[Primer] Nic Fit

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sdematt

I am going to try this list when I get back soon:

4 Veteran Explorer
2 BOP
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Eternal Witness
1 Shalai
3 Siege Rhino
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Thragtusk
1 Carnage Tyrant

3 Pernicious Deed
3 Assassin's Trophy
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Path to Exile

4 Green Suns Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Sylvan Library
1 Painful Truths
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Enlightened Tutor

Board
2 Blood Moon
2 Choke
2 Thoughtseize
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Slaughter Games/Lost Legacy

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I think if you are going to splash R for Blood Moon. It is better to go more 4C.

4 Veteran Explorer
2 BOP -> 1 STE + 1 Jitte/Sword/EE
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger -> 1 blood moon
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Eternal Witness
1 Shalai -> 1 Marchesa
3 Siege Rhino -> 1 Huntmaster of the wells
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons -> 1 troll Thrun /Nissa Vital Force
1 Thragtusk
1 Carnage Tyrant

3 Pernicious Deed-> 1 toxic deluge
3 Assassin's Trophy -> 1 Path to exile
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Path to Exile

4 Green Suns Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Sylvan Library
1 Painful Truths
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Enlightened Tutor

I do not like BoP, I do not think the bird is useful enough in late game. Maybe 2 STE will be beneficial in this build. The enlightened tutor gives you a lot of flexibility. You might even want a big Enchantment instead of a creature. I am not a big fun of AT, but it is more of a meta call. Delvers and Gurmags are still the best creatures in the format. I would like to see you mana base. Just for curiosity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sdematt

2 BOP

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I tried BOP after the DRS ban, and I *hated* them. Before I shelved the deck I only had 1 copy, then I dropped that as well. I ended up with 4x Vet and 1x Dryad Arbor for mana-ramping, and that was plenty. I ended up putting Thoughtseize into those slots, which was a lot more useful.

Been on Arena Rector build ever since she was released, been loving it. Since GP Milwaukee was in my backyard, I played in 3 Friday events, walking away with 1.5 boxes at the end of the day. Felt pretty good about my matches, def the correct meta call as I was anticipating lots of fair and was rewarded. Skeletal Scrying has been MVP over the last couple months, I've drawn a metric ton of cards off it and has def overperformed for me.

1-2 (D&T, Red Prison, Lands)
2-0-1 (UB Shadow, Grixis Control, prize split)
2-0-1 (Oops All Spells, Enchantress, prize split)

This is what I sleeved up for all 3 events:

Main

1 Dryad Arbor
4 Veteran Explorer
4 Arena Rector

1 Karn Liberated
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
1 Nissa, Vital Force
4 Liliana of the Veil

1 Sylvan Library
3 Pernicious Deed

2 Skeletal Scrying
2 Fatal Push
3 Assassin’s Trophy

3 Green Sun’s Zenith
3 Collective Brutality
4 Cabal Therapy

1 Plains
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Marsh Flats
2 Phyrexian Tower
2 Bayou
3 Forest
3 Swamp
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs

Side

1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Choke
1 Surgical Extraction
4 Duress
4 Leyline of the Void

Prior to Arena Rector, I was on the Academy Rector build for a long time. Essentially, Arena build is much, much better at coming back from a bad boardstate whereas Academy build is better at closing out games when there is parity or you're slightly ahead. The lulz factor of Arena was too good to pass up and I don't see myself going back to Academy build unless we get another swath of busted enchantments.

I am having a lot of fun playing Ali Aintrazi's build from a couple months ago. It feels like it's missing something...a little card advantage, maybe. However, I'm not changing anything at the moment, since the deck runs 62 cards.

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Hi all another battle report.

My list:

2x Bayou
1x Savannah
1x Scrubland
4x Forest
2x Swamp
2x Plains
8x Green Fetch
2x Phyrexian Tower

1x Dryad Arbor
4x Veteran Explorer
4x Academy Rector

2x Ground Seal
1x Curse of misfortune
1x Overwhelming Splendor
1x Sandwurm convergence
1x Cruel Reality
1x Dovescape
1x Curse of death’s hold
3x Evolutionary Leap
2x Sylvan Library

2x Pernicious deed
2x Abrupt decay
2x Collective Brutality
1x Diabolic edict
1x Innocent blood
4x Cabal Therapy

3x Living wish
2x GSZ

Side:
1x Carnage Tyrant
1x Thragtusk
1x Rec sage
1x Fearie Macabre
1x Eternal witness
1x Fleshbag marauder
1x Karakas
1x Surgical extraction
2x Lost legacy
2x Hallowed Moonlight
1x Massacre
1x Dread of Night

We were 19 players.
My Meta:
2x S&S (both on 2 or 3 omniscience)
2x D&T
2x Painter (Red and Grixis)
2x Reanimator (UB and RB)
1x Loam
1x Grixis control
2x Goblins (mono red)
1x infect
1x Esper Blade
1x Eternal garden
1x NicFit(me)
2x don’t remember (I think D&T and S&S)

