[Deck] UW(x) Landstill

[Kaslan]

Finaly decided this week to build a 'fair' legacy deck, as my friend says. I went for Landstill after proxy testing it. I was looking through the pages and couldn't find a good sideboard for a UW version. I know sideboard are meta dependent, but can anyone give me a 'primer' idea? What is our bad/worst match up. I tested against TES which I crushed, RDW gave me trouble since main deck I had no way to gain life, Affinity was a joke and Esper Stoneblade was fine until they get some Spirits token online.

-Make a Etutor side board.

-I think burn in a really bad match up

[Ozymandias]

I run Landstill with Counter-Top main, and my current sideboard is:

3 Vendilion Clique
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Batterskull
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Wheel of Sun And Moon
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sundial of the Infinite
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Wrath of God
1 Decree of Justice
1 Seal of Cleansing

Decree and Wrath oscillate between the main and the board. I run 1 e-tutor main with a mini-toolbox of O-ring, crucible, counterbalance, humility, E.E.

[Philipp2293]

I ran your decklist at a local last week as I wanted a change from Maverick and Nic Fit.

Is the Sundial a metachoice? It's been the only card I've replaced. I played Cursed Totem instead, which saved my ass against combo elves :)

Also, don't you feel you're a little light on gravehate?

[Shawn]

I played UWb Landstill to an unfortunate 5-3 finish at the Madison SCG yesterday. Beat BW aggro 2-0 (like Death and Taxes without the lock), Uwb Thopters 2-0, lost to Dream Halls 0-2, High Tide 1-2, then beat Reanimator 2-0, Ur burn 2-1, lost 1-2 to Canadian, then beat High Tide 2-1. The deck felt pretty sweet, but even with 3 Counterbalance, 1 Canonist, 1 Tutor side and 3 Top, 1Tutor main the combo matches were rough. I ran 2 Terminus and they were insane all day.

[Kaslan]

I played UWb Landstill to an unfortunate 5-3 finish at the Madison SCG yesterday. Beat BW aggro 2-0 (like Death and Taxes without the lock), Uwb Thopters 2-0, lost to Dream Halls 0-2, High Tide 1-2, then beat Reanimator 2-0, Ur burn 2-1, lost 1-2 to Canadian, then beat High Tide 2-1. The deck felt pretty sweet, but even with 3 Counterbalance, 1 Canonist, 1 Tutor side and 3 Top, 1Tutor main the combo matches were rough. I ran 2 Terminus and they were insane all day.

can you post your deck list please ?

[klaus]

As a long-time LS enthusiast (Speedstill: 2008-2011) I'm still attached to that cute enchantment.
I still ask myself (and hope I don't sound too sound arrogant): what's LS's advantage over Stoneblade.dec?
I've discarded that archetype and currently don't see a reason to go back.
Sad but true: my Standstills sit in my tradefolder :cry: waiting for someone to do better with them than I did during their last days..

[Shawn]

List and mini report:

24 lands
1 Fortress
1 Scrubland
1 Tar Pit
1 Sea
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Flats
2 Delta
4 Strand
4 Tundra
1 Waste
1 Dust Bowl
2 Factory

36 spells
2 EE
4 STP
3 Snare
1 Enlightened Tutor
3 Top
4 BS
3 SStill
2 CS
3 Lingering Souls
2 Terminus
3 JTMS
1 Humility
1 Elspeth
4 FOW

SB:
4 LLOTV
1 Relic
1 Tutor
1 Canonist
1 Batterskull
2 Porphyry Nodes (sweet)
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Vindicate
3 Counterbalance

R1 - BW aggro
He casts some Bobs and other humans like Thalia which I deal with. I mess up here, I left up Counterspell mana when I could have had Standstill in play and he had a Cavern on humans. I Miracle Terminus and resolve a bunch of 4cc stuff and he eventually scoops. I sideboard like this:
-2 Cspell, -1 FOW +2 Nodes, +1 Vindicate

G2 is similar to g1, I kill some stuff, Miracle Terminus. I am forced to do so again, he Surgical Extracts my first, but I have the FOW and win comfortably.

R2 - Game one I am able to win through Jace TMS and Elspeth since I draw all three Lingering Souls and grind him out. G2 I FOW his t4 'walker, He Forces my Jace, and eventually stick an Elspeth and kill him with a soldier a million turns later. He must have not had much to bring in; he was drawing Wogs and STPs g2 while I had cards that did relevant stuff.

R3 I get crushed by Dream Halls-Conflux game one. Game two I have Terminus for his Progen, but he has the counter. Since I was able to put a land into play from Show and Tell I can cast turn three Jace, but it finds me a Nodes on the second Jacestorm instead of the first and I die.

R4 I lose to High Tide 2-1, G2 I stole via Canonist+FOW+Counterbalance+blind flip to hit his Cunning Wish.

R5 I beat Reanimator 2-0. I stole game one since I Forced his Entomb and all he discarded was Elesh Norn off Careful Study. He counters my STP, but I have EE to kill Animate Dead and resolve Jace.

G2 I tutor for Relic, and have CB in play. I force through a Standstill, and Resolve TMS. I cast a Leyline and draw a bunch of cards and counters.

R6 I beat UR burn 2-1, nothing worth mentioning.

R7 I got paired against one of my friends from MN, who was playing RUG. I grind out g1, but make an error when I didn't play a Plains before casting Jace; I was hoping to draw a fetch off his Jacestorm, but hadn't considered Spell Pierce. He had his one of main deck, but I was still able to punch through another TMS, Elsepth, and Humility.

G2 was the stereotypical RUG win, keep your opponent off mana and spells just long enough to win.

G3 was drawn out, and I played my fetches way too conservatively in the early turns. I was unable to flashback Lingering Souls a million turns later when he flipped a Delver, and couldn't cast the Vindicate in my hand and I lost.

R8 I got paired against High Tide. He raw dogs a Time Spiral and whiffs, does so again the next turn, but eventually gets there. G2 I win via Canonist +CB+permission. G3 goes into extra turns and he concedes on his t5 since I had Canonist in play + a bunch of other dudes so even if he bounced one on my turn I still have lethal.


Notes

Nodes was sweet, Lingering Souls was insane against aggro.
Terminus was awesome.
The combo matchups felt soft even with CB+Canonist, but I wouldn't expect to play it that often in most events. In a perfect world we would have discard +CB side, but there really isn't room and combo generally isn't played enough to worry about it.
During several of my games I wanted another land that tapped for B; I might try swapping the Fortress for a 2nd Sea.
I liked the Elspeth over the 4th Souls-Souls is nice at buying time, but Elspeth just goes over the top of most things in the format and adds a lot of inevitability and Souls by itself does a poor job of closing out a game.
Vindicate was nice, a 2nd is probably better than Seal. Most of the stuff you kill with Seal can be offed via EE anyway through Tutor, and the 4cc stuff you care about (Jace or Elspeth) get killed by Vindicate and not Seal or EE anyway.
The burn matchup felt like a coinflip, even with all the hate post-board. I am considering squeezing in a COP: Red.
Standstill was great all day.

[Erdvermampfa]

So has anyone been testing this again recently? Terminus might make Standstill viable again since it's essentially a cheaper wrath of god (which was too slow lately due to Delver and Mongoose) and can deal with problematic shroud creatures like Thrun as well.

[mordraid]

So has anyone been testing this again recently? Terminus might make Standstill viable again since it's essentially a cheaper wrath of god (which was too slow lately due to Delver and Mongoose) and can deal with problematic shroud creatures like Thrun as well.

Yup, i'm currently testing a list with standstill and it works wonder. It's a kinda non-traditional standstill list. Non-traditional because it currently have a beat clock. Vs control it's devastating and VS aggro it can play full-on control. Geist of saint traft makes it a nightmare for other control decks. Hexproof is pretty strong in here since there are so few creatures.

I piloted my current list to a 2nd place finish at my local shop.

Here's the decklist:

Creatures
4x snapcaster mage
3x geist of saint traft

Planeswalker
3x jace the mind sculptor
1x elspeth, knight errant

Sorcery
3x ponder
3x terminus
1x entreat the angels

Instant
4x brainstorm
4x force of will
4x counterspell
4x swords to plowshares

Enchantment
3x standstill

Artifact
3x sensei's divining top

Lands:
3x mishra's factory
1x wasteland
4x flooded strands
3x misty rainforest
4x tundra
4x island
1x karakas

Sideboard:
3x surgical extraction
3x spell pierce
3x cursed totem
3x ethersworn canonist
1x terminus
2x (flex slot) currently being chill

[Ozymandias]

Sorcery [2]
2 Terminus
Instant [15]
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
Enchantment [9]
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Counterbalance
1 Humility
4 Standstill
Artifact [6]
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Sensei's Divining Top
Planeswalker [3]
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Land [25]
2 Plains
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Wasteland
1 Marsh Flats
4 Flooded Strand
1 Tolaria West
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins
Sideboard [15]
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Sundial of the Infinite
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Batterskull
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Wrath of God
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
2 Enlightened Tutor
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Decree of Justice

I played this deck at the local legacy tournament last night, going 3-1

Round 1 vs White Stax I lose the die roll
Game 1: I run out a top turn 1, but he only has Chalice on the next turn. Two turns later, I drop a kind of useless counterbalance (So I think), floating Force and Jace. He manages to make my Top irrelevant by trying to O-ring it, which makes me bounce it, but his next turn Geddon runs into the floating Jace. He shuffles it away, but I come back with an Elspeth which out-permanents him. Exalted Angel falls to humility, and I take this one down.
I board out the swords and counterbalances for the seal, the cliques, the crypt, the batterskull and a sundial.

This game starts slow. He has a factory, I don't. He drops an angel, I o-ring it, then he O-rings the O-ring. I drop a seal to get back my own O-ring, followed by a Jace, followed by a Sundial to answer his smokestack. Unnecessary, because I got a crucible to out-permanent him again.

Round 2 versus Belcher
Game 1: I keep a hand without force and lose after tundra, go. He tells me he has no sideboard, which makes things easy. I cut plows, crucible, and elspeth for cliques, canonist, and tutors.
Game 2: I mull to Force and e-tutor comes along for the ride. He goes for Warrens anyway, and I tutor for EE.
Game 3: I keep a 7 with force and e-tutor, he mulls to 5, that's all she wrote.

Round 3 versus Elves!
Game 1: I decline to plow his t1 Dryad Arbor, and make a turn 2 counterbalance. I reveal a Marsh Flats blind, and he makes 2 Heritage Druids and a Symbiote. I plow the Wirewood Symbiote of the ones he plays. The next turn, I blind flip standstill on his visionary and EoT fetch+plow Symbiote. I rip top, which sets up Terminus for the wrath and a Standstill for the soft lock. He scoops. I cut Elspeth and Crucible for Wrath and Canonist
Game 2: He opens on Llanowar Elf. I decline to swords, but EOT swords his t2 visionary. The next 2 turns go CB-Grip CB-Grip, and then I go Jace, bounce Elf. He goes cradle, nettle, nettle, Priest, and I wrath. From there, it's mostly a mop-up.

Round 4 versus Delver.
Game 1: I keep a super durdly hand and never get back in it. I cut standstills for Clique and Wrath
Game 2: I lead off with plains. He leads off with Volc, Go. I Eot-Etutor into a Daze, which is what I wanted to happen, tempo-wise. Turn 3 I clique his Force away, and then 2 turns later I drop a Humility, and start picking off threats. Best thing that happened all game? End of turn, swords your mongoose. Elspeth takes it down.
Game 3: I mull to 5. He goes t1 delver, t2 blind flip, force your swords. t3 waste, t4 waste, t5 waste, goose. I die horribly.

I am going to cut sundial and decree from the board. Nobody is playing decks those would be relevant against at the moment. Batterskull also seems kinda slow, but is a great threat I can recur with ruins. I am thinking Path to Exile in their place for the Maverick and Thresh matchups, or maybe Porphyry nodes to buy a lot of time.

[The Treefolk Master]

UWr Landstill Top 8ed GP Ghent, and won a Trial before the GP.


1 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Island
1 Karakas
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island

3 Snapcaster Mage

4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Entreat the Angels
4 Force of Will
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Path to Exile
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
3 Standstill
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Terminus

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Disenchant
2 Gilded Drake
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Sulfur Elemental
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Terminus
2 Timely Reinforcements

Miracle spells splash into the list, which is probably the way to go now (Terminus is awesome).

Interestingly, the player said in his Top 8 interview that, while he'd change nothing from the deck, he'd just switch decks altogether... Gave no further explanation though...

[klaus]

UWr Landstill Top 8ed GP Ghent, and won a Trial before the GP.
lol. 2 stp/ 2 Pte...

Edit:
Apart from that weird choice - what do you guys think about the list and its potential? It's basically UW Miracles -CB +SS. SS is easier to cast has an immediate impact and clearly is stronger then ever combined with 3 1-mana Wraths.

[gustha]

I think that, as usual, it depends on meta choices. Full of merfolk/maverick/sneak show? Counterbalance doens't seem the way to go. Full of reanimator / rug / mirror? Easy choice. I don't understand the 2/2 stp/pte split, and i can't imagine playing less than 4 stp without land tax. I'd cut the spell snares for trinket mages / vendilion clique.
-2 snare
-1 top
+2 trinket
+1 entreat / clique / relic of progenitus / grafidgger's cage

All in all it's interesting to play mishra's factories again, and having 4 uncolored mana sources justifies not playing counterbalance maindeck. Well, I don't know if it justifies not playing counterbalance SB.

Truth is, it's fine to ancestral, with all the limits people who read this thread already know. I still think counterbalance, while more difficult to cast / protect, is still better than standstill and more synergistic with miracles. (Sweep, control, gg.)

[Ozymandias]

I've been trying to jam counterbalance and standstill into one deck for months now, and I came up with the following list, which I used to win a Mox on Sunday.

Sorcery [2]
2 Terminus
Instant [17]
3 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
Enchantment [7]
3 Counterbalance
1 Humility
3 Standstill
Artifact [6]
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Sensei's Divining Top
Planeswalker [3]
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Land [25]
2 Plains
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Wasteland
1 Marsh Flats
4 Flooded Strand
1 Tolaria West
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins
Sideboard [15]
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Sundial of the Infinite
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Batterskull
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Terminus
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
3 Enlightened Tutor
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Porphyry Nodes

The deck is adding more and more miracles, which are insane with top+Brainstorm (thinking I wil turn Elspeth into 1 Entreat) but at the same time, Standstill gives me a bunch of raw card advantage, and is oftentimes easier to cast on turn 2 with 9 colorless-only lands.

[Mark Sun]

Still somewhat interested in the Ghent list.

No one has come up with rationale of 2 STP/2 PTE? I'm still trying to, as far as that goes. List looks pretty solid, and I followed some of his other finishes on TC Decks. I'd likely tune the board a little bit, but this seems like a pretty good shell.

[Water_Wizard]

Still somewhat interested in the Ghent list.

No one has come up with rationale of 2 STP/2 PTE? I'm still trying to, as far as that goes. List looks pretty solid, and I followed some of his other finishes on TC Decks. I'd likely tune the board a little bit, but this seems like a pretty good shell.

All I can come up with is the following:

Against certain decks (RUG Delver), PTE has limited drawbacks.
Because his list is not playing resource denial (no Wastelands, 2 taxing counters), giving opponents extra basics doesn't hurt him as much. The free shuffle effect is probably the biggest draw back against a Brainstorm deck.
The split provide redundancy against extraction effects in regards to Snapcaster Mage.
If he goes on the non-EtA beatdown plan (aka the Snapcaster Mage / Elspeth / Mishra's Factory), the life gain from StP could extend the game by an extra turn or 2.

I think the major reasons are -the limited drawbacks against RUG, and -Surgical Extraction redundancy.

[Einherjer]

Still somewhat interested in the Ghent list.

No one has come up with rationale of 2 STP/2 PTE? I'm still trying to, as far as that goes. List looks pretty solid, and I followed some of his other finishes on TC Decks. I'd likely tune the board a little bit, but this seems like a pretty good shell.

I stayed in the same hotel as this guy and we played a few matches (Terminator-vs-Landstill is fun hu? :P) and ofc I asked what this split was for, and he says that it is simply due to Surgical Extraction being a card.

Greetings

[Erdvermampfa]

Although that doesn't justify running Path to Exile instead of Swords in my view. Path is just terrible against Maverick.

[Piceli89]

I stayed in the same hotel as this guy and we played a few matches (Terminator-vs-Landstill is fun hu? :P) and ofc I asked what this split was for, and he says that it is simply due to Surgical Extraction being a card.

Greetings

I also heard from friends in common that he split for this very reason, and I'm convinced too that it should be a 3-1 split at maximum, because you don't want to give certain decks an additional land drop (or 2, if you were to Snapcaster it back).

I also played against him in a tournament and I really like his deck- now he's slinging some Jotun Grunt sideboard tech; although it takes a lot of time to setup and sometimes it's pretty slow. It also has the disadvantage of running into flashy creatures in response to a SS from time to time if you don't play it properly, and I think this will become an increasing issue if people were to pick up the deck and opponents would know that it plays SS.
I really feel it needs at least a couple of Vendilion Cliques to:
-have hand information, which this deck does not have at all and is pretty crucial in a control deck;
-clear the coast to land a Jace, which is the revolving engine of the deck, as well as protecting it at least for a turn against aggro decks to setup Terminus;
-better exploit Standstill;
-cycle away dead Termini stuck in hand in absence of BS effects.

This is what I'd run as a revamped form of the Gp list:

1 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Island
1 Karakas
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island

3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique

4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare

4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Standstill

4 Swords to Plowshares (3-1 w/ PtE)
3 Terminus
1 Engineered Explosives

1 Entreat the Angels
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Sideboard
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Flusterstorm
2 Red Elemental Blast

2 Disenchant

2 Sulfur Elemental
1 Vendilion Clique

2 Jotun Grunt
3 Surgical Extraction

1 Terminus

@Gustha: Spell Snare is still extremely good to stop Snapcaster, Counterbalance, and SFM if it was to be a problem from time to time. I wouldn't cut it all, especially because it allows you to drop t2 Standstill on the draw against certain decks, complementing the array of cc1 answers to early threats- Speedstill teaches.

[Shawn]

Regarding 2 Stp and 2 Path: What decks are bringing in Surgical that multiple STPs are needed where our other removal and counters won't handle their other guys? The situations where the land is relevant are far, far more common than STP getting Extracted and that having an actual impact on the game.

[landstillmaniac]

Played this at Alternate Universes in Blue Bell PA yesterday all the way to 2nd place. 38 players came to battle...

UWr Landstill
3 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
3 Island
3 Plains
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Celestial Collonade
1 Academy Ruins

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Standstill
3 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Humility
2 Wrath of God
4 Brainstorm
4 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Elspeth Knight Errant
1 Crucible of Worlds

Sb

3 Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
2 Tormods Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Firespout
1 Mountain

Round 1 - win 2-1 Maverick
Round 2 - win 2-0 Esper Stoneblade
Round 3 - lose 1-2 Tezz Affinity
Round 4 - win 2-0 UBr Delver
Round 5 - win 2-0 Maverick
Round 6 - ID

Top 8 - win 2-1 Esper Stoneblade
Top 4 - win 2-1 Past in Flames Combo
Finals - lose 1-2 Esper Stoneblade

My loss was a disappointing one in the finals. I lost in game 3 due to jace when the guy only runs 2 and after we sideboard I have a full set and reb effects AND man lands...but nevertheless he had a really strong hand and beat me. This deck ran very well and I highly recommend it in the current meta game.

Forgot to mention, I banked $200 and an invite for a larger legacy event in December. Not to shabby!

[Piceli89]

I don't understand why not to incorporate Snapcaster Mage and Terminus+Top, which are amazing weapons for this deck. Lists with 4 Counterspells and 2 Wraths of God make me smile, I'm wondering how it's possible to have success with those in a metagame where your opponent starts with turn 1 Delver and you know you'll have to do backflips to push a removal through a wall of soft permission.

[spedn7]

Engineered Explosives on zero is good against delver while it can also hit Mongoose when on one. He is also running 24 lands so daze and spell pierce becomes weaker due to being able to hit land drops.

[Piceli89]

Engineered Explosives on zero is good against delver while it can also hit Mongoose when on one. He is also running 24 lands so daze and spell pierce becomes weaker due to being able to hit land drops.

You have just given me a "on paper" answer that matches poorly with reality games. I'm playing my tweaked version of Landstill since 2 months (when Milillo made that top8) and I know how hard is to play through conditional counters paired with Wasteland and Stifle the first 2 turns, except you find a top. I also know how hard is to combat the constant mass of quality creatures Maverick throws at you. Terminus allows you to cast a one-mana Wrath of God that bypasses Spell Pierce and sets up Standstill when you untap. Snapcaster doubles your counters, Brainstorms and removal while being a beater under Standstill himself and occasionally a removal that trades with lots of creatures in the format. He matters immensely.

I can't really understand how one can succeed in this metagame playing seven or eight four drops, 24 lands or not, and four Counterspells.
(I play 23, by the way).

[landstillmaniac]

This deck is insane once it hits 4 mana and doing so isn't hard. I have 6 basics main and generally when I hit 4 I do not lose. Regarding the RUG delver matchup, I went to Legacy champs with a list similar to this and I was 3-0 against RUG. You must play a tight game against delver, but its not unwinnable. EE is excellent vs RUG so are swords and snare. So they will exhaust some counters early game then like I said once I hit 4 mana I do not lose. They counter jace ok, they counter humility ok, then I play wrath and they lose. I stabilize at a lower life.

Next regarding snapcaster, top, and miracles, its quite simple. My list runs mass effects in ee, wrath, humility, and firespout. Sure snapcaster is cute at having swords a few more times but its not good in this list. Next top and miracles are fun and cute and all, but how I look at it is, I am clogging my deck up with tops, just to play miracle wraths? When I can just NOT play top and run cards that do the same thing for a higher cost? I don't care if I win the game at a low life, a win is a win. At legacy champs in Indi I beat RUG one game stabilizing at 1 life then swordsing my collonade to go to 5 and coasted to a win on Jace and Elspeth.

It makes me smile when almost everytime I go out to a legacy event I do well or win in my local scene. Not only that but I have been playing landstill in legacy and vintage for 7 years atleast. I put landstill back on the map in vintage winning 3 big events in a row and continue winning with it. And as I said I come out once and a while to run legacy and I almost always do well. Not trying to tute my own horn but I am a very good player and know what I am doing when it comes to this archetype.

Any other critical questions or questions regarding matchups let me know. I have beaten most archetypes in this format with this list. Thanks!

[TakeYourTime]

You have just given me a "on paper" answer that matches poorly with reality games. I'm playing my tweaked version of Landstill since 2 months (when Milillo made that top8) and I know how hard is to play through conditional counters paired with Wasteland and Stifle the first 2 turns, except you find a top. I also know how hard is to combat the constant mass of quality creatures Maverick throws at you. Terminus allows you to cast a one-mana Wrath of God that bypasses Spell Pierce and sets up Standstill when you untap. Snapcaster doubles your counters, Brainstorms and removal while being a beater under Standstill himself and occasionally a removal that trades with lots of creatures in the format. He matters immensely.

I can't really understand how one can succeed in this metagame playing seven or eight four drops, 24 lands or not, and four Counterspells.
(I play 23, by the way).

I agree with Landstillmaniac. I was actually at the same legacy event as him. I tried snapcaster before but I feel that it doesn't align with the deck as well as straight sweepers and countermagic. Snapcaster is still a 1 for 1. As for RUG, if you're worried about a tempo deck that plays stifle then miracles is not the solution; the miracle trigger can be stifled.


At the Alternate Universe tournament I tried stiflenought for kicks but did poorly. In the same day I went to another small legacy tournament with landstill and took 1st.


Here's my list (thanks to Josh for helping me at AU--adding red in the current meta is amazing):

4 Standstill

4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
3 Spell Snare

4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Wrath of God
2 Humility
2 Engineered Explosives

1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Tundra
2 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Volcanic Island
1 Celestial Colonade
4 Mishra’s Factory
1 Wasteland
1 Tolaria West
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
3 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa

Sideboard:
2 Disenchant
2 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Spell Pierce
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Pulse of the Fields
2 Firespout


I've also played UW Landstill, UWb, UWg (for krosan grips in the stoneforge era), and BUG. I'll probably stick with UWx because Jace + Elspeth + Humility is too much fun.

[Ozymandias]

Played a hybrid of Miracles and Landstill to top 8 where I split today. Did not drop a game.

UWr Landstill
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
2 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins

3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Standstill
3 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Terminus
4 Brainstorm
3 Jace, the Mindsculptor
2 Entreat the Angels
1 Crucible of Worlds

Sb

3 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormods Crypt
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
2 Disenchant
2 Path to Exile
3 Counterbalance

I wasn't super impressed with Entreat, but Snapcaster was amazing all day. I think I need more standstills. CB was great out of the board.

[Piceli89]

@Landstill Maniac: funny that we meet also here, if I'm correct about who you are. We met on Cockatrice some time ago, you talked to me about you creating U/R Landstill in Vintage. Let's see: your other nickname on other forums is quite strange, true?

Anyways: the last posts showed different school of thoughts about Landstill. Ozymandias-who's playing Landstill from a long time, too- just stated that Snapcasters are amazing. I'm with him. (Btw, that list is missing 3 Tops, i guess).
Aside from utility, Snapcaster provides a clock. This deck applies zero pressure to combo decks. I said, zero. Snapcaster also turns out favorable Standstill positions more easily. Paired with Mishra's Factory, it can hold a board consisting of little critters.
Under Standstill, he's also the Dryad Arbor blocker you need- especially if you don't run Wasteland (which is uncorrect to me, especially now where utility lands like Grove of the Burnwillows pop from time to time, and you're basically cold to them pre-board. Not to mention optimizing Crucible so that it becomes a complete win condition). He's also an Un-duressable counter versus Combo. You're going to eventually lose against Storm due to the lack of clock; they can wait forever and sculpt a hand full of discard effects. You don't even run Top to hide them.
Please observe that these points I'm making come from real play experience; I've stumbled across these scenarios lots of times, as they're patterns of game that happen recurringly.

Top is amazing, not just cute. It gives constant card quality over the time, so that you can either find your answer to the match you're facing and your (few) conditions. On equality of resources, a resolved Top will win you the game in the control mirror, as well as finding you the Brainstorm to shuffle away that useless removal. Against aggro, it will allow you to find lands more comfortably if you're slightly stuck on screw in the first turns, where avoiding being Wastelanded is crucial-especially if you're running sweepers that cost 4. You may say that you run 24 lands, but it's not always Christmas.
Against combo, it does what I said before, and digs for more disruption at instant speed- in your opponent's eot, when they have passed fearing all the Counterspells you had in your hand while you were mana open, while you were full of jank.
Also note that it's a virtual cantrip that can be played and abused off colorless lands, which we run plenty of.
There's a reason why Top decks are running good these days. Card quality is crucial to succeed in a wide format. I'd rather shave 1 counter, 1 removal and a win condition to run 3 cards that virtually allow me to have more selection over the course of my future draws; otherwise, I'm more likely to open hands with 3 removals and find myself playing against combo, or needing to stuck a Jace in the right moment and drawing myself a Swords to Plow. You get the point, right?

As for the Terminus issue: I'll concede the fact that it is clunky from time to time, but it's the perfect response to such a brutal format. If the opponent starts with Mother, Thalia and/or Knight and they resolve, you don't have the time to durdle. *If* you reach 4 mana (Wastelands are critical, and you don't always drop basics for the first four turns) and Wrath of God them, you're leaving yourself tapped and cut off Counterspell for their next bomb. That deck is redundant of bombs, every creature represents a more or less dangerous threat. The tap-out issue increases post-board as you cut off permission to save yourself from Choke, which is a thing to keep firmly in mind when playing post-board games. While it is true that Landstill nowhere suffers it as much as a normal Miracle deck, it's still hurting to be cut off some lands in such a mana-hungry deck.
Terminus costs 1 mana at instant speed. This gives immense benefits. It also avoids Mongoose and Goyf growing, Witness recurring goods, and gives also a shot against Dredge as it gets rid of Ichorids definitely as well as Moebas and Thugs.
You also untap, Terminus at 1 mana, play Standstill. If that isn't good, frankly I don't know what it is. Wrath would require you another turn to set SS. And Maybe the other has dropped another threat, and you're exactly from the starting point again.
[You're also playing Firespouts off the board, so you shouldn't have problems with Maverick. Even if to me you're overloading on removal and you're very light against Show and Tell combos.]

Entreat the Angels is, frankly, less powerful than what it seems on paper. Uncastable in the first turns, color-intensive, easily goes under Pierce if played poorly. It's still an excellent tool to finish the game in 1-2 swings against midrange decks, like Nic Fit. Elspeth seems to me quite outdated- Miracle and Threshold are packing Sulfur Elemental post-board to foil it, at least here. You're not keeping Plows and sweepers in against the first.

