Tog is primarily a MTGO player who plays a wide range of formats but not standard. Despite favouring Classic (an online counterpart of vintage) over an incomplete Legacy format (because some cards are unavailable yet), Tog got into the format when Legacy was announced to be the format of the Magic Online Championship Series. Always up to date on technologies of various formats, he's not one you want to face (if you ever do).
The name landstill comes from its trademark card, Standstill and the fact that it uses manlands to win. Landstill is an old archetype from all the way back from when Legacy was still called type 1.5 but it resembled a UW control more back then with all sorts of board sweepers. The UWBG version evolved rather recently and has done reasonably well in real life.
I got into the Legacy format to prepare for the MTGO MOCS Season VII and I decided to play this deck because it was doing quite well. Magic Online is different from real life since it lacks some key cards which prevent certain decks from being played but it is not to be underestimated because it doesn’t prevent good decks from being made and played. Incidentally, the UW counter-top which did very well in real life originated from there.
Landstill is a deck that naturally has a strong aggro matchup, given the sheer number of removals, and a semi decent combo matchup, given the fact that it runs counter magic, but it has trouble beating combo decks that can punch through even 3 counter magic because this deck is no counter-top.
UWBG Landstill
Mana (24)
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Tundra
1 Scrubland
2 Tropical Island
1 Island
4 Mishra’s Factory
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Wasteland
Disruption (23)
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Innocent Blood
4 Pernicious Deed
3 Spell Snare
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Cunning Wish
Others (13)
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Crucible of Worlds
Sideboard (15)
1 Pulse of the Fields
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Spell Pierce
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Hideous Laughter
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Extirpate
1 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Engineered Plague
Landstill is probably one of the most versatile decks you can find because its core comprises of something along the lines of Brainstorm, Force of Will, Standstill, Counterspell, Pernicious Deed, Jace, the Mind Sculptor and either Life from the Loam or Crucible of Worlds.
The removal suite comprises of cards like Innocent Blood, Ghastly Demise, or as the above version, Swords to Plowshares which forces the deck to run white mana sources.
The key card that makes this deck work is Pernicious Deed because it efficiently sweeps the threats that the format is full of, cheap beats. Tarmogoyf, Counterbalance, Wild Nacatl, Aether Vial get binned by this sweeper.
Along the same lines, Mishra’s Factory is a very useful manland, being able to block key creatures in the format that go up to 3/3 in size such as Nimble Mongoose or Zoo’s Kird Ape/Loam Lion. Manlands get past Standstill and are only vulnerable to instant speed removals, placing them at a nice position in the format.
However, the real horror of this deck comes from its ability to Wasteland an opponent out of the game with 4x Wasteland and recursion. This is probably the most powerful line of attack of this deck. I prefer using Crucible of Worlds over Life From the Loam to avoid situations where I get stuck if my Tropical Island gets busted and also because the deck runs many colorless lands.
The mana base is also unique and can be tailored to suit a wide range of configurations because of its reliance on fetchlands and land recursion. However, there are times where there are colored mana conflicts because the deck runs 8 colourless mana sources, putting you in a more vulnerable position to mana problems, especially if you have to make tough choices in the early game as you choose which dual land to search out, this problem is worse if you don’t get a fetchland at crucial parts of the game.
This particular build uses a Cunning Wish sideboard which can be useful because it allows the deck to have more adaptable playstyle against a diverse field.
Matchups
Zoo
As mentioned earlier, aggro matchups are good for you. The key to winning it is to not get too greedy with counters and removals because no matter how good Pernicious Deed is, it does lag a turn in most cases. The most annoying card from Zoo is Qasali Pridemage because you can’t cast Pernicious Deed and Standstill with it around and it pumps the beaters to toughness 4 which prevents Mishra’s Factory from doing its job. A card to beware of is Price of Progress which can hit you for 8 damage in a normal game and blow you out if you are not prepared to face it.As much as possible, hit wastelands early because zoo either needs to draw lands or start fetching out basic lands. For a 20 land deck, drawing lands is not what I would call easy since it is an average of 1 in 3 cards. Basic lands mess the plays of the deck because it wants to be GW and RW or RR at the same time. It is important to know when you can throw in Standstill. Do not play it into a Grim Lavamancer unless you are prepared to crack your own Standstill. If you are facing Kird Ape/Loam Lion without Mishra’s Factory in play, it is a bad but decent play because it is not difficult to draw into Mishra’s Factory. When using Mishra’s Factory, plan your next 2 turns in advance so that you don’t die to the loss of mana. Cunning Wish into Pulse of the Fields is the most powerful play since gaining 4 life a turn can seal the game.
