Leyline upgraded fish

[Guli]

Strong, cute but rather slow? Got the answers in your hand but can't use them to interact on turn 0 or turn 1? I believe dedicating some slots in your deck can give fish the necessary acceleration or tempo or whatever you want to call it. It will get things on line faster and you will be able to react much much smoother and earlier.

Still the most fundamental approach of thinking in terms of walking counter spells, walking time walks, walking demonic tutors, and so on, stays in the designs I create. This means that Gaddock Teeg is a Force of Will on legs. No its not, I know it is not, but the concept is there and it works as long as the Teeg stays on the board.

Leyline of Anticipation

Aether Vial decks have been around and will most likely be in the future but it just doesn't cut it for some people. Sure it is playable and solid but sometimes it just does not cut it against the power especially speed wise.
It is also hard to make vial useful when top decked. I believe that, if these kind of strong turn 1 plays can be pitched when top decked later on they become much more stronger. And if the thing you are pitching it for can also FEED itself on almost all the other cards in your deck AS WELL then you got your little circle of synergy. That would not be enough of course but it is the basic start of the fundamentals of your deck.

Chrome Mox

Null Rod is a card you do want, but you want it on LEGS. You want to create the kind of hosing a Null Rod creates with a creature. This means you have to look at the match ups were you need Null Rod and find the creatures that do AS WELL against those decks. Maximizing your 'everything walks' principal will eventually stack up as a plus next to the other advantages you are trying to create. The approach is different, you want to move forward, you want acceleration and cast a creature on turn 0 or turn 1. Then you want to move to the second stage of the game were you go find a silver bullet or cast it right away if you have it. You need cards, tutors and most importantly acceleration to do all this. Null Rod would get in the way of this game plan. Chrome mox has the ability to eat any Leyline while giving you acceleration. But chrome mox is also able to eat your silver bullets to give your other silver bullets the chance to get in play faster. The disadvantage is the card loss, but as I pointed out earlier, you can't cast down multiple spells anyway with fish, you just need to cast the RIGHT ones as soon as possible. With a solid draw engine your hand size will get back up anyway.

Dark Confidant/Squee, Goblin Nabob

Both effective in generating card advantage without having drain a lot of your mana or resources.

Survival of the fittest/Fauna Shaman

The power to get your silver bullets in the right zone (hand) is critical and extremely powerful with the Leylines.

These are my thoughts before my attempt to design a deck with Leylines (I am not sure about Leyline of Lifeforce) and utility creatures. The idea is simple but also complex. Turn 0 Dark confidant becomes possible with Leyline of Anticipation. You will have 3 mana on turn 1, an active Dark Confidant and 4 cards. Your hand size would be somewhat lower than usual but if that Dark Confidant sticks to turn 2 this is really no problem. It is like a HUGE time walk.

The goals of this thread are
- To inspire me further, so I can start my new design
- To inspire other players so they can also, if they wish, attempt a new design
- To create an interesting avenue of thoughts about the Leylines specifically used in creature decks
- To deliver an interesting read for those who like these creative lines of thinking

[LotusHead]

If you want excess blue Leylines to be pitchable to stuff, why not pitch it to that unsummon pitchspell (from Timespiral maybe?)
The only thing it doesn't hit is Inkwell Leviathon.
Also Misdirection.

[Tobi]

If you want excess blue Leylines to be pitchable to stuff, why not pitch it to that unsummon pitchspell (from Timespiral maybe?)
The only thing it doesn't hit is Inkwell Leviathon.
Also Misdirection.

--> Snapback
Don't think that is good enough, but Misdirection seems fine.

I think the best hate creature mix is found in green and white creatures. Especially Qasali does most of the things you want Null Rod to do. Next color would be red, adding Groilla Shaman und Tin Street Hooligan.
So if, you want to have Null Rod on legs, your deck would be GWR.

But with Leyline and pitchcards you are left with blue, and Chrome Mox says "don't play too many colors". So you will probably end up with an UGW shell.

