More editing of the primer pillow-fort section.
I have been looking at making the deck faster and going to Petals as they just seem to work better. I have also been looking at putting more Vises in- too many close games are lost because you lose a Stasis at key times, despite being in control for a long time. Moreover, the dreaded draw is hard to avoid if you go 1-0 down. If Vise comes down early that time spent in control would yield wins. The 4 Vise 4 Visions approach means less long term cards are needed, and more matches get finished.
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You could probably make Stasis work like this (and seriously frustrate your opponent maybe even to the the tune of its original 90’s power level).
You need to use Forsaken City in a more proactive way, but it’s still the go-to card. Along with Howling Mine; old Howling Stasis. The deck will still do something before you draw Stasis; the odds are, you will draw Cloudstone Curio instead if you do not. And you can do some business with all of those things, plus it. You totally have to play mono blue Stasis. Stasis asks for an upkeep of U. And Wasteland says, well, on THAT card, it will do it and HAVE to, and otherwise, you can’t tolerate it.
4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell
3 Arcane Denial
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Gush
1 Capsize
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Howling Mine
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Kami of the Crescent Moon
4 Stasis
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vedalken Mastermind
4 Cloudstone Curio
3 Frozen Aether
3 Pestermite
4 Forsaken City
19 Island
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"Warning: Um, warning. This is going to be a game state violation. And a taking extra turns and drawing extra cards violation, pretty much, a whole bunch of violations. Look at me, I'm the DCI."
Well that is a very controlling version, and might really work well- will have to test. For now my advice is that unless your meta is full of Eldrazi, D N T, Lands and Merfolk- I would play a 4 vise version with less anti critter stuff like Tabernacles, that I feel works pretty well with the howling mines. Lotus Petal has been really strong for me. Dropping the tutor aspect and moving Zuran was the hardest. Back to Basics has been amazing, really, that would not go from my list in my meta. More counters and Probe is a interesting direction though, it might work.....
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I should have also said that the ''Geddon is luxury, I know I will have to cut it eventually.
Lotus petals will be going to 4 in fact- the ability to do something t1, remembering 4 Stasis are dead turn 1/2, is essential. Speed is everything in today's environment - lotus petals seem to be everywhere- depths, reanimators, etc, and when you add in Sol lands in Stompy decks etc.... if the decks were more delver or burn pace where they need to do a few things efficiently then that is one thing, but a lot of decks seem intent on one game winning task, and that means we must have a counter spell when it happens or the ability to answer it or we are toast.
Often URW has the answers but not the time to get them or the mana. Often those draws 1-1 and in control in the last are a big issue too.
The Urw Stasis deck needs to be focused on total control with a ton of counters and misdirections OR needs to go down a more aggressive route with Vise - so that you can disrupt a deck like Eldrazi a bit and race them with Vise and a Stasis for maybe just even a turn or two. That means some Petal or Spirit guide acceleration so that you can go T1 Vise or Howler, t2 Fevered Visons or Propaganda every game. That way when Stasis does hit we have a board presence.
On a side note I would say I would love to try a Suppression Field version, running 4 SFs and no fetches.
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Yes, I have no issues playing bant beyond time and a desire to see the URW version get somewhere near a point where it can be solidified to an optimal list for a general-ish meta. I do like some off beat strategies, but don't want to spend all my time with them. I have played delver once this year, for example. If you spread over too many archetypes you lose something. I am really into Parfait, Stax (mono-w) and Mono-B prison pox, and Soldier Stompy which I know my versions of very well and have worked extensively on for 3 years plus- and in many of those cases I have had other players to borrow the decks and report. They are very personal lists- they are not tied to a 70 card core, and player skill and practice is a key factor. Stasis is the next on that list but i have only worked on it for a shorter time. Likely after that I will have a go at the bant version- if the Stasis deck does not perform to my liking may just go down the bant route.
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Managed a small FNM, nicked second place of 1-1-1 in real matches.
Played the Vise heavy lotus petal list in the primer.
Lands
G1 On the play- got a t1 howling mine, vise followed and Propaganda Stasis to finish. He did make a dude, but could not attack, and a Daze on a Mox meant he could not get the 20/20 to attack- I was holding Chain of Vapor anyway.
G2 was close, I could not stop his T1 mox, and I was always a turn behind where I wanted to be. I almost made it safe.
G3 I won, a t3 Monastery siege made him Abrupt decay in response, and a nother draw plus Stasis was followed by a Vise.
Reanimator (U version)
G1 - he was mana screwed for a while, but did get t1 hand disruption, I flooded on counters and dazed enablers making him sac petals, and I would not lay the second mine as Vise damage was hurting and if he blanked on land for a couple of turns I would win regardless. A resolved Propaganda followed by Back to Basics and then Stasis with vise down did the job. Griselbrand did eventually appear from the bin.
G2 was close, I drew RIP one turn too late. He boarded out Show and Tell because I can ride it with Stasis and Propaganda effects. Iona finished me, although it was close in damage terms, he was on under ten.
Miracles.
He had the counter top pair in both opening hands and force protection in one too, I mulled in both games, took ok hands, had massive amount of control g1 but no Vise or Visions down, drew 8 successive land or petals with mines down, which hurt. He wriggled out in that period, had Vise been down he would have been in a tough place, frankly had I drew any action in that period I would have been fine. I know my miracles match-up is OK, but game 1 I lost for what must be the first time against the deck.
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I have been playing around with Stasis and trying to build a version capable of supporting Suppression field, preferably with more turn none action via Moxen and Petals. Sadly that means a lot less in the way of Brainstorm action, and no fetches of course but then again that is the point.
So far it seems pretty good, I do not know how viable it will be, but it certainly has potential to clog those hands up for longer, and a t1 S field is always pretty strong........
