[Report] Mise well play Landstill in Atlanta

[Anusien]

No report last week.  I took WTF again, cut the sideboarded Ray of Revelation for extra creature hate in wacky ways (Elephant Grass, anyone?).  I lost to Affinity when he got triple Disciple draws in games 1 and 3, and took second.  The Scepter-Chant player actually went undefeated, which is aggravating because I was sure WtF could take Scepter-Chant easily.  I ended up dropping WtF for now because I'm no longer confident in its ability to beat Aggro decks.  If I find Jitte #3 (and replace SoFI) and when I get a set of Propaganda, then we'll see.

Here's the deck I planned on running:
Janky Landstill v1.0
// Lands
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Island

// Spells
4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Fire/Ice
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
2 Akroma's Vengeance
2 Decree of Justice
1 Crucible of Worlds

// Sideboard
SB: 3 Disenchant
SB: 2 Wrath of God
SB: 2 Chill
SB: 1 Cursed Totem
SB: 1 Eternal Dragon
SB: 1 Exalted Angel
SB: 1 Brain Freeze
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Pyroblast

I had as my choice of audibles: an extra Lightning Bolt, 3 Chain of Vapor and 4 Fact or Fiction.  I ended up not being able to barn a Volcanic Island, and had to cut one for an Island.  This made me worry because I only had the one red source and 7 red spells main, but I ran the list as is.

The decks we expect to see:
Random Aggro
-2 Decree of Justice, -1 Standstill, -1 Mana Leak
+2 Wrath of God, +1 Exalted Angel, +1 Eternal Dragon
I'm expecting a ground stall, and with no Faerie Conclaves I need a way to push through the air.  The Crucible is on the verge of cutting, but recurring blockers is incredibly sexy.  The Wraths come in to complement my removal.

Life
-2 Decree of Justice, -1 Crucible of Worlds, -1 Nevinyrral's Disk, -1 Mana Leak
+1 Brain Freeze, +1 Exalted Angel, +1 Cursed Totem, +2 Wrath of God
It's all too easy for the army of Clerics to stall the ground and make my burn non-relevant with their protection abilities.  If he Lifes, I can Brain Freeze him out, and use my Standstills to help deck as well.  Crucible would be nice, but it's going to be way too slow, I think.

Scepter Chant
It depends on whether I expect him to side out Swords to Plowshares.  Regarldess, Eternal Dragon might give me the edge in card draw to win the game, plus if he does side out Swords to Plowshares, Eternal Dragon will win it.
-3 Lightning Bolt, -1 Nevinyrral's Disk
+3 Disenchant, +1 Pyroblast
I can only bring in 1 Pyroblast because I'm not sure where else to cut.  I need my Fire/Ice to help deal with Scepters and creatures, and same for Swords.

Round 1 versus Neil w/ GushaTog
Game 1: I start on the play with a  good hand and he has to mulligan.  We both play it slow, he plays two Islands and a Delta.  On his third turn, he cracks the fetch for a Swamp and plays Sapphire Medallion.  I'm confused, but I mentally put him on Tog, and write “Gush?â€? on my life sheet, behind my dice bag.  Sure enough, he lays down two Togs and when they go to attack, he tries to Gush.  We quickly explain it's banned, and after searching mentally for a card to replace it with, his 3 Gushes become Serum Visions.  I don't know whether he copied the list off Starcitygames or got it from a friend, but it was straight-out Extended GushATog.  At any rate, I use Bolts and Factories (recurred under a Crucible of Worlds) to drain him of cards, and take out all four Togs.  Factories come in for the win.
Sideboard: I don't remember exactly what I brought out, but I boarded in the four Red blasts, Cursed Totem and maybe Eternal Dragon.
Game 2: He's on the play and just gets rolled by Factories coming in for two and three at a time.  I can counter his threats, he can't counter mine, especially without Wastelands.

