I played 3c Fish at a 51 player tournament today going 3W-1D-2L. This doesnt sound good at all but I still felt I had a shot in every game I played. Perhaps if I didnt have to mulligan something like 7 times in two rounds my record would have been better, but unfortunatly it wasnt ment to be. Since I still felt good about my deck I thought I'd share my list.

Matchups:

vs Stax: draw
vs Gush TPS: 0-2 (mulliganed to 5 and 6)
vs Gush TPs/w Oath sideboard: 1-2 (mulliganed to 5 and 5 in the games I lost)
vs Ichorid: 2-1
vs TPS/combo homebrew: 2-0
vs U/W Lion Fish: 2-1

Deck:

4 Confidant
4 Meddling Mage
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Aven Mindcensor
2 Kataki

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Duress
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Daze
2 Trickbind
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall

4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
3 Undersound Sea
3 Polluted Delta
3 Island
3 Wasteland
1 Plains
1 Strip Mine

Sideboard:
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Energy Flux
3 Spell Snare
2 Echoing Truth
2 Jitte
1 Swords to Plowshares

If I had to do it over again the only thing I might have changed is adding Null Rod/Chalice to the main or sideboard for the TPS matchup, though I'm not sure its that great anymore. The cards I'd probably cut for Rod/Chalice are Trickbind, Aven Mindcensor or Kataki. Trickbind didnt show themselfs that much, where usefull when they did, but I'm not sure they belong. Null Rod might be better though I dont like cutting any more blue cards. Same goes for Kataki. He was fine/good when he was there, obviously nice against Stax, but Null Rod might have been better in a combo meta (atleast thats what my meta looked like from my perspective). Last, Aven Mindcensor was oke, but expensive. It would have been awesome at 2, but at 3 I missed a lot of opportunities to stifle my opponents fetchlands and tutors.

The sideboard was great, I had a 'plan' for every matchup, always having something usefull to put in instead of just replacing bad cards with slight less bad cards. Spell Snare, while not showing up that much, was a great catch-all card.

Question about a situation that happenend game 1 round 1:

I mulligan into Island, Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, Duress, Kataki and Confidant. I start and play Sea > Duress seeing:

Mox Diamond
Tolarian Academy
Ancient Tomb
Crucible of Worlds
Sphere of Resistance
Metalworker

My first instinct was to take the Crucible, but after thinking about it a little I took the Sphere since it was his only lock piece. I also figured that Kataki could buy me some time while I would draw cards with my Confidant.
T1 he playes Mox + Tomb, discards Academy and casts Crucible. I play Kataki, he pays with Tomb, plays Academy and casts Metalworker. I play Confidant, Wasteland his Academy. I pass, he pays with Metalworker, and then playes Smokestack. Next turn he has a Tangle Wire and I get locked out.

My Question: should I have take the Crucible instead of the Sphere?

Since my first message got fucked by the internet I'm going to keep it brief.

@mirariknight:

I really dont like Pithing Needle maindeck because:

- it actually does nothing against GaT; they only play 1 Psychatog.
- it actually does nothing against Flash; you stop the combo but then get beat by a 6/6 you cant stop
- it does nothing/little against Fish game 1, possibly even game 2 and 3
- it does nothing against combo

Also, Crypt and Chalice dont really work together since you really want to drop a fast Chalice at 0. I would either go 4 Chalice or 3-4 Crypt maindeck.

As for you sideboard: why Hurkyl's Recall? Your biggest fear is Chalice on 2 and Hurkyl's Recall doesnt stop that.

I also have a suggestion/question of my own: what about Spell Snare? It stops Flash, Dryad, Oath and almost every creature in Fish. Only downside is that it requires Fish to keep 1 mana open.

Grab the Reins:

Choose one - Until end of turn, you gain control of target creature and it gains haste; or sacrifice a creature, then Grab the Reins deals damage equal to that creature's power to target creature or player.
Entwine  (Choose both if you pay the entwine cost.)

Question: if I choose to pay the entwine cost, do I have to announce who or what I'm going to target with the second part of Grab the Reins?


Siege-Gang Commander:

When Siege-Gang Commander comes into play, put three 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens into play.
, Sacrifice a Goblin: Siege-Gang Commander deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

Question: does the comes into play ability go on the stack? As in, can i kill Siege-Gang Commander with a Lightning Bolt when the ability is on the stack so he cant sacrifice his tokens and shoot me?

This is the new Browbeat. It sucks, but for some reason some people will love it and will play for 4 of them in every deck that plays black.

The worst thing is that these players will cast this when there already winning, and then think they won because of it.

