[Deck] Nic Fit (GBx Explorer Zenith Control)

[Arianrhod]

I love how everyone has a favorite Slaughter Games story, lol.

Re@Kiora vs True-Name: We need to set up our deck to be able to beat True-Name anyway. I don't think TNN is really an issue where Kiora is concerned -- if we can't deal with that guy, we lose anyway.

Kiora actually seems awesome vs Delver decks, for the reason you already said -- they're fond of sticking one threat and then countering everything. Kiora forces them to commit more to the board, so we can blow them out harder with Deed. By contrast, Kiora will do nothing to Cloudpost unless you're Exploring a bunch of times to build to some combo or other.

Re@Pithing Needle -- it's not actually dead preboard vs RUG. You can still name Wasteland with it if you have it in your opening hand / draw it early on. Usually Wasteland isn't that relevant to us, but sometimes they have hands and we have hands where it is, and it's a reasonable purpose for Needle vs that deck.

Re@Firepaw -- man, that sucks. You must've been like 10thish I'm guess at the end? Still a good run, for sure.

Here's how I would have sided each matchup that you played vs:

Shardless BUG -- -1 Cabal Therapy, -1 Veteran Explorer, +2 Red Elemental Blast

You leave in the Slaughters here, because they usually leave in/board in Force of Will against us. Slaughtering Force means that whenever you draw a Scapeshift or a Burning Wish with 7-8 lands out, you just win -- it removes their meaningful interaction. Therapy and Veteran are both fairly low impact here, so they can be shaved down to 3s to slide in a pair of REBs to help take out Ancestral Visions, protect from Forces, counter TNN, and counter/blow up Jaces.

Punishing maverick depths -- -2 Slaughter Games, +2 Liliana of the Veil

Burning Wishing a Slaughter Games to take out his Punishing Fires is reasonable, but the card isn't relevant enough to have maindeck here. Lilianas provide you with a way to solve Merit Lage, which is far and away your only real threat. You can Deed / Deluge / whatever his board, then Liliana -2 to kill the token. Just be very careful about using her +1 too much -- I would only use it if you're hellbent or you can spare like a land to get her to 2x edict range. With Punishing Fire, your opponent is the better Liliana deck -- you just want the extra removal over the extraction effect here.

UWr Delver -- -1 Primeval Titan, -2 Slaughter Games, +3 Red Elemental Blast

Pretty obvious. Thragtusk are Huntmaster are usually god here, so you don't need Primeval Titan / you don't want to try to fight through their disruption to land him. Slaughters are almost useless here -- you can take their Forces to try to just brute force them, but the real threat is Delver of Secrets into an aggressive, not their countermagic. Just watch out for Daze -- if you have the opportunity to REB a Delver on the stack but can't play around Daze, it's probably worth it to allow them to resolve the Delver, play a 2nd land, and then blow it up.

Paintedstone -- +3 Thoughtseize, +3 Red Elemental Blast, +2 Liliana of the Veil; -1 Cabal Therapy, -1 Primeval Titan, -2 Thragtusk, -2 Huntmaster of the Fells, -2 Veteran Explorer

I'd rather have the unconditional never-miss of Thoughtseize than the guessing game of Therapy here, but having a 1cc discard to wish for is still important. REB is fine vs UR Painter on its own right -- vs Imperial it's kind of a mind game, because they usually call blue. They could call black (or something) to play around your REBs, but then they're playing around themselves since they have 6-8 of that effect maindeck as well. Liliana is solid because they both like having cards in hand and rely on a solitary creature combo/engine piece, which is easily -2'd.

A solitary Huntmaster is your remaining creature wincon -- otherwise you're on the E.Wit/Wood Elves beatdown plan. Basically, you try to play the controlling combo deck role this game -- your actual "bombs" are Slaughter Games and your Scapeshifts...you stop him from winning, and win yourself. Note that usually Painter sides in Ensnaring Bridge, which is why you leave in a Huntmaster over the Primeval Titan -- you can control the flips and still kill the opponent through Bridge with that guy, while Titan just stands there looking across sadly.

Shardless BUG -- same as earlier.

Lands -- -2 Cabal Therapy, -1 Primeval Titan; +1 Slaughter Games, +2 Liliana of the Veil

Your discard is useless here, and the wish->games plan is slower than you would like it to be, which means you board in the 3rd Games. Lilianas are, again, strictly for the -2 for Merit Lage. After Slaughter Games takes Life from the Loam, her +1 becomes somewhat reasonable, actually -- but keep in mind that they too usually run Ensnaring Bridge.

4c Deathblade -- I wouldn't sideboard here.

