I'm coming to this and bringing a friend.  I work in Stamford and live in Trumbull so this is right on my way home.  Hope we can make this a regular event!

Interesting deck - looks like fun to play. 

Have you considered green as a splash color instead of blue?  Green gives you Sylvan Library (card filtering, card advantate, pumps Death's Shadow), Crop Rotation/Living Wish (finds your combo pieces), Life from the Loam (recovers any wastelanded combo pieces)and Goyf as an alternate beater plus plenty of other cards that I'm sure I'm not thinking of.  This deck with 4x Sylvan Library and a Living Wish board could be very interesting.  You would lose some of the explosiveness of blue, in exchange for more consitency.  Just a thought.

What was the turnout like for this?  Think we might see more in the future?

Shoot weekday nights are tough I work in Stamford so the odds of me making it out of work and to East Windsor by 7 pm is pretty non-existent.  Oh well, maybe if this goes well they will have some weekend dates.

What is the date?  I might drive up from New Haven if the date works.

Agree this should be a strong matchup, however I feel I got a little unlucky with my draws and could have played tighter.  I lost to a first turn Yawgmoth's Bargain in one game, another game went something like this:

Turn One - Probe (mental misstep), Duress take my force
Turn Two - Duress take my Flusterstorm, Duress take my flusterstorm
Turn Three - He goes off

I learned a good lesson here, never Misstep a Probe, save it for Duress or a business spell.

Another game I could have won if I had used a Surgical Extraction in my hand on a Duress in the yard, but I was saving it hoping to disrupt a top deck tutor or hit a dark rit or some other good spell.  Had I used it on the duress I would've gotten the other duress he had in his hand and probably won.

So the losses to TPS were moreso bad luck and bad play than any failing of the deck.  You live you learn.  This was my first tourney in 4 years so some rust was to be expected.  It won't happen next time!

I played a very similar list this weekend at Boston NYSE Qualifier.  I played to a 4-2 record in the swiss with both of my losses coming to TPS style decks.  I think the list is very strong especially in a diverse meta. 

I played 2 Nivmagus Elementals over the Vendillion Cliques which I believe was incorrect.  I also played mystical tutor over merchant scroll which I really liked, it's able to find time walk and lightning bolts which merchant scroll can not.  Not to mention the ability to flip any delvers you have on the table. Time walk may be the best card in the deck.  EOT mystical into time walk with a couple of delvers on the table can be a back breaking play.

I also played lotus petal as a 61st card.  This may not be optimal but having an extra blue mana on turn one allows you to preordain/ponder/delver plus have mana up for spell pierce/flusterstorm/steel sabotage.

All in all it's a very strong deck and really abuses Young Pyromancer.  I'd have to agree that the major advantage it has over RUG is the ability to play a much more stable mana base with a basic mountain in the side.  You lose ancient grudge, but I think shattering spree may be a stronger card anyway.

I want it!

Long time lurker, infrequent poster – but that card is too good to pass up…

I think my first deck that I actually thought about how it was put together (i.e. not a deck of all the cards I owned thrown together) was based on Northern Paladin and Sleight of Mind.  It was pretty much a U/W control deck that I played at about the time Ice Age was released.  I actual won a few local Type II tournaments with it – back when there was a Type I and II.  The deck was based on stalling long enough to land a Paladin and Sleight of Mind him to whatever color deck I was facing.  The best was whenever I went up against SUI black decks because I was pre-sideboarded!

So who took this down?  How many people showed up?  I'm pissed I had to miss this had my deck all sleeved up and ready to go but nobody to watch my puppy. 

Nettling imp is back baby!!

Lazer, thanks for starting this thread I've always been a huge stasis fan.  Just a few random thoughts I had after looking at your list:

1)  Howling Mine - great card in stasis, however there was a recent printing that I find does the job just as well if not better - Jace (no not that Jace) Beleran.  It can draw you cards before you get a stasis on the table and can act as a howling mine after you have a soft lock or a couple of vises on the table.  It also can serve as a win condition under a hard lock.

2)  Splash color - why black?  It seems green or white would be better splashes.  Green gives you rootmaze and fastbond, which has already been discussed, but I think white is the real gem.  White gives you enlightened tutors (which would replace your 3 black tutors) that find all of your combo pieces, but also land tax which could be a house in this deck with all of the gush/daze effects you are running.  I haven't tested the idea but it just seems like it would be a good fit in your deck.

