[Deck] Nic Fit (GBx Explorer Zenith Control)

[fireiced]

After lurking for so long (about 8 mths?) I believe both Tao and Qweerios have their own valid arguments of SB plan and style. Each of us play in a different meta (or so I assume) and there are definitely cards where one will find stellar against a particular type of deck while another will find the same cards useless or weak against that particular type of deck. Let's face it, not every Omni-tell deck is the same card for card as legacy is also a pet format where people will play cards they love. Amid Tao's and Qweerios' heated discussions, I believe us fellow Nic-Fitters can see for ourselves and actually try out their recommended type of SB cards against certain matchups and use the cards that best suit our own playstyle and meta.

Also, let's not put Esperblade(SFM, Jace, Souls, Counterspells) and Deathblade(SFM, Bob, Jace, Deathrite, Discard) in the same basket. Esperblade is more reactive and has much heavier disruption and a slower clock that relies on a couple of cards. They are more likely to try and Jace you out with counter backup. Deathblade is more proactive, has a very low blue count and uses a fish approach with a lot of CA. They have more small annoyances that have to be dealt with and much less disruption. They will use their Jace for CA and take a much bigger hit from Deed.

I will also like to point out Qweerios' short and sweet comparison of Esperblade and Deathblade is extremely accurate. I just tested extensively today against both decks as Scapewish. Differences between both decks are subtle but our lines of play are extremely different. Against Esperblade I usually go for early therapies on brainstorm and JTMS when they approach 4 mana. Deathblade on the other hand I usually hold back therapies for the dreaded Batterskull as their varied angles of clocks (Bob, Deathrite and Clique) are manageable without the hassle of that lifelink EQ, I could actually race Deathblade quite well. Slaughter Games of Jace the Wallet Sculptor is always awesome against both decks thou.

SB-wise, I leave Explorers and Deed against Deathblade while taking them out against Esperblade.

@Arianrhod
After so much testing against these 2 decks [I explained before my meta is infested with U-Blade variants and combo (ANT, Belcher)] do you think the inclusion of Massacre is decent? There are times when they board in GoST and I really need an answer to it ASAP and usually cannot Innocent Blood the Douchbag as there is a Deathrite protecting him whereas Pyroclasm mana is too far off. I need to wish and sweep as my opponents usually Have a discard for my sweeps if I wait a turn.

[Iron Buddha]

I think Qweerios' list is pretty much as perfect as it gets except three objections:
1. What is the point of 2 Eternal Witness? I've seen them in so many lists (as a 2 of) but no talking or any arguing about it.
2. Gitixian Probe is just outright awful. It's not that you can just go off like Storm after having checked that the path is free.
3. The difference between Pernicious Deed and Damnation is not that big. I can easily see running a 2/2 split or 3/1 or 4 Damnation. However I think that Abrupt Decay should definitely be a 4 of, because this card gives so much percentages against all Tempo Thresh variants. Maelstrom on the other is in my opinion inferior to all of them, Deed, Damnation, Decay.

[Qweerios]

I think Qweerios' list is pretty much as perfect as it gets except three objections:
1. What is the point of 2 Eternal Witness? I've seen them in so many lists (as a 2 of) but no talking or any arguing about it.
2. Gitixian Probe is just outright awful. It's not that you can just go off like Storm after having checked that the path is free.
3. The difference between Pernicious Deed and Damnation is not that big. I can easily see running a 2/2 split or 3/1 or 4 Damnation. However I think that Abrupt Decay should definitely be a 4 of, because this card gives so much percentages against all Tempo Thresh variants. Maelstrom on the other is in my opinion inferior to all of them, Deed, Damnation, Decay.

Eternal Witness is our Snapcaster. She is good early to bring back a Decay, sac to Therapy, make a land drop, and/or chump. She is good late to bring back a Jace, a Deed, a Thragtusk, a Volrath/Tower. The main reasons why I always had 2 in my mainboard is because you want a Witness to be available at all times with GSZ and you cannot afford to have your single copy exiled (Two Towers). You could get away with 1 Witness but I would rather add in a 3rd than cut her down to 1.

