I like Discozombie's build a lot.  But, 4 Land Grants should be a given.  Skull Clamp and Mask of Memory are iffy.  I would prefer Bounty of the Hunt and Briar Shield.  Werebear is kind of sub-par, also.  This is much speedier, and you also dodge all of the artifact hate that's going around.

4 Hidden Gibbons
4 Rogue Elephant
4 River Boa
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Scavenger Folk
3 Quiron Ranger

4 Rancor
4 Bounty of the Hunt
4 Briar Shield
4 Rootmaze

4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Land Grant
10 Forrest

With this build you're automatically going to lose to Oath, but have a shot at beating Workshop and combo. Stompy is by no means competative. It just isn't that fast, and doesn't have many tricks or much utility.

Fire/Ice is a great card, but the StP should be all you need.  Go ahead and move them to the SB.  I think 2 Annul might be more useful maindeck.  I also don't know about the Enlightened Tutor... you only have 2 targets.  You might as well just add a second Crucible in its place.

Which meandeath are you talking about?  If you chant Doomsday combo while he's trying to go off and it gets through, that's a win.

Chanting an Oath player during his upkeep to stall an attack is hardly a good idea.  In that matchup, Chant should be used to force through solutions; say, Humility.



None of the Meandeck builds use Wish.  TPS usually has 1 Wish and 1 Bounce to deal with Ivory Mask.



One of the biggest advantages Parfait has is its ability to remain creatureless.  This aspect nullifies many of the opponents cards and allows you to play insane removal like Slice and Dice and Tariff.  Exalted is fragile, and at 4 power is hardly a major threat.

Why play Exalted when, for the same cost, you can drop a Charbelcher and win?  That looming threat is more pressuring than any spirit linked flyer.

Sorry, let me rephrase: Humility is a game winner against Welder, and Blood Moon against Workshop, respectively.



Zuran Orb is an essential part of the Tax Rack engine, also stalls aggro (sometimes even TPS and Belcher, for that matter), and allows for some broken plays with Balance.  In practice, 2 count is necessary.

Honestly, Isochron is an amazing card, but it makes Parfait unfocused and slow.  The spells that are needed to imprint already have purposes with which that strategy interferes.

Foreword: This is not exactly a Newbie discussion.  The purpose here is redesigning an archtype to contend in a competative metagame.  Unfortunately, Parfait has not exactly taken many top 8 places in recent history.  Hopefully, that will soon change.  In any case, take this discussion seriously.

If I am not mistaken, the new Legacy format was designed with the intention of eliminating most competative Vintage archtypes.  The restriction of Land Tax signals to me that WoTC acknowledges Parfait as or what could be a viable archtype in the future.  Does WoTC know something we do not?  Are new cards that will aid Parfait scheduled for release?  Who knows.  I am intrigued.

What is "Parfait" anyway?

(Dictionary.com) par·fait (pär-f) n.

   1. A dessert made of cream, eggs, sugar, and flavoring frozen together and served in a tall glass.
   2. A dessert made of several layers of different flavors of ice cream or ices, variously garnished and served in a tall glass.

No no no... wait

Parfait is a white based control deck that used to be popular way back when. The deck has traditionally used the Land Tax and Scroll rack engine to generate lots of card advantage, the equivalent of one Ancestral every upkeep.  Originally, parfait used Sacred Mesa as a win condition, and when onslaught came out, some players switched to Mobilization. With mirrodin, Goblin Charbelcher is the finisher of choice for most, due to its excellent synergy with land tax.

