[Deck] Dreadstill - Enter the Fist

[GGoober]

What Rico said. People need to re-evaluate the statement "Vial decks make Standstill a dead card". The truth is Vial.dec's goal isn't about killing Standstill, it's about killing the control player's entire deck. At that point, all your Daze, Spell Snare, Counterbalance, Counterspells are blank when Vial is in play, not just Standstills. In fact, the cards you should really be boarding out on the play against Vial.dec is Snare, Counterspell because these don't answer a turn 1 Vial even on the play (you board out Daze on the draw obviously). If you don't solve the Vial problem, not only is Standstill a dead card, but your entire deck becomes full of dead cards. I would for most parts keep Standstills and cut the counterspells that I listed above, for cards that actually deal with Vials/creatures (that's what the sideboard is for). Once you've solved Vial, your Standstills become the best draw engine in the format once again.

However, there is only one deck in Legacy that makes this plan difficult: Merfolks. I would say that even against Lackey + Vial in goblins, you can resolve Standstills against Lackey + Vial much easier than Merfolks. The deal with Merfolks is: They have a much smoother curve, they play 4 Wastelands + 4 Mutavaults (which goblins don't), which matches your suite of Factories + Wasteland (sorry to the lists that don't play Factories, I think you're probably missing the point of Factories in the deck, which isn't really to increase the power level of Standstill). Merfolks can maintain pressure and a creature on the board almost all the time, which makes it difficult to resolve Standstill. This is why I cut down to 2 Standstills on the DRAW against Merfolks, but still keep 3 Standstills on the play against Merfolks. Your entire strategy then is to neutralize Vial, because when Vial isn't in the picture, you can match their spells 1-1. They'l have a slight tempo advantage with their suite of free disruption (Wasteland, Daze/FoW), but you will be in a much better fighting position.

@black discard.decs, featuring the Rock etc: Standstill is amazing against these decks. Without Standstill, you can probably toss out a few games out of the window because you deserved those losses for not having cards to fight your opponents.

[SMR0079]

Standstill is a very strong card. Is it poor against Merfolk? Sure I guess. Does it dominate black-based aggro-control decks? Yes.

Does it surprise me that one of those players at Boston lost to black-based aggro-control, considering his deck did not include Standstill? Not really.

Be careful when you cut Standstill. You might be trying to improve your Merfolk match at the expense of every other match...

Indeed. The metagame I play in tends to over represent Fish in relation to Junk style decks.

I must confess I have never liked Standstill outside of Merfolk. I"m not alone in this sentiment, and there must be some merit to it when mutiple players come to a similair conclusion and proceed to top 16. BtW, did any Team Reflection players attend Boston with Dreadstill and come close to being in contention?

[Scrum]

What do you guys think? Should I play swords in the main or in the board, should I play enlightened tutor or trinket Mage, is jace really the nuts, and what's the best counterspell suite, aside from 4 FOW?

[neckfire]

[list]
[*]You've been piggy backing on this one for a while, but I'm going to go ahead and call you out on this one... Rodney, Rob Rogers (Hammafistroob) and I were playing Dreadstill for about a year before you ever picked it up. I would say the only person who really helped the testing outside of Hammafist was Rich Shay (and his teammates on ReflectionoitcelfeR who in turn helped him test) and he only picked it up after being smashed with it by Rodney for a few tournaments.


]

actually i wanted to address this one,I DID in fact work on this deck with rodney,while not in person as i do NOT live in the north east *North carolina if your keeping score at home* i DID work on the deck on Magic-league alot,i just did not start posting on here for a good while,i played the deck alot and offered alot of mini changes to the Ur version.
i remember when the deck was Ub and Uw and Ug and i even remember the one week it was mono blue.

[JaredDS]

Quick tourney report from SGC open Boston:
Went 3-3 disappointed, but its legacy and even though I tested a ton before the event I did make wrong card selection choices and needed to get in more games.

Match 1: Junk
g1 : He is on the play and I keep a land destruction hand containing 2 stifles and 2 wastelands, with a brainstorm/top to find nought. I stifle his turn 2 fetch, waste his turn 1 land play on my turn 2 and daze his Gerrard's Verdict. The brainstorm/tops find me nought quickly with the necessary FoW backup for his vindicate.

g2: I board in 2 perish for 2 vindicate. I keep an early counterbalance lock hand which is weak to thoughtsieze, but he doesn't have it. I lay down the lock, with his gofy on board. I swords the gofy and basically lock up the game till he lansd a Thrun. Thankfully he lands it at 5 mana, no idea why so I promptly kill it, and beat him with trinket mage+nought.

