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Thread: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

  1. #1

    [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Welcome to Stasis Control!

    First, this is certainly not a tier 1 deck. It might be tier 2 in certain metas and definitely has good matchups. The deck has some serious weaknesses: Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, Wasteland locks (single Wastelands are usually fine) and the dreaded Abrupt Decay (seriously, this should have been a sorcery!) to name a few. So if you really want to make the top 8, this deck is probably not for you.

    The Heart:
    This Stasis variant wants to resolve Stasis as consistently and best protected as possible.

    Stasis does amazing things for control. It is mana denial and aggro denial in one card. For that reason, one could argue that Stasis is the single most powerful control card in magic. The card has a serious drawback though: It's upkeep.
    Cantrips really suck if the board is under Stasis rules so if you search for a way to punish cantrip abuse, you might want to try Stasis.

    The Engine:
    There are currently two really great cards to permanently break the synergy of Stasis. The most important one is

    It costs only one mana to drop, untaps your creatures and sustains Stasis indefinitely. Always play 4 and always also play 4 Tropical Islands. It has one serious downside though: You cannot free up additional Mana while sustaining Stasis under the Ranger alone. Forsaken City or a mana dork fix this though. A noteworthy variant is the Scryb Ranger. Being light on mana costs is very important for this deck as we will see in the section critical mass, so the Quirion Ranger will be our Nr. 1 choice to sustain Stasis. Don't forget that a Ranger can untap a dork at instant speed. Use this for emergency counterspells, Brainstorms and Stasis upkeep after Wastelands.


    This card can sustain Stasis on it's own as well. This time though, the disadvantage is that you cannot fill your hand. A big advantage of the Forsaken City is, that you only need 2 other cards to drop the Stasis. It has great synergies with Daze and Thwart but can ultimately only be a temporary solution during a game because you will run out of counterspells.

    Critical Mass!

    One very important aspect of optimizing the deck is Critical Mass. If you play Stasis with a Ranger you need 3 mana producing cards, Stasis and the Ranger. Considering a turn 3 Stasis, that is 5 cards total out of 9 drawn on the play. Whenever you consider a card for your list, think about how many cards you need to make Stasis work and how many cards you will have left. For example: If you try to play a pre Stasis Ral Zarek (turn 4), you need 7 cards total out of 10 drawn on the play.
    Remember that your opponent isn't doing nothing in the meantime. Out of experience you probably want two counterspells, one of which will probably require you to pitch a card. Every now and then you will have to mull or play an Enlightened Tutor to find Stasis. That leaves very little room for other cards in the turn 3 Stasis example. So if you found a new cool card for your Stasis list, do the counting first and see if it really is that helpful (e.g. Exploration, more on that later).

    Think Stasis!

    A sustained Stasis changes the rules of Magic in a very fundamental way. Under Forsaken City: 1 Mana <=> 1 Card. Under Ranger with Dork: 1 Mana <=> 1 Turn.

    Have a little faith (and luck)!

    Like I said, this deck is not tier 1. You will find yourself in situations where you know you need to play Stasis but have no way to sustain it. But maybe something will turn up. I often find myself not countering removal for my only Ranger knowing that I need the counterspell to bring Stasis into play. Gitaxian Probe helps to play correctly. You should also tap the Forsaken City first under Stasis and get a feeling whether you should keep the Noble Hierarch or that Land untapped for the next upkeep (most of the time tap the Hierarch).
    I also rarely mull for Stasis or a Tutor if I have a cantrip and just hope the deck gives me one.

    Core Card Choices:

    Enlightened Tutor:
    This card is obviously good because it finds Stasis quickly and allows for a toolbox sideboard. It also helps against discard. The card disadvantage hurts but there isn't a better alternative.

    Daze:
    This card is great in many decks. But for us, it is truly amazing. Under Stais, a tapped land is a dead card anyway and casting Daze under Forsaken City gets that card into your hand so you can play it untapped. In a Forsaken City Stasis environment Daze often reads: Counter target spell, draw a card. It is often beneficial to play Daze even if your opponent can pay the mana just to have him spend it. Note that this works for your opponent too, so it is sometimes preferable not to play a spell so your opponent can't Daze to free mana.

    Force of Will:
    Force of Will is just amazing. The card disadvantage can hurt at times, especially under Forsaken City, but it's still too good to pass up on. In fact I also advise to expand your free counters with Misdirection.

