Fish, What Fish?

[Natxete]

Fish is a Blue based Deck that abuse the tempo and disruption to win the game. This deck has suffered a lot of adaptations year by year. First it was Mono blue with Merfolks, latter added it red (Gay Fish). Red was changed by white or Green (Worse Than Fish)... All these changes were thinking in the adaptation to the metagame of the moment. Nowadays there are a lot of configurations of Fish, because Fish is not a deck, is a tipe of deck. I want to discuss what Fish is better in the current metagame.

Most ussual Fishes are:

BUG Fish
Bant Fish
UW Fish
UR Fish

As you see, we can splash with any color, but... Which is the link jointly? What does give us each Splash?

Common Cards:

Most Fish plays:

4 Force of will
3 Daze
3 Stifle
3 Null rod
4 Wasteland
1 Strip mine
As disruptive cards.
1 Ancestral recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Time walk
4 Ninja (or Bob if Black Splash)
As power or draw cards
I think a mystical tutor and a Hurkyl´s Recall is needed maindeck nowadays.
A mana base arround 15/16 Sources (Plus wasteland and strip mine), with only mox in color.
Then, we´ve got 20 more slots. What will be they?

The blue creatures more played besides the ninja are the Sage of Epityr and the Cursecatcher. These two are not common cards of all fish decks, but anyone Fish can have access to they.

Other good blue cards that are playables in any Fish are: Spell snare, Misdirection and Spellstutter Sprite.
Them we got:
X Sage of Epityr
X Cursecatcher
X Spellstutter Sprite
Y Spell snare
Y Misdirection
When X Could be 0 to 4 and Y Could be 0 to 3

Chalice + Aether Vial was played a lot, but nowadays Null Rod is better For the following reasons:
Repeal and Gorilla shaman need more mana to destroy/bounce Null rod
Time vault is stopped by null rod, as well as Sword of F-I, metalworker...
Is better in the middle game and we win slots in our deck.

Adding Splashes:

There is not good blue artifact removal with a low mana cost as Kataki, gorilla shaman or disenchant.
With blue we only can bounce or counter menaces. We can destroy it.
The pool of good cc1/cc2 cretures in blue is small. Blue creatures are not as good as Tarmogoyf, Isamaru, Jotun Grunt or even Hidden Gibons.
Cards like meddling mage, Gorilla shaman, Kataki... works well with the theory of Agro Disruption.

WHITE:

White was added originally to fight against other aggro decks thanks to swords to plowshares and agresive cards like savanah lions. Meddling mage gives a good response to power decks, and cards like Kataki or seal of cleansing are a good response against Stax. Jotun Grunt is amazing against other based creatures decks and works well against graveyard based decks or cards like Yawmoths, loam, crucible tarmogoyf...
All that makes me think that white is the best splash for Fish.
Hear is the list I´m playing with some open slots.

UW FISH
2 Icatian javelineers
3 Jotun Grunt
2 Kataki, War's Wage
4 Meddling Mage
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Sage of Epityr
1 Stormscape Aprentice/StP/Icatian
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Swords to plowshares
3 Stifle
1 Mystical tutor
1 Time Walk
3 Null rod
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Plains
4 Tundra
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
SIDEBOARD
2 Disenchant
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Serenity
2 Relic of Progenitus/Pithing needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Spell Snare
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Sage of Epytir gives us a fast Ninja or the Hurkyl´s, Medling mage... we need.
Icatian are so good against confidants, welders... and could remove bridge from bellow
The power of Kataki and Medlling is obvious.
Is a solid option agaist all the Metagame but Inked leviantan is our worst enemy (worst enemy of all fish decks)


RED
Red don´t gives us any fatty creature. The removal is good against small creatures only, but it gives us good artifact removal and REBs, that are amazing against a lot of decks.
The best card that we gain playing red is Gorilla Shaman. Is easy to play gorilla in the first turn or Null rod in the second.
As we haven´t big creatures, we need more control/disruption cards. For these reason I play  Spellstutter Sprite.  This creature is better with another Faerie, so I play Zephyr Sprite, that is faerie and gives us ninja in the second turn.
Grim lavamancer and fire/ice are so ussefull to destroy confidants, welders, oponent´s ninja... If we need, we can destroy our creatures to remove bridges, but this is so circumstancial.
In the sideboard we´ve got access to Pyrostatic Pillar against combo, REBs against somethink with blue, and a lot of artifact destruction cards
Our problems are Inked leviatan and Tarmogoyfs (as well as jugernauts anf other fatties).

