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Thread: Unpowered UR Landstill

  1. #1

    Unpowered UR Landstill

    Ok, so I'm getting into vintage and this is one of the two decks I've decided to build and wanted some suggestions and critiques on the deck when you can. This is definitely, and will continue to be, a work in progress (:


    Anyways, current decklist:

    Budget-ish URx Landstill
    Lands (25)
    2 Island
    1 Mountain
    3 Volcanic Island
    1 Underground Sea
    4 Scalding Tarn
    2 Polluted Delta
    4 Wasteland
    4 Mishra's Factory
    1 Strip Mine
    1 Academy Ruins
    1 Barbarian Ring
    1 Creeping Tar Pit

    Instants (22)
    4 Force of Will
    4 Counterspell
    3 Lightning Bolt
    2 Misdirection
    2 Mindbreak Trap
    2 Mental Misstep
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    1 Echoing Truth
    1 Chain of Vapor
    1 Fact or Fiction

    Enchantments (4)
    4 Standstill

    Artifacts (6)
    3 Engineered Explosives
    2 Crucible of Worlds
    1 Sensei's Divining Top

    Planeswalkers (4)
    4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Sideboard (Obviously tweak to meta)
    X Grafdigger's Cage
    X Ingot Chewer
    X Toxic Deluge
    X Yislid Jailer/Leyline of the Void
    1 Underground Sea
    1 Notion Thief

    So, I need some advice as I've never played the format and am only building based on several different things I've read so if anyone has answers to the following questions that would be very helpful (:

    1. Land base? I think I want 25 lands and I'm not sure what I want in the fifth slot. Underground Sea limits life loss on Dismember as well as giving a fourth color for EE if necessary. Academy Ruins helps recur Crucible and EE for locks on land or permanents. Tolaria West tutors for any land (including Bojuka Bog after sideboarding) or EE if needed and gets under Standstill. Any advice on which would be better? Once I decide on which piece I want to get in there last, is this enough? Are there other changes I should make to the land base beyond that or is it manageable as is?

    2. Instants - I'll be honest when I say I have no idea what I'm doing in this section haha. I've been looking at various decks and I figured this was an ok base to start with. Is there anything I'm missing that should be in here? Is there something that I want to be including/counts that are fairly uneccessary?

    3. Any other advice tidbits you would recommend? I'm just soaking everything up so far (:


    Where to go from here?
    1. Mana Drains are really the only step I have initially. At this point I'm not in a position where I would want to get a fully powered deck (although the power I would acquire would be Black Lotus->Ancestrall Recall->Time Walk->Mox Sapphire).


    Note: Since this is unpowered, I figured the discussion for it belonged here instead of in the current UR Landstill deck. Thanks!
    Last edited by JPoJohnson; 04-04-2014 at 05:50 PM.
    “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
    - Albert Einstein

  2. #2
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    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    You may need hard counters, just because with your current list you may get stuck with a Pyroblast and Mindbreak Trap in hand when someone slams a YawgWill you need to counter. Replacing Mana Drain with Counterspell is could be a bad, but necessary, substitution. You might want to drop a Steel Sabotage, Dismember, Explosives, and Spell Pierce for 4.

    Also, REB may be better than Pyro because you don't want to empty your hand and it can't be Misdirected onto non-blue spells.

    Academy Ruins is great in the totally unpowered version of this deck because it allows you recur Engineered Explosives. You don't have enough room when you have power and LoA in the deck, but without them it's an auto-include, in my opinion.

    Seriously consider testing 4 Jace, because he is your primary win condition and therefore you want to draw lots of him (the extras can be JaceStormed back or picked to FoW or Misdirection).

    I won an 8-man event against fully powered decks with the following list when I was first getting into Vintage and had no power, LoA, or Drains:

    3 Island
    1 Mountain
    3 Volcanic Island
    1 Tropical Island
    4 Scalding Tarn
    2 Misty Rainforest
    4 Wasteland
    4 MIshra's Factory
    1 Strip Mine
    1 Academy Ruins

    4 Force of Will
    4 Counterspell
    4 Misdirection
    2 Mental Misstep
    2 Mindbreak Trap
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    2 Fire/Ice
    1 Hurkyl's Recall
    1 Chain of Vapor

    4 Standstill

    4 Engineered Explosives
    2 Crucible of Worlds

    4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Sideboard

    4 Leyline of the Void
    2 Grafdigger's Cage
    2 Lightning Bolt
    2 Ancient Grudge
    3 Ingot Chewer
    1 Pyroblast
    1 Tropical Island

    This is back in late '12, mind you, so I was still running Fire//Ice and not Lightning Bolt, nor had I discovered the awesomeness that is Barbarian Ring.

