Some of the initial problems encountered by this deck in its current form include:

Removal of any kind + Counterspells on the enablers, namely:
Drowned Rusulka
Magus of the Bazaar
Greenseeker

Without the ability to discard the dredge cards, this deck is a dead deck.

I mean, I tested out the "fast" lists, and while in goldfishing, they are consistent turn 3 kills, they do not work out in real games because the creatures just get killed before they can do their job.

Burning Inquiry and Goblin Lore were only good if the initial discard enablers lived. Their discard was too random to be of any consequence in the real game.

There were times where everything goes well and I discard 2 dredgers off it, but on most occasions, they screw up because the discard isnt consistent and this deck just dies there.

Currently, Im running a slower more consistent version more capable of discarding and enabling the deck and less prone to removal. It has the possibility of turn 3 kills, the combo is still in it, but it is so much more reliable because it doesnt really depend on the enablers/creatures surviving or the random discarding of Inquiry/Lore.



Lands
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Swamp
3 Dakmor Salvage
1 Island
4 B/G Fetchland
4 B/W Fetchland
2 Watery Grave

Creatures
4 Rotting Rats
4 Oona's Prowler
4 Narcomoeba
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Sphinx of Lost Truths
4 Bloodghast

Other Spells
4 Dread Return
4 Raven's Crime
3 Life from the Loam
4 Bridge from Below

Sideboard
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Forest
3 Krosan Grip
3 Chalice of the Void


I find that this list is so much more stable and resilient as compared to the "fast" variants such as, for reference, the "fast" version below:
deck=Good in theory, weak in game Dredge
Lands
2 Dakmor Salvage
1 Watery Grave
4 U/R Fetchland
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
3 U/G Fetchland
3 Gemstone Mine

Creatures
2 Sphinx of Lost Truths
4 Magus of the Bazaar
1 Flame-Kin Zealot
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Narcomoeba
1 Golgari Thug
4 Bloodghast
4 Drowned Rusalka

Other Spells
4 Bridge from Below
4 Dread Return
4 Chrome Mox
4 Burning Inquiry
1 Life from the Loam


Not to mention, with the more stable list, it has a 3-sided attack approach.
It has the combo.
It has the Bloodghast beatdown/recursion + Prowler + Stinkweed Imp + Narcomoeba, and possibly Bridge from Below tokens and Dread Returned 14/14 Golgari Grave-trolls.
It has the discard engine that can kill slower decks in Rotting Rats + Unearth, Raven's Crime + Life from the Loam engine.

As if the draw7s arent weak enough currently, they have to make them even weaker. -_-

Its 2UU, its easily hardcast-able, more so than 3UU.

It also removes the spells from the game, which means the card is removed as well. This is an important factor.

This card is useful enough to warrant play. Dont just think of playing it via its alternate casting cost, its hardcast cost is reasonably good as well.

If you think about it carefully, its a card that slows down your enemy's development because he will try to play around it if he knows you run it in the deck. By slowing down, he is allowing you to play more mana producing cards like lands, moxen etc. This means that Mindbreak Trap is a rattlesnake card early on that allows it to become able to be casted easily later on.

All in all, a good card designed for Vintage play. Although I feel nerfing Storm is really unnecessary, considering its weak state now.

Its like last year all over again, restricting Gifts Ungiven and unrestricting Gush to nerf Meandeck Gifts and power Gush-based decks to immense heights.

How would this spell interact with Misdirection?

Obviously, if there are more than 1 spell or copy of spell on the stack, this can have more than 1 target and wont be Misdirected, otherwise it can be?

Am I right on that?

The same was said at some point of time in Vintage about Brainstorm and Thirst for Knowledge.

The fact that every deck running heavy blue runs 4 FOW already justifies restricting of some sort, just like how every blue deck in the past ran 4 Brainstorm. Its just that Wizards dont know whether or not restricting FOW will throw the format entirely in shambles and make combo decks run rampant.

