I. What is Nic Fit?
Nic Fit is a Legacy deck that burst onto the scene in early 2011. The premise of the deck is to disrupt your opponent with removal and discard with cards like Abrupt Decay, Pernicious Deed, Cabal Therapy and Thoughtseize while ramping into impressive hard to deal with threats that end the game quickly, typically Grave Titan and Thragtusk. The deck's engine revolves around a Green Sun's Zenith tool box and the ability to abuse the powerful interaction between Veteran Explorer and Cabal Therapy.
II. Why play Nic Fit in Modern?
Nic Fit is an extremely customazible deck that can be made to beat anything it wants to. The deck has some of the best answers in the format in the form of discard and removal and some of the hardest to deal with threats that require multiple or incredibly specific answers.
The deck is a blast to play as you get to cast impressive creatures, generally know your opponent's hand, get to tutor for what you need and in some match ups you even get to play a mana denial game!
Primal Command is not to be underestimated. Against aggro decks you get to gain 7 life and tutor up a Thragtusk. Against control you get to put them back a land drop and draw step by placing a land on top of their library while tutoring a resilient threat. It also acts as incidental graveyard hate or inevitability (by having a 2nd Primal Command in the GY alongside any threats that were previously killed). Between SB land destruction, Primal Command and Tectonic Edge you can hold your opponent to under 3 lands for an entire game. The best part is that you can cast it by turn 3!
The Modern version of Nic Fit plays somewhat differently than its Legacy counterpart. In Modern, the deck tends to control the game and ramp for the first few turns but looks to quickly exploit an opening to cast a threat and close out the game. It may seem slow and grindy on paper but I have killed people on turn 5 many times. However, the deck also has an incredible late game and can even go toe-to-toe with other late game juggernauts such as Tron and Gifts.
IV. Card Choices
Darkblast: Good vs. Affinity and Infect. Possible SB option.
Disfigure: Cheap 1cmc removal. Could be correct to run in the SB depending on meta.
Abrupt Decay: Your bread and butter removal. It's great vs. nearly everything. Great vs. aggro and has application vs. combo decks (twin, storm, infect). Side out vs. most control decks though. Run 3-4 main.
Dismember: Another great 1cmc removal option. Not as good as the first 4 Decays & 2 Cuts but could replace Cuts #3 and #4.
Maelstrom Pulse: Decay's bigger brother. Hit's anything and everything. Although we already operate enough at sorcery speed, you generally want your removal to at least be instant speed. Run 0-2.
Hero's Downfall: Gives you a good way to deal with planeswalkers like Lili and Karn all at instant speed! Worth considering.
Gaze of Granite: A possible replacement to Pernicious Deed. Can be used as a universal sweeper if you want a sweeper effect. Run 0-2.
Damnation: The only playable 4cmc no strings attached sweeper in our colors. Generally you can use targeted removal on what you need and just go over the top with your threats.
Night of Souls' Betrayal: A fantastic SB card as it completely shuts down several tier 1 decks: Affinity, Twin and Infect as well as large number of tier 2 decks: Soul Sisters, Faeries, Tokens, etc. Generally not played because 4cmc is a lot in most decks but in ours it comes down on turn 3!
Murderous Cut: One of the best removal spells we can play. It is basically why we run over 4-8+ fetches. Run 1-3 in your 75.
Inquisition of Kozilek: This and Thoughtseize will cover all your MB discard needs. How many of each your run is based on preference. I would run at least 5 MB discard and could see even playing the full 8 in some metas.
Duress: If you want discard #9-#11 run these guys. Great vs. combo and control and replaces Thoughtseize in the burn match up. Run 0-3.
Birds of Paradise: The fastest and most versatile ramp we have access to. But being susceptible to removal could really put us behind. I recommend running spell based ramp.
Explore: Probably the most controversial ramp spell. It forces us to run a few more lands but in turn gives us extremely explosive starts (turn 1 search, turn 2 explore into swamp/discard, turn 3 Thrag/Primal) and the cantripping is nothing to scoff at. Also makes treetops better as they don't cause any real tempo loss in combination with this card.
Search for Tomorrow: Required for your explosive turn 3s. Some don't like this card but I find that it has been an all-star.
Solemn Simulacrum: A built in 3 for 1 that ramps us from 4 to 6. Fights with Garruk Wildspeaker for a spot. Run 0-2.
Kitchen Finks: Sometimes you just need a buffer to get to your Thragtusks and Titans. But I believe Baloth does this better as it nearly always comes down on turn 3.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Acts as both a threat and ramp. But is worse than your other ramp spells or threats. Run 0-3.
Obstinate Baloth: A solid SB card that acts as a buffer vs. aggro before you get your bigger threats online. Run 0-2 in the SB.
Thragtusk: The OG Siege Rhino. Trumps aggro, midrange and is a resilient threat vs. control. Your bread and butter threat or buffer before your titans or wurmcoils. Run 2-4.
Primeval Titan: Your best threat. Can either grab either or a mix of Tectonic Edge or Treetop Village and will either deal with problem lands, set them back or put massive pressure on your opponent. All the damage is trample which is very relevant. However, the first one is much much better than the second (once you've fetched your lands).
Wurmcoil Engine: Great vs. aggro or midrange. But is mediocre vs. path/control.
Grave Titan: Your in between threat. Better on defense than Primeval but worse than Wurmcoil and is better on offense than Wurmcoil but less than the first Primeval. Takes the spot of the 2nd Primeval.
Tectonic Edge: Gives you a LOT of game vs. control. Deals with any problem lands and really facilitates the mana denial plan in conjunction with Primal Command. Run 3-4.
Treetop Village: An incredible threat and helps you kill your opponent in quick fashion. Run 4. Would run a few more if I could.
Golgari Rot-Farm: Is great as a 1 or 2-of if you run Garruk. Has some synergy with Explore.
Nature's Claim: A cheap SB answer. But this deck has the unique ability to play more impactful/expensive spells than most decks.
Eternal Witness: A great value card that can help you outgrind opponents. Run 0-2.
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss: This has been incredible for me. Absolutely fantastic vs. any deck that has problem lands (i.e. infect), who are color intensive (gifts), other land based decks (tron) and any control deck that plays manlands (uwr). Your SB plan vs. Tron and control is to put your opponent back with these, Primal Commands and Tec Edges before playing a game ending threat. Post SB games involving this card have been ridiculous lopsided in my favor every time I've cast it. Run 2-3 in the SB.
Harmonize: Can help you refuel easily. Worth considering as a source of CA. Run 0-2.
Creeping Corrosion: A great card vs. Affinity. But gust does it better (instant speed and gain life) while also being useful vs. Bogles.
Fracturing Gust: These are the high impact/expensive cards we want. Cards like these are much better in our decks than any other in the format. However, Night of Soul's Betrayal does the same vs. affinity but has wider applications. Run 0-3 in the SB as additional affinity hate/if you are afraid of bogles.
Any reasonably competitive suggestions made in this thread will be added to the cards above. Please feel free to contribute!
I had zero expectations going into the event and just wanted to get as many reps in with the deck as possible. However, the deck proved itself as a powerful contender and took me all the way to the top 4 before falling to Jacob Wilson’s 7th place PT deck called “little kid junk” while my opponent continued on to win the entire event. These are the matches I faced throughout the day.
Round 1 – Junk
I was lucky enough to win the die roll in my first round and opened up with turn 1 discard. I was pleased to see that my opponent was on a stock Junk list filled with the usual suspects of goyf, rhino, lili backed with removal and discard. We ended up trading hand disruption back and forth for the first few turns but I was able to strip him of most of his threats before he could play them. He was able to stick an Ooze but I eventually found an Abrupt Decay. He was able to Path both my Thragtusk and Primeval Titan but the damage was done and a beast token and 2 Treetops were able to get the job done.
