[Article] Focus on Legacy - Playing and Sideboarding UBG Landstill

[JACO]

In our last Focus on Legacy article we broke down individual card choices for Constructing UBG Landstill. In today’s article we’ll look more closely at constructing a sideboard from available options, sideboarding against common match ups, and some lines of play with the deck.
http://www.eternal-central.com/?p=610


Check it out and let us know what you think here in the forums or in the comments section. As always your comments, criticisms, and advice are welcome. Thanks forr reading!

[zalachan]

Nice article! I really like that deck.. i mean, i like Pernicious Deed and walkers, and i recently started to like blue as well, so was tempted to try this sweet deck. Knowing how to SB and play out those games with purely reactive deck is a bonus as well, so thanks!

Also, like that Tom LaPille sig you have. I allways get the image of slaughtered, flying pigs, dont know why :D

[Nizmox]

Appreciate the UBg Landstill Articles JACO! I'm currently in the process of building the deck after ditching my UW Landstill.
The sideboard choices are certainly interesting, some cards included i'd never considered.

Cheers!

[Mark Sun]

I have not played this version of the deck, but you are siding out Standstill in a good amount of your described matchups. Is that the best idea? I understand that Standstill could be a liability, but should you not be focusing on how to make it a stronger card, rather than losing the card advantage to be gained from it? Removal needs to be redundant to be effective, and you need to resolve card advantage in some of your matchups (mainly speaking, Zoo for example where you recommend boarding out 4 Standstill). Control decks become incredibly weak when they enter topdeck mode, and I'm not sure that's the best choice.

Also, a minor tidbit, against Enchantress you also need to deal with Karmic Justice, which Pernicious Deed becomes a serious liability against.

[dahcmai]

A nice descriptive article on it. Good work. I play the deck already so I know that stuff, but you laid it all out quite well. didn't mention the Drop of Honey tech though. :P

[JACO]

I have not played this version of the deck, but you are siding out Standstill in a good amount of your described matchups. Is that the best idea? I understand that Standstill could be a liability, but should you not be focusing on how to make it a stronger card, rather than losing the card advantage to be gained from it? Removal needs to be redundant to be effective, and you need to resolve card advantage in some of your matchups (mainly speaking, Zoo for example where you recommend boarding out 4 Standstill). Control decks become incredibly weak when they enter topdeck mode, and I'm not sure that's the best choice.Mark, you really have to look at what you are trying to accomplish in each match. Standstill is mainly at it's best against control decks, where card drawing and filtering is at a premium. Against Zoo, are you trying to keep a full hand and draw a bunch of cards? Usually my only concern is using Jace and Brainstorm to find removal, and keep the board as clear as possible. I will usually eat Lightning Bolts (unless I can randomly get value out of Spell Pierce), and mainly hold counterspells for Price of Progress if I can afford it, and just try to Jace them out or actually get there with creatures if I have a couple of early Factories. You can see a ton of cards even without Standstill. After sideboarding I'd rather be 2-for-1ing them with Perish and Deed than drawing 3 cards and hoping to find more removal. You can gain plenty of card advantage that way and just by Jace. Obviously you'd love to do both, but there are only so many cards you can side out.

How would you personally approach the Zoo matchup in terms of sideboarding? Spell Pierce helps ensure that you can at least get to the mid-game (preventing stuff like end of turn Bolt, Path, protecting Jace, etc.), but I might be able to get behind siding out something like 3 Spell Pierce and 1 Loam if it proves sound. Spell Pierce has been pretty good to me though in tournaments so far though.


Also, a minor tidbit, against Enchantress you also need to deal with Karmic Justice, which Pernicious Deed becomes a serious liability against.Yes, some of the Enchantress decks do pack that in sideboard and I've played against it but just forgot to mention it. If I edit the article I'll drop that in there. Thanks.

[Mark Sun]

Mark, you really have to look at what you are trying to accomplish in each match. Standstill is mainly at it's best against control decks, where card drawing and filtering is at a premium. Against Zoo, are you trying to keep a full hand and draw a bunch of cards? Usually my only concern is using Jace and Brainstorm to find removal, and keep the board as clear as possible. I will usually eat Lightning Bolts (unless I can randomly get value out of Spell Pierce), and mainly hold counterspells for Price of Progress if I can afford it, and just try to Jace them out or actually get there with creatures if I have a couple of early Factories. You can see a ton of cards even without Standstill. After sideboarding I'd rather be 2-for-1ing them with Perish and Deed than drawing 3 cards and hoping to find more removal. You can gain plenty of card advantage that way and just by Jace. Obviously you'd love to do both, but there are only so many cards you can side out.

How would you personally approach the Zoo matchup in terms of sideboarding? Spell Pierce helps ensure that you can at least get to the mid-game (preventing stuff like end of turn Bolt, Path, protecting Jace, etc.), but I might be able to get behind siding out something like 3 Spell Pierce and 1 Loam if it proves sound. Spell Pierce has been pretty good to me though in tournaments so far though.

I will want to gain a better understanding of how the deck flows (I am assuming most likely different from UWx variants), so I may look into playing it at a local or something of the sort. The biggest difference between the UWx list that I am familiar with versus this one is the presence of 4x Jace, TMS, so that changes a lot in the deck dynamic itself, I will admit. Arguably, with your removal/counter density, drawing a bunch of cards is akin to finding the removal that you need to win the matchup. Based on the list you posted that you linked in the article:


Landstill UBG 20101Q4, by Jaco 07-14-2010
Business (36)
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
3 Spell Pierce
3 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
4 Innocent Blood
2 Ghastly Demise/Smother/Diabolic Edict
4 Pernicious Deed
1 Life From the Loam
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Mana Sources Wasteland Version (24)
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Polluted Delta
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Swamp

Mana Sources Mutavault Version (24)
4 Mishra’s Factory
2 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
2 Island
1 Swamp

You have 4 or 6 manlands, 6 Edict effects (or 4/2 Edict/Spot), and 4 Deeds pre-board and you add in 4 extra pieces of removal (or 3 pieces of removal and an extra counterspell, depending on how you would be using BEB in the next game). Almost a quarter of your deck is some method of answering the creature-based threats that Zoo plays. I would love to do some math to look at the permeation of said "business" in the deck, but drawing 3 doesn't seen to have that many negative consequences, especially if you can dig even deeper on top of that with Brainstorm and Jace, TMS. This is how I view this matchup in terms of the attrition battle.

How would I sideboard? I agree that the four cards you posted are the most relevant, but I would take out 4 Force of Will. 3 Spell Pierce / 3 Counterspell / 3 Spell Snare / 1 BEB is fine post-board even if you are worried about Price of Progress; I have seen some Zoo decks cut it out of the MD as well, citing that it is not as great in the format as it used to be.

Let me know if what I'm saying makes sense. Like I said, I have not played the deck, although it looks like fun but I'm missing the 2 Jace I need if I were to build it, but from a control standpoint, these are the changes I would make.



Yes, some of the Enchantress decks do pack that in sideboard and I've played against it but just forgot to mention it. If I edit the article I'll drop that in there. Thanks.

No problem, we have an Enchantress player on our team so it's something I'm used to (losing to).