[Deck]Stasis

[Man With Shoe]

Hi, relatively new reader and first time poster here.

I recently started playing magic again, and as such decided not to bother with any format other than Legacy (who has the money these days to buy new cards each new block?) and I returned to find many new great cards to put into a deck I've been using since the invention of the card Stasis.

Decklist (What I actually use, not quite optimized):

Mana -
18 Islands
4 Lotus Petal

Denial -
4 Remand
4 Force of Will
4 Thwart

Draw -
4 Brainstorm
3 Opt

Win Condition -
4 Stasis
4 Vedalken Mastermind

Filler/Alternate Win Conditions -
3 Frozen Aether
3 Cloud of Faeries
2 Chronatog
3 Boomerang

Now, before anyone says anything, I know I need fetch lands, however I don't have the cash on me at the moment. I'm looking to completely optimize this deck (unless some more experienced/current players in the format enlighten me that this deck is too slow/plain bad for the current meta) and any and all suggestions are welcome. I'd say the most help I need is in choosing a side board, considering, well, that I don't have one.

[Arne]

I know you said you're low on cash. But, aside from stasis being a crappy deck, the current build plays green. It uses cards like root maze and garruk, wildspeaker. With a garruk, you don't even need chronatog.

[Elficidium]

And, since it plays green, you really need fetch and duals; and Garruks, which cost as much as fetch.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

Forsaken City it a way to color fix and maintain the lock without being useless pre-Stasis.

[Man With Shoe]

Guess I have been away for quite awhile. /shrug, maybe it's time to play something new. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have to ponder whether it's worth continuing with this project or starting over. Maybe I'll head over to the decks to beat forum.

[Cait_Sith]

Meh, I always try playing with Stasis. Eldariel calls me mean, evil, and worthy of burning for it.

Try this list on for size:

// Lands
21 [BD] Island
3 [PS] Forsaken City

// Creatures
3 [LRW] Jace Beleren

// Spells
4 [FNM] Brainstorm
4 [TSP] Ancestral Vision
3 [GP] Repeal
4 [A] Stasis
4 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
3 [CS] Counterbalance
4 [TE] Propaganda
4 [AL] Force of Will
3 [PLC] Frozen AEther

It is at a mid-stage now, but may work well enough. Fetches would probably be a plus.

[Man With Shoe]

Meh, I always try playing with Stasis. Eldariel calls me mean, evil, and worthy of burning for it.


You just articulated the exact reasons why I play Stasis decks. Most of my friends bring their own nooses to our games these days.

Thanks for the suggestions, I guess I'll screw around with it more before trying something else. I'd like to make a tournament quality deck sometime in the near future and was hoping Stasis could make the cut, but from looking at a lot of the decks to beat and the comments here, I've lost the faith.

[Cait_Sith]

I actually have been working on this quite a bit.

The good news is that it is starting to show some real promise.

The bad news is that it is getting to be on the expensive side.

// Lands
2 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
2 [ON] Polluted Delta
2 [ON] Flooded Strand
16 [BD] Island (3)
3 [PS] Forsaken City

// Creatures
3 [LRW] Jace Beleren

// Spells
3 [LRW] Ponder
3 [TE] Propaganda
2 [PLC] Frozen AEther
2 [LG] Reset
3 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [A] Stasis
4 [TSP] Ancestral Vision
3 [GP] Repeal
4 [FNM] Brainstorm
4 [AL] Force of Will

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [AN] Serendib Efreet
SB: 4 [SC] Stifle
SB: 4 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 [IA] Hydroblast

Jace: Amazing wincon! Fairly fast and quite flexible. He is a draw spell and a wincon.

The Tabernacle: Excellent creature control, especially alongside Propaganda.

Reset: Lets you drop an early Stasis plus can provide a lot of mana later.

BS + Ponder + Top: Dig. Dig is good. Lots of dig is better. 4 Fetches help with the shuffles.