Battle 1 (Esper blade)
I am pared against my friend Ruben who always is on Bant Blade, so I buy a pint and we play.
Game 1
He mulls to 5, I keep a 7 with GSZ, therapy and 2 Explorer.
He starts with Island +ponder.
I go CT, name Brainstorm and hit. He has no lands in hand. In the next turn, I go GSZ for Arbor and Explorer (do not sac for value). Turn 3 beat down and another explorer. I put him on 10 with my 3 creatures drawing only lands for multiple turns. He finally plays a TNN and starts to attack, I put him on 5 he kills my explorer and ramp. I swing again he goes to 4 and fetch. I put him on 2 and play Academy rector. He surrenders. Explorer 10+ dmg in one game achievement unlocked.
Game 2
He has the nuts. I have no disruption and slowly ramp. He double thoughseize me, then SFM into batterskull, he naturally draws his equipments, I surrender to Batterskull equipped with Jitte and Sofia.
Game 3
I go turn 1 GSZ for arbor. turn 2 CT + 1dmg+ land. Turn 3 academy rector into Curse of misfortune. Fetch a cruel reality first. After taking 5 from my curse and drawing a land without creatures and cantrips, he surrenders.
1-0

Battle 2 (UB Reanimator)
A new person, I do not know him (Mark)
Game 1
He goes island + ponder. My turn 1 I lead with bayou + CT on BS, hit. I see what he is playing, he has a slow hand with no protection, so I cast Ground Seal to lock his GY in turn 2. We keep playing. I finally draw a rector and curse him. 3 turns later he surrenders to cruel reality, Splendor and curse of death.
Deck check. He is a little bit tilted after seeing ground seal main. So I go for a pint and he goes for a smoke to relax a little.
Game 2
He starts with careful study. I try turn 2 Brutality and meet a FoW. He plays his 2nd land and exhume Iona naming Green. He finishes me in 3 turns.
Game 3
I go turn 1 explorer. He ponders, I fetch a savannah and leave mana open. He plays Careful study reanimate ashen rider, in response I cast hallowed moonlight. He reads the card. All spectators laugh at my fringe deck. Next turn I draw Evo Leap and combo at the end of his turn into Rector. Curse of misfortune him next turn. He tries to cantrip into echoing truth. I Living wish for Big Dino. He extends the hand.
I was very happy to see the non glass canon Reanimator again, some fresh air.
2-0

Battle 3 (S&S)
I do not go for a third pint because I am on diet, so I become I little bit grumpy. Last time I played against Tim, he was extremely tilted, because when we have played in march I think, I won the blind therapy contest and unlocked the achievement: Blind Cabal Therapy of the year 2018. (I turn 1 blind CT name BS and hit 3 copies on the play against unknown opponent). So he is here to take a revenge.
Game 1
Turn 1 he ponders, I play a land and pass. My turn 2 brutality meets a Fow, he plays 3 BS, then Sneak attack Grizzly and Emi the following turn.
Game 2
I resolve a rector and fetch the Wurm Machine to lock his flyers. Next turn he Show & Tell into Omniscience and Cunning wish for a burn spell for 20. GG. He took his revenge.
I do not know how to play and win against this match up. I probably could go for Dovescape in the last game, but with all the cantrips he might kill me faster with birds.
2-1

Battle 4 (RB Reanimator)
I do not know Connor, nice guy, first time playing a legacy tourney.
We roll dice.
Game 1
He goes first -> badlands, dark rit, entomb, exhume sire of sanity.
Game 2
I manage to go bayou + explorer. He unmask his Elesh Norn and animated dead him. Cool, I ramp with my dead explorer. I cast diabolic edict in my turn, he Exhume again, I ramp more. Next turn I naturally draw academy rector and throw her under Elesh Norn -2/-2, curse him. I survive at 5 life.
Game 3
He plays a land, pass. Great I am alive, so bayou into CT, he responds with entomb for sire of sanity. I name reanimate, so if he is stuck with one land I can survive another turn. He show me a hand of land, exhume, animated dead.
Another difficult match up. I had in my hand a land and hallowed moonlight to punish him, I just needed another turn. No luck against combo.
I am sad and go for a pint, fuck the diet.
2-2

Battle 5 (D&T)
New guy he started playing 6 month ago, I see him the first time. I was off because family stuff.
Game 1
He does the D&T stuff. Turn 1 Cavern into vial. Turn 2 Port and Mom from vial. Turn 3 Thalia from vial and Pro G/B dude. I draw blanks. I surrender before he realize I can combo.
Game 2
I stabilize at 7 life after resolving a pernicious deed, then rector fetch Cruel reality and next turn. I living wish into Big Dino.
Game 3
I have the nuts and explorer + Evo leap. I have all my basics on turn 3 and hard cast the Wurm machine and massacre his board. Next turn Rector fetch the curse of death, which is enough to close the game with wurms.
3-2

