URBana Fish--The Solution to the metagame

[Guli]

After quickly reading through your matches i notices you are siding in needle almost every time. I suggest you move them to main deck. Logical move in my opinion.

Needle has become pretty broad in my opinion.

Except you aren't going to side in needle against GAT, Empty Gifts, Ritual combo, or Flash - which comprise a significant amount of the competitive metagame.  You're going to bring it in vs Stax and Ichorid.

You can name ToG or Delta vs GAT
vs Flash you name KiKi it is actually a good 1cc answer

Control Magic isn't relevant against empty or combo either but i see 3x in maindeck... so cut the BS and try to follow my logic here.

Unless the first post in this thread was false information i don't see the point in not adding needle to maindeck. You are boarding it in in almost all your matches

[Guli]

I also don't understand the skepticism about needle. It is a good broad card for 1 colorless mana that can fix a problem on the table and it has the potential to hose ichorid, shut down wastes, fetches or vials. Welders,Lavamancer,Shaman,Salvager,KiKi etc etc

[Jo84]

I hope against Flash your first choice is Carrion Feeder and not Kiki-Jiki.

Pithing Needle is nice, but far away from great imo.
It only stops Flash with Carrion Feeder and slows down Ichorid. Against Stax you can fight there Wastelands. That´s all Pithing Needle can really do.
Needle on Fetchlands is really weak... if you can mana screw your opponent, it´s luck (if you say Delta and he has Strand, you are doomed, and vice-versa).
Needle on Salvager is also weak... first Bomberman is really rare nowadays and he kills you with beats anyways and won´t care too much about Needle.

You can use it against many cards, but in most cases Needle is a really dead card => Don´t board it except Ichorid & Stax!

[Moxlotus]

After quickly reading through your matches i notices you are siding in needle almost every time. I suggest you move them to main deck. Logical move in my opinion.

Needle has become pretty broad in my opinion.

Except you aren't going to side in needle against GAT, Empty Gifts, Ritual combo, or Flash - which comprise a significant amount of the competitive metagame.  You're going to bring it in vs Stax and Ichorid.

You can name ToG or Delta vs GAT
vs Flash you name KiKi it is actually a good 1cc answer

Control Magic isn't relevant against empty or combo either but i see 3x in maindeck... so cut the BS and try to follow my logic here.

Unless the first post in this thread was false information i don't see the point in not adding needle to maindeck. You are boarding it in in almost all your matches

I'm boarding it in against almost all of my matches?  Stax, Ichorid, and Fish are not all of my matches especially given the percentages of GAT and Gushstorm that you will face.  Needles have been maindeck in the past--now is not that time.  Naming Tog or Delta against GAT is next to worthless. Given that you are saying to name Kiki-Jiki with Needle when facing that version of Flash, I'm going to assume you haven't actually tested the deck very much.

Why was Control Magic in there if it is situational like Needle?  Because if CM resolves, you win the game.

[Dante]

Also, naming Delta or Flooded Strand is so hit or miss b/c you run both of those...not so hot.  I ran this at SCG Indy and only sided it in 2 matches the whole day.

[ErkBek]

I also don't understand the skepticism about needle. It is a good broad card for 1 colorless mana that can fix a problem on the table and it has the potential to hose ichorid, shut down wastes, fetches or vials. Welders,Lavamancer,Shaman,Salvager,KiKi etc etc

Beyond needle sucking vs. Gush decks, Needle is a card based on information. In game 1 you don't have any information and you won't be able to play it optimally. For example, you don't want to needle delta or waste since there is a fair chance that will come back to hurt you more than your opponent.

Needle's weight increases considerably post board since it is more effective after sideboarding because I know what to name and needle is a huge hoser for cards like Jitte and Sword of Fire/Ice.

[Guli]

The matches:
Flash:
+4 leyline, 3 pyro
-3 control magic, -3 bouncer, -1 island
you kick the living crap out of them.  The deck is designed to beat them.  Maindeck you have Chalice (bye pacts), duress, reb, mana leak, and force.  Post board you have more REB, leylines, and if they have the kiki kill, pithing needle.  You win by playing a Bob or a ninja and turnign him sideways 10 turns in a row.  Do not over extend.  Always make sure you can cast every counterspell in your hand.  It is better to have counters up than shorten the clock.  They can win out of nowhere so don't let it happen.  If you get paired against Flash every single round in a tournament, you are going to be taking home some prizes.

