Introduction
UR Landstill is THE control deck in Vintage. It runs more counterspells and control elements than any other deck in the format. Forget Turn 1 wins and broken plays - this deck is built to grind out its wins, and does so with superlative efficiency and effectiveness.
If true Vintage control is your style, read on.
History and Evolution
Firstly, I did not invent and popularise this deck. Credit for that should, in my understanding, be attributed to Josh Potucek (oshkoshhaitsuyosh on The Mana Drain and landstillmaniac on The Source), a Vintage player from the United States. Josh has been grinding Standstill in Legacy and Vintage for a long time, and is primarily responsible for the deck's early development and a lot of its early success on the competitive Vintage stage. Josh initially played the deck to respectable finishes in a number of Vintage tournaments in 2009 and 2010, but went on absolute tear in 2011, winning three consecutive Blue Bell Vintage events in July, September, and October and putting the deck well and truly on the map. Josh has gone on to further success with the deck, with numerous Top 4 and Top 2 finishes.
The deck is based around the concept that a playset of Standstill in a Vintage deck essentially allows you to play 5 Ancestral Recall, and this almost always leaves you with more cards in hand than your opponent. It also has at its core an aggressive mana denial strategy - a full playset of Wasteland, a Strip Mine, and at least 2 copies of Crucible of Worlds allow you to take advantage of the sketchy mana bases that abound in Vintage. Manlands, such as Mishra's Factory and Faerie Conclave, have always been present and fit into the deck seamlessly, because they play extremely well with both Standstill (by attacking under it) and Crucible of Worlds (by recurring from the graveyard). Finally, a full complement of Mana Drain, Force of Will, and some number of Red Elemental Blast are the tools the deck uses to dominate the stack.
The evolution of the deck has taken place due to both the printing of new cards and the changes in the metagame. Jace, the Mind Sculptor was adopted soon after its release and now figures as the deck's primary win condition, with manlands now often standing by on guard duty rather than attacking. Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Steel Sabotage, and Mindbreak Trap have been adopted readily to enhance the counter wall the deck can assemble, relegating their predecessors - Mana Leak, Counterspell, and Spell Snare to the trade binder. Fire//Ice and Lightning Bolt used to compete for position, but with the printing of Lodestone Golem and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Lightning Bolt has become a necessity because of its ability to deal with both, as opposed to Fire//Ice, which cannot kill either. Finally, the deck previously used Null Rod to severely punish fully powered decks and Workshops, but the rise of the fish archetype in Vintage - Merfolk, BUG, RUG, GW Hatebears, and Mono White Trash - has seen the vast majority of Landstill pilots turn to Engineered Explosives, which can still deal with the Black Lotus and the Moxen, but can also combat creatures of all shapes and sizes, as well as destroy troublesome permanents such as Oath of Druids, other players' Crucible of Worlds, and one-mana pests such as Fastbond, Sol Ring, and Mystic Remora.
Card discussion and analysis
Lands/Mana
Black Lotus - Enables a Turn 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, or a Turn 1 Standstill with Mana Drain backup. Play it.
Mox Sapphire - Enables a Turn 1 Standstill. Play it.
Mox Ruby - Optional. Some like it, some don't. It gives you more acceleration, but opens you up to being blown out by your own or your opponent's Engineered Explosives or Null Rod. Test it and make the call yourself.
Island - You need basics to play around Wasteland. Play 2 or 3.
Mountain - You need a basic Mountain to ensure that you don't get locked off your Red mana by Fish and Workshop decks. Lightning Bolt, Red Elemental Blast, and your sideboard cards are integral to your success and you need ready access to Red mana to play them. Play 1.
Volcanic Island - In a UR deck, obvious UR land is obvious. Play 3 or 4.
Wasteland - Mana denial is one of the two core strategies of this deck. Play 4.
Strip Mine - It's restricted for a reason - it kills any land. Play it.
Ghost Quarter - For when you really feel like ramping up the land destruction pain. Ghost Quarter with Crucible of Worlds is absolutely brutal, but perhaps overkill in most situations. Not an auto-include, but a very effective card worth serious consideration if the meta favours its use.
Library of Alexandria - Turn 1 Library of Alexandria wins games. It gives you superior card advantage, which is what this deck enjoys. Play it.
Mishra's Factory - The best manland every printed. Play 4.
Faerie Conclave - If you feel Mishra's Factory isn't enough, this is the second best manland available to you. It produces Blue mana, supporting your primary colour, and untaps under Choke for good measure. Not an auto-include, but worth serious consideration if you can fit it in.
Barbarian Ring - Barbarian Ring is amazing with Crucible, amazing with Standstill, and out of this world if you have both. It cleans up nearly all of the creatures regularly played in Vintage, and should seriously be considered as a 1-of.
Academy Ruins - Engineered Explosives lock is the real deal in Vintage, but, again, perhaps overkill in most situations. Not an auto-include, but another seriously effective card.
Counterspells
Force of Will - The best pitch counter ever printed. Play 4.
Mana Drain - The best counterspell ever printed - play 4. Nothing beats Drain into Jace/Crucible to put a smile on your dial.
Misdirection - You want to win the counter wars and steal the occasional Ancestral Recall, and this card helps you do both. Play 2 or more of these.
Mindbreak Trap - The longer the game goes, the better your chances of winning. However, broken stuff on Turn 1 is no good for you. This card stops the shenanigans. Don't be surprised when your friends start playing "Land, Mox, Sol Ring, go" against you because you have blown them out multiple times with this card. You can also hardcast it once you hit 4 mana, which is incredible useful because it allows you to stop uncounterable creatures played off Cavern of Souls. Play some number of these.