3) Despotic Scepter - Would this slot be better as a Perilous research maybe -1 despotic scepter -1 chain of vapor +2 perilous research or something like that...  Perilous research fills the same role as the scepter while still netting you cards, plus it's blue and pitches to force.

All in all I think you are on the right track but a couple of tweaks and we might have a contender here.

-Zeke

I hate to miss this one as these tournaments are always such a good time.  But I'll be on the beach in Hawaii on my honeymoon that week.  On the other hand if you pushed it back a week...... 

Wouldn't Autumn's Veil get countered by Nether Void (unless you paid the additional 3)?  If so that wouldn't leave you much mana to cast other spells....

So I've been playing around with the list posted above for the last couple of nights testing mainly against oath and tezz.  I don't have actual results (I wasn't keeping track) and I was just two-fisted testing on MWS (and we all know the inherent flaws in two fisted testing) but I have to say I really like the way the deck plays now.  Tutoring up Necropotence when I didn't have any combo pieces in my hand was huge.  Everytime it hit the table I won.  Imperial Seal, Crop Rotation, and Necro are all strong additions to the deck.

That being said I still haven't tested the Workshop matchup which I'm pretty sure is going to be my worst matchup.  I'll be camping all of this weekend so it will have to wait until next week.  Thanks for everyone's comments I think they really helped me take the deck in the right direction.  It's hard to admit when you're wrong but dropping Intuition was the right decision and I'm not looking back.

After taking into account some of the thoughts posted above here is what my list would look like if I were to play B/G instead of U/B/G:

Creatures   
4   Dark Confidant
4   Vampire Hexmage
3   Tarmogoyf
3   Gatekeeper of Malakir
   
Tutors   
1   Demonic Tutor
1   Vampiric Tutor
1   Crop Rotation
1   Imperial Seal
   
Sorceries   
2   Crucible of Worlds
1   Yawgmoth's Will
1   Necropotence
   
Disruption   
3   Null Rod
3   Duress
3   Cabal Therapy
4   Thoughtseize
   
   
Mana/Acceleration   
1   Strip Mine
3   Wasteland
4   Dark Ritual
1   Lotus Petal
1   Mox Jet
1   Mox Emerald
1   Black Lotus
4   Verdant catacombs
4   Bayou
1   Forest
3   Swamp
1   Bojuka Bog
1   Dark Depths
61   

Possible Sideboard

1   Pithing Needle
2   Bitterblossom
4   Nature's Claim
2   Sadistic Sacrament
1   Helm of Obedience
4   Leyline of the Void
1   Bojuka Bog


Basically the changes to the deck are as follows
-   2 Intuition
-   1 Ancestral Recall
-   1 Time Walk
-   1 Mox Sapphire
-   2 Underground Sea
-   3 Polluted Delta
-   1 Life from the Loam

+   2 Crucible of Worlds
+   1 Crop Rotation
+   1 Imperial Seal
+   1 Necropotence
+   1 Verdant Catacombs
+   2 Bayou
+   1 Forest
+   1 Bojuka Bog

Ok so let’s start off by discussing the proposed changes.  First of all since we are testing an Intuition-less deck it didn’t make much sense to run blue for Ancestral and Time Walk.  So all the blue cards are gone.  Next without Intuition LFTL become much worse and Crucible becomes much better.  I replaced the Intuitions with an Imperial Seal and a Crop Rotation.  Necro replaced Ancestral, and I reconfigured the mana base to accomadate the changes listed above. 

Pro’s for not running blue:  More stable mana base; easier to tutor up my singleton Dark Depths with Crop Rotation/Imperial Seal; access to Necropotence which can be a game breaker if it sticks.

Cons for not running blue:  Losing out on Ancestral and Time Walk; don’t have access to one card that can tutor up LFTL, strip mine, and Dark Depths at the same time; losing blue as a sideboard color (Hurkyll’s/Rebuild).

This version may be more stable, but it loses some of the explosiveness of the blue version.  I’m not sure which is preferable at this point.  Looks like I’ll be doing some testing tonight to see which version is better right now.  Also I’m a little bit more worried about the Workshop matchup without Hurkyll’s but we’ll see how it plays out.