    Brainstorm:
    Yes, cantripping under Stasis is usually a bad deal. Due to the way the deck works, you will draw into quite some redundancies though. So shuffling cards away pre Stasis and enhancing the odds to find Stasis is great. Also, if you have a running engine with Stasis in play, this helps find the counterspell you so desperately need in some situations. It also helps with discard. In my testings, Ponder was not quite as good so I didn't include it (yet).

    Thwart:
    This card allows us to play additional Dazes. It is really amazing if you cannot find a Ranger and need to work with Forsaken City (Counter target spell, draw three cards!). You also sometimes want to drop an additional land to sustain Stasis instead of using the Ranger, just to enable this card. Unlike Daze, it can't be played around.

    Noble Hierarch:
    Dorks work as acceleration and Ranger fix. Noble Hierarch is the prime choice because it allows faster kills. I had plenty of games where a 2/2 Quirion Ranger was killing my opponent. If you are playing under Stasis, it is usually a good idea to keep the Noble Hierarch tapped instead of a land. He can be untapped with a Ranger at instant speed and if you have just one mana open (you sometimes need to do risky Stasis plays), most decks have an easier time removing the untapped Dork then the untapped land.

    Stifle:
    Multi-Purpose defence. You will find good targets for this, Wasteland is the most obvious one. Keeping your opponent off mana while under Stasis is another. SFM, Needle, Revoker, Vial, Pridemage, Miracle triggers, cheating Stasis past Counterbalance are other examples for good uses. Don't use Stifle like a tempo deck, use it defensively.


    Derevi, Empyrial Tactician:
    This card is important for the deck because we need a tool to prevent our opponent from just playing really slow draw-go the first few turns and keeping lots of mana open. It also seals the deal as a win condition because she can keep your opponent from Abrubt Decay or Krosan Grip mana with a ranger. When it comes into play, it can tap a blocking Tombstalker or other nasty, untapped blockers that would prevent us from winning otherwise.
    Note that the card really only costs 2 mana in most circumstances because you need one mana open at the beginning of your next upkeep anyway. Also note that Derevi needs a Ranger to tap out your opponent, otherwise she just has vigilance (which is still good).

    Extended Card Choices:

    Sterling Grove:
    Another Abrupt Decay defence. It is considerably slower then E.Tutor when finding Stasis but it is tutor-able itself if you can spare the mana. I'm not sure this is a useful one off but it did help me occasionally. It is also the only Krosan Grip defence we have. If you don't want to play it maindeck, you should at least put it into the Sideboard (and play one more E.Tutor main deck).

    Spellpierce, Divert and Flusterstorm are the next best choices for protection after the free counters. The mana cost is a downer but sometimes they complement the core counterspell suite very well. Personally, I think Spellpierce is the best general choice (mostly because it hits Planeswalkers) while Divert is better against discard and Abrupt Decay. Flusterstorm is good against storm combo and settles counter wars. Adjust to your meta!

    Gitaxian Probe is a recent tech of mine. Stasis has some combo elements to it's strategy. Gitaxian Probe helps you to play correctly in some situations. It also reduces your total deck size to virtually 56. I know it is not the same because you increase blind draws on mulligans but it still allowed me to cut an Enlightened Tutor (it is statistically the same chance to find Stasis). It helps with overall consistency of the deck. The life loss is only very very rarely relevant.

    Ancestral Vision helps a lot with card disadvantage and critical mass. Being down a card for 4 turns is definitely a downside but it helped me a lot in recent testings.

    Misdirection/Divert:
    Abrupt Decay can't be countered but it can be Misdirected. Misdirecting a Hymn is also very neat and can very well determine the winner of a game. It also works just as well as FoW/Spell Pierce in counter wars. Hope your opponent decided to bring Pyroblast over REB. I think a few copies main-deck are vital nowadays with all the Abrubt Decays around.

    Frequently suggested cards:

    In Stasis threads I see some cards suggested over and over. I will go into detail here and explain why I do not play them.

