Stasis PRIMER
Deck Help forum
Posted on June 23, 2014, 2:20 p.m. by smackjack
You wanna play a game where no one are allowed to untap? Keep reading ;)
Ral Stasis Playtest
Legacy*
SCORE: 26 | 6 COMMENTS | 2407 VIEWSIm gonna do a short primer on Stasis . Its gonna be everything I've picked up in my 3 weeks of playing the deck. I have picked up a lot, but im sure ive missed a lot. It seems like we are gonna have a Primer function on T/O soon, but this will do until then.
The deck, obviously, is built around Stasis . The goal is to lock the opponent out of the game. The deck is not tier 1, and it can be built pretty cheap.
First concern is why you would want to play this? You are running a severe risk of getting kicked in the nuts. As with most decks, your opponent are gonna loose if you have card X and card Y out. This is no different, but the goal of the deck is much like land destruction, so people are gonna get mad. Thats part of the fun :)
The tricky part of the deck is to be able to keep paying one blue every turn for Stasis upkeep cost. There are many ways to get around this problem.
The basic key cards
As I see it, there are different ways to do a Stasis deck. I have categorised the key cards.Turbo Stasis
- Stasis - of course
- Frozen AEther - makes your opponents lands enter the battlefield tapped, and remain tapped with Stasis.
- Forsaken City - lets you exile a card from your hand instead of paying for stasis upkeep cost
- Howling Mine - makes sure you always have something to exile to Forsaken City and fills your opponents hand for...
- Ebony Owl Netsuke - your wincon
Skip Stasis
- Stasis - of course
- Frozen AEther - makes your opponents lands enter the battlefield tapped, and remain tapped with Stasis.
- Chronatog - with the other 2 cards in play, activate Chronatog on your opponents turn, over and over, until opponent runs out of cards.
Ral Zarek Stasis
- Stasis - of course
- Ral Zarek - untaps one of your lands every turn, solving the upkeep problem. Also taps down your opponents permanents. He can also be your wincon with his -2 if your opponent are locked down, but you probably need another wincon.
I tried turbo stasis, but Howling Mine made my opponent too powerful. Then i tried Chronatog , but my opponent just bolted him. Then i tried Ral Zarek and I think its most fun to play. As my wincon I have Ral Zarek himself, Jace, the Mind Sculptor and a single Frozen AEther to eventually complete the lock. The game tends to go long, so more often than not you are gonna use Ral Zarek s ultimate. Once i did it 2 times in a game before my opponent gave up.. The deck is just too damn fun to play sometimes :).
Supporting cards
So.. your key cards are four drops? Your opponent can reanimate Griselbrand turn 1? You need...Counterspells
- Spell Pierce - takes care of a lot of threats early game
- Spell Snare - same thing, a great counterspell for the first turn.
- Counterspell - counterspell for 2 mana. Named "counterspell"? of course :)
- Force of Will - for the guy who poops gold.
- Misdirection - for the guy who aint pooping gold
- Daze - free counterspell that also returns one of your tapped lands to be played again, untapped!
- Thwart - same thing as Daze , but a bit more serious. Returning 3 tapped lands to your hand is the best thing about this spell
- Remand - your opponent spent mana on a spell? Return it to his hand with a cantrip!
Digging and finding
- Ponder - basic stuff..
- Brainstorm - basic stuff. Great if you have fetches
- Impulse - great if you keep mana open to counter and you opponent plays it safe
- Ancestral Vision - the games tend to be very grindy. The suspend time is not a huge problem
- Enlightened Tutor - Finds most of your combo pieces, but requires a splash of white
Other cards
- Lotus Petal - tap once for one mana of any colour, and speeds up the deck a bit allowing you to cast your 4 drop turn 3 or earlier.
- Chain of Vapor / Rescue - lets you return Stasis at the end of their turn, allowing you to untap once before playing it again
- Ensnare - Returns 2 lands to your hand without having to have a target, as well as being basically a Wrath of God if you have Stasis out
- Winter Orb - mini-stasis. Great synergy with Ral Zarek
Threats
Any instant speed enchantment removal is devastating for the deck, especially Abrupt Decay and Krosan Grip since you wont get the chance to counter it.This was my short Primer on Stasis. Thera are lots of stuff to discover to make this deck better and even more fun to play. Lets discuss!
June 23, 2014 3:32 p.m.
Its the same as Frozen AEther , except its white.. If you were to play white Equipoise is a great card, because cards phase in during your untap step. With Stasis there are no more untap steps :).
June 23, 2014 3:37 p.m.
aha!
Yes they are identical :P
These are pretty mean decks, My uncle played me with his oldschool stasis (W/U) and it was just stupid. A silly silly deck that I refuse to ever play again.
But I like this Izzet twist.
June 23, 2014 3:49 p.m.
haha people tend not to like it ;). I cant see how this deck is any worse than reanimate or death & taxes tho.. Yeah its like Ral Zarek was made for this deck, and this deck only. Its literally everything you need in a stasis deck :)
June 23, 2014 3:54 p.m.