Anyway, this card is not just ran in blue decks. This card is a straight up counter for ANY deck against storm decks. Yes, kiddies, imagine a Storm deck player thinking he is safe after playing Hurkyl's Recall against Workshop Lock decks and comboing off with just enough mana for a 10 spell Tendrils only to have this card fuck it all up.


Sensei's Divining Top and Brainstorm???

Dont forget that Tezzeret is blue. A very good thing. Additional copies or in the early game, when you cant really cast it, you can always pitch Tezerret to Force of Will or MisD.

What was meant by the sentence is that Gush is restricted because one of the reasons is the printing of Manaplasm.

Manaplasm is by no means, the main or the only reason, but it was definitely factored in.


Dryad also doesnt attack the turn it comes in. I know Plasm has no haste. Im just saying how absurd it would be to kill your opponent so quickly with Manaplasm getting ungodly power pumps from spells you would cast. Im pretty sure Manaplasm would have been very good, im pretty sure some variant abusing Manaplasm, Gush, Scroll and Berserk would have appeared without the restrictions.

Wizards unrestricted Gush and Gush went mad. I suspect one of the reasons why the restricted Gush again was because of the printing of

Manaplasm 2G
Ooze
Whenever you play a spell, it gets +x/+x where x = CMC of spell.
1/1

This card with 4 Gush format, would have been completely broken, possible running aside Dryad or replacing Dryad althogether.

Can you imagine going
Fastbond, Manaplasm, Gush, Scroll, Gush, Gush? +17/+17?

And as for the Tezerret Drain Control decklist, I dont really know how to build an optimal one. So instead of embarassing myself, I shall only suggest the ideas of decks that can fit Tezerret Time Vault in.

First one up will be Control Slaver. Tezerret can be an alternate win condition that fits into the deck's shell.
Second, Tezerret Control with possibly Yawg Will Kill with Tendrils. Why not?
Third, Stax with Tezzeret? Can go search for a Trinisphere/Crucible, or just wait 1 turn, and then kill with Tezerret last ability.
Fourth, some kind of MonoBlue Control with Tez Vault kill focusing on countering and neutering every threat and drawing more cards until it finds Tez to win, Vault or no Vault.

The good thing about Tezerret is that it can help you win with Time Vault, or without Time Vault, as long as you have 4-5 artifacts on board, its blue, can pitch to FOW and MisD and it is easily castable with Drain

A two-card combo is actually very broken.

Being able to Voltaic Key Time Vault and take extra turns = winning the game.
With Tezerret in the mix, Tezerret becomes a 3UU Suspend 1 : Win the game next turn.
unless Tezerret is killed/bounced or Time Vault is destroyed. Bouncing Vault will be useless when your opponent just plays it the next turn and untap it with Tez.

I fully expect some Drain Control deck to come up with 4 Tezerret and 1 Time Vault as one of their kill conditions.
Even without Time Vault, Tezerret has the power to win by himself since apparantly, attacking over with 4-5 artifacts that are 5/5s is powerful.

My take on this would be that Tezerret Drain Control will be one of the tier-1 decks in Vintage to stay and might even dominate the format due to the easy ways of setting up the combo and not being affected by splash damage like Flash was. Flash was affected by Graveyard hate. This combo isnt. A major point to consider.

We can already start building up the shell of the deck.

4 Tezerret
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
9 SoLoMoxCryptVault
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus

This is a blue shell, with 29 cards. Im thinking adding black for more disruption and tutoring.

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawmgoth's Will
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Duress

Got to go back to work. Will post a list later...

Three Words

What The F***?

This is goddamn stupid.

The whole Vintage relies on Brainstorm.
You can restrict Gush, you can restrict Flash, you can even restrict Merchant Scroll.

BUT BRAINSTORM IS LIKE THE FREAKING BASIS OF VINTAGE.

Force of Will could be supported by 16 blue cards because of Brainstorm. Mana Bases can have 10-16 lands because of Brainstorm.
The incredible synergy of Brainstorm and Fetchlands is what makes Vintage so streamlined.

