One Fish, Two Fish

I really dislike Phyrexian Negator. Believe me, I see the allure of a three mana 5/5 (Does it trample too? Jeez, it does…) trampler, but I hate it. There’s just so many things just begging to go wrong for you as soon as you drop it on the table, even if it does only have to attack for four turns.

Negator’s showing up a lot in UBW Fish Builds, though, just because it’s the biggest, most efficient (if you discount the possible drawback) threat you can play. Really, the only thing you’d rather do with your first turn Dark Ritual is play Necropotence, right? Personally, it scares the willies out of me.

Except for Duress, though, I’m not sure why black belongs in Fish anymore.

Jotun Grunt’s not as good as Withered Wretch at wrecking a graveyard, no, but he’s twice as big, easier to cast, and still does a darn fine job of hating Welder and Will (which would be a terrible idea for a spinoff of Will and Grace). If his ability had him remove cards from the game instead of putting them back into the library, the Grunt would be so close to Wretch’s power level that the distinction wouldn’t even be worth making.

I’m still thinking UWG is the way to go in Fish. It’s got a faster clock than most other combinations and still has good disruption, most of which is built into solid bodies (hence the faster clock).

I’m thinking something along these lines:

3x Flooded Strand
2x Windsweapt Heath
2x Tundra
2x Tropical Island
1x Forest
1x Plains
2x Island
3x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus
1x Lotus Petal

3x Aether Vial
4x Chalice of the Void
2x Umezawa’s Jitte


4x Force of Will
4x Brainstorm
3x Stifle
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk

4x Meddling Mage
3x Trygon Predator
3x Jotun Grunt
3x Ninja of the Deep Hours
3x Coiling Oracle

The weakest creature in there, Coiling Oracle, is wimpy and vanilla once it comes into play but it’s got a number of things going for him. First, its comes into play ability is very strong if it hits a land, making it that much better with Brainstorm and Ninja. At the very least it replaces itself. Also the usual: it pitches to Force of Will and can carry a Jitte.

Everything else has a good-sized body on it. Meddling Mage does everything you could ask for and more, and Ninja’s solid, no doubt, especially when he ninjutsus into the fray. Jotun Grunt’s praises have been sung since its debut, but Trygon Predator’s plusses haven’t really been explored in much depth. I have a feeling it would just love to wreck some Stax player’s day and put a hurting on some Control Slavers as well.

I’m missing some of the good reasons to play white—namely Swords to Plowshares—but who plays creatures anyway? I’ll just set my first Meddling Mage on Tinker every time.

The major benefit to this deck is having 16 creatures, most of which have crooked digits in their power and toughness and a disruptive effect. My current UB Fish build has 14 (4 Martyr of Frost, 4 Dark Confidant, 3 Ninja, 3 Wretch), but four of them are weak, and a full seven of them do nothing but draw me cards.

There are other choices as well: Azorius Guildmage has proven to be very strong at times, as have more traditional Fish creatures like Stormscape Apprentice, True Believer, and Rootwater Thief. I think my first choice out of those would be the True Believer, though because it does so much to stop so much. If only it didn’t cost double-white.

I’ve been looking at Tin-Street Hooligan as well, wanting to play a URG Fish Build. Killing an artifact while playing an efficiently costed beater seems pretty good to me, I don’t know. The problem is that more artifact destruction isn’t what those colors need, and that’s really what red is good for. Unfortunately, URG Fish just don’t have enough disruptive creatures to make a worthwhile build outside of an environment filled with aggro.

All this thinking about different Fish builds makes me sad, though. I feel like I’ve finally gotten UB Fish to a point where I’m happy and winning. Duress never fails to be awesome, Wretch scares the crap out of people, and Stifle and Chain are a tag-team house.

As many of you know, I’ve been working on this deck almost a year, and I worked with it every step of the way trying to improve it. By my count, more than 20 different cards have been in and out of that deck and in different ratios since I started tuning it. At the most, the deck had 27 unique singles in it, and now it’s down to 23, and six of them are restricted.

I think the one I was most disappointed with and loath to give up on was Dimir Infiltrator, but the list has includes Echoing Truth and Decay, Darkblast, Plague Fiend, Remand, Arcane Lab and Arcane Denial (wtf!? I suck at Magic), and Crucible of Worlds.

Probably the best change I made was dropping Chalice and Vial for Null Rod. Rod is so good, so very good. Plus, running Rod over Vial and Chalice frees up at least three slots for other things. Plus, I still have Chalice in the board for combo and other fun archetypes.

I’ve got some ideas for the future, though too. When I was at work today, I was thinking about answers to Jotun Grunt and other big guys. I have two possible solutions that I’m pretty happy with. They might just keep UB Fish in contention.

Reanimate.

Juzam Djinn.

Huh? Huh?

Both of these are strictly sideboard tech, clearly. Reanimate has the benefit of costing only one, and that’s a bargain. Unfortunately, it also costs life, which can be bad if I’m trying to bring back anything that costs much more than, say, Dimir Cutpurse. Plus, it’s only good for one use, which means that my reanimated Grunt has to trade eventually with another one. Also, one Grunt has to end up in the graveyard to use it in the first place. It’s limited, but it could be useful.

Juzam Djinn is a classic, and they’re coming close to reprinting it in Time Spiral:

Plague Sliver
Sliver – 2 BB
All slivers have “At the beginning of your upkeep, this creature deals one damage to you.”
5/5

That’s right, it’s a 5/5 for four, and so is Juzam Djinn. Jotun Grunt is a 4/4 for two. Therein lies the first problem; Djinn kills Grunt, but can only do so two turns later. Plus, Djinn would suddenly become the target in my deck for all preemptive, reactive, and active removal. That can be both good and bad. If it gets hit by Swords to Plowshares, that can be a neat little bonus, but if it gets hit by Swords to Plowshares it can’t block any Jotun Grunts. Of course, except for removal and Meddling Mages, what else do I have to counter in UW Fish other than Swords to Plowshares on a Juzam Djinn?

We’ll see.

If I decide to play UB Fish, I’ll probably start with Reanimate and see what happens. As solid as Juzam is, I just have more faith in the one mana Sorcery that also has other uses.

I think what we can all learn from this is that I will stick with UB Fish until it becomes absolutely unviable.

It might get played this weekend.

Speaking of which:

Gamers Lounge Sandusky
127 E. Market St.
Sandusky, OH 44870
(419) 621-0282

Show up at the store at 10 a.m. for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Registration for infinite proxy Vintage starts at noon, and the tournament starts at 1 p.m.

Bring $12.50 because that’s how much entry is, and don’t forget your awesome deck.

And forget 3-Color Fish.

UBF 4 Life!