Powerless Noble Fish options

[nep111]

Hi all, I have been a long time lurker on TMD but haven't really posted a lot.
I love playing Magic, and have been since revised days.
My favorite formats are legacy and vintage, but I do not have the bazaar of Baghdad, P9 cards or Workshops, therefore my options are limited. I also do NOT own the goyfs.

My brother has a vintage Oath of druids deck (Terrastodon Oath) wih proxies for the P9 cards that I absolutely LOVE trying to beat with none powered decks.
This brings me to my post:  I have read up on the noble fish decklists and really like that deck. I also have most of the cards for it except the aforementioned power.
What I seek your advice with 1 main question:

What are my best options for filling in the last slots (the power slots). My options :
      a. Elvish Spirit Guide (fast mana, no dissynergy with Null Rods, enable T1 quasali/Null rod)
      b. Chalice of the Void (hinders the CC0 artifacts)
      c. Sol Ring, Lotus Petal and 2 other cards (might have dissynergy with the null rods, but give me faster starts). I also have 1 Mox Diamond available.
      d. Chrome Mox (again, card disadvantage, but faster starts. Also a dissynergy with Null Rods.)

My decklist currently looks like this (for reference)

4 Flooded Strand (Do not have Misty Rainforest yet)
4 Tropical Island
4 Tundra
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Forest
1 Island

4 Elvish Spirit Guides
4 Null Rod

4 Noble Hierarch
4 Meddling Mage
4 Quasali Pridemage
4 Cold Eyed Selkie
3 Trygon Predator
1 Rafiq of the Many (Beat enabler, makes the Selkies REALLY dangerous)

4 Force of Will
3 Daze
3 Spell Pierce
1 Misdirection
2 Swords to Plowshares

This adds up to 61 cards, so I guess I should cut 1 card. It is tempting to go for the second Island but I fear getting mana problems. If you have good constructive feedback on the list itself I would be glad, but the main thing I want answered/help with is the question above

Thanks in advance for any advice on this matter.

[Prospero]

Hey, welcome to TMD!

Are you just looking to keep playing your brother, or are you looking to get more involved, with tournaments?  If you're looking to keep playing your brother (and he's still playing the Oath deck) a fourth Trygon Predator is pretty good.  

A lot of what I say hinges on your answer to that question.

If I was going to change the deck up, I'd probably cut the Rafiq, one basic Island and the four Elvish Spirit guides, which would bring you down to 55 cards.  The Misdirection can stay for the time being.

I would add a basic Plains.  If you do venture out to a tournament, you'll find that sometimes having a basic Plains, especially when fighting Workshop decks that are armed to the teeth with hate for non basic lands, is a great thing.  That brings you to 56 cards.

It's all just theory at this point, but I'd imagine that Blightsteel Colossus is going to be a problem.  Fish decks have had problems with Tinker targets in the past, and Blightsteel is very difficult.  I'd use one more slot on another Swords effect (giving an opponent another land with Path to Exile may be better than giving them 11 life with Swords to Plowshares.)  That brings us to 57 cards.

Mystical Tutor would be a good card if you had Time Walk, but for the time being, the fourth Spell Pierce is not a bad thing.  It's very strong against certain Workshop builds, and can disrupt the early plans of an opposing blue mage.  It's also important to be able to interact with your opponent on turn one.  Until you pick up power, or run proxies, having Spell Pierces to do that is not a bad idea.  You want to have a play on every turn of the game.  That puts us at 58 cards.

I'd consider the fourth Trygon Preadtor for the 59th slot.

And if you weren't comfortable with that, I'd run two Nature's Claim, as slots 59 and 60 in the deck.  Claim is really good disruption against a lot of decks, and it will function well against your brothers Oath of Druids.  

Either way, have fun and test it out.  

[nep111]

First and foremost, thanks a lot for the reply, and a very elaborate one as well.

If this deck can compete in a powered meta, I would try to find a tournament to take it too. That being said, there are very few if any vintage tournaments where I live (Norway) so it is mostly for playing for fun with my brother.

Tinker is a problem, and I had 2 Nature's claim in the deck until today to fight that threat. I replaced them with the elvish spirit guides to get faster starts.
I might need to get those back in the list. I am also considering Hurkyl's Recall to combat the robots.

When it comes to Rafiq, he seems like a LOT of fun so therefore I wanted to test him out. I guess one of this decks problems (my list that is) is that I have no serious beatsticks since I do not own the goyfs - this was an attempt to remedy that situation at least a little.

Is this deck at all viable you think ? Or will I lose ever game - my hope is that my disruption should be enough to make me compete (and there is a lot of disruption in the deck )

Best regards nep111

[Prospero]

First and foremost, thanks a lot for the reply and a very elaborate one as well.

If this deck could compete in a powered meta, I would try to find a tournament to take it to.  That being said, there are very few if any Vintage tournaments where I live (Norway) so it is mostly for playing for fun with my brother.

Tinker is a problem, and I had 2 Nature's Claim in the deck until today to fight that threat.  I replaced them with the Elvish Spirit Guides to get faster starts.
I might need to get those back in the list.  I am also considering Hurkyl's Recall to combat the robots.

When it comes to Rafiq, he seems like a LOT of fun so therefore I wanted to test him out. I guess one of this decks problems (my list that is) is that I have no serious beat sticks since I do not own the Goyfs - this was an attempt to remedy that situation at least a little.

Is this deck at all viable? Or will I lose every game?  My hope is that my disruption is enough to make me competitive (and there is a lot of disruption in the deck. )

Best regards,

nep111

Rafiq is definitely fun.  I had a few drafts during Alara block where I was fortunate enough to open him.  If the deck is going to stay casual, by all means keep him in.  If you do venture out into the world of Vintage tournaments, I'd consider cutting him.

Noble Fish is very viable.  It's not overpowered, and your best plays as an unpowered deck are going to pale to some of the plays that the powered decks can make.  Still, as you noted, the deck features a great deal of disruption.  It's a solid choice against Workshop decks, it can give blue decks fits, and it's very good against various Oath builds.  

If you did take this deck to a tournament, I'd test a fair amount against Dredge.  Fighting Dredge with Fish is different from fighting it with most other decks.  Some combination of Waste effects, Relics, counterspells and beaters should get the job done.  

The deck is definitely viable, if you do make some power proxies it will only become more viable.  

[kvaj]

Recommendation

-4 Meddling Mage
-1 Rafiq of the Many
-4 Elvish Spirit Guides

+4 Leyline of Sanctity
+1 Ponder
+1 Mystical Tutor
+1 Merchant Scroll
+1 Brainstorm

You aim for start of game with leyline, as it is impossible to stop and
deny a lot of nasty stuff you don't want to hit you with.
Mana isn't an issue for this deck, you need more blue spells
for pitching off to Force of Will.