They are taking away the fun out of Vintage. Vintage is a format for thrill-seekers, playing the most powerful spells and lands in Magic. Brainstorm helps smooth decks, manabases and basically everything else. They provide so much choices and rewards the most skillful players. Now, they are restricting Brainstorm? A card that actually helps differentiate skilled and experienced players from the rest?

Also, what will the collectors do? Brainstorm MM Foil is going to drop? Merchant Scroll 8ED Foil is going to drop? Ponder Jap Foil is going to drop?
Never mind the Flash and the Gush, these have been expected. Vintage players will shed a tear over them and move on.
However, BRAINSTORM and PONDER. PONDER is not even half the power of Brainstorm. Its SORCERY, its Sensei Divining Top effect once or optional shuffle.

Who the heck instigated these absurd changes?

So GREAT! Now Vintage is more skill-testing, with everyone playing 1-ofs. Good Job done!

end of ranting.

Since no one will do anything about it, except whine and whine, (unless the Vintage community rises up with a petition to make changes as they deem fit), nothing will happen.

[spoiler]P.S. We all know Vintage players are a very vocal group, let's see what happens.[/spoiler]

Thorn of Amethyst 2
Artifact
Noncreature spells cost 1 more to play.
Rare

We all know the effects and how great turn 1 spheres are. However, with this, it means Stax can get out a turn 1 sphere (3-sphere, Resistance, Thorn) 85% of the time for 7 card hands.
1-(51/60+50/59...+44/53) x100% assuming you can easily reach 2-3 mana on turn 1 all the time.

Would this signifcantly modify Vintage? Stax would take the lead once again? Wizards' answer to Gush and the recent unrestrictions?

On a sidenote:
What would the price of this card be? Especially the foil ones?

Discuss.

Am I the only one who has noticed this line by Stephen Menendian?

So any hints or guesses about what the proudest achievement is? Another format-breaking deck that requires reasonable skill to pilot like MDG or some broken interaction that the others have not discovered about?

Restrictions are bound to make some people happy while others sad.

Fundamentally, Gifts Ungiven is broken as you will tutor for 4 cards, and in the process, as long as you search for the right cards, always get the 2 cards you want.

Either that, or you will tutor for 4 cards that are just as broken, and get the 2 you least want. However, you are stil gaining 2 for the price of 1 card and 3U.

However, Gifts Ungiven is only sometimes situationally good. On other times, it requires good play and the correct choices to bring victory.

Therefore, it is a skill-testing card.

I agree that Gifts Ungiven should not be restricted, just as how Grim Tutor should not be. Both cards have drawbacks. Gifts requires the correct play. Grim Tutor requires a ritual to power it out and 1BB is pretty hard to achieve without it. The life loss also stops it from being abused fully by Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargain. In a way, Grim Tutor is also a skill-testing cards, as you must know how to manage your life total when using it.

Sure, why not?
Gush Long
// Lands
    3 Underground Sea
    2 Tropical Island
    1 Tolarian Academy
    1 Library of Alexandria
    1 Flooded Strand
    3 Polluted Delta
    2 Island

// Creatures
    3 Street Wraith

// Spells
    1 Dark Ritual
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Lotus Petal
    4 Merchant Scroll
    1 Yawgmoth's Will
    1 Tendrils of Agony
    1 Mind's Desire
    4 Brainstorm
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Gifts Ungiven
    1 Regrowth
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Chain of Vapor
    2 Duress
    2 Misdirection
    1 Mystical Tutor
    4 Gush
    1 Imperial Seal
    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Fastbond
    1 Ancestral Recall
    1 Time Walk
    1 Timetwister
    4 Force of Will
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Mox Emerald

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Misdirection
SB: 4 Quirion Dryad
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 1 Echoing Truth

There is no need for Tinker or Colossus at all.

Most of the time, i can go on such a control role that i can actually hardcast FOW. And when games go long, i always find myself hardcasting Street Wraith to attack. It surprisingly wins.

There is no need for Xantid Swarm. As I said, this is a control combo deck. There is no reason to go cutthroat all-in. All you need to do is maintain card advantage and win with a single beater or just go to the point whereby you can just tendrils your opponent to death with a lot of disruption backup.
The aim is to out-card adavantage you opponent. Most of the time, you will also out-mana advantage your opponent with this deck.

