UWx Landstill
Primer
Disclaimer: I am coming back to the game after a significant hiatus, so expect significant rewrites over the next few months as I get up to speed on the current state of the metagame, new tech, and developments in other archetypes.
As this is a Primer, do NOT expect a quick read here. This primer is intended to teach players who are interested in the Landstill archetype the origins of the deck, how and why the deck works, and why recommended and non-recommended cards are what they are.
One of Legacy's oldest archetypes, Landstill was once known as the format's premier pure control deck. It was known for its ability to respond to an ever-changing metagame, through its abuse of the interaction between
Standstill
and
Mishra's Factory
while backed up by
Force of Will
and
Counterspell
, and powerful draw effects such as
Brainstorm
and
Fact or Fiction
.
Decree of Justice
and
Eternal Dragon
provided hard win conditions.
As the deck evolved with the times, cards like
Humility
,
Engineered Explosives
,
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
, and
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
found their way into the list, synergizing with each other to produce card-advantage and a state of inevitability.
While not as commonly played as it used to be, the original interactions that made Landstill such a force are still powerful, and newly printed cards have given Landstill the opportunity to evolve and adapt once again.
If you are looking for an "easy" deck, a deck with a linear style of play, or a (financially) cheap deck, this probably isn’t the deck for you.
If you enjoy playing "permission/draw-go”, love having the potential to answer most problems, or want to piloting something with many potential lines of play, “Landstill” may be the deck for you. It rewards you for having an intimate knowledge of your metagame and how opposing decks operate.
General Strategy
-
Keep the board clean: Eliminate and counter threats. If you can time it, go for sweeps and 2-for-1s; drawing cards isn’t the only way to generate card advantage.
-
Find Card Advantage: Playing
Standstill
against an empty board while backed up by counter magic is one of the strongest plays we have.
Brainstorm
can dig for an answer or hide a key card from hand disruption. Sweeper spells (
Terminus
or the 4CMC Sweepers such as
Wrath of God
,
Day of Judgment
, or
Supreme Verdict
) or board-clearers like
Engineered Explosives
can generate 2-for-1s that help put us ahead in cards.
-
Play out your bombs and choke them out: 4-5 lands is the number of lands we want to get to. Legacy decks are built to be explosive and fast; Landstill is built for the long haul and inevitability. What finishers and win conditions we play are a function of what the deck expects to play against.
Key Interactions
The reason there are as many varieties of Landstill as there are shades of blue is because Landstill isn't defined by a set number of specific cards (outside of
Standstill
,
Mishra's Factory
, and
Force of Will
). The synergies of the deck and how they interact and support each other are what make a "Landstill" deck, Landstill. One could argue that a deck isn't "Landstill" without at least "Standstill + Manlands", and at least one or two other synergies.
Landstill is built to maintain parity and survive for as long as possible, before locking our opponent down in oppressive board states. Inevitability is the name of the game.
-
Standstill
+
Mishra's Factory
: the original interaction the deck was named after. Because lands are not spells, we can play Factory freely under a Standstill, activate it, and attack. While best played against an empty board, it's still fine to play Standstill if you're a creature or two behind. You can activate Factory, declare blockers, and then have it buff itself to 3/3. When an opponent breaks Standstill, we can counter whatever spell broke it; hold priority after the Standstill ability resolves, then counter appropriately. Very strong if you need to dig for a card to pitch to
Force of Will
, or even to search for a counter period.
Obviously other manlands exist, but long term testing and play has shown that
Mishra's Factory
is still the best manland for your generic UW build. Other potential manlands are discussed below.
-
Mutavault
: the closest competitor to the classic Factory. While you lose the ability to buff the active Mutavault with others in play, it offers interesting tech versus tribal decks such as Merfolk (abusing
Lord of Atlantis
), Slivers (
Muscle Sliver
,
Sinew Sliver
), and the like.