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Forgot to say that I have been testing Wipe Away, a card we discussed here earlier. It is very decent in the deck, I have to say. My latest version has less difficulty with the mana as we are now looking at 4 Petals and two Chrome mox. It is better than I thought, the split second bounce is not too bad, and there are a few decks where its strong Depths, Lands, Miracles, Reanimator even- having a second bounce spell that does not allow them to bounce something gives more lines of play.
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Yes, I am on Uwr to be precise.
R for fevered visions
W has been for board cards and sometimes a single E tutor/2 Thalia number 2.
I am using white to add suppression field in now. Stasis is a bit slow as in the primer at the moment, great if the meta is all fair decks and critter decks, but weak specifically to faster delvers and infect. I am now on 6 mana accelerators, and I am looking at cutting brainstorm/fetches to accommodate more hate and faster starst at the expense of smoothing- the deck needs to do stuff on t1 more often, and it needs a 2cc hate piece that comes down before Stasis and slows the game down.
.
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Changing it may look like this:
+3 Suppression Field, -3 Probe
+2 Authority of the Consuls, -1 Thalia and -1 Probe (Or some combination of the two. Maybe 3 Thalia)
+1 Eathersworn Canonist, -1 Jace
I am considering going bant-ish myself with the critter engine.
The URW version is good for certain matches, but a couple of the top tier decks do too well against it, and when you fix that you lose too much elsewhere..
PS S field shuts down both fetches and any q ranger action, sadly
PPS - I do not see why you could not run Fevered Visions in this with a few Birds and minimal other alterations. FV draws for you before them, and could be a second source of damage. I would look for it over G probe rather than adding in SF.
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I could do something like this. I removed Jace in this build. Could be fine with the FV, but I have been liking Jace as a removal magnet and the draw and creature bounce effects. The one thing I notice though is that with the 2 Pedals, I have 11 accelerators, and normally 8 1-drops is plenty. Yet I want to fixing for Red, and then I can run REB and others in the board to hopefully help the matches (?)
I would like to try again the bant ist in this style at some point, the extra counters are strong.
I think the biggest problem with the whole archetype of Stasis is that you get few real board slots, and you need to sequence your cards more than most decks (although decks like reanimator also need to sequence their cards they get more ways of doing it). Once you have sorted out the Storm matchup post board you get 7-8 board cards max. You can fix the deck for beating some top tier decks, but in reality we give up a lot of percentage against the rest- you pick the deck you want to beat. In order to compete at the top end in a no critter/few critter board you need those Petals, Moxen or SSGs, which is a lot of potential card disadvantage. The bant version gets natural critter acceleration at least.
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Yeah, that is what I meant by sequencing.
I cheat the sequencing aspect by keeping a curve @1-3 and using 4 Petals/ 2 Moxen to generate my extra mana- which I can only do if there are howling mine type effects in play. I also run defensive permanents that buy time.
In other news I have been impressed by the wipe away, its really great having near uncounterable effects. Vs Lands it deals with Mr Lage tokens without hexproofing, ditto pumped infect dudes, and vs miracles those times where a permanent like counter balance hits early it gives us a chance to get it back to hand later in the game when we have a full hand of counters. The ability to get to 3 to use it as a reset for Stasis like chain of vapor exists, but mainly it is not there for that. I doubt it would help the bant list much.
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The caretaker would be better as a sacrifice effect in many ways, in a chord of calling type list. Trouble is (a) it is not a sacrifice effect and (b) chord of calling is not a Legacy card.
F shield I have used in Modern in a similar way. It feels like a Modern card. If it could protect you without the fateful hour clause then it would be rather playable.
I wish that Unsubstantiate was able to bounce any permanent, or even any non land permanent. That would give some flexibility.
Meddling Mage, Monastery Siege, Divert, Misdirection we have some tools, the problem is they are not all maindeckable in most environments.
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I think that is a fair comment. Most cards are circumstantial to an extent, but there are a lot of binary cards that can be absolutely dead or total blowouts.
Monastery siege could be great if it cost two- I would main deck it at two, and if it said "spells or effects" it could have filled a role.
Stirling is great, but for my Back to Basic running Urwg list the mana requirement may be too much. I agree it is maindeckable.
I nearly took Stasis for a spin tonight, but took Stax instead as the deck I know I can pilot on auto-pilot.
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Just wanted to say where I am with the Urw build. I tried a SF build without the brainstorms/fetches, and whilst I found the lack of brainstorms was not an issue, I found the SF was a very binary card.
I have speeded the deck up with petals, moxen etc, and now run 7 of these and 15 (or 16, I think the latter is better) land. That stays roughly as it was, I have been adding accelerants in for a while and the more I add the better the deck. I have come to the conclusion that Spirit guides are very useful- the extra blocker every now and then when just a turn is needed to be bought and the fact that they are not spells vis-a-vis enemy Thalia/Sphere effects. I use 3 artifacts- currently 1 petal 2 Chrome Mox, and I use the latter because I run 2 main deck back to basics, but I may go 3 petals to get the awkward colored mana post board.
Pace is absolutely important in the current meta, accelerants are essential.
I am now running a full 9 Howling Mine effects- 4 Fevered, 3 Mine, 2 Dicate, up one.
As usual I am on the usual 4 Vise, and have maintained two Wipe Away main deck, having been impressed in many matches with it.
It does mean fewer "bounce my Stasis tricks", but it does need less in the way of that stuff anyway. The Wipe Way is decent vs Infect, Marit Lages, Delvers and gives a get out against Miracles often if they get CB down past counterspells early. Sometimes it simply bounces a permanent with Vise down and kills them a turn quicker.
