[Deck] Next Level Threshold

[jeanbathez]

The other thing I wanted to ask everyone who has played the deck is what your opinion of trinket mage is. One of my friends who travels with me and plays NLT doesn't like trinket mage at all, and has since taken the package out and put in some spell pierces. He's also put the factory and crucible plan back in, but I've fond that to be slow and ineffective in the current metagame, but he just really like factory. I just want to hear some other opinions from people about whether they liked playing with trinket mage or not. Personally, I love the flexibility it gives you, as well as giving you maindeck outs to random problem permanents (it kind of sucks that you can't get to 4 counters to deal with planeswalkers and humility or moat, but you can still beat them with those permanents in play). For me, the ability to get collar and quickly put away aggro matchups is a great effects that ugr doesn't usually get. The fact that mage also means you're effectively running extra copies of graveyard hate is a plus with all of the graveyard based decks loping up, especially dredge.

I also like the flexibility it gives. Finding that explosives or collar was helpful in a lot of games. And it gets better in the games after SBing (i allways get those dredgedecks ;-) ) - The only "problem" i have, in some of the games before SBing, i draw the targets naturally, or don't need that second target, so sometimes i wish i had more targets, that would make it easier, but there isn't room, in my old CB-lists i was allways able to search up top.

[NesretepNoj]

I ran the deck (same list as E. English' SCG list except -1 Null Rod, -1 Gilded Drake, +1 Mind Harness, +1 Sower of Temptation in the SB) for the first time yesterday. The result was a follows:

Round one vs. Opal Affinity (without Tezz): 2-1

Game One: He had a fast start, but I stabalized at three, but I wasn't able to handle an Ethed Champion.

Game Two: Armed Lavamancer (B. Collar) + Jace.

Game Three: Lots of removal > small guys.

SB: -4 Stifle, +2 Krosan Grip, +2 Firespout.

1-0
2-1


Round two vs. Enlightend Lands: 1-0

Game One: Lavamancer deals about 20 damage through Zuran Orb. EE on Ensnaring Bridge, Stilfe and Waste on two Mazes got me through after 45 minutes of play back and forth. Basic lands FTW and he didn't drew a single Loam.

2-0
3-1

Round three vs. Gerry Thompson's BUG: 2-0

Game One: Killed his Confidants and Goyfs (blocking my own goyf) with Fire.

Game Two: Once again I focused on killing his Confidants, this time also mana screwing him with Stifle/Waste.

SB: -4 Lightning Bolt, -2 Jace, tMS, +1 Sower of Temptation, +1 REB, +1 Pyroblast, +3 Spell Pierce (should probably have been +2 Jace, tMS, -2 FoW).

3-0
5-1

Round four vs. R Goblins: 0-2 We desided to split, but both of us was there to test, so we played it out for fun.

Game One: He totally rolled me drawing Vial plus double Lackey.

Game Two: I sort of stabilized with two 3/4 Goyfs. However, two Ringleaders later drawing him eight goblins (among them two Incinerators), he rolled me again. I don't think this is such a bad matchup. He admitted himself, that he drew the stone cold nuts, so with a bit of testing and maybe adding an extra Firespout to the board, I think I'll be fine.

SB: -3 Spell Snare, +2 Firespout, +1 Mind Harness.

3-1
5-3

Random notes

- The mana base rocks. The basic mountain is really good. I didn't play against Merfolks, but haven played 4CCounterbalance before, I know it's good.

- Grim Lavamanacer is really good. Against decks, where he is not the greatest card, he does however add an element of inevitability.

- The EE was insane. Blew it three times yesterday; first time I blew five artifacts against Affinity, second time against Affinity again, I blew a Ravager and a Plating with no other creatures on the field, third time it blew an Ensnaring Bridge.

- I'm not completely sold on the Trinket Mage, but it warrents further testing.

- The sideboard in this deck adds an incredible amount of flexibility. I used almost all cards yesterday.

- Fire/Ice is simply awesome.