Round 2 versus Jonathan w/ Vial Goblins
This is the same guy as week 1, and I'm really psyched because I know I'm favored against him, even if he got some Jittes and Incinerators.
Game 1: He drops me to 9 before he runs out of threats and Factories take it.
Sideboarding:
-2 Decree of Justice, -1 Standstill (should have boarded more out), -1 Mana Leak, -1 Nevinyrral's Disk
+2 Chill, +1 Cursed Totem, +2 Wrath of God
Game 2: He knows he's behind and starts to play badly, and I have a hard time blaming him; Match 1 had him losing to Scepter-Chant.  This consists of me sitting back and removing his creatures, then coming through for 2 and 3 a turn with Factories.  When Disk took his Vial he lost his ability to Vial out Ringleaders and make a comeback, and Crucible recurring Factories as blockers for four turns sealed it.

Round 3 versus DJ (TO) w/ Cleric Life
Game 1: I drop an early Standstill to draw into some gas, but in the meantime Mother of Runes comes across for 4, and I take 3 from fetches and Force of Will.  I burn through 3 Factories chump blocking, and eventually stabilize.  He has an Auriok Champion that is Shuko'ed and I have nothing but burn in hand.  I make a decision, and cycle Decree of Justice for 6 at his endstep.  He goes up 6, and then down 5 (he blocks one).  On his turn he makes a Shaman en-Kor, and things look grim.  The tokens come back for more damage, and double Bolt + Fire seals it.
That match took forever, and I know there's no way I can get through with ground.  To win, I need to hit with fliers or deck him, but I can't take out very much of my core deck or he'll come through for lethal.  In order to win he needs to swarm me and not get removed, or Transmute + Starlit Sanctum to do infinite loss of life.
Sideboarding:
-1 Crucible of Worlds, -2 Decree of Justice, -1 Mana Leak, -1 Nevinyrral's Disk
+2 Wrath of God, +1 Cursed Totem, +1 Exalted Angel, +1 Brain Freeze
Game 2: I don't draw into Mishra's Factories, and he starts coming across for three a turn.  I morph my Exalted Angel with only 1 white source on the table, but before I can even untap it gets Vindicated.  Shit.  I Disk and he makes more creatures.  I Veangance, and he comes back by making infinite life.  I stabilize at 1 life, but I know we're in it for the long haul.  He has about 30 cards in his library, and I have 20, so I start trying to hold up instants; I'm really just drawing fetchlands.  I eventually draw double Factory, then he Vindicates one and I make another.  I manage to keep him off more than 2 creatures with my removal, until he plays out a Shuko and a Gate to Phyrexia.  I Ice a land, draw another land, and decide to go for it, Brain Freezing him for 12.  He goes to 13 cards in his library, and I have 16.  I still know I could lose by damage, so I make a Standstill which he gladly breaks.  At this point, I know I have it won, so I play a Standstill, then break it with a Cursed Totem so he has 6 cards left, and I have 10.  He decks, and I win.

I end up taking the tournament, dodging the Scepter-Chant player again.  This was good, because I think I was too mentally drained to play that match, even though I'm pretty sure it favors me.

I didn't get burned by only having 1 Volcanic Island, but it is a very Wasteland light (IE: none) envirnoment, and I drew fetchlands like a fiend.  The deck coughed up what I needed, when I needed it, even when it meant I was only running something ridiculous like 20 lands.
I definitely felt the lack of Faerie Conclaves.  Having to clear the board and come through for 2 or 3 at a time, worrying about surprise blockers killing off Factories is very very tiring.  Against both the Goblins player or the Clerics player, being able to come through for 2 in the air would have been ridiculously helpful.

[Matt]

Wow, that is a ton of counters. Do you really need 12?

[Anusien]

Actually, probably not.  Leak was pretty bad for me all day, so I could see that slot going to 2 Conclave, 1-2 Crucible of Worlds and maybe another random card.  The list I started with, Kirdape gave me, started 4 Force, 4 Drain, 3 CSpell, so I adapted and then finished out the Leak slot.

