U/R Fish: Because somebody had to try to bring it back.

[Zeke]

I loved U/R Fish.  It was, without a doubt, one of the most fun decks that I had played in quite a long time.  However, the thing that made it the most fun was after I made my own changes to it.  Namely, removing horrible cards like Voidmage Prodigy.  I also experimented with Lavamancer-ish cards for the deck, namely Razorfin Hunter and Suq’Ata Firewalker.

With the resurgence of Fish decks, I’ve found that most of the creatures would be quite vulnerable to the removal that is found in U/R Fish.  U/W would be decimated, while mongrel would become less deadly due to all the pumps that would need to be used in order to keep in on the field (though it is still quite a problem…)

After kicking around ideas in my head a few times, here is a rough list that I’ve come up with.

3 Spiketail Hatchling
2 Flying Man
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Razorfin Hunter

4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
3 Curiosity
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

4 Aether Vial
4 Chalice of the Void

4 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mountain
3 Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus

Many of you will notice the absence of the PhidNinja, but seeing as how over half the creatures in the deck don’t attack, he isn’t as great as normally.  Also, with the fact that it says “deals damage to an opponent” and not combat damage, I’ve elected to go with Curiosity to support Standstill as a draw engine. 

In order to try to maximize Aether Vial, I’ve kept all the creatures in the 1 and 2 drop, which is why Razorfin Hunter is chosen over cards like Suq’Ata or any other pinger.

The 3 Spiketail Hatchling and 2 Flying Men are used more or less out of lack of thought for any other creature.

After some initial testing, Aether Vial seems rather…unnecessary in the deck, though it does seem quite good still.  I think that the current creature set cannot abuse Vial as the deck should, so there are two places to go with the deck.

U/R Phish (No Vial)

2 Suq’Ata Firewalker
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Razorfin Hunter

4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
4 Curiosity
2 Fire/Ice
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

4 Chalice of the Void

4 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mountain
3 Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus

U/R Phish (With Vial)

3 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Gilded Drake
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Razorfin Hunter

4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
3 Curiosity
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

4 Aether Vial
4 Chalice of the Void

4 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mountain
3 Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus

The Vial-less version can increase it’s creature-base away from only 2 kinds of drops, and thus Suq’Ata gets an inclusion into the deck.  Curiosity also goes to a 4-of, due to the increased amount of “pingers” in the deck.  Fire/Ice also makes a maindeck introduction, just because I think the card is great.  It is removal that can also handle oath (tap your guy) and replaces itself in that form.

The version with Vial borrows a trick from the U/W deck from Extended.  You can use Gilded Drake to steal a creature, then bounce the Drake back to your hand.  With Vial, this can be done at instant speed, not given your opponent a chance to use the creature they play, nor a chance to use the Drake.  It can also throw it out as a surprise blocker.  With 5/3-ish decks and Oath rising in popularity in it’s various forms, stealing an opponent’s creature permanently without having to protect another creature at the same time seems rather strong (as opposed to SeaSinger, which dies to Triskelion and Ancient Hydra).

A lot of people are fearing Old Man of the Sea, in which I like to have a special Sideboard card for it.  It’s a little old friend of the Red Mage…Lightning Bolt.  How convenient that Old Man has 3 toughness (though a pinger + fire/ice works just as well…and with the increased amount of pingers in the deck it may be unnecessary for Lightning Bolt, but having to only rely on 1 card is great).  Lightning Bolt also combines with a single pinger to take care of Platinum Angel.

Truthfully, the only reason I am working on this deck is because I hate U/W fish with an unbridled passion, though I am not quite sure why.  Perhaps U/R has become a “pet deck”, perhaps it’s because I lost to it once when I refused to draw more than 2 lands for an entire match.  Either way, comments, suggestions, and questions are all appreciated.

[Cross]

You fail to mention Jitte at all and I think this is a huge mistake. Jitte is really incredibly game breaking. It's way better removal than the pingers in the deck, and it's faster than you think it is.

[Nantuko Rice]

i think chalice + shamana do a good job killing your opponent's moxes

i think this is a good metagame choice if your meta is heavy with UW Fish

i think this is a bad metagame choice if your meta is heavy with combo

UW Fish was primarily built to beat combo heavy metagames

Gilded drake helps beat oath but it doesnt help to beat other combo does it?

what happens when you drake a dragon?

[absolute]

What are this decks favorable matchups? So far it seems that this isn't aimed at defeating a 'certain' existing archetype, and therefore isn't really all that affective. The presence of the lotus is something that is a concern as well, as one of your biggest problem decks runs welder, and you have no real need to be explosive with this deck (also understanding you will not likely see lotus early in the game a great deal of the time).

Another issue is why you feel fire/ice was superior to improving your counterbase with annuls or dazes that would greatly improve your chances of resisting an opponent from resolving an oath or workshop fatty. The issues you have addressed are against u/w fish and workshop/control slaver variants. I would assume these are the decks your meta consists of, and I am interested in what sideboarding options you have considered to increase your chances.

This deck will presumably have major issues with oath if the oath player is playing the latest variants with fewer moxen against your plan to drop chalice against them to slow them down (as you would also be crippled by resolving chalice for 2 so it would serve little purpose). Granted the deck is designed to beat aggro or creature based decks...

Overall the deck isn't bad, but knowing it's weaknesses you should find more universal answers to the problem matchups. 2 guilded drakes will not beat Oath knowing you are not likely to draw it, and a lightning bolt is a poor answer to weldable platz.

Best wishes with the deck!

[the boogie man]

concerning the chalices and the aether vials, it doesn't seem necessary at all, and in my own opinion the null rod should be maindecked again. the reason that the green fish ran jitten was because green and blue have no removal, but the blue red fish has plenty, and I think that null rod is objectively more powerful. that does not exclude running chalice if you really want to, but I think that this is the reason that the U\W fish ran rods in place of chalice.

[Zeke]

The reason I liked Fire/Ice was mostly because of Ice, so that I could tap down fat until I get something to remove it.  Of course, the only fat removal I have is Waterfront Bouncer and Gilded Drake.  If I did replace it with anything, it would probably not be Daze, as without Spiketail  don't think it's as effective.  Possibly MisD or stifle?