I was thinking of those as sideboard cards actually. You're making me want to make a list!

4 Opt
4 Growth Spiral
4 Root Snare
3 Search for Azcanta
2 Absorb
4 Wilderness Reclamation
4 Chemister's Insight
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
4 Nexus of Fate
2 Settle the Wreckage
1 Precognitive Perception

25 lands

With 3-mana Teferi, Kraul Harpooner, Dovin's Veto, Tamiyo, in sideboard, as well as probably more sweepers.

I'm not sure about the configuration. It's imperative to have counterspells maindeck because otherwise it's hard for you to beat control in game 1. On the other hand there isn't that much space available. Perhaps a better option is to just remove all the fogs maindeck, focusing on the combo, and then increase the number of sweepers in sideboard. Alternatively - since fog is good with Teferi after all - remove Settle the Wreckage from maindeck for more counters and/or Revitalize, idk.

Tamiyo is potentially good in the maindeck since she can accelerate you to the combo, but only against non-aggressive matchups.

Problem is you don’t have enough ways to deal with creature threats. Not enough counters to compete against control.

You HAVE to land a reclamation and/or a Teferi with a counter in hand and enough mana on the board to counter their counter. By that time, draw-go has two counters in hand so you’re screwed.

You might do ok against midrange or aggro if you draw your fogs early. If not, you have to draw and play reclamation on or before curve and draw nexus perfectly and hope they don’t have any enchantment hate.

All the UB and Grixis controls will just pick apart your hand with Thought Erasure and Duress. And I’m seeing more and more people sideboarding Sorcerous Spyglass. Totally negates Teferi.

And don’t get me started on that 1uu planeswalker. Negates all your draw.

Right now the whole Meta (at gold at least) is quick aggro, Grixis and Esper control. Oh and that reminds me of Mortify lol.

I just can’t see how this deck could work.

Don't play this deck.


You monsters.

You will never find a more retched hive of scum and villainy.

@ImmortalReborn it's certainly possible, will need to play and see. I imagine it's possible to tune the deck, e.g. if you're expecting to face control deck after control deck, shaving on Settle the Wreckage and/or Root Snare for more Tamiyo and Teferi main would be great. I don't know.



Those who play with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria have no right to complain

As long as they don't use the Tamiyo + Callous Dismissal win con... they can still be saved... or maybe not...

Hey, that actually looks like a legitimately good win condition. As long as graveyard doesn't get exiled and one has at least one Tamiyo in hand, that will beat any board state. Thanks for the idea

First impressions!

- Tamiyo ****ing ownz. She's simply super in this deck. You can rebuy your Sinister Sabotages, your dead combo pieces, etc. The +1 doesn't seem that good since it will regularly miss even if you are searching for a 4-of, but still. In the worst case scenario she still gains you life.
- So does Blast Zone.
- Callous Dismissal suffices as a win condition unless it is exiled, which it can potentially be thanks to Kaya, Dire Fleet Daredevil, and so on.
- I ran into a mirror where opponent played Evolving Wilds. This could be something to think about because with Evolving Wilds, Tamiyo's minus ability can bring back lands. This would also facilitate a splash. However, it's not like Simic Nexus is short of utility lands to run (c.f. Blast Zone, Memorial to Genius).
- Hate on this deck all you want, I'm still playing it until it's banned!

I don't have nearly enough games with the deck to tell how to tune it, but things are looking up for Simic Nexus. I still sort of want to try little Teferi as a "counter this or die" card especially against other Nexus decks, but Simic might have to do, especially since Blast Zone is so good and the more colors you add the less likely you are to be able to run colorless lands.

Mostly with Banedon here; aside from the judgment on Tami's +1. At some point while going off you really only want to find Nexus of Fate. Tami's +1 does just that, and makes sure you find the next Nexus even easier (because your library just got thinned by a large portion).
That said, my favourite interaction is to just the ol' Tamiyo -3 -> Callous Dismissal -> replay Tamiyo loop.

I'm actually not sure whether 1* Callous Dismissal does it for me as a wincon and am considering adding a Commence the Endgame. Can't be countered (and thus, exiled with Syncopate; for instance), you'll be able to rebuy it and it's not dead late thanks to you still having four Nexus of Fate in your deck. It is expensive, though.

Also, Narset, Parter of Veils is a card. You won't be drawing cards this turn, Hydroid Krasis, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria or Chemister's Insight. Sorry not sorry!

Indeed, there're a lot of options. Narset is also a strong option. Problem is: these cards are also strong vs. Nexus.

Right now I'm most interested in playing the Bant version that won the Classic, which I'll probably do once I stop drafting



It looks sweet with options for everything. I'd look to trim the Callous Dismissal maindeck (since Teferi is already a win con) for maybe some countermagic, would probably split some Revitalize for Opts as well. Sideboard seems optimizable as well - Hydroid Krasis in particular looks like a poor choice, given the deck's not short win conditions.