Gitaxian Probe is just outright godly. Hand information is the best way to sequence your plays properly. Seeing a Stifle/Pierce/SFM/Bob/Wastelands... or anything really will let you know right away how to fetch, spend your mana, brainstorm, what to GSZ for. Probe also happens to have some serious synergy with Cabal Therapy. Let's not forget that Probe is also blue and helps us reach that critical blue count for FoW post-board.

I can see the 2/2 split being a good idea, it is a legitimate choice as far as dealing with creatures go (which is the bulk of Deed's duties). What I have issues with is how narrow Damnation is vs. Deed. It is hard to Deed away a Tombstalker but it happens quite often when Jace and Selkie fends him off for a while. Comparatively, Damnation won't deal with equipments, Rest in Peace/Helm, Counterbalance, Sylvan Library, etc... in addition to sweeping the board of all creatures while also leaving your Witness/Thrun/Thragtusk/Titan on the field. Damnation is also worst at dealing with flipped Delvers and Lingering Souls as it ends up costing an additional mana and sweeps your side as well. The double black in the cost can also be prohibitive when you are trying to reach 4 mana for Jace (I usualy go for Forest, Swamp, Island, Island, Forest, Swamp and avoid dual lands at all times). Against RUG for example, I can't just sweep the Delvers and Mongeese while keeping my Ooze on the board. At 4 mana, Damnation not only gives Delvers another swing, but they also give your opponent additional disruption against your answers. You can Stifle a Deed, but you can also Waste the second black source, Waste the 3rd land, Stifle the 4th land, Daze at 4 mana, Pierce at 5... Then take Jund, Rock, or Maverick for another example, Damnation will get rid of that Deathrite, Bob, and KotR, but your Thrun will go as well and their Sylvan Library, and Jitte will remain.

Also, glad you agree with me that Pulse is a thing of the past.

[Tao]

- I had the same reservations as you about Gitaxian Probe which is why I had never tried it but after Qweerios posted about it I finally did. I should have tried it sooner. It is amazing. Especially opening hands with Therapy + probe are on a completely different level. These are often complete blowouts. It is so nice to not have to wait which land he plays or blindly call Brainstorm. It regularly gives you a free card for 0 Mana and not just "a" card but the best card from your opponent's hand.

It isn't all that bad on its own either. Play around Daze or not? Play around Swords to Plowshares or Thoughtseize with your Explorer? Blow the Deed already? Am I in danger of dying to Lightning Bolts?

- Qweerios and I were the most active on BUG lists and we added the second Witness at about the same time I think. Not sure who added it first. Since then there was no discussion about it, it just feels like the right number to me and I imagine it is the same for him. Three would be too many, one would be too few, that is my experience. When I played with only 1 I regularly wished I had a second copy later on. Qweerios has 23 lands and Stronghold while I have no Stronghold (2 Creeping Tar Pits and only 22 lands) so Witness gets a bit more important for him, but even without it I think that 2 is the right number.

[Tao]

I can see the 2/2 split being a good idea, it is a legitimate choice as far as dealing with creatures go (which is the bulk of Deed's duties). What I have issues with is how narrow Damnation is vs. Deed. It is hard to Deed away a Tombstalker but it happens quite often when Jace and Selkie fends him off for a while. Comparatively, Damnation won't deal with equipments, Rest in Peace/Helm, Counterbalance, Sylvan Library, etc... in addition to sweeping the board of all creatures while also leaving your Witness/Thrun/Thragtusk/Titan on the field. Damnation is also worst at dealing with flipped Delvers and Lingering Souls as it ends up costing an additional mana and sweeps your side as well. The double black in the cost can also be prohibitive when you are trying to reach 4 mana for Jace (I usualy go for Forest, Swamp, Island, Island, Forest, Swamp and avoid dual lands at all times). Against RUG for example, I can't just sweep the Delvers and Mongeese while keeping my Ooze on the board. At 4 mana, Damnation not only gives Delvers another swing, but they also give your opponent additional disruption against your answers. You can Stifle a Deed, but you can also Waste the second black source, Waste the 3rd land, Stifle the 4th land, Daze at 4 mana, Pierce at 5... Then take Jund, Rock, or Maverick for another example, Damnation will get rid of that Deathrite, Bob, and KotR, but your Thrun will go as well and their Sylvan Library, and Jitte will remain.

