WiP:NicFit Primer

Table of Contents:
I. Overview of Deck Philosophy
II. History of the Deck
     a. Naming Conventions
III. "Core" card choices.
IV. Cabal Therapy Guide
V. GB Versions
     a. Durwardian
     b. Qweeriosian
     c. Experimental (Death Cloud, Culling the Weak)
VI. White Versions
     a. Rector
     b. Rock
     c. Pod
     d. Experimental (Restoration Angel, Fauna Shaman)
VII. Blue Versions
     a. Fact or Fiction
     b. Gifts Ungiven
     c. Experimental (Trinket Mage, Treasure Mage)
VIII. Red Versions
     a. Valakut/Burning Wish
     b. Punishing Fire
IX. Other
     a. Theoretical 4- and 5-color.
X. Conclusion

I. Overview of Deck Philosophy

Nic Fit is a rock/toolbox styled deck which utilizes an attrition style of gameplay. This means that you can expect discard, removal, and sweep, alongside chunky threats and surgical creatures specifically chosen for their narrow, but powerful applications. If this kind of deck appeals to you, be advised (read: warned) that you're going to have a lot of reading to do. Nic Fit has evolved into a wide, branching family of decks, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Most of them play some pretty obscure cards, and tracking these cards down can be problematic. Additionally, while Nic Fit of any variety is an absolute blast to pilot, it's also a very challenging deck to play competently, and arguably impossible to fully master, due to its extraordinarily long lines of play. If you still aren't scared off, read on, brave traveler!

Before diving in all the way, I'm going to go on a brief summary of some important notes about card choices, what's correct and what isn't and my personal tirade.

First, my tirade.

There is a very, very critical rule to this deck, and I get really ornery when people violate it. It's pretty simple: if it's in your deck, it has to have a purpose.

Suggesting that just because we run 5- and 6-drops, we should [i]totally run this EDH card, man[/i] is the quickest way to offen a Nic Fit player imaginable. We get enough comments about our decks looking like "a really good cube draft" or like "wow, you get to play EDH in legacy!" We really don't need more. No, I will not run [cards]Mirari's Wake[/cards] in my Nic Fit legacy deck. That's terrible, and so are you for suggestion it. Now get the fuck out.

 What purpose do these cards have in their respective contexts?

Baneslayer IS NOT a 5 power lifelinker.
Baneslayer IS a 5 power flyer.

These two statements are at the heart of what I mean. When evaluating card choices in Nic Fit decks, don't look at the card in a vacuum. EVERYTHING about Nic Fit, and I mean EVERYTHING, is synergy. Let's face it, on the surface, we're a really, horribly ineffective looking pile of random cards thrown together from EDH decks, cubes, and back-of-closet-shoeboxes with a few staples thrown in for good measure. You [b]cannot[/b] evaluate cards for Nic Fit in a vacuum.

In the white Rector build, the fact that Baneslayer has lifelink is secondary to the fact that it flies. This is important because the deck runs Moat. It needs to have flyers to actually win the game. It isn't in the White because it lifelinks. That isn't its purpose.

Kokusho isn't irrelevant. What is Kokusho's purpose?

Kokusho makes them lose 5 life.
Kokusho makes me gain 5 life.
Kokusho flies for 5.
Kokusho synergizes with Recurring Nightmare forming a lategame win-condition that is almost impossible to stop.

Gee, I wonder.

All four of these options are things that I have done with Kokusho. But the last option on this list is WHY he's in the deck. It's his purpose. If I'm locked out with an Ensnaring Bridge, I'm not out of the game. If my opponent is an asshole and is playing 43lands with Glacial Chasm, I haven't lost the game yet despite not playing Wasteland. If my opponent is on Enchantress and has Solitary Confinement out with Sterling Grove and Karmic frelling Justice, I haven't lost the game (yet). I have an out.

Simply put, Kokusho gives the deck [b]reach[/b]. You know, that term from limited that probably nobody knows because legacy players tend to not like limited (I know I don't, at the least). That is his purpose, not the fact that he gains life.

Thragtusk, then.

Thragtusk gains 5 life.
Thragtusk leaves behind a 3/3 blocker when it leaves play.
Thragtusk synergizes with Recurring Nightmare.
Thragtusk swings for 5.

Anybody have any guesses on why Thragtusk is in the deck?

If you guessed A, you're right! It's actually in the deck BECAUSE it gains 5 life. Why this and not Baneslayer, then, you might ask? Because Tusk is GSZable. If I'm in a pinch where RUG has been smashing my face in all game, or Pox has been derping me in the face every turn with a Shade, or Stoneblade's been Cliqueing all up in hia, or Maverick's been lolKnighting, or -whatever-, Thragtusk is the go-to guy. He buys TIME, which is far and away the most important resource for this deck.

It isn't mana.
It isn't life, traditionally conceived.
It isn't board state.
It isn't hand size.
It is time.

If we have enough time, we will win. Period. Short of like hardcasting a reanimation target, or a tentacle monster, we have the best lategame in the entire format, hands down. This thought process works vs combo, too -- our best way of beating combo is by disrupting them. By giving ourselves more time. Time is everything with this deck, and Thragtusk buys us an awful lot of it. The fact that he's a win condition too is irrelevant. The fact that Kokusho flies is irrelevant. The fact that Baneslayer has lifelink is irrelevant.

No man is an island. Neither is a Magic card when used in Nic Fit. Sure, cards have multiple uses. Am I glad Baneslayer has lifelink? Fuck yeah. If she didn't have lifelink, would she still be in the deck? Fuck yeah.

Frankly, the fact that the 5- and 6-drops in the deck are all beefy has nothing to do with why they're in the deck. I also disagree that the idea of "win more" really exists -- I tend to go with the "win enough" camp. One of the nice things about having Sun Titan, Kokusho, Sigarda, 2 Baneslayers, and Thragtusk as win conditions (alongside Elspeth), is that if they deal with one, cool. If they deal with two, awesome. If they deal with three, well guess what, I have more. Come at me. People complain about how long it takes them to win with Nic Fit, well no shit if you cut all of the bombs.

The funny thing is that I agree that the 5-drops actually tend to be better than the 6-drops in this deck. Kich87 (who I believe has since moved on to another deck) and I debated this a little bit some arbitrarily large number of pages back, and I agree with him. The 5-drops are where your actual game winners are...especially Baneslayer. This is ironically because you can't tutor for them. You grab your Sun Titan as plan A, usually with Sigarda as plan B and Kokusho as plan C. The problem is that Sun Titan gets Swordsed like a boss, and Sigarda ends up having to do blocking duty more often than she goes in for the kill personally. Kokusho takes a lot of time to make happen, so while you're trying to assemble Kokusho, you usually draw into a Baneslayer. And when you draw into a Baneslayer, that's when you usually win the game. You can't tutor for it, so you have no way of finding it early game -- otherwise it'd probably be plan A. But because it happens in the grey void between B and C, your opponents are usually out of removal, and Baneslayer gets to go the distance. If they rip well and she gets stopped, well, no matter -- then Kokusho will happen and you win anyway.

Think of it this way: Kokusho is the manhatten project. It takes some time to research nuclear warheads (assemble enough lands, find Nightmare and Kokusho; Witness Nightmare if it gets killed/countered/discarded). In the time it takes to research the manhatten project, most wars will be won or lost. But for those games where your opponent rips well, and you're evenly matched, Kokusho will break those stalemates clean in half.

