UR Fish

[Isadco]

My attempt at a fish deck, it's awesome when I can lock down my opponent for 3+ turns with Magus and/or Null Rod, but I can't deal enough damage to win in those 3 turns. :/ Any suggestions to improve it?

Volcanic Island 4   
Flooded Strand 2
Island 3   
Polluted Delta 3
Strip Mine 1   
Wasteland 4   
Mutavault 3

Mox Ruby 1
Black Lotus 1
Mox Sapphire 1
Brainstorm 1
Ancestral Recall 1
Stifle 3
Time Walk 1
Null Rod 3
Fire/Ice 4   
Force of Will 4

Gorilla Shaman 2
Grim Lavamancer 3
Spellstutter Sprite 4
Cloud of Faeries 4
Magus of the Moon 3
Ninja of the Deep Hours 4   

[elmarfud]

Here are a few tips:

* run mishra's factory instead of mutavault. It's cheaper and it's better. Why run a land that can only turn into a 2/2 creature when mishra can become a 3/3 when blocking ...

* forget spellstutter and cloud of faeries. I know stutter works well with cloud of faeries and that cloud of faeries is essentially a "free creature", but it has no disruptional aspect. It's only a 1/1 flying creature. That's why you won' be able to beat as hard as other fish decks.

The problem with red is that it doesn't have any card drawing like black with dark confidant. that's why all your card drawing should come from blue. together with brainstorm, you should definitely play ponder and even merchant scroll...

A card I've always been fond of is reckless abandon. It's good for replacing goblin grenade when playing a non-goblin deck...

I'll get back to you tomorrow with some new ideas.

greetings

Elmar Fud

[elmarfud]

I've been observing your list and here's what I would make of it:


Volcanic Island 4   
Flooded Strand 2
Island 3   
Polluted Delta 3
Strip Mine 1   
Wasteland 3 
Mishra's factory 4

Mox Ruby 1
Black Lotus 1
Mox Sapphire 1
Brainstorm 1
ponder 1
Ancestral Recall 1
Stifle 4
trickbind 2
Time Walk 1
Null Rod 4
Fire/Ice 4   
Force of Will 4

Gorilla Shaman 2
Grim Lavamancer 3
Magus of the Moon 4
red elemental blast 2 or 3
phyrexian dreadnought 3

A bit of an explanation:

mishra's factory: just take a look at my previous reply ..

Wasteland: I would run 3 wastelands instead of 4. Since your also running magus, 3 should be enough.

ponder: great card and a great replacement for brainstorm.

null rod: Nowadays, this card is one of the most powerful cards in your deck. So you definitely want this card in you opening hand. That's why I would run 4 instead of 3

Magus of the moon: very powerful card against stax, TPS and slaver. The same as with null rod: you want to draw this one as soon as possible.

red elemental blast: a cheap anti-blue counterspell that can also destroy a meddling mage for example.

stifle/trickbind/phyrexian dreadnought: Since you have no large creatures like tarmogoyf or jotun grunt, you have to find a way to defend yourself and destroy your opponent. Dreadnought is perfect this way. The good part of this combo (stifle with dreadnought) is that stifle (and trickbind of course) can also be used beside in this combo. And since stifle is very good nowadays, I would definitely use this card ...

greetings

Elmar Fud

ps: as you can see, you're still at 58 cards so you still have to add a few cards. if you're going to play dreadnought, then you might think about trinket mage ...

[Isadco]

Thanks for the awesome suggestions, here's my current build. Which is actually the one you posted - mox ruby + 3 standstill. With the loss of ninja I was lacking in card draw.

Island 3
Strip Mine 1
Flooded Strand 2   
Volcanic Island   4
Polluted Delta 3   
Wasteland 3   
Mishra's Factory 4

Black Lotus 1
Mox Sapphire 1
Pyroblast 2
Stifle 4
Ponder 1
Brainstorm 1
Ancestral Recall 1
Trickbind 2
Standstill 3
Null Rod 4
Fire/Ice 4
Force of Will 4

Phyrexian Dreadnought 3
Gorilla Shaman 2
Grim Lavamancer 3
Magus of the Moon 4

[M.Solymossy]

I see Magus of the Moon with a lot of Non-Basic lands, along with Magus of the Moon.  I also see 3 P.D.Naughts which are only good with stifle/trickbind.  Quite honestly, there are better creatures you should be running than Magus and Phyrexian Dreadnought.  I also see Lotus in the deck that plays Null Rod.  This is a big no-no, and has been even when I played UR Fish (Way back in 2004, wow it's been awhile!).  Control Slaver will just weld out your null rod.  Also, as is, you have nothing that stops Ichorid from flat out rocking you.

Here's what I'd suggest:


1 Island
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Fire/Ice
4 Standstill
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Null Rod
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
3 Waterfront Bouncer
4 CurseCatcher
3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Mogg Fantasti
3 Stifle


That's just what I'd run.

Let me explain:
Control:   Daze + Stifle + Force + Cursecatcher.   This is a really brutal suite, especially with Wastelands as well as Null Rod.

Aggro:  Factories + Ninja's + fanatic + catcher + Bouncer:  This build pretty much loses to Pyroclasm/Triskelion, but Null rod and your massive counters stop that. 
There is a Large amounf of guys that come down on turn 1.  Some stop sorceries, some end up burning sh*t up, and some burn out goblin welders / remove bridge from below.  This is huge for turn 1 guy, turn 2 standstill, turn 3ish ninja.   Factories X3 will ensure you draw them , but don't draw too many.

[zeus-online]

..If you just want a clock you could always mirror UW fish and run 2/1 guys for  (Jackal pup, goblin cadets, tattermunge maniac)

Grim lavamancer was commonly used back when UR fish was the "best deck"...It answers welders, aggro and the mirror.

Running less then four null rods is just a mistake in my opinion, you really need it to compete.

While brainstorm is decent, i probably wouldn't run it, i'd rather have some more disruption or more guys.

The UR fish decks of old won by card-advantage (Curiosity, standstill, LoA, ancestral recall), but i think just using a clock and enough disruption like UW fish is probably better.

/Zeus

[Isadco]

Build 3

Volcanic Island   4
Island 3
Flooded Strand 2   
Polluted Delta 3 
Strip Mine 1
Wasteland 3   
Mishra's Factory 4

Black Lotus 1
Mox Sapphire 1
Ponder 1
Brainstorm 1
Ancestral Recall 1
Pyroblast 2
Stifle 4
Standstill 4
Null Rod 4
Fire/Ice 4
Force of Will 4

Gorilla Shaman 2
Grim Lavamancer 3
Magus of the Moon 4
Augury Adept 4

[Hillboy]

Genju of the spires can be a pretty sick clock at 6 damage a swing if you need a faster kill.