    Planeswalkers, cards like Garruk Wildspeaker and Ral Zarek have great effects for our strategy. I still wouldn't think about playing them though. The reason is their high casting cost. Scenario 1: You want to play them before Stasis. This will usually delay your Stasis till turn 4 at least, which is simply too late in many scenarios. You also need more critical mass to get Stasis into play because you need at least 4 mana producing cards (which means you also need more lands in total).
    Scenario 2: You want to play them after Stasis. Well if you can free up 4 mana under Stasis, you don't need more mana, you need a win condition. In that case Derevi, Empyrial Tactician just does a better job. He wins faster, taps out your opponent and costs virtually 2 mana.

    Stoneforge Mystic with Sword of Feast and Famine might seem a good option too. I think they are not for of the same reasons Planeswalkers are not. In terms of turns to get it into play, SFM and Sword is faster then a Planeswalker but also easier to hate. I still think it isn't fast enough. If you already have Stasis in play, Derevi is again the better card.

    Exploration has been played in previous Stasis lists to success but I think it is win more. Yes, Exploration gives turbo charged starts but it is a card that does not protect Stasis and does not produce mana by itself. If you compare it to a dork, both allow you to free mana with a Ranger, but you can untap the dork at instant speed if you need mana urgently. The final, and most important argument is, that a dork adds more mana to turn 3 Stasis scenarios with 2 lands. Exploration does not contribute to critical mass, the dork does.

    Bounce strategies like Vedalken Mastermind are very vulnerable to counterspell disruption. Your opponent will usually have all the time in the world to gather all the (free) counterspells in his deck. Playing a bounce strategy does not only mean you have to win the initial counterspell war over Stasis, but you have to be ahead in counterpells all game. Your opponent will also always be able to free up mana with Daze. Lastly, you need 3 mana to initiate a Vedalken Mastermind when under Stasis with Forsaken City, Quirion Ranger only requires 1. That is a huge difference, the Mastermind isn't really an out when clinging on to Stasis under Forsaken City.

    Hardlock strategies using cards like Root Maze have the weakness of being 3 card combos. They also tend to shut down your Quirion Ranger, imho the best way to break the Stasis synergy. You will have to invest more heavily into the engine making your more complex engine even more vulnerable to disruption. Kismet and Frozen Aether are too expensive, again Derevi just does a good enough job and wins the game in one card.

    Hidden Strings started a new surge of Stasis variants. The card is great for Stasis but legacy is full of creature spot removal. It is not unusual for your Rangers and Dorks to be shot down. Hidden Strings let's your opponent 2 for 1 too easily. It also requires a creature with evasion (Invisible Stalker would be a suggestion) or a dropped Goyf immediately stops it. In my current list my engine works fine and I couldn't really cut a creature to support Hidden Strings because then I'd have too few creatures for it. So I'd have to cut protection which I really wish I could afford to play more off. Derevi is like Hidden Strings light with an evasive body.
    I'm not finished with experimenting with this card though, maybe someone can find a way to make it work really well.


    Why Stasis control?

    Like I said, this Stasis variant wants to resolve Stasis as consistently and best protected as possible while keeping the engine as slim as possible for the most counterspell slots. It is not the only way to play Stasis but is the way I like to approach it. I also think it is the overall strongest approach to Stasis. Aggro control variants tend to just get their Stasis hated easier and end up with inferior cards then straight Delver or midrange lists. Hardlock variants are just too easy to hate, they lack the resilience needed for a disruption packed format like legacy. The prison type decks usually have their own strengths but a very weak game vs combo. The strategy of this list comes at the expense that you are in trouble if Stasis gets hated. If you want to start a constructive argument about this, please try and compare two lists and present findings from testing (the 'right' choice will probably be meta dependent).


    My current List:

    Lands
    4 Tropical Island
    3 Tundra
    3 Forsaken City
    8 Blue Fetchlands

    Creatures
    4 Quirion Ranger
    4 Noble Hierarch
    2 Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

    Spells
    4 Stasis
    4 Ancestral Vision
    4 Daze
    2 Stifle
    2 Thwart
    1 Enlightened Tutor
    4 Force of Will
    4 Brainstorm
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Divert
    1 Sterling Grove
    4 Gitaxian Probe

    Sideboard
    3 Enlightened Tutor to enhance all the SB options
    2 Meddling Mage vs Abrupt Decay and Combo
    1 Ethersworn Canonist vs combo
    1 Pithing Needle vs Planeswalker heavy decks like Tezzeret
    1 Ensnaring Bridge vs Sneakattack and Reanimator
    1 Null Rod vs Mud, Affinity, Tezzeret maybe Miracles
    1 Rest in Peace good permanent GY hate