After board I don’t really want to have any poor top decks in grindy matchups like these. So I took out my discard for cards that impacted the board more.
Game 2 my opponent kept a 1 land hand with 3 discard spells. He found a second land (a wildwood) on his third turn (missing his land drop on turn 2) but I was able to respond with a turn 3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss blowing up a land followed up by a turn 4 Primal Command placing his land on top of his library while searching up Primeval Titan which fetched up 2 Treetops the following turn.
(1-0)
Round 2 – UWR Geist
My round 2 opponent was a good friend of mine and previous testing would suggest that I was fairly favored in the matchup. He was on a mostly stock UWR Geist list but with the added spice of a couple of Watery Graves and a playset of Lingering Souls. Game 1 he had an excellent start by landing a turn 3 GoST followed by multiple paths to push damage through the few relevant cards I drew. I drew and used 2 Abrupt Decays and a Murderous Cut on his angel token, I wasn’t winning this one.
I had found that postboard in these matchups you tend to morph into a highly disruptive deck that strips their hand of anything relevant while putting them behind in terms of mana development.
My opponent mulled to 5 and I opened with double discard. He was able to top deck a GoST but my tree top held it at bay. I ended up playing a Mwonvuli Acid-Moss followed by a Primal Command placing a land on his library while searching for a Primeval Titan. My opponent scooped after my Primeval Titan fetched up 2 Tectonic Edges with a 3rd already on the battlefield to his 4 duals in play.
Game 3 played out very similarly. I opened with discard followed by moss blowing up a land and primal bouncing another while fetching up prime time. I cast prime time fetching up 2 tec edges with a 3rd in play and my opponent played his 4th land (hadn’t missed a land drop, I just set him back plus ramped myself) and played a Supreme Verdict. I triple tec edged him and then used Primal Command to put another land on top and searched out a Grave Titan.
(2-0)
Round 3 – Affinity
Unfortunately I removed the Fracturing Gusts from my sideboard before the event. I lost the die roll and he had the nut draw. Somehow I was able to lose this game after going turn 1 search, turn 2 explore into an inquisition using my extra land drop to take a cranial plating, turn 3 primal command gaining 7 life and fetching up wurmcoil and turn 4 playing wurmcoil and gaining 6 life every turn from then on. I don’t believe I misplayed he just drew 3 cranial platings over the course of the game and was beating me down in the air with a vault skirge and an ornithoptor running around with a pair of scissors.
Game 2 I started off by Abrupt Decaying his turn 1 Signal Pest followed by using a 2nd Abrupt Decay to take care of his Cranial Plating. He followed it up with 2 Vault Skirge, another plating and 2 Arcbound Ravager. I was able to play Thragtusk and Primal Command for a Wurmcoil. I got out of lethal range 3 turns in a row but a NoSB that was 1 turn too late (he had played 2 Arcbound Ravagers the turn before) and he was able to deal 14 flying lifelink damage to me in 1 turn (he was at 5 life and I had a Thragtusk, Finks and Wurmcoil in play).
(2-1)
Round 4 – Little Kid Junk
This is a different opponent than the one I faced in my Top 4 match. He had a similar list but I believe it was a few cards off from Jacob Wilson’s PT deck. Game 1 I was able to throw 2 discard spells at him with a couple removal spells behind it but I ended up not drawing anything relevant while he proceeded to top deck 2 rhinos back to back.
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Thoughtseize
+1 Dismember
+2 Kitchen Finks
+2 Obstinate Baloth
+1 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
This matchup is somewhat odd as the only things that really matter are his dorks and souls + gavony. They can also get under you if they have a quick start with a Wilt Leaf backed with some removal. So you want blockers, life gain, removal and something to take care of their dorks/gavony. NoSB shuts off half of their deck (8 dorks + 4 souls and 4 gavony) but is basically useless if they activate gavony once while Mwonvuli-Acid Moss deals with Gavony but doesn’t really effect the board.
Game 2 I went turn 3 Obstinate Baloth into a turn 4 Thragtusk followed by an Abrupt Decay and Murderous Cut for his Wilt Leaf and Rhino. I played a Primeval Titan and won.
Game 3 He thoughtseized my Garruk turn 1 and curved out into double Finks and double Wilt Leaf while having a Path for both my Thragtusk and Primeval while I was able to play a second Garruk that I drew followed by my own creatures. I was able to stabilize and win using Garruk’s ultimate in conjunction with 3 treetops and 2 beasts.
(3-1)
Round 5 – Intentional Draw (Grixis Delver)
My friend and I were able to draw into top 8 (he ended up making it to the finals).
(3-1-1)
The top 8 consisted of the following decks:
Affinity
Ad Nauseam
UR Delver
UR Delver
Grixis Delver
Little Kid Junk
BW Tokens
Nic Fit
Top 8 – Ad Nauseam
I was the 8th seed so I was going to be on the draw the entire top 8, bummer. Game 1 I lead off with 3 discard spells and followed it up by Abrupt Decaying his Phyrexian Unlife. He had 2 cards in hand and used an EoT Ad Nauseam (normally) to draw about 10 cards or so. The next turn he spent casting cantrips and sculpting his hand. I cast a Thoughtseize on my turn which gets Pacted and he goes off on his upkeep with the pact trigger on the stack.
Game 2 played out exactly how I would want. He played a turn 2 bob which I did not except from him but after thinking about it seems quite good (similar to Legacy ANT having bob in the board vs. discard). But luckily I had the Abrupt Decay and was able to follow it up with an Acid Moss into Primal bouncing his land and searching a Primeval. I then used a second abrupt decay to take care of his pentad prism and swung with 4 tree tops and prime. The game ended with him at 2 lands (his 3rd land was a gemstone mine that had been exhausted) and me at about 11/12 lands in play.
Game 3 I looked at a hand with 3 lands and 4 discard spells. He lead off on a turn 2 bob and all of a sudden my hand didn’t look as good. I stripped him of everything relevant and tec edged him when I could. He had to use an Ad Nauseam to draw cards in response to my 5th discard of the match. He was able to find an angel’s grace and an ad nauseam 2nd from the top of his library but did not have the mana to survive my tree top attack.
(4-1-1)
Top 4 – Little Kid Junk
This matchup felt pretty favored when I played it in round 4 but a combination of nut draws/top decks and bad play on my part ended my run. Game 1 my opponent went hierarch into souls followed by wilt into more souls and gavony. I don’t think I could ever survive that draw game 1.
I sideboarded the same as my other Little Kid Junk match.
As for my 2nd game my note pad reads “MINDCENSOR!!!@!#&*!@!!”. I had the turn 3 NoSB on the play to his opening of 3 birds, souls and double gavony but a well-timed mindcensor on my tribe elder crushed me (it was my fault, I should of sac’ed him on my turn to play around it but I wasn’t thinking).
Anyways, I had a blast playing the deck and I’m glad I chose it for the event. I will be on this deck for the foreseeable future and hope that one day it can be a known contender in the metagame.
As for changes to the deck I found the Kitchen Finks to be incredibly underwhelming all day and I think those slots would be better served as a Fracturing Gust and a Damnation. I am really excited to continue playing the deck and hope others will pick it up as well and start pitching in their comments, suggestions or experiences!
This deck looks super sweet can't wait to read more.
Haha I'm trying!
I have played it the last two weeks or so and have done well. It's incredibly fun to play. Gaining 35+ life vs. burn is hilarious and playing a Primeval Titan and fetching up 2 Tec edges (with 1 already in play) on turn 4 and putting my opponent back to 1 land is just comical. Also fetching 2 tree tops and swinging on turn 5 with 12 trample after thoughtseizing on turn 2 (explore + swamp) and putting a land on top of their library (primal to bounce + tutor titan) is dumb. I have done all these things in the last few FNMs.
This looks like Death Cloud without the Clouds. You're going to want at least a single copy of Thrun, the Last Troll in your list.
