Thought it would be nice to generate some discussion about what under used themes have potential in this metagame. One of the themes that I've been looking at is something I never would have thought about a few weeks ago, but the more I think about it, the more potential it seems to have. Of course I'm talking about Fish.

Yes I said Fish. It's something I would have laughed about a month ago, but I honestly see potential here. Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth is a bomb once it hits the field. Dark Armed Dragon and to a lesser extent Gyzarus are both targetted destruction so neither can draw a bead on Coelacanth with enough Fish on the field. With his 2800 attack the only things that can reliably deal with him are a kamikaze Goyo Guardian and Red Dragon Archfiend.

There's the "classic" Fish support of Golden Flying Fish which can make use of any extra monsters that Coelacanth brings to the field, as well as Fish Depth Charge to help dig through the deck faster and remove threats. The trick I'm running into right now is deciding what Fish monsters to include in the deck.

Outside of Fish the deck can also support Abyss Soldier, which is infinitely better in this format with all the Synchro monsters floating around. Discard Treeborn Frog to get rid of Stardust Dragon/Red Dragon Archfiend/Goyo Guardian/Thought Ruler Archfiend is a pretty low cost solution either way you just need Abyss Soldier and a Water monster in your hand for instant Synchro removal.

I'm also considering running Light and Darkness Dragon in the deck to get further use out of the monsters that Coelacanth brings to the field. Not sure how that will run yet, but I'm going to give it more thought. I've thought about running Emergency Teleport in this deck, just not sure how well it will fit yet.

Is there any potential here? Are there other themes like this that might not have ran well in the past but can now?

I don't know. Fish is really underplayed.

I see you stated LaDD.

I really think LaDD could do good this format if brought out early.

With 3 Fish Charge
Water Arts

I really think fish can work.

I'm working on a build later. When I'm done I'll probably post in the deck depot or in here to give my 2 cents.

Let me know when you post it, I have a ton of ideas that are floating around in my head, but I'm still waiting for my last copy of Coelacanth and Golden Flying Fish to get here from the trade that I just made.

I did forget to mention Spiritual Water Art, which I think would be another great way to use the monsters that Coelacanth brings out.

In my mind there are two problems with the deck that I'm trying to solve, getting Coelacanth onto the field and making use of the monsters that he can special summon once he's out there. I think I can make plenty of use of the monsters, it's just a matter of reliably getting Coelacanth onto the field.

I've been having fun using Fish Decks. With Coelacanth, I've been trying out Magical Removal Viral Cannon/"Virus Cannon" (soon in CSOC) because of its spamming to knock out 1-5 Magic Cards from the opponent's Deck. Of course, A Legendary Ocean is good with a bunch of them.

Anyways, let's see some of the big Fish...(sadly, there's still not too many in terms of individuals)

Superold Deepsea King Coelacanth - 2800 ATK ties it with DAD. Ditch 1 card to swarm up to 4 Level 4 or lower Fish monsters from your DECK. And can Tribute other Fish to protect itself from targeting effects (which there's quite a few of these days) and destroy that card. Sure the monsters can't attack and have effects negated while on the field, but that's why there's things like Fishure Charge/"Fish Depth Charge", Spiritual Water Art - Aoi, etc.

Ocean's Keeper - Level 3 trampler. Searcher (preferably Cranium Fish). 1500 ATK making it easily searchable itself.

Cranium Fish - 2400 ATK. 1 Tribute. optional-Special Summon (Tributing Ocean's Keeper), ditch 1 WATER to kill 1 Set card.

Abyssal Kingshark - 1700 ATK makes it a semi-decent beatstick these days. Once per turn, it can't be killed by non-targeting effects, so it'll be safe from Bottomless when Summoned and various other things.

Deepsea Macrotrema - Good target for Coelacanth, Aoi, Fishure Charge, etc. Not optional, so it can't miss the timing, easily searchable.

Oystermaester - 1600 ATK makes it an average beatstick, but when sent from the field to the Graveyard in any way except battle, you get a free Token, which also happens to be a WATER and Fish monster. Good combo potential with Fishure Charge, Aoi, Golden Flying Fish, Coelacanth, etc.

