Recently in Legacy I have been enjoying the slow grind with Standstill. This week isn’t much different except I really want to lock people under multiple Standstills. As far as I can tell I have one of two ways to do this:
1. Somehow put multiple copies on the stack. Leyline of Anticipation? nah!
2. Return them all from your graveyard to play with Replenish. I believe we have a winner.
Who couldn’t guess that I would really enjoy the latter over the former? I have written multiple articles about Stax variants which are very heavy on permanent-based effects from enchantments like Humility, Moat, The Abyss, and Blood Moon. Turns out I like to play a grindy prison style of deck and here I am looking to make it that much worse for my opponent. Without further ado, let’s dive into what I have going here.
Stand and Replenish
| Lands (24) 1 Celestial Colonnade 4 Flooded Strand 4 Island 3 Mishra’s Factory 2 Plains 3 Polluted Delta 4 Tundra 3 Wasteland Creatures (4) 3 Snapcaster Mage 1 Wonder Spells (33) 4 Brainstorm 2 Compulsion 2 Counterspell 1 Crucible of Worlds 1 Entreat the Angels 4 Force of Will 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 2 Moat 1 Path to Exile 2 Replenish 2 Spell Pierce 1 Spell Snare 4 Standstill 4 Swords to Plowshares | Sideboard (15) 1 Aura of Silence 1 Council’s Judgment 2 Flusterstorm 3 Leyline of Sanctity 2 Mana Tithe 1 Path to Exile 1 Seal of Cleansing 1 Supreme Verdict 3 Surgical Extraction |
It really took everything in my power to not include Solemnity with other enchantments like Phyrexian Unlife, Decree of Silence, and Mystic Remora. I limited myself to using Compulsion as a filtering tool throughout the game as well as a way to get enchantments into my graveyard to be returned with Replenish. Including a Crucible of Worlds also means we have the ability to cycle our lands out for action.
Creatures
Snapcaster Mage is our only actual creature in order to buy back used spells. Though it can oftentimes be used as a win condition, it still isn’t much of one.
Wonder is our spicy one-of as a shout out to fellow Hipsters writer Jerry Mee who has been very busy this summer.
Entreat the Angels although being a spell deserves an honorable mention since for very cheap we can dump hefty attackers onto a battlefield where Moat has held back all other creatures. As seen in previous versions of Miracles, Entreat can help turn the corner real quick and close a game out fast.
Countermagic
There is not very much to report on here with a fairly standard countermagic suite.Force of Will is the police of Legacy ensuring that turn-one combo decks are kept in line. Counterspell is a great catch all spell for just two blue mana. Spell Pierce is a cheap way to interact with non creature spells on the stack and can help win counter wars. And Spell Snare is a great way to shut down a Stoneforge Mystic or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben before they need an answer on the board.
Removal
Swords to Plowshares should surprise no one as one of the cheapest and most efficient removal spells ever printed.
Path to Exile acts as Swords number five if you don’t include Snapcaster. Path does have the upside that with a weak clock like Snapcaster or Mishra’s Factory we aren’t putting ourselves up to three or four turns back.
Planeswalkers
Jace, the Mind Sculptor yet again makes his appearance as card advantage and control master. Even if he recently had his mind shattered by Nicol Bolas, I think he’ll do just fine for us.
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy though not appearing in this list could be something to consider for the future when Planeswalkers become Legendary and we can pair it with his older self. The mill plan though quite tilting for Justin Parnell may be a faster clock than we can otherwise implement. Worth it to note that Sphinx’s Tutelage would be a decent inclusion given our main goal of using Replenish to ensure it ends up in play and baby Jace would certainly play well with that.
Compulsion
Though not a Legacy staple Compulsion is here as a way to dig through our deck discarding lands to be replayed via Crucible of Worlds and enchantments to be replayed using Replenish. Not to mention that using the second ability sacrificing Compulsion allows us draw a card and return it to play once we are ready to Replenish our