That is why I suggested a 3/1 split. Deed is better so you still play three times as many Deeds as Damnations.
Damnation is almost always the cheaper card and especially but not exclusively against Tombstalker/Revoker the variety helps. With Decay you already have a good amount of solutions for things like Sylvan Library, Counterbalance or Jitte and while having even more solutions is not bad, it is not a number one priority.

- I am not saying that you should definitely play one Pulse. It was a suggestion to reduce the deck's weakness against Tombstalker. Pulse has some things going for it, though. The first is Tombstalker, the second is Jace. It also destroys Snak Attack for a reasonable cost. I often lose to opponent's playing the Sneak Attack from the top of his deck after the initial wars left him with only Mana (and me without Counters in G2). From then on he just waits for a cantrip or a Fattie to win and I can't deal with the SA.

[Qweerios]

If I had Pulse in the main and I played against Sneak Attack, I would side it out pronto. Once SnT or Sneak has resolved, it's too late.

[Arianrhod]

Quick 2-minute report from Jupiter, now with bullet points!

-) I was the victim of shit pairings, as I played my carmate on Reanimator r1, and then got god-handed by OmniTell later in the day to go X-2. Last round, I got paired vs Kich (on aggroloam), and made a crucial misplay which cost me the match, causing me to end up X-3 on the day and just out of prize contention at like 21st or 23rd or something.

-) I beat Sneak Attack on a mull to 3, game one, where my mull hand was Forest, Taiga, Chameleon. This made up for the reanimator/omni.

-) Devin (Siig on here) started off rough after a series of examples for why I made certain changes to the list that I did showed up to ruin his day. I'm thinking of Avenger of Zendikar vs Krenko + Siege-Gang Commander as a prime example. I don't recall how he ended up on the day -- I want to say X-3 or X-4.

-) Sam (MrIggins on here) plowed his way to X-1-1, good for top 8. He was paired vs Nick Patnode on Elves as I was leaving -- have not heard how that ended up going. I gave him what advice I could, but that matchup is pretty challenging, and Patnode both knows his shit -and- has played vs Scapewish several times in the past, so he knows what to look out for.

Only changes to the list on my end were to remove the 4th REB and the Collective Voyage from the board in favor of a pair of Golgari Charms. Missed Voyage once on the day, but otherwise was okay without it. Charms came in two or three matches, but I never saw one. Felt good having them, though, so they'll be staying in for SCG tomorrow. And now, on that note, I'm going to go to bed so I can get up at 5:30am ._.

I'll be doing my usual live-blogging-phone-posting thing tomorrow, so prep for spam.

[Tammit67]

I'll be doing my usual live-blogging-phone-posting thing tomorrow, so prep for spam.

Good, see you tomorrow

[MrIggins]

Lost in top 8 of Jupiter to Patnode on Elves, getting killed on turn 2 both games. I definitely want something for this matchup, Golgari Charms might be that but I'm not sure. It doesn't kill Deathrite or Nettle Sentinels making it pretty easy for them to set back up. Not sure. My loss in the swiss was to Eric English who was also on Elves. The pair of them have been tearing it up in the last few NELCs so having another card or two for that matchup seems like a good choice for our metagame. It's discouraging losing so abruptly after a good run, but I will not complain about a good result.

Anyway, expect a report in the morning.

[Tao]

If I had Pulse in the main and I played against Sneak Attack, I would side it out pronto. Once SnT or Sneak has resolved, it's too late.

Still better than Decay. And what about Jace and Tombstalker?

