Magus of the Unseen in UR Fish?

[Thissa2]

I recently switched back from UG Fish to UR Fish after having a slight revelation that Magus of the Unseen was a bit better than Oxidize because it not only deals with but steals artifact fat, Crucibles, and other random artifacts. And because Old Man of the Sea gives Ur a good answer to Suq'Ata Firewalker. And because UG Fish lacks a good answer to Propaganda and Back to Basics like REB. This is my list, its a bit wierd but its been working well. I haven't been able to test vs Mono U yet, but I've tested against stax, artifact aggro, and slaver with a few matches against the mirror and its worked pretty well so far.

SB:  2 Rack and Ruin
SB:  2 Suq'Ata Firewalker
SB:  2 Misdirection
SB:  3 Red Elemental Blast
SB:  1 Crucible of Worlds
SB:  2 Energy Flux
SB:  2 Maze of Ith
SB:  1 Null Rod
        3 Flooded Strand
        4 Volcanic Island
        4 Wasteland
        1 Strip Mine
        3 Polluted Delta
        1 Mox Sapphire
        2 Island
        2 Faerie Conclave
        4 Mishra's Factory
        3 Null Rod
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        4 Curiosity
        4 Standstill
        4 Force of Will
        4 Spiketail Hatchling
        2 Daze
        2 Old Man of the Sea
        4 Cloud of Faeries
        1 Crucible of Worlds
        2 Magus of the Unseen
        4 Grim Lavamancer

I still need more testing as to whether Suq'Ata Firewalker will still dominate the mirror as it did with UG now that Old Man of the Sea is starting to be used. So far I haven't played anyone running it MD or SB, but I have a feeling I will soon.

But the main point is Magus of the Unseen. This guy is good. One situation that often comes up is where I steal a fattie at their beginning of combat and make it trade with a Juggernaut. 2 for 0s pwn. Stealing Crucibles is pretty nice too. Even if your opponent doesn't run too many artifacts, its still never completely dead, as it can steal a mox if you're attempting to manascrew your opponent or it can steal a powder keg and possibly destroy a Morphling (if you're lucky). I haven't tested vs monoU yet with this deck though, because I could only find one person using it and I got savagely owned (well, 1-2) a few times using UG Fish.

Anyway, please tell me what you think of Magus of the Unseen in UR Fish.

[Arvid]

How is Magus of the Unseen better than Goblin Vandal or Gorilla Shaman? I guess if you see a lot of Juggernauts in your meta it could, otherwise I would run Goblin Vandal instead.

[Daniel_112]

goblin vandal cost red mana, your volcanic is going to be wasted. Magus works very fine against fatty's and against smokestacks, its always usefull. Your turn 1 drop against shop should be a lavamancer to keep the welders of the board.

[Thissa2]

Magus of the Unseen, although inferior at taking care of moxen (which Null Rod already does), is better than Vandal or Mox Monkey for several reasons:

#1: Magus of the Unseen takes care of artifacts reliably through many situations. Vandal doesnt work if they have a blocker and Gorilla Shaman can't take out 2cc+ artifacts unless you have a lot of mana. Now, I know that if we are dealing with a Trinisphere or a Chalice of the Void, Magus of the Unseen lacks in potency. However, Shamans can't take care of those either and Goblin Vandal only works against those some of the time.

#2: Magus of the Unseen is good against Workshop Aggro, whereas Vandal and Monkey are not. Goblin Vandal won't get hits in that often when they can drop quick fat, and Mox Monkey is completely useless at taking out fat creatures. Magus is excellent at stealing and using Workshop Aggro's creatures against them. Magus can't really steal Triskelion unless you have Null Rod, but all of these creatures are equally unable to deal with Triskelion unless you have Null Rod. Basically, Magus is better there.

#3: Crucible of Worlds, one of the most powerful cards in the metagame as of right now, can really screw you over. If you have it, it can really screw your opponent over. Magus of the Unseen here acts as both an Oxidize and a Crucible of Worlds, taking the enormous advantage that comes with having a Crucible out. Goblin Vandal only destroys Crucible sometimes, and Mox Monkey doesnt even destroy it at all, unless you've managed to accumulate 7 mana.

[CrazyCarl]

How is Magus of the Unseen better than Goblin Vandal or Gorilla Shaman? I guess if you see a lot of Juggernauts in your meta it could, otherwise I would run Goblin Vandal instead.

"I'll activate Magus of the Unseen targetting your Darksteel Colossus".

"I'll activate Magus of the Unseen targetting your Mindslaver".

Magus is really good tech that kl0wn and leviat were playing a while back when Mask was all the rage.

[Cross]

I still need more testing as to whether Suq'Ata Firewalker will still dominate the mirror as it did with UG now that Old Man of the Sea is starting to be used. So far I haven't played anyone running it MD or SB, but I have a feeling I will soon.

It does, it's really a bomb against the mirror. I had two in my sideboard at the great barrinton tourney yesterday and I cruised through my mirror matchup postsideboard. There's really nothing fish can do about this card other then beat face with workshops (unless the run old man). The game goes from being who can drop the lavamancer first to who can drop the firewalker, which, in  this particular tourney my opponent came unprepared without one. THe other good thing about the firewalker is that it blue and if your volcs are wasted you still have a chance to play this.

[kuwv]

Umm...

[card]Magus of the Unseen[/card]
creature - wizard
, : Untap target artifact an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. If it's an artifact creature, it gains haste until end of turn. When you lose control of the artifact, tap it.  1/1

It's at least worth a couple of slots in the side against workshop decks, but it doesn't really add anything against combo or control matchups.

Why is [card]Old Man of the Sea[/card] in here. Mirror, 4CC, or welder control?

[Raven Fire]

Shamans can't take care of those either

I believe one of the original reasons for including Shamans in Gay/R is because they can indeed eat Chalices.  I would main deck at least one.  I like Magus and Old Man, but I'm not yet sold on their maindeck positions.

[Thissa2]

@RavenFire:

Derf. Ya. Whoops.

@kuwv:

Well, vs Belcher combo, it's pretty damn good. Also, most 4cc decks I've played have been running Crucible of Worlds... this is a pretty good way to combat it. The only pro Oxidize has over the Magus is that Magus can be StPed/Fired/Etc'd, but there is no red Oxidize and Magus's strength vs Workshops more than makes up for that imo.

[wuaffiliate]

yeah i used to play magus in mono u fish, and i played it in Ur fish at the last waterbury. it came in handy a few times when i wanted to borrow a memnarch .

shes really solid, but i would rather play with viashino heretic right now after testing both extensively.