UR FISH
3 Null rod
3 Zephyr Sprite
3 Gorilla Shaman
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3 Sage of Epityr
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
3 Daze
3 Stifle
2 Fire / Ice
4 Force of Will
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical tutor
1 Hurkils recall
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
SIDEBOARD
2 Spell Snare
2 Ingot Chewer
1 Hurkyls Recall
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Relic of Progenitus/Pithing needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Umezawas Jitte
2 Pyrostatic Pillar

If we need more preasure because a lot of decks with fatties are played in our meta we can add a second splash of green to tarmogoyf, sacrificing some disruption.

URg FISH
3 Cursecatcher
1 Grim lavamancer
3 Sage of Epityr  
3 Gorilla Shaman
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Stifle
1 Misdirection
1 Spell Snare
3 Null Rod
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Deglamer/1 Echoing Truth
2  Fire/Ice
1 Hurkils recall
1 Mystical tutor
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
3 Flooded Strand
1 Island
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD
1 Grim Lavancer
1 Ingot Chewer
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Relic of Progenitus/Pithing needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Hurkyls Recall
2 Pyrostatic Pillar
2 Umezawas Jitte



Adding green and White we´ve got access to Qasali Pridemage, that is amazing against a lot of decks of the current metagame.
If we add noble hierarch, we can play more cc3 like Trigon predator, Aven Mindcensor and Cold-Eyed Selkie. Selkie has a great sinergy with Qasali and hierarch, and could work better than Ninja.
But... Is this needed? and... Does it works really well?
I think that NO. Our mana base is less stable. If we haven´t the hierarch cc3 are not good, and Ninja works better than Selkie, attacking in the second turn rather than fourth.
Tarmogoyf could be better than Jotun, but remove our oponents graveyard is interesting in a lot of plays. We dont forget we are playing Agro-Control, we win slowly but surely.
In my oppinion, UW is better than UGW, so, I wouldnt play this deck. It dosnt add anything we need.

BANT FISH
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
1 Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
3 Null Rod
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Cursecatcher
3 Meddling Mage
3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Trigon predator / Aven Mindcensor ??
3 Tarmogoyf
4 Cold-Eyed Selkie
4 Force Of Will
3 Stifle
3 Daze
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical tutor
1 Brainstorm

SIDEBOARD
2 Tormods Crypt
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Trygon Predator
3 Swords To Plowshares
3 Kataki´s war wage
1 Hurkyl´s Recall

Latter BUG  and conclusions.

[the_lord_shaper]

    Well I'm glade to see some more posts about fish on here, its neat for sure. I make a lot of fish decks and I post my better ones in the improvement forums. Any-ho, I would disagree with you on one point for sure, the reason to splash red isn't for shaman, it's for magus of the moon. He is one of the most powerful creatures you cam play and he probably is the best 3 drop next to mindcensor. But still I like where this thread is heading, so if I may I like to add some of resent Fish lists to this thread.

This is just a cool Mono-Blue Merfolk deck I tried out to surprisingly good results.

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=38398.0

This is my G/U Fish list, with which I have won many of my local tourneys with, and have only lost to Tezz once out of about 30 or so games.

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=38308.0

[DubDub]

Hi, I have a couple responses to what you've posted so far:

Fish is a Blue based Deck that abuse the tempo and disruption to win the game.  [...]  I want to discuss what Fish is better in the current metagame.

I would say, "Fish is a primarily blue creature-based deck that uses tempo and disruption to win the game" (or if I'm being cheeky, "not lose the game").  Mana drain decks are also blue, and 'abuse' tempo and disruption as well if not better (by most recent results) than Fish.  Also, you should be a little more clear about how you're defining the metagame; are you in Europe or the US (and therein, New England vs elsewhere)?  Searching for posts with 3 Null Rod (I would run 4), and/or 4 Ninja of the Deep Hours (I would run 0), it seems like you're looking more at European lists (especially Spanish ones).  We can all assume that your primary goal is beating Tezzeret decks, but you may need to skew your list also to match up against Shops, other Fish builds, Storm or other decks, and what in particular you're facing will help us evaluate your choices (and make suggestions).