-
Inkmoth Nexus
: potentially an upgrade over Blinkmoth Nexus, especially if you run
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
; With Elspeth’s second ability, Inkmoth becomes a 3-turn clock. The problem is that modern Landstill lists often run creatures and Inkmoth dilutes the type of damage you’re trying to kill your opponent with.
-
Blinkmoth Nexus
: a balanced
Mishra's Factory
. You trade a bigger body for evasion. I personally still prefer Factory, as being able to block as a 3/3 is significant.
All the manlands below enter the battlefield tapped, and should strictly be considered a 1-of at most.
-
Faerie Conclave
: Landstill lists in the past have run this, as a 2/1 flyer for 2 isn't a bad deal and it taps for U, not colorless. The issue is that early game, we need as many tools as possible to be ready right then, and entering the battlefield tapped is a significant drawback in a format as fast as Legacy.
-
Creeping Tar Pit
: if you splash B, this is a manland worth consideration. While it does enter the battlefield tapped, a 3/2 unblockable for 1UB is nothing to sneeze at and it does help fix your mana once its online.
-
Celestial Colonnade
: in other formats, this is a fantastic manland. It has the same enter the battlefield penalty as Tar Pit, and mana fixes as well. But the steep 5CMC activation cost feels like too big of a drawback to deal with, even if you do get
Serra Angel
every turn. Factory and Mutavault are helpful early game and can slow down aggro decks, while this simply takes too long to come online.
In the ever-evolving and diverse format that is Legacy,
Snapcaster Mage
has emerged as a way to generate virtual card advantage by allowing the reuse of a spent Instant or Sorcery.
Landstill abuses Snapcaster’s Flashback-granting ability by simple virtue of the types of spells we run and by combining them with
Standstill
. While getting two uses out of a single
Counterspell
,
Brainstorm
, or
Swords to Plowshares
is nice enough, combining that effect under Standstill can be even more disheartening for an opponent, especially if they aren’t expecting it.
Because Snapcaster also has the Flash keyword ability, we can cast it anytime we could cast an Instant. So like a counterspell, we can let our opponent break Standstill and hold priority after its resolves, play Snapcaster, and then Flashback an Instant. Keep in mind that you can only Flashback spells for its actual mana cost, so spells such as
Force of Will
can’t be Flashbacked with its alternative cost.
-
Counterspell
: The end result is that we have a net-gain of 3 cards (we spent Snapcaster, but got a second use from a spent card), counter whatever our opponent was trying to resolve, we get a 2/1 body on the board, and our opponent now has no clue what we added to our hand as we’ve Flashbacked a counter from the graveyard instead of spending one from our hand. Costs 1UUU.
-
Brainstorm
: The end result is that we draw 4 cards, see 6 (!), and STILL have the opportunity to respond to whatever our opponent is trying to resolve. If you can’t find the answer you need after seeing 10% of your deck, you’re in trouble. 4 cards and a 2/1 body for 1UU isn’t a bad play at all.
The above sample plays will have an opponent counterintuitively wary of counter spells in the graveyard, especially with Standstill in play, slowing down the game which is exactly what Landstill wants.
While not commonly in use in current lists, previous versions of Landstill used the "Cycling" mechanic to get around
Standstill
. As Cycling is a keyword mechanic and isn't considered "playing a spell", you could use a card's Cycling cost anytime you could play an instant and not break Standstill.
-
Decree of Justice
: Another of the classic Landstill finishers. I've never seen, much less played, a game where this card was hardcasted for anything more than X=1. It's real strength lay in its ability to dump swarms of Soldier creature tokens onto the board under Standstill at the end of your opponent’s turn, essentially giving them Haste. If your opponent resisted breaking it until then, mobs of 1/1s would surely force his hand.
-
Eternal Dragon
: Eternal Dragon represents the classic Landstill archetype perfectly. It fits multiple roles, being able to beatdown as a finisher, reliably fix mana, play around Standstill, and also recurs himself. While rarely run anymore and hardcasted even less, he's a great example of how one could abuse Standstill and turn it into an asymmetric effect.