Mental Misstep - Counters Ancestral Recall and all manner of other annoying things people do for 1 mana in Vintage, including other Mental Missteps. Play some number of these.
Red Elemental Blast - Counters anything blue, and kills Jace. It also deals with annoying creatures such as Delver of Secrets, Trygon Predator, and Vendilion Clique. Utterly useless against Workshops and the main part of creature decks, but there is enough Blue in the format for that detriment to be outweighed by hosing the big Blue decks game 1. Also, because it is totally dead against some decks, it makes sideboard decisions easy. Play 2.
Spell Pierce - A great one mana counter. You could definitely consider playing some number of these. However, it does lose effectiveness in the late game unless you have some mana denial going on, and you don't always hit Crucible and Wasteland to make mana denial happen. If you don't, it often sits in your hand doing nothing.
Spell Snare - Again, a great one mana counter, because there are heaps of things in Vintage that cost 2 mana that you don't want resolving - Time Vault, Dark Confidant, Demonic Tutor, Time Walk, to name a few. However, a lot of these cards can be dealt with by other counterspells or cards in your deck. Spell Snare is really a metagame call, but if the meta favours its use, Spell Snare is a very powerful card. Bear in mind that a lot of people may start using it against you to combat your Mana Drains and Standstills.
Removal
Lightning Bolt - In the current meta, this card is amazing. It kills Jace if your opponent doesn't ramp it immediately, and deals with nearly all creatures in the format. Play 4.
Fire//Ice - An amazingly useful card in all manner of circumstances, its ability to tap down Blightsteel Colossus and kill two Dark Confidants has now been outweighed by the detriment of it not being to kill either Jace or Lodestone Golem. You could consider playing 1 or 2 of these.
Win conditions
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - A respectable argument could be made that this is the best blue card ever printed. It nets you card advantage, it bounces creatures to draw out the game, and it wins the game for you with its Fateseal ability. Certainly, it is the best win condition available to this deck at the moment, replacing Fact or Fiction in the 4 CMC slot. Play 3 or 4.
Tinker - Because this deck is built to grind, Tinker doesn't fit in well here. You don't have many artifacts you would want to sacrifice to cast it, and if you draw Blightsteel you don't have a hope in hell of hardcasting it, and will find it difficult to shuffle it back into your library. Avoid.
Utility cards
Ancestral Recall - 3 cards for 1 Blue mana? Yes, please! Play it.
Crucible of Worlds - Being able to recur Wasteland/Strip Mine for land destruction locks, manlands for eternal blockers, Barbarian Ring for inevitable death in 2-life increments, and fetchlands to essentially draw 2 cards a turn while thinning your deck, are all amazing things to be doing. Play 2.
Echoing Truth - A great utility card. It deals with Blightsteel Colossus, Jace, Empty the Warrens tokens, and other things you don't want on the battlefield. The deck has a real weakness to a resolved Blightsteel Colossus, so play one of these as a miser's out for it. If you don't bounce Blightsteel with it, you can use it on something else, or pitch it to Force of Will or Misdirection.
Engineered Explosives - Another amazing utility card. Play it proactively on Turn 1 to stop people dumping multiple moxes, or reactively to blow them out when they have done exactly that. Kill creatures and other pesky permanents. Play 3-4 of these.
Null Rod - You don't play many moxes, but other people do. If you want to hose a metagame of Big Blue and Workshops, play this card. Normally not very useful against creatures, so utilise only when the meta is right for it. If you use it, play 3-4.
Steel Sabotage - This nifty one-cost spell counters artifacts like Time Vault, Voltaic Key, Black Lotus, and Blightsteel Colossus, or bounces them once they're on the board. You should seriously consider playing one if you can fit it in your deck.
Brainstorm - You often find that in this deck you want the cards in your hand to actually DO something to something else. Brainstorm doesn't do this, so I don't play it. However, many do. A personal choice.
Time Walk - Usually a USD$600 Explore. Avoid.
Creatures
Snapcaster Mage - Who doesn't want 2 Ancestral Recalls a game? If you're going to play a creature in Landstill (I don't) this would be the one. The number is subject to testing. You can sneak these in EOT before dropping a Standstill for great value.
Trinket Mage - This card needs to come with a package, usually Pithing Needle, Sensei's Divining Top, Relic of Progenitus, and Engineered Explosives. It nets you card advantage by fetching the previously mentioned artifacts and can be bounced by Jace and replayed for more value. It also chump blocks like a champ and occasionally joins Mishra's Factory for a beat session. I haven't tested this card at all, so I can't speak to its effectiveness, and I am looking to other, more experienced pilots for information.
Vendillion Clique - 3 damage per turn plus disruption is great for a control deck, and flash is just gravy, allowing you to sneak it in EOT before a Standstill for a very respectable clock and a frown on your opponent's face.
Sideboard
This deck usually splashes either Green or Black for sideboard hate, but not both.
Ancient Grudge - the ultimate artifact-killing spell, incredible value. Great if you have Red, even better if you have Green, but you can get by without. Bluff Green with a fetchland for ultimate laughs. If you're splashing Green, you should seriously consider playing at least 2 of these. You can even play it maindeck if there are a lot of Workshops or Turbo Tezz decks in your meta.
Firespout - An amazing sweeper that kills almost any creature, and again, one that is still effective even if you only have red mana (hardly anything flies in Vintage). If you use it, play 2-3.
