UR StifleStill

[Griselpuff]

So, this guy called xShockwaveX has 4-0'ed or 3-1'ed dozens of events in the past few weeks with variations on the following list:


3 Faerie Conclave
2 Flooded Strand
3 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
25 lands

4 Snapcaster Mage
4 creatures

4 Brainstorm
3 Counterspell
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Force of Will
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Spell Pierce
3 Spell Snare
3 Standstill
4 Stifle
31 other spells


Sideboard
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Pyroblast
3 Pyroclasm
1 Red Elemental Blast
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Volcanic Fallout

Seems like a cross between RUG Delver and Landstill. I've played a few matches and it seems like it's sort of a counter everything, mana denial deck with a few standstills to refill your hand. Definitely has the power to become a tier deck (it's more resistant to Wasteland than RUG and has card advantage to grind out control decks, as well as loads of counters for combo). There aren't really any real aggro decks anymore, and the ones out there are typically soft to Wastes/stifles as manabases are super greedy.

[SirTylerGalt]

Reminds me a lot of the U/R Landstill deck near the bottom of that article (which mentions ShockWave):

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/24778-The-Re-Return-Of-The-Legacy-Bucket-List.html


I played with it for a while on Cockatrice. It's a pretty fun deck.

[Vandalize]

So, this guy called xShockwaveX has 4-0'ed or 3-1'ed dozens of events in the past few weeks with variations on the following list:


3 Faerie Conclave
2 Flooded Strand
3 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
25 lands

4 Snapcaster Mage
4 creatures

4 Brainstorm
3 Counterspell
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Force of Will
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Spell Pierce
3 Spell Snare
3 Standstill
4 Stifle
31 other spells


Sideboard
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Pyroblast
3 Pyroclasm
1 Red Elemental Blast
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Volcanic Fallout

Seems like a cross between RUG Delver and Landstill. I've played a few matches and it seems like it's sort of a counter everything, mana denial deck with a few standstills to refill your hand. Definitely has the power to become a tier deck (it's more resistant to Wasteland than RUG and has card advantage to grind out control decks, as well as loads of counters for combo). There aren't really any real aggro decks anymore, and the ones out there are typically soft to Wastes/stifles as manabases are super greedy.

This deck must struggle against Maverick and Goblins.

Still, seems like a nice option with all those 3-color midrange running arround.

[menace13]

Shockwave, besides being a fine player, has been grinding Standstills forever in every format. UR w Stifles has been his list for years now in Legacy. Might be better to reach him on TMD if anyone wanted, really cool dude too.

[Piceli89]

Isn't he Lam Pham, one of the creators of the old Canadian Threshold?
I remember seeing a list from GenCon that was more or less the same maindeck.
I think his skill could justify the results more than the deck itself taken on paper, since I see many faults:
- on the draw it seems to struggle a lot.
- a lot of stack control, not so much board control. Is it the right approach now?
- Does Stifle work without a clock and, most of all, with Standstill? You are stunning them only to give back the chance to recover. Of course I'm refering to stifling fetchlands, but in every other scenario I'd see other cards being more useful.
- as for every UR, a resolved Tarmogoyf or Kotr will give you infinite headaches. That list runs only a single Jace to bounce it and counter it/drop a Standstill. The only chance I see is getting Crucible+Factory in play or 2x1ing via Snap/Factory chumpblock + Bolt, and in the era of BGx this may be more and more of a scenario.
- Faerie Conclave is justifiable because of the 25 lands, but isn't it still a bit suboptimal?
- Grim Lavamancer would be a fine add to the deck in relation to the actual metagame, but it's unfortunate that it is virtually unplayable because of Snapcaster and Crucible requiring the very cards it would eat to work. Perhaps a side-in in the aggro matchups where a single Snap and Crucible may come out.
- Slow clock given by 2/2s, although I have the feeling that it is paradoxally more fast to kill this way once advantage is estabilished (Bolt helps) than to ramp a Jace.

EDIT: I've read the article linked above, and ShockWave is a different person, sorry.