  3. #3
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    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    Also, what I discovered is that because this version runs so many lands, I sometimes wanted some filter. Perhaps a Brainstorm, Ponder, and 2 Top? In the Powered version it's not as necessary because you only have 22 lands, but this version has 25, making it much more susceptible to flood.

  4. #4

    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    Did you ever find that 4x Misdirection was too much? That and no gravehate or artifact hate mainboard beyond the EE (It appears rather susceptible to Dredge and BSC G1 and pretty decent G2-3). Does that not matter if you're in it for the long haul and just plan on winning the second 2 games with the occasional G1 steal?

    Also, is seeking out a playset of mana drain the appropriate next step for the deck? Thanks (: Im glad you responded, you're really the inspiration behind me choosing this route with e success you've seen in the past with the unpowered list.
    Last edited by JPoJohnson; 03-24-2014 at 12:48 AM.
    “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
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  5. #5
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    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    The list is from a while ago, but my thought pattern in running so many Misdirection was that I don't want to lose a single counter war, and Misdirection helps that. It also allows you consistently steal Ancestral Recalls, which is hilariously fun (Him: Recall. Me:Misdirection. Him: Shit. Ok, Snapcaster Recall. Me: Misdirection I just drew of your Recall. Him: Double shit. Me: Bolt Snapcaster. Him: you c*$t *motions that he wants to flip the table in frustration*). I was only in early experimental stages of Vintage at that stage, so take that list with a grain of salt. In hindsight, it did what I wanted it to do, but it does seem like overkill.

    It seems that the deck is only really weak to a couple of things: (1) early BSC/Vault Key; (2) early Oath of Druids; and (3) creatures (to a lesser extent). You can see that, for two of those three, the key word is "early." You therefore need to rely on your free countermagic to stop (1) and (2) happening until you get to two mana, then you usually win (this is where Misdirection is useful, to power you through those Tinker/VaultKey/Oath-with-Force-backup hands). Also, honestly, (1) and (2) don't happen very often, and even less often with counterspell backup. In the powered version there isn't any graveyard hate or artifact hate mainboard either, but I don't lose to either BSC or Oath a lot. I do, however, lose to Dredge almost every Game 1, and yes, you take that G1 loss hit and hope to make up for it with Turn 1 hate with counter backup Games 2 and 3 (Black is best because of Yixlid Jailer, which current Dredge decks don't seem to have a way of removing). As Josh Potucek maintains, T1 hate with counter backup will win the matchup for you, and I would agree.

    Note: It's weak to Dredge pre-board, but almost everything is.

    You could run a 3/3 split of Misdirection/Mindbreak Trap instead of the 4/2 split I used, that might be good, because you can always hardcast Trap in the late game. Alternatively, replace 2 Misdirection with a Steel Sabotage and an Ancient Grudge, seems like a solid substitution if you're URg. However, I'm URb at the moment for Toxic Deluge x 3 in the sideboard, specifically to combat TNN.

    (Budget only discussion) Regarding powering the deck up, you can continue to play it unpowered for way longer if you go Drains> LoA>Recall>Sapphire>Lotus, rather than the other way round. That's the way I did it. But you have to consider the recent price jumps in... well, everything, so you might think it's better to pony up for the Power first, to avoid any further ridiculous price increases. After all, 10% increase on a $2,000 card (Lotus) is worse than on a $150 card (Drain). And you can pick up Italian Drains for pretty cheap, still, I believe, as with beat LoAs.

