[Primer/Deck] Nic Fit

[PhyrexianLibrarian]

My match tonight is vs. this: http://deckbox.org/sets/909381

Thoughts on the matchup: Seems similar to playing Goblins. Pernicious Deed seems like it'll need to do some serious work here; cracking it for 4 would almost always wipe his board, but would cost 6 if he already has a Suppression Field in play. I don't care about Chalice, but Suppression Field may be a problem.

Postboard, Massacre and Toxic Deluge come in, and probably the Veteran Explorers come out. Ramping him into Enlistment Officers seems like a really bad idea. Depending on how game 1 goes he'll bring in some number of Rest in Peace, so maybe the Recurring Nightmare should get boarded out if he sees it pre-board?

Thoughts welcome, video will go up afterwards.

[sdematt]

Seems like a weird matchup. But, if you can Decay/Path stuff until you can get into Deeds or better creatures, you should be fine. Getting locked under a Field could be awkward, but again, Deed when you can. These Chalice decks are wildly inconsistent, so I'm okay with that.

-Matt

[PhyrexianLibrarian]

Seems like a weird matchup. But, if you can Decay/Path stuff until you can get into Deeds or better creatures, you should be fine. Getting locked under a Field could be awkward, but again, Deed when you can. These Chalice decks are wildly inconsistent, so I'm okay with that.

-Matt

Video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1j6hetacJY

Match pretty much went exactly as I thought it would, Pernicious Deed and Toxic Deluge are pretty good cards. Fast forward to Game 2 to watch me get blown out!

[Myelectronicdays]

I totally scrubbed out punishing nic fit last night.. It's time to try some junk.

[dave78pdx]

I'll admit, first off, that I am a disgruntled Birthing Pod player who has been playing more Legacy than Modern these days. Some Pod players decided to sell their decks and get out. I decided to turn lemons in to lemonade. I am finally settling on a deck list of my own and not just copying someone else's notes. I had been running a Junk Nic Fit list with Stoneforge + equipment when I came to a couple conclusions... 1) I would rather play a different Stoneblade deck (I also play a Stoneforge Affinity deck and wanting to give Pyroblade a go), and... 2) I want to be able to Zenith for any creature in my Nic Fit deck. So, here is the list I am going with for now.

4 Veteran Explorer
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Courser of Kruphix
2 Eternal Witness
2 Siege Rhino
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Thragtusk
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth

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

4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
3 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Volrath's Stronghold

SB 3 Thoughtseize
SB 1 Gaddock Teeg
SB 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
SB 3 Leyline of Protection
SB 3 Leyline of the Void
SB 2 Engineered Plague
SB 2 Golgari Charm

I could not resist going with the Titania + Courser of Kruphix synergy. Playing lands off the top of my library for card advantage and to get max value from Titania. Add Top to the mix and you can really start going off, sculpting each draw step and land drop.

Using Qasali Pridemage for now as I wanted to bring the average CMC down, it's easier to Zenith for, and can maybe give you an Exalted trigger. Just a little more flexible/situational than Reclamation Sage.

For now, I am on 3 Decay and 1 Pulse. That may change to 2 and 2 as I also have 2 Deed.

Using Swords to Plowshares for now, but considering Path to Exile as an alternative. Will be meta dependent.

Siege Rhino... I cannot say enough about that card. It's what got me back in to playing Modern Pod again (and, also, what got Pod banned in Modern). ETB Lightning Helix plus a big, fat trampler.

Karakas is in there to protect my legendary creatures and to also try to abuse Titania's ETB trigger.

Volrath's Stronghold and 2 Eternal Witness because I like to grab stuff back out of the GY.

An important interaction I feel is overlooked... Blowing your Deed to get Explorer triggers while also resetting the board. Add 2, sometimes 4, land to your available mana and you can Zenith for something big on your next turn.

I will try to post updates with tournament reports when I can. I play on MTGO when I can and occasionally make it to the local weekly Legacy event downtown. Feedback is very much appreciated. Cheers!

