UB Standing Depths

[Thiim]

so after messing around with depths for a few years, i came up with this idea, that a Standstill would be a good shell for it. Instead of running the usual 2/2 Mishra's Facotory, we have our 20/20 flying, indestuctable Marit Lage.

I made the list after the first power9challenge were i made top8 with Shop Depths, which is a great deck. This is another way of making use of the deadly combo(one of many possibilities)

Dark depths and Thespian's stage is good against a lot of decks in the meta and my thought process was, that even though my opponents is rarely capable of stopping me from assembling the combo and win, i need to be able to stop them from winning as well. This is were force of will and company enters the scene.

This is the prototype: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/344299#online

I've tuned the deck since then, to what i think is a better version, here is the current lists:

2 Underground Sea
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire

4 Standstill
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
3 Flusterstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Preordain

SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 4 Steel Sabotage
SB: 3 Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge
SB: 2 Energy Flux

I could write why each of the chosen cards are in the deck, but i think it's very obvious, so i wont bore you with that, but feel free to ask any question though.

Would like to hear any thoughts, ideas, constructive criticism.

[Ten-Ten]

In actually trying out a single Tolaria west, stage and Depths in a U/R/w shell similar to what Potucek ran a while back, as another option. Seems win-more but more testing is needed and I really wanted to prevent myself from going all Depths.Dec and stay well within landstill. Any thoughts on going more Landstill and less Hexmage?

[xouman]

I'm intrigued, but in my little recent experience standstill is really nice when you can win just with lands. Just some baseless thoughts:

-I have played 1 crucible in landstill and don't regret at all. Often is the best card I can draw after 5 turns.
-Blood moon and magus (and to a lesser extent, B2B) seem devastating. While they are not really common, maybe you need an alternative win condition, or just another answer apart from fow.
-4 traps and 3 flusters? wow.
-No vampiric? while it's card disadvantage, it works wonderfully with standstill (correct me if I'm wrong)
-How does the deck works against pyromancers/mentors? And other aggro with caverns?


It seems a pretty innovative approach, good work!

[keys]

How about JtMS as an alternative win condition? Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge both stop you cold otherwise.

Maindeck removal? I'd put the Deluge in there and play Illness in the Ranks or Engineered Plague in the SB. Maybe find a spot for one Dismember/Snuff Out as well.

I also agree with xouman, 4 Mindbreak Trap is overkill, Crucible would be great here, and Vamp is at least better than Consultation (especially with the added 1-ofs). You could try this:

-2 Mindbreak Trap
-1 Flusterstorm
-1 Demonic Consultation
-1 Vampire Hexmage

+2 Jace
+1 Toxic Deluge
+1 Vampiric Tutor
+1 Crucible

Misdirection is strong with Standstill and Marit Lage as well. Not sure if it's better than Trap and Flusterstorm though...

[Thiim]

Thanks for the feedback guys! i might have went a little over the top with traps, i could see going down to 2 copies and adding some other disruption to the deck.

I also added 2 engineered explosives to the sb, after discussing the deck with a guy who also played the list on mtgo.

I have steel sabotage vs ensaring bridge, which only uba stax run i believe, and jace is difficult to get down vs MUD.

Vampire hexmage is not ideal with standstill i agree, it's just an essential part of the combo, and can also deal with planeswalkers and has game vs dredge.

I would love to have a single misdirection in the deck, but since it's 107$ i cant justify buying it on magic online.

[Khahan]

No experience with this deck so no idea if this is valid or not but it seems this is a deck crying for Crucible of worlds.

Also, have you considered splashing green for fastbond and maybe crop rotation?

[ben_berry]

If you splash green in a grindy deck with the depths combo it's for Loam

[Nikolai004]

Thanks for the feedback guys! i might have went a little over the top with traps, i could see going down to 2 copies and adding some other disruption to the deck.

I also added 2 engineered explosives to the sb, after discussing the deck with a guy who also played the list on mtgo.

I have steel sabotage vs ensaring bridge, which only uba stax run i believe, and jace is difficult to get down vs MUD.

Vampire hexmage is not ideal with standstill i agree, it's just an essential part of the combo, and can also deal with planeswalkers and has game vs dredge.

I would love to have a single misdirection in the deck, but since it's 107$ i cant justify buying it on magic online.

Greetings Thiim! finally got my account approved so I can reply here. After we last talked I tried out a list with 2 mindbreak traps as a starting point and feel that it's not enough sometimes so I'll be trying out 3 next. I have also recently put in a singleton Tolaria West. I have also dropped the 3rd Flusterstorm for a spell pierce which has been very useful every time I have drawn it. 

I'm not sure how much I like the Energy flux in the sideboard. Against shops it's a bit on the expensive side, though I'm keeping it in to get more games in with it before I make changes.

As for Vampire Hexmage, I think she's being unfairly judged. Her having first strike is amazing and her ability comes in handy against shops after they dump a ravager onto a single creature. She has a lot of play that isn't instantly obvious.

[Thiim]

Yeah, i don't think that this deck want a tertiary color, that will just make a very bad mana base, which will result in a lot of mulligans. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Hello Nikolai, good observations you made, they are valueable, will take them into account.

[Nikolai004]

Demonic consultation, what's it here for, is there something that could better do the same job? I've only cast it a few times and the only thing I really learned is, unless you need a one of immediately to win or not lose do not name that card. Usually I've used it to dig out a force to help fight a counter war or get a missing combo piece.