    Note: "pony" up does not mean that I condone My Little Pony art

    (effectiveness discussion) Regarding powering the deck up, some of the broken plays that each of the "power" cards enable are:

    Mana Drain: counter Force of Will/Gush/Misdirection, untap and play Jace/Crucible/Standstill/activate Mishra's Factory. This can be really powerful. I did this to a GushDelver player in the GP Melbourne Vintage side event. He led with Turn 1 Delver, Turn 2 Delver, Turn 3 Delver (I believe) and although I killed the Turn 1 Insect the other two flipped and were beating me down fast. I had a Crucible of Worlds, Jace, Mana Drain, Misstep, Engineered Explosives, Force in hand and I think three lands (including one Wasteland) on the Board. He has two pieces of powers as well as his two flipped delvers. I play EE for zero. He Spell Pierces, and I Misstep it. He Flusterstorms my Misstep, and I let that resolve, and Force the Spell Pierce, pitching my Jace. He Gushes, returning two of his four lands to his hand (as I had hoped, I was banking on either FoW or Gush in hand) and I Mana Drain the Gush. He has no answer to that, so I use my two non-Wasteland mana to pop the EE killing his 2 flipped Delvers and his 2 moxes, then second main phase use the Drain Mana to play Crucible, Waste his land, replay Waste, Waste his second land. So Drain on Gush enabled me to take him from 8 permanents (2 flipped Delvers, 2 Moxes, 4 Lands) in play to none in a turn. TLDR is DRAIN IS AWESOME. I have had this happen countless times. Drain their good stuff on Turn 2, untap, play Jace on Turn 3 with R open for REB and Spell Pierce mana up.

    LoA: Turn 1 LoA will win you most games on the draw, slightly less on the play. Essentially, it allows you to make your land drop and use one card to answer what they do every turn while still staying at 7 cards. For example, on the draw, 1st turn LoA, EoT Tap to draw and Misstep Recall. Turn 2 Tap to draw, draw, play land, pass. Bolt Dark Confidant (still at 7 cards). Turn 3 tap to draw, draw, play land, Drain something (still at 7 cards). Etc. Etc. I actually think this is the card the deck could possible do without, because you already have good card advantage, but there's usually nothing wrong with drawing it usually.

    Recall: 3 cards for 1 mana. Always good.

    Mox Sapphire: not synergistic with EE when you're on the "kill every permanent they play" plan, which is going to be often. Sometimes you can keep an early hand with one counterspell and a bucketload of Waste effects, Crucible, and EE, and simply just strand them on mana. Mox Sapphire is not a good card to have in those situations. However, it does enable a Turn 1 Standstill, which is very important in this deck, especially if you have a Force of Will in hand (not to mention a Factory). Yes, Landstill can go aggro!

    Black Lotus: better than Sapphire because you usually crack it as soon as you play it so it's usually not around to be killed by an EE. And if you're considering killing a Lotus with EE you're usually so far in front you don't care. Turn 1 Jace, Turn 1 Standstill with Drain backup, Turn 1 Crucible with REB backup, great plays are possible with Lotus. Even drawing it to do these things on Turn 2-3 is good (gives you Drain backup or allows you to play a Standstill right after you cast Jace/Crucible).

    (budget merged with effectiveness discussion) It's up to you. Personally, I think Mana Drain and Ancestral Recall benefit the deck the most. You like heaps of mana and hard counters, and Recall gives you more ways to actually have some cards in hand to cast with the mana your Drains generate. I would, however, be inclined to get my Lotus first if I had to do it again, because you are struggling to find reasonably priced ones nowadays, it seems, and I imagine it's going to get harder. Drains, on the other hand, are not that commonly played in Vintage (2-3 ofs in the Big Blue decks and that's about it, because no one plays Landstill, what a garbage deck!) and as a result may not rise as fast. I'm not an expert speculator, though, so take this, again, with a grain of salt.

    Oh, and run 4 Jace, always. Won my win-and-in at GP Melbourne by casting all 4 Jaces in my deck in the deciding Game 3. It is the best card in your deck, bar none, I believe. Crucible is a close second (the amount of times I have won through multiple Jaces active for multiple turns with just a Crucible and the lands in my graveyard/hand is incredible).