Any thoughts or comments are always appreciated

Excellent point Delha, however grave hate is going to hose either strategy whether it be crucible or LFTL.  Also if they are watering down their deck with grave hate against me that is ultimately to my advantage, as strip lock is not the primary focus of the deck, just one route to victory.  While admittedly it is a speed bump to my disruption plan I can still win without it.

@Bruizar - Thanks for your comments, it's been a while since i posted that list.  I don't feel that blue pollutes the deck, I'm only running 4 blue cards so i think the inclusion of 2 underground seas doesn't pollute the mana base too badly.  Also my hand rarely gets clogged up by blue cards, if i have a sea in play i usually only need to get one activation out of it so even if it's wasted it doesn't hurt too badly. 

I really like intuition in this list, I realize it costs 3 mana but it is the only card in the deck with a mana cost that high.  It strengthens the mid to late game where this deck is typically weak.  This deck has a lot of early plays and disruption, but being able to set up my graveyard and hand late game is a very powerful effect.  Also I am playing 3 null rods maindeck you must have missed that. 

I like life from the loam over crucible for a couple of reasons.  First it's harder to get rid of.  With workshops being so mainstream now everyone is packing artifact hate.  Also it's one mana cheaper and I don't mind have the extra cards in my graveyard either.  It sets up a powerful late game will or dumps some cabal therapies into the yard that I can play for free later.  Secondly it makes intuition much stronger.  A pile of strip mine, dark depths, LFTL is very strong and I think you may be underestimating it.  I'm guaranteed to get all 3 cards and will either grind the game to a halt with strip lock or set up a game winning depths/hexmage. That being said I will try testing with a copy of crucible in it's place and see how it works out.

I've made a couple of updates to that list since I posted it - I cut the 3 blood ghasts in favor of the 'goyfs, and added a time walk strengthening the blue cards even more.  It may not be the strongest deck out there but I feel it's very flexible, and it has the surprise factor going for it.  The multiple win conditions with leyline/helm in the side gives me many routes to victory.  It 's very difficult to shut down every one.  I enjoy playing the deck and will being taking it to a tourney in a couple of weeks.  I will continue to test and will try to post back here with my results.  Thanks for reading.

I've been working on a variation of the standard Dark Times decklist for quite some time.  Instead of going the MBC route I have decided to splash blue and green for intuition, ancestral recall, and life from the loam as well as the sideboard options these colors open up.  Here is my list; I will explain the card choices below:

Creatures      
3   Gatekeeper Of Malakir   BB
4   Vampire Hexmage   BB
4   Dark Confidant   1B
3   Bloodghast   BB
      
Broken      
1   Demonic Tutor   1B
1   Vampiric Tutor   B
2   Intuition   2U
1   Ancestral Recall   U
1   Yawgmoth's Will   2B
      
Disruption      
3   Null Rod   2
3   Duress   B
4   Thoughtseize   B
3   Cabal Therapy   B
1   Life from the Loam   1G
      
Mana/Acceleration      
1   Strip Mine   Land
3   Wasteland   Land
4   Dark Ritual   B
1   Dark Depths   Land
1   Lotus Petal   0
1   Mox Sapphire   0
1   Mox Emerald   0
1   Mox Jet   0
1   Black Lotus   0
3   Polluted Delta   Land
3   Verdant Catacombs   Land
3   Swamp   Land
2   Bayou   Land
2   Underground Sea   Land

   Sideboard   
2   Bitterblossom   1B
4   Nature's Claim   G
1   Hurkyll's Recall   1U
1   Rebuild   2U
2   Bitter Ordeal   2B
4   Leyline of the Void   2BB
1   Helm of Obedience   4

Why splash green for one card?
I decided to go green for life from the loam.  I thought I could get away with one copy of the card and felt it added so much stability to the deck.  Recurring strips and wastes seemed like a pretty good idea, plus the ability to bring back fetches and/or a wasted dark depths seemed really strong.  I just felt that if I was going to run strip and waste that this cards inclusion was a no brainer.  Plus this opens up Nature’s Claim in the board, an auto 4-of for this deck.