    Those are only the SB cards I would consider essential. Some more options for open slots:
    Sterling Grove swap for E.Tutor for additional Decay/Krosan Grip defense
    Confusion in the Ranks one of the best cards vs Omnitell
    Misdirection to shift the countersuite against Decay/discard
    Divert to shift the countersuite against Decay/discard
    Detention Sphere good card vs show and tell
    Jace, the Mind Sculptor can help in control matchups
    Energy Flux is pretty Mud specific but good at that
    Spellskite another piece of Decay defense, also helps with burn.
    Chill good against burn

    Some more Enlightened Tutor targets that are more fringe, outdated or imho surpassed and redundant from other options:
    Grafdigger's Cage another great piece of GY hate, RIP is better imho
    Elephant Grass good vs fast aggro
    Limited Resources very situational hardlock, good vs 12-Post
    Counterbalance good vs combo but we already have lots of combo hate and no Top (too mana intensive)
    Aegis of the Gods good vs various things
    Moat good against aggro, very slow though
    Island Sanctuary faster then Moat but with a huge drawback
    Phyrexian Dreadnought tech to have a better clock vs combo
    Black Vise could help vs draw-go strategies with mass removal (i.e. Miracles)
    Equipoise nergasm
    Choke Stasis without upkeep vs some decks (against some mono U variants that I encountered 5 years ago), probably bad use of slots

    SB cards requiring a splash:
    Dread of Night good vs Death and Taxes
    Engineered Plague good vs Elves and Goblins

    Further thoughts:
    Some choices are definitely meta dependent. Less Stifle and more Divert/Misdirection helps against Abrupt Decay and Hymn. Sterling Grove slows the deck down but provides some protection that can be tutored for. I would definitely place one in the 75 as it is the only Krosan Grip defense. Playing it maindeck might or might not be good depending on the meta.
    Against most b/g decks my base sideboard strategy is -2 Stifle, -1 Enlightened Tutor, -1 FoW or Spellpierce, +2 Meddling Mage, +1 Misdirection, +1 Sterling Grove. It might be a good idea to include another Misdirection or a Divert main deck to loose less games to Abrupt Decay game 1. Stifle, Spellpierce, FoW and Thwart seem to be prime candidates for "maybe cut one".

    I'm also just blatantly abusing the hype around Black Vise to promote my primer. Since I'm not a native speaker, there are probably some errors in the text. Please point out things that could be improved. I hope the primer will grow and improve over time.
    Even though I did test and experiment with my list over the past 5-6 years and think I'm not posting utter gibberish, I'm not a very experienced tournament player. I have been quite successful vs Canadian Thresh, Maverick, 12 Post, Enchantress, Goblins and some other random stuff. But this deck needs more testing.

    Update: I recently added Ancestral Visions, cut one Forsaken City, one Misdirection, one Scryb Ranger and one E.Tutor. The cards from Acnestral Visions mostly make up for it. The deck lost a tad bit of speed on Stasis drops but won on resilience. In Abrupt Decay heavy meta games another Misdirection Maindeck would be nice.

    Update2:
    Maybe I should post my most recent SB.
    1 Null Rod
    3 Enlightened Tutor
    1 Sterling Grove
    1 Rest in Peace
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    2 Meddling Mage
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Energy Flux
    1 Chill
    1 Ensnaring Bridge
    1 Misdirection
    1 Spellskite


    Thanks in advance for any constructive input and testing you can provide!
    Last edited by SpoCk0nd0pe; 08-10-2016 at 05:53 AM.

  2. #2

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Hi, i think the new Thalia from EM can help a lot here for additional lock

    and what about the new Tamyo?maybe too tricky but worth a mention...

    Another interesting card is Wellspring, huge against any blu baseD. On your upkeep it untaps, you pay for stasis tax then you give it back to your opponent tapped at the end of turn and it never untaps for him due to stasis.
    Last edited by Kuroro; 07-06-2016 at 04:03 AM.

  3. #3

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Quote Originally Posted by Kuroro View Post
    Hi, i think the new Thalia from EM can help a lot here for additional lock

    and what about the new Tamyo?maybe too tricky but worth a mention...

    Another interesting card is Wellspring, huge against any blu baseD. On your upkeep it untaps, you pay for stasis tax then you give it back to your opponent tapped at the end of turn and it never untaps for him due to stasis.
    Thanks for the input!