-
Decree of Pain
: For builds splashing B, an instant speed
Infest
that didn't break
Standstill
is an attractive, if expensive, option. It will be rare to have a situation where hardcasting it will be anything more than a cantrip, but that isn't why you would run this card.
Humility
is infamous for the number of rules questions it tends to generate, despite having an innocuous-looking text box. There is an
entire page dedicated to how Humility functions in a competitive environment. It's a great read, and still relevant to Humility's use almost a decade later.
While it isn't necessary to strictly memorize how "layers" work, if you pilot a Landstill list that includes Humility, it would be a wise idea to at least be familiar with the most common interactions you're likely to encounter:
-
ALL "Abilities" are removed from a creature's text box. This means triggered abilities (
Hedron Crab
,
Fleshbag Marauder
), activated abilities (
Birds of Paradise
,
Breya, Etherium Shaper
), and *static abilities (
Lord of Atlantis
,
Captain of the Watch
) cease to exist. So, something like
Wispmare
will be unable to kill Humility, and
Snapcaster Mage
won't give Flashback to any Instant or Sorcery. But notice how Snapcaster can still be Flashed in! It loses Flash once it's on the battlefield, but still has it when it's in your hand, and that's when the ability is relevant.
-
The only abilities a creature can have are those given to it after Humility has come into play. This is why our Soldier tokens and
Mishra's Factory
can have flying if Elspeth's second ability is used.
-
ALL creatures become 1/1: in short, anything that's a creature is 1/1, unless it is "set" to a different power/toughness by some spell or ability. We care because the effect that "sets"
Mishra's Factory
to 2/2 occurs in a later layer than the effect that Humility uses to set creatures to 1/1, so our activated Factories will be 2/2.
Notable exceptions to Humility's effects:
-
Magus of the Moon
: Magus will be a 1/1 with no abilities, but it's "type-changing" static ability is checked and applied by state-based-effects before Humility's, so non-basic lands will become
Mountain
s with this in play.
-
Painter's Servant
: Similar to Magus, Servant's type-changing ability is also checked at an earlier layer than Humility's, so all cards will be the chosen color in all zones with Servant on the battlefield. Will also be a 1/1 with no abilities after state-based effects are checked.
-
Humility
+
Mishra's Factory
: due to the way layering of effects works, an activated Factory will be a 2/2 with no abilities under Humility. Humility is particularly back-breaking against creature-based decks, as you can now trade with impunity against their 1/1's. Creatures such as
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
,
Iona, Shield of Emeria
,
Dark Depths
, and
Griselbrand
aren't as intimidating when they're 1/1's with no abilities, and Factory towers at 2/2 minimum. It can still be buffed by other Factories in play, as it retains the “Assembly-Worker” typing under Humility.
-
Humility
+
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
: While most planeswalkers worth including in Landstill play well with Humility, Elspeth deserves special mention. Largely replaced by
Monastery Mentor
in modern lists, Elspeth remains a powerfully synergistic card with Humility. If you’re even or even behind in board presence, her token generation is literal card advantage that will trade with, and eventually overrun a creature-based deck with Humility in play. When ahead, her ability to turn Soldier tokens or a Factory into a 4/4 or 5/5 flyer respectively, will put opponents on a clock to find an answer.
There has been a shift away from running
Crucible of Worlds
mainboard in current lists, as it is seen as an inefficient slot. While
potentially powerful, it does nothing on its own to tilt the board state in our favor, and is generally slow in working advantage for us. Those who are really committed to running Crucible shenanigans should instead consider running
Karn, the Great Creator
with Crucible in the sideboard. Karn has the advantage of being disruptive the turn he enters play, being able to kill multiple troublesome Artifacts with his first ability or make Artifacts vulnerable to removal, and “Wishing” for Artifact-based answers in your sideboard. Will have a “Karnboard” section later.
-
Chalice of the Void
-
Zuran Orb
- All “Moxen”:
Chrome Mox
,
Mox Diamond
, etc.
