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Gay/r Primer
The original mono-blue fish used merfolk with Lord of Atlantis to overcome control quickly, but proved to be rather ineffective against creature decks. As such, splashing red into the deck gave it the best ¡°fish¡± card: Grim Lavamancer. With the splash, the deck is more suited for today's metagame now that Long and Madness, two of the worst matchups for the deck prior to restriction, is slowed to the point where you can at least deal with them. Here is the original decklist by Phantom Tape Worm on TMD:
//Creatures (15)
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Spiketail Hatchling
3 Voidmage Prodigy
//Permission (8)
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
1 Misdirection
//Draw (9)
4 Standstill
4 Curiosity
1 Ancestral Recall
//Other (4)
3 Null Rod
1 Time Walk
//Mana (24)
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Faerie Conclave
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Volcanic Island
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
Now for a brief explanation of some card choices:
Grim Lavamancer: as stated, one of the main reasons of the red splash. It slaughters almost all creatures mercilessly, be it Jackal Pups, Goblin Welders, Hypnotic Specters, etc. It also makes the ultimate draw engine in the deck when attached with Curiosity. This card alone makes handling aggro a possibility.
Spiketail Hatchling: not only does it have evasion, but also functions as a mini-Time Walk with its built in Daze effect. This creature adds versatility to the creature base and works very well with Daze.
Voidmage Prodigy: one of the most controversial slots in the deck, Voidmage Prodigy on the table with 2 blue open is not easily played around. Don't forget that this card works with the Lavamancer as well. The problem is the double blue in both the casting and activation cost. Some play it, some don't; Mogg Fanatic, Flying Men, and Rootwater Thief can take the spot instead. One thing to note is its morph ability, which can get around Chalice set at 2 (which hurts the deck most).
Daze: the deck wants fast/free counters, as FoW alone won't cut it. Some builds opt to run Stifle in its place; personally I would run Stifle.
Null Rod: choosing the deck in the first place means there is a presence of high level decks, meaning powered decks. Null Rod not only shuts down moxen and lotus but deals with Workshop decks, Masticore, Illusionary Mask, Mindslaver, and Isochron Scepter, all of which gives the deck fits. Its ability to shut down a myriad of artifacts is crucial to the deck's success.
Manlands (Mishra's Factory and Faerie Conclave): essential to be successful with the deck, manlands are effective, uncounterable beats. Also, these can be played even with a Standstill in play, making them more useful and Standstill stronger as a result. Due to the fact that they are land and tamper with the manabase, unlike Gay Fish no more than 2 or 3 Conclaves may be played.
Fire/Ice and Psionic Blast are not in the deck because Lavamancer does a better job. Cunning Wish is not in because without mana acceleration and Mana Drain, it's simply too slow to be played. Blue staples like Brainstorm are not in simply because they are not needed and take too much room. Black Lotus is not in because the deck needs consistent, not fast, mana. If you want it in, go for it, but know the mana base is pretty fragile as it is.
Much like Gay Fish, this deck wants to lay some beats down and followed up ideally with Standstill while protected by counters. Unlike Landstill, however, it can easily function without Standstill as most of the creatures have evasion. While the 1/1's don't seem much, in conjunction with 2 power beaters (Voidmage Prodigy, Faerie Conclave and Mishra's Factory) the damage really builds up.
Because you should be drawing much more cards than your opponent thanks to Standstill and Curiosity, you should have a plethora of answers to your opponent's threats. Spiketail and Voidmage can use their counter abilities tapped, so you can safely attack with them. Wastelands and Stifle really shut down your opponent's mana, buying you time to gain control. The deck isn't hard to play, especially for those familiar with Gay Fish, but as with all decks practice is vital.
The deck should have no problem with control: Null Rod, Stifle, and Wastelands tie your opponent's mana while you lay down threats backed with counters. As the deck has more counters than most control decks, you should be able to resolve what you need. Just save a few counters for nasties like Fire/Ice and Balance. Voidmage Prodigy truly shines against control, as you will be able to get the point where you can actually play and utilize him.
Grim Lavamancer is your best friend in aggro matchups, though Null Rod and sideboarded Maze of Ith, Rack and Ruin, and possibly Energy Flux and Sigil of Sleep (if you have them) will be needed against monsters like Dreadnought and Juggernaut. Against Workshop, get Null Rod on the board and kill the Welders with Lavamancers.
The sideboard varies from time to time depending on the metagame. For a general guideline, a successful sideboard always incorporate cards that deal with the following:
¡¤Graveyard (Tormod's Crypt): Good against decks that utilize their graveyards extensively like Dragon and Trix, and even Welder and Psychatog to a degree. Note that Tormod's Crypt doesn't work under a Null Rod.
¡¤Creatures (Maze of Ith, Sigil of Dawn, Seal of Removal, Waterfront Bouncer): These are boarded in against creature decks (obviously). While not strict removal per-se, they delay your opponent enough for your evasion critters to seal the game.
¡¤Control (Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Stifle): While the deck already has a good matchup against most control decks, more couldn't hurt.
¡¤Artifacts (Rack and Ruin, Energy Flux, Null Rod): Against artifact heavy decks, especially those with Workshops, 3 Null Rods are not enough to deal with all the threats.
¡¤Tendrils-Combo (Arcane Laboratory, Stifle): used against any non-Rector Tendrils of Agony decks, the problem is your maindeck Null Rod, Stifle, and counters usually prove sufficient.
A sample sideboard would look like:
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Maze of Ith
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Fire/Ice
1 Null Rod
1 Stifle (assuming that there are 3 Stifles in the MD; otherwise replace F/I with 2 more)
One of the draws of Gay Red is the fact that it's a budget deck that can compete. As you can see, the above decklist sports only 4 cards from the P10 (Ancestral, Time Walk, Sapphire, Library), being the first deck in a long time to not use Black Lotus. The fact is the deck doesn't need an explosive start; it can function unpowered.
To make the deck without power, substitute 2 Islands for the Mox and Library, and either more counters or more utility in places of Ancestral and Time Walk. As a result, the mana base, one of the most questionable areas of the deck, actually improves, while the counter base can now support both Daze and Stifle. |
