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Landstill is an interesting deck.
The main thrust of it is to play out a Standstill early and put out
"manlands"(lands that can become creatures, i.e. Mishra's
Factory and Faerie Conclave) and force your opponent to trigger
Standstill or die a horrible death to weenie lands. The Red/Blue version
that this primer is about is well-suited for an aggro metagame, which is
just about all of them! The deck has enough counters and answers to take
care of control and combo decks as well, though Gay Fish sometimes
performs better in those realms (with a powered deck though, Landstill
is a force to be reckoned with in any environment). The deck uses
efficient creaturekill components as well as strong counters to maintain
control of the board. Enough explaining though, let's build the deck!
This is a budget-minded build, so keep that in mind as we go along. I
will show you a much, much more expensive build later in the article.
First, we'll start with the basis:
4 Standstill
4 Force of Will
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Faerie Conclave
The Standstills are, of course, essential, as are the manlands. You must
be careful not to run too many though, as they come into play tapped or
produce colorless mana, both of which slow down the deck. Ghitu
Encampment is an acceptable replacement for either manland, but beware
that it is slower and has a smaller toughness, rendering it vulnerable
to much more creature kill. Finally, we get to Force of Will. This is a
Swiss Army Knife, the card that makes the deck stick together. Sometimes
your opponents get cocky and think they can sneak through spells when
you're tapped out under a Standstill. This punishes them for it. As a
rules note, whenever a spell is cast on the stack, Standstill triggers.
This means that when your opponent breaks it, the ability goes on the
stack. It is VITAL to let it resolve instead of countering it
immediately, as you will trigger it as well and it will pop on you
first, ruining your day. In addition, sometimes you draw into counters
that you end up not having in your hand when it goes off, making it good
to let it resolve if you can counter with something other than a FoW.
Now that we have the basics, let's move into creature control:
4 Fire/Ice
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Powder Keg
1 Masticore
The first two on this list are a given. Remember that when a Standstill
goes off, if your opponent casts a creature that you can burn out, don't
waste precious counters on it. The latter two items on this list are a
personal choice; I have only one of each, and sometimes it is good to
only have one that you can draw. Certainly ending up with a hand full of
Masticores isn't desired. The Keg is nice as well because it takes care
of artifact destruction should the need arise, or if your opponent
summons up huge mobs of tokens that need swept away. Another point of
importance is that Fire/Ice can be pitched to Force of Will, which has
saved me in many a game. Now that we have figured out how to deal with
creatures, let's move on to some general use spells.
4 Impulse
4 Mana Leak
1 Future Sight
1 Trade Routes
3 Teferi's Response
2 Misdirection
1 Fact Or Fiction
The Impulses smooth out finding what you need. The deck exclusively
operates on a two-mana curve, so if you need to find a Standstill, you
can usually get one in hand or play by the second turn, thanks to
Impulse, as well as just being a generally good finder of cards. Since
this is a budget deck, I use Mana Leak. Usually they perform as well as
counterspell, and are easier on the manabase. The Teferi's Responses
will save your lands from any Wastelands or wanton hate on them, even if
your opponent Swords to Plowshares them or other shennanigans like that.
The two extra cards are very nice as well, I hear. Trade Routes is
another card that lets you save your lands, as well as setting up a
nifty recursion combo. Opponent attacking with giant creatures over and
over? Block, then Trade Routes up the manland. With two conclaves, you
can make Morphling's head hurt! It also allows you to cycle into
stronger cards later on. Future Sight is in this deck as an un-misdirectable
incredible card-drawer. When it hits the board, you WILL win the game.
It gives card advantage under a Standstill by playing out lands from the
top, as well as increasing your hand size. Finally, the two
Misdirections are all-purpose tools. I used to use them the wrong way,
thinking that I should hold them for big spells. Wrong. Hit the first
target you can that will sway the game. Directing a Lightning Bolt into
a Jackal Pup is an enormous swing. Additional rules point: be wary of
other opponents packing Misdirections. When using Fire/Ice, always
choose two targets for it, even if you are dealing one of them 0 damage.
This way, it cannot be MisD'ed. Fact Or Fiction is another winning card.