[MrIggins]

I registered the following 76 for the Jupiter event yesterday:
4 Veteran Explorer
2 Sakura-tribe Elder
2 Wood Elves
1 Eternal Witness
3 Huntmaster Of The Fells
1 Chameleon Colossus
2 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan

3 Pernicious Deed
3 Sensei’s Divining Top

4 Cabal Therapy
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Burning Wish
3 Scapeshift

4 Forest
3 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Taiga
3 Badlands
3 Bayou
2 Stomping Ground
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

SB:
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Slaughter Games
1 Pyroclasm
1 Reanimate
1 Thoughtseize
1 Scapeshift
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Innocent Blood
1 Reverent Silence
1 Perish
1 Regrowth

This is the same maindeck as Arianrhod with a couple of sideboard changes. I cut Collective Voyage for Regrowth because I never encountered the situation for Voyage, or just never felt like I needed to wish for it. So we have Regrowth as a different corner-case target. I found myself wanting to re-buy wish targets like Pulse or Pyroclasm in some long games, and it just adds a little more versatility to wishes in game 1s. I never went for it yesterday and I will probably be cutting it for some anti-Elves card but I don't hate having it in the board for now.

Anyway, tournament report!

Round 1: Graham with Sneak/Show

I lose the die roll (a common theme on the day) and he goes Island, go. I put him on combo and really hope it isn't the mono-blue Omnitell deck. When he fetches a Volcanic Island I relax a little because this matchup is a lot more favorable for us, but still bad of course. My hand doesn't have a ton of interaction other than a single Therapy, and I eventually die to Sneak Attack plus huge monsters.

Sideboarding: -3 Deed, -2 Thragtusk, +3 Red Blast, +2 Slaughter Games

I Therapy turn 1 naming Show and Tell, seeing lands, a couple of cantrips and an Emrakul. I Slaughter Games him naming Emrakul and he slumps a bit. In going through his deck I see 3 copies of Erratic Explosion, interestingly. He sticks a Sneak Attack and Intuitions for Griselbrands, hits me with it, and lets it die, while I Witness back my Slaughter Games. He probes me seeing Games + Red Blast, and concedes.

Game 3 I keep a hand with turn 3 Slaughter Games off of an Explorer, but he Cliques that away. However he doesn't have much going on either after I counter his Intuition, and I kill him with Scapeshift.
This round 1 win against a bad matchup put me on a high that helped carry me through the day, not that I needed a ton of help with some lucky pairings.
1-0

Round 2: Koty with Bant

Game 1 he Swords my first Explorer, but I have a second which he sets off by attacking. I don't draw lands but I do draw Zeniths and set off two more Explorers, make sure he doesn't have anything, and do a lot of damage with Valakut triggers.

I didn't take sideboard notes so I don't think I made any changes, he had some blue cards but nothing that I felt was must-counter. He sided out Jaces for some reason so I guess I got rewarded for not bringing in Red Blast to deal with his planeswalker.

Game 2 I set off an early Explorer and he Surgicals them. I cheer inwardly because it means he doesn't really know how to play against this deck if he's bringing those in. I take some damage but am able to set up Wish->Thoughtseize and kill him with Scapeshift.

2-0

Round 3: Timur with BUG Delver

These are a couple of weird games. Game 1 he lands a turn 1 Delver that flips, and he Brainstorms but finds no second land. He gets himself past the first Brainstorm, casts a second, and again misses on land. I take a bunch of damage from the Delver but drop a Thragtusk, trade it for a big Goyf after getting a few hits in, he Stifles the leaves-play trigger and puts me to 6 with Delver plus Deathrite Shaman but at this point I have Valakut active and manage to race him with that.

I board -1 Colossus, -1 Top for +2 Red Blast (I think. I need to take better sideboard notes. It's possible I didn't board here.)

Game 2 he goes land, Delver, land, Delver, Delver, go. They don't flip on his turn 2 and I Pyroclasm them away. Scapeshift kills him pretty quickly afterwards.

3-0

Round 4: Eric English with Elves.

I was hoping to dodge him today, as we have tested together and he is a VERY competent Elves player. I lose the die roll and go turn 2 Wish for Pyroclasm, and then die before I can cast it.

Game 2 he drops a turn 3 Natural Order for Progenitus, then gets a Craterhoof to one-shot me the turn before I can go for my Perish.

Lesson learned: Turn 2 Wish for Pyroclasm is too slow, and we need help in this matchup.

3-1

Round 5: Ben Green with UWR Delver, featuring Geist of St. Traft.