[SirTylerGalt]

Isn't he Lam Pham, one of the creators of the old Canadian Threshold?
I remember seeing a list from GenCon that was more or less the same maindeck.
I think his skill could justify the results more than the deck itself taken on paper, since I see many faults:
- on the draw it seems to struggle a lot.
- a lot of stack control, not so much board control. Is it the right approach now?
- Does Stifle work without a clock and, most of all, with Standstill? You are stunning them only to give back the chance to recover. Of course I'm refering to stifling fetchlands, but in every other scenario I'd see other cards being more useful.
- as for every UR, a resolved Tarmogoyf or Kotr will give you infinite headaches. That list runs only a single Jace to bounce it and counter it/drop a Standstill. The only chance I see is getting Crucible+Factory in play or 2x1ing via Snap/Factory chumpblock + Bolt, and in the era of BGx this may be more and more of a scenario.
- Faerie Conclave is justifiable because of the 25 lands, but isn't it still a bit suboptimal?
- Grim Lavamancer would be a fine add to the deck in relation to the actual metagame, but it's unfortunate that it is virtually unplayable because of Snapcaster and Crucible requiring the very cards it would eat to work. Perhaps a side-in in the aggro matchups where a single Snap and Crucible may come out.
- Slow clock given by 2/2s, although I have the feeling that it is paradoxally more fast to kill this way once advantage is estabilished (Bolt helps) than to ramp a Jace.

EDIT: I've read the article linked above, and ShockWave is a different person, sorry.


You can answer Tarmogoyf with Spell Snare, Ratchet Bomb, or Force of Will. It might be interesting to replace the Faerie Conclave with Mutavault (which can be boosted by Mishra's Factory :)), since Faerie Conclave costs a lot of mana to activate, and comes into play tapped, which is often annoying. That said, Faerie Conclave is a good answer to Delver of Secrets.

About the clock: it doesn't seem like a fast clock, but I often killed my opponents pretty fast once I established control of the board / gained card advantage thanks to Standstill. EOT Snapcaster, flashback Bolt (take 3), next turn attack with Snapcaster + Factory (take 4).

[kiblast]

- Does Stifle work without a clock and, most of all, with Standstill? You are stunning them only to give back the chance to recover. Of course I'm refering to stifling fetchlands, but in every other scenario I'd see other cards being more useful.
- as for every UR, a resolved Tarmogoyf or Kotr will give you infinite headaches. That list runs only a single Jace to bounce it and counter it/drop a Standstill. The only chance I see is getting Crucible+Factory in play or 2x1ing via Snap/Factory chumpblock + Bolt, and in the era of BGx this may be more and more of a scenario.
- Slow clock given by 2/2s, although I have the feeling that it is paradoxally more fast to kill this way once advantage is estabilished (Bolt helps) than to ramp a Jace.


Yeah those are my main concerns as well. Consider that normally this kind of deck - Ur Stifle/Standstill- plays Phyrexian Dreadnought both as a fast clock enabler and as a form of wall/ temporary solution to any Kotr or Goyf until you get more Dreadnoughts, or a JTMS, or until Grim Lavamancer/Bolt combined with Delver beats get there. And honestly I think that Dreadnought, while incredibly easy to disrupt these days ( even if you are playing some combination of Vision Charms and Misdirections to avoid AD) it's the only available way to provide a decent clock without splashing green or black. Here you lack any chance to capitalize on the tempo gap created by Stifling a fetchland. I'm pretty much certain that his skill with the deck is the main reason why he's doing well with it.

[TraxDaMax]

I like it. Was thinking of rebuilding a trinket mage+grim lavamacer+ basilisk collar deck, but perhaps I should give this a try. However I feel that Bloodmoon and Back to Basics are pretty well positioned right now.

[Arako]

I have been playing a similar list for a while, with some changes such as more Jaces, Vendilion Cliques and some Engineered Explosives. I have been doing fine with it. Goyfs can be a problem but my list has some more answers for it than the one posted. As people have already said, I don't think stifles are good enough in this deck.

[Qweerios]

Why Red over White? Isn't StP and SFM more appealing than Bolt and REB? And yeah, I agree that Stifle looks very weak in this list.