    Oh, and if you know they're on the BattleSphere instead of BSC plan, don't be afraid to preemptively EE for zero to kill the Myr tokens. Then it's just a 4-7 swinging every turn, which you can chump Mishra's, or bounce with Jace/Echoing Trutn and subsequently counter. With the tokens, however, it's swinging for lots and lots of (basically) unstoppable damage.

    Excuse my unstructured rant, I'm tired, it's lunchtime, and I'm racing to type this before my lunch break is over! Also, it's flattering to think I've inspired you to take up the deck, but in reality I'm just a Vintage player of average skill still learning new things about (and making new mistakes with) the deck every day. So let's practice and learn more together!

  6. #6

    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    Yeah, I can see the power that Mana Drain can offer to the deck. That will definitely be the first thing that I chase down (looking into it right now actually )

    I appreciate your thoughts quite a bit and they make a lot of sense. Thinking about it a lot more, I think overall I would probably try and go for an unpowered Landstill deck and main 4 EE. Does that make sense to do? I see the power that comes from them and it definitely is fantastic, but I also think that for the amount of time I will be able to play, it would probably make sense to not invest into it (unless in the future I'm in a different place financially and I want to get them for the collectible aspect of it of course!). Based on that thinking, I'm currently going to run the first list and build towards the second list I think. Thoughts?

    The reason why I chose to go black over green is because I expect most of the decks that I come across to be somewhat aggro (with white trash, gobbos, etc) since I'm not in a huge vintage area. I don't know if this is the right direction to go, but your mention of Toxic Deluge made this tweak.
    Budget-ish URx Landstill
    Lands (24)
    3 Island
    1 Mountain
    3 Volcanic Island
    1 Underground Sea
    4 Scalding Tarn
    2 Polluted Delta
    4 Wasteland
    4 Mishra's Factory
    1 Strip Mine
    1 Academy Ruins

    Instants (22)
    4 Force of Will
    4 Counterspell
    3 Misdirection
    3 Mindbreak Trap
    2 Mental Misstep
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    2 Lightning Bolt
    1 Hurkyl's Recall
    1 Chain of Vapor

    Enchantments (4)
    4 Standstill

    Artifacts (6)
    4 Engineered Explosives
    2 Crucible of Worlds

    Planeswalkers (4)
    4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Sideboard (Obviously
    X Grafdigger's Cage
    X Ingot Chewer
    X Toxic Deluge
    X Yislid Jailer/Leyline of the Void
    1 Underground Sea
    Eventually working towards probably your list that seemed to do so well last year at the Eternal Masters. Would you keep Firespout in over Toxic Deluge? I think, thanks to Joel Lim, that merfolk will be a popular force to be reckoned with as well as being able to hit BSC and various other nasties if necessity calls for it is definitely an upside of it. Was the lack of Academy Ruins ever really missed? Would it be a good idea to try to work it in or is it just not really necessary with the CA that LoA can generate? Also, is it worth splashing another dual to get a fourth color for EE or is it not often that you need to deal with a 4CMC permanent regularly?
    Unpowered URx Landstill
    Lands (25)
    3 Island
    1 Mountain
    3 Volcanic Island
    1 Underground Sea
    4 Scalding Tarn
    2 Polluted Delta
    4 Wasteland
    1 Strip Mine
    4 Mishra’s Factory
    1 Barbarian Ring
    1 Library of Alexandria

    Artifacts (5)
    3 Engineered Explosives
    2 Crucible of Worlds

    Enchantments (4)
    4 Standstill

    Planeswalkers (4)
    4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Instants (23)
    4 Force of Will
    2 Mindbreak Trap
    2 Misdirection
    2 Mental Misstep
    4 Mana Drain
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    4 Lightning Bolt
    2 Dismember
    1 Echoing Truth

    Sideboard (Obviously tweak to meta)
    X Grafdigger's Cage
    X Ingot Chewer
    X Toxic Deluge
    X Yislid Jailer/Leyline of the Void
    “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
    - Albert Einstein

  7. #7
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    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    I like 4 EE in the unpowered version. If you're going to play unpowered, make them pay for being powered, I say! EE is such a rewarding card because it's applicable in many situations. It can be played at 0 or 1 as a deterrent to early spam on the board, allowing you to develop at your pace, or alternatively can be played to punish a player for overreaching. It can also be used simply as a 1-for-1 in situations where you've locked their mana with Crucible/Waste and they are relying on that single Mox Sapphire to keep their filter/dig turned on. I like Academy Ruins in the unpowered version, but I must admit it got cut for LoA as soon as I got one so I haven't tested it in the powered version. I think I would cut LoA for it, if anything. Barbarian Ring is just too good. However, recurring EE (and Crucible) is amazing, so it should always be kept in mind for testing.