NoSB shuts of a lot of the best cards in Modern so perhaps look at that as an option in you main. It puts you of Steve but he is replaceable. Punishment would give you a surgical sweeper as well.
In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Thrun is debatable. I had 1 in the SB before but I found I stomped control decks anyway. He has also gotten alot worse since the printing of Siege Rhino and Tasigur.
I agree. I am really high on NoSB. I have 3 in the SB. It completely shuts down a lot of decks but I wouldn't run it main, I like to run as few dead cards MB as possible.
Punishment seems too narrow/restrictive. Gaze of Granite does the same thing but better in a ramp deck imo.
I will add Harmonize to the Primer. Thanks for the suggestion!
Yeah, I have to echo that this seems like Death Cloud without the namesake spell. Even without that though, as some DC lists have started playing Damnation more, this deck looks like it would have very serious trouble against any deck looking to play multiple creatures early.
I don't mean to be a naysayer, but I just don't see the point in playing all the same early discard and ramp, with your payoff spell being vulnerable to Path to Exile.
Also, 12 ramp spells is too many. Even Scapeshift doesn't play that many, and they have an I-win card once they hit 7 (or 8) lands.
This deck exists in Legacy primarily due to the synergy between Cabal Therapy and Veteran Explorer (in a format that people play even fewer basic lands), with a lesser emphasis also on Pernicious Deed. All that extra discard and sweeping is the hole Death Cloud/Damnation fills in a less powerful format like Modern, while Thragtusk has a very real chance of just not doing enough.
It doesn't really. Unless they are killing you on turn 3 then your fine. Only times I lose g1 to aggro decks (outside of infect) is when they have a turn 3 kill or turn 4 on the play. But post board it always gets better since you just bring in more removal, earlier life gain adn cards that just end the game vs. them.
Well Death Cloud doesn't have nearly as much ramp and it's pay off card also leaves you both in limbo with 3 lands on your side and both w/o hands. Path is the only kill spell that is remotely good vs. me and it really only good vs. Wurmcoil. The other threats are fairly resilient to removal.
I can see that. I'm going to test going down to 10 ramp and cutting a land at some point.
I'm going to be bringing this to a GPT on Sunday. Although, I think I am going to cut 2 Thragtusks for 2 Garruk Wildspeaker (and possibly the 4th explore or primal command for the 3rd garruk).
My take on Nic Fit. The entire deck is theory craft right now but the idea is you have the option of ramping to Gifts for:
1. More ramp (Rites/Primetime)
2. Stabilizing the board (Rites/Norn)
3. Loam Package to break apart control (Loam/Crime/Urborg/Tech-Edge or Lingering Souls)
4. Academy Ruins package as a finisher
5. Rites-Thrag to stabilize against burn
Ramping into fat things is fine to. The one big issue with this deck (and the archetype in general) is consistency. We don't have SDT to smooth our draws. In theory, Liliana might help with this but I have a feeling it's not as good as I think it is in practice.
That's not even remotely close to the same deck/game plan. I am all for different versions and trying out new things but that is literally just 4c Gifts. You even have in your signature "Modern: 4c Gifts"
I'm not convinced you know what you're talking about because the deck I outlined plays nothing like current 4c Gifts Decks - not the midrange deck championed by Butakov or the straight control list that took 10th in a recent SCG event.
Just looks completely different but your right I shouldn't be too quick to judge. I mean the quote I chose for the primer even says there is no completely correct way.
I'm a huge Gifts Ungiven fan, probably my top 5 favorite cards of all time, but I'm just not convinced trying to be 4c.
My friend actually helped to make the Nic Fit deck from The Source. You could be really awesome and play Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle for value with your lands being duals that are also mountains. Think of it as Jund with a huge end game.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
I agree the 4c is a little dubious. I hate stretching the mana base so far, especially when burn and Blood Moon is floating around. I think the strengths of the list I'm proposing come from the fact that Gifts is a ramp spell, a threat, and utility. In terms of Nic Fit, which I view as a disruptive ramp deck that goes over the top, Gifts plays toward that game plan.
I think Gifts can work in a Nic Fit shell because it 'ramps' you into Nic Fit's trademark fat things, whether its by fetching lands with PT (its like a Veteran Explorer!) or just straight up reanimating them.
Gifting for Prime Time when not under pressure gets you to six mana, enough to cast anything in your deck.
At the same time, Elesh Norn is a strong play against little things.dec helping slow down infect, affinity and Little Junk. She hits the board in a way no other fatty really does. You could potentially play other fatties too and the nice thing about doing it in a Nic Fit shell is that you can realistically cast your fatty if you end up drawing it.
The Academy Ruins/Wurmcoil Engine, Loam+Tarpit, and Gavony Township means we can grind out games and go over the top (it's possible three ways to do this are too many and the artifact part should be cut).
When the deck doesn't draw gifts, I'm trying to get it to do its best impression of Junk with stronger late game threats although much less disruption. I also want to fit 1-2 Tasigur into the list too.
I'm not saying this is the end all be all - I haven't even gotten the chance to test my list yet! But I think it's a valid line of deck building to consider for Nic Fit so I thought I'd share it here.
I've put in a few reps with your list since you posted it last night. It's definitely a blast to play, and super cheap to pickup on modo. This deck fills the graveyard pretty quick; what do you think about tasigur or gurmag?
I've put in a few reps with your list since you posted it last night. It's definitely a blast to play, and super cheap to pickup on modo. This deck fills the graveyard pretty quick; what do you think about tasigur or gurmag?
I'm glad you enjoyed playing it! Yea it does but Angler and Tasigur are sort of underwhelming for us since they are just 4/5 & 5/5 bodies without a whole lot of upside. Tasigur's ability could be useful but we would just be getting back ramp spells which isn't exciting and we generally use our mana every turn even if we aren't casting some 5/6 mana spell due to Tec edges and Treetops. If you want to add more delve I would just add more cuts.
I had zero expectations going into the event and just wanted to get as many reps in with the deck as possible. However, the deck proved itself as a powerful contender and took me all the way to the top 4 before falling to Jacob Wilson’s 7th place PT deck called “little kid junk” while my opponent continued on to win the entire event. These are the matches I faced throughout the day.
Round 1 – Junk
I was lucky enough to win the die roll in my first round and opened up with turn 1 discard. I was pleased to see that my opponent was on a stock Junk list filled with the usual suspects of goyf, rhino, lili backed with removal and discard. We ended up trading hand disruption back and forth for the first few turns but I was able to strip him of most of his threats before he could play them. He was able to stick an Ooze but I eventually found an Abrupt Decay. He was able to Path both my Thragtusk and Primeval Titan but the damage was done and a beast token and 2 Treetops were able to seal the deal.
After board I don’t really want to have any poor top decks in grindy matchups like these. So I took out my discard for cards that impacted the board more.
Game 2 my opponent kept a 1 land hand with 3 discard spells. He found a second land (a wildwood) on his third turn (missing his land drop on turn 2) but I was able to respond with a turn 3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss blowing up a land followed up by a turn 4 Primal Command placing his land on top of his library while searching up Primeval Titan which fetched up 2 Treetops the following turn.
(1-0)
Round 2 – UWR Geist
My round 2 opponent was a good friend of mine and previous testing would suggest that I was fairly favored in the matchup. He was on a mostly stock UWR Geist list but with the added spice of a couple of Watery Graves and a playset of Lingering Souls. Game 1 he had an excellent start by landing a turn 3 GoST followed by multiple paths to push damage through the few relevant cards I drew. I drew and used 2 Abrupt Decays and a Murderous Cut on his angel token, I wasn’t winning this one.
I had found that postboard in these matchups you tend to morph into a highly disruptive deck that strips their hand of anything relevant while putting them behind in terms of mana development.