[The Treefolk Master]

I think some of you are approaching the deck incorrectly. This is not a control deck, its a tempo deck. You don't want to kill them in turn 83 after taking control of the game, you want to disrupt them via land disruption (Stifle, Wasteland) and soft permission while you kill them with Mishra's, Conclaves and Snapcasters. THat's why it runs only 1 Jace, and why it runs red instead of white. Giving them life is the exact opposite of what this deck seeks to achieve, you want to get them low enough to be able to finish them off with Bolts, which also double as creature removal to clear the way.

[Piceli89]

I think some of you are approaching the deck incorrectly. This is not a control deck, its a tempo deck. You don't want to kill them in turn 83 after taking control of the game, you want to disrupt them via land disruption (Stifle, Wasteland) and soft permission while you kill them with Mishra's, Conclaves and Snapcasters.

..If the plan is denying them of mana and attacking+Bolt to finish them off in a quick time, isn't Canadian Threshold slightly better? Standstill and such a slow clock is a conceptual nombo with everything you said.

[Scordata]

Lots of armchair speculation here.

Take the deck for a spin - its a blast in the current meta game.

You want to aggressively set up standstills. Then attack for 2 in the air and watch your opponent grumble after you draw three cards. Not to mention man lands dodge abrupt decay.

The only real problems I've had so far are vial decks, but that all changes when you bring in pyroclasms. Stifle into standstill is a very real power play.

[TraxDaMax]

..If the plan is denying them of mana and attacking+Bolt to finish them off in a quick time, isn't Canadian Threshold slightly better? Standstill and such a slow clock is a conceptual nombo with everything you said.

I understand how you feel. I'm currently testing this with Delvers instead of Snapsters, and a tad more burn instead of counters. And turn 1 delver, turn 2 standstill is just ridiculous tbh.
But, the original list is without doubt better. I just felt like trying out something else.

[The Treefolk Master]

..If the plan is denying them of mana and attacking+Bolt to finish them off in a quick time, isn't Canadian Threshold slightly better? Standstill and such a slow clock is a conceptual nombo with everything you said.

At no point I hinted towards RUG being better or worse. Notice how the deck runs only 1 Jace, while 3 is the minimum for most control decks. Here's GerryT's opinion on the deck from a few months ago:

"To me, this deck is old hat. I’ve been playing Legacy since 2005, when Landstill was arguably the best deck. Nimble Mongoose was also a problem back then, and lo and behold, not much has changed. The easiest way to beat that is by setting up a Crucible of Worlds/Mishra’s Factory soft-lock.
One thing to note is that Landstill should actually be played very aggressively. You might think it’s a good idea to sit back and take full control of the game, but that’s incorrect. Most games come down to dealing those last few points of damage before they can topdeck a way back into the game. Spending your second turn to attack with Mishra’s Factory is a turn well spent.
That’s why XShockwaveX runs very few ways to actually win the game. One would think that Jace, the Mind Sculptor would be an automatic four-of in this deck, but that just isn’t the case. Landstill aims to disrupt their opponent’s manabase and defeat them with a RUG Delver-esque tempo strategy, except with manlands instead of real creatures."

[Artlee]

This deck sure is fun. I have played some with it, and the worst matchups IMO are Maverick and Nic Fit, as they drop creatures we cant deal with. I'm gonna have to try being more aggressive as Gerry T mentions, because I have mainly been on the draw-go playstyle.

[The Treefolk Master]

This deck sure is fun. I have played some with it, and the worst matchups IMO are Maverick and Nic Fit, as they drop creatures we cant deal with. I'm gonna have to try being more aggressive as Gerry T mentions, because I have mainly been on the draw-go playstyle.

I've now played a few games with the build and can confirm what Gerry T says. Sure, don't tap out if you have the C. Spell and they're about to stick the Knight of the Reliquary that wil wreck your day; but most of the time getting aggresive with your manlands is the way to go. Damage starts piling up, and before you know it you can kill them with Bolt. (Snapcaster + Bolt is really awesome here).