Ichorid:
+4 leyline, +3 needle
-3 control magic, -4 duress
You will probably lose game 1, but can randomly get lucky.  Game 2 you have leylines and Needles.  On the play, mull into one of those.  On the draw is trickier and I don't have a hard solution for that.  I class the match as slightly favorable.

GAT:
+3 REB
-3 chalice
I class this match as favorable if they have a standard list of GAT.  Get a bouncer online and you're good to go.  REB is awesome.  Use them ASAP--especially on brainstorm.  That makes your wastes even more effective. 

fishies:
+3 needle, +3 pyro
-3 chalice, -3 duress
The skill tester of a match.  This is an even match if both players know what they are doing.  Luckily for you, nobody playtests against URBana so they won't know what they're doing.  Needles name Jitte, Factory, and Old Man.  Game 1 used to be bad, but now you have control Magics for their Grunt, so each game is about even.  Practice this match--a lot.

stax:
+5 artifact kill, +3 needle
-4 duress, -3 pyro, -1 chalice

This match is probably about even, but is highly draw dependent.  Factories are your #1 enemy, because they keep coming back with Crucible.  You must playtest the hell out of this match if youw ant to win.  I hadn't tested against it for a while, and completely punted my game 1 against my opponent when I had the win staring me in the face.  Chalice doesn't matter, Sphere isn't too bad.  Null Rod matters if you had a heavy mox draw.  Smokestack usually isn't the real enemy--it is the crucible. 

tendrils combo:
+3 reb
-3 control magic

I weakened my game against storm a bit comapred to my last build, but it doens't matter too much because why the heck would you play Long when you could just play Flash?  Anyways,  the match is now about even.  REB any target they give you. 

Bomberman:
+3 REB
+3 pithing needle
-1 island
-3 Chalice
-2 Duress.
The key to this match is if they resolve a Trinket Mage.  If they do, they win.  He does so much damage to you its ridiculous.  He finds EE, which will kill 1-2 guys.  He can find Aetherspellbomb, which will set your ninja back.  Or he can jsut block, use spellbomb on itself, play him again, then search for more stuff that ruins you!  Force pithing ancestral is the play to make against Trinket Mage.  I'm serious.  It may not look like it, but he is the thing that ruins you.  Control Magic on Salvagers is pretty hot randomly.  Don't worry about the combo that much--it is their guys that beat you.  Needles win and lose you the game sometimes, so think about it what you name.  Salvagers is the obvious choice, but sometimes EE is the card to name.  I put the match at slightly below even. 

Now that I played the deck, its surprise value of new cards has gone down exponentially.  And now as I post this, it goes down even more.  However, the deck is extremely good in this metagame right now.  Obviously once other decks adapt it gets worse.  I have a GAT build that slaughters this and a rough build of Flash that is up to 50/50 already, so then URBana will have to fade for a few tournaments or adapt again.

If needle is so bad, remove it from your sb. If you say no its a good answer i want it in my sb then why are you boarding it in so much? I am making a comment on your OWN analysis.

[Guli]

I like the effect of control magic, but you (moxlotus) are over hyping it in your mind. It is a 4cc card that doesn't WIN the game instantly (you actually stated that it does win the game, that is the real BS here).

[policehq]

kobefan just now explained the fact that game 1 is an opportunity for you to see what cards to name and that you can not name a card optimally during the first game of a match with Pithing Needle.

In addition, with the example of Fish, Needle needs to come in to stop a card that they are sideboarding. Game 1 against Fish, Needle would be crap. There are no Jittes, Old Man of the Seas, Sword of Fire and Ices, etc. to name.

There are no cards to name versus GAT and Flash. You either need to stabilize very quickly (GAT) or shut your opponent down very quickly (Flash), and a dead draw like Pithing Needle will hurt your abilities to do these.

I kind of disagree with the use of Control Magic maindeck, but I don't feel like it excuses the use of Pithing Needle.

[islanderboi10]

Like said above, needle is a card that needs information, also can be kind of an anti-sideboard card(for Old Man, or Jitte's and such.)

Control Magic, though may NOT win the game on the spot, swings it heavily in your favor.  *Most* decks run creatures, and CM helps a lot. It is a maindeck answer.  And if anything, it pitches to FoW. 

In my opinion, Needle should stay in the board, and Control Magic is good main.