I wonder how WAR Nexus decks deal with Unmoored Ego? It does seem quite devastating with the win conditions getting ever more fragile. Naming Nexus of Fate for example looks like it just beats the deck.

As long as this deck is T1 RDW will be king!

Let me quote Joel Larsson from CFB:

This deck is definitely the bad guy. But there are remedies for this kind of plague and it clearly showed in the Top 8 of SCG Columbus, with no Nexus Reclamation decks present

Meh, this deck isn't all that cracked up as it's hyped to be. It does powerful things yes, but there're also a ton of cards that're extremely effective against it:

Thief of Sanity
Dovin's Veto
Countermagic in general
Narset
3-mana Teferi
Unmoored Ego (this resolving and naming Nexus is basically an instant win against any Nexus deck that didn't transform into a creature plan)
Thought Erasure and Duress
Deputy of Detention

3-mana Teferi resolving gives so much time against a Nexus deck that midrange decks have an easy time winning afterwards. The card's also good enough that plenty of decks are running it mainboard. It's even in the maindeck of Azorius aggro, which is fast enough that the Nexus deck can't just board out Root Snares for 2-mana countermagic. The other interaction cards are also extremely good. Any planeswalker in general is also very effective since the Nexus deck can't really get them off the board. Things like Vivien -3 is brutal since she can do it again in two turns, and the Nexus deck can't really stop her.

I might just start playing another deck ...

I'm considering playing this deck again. It looks like it got significantly better: meta shifts took away some of the worst hate cards against this deck, its late-game is very strong, and it received some powerful sideboard cards too.

GP Denver top 8 list:

Lands
2 x Blast Zone
4 x Breeding Pool
6 x Forest
4 x Hinterland Harbor
7 x Island
1 x Memorial to Genius
2 x Temple of Mystery

Spells
3 x Narset, Parter of Veils
3 x Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
2 x Blink of an Eye
1 x Callous Dismissal
4 x Chemister’s Insight
2 x Drawn from Dreams
4 x Growth Spiral
4 x Nexus of Fate
4 x Root Snare
3 x Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
4 x Wilderness Reclamation

Sideboard
4 x Aether Gust
3 x Cerulean Drake
1 x Narset’s Reversal
3 x Negate
4 x Veil of Summer

This might be angled to grind too much against a slow metagame, but perhaps that's why it did so well: Scapeshift decks are literally unable to pressure it. Against aggro decks, the maindeck Narsets and Drawn from Dreams are going to be poor.

I wonder how this deck sideboards against vampires and white aggro. There are seven cards to board in against red, but what about white?

Notes on this archetype:

- Wow, Cerulean Drake is a good sideboard card. It's virtually unkillable vs. red, protects against burn, and is also a win condition. With Cerulean Drake in your deck against a red deck, you don't need Callous Dismissal.
- This deck lolz @ Scapeshift. They are way too slow to beat you. I know LSV won GP Denver against Simic Nexus, but if the one game I played against Scapeshift counts for anything you practically can't lose if you manage to get Teferi off the table. Two ways to do it. First is to bounce Teferi, play Reclamation, and combo. The other is with Blast Zone.
- This deck still needs something against white aggro.
- I'm still unimpressed by Aether Gust. What is it for? Maybe as an answer to Thrashing Brontodon?
- This deck could very well be poor against Simic Flash. idk, have not played the matchup. Resolve Wilderness Reclamation and you're off to the races, and they do need to draw the right counterspells (lol Essence Scatter), but they can apply pressure and they can stop the combo.
- It feels like this deck is going to have polarized matchups. It roflstomps some, but will lose badly to others, and it's vulnerable to sideboard cards. I'm pretty sure Nexus is why the top 8 GP Denver Boros Feather list has 3 Demystify in the sideboard. That's the nature of Nexus I guess. That said Nexus did gain some anti-counter cards. Veil of Summer for example is huge against discard, and it also protects vs. Demystify & counterspells.

As always Reddit has a good writeup on this deck: https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comment ... exus_deck/

Turns out the other "Ramp" deck I was playing in the other thread is actually a Nexus deck! No wonder its sideboard was so weird. I'm still unconvinced, but could see myself playing it again.

Is there such a thing as Temur Nexus? You run Chandra as your win con, with the added bonus that she's partly a removal spell and can sweep vs. aggressive decks.