1-0
Match 2: Burn
g1: I keep a wasteland/wasteland/bob/stifle hand. Basically entirely dead vs burn. He has a ton of early burn spells and I dont last long. Fine keep but terrible versus his deck.
g2: I keep a turn 2 nought/stifle hand with FoW backup if he has brought in any artifact hate. It gets there on turn 4 and this is never really a game.
g3: I keep an early counterbalance lock hand and stablize at 9 with a 2/3 on top of my library. I land a Jace and continually faceseal him, eventually ultimating through a fireblast on the Jace.

2-0
Match 3: AJ Sacher playing similiar deck with Red
g1: I assume he's playing NO Bant that he's played at the last few opens (big mistake) and keep a hand thats good vs that deck waste/waste/stifle/confidant/swords/2 other land. He's on the play and goes turn 1 trop/lavamancer. I waste. he drops another lavamancer, which turns off my Bob even through swords and I waste again. I topdeck another waste and waste again. I stifle a fetch but am never really in it as he keeps topdecking lands and hits a key brainstorm to find more of them.
g2: I keep a weak hand of top/bob/swords/4 land. Which is fine if he doesnt have a force. He doesnt and we are in for a game. He leads turn 1 lavamancer, turn 2 lavamancer again. But I find a needle with my top and am able to land Bob who resolves. I can't find any action or countermagic and in a couple of turns he resolves Jace through a counterwar. I am able to kill it with a factory, and resolve my own Jace which he REBs, then resolves his 2nd Jace and bounces Bob. He lands EE at 1 which kills my needle/bouncing his own lavamancer to protect and thus negating my ability to reland Bob. I made a few mistakes this game (maybe should've mulled to 6), I spun my top at a bad time and it got bottomdeck by Jace and I think I boarded wrong as well (boarding in spell pierce).

2-1
Match 4: Combo Elves
g1:I keep a reasonable hand of brainstorm/counterbalance/bob/4 land w/fetches. He is on the play I land a turn 2 counterbalance/flip a wasteland off it on his turn and he goes off w/2x glimpse.
g2: I board in peacekeeper plan and perishes. I keep a hand with a turn 2 top+balance+brainstorm but without the 2nd blue mana to cast the balance. I get it turn 3 but he has a nettle sentinel/archdruid/visionary on board at this point. I am burning through my deck to find a peacekeeper/perish to lock things up while he does 6 damage a turn. He GSZ for a 2nd arcdruid I swords/he GSZ again for a Regal Force (after opening with GSZ for nettle sentinel). I stall with my factory+trinket mage for as long as possible but just can't find the peacekeeper/perish to lock it up.

2-2
Match 5: Merfolk
g1: I win the roll!!! Keep an early nought hand with force+daze backup. The kind of things dreams are made of against Fish. I resolve nought on turn 3 through a counterwar and he has no answer.
g2: luckiest game of the day for me I open with force/brainstorm/2 land/counterbalance/trinket mage/top. I lead top he spell pierces I consider forcing but it walks into daze and force on the draw and decide to save it for a better spot+I have trinket mage for another top. I draw brainstorm and go for counterbalance with force backup. He lets it resolve!?! I'm surprised to say the least. He goes for a turn 2 lord of atlantis which I counter with a blind flip. I then use 4!! brainstorms that I draw into over the next few turns to counter 8!! total merfolk and finish him with misha's factory+trinket mage. I have peacekeeper in hand but don't even need to play it.

3-2
Match 6: U/W Fish
g1: I keep a solid Dark confidant based hand with no counters but stifle and brainstorm/top to find nought. He leads turn 2 stoneforge which I cant counter getting SoFaF. I feel like I'm playing standard until he starts dropping Merfolk out his ass. U/W Fish I know I'm in trouble since my peacekeeper plan postboard doesn't really work well against swords to plowshares. I drop my Bob but it gets forced. I attempt to land a dreadnought but it gets forced again and a combination of mystic+sword+a couple fish get there.
g2: I leave out the peacekeeper board (possibly a mistake) afraid that relying on it and getted swords to plowshares will be bad news. I look for an early nought/stifle hand and get one. It has no FoW backup but brainstorm to hopefully find some, and a counterbalance for protection. I run out the balance turn 2 to draw out countermagic and he dazes. He leads turn 2 mystic again getting SoFaI. My brainstorm finds no countermagic so I have to run the nought out there naked or lose I play nought he FoWs the nought...and says "just in case you have trickbind" felt pretty terrible losing to him after he said that.