In other words: I hate this card.

For me it's probably Psychatog. I won my very first tournament with a budget Psychatog deck. I build the deck the night before and simply choosed to play 'Tog because I randomly had 4 laying around somewhere. I fell in love with Psychatog that day. It was my first time I actually started to think about what the hell I was doing and why. The first time I killed with Psychatog I was like "Damn! This card is good!". The second time it was more like "This card is insane!". After just a few games I saw that Psychatog was able to kill my opponent from out of nowhere and that it was often better to just cast 'Tog/Fact or Fiction and go for the throat, then to just cast another Counterspell because thats what control was supposed to do, right? 'Tog also made me count the amount of resources I had to check If 'Tog was potentionally lethal. Not only was it a great feeling to just sit there, checking whether my 'Tog was deadly while my opponent was just sitting, waiting and worrying on the other side, it also tought me to plan ahead and to play for the long game. Finally, 'Tog also gave me the choice of to go all in, or to just attack for 3 every round, making me play around cards the opponent could have in his hand.

All in all, Psychatog was just a great skilltester for me, and has been one of my favorite cards since that 1 Extended tournament.

I understand what's being said so far, but the thing is that I didn't know he was taking damage until after he had scooped. He never said he took damage and I didn't actually see him take damage, I never saw him alter his life total. The reason I didn't see it was because I focused my attention to the board because from my perspective I was losing and I needed a way out. I wasn't trying to cheat or anything.

Last night I was drafting at my local store. I drafted an B/R deck and at some point I ended up playing a friend in the finals. In the first game his W/R deck gave him some early drops and I was just waiting for my Sulferous Blast to gain me some advantage. After a couple of turns I cleared the board and then on my turn I dropped Kaervek the Merciless. My friend sighted, thought for a while and finally decided just to cast Temporal Isolation on the legend. This time I sighted and simply said "Ok", forgetting to shoot him for 2. This is where things went wrong. Even though I forgot to shoot him, my friend still took 2 of his life total (he was keeping track using magic cards) without saying anything. On my turn I played Plague Sliver. On his turn he played a second Temporal Isolation. Because my Kaervek didn't do anything I didn't bother with his ability and just said Ok again. My friend again took 2, again without saying anything or without me saying I shot him with Kaervek. On my turn he pointed to the Sliver saying I should take 1 damage but I explained to him that Temporal Isolation prevents all damage, even the upkeep damage. I play a 4/2. At the end of turn he Sudden Shocks it, I turn an mountain into a swamp and AGAIN he takes two without saying anything and without me targeting him. On his turn he sights, says he can't possibly beat Kaervek and scoops.

After he scoops I ask him what the hell he was talking about.

Me: "You had the perfect awnser in Temporal Isolation, Kearvek did shit!"
Him: "Dude quite playing dumb. Kearvek would have killed any guy that I would have played or could have just shot me dead"
Me: "How? He had a Temporal Isolation on him. That card prefents ALL damage. Kearvek was useless."
Him: "WTF! Then why did I take 2 damage every time I played a card?"
Me: "You took damage from Kaervek? I never said a word about shooting you for 2 and you never said something like "oke, take 2". As far as I know your still at 17. "
Him: "Bah, this can't be right. I just gave you a free game!"

My question is: if one of us would have called a judge over (out store doesn't have a actual judge) what would the ruling on this situation be?

Holding back suspend cards is awfull. Suspend is good early. You don't want to draw Ancestral Visions late right? Holding suspend cards back is the same as drawing it late, so you're basically better of playing other cards without suspend.

So we've been exposed to TS for some weeks now and I was wondering what you guys think the metagame will look like. There a lot of decks out there but which will be the most played/defening decks right now? Personally I think: Zoo, Dragonstorm, U/Wcontrol, U/G and Flare will be the most popular/better decks.

What about the U/W as suggested by Mike Flores?

4 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
4 Ressurection
4 Remand
4 Mana Leak
4 Compulsive Research
4 Carefull Consideration
4 Wrath of God
4 Azorious Signet
23 Land
+ 5 Cards

I don't his exact list but according to his podcast he also has some number of Condemn in his deck.

This deck really looks like a better Flare deck since it has the same gameplan (get Akroma into ASAP) but has a better mana base and more counters. Losing Angel of Despair sucks but you could just run Repeal and bounce anything that gets past your Counters.