You're already ludicrously favored in this matchup. Slaughter Games is on the shardless bug plan -- take their Force of Wills, then win the game. Alternatively, you can take their Jaces/True-Name, but I find removing their interaction to be a better way to go -- our things are better than theirs. Liliana isn't good enough here, since they have a lot of random dudes, and, again, our things are better than theirs so discarding is bad.

The second Eternal Witness was cut forever ago because this deck just doesn't really have a ton of things to Witness back usually. One copy has always been enough for me. -shrug-.

-------------------------------------

So, who saw Drew Levin's article on SCG today?

I'll not go over all of how/why he built the deck, but I will copypasta his conclusion:

Creatures (23)

4 Bloodghast
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Veteran Explorer
1 Windborn Muse
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 He Who Hungers
1 Iname, Death Aspect
1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
2 Keiga, the Tide Star
3 Yosei, the Morning Star

Lands (21)

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

Spells (16)

4 Recurring Nightmare
4 Entomb
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Cabal Therapy

Sideboard
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Gaddock Teeg
2 Cataclysm
2 Massacre
4 Thoughtseize


He built the deck to abuse Recurring Nightmare, because that was the card his readers requested. To that end, he didn't really build it....Nic Fit-y, if that makes sense. He just shoehorned Veteran Explorer in because he wanted the mana to cast his dragons the real way and because he was playing Therapy anyway (Bloodghast synergy). That's why there is no Rector, Deed, etc other obvious includes.

That being said, there are a lot of interesting ideas here. Most centrally to them is Iname, Death Aspect. That's a very, very powerful effect on a 6-drop.

Speaking of powerful, he goes into a judge aside wherein he explains that when Keiga is sacrificed to a Sneak Attack/Breached Emrakul trigger, you gain control of the Emrakul permanently (it doesn't sacrifice at endstep). I mean, that's nowhere near enough reason to splash blue for Keiga in an otherwise completely GBW deck, but it's interesting and possibly relevant to BUG version players.

So yeah. That Iname.

Running more than 1 Yosei seems pointless since Iname will tutor for it. Obviously we're not splashing Keiga -- and I think that Kokusho is just sufficiently worse than Yosei that we shouldn't run him either. Maybe a 1-of at most. Quadruple entombing Bloodghasts is pretty sexy, so those can probably hang out.

Hmm.

Time for a gatherer search...

Relevant Spirits:

Bloodghast
Carven Caryatid
Celestial Kirin
Crypt Ghast
Dearly Departed
Eidolon of Rhetoric
Eternal Dragon
Evershrike
Ghost Council of Orzhova
He Who Hungers
Iname, Death Aspect
Iname, Life Aspect
Infernal Kirin
Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Kami of False Hope
Karador, Ghost Chieftain (!!!)
Karmic Guide
Kodama of the South Tree
Liege of the Hollows
Lifespinner (with Lingering Souls)
Obzedat, Ghost Council
Seedborn Muse
Seizan, Perverter of Truth
Tallowisp
Wall of Reverence


That's quite a list, and there's some really interesting stuff in there. Karador in particular is absolutely massive. Dearly Departed is amusing, but could be actually somewhat good depending on its support. Elspeth SC dropping 6-power of guys with one +1 seems strong in particular.

Both of the Kirins are of particular interest to me, since both of those effects are absolutely ludicrous. Evershrike makes the list mostly off of the fact that its art is stunningly gorgeous, but there -could- be a deck lurking with Tallowisp somewhere.

Both Obzedats are quite powerful, although they suffer a bit from being in a format with Swords to Plowshares. He Who Hungers seems like it has a good effect, although I tend to like the Kirin better for a discard guy.

Karador and Kami of False Hope can together link up to provide a combat lockdown similar to Archangel + Spike Weaver.

Lifespinner, as noted with Lingering Souls, is actually a very reasonable tutor engine for the nongreen legendary spirits. Spinner can sacrifice itself + 2 Souls to grab Iname, for example, which then sets up whatever other engines you want. In fact, the sequence of GSZ -> Lifespinner, Souls, tap Spinner, tutor Iname, entombing [x] + Karador, play Karador, play Spinner, flashback Souls, tutor something else....etc....seems reasonable. That's a level of card advantage that we don't usually get to partake of.

I need some time to dissect all of this and actually ponder it. There definitely does seem like there's something here, though -- the synergy with Karador in particular is just too massive.

I also have another brew bouncing around that I will hopefully be able to present soon.

[GtF]

On Trinket Mage in Bug Pod:

If one were to run him, how many fetchable artifacts do you think you'd need to run maindeck for him to be useful?