3-3
Drop.

Really enjoyed the deck testing and playing. List is below.

4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
4 Wasteland
4 Misha's Factory
2 Island
(added the factories on Rico's advice and they were big all day and in testing, I would not cut them for the world they often let you stall 1/2 more turns vs tribal which is key)

4 Dark Confidant (really like him at 4 because he is incredible once resolved and often lets you resolve some more important spells or draws out a StP)
3 Counterbalance
3 Top
4 Stifle
3 Phyrexian Dreadnought
2 Trinket Mage (maybe should be 3 love the 2 for 1 ability of this card)
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares (wouldn't cut these for the world right now so good vs expected field of Junk/merfolk/goblins/etc)
1 Daze
2 Jace TMS
1 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Force of Will
2 Vindicate (definitely a building mistake here I liked them a lot because they compliment the land destruction package but would prefer other cards)
Board:
1 Plains
3 Peacekeeper
3 Engineered Plague (probably should've been 2 plague, 3 perish)
2 Perish
1 Tormond's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Spell Pierce
1 Counterbalance (really liked being able to go up to 4 postboard)

[ivanpei]

IMO vindicate is a bit heavy on the mana for this deck. Btw I quite like how modern dstill lists just run 1 nought with 3 trinkets. The shift from standstills to bob has turned out to be a needed shift as well. Sacher's Ur list with grims intrigues me though. Especially since the singleton collar slots right in and kicks ass. IMO could we work on a URb build incorporating both grims and bobs? Basically bolts replace stps and Grims replace some of the weaker slots.

This seems key in beating Merfolk. Grim is such a great card against all the vial aggro that countertop is weak against. Here's the list I've been testing:

4 Brainstorm
4 Fow
3 Counterbalance
3 Top
3 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Bolt
2 GFTT

3 Trinket
3 Grim
4 Bob
1 EE
1 Collar
1 Dnought

4 Wasteland
9 Blue fetch
3 Volc
3 Usea
1 Island

[Rico Suave]

The lists that made top 16 at the Boston SCG aren't really Dreadstill because they have 1 Dreadnought in the entire 75. It's difficult to compare any of them to Dreadstill because the cards form a symbiotic relationship with each other. For example, Standstill makes the Stifle/Nought plan better and the Stifle/Nought plan makes Standstill better. And since none of those players were really on the Stifle/Nought plan...well it's only natural that Standstill would be worse in those decks too.

But you see people all over the place picking up their Grim Lavamancers and stomping all over people who rely too heavily on their Bobs. I dunno, maybe relying on Bob without having any Standstill is a bad idea? =\

BtW, did any Team Reflection players attend Boston with Dreadstill and come close to being in contention?

Only 2 of us are on the Dreadstill boat, at least in the US (and as far as I know), and neither of us were there.

IMO could we work on a URb build incorporating both grins and bobs? Basically bolts replace stps and Grims replace some of the weaker slots.

This seems key in beating Merfolk.

If you want to beat Merfolk, you are going to get a lot more mileage out of running 4 Dreadnought than you will ever get out of 4 Lavamancer.

[ivanpei]

It's true that those decks are no longer dreadstill. They're more of Stifle-Countertop Tempo Control. It's the right choice because the SCG just before this one was full of combo. Bob + Countertop + Stifle + wastelands seem perfect for tackling Combo and the countertop mirror. I'm guessing traditional Dreadstill in a different meta but we have to keep up right? Btw, how do the 3 Nought, 4 Stifle + 1 Trickbind versions do against Merfolk? I'm guessing that since they will find it hard to Daze/Pierce such a cheap combo, it should stick?

[Morgothian]

Ivanpei, you're basically posting the list me and a teammate used from November to January, achieveing some very good results (my teammate went 7-0 in Swiss in a 106 people tournament is good, I suppose) and other good results (I got 1 final on 40 people and a 9° and 10° for rating in a 90+ peole tournament and a 76 people tournament).

