argo wur fish

[bdesign31]

this is my first post here, and I thought I would post my current work in progress. I need to get this deck tuned up before waterbury.
any thoughts and criticism are greatly appreciated. I've  been playing it for about 2 months now and it has preformed really well but I have yet to test it against any of the current metagame decks except SS which it killed in 4 out of 5 games. I'm really worried about combo as I don't have the opportunity to test against any in my local area.

here it is
wur fish
vintage deck by Scott Bellinger

artifacts
4 chalice of the void
3 Æther vial
1 mox ruby
1 mox sapphire
1 black lotus

creatures
3 azorius guildmage
3 ninja of deep hours
3 waterfront bouncer
2 grim lavamancer

instants
4 stifle
4 force of will
2 swords to plowshares
1 fire // ice
1 ancestral recall
1 chain of vapor

sorcery's
1 time walk 

enchantments
4 standstill

land
1 island
1 plains

non-basic land
4 wasteland
1 stripmine
4 flooded strand
3 tundra
3 volcanic islands
3 mishra's factory
1 faerie conclave

 sideboard
2 rack and ruin
2 chain of vapor
2 daze
3 phyrexian furnace
2 energy flux
1 echoing truth
3 rootwater thief

pretty straight forward I think though I think the sideboard could use some help.

[Scoops666]

3 Things come to mind right off the bat when I look at this:

1. Azorious Guildmage is very sub-par for Fish decks. Waterfront Bouncer is far more efficient at controlling creatures than she is as he requires your opponent to continually spend resources in pklaying them (Or if it's an Oath target/ DSC just gets rid of them for good.)

2. Where is Meddling Mage? Maddling Mage is probably the single best creature ever for Fish. He beats, provides the most effiecient form of disruption available, and pitches to Force in a tightspot. 4 is a must.

3. Aether Vial seems wierd. You don't have any guys that have any good comes into play/sacrifice abilities (Read Cloud of Faeries post Monday, Meddling Mage, Voidmage Prodigy, Spiketail Hatchling). It seems like you want to include Aethur Vial and some good vial-able creatures, or don't inclue Vial at all.

[ErkBek]

Scoops is right about meddling mage. If your not running him I wouldn't bother running white. Another card you should really consider is gorilla shaman. Shaman + Chalice is a very effecient mana denial package vs. every deck. Lastly, why the 1 maindeck chain of vapor? I could see it if you ran some tutors, but the problem is you aren't.

I worked on a URB fish deck and piloted it to 2 mox splits in 3 tournments. I'd definitely recommend it. Here's a link to a thread on it

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=28184.0

Even if you don't like the list, it may have some useful theory. If you are interested about a metagamed URB list PM me.

[The M.E.T.H.O.D]

1. Cloud of fairies doesn't trigger off AEther Vial

2. Your running no serious disruption in your deck besides force (which is acceptable if your going that route) but the guys you run provide no clock at all. When the curve of your deck is soo much lower you don't need to run all the extra lands and only 4 fetchlands... you should probably run more fetches (maybe even all 8) and less duals.

3. I don't know how you consistantly draw your 1 of's when you need them

    Im not trying to be too negative but your deck seems underpowered for a vintage deck (even fish) and especially since your not running a lot of disruption spells. Your deck is too reactive in this metagame and all the "reactive" answers you have to cards aren't too spectacular.  With fish you can only go 2 routes, either total full on disruption or balls to the wall aggroi...hyrbrids usually never work.

[Virtuoso]

1. Cloud of fairies doesn't trigger off AEther Vial

it does tomorrow

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/345

[Btown]

Hey,

My points about your decklist:

1 - Meddling Mage NEEDS to be in this deck.  You're looking for an answer to combo?   He is your main man.  Remember that your FoWs and Stifles will almost certainly be duressed away when they combo you off, and often prove ineffective on their own.

2 - Is Aether Vial really worth not including null rod?  I guess I am looking for an explanation here as to why your fish deck does not have null rod.  I realize your chalice attacks mana-bases effectively, but seems weak on its own.  Chalice is proactive, null rod is both reactive and proactive.  In other words, if you're on the draw, Null Rod is not "dead".  At the very least, you need gorilla shamans with your chalices.

Ryan

[lotus2133]

My comments will more than likely echo what others have said, but what the heck:

1.  Other people have said it, I'll say it again.  Meddling Mage!

2.  AEther Vial doesn't seem like it is all that great and is just a waste of slots.  None of your creatures really have tricks that make playing them at instant speed necessarilly nifty.  However, I understand why you would do that consider you are running standstill.

Overall I would drop the Standstills/Vials and make the deck more consistent by adding a consistent form of draw.  You may even want to consider dropping the red and adding black (just something to consider).
 
Best of luck.