I've found Maverick to be all about their big dudes, namely KotR and Scavenging Ooze (the later can be killed in response to the ability should they run it out too fast, plus it's aso vulnerable to Spell Snare). You must save your answers for them, but a tad of disruption to their mana base + a few damage can really put the pressure on. Post Board you get sweepers + Relics, they get Chokes.

[TraxDaMax]

This deck sure is fun. I have played some with it, and the worst matchups IMO are Maverick and Nic Fit, as they drop creatures we cant deal with. I'm gonna have to try being more aggressive as Gerry T mentions, because I have mainly been on the draw-go playstyle.

Those are also decks that tend to build up mana some way. Hibernation might be an option if those decks see a lot of play in your meta. And ofcourse Submerge.

[Artlee]

Those are also decks that tend to build up mana some way. Hibernation might be an option if those decks see a lot of play in your meta. And ofcourse Submerge.

While I have not tested any of above mentioned, I am not sure they do the same job for us as it would for, say, RUG. We don't deal as much damage per turn so unless we are able to counter the spells we are in the same situation as before. If my assumption is true I would rather just have cards that deal with the permanents once and for all like countering it.

[Artlee]

Played against Zoo today and lost 2-0. I have beat the player before, but this time I am certain I boarded wrong, but would like to share for the sake of discussion:

(same MD and SB as OP, just swapped ratchet bomb and EE)
-4 Force of Will
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Crucible of Worlds
-2 Counterspell

+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Ratchet Bomb
+3 Pyroclasm
+1 Volcanic Fallout
+4 Relic of Progenitus

Although I think it is correct to side out some counters I feel I took out too many. Also, Pyroclasm isn' even guaranteed to wipe the board.

How would you have boarded, given that opponent is playing 1-drop zoo, with no Green Sun package and no creatures above 2 cmc?

[Qweerios]

If you are concerned about Zoo, try Firespout over Pyroclasm.

[Artlee]

If you are concerned about Zoo, try Firespout over Pyroclasm.

That's actually a good idea. I was thinking of Slagstorm, but it's easier to cast Firespout.

[Qweerios]

I played a similar deck to this last night and it performed rather well. However, my initial complaints about the deck were not rectified. Here is the list I used:


Creatures (7)
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Talrand, Sky Summoner

Spells (24)
4 Brainstorm
4 Stifle
3 Spell Pierce
3 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Fire // Ice

Others (5)
3 Standstill
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Crucible of Worlds

Lands (24)
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
1 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Pyroclasm
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Divert
2 Submerge


2-1 Merfolk
0-2 Jund
2-0 NO BUG
0-2 Punishing Zoo

-I had no business winning against Merfolk, but I did. Pyroclasm was a let-down when I was thinking about Firespout for these specific matchups, except for NO BUG, where none of the creatures have 3+ toughness.

-In the games where I went aggressive, it was already over, sending a Bolt to the face was mostly irrelevant.

-Stifle doesn't fit the gameplan. We cannot capitalize on it early even if we pop 1-2 Standstills (it happened), and it is mostly worthless later on. It's not like we had board superiority and we were concerned about our opponent dropping something bigger (AKA: RUG). I think those slots could be dedicated to additional answers and threats (Spell Snare, EE, Jace).

-Against Jund and Zoo I lost to Goyf every single game. I did manage two 5/6 Goyfs with 2 Bolts and 2 Snaps at one point and had a Thrun block a Snap in order to destroy it with Pyroclasm, but all of that was too costly. Goyf and KotR are brick walls to this deck.

-Submerge is powerful with Standstill but it takes up a lot of SB space for half an answer to very specific cards. It can also be red blasted (happened against Zoo).

-Most of the games I have won were on the back of Jace or Talrand, both singletons in the deck. Speaking of Jace, he is extremely good with Standstill, his -1 and +2 become so much more powerful. I feel like this is one of the few decks out there that can really win games with Jace's ultimate. He has so much synergy with the rest of the deck, a minimum of 3 copies is necessary.

-This deck has no business taping out to swing with Manlands unless it has no other options. Even under Standstill you keep at least 2-4 lands open.

-This deck is cold to enchantments like Counterbalance and Sylvan Library.