Also, while Engineered Explosives seems an obvious inclusion if one runs Trinket Mage, is a maindeck Pithing Needle really where you want to be? Or would you rather have something like Nihil Spellbomb maindeck?

On Kiora:

I can see how she would be unbeatable versus Miracles, or at least very good--but why would you want to bring her in versus a Delver deck at all? I can see bringing her in against midrange decks where she's going to have time to build up to her ultimate, but four mana for an approximation of Maze of Ith against a deck that wants to tempo you out doesn't seem very good to me. Granted, I haven't tested with her, so maybe I'm just underestimating her in this type of matchup, but right now I envision two spots on Bug Pod's board for two walkers that will help with the control matchups (specifically Miracles but also Deathblade, Jund, and Shardless) as opposed to the tempo and aggro matchups. The Delver decks already seem like good MU's, so I think you'd just board in your third Deed. I agree with you though that Kiora might be decent against something like Cloudpost, which takes several turns to set up.

I would run the Needle over Nihil Spellbomb simply because the deck already plays 4 Deathrite and a Scavenging Ooze, so the effect on Nihil Spellbomb is not adding much new. Pithing Needle is a completely unique effect, even if it is dead against some decks. I'm not even sure I'd want Nihil Spellbomb in the board. Anyway I'd probably just stick with those two since I can't actually think of another card we'd want (one of the reasons I'm not super excited about the trinket mage idea).

The ability to get to 4 colors for engineered explosives with deathrites to blow up 4 mana planeswalkers is definitely sweet and something I hadn't considered.

I also agree with not boarding in Kiora (or any planeswalker) against RUG if you're playing BUG Pod. Pod is your planeswalker, and I sometimes even board one of those out for tempo reasons.

[DireLemming]

I would run the Needle over Nihil Spellbomb simply because the deck already plays 4 Deathrite and a Scavenging Ooze, so the effect on Nihil Spellbomb is not adding much new. Pithing Needle is a completely unique effect, even if it is dead against some decks. I'm not even sure I'd want Nihil Spellbomb in the board. Anyway I'd probably just stick with those two since I can't actually think of another card we'd want (one of the reasons I'm not super excited about the trinket mage idea).

I'm trying Top (alongside EE and Needle). Not stellar, but good (re)building board presence.

[MD.Ghost]

@Arianrhod: I also loved Slaughter Games in every red-Build (Punishing, Scape) i played. Such a good and unique card, which can also act as a graveyard hate if you can ramp fast enough.

@GtF: As i said, Needle is an unexpected maindeck weapon which works good enough against some troublesome permanents (Top, Jace, Sneak Attack, Thespian Stage etc.). Be prepared to get some "Judge Calls". .

I play: 1 Needle + 1 EE Main and 1 Tormod's Crypt at Side

With Deathrite and Ooze you have some Maindeck GY Hate - BUT sometimes Deathrite is too slow or eats Daze etc. so Nihil Spellbomb would suffer the same way (also Spell Pierce). Tormod's Crypt matters in terms of speed. Against no "tax counters" you also need fast turns against GY Decks (which should be much faster than Nic Fit). If you need Pod or Trinket Mage you used your mana and hold Nihil Spellbomb in hand...

For other "Trinket"Slots i never found enough space.

[Arianrhod]

Alright, I have processed information and now have 2 possible builds to present for consideration.

I'll do the older build first.

As many of you are aware, I take inspiration from a wide range of sources. Lately I've been thinking a lot about modern, with the upcoming GP Worcester at the end of July. It's not that I'm unhappy with Pod, necessarily, but I think that I can find something to do in that format which is a little more....unexpected. In these explorations, I've become quite enamored with Cryptic Command. The card does literally everything, and if you can manage to combine it with Eternal Witness, you can basically lock your opponent out with very little room for counterplay. These are also both cards which are very solid on their own (not playing bad cards just to combo with), and they become live once you hit 7 mana, which is pretty easy for Nic Fit.

I've been thinking about this for a while now, but I couldn't come up with a shell to stick it in. All of the talk about McDarby's planeswalker control version made me scratch my head and wonder if that was maybe what I had been missing.

With that in mind, here's Cryptic BUG:

4 Veteran Explorer
3 Baleful Strix
3 Eternal Witness
1 Aetherling

4 Cabal Therapy

4 Force of Will
4 Cryptic Command
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm

2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Karn Liberated

3 Pernicious Deed

3 Forest
3 Island
2 Swamp
3 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs

::sb::
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Pithing Needle
2 Flusterstorm
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Thragtusk
1 Cranial Extraction

Disclaimer: sideboard is basically diarrhea. It's a rough sketch, not tuned at all -- don't take my sideboard as gospel!