Goblin Welder - I don't have any experience with this as a sideboard card, I only know that some people play it. I would love some insight from other Vintage players as to its effectiveness.
Ingot Chewer - Everyone hates Workshops. Ingot Chewer really hates Workshops. It also hates Bridge from Below if you evoke it! Play 3 or 4.
Viashano Heretic - Smash on a stick. Absolutely brutal if it sticks. Nothing beats that look on a Workshops player's face when you untap with this card - they know they are in a world of pain and that the game is over. Seriously consider playing 1 or 2.
Grafdigger's Cage/Leyline of the Void/Tormod's Crypt/Relic of Progenitus/Yixlid Jailer/Bojuka Bog - Everyone hates Dredge. Play at least 7 of these if you want a positive matchup against Dredge postboard. Ideally, you want one of these hate cards and at least one counterspell in hand. Dredge hate protected by counterspells will win you this matchup.
The Tabernacle at Pendrall Vale - An amazing creature hate card. If only it wasn't so expensive, because you want 2-3 in your sideboard if you're playing it. Effective because it plays with your mana denial strategy. Great because you don't need a splash colour to play it, and it works without you having to cast a spell.
Toxic Deluge - The new sweeper on the block as I write this. Effective at killing any creature in the format if you have enough life. However, you need a Black splash to play it, and with only 4-5 fetchlands and a single Underground Sea for a splash, you could find it stranded in your hand. Firespout is certainly better against anything other than True-Name Nemesis and fatties such as Myr Battlesphere and Blightsteel Colossus. If you are going to play it, consider playing 5 fetchlands and perhaps a second Underground Sea in the sideboard. Play 2-3.
Strategy
The deck wins one of three ways: attacking with manlands, using the ultimate ability of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, or destroying every permanent on your opponent's board so that they simply concede. On the play, keep hands that can ram an early Standstill, Crucible, or Jace with some counter backup, or can be worked into either a Jace or Crucible in the mid game. On the draw, keep hands that have free counterspells.
Match ups
Blue decks (Keeper/Grixis Control/Gush, not including Oath)
Your bread and butter matchup. You should win this matchup most of the time. You are simply doing what they are doing, but better, and with a lot more consistency. You have more counterspells, more lands, and more control elements. Drag this into the mid game and you won't lose many. Be aware that you can get blown out by bonkers Turn 1/2 plays, like early Tinker into Blightsteel Colossus, or Vault/Key. You really don't need to board anything for these matchups, that is how good your deck is against Blue.
Oath
Oath is a Blue deck, but gets its own section because it plays out a little differently to the typical Big Blue control deck. Oath is still a good matchup, but more difficult than regular Blue. An early Oath of Druids or Tinker into Blightsteel will hurt you. Save your Wastelands and Strip Mine for Forbidden Orchard, and remember you can use Lightning Bold and Engineered Explosives to kill Forbidden Orchard Spirit tokens, to prevent Oath from triggering. You should be proactively trying to set EE for 2 to combat Oath, because if you do this, you reduce their win condition to Jace, and they typically only have 2 of these (EE on 2 screws Time Vault too). Again, you don't need to sideboard anything for this matchup, but you can bring in a couple of Grafdigger's Cages if you have them in the Board, taking out a Lightning Bolt or two.
Workshops
Despite popular opinion, this is a positive matchup for you. You have more lands than the average deck, and ways to recur them, which means that more often than not taxing doesn't work on you. You have Lightning Bolts for an early Lodestone Golem and Engineered Explosives for other troublesome permanents. The card you fear the most in this matchup is Crucible of Worlds, followed by Phyrexian Metamorph copying Crucible of Worlds, because this gives the Workshops player instant inevitability against you. However, on the flip side, if you land a Crucible it pretty much gives you the same inevitability. Your plan in this matchup is to keep reasonably land-heavy hands with some way to stop an early broken play of Lodestone Golem or Tinker/Crucible. Ideally, the lands you keep should be basic lands and fetchlands to get basic lands, to protect yourself from being mana screwed through Wasteland. If you succeed in this, your strategy is simply to run them out of cards, land a Jace, and fateseal for the win.
You have an excellent sideboard for this matchup. Take out 2 Red Elemental Blast, 2 Misdirection, 2 Mental Misstep to bring in Ingot Chewers and whatever other hate you are playing.
Dredge
This is a miserable deck to play for anyone except the Dredge player. You won't win game 1 unless you can land a Turn 0 EE and counter their Dread Return while they totally brick on recurring Ichorids and Bloodghasts.
You have a good sideboard for this matchup. Unfortunately, I am not experienced enough with it to know exactly what to take out and bring in. Looking to the more experienced pilots for input.
Creatures
Creature decks are somewhat difficult for you. You need to keep a hand that can deal with at least 2, and preferably 3 creatures in succession, with either counterspells, Lightning Bolt, or Engineered Explosives. If you can do that, you are in with a fighting chance.
Postboard, you want your Firespouts and any other creature hate you have.
