UG Stasis

[MakeMyDay]

Hello Everybody,

First of all, why did I started bulding this deck. I only play in a small group of friends and we all stopped spending money on magic a long time ago, but we still wated to play. This is why we came up with our own Proxie Tournament. We think that money should not be the reason why we lose against very expensive decks.

So here is my costly build:
Mana:

4 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
1 Breeding Pool
4 Island
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald

Creatures:
4 Bird of Paradise
3 Quirion Ranger
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Rainbow Efree

Spells:
3 Chain of Vapor
4 Boomerang
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Stasis

How does it win:
The main goal is to cast Garruk with a Stasis to create a lockand to use Garruk to get creatures who can kill. But it is also possible to cast Stasis without Garruk. The Quirion Ranger untaps the creatures like the Tarmogoyf to keep a constant pressure while nothing else untaps. Another way is to use spells like Boomerang or Chain of Vapor to take the Stasis back on your hand, untap, and play it again . If the Opponent trys something that harms Stasis (and you don't have another one ready, which happes really often) there are still counterspells and Force of Will to get rid of the worst attacs.

What I like about the deck is that it is still fast even tough it can be a control deck. Often never comes to the point were I have to play the Stasis, because I can kill faster with a couple of little creatures, when Garruk is in the game. It's fun if two Birds deal 6 flying damage...
Another great flying helper is Rainbow Efree. She can block most beatdown creatures, is really good against burn and can untap for two mana if the Stasis is in play. Ponder? Why not Brainstorm? Because of the Tarmogofy.


I don' know if this deck could win besides against all my friends decks. But I sure can say it's a lot of fun to play!
Please help me to keep the Idea of the deck and to make it compatetive.

MakeMyDay

(from Berlin, Germany)

[Vacrix]

This is legal in vintage, not Legacy. Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, and the Moxen are not legal in legacy. Try adding Noble Hiearch, and Scryb Rangers for more Lock Pieces. Your dudes basically sit there feeding stasis until you can drop Garruk and then win anyway so it makes sense to drop Goyf. You COULD keep Goyf though. Especially if you get more rangers in there. I'd drop the boomerangs. Also, I'm surprised you aren't running Forsaken City. Its the one card you playing a Stasis deck shouldn't be without. It wins games against non-wasteland decks. Also, look into Trinisphere for the Post board Its easy to play around with Garruk and your Rangers + Hierarch/Birds, so its a good plan for the combo matchup.

EDIT:
Btw, its VERY impo to detail the synergy between Birds + Rangers in this deck. You can tap birds, bounce your land, replay your land untapped. Extremely useful in feeding Stasis. This combination, Garruk, or Forsaken City are the usual lock pieces. I found it particuarly difficult to find when you only run x4. I'd add Brainstorm, since you run Fetches, or splash white for Enlightened Tutor.

[jrsthethird]

Well, first of all, this is a Legacy forum, and the cards

Mox Emerald
Mox Sapphire
Time Walk
Ancestral Recall

are banned.

Familiarize yourself with the banned list of Legacy and then edit the deck if you want to continue posting here.

Of course it just sounds like this is a casual thing with your friends and in that case you should take it to the casual forum because this one is intended for serious, tournament decks.

Also there's a search function on here so you can search for threads that mention Stasis for help; usually they use a kill with Chronatog (skip infinite turns so that your opponent draws their whole deck and can't play spells) but Garruk to untap lands is interesting to say the least and provides a backup plan, but I have no clue how competitive this deck could be.

EDIT: I reread this and I think I kind of sound like a douche, but I don't intend to be.

[Vacrix]

Its a really underplayed deck. I've had great success with it on MWS, various builds. Its really hard to hit land drops and remove Stasis once it comes down. Often if you land the lock, you win. The issue is consistently getting to the lock. I find that Enlightened Tutor accomplishes this really well, and just having pieces sitting in your hand. Also, its a good idea to throw in a singleton Jitte if you run Etutor cause it allows you to fetch it when you are in a sticky situation. Stifle is also pretty good, taking out Pridgemage, and blowing up fetchlands while your opponent tries to hit X lands to play his removal spell, in which case you can also run Dreadnought. It could definitely be Tier 2 if people bothered to optimize a list.

