[Deck] Stasis Maze

[Kich867]

Introduction:

So this is my first attempt at making a Legacy deck. I know when I started I wanted to do something with Blue and Green, I wanted to do something interesting and do it effectively. I had to really consider how green could be implemented into the deck without doing something common like "Control into a big creature and win!" So I aimed for a way to control the tempo with land disruption.

The big staples of the deck are Root Maze, Stasis, and Garruk Wildspeaker, and the interactions they have with each other. The cards are intended to operate well with each other and promote synergy, but be strong enough that not all parts of the deck are required to be in play.

Though there is very little green in the deck, everything that lets the deck win is located in that color.

Deck List: Updated as of 4/1/11


//Creatures: 12
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Scryb Ranger
3 Mistbind Clique
1 Vendilion Clique

//Spells: 12
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Early Frost
4 Daze

//Enchantments: 8
4 Stasis
4 Root Maze

//Artifacts: 4
4 Amulet of Vigor

//Planeswalkers: 4
4 Garruk Wildspeaker

//Lands: 20
2 Breeding Pool
4 Tropical Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Rishadan Port
4 Forest
4 Island


General Deck Concept:

The aim of the deck is to mutually stall both players, but break free of Stasis over time and beat them to death while they're frozen solid. Root Maze and Amulet of Vigor are not necessary to win, but they can lead to situations like me being able to play untapped lands while the opponent is tapped out and can never produce any mana from turn 3 on.

In an ideal situation, I will have Stasis on the board with Garruk to untap my lands, and at least Scryb Ranger on the field. This let's me untap enough land to pay for stasis, then swing and untap scryb ranger until the opponent is dead.

Adding supplemental enchantments or artifacts (root maze / amulet) makes the situation unfairly one-sided. While I'm now operating as if I'm under a Winter Orb, they're still frozen.

So what if I can't get a root maze? That's fine, Early Frost, Mistbind Clique, and Rishadan Port can tap them out.

In the event that the lock isn't in place, the aim will be to disrupt their land as much as possible--hitting their upkeep with Early Frosts, Rishadan Port, Mistbind Clique. All the while I need to dig with Careful Study and discard excess amulets / stasis / mazes.

Possible Alternatives:

In this section I just wanted to speculate (and perhaps you guys could confirm/deny some of them).

Do I need more draw? I didn't want to put Brainstorm in since it doesn't really dig that hard and it doesn't dump cards that aren't needed anymore. Accumulated Knowledge or Preordain would be my first picks.

Does the deck seem to flimsy? I've mostly been just goldfishing the hands of this deck as I don't have all of the cards to operate it yet. So as it stands this is just theorycrafting.

Do I really need Rishadan Ports? Or are the Early Frosts / Mistbind's enough to lock the land down for a few turns?

So, in general, some cards I feel would have been good cards but didn't make it:

Mana Short
Drain Power
Isochron Scepter
Winter Orb
Pygmy Hippo
Force of Will
Tarmogoyf
Wintermoon Mesa
Mana Maze
Brainstorm
Mana Vapors
Mana Web


Conclusion:

Overall, I mean, maybe the deck is horrible, maybe it's not, but I think the idea is worth refining and really looking at. I'd love to hear what people think--feel free to be respectfully critical of it, I'm very serious about this deck concept, and I felt like I've made the best choices with what I'm looking at.

For instance, the reason I am not playing like.. Quirion Ranger and Tarmogoyf and Force of Will, is because if the deck works, I won't need a beater as big as Tarmogoyf who offers no utility. Quirion Ranger is not a faerie and does not have Flash nor Flying. I should not need to Force of Will anything if they can't play anything, as Force Spike should suffice to tick away at their available land or hit the only real threats.

[dahcmai]

With the Amulet in there, it makes me wonder if you can actually afford to play a Thawing Glaciers in there. It comes in untapped and gets an "untapped" Island and provides a land drop every single turn. That's not horrible in a deck that relies on such exacting math.

Also, I tried Stasis with Garruck and root Maze before. I found that Forsaken City and Jace 1.0 can provide the same lock.

[Kich867]

Wow, that'd be incredibly ideal. I mean at that point though, is there really any point to run Green outside of Root Maze? Like, in terms of a win condition--Serra Sphinx is a blue Serra Angel: 4/4 flying vigilance, which should suffice. Opening up that many creature slots would also let me focus more on control.

I was really hoping to incorporate more green to the deck.

I mean, I could drop Root Maze, Scryb Ranger, Amulet of Vigor, etc. In favor of something like Frozen Aether and Serra Sphinx.

If I were to keep Garruk however, I do really like the idea of that fetch land. However it feels almost detrimental to my tempo if I don't happen to get an amulet. (It would also fit in very well with the wintery theme of the deck haha)

[Indykid Vago]

Hey , sweet another Stasis build .

There are basically 3 separate builds that tend to run Stasis .

The first is the Mono Blue build , that runs Chronatog and either Tangle Wire or Frozen AEther (or both really) . The second is the one that splashes a little white for Enlightened Tutor and the third splashes green for Root Maze and Garruk Wildspeaker .

I tend to lean on the white one so I can run Meddling Mage g2/3 but Ive actually seen the Mono Blue build top 8 somewhere .

Either way , on your green build . I had a few questions .

Without Root Maze , what turn do you tend to cast your Stasis and perpetuate the "lock" ?

With Root Maze , what turn do you tend to cast your Stasis and perpetuate the "lock" ?

Daze has always been a mainstay , since its basically a free Force Spike that lets you "untap" an Island . Not to mention that playing around your opponents Daze while under a Stasis lock has got to be the worst feeling ever . I was mostly wondering why you chose to omit it from the list .

Lastly , I have found Chain of Vapor to be most awesome in Stasis , as it is a 1cc answer to a lot of problems while at the same time being able to perpetuate the "lock " . Is there a reason it wasn't considered ?

I like your creature heavy build , being able to actually chump block has got to rock .

[Kich867]

Unfortunately Chain of Vapors wasn't considered because I actually had no idea it existed haha. I agree on daze, I'll be switching force spike out.

In regards to the questions, it would depend heavily on what else is in my hand.

Without root maze, I could play Stasis as early as turn 3 or 4 so long as I have a scryb ranger and they're tapped out or something. Scryb Ranger lets me tap out for stasis and then replay that land by bouncing him and replaying him. So, in other words, I would only attack if I had no extra land to play. However I would probably hold off on it. If at all possible, hitting their lands with Early Frost and Mistbind Clique would be a priority while I wait for a Garruk or a Root Maze. If I had a scryb ranger / cloud faerie on the table, and championed the cloud faerie on their upkeep with Mistbind Clique, I would almost certainly drop stasis on my turn and get a few turns of swinging for almost free against them.

With root maze, it would depend if I could get an amulet of vigor as well. If I have an amulet with it, I would drop it rather early. But I wouldn't have to. Early Frost essentially does the same thing up until Stasis drops, especially if aided with Rishadan Port.

So, if I could stall out their land while I get a Scryb Ranger and an Amulet on the table, I would drop Stasis a little later even with Root Maze. If not, I can see playing it a little earlier depending on my hand and how well I can deal with it compared to them so long as I have a way to deal damage to them. If I have no creature in play there's no point in playing it.

In regards to the Chain of Vapors, is it not entirely uncommon to simply bounce Stasis back to your hand at the end of their turn, let yourself recouperate and strengthen the lock, and then replay it?