Deck Lists
My current deck list (24 January 2014):
Main deck (60)
2 Island
1 Mountain
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Mental Misstep
2 Red Elemental Blast
4 Mana Drain
4 Standstill
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Crucible of Worlds
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Echoing Truth
1 Steel Sabotage
4 Lightning Bolt
Sideboard (15)
4 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Ingot Chewer
2 Viashano Heretic
2 Firespout
Past deck-lists
Main deck (60)
2 Island
1 Mountain
3 Volcanic Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Mental Misstep
2 Red Elemental Blast
4 Mana Drain
4 Standstill
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Crucible of Worlds
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Echoing Truth
1 Steel Sabotage
4 Lightning Bolt
Sideboard (15)
4 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Bokuka Bog
4 Ingot Chewer
2 Viashano Heretic
2 Firespout
Notable finishes for UR Landstill
UR Landstill, 6th out of 47, 28 September 2013
http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/dec...ck=86610<br />
URg Landstill, 4th out of 78, 15 June 2013
http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/dec...8&iddeck=81139
URb Landstill, 3rd out of 321, 19 May 2013
http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/dec...0&iddeck=80066
Last edited by pandaman; 01-26-2014 at 12:25 AM.
Reserved for further expansion of primer.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Thanks for the primer pandaman. Let me be the first one to start the discussion. Why do you prefer the red version over the white version? With white you get RiP against Dredge and Batterskull against the fish decks. Also with Merfolk winning the champs and TNN starting to be played in the format, what are the tools at UR's disposal to play control against threats which are not vulnerable to point removal?
Legacy: Rituals
Vintage: Drains
The primer is coming along, I still have a bit of work to do though!Originally Posted by Higgs
Let me first say that I think UW Landstill is a good deck. However, I believe it is inferior to UR Landstill for a number of reasons.
Firstly, Lightning Bolt is better than Swords to Plowshares in Vintage, because Bolt can kill Jace, and deal direct damage to players. Although Swords can deal with Blightsteel Colossus, the utility of Lightning Bolt makes it a better choice.
Secondly, UW Landstill doesn't tend to run Engineered Explosives, which leaves it with absolutely no outs to a resolved Time Vault. Not to mention Oath of Druids. UW just flat out loses to those two cards if they resolve. UR, with EE as a 3-of, can proactively set EE for 2 so even if one slips through your counters, you can handle it. Alternatively, you can play it out afterwards (not if they already have Voltaic Key of course!).
Thirdly, UW doesn't have Red Elemental Blast, which absolutely hoses Blue decks, and kills Jace for good measure.
Fourthly, UR has better sideboard cards for the Workshops matchup. Ingot Chewer is pretty much the best hate available against Shops, and Ancient Grudge is better value than Disenchant by a mile. Not to mention the joy of untapping with a Viashano Heretic! UW Shops hate just doesn't compare.
Fifthly, UW gets multiple copies of Stoneforge Mystic stuck in hand, and with only one Brainstorm in Vintage, it is hard to get rid of them. UR doesn't have as many of the types of cards you dont want to see multiples of.
Sixthly, UW doesn't run Crucible of Worlds, which means you lose an entire angle of attack on the format: recurring land destruction.
Having said all that, UW does have a few areas in which it is better than UW.
Firstly, it plays Snapcaster Mage, which is excellent value. Secondly, it plays Batterskull, which pretty much means you don't lose to creature decks and gives you a pretty good preboard Shops matchup. Thirdly, you run Spell Snare, which is an absolute pain in the butt counter in Vintage, and I hate running my Mana Drain into it.
However, although there advantages of UW, I prefer the overall versatility and robustness of UR.
Turning to True-nam Nemesis, well that is an annoying card. Fortunately UR has its counter wall and EE to deal with it. I admit I haven't given it further thought yet, and also that I haven't tested against it yet, but if it proves too much are board UR might need to consider something like Skullcrack when it attacks or blocks, so you can kill it with a Bolt or Factory. At least I hope that works like I think it works.... I will get back to you on this one!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
I've come to bump this topic and talk about adjustments that may be necessary to the deck to improve its matchup against the Vintage Worlds Fish list. Taking suggestions, which at this point include putting Dismember maindeck, having 3 slots sideboard dedicated to creature hate, and running a single Faerie Conclave to have 3 non-island Blue sources.
Well I play 3 Explosives main deck together with 4 Bolts obviously, creature.decks are not that scary, really. I can see an additional Dismember if your meta has a consistent aggro presence. Any 2 copies of Pyroclasms/ Anger of the Gods/ Volcanic Fallout / Slagstorm are a staple in my sb.
Are you into Jazz? Have a look at the Lp's I have for sale on Discogs!
kiblast, thanks for the reply. I too play 3 Engineered Explosives and 4 Lightning Bolts maindeck, but the matchup still troubles me. I board in 2 Firespout, which I believe is better than Pyroclasm (3 damage vs 2) and Anger of the Gods (only 1 red mana needed as opposed to 2) but I find that it's just not enough, especially with the Islandwalk lords nulliifying the usually incredible recurring Mishra's Factory chump blocks. However, I agree that 2 creature sweepers are a stable in the sideboard also.
To illustrate, I got crushed last Friday night by the deck, and it didn't even sideboard!
I think I will sneak a singleton Dismember in maindeck, and another Firespout in the sideboard, and will report back with testing results. I think those two additional cards should hedge the matchup further in my favour.
What do you think of a singleton Faerie Conclave for a non-island Blue source?
Please keep me up to date with your testing against the matchup as well!
We have kicked off weekly unsanctioned, unlimited proxy Vintage here in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, to prepare for next months' inaugural Vintage League. It happens on Fridays, and last night 12 people came out of the woodwork to do battle. I brought URg Landstill to battle, and went 2-1-1, coming 5th.
