Its been over a year I think since I posted here b/c I've been playing Modern mostly, but a couple weeks ago decided to brush the dust off my Nic Fit deck and start playing it again. Yesterday I went to Lodestone Games for a Win a Moat Legacy event which 54 people turned out to. I had only played a handful of games on Cockatrice to warm up the last few days, so I wasn't expecting much, but turned out I placed 13th. This is the deck I took:
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Forest
1 Karakas
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Plains
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Diabolic Intent
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Kaya, Ghost Assassin
2 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Painful Truths
2 Path to Exile
3 Pernicious Deed
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Siege Rhino
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Tireless Tracker
4 Veteran Explorer
Sideboard:
1 Ashen Rider
3 Carpet of Flowers
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Thoughtseize
Match #1 - Miracles - Gregory Orange - 0-2
So the day started off with me getting paired against a pro tour player. Fun. I was a bit nervous, but don't think I made any obvious misplays.
G1 - Near the end he had a Mentor in which he created 2 8/8s by chaining Tops, which is what brought me to 3 life. I drew a deed and wiped his board to keep me alive, then he played another Mentor passed the turn. I swung in with Segarda putting him at 1. I was at 3 when I swung with him having a Mentor and no cards in hand. He drew a top, which triggered prowess and he swung back to win. Not sure if it was right of me to swing in b/c I didn't remember he put a the Top on top of his deck. So was that the optimal play? I dunno. I feel like the longer that game goes the more it is not in my favor, so I went for it.
G2 - He Jace locked meturn 5 or 6 and got Jace to 11 or 12 loyalty, I just scooped. I had only 3 or 4 lands, can't remember, but I couldn't play what I had in hand which made the Fate Seals more crushing.
Match #2 - Goblins - Johnathan - 2-1
G1 - I have never played against Goblins. He got off to a quick start and had 3 Vials out. I landed Rhino and a Kaya, which I exiled the goblin that gets +2 for every other goblin when it attacks, so it kept him at bay a couple turns, then I wiped his entire board with Deed. Then I landed a Nissa and went to town and won.
G2 - He overran me with goblins pretty quick. 1-1.
G3 - He kapt a 5 land, 1 Ringleader hand, which I Therapied, and then can't remember details but my notes say I Therapied 2 other cards so he was low on gas. I chained Rhinos with GSZ and they went all the way. 2-1
Match #3 - Burn - David - 2-0
I thought for sure I was toast b/c the couple of matches I played on Cockatrice against burn I got steam rolled, which is why I decided to add 2 Leylines to the board, and I figured they would help if I ran into Storm.
Both games he got me to 5 or 6 life, so I was close to death, but G1 I was able to chain a couple of Rhinos and pull back while he ran out of gas. I did manage to Therapy a Price of Progress and something else.
G2 - I brought in the Leylines, nothing else. Had one in opening hand with a 1 lander and kept it. It bought me 2 additional turns until he cast Destructive Revelry. But that bought me enough time to hit land drops and again cast a couple of Rhinos to win.
Match #4 - BUG Control - Johnathan - 1-2
Notes were hazy on this, but G3 he landed a TNN and rode it to victory with a Jitte. I had him at 1 life but couldn't kill him.
Match #5 - No Show - 2-0
My opponent didn't show, so I got a free win. Though I did get to play someone else on BUG Control who was sitting next to me for funzies. We went 1-1. G2 of that I was on 1 land with 2 Tops for 4 or so turns after he Wasted a Bayou. That was rough. Time was running out in the round so we just scooped.
Match #6 - Nic Fit - James Hammes 2-0
I was talking to James about Nic Fit before the pairings, then we got paired up. Irony. G1 saw us both with a Sigarda and Rhino on the board. We were basically mirroring each other. I forget the exatct series of events, but I ended up playing 2 Vet to go wider not expecting them to do much. I had a DRS on board and chipped away 6 life or so with it. I think I pathed his Rhino and hand enough for legthal with the additional vets on the board.
G2 - I think I was on the winning side of variance. I saw more GSZ which let me get more Rhinos than him, and I sac'd the Strangleroot for an Intent to fetch up Nissa, which did a lot of work. I think I cast all 3 Rhinos during that game, the last one was a GSZ when he was at 3 life I think. It is worth noting that the players next to us had a good chuckle when they saw me play Strangleroot. Its a good sac target, what can I say.