I am 9th on tie breakers and miss top 8. Overall the deck is still very powerful.
I played three terrible match ups and lost 2 of them so it was expected. My meta is weird and very combo oriented.
Collective brutality is very versatile and I recommend to try it. I should go back to drink a pint each round.
I am not a big fan of Ass trophy. I play AD as a secure kill.
I was tempted to build a PW rector deck, but I will not play it in my meta. After a couple of tests it is definitely very stronk against fair and control decks, super grindy. I might try the mixed version Classic WBG with 3 arena rector instead of Rhino and 2 or 3 PW. I will probably play 4CT, 3 Brutality and a IoK/thoughseize in the main to combat combo. This Friday I will have a break from NicFit for the first time in 2 years and I will play Punishing Maverick at an FNM, just to see how it feels in the meta. Then I go back to NicFit. I would like to build SneakFit, but still missing the key card and Emi. So probably after Xmas.

Any question I will be happy to answer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Matsu

I do not know how to play and win against this match up. I probably could go for Dovescape in the last game, but with all the cantrips he might kill me faster with birds.

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Nicely done :)

Dovescape is imo way better than people give it credit for. You are afraid of dying to opp spending 1 card to get 1 bird? At least that's what typical cantrip is going to be. Even FoW is effectively 1 card = 2.5 birds (5/2 cards) Meanwhile you have an abundance of cards that turn into multiple birds. Find one GSZ and suddenly you can match whatever they have been spending multiple turns to produce. Even Decay is effectively 3 birds since you get 2 and can still destroy one of theirs.

IMO I like your list but would still advise someone running it to slim further on enchantments and be able to have either more interaction or Lingering Souls. (Souls value shoots up with Dovescape). Then again I've never tried the Living Wish version. Seemed like it only was used to grab Carnage in that run?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by square_two

Nicely done :)

Dovescape is imo way better than people give it credit for. You are afraid of dying to opp spending 1 card to get 1 bird? At least that's what typical cantrip is going to be. Even FoW is effectively 1 card = 2.5 birds (5/2 cards) Meanwhile you have an abundance of cards that turn into multiple birds. Find one GSZ and suddenly you can match whatever they have been spending multiple turns to produce. Even Decay is effectively 3 birds since you get 2 and can still destroy one of theirs.

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Yes, after I was writing this report I have realise that Dovescape will be game winning in this case. So it was a punt from my part. But the match up is still very difficult. It is possible to win against a resolved Emi or Grizzlybrand from S&T, but not against Omniscience.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by square_two

IMO I like your list but would still advise someone running it to slim further on enchantments and be able to have either more interaction or Lingering Souls. (Souls value shoots up with Dovescape). Then again I've never tried the Living Wish version. Seemed like it only was used to grab Carnage in that run?

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So I was on the Lingering souls plan before i tried Living wish. Souls are great as a fodder for Evo Leap, but i think the card is better against a fair metagame. You can have 2 blockers turn 2/3 and you can feed CT if needed. So it is great against any D&T, Delver, Blades, Stompy. I think I prefer Living wish in my metagame so i can turn 2 go for a Karakas, Fearie macabre, Marauder or Rec sage. And hope to survive a turn. It is still 3 copies of each of your sideboard crit/land in the main. I was testing a version with Thespian stage + crop rotation main and living wish for Dark depths but it is too clunky.

On the other side in late game Lingering Souls is only 4 power. When with Living wish you can slam Big Dino or trade Thrugtusk to Zombie fish which is 10 life. So it is a better top deck late game. Unfortunately in the whole tourny i was able to draw it twice always in late game. And the Big Dino was the needed nail in the coffin so it has worked very well for me.

After playing AcademyFit and testing ArenaFit. I think both decks are great and have a good potential, but something is missing to move the deck to a more competitive level. I dont know exactly what, but probably a lock piece for the Curse version or a spell to slow the opponent more. Overall i think both decks have great core and in the future maybe in 2 or 3 sets some cards might elevate the deck to a new level.
We just have to observe what is around. With the BS quantity at 50% i will not be surprise if WotC finally make a move here.

Btw, collective brutality is an amazing card. Very versatile.

I have choosen Nic Fict to be my second competitive deck in the format (and, yeah, i understand all the problems of the deck but i really like strong BGx Midrange decks in any format) and have some questions. I have stoped on classic BG version for some reasons. Well.

1) How divide your removal options correctly? Is decay still good or outclassed by trophy? How many deeds do we need to play? Currently i am using 2 decays, 1 trophy, 1 edict and 3 pernicious deeds.

2) Is wasteland playable in this deck or ghost quarter is absolutely better option?

3) Is new Vraska, golgari queen good planeswalker for Nic Fit? Now i am playing lili the last hope (tremendously love her) and Nissa, vital force (flex slot?).

@Listlik: You might want to join the Nic Fit Discord channel.

