Fishstick Stompy

[eq.firemind]

Despite my favorite deck Death and Taxes I like 2 things in Legacy magic: Tribal and Chalice Aggro. And I like the mix of two even more. I've done this with Soldiers and I want more of Chalice Tribal 'cause it can unload the lots of dudes and beat fast and Chalice aspect helps greatly with Zoo. So here comes
Fishstick Stompy

MANA (22)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
10 Islands
4 Chrome Mox

2-DROPS (14)
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Shapesharer

3-DROPS (14)
4 Wake Thrasher
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Merfolk Sovereign
2 Rushing River

4+ DROPS (10)
4 Tidal Courier
2 Fallowsage
4 Force of Will

SIDEBOARD
4 Trinisphere
3 Pithing Needle
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Winter Orb
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Propaganda


Some

The manabase is sqare standart for Chalice Aggro.

Basic Merfolks are: 4 Silvergill, 12 Lords and 4 Wake Thrasher.

We have access to early mana, so Tidal Courier is in place of Standstill.

Chalice of the Void and Force of Will are both staples in this deck.

2 Shapesharer are our lords 13-14 and Tombstalkers/'Noughts in some matchups.

2 Fallowsage for more card advantage and we can safely attack with Sovereign's help.

2 Rushing River for Humility and the likes and also to utilize additional Cities.

Now about sideboard choices:
3 Pithing Needle - universal tool, answer to the scariest card Pernicious Deed
4 Trinisphere - obvious
2 Jitte - Tribal/Zoo
3 Tormod's Crypt - obvious
1 Propaganda - I didn't want to run 4 Crypts, but 3 are not enough for Dredge, so here comes Propaganda.
2 Winter Orb - against Control and Survival. It is great in Chalice Soldiers and here we have Reejerey for even better results.

I'll be glad to hear any ideas about how to improve this concept.

[Kangaxx]

Can you explain to people why we should play this over Merfolk or FS? It looks like an interesting deck but I want to hear the benefits of playing this.

[sco0ter]

I don't like the many 2 drops together with Chalice. Eventually you have your Chalices in hand and can't cast them for 2 counters, because you would lose to yourself.
Especially not those 2 drops with UU (Lord).

[eq.firemind]

Can you explain to people why we should play this over Merfolk or FS? It looks like an interesting deck but I want to hear the benefits of playing this.
Main reason: it's different and fun to play.
Also:
This deck is less consistent than Vial Folks, but don't die to Zoo.
This deck has less explosiveness than Faerie/Dragon Stompy, but more consistent and has good card advantage.


I don't like the many 2 drops together with Chalice. Eventually you have your Chalices in hand and can't cast them for 2 counters, because you would lose to yourself.
Especially not those 2 drops with UU (Lord).
Here lies the trick: Chalice is not a lock tool but protection/tempo tool in this deck. Against modern field you'll most likely want to set Chalice on 1 to:
1) protect against Swords/Path
2) protect against Bolt/Chain Lightning
3) give some problems to Storm Combo
4) disable cantrips and prevent Zoo from bringing more Nacatls while racing them
and only then 5) to lock something relevant (the only thing I can imagine is when you need to shut down Loam).
But the point is still correct. Shapesharer shoud be something else, I just don't know what...

[tivadar]

Doesn't FS typically have a problem getting UU on their side? I'd agree with previous posters that LOA in particular is going to be hard to manage for this deck. I do like the idea of chalice with fish, as we largely hate 1 mana removal, but I'm not sure it's being done in the right way here. Reejery, Thrasher, and Adept are good fits however in my opinion.

EDIT: Wait, what, no vial? yeah, LoA and Sovereign probably won't work...

[from Cairo]

This deck has less explosiveness than Faerie/Dragon Stompy, but more consistent and has good card advantage.


I don't see how your list would be any more consistent than Faerie Stompy. They seem susceptible to the same strategies, namely midrange agro-control. Tidal Courier helps somewhat in attrition battles generating more cards to hand, but w/o Vial it's still a slow game. FS generally occupies the 6-7 additional creature slots to equipment, which should also gain board favor in longer games.


EDIT: Wait, what, no vial? yeah, LoA and Sovereign probably won't work...

At that point, there's no reason to run Merfolk over traditional FS creatures. I just don't think these decks desired CCs mesh together that well. FS just seems like a stronger shell for Chalice Blue.