Unlocking Legacy — Looking at Landstill

Hello to all you StarCityGames.com people, and thanks for tuning in. As you read a few weeks ago,

longtime writer and Threshold aficionado Dan Spero (better known as Bardo on the intarweb) has stepped

down from his writing soapbox to make time for real life. He graciously asked me to attempt to fill his

shoes, and here I am, doing what I can. I’m looking forward to writing for you, and hopefully you’ll get

as much out of my articles as I’m sure you did Dan’s.

Method is more important than strength, when you wish to control your enemies. By dropping golden

beads near a snake, a crow once managed to have a passer-by kill the snake for the beads.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is impossible to play a control deck in Legacy without a concrete understanding of the metagame, and

the role in which each deck fits within it. There is simply too much range of strategy to cover all

bases at once, without knowing specifically what aspects of strategy you must contain in any given

matchup. A player new to Legacy is unlikely to pick up a deck like Landstill and pilot it with success,

because control in Legacy is extremely complex. Due to the nature of the format, you are asked from

round to round to be prepared to control the stack, control the board, and control the tempo of the game

at all times; a daunting task to undertake with a mere 75 cards at your disposal. Furthermore, the

strategies of decks within a particular supertype are highly varied – the same strategies are ineffective

across the entire aggro range of decks, for example. What works against Goblins does not necessarily

work well against B/R Suicide, or Ichorid, or Survival of the Fittest decks. For this reason, much of

the work required to earn success with control must be done before shuffling a single card, in the deck

construction and metagame choices you add to your decklist.

For the last few years, Blue-based control has seen a waning amount of play, due largely to the presence

of two decks – Vial Goblins and High Tide Combo (a.k.a. Solidarity). Goblins has the ability to disrupt

a manabase better than Landstill, and has a significant clock to parallel the disruption. High Tide

controls and dominates the stack, and the longer the game goes, the less chance they have of comboing

unsuccessfully. These decks, on opposite ends of the role spectrum, made it difficult for control to

combat everything. You can choose to focus on winning the board control war with Goblins, at the cost of

the Solidarity matchup, or focus on winning the stack battle with High Tide, at the cost of your Goblins

matchup. On top of that, decks like Mono-White Control and RW Rifter popped up, which beat the snot out

of Goblins, and had an extremely effective plan to beat Landstill at the same time. These decks

generally lost to Solidarity, but that deck was always hyped much more than actually played. Even though

in its peak, High Tide was significantly underplayed, the nigh-unwinnable matchup had more than enough

effect on Landstill’s viability. Eventually, the fight wasn’t worth the effort, as Threshold was

considered a better choice versus both Goblins and High Tide, and traditional Blue-based control found

itself unplayed.

Times have changed. With the introduction of Empty the Warrens to combo, the Black and Red based combo

decks (The Epic Storm, Belcher) have gotten significantly better, and are seeing far more play than ever

before. This has a profound effect on the Legacy metagame – Solidarity is barely ever seen, as it has

little game against these faster combo decks, and even worse game against the aggro-control decks

springing up to combat them; and Goblins is working harder than ever to maintain its hold on the format

as these combo decks increase in speed, a battle it seems to be losing. With the decline of the presence

of Goblins and High Tide, the metagame may once more be ripe for the return of Landstill.

Breaking the list down, let’s begin with the manabase. When I was developing this list with the rest of

my team, we knew we wanted to focus primarily on UW, to maintain a stable manabase that can easily

support the WW spells. Fitting in basic lands is as important now as it ever has been. Green was to be

splashed only for Monastery in the maindeck, which is well worth the splash in itself. While moving into

the fourth color (Black) has been done before with some success, giving you access to Pernicious Deed and

Engineered Plague, you lose the same mana stability that allows you Wrath of God and Humility. 24 lands

with the boost from Eternal Dragon assures your land drops consistently throughout the first five to

seven turns.