WHITE: etc.

You don't mention Ethersworn Canonist, or Aven Mindcensor, two glaring omissions.  I admit that Kataki and Ethersworn don't play nice together, but speaking as a Tezzeret player I don't think there's a Fishy card I fear more than Canonist.  Honest.  Canonist levels the playing field for stack control, because no longer can I drain and force to win, or force through a real threat (not counting Time Vault/Voltaic Key itself).

RED [...] The best card that we gain playing red is Gorilla Shaman.

I totally agree that Gorilla Shaman is great.  Though while I was typing Magus of the Moon was brought up, and that is excellent as well.
Actually you mention Spellstutter Sprite in this section, which is what I'm more confident discussing.  I played a Drain Fae list last month (you can find my report here: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=38157.0) that was raw, but mildly successful.  Spellstutter Sprite is just one of a few very good aggro-control creatures in the Fae tribe.  Glen Elendra Archmage, Vendilion Clique and Sower of Temptation are also very good.  However, I was adding this creature-control package onto a Tezzeret/Drain shell, so it isn't directly comparable.  Regarding SSS in a Fish build (i.e. Null Rods and not Drains), I would focus on mana denial instead of utility.  Vendilion would be the top of my curve and I would pair SSS with Cloud of Faeries before Zephyr Sprite.  I would board Sower against other Fish/Aggro decks.  These changes are because you would be using Wasteland more proactively, and can't drain into Glen Elendra as I could.  With SSS's ability to counter Moxen/Lotus/Sol Ring, and 5 Waste effects, I think Stifle gains value and should be played as a 4 of.  This is also consistent with the instant speed of SSS and Vendilion Clique.

I would recommend that you finish evaluating each splash color before going into UGr, or BUG or Bant.  Obviously Bant (and other combinations, like UB Bitterblossom Fish) have synergies that will need to be discussed, but you've started with Blue, White and Red, and I would finish the cycle first.

I do appreciate the difficulty in trying to comprehensively list 'Fish' playables, I look forward to the next installment.

[merfolkOTPT]

...with only mox in color.

I think this along with

If we haven´t the hierarch cc3 are not good

Need to be addressed.  Personally I think that Aven Mindcensor is the best card right now in Fish as it stops the most important card in the Tezzeret matchup, namely Tinker.  Tinker Inkwell, or even Tinker Darksteel (if you don't run or have Swords) says GG.  Every competent Tez player should try and resolve Tinker as their first line of play against us, and playing guys like Savannah Lions and Sage of Epityr aren't gonna get here.

I think the only way for Fish to actually be good is to go the full Power route and possibly run Tinker ourselves.  We need to be able to answer opponents and make our own broken plays.  It also allows us to play cards that trump other fish strategies. I also advocate for running key and vault.  Those 4 cards are so good and easily played right now that it is silly not to play them.  As for full power there are enough good dudes at 3cc that we should play them, and again we need to keep up with the other decks.  Even if we are just increasing the chances of first turn null rod.

I also think it is foolish to dismiss B specifically in the BUG list as unnecessary.  Right now Dark Confidant is the most broken card that fish decks run and needs to be more justified than unnecessary.  He draws cards even against Workshop aggro, our worst matchup and the one which we need to be least behind in.  Any deck running workshops can disrupt our other draw engines simply by playing there game plan.  So I don't think that ninja is just good enough. 

We also need to consider that a clock plus disruption is the only way that fish is actually going to win, that is to say we are not a hard lock deck, and given enough time any vintage deck will rise above whatever hate you have for it.  Especially if that deck is Tezzeret, which runs infinite tutors and ways to answer answers.  This is why tarmogoyf seems pretty important to me in any dudes plan right now.

It seems to me considering the cards that are good and necessary right now, I would run either BUG or BUW or UWG.  These color configurations all allow for at least 2 of the following cards:Tarmogoyf, Confidant, Mindcensor.  Without at least 2 of these I have a hard time being convinced of a fish deck winning. 