Also, on the topic of incidental lifegain, we haven't even touched Phyrexian Arena. See, Thragtusk makes a lot of cards in the deck better just by existing. Your opponents will have to use 2 removal spells on it. That accelerates the "run them out of resources" plan, and means that hey, maybe Sun Titan won't eat a Swords this time and then you just win. Or hey, maybe Sigarda won't have to just sit there for once in her life. Nic Fit is an attrition deck. Thragtusk should be mandatory because it fits the attrition playstyle perfectly, and its very presence improves the other cards that we play. It buys us more life to draw cards, it buys us more time to drop big fat things that end games, it lightning rods removal, it works with Nightmare, it swings for a quarter of your opponents' life, at least, and it's tutorable. I honestly don't know what more could be asked of it.

Okay, now that's out the way and we all feel much better...okay, fine. [b]I[/b] feel much, anyway.

Regardless.

There are a few endless debates that rage throughout the thread, and this primer will regrettably be tainted somewhat in favor of one side of the other due to my personal opinions. This is where the other side gets its peace. One of these debates revolves around [cards]Liliana of the Veil[/cards]. If you want to see some good points about her on both sides, go here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?20983-Deck-Nic-Fit-%28GBW-Explorer-Zenith-Control%29&p=660515&viewfull=1#post660515 , and read the various posts in the vicinity of that one (and that one, obviously). There's most of the top-drawer discourse on Liliana has occurred so far. I personally don't like Liliana that much, at least when there's no [cards]Life from the Loam[/cards] or [cards]Punishing Fire[/cards] running around to use with her, so that opinion will get reflected in the primer. But hey, guys, [b]Liliana of the Veil is a good card. I just don't prefer it[/b].

6-drops. Some people like them (me), some people hate them (Qweerios), and some people are in the middle. The deck does tend to run smoother without 6-drops, but they do provide an enormous power boost when they happen. You can go either way on this point. Again, I like 6-drops in the deck due to the extent which they tear open stalemates, but if you prefer not to run them, that's fine too.

A 61st card. I'm in the 61 camp, but, again, that's not for everyone. In my experience, the deck just runs smoother at 61, because we make it up really quickly with Veteran Explorer deck thinning. Coupled with Top, we can make up the little bit of variance that comes with the 61st card. The 61st card is usually a tutor target of some kind, too, so that's worth remembering. I'd rather have an extra synergy in my deck than have the absolute most consistent deck possible, especially since our deck is already frighteningly consistent.

[cards]Dryad Arbor[/cards]. This guy is not for us. As Qweerios notes,

[quote=Qweerios] Ramping with Dryad via GSZ isn't really an option. We don't keep 1 land hands like Mav and a GSZ @1 will get u the explorer you need instead. Dryad isn't bad in the GB version but it is certainly bad in the tricolored ones. It acts mostly as an emergency Therapy body but mostly its just a summoning sick nonbasic forest that dies to removal and Deed. I would definitely pack one if I intend to play with Recurring Nightmare though.[/quote]

Personally, I wouldn't even run Arbor with Nightmare, although it can open up some entertaining lines. I think it's too much of a corner case even with Nightmare. Regardless, I couldn't really put this better myself.

Now that that civic duty is done....

II. History of the Deck

Most of the deck's development has taken place on MTG:TheSource forum, with MTG Salvation's thread on the deck typically suggesting more questionable choices. In my experience while trolling Salvation, Salvation's thread seems to also be usually 3-4 months behind in discussion when compared to Source. Tao created the thread for Nic Fit in late May of 2011, and the thread quickly attracted the attention of deckbuilders due to the interaction formed between [cards]Veteran Explorer[/cards] and [cards]Cabal Therapy[/cards]. Speaking personally, I had discovered the interaction separately around the same time due to the printing of Veteran Explorer in one of the Commander box-sets. Previously, I had no idea the card existed, but I quickly thought of Cabal Therapy and came to Source to investigate if anyone else had thought of the same thing. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the fledgling thread, and have been working on the deck ever since.

The deck remained underground for several months, despite putting up sufficient numbers at local tournaments to keep our interest up. It probably helped that the deck is so much fun to play, as well. Fast forward to July 31st, 2011 -- the Starcity Games Open in Pittsburgh, PA. I was able to get a car around to play in the Legacy Open, and while none of us did that well, my deck attracted the eye of Caleb Durward, who was playing not far from me. We talked about the deck briefly, and he said that he'd seen people playing it on Workstation online, but that he hadn't seen it at an actual event before (paraphrased due to nonexact recollection). Although I ended up at something dismal like 4-3-1, apparently some interest had been sparked.

At the SCG Invitational in Charlotte, in December 2011, Nic Fit got to steal some limelight as Caleb Durward piloted a straight G/B version of the deck to an impressive top 8 finish, and snagging a Deck Tech on the way. Over the next few months, the deck periodically bounced in and out of the Decks to Beat forum on the Source, which signifies a tier one deck. Despite these periodic jumps, the deck has remained a strong tier 1.5/tier 2 contender for much of its life, largely due to a complete lack of true masters and professional players that actually run the deck, as Caleb has continued to experiment with other archetypes after playing Nic Fit to decent finishes several more times.

TheCouncil.es shows Nic Fit as having produced many top 8's in the European metagame, with an incredible variety of lists. In particular, a player by the name of Michael Thiel has done particularly well with a Rock-based version of Nic Fit, which splashes white primarily for Swords to Plowshares, Sun Titan, and a few sideboard options. In the American meta, Nic Fit has been taken to the top 8 of several SCG Opens. It has, however, nearly missed day two of both legacy GPs so far in its lifetime: Indianapolis and Atlanta, as I missed the cut by a heartbreaking one round each event. As of this writing, the deck is still waiting for its day in the sun, although it remains a sturdy competitor that is capable of competing with, and regularly beating, the top decks.

II-A. Naming Conventions

Our deck's name is so terrible that I feel I must address it in its own section. We don't actually know where Nic Fit came from, before anyone asks. A lot of people assume that it came from a typo....that it was originally supposed to be "Nice Fit." Whether it did or not, however, is questionable, and probably impossible to prove. Caleb Durward noted that he believes the name to refer to the interaction between Explorer and Therapy in his Deck Tech. At this point, I would agree with Caleb. Whatever it may have once signified, Nic Fit has come to be synonymous with Therapy/Explorer. A few months ago, I tried to shift the name of the deck slightly to New Frontiers, based on the card of the same name ([cards]New Frontiers[/cards]). However, I quickly discovered that Nic Fit has settled in to the average legacy player's format awareness, and at this point, changing the name is impossible. Regardless of our feelings on the name, then, we can now only embrace it.

Each subset of the deck tends to go by the color of its splash, or some times the specific plan or backup engine that it is abusing. Ie, "The White [splash]," or "Rector version." This is somewhat inelegant, but it's functional and allows us to avoid having to call our deck Nic Fit as much as possible =D

III. "Core" Discussion

Despite the extremely variable nature of what can be classified as "Nic Fit," there are some card choices that all decks under that umbrella share. It is widely agreed that any Nic Fit deck must start with:

[cards]4x Veteran Explorer
4x Cabal Therapy[/cards]

Most lists run some number of [cards]Sensei's Divining Top[/cards], [cards]Green Sun's Zenith[/cards] and [cards]Pernicious Deed[/cards], although there are exceptions. I would personally list the Nic Fit core as such:

[cards]4x Veteran Explorer
4x Cabal Therapy
3x(0x) Sensei's Divining Top [0 is acceptable if splashing blue and running Brainstorm]
2x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Pernicious Deed
1x Eternal Witness
1x Phyrexian Tower
[/cards]

Additional copies of Top, GSZ, Deed, Witness, and Tower may be present depending on the individual list and what it's trying to do. The numbers above represent the bare minimum, rather than the "accepted" number. Everything else is subject to change.