I have included as an experiment 2 Rest in Peace and 2 Energy Field main, because the number of 3 cc effects was simply too great. The deck needs more action at two, its that simple, you can't just have a bunch of 3cc prison pieces and a bunch of manipulators/accelerants to get them. I needed more "free wins" and these cards combine to make a lock that some decks just can't break main deck. An Energy Field alone can buy a turn or two, which when the deck is fully turboing and Vise or FV is on can be enough, especially if a Back To Basics is down. If RIP is played earlier, then EF can be slipped down easily under Stasis too.
RIP on its own has a moderate impact vs Snapcaster in Miracles, obviously it is good vs Reanimator, Loam, Lands and Dredge, and has a small, very limited impact vs any Infect decks running become immense, UR delver with its Revelers or Lavamancers, and reduces Goyf/DRS to not very good. Its deadness in other matches is hopefully negated when the E Field turns up.
With a couple of Howling Mine effects, an EF without RIP can be a win main deck against straight UR Delver or Burn if it does not run Wastelands, as many do not, as you can simply deck them in good time, and can control your hand size with Forsaken.
I am not a Parfait style tutor deck, and I have cut the Brainstorm engine having reduced fetches to a minimum 3(so that I can play Suppression Field in the side- a card that I have tried main in one version and can really work a treat against tight 6 real land Delver lists and is decent vs Miracles, but one that is too dead vs. Eldrazi, Burn etc.) Brainstorm always has the issue of needing a precious mana to cast under Stasis, its main use is of course in sculpting hands prior to Stasis, where it is its usual magnificent self. Sadly, with so few fetches it becomes less useful, and we drop the card. So the sequencing is still an issue, but with the numbers of each type of card (draw/kill/stay alive/disrupt) increased it seems to work, although it will never be a really smooth deck.
Post board I have more in the way of white Enchantments, 4 Leyline of Sanctity, Rules of Law etc. I also have had to relegate Thalia to the side and have main decked a Tabernacle. I nearly always remove the Energy Fields and often RIP to boot, as they will be able to deal with Fields easily game 2 withmost decks.
The deck, as in the past, is good D N T and Eldrazi, really nailing them in this form. As ever game 1 vs Abrupt Decay heavy grindy decks is hard, especially BUG, although if you land Back to Basics you can get them if you set an early turbo up that is not decayed straight away, by the time Decay comes along to deal with B2B you can have a Stasis down and paid for via Forsaken too. Game two you try and overload them with Leyline, S field, and other enchantments watching out for Deed.
It is designed to be a paper MTG deck, played at events where you are in a room of 30 and you know- or can guess at half the field plus- that helps significantly with the mulls, as there are some decks - eg Eldrazi- where you can take a hand with disruption and counters in and wait to draw the Turbo cards later. Others, like Miracles, you want an opener with either Vise in or Turbo elements in rather than defensive Enchantments.
Hey guys, I'm working on a stasis brew and figured i would throw my hat in the mix.
Wish I had my decklist on hand!
Crop rotation seems like a given.
Insta-speed digging out a Forsaken City (or tabernacle) via fairy spirit guide is pretty clutch (or in response to a trini/chalice/thalia!)
It also allows you to pack things like Glacial Chasm/Karakas in the board, and have a reasonable way of putting them to use/into play.
Sol lands and wastelands feel like a necessary evil.
Being able to accelerate past trinisphere/thalias, or shutting off their ability to cast after they play one should built into the manabase.
Crucible of worlds is a fantastic 1-of to draw into with that manabase!
You can pack some trini of your own in the board too if/when you gain confidence in having 3 mana turn 1 regularly (via sol land + petal/fairy/mox)
Sol lands also allow you to run intuition (or idyllic tutor) without much difficulty, they play nicely around the trini/chalice@1's you run into. (3 mana, off-color, instant speed, demonic tutors anyone?)
Root maze represents a pretty hard lock with stasis for a 1 cmc card. (spirit guideable into play)
It also very harshly punches fetchland users, and allows you to further capitalize on gix probe/wastelands, while slowing down the pace of the game.
I'm running Chronatog/smokestack in my version at the moment, but it's always a work in progress.
I'll get my list together and post it if anyone is interested in taking a look.
Very interested! And welcome to the thread.
Sounds like you have grafted Stasis onto a prison/stax shell. I am primarily a Stax player (mono-w geddon/humility versions) by both inclination, and experience in events. I generally get excellent results with Stax- better than I do with the Tier one decks I own, anyway. I have often considered adding in Stasis into a Stax shell, but can't see it working the way I have thought about it.
I must admit I do not rate chronotog at all, as it is so bad without an effect to abuse it but it may make more sense in your list!
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Thought I would update regarding my latest version at the Pillow Fort.
As we know, most of my versions, regardless of pace/wincons I have used have roughly the same match-up pattern. D n T, Eldrazi matches are good, decent Storm/burn game 2s but lousy game ones, lousy game two but decent game one Miracles matches, and terrible to mediocre Abrupt Decay/Delver matches. I wanted to do a version that did not conform to this, using Suppression Fields main. I sensed that free wins might be had against decks powering into 1 S fields. The faster decks in the meta are often too quick for us, so I also looked to go down the RIP/Energy Field route. I have been looking at SF and Brainstormless versions for a while, but until now have not found one I am happy with- even a rough one- they all seem to be gambling on the power of SF.
My version uses Root Maze/S field, and thus can hardlock the Abrupt Decay decks if they are on less than two mana- and vs. this deck they often are! Root Maze also makes Howler better- CIP tapped means we get first use. There is no such thing as a free lunch- the color of mana is worse in this, and I cannot run Back To Basics, but since the card is primarily for the type of decks Suppression Field is good against. You obviously lose Brainstorm/Fetch engines and Dazes (also making theirs worse at the same time)
The deck can go 1st turn maze (or spirit guide after an untapped land,
2nd turn sf (via spirit guide).