Final thoughts: The Karakas was a last minute borrow from a friend b/c my Stronghold is still in the mail. Never got to use it, so not sure which of the two I want to use going forward. I might try out Finks in place of Strangleroot b/c its a good sac target with life gain, though its slower to hit the board. Kaya was good when I cast her, but I might take her out and just play 60 cards, or go to 22 lands with a Karakas, Stronghold, and Tower. Not sure what else I would change to be honest right now. I was talking to James about Nissa and he said he usually ultimates her if given the chance, but in my experience I kept wanting the 5/5 beater, b/c by that point in the game land drops are slowing down. I'll experiment with ultimating her and see how it goes.
square_two and rubblekill will have an opinion on this. Check out the discussions before and after page 426 on the old thread here.... http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...r-Deck-Nic-FitOriginally Posted by koten
----
"What if they're already dead, Sergeant?"
"Then kill 'em again, you numpty. Kill them dead. Don't kill them alive."
Took this list to a tournament today:
4 Veteran Explorer
2 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Nyx Weaver
1 Eternal Witness
1 Aegis of the Gods
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Academy Rector
1 Doomwake Giant
1 Chromanticore
3 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Collective Brutality
1 Nissa, Vital Force
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Sterling Grove
1 Starfield of Nyx
1 Skybind
1 Faith's Fetters
1 Living Plane
1 Parallax Wave
3 Phyrexian Tower
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Plains
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
2 Marsh Flats
Sideboard:
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Humility
1 Seal of Primordium
1 City of Solitude
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth
1 Courser of Kruphix
3 Carpet of Flowers
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Leyline of the Void
Won all my Swiss games, lost in quarterfinals to UR Standstill (!). Deck felt super favored against anything fair. Didn't play against any bad matchups though so not much relevant data. Recruiter of the Guard was awesome all day (finding Rector is great, finding SotL / Aegis / Explorer is nice additional utility). Skybind felt fine in the 'grindy incremental value if you don't have enchantments in the grave' slot, but that slot might not be necessary. Maybe should be a second Nissa VF instead. Chromanticore was good most of the time, I did have one game where he was stuck in hand but that was lost already - got fatesealed by Jace a ton of times and he didn't even need to bottom anything, just got no gas anyway. Tempted to run a second City of Solitude in place of the Courser - card is an absolute must-counter against all the blue control decks. Didn't miss maindeck Courser - did need to Zenith@3 for an enchantment once (to trigger doomwake giant and finish a creature off) but Nyx Weaver did the job fine while getting value elsewhere and being an extra recursion option.
Here is my current list:
3 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
2 Bayou
2 Taiga
1 Badlands
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Phyrexian Tower
4 Veteran Explorer
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Fierce Empath
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Thragtusk
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Inferno Titan
1 Woodland Bellower
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Lightning Bolt
3 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Pernicious Deed
4 Sneak Attack
1 Nissa, Vital Force
4 Green Sun's Zenith
side:
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thoughtseize
1 To the Slaughter
1 Faerie Macabre (probably will be another Surgical soon)
2 Lost Legacy
1 Pyroclasm
3 Carpet of Flowers
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Golgari Charm
Mainly just replace the PFires with 1 Decay, 2 Bolts and adjust the manabase. I haven't played too much lately, not enough to really tell on 0 Stronghold, the Wurm, and having a 2nd Empath. If your meta does not have many BUG decks then I doubt the Wurm is really worth it. Ditto about having 2 Golgari Charms in the side - that is more for when I saw a lot of TNN in the online leagues.
I'll see if I can proxy it the next time I get the chance to play.
Got to play some yesterday. My buddy switched back over to Grixis Delver, w/ 2 Fatal Push and a full set of Stifles. Man o man, it was such an uphill battle, it wasn't even funny. Between the massive mana denial and him finally being able to answer my creatures properly it just felt pretty damn hopeless. Sure, I won some games, but those were the games where I started out on the play and had a great opening.
I switched out Diabolic Intent (yes, I know, I'm still shocked myself) and Atraxa for Siege Rhino no.4 and Verdurous Gearhulk (and yes, I still run a Sigarda). As long as you manage to dodge StP it's a godsend vs. D&T. It breaks the board wide open. I like it.
Are you playing any copies of Kaya? She seems pretty good against piles of fair decks.
No, I'm not. I just don't see the appeal. Except for the discard/draw she doesn't really do anything I particularly care about.
Stifle is one of the best cards against Nic Fit, I'm not surprised you found it tough.
Back when they weren't able to answer my creatures, the MU still was 50/50 or better. I'd just power out Courser of Kruphix and stabilize from there. Now, when I finally manage to power out Courser it just gets answered by a 1 mana spell (I mean, they had plenty of time to find it so they will have it) and the oppression continues. It's pretty horrific.