[Bobmans]

4 Veteran Explorer
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Courser of Kruphix
2 Eternal Witness
2 Siege Rhino
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Thragtusk
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth

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

4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
3 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Volrath's Stronghold

SB 3 Thoughtseize
SB 1 Gaddock Teeg
SB 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
SB 3 Leyline of Protection
SB 3 Leyline of the Void
SB 2 Engineered Plague
SB 2 Golgari Charm

I could not resist going with the Titania + Courser of Kruphix synergy. Playing lands off the top of my library for card advantage and to get max value from Titania. Add Top to the mix and you can really start going off, sculpting each draw step and land drop.

Using Qasali Pridemage for now as I wanted to bring the average CMC down, it's easier to Zenith for, and can maybe give you an Exalted trigger. Just a little more flexible/situational than Reclamation Sage.

For now, I am on 3 Decay and 1 Pulse. That may change to 2 and 2 as I also have 2 Deed.

Volrath's Stronghold and 2 Eternal Witness because I like to grab stuff back out of the GY.

An important interaction I feel is overlooked... Blowing your Deed to get Explorer triggers while also resetting the board. Add 2, sometimes 4, land to your available mana and you can Zenith for something big on your next turn.

To fully abuse Titania you might wanna check out Sylvan Safekeeper. With that cards you could protect her, aswell as make more tokens. Also you could even sac enough lands in your opponents eot to untap draw and win.
Then i think i prefer Qasali over RecSage just like you, but i think i'd like Gaddock Teeg in that spot main more. Although this is a meta call, it helps you win versus ANT and Elves a lot. ANT usually does not run any form of removal G1 (sometimes 1x Chain of Vapor main), so resolving Teeg G1 is win. Since combo is not your matchup anyway i say exploit what you can.
I think a 3/1 split with AD and Pulse is fine. Pulse can be a winner card. Personally i would like to have access to all the removal as much as possible and Pernicious Deed is probably the best removal this deck can run. Often i find myself wishing for one as a panic button, or to ensure the road to vistory when the Rhino's charge. So i would suggest running 3 all times, even if it blows your own DRS.
Then you run 4/4 split between DRS and VetEx. The thing is with Veterean Explorer that you nearly always want one in the early game, but going to midgame you stop caring for them. Running 4 DRS allows you to cut down a Veteran Explorer. Since i have been doing that i never ever felt that as wrong. Instead i think that running a 3/4 split is the best to be able to have maximum flexiblity and insurance to ramp up. I would even like the 4th Zenith over the 4th Veteran. Zenith is NEVER a dead card and the longer a game goes the more you see it. Also when you want you can always Zenith into Veteran.
And if Siege is so awesome, then why only run 2? Also 2 Witness and 1 Stronghold is kind of a lot i guess. Why not cutting a Witness and adding a Siege Rhino. Also i have never cared for Thrun, the Last Troll, replace him would be fine to aswell as the second Courser. I think Courser is awesome, but you never want to see two.
Last, what is Leyline of Protection? Iguess Leyline of Sanctity? i don't think you need Sanctity anyway. Against Burn we have DRS, Courser, Rhino, Thragtusk. Against discard? We have Top and Zenith. You could replace them with 3 Carpet of Flower. Or a 2/1 split with Choke and Carpet. That way you can exploit opponents for running basic Islands and not giving them advantage from Veteran Explorer (Miracles!, Sneak/Show, Reanimate, Storm). With 3 Veteran Explorers maindeck you always have a solid switch postboard not losing any value.
And what's with the Leyline of the Void? Against Reanimate and Dredge you have DRS and Scooze. That should be enough against those decks. I would probably be more concerned about Depths.dec. While i didn't have a best solution for that i think that 1 Karakas is not enough. Maybe something like 3 Diabolic Edict? Or 2 and something that can block thos tokens into infinity?
So to sum up:

-1 Veteran Explorer
-1 Qasali Pridemage (going to SB)
-1 Thrun, the Last Troll
-1 Eternal Witness
-1 Courser of Kruphix
-3 Leyline of Sanctity
-3 Leyline of the Void

+1Sylvan Safekeeper
+1Gaddock Teeg (going to Main)
+1Green Sun's Zenith
+1Pernicious Deed
+1Siege Rhino
+3Carpet of Flowers
+3 something

[dave78pdx]

Thank you for the response!