4 Standstill
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Steel Sabotage
1 Echoing Truth
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Mental Misstep
2 Red Elemental Blast
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
3 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
Sideboard:
4 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Ingot Chewer
2 Viashano Heretic
2 Firespout
Round 1 v BR Moon Man - "Briz-Burn" - Win 2-0
Game 1. My opponent is on the play, and leads with a Turn 1 Null Rod. It doesn't affect me much, because I have Bolt, Force, Standstill, Echoing Truth, and EE in hand, as well as lands, including a Mishra's Factory. I play out a Turn 2 Standstill and start beating with my Mishra's factory. When he breaks it, I have a Drain for his Magus of the Moon, and use the mana next turn to play a Jace and another Standstill. He scoops them up.
Sideboard - -2 Mindbreak Trap, +1 Ingot Chewer, +1 Viashano Heretic. I figure he plays a lot of Chalice, Null Rod, and other artifacts, so these would be more live than the Traps, also because he doesn't go broken Turn 1.
Game 2. My opponent is on the play again, and lays Mountain and Black Lotus into Chandra Pyromancer! Wow, wasn't expecting that one! No Force of Will, so Chandra resolves, and she starts pinging me for 1. However, I also have a Turn 1 planeswalker, going Island and Black Lotus into Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Wait, didn't they make a duel deck for this? I start Fatesealing right away, and the game goes on a little with both of us ticking our respective planeswalkers over. The main difference, however, is that I was hitting my land drops and he wasn't. Eventually he ultimates Chandra, sending a hail of Pyroblasts at Jace, which, although he cracked one of my Standstills in doing so, I can't stop. However, I can land a Crucible of Worlds the next turn to get some serious inevitability going, and when a second Jace comes down he extends his hand.
Round 2 vs UW Bomberman with Restoration Angel - Draw 1-1-1
Game 1. On the draw, I open a strange hand of triple Force 4 land, and since this is all in the name of testing, decide to keep. Of course, I hit land drops for 6 turns in a row while drawing into more counterspells, leading to an epic war over a Sensei's Divning top (of all things) in which I manage to drain a Force to enable me to start Turn 7 with an amazing 12 mana available in my first main phase. However, the slight catch is that I haven't drawn anything to use that mana for, so I simply sit there without business while he topdecks a Trinket Mage and Restoration Angel and swings for the win.
Sideboard - -2 Mindbreak Trap, -1 Mana Drain, -1 Steel Sabotage, +2 Firespout, +2 Tormod's Crypt. I haven't played this matchup before, but I knew I wanted to force him to play either Jace or beatdown win, rather than going off infinite, and Crypt stops that.
Game 2. I take the play and open a really strong hand of Turn 1 Jace, which gets Forced. However, I have the cards coming with a Turn 2 Standstill, from which he never recovers.
Game 3. Back on the draw, this turns into the game from hell, where I end up on the Crucible-Factory-Strip-Waste plan, but facing down ALL 4 OF HIS JACES, meaning that I can't get Strip going because I have to keep pressure on with Mishra's Factory to prevent Jace from running away with the game. This hinders my mana development, and I am not helped by drawing land after land. Meanwhile, he is using his Jaces to gain incremental card advantage, and Trinket Mages to chump block my Factory beats while fishing out Tops, Moxen, and Aether Spellbombs (which also bounce my Factories). Eventually we go to turns, and he's at 5 life with a Mana Crypt. However, he drops an Auriok Salvagers and StP's one of my factories, meaning my only play for the win is to get him low enough that his Mana Crypt will kill him. He has the Steel Sabotage and we go to the draw.
Round 3 vs Mega Mana MUD (BoM winning list).
Game 1 - On the play, I open my THIRD first turn Jace of the night. However, it very nearly doesn't get there, having to go all the way to 1 loyalty to bounce the constant stream of Metalworkers, Lodestone Golems, and Forgemasters he plays. However, timely Bolts and Engineered Explosives clear the way, at the expense of a sacrificial Crucible on my side (worth it to take 2 Metalworkers and a Trinisphere), and I eventually run him out of cards and fateseal to victory.
Sideboard - -2 REB, -2 Mental Misstep, -2 Misdirection +4 Ingot Chewer, +2 Viashano Heretic
Game 2, I keep a one lander. A loose keep. I don't know what I was thinking - probably of the 5 hours sleep I was going to get before having to wake up at 5:15am to go running. I lose in short order to Lodestone Golem beats.
Game 3. I keep a good hand with Bolt, Firespout, and Mishra's Factory. Unfortunately for me, he keeps a Workshop hand AND RIPS TWO MORE IN THE FIRST TWO TURNS to totally blow me out with Sundering Titan Turn 3, in addition to Thorn of Amethyst, Chalice for 1 before that, and Steel Hellkite the turn after. Goodbye my 3-0-1 dream! He goes on to win the tournament.
Round 4 vs Slivers
Game 1, he's on the play. He states he thinks Slivers is a bad matchup for me. I retort telling him he's playing a strictly worse Merfolk deck. I can get away with such comments because I have a tripe Bolt REB Standstill hand. I mop up in short order with double Factory under Standstill.
Sideboard - -2 Mindbreak Trap, +2 Firespout
Game 2, I am on the draw, but with this ridiculousness: Volcanic, Factory, Recall, Standstill, REB, Misdirection, Blue Card. I draw 6 cards in a turn and lock him out with Crucible-Strip Mine.