There are plenty of Stasis forums though. You ought to go look in them for ideas.

[MakeMyDay]

Sorry that I posted my deck with the banned cards. I havent played any big events over 5 years...

Thanks for the advise to play Noble Hiearch, it work out really well.

I looked aorund at other Stasis decks and I realized that they all seem boring to me. Every card in those decks is really good in combination with Stasis, but by it's own they all can not do much. I wanted to build a Stasis deck where the Stasis is only one option and not the only way to win. Maybe it is not possible to bulid such a deck at least I gave it a try and this is what the old list has become:


Mana:
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
1 Savannah

Creatures:
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers or Rhox War Monk
4 (open solts)

Spells:
4 Counterspell
4 Daze
4 Ponder or Brainstorm
3 Enlightened Tutor
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Stasis
2 Umezawa's Jitte


The list might look a little ramdom, but like I said, I wanted to have not everything based on Stasis.
It is way top boring just to hope that Stasis stays in the game and that you can pay the U during your upkeep.

1 Noble Hierarch turnt out be be much better than Birds of Paradiese because of the exalted ability to win creature battles like Tarmogoyf vs Tarmogoyf.

2 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers or Rhox War Monk what I need is a three Mana guy, who I can drop in turn two (Noble hierach)
I don't know if theese two will do the job ... Wilt Leaf Cavaliers is not effected by Stasis at all. Rhox War Monk turns our nice to have a jitte to gain life when playing against other fast creature decks.

3 4 OPEN SLOTS what can I play? I tought the best defence is the attack and that I sould have more cheap creatures. Maybe something white like Serra Avenger.

4 Daze I put in Daze instead of Force of Will, because it bounces a Land for the Stasis and I experienced that I had not enough blue cards to remove.

5 Ponder or Brainstorm maybe I sould let go of Ponder since I play so many fetch lands and use Brainstorm even tough it does not help my Tarmogoyf.

6. What's up with my Manabase? Do you think it's better to cut some fetch lands for something else?



Please keep helping me out with this experiment rather if it will work out as a stunning tournament deck or my very own fun deck!

MakeMyDay

[Broham]

I highly recommend Forsaken City (http://magiccards.info/ps/en/139.html) with Stasis, you don't really have to worry about the lock so much that way.

Also, bounce spells of some sort help with the theme, and I think you'd get better mileage out of Man-o'-War (http://magiccards.info/vi/en/37.html) than Wiltleaf Cavaliers or the Rhox Warmonk, or perhaps they could go into your 4 open slots.

[MakeMyDay]

AAAA I think it's not possible a bulid a creature based Stasis deck. I tyed a couple of other creature ... using forsaken but it is just too slow i gues..


Topic closed ??

[Vacrix]

You just need to get a creature with vigilance out and that seals the deal.

If you want you can also play Luminarch Ascension, if you splash for white. It kicks ass once it comes online. I can't remember losing a single game once I've had it online under Stasis. Its madness, even if you break the Stasis lock.

Here's my list. I did a lot of testing on MWS with it back in the day.

Stasis
Land:
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
3 Savannah
4 Forsaken City
19

Creatures:
4 Quirion Rangers
3 Scryb Rangers
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
2 Court Hussar
16

Lock:
4 Stasis
4 Enlightened Tutor
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Luminarch Ascension
12

Tricks:
4 Stifle
1 Phyrexian Dreadnought
1 Umezawa's Jitte
6

Draw:
1 Sensei's Diving Top
4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder
7

Its really just tuned to beat aggros face, but it does so extremely consistently if you know what you're doing. I'd love to fit in countermagic, but if you want to play the creature combinations, you just don't have room. Hopefully that gives you some ideas.