This deck has a couple of different angles. Aetherling is still unkillable, regardless of format. We'll be able to land and protect him in a long game. The plaenswalker suite is diverse and allows for a lot of mutiple-array pressure. They can all protect each other, and while Garruk and Karn are really the only two who can actually go aggressive, Jace and Kiora ults are both real threats in this deck. The aforementioned Cryptic/Witness lock is present, and we also have a pair of Tar Pits to edge out planeswalker wars and to serve as a backup wincon in a pinch.

Our blue count is massive. We have 20 maindeck blue cards, which makes Force of Will quite excellent -- Veteran will ramp us into hardcasting them, but we can still take advantage of them earlygame if need be. Decays and Deeds are the industry standard for bug-nic-fit removal. Shriekmaw gives an extra removal option in which can flex as another evasive creature to win with.

I'm not usually a fan of Brainstorm in Nic Fit, but the high Eternal Witness count for this deck means we need something generically good to get back in situations where we don't have anything better to do, and Brainstorm fills that niche.

The Baleful Strixes are essentially your backup ramp engine -- they buy a stupid amount of time because people are completely unwilling to attack into it. It doesn't actually ramp, unfortunately, but there wasn't really room for anything else...so....meh.

The sideboard provides extra spot removal and another sweeper. Finks and Thrag help shore up fast aggro / burn decks, which are typically something of an issue for bug-colored decks of all varieties. Cranial is industry standard nic fit sideboard material. Glen Elendra and V. Clique are good combo hate that double as clocks, with Flusterstorm and Needle rounding out our various hate options.

Again, I'll stress that this sideboard is just my best guess as to where I would start, and should not be taken as a finished product ready for SCG (or other big events).

------------------------------

The other deck is a product of my fevered imagination as a result of my discourse this morning on Drew Levin's article.

I (somewhat) proudly present,

Whine and Spirits:

1 Kami of False Hope
4 Veteran Explorer

1 Bloodghast
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder

1 Elder Pine of Jukai
1 Eternal Witness
2 Courser of Kruphix

2 Academy Rector
1 Celestial Kirin
1 Infernal Kirin
1 Captain Sisay

1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 Thragtusk

1 Iname, Death Aspect
1 Yosei, the Morning Star

1 Karador, Ghost Chieftain

4 Cabal Therapy
3 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Time of Need
1 Vindicate
1 Maelstrom Pulse

1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Abrupt Decay

1 Debtors' Knell
1 Recurring Nightmare
2 Pernicious Deed

2 Sensei's Divining Top

1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Karakas
3 Windswept Heath
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Bayou
2 Savannah
1 Scrubland
3 Forest
3 Plains
2 Swamp

::sb::
2 Thoughtseize
1 Nether Void
1 Cranial Extraction
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Batterskull
2 Carpet of Flowers


I'm playing this deck the next time I play legacy. I might tune it a bit between now and then, but by god it's happening.

Where to even start.

This thing is such a heaping pile of synergy that it's hard to know where to begin.

Alright, well, as stated earlier, Iname/Death is a very, very powerful effect. The results of my gatherer search revealed Karador and the B/W Kirins as additional ludicrously powerful unused effects, so I knew that I wanted to involve those.

I went down the list again and identified the best spirits at each CMC with an eye towards the Kirins. This gave me Kami@1, Bloodghast@2, Elder Pine@3, the Kirins themselves@4, Kagemaro@5, and then Iname and Yosei@6...and I guess technically Karador@7 for if I need to kill an Elesh Norn or something.

It's important to note that the Kirins only trigger when a spirit is cast, not when it comes into play, which is sad for Green Sun. However, it still works fine with Karador.

Let's just go down the line.

Kami of False Hope forms a combat-lock when renimated/recast via Karador.

Bloodghast is, sadly, the best 2-drop spirit in GBW. It's still uncomfortably low-impact in mind, and the fact that it can't block has me a little unhappy. That said, its synergy with Elder Pine, Therapy, and Iname is considerable. It's also a steady stream of Nightmare fodder, which can be relevant.

Elder Pine is a sort of engine card at the 3-spot. It yields a steady stream of lands to keep Bloodghast and Courser happy, and it powers through our deck with Top. Soulshift 2 isn't really that great, unfortunately -- it rebuys Kami and Bloodghast if you need to, but that's definitely not being taken advantage of quite as much as I would have liked. I'm a big fan of Courser, as most of you know -- hitting land drops, gaining Time, and getting subtle longterm card advantage are all things that I like doing. It's also an enchantment for Rector, which deepens the package a bit.

