The equivariant K-theory of the semi-infinite flag manifold, as developed recently by Kato, Naito, and Sagaki, carries commuting actions of the nil-double affine Hecke algebra (nil-DAHA) and a q-Heisenberg algebra. The action of the latter generates a free submodule of rank |W|, where W is the (finite) Weyl group. We show that this submodule is stable under the nil-DAHA, which enables one to express the nil-DAHA action in terms of |W|times |W| matrices over the q-Heisenberg algebra. Our main result gives an explicit algebraic construction of these matrices as a limit from the (non-nil) DAHA in simply-laced type. This construction reveals that multiplication by equivariant scalars, when expressed in terms of the Heisenberg algebra, is given by the nonsymmetric q-Toda system introduced by Cherednik and the author.