When we are on the play in this scenario they get a tapped land turn 1 with a pass, and one mana t2, plus a tapped land- just one mana- and that is assuming no fetches. If they lead with a fetch, they have no mana, their next play is tapped and 2 mana are needed to pop fetches, and they have not had a mana yet. Moxen also CIP tapped to boot. The next two turns can be spent drawing a land/spirit guide and getting ahead- if on one of them a howler is laid we are getting close to a position of lockout via then next stasis, but if not other disruptive two drops include Tsabos web- no untap for the Wastelands or fetches- or more Fields- even Rest In Peace can make DRS a bit rubbish. The issue of course is Forsaken plus Root Maze sucks-cards like Stasis or the Energy Field combo may have to go early just to set up the S Field. But it certainly changes the dynamic in terms of what the deck beats.
EDIT- more info-
Against BUG shardless I even take out the FOWs game 2, and overload their removal, bringing Leylines in.
Against Miracles I have to board in stuff that deals damage, and actually remove a coupe of Stasis- which can be removed by pyroblast or wear/tear for a singe mana. Under those conditions the time for a perfect lockout Stasis so rarely comes up- locking an abrupt decay deck like shardless out of one of B or G is more likely than locking Miracles out of both R or W.
I have also tried to make pyroblast less of a threat game 2 by including non U sources of damage (in those board slots).
4 fevered visions 2 propaganda (could conceivably be 1 ghostly/1 propaganda, for additional protection from Pyroblast, although it reduces the U count.) 1 wipe away (one can be changed to o rings etc., could also squeeze a static orb in this slot) 1 dictate of kruphix 1 back to basics
I think this is the start of a better version for faster metas with fewer hatebear and eldrazi decks and more Abrupt Decay decks. The amount I gain vs Jund, Shardless is probably greater than the amount I lose from Eldrazi/ D N T/elves which are still decent matches.
EDIT- I have added a couple more Basics in - because it just mulls too often at 16 + 6 spirit guides- and tweaked the Spirit Guide numbers. I have changed Tsabo's web number two to a Back to Basics- to see if I can get that Back to Basics back in and working against a variety of decks. Web is great at stopping Wastelands and Fetches untapping, leading to some superb sequences with root maze and early on, but Back to Basics can break games. That tutor has worked its way back in too.
EDIT II- just a note to say that the tempo matches are much harder to win in this type of deck, compared to my two daze running lists in the primer.
Here is my latest version of regular Stasis. I have been playing a Root Maze build that flips matches on their heads, both positively and negativey, but this is my current version of the regular build. Stasis is vital but a poor early drop, it is harder to set up in this build which offers a fair degree of control. Stasis can only be laid with the right set up as it is harder to get stuff down after than a spirit guide/petal heavy build.
This is a far more "general" list, with more control and more flexibility than most other versions, suffering less in terms of binary matchups. It uses a lot of not very flexible anti miracles board cards, but is surprisingly resilient against tempo.
I have updated the primer over the past two weeks- spring cleaning- added a few bits the odd decklist or reference, some more matchup data.
1 spiteful visions (Miracles, omnitell, Enchantress- you can't really bring it in vs Elves) 2 true name nemesis (Miracles, Eldrazi, shardless BUG, etc. any slow and steady critter deck like Maverick that does not draw buckets full) 1 rule of law (enchantress, high tide, storms including tin fins, elves, omnitell etc.) 4 leyline of sanctity (BUG, BG_X, Pox, Storms, Burn, painter, high tide etc.) 2 chill (burn, ur delver etc.) 1 thalia heretic cathar (Enchantress and Elves (the Cradle effect can be rude post Stasis but Thalia can stop that), Lands, Miracles where it is another damage source and can sometimes stand up to their men with its first strike if you are careful) 1 pyrostatic pillar (storm, miracles, high tide, omnitell, enchantress) 3 ankh of mishra (could be a 2:2 split of this and pyrostatic pillar, it is there for Miracles only)
I like the Greed Stasis list you mentioned- I gave the bant Stasis decks prominence in the primer as they are probably the most famous in recent years.
I think Chalice in Uxx Stasis is an excellent idea, and of course acceleration on top in the form of Moxen and Sol lands makes perfect sense. The only reason I have not gone down that route is simple- I am first and foremost a Humility Stax and Pox player, and although I have worked on a couple of other personal (i.e. not well-known) decks (parfait, soldier stompy/thalia stompy, trinichoke) I have only done so in close collaboration with others prepared to go away and work on decks and enter events. Stasis was originally just a sideline that became more when I basically found myself with little to work on as my other decks solidified to meet my meta and perform well. I have spent a few years working on Stax, and Stax obviously uses Chalice and Sol lands, so I wanted to avoid that route, I was worried I would just build a blue Stax deck.
For what it is worth, the two Stasis lists I have put above I am happy with to differing extents.
The SF/root maze version is terrible against tempo decks, but can lock some grindy decks out without them ever having a mana. It has a board that helps some matches. I really just built it because I wanted to experiment with Root Maze and hardlocks so that the Primer had some ideas for people wanting to hardlock beyond the usual Chronotogs and Frozen Aethers. It worked better than expected but no amount of fiddling is ever going to make it beat tempo decks packing Force of Will.