-
All “Artifact Lands”:
Seat of the Synod
,
Ancient Den
, etc.
-
Crucible of Worlds
+
Wasteland
: While we ourselves our susceptible to non-basic hate, some versions of Landstill carry this classic combo to lock out other decks that are reliant on non-basic lands or put up a fight against the "43Lands" control deck which has traditional been an awful match-up for us.
-
Crucible of Worlds
+ Fetchland: When combined with fetchlands such as
Flooded Strand
or
Polluted Delta
, Crucible can guarantee a land drop every turn. In theory, this "deck thinning" improves our potential draws as there are fewer and fewer lands we can draw. In practice, I feel this is a dangerous line of play, as Landstill tends to stabilize at low life totals, and the actual mathematical increase in drawing spells vs. lands is low. That being said, recurring fetches means we can effectively turn
Brainstorm
into
Ancestral Recall
.
-
Academy Ruins
+
Engineered Explosives
: While the interaction was slightly nerfed with the banning of
Sensei's Divining Top
, recurring Engineered Explosives can be absolutely devastating and has the potential to lock out a game. Plenty of threatening non-land permanents are at 2CMC, and splash builds can take Sunburst up to 3.
-
Academy Ruins
+ Artifact: Unlike most other interactions, Academy Ruins gets stronger after sideboarding, as many of our sideboard options are artifact based. If an opponent cares enough to play
Pithing Needle
and name Ruins, we don't care.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
,
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
, and
Engineered Explosives
all say thank you. Post-board,
Ethersworn Canonist
,
Pithing Needle
,
Tormod's Crypt
,
Relic of Progenitus
...the list of potential useful artifacts that you can recur are endless. This interaction can largely be replaced by
Karn, the Great Creator
as the amount of nan-basic hate mainboarded by a lot of current lists is significant.
Win Conditions
Most of the time, opponents will concede against us if we develop our board enough or get too far ahead in cards. If our opponents insist on going the distance with us, we have multiple ways to close out the game.
While not the fastest way to kill an opponent, a manland can be tricky to answer without non-basic land hate, especially when protected by
Standstill
or
Humility
. Preferably both.
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
is a new potential inclusion in Landstill lists. It’s arguable that his first ability fits the goals of “hard control” lists even better than
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
’s; Teferi offers pure card advantage and “free” mana, instead of card quality and disruption. His second ability is a direct upgrade to Jace’s
Unsummon
, and Teferi’s ultimate turns every
Brainstorm
and
Standstill
into a triple
Scour from Existence
. Hardcore.
Teferi can use his ultimate 4 turns after you cast him (1 turn faster than Jace), but will kill himself by doing so.
Yet another ‘walker-based finisher,
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
needs no introduction. The ability to "fateseal" either your own or your opponent's library is significant, either improving the quality of your card draw or disrupting your opponent’s. He can bounce creatures, removing threats or re-enabling helpful “enter the battlefield” triggers. And his ultimate will end the game.
He can use his ultimate after 5 turns, assuming you only use his first ability.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
is another planeswalker-based win-condition on her own, albeit a slow one. Similar to
Mishra's Factory
, Elspeth is much deadlier under
Humility
. The ability to turn Soldier tokens and Factories into 4/4 and 5/5 flyers with Humility in play or to create a mob of Soldiers cannot be underestimated.
Card Selection
Card selection in Landstill lists typically can be divided into the following groups:
Lands are the foundation of any good deck. The magic number for the "optimal" amount of lands has long been suggested as 23, with a maximum of 6 lands allowed for Utility/Colorless. Landstill is a mana-intensive deck to pilot, and having consistent and available mana to cast removal and denial reliably within the first 4 turns is absolutely critical
4-6 Basics:
Back to Basics
,
Blood Moon
,
Wasteland
and other non-basic land hate are very common to see as sideboard tech brought in versus us. Make sure you pack at bare minimum 2 Islands and 2 Plains.