Has anyone tested Extripate in the main?  Duress/Thoughtsieze+Extripate or just extripate alone is ridiculous right now.

[The Demon]

I like the effect of control magic, but you (moxlotus) are over hyping it in your mind. It is a 4cc card that doesn't WIN the game instantly (you actually stated that it does win the game, that is the real BS here).

Actually I can tell you that it wins the game in the sense that Mindslaver used to end the game.  When you take one of Gat's creatures it is a big blow to them.  Not only does that dryad represent a win condition, it represents all the cards they have played after it resolved.  When you are growing a dryad you are slowly increasing and investing in it, if that is taken from you then you have lost and used a ton of resources.  It effectively wins the game and that is obvious, semantic wars are stupid. 

[Moxlotus]

I like the effect of control magic, but you (moxlotus) are over hyping it in your mind. It is a 4cc card that doesn't WIN the game instantly (you actually stated that it does win the game, that is the real BS here).

Ok, let's see if you can understand this.

Needle comes in against fish because they can bring in stuff like Jitte and Old Man.  They dont' have these in the maindeck--game 1 against fish needle would be awful.

Control Magic essentially wins the game against a lot of decks.  Stealing a Dryad is a HUGE tempo swing and will lead to victory a high majority fo the time.  I said it wins the game. I also say turn 1 Necro=gg.  Does that mean Necro on turn 1 always wins?  No, there is a significant number of games that are lost when playing a turn 1 Necro.  But it is such a huge swing in the game state that you will win a hell of a lot more times than you will lose.  Very few games have been losses where I have resolved a Control Magic.

Let's go over the matches that I listed and their prevelance in the metagame:

Most played deck:   GAT.  Needles are jank
Emptygush:  Needles suck
Stax: Needles are good.
Flash: Needles might be good or they might be jank--the most played kill condition is slivers so usually needle will be jank.
Ichorid: Needles are good
u/w/b fish:  Needles are good game 2--but does anybody even play this anymore?
bomberman--does anybody even play this anymore?

Needle is awful against the most played decks right now, but it is good against the lesser played decks--hence the sideboard slot.  "But you play Control Magic and that sucks against Emptygush!"  Well, who is to say that I still play CM in the main?  This was written a while ago when Bomberman and Fish were still played in somewhat heavy amounts and before empty gush stole some of GAT's players.

Again, I have had Needles in the maindeck before.  I don't think that time is now.

I am making a comment on your OWN analysis.

you actually stated that it does win the game, that is the real BS here

And another thing.  I will not have someone come into my thread about a deck I co-developed and tell me something I said is BS.  It is clear you have not tested the deck very thoroughly if you are naming Kiki-Jiki against Needle.  For someone who has not demonstrated any aptitude with the deck to say that I have a faulty analaysis of the deck Eric Becker (kobefan--whose post you have seemed to completely disregard) and I have been developing over the past year is an insult.  Please, do not do it again.

[Guli]

I got you thinking about needle and control magic, maybe you didn't want to do that or maybe you already did that 100 times. In either case this remains a forum where everybody can share whatever they please without attacking someone personally or anything in that fashion. When i say needle name KiKi the essential thing you should understand from that is that needle will stop/slow the KiKi combo (there is also a sliver kill I F KNOW). That being said, I want to add something i sensed from your posts. You seem to assume that i do not understand or that i understand lesser or whatever it is that you think of me because i tried to criticize a bit to trigger the 'thinking mechanism'. Seems to me that I failed. You are on autopilot. I am not surprised that a card like control magic sees some play, most decks contain at least 1 or more creatures these days. But to state that it will win the game when resolving is a bit HARSH no matter what scenario you create to back it up.

Nobody said you need to play the needle turn 1 in game 1. Duress, Thoughtseize, 1 drop, reb are all better plays. Needle hardly sux. And they get better game 2 indeed because of the intel you got. This doesn't mean that you should move them to maindeck. I just pointed out that i saw a lot of '+3 needle' in the match list you posted and wanted to make a comment about that. If you can't take some critics don't post a deck.