I knew what he was on after watching him play a friend in the previous round, so I'm feeling good about this one. He StP's an Explorer and I take some hits from a pair of Delvers that don't flip immediately, play Thragtusk to gain time, Therapy seeing a hand with no countermagic, and kill him with Scapeshift without too much trouble.

In Game 2, he flips a Delver off of Spell Pierce and Dazes me twice, but has no other business. I'm ready to go off with an Explorer, so I Therapy naming Spell Pierce (the known card) and hit THREE of them, leaving him with nothing as I cast Scapeshift.

4-1

My breakers are good enough to draw into top 8 at 4-1-1, for the 7th place seed. I know my opponent is Patnode on Elves. Kevin and I discuss the matchup a bit, confirming that hands with turn 2 Wish as their only action don't do enough. He gives me his sideboard plan which makes me feel a bit more confident, but I know this is going to be really hard.

Game 1 I get a very strong draw and blind-hit 2 Natural Orders with my turn 1 Therapy. I flash it back for a Glimpse of Nature, and Huntmaster starts to control the board. He mistakes life totals and thinks he has me dead to his Craterhoof for 15, but I survive at 2 and he's a bit tilted by the mistake, so he concedes when I show him the Burning Wish even though he could have killed me with a Deathrite activation.

Sideboards: -1 Colossus, -2 Thragtusk, -1 Primeval Titan, +3 Slaughter Games, +1 Thoughtseize

I leave the Perish in the board because I know he will bring in Progenitus, and I don't want to be dead to it. Having a virtual 4 copies is better than 1 here, I decide. It doesn't matter as he proceeds to kill me on turn 2 after I mull to 5, and then again on turn 2 when I keep a slightly slow hand that casts Slaughter Games on turn 3. Whatever. I collect my $100 credit and get going.

Notes about the deck: I saw Deed maybe twice on the day, which is unfortunate but it happens, I was able to manage without it. I felt happy with the maindeck but found Colossus wasn't ever something I wanted to draw. Probably due to the matchups I had. I may try removing him and going down to 60 cards main as Huntmaster is better in most fair matchups, but he's much better against Jund with their Punishing Fires than Huntmaster so that may not be right. He can stay for now of course.

I love having Reanimate as a Wish target but I have also only gotten it once ever, and I think it might be too cute. Similarly Regrowth is in as just a corner-case option. I think I will be removing those two for hate cards against Elves, either Golgari Charm or more Pyroclasms. While Charm is a solid option, -1/-1 doesn't kill Nettle Sentinels or Deathrite Shamans, and I don't know if it's a card I want to bring in against Leyline of Sanctity decks when I already need to bring in Red Blasts (usually) and Slaughter Games. Cutting the slower bombs like Thragtusk and Titan is fine, but I don't want to cut Huntmaster in those matchups because it pressures them the most effectively. Though I suppose Deed also needs to come out, so there might be enough room. I'll play around with it and figure it out. Being able to bring in Pyroclasm over Charm is better against decks like Deathblade, killing their Mystics and Deathrites in addition to Confidants if that's what you want to be doing. Even if they don't get boarded in, it makes your Wishes able to turn into Pyroclasms multiple times which I think is probably quite helpful in a lot of cases. I'm going to do some testing with each and see what I like.

[Qweerios]

Is 4 Explorers really necessary? I have been wondering, why not a 2/1/1 split between Explorer, Deathrite, and Birds?

[conboy31]

Is 4 Explorers really necessary? I have been wondering, why not a 2/1/1 split between Explorer, Deathrite, and Birds?

What is your motivation for proposing such a change? I suspect that the day we want less than 3 explorers might be a sign that the deck is poor for the meta. The obvious knock is that deathrite and birds will always be sick whereas veteran can be tower'd or therapied away for an immediate mana ramp for that turn and the rest of the game.

[Svknoe]

At least with Rector and ScapeWish versus the fair decks, I find that I often want two explorers in the early game. Ramping 4 is nice, but the primary purpose is to still ramp if the first explorer is thwarted by some card like swords or stifle. Deathrite has some nice flexibility, but having your mana sources die to your own sweepers seems very bad, from a Scapeshift perspective. It may speed up our interaction with combo if we don't have a therapy, though.