IV. Cabal Therapy Guide

Proper Cabal Therapy names are one of the most important aspects of playing the deck. While the following guide is not perfect, it can be used as a general purpose training tool for when you're just learning the deck and just starting with Therapy. If you have no idea what to do, this is for you. As you get more experienced and more advanced with the deck, some of these calls will change based on a wide variety of factors...but this is a good starting guide.

 Stoneblade
[When you are on the] Play: Brainstorm
[When you are on the] Draw: Hold.

If you're on the play, try to disrupt a shaky keep by taking Brainstorm, which also makes your future Therapies better. If you're on the draw, you want to hold your Therapy so that you can either use it after they Stoneforge, or on turn 3 naming Jace TMS.

RUG
Play: Stifle
Draw: Stifle

It's our number one enemy in this matchup. If they don't have it, congrats, you have information and the go-ahead for Explorer to ramp past their tempo. Also keep in mind that they give you information on their hand from Delver. Write it down.

Maverick
Play: Noble Hierarch
Draw: Knight of the Reliquary

Mid-late game, it's usually best to name Green Sun's Zenith or Swords to Plowshares, unless you have information from Fauna Shaman or some such. Hierarch on the play can really disrupt them, because maverick players tend to lean on their Hierarchs a lot more than they should...especially with like Savannah Hierarch x2 Cradle [cards] type of hands. You can really punish them for that. Also watch out for Mindcensor, although usually they're just going to flash it out in resp. to Therapy just in case.

High Tide
Play: Brainstorm
Draw: High Tide

If you whiff on High Tide, use your own judgment based on the information you get. Postboard, if you can bin a Time Spiral for Extirpate, that's sex in a can.

TES and ANT
Play: LED
Draw: Dark Ritual

Ideally you want to name mana on the call, and then business on the flashback. Doesn't always work that way though...be prepared to be flexible here.

Doomsday
Play: Doomsday
Draw: Doomsday

I don't know enough about this matchup to know if this is actually correct or not. I guess you could name Top on the play and annoy them that way. But at the end of the day if you can hit their Doomsday, the matchup gets awkward for them and gives you more time to disrupt/beat. This is a really awkward matchup in general.

Goblins
Play: Lackey
Draw: Matron

You could also make a case for Ringleader on the draw.

Merfolk
Play: Vial
Draw: Master of the Pearl Trident [Lord of Atlantis]

I've seen lists running like 4 Master 2 Lord, so you probably want to call Master. Midgame, name Phantasmal Image. You don't want them copying a Grave Titan.

Elves
Play: Glimpse
Draw: Glimpse

Glimpse is public enemy number one. Symbiote is a good take too, since it helps them recover from Deed and fuels a lot of their engines.

Nic Fit mirror (assuming G/B or GBw [Swords/Titan version, no Rector]
Play: Sensei's Divining Top
Draw: Green Sun's Zenith

The mirror of this deck is pretty awkward. Top is definitely right on the play. GSZ is probably their best card on the draw, so I'd go for that, but that's much more questionable. Use your own discretion.

Reanimator
Play: Reanimate
Draw: Animate Dead

To my knowledge, most reanimator decks are shaving Exhume. If you have reason to believe that he's running Exhume, name that -- Animate Dead can at least be killed with Deed. Note: if you're on the play postboard, there's a good chance you want to name Thoughtseize to protect an Extirpate. This is only if you have an Extirpate in hand though IMO. Remember to keep an eye out for Show and Tell. S&T is slower here though, since they only run like 2 City of Traitors. You can take that on the flashback. Also if you have an Extirpate, don't be afraid to name Griselbrand and then make them all go away.

Sneak/Show
Play: Show and Tell
Draw: Griselbrand

Miracles
Play: Brainstorm
Draw: Counterbalance

Belcher
Play: LED
Draw: Seething Song

This is awkward and possibly incorrect. It might be that naming Burning Wish or Belcher itself is just better. Nothing about this matchup is good, though, so it probably doesn't matter. I'd say if you take their main mana producers, it should slow them a few turns while you get more discard online to take their business....but unlike ANT/TES, they run a pisston of mana, so I don't know.

Dredge
Play: LED
Draw: Breakthrough

BUG Delver
Play: Stifle
Draw: Stifle

Same as RUG here, really.

BUG Control
Play: Brainstorm
Draw: Hold

Same as with Stoneblade.

Burn
Play: Lightning Bolt
Draw: Fireblast

Midgame, look at their graveyard and see what burn spells they've used. Keep in mind that Burn tends to run as many 4-ofs are possible, so you can maximize your chances by naming a burn spell that they haven't used yet.

U/R Delver
Play: Delver
Draw: Daze

Daze is an odd name here. The thing is that you don't really want to get Dazed while you're setting up. It's also a blue card, which means if they have Force in hand, their Force gets worse if you hit (and if they do, you take it on the flashback). You just want to get to Thragtusk here, pref. with Nightmare active. Daze is a serious hindrance to that plan, because most of the time you're going to have to GSZ for exact. Watch out for Spell Pierce too.

Death and Taxes
Play: Vial
Draw: Phyrexian Revoker

Deed is our best card here. We know and they know it, and Revoker is their answer to it. Keep an eye out for Mangara, too....don't let that happen if you can avoid it.

MUD
Play: Grim Monolith
Draw: Forgemaster

Take this with a grain of salt....if you're on the draw and they lead like Seat of the Synod -> Voltaic Key, or just 1-mana land pass, you still name Monolith. Monolith is the most dangerous card in their deck, with Metalworker as a close second. If you can take away their fast mana, the deck tends to implode on itself a lot.

V. G/B Versions

First off, Caleb Durward's list that he played at the Invitational:

[cards]
4x Veteran Explorer
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Kitchen Finks
2x Eternal Witness
1x Wickerbough Elder
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Deranged Hermit
2x Grave Titan

2x Sensei's Divining Top

3x Pernicious Deed

2x Dismember
1x Go for the Throat

1x Liliana of the Veil

4x Cabal Therapy
4x Green Sun's Zenith
3x Hymn to Tourach
3x Maelstrom Pulse

4x Forest
3x Swamp
4x Bayou
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Phyrexian Tower

//SB
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Tormod's Crypt
2x Faerie Macabre
1x Kitchen Finks
2x Extirpate
4x Mindbreak Trap
2x Liliana of the Veil
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Damnation
[/cards]

Due to Caleb's success at the Invitational, this has become the unofficial "stock list" for the deck. Many players who never even check the Source use this as a springboard from which to develop their own versions and make their own tweaks. Caleb focused on beating the fair decks preboard, then switching it up to give combo decks nightmares postboard -- a philosophy which most have followed since.

It is worth noting that Caleb cut the [cards]Recurring Nightmare[/cards] from the deck -- a decision which many on the Source, myself included, disagree with. Still, the G/B version is much more likely to trim Recurring Nightmare due to a lack of cards that actually abuse it. In Caleb's list, for example, the only cards that could really abuse the Nightmare engine are Eternal Witness, Explorer, Deranged Hermit, and Grave Titan. While this is a significant chunk of creatures, it can be argued that Nightmare is worse than some of the deck's other options (although, again, I don't adopt this stance).

By way of comparison, here is the most recent list that Caleb has posted on Channelfireball, from early April 2012:

[cards]
4x Veteran Explorer
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Kitchen Finks
2x Eternal Witness
1x Wickerbough Elder
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Grave Titan

2x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Nihil Spellbomb

3x Pernicious Deed

1x Skeletal Scrying

2x Liliana of the Veil

4x Cabal Therapy
4x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Damnation
3x Innocent Blood
3x Maelstrom Pulse

4x Forest
3x Swamp
4x Bayou
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Phyrexian Tower

//SB
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Tormod's Crypt
2x Dread of Night
1x Kitchen Finks
2x Extirpate
4x Mindbreak Trap
1x Liliana of the Veil
1x Gaddock Teeg
2x Hymn to Tourach
[/cards]

This list shows some very peculiar metagame shifts compared to the first, although it's not -that- different. It's now sporting Innocent Bloods instead of the Dismember/Throat package, and has added Skeletal Scrying as a way to keep up with Stoneblade (which was king around the time of this list). Dread of Nights in the board is a concession to Maverick, although IMO, they're a poor one since they die to your own Pernicious Deeds, which happens to be one of your best cards vs Maverick.