My opponent mulled to 5 and I opened with double discard. He was able to top deck a GoST but my tree top held it at bay. I ended up playing a Mwonvuli Acid-Moss followed by a Primal Command placing a land on his library while searching for a Primeval Titan. My opponent scooped after my Primeval Titan fetched up 2 Tectonic Edges with a 3rd already on the battlefield to his 4 duals in play.
Game 3 played out very similarly. I opened with discard followed by moss blowing up a land and primal bouncing another while fetching up prime time. I cast prime time fetching up 2 tec edges with a 3rd in play and my opponent played his 4th land (hadn’t missed a land drop, I just set him back plus ramped myself) and played a Supreme Verdict. I triple tec edged him and then used Primal Command to put another land on top and searched out a Grave Titan.
(2-0)
Round 3 – Affinity
Unfortunately I removed the Fracturing Gusts from my sideboard before the event. I lost the die roll and he had the nut draw. Somehow I was able to lose this game after going turn 1 search, turn 2 explore into an inquisition using my extra land drop to take a cranial plating, turn 3 primal command gaining 7 life and fetching up wurmcoil and turn 4 playing wurmcoil and gaining 6 life every turn from then on. I don’t believe I misplayed he just drew 3 cranial platings over the course of the game and was beating me down in the air with a vault skirge and an ornithoptor running around with a pair of scissors.
Game 2 I started off by Abrupt Decaying his turn 1 Signal Pest followed by using a 2nd Abrupt Decay to take care of his Cranial Plating. He followed it up with 2 Vault Skirge, another plating and 2 Arcbound Ravager. I was able to play Thragtusk and Primal Command for a Wurmcoil. I got out of lethal range 3 turns in a row and top decked a NoSB but it was 1 turn too late (he had played 2 Arcbound Ravagers the turn before) and he was able to deal 14 flying lifelink damage to me in 1 turn (he was at 5 life and I had a Thragtusk, Finks and Wurmcoil in play).
(2-1)
Round 4 – Little Kid Junk
This is a different opponent than the one I would eventually face in my Top 4 match. He had a similar list but I believe it was a few cards off from Jacob Wilson’s PT deck. Game 1 I was able to throw 2 discard spells at him with a couple removal spells behind it but I ended up not drawing anything relevant while he proceeded to top deck 2 rhinos back to back.
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Thoughtseize
+1 Dismember
+2 Kitchen Finks
+2 Obstinate Baloth
+1 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
This matchup is somewhat odd as the only things that really matter are his dorks and souls + gavony. They can also get under you if they have a quick start with a Wilt Leaf backed with some removal. So you want blockers, life gain, removal and something to take care of their dorks/gavony. NoSB shuts off half of their deck (8 dorks + 4 souls and 4 gavony) but is basically useless if they activate gavony once while Mwonvuli-Acid Moss deals with Gavony but doesn’t really effect the board.
Game 2 I went turn 3 Obstinate Baloth into a turn 4 Thragtusk followed by an Abrupt Decay and Murderous Cut for his Wilt Leaf and Rhino. I played a Primeval Titan and won.
Game 3 He thoughtseized my Garruk turn 1 and curved out into double Finks and double Wilt Leaf while having a couple of Paths for both my Thragtusk and Primeval. I was able to play a second Garruk followed by a few more of my own creatures which allowed me to stabilize long enough to win using Garruk’s ultimate in conjunction with 3 treetops and 2 beast tokens.
(3-1)
Round 5 – Intentional Draw (Grixis Delver)
My friend and I were able to draw into top 8 (he ended up making it to the finals).
(3-1-1)
The top 8 consisted of the following decks:
Affinity
Ad Nauseam
UR Delver
UR Delver
Grixis Delver
Little Kid Junk
BW Tokens
Nic Fit
Top 8 – Ad Nauseam
I was the 8th seed so I was going to be on the draw the entire top 8, bummer. Game 1 I lead off with 3 discard spells and followed it up by Abrupt Decaying his Phyrexian Unlife. He had 2 cards in hand and used an EoT Ad Nauseam w/o Angel's Grace to draw about 10 cards or so. The next turn he spent casting cantrips and sculpting his hand. I cast a Thoughtseize on my turn which gets Pacted and he goes off on his upkeep with the pact trigger on the stack.
Game 2 played out exactly how I would want. He played a turn 2 bob which I did not except from him but after thinking about it seems quite good (similar to Legacy ANT having bob in the board vs. discard). But luckily I had the Abrupt Decay and was able to follow it up with an Acid Moss into Primal bouncing his land and searching a Primeval. I then used a second abrupt decay to take care of his pentad prism and swung with 4 tree tops and prime. The game ended with him at 2 lands (his 3rd land was a gemstone mine that had been exhausted) and me at about 11/12 lands in play.
Game 3 I looked at a hand with 3 lands and 4 discard spells. He lead off on a turn 2 bob and all of a sudden my hand didn’t look as great. I stripped him of everything relevant and tec edged him when I could. He had to use an Ad Nauseam to draw cards in response to my 5th discard of the match. He was able to eventually find an angel’s grace and an ad nauseam but did not have the mana to survive my lethal tree top attack.
(4-1-1)
Top 4 – Little Kid Junk
This matchup felt pretty favored when I played it in round 4 but a combination of nut draws/top decks and bad play on my part ended my run. Game 1 my opponent went hierarch into souls followed by wilt into more souls and gavony. I don’t think I could ever survive that draw game 1.
I sideboarded the same as my other Little Kid Junk match.
As for my 2nd game my note pad reads “MINDCENSOR!!!@!#&*!@!!”. I had the turn 3 NoSB on the play to his opening of 3 birds, souls and double gavony but a well-timed mindcensor on my tribe elder crushed me (it was my fault, I should of sac’ed him on my turn to play around it but I wasn’t thinking).
Anyways, I had a blast playing the deck and I’m glad I chose it for the event. I will be on this deck for the foreseeable future and hope that one day it can be a known contender in the metagame.
As for changes to the deck I found the Kitchen Finks to be incredibly underwhelming all day and I think those slots would be better served as a Fracturing Gust and a Damnation. I am really excited to continue playing the deck and hope others will pick it up as well and start pitching in their comments, suggestions or experiences!
The only real change here is +1 Tasigur and -1 Garruk. We fill our grave super fast, and I just can't see passing up the chance to play him. I also like the option to play him off of a Primal Command on the same turn. It doesn't come up often, but you certainly can't do it with any other threat in the deck.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
I. What is Nic Fit?
Nic Fit is a Legacy deck that burst onto the scene in early 2011. The premise of the deck is to disrupt your opponent with removal and discard with cards like Abrupt Decay, Pernicious Deed, Cabal Therapy and Thoughtseize while ramping into impressive hard to deal with threats that end the game quickly, typically Grave Titan and Thragtusk. The deck's engine revolves around a Green Sun's Zenith tool box and the ability to abuse the powerful interaction between Veteran Explorer and Cabal Therapy.
II. Why play Nic Fit in Modern?
Nic Fit is an extremely customazible deck that can be made to beat anything it wants to. The deck has some of the best answers in the format in the form of discard and removal and some of the hardest to deal with threats that require multiple or incredibly specific answers.
The deck is a blast to play as you get to cast impressive creatures, generally know your opponent's hand, get to tutor for what you need and in some match ups you even get to play a mana denial game!
III. Adapting the Deck to Modern
Nic Fit at it's core is a disruptive green based ramp deck. Unfortunately, Veteran Explorer and Cabal Therapy aren't legal in Modern but we are able to utilize powerful disruption in the form of Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Abrupt Decay, Murderous Cut and Dismember as well as efficient ramp such as Search for Tomorrow, Sakura-Tribe Elder and Explore. These in conjunction with Primal Command creates a unique deck that is interactive, quick to implement it's own game plan and incredibly consistent.