The Blue package is standard for Landstill, with the exception of the substitution of Mana Leak for

Counterspell. In my testing, I found myself fetching out a Plains on turn 1 in the face of Wasteland

much more often than an Island, and as such, I rarely had two Blue mana open in the early game for

Counterspell. Moving to Mana Leak has proven to be an excellent substitution, as players very rarely

play around it – even when playing in a format so rampant with Dazes. While Mana Leak loses some of its

effectiveness in the extreme late game, this is the point in which the deck is at its most powerful.

Crucible of Worlds and Wasteland are the cornerstone of this archetype, but the relevance of the

Wasteland lock is waning in today’s metagame. More often than completely shutting down an opponent, the

Wasteland will cost both of you a land drop, and set you back further in tempo than the opponent.

Threshold decks today (one of the most nonbasic intensive decks in the format) are built specifically

with Wasteland in mind. They are able to establish a significant threat base even in the face of

multiple lands being destroyed. Landstill cannot afford to waste time Wasting (no pun intended), rather

than controlling the board and ramping up to four mana. Additionally, it is not the type of deck that is

able to capitalize on the potential tempo boost from a Wasteland – you will rarely win the game before

your opponent can recover. Last, but certainly not least, Wasteland does not produce blue or white mana.

This becomes increasingly important as you add Nantuko Monastery, where you have seven colorless

producers even without Wasteland. For all these reasons, Wasteland has lost its position in the modern

Landstill builds. Without Waste, Crucible loses a large margin of its utility, which is why it isn’t

maindeck, but still allows the recursion of manlands and fetchlands, which can be extremely important in

control matchups – earning it a well-deserved slot in the sideboard.

In my experiences in the last Extended season, I found the best deck to be “The Extended Perfect Storm,”

which utilized 4 Mind’s Desire and 4 Burning Wish – a combination never even allowed in Vintage. This

deck broke Empty the Warrens in half, and yet Warrens was never a threat deemed ban worthy by the

community at large. The format could produce just as many tokens on turn 1 as Legacy can, and yet, the

Extended players adapted to deal with the presence of Warrens. Why has Legacy taken so long to do the

same? I believe this build of Landstill is a step in the right direction. Three maindeck Engineered

Explosives allows Landstill to effectively ignore any turn 1 Warrens for less than 10 tokens. If you

have the Explosives in hand, you will be able to clear the board on turn 2, allowing you to survive even

if you need to use a fetchland. On the play, you have an additional turn to find the Explosives, as well

as access to Stifle. You also have Force of Will to stop their acceleration, or as backup for Stifle if

the combo deck uses Orim’s Chant or Red Blasts. If, for some reason, it takes a few turns for the

Warrens to be played, you open up three more sweepers in Wrath of God. Between all these options, this

Landstill build has a better early game against the modern combo decks than any other control deck today.

In addition to killing Goblin tokens, Engineered Explosives gives you ways to deal with otherwise

problematic cards like Aether Vial and Pithing Needle during game one. It excels as mass removal against

Threshold and UGw Counterslivers. It is the Swiss Army Knife of the deck – there is no end to what it

can do. I fell in love with Explosives during the time I spent playing Threshold. It shines even more

in Landstill.

Humility is one of those cards that falls in and out of favor from year to year. I have a judge friend

who insists that every judge should buy up a playset or more of them, so that eventually the card will be

so hard to find that no one will play them anymore. More than giving the judge headaches, Humility is a

great fit in UW/x Landstill. With the (relatively) new layering system, Mishra’s Factory and Nantuko

Monastery become amazing with Humility in play. Here is a brief breakdown of the interaction:

Comp Rules 418.5a – The values of an object’s characteristics are determined by starting with the actual

object, then applying continuous effects in a series of layers in the following order:
(1) copy effects (see rule 503, “Copying Objects”);
(2) control-changing effects;
(3) text-changing effects;
(4) type-, subtype-, and supertype-changing effects;
(5) all other continuous effects, except those that change power and/or toughness; and
(6) power- and/or toughness-changing effects.

Inside each layer from 1 through 5, apply effects from characteristic-setting abilities first, then all

other effects in timestamp order. Inside layer 6, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the following

order:
(6a) effects from characteristic-setting abilities;
(6b) all other effects not specifically applied in 6c, 6d, or 6e;
(6c) changes from counters;
(6d) effects from static abilities that modify power and/or toughness but don’t set power and/or

toughness to a specific number or value; and
(6e) effects that switch a creature’s power and toughness.

