WTF /r

[Duncan]

I always liked fish style decks and after some tinkering i've created my own kind of deck. It combines both the maddness parts of normal WTF and the creature hate from U/R Fish. I haven't thought of a proper name (I also don't know whether it deserves one or not, cause it looks like other fish decks) so I just called it WTF /r. Let's take a look at the list:

WTF /r

Mana:
1#Strip Mine
4#Wasteland
3#Volcanic Island
3#Tropical Island
3#Flooded Strand
2#Polluted Delta
4#Mishra’s Factory
2#Island
1#Mox Emerald

Disruption/Draw:
4#Force of Will
4#Standstill
4#Careful Study
2#Fire/Ice
3#Daze

Creatures:
4#Wild Mongrel
4#Basking Rootwalla
4#Grim Lavamancer
3#Ninja of the Deep Hours
2#Gorilla Shaman

Other:
2#Umezawa's Jitte
1#Crucible of Worlds

//Sideboard
3#Chalice of the Void
1#Fire/Ice
3#Energy Flux
2#Arcane Laboratory
2#Naturalize
3#Chill
1#Crucible of Worlds

I've added the red part of the deck, because my meta has lots of creature based decks and a chalice for 1 or 2 hurts a lot. The weakest point of this deck is the mana base. It suffers greatly from land destruction, but an early crucible can help you overcome the problem.

I brought this deck to a local tourney: Castricum (in the Netherlands). I managed to get 15 points out of 6 matches 
Round 1: WB control, 2-0
Round 2: UW control, 2-0
Round 3: FCG, 2-0
Round 4: Powered Ravager Stax, 2-0
Round 5: Powered Doomsday: 2-0
Round 6: Powered Uba Stax: 0-2
I ended up second behind the Uba Stax player who also had 15 points.

Back then, the list was a little different, i already made the following changes:
-2 Voidmage Prodigy
-2 Deep Analysis
-2 Arrogant Wurm
+3 Ninja of the Deep Hours (Better carddraw than DA; won't cost you life and has great synergy with Mongrel + Rootwalla)
+1 Mox Emerald (My first power, why not add it?)
+2 Gorilla Shaman (Kills moxen and evil chalices)

The new list worked even better in my opinion, but I feel it can be made much better. Right now i am thinking of the following things and i would like you to help me:
- Brainstorm or Careful Study. Since I removed DA and the arrogant wurm, Study isn't as useful as it used to be but it still feeds the lavamancer, helps you cast rootwalla without green mana and cycles through your deck.
- My sideboard needs to be updated. I run mox monkeys and i won't put a chalice for 1 or 2 on the board myself. Therefore i'm thinking of something instead of the chalices. Possible cards that have come into my mind: Goblin Vandal, Pyroblast, Arcane Laboratory, Null Rod.
Fire/Ice also doesn't seem as useful as i thought it would be.
- How can I make my manabase better against cards like wasteland (and blood moon/back to basics; although i haven't seen them around for a while)

Please don't give me tips like add power. I'm trying my best to get more but until then i need to play it without.
Thank you,
Duncan

[neenjafus]

if you aren't running aether vial, you should really run null rod.

Careful study??? This card should devinately not be in the deck. It's card disadvantage at sorcery speed.

I love aether vial, but you aren't really running a creature base that supports it. If you don't want to change the creature base, I would add null rod. Possibly up the fire/ice count to 4 in place of the jittes?

[Firefly]

I run a build like this, but really, the studies shouldn't be in there. Madness and Gorger are the only decks that use study as cardADVANTAGE, in other decks it is disadvantage.

Run Faerie conclaves and maybe 1 Treetop Village (depends on how many early-drops you have to support this). And the Ninja's, I don't know, the ninjutsu costs mana, and you don't run Cloud of Faeries.

But the most important change would be getting rid of the Studies.

[Duncan]

Mana:
1#Strip Mine
4#Wasteland
3#Volcanic Island
3#Tropical Island
3#Flooded Strand
2#Polluted Delta
4#Mishra’s Factory
2#Island
1#Mox Emerald

Disruption/Draw:
4#Force of Will
4#Standstill
2#Fire/Ice
3#Daze

Creatures:
4#Wild Mongrel
4#Basking Rootwalla
4#Grim Lavamancer
3#Ninja of the Deep Hours
2#Spiketail Hatchling

Other:
2#Umezawa's Jitte
1#Crucible of Worlds
4#Aether Vial

//Sideboard
3#Chalice of the Void
1#Fire/Ice
3#Energy Flux
2#Arcane Laboratory
2#Naturalize
3#Chill
1#Crucible of Worlds

This is the most recently build. I got rid of the studies; I didn't like them after all and I'm playing Vial after all. I've thought about playing vial or not from the day I started to test with this deck. Right now i'm leaning to yes. I also removed the gorilla shamans, because my meta almost doesn't have any powered decks.
I'm still tinkering with my sideboard though. Last saturday i played Pyroblast and REB and those worked quite good The card i would definately cut is Fire/Ice, but I don't know which cards to cut also.

[Dralock]

Take out aether vial, please. Null rod is better hands freakin down. I don't understand why vial is still popular, the suprise factor is over, done, fini. Long live the Rod, which is the better choice vs Gifts, slaver and people still running vials. It also shuts down trike jitte and SoFI. Since you are running more than four counters, who cares about the vial.

Also, this isn't WTF anymore, call it something else.

*EDIT* Where is artifact mutation, and why isn't it at least in your board, if not main?

[Duncan]

I chose vial over rod, because rod also shuts down my own jitte's. I noticed i win lots of games without even playing jitte, so maybe Rod is a better option indeed. The thing i really like about vial is that you can still put creatures into play under a standstill while your opponent can't. It makes the clock faster. You also get around cards like meddling mage (originally i designed this deck to beat other fish variants). Above all that, it fixes your coloured mana problems. Let you animate your factory/strip your opponent earlier and saves your counters for their threats instead of pushing your own through. And most of the time a turn 1 vial is a MUST counter, so that's at least one less for your opponent. Still i think rod is an option, maybe you could post the list as you would like to see it?

About the name: what should i call it then. I think it still looks like WTF or maybe more like Zoo.

I don't play artifact mutation, because you both need green and red mana to play it. That's a bit hard to get. Maybe if I change my manabase a little and fit in a taiga (then i should run wooded foothills over delta/strand) it would be easier to pla it. I also do not need the creatures very badly and i think naturlize is more flexible.

One question: would you guys play spiketail hatchling or voidmage prodigy?

[Dralock]

I do not have a decklist for you because I do not want to take the time to put something together and test it. What I am saying is that null rod is a stronger card than aether vial, especially since you have chosen to put the chalices in the side. You do a good job of wrecking combo's fast mana, and slowing down stax's opener with your first turn rod. Not to mention completely ruining vial fish and other artifact activated ability heavy decks. Combined with pithing needle, your deck comes out stronger in the denial game and, most importantly, lets you take full advantage of daze and spiketail hatchling's abilities.

Yes, jitte is amazing once it gets active, and the synergy vial has with the rest of the cards in the deck is outstanding. The problem is that your clock is still  slow, and your opponent still has the ability to completely run you over since you have nothing in the form of enchantment or creature removal maindeck (oath, darksteel). Therefore, a denial game is what you are going to have to play, and the biggest mana deniail outside waste/strip is null rod.

[Jacob Orlove]

Also, this isn't WTF anymore, call it something else.

Actually, I added red to the old WTF builds a while back, and kept the name (http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=17893.0). I don't see why he can't do the same.