Primal Command is not to be underestimated. Against aggro decks you get to gain 7 life and tutor up a Thragtusk. Against control you get to put them back a land drop and draw step by placing a land on top of their library while tutoring a resilient threat. It also acts as incidental graveyard hate or inevitability (by having a 2nd Primal Command in the GY alongside any threats that were previously killed). Between SB land destruction, Primal Command and Tectonic Edge you can hold your opponent to under 3 lands for an entire game. The best part is that you can cast it by turn 3!
The Modern version of Nic Fit plays somewhat differently than its Legacy counterpart. In Modern, the deck tends to control the game and ramp for the first few turns but looks to quickly exploit an opening to cast a threat and close out the game. It may seem slow and grindy on paper but I have killed people on turn 5 many times. However, the deck also has an incredible late game and can even go toe-to-toe with other late game juggernauts such as Tron and Gifts.
IV. Card Choices
Darkblast: Good vs. Affinity and Infect. Possible SB option.
Disfigure: Cheap 1cmc removal. Could be correct to run in the SB depending on meta.
Abrupt Decay: Your bread and butter removal. It's great vs. nearly everything. Great vs. aggro and has application vs. combo decks (twin, storm, infect). Side out vs. most control decks though. Run 3-4 main.
Doom Blade, Go for the Throat and Smother: Generally not as good as Decay or Cut.
Dismember: Another great 1cmc removal option. Not as good as the first 4 Decays & 2 Cuts but could replace Cuts #3 and #4.
Maelstrom Pulse: Decay's bigger brother. Hit's anything and everything. Although we already operate enough at sorcery speed, you generally want your removal to at least be instant speed. Run 0-2.
Hero's Downfall: Gives you a good way to deal with planeswalkers like Lili and Karn all at instant speed! Worth considering.
Gaze of Granite: A possible replacement to Pernicious Deed. Can be used as a universal sweeper if you want a sweeper effect. Run 0-2.
Damnation: The only playable 4cmc no strings attached sweeper in our colors. Generally you can use targeted removal on what you need and just go over the top with your threats.
Night of Souls' Betrayal: A fantastic SB card as it completely shuts down several tier 1 decks: Affinity, Twin and Infect as well as large number of tier 2 decks: Soul Sisters, Faeries, Tokens, etc. Generally not played because 4cmc is a lot in most decks but in ours it comes down on turn 3!
Murderous Cut: One of the best removal spells we can play. It is basically why we run over 4-8+ fetches. Run 1-3 in your 75.
Inquisition of Kozilek: This and Thoughtseize will cover all your MB discard needs. How many of each your run is based on preference. I would run at least 5 MB discard and could see even playing the full 8 in some metas.
Thoughtseize: See above.
Duress: If you want discard #9-#11 run these guys. Great vs. combo and control and replaces Thoughtseize in the burn match up. Run 0-3.
Birds of Paradise: The fastest and most versatile ramp we have access to. But being susceptible to removal could really put us behind. I recommend running spell based ramp.
Noble Hierarch: See above.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: The best rampant growth variant in Modern. Preventing damage and ramping is huge. Run 3-4.
Rampant Growth: If you want most turn 2 ramp you can run some # of these.
Farseek: See above.
Explore: Probably the most controversial ramp spell. It forces us to run a few more lands but in turn gives us extremely explosive starts (turn 1 search, turn 2 explore into swamp/discard, turn 3 Thrag/Primal) and the cantripping is nothing to scoff at. Also makes treetops better as they don't cause any real tempo loss in combination with this card.
Search for Tomorrow: Required for your explosive turn 3s. Some don't like this card but I find that it has been an all-star.
Solemn Simulacrum: A built in 3 for 1 that ramps us from 4 to 6. Fights with Garruk Wildspeaker for a spot. Run 0-2.
Kitchen Finks: Sometimes you just need a buffer to get to your Thragtusks and Titans. But I believe Baloth does this better as it nearly always comes down on turn 3.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Acts as both a threat and ramp. But is worse than your other ramp spells or threats. Run 0-3.
Obstinate Baloth: A solid SB card that acts as a buffer vs. aggro before you get your bigger threats online. Run 0-2 in the SB.
Thrun, the Last Troll: Acts as trump in the control matchup. Run 0-2 in the SB.
Thragtusk: The OG Siege Rhino. Trumps aggro, midrange and is a resilient threat vs. control. Your bread and butter threat or buffer before your titans or wurmcoils. Run 2-4.
Primeval Titan: Your best threat. Can either grab either or a mix of Tectonic Edge or Treetop Village and will either deal with problem lands, set them back or put massive pressure on your opponent. All the damage is trample which is very relevant. However, the first one is much much better than the second (once you've fetched your lands).
Wurmcoil Engine: Great vs. aggro or midrange. But is mediocre vs. path/control.
Grave Titan: Your in between threat. Better on defense than Primeval but worse than Wurmcoil and is better on offense than Wurmcoil but less than the first Primeval. Takes the spot of the 2nd Primeval.
Tectonic Edge: Gives you a LOT of game vs. control. Deals with any problem lands and really facilitates the mana denial plan in conjunction with Primal Command. Run 3-4.
Treetop Village: An incredible threat and helps you kill your opponent in quick fashion. Run 4. Would run a few more if I could.
Golgari Rot-Farm: Is great as a 1 or 2-of if you run Garruk. Has some synergy with Explore.
Nature's Claim: A cheap SB answer. But this deck has the unique ability to play more impactful/expensive spells than most decks.
Golgari Charm: A versatile SB card.
Eternal Witness: A great value card that can help you outgrind opponents. Run 0-2.
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss: This has been incredible for me. Absolutely fantastic vs. any deck that has problem lands (i.e. infect), who are color intensive (gifts), other land based decks (tron) and any control deck that plays manlands (uwr). Your SB plan vs. Tron and control is to put your opponent back with these, Primal Commands and Tec Edges before playing a game ending threat. Post SB games involving this card have been ridiculous lopsided in my favor every time I've cast it. Run 2-3 in the SB.
Harmonize: Can help you refuel easily. Worth considering as a source of CA. Run 0-2.
Creeping Corrosion: A great card vs. Affinity. But gust does it better (instant speed and gain life) while also being useful vs. Bogles.
Fracturing Gust: These are the high impact/expensive cards we want. Cards like these are much better in our decks than any other in the format. However, Night of Soul's Betrayal does the same vs. affinity but has wider applications. Run 0-3 in the SB as additional affinity hate/if you are afraid of bogles.
Any reasonably competitive suggestions made in this thread will be added to the cards above. Please feel free to contribute!
V. Decklist
My Current List
Last Updated: 3/2/2015
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Sorceries (16)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Explore
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Primal Command
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Murderous Cut
Planeswalkers (3)
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands (26)
4 Treetop Village
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Swamp
4 Forest
1 Dismember
2 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
1 Damnation
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Night of Souls' Betrayal
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Fracturing Gust
VI. Playing the Deck & Sideboarding
To be completed over time. Please share your thoughts on matchups!
VII. Tournament Reports
I attended a GPT for GP Atlantic City today that had 5 rounds of swiss followed by a cut to top 8. This is the list I registered:
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Sorceries (16)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Explore
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Primal Command
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Murderous Cut
Planeswalkers (3)
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands (26)
4 Treetop Village
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Swamp
4 Forest
1 Dismember
2 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Night of Souls' Betrayal
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
I had zero expectations going into the event and just wanted to get as many reps in with the deck as possible. However, the deck proved itself as a powerful contender and took me all the way to the top 4 before falling to Jacob Wilson’s 7th place PT deck called “little kid junk” while my opponent continued on to win the entire event. These are the matches I faced throughout the day.
Round 1 – Junk
I was lucky enough to win the die roll in my first round and opened up with turn 1 discard. I was pleased to see that my opponent was on a stock Junk list filled with the usual suspects of goyf, rhino, lili backed with removal and discard. We ended up trading hand disruption back and forth for the first few turns but I was able to strip him of most of his threats before he could play them. He was able to stick an Ooze but I eventually found an Abrupt Decay. He was able to Path both my Thragtusk and Primeval Titan but the damage was done and a beast token and 2 Treetops were able to get the job done.