Accidentally clicked the wrong button while trying to edit my above post.
Mods, please delete this post.
I cant report my own post apparently.
(An Error Has Occurred!
You can't report your own post to the moderator, that doesn't make sense!)

I think you might be playing it wrong then or your build is suboptimal.

By goldfishing alone, I normally win by turn 3, with disruption backup and along the way, I would also have disrupted by opponent multiple times. This is really the new Control Combo deck which mimics MDG's gameplan but doesn't rely on the GY that much.

Frankly, I took Kyle's decklist, modified it a bit to suit my likings and I have found it to be exceptionally well. It is very interactive. It is not those kind of decks where you can just goldfish. How you win is determined by how your opponent plays out.

I have fizzled with it before, (I call it Gush Long), but when I fizzle, it is often the case in which I have 2-3 lands untapped and a handful of counters and disruption, making sure that my opponent cannot possibly fight through it.

Gifts Ungiven is good. I have often go for this pile, Regrowth, Yawgmoth's Will, Ancestral Recall, Fastbond. It just pretty much ensures I am always ahed in terms of advantage.

I agree with this statement. I have came across the same problems when I tried to master this deck.
The trick is to stop treating it as a Grim Long or Pitch Long deck, but rather as a "better" Meandeck Gifts deck.

I play very aggressively too and I think its because of my mastery of Grim Long.

I think Serum Visions is the nest choice of all.

If you see 2 cards you want, you can keep. If not, just ditch them. Its card filter ability is better in my opinion.

Couldn't be more true. My sentiments exactly.

Flash removes interactivity.
At least the player playing with Gifts have to think sbout the possible card choices and make the correct choices.
At least the player with Long have to think of the decision tree options and try to combo around all the different disruption stopping its way.

However, what thinking do you need to do with Flash?
All you need to do is, find a way to put your combo pieces which you dont want to draw into your library, try to get Flash and Hulk in hand by whatever means, then play Flash and win. If you have one of those combo pieces in hand, just Body Snatcher it away.

Thats it. Together with all the possible accelerants in Vintage, this is accomplised so easily.
Any hate is stifled by the possible 12 disruption cards it runs. (Force of Will, Daze, Duress, Pact of Negation)
Any combo piece can be found using any topdeck tutor.
Its landbase is so simple. Its 80% Wasteland Durable.
Pesky permanents in its way? Just tutor for a bounce.

List of tutors flash uses ( 4 Merchant Scroll, the three topdeck tutors, Summoner's Pact, DT)

How fair is that?
Flash removes interactivity. Why shouldnt it be restricted?

Most decks that utilise Mind Twist utilise Duress/Unmask/Cabal Therapy.

Im sure most Sui Black decks will Duress first before Mind Twist to make sure they dont get it Misdirected.

_____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ __
On another note, does anyone think that Mind Twist can be used as the "new Duress" in combo decks?

I mean, sometimes, a combo deck can utilise Mind Twist as a way to get ahead of the opponent in terms of card advantage.

Mind Twist could work as Duress slots #5 and #6.

I do agree the restriction of Gifts Ungiven was unneccessary.

Restricting Grim Tutor would be a bit too much, since there are other decks like Ichorid and Groatog getting so fast. Restricting a Tutor that cost 1BB and 3 life, (Meaning that you either cast it with a ritual effect or on turn 2, and needs calculation of life totals) should not be restricted, since it would completely make the format without a reasonably-costed good tutor.
Next on the line would be Diabolic Tutor :Sarcasm: Why pay 3 life when you can pay 1 mana more?

Thank you for this post.
You have put the bad parts of Street Wraith out obviously.

