Considering Mana Drain/Stasis Deck

[MaximumCDawg]

Hey all,

I'm an older Magic player getting back into the game again in Denver, Colorado.  Problem is, since I started during Legends, non-CE versions of the P9 have always been out of my budget.  However, I was wise enough to collect FoW and Mana Drain back in the day.  With all that in mind, I'm trying to put together something that would be interesting to play and not too embarassing to take to a casual vintage tournament that I hear a store called Black Gold hosts over in Littleton.  I started looking at the Meandeck Tide list over at StarCity, but it doesn't look like it works too well with the restriction of Merchant Scroll.   Some sort of zoo variant from Legacy might also work.

But I've always liked stasis, so I'm wondering if a Mana Drain fueled Stasis is a possiblity.  The list I'm tinkering with is included below, and comments are appreciated.  Remember, though, that I really can't shell out the dough for hundred dollar cards; that's sort of the name of the game here.  Help me make the best tier 2 or 3 deck I can.   

Stasis Drain
--------------------
1.   Mana Base (24)

4 Gemstone Caverns - I'm unhappy with this, but I'm not sure of a better way to make U and keep up with powered decks in the first turn.
4 Forsaken City - Fuels stasis.
16 Islands

2.   Combo (11)

4 Stasis         
2 Frozen Aether - Hard lock is attractive, but oh so expensive. 
3 Black Vise - Kill condition      
2 Tangle Wire - Alternative lock.  Since it can be tutored up in mono blue, maybe go 4 instead of F.Aether?

3.   Protection (21)

4 Thwart - Counter, doubles as way to keep Stasis around.  But slllloooow.
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain         
4 Chain of Vapor         
2 Ensnare - Maybe sideboard against goblins?   
3 Energy Flux - Power hate
1 Mindbreak Trap - Tutor target against storm or combo
   
4.   Card advantage (3)

1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gush         
1 Mystical Tutor

So, bearing in mind that this'll probably never be T1, anyone have experience with this sort of deck and comments to assist me?
   

[honestabe]

You need AT LEAST Ponder and brainstorm.  Confidants and a couple of sensei's tops or Remoras as a draw engine doesn't seem bad either

[MaximumCDawg]

Ponder and brainstorm yea, can do.  They don't combo with much of anything here (no fetches, for example) so are you suggesting them just for consistency's sake? 

Remoras I could do as well, that's interesting.  Could slow down the game till I can assemble Stasis in the first few turns.  First turn Remora would be pretty good combo insurance... hmm.

[Thegreatgonzo]

Black vise is meh. And takes 3 slots. I think a single feldon's cane would do.

Undiscovered paradise seems better than forsaken city. BUT...

- The city works under root maze, a 1 mana frozen aether that affects both players (but feldon's cane is out if you splash them)
- The city works under back to basics, wich could improve(or not) your mana denial plan.

And yes, you need ponder and brainstorm.

Tangle wire must be a nightmare in this shell 

[honestabe]

Ponder and brainstorm yea, can do.  They don't combo with much of anything here (no fetches, for example) so are you suggesting them just for consistency's sake? 

Remoras I could do as well, that's interesting.  Could slow down the game till I can assemble Stasis in the first few turns.  First turn Remora would be pretty good combo insurance... hmm.

You need to draw cards, or else you'll get smashed

[MaximumCDawg]

Black vise is meh. And takes 3 slots. I think a single feldon's cane would do.

Undiscovered paradise seems better than forsaken city. BUT...

- The city works under root maze, a 1 mana frozen aether that affects both players (but feldon's cane is out if you splash them)
- The city works under back to basics, wich could improve(or not) your mana denial plan.

And yes, you need ponder and brainstorm.

Tangle wire must be a nightmare in this shell 

Re: Cane

I havn't tested this yet, but I've read that trying to mill people with a stasis deck is a no-go for tournaments because the opponent can just take their time and force a draw.  I mean, you're talking 80+ turns once the lock comes on, possibly. 

Undiscovered Paradise doesnt work with Stasis, that i can tell.  It bounces back to your hand during your next untap phase.  So, turn 1 upkeep, you tap it to fuel stasis... then turn 2 upkeep rolls around and it's back in your hand where it can't fuel anything.  Forsaken City is the only perpetual land-based Stasis fuel I can find.

Tangle Wire is cheap and slick as a temporary lock, but it's not perpetual, and it doesn't get along with Energy Flux.  So, I dunno.

Thanks for the comments, though.  Sounds like Ponder/BS are worth freeing up 6 slots somewhere for.

[Yare]

Thanks for the comments, though.  Sounds like Ponder/BS are worth freeing up 6 slots somewhere for.

Brainstorm and Ponder are both restricted, so you can only run one each.

[MaximumCDawg]

Thanks for the comments, though.  Sounds like Ponder/BS are worth freeing up 6 slots somewhere for.

Brainstorm and Ponder are both restricted, so you can only run one each.

Oh, right, they restricted them in 2008, didnt they.

I see that my thread got moved to the casual forum.  I suppose this is the place for any deck that has limitations on the card pool?

