First, a little background before the actual post. This is the post that I am required to make upon becoming a full member of TMD. However, when I received full membership, I was not wanting to post my decklist for the world to see right before a major tournament (SCG Richmond, September). Hence, I am making this post now after some slight nudging from Jacob Orlove. This analysis, therefore, does not take Ravnica into account in its build or in the builds of the decks it may face. However, I still feel like the general analysis should be useful. Finally, if you are interested, you can find my tournament report regarding how this deck fared here (which is probably more thorough than this post regarding the deck):
http://www.starcitygames.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=469488#469488Enjoy!
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Fish seems to have fallen out of power as of late, making few T8 appearances at recent major tournaments. However, I feel that this may be the result of fundamental flaws in deck design. With some small adjustments and a lot practice, I believe that many players will be able to wield fish as a menace for all of their opponents.
Fish most appeals to me because of its ability to potentially beat most any opponent. The idea of having matchups that I simply cannot win is not appealing to me. Of course, ideally, the deck that I would run would be able to consistently beat all opponents and have no bad matchups, but I will have to be content to run fish. Note that I am not running fish out of any desire to run a budget deck or to do something “different�; I genuinely feel that this deck is very solid if built properly and piloted correctly. In short, I feel that I can win with fish.
First, I have to give credit where credit it due. Of note is Jason Zheng’s UW fish build that he ran to win Waterbury on May 8, 2005
UW Fish
Jason Zheng
1st, Waterbury 5-8-05
Maindeck:
4 Flying Men
4 Icatian Javelineers
4 Meddling Mage
4 Ninja Of The Deep Hours
4 Standstill
3 Null Rod
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Daze
4 Force Of Will
1 Misdirection
2 Stifle
3 Swords To Plowshares
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Strip Mine
4 Tundra
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
3 Arcane Laboratory
2 Energy Flux
1 Chain Of Vapor
3 Disenchant
1 Echoing Truth
3 Orim's Chant
1 Rushing River
1 Swords To Plowshares
When I was first getting back into Vintage after taking a semester off, this was the deck that caught my eye. After toying around with Chalice builds of fish for a bit, I just felt like Vial + Chalice was not enough to ultimately win the tough matchups while not losing the scrubby matchups. The fact of Chalice practically being a dead draw while on the draw was very unattractive to me. Couple this with how naked my creatures felt in the absence of Null Rod with Triskelion and Jitte running around, I felt that Null Rod was a certain inclusion for any fish deck that was going to win a tournament. Couple this with the fact that many decks nowadays are being built with the idea that Null Rod is on the decline and it seems like a very strong choice. So strong, in fact, that I decided to up my maindeck count to the full four rather than the traditional three. I either wanted Null Rod or I didn’t, and I felt that not running the fourth was really hurting my matchups against the decks I was likely to face in the T8’s. If I could sure up game one against my more likely opponents, then I am more likely to do well at the tournament. Finally, running four Null Rods over the four Chalice and four Vial frees up four slots for more threats and utility, something that was generally not true with redundant Chalices and Vials. While it may be true that redundant Null Rods are not the best thing in the world, I felt that the added benefit of drawing Null Rod more often far exceeded the drawback of getting more often when I didn’t need it (both when it was a redundant draw or when it was ineffective to an absence of opposing activated artifacts).
One final note, while Vial seems to be “good,� it is noticeably absent from recent T8’s in spite of this. If it is so good, why is it not making it to the final tables? While admittedly Null Rod is not around either, I feel that this is more of the result of people not running it rather than it not being good.
Next I had to find a creature-base that I was happy with. The initial base looked pretty strong to begin with, but I decided to try to make it better anyway. After testing the deck a few times, I had the strange urge to cut Mishra’s Factory because I felt like it clogged the manabase with too much colorless mana. After cutting Factory for an Island and Voidmage Prodigy x3 or Spiketail Hatchling x3, I ultimately decided that Factory was a necessary evil. I have never really liked Voidmage, but felt that in this deck it might be the perfect fit. By drawing so many cards, I wanted a way to seal the match before the actually kill and I felt like Voidmage might be it. Unfortunately, after much testing, I decided that he was too much of a mana whore to run. Oh, and the fact that Meddling Mage is also a wizard is pure coincidence; it wasn’t a factor in deciding whether to run Voidmage or not. I’ve always been a fan of Spiketail, especially when running Daze, but the deck wanted more damage for two mana. While it’s nice to have the uncounterable Daze, it often was coming down too late to matter. I needed the counter on my opponents’ turns one and two, often too late for Spiketail to see play. Beyond this, I felt like four Ninjas was too many. Oftentimes I would have Ninjas clogging my hand with no way to play them. Three seemed like the right choice.