After board I don’t really want to have any poor top decks in grindy matchups like these. So I took out my discard for cards that impacted the board more.
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Thoughtseize
+3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
+2 Obstinate Baloth
+1 Dismember
Game 2 my opponent kept a 1 land hand with 3 discard spells. He found a second land (a wildwood) on his third turn (missing his land drop on turn 2) but I was able to respond with a turn 3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss blowing up a land followed up by a turn 4 Primal Command placing his land on top of his library while searching up Primeval Titan which fetched up 2 Treetops the following turn.
(1-0)
Round 2 – UWR Geist
My round 2 opponent was a good friend of mine and previous testing would suggest that I was fairly favored in the matchup. He was on a mostly stock UWR Geist list but with the added spice of a couple of Watery Graves and a playset of Lingering Souls. Game 1 he had an excellent start by landing a turn 3 GoST followed by multiple paths to push damage through the few relevant cards I drew. I drew and used 2 Abrupt Decays and a Murderous Cut on his angel token, I wasn’t winning this one.
I had found that postboard in these matchups you tend to morph into a highly disruptive deck that strips their hand of anything relevant while putting them behind in terms of mana development.
-4 Abrupt Decay
-2 Murderous Cut
-1 Wurmcoil Engine
+2 Thoughtseize
+2 Duress
+3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
My opponent mulled to 5 and I opened with double discard. He was able to top deck a GoST but my tree top held it at bay. I ended up playing a Mwonvuli Acid-Moss followed by a Primal Command placing a land on his library while searching for a Primeval Titan. My opponent scooped after my Primeval Titan fetched up 2 Tectonic Edges with a 3rd already on the battlefield to his 4 duals in play.
Game 3 played out very similarly. I opened with discard followed by moss blowing up a land and primal bouncing another while fetching up prime time. I cast prime time fetching up 2 tec edges with a 3rd in play and my opponent played his 4th land (hadn’t missed a land drop, I just set him back plus ramped myself) and played a Supreme Verdict. I triple tec edged him and then used Primal Command to put another land on top and searched out a Grave Titan.
(2-0)
Round 3 – Affinity
Unfortunately I removed the Fracturing Gusts from my sideboard before the event. I lost the die roll and he had the nut draw. Somehow I was able to lose this game after going turn 1 search, turn 2 explore into an inquisition using my extra land drop to take a cranial plating, turn 3 primal command gaining 7 life and fetching up wurmcoil and turn 4 playing wurmcoil and gaining 6 life every turn from then on. I don’t believe I misplayed he just drew 3 cranial platings over the course of the game and was beating me down in the air with a vault skirge and an ornithoptor running around with a pair of scissors.
-2 Thoughtseize
-1 Primeval Titan
-1 Grave Titan
-3 Garruk Wildspeaker
-1 Tectonic Edge
-2 Explore
+1 Kitchen Finks
+1 Dismember
+2 Obstinate Baloth
+3 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
+3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Game 2 I started off by Abrupt Decaying his turn 1 Signal Pest followed by using a 2nd Abrupt Decay to take care of his Cranial Plating. He followed it up with 2 Vault Skirge, another plating and 2 Arcbound Ravager. I was able to play Thragtusk and Primal Command for a Wurmcoil. I got out of lethal range 3 turns in a row but a NoSB that was 1 turn too late (he had played 2 Arcbound Ravagers the turn before) and he was able to deal 14 flying lifelink damage to me in 1 turn (he was at 5 life and I had a Thragtusk, Finks and Wurmcoil in play).
(2-1)
Round 4 – Little Kid Junk
This is a different opponent than the one I faced in my Top 4 match. He had a similar list but I believe it was a few cards off from Jacob Wilson’s PT deck. Game 1 I was able to throw 2 discard spells at him with a couple removal spells behind it but I ended up not drawing anything relevant while he proceeded to top deck 2 rhinos back to back.
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Thoughtseize
+1 Dismember
+2 Kitchen Finks
+2 Obstinate Baloth
+1 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
This matchup is somewhat odd as the only things that really matter are his dorks and souls + gavony. They can also get under you if they have a quick start with a Wilt Leaf backed with some removal. So you want blockers, life gain, removal and something to take care of their dorks/gavony. NoSB shuts off half of their deck (8 dorks + 4 souls and 4 gavony) but is basically useless if they activate gavony once while Mwonvuli-Acid Moss deals with Gavony but doesn’t really effect the board.
Game 2 I went turn 3 Obstinate Baloth into a turn 4 Thragtusk followed by an Abrupt Decay and Murderous Cut for his Wilt Leaf and Rhino. I played a Primeval Titan and won.
Game 3 He thoughtseized my Garruk turn 1 and curved out into double Finks and double Wilt Leaf while having a Path for both my Thragtusk and Primeval while I was able to play a second Garruk that I drew followed by my own creatures. I was able to stabilize and win using Garruk’s ultimate in conjunction with 3 treetops and 2 beasts.
(3-1)
Round 5 – Intentional Draw (Grixis Delver)
My friend and I were able to draw into top 8 (he ended up making it to the finals).
(3-1-1)
The top 8 consisted of the following decks:
Affinity
Ad Nauseam
UR Delver
UR Delver
Grixis Delver
Little Kid Junk
BW Tokens
Nic Fit
Top 8 – Ad Nauseam
I was the 8th seed so I was going to be on the draw the entire top 8, bummer. Game 1 I lead off with 3 discard spells and followed it up by Abrupt Decaying his Phyrexian Unlife. He had 2 cards in hand and used an EoT Ad Nauseam (normally) to draw about 10 cards or so. The next turn he spent casting cantrips and sculpting his hand. I cast a Thoughtseize on my turn which gets Pacted and he goes off on his upkeep with the pact trigger on the stack.
-2 Murderous Cut
-3 Garruk Wildspeaker
-1 Wurmcoil Engine
-1 Thragtusk
+2 Duress
+2 Thoughtseize
+3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Game 2 played out exactly how I would want. He played a turn 2 bob which I did not except from him but after thinking about it seems quite good (similar to Legacy ANT having bob in the board vs. discard). But luckily I had the Abrupt Decay and was able to follow it up with an Acid Moss into Primal bouncing his land and searching a Primeval. I then used a second abrupt decay to take care of his pentad prism and swung with 4 tree tops and prime. The game ended with him at 2 lands (his 3rd land was a gemstone mine that had been exhausted) and me at about 11/12 lands in play.
Game 3 I looked at a hand with 3 lands and 4 discard spells. He lead off on a turn 2 bob and all of a sudden my hand didn’t look as good. I stripped him of everything relevant and tec edged him when I could. He had to use an Ad Nauseam to draw cards in response to my 5th discard of the match. He was able to find an angel’s grace and an ad nauseam 2nd from the top of his library but did not have the mana to survive my tree top attack.
(4-1-1)
Top 4 – Little Kid Junk
This matchup felt pretty favored when I played it in round 4 but a combination of nut draws/top decks and bad play on my part ended my run. Game 1 my opponent went hierarch into souls followed by wilt into more souls and gavony. I don’t think I could ever survive that draw game 1.
I sideboarded the same as my other Little Kid Junk match.
As for my 2nd game my note pad reads “MINDCENSOR!!!@!#&*!@!!”. I had the turn 3 NoSB on the play to his opening of 3 birds, souls and double gavony but a well-timed mindcensor on my tribe elder crushed me (it was my fault, I should of sac’ed him on my turn to play around it but I wasn’t thinking).
Anyways, I had a blast playing the deck and I’m glad I chose it for the event. I will be on this deck for the foreseeable future and hope that one day it can be a known contender in the metagame.