The list directly above in post 79 is probably my most "general" version of the deck- it has a few 35-40% matchups, but it has a few 55-60% matchups too, and not too many 10 or 20% matchups. It is probably the only one of my lists I would ever recommend to someone playing in a general environment with a good mix of archetypes, even if the sideboard has to dedicate a lot to beating Storm decks and Miracles once they board in more removal for Enchantments and Artifacts. It is hard to refine Stasis as you often get free wins when people can't work out what you are doing, and they can then turn the match around if they play differently.
I like a lot of your list- the sideboard intrigues me- the single counterspell specifically.
How well does the Planeswalker suite perform? Planeswalkers that cost 4 that are not called Jace are unusual in the format, it is interesting to see your split of Jace to Ral is in the latter's favour.
I like your version a lot more than Against the odds, although to be fair I do not think he gets much time to put into the Against the odds lists.
I would suggest you look Wipe Away- I was very sceptical about this card, but it does work very well in most versions I tried.
It is nice to see Monastery Siege get some play, I have always enjoyed builds with it in.
Meditate I was always unhappy with when I tried it in Stasis. How does it work for you?
Any opinions on running a one of [Retreat to Coralhelm] in the main or board? I feel the scry 1 could be useful but mainly the ability to tap down potential creatures that may or may not have vigilance is beneficial for contemplation.
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I have been looking at making the deck faster and going to Petals as they just seem to work better. I have also been looking at putting more Vises in- too many close games are lost because you lose a Stasis at key times, despite being in control for a long time. Moreover, the dreaded draw is hard to avoid if you go 1-0 down. If Vise comes down early that time spent in control would yield wins. The 4 Vise 4 Visions approach means less long term cards are needed, and more matches get finished.
You could probably make Stasis work like this (and seriously frustrate your opponent maybe even to the the tune of its original 90’s power level).
You need to use Forsaken City in a more proactive way, but it’s still the go-to card. Along with Howling Mine; old Howling Stasis. The deck will still do something before you draw Stasis; the odds are, you will draw Cloudstone Curio instead if you do not. And you can do some business with all of those things, plus it. You totally have to play mono blue Stasis. Stasis asks for an upkeep of U. And Wasteland says, well, on THAT card, it will do it and HAVE to, and otherwise, you can’t tolerate it.
4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell
3 Arcane Denial
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Gush
1 Capsize
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Howling Mine
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Kami of the Crescent Moon
4 Stasis
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vedalken Mastermind
4 Cloudstone Curio
3 Frozen Aether
3 Pestermite
4 Forsaken City
19 Island
Lotus petals will be going to 4 in fact- the ability to do something t1, remembering 4 Stasis are dead turn 1/2, is essential. Speed is everything in today's environment - lotus petals seem to be everywhere- depths, reanimators, etc, and when you add in Sol lands in Stompy decks etc.... if the decks were more delver or burn pace where they need to do a few things efficiently then that is one thing, but a lot of decks seem intent on one game winning task, and that means we must have a counter spell when it happens or the ability to answer it or we are toast.
Often URW has the answers but not the time to get them or the mana. Often those draws 1-1 and in control in the last are a big issue too.
The Urw Stasis deck needs to be focused on total control with a ton of counters and misdirections OR needs to go down a more aggressive route with Vise - so that you can disrupt a deck like Eldrazi a bit and race them with Vise and a Stasis for maybe just even a turn or two. That means some Petal or Spirit guide acceleration so that you can go T1 Vise or Howler, t2 Fevered Visons or Propaganda every game. That way when Stasis does hit we have a board presence.
On a side note I would say I would love to try a Suppression Field version, running 4 SFs and no fetches.
Played the Vise heavy lotus petal list in the primer.
Lands
G1 On the play- got a t1 howling mine, vise followed and Propaganda Stasis to finish. He did make a dude, but could not attack, and a Daze on a Mox meant he could not get the 20/20 to attack- I was holding Chain of Vapor anyway.
G2 was close, I could not stop his T1 mox, and I was always a turn behind where I wanted to be. I almost made it safe.
G3 I won, a t3 Monastery siege made him Abrupt decay in response, and a nother draw plus Stasis was followed by a Vise.
Reanimator (U version)
G1 - he was mana screwed for a while, but did get t1 hand disruption, I flooded on counters and dazed enablers making him sac petals, and I would not lay the second mine as Vise damage was hurting and if he blanked on land for a couple of turns I would win regardless. A resolved Propaganda followed by Back to Basics and then Stasis with vise down did the job. Griselbrand did eventually appear from the bin.
G2 was close, I drew RIP one turn too late. He boarded out Show and Tell because I can ride it with Stasis and Propaganda effects. Iona finished me, although it was close in damage terms, he was on under ten.
Miracles.
He had the counter top pair in both opening hands and force protection in one too, I mulled in both games, took ok hands, had massive amount of control g1 but no Vise or Visions down, drew 8 successive land or petals with mines down, which hurt. He wriggled out in that period, had Vise been down he would have been in a tough place, frankly had I drew any action in that period I would have been fine. I know my miracles match-up is OK, but game 1 I lost for what must be the first time against the deck.
So far it seems pretty good, I do not know how viable it will be, but it certainly has potential to clog those hands up for longer, and a t1 S field is always pretty strong........
R for fevered visions
W has been for board cards and sometimes a single E tutor/2 Thalia number 2.
I am using white to add suppression field in now. Stasis is a bit slow as in the primer at the moment, great if the meta is all fair decks and critter decks, but weak specifically to faster delvers and infect. I am now on 6 mana accelerators, and I am looking at cutting brainstorm/fetches to accommodate more hate and faster starst at the expense of smoothing- the deck needs to do stuff on t1 more often, and it needs a 2cc hate piece that comes down before Stasis and slows the game down.
.
