[Pauper] UW Fish

[Cyrus]

In a meta with a lot of controls/combo, I decided to run this list:

//Lands

6 Plains
10 Island
4 Terramorphic Expanse

//Creatures

4 Deft Duelist
3 Mulldrifter
3 Pestermite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Stormscape Apprentice

//Others

3 Momentary Blink
3 Sigil of Sleep
3 Bonesplitter
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Daze
4 Counterspell

//Sideboard

4 Hydroblast
4 Hindering Light
4 Guardian of the Guildpact
3 Stormscape Apprentice

Any ideas? I still have problems with MBC and MGA and wanted to know how could I solve em.

[4eak]

What are the exact rules for your Pauper format?




peace,
4eak

[Cyrus]

Only commons allowed and Legacy banned stuff.

[chokin]

Since you have problems with MBC, extra card draw would help recover from discard. Think Twice nets you a card for 3UU which sucks, but it can be cast if they make you discard it once.

MGA might be a pain since they totally outclass your creatures. You could tap their creatures (your Apprentice does this) or bounce things (Snap, Snapback, Echoing Truth). Flood might help.

I don't like Deft Dualist. I'd drop it for more Mull, Pester, Splitter, and another Sigil. Looter Il-Kor might work in his place instead. Has good evasion and gives you card quality.

[Cyrus]

The problem with MBC isnt really all that discard, the incredible lifegain really pwnz my ass. Corrupt + Tendrils take my clock away. Hindering Light should cover that issue post-board, but it isn't always like that. MGA is doable, sigil and apprentice really shine on that matchup. About Deft Duelist, his untargetability really, really rocks against control and hist first strike can hold many aggro decks .

[4eak]

You have to beat Combo and Control decks, right? Why not just play straight blue fish? I'll be honest though, in peasant formats, Control is almost always the correct genre to play.

I'm not convinced White is necessary because you don't get to play any really strong white spells. Deft Duelist and Oblivion Ring are good, but are they worth splashing? If you have to spash, then splash for black.

Here's a pile to consider:


4x Spiketail Hatchling
4x Spiketail Drakeling
4x Cloud of Faeries
4x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Waterfront Bouncer
4x Looter Il-Kor

4x Ponder
4x Daze
4x Counterspell
4x Repeal

20 Island


peace,
4eak

[Cyrus]

About the black splash instead of white: what cards would it add to the deck? I lack fast removal, but I guess thats it. White gives me that fast removal, an untargettable critter and hindering light that really helps in the MBC matchup.

And can you give me a optimal list of a good control deck in pauper legacy? Maybe MonoU, that has an edge over other control decks and combo.

[chokin]

Here's my take of your deck after some sleep and pondering.

4 Thornwind Faeire
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Looter il-Kor

4 Snap
4 Counterspell
4 Rune Snag
4 Ophidian Eye
4 Sigil of Sleep
4 Brainstorm

20 Island

SB
4 Sea Sprite
4 Coast Watcher
4 Remove Soul/Negate
3 Open

This deck has some pretty nuts plays with the "free" spells. Going Cloud of Faeries->Snap->Rune Snag is pretty nasty. If you don't like Rune Snag, then Daze could go back in that slot, but Snag is more powerful as the game progresses and Snap helps pick up creatures that slipped through in the early game. The Thornwind "Tim" Faerie takes advantage of the enchantments of the deck, as does Looter il-Kor. I can't think of anything else to squeeze in here.

If you were to splash a color, red or black would probably serve you well. Red would give you reach when your guys can't quite kill people, and the burn should also serve as removal, making the deck kinda like a UR Sligh. Black gives you Duress and Dark Banishing or Rend Flesh.

[cRUMMYdUMMY]

I'm surprised Pauper hasn't received more attention since its official sanctioning earlier this week on MTG Online. I'm going to flat out tell you UW Fish is far too slow. With Green critters like Wild Mongrel, Werebear, River Boa, and Basking Rootwalla available at the common level, green will always outclass white creatures. Therefore GU Fish is a better color. The deck builds itself already from there on.

Another alternative is to drop blue entirely, like several posters have already mentioned, and go with a straight mono blue faerie fish.

You said you have problems against control, I'm assuming MUC and MBC. Against MUC, you MUST play Ninja of the Deep Hours. If you get an active Ninja on the board, you've almost certainly won the game. Not to mention that Ninja is probably the strongest blue creature in general. Every spell you play afterwards must be a threat or a draw spell. They will be forced to counter both and will eventually run out of counters. Your first threat will likely be the only threat you need.