[Matt]

How were the Bolts? I've never liked such aggro cards in a pure control deck. Was the third damage significant? If not, was the one mana? If not that either, would you consider Magma Jet in its place?

Five sweepers seems like a ton, and 4 draw spells seems very low.

[Anusien]

Actually, I found myself digging for sweepers often, wishing I had more, but I don't think I would have wanted to draw more than I had, except when I wanted to board into extra Wraths against aggro.  It may or may not have been the right decision if I had boarded out pinpoint removal in exachange for mass removal.

Right before the tournament, it was suggested that I run Chain of Vapor instead of Bolt.  Actually, bolt was ridiculously good for me, winning a game against the Clerics/Life deck with Fire + double Bolt.  As a pure aggro card though, it is at its worst here and so I only run 3, even if one is FBB.  Magma Jet is a consideration, but there are some things Magma Jet can't kill; Bolt is ridiculously good versus Togs on your turn, because it burns away 2 pumps for free.  I could see Magma Jet to smooth out your draws,

Technically, you have the Brainstorms as well for draw, and you're rarely hurting for fetchlands to shuffle away cards.  I got ridiculously lucky to get away with my low mana count in order to maximize my draws.  I could see running some other card draw.  In a less aggro oriented meta you could probably go -1 Disk, -3 Bolt, -1 Island, +2 Faerie Conclave, +2 Fact or Fiction, +1 Volcanic Island and that would probably be very strong for you.  Then you just have to squeeze in another Crucible of Worlds.

[kirdape3]

21 mana seems way light.  I ran no fewer than 24 (unless I'm an idiot and gave you the wrong list) in any of those decks.  You need to hit 4 on turn 4 every game or you're kold.

If someone held a gun to my head and said that I was to play Landstill again, this is how I would do it right now:

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Fire/Ice
4 Wrath of God
3 Akroma's Vengeance
2 Fact or Fiction

1 Eternal Dragon
2 Decree of Justice

4 Tundra
4 Volcanic Island
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
4 Island

Sideboard:
3 Millstone (against the Life and Scepter/Chant decks)
2 Stifle
4 Wing Shards (Plow that.  Shards the rest of your team.  Woof.)
2 Humility
4 Red Elemental Blast

[Anusien]

11 counters, 3 stifle, 4 swords, 4 fire/ice, 4 disk, 4 standstill, 2 decree, 4 strand, 4 tundra, 4 volc, 4 waste, 3 factory, 2 conclave, 4 island

I didn't completely adopt your list, but I did use it as a starting point.

Wow Kirdape, you have a startling 7 board clearers.  I can definitely see cutting some of mine to move the Wraths main and keep Wrath out of the board (because I go up to 7 post-board also), but you have a lot of cards that seem rather odd to me.  I see the use of 2 Fact, 1 Dragon, 2 Decree as anti-control cards, but I'd think that's a bit much for me.  Also, the frightening lack of Disenchant in the board puts me at risk against Scepter-Chant.

Do you regret the lack of Faerie Conclaves?

[Matt]

If you ever do regret the lack, don't. I've played against Landstill with a number of decks and I always prefer to see them play conclaves over any other land. CIPT and 3 mana to do 2 damage is puss-ass weak. Factory is a huge beating, Wasteland is annoying, and basics are annoyingly Waste-proof. Conclave is the worst land in the deck.

Wing Shards, really? You have a TON of spells with double-white for having only four "real" white sources. I'd want a basic plains.

[kirdape3]

Shards is absurd.  It acts again as another Wrath, this time uncounterable.

As for board clearing, most of the good decks require a lot of killing in order to be worthwhile.  Goblins and Survival can sit there all day and produce threats - you're going to want pretty much a continuous stream of death and destruction to rain down on them.

If you're still worried about Scepter-Chant, cut the Humilities for a pair of Disenchants.  You really will however want to have something that isn't a spell to do things with - Millstone/Grindstone (even better as the latter as you just drop it turn 1 and immediately win) or Jushi Apprentice or the like.