[Deck] Dreadstill - Enter the Fist

[NQN]

Here is my actual list. I won 3/4 tournaments now so my record is 14-3.

// Lands
3 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [ON] Flooded Strand
3 [TE] Wasteland
4 [4E] Mishra's Factory
6 [P2] Island (3)
1 [R] Tropical Island

// Creatures
4 [MI] Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 [FD] Trinket Mage

// Spells
4 [MM] Brainstorm
4 [NE] Daze
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [SC] Stifle
3 [CS] Counterbalance
2 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [OD] Standstill
4 [DIS] Spell Snare
1 [TSP] Trickbind
1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
1 Tormods Crypt

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 3 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [US] Back to Basics
SB: 3 [BOK] Threads of Disloyalty
SB: 3 Tranquil Domain

In my area not that big so its important to be prepared for the 2-3 players who can beat me. Those three are Enchantress, Ichorid and Dragonstompy. That should explain the Crypt and the Domain ;)

[Rood]

Here is my actual list. I won 3/4 tournaments now so my record is 14-3.

// Lands
3 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [ON] Flooded Strand
3 [TE] Wasteland
4 [4E] Mishra's Factory
6 [P2] Island (3)
1 [R] Tropical Island

// Creatures
4 [MI] Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 [FD] Trinket Mage

// Spells
4 [MM] Brainstorm
4 [NE] Daze
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [SC] Stifle
3 [CS] Counterbalance
2 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [OD] Standstill
4 [DIS] Spell Snare
1 [TSP] Trickbind
1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
1 Tormods Crypt

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 3 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [US] Back to Basics
SB: 3 [BOK] Threads of Disloyalty
SB: 3 Tranquil Domain

In my area not that big so its important to be prepared for the 2-3 players who can beat me. Those three are Enchantress, Ichorid and Dragonstompy. That should explain the Crypt and the Domain ;)

Congrats on your success Dreadstill is having at your meta. I am a fan of the Back to Basics again after my latest tournament in Hadley. I managed to go undefeated up until T8 and got probally my worst matchup in the T8: Landstill. Game one I smashed on him with CB/top, G2 he savagely topdecks an EE and blow up my Dreadnought when it was for lethal and G3 he EE's for 3 blowing up 3 of my Trinket Mages. I realize now I probally should have held back on the third but he was at very low life. Total I went 3-1-2 beating

Tombstone (2-0)
Survival (2-0)
UW Dreadstill (2-1)
ID with Landstill
ID with Goblins

[Madmaniac21]

. I managed to convince my round three opponent to literally "give" me the win, and then I drew into Top 8.

EFT.

That was - hands down - easily the worst game of magic I have ever played.

Sucks you had to play landstill in top8, no B2b lovin?

As for the list; I really loved the white splash I played. I threw in E tutors, orings, and a shackles over the trinket mages, and I thought it played a whole lot better. Being able to tutor up shackles/CB/chill/other SB hate as well has dreadnought and top at instant speed was >>> trinket mage.

Also playing a 3rd top main was good, saw one every game I played.

I really believe MonoU is not the way to go with this list. The question is to figure out whether U/r, U/b, or U/w beats your meta and play that.

[Rood]

EFT.

That was - hands down - easily the worst game of magic I have ever played.

Sucks you had to play landstill in top8, no B2b lovin?

As for the list; I really loved the white splash I played. I threw in E tutors, orings, and a shackles over the trinket mages, and I thought it played a whole lot better. Being able to tutor up shackles/CB/chill/other SB hate as well has dreadnought and top at instant speed was >>> trinket mage.

Also playing a 3rd top main was good, saw one every game I played.

I really believe MonoU is not the way to go with this list. The question is to figure out whether U/r, U/b, or U/w beats your meta and play that.

Yeah I really had thought I had won that game...it was until after you scooped that Raiderbob has told me about the double bounce effect which apparently you overlooked too. So we both played it shitty, lol. Me for making that play and you for scooping to it. And yeah, B2B or Annuls are going into my board to ensure I defeat Landstill.

[Clark Kant]

As for the list; I really loved the white splash I played. I threw in E tutors, orings, and a shackles over the trinket mages, and I thought it played a whole lot better. Being able to tutor up shackles/CB/chill/other SB hate as well has dreadnought and top at instant speed was >>> trinket mage.

You know, I have to agree. Trinket Mage definately feels like the worst card in the deck. Esp with the white splash, you have so many great options. Enlightened Tutor as you mentioned for example. ET tutors for Shackles, Standstill, Counterbalance etc.

Mage is a 3cc tutor for artifacts with cc1 or less. The artifacts it tutors for are no doubt awesome, but the card itself is weak and eats up a turn.