Without having played the list, I would suggest the following as this list's matchup analysis:

[Disclaimer: these are decks that are commonly present at most major legacy tournaments. I'm not including 'fringe' decks like Enchantress or Hypergenesis that show up in very small numbers and that you'll likely never have to play.]

Canadian Thresh - 70% favored.

Canadian Thresh is diametrically opposed to this entire archetype: it focuses on denying their opponent resources while applying a fast clock. Nic Fit is about accelerating your resources, while removing fast threats and deploying something bigger than almost all non-Eldrazi threats in legacy's card pool. In my experience, Nic Fit as a whole is heavily favored in this matchup with tight play. It's important to note that if Thresh gets a 1-land hand and proceeds to draw nothing but business and counterspells, we're going to die. However, those are the only hands they beat us with -- if they "waste" two or three draws on land, we're in good shape.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Stifle[/cards]. A properly aimed Stifle can be devastating, although less so to this G/B version. Veteran Explorer's trigger can be stifled, so watch out for that. Pernicious Deed is a favorite target as well. I'd advise calling Stifle with all primary Therapies in this matchup. The risk is too great.
--[cards]Submerge[/cards]. Almost every Thresh deck is running these as a way to shore up their questionable Maverick matchup. Be careful when you fetch and when you Green Sun -- more of a danger with this list because of the increased number of fetches that it runs. Luckily, you're not generally relying on your creatures to defend yourself anyway -- Liliana and Deed should do most of the heavy lifting.
--[cards]Gilded Drake[/cards]. A lot of Thresh decks are now running one or two of this guy in their sideboard for Reanimator/Sneak. He also happens to be astonishingly good vs all Nic Fit decks. Be careful of your Grave Titan getting stolen. If you fear Drake, hold Deed@2 open at all times, so you can kill the Drake in response to its trigger. If you can't gain control of the Drake, the trigger will fizzle.

Maverick - 55-60% even/slightly favored.

I don't like this list's chances vs Maverick as much as some others. It has very few relevant sideboard cards, and while Maverick doesn't have much vs you either, it only takes one or two cards to ruin your day. The extra sweeper maindeck will help, and I'd wager that Caleb's latest would have a good matchup game one, then struggle more postboard as the Maverick player adjusts their deck. Many Maverick decks have a big threat or two in their boards for the mirror, such as a [cards]Gideon Jura[/cards]. Mother of Runes is a problem for your targeted removal, and they often have so many dudes that Innocent Blood and Liliana is not going to be enough to keep up with their swarm. Theoretically this should make them walk into a Deed, but most Maverick players shouldn't do that. Maverick is a deck that I always tend to underestimate due to our perceived good matchup vs it, but it's been the deck specifically that has cost me the most by losing to it, so now I probably give it more credit than it is due.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Sword of Light and Shadow[/cards]. This can be a serious problem, especially if they drop it immediately -after- a Deed wipe. The fact that the sword also has an amazingly relevant protection vs Caleb's list is nontrivial. Don't board Wickerbough out vs Maverick due to this card. If they don't run it main, they probably have it sideboard. And even if they don't, you don't want to chance that they do.
--[cards]Dauntless Escort[/cards]. This is in fact, "the technology." Most Maverick players are running this because of BUG and because of the large number of decks that are sideboarding [cards]Perish[/cards]. However, it is definitely effective vs us as well. All you can really do about this is make them use it, and then sweep again before you die. If you've managed to deal with their Mother of Runes, you can Pulse the Escort, but that's uncommon.

Stoneblade - 65% favored.

Skeletal Scrying is going to do some heavy lifting here. Stoneblade doesn't have a particularly fast clock, and if they do, then they don't have the protection to back it up. Batterskull can be a pain to get rid of, but if you measure out your Therapies a bit, they'll go a long way here. It's worth remembering that most Stoneblade decks play 3-5 basics, so they're going to get the effect of your Explorers, and they can actually use them, unlike Maverick. That being said, most Stoneblade players will Swords your Veteran on sight, so don't just run him out there and hope he sticks around a turn. Wait until you have a sac outlet so that you can hold priority.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Gilded Drake[/cards] (again).
--[cards]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/cards] & [cards]Elspeth, Knight-Errant[/cards]. These planeswalkers are both serious threats that can put the game out of your reach very quickly if left unchecked. Try to land a Therapy on your opponent at 3 mana to make sure that they don't have one of these sitting in hand, waiting for 4. If Jace drops, you're going to be leaning on Thrun to beat him down. Elspeth is likely going to require a Maelstrom Pulse to be gone for good.
--[cards]Batterskull[/cards]. This thing is a pain, because whatever you do to it, they'll just bounce it with the mana that we're giving them from Explorer. That said, Therapy can deal with the problem if you can force them to bounce it. Just be aware that it will likely take a while before that happens.
--[cards]Sword of Feast and Famine[/cards]. Protection from our deck. If this comes down early (turns 2-4), it's going to do some damage by both forcing us to discard and allowing our opponent to cheat on mana. Another reason to be careful with your Therapies. It's usually correct in this matchup to not just run a Therapy out without good cause.

Sneak/Show - Probably ~30% unfavored.

Caleb's deck was posted before Sneak and Show truly became a deck, so I'm going out on a bit of a limb here. That said, Sneak/Show is something that the Nic Fit archetype has difficulty with in general, and this list doesn't have anything to truly hate on it. All you can really hope to do is discard something important and then Extirpate it postboard. I don't see Caleb's list winning preboard without some serious luck.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Blood Moon[/cards]. This sounds weird, but most Nic Fit players have a bad habit of fetching for their dual lands willy-nilly because they want to save the basics to get value out of Explorer. While I think it unlikely, a Sneak/Show player -might- board in Blood Moon if they see you fetch Bayou Bayou Bayou game one. Don't walk into it.
--[cards]Through the Breach[/cards]. Some lists sport this card and possibly some copies of [cards]Progenitus[/cards] in the sideboard for various reasons. I have no idea if they would be boarded in or not, but if you're on the extraction plan, just be aware that they might not be completely dead if you take their Show and Tells and their Sneak Attacks from them....likewise with Griselbrand and Emrakul.

Reanimator - Probably 40-45% unfavored.

This is a bit better than Sneak Attack due to their reliance on the graveyard. While they will have blisteringly fast starts that you can't really compete with, they will also have slower, clunkier starts that will allow you to sneak a Scavenging Ooze in. Once Ooze hits, the game is essentially over...at least preboard. Postboard, you have Extirpates to help out, as well as an additional Nihil Spellbomb and a Tormod's Crypt. Liliana of the Veil is solid here. While you rarely want to make them discard, even as a seal of sacrifice removal, she's going to do work.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Show and Tell[/cards]. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone anymore, like Dark Confidants in Lands' sideboard, but Reanimator likes to sideboard Show and Tells to fight graveyard hate. Some of them will also board [cards]City of Traitors[/cards], to accelerate into Show and Tell. There isn't much you're going to do about it other than possibly name it with Therapy, but make sure you do that.
--[cards]Echoing Truth[/cards]. Postboard, Scavenging Ooze is not a hard lock. They can and will bounce them EoT, then untap, discard something somehow, bring it back, and punch-you-in-the-face-big with it.

Storm (ANT, TES) - 60-70% favored.