The first version of the list was:

4 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Badland
2 Island

3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Dark Confidant
2 Trinket Mage

4 Force of Will
3 Spell snare
3 Daze
4 Stifle
1 Trickbind
3 Counterbalance
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Engineered Explosives

Which then evolved into senseless ways after the Survival ban and led us to abandon the archetype. Quite similar to your ideas, isn't it?

[kiblast]

It's true that those decks are no longer dreadstill. They're more of Stifle-Countertop Tempo Control. It's the right choice because the SCG just before this one was full of combo. Bob + Countertop + Stifle + wastelands seem perfect for tackling Combo and the countertop mirror. I'm guessing traditional Dreadstill in a different meta but we have to keep up right? Btw, how do the 3 Nought, 4 Stifle + 1 Trickbind versions do against Merfolk? I'm guessing that since they will find it hard to Daze/Pierce such a cheap combo, it should stick?

Basically in a Combo and Control/ Cuntertop meta I'd play Countertop+ Stifle Wasteland+ Bob ( card advantage is really important in these MU) and probably Red splash for Pyroblasts, while in a aggro meta I'd play Stifle Wasteland + Standstill and Mishra's Factory+ Bob; Black splash for Perish and White for Stp maindeck+ Peacekeeper in SB. Amiright?

[Rico Suave]

It's true that those decks are no longer dreadstill. They're more of Stifle-Countertop Tempo Control. It's the right choice because the SCG just before this one was full of combo. Bob + Countertop + Stifle + wastelands seem perfect for tackling Combo and the countertop mirror. I'm guessing traditional Dreadstill in a different meta but we have to keep up right? Btw, how do the 3 Nought, 4 Stifle + 1 Trickbind versions do against Merfolk? I'm guessing that since they will find it hard to Daze/Pierce such a cheap combo, it should stick?

Yes, those decks were basically the realization that Trinket Mage is pretty solid, and if a deck is running both Trinket Mages and a full set of Stifle then running a single Dreadnought provides a lot of value gained for a minimal amount of deck investment. You know what? After boarding, oftentimes I'd play only 1 or 2 Dreadnoughts myself too.

Anyway, the thing with Merfolk is that killing them is very effective. Sure sometimes they'll be able to stop your attempts at a Dreadnought. Other times the Dreadnought will arrive on turn 2 and they can't win the game anymore. Other times you can wait till turn 3 to play around Daze, then kill them. Ultimately, the presence of Dreadnought on the battlefield will make their cards not matter. So often blue decks will try to fight over cards like Vial or Lords or the Merfolk player's cards, whereas assembling Dreadnought/Stifle shifts the entire dynamics of the match to them stopping your cards and that is a fight Merfolk is not prepared to win.

But if you're still fighting over their cards with things like Lavamancer in your deck, you'd better be prepared to lose. Because you're going to lose to cards like Kira, Coralhelm Commander, various hands where they just have 2 Lords naturally, etc.

[Rood]

For those interested in an updated U/r list with MM, here's pretty close to the 75 I'll be running

// Lands
2 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
4 [AQ] Mishra's Factory (4)
3 [TE] Wasteland
2 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
2 [ON] Polluted Delta
2 [U] Volcanic Island
1 [R] Underground Sea
5 [M10] Island (4)

// Creatures
4 [MI] Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 [FD] Trinket Mage

// Spells
1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
3 [DIS] Spell Snare
2 [TSP] Trickbind
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [CST] Brainstorm
4 [SC] Stifle
3 [CS] Counterbalance
2 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [OD] Standstill
4 [NP] Mental Misstep

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 [SHM] Firespout
SB: 1 [10E] Crucible of Worlds
SB: 1 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [CH] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [4E] Red Elemental Blast
SB: 3 [NE] Submerge
SB: 2 [6E] Perish

I've decided that I'll be running Submerge and see how it goes. It seems better when you run 4 Trinket mages MD too so you can just float 3 costers on top of your deck with Counterbalance.

[ivanpei]

Ivanpei, you're basically posting the list me and a teammate used from November to January, achieveing some very good results (my teammate went 7-0 in Swiss in a 106 people tournament is good, I suppose) and other good results (I got 1 final on 40 people and a 9° and 10° for rating in a 90+ peole tournament and a 76 people tournament).

