[Unlocking Legacy] - Looking at Landstill

[Machinus]

Welcome to our newest author, Adam Barnello!

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/14461.html

[sammiel]

well written, fairly insightful article. I don't necessary agree entirely with the decklist, but I know he has more time playing the list so I'll probably test what he's got.

I do agree with UWG and Humility, although I'm still working on a list that uses gifts as the 4cc card advantage spell instead of FoF.

I still question the use of krosan grip in the SB over disenchant...how often is the split second really worth the 1cc extra? I've had this come up more often than I would have expected in playtesting UWg when I needed one more mana available that turn that I just didn't have because of grip's 3cc, and the split second was almost always irrelevant.

[Di]

<3 yay for EPIC whoreage.

I still want the 3rd Humility in the deck. Considering how vital it is to certain matchups, it should be there. 2nd Eternal Dragon or 4th Mana Leak slots are the weakest, so that's it'd go if I feel like running the deck.


I still question the use of krosan grip in the SB over disenchant...how often is the split second really worth the 1cc extra? I've had this come up more often than I would have expected in playtesting UWg when I needed one more mana available that turn that I just didn't have because of grip's 3cc, and the split second was almost always irrelevant.

The split second matters against Survival, Deed, Jitte, etc. It's also better in control mirrors when you see opposing Crucibles and the like. Krosan Grip is our personal preference, but Disenchant is still a fine substitute.

[URABAHN]

Maybe I'm a little biased, but I think I like this Adam Barnello writing for StarCityGames. What little I read of the article I like because it comes from someone who really knows the format. I agree with Decree sucking, Nantuko Monastery's role as one of the best finishers in Landstill, and Wasteland providing the Landstill player with a tempo loss. I'm not sold on Humility, Eternal Dragon, or Wrath of God. I'm even less than pleased with the first 2 put together. I'll try to explain quickly since I'm running out of time.

Humility good against Goblins, if you can resolve it. It's great against Aggro Control, but Landstill is already heavily favored against Aggro Control, so why run it? It sucks against TES, Belcher, IGGy Pop, and other Combo.

Eternal Dragon is an excellent finisher, provided you do not have Humility in play.

Wrath of God/Damnation are terrible 1 for 1s. Most decks that play "Creature -" spells in this format are some form of Aggro Control. Aggro Control decks usually aren't going to overextend so that means Wrath of God and Damnation are :4: mana Sorcery speed 1 for 1s and that just seem so inefficient. BUT, it's a must-have for Empty the Warrens tokens.

[Whit3 Ghost]

I'm incredibly glad to see Nightmare writing.

Very solid article. I love Pulse of the Fields and Dragons a ton. However, the removal of crucible from the maindeck worries me a little, especially because it's being brought in in so many matchups.

[xsockmonkeyx]

So, I really liked the article. I play pretty much the same deck. A couple weeks ago I incorperated the Mana Leak tech (TYVM) in place of counterspell and I have been very pleased. There are only a few instances which I would want to counter something and could not because of the soft counter restriction. However, those times where Mana Leak fails are far outweighed by the number of times that I gain which I can counter a spell where I could not before, simply because of the 1U v. UU. It also makes life much easier on your mana base because, like you stated in the article, you almost always want to fetch basic plains over island on turn 1. So my question is, why do you run 3 basic Island and 2 plains? 2 Plains is AOK, but I have never wanted more than 2 basic island even when I ran Counterspell and have cut it back to 1 island, at times, since I picked up Mana Leak. I often find myself hoping to play more duals once I have fetched some basics. I find things like multiple Islands to be a burden when you are squeezing WG out of your lands every turn for Monastary. But, I also play more green and also a basic forest so I may be a bit biased.

[C.P.]

Very nice article. Can you give us more wide varieties of mtchups if possible? Enchantress, Alluren, and other tier 1.5 decks are the ones that I'd like to hear about.

[frogboy]

Nice article, Nightmare.

[Ewokslayer]

I liked the article, but the picture isn't all that great.
Is there some sort of SCG rule that your picture can't actually look good?

[Nightmare]

I liked the article, but the picture isn't all that great.
Is there some sort of SCG rule that your picture can't actually look good?75 pixels isn't much to work with.

[scrumdogg]

C'mon, I like the white trash, trailer park Nazi head wear (and if it isn't, it certainly looks like it....). Nicely done, thank Gawd someone who knows the format replaced Bardo to keep the standards balanced. Now if they can work on replacing Anusien......

[Nightmare]

C'mon, I like the white trash, trailer park Nazi head wear (and if it isn't, it certainly looks like it....).
It's actually a Cabbie hat my grandpa gave me. The thing is older than my dad, but it's awesome.

Thanks for all the positive comments everyone!

[scrumdogg]

Bad camera angle then, cuz that sounds like awesome headwear. But the pic looks like the mil-surp square khaki "mah fam'ly skinny-dips in the shallow end of the gene pool' hat, sorry to say.

[Machinus]

customer feedback

Feel free to email StarCityGames your opinions about the column. If you need email addresses I can provide them. That goes for anyone else, too.

[hi-val]

I liked the article, but the picture isn't all that great.
Is there some sort of SCG rule that your picture can't actually look good?

Whatever, I think the picture is great and second only to mine. His has got a real Myspace-camera-angle thing going on too!

[Di]

Whatever, I think the picture is great and second only to mine. His has got a real Myspace-camera-angle thing going on too!

Since when was that a good thing?