Sideboarded Gaddock Teeg shuts down Force of Will so it is not too scary but not handling it for too long can hurt when you need to Force of Will so don’t save your spells for too long. Some decks run Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast to combat countermagic but thankfully the business spells aren’t blue. Just be wary of that and DO NOT GET GREEDY. Overall, this is a highly favourable matchup.
Merfolk
Merfolk is an annoying deck to fight against because its Islandwalk is hard to fight. Fortunately, the deck is heavy on its removal suite. Aether Vial is a card that will make playing Standstill very unprofitable and if possible, try to play around Daze by maintaining one free mana every turn so that you force your opponent to either double Daze or lose value with it until pitched to Force of Will.Supressing the lords will go a long way to winning against Merfolk. Wasteland is somewhat dead unless Mutavault is on the other side so there isn’t too much value to be gained there.
Post sideboard, the deck has 3x Engineered Plague which can mess them up although it doesn’t actually win outright until 2 come into play. Still, it helps with the suppression. Overall, this is a good matchup if played well.
Goblins
Goblins is a very explosive deck which plays the hated Aether Vial but this is where Mishra’s Factory shines because it can block something like 90% of the goblins without much loss of value unless if hit by a Gempalm Incinerator. Unlike the merfolk matchup, it is easier to gain control of the game. Hiding behind removals + Mishra’s Factory and Cunning Wish into Hideous Laughter will put you quite ahead. Pernicious Deed is probably the best card against this matchup because you get rid of the annoying Aether Vial as well. Goblin Ringleader is annoying because it gives them quite a good refill of threats. Best countered but it usually comes down with Goblin Lackey or Aether Vial. Wasteland is moderate here. Pulse of the Fields is also strong against this matchup.Post sideboard, the 3x Engineered Plague shine because most goblins just die to it other than the lords which you can clean up with removals.
Ad Nauseam Tendrils
In this matchup, you start with a bunch of dead cards. The wrecking play here is Orim’s Chant/Silence which usually beats you. Otherwise, there are few things to do to improve your matchup.First, try to keep counter mana up to counter the key spells. The way they lose here is they get too pressured and start going off hoping that you don’t have counters. Hitting Ad Nauseam/Infernal Tutor is good game.
Secondly, try to pressure with Mishra’s Factory so that you increase the possibility of them dying to their own Ad Nauseam although that is unlikely.
Thirdly, a sneaky Swords to Plowshares might be able to save you by letting you gain some life so try to remember it.
Other than that, Cunning Wish gets Pulse of the Fields (can mess the drain life) and Mindbreak Trap.
Sideboard in Extirpate, Tormod’s Crypt, Ethersworn Canonist, Spell Pierce and Mindbreak Trap. Aim Extirpate carefully because it is a very powerful threat if used well. Overall, a poor matchup but is beatable.
Counter-top
Counter-top is tilted in your favour because you run an assorted variety of casting costs and you run Pernicious Deed which blows away Counterbalance or the Thopter combo pieces. You can run under a Standstill which Countertop can’t and it runs Enlightened Tutor which are essentially card disadvantage which puts you in a superior position. The countermagic volume is equal so it does not have the upperhand. Counterbalance and some luck can wreck you though. Wasteland is weak here because the deck runs a considerable number of basic lands. Jace, the Mind Sculptor is very powerful here.From the sideboard comes Extirpate which is an extremely powerful card when it is able to get rid of playsets of threats. Remember that the deck has access to Back to Basics and try not to let Counterbalance stick and you should be fine. Overall, a matchup in your favour.
No comments:
Post a Comment