WASTEDLANDs win games.
In case I wasn't being clear, WASTEDLANDs win games.
Do you guys know what's better than Wastelands? WASTELAND + Stifle.
In such case, you don't even need Standstill for CA, your opponent's greedy Mana-base has screwed himself out of victory.
Now, you gotta be kidding me to run Relic. Relic is awesome against DRS and sometimes decent against Storm, however, Reanimator is simply-too-fast.
Looking at MTGO daily results, Elves/Storm/Reanimator/Show and Tell are consistently appearing in the 5-0. Enough with the Chain Lightning and that many K-Return already. Now it's the time to load up on actual Counterspell/Spell Pierce, the meta is that combo-heavy.
Relic is a tool to fight Goyf, DRS, Knight of the Reliquary and Punishing Fire as well as Delve creatures. I think it's still decent, but I run a split between Surgical and Relic exactly because BR Reanimator needs answers fast - although I am running 12 counters pre-board.
Had another decent run at my local Legacy this week. Took some advice and tried out Stifles. Also swapped out (Maindeck) 4 Grim Lavamancers for 4 Cryptic Serpents, for some fun!
List was:
4 Cryptic Serpent
3 Standstill
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Force of will
3 Daze
3 Stifle
1 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 Gitaxian Probe
4 Kozilek's Return
4 Lighting Bolt
1 Fairie Conclave
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
1 Mountain
Sideboard
1 Hibernation
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Gilded Drake
2 Snap
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Cursed Scroll
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Sulfur Elemental
1 Surgical Exctraction
Matches were:
R1 BUG NicFit (2-1)
R2 Elves (2-0)
R3 4C Czech Pile (2-0)
R4 Eldrazi (1-2)
Imo Cryptic Serpent is a great card. Applies pressure and can swap with a Goyf most times. Keeping them in for next week. I actually never used a Stifle on a fetch or Wasteland that night; upping them to 4x for next week. The previous week I dropped Daze and went with a 3/3 split of Spell Snare & Spell Pierce. I didn't like it. Not going to pursue that line. Going back to 4x Daze next week. Cursed Scroll was amazing, as was Izzet Staticaster. Llawan, Cephalid Empress was also very good, and funny. Eldrazi wrecks me. I need more artifact removal in the SB, and maybe some multiples of Ensnaring Bridge. Fairie Conclave is a card I have always loved, but I have decided to cut it for now and put the 4th Wasteland back in. Wasteland, Stifle & Daze all seem to me like they should be a 4x of.
Next week's list:
4 Cryptic Serpent
4 Standstill
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of will
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Kozilek's Return
4 Lighting Bolt
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
1 Mountain
Will decide on the Sb later
How crucial is crucible of worlds to the standstill strategy? I can see the reasons why it would be amazing I'm just curious if it is one of the necessities of the deck?
Thanks guys!
Hour of Devastation gave this archetype a new card that could make it competitive, Abrade, and some there's older tech in the form Harvest Pyre to kill Gurmag Angler/Tasigur/etc. Has anyone been giving them a try? The only list I've been able to find is http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=16481&d=301874&f=LE.
@KWANG1 playing Stifle without goldfish application is pretty suspect; honestly at that point you should simply be playing Dreadstill. Your deck isn't able to assemble massive tempo swings, so you're going to need to have much greater emphasis on yard hate b/c you have no ability to race combo. Looking at your list and then Llawan, we're also noticing the lengths you had to go to in order to deal with TNN, whereas we could have just trampled over for 11 and called it good.
Ponder generally less than optimal in Standstill decks, particularly if you only need to assemble 2 colors, there I would consider +1 Standstill, +3 slots perhaps to Snapcaster. It should be noted that your list is also teetering on the edge of Punishing Fire/Grove/Dack - as in your dedication to Bolt and Koz. Return playsets might just be arbitrarily worse. Crucible is certainly a fun card, and if you're running it you should be moving away from Stifle and instead Ghost Quarter'ing people out of games (GQ as a 1x).
