Landstill deck

[Maraxus of Keld]

Standstill x4
Fact or Fiction x3
Seal of Removal x1
Hesitation x1
Shock x4
Naturalize x3
Fastbond x1
Nevinyrral’s Disk x2
Reins of Power x2
Unsummon x3
Vex x3
Mana Leak x3
Remove Soul x3
Rewind x1
Polymorph x2
Crucible of Worlds x1
Gemstone Array x2
Mishra’s Factory x2
Stalking Stones x4
Faerie Conclave x3
Treetop Village x2
Gemstone Mine x1
City of Brass x2
Wasteland x1
Shivan Reef x2
Island x5
Feldon’s Cane x1





This is a SEVERELY weaker version of a deck type that was used in the Legacy format tournaments a few years ago. It may or may not still be used there - I have no idea.

Basically, the idea is to drop a Standstill as soon as possible, then just basically wait for my opponent to do something. In the meantime, I will drop lands that can become creatures and use them to attack. As soon as he casts something, Standstill triggers. I believe I can let Standstill resolve, draw the cards, and then if one of those happens to be a counter, use it on the spell that triggered Standstill in the first place. I will need to look this up to be sure.

Obviously such a deck would only be good for 1-on-1 games. I've had the idea floating around for years, but I finally decided to sit down and make the best deck I could with the cards that I have. That's why I'm using junk cards like Vex and Remove Soul, because I didn't want to pull better counters from some of my other decks.

I look forward to trying it out sometime soon.

[Baron Sengir]

Ok I was wondering why you weren't using counter spells.

The wording of Standstill confuses me because it implies when a spell is played you have to sac Standstill, but then it goes on to say "if you do..."

Let's see, yeah I'm not sure how the standstill, counter combo would work, because by letting Standstill trigger doesn't that mean you are letting the spell your opponent played, through, and drawing a counter would be a new level on the stack so to speak?

My only other question is for Fact or Fiction. In theory, could your opponent just put one card in one pile, and the other 4 in another pile and put that bigger pile in your graveyard? I know you are prepared for that, but I was just making sure I understood the card correctly.

But this is a really cool deck idea and it should definitely be fun to play. It just took some thinking on my part to understand how it works.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Nov 25, 2009 10:17:44 GMT -6 Baron Sengir said:

The wording of Standstill confuses me because it implies when a spell is played you have to sac Standstill, but then it goes on to say "if you do..."

Let's see, yeah I'm not sure how the standstill, counter combo would work, because by letting Standstill trigger doesn't that mean you are letting the spell your opponent played, through, and drawing a counter would be a new level on the stack so to speak?

Well, when you play something, Standstill triggers in response, and goes onto the stack on top of it. The question is, can I let Standstill resolve (thus drawing the cards), and pause the stack to play something else in response before whatever you played resolves? That's what I'm not sure of, but it seems to me that's how it must have been in order for this deck to be competitive in tournaments. I'll have to look it up somewhere though.

My only other question is for Fact or Fiction. In theory, could your opponent just put one card in one pile, and the other 4 in another pile and put that bigger pile in your graveyard? I know you are prepared for that, but I was just making sure I understood the card correctly.

The way Fact or Fiction works is, when I play it, you separate the cards into two piles, but I get to pick which pile to keep and which pile to dump

So if you put one great card in one pile and the other four cards in the other pile, I might choose that one card over the rest. Basically, as the opponent you want to divide the piles in a way that makes my choice as tough as possible.

[Baron Sengir]

Here is the only ruling from Saturday Schhol; doesn't really help our conundrum too much though.

"It only works once. If someone casts another spell after it triggers, but before that trigger resolves, then it will trigger again. The first time one of these triggers resolves, it will be sacrificed for the full effect. Any additional triggers on the stack will do nothing when they resolve because you will be unable to sacrifice it additional times."