....
What I'm trying to argue here-take it with a grain of salt-is that your list of Landstill, although solid and proved, is perhaps more working in a kind of local metagame than how it would in a wide, unknown metagame where the tiers are piloted by optimal players. Landstill is already a deck that struggles from time to time having to hold the fort for several turns before estabilishing, I think some of the new adds may at least help it in getting this job easier.

[landstillmaniac]

I am that guy...also I'm not saying storm is a good match up. It's not unwinnable...everything else in testing is fine. Also the caliber of player in the area I play are some of the best. And I played vs real decks and had good results. I always have good results with landstill and every time I do it comes with criticism in this format and vintage yet I do well.

I will play what I will and continue doing well. Thanks for the 2 cents...

[landstillmaniac]

FYI top, snappy, and miracles are not staples in landstill. They are merely options, and options I choose not to play. If anything the style list I play has had more results over the years maybe not recently bc ppl like to play the "net deck" or what people say is "good". That doesn't mean an older style landstill list is no good anymore

Thanks

[The Treefolk Master]

Would you care to share your list?

[landstillmaniac]

My list is at the top of the page...

Also I hadn't played legacy consistently since "rug delver" was called tempo thresh. When I decided to play again I noticed the format looked familiar to when I used to play so I went with an old style landstill deck and did well. I have tested tops and miracles and don't care for them as I am wasting slots to make other cards work. People may like that idea but I do not it clutters the deck with bs cards that aren't necessary in winning...

I am no hack, I have been playing landstill forever. I don't just throw a pile together and hope it performs I test against very good opponents in building a deck and making choices...

My name on themanadrain.com (vintage forums) is oshkoshhaitsyosh

[The Treefolk Master]

Sorry, did not see it, my bad.

[Rekk]

Played this at Alternate Universes in Blue Bell PA yesterday all the way to 2nd place. 38 players came to battle...

UWr Landstill
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Arid Mesa
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
3 Island
3 Plains
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Celestial Collonade
1 Academy Ruins

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Standstill
3 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Humility
2 Wrath of God
4 Brainstorm
4 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Elspeth Knight Errant
1 Crucible of Worlds

Sb

3 Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
2 Tormods Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Firespout
1 Mountain

Round 1 - win 2-1 Maverick
Round 2 - win 2-0 Esper Stoneblade
Round 3 - lose 1-2 Tezz Affinity
Round 4 - win 2-0 UBr Delver
Round 5 - win 2-0 Maverick
Round 6 - ID

Top 8 - win 2-1 Esper Stoneblade
Top 4 - win 2-1 Past in Flames Combo
Finals - lose 1-2 Esper Stoneblade

My loss was a disappointing one in the finals. I lost in game 3 due to jace when the guy only runs 2 and after we sideboard I have a full set and reb effects AND man lands...but nevertheless he had a really strong hand and beat me. This deck ran very well and I highly recommend it in the current meta game.

Forgot to mention, I banked $200 and an invite for a larger legacy event in December. Not to shabby!

Congrats, (i was your top 4 match)
i was wondering and forgot to ask you, why not just onnnnne wasteland if you are running crucible and don't have things like cb to cast?

[landstillmaniac]

That's a good Q, and the answer is I didn't feel like waste lock was appealing enough. I normally run tolaria west package with 1 waste, but I decided to up the basic land count, cut 1 crucible and add the 4th jace. I was going for a list that was super powerful at the height of its mana curve. I was also determined to not lose to wasteland myself. That's why the 4 drop plan worked bc my mana base was unbreakable!

As I said I used to run 2 crucible, 1 waste, 1 tolaria west. And sometimes a second waste in the board. That pretty much sums it up I hope this makes sense. Any other Q's regarding this let me know!

[Ozymandias]

Actually, I got pretty greedy and decided to run 4 tops, for the old 25 land, 62-card special. I would run it back, except swapping a Standstill in for an Entreat. I might cut Entreat all together, because every time I set up to cast it, I already had Jace locking the game down.

[Erdvermampfa]

Everyone still playing wrath and humility is doing it wrong (at least for now due to RUG and Delver in general). Replace those with 4 Terminus, run 3 tops (which are great when dropped before you lay standstill), 2 snapcaster (to flashback brainstorm) and 2 vendilion clique so you won't have any problems with miracle cards clogging up your hand.

Also, clearly we have to reduce to number of counterspells to 3 at maximum. Spell Pierce just does the same while being cheaper, which is crucial when facing tons of dazes and opponent spell pierces.

[landstillmaniac]

Spell pierce is not a counterspell replacement...pierce is not a hard counter and doesn't hit creatures...you say rug is a problem but I am 4-1 against it with the given list. So I must say you are wrong...you like miracles and tops I don't end of story. To say I'm doing it wrong makes you a fool.

[landstillmaniac]

Maybe you should move your discussion to the miracles thread and stop trolling the landstill thread :wink:

I have tested snappy, clique, miracle top plan and simply like my plan better. So move on

[Piceli89]

Maybe you should move your discussion to the miracles thread and stop trolling the landstill thread :wink:

I have tested snappy, clique, miracle top plan and simply like my plan better. So move on

Landstill with Miracles is still Landstill. If he means Miracle control without SS, ok, but I still think they can coexist pretty well.

I'm testing your list, meanwhile. 3 Snares and 4 REBs are great. Wrath of God has yet to be cast once. 4 Standstills seem too much. Humility is really, really good. I'll give you credit for that.

[The Treefolk Master]

Questions regarding your list landstillmaniac:

Shouldn't the fetchland suite be something along the lines of 4 Flooded Strand, 2 Scalding Tarn 1 Arid Mesa. Is there any reason for running Polluted Delta that I'm failing to see? A playset of strands allows you to reliably find Plains/Islands, and the SB Mountain (Aggro decks with a heavy Wasteland package I'm guessing?) can be found through Scalding Tarns; which Polluted Delta cannot.

Have you tried Moat somewhere in the 75. I know you want exactly 2 Humility MD (this comes from having played Landstill a few years back), but 1 Moat post board cound be interesting?

Is Spell Pierce over Flusterstorm a meta choice; or do you find yourself hitting Jaces/Enchantments/artifacts more often?

You have 6 anti-graveyard slots in your SB, isn't this too much?

Thanks in advance

[landstillmaniac]

Thanks I just get frustrated by how the tone is of some posts on here. I have tested this deck and like I said have been playing and winning with landstill for atleast 7 years. I'm not just throwing a pile together.

As I said I have tested snappy and that other stuff and simply like the old school approach better. Yes humility is insane! I have found wrath pretty good as well. Thanks or feedback. All decks aren't piloted the same by diff people nor are sideboarded the same so there may be some differences in results there also. I am by no means a slouch when in regards to landstill...

[landstillmaniac]

It is 3 strand 3 tarn 1 mesa, did I post it wrong?

FIXED sorry!!!

Mountain was there expecting Merfolk and RUG...mountain plus rebs and spouts seemed appealing...

Moat seems overkill for what I'm already playing...

6 GY hate comes from me being a vintage player at heart and not wanting to lose to a graveyard base deck. Like DREDGE! Plus aggro loam is annoying. Maybe that's overkill? Probably can cut 1?

Funny you ask about flusterstorm...I had 2 of them in over pierces just before the event and changed them out for the more diverse card in pierce. Both are good options though...

[TakeYourTime]

Maybe you should move your discussion to the miracles thread and stop trolling the landstill thread :wink:

I have tested snappy, clique, miracle top plan and simply like my plan better. So move on

Every time I play UWx I have Humility in the main, so I also prefer not to play creatures in the deck.


6 GY hate comes from me being a vintage player at heart and not wanting to lose to a graveyard base deck. Like DREDGE! Plus aggro loam is annoying. Maybe that's overkill? Probably can cut 1?

Yeah, 6 seems excessive for legacy. I tried 4 GY hate (2 surgical / 2 tormod's) and don't like that either--I find myself digging for surgicals against combo decks. 3 surgical and 2 tormod's with a tolaria west in the mainboard is pretty good.





Is Spell Pierce over Flusterstorm a meta choice; or do you find yourself hitting Jaces/Enchantments/artifacts more often?

This seems more like a meta call. I see a lot of artifacts and enchantments in my meta so I prefer spell pierce.

[karaxu]

Is supreme verdict a good replacement for Wrath of God?

Pitches to FOW and is uncounterable, regeneration isn't much of a problem now, besides Thrun.

[landstillmaniac]

Yeah card seems pretty strong...

[Erdvermampfa]

The time of CC4 mass removal is gone, even if its pitchable to force and uncounterable.

[landstillmaniac]

The time of CC4 mass removal is gone, even if its pitchable to force and uncounterable.

The time of Erdvermampfa posting in the landstill thread should be gone, because he is uneducated, underdeveloped, and ultimately uninformed when it comes to landstill :smile:

[Tammit67]

Thanks I just get frustrated by how the tone is of some posts on here. I have tested this deck and like I said have been playing and winning with landstill for atleast 7 years. I'm not just throwing a pile together.


You really should get out to the SCG events more. :)

[Rekk]

You really should get out to the SCG events more. :)

up vote

[landstillmaniac]

^^^ Yeah did I meet some of you guys at the event? People have been telling me that for years. If you guys make a trip to these events give me a shout. I have a pretty jam packed life but I wouldn't mind trying to go sometime

[Rekk]

^^^ Yeah did I meet some of you guys at the event? People have been telling me that for years. If you guys make a trip to these events give me a shout. I have a pretty jam packed life but I wouldn't mind trying to go sometime

I'll keep you posted i know theirs a few coming up

[Memories of the Time]

Hello Everyone ^^ I'm an italian player of this deck, so forgive my bad english ^^

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Supreme Verdict
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Trinket Mage
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Crucible of Worlds
3 Standstill
1 Realms Uncharted(<3)
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons(<3)
1 Horizon Canopy
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Intuition
1 Island Sanctuary(lol?)

SB: 2 Supreme Verdict
SB: 1 Chalice of the Void
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
SB: 2 Life from the Loam
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
SB: 2 Armageddon

I don't know if this is the most competitive version, but it's a funny one =D I wanted three things from my deck:
-Playing very well under Standstill
-A card advantage engine vs Controll (My metagame is full of UW miracle)--->Crucible&Standstill
-Play Supreme Verdict, sooooo sexy (<3)

The deck is really satisfying, but it has a very dangerous manabase... But Verdict in many MU is really good, probably better than Terminus too because it's very strong against ***** (With black or red) and Merfolks, that have many counters for it... It gives me a lot of safety =D

Sorry for my english another time ^^

[Ozymandias]

I got some byes for Denver on Sunday with this list:

Main Deck
4 Swords To Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
3 Spell Pierce
3 Counterbalance
3 Standstill
2 Counterspell
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Humility
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force Of Will
3 Terminus
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
3 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
2 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Snow-Covered Island
qty: 62

Sideboard
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Porphyry Nodes
1 Seal Of Cleansing
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Stony Silence
1 Circle Of Protection: Red
1 Batterskull
qty: 15

Every card in the maindeck played well. My single sickest play of the day was transmuting Tolaria West, which my opponent let happen, to get Academy Ruins, which recurred Crucible of Worlds to Counterbalance an Intuition. In the sideboard, Batterskull and Porphyry Nodes were underwhelming. Since I intend them as anti-aggro, I will most likely replace them, either with some Supreme Verdicts, or a pair of good tutorable bullets.

I feel like this deck is extremely well-positioned at the moment. I was considering Turbo Eldrazi for upcoming events, but I am actually going to keep the faith and run Landstill all the way through.

[Einherjer]

I just came back from a small local tournament, normally I do play popular decks like BUG/RUG Tempo or simply UWR Miracle. This week I was thinking of trying out something else. Something new, or maybe, something very old. I browsed some old archives of different forums and decided to play Landstill. So I came here to the thread and read through a few of this posts. Through my experience with the Miracles-archetype it wasn’t too hard to throw a solid list together, tailored to beat my meta, which constits out of different forms or creature-decks. Though the creature-decks themselves are pretty diverse. I do not know, wether Divining Tops, Terminus or Angels would have been a good improvement to this deck, I just played an kind of old-school-list, with the only difference: Wrath of God  Supreme Verdict. So this is the list I threw together the night before:
Lands:
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
6 Island
2 Plains
4 Mishra’s Factory
Removal:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Supreme Verdict
Counter:
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
CA/CQ:
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
2 Humility
1 Crucible of Worlds
Win:
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight –Errant
Sideboard:
2 Path to Exile
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Detention Sphere
4 Rest in Peace
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Peacekeeper

The sideboard was probably pretty bad. In any way, it worked out.

R1: RW Goblins
I: I start and lead with Island, he isn’t doing alot of action until my turn 4 where I sweep for value, on T5 I drop an Humlity, followed by double-Mishra, an Crucible and an Jace.
II: He starts with Vial, I do nothing, then he drops Rest in Peace. I can’t stop myself from laughing a bit… wow, he seemed to have boarded a playset of hatecards vs my 1of Crucible? Sounds legit. I drop a Peacekeeper on T4 and he is digging for an answer. He casts Matron to grab a Ringleader at some point, but plays it safe so he can play the Commander and use his ability before I can Swords it. As I fateseal him during these process this takes serveral turns. In this time I’ve found a second Peacekeeper and he scoops soon after.

1-0

R2: MonoR Goblins
I: He mulls to 5, while I keep a shaky hand consisting of 4 Lands, an Verdict and double Force. Thought mulling to 5 he starts with Cavern, Lackey. I topdeck the sword and he is out of gas. When he found some more action I sweep, land an Humility followed by Elspeth.
II: I start with Tundra, followed by 2 Mishra. He then drops Blood Moon, I look at my hand and I scoop.
III: With the knowledge of Blood Moon I always keep an Counterspell in my hinterhand, but he doesn’t draw one whatsoever. He soon gets locked out by Mishra and Humility.

2-0

R3: UR Delver Burn
I: He is starting with an Goblin Guide and swings for 2. I reveal an Spell Snare, and Swords the Guide. He drops a second, and a Delver. And before I can handle them I am dead, burned out.
II: Infinite Removal keeps him from keeping creatures for all to long, and when he faces lethal from the Soldier Tokens that were brought to the battlefield via my Reinforcements he scoops.
III: This one was alot trickier. I kept a hand without any CC1 Removal, and he kept a hand with 2 Guides, an Delver and an Lavamancer. Gladly, his Delver isnt flipping for 2 turns, and when I sweep on my T4 I am on 6. He casts an Chain Lightning getting me to 3. I brainstorm and find double Reinforcements which are pushing his gameplane to an level of invalidity. He then soon gets killed by my creatures, while he keeps drawing lands.

3-0

R4: GW Maverick

I: I let him beat me down to 10 (the approximate level of life I prefer to keep, before sweeping), then sweep, swords his next turn and drop a Standstill. After I Ancestral Recall in his turn, I drop Humility and another Standstill, with 2 Mishra’s Factory in the game, and 1 more in hand. After a Jace follows and ticks up to 12 he scoops.
II: He has 2 or 3 Mothers, so I Force both of his GSZ, X=2, sweep, drop Jace and Humility followed by some Mishra’s and he is dead.

4-0

So I took first, nothing too fancy as it was a small tournament. Though it showed that this archetype is not completly invalid, though I’d like to share some thoughts.

Standstill was everything, from game-winning to a dead card. It was totally dead vs Goblins, obviously. I am not sure whether this is a good state of being for a core-card. I don’t think that you can actually move it tot he Sideboard, as this sounds terrible. What do you guys think, is it acceptable,for having a dead mainboard card versus an popular Archetype as Goblins is? Based on my experience with Miracle, I think that it still is superior to Counterbalance, as it can’t get crushed by Decay, which is huge, as our deck isn’t exposing itself to Decay alot, which is obviously pretty good. I think, when playing the full set of Standstills Mainboard, the rest of the deck should be able to beat Vial-Decks on it’s own – hence the 4 Verdicts Mainboard. While this may seem alot, it was just enough all of the time, as you really need to sweep twice in a game, before establishing an superior boardstate with Mishra+Humility or something of that kind.
The Sideboard was terribad and should be changed for an big tournament. Maybe adding a few more Counters like Flusterstorm seem like a good idea. Canonists are huge vs Show and Tell, considering the big amount and Counterspell we play. Plus it does represent a clock, while invalidating their Counters all together. I really like that kind of hate in an deck, that cannot flash a hundred Angels end of turn. Then there is the point of what is the best swiss-knife in terms of postboard Removal. In UW we only have Ring and Sphere, and I think Sphere is totally superior in this point, though being blue. I do not think that it is worth it, to splash in a third color just to enable EE or the eventual EE-lock with Ruins, when you have sufficent alternatives on-color.

Though I wouldn’t take this deck to a big tournament yet, I am curious now if we can tweak this deck to something truly powerful(again). I’ll do some testing and let you people know wether it’s going good or bad.

Greetings

[Ozymandias]

I just came back from a small local tournament, normally I do play popular decks like BUG/RUG Tempo or simply UWR Miracle. This week I was thinking of trying out something else. Something new, or maybe, something very old. I browsed some old archives of different forums and decided to play Landstill. So I came here to the thread and read through a few of this posts. Through my experience with the Miracles-archetype it wasn’t too hard to throw a solid list together, tailored to beat my meta, which constits out of different forms or creature-decks. Though the creature-decks themselves are pretty diverse. I do not know, wether Divining Tops, Terminus or Angels would have been a good improvement to this deck, I just played an kind of old-school-list, with the only difference: Wrath of God  Supreme Verdict. So this is the list I threw together the night before:
Lands:
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
6 Island
2 Plains
4 Mishra’s Factory
Removal:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Supreme Verdict
Counter:
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
CA/CQ:
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
2 Humility
1 Crucible of Worlds
Win:
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight –Errant
Sideboard:
2 Path to Exile
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Detention Sphere
4 Rest in Peace
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Peacekeeper

The sideboard was probably pretty bad. In any way, it worked out.

R1: RW Goblins
I: I start and lead with Island, he isn’t doing alot of action until my turn 4 where I sweep for value, on T5 I drop an Humlity, followed by double-Mishra, an Crucible and an Jace.
II: He starts with Vial, I do nothing, then he drops Rest in Peace. I can’t stop myself from laughing a bit… wow, he seemed to have boarded a playset of hatecards vs my 1of Crucible? Sounds legit. I drop a Peacekeeper on T4 and he is digging for an answer. He casts Matron to grab a Ringleader at some point, but plays it safe so he can play the Commander and use his ability before I can Swords it. As I fateseal him during these process this takes serveral turns. In this time I’ve found a second Peacekeeper and he scoops soon after.

1-0

R2: MonoR Goblins
I: He mulls to 5, while I keep a shaky hand consisting of 4 Lands, an Verdict and double Force. Thought mulling to 5 he starts with Cavern, Lackey. I topdeck the sword and he is out of gas. When he found some more action I sweep, land an Humility followed by Elspeth.
II: I start with Tundra, followed by 2 Mishra. He then drops Blood Moon, I look at my hand and I scoop.
III: With the knowledge of Blood Moon I always keep an Counterspell in my hinterhand, but he doesn’t draw one whatsoever. He soon gets locked out by Mishra and Humility.

2-0

R3: UR Delver Burn
I: He is starting with an Goblin Guide and swings for 2. I reveal an Spell Snare, and Swords the Guide. He drops a second, and a Delver. And before I can handle them I am dead, burned out.
II: Infinite Removal keeps him from keeping creatures for all to long, and when he faces lethal from the Soldier Tokens that were brought to the battlefield via my Reinforcements he scoops.
III: This one was alot trickier. I kept a hand without any CC1 Removal, and he kept a hand with 2 Guides, an Delver and an Lavamancer. Gladly, his Delver isnt flipping for 2 turns, and when I sweep on my T4 I am on 6. He casts an Chain Lightning getting me to 3. I brainstorm and find double Reinforcements which are pushing his gameplane to an level of invalidity. He then soon gets killed by my creatures, while he keeps drawing lands.

3-0

R4: GW Maverick

I: I let him beat me down to 10 (the approximate level of life I prefer to keep, before sweeping), then sweep, swords his next turn and drop a Standstill. After I Ancestral Recall in his turn, I drop Humility and another Standstill, with 2 Mishra’s Factory in the game, and 1 more in hand. After a Jace follows and ticks up to 12 he scoops.
II: He has 2 or 3 Mothers, so I Force both of his GSZ, X=2, sweep, drop Jace and Humility followed by some Mishra’s and he is dead.

4-0

So I took first, nothing too fancy as it was a small tournament. Though it showed that this archetype is not completly invalid, though I’d like to share some thoughts.

Standstill was everything, from game-winning to a dead card. It was totally dead vs Goblins, obviously. I am not sure whether this is a good state of being for a core-card. I don’t think that you can actually move it tot he Sideboard, as this sounds terrible. What do you guys think, is it acceptable,for having a dead mainboard card versus an popular Archetype as Goblins is? Based on my experience with Miracle, I think that it still is superior to Counterbalance, as it can’t get crushed by Decay, which is huge, as our deck isn’t exposing itself to Decay alot, which is obviously pretty good. I think, when playing the full set of Standstills Mainboard, the rest of the deck should be able to beat Vial-Decks on it’s own – hence the 4 Verdicts Mainboard. While this may seem alot, it was just enough all of the time, as you really need to sweep twice in a game, before establishing an superior boardstate with Mishra+Humility or something of that kind.
The Sideboard was terribad and should be changed for an big tournament. Maybe adding a few more Counters like Flusterstorm seem like a good idea. Canonists are huge vs Show and Tell, considering the big amount and Counterspell we play. Plus it does represent a clock, while invalidating their Counters all together. I really like that kind of hate in an deck, that cannot flash a hundred Angels end of turn. Then there is the point of what is the best swiss-knife in terms of postboard Removal. In UW we only have Ring and Sphere, and I think Sphere is totally superior in this point, though being blue. I do not think that it is worth it, to splash in a third color just to enable EE or the eventual EE-lock with Ruins, when you have sufficent alternatives on-color.

Though I wouldn’t take this deck to a big tournament yet, I am curious now if we can tweak this deck to something truly powerful(again). I’ll do some testing and let you people know wether it’s going good or bad.

Greetings

I'm fine with maindeck Standstills, because you need to be seriously behind on board to make it a bad idea. If they don't actually have Delver or Vial out, you're probably safe just going t2 Standstill. I like EE over o-ring because 1) It is a permanent solution to problems, because it can't get blown away on board. 2) It is an amazing lead-in to Standstill, 3) Ruins recursion wins games. Ruins is also great alongside Crucible.

Part of the reason I prefer maindeck Terminus to Supreme Verdict is the cost. The other part is the instant speed. Both allow you to better exploit Standstill, and the instant speed also increases your answers to dumb things like 4 eot angels.

I enjoy splitting Counterbalance/Standstill 3/3, because they work well versus different decks. The lower the other's deck's curve, the more likely that CB will be better. Versus vial decks, they're both leaving anyway.

As far as sideboards go, I love the e-Tutor sideboard. I won multiple games off EOT t1 tutor into t2 Canonist.

[Grizzly_Bear]

@Landstillmaniac

I saw you list a page back and read your arguments in the discussion that followed, and I liked your train of thought. I took the list as it was, only change WoG -> Supreme Verdict. I had blast playing the deck in testing, while my opponents just wanted to punch my face. I even managed to win most of the games. Awesome!

Still, the deck is a number of months old by now, and this isn't exactly the most active thread. Just wanted to know if you've played the deck again in a more updated meta and if you've done any changes? If so, how did it work out?

Thanks!

[Felidae]

Brought this brew to my local tournament, to celebrate the good old days ;)
3 Tundra
2 Volcaninc Island
1 Plateau
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Karakas
2 Island
2 Plains
4 Mishras Factory
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn

4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
2 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
3 Standstill
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Senseins Divining Top
3 Terminus
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Humility
3 Jace, TMS
1 Elspeth
2 Entreat teh Angel

SB:
3 Vendillion Clique
4 Counterbalance
2 REB
2 Detention Sphere
3 Rest in Peace
1 Timely Reinforcements

R1: Combo Elves

G1: He starts witch a turn one Sentinel and a turn 2 Ooze, which meets my Spellsnare. On my 2nd turn I lay down a Standstill, as his Sentinel wasn't that big of a thread. Since I was tapped out he saw his opportunity to combo off, but his initial Glimpse meet a Force. I played a Top the next turn and together with a Brainstorm and a Terminus I made sure that he wouldn't come back in this game. He died to a couple of angel token.

Board: +4 CB -1 FoF -1 Standstill -1 Jace -1 Snare

G2: He leads with a Heritage Druids, followed by a Sentinel, while I cast Brainstorm at the end of his 2nd turn to set up my 2nd turn Balance. Unfortunately his next play wasn't a 1 mana spell, but a Venge Vine, powerd out with the help of a Gaeas Cradle. In my next turn I play a Top and thenn proceed to destroy his board in the following turns multiple times via Terminus and StPs, since his freshly drawn Cavern of Souls nullified my CB plan. At turn 7 I finally stick a Humility and ride Jace to victory.

1-0 / 2-0

R2: Jund

G1: I win the roll and lead with a Top, followed by a turn 2 Standstill ( that he didn't picked with his Thoughtseize for reasons only he knows). Since those two for a good duo I have no problem hitting every landdrop till turn 5, when he decided that it was time to break this boring game with his Elf, which cascaded into a Goyf. One Top spin later they are both gone and I follow up with Jace and yet another Standstill. I start to fateseal him ( since I didn't wanted to lose my Jace against a Bolt and I had teh upper hand in terms of card advantage anyway. Eventually I ride Jace to victory, while Ccounter and spotremoval keeps his board clean. He'd never drew another Elf though, thanks to Mr.Mindsculptor.

SB: +1 Timely Reinforcement + 3 RiP - 1 Jace -1 Standstill -1 EE -1 Snare

G2: He starts with a couple of discard spells to a point where neither of us has a hand anymore. Naturally I draw more 4cc bombs then he does, while nullifying Shaman and Goyf via RiP. Around turn 9 or 10 I resolve a neckbreaking FoF, revealing Jace, Entreat, Brainstorm, Supreme Verdict and Standstill, which lead to a quick concession on his side, since his board of mighty 0/1 Lhurgoyfs and pesky Squires couldn't handel any combination of those cards.

2-0 / 4-0

R3: Maverick

G1: He leads with a Cavern of souls into Mother of Runes, followed by a Gaddog Teed and a Karakas, so yeah I didn't won this round...

Board: +2 Detention Sphere -1 Verdict - 1 FoF

G2: I lead with Top and an early Terminus to clear his initial board of Arbor, Hierach and Knight. After a quick Ancestral Recall I drive Jace to another victory.

G3: He leads with Cavern into a Mother, yet his 2nd turn Stoneforge meets a Snare. Thanks God this guy isn't a human as well. However his 2 Knights are, and 2 Wastelands later I'm down to a Factory and a Flooded Strand, while he got his Mother and 2 large Knights in play. I draw for my turn, play an Explosive on one and another land, take 14 damage from his Knights, blow up the Explosive and remove his remaining board via Detention Sphere. Next turn I replay the Top, cast a Stadstill and make sure to avoid the final damage by blindly attacking into a Dryad Arbor. When I finally hit my 2nd Mishra, forcing him to stop our initial draw - go game he tries to get a hold of the situation with an StP, but my hand full of awesomeness simply said "No!" and when Landstill reaches a point where you can shout "No!" to allmost everything... yeah you are in a pretty good shape.

3-0 / 6-1

R4: Jund

G1:
I win the roll and lead with a Fetchland, while he goes for a turn 1 Shaman. At the end of the turn I get rid of the Shaman and lead with Mishra and a Standstill and we start to play like it was 2009/10, where we go for draw - go till he gets bored and breaks the Standstill, once again with a BBE, this time cascading into a Lilliana, who meets a Counterspell immediately, while I gladly take the 3 damage form the Elf. Via Brainstorm and Top I set a Terminus up for his next turn and cast my Elspeth for the first time of the day, starting to spit out tokens. Of couse he goes for another Elf, cascading into a Bob and throwing a Bolt on my Token to take Elspeth down. One spin later the board looks really grim, since he's facing an Elspeth and a good amount of handcards on my side. Eventually I win via flying Soldiers and a Jace fateseeling his good creatures away.

SB: +1 Timely Reinforcement + 3 RiP - 1 Jace -1 Standstill -1 EE -1 Snare

G2: He leads with a Shaman into a turn 2 Thoughtseize and Goyf and followed this up with another Goyf on his 3rd turn. I assume you see where this will end.I rip RiP of the top and his face turns really sore, which doesn't change when I cast Timely Reinforcements and Elspeth in the following turns. Yeah good times.