Golden Flying Fish - 1700 ATK makes it a semi-decent beatstick. Tribute any other Fish to kill 1 card on the field. Good combo potential with the likes of Macrotrema and Oystermaester.

Cyber Shark - Yes, it seems pointless (only really because of A Legendary Ocean), but 2100 ATK gives Fish a bit more beatstick power, and you won't always have A Legendary Ocean out, so at least you got an easy way of Normal Summoning it without Tributing. And it's still a WATER/Fish monster, so still can use most of the same support.



...and supporting cards;

Fishure Charge/"Fish Depth Charge" - Tribute a Fish, kill a card, draw 1 card. Pretty much a "1 for 1" (you lose Charge and a Fish, but draw 1 and the opponent loses 1). Good to combo with Deepsea Macrotrema, Oystermaester (or its Token), Coelacanth, etc.

A Legendary Ocean - Sadly, not many higher Level (usable) Fish monsters out there besides Coelacanth. Becomes a 1 Tribute, 3000 ATK Fish with this though, lol. Coupled with Deepsea Macrotrema for that extra, 1-turn 500 ATK boost with its effect, it can easily add up against the opponent. Plus, possible use with weenie stuff I suppose.

Spiritual Water Art - Aoi - All the big Fish are WATER monsters (and most Fish in general are). Tribute a Fish for a Confiscation-type effect (except it "sends", not "discards" so on the small change the opponent uses Dark World, you can pick that without triggering it). Coelacanth and Oystermaester easily make up for the Tributing, essentially gaining you 1+ cards.

Mother Grizzly - Obvious. =P lol

Skreech - Dies in battle, ditch 2 WATER monsters from your Deck to the Graveyard. Good for Deckthinning or revival (ditch Coelacanth, then Reborn it, lol). Or also good for things like...

Fenrir - Searchable (by Sangan at least), easily Special Summonable, and gets a Yata-Garasu effect when it kills a monster in battle. 1400 ATK isn't much, but it becomes 1600 with A Legendary Ocean, 1800 if you add in Nightmare Penguin, 2300 if you add in Deepsea Macrotrema, etc. Or you could add in things like Shrink, Mirror Wall, Rush Recklessly, etc.

Lekunga - As said, most Fish will be WATER monsters, and since a bunch will probably end up in the Graveyard, you can use Lekunga (also a WATER), to bring out WATER Tokens to use with Aoi and the below card. Couple it with Burial from a Different Dimension and you got constant reuse here or at least able to use...

Pot of Avarice - With monsters in your Graveyard, you can easily return those Level 4 or lower Fish-Type monsters to re-Special Summon with Coelacanth. Or take back searchers and whatnot.

DNA Surgery - Pretty simple. Just turn ALL face-up monsters into Fish. Fishure Charge and Coelacanth will have a lot more Tribute fodder, lol.

Abyss Soldier - bouncer and attacker.

Nightmare Penguin - bouncer, defender, and extra 200 ATK for all your Fish (most likely WATER) monsters.

Big Wave, Small Wave - Destroy all your (mostly likely WATER) Fish. Special Summon others from your hand. Fun combo potential with Coelacanth's swarming effect.

Star Boy - It may not seem like much alone, but the extra 500 ATK from itself plus other ATK increases from A Legendary Ocean, Nightmare Penguin, Deepsea Macrotrema can really add up. Couple that with any potential copies of Star Boy you could easily get to the field as well. As always, most Fish will be WATER monsters.


....that's what I got in english anyways. If you want an excuse to try out Torpedo Fish, you could try out Orca...though that's a Sea Serpent and not a Fish (shame), but still a WATER monster, so can benefit somewhat.

as appealing as abyss soldier sounds in this format I've been running water decks for a while and he has always disappointed me.

I think your best bet is a grizzlybox with the standard fish support but also
3 skreech's to get cards like aqua spirit (>fenrir) out on the field and to let you use pot of avarice to do some drawing.

I think fish are good against teledad.

Fish just need a little bit more "natural" speed or at least some more negation like Psychics and Plants have gotten...

Fish Depth Charge does offer some speed, though not on the same level as Destiny Draw and Allure of Darkness.

