[Deck] Voidstill

[Robert the Swordsman]

Forgive me, I'm still working on a name.

This deck is based around an idea I had at the last Power tournament in the area. Here it is...

Voidstill (for lack of a better title)

Disruption:
3 Sphere of Resistance
2 Nether Void
3 Null Rod
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

Counter:
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
3 Stifle

Draw / Search:
4 Standstill
3 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall

1 Demonic Tutor

Win:
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Mishra's Factory

Couldn't think of a category name for 'em:
2 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Time Walk

Mana:
4 Island
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus

Sideboard:
4 Blue Elemental Blast
11 Unknown

The thought came about when I was thinking of "manlands", or lands that become creatures. I took note that they were used with Nether Void some time ago, and more recently under Standstill. The deck utilizes both advantages of those lands with Standstills, Spheres, and Voids.

Card choices:

Nether Void:
In this deck, dropping this on turn 3/4 usually seals the deal. Strips, Spheres, counter and Null Rod make for some excellent backup of the card.

Stifle:
So far, it has not been a dead card; it has always found a use in one form or another. An overall excellent card.

Null Rod:
Due to my somewhat high permanent count, I am not running Nevinyrral's Disk, and that allows me to run this as more mana denial in addition to the five strip effects; it can really wreak havoc on an opponents mana-base while still stopping some key artifacts such as Memory Jar and the like.

Brainstorm:
I felt that the deck would require alot of card draw in addition to the Standstills, so I felt that Brainstorm was a good choice and have the obvious cool synergy with Deltas.

Waterfront Bouncer:
This is actually a somewhat late addition. The original list bore absolutely zero removal cards; if a spell resolved, there was no getting rid of it. As odd as this card may seem, it has really proven itself in pretty crucial times. The worst matchup I've come across so far is TNT and similar decks such as Oshawa and GPR. The way it works against this deck is: they basically have one chance to drop a big fat creature before I can implement a good lock, but if they do, I lose. This guy prevents that from happening; if they have a Juggernaut in play, they attack, I send it back to their hand, drop a Sphere / Nether Void next turn, it's usually game over.

Sideboard:
BEBs for the devastation that is Blood Moon and Goblin Welder. Other than that, I'm open to suggestion.

Well, that's it for right now. If you wish to voice any ideas / opinions / utter and total disgust, feel free to do so.

Thank you very much.

[Dr. Sylvan]

I see a giant gaping hole in your plans, and its name is "aggro". Seriously. You have *no* plans for handling them besides Force of Will and Bouncer. I strongly urge you to fit something maindeck. Maybe Duress isn't the best plan for a deck with Landstill's traditional slow kill. Swap them for creature kill. Even then, you're running way light. And at that point, your second color is two Nether Voids and a DT. Black is a bad second color for Landstill (probably worse than green). Maybe this deck would be a total beating against control, but then again Landstill always should be. I think red and white are the only choices unless your metagame is completely lacking in slack-jawed nine-year-olds with burn decks.

[Metabubbles]

Well what about mutilate, since it kills creatures and you will hardly ever have creatures.  Red is stronger than black, for sure, but it may work, I hate duress against my keeper deck so it will rock keeper.  Also you may want to try powder keg, again their creatures and not yours will go away.

Anyways good luck.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Mutilate has the "double black" problem; Powder Keg fails to kill Madness/TnT (this is also why I didn't recommend Smother). Disk would be the best thing available to these colors, but you really need something that works well before that.

[RoadTrippin]

You could consider Chalice over Sphere- obviously a Chalice for the same CC as sphere will ruin a lot of aggro. However, Sphere is potentially more dangerous because slowing down your opposition for a full turn looks like it can help get you in that winning position. Maybe it's not the right call- just discussing the merits.

[Suckamouf37]

Why not run 2-3 Maze of Ith?  Your basically playing a Landstill variant, It seems a very effective foil to Welder in TnT, though not so much in Prison.  Just a thought.

[The Hamburgler]

