[Deck] Tropical Fish

[Raven Fire]

Dryad is, IMHO, simply an undercosted fattie (that doesn't even start out fat).  That's not what Fish decks need to succeed.  If it was, we'd all have been playing with Serendib Efreets before splashes were added to Fish decks.  (hey, at least the Efreet has evasion...)

[Razvan]

Wu... how is River Boa any harder to remove for control than Quirion Dryad?

Swords removes both.

Fire/Ice really won't affect the dryad past turn 1/2, since it will grow to at least a 3/3 in short order.

Blocking... how fast can an Angel come down?

Nev's Disk is one way, but that only really is in Landstill? There's very few other global removal that will skip the Dryad. Powder Keg, true.

The unblockable aspect is trully the great aspect of River Boa, but the decks that it is good against don't run too many creatures anyhow.

The 2 places where it would matter is the landstill (mirror, of sorts), and Workshop decks. In the landstill matchup, Boa is a lot better, agreed. As for Workshop, they are both REALLY annoying.

I think Dryad has a lot of potential to actually be a faster clock. I know fish is all about tempo, but you would be suprised how fast this thing can grow, and can usually be made into a 3/3 or 4/4 under standstill, which is a much faster clock than Boa.

It has merit, at least, I think so.

[wuaffiliate]

Fish does not play like GAT, Dryad doesn't get big very quickly, that leaves it vulnerable for a long time. When i played with dryads, it made me want to overextend to make it fat. All of that investment goes down the tubes when it's removed. That can be a huge tempo loss, there is no reason to risk that.

There is no validity in saying boas is just as easy to remove, we all know that is untrue. Dryad dies to nearly all targeted removal, it dies to fat in combat, if you cant cast 2 other spells quickly it dies to fire. It dies to most burn spells, remember fork is now unrestricted, there will be much more burn being played. Also as you said it dies to Disk and Keg. In my experience boas is very difficult to remove.

Call of the Herd is fat, it's card advantage, and there is no investment involved. You dont need to wait for it to get big, nor start casting spells you should not be to make it deal more damage. It doesn't die to Fire/Ice, and it's incredible in combat.

Dryad doesn't upon improve anything, it's of no use. Why not add it to FCG since you cast so many red spells.

[Razvan]

Fish does not play like GAT, Dryad doesn't get big very quickly, that leaves it vulnerable for a long time. When i played with dryads, it made me want to overextend to make it fat. All of that investment goes down the tubes when it's removed. That can be a huge tempo loss, there is no reason to risk that.

Cloud of Faeries, Curiousity, Standstill, Daze and Force of Will, which get cast fast and furiously, will all make it bigger, and it is not overextending. I have rarely seen Fish hold back spells anyhow... so many 2nd turn openings have it drop all Clouds and at least one more spell.

There is no validity in saying boas is just as easy to remove, we all know that is untrue. Dryad dies to nearly all targeted removal, it dies to fat in combat, if you cant cast 2 other spells quickly it dies to fire. It dies to most burn spells, remember fork is now unrestricted, there will be much more burn being played. Also as you said it dies to Disk and Keg. In my experience boas is very difficult to remove.

No, I don't think we all know that. First of all, a first turn Boa dies just as easily, and Fish taps out more than any other deck anyhow. Keeping mana open to regenerate, is risky, especially if you rely on having it. A random Ice or Waste effect will leave it just as dead. The ability of the Dryad to grow huge while playing your deck in the background, that sounds more like tempo, anyhow.

Burn marshalls through fish regardless, so I don't think there's much point in worrying about that. I don't think they will bother with killing your creatures anyhow, unless they can fire 2 of them at once, and the fact that the Dryad is a quicker clock is a great boon. Any deck that starts with a turn 1 Chain Lightning to the head doesn't worry about a 2/1 islandwalker anyhow, it will get past it.

The only other targetted spell (other than the burn deck arsenal) that matters is Swords to Plowshares, and that kills both.

Disk and Keg are the only 2 concerns, and sometimes, Stifle and counterspells work wonders. Disk is too slow anyhow, unless you walk into a Drain, and having stifles as Time Walk, Dazes and Spiketails... I think Disk is not a big concern.

Can't win them all anyhow.

Call of the Herd is fat, it's card advantage, and there is no investment involved. You dont need to wait for it to get big, nor start casting spells you should not be to make it deal more damage. It doesn't die to Fire/Ice, and it's incredible in combat.

I have yet to see Fish flashback Call of the Herd. I am not saying it will never happen, I have not seen it happen. The possibility of Card Advantage is not worth much, unless it actually happens. Braingeyser's awesome, if it would actually be used.

On the side, Echoing Truth is widely played, and can really mess up your Call of the Herd idea. That's not a reason to choose anything else, but if you talk possible card advantage, here it is.

[Shikari]

Hiya...I would think that Dryads should be included in the deck. This is because Tropical Fish has many low casting cost spells that can boost the Dryad's P/T rapidly. Also the disruption caused by the deck will hinder the opponent's ability to successfully remove the Dryad as a threat. The Dryad also packs a much needed punch which sometimes Fish decks need to force their way through to win the game.

However, Boas, undoubtly are more 'powerful' than the Dryad due to their Island-Walk and the ability to regenerate.  

I would say that we should use Boas as a primary creature and afew Dryads as a 'support/back-up' plan.

[Raven Fire]

I would say that we should use Boas as a primary creature and afew Dryads as a 'support/back-up' plan.

That sounds nice, but what are you going to cut to make room for the Dryads?  While Fish decklists have some flexibility, do you see anything that can be removed to make room for the Dryads?

[leviat]

[card]Quirion Dryad[/card] vs [card]River Boa[/card]

Just want to throw in my two cents here. In any typical deck, I would argue in favor of Wu and say that River Boa has a slight edge over Dryad because of it's evasion and regenerating.

However, in a Fish-like deck that's all about attrition and tempo, I just don't see how the River Boa can really shine here. First, the fact that Fish is designed to attack your opponents manabase reduces the effectiveness of a Boa's evasion. This point, combined with the fact that most fish decks will be tapping out to power manlands, and considering that green is not a primary color in an already stretched manabase, greatly reduces Boas second ability of being able to regenerate. (Which also concludes why fish uses free (pitch) counters).

So anyways, on this particular debate, I do believe that the Dryad is a superior creature for this deck.

However, looking at other choices listed, I would be curious to know just how useful Fastbond and Regrowth are. Regrowth seems to bulky for a deck like this and Fastbond feels like a win more card. I also question using [card]Rootwater Thief[/card]. Just how useful is his ability at helping you win the game (or comeback from a losing position)?

[TJ-Whoopy]

It strikes me that if you are all so impressed about how much ass the dryad kicks you may consider try a deck like GaT that actually abuses the supreme coolness of it's dryads instead of a crippled fish build that attempts to butt fuck it's dryad to victory while pissing away it's hand loosing tempo and resource advantage trying to make it's little dude huge

[j]

So the regeneration isn't very useful early on. Islandwalk, however, is insane especially when you are not running red for mancers (which you should).