When Type 1.5 officially became Legacy, Landstill was one of the best decks in the format and was even the premier “control” deck. As time went on, people learned how to build their Landstill decks more and more aggressively, and eventually Landstill became this weird tempo and land destruction mashup. Most people still played against it like it was a control deck, so it continued to thrive.
Since then, we’ve gotten a lot of tools for Legacy and our deckbuilding has gotten much better. Because of that, Landstill has basically fallen by the wayside, as there’s little reason to play it when you could play powerful creatures like Tarmogoyf, Stoneforge Mystic, and True-Name Nemesis. Landstill pops up every now and then, mostly thanks to its wonderful Miracles matchup, but I think it’s time we try to build it a little differently.
This deck ignores the land destruction element completely. Wasteland and Stifle are both absent, which means you’re free to play more burn and counterspells. You know what else is absent? Standstill! That’s right, drawing cards is overrated, especially when you could just be getting your opponent dead instead. I’m a little worried that the lack of Standstill means the Miracles matchup is no longer 80%, but it’s still probably quite good.
The more aggressive approach is even more apparent in the sideboard, where cards like Price of Progress, Pyrostatic Pillar, and Smash to Smithereens all make an appearance. Typically those cards are reserved for Burn, but that’s kind of the game-plan here too. Can our opponent counter all of our kicked Burst Lightnings? I’m guessing not.
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (28)