4 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Island
2 Forest
3 Forsaken City
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Savannah
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Quirion Ranger
2 Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Birds of Paradise
Other Spells
4 Stasis
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Sterling Grove
1 Sylvan Libary
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
1 Misdirection
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Jace, The Mindsculpter
4 Brainstorm
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Ancestral Vision
Changing it may look like this:
+3 Suppression Field, -3 Probe
+2 Authority of the Consuls, -1 Thalia and -1 Probe (Or some combination of the two. Maybe 3 Thalia)
+1 Eathersworn Canonist, -1 Jace
The URW version is good for certain matches, but a couple of the top tier decks do too well against it, and when you fix that you lose too much elsewhere..
PS S field shuts down both fetches and any q ranger action, sadly
4 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Forest
3 Forsaken City
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Savannah
1 Volcanic Island (Maybe Taiga)
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Quirion Ranger
2 Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Birds of Paradise
Other Spells 26
4 Stasis
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Sterling Grove
1 Sylvan Libary
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
1 Misdirection
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Brainstorm
2 Fevered Visions
1 Ancestral Vision
2 Lotus Pedal
I could do something like this. I removed Jace in this build. Could be fine with the FV, but I have been liking Jace as a removal magnet and the draw and creature bounce effects. The one thing I notice though is that with the 2 Pedals, I have 11 accelerators, and normally 8 1-drops is plenty. Yet I want to fixing for Red, and then I can run REB and others in the board to hopefully help the matches (?)
I think the biggest problem with the whole archetype of Stasis is that you get few real board slots, and you need to sequence your cards more than most decks (although decks like reanimator also need to sequence their cards they get more ways of doing it). Once you have sorted out the Storm matchup post board you get 7-8 board cards max. You can fix the deck for beating some top tier decks, but in reality we give up a lot of percentage against the rest- you pick the deck you want to beat. In order to compete at the top end in a no critter/few critter board you need those Petals, Moxen or SSGs, which is a lot of potential card disadvantage. The bant version gets natural critter acceleration at least.
I cheat the sequencing aspect by keeping a curve @1-3 and using 4 Petals/ 2 Moxen to generate my extra mana- which I can only do if there are howling mine type effects in play. I also run defensive permanents that buy time.
In other news I have been impressed by the wipe away, its really great having near uncounterable effects. Vs Lands it deals with Mr Lage tokens without hexproofing, ditto pumped infect dudes, and vs miracles those times where a permanent like counter balance hits early it gives us a chance to get it back to hand later in the game when we have a full hand of counters. The ability to get to 3 to use it as a reset for Stasis like chain of vapor exists, but mainly it is not there for that. I doubt it would help the bant list much.
F shield I have used in Modern in a similar way. It feels like a Modern card. If it could protect you without the fateful hour clause then it would be rather playable.
I wish that Unsubstantiate was able to bounce any permanent, or even any non land permanent. That would give some flexibility.
Meddling Mage, Monastery Siege, Divert, Misdirection we have some tools, the problem is they are not all maindeckable in most environments.
Monastery siege could be great if it cost two- I would main deck it at two, and if it said "spells or effects" it could have filled a role.
Stirling is great, but for my Back to Basic running Urwg list the mana requirement may be too much. I agree it is maindeckable.
I nearly took Stasis for a spin tonight, but took Stax instead as the deck I know I can pilot on auto-pilot.
I have speeded the deck up with petals, moxen etc, and now run 7 of these and 15 (or 16, I think the latter is better) land. That stays roughly as it was, I have been adding accelerants in for a while and the more I add the better the deck. I have come to the conclusion that Spirit guides are very useful- the extra blocker every now and then when just a turn is needed to be bought and the fact that they are not spells vis-a-vis enemy Thalia/Sphere effects. I use 3 artifacts- currently 1 petal 2 Chrome Mox, and I use the latter because I run 2 main deck back to basics, but I may go 3 petals to get the awkward colored mana post board.
Pace is absolutely important in the current meta, accelerants are essential.
I am now running a full 9 Howling Mine effects- 4 Fevered, 3 Mine, 2 Dicate, up one.
As usual I am on the usual 4 Vise, and have maintained two Wipe Away main deck, having been impressed in many matches with it.
It does mean fewer "bounce my Stasis tricks", but it does need less in the way of that stuff anyway. The Wipe Way is decent vs Infect, Marit Lages, Delvers and gives a get out against Miracles often if they get CB down past counterspells early. Sometimes it simply bounces a permanent with Vise down and kills them a turn quicker.
I have included as an experiment 2 Rest in Peace and 2 Energy Field main, because the number of 3 cc effects was simply too great. The deck needs more action at two, its that simple, you can't just have a bunch of 3cc prison pieces and a bunch of manipulators/accelerants to get them. I needed more "free wins" and these cards combine to make a lock that some decks just can't break main deck. An Energy Field alone can buy a turn or two, which when the deck is fully turboing and Vise or FV is on can be enough, especially if a Back To Basics is down. If RIP is played earlier, then EF can be slipped down easily under Stasis too.
RIP on its own has a moderate impact vs Snapcaster in Miracles, obviously it is good vs Reanimator, Loam, Lands and Dredge, and has a small, very limited impact vs any Infect decks running become immense, UR delver with its Revelers or Lavamancers, and reduces Goyf/DRS to not very good. Its deadness in other matches is hopefully negated when the E Field turns up.
With a couple of Howling Mine effects, an EF without RIP can be a win main deck against straight UR Delver or Burn if it does not run Wastelands, as many do not, as you can simply deck them in good time, and can control your hand size with Forsaken.
