First up, what most of you probably came here for: the list.

4 Veteran Explorer
2 Eternal Witness
3 Wood Elves
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan

3 Sensei’s Divining Top

3 Pernicious Deed

4 Cabal Therapy
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Burning Wish
2 Scapeshift
2 Maelstrom Pulse

2 Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
4 Taiga
2 Bayou
3 Badlands
1 Stomping Ground
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
5 Forest
3 Mountain
2 Swamp

//SB
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Phyrexian Arena
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Reanimate
1 Innocent Blood
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Scapeshift
1 Damnation
1 Virtue’s Ruin
1 Tsunami
1 Pulverize


If things don't make sense to you, that's fine -- but I'm not going to explain them here, when there have been pages of discussion in the Nic Fit thread. If you're interested, go there and I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have =)

For this event, we were able to gather a car of 5. Luckily, one of the five had access to a van, which meant that the ride up was much more comfortable than it would have otherwise been. After some minor seating rearrangements (I was the last to get picked up, but am also our usual driver, so I know the way better than anyone else in the car), we were on our way up. About an hour and forty-five later, we arrived at Jupiter's Johnson City location.

I'm loaning a friend an experimental version of Nic Fit, which meant that I had to wait for the orders to come in to finish my deck, as I did not previously own 7 Green Sun's Zeniths or 6 Pernicious Deeds. Once that was taken care of, I offloaded some stuff for Ken Adams to look through, and went to do battle. There were somewhere over 60 people, I believe, but I don't recall the exact number.

Round 1: Bill Boulden with U/R Delver

My 7 is unkeepable, so I pitch down to 6. My 6 has double Explorer, Therapy, a pair of business, and a pair of red producing lands. I'm on the draw, and decide that my 5 isn't going to be better, so I sit on it. Naturally I don't draw a green source, and it's off to the boards.

I board out some of a Wish or two and one of the maindeck Scapeshifts, as U/R traditionally plays Price of Progress, and going all in on Scapeshift only to die in response to the Valakut triggers was not something I wanted to experience. The REBs came in, but I don't think I boarded in anything else.

Game two, despite boarding one out, I had a pretty quick Scapeshift victory. My opponent reboarded for game three, doubtless bringing Daze back in for the play, while I shuffled, and then shuffled some more. Scapeshift clumps lands like a bitch.

Game three was something of a rollercoaster. He got me to 2 life, at which point I introduced him to his new friend, Thragtusk. The Tusk bought me some much-needed time, and I was able to swing for lethal with the help of a REB for his Snapcaster that wanted to block. Considering I didn't see a Huntmaster, I was surprised that the match was winnable without it.

1-0, 2-1.

Round 2: Carson with Burn

Carson seemed to be pretty new to his deck, from the number of Fire/Lightning cards present and the way he played it. He also confessed to only getting three hours of sleep the night before. Nonetheless, he proved to be dangerous. As we were shuffling for game one, he revealed a lot of burn cards. I don't explicitly look for information while my opponent shuffles, but when someone is as obvious about it as Carson was, it's hard to not view their deck on display.

Game one saw Carson have about the best hand burn can have vs Nic Fit: the one-lander with tons of gas. He very quickly reduced my life total to 0, although if I had one more turn, I would have been able to Scapeshift for the win, as he had no cards in hand, but a Rift Bolt on suspend.

Nothing was boarded here. Game two, he got me to 7 fairly quickly, at which point the Tusk showed up. I Wished for Cranial, took away his Prices, then Scapeshifted at 4 life for the kill.

Game three was anticlimatic. I had ample Huntmaster and Tusk presence, and I actually ended the game at 20 life.

2-0, 4-2.

Round 3: Matt with TES.

My Nic Fit apprentice had narrowly lost round 1 to this fellow, so I had a bit of foreknowledge going in. He had an unfortunate mull to 5 game one, which I made substantially worse with Therapy->Explorer->Therapy shenanigans. We draw-go for a few turns, until I Wish for, and cast, Cranial Extraction. He brainstorms in response, and I name LED. Apparently he'd expected me to name Burning Wish, as I'd known he had one in his hand from Therapy's flashback, so he tucked it away for value. As a result, his Wish got shuffled away. Huntmaster joined the field, and immediately flipped as he was unwilling to cast a spell, opting to hold it for storm count. Matt was then forced to try to Ad Nauseum from 11, having made his land drop, burned through two Petals, and had his LEDs extracted. He killed himself with AdN.

I brought in the REBs for value, to shut down early cantrips, Brainstorms in response to Therapy, and possibly Diminishing Returns if we got to that point.