[Tammit67]

Goblins should be much easier than that, but cool report!

[sourcefire]

Couple quick tournament reports:

Both events were played with the stock list, except with Pithing Needle and Relic maindeck (-1 spell snare, -1 Jace)

4/16 GP:Trial at Lock Haven, PA

Round 1: New Horizons.
Game 1: We take turns ruining each other's mana base. Once we are both stuck on 2 land, I draw 3 Tarmogoyfs and he has a grip of Knights.
Game 2: He stifles a wasteland activation from me to get ahead and drops a very large Terravore. I submerge it and Clique it out of his hand when he draws it again. I drop him to 2 land again and beat with the Clique while he can't cast his threats.

Round 2: Mono White Stacks
Game 1: He wins the roll and goes ancient tomb -> chalice on 1. My hand of cantrips with no force seems a lot worse. Luckily I drop some goyfs and attack through ghostly prison. He was missing some tabernacle effect to really lock me out.
Game 2: I punt this by opting not to force a crucible of worlds when I had a clique giving him a 3 turn clock. He drops a Maze and I look groan. He does some stuff with waste and I scoop them up to have some time for a last game.
Game 3: I keep a hand of Force+ blue card and threats. Goyf gets there with 2 minutes on the clock.

Round 3: Against a friend playing my Merfolk deck. I normally relish this matchup with NLT, but this was not to be my day.
Game 1: I keep a 1 landers with ponder and brainstorm. It doesn't get there and he curves out with lords before I can recover.
Game 2: I actually have a keepable hand and use lavamancer and burn to keep him off lords. I brainstorm into a clique, see that he's out of action and the faerie gets there.
Game 3: I mulligan to 5 and keep lavamancer, 2 land, brainstorm and firespout. He plays a pithing needle on lavamancer and I suddenly in trouble. I brainstorm into more land and he gets out LoA, cursecatcher and rejereey. I have 3 land out when he has lethal on board...only hope is it cast firespout and hope he forgets about cursecatcher. When he doesn't, I scoop.
My hand game 1 should have been a mulligan and mulliganing to 5 game 3 was a drag. But that's variance I guess.

Round 4: Breakfast
Game 1: I know what he's running and I lead out a goyf on turn 2 when he doesn't have a turn 1 play. I waste some land and sit back on spot removal when goyf does 20 damage.
Game 2: I open on relic but make a mistake by tapping out for a threat when he has a vial on 1. He puts another counter on a vial, flashes in an illusionist, casts an enkor and it's off to game 3.
Game 3: I keep him off combo pieces, so he goes for the narco beat down plan. Fire//Ice gets his beaters and a clique kills him

Round 5: Burn
Game 1: He leads with lavamancer and rips a goblin guide on turn 2. I start to stabilize and I use trinket mage to grab my collar when I'm at 10 life and he has 2 cards in hand. So obviously he goes bolt, bolt, fireblast. Nice rip.
Game 2: I use lavamancer to keep his lavamancer and guide in check. I get collar online and never get below 15.
Game 3: Have to mull to 6 to find some lands. He has more turn 1 goblin guide action and the red fiery menace gets there.

Round 6: Imperial Painter (7-8 maindeck moon effects, not the Durwald build). My opponent and I are sitting at 9th and 10th, so this is a win and in round.
Game 1: Very long game and I can't remember the early game well. He never goes for grindstone, but Jitte + FoD helps him grind through my deathtouch goyfs.
Game 2: Not a lot of time left on the clock and I make it worse by fetching for a basic mountain instead of island (huge punt, been playing for 6 hours, etc..) Just a laughably bad play since he dropped a turn 2 moon and all my lands were mountains anyway. Anyway, he finishes me off quickly. I'm glad that if I didn't make top8 at least someone I know made it.

I finish 3-3, in 11th place with all 3 of my losses making top8. The trial is won by my car-mate playing merfolk, beating a u/g food chain elves deck in the finals. I'm disappointed with my play, but 6 rounds against 6 decks means a bad day playing legacy still beats a good day playing caw-standard.

