URBana fish vs. UW fish vs BWU fish

[kurtkeoki]

I'm not much of a vintage player, as my much maligned Gifts thread proves, and I don't have a lot of time to devote to playtesting vintage. Because of that, how do these three fish decks compare? All 3 have done fine, but they have many different cards. I can see the manabase of the UW is very nice, the UWB (top 8 list from worlds) seems to have the best card power, and the URBana seems to have the best disruption. Which of these 3 decks do the best in an open field? Also, which might be best for a casual vintage player that doesn't know the ins and outs of the format? Or should I just play Oath? I realize there is no substitute for playtesting, and I have done some of that, but there is a tourney tommorow which I thought was a week away and that I'm going to play at. Any thoughts on these fish decks would be much appreciated, thanks
Kurt Fruth

[Bram]

I'm not much of a vintage player, as my much maligned Gifts thread proves, and I don't have a lot of time to devote to playtesting vintage.

Then let's move this to Vintage Improvement, shall we?

[Dxfiler]

Warning: I may be slightly biased :p

I think in an open field, UW fish is the best option.  It lacks the centered hate cards of the other two decks, like pyroblast or duress, but it has cards good in almost every match. 

If you're gunning for a very specific field, such as combo heavy, I like URBana fish.

BUW is my least favorite of the three because I don't particularly like Aether Vial right now, but I think it's the easiest of the 3 decks to play.  There just aren't that many choices, the toughest being what to put out from a vial.  Just don't forget to place counters on it.  :p

So basically, all 3 have perks.  I don't think one is a vastly better choice than the other.  Personally I enjoy UW the most.  Shocking, I know.  It's about as consistent as fish can get, but the choices are plentiful (particularly with brainstorm/jotun grunt) and you can't just pick up and play the deck.  What version you go with depends entirely on how much time you plan to dedicate to the deck. 

Based on the info you gave me about yourself, I'd say UBW fish is probably the best starting option of the three. 

- Dave Feinstein 

[ErkBek]

I agree with everything that Dave said. I don't have any experience with UWb vial fish, so I'll just compare UW vs. URBana.

Gifts: URBana > UW
Slaver: URBana < UW
Pitch Long: URBana < UW (URB does have a really strong game vs. combo, but UW's is prob a little better)
Oath: URBana < UW
Aggro/Fish: URBana > UW
Bomberman: URBana > UW
Stax: URBana < UW
Ichorid: URBana > UW (this matchup sucks, but I've managed to be 4-1 for matches in tourney play vs. ichorid)

Again these matchups are for competent pilots.

[wethepeople]

If you say you are playing Casual Vintage, I have found that Oath is the best choice. If your meta is more Aggro than Control, you can really take advantage of that by playing Oath of Druids. All you need to do is resolve Oath and you basically win the game, so a meta consisting of little disruption would be an easy win. I suggest using a list similar to team ICBM's because the creature base is by far the fastest, and can really only be stopped by Swords to Plowshares.

Now I may very well be thinking of a different kind of Casual scene, but if this is so, I think that Oath is the best choice for your situation. Fish is best when played in a metagame that fits your list, but I dont think it would be the best choice versus a Casual environment.

Just to clear things up, I ask that you specify the decks that you expect to see the best you can, this really is important before deciding which list you play. Now I may have completely misunderstood your definition of Casual Vintage, so dont decide just yet, but I personally think that Oath sounds best, even if you have no idea what so ever what you're up against.

[coyoteuglly]

Personally I say UBW Fish without Vial... but I'm baised cause I won a Pearl with it.