Repeal: Generic answer plus can bounce Stasis. May becomes Echoing Truth.

Vision: Awesome card. Powerful draw spell to keep up Cities easily, or can help deal with tricky wins.

[Poron]

I don't understand why Sensei's Div Top and Fetchlands.

can you explain? I'm quite "expert" with stasis and used to play a UG version with Sea Drake Quirion Ranger Scryb Ranger, etc. (no Garruk) so I'd like to understand the point of every card of these decks

Anyway Jace is definitly the wincon Stasis has been missing for many years.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

Top can be used to see the top few cards of your library. If you don't like what you see, you can break a fetch land to shuffle them away and see three new cards. Brainstorm can be used in a similar way to Top in this case, except you can actually get rid of crap in your hand as opposed to just the top of your library.

[Cait_Sith]

Top is dig. It was there originally as a counterpoint to Counterbalance, which may appear again in the sb.

Right now it just helps me find all my parts quickly, but it works extremely well when paired with Jace.

Edit: Sarnath'd.

[Poron]

I disagree honestly. We need as much Island as possible because we just play 3 Forsaken City as "stasis feed" (and I agree that 3 is the right number, 4 are too many) which are also Wasteland weak so we're really not going to waste any land with fetch...

SDT may be cool with Jace ad CB, ok. but we have to see which is the point of the deck if we're going to run as fast as we can the Stasis and lock the game or try to get simply the control of the board with a simple (and also weak) countertop.

We also lack Daze in the list...

[Cait_Sith]

Top helps dig to Stasis. Also, if you need more than 16 Islands (with 4 Fetches alongside) then odds are you are rather screwed.

I found that SDt and fetches and vastly more than they take away.

[Poron]

Ok, thank you for sharing then, I'll test it :P

my 2 cents:

Mana
19 Island
2 Pendrell Vale
3 Forsaken City

Dig:
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Impulse

So the only things that loses strenght without Fetchs is Brainstorm

WinCon:

4 Stasis
3 Jace

Counters
4 FoW
4 Daze

Utility
4 Propaganda
3 Repeal
2 Frozen Aether

I also have some doubts on Repeal (which is mana hungry) may be I'll play Boomerang

[Illissius]

What about Back to Basics as well to add some redundancy? It's not Stasis, but nor is it symmetric, and it also goes great with your Tabernacles and Propagandas.

[Poron]

it's not a bad idea, yes.

I'm still amazed with how cool is Jace in this deck... we have all the pieces to protect it and it's also cheap

[Cait_Sith]

Actually, it is a bad idea. You are spending mana to do things utterly half assed when you could use those self-same slots to finish the job.

Back to Basics works well in decks like MUC because of its ability to deal with a wide variety of threats via countermagic, so their costlier threats become riskier to play when BtB is in play. This doesn't begin to run the same level of draw or countermagic, so the advantage of BtB is greatly lowered. It is best to use those slots to reinforce the Stasis lock or to dig it up.

[Roman Candle]

Is Gigadrowse maybe playable here? Theoretically, you can cast it at EoT to tap all the opponent's stuff, and drop the Stasis on your turn...

Meh, it's probably not good enough.

[Cait_Sith]

You trade one for one, so it is drastically less than optimal.

As a rule, you want to cut down on the cards that are only good post-Stasis. Note that my list only has 2 Reset for post-Stasis. The rest can be adventitious both before and after.

[Roman Candle]

It's not only good post-Stasis... it's also a really shitty Orim's Chant and a really shitty Fog all in one. It also stops a turn 1 Lackey, and could keep a CB player from spinning Top if you wanna resolve something.

I know it's pretty awful, but it isn't all that situational.

EDIT: Also, Cait Sith, what's the purpose of the Efreets in the sideboard? If it's for a different wincon, wouldn't something like Morphling or Rainbow Efreet be better?

[Cait_Sith]

I had 3 slots and wanted something to beat face quickly. The MD changed so those are now 3 Counterbalance.

