[Question 38] Landstill - Colors, Competitiveness and Such

[Bardo]

Solpugid asks:

Will true Landstill (no daze, goyf, dreadnought, etc.) be able to compete as/if the format grows faster? If so, what color splashes are the best for an unknown meta? Or, if you prefer, for a meta composed of mostly established decks.

Landstill is one of the few Legacy decks played pre-T1/1.5 split; admittedly, sans Mana Drain these days. It has seen enormous evolution, from the straight U/W and U/R builds from popular at the 2005 Legacy world championship to far more extravagant 3 and 4 color builds.

To Solpugid's question, is Goyf/Nought-less Landstill viable in a large Legacy tournament these days? If you're unsure of the field, which colors would you splash? Are your colors mainly for maindeck cards or the sideboard?

Your thoughts.

[frogboy]

Fundamentally, Landstill is a control deck trying to get far enough ahead on cards that it can grind out the opponent while removing the other guy's threats. All of the various lists are essentially different ways of executing that strategy.

Tarmogoyf got added because he functions like a removal spell; attacking decks either run into The Abyss or have to build up for an alpha strike, making them vulnerable to your sweeper. Similarly, Dreadnought lets you just go ahead and race whatever animals your opponent brought to the party.

Are they integral to the fundamental plan? Not really. You could just play more removal spells and play for a longer game like people were doing in 2004. That might even have some benefits; your opponent can't counter Swords with Warren Weirding. (I've always thought that Tarmogoyf and Mishra's Factory in control decks usually just functioned as a lightning rod for whatever otherwise-dead removal spells your opponents held.)

Having huge beaters does give you a nice advantage though; you don't have to hold on to the game for as long when your clock is three turns than when it's seven or eight. This is not something to take lightly, considering that you're playing more lands than the other guy and don't really have too many ways to get ahead on raw cards. Further, you only have eight permission spells; rough against burn or combo based strategies going long.

I think something like VoroshStill is probably the natural evolution of Landstill. Not because it has Tarmogoyf, but because it has Counterbalance. The lock pretty much buries the other guy if you are even close to a stable board. If you're just trying to topdeck better than the other guy, sometimes you're going to peel two lands and he's going to peel two spells, except you were at six and now you're dead. If you blank most of his spells, winning is pretty easy, and you don't need to play whatever random win condition except as a time consideration. The lock also lets you do something that's actively powerful instead of just rolling up with two for ones and hoping you don't get blown out by some sculpted hand.

As for colors, you can play three easily and you can play four if you're willing to be a man. Plow is obviously the best spot removal, but Smother, Edict, and the other black removal can probably cover your bases if that's how you want to be. Deed and Explosives are probably the best sweepers because they get Counterbalance and creatures, but there's a certain tension in needing WBG on turn three because you can't get a basic at any point in that sequence. I'm usually willing to play more lands because then if some guy Wastes me with no threat on the table I just keep hitting drops and wait for my superior card quality to beat him.

I can't think of any sideboard card that I'd play an extra color for. Maybe Krosan Grip, but I'm pretty sure I'd have Deeds or Goyfs main in a deck that wanted access to Grip.

(with all of this said, I'm still not sure why people play with cards like Standstill instead of cards like Intuition.)

[MattH]

It's pretty much an entirely different deck these days. Ultra-slow, U/W control styles with Eternal Dragon and Decree of Justice and FoF aren't really anything like a Counterbalance deck.

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

There is no "true" Landstill. Landstill has always been a highly adaptable deck-type, which is why it's always been succesful, despite whatever nay-sayers it has had.