As mentioned in the previous thread of whether Street Wraith fitted into Long decks, I am more concerned about the following---

Playing Street Wraith makes Mind's Desire weaker. Considering that any Long deck, would normally Desire for 5-7 and the occasional 8-10 with Hurkyl's Recall and/or Chain of Vapor, it is not very beneficial when you reveal Street Wraith off a Desire.
Given with my experience with Grim Long, I can aknowledge that, sometimes, my Desire for 5 can turn up absolute crap.
With a Pitch Long deck with 3-4 Street Wraiths and an overall 5-8 cards that do not contribute to threat density(E.g. Force of Will, Misdirection), I am seriously doubting the impact and reach of Desire in a Long deck with 3-4 more dead slots.
Perhaps it would be wise to cut out Desire completely, since it no longer has that much of an impact after Street Wraith's inclusion.

I have also previously mentioned about the life problem that Street Wraith can cause when used in conjunction with the aforementioned cards in your post. However, some may choose to think otherwise as they believe it can be managed.
I just want to add in a reminder that despite life being a resource, you only have 19 to spare. Consider 2 lost to Lands. You are down to 17. 3-6 would be lost to an opponent playing Fish. You would be left with around 13. Generally, another 2-4 would be lost to Tutors on average and other random factors.
This would leave you down to around 9-12 life to spare. Generally, that means, games without Bargain and Necro end with you having 10-13 life.
By adding 4 Street Wraiths, you bring down that total by another 2-3.
That would mean 8-11 life generally when you end the game. If you want to prove what i said is true or not, just take out some cards from your Long deck, add in 4 Street Wraiths, and play 20 games with a real-life opponent. Most of the time, you will find yourself ending the game, if you win, with 10-13 life without Street Wraith.
But with Street Wraith, its normally 8-11 life when you win the game.

What this actually means is that you would normally only draw up to 10-11 cards from a Bargain or a Necro as compared to the usual 11-13. Plus, due to Street Wraith itself, you will find yourself with lesser cards for the sake of "better draws".

I hope this raised a few thoughts about Street Wraith and is it really worth its inclusion.

Also, i do not agree with diopter's change in Long decks to accomodate Street Wraith. Mainly because of his suggestion that Draw7s ought to be cut, which i felt to be completely hard to believe.

Ironically, while Street Wraith serves to complicate Mulliganing decisions, Draw7s help with them and are a way to even out card advantage or gain card advantage or just plainly, card selection. They just need to be used at the right situation in the right way.

Im sorry, but I really have to tell you this.

Regardless of how much you hate paper jewelery that tap for mana and cost $200 and above.

You still would run them for greater deck consistency.

Even though you run hate for your own artifacts, they can help power out your threats much much faster, which is very relevant in a format where turn 1-2 plays matter alot.

Shutting down 3-4 of your own artifacts in exchange for speed and 10-11 of your opponent's artifacts is a very good incentive.

Im talking about self-goldfishing.

Those games you play against nobody whereby you just focus on getting the kill and nothing else.

In those kind of games, you will expect Grim long to be faster.
That was what i meant by "technicality".

Flash Hulk is just like any other "weak" combo deck that, if does not combo off on turn 1-2 just dies entirely to hate.

Honestly, there are so many cards that hate it and so many ways for control decks to out card advantage it.

Hulk Flash does not have a plan for recovery unlike combo decks like Pitch Long and Grim Long which can try to gain card/tempo advantage.

Once the initial momentum of Flash is gone, it is basically just dead meat. Comparable to Belcher and Tendrils SX.

Having a turn 1 kill in Vintage is really nothing much. Its being able to have it and still have resilience against hate that seperates the good "safe" skill-based combo decks from those of "unstable" hand-based combo decks.

Frankly, when I play versus Fish using Grim Long, i never ever had a problem.

A turn 1 Duress or so just takes away the most immediate threat they can present, (FOW, Null Rod, Chalice or Daze)

I also normally tend to combo off relatively fast and just win straight, since by technicality, Grim Long always combo off faster than Pitch Long, approximately 0.5 turns faster.

After sideboarding, bringing in Xantid Swarms wins me the counter game every time, your opponent will be torn between bringing in more hate for combo or bringing in hate for creatures. Echoing Truth is not really a solution and even if it is, you would have just traded a Xantid Swarm for 2-3 cards. (FoW and fodder, Echoing truth itself)
Xantid Swarm also clearly announces your opponent's situation. Its either "I dont have a counter!" or "I have just used a counter!" Both of which serves your purpose.
If your opponent is playing Duress, Swarms are immune to it too.