I am not a Parfait style tutor deck, and I have cut the Brainstorm engine having reduced fetches to a minimum 3(so that I can play Suppression Field in the side- a card that I have tried main in one version and can really work a treat against tight 6 real land Delver lists and is decent vs Miracles, but one that is too dead vs. Eldrazi, Burn etc.) Brainstorm always has the issue of needing a precious mana to cast under Stasis, its main use is of course in sculpting hands prior to Stasis, where it is its usual magnificent self. Sadly, with so few fetches it becomes less useful, and we drop the card. So the sequencing is still an issue, but with the numbers of each type of card (draw/kill/stay alive/disrupt) increased it seems to work, although it will never be a really smooth deck.
Post board I have more in the way of white Enchantments, 4 Leyline of Sanctity, Rules of Law etc. I also have had to relegate Thalia to the side and have main decked a Tabernacle. I nearly always remove the Energy Fields and often RIP to boot, as they will be able to deal with Fields easily game 2 withmost decks.
The deck, as in the past, is good D N T and Eldrazi, really nailing them in this form. As ever game 1 vs Abrupt Decay heavy grindy decks is hard, especially BUG, although if you land Back to Basics you can get them if you set an early turbo up that is not decayed straight away, by the time Decay comes along to deal with B2B you can have a Stasis down and paid for via Forsaken too. Game two you try and overload them with Leyline, S field, and other enchantments watching out for Deed.
It is designed to be a paper MTG deck, played at events where you are in a room of 30 and you know- or can guess at half the field plus- that helps significantly with the mulls, as there are some decks - eg Eldrazi- where you can take a hand with disruption and counters in and wait to draw the Turbo cards later. Others, like Miracles, you want an opener with either Vise in or Turbo elements in rather than defensive Enchantments.
Wish I had my decklist on hand!
Crop rotation seems like a given.
Insta-speed digging out a Forsaken City (or tabernacle) via fairy spirit guide is pretty clutch (or in response to a trini/chalice/thalia!)
It also allows you to pack things like Glacial Chasm/Karakas in the board, and have a reasonable way of putting them to use/into play.
Sol lands and wastelands feel like a necessary evil.
Being able to accelerate past trinisphere/thalias, or shutting off their ability to cast after they play one should built into the manabase.
Crucible of worlds is a fantastic 1-of to draw into with that manabase!
You can pack some trini of your own in the board too if/when you gain confidence in having 3 mana turn 1 regularly (via sol land + petal/fairy/mox)
Sol lands also allow you to run intuition (or idyllic tutor) without much difficulty, they play nicely around the trini/chalice@1's you run into. (3 mana, off-color, instant speed, demonic tutors anyone?)
Root maze represents a pretty hard lock with stasis for a 1 cmc card. (spirit guideable into play)
It also very harshly punches fetchland users, and allows you to further capitalize on gix probe/wastelands, while slowing down the pace of the game.
I'm running Chronatog/smokestack in my version at the moment, but it's always a work in progress.
I'll get my list together and post it if anyone is interested in taking a look.
Sounds like you have grafted Stasis onto a prison/stax shell. I am primarily a Stax player (mono-w geddon/humility versions) by both inclination, and experience in events. I generally get excellent results with Stax- better than I do with the Tier one decks I own, anyway. I have often considered adding in Stasis into a Stax shell, but can't see it working the way I have thought about it.
I must admit I do not rate chronotog at all, as it is so bad without an effect to abuse it but it may make more sense in your list!
As we know, most of my versions, regardless of pace/wincons I have used have roughly the same match-up pattern. D n T, Eldrazi matches are good, decent Storm/burn game 2s but lousy game ones, lousy game two but decent game one Miracles matches, and terrible to mediocre Abrupt Decay/Delver matches. I wanted to do a version that did not conform to this, using Suppression Fields main. I sensed that free wins might be had against decks powering into 1 S fields. The faster decks in the meta are often too quick for us, so I also looked to go down the RIP/Energy Field route. I have been looking at SF and Brainstormless versions for a while, but until now have not found one I am happy with- even a rough one- they all seem to be gambling on the power of SF.
My version uses Root Maze/S field, and thus can hardlock the Abrupt Decay decks if they are on less than two mana- and vs. this deck they often are! Root Maze also makes Howler better- CIP tapped means we get first use. There is no such thing as a free lunch- the color of mana is worse in this, and I cannot run Back To Basics, but since the card is primarily for the type of decks Suppression Field is good against. You obviously lose Brainstorm/Fetch engines and Dazes (also making theirs worse at the same time)
The deck can go 1st turn maze (or spirit guide after an untapped land,
2nd turn sf (via spirit guide).
When we are on the play in this scenario they get a tapped land turn 1 with a pass, and one mana t2, plus a tapped land- just one mana- and that is assuming no fetches. If they lead with a fetch, they have no mana, their next play is tapped and 2 mana are needed to pop fetches, and they have not had a mana yet. Moxen also CIP tapped to boot. The next two turns can be spent drawing a land/spirit guide and getting ahead- if on one of them a howler is laid we are getting close to a position of lockout via then next stasis, but if not other disruptive two drops include Tsabos web- no untap for the Wastelands or fetches- or more Fields- even Rest In Peace can make DRS a bit rubbish. The issue of course is Forsaken plus Root Maze sucks-cards like Stasis or the Energy Field combo may have to go early just to set up the S Field. But it certainly changes the dynamic in terms of what the deck beats.
EDIT- more info-
Against BUG shardless I even take out the FOWs game 2, and overload their removal, bringing Leylines in.
Against Miracles I have to board in stuff that deals damage, and actually remove a coupe of Stasis- which can be removed by pyroblast or wear/tear for a singe mana. Under those conditions the time for a perfect lockout Stasis so rarely comes up- locking an abrupt decay deck like shardless out of one of B or G is more likely than locking Miracles out of both R or W.
I have also tried to make pyroblast less of a threat game 2 by including non U sources of damage (in those board slots).