Masticore food or more counters, it's whatever you make of it. If you
have Trade Routes out and your opponent foolishly puts something like 4
lands in one pile and a juicy target in the other, consider grabbing the
lands, as you can fire those away with Trade Routes.
4 Shivan Reef/Volcanic Island
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
7 Island
3 Mountain
Here we have the rest of the lands. With 5 Strip Mine effects, you can
usually win the land race. The rest of it is there to iron out your mana
curve. A note-- fetchlands aren't that good in this deck. Although
getting the right lands out quickly is important, the deck is also very
hungry on land. Having only 12 or so sources in the deck means that you
just don't have the mana to power it up lategame. Also, if you draw any
lands, you can just Trade Routes them away.
Now we move on to variations! Here are cards that pop up in the builds
that bear consideration, as well as the expensive cards:
Chain of Vapor: This card usually ends up in place of Lightning Bolts in
control and combo-heavy environments. Often, you will have nothing they
can chain it back at you to hit.
Nevinyrral's Disk: This bears some discussion. I don't run it in the
budget version, because it obviously needs Mana Drain acceleration to
bring it out quickly. It does a beautiful job of sweeping, however. If
you play this, remove the permanents in your deck that would be nailed
by it like Trade Routes and Future Sight. You don't want collateral
damage! Also note that it takes out Blood Moon, which is Public Enemy #1
to Landstill.
Mana Drain: With Dual Lands and Moxes, this can be a power player.
Accelerating into huge beats or just animating factories, the Drain
holds up well. It powers out Disk, and I reccommend throwing Disks in
the build if you are using Mana Drain.
Black Lotus/Moxes: I reccommend only the Lotus and Mox Sapphire for the
deck. The rest will end up screwing you out of the right colored mana.
In powered builds, I have seen Lotus Petal (not a bad idea in the budget
deck either!) to put out a 1st turn Factory and Standstill. Mox Ruby is
just better as a Petal, however.
Library of Alexandria: The #1 power card that the deck needs. You will
often sit at 7 cards in hand, and with LoA, you can cycle quickly. It
gets counters for your hand and that all-important land drop every turn.
They are going a little cheaper as nobody else seems to use them, so
pick one up if you can. Your deck will thank you.
Ancestral Recall/Time Walk: I think these need no further explanation.
Now on to the sideboard! Landstill has the best colors for hosing decks
in the game. Take a look:
Rack And Ruin: This takes care of artifact decks as well as many other
decks that rely on artifact mana and the like. Good with the next entry
too.
Energy Flux: Makes Moxes worthless! This puts the major beats on any
artifact deck. It sweeps where R&R cannot, but against things like
Scepter Control, you will want R&R, as the opponent will gladly pay
2 to keep their win condition floating.
Gorilla Shaman: Strong mox eater. He also is a really slow win
condition. I would use the first two options over him usually, but in a
combo-heavy environment where fast mana shouldn't fly, consider him.
Chalice of the Void: This is a win against Stompy and Sligh, two decks
that give Landstill a run for its money. Drop one down and reap the
benefits!
Red Elemental Blast: Great against control decks and a generally
wonderful utility.
Blue Elemental Blast: Kills Worldgorger Dragons, nails Blood Moons,
stops Sligh. Good stuff, but I wouldn't pack as much of these as I would
the Red counterpart.
Tormod's Crypt: Flushes graveyards, and vital against Hulk and Dragon,
as well as generally annoying against Keeper and Long.
Stifle: This can replace Teferi's Response in the maindeck if you feel
it to be stronger, Stifle also nails anything with Storm and stops
fetchlands dead. Have 4 somewhere between your deck and sideboard!
Landstill can support plenty of sideboard cards. You may even want to
experiment with Cunning Wish and a utility sideboard.
For a powered decklist, I present the following as reference. I recently
placed 2nd with it in a fully-powered tournament in Columbus:
The Card Advantage:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Standstill
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Annul
3 Stifle
The Board Control:
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Fire / Ice
2 Chain of Vapor
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
Mana Makers, Booty Shakers:
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Flooded Strand
1 Mountain
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Library of Alexandria
Sideboard:
4 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
4 Null Rod
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Tormod's Crypt
Note the Mana Drains. These are what makes running Disks possible. Enjoy
the deck! |