I often have games where my opponent has out Card Advantaged me with Fish and has 1-2 critters on board with Null Rod or Chalice locking up my mana and Wastelands destroying my lands. However, my turn 1 Xantid Swarm saves me by nullifying all the Card Advantage my opponent has gained and allows me to successfully Hurkyl's Recall or Chain of Vapor and play down my artifact accelerants.

Xantid Swarm also work well with Draw7s and should not be overlooked. Their ability to remove your opponent's interaction basically means you can focus entirely on winning and not spend mana on Duress and safty precautions.
All you need is to turn Swarm sideways. Even if Swarm dies after its attack to a flyer, it would have served its purpose of phasing out your opponent.

I can also play the mind game and choose whether or not to board in Empty the Warrens for a quick simple kill backed up with Duress protection.

I think ultimately, before we consider Rector Flash to be a good deck,

We must ask ourselves.

Can Rector Flash do its job better than the existing combo decks? Either in the more resilient field like MDG, or the faster field like Grim Long?

If all it does is acheive a cute combo like getting out Bargain and then drawing enough to ensure the win, is it worth it to dedicate 7-8 slots of cards which are useless on their own to the maindeck?

I have a question.

Why not run Cephalid Sage in Ichorid?

It helps increase the chances of a turn 2 win significantly.

Its like, you almost confirmed get a threshold and dread returning it allows for so much more dredging on turn 2 which would definitely lead to turn 2 kills.

Even if i did not topdeck a second land/mana source, my Draw7 would still have resolved, since my opponent did not have a counter at all. I only needed that mana source, in case my opponent countered my Timetwister, which i then, have to Regrowth.
The chances of my drawing a mana source was, (22-2) / 53
which is approximately 20/50 and is 40%.
What about Street Wraith in that position? Would you even have kept that hand at all?

How do i not have the game in hand?

My hand is Cabal Ritual, Duress, Demonic Tutor, Yawg Bargain, Gemstone Mine while i am going to draw Imperial Seal next turn.
My board position is Sol Ring, Mox Sapphire, 2 Seas.

Even if i did not draw the Mox Sapphire, what makes you think i would not have won? Either way, i would Duress this turn, take away 1 counter.
Next turn, I Imperial Sealed for another Duress.
On the third turn, i Duress my opponent, which he countered, and now he have 2 cards in hand, (one of which is definitely a land), I proceeded to Cabal Ritual into Yawg Bargain with 18 life to spare.
What makes you think i needed that Mox Sapphire and/or Demonic Tutor in order to win? And why would i try to win on the turn i just drew my new 7 when im unsure whether he has a counter or not? The obvious choice was to Duress that turn and set up for the next turn.

Hell, i did not even try to win after Yawg Bargain resolved, i just drew 6 cards, saw a Mox Jet and a Duress, and Duressed my opponent stripping him of everything except 1 land.

Again, how do i not have the game in hand?

Since you already took 2 out of my 4 points to answer, why not answer the other 2 as well?


Now what are the chances of you drawing 6 land and ESG from a Draw 7?

Assuming you already seen 3 mana sources out of the 22-23 Grim Long normally runs, you have 20/50 or 40% chance of seeing 1 or more mana sources, per draw. If Grim Long, one of the decks that pack the least amount of lands, could actually draw 6 out of the 11-12 lands it normally packs, that must be something wrong with your shuffling or you just happen to hit the lucky 4% chance of getting that.
Its equalvalent your opponent having the luck of his hand, drawing 2 Mana Drains and 2 FoWs when he only has 8/50 or 16% chance of seeing 1 or more counters, and he amazingly saw 4, which is around 3% chance of happening.

Grim Long has the highest threat density, more than any other deck, that means statistically, Grim Long will always have the chance of having the better hand after a Draw7.

The argument for FoW is not valid because you can also play Duress or Xantid Swarm.