Good luck with your deck

I posted the deck just like I have posted many decks.  I am perfectly willing to take criticism.  In fact, there was a suggestion of Mogg Fanatic which was excellent and Becker added it in and got 2nd at a tournament.  What I will not take is you calling what I say BS.  Saying when Control Magic resolves is a win is not harsh.  It is fact from my experience.  I am 6 for 6 in tournament play (over 2 tournaments) where a CM was resolved and won the game.  Others who have played the deck on my team can back that claim up.  Over months of testing resolving CM correlates to winning more than any other card in that version of the deck.  While you have attempted to make me think critically about the deck...thanks...but I already did and came to this decklist because of that.  Honestly, I did and still do assume that you know less about the deck than I do.  The very fact that you were talking about naming the wrong card against Flash gave me that idea.  I don't want people who do not appear to know what the heck they are talking about criticizing.  Asking why the Needles weren't in the maindeck is one thing.  It was explained by numerous posters.  You then make a comment about "oh, if it is such a bad card then why are you boarding it in" after it was already explained.  To me, that shows that you can't see the reasoning which was clearly directed right at you by Kobefan, policehq, and islanderboi and therefore aren't worth listening to.  In fact, reply #43 i said 'I've played as many as 3 needle maindeck before!"  Again, this shows that you have not bothered to read through the thread and therefore are not worth listening to.  I am singling you out for this because replies #69 and #70 show quite clearly that I do not care for people who have not read the thread.

This is NOT a forum where everybody can post and share whatever they think.  If it was, this board would look like the magicthegathering.com boards.  This is supposed to be high quality discussion and that means that you don't talk about things you have no idea about.  I don't post in the GAT sideboard thread because I don't play enough GAT to be able to positively contribute something new that isn't common knowledge.

I can take criticism of a deck if the person criticizing the deck makes an effort to look like he is knowledgeable on the subject.

--Moxlotus

[GUnit]

Has anyone tested Extripate in the main?  Duress/Thoughtsieze+Extripate or just extripate alone is ridiculous right now.

I too am wondering this. Has anyone thoroughly tested this card recently? I've been out of the game for about a year now, and I'm just getting back into playing competitively again. This was probably my favorite deck before I left and I'm pretty sure it's what I'll be taking to a lotus event in a few weeks. Extirpate seems like it could be really nasty, and I think it's a really fun card to play, but my initial thinking is that it doesn't really contribute to tempo in the same way that the rest of the deck's disruption does and so it might fall short. I finally have a means of playtesting, because I got MWS working with my broken router, so I'll mess around with it in a couple days when my work settles down a bit.

[islanderboi10]

Has anyone tested Extripate in the main?  Duress/Thoughtsieze+Extripate or just extripate alone is ridiculous right now.

I too am wondering this. Has anyone thoroughly tested this card recently? I've been out of the game for about a year now, and I'm just getting back into playing competitively again. This was probably my favorite deck before I left and I'm pretty sure it's what I'll be taking to a lotus event in a few weeks. Extirpate seems like it could be really nasty, and I think it's a really fun card to play, but my initial thinking is that it doesn't really contribute to tempo in the same way that the rest of the deck's disruption does and so it might fall short. I finally have a means of playtesting, because I got MWS working with my broken router, so I'll mess around with it in a couple days when my work settles down a bit.

I have tested it, just not thoroughly.  From *my* testing, I have realized that it has won me games, and it is soo NOT situational.  In one game, against GaT, I lead with Lotus, Duress->M. Scroll->Extripate, Land Bob, go. It was broken.

I believe extripate would be a better inclusion right now instead of say...Spell Snare?
I don't Know. More testing is needed.

[saradoc]

Hi, I´ve testing URBana for a couple of moths with some changes, here is my list.

Mana 24
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Volcanic
3 Usea
1 Badlands
4 mox
1 lotus
1 Lotus Petal
 
4 force
3 chalice
3 duress
3 REB
2 Spell Snare
2 Mana Leak
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral

4 Dark Confidant
4 Ninja
3 Mox Monkey
3 Waterfront Bouncer
3 Mogg Fanatic

On my testing I have found mogg fanatic very usefull on a meta with lots of fishes and bobs. The rest of the list is similar to the “standard” list, except for the lotus petal instead of pearl. The petal fixin mana on the first turns has been very important for me.

With Lorwyn I think there are 2 possible inclusions in the deck: Thoughtseize and Spellstutter Sprite. The first one increases the disruption in the deck, assuring a turn 1 or 2  “duress”, and the second one is somekind of recurring disruption with ninja, which also hits for one over the air. It could be:

-2 Spell Snare
-3 Mogg Fanatic
-1 Mana Leak

Adding Thoughtseize gives us a better flash pairing, because discarding protean hulk in the first turn could be great. It also helps against fish and GAT. The sprite must be tested, I don´t know if it will work well, but seems to be a good turn one countering opponents moxes or lotus and then attacking to get a ninja in play.

