[Deck] UG Stasis

[Pyropenguin88]

Stasis use to be a competitive deck and I would like it to return to that standing some how. Although from what I see there isn't much hope. I see that there were other threads regarding this deck, but they have died out and so instead of tacking onto a dead thread I decided it would be better to start fresh. I played magic for about 4 years and then quit for 2 years because I couldn't afford to build the decks that could compete. I am recently getting back into playing. I stopped playing about the time they banned Ravager Affinity into Oblivion.

Anyways onto the deck.
Here is the current list I have been testing in online magic tourneys, my playtest group, and the random MWS player =(

//Lands
4 x Forsaken City
12 x Island
4 x Flooded Strand
4 x Tropical Island

//Draw
4 x Howling Mine
4 x Impulse
2 x Sylvan Library

//Counter Suite
4 x Force of Will
4 x Counterspell

//Protection?
3 x Cursed Totem
3 x Energy Field
2 x Chain of Vapor

//Lock n' Kill
4 x Stasis
4 x Root Maze
2 x Ebony Owl Netsuke

This is a pretty basic list with no sb, not sure what it would consist of yet.

Here is a little about the cards.......

Stasis and Root Maze are the lock. Root maze can be dropped early in the game without hurting you too much at all because you need to wait for a good time to drop the stasis and commit to the lock.

Ebony Owl Netsuke is a very quick way to kill the opposing player and goes hand in hand with Howling Mine.

Howling Mine, This I am really trying to change to tell you the truth because I don't want to be giving them card advantage off a card that I will honestly say I would like to have to accelerate my draw.

Force of Will is a great card in general.

Chain of vapor can be used to get rid of early threats like a lackey or to bounce a premature stasis drop.

Cursed Totem should probably be changed to pithing needles, but I haven't tested that yet.

Energy Field is a great card against aggro decks, but since they run wasteland and I run 8 non basic lands it can backfire pretty easily, also if this is on the table , they arent going to tap their attackers which makes playing a stasis more stressful.

Sylvan Library was put into the deck back when landstill was around as a way to combat control better, but I am unsure about it currently.

Here is a little of what I have tested.....Do not have numbers or notes for games just memories.



Please give me your ideas for this deck, and send your emails to WoTC saying to Unban Gush in Legacy 1.5



Early Thanks for Help.

[FoolofaTook]

Howling Mines work with Relic Barrier, Black Vise and Chains of Mephistopheles. They kind of work in burn decks, although they can help your opponent find his solution if he has one.

Even in the old days Howling Mines were an iffy head to head card because they give your opponent an amazing advantage with your mana and tempo giving them the first free card and then one out of every two thereafter.

The best deck I ever saw use Howling Mines was a black/green thing that got up mines, Icy Manipulators, Relic Barriers and Chains of Mephistopheles and then waited to draw a Titania's Song to kill you. Was a very offbeat idea and it made many strong decks miserable in it's day. The sideboard was all landkill.

[Samshire]

Kami of the Crescent Moon seems good in here. Also, Daze and Thwart are counter spell that you can still cast after you got the lock in set. I would only recommend running Daze though.

[Hummingbird TG]

Fathom Seer has a very nice effect that emulates Gush, but too bad it costs mana...

[Poron]

100% Daze, obviously

[UrDraco]

Where is the Tabernacle at Penrell vale? I feel like its a really strong card in Stasis, especially with the addition of Tolaria West which can be used to transmute for it or Forsaken City (or Tordmods Crypt which is cool).

[TheCramp]

100% Daze, obviously

Yeah, 2nded. Put daze in right now. (-4 counterspells)

-4 mines, +4 brainstorms.

And if your going to play bounce to deal with aggro, Snap would be your man. It has even got a picture of a Goblin being bounced on it. Its like wizards is telling you to play it. Listen to them, their wizards.

Mirri's Guile is cheeper than Sylvan, and that matters. Also try land grant over flooded strand, because it sucks way less when you have root maze out.

[DrJones]

Uh? Last time I checked, Undiscovered Paradise was on purpose designed not to work with Stasis.

[Rabbi Dan]

Yeah, that's the second time I've seen someone say Undiscovered + Stasis is a good idea on these boards. Stasis makes you and your opponent SKIP your untap steps, Undiscovered Paradise returns during your next untap step, which won't be for awhile if stasis is on the board.

[TheCramp]

Right, I was not thinking. I was harking back to my rising waters deck of old, and giving bad advice. My bad.

[Pyropenguin88]

I understand Daze being a good counter while commited to the lock, but really drop the 4 counterspells? Also, Snap only works against creatures and chain of vapor can be used against both. Land Grant is good, but with drawing the amount that I am off of howling mine I always have a land in hand just about and I am not going to keep a hand with no land in it and a land grant.

Tabernacle is a great card, I wish I had mine still.... I will play tabernacles in place of 2 Island As soon as I can get them, also TOlaria west is a great idea thanks for everything guys, keep them coming. I will post an updated list tonight after work...lol I am going to be playing MWS during work so hope I get some good matches.

[magicmoron]

ever thought of using quirion ranger and scryb ranger to return tropical island or shock land to your hand to replay and to keep stasis around? Then you could just kill with cheap creatures like a u/g fish style deck. Just my 2 cents

[HdH_Cthulhu]

With Vedalken Mastermind you could bounce stasis back to your hand eot... All you have to do is to be sure that he lifes one round.

[HPC]

Howling Mine is incredibly weak because of its mana cost and it allows your opponent to draw first. Stasis won't be anything more than a pet deck until either Land Tax is unbanned or a 1 mana card appears that helps you feed your Forsaken City without giving an advantage to your opponent.

You need Daze in this deck instead of Counterspell. It will free up your mana considerably.