Sylvan Safekeeper is a good idea to abuse Titania with. I'll have to set that card aside and run some games with him in there. I had been considering adding Knight of the Reliquary to the deck, and if I do then maybe both would in together as a package deal.

When I made the change to add in a 2nd Courser, it was because I didn't have a 2nd Scooze on my person while at the LGS. I had finally inserted Titania in to the list and was interested in testing that synergy, so 2 Coursers was what I decided in the moment. Also, looking at those Sylvan Plug lists and they run 2 Coursers as well, along with Titania and KotR. So, if I insert KotR, I may want to stick with 2 Courser to test that out.

Pridemage vs Teeg is a meta call. I will always have one in the main and one in the board.

I've been considering cutting down to 3 VetEx, especially as I replace basics with non-basics... The original list I ran had 9 basics, now I'm down to 7. DRS helps with ramp but he is usually the first to eat a StP/Bolt.

I only run 2 Rhino so as to make room for other fun beaters. I want to have at least one hexproof beater. If I had to choose one, I'd probably keep Sigarda in the list because she's bigger, flies, and protects my other dudes.

An epiphany I had last night after my previous post whilst tweeting with my tweeter frinds... Tasigur is showing up in a lot of lists lately. New card hype and its justified; he can really get the motor going on some decks. Two things I realize... 1) He can feed Knight of the Reliquary by dumping lands in to the GY, and 2) He survives Pernicious Deed. Could Tasigur/KotR/Titania/Course/Safekeeper be the ridiculous synergy we are looking for?

Yes, I meant Leyline of Sanctity. The Leylines are leftovers from the original list I started with when I first picked up the deck. There used to be 4x each in there. There may eventually be none. I'm mostly trying to get my main 60 to where I want it, and I'll tweak the SB from there.

Changes I see myself making immediately...

-1 VetEx, +1 Sylvan Safekeeper
-1 Thrun, +1 KotR


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sdematt]

Played my list today in a side event at GP Vancouver, and went 4-1 to score some kindling for the fire (aka Fate Reforged boosters).

4 Veteran Explorer
4 Siege Rhino
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Karakas
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Eternal Witness
3 Pernicious Deed
1 Thragtusk
3 Path to Exile
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Marsh Flats
1 Diabolic Intent

SB: 2 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 2 Toxic Deluge
SB: 4 Thoughtseize
SB: 3 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Cranial Extraction

Round 1: Connor with Junk Nic Fit

Apparently Connor lurks these forums too. I thought he was on Junk something, since his first three turns were Bayou, Scrubland, Savannah. I thought he was on Junk midrange, but he then Cabal Therapies ME for Veteran Explorer....and we're off to the races. I go full into Siege Rhino mode and I do best his draw.

I board out Veterans since if he's good and boards them out, which I think you have to, you're on equal footing, and if he thinks leaving them in is better because his build is different, I benefit. Essentially, he dilutes and I get to board. I bring in Cranial, Deluge x2, Teeg, and Grip for Top/Deed.

I'm on the backfoot when he has Titania, Knight, and Karakas out, and I've got 2 Rhinos. I draw into Deed with Top and nuke the world for 5, then Cabal Therapy away Titania. I drop Thrun and he goes all the way.

2-0

Round 2: Shane with MUD

Shane opens with Mountain, Goblin welder. I figure he's on Painter so my Deed hand and fetches is now super spicy. But, he then plays 3 ball. More likely MUD now. Turns out I have all the removal and Rhino and he has nothing.

I board in removal and board out Veterans.

Game 2 he combos off as I keep a removal light hand.

Game 3 he has an explosive hand into Lodestone Golem, and I struggle a bit to keep up after going down to 5. I remove Golem, but Welder joins and starts making my life hell. I use Rhino and block a Golem, but he powers out another and it has Boots. We trade back and forth a bit, but in a critical turn, he has Lodestone and Welder tapped to bring in Wurmcoil Engine (other possibility is bring in Lodestone part 2). He goes down to 1 and I'm on 4 mana. End of turn I top and get land and Rhino to juice him out of the game.

4-1

Round 3: Kyle with Elves

Game 1 the Glimpse chain is REALLY good and I'm too slow.