Finally, as I said before I advocate tinker for every fish deck because we should play broken cards too. It is necessary for any deck in vintage to have oops I win factor, without it, I think your inherently have a huge disadvantage which the cards in Fish are not good enough to overcome.  Because other decks are going to just win first turn at least occasionally and we need to also.

[Rome]

Very interesting post. As a fish player myself I have chosen Bant. there is many interesting choices here.
First off

Playing Tinker
this could be good but the sheer number of artifacts played is a lower number 3 null rod 3 moxen 1 lotus in most. Ethersworn and is about the next highest added. Yes ethersworn is very good but it is more of our board card.

BoB
Now I am not a bug fish player but i see the power this card can give. He is by far your number 1 when you choose black. followed by demo vamp and imperial seal durress and thoughtseize. Card advantage = more counter and more hate pretty striaght foward.

If your not running BoB
Chances are your running cold-eyed this is a version I run. I for one love it. Most fish players fail to see the vaule in running LoA with this card as well as a matter of fact most players dont run LoA at all anymore. This card is very abused by BoB and Selkie and A-call.

now down to the main creature bases. (for Ug w/b/

1. Tarmogoyf - Hes just that good no contest
2. Meddling Mage - By far my #2 he stops anything that can be used against you. Tinker, goblin welder, key, vault, bargen, tendrils, tez, stax, etc. when it comes to being effecient and change they way your opponet plays this is your guy.
3. BoB - reasoning above
4. Selike - reasoning above
5. Trygon Predator - This guy is just so $$ art or ench destory not much else needs to be said.
6. Aven Mindsensor - breaks every kind of search even pitch lands.
7. Ethersworn Cannonest - breaks combo and alot of times counter back up as stated.
8. Noble - Pumps your dudes and gets more mana past your null rod seems good.

Now moving on to the main thing fish does. Dissruption while putting threats on the board.

1. FoW - our biggest obivous reasons free counterspell seems good
2. Mana Drain - this is argued alot however I see this being a better choice than daze (yes i know daze is free) BUT mana drain isnt a conditional counter its just a counter.
3. Stifle - Stifle your land stife your strom stifle your welder stifle your oath stifle your key/vault. this is by far one of the most important spells we have in our bag-o-tricks
4. Daze - I like daze but I also like a tech i came up with although mine is not free. Arcaine Denial, I know I know your opponet drawls right? but what if you got a null rod on board? you drawl a mox and pay 2 for another A-call seems good dosnt it? also its a pitch to FoW much like Daze is, and finaly its a Pure counter spell where they cant pay 1 and keep the spell it just says no.
5. Null Rod - nothing to say here but its flavor text. It dosnt do anything... No it does nothing
6. wasteland / stripmine - nothing to say here eather
7. Durress/thoughtseize - hand control seems good
8. Hurkyls recall - pops all artifacts seems good
9. Curfew - stoping oath and the big ass tinker creatures = good
10. Serenity - Lets cap everything thats an ench or art yeah seems good
11. Pithing Needle - SOOOOO under rated in fish this is one of the biggest cards you can board in. Goblin Welder, fetch lands, oath tez, key, vault you get the point

The last point I want to hit on is search/drawl agents more
I already spoke about BoB LoA and Selkie.
Merchent scroll, Mystial tutor, Personal Tutor - Conditional and really dont think they are that great in fish your searcing out mostly for your return cards and if your running black i dont see these needed really at all due to the amount of tutors in black. Yes its nice to run 1 tutor/scroll 1 hurs and it seeks other stuff yeah it seems good, but a well built fish should already have the answer.
Vamp, Demo, Imperial seal, Grimm - good in any build any card as comparied to the above.
Tinker- i spoke about already
Ponder, Brainstorm, Impulse - all good in their own rights but with BoB or selkie these become more of a well im sifting more and i only really need that much if im already behind the 8 ball and after game 1 you leave yourself looking to side something out for your board that at least 6 cards hit besides obivous like rod vs mirror or shop thats running rod etc these are most of the time your next choice of siding out (besides some conditional creatures and some 1 ofs)

Summing up
Fish and stax are really the only 2 true decks that players can customize to themselves. This is what makes these 2 decks very large parts of the feild (besides whatever the biggest thing is case in point tez and before that tps.) yes both of the decks have the same base as most but not as small as 1-2 cards diffrent in the "best in format"
and as a final note id like to Honestly say Type 1 seems to be doing great and im just glad to be apart of the community and play along side of most of the players that have long been apart of the game like myself. Ive been away for the better part of 5 years now but Im so glad to be back and see this huge change to where there was almost nothing in the way of type 1 before.