-Clique is great in a Standstill shell but shouldn't be played in the mainboard.

If I am to play UR again, I would definitely drop Stifle entirely, add 2 more Jace, move the Cliques to the SB, include a couple of Hibernation, and include some Spell Snares (which have been stolen from me), change Pyroclasm for Firespout and EE, and add a 25th land (4th Volcanic).

I think the selling points of Red are:

-the availlability of reach (mostly to deal with PW)
-the speed at which their sweepers come down (Pyroclasm/Firespout vs. Supreme Verdict)
-Red Blasts in the SB

Also, I maintain that splashing white instead of red could be better. StP istead of Bolt solves a lot of problems that are very present in any given meta. White also provides cards like Disenchant, Timely Reinforcements, Supreme Verdict, and Elspeth which are all real answers to cards this deck is otherwise cold to.

[Artlee]

I have seen several replays with shockwave on modo, and one thing I learned quickly is that, as you mentioned, this deck has a hard time when it comes to KotR and Tarmogoyf. I am pretty certain this is why he has 4 Relic of Progenitus in the sideboard, as I have seen him dropping relic, cracking it and then use either bolt or pyroclasm. That seems quite comprehensive but then again relic cycles.

I also played last night and went against some Rogue budget decks. I even lost to one goblin deck with goblin grenade and sulfuric vortex. When one is piloting a deck so reactive as this one, the hardest matchups are those where you are not sure what to counter. Just as when you play versus Reanimator, I feel you need to decide from first turn whether you are going to counter the go-to-grave spells or reanimation spells. Same goes for tapping out to attack with lands: one needs to know when the opponent is out of steam and the coast is clear.

[Qweerios]

I figured the Relics were there for those two, and it looks like a very inneficient way to deal with something rather simple. I don't like how Relic makes Snapcaster worse, and how you need a combination of burn and a relic to get rid of a single creature that your opponent can have 4-8 copies of. If our opponent chooses not to overextend into a Relic + Pyro, we're pretty much screwed because our odds of getting that interaction twice in a game are slim. This is just another reason why I think Jace is important in here. If the issue was Goyf alone, I would say that a pair of EE, Spell Snares, Jaces, and a couple of SB Submerges should be enough, but adding KotR to the equation makes EE a bit worse, and Supreme Verdict/StP that much more appealing.

However, siding Relic against Jund is pretty good considering they use Goyf, Deathrite, and Punishing Fire. Everything but Goyf dies to Pyroclasm as well.

Also, beating burn and extremely aggressive decks seems difficult for this color combination. I have a hard time seeing what optic to take in these matchups without something like Timely Reinforcements, Pulse of the Fields, or Rest for the Weary. I think the only option is to go aggressive and stall for time with counterspells. Divert is a card I would bring in against burn decks as well.

Here is my UW Standstill version by the way, it is pretty smooth and straightforward. The only thing I miss are Red Elemental Blasts


Creatures (4)
4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells (22)
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Spell Pierce
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Supreme Verdict

Others (8)
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Standstill
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Lands (26)
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Island
1 Plains

Sideboard (15)
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Flusterstorm
2 Path to Exile
2 Disenchant
3 Timely Reinforcement
1 Supreme Verdct

[TraxDaMax]

For the moment I'm actually very satisfied with the approach of the deck I've taken. I'm not too fond of a control'ish approach in these colors, but prefer to use the reach we have to go aggro.


4 Delver of Secrets
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Faerie Conclave

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
3 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Divert
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Fire // Ice
4 Stifle

4 Wasteland
4 Volcanic Island
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta
3 Island
1 Mountain


The sideboard is in progress of testing, but Submerge, Firespout, REB and Relic of Progenitus will all be in it.

Note how I put manlands up with my creatures. If you take a look at the deck then, you would definately notice the simularity with known tempo decks. The typical 18 land approach, together with manadenial.
The manlands do a lot more work then one would think. They are:
Uncounterable
Recurrable
Un-"Decay"able
Don't care about Standstill

After getting ahead they open up to be surprisingly huge damage sources.