Well maybe it does. I honestly only see this working if someone casts an additional spell like the ruling says and you happened to draw a counterspell the first time you drew, but then it might be too late since they responded to you drawing the first time by playing another spell. Ugh so confusing.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Unfortunately that ruling doesn't address my question. Basically it means that if you play a spell, then I do something, then you play another spell, I don't get to draw six cards since I can't sacrifice Standstill twice.

[Baron Sengir]

Dec 3, 2009 21:31:28 GMT -6 Maraxus of Keld said:

I don't get to draw six cards since I can't sacrifice Standstill twice.

Ah yes, tis true.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Well, from what we've now seen, this deck is absolutely horrible in multiplayer. Which is what I expected.

[Baron Sengir]

Alright I talked with Chris at Astro and he explained how Standstill works.

Maraxus's initial thought was:
"As soon as my opponent casts something, Standstill triggers. I believe I can let Standstill resolve, draw the cards, and then if one of those happens to be a counter, use it on the spell that triggered Standstill in the first place."

This WILL work like you thought. The reason is because when the opponent plays a spell it goes on the stack. Then Standstill's trigger goes onto the stack as well. You then draw your three cards and can then use, say a counterspell, to counter the spell that triggered Standstill. This is because that spell is still on the stack. Nothing has resolved, so the counterspell would still be usable on the spell that triggered Standstill.

[Maraxus of Keld]

I thought that must be how it worked, because otherwise I don't see how the deck could ever have been viable in tournaments.

Good to have confirmation though.

[Maraxus of Keld]

An updated version of this deck:

Standstill x4
Seal of Removal x1
Hesitation x4
Shock x4
Naturalize x3
Fastbond x2
Nevinyrral’s Disk x2
Reins of Power x2
Unsummon x3
Vex x3
Mana Leak x3
Counterspell x4
Rewind x1
Polymorph x2
Crucible of Worlds x2
Mishra’s Factory x2
Stalking Stones x2
Faerie Conclave x3
Treetop Village x2
Gemstone Mine x1
City of Brass x2
Wasteland x1
Shivan Reef x2
Island x5
Feldon’s Cane x1


Fact or Fiction went to another deck. Gemstone Array was garbage so I removed it. Remove Soul was replaced by Counterspell. I added more Hesitations and another Crucible of Worlds. And I cut Stalking Stones down to two since it's the least good of my "man lands" in this deck.

I want to add another two Mishra's Factory if I can get them. I should have picked them up at Pastimes but forgot that I only had two in this deck.

[Baron Sengir]

Yeah I think the deck is more solid now. I may have some Mishra's Factories.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Pretty sure I've seen you use them fairly recently, but if you have any spares I'd be happy to take them off your hands.

[Baron Sengir]

Ok. Yeah I'll check, but I think I do because I believe I took a couple out of my angel deck as I really didn't need 4.

[Baron Sengir]

Have a question for you. I was reading an article on a vintage Landstill deck and they made the comment that the player of the deck is able to deploy threats under a Standstill where more often than not his opponent will have to break the Standstill. I'm confused though as to what threats they can deploy under the Standstill without breaking it. I think it may be the Errata: Mishra's Factory since your able to cast them and then convert them into a 2/2 and attack with it next turn.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Yep. The whole idea of the deck is to play "man-lands" like Mishra's Factory, because they don't count as spells so they don't pop the Standstill. Tournament Landstill decks though, from what I've seen, only use Mishra's Factory, although mine has a few other kinds. I should probably throw out the Stalking Stones in favor of more counters or something. Hesitation is also a personal touch of mine that's not used in tournaments.

The idea is that Standstill usually slows down the other player, because they're hesitant to give you essentially a free Ancestral Recall. And if they DO go ahead and play something, they might lose the spell anyway.

We had to look it up once, but you can apparently pause the stack after Standstill resolves and you've drawn your cards, which allows you to:
A) cast a counter of some kind without re-triggering Standstill and thus letting your opponent(s) draw instead, and
B) use a counter that you just drew from the Standstill.

And that's the whole reason why the deck works.