What are poly's for?
I say this because I generally use Nurbs 99 out of 100 times for anything I do.
As far as Maya being a Nurb's only program without Poly's, perhaps you hadn't noticed the Dynamics, Animation, Paint Effects, Cloth, Live, Particles, Character Rigging, etc. tools?
Darkon
Red bellows of flame have blackened my stones
Convulsing my frame and cracking my bones
Hell's dragons of steel who roar in their chains
Crawl into my caves to suck out my veins.....
-The Mountain P.F.M.