With this aggresive approach, it is possible to seal the deal before something like Knight of the Reliquary even matters.
I playtested against The Rock with 4 Knight of the Reliquary maindeck, and the times it came online, by then I would have a couple of manlands and a flier which could just ignore the usually 5/5 Knight.
Played 3 games, going 2-1, 2-0, 2-0. Submerge, Divert, Standstill, Jace and Delver were all very good in this match up. And obviously Brainstorm vs his discard, but that doesn't need any explaning.

One of his openings went: Scrubland, Mox Diamond, Hymn to Tourach. I answered it with a Divert and he just scooped.
The thing about blue in magic is, it can pull its butt out of practicly any situation, and this was an issue for my playtest buddy aswell.
He kept complaining about me having so many answers to so many different situations and cursed blue decks out for nearly the whole time we tested. I felt sorry how really nothing he tried to do worked out well for him, and also how messed up it must be to watch your opponent draw 3+ cards extra every game without much effort, and still being able to fly over with 1 mana 3/2's and un'decayable 2/1's.

[Artlee]

That is surely an interesting build you have there. Especially to me because I have moved to UR Delver and it looks like qweerios went the UW route, but your looks like some crossover between the original and UR delver decks. One thing I found very effective is having 1-2 Vapor Snag in the main as it should be used to force the last points of damage through and also delaying the creature drops from the opponent.

One thing that pops out when I look at the list is the clique. While its an MVP vs combo decks like Show and Tell and Miracles I think I would rather up the Spell Pierce count.

If you keep testing with the deck, please post in here as I would love to hear how it fares.

[TraxDaMax]

That is surely an interesting build you have there. Especially to me because I have moved to UR Delver and it looks like qweerios went the UW route, but your looks like some crossover between the original and UR delver decks. One thing I found very effective is having 1-2 Vapor Snag in the main as it should be used to force the last points of damage through and also delaying the creature drops from the opponent.

One thing that pops out when I look at the list is the clique. While its an MVP vs combo decks like Show and Tell and Miracles I think I would rather up the Spell Pierce count.

If you keep testing with the deck, please post in here as I would love to hear how it fares.

Yeah, the 1-of's is a bad habit of mine. Some players really hate that, but I really like knowing there is an answer somewhere in my deck. The clique was actually first the fourth Mishra's Factory, and the Divert was a Spell Pierce. Spell Pierce is so much more usefull, but Divert creates ridiculous blowouts against all these decks running Hymn, Decay and Thoughtseize. So it's in testing but I'm figuring Spell Pierce will just move back main and Divert to the side. More testing will certainly be done. I've only played Elves a la Chanderson and the rock, both pretty easy match ups. I hope to play dredge, jund and show and tell tomorrow..

[Qweerios]

I don't understand how a 5/5 Knight fell to manlands. When you say you had a flier, that would be a singleton Clique. As for pressuring a Knight with manlands, it is highly improbable considering Rock packs 3-4 Wastelands and a Maze of ith. Sounds to me like that Rock player did not know how to block + activate KotR and swing + Maze at the end of combat to untap for a Wasteland opening. You could be having 5 manlands and a Clique, a single KotR will wall them off.

[TraxDaMax]

I don't understand how a 5/5 Knight fell to manlands. When you say you had a flier, that would be a singleton Clique. As for pressuring a Knight with manlands, it is highly improbable considering Rock packs 3-4 Wastelands and a Maze of ith. Sounds to me like that Rock player did not know how to block + activate KotR and swing + Maze at the end of combat to untap for a Wasteland opening. You could be having 5 manlands and a Clique, a single KotR will wall them off.
He was actually facing two flipped Delvers and a Faerie Conclave. Which by that point had become to much to deal with. Even with his Maze of Ith.
He had already wasted 2 Mishra's Factory a couple of turns earlier, and if it hadn't been for his own DR Shaman his knight surely would have been bigger.
The thing is, a Maze of Ith is just as easily dealt with by us with Wasteland or even Stifle if we really need to push damage through. And Stifle also saved my lands more then once from his wastelands btw.

edit: I reread my post and I see where I didn't explain it correctly in detail. The "flier" were actually two delvers, but only one that was able to fly over the knight due to Maze of Ith.