White is necessairy because you want to most aggressive cards you can find and cram them into 1 deck. Savannah Lions, Lightning Helix and Watchwolf are some of the best and most aggressive cards for their costs. T1 Kird Ape, t2 Watchwolf is an incredible opening thats really hard for any deck to deal with, especially when backuped by burn. Playing Red, Green and White is hard, but not impossible because of all the pain/shocklands and Gemstone Mine. Sure you will take a lot of pain from your lands, but since your always the beatdown that doesn't matter until they start attacking, which is when you're losing most of the time.
Playing x/4 creatures is bad because the only good creatures in that category are Loxodon Hierarch and Rumbling Slum, both costing 4 mana. Thats fine against aggro (maybe), or in another deck, but maindeck in Zoo its too slow. Zoo often runs 20 lands, so that 4/4 or 5/5 might not even come into play until turn 6 or 7, right when you've already won, are already losing, are already dead or need that last burn spell to kill and opponent.

@Nazdakka and Vegeta2711: have you guys cut Scab Clan Mauler? If so can you explain why?

@all: what happenend to the spell checker? That option was really handy for us non-native englisch speaking memebers.

Some random thoughts:

- Blazing Blade Askari seems godawfull to me. It's a 3/3 for 3 that deals 2 damage when unblocked. Atleast the Lancer has haste.

- Sudden Shock seems good at first glance, but I think it will just be worse then Shock in Constructed. There is no Psychatog, Wild Mongrel or Ravager for this card to kill. Almost no-one plays with Giant Growth and the uncounterability will almost never matter against control I think.

- Why not play Skred, main or sideboard? Skred is like Swords to Plowshares, for 1 mana you can kill anything that isn't an Akroma or Rimefeather Owl.

- Why not play Stalking Yeti? The Yeti just trades with a 3/3 at worst, but often will kill a guy (Guildmage, Viper whatever) and then block/attack into another guy and trade. If you can untap with it and seven mana you can bounce and replay him, shutting down a lot of cards in an opposing aggro deck. For example, the Yeti is able to kill 20 of the 24 creatures in your deck and live.

To sum it up, mainboard I would take out the Sudden Shock and Blazing Blade Askari, and replace them with Skred and some dude thats better, perhaps Boros Guildmage or Phyrexian Ironfoot. Sideboard I would replace Serrated Arrows with the Stalking Yeti.
You also might want to try and play with 8 stonerains. I don't know why but Mike Flores thinks its awesome and so do a lot of other people.

As we all know Time Spiral will become legal soon, kicking Kamigawa out of Standard. With Kamigawa gone we will lose a whole bunch of format defining cards (Jitte, Top, Dragons etc.), and at the same time Time Spiral will be introducing some new curveballs, most notably the timeshifted cards and the suspend mechanic. My questions to you guys/girls are:

1 What do you think will be the best/most defining deck in the new Standard?
2 Which cards do you think will be the most format defining cards in Standard?
3 Which cards/decks do you think will be terrible where others think that they'll be great?

I know this is just speculation, but for some this will help in their testing for Champs while helping others out by giving them some advice on what to trade for. My answers are:

1: Blue/White control. This deck will lose nothing much that it can’t replace. The Dragons will be replaced with Akroma and Sacred Mesa, which are arguably better then Meloku/Keiga. Hinder can be replaced with Rune Snag or Cancel. The non-basics can be replaced with just basics, Desert, Calciform Pools, Flagstones of Troikar, Vesuva, Gemstone Gaverns, Urza’s Factory or perhaps Terramorphic Expanse. Meanwhile other decks will loose Jitte, Top etc. The addition of Akroma and Mesa also makes this deck Skred-proof, meaning that this decks won’t die to a single Skred/cheap removal. Time Spiral also offers up Spellburst and Whispers of the Muse, both of which could be busted.
The only bad matchup will probably be Vore, but Tormod’s Crypt will probably prevent that deck from getting too popular. Against other decks I think the 12-18 counters, WoG, card-draw and Akroma/Mesa will be too much too handle.

2: Hard to tell with some many cards around, but off the top of my hat I’d say Skred, Demonfire, WoG, Tormod’s Crypt, Birds of Paradise, Scrying Sheets, Dark Confidant, Remand and Char. Skred, Remand and Crypt will be format defining because they will restrict deck construction. Demonfire is the only “oops-I-win” card in Standard. Birds, Confidant, Char, Sheets and WoG will be the foundation of some of the best/most popular decks in Standard.

3: I think that the 1000$ Blue/Green/Black aggro deck will be terrible. The deck will probably consist out of 1 mana accelerators, Shadowmages, Hyppies, Vipers, some fat guy and Psionic Blast/removal. The reason I don’t think it’s good is because the deck will probably fold if it doesn’t go t1 BoP, t2 three-drop, and even if it does get that opening that three drop will just die or draw more accelerators/three-drops. It’s too vulnerable and doesn’t do anything relevant imo.

