I played at NC states and there was very little NM played - and the few that did - did not top cut. The reason to this is I think the difference between the carolinas region (SC also had no NM see success/top 8) and other regions, its the meta. Many players at NC/SC played decks that were quite anti-nm: Trev, Vespiplume, Speedtina, Toadtina, Jolteon-ex variants, etc. Ultimately it depends partly on how much your area is willing to field nm hate as well, the more nm hate that is played - the less likely nm is able to go through a field without any problems - making it harder for to survive all the way to top cut. Yes you might still lose one series vs nm by playing nm hate, but if everyone is playing nm hate then I can guarantee you that nm will not simply waltz its way through. This means your region can not be satisfied by playing "safepicks" like YZG