[Qweerios]

I missread the decklist to begin with. I saw 4 Snapcaster Mages instead of 4 Delvers.

U/R tempo with Delver is definitely a good plan albeit a different one from the opening post. I think Delver is one of the main reasons to choose red as a complementary color to a standstill deck. I also think Snapcaster and Clique should be part of the core because:

-they have flash;
-they procure reach;
-they are good on their own;
-they synergize with Standstill;

Overall, they add to the aggression without losing control.

Also, it's risky to play Delvers when you only have 23 instants in your deck. Playing Delver usualy begins with 4 Brainstorm and 4 Ponder.

[TraxDaMax]

Tested some more today, but other match-ups then I expected to test against. No worries though, certainly gave me some food for thought.

First I played against All Spells deck(that "new" deck that mills itself).
Went 2-0 and 2-0. All counters were useful here, and especially Stifle and Force of Will.

Second I played Mono red Goblins. I went 1-2, and 2-1.
Mishra's Factory, Bolt, Fire // Ice, Stifle, Jace, Crucible, Firespout and the single Propaganda out of the board were good here. These games had me wondering if the 4th Mishra's Factory should be put back. Maybe instead of the 3rd Faerie Conclave, I don't know yet.

And with the little time I had left I played against G/B Nicfit, which felt pretty unwinnable with Thrun, the Last Troll being very annoying. I obly got to play one game due to time issues, and lost vs that Thrun, but after checking my side I was convinced Thrun just owns my deck. Well, especially off of turn one Explorer, turn 2 Cabal Therapy, flashback it, play Sensei's DT with 1 mana left to use it. Thrun came turn 4, but it could have been turn 3, and my hand was stripped of anything usefull(aka brainstorm and standstill).

So after this testing my thoughts are:
I want the fourth Mishra's Factory.
Vendillion Clique wasn't that useful in these matchups.
Divert is cute, but Spell Snare and Spell Pierce are much better.
I think we want atleast 3 sweepers sideboard, I played 2 Firespout and 1 Propaganda and didn't see them enough against Goblins. The times I did, I usually won.
Force of Will remains to be very good.
I might want Snapcaster instead of Clique, as stated it gives more reach.
Crucible and Jace give the deck a lategame.
Playing manlands decreases the amount of mulligans I need to make it seems like.
Standstill is often dead in the goblin matchup.

I think that's about it for now.


Edit:
Played some games against Esperblade going 2-0, 2-0. Both games on the draw to start off.
Stifle, Standstill and Delver did serious work here. Fire // Ice was nice to shoot down lingering souls tokens while clearing the path for Delver to bash.
My deck had -1 Divert +1 Spell Pierce
Sideboard was this:

3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Firespout
1 Hibernation
1 Propaganda
1 Submerge
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Flusterstorm
1 Divert

But I didn't bring anything in, if I had felt the need to play a tad more counters I might have brought in the REB's, but I was doing fine without them. I actually wanted every card that was in my main, except maybe the Clique, although it's still a 3/1 flier that you can cast end of turn to see what your opponent has left in his hand and compliments the air attacks Delvers bring.

[Megadeus]

Thinking this would be sweet ad a UB deckcreeping tar pit seems better than Faerie conclave

[TraxDaMax]

Thinking this would be sweet ad a UB deckcreeping tar pit seems better than Faerie conclave

Hi,

I actually tried adding a couple of Underground Sea and Creeping Tar Pit, but to be honest I think that belongs in a control shell, which has more mana available to activate the manlands. Faerie Conclave is actually often pushing it being pretty mana intensive already, I often find myself wanting the 4th Mishra's Factory (which I still haven't added yet).

I've tested some more against Elves and that is almost as good as a bye, unless you really mess up plays, or brick on removal. But You shouldn't brick if you can drop a Mishra's with Standstill they are forced to break it to have any slight chance of winning. Especially after sideboarding.
Next I will be trying Snapcaster Mage in the V.Clique spot. I'm pondering it might be better in this deck afterall.