    I'm not sure Thalia, Heretic Cathar really is better then Derevi. She costs virtually one more mana which is huge in many situations. She also cannot handle threats that are already on the board, like Batterskull or Serra Avenger. Most importantly, she cannot evade a Tarmogoyf or TNN.
    In the usual scenario, I can handle everything that might get cast off one land with my counterspells. There is the occasional exception though. One big plus for the new Thalia is the slowdown of fetchlands pre Stasis, although you probably have to be on the play to really benefit.
    All in all, I would test it in my SB. Sadly, I haven't had much time playing the deck lately.

    I don't like Tamiyo, Field Researcher, her casting cost is way too high for my liking. It is a causal card imho.

  4. #4

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    I Just thought about seeborn muse and alchemist's refuge to then play stasis during an opponents turn but i dont know if that would actually work. plz correct me if im wrong

  5. #5
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    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Few things to answer:

    - How to deal with SFM decks - Blade Control and D&T
    - How to deal with Storm decks
    - How to deal with S&T decks - Stasis can't generate tempo, so they can sculpt perfect hand
    - How to deal with Reanimator (Iona on blue) and Dredge
    - How to deal with Burn you can't lock them enough fast and even after you can't hard lock them
    - How to deal with Elves - they also running Ranger and more over they running Cradle

    Overlay matchups overview would be great.

    I'm guessing Miracle matchup isn't bad but also not autowin specially after SB.
    Shardless BUG - need data, mostly all goes around Decay and early discard.
    How goes vs Stompy decks Trinisphere looks scary - turn off all your free counters, chalice stops Ranger or Visions.
    Moon effects is autolose, so Painter/Red Stompy is probably nightmare.
    Eldrazi stompy depends on build - more stax build (with white splash is probably unfavorable) is harder, mono brown is probably little better but still depends on key cards: Thorn of Ametyst, Cavern of Souls, Endbringer (this dude is unbeatable for this build).

  6. #6

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    @BlueMB: Those cards are way too expensive CC wise. Also, Seedborn Muse doesn't work because Stasis skips the untap step. I don't know why playing Stasis at instant speed is of any benefit.
    Quote Originally Posted by Fatal View Post
    Few things to answer:

    - How to deal with SFM decks - Blade Control and D&T
    - How to deal with Storm decks
    - How to deal with S&T decks - Stasis can't generate tempo, so they can sculpt perfect hand
    - How to deal with Reanimator (Iona on blue) and Dredge
    - How to deal with Burn you can't lock them enough fast and even after you can't hard lock them
    - How to deal with Elves - they also running Ranger and more over they running Cradle

    Overlay matchups overview would be great.

    I'm guessing Miracle matchup isn't bad but also not autowin specially after SB.
    Shardless BUG - need data, mostly all goes around Decay and early discard.
    How goes vs Stompy decks Trinisphere looks scary - turn off all your free counters, chalice stops Ranger or Visions.
    Moon effects is autolose, so Painter/Red Stompy is probably nightmare.
    Eldrazi stompy depends on build - more stax build (with white splash is probably unfavorable) is harder, mono brown is probably little better but still depends on key cards: Thorn of Ametyst, Cavern of Souls, Endbringer (this dude is unbeatable for this build).
    Endbringer can be handled with Stasis, since he won't untap anymore. Pre stasis it really hurts.

    Combo with a good hand and capable pilot is nearly impossible to beat game 1. You can at times luck out and get a decent clock going with lots of counterspells. G2, board out Stasis, Sterling Grove and some Forsaken City for 3 E.Tutor, Ethersworn Canonist, 2 Meddling Mage, Null Rod and Misdirection. This helps a lot. S&T is the same thing, just swap Canonist for Bridge. Reanimator (depending on version) needs Rest in Peace instead of the Canonist, maybe in addition if it is a combo hybrid. Dredge is auto loose g1, try to counter discard outlets. G2, play it like Reanimator. Boarding Null Rod depends on the LED/Lotuspetal/Chrome Mox reliance of the combo type.

    Bottom line: Stasis doesn't help against "unfair" combo or GY decks. Board out Stasis and some of the stuff that ony really makes sense with it. The E.Tutor board gives you a very effective selection of hate, especially since we have access to white.

