mono blue: something new

[Juggernaut GO]

I have been fooling around with my own fish deck ever since I saw a mono blue deck at a tournament near boston.  But there are a lot of questions as to why you would play mono blue over U/W   U/B or the currently unpopular U/R.  I want this thread to ask the questions why people think certain builds of fish are better then others, and what versions have favorable matchups against the rest of the field.  Or why would you even play the deck in general?

One question to ask is does it really even matter what crappy creatures you run?  The whole goal of fish was originally just to stall your opponent from doing anything while he got his face beat in by 1/1's and you drew counters.  This has definitely seemed to changed in a year when fish was pwning tournaments left and right in 2004.  Has the concept of this deck archetype just gone far astray from what it originially was meant to do?

I made a mono blue list for fun at first then I just continued to win games with it. 

7 islands
2 flooded strands
3 polluted deltas
4 wastelands
1 strip mine
1 library of alexandria
3 ninja of the deep hours
2 magus of the unseen
2 rootwater thiefs
4 grayscaled gharial
4 flying men
2 waterfround bouncers

4 chalice of the void
4 force of will
1 time walk
1 ancestral
1 black lotus
1 mox sapphire
3 daze
1 echoing truth
4 curiosity
3 umezawa's jitte
2 pithing needle

this deck has answers to every prevalant type 1 deck out there today in the main board.  It draws a metric asston of cards, and the clock is increased slightly with the addition of jitte's.  Magus of the unseen is a hidden gem that no one ever played, and it singlehandedly will wreck stax, and force a gifts player to win the game via  tendrils or flamevault instead of colossus. 

I would like to hear from the resident fish players that browse the forum, tell me what is good, what is bad  what you would play, what version and what you think makes your deck the better choice.

[49 Cents]

The Gifts player can't use the FlameVault route: you simply steal it in response.

I think that UW is better then mono U. Jitte is cool and all but Null Rod is a friggin' house. Meddling Mage is a gamewinner against most Oath lists, and so is STP. The SB has many options (with the most important one being Seal), while the Mono U one hasn't. I haven't tested the new Meandeck list because I can't stand having a Lion in a serious Vintage deck, but from what I've heard that list is good as well. You can go ahead and beat with 1/1 Islandwalkers, but why do that when you can just beat with 2/1's and 2/2's? The mono U list seriously lacks power..

I'm disappointed not to see a Memnarch in your list

[Buttons]

If you're going with Mono-Blue, why not run Back to Basics?

You could acually still add in another color (black or white) with fetchlands, with 4 Back to Basics if you just put in a basic land or two of every color you wanna splash for.

[Imsomniac101]

One question to ask is does it really even matter what crappy creatures you run?  The whole goal of fish was originally just to stall your opponent from doing anything while he got his face beat in by 1/1's and you drew counters.  This has definitely seemed to changed in a year when fish was pwning tournaments left and right in 2004.  Has the concept of this deck archetype just gone far astray from what it originially was meant to do?

That hasn't changed at all. Just that the methods of achieving that goal are much more efficient now (ie more effecient creatures). Also, replace the word counters with locks and you'll get what fish is about.

Regarding your list:
 Why aren't you running Back to Basics? To me, that would be the only reason to go Mono U. Also, Greyscale??? 1 or 2 Serendib Efreets might not be out of place.

EDIT: damn it! Buttons beat me to it.

I have been fooling around with my own fish deck ever since I saw a mono blue deck at a tournament near boston.  But there are a lot of questions as to why you would play mono blue over U/W   U/B or the currently unpopular U/R.  I want this thread to ask the questions why people think certain builds of fish are better then others, and what versions have favorable matchups against the rest of the field.  Or why would you even play the deck in general?

This will definitely have some interesting results. Each build is different and achieves victory through different means. with UW it is the ability deal with large creatures (StP) and countering (Mage). With UB it is about discard, and the draw engine (confidant which is the best engine for an aggro-control deck). With UR it is the ability to deal with artifacts and a heavier mana denial aspect.

[Whatever Works]

Jitte > Null rod in this deck...

When stax runs null rod you know its time to just leave your null rods in the binder for a while. B2B does seem like a natural fit, but the deck seems to aggro to really want to tap out for it. However, it could fit well in the board. Its an interesting list, and interesting is always good.

Kyle

[pyr0ma5ta]

B2B is a total bomb in this deck.  It's far better than a a Serendib Efreet on turn 3.  Please play a 3 or 4of B2B

[MoxMonkey]

I think you have to many 1 Drops?  In my testing with 3 Ninjas I want at most 6 - 1 Drops your running 8.  Has this been better for you than me, or maybe put the 4th Ninja in since your going to have a 1 drop every hand.  Adding the 3rd Thieve and Bouncer might be better and maybe worth testing.  I think back to Basic is Sideboard unless your in chicago.