There have been many different multicolor variants, all of which seem subpar to me except for one.  I'm going to pause and supply a decklist:

11 Plains
3 Mountains
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt

4 Land Tax
4 Scroll Rack
2 Goblin Charbelcher
2 Zuran Orb

4 Seal of Cleansing
3 Humility
3 Blood Moon

4 Orim's Chant
4 Argivian Find
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Slice and Dice
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Burning Wish
1 Balance

SB
4 REB
2 Abolish
2 Rule of Law
2 True Believer
1 Ivory Mask
--Wish Box--
1 Replenish
1 Tariff (Inexpensive compared to Wrath of God, it works against most of the field, while also catching DSC.)
1 Arc Lightning (Better than Slice here because it can get Jugs for cheap and can hit the head)
1 Dust to Dust (Good artifact removal at sorcery speed)


Other key considerations:

Aura of Silence - Slows down Workshop, Combo, and the dreaded Pernicious Deed.  Works like the Anti-Trinisphere if cast first turn with a Black lotus.  However, the fact that it comes out a turn later than other removal without acceleration significantly hinders it in this meta.

Isochron Scepter - Allows for some broken plays with REB, StP, and of course Orim's Chant, but is generally too slow for supplementary use and often becomes card disadvantage.

Many other defensive enchantments (Karmic Justice, Solitary Confinement, Story Circle, the list goes on...)

Matchups - to be discussed in detail in the thread, here are some very brief overviews

Welder/Workshop Based (5/3, 7/10, Trinistax, Slaver, TnT...)
Humility is the game winner in this matchup--stops Welder and fat artifact creatures flat.  Blood Moon can also stall long enough to win.  A huge arsenal of artifact removal ties everything together.
Maindeck Hate [16]: Seal of Cleansing, Humility, Blood Moon, StP, Slice and Dice
SB Hate [5]: Abolish, Tariff, Arc Lightning, Dust to Dust

Oath
StP and Seals are the primary weapons.  Orim's Chant and Argivian Find backs them up.  Blood Moon and Humility are also good preventative measures.  The focus in this matchup is trying to play Belcher through all of the counters.  REBs makes this somewhat easier post SB.  Abolish to aid in removal.
Maindeck Hate [16]: Seal of Cleansing, StP, Humility, Blood Moon, Slice and Dice (tokens)
SB Hate [6]: REB, Abolish

Combo (TPS, Doomsday, Dragon, Belcher)
These are very difficult matchups the first game.  Chant, StP, Seals, against TPS, Dragon, Belcher, accordingly.  Again, Blood Moon can randomly steal games.  After SB we have several defensive enchantments to combat combo.
Maindeck Hate [~11]: Orim's Chant, Seal of Cleansing, Blood Moon, StP against Dragon
SB Hate [9]: REB, Rule of Law, Ivory Mask, True Believer

AggroControl and Aggro (Bazaar Madness, Fish, R/G beats and other rogue decks)
Lots of removal with Humility and Chants to stall.  Argivian Finds recover from opposing hate.
Maindeck Hate [16]: Humility, StP, Slice and Dice, Balance, Zuran Orb, Orim's Chant
SB Hate [6]: Arc Lightning, Tariff, REB

As you can see, the threats in this deck are fairly versatile against the metagame and still potent.

This is obviously a work in progress.  I would love to hear any tournament experiences from anyone who has recently played a form Parfait.

How about replacing Rod with mox monkeys, maindeck mutation, and Skullclamp?  Keep the same manabase

4 Grim Lavamancer
4 River Boa
4 Cloud of Fairies
3 Gorilla Shaman

4 Skullclamp
3 Blood Moon

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Artifact Mutation
2 Naturalize
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

SB
3 Artifact Mutation
3 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Fire / Ice
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Annul

I have to test this out.

Okay, now it's easier for you to play Drain, but half your lands are nonbasics.  How do you expect to use Tax and Belcher to win?  The changes you made don't help the outcome.

This isn't Parfait anymore, this is U/W Control with a poor win condition.

Like I said,

True.  True, and True.  You're splashing blue for Brainstorm, Mana Drain, and FoW.  All this does is dilute the deck.  You might as well take out the Tax, Racks, Belchers, and focus the deck around Scepter Chant with Exalted Angel or Fire/Ice as your win condition if you want to play Drain and FoW.

In Parfait, the only reason to splash blue is for Ancestral or Timewalk, which you can do by adding an Island, and still keep the deck focused.  But honestly, I would advise against this.