Celestial and Infernal Kirins are two of the primary engines of the deck, with hideously strong abilities that are only really limited by the Kamigawa card pool. Even if you don't plan on giving this version a spin, I would advocate picking up copies of these two and sandbagging them -- WotC is going to continue to print powerful Spirit-type creatures in the future, and at some point I expect these two to become Things.

Sisay does everything. She basically has Tap: Demonic Tutor in this deck. She can find the Kirins for engines, Kagemaro for sweep, Iname or Karador for card advantage, or Yosei to just win (if you have setup). She can also find Karakas and Phyrexian Tower.

Kagemaro can be both a powerful beatstick and a powerful sweeper, depending on how you need him to be. Elder Pine helps keep our hand full, as does Sisay.

Iname is a huge source of card advantage, since it can entomb a lot of creatures with powerful effects (or just get Kami of False Hope out of deck so we don't draw it if we don't want to). Iname going off -should- be all we need to lock up most games vs fair decks, because shortly after Iname populates our graveyard with options, Karador should proceed to get us exactly what we want every turn thereafter.

Time of Need is a toss-up with Diabolic Intent. Bloodghast helps Intent out, but I have been shafted in the past by not having enough creatures for Intent....in Pod versions with like 8 noncreature spells.

Green Sun has a few neat tricks in this deck. Notably, you can Zenith@4 for Sisay, then tap her the next turn for Iname and cast it, following up with a 3-drop Karador the following turn + anything you want from your graveyard.

The 4-piece removal suite helps take out Deathrites, while providing good general-purpose removal for anything else that's being obnoxious. The differentials between the types of removal should make Eternal Witness a bit better, especially when you can be Witnessing every turn thanks to Karador.

Debtors' Knell should likely be something else, but I got sick of hurting my head and said fuck it, placeholder.

Karakas is general utility, but is also abusive in this deck with the Kirins, both of which, along with Kagemaro, Iname, Yosei, and Karador, are all legendary. This allows for spiritfall to be triggered repeatedly without recursion.

Sideboard is fairly stock, with most of the usual suspects. Variety of combo hate, Batterskulls, Carpets, etc. Jitte is a sweet one to run because Sisay can tutor for it. Nothing really more to say there.

Things on my revision list to consider:

Starved Rusalka is a spirit, and is a sac outlet. Both of those things play well with the deck. Possibly better than Kami of False Hope.

I'd like a better 2-drop spirit, but I don't think I'm going to get it. The only thing I've found that's 'better' is Sustaining Spirit, which is infinitely troll. I've considered and dismissed Spirit of the Labyrinth because I personally draw off my Top 2-3 times a game on average, and usually the lines of play I adopt involve using Top that way. Turning off my own Top doesn't seem like it will help me win games. I'll probably test it anyway just in case I'm wrong, though.

I'd like more soulshift. I'm not sure that there is actually anything with soulshift that's any good, but I need to look and be sure, because something with soulshift 4, for example, seems like it could be very strong.

I'd like another recursion engine that benefits spiritfall aside from Karador. This probably occupies the Debtors' Knell slot, but I Haven't done any research into what this should be.

He Who Hungers is a consideration that I would like to make room for -- not sure where I'd put it, though.

--------------

So yeah. There's some thoughts. If you have any suggestions, comments, questions, etc -- as always, feel free to bring them up.

[pfiremc13]

Natural affinity is a very interesting card.

By itself, it can randomly take a game or two or kill some undefended walkers. More importantly, though:

Natural affinity + Pernicious deed: Blow up everything but the walkers. Imagine that with a kiora on the field. Or any walker that makes tokens... Or veteran explorer...

Natural affinity + Massacre wurm: gg lol (note that podding into massacre wurm is pretty much necessary)

Seems situational, but it could be in a cunning wishboard. I don't know what good wish targets in those colors are though...

[Megadeus]

Natural affinity + Massacre wurm: gg lol (note that podding into massacre wurm is pretty much necessary)

Seems situational, but it could be in a cunning wishboard. I don't know what good wish targets in those colors are though...

I... Really. REALLY want to see this happen.