Game one is a toss-up here. A lot of Storm players will run their artifact mana out due to fear of discard, which will put them square in the firing range of Deed and Pulse. Kill any and all artifact mana will extreme prejudice. Postboard you'll have Mindbreak Traps to help out, which can make your opponent's life miserable game two...especially since most of them are sideboarding [cards]Inquisition of Kozilek[/cards], which doesn't take Mindbreak. Game three expect your opponents to bring Silences and Orim's Chants back in to combat the Traps. Assuming you win game two, this is going to make game three really miserable, but you should be able to pull it out with a sturdy combination of different types of hate. Don't forget that graveyard hate is relevant here for vs [cards]Rite of Flame, Past in Flames, and Ill-gotten Gains[/cards]. Lilianas and Hymns will do work, and you probably want to board in the 2nd Kitchen Finks in lieu of a Grave Titan, due to the mana cost and the fact that life gain isn't completely dead.

Cards to watch out for:
You'll see most, if not all, of them game one. As long as you understand how the deck works, you should be able to pick it apart. Don't board out your Deeds and Pulses, because [cards]Empty the Warrens[/cards] is a card, and you might be able to snipe their Moxes and LEDs.

High Tide - 50% even.

This matchup depends largely on luck for both you and your opponent -- how his Spirals go, and how your Spirals go. Game one, you may as well just concede. Explorer is something you never, ever want to do here (with this list, anyway). After boarding, however, you get Hymns, another Liliana, Extirpates, Traps, Teeg, and the Spellbomb/Crypt, all of which combines to make the High Tide player's life even more miserable than it already is by having to play High Tide. Extirpate their cantrips with extreme prejudice, unless you think you're going to be able to snag their High Tides or their Time Spirals. Otherwise, go for tutors....anything you can take to make their deck less consistent, do it.

Cards to watch out for:
As with Storm, you'll see their deck. What you won't see if their wishboard. Most High Tide decks have very few actual sideboard cards (mostly bounce), and instead have tons of options for Cunning Wish. Some of them run a Surgical Extraction, so make sure your Mindbreak Trap is worth it when you unload it. They very well might Surgical all of them.

Burn - 60% favored.

This is assuming that [cards]Thragtusk[/cards] is put into the list, which it should be -- Thragtusk wasn't out when Caleb designed this list. Finks make life annoying for burn, Deed wraths away their Goblin Guides and Figures of Destiny, and Pulse knocks out their Sulfuric Vortexes. Oozes are solid incremental advantage here, and Extirpates can operate as [cards]Healing Salves[/cards] if you so desire. Be aware that since they're going to get value out of your Explorers as well as you can, these are going to be QUICK games, one way or the other. They'll unload their entire hand on you by turn 3 most games, then it's just a question of gaining enough life to get out of the topdeck danger zone and kill them.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Sulfuric Vortex[/cards]. Unless you have no other choice, might sure you save a Pulse for these, because they can ruin your day by stopping your Finks and Thragtusk, while slowing killing you every turn.
--[cards]Ensnaring Bridge[/cards]. Sometimes burn can have this in their sideboard, and it definitely affects this list's ability to win the game.

Miracle Whip - Probably 40% unfavored.

Again, this deck has evolved after Caleb's design. Teeg can annoy the crap out of them, but they can Swords him, and unlike Maverick, we don't have Mother of Runes to protect him. The good news is that they only really have some Jaces, some [cards]Entreat the Angels[/cards] and some Vendilion Cliques to kill you with. The bad news is that they can [cards]Counterbalance[/cards] your [cards]Grave Titan[/cards] with a [cards]Terminus[/cards]. Yes, that happens. Terminus is a setback, but not the end of the world with our amount of shuffling and with this list sporting the full 4x Green Sun's Zenith. A fast Counterbalance/Top can cause problems, but isn't the end of the world. Pernicious Deed is amazing here, since it shuts off one of their plans (Entreat), while also getting rid of Counterbalance when you decide you need to. Clique and Jace will still provide problems, though. Skeletal Scrying will be every bit as good here as it is vs Stoneblade, but I still don't have a good feeling about the matchup for this version overall.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Humility[/cards]. This thing can be an enormous pain in the ass, shutting off Explorers, Witnesses, and every other engine that the deck wants to abuse. Pulse and Deed are solid outs, but you're going to need to sneak them in through counters and Counterbalance.
--[cards]Vedalken Shackles[/cards]. Not all lists run this artifact, but those that do can be fairly dangerous for the same reasons as Gilded Drake. Again, Pulse and Deed are your outs, but can be problematic to resolve.

Team America - 60-65% favored.

Team America is Canadian Thresh with actual removal and [cards]Tombstalker[/cards], at the cost of reach. While it's still a good matchup  due to the same fundamental principles, removal and Tombstalker can both be problems. Thankfully, most of their removal cannot kill Grave Titan, who is your trump in this matchup.

Cards to watch out for:
Pretty much everything from the Canadian Thresh section.

BUG Control - 60% favored.

BUG Control is a very slow, grindy deck that focuses on Pernicious Deed, Jace, and Liliana of the Veil to control the board and eventually win. Sound familiar? Unfortunately for your opponent, you get value out of Explorers, and you play Grave Titan and Thragtusk. The planeswalkers can both be problematic, but if you control your discard like vs. Stoneblade, you should be fine.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Night of Souls' Betrayal[/cards]. While this doesn't actively kill you, it's worth noting that it does kill Eternal Witness and Explorer on sight, and makes Kitchen Finks' persist look awfully stupid. It's more of a hassle than it is actually dangerous, but you should definitely still be aware of it.
--BUG Control can and does run many of the same sideboard options as Team America and Canadian Thresh, so keep an eye out for Gilded Drakes and Submerges. They'll also probably have [cards]Perish[/cards]. As long as you lean on Grave Titan, though, you should be fine.

Goblins - Probably 40% unfavored.

Goblins weren't around while Caleb was playing Nic Fit, but if they were, I'd imagine not enjoying it very much with this list. 4 Explorers and 3 Innocent Bloods give some outs to [cards]Goblin Lackey[/cards], but there's an equal chance that they'll just cycle incinerator to kill your Explorer, get value for themselves, and then punch you to put in something stupid. Deed is decent here, but not the allstar that it could be due to the relatively high mana costs of some goblins (Ringleader comes to mind, at 4). Piledriver is public enemy #1, as usual, since the rest of the horde is pretty small. But even 1000 papercuts will kill you eventually...

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Warren Weirding and Wort, Boggart Auntie[/cards]. I'm putting these two together, since you'll only see them that way. This forms a recursive removal engine that can get really frustrating after a while, especially for a deck that plays rather few creatures. Black splashed goblins might also Cabal Therapy you postboard.
--[cards]Leyline of the Void[/cards]. It's an open question as to whether they board this in or not. It does shut off Explorer and Witness, but they get value out of Explorer, and can usually ignore Witness. Leyline is better vs other versions of the deck, but they might board it in here just because of prior experience vs other versions of Nic Fit.

Merfolk - Probably 45% unfavored.

Again, Merfolk were hibernating while Caleb was playing. I'm giving Caleb's list 5% here by virtue of not playing Islands, but it's still not a good matchup IMO. You're going to be leaning on Deed very, very heavily here. With 8 Lords of Atlantis, the fishmen are going to be faster than ever, with lords piling up really quickly. In my experience, Merfolk has three kinds of hands: those with all creatures, those with all counters, and those that have a 50/50 mix. If you run into the 50/50 mix, you're in big trouble. Even the other hands can provide issues, though, since all they actually need to counter to beat you is Deed.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Phantasmal Image[/cards]. Some lists are running him as an additional lord (because they need more). While scary enough as a fishman, Image can ruin your day very quickly by copying a Thragtusk or a Grave Titan. There isn't much you can do about it, just be aware that it can happen. Worse still, the Image copies the converted mana cost of its reflection, which means an Imaged Grave Titan is going to cost you big time to get rid of if you don't have a Pulse floating around.
--[cards]Submerge[/cards], again.
--[cards]Gilded Drake[/cards], again.