4-0 / 8-1

Later on we played a couple of games to test the matchup a little more and we ended up with a solid 6-0 for me. Soo all in all I'm currently 10-0 against Jund with this list, which obviously doesn't say much, but I'm still happy with the way the deck ( that I threw together in 5 minutes) turned out.

so long

Felidae_

[Qweerios]

I've been working on a Landstill deck for the past couple weeks and ended up with something pretty competitive. It started when I made a deck that resembled UR StifleStill in developing competitive, the aggression part of the deck was underwhelming but Jace + Standstill + FoW and the classic Counterspell were too powerful to pass up. After several match losses to Goyf/KotR, I decided to test with white or black for removal, and white was vastly superior. When I built this deck, the rationale was to dodge Abrupt Decay and to have a solid plan against the traditionally bad matchups of grindy counterspell decks: Burn and Vial Aggro. Here is what I ended up with:

BantStill (UWg Landstill)


Creatures (4)
4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells (23)
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
3 Counterspell
2 Intuition
1 Bant Charm
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Life from the Loam

Others (8)
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Standstill

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Lands (25)
1 Maze of Ith
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins
1 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tundra
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
1 Plains

Sideboard (15)
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Flusterstorm
2 Path to Exile
1 Disenchant
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Zuran Orb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Silent Arbiter
2 Vendilion Clique


Burn gets significantly better with Zuran Orb + Loam + Academy Ruins in an Intuition pile. Timely Reinforcements is a big chunk there too.
Vial Aggro can be potentialy locked down by Arbiter + Maze of Ith. It is very hard to dismantle with Ruins and Loam somewhere. Timely Reinforcements also helps there.
EE + Academy + Loam is another popular Intuition pile as it sets up the EE loop.
Overall there is a lot of value to get out of Snapcaster when you combine it with LftL and Intuition, it makes singleton spells more readily availlable. LftL + Jace or Brainstorm also acts as a pseudo Standstill because it will usually shuffle away recurred fetches in favor of 3 business cards.

Are there any cards I should be heavily considering for this shell? Any really good Intuition piles I am missing?

[The Treefolk Master]

With UW Landstill being my first competitive Legacy deck, I'm always thrilled to try new things that might get the deck to work again.

I really like your list (Intuition control decks are awesome), just a couple of things:

Bant Charm: Why? It isn't really that versatile, seems overcosted. I think I'd just rather have another Engineered Explosives, which has historically proven itself to be awesome. I could be wrong, so I'll give it a try, but I don't like. I also notice your running quite few mass removal spells. Just 1 EE and 1 Verdict. The Landstill decks of old used to average at 3 EE and 2 Wraths, do you find yourself wishing to be able to clear the board more often?

Isn't 4 Snapcaster Mages too many? When playing similar, pure control decks with 4 Mages, I often found myself with too many (namely 2 in my opening hand) clogging my hand, just doing nothing (be it due to a lack of targets, not enough mana, etc). I could be wrong, but it might be better to shave 1 Mage.

You're only running 2 green sources, so a timely Wasteland could really ruin your day. You might consider squeezing a Savannah somewhere in there.

You probably want a singleton Tormod's Crypt, to lock out Graveyard dependent decks (Intuition for Loam, Ruins, Crypt. Your move, sucker.)

You can also consider 1 Celestial Purge in your sideboard. I've been loving it in miracles, as it takes care of annoying creatures like shaman, confidant, bloodbraid elf, etc, in addition to killing Liliana.

Anyway, kudos for the decklist, definitely looks awesome, I'd really like to be able to bore the crap out of people with Landstill again (they seem to loath UW far more than any of the BUG builds).

[Qweerios]

With UW Landstill being my first competitive Legacy deck, I'm always thrilled to try new things that might get the deck to work again.

I really like your list (Intuition control decks are awesome), just a couple of things:

Bant Charm: Why? It isn't really that versatile, seems overcosted. I think I'd just rather have another Engineered Explosives, which has historically proven itself to be awesome. I could be wrong, so I'll give it a try, but I don't like. I also notice your running quite few mass removal spells. Just 1 EE and 1 Verdict. The Landstill decks of old used to average at 3 EE and 2 Wraths, do you find yourself wishing to be able to clear the board more often?

Bant Charm is this deck's instant artifact removal spell for Batterskull. It also acts as creature removal in most cases. I needed a Snapcastable "catch-all" and Bant Charm is it. I play less sweepers because I have 4 Snapcasters with 4 StP. The deck has a constant stream of counters and removal so sweepers arent that focal.

Isn't 4 Snapcaster Mages too many? When playing similar, pure control decks with 4 Mages, I often found myself with too many (namely 2 in my opening hand) clogging my hand, just doing nothing (be it due to a lack of targets, not enough mana, etc). I could be wrong, but it might be better to shave 1 Mage.

Mage is important because he will grant value no matter what. It is an effective way to blank your opponent's removal while having creatures. Any flash creature is important when you play Standstill, it is the quickest way to board superiority when you want to draw 3 cards ASAP.

You're only running 2 green sources, so a timely Wasteland could really ruin your day. You might consider squeezing a Savannah somewhere in there.

There is only 1 LftL and a single Bant charm as green cards, 2 Duals is enough. It is very hard for an opponent to cut you off of LftL if you have 2 Trops in your deck and use them wisely. I don't want to play savannah because I really want to hit my double blue on turn 2. When you look at it, the deck is really blue heavy with a splash of white and an even smaller splash of green, it just happens that 2 of the 6 white spells require double white mana.

You probably want a singleton Tormod's Crypt, to lock out Graveyard dependent decks (Intuition for Loam, Ruins, Crypt. Your move, sucker.)

I had Crypt in the initial build but couldn't think of a scenario where I would need recurring GY hate over 2-3 turns after turn 3, whereas I can think of many scenarios where I would want to Intuition for 3 Surgicals for immediate use or GY hate during turn zero.

You can also consider 1 Celestial Purge in your sideboard. I've been loving it in miracles, as it takes care of annoying creatures like shaman, confidant, bloodbraid elf, etc, in addition to killing Liliana.

Celestial Purge is a great card to consider indeed. I had a singleton in Stoneblade but I honestly don't know what I would take out for it in this list.

Anyway, kudos for the decklist, definitely looks awesome, I'd really like to be able to bore the crap out of people with Landstill again (they seem to loath UW far more than any of the BUG builds).

Thanks, I will definitely look into including a single Celestial Purge and maybe a second Supreme Verdict

[Felidae]

Another tourney, another short report ( same list as last time)

R1: Junk

G1.: He leads with a turn 2 Bob, who instantly gets plowed to lead the way for my own turn 2 play: a good old Standstill. He immediately breaks it with his Lilliana, who gets an arrow to the knee ( someone might also refer to this as Force of Will). A couple of turns later I resolve a Jace and ride him to victory, while his attempts to stop me get answerd by a shitload of removal spells.

Boarding: nothing

G2.: He mulligans down to 5 and never gets into the game, as I was able to trade an early Terminus 3 to 1 and yet again Jace fateseals to victory.

1-0 / 2-0

R2: Maverick

G1.: We trade so early blows, untill I topdeck a lucky Entreat to create 4 tokens, which are more than lethal for him, to seal the deal.

Board: +2 Detentions Sphere +1 Timely Reinforcment -1 Stndstill -1 Jace -1 FoF

G2.: After a couple of early blows the game turned out into a long drawn out one, as he hit all 3 of his Surgical Extractions, in order to get rid of my Terminus, Swords and Jace, which lead to a race of me, grinding for Elspeth, Entreat or Manlands against him, trying to kill me before this happens. He won, meh.

G3.: Another long game that I throw away in a single turn, as I fail to realize that the following turn of plays wont work: play Explosive on one, blow it up to kill Noble Hierach and Sylvan Safekeeper, bounce KotR with your Jace and win comfortably from that moment on. Yeah, I suck....

1-1 / 3-1

R3: Nicfit

G1.: Another boring game where I resolve an early Standstill and simply grind him out via Jace and Terminus, nothing to add here.

Sideboard: +1 Timely Reinforcement +2 Detention Sphere -3 Spell Snare

G2.: Do you know what's good against a deck that'll likely throw a couple of creatures onto the board? Terminus. What's even better? A Terminus followed by a Standstill. Do you know what's even better ? Play a FoF, follow it up with a Terminus and then play Standstill. Yeah, good times.

2-1 / 5-1

R4: U/B Tezzeret Control

G1.: He struggles to find mana and can't really handle my ongoing 4+cc bombs, leading to a really one sided game.

Sideboard: +2 REB +4 CB +2 D.Sphere +3 Clique -4 StP -3 Terminus -1 Verdict -1 Humility - 1 Snare -1 Standstill

G2.: Turn 2 Balance, one blind flip, one Brainstorm and double Redblast, it was a really grim day for him.

3-1 /7-1

[Wizened Cenn]

Are there any cards I should be heavily considering for this shell? Any really good Intuition piles I am missing?

I'm not a landstill player, but I've ran Intuition for Moat, Replenish, Replenish or Moat, Humility, Replenish against tribal metas before.

[The Treefolk Master]

I'm not a landstill player, but I've ran Intuition for Moat, Replenish, Replenish or Moat, Humility, Replenish against tribal metas before.

Sorry, but that's not a good plan :-S. Maybe in some weird UWG Enchantress deck, but not here. You're adding 4 4CC cards to your deck to answer a slice of the metagame which is currently very small. If you have lots of Tribal decks in your metagame, there are other, better ways to answer them than that.

[Wizened Cenn]

Sorry, but that's not a good plan :-S. Maybe in some weird UWG Enchantress deck, but not here. You're adding 4 4CC cards to your deck to answer a slice of the metagame which is currently very small. If you have lots of Tribal decks in your metagame, there are other, better ways to answer them than that.

Fair enough. There would also be the potential difficulty of returning a standstill that you'd rather not.

[Megadeus]

Or get like 2 or 3 stand stills back! Add in an Opalascence (sp?) And you've got yourself a terrifying army of enchantment s!

[Wizened Cenn]

Or get like 2 or 3 stand stills back! Add in an Opalascence (sp?) And you've got yourself a terrifying army of enchantment s!

If you have 2-3 standstills in your grave, you should already be up a ton of cards and be able to close the game without a random combo. Opalesence isn't very good, and the standstills couldn't attack under the moat if we're still talking about the same scenario

The reason I suggested it was that some decks have a really hard time dealing with a moat/humility, and if you're already running Intuition, it is a pile you could consider.

[Megadeus]

Yeah I was talking about a ridiculous awful combo. But Standstills attacking under themselves with an Opalescence does sound like a good time.

[Qweerios]

Won a small event at my LGS. I didn't get to play much of the field but one of my goal matchups to improve was nailed in particular.

R1: Bye (2-0)
R2: Tinfins (2-1)
R3: Burn (2-0)
R4: Burn (2-0)

If you wish to see the list it is posted on the previous page. I took out the Bant Charm from the main in favor of a second EE that I traded for during round 1. I won every G1 against burn using Jace's ultimate and G2 using the Zuran Orb Intuition pile. I don't think the Timely Reinforcements are needed that much so I cut one in favor of a Celestial Purge (wich also works nicely against Burn). After the event I also took out the singleton Supreme Verdict from the main in favor of a 3rd EE, I might move it to the SB over the now singleton Timely Reinforcements. I don't think timely is needed when the soft counters buy you enough time to start jacing or to get an Intuition online.

Another idea I have been entertaining to improve this deck is the addition of a 4th splash color, either black or red. By removing Elspeth from the deck (double white cost), all of the spells are mainly blue heavy and there is only green for LftL and white for StP left. Adding a 4th color in that regard does not weaken the manabase by any means and only makes EE better. Red allows REB and Pyroblast in the SB as well as Firespout in the main or side. Black opens up Darkblast, Raven's Crime, Thoughtseize, and some SB cards like Perish and Virtue's Ruin. Any feedback on this idea?

[The Treefolk Master]

Congrats.

Glad to hear you upped your Engineered Explosives count, the card's still as awesome as when I first started playing landstill. However I'm not sure you want to cut Supreme Verdict entirely, having an emergency reset button is always nice. What was your reasoning on taking it out?

@Adding a 4th colour: That actually sounds nice, and I think black has more to offer than red does. I was wondering how this list fared against combo decks, and the addition of Thoughtseize (3-off?) to the SB should be really good in the match up (and also in the control mirror). We can run 3 Surgicals, 3 Thoughtseize 2 Vendilion Cliques to shatter combo decks when combined with all our permission. We can also run some random 1-offs like Perish or Vindicate as a catch all (although the latter is probably unnecessary). With these changes in mind we probably want 2 Underground Seas in, so I'm thinking -1 Island -1 Tundra.

Darkblast sounds nice too, but Raven's Crime doesn't work so well when you're running very few black sources.

On a completely unrelated note, I've been thinking of running an Esper Landstill build featuring Baleful Strix, similar to Team Eternal's most recent list, although I must wonder if BUG isn't just a strict upgrade to UBW at that point.

[Qweerios]

I took out Verdict for the 3rd EE because I thought it was a strict upgrade. It is very rare that I manage to Snapcast a Verdict but it is a good spell to draw naturaly. I guess I wanted to see how it would go if I choose to splash a 4th color because that would mean no more Verdict and Elspeth. I also like the idea that I can Intuition for 3 EE when I need to get rid of something ASAP. I think Darkblast and Perish are probably the best tools against Jund as it will kill everything they have.

[Zllig]

This weekend I played at SCG Philly piloting a Landstill deck, similar to the one that Felidae posted on the last page, to a top 64 place going 5-3. Normally I play UWr Miracles, but I decided that I was tired of getting all my shit Abrupt Decay'd, so I figured I'd just play a deck with only one real Decay target. This was also my first large event so I didn't get very good notes in regard to sideboarding, but I'll do my best to remember what happened.

My list was:
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Island
2 Tundra
2 Plains
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Karakas
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Tolaria West
1 Academy Ruins
1 Maze of Ith

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
4 Force of Will
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Terminus
3 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Snare
2 Chrome Mox
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Engineered Explosives

SB:
4 Counterbalance
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Rest in Peace
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Misdirection
1 Seal of Cleansing

Rd 1: Matt Costa playing Deathblade

Game1: I win the die roll and Matt mulligans to 5 while my opening hand is 2 lands, 2 brainstorm, chrome mox, standstill, something else. I go in the tank whether to go all in on the turn 1 standstill plan or not, I figure since he mulled twice that it would be sweet. So I pull the trigger and exile a brainstorm to the mox and play the standstill. We play draw go for awhile with me making land drops every turn and him stopping at two. He decides to break the standstill when he has 7 cards in hand. Long story short not playing with a fast win condition is stupid and he eventually gets a Geist (A fair and interactive magic card that I enjoy playing against!) down with Karakas up and kills me after getting him to 6 with a factory. This game also took around 35-40 minutes.

Boarding: I take out Moxen, which I decided later was a mistake since I was on the play (I blame early day jitters), and something else for V. Cliques.

Game2: Is equally as grindy and not fun, I almost kill him with Colonnade but he plays to the clock and I lose because I can't kill him. Turns out he was slowrolling a wasteland in his hand so it didn't really matter I don't think.

This round is where I discover that I really wish I owned a few wastelands to put in the deck and that while I really hate Entreat the Angels it's pretty much crucial to ever winning at a reasonable time.

0-1/0-2

Rd 2: Stiflenaught with Varolz

Game1: I don't really remember game one to well, but I do recall letting his Bobs live so that he would take more damage and I could kill him faster. Eventually I kill all of his dudes and peck him with Factory for awhile, finishing with the Colonnade.

Boarding: I bring in the Rest in Peace's and the Engineered Explosive for Moxen and a Standstill I believe.

Game2: The second game was ridiculous. I do absolutely nothing to him for several turns while I try and stave off all of his creatures for many turns. Eventually he hits me down to 2 life and I crack a fetch going to 1 to shuffle my library since he has no reach apart for D. Shaman. I very skillfully top deck a Terminus in dramatic fashion getting rid of a Death's Shadow, a Goyf, a Bob, and 2 D. Shamans that were summoning sick. I play a Standstill and pass the turn to him since he has manlands but thank god that they were Inkmoth Nexus so I didn't have to worry about actually getting killed by it. He does nothing for a few turns while I poke him with Factory which eventually becomes even more pathetic when he chumps it with his Nexus making it a 1/1. I get him all the way to 10 before he plays something to break the Standstill, then he says that this might be really funny, and proceeds to attempt to Stifle the Standstill trigger which I trigger again probably crushing his dreams. I told him I thought that play was fairly insulting, but he disagreed. Meh. He plays a Dreadnaught and stifles it leaving him with lethal on the board. End of his turn I brainstorm to find an answer and he Seedtimes me. At this point I was extreme nervous since I had tapped my factory to attack. Luckily brainstorm showed me a Swords to get rid of his threat, leaving him very disappointed on his extra turn. However this put him back to 22 which made me think I'd never kill him. Luckily a timely Colonnade made quick work of him.

Note: This game is where I was very pleased with my deck to choice to play around Decay, his land card in hand against my Factory and Colonnade was a Decay that he couldn't use to clear my Factory out of the way of his Death's Shadow for lethal.

1-1/2-2

Rd 3: Timur Babakol (6th place finish) with "River Rock"

What he said in his report sums it up nicely:

Round 3: UW Miracle Landstill

These games were heavily in my favor. Between my fast clock, Daze and Stifle, I was able to keep my opponent off of plays for most of the game. Stifle hit about 2-3 Terminus in this match and I was able to sink his life low enough that a single threat was able to kill him very quickly.

2-1

I felt like I was on the back foot the entire time, this match was awful and he attacked me from every angle. I really didn't feel like I could do anything against him. I don't know if it is just me, or if this match up is just generally pretty bad.

1-2/2-4

Rd 4: Omnitell with Release the Ants

This was another awful match where he got to do whatever he felt like since I didn't have a real clock and he had infinite counterspells to stop mine. Game 1 and 2 were very pretty quick (But not quick enough for me to go get food! :( ) and unexciting for the most part. I boarded in Counterbalances but even when it landed it did nothing since I didn't have a top and I don't have a lot of 3/5/11/12 drops to stop his spells. Maybe I'll try siding in Dracos to get them with this Release the Ants clash plan!

1-3/2-6

Sweet start to my first tourny. At this point my stomach is eating it's self since I didn't have any breakfast and my head feels like it's going to explode from 50+ minute rounds each time. To make it better I learn that x-3 is needed to make top 64.

Rd 5: RUG Delver

Game1: I must have swept away 6 Nimble Mongoose this entire game, I spent all my time trying to deal with these stupid shrouded dudes since his other threats were easily killed and Maze of Ith did a lot of work against the ones I didn't Plow. But alas I finally draw a Verdict for his 2 goose in play and then I remember that his deck has 6 or so Bolts in it and he proceeds to toss one at my face and win.

Boarding: I bring in the Counterbalances, the Rest in Peaces, and the Explosive taking out the Standstills, Fact or Fiction, Counterspell or Spell Snare, and Moxen.

Game2: I don't recall this match to much, but apparently he gets me to 12 life and then scoops at 20. I believe I got out Counterbalance, Top and RIP. So I appreciate him not wasting time making me peck him with Factories.

Boarding: No change

Game3: About the same as game 2, I get down a RIP for his Goyf and Goose then proceed to stabilize at 13 life with a Jace, Maze, Counterbalance and Top. Jace fatesealed all potential red sources to the bottom of his deck stranding the bolts in his hand. He lets me Jace ultimate him which was fun I suppose. I also noticed he played an island to play around wasteland which I thought was pretty sweet.

2-3/4-7

Rd 6: UR Delver

Game1: Is long and grueling since his creatures suck against me since Factory negates any ground guys and Plows get Delver. On the plus side I must of drawn at least 4 cards off his Goblin Guide. The down side was after I placed him on not having wasteland or stifle I proceeded to crack all my fetches and get my non basics. This was unfortunate when he proceeded to Price of Progress me for 12 damage for lethal. Now I understood why he thought his deck was good against the more recent top decks. However, I still think that deck is just worse than other tempo decks.

Boarding: I bring in Counterbalances and RIP, since he has Snapcasters, and can't recall what I board out. This is the match where I was extremely mad that I didn't include a Zuran Orb in my sideboard, but I suppose that is what I get for making the sideboard during the car ride to the event on Sunday.

Game2: I start on the play and start with island, he then starts with Goblin Guide which I Force(lol) so that I can play a Standstill on turn 2 ahead on the board. This is met with some draw go for awhile while I make land drops and he doesn't (big surprise). He breaks it end of turn with a brainstorm. He then leads with a delver that hits me once, but I play a counterbalance with a top out and he scoops at 21 (sweet deck).

Game3: He plays more bad creatures against me and I take care of them, however he does get me all the way down to 1 life. We end up going to time and hitting the extra turns. On turn 5 my board state is 2 factories, 6 other lands, a Jace, a Top, and a RIP. He asks me to concede, which I found ridiculous, I told him no and asked him to concede to me and showed him a 2 in my hand and pointed to the top in play saying that he wasn't going to resolve any spells again. Thankfully he was nice enough to give me the concession keeping me alive for top64.

3-3/6-8

Rd 7: Dredge

Game1: Opponent says he's new to legacy, except for the games that he played to learn,and I congratulate him for doing this well in his first tournament with his experience. He does a lot of dredging the first two turns and around turn 4 he has a 9/9 Troll and about 16 zombie tokens. On my turn I play a fetch and spin my top to see if there is any hope, no terminus there. I crack and give it a second look and see one putting it on top and passing the turn with a Tundra up. He mistakenly brings two Ichorids back and attacks me with everything, I draw the Terminus and put all his dudes in the best possible place. He then bricks on dredges for a few turns (deserved since his first 4 dredges showed him all of his bridges) and decides he is going to deck himself so he starts drawing and eventually plays an Imp to try and hit me for 1 to death. I eventually swords it and kill him with Elspeth jumping a Factory.

Boarding: Bring in RIPs and the E tutor, take out Standstills.

Game2: I was praying for the nuts hand of RIP, Mox, land, anything but I didn't get it sadly. That didn't matter since his dredges all came up blank and he showed me that he brought in some Grizzly Bears for shits and giggles, at this point I realized he was just having fun for his last game. I kill him with some factories and he hard casts Bridge from Below and then Golden Bear, killing himself with City of Brass. I may have won the round but he won the real prize since he got to leave and go eat.

4-3/8-8

Rd 8: Mono Black Legends Enchantments (more commonly know as pox)

Game1: He leads with Summer version Factory which puts my white boarder ones to absolute shame. Next turn he casts dark ritual and I realize that I'm playing against Pox, this leads into a Liliana. This game was sweet because my opponent had the nicest looking deck with all black boarded cards including: The Abyss, Nether Void, Sinkhole, Chains of Mephistopheles, Tabernacle, etc. However, sadly that deck isn't actually that good and I draw my Elspeth and fight through his various edict effects on my single token killing his Lili and then him after quite awhile.

Boarding: I bring in Misdirection and Counterbalances for Terminus, Verdict and a Standstill.

Game2: He leads this time with a swamp and nothing. I play land and pass back. He goes Urborg into Sinkhole your land, I get to live the dream and Misdirect it to his Urborg. This felt pretty awesome since me, him, his friend and mine all had a good laugh claiming he got blown out. I then play Counterbalance on turn 2 (which ended up doing absolutely nothing in this game). We play an extremely grinding game for awhile which includes him playing Engineered Plague on soldier and one on Assembly Worker. This meant that I couldn't actually kill his Lili that he kept ticking up. Eventually he plays a third Engineered Plague on Assembly Worker stopping me from doing actual anything. I get to play my Crucible of Worlds which let him keep playing my fetch and see a lot of cards with my top until I found a Jace which proceeds to fateseal him racing against his Lili. At this point almost all of his cards are dead since we are both hellbent and he has no actual way of stopping my Jace with his factories now. He gets Lili to 7 before I get Jace to 13 and splits my stuff with Jace in one pile and all the rest in another. Naturally I take Jace and bin the rest, talk about value. I get Jace to 13 and ultimate him out of the game for a very sweet looking board state to finish the tournament.

5-3/10-8

Overall, I really liked the deck but there were glaring issues with it. The most noticeable was the lack of a good fast win condition. The second was a lack of a third color, I would have killed to own red duals so I could get Explosives to 3 and probably to splash for Lightning Bolt for additional removal and some reach. Throughout the day I was extremely happy with how Tolaria West performed, as well as Chrome Mox. In the future, if I stay 2 colors, I'd like to test with some amount of wastelands since I definitely like the idea of being able to just lock someone out of the game under the Standstill and get rid of problematic lands. As well as adding a Tamiyo and Decree of Justice and replacing Fact or Fiction with Gifts Ungiven so I can make a pile that consists of must answer threats as well as just being able to make value piles, as well as fitting some number of Snapcasters in. I also doubt that I played my absolute best. Not getting a full nights sleep, or eating in the morning, or at all during the day, not keeping hydrated through out the tournament made for a very long and miserable day of going to time more than I wanted to.

[TakeYourTime]

Overall, I really liked the deck but there were glaring issues with it. The most noticeable was the lack of a good fast win condition. The second was a lack of a third color, I would have killed to own red duals so I could get Explosives to 3 and probably to splash for Lightning Bolt for additional removal and some reach. Throughout the day I was extremely happy with how Tolaria West performed, as well as Chrome Mox. In the future, if I stay 2 colors, I'd like to test with some amount of wastelands since I definitely like the idea of being able to just lock someone out of the game under the Standstill and get rid of problematic lands. As well as adding a Tamiyo and Decree of Justice and replacing Fact or Fiction with Gifts Ungiven so I can make a pile that consists of must answer threats as well as just being able to make value piles, as well as fitting some number of Snapcasters in. I also doubt that I played my absolute best. Not getting a full nights sleep, or eating in the morning, or at all during the day, not keeping hydrated through out the tournament made for a very long and miserable day of going to time more than I wanted to.

Congratulations on your finish!

I agree with you in that Landstill can be grueling because your matches have more turns per game than most other decks.

Not going to time comes with experience. You have to play much faster than the average player.

Some feedback on your list:
I like the addition of Maze of Ith to the Tolaria West package--it's interesting.I'm not sure if Terminus suits the Landstill archetype. The issue is that when Standstill is cracked you might draw your Terminus. Now you either have to tap six mana to cast it or use a Brainstorm effect to put the miracle card back. Sensei's Divining Top keeps the miracle cards on top of the library for the miracles decks, but there is no way prevent yourself from drawing a miracle card when Standstill is cracked. An alternative is to play more Supreme Verdict and Engineered Explosives.

Good luck in your future Landstill matches!

[Canarias4life]

I have always liked landstill so I've never given it up. That is my landstill deck list, it's similar to Miracles. I have not played this deck yet.

4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Wasteland
5Island
2 Plains

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
3 Spell Pierce
4Swords to Plowshares
3 Terminus
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Decree of Justice
1Crucible of Worlds
4 Standstill
1Enlightened Tutor
2 Cunning Wish
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Humility
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

//Sideboard
SB: 1 Yelmo de obediencia
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Rest in Peace
SB: 2 Celestial Purge
SB: 1 Enlightened Tutor
SB: 1 Misdirection
SB: 1 Noxious Revival
SB: 1 Dismantling Blow
SB: 1 Surgical extraction
SB: 2 vendilion clique
SB: 1 Pulse of the fields
SB: 1 Path to exile

What do you think?

[Erdvermampfa]

MtG and particularly Legacy have recently caught my interest again and I'm planning to participate at tournaments in the future again. When I quit, my deck of choice was Landstill and as I'm still in possession of the respective card pool, that shall remain so.

First of, I concede that I have followed the discussion on the last few pages and have noticed that the users 'landstillmaniac' and 'TakeYourTime' have caused a lot of controversy with their seemingly oldish lists. Generally I always tended to agree with's Piceli89's train of thought because I considered 4cc spells and even Counterspell as too slow and I used to strive to lower the mana costs to enhance the matchup against troublesome matchups like RUG and other tempo decks.

However, I now tried to be more open-minded and gave the CC4 bomb approach a try. I came to the conclusion that running a lot of high-costed spells isn't necessarily bad. The more you try to lower your overall costs, the more you will probably end up with weakening your late game, which should actually be the strength of the deck. The issue has always been how to reach the point where you can afford to tap out for bombs like Elspeth, Jace, Humility, Wrath of God (Supreme Verdict!). Once that pointed has been reached, chances are good that you'll win. Delver and Tempo Decks have supposedly made that impossible and we all tried out things like more point removal, tops, terminus and low costed spells to address this problem. Doing so, I and I surmise a lot of others had watered down their deck and significantly weakened their late game.

However, this has to be avoided and I'm convinced that recent printings actually gave us the tools to fight those problematic matchups. Supreme Verdict is a fairly strong card as it's both uncounterable (which makes it a reliable answer to Delver, Mongoose, Merfolk etc. ) and blue (which means that it's pitchable to Force so it doesn't clog up your hand). Engineered Explosives is as good right now as it has never been before. This card makes the RUG matchup significantly better as it can get rid of Mongoose and Delver quite cheaply. Notice that Delver has a CC of 0 so dropping EE for 0 will suffice! These two cards and the general high prevalence of Delver decks allow us to survive quite easily until we get to the said point of late game bombs (Jace, Elspeth, Humility). This should definitely be taken into account when experimenting with this deck.

Furthermore, I propose to run a 1-of Geist of Saint-Traft as a win condition. With the exception of Liliana (which is admittedly a problem), he can't be handled by most decks and he represents a pretty fast way to win games so you can avoid draws. Not having as fast win condition, which is also a issue against combo decks, has always been a reason to stay away from this deck, but I could imagine that Geist can alleviate this problem. On the other hand, one has to concede that he doesn't play well with your own mass removal, but as you'll drop him mostly after you have gained control of the game, this shouldn't be that much of a problem.