4 island
2 plain
1 reflecting pool
3 gemstone mine
1 tundra
1 tropical island
2 mana confluence
1 tabernacle at pendrell vale
2 simian spirit guide
3 elvish spirit guide
4 root maze
1 enlightened tutor
4 suppression field
3 rest in peace
3 energy field
1 tsabo's web
3 howling mine
4 stasis
4 fevered visions
2 propaganda (could conceivably be 1 ghostly/1 propaganda, for additional protection from Pyroblast, although it reduces the U count.)
1 wipe away (one can be changed to o rings etc., could also squeeze a static orb in this slot)
1 dictate of kruphix
1 back to basics
board
4 leyline of sanctity
3 chill
1 null rod
1 rule of law
1 phyrexian unlife
1 pithing needle
4 slots to be decided
I think this is the start of a better version for faster metas with fewer hatebear and eldrazi decks and more Abrupt Decay decks. The amount I gain vs Jund, Shardless is probably greater than the amount I lose from Eldrazi/ D N T/elves which are still decent matches.
EDIT- I have added a couple more Basics in - because it just mulls too often at 16 + 6 spirit guides- and tweaked the Spirit Guide numbers. I have changed Tsabo's web number two to a Back to Basics- to see if I can get that Back to Basics back in and working against a variety of decks. Web is great at stopping Wastelands and Fetches untapping, leading to some superb sequences with root maze and early on, but Back to Basics can break games. That tutor has worked its way back in too.
EDIT II- just a note to say that the tempo matches are much harder to win in this type of deck, compared to my two daze running lists in the primer.
This is a far more "general" list, with more control and more flexibility than most other versions, suffering less in terms of binary matchups. It uses a lot of not very flexible anti miracles board cards, but is surprisingly resilient against tempo.
I have updated the primer over the past two weeks- spring cleaning- added a few bits the odd decklist or reference, some more matchup data.
1 plains
1 mountain
1 tundra
1 volcanic island
3 flooded strand
1 scalding tarn
4 forsaken city
2 tabernacle at pendrell vale
3 simian spirit guide
3 lightning bolt
2 pithing needle
3 black vise
1 Enlightened Tutor
3 energy field
4 daze
2 howling mine
3 stasis (I have toyed with this at 3 copies and a 'geddon)
1 wipe away
1 propaganda (I will try JTMS as this build can go to 4cc more easily)
4 fevered visions
2 dictate of kruphix
2 back to basics
4 force of will
2 true name nemesis (Miracles, Eldrazi, shardless BUG, etc. any slow and steady critter deck like Maverick that does not draw buckets full)
1 rule of law (enchantress, high tide, storms including tin fins, elves, omnitell etc.)
4 leyline of sanctity (BUG, BG_X, Pox, Storms, Burn, painter, high tide etc.)
2 chill (burn, ur delver etc.)
1 thalia heretic cathar (Enchantress and Elves (the Cradle effect can be rude post Stasis but Thalia can stop that), Lands, Miracles where it is another damage source and can sometimes stand up to their men with its first strike if you are careful)
1 pyrostatic pillar (storm, miracles, high tide, omnitell, enchantress)
3 ankh of mishra (could be a 2:2 split of this and pyrostatic pillar, it is there for Miracles only)
I like the Greed Stasis list you mentioned- I gave the bant Stasis decks prominence in the primer as they are probably the most famous in recent years.
I think Chalice in Uxx Stasis is an excellent idea, and of course acceleration on top in the form of Moxen and Sol lands makes perfect sense. The only reason I have not gone down that route is simple- I am first and foremost a Humility Stax and Pox player, and although I have worked on a couple of other personal (i.e. not well-known) decks (parfait, soldier stompy/thalia stompy, trinichoke) I have only done so in close collaboration with others prepared to go away and work on decks and enter events. Stasis was originally just a sideline that became more when I basically found myself with little to work on as my other decks solidified to meet my meta and perform well. I have spent a few years working on Stax, and Stax obviously uses Chalice and Sol lands, so I wanted to avoid that route, I was worried I would just build a blue Stax deck.
For what it is worth, the two Stasis lists I have put above I am happy with to differing extents.
The SF/root maze version is terrible against tempo decks, but can lock some grindy decks out without them ever having a mana. It has a board that helps some matches. I really just built it because I wanted to experiment with Root Maze and hardlocks so that the Primer had some ideas for people wanting to hardlock beyond the usual Chronotogs and Frozen Aethers. It worked better than expected but no amount of fiddling is ever going to make it beat tempo decks packing Force of Will.
The list directly above in post 79 is probably my most "general" version of the deck- it has a few 35-40% matchups, but it has a few 55-60% matchups too, and not too many 10 or 20% matchups. It is probably the only one of my lists I would ever recommend to someone playing in a general environment with a good mix of archetypes, even if the sideboard has to dedicate a lot to beating Storm decks and Miracles once they board in more removal for Enchantments and Artifacts. It is hard to refine Stasis as you often get free wins when people can't work out what you are doing, and they can then turn the match around if they play differently.
I like a lot of your list- the sideboard intrigues me- the single counterspell specifically.
How well does the Planeswalker suite perform? Planeswalkers that cost 4 that are not called Jace are unusual in the format, it is interesting to see your split of Jace to Ral is in the latter's favour.
I like your version a lot more than Against the odds, although to be fair I do not think he gets much time to put into the Against the odds lists.
I would suggest you look Wipe Away- I was very sceptical about this card, but it does work very well in most versions I tried.
It is nice to see Monastery Siege get some play, I have always enjoyed builds with it in.
Meditate I was always unhappy with when I tried it in Stasis. How does it work for you?