The first version of the list was:

4 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Badland
2 Island

3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Dark Confidant
2 Trinket Mage

4 Force of Will
3 Spell snare
3 Daze
4 Stifle
1 Trickbind
3 Counterbalance
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Engineered Explosives

Which then evolved into senseless ways after the Survival ban and led us to abandon the archetype. Quite similar to your ideas, isn't it?

Nice list, No removal at all other than Grim? Do you prefer more Noughts and more Counterspells instead of removal? Hmm I have to test this. I'm gonna play your list but with -3 Snare (Snare is pretty bad right now IMO), + 1 Grim, + 1 Trinket, + 1 Collar for a Grim Centric List. I'm a fan of Grim + Collar. It's won me countless games in Next Level Threshold. What made me switch to this deck is that NLT felt too fair and Stifles are pretty bad draws after the first few turns. I like how this deck can have 3 Combos going (Grim + Collar, Countertop, and Stifle Nought) which are all turned on by the mighty Trinket Mage!

@ Rico, you are right, doing broken things is sometimes more effective than trying to overwhelm with answers. I still like Ubr with Bobs and Grims, but I'll try more Noughts, Trickbind instead of removal.

[egosum]

Hi,

after the MM preview (or spoil...), I' ve been thinking decks that can really take profit of this new weapon. The first one I saw and rebuild was TA, which takes real profit of MM for protectiong the mostners against swords. Another deck I think takes good benefit from it is Dradstill (or similars) for same reaason, but here it is also very important to make us survive long enough until the robot makes his job, it also stops Vial, as some may have pointed, of this I'm sure, which threatens our strategy heavily.

This is the list I made, I post it here for discussing (I know is not strictly Dreadstil, since is not playing Standsill, but I think all stiflenought decks are best suited inthis thread).

Maindeck 60

4x Wasteland
3x Underground Sea
2x Tropical Island
2x Island
1x Swamp
4x Polluted Delta
3x "Blue Fetch"
1x Verdant Catacombs

4x Force of WIll
4x Mental Misstep
3x Spell Snare
4x Stifle
4x Brainstorm

3x Go for the Throat
2x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Engineered Explosives

4x Dark Confidant
3x Trinket Mage
2x Phyrexian Dreadnought

3x Sensei's Divining Top
3x Counterbalance

I started with the list as a 2 colored list, but then I saw that the 3CC curve was too empty with only Mages there. After thinking a bit of what the list may lack I realized that there were no good Black, nor blue, cards that can fill this slot efficently (maybe dismember can be nice, but I don't think so). Then Maelstrom Pulse came to my mind, ultra versatile card that helps with Spot removal aswell as swiss-knife gadget to deal with any other permanent, it also covers the 3CC, and gives the possibilty of playing EE for 3, which is very important in some matches (i.e. Bant for instance). The green splash can also give us Krosan Grip for the sideboard.

I also love the MM + SS dueto, this covers most of the important threats we can face, this plus force fo will is enough support for the soft lock (CB-Top) I guess.

Here is the sideboard I' m testing:

Side 15

4x Engineered Plague
3x Extirpate
3x Ghastly demise
2x Krosan Grip
1x Pithign Needle
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Nihil Spellbomb

I'm not quite sure about the side. Don't know if Engi. Plague is the correct approach to beat Tribal, maybe adding 4 Tarmogoyf instead for racing them, supported by the removal seems a better plan.

Greetigns,

Iñaki.-

[St3B]

Hola Iñaki ;)

Interesting list, only the green splash looks a little forced. What if you add white instead? You could play 2 Vindicates and 1 Enlightened Tutor (possibly cutting a Dreadnaught) and a more tutor focussed SB. Playing with Vindicate could also enable the LD plan in case the opponent is mana srewed.

A possible SB could look like this:

1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Engineered Plagues
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Extirpate
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ghostly Prison
3 Sords to Plowshares / Path to Exile

[yutang]

Here's a UB build I'm trying out built with consideration for Mental Misstep which is INSANE against common Dreadnought removal such as StP and PtE.

6 Blue Fetches
3 Underground Sea
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
5 Island

4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
2 Trinket Mage
3 Dark Confidant

2 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Counterbalance
4 Standstill
4 Mental Misstep
4 Stifle
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Brainstorm
3 Spell Snare
1 Trickbind
4 Force of Will

Sideboard:
1 Pithing Needle
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Perish
3 Spell Pierce
4 Engineered Plague
2 Virtue's Ruin

I'll let you guys know the results of my testing. Any problems with my list?