Against MBC, you have to race. It is a difficult matchup, but it is possible with a good hand. You have to consistently play out threats every turn preferably having at least 4 creatures on board by the end of turn 3, then protect them with counter backup. This is not always feasible, hence the miserable matchup. If your meta is full of MBC, I suggest running MUC as it has a very good matchup against MBC.

Against combo, just run Echoing Truth and Hydroblast in the board. Problem solved.

[Willoe]

FaerieFish is extremely strong. A tempo-oriented deck, packed with counterspells. Here's my list:

4 Cloud Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Pestermite
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Briarberry Cohort

4 Sigil of Sleep
4 Bonesplitter
4 Counterspell
4 Daze
4 Gush

20 Island

The problem with my list is that is doesn't fulfill your criteria: being Legacy-legal. Gush is, as we all know, banned in Legacy. I therefore advocate using Force Spike, so that your curve will be:

1cc - 16
2cc - 20
3cc -4

Sigil of Sleep doesn't really count as a one-drop. It is possible to throw in Force Spike. A pretty powerful way to handle emergency removal (Turn 4 evincar's justice or turn 4 swirling sandstorm) or pesky turn 1 drops.

Playing a shitload of counterspells is good when playing against MBC.

The only real synergy in this deck is to have Spellstutter Sprite, one of the best creatures ever printed working each time. If you don't like the Faerie synergy, try this list instead:

20 Island

4 Man-O'-War
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 Cloudskate
4 Wormfang Drake
4 Flying Men

4 Bonesplitter
4 Force Spike
4 Unstable Mutation
4 Counterspell

This list is from the scratch, and is built entirely from theory. This deck's curve is:
1cc - 16
2cc - 12
3cc - 8
4cc - 4

That looks better. Not sure if 20 lands is too little. You never want to get +3 lands in play. Another way could be going -4 Unstable Mutation -4 Cloudskate +4 Island +4 Mulldrifter. New curve:

1cc - 12
2cc - 8
3cc -8
4cc -4
5cc -4

It's up to you what you want:
Synergy and tempo advantage
Regular tempo oriented aggrocontrol
Card advantageous, slower aggrocontrol

Note the sweet synergy with Cloudskate and Wormfang Drake. Eventually, when Wormfang Drake dies, you'll get a new beater/blocker. I highly advocate to give the Drake a shot. It's worth it.

Small note:
- Brainstorm is pure shit in a deck with no shuffle effects. I wouldn't even play it in Pauper High Tide.
- Ophidian Eye isn't worth it. Play the real Ophidian or Ninja of the Deep Hours (the latter is strictly better) instead.

Ask me for a UW-list. I'd like to test that one myself, but that will be in a couple of days.

Hope I helped!
-Willoe

[Cyrus]

The G creatures in pauper really are awesome, and UG Fish really seems like the best option. My current list:

//Lands

10 Island
7 Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse

//Creatures

4 Werebear
4 Looter il-Kor
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
1 Springing Tiger

//Others

4 Mana Leak
4 Brainstorm
4 Force Spike
4 Daze
3 Bonesplitter
3 Sigil of Sleep

//Sideboard

4 River Boa
4 Negate
3 Echoing Truth
4 Hydroblast

Any ideas? Should I drop Brainstorm since I only have 4 shuffle effects in the deck? Many times I need that extra card in the yard, and Brainstorm accomplishes that task with extra CQ.

[Willoe]

Rancor > Bonesplitter.

Possible modifications:
-1 Springing Tiger -3 Sigil of Sleep +4 Æther Burst

Same bounce effect with one less irrelevant creature, less risky (getting a Looter with Sigil pinged is some serious shit, and Sigil only works properly with creatures that can ping or creatures with evasion), and Æther Burst fits your theme nicely.

Also, play some more discard outlets. Waterfront Bouncer and/or Aquamoeba comes to mind. In fact, I like them more than Looter, since they can discard card at instant speed, and the Bouncer keeps control decks (or other decks with few creatures) locked while you smack 'em with Walla and Mongrel.

EDIT: Oh, and while you're at it, remove a land. Can't figure out which yet, but you do play 4 cantrips, which means that you can go down 1 land, according to Threshold theory.

[Limz]

Hi, im currently running this list

All common fish

4 Sage of Epityr
4 Spellstutter sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Ninja of the deep hrs
2 Looter il-Kor

4 Daze
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
3 Bone splitter
3 Sigil of Sleep
3 Ponder
2 Echoing truth


19 Islands

I could say that ninja of the deep hours is great in conjunction with utility creatures. Aside from generating card advantage, it lets you counter something again with spellstutter sprite, or rearrange with sage. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Cyrus]

About that FaerieFish list, is Latchkey Faerie worth it? Cantrips and has a nice body.