    Firespout is, I believe, now strictly inferior to Toxic Deluge, solely because of the existence of TNN. I lost my most recent Vintage League game to an Esper StoneBlade deck 3-2, and all three losses were due to TNN (and my two wins came when I did counter/EE it, going VERY deep into my life total to preserve a counterspell/EE specifically for it). Firespout is what you want to bring in against pretty much any creature in the format bar TNN, but unfortunately our sweeper needs to handle that damned card, so I think Firespout has seen its time and the deck needs to move on from Green to Black as a splash colour. It's a real pity, because the beautiful thing about Firespout (and Ancient Grudge) is that they both still work without Green, and when you have Green they just get better. Deluge, on the other hand, requires you to find Black, which can be difficult to do if you don't get an early fetchland (Powered: 5, and Unpowered: 6-7) or, of course, if they Wasteland you. I have filed my new Vintage League list with only one Underground Sea, but I am actually thinking of going up to two if it turns out that I can't find Black reliably enough.

    I don't like the splash for 4 colours. The deck struggles with getting a stable 2 Blue mana already, and I wouldn't want to expose it to Wasteland any more than necessary. Besides, I rarely find it necessary. You can Bolt/Mishra's Factory an opposing Jace, and your counterspells/bounce usually handles anything else at 4CMC. However, if you were going to do it, the choice would be, of course, Green. Your results may vary, however, because you are unpowered and therefore run more fetchlands and total lands.

    I will pop the issue of Brainstorm/Ponder back into the discussion. If I was going back to unpowered I would definitely be considering running one of each, and perhaps a single Sensei's Divining Top, to smooth the deck out. With the powered version, it usually doesn't need it because it gets (a little) more explosive with Sapphire, Lotus, Recall, but I think a clutch Brainstorm/Ponder or a Sensei's Divining Top under a Standstill in the unpowered version could give it the nudge it needs. Sometimes in the unpowered version you are stuck with stuff in hand you don't want and you know you're not going to get the hail-Mary Ancestral coming off the top to save you. Brainstorm and Ponder, while no Ancestral, may allow you get that answer that might be lying 2-3 cards down. I have no idea what I would cut, though, and that's the problem. You want all the cards in your deck already, and I know that was a big point Josh P made when deciding he didn't want to run filter. You can get mixed up with Bolts and EE in hand when a spell is coming down you need to counter, but that doesn't happen very often, and if it does you take your medicine, chalk one up to variance, and win the next game, which you're likely to do against the current format (Merfolk and RUG aside).

    Turning to your list, if I could make the following observations?

    With your manabase, I would remove 1 Island and add another fetchland, to get better access to your third/fourth colour for EE, which will help with combating TNN pre-board. I don't think you really need 4 basic lands in the deck, 2 Island is enough in my view.

    I don't like the Dismember unless you're expecting a heavy creature presence, and with 4 EE mainboard you're more hedged against that than the powered version, anyway (Barbarian Ring helps with this in a big way, once you have Crucible and Threshold you just let anything that is 2 power or less and not going to flash back something you can't counter from the GY resolve and use Ring on it--oh, what a nice topdecked Deathrite Shaman you have there. Meet my Odyssey uncommon land). I would initially drop to 1 Dismember and slip in a single Steel Sabotage.

  8. #8

    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    So you mentioned that if you cut LoA it would be for Academy Ruins. Would you actually do that? Or is that the only land that stands as an option? LoA is just such a house on the draw and I don't think it's worth a SB slot to have Academy Ruins to swap for on the play. Either way, at this point I'll have Academy Ruins and then treat it as a proxy for LoA when I want to test whether I like one over the other more. Good idea on testing it.

