New look on vintage landstill

Introduction: This deck was conceived late one night at my local card store, preparing for Waterbury 9. One of the people there was inspired to write a Mono Blue Lock deck. My dad took on this list and I have been working on it since. Below was the latest version from which the changes following the deck list were derived from. Here is that list.

UG Landstill
Mana Source (25):
1 Black lotus
1 Mox emerald
1 Mox sapphire
2 Island
3 tropical island
2 flooded strand
2 Polluted delta
3 Mishra’s factory
3 Faerie conclave
1 Strip mine
4 Wasteland
2 Ghost Quarters

Control/Lock (20):
2 Stifle
3 Chalice of the void
3 Crucible of the worlds
3 Null rod
4 Force of will
4 Daze
1 Arcane laboratory

Draw/tutor (9):
1 Ancestral recall
2 brainstorm
4 Standstill
1 Sylvan library
1 mystical tutor

Utility/Broken (5):
1 Time walk
1 Tinker
1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
1 Echoing truth

Creatures (1):
1 Darksteel colossus

Sideboard (15):
1 Arcane laboratory
2 propaganda
2 trickbind
3 Tormod’s crypt
1 Wipe away
2 Xantid swarm
1 Tabernacle at the pendrell vale
2 Hurkyl’s recall
1 Sphere of resistance

I have been testing this deck a lot and made the following changes that fix the decks problems.

MAINDECK
-2 stifle: originally I had 4 of these and it worked fine. To accommodate green I had to cut 2. 2 stifles by itself are too random in this format and are not as good as what is being replaced.
-1 ghost quarter: having more then 5 strips gives this deck a edge but ghost quarters needs to be cut to fix the mana problems. There are to many colorless mana sources to support two colors.
-1 regrowth: useless utility spell, always does very little in my games.
-1 mystical tutor: I’d rather have this be a lock piece.

+2 vinelasher kudzu: This card speeds up the kill incredibly. This was the decks main problem because without the Tinker/DSC the deck couldn’t kill the opponent before they had a chance to break out of the lock.
+1 Echoing truth: This deck needs a way to wipe the board. With the popularity of ETW, E.Truth is the most crucial bounce spell out now.
+1 chalice of the void: one of the strongest lock pieces, I find that I always want +1 per game.
+1 island: fixes manabase

SIDEBOARD
-1 Sphere of resistance: I have a good enough combo match up, needs to be replaced to improve the slaver match up.
-1 Tormod’s crypt: the card I am replacing helps the ichorid and slaver match up.

+2 pithing needle: helps both slaver and ichy matches.

UG Landstill
Mana Source (25):
1 Black lotus
1 Mox emerald
1 Mox sapphire
3 Island
3 tropical island
2 flooded strand
2 Polluted delta
3 Mishra’s factory
3 Faerie conclave
1 Strip mine
4 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarters

Control/Lock (19):
4 Chalice of the void
3 Crucible of the worlds
3 Null rod
4 Force of will
4 Daze
1 Arcane laboratory

Draw/tutor (8):
1 Ancestral recall
2 brainstorm
4 Standstill
1 Sylvan library

Utility/Broken (5):
1 Time walk
1 Tinker
1 Fastbond
2 Echoing truth

Creatures (3):
1 Darksteel colossus
2 Vinelasher kudzu

Sideboard (15):
1 Arcane laboratory
2 propaganda
2 trickbind
2 Tormod’s crypt
1 Wipe away
2 Xantid swarm
1 Tabernacle at the pendrell vale
2 Hurkyl’s recall
2 pithing needle

CARD CHOICES

Crucible, Chalice, null rod, force, strips, standstill, man lands: These are the balls of the deck, without these it doesn’t run.

Daze: extra counter to maximize the effectiveness of standstill.

Arcane laboratory: is a lock in itself, this with a steady stream of counters is enough to win the game.

Sylvan library: continual draw, great synergy with crucible/ fetches, allows to play incredible locks.

Tinker/Dsc: different way to play the deck if you get this early of enough with easy kills.