Summary:

Caleb's list, while outdated, is still solid. It sports decent matchups across the board, with few weaknesses and few strengths. The deck itself is slightly favored in many matchups, but it can be challenging to pilot correctly, and is easy to punt. While it's a good starting point for the deck if you want to get your feet wet, there's a lot more exciting technology in other lists. Durwardian lists will take you places, but it's a "stock" list, in my opinion, and doesn't have what it takes to do as well as it once did now that people know what Nic Fit actually is.

Next up is Source member Qweerios's most recent list (7/4/12):

[cards]
Creatures (11)
4 Veteran Explorer
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Eternal Witness
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Kodama of the North Tree
1 Primeval Titan

Spells (27)
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thoughtseize
3 Innocent Blood
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter

Lands (22)
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Treetop Village
4 Bayou
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
3 Swamp

Sideboard (15)
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Extirpate
1 Darkblast
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
2 Tsunami
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Obstinate Baloth
[/cards]

Qweerios has long been a vocal supporter of the straight green/black build (although recently he's been dabbling in BUG), and has had the most success with this flavor of the deck outside of Caleb Durward, although not on as high-profile of a level.

Sporting only 11 creatures, Qweeriosian G/B plays a true control role, more reminiscent of the G/B "The Rock" decks of yore, as opposed to the RecSur archetype which Nic Fit is commonly compared to (or, less kindly, "the best cube draft ever"). Like Caleb, Qweerios trimmed out Recurring Nightmare -- understandable with 11 creatures! Sporting piles of discard and removal, Qweeriosian lists rely on Green Sun's Zenith -> Primeval Titan -> Treetop x2 or Volrath's Stronghold + Phyrexian Tower (the Two Towers) as their primary win condition. The Two Towers engine will grind out most games, especially coupled with Eternal Witnesses which are capable of recurring Wasteland victims, while Titan + 2x Treetop represents 12 power of trampling attackers the next turn -- 6 of which is immune to sorcery speed removal.

It's worth noting that Qweerios also rocks a 4-pack of planeswalkers, which is more than most versions of the deck. While Liliana of the Veil sees some play in other versions, Garruk, Primal Hunter is basically restricted to the G/B build due to its restrictive 2GGG mana cost. Whether drawing piles of cards or spewing out tokens every turn, Primal Hunter is a very powerful card in this list.

Matchup analysis:

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

Summary:

Qweeriosian G/B builds are my pick for the best straight G/B build. Unlike Durwardian lists, or some of the stranger decks that come through the thread periodically, Qweeriosian builds are proven to work in the current metagame. While they do possess several Achilles heels, such as Leyline of Sanctity-fueled Sneak and Show, Qweeriosian G/B represents the gold standard of redundancy and true, Rock-style control.

Experimental G/B:

This section contains the experimental/theoretical G/B decks that members of the community have postulated, but are either very rough and untested, or don't even possess lists yet. These decks are more like kernels that might one day become full versions. If this happens, they'll be moved out of this section and granted their own. Due to their nature, experimental decks will not have a matchup analysis.

The first experimental G/B list is a Death Cloud build, utilizing Liliana of the Dark Realms, Diabolic Intent+Bloodghast, and some fairly questionable technology. Here's a sample list that I built just to have something to test:

[cards]
4x Veteran Explorer
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Bloodghast
2x Kitchen Finks
2x Eternal Witness
1x Thragtusk
1x Primeval Titan
1x Oona, Queen of the Fae

4x Cabal Therapy
1x Life from the Loam
2x Death Cloud
3x Diabolic Intent
3x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Maelstrom Pulse

4x Liliana of the Dark Realms

1x Recurring Nightmare
2x Pernicious Deed

2x Sensei's Divining Top

1x Inkmoth Nexus
2x Phyrexian Tower
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bayou
5x Forest
3x Swamp
[/cards]

There's a lot of very cute things in this deck, which is usually acceptable in an experimental Nic Fit list. Most of them will get cut by the time the deck is playable, but sometimes good synergies are found by durdling around with silly things. From the very, very limited amount that I've actually used it, I suspect that Bloodghasts should instead be [cards]Strangleroot Geist[/cards] -- they serve the same purpose of coming back after Cloud and Intent, but can actually block.

The general goal of this list is to combine Veteran Explorer and Liliana of the Dark Realms into a Death Cloud shell. The deck takes something of a cue from pauper Tortured Existence, which attempts to gain sufficient life that it can Songs of the Damned for an enormous Crypt Rats activation to kill its opponent. This deck tries to do something similar, by having more life/resources than your opponent, and then unleashed a devastating Death Cloud. The deck also sports two backup win conditions, in the form of Oona and Inkmoth Nexus (which gets dirty with Dark Realms).

While I have many changes that I would make were I to continue working on the deck, there's the skeleton for anyone that cares to try to develop it. I'd first look into adding more dedicated life gain, and then [cards]Skeletal Scrying[/cards]. This isn't really a deck that wants [cards]Phyrexian Arena[/cards], in my opinion, since it's a little dangerous if you have to Cloud when you aren't fully set up. It's also not unlikely that it would Deed at 3 fairly often.

The other experimental G/B Nic Fit deck is still largely in the kernel idea stage. The credit for this one goes to Source and Salvation user Claymore, who pointed out that [cards]Culling the Weak[/cards] exists. Turn 1 Explorer into turn 2 Culling gives 7 mana on turn two, assuming no land drops were missed/Wasted. Although this is a nut-high situation, it makes sense for there to be a G/B version fueled by that interaction operating alongside the Therapies and Green Suns. This has the potential to be frighteningly consistent, because it's capable to have 8 Explorers and 8 1-mana sac outlets, not counting Phyrexian Towers, spot removal, Deeds, and other things that sometimes act as ways of setting off Explorer.

Here's Claymore's first attempt:

[cards]
4x Bayou
4x Forest
2x Phyrexian Tower
4x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Karakas
1x Maze of Ith
1x Dryad Arbor

3x Wood Elves
4x Veteran Explorer
2x Eternal Witness
1x Fierce Empath
2x Fleshbag Marauder

1x Oona, Queen of the Fae
1x Primeval Titan
1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
1x Grave Titan
1x Thragtusk

4x Cabal Therapy
3x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Pernicious Deed
2x Sensei's Divining Top

2x Living Death
2x Duress
2x Culling the Weak
[/cards]

VI. White Versions

First up is my personal favorite, the Academy Rector build:

[cards]
4x Veteran Explorer
2x Eternal Witness
1x Fierce Empath
1x Wood Elves
3x Academy Rector
2x Baneslayer Angel
1x Thragtusk
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
1x Sun Titan

3x Pernicious Deed
1x Recurring Nightmare
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Faith's Fetters
1x Moat

2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

3x Sensei's Divining Top

1x Swords to Plowshares

4x Cabal Therapy
3x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Vindicate
1x Maelstrom Pulse

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

//SB
3x Carpet of Flowers
3x Extirpate
1x Chains of Mephistopheles
2x Enlightened Tutor
2x Aven Mindscensor
1x Humility
1x Curse of Death's Hold
1x Cranial Extraction
1x Memoricide
[/cards]

This list adds a new dimension to Nic Fit: the backup tutor package of Academy Rector. This version is something of a spiritual successor to Rec Sur, with Green Sun sort of taking the role of Survival. Rector for Moat is still an incredibly strong play, and the Rector version is set up to get around its own Moat, with a pair of Elspeths, Baneslayers, a Sigarda, and Kokusho all flying over into the red zone.

