If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! A lot of people have been outraged regarding the card Nexus of Fate up to the point that it got banned in Best of 1. While I find the card good, I don’t think its broken beyond belief.
I sleeved it up on MTG Arena when I hit Diamond 4 and 28 games later in Best of 3, I hit Mythic 550. I then went on to play for a couple of hours to eventually get into the top 100.
With minor tweaks throughout the games, this is the current list I play:
Simic Nexus by Michael Bonde
Creatures (8) 1 Sailor of Means 4 Frilled Mystic 3 Hydroid Krasis Spells (27) 3 Blink of an Eye 4 Chemister’s Insight 4 Growth Spiral 4 Nexus of Fate 1 Precognitive Perception 4 Root Snare 3 Search for Azcanta 4 Wilderness Reclamation | Lands (25) 4 Island 6 Forest 1 Arch of Orazca 4 Breeding Pool 4 Hinterland Harbor 4 Memorial to Genius 2 Simic Guildgate Sideboard (15) 2 Carnage Tyrant 1 Mass Manipulation 4 Negate 1 Nezahal, Primal Tide 2 Pelakka Wurm 2 Sagittars’ Volley 1 Crushing Canopy 1 Biogenic Ooze 1 Sylvan Brushstrider |
Because of the popularity of Nexus of Fate and Wilderness Reclamation
in control decks, I’ve overheard some people talk about this deck as Simic Nexus Control. The deck does however play out as a combo deck, and it is where it has its pure power and how it exploits certain cards.
How to Play and How to Win
Play land, take extra turn, repeat
To put the game plan crudely, here is what we want to do with this deck.
Turn 1: Play a tapped land.
Turn 2: Play Growth Spiral.
Turn 3: Play Wilderness Reclamation, untap your lands and keep Frilled Mystic
up.
Turn 4: Start taking extra turns with Nexus of Fate and drawing cards.
This is of course the dream scenario in utopia, but it happens in real games. Sometimes you just get to the combo, and they simply can’t stop you.
The Essential Combo
The core of your game plan



Let me explain that last part. Most of our deck is instant speed card draw. The other cards are either to keep our opponent at bay or draw cards at sorcery speed.
With Wilderness Reclamation





The Most Impressive Cards
What really makes the deck go nuts










The Least Impressive Cards
I expected more from these cards
I think Chemister’s Insight can be a bit clunky as a 4-off. Its obviously good in the control matchups, but the deck uses its mana all the time and sometimes this card slows the deck down too much. The same goes for Precognitive Perception
. When we have the enchantment on the board, it can be nice to main phase this card and scry 3, but it’s not that often that it happens and its only in very few specific situations where you really want to pay that extra mana and draw 1 extra card.





Sideboarding With Simic Nexus
The good, the bad and the Mono White
When we play a combo deck, it is both a blessing and a curse to get to the sideboard. People will come prepared with a lot of Negates, but they will also apply pressure, which makes it essential to figure out which are the bad matchups and how many cards each of them requires.
The Bad Matchups
Mono Blue
Their plan is to tempo us out, while they hold a healthy mix of counterspells. This makes it hard to get to deploy a 4-mana enchantment and live to tell the tale. It is not unwinnable, but we have our back against the wall most of the time and we definitely need some cards for this.
Simic Nexus VS Mono Blue
Sideboard In (5) 2 Negate 2 Sagittars' Volley 1 Crushing Canopy | Sideboard Out (5) 1 Sailor of Means 1 Chemister's Insight 1 Precognitive Perception 2 Frilled Mystic |
Mono Red
This is our worst matchup. If they win the die roll, it’s a struggle up hill from turn 1. Getting to a fast Wilderness Reclamation through a turn 2 Growth Spiral
can lead to victory, but it seems almost impossible.
Simic Nexus VS Mono Red
Sideboard In (4) 2 Pelakka Wurm 1 Biogenic Ooze 1 Sylvan Brushstrider | Sideboard Out (4) 1 Precognitive Perception 1 Search for Azcanta 2 Chemister's Insight |
The good matchups
Esper Control
Esper doesn’t really do much. They rely on their opponent to play 1 or 2 spells each turn, and then they will have an answer for any threats. Game 1, we can blank a lot of their removal. And with our tons of card draw, we will eventually get there, if we play smart. The sideboarded games can be a bit more tough, since they have both hand and spell disruption. But with cards like Carnage Tyrant, Nezahal, Primal Tide
and our own Negate
s we are often favored. If they go for the Thief of Sanity
plan, we need to be able to deal with this, since it will take over the game quite quickly.
Simic Nexus VS Esper Control
Sideboard In (8) 2 Carnage Tyrant 4 Negate 1 Nezahal, Primal Tide 1 Crushing Canopy | Sideboard Out (8) 2 Blink of an Eye 4 Root Snare 1 Sailor of Means 1 Wilderness Reclamation |
Sultai
I write this in the category of good matchups. This can be the case because I played against players that are not the best of the best. On paper they have the right colors and cards to deal with a deck like ours. However, since I played against this deck the most, I can say they mostly come up short. They need to board in some cards that don’t work well with the rest of the deck. And while Hydroid Krasis is an insane card in the deck, it is only good when it draws a Duress
, which is actually a problem card.
Simic Nexus VS Sultai
Sideboard In (5) 2 Carnage Tyrant 2 Negate 1 Biogenic Ooze | Sideboard Out on the draw (5) 2 Blink of an Eye 2 Root Snare 1 Frilled Mystic Sideboard Out on the play (5) 2 Blink of an Eye 3 Root Snare |
Drakes
This is one of the more fun matchups to play. Both players try to set up for a couple of insane turns, and them having Negate and Spell Pierce
in the main deck and blue sideboard cards makes for a lot of decision making when we plan out our turns.
Simic Nexus VS Drakes
Sideboard In (5) 2 Negate 2 Sagittars' Volley 1 Crushing Canopy | Sideboard Out (5) 1 Sailor of Means 2 Frilled Mystic 2 Root Snare |
The Mono White Matchup
I don’t feel like I can give the right play philosophy against Mono White after the games I played. But since it’s a relevant part of the metagame I do want to give you my current sideboard plan.
Simic Nexus VS Mono White
Sideboard In (5) 1 Mass Manipulation 1 Crushing Canopy 1 Sylvan Brushstrider 2 Pelakka Wurm | Sideboard Out (5) 1 Precognitive Perception 1 Search for Azcanta 1 Chemister's Insight 2 Frilled Mystic |
Thank you all for reading through some of the thoughts regarding this deck and how it works. As a last thing, I played the deck and recorded 5 games on MTG Arena on the ladder. It’s a bit late in the night and I make some crucial play errors. But nevertheless I have some great games. Make sure to check them out when they get posted after Mythic Championship I in Cleveland.
Until next time
Michael Bonde
This article was written by Michael Bonde in a media collaboration with mtgmintcard.com