I feel like the deck would be better off if it ran more bombs like Shackles.

Fact or Fiction could potentially replace Trinket Mage roo, it doesn't tutor for a card, but it gets you two or three solid cards.

Ancestral Visions could replace it as well.

Maybe it's time to boot the old Mage and use some broken card draw to get us the artifact bombs.

With such a build I would cut the Trickbinds altogether, but that means that the Dreadnought combo is a lot more inconsistent. :(

[Madmaniac21]

You know, I have to agree. Trinket Mage definately feels like the worst card in the deck.

It's a 3cc tutor for artifacts with cc1 or less. The artifacts it tutors for are no doubt awesome, but the card itself is weak and eats up a turn.

I feel like the deck would be better off if it ran more bombs like Shackles.

Fact or Fiction could potentially replace Trinket Mage, it doesn't tutor for a card, but it gets you two or three solid cards.

Ancestral Visions could replace it as well.

Maybe it's time to boot the old Mage and use some broken card draw to get us the artifact bombs.

Yes, something along these lines; Visions could be good, while FoF is the wrong way in my opinion. We don't run the late game as well as a pure control deck - the idea with the nought/stifle combo as well as top/CB is to run over our opponents in the early/mid game and win before the late. I'll post what I believe to be optimal ideas sometime tonight. I think the direction to take the deck is a more explosive landstill form.

Possibly focusing on more mana denial main, considering the 5-6 stifle effects.

I think running 4 wastes is key.

[Rood]

I can't ever justify cutting Trinket Mages down, he will literally win you so many games just from sheer beatdown when your oponent is holding a bunch of answers to kill your dreadnought (see Krosan Grip, threads.) I agree Enlightened is good, but you have more outs against hate to Dreadnoughts with Trinket Mages. It gives you an alternate win condition that's more stable then Factories. I can definetally see your argument to running 4 Wastes in the main. I've been trying to fit it in for a while now but I'm just not sure what to cut from my list. It is also our only OUTs for a CB Trigger of 3 to counter key spells like Witness, Krosan Grip cards we very well hate to see.

[Clark Kant]

I don't think Trinket Mage makes for a great alternate win condition. It's just a 2/2 with no evasion, it dies to every single creature in the format, and even when it doesn't is a 10 turn clock.

I would rather play Shackles in it's place and bash my opponents head in with their own Goyfs/Hyppes.

The big plus of Mages is def that it makes the dreadnought win condition so much more consistent. But it eats up a whole turn. If wizards ever printed a 1cc blue tutor for 1cc or less artifacts put directly into your hand, I would drop Mage to run that in a heart beat.

[Muradin]

The big plus of Mages is def that it makes the dreadnought win condition so much more consistent. But it eats up a whole turn. If wizards ever printed a 1cc blue tutor for 1cc or less artifacts put directly into your hand, I would drop Mage to run that in a heart beat.

I guess the closest thing to a cc1 tutor for artifacts is Artificer's Intuition. Nevertheless I think, that mage is actually quite good in Dreadstill, because he is card advantage and tutor power. Furthermore if someone doesn't know what exactly you're playing he might waste a removal on him.

[Rood]

My current sideboard looks something like this:

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 3 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [6E] Chill
SB: 3 [U] Red Elemental Blast
SB: 4 [US] Annul

Changes: -1 REB -1 Volc from board -1 Truth -1 Chill
+4 Annuls

I've come to believe Annul would increase our Landstill matchup quite favorable as well as our Angel Stax/Dragonstompy matchups. It's also quite good in the mirror and against CB/top Threshold.

[J.V.]

My current sideboard looks something like this:

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 3 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [6E] Chill
SB: 3 [U] Red Elemental Blast
SB: 4 [US] Annul

Changes: -1 REB -1 Volc from board -1 Truth -1 Chill
+4 Annuls

I've come to believe Annul would increase our Landstill matchup quite favorable as well as our Angel Stax/Dragonstompy matchups. It's also quite good in the mirror and against CB/top Threshold.

I still say -1 Annul +1 Echoing Truth

[Clark Kant]

I know that this the below list is a wholly seperate entity so feel free to ignore it completely.

But since the deck shares some several cards and you guys have a ton of experience with those same cards, I'm interested to hear your take on this...

2 Swamp
4 Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta

4 Dark Confidant
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Hunted Horror

4 Stifle
4 Trickbind

4 Thoughtseize
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
3 Daze

4 Brainstorm
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Counterbalance

The list is as of yet completely untested.

