Fish

<p align=justify> Yesterday I played in an Extended tournament and was very uncertain about which deck to play: I`m an aggro-player and, even if Oath was always in my mind (I know it`s not an aggro-deck!), I choose to play Sligh, Stompy or Fish. I played Sligh a lot; too many sideboard cards versus it and, more important, too many bad results due to bad luck (it`s not THAT difficult to play, you know...) told me to set it aside. Then I realized I didn`t have the cards to build up a solid Stompy deck (yes, I don`t have commons, don`t laugh!). Then I thought I left Junk out of my list of viable decks! Ah, Junk... a deck I played over and over again which always made me angry for some particular reason. Ok, let`s play Fish then.<br> Here`s the decklist: <br><br> 4 Lord of Atlantis<br> 4 Man-o`-War<br><br> Not particular useful... <br><br> 4 Manta Riders<br> 4 Rootwater Thief<br> 3 Suq`Ata Firewalker<br> 3 Waterspout Djinn<br><br> I played ONE of then once... <br><br> 4 Brainstorm<br> 4 Counterspell<br> 4 Curiosity<br> <br> There`s a difference between the game you won and the game you lost: this card! <br><br> 4 Force of Will<br> 4 Daze<br><br> 18 Island<br> <br> SB: 4 Annul<br> SB: 4 Chill<br> SB: 4 Submerge<br> SB: 3 Misdirection<br><br> Good SB, nothing to change as of now.<br><br> GUYS! PLAY 3 NEVINYRRAL`S DISK MAINDECK! <br><br> Anyway, on to the report. <br><br> 1st turn vs. Rebels. <br><br> Good ol` rebels` engine, the one with Craddle and so on. First game goes very easy for me because my opponent fails to draw lands and finds himself stucked at 2 lands (one was a Rishadan Port) while his life points were decreasing fast due to a couple of merfolks and even faster after a Lord of Atlantis came into play.<br> I side in Annul (Masticore, Parallax Wave, Glorious Anthem, are they enough?) and start very nasty with a lot of creatures he have to chump-block to stay alive while looking for a Wrath (Wrath?) or a Parallax Wave, eventually he finds it but it stands just a couple of turns, then I get back my critters and finish him. 2-0 <br><br> 2nd turn vs. Stompy. <br><br> The worst matchup, you can`t win. The first I countered a little bit, played a couple of merfolk to stay alive but I needed a Curiosity early. Failing to draw it I concede after he cleared my part of the table with multiple Giant Growth after I chump-blocked trying to stay alive. I side in Submerge and Misdirection to switch those Giant Growth and other similar spells onto my creatures... Bad choice! Useless, trust me! Anyway...<br><br> I start countering everything he plays, he`s mana-flooded... but I fail to draw something to put him under pressure and he recovers soon topdecking two River Boa and killing me faster. 0-2 <br><br> 3rd turn vs. a black-blue-red deck that would be fail to win a game even in a T2 tourney. <br><br> The first I`m mana-flooded but when I cast two Suq`Ata Firewalker he start repeating `I can`t win, your deck seems built to beat mine`... Damnit! What a pile that deck was! I ping him while countering some Void, Prophetic Bolt, etc. and easily win. I side in the Chill and let him start with a smile. Two Suq`Ata Firewalker and a Chill later he concedes. 2-0 <br><br> 4th turn vs. Stompy! (Not again!) <br><br> He wins the dice roll and starts with Forest-nothing! I lay a merfolk. He plays the second Forest and says `go`! I enchant my guy with a Curiosity and start the beatdown while gaining card advantage. Obviously I win.<br> I side in Submerge only. He starts slow once again and the game seems like the previous one. I win easily countering Boas and some other nasty creature. <br><br> Quater-finals vs. that Stompy that beated me on the second turn. <br><br> This time I`m ready to take my revenge. A Stompy starts slow against me for the third time in a row! I gain some advantage and while I`m not able to draw a Curiosity I start a damage race I win with my flying guys while a couple of Lord of Atlantis were telling them not to show mercy ;-)<br> I side in Submerge and Annul since I saw him putting in some Eladamri`s Vineyard. He starts:<br> - Forest, Vineyard,<br> - Forest, Vineyard, Boa, Rancor...<br> I concede after telling him he`s a very skillful and smart player...<br> I start the last and more important game keeping a hand with two Rootwater Thief, two Lords and a Curiosity hoping to win the damage race. I lay a land and say `go`. He`s smart again playing a Vineyard on his first turn. I draw and use the two additional manas to cast my Rootwater Thief. He`s unable to use the additional manas very well and starts casting power-ups before attacking and so on. I lay my Lords and after a few turns I win the damage race. <br><br> Semifinals vs. Turboland. <br><br> The key vs. this deck are:<br> a) don`t let him use Oath of Druids if you can`t deal with it or with the creatures it brings into play (either way, since you`re playing Fish, you can`t!),<br> b) don`t EVER let him abuse of Horn of Greed (if it`s called `of Greed` there must be a reason!).<br> The first game I start Island-go, he goes Tropical-Exploration-Island and some other trick, I go Island-Rootwater Thief which he Wills and I Daze (he was tapped out due to the tricks mentioned above)! I pick the Morphling, then the Hellion and then I easily win.<br> I side in Annul and don`t think I need Misdirection (pulling off Man-o`-War which is useless). I get a Thief in play again and start pulling off nasty cards as above but he abuses of Horn of Greed (point b) and after he played the Hellion (you lucky, you had it into your hand!) and made infinite turns I concede.<br> The third game was crappy... I had just one Island and a Thief. I never drew the second... <br><br> Later. Alessandro Scala