Why splash blue?
Once I decided to go green, I thought to myself why not try running intuition?  It fills up the graveyard, can dig you out of a bad situation, and is just really broken sometimes.  I felt intuition served as a better 3rd or 4th tutor than something like demonic conultation or imperial seal.  Some typical intuition piles include:

Life from the Loam
Strip Mine
Wasteland/Dark Depths

3x Null Rod

3x Gatekeeper (to get rid of a problematic creature)

3x Cabal Therapy

3x Dark ritual (if I have will in my hand and need the mana)

3x Bloodghast

All of the above piles are strong in their own way, and I’ve tried to add some cards to the deck (such as bloodghast and cabal therapy) that are still useful when they hit the yard.

After adding blue for intuition Ancestral Recall became and auto-include, and I’ve gone back and forth on Time Walk as well.  It just never gave me the kick I needed and I ended up dumping for additional disruption.  Blue also allows me to run Hurkyll’s Recall/Rebuild out of the board to help with the MUD/Stax matchup.

Win Conditions
Hexmage/Dark Depths
Easy to assembly 2 card win condition that costs only two mana and a land drop.  Depths can be difficult to find some times, but between dredging up cards to LFTL, and the 4 tutors I have maindecked it’s not all that difficult to find.  Pros – wins the game in one swing (usually), dark depths cannot be countered, can win from behind.  Con’s – token can be bounced/stolen easily, one copy of Dark Depths in the deck, Dark Depths is a non-mana producing land, Hexmage doesn’t do a lot by itself (although it can get rid of those pesky planeswalkers in a pinch and the first strike doesn’t hurt).

Plan B(eatdown)
The back up plan is beats.  Not much to add here.  Bloodghast helps here, as they are really tough for an opponent to deal with game 1.

Plan C  - Leyline/Helm
I moved Leyline/Helm to the side as I didn’t want to overload my deck with win conditions in favor of additional disruption.  I also wanted to maindeck 3 Null Rods and they don’t play very nicely with Helm of Obedience.

Other Cards

Dark Confidant – Drawing cards is good.  The low mana curve of the deck helps mitigate the life loss drawback.  Can always sac to cabal therapy in a pinch and beats for 2 a turn.

Gatekeeper of Malakir – Answer for tinker.

Null Rod – Still very strong as artifact mana and vault/key continue to appear in high numbers.

Duress/Thoughtseize/Cabal Therapy – Needed first turn disruption, and to force threats through a counter wall.  I knew I wanted 10 cards here so I could reliably have 1 in the first turn and I thought the 3/4/3 breakdown was correct.

Dark Ritual – Great for powering out first turn threats, allows me to disrupt and drop a threat first turn.  Works with null rod on the board and makes Yawgmoth’s Will an even more destructive card.

Mana Base
This mana base has worked well for me, 6 fetches, 4 strips, 3 basics, 4 duals, supplemented by 3 on color moxen, black lotus, and lotus petal for explosive starts.

Sideboard
Obviously metagame dependent, but I like this mix to deal with the popular decks right now (oath, tezz, ichorid, MUD, Stax, and Fish).

Cards that didn’t make the cut
Time Walk – Seemed underwhelming most times I cast it, has been in and out in testing.  Great with a confidant down, an Avatar token in play, or to finish off an opponent with beats.  I cut it for additional disruption

Tinker/Bot – Sat in my hand too many times, answered by many of the same cards that answer Hexmage/Depths.  I cut the tinker plan + time walk for 3 bloodghasts although I am still testing this.

Sadistic Sacrament/Bitter Ordeal – Didn’t make the maindeck I really want to try to fit in a Bitter Ordeal main but I can’t figure out what to cut.  Not as strong in the current metagame as  most decks have adjusted to Sad Sacs presence by adding additional win conditions.

Regrowth – tested for a while but usually a dead card.

Tarmogoyf – I could switch out the bloodghasts for these guys, I haven’t tested them at all, but they could work nicely.

Concluding Thoughts
I really like this deck it’s a ton of fun to play.  I have been playing vintage for 15 years on and off and I always had a special place in my heart for SUI.  Unfortunately I have very little time to test and no reliable testing partners, so my testing consists of two fisted testing or random MWS games.  I have tested a lot against Oath and Tezz, Oath being maybe 40-60 pre-board and 60-40 post board.  Tezz is slightly favorable pre-board and gets much better post-board. 

I’d appreciate any thoughts/comments on my take of Dark Times, thanks for reading!