4/19 Legacy Local: only 8 people this week.

Round 1: U/W/B Stiflenaught.
Game 1: I stifle some fetches and burn 2 Bobs. Grim lavamancer and collar show up early and it turns off his dreadnaught plan. Goyfs beat him while he's topping for some answers.
Game 2: I keep a hand with lavamancer and collar again and drop a pithing needle on EE. He wastes me off red mana, but luckily I can still block and kill his naughts with collared dudes. I see nothing relevant with clique and the faeries kill him.

Round 2: Affinity
Game 1: He keeps a slow hand with multiple master of etheriums. Unfortunately, this is a great hand against me. I manage to EE the first one, but the second is large and I have no outs.
Game 2: I side in a bunch of hate (null rod, k grip, 2 grudges, 2 REBs) and see none of this. He has multiple 3 drops that are awesome against me (masters and etched champions). I force one, burn out another, but can't do anything about the champion with a plating on it.

Round 3: Mono White Stacks
Game 1: Turn 1 chalice on 1 turns off half of my hand. Luckily I drop a goyf and start getting in some damage. Ghostly prison slows me down and he starts to lock me out with crucible returning mishras and wastes. I get lucky and rip a Fire//Ice when he's on 2.
Game 2: I have 2 goyfs and he has 2 magus of the tabernacle tying up everyone's mana. I rip my EE and drop it for 0 blowing up 2 of his mox diamonds. He has to let a magus go and it opens up the game a little. He has crucible returning mishras to chump block my threats, but I sneak in enough damage with wasteland that I can burn him out.

I finished 2-1 and get 3rd out of 8. B/w deadguy beats affinity to take 1st.

I like the list a lot, but I'm sure I'm still making plenty of mistakes with it (both obvious punts and subtle mistakes)

Also, new card from NPH just spoiled:

Beast Within 2G
Instant (U)
Destroy target permanent. Its controller puts a 3/3 green Beast creature token onto the battlefield.

Is a potential sideboard against troublesome permanents and/or big creatures ala kotr? Leaves them with a dude, but it takes care of the creature permanently (unlike submerge). The beast is boltable, jace-bouncable or certainly smaller than a goyf.

[chinEsE girl]

Aight, time for some spoiler theory:

Beast Within seems very interesting. It reminds me of a different kind of gilded drake. Both give your opponent a 3/3, but beast within doesn't let you keep the knight yourself. It doesn't care about opponents removal (which can screw up drake), which is a plus against junk. It also have applications versus other noncreature permanents like planeswalkers and enchantments like moat and humility.

Mental Misstep, on the other hand, is alot harder to gauge. It seems like it would be very solid, though I'm not sure if I really would want 4. A turn 7 aether vial isn't that scary, while a turn 7 goyf or confidant is much more dangerous, which is why spell snare is still better in my mind. I think I'm gonna start running 3 and seeing how that works.

[planarvoid]

So chinese whats your test results? I really think MM is really good.

[antares]

Hey y'all!

Since this deck showed up in my local game store (piloted by one of the best players), I've taken some interest on how this whole mix of control and tempo works out together. I've been reading the thread over the course of the past few days and after much thinking I'll take chinEsE girl's build for a spin in tomorrow's Bazaar of Moxen Trial w/ a few of tweaks in the sb.

The local metagame is more or less stable. We used to have a 2 Goblins players but the deck seems to have disappeared from the meta... These decks are always present:

2/3 Merfolk
4/5 Zoo (one of them being small zoo)
1/2 Dredge
2/3 BUG Landstill
2/3 NO Bant (w/ GSZ)


The rest of the meta is completed by a mix of decks that show up randomly like CAB Jace, Mighty Queen, MUC, Elves, TES, Junk, Burn, etc.