I think it's because with reanimate or death and taxes you still give the opponent the illusion he's playing the game that he could win.
Where as if you play against a stasis deck your just sitting there watching your opponent play while you sit there with your thumb up your ass lol.
June 23, 2014 4:06 p.m.
Once your opponent realises whats going on he will scoop. When you realise you will never have mana open to cast anything, its the only option. I think thats the painful part, that its up to your opponent to decide that you win :). I might be twisted but i think this is really really amusing :)
June 23, 2014 4:25 p.m.
Oh I totally agree, Stasis decks IMO are the epitome of control, Your literally shut out of the entire game haha.
If your playing against someone with a Stasis deck you might as well just sit there and watch them playtest their deck :P
I agree though, It's pretty damn funny watching it all unfold. Except that vast emptiness you feel when stasis hits the board and your already tapped out.
June 23, 2014 4:48 p.m.
Still. I think stasis attracts more hate than it should. Reanimate are way worse, throwing in a Iona, Shield of Emeria turn one. Stasis is still a fragile combo, so why the hate? Maybe because its a fragile combo, so your opponent needs to play out the game in case you cant pay for stasis in the end?
I was expecting a bigger discussion from this thread. Join the discussion with your thoughts about this archetype.
June 23, 2014 5:19 p.m.
Haha, Well I personally like the Archetype. Just hate to play against it.
I agree with you though, It's a bit slow to pull off. Maybe some things to help tutor for key pieces would help...
Drift of Phantasms maybe?
I also feel like there could be alot of Utility aritfacts that could help speed this deck up.
(I just have to think of some..)
June 23, 2014 5:24 p.m.
Drift of Phantasms would be no help, since there are no key cards at 3cmc (or no cards at 3cmc at all in my deck). Altho, im considering splashing white for Enlightened Tutor to find at least Stasis and Frozen AEther . Do you think a 4th Ral Zarek could help in my list?
Ral Stasis Playtest
Legacy*
SCORE: 26 | 6 COMMENTS | 2407 VIEWSI have also toyed with the thought of making this an artifact/enchantment control deck running 4x Enlightened Tutor . Mainboard Rest in Peace and Energy Field for another combo. Maybe adding Helm of Obedience for a win con. (both Energy Field and Helm of Obedience are looking for cards entering the graveyard while Rest in Peace makes sure nothing ever gets there) Then you can use Misdirection to redirect removal away from Stasis .. I would have to sacrifice a lot of counterspells and digging for those cards tho.. What do you think?
June 23, 2014 5:32 p.m.
Enlightened Tutor would help this deck speed up quite a bit I think.
High Tide might be very useful in the deck.
What about something like Zur the Enchanter ?
I really like the Helm of Obedience combo, But it might be tricky to pull off as well..
Maybe you can abuse a few things like Ornithopter and Memnite to Tinker for some key peices?
Seeing as how they are free and save you the mana. It's just tapping for the Tinker that would be rough...
June 23, 2014 6:50 p.m.
It's mana that's always tricky I find.
What about using something like the 'Pact' spells to force your opponent to play them?
Intervention Pact or Pact of Negation .
Seeing as how your opponent will most likely be tapped out
June 23, 2014 6:53 p.m.
Do you want to get nostalgic about it and go way back to the early years of MTG and the legend of Stasis?
Then I would include a note about its origins with Serra Angel and the legendary winning deck itself and how it differed from the origins and why that was a big deal at the time.
Stasis is one of those archetypes that goes way far back and might deserve that kind of historical perspective. That is part of what makes it so cool, imho.
June 23, 2014 6:53 p.m.
In regards to that Everflowing Chalice + Staff of Domination I was thinking if you made the deck more artifact/Ral core you could abuse the above combo with Prototype Portal and you'd have infinite mana to mess around with.
Icy Manipulator would be good for luhls.
Tezzeret the Seeker would be a nice sidekick for Ral
And then you could run some artifact lands and untap them with Tezz.
June 23, 2014 7 p.m.
Untapping lands with Tezz are intriguing, but Garruk Wildspeaker does a much better job at that if you splash green.
guessling I want this to be an old school deck that could handle a reanimate deck (my hardest competator in my meta). I like your link.
What about Zuran Orb and Crucible of Worlds to sac a tapped land and replay it untapped?
June 23, 2014 7:14 p.m.
If you ran Zuran Orb and Crucible of Worlds you could easily abuse Knight of the Reliquary
(If you splash green) =P
smackjack says... #2
I have been playing around with my decks, and merged my Hateblade deck and Ral Stasis deck into Stasis blade!. No playtesting at all, just an idea i had. Put pressure on your opponent with Batterskull and Serra Avenger . Would do a lot better with fetches i assume, lets hope for a reprint :P
June 23, 2014 2:36 p.m.