In Game 2 I take GSZ off of a hand that looks like: GSZ, Glimpse, Cradle, Quirion, Wirewood x2 and more, with a Deathrite in play. I grab GSZ since I have Deed in hand and I don't want him to hardcast Craterhoof since I have no interaction, but if his Glimpse chain is meh, Deed blows him the fuck out. Turns out, he goes like 40 cards deep and kills me the next turn and I'm still a turn behind with Deed since my Veteran never dies. Brutality.

4-3

Round 4: Luke with BUG Delver

Luke plays Seas and Deltas, and just derdles with 2-3 Ponders and 2-3 Brainstorms. I play as if he's Delver, but he might be a derdly Storm pilot. He curiously fetches Sea, Sea, Trop, which makes me put him on a derdly BUG hand. Excellent. I get to 5 mana and slam Rhino around Daze. I slam more things but then he comes back after 4 Brainstorms and kills me.

Game 2 I do the Nic Fit thing and Deed away everything, then blow it all up, then multiple Rhinos come with Recurring Nightmare. Zie kommen.

Game 3 is a bit back and forth, but I get Carpet out after we trade a bit. I drop Rhino and he has 4/5 Goyf. He's at 10. I decline Mainphase 1 carpet mana, attack with Rhino. He blocks. Second main I add 3 green mana, Zenith for Ooze, and remove instant from the yard to kill Goyf. He cringes and the game goes downhill and he dies.

6-4

Round 5: Geoffery with Shardless BUG

Game 1 I lose to overwhelming Jace, Liliana, and all the things. Oh well.

Game 2 I come on strong with Rhino and removal, and his garbage cards aren't enough.

Game 3 I mull away "Swamp, Swamp, Decay, Decay, Carpet, GSZ, Cabal Therapy" because that's a trap. If I don't draw green in 2 turns, I'm out of the fucking game. So I mull to 5 instead and keep Veteran, Fetch, Fetch, Path, Sigarda. He Thoughtseizes my Veteran, but I rip Veteran and after that, Diabolic Intent. Cool, I'm in this game. I path a Goyf, but then my Intent went for Thrun (so I could go next turn Thrun into Sigarda, game over bad deck, amirite? Turns out, he comes back with Hymn. Ouch. I'm in topdeck mode, but hit well. Rhino, Deed, Decays, etc. and eventually, Top. Excellent. He has Liliana, I kill it. His Volrath's Stronghold tech is VERY strong, since he keeps bringing back Shardless Agents and Goyfs that I've killed. eventually though, I drop Rhino and he has to Jace bounce 3 times to try to do something, which is great for me. Eventually, he counters Rhino and he starts getting in. I get down to about 12 and I hit another Rhino. Excellent! But, his Goyf is 6/7. Ouch. Again, we exchange removal and eventually, I'm still left with Rhino x2 to his active Deathrite and 6/7 Goyf. I hit a fetch and Top into Path while he's at 6. I swing, he blocks and activates Shaman to eat Goyf, trample, take 6. The salt. THE SALT.

8-5

-----------


Overall, the list felt very good. I missed Reclamation Sage in the MUD matchup, but it was otherwise okay. Deed is good, but slow. Elves isn't a cakewalk, and I honestly think we might be too slow for that matchup sometimes/my opponent got lucky/I drew poorly. I'll have to run that matchup a bit more. I think Glimpse was the correct call, but I was expecting that I could hold on for one more turn, but that Glimpse was insane.

Against Shardless, I feel very strong. Rarely are Goyfs a problem since Deed can wipe most midrange players' boards and Rhino can get in.

Overall, still loving the list. Didn't get to use Stronghold, but did get to Intent people MANY time. Nightmare and Intent pull their weight as one-of's. Top is always amazing, and I think 3 or 4 is the correct number in most matchups. Carpet is insane. Quad Rhino is the way to go.

-Matt

[Bobmans]

@sdematt, do you feel Intent necesary because of the presence of Depths and S&S? I have been considering the card as a one off in my PFire list, and am wondering what your reasening is and if it is worth running it.