[pierce]

none of your decks has vendillion clique. as a direct result, they are all misbuilt.

you highly understimate the power of duress effects. while not good vs creature based decks, a single duress allows you to abuse med mage, play around counters, gives additional information on what FOW should be used to counter (and what should be used to pitch to it), all while taking their best card.

if you are not willing to use black to have the power of duress, then you ought to use vendillion clique to have these benefits.

i would suggest using both.

[Rome]

yeah i forgot it on the list of cards that are abused I really wasnt posting a list I was just posting more used fish cards in many diffren builds of fish there is also spell studder sprite too

[miss_bun]

I super agree about the clique.  I'd run a one-of karakas, too, because it also works with kataki and gaddock teeg.

My main issue with most fish is the apparent obsession with running two colors.  The deck runs like 3 basics, just like most other decks.  Get over yourself and splash for a third (or fourth!) color if it helps you.

I also think that running bobs AND ninjas is a good idea, but I feel like almost no one does that.

Finally, I love ethersworn canonist to death, but unless you're either running vials or maindecking them as a meta call, they should be in the sideboard.  Heck, fetches are the only reason aven mindcensor even belongs in the maindeck, as far as I can tell.

[ErkBek]

My main issue with most fish is the apparent obsession with running two colors.  The deck runs like 3 basics, just like most other decks.  Get over yourself and splash for a third (or fourth!) color if it helps you.

I also think that running bobs AND ninjas is a good idea, but I feel like almost no one does that.

You've got to remember Fish decks are usually running 5 colorless sources (Strips), so 3-4 colors doesn't always work out. If you're running more than 3 colors, you probably have to play City of Brass and maybe Gemstones to support it. In T1 you can't rely on manabases that look like 5 color zoo in Extended b/c wasteland exists.

Bobs and Ninjas puts you right into URBana fish. To support Ninja you need 6-7 one-drops and 5-7 two-drops (with off-color moxen). Tarmogoyf and Null Rod being currently better than Chalice + Shaman is why the deck is currently obsolete.

[miss_bun]

I can understand that, definitely, re: mana.  But check this out:

4x crop rotation

3x flooded strand
3x polluted delta
2x savannah
1x strip mine
2x tropical island
2x tundra
2x underground sea
3x windswept heath

Ta da.  Crop rotation changes everything for fish, I think.  It allows you to have a more flexible mana base which, while now more vulnerable to FoW is actually a lor stronger when you consider that you can run black AND white and preferably open with either duress or stifle on a fetch, depending on what your hand hands you.  And of course you have FoW yourself to back it up.  I feel like the deck can be more in line with the original idea behind fish; attacking every little detail of the opponent's deck, and not giving them any slack.  You could probably even fit a wasteland in there without messing things up too much.

Maybe I'm expecting too much from crop rotation, but I think that it is going to be as good as a recently unrestricted card can be without being gush and getting re-restricted right away.

[zeus-online]

I think UWB fish is still strong...The biggest problem for the deck is that it needs to answers both tarmogoyf and inkwell leviathan...it can no longer afford to run plow as the only removal...and jötun grunt seems to be a must in order to beat goyf.

white has some of the strongest disruptive creatures imo....Cannonist and mindcensor are both game winningly good. They both negate a huge portion of most type1 decks. The more broken the opponents deck is, the stronger cannonist and mindcensor become.

Also, as stated, dark confidant is THE reason to splash black....Personally i'm not a fan of duress effects in fish...They don't play nicely with mana denial and certainly not with cannonist. Why remove cards from his hand that he can't play? (Wasteland, strip mine, stifle, daze) or can't really take advantage off (cannonist, mindcensor).