Last but not least, I'd like to question Crucible of Worlds validity in the current state of the format where you'll find Abrupt Decay's everywhere. Since your opponent won't find other targets most of the time, it's almost guaranteed that it'll get destroyed pretty fast.

I hope I can stir up a discussion about this deck!

[TakeYourTime]

The more you try to lower your overall costs, the more you will probably end up with weakening your late game, which should actually be the strength of the deck.

Yes, I 100% agree. The main strategy is to counter combo decks or sweep creature decks and get to the late game. At that point you have a plethora of big CMC drops to out class whatever your opponent puts onto the board.




Delver and Tempo Decks have supposedly made that impossible and we all tried out things like more point removal, tops, terminus and low costed spells to address this problem. Doing so, I and I surmise a lot of others had watered down their deck and significantly weakened their late game.

I feel that the tempo versus landstill is the same as tempo versus any other deck--sometimes they draw exactly what they need at the right time and flat out win. Something that helps a lot with this matchup in the UWx landstill shell is simply playing more basic lands. If you go UWb then innocent blood is a thing too.




The issue has always been how to reach the point where you can afford to tap out for bombs like Elspeth, Jace, Humility, Wrath of God (Supreme Verdict!).

I usually don't do anything until I'm forced to. This includes being extremely conservative with Brainstorm.




Furthermore, I propose to run a 1-of Geist of Saint-Traft as a win condition. With the exception of Liliana (which is admittedly a problem), he can't be handled by most decks and he represents a pretty fast way to win games so you can avoid draws. Not having as fast win condition, which is also a issue against combo decks, has always been a reason to stay away from this deck, but I could imagine that Geist can alleviate this problem. On the other hand, one has to concede that he doesn't play well with your own mass removal, but as you'll drop him mostly after you have gained control of the game, this shouldn't be that much of a problem.

Geist might be worth a shot. If you try him out I'd be interested in hearing about your findings.




Last but not least, I'd like to question Crucible of Worlds validity in the current state of the format where you'll find Abrupt Decay's everywhere. Since your opponent won't find other targets most of the time, it's almost guaranteed that it'll get destroyed pretty fast.

Crucible wins games. If your opponent has artifact removal then only play crucible when you can make a land drop from your graveyard on the same turn. Yes, crucible is a target for abrupt decay but if you make sure you get at least one land drop out of it then you're still even on cards and your opponent is down by one card when the crucible is killed. In games 2 and 3, if the opponent keeps abrupt decay in the deck for your crucible then that's fantastic--those abrupt decays are card slots that could have been more threats or answers to your big 4CMC win conditions.



I commend you for wanting to try Landstill. It's a very difficult deck to pilot and the slightest mistake will cost you the game--more so than most other legacy decks. You also have to play much faster than the average player, but it's so fun to grind out your opponent and beat them for 2 damage every turn! :tongue:

[Canarias4life]

Take your time could you reveal your deck list and explain it? Do you think Uw is better than Uwb(both playing cunning wish) ?

thank you :P

[Iron Buddha]

The problem with Crucible of Worlds is not Abrupt Decay, but Deathrite Shaman. CoW was very strong because in combination with Academy Ruins, Wasteland, Mishra's Factory, Engineered Explosives (and the last piece is Tolaria West) you could create an nearly unstoppable inevitability lock. But now, I think, it is unplayable (Deathrite Shaman...)

[TakeYourTime]

The problem with Crucible of Worlds is not Abrupt Decay, but Deathrite Shaman. CoW was very strong because in combination with Academy Ruins, Wasteland, Mishra's Factory, Engineered Explosives (and the last piece is Tolaria West) you could create an nearly unstoppable inevitability lock. But now, I think, it is unplayable (Deathrite Shaman...)

Where does that leave other cards with graveyard interaction such as Life from the Loam, Snapcaster Mage, and Reanimate?

[Iron Buddha]

If you ask me they all suffered. "unplayable" was probably too strong, but you definitely have to consider the impact of Deathrite Shaman on every card that needs the grave.

[Erdvermampfa]

Regarding Crucible of Worlds I have to say that I'm in line with TakeYourTime's argumentation that it'll get more useful against the respective decks once they board their otherwise useless point removal (Decay) out so in the end it remains its longevity. Besides there is always Academy Ruins. However, as like Iron Buddha correctly stated, they overall prevalence of Deathrite Shaman decreases the validity of many grave-based strategies, hence we might often find us not having enough targets for Crucible because fetchlands or wasted lands had been removed earlier. Nevertheless, this becomes less severe as the game further progresses because I think we are all content that Deathrite Shaman is to be removed as soon as possible so you can still make use of Crucible in the long run. Then again, I've found myself in situations where I'm pressingly in the need of answers because my opponent had a good Delver or Mongoose start-off and in these moments it feels highly awkward having a CC3 artifact in hand that does next to nothing in the first place. But, as we consented above, we have to keep in mind that Landstill's main strength is the late game and therefore we have to keep a sufficient mass of late game cards in the deck, hence Crucible seems legit once more. I hope we can get more notions of other landstill players on this matter.

As for Geist as a 1-of I can only say for now, due to limited testing, that he definitely serves his purpose of a fast clock quite well and altogether I think its safe to say that draws can be reduced by including him. On the other side, his neither an answer for threats (except for opponent's planeswalkers) nor specifically strong as a late game card because he doesn't play well along with mass removal and still gets outclassed by bigger creatures easily. I'm currently under the impression that he can provide nothing which you couldn't achieve with Elspeth and fast playing as well.

Moreover, I'd say that we have to share thoughts on Humility once again. I torn between running it maindeck and putting it in the sideboard or to leave it at all. First of, I'm definitely aware of it's power not just in tribal and creature-heavy areas. Humility is Landstill's way to establish a lastingly superior board situation when paired with cards like Mishra's Factory and Elspeth because now your creatures become at least equal or better than each of your opponent's. Also, as we all know, it shuts down utility creatures like Confidant, Stoneforge and mother of Runes. On the other hand, it's not necessarily the best answer when being under pressure, because 1/1s can still become a threat when in high quantities, especially when your on low life. It's also possible that the aforementioned permanent turning of the game state to your favor can also be achieved by Engineered Explosives when being recurred with Academy Ruins, but then again, we can't really assess the reliability of this strategy because of Abrupt Decay's and Deathrite Shaman's high prevalence right now.

[Canarias4life]

I have found this thread( http://www.thecouncil.es/foro/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2255 ) about Antonio Escamilla's Landstill. He is one of the best spanish players of Landstill. He talks about his years playing Landstill and how he has changed the deck list. This is the last tournament he has participated with Landstill, in February 2013. http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/45959 That's interesting see the experience of expert players

[spedn7]

Moreover, I'd say that we have to share thoughts on Humility once again. I torn between running it maindeck and putting it in the sideboard or to leave it at all. First of, I'm definitely aware of it's power not just in tribal and creature-heavy areas. Humility is Landstill's way to establish a lastingly superior board situation when paired with cards like Mishra's Factory and Elspeth because now your creatures become at least equal or better than each of your opponent's. Also, as we all know, it shuts down utility creatures like Confidant, Stoneforge and mother of Runes. On the other hand, it's not necessarily the best answer when being under pressure, because 1/1s can still become a threat when in high quantities, especially when your on low life. It's also possible that the aforementioned permanent turning of the game state to your favor can also be achieved by Engineered Explosives when being recurred with Academy Ruins, but then again, we can't really assess the reliability of this strategy because of Abrupt Decay's and Deathrite Shaman's high prevalence right now.

Engineered Explosives isn't effected by Deathrite Shaman and if you can assemble Academy Ruins with EE then you how a decent lock if you can reach 3cc. The only thing to remember is to kill Deathrite first so if your Academy Ruins gets hit by wasteland you have time to get Crucible of Worlds into play to get it back. Humility does its best work when paired with Moat but as long as you aren't playing against fast aggro decks like zoo or swarm decks like Goblins Humility is good on its own because you can get to 4cc with a good life total a lot of the time and you are in a strong position once Humility is on the board

[kiblast]

I'm trying to tune a Miracle Still list based on the one that top8ed Ghent last year.
There is no comparison when you are playing a Standstill control deck with 4 tops vs one without tops. Top is already amazing by itself so I opted to play the full playset, so I can play miracles as well. I'm playing 2 terminus and 1 Entreat.

Basically it's a Miracle list which plays Standstill instead of CB and it feels great. Red is by far the best support colour because of Reb and Pyroclasm.

[b] Uwr Miracle Still (http://deckstats.net/deck-2757627-f350faf98218179ba9dfa3d3e85b4d2c-en.html)

//Main
4 Flooded Strand (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Flooded+Strand)
4 Island (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Island)
1 Plains (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Plains)
3 Scalding Tarn (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Scalding+Tarn)
3 Tundra (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Tundra)
4 Mishra's Factory (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Mishra%27s+Factory)
1 Academy Ruins (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Academy+Ruins)
1 Karakas (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Karakas)
2 Volcanic Island (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Volcanic+Island)

4 Brainstorm (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Brainstorm)
4 Force of Will (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Force+of+Will)
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Jace%2C+the+Mind+Sculptor)
2 Snapcaster Mage (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Snapcaster+Mage)
4 Swords to Plowshares (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Swords+to+Plowshares)
3 Spell Pierce (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Spell+Pierce)
2 Supreme Verdict (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Supreme+Verdict)
3 Standstill (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Standstill)
1 Engineered Explosives (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Engineered+Explosives)
4 Sensei's Divining Top (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Sensei%27s+Divining+Top)
1 Entreat the Angels (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Entreat+the+Angels)
2 Counterspell (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Counterspell)
2 Terminus (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Terminus)
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Elspeth%2C+Knight-Errant)

//Sideboard
3 Vendilion Clique (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Vendilion+Clique)
2 Flusterstorm (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Flusterstorm)
2 Red Elemental Blast (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Red+Elemental+Blast)
2 Pyroclasm (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Pyroclasm)
3 Surgical Extraction (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Surgical+Extraction)
2 Disenchant (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Disenchant)
1 Counterbalance (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Counterbalance)

[thefreakaccident]

Ive been playing something similar, except with a tiny bit for focus on countermagic, and the pyroclasms in the mainboard, since my meta is fullof maverick/deaths taxes/elves/cascade... Pyroclasm has been surprisingly good vs the format md, kills just about everything besides goyf. Also, teeg hits supreme verdict, and I find I always either have taken too much damage pre verdict, or I'm killing 1-2 dudes, both are just not worth it. Clasm comes two turns earlier, costs the same as a rupt decay, and usually does the exact same job as verdict. It's easier to flashback with potential snapcasters as well.

[dsck]

I'm trying to tune a Miracle Still list based on the one that top8ed Ghent last year.
There is no comparison when you are playing a Standstill control deck with 4 tops vs one without tops. Top is already amazing by itself so I opted to play the full playset, so I can play miracles as well. I'm playing 2 terminus and 1 Entreat.

Basically it's a Miracle list which plays Standstill instead of CB and it feels great. Red is by far the best support colour because of Reb and Pyroclasm.

[b] Uwr Miracle Still (http://deckstats.net/deck-2757627-f350faf98218179ba9dfa3d3e85b4d2c-en.html)

//Main
4 Flooded Strand (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Flooded+Strand)
4 Island (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Island)
1 Plains (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Plains)
3 Scalding Tarn (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Scalding+Tarn)
3 Tundra (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Tundra)
4 Mishra's Factory (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Mishra%27s+Factory)
1 Academy Ruins (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Academy+Ruins)
1 Karakas (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Karakas)
2 Volcanic Island (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Volcanic+Island)

4 Brainstorm (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Brainstorm)
4 Force of Will (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Force+of+Will)
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Jace%2C+the+Mind+Sculptor)
2 Snapcaster Mage (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Snapcaster+Mage)
4 Swords to Plowshares (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Swords+to+Plowshares)
3 Spell Pierce (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Spell+Pierce)
2 Supreme Verdict (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Supreme+Verdict)
3 Standstill (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Standstill)
1 Engineered Explosives (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Engineered+Explosives)
4 Sensei's Divining Top (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Sensei%27s+Divining+Top)
1 Entreat the Angels (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Entreat+the+Angels)
2 Counterspell (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Counterspell)
2 Terminus (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Terminus)
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Elspeth%2C+Knight-Errant)

//Sideboard
3 Vendilion Clique (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Vendilion+Clique)
2 Flusterstorm (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Flusterstorm)
2 Red Elemental Blast (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Red+Elemental+Blast)
2 Pyroclasm (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Pyroclasm)
3 Surgical Extraction (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Surgical+Extraction)
2 Disenchant (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Disenchant)
1 Counterbalance (http://www.mtg-forum.de/db/magiccard.php?lng=en&card=Counterbalance)


I played quite similar list a lot. Then I lost to RUG more than once and there went my interest. This deck does however roll over all those different cascade decks.

[kiblast]

I played quite similar list a lot. Then I lost to RUG more than once and there went my interest. This deck does however roll over all those different cascade decks.

What would you change to adjust the matchup vs. Rug? Were you playing CB? Which combinations of spot removals / removal tools were you using?

[dsck]

What would you change to adjust the matchup vs. Rug? Were you playing CB? Which combinations of spot removals / removal tools were you using?

I tried bunch of different options but the problem was having a decent finisher once you have stabilized (usually at 7 life). You want to play around: Daze/Spell Pierce/Stifle/Flusterstorm/Red Elemental Blast/Krosan Grip/Spell Snare/Lightning Bolt. I quess now that think about it Jötun Grunt could be okay. It is however very narrow and takes many SB slots.

I used to play 1 Counterbalance main (over 2nd Counterspell) and 2nd in the SB or E. Tutor. I dont think Surgicals are at their best here, you'd rather want RIP or Relic of Progenitus as those are also good vs RUG.

[dsck]

Lol @ this list:
http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=12180&iddeck=89260

[Einherjer]

Besides the fact that I will play Miracles at GP Paris I was taking this deck to our local tournament today. I didn't wanna beat everyone by playing Miracles, so I decided to play the clearly inferior Landstill. This was the draft list I put together the day before the tournament:

4 Tundra
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Karakas
5 Island
3 Plains
4 Standstill
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
//Sideboard
4 Flusterstorm
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Rest in Peace
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Batterskull
2 Baneslayer Angel

Round 1: UR Delver
I: I destroy all the threats he deploys, and while he is digging for more I beat him down with Mishra and Snapcaster. Before he can find anything he dies.
II: I make an mistake by acting too aggressively - leaving me with Force without pitch for one single turn - he gets down Vortex and I die.
III: I dominate the game with multiple Timely Reinforcements - but in the end it comes down to a race between his Vortex and my Clique and Mishra - which I happen to win at 1 life.
Best move was him attacking with 2 Goblin Guides and me brainstorming in response to triggers and putting two Islands on top. Who said Ancestral Recall was illegal?

1-0

Round 2: Team America
I: I open with 2 Swords and 2 Snapcaster, followed by another Sword from top. Nothing stays alive on his side, Mishra brings it home.
II: He chains Hymns but consecutive Brainstorms make me live long enough to eventually win with Elspeth - paired with Snapcaster and Mishra.

2-0

Round 3: Belcher/Oops-All-Spells-Hybrid
I: I know what he is on, mull to 4 to find Fetchland, Snapcaster Mage, Brainstorm and blank. He combos, I brainstorm, brick and die.
II: You know how these games work... got the counter? Gotcha!
III: See above.

3-0

Round 4: Team America
I: I go Island go, he plays Deathrite, I play Standstill with Mishra, he dazes - next turn I play another which sticks. He wastes my Mishra but as soon as I got another he is forced to move and can't keep up with the CA I have accumulated.
II: He deploys multiple threats which are taken away by Verdict, only to be followed up with Baneslayer Angel. He dies without real possibility to handle it- cause I had Counterspell, Jace and Batterskull in Hand.

4-0

First place, yaay. Deck was alot of fun and I will continue to play it for the lulz! Second time I took first with Landstill, btw: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?9280-Deck-UW(x)-Landstill&p=690278&viewfull=1#post690278

LONG LIVE LANDSTILL!

Greetings

[klaus]

http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.kym-cdn.com%2Fphotos%2Fimages%2Foriginal%2F000%2F028%2F433%2FThreadNecromancer.png&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fknowyourmeme.com%2Fmemes%2Fthread-necro%2Fphotos&h=350&w=245&tbnid=r2ouUrn6wFD5kM%3A&zoom=1&docid=NjLjiAyufEKkVM&ei=-rp8U8bTItKM7AbiooGoBw&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=372&page=1&start=0&ndsp=29&ved=0CGcQrQMwBQ

4 Standstill
4 FoW
4 Jace
4 BS
4 STP
2 UAbsent
3 Snare
2 CS
3 Supreme Verdict
2 SCM
2 Clique
1 Elspeth
1 Ponder
36

4 Flooded Strand
4 Factory
2 Arid Mesa
2 Delta
4 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plains
1 Dustbowl
1 Kor Haven

SB:
1 PtE
1 Verdict
2 EE
4 Fluster Storm
3 RiP
1 Disenchant
2 Canonist
1 Needle

Will try this out now and tell you how flows.
:laugh:

[Erdvermampfa]

So, Klaus, would you mind to tell us how the list turned out for you? In my view your list seems a bit slow due to the fact that you run 8 CC4 spells. In my experience, 6 CC4 cards are the Maximum lest the deck becomes too incosistent and makes you end with unbearable Hands. Additionally, you don't run Top that usually ensures your landdrops which is crucial for this deck. In Standstill-control decks, Sensei's Top appears to me to be the best way to enable Standstill because you get yourself in a highly favorable position if you manage to drop a Standstill above a Top to the extend that it obliges your opponent to break SS immediatly. I can't see any reason why that singleton Ponder shouldn't be Top except for Snapcaster, but that is neglectable since you have a plenty of other targets for him.

[cab0747]

I know this deck isn't popular, but I was wondering if anyone has done anything with the RiP Helm combo. I have always wanted to find a shell where this fit and the list that made top-16 in an SCG Open recently (linked here (http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=69142)) looks to do this very well.

Since Strands have cone down in price, I was thinking about messing around with this a little. So, does ANYONE still play this or a variant of it?

[pandaman]

I play it in Vintage and sometimes in Legacy. Love me some Legacy legal Ancestral Recall.

[lavafrogg]

I have seen a few players experimenting with an old school fish list that runs delver and man lands to abuse standstill, just like the good old days... I also feel like I have seen an article in starcity with a brew of "fish".

[pandaman]

The DreadStill guys have been kicking around a UW version with the Torpor Orb flyer, but it's very different to the decks discussed here, of course.

[lambert101]

Recently played a version of this deck to a 4-1-2 record at a local GPT for New Jersey. I came in 3-4 place. I went 3-0 then double ID into top 8. I was the 1 seed going into the top 8. It played like the old Landstill decks with cruse over standstill.

Match-ups
UWR Delver: 2-1; won with assemble racing a True Name-Nemesis with a Jitte
BUG Delver: 2-0; Game 1 Turn 4 Blood Moon won with Force and Daze Mana
Dark Maverick: 2-0; Killed all the dudes and drew all the cards
Double ID into top 8
Top 8: Dude scooped to me as top 8 spilt and played it out for byes. He isn't going to New Jersey.
Top 4: Lost to Hollywood on UR delver cruse deck. I haven't played against it and I ran out of steam game 1 and game 2 he cast all 4 cruse. It happens. Hollywood went on to win the buys. Good do and fun games.

Here is the list

Main:
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Treasure Cruse
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Batterskull
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Council’s Judgement
1 Blood Moon
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Assemble the Legion
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
2 Counterspell
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mesa
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Karakas

Board:
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Flusterstorm
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Eidolon of rhetoric
1 Blood Moon
1 Council’s Judgement
2 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger’s Cage

The list was solid but thinking about the following changes:

Main:
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Dig Through Time
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Batterskull
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Council’s Judgement
1 Blood Moon
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Assemble the Legion
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
2 Counterspell
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mesa
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Karakas

Board:
1 Null Rod
1 Pithing Needle
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Flusterstorm
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Blood Moon
1 Council’s Judgement
2 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger’s Cage

These changes lower the land count to 21. I got flooded almost every game as the 1-1 removal and fetches fill up delve for end of turn dig through time. The 6 basics are awesome and the Karakas would be a Tundra but it helps against Sneak and Show, Reanimator, Thalia decks,and Miracles (legends build). Please give me feed back. I understand this is like miracles without the miracles but plays different as you are not relying on top and have answers to early delvers, deathrites, and random dues (aka swift spear). The end game plan of Keranos, Jace, Batterskull, and Assemble the Legion have been awesome in testing. Especially Assemble because it survives -1/-1 effects and can't be pyroblasted after landing.

[jafar]

I loved the deck, sometimes still trying to play it.

Just few questions here:

- Why replace Cruise with Dig Through Time? (Impression, thoughts)
- Do you think Spell snare could be useful to fight opposing counterbalance (and a lot of other legacy Staples)?
- 21 lands isn' too few?

Thx,

Bye

[lambert101]

Dig allows you to play more draw go. The land situation is the same as miracles with 1 Tundra over 1 Karkas. So far the games have played out as follows:
Turn 1-2 removal/counter early threats
Turn 3-4 ponder and more removal
Turn 4-5 Blood Moon and Dig Through Time
Turn X then win

[H]

I've been playing BUG Landstill off and on for the last 6 months or so. Since Treasure Cruise got printed I was contemplating reviving it, but looking your list is inspiring me to try something a little different. The trouble I always had was not being able to close the game quickly or efficiently enough once I had control. Assemble and Keranos look like great passive win conditions that constantly generate some kind of value, something I didn't have in BUG besides Loam (which really isn't a win condition or passive) letting you hold up countermagic. Deathrite, Liliana, Decay, and Deed are amazing cards, but they do constrain what you can do overall. Considering the post-TC meta, while Deed is a hell of a card, the way it informs the types of other answer cards you can play probably isn't the best choice. Permanent based hate is too critical now and probably even more so going forward, which Deed precludes.

Once I have the last few cards I need for this (I never got any Council's, also need a Keranos and Assemble), I will be testing this. I am going to see how your first build feels for me, as I think I would be more comfortable with more lands when my win conditions cost 4, 5, 5, and 5. Of course, you may well be right that Cruise makes it so you can do with less land, but I'd be fearful of opening too many 1-2 mana 7s that have to be mulled with only 21 lands.

[lambert101]

The lands are the same as the 4 ponder miracles list. The cantrips help smooth out land drops and have action. Answering threats gives you time for consecutive land drops into end game bombs. This weekend so many people forced a bolt only to the creature get swords next turn. Then this 1-1 trade acts as delve fuel.

[Philipp2293]

Nice deck, I used your finisher configuration (-1 Assemble the Legions) for my own take on UWR control today and it was quite nice. Did you ever have problems finishing in time? And how were your wins distributed between Jace Ultimate and Damage?

[lambert101]

With all the red blast around, assemble was awesome. I'd say all my game wins came between blood moon, batterskull, and assemble. Jace ended up being a lightning rod that bought time. My new list with 21 lands has been testing decently. My major thought now is for the 60th card to be the 3rd Spell Pierce, 3rd Tundra, 1 pyroblast main, or 1 Engineered Explosives main. Right now it is Spell Pierce to have a more early game stack control to counter early cantrips or slam turn 4 blood moon. Please keep giving feed back. I am liking this as a control option to miracles.

[swordstoplowsharesguy]

Hey all,

I've been testing various UWR lists over the last couple months for Jersey and have ended up with a list that I think is competitive. I've gone 19-8 (total) in one small GPT (which I won) and several "daily" style events at my local shop (some cards have varied over that testing period). That said, I know that the best decks are never brewed by one person, and would really appreciate some help in optimizing the following list (especially considering my lack of experience with standstill generally). Any commentary is welcome, good or bad, and if there are any questions about the card choices please just let me know!

UWR Stonestill
Creatures (10)
4 – Stoneforge Mystic
2 – True-Name Nemesis
1 – Vendilion Clique
3 – Snapcaster Mage

Spells (28)
4 – Brainstorm
3 – Swords to Plowshares
4 – Lightning Bolt
4 – Force of Will
3 – Spell Pierce
2 – Pyroblast
2 – Standstill
3 – Treasure Cruise
1 – Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 – Umezawa’s Jitte
1 – Batterskull

Lands (22)

3 – Volcanic Island
3 – Tundra
2 – Island
1 – Plains
4 – Mishra’s Factory
4 – Flooded Strand
3 – Scalding Tarn
2 – Arid Mesa

Sideboard (15)
1 – Mountain
2 – Pyroclasm
1 – Swords to Plowshares
3 – Meddling Mage
2 – Rest in Peace
1 – True Name Nemesis
1 – Sword of Fire and Ice
1 – Pyroblast
1 – Blood Moon
1 – Wear//Tear
1 – Relic of Progenitus

In terms of the more common match ups my testing has indicated the following, in case you were wondering:

Elves: Unfavourable
Infect: Very Favourable
UR Delver: Favourable
Reanimator: Close
Death and Taxes: Favourable
RUG Cruise Delver: Unfavourable
Burn: Close
Miracles: Favourable

I don't have enough data on the other matches to really say one way or the other. Some of these results are only based on 2 tournament matches so it isn't by any means conclusive, just my impressions. Also: Main deck red blasts are the nuts. Try it.

Thanks!

P.S. -- Does anyone have a sense of how to play standstill in matches where an opponent may also be playing man lands? (I.e., tar pit out of deathblade?) Is it correct to not run out standstill if you don't have 1 or more factories, and is it correct to board them out? Just wondering how best to evaluate those situations.

[H]

P.S. -- Does anyone have a sense of how to play standstill in matches where an opponent may also be playing man lands? (I.e., tar pit out of deathblade?) Is it correct to not run out standstill if you don't have 1 or more factories, and is it correct to board them out? Just wondering how best to evaluate those situations.

If they only run one man-land, I would probably keep them in. If they have more than one, I'd probably board them out. I would definitely board them out if they have man-lands and Wastelands though, that is far too risky.

[RogueMTG]

@swordstoplowsharesguy

I feel like you certainly have the tools to beat Elves, I am surprised to see it be unfavorable. Maybe find room for some number Engineered Explosives? It's also very good against most of the Delver threats.

If you think or know that your opponent has man-lands, dropping standstill onto a naked board without some number of factory in hand or in play is incredibly dangerous. I have done it before with Top in play and still not gotten there in time. Lists in the past have sometimes run a 3/2 or 4/2 Factory/Wasteland split to mitigate this, but it is a lot of colorless lands to commit to.

I would say that it makes your 2 of Standstills an easier board-out target, but not a "must" board out necessarily as you will have a man-land numbers advantage. (If they don't also run Wasteland)

[Holly]

Rasing the dead for funnsies:

Won a small tournament today playing the following list:
4 Brainstorm, 4 Standstill, 3 Dig through Time, 1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will, 4 Spell Snare, 4 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshare, 1 Path to Exile, 2 Councils Judgement, 1 Supreme Verdict
4 Snapcaster Mage
8 Fetch, 3 Tundra, 2 Volcanic Island, 4 Island, 2 Plains, 4 Mishra's Factorie, 1 Faerie Conclave

SB:
3 Supreme Verdict, 2 Vedalken Shackles, 3 Pyroblast, 1 Red Elemental Blast, 1 Isochron Scepter, 2 Vendilion-Clique, 1 Containment Priest, 2 Pithing Needle

Note: I just played stuff I wanted to (Shakles, Scepter, FoF) despite them being non-optimal. Did not include Jace because no particular reason.

R1 vs Junk
2 Easy games, G1 I resolve 4 Standstills and the second 2 Verdicts make short work of his creatures so I could win easily.

R2 vs Miracles (RIP-Helm-Engergy Field)
G1 is a grindfest but I've got the upper hand the whole time, when he's low on life he topdecks a Energy Flux which I let resolve, panicking for a moment since I allready used (and flashbacked) 1 of my Judgements and used like 2 Snapcasters.. some DTT's found me another SCM for the win.
G2 wasn't particular close either. I was low on lands (like 5-6 compared to his 10) but had the hand full of counters and won easily.

R3 vs Sneakshow
G1 He cantrips for a few turns while I build up a clock via Snapcaster-Beatdown and lose the final counterfight over a Sneak Attack barely but he's on 8, has no mana and only 1 card in hand while I have 8 power on the board.
G2 He cantrips for a while and I start to clock him with a Factorie.. After he has enough lands he slamms all 4 Sneak Attacks in 2 turns, I counter all of them and finish the game with a SCM and a Counterspell in hand.

R4 vs Painter
G1 I counter everything relevant and clock him (starting turn 15 or something though his Ancient Tombs helped), he puts down a Bridge which I let resolve. I kill him after I found a Council's Judgement for it.
G2 I see next to no counter (1 CS, 1 FoW in the whole game Oo) but would've won after a long grindy game but I manage to miss the second Grindstone on board and chose to destroy his 2 Bridges (to win within a turn) via my Blasts instead of his Painter.. doh.
G3 We don't have enough time.