Wow, Nexus is strong. I think it can quite reliably combo by around turn 6-7 now. If it draws Growth Spiral, this can drop by a turn. The 3-4 mana plays - Narset & Tamiyo, not to mention Drawn from Dreams - add a huge amount of consistency. Tamiyo even hits 6 loyalty the turn she comes down if you tick her up; that's not easy to kill on turn 4. I haven't felt the need to change anything maindeck from the GP Denver list. The "missing" cards from the mainboard are Opt (it's always been filler, and Narset/Drawn from Dreams are just so damn good at finding what I need), and Nissa (which I have not tried, but do not understand: doesn't she just turn on your opponent's creature removal? You aren't usually mana constrained either if you hit your land drops).

I did change quite a bit in the sideboard though.

Brief how-I-sideboard guide:

In
Veil of Summer - vs. any deck relying on blue or black interaction. This can be Thought Erasure, Unmoored Ego, Duress, Dovin's Veto, T3feri, Deputy of Detention ...
Negate - vs. any control deck, and the mirror.
Shifting Ceratops - vs. monoblue, any deck that probably runs few creatures but has planeswalkers to attack (e.g. Jeskai planeswalkers, Scapeshift), whenever I need an alternative win condition (e.g. vs Unmoored Ego).
Aether Gust - vs. decks with the relevant colors, especially anything with big Chandra. It's not a great card, but it can functionally be a Time Walk and sometimes that's all you need.
Biogenic Ooze - whenever I feel the need to change win conditions, and against big Chandra, because in those situations I really want to kill quickly.
Cerulean Drake - against any red deck. It's not going to win you the board, but it can buy you a lot of time (significantly less against Legion Warboss, unfortunately).

Out
Root Snare - against non-aggro decks. This includes the mirror, Scapeshift, Bant Ramp, etc. It's not an all or nothing card though. I can easily see keeping a couple of copies against a semi-aggressive list.
Chemister's Insight - Outside of Root Snare against non-creature decks, it's the first card on the chopping block. It's a testimony to how powerful Nexus's card draw is that this card is now cuttable. I take it out against any control deck, especially decks with Narset.
Narset, Parter of Veils - against aggressive decks. She's not bad, digging four cards deep and gaining some life is fine, but if you can't get two activations with her often then she's probably not worth it.
Drawn from Dreams - if I still need more cuts (after cutting all Insights) against an aggro deck. In a vacuum I think it's better than Insight. Yes, Insight is an instant, but this card literally gets you anything you need, from Blast Zone to Nexus to Wilderness Reclamation. For example if you have four lands then Reclamation into Insight is great; on the other hand you could also Drawn from Dreams into lands or Nexus, play Reclamation the turn after, and combo.
Callous Dismissal - usually when I switch win conditions. I keep it in against any deck whose main defense against the combo is T3feri. Note Cerulean Drake is also a win condition against red aggro; you can cut Dismissal then even if you don't add Ceratops/Ooze (which you shouldn't, they're too clunky).
Blink of an Eye - if I feel my opponent's interaction is not worth blinking, e.g. vs. monored, since the best card to bounce then is Experimental Frenzy or Legion Warboss and then it's just not worth it. Blink is essential against any deck with T3feri; it's really hard to combo if T3feri is on the battlefield.

Tamiyo is too powerful to cut in my opinion - aside from having both a flipped Azcanta & Nexus at the same time, she's the best card to untap with. She's good enough that I will often try to defend her with Root Snare the turn I play her.

Random tips:

- The onus to interact is usually on the opponent, not you. Your sideboard is for dodging the opponent's interaction, not to interact with their gameplan.
- Growth Spiral is the best turn 2 play unless you have no more lands, in which case Azcanta is better.
- You tick up with Tamiyo most of the time, but against aggro decks you can conceivably tick down to rebuy Root Snare, fog (keeping Tamiyo alive), and then tick up the turn after looking for Nexus.
- Be ready for people to not concede even in the face of an unstoppable Nexus combo. It's frustrating but what the hell, you're winning not them.
- You must be ready for Unmoored Ego out of Esper decks. They will likely fire it off quickly if they draw it. You beat that card with Veil and Negate. If it resolves and they name Nexus (usually they should) you can also potentially beat it with Biogenic Ooze + Wilderness Reclamation.

Has anyone tried Mu Yanling in this deck? On paper it looks like a reasonable option: it stalls, is a win condition (that can kill pretty fast too) and can attack opposing planeswalkers through ground blockers. The + effect doesn't seem that strong in the current meta (since the aggro decks tend to have multiple attackers), but she does tick up at +2. The 4/4 is also quite good-sized too: it blocks everything out of Vampires & monored and isn't easy to remove.

Losing Callous Dismissal would be bad against T3feri however, idk.

Just had a guy quit with infinite nexus combo going. But is our win con milling them to death because we can always drop nexus back into our deck???

I think the Callous Dismissal token is the win con. Theoretically, going infinite, you can recur the spell infinitely with Tamiyo until you bounce out all their creatures or the token gets big enough it can attack through.

Not sure what the deck does about Shifting Ceratops, though.