    I really wanted to splash Green over Black for Ancient Grudge, but what you said makes sense in regards to both the fact that we're running 4 EE and the use of Toxic Deluge over Firespout. I think I'm going to stick to black. At this point I think I'll stick with 1 U.Sea, but I'll see how often I don't have it when I need and see about going to a second as well. I think I'll have one in the SB for the time being since I don't have black MB beyond the EE and side it in with the Toxic Deluges.

    4 colors feels reeeaaaaallly greedy. I think you're right and I'll stick to the three. What 4CMC permanents are we going to fear beyond an opposing Jace?

    I think Brainstorm and/or Ponder is the right call since I don't either the acceleration or power of the Power cards. I would probably only want to have 1 or 2, probably 1 of each is best. The only issue is that I don't know what I would want to cut for them haha. Probably the Steel Sabotage and maybe.... a misdirection? I don't know. I think 3 Misdirections are where I want to be.

    And I agree with cutting dismember. With 44 EE, any critters that have 5 or less toughness that I want to deal with are able to be dealt with with either Lightning Bolt or EE most likely. Cut them.

    Looking at something like this at the moment:
    Budget-ish URx Landstill
    Lands (24)
    2 Island
    1 Mountain
    3 Volcanic Island
    1 Underground Sea
    4 Scalding Tarn
    3 Polluted Delta
    4 Wasteland
    4 Mishra's Factory
    1 Strip Mine
    1 Academy Ruins

    Instants (22)
    4 Force of Will
    4 Counterspell
    2 Misdirection
    2 Mindbreak Trap
    2 Mental Misstep
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    2 Lightning Bolt
    1 Hurkyl's Recall
    1 Chain of Vapor
    1 Brainstorm
    1 Ponder

    Enchantments (4)
    4 Standstill

    Artifacts (6)
    4 Engineered Explosives
    2 Crucible of Worlds

    Planeswalkers (4)
    4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Sideboard (Obviously tweak to meta)
    X Grafdigger's Cage
    X Ingot Chewer
    X Toxic Deluge
    X Yislid Jailer/Leyline of the Void
    1 Underground Sea
    “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
    - Albert Einstein

  9. #9
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    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    LoA is amazing, but it's very situational. The deck can't take any more colourless lands, however, so it's really difficult to add in Academy Ruins. I could perhaps cut a Wasteland, but they're so important to the strategy... it's a hard problem!

    Further comments on your list:

    I would recommend testing a single Barbarian Ring and at least 3 Lightning Bolt. With the format moving to more creature-heavy decks lately, you will always have a use for Lightning Bolt. Plus, opposing Jaces die unless your opponent is smart enough to +2 it immediately (you should also be doing this if your opponent has access to Red!) and opposing Tezz's die once they have fetched an artifact. Another reason you want Bolt is that it's online a lot faster than EE. The worst first turn play to face down with this deck is Dark Confidant. You can't let it stick or live. If they play it you MUST counter it or kill it ASAP, they just get out too far in front of you. It usually allows them to draw into enough land to nullify your prison strategy, and enough business/counters to resolve at least something through your counters. Bolt kills it immediately, but EE won't be able to until at Turn 4 unless you have a Lotus or Mox.

    Barbarian Ring is amazing in the format at the moment. It allows you to let any creatures resolve late game, Barbarian Ring them, and save your Drains and other counterspells for other things.

    I don't like Hurkyl's Recall, and prefer Echoing Truth. That's just a personal choice. I have held on in many games when I have ET'd the opponent's Dark Confidant to make them play it again, and then drawn into a Bolt/Drain to kill/counter it. It is also amazing to use to try and get your opponent to run out enough spells to activate Mindbreak Trap's alternate casting cost (admittedly, Hurkyl's can do this, too). Try both and see which you like.

    I think you could go +1 Barbarian Ring to go to 61 cards (I like 25 lands 36 spells in Landstill, always have). Then you could go -1 Hurkyl's Recall -1 Engineered Explosives -1 Chain of Vapor +2 Lightning Bolt +1 Echoing Truth. See how that runs in comparison with the current setup.