A few words about some of the oddball cards in the deck:
--Fierce Empath. When you splash a color in Nic Fit, you tend to add at least one of the off-color's 6-drops. This is especially true for white, since Sun Titan is capable of some very, very degenerate things with Pernicious Deed and Eternal Witness. Empath allows you to "bridge" Green Sun into a nongreen 6-drop. It's open to discussion as to whether it's worth it for just Sun Titan, but in a list like this one where both of its 6-drops are nongreen, Empath is a no-brainer.
--Faith's Fetters. Fetters can shut down literally any permanent. This means it can stop Maze of Ith and Academy Ruins (commonly issues since we don't run Wasteland), artifacts like Batterskull or Top, and planeswalkers, all while buying tmie against aggro decks or recouping from Arena's lifeloss. It's especially funny vs planeswalkers, since your unfortunate opponent has to play another one to legend rule it, and THEN another one to actually have their walker back. It's worth mentioning that once Rector's trigger resolves, your opponent can no longer respond to it. This means that Fetters comes in attached to a permanent, AKA they can't bounce Batterskull in response. Likewise, this means that it can get around Shroud and Hexproof. Be ready for a judge call when you use this trick, though, as most legacy players don't know it!
--Carpet of Flowers. The Rector build tends to be a little more top-heavy than other Nic Fit decks, which means that RUG and BUG  tempo lists can sometimes become problematic if they have a heavy tempo hand with Stifles and Wastelands. Carpet solves this problem, by adding three more heavy-duty ramp sources to the deck. It also serves as a better ramp source vs Stoneblade and High Tide, since Veteran can be dangerous vs them.
--Chains of Mephistopheles. This provides a hardlock against High Tide - they literally cannot win while it is in play. It also neuters Brainstorm, [cards]Griselbrand[/cards], and [cards]Glimpse of Nature[/cards]. It's primarily brought in vs storm decks, but has sometimes seen play elsewhere as well.

Matchup Analysis:

Canadian Thresh - 80% favored.

If you want to see the deck in action in this matchup, here's a feature match from Jupiter Games featuring me piloting it vs Canadian Thresh:

http://www.twitch.tv/jupitergames/b/324895288
http://www.twitch.tv/jupitergames/b/324896133
http://www.twitch.tv/jupitergames/b/324896944

Note that the audio is really not even close to being synced, unfortunately. The quality is a little questionable, but you should be able to follow what's going on.

A skilled Canadian Thresh pilot can sometimes win games on the back of godhands, but it takes the chips all falling right for us to lose. Preboard, keep hands that have access to at least one Explorer, and preferably either a second or a Cabal Therapy. Stifle is the enemy -- be intelligent when fetching, and grab basics when you get fetches through. A common mistake among tricolor Nic Fit players in particular is to fetch duals, on the assumption that they want as many basics in the deck as possible to maximize Explorer triggers. This is wrong in most cases, especially vs Thresh. Avoiding Wasteland is a big deal when possible. You can usually just ram your head through Daze and ignore it -- sometimes they'll have triple or quad Daze hands and you'll lose (this has happened to me), but usually going out of your way to play around Daze is a losing proposition, because you're time walking yourself if they don't have it. Obviously, that said, if you CAN play around it without hurting your development, do so.

Cards to watch out for:
--Gilded Drake, even more so than G/B. Gilded Drake taking Sun Titan is quite possibly the biggest blowout in the history of blowouts. Baneslayer isn't a piece of cake either. Always respect the possibility of the Drake.
--Submerge. Again, expect them to have it. It can be really obnoxious, but it shouldn't actually interfere too much. With Carpet, we can deploy threats faster than they can try to tempo them.

Maverick - 50% coinflip.

This depends entirely on how your draw feels like drawing, how their deck feels like drawing, and how their deck is built. Maverick has the ability to play a lot of really obnoxious cards, but it's an open question as to which ones they have in their deck. Usually game one is in our favor, and then the postboard games can vary wildly from deck to deck. A general rule of thumb is that you are trying to assemble one of three wincons: Angel of Despair + Recurring Nightmare, Humility + Curse of Death's Hold (or Elspeth), and/or Sun Titan + Pernicious Deed. It's worth pointing out that two of these wincons are hosed by Scavenging Ooze and Bojuka Bog, which are always present in every list. Try to not suffer an Ooze to live if you can avoid it. The Rector build is built around the graveyard more than other builds in other colors.

Cards to watch out for:
--[cards]Aven Mindcensor[/cards]. This bird is really frustrating for us, especially if protected by a [cards]Mother of Runes[/cards]. Our deck is built around a twindrive of tutoring engines, after all. Also, it flies over Moat...one of the few cards that does in the matchup.
--[cards]Phyrexian Revoker[/cards]. Pretty much the same story regarding Mother of Runes, only this one usually shuts down our best card in the matchup: Pernicious Deed. Humility stops this asshole cold, though, regardless of how many Mothers of Runes your opponent has out. Ditto Curse of Death's Hold.
--[cards]Dauntless Escort[/cards]. Yes, really. Some builds do play this guy, and he will ruin your day if he shows up. Acting as a GSZ-able shield against Deed, Escort is capable of buying the Maverick player enough time to punch through for victory.
--[cards]Elspeth, Knight-Errant[/cards]. Some Maverick builds have dropped her, while some still run her. If she's present, she can be a problem for you to deal with...especially since she jumps their ground-pounders over your Moat.
--[cards]Qasali Pridemage[/cards]. The number of this guy varies, but he's always there somewhere.
--[cards]Sword of Light and Shadow[/cards]. This thing is a pain in the ass, since it gets back basically their entire board post-Deed, and sports two relevant protections to boot. Try to get lucky and nail it in their hand with a Therapy after they tutor for it with Stoneforge if possible -- failing that, you're pretty much on the Deed/Pulse/Vindicate/Angel plan. Locking it out with Moat is possible too, if they don't have a critter with flying.

Stoneblade - [Matchup analysis pending]

Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

Next we have the "Rock" Nic Fit variant:

[cards]
4x Veteran Explorer
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Eternal Witness
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Wickerbough Elder
2x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Master of the Wild Hunt
1x Sun Titan
1x Grave Titan

3x Pernicious Deed
1x Recurring Nightmare

1x Dismember
3x Swords to Plowshares

3x Sensei's Divining Top

1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
2x Liliana of the Veil

4x Cabal Therapy
4x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Maelstrom Pulse

3x Forest
2x Plains
2x Swamp
3x Bayou
1x Savannah
1x Scrubland
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Windswept Heath
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Phyrexian Tower
1x Volrath's Stronghold

//SB
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Choke
3x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Extirpate
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Gaddock Teeg
2x Damnation
[/cards]

The Rock variant, as the name suggests, tends to stay pretty close to the modern interpretation of the Rock -- a GBW deck that uses heavy disruption and removal to clear the way for a few efficient beaters. This list was played to a top 8 finish by Chris Higashi, at SCG Open Phoenix (4/15/12). It is important to note that there are many other high-placing lists of this type, especially on Council.es, as this version seems popular in Europe. This list sports a several choices that I would regard as controversial, such as Liliana of the Veil without any way to break her symmetrical discard, Master of the Wild Hunt with no Garruk Relentless, and the second Thrun. It's also worth noting that this list is from before M13 came out, and therefore does not have a Thragtusk.

The sideboard feels really graveyard-heavy, which is probably a meta call. Tune and tweak per taste, although it's worth noting that Enlightened Tutor boards are fairly common among Rock versions. An updated version of this list would like run Thragtusk over a Kitchen Finks, and Sigarda over a Thrun, at the minimum. Regardless, Chris's list provides a solid starting point for a Rock build, if such is your fancy.

