LoR Deck Guide: GoFish (Fizz + TF + Mind Meld)

Everybody do the Twizz

My name is Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and if you’ve read my bio you know that dancing is my second love just after Runeterra.

That said I’m here to teach everyone a new variation on the Twizzt (TF + Fizz), let’s hop right into it.

One of the great strengths of this deck is that it has so many different angles of attack.

So rather than break our one solid game plan down into phases like we did the last go around, we’re going to detail each of our plans of attack and talk through how they work and when to best go for each of them.

Deck Code: CECAIAYEAUGREGIEAIDBUJRLFYBQCBABE4WQCAYGCEBACAQEAMAQEBRKAA

[See GoFish Deck Details]

Angle 1: The Aggro

Sometimes the best way to win a game is to channel your inner Warhammer 40K player and just s-m-orc it up.

We can get on the board extremely early and apply a surprising amount of Elusive pressure to an opponent trying to play around one of our other game plans.

Draws that allow this plan to be operational will usually be those that include Fizz, either with a drawn Suit Up! to back him up or some Poro buddies to get those early beats in.

Zaunite Urchin and Ballistic bot can also help get in the chip damage and Zap, Burblefish, and Get Excited will come down to clean up the game around turn five to seven.

You usually want to be going for this plan against decks that are going to force you to race.

Whether that’s a Lee Sin that wants to get off a crazy kick, a Scouts player looking to level a Miss Fortune, or a bunch of scary spiders, if they’re just going to kill us, then one important response to keep in mind is just killing them right back.

Angle 2: The Twisted Fate

Yeah, this gambling man is so busted he gets a strategy of our deck all to himself.

If you get him leveled there are few games he won’t carry, and our deck is probably the best ever made at doing just that.

Some true god draws can even have a leveled Twisted Fate pushing his Gold Card on turn five.

All you are trying to do when executing this game plan is count to eight.

Whether it’s +1 off a passed turn, +3 off pick a card, or any other bonus of the myriad of card draw this deck runs, hit eight and life is great.

Usually, all you need in hand to be on this plan is Twisted fate and Pick A Card, after that you’re off to the races.

This plan is so powerful and, because card draw and casting spells are what you want to do anyway most of the time, so noncommittal, that I would say go for any time you can.

You want it especially against decks less likely to be able to interact with your Twisted Fate such as big Invoke lists or Lee Sin, but again, drawing cards is good man.

Unless your opponent is about to kill you, go for this plan whenever you can.

Angle 3: The Combo

I’ve split this one up into two sub-angles, the first that you’ll go for basically every game, and the second that you pull out when your opponent has weathered all your other angles.

Sub-Angle 1: Burblefish and Iterative Improvement

One of the biggest things this deck wants to do is get Burblefish down to zero mana.

Once that’s operational, using multiple Burblefishes and/or Iterative Improvements you can absolutely flood the board and make huge Elusive swing turns.

You can use these to close out a game where you aggro-ed your opponent early or to go crazy with a Twisted Fate, or even as an angle all their own.

Elusive beaters always have and probably always will be very good.

Sub-Angle 2: Mind Meld

The second half of this angle is Mind Meld.

While some people advocate cutting it down to one or even zero copies and playing a more burn-centric list I find myself unable to get behind that.

When your opponent has finally cleared the board of all the Burbles, stabilized, maybe even healed themselves back up to a healthy life total as control decks are wont to do, that’s when Mind Meld strikes.

All it takes is a Poro or two and all the spells you have already cast to get the rest of your game plans running and you can be presenting an Elusive lethal from twenty.

And let’s not even talk about the ridiculousness of this card if you have maintained a full board.

Matchups

As with any guide, there’s no way I can cover every deck you’re going to run into.

Legends of Runeterra simply has far too diverse and creative a card pool and player base for that to be realistic.

What we can try to do is look at a representative of the major archetypes and talk through our game plan and a few tips against each.

Aggro: Scouts

Deck code: CECAKAIABEKR2JJTAMBAMFR2HYBQEAACAYEQCAYABYBACAQAA4AQEBQIAA

[See Scouts deck details]

Yeah, I hear you, “It just got nerfed,” you say, “no one will play that deck.”

Well sorry to spoil the mood, but Scouts was a nasty deck long before Plaza came around and Miss Fortune losing just a bit of her overwhelming personality is not going to be enough to stop this particular object.

This matchup is one where we are going to have to go on our aggressive plan as much as possible.

Leveling a Twisted Fate may not be possible in the face of all their Challengers and may just leave us dead to their attacks even if we succeed.

Our Mind Meld plan is also just often going to be too slow.

That said, in contests between aggro decks, the one with the Elusives is historically slightly favored, because we can choose when to chump block and when not to.

Their Challengers make this a bit harder, which tilts this matchup in Scouts’ favor but your job here as much as possible is to use your life total as a resource and get a big swing turn around turn six to go in for the kill.