Fastbond: allows for completely broken hands, great synergy.

Propaganda: a lock piece sided in against aggro decks. Works well with the decks mana denial.

Trickbind: the absolute ballz for pitch. Easy to protect with the deck.

Tormod’s crypt: necessary for ichy

Wipe away: gifts

xantid swarm: perfect card for any deck that runs 8+ counters.

Tabernacle: another important card for the aggro match up.

Hurkyl’s recall: improves stax matchup, important because of the viability of the new PLC stax decks.

CARDS TO CONSIDER

Maindeck tabernacle: great synergy with the deck, and since most decks use creatures to kill it is a great lockpiece. I used this at templecon but the environment was to aggro heavy for a singleton tabernacle to carry me through the tournament.

Zuran orb: This with fastbond and crucible is a infinite life loop, and synergetic with the crucible by itself. Since there is alot of mox hate floating around i cut this card.

Sphere of resistance: this card can be nastly and in some cases its better then a chalice in a lock because you can still play your 1-2 cast spells.

Mana drain: this card has been haunting me for a while. I easily run enough colorless spells to utilize it right, but probably not enough blue mana sources to be able to use it as much as other cards which is why it wasnt put in.

Tolarian academy: as crazy as it seems this isnt the ballz here. This actually makes to much mana and makes lands dead draws. The deck cant afford to cut any of its mana sources so this also didnt make the cut. If this card was to be put into the deck you would have to cut a mana and add more draw and tutors.

Smokestack: I have considered this card for the deck. It seems ok, but the deck normally doesn’t allow anything on the field so there wouldn’t be much to stack out. Also this deck doesn’t run workshops so it wont get it out frequently enough.

Regrowth: This card might be good to put back in. It won me a few games be bringing back countered tinkers or recycling standstills. I took this card out because the deck needed more business.

GAMEPLAN: The best way to play this deck is to lay early lock pieces and follow them up with stronger locks and kill them before they can break out. The best way to do this is a chalice for zero. This will slow the opponent enough to allow you to play things like (chalice for 1, null rod, arcane, crucible, standstill). To kill the opponent cast things like tinker or kudzu or swing with the manlands. It is important to make sure you don’t attack with the manlands if you can cast a lock piece. Fastbond games are incredibly broken as you will be able to dump your entire hand and lock the opponent out very fast. It is ok to go down to a low amount of life. If you need more mana you can waste you own lands and float the mana to dump your hand. This is ok to do because if your opponent is in a lock then they cant hurt you.

Most people will think that green might not be the best color to put in. When people think of landstill they normally assign white or blue and think of the version with neverinayl’s disk. Green is a good choice for this deck because all the green cards that are in the deck allows for incredibly broken plays .Fastbond allows you to lay earlier locks and stronger locks then other colors could provide. Sylvan library finds lock pieces good and is continual throughout the game so that once this hits the table, you will either retake control of the board or increase your hold on the board. Vinelasher kudzu speeds up the deck so that with man lands you can kill the opponent close to the same speed a tinker would provide.

MATCHUPS:

Control slaver: Welder does poses a serious a threat for this deck. This can be avoided by laying a early chalice for 1 or making sure you don’t let it go past. Also since lots builds run crucible letting that pass will make it incredibly hard to lock the opponent out. Those are the two most dangerous threats in the deck besides gifts so as long as they don’t slaver you should be able to ride a lock out to kill the opponent.

Sideboard Out: -1 arcane laboratory, -1 time walk, -2 brainstorm

Sideboard In: +2 pithing needle, +2 xantid swarm,

Ichorid: This is the single worst matchup for the deck, atleast pre-board. Pretty much the only thing you can do before siding is to strip all bazaars and chump with man lands. Tinker or a broken kudzu will be the only way you will be able to win. This is unfortunate but ichorid is immune to almost all of this decks forms of control. Don’t worry though after the board you will have plenty of bombs to play against ichorid. Since Extirpate is out you wont see that many ichy lists after around the 2nd round, so this matchup is not as serious as it might seem.