Also everyone, stop griping about the picture. It's rather difficult to fit a big guy in a tiny box.

[Tacosnape]

...How does this article affect our ability to mock SCG writers, exactly?:tongue:

[cdr]

Whatever, I think the picture is great and second only to mine. His has got a real Myspace-camera-angle thing going on too!

Total fat girl angle shot (http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Fat_girl_angle_shot). (NSFW!)

[Zilla]

Haha. God damn Akki, you beat me to the punch. No offense Adam, but your picture reminded me of Internet Disease (http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Internet_disease) before I even saw Akki's link to Encyclopedia Dramatica. The angle I mean. I'm not calling you tubby.





...fatass.

[scrumdogg]

Whatever, I think the picture is great and second only to mine. His has got a real Myspace-camera-angle thing going on too!

You should be ecstatic about your picture since you look like a mangy, bipedal weasel IRL (did you photoshop your contribution?) :cool:

[hi-val]

You should be ecstatic about your picture since you look like a mangy, bipedal weasel IRL (did you photoshop your contribution?) :cool:

If you saw me at the GP it was when I was growing a rally beard with a friend, so of course I looked totally mangy. I assure you that I clean up well. The full image is here (http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v12/93/60/7701472/n7701472_30115198_4741.jpg). It took me like a full hour to figure out which picture of my many awesome pictures would work well.

I'm glad to hear that at least I'm a bipedal weasel. Quadropeds ftl, gastropods ftw.

Regarding the article, I feel that while Humility is such a bomb, it isn't enough of a bomb at times, if that makes sense. For example, by the time it hits againt Goblins, you're facing down 4 1/1s, which can be quite an army. I mean, I love Humility so hard, but I feel like it stunts the offense while not actually stopping the offense. I suppose that's what all the other removal is for.

I like that the list isn't so choked with anti-creature cards that it has no relevant sideboard versus decks with no creatures in them. That seemed to be one of the biggest problems with traditional Landstill. I also want to take out Eternal Dragon for something else, especially with Humility. I had thought for awhile that Phyrexian Processor would be such a left-field beating for Landstill to run.

[scrumdogg]

Wouldn't Phyrexian Processor suffer the same problem as Eternal Dragon under a Humility in that it's contributions are 1/1's regardless of how much life you pay? At that point Mobilization would be just as good. No offense meant about the pic, it was descriptive, not a value judgement. The Dragon does at least recur & it fetches out land, since Landstill doesn't seem to care how quickly it wins...perhaps the Humility drawback doesn't matter?

[Happy Gilmore]

What a breath of fresh air. This was an excellent article, and more than that it made me want to pick up the deck and start playing some Magic. Well done, A+ .

[hi-val]

Wouldn't Phyrexian Processor suffer the same problem as Eternal Dragon under a Humility in that it's contributions are 1/1's regardless of how much life you pay? At that point Mobilization would be just as good. No offense meant about the pic, it was descriptive, not a value judgement. The Dragon does at least recur & it fetches out land, since Landstill doesn't seem to care how quickly it wins...perhaps the Humility drawback doesn't matter?

Yeah, Processor is bad under Humility, I just like to think greedy sometimes.

I just feel so weak about paying 5 to recur Dragon and then 7 to play it as... a 1/1 under Humility. Well, whatever gets in there! I've seen games won by it so what can I say...

[Ewokslayer]

Yeah, Processor is bad under Humility, I just like to think greedy sometimes.

I just feel so weak about paying 5 to recur Dragon and then 7 to play it as... a 1/1 under Humility. Well, whatever gets in there! I've seen games won by it so what can I say...

Probably Game 1 only. There isn't usually enough time to do that "power" play in Game 2 and certaintly not in Game 3.
I wonder if that was why Landstill and Rabid Wombat would draw all the damn time?

[Di]

It should be noted that Eternal Dragon is not in there as a finisher. Although the possibility is there, that is not it's intended use. It's main priority is being an additional land-fetcher, to ensure the deck makes all the landdrops up to turn 4-5. Despite the fact that we run 25 land (it was 25 pre-Dragon, I think it's 24 now?), the deck wasn't making consistent landdrops even with Brainstorm and Standstill. This ensures that will happen, or at least makes it happen more consistently. Now, as I said the card isn't there to be the win condition. We will be winning the game on turn 60534 anyway, so it's irrelevant if Eternal Dragon is a 5/5 or a 1/1 really. We have Nantuko Monastery to thank for that. If you play Humility, chances are you're playing a matchup that doesn't need Eternal Dragon to fly in ftw. Those matchups are control matches, where Humility isn't as relevant. Otherwise, you can just not cast Humility and smash face with a 5/5 flyer.

[hi-val]

I'd thought about Journeyer's Kite in a MWC deck for a little while. It's a far cheaper Dragon effect but it's a really focused card. It can't get duals, unfortunately. I think it's just too narrow but it was in the thought process.

[slyfer]

Do you agree with statements in the article? that is:
1) wasteland is kinda "slow", and it's colorless source
2) no crucible maindeck just for the absence of wasteland (still would have other benefits imho)
3) cutting black colour

Meddling mage seems fine vs combo, but belcher will side pyro/reb and probably post side will focus on belcher kill more than empoty the warrens once he saw explosives.
Can we really combat combo without black colour? (duress, extirpate...)

is it better to add gift + recursions like 1 crucible, 1 life from the loam 1 wasteland, cutting humility?

arcane lab is reb/pyro-blastable! i think it's better rule of law