[sdematt]

I liked having a tutor for Recurring Nightmare, Deed, and Top in some matchups. Out of the board, it allows you to grab Cranial/Grip as well, since they're currently one-of's. Another sac outlet also isn't bad ;)

I'd actually be MORE inclined to run it in a P. Fire list for a few reasons. It finds Wolf Run, Grove, Fires, Slaughter Games, etc. Try it out :)

-Matt

[Bobmans]

I liked having a tutor for Recurring Nightmare, Deed, and Top in some matchups. Out of the board, it allows you to grab Cranial/Grip as well, since they're currently one-of's. Another sac outlet also isn't bad ;)

I'd actually be MORE inclined to run it in a P. Fire list for a few reasons. It finds Wolf Run, Grove, Fires, Slaughter Games, etc. Try it out :)

-Matt

O damn, i always mix up Diabolic Intent for Diabolic Edict.... i meant Edict, but you run Intent... pfff hahaha.

Thank you for clearing out the Intent. That is (aside from my mix up) a solid card for consideration.

I am actually looking at Edict since i have been seeing so much Marit Lage. Liliana is not the right answer for it. They go eot Marit Lage, untap and attack. Often i squeeze out a couple of life points to survive the first attack, but liliana is not always there (or gets countered/removed).

[bryanzoll]

O damn, i always mix up Diabolic Intent for Diabolic Edict.... i meant Edict, but you run Intent... pfff hahaha.

Thank you for clearing out the Intent. That is (aside from my mix up) a solid card for consideration.

I am actually looking at Edict since i have been seeing so much Marit Lage. Liliana is not the right answer for it. They go eot Marit Lage, untap and attack. Often i squeeze out a couple of life points to survive the first attack, but liliana is not always there (or gets countered/removed).

Junk has access to karakas though so Dark Depths isn't as bad. They also had Gaddock Teeg which is a blowout card right now as far as I'm concerned. I hung up Scapefit after the bannings because Sneak and Show and ANT/TES have made a bigger come back. Miracles is also revitalized as well and Teeg helps out with most of those matchups. Having access to containment priest is never a bad thing either.

[ironclad8690]

Played Punishing Nic Fit this last weekend at SCG LA in the PIQ.

I went 0-4 drop (yeah, I know), but maybe some information can be gleaned from my experience.

Round 1: Death and Taxes

Game 1 I keep a hand with 2 forests and 1 mountain. I play 2 Vet Exes which are both STP'd, and I get behind on board when he plays a Jitte and I have no black source for my decay. I try to dig with top, but he revokes it. Revoker gets in a bunch with jitte and I can't play my thragtusk or my abrupt decay, so I have to take it. I draw my black source, but I am at too low a life total and brimaz wrecks me.

Game 2: I keep a solid hand with the right mana and 2 p fires and 2 deeds. He plays mom, thalia, both of which I p fire, and then a Pithing Needle on deed. I am stuck with 2 deeds in hand, but I set off a couple of veteran explorers while disrupting him. He gets a brimaz out, equips jitte and attacks while I durdle. He cataclysms me and keeps brimaz jitte, I have to scoop a couple of turns later.

Round 2: Storm

Game 1: He gets a game loss for misregistering his deck.

Game 2: I keep a good removal hand and get steamrolled. on like turn 3.

Game 3: I mull hands with no discard or interactivity to e witness surgical and 3 lands. I play my lands, surgical in response to a duress, e wit back the surgical. He cabal therapies me, so I surgical something dumb like a ponder to keep him tied up for mana (no thresh on cabal ritual), which ends up giving him enough storm count to go off, and I hang my head in shame.

Round 3: Dredge w/ Bloodghast

Game 1: I get annihilated by a really fast dredge draw and like 8 zombies on turn 2 + flame kin zealot

Game 2: I get rid of some Bridges by p firing my own vet ex, but bloodghasts keep coming back to ruin my day. Never saw my surgicals or scooze after mulling a couple times, so I had to keep a lackluster 5.

Round 4: Enchantress

Game 1: I am feeling good when he goes forest wild growth. I just need to draw a p deed now! I play top and pass. Things change on turn 2 when he plays a suppression field. I have to pay mana just to crack my fetches to play my ridiculously expensive broodmate dragon on time, but he plays RiP Helm (naturally drawn after I double cabal therapy him), and helms me to death.