    I honestly haven't played Elves enough to know if it is good to board out Stasis. Counterspelling the Ranger would certainly be a priority. G2 I would try to board Stifles for Ethersworn Canonist and a Meddling Mage. Always board the Sterling Grove for an E.Tutor if you need more tempo.

    Against Burn, just board the Stifles for Chill and another E.Tutor. Also switch a Sterling Grove for an E.Tutor. I did well against U/R burn in my testings without chill so I assumed that will work well enough. If you need more hate, find room for another E.Tutor to find Chill more reliably. If you are concerned with Burn and Jund, put a Spellskite in your SB.

    Against SFM the verdict is simple: either play Stasis early so getting to 4 mana for SFM+activation is difficult, or stifle/counter the SFM. You still have a change in very favorable circumstances because Derevi is an out against an online Batterskull under Stasis. In my testings, I most of the time managed to luck out and have a Stifle on hand. If you expect a lot of such decks in your meta, add a Stifle to the SB or even MD. You could also try a Dryad Arbor, but that eats your land drop needed to break the synergy of Stasis.

    Shardless BUG is better then expected because they need lots of mana. Some versions do not play the full playset Decay. It really depends on the list. BUG Delver is very unfavorable. Other Delver variants are really good though.

    Bloodmoon and Chalice are a nightmare. I already pointed to some weaknesses in the OP. Against those decks it is like rolling dice, either you have the FoW or you don't. If you do, Stasis rips their decks to shreds, if you don't, you loose. Being on the play sometimes helps, but only if they don't have a Spiritguide to pay for Daze. 3 Sphere is really bad, but depending on the game state and deck it might not even matter too much.

    Thorn and Thalia are annoying but manageable. Aside from SFM and Serra Avenger, I really like to see creatures because they are so easily handled by Stasis. So if they want to hurt us, Thorn and Thalia are kind of symmetrical.

    I'm not a huge fan of MU analysis because the pilot has a big influence and you would need to have a huge data sample to make it reliable. Like I said in the first paragraph, this deck isn't going to storm the charts. But it is surprisingly strong if you know what you are doing and most certainly the strongest Bant Stasis list I have tried over the past 7 years.
    With the printing of Fevered Visions maybe a creature-less Stasis version is viable again but I do not have the time to test that. If you are interested, I have a rough draft here: http://deckstats.net/decks/66633/528797-u-w-r-stasis
    There is also a more in depth thread here:
    http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/t...er-stasis-2016

    Hope that helps!
    Last edited by SpoCk0nd0pe; 08-12-2016 at 03:25 PM.

  7. #7

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    I have only been testing this for a short while, but I think it has real potential. This is currently version 7. I am just missing that last "oomf" to not go into top deck mode. I can force a lot of decks into top deck mode, and a turn one root maze slows down SO many decks.

    Im very cold to burn and deaths shadow. Grixis is very draw dependent, but not sure what makes that matchup better. The control decks and midrange decks are pretty even so far, its been all very close.



    4 Noble Hierarch
    3 Stasis
    1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
    3 Daze
    2 Forsaken City
    4 Ponder
    3 Blind Obedience
    3 Wilderness Reclamation
    1 Forest
    4 Root Maze
    4 Misty Rainforest
    4 Flooded Strand
    2 Spell Pierce
    1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    1 Garruk Wildspeaker
    1 Kiora, Master of the Depths
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    3 Tropical Island
    2 Savannah
    2 Tundra
    2 Windswept Heath
    2 Sylvan Library
    1 Island
    1 Nissa, Vital Force
    1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
    1 Plains
    1 Stoic Angel

    2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
    2 Surgical Extraction
    4 Force of Will
    2 Deputy of Detention
    1 Daze
    2 Supreme Verdict
    2 Chain of Vapor



    The sideboard is very much in flux. The main deck started with the normal quirion rangers and scryb rangers, but those are just terrible cards. With wilderness reclamation I think this deck has a chance.

    Let me know what you think.

  8. #8

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    so this deck looks like sooooo much fun and my dream has always been to play stasis in legacy competitively. My thing is this is a blue deck with no FOW or brainstorm? should that be attempted? and then how does it do against the many many delver type decks... I feel like I can never keep up with them no matter how I make my stasis deck.