All in all, a really fun night, and great to see lots of people getting out and playing Vintage. Even if it is proxy, they're going to the effort of looking up decks online, printing them out and coming along. We play at the same time as FNM and Draft are going on, so if they weren't interested in the format they could just be playing in one of those events. It's really positive that people are willing to experiment with Eternal formats. Legacy has come a long way in Brisbane in the past 2 years, and we now average 25 people at our weekly 4-round events with many different competitive archetypes represented. I would venture to say that we have the best Legacy scene in Australia, and we are up there with the best in the southern hemisphere. Furthermore, there are now 10 players in Brisbane who can field fully powered unproxied Vintage decks. The end goal is to have Brisbane recognised up there with Melbourne as the two main centres for Vintage action in Australia. Watch out Victorians, we're coming for you, starting with GP Melbourne next month!
I think the deck is working well at the moment. I always feel confident against Workshops, but that is the first time I've played against the Metalworker version, and I feel that Landstill is softer to it than to the more prison-style Workshop builds, because we can simply play their mana denial game as effectively, or more effectively, than they can. With the Metalworker build, it's bomb, bomb, bombs, making the hands you want to keep a bit different. Knowing this, I think I will have a much better time against the deck when next I sit across from it.
The BomberMan matchup draw was a shame, because there was actually a play in the mid-game that, after I made it, I sat back and exclaimed that it would lose me the match. I had just landed a Crucible, had a Wasteland and two Mishra's Factories on the Board, as well as 2 blue mana sources. I hadn't played a land for the turn, and had a Strip Mind sitting in the graveyard and a Mana Drain in hand. He had a Jace on the Board that had brainstormed the previous turn and was on 3 loyalty, and 3 lands in play, I believe. I animated both Mishra's Factories and killed Jace. Next turn, he played another Jace. Eventually I dealt with that one, but he played his third and fourth, and as I wrote above, the fourth one stuck around long enough to take over. The continual Jaces forced me to continue to swing with Mishra's Factory past that point, and to replay them from the graveyard when they got killed by Trinket Mage blocks. In hindsight, swinging with Mishra's Factories to kill his first Jace was the INCORRECT PLAY given the board state. I believe I should have Wastelanded one of his lands, played Strip Mind from the graveyard and Strip Mined another land, left Mana Drain up, and delayed swinging at Jace until the next turn. The next turn, I could have replayed Strip Mine and taken his third and last last. Then, with 2 Mishra's Factory and Crucible on the board, Jace wouldn't have bothered me that much, because he would have been forced to dig for lands and not spells, and I would have easily been able to take the game. I should have focused on what I needed to do to win the game - abuse Crucible to destroy his mana - rather than dealing with Jace in the short term. I had plenty of time to do that, given the board state.
Lessons you learn. But good lessons!
Bump. Revised primer, correcting some typographical errors and improving grammar.
Is anyone else playing this deck? If so, please chime in with your thoughts on the primer!
Hey!
Firstly, I thought you were referring to BUG Fish not Merfolks. I agree that Merfolks is hard because of island walk… but I'm afraid you can't dodge islandwalking the vast majority of the time (unless you have really fast hands that let you establish a board quickly). Even with Conclave you can't avoid deploying islands. I play Conclave every now and then, but I don't really feel it's needed. It's a nice card but I think another fetch land or Ring are generally better.
You should have 3 Reb in your sb though, they help. :D
Anyway yeah Firespout is probably your best bet, just hope they're not too brutal g2...
I just noticed that in your most updated list you play a really high counter spells count, including an unusual 6 package of pitch spells. Isn't that a bit greedy? I agree that you want to maximize your possibility of being able to counter/misdirect stuff when they crack Stadstill, but 6 pitch counters is a lot. Also regarding Mindbreak and Reb, do you really feel you need 2 copies each main deck? Your spell suite seem mostly geared towards combo- control match ups. Snapcaster Mage is an interesting choice for your flex slots as might give you 1 turn more vs. Aggro, recycling Bolts and chump blocking, sometimes acting as an Ambush Viper vs. small critters, and finally has obvious synergies with the deck.
Also, why no md Ancient Grudge instead of Sabotage? The only thing that Sabotage does better than Grudge is dealing with Tinker Bot, but generally UR landstill has enough tools/CA town counter wars when broken plays, like fast tinkers, happen. Grudge should also be present in your sideboard as an additional 1-2 of…
I recently saw a Gush Landstill list online… it was interesting. I'm still playing the deck every now and then online, but I don't have the chance to play it live since Vintage doesn't exist in my area. I'll try to come up with a more refined list in the next few days so I can show you where I'm at right now.
Are you into Jazz? Have a look at the Lp's I have for sale on Discogs!
kiblast, good to hear from you. I play 2 REB maindeck, but I think a third in the sideboard may be something to think about if Merfolk continues to trouble me. Or perhaps a third Firespout. No one was playing it at last Friday's weekly so I didn't get a chance to test it again.
About counters: essentially, I want more than any other deck in the format, and I want them to all be hard counters. In the Australian metagame, Workshops aren't a big force, the most popular decks are Big Blue decks and combo decks, with creatures rising in popularity. My list is definitely geared to our particular meta. I find that the 6 pitch spells, 2 Traps, and 2 REBs gives you excellent staying power early game, and the card disadvantage is more than recouped once you land a Standstill or an Engineered Explosives to mox wipe. I feel uncomfortable in playing any less than that.
Ancient Grudge is something I hadn't explored. I agree, it seems better than Steel Sabotage! I might go down to 3 Ingot Chewer in the board and put in an Ancient Grudge, then postboard against Workshops I would have 3 Ingot Chewer, 2 Ancient Grudge, and 1 Viashano Heretic. I never even considered that, thanks!