Blueberry Parfait just won't work the way you want it to, and it's inferior to Cherry Parfair for that matter.  Red gives you REB, Blood Moon, Rack and Ruin, Burning Wish, and removal like Fire/Ice and Slice and Dice.  Plus, mountains can help your Charbelchers when your deck is getting thin.

It is true that Mountains still produce mana under Blood Moon, but it is also true that Workshops, Orchards, Academies and duals can still produce on color mana once under B2B. In other words, Blood Moon doesn't allow opponents to topdeck mana solutions, while that is B2B's fatal flaw.

Now although Call of the Herd is good, I personally think it takes the deck in the wrong direction. Fat like CotH give the deck aggro tendencies, and I think that's a bad idea. The way I see it, Fish needs creatures that have 2 of 3 properties: disruption, evasion, and cost effeciency. CotH only meets requirement #3. Yes, it can trade with jugs all day, but Artifact Mutation is the real reason green splash Fish has a decent match against Workshop, not extra fat. What we do know is that Fish has a horrible matchup against Oath.  The bouncers might be the way to give Fish a chance game 1.

As far as Null Rod taking maindeck spots, I don't know. It seems to hold fish together most of the time. Gorilla Shaman fills some of the same purpose, but it's much slower. There are a couple threads on this debate that we could draw from.



The ratio of Stifle, MisD, Daze seems more like personal preference or marginal metagame differences than strategy.

(I am also using Brainstorm over Curiosity. I left that in there just for the sake of discussion.)

Everyone's been trying to come up with ways to make Fish good again.  I took some ideas from Jacob Orlove's latest WTF deck and put together this: (the article can be found http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=8463)

4 Wooded Foothills
3 Flooded Strand
5 Island
3 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Sapphire

4 Grim Lavamancer
4 River Boa
4 Gaea's Skyfolk
2 Waterfront Bouncer

3 Null Rod
3 Blood Moon

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Any combination of Daze, Stifle, or Misdirection (I've been using 2 MisD, 2 Daze)
2 Naturalize
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

SB
4 Artifact Mutation
2 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Fire / Ice
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Annul
1 Null Rod

I feel that this list is much stronger given the metagame of Workshop and Oath decks.  Jacob showed us how to go the basics route.  Now I've gone ahead and optimized it.  Hopefully.  Blood Moon is just plain better than B2B.  Null rod is still needed against combo.

I think bouncers should be fish's weapon of choice against Oath, and they aren't dead cards in other matches like Slaver (Plat Angel) and Workshop (Sundering Titan and other artifact fat), Tinker (DSC), etc.  Blood Moon and Naturalize work as additional threats.  That is 7 total MD answers to either Akroma, Orchard, or Oath, 8 free counters to back them up, and not to mention 5 strips.

This deck can't run manlands, so there's no going the non-creature, claws/bombardment/pool route.  Guilded Drake is another option, but it's reactionary, which means you can't slip it under the counter wall early.

Just some ideas.  I believe Fish is a strong archtype, but it has to keep up with the metagame for it to work; it is, after all, a metagame deck.  Personally, I love Fish and I want to keep trying new things.

Particularly, the SB is focus of debate.  What hate is efficient and reliable?  What is proven weak in testing?

Could you use Ashnod's Altar instead of KCI?  I don't know whether or not you find it useful for casting other spells, but as far as the combo is concerned, Altar has the same effect for 1 less mana to cast.

You know that Myr Retreiver + Altar/KCI + Storm also works, right?  If you're finding that random removal causes trouble...  Using Brain Freeze would keep the deck Mono U.  Up the Myr count to 3, and bring in AK+Intuition for draw power and an easy way to get the Myrs.

Just some suggestions you've probably already considered.

One last thing: what's up with Bone Shredder?

Some friends and I created this a while back, but never tested it:

Combo (ratios? no clue)
3 Ashnod's Altar--SAC THOSE SPIRIT TOKENS!!!GRRRR!!!
3 Myr Retriever
3 Brain Freeze
Control
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Leak
1 Misdirection
Draw
4 Brainstorm
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Intuition
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
Mana
7 SoLoMox
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
8 Island

My first post by the way.