As for questions 2 and 3 - Neither Wasteland or GQ are suitable Nic Fit cards. Neither is the new Vraska.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Echelon

Neither is the new Vraska.

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Please expand on this.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee

Please expand on this.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

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It eats your means to pressure your opponent, i.e. undoes your gameplan

I've seen the new Vraska in Arena Fit and it seems like it's decent. It's a sac outlet for Vet and Rector and kills some things, and is easy to cast.

4 Veteran Explorer
1 Dryad Arbor
1 BOP
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Eternal Witness
1 Shalai
3 Siege Rhino
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Thragtusk


3 Pernicious Deed
3 Assassin's Trophy
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Path to Exile

4 Green Suns Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Sylvan Library
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Enlightened Tutor

Board
2 Blood Moon
2 Choke
2 Thoughtseize
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Zealous Persecution

I'll be piloting this monstrosity for the next bit to see how the format is. I read your kind suggestions, and I'll give this a shot.

Switch out the Liege for an Archon of Valor's Reach. It's crazy good.

So they went and put Birthing Pod on a creature that can be Green Sun Zenithed for...

https://i.redd.it/yjs1xsu8a9821.jpg

I will be trying this come Feb...


1 Dryad Arbor
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
2 Forest
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest

4 Veteran Explorer
3 Baleful Strix
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Elderscale Wurm
1 Progenitus

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Pernicious Deed
3 Assassin's Trophy
3 Natural Order
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Brainstorm

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Captain Hammer

So they went and put Birthing Pod on a creature...

https://i.redd.it/yjs1xsu8a9821.jpg

I will be trying this come Feb...


1 Dryad Arbor
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
2 Forest
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest

4 Veteran Explorer
3 Baleful Strix
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Elderscale Wurm
1 Progenitus

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Pernicious Deed
3 Assassin's Trophy
3 Natural Order
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Brainstorm

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I’d cut progenitus for terrastodon. The sb needs a lot of combo hate...fow/teeg/ruric thar come to mind.

What about just cutting NO here?

1 Dryad Arbor
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
2 Forest
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
21

4 Veteran Explorer
3 Baleful Strix
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
2 Prime Speaker
1 Thragtusk
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Grave Titan
20

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Pernicious Deed
3 Assassin's Trophy
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Brainstorm

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sdematt

What about just cutting NO here?

1 Dryad Arbor
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
2 Forest
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
21

4 Veteran Explorer
3 Baleful Strix
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
2 Prime Speaker
1 Thragtusk
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Grave Titan
20

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Pernicious Deed
3 Assassin's Trophy
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Brainstorm

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There is no need for 2 Prime Speaker. It’s only advantage over Pod is that it can grabbed with a GSZ. So 1 is enough. The second one should be a Pod imo.

Not sold on Carnage Tyrant or Garuuk Relentless (what purpose does it serve?)

But I absolutely love the inclusion of Thragatusk and Grave Titan.

Cards with good ETB or leave the battlefield effects make the most sense to abuse with Primespeaker.

Veteran Explorer, Baleful Strix, Reclamarion Sage/Eternal Witness/Renegade Rallier/Kitchen Finks and Thratusk are perfect in that regard. Is there anything similar at 4cc? If so, I would slot it in place of Garruck Relentless.

Also maybe a light white splash so we could play the improved Reclamation Sage, and the situationally stronger Eternal Witness (Renegade Rallier) makes sense, since Noble Hierarch makes white anyway.

Edit: Birthing Pod + White means that Academy Rector/Arena Rector is a must play, would slot in at 4cc perfectly. The deck should play 3 Pod, 1 Prime Speaker to grab with GSZ, both Rectors and a bomb enchantment and 1 Jace and 1 Ugin Planeswalker.

It's 2 to 3 turns slower (GSZ and/or summoning sickness) than actual Pod and can be Fatal Pushed and Karakas'd. Should be a solid no-go.

It's more cute than good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Echelon

It's 2 to 3 turns slower (GSZ and/or summoning sickness) than actual Pod and can be Fatal Pushed and Karakas'd. Should be a solid no-go.

It's more cute than good.

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I'm not so sure. Being a creature definitely comes with a few drawbacks, but it has some benefits as well.

First, it's blue, which dramatically increases it's usefulness in a Pod deck as you can more likely enable FoW.
Second, creatures have a bit more interaction as you can use cards like Melira for recursion.
Third, while forcing blue would normally be a drawback, BUG pod seems to be the most value oriented already, so it's probably not that bad.
Fourth, you can turn GSZ into finding both early Vets and this creature.
Fifth, it dodges more counterspells, such as getting around Spell Pierce.

That said, it does have considerable drawbacks as well. It's a turn slower due to the mana cost, it's vulnerable to Karakas, it's a turn slower due to summoning sickness, it's vulnerable to many more removal spells than Pod is once it resolves, and you can't string multiples together. But, I would argue the GSZ tutor being a turn slower is not a drawback, because any tutor for Pod (which has more limited options) slow you by a turn as well.