R5 vs Dredge
G1 I stand no chance.
G2 I mull to 4, (3 lands, 1 StP) he to 6.. he never finds a dredge but starts beating me down with hardcasts DR (Street Wraight) and Flame Kin Zealots.. I can answer those and kill him with Containment Priets etc.
G3 He mulls to 5 while I keep a hand of Island, Plains, Factorie, StP, Verdict, 2 Counterspell. Thankfully he lacks action and I manage to draw another Island and my Counterspell turned actually good. I got rid of 2 Bridges via blocking an Ichorid with my Factorie, followed it up by a Verdict and then had enough StP's/SCM and counter to neutralize everything he did.

All in all 4-0-1 and had a good time countering stuff.

[pandaman]

Nice report. Love the old school (no Jace) and new school (Dig) mix!

[EunB]

3 Mastery of the Unseen
3 Exalted Angel
3 Willbender
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought

4 Standstill
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Dig Through Time
2 Counterspell
2 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Council's Judgement

4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plains
1 Karakas

Sideboard:
2 Rest in Peace
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Flusterstorm
2 Path to Exile
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Terminus
3 Counterbalance

Played this list for fun and cashed out of a local tournament.

Played Mastery because of its interaction with Standstill but mostly because I like the card almost as much as I like Exalted Angel. Flipped up Angel a few times and would've beaten 4c Delver with her but couldn't find 4th land. Never got to live the dream with Willbender, but people played around him a LOT once they saw I had him. I also sadly didn't see my singleton Dreadnought nor get to manifest him.

Beat BUG Control, The Gate, and Manaless Dredge while losing to 4c Delver (primarily off mana screw / bad keeps).

BUG Control decayed my first Mastery and died to the 2nd. The Gate can't beat Standstill (at least not that version w/o Chains), Manaless Dredge killed me g1, then insta-scooped to RIP both SB games. 4c Delver did the usual wastelanding / stifling of my mana. G2 I stood a chance but got BS locked and couldn't find the 4th land to flip Exalted Angel which he has no way of beating.

I'm excited to test Myth Realized -- allows for entirely creatureless control build which should be extremely strong. I think that card is going to drastically change Legacy.

[Piceli89]

That seems slightly janky and too much danger of cool things, imo.

I necro myself after a long hiatus from this forum (I don't play Legacy anymore anyways) to provide advice for a deck I used to love.

http://i.tcgplayer.com/96592.jpg

This is very good in Landstill. Under Standstill it threatens a clock that can grow large very fast- especially when considering that this deck only runs non-creature spells. In those draw-go dead turns you can toss mana into it. Basically it is manland 5-8 with the difference that it can't be Wastelanded and, unlike aggressive fish-esque builds which rely on Delver or Lavamancer, this doesn't die to Pyroblast/Lightning Bolt (if played correctly)/Liliana.

Special bonus: for those builds playing Sensei's Divining Top you can "combo out" with double SDT by drawing one into each other to grow Myth Realized to a very huge number of counters in short time.

What do you think? This and Dig Through Time may be a fresh breeze of air for the archetype. Given Landstill has naturally a good matchup against Miracle and is also slightly more resilient in the face of BUG, I would give these new toys a spin.

[TnA_Will]

Here is the list I am currently running. I call it BitterStill. I first built the deck 4 years ago and got out of magic for 2 years and just got back in. I've played it now in 2x star city events (after upgrades!) and all my losses have been to fast combo decks... I have lost to TES 3 times, U/G cloudpost, and OOPS all spells....

I won games against Elves, Temer Delver, Death and Taxes, U/G infect, Shardless Agent, ReAnimator, Miracles, and R/G Depths/Lands.dec

I'm putting it out there because the event I played in Indy, I had several people around me asking for the list and said they would be interested in playing it. Hoping some of those people see this post and decides to try and sleeve it up and going forward could help with it's combo match ups!

Lands (23)
1 Creeping Tar Pit [WWK]
4 Flooded Strand [ONS]
1 Island [DDH]
1 Karakas [LEG]
4 Mutavault [MOR]
1 Plains [DDH]
4 Polluted Delta [ONS]
1 Scrubland [3ED]
3 Tundra [3ED]
3 Underground Sea [3ED]

Creatures (10)
3 Spellstutter Sprite [LRW]
4 Stoneforge Mystic [WWK]
3 True-Name Nemesis [C13]

Other Spells (27)
1 Batterskull [NPH]
4 Bitterblossom [MOR]
4 Brainstorm [5ED]
4 Force of Will [ALL]
3 Ponder
3 Spell Pierce [ZEN]
3 Standstill [ODY]
4 Swords to Plowshares [DDF]
1 Umezawa's Jitte [BOK]

Sideboard (12)
2 Containment Priest [C14]
2 Ethersworn Canonist [ALA]
2 Flusterstorm [CMD]
3 Rest in Peace [RTR]
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Vendilion Clique [MOR]

[klaus]

@picelli: haha get outta here, italian noob!
<3 from berlin.

[TnA_Will]

http://i.tcgplayer.com/96592.jpg

This is very good in Landstill.


As soon as I saw that card I was talking with my group about testing it as a 2 of in my version. I'm not sure what it will replace yet, but I think it's worth a look.

[Piceli89]

@picelli: haha get outta here, italian noob!
<3 from berlin.

You are still in the mtg-heroin circle, too, I see. Betcha sleevin' some gay stuff like Miracles :P. Get back the best version of yourself and buy again into Landstill.

@TnA: I think it's better to play the four-of. This could imply changing the aim of the deck from strictly controlling to something more aggro-control-esque, ala those UWr lists that did results time ago with Geists, Snaps and Cliques (if i remember correctly). I think Standstill has never been fully explored under an aggressive light with white (whereas UR is the only shell it is being played nowadays) but in that case. Myth Realized could help in speeding up the clock and getting the best out of conditional counterspells like Spell Pierce by pressuring your opponent to do something to not die, whereas traditional Landstill never had the opportunity to do so because frankly Mishra's Factory sucks in 2015 Legacy.

It also begs for a plethora of cheap spells (cc=1) i.e. the formula for winning decks in this format, so there would be little point to stick to the old "Wrath + Planeswalkers" equation, which by itself isn't enough anymore to be successful- because if that was the purpose, Miracles would be plain better.

Less talk, more demonstration:

23 lands

4 Standstill
4 Brainstorm
2-3 Ponder
(2 Dig Through Time)

4 Myth Realized
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Geist/Vendilion Clique

4 Swords to Plowsharez
3 Lightning Bolt

4 FoW
3 Spell Pierce
3 Spell Snare (?)

Manabase is going to suck, but that's what you pay for having colorless lands in a tri-color shell. Ponder is there to mitigate this.

At a first glance this should fare well against fair decks and combo.
Myth allows to sit under a Standstill, making land-drops and growing a threat that is faster than Factory. Most of all, it leaves mana open, whereas pinging with Factory cuts you off mana to play Pierce against their Duresses/Show and Tells/ecc. when they decide to crack the Standstill, if doing so mainphase (i.e. without a Brainstorm).

Turn one Myth, turn two Standstill is also the "nut" start the previous incarnation missed, not having a turn one threat.

I hope this will see the light of the day somehow and find people smashing with 17/17 fake monks.

[pandaman]

Oh baby, the smack talk in this thread is REAL!

Also, testing a sick UW Standstill deck I shall release soon.

[RiverCake]

Hey guys Landstill noob here!
Why dont you guys play delver? He can get droped turn one and has a real nice flip rate in this deck. And is just an insane threat under standstill :/

[FoolofaTook]

Hey guys Landstill noob here!
Why dont you guys play delver? He can get droped turn one and has a real nice flip rate in this deck. And is just an insane threat under standstill :/

UWx Landstill has a fairly high percentage of permanents in the list. Delver would add 4 more permanents at the likely expense of additional instants and sorceries removed. If you're already running 4 creatures that are easily removed and also running 25-26 instants and sorceries then adding Delver might be a good idea. However you're unlikely to be playing Landstill in that situation.

23+ lands, with 24 or 25 probably normal.
8+ other non-creature permanents (Standstill, Engineered Explosives, Jace the Mindsculptor, etc.)

Now find room to put 4 Delvers in the list without removing instants and sorceries.

Delver is really good with Standstill but nothing else really adds up.

[RiverCake]

UWx Landstill has a fairly high percentage of permanents in the list. Delver would add 4 more permanents at the likely expense of additional instants and sorceries removed. If you're already running 4 creatures that are easily removed and also running 25-26 instants and sorceries then adding Delver might be a good idea. However you're unlikely to be playing Landstill in that situation.

23+ lands, with 24 or 25 probably normal.
8+ other non-creature permanents (Standstill, Engineered Explosives, Jace the Mindsculptor, etc.)

Now find room to put 4 Delvers in the list without removing instants and sorceries.

Delver is really good with Standstill but nothing else really adds up.

Thanks for the answer :) That makes sense

[FoolofaTook]

Dreadstill runs Delver now out of a Ur Landstill-ish base. The trade-offs are adding 4x Daze and removing 2x+ Counterspells and 2 lands. You might want to look there if you like the idea of Delver in a Landstill-ish shell.

[rlesko]

Anyone still check this thing?

Played URw landstill on Friday and Sunday at local events. Won 16 player legacy FNM, narrowly missed top 8 at a 34 person event today (went 4-2, bad breakers). For reference, here is my list

4 Mishra's Factory
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Volcanic Island
3 Tundra
1 Island

3 Snapcaster Mage

4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
2 Counterspell
3 Standstill
2 Dig Through Time
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Dack Fayden

SB:
1 Pithing Needle
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Flusterstorm
3 Pyroblast
2 Wear // Tear
2 Containment Priest
2 Meddling Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Sulfur Elemental

For FNM
Round 1
Some guy playing a fallen empires mono white banding deck. Essentially a bye.
1-0 (2-0)

Round 2
Maverick
Game 1 I had a few removal spells and a snapcaster mage + counterspell. That with a couple wastelands was enough to get there. Game 2 I didn't find my swords to plowshares and a big Knight killed me. Game 3 I made a bad misplay by wasteland-ing when he had an active knight and dark depths active. oops.

I think I went -3 Spell Pierce, +2 Wear // Tear, +1 Sulfur Elemental, I felt like I wanted some help for this match up but there wasn't anything that great out of the board
I felt like the spell pierces didn't have any targets and the wear // tear obviously can kill equipment or a sylvan library. Sulfur elemental kills thalia and Mom.

1-1 (3-2)

Round 3
Reanimator
Playing my friend on reanimator. I've found that the combo match up is very swingy. There is enough permission pre board to win game 1, it just depends on the type of draw you get. If you get the removal heavy hand against combo you obviously lose. But if you draw the counterspells, spell pierces, forces, and snapcaster mages the match up actually seems pretty favorable. I steal game 1 from him. Game 2 he gets Iona on white and I furiously dig (pun intended) for a Jace but can't find him. Game 3 I mull to 5, but manage the blowout play of flashing in a containment priest with reanimate targetting Griselbrand on the stack. take 8 and exile your Griselbrand. After the game he shows me 3 exhumes in his hand. Nice!

(-4 Lightning Bolt, -2 EE -2 Stifle, +1 Surgical, +2 Containment Priest, +3 Pyroblast, +1 Vendilion Clique, +1 Flusterstorm)
The EE's are useless game 1 and game 2 + 3 I'm not anticipating any permanent based hate from reanimator. The bolts are obviously not very good. Left the swords to plowshares in just in case he managed to get something into play. The pyroblasts are there for Show and Tell or to counter his force of wills. Being able to play at instant speed is important here (all our creatures have flash). As a side note I don't find Meddling Mage to be an effective hatebear vs reanimator, as you have to cast it on your turn and we don't often know the contents of our opponents hand (do you name reanimate or exhume? etc.)

2-1 (5-3)

Round 4
standings are posted and theres 8 people with 6 or more points and then a bunch of 3 pointers so everyone can safely draw in...5 minute round woohoo!

2-1-1 (5-3-1)

top 8 - I am seed 7 so I will be on the draw all top 8. not good for the stifle deck.
round 5
Esper Mentor (gitaxian probe, cabal therapy, monastery mentor, dig through time shell)
My other friend playing his epser mentor brew (had the privilege of basically knowing his deck, but he also knows my deck as we often share out deck building ideas).
Hes on the play and leads with deathrite. I bolt it and pass. He ponders and bricks on land. luckily I have the wasteland to punish him for it. He bricks for a couple turns on lands while I make my land drops. thats pretty much game over for him as I have commanding board position. Game 2 he plays some guys, and I kill them. I don't really remember specifically what happened this game but having access to stifle + waste and a ton of removal this match up seems very favorable. not to mention out of the board Sulfur Elemental and Crucible of Worlds, with EE main. He really needs the nut draw to win.

(-2 Force, -1 Spell Pierce -1 Stifle, +1 Sulfur Elemental, +1 Crucible, +2 Pyroblast)
Left 2 force in on the draw just because this deck can handle the card disadvantage and having the extra bit of gas to push a standstill or dig through is great. Pyroblast is a hard counter for his digs and cantrips but I didn't want to cut all my pierces since he can thoughtseize / cabal therapy me. sulfur elemental is the nuts (and i know he has lingering souls out the board). crucible since he plays 0 basics.

3-1-1 (7-3-1)

Round 6
GW cloudpost (white for sacred ground, not sure what else)

Game 1 I catch him off guard with a stifle. I find my wastelands and am able to keep him from establishing his posts. He gained 15 life from glimmerposts throughout the game (he had all 4 glimmerposts in play, and even copied it with Vesuva). This in conjunction with my having to swords to plowshares his primeval titan and it was a loooong game. At one point I was searching for a counterspell for his Primeval Titan but I stifled the ETB trigger, then swords it (almost missed this line of play, that would have been baaaaad). Basically I had to answer every spell he cast or I lose...but we got there!

(-2 Lightning Bolt, -2 Engineered Explosives, +2 Wear // Tear, +1 Vendilion Clique, +1 Crucible of Worlds)
Looking back on it I should have brought the Needle in for his tops...not sure why I didn't. Brought the wear // tear anticipating needle on wasteland (classic move out of cloudpost decks). Crucible since waste lock is a thing. Clique for a little more pressure at instant speed.

4-1-1 (9-3-1)

Round 7
Shardless BUG

2 pretty grindy games. Nothing very notable happening, he doesn't have the stack interaction to stop things like Standstill or force his visions through, and doesn't have the removal to kill Mishra's Factories (lol abrupt decay). Post board the match up gets very good for me as I have 3 pyroblasts.

(-1 Stifle, -2 Force, +3 Pyroblast)
I left the Spell pierces in because of hymn and liliana. Dack was great as I actually got to steal an artifact! (stole his shardless agent!)

5-1-1 (11-3-1)

And I get enough store credit for a Dack Fayden and some leftover (was borrowing a Dack Fayden from my friend). If anything doesn't make sense its because I'm trying to recall events from Friday night and its 2:30 am on Monday Morning. Today I beat Grixis Delver 2-1 (1-0, 2-1), Lost to burn 0-2 (1-1, 2-3), Lost to Omni tell splash white for mentor 0-2 (1-2, 2-5), Beat Miracles 2-1 (2-2, 4-6), Beat UR delver 2-0 (3-2, 6-6), and Beat my friend on esper mentor again 2-0 (4-2, 8-6). The burn match up probably needs some help in the sideboard though I'm not sure what. Maybe a hydroblast or two. I feel like the omnitell match up is ok and I drew poorly and sideboarded incorrectly (didn't leave any removal spells in the deck, it seems like all the omnitell decks are splashing for young p nowadays so some removal should probably be left in).

[pandaman]

Always checking it! Good finishes!

[TnA_Will]

Potentially some more help to this deck for threat purposes?

Secure The Wastes- Instant - XW

Put X 1/1 white warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield.

[rlesko]

I didn't really find the deck lacking closing speed once I gained control. Just my 0.02

[mordraid]

I've been playing a UWr landstill deck for a while now with some sucess. I want to take the deck to a bigger tournament and see how it performs. I think my list is pretty stock, but i'm still having a "flex slot" between some cards.

Here's what i'm playing:

creatures:

3x snapcaster mage

instants/sorceries:

4x force of will
4x brainstorm
4x swords to plowshares
4x lightning bolt
3x dig through time
3x counterspell
2x spell pierce
1x supreme verdict

other spells:

4x standstill
3x engineered explosives
3x jace, the mind sculptor

lands:

4x tundra
4x flooded strands
4x scalding tarn
3x volcanic island
3x mishra's factory
1x arid mesa
1x karakas
1x academy ruins
1x island

sideboard:

4x phyrexian furnace
3x cursed totem
2x red elemental blast
2x pyroclasm
1x council's judgment
1x blue elemental blast
1x hallowed moonlight
1x moat

I'm still unsure about the supreme verdict slot. Do you goys think it should be something else like council's judgment, myth realized or does it stay like that ?

[dawgie]

I have also been using UWr Landstill deck and have been testing for almost 2 months in weekly legacy sessions and played it in a bigger tournament just this Sunday 08/23. I am very satisfied and have been happy with this build. Usually I am in the top 3 of 10-man pods in our weekly legacy night and just Top 8'd this Sunday. Here is my list:

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Standstill
3 Lightning Helix
2 Ponder
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Dig Through Time
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Council's Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict

4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Fairie Conclave
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain

SB:
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Humility
2 Wear // Tear
2 Slaughter Games
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Decree of Justice (This used to be Vendilion Clique)
1 Karakas
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Wing shards

My games during the tournament was:

1st round - DnT - draw
2nd round - UWR Stoneblade - Win
3rd round - Mentor Miracles - Win
4th round - Miracles - Win
5th round - Reanimator - Win
6th round - OmniTell - Draw to top 8

Top 8 - another OmniTell deck - Lost

I use Lightning Helix over Bolt because I like the life gain that you get from it. Vs aggro matches, this card has saved me countless times. It has saved me from aggro decks (Burn and RUG to name some) as it helped me stall until I find a solution or a win condition. I loved on how it performed on Sunday vs Mentor Miracles as my opponent is not able to counter with Counterbalance because he does not have a lot of 2cc spells (I only saw Counterbalance as his 2cc spell).

After the Sunday tournament, I am a little bit off with Council's Judgment. Unless I was very unlucky during the tournament but I cringed whenever I draw it early in the game and its not relevant yet. I'm not sure if I will take it out as I know it will come in handy on those random situations.

As for the Supreme Verdict slot, I suggest to always have it. It is one serious board sweeper.

[mordraid]

I can't justify the lack of lightning bolt for only 3 life gained. I mean, lightning bolt is probably the most played non-blue card in legacy and modern. You want to have a clear board on turn 2 to cast standstill. Having 4 bolts and 4 plowshares help a lot in doing this.

Also, i would put karakas in the maindeck instead of the basic plains. Those destroy lands will almost always target your man-lands anyway, so having basic lands is not as useful as it seems in this deck.

[Jon]

I will be taking a version of my mythstill list to a local event today, Will leave list and report when I return!

[pandaman]

Nice work dawgie! I like the list.

[Jon]

List:

2 Geist of St. Traft
3 Snapcaster Mage

4 Myth Realized
4 Standstill

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Dig Through Time
2 Spell Snare
1 Mana Leak
1 Counterspell
1 Dispel
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Ponder
1 Councils Judgment
1 Spell Pierce

2 Island
1 Plains
3 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Mystic Gate
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Karakas

SB

1 Pyroclasm
1 Rest in Peace
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Disenchant
1 Pithining Needle
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Meddling Mage
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress

It was only 3 rounds cut to top 4 as we had 12 folks show up. I blame the fucking allure of Wind Drakes and 300$ foil lands.

[gigapatrick]

Hello all. Seems like there's not a whole lot of chatter on this thread; nonetheless I'd like to hear the reactions of more experienced Landstill players and thoughts on why it may or may not be a viable deck anymore.

So--just put together a version of this deck on Modo. Mostly I play Lands, but it's fun to have another deck or two to pilot every now and again. I'm working with this list:

Main

4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Faerie Conclave

4 Brainstorm
4 Stifle
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Counterspell
4 Standstill
3 Meddling Mage
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will

Tentative Board Ideas

1 Flusterstorm
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Pyroclasm
3 Rest in Peace
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Wear/Tear
Some number of other counterspells, such as Spell Snare, Divert, Envelop, etc.

I ran a straight UR build for a little bit, but found without Swords to Plowshares that I had very little chance against tempo decks with Goyfs or Anglers, so with the addition of white I've been trying out Meddling Mage instead of Snapcaster Mage. Probably not the correct choice, but wanted to use white for more than just Swords. Also, since the meta is 90% blue, Blast effects seem like an excellent choice main, with a couple extra in the sideboard for Miracles and whatnot. Lands also seems like an awful matchup, yet Meddling Mage and RIP could be silver bullets against it. Certainly I'm trying out some unusual choices and would love to hear any feedback on this list that an experienced player would be willing to give.

[dsck]

I wouldnt run maindeck Meddling Mages because all your opponents removal suddenly has a good target. I'd run some Snapcaster Mages to gain some value or maybe Humility and some supreme verdicts to take advantage of your lack of creatures. Crucible would also be sweet with manlands and wastelands.

[btm10]

I'm just not sure the White splash gets you enough. Stealing the Modern tech of Harvest Pyre basically gives UR Murderous Cut for 1R, so I've actually found myself covered against Anglers/Goyfs the handful of times I've played Landstill since Dig was banned. You absolutely need a sweeper; Verdict is probably best. I agree with dsck that Snapcaster Mage is almost surely better than MD Meddling Mage. Going straight two color gives you the ability to board in Blood Moon (you need a way to win without manlands if you do, so I'm always on 3-4 Snapcaster + 2 Clique in the 75) which is great against Lands (and most of the format to be honest), but I think that Landstill is hamstrung by just how poor its Shardless matchup is. Grixis is the best at fixing that one since you get Kolaghan's Command (which is both maindeckable and an absolute beating against them), Innocent Blood, and Perish or Toxic Deluge out of the board, but you lose the stability of the basics-heavy manabase the same way you do with the White splash and still have an uphill slog against most midrange decks. I also can't escape the conclusion that UWr Landstill is just worse Miracles.

[kurandycakes]

I'm just not sure the White splash gets you enough. Stealing the Modern tech of Harvest Pyre basically gives UR Murderous Cut for 1R, so I've actually found myself covered against Anglers/Goyfs the handful of times I've played Landstill since Dig was banned. You absolutely need a sweeper; Verdict is probably best. I agree with dsck that Snapcaster Mage is almost surely better than MD Meddling Mage. Going straight two color gives you the ability to board in Blood Moon (you need a way to win without manlands if you do, so I'm always on 3-4 Snapcaster + 2 Clique in the 75) which is great against Lands (and most of the format to be honest), but I think that Landstill is hamstrung by just how poor its Shardless matchup is. Grixis is the best at fixing that one since you get Kolaghan's Command (which is both maindeckable and an absolute beating against them), Innocent Blood, and Perish or Toxic Deluge out of the board, but you lose the stability of the basics-heavy manabase the same way you do with the White splash and still have an uphill slog against most midrange decks. I also can't escape the conclusion that UWr Landstill is just worse Miracles.

What would a Grixis list like you described look like?

I'm really interested in building some sort of Landstill, but I am having a hard time deciding on a flavor.

[Jon]

Not sure how Black > White. Swords and Verdict are insane.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[ScottW]

What would a Grixis list like you described look like?

I'm really interested in building some sort of Landstill, but I am having a hard time deciding on a flavor.

I've been kicking around a UWBG list that plays a more stack based game (counter magic) with white for StP, Stoneforge / Batterskull for pressure and SB combo hate like Meddling Mage and Cannonist. I could give the deck list if interested. Standstill has trouble closing out games and having enough cards to interact with combo. I feel this is well positioned not to mention just having StP instead of messing around with disfigure or innocent blood.

[klaus]

We have a new toy to toy with:
http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/151/83/635929518767023702.png

I've been working on finding the right shell for this fella over here:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?30486-TITI-Twister-Breaking-quot-Thing-In-The-Ice-quot
..and LS might just be the perfect fit!

I've been a LS maniac almost from the beginning, developing Speedstill and rocking it to some success, until switching to Miracles for good.
I can say what always sucked about Standstill was getting it stranded in your hand, because your opponent had critters online. I say let's live the dream and frequently go: EOT flip TITI + clear the board --> play SS --> GG.
I mean we're virtually talking a 1 mana wrath effect here that happens to be spliced onto Brainstorm...

So without further ado, let me present to you.. TITI TWISTER!

"DMG"
4 TITI (happens to be a nice little wall (T2), to allow for T3 SS, despite an opposing critter), solves LS's slow clock issue, even if it dies it's a SS enabler
4 SCM (bonus: great when TITI-bounced)
2 Clique(bonus: great when TITI-bounced)

"DIE!"
4 STP
4 Bolt (+DMG, CMC1 removal increases the chance of T2 SS considerably + unlike dedicated creature removal Bolt can trigger TITI anytime, bonus: golden with SCM)

"NO"
4 FoW
2 CS
2 Snare
1 Pyroblast
1 Disenchant

"C/A, C/Q"
4 SS
4 BS
4 Ponder

(-40-)

"MANA"
4 Factory (DMG)
8 Fetches
4 Tundra
3 Volc
1 Island
1 Plains

(-21-)

"SB"
2 Pyroblast
1 BEB
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Jace
2 Wear/Tear
3 Flusterstorm
3 Supreme Verdict

---

Discuss!

[cchalc]

We have a new toy to toy with:
http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/151/83/635929518767023702.png

Discuss!

Here's what i'm playing:

creatures:

2x snapcaster mage
2x thing in the ice

instants/sorceries:

4x force of will
4x brainstorm
3x swords to plowshares
4x lightning bolt
2x sudden shock
2x counterspell
2x spell pierce
1x spell snare
4x stifle

other spells:

3x standstill
4x myth realized
1x jace, the mind sculptor

lands:

3x tundra
4x flooded strands
3x scalding tarn
3x volcanic island
4x mishra's factory
4x wasteland
1x karakas

sideboard:

2x pyroclasm
2x wear // tear
1x red elemental blast
1x pyroblast
1x flusterstorm
1x surgical extraction
2x rest in peace
3x meddling mage
1x pithing needle
1x echoing truth


I typically like the UR landstill with an aggressive approach and the stifle wasteland plan. I was playing a deck before that had a creature base of 3 snaps, 2 cliques, 2 TNN which I really liked. I did have a lot of trouble beating merfolk as a resolved TNN is hard to beat. I decided to give Thing in the Ice a try as it is a good answer to mucked up boards.

The very first synergy that came to me was myth realized as it will not be bounced when it is an enchantment. It was hard going down to just two snaps but with myth realized and thing in the ice you need to be very dense with instant and sorceries. Since there are 4 myth realized I did not see the need for more man lands like the fairie conclave or wandering fumarole.

I am going to try the white splash but I can imagine going back to the UR list and have a creature base like 3 snaps, 2 cliques, 2 TITI the replace the three swords with 2 dismember (eldrazi is a thing) and a fire//ice.

I am going to test this tonight and see how it goes.

[cchalc]

Here's what i'm playing:

...I can imagine going back to the UR list and have a creature base like 3 snaps, 2 cliques, 2 TITI the replace the three swords with 2 dismember (eldrazi is a thing) and a fire//ice.



This is what I am thinking for a UR list:

creatures:

3x snapcaster mage
2x thing in the ice
2x vendilion clique

instants/sorceries:

4x force of will
4x brainstorm
2x dismember
4x lightning bolt
2x sudden shock
2x counterspell
2x spell pierce
1x spell snare
1x fire // ice
4x stifle

other spells:

3x standstill
1x jace, the mind sculptor

lands:

2x fairie conclave
4x flooded strands
3x scalding tarn
4x volcanic island
4x mishra's factory
4x wasteland
2x island

sideboard:

2x pyroclasm
2x smash to smithereens
1x red elemental blast
1x pyroblast
1x flusterstorm
1x surgical extraction
2x relic of progenitus
2x sower of temptation
1x pithing needle
1x echoing truth
1x teferi's response

[Whitefaces]

Anybody still playing this style of deck?

I've been tinkering around with this recently, it's seemed quite promising!

4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Snare

1 Ponder
1 Supreme Verdict

1 Moat
4 Standstill

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Crucible of Worlds

3 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Mutavault
1 Riptide Laboratory
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Island
2 Plains
2 Tundra
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Karakas

SB:
4 Meddling Mage
1 Moat
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Rest in Peace
2 Disenchant
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Flusterstorm
1 Null Rod

[LarsLeif]

Anybody still playing this style of deck?

I've been tinkering around with this recently, it's seemed quite promising!

4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Snare

1 Ponder
1 Supreme Verdict

1 Moat
4 Standstill

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Crucible of Worlds

3 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Mutavault
1 Riptide Laboratory
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Island
2 Plains
2 Tundra
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Karakas

SB:
4 Meddling Mage
1 Moat
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Rest in Peace
2 Disenchant
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Flusterstorm
1 Null Rod

I play a BUG version of this deck quite frequently, to quite good finishes. I wrote about it in the UBx landstill thread.

