2nd in Type 1.5 Tourney, with Fish

[Sammy Dead-O]

This was my first 1.5 tournament...a five-round single-elimination affair. Here's the deck I ran:

4 Manta Riders
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Lord of Atlantis
1 Rootwater Thief (all I have)
2 Merfolk Looter
1 River Merfolk

4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will (SO friggin helpful)
1 Mana Leak (decent...I wanted another counter)
1 Misdirection (again, all I have...quite a clutch performer...saved me from a Goblin Grenade)
1 Divert (wasn’t all that impressed, but I’ll keep testing it)
4 Curiosity (wins games)
2 Opt (hey, it’s never a terrible card...wouldn’t mind replacing ‘em, though)
2 Boomerang
3 Wash Out (didn’t face enough monocolor weenie decks to make it all that useful)

4 Mishra’s Factory (along with Curiosity, the deck’s MVP)
4 Faerie Conclave
2 Wasteland (not too important)
12 Island

Sideboard
4 Hydroblast
2 Chill (SB MVP)
4 Hibernation
2 Boomerang
1 Wash Out
1 Control Magic
1 Island (for random LD...and I boarded it in for a Conclave in one match)

I beat (in order): a little kid monoblue deck (is that an oxymoron?), a suboptimal burn deck, blue/white control with Blinding Angel, and a fairly speedy R/G deck (Kird Ape, Pup, Fanatic, Wild Mongrel, and some other goodies). I lost in the finals to an excellent Solitary Confinement deck. Need some more Thieves, and maybe some Extracts in the board, to help against those decks with just a few win conditions.

My basic plan at this point is to replace those Wastelands with Islands (and maybe put the two Wastelands in the board), then replace a Wash Out and the two Opts (and maybe the Divert or Mana Leak) with Psionic Blasts, if I can get them.

I dunno...any other thoughts or suggestions?


EDIT: Corrected some grammar, ta make yall bleeve i kin talk good

 

[Spiderman]

Maybe I can jog someone else's memory into helping, but can you use any threshold/flashback cards?

 

[Tabasco]

Ummm,

CREATURES

Saprazzan Heir

1U

Whenever it is blocked you may draw 3 cards
1/1


Reef Shaman

U

Tap: Target land becomes the type of your choice until end of turn
0/2


Jolting Merfolk

2UU

Fading 4

Remove a fade counter from it: tap target creature
2/2



REMOVAL

Seal of Removal
U
Enchantment


Sac. return target creature to its controller's hand


Rushing River
2U
Instant

Kicker: sac a land

return target nonland permenant to its owner's hand
if you paid the kicker cost return another

Hope I helped?!?

also I use a tidal kracken as a alt kill or for at least one fattie

seahunter is very good i would recommend at least one (good with jolting merfolk)

cowardice is also good with jolting merfolk(can bounce 3 creatures and himself for reuse)

you could always splash red and use

fire/ice
razorfin hunter
r/u split land (apoc)

 

[Oversoul]

And here we have a demonstration of Tabasco totally suggesting my girl, Saprazzan Heir. She is the best creature in the game that lets you draw three cards when blocked, hands down.

 

[Reverend Love]

How did the Solitary Confinement deck work?

 

[Mikeymike]

I'm not so sure about the Heir. To me she reads:

Saprazzan Heir
1U
Saprazzan Heir is unblockable.
1/1

 

[Rooser]

Mikeymike is right - the trick to having fun with her is to force people to block her and and have her survive. For all that trouble you could just put Ancetral Recall on Isochron Scepter, duh.

Fish is a cool deck, but without Gush or Frantic Search it's hard for it to do well anymore.

 

[Oversoul]

If you have Ancestral Recall, then that's a different story. Of course, even though this format is now dead, Ancestral Recall was never legal for it...

 

[Rooser]

The ancestral recall thing was a joke.

Still, a fish deck does better with true aggro threats, and Saprazzan Heir isn't one of them. And again, without Gush of Frantic Search , the Marlins will never repeat as World Series champs.

 

[Mikeymike]

Regarding Sammy's deck (let's remember, that is what we are here for)...

I'd consider straying away from Merfolk if you can. You will be able to upgrade your overall creature quality considerably, and you'll lower your dependency on Lord of Atlantis. Lords are fun, but they are extremely easy to disrupt in competitive play.

Non-Merfolk to consider:
Flying Men
Serendib Efreet
Cloudskate (though it is best with things like Wormfang Manta and/or Unstable Mutation)
Spindrift Drake (I like this guy, think he's underrated)

Another alternative to Opt: If you ran a set of the Onslaught Fetchlands, you could also run the poor man's Recall - Brainstorm. I like the Fetchlands in here since this is essentially an aggro deck that wants to thin itself out, and I also like Brainstorm because it is cheap and you will have many opportunities to clear out your jank.

 

[Oversoul]

Okay, that probably is for the best...

But Saprazzan Heir!

Okay, fine. Serendib Efreet IS better.

Anyway, any Merfolk deck should run 4x River Merfolk...

 

[train]

Unstable mutations?...

Ophidians maybe?

 

[Oversoul]

Ophidian < Curiosity in Fish decks.

 

[train]

What about mutations?

 

[DarthFerret]

Personally, if I am using fish, I like the seasinger (supplied with phantasmal terrains). Adding a little bit of control to the deck (or the sideboard) can give a whole other element with very few added cards and should not take away from the decks main theme on a whole.

 

[Oversoul]

Train: I'm not sure about Mutations. It seems that it would work, although I don't know if the boost (albeit a very nice one) is worth it.

DarthFerret: Seasinger is an unorthodox choice. It is expensive (for Fish) and not very flexible, but it does pack a nice punch against certain decks. Has it worked out well for you?

 

[DarthFerret]

So far I have not had many problems using seasingers.

Generally, the only deck that is a real pain to use seasingers against, is a blue deck, which means you can sideboard in more counterspells for the phantasmal terrains.

It has been successful for me, but then, I am typically a blue player so I love control/counter/change the game rules effects!