Game 2: I am on the play and I go forest pass. He goes utopia sprawl or something. I GSZ vet ex because I am stuck on lands and have a cabal therapy in hand. He goes turn 2 suppression field again. I play scooze, e wit, and huntmaster, but solitary confinement keeps me low while my opponents plays creatures and draws a million cards. He eventually just draws into RiP Helm again, and I have nothing to stop it.

At this point I drop to save myself any additional embarrassment. I chalked this one up to bad matchup luck and possibly a couple of mistakes, but you have to admit those matchups all depend of pretty specific cards showing up, or not showing up on their side (in the case of death and taxes shutting off deed). I learned that this deck is very challenging to play correctly and is not forgiving of the slightest mistakes. I may return to play this again in the future, but it will take lots of dedication and practice to learn compared to easy decks that don't have as complicated decision trees.

[sdematt]

Sad to hear the result, but these things happen. Want to post your exact list?

At least you went out and played!

-Matt

[Dzogchen]

Hey everyone,

I, like Ironclad, played at the SCG LA PIQ, except with Junk. Maybe this is just a bad meta or weekend for us nic-fitters. I went 1-4 Drop. I'll recount as best I can:

Round 1: Matt with Grixis Delver (he went on to top 8)

Game 1: I kept a nice removal heavy hand and kill his early threats but he does the tempo thing and keeps me off my heavy hitters for the win.

Game 2: This one was a BIG resource trade off for a long time. I killed his first big board off, dropped a thragtusk to stabilize, but he kills it with burn and then drops Tasigur. His sick play of the game though was setting up a tasigur activation in response to my next rhino (which would have stabilized me) and gave me a critical blocker, and forced me to choose between giving him a daze (that would counter it) or burn. He was at 1 card so to kill me it needed to be a burn spell he was holding, so I gave him back a burn spell and...yea...he had it.

0-1

Round 2: Nick with Burn

Game 1: He's just faster and gets me

Game 2: Hand disruption and rhinos for days.

Game 3: It was close but admittedly he draw practically all of his land. Rhino + Recurring nightmare seals the deal

1-1

Round 3: Dondon with Reanimator

Game 1: WORLDGORGER DRAGON COMBO?!?!? Yea...that's a thing. Nowdays. Continually floats all his mana to activate Nephalia Drownyard to mill me. Oof.

Game 2: He quickly reanimates Iona, naming white (he saw my hand of rhino and Path to exile). I rip a GSZ, go get Rec Sage and send that Angel back to the yard. From there I get in with the rhino and he takes the game.

Game 3: I had such bad opening hands, mulled to a 5 with plains, graf cage, green cards x3. I sigh and keep it. Turn 1 cage shuts him down HARD for something like...6 turns....but I never saw another land. He Engineered Explosives the cage, reanimates Griseldad and takes it. Quite salty.

1-2

Round 4: Grixis Painter

Game 1: Things just didnt come together and he had the right counter magic, I get painted.

Game 2: I strip 4 cards practically immediately with thoughtsieze, duress, and cabal therapy. Drop a rhino which utterly dominates.

Game 3: We trade resources durdly around for a while. He steps away to ask the judge a question before putting down a needle and naming deed. I'd never shown him a deed ever and he explains to me that he somehow saw it while I was shuffling, apologized for how it looked, but the judge said there wasnt a problem with it so he needled it. It entirely changed how I would have played since I HAD a deed which may have made the game likely entirely different but...it is what it is I guess. He seemed genuine about it. I fight on but he eventually gets what hes after and paints it.

1-3

Round 5: BUG Delver

Game 1: We have this massive staring contest for a while. His goyfs stare at my rhinos and his delver stares at my sigarda. No one wanted to swing because there were no creatures in the yard and that fact kept his goyfs at bay. I finally rip a deed and clear it up and swing in.

Game 2: Of all the lands I draw they're ALL duals. He wastes and stifles the crap out of me.

Game 3: We trade resources for a good long while and nearly go to time but some timely stifles and a fleet of fliers get the better of me.

1-4 drop.