So, with that in mind, this is the SB i came up with:

3 Pyroblast
1 Null Rod
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Gilded Drake
2 Krosan Grip (is Ancient Grudge that awesome?)
2 Firespout
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spell Pierce

I'll post the results as soon as I can. I'm hoping I can at least top8 since this deck gave me a lot of confidence throughout the testing, providing grip and beatdown when necessary. It's just so mothereffin' awesome!

Btw, about Nimble Mongoose, do you guys think he's worth a shot in order to up the threat count? I wonder if it's possible to cut something like Ponders and something else to fit them in?

Cheers

[NesretepNoj]

I've tried to make a boarding plan, given the list below, what do you think about it? Should I make any changes?

1 Basilisk Collar
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Trinket Mage
4 Brainstorm
3 Fire / Ice
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Snare
4 Stifle
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Ponder
2 Island
1 Mountain
2 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Mind Harness
2 Krosan Grip
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Spell Pierce
3 Firespout

Zoo
- 1 V. Clique
- 4 FoW
+2 Mind Harness
+3 Firespout

Merfolks
- 4 Stifle
- 2/3 Spell Snare
(- 2 FoW)
+ 3 REB/PBlast
+3 Firespout
(+ 3 Spell Pierce)

Goblins
- 3 Spell Snare
+3 Firespout

Affinity
- 4 Stifle
+2 Firespout
+2 Krosan Grip

TES/ANT
- 1 EE
- 1 Collar
- 2 Trinket Mage
- 2 Jace
+3 Spell Pierce
+3 REB/PBlast

Dredge
- 1 B.Collar
- 3 Fire/Ice
- 2 Jace
- 3 Spell Snare
+2 T. Crypt
+3 Spell Pierce
+3 REB/PBlast
+1 Firespout

Junk
- 2 V. Clique
- 2 Lightning Bolt
+2 Mind Harness
+2 Spell Pierce

Counterbalance
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 3 Fire/Ice
- 1 B. Collar
+2 Krosan Grip
+3 REB/PBlast
+3 Spell Pierce

Elves
- 4 Stifle
- 1 Spell Snare
+3 Firespout
+2 Mind Harness

New Horizons
- 4 Lightning Bolt
(- X Fire/Ice)
+2 Mind Harness
+2 Spell Pierce
(+X REB/PBlast)

Lands
- 1 B. Collar
- 3 Lightning Bolt
+2 Krosan Grip
+2 T. Crypt

Force of Will Combo
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- 1 EE
- 1 Fire/Ice
+3 REB/PBlast
+3 Spell Pierce

[Plague Sliver]

If you're playing against TES, you may want to keep the Explosives/Trinket Mage package in. And I would rather have Jace than REB. REB just counters their cantrips.

[mchainmail]

Lands
-1 B. Collar
-3 Fire/Ice
+2 Krosan Grip
+2 T. Crypt

Take out Bolts before Fire//Ice. Ice can get around Maze of Ith.

[antares]

So yesterday's tournament didn't go as well as I expected, unfortunatly. There were 21 players (national holiday, many of the usual players went on vacation) and the field was completely different from past tournaments. There were a lot of unexpected decks bt overall it was nice to see so many changes.
Anyway, I went 1-3 after a promising start which makes me a bit sad because I know I could have posted a better result.

Round 1: Slivers 2-0

I remember my opening hand of Stifle, Stifle, Waste, fetch, fetch, FoW and Brainstorm. I just wreck his mana base and draw 2 more Stifles, Jace, and 2 Goyf in the process. He never had much going on. Sick.

