mountains in play. He also has a BEB in hand, so I can't really use the Burning Wish->Ruination that I'm floating with Top. He drops a Primeval to get Glacial Chasm, and spams Glimmerposts to go to 39. I can't kill him because Chasm, so I get 1x Mountain and kill his Primeval. Okay, cool. I re-Top, Burning Wish is still there. Great. He untaps and drops Kozilek + Primeval Titan #2, tapping out in the process. I draw, pop Top to Therapy him just in case, and swing with Primeval. Two mountains + 2 Valakuts = a dead Kozilek. I then slam Wish into Ruination, leaving me with like 6 basics and him with an Island and a Forest; with a Primeval Titan apiece. I then Zenith up Eternal Witness, getting back Valakut and playing it for turn. he starts to dig out, aided by his Primeval Titan, but he can't get back into the game quickly enough, and I am the victor.

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Was this a Titan trade? Because Valakut needs other Mountains in play so it wouldn't have triggered the Valakuts.

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Originally Posted by Zombie

Was this a Titan trade? Because Valakut needs other Mountains in play so it wouldn't have triggered the Valakuts.

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Ah, but that's not how the layers work. If you have Valakut + 4 mountains in play, and you swing with a Primeval Titan (or set off an Explorer, for that matter), fetching 2 Mountains, the Valakut will see each mountain as they enter, and when it checks the number of mountains in play, Valakut will see that you have 6 mountains, and so each Mountain will trigger it.

Yes yes. I know. That's why Scapeshift works in the first place. But you said:
"so I get 1x Mountain and kill his Primeval."
Previous mention is 4 Mountains on field. Fifth one entering doesn't work, you'd need to grab 2.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zombie

Yes yes. I know. That's why Scapeshift works in the first place. But you said:
"so I get 1x Mountain and kill his Primeval."
Previous mention is 4 Mountains on field. Fifth one entering doesn't work, you'd need to grab 2.

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Oh, I misunderstood. I think I got my mental streams crossed when I was writing the report. I had four mountains left after the Ruination when I swung (3 basics + one that I drew for turn). I had more than that out pre-Ruinate.

That 12-post game sounds insane.

How have you been liking the Avenger? It sounds like it won a few games. Is it better than a second Prime Time, or some other big threat? I like the shaving of Tribe-Elders, Promise of Power is a really interesting choice that more like a meta-call than anything, did it perform?