Are we forgetting the Draw7s also give you a tempo boost?

For example, turn 1, i play Mana Crypt, Underground Sea, Mox, I then play Timetwister.

If it resolves, you can clearly tell that you have just gained A LOT OF Tempo and Card Advantage.

Firstly, you got yourself a new hand.
Secondly, you got yourself 3 cards on the board.

This actually more or less confirms, that if you get to the next turn, you can most likely win, due to the resources you have in hand and the mana available to cast them.

How bad can that get?

Long is also the deck that runs the highest threat density. Chances of you getting a bad hand as opposed to your opponent getting a bad hand is in your favour.

I had a real live example, in which i i kept a six card against MDG

My hand was Underground Sea, Elvish Spirit Guide, Time Walk, Timetwister, Black Lotus, Regrowth.

Since i already mulled to six, while my opponent kept a 7-carder, i decided to keep this hand.

So i was on the play, i went Sea, ESG, Time Walk.

Turn 2, i topdecked another Sea. I laid Sea, play Lotus, sac for GGG, then cast Timetwister with G float.
I did this, because if there was the chance that Twister was countered, i could regrowth it and hopefully topdeck another mana source in which to cast Timetwister again.
Sure enough, he did not have a counter, (later he revealed to me that he had a hand with 2 moxen, 1 of them being a Sapphire, 1 Volcanic Island and 1 Mana Drain, with a few other business spells.)

So i resolved Timetwister, and went on to draw a hand of Yawg Bargain, Gemstone Mine, Sol Ring, Mox Sapphire, Brainstorm, Cabal Ritual, Duress.

I cast Sol Ring, Mox Sapphire into Brainstorm drawing Imperial Seal, Mox Pearl, Demonic Tutor. I put back Pearl and Seal and proceeded to Duress my opponent, revealing a hand of (Land,Land,Land, Mox, Black Lotus, Drain, FOW.)

Up to this point, it should be quite obvious i have the game in hand.

So the point?

(1) Draw7 in Grim Long is good because Grim Long has the highest threat density.
What this means is that whenever you resolve a Draw7 in Grim Long, the chances of you having the better hand will always be higher than that of your opponents.
That means chances of you winning will be higher.

(2) Draw7 in Grim Long is good because it makes starting hand decisions easier. (Compare just now that situation by replacing it with Street Wraith, would you have kept that hand?)
Draw7s, besides helping with the strategy of luring out counters, also helps with a hand decision.
On average, a Grim Long deck has at least 2 bombs/tutors in the starting hand. Casting the minor bomb of a Draw7, will definitely bait out a counter and give you the opportunity of casting your second, more devastating bomb.
If your Draw7 resolves, refer to point (1) above.
As for just now that situation, if you replace that bomb with some other bomb, would it have the same effect? Yawg Will is practically useless in that situation, so is Mind's Desire to a larget extent which brings me to my third point.

(3) Draw7 is almost always never a dead card in most situations.
Will it ever hurt to have a Draw7 in hand? No. Will it ever hurt to have a Yawg Bargain, Yawg Will, Necro, Desire, Grim Tutor? Yes.
There are some times when you simply dont have the correct set of cards to abuse a Bargain, Will, Necro, Desire or Grim Tutor, but that are much lesser chances of you not being able to abuse a Draw7.
There are those bombs, that you will never hurt to have (Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Draw7s, Tinker) and those where you can only abuse it fully when you have the right set of cards, be it in your graveyard or hand or mana requirements ( Will, Desire, Necro, Bargain)

(4) Draw7s, can give you a tempo advantage when played in the right situation.
Refer to my personal example in my game vs MDG.

Draw7s are not just random bombs thrown into a Grim Long deck for no reason. They require skill to play and requires you to make the right decisions and play them at the right time in order to fully abuse them.

While you may say that Draw7 also gives your opponent a new hand and a new chance to get FOW, you have equally just as much chance to get a Duress or Xantid Swarm from your hand, and possibly the mana required to cast it all on that turn.