+ 2 Firespout; - can't remember

Game 2 I ride Vendilion and Collared Goyf to victory after landing Jace again and brainstorming for the perfecct hand

Round 2: Small Zoo 1-2

Game 1 went on for like 30min but I managed to win after stabilizing at 5 life, 4 Wasteland, 4 Stifle, Landing a Jace followed by a Goyf and countering anything that could threaten my control of the board

- 2 Vendilion, -2 Ponder; + 2 Firespout; +2 Gilded Drake

Game 2 was heading the same way as G1 but this time I guess he topdecked all the answers he needed. I had him at 2 and I was at 12 but a timely Bolt on a Lavamancer and a swing for 12 with KotR and Goyf were enough to put me down- still, I brainstormed hoping to find a Fire/Ice but only found a Jace, Bolt and another Goyf on top :s the 4th card was the much needed F/I.
G3 with less than 10 mins on the clock was kinda rough and I lost on the 3rd turn of overtime due to my spectacular draw fetch, crack it- draw fetch, crack it- draw Trop :c he showed me his hand afterwards and he had Chain, Bolt, Fireblast. Nice. Hand.

R3: Stoneforge Bant

Mull to 5 in G1, he Spell Pierces my Brainstorm, FoW's a Bolt and manages to Daze my Vendilion while I'm getting smashed by Goyfs and Mystics. Not close...

- 4 FoW, -2 Vendilion; + 2 Firespout, +2 Pyroblast, +2 Spell Pierce

Mull to 6 after a no-lander. Fucking up is mana base doesn't seem like such a great ideia when he starts w/ t1 Forest, Noble and after getting all is duals Wasted he still manages to Spell Pierce my Bolt aimed at Noble, drop a Goyf, send my Vendilion farming, and to my frustration I Firespout, he FoW's; I Pyro the FoW, he Spell Pierces; I pay 2 and he has yet ANOTHER Spell Pierce. Awesome...
I was feeling pretty wrecked by now but I could still make Top8 if I went 3-2 since there would always be two guys with 9pts making the cut.

R4: Merfolk

I thought this would be a perfect round since Merfolk was such a favorable match-up but I was a bit on the back-foot since I had already lost to Zoo which is technically a good MU. Every single game vs. Merfolk during testing involved me stabilizing at 6 or so, dropping a Jace, making him run out of gas and ride the Dream Team of Goyf+Jace ftw.
With this in mind, G1 gets to a point where I have a lone Lavamancer and he has a 3/3 Coralhelm and a Standstill. We're both out of cards in hand and I topdeck Vendilion and cast it in desperation while only having 3 lands. He draws 3 finds Daze as the 3rd card and crushes my hopes and dreams.

-4 Stifle, -1 Ponder; +2 Firespout, +1 Grip, +2 Pyroblast

Typical game, early beats, I burn his dudes with Lavamancer but he has 2 Mutavaults and I have no cards in the yard. I land Jace and start brainstorming for dudes and removal. I find a Waste, kill one Mutavault and play Goyf. From this point I start fate-sealing and keep him from drawing more creatures. He just keeps drawing and saying go. He has 3 cards in hand and I'm at 2 life (Lavamancer died chumping the lone Mutavault on the other side of the table) holding a Brainstorm and land while Jace is at 11 loyalty. He simply plays Submerge on Goyf and when I try to go for Brainstorm he just FoW's it... Damn.

So 1-3, a very disappointing finish. I guess the worst part (besides being crushed by two favorable MU's) was when the Bant player I lost to said to his friend "His deck? It was some kind of threshold but I think it was very weak!". Well... that got me pretty pissed so I started discussing ideas with a friend of mine and he said that he thought for that metagame,a version with Punising Fire+ Grove of the Burnwillows instead of Lavamancer+Trinket Mage+Collar with be best since it would almost certainly crush aggro decks. Idk if that combo is necessary since it would make the mana base a bit shaky and wierd and it would make you give up tempo for inevitability...

To wrap it up, my best friend avenged me, squashing that Bant bloke, making top8 and finishing 4th. Congratz on that!
I'm not giving up this deck- loved the synergy, cool plays and Lavamancer+Collar still turns heads here in Portugal!