[johnnyboytators]

Working on a deck, I would appreciate constructive feedback I know the fetches aren’t correct but its what I have right now for the deck. Any suggestions on a 15 c SB would be great. Thanks :P

Aluren Fit
Land
1 phyrexian tower
1 volrath’s stronghold
1 taiga
2 bayou
1 underground sea
1 tropical island
1 polluted delta
4 wooded foothills
4 Windswept heath
3 forest
2 Island
2 swamp
23

Spells
2 diabolic Intent
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 lim-dul’s vault
3 green sun’s zenith
4 aluren
1 sensei’s divining top
18

Creatures
4 imperial recruiter
4 Veteran explorer
3 deathrite shaman
1 birds of paradice
1 eternal witness
1 coiling oracle
2 dream stalker
2 cavern harpy
1 parasitic strix
19

[Razorwynd]

Working on a deck, I would appreciate constructive feedback I know the fetches aren’t correct but its what I have right now for the deck. Any suggestions on a 15 c SB would be great. Thanks :P

Aluren Fit
Land
1 phyrexian tower
1 volrath’s stronghold
1 taiga
2 bayou
1 underground sea
1 tropical island
1 polluted delta
4 wooded foothills
4 Windswept heath
3 forest
2 Island
2 swamp
23

Spells
2 diabolic Intent
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 lim-dul’s vault
3 green sun’s zenith
4 aluren
1 sensei’s divining top
18

Creatures
4 imperial recruiter
4 Veteran explorer
3 deathrite shaman
1 birds of paradice
1 eternal witness
1 coiling oracle
2 dream stalker
2 cavern harpy
1 parasitic strix
19

IMO it would probably be better to get people playing Aluren to comment on that list... you are just playing Aluren + explorer, not really Nic-Fit + Aluren....

[Ralf]

Alright, I have processed information and now have 2 possible builds to present for consideration.

I'll do the older build first.

As many of you are aware, I take inspiration from a wide range of sources. Lately I've been thinking a lot about modern, with the upcoming GP Worcester at the end of July. It's not that I'm unhappy with Pod, necessarily, but I think that I can find something to do in that format which is a little more....unexpected. In these explorations, I've become quite enamored with Cryptic Command. The card does literally everything, and if you can manage to combine it with Eternal Witness, you can basically lock your opponent out with very little room for counterplay. These are also both cards which are very solid on their own (not playing bad cards just to combo with), and they become live once you hit 7 mana, which is pretty easy for Nic Fit.

I've been thinking about this for a while now, but I couldn't come up with a shell to stick it in. All of the talk about McDarby's planeswalker control version made me scratch my head and wonder if that was maybe what I had been missing.

With that in mind, here's Cryptic BUG:

4 Veteran Explorer
3 Baleful Strix
3 Eternal Witness
1 Aetherling

4 Cabal Therapy

4 Force of Will
4 Cryptic Command
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm

2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Karn Liberated

3 Pernicious Deed

3 Forest
3 Island
2 Swamp
3 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs

::sb::
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Pithing Needle
2 Flusterstorm
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Thragtusk
1 Cranial Extraction

Disclaimer: sideboard is basically diarrhea. It's a rough sketch, not tuned at all -- don't take my sideboard as gospel!

This deck has a couple of different angles. Aetherling is still unkillable, regardless of format. We'll be able to land and protect him in a long game. The plaenswalker suite is diverse and allows for a lot of mutiple-array pressure. They can all protect each other, and while Garruk and Karn are really the only two who can actually go aggressive, Jace and Kiora ults are both real threats in this deck. The aforementioned Cryptic/Witness lock is present, and we also have a pair of Tar Pits to edge out planeswalker wars and to serve as a backup wincon in a pinch.

Our blue count is massive. We have 20 maindeck blue cards, which makes Force of Will quite excellent -- Veteran will ramp us into hardcasting them, but we can still take advantage of them earlygame if need be. Decays and Deeds are the industry standard for bug-nic-fit removal. Shriekmaw gives an extra removal option in which can flex as another evasive creature to win with.

I'm not usually a fan of Brainstorm in Nic Fit, but the high Eternal Witness count for this deck means we need something generically good to get back in situations where we don't have anything better to do, and Brainstorm fills that niche.

The Baleful Strixes are essentially your backup ramp engine -- they buy a stupid amount of time because people are completely unwilling to attack into it. It doesn't actually ramp, unfortunately, but there wasn't really room for anything else...so....meh.

The sideboard provides extra spot removal and another sweeper. Finks and Thrag help shore up fast aggro / burn decks, which are typically something of an issue for bug-colored decks of all varieties. Cranial is industry standard nic fit sideboard material. Glen Elendra and V. Clique are good combo hate that double as clocks, with Flusterstorm and Needle rounding out our various hate options.

Again, I'll stress that this sideboard is just my best guess as to where I would start, and should not be taken as a finished product ready for SCG (or other big events).

I'm afraid you are pushing the curve and the need for colored lands too much with this version.
To smooth things out, I'll probably remove GPH and Aetherling/Karn for 2 Top.
=>3 forest seems to be a lot when CC demands 3 blue.