As for changes to the deck I found the Kitchen Finks to be incredibly underwhelming all day and I think those slots would be better served as a Fracturing Gust and a Damnation. I am really excited to continue playing the deck and hope others will pick it up as well and start pitching in their comments, suggestions or experiences!
Haven't even finished the primer and I'm already getting trolled by someone's troll account.
This deck looks super sweet can't wait to read more.
Standard
UB UB Midrange UB
Modern
GRWUBTribal Flames ZooGRWUB
RUGTemur DelverRUG
Legacy
UW Stoneblade UW
Haha I'm trying!
I have played it the last two weeks or so and have done well. It's incredibly fun to play. Gaining 35+ life vs. burn is hilarious and playing a Primeval Titan and fetching up 2 Tec edges (with 1 already in play) on turn 4 and putting my opponent back to 1 land is just comical. Also fetching 2 tree tops and swinging on turn 5 with 12 trample after thoughtseizing on turn 2 (explore + swamp) and putting a land on top of their library (primal to bounce + tutor titan) is dumb. I have done all these things in the last few FNMs.
NoSB shuts of a lot of the best cards in Modern so perhaps look at that as an option in you main. It puts you of Steve but he is replaceable. Punishment would give you a surgical sweeper as well.
And Farseek would get the nod versus Rampant Growth. Harmonize should also be considered.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
Thrun is debatable. I had 1 in the SB before but I found I stomped control decks anyway. He has also gotten alot worse since the printing of Siege Rhino and Tasigur.
I agree. I am really high on NoSB. I have 3 in the SB. It completely shuts down a lot of decks but I wouldn't run it main, I like to run as few dead cards MB as possible.
Punishment seems too narrow/restrictive. Gaze of Granite does the same thing but better in a ramp deck imo.
I will add Harmonize to the Primer. Thanks for the suggestion!
I don't mean to be a naysayer, but I just don't see the point in playing all the same early discard and ramp, with your payoff spell being vulnerable to Path to Exile.
Also, 12 ramp spells is too many. Even Scapeshift doesn't play that many, and they have an I-win card once they hit 7 (or 8) lands.
This deck exists in Legacy primarily due to the synergy between Cabal Therapy and Veteran Explorer (in a format that people play even fewer basic lands), with a lesser emphasis also on Pernicious Deed. All that extra discard and sweeping is the hole Death Cloud/Damnation fills in a less powerful format like Modern, while Thragtusk has a very real chance of just not doing enough.
Well Death Cloud doesn't have nearly as much ramp and it's pay off card also leaves you both in limbo with 3 lands on your side and both w/o hands. Path is the only kill spell that is remotely good vs. me and it really only good vs. Wurmcoil. The other threats are fairly resilient to removal.
I can see that. I'm going to test going down to 10 ramp and cutting a land at some point.
1. More ramp (Rites/Primetime)
2. Stabilizing the board (Rites/Norn)
3. Loam Package to break apart control (Loam/Crime/Urborg/Tech-Edge or Lingering Souls)
4. Academy Ruins package as a finisher
5. Rites-Thrag to stabilize against burn
Ramping into fat things is fine to. The one big issue with this deck (and the archetype in general) is consistency. We don't have SDT to smooth our draws. In theory, Liliana might help with this but I have a feeling it's not as good as I think it is in practice.
3 Sylvan Carytid
4 Birds of Paradise
Spells
4 Gifts Ungiven
2 Lingering Souls
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Engineered Explosives
Planeswalker
2 Liliana of the Veil //Possibly should just be removal, discard, or even ramp
The Dudes
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Siege Rhino
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Primeval Titan
2 Thragtusk
1 Elesh Norn
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Life from the Loam
1 Raven's Crime
1 Unburial Rites
Lands (25 total: 4 basics, 11 fetches)
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tectonic Edge
3 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Island
1 Gavony Township
Splintertwin (?)
I'm not convinced you know what you're talking about because the deck I outlined plays nothing like current 4c Gifts Decks - not the midrange deck championed by Butakov or the straight control list that took 10th in a recent SCG event.
Splintertwin (?)
I'm a huge Gifts Ungiven fan, probably my top 5 favorite cards of all time, but I'm just not convinced trying to be 4c.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
I think Gifts can work in a Nic Fit shell because it 'ramps' you into Nic Fit's trademark fat things, whether its by fetching lands with PT (its like a Veteran Explorer!) or just straight up reanimating them.
Gifting for Prime Time when not under pressure gets you to six mana, enough to cast anything in your deck.
At the same time, Elesh Norn is a strong play against little things.dec helping slow down infect, affinity and Little Junk. She hits the board in a way no other fatty really does. You could potentially play other fatties too and the nice thing about doing it in a Nic Fit shell is that you can realistically cast your fatty if you end up drawing it.
The Academy Ruins/Wurmcoil Engine, Loam+Tarpit, and Gavony Township means we can grind out games and go over the top (it's possible three ways to do this are too many and the artifact part should be cut).
When the deck doesn't draw gifts, I'm trying to get it to do its best impression of Junk with stronger late game threats although much less disruption. I also want to fit 1-2 Tasigur into the list too.
I'm not saying this is the end all be all - I haven't even gotten the chance to test my list yet! But I think it's a valid line of deck building to consider for Nic Fit so I thought I'd share it here.
Splintertwin (?)
I'm glad you enjoyed playing it! Yea it does but Angler and Tasigur are sort of underwhelming for us since they are just 4/5 & 5/5 bodies without a whole lot of upside. Tasigur's ability could be useful but we would just be getting back ramp spells which isn't exciting and we generally use our mana every turn even if we aren't casting some 5/6 mana spell due to Tec edges and Treetops. If you want to add more delve I would just add more cuts.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Sorceries (16)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Explore
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Primal Command
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Murderous Cut
Planeswalkers (3)
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands (26)
4 Treetop Village
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Swamp
4 Forest
1 Dismember
2 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Night of Souls' Betrayal
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
I had zero expectations going into the event and just wanted to get as many reps in with the deck as possible. However, the deck proved itself as a powerful contender and took me all the way to the top 4 before falling to Jacob Wilson’s 7th place PT deck called “little kid junk” while my opponent continued on to win the entire event. These are the matches I faced throughout the day.
Round 1 – Junk
I was lucky enough to win the die roll in my first round and opened up with turn 1 discard. I was pleased to see that my opponent was on a stock Junk list filled with the usual suspects of goyf, rhino, lili backed with removal and discard. We ended up trading hand disruption back and forth for the first few turns but I was able to strip him of most of his threats before he could play them. He was able to stick an Ooze but I eventually found an Abrupt Decay. He was able to Path both my Thragtusk and Primeval Titan but the damage was done and a beast token and 2 Treetops were able to seal the deal.
After board I don’t really want to have any poor top decks in grindy matchups like these. So I took out my discard for cards that impacted the board more.
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Thoughtseize
+3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
+2 Obstinate Baloth
+1 Dismember
Game 2 my opponent kept a 1 land hand with 3 discard spells. He found a second land (a wildwood) on his third turn (missing his land drop on turn 2) but I was able to respond with a turn 3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss blowing up a land followed up by a turn 4 Primal Command placing his land on top of his library while searching up Primeval Titan which fetched up 2 Treetops the following turn.
(1-0)
Round 2 – UWR Geist
My round 2 opponent was a good friend of mine and previous testing would suggest that I was fairly favored in the matchup. He was on a mostly stock UWR Geist list but with the added spice of a couple of Watery Graves and a playset of Lingering Souls. Game 1 he had an excellent start by landing a turn 3 GoST followed by multiple paths to push damage through the few relevant cards I drew. I drew and used 2 Abrupt Decays and a Murderous Cut on his angel token, I wasn’t winning this one.
I had found that postboard in these matchups you tend to morph into a highly disruptive deck that strips their hand of anything relevant while putting them behind in terms of mana development.