To be honest, most of the games seemed very competitive and barring some streaks of bad hands and draws I felt like the deck put up a good fight. I still need to become a better pilot for it, and get in more reps. I felt better that all but one match went to 3 games though. I really wanted to have Carpets in the board but for the life of me I couldnt find a vendor that had them in time, so I ran the 3 chokes I did have. In retrospect 3 carpet would have been way better. Ah well, I won't give up THAT easily and abandon it. Next time!

[Plague Sliver]

First Legacy event for me this year. I decide to sleeve Junk Nic Fit up, to honor the Siege Rhino gods:

4 Veteran Explorer
4 Siege Rhino
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Karakas
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Eternal Witness
3 Pernicious Deed
1 Thragtusk
3 Path to Exile
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Taiga
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Marsh Flats
1 Reclamation Sage

SB: 2 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 2 Toxic Deluge
SB: 4 Thoughtseize
SB: 3 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Slaughter Games

20 player tournament with cut to Top 8. I get the jitters, having never played Nic Fit in any sanctioned event...ever (Nic Jit..ters?) But list is sweet, and I'm ready to Siege Rhino some fools.

*** Round 1 vs. Maverick ***

Game 1: I get greedy with a Bayou, it gets wasted after I Cabal Therapy away his Batterskull. I get stuck without green for several turns as his Thrun and SOFI go to town. I was in the match still, slamming Rhino when possible, and eventually Deeding, but he outlasts me. Game was decided when I decided not to go for basics.

Game 2: I realize from the last game that he doesn't know Explorer can help give him two lands. Sweet. This game isn't really close, because Deluge and Deed just wreck him. He gets cute with Mindcensor, but it just dies to Decay like everything else in his deck. Rhino gets there.

Game 3 goes to time, which is too bad because I could have wrecked him with yet another Deluge/Deed hand. Possibly I could have scooped game 1 to save time, but still felt like I was in that game. Oh well.

Result: DRAW

*** Round 2 vs. Omnitell ***

Game 1: we draw-go for a few turns. I thought he was some weird merfolk shit, because he spell pierces my GSZ and only has basic islands. Like an idiot, I activate Explorer. Two turns later, I'm dead.

Game 2: I side in 11 cards, keep a 6 hander with top and discard. Turn 1 thoughtseize takes Omniscience and I see 3 brainstorms, 1 ponder. Geez. I get top going, but see no more hate and he wins 4 turns later with the help of broken blue one mana spells.

Result: LOSE 0-2. Actually I don't feel too bad, because it's a tough matchup and I didn't draw well at all. The maindeck spell pierce really threw me off.

*** Round 3 vs. Reanimator ***

Game 1: somehow, I win this one...on turn 10. Thrun plus DRS plus ramp gets there. He tells me after the game that he stacked two enablers on top of deck...then elected to shuffle them away to get two basic lands with my explorer. Whoops. I'll take it, though.

Game 2: fast Grizzle fo' Shizzle beats my ass down.

Game 3: I draw seven and see...2x Surgical Extraction, 1x Slaughter Games, 1x Ooze, 3x lands. Why yes, I think I'll keep. I thwart his T2 and T3 reanimation plans, Explorers go to town, Ooze beats down. I don't find a fetchland for Slaughter Games, but it doesn't matter. Truly a perfect hand.

Result: WIN 2-1

*** Round 4 vs. BURG Delver a.k.a. Greed.dec ***

I know what he's on. I mentally smack my lips and prepare to give him a dose of the ol' Siege Rhino.

Game 1: 2 deeds, therapy, explorers, SIEGE RHINOS is too much for him. I guess 4c delver doesn't run basics. That turns my explorers and paths into insane instruments of destruction. SO. MUCH. VALUE.

Game 2: he has the stifle for my deed. I make the t1 blind therapy for force of will, take 2 force of will, but two quick delvers kill me.

Game 3: one for the ages. I turn 1 blind therapy for stifle, and hit. He gets young Pyro down. I get veteran beats on, he doesn't want to block with his DRS. Eventually I land a deed, and reset the board and ramp. Every young Pyro, token and Delver dies, dies, dies. I draw infinite removal. I later attack into his TNN with 2 explorers, no blocks, deed for 3. For what seems like 20 turns, I play control. Finally when both of us are at 5, I slam Siege Rhino. He takes another draw step and scoops.

Result: WIN 2-1. I like this matchup, A++++++, would play again.