Don't get me wrong, I like them, really, but without Green Sun, I can guarantee you that playing a land every turn/ramping will be far harder than in a more traditional list.

Furthermore, even if I like "Creeping Tar pit", I would not play it. The "EtB tapped" is too much of a big deal in Nic Fit. They will cost you more games than the contrary. I know they are quite nice for dealing with opponent's walker but you should already have an edge against them with FOW, CT & CC

I like what you are trying to do with CC & Eternal Witness but this little "combo" might be "too cute" in the end. I'll definitely test it.

As for the SB, same advise you gave me a couple of days ago !!!

1 Abrupt decay
2 Golgari charm -> Better than Toxic
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Pithing Needle
2 Swan song -> better than flusterstorm in most cases (nonbo with veteran)
1 Kitchen Finks
2 Thragtusk
1 Batterskull

I know you were busy since a couple of months so I'll copy/paste below my BUG walker list to give you some idea.
I spent 2 months tweaking/tinkering it to get good results (sanctioned events speaking):

MAIN DECK:

4 Verdant catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Tropical island
2 Bayou
1 Underground sea
3 Swamp
2 Island
2 Forest
2 Polluted delta

1 Eternal witness
1 Scavenging ooze
2 Veteran explorer
4 Deathrite shaman
1 Wall of blossom
2 Baleful Strix

3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
2 Vraska, the Unseen

2 Sensei's divining top

3 Pernicious deed

4 Brainstorm
3 Negate
4 Cabal therapy
2 Green sun's zenith
3 Abrupt decay

SB

1 Engineered explosives
2 Golgari charm
1 Viridian zealot
2 Ensnaring bridge
2 Pithing needle
2 Swan song
2 Surgical extraction
1 Flusterstorm
2 Thoughtseize

I know you like playing 61 cards so was I. You could consider Thragtusk as the 61th card (along with Scavenging ooze as a beater)

1) I would like to remind readers that Jace + Eternal witness is a soft synergy that did win me quite a good amount of games. Same goes for your version
2) BUG walkers is soft to punishing fire. Period. Ooze is our only chance. You should test your version with CC and tell us how it goes against JUND (for example)
3) Don't scorn at "wall of blossom". It is Baleful n°3 and can be GSZed. Doesn't die to bolt/punish (in some extend) and can block & protect you or your walker from Thalia, Gooze, SCM, Bob, BBE etc... Since its addition % win rate has rocketed up.
4) I will test Kiora on my side (instead of Liliana), add FOW instead of negate to see how it goes.

Thx Arian, as usual you gave me a lot for thoughts and I really appreciate that !

[Arianrhod]

@Ralf -- GPH and Karn might be a little greedy, but I usually err on the side of flood vs the side of screw. I'll probably test it first and then see how it plays before making a judgment call on them.

Valid point on the Tar Pits. I'd probably keep a misers, but 2 is probably too much.

I don't think Cryptic Witness is anywhere near cute territory...it actually seems pretty savage. Obviously testing etc

I actually purposefully chose Deluge over Charm for this version, because I want another answer to a Teeg...preferably one that gets around Mother of Runes. With all of the planeswalkers, the Forces, and the Cryptics, this version is very, very weak to Teeg, and I want to have something extra postboard to help shore that up.

Swan Song vs Fluster is, I think, determined by the type of combo that you're trying to beat. Swan Song is better against slower combo decks like Sneak and Show, where the range of counterables matters more than the 2/2. Additionally, as you note, Flusterstorm is kind of a nonbo thanks to our own Veterans. However, those two slots are more for Storm than the slower decks -- I'm not worried about slower combo as much because that will give time for GEAs, Cryptics, and hardcast FoWs to come into play, as well as the Cranial. Storm doesn't typically run basics (well, TES and Belcher don't, which is what I'm really worried about since ANT tends to be slower). Additionally, they're a Therapy deck as well, so giving them a 2/2 can enable them to flashback their Therapy and strip more answers from our hand.

I also just realized that I copypasted a slightly older list -- I was talking about Shriekmaw, but it never actually made it into the post. With that in mind + Ralf's comments, here's v1.2 of Cryptic BUG:

4 Veteran Explorer
3 Baleful Strix
3 Eternal Witness
1 Shriekmaw
1 Aetherling

4 Cabal Therapy

4 Force of Will
4 Cryptic Command
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm

2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Karn Liberated

3 Pernicious Deed

3 Forest
3 Island
2 Swamp
3 Bayou
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs

::sb::
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Toxic Deluge
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Pithing Needle
2 Flusterstorm
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Thragtusk
1 Cranial Extraction

Regarding Batterskull, if it were to go anywhere, it would go over the Thragtusk or one of the Finks. The issue there is that those cards are intended for the Burn/Zoo/etc matchup, and I -think- that the frontloaded lifegain is worth more than threat of repeatable lifegain over a non-immediate duration.