[egosum]

@St3B: maybe you are right that Green splash is not optimal, but I' ve been thinking about adding 4x Goyf to the side instead of the Engineered Plagues, so we can reca the Tribal rather than control them. If I don't play the Goyfs white will be for sure my color to splash. Thanks for pondering about the list.

Greetings,

Iñaki.-

[Morgothian]

Well Ivanpei, the list was very Dreadnought Centred, so a T2 Phyrexian Dude won almost every game in which it was protected...in the actual meta, with MM online, I would push for such approach but is also true that often, very often, PD are nails in your hand worse than Christ's ones...

I would rather try an URBan version with a different contro approach, in which we fully exploit our CB plan, defending it with Daze and MM, gaining card advantage and controling the board. Our T2 bomb would be Dark Confidant which can be protected easily by MM and Daze against removals, or Counterbalance...I agree in cutting the Spell Snares as long as we focus everything on Counterbalance lock and cc2 drops, closing the game through PD tutoring. I would update the list as follows:

4 Wasteland
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Seat of Synod

3 Grim Lavamancer
2 Phyrexian Dreadnought
4 Dark Confidant
3 Trinket Mage

4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
3 Daze
4 Stifle
3 Counterbalance
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Brainstorm
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Basilisk Collar

What do you think about this? I think that 3 Grim Lavamancers are enough, often they are not that good and we can easily put the 4th copy in SB. A 4th Counterbalance copy can go in SB as well, along with 3 perishes.

[AngryTroll]

...
Match 6: U/W Fish
g2: I leave out the peacekeeper board (possibly a mistake) afraid that relying on it and getted swords to plowshares will be bad news. I look for an early nought/stifle hand and get one. It has no FoW backup but brainstorm to hopefully find some, and a counterbalance for protection. I run out the balance turn 2 to draw out countermagic and he dazes. He leads turn 2 mystic again getting SoFaI. My brainstorm finds no countermagic so I have to run the nought out there naked or lose I play nought he FoWs the nought...and says "just in case you have trickbind" felt pretty terrible losing to him after he said that.

If you have three lands in play and your opponent has winning board position against you unless a Dreadnought resolves, Forcing the Dreadnought may be the correct play. 4 Dreadnought / 4 Stifle / 1 Trickbind is pretty common in Dreadstill lists, and if the only way he loses that game is to the Trickbind, playing around it is fine.

[The Atog Lord]

Yes, those decks were basically the realization that Trinket Mage is pretty solid, and if a deck is running both Trinket Mages and a full set of Stifle then running a single Dreadnought provides a lot of value gained for a minimal amount of deck investment. You know what? After boarding, oftentimes I'd play only 1 or 2 Dreadnoughts myself too.

Anyway, the thing with Merfolk is that killing them is very effective. Sure sometimes they'll be able to stop your attempts at a Dreadnought. Other times the Dreadnought will arrive on turn 2 and they can't win the game anymore. Other times you can wait till turn 3 to play around Daze, then kill them. Ultimately, the presence of Dreadnought on the battlefield will make their cards not matter. So often blue decks will try to fight over cards like Vial or Lords or the Merfolk player's cards, whereas assembling Dreadnought/Stifle shifts the entire dynamics of the match to them stopping your cards and that is a fight Merfolk is not prepared to win.

But if you're still fighting over their cards with things like Lavamancer in your deck, you'd better be prepared to lose. Because you're going to lose to cards like Kira, Coralhelm Commander, various hands where they just have 2 Lords naturally, etc.

I am going to agree with Brad. If you get into an attrition war with Merfolk, it won't end well as often as you'd like. They have a draw engine, and the ability to halt most of your one-for-ones. I did test Grim Lavamancer, and he's great if you land him on turn one and keep a red source in play and don't let Merfolk resolve two Lords at once and you get to keep your graveyard full and they don't have Kira. I would much, much rather force Merfolk to respond to my cards, rather than responding to theirs. Game one, your ability to win is strongly tied to your ability to get a Dreadnought onto the battlefield. If you are really determined to win game one, having the full set of Dreadnoughts is the way to go.

If you want to beat them post-board, Peacekeeper is the best option that I've found. And I tried a lot of options here. She is a card that they must handle before they can win. And they're not well-positioned to remove her. Cursecatcher and Spell Pierce are useless against her. And she can come in against Show+Tell, Reanimator, and Elves.