Well, yeah. Except for the CA engine possibilities, she doesn't do much. That's why you're playing her, though, so I don't really see your point here. Also if you want to burn people out with Rhinos she does that too, either by draining or just by flickering rhinos. Also doesn't get wrecked by Swords and Fatal Push like you seem to be having trouble with.
Also she's pretty good against Delver in general since she can unflip their delvers and generally make it a lot harder to clock you out before you stabilize.
You do realise the problem was that I couldn't resolve stuff b/c I had no mana, right..? So a 4 CMC card isn't going to help there.
The games where I had mana, I won.
I guess I can always run Carpet of Flowers in the SB.
So why are you adding more rhinos and 5-drops? I was under the impression you were resolving your Rhinos/Atraxas but then getting them removed by Push/Swords/etc and that was your issue.
You should be running Carpet already. I guess it's not as good if you're curving out at 4-5 and don't have mana sinks like equipment, but it's still essential imo just for Miracles. Sideboarding it in elsewhere is just a bonus.
Nah, I made those changes to my list and then ran into trouble, not the other way around.
Maybe some copies of Collective Brutality? I've found it pretty awesome, and it would be pretty useful against both Grixis and DnT. Taking a Swords/Stifle/Force while killing a Delver/Thalia or cracking your own Explorer in an emergency is really powerful. Even if you never Escalate, it's still just fine.
Sorcery - 1B
Choose one:
Duress
Disfigure
That's a card I would seriously consider playing, and Brutality is pretty much strictly better, except you can't take JTMS with the Duress. Would be especially good in Punishing Rhinos since it has more discard fodder in PFire, but your unfair and Leovold matchups are so awful it's probably not worth it. It's a real pity there's no other good recursive targets beyond Therapies, Lingering Souls just doesn't cut it.
Mainboard?
I think my next league online will have a couple of them mainboard in place of the typical "other" mana acceleration like Deathrites/STE. It's a gamble with a lower floor / higher ceiling payoff, and I've been thinking about doing it for a while.
I've been happy with 2 Carpet of Flowers in the sideboard. I bring them in against Delver and Miracles.
Against Delver, they are obviously great because they get you through Daze / Pierce or let you play multiple things to catch up, since your good cards are on average more expensive than theirs. Alternately, lets you activate top and still be able to play things on time. Pretty sure everyone knows this, but if you're not running them in the board, I don't really understand that.
Against Miracles, our Explorers are pretty bad IMO. At least mine are, some of you guys on other versions might have a better matchup. For my BG version, I've been cutting 4 Explorer 4 Therapy and bringing in a ton of cards. Bringing in Carpet allows me to ramp to Zenith for Thrun or play stuff while activating Top.
Edit: Be aware that Carpet of Flowers targets. So, Leovold is really bad for you with Carpet out.
If you're wondering how I produce blue mana, I copy my opponent's Island with Thespian's Stage
My Youtube and Twitch usernames are DNSolver.
I am the Legacy metagame:
-2016 Eternal Weekend Europe won by BR Reanimator (I wrote the primer)
-2016 Eternal Weekend North America won by Turbo Dark Depths (I write about and develop the winning version specifically)
-Refiner of Hogaak Depths.
Yeah, this is bad. Fortunately most of the BUG Leovold decks a) play very few basics and b) are already pretty good matchups for us, so IMO we can happily make Veterans all day and just leave Carpet in the sideboard without worrying too much about it.
You, my good sir, you managed to make me smile! That's actually a pretty damn good idea. Golgari Charm is probably pretty lackluster at the moment, so I can replace those with 2 Collective Brutality.
I'm actually playing it maindeck. I'm playing Nyx mainly, though, which can afford to cut Decay because it already has an excellent Miracles matchup. Rhinos might need to keep the Decays for that matchup, though. It is really nice having six maindeck discard spells for combo though - it's like the old builds with 2 Thoughtseize in addition to Therapy, only you don't give up as much in fair matchups and Burn.
Anyone got any ideas for a recurring Gravecrawler/PFire choice that would work well with Brutality / Liliana / etc? I'm tempted to try Squee to be honest, but he seems pretty awful if you ever want your card to actually do anything.
Bloodghast maybe. Vengeful Pharaoh is another option (Delvers hate attacking him).
Edit: Well I thought about it. Bloodghast is useless and Pharaoh is just cute. :) sorry for not being helpful.
Last edited by emuhell; 02-27-2017 at 06:07 PM.
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