Leyline and pitchcards also spell card disadvantage, which means you will need a strong card drawing engine. Bazaar/Squee is strong, but has few synergy with Leyline and pitchcards. Confidant is not an option because you don't want more than 3 colors.
Possible solutions:
- Cold-Eyed Selkie
- Mystic Remora
- Heartwood Storyteller
(Just throwing those out here without elaborating on advantages/disadvatages.)

[Guli]

Null Rod is an option. If it doesn't interfere with the Leyline of Anticipation and Survival/Fauna engine.

Survival is a draw engine on its own with Squee, but Bazaar does give you the ability to cycle all the way. My concern is that trying to combine them will make it hard to find a working game plan.

The cool thing about find (survival/fauna) and instantly cast (leyline of anticipation) is that you gain a lot reaction capability making it worth the effort because of the tempo play. The role you are taking up is control though, not beat down. Of course we are not going to ignore that the spells you cast do have the ability to attack and lower their life total.

Casting down a Leyline should not be the way to go. Still the question remains, does the deck want the ability to cast down a Leyline? Is blue mana needed? Blue opens up a lot of interesting doors as well. Wow this is getting very complex...

If you are going to use creature that already have flash then their is no point in playing Leyline of Anticipation. But you also want creatures that do something when they hit the board AND when their spell or activation is on the stack. Canonist can be great against a ritual, True Believer can stop tendrils, slaver, duress, belcher, oath, and so on... Tajuru Preserver is a great way to fight against smokestack. Cursecatcher is cute as well. Qasali can be a monster answer but it does require a lot of mana. Plaxmanta already has flash but is still a great way to keep your things alive.

Survival decks use Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Combined with Survival/Fauna you can use things like Plaxmanta and Qasali all day long given you have the mana.

[Guli]

// Mana
    4  Misty Rainforest
    3  Tropical Island
    1  Island
    1  Forest
    3  Underground Sea
    1  Polluted Delta
    1  Black Lotus
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Sapphire
    1  Mox Jet
   

// Creatures
    4  Cursecatcher
    2  Thada Adel, Acquisitor
    3  Trygon Predator
    4  Dark Confidant
    4  Tarmogoyf

// Disruption
    3  Nature's Claim
    4  Force of Will
    4  Cabal Therapy
    4  Null Rod
    4  Spell Pierce

// Goodies
    4  Leyline of Anticipation
    1  Ancestral Recall
    1  Time Walk
    1  Demonic Tutor

// Sideboard

[Tobi]

Hm. The only cards I see that really take advantage of the Leyline are Cursecathcer and Cabal Therapy.

Of course it is nice to play a Confidant EOT, but I was hoping for a more disruptive use of the Leyline effect. Like for example True Believer that can be played in response to a Gifts or Tendrils, or something like that.

[Guli]

Working on that too Tobi, but LoAnt gives so many options and different kinds of synergy... I noticed while testing the card that you only need to drop land and then say pass. All the rest can be played anyway. That not only makes your sorcery speed spells better but it also upgrades your interactive instant spells, or your counters. like spell pierce. Also note that you need to have a working deck BESIDES the leyline to not rely on it too much. BUG ROD Fish is a working pile and leyline makes it stronger imo.

The canonist/believer aproach needs time, not going to make a half post about it. I did post this list because I know it works, it simply works... But that is too easy for me/ no challenge

[nineisnoone]

Hm. The only cards I see that really take advantage of the Leyline are Cursecathcer and Cabal Therapy.

Of course it is nice to play a Confidant EOT, but I was hoping for a more disruptive use of the Leyline effect. Like for example True Believer that can be played in response to a Gifts or Tendrils, or something like that.

Tidehollow Sculler would be decent too.  

The best creature oriented deck that would want it imo would be Elves, but I don't think they could afford the card slots.  Maybe Bomberman or Painter?  I think you need a combo finish just a fish-style creature deck isn't going to get enough bang for the buck.  

MMMmmm.... Bomberman....

[Guli]

Mesmeric Fiend also works if you don't wanna go white.

[BruiZar]

fyi Tidehollow sculler doesn´t imprint under Chrome Mox should you go that route