What do you think about these additions?

[ErkBek]

Thoughtseize is definitely going to be added post Lorwyn. I'm not sure I'd want 6 duress effects, but thoughtseize would possibly be a direct replacement for Duress.

@ Saradoc list: I'd cut 1 Mogg Fanatic, Mana Leak, or Chalice for a Demonic Tutor. DT has definitely pulled it's weight for me since I added about 2 months ago.

[policehq]

Well, who is to say that I still play CM in the main?

Well, do you?

Also, since you had stats on the six games you resolved Control Magic, do you have a general estimate of how many games you had it dead in your hand, whether because of its cost requirements or the opponent's deck?

saradoc, I really like the return of Mana Leaks in your list. One of the best things about URBana fish's early stages, in my opinion, was that the threats of Daze, Mana Leak, Stifle, REB, Remand, etc. etc. (!) were all present even without the cards in your deck. This is probably because it was a rogue deck with a few creators that were taking it to tournaments while testing optimal choices, and now there are more users of a static list copied on the internet for testing purposes. I wish the concept of surprise answers could be netdecked.

-hq

[ErkBek]

Well, who is to say that I still play CM in the main?

Well, do you?

Nope. Control Magic was cut a couple months ago from our list. With bomberman and other fish decks on the decline and Gush Storm on the rise it had to be. The addition of Mogg Fanatic really helped deal with the loss of CM. You can see from my most recent list from the "Becker vs. Arsenal" thread in the tournament results forum. While I wasn't totally pleased with that list, that's the direction the deck is going in.

I think Lorwyn is going to change up some matchups for URBana a lot. Playing against and using Thoughtseize will change up some matches and I'd expect to see some more stax now that thorn is out.

[Moxlotus]

This is probably because it was a rogue deck with a few creators that were taking it to tournaments while testing optimal choices, and now there are more users of a static list copied on the internet for testing purposes. I wish the concept of surprise answers could be netdecked.

There is no such thing as a static list with URBana.  If someone is playing a stock list they will probably lose.  There are so many options and surprises available for URBana that there will never not be any options to really surprise your opponent with a new card.  Hell, Control Magic has been around since Alpha and it was my surprise card for the last build.

Oh, and when CM was in the deck I don't remember ever not being able to play it due to mana except once against stax.  Then I rack and ruined his lock spells and Cm'd his Welder and won the game.  It was also the card Duressed out of my hand more often than any other card.

[policehq]

There is no such thing as a static list with URBana. 

I think you missed the point of what I was trying to say. As soon as you posted a list online, or as soon as the results from Vinci's tournament were posted, people began playing identical lists. And you're right; it doesn't work, so I applauded the posting of a list with Mana Leaks.

[The Duressed]

Moxlotus, correct me if I'm wrong, but i believe you piloted a build of this deck to a top 4 finish at the College of Dupage guaranteed Lotus tournament. And if I saw correctly, you were using some number of Magi of the Moon. If all this is true, could you please tell me more about your experience with Magus?

If not, could you tell us what you know about Magus anyway? This question is obviously for everyone, but I'm specifically addressing it to Mox because he's been a pioneer with this deck and I'm pretty sure that he's tested this card. All ears on you, Mox! Thanks.

[Moxlotus]

And if I saw correctly, you were using some number of Magi of the Moon. If all this is true, could you please tell me more about your experience with Magus

No, I was not running any Moon effects.  Moon effects kinda suck for URBana.   tested moons as an answer to Oath, but was very disappointed.  Blood Moons can be duressed.  Magus can be killed by pyroclasm--and makes said pyroclasm even easier to cast. 

[The Duressed]

Hmmm, it seems that I was way off. You don't think that it could be good for matchups like Ichorid or Flash? It does seem to require some modification of the manabase, obviously, but the fact that it takes Gush totally off-line doesn't count for anything?

[Moxlotus]

Hmmm, it seems that I was way off. You don't think that it could be good for matchups like Ichorid or Flash? It does seem to require some modification of the manabase, obviously, but the fact that it takes Gush totally off-line doesn't count for anything?