Finally there is the control-base. I tried all kinds of different combinations, but ultimately came up with what I have in the decklist below. Swords is so strong against so many popular decks (and unpopular decks) that running it fewer than a three-of seemed folly. I’ve always viewed Misdirection as a personal choice, in that it is good, but against a number of matchups it is useless or close to it. I ended up putting Mystical Tutor in this spot, which has been a staple of mine in fish for the last two years. I’ve always liked the ability to tutor in response to a draw, potentially setting up unexpected wins with Time Walk (especially when that extra turn means two, three, or even four extra cards!). Beyond this, it also fetches Swords, Disenchant, Force, Echoing Truth, Blue Elemental Blast, Ancestral Recall, and whatever else I need. It is just too much utility not to run.
Stifle, while a good choice, I felt was too weak against the aggressive matchups to run. Fish must be able to win the matches against the “bad decks� so that it is able to get to the matches involving “good decks� where fish can shine. Therefore, something of more general utility, Echoing Truth, was added. I personally hate 1-of’s, but I just could not find anything else that I would cut and be satisfied with. I would run a second if I would find something appropriate to cut.
Crucible of Worlds was added to the deck for a couple of reasons. First, the Stax matchup was pretty bad. While Swords + Javelineers was
very strong when dealing with Welders, an untimely Crucible often meant game over for me. While considering a number of things, I just decided that the best answer to Crucible was in fact Crucible. Combine that with its general utility with Wasteland and Strip Mine AND the potential to get a lockdown when Null Rod is also around and it became an acceptable choice.
The manabase kind of fell in place from there. I found myself wanting white mana oftentimes, so one basic Plains had to be added to the manabase. I have never doubted that decision, often finding myself running on my three basic lands (two Islands and one Plains) and nothing else with an opponent having useless Wastelands just on the other side of the table. I ended up cutting Mox Pearl because I added the Plains and the deck wanted to try to find room for Mishra’s Factory. While Pearl was nice, it was hardly essential to the build.
One last thing of note was my decision to cut Standstill for Curiosity. Now don’t get me wrong, Standstill and I go WAY back. Not to mention that a deck running Ninja AND Mishra’s Factory seems like it would just scream to have Standstill. However, Standstill just was not doing what I wanted it to do in this deck. The matches where Standstill “worked� were the ones where I was ahead when Standstill resolved. I probably would have won those matches had I had Curiosity instead of Standstill. On the other hand, the matches I was losing were not being helped by Standstill in the least. Curiosity was something that I could very easily and at worst cantrip (usually) in the event that things started going wrong. Couple this with it’s ability to naturally fill out the mana curve on turns two and three, and it seems like a very good choice. Combine it with Ninja, and that is a ton of card drawing, putting more and more pressure on your opponent as you draw into more counters and more control elements. Beyond this, you can replace your creatures that get destroyed by playing new ones. You can even race an opponent who has resolved a rather large man if you draw enough cards fast enough.
And so, I give you my build of UW fish:
4 Flying Men
4 Icatian Javelineers
4 Meddling Mage
3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Curiosity
4 Null Rod
2 Crucible of Worlds
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
1 Echoing Truth
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
2 Island
1 Plains
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Mishra’s Factory
Honestly, I find it ironic that after so much testing and toying and fiddling that my final decklist should end up so similar to the original decklist. I can in no way claim this deck to be my own, but at the same time I feel like these very subtle differences can give the deck that very slight edge it needs in order to compete. The sideboard, as usual, is up to your metagame and personal preference and I won’t list it here. I could discuss potentially sideboarding strategies at a later time, although most of these have been discussed at length in other fish threads both recent and long from long ago.
I feel that fish has the potential to be a very strong deck, and while you can just pick it up and do well (especially because the deck is pretty forgiving, something somewhat important in my deck selection), with experience this deck can become a monster. Knowing the right Mage calls, when to use Javelineers, which hands to mulligan, and so forth and so on can only be learned through experience. I hope I have been helpful and I can elaborate further on my choices if you wish. This turned into more of a story of the explanation of the evolution of the deck (while subtle) than explanations for card choices, but I feel like the goal has been achieved regardless.
