A comeback for Stifle?

[studentofthegame]

With the rise in popularity of Stoneforge Everything and Hive Mind, Stifle seems like it is increasingly useful. It was once a staple of U/x tempo builds to stop fetchlands and disrupt tons of other random effects, but it seems to have faded away in the latest iterations of those decks. However, I'm starting to think more and more about trying it out in a more old-school Threshold build sporting heavy cheap disruption. Anyone else think it may be time to reexamine Stifle?

[wcm8]

It was never bad. But it is definitely even better than before with the decks running around these days.

[keys]

Yes, Pacts are good targets, but they mostly filled a void left by Storm. Mental Misstep is still the bane of Stifle everywhere.

[Amon Amarth]

Almost every card and strategy in Legacy waxes and wanes in popularity and usefulness. Stifle certainly isn't bereft of targets these days. It might not always get the 1st turn fetch but there are still lots of other excellent targets.

[Octopusman]

I'm also a believer. Stifle, especially, is a card that falls in and out of favor.
I'm loving it. If you might love it too, give it a shot.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop pacts and Emrakul. :)

[ScatmanX]

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop pacts and Emrakul. :)
It stops the "you lose the game" trigger from Pacts, and also stop the Annihilator from Emrakul. May not be the best thing ever, since you take 15 damage, but a turn with your permanents is better than one without them.

[RogueMTG]

It's been performing pretty well lately I would say, at least in Team America.

A buddy of mine just took 5th last month at Jupiter's NELC Qualifier after starting 5-0 and drawing the last two rounds:

http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=6538&iddeck=47359

Then there's GerryT winning the last SCG open:

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=39910

I'd say the Stifle/Waste package is still pretty good.

[.dk]

It stops the "you lose the game" trigger from Pacts, and also stop the Annihilator from Emrakul. May not be the best thing ever, since you take 15 damage, but a turn with your permanents is better than one without them.

not sure you can stifle something with protection from colored spells?

[KevinTrudeau]

not sure you can stifle something with protection from colored spells?

The trigger is separate from Emrakul.

[Justin]

not sure you can stifle something with protection from colored spells?

You aren't using Stifle on Emrakul itself, but on the annihilator trigger. That ability goes on the stack and does not have protection from anything. Same goes for Goblin Piledriver. You can stifle its +2/+0 for each other attacking goblin ability, even though the creature itself is pro blue. Stifle is not targetting these permanents, it is simply targetting their abilities.

[RainbowPenguin]

Stifle + Wasteland + Daze.dec is probably my favorite thing to do, but I haven't found a home for it yet, post Misstep. It's not neccesarily because MM counters Stifle, though that might play a part. I think another, significant reason is that it's just hard to put all these awesome tempo cards in one deck, while still having room for threats, mana sources, etc. I mean, I would sometimes run Stifle in Merfolk before MM, but now? With Force, Daze, MM and vial, on top of about 21 lands and the 20 core merfolk, and really at least a couple of extra creatures like Kira or Sower, I just can't find room.

[Pastorofmuppets]

Yes, Pacts are good targets, but they mostly filled a void left by Storm. Mental Misstep is still the bane of Stifle everywhere.

If I'm on the play and they crack a fetch on their turn, I'll gladly let them lose 3 life and 2 cards to get their first land.

[Atwa]

Stifle + Wasteland + Daze.dec is probably my favorite thing to do, but I haven't found a home for it yet, post Misstep. It's not neccesarily because MM counters Stifle, though that might play a part. I think another, significant reason is that it's just hard to put all these awesome tempo cards in one deck, while still having room for threats, mana sources, etc. I mean, I would sometimes run Stifle in Merfolk before MM, but now? With Force, Daze, MM and vial, on top of about 21 lands and the 20 core merfolk, and really at least a couple of extra creatures like Kira or Sower, I just can't find room.

Try a new build of New Horizons.

[.dk]

You aren't using Stifle on Emrakul itself, but on the annihilator trigger. That ability goes on the stack and does not have protection from anything. Same goes for Goblin Piledriver. You can stifle its +2/+0 for each other attacking goblin ability, even though the creature itself is pro blue. Stifle is not targetting these permanents, it is simply targetting their abilities.

ah, thanks for the clarification. that makes sense - it targets the stack, not what generated the trigger.

[Jak]

If I'm on the play and they crack a fetch on their turn, I'll gladly let them lose 3 life and 2 cards to get their first land.

How are they losing two cards?

[troopatroop]

How are they losing two cards?

Mental Misstep.

[menace13]

How are they losing two cards?
I don't see it either. Misstep is only 1 card and the fetch is equivalent to a land.

[Dark Ritual]

It matters because then they don't have that misstep for more relevant things. Like nimble mongoose or what have you. And people forget that tempo decks now run mental misstep as a 3-4 of, usually 4 of. So if they misstep stifle it is perfectly fine to misstep their misstep. Or DAZE their misstep for that matter, daze is criminally underplayed right now especially since it's also good against hive mind same as how stifle is good against hive mind. I like stifle right now. In fact, stifle is usually good regardless of what the meta looks like because it's a one mana instant speed sinkhole that doesn't let them tap the land for mana. I expect to see more stifles getting played hell even GerryT ran it and most pro's don't like the card for some odd reason.

[dahcmai]

Stifle has always annoyed me in the fact that it targets the ability. It just seems like you should be able to hit a Standstill's ability somehow, though you can't. Grrrrr. lol

[Comrade]

Stifle has always annoyed me in the fact that it targets the ability. It just seems like you should be able to hit a Standstill's ability somehow, though you can't. Grrrrr. lol

You can counter Standstill all you like with Stifle. However, doing so just triggers Standstill's ability again.

[dahcmai]

Yeah, but don't you ever wish you could just hit that thing and have it just go to the grave without them getting to draw three?


Anyway, I got to hit a few things today that were fun. Stifled a Stoneforge, a Trinket Mage, a bunch of fetches, and even a random Grave titan that found it's way into the Legacy tournament today (needed a bounce w Jace to get another shot at countering it). Team America is fairly fun still and Stifle seems to have plenty of targets that I ran into.

The biggest problem I had with it was most of the time, the triggers I was hitting weren't all that great and everyone just plays around it the rest of the time with the fetches. It's good for fake outs, but still just annoying to have them sit in hand a lot of the time hitting mediocre targets.

[kiblast]

Don't forget the singleton Dreadnought that many URx tempo/control decks are playing... despite Qasali and Misstep, is still a cool way to win a legacy game. Style points for sure.

[Purgatory]

I love Stifle, and I never really stopped playing it, though it's kind of a hit-or-miss card that seems to me to be either game-breaking or a blank pitched to FoW. In any case, I play it as a 4-of in my Tempo TA build, and I wouldn't dream of going below that.

[Sturtzilla]

Hey All,

I think Stifle has always been a solid option, especially if you are running Force of Will. In this case you can always pitch it. There are almost always an abundance of targets for Stifle to hit. It can be mana denial, it can stop combos, or protect your own combo.

I ran 2 Stifle in my sideboard at SCG Pittsburgh. I was playing Reanimator and Stifle is a great board card as it hits most of the graveyard hate cards out there. It is also a decent option against Hive Mind providing that your opponent doesn't cast Chalice at 1. I ended 6-2-0 and placed 15th, if that is worth anything. I am considering adding a third to the board but am working on what to cut.