Matchup Analysis:

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

The third White variant is Birthing Pod, with the following as a sample list:

[cards]
4x Veteran Explorer
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Strangleroot Geist
1x Bone Shredder
1x Eternal Witness
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Wickerbough Elder
1x Academy Rector
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Acidic Slime
1x Reveillark
1x Sun Titan
1x Grave Titan

2x Birthing Pod
2x Sensei's Divining Top

2x Pernicious Deed
2x Recurring Nightmare

4x Cabal Therapy
3x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Inquisition of Kozilek

2x Liliana of the Veil

2x Swords to Plowshares

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

//SB
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Choke
1x Pernicious Deed
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
1x Enlightened Tutor
2x Extirpate
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Maelstrom Pulse
[/cards]

The Pod list is arguably the most "aggro" oriented of all Nic Fit builds. [cards]Strangleroot Geist[/cards] beatdown is respectable, while also providing a solid body to be sacrificed to the Pod. This list was played to a finals appearance by Paul Ewenstein, at SCG Open Providence (5/6/12). Despite having more of an aggro presence, Paul's deck managed to keep a fair chunk of its lategame potential.

The greatest weaknesses of Pod lists in general is that they have to / feel compelled to run a number of bad cards because they happen to be good with Pod. Acidic Slime, for example, is perfectly respectable off of Pod...but if you have to cast it, it's going to feel a little embarrassing a fair chunk of the time. On top of that, some of Paul's choices are a little questionable, such as the Reveillark and second Recurring Nightmare -- especially when he's already running a singleton Rector to grab it. The ability of the Pod versions to run non-green creatures that generate significant value, like Shredder, Rector, and Phyrexian Metamorph, is something that distinguishes them from other builds of Nic Fit, and gives them a legitimate strength.

Matchup Analysis:

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

Finally, we have two experimental builds: Nic Fit Angel and Nic Fit Fauna. The former utilizes Restoration Angel with value creatures to provide quick, evasive beats coupled with legitimate card advantage, while also being able to protect from removal better than other versions. The latter uses Fauna Shaman to more closely emulate Rec-Sur, taking the best aspects of Pod, with fewer of the drawbacks (but less of an aggro package as a result). As these are both very experimental, only sample mainboards will be provided.

[cards]
4x Veteran Explorer
2x Kitchen Finks
2x Blade Splicer
1x Fierce Empath
2x Eternal Witness
2x Disciple of Bolas
3x Restoration Angel
1x Thragtusk
1x Sun Titan
1x Grave Titan

4x Cabal Therapy
3x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Vindicate

3x Pernicious Deed
1x Recurring Nightmare

2x Swords to Plowshares
1x Dismember

3x Bayou
2x Savannah
1x Scrubland
3x Windswept Heath
3x Verdant Catacombs
3x Forest
3x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Karakas
1x Phyrexian Tower
[/cards]

One potential direction for this list is to run two or three [cards]Phyrexian Arena[/cards] to have an increased card advantage thanks to the Finks and the 'Tusk. In this event, I'd probably say to cut the Blade Splicers and go up to the full 4 Finks, and I'd try to run three Arenas. I feel like there's definitely potential here, but this is only a starting point.

Finally,

[cards]
4x Veteran Explorer
3x Fauna Shaman
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Loyal Retainers
2x Eternal Witness
2x Academy Rector
1x Dimir House Guard
1x Thragtusk
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
1x Primeval Titan
1x Griselbrand

4x Cabal Therapy
3x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Vindicate

1x Moat
1x Faith's Fetters
1x Recurring Nightmare
2x Pernicious Deed

1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

1x Swords to Plowshares

3x Sensei's Divining Top

3x Savannah
2x Bayou
2x Scrubland
3x Forest
3x Plains
2x Swamp
3x Windswept Heath
2x Verdant Catacombs
1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
[/cards]

This list has all kind of crazy experimental shit in it, and is frankly probably doing too many things. The deck would need to be tested to figure out what works and what doesn't. Emeria as a backup reanimation engine is something that's been interesting me as a possibility for a while now, although 8 plains is probably too few to support it...we're relying on E.Wit getting back Waste'd lands a little too much, probably. Dimir House Guard is awesome, acting as both a tutorable sac outlet and a tutor for Elspeth, Moat, Fetters, Rector, and sideboard options. Speaking of sideboard, this version probably has the sweetest sideboard options available of any Nic Fit deck ever. It can run all kinds of strange things, like [cards]Yixlid Jailer[/cards] as a 1-of, because it can find it. Maybe a few Enlightened Tutors, a Canonist, a Linvala, who knows. It has a land, enchantment, and two creature toolboxes. Obviously it has problems, but I believe there's potential here, too.

VII. Blue Versions

[Fact]

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

[Gifts]

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

[Trinket/Treasure Mage]

VIII. Red Versions

[Scapeshift]

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

[PFire]

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

[straight]

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

IX. Other Versions

This section is primarily for the real oddballs -- the four and five color builds. I don't think that there is actually a 5-color build that I've ever seen, but it theoretically could exist. In the meanwhile, here's the (currently) sole occupant of this section: 4-color Gifts.

[cards]
4 Veteran Explorer
1 Wood Elves
1 Fierce Empath
2 Eternal Witness
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Thragtusk
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Sun Titan
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star

1 Unburial Rites
1 Griselbrand

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Pernicious Deed
1 Recurring Nightmare

2 Sensei's Divining Top

3 Gifts Ungiven
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Noxious Revival
1 Darkblast
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Vindicate
1 Maelstrom Pulse

3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Mumuring Bosk
1 Scrubland
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
2 Forest
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Plains

SB: 1 Pernicious Deed
SB: 1 Damnation
SB: 1 Virtue's Ruin
SB: 3 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 1 Cranial Extraction
SB: 1 Memoricide
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
SB: 2 Extirpate
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
[/cards]

This list is somewhat experimental, but is actually being used by one of my friends locally who was in search of a legacy deck. We have eerily similar tastes in decks, so I shipped him this list, and he's been working on it for a little while now. It's more stable than it looks, and the mana base is actually a work of art. Wood Elves does overtime here, acting as a tutor for Murmuring Bosk, which goes a long way towards tying the mana base together. As ever, Reflecting Pool is the 4/5-color land of choice.

Gifts works both as a tutor for your four best cards, and as a reanimation engine. Because of how Gifts is worded, you can choose to search for only two cards instead of the usual four, both of which go to your graveyard (this is because you are searching a hidden zone, and you can fail to find four cards with different names). This allows Gifts to act as a double-Entomb for Unburial Rites and Griselbrand (or any other creature that the situation demands). The piles of 1-ofs are a bit less heinous here than in other lists, because everything is a tutor target for some package or another, while still maintaining core viability because the deck actually doesn't run any bad cards, and a lot of the 1-ofs overlap in terms of their role.

Be advised, dear reader, that this particular list is [i]fiendishly[/i] hard to pilot, and requires flawless piloting to bring out its full potential (which, to my knowledge, has only actually happened in one game so far as of this writing).

Matchup Analysis:

Canadian Thresh
Maverick
Stoneblade
Sneak/Show
Reanimator
Storm
High Tide
Burn
Miracle Whip
Team America
BUG Control
Goblins
Merfolk

X. Conclusion

And with that last list, we have reached the end of the journey at long last. Nic Fit as an archetype has an immense amount of choices to offer, both in playing and in building. I only hope that the sheer number of choices available does not scare you off, and that you'll join us in our discussions. There really is something for everyone here.

Thanks for reading!
-Kevin A. McKee / Arianrhod