The Gush Landstill list you saw is one a couple of the Melbourne guys - Josh and Jimbo - have been developing. I haven't tested it, but it seems to be putting up results for them!
Look forward to seeing your list, mate!
I've gone back to URg Landstill recently, for lack of 2 Tabernacles I would need to play with the Black splash. Now have 3 Firespout in the sideboard because of the Vintage Champs winning Merfolk list being around the traps.
Only change to maindeck is -1 Steel Sabotage +1 Misty Rainforest. I just needed a tiny extra boost to land count and access to Blue mana early, and the Misty provides.
Brisbane's inaugural Vintage League kicks off this coming week, very excited to be playing a serious Vintage match every week! First prize Mox Emerald, then a FBB Mana Crypt and 2 JtMS! Nice for a 24 player league!
wo weekends ago, I played URg Landstill to a 3-3 finish at the GP Melbourne Vintage side event.* I started 3-0, dropped my 4th round to God-draws from Grixis Control, punted the 5th against BG Hex-Depths, and won, but conceded, the 6th round, because I had a plane to catch and couldn't stick around for the Top 8.* My list was:
Maindeck
2 Island
1 Mountain
3 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Standstill
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Echoing Truth
2 Crucible of Worlds
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Engineered Explosives
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Mental Misstep
2 Mindbreak Trap
4 Mana Drain
Sideboard
4 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Ingot Chewer
1 Viashano Heretic
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Firespout
I played pretty tight Magic in the first three rounds, beating Gush Delver 2-0, Noble Fish 2-0, and Remora Control 2-0.* Grixis God-drawed me in the first game to beat me 0-2 (Turn 1 Jace, then Turn 1 Strip Mine on my Library of Alexandria in the 2nd game), and I punted the 5th round against BG Depths, Draining a Bob when I had a Barbarian Ring with Threshold on the board, causing me to lose to the follow-up YawgWill.* 6th round I played TurboTezz, against a friend who always seems to draw all the FoWs and Misdirections he needs to get big things through my counter-wall, and I managed to draw and cast all 4 JtMs's in my deck, finally sticking the fourth one, which netted me the match win (even though I cracked my own Standstill with a REB!).* I conceded to him because I had the best resistance of the bracket and he jumped into Top-8 in my stead.* Looking at the matchups in the Top 8, I think if I had been able to stay I would have had a reasonable crack at taking the entire thing down, I fancy Landstill has a reasonable shot at beating all the Top-8 decks.
So playing fair Magic in Vintage isn't quite dead.* I'll be continuing the Landstill crusade in the local Vintage league (I'm 2-1 at the moment) and also at the Bazaar of Moxen in Annecy in May this year.* I will be chasing more pimp for the deck - at GP Melbourne I fully foiled the sideboard, and I now only need 2 Foil Unhinged Island, 4 Foil Scalding Tarn, 1 Foil Misty Rainforest, 1 Foil Misdirection, and 3 Foil Wasteland (FNM Foil) to completely shine-ify it.* After that, a move needs to be made on some FBB German Volcs, a Trop, and a playset of Forces**So if you're in Anncey, hit me up and say hello, I'll (probably) be one of only two Australians there! I am frantically studying French, so please bear with me when you chat to me!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
A version of U/R Landstill was played to a 3rd place finish at the Pandemonium NYSE II Qualifier. Here's the list:
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterflux
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Noxious Revival
1 Turn // Burn
3 Flusterstorm
3 Mental Misstep
4 Force of Will
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Ponder
1 Time Walk
4 Standstill
1 Ral Zarek
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
3 Mishra's Factory
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
5 Island
Sideboard:
3 Ingot Chewer
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Aetherize
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Turn // Burn
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ral Zarek
There are some very interesting individual card choices here, and I really like how the deck try tries to utilize the red and blue card pool to its limit without having to splash for a third color (Noxious Revival aside). Without splashing green, the deck is unquestionably more vulnerable to Oath.
Here are the cards that stand out to me:
Counterflux - An uncounterable Mindreak Trap without the alternate casting cost, that doesn't exile. This is a strong card that shuts down storm and any must-answer bombs. It doesn't have the "Gotcha!" ability of Mindbreak Trap to counter something like a Necro, played off of a Ritual and Jet on turn 1. Trap is better when drawn off of a Standstill trigger (except in the case of EoT Mystical/Brainstorm). They are both vulnerable to Thoughtseize.
Turn // Burn - Similar to Fire // Ice, but more control and less tempo. The red side can't live the dream and 2-for-1 a pair of Bobs, but the blue side has a lot more potential. Instead of just tapping it down, Turn lets you block and kill a Blightsteel Colossus. It doesn't cantrip, however, so it's dead if you need to dig for something.
Bonfire of the Damned - An alternative to Engineered Explosives in a two color deck. Your main targets with sweepers are Fish critters, zombies, and goblin tokens. Bonfire might be slightly better at dealing with Fish especially if miracle'd or cast with Lotus/Sol Ring (Mana Drain?), and you avoid collateral damage with Delver and Snapcaster. However, it sucks to draw it off of Standstill. It's a turn slower against tokens (2 against zombies), and it doesn't deal with True Name Nemesis, which the deck has no other outs to. It also doesn't destroy Oath or MUD pieces. Firespout and/or EE are probably better.
