What do you gain by running black over white? More draw? Is that really worth it?
By running black, you get better overall disruption and better card drawing. Example, 4 Mesmeric Fiend vs. 4 Meddling Mage:
Meddling Mage names a card in their deck that you don't like. Mesmeric Fiend, on the other hand, pulls the best card from their hand. While Meddling Mage is better against decks using a single card as a win condition, the ability is not needed when coupled with the other disruption provided by black (i.e. 3 Duress & 4 Withered Wretch). As a tempo based deck in general, I prefer to worry about the threats that my opponent can play immediately rather than the threats my opponent
might play later in the game.
Another disruption comparison, 4 Withered Wretch vs. 2 Kataki & 2-3 StP:
Ask yourself this question - In Type 1, how often do people use their graveyards to win? Off the top of my head, decks that Withered Wretch hurts: Gifts, Control Slaver, Stax, Anything else using Goblin Welder, Dragon, 2-land Belcher, GrimLong, & Anything else using Yawgmoth's Will. Compare that to the ability to kill some artifacts and remove some creatures from the game. How good is Kataki against anything other than Stax? Also, Kataki is
very anti-synergistic with Null Rod. As for StP, how often do you need to RFG a creature? Perhaps something off a Tinker or an Oath. Just stop it before it happens by using the better black disruption, or bounce the creature. We've already covered Goblin Welder, but StP is obviously a weaker answer to Goblin Welder.
As for card drawing, 4 Dark Confidant vs. 4 Flying Men + 2 Ninja of the Deep Hours:
First of all, Dark Confidant is a house. I've said it 10 times by now and my mind hasn't changed. The U/W deck must play 6 subpar cards to get the same ability that Dark Confidant provides without the drawback. On the other hand, Dark Confidant doesn't have to deal damage to draw the card. Many times, Dark Confidant will sit back and draw cards - often when the opponent has a
useless Goblin Welder on the board. Furthermore, I hate the idea of running a 4cc creature in Fish. I know you ninja him instead of casting him, but it's too situational for my taste. In the best case scenario: Pay U for Flying Men, Flying Men swing, ninja in the Deep Hours for 1U, then replay Flying Men for U. Thats 1UUU for a more-situational draw engine.
Black does nothing to improve the Stax or Oath matchup, which is what you need to focus on beating. This is where white really shines, giving you all the tools to help these matchups.
I wholeheartedly disagree.
Against Oath, black gives you Duress & Mesmeric Fiend. Both of which stop them from resolving Oath, but also prevent them from doing other things. In the Oath match up, Meddling Mage & StP do look strong for U/W Fish, but, in general, I feel that Duress & Mesmeric Fiend are better all-around cards.
Against Stax, black gives you Dark Confidant & Withered Wretch. Firstly, why is Smokestacks a good card in Stax? Obviously because Stax can play more permanents than the other decks. Playing a Dark Confidant severely screws up this math. Suddenly, Fish is drawing two cards per turn, making land drops & playing more beaters. Resolving a Dark Confidant against Stax usually means that the U/B Fish deck will win solely on card advantage. As for Withered Wretch, do I really need to point out the obvious? Withered Wretch stops Goblin Welder & Crucible of Worlds in Stax. Against Stax, Withered Wretch stops the two cards that Fish hates the most.
As a side note, I love the ability to run 2 Darkblasts in the SB. These really wreck U/W Fish and kill Goblin Welder & Mox Monkey for the rest of the game.
Stax (16.96% of metagame)
Gifts (14.29% of metagame)
Control Slaver (8.04% of metagame)
Dragon (5.36% of metagame)
Workshop Aggro (4.46% of metagame)
FCG (2.68% of metagame)
U/W Fish (2.68% of metagame)
Using these metagame percentages, I left out 9.82% of the metagame.
WTF. Basic math=tech. That adds up to 54.47%.
Perhaps you're confused. This guy asked:
Also, you're going to get raped by other/better aggro. Statistics for Fish, FCG, and Workshop Aggro were absent. Is that why?
The main point of my reply:
Then again, how many of those decks were at SCG: Chicago compared to Stax, Gifts, Dragon & Control Slaver (I left Oath out of that list because we didn't expect to see that much of it - we were wrong there).
The term "those decks" refers to FCG, Workshop Aggro & other Fish decks. So here are the percentages:
Stax (16.96% of metagame)
Gifts (14.29% of metagame)
Control Slaver (8.04% of metagame)
Dragon (5.36% of metagame)
Workshop Aggro (4.46% of metagame)
FCG (2.68% of metagame)
U/W Fish (2.68% of metagame)
Using these metagame percentages, I left out 9.82% of the metagame.
4.46% + 2.68% + 2.68% =
9.82%I'm not really even sure what your reply is supposed to mean. Perhaps you could read my entire post, then post something useful?