I really haven't firmed up a monster line up yet, though I think I'm still going to test out Abyss Soldier since it can deal so well with Synchro monsters. I guess only time will tell what I settle on.

Well, it can also bounce back m/t too, let's not forget. While sure the opponent could merely re-Set Traps and Quickplay Magic, that 1 turn could easily buy time to do some damage or even win. If they end up chaining it, at least it'll be out of your hair after. If it's Continuous, you'll be able to anticipate it better too.

Personally I always loved the fact you could use Salvage to get back some advantage with your low level Water cards. Which then can be used for multiple things. Discard, or even tribute costs.

Oystermeister is an absolute necessity in Fish decks. The synergy it has with both Spiritual Water Art - Aoi and Fish Depth Charge is too much to ignore, not to mention Big Wave Small Wave, Enemy Controller, and plain-out Tribute Summoning.

Crystal Seer can add a bit of speed to the deck as well, and since it's WATER, you can tribute it off for Water Art afterwards or if it'll be destroyed.

Mind Crush is a great follow-up to Spiritual Water Art - Aoi as well, since you get to see their hand. It can also be combo'd with Abyss Soldier or Nightmare Penguin if you use those to get rid of those cards for good.

Pot of Avarice is another necessity, imo. Without it, you'll be lucky to get Coelacanth's effect off more than once or twice no matter how long the duel lasts. Plus, it helps replenish your hand from the large amount of discarding you'll be doing (especially if you run Abyss Soldier).

Mother Grizzly I'm not too keen on... In a mostly-Fish deck, there are very few targets that you'll be able to summon, and even less you'll WANT to summon. If Oystermeister had 100 less ATK, I would be all over Mother Grizzly, but unfortunately that's not the case.

Fenrir and Aqua Spirit I don't like that much either due to my opinion of Pot of Avarice being truly necessary to the deck. They conflict with each other, and to be honest, Fenrir/Aqua Spirit aren't exactly amazing cards...

Golden Flying Fish being LIGHT has caused me no end of grief whether I was running an ALO-based build or a Big Wave Small Wave build, but its effect is too good to completely ignore, especially with Oystermeister...

Yeah, though the Yata-effect of Fenrir coupled with the hand controlling of Aoi, Mind Crush, Trap Dustshoot, etc could give your opponent a hard time at least. But yeah, Aqua Spirit on the other hand...not really needed. The use of Pot of Avarice is why I also brought up Burial from a Different Dimension (which can also help against those Crows being used).

Since this seems to be over powered with Fish discussion right now, the only things I'm thinking are definite in this deck in my mind right now are:

3 Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth
3 Golden Flying Fish
3 Oyster Meister

Other than that I'm really up in the air. Like I said I'd love to run 2-3 Abyss Soldier and 1 Treeborn Frog, but I can't decide if it's better to run Treeborn Frog or A Legendary Ocean. In my mind it's one or the other because of how much the two cards conflict. So I guess the question really is, what's better in today's metagame, Treeborn Frog or Warrior of Atlantis and A Legendary Ocean? My gut tells me to run Warrior of Atlantis because even without A Legendary Ocean it can attack over Stratos some of the other big hitters. It could also allow me to run a copy or two of Terrorking Salmon.

I think the deck would run possibly a pair of Deepsea Macrotrema. Other than that I'm not sure if Unshaven Angler is something I want to try out.

Well, besides Aoi and maybe Tribute Summoning Coelacanth, I don't think there's really any necessity to run Treeborn Frog in the Deck. And Angler isn't really needed either unless you run several 2 Tribute WATER monsters which I doubt one would do.

So maybe I'll stick with Warrior of Atlantis and A Legendary Ocean since I tend to agree Treeborn's only function in this deck is going to be for summoning Coelacanth and activating Spiritual Water Art. So I feel like I'm starting to work a good back bone for this deck. I'm getting more and more excited to try and put something together when my two missing cards get here.

Yeah, I can say right now that with just the stuff Fish have now, they're quite fun to use. If more people gave such chances to other/newer/different/etc Decktypes, I'm sure we'd see a much wider range of "winning" Decktypes out there.