*** Round 5 vs. Elves ***

Game 1: I know what he's on, and decide to keep a 6 hander with Top and Path. He turn 2 craterhoofs me after Glimpsing for a million.

Game 2: I see Teeg, Explorer, Therapy. Ok. I blind name Natural Order, whiff, he turn 3 Decays my Teeg, into Natural Order. Nice topdecks, sir.

Result: LOSE 0-2. Again, I'm not all that bummed out, because he drew really well and Elves will sometimes just kill you out of nowhere. Good deck is good deck.

*** In Closing ***

2-1-2 isn't a terrible finish given my relative inexperience playing the deck. My sloppiness with combat and fetching mana showed at times. Nonetheless, it was hugely enjoyable to be rocking the only Legacy Siege Rhinos in the room, and drawing lots of attention due to that. Felt like the people's champion.

Reclamation Sage was not used at all, so that will probably turn into a Diabolic Intent next time. Despite never casting Slaughter Games, I think it's a solid security blanket and will keep it in the list for now. The Taiga doesn't really hurt my Mana base, and I side it out in matchups as needed.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

[GoblinZ]

Good experience, that omnitel player actually plays his decks for a long time and used to have some decent result when he studied in France.

haha, that maverick player must be new to this format because once upon a time(3-4 years ago maybe) Nic-fit variants were omnipresent here and there in Beijing.

[Arianrhod]

Those of you playing on the west coast, keep in mind that the regional meta is heavily centered around combo, which is rough for us. Were I to play on the west coast, I would maindeck some amount of combo hate. Just something to keep in mind -- as I'm east coast, my lists have always been tuned more for control metas with a side helping of delver.

Sideboarding Slaughter Games in a junk list is cheeky. I like it.

[Bobmans]

My dedication to Punishing Fire NicFit. Progress 36% complete and more enroute. Pity i am forced to go non signed to complete the deck, but with some patience i might stumple on some more Japanese signed beauty's. Some cards are just so hard to come by.

So to all the PFire NicFitter's, never loose faith in the deck.

[Ralf]

Those of you playing on the west coast, keep in mind that the regional meta is heavily centered around combo, which is rough for us. Were I to play on the west coast, I would maindeck some amount of combo hate. Just something to keep in mind -- as I'm east coast, my lists have always been tuned more for control metas with a side helping of delver.

Sideboarding Slaughter Games in a junk list is cheeky. I like it.

For Junk players, I am experimenting a couple of armageddon (x2) as a sideboard tech to better handle 12 post, MUD, heavy control, etc...

2 Ethersworn canonist
2 Containment priest
1 Dryad Militant
1 Pithing needle
1 Golgari charm
1 Extirpate
3 Thoughtseize
2 Stain the Mind -> this could easily be slaughter games but I want to give Stain the Mind a shot
2 Armageddon

@thread:

I'm not sold on the Quad Rhino tech.
I mean Rhino is nice and all but more often than I would like he is just a 4/5 staring at Goyfs 5/6 or 6/7 and we are already behind on life points. Can we race ? Sometime, yes but more often, no...
So, if you don't draw a deed or if it gets countered, you are in a pretty bad spot.

Even in the other matchups (Control/Combo), he does not shine because he is not bringing "enough" to the table:
- does not generate card/virtual card advantage
- does not race

My final word is that Rhino requires back up. And that's the major issue I have with him.

To be completely fair after a lot of testing I don't think he belongs to a Nic Fit shell.

To maximize his output, he has to be played in a Rock Junk style where your goal is to stomp your opponents by playing a lot of spot removal and must handle creatures.
I could see him being an ALL STAR finisher in something like this:

4 DRS
4 Dark Confidant
4 Goyf
3 Rhino

4 Decay
4 PTE/STP
4 Vindicate

4 TS
2/4 HTT

1/3 Liliana

2 Jitte

4 Wasteland
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Plains
8 Fetchs
3 Bayou
3 Scrubland
1 Savannah

Siege rhino would sound better here - while listening a famous kurt Cobain song - :
- T1 DRS
- T2 Waste + HTT/Bob
- T3 Sword + Goyf / Stone rain or spot removal
- T4 Rhino -> GG ?