[Deck] U/G Stasis- can it work?

[ACE]

Ah stasis... The good old fashioned lock-down deck. Where has stasis gone? It has made somewhat of an appearance in type 2 with its counterpart- Soggy Pickles. The lock created was just against your opponent with brine elemental and vesuvan shapeshifter.

From days past, I remember stasis and it's power- and the fear it created when it was in place.

I have been working with building a stasis deck. I realized that no splash for white was needed because kismet was planes shifted to blue-Frozen Aether- so it could become a mono colored deck. Then, I realized that mono blue was not as strong- there was not enough acceleration. It was then that I decided to splash green- to give the deck that extra little kick. So, without further ado, I will present the list and then walk through my card choices.

Creatures:13
4x birds of paradise
3x llanowar elves
4x quirion ranger
1x morphling
1x serra sphinx

instans/sorceries:17
4x force of will
4x daze
4x brainstorm
4x impulse
2x recall

artifacts/enchantments:13
4x stasis
3x frozen aether
3x howling mine
1x claw of gix
1x feldon's cane

Lands:18
4x flooded strand
4x forsaken city
4x tropical island
6x island

Card Choices:
Birds of paradise- Obvious choice for card accelleration- adds any color of mana- aka, Blue.

llanowar elves- Another obvious choice for acceleration- at one green mana, it produces mana.

qurrion ranger- Great synergies with birds of paradise and stasis. I can pop up one tropical island per turn to be able to pay stasis' cost if I don't draw an island, or feel like pitching a card to forsaken city.

Morphling and Serra Sphinx- My kill creatures. Morphling is the original blue badass, and serra sphinx has vigilance- so it obviously doesn't tap when beating through the air.

Force of will and Daze- The two best counterspells in the format. Daze is even better because wether it matters or not I can play it to get an island back to help pay upcoming costs of stasis.

Brainstorm and Impulse- Both serve the same purpose- getting me what I need at the time. Impulse serves this purpose better because it digs deeper.

recall- Grabs dead cards- stasis, creatures, anything really. I am currently testing regrowth in this slot and it is working out about as well.

Stasis and Frozen Aether- They create the imfamous lock. Frozen Aether makes sure that if they play anything, it comes in tapped, stasis keeps it that way.

Howling mine- Allows me to draw more cards, and gives me another win condition. The extra cards also helps fuel the forsaken cities that will be in play.
(I have been testing with 3 mines and one crucible of worlds to be able to get land out if I need it- and also to create synergies with claws of gix- but I do not need it.)

claws of gix- allows me to plan ahead if i played an early stasis and i can sac the stasis to get to untap and play out threats.

feldon's cane- If I need to get a higher library count and avoid decking to the mines, this helps a lot.

Tropical Island and Forsaken City- Helps pay for the green splash. Trop gets the synergies with the dryad and forsaken city lets me stack triggers and pay for stasis as long as I have cards in hand.


The sideboard is unsure at the moment. Probably something like krosan grips, tormod's crypts, blue elemental blasts/hydroblasts, and stifle/trickbind. Maybe others. It all depends on who shows up at the store.

Ok, so, what do you all think? Can it work? Will it be sucessfull?

[Nydaeli]

Where's Root Maze? That's the best card that green has to offer you, in my opinion.

[ForceofWill]

that stops him from winning. Root maze is only good in the inf lock decks.

[Dark Hippo]

Here is a build i have designed for U/G Stasis.

Lands
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 forsaken city
4 tropical island
4 breeding pool
4 flood plain
5 island

Creatures
4 chronatog

Enchantments
4 stasis
4 root maze

Other
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 crop rotation
4 piracy charm
4 brainstorm
4 Lotus Petal
1 orb of dreams
1 gaea's blessing

Sideboard
4 mana short
4 drop of honey
4 Commandeer
3 Energy field

This deck to me seems a little more controlling then Ace's. This deck plays with a small land tool box using crop rotation. The Chronatog is used to skip your turns once the lockdown is in place. The piracy charm is there for removale and can be used as discard. Some cards that could be worked in are: maze of ith, frozen aether, and muddle the mixture. Also the sideboard could be worked on.

Any thoughts on this version?

[Cubus]

Hippo's version looks pretty solid.

I've been trying to make a U/G Stasis deck with Eladamri's Vineyard, both as acceleration and as a kill method. The only problem is that your opponents get to use it first, which can cost you the game in several matchups.

Are the Breeding Pools really necessary?

[Cavius The Great]

Here is a build i have designed for U/G Stasis.