[Poron]

Actually, it is a bad idea. You are spending mana to do things utterly half assed when you could use those self-same slots to finish the job.

we meant instead of Stasis obviously -___-

against threshold BtB+Pendrell Vale = Stasis

[Cait_Sith]

Against Thresh Stasis + Stasis = Stasis.

Awesome!

[Poron]

after some test: Frozen Aether is useless, and we want Fetchs to support Ponder and Brainstorm

moreover: Cursed Totem is great.

4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
12 Island
2 Pendrell Vale
3 Forsaken City

4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Impulse

4 FoW
4 Daze

3 Propaganda
2 Cursed Totem
4 Chain of Vapor

4 Jace
4 Stasis

I really can't see why we would play CounterTop here...

I want Guuuuuuush :( :( :( :( unban it please!

[Roman Candle]

Why is Cursed Totem great? I can't think of a commonly played creature that it stops. It's dead against Thresh, Landstill, and combo, and really ineffective against Goblins.

[Cait_Sith]

Frozen Aether is a beast, but is less than stellar unless you are close to Stasis being in play (or Stasis is already in play). I actually went down to 2; enough to make my lock total, but not enough to randomly clog my hand.

[Man With Shoe]

I like how I was completely off base with what cards I needed to be using xD.

However, am I missing something here or is the idea of bouncing Stasis back so you can untap being completely abandoned in favor of...more draw and just winning with Jace? I don't really follow how this is superior. Not trying to be an ass, but seeing as I only recently came back I could use a play by play as to why...

I'll come up with a new list tomorrow after work, too tired now. Once again, thanks for the suggestions, looking forward to more.

[Jak]

Why is no one splashing for Garruk?

[Poron]

I like how I was completely off base with what cards I needed to be using xD.

However, am I missing something here or is the idea of bouncing Stasis back so you can untap being completely abandoned in favor of...more draw and just winning with Jace? I don't really follow how this is superior. Not trying to be an ass, but seeing as I only recently came back I could use a play by play as to why...

I'll come up with a new list tomorrow after work, too tired now. Once again, thanks for the suggestions, looking forward to more.

4x Chain of Vapor...? they're already in my list.
imho we should bounce more islands back to our hand Daze is not enough

Anyway I think this deck can't work in modern meta. There's plenty of counters due to CB decks and almost everyone plays Wasteland...

[GoldenCid]

Hi everybody...i'm thinking on going to a 2k with an unexpected rogue deck, Stasis of course. My list is below and it's working great right now. Could you give me some advice?

// Lands

12 [ZEN] Island (3)
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [PS] Forsaken City
3 [TE] Ancient Tomb
1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

// Creatures
1 [VI] Chronatog

// Spells
2 [NE] Ensnare
4 [TSP] Ancestral Vision
3 [NE] Tangle Wire
4 [MM] Brainstorm
4 [5E] Stasis
1 [RAV] Muddle the Mixture
1 [MM] Thwart
3 [MM] Tidal Bore
1 [SOK] Ebony Owl Netsuke
2 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 [PLC] Frozen AEther
4 [NPH] Mental Misstep
4 [AL] Force of Will

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [US] Back to Basics
SB: 3 [ZEN] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 3 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 6 open slots! HELP!!!

Ancient tomb is the nuts!! And helps a lot for dropping and early forzen or tangle!

[[sic]]

needs moar Hydro/BEBs. Also, why no maindeck Chain of Vapor?

[GoldenCid]

;576807']needs moar Hydro/BEBs. Also, why no maindeck Chain of Vapor?

Forgot to include chain of vapor. In a mono blue build is really necessary i guess. The theme i'm debating myself is whether run Howling mine or Ancestral vision. HM is very synergic with owl and forsaken city. Without it many times i found myself removing the only card i drew the last turn to keep stasis alive. However it's free draw for the opponent which is always questinable.
AV is really good to the turn it resolves is fuel x 3 but it's a bit slow and not always synergizes with forsaken city.