    Quote Originally Posted by hurlman81 View Post
    I have only been testing this for a short while, but I think it has real potential. This is currently version 7. I am just missing that last "oomf" to not go into top deck mode. I can force a lot of decks into top deck mode, and a turn one root maze slows down SO many decks.

    Im very cold to burn and deaths shadow. Grixis is very draw dependent, but not sure what makes that matchup better. The control decks and midrange decks are pretty even so far, its been all very close.



    4 Noble Hierarch
    3 Stasis
    1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
    3 Daze
    2 Forsaken City
    4 Ponder
    3 Blind Obedience
    3 Wilderness Reclamation
    1 Forest
    4 Root Maze
    4 Misty Rainforest
    4 Flooded Strand
    2 Spell Pierce
    1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    1 Garruk Wildspeaker
    1 Kiora, Master of the Depths
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    3 Tropical Island
    2 Savannah
    2 Tundra
    2 Windswept Heath
    2 Sylvan Library
    1 Island
    1 Nissa, Vital Force
    1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
    1 Plains
    1 Stoic Angel

    2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
    2 Surgical Extraction
    4 Force of Will
    2 Deputy of Detention
    1 Daze
    2 Supreme Verdict
    2 Chain of Vapor



    The sideboard is very much in flux. The main deck started with the normal quirion rangers and scryb rangers, but those are just terrible cards. With wilderness reclamation I think this deck has a chance.

    Let me know what you think.

  9. #9

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Thats the problem I am having. The FOW are such bad card disadvantage and the combo decks arent super heavy right now. I actually cut a bunch of fetches due to the antisynergy with root maze, which led to leaning into ponder more. The shuffle effect off of ponder is what im looking for. I feel like the combo is just too far behind to play, but I have to come up with a deck by this weekend. I have a big tourney at the end of march.

  10. #10

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Ya that makes sense about the ponders over brainstorms. Fow are bad card advantage, that is true, but still so good. Well please keep this thread posted if you decide to play a stasis deck at the big tourney and how it performs. I really want to find a good stasis deck, but in the current climate it just always seems to slow.


    Quote Originally Posted by hurlman81 View Post
    Thats the problem I am having. The FOW are such bad card disadvantage and the combo decks arent super heavy right now. I actually cut a bunch of fetches due to the antisynergy with root maze, which led to leaning into ponder more. The shuffle effect off of ponder is what im looking for. I feel like the combo is just too far behind to play, but I have to come up with a deck by this weekend. I have a big tourney at the end of march.

  11. #11

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Quote Originally Posted by sirgubster9 View Post
    so this deck looks like sooooo much fun and my dream has always been to play stasis in legacy competitively. My thing is this is a blue deck with no FOW or brainstorm? should that be attempted? and then how does it do against the many many delver type decks... I feel like I can never keep up with them no matter how I make my stasis deck.
    Well, back when I played my list I usually won against Canadian Thresh, but that may have been due to luck. Grixis came up when I stopped playing, but the few games I had, went something like 2-1 too. The only delver list I really had problems with was BUG (for obvious reasons).

    Some kind of card draw is almost mandatory in Stasis. Ancestral Visions is probably the strongest option we have.

    Quote Originally Posted by hurlman81 View Post
    I feel like the combo is just too far behind to play.
    That's probably because you are attempting a mana hungry 3 card combo in a format where 2 card combos are the norm. I'm very careful with such predictions as sometimes people can make really odd things work, but I think combo Stasis will probably never work.

    I wouldn't recommend playing Stasis as a combo deck, play it as a control deck. Make the "engine" necessary to run Stasis as lean as possible and cram as many counterspells into the deck as you can.

  12. #12

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Ya that makes sense. Definitely more of a control deck. I just feel like it's so flimsy. When it hits it's awesome, but most of the time it doesn't. What would you recommend for a list? Or what list would you be playing in this current climate? Or would you just stick with your old list... I don't remember it being too counter heavy.

  13. #13

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Well, I like to think my deck is fairly well optimized for fast Stasis plays and a control shell. Gitaxian Probe has been banned though, I'd replace them with a Land (certainly pick one that makes U), Derivi, E.Tutor and a Scrib Ranger/Green Sun's Zenith (both have their advantages).

    My List is a little flimsy too. 14 Counterspells and 8 draw cards isn't bad, but Bloodmoon, Chalice@1, Crucible/Wasteland all pretty much have to be countered. Some other cards can be problematic too, but Derevi can be an out against them (Batterskull, Serra Avenger). You could try to find room for a Chain of Vapor or two to deal with some problematic permanents.