[Zirath]

I have been thinking about working with the UW Landstill list from Vintage (with Emrakul, the Promised End) and adapting it to Legacy. My biggest concern is not being able to get to Emrakul in time. Has anyone played around with it at all?

[btm10]

Anybody still playing this style of deck?

I've been tinkering around with this recently, it's seemed quite promising!


I tried something similar with Mausoleum Wanderers, more Flash creatures (Spell Queller, 4 Snaps) and a Stoneforge package (Jitte, Batterskull, and Sword of Fire and Ice, with sideboard Manriki-Gusari and Sword of Feast and Famine). Your fair blue matchups tend to be even (Delver) to pretty favorable (Miracles), but other than Lands and D&T (which are about even) the nonblue matchups aren't t great, especially Eldrazi. The pieces all had a fair amount of tension, with Wanderer encouraging more Spirits, Sprite pushing you toward more Faeries, Stoneforge favoring more creatures, and Snapcaster Mage wanting more spells. Standstill was a later addition. Cutting the Stoneforge package for more spells made the deck operate more smoothly, but made your matchups more polarized because making your creatures not suck in combat is critical for beating Eldrazi and Tarmogoyf decks. Unfair decks, Infect in particular, were all great matchups.

If I were rebuilding the deck I'd probably go back to 2 Snaps and add a Rattlechains or 2 and embrace being more of a Flash creature deck.

As you might have guessed, I am very on board with the Crucibles.

[H]

I would imagine that Moat + Counterspell is a pretty solid plan versus Eldrazi, because I don't know that they play any way out of an Enchantment besides All is Dust and most lists can't even ping you with Endbringer, because they don't play it.

[btm10]

I would imagine that Moat + Counterspell is a pretty solid plan versus Eldrazi, because I don't know that they play any way out of an Enchantment besides All is Dust and most lists can't even ping you with Endbringer, because they don't play it.

I was specifically referring to my list, sorry. Moat + Counterspell is obviously an excellent answer to Eldrazi.

[H]

I was specifically referring to my list, sorry. Moat + Counterspell is obviously an excellent answer to Eldrazi.

Oh, oops, sorry, thought you were commenting on Dissection's list.

Might need to try his list though, my Moats need to get out more...

[Whitefaces]

I play a BUG version of this deck quite frequently, to quite good finishes. I wrote about it in the UBx landstill thread.

I've been lurking the thread actually and seen that you've been doing really well with it, I'll have to give yours a try soon too!


I tried something similar with Mausoleum Wanderers, more Flash creatures (Spell Queller, 4 Snaps) and a Stoneforge package (Jitte, Batterskull, and Sword of Fire and Ice, with sideboard Manriki-Gusari and Sword of Feast and Famine). Your fair blue matchups tend to be even (Delver) to pretty favorable (Miracles), but other than Lands and D&T (which are about even) the nonblue matchups aren't t great, especially Eldrazi. The pieces all had a fair amount of tension, with Wanderer encouraging more Spirits, Sprite pushing you toward more Faeries, Stoneforge favoring more creatures, and Snapcaster Mage wanting more spells. Standstill was a later addition. Cutting the Stoneforge package for more spells made the deck operate more smoothly, but made your matchups more polarized because making your creatures not suck in combat is critical for beating Eldrazi and Tarmogoyf decks. Unfair decks, Infect in particular, were all great matchups.

If I were rebuilding the deck I'd probably go back to 2 Snaps and add a Rattlechains or 2 and embrace being more of a Flash creature deck.

As you might have guessed, I am very on board with the Crucibles.

Spirits is a neat idea, I like the sound of Rattlechains and Spell Queller especially. I'm not sure about Wanderer though as this deck is ultimately trying to get to the late game where it's pretty blank. Are there any more decent spirits that the deck could run along with Rattlechains and Queller? Otherwise I think playing Spellstutter and Clique is a bit better.

The list did originally have SfM but I cut it as the curve wanted to be reactive in the early game and leans on moat for some matchups (Eldrazi and DnT mostly). There could almost be a third Moat in the 75, or a Verdict if there is a lot of Delver.

Crucible has been wonderful in the deck so far, it's such a bomb in so many matchups.


Oh, oops, sorry, thought you were commenting on Dissection's list.

Might need to try his list though, my Moats need to get out more...

Moat was the reason I started working on the list, it's in a pretty good spot right now!

Unfortunately I don't actually own any myself so have been testing with proxies irl and have a friend play the deck. Such a sweet card too...maybe time to dump some more money on cards :tongue:

[H]

Moat was the reason I started working on the list, it's in a pretty good spot right now!

Unfortunately I don't actually own any myself so have been testing with proxies irl and have a friend play the deck. Such a sweet card too...maybe time to dump some more money on cards :tongue:

I'm one of those "lucky" ones who bought them when they were cheap. Payed something like $50 a piece, sometime in 2008 or nine. While Team America was the Legacy deck I always wanted to build back then, White Stax was what I did. When someone here posted about Dutch Stax, when Elspeth was new, I ponied up the money and bought the Moats and Elspeths (even an English Ravages of War).

I played BUG Landstill for a while in 2013 to combat TNN decks that were around then. Never did get a chance to play UW Landstill though. November is nearly Thanksgiving month for me though, so it will probably be a while until I can get to play this.

[angelbaka]

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but it seems to fit best...
So I've been messing around with a landstill list with a bit of english on it to reasonable success online (I'm too poor for MTGO, so I play on XMage).
My basic list is built under the theory that Mishra's Factory is slow and shitty as a win condition, and the Dark Depths combo, while requiring two cards, can be played under a standstill and has significantly more power (and, to a degree, untility). It conveniently has a tutor for it that is on color and can also be played under a standstill in Tolaria West. The deck is primarily G/U, because green plays well with the lands combo, with a white splash for Knight of the Reliquary as a third tutor, general beatstick and utility piece, and Terminus, which is the best removal spell in the format. I'm running Force of Will for protection and Counterbalance because I firmly believe there's no reason to run counterspell if you're not playing counterbalances already. The primary tutor for the deck is Living Wish, giving us the versatility of post-side pre-side and acting as surgical insurance along with tutoring our win conditions, as well as allowing us to streamline the utility in the very demanding manabase that results. To help support Force of Will, the deck plays 64 cards, with the extra four slots over sixty being Gixtaxian Probes. Being relatively 'free' while increasing the blue count, helping the counterbalance curve, and letting you peak at your opponent's hand, the extra four over sixty seems to matter very little.

//Lands
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Island
3 Tolaria West
2 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Thespian's Stage
2 Dark Depths

//Acceleration
4 Mox Diamond
3 Chrome Mox
3 Exploration

//Card Selection
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sylvan Library
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe

//Business
2 Crucible of Worlds
4 Living Wish
2 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Standstill
2 Terminus
3 Force of Will
3 Counterbalance

//Sideboard
SB: 1 Thespian's Stage
SB: 1 Glacial Chasm
SB: 1 Karakas
SB: 1 Dark Depths
SB: 1 Academy Ruins
SB: 1 Wasteland
SB: 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Terminus
SB: 1 Force of Will

That's the 75 I've mostly settled on. Some cards I didn't pick:

Maze of Ith
Kor Haven
Bojuka Bog
Sejiri Steppe
Sanctum Prelate
Gaddock Teeg
Ethersworn Canonist
Tyrgon Predator
Crop Rotation
Counterspell
Stifle
Stoneforge Mystic //(and sundry equipment)
Life from the Loam

Maze has been irrelevant in every matchup I've played it in; I've always wanted either Glacial Chasm or been dead anyway. It got cut for the Academy Ruins. Kor Haven is a more expensive version of the same.
Bojuka Bog just doesn't do enough to hate on graveyards. Without Crop Rotation, it's strictly mediocre; Crop Rot wants it in the main anyway, and the card is just generally not good enough as a one-shot effect.
Sejiri Steppe was in the main for a while in the fifth fetch spot. The fetch was better and the effect is suboptimal from the board (Especially at sorcery speed)
Haven't tested prelate. Probably better than Teeg, which wasn't good enough to keep in the board. It, teeg and canonist all just seem too slow against storm, and not super effective anyway. Storm is built to beat these cards these days.
Tyrgon Predator seems generally worse than Rec Sage by virtue of needing to connect first. I tried both and never fetched the predator over the sage, so predator got cut.
Crop Rotation: This is the only card I'd actually like to put back in the main. It's incredibly powerful and makes the combo significantly quicker. I'm just not sure where to put it.
I've already stated my thoughts on conterspell, and stifle falls in a similar category.
Stoneforge takes up too many slots and doesn't seem to do enough for the deck to be worth it.
Crucible is a better version of loam in this deck.

The only real problem matchup so far has been BR reanimator, who's absurd speed and resiliency is absurd. The Academy Ruins and EE slots have floated through several different iterations, including bog, a pair of surgicals, and two more containment priest, all to fight this matchup. I generally believe that a broader suite is better, though, and subscribe to the "build a 75, not a 60 and a sideboard" theory of deckbuilding, though, so I'm trying the EE plan instead for a couple more percentage points in other matchups.

Thoughts on the list? Any beautiful pieces of tech I'm just missing?

[landstillmaniac]

This list is an esper list with a green splash. So I posted it in the BUGx landstill thread as well...

Yesterday I won legacy at MVP games! Bringing home a Time Vault! Thanks Terrance Calvin Hodges and BMG for a kickass event. It was 25ish people!

4c Landstill

4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Jace the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth Knight Errant
1 Snapcaster Mage

4 Standstill
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Brainstorm

1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
3 Swords to Plowshares

4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare

4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Mishras Factory
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD
2 Vendillion Clique
3 Flusterstorm
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Containment Priest
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Pithing Needle
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Wasteland

Rd 1 0-2 delver
Rd 2 2-1 belcher
Rd 3 2-1 blade
Rd 4 1-1-1 blade
Rd 5 2-0 miracles

T8 2-1 delver
T4 2-0 storm
Finals 2-0 miracles (beating a resolved back to basics and ruination in game 2)

Today the cards were good. I needed to run this deck back after a great showing at champs with the list!

[H]

Today the cards were good. I needed to run this deck back after a great showing at champs with the list!

Awesome. I love the list. Might run it this week if I can make it to FNM.

Do you ever feel it is difficult to close out games? When I played BUG Landstill, it was sometimes an issue.

Also, any issues with running three basics? They are nice to have, but with so many disparate mana costs, I can imagine issues sometimes.

[btm10]

That was actually the opposite thing I was thinking. I suspect (from very preliminary testing) that you can probably squeeze at least the second Island in, and maybe a basic Forest as well by messing with the dual/fetch mix. The attraction to Scrubland and especially Savannah seems to be that you can fetch them and have access to every color combination except UU on turn 2.

[H]

That was actually the opposite thing I was thinking. I suspect (from very preliminary testing) that you can probably squeeze at least the second Island in, and maybe a basic Forest as well by messing with the dual/fetch mix. The attraction to Scrubland and especially Savannah seems to be that you can fetch them and have access to every color combination except UU on turn 2.

Well, the issue is that once you fetch a basic, you have already cut yourself off of one color mana and here it would appear you almost always need 3+ colors. It's difficult for me to articulate this in text, but the Basic Lands don't help you much in protecting from Wasteland in the grand scheme of things, because you'll always need a dual to be on double of a color, which is where most of your action is.

If the deck didn't run Deathrite, it would seem more plausible to me, since then your turn one play would essentially be Land, Pass. But here, you want to drop that turn one Deathrite and so, if you are planning to play around Wasteland, you have to get Basic Swamp. As you said, now you are off UU turn 2, which is fine really, but lets say you want to cast Brainstorm. This is where I see issues, and it gets worse if you kept a hand two only 2 lands (obviously, not ideal, but on a mull to 6, you might just have to), because if you are going to keep playing around Wasteland (and you probably have to, on just two lands) then you have to get Island. Now you are cut off White and Green (although, whatever on Green really). If Deathrite dies, you are in the lurch really. Even if you topdeck another land, there is a fair chance it only taps for Colorless and now you are well behind.

Bleh, I typed all that out and maybe I am conceptualizing it wrong here, since if you kept a two land hand, you will almost certainly lose to Wasteland anyway. I'm just dreading the idea of opening a hand like Plains, Swamp, Factory as the only lands. Or Swamp, Factory, Fetch which might even be worse if Deathrite isn't in it too. I think maybe my biggest issue is just Swamp itself, haha.

[btm10]

I think we're both thinking (mostly) the same way, but we're evaluating the deficiencies of each approach differently. I definitely agree that more basics makes the deck worse against Wasteland in the early game as far as having all of its colors goes, but it also increases the stability of having Ux (or any three color combination) for turn 2. It may be that the manabase is optimized already or what we actually want is more fetches and fewer duals.

[landstillmaniac]

Basically this...

Basics are there to fight Ruination and Back to Basics from miracles. The beautiful suite of duals, baiting lands in good order, and using Deathrite Shamans work great vs the wastelands.

In the finals vs miracles, he resolved back to basics game 2, which I sat and did nothing for 3 turns until I found a land to Decay the b2b. Then late game he cast Ruination but I had Swamp, Island, and Deathrite in play. Next turn I played another land, and cast Gideon...he lost that game. The 3 basics are basically damage control vs cards/decks that have the haymaker (hate on non basic) cards.

[ScottW]

Why do you have the basic Plains? I'd consider Swamp, Forest, Island as more priority. Maybe just Swamp and Forest but I'd also include more AD in the main. Neat list! I have thought for some time that WUBG Landstill is a good option as StP solves the 1 mana removal problem that BUG tries to overcome with Innocent Blood and Disfigure.

[landstillmaniac]

Well in my opinion the Plains is better and here's why. This deck is basically Esper with a green splash. I started with a bug shell and I think straight bug is handicapping ones self because you lose stp as well as other good cards. The 4 Plowshares in the 75 as well as 3 white spells that cost double white lead me to play the Plains.

The Forest would support Decay and not much else. The decays are mainly there to fight Miracles by killIngot counterbalance and b2b. Like Deathrite doesn't need a forest to be a good card, and I don't need Forest in most of the matches where Decay shines.

Having a basic Plains allows me to fetch it up where Plains actually shines...but again the basics are more or less insurance vs the haymakers that hate on non basics. Hope this helps you understand my thoughts more :-P ...now if this was vintage, I'd absolutely want Forest to feed Nature's Claims and Decays because Workshop decks haha!

[H]

Well in my opinion the Plains is better and here's why. This deck is basically Esper with a green splash. I started with a bug shell and I think straight bug is handicapping ones self because you lose stp as well as other good cards. The 4 Plowshares in the 75 as well as 3 white spells that cost double white lead me to play the Plains.

The Forest would support Decay and not much else. The decays are mainly there to fight Miracles by killIngot counterbalance and b2b. Like Deathrite doesn't need a forest to be a good card, and I don't need Forest in most of the matches where Decay shines.

Having a basic Plains allows me to fetch it up where Plains actually shines...but again the basics are more or less insurance vs the haymakers that hate on non basics. Hope this helps you understand my thoughts more :-P ...now if this was vintage, I'd absolutely want Forest to feed Nature's Claims and Decays because Workshop decks haha!

Indeed, I can see Island and Plains as making sense. Last thing you want versus a Delver deck, for example, is to be Wasted off being able to Cast Brainstorm or Swords. Swamp is a little shaky, being great to fetch for, but very weak in the starting hand. That's where my fear of too many basics comes from, being that we have 5 Colorless Lands in addition. Forest would definitely be even worse than Swamp, you answer to Blood Moon is just, first, hope they don't have it, second, have mana up to float then Decay, third, Force it, or fourth, EE for 3 (hopefully you'll have at least two Basics). You can't beat everything, so sometimes if they have the nuts, they have the nuts, :rolleyes:.

In the end though, with the Non-Basic hate that floats around, from Ruination, to From the Ashes to even Price of Progress, they probably are a necessity (even if they are going to flat out make some hands unkeepable). I'll try to give the list a run as is (although I don't own a Gideon, I'll just make a bad substitution, probably Garruk).

[pandaman]

Bump to get UWb (Esper) landstill with Fatal Push discussion going. My list would be (very rough):

3 Island
2 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar Pit

4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Fatal Push
2 Supreme Verdict
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Counterspell
1 Council's Judgement
3 Thoughtseize
2 Spell Snare
1 Snapcaster Mage

Sideboard

2 Vendilion Clique
2 Flusterstorm
1 Thoughtseize
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Fatal Push
2 Moat
3 Surgical Extraction
3x

Excited that LandStill has got a great 1-mana removal spell to hopefully stage a comeback!

[SeveredAffect]

Ive actually just recently bought into this on mtgo. I also saw a vintage version and wanted to adapt it to legacy, not sure if its good or I'm just not the best at playing it. I also went with the promised end version as its an amazing top end with all this sultai stuff floating around. This is what I'm running http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/30-01-17-landstill/

[B88]

hi guys!
here there the deck wich i used to win the italian legacy championship

2 Spell Pierce
2 Ponder
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Snare
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Arid Mesa
3 Terminus
3 Standstill
2 Monastery Mentor
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Volcanic Island
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Island
1 Plains
3 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Faerie Conclave
Sideboard:
SB: 3 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 1 Mountain
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
SB: 2 Counterbalance
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Containment Priest

i've found those MU:

T1 Shard 2-1
T2 Bug midrange 2-0
T3 Grixis delver 2-0
T4 Bug control 1-1
T5 uw Thopters he is a friend of mine and he concede because i was the only one with 4 win
T6 easy ID

top8
Omishow ub 2-1
Maverick 2-1
Junk 2-0

here there is a tournament video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/122273829

[maharis]

hi guys!
here there the deck wich i used to win the italian legacy championship

2 Spell Pierce
2 Ponder
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Snare
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Arid Mesa
3 Terminus
3 Standstill
2 Monastery Mentor
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Volcanic Island
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Island
1 Plains
3 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Faerie Conclave
Sideboard:
SB: 3 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 1 Mountain
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
SB: 2 Counterbalance
SB: 1 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Containment Priest

i've found those MU:

T1 Shard 2-1
T2 Bug midrange 2-0
T3 Grixis delver 2-0
T4 Bug control 1-1
T5 uw Thopters he is a friend of mine and he concede because i was the only one with 4 win
T6 easy ID

top8
Omishow ub 2-1
Maverick 2-1
Junk 2-0

here there is a tournament video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/122273829

Congratulations! I have been wondering if a rework of the Miracles shell with Standstill over Counterbalance could be a winning idea with the proliferation of Abrupt Decay. You played against at least 4 decay decks, it looks like (not sure about Grixis/Maverick). Very cool.

[Sibelius]

Hey guys, little update list here for UWr Landstill

GP winner Claudio Bonanni won Italian Legacy Championship again this time with a swet Standstill deck.

https://thelibraryatpendrellvale.com/take-your-time/

Hope you all like it!

Sib

[fapsik]

Hi,


I tried the Bonanni's list with little changes for my LGS. Here it is:

2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Monastery Mentor
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Terminus
4 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Ponder
3 Island
1 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Standstill
3 Mishra's Factory
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare

SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Wear // Tear
SB: 1 Kozilek's Return
SB: 2 Counterbalance


Generally I think that the move from Counterbalance to Standstill is a worth trying. Abrupt Decay is due to Sultai popularity one of the key cards these days. But there are some issues that must be solved and I am working on them:

1) Colorless lands and manlands sometimes can be tricky, so I decided to get rid of Faerie Conclave and put it antoher Fetchland. I am not sure if 3 Mishra's Factory are enough, but I try it.

2) Missing Counterbalance is sometimes very paining, especially in mirror with Miracles. I am looking for cards that could improve this matchup, which seems on paper better than it is in real.

3) In traditional Miracles, players are adapting to the "Sultai Shift" with adding Predicts and cutting one Counterbalance. Therefore, we must find a consistent concept of this deck, which can be a powerful alternative for the classic Miracles.


I hope this thread will help us to adapt this deck for current metagame.

[JackaBo]

How about this beast?

Deck: Legacy Esper Replenishstill.dec

Counts : 60 main / 15 sideboard

Spells:37
4 Brainstorm
2 Dead Weight
4 Myth Realized
1 Ponder
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Counterbalance
4 Standstill
2 Engineered Plague
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Replenish
4 Force of Will

Lands:23
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Karakas
2 Mishra's Factory
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Wasteland

Sideboard:15
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Flusterstorm
2 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Counterbalance
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura of Silence
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Oppression
1 The Abyss


Created with Decked Builder
http://www.deckedbuilder.com/



Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

[pandaman]

I've been playing around with UWbg LandStill, inspired by landstillmaniac:

4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 Mishra's Factor
1 Creeping Tar Pit

4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
2 Counterspell

4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismember
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Supreme Verdict

4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill

1 Life from the Loam

1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
2 Wasteland

Sideboard

1 Wasteland
2 Fatal Push
1 Dismember
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Flusterstorm
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Containment Priest
1 Golgari Charm

I Top 8'd a GPT for Vegas the other week with a similar list, losing to Miracles in the quarter finals.

Since Miracles has gone, I feel there is less of a need for Abrupt Decay and more for cheap removal, so I've replaced the Decays with Fatal Pushes. Also, I feel that Elves and TNN decks will become more prominent, so I put in a Golgari Charm, which has the added bonus of being live against Sneak and Show. Finally, I feel weak to Eldrazi, so I added an extra Dismember.

What are people's thoughts on removing Decay? It's great that it's uncounterable, but the two mana, plus the Green mana, makes it less attractive now that CB has gone.

Further, what are people's thoughts between Crucible of the Worlds and Life from the Loam? I like both but particularly like that Loam is immune to Decay, which inevitably hits Crucible immediately.

Edit: If you've never tried Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in Landstill, you haven't lived. I never thought I'd say another White planeswalker is better than Elspeth, but I think Gideon is.

[pandaman]

Played around with the numbers a bit, to try and strengthen the Eldrazi and Elves matchups.

4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 Mishra's Factor
1 Creeping Tar Pit

4 Force of Will
2 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
2 Counterspell

3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismember
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Supreme Verdict

4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill

1 Life from the Loam

1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
2 Wasteland

Sideboard

1 Wasteland
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dismember
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Flusterstorm
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Containment Priest
1 Golgari Charm

Leaving the Abrupt Decay main gives you three outs to Chalice on 1 (EE, Deed, and Decay) and four postboard (extra decay) plus the Dismembers to diversify your removal around it. I hope that improves the Eldrazi matchup. Golgari Charm gets the nod against Elves while having utility against Sneak and Show/Omnishow and TNN decks. I can't really touch the Surgicals, Flusters, and Cliques because the deck is glacially slow and therefore weak against combo, but I cut the Pithing Needle which was primarily for Sensei's Divining Top and therefore no longer as useful.

Now I just have to work on actually being able to play Magic.

[pandaman]

The Golgari Charm has already paid off, destroying a Sneak Attack where my opponent was tapped out. An Abrupt Decay would have been useless there. I feel it's a good addition and it's staying for the time being.

[Stefanogs]

After Miracles ban, there's an empty slot for draw-go deck. I developed the follow list. Standstill has the potential to replace the card selection of sensei's top with card advantage, and also from turning a small advantage into a bigger one.


UWR Landstill

// 60 Main deck
// 1 Artifact
1 Engineered Explosives

// 4 Creature
4 Snapcaster Mage

// 6 Enchantment
4 Standstill
1 Blood Moon
1 Humility

// 16 Instant
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell

// 22 Land
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
3 Polluted Delta

// 3 Planeswalker
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant (Or Ajani Vengeant; or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; or Chandra, Torch of Defiance).
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

// 8 Sorcery
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Council's Judgment
4 Ponder


// 15 Sideboard
SB: 3 Meddling Mage
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Ethersworn canonist
SB: 1 Wear // Tear
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Kozilek's Return


Main deck choices:
- Blood moon is for the surprise factor, and to brake the inevitability of Eye of ugin or Lands.
- Packed lot of removals. The historical problem of this deck was with quick threats, but we may let some threats land the battlefield.
- Still in doubt about the second lightning bolt: maybe should play 3 counterspell or 4 supreme verdicts?

Sideboard:
- Meddling mage over vendilion clique against combo decks: vendilion works very well with counterbalance, but now meddling mage is a better option against combo.
- Playing 3 Pyro... Maybe 4? 2 wear / tear?


Some options:
- Ensnaring Bridge (weak against decay and flicker)
- Decree of justice (slow)
- Elpeth, Knight-errant
- Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
- Chandra, Torch of Defiance
- Ajani Vengeant (slow)
- 2/1 sfm + 1 batterskull + 0/1 umezawa's jitte (weak against decay).
- Pithing needle (wasteland, thespian stage, vial?)

[Hanni]

Myth Realized deserves an honorable mention in a shell with Humility, as does Stoneforge Mystic + equipment. Also, Lingering Souls could be good in an Esper version.

[Hanni]

I'm curious if something like this could be viable going forward:

U/W Landstill

Lands (24)
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mesa
4 Tundra
2 Island
2 Plains
2 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory

Creatures (0)

Spells (36)
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Standstill
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Path to Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Humility
2 Engineered Explosives

Maybe butcher the mana a bit for a red splash for Red Blasts in the board, maybe a black splash for Zealous Persecution or Toxic Deluge.

I can see Storm being a bad matchup, so there would definitely need to be ample hate in the board. Humility would be getting cut (along with all of the other removal), so hatebears are probably the direction to go. Vendilion Clique, Canonist/Priest, Prelate, Meddling/Snapcaster Magi, etc.

Aggro and aggro/control matchups should be decent, or maybe not and this pile is simply too weak and slow to compete in Modern Legacy. Just curious how others feel about this sort of archetype now that Miracles is gone.

EDIT: Forgot to include the Standstills. Fixed.

EDIT2: It would need to splash a third color for Engineered Explosives. Also, maybe the list should run some number of Council's Judgment main, possibly instead of Path to Exile. Also, I'm dying to toss some Vedalken Shackles in the sideboard.

[Stefanogs]

We can build a myriade of decks with landstill. In legacy, people used to play the Suffocate role, like UR Landstill with 4 wastelands, 4 stifles and plenty of soft counters: i like this version, but this (in my vision) is not hard control.

On the other hand, UW(x) versions have better tools to play the hard control role - and i really think that landstill may take the former miracles place as the best hard control of legacy (so good as). That said, i don't think we need to play wastelands anymore or even 5 manlands: you need this when we are trying to pressure opponent's life total while disrupting his/her manabase.

Well.. I don't believe that any splash will help us more than the red splash, for the same reasons that miracles players used to stick on this version (and not esper or anything else): REB is way too strong on legacy, not to mention all the other strong cards that come along with reb, like blood moon (and the protection against this card) or wear/tear.

Also, Humility is in a very good place right now, with plenty of decks depending of creatures to win.

All that said, in my opinion, i think the UW version is just a worse version of the UWR and i think that the list i posted above is where we may continue developing this wonderful archetype.

About your list, i would add 4 snapcasters (we dont care if they die; we have to be happy everytime someone bolts, plows or decays him). I would add at least one councils judgement and one back to basics (if UWR, blood moon is better - on future, maybe only at sideboard). I would play 3 supreme verdicts.
And like you, i'm also in doubt about elspeth or gideon... About Sideboard, i would use meddling mage instead of vendilion clique, because the first may protect us with hardlock.. I'm using 3 meddling mages and 1 ethersworn canonist. Maybe we could try sanctum prelate, but i really think a well played meddling mage is just better.

About the impressions of my list, i'm realizing that Eldrazi is one of the toughest matchups.

[Hanni]

I think both red and black offer good options. It really depends on the perceived meta.

Black offers Creeping Tar Pit and Fatal Push for the maindeck with various useful sideboard options like Engineered Plague. Lingering Souls is also decent, and plays extremely well with Humility.

Red is likely better, but I wouldn't dismiss the black splash so easily.

I like the idea of trying Nahiri + fatty, but that doesn't play nicely with Humility.

Also, I didn't put any Snapcasters in the list because of the anti-synergy with Humility. Snapcaster is a very strong card, no doubt, but I'm not sure that it's something that the deck needs. I could very well be wrong, I dunno.

I don't think I can afford to play Back to Basics with manlands. Wasteland seems much better suited. I'm fine with running 2 Wastelands instead of 2 other business spells because I want to be able to deal with utility lands, and making consistent land drops under Standstill is important.

EDIT: I could also see cutting 2 removal spells and the two white Planeswalkers for 4 Myth Realized. That could help the Storm matchup by giving this deck a clock. The Planeswalkers could go into the sideboard and come in for thr grindier matchups.

Maybe like...
-1 Elspeth
-1 Gideon
-2 Path to Exile
-1 EE
+4 Myth Realized
+1 Council's Judgment

I dunno...

[Stefanogs]

Myth realized dies to decay, fatal push, swords AND wear/tear, disenchant, K grip, reclamation sage... This version already have good matchup against Ant (manlands, meddling mages, 4 snapcasters, 3 flusters, 2 surgicals, ethersworn...). Snap + fluster on grave is what we want.