[vearian]

Hello everyone,

I have been lurking here for quite a bit and i have been reading up on scapeshift, to learn the deck better.
For a while now i have my scapeshift deck complete, had to buy the neccesary duals to get it but that was okay :).
i had some succes with the deck as well and made a few top 8 at small money tournaments.
Yesterday i had a small tournament here that my friends organised and i took scapeshift. I was hesitating between junk or scapeshift but after hearing a couple of the decks that would be coming i took scapeshift anyway. Our local meta isn't combo heavy and a lot is creature based so scapeshift is usually a good bet.

so now for a small tournament report of what i can remember.

first my decklist that i used:

Creatures (14)
4 Veteran Explorer
2 Wood Elves
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Thragtusk
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Primeval Titan
1 Eternal Witness

Artifacts (3)
3 Sensei's Diving Top

Enchantments (3)
3 Pernicious Deed

Spells (17)
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Green Suns Zenith
2 Scapeshift
4 Burning Wish
4 Cabal Therapy

Lands (24)
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Stomping Ground
3 Badlands
3 Bayou
4 Taiga
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
4 Forest

Sideboard (15)
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Slaughter Games
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Damnation
1 Collective Voyage
1 Scapeshift
1 Grim Discovery
1 lnnocent Blood
1 Duress
1 virtue's ruin

Here in holland there is alot of blue based creature decks like rug and bug and sometimes even a little merfolk. So that is why i chose for abrupt decay in my 61. And i have no stronghold in here but that is mostly cause i don't have one yet. But in alot of the games i played i didn't even miss it. The maindeck is an early version of this deck which i just took from this thread. XdeckX was also attending the tournament and he showed me the new version of the scapeshift list. Which added a 3rd scapeshift to the main i'm gonna have a look where i can fit that in, in my list i think the most obvious choice is a abrupt decay i think.

Report:
Right from the get go i get paired against combo, against a tes deck.
Round 1:
Game 1:
He goes off in his second turn with 16 goblin tokens. my only shot was to draw a pernicious deed to wipe them away. I play my veteran explorer to block and get enough land to play my pernicious deed. but on my next turn i didn't draw it and we go to the next round.

Game 2:
I hold him off long enough for me to scapeshift for lethal.

Game 3:
he has to mulligan to 5 and i keep my original seven. He doesn't draw a land and gives me enough breathing room to disrupt and scapeshift for lethal. But it was quite lucky cause the next turn he could go off.

sideboard:
sideboarded 3 slaughter games and 4 red elemental blasts. I took the more expensive spells out of my deck since i wouldn't probably be casting them anway.
1-0

Round2:
Here i got paired against a loam deck with devastating dreams and knight of the reliquary's
Game 1:
i keep my original seven which contained a cabal therapy. I saw his previous match and knew he played mox diamonds and with that in mind i chose mox diamonds and had to discard 2 of them. I ramped nicely so i started throwing thragtusks. I played one and then he wasted my stomping grounds so i couldn't cast the second one but i drew a badlands off the top and casted it anyway my next turn :P.
He tried to control my board with devastating dreams but the tokens the thragtusks left behind finished the job.

Game 2:
Was quick and short he had total wasteland control and couldn't get my basics in play scooped shortly after.

game 3:
Removed his loam engine via a slaughter games but later discoverd that his burning wish was a better target. But it slowed him down long enough for me to scapeshift for lethal. He could have stopped me by playing devasting dreams which could have kept him out of scape range but neglected to do so.

sideboard:
2 slaughter games to disrupt his loam engine

2-0

Round 3:
Got paired against a friend which played a death and taxes deck.
Game 1:
He is mana screwed i keep him under control with my deeds and decays and scapeshift for lethal and he hates when i do that !! :P. He thinks it's unfair the "i win button", but i love his face everytime i cast it.

Game 2:
He comes on to strong and keeps me under tight control with wastelands and ports and finishes me quick.