I assume and remember him saying that three Maze of Ith will find their way into the sideboard. With versatility of decks it can be effective against in an aggro plentiful meta. It has use against Tog, gro, TnT, madness and any other forms of "phat aggro".
As for the tedious problem of removing creatures, the Waterfront Bouncer did its ding against TnT. While play testing it went just like this:
6-0(Rob had no Waterfront Bouncer and no answer to even a third turn Juggernaut)
3-4(This is post-Waterfront Bouncer. It obviously did the deed. It causes me to play multiple Juggernauts and Su-Chi in order to attack. Still has problem with Solemn Simulacrum)
I still think that red would hold so many better sideboard options, as well as removal to threats. It would make Fire/Ice a viable source in the main deck to rid of the early threats, as well as a savage stopper to the late game-ending beat down, and still draws a card looking for a way out of the situation.
As I believe Dr. Sylvan said Duress appears weak. It is more of a protective card and it looks like you need an aggressive source to deal with threats. I suggested Innocent Blood; although it may be sort of janky it may be well worthy of testing. I still think Disk is your very best option in the sideboard or main deck. It makes your prison match up in the second game and/or third much more reliable.
Lastly maybe the Duress slots could go to a main deck answer to the overwhelming amount of popularity in aggro in the current environment. The best option would have to be Disk considering the lack of removal in the colors you have chosen to run.
Those are just my suggestions on how to beat aggro based decks, which obviously has the deck at its weakest. But maybe it's the early threats that make the deck go to new recourses to survive in the current meta-not just aggro. Well if it is just aggro then I just laid out a plan to overcome it and conquer.

Edit:
What do you guys think of side boarding Dark Rituals and Nether Voids? It may sound crappy but a 1-2 turn Nether Void is a very effective hoser of Tog, Aggro and any Tendrils biased deck.

[The M.E.T.H.O.D]

I really don't think black solves any of landstill's problems, and the way you have your deck list setup, it shows that with the black you are destroying some of Landstill's inherent advantages and replacing it with stuff that is kind of uneeded.  

BUT IF YOU MUST RUN BLACK.. have you considered making it three color UBW so you can still reap the benifits of swords to plowshares because your decks seems to have issues because it has no removal, and maybe you could cycle decree of justice under a nether void? Just a random brainfart.

[Vood]

I am also working on a deck similar to this. However, black is used only for nether void, the rest of the deck being counters, draws and disruption.

Disruption :
3   nether void
4   wasteland
1   strip mine

Counter:
4   force of will
4   mana drain
3   stifle

Draw/Utility:
4   standstill
1   ancestral recall
1   demonic tutor
4   brainstorm
1   time walk

Reset:
4   nevynyral disk

Win:
2              Darksteel Brute
4   mishra factory
4   faiery conclave

Mana
1   mox jet
1   mox sapphire
1   mox ruby
1   black lotus
1   sol ring
4   polluted delta
1   swamp
4   underground sea
2   island

I don't have very much time to test on my hand, so if someone wants to do the homework!

[HuntedWumpus]

These decks have good foundations but still as Dr. Sylvan pointed out, lack the ability to deal with Aggro or even combo as i see it. Null rod is not that effective these days and it will render you very slow if it hits. The last point i would make is that relying mainly off ManLand to kill is scary in itself. No only do fireice, and swords hose them, but wasteland is running rampant and there are many decks running nine LD spells. I would considers splashing green. It opens up deeds and Mongoose. In a deck like this Nimble mongoose fits in very well. He is easly to get out, and is not targetable. Lastly he beats just as fast as manlands.

Just some thoughts

[eddavatar]

Ok, the difference between this void and B/g void is coming down to this deck loses hymn deed and WRRETTTCH for force of will and manland/standstill.

What does all those card drawing do for you when you have nothing you want to play?

Are the disruption enough to get you thru early game like fire/ice and swords does for regular standstill?

Doesn't the card you draw for standstill barely makes up for the card you pitch for force, which then makes hymn about as effective but less clunky and takes up less spots?

And wretch is a house.

I've not even mentioned Nantuko shade yet, the best creature under void.

That said, good try but getting too greedy would end you up with nothing. But it would most likely be lousy in practice due to its inability to either act as an aggressor or the control as the deck lacks component for either element.

[~m.oconnell0257~]

hey rob its mike o from da gathering

i think its a very solid deck especially those damn null rods!!
(i play weldermud)

also, i think you need a little bit more draw engine

peace

[colder]

Needs more Magic Stick.

Seriously though, the problem with this deck is that it's full of dead-draws.  Under a Void, anything you draw under a Standstill would still suck since it'd be several times less usable.  Also, the deck's inability to deal with threats or overpower them is altogether way too much of a liability.  You will start to die, and just continue to die or just slow the inevitable.

You would probably find yourself unable to your own mana curve, either.  Not enough mana acceleration to make anything worth casting after a few Speheres and a Void.  That Mishra's Factory or Faerie Conclave is going to suck if they manage to get ANYTHING down first.  You won't be hoping to overpower or wait them out, no-sir-ee.  You will just be stuck.

About the only thing you can hope for with this deck is a quick double-Sphere followed up by a fast Nether Void.  Your best matchup will pretty much be combo.

Sorry, but I don't see this going anywhere - not unless you're prepared to rip out the blue.  Standstill is a good MATCHUP against Void, but it doesn't mix well in a deck.