Mulligan

In the mulligan look for Fizz above all, but Poro Cannon and Ballistic Bot can also be of some serious assistance.

You’re looking to curve out and apply the early pressure before their gigantic midgame can catch up with you.

Then survive one or two big swings, and let your Elusives and Burns finish them off.

Midrange: Draven/Ezreal

Deck code: CECAKAIEAENSIJRUAEBAGCIDAEBRILRXAEBQIEIDAEBQIBICAECB6OQBAEBTGAQBAEBRMAIDAMGQ

[See Slow Burn deck details]

This one can turn into quite the slugfest as they will continue pointing removal spells at your board and you will continue redrawing to make a new board for them to point removal spells at.

Twisted Fate dies easily here so we are on angles one and three as much as possible.

One of our big advantages in this matchup is that they really can’t answer a Fizz, and that’s especially true of a Fizz with his Sunday’s best on.

Mulligan

An early Suit Up! on our boy will almost seal the deal on this matchup right there, so mulligan for your Fizz and your Ballistic Bots as always, and seriously consider even keeping a Suit Up! if you already have a Fizz, as counterintuitive as allowing that card to cost four mana might seem.

Secondarily if we can stall the game long enough and keep a creature or two alive a Mind Meld is an excellent way to close a game against this deck.

While they might be nothing but removal, against healthy units at Fast speed they have surprisingly few options.

Mostly just Mystic Shot and Statick Shock, and some lists aren’t even on the Shock anymore.

For your wins here look to either beat them down with an unstoppable Fizz and keep protection for him, or play a slightly longer game and set up an extremely hard to answer Mind Meld across a board of Elusive beaters.

Control: Anivia

Deck Code: CEBQKAIBAMKBQHJSAMAQKFA5FAAQGBISAIBACAIBBQBQCBIBB4QACAYBAUBRGMI

[See Shadow Isles / Freljord deck details]

Oh boy, I’m not going to lie to you this is your worst match up by far.

They just have such an overwhelming glut of mass removal that it is almost impossible for us to stick a threat, let alone multiple threats, for long enough to get any serious pressure on them.

Even worst doesn’t mean unwinnable though, so let’s talk about how to play to your outs and find the tough routes to victory.

First of all, they won’t always have it.

Whether it’s an Avalanche, a Wail, or a Ruination, sometimes you just have to grit your teeth about whatever scares you the most and play right into it.

When a matchup is bad enough you only lose more by playing around your opponents cards, not less.

You really do have to play a bit safe at the start, but if you’ve already forced one, or even two mass removal effects, then you’ve just got to pick your moment and go for it.

Slam down every Burble you can find and ask your opponent if they can do it again.

The second win con is Twisted Fate, often backed by a Suit Up!.

Their damage spells aren’t really all that efficient at answering him, especially with some assistance, and if you can find a way to get them to tap down, get a Twisted Fate on board, and then level him up as the next turn starts, that can be a way to thread this particular needle.

Mulligan

Mulligan for Twisted Fate, Pick A Card, and Fizz, and accept that when your opponent dedicates their entire deck to beating you it’s reasonable that they are going to most of the time, and don’t tilt.

Play to your outs and let other matchups be your focus in tourney or carry you in your climb of the ladder.

Combo: Lee Sin

Deck Code: CEBQOAYJBENSGKBJGNOAGAQCAMDASAIBAIYQEAIDAIKACAYJKUBAEAYJCMVACAQCAU

[See Zoe Lee Sin deck details]

This is the matchup we are here for as almost all of our game plans suddenly come online.

Unless they have an early Sparklefly to protect them they are incredibly vulnerable to your aggressive draws, so getting those Elusive beats in early can be a huge threat.

On top of that they are basically just hoping to play solitaire, so they are not well equipped to answer a Twisted Fate.

Nothing is funnier than leveling a Twisted Fate on five and Gold Card-ing an attack Lee Sin, not just on that turn, but for the rest of the game while your Burblefish army advances.

And speaking of Burblefish solitaire.dec over here is not really well set up to deal with them either.

Aside from getting a large Sparklefly, which is really their best hope against you, and a few Hushes that cost them three whole mana now, the Burbles really do get to just run rampant.

Mulligan

Mulligan for Twisted Fate, Pick A Card, Ballistic Bot, Fizz, and Poro Cannon to answer an early Zoe, and really just have fun with it.

Draw a million cards, throw your hand down on the board, and swing for the fences.

The only caution I would give is that in this matchup your Mind Melds are going to be discard targets most of the time.

Unless something goes truly wrong and you are desperate, or you used a Fizz spell to bait a Deny, you really don’t want to give them targets for that particular brand of four mana nonsense.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask WhatAmI during his streams (around 10AM PST basically every day).

WhatAmI streams at twitch.tv/xxwhatamixx around 10AM PST every day