3-6 Dual Lands:
The spine of any Legacy deck in two or more colors, the infamous dual lands offer access to two colors without any drawback (compared to "Check lands" like
Glacial Fortress
, "Shock lands" like
Hallowed Fountain
, or "Battle lands" like
Irrigated Farmland
). Because the ABUR dual lands also have the Island and Plains typing, they can be searched for with fetchlands. If you splash for a third color, having up to 2 dual sources of that splash can be helpful.
6-8 Fetchlands:
Conventional wisdom holds that in order to use
Brainstorm
optimally, you need something like 8 sources of shuffling to shuffle away dead cards in your hards. I have never felt the need for that many fetches, and life is at a premium if you pilot Landstill. You can safely reduce the number of fetches you run, if you are supported with cards like
Crucible of Worlds
or
Eternal Dragon
.
5-7 Utility Lands:
Because we are aiming to abuse
Standstill
as hard as possible, abusing "man lands" such as Mishra's Factory or Mutavault and utility lands such as Karakas or Tolaria West is absolutely vital. Manlands will protect us, our planeswalkers, and can potentially close out games. Wasteland will let us destroy opposing manlands that dodge
Humility
, and can shut down decks overly reliant on non-basic lands.
All Control/Permission-type decks need some way to generate "card advantage," and the easiest way to do so is to simply draw more cards than your opponent.
Landstill's engine lays here.
Ancestral Recall
is known for being among the most broken cards ever printed; drawing 3 cards at instant speed is a good thing. While Standstill and Brainstorm may not be Recall, both let us see 3 new cards. Brainstorm allows us to sculpt our hands to better fit the board state or search for appropriate answers at instant speed. Standstill is raw card advantage. When paired with
Mishra's Factory
, we can catch up in development, pull ahead if board states are about even, or push an advantage even further. Fact or Fiction is an awkward card for an opponent to deal with; piles often result in either extreme card quality or quantity. Pick whichever pile is most relevant to the current board state.
These 4 “cantrips” are among the most common draw spells you’ll see in Legacy that aren’t named
Brainstorm
. While all similar in nature, they all have subtle nuances to their use that you should take into consideration. Cantrips are not traditionally included in Landstill lists, but they are potential “filler” cards that also feed
Force of Will
and support Miracle-style cards in Landstill.
-
Ponder
is the most common cantrip you’ll see. It potentially allows you to see up to 4 cards if you opt to shuffle your library or to order your upcoming draws if you don’t, all while replacing itself. Its ordering effect allows you to set up a Miracle.
-
Predict
represents pure card advantage as opposed to a mere cantrip, but it does require some setup. In the absense of
Sensei's Divining Top
, some Miracles lists run this alongside
Unexpectedly Absent
in order to generate a 2 for 1. At worse it’s a cantrip, but you should avoid using it as such if you do run it.
-
Portent
is a cantrip used to set up a Miracle
Terminus
on an opponent’s turn.
The reason we have a chance against the "unfair" combo decks that are rampant in Legacy is because we run a heavy suite of counter spells. 10 Counters, preferably all "hard", is seen as the ideal number of counter spells to have available to have a chance against Combo, and to deny aggro/midrange decks their key threats.
- 4x
Force of Will
: Force of Will is self-explanatory. One of the most infamous cards in Legacy outside of the ABUR dual lands, the ability to counter a spell for free is invaluable. Be mindful that each “free” use is card disadvantage, and as such, should be only be used to stop critical spells or threats.
-
Force of Negation
: the love child of
Negate
and
Force of Will
, it only misses on Creature spells (meaning you still hit 5 of the 6 spell types) but in return doesn’t ping you for 1. Probably should be considered your second-line counter. Similar to Force, you should be judicious in its use as every free casting is card disadvantage.
-
Counterspell
: the “standard” counterspell and where it all began. Will give your opponents pause anytime you leave UU available.
- Meta Counter: tune to personal preference or meta.