We dont need to be so linear (with humility, no snapcaster; with manlands, no b2b). Per example, you play humility only after grind opponent resources with snapcaster; on ANT matchup, you need snapcaster, but side out humility; you play b2b only if it will win the match (against eldrazi, lands, some sort of delvers, nobleblade...). Also, i think that one nonblue planeswalker is good, to avoid REB.

[KZhang]

Agree with what has been said.
UWR feels superior to UW.

Here's what i'm currently testing.

Main
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Council's Judgement
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Standstill
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Keranos, God of Storms

4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
3 Wasteland
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain

Sideboard
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Containment Priest
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Hydroblast
3 Flusterstorm
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Disenchant
2 Pyroclasm

Comments
1) 4 bolts seem necessary, given the numerous Deathrites around, and our high reliance on Snapcaster mage for card quality.
2) Having that many 1 mana removal makes Standstill a more reliable turn 2 play. - however, Standstill is too clunky as a 4 of.
3) Clique only feels good against Storm / Combo & other hard control decks (which aren't going to be common moving forward), so let them in the side.
4) Deck is very slow. Controlling board isnt overly difficult, but closing out games are.
5) i really want to squeeze in a blood moon somewhere in the 15, but not sure if its necessary
6) Initally tested the deck with Mishra's factory, but dropped them. Fatal push and wastelands makes them really poor.

Matchups - compared to miracles (n=30)
1) Burn is a horrible matchup.
2) Eldrazi is still bad.
3) Infect is much easier.
4) Delver matchup feels 50-50. The bolts helps significantly. Wastelands give random wins. BUG feels easier than Grixis. Pyroclasm off the board makes alot of difference.
5) True Name Nemesis is an absolute pain, and is a must counter
6) Storm is not a horrible matchup. 4 bolts and snapcaster mage significantly weakens their Ad Nauseum. they have to respect bolt, SCM, bolt.
7) For some reason, have not come across Sneak Show.

[klaus]

LS necro FTW! :laugh:

I think we should carefully brainstorm about the changes the international meta will undergo with Miracles being "banned", before pumping out lists that seem nice in a vacuum.

Some essential questions:
* What archetypes will benefit from Miracles absence, meaning whom will we face more than before? And what does that mean for our card choices?
* What will change about the tier 1 MDs?
* What topics need to be evaluated for the intermediate phase, while the dust is still settling?
* How can we benefit from the current chaos?
* How will the general meta develop in the long run?

Some assumptions:
* With Terminus gone, Aggro will certainly see a revival, making 4 MD sweepers mandatory.
* All decks will up their anti-Aggro slots, which is good for us!
* With CB gone, formerly frustrated, semi-talented Combo pilots will dust off their pet decks. Not sure what that means for us though (MD Clique?)
* Decks that preyed on Miracles will go down in numbers, or at least remodel their MDs.
* tbc
Have to run, but will be back soon! Let's collect assumptions and discuss away!

[talpa]

Main
(...)
3 Standstill
(...)
4 No-manland
3 No-manland
1 No-manland
3 No-manland
3 No-manland
2 No-manland
3 It's not a manland
2 Still not a manland
1 Not a single one even here

tested the deck with Mishra's factory, but dropped them


What am I missing? Are you really suggesting playing standstill just to take a breath, hope that your opponents breaks it and doesn't play manland himself?

As for fatal push making Mishras look bad, when I played landeed back in the 2011, I usually started attacking in late game, either when I had a standstill in play and could afford losing a couple mana, or the opponent was hellbent...

[Stefanogs]

Landstill without mishras is like miracles without top. In some matchups we do not really want landstill, like lands or even d&t, but mishra's...

Save the Proletarian army (assembly-workers =P)!

[KZhang]

Landstill without mishras is like miracles without top

That is so untrue.

Most decks in legacy need to take initiative to win. Take Delver for example. If you bolted his delver on turn 1, and landed a Standstill on turn 2. Do you really think we need manlands to pressure them to break it?

If we needed pressure, can we not EOT snapcaster, STP his only creature and then cast Standstill? Not once in the 30 or so games i've played have i needed to break it myself.

Unless you are playing LftL, manlands are very bad in the current meta. Crucible is very unreliable due to Abrupt Decay.

[Stefanogs]

Well, sorry for being direct but you may create another topic to talk about lonely standstill.dec, but here is landstill and we must assume that the deck contains manlands :)

Even if mishra's gets wastelanded, they protect our manabase to keep controlling. When they are not, they provide cheap pressure.

I also think that crucible is not so good right now (maybe i would play him on the mana denial plan, with 4 stifles and 4 wastelands).

[Erdvermampfa]

I have been testing and playing Landstill even in the years when Miracles was the clearly superior choice of blue control because I used to be so fond of the card Standstill and because I usually don't follow whatever the current mainstream (Miracles) is, but in a realistic assessement one would have to concede that with the powerlevel this format has reached, one simply cannot afford to play cards like Standstill that represent no answer to opponent's threats or do not alter the game state significantally otherwise especially since the range of strategies you have to be able to deal with is so wide. On top of that, manlands more than often seemed more of a disadvantage to me because mana stability is so crucical for cost-intensive decks like this one. I'm sincerely convinced that straight U/W Control with Jace and Fact or Fiction (!) as sources of CA is superior to any approaches with Standstill in todays enviroment. You guys should search this forum for the respective thread of the user 'Iron_Buddha' who came with some highly potent concepts almost 4 years ago.

I'm not too familiar with today's legacy though and I certainly don't want to discourage you guys from developing this deck, Standstill after all can still be effective at times.

[klaus]

Since the conceptional brainstorm I suggested does not seem to be of interest, here's a straight UW list featuring Delver. I'm sure he was discussed before. Here's what I like about him:
* makes turn 2 Standstill more reliable, since you can drop it on top of basically any turn one and most turn two creatures our opponents may cast.
* introduces an additional angle of attack that makes it tricky for opponents to interact/SB
* helps close games - especially relevant against Combo
* is on-color, pitchable to FoW
* can easily be deployed between Standstills, and thus helps "getting rid of" excess cards we otherwise might have to discard (a scenario happening far too often)

4 Delver
4 SCM
2 Clique
4 Standstill
4 BS
4 STP
4 SV
4 FoW
3 Snare
3 CS
2 Jace
(38)

8 Fetch
4 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plains
4 Factory
(22)

SB:
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Disenchant
3 Terminus
3 Flusterstorm
2 Canonist
2 BeB

[Erdvermampfa]

I don't get what the point of your list is to be honest. How reliable is Delver with only 22 cards that trigger it? How does it contribute in any way to the control plan of the deck? You suggested that if introduces a different angle of attack, helps to close games and to improve combo MUs but that is already accomplished with Clique and Snapcaster in a much for adequate way because they actually fit into the decks plan. How is it in any way reconcilable with Supreme Verdict?

I'm aware that we shouldn't think to conservatively with this deck and not only stick to what Landstill lists used to look like in 2006 or whatever. Im also aware that it's sometimes pretty hiliarous and also strong to simply mix different deck strategies and plans (like you did imo) because people seem to be incapable to cope with such unexpected situations but a Landstill list with Delver doesn't convince me honestly. How did it turn out for you?

[sdematt]

I want to try some old school fun:

3 Jace, TMS
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Snapcaster Mage
7

4 STP
3 Supreme Verdict
2 Decree of Justice
9

4 Humility
4 Standstill
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
22

3 Island
2 Plains
3 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Wasteland
22

//BOARD//

2 Zealous Persecution
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Flusterstorm
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Disenchant
2 Exalted Angel (since I want to)

[Erdvermampfa]

That's an awful list to be honest. It's way too packed in the high CC area while you only run 22 lands and merely 4 Stops to survive the early game. It needs way more early removal and most importantly has to be thinned out in the high cc area.

[sdematt]

That's an awful list to be honest. It's way too packed in the high CC area while you only run 22 lands and merely 4 Stops to survive the early game. It needs way more early removal and most importantly has to be thinned out in the high cc area.

Of course it's awful, that's why I posted it. I said I wanted to try some old school Landstill.

[Erdvermampfa]

Of course it's awful, that's why I posted it. I said I wanted to try some old school Landstill.

Yes but even the oldschool lists had a better balance of high and low CC or early and lategame cards.

[Cindarin]

Hey all,

I'm a legacy noob, so bear with me. I decided I want to get into Legacy, and I wanted to play with these Jaces I already have as well as the new Gideon, so here I am. If y'all could offer any constructive criticism on my list, I'd appreciate it.

//Artifacts
2 Engineered Explosives
//Enchantments
4 Standstill
2 Humility
//Planeswalker
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
//Instants
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
//Sorceries
3 Ponder
2 Supreme Verdict
// Lands
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mess
3 Island
2 Plains

Sideboard still in progress. Currently looking at some number of the following Rest in Peace, Containment Priest, Hallowed Moonlight, Disenchant, Sunlance, Gut Shot, Crucible of Worlds, Dust Bowl, Elspeth. Flusterstorm too, but I don't own any.

Any SB recommendations would be great. Am I crazy with the third wasteland? Is Gideon of the Trials fine? I know he dies to Abrupt Decay, but how big of a deal is that?

Thanks!

[Stefanogs]

After 121 matches playing (+- 100 on cockatrice and the rest IRL) i'm currently with these statistics:

Matches: 121
Wins: 75 (62%)
Loss: 45 (37%)
Draw: 1 (1%)

Total Games: 297
Wins: 170 (57%)
Loss: 127 (43%)


I'm playing currently with the following list:

/// MD - 60:

4 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis

4 Standstill
1 Humility
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Council's Judgment
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Terminus
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Lightning Bolt

4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder

4 Mishra's Factory
2 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
3 Polluted Delta


/// SB:

SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Grim Lavamancer
SB: 1 Wear // Tear
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 From the Ashes
SB: 1 Ensnaring Bridge ***


Major changes:
- Terminus over Supreme Verdict: Delver turned out to be a harder game than expected, especially Grixis-Stifle versions, when get 1wwu is VERY hard. More, with terminus we can clean the board and play standstill in the same turn.
- 2 TNNs in: TNN help us against delver, eldrazi and is the best way to win G1 against any punishing fire deck. More, we can change sides a little bit, playing with pressure when needed. This guy is fucking crazy in this control shell.
- One more bolt, one less sweeper: with 2 TNNs, think that we may play with only 2 terminus alongside 3 lightning bolts and 4 swords to plowshares. This factorial division is working great.
- Blood moon out and one less planeswalker: although blood moon's individual card power and the advantages of a nonblue planes, opting now for 2 TNN.

Side:
- Vendilion Cliques in; Meddling Mages out: when developing the first version, i thought that with the lack of counterbalance lock we would need some hard answer against ANT, Sneak and show etc. I actually found that our matchup against combo is already very good, and the versatility of Vendilion Clique gives us more edge on other matches, like death and taxes (where we need to side out standstill).
- From the Ashes over Blood Moon: Just played the last 15 matches with this card and i'm really liking.
- Grim lavamancer: Changed because pyroclasm or kozilek's return would kill our creatures too. And i'm really liking, specially against delver (hard matchup), infect and d&t.
- One flex slot: currently i'm playing ensnaring bridge (eldrazi and sneak and show), but this is a flex slot: pithing needle (d&t, shaman, sneak and show), ethersworn canonist (burn, elves, ant, high tide, food chain), sudden demise (elves, delver, d&t) or submerge (marit lage, infect, delver). Maybe Rest for the weary or Timely reinforcements (burn, ur delver). At the moment: Blessed Alliance (burn, eldrazi, sneak and show, tnn, reanimate).

Still trying to find some place to faerie conclave, but don't know which land take out: 1) i don't want to play under 3 islands and 2 plains; 2): i don't know if 7 fetches will impair the stability; and 3) i don't know if 3 mishra's-1 faerie is better, and i was trying to play with 5 manlands.

Great matchups:
- ANY midrange;
- Combos;
- Czech pile (i'm 8-1).

Hard matchups:
- Grixis Delver (maybe with the currently list this will change)
- Eldrazi

When side out Standstill:
- D&T;
- Goblins;
- Lands (all 4 standstills out);
- BG Depths (all 4 standstills out);
- Infect;
- Delver, when on draw.

http://i.imgur.com/SBZpxXU.jpg

Join the still! Take your time. Pass.

[koten]

When side out Standstill:
- D&T;
- Goblins;
- Lands (all 4 standstills out);
- BG Depths (all 4 standstills out);
- Infect;
- Delver, when on draw.



Great analysis so far! Could you elaborate on the rationale behind siding out all 4 Standstills against the Lands/BG Depths. Aren't they still live against the Lands player trying to cast Loam/Punishing Fire, etc? Against the other decks that you're not siding out all the Standstills, how many are you taking out and what's the reasoning behind it?

[Stefanogs]

Great analysis so far! Could you elaborate on the rationale behind siding out all 4 Standstills against the Lands/BG Depths. Aren't they still live against the Lands player trying to cast Loam/Punishing Fire, etc? Against the other decks that you're not siding out all the Standstills, how many are you taking out and what's the reasoning behind it?

BG Depths and, specially, Lands may just draw thespian + dark depths and we will be obligated to break the still :s. Lands is even worse, because plays wasteland and rishadan port (tap manland). We take care of punishing fire and loam with Vendilion and Surgical (=
- For the same reason we side out against infect (inkmoth and pendelhaven).
- For the same reason we side out some number against d&t and goblins (port + wasteland).

Against Delver, on draw, is just because we need, first, to survive and just then we may think about card advantage.

So... Against D&T, Goblins and Delver, there are just some better cards on sideboard, ex.:

D&T:
- Out: -2 counterspell, -3/4 standstill
- In: +1 wear/ tear, +2 vendilion clique, +1 grim lavamancer, +1 containment priest and +0/1 flex slot (pithing needle, izzet staticaster, another lavamancer etc). Currently, i take out 3 standstills.

Grixis Delver (with Stifle), on Draw:
- Out: -2 Counterspell, -4 standstill, -2 Jace, TMS, -2 fow
- In: +3 Flusterstorm, +2 Pyroblast, +1 REB, +1 Grim lavamancer, +2 vendilion clique, +1 from the ashes

[Bosque]

You're not finding Humility awkward while running TNN and no token producing planeswalker?

[Stefanogs]

Humility is the best card against sneak and show, death and Taxes, Aluren, food chain, Maverick, Goblins, lands, 4c loam, merfolk.

Well, we play with Brainstorm, so you may shuffle away humility when you don't want it. It's a "nombo" with tnn, but the deal is: I lose TNN, but I win the game (damn, just lost The Game).

With TNN I already reduced to only 2 sweepers, so I don't think we need to do further adjustments.

More, humility is still great without Elspeth, because it is already strong with manlands. Humility is great even with Snapcaster.

[Bosque]

No argument that Humility is a great card, just that it may be awkward at times with the TNN/Snapcaster game. But I guess if they spend resources to beat the TNN/Snapcaster game, you just slam Humility.

[Stefanogs]

No argument that Humility is a great card, just that it may be awkward at times with the TNN/Snapcaster game. But I guess if they spend resources to beat the TNN/Snapcaster game, you just slam Humility.

^This!

[koten]

Miracles is starting to make a splash again. Do you think Landstill is still the better control deck when compared to the current iterations of Miracles?

[Stefanogs]

Yes, i do!

[RogueMTG]

...
Still trying to find some place to faerie conclave, but don't know which land take out: 1) i don't want to play under 3 islands and 2 plains; 2): i don't know if 7 fetches will impair the stability; and 3) i don't know if 3 mishra's-1 faerie is better, and i was trying to play with 5 manlands.


How badly do you think you need Volc #3? Maybe shave one for the conclave?

[Abraxass]

Ho guys.

After sdt ban i've decidet to try Uwr landstill and, so far, i've had a lot of fun playing it.
The problem here is that i'am having an hard time here: the deck it's far from "easy", expecially for a former Miracles player who's not use to use resource properly...

My list it's something near to what i reded in this primer, but i wuoud love to hear some thougts from an experience player
http://zelgadis.altervista.org/_altervista_ht/standstill.JPG

I've used some old ideas in this post; i realyzed that it's probably outdated but i tryed anyways.
So far i've loved the Tutor, but i'am open minded.

[Megadeus]

It's pretty far out from what is normally posted here, but I think I'm going to try something like this out this weekend at my monthly


4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
3 Renegade Rallier
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Shardless Agent
2 Vendillion Clique

4 Brainstorm
4 STP
2 JTMS
3 Force of Will
3 Standstill

2 Trop
2 Savannah
1 Tundra
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
8 Fetch
3 Waste
3 Factory

Haven't decided on the SB yet, but we'll see. I mostly want to live the dream and Rally back a dead standstill or shardless into it. I need to figure out the last few slots. Might be pridemages, might be terrible urza's baubles, I don't know yet. Any suggestions?

[maharis]

It's pretty far out from what is normally posted here, but I think I'm going to try something like this out this weekend at my monthly


4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
3 Renegade Rallier
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Shardless Agent
2 Vendillion Clique

4 Brainstorm
4 STP
2 JTMS
3 Force of Will
3 Standstill

2 Trop
2 Savannah
1 Tundra
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
8 Fetch
3 Waste
3 Factory

Haven't decided on the SB yet, but we'll see. I mostly want to live the dream and Rally back a dead standstill or shardless into it. I need to figure out the last few slots. Might be pridemages, might be terrible urza's baubles, I don't know yet. Any suggestions?

Cut the dorks and play 4 mox diamonds and a couple more manlands for t1 Standstill? Maybe Faerie Conclave/reach guy?

I'm obsessed with doing that at some point. Also finding space for a crop rotation package and/or Teferi's Response for when they stp your factory. And Loam or Crucible.

[Jon]

Not sure the last time I posted on the source or in any of these threads but here is my last Landstill list I will be playing this weekend.

https://thumb.ibb.co/eWgmVv/19204997_10155390056706649_1061845345_o.jpg (https://ibb.co/eWgmVv) https://thumb.ibb.co/jsFDAv/19182101_10155390056721649_1495832846_o.jpg (https://ibb.co/jsFDAv) https://thumb.ibb.co/c5rmVv/19125489_10155390056766649_987125929_o.jpg (https://ibb.co/c5rmVv)

Missing cards are Myth Realized, My China set is in the mail.

[Quasim0ff]

Hyper1on and Neil (not sure if he is on here?) recently got me to play standstill.

I've played 5 leagues so far, going 4-1, 4-1, 3-2, 3-2 and 2-3.
This is the list I've been enjoying so far:

https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t35.0-12/19104835_10154563208516512_474033976_o.png?oh=32558a1172363ba831df6adf256a2de5&oe=59421B1B
The Nev Disk has been absurdly outstanding. I've liked the stifles somewhat, as people are pretty bad at playing against that card as a whole (Do your things in inopportune times for me so I can't just draw and go.)

[prepare4robots]

Hyper1on and Neil (not sure if he is on here?) recently got me to play standstill.

I've played 5 leagues so far, going 4-1, 4-1, 3-2, 3-2 and 2-3.
This is the list I've been enjoying so far:

https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t35.0-12/19104835_10154563208516512_474033976_o.png?oh=32558a1172363ba831df6adf256a2de5&oe=59421B1B
The Nev Disk has been absurdly outstanding. I've liked the stifles somewhat, as people are pretty bad at playing against that card as a whole (Do your things in inopportune times for me so I can't just draw and go.)

Saw you playing this on Twitch... did it feel competitive? As a former miracles player, truely wish this could turn into a 'real deck' again.

[Quasim0ff]

Saw you playing this on Twitch... did it feel competitive? As a former miracles player, truely wish this could turn into a 'real deck' again.

I feel like the deck is good; It utterly demolishes True-Name and delver of secrets decks, but in the grindy midrange not-all-in-on-true-name it seems slightly harder.

I played (and have been for a while) utterly awful, so there's that. I did go 15-5 in four leagues with it, so that's something at least.

[Vorkosigan]

Not sure the last time I posted on the source or in any of these threads but here is my last Landstill list I will be playing this weekend.

https://thumb.ibb.co/eWgmVv/19204997_10155390056706649_1061845345_o.jpg (https://ibb.co/eWgmVv) https://thumb.ibb.co/jsFDAv/19182101_10155390056721649_1495832846_o.jpg (https://ibb.co/jsFDAv) https://thumb.ibb.co/c5rmVv/19125489_10155390056766649_987125929_o.jpg (https://ibb.co/c5rmVv)

Missing cards are Myth Realized, My China set is in the mail.

This list has some interesting spice. How are the Myth Realized doing in regards for going in for the kill?

[Megadeus]

Went 3-2 top 8 and lose with Rallier Still. Deck certainly has its issues that I could fix, but not bad for the first matches I've ever played with the deck considering I did 0 testing. Also had very weird match ups that were probably bad for me. Got a bye. Lost to DnT, beat goblins, beat pox, lost to elves, lost to DnT in top 8.

[cromonolith]

Hyper1on and Neil (not sure if he is on here?) recently got me to play standstill.

I've played 5 leagues so far, going 4-1, 4-1, 3-2, 3-2 and 2-3.
This is the list I've been enjoying so far:

https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t35.0-12/19104835_10154563208516512_474033976_o.png?oh=32558a1172363ba831df6adf256a2de5&oe=59421B1B
The Nev Disk has been absurdly outstanding. I've liked the stifles somewhat, as people are pretty bad at playing against that card as a whole (Do your things in inopportune times for me so I can't just draw and go.)

Your image appears to be broken, and I'm pretty curious to see this list. Hyper1on was telling me about Neil playing this list, and I'm dying to see after he told the story of blowing out Saito with the Disk.

[prepare4robots]

Purely theory crafting at the moment, but also trying to apply some lesions I learned from miracles. Namely, four Ponder are good and add a lot of consistency. CJ is an excellent catch all answer, especially in a TNN / Leovold format. Would love some constructive criticism before I start smacking games with it.

Creatures:3
3 Snapcaster Mage

Spells:33
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Stifle
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Counterspell
4 Standstill
2 Council's Judgment
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Force of Will

Lands:24
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tundra
4 Wasteland

The other direction I've considered taking it was removing the Stifles and adding more Monastary Mentor...

[weaselface]

trying to apply some lesions I learned from miracles.

That sounds painful.

[Stefanogs]

I'll share my current list of Still Miracles. I have 302 matches post ban, with 62% win rate. Also, i have 99 matches with this version (with wastelands and MD Mentors), with 68% win rate. Indeed, i still feel that delver matchup is hard, maybe i have to work this.

Last sunday i played a 47 pp tournament, getting 3rd, only losing to Bug Delver.

Check this:

// 60 Still Miracles
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Monastery Mentor
1 Vendilion Clique

4 Standstill
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Ponder
4 Terminus

// 23 Land
3 Mishra's Factory
2 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
3 Polluted Delta
3 Wasteland


// 15 Sideboard
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Crucible of Worlds
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Humility
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Wear // Tear

[gibsonjunkie]

After 121 matches playing (+- 100 on cockatrice and the rest IRL) i'm currently with these statistics:

Matches: 121
Wins: 75 (62%)
Loss: 45 (37%)
Draw: 1 (1%)

Total Games: 297
Wins: 170 (57%)
Loss: 127 (43%)


I'm playing currently with the following list:

/// MD - 60:

4 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis

4 Standstill
1 Humility
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Council's Judgment
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Terminus
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Lightning Bolt

4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder

4 Mishra's Factory
2 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
3 Polluted Delta


/// SB:

SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Grim Lavamancer
SB: 1 Wear // Tear
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 From the Ashes
SB: 1 Ensnaring Bridge ***


Major changes:
- Terminus over Supreme Verdict: Delver turned out to be a harder game than expected, especially Grixis-Stifle versions, when get 1wwu is VERY hard. More, with terminus we can clean the board and play standstill in the same turn.
- 2 TNNs in: TNN help us against delver, eldrazi and is the best way to win G1 against any punishing fire deck. More, we can change sides a little bit, playing with pressure when needed. This guy is fucking crazy in this control shell.
- One more bolt, one less sweeper: with 2 TNNs, think that we may play with only 2 terminus alongside 3 lightning bolts and 4 swords to plowshares. This factorial division is working great.
- Blood moon out and one less planeswalker: although blood moon's individual card power and the advantages of a nonblue planes, opting now for 2 TNN.

Side:
- Vendilion Cliques in; Meddling Mages out: when developing the first version, i thought that with the lack of counterbalance lock we would need some hard answer against ANT, Sneak and show etc. I actually found that our matchup against combo is already very good, and the versatility of Vendilion Clique gives us more edge on other matches, like death and taxes (where we need to side out standstill).
- From the Ashes over Blood Moon: Just played the last 15 matches with this card and i'm really liking.
- Grim lavamancer: Changed because pyroclasm or kozilek's return would kill our creatures too. And i'm really liking, specially against delver (hard matchup), infect and d&t.
- One flex slot: currently i'm playing ensnaring bridge (eldrazi and sneak and show), but this is a flex slot: pithing needle (d&t, shaman, sneak and show), ethersworn canonist (burn, elves, ant, high tide, food chain), sudden demise (elves, delver, d&t) or submerge (marit lage, infect, delver). Maybe Rest for the weary or Timely reinforcements (burn, ur delver). At the moment: Blessed Alliance (burn, eldrazi, sneak and show, tnn, reanimate).

Still trying to find some place to faerie conclave, but don't know which land take out: 1) i don't want to play under 3 islands and 2 plains; 2): i don't know if 7 fetches will impair the stability; and 3) i don't know if 3 mishra's-1 faerie is better, and i was trying to play with 5 manlands.

Great matchups:
- ANY midrange;
- Combos;
- Czech pile (i'm 8-1).

Hard matchups:
- Grixis Delver (maybe with the currently list this will change)
- Eldrazi

When side out Standstill:
- D&T;
- Goblins;
- Lands (all 4 standstills out);
- BG Depths (all 4 standstills out);
- Infect;
- Delver, when on draw.

http://i.imgur.com/SBZpxXU.jpg

Join the still! Take your time. Pass.
I've been playing with this at our weekly legacy events. I mainly play Tezzerator and dabble in other decks, and prior to the top ban I was only a handful pieces away from Miracles. I don't like the "new" Miracles deck, it just doesn't feel as fun (and I enjoy decks that have some sort of hard lock). This UWr Landstill deck is tickling my control itch in exactly the right way.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Megadeus]

I'll share my current list of Still Miracles. I have 302 matches post ban, with 62% win rate. Also, i have 99 matches with this version (with wastelands and MD Mentors), with 68% win rate. Indeed, i still feel that delver matchup is hard, maybe i have to work this.

Last sunday i played a 47 pp tournament, getting 3rd, only losing to Bug Delver.

Check this:

// 60 Still Miracles
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Monastery Mentor
1 Vendilion Clique

4 Standstill
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Ponder
4 Terminus

// 23 Land
3 Mishra's Factory
2 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
3 Polluted Delta
3 Wasteland


// 15 Sideboard
SB: 1 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 Crucible of Worlds
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Humility
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Wear // Tear

Since you cut bolts do you feel you need more volcs than tundras?

[tescrin]

Went 3-2 top 8 and lose with Rallier Still. Deck certainly has its issues that I could fix, but not bad for the first matches I've ever played with the deck considering I did 0 testing. Also had very weird match ups that were probably bad for me. Got a bye. Lost to DnT, beat goblins, beat pox, lost to elves, lost to DnT in top 8.

I didn't see you start brewing, but Rallier + Still does seem sweet. Something that Standstill wants though is loadsa counterspells; since you can force your opponent to not only give you stuff, but fill your hand with counters to the card they used. I've been brewing (as you may have seen) with Spell Queller and Spellstutter Sprite; which may work with the standstill theme since it drops dudes, stops your opp for a second, then you can untap, cast rallier, and get Still back on the field once you've unloaded enough.

Stutter is quite good with Mutavault, so you don't need to go the Blossom route like I have (though I would consider it, since Blossom is not only a brutal card, but it would produce threats under Standstill. It has a 7/8 turn clock exactly like Delver.)

I would also think that with all the CA, having Chrome Mox x2 (and maybe a singleton Gemstone Caverns) to speed things up. If you go Blossom, you'll be in part black, and DRS is always more speed-up/combo protection.


If my current brew starts doing shitty, I'll swap the Wastelands for Mutavaults, and stifles for Standstills I think.

[Cindarin]

Hey all,

I'm a legacy noob, so bear with me. I decided I want to get into Legacy, and I wanted to play with these Jaces I already have as well as the new Gideon, so here I am. If y'all could offer any constructive criticism on my list, I'd appreciate it.

//Artifacts
2 Engineered Explosives
//Enchantments
4 Standstill
2 Humility
//Planeswalker
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
//Instants
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
//Sorceries
3 Ponder
2 Supreme Verdict
// Lands
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mess
3 Island
2 Plains

Sideboard still in progress. Currently looking at some number of the following Rest in Peace, Containment Priest, Hallowed Moonlight, Disenchant, Sunlance, Gut Shot, Crucible of Worlds, Dust Bowl, Elspeth. Flusterstorm too, but I don't own any.