Game two he made 16 quick goblins. I dropped Huntmaster to buy a tiny bit of time, and proceeded to rip Maelstrom Pulse off the top. Unfortunately, the card he drew after Emptying his Warrens was a Silence, which had been used on my upkeep. Awkward.

Game three he mulled, and kept a sketchy hand on the draw. We agreed afterward that it was a good idea, since he was on the draw, and going down further against my deck was a poor idea. I ran out a quick Therapy, and saw Chant x2, Iggy, Infernal, Gemstone Mine, and Rite of Flame. He proceeded to rip land, and chanted me for the next two turns, while using Infernal Tutor without hellbent to get closer to going off. He gambled that I didn't have a creature to flashback Therapy with, however, and naturally I did. I proceeded to rip his hand apart, and then Valakut-d him from 16. The mountains were angry.

3-0, 6-3.

A win here and I could double ID in.

Round 4: Alan with Sneak and Show.

I'm praying for Maverick, but I know my luck isn't that good. I open with Therapy, and call Brainstorm (my go-to for unknown opponents). I hit blind, and see Show and Tell, Ponder, Flusterstorm, Island, Tarn, Misty. My hand is rather land-light, but it does sport a Burning Wish and a Primeval Titan. A crazy plan begins to hatch in my mind...

I run out Burning Wish next turn, which gets Flusterstormed. Eternal Witness happens, getting back Burning Wish, and flashing back Therapy. Now, most people would name Show and Tell here. But, again, I had a crazy plan, so I named Sneak Attack instead, thinking that he was avoiding Showing because he didn't know what he was playing against. His unknown was Intution, which if I'd thought about it, that would have made a lot more sense. He proceeds to Intuit for triple Griselbrand, and Shows me his demon next turn. I show him my Primeval Titan, and grab lands.

I Pulse his Griselbrand, he draws 7 and whiffs, so the demon dies. Now, obviously he has Sneak/Emrakul in hand, because otherwise, the Pulse wouldn't have resolved, and I would have been forced to Wish for Blood to get rid of it. Unfortunately, my mana situation does not allow me to Cranial him. I have two Badlands and a Phyrexian Tower out. I proceed to manage to find the ONE line I could adopt wherein I could actually lose the game: I miscount my mana, sac Titan, and Wish for Reanimate to bring his demon back on my side.

Naturally, he had Sneak/Emrakul (he later told me he topdecked the Emrakul. goddamnit). I draw 7, sac down to the Tower, a Taiga I think, and Griselbrand, who blocks Emrakul. I rebuild really well, saccing an Explorer to my Tower, then dropping a Huntmaster and a Top. Unfortunately, he has rips another Emrakul, and I manage to lose an unloseable game.

Here's the problem: either I could have sacced the Primeval Titan and then Reanimate the Titan again for a Valakut kill (he was at 5...the two mountains would have killed him), -or- I could have just not sacced the Titan, in which case I would have still had the Titan after the Emrakul swing, and it would have punched through for lethal the following turn.

Game two is an exercise in molestation. He hardcasts a Leyline of Sanctity via Lotus Petal at some point, taking away whatever interaction I have, then makes Griselbrand and rides it to victory. Sanctity is actually why I'm not that upset about punting game one....I don't think I could have beaten him game 3 anyway. Sneak with Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard is one of the worst possible matchups for this deck.

3-1, 6-5.

Round 5: Greg with RUG.

I'm the highest of the 9-pointers, with absurd 75% breakers. As such, I feel this is a win-and-in for me.

After against nothing but burn and combo all day, I was pretty stoked when Greg led off with a Delver. He proceeds to get the double Delver, double Wasteland nut high, and tears me a new anus.

I board in REBs, and we're off to the races. Game two is a crazy grindfest. He gets me low, I drop the Tusk. Tusk holds the fort for a while. He finds Delver, I find Huntmaster. At some point the 2nd Tusk joins the fray. I end the game at 17 with Scapeshift, after having dipped to 5 at one point.

I don't remember what happened in game three very well, but I do remember him mulling to 5. He did a grand total of 3 damage to me this game. I Scapeshifted him to death from 18.

4-1, 8-6.

Round 6: Alec with UW Miracles.

I'm hoping that we can just draw in, since we're the two highest 12-pointers. However, there's a lot of confusion because a 12-pointer got paired down to a 10, so we play for a while to see what happens, but agree that if the 10-pointer is victorious, we can ID in.