I don't think this card will be much better then Stifle against combo. They will usually Duress you before going off. It might be good against a deck like Gifts however since they don't pack any Duresses maindeck and try to protect there kill with couterspells.

Because True Believer usually comes from the sideboard, when your opponent wil likley brin in Massacre or Pyroclasm.

Since my question got lost in all the posts last time I'll ask it again:

What do you think of replacing Stifle with Stormscape Apprentice?

I played Lions Fish with Jotun Grunt in a tournament two weeks ago playing almost you're exact list except I didn't have Rods, Moxes or Lotus and replaced them with land and Chalice. I played 5 rounds, and lost 3 matches. One match I lost to b/w aggro with Shades, Factories, Vindicate etc. The other two matches I lost again CS and Gifts, all 4 games I lost against Tinker > DC/Trike/Titan, with my FoW/Chalice/Stp/Mage getting countered or REB.

Now I know that basing an opinion on just 1 tournament can be incorrect, but I really wanted my Stifles to be Stormscape Apprentices. Stifle did win me a game single handidly, but most of the time it just stalled for a turn and was pretty much irrelevant or dead. So what do you think of going -3 Stifle, +3 Apprentice? You get even more beatdown creatures while losing less to Tinker and Oath. This will allow you Mages and FoWs to be spent on stoping other threats.

I also Mark Gottlieb btw about why Oath hasn't recieved the same treatment as Intuition has:


So perhaps in the near future we might be able to use True Believer to stop Oath of Druids which would be amazing.

P1P5: Probably right. You've already passed a Stinkweed Imp and you don't have a good black card yet, so the Consult is probably out. The G/W cards force you to play white in order for them to be good, and you don't have any white cards yet. This leaves the Centaur or the Minion. While I tend to lose to the Minion, I think the 3 drop is more important for your mana curve (at least I tend to struggle on 3 drops).
 
P1P6: I hate the Gaze, but Boros Garrison is pretty terrible at this point. I might actually pick the Nightpatrol since you could end up with Azorious instead of Simic in pack 3.
 
P2P2: I think it's either the Train of Thought or the Karoo. I only like Repeal in constructed or in an aggressive draft deck, and you have neither. Banking on ToT to table is a lot more likely the hoping the Boilerworks Will come back, so I think this was the right pick for your deck.

P2P3: I don't know why you would take anything other then the Weird here. Your deck is pretty slow so far, and the Weird is usually better at stopping a fast draw then the Savant. Both creatures are better then the ToT if you ask me.

P2P4: I don't like the Plotter, especially this high. You might steel a Karoo, but even then it still remains a 1/1 for 3. I hate 1/1 for 3 that don't do anything once there in play. Since you have no real aggressive cards so far I think the Mauler is out and the Signet is the right pick here.

P2P5: If you pick the Grull Signet in the previous pack then I would defiantly pass the Gruul Turf here. Picking the Chronarch or the Torch Drake is a matter of style. I like to be aggressive so I would take the Drake, but the Chronarch might be better if you get some more spot removal in Dissension (Cackling Flames for example).

P3P1: Squirter defiantly, it just more powerfull.


There are a couple of picks you made though that I really can't agree with:

P1P3: I would always take Snapping Drake over the Scatter the Seeds. StS might play nice with convoke creatures, but you have no idea if you'll be getting more of those. The packs featuring the Guardians where pretty weak so it's not unlikely that they won't table.

P1P10: Torpid Moloch? Are you kidding me? That card sucks, and is a lot worse than the Commando which is also in this pack. I'm not saying the Commando is good at this point, but it's better then the Moloch.

P2P1: I might be wrong on this one, but I would pick the Streetbreaker Wurm here, since it's more my style, but also because I think it's more likely to see another Chronarch than it is to see another Wurm. I know you have a Peel from Reality, but that combo costs 7 mana and is quite easy to stop.

P2P6: I would take the Borborygmos here. It's expensive and costs double red, but it's a total bomb when it's in play.

P3P5: Since you don't have a Train of Though, and didn't pick the Borborygmos, I would probably take the Biomantic Mastery here.

Question: when you board in the man plan (either 3 SSS or 5 Dragons/Meloku's) what do you take out? Obviously certain cards like Pyroclasm or Gigadrowse can be taken out against certain matchups, but what about the rest?

Also, has anyone tested against Counterbalance? That card seems really troublesome against heartbeat if they keep an 3cc card on top.