I'm not a fan of the card myself and while it is very powerful I don't think the deck needs it, and while there's a lot of options in my version of the list I'm wondering if perhaps I'm missing something someone much more familiar with the format is already aware of.

[Thiim]

Update.

Just went 4-0 in the daily with a refined list. I cutted the demonic consultation and added a Crucible maindeck.

Round 1: 2-1 over Uba Stax

Round 2: 2-1 over Painter URb

Round 3: 2-1 over DPS

Round 4: 2-0 over Ravager Shops

4 Standstill
1 Black Lotus
4 Vampire Hexmage
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
2 Flusterstorm
4 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Underground Sea
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
3 Mindbreak Trap
4 Preordain
1 Tolaria West
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Spell Pierce
1 Crucible of Worlds

SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 4 Steel Sabotage
SB: 3 Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 Crucible of Worlds

[xouman]

Congratulations! Can you give us a brief summary about the matches? With so many disruption and the combo, I cannot easily imagine how were the games.

[TheWhiteDragon]

Love depths.  A bit saddened you resorted to playing blue, but congrats anyway

[Nikolai004]

Congrats man, way better than my experience. I like the double crucible change.

How useful have the explosives been so far?

[Thiim]

Thanks guys! yeah i know blue is not your favorite cup of tea @whitedragon, but don't worry i havent forgotten Shop Depths

Xouman@ the Shop matchups are definitely the most tricky ones, and you'll need a little bit of luck to beat a 5 wasteland deck. the sb helps a lot ofc, specially with EE, but perhaps a third Crucible wouldn't hurt the deck. I might go down to 3 copies of Dark depths, since it can be frustrating at times to be stuck with multiples in hand.

The blue matchups are pretty good i think with the heavy countersuit and 5 ancestrals the deck is better vs blue control, pyromancer/mentor and oath decks. TPS decks that maindeck defense grid can be a problem though.

[Holden1669]

I have just now played one match with this deck in the tournament practice room and since I won it I'm pretty much an expert.

I feel like this could be a Null Rod deck. This would help the already potent secondary plan to grind opponents down. Replacements for the one Top and the Spellbombs and Explosives in the board feel pretty easy to come up with.

[Thiim]

Null rod is a solid card, and can easily be played in this deck, with a little adjustment. What would you cut, besides sensei's top, if we added lets say 3 copies? I like the idea of slowing down the game even more, and it hurts some of the best decks in the meta.
I would miss the EE the most, which have been good in the testing(practice rooms)
This is the current list:

4 Standstill
1 Black Lotus
4 Vampire Hexmage
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Force of Will
4 Mental Misstep
2 Flusterstorm
3 Dark Depths
4 Thespian's Stage
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Underground Sea
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
3 Mindbreak Trap
4 Preordain
1 Tolaria West
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Spell Pierce
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Dig Through Time

SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 4 Steel Sabotage
SB: 3 Nihil Spellbomb
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 Crucible of Worlds

[Holden1669]

I would cut Top and one Mindbreak Trap and I'm not sure what else. Maybe keep it at two Null Rods and cut Tolaria West, Preordain or Hexmage for Vampiric Tutor?  Don't know. I would also cut a basic Island for either Basic Swamp or one more Sea.

Explosives are great and would be missed for sure. Maybe 1 Hurkyls and either Illness in the Ranks or Virulent Plague? If Nihil also has to go maybe Leyline of the Void (though 3 feels weird), Jailer or Ravenous Trap.

[Holden1669]

As Tolaria West helps to establish the combo under a Standstill I don't think I'd want to cut that before testing it out. Hexmage is a combo piece but do we need four?

[Thiim]

For the moment i think tolaria west is doing good in the deck under testing. Hexmage is the reason the deck have black, i don't feel like cutting that atm. i tested vampiric tutor, it's not super good, and gets boarded out a lot-consultation is the better card here. Top is very good in testing so far, helps progress under standstill.
Mindbreak trap is solid in the deck and hardcasting it is a real thing as well, also took a Dromoka with it in a game.
Preordain is doing a descent job at digging cards out.
I dont like a basic svamp, because Urborg, makes all basic islands into Underground Sea. having 3 Island is really good vs Shop, since our shop hate in sb are blue.
I don't like Leyline of the void in this build, since you need to have it in your opening hand to be good. It's difficult to cast when drawn later in the game, and loses some of it value at that moment. nihil spellbomb is castable after its drawn, and we have a good amount of digging. I considered Ravenous Trap earlier, it's a fine card, but goes down to duress and cabal theraphy, and doesnt draw a card like spellbomb. Jailer is fine as  well, but as a 2 drop creature, it might be too slow vs Dredge on the draw in g3, and it doesnt have any value in other other matchups like the spellbomb does.

[Holden1669]

Yeah, fair enough. Your rationalizations are all very logical. I have played the deck a few more times now (in the tournament practice room as I don't have the time for dailies) and I really like it. I haven't added Null Rods yet as I want to play your list a lot more first but I really like how the deck feels now.

My current list is the same as yours from yesterday except with a Vampiric Tutor instead of one Mindbreak Trap. Also a miser's Null Rod in the board because I only own one Crucible of Worlds.

I am now thinking that I need to pick up Dark Depths (and Urborgs) in paper. And regretting that I sold the ones that I had five or six years ago.

[Ten-Ten]

@Thiim: I have been thinking of testing Thing In The Ice in this list. Any thoughts?