[chinEsE girl]

Well, sorry to hear that your tournament didn't go as planned. Sometime you get some rough luck and just don't get there. I've recently been having some bad luck with the deck as well, like in SCG Boston where I got beat round one by sneak attack show & tell and just dropped to save myself from being stressed out all day. At the very least, AJ Sacher made top 8 with a deck that was reeeaaaalllly close to NLT, just about the only thing missing were some goyfs. Instead he ran more jace, lavamancer, and trinket mage action. Strangely, there were no bolts, which really surprised me, but I guess he just just never got paired against goblins ever. He also had a one of dreadnaught for mageing up when he had an extra stifle, which is a very intriguing idea that some of my teammates came up with just a week before the tournament. It has some merit in his deck, giving him a big boom boom against decks that can't handle it, and it doesn't end up being the focus of the deck (which is why I hate decks with 3 or more dreadnaughts). But overall, bad tournaments can happen, so just roll with it. I mean after I dropped in Boston, I just entered the draft open and promptly took it down, nbd :)

[Plague Sliver]

Played NLT last night without Stifles (Next Level Control?).

Round 1: 2-0 win vs. Bant (similar to Caleb's list) - won the attrition war even though he landed Jace Game 1. Game 2 Mind Harness and REBs were great.

Round 2: 0-2 loss vs. mono red Goblins - got overrun game 1. Game 2 I punted due to not blowing up EE to pump my own Goyf.

Round 3: 2-0 win vs. White Stax - won quite easily, I think this is a good matchup. I took my time to set up the EE @ 3.

Round 4: 2-1 win vs. Tezz Affinity - Firespout = MVP. Fire/Ice = MVP no. 2.

I've been testing without Stifles and adding things like Counterspell. I think it will be good to run this deck at Providence only with Misstep instead of Spell Pierce. I have to admit my list looks like a pile on paper but it's performed decently in testing. No terrible matchups yet.

More on Stifle - I've seen AJ and others run Stiflenaught but the more I see Stifle in action the less impressed I am with it. Especially in a post-Misstep world, it's not worth the card slots IMO. The list is tight enough as it is and even if you can deny them mana in the early game, it's not certain that you can close out using the card. If I were to run Stifles I would max out at maybe 2 copies and just make them play around it in Games 2 and 3.

I know Stifle has been discussed infinite times both in this thread and 1,000,000 other threads, just want to throw in my two cents. My list is starting to look more like Counterbalance-less Counterbalance, if that makes any sense. Since I'm playing Jace and Trinket Mage, the preference towards control is natural IMO.

[Koby]

Played NLT last night without Stifles (Next Level Control?).

...
My list is starting to look more like Counterbalance-less Counterbalance, if that makes any sense. Since I'm playing Jace and Trinket Mage, the preference towards control is natural IMO.

Unbalanced and Topless. :D

I've had similar results with Stifle as well. It's so underwhelming, and since we're not in the business of mana denial, including Stifle for that purpose isn't very useful. Spell Snare has been pretty good, as well as 2x Counterspell. I can see swapping the numbers on Lightning Bolt and Fire/Ice (3 Bolt 4 Fire/Ice) for increased utility. I think the 3rd Vendilion Clique would also be useful in the updated list too.

[Rune]

since we're not in the business of mana denial

Mana denial has always been a part of the deck's strategy, but not necessarily the main one. Some games you take your opponent's manabase to the woodshed, other times you play more like traditional control instead. It all depends on the opponent, hand, play/draw, etc.

I wouldn't blame anyone for not playing Stifle, because in the end it's a matter of personal preference, but I have always found the card to be very versatile and strong. It does something useful in almost every matchup. It can also be kind of a mindfuck to play against, since it makes mulliganing decisions a lot harder for the opponent. This unpredictability makes the deck harder to play against (and with), since it can attack from more angles and follow a different strategy each game, unlike a CB deck that just tries to do the same thing again and again. It also means you need to know when to give you up on mana-screwing and transition into some other way of controlling your opponent.

Stifle and the red cards also go hand in hand. A Stifle-less Urg deck will not be able to play as aggressively as a Urg deck with Stifle, and so your burn spells will lose a bit of their power because they don't give as much reach anymore. In addition to being a very good offensive card, it's also a good defensive tool when you need to protect your manabase from opposing Wastes. Again, it's all about versatility.