Ral Zarek - Is it better than Jace #4? I remember when Ral Zarek was spoiled, I thought it was an inferior Ajani Vengeant. The +1 doesn't keep the target tapped, and the -2 doesn't gain life. But a key difference is that Ral starts at 4 loyalty instead of 3, which means you can bolt twice without having to use the +1. Moreover, the untap part of the +1 is quite flexible and can be used on things like Sol Ring or Mishra's Factory. The ultimate is also quite strong if you ever use it. Sure you can whiff, but you have a 66% chance of getting 2 or more turns (and two or more extra ability activations if he wasn't sacrificed).
That said, I think Dack Fayden might have more potential as a secondary planeswalker. He looks very strong against MUD and Tezzerator.
Aetherize - An echoing truth that doesn't target, but costs 1 more. Meh.
Delver of Secrets - The best creature printed in a long time, and very strong under a Standstill. The instant/sorcery count is a bit light at 20, though.
Snapcaster Mage - Solid inclusion.
What's missing? Mana Drain, Crucible, EE, Lightning Bolt... These have all been discussed. Is 3-4 Drain really mandatory in this deck? I'm not sure that should be the rule. It's wonderful with Jace, FoF, and Crucible (if you resolve it) but is that enough? Cheaper, situational counters like Flusterstorm, Spell Pierce, Mental Misstep, and other hard counters like Counterflux and Mindbreak Trap are competing for those permission slots.
We've seen some interesting new cards released in the last couple of blocks. Will they see more play?
Last edited by keys; 05-16-2014 at 09:19 AM.
How does this deck in some parallel universe even exist in a format like Vintage with absolutely *zero* graveyard hate?
That's a clear-cut mistake, no matter what.
There's a multitude of incorrect meta assumptions made in that Delver-Still list. As someone who plays in his meta and has been playing Vintage since 2001, I'd argue he got to top 8 by sheer pairing luck and the fact that he is (from my understanding) a relatively solid player in non eternal formats.
nice, playing R not because of bolts... Thats new.
I haven’t been doing too well with Landstill after my (constructive) Top 8 at GP Melbourne. I didn’t make Top 8 of the Brisbane Vintage League, losing to RUG, Esper StoneBlade, and Griselbrand Oath, I went an embarassing 4-5 at the Bazaar of Moxen Vintage event, and I have been getting crushed by pretty much everything I have been casually testing against. Some of this is, of course, because I have been making bad plays. At GP Melbourne, I could have been a lock for an ID into the Top 8 if I had used my active Barbarian Ring against Charlie’s Dark Confidant instead of Mana Draining it, wasting a counter and leaving me unable to answer his game-winning Yawgmoth’s Will the next turn. At BoM I made all sorts of horrible misplays that I don’t even want to remember. All of this may indeed have had a negative effect on my confidence with the deck. However, the inescapable fact is that the deck as I’m currently running it doesn’t quite fit with the current Vintage metagame. Specifically, it doesn’t deal well with True-Name Nemesis, creatures, or MUD of any kind.
So, it’s time for a change and, unfortunately, sacrificing percentage points in the deck’s best matchup: Big Blue.
Mainboard (60)
2 Island
1 Mountain
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Mishra’s Factory
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Mental Misstep
1 Misdirection
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Spell Pierce
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Standstill
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Steel Sabotage
1 Dismember
1 Toxic Deluge
Sideboard (15)
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
3 Ingot Chewer
1 Steel Sabotage
2 Viashano Heretic
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Engineered Explosives
The mainboard changes explained:
-1 Misdirection, -1 Mindbreak Trap, -1 Mental Misstep, -1 Red Elemental Blast
All of these cards, there for the Big Blue matchup, were hindering my preboard MUD matchup considerably, and had to be cut to make room to add cards that improve other matchups.
+1 Spell Pierce
A more versatile counter than any of the above, and not as dead against Shops Game 1 while still being good against Blue.
1 Snapcaster Mage
I have been on the fence about Tiago, but I think he might be the x factor the deck needs, and he can be rebought with Jace for value.
-1 Echoing Truth +1 Hurkyl’s Recall
No one plays Empty the Warrens, and 4 Bolt, 1 Dismember, and 1 Snapcaster Mage shores up the creature matchup enough to remove it. I have seen Hurkyl’s own MUD so many times now that I can’t resist it. It deals with Myr Battlesphere a lot better, too.
+1 Dismember
Shores up the creature matchup and kills Lodestone Golem and Steel Hellkite.
+1 Steel Sabotage
Great in the MUD-infested meta we currently occupy, and counters Time Vault.
+1 Toxic Deluge
There are creatures, including TNN, everywhere in Vintage right now.
The sideboard changes explained:
-1 Bojuka Bog +1 Hurkyl’s Recall
Dredge is on the decline, so I am skimping on hate for it, pure and simple. See above for commentary on Hurkyl’s Recall
-1 Steel Sabotage +1 Viashano Heretic
Heretic is a much better option and I really don’t ever see myself losing the MUD matchup if I draw one. And that is saying something.
-1 Toxic Deluge +1 Engineered Explosives
This gives me the option of a full playset of EE postboard.
Do you consider tabernacle as a sideboard card against creature decks, especially agaisnt young pyromancer or dredge?
Team Blood, Beijing.
Currently play: Sneaky Show/ Lands
Most decks do not care about Tabernacle. The problem with Landstill is that it's very much a meta dependant control list. The modern Vintage landscape has evolved to a point where efficient creature strategies force too many concessions on an engine like Standstill. Frankly, at least in the NE of the United States and from what I can tell most of Europe, one would be hard pressed to actually run Standstill.
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