-4 Abrupt Decay
-2 Murderous Cut
-1 Wurmcoil Engine
+2 Thoughtseize
+2 Duress
+3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
My opponent mulled to 5 and I opened with double discard. He was able to top deck a GoST but my tree top held it at bay. I ended up playing a Mwonvuli Acid-Moss followed by a Primal Command placing a land on his library while searching for a Primeval Titan. My opponent scooped after my Primeval Titan fetched up 2 Tectonic Edges with a 3rd already on the battlefield to his 4 duals in play.
Game 3 played out very similarly. I opened with discard followed by moss blowing up a land and primal bouncing another while fetching up prime time. I cast prime time fetching up 2 tec edges with a 3rd in play and my opponent played his 4th land (hadn’t missed a land drop, I just set him back plus ramped myself) and played a Supreme Verdict. I triple tec edged him and then used Primal Command to put another land on top and searched out a Grave Titan.
(2-0)
Round 3 – Affinity
Unfortunately I removed the Fracturing Gusts from my sideboard before the event. I lost the die roll and he had the nut draw. Somehow I was able to lose this game after going turn 1 search, turn 2 explore into an inquisition using my extra land drop to take a cranial plating, turn 3 primal command gaining 7 life and fetching up wurmcoil and turn 4 playing wurmcoil and gaining 6 life every turn from then on. I don’t believe I misplayed he just drew 3 cranial platings over the course of the game and was beating me down in the air with a vault skirge and an ornithoptor running around with a pair of scissors.
-2 Thoughtseize
-1 Primeval Titan
-1 Grave Titan
-3 Garruk Wildspeaker
-1 Tectonic Edge
-2 Explore
+1 Kitchen Finks
+1 Dismember
+2 Obstinate Baloth
+3 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
+3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Game 2 I started off by Abrupt Decaying his turn 1 Signal Pest followed by using a 2nd Abrupt Decay to take care of his Cranial Plating. He followed it up with 2 Vault Skirge, another plating and 2 Arcbound Ravager. I was able to play Thragtusk and Primal Command for a Wurmcoil. I got out of lethal range 3 turns in a row and top decked a NoSB but it was 1 turn too late (he had played 2 Arcbound Ravagers the turn before) and he was able to deal 14 flying lifelink damage to me in 1 turn (he was at 5 life and I had a Thragtusk, Finks and Wurmcoil in play).
(2-1)
Round 4 – Little Kid Junk
This is a different opponent than the one I would eventually face in my Top 4 match. He had a similar list but I believe it was a few cards off from Jacob Wilson’s PT deck. Game 1 I was able to throw 2 discard spells at him with a couple removal spells behind it but I ended up not drawing anything relevant while he proceeded to top deck 2 rhinos back to back.
-4 Inquisition of Kozilek
-2 Thoughtseize
+1 Dismember
+2 Kitchen Finks
+2 Obstinate Baloth
+1 Night of Souls’ Betrayal
This matchup is somewhat odd as the only things that really matter are his dorks and souls + gavony. They can also get under you if they have a quick start with a Wilt Leaf backed with some removal. So you want blockers, life gain, removal and something to take care of their dorks/gavony. NoSB shuts off half of their deck (8 dorks + 4 souls and 4 gavony) but is basically useless if they activate gavony once while Mwonvuli-Acid Moss deals with Gavony but doesn’t really effect the board.
Game 2 I went turn 3 Obstinate Baloth into a turn 4 Thragtusk followed by an Abrupt Decay and Murderous Cut for his Wilt Leaf and Rhino. I played a Primeval Titan and won.
Game 3 He thoughtseized my Garruk turn 1 and curved out into double Finks and double Wilt Leaf while having a couple of Paths for both my Thragtusk and Primeval. I was able to play a second Garruk followed by a few more of my own creatures which allowed me to stabilize long enough to win using Garruk’s ultimate in conjunction with 3 treetops and 2 beast tokens.
(3-1)
Round 5 – Intentional Draw (Grixis Delver)
My friend and I were able to draw into top 8 (he ended up making it to the finals).
(3-1-1)
The top 8 consisted of the following decks:
Affinity
Ad Nauseam
UR Delver
UR Delver
Grixis Delver
Little Kid Junk
BW Tokens
Nic Fit
Top 8 – Ad Nauseam
I was the 8th seed so I was going to be on the draw the entire top 8, bummer. Game 1 I lead off with 3 discard spells and followed it up by Abrupt Decaying his Phyrexian Unlife. He had 2 cards in hand and used an EoT Ad Nauseam w/o Angel's Grace to draw about 10 cards or so. The next turn he spent casting cantrips and sculpting his hand. I cast a Thoughtseize on my turn which gets Pacted and he goes off on his upkeep with the pact trigger on the stack.
-2 Murderous Cut
-3 Garruk Wildspeaker
-1 Wurmcoil Engine
-1 Thragtusk
+2 Duress
+2 Thoughtseize
+3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Game 2 played out exactly how I would want. He played a turn 2 bob which I did not except from him but after thinking about it seems quite good (similar to Legacy ANT having bob in the board vs. discard). But luckily I had the Abrupt Decay and was able to follow it up with an Acid Moss into Primal bouncing his land and searching a Primeval. I then used a second abrupt decay to take care of his pentad prism and swung with 4 tree tops and prime. The game ended with him at 2 lands (his 3rd land was a gemstone mine that had been exhausted) and me at about 11/12 lands in play.
Game 3 I looked at a hand with 3 lands and 4 discard spells. He lead off on a turn 2 bob and all of a sudden my hand didn’t look as great. I stripped him of everything relevant and tec edged him when I could. He had to use an Ad Nauseam to draw cards in response to my 5th discard of the match. He was able to eventually find an angel’s grace and an ad nauseam but did not have the mana to survive my lethal tree top attack.
(4-1-1)
Top 4 – Little Kid Junk
This matchup felt pretty favored when I played it in round 4 but a combination of nut draws/top decks and bad play on my part ended my run. Game 1 my opponent went hierarch into souls followed by wilt into more souls and gavony. I don’t think I could ever survive that draw game 1.
I sideboarded the same as my other Little Kid Junk match.
As for my 2nd game my note pad reads “MINDCENSOR!!!@!#&*!@!!”. I had the turn 3 NoSB on the play to his opening of 3 birds, souls and double gavony but a well-timed mindcensor on my tribe elder crushed me (it was my fault, I should of sac’ed him on my turn to play around it but I wasn’t thinking).
Anyways, I had a blast playing the deck and I’m glad I chose it for the event. I will be on this deck for the foreseeable future and hope that one day it can be a known contender in the metagame.
As for changes to the deck I found the Kitchen Finks to be incredibly underwhelming all day and I think those slots would be better served as a Fracturing Gust and a Damnation. I am really excited to continue playing the deck and hope others will pick it up as well and start pitching in their comments, suggestions or experiences!
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Sorceries (16)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Explore
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Primal Command
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Murderous Cut
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands (26)
4 Treetop Village
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Swamp
4 Forest
1 Acidic Slime
1 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Fracturing Gust
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Night of Souls' Betrayal
2 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
The only real change here is +1 Tasigur and -1 Garruk. We fill our grave super fast, and I just can't see passing up the chance to play him. I also like the option to play him off of a Primal Command on the same turn. It doesn't come up often, but you certainly can't do it with any other threat in the deck.
Sideboard is pretty stock too, but testing Acidic Slime and Maelstrom Pulse
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Thragtusk
1 Primeval Titan
1 Grave Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Sorceries (13)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Search for Tomorrow
3 Primal Command
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Murderous Cut
4 Lightning Bolt
Planeswalkers (3)
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands (26)
4 Treetop Village
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Swamp
3 Forest
1 Mountain
Sideboard is still in flux, but red gives us some great additions like Ancient Grudge, Slaughter Games, and Terminate