Someone (I think it was Mike Flores) once said that every good deck needs a nut draw. In NLT's case, I think Stifle is a card that can do this, because sometimes it can just make the game end on turn 1. Also, I think Stifle got better due to Mental Misstep. I suspect people will think they are more safe from Stifle because they have MM in hand, but then you come over the top with your own MM and it's lights out. MM also counters cantrips that are digging for land. But then again, every blue deck is probably gonna play 3-4 Missteps, so they just cancel each other out

[mairou]

In NLT's case, I think Stifle is a card that can do this, because sometimes it can just make the game end on turn 1.

I have to second this. Stifle is the most versatitle card in this whole deck. One stifle can change the way how game goes. 4 Stifle + 4 Wasteland gives so much edge against most of current decks, espicially TAmerica and Zoo. Also against goblins it can stifle vital Matron/Ringleader trigger and so on. Stifle is also a great answer to Storm combo decks. I would never cut stifles from NLT list. And being an ex-dreadstill player I also added 1-off dreadnaught to my list, which is also a reason not to cut Stifles.
Reason why I added Dreadnaught is because it can be somewhat unexpected and can win games pretty fast, if not answered.

I finished 2nd last weekends tournament. With record 5-1-2, only loss in finals. This was my 3rd tournament with NLT and previous finishes were 4-1, and 5th place with Tiebreakers. 4-2-1, top8 and loss, 5-8th place. So my overall record with NLT is 13 WIN, 3 LOSS, 3 TIE (2 of them ID). I started playing with cHinEse girl's list, and then I have tweaked it.

So here is my current list:

4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Volcanic Island
3 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland
2 Island
1 Mountain

4 Tarmogoyf
3 Grim Lavamancer
2 Trinket Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought

4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Fire//Ice
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

SB:

3 Spell Pierce
2 Hibernation
2 Null Rod
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Firespout
2 Pyroblast
1 Engineered Explosives 
1 Vedalken Shackles

Won: Merfolk x2, Zoo, Bant, Affinity (w/Tezz). Lost: Merfolk.

Some explanations of card choices:

MD:

-1 Basilisk Collar // +1 Phyrexian Dreadnaught
I cutted basilisk collar for it being to slow and easily disrupted.. Although I know, and I have been able to use collar, it has been underperforming for me. With now possibility of nutdraw 2nd turn Phyrexian Dreadnaught deck can be suprisingly fast, and still be constistent if plan fails..

SB:

Sideboard has gone more dramatic changes. I think that Bant and Rock are the worst matchups for us, where as Gilded Drake was good getting KotR, I didn't do much else. And bant having the option to go turn 3 NO into Progenitus, I think that progenitus is bigger consern than KotR. Vedalken Shackles and 2 Hibernations are very good options and I instantly felt that I had better matchup against bant. One faul in my SB was not to remember add a Pithing Needle to sideboard. It would have been in value at finals.

I might be adding Basilisk Collar somewhere in the 75, but with new additions of NPH (Mental Misstep and Phyrexian Metamorph(This card is awesome, answers to Emrakul and progenitus, jitte etcetc.), Im not quite sure how.

[Hanni]

The point of the Stifle/Wasteland package isn't to act as mana denial, in an effort to manascrew the opponent. It's use is to slow down the opponent's mana production early, setting them back a little from resolving bigger spells (3cc+), as well as keeping them off of color splashes. The slowing them down aspect might not seem important, but it helps this deck to get ahead on mana sources and take greater advantage of Daze. One tempo effect isn't what sets this deck up, it's the combined effect of all of the tempo effects acting together. If the opponent's manabase is stuck in the 1cc and 2cc range, Mental Misstep and Spell Snare become stronger. If the opponent is attempting to resolve 3cc spells with only 3 lands, Daze becomes stronger, so on and so forth.

That doesn't necessarily mean Stifle/Wasteland is necessary, especially if you're going for a more controlling build, I just wanted to cite my opinion on the Stifle/Waste package.