[zeus-online]

You really don't need to make your deck all that advanced....Here's what i would use:

Mana: (26)
26 Island

Lock: (4)
4 Stasis

Finding stasis: (4)
4 Impulse

Disruption: (24)
4 Chain of vapour (Bounces anything, including stasis EOT to get a free untap)
4 Daze
4 Thwart
4 Muddle the mixture (to find stasis, or counter something)
4 Ensnare (Free wrath of god in this deck - Even gives you 2 extra turns of stasis-ing)
4 Counterspell

Win: (2)
2 Feldon's cane (Or whatever you like, it dosn't matter)

Basic plan: Cast stasis turn 3 (you've got impulse/Muddle the mixture to find it)
Then just keep playing islands to pay for stasis, and then at some point cast chain of vapour on stasis EOT, untap your lands, play stasis again and continue.

Daze, thwart and ensnare function as both disruption and pseudo card-draw (since all you want to draw is more islands to fuel stasis)

I made this deck once, with 4 gush though - They where unnecessary, it works really well and is extremely annoying to play against. I stopped playing it when all my friends just said "play it out" and thus we had many games that lasted atleast 1 hour each (Takes a while to actually kill them....) but make no mistake, most games where over the second Stasis hit.

You can add 1 Serra sphinx/1 morphling to speed up the kill a bit. Or you can add 1-2 capsize to actually have a hard lock at some point, although both things are really not necessary.

[MaximumCDawg]

The decklist you suggested sounds pretty simple to play, but how does it deal with a deck that is slipping creatures into play with Aether Vial or dredge or something?  It doesn't have any hard lock conditions, and the opponent has all the time in the world to build up enough mana to overwhelm you in a single turn.  I'll build it and see how it goes though, see if it's more consistent.

[zeus-online]

Æther vial does not untap with stasis in play, neither does any lands or creatures dredge puts into play.

What meta-game is this deck for? It sounds like a meta with very powerfull decks in it. Force of will is a good start if you need to make the deck stronger. Mana drain is obviosly also stronger then counterspell.

Propaganda could be a good choice if there are many creatures running around

If time is a factor then stasis might not be a good idea, every game seems to take forever.

[MaximumCDawg]

My biggest problem is that I don't know the meta.  Showing up for the first time at this location, and I just don't want to get steamrolled.  So I guess I'm looking at a fish-style stasis deck, if that makes any sense, with the ability to SB into different builds to stop popular vintage archetypes.  And, since I'm not powered, I feel like I'd need the Gemstone Caverns and Energy Flux to try to even the odds against those who are. 

Suggestions for Propoganda and Back to Basics are both pretty good.  Those sound like good sideboard cards. 

I'm going to try out some of your suggestions over the next week, then try the result out next Thursday.  I'll let you know how it goes!

[Killane]

My biggest problem is that I don't know the meta.  Showing up for the first time at this location, and I just don't want to get steamrolled.  So I guess I'm looking at a fish-style stasis deck, if that makes any sense, with the ability to SB into different builds to stop popular vintage archetypes.  And, since I'm not powered, I feel like I'd need the Gemstone Caverns and Energy Flux to try to even the odds against those who are. 

Does this location not allow proxies?

[Anusien]

If you're worried about beatdown decks, run some Ivory Towers.

[Sujer]

Hey, this is my first post, so be easy on me

I started playing Magic around 1994, and stopped in 2000. I recently got back into the game, and have been trying to construct a legacy stasis deck as well. I have play tested my deck, and the only times I cannot win with it is when the other player has to many speedy creatures. Here is my deck:
http://www.essentialmagic.com/Decks/View.asp?ID=760629

I think the deck is self explanatory, but if you have questions feel free to ask! Any help would be appreciated! Also, since I have never been in a tournament (I have only played against 2 people my whole life) what is the draw backs to using a stasis deck in a vintage tournament? I would like to try a tournament once I can get a good deck set up and it seems like if done right it could be very effective, but again, I have never played competitively.

Thanks!
Sujer

[MaximumCDawg]

Looks like a vintage deck, instead of a legacy one.

Other people could answer better than I, but the deck doesn't look fast enough for vintage.  The reason I'm trying the build I am is that, in theory, you can go Gemstone Caverns, Forsaken City, Stasis on the first turn; or drain a spell to fuel a second turn Frozen Aether to follow up with stasis.  

Plus, it looks like your deck relies on Instill Energy + Birds + Stasis to get permastasis, which is a three card combo, harder to get out.  If you're GU, I think Garruk + Stasis gets you to two cards, and works with your theme of stasis aggro pretty well.

On the other hand, you have some power, and I dont.

Also, in testing my build, I've found that Thwart is really annoyingly bad.  I didn't expect that.  The problem is that, in most games, Thwart cannot be cast until turns 4 or 5, and by then the game is decided.  Considering removing it for something else.  Also, my stasis build auto-loses to dredge.

UPDATE: I'm really liking Ensnare over Thwart.  In theory, Thwart protects from alot of things that Ensnare doesnt, but the three-island minimum to use it means it is useless unless the stasis lock is in place... at which point you have less need for it.  Ensnare can bounce islands for free even if there are no creatures to wrath.  I'm also disliking Merchant Scroll, since this deck never has two spare mana to dump into fetching something.  

UPDATE: Well, I chickened out and ran Painters/Grindstone instead of Stasis since I couldn't get the Stasis deck to perform adequately in testing, so.... no feedback from this Thursday!