    The Sideboard was made 4 years ago, there is probably some tech to be found there. With the banning of Deathrite Shaman the prevalence of B/G decks seems to have gone down a little, which is a huge boon. Abrupt Decay was a painful card to deal with.

    Make no mistake, the deck was Tier 2 at best. It is not for people who want the best chance to make top 8, it is for people who love to play Stasis and want to make the best of it. The deck is certainly good for some surprises though. And Delver players will really hate you for loosing against Stasis :)

    Beware that this Stasis list is notoriously hard to pilot. You need to learn to guess when best to play Stasis, when you need to gamble with a Stasis and what spells to counter.

  14. #14

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    oh dude Ive never even heard of that derivi caommander card, thats pretty cool. Ya I just love stasis I want a deck that atleast has a chance against the overall meta. I just play for fun on monday nights with some buddies, but we have pretty much all the major decks between the 8 of us, and then some weird lists here and there. I probably have the wierdest because I get fixated on a card normally a much older card and try to make a deck around it. I have been succesful with some cards because there are lists here and there that place top 8 or 16 at tourneys that use golden welder or rest in peace or glacial chasm, or tabernacle for instance. But this card I just cant make happen. Everytime I try and make a control deck around it it just comes out being a much much much worse miracles. so ya any list or advice that you got I would gladly take espeically if you are still rocking a deck around you thats performing somewhat ok. Ill be sad to lose to that one card hit like chalice or blood moon or any of those other brutal hate cards, but I feel like A LOT of decks lose to some of those one hit cards... I want my deck to be able to beat basically just a delver deck. if My deck can take on a delver deck atleast 50 percent of the time im happy. what do you think?

  15. #15

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Quote Originally Posted by sirgubster9 View Post
    I want my deck to be able to beat basically just a delver deck. if My deck can take on a delver deck atleast 50 percent of the time im happy. what do you think?
    I've made good experiences vs Delver. Not the BUG variant though, that one was almost an auto scoop and always went 0-2, no matter what I tried.

    Grixis Delver was fairly new when I stopped playing, so I do not have a ton of experience with it. I won two games 2-0, but those where against an inexperienced pilot who made some misplays. Dunno how the deck evolved over the past 2 years. I'd board in an extra Misdirection as it works so well against discard.

    Canadian Thresh (RUG Delver) was the most fun. Some games you just loose because he draws 2 Stifle and 3 Wastelands but I'd say it was 60%-70% overall. This may have to do with impatient pilots though. RUG Delver is a fast deck, and some opponents do not like to think hard when piloting a fast deck. Some just love to cast cantrips under Stasis essentially screwing themselves. Beware of Krosan Grip sideboards though! I'd board in another Sterling Grove against RUG Delver.

  16. #16

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    no sideboard in my meta so dont need to worry about that which is nice. and now that abrupt decay has taken a HUGE decline i feel like stasis will actually have a chance. I felt like when I played it before even if I was fast enough to deal with early game stuff they would just drop an abrupt on me at the perfect time and then i was dunzo. I look back at this thread and see if i can find your most refined list and test that out and maybe go from there.

  17. #17

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    You could try this (this is my latest list before the inclusion of the now banned Gitaxian Probe):

    Lands
    4 Tropical Island
    4 Tundra
    3 Forsaken City
    8 Blue Fetchlands

    Creatures
    4 Quirion Ranger
    1 Scryb Ranger
    4 Noble Hierarch
    3 Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

    Spells
    4 Stasis
    4 Ancestral Vision
    4 Daze
    2 Stifle
    2 Thwart
    2 Enlightened Tutor
    4 Force of Will
    4 Brainstorm
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Divert
    1 Sterling Grove


    If you don't expect Abrubt Decay/Hymn to Tourach, I'd cut Divert for another Spell Pierce or a Spell Snare.

    I'd be interested to hear how it worked out for you :)

  18. #18

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    I am definitely going to give this a try. I'll let you know.

  19. #19

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    I’d rather go deep in green with GSZ/Finale of Devastation to fix the missing creature

  20. #20

    Re: [Primer] U/G/w Stasis Control

    Does the derevi command zone ability not apply when playing legacy?

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