Within each sublayer, apply effects in timestamp order. Note that dependency may alter the order in which

effects are applied within a layer or sublayer. See also the rules for timestamp order and dependency

(rules 418.5b—418.5g).

Factory’s Animation ability applies in Layer 4 and Layer 6 – specifically, in Layer 6b.
Humility’s effects apply in layers 5 and 6b.

Layer 4 makes Factory a creature with a mana and “pump” ability. In Layer 5, Humility takes those

abilities away. Layer 6b is applied in timestamp order, so if Factory is animated after Humility is

already in play, the result is a 2/2 land/creature with no abilities. This effect lasts until the end of

the turn.
This creature is still an Assembly Worker, and while it cannot pump itself (or other animated Factories),

it can still be pumped by non-animated Factories. This is another effect applied in Layer 6b, and is

applied in timestamp order as well.

Nantuko Monastery is subtly different than Mishra’s Factory. Factory’s pump effect is “shut off” by

Humility because it is an ability written on the card, and exists autonomously from the animation effect

itself. Nantuko Monastery’s First Strike ability is not the same.

Monastery is animated in Layer 4, and the First Strike ability is applied in Layer 5. Its power and

toughness are set in Layer 6b. Humility, as we know, applies in Layers 5 and 6b. The two conflicting

layers are applied in Timestamp order, and the Monastery ends as a 4/4 land/creature with First Strike.

With those rules out of the way, it’s obvious how strong a card like Nantuko Monastery is when Humility

is in play. That alone would be reason enough to include Humility in the deck. The additional bonus of

shutting down the Goblin synergy and making any Survival of the Fittest deck lose immediately is the

effective icing on the cake. Now, with combo on the upswing, Humility loses a margin of its

effectiveness overall, but Legacy is still a predominately creature-based format, and Humility simply

owns creatures.

Another traditional staple of the Landstill archetype is glaringly absent from this build – Decree of

Justice. The long time finisher that gets cycled under a Standstill is, ironically enough, too slow for

this deck. In all the testing I’ve done, there has never been a time where I thought “Gee, a Decree of

Justice would be great right now.” It requires you to have an insane amount of mana online to function,

and cannot do nearly as much damage in the midgame as Monastery and Factory. While you lose some of the

versatility of the cycling win condition, you rarely see a Standstill on the table long enough to make

full use of Decree. Generally, Legacy players have learned that the correct time to break the Standstill

is right away. The situations where your opponent gives you two or three unimpeded turns under a

Standstill just do not arise anymore. Decree is largely win-more in this build, as you are usually

better off Wrathing and swinging with lands than you are clogging the ground with Soldiers. However, the

loss of Decree definitely weakens one matchup – the mirror. The Landstill mirror generally revolves

around three cards: Crucible of Worlds, Decree of Justice, and Standstill; in that order. Note that I

have chosen to remove two of them, and as such, have a more difficult time fully utilizing the board

position created by an active Standstill, when compared to a similar deck that does run them.

The final card I’d like to address is Eternal Dragon. While I was a longtime advocate of not running

any, recent testing has shown that even with 25 lands in the deck, I could not be 100% certain to make

consistent land drops in the early game. Eternal Dragon helps offset this phenomenon, while thinning

your deck, and ending the game now when necessary. He flies over hordes of Goblins, and he

isn’t a dead draw under Humility. He’s also your only pre-board out to a Moat if you see it game one

against decks like Enchantress.

I’m one who is usually loathe to give out percentages or specific matchup analysis numbers for any deck I

test. I’m much happier with a qualitative, rather than a quantitative description, as a particular

metagame can dictate variances in builds of even the most established decks, especially when considering

sideboards. In fact, I am hesitant to have even included my own sideboard with my decklist, and wouldn’t

have, if I didn’t want to highlight the move of Crucible from the maindeck to the sideboard. That being

said, here’s what you can expect from the more established decks in the format right now.