Spell Snare
,
Negate
,
Spell Pierce
,
Flashfreeze
,
Essence Scatter
,
Mana Leak
,
Rune Snag
The last 2-3 permission spells should be tuned to your meta. I personally have always preferred Spell Snare because of the abundance of targets with a CMC of 2, but counters that specifically target your meta could potentially be more useful. Lots of combo? Spell Pierce might be what you need. Lots of aggro or tribal goblins and elves? Flashfreeze or Negate. Other counters not listed certainly can be viable, if it addresses problems in your meta.
Sometimes threats make it to the board. We need to clean them up as fast as possible, and give ourselves a chance to play our bombs.
Swords to Plowshares is the best single-target removal in the format; we don't run
Path to Exile
mainboard, as giving our opponents extra lands in a format as fast as Legacy can be suicidal.
Wrath vs DoJ vs Verdict is a tough question.
- Regeneration is not often a relevant concern but when you want it, you often need it -
Troll Ascetic
- Verdict has the advantage of not being counterable and can also be pitched to
Force of Will
, but has a very intensive mana cost.
Engineered Explosives is our out to troublesome artifacts or enchants and is another tool we can set up 2-for-1's with.
- Keep in mind that Creature Tokens have a CMC of 0 and we can sweep the board of them for only 2 mana.
- we can get around a
Chalice of the Void
at 1 or 2 by paying more mana of the same color; e.g, pay UUW for Explosives to have it count as a CMC3 spell, but with only Sunburst 2. Splash builds can also set Engineered Explosives up to 3.
Humility isn't "removal" in the traditional sense, but it does level the playing field significantly versus creature-based decks. Creatures like
Iona, Shield of Emeria
or
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
aren't as scary when they're 1/1's with no abilities, and our
Mishra's Factory
can kill them off.
The last few slots in the deck should be taken up by tools that are specific to your needs and synergize with the rest of your build. Some common options are below.
Elspeth: For lists running
Humility
, the Knight-Errant version of Elspeth is a natural fit. She allows us to keep up with aggro/tempo and midrange decks, and turns Humility into a advantageous board presence for us, instead of a neutral one.
Crucible of Worlds: Because we run
Mishra's Factory
and often times
Wasteland
as well, Crucible is a great option to recur Factories or establish a Wasteland softlock. Often overlooked is the ability to recur fetchlands, thinning of our deck and improving card draw, but this is a risky strategy at best.
Enlightened Tutor: More viable when
Sensei's Divining Top
was legal, or in Landstill lists that are more dependent on artifacts and enchantments, such as
Counterbalance
/Top or
Thopter Foundry
/
Sword of the Meek
. Still potentially useful as a 1-of, as it serves as a virtual copy of
Humility
/
Standstill
/
Engineered Explosives
.
Cunning Wish: Old-school tech that requires the sideboard be built to support it. Nonetheless, still an option that can surprise your opponent and find an answer, as you can now hide answers in your sideboard that an opponent cant disrupt with something like
Extirpate
,
Thoughtseize
, or
Duress
.
Eternal Dragon: Another old-school option that serves primarily as a mana-fixer, that you could recur later in the game as a finisher. Expensive for what it does, but useful versus decks that mainboard a lot of non-basic hate.
Snapcaster Mage: Newer tech that is a big star in Miracle lists, a sister control deck. With a power of 2, you can flash him in to remove a creature and potentially enable a previously used Instant or Sorcery. You'll likely be using him to chump or trade with a creature, then dig for cards with
Brainstorm
or snipe another creature with
Swords to Plowshares
. He enables some pretty neat plays, and of course is a body you can beatdown an opponent with.
Vendilion Clique: There is a lot going on with this creature. It's similar to Snapcaster Mage, except instead of enabling the flashback of a used Instant or Sorcery, you can force a discard of a card. You can target either your opponent or yourself to disrupt their hand, or to get rid of a dead card and grab a new one. Because Clique also has the Legendary supertype, you can even protect and bounce it to your hand if you also run
Karakas
. At 3/1, it can fairly reliably take out decent threats if flash in as a blocker.