[MakeMyDay]

Hey tanks a lot. Your build looks like as it works out alright. :)

I tried a little faster version:

Mana:
4 Tropical Island
8 Fetch Lands
3 Island
1 Forest

Creatures:
4 Quirion Rangers
2 Scryb Rangers
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Vinelasher Kudzu

Draw
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorms

Distraction:
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Daze

Lock:
4 Stasis
3 Garruk Wildspeaker

It's fast! Sometimes I have Stasis working in turn 3. (1. Land + Ranger 2. Tamogoyf or Vinelasher Kudzu 3. Stasis)
What i really like is that Stasis is just an option to really piss off the other player while your creatures keep beating him.

What is turning out really well:
Vinelasher Kudzu I never tought that I would ever play this card but with all the "take a land back on your hand" options it is possible to always have a land, waiting on your hand. Vinelasher is getting bigger almost every turn and the Fetchlands just rock.

What is not so good:
Nimble Mongoose is a grat little guy who grows up pretty rapid with all the fetch, draw cards and counterspells. His ability is also not to bad when playing against burn or simular decks. BUT: I can NOT untap him with the Ranger's

Can you help me find a different but simular little big guy who untaps with the rangers ??

[Lurker101]

Scute Mob can actually work really well in a stasis build as it can grow pretty quickly once you hit the five land mark and have a hard stasis lock on.

[Vacrix]

The only problem with Scute Mob.. is that you need to hit your land drops. If you continuously bounce your land in order to keep the stasis lock working, then you aren't going to hit 5 lands unless you also play birds or something. If you could somehow get around this problem, then Scute Mob would be excellent. I suggest you run it like this, if you continue this path:

Stasis
Mana: (18)
4 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Forest
2 Wasteland
1 Forsaken City

Creatures: (14)
4 Quirion Rangers
3 Scryb Rangers
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Vinelasher Kudzu

Draw (6)
2 Ponder
4 Brainstorms

Protection (12)
4 Stifle
4 Force of Will
4 Daze

Tech (4)
4 Crop Rotation

Lock: (6)
4 Stasis
2 Garruk Wildspeaker

I think its not optimized, but Crop Rotation gives you a lot of flexibility. It lets you color fix in sticky situations when you really need that Trop in play to make your lock work, it fetches Wasteland to help you engage in a mana denial strategy (great in stasis.dec), it also fetches Forsaken City thus enabling the lock, it pumps goyf +2/+2 at instant speed if land and instant aren't already in the yard, and it pumps up your Kudzu +2/+2 at instant speed if you get a fetchland.

Something else I noticed while testing Stasis is that Stifle > Counterspell. Stifle stops Pridemage on Stasis, and Wasteland on Forsaken City. Its randomly good in many other places like against Storm where and is great at feeding into your mana denial plan. It makes Daze, Wasteland, and Crop Rotation even more dangerous.

I think 18 lands is too few though. 22 blue cards is enough to support Force. I'm thinking -2 Ponder +2 land, but I'm not sure how that will affect the blue count for Force. Also, I'm apprehensive about cutting Ponder because its a great cantrip that lets you find your lock pieces. At the same time, hitting 4 land drops to play Garruk doesn't look easy.

It should also be noted, that Garruk isn't particularly great against aggro. Its too slow (turn 4 its online), and dies to a bolt once they see what it can do. Its playable against aggro, but Garruk is far better against control when your opponent has a longer clock. If you want to play Garruk, I've had the most success with it in builds that play Noble Hierarch and/or BoP because they allow you to drop it on turn 3, untap 2 lands, then drop Stasis.

Also, I find that a white splash gives you access to Exalted creatures like Hierarch and Pridemage, which happen to be absolutely insane in Stasis decks because you are likely to untap and swing with only one creature anyway. White also gives you swords and enlightened tutor.

[Poron]

imho there's no way to play a deck like this nowaday without white and Sterling Grove.

Qasalis and Grips just makes anything we can try useless...

[Vacrix]

I disagree. If you play mana denial with Wasteland, Stifle and Crop Rotation, your opponent can't get to 2G after tapping out. Trust me it works all the time. VERY rarely the opponent breaks the lock. Its extremely reliable once it comes down. It is not, however, easy to get down.