Any SB recommendations would be great. Am I crazy with the third wasteland? Is Gideon of the Trials fine? I know he dies to Abrupt Decay, but how big of a deal is that?

Thanks!


I've played a few local events now with this, and while I'm still getting the hang of things, I honestly feel like I can beat anything. Humility does so much work. Currently, I'm 11-5-1, and the draw should have been a win except for poor time management. There have been a few tweaks from the list above. I never allowed myself to play 2 Gideon or 3 Wasteland, so I have no testing with those numbers I had previously asked about. I'm pretty sure both were wrong though.

Current list:
-1 Humility
-1 Gideon
-1 Ponder
- 1 Counterspell
-1 Wasteland
+1 Elspeth
+1 Spell Snare
+2 Snapcaster
+1 Plains

SB:
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Containment Priest
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Rest in Peace
1 CoP: Red
1 Runed Halo
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Dust Bowl
1 Flusterstorm
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Pulse of the Fields
2 Disenchant
1 Ethersworn Canonist

I'm over prepared for RDW, a matchup I've never faced. I think I still want the CoP:Red, but Runed Halo and Pulse have been useless to bad. I'd like some sort of answer, but I think those slots can be improved.

Gideon has been great, and I've yet to draw him against combo. I can't imagine wanting Ally of Zendikar over it.

[owerbart]

Since you cut bolts do you feel you need more volcs than tundras?

I'll echo this as well :)

[Stefanogs]

I'll echo this as well :)

Still think.. Delver and other wasteland-aggro decks are very difficult matchups, where we need to use Rebs and pyros, also lavamancer, pyroclasm or wear/tear... We cant change for one plains, because we already run few islands, so...

[fapsik]

I played UW Landstill in Prague regular tournament (cca 20 players) and went 3:1 with it. Here is the decklist:


2 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis

4 Standstill

4 Brainstorm
2 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
1 Teferi's Response

1 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Plains
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
2 Faerie Conclave

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Ponder
2 Terminus
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Council's Judgment


// SIDEBOARD

1 Pithing Needle
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Containment Priest
3 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Disenchant
1 Path to Exile
1 Hydroblast
1 Karakas
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant


I like this UW version, which does not have Pyroblasts to answer Jace, but I like its mana consistency. I would change few things (-1 Spell Snare +1 Spell Pierce; - 1 Faerie Conclave +1 Island, switch Supreme Verdict for the SB Path to Exile). I lost only to 4C Control piloted by its builder Tomas Mar, which is an excelent player, and then defeated two Show and Tells and one Maverick. The only real problem I feel in my local meta is lack of card advantage. In the field of Predicts, Baleful Strixes or Painful Truths it is very hard to keep up. Teferi's Real was a blast, always ruining my opponent :-) True-Name Nemesis and sweepers are together quite fine if you play it carefuly.

[Stefanogs]

I played UW Landstill in Prague regular tournament (cca 20 players) and went 3:1 with it. Here is the decklist:
I like this UW version, which does not have Pyroblasts to answer Jace, but I like its mana consistency. I would change few things (-1 Spell Snare +1 Spell Pierce; - 1 Faerie Conclave +1 Island, switch Supreme Verdict for the SB Path to Exile). I lost only to 4C Control piloted by its builder Tomas Mar, which is an excelent player, and then defeated two Show and Tells and one Maverick. The only real problem I feel in my local meta is lack of card advantage. In the field of Predicts, Baleful Strixes or Painful Truths it is very hard to keep up. Teferi's Real was a blast, always ruining my opponent :-) True-Name Nemesis and sweepers are together quite fine if you play it carefuly.

Hey! Really liked your list. But if you're going to play 2 colors and 23 lands (you may try just 22 lands!) you may play with 3-4 wastelands! Also, i would play with 4 terminus and 0 supreme verdicts (they are just too slow). Teferi's response is cute, but doesnt fit at all... I would go for another snapcaster mage.
With this list you may experience troubles against burn and other fast red decks. Because of that i changed TNNs for mentors. You may play with 1 maindeck vendilion clique and one karakas.

Gl hf!

For reference, my current list:

// 60 Still Miracles

3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Monastery Mentor
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Standstill

1 Engineered Explosives
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
3 Daze
4 Ponder
4 Terminus

// 22 Land
2 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory
2 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
3 Polluted Delta


// 15 Sideboard
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Rest in Peace
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 1 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 2 Wear // Tear


I really like to change 1 or 2 cards of sideboard to play with crucible of worlds and humility.

[polski]

What do you think about nimble obstructionist in this deck?

[Stefanogs]

What do you think about nimble obstructionist in this deck?

I think that nimble doesn't make the cut, because we need the 3/1 body And one effect, not one Or another. Well, anyway, it's the first time we can "counter" standstill in magic, but i don't think this creature will see any play in legacy, so we don't need to care about it.

[WinterRat1]

Stefanogs -

I'm really intrigued by the idea of using Standstill to replace Portent and Predict in the Miracles shell. I am thinking about trying this deck out but I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind.

1) Have you had problems activating Terminus with only 4 BS, 4 Ponder, 2-3 Jace, and 2-3 SCM? Has that been enough to consistently find and cast Terminus when you need it?

2) How did you arrive at your numbers for Wasteland and Mishra's Factory? My gut response is to go with 4 and 4, but I'm guessing that might be too heavy of a strain on the manabase and other cards. Could you explain a little how you arrived at your numbers?

3) What do you think about Vendilion Clique and/or Spell Queller in the main for the 'crack Standstill in end step' scenario? If you need to crack your own Standstill then you can use Clique and get a little value out of it while putting a creature on the board, if your opponent tries to Brainstorm or something in your end step Spell Queller can let you counter it and get some value in the form of a body.

I freely admit this is theory crafting at the moment so #2 and #3 above could definitely be bad ideas; I wanted to get some thoughts from you before diving right in, since you seem to have quite a bit of testing and experience with this deck.

[Stefanogs]

Stefanogs -

I'm really intrigued by the idea of using Standstill to replace Portent and Predict in the Miracles shell. I am thinking about trying this deck out but I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind.

1) Have you had problems activating Terminus with only 4 BS, 4 Ponder, 2-3 Jace, and 2-3 SCM? Has that been enough to consistently find and cast Terminus when you need it?

2) How did you arrive at your numbers for Wasteland and Mishra's Factory? My gut response is to go with 4 and 4, but I'm guessing that might be too heavy of a strain on the manabase and other cards. Could you explain a little how you arrived at your numbers?

3) What do you think about Vendilion Clique and/or Spell Queller in the main for the 'crack Standstill in end step' scenario? If you need to crack your own Standstill then you can use Clique and get a little value out of it while putting a creature on the board, if your opponent tries to Brainstorm or something in your end step Spell Queller can let you counter it and get some value in the form of a body.

I freely admit this is theory crafting at the moment so #2 and #3 above could definitely be bad ideas; I wanted to get some thoughts from you before diving right in, since you seem to have quite a bit of testing and experience with this deck.


Hey! I had the same concerns as you :) let me see each question..:

1) My first version of landstill (You may check the list at page 259 or at the following link: http://i.imgur.com/2PQMTgr.jpg ...) used a very different removal package, with 3 Supreme Verdicts (well, Terminus was presumably dead, right?) and 2 Lightning bolts (and the 4 swords to plowshares). After several games, i did realize that supreme verdict is just too slow for some matchups, like eldrazi and delver (is just uncastable against grixis delver with stifle), and only terminus could give us fast board wipe.

I have no problems to set up terminus with 4 ponder, 4 bs, 2 jace and 3 scm. Yes, it's worse than before, when we had top, and we can't do it at instant speed, but definitely is not bad... specially when we do Terminus + Standstill at the same turn (which is very hard with supreme verdict).

2) My first version of landstill (right after ban) was with 22 lands: FOUR mishra's, ZERO wastelands, 2 tundra, 3 volcanics, 3 islands, TWO plains and 8 fetchs.

Well, after i did realize that wasteland may help us to improve the control game (removing some lands that may kill our game plan, like thespian's stage and dark depths, cavern of souls, boseiju, eye of ugin and, specially, other man lands) or even fizzling the mana improve of the opponent.

So, i moved to 23 lands, with 3 mishra's and 3 wastelands. Also, i cut one plains (we can't cut blue sources because we already run few)...

Later, i realized that 23 lands is not optimized, so i cut one wasteland. Well, each change was preceded by several games and tests... So now, i'm with 22 lands again, with 3 mishra's (not four because we need to run wastelands and we need blue sources) and 2 wastelands....

If we play fewer lands, there will be the often situation where we cast standstill and the opponent start drawing much more lands than us.


3) The first idea of the deck was with 3 meddling mages instead of cliques, because i thought that, with the lack of counterbalance, we would need the mages to hard lock the opponents... well, i did realize that we still can "lock" without counterbalance, using standstill to refuel the hand and the hate cards (like surgical extraction) to get rid of recurring cards.. Also, i found that my play style is better fitted with vendilion clique, so i'm using the faeries since long time.

My last version before daze was with 1 maindeck vendilion clique (-3 daze, +1 council's judgment, +1 wasteland +1 vendilion clique) and i think that is very good! If you like it, you should try md too =).. I just moved to sideboard because we can't play less than 3 mentors and 3 snapcasters: the first is the best kill condition, and is our great change against burn, lands and other matchups... the second is the best control creature ever printed... i'm looking to play with 4 snapcaster again.


:) !! Give this list a chance =)

[Captain Hammer]

What are your thoughts on
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=389721&type=card
as a one of possibly replacing Thragtusk in this deck?

It immediately generates value by getting you a fetchland from the yard, creating an additional 5/3 token while also ramping your mana so that Elderscale Wurm becomes hardcastable. If you happen to have a Dryad Arbor in play and a way to sac it, you get yet another 5/3. And if it sticks around to see a few more fetchlands, it can quickly get out of control. If you can cycle Dryad Arbors with Meren and Therapies, it becomes ridiculous but that's probably just win more. Overall seems much stronger than Thragtusk, no?

[Doishy]

What are your thoughts on
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=389721&type=card
as a one of possibly replacing Thragtusk in this deck?

It immediately generates value by getting you a fetchland from the yard, creating an additional 5/3 token while also ramping your mana so that Elderscale Wurm becomes hardcastable. If you happen to have a Dryad Arbor in play and a way to sac it, you get yet another 5/3. And if it sticks around to see a few more fetchlands, it can quickly get out of control. If you can cycle Dryad Arbors with Meren and Therapies, it becomes ridiculous but that's probably just win more. Overall seems much stronger than Thragtusk, no?

My thoughts are, is this for a different thread? XD

[Abraxass]

Guys some thought: i love my build, it's intriguing and roundup, but it seems that the deck struggle in the endgame area. Some idea?

And, another thing: there's someone who's streaming uwx landstill at the moment? I really need to understand how more experienced players pilot this baby.

Thanks!

[Stefanogs]

5-0 today with Still Miracles:

4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Counterspell
3 Terminus
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Tundra
4 Force of Will
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Monastery Mentor
3 Standstill
3 Island
1 Plains
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
3 Volcanic Island
2 Lightning Bolt
3 Daze

1 Containment Priest
2 Wear/Tear
1 Rest in Peace
1 Humility
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Null Rod
2 Flusterstorm

[owerbart]

5-0 today with Still Miracles:



Cool list :D

What matchups did you face? would you change anything?

[Stefanogs]

Cool list :D

What matchups did you face? would you change anything?

Well, indeed i feel the deck to be very strong, but i stopped playing it right now because grixis delver is one of the worst matchups. :(

[Zllig]

Won an Underground Sea at an Eternal Weekend trial.

Report is here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?32026-Eternal-Weekend-Trial-for-a-Tabernacle-2nd-with-UWr-Landstill&p=1025965#post1025965

Deck felt pretty sick. Search for Azcanta is the real deal.

[WinterRat1]

Won an Underground Sea at an Eternal Weekend trial.

Report is here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?32026-Eternal-Weekend-Trial-for-a-Tabernacle-2nd-with-UWr-Landstill&p=1025965#post1025965

Deck felt pretty sick. Search for Azcanta is the real deal.

Thanks a lot for the great tournament report. The deck looks sweet, I like the idea of Emrakul the Promised End and I'm excited to try out Search for Azcanta. Going to try to combine it with Stefanogs's Terminus build and put Terminus in place of Supreme Verdict and at least some of the EE, we'll see what happens.

[god_campbell]

So i threw the list together and it feels fun as fuck search is a house when active, I had trimmed the emmy but ill prob add back in asap.
I think we can almost cut the etutor and be better off at 60, also threw a dust bowl in the sb for longer games instead of moon.

[WinterRat1]

Finally had a chance to sleeve this up for a local FNM and test it out. The deck felt really fun, I had a great time playing it!

My list took some elements of Stefanogs Still Miracles and Zllig's list. I eschewed the Red Splash mostly because my Volcanics and Tarns were tied up in another legacy deck and I didn't really have time to sort them out and resleeve, so I went straight UW mostly for real life time considerations.

Going forward, I will probably opt for the red splash just because the REB effects are too powerful to leave out. I could have really used one against Tezzeret, for instance. I also think Abrade is a very versatile card that would fit well in the board. On the other hand, it was really nice not having to worry about juggling mana quite so much, so there's that factor that makes me wonder if I should keep it simple and stay with two colors.


4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare

4 Terminus
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Council's Judgment

3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Emrakul, the Promised End

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

3 Standstill
1 Search for Azcanta

4 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plains
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand

3 Flusterstorm
2 Disenchant
1 Humility
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Rest in Peace
1 Containment Priest
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Pithing Needle
2 Wasteland

A few notes:

1. Emrakul, the Promised End easily felt like the worst card in my deck. I never wanted it in my opening hand. Every time I drew it or saw it with a cantrip, I didn't want it. Any time I did want it and was actually in a position to cast it, I was already winning the game with Jace or Snap/Mishra's. It does nothing to turn the game around if I'm losing, and it feels like a case of win-more when I'm finally ready to play it. I jammed a few practice games after the FNM with a second Search for Azcanta in its place, and I liked that change a lot.

2. Speaking of Search for Azcanta, that card is awesome. The extra filtering of draws can be very helpful, dumping cards I don't want preemptively and not having to draw them, and after it is flipped, the card is just nuts. A Scry 4 that can grab anything in my deck except Snapcaster and lands? Yes, please! I loved the singleton when I had it, and I liked running a second one in my test games even more. The card advantage and filtering at instant speed is amazing, and the fact that it taps for mana is just bonus. On top of that, because of the man lands opponents can't just Wasteland it willy nilly, they have to actually make some choices about stopping that or shutting down the Factories. Definitely liking that card going forward.

3. I thought about Wasteland in the main, but I'm not going for the mana denial route with this deck; it's more of a traditional Miracle draw-go control deck that uses Standstill in place of Predict to both slow the game down and as a source of card advantage , so Wasteland is pretty much only there for cards like Dark Depths and Inkmoth Nexus, as additional and more efficient forms of removal.

4. I see the appeal of a high-end finisher like Emrakul, I was thinking of using Elspeth KE or Gideon AOZ to take the role, or maybe even a Sphinx of the Last Word if I feel like getting really out there. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks to Stefanogs for showing the idea of Standstill combined with Miracles was viable, and to Zllig for adding some really interesting ideas, specifically Search for Azcanta. Looking forward to seeing where the development of this deck takes me!

[pookierawr]

I've been brewing up an esper version and was hoping for some feedback before I take it through some leagues.

Black seems to offer DRS which t1 DRS -> t2 still requires an answer, and also provides access to several of the strong black planeswalkers.

In addition, it offers some nice sideboard cards in discard/surgical and deluge.

Right now, the one offs seem a bit scattered, and I'd love some help with focusing the list a bit.

Thanks!

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/812801#online

[inori]

Hi dude,

I am also building an esper Landstill Deck right now and I'll Share my experience I have Made so far. Won 3 Smalltalk sized Tournaments and 1 friday Night legacy so far in the past 2 months and although my list is quite different, I think I can give you some advice. The First one being: Play Terminus. I don't believe it is possible to run a good UW(x) landstill deck with less then 4 Mass removals. You will end up dieng to death and taxes (also in some Extend elves, goblins, merfolk, Maverick,... )which you can not afford. Also Cabal Therapy + mishra's factory is insane you might concider that.
Concerning your list, I think adding some number of humilities and maybe Cut the emrakul might be appropriate. I play emrakul in my list but your seems very Planeswalker heavy.

Despite those Aspekts you and I Share a Lot of cards in Common such as 1 search/1 emrakul/21 Lands/1 councils judgment.
My list plays crucible of worlds and explosives though. Is there a particular reason for the 1off Ghost quarter instead of Wasteland?

[pookierawr]

Hey, thanks for the feedback! I was actually in between two version of the deck, and it kinda came across as a mishmash of the two. One being the more mana denialy version, one being the more PW focused list. Originally the GQ was in there because with the prevalence of duals + crucible, being able to kill their basics seemed useful. I think you're definitely right in the terminus though. I've since updated the list to a bit more streamlined version.

Any thoughts on the PW package? Seems like the occasional gideon is nice for combo/control, but lili seems best with the core resource denial plan of the deck. Obvious JTMS is the GOAT.
I'm thinking the 1/1/2 is nice for MB, then maybe 2/3 in SB for specific matchups.

I'd love to get peoples thoughts on what they'd run. in the 6 or so PW slots.

Updated list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/812801#online

[inori]

I have 1 more question. How is the deathrite Shaman working Out. I concidered playing him because he is obviously an amazing card but never actually tried him in landstill, because of the Turn one counter/removal Turn 2 standstill.

[pookierawr]

I haven't been playing standstill in legacy for very long, but it seems super strong.

A T1 DRS in my experience has led to one of the following:
They have to waste an answer on it, then you T2 standstill like in your situation
They play their own 1CMC threat, many of which aren't as powerful as DRS, and with access to 3 mana you now have access to standstill + removal/protection or you can slam one of the PWs.

Lots of ways to force card advantage, or end up with a super powerful board state.

One note, I ended up pulling emmy because of the natural tension with DRS. And to a certain extent, was pulling crucible for the same reason.

[Stefanogs]

Hey again!

Just 5-0 with Still Miracles hehehe. I played two leagues, but the first league (3-2) played with 6-7 different cards. Never tried Myth Realized before, big big mistake, it's so good!

5-0 UW Still Miracles
R1: BUG Delver (nd7020): 2-1
R2: Dragon Stompy (justgetdown): 2-0
R3: Sneak and Show (Ecoscuro): 2-1
R4: Grixis Delver (shaka8): 2-1
R5: UW Azcanta Miracles (towerjac): 2-1


Still Miracles 2.0 (UW, for the sake of the lands):
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Tundra
4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
2 Plains
5 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Daze
2 Counterspell
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Terminus
4 Myth Realized

SB:
2 Containment Priest
1 Null Rod
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Council's Judgment
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Flusterstorm
2 Disenchant
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Humility
1 Ethersworn Canonist

[Fox]

@Stefanogs seems structurally weak to Wasteland. You've got Daze, Standstill, Counterspell and then Myth Realized - opening up Fetch Tundra has to be pretty suspect and opening basic Plains, equally bad. There's this perfect storm brewing where you can't get on the Standstill plan. Mentor is the higher quality wincon, particularly given Ponder in the list, that doesn't undermine the deck's plan right from the start.

[melie]

@Stefanogs, LOVE this list! Thought about maindecking the Humility? Always thought it better in the main before the option of SB enchantment removal from your opponent and the interaction with Myth is awesome + it's so good against so many decks at this moment (at least in my meta). Was thinking about Replacing 2 Myths with 1x Humility and 1x Enlightened Tutor. This could slow down the deck to much though, but I don't really think there is a point in trying to outrace the current meta anyways. Thoughts?

[Sadasar]

Hey, thanks for the feedback! I was actually in between two version of the deck, and it kinda came across as a mishmash of the two. One being the more mana denialy version, one being the more PW focused list. Originally the GQ was in there because with the prevalence of duals + crucible, being able to kill their basics seemed useful. I think you're definitely right in the terminus though. I've since updated the list to a bit more streamlined version.

Any thoughts on the PW package? Seems like the occasional gideon is nice for combo/control, but lili seems best with the core resource denial plan of the deck. Obvious JTMS is the GOAT.
I'm thinking the 1/1/2 is nice for MB, then maybe 2/3 in SB for specific matchups.

I'd love to get peoples thoughts on what they'd run. in the 6 or so PW slots.

Updated list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/812801#onlineRan your list at a weekly on Tuesday and went 3-1. Deck felt strong. I'll keep trying it to see what I would change if anything but the main felt great.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[pookierawr]

Ran your list at a weekly on Tuesday and went 3-1. Deck felt strong. I'll keep trying it to see what I would change if anything but the main felt great.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Awesome! I'm currently working on trying to shore up the mana consistency of the deck. I found myself very often having to fetch T1/T2 of separate colors for DRS/plow, which made double W or B T3 super hard.

My current list scrapped most double color cards and I'm at 3 Jace, 1 Kaya, 3 Snaps for creatures/PW. Sideboard still has Ashiok/LtLH.

I also cut the wastes for more fetches.

I'd definitely love to hear if you have any thoughts on it though.

[Sadasar]

Awesome! I'm currently working on trying to shore up the mana consistency of the deck. I found myself very often having to fetch T1/T2 of separate colors for DRS/plow, which made double W or B T3 super hard.

My current list scrapped most double color cards and I'm at 3 Jace, 1 Kaya, 3 Snaps for creatures/PW. Sideboard still has Ashiok/LtLH.

I also cut the wastes for more fetches.

I'd definitely love to hear if you have any thoughts on it though.The color problem with turn one Drs was awkward especially with bs in hand. I'll have to play it a bit more to get a feel but would love to see the updated list. Sad to hear Gideon left the main he was a house for me in certain Matchups. Playing him on an empty board against reanimator was hilarious.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[Sadasar]

Kaya is pretty hot though. Have to give her a shot.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[pookierawr]

The color problem with turn one Drs was awkward especially with bs in hand. I'll have to play it a bit more to get a feel but would love to see the updated list. Sad to hear Gideon left the main he was a house for me in certain Matchups. Playing him on an empty board against reanimator was hilarious.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Yeah, he's great. T2/T3 vs reanimator or storm was hilarious. He's can also take care decks that require on a few fatties ala batterskull or single eldrazi. And can pressure other PWs under standstill.

I think it's still possible to do double W t3, just probably gotta run more duals/fetchs and be a bit more susceptible to waste/moons. But maybe worth it to enable GotT + sideboard GAoZ

[pookierawr]

Playing around with it more today. I've forgone the factories assuming that deathrites somewhat take their place. This allows for gids and more double mana without as much worry.
It also allows for less of a nonbo with back to basics to shore up vs fair decks.

Something more like this https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/846494#online

[Ninjastill]

Been play testing the UW list http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=17758&d=310087&f=LE that did well at this event.

Some thoughts I have... 4 Terminus seemed pretty clunky, wished 1-2 of them was Supreme Verdict at times.

I think a nice split of 2 Verdict, 1 Council's Judgement and 1-2 Terminus would be nice along with 3-4 STP

Myth Realized was awesome and Its so underlooked.

Kinda want to squeeze a 3 Mana Gideon in the list not sure if it has been tried or Search for Azcanta.

[mgrinshpon]

Hey all, haven't seen any movement in this subforum but I think this deck has serious legs. About half a month ago, I was offered the opportunity to play a deck sight unseen at SCG Philly/Valley Forge courtesy of @Mapson. I was handed the following list without seeing anything until I drew the first card in the first round:

4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Blessed Alliance
4 Brainstorm
3 Counterspell
1 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Path to Exile
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Ponder
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Standstill
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
3 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Meddling Mage
1 Disenchant
1 Hydroblast
2 Invasive Surgery
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Detention Sphere
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

There were card availability problems- the list ideally would have -1 Island, +1 Mishra's Factory in the maindeck and -1 Detention Sphere, -1 Hydroblast, +1 Crucible of Worlds, +1 Blue Elemental Blast in the board, but the deck has felt phenominal. This particular list is insanely weak against Punishing Fire pre-board, but post-board it gets considerably better. My strategy has been, if I see a Grove, to just scoop to hide information. I could see Myth Realized or Hoofprints of the Stag being useful to combat this.

Overall, the deck felt phenomenal- I beat Patriot Stoneblade 2-0, something else (I think Grixis or BUG Delver? I don't have my notes on me) 2-1, Colorless Eldrazi 2-0, and ID'd with Punishing Maverick (though we played a post-board game and I won that, too) having never seen the deck. I've been playing the list sans card availability problems during local legacy playtesting and it has also felt great there, too, with seemingly close (or better) matches against Pox, Shardless, various Delver flavors, 4c Loam, Infect, various Maverick flavors, plus others.

Search for Azcanta has been amazing and, while I wouldn't mind 3.5 Standstills rather than 3 or 4, Search bridges the gap nicely. The setup is easier than Standstill, Secure the Wastes, or Decree, and augments what Landstill is trying to do exceptionally well, but it's worse against Wasteland. In practice, the vulnerability to Wasteland has not been an issue since it's easy to play around by merely not flipping Search, aggressively using Mishra's Factory, or just Wastelanding opposing Wastelands as they tap out.

Blessed Alliance has also been an all-star by the way, being able to do things like untap your own Mishra's Factory when blocking to double or quadruple pump on the block, or make the Lands matchup actually winnable. The ability to drop 4-6 mana on it is not irrelevant- Landstill ends up with a lot of lands and using that mana effectively is a big deal.

[owerbart]

Hey all, haven't seen any movement in this subforum but I think this deck has serious legs. About half a month ago, I was offered the opportunity to play a deck sight unseen at SCG Philly/Valley Forge courtesy of @Mapson. I was handed the following list without seeing anything until I drew the first card in the first round:

4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Blessed Alliance
4 Brainstorm
3 Counterspell
1 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Path to Exile
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Ponder
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Standstill
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
3 Mishra's Factory
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
3 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Meddling Mage
1 Disenchant
1 Hydroblast
2 Invasive Surgery
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Detention Sphere
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

There were card availability problems- the list ideally would have -1 Island, +1 Mishra's Factory in the maindeck and -1 Detention Sphere, -1 Hydroblast, +1 Crucible of Worlds, +1 Blue Elemental Blast in the board, but the deck has felt phenominal. This particular list is insanely weak against Punishing Fire pre-board, but post-board it gets considerably better. My strategy has been, if I see a Grove, to just scoop to hide information. I could see Myth Realized or Hoofprints of the Stag being useful to combat this.

Overall, the deck felt phenomenal- I beat Patriot Stoneblade 2-0, something else (I think Grixis or BUG Delver? I don't have my notes on me) 2-1, Colorless Eldrazi 2-0, and ID'd with Punishing Maverick (though we played a post-board game and I won that, too) having never seen the deck. I've been playing the list sans card availability problems during local legacy playtesting and it has also felt great there, too, with seemingly close (or better) matches against Pox, Shardless, various Delver flavors, 4c Loam, Infect, various Maverick flavors, plus others.

Search for Azcanta has been amazing and, while I wouldn't mind 3.5 Standstills rather than 3 or 4, Search bridges the gap nicely. The setup is easier than Standstill, Secure the Wastes, or Decree, and augments what Landstill is trying to do exceptionally well, but it's worse against Wasteland. In practice, the vulnerability to Wasteland has not been an issue since it's easy to play around by merely not flipping Search, aggressively using Mishra's Factory, or just Wastelanding opposing Wastelands as they tap out.

Blessed Alliance has also been an all-star by the way, being able to do things like untap your own Mishra's Factory when blocking to double or quadruple pump on the block, or make the Lands matchup actually winnable. The ability to drop 4-6 mana on it is not irrelevant- Landstill ends up with a lot of lands and using that mana effectively is a big deal.

I've been playing a similar list. Heavy on counterspells and wanting to stay in 2 colors to keep consistency 4 mishra, 4 waste and a dust bowl which has been amazing

4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Tundra
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Dust Bowl

4 Snapcaster Mage
1 True-Name Nemesis

4 Gitaxian Probe

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
3 Spell Pierce
3 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Blessed Alliance

3 Standstill

1 Jace, The Mind Sculptor

Sideboard:

1 Surgical Extraction
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Disenchant
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Pithing Needle
3 Flusterstorm
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Containment Priest
1 Crucible of Worlds

[mgrinshpon]

I've been playing a similar list. Heavy on counterspells and wanting to stay in 2 colors to keep consistency 4 mishra, 4 waste and a dust bowl which has been amazing
3 Standstill
0 Search for Azcanta


Definitely consider 2 Search, probably in place of Gitaxian Probe (which could be Ponder, btw). Search is the perfect compliment to Standstill and is the first major card the deck has gotten in a long time. It's the same 2 mana as Standstill, but can be dropped even in the face of a Deathrite Shaman, one of the worst cards for us to see. It's another engine card late game to get to our Standstills, and it provides early game filtering. The deck is really designed to leverage a mana advantage and dropping 4 lands into a Search activation is a powerful thing to do. Give Search a try- really a game changer.