Threshold (UGr) – You can generally go one for one with their threats, as they run few. Your manlands

can trump all but Tarmogoyf, which is where your Swords and Wraths should be focused. They are highly

susceptible to Mana Leak, and run about the same counter package you do. Don’t forget their card

advantage is non-existent, and lean on Standstill and FoF to refill your hand. Pulse of the Fields from

the board helps outstrip their reach. Bring in Crucible, as they cannot fight through recurring manlands

effectively. I consider this match favorable.

Threshold (UGw) – Much the same as Red Thresh, although they can access StP and Mystic Enforcer to give

you some more trouble. Humility is the go-to card here game 1, as they cannot remove it, even with

Engineered Explosives. Games 2 and 3 expect the Krosan Grips to come in on their side, and lean on Pulse

to bring you into lategame. As this matchup is similar to UGr, it’s favorable, but not quite as good as

the UGr matchup.

Goblins – Their manabase disruption is still relevant, which is a pain – fetch basics when you can.

Standstill is worthless much of the time on the draw, unless you can stop the Vials or Lackeys. Stifle

and Humility are incredible in this matchup. Post board, bring the Crucibles in to defend your men, and

stall with Pulse. A secondary sideboard plan would be to bring in additional creatures such as Jotun

Grunt or Tarmogoyf to 2-for-1 or better with their threats. This is a metagame call, and if you feel

it’s worth it, it is a completely legitimate strategy. I prefer the Crucible plan, since I don’t like

siding in creatures in a matchup so reliant on Humility. Regardless, I consider Vial Goblins to be a

fairly even matchup.

Survival of the Fittest – This matchup revolves around one card, Humility. Resolve it at any kind of

reasonable life total, and you can’t lose. Protect it as much as possible games 2 and 3, and don’t let

them sit on lots of 1/1s, as a Grip can end things in one turn. Swords Rofellos and Quirion Ranger as

much as possible. With Humility, this matchup is extremely favorable.

B/x Disruption – If you can drop a Humility, the game gets much better, but these decks were designed

with Landstill in mind. Don’t forget that Monastery is amazing at beating up Negators. Crucible is

brought in defensively, and Meddling Mage can be brought in to disrupt as well. A real broken start from

them is incredibly difficult to recover from. I would never consider these decks to be even, but a

strong creature hand from them is much better than a strong disruption hand.

The Epic Storm – If they run lots of Orim’s Chants and Xantid Swarms, it’s a relatively difficult

matchup. If they try for the more straightforward win, it’s pretty easy. Your sideboard definitely

beats up on them. Arcane Lab is specifically to disrupt them if you need to clear out a Swarm. The

later you can sink into the game, the better your matchup is. Stop their combo twice and they can’t

really win. I consider this matchup strongly in Landstill’s favor.

RG Belcher – Eleven of your sideboard cards are good against them. Shut down their win conditions, and

Mage their tutor. Stop the Belcher at all costs, as it’s hard to stop them from drawing into mana once

they resolve it. Similar to TES, but they have less disruption.

Life from the Loam decks, anything with Destructive Flow – Scoop em up, they’re way better at playing

with land than you are. If it’s Confinement, you can sometimes deal with it through Explosives, but it

ain’t pretty. The Manabond decks are a rout. You absolutely cannot win through Flow. You can fight it,

but it’s a losing battle.

Landstill Mirror – As I said above, this can be extremely unfavorable to even. If it’s one of the newer

4C lists that have cut Wasteland and run Pernicious Deed, your matchup improves. If it’s a more

traditional UW list, it’s not so good. Your best bet in both matchups is to utilize the speed that

you’ve gained by removing the slower cards, and try to win the race before they can take control in the

lategame. You are generally the beatdown in the mirror. Obviously the sorcery speed removal spells (and

Humility) come out, don’t be afraid to toss Meddling Mage out there as a beater and disruption.

And there you have it. Today’s metagame has some pretty significant differences from the pre-Flash

environment, and they are extremely conducive to control making a comeback. This build is extremely good

at what it does – nullifying creatures and stalling combos. Take it for a spin, and remember what Legacy

felt like 3 years ago. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Until next time…

Adam