Game one he sticks a fast CBTop, and happens to have Vendilion Clique floating. The damn Clique proceeds to rape my 3-drops, which is supposed to be one of the hardest number for them to hit. I start Valakut-ing the old fashioned way, popping off his Ajani Vengeant and punching his Jace a few times with the fury of the greenest win condition ever. I almost stabilize, but he EoT Entreats for 5, and I'm dead momentarily thereafter.

I do some weird boarding here, bringing in all of the relevant wish targets at the expense of my Burning Wishes. My thought is that he's probably going to keep COunterbalance in (spoiler alert, he didn't), so I wouldn't be able to get to my real game-breakers like Tsunami and Cranial. I also board out a few Veteran Explorers, because he can take advantage of the mana as easily as I can, and I have Wood Elves as a backup engine anyway.

He stumbles on mana game two, and I bury him in card advantage after dropping the 2nd Phyrexian Arena (balls deep). He starts to make land drops, but I'm so far ahead on cards and board state that he can't catch up, and we go to game three.

At some point here we find out that the 10-pointer lost, so we're playing for real. After an absurdly long game three, we draw in turns with me at 30 life, him at 7, and me representing lethal on board. He runs with some bravado that he had business coming, but a friend who was watching the game from his side said he had like a Path and three lands on top of his deck. Regardless, my friend pointed out to me that I had like three ways I could have won that game as well that I didn't see at the time. Unfortunate, but given the pairings and the matchups in the top 8, I was actually okay with how it ended up.

4-1-1, 9-7-1.

7 of 8 want to split top 8 and go home, netting just over $200 each cash-value. Unfortunately, that last person wants to play, so we're battling again soon. The Top 8 had a few matches I was okay with, Sneak, MUD, and 12post, all of which I am definitely NOT okay with, as I lose to all of those decks (especially given that the Sneak deck was the one I lost to earlier, with Sanctities in the board).

I, however, am paired up against an old friend...

Top 8: Bill Boulden, U/R Delver. Again.

I don't even remember much of these games...they were largely a blur. They also took probably upwards of an hour and a half to complete.

He played very cautiously game one, which gave me all the time in the world to set up. Some number of Huntmasters and Thragtusks later, I ended the game at 19 life, having never dipped below 15. Actually, I seem to recall him scooping to the second Thragtusk when he was at 7.

Game two also dragged, although I failed to see any Huntmasters or Thragtusks. I finally found a Huntmaster late in the game, but he had a mise Hydroblast for it. Next turn he combokilled me from 11 with double Bolt -> Snapcaster -> Lavamancer. Awkward.

Game three he mulled to five, but had in his words "the best five he could possibly have." I went land go, and he led with Delver. I played a land from my hand in case of Daze, and REBed his Delver, which got a "seriously?" reaction. We durdled back and forth for a while. I topped into land, Huntmaster, Thragtusk and restrained myself from giggling. He had a Lavamancer that I really wanted to be rid of before I dropped Huntmaster, so he couldn't just Mance it away. As such, I Wished for Innocent Blood....only to realize I'd boarded it in like a moron. I grabbed a Pulse instead, and nuked it next turn....but I was flustered enough that I forgot to play my land for turn! He wasted me, then Cliqued on draw step, putting the Tusk on the bottom of my deck, leaving me with Huntmaster and some random cards...but no 4th land. The clique trigger, however, drew me into the land that was still floating on top of my deck, which let me deploy Big Hunts. We traded blows a bit, Tusk happened at some point, and I tried to Zenith out the 2nd Tusk to end the game....which got Dazed. He beat me to 6, Chain'd me, and offered his hand.

The guy that wanted to play it out lost in the top 8 to Maverick, so the top 4 split. I picked up a Mox Pearl with my prize, went for an Applebees celebratory feast, endured the trip home, and immediately passed out in one of the deepest sleeps I've had in a long while. Playing all 3 games every round with a fairly challenging deck is exhausting, especially when they're all against combo or burn!

Deck was actually fine. I made some poor decisions that cost me some games, but I didn't have any trouble with the deck, and I don't have anything that's on my immediate change list. I'm fairly happy with her =)

Props:
Veteran Explorer for being awesome.
Being a Cabal Therapy ninja.
My opponents for being generally awesome.
Jupiter for continual excellence.
Doug McKay for providing me with the henceforth official Huntmaster Wolf token.

Slops:
Long, exhausted car ride home.
Valakut math for being hard.
Not seeing obscure Primeval Titan plays.

I won't be able to make Mythic's event this Saturday due to a prior obligation at our LGS, but I will see everyone at Jupiter's next event on the 8th =)