By the time you have 3 mana for Ichorid or Flash you are already dead.  Sure it can help shut off Gush.  But there are other things that are better at it without owning my own manabase.

[The Duressed]

So does that mean that you have some sort of absurd anti-Gush tech that you're keeping from all of us? ^_~

It seems much easier to hate on the actual kill conditions (Dryads, Tendrils, Goblin tokens, etc.) than the gush itself, and so I suppose that Echoing Truth seems pretty good against 2 of the 3 i mentioned. Stifle also seems good against the Tendrils or Empty triggers... I'm just brainstorming ideas. Obviously the super-secret tech of choice will depend on the local metagame and probably audibles as well, but if anyone has some suggestions to throw out there, please don't hesitate.

[ErkBek]

So does that mean that you have some sort of absurd anti-Gush tech that you're keeping from all of us? ^_~

It seems much easier to hate on the actual kill conditions (Dryads, Tendrils, Goblin tokens, etc.) than the gush itself, and so I suppose that Echoing Truth seems pretty good against 2 of the 3 i mentioned. Stifle also seems good against the Tendrils or Empty triggers... I'm just brainstorming ideas. Obviously the super-secret tech of choice will depend on the local metagame and probably audibles as well, but if anyone has some suggestions to throw out there, please don't hesitate.

Nope. You've just got to practice the matchup. I've found it to be quite favorable, beating GAT in the quarterfinals and semifnals of my last event with URBana. Here's some stuff that may help out from other threads that I've written about URBana vs. Gush decks:

The creature control package has been taken right from URBana's (my current list has 3 Bouncers and 1 Truth). I've found URBana's to be perfect as it is vs. the current metagame. Basically, if you opponent plays an early dryad you've got a couple ways to deal (this is how I decibe it for URBana)

1) Counter that shit!
2) Bounce that shit!
3) Find a Bouncer.

Now I know what you're saying, how do I find a bouncer in a deck with 1 tutor and no brainstorms. The answer is play tightly and patiently. You'll need to get a bob out or a ninja going, if ninja isn't able to connect cause they're leaving dryad on defense that's fine, you've got plenty of life and usually a fair amount of time to draw into them. Don't block dryad until your in very lethal range, even with a useless Gorilla Shaman. Start blocking when you're when damage will drop you to 5 or less when you've got a bob out, and 3 or less without a bob.

Control Magic was cut from URBana in conjunction to me figuring this out and bomberman disappearing.

With all that said, this deck has Brainstorms, Gushes, and a number of creatures you can chump with so finding a Bouncer in a time of need should be even easier. However, I will admit early large dudes that resolve scare the wizards and you still lose to them. I don't see adding this guy to the maindeck solving this problem though, since it will still come down to "Do I hit X."

On Wastelands: These are great vs. Gush decks, really they are. It took me a while to put it together but often times you can put your opponent in very rough situations with them. One of my favorite plays vs. Gush decks is to Waste on their EOT when they are holding 6 or more cards, because if they Gush they'll be down 2 land drops and will have to discard 2 cards. Sometimes just wasting a land on turn 2 and having them Gush in response is a good play too since they'll be going into turn 3 with 0 lands on the board. If your waste does get through they only run 18-20 mana sources so taking out the most on-color one is going to be painful. Here's how wastes usually play out for me:

On the play: me: Land, threat
Them: Land, something
Me: Waste and activate

On the draw: them: Land, something
me: land, something
them: land something
me: Something, Waste, go
them: GAT often times is between a rock and a hard place here. If they play Gush and can't put a basic island into play then they'll end turn 3 with 0 lands in play. So often times if they don't have a third land drop you can set them up nicely for an EOT waste.

Hope that helps.

[islanderboi10]

It does.

So any new results??

How is this deck against Tinker/Gush deck?

[wierdmtg13]

i went undefeated this weekend in Chicago with Urbana fish.  i was 4-0-1 in swiss and beat stacks in top 8 then had to leave the tourney early, so i conceded to a friend i beat in the first round.  i lost 2 games all day.  Urbana fish is really good rite now, but with 9 sphere decks coming out once lorwyn is playable, i think the sideboard would have to be reworked to put up strong numbers versus stax.  right now i feel its a coin flip and a lot is based on who wins the die roll.  it crushes the gush decks.  if they get a fastbond down its hard to deal with, but if you can prevent that the deck just out tempos them.

[islanderboi10]

What does your list look like?