My 2 cents.

[The Treefolk Master]

@Plague Sliver: Care to post your list?

[tangram]

Disclaimer: non-English speaking native.

Took AJ Sacher's Next Level Threshold list (-1 Spell Snare, +1 Spell Pierce) to my local FMN for 3 rounds of Legacy finishing 1st.

Round 1 - Mono Black Control (2-1)
Game 1: He goes first and drops an Urbog I look the Wasteland in my hand have the distinct felling that he kept a one-lander. With the Urbog he rituals out a Phyrexian Arena that gets Force of Willed. After Wastelanding the Urbog he doesn't make any land drops. I play a Jace and start fateseling letting him keep a Bojuka Bog at some point with once again a Wasteland in hand. Jace goes for the distance.
Game 2: He rituals out a Phyrexian Arena on the first turn and I don't have a Force of Will in hand. I can't manage to advance further than 3 lands thanks to his Wasteland. Eventually the Phyrexian Arena simply overwhelms me.
Game 3: Spell Pierce a Duress and Spell Snare a Hymn to Tourach. He once again manages to drop a Phyrexian Arena and me a Jace on the following turn. His draws are blanks for a while which allows me to ramp up Jace and bounce Tombstalkers. An Engineered Explosives blows up two menacing looking Nankuto Shades.
The turning point is me fecthing and landing a Pithing Needle on a tapped Nevynirral's Disk with him on 6 life. Jace does his work stalling a Skriekmaw and he died to his own Arena.

Round 2 - CounterBalance Thopter (2-0)
Game 1: An early Wasteland and Stifle manage to stop his development beyond 2 land for a few turns. He tries to resolve a Counterbalance but that gets Spell Snared. His limited mana development was enough for me to play and protect Jace. With Jace on the table the game became trivial.
Game 2: The 4x Pyroblast help the matchup be even more favourable. At some point we have a counter war over an end of turn Vendilion Clique: Counterspell, Spell Snare, Force of Will, Pyroblast and the Clique steals his Veldaken Shackles. On my turn I resolve a Jace and don't loose control of the game thanks to multiple +0 activations.

Round 3 - Speed Goblins (2-1)
Game 1: I go first and keep a greedy hand. He drops a Goblin Guide and soon adds a Zendikar double-strike Goblin with Maniac Strenght in response to a Fire // Ice on that Goblin and a Bushwacker. I die shortly after.
Game 2: Again Goblin Guide on his first turn but I manage to control the board with Trinket Mage for Basilisk Collar and Grim Lavamancer at 2 life. Bit by bit I manage to crawl back to double digits and win.
Game 3: Once again Goblin Guide on his first turn which payed off for me thanks to a Brainstorm staking lands. I manage to Pyroblast creatures in response to pump spells and have a full grip of the game with Jace, Basilisk Collar, counters and Fire // Ice. Two timely Spell Snares protect the Grim Lavamancer which kindly deals letal.

Remarks:
- Jace was a monster. Most games ended up being attrition games and in each Jace completely ruled the match
- Stifle endedup up being sided out alot. Aside from the CB Thopther match I took it out allways. 2 in 3 match I faced mono colored decks.
- Dreadnought was sided out in every game. I can't help but wondering that Tarmogoyf would have made a better job, plus he'd carry the Collar like a champ
- Pretty much all games took a long time to finish has I didn't have a beater (missed Tarmogoyf). Vendilion Clique helped but still felt like a beater was in order
- Loved the Trinket Mage package, namely the Collar and Engineered Explosives
- Spell Snare reveled itself has much better than Spell Pierce
- Pyroblast / Hydroblast are amazing

[chinEsE girl]

Alright time for some serious necro here.

With misstep getting the ban, and stifle actually beating bad players once again, I think it's time to look at NLT again. I'm not exactly sure what I want my new list to look like, but I'll just give a small preview by noting that I'll be snapcasting a lot of stifles of unsuspecting players in the near future.