What to Splash?
While pure UW Landstill builds are certainly viable and have the most consistent and "safest" manabase, splashing is a great option to improve our matchups vs. certain archetypes as they give us access to helpful answers that we may not get in pure UW builds. At the very least, it allows us to reach a "Sunburst 3" on
Engineered Explosives
, which can be a lifesaver.
Generally speaking, the R splash improves Landstill's matchups vs creature-based decks. Fish in particular has traditionally been a problem matchup for Landstill and the R splash significantly helps it.
-
Pyroblast
/
Red Elemental Blast
: a 1CMC answer to any U permanent, AND the ability to counter U spells? Yea, this is why we like R.
-
Firespout
: A pseudo-
Day of Judgment
that costs only 3. Faster than our mainboard 4CMC "Sweepers" and
Engineered Explosives
, this card is a fantastic to decks to rely on pumping out swarms of bodies early.
-
Wear
//
Tear
: An excellent and flexible answer to both Artifacts and Enchantments. It's flexibility over cards like
Smash to Smithereens
or
Shatter
make it the better sideboard option.
Shattering Blow
is an interesting option since it exiles Artifacts, preventing recursion shenanigans.
-
Blood Moon
: a popular hate card against us, it's not something I would advocate using as it is more likely to hurt more than help us. Still, it's worth considering if your meta has an abundance of Delver or other decks with a heavy emphasis on non-basic lands running amok. Sticking this card against Lands.deck is practically a must, if we are to have a chance of winning that matchup.
-
Lightning Helix
/
Justice Strike
: Both are strictly worse than
Swords to Plowshares
and
Path to Exile
. Helix has the advantage of making you harder to kill, so I'd consider that before Strike.
-
Ajani Vengeant
: This was an a pet option I tested for awhile. While his ultimate isn't as devastating in Legacy as it is in other formats, the ability to lock down a problem creature or land while you dig for an answer, and then have 2 potential Lightning Helix was nice. He tended to draw heat away from me, and gave me the extra turn or two I needed to find cards I needed. Still was cut from my mainboard, though I'd occasionally side him in versus creature heavy decks.
In general, B makes matchups against midrange and combo decks stronger. On top of the denial suite we already run, B gives us access to hand disruption that makes combos harder to execute and slows down or picks off midrange key spells.
-
Thoughtseize
/
Duress
/
Inquisition of Kozilek
: Thoughtseize is the gold standard of hand disruption but comes at the cost of precious life. Versus combo, Duress could be viable, while against everything else I would go with Inquisition. With so much in everything being costed at 3 or less, it won't often whiff.
-
Extirpate
: fantastic against combo and any deck that narrowly relies on a few win-conditions, this card can neuter a deck out of the sideboard.
-
Vindicate
: The card that can kill anything. A fantastic sideboard option if you're in black, potentially worth a spot in the main.
-
Fatal Push
: with the abundance of creatures that are relevant at CMC2 or less, I would seriously consider running this over
Path to Exile
if I were in B.
-
Cry of the Carnarium
/
Drown in Sorrow
/
Witch's Vengeance
: All are strictly an upgrade to
Infest
and play the same role that
Firespout
plays for the R splash.
-
Bile Blight
: creature removal similar in nature to
Maelstrom Pulse
. The drawback of costing BB is significant though, and makes us vulnerable to non-basic hate.
Sideboard Options and Matchups
This section will need to be updated as most of my meta knowledge is woefully out of date Because I can't comment on Matchups yet, I will instead go over options for Sideboarding against certain focuses of the different archetypes.
Why REB/Pyro? Because Storm decks such as TES or ANT may also run some protection in the form of
Pact of Negation
, and however slim, is more likely to be useful than a
Swords to Plowshares
in hand. What to counter in Storm.dek’s spell chain is difficult to determine, but spells to certainly be on the lookout for are
Ad Nauseam
,
Dark Ritual
, and other mana-generating effects.