URBana fish

[Moxlotus]

I've been having a number of people ask me about the URBana list I played at the last tournament, so I'll just throw it out here.

Manas: 24
5 strip
6 fetch
3 Sea
3 Volc
1 Island
1 Badlands
4 Mox
1 Lotus

Dudes: 16
4 Bob
4 Cursecatcher
3 Ninja
3 Monkey
2 Bouncer

Other: 20
1 recall
1 Walk
3 Rod
4 Force
4 Duress
2 Stifle
2 Spell Snare
2 REB
1 Shattering Spree

SB:
4 Threads of Disloyalty
4 Goblin Welder
2 REB
3 BEB
2 Spell Snare

The biggest change to the maindeck was removing chalice for Null Rod.  Chalice still works much better with what this deck wants to do, it's jsut that Rod is such a damn house against Slaver and Long and even MUD.  Nothing else too special with the maindeck.

I gave up on shattering sprees/R&Rs for shops becuase they play 8 spheres and I'd never cast them.  Welder has been workign spectacularly in its place.  Monkey+welder=gg.  Welder is even decent aginst Slaver, giving you additional answers to Tinker-->7/10 or DSC

Spell Snares are what give you a fighting chance against Oath. 

BEBs were in the original URBana list and they are still quite good.  They are there for 3 reasons: kill Welder, counter REB on your Nija, and counter the dreaded Pyroclasm. 

I opted to punt the Ichorid match with this list.  I have little chance of winning game 1 which means to win the match I have to win game 2 and 3 like 90% of th etime.  That's just not happening.  I'd rather focus on making matches like Oath come close to even and push up percentages against other decks.

Weaknesses: shops game 1.  Game 2 is generally better.  Depends on their build.  Empty the warrens is another big concern.  The deck can handle combo pretty well as long as they don't throw down a quick empty for 6.  It is a weakness which I might change before I play the deck again.

Cursecatcher might be the best fish creature printed since Bob.  the Curse won so many games for me.  Throw him otu there on turn 1 and then follow him up with a rod or a waste and you've set your opponent back 2 turns. Like Spiketail hatching of old u/r lists, only it costs 1 mana.

[WhiteWolf]

I was one of the people that asked for your list ... Thanks for sharing it!

Anyway, on the deck: URBana always played some 1-drops (shaman, Fanatic, Lavamancer, ... ) to enable second-turn Ninjas (and of course their utility), so Cursecatcher is a very logical inclusion. I think it's important to say that it increases the blue card count for FoW. Older lists tended to play with red 1-drops and those lists were often on the verge of a low blue count for FoW.

The 1 Shattering Spree seems a bit random without search but I guess it's there to draw it occasionaly in the Shop match-up.

Why Duress over Thoughtseize? Was the damage too much together with Bob?

How has stifle been? It always seemed less useful to me in URBana than in other Fish decks. Of course it adds nice to the mana-denial of Rod, Shaman and Wastes and it's nice against combo but I wonder some extra hard counters (Mana Leak and such) would be better for stuff like Will and Tinker.

Rod over Chalice: I can imagine it screws you a little too but Rod is just so good right now.

I must test out Welders in the side. I would say Heretics if 8-Spheres are bothering you but Welder could be very good indeed.

Concerning EtW: maybe change 1 Threads and 1 BEB for 2 Echoing Truth?

I'm surely going to test this list later this week.

[Moxlotus]

The 1 Shattering Spree seems a bit random without search but I guess it's there to draw it occasionaly in the Shop match-up.

I had 1 slot open.  It could have been anything.  Spree is a decent card at most points in the game.  Early on it could kill a mox or 2 and late game it could devastate an opponent's board.  That slot is super open.

Why Duress over Thoughtseize? Was the damage too much together with Bob?
 

Yes.

How has stifle been? It always seemed less useful to me in URBana than in other Fish decks. Of course it adds nice to the mana-denial of Rod, Shaman and Wastes and it's nice against combo but I wonder some extra hard counters (Mana Leak and such) would be better for stuff like Will and Tinker.

I barely drew stifle all day.  It's more useful in other versions of fish, but its good in here too.  It was another way to deal with storm. 

I must test out Welders in the side. I would say Heretics if 8-Spheres are bothering you but Welder could be very good indeed.
 

Heretics seem like an ok idea.  I'd love to hear how they work out if you try them.