Energy Field is practically worthless. It's too fragile and it makes you choose between countering spells and playing cantrips or protecting yourself.

If you're going for a fast lock, consider adding +4 Crop Rotation/Sylvan Scrying, +1 Tabernacle. Crop Rotation can be a huge help if your opening hand needs some mana fixing. Find a place to add in brainstorm and drop the Cursed Totem and Sylvan Library. If you're concerned about control sideboard Tangle Wire and maybe Defense Grid. Also consider going up to 3 Chain of Vapor.

Another option is to add in the 2-mana lands and Mox Diamond and replace Root Maze with Orb of Dreams. It opens you up to being able to play 3sphere, Sphere of Resistance, Tangle Wire and a host of other annoying artifacts. You'll be relying more on getting a Forsaken City into play, but that's what turbo stasis is about anyway :).

[Poron]

anyway I have a little experience with Stasis decks and I can assure you that the only competitive version is the one with Equipoise

http://magiccards.info/vi/en/103.html

[Pyropenguin88]

Okay, There have been a lot of new ideas flowing since my last post and I will delay the post of the updated list a little bit longer for more testing. Thanks again yall.

[vigilante]

Poron: I agree. That version of the deck even got a new toy in Planar Chaos -- Frozen Aether, which replaces Kismet (and pitches to Force of Will, something that surplus Kismets could never do).

[Pyropenguin88]

Those of you who see the Equipose version as being very solid please post an example list as I have never seen one or played one. I come from mono blue stasis using gush thwart tangle wire and time vault. Thank you

[vigilante]

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=92495&postcount=84

Search function FTW. The original poster did a good job of explaining how this version works, and why it's better than run-of-the-mill builds.

[Pyropenguin88]

Okay, that Equipoise version is solid, but its still too slow to beat goblins even though it has a strong plan against them through that card. Are the Lair lands to slow? What do yall think of using dual's instead? And Maybe switching Foil to Thwart? What about adding Creature removal? StP? I will show you the list I was playing and I actually had a good game against thresh. Also a little off the record against, CRET Belcher. Here is the list I Was testing after becoming aware of the thread posted by Vig.

4 Daze
4 Foil
4 Force of Will
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Counterspell
4 Equipoise
3 Frozen Aether
4 Stasis
2 Ebony Owl Netsuke
3 Howling Mine
4 Dromar's Cavern
4 Forsaken City
12 Island
4 Treva's Ruins


Here is what I am now proposing.

4 Daze
4 Thwart
4 Force of Will
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Counterspell
4 Equipoise
3 Frozen Aether
4 Stasis
2 Ebony Owl Netsuke
3 Howling Mine
4 Tundra
4 Forsaken City
8 Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Flooded Strand

Maybe remove Counterspell in favor of Swords to Plowshares?

[vigilante]

Maybe you've missed the point of the Lair lands in the Equipoise version. You use them to ensure you've got as few lands as possible in play so you can remove more of your opponent's. The Lairs also let you continue paying Stasis's upkeep cost by replaying the land you bounced untapped (doing this a few times usually buys you the time you need to find a Forsaken City).

Lairs also maximise your chances of having an Island in hand so you can play Foil's alternate cost. Thwart is probably better (than Foil) in the version you've proposed, but Equipoise is much, much weaker without the Lair lands.

[Pyropenguin88]

I do understand that, but they slow the pace of the deck down enough to give aggro decks a large edge. I thought by putting in thwart and the duals that are island it would help, but I would like to discuss this issue further.

[Poron]

something you have to know about this deck: Crop Rotation helps.

Forsaken City // The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale are key lands and can really make the difference.

you also need to draw more then 1 cards per turn. when you lock down the board and you draw just 1 card per turn you're going to lose, 100%.

[Pyropenguin88]

I can't see the equipoise version as being a solid version because of the testing I have done with the original list posted in the other thread. The reacts very slowly giving away far to many turns to stabilizing your mana base. I would like to go back to discussing the UG Stasis build because it has the ability to put the lock on much quicker. Unless we can find a way to stabilize the mana base of the Equi version quick enough to react to aggro decks.

[Poron]

infact those are 100% bad lists...

no Daze and 4 Counterspell in Stasis deck is useless, etc.

[Pyropenguin88]

I would prefer more helpful posts than just those are bad lists. Please and Thank you After further testing I am still getting about the same results as before even with minor changes to both lists. The Equipoise version is slow but wins games more easily when given time while the UG version is quicker with a higher chance of backfiring so far.

[khumpleetist]

You know what? I've been toying w/this deck for a while. It's very easy to get a lock. U just need Root Maze and Stasis plus a Forsaken City. But the real problem is on how to keep the lock w/out losing. Most of the time the opponent is already tapped out so the threats are minimal. But regardless, if you get that lock w/out Howling Mine then all you do is pray that the lock won't be broken because most of the time you have around 2-3 cards in hand and 1 card would feed Forsaken City and most of the time you'll only have 1 Forsaken City out. And then you pray some more for other cards that would do you some damage (Fireblast comes into mind).

By the way, I try to use 65 cards because I don't rely on damage to win. The extra 5 cards are buffer for decking the opponent but it's very rare that the opponent continues the game unless he/she can break the fast lock (they get bored :laugh:). Heck, you would be hated if you play this in the tournament:wink:.

But of course, it's up to you if you'd give the crowd a damn on what they feel if you play this deck. For me, the deck is boring but a win is a win.

And don't worry about stalling because you can call a judge to check your opponent's deck if he/she can get out of the lock to end the match early.

You need to remove Counterspell in your proposition. You might consider Arcane Denial in replacing it and Stasis is the only deck that I can think of where Arcane Denial would work fine.

Try considering Crop Rotation too.