Of the three main draw creatures (confidant, selkie and ninja) confidant is absolutely the strongest. But i've found that most fish decks really wants 6 card drawing creatures as they really need the extra cards against shops and control, so running 4 confidants alone isn't enough.

I'm not really a fan of stifle either...I just hate having unspent mana in the hopes of being able to stifle something important. I'd much rather use all of my mana to cast threats or handling threats.

A thing i've noticed is that many lists run 3 null rods...and often 3 dazes....I find this plain wrong. The correct amount of null rod is 4, no less. And with daze its, zero, 1 or 4. When i play fish i ALWAYS want daze in the first 3 turns.

I haven't really been impressed by tarmogoyf yet, he seems only be good against aggro, fish and shops. While that is certainly relevant he is not really any good against Tez or combo...Both tend to ignore the goyf. When i'm on  the other side of the fish match-up i'm never really scared of the goyf.

[Sean Ryan]

I haven't really been impressed by tarmogoyf yet, he seems only be good against aggro, fish and shops. While that is certainly relevant he is not really any good against Tez or combo...Both tend to ignore the goyf. When i'm on  the other side of the fish match-up i'm never really scared of the goyf.

I think you are underestimating the power of a good clock.  Goyf wraps up the game before your opponent gets a chance to draw out of what ever tempo advantage you have gained.

You don't like Duress?  Seriously?  We are talking about Fish right?  Discard has successfully been paired with mana denial since the days of suicide black.  Fish needs to discard more than most decks because it can't match it's opponents broken plays.  Often times your opponent just needs to recover enough to get his Tinker off to stay in the game and win.  Duressing while you have the tempo advantage prevetns this and other similar scenarios.

I like UWB as well - Minscensor is amazing, but I think it's weaker againt the whole field than versions with green.  Green also gives you game vs Oath, which should be making a comeback soon.  The predator maindeck and Krosan Grip fro the side turn a bad matchup into a winnable one.

I for one believe that when Fish is doing well its a sign Vintage is healthy.  It usually means there is format diversity.

Sean     

[ErkBek]

Duress and Thoughtseize are awesome in Fish now that Brainstorm is gone. We all know that Duress takes their best card and gives you info to play optimally, but consistantly having turn 1 plays that do something to disrupt the opponent and/or allow you to implement your game plan is crucial towards building consistancy.**

Duress effects just solve so many potential problems. Instead of having to maindeck 4-5 bounce spells / tutors, Duress allows you to play 1 bounce spell + 2-3 tutors and you'll actually lose less to Tinker.

The only problem with Duress is it's not blue. Between Null Rods, Confidants, Tutors, and Tarmogoyfs/Mindcensors you usually only have 3-6 slots that you can run non-blue cards in.

**If you're playing Ninja of the Deep Hours, Duress might not be worth playing since you should have several one-drop creatures.

[Rome]

ok a few things here.

crop rotation - good yes however not good enough to fix a land base to get 4-5 colors in and by far not good enough to drop wastelands for. If your planning on running crucible/waste/strip lock i can see crop rotation being all the better and even if your considering running a turblance or maze of ith board it may not be bad a 2ndary way of dealing with mirror and some other good creatures except inkwell that is the biggest problem.

b-wu fish has plenty of ways to deal with creatures besides plow. non target you have diabolic edict and chaniners edict and terrif (sp on them) target basses you have plow because running path while good it dosnt fit your disruption base if your stiffling land and or wasting/stripping why give them a land? and there is always excommunicate and a few other dumb things depending on your match up plays if you can get away putting it on the bottom or top of a lib. Do i personaly think B-wu is bettering than Bug or g- wu no i dont but thats just because i think the green is to important in tarmogoyf and predator

Stifle - IS AMAZING needs no more fill in the blanks

3 null rod 3 daze is fine finding yourself drawling a daze later in the game isnt as good and 3 null rod is usualy plenty in any build.

drawling cards - as i stated earlyer i think LoA needs to be used more than the 4th wasteland to give us more card advantage my deck is a total meta hate deck and i do very well with it and i do not run selkie bob or ninja anymore. my only real drawl power is sitting in Acall Bstorm and LoA and i X-0 more times than not