Lands
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 forsaken city
4 tropical island
4 breeding pool
4 flood plain
5 island

Creatures
4 chronatog

Enchantments
4 stasis
4 root maze

Other
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 crop rotation
4 piracy charm
4 brainstorm
4 Lotus Petal
1 orb of dreams
1 gaea's blessing

Sideboard
4 mana short
4 drop of honey
4 Commandeer
3 Energy field

This deck to me seems a little more controlling then Ace's. This deck plays with a small land tool box using crop rotation. The Chronatog is used to skip your turns once the lockdown is in place. The piracy charm is there for removale and can be used as discard. Some cards that could be worked in are: maze of ith, frozen aether, and muddle the mixture. Also the sideboard could be worked on.

Any thoughts on this version?

What on earth are the Piracy Charms for? Discard? I really think additional counters would be better, especially free ones, such as Force Spike, Thwart or Foil.

[Cubus]

Piracy charms are probably in because they can remove Lackeys, but are not completely dead in combo matchups. They are suboptimal though.

[Dark Hippo]

Yeah the piracy charms are in for removal and for discard. That was all I could think of at the time but they could be replaced. The Breeding pools i guess aren't totally necessary but they are another green source that can also produce blue mana.

[Brushwagg]

Ummm.. Exploration? Being able to play an extra land seems pretty good in this deck. I would probably cut Morphling, it's bad and replace it with something a little less mana intensive. Also I'd probably bump the Rangers up to 6.

@Rootmaze:Instead of Maze there is always Frozen Aether (Blue Kismet). Which only effects your opponent. That way anything a 1/1 can win the game.

[troopatroop]

Quirion Ranger maybe?

[Brushwagg]

Quirion Ranger maybe?

I totally missed that it was not in the deck. I saw Quirion and thought it was Ranger LOL. Ya that needs to be this deck at least as a 4 of. That way stuff can attack and you can keep the lock going, and not have to sit there board. (ie decking)

[ACE]

I totally missed that it was not in the deck. I saw Quirion and thought it was Ranger LOL. Ya that needs to be this deck at least as a 4 of. That way stuff can attack and you can keep the lock going, and not have to sit there board. (ie decking)

LOL!... Well, It was supposed to be ranger... I just posted the list late at night and was tired... I'll get right to changing that.

Oh, and the whole root maze thing is horrible.

YOUR lands are not supposed to come into play tapped.= Think about it- how will you be able to pay the stasis up-keep for long if they do? The same goes for breeding pools. They are horrible because you must pay two life each time to put them into play. The whole point of the green version is to keep your opponent locked down, not the both of you.

Also, on to the other guy who tried to commandeer my thread- no offence, but my list would run circles around yours. You did not use any kind of acceleration other than lotus petal. Your only deffinate way of paying stasis each turn is with forsaken city. You also only run one win condition- the chronatog. If he gets killed, and extirpated, you just lose. True, you can get one out, and keep your opponent tapped down and just keep skipping turns to make them draw out their deck, but that is the only SOLID win condition.
And with brainstorm as the only real draw in the deck, you will not be able to get to what you need soon enough most times.

As for vineyard being in the deck, it is an absolutly bad idea. If you think about it, they get naturalize mana. And if for some reason they get another mana source in play, they get krosan grip mana, which is even worse.

I am not trying to flame people, but it just seems as if you have never played with a stasis deck before.

Another suggestion to dark hippo would be to put crucible of worlds in the deck. With crop rotation, it will help you a lot more. Take out the orb of dreams. Also, put in a zuran orb to help with the whole land into grave thing. It helps a little against aggro, and if you replace root maze with something that only screws over opponents, you get at least two life per turn without losing a land. And, if you are short on mana, you can sac the tabernacle at the end of your opponents turn so you dont need to pay for your chronatog.

But with extirpate being played more, I would give the deck more win conditions. Also, you only have force/daze as an answer to pithing needle, which will shut down your only win.

So, people, please comment on MY list. I need help constructing it for upcoming tournements.

Thanks for replying!

[outsideangel]

If you're going to play creatures, you should play creatures that do something besides beat. Once you have the Stasis lock in place, you can pretty much win with whatever you want. Honestly, Quirion Ranger beatdown is probably good enough at that point. And if you're going to play a dedicated win condition, try Ebony-Owl Netsuke, as it is immune to all the copious amounts of creature hate in the format. Vedalken Mastermind is another cute dude to run in this sort of deck, and sort of a lock piece. If you were running white, I'd suggest Hokori, and the Grand Arbiter.

Also, I miss the point of a lot of the acceleration, tbh. Your combo isn't expensive, at all. The problem is more in assembling it than in paying for it. Run more dig/draw, maybe some tutors if you can come up with any that work. Lose the fat, as it will just clog up your hand when you want to be drawing combo pieces or ways to find combo pieces.

-3 Llanowar Elves
-2 Sphinx
-1 Morphling

[despo]

18 lands seems like too few, especially with 4 fetchland. Your acceleration doesn't help you to pay for stasis and you can't always have city. I would play at least 20-21 lands.