Game 3:
Here is where things get freaky this game resulted in our draw.
this game ended with me on 17 life and him on 64.
After trading blows he got a small army on the field containing a batterskull a thalia and a mother of runes. He kicked me down to ten and then i started playing thragtusks to gain the neccesary life to find a burning wish or a scapeshift. after the thragtusk i went to 15 and he sworded my tusk so i jump to 20. in my next turn use a zenith for a shuffle and another tusk. while the rest of the time he keeps attacking me with his thalia equipped with a batterskull. and keeps gaining more life so scapeshifting for lethal was out of the question. But i don't find any removal or wishes with my top so that sucked. So we go into time and it ends in a draw. He plays his cataclysm in hope to still kick me down to 0 but he casted it to late.

sideboard:
i didn't sideboard this matchup since all the best cards against him are easy to wish for against this matchup most of the time.
2-0-1

Round 4:
this was my only loss of the day and it was versus a aluren deck.
Game 1:
With alot of luck i could get a slaughter games via a burning wish. He discarded it with a cabal therapy but in my next turn i returned it with my witness. And then flashbacked my own cabal therapy using my witness to discard his only creature in his hand, and luck didn't give him another critter to use.

game 2:
Lost the moment aluren enter the playing field. Tried to counter a bounce creature with a red elemental blast but he had a fow for that so that was game 2.

Game 3:
Lost the moment Aluren came in to play.

sideboard:
for this match i sided in my 3 slaughter games and 4 red elemental blasts. These are very crucial in this matchup and unwinnable without.

2-1-1

due to a good tiebreaker i finished 4th place so high enough for prices. We split the top 4 and i went home with a wasteland extra for my junk deck.

This is what i remember from the top of my head. Sorry if my report is a bit of a chaos haven't done much of these.
Any comments or question i would love to read them :).

[Siiig]

I'll work on a full out report later today, but some bullets similar to Kevin...

I'm mulling over my games, and I'm almost positive that I actually DIDN'T wiff against Chris round 1 with my 38 Shift, I just forgot how to do it. I was looking for mountain #7, not valakut #2 (I'm bad don't worry).

Regardless I'm back to 2x Stomping Grounds

I'll be going back to 61 for Scapeshift #3

I still don't have a Colossus, Avenger is staying main board.

Tusk #2 versus Ooze: I may stay on Ooze, at the very least for local. I really like having the option.

Devastating Agro Loam (the match Kevin lost due to a missplay) is brutal for us. I played it in the side event during top 8. I believe Kich just switched to Jund, so I don't think we need to worry as much haha.

Will get more in here, probably after lunch when I can grab my note pad.

[sherko7]

Anybody still play Punishing Nic Fit? I still play it and have been in love with it for a while. But its getting worse and worse in our meta. Omnimaniac/Omnitell is rising as if Sneak Show hadn't had much presence. I know Miracles is pretty even against us, but I've never won a match against them since they went RiP + Helm. Jund is easy, but I keep getting the worst hands every time I play them. Mav is the most dominant in our meta, but I NEVER get paired against them.

Anyway, I'll be running the following list this Sunday:

4 Veteran Explorer
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Thragtusk
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Primeval Titan
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Punishing Fire
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Badlands
3 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Kitchen Finks
SB: 3 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 3 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Slaughter Games
SB: 2 Extirpate
SB: 2 Obstinate Baloth
SB: 2 Liliana of the Veil
SB: 1 Batterskull

I'm planning to take out Obstinate Baloths if I find a 3rd Slaughter Games before Sunday and probably add +1 REB. The Lilianas I'm unsure of. I just added them to the board recently because I used to have 6(!) REBs and Pyros and, well, that was a bit too noob-ish

For the meta, I'll be expecting the same turnout as during our last tourney:

Metagame:

Maverick
2 GW Mav
4 Dark Mav
3 Punishing Mav

Show and Tell
4 Sneak Show
4 Omnitell

Delver
RUG Delver 5
URW Delver 1

Combo
4 TES
2 ANT

Miracle
4 URW Miracle

Mono Black
4 Pox

JUND
2 Punishing Jund
1 Jund

Merfolk
3 Merfolk

BUG
3 Shardless BUG
1 BUG Delver

Elf
3 Elf

Dredge
1 LED Dredge
1 LED-less Dredge
1 Manaless Dredge

Junk
3 Junk

Blade
3 Esper Blade
1 Death Blade

Mono White
2 Death & Taxes
1 White Weenie

Nic Fit
2 Nic Fit

Reanimator
1 UB Reanimator
1 Mono Black Reanimator

Goblins
1 Goblins

Rogue Decks
1 GR Aggro
1 Bant Hexproof
1 Zomb-Vine
1 Cephalid Breakfast
1 4C Cascade
1 NO Bant
1 Deadguy Ale

Comments/suggestions please! I know my board needs tweaking! But my main, well, I love my main!

[vearian]

Anybody still play Punishing Nic Fit? I still play it and have been in love with it for a while. But its getting worse and worse in our meta. Omnimaniac/Omnitell is rising as if Sneak Show hadn't had much presence. I know Miracles is pretty even against us, but I've never won a match against them since they went RiP + Helm. Jund is easy, but I keep getting the worst hands every time I play them. Mav is the most dominant in our meta, but I NEVER get paired against them.

In my local meta show and tell almost never appears. But i think if you're having such trouble with it that you up your slaughter games to 4 and remove the 2 obstinate baloths. It's your best chance against them to remove all their Emrakuls after that i think we can win it. Ofcourse in combination with your pyroblasts and red elemental blasts to keep show and tell at bay until you can slaughter game him.
and it is also the number one weapon against miracles to remove their rest in peace.

[Kich867]

I'll work on a full out report later today, but some bullets similar to Kevin...

I'm mulling over my games, and I'm almost positive that I actually DIDN'T wiff against Chris round 1 with my 38 Shift, I just forgot how to do it. I was looking for mountain #7, not valakut #2 (I'm bad don't worry).

Regardless I'm back to 2x Stomping Grounds

I'll be going back to 61 for Scapeshift #3

I still don't have a Colossus, Avenger is staying main board.

Tusk #2 versus Ooze: I may stay on Ooze, at the very least for local. I really like having the option.

Devastating Agro Loam (the match Kevin lost due to a missplay) is brutal for us. I played it in the side event during top 8. I believe Kich just switched to Jund, so I don't think we need to worry as much haha.

Will get more in here, probably after lunch when I can grab my note pad.

I'm pretty confident that Punishing Jund is just a better version of Devastating Loam, though Rich and I are brewing a Devastating Dreams list that sounds too good to be dumb so we'll see what happens XD. I agree though, that matchup is pretty tough. I may try it out again with Punishing Groves and see how that goes. I just -really- don't love how sometimes you draw a hand and are fully aware the game won't go anywhere unless you get lucky, since there's so many do nothing cards.

[Tao]

Comments/suggestions please! I know my board needs tweaking! But my main, well, I love my main!

for the MD: Try 4 Gitaxian Probe supported by 1 Tropical Island. It is not a big strain on the mana because usually you will cast it for free so you won't have to fetch the Tropical. I haven't tried it yet, but I played a lot of Punishing Nic Fit and BUG Fit. Even though it might sound like an odd choice I am convinced that Probe will be a big improvement.

- 1 Kitchen Finks
- 1 Maelstrom Pulse
- 1 Kessig Wolf Run?
- 1 DR Shaman?
- 1 Punishing Fire?
+ 4 Gitaxian Probe
+ 1 Tropical Island

Usually I like Finks but in your Meta they don't do much. They are bad against Maverick, bad against all these Combo decks, bad against UW (Blade/Miracle), bad against Elves. They are only really good against the one Goblin deck and the Pox decks.
About the other cards I am not sure (you could also cut other cards and keep Fire/Shaman) but please do yourself a favor and try out Gitaxian Probe.


for the SB: so much Maverick! Maybe a singleton Virtue's Ruin to replace the Ooze with in G2? Other than that your MD looks good against them. What I miss in the SB are a few Thoughtseizes. Something more to actively disrupt Combo decks before they kill you.

My SB would look something like this:

2 Carpet of Flowers
1 Virtue's Ruin
4 Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast
3 Thoughtseize
3 Extirpate/Surgical
2 Slaughter Games