  10. #10

    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    Budget-ish URx Landstill
    Lands (25)
    2 Island
    1 Mountain
    3 Volcanic Island
    2 Underground Sea
    4 Scalding Tarn
    2 Polluted Delta
    4 Wasteland
    4 Mishra's Factory
    1 Strip Mine
    1 Academy Ruins
    1 Barbarian Ring

    Instants (21)
    4 Force of Will
    4 Counterspell
    3 Lightning Bolt
    2 Misdirection
    2 Mindbreak Trap
    2 Mental Misstep
    2 Red Elemental Blast
    1 Echoing Truth
    1 Chain of Vapor

    Enchantments (4)
    4 Standstill

    Artifacts (7)
    4 Engineered Explosives
    2 Crucible of Worlds
    1 Sensei's Divining Top

    Planeswalkers (4)
    4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

    Sideboard (Obviously tweak to meta)
    X Grafdigger's Cage
    X Ingot Chewer
    X Toxic Deluge
    X Yislid Jailer/Leyline of the Void
    I think this is the configuration that I'm going to try at this point. Sensei's I like since it can bea semi-repeatable Ponder and can be used under Standstill alongside fetches. Also, it can activated to avoid EE self-destruction. I realize the deck is 61 at this point, but I can't think of anything that I can cut. Thoughts?
    Last edited by JPoJohnson; 03-31-2014 at 02:48 AM.
    “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
    - Albert Einstein

  11. #11
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    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    I don't mind 61-card decks, give it a go, looks good and stable. Top under Standstill is a dream, you are not wrong! Let me know how it goes!

    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

  12. #12

    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    Quote Originally Posted by pandaman View Post
    I don't mind 61-card decks, give it a go, looks good and stable. Top under Standstill is a dream, you are not wrong! Let me know how it goes!

    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
    Thanks! Will do (: I'll be working towards subbing Counterspell for Mana Drain in the coming weeks, but beyond that I'm not sure what other changes I'll have. I'll proxy-test Academy Ruins as LoA to see if I enjoy that change as well. Thanks for all the help and I'll let you know how testing goes for me (:
    “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
    - Albert Einstein

  13. #13
    Brisbane Legacy regular
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    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    When you get Mana Drain you will be in love, believe me. If you get the chance, look at trying the White version too. I know, blasphemy! But seriously, it's good to know other versions because there may be a time they are well positioned. Also, check out the UB RatStill list on The Mana Drain, Pack Rat in Landstill, so much awesome!

    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

  14. #14

    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    Quote Originally Posted by pandaman View Post
    When you get Mana Drain you will be in love, believe me. If you get the chance, look at trying the White version too. I know, blasphemy! But seriously, it's good to know other versions because there may be a time they are well positioned. Also, check out the UB RatStill list on The Mana Drain, Pack Rat in Landstill, so much awesome!

    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
    I was trying to decide between UW and UR off the bat and leaned towards UR. I have all the cards necessary for UW though (although I think if I went that direction I would be more inclined to try a Stoneblade deck instead of Landstill personally. UB Ratstill? I am so going to check that out right now! That would be fantastic! I just wish the tokens had 0 CMC instead of the exact same. That would be far too potent I think haha
    “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
    - Albert Einstein

  15. #15

    Re: Unpowered UR Landstill

    So, after reading up on a lot of other decks... What do you think of Notion Thief? It's pretty powerful against Burning Oath and Timetwister decks. It works like a Misdirection on a stick to a certain extent. I'm wanting to work it into the sideboard, but would you ever consider it in a URb Landstill main?

    Also, after some discussion on TMD the following was recommended and I can see it being useful:

    -1 EE, +1 Fact or Fiction: Since I have the Academy Ruins recursion possibility, I would think that 3 is enough. That's something you recommended earlier as well to drop down to 3. The card advantage with Fact or Fiction as well as being able to use the ditched lands with Crucible makes that a pretty fantastic CA card.

    -1 U.Sea +1 Creeping Tar Pit: I'm mixed on this one, but I don't have many come-into-play tapped lands so it shouldn't be an issue. The unblockable to nuke planeswalkers and get in some damage is great as well. I think I like it more than Faerie Conclave (which I had initially been trying to work into the build)

    Some thoughts on this if anyone has a moment would be great (:
    “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle".
    - Albert Einstein

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