Isn't this the exact same reason why people go for the turn 1 kill when possible, even if they don't know whether their opponents are holding FoW or not? Chances of them holding 1 or more is 40%.

Lastly, i disagree with that analysis of calculating power level.

First of all, the power level of cards like Black Lotus, lands, BS, Recall cannot be determined simply by themselves.
Their power level is determined by the bombs you run along with it.
It doesnt make sense when you put that analysis in this context.

Deck A, a storm combo deck, runs 16 lands and the usual bombs, except for the bounce spells and a few Draw7s

Deck B, a similar storm combo deck, runs 11 lands and the usual bombs.

By your analysis, Deck A would be significantly better than Deck B?

And Lands have a power level of 90? Higher than Yawg Will?

If you were to cancel out all the lands, the Brainstorms, Duress, Bounce Spells (leave Recall and Mana Accel in), you would find that the power level of a deck without Draw7s is significantly lower to that of a deck with Draw7s.

Time Walk is needed in any deck that plays blue and relies on tempo.

You cannot think that Time Walk is lousy. Having a Time Walk is essential in every Fish deck.

You get an extra land drop, an extra attack phase with your creatures and even get to leave your mana open for hardcasting counters or just playing a Null Rod.

To simply put, have you ever seen the power of Hypnotic Specter, Dimir Cutpurse, Dark Confidant, Ninja of Deep Hours with the power of a Time Walk?

Getting in an extra 2 damage or more, together with 1 extra card from a creature can never hurt.

In fact, Time Walk also serves the purpose of actually making your deck 59 cards if you are playing it. You simply cannot lose out when playing a Time Walk.

As a UW Fish deck, you should be content to have just 16 lands instead of 17, especially when you only dedicate your deck to 2 colors.

Null Rod, as mentioned by others in this thread should be a 3-of. I would advocate more if you are playing against a more combo field.

Stormscape Apprentice, while being cute, is not played much. Originally, it was played, solely as an answer to DSC and could act as a 1/1 beater.
However, due to format changes, some decks run the EtW kill plan too, therefore, i would ask you to run more Echoing truth instead of this subpar creature.

You mentioned you are having finding creatures problems, Brainstorm actually helps in finding your creatures faster and playing them too. You also maximise the usage of Brainstorm due to the high number of fetchlands your deck runs. So i reccommend you run 4 of them.

Brainstorm also helps in helping you find a counter in case your opponent casts a game-winning spell. Besides, Brainstorm fixes your mana problems, your threat problems and basically almost every minor problem you might have.

Brainstorm is actually Ancestral Recall in disguise as you can actually choose and play the cards you drew. It is a very good card selection spell.

Your deck is also lacking in a focus.

There are two main ways Fish can go.

1) All-in
All-in means playing the most aggressive package and hope that your creatures can deal the lethal points of damage under the protection of counters in the first 5 turns of the game. Most Fish decks of this variant run 4 Savannah Lions and 4 Isamaru to maxismise the chances of a 1-drop. This particular strategy also makes it difficult for decks using life as a resource to fully maximise their life for resource strategy. (E.g. Necropotence, Yawgmoth's Bargain, Grim Tutor, Vampiric Tutor.)

2) Card Advantage
Card advantage means playing creatures that give you an edge in gaining more card advantage. Examples of cards like this are Dimir Cutpurse, Dark Confidant, Ninja of Deep hours. This route tries to go into more control an eventually locking out the game for the opponent due to card advantage. They also include things such as an Erayo lock.

Since you are playing UW Fish, Meddling Mage also serves as a temporary card advantage card as it locks out one of your opponent's spells.

If you are going the first route, your creature base would most likely be
4 Isamaru
4 Savannah Lions
4 Meddling Mage
3-4 Jotun Grunt
1-2 Kataki

If you are going the second route( not much reccommended unless you are playing black too)*, your creature base would most likely be
4 Ninja of Deep Hours
4 Meddling Mage
4 Jotun Grunt
2 Kataki
3-4 Savannah Lions



*Black has Dark Confidant, Dimir Cutpurse, Hypnotic Specter, all of which are more card advantage based than what white offers.