Cryptic Serpent is certainly a card, but then again so is Thing in the Ice. I definitely see what you're doing with the Ponder to fuel the Serpent's discounted cost, but just like Thing in the Ice (in the Dack/P-Fire/Grove shell), your deck is secretly quite weak to yard hate like Leyline/RiP, and you probably want green to answer problems like that. A lot of what you're doing is a confused agglomeration of U/R Delver (where you can't really burn them out), U/Rg TITI (without the core), Blue Moon (you screw up their mana, but you're not casting TNN), and Standstill. The Standstill bit is complex...you have this great plan for wrath the board on opponent EoT, deploy Standstill on your turn - and then what??? You're likely not going to have the stocked yard to go UU Serpent + Standstill only paying 4 mana. So maybe you get the manland down and start beating without running into enemy Wasteland, but say they crack Standstill on your EoT putting you to 10 cards in hand - what are you casting at instant speed; or is the plan really discard 3 instant/sorcs and then next turn start casting UU Serpents discounted by 5? You're absolutely toast if opponent realizes you are harmless without a graveyard.
I will say though that no DnT deck will ever win through 4x Koz. Return and 3x Sulfur Elemental, 4x Bolt, 1x Grim, 1x Cursed Scroll, 1x Izzet Charm, and the Smash x1...good lord, how much DnT is in your meta?These slots need to be shunted into cards that will deal with TNN, and honestly fixing the TNN problem is going to be more important than tackling the confusion of disparate strategies.
I have played this deck for years (also Dreadstill).
This fall I have played three tournaments after a longish break for 4-0 each.
Decklist as follows:
Lands 23
3 Volcanic Island (Played 4 for first 2 tournaments, then put in 1 Conclave)
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarns
3 Other blue fetches
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendillion Clique
1 Nimble Obstructionist
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Standstill
3 Spell Snare
3 Spell Pierce
2 Curfew
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Abrade (Always have run like 4 bolts + some red removal, formerly sudden shock/burst lightning)
1 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Crucible of the worlds (Has been really great)
1 Kozileks Return
1 Counterspell
Sideboard we have:
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Flusterstorm
2 Abrade
1 True-Name Nemesis (Not really sure about if I need this, could also be something else)
2 Sulfur Elemental
1 Dack Fayden (Pet card of mine, does ok against D&T and MUD-type decks)
2 Sower of Temptation (For Eldrazi mainly)
So there's something if you want to try it out. It's very similar to Yan's list, I think he doesn't run the Jace since he don't like planeswalkers.
Cheers,
Jani
Is Nimble Obstructionist really worth it? I thought it would be cute with Standstill but then I realized it was a nonbo. I ask as someone who plays Dreadstill.Originally Posted by syfilisx
Nimble Obstrucionist importantly has flash. While it can save a Factory under Standstill, being able to deploy a 3/1 flyer when they crack Standstill (putting you over 7 in hand) has inherent value. In a Dreadstill list, it would take a slot from either SCM, Grim, or Dreadnought and has to be assessed differently - particularly b/c Dreadstill is a Delver deck.
Has cast it numerous times as beater, cycled it once in 12 matches, ambushing Thalia with Factory when they were attacking with Rishadan Port backup.
Don't know if It's really worth it, but has been nice to deploy it & Vendilion Clique at same time to beat face.
Will continue testing with it.
i find the lack of counterspells and flusterstorms in main deck disturbing :/ I'd also add and blue dual of thrid color just fo EE
There is 1 Counterspell main.
Actually tweaked sideboard a bit and put in 3 Flusterstorm & 2 REB's cutting my old pals Dack Fayden & TNN.
What are your reasonings to play md Flusterstorms and what would you cut for them, also what would you put into sb substituting flusterstorms that are already in main? :)
Me & Yan have played third color for EE for years, now we have been going without. Might still be worth it.
The difference in my list to the one abowe is basically: -1 Wasteland, -1 Jace, -1 Kozileks, -1 Crucible (I have it in the sb) and +1 Conclave, +1 Counterspell and +2 Sudden Shock. SB is technically the same, but I do try out random stuff from time to time, like Control Magic, Submerge, Hydroblast etc.
I used to play 1 Tropical Island for the EE and Ancient Grudge, but Abrade kind of changed that. I already hated to get color skrewed out of blue when someone wasted my Tropical, and Curfew was a neat answer to all those big threats, so cutting the ability to EE for 3 actually never came back to bite me. Nimble Obstructionist is a difficult one though. It has been relevant few times, that you can play them together with Clique, but also for the fact that it only costs a single blue in a deck with 8-9 non-blue lands. I have never cycled it, but I can see it being good for that sometimes too, especially under Standstill.
I top 8ed my latest tournament with the list and everything felt good. I also have a list with TNN instead of the fliers and Curfew, but that one doesn't feel as strong or versatile as this one.
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