[Dark Hippo]

Well looking at your version despo and outsideangel are right. You are running to much acceleration and to little lands. Even with all those accelerating creatures the soonest the lock can come down is turn four. Also I don't like the howling mine because you don't want to give your opponent an extra card every turn before the lock making it almost a dead card in your hand until you lock them down. Also because you are playing creatures you could probably play with a living wish wish board. Plus you can add crop rotation for forbidden cities 5-8 but since your also running other ways to play stasis's upkeep cost you might not need it. And on a final note you should up the frozen aether count and add in that fourth daze.

[ACE]

If you're going to play creatures, you should play creatures that do something besides beat. Once you have the Stasis lock in place, you can pretty much win with whatever you want. Honestly, Quirion Ranger beatdown is probably good enough at that point. And if you're going to play a dedicated win condition, try Ebony-Owl Netsuke, as it is immune to all the copious amounts of creature hate in the format. Vedalken Mastermind is another cute dude to run in this sort of deck, and sort of a lock piece. If you were running white, I'd suggest Hokori, and the Grand Arbiter.

Also, I miss the point of a lot of the acceleration, tbh. Your combo isn't expensive, at all. The problem is more in assembling it than in paying for it. Run more dig/draw, maybe some tutors if you can come up with any that work. Lose the fat, as it will just clog up your hand when you want to be drawing combo pieces or ways to find combo pieces.

-3 Llanowar Elves
-2 Sphinx
-1 Morphling

Ok, the whole point of the acceleration is to be able to get a threat and the lock down ASAP. And if at all possible, on the same turn. The howling mine is and has long been basically a staple card in stasis decks because it is their main form of draw. It helps fuel stasis, force of will, forsaken city, morphling, etc. I have tested with more land, and it does not help any really. The deck needed more room for other cards. With the acceleration, the deck was perfectly fine at 18 land. With acceleration, you don't NEED to have upwards of 20 land.

As with everyone else, I came up with the list, then looked online and fine tuned it for maximum performace capabilities.

You are suggesting that I go with just the two win condition: ranger beats and one morphling. This will never happen. Ever. EVERY deck needs to have more outs than that. If they take away your only win condition, you lose.

I need the other creatures to be able to apply more pressure to combo decks. If I do not get the stasis lock with a threat on the table, I need to hold and wait until I get a fresh new hand and try it all on one turn and hope that they have not been saving a hand full of forces and dazes of their own.

Possibilities:

-1 Ranger = +1 daze
-1 morphling = +1 chronatog/ chronatog totem (more mana intensive, but it adds mana, and it is not a creature full time just sitting there waiting for removal).
-1 howling mine = +1 frozen aether.

I have been testing with each of these choices, and with different combinations of each. What do you each think?

Vedalken Mastermind is a very interesting card choice for this deck, and it could quite possibly be playable. For just 3 mana each turn, the stasis only locks out my opponent... Not bad after the lock has been initiated.

What could I take out for about 2 of these guys?

[outsideangel]

Your win condition isn't creatures, it's the Stasis lock. And that's a good thing, because honestly, your fatties suck. Morphling and a blue Serra Angel are not the answer to this format. You're not putting pressure on anyone, especially a turn four combo deck, with creatures that cost that much mana, and with only three of them.

The list you posted already just loses to combo. Stasis the card does. It's miserable against a deck that only needs its mana for 1 turn. You might as well make the deck playable against the other two-thirds of the field and throw together an Elgin-esque sideboard.

[Radley]

Black vise is the best kill condition in my opinion. I think Ivory tower also helps the deck and library of meng(lol). Chronatog is really great but in tournaments, it might suck because your opponent might go the delaying tactics way, especially if your opponent won the first game.

[Cait_Sith]

Chronatog is far too easy to kill. However if you really want to go with Chronatog invest in Tangle Wire so your opponent is actually locked out.

I would think that some way of bouncing the Stasis as needed would be good, I have seen someone use Opposition alongside Stasis and Tradewind Rider to perform this. He then used Spectral Force for the kill card.

[Radley]

If your opponent is already locked(their permanents comes into play tapped, all their lands is tapped, you have a stasis and forsaken city), There is no way your chronatog will be dead. Pyrokinesis is the only closest thing to kill chronatog but chrona gets +3/+3. It can kill chronatog if you time it right but who uses pyrokinesis?

All you need really is a way to get stasis and other components fast. Enlightened tutor is the best way to get it, and you can splash green for sterling grove but it's too much and will slow the deck. The addition of green gives you crop rotation and/or living wish to search for forsaken city(yeah right living wish again).

As for a way to bounce stasis, rescue(for temporary) or vedalken mastermind is a good card to bounce it. But I'd rather have a deck that has alot of tutors to get the lock really fast rather than risk drawing more combo pieces or just something to bounce back stasis.