[HammafistRoob]

My current sideboard looks something like this:

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 3 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [6E] Chill
SB: 3 [U] Red Elemental Blast
SB: 4 [US] Annul

Changes: -1 REB -1 Volc from board -1 Truth -1 Chill
+4 Annuls

I've come to believe Annul would increase our Landstill matchup quite favorable as well as our Angel Stax/Dragonstompy matchups. It's also quite good in the mirror and against CB/top Threshold.

I don't really see how Annul could increase the Landstill matchup, B2B is probably better because it just shuts them down completely. Annul is only good if they tap out to play an Engineered Explosives, which will almost never happen.

Annul also wouldn't help at all against CBTop Thresh, what Artifacts are you gonna kill with it? It would be pretty decent in the mirror, I'll give you that. I also don't think we need any more help vs. Dragonstompy, that is quite an easy match for all varients of Dreadstill.

[Rood]

It just isn't artifacts Rob, it's also Enchantments it counters so you can hit Counterbalance, Threads of Disloyalty(you're familiar with this card), Deed, O-ring, Humility, the list goes on of cards we hate to see. B2B in our Wasteland build really wouldn't be ideal also seeing as we run 8 nonbasics postboard. Annul just hits so many things it's crazy in the Landstill matchup as well as many others.

[Clark Kant]

This is probably not worth it, but the Painter's Servant + Grindstone + Enlightened Tutor + Fabricate + Academy Ruins combo seems like it could fit in perfectly into this deck as a surprise comboesque win condition.

It certainly would be fun to use, esp given the synergy with the Dreadnoughts we already run.

And who knows, it might actually wind up being more competitive. Possibly Transmutate Artifact could work well here as well.

[Jaynel]

You're already running a 2 card combo - Dreadnought plus Stifle - that wins the game after two untap steps. The list is already REALLY tight as it is, and adding crap that doesn't synergize (at least I fail to see any synergy besides Trinket Mage into Grindstone) with the rest of the deck doesn't help.

[Clark Kant]

Well the combo wins two turns faster, isn't vulnerable to cards like Swords and Smother, and is a lot harder to disrupt. It gives you a whole different win condition, one more thing for your opponents to stop.

And you could always play Fabricate or Enlightened Tutor instead of Trinket Mage, as they tutor for both combo pieces, as well as Dreadnought, Top, and CB.

But I definately agree with your point.

The deck would have to be overhauled to support the combo. And odds are, the deck won't be the better for it. But I'm not positive that we can really know for sure until we try it.

[b4r0n]

Well the combo wins two turns faster, isn't vulnerable to cards like Swords and Smother, and is a lot harder to disrupt. It gives you a whole different win condition, one more thing for your opponents to stop.

This isn't true at all. Assuming a god draw for Servant/Grindstone, you win turn 3 (T1 Grindstone, T2 Servant, T3 tap and win). A god draw for Stifle/Nought wins on turn 4 (T2 Stifle+Nought, T3 hit for 12, T4 win). Also, Servant is vulnerable to almost all the removal that hits Nought. It's just as easy to disrupt the Servant/Grindstone combo by removing Servant in response to the Grindstone activation as it is to remove Nought. I just don't think it makes any sense to add the Servant/Grindstone combo to this deck; it would take up far too many slots to be worthwhile, neither piece is useful on its own, and it would only be providing a difficult-to-set-up alternate combo win to a deck that already has a pseudo combo win.

And you could always play Fabricate or Enlightened Tutor instead of Trinket Mage, as they tutor for both combo pieces, as well as Dreadnought, Top, and CB.

Trinket Mage beats for 2, which is actually really important. This is another reason why Servant/Grindstone doesn't fit into the deck: Servant isn't tutorable by Mage. You'd have to add suboptimal cards like Fabricate or Enlightened Tutor in order to search it out, weakening the strong core of the deck.

The deck would have to be overhauled to support the combo. And odds are, the deck won't be the better for it. But I'm not positive that we can really know for sure until we try it.

I'm positive that the deck would be worse with Servant/Grindstone in it. But by all means, try it out. Just don't get your hopes up.

[NQN]

Just to add something to the Trinket discussion:

I won several games and matches because i got only one hit with NOught and then finished him with a trinket. Also my sideboardplan against 3-4c NQG with smother and swords is to board NOughts out and kick their ass with Threads and B2b so that I am Mono Blue Control. Works very well since people in my area started to pack 4 Ancient Grudge just against me.

[Rood]

I'd just like to add I just faced a UWR Landstill player and won solely on Trinket Mage beatdown alone. It was a very close game but CB/Top with Trinket beatdown sealed it. I don't ever see cutting this guy he's just so vital to our backup gameplan strategy.