Sideboard out: -4 standstill, -2 chalice

Sideboard: +2 Propanganda, +2 Pithing needle, +2 Tormod’s crypt

Dragon: This is the best matchup for the deck, but this isnt news because dragon isnt the giant it was. Since cerebral assasin has seen play recently this is what I will base the statistics on. Cerebral assasin will almost always stay stax so sidng in the stax cards would be advisable. Just like in the CS match welder should not be able to pass, but this will be easier since stax doesnt run counters. If cerebral assasin chooses to play dragon you can easily win by casting early null rods and chalice for 0 since there mana base is very fragile. Follow this up with strips and standstill or crucible and you will be able to draw into lethal. If for a reason there is a new mono black urbog type cerebral assasin then just disregard the pithing needles.

Sideboard out (stax form): -1 chalice of the void, -1 brainstorm, -1 arcane laboratory, -1 daze

Sideboard out (dragon form): -2 Brainstorm, -1 sylvan library, -1 echoing truth

Sideboard in (stax form): +2 hurkyl’s recall, +2 pithing needle

Sideboard in (dragon form): +2 tormod’s crypt, +2 Trickbind

Pitch long: This matchup is based all on what the opponent is playing. If the opponent is running lots of bounce (rebuild, hurkyls, chain) then Dsc is dead in this matchup, and vise versa. If you go first you should be able to lay early locks which should slow them enough to let you play more locks like crucible and arcane laboratory. Xantid swarm is the most crucial card in the matchup for both players, because it not only hurts your counters it also makes the standstill plan dead because you cant respond to any spells.

Sideboard out: -1 Dsc (only if they run lots of bounce), -2 echoing truth, -1 island, -1 sylvan library (if they don’t run lots of bounce), -1 time walk

Sideboard in: +2 xantid swarm, +1 arcane laboratory, +2 trickbind

Oath: If oath resolves then unless you get a bounce the opponent will most likely win. This normally doesnt get to happen because you lock them out before they can cast oath or give you a creature to activate it with. After you side in a few cards you get tabernacle which enures that oath can never resolve, killing their win condition. Also with propaganda even if oath resolves if they have no mana they don’t get to do anything with the creature they bring in.

Sideboard out: -1 chalice of the void, -1 island, -1 brainstorm

Sideboard in: +1 tabernacle at the pendrell vale, +2 Propaganda,

Fish: This deck normally has a bad aggro matchup in general, but because this decks mana curve is not to hot, this deck hurts it with chalices and crucibles. In this matchup you use chalice for 1 and 2 (you can deal with it, they cant) to stop the influx of creatures and if they have any on the board use faerie and mishra to keep hem from hitting you. To kill them use kudzus that were already in play or tinker.

Sideboard out: -1 null rod, -1 time walk, -1 ghost quarter
(If they are running lots of permission, side in 2 xantids)

Sideboard in: +2 propaganda, +1 Tabernacle at the pendrell vale

Stax: To beat this deck you have to play the beatdown role. To achieve this lay as early as possible kudzus and tinkers before you try and lay lock pieces. If you can lay a kudzu before they can lock you out you should be fine. Also smokestack will rarely hurt you due to the large number of permanets and crucibles.

Side-board out: -1 null rod, -1 brainstorm

Sideboard in: +2 hurkyls recall

Gifts: This matchup is all about denying them mana, this is your first priority. E. truth helps here as you can kill the ETW goblins. If you can deny him/her off mana (strips, chalice, null rod) then they wont be able to drain you or go off with gifts ungiven.

Sideboard out: -1 ghost quarter, -2 brainstorm

Sideboard in: +1 wipe away, +2 tormod's crypt

...

The maindeck seems fine, as i always win game 1 more then game 2 or game 3, but the sideboard seems to janky and narrow for the decks 2 biggest threats: slaver and aggro decks (fish, TMWA, ichorid, etc...). This is what i need help with.

Any comments suggestions are welcome,
Tng5000