If I were to squeeze Tops in, I would probably go -1 GPH, -1 Brainstorm for 2 Top -- I've always rather liked the 3 Brainstorm/2 Top split, but I want more things for Witness to do early game, which is why I opted for the full grip of Brainstorms over any Tops.

The most realistic possible future changes would be -1 GPH +1 Garruk Relentless, -1 Forest +1 Tropical Island. Like I said earlier, though, I would test GPH first and then scale back if he proved to be an issue, since he's ostensibly a much more powerful card than wolfblossom is.

[EpicLevelCommoner]

So I'm finally expanding my horizons and dropping BUG fit for Junk Fit.

Why? Because Cap'n Sisay is good alongside Primeval Titan for getting legendary lands to the field/hand: which means I don't have to choose between Karakas or Tabernacle or Stronghold+Tower ^_^.

4 Veteran Explorer
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Captain Sisay
1 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan

4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Diabolic Intent
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Vindicate

4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Karakas

Open to suggestions for the sideboard ^_^

[jbone2016]

So...council's judgement anyone?

[jobdevries]

So I'm finally expanding my horizons and dropping BUG fit for Junk Fit.

Why? Because Cap'n Sisay is good alongside Primeval Titan for getting legendary lands to the field/hand: which means I don't have to choose between Karakas or Tabernacle or Stronghold+Tower ^_^.

4 Veteran Explorer
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Captain Sisay
1 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan

4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Diabolic Intent
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Toxic Deluge
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Vindicate

4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Karakas

Open to suggestions for the sideboard ^_^

I might be overlooking something, but isn't a knight of the reliquary just as good/even better than captain sisay, if you are only going to search lands with it?

[EpicLevelCommoner]

I might be overlooking something, but isn't a knight of the reliquary just as good/even better than captain sisay, if you are only going to search lands with it?

Hmm ... never thought about it to be honest. Still, I like the potential Cap'n has, particularly as a Thrun Tutor (seriously, this one card is making me consider running Thrun again, even over Sigarda). Maybe a triple threat of Prime Time + Cap'n + Knight could work?

EDIT:

So...council's judgement anyone?

Just googled it: to be honest it seems like a worse Maelstrom Pulse/Vindicate, even with the boons of exiling over destroying AND the ability to get around targetting prevention. The reason I say this is because, if I'm reading this correctly, the opponent can just choose the same permanent you choose (since it specifies 'you' and not 'that player') and that's the end of that. 1 for 1 removal.

[eq.firemind]

Just googled it: to be honest it seems like a worse Maelstrom Pulse/Vindicate, even with the boons of exiling over destroying AND the ability to get around targetting prevention. The reason I say this is because, if I'm reading this correctly, the opponent can just choose the same permanent you choose (since it specifies 'you' and not 'that player') and that's the end of that. 1 for 1 removal.

Unlike Pulse/Vindicate, council's judgement deals with True-Name Nemesis.

[EpicLevelCommoner]

Unlike Pulse/Vindicate, council's judgement deals with True-Name Nemesis.

Do we (Nic Fit) really fear TNN enough to run a Pulse/Vindicate that can hit TNN? I mean we run Deed, have the potential to run Deluge, G.Charm, Damnation, and various others to get rid of it, and unlike all of those, using Judgement on TNN cannot be used to simultaneous get rid of other threats or to set off idle Veteran Explorers (which can't block the TNN anyway).

[Qweerios]

Harmonic Sliver just lost his appeal with the new Reclamation Sage coming out:

2/3 Elf Shaman with CiP: Destroy target Artifact or Enchantment.

A much anticipated card for any non-white Pod list.

[supremePINEAPPLE]

Harmonic Sliver just lost his appeal with the new Reclamation Sage coming out:

2/3 Elf Shaman with CiP: Destroy target Artifact or Enchantment.

A much anticipated card for any non-white Pod list.

The image on mythicspoiler has it as a may ability as well.

I was kinda hoping they'd do a may-template version after a grindy game where I had a pod and no other creature on board and drew the sliver with nothing else to target.

[Woe_Bringer]

Hello fellow Nic Fitters. I have been out of the loop for about 6 months and was wondering if i could get some links/posts of current lists of Pod Fit and Junk fit or any other for that matter..I know Punishing fit used to be decent but like i said ive been out of the loop. Thank you for any and all feedback.