I think the Karakas issue is the only issue that's really worth bringing up, unfortunately it is also a big one. It's not Legacy playable, though it might be modern playable.

Hi I was wondering if someone could send me an invite to the Nic Fit discord my SN is the same as it is here.

https://discord.gg/nQQ5V59

That's a link for the server which shouldn't expire.

59 cards

3 Birthing Pod

1 Dryad Arbor
4 Veteran Explorer
4 Baleful Strix
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Plaguecrafter
1 Plague Mare
2 Spellseeker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 The Scarab God
1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow

1 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
3 Assassin's Trophy
1 Counterspell (if UU is too hard to get reliably then Negate instead)

4 Cabal Therapy
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Thoughtseize

1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Island
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
2 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Misty Rainforest
(20 land + arbor)

Last card is probably either 3rd Spellseeker, 21st land, or 1 more tutorable spell (2nd Thoughtseize maybe).
Not sure how important Chupacabra and Phantasmal Image are

Sideboard:
1 Life Goes On
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Sinkhole
X Surgical Extraction
etc (Loam? Flusterstorm?)

No idea how good this is/isn't but it seems like a good shell for Birthing Pod. Spellseeker gives the deck a lot of utility (e.g. you don't need to use a slot on Rec Sage when you can Spellseeker for Trophy/Decay, maybe this is also why Chupacabra can be replaced).

Scarab God OP, can be protected from Swords to Plowshares by:
- Sacrifice to Phyrexian Tower
- Revive Plaguecrafter and sacrifice TSG
- Revive Phantasmal Image to copy TSG and then legend rule the real one
- Spellseeker -> Counterspell

The Pod chain of Spellseeker (find Counterspell) -> Meren and using Counterspell to protect Meren seems good vs fair decks
Vs combo you have Spellseeker (Counterspell/Thoughtseize/Therapy) -> Glen Elendra.

You don't need to play a card like Pull from Tomorrow or Skeletal Scrying (or even like, Night's Whisper) maindeck because if you want to Spellseeker for a value spell you can get GSZ for Ishkanah/Witness/Meren.

I welcome suggestions for different Spellseeker/Pod targets but this seems okay as a starting point

Seems pretty sweet, Kombatkiwi. I have a basically standard comment, for me. I'd change Veteran no 4 into GSZ no 2, because veteran is a lousy late-game topdeck, especially if you don't have a Pod around, and there are many matchups in which you don't want to ramp your opponent (usually Miracles and Grixis Control, though this depends on the exact scenario). While GSZ is one of the best consistency tools available, offering ramp or threat depending on what you need.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brael

I'm not so sure. Being a creature definitely comes with a few drawbacks, but it has some benefits as well.

First, it's blue, which dramatically increases it's usefulness in a Pod deck as you can more likely enable FoW.
Second, creatures have a bit more interaction as you can use cards like Melira for recursion.
Third, while forcing blue would normally be a drawback, BUG pod seems to be the most value oriented already, so it's probably not that bad.
Fourth, you can turn GSZ into finding both early Vets and this creature.
Fifth, it dodges more counterspells, such as getting around Spell Pierce.

That said, it does have considerable drawbacks as well. It's a turn slower due to the mana cost, it's vulnerable to Karakas, it's a turn slower due to summoning sickness, it's vulnerable to many more removal spells than Pod is once it resolves, and you can't string multiples together. But, I would argue the GSZ tutor being a turn slower is not a drawback, because any tutor for Pod (which has more limited options) slow you by a turn as well.

I think the Karakas issue is the only issue that's really worth bringing up, unfortunately it is also a big one. It's not Legacy playable, though it might be modern playable.

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Watched quite a few modern decks featuring Vannifar. The decks all pretty much win the moment they untapped with Vannifar on the back of Woodland Bellower combo. Pod couldn’t insta win like that. Vannifar is a surprisingly solid win condition. Might end up getting a deck built around it rather than incorporating it into Nic Fit but I think it will likely have an impact on legacy.

@kombatkiwi:

I played BUG Pod in the good old days (in fact i never sold FoW etc cause of it^^) and enjoyed your list at first test games. Some small adjustments so far:

// 60 Maindeck

// 2 Artifact
2 Birthing Pod

// 21 Creature
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Veteran Explorer
4 Baleful Strix
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Plaguecrafter
1 Plague Mare
2 Spellseeker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 The Scarab God
1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Prime Speaker Vannifar

// 6 Instant
4 Brainstorm
2 Assassin's Trophy

// 20 Land
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Island
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
2 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Misty Rainforest

// 11 Sorcery
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Collective Brutality
2 Ponder
1 Toxic Deluge

// 15 Sideboard
// 5 Creature
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage
SB: 1 Shriekmaw
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre

// 8 Instant
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 3 Force of Will
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Echoing Truth

// 2 Sorcery
SB: 2 Thoughtseize

I added Collective Brutality since its a very flexible card and i dont want to throw AT at early creatures to ramp opponent and getting discard-hand information is nice too (Therapy/Game plan etc.). I also valued the tutorable Toxic Deluge over your single Counterspell, since this version lack good old deeds so far. I go down to 2 Pod + 1 Vannifar (+2 Zenith) one is enough once you developed the board and survived long enough.

Sideboard is a bit random at the moment but covers combo matchups well and uses more spells on the back of spellseeker.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MD.Ghost

I played BUG Pod in the good old days (in fact i never sold FoW etc cause of it^^) and enjoyed your list at first test games. Some small adjustments so far:

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Hi, thanks a lot for trying it

Quote:

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I added Collective Brutality since its a very flexible card and i dont want to throw AT at early creatures to ramp opponent and getting discard-hand information is nice too (Therapy/Game plan etc.).

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The extra discard-hand information is why I played the 1 maindeck Thoughtseize (I also considered 1 maindeck Surgical) but I agree that Collective Brutality could also perform this role while being a more flexible card in more situations, I think this is a good idea.

Quote:

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I also valued the tutorable Toxic Deluge over your single Counterspell, since this version lack good old deeds so far.

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Remember Deluge is not tutorable by Spellseeker because you can only get spells with CMC 2 or less (this is why originally I suggested 1 Black Sun Zenith in the SB, of course it's not as good as Deluge but seemed like the best CMC <3 option)

Do you think Redcap is better than Hostage Taker / Sower of Temptation / Chupacabra? Redcap is funny with Scarab God because you can deal 4 but I feel like these other creatures are going to be better most of the time. Edit: Deck might want 1 Leovold maybe

Hi all another battle report.

My list:

2x Bayou
2x Savannah
2x Scrubland
2x Forest
2x Swamp
2x Plains
8x Green Fetch
1x Phyrexian Tower

1x Dryad Arbor

4x Veteran Explorer
1x Sakura Tribe Elder
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Tireless Tracker
1x Siege Rhino
1x Meren
1x Thragtusk
1x Dromoka
1x Carnage Tyrant

1x Sylvan Library
3x Pernicious deed

2x Abrupt decay
2x Collective Brutality
2x Diabolic edict
2x Duress
4x Cabal Therapy
4x Path to exile
4x GSZ

1x Nissa, Vital Force
1x Kaya, Ghost Assassin

Side:

1x Rec sage
4x Fearie Macabre
2x Tomod’s crypt
1x Surgical extraction
1x Massacre
1x Golgari Charm
1x Engineered Plague
1x Dread of Night
2x Choke
1x ???

I did a little bit of intel before the tournament and was informed there will be a lot of Reanimator and Ape&Show decks.

Round1.
I play against Adam, he is always on 4c Loam. So I expect a lot of grind, CotV on 1. I have to find PDeed as soon as possible.
Game 1
I keep a hand with GSZ, CT, Kaya, 3 lands, PtE
He wins the Die roll and goes Polluted Delta->Watery Grave-> Thougtseize. That is not 4c Loam. We laugh a little bit. He takes Kaya.
He eventually plays a Zombie fish and a delver, I path the Z-Fish. He manage to play 2 other delvers (no Flip) I hard cast Dromoka. We go to game two.
Game 2 I side in 2 Choke remove Kaya and Duress I think.
He cantrips a lot in the first 3 turns, I just slowly ramp.
He plays a Shadow, I AD it. He slams a Delver. I path it. He reanimates Zombie Fish I manage to discard.. He goes to 4. Next turn I play Nissa and start to attack. He top deck a land and surrender.
Game over.
1:0
That is nice after not playing since November.

Round 2
I play against an unknown player. He is on Burn.
Game 1
I lose it to double Fireblast.
Game 2 side 3 Explorer out and put Golgari Charm, rec sage, …
I manage to slow him down playing Ooze so he waste a bolt on it.
I to play Tireless tracker and one counter. He has pyrostatic pilar and plays Eidolon and suspend a rift bolt
I draw a fetch land and grow Tracker. Make him 6/5 swing not block. He goes to 4. Rift bolt resolve and he dies.
Game 3
I ramp with Explorer and CT. Plays a Scooze. He bolts it, this gives me one extra turn.
Over the next 5 turn he burns me to the ground.
I play 10 spells that gives me life. No luck this time.
1:1

Round 3
Against another unknown player. Brandon the judge says to my opponent that I am playing his favourite deck. My opponent looks at me confused.
Game 1
I win the die roll and have a good hand 2 lands, duress, explorer, CT, kaya and something.
I go catacombs->Bayou-> Duress he is on UB Shadow.
Take one of his 2 Thoughtseize, he has a Street wrath, Shadow, daze, FoW and a fetch. He goes Polluted Delta->Watery Grave-> Thoughtseize take Kaya.
What is wrong with people I wanted to play her and she lands in the bin the first turn.
We laugh a little as he mention he loves NicFit just not competitive enough. He is a player who goes to all those big fancy tournaments like GP, Protour, etc…
Next turn I go CT his daze, ramp, Nissa and finish the game quickly.
Game 2
Same sideboard as round 1
I manage to GSZ for Explorer and block his turn 3 Zombie fish. He plays a Delver. I cast Dromoka. He flips his delver and swing with Fish and Insect. I block the flyer, he cast a Dismember. Bye Bye Dragon. He has no cards in hand. I top deck a GSZ, after some calc, I summon Meren. She reanimate to my hand Dromoka and dies to fish. Next turn the Dragon returns. He surrender. Showing me a Watery grave in his hand. He is at 8, I am above 10 and he does not have cards to remove Dromoka in his deck.
2:1

Round 4
Again unknown player.
Game 1
He wins the die roll. I keep a good hand with 2 lands CT and GSZ.
He goes petal-> Badlands-> Entomb (Sire of Sanity)-> reanimate. I pick my sideboard and start shuffling my deck. I side in 7 cards. Macabre, Crypt and Surgical.
Remove 3x P-Deed, Dromoka, Tyrant, Nissa and Kaya.
Game 2
I have Faerie in my hand and Duress. 2 lands. I have enough disruption to stop his first revenant, Thragtusk finish the game.
Game 3
I start with Faerie, Path, fetch, Surgical Extraction, Explorer, CB. He faithless looting turn one and pass. I draw a dryad and plays it. I start the beatdown with Explorer and DA. He unmask me and take Surgical extraction. Eventually go to 4 lands and GSZ for Tracker. CT my explorer and tracker becomes unstoppable.
3:1

I take a second place and receive a booster of the new master set. My 10 month daughter opens the pack with my wife and I end with a Booster fresh Karn Liberated and a foil Sleight of Hand.
Looks like it is time to build NicFit with Arena rector.

Thanks for reading, if you have any question I will be happy to answer.

Dude congrats on the 3-1 and good pack luck!
I actually frequent this thread a lot because I really wanna build this deck, so anytime someone does well with it it pushes me a little closer to making the deck haha.

I was gonna ask if there was a reason you run rec sage over knight of autumn? And also have you ever wanted a singleton rec sage or knight type effect in the mainboard or do you usually feel like the 1 in the side is fine?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joaquin

Dude congrats on the 3-1 and good pack luck!
I actually frequent this thread a lot because I really wanna build this deck, so anytime someone does well with it it pushes me a little closer to making the deck haha.

I was gonna ask if there was a reason you run rec sage over knight of autumn? And also have you ever wanted a singleton rec sage or knight type effect in the mainboard or do you usually feel like the 1 in the side is fine?

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The reason is simple, I did not have time to check what cards i need from those new sets. So yes Rec Sage can be Knight of Autumn if you play W in your deck. I dont have KoA and 4x AT.

The rest is, tune your deck to your metagame. My store has a lot of Reanimator and Ape&Show. So i really dont need a rec sage effect main. By the time i GSZ for it Animate dead did his job same with Onmiscience and Sneak Attack. Knight of Autumn is more flexible, so yes i should play it main. But Rec sage is sufficient from the sideboard.

If i play a Classic NicFit version of the deck i try to build my deck the way i can always GSZ for something: 2x 2cmc, 2x3cmc, 2x4cmc, 2x5cmc, 2x6 cmc. You can always trim the high curve, but then you move to a more midrange deck with . 4x Siege rhino + Meren and as a top end for example Sigarda. This force you to be more aggressive slamming creature after creature, with a higher curve you can be more passive and reactive and try to play a game of protect the queen.

It depends on your play style and metagame. I like playing Big Monster and sometimes i even play one single 7cmc as the final nail in the coffin. Your opponents face when you tap 7 mana for a Big Monster priceless especially against fair decks like D&T, Goblins, Delver, Blade etc...

Now with Karn on board i will try an Arena build and see how it works.

Yeah, the list is a bit dated.

The only 6-drop you should be running nowadays is Archon of Valor's Reach. It's pretty much invalidated all other 6-drops.

Another thing is that you might want to run more Mirri's Guile/Sylvan Library type cards. Consistency is one of the most important parts of any good list, and that's simply how you achieve it. It might ask you to swap out a Pernicious Deed for a Toxic Deluge though.

@joaquin: There is a Nic Fit discord you could join if you'd like

Did you guy's see this bad boy?

https://i.imgur.com/SUfetZC.png

Going to be in the new direct to Modern set.

Also, could someone share me the discord? I tried to use some of the links in the thread but they seem expired.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Echelon

Yeah, the list is a bit dated.
The only 6-drop you should be running nowadays is Archon of Valor's Reach. It's pretty much invalidated all other 6-drops.

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I don't know; I always liked PrimeTime. I often ran some man-lands so he was like a poor-man's Grave Titan but tutorable (and his gribblies survived terminus/deed.) The other neat thing was just getting your deck basically emptied out of lands so you only drew gas. Between fetches, Vet, and PT you could easily get your deck down to just a couple lands left. Below that Sigarda usually locked things up pretty good against most decks.

Maybe that's more of a Jund thing. Makes me want to build that all the sudden. PT getting all your red mana for PFireing stuff; too cool 4 sckool.

I imagine the Cabal Therapist won't be an actual card. It's a little bit too much on the nose. I guess April fools is coming up again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Echelon

I imagine the Cabal Therapist won't be an actual card. It's a little bit too much on the nose. I guess April fools is coming up again.

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Yeah...I didn't full consider the implications of that timing restriction. Makes it kind of meh for this deck. It can still be a decent card for Mardu Pyromancer in Modern I think.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Purple Blood

Yeah...I didn't full consider the implications of that timing restriction. Makes it kind of meh for this deck. It can still be a decent card for Mardu Pyromancer in Modern I think.

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It's not very good for that either. A new deck that can use it might spring up (especially in combination with that black tutor that was printed recently), but assuming you want to continue to use it turn after turn, you can't actually activate it until turn 3. Cast on 1 means it can only sac itself on 2 (there's only 1 1 mana flash creature, and it's awful), which means you won't have multiple creatures at the start of a pre combat main phase until turn 3.

In a deck like Pyromancer, not only does casting this mean you're not casting a spell, but using it doesn't trigger more tokens. Also, it means you go T1 this, T2 pyromancer, and that's still at best a T3 activation (assuming you have an instant to cast). Worse yet, such a curve means it's a blind activation as you won't have an opportunity in there to cast a targeted discard spell.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brael

It's not very good for that either. A new deck that can use it might spring up (especially in combination with that black tutor that was printed recently), but assuming you want to continue to use it turn after turn, you can't actually activate it until turn 3. Cast on 1 means it can only sac itself on 2 (there's only 1 1 mana flash creature, and it's awful), which means you won't have multiple creatures at the start of a pre combat main phase until turn 3.

In a deck like Pyromancer, not only does casting this mean you're not casting a spell, but using it doesn't trigger more tokens. Also, it means you go T1 this, T2 pyromancer, and that's still at best a T3 activation (assuming you have an instant to cast). Worse yet, such a curve means it's a blind activation as you won't have an opportunity in there to cast a targeted discard spell.

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I wouldn't really play it on curve. At some point you can use a one mana discard then at some point later have this guy out and start saccing Pyro tokens, Lingering Soul tokens, or things like Stitcher's supplier. You can toss Angler, Phoenix, and Reveler in that deck and you have a decent plan.

Hello,

I played a Legacy tournament this week-end and finished 1st with the following list which is almost the same I used a couple of months ago when I finished 13th during MKM Paris.

https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21401&f=LE

You can find the previous report here

The only changes I made are the following:
-1 Forest
-1 Swamp
-1 Ishkanah
-1 Grim Flayer
-1 Carnage Tyrant
+1 Savannah
+1 Underground Sea
+1 Leovold
+1 Mystic Enforcer
+1 Archon of Valor


The list:

3 Swamp
4 Forest
4 Verdant
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Underground Sea
1 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bojuka bog
1 Ghost quarter
1 Karakas
1 Phyrexian Tower

4 Veteran Explorer
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Fierce Empath
1 Eternal Witness
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Mystic Enforcer
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Archon of Valor's Reach

4 Cabal Therapy
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Hymn to Tourach
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Maelstrom Pulse

4 Abrupt Decay
2 Crop rotation
1 To the Slaughter

1 Pernicious Deed

1 Nissa, Vital Force

Sideboard

2 Lost Legacy
2 Surgical
2 Golgari Charm
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Sylvan Library
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Duress
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Massacre
1 Assassin's Trophy

So it was a 45 players tournament.
6 swiss rounds + top 8.

Quick summary:

R1 - Burn -> 2/1
R2 - DelverBlade -> 2/1
R3 - U/R Delver with Ptera -> 2/0
R4 - Slow Depths -> 2/1
R5 - Turbo Depths ->0/2
R6 - ID into top 8
R7 - BR Rea -> 2/0
R8 - D&T ->2/0
R9 - Slow Depths (R4) ->2/1

Regards,

Ralf

Congrats Ralf!

Could you explain why you felt the need for the white and blue splash for archon and leovold?
And more importantly why mystic enforcer is in the deck now? haha

I like your version of nic fit so much and every time I see it I wanna start building it. Any extra info you could provide about the deck would be appreciated.

Very nice to hear, congratulations Ralf! Winning a tournament that size with Nic Fit is not a common feat. And your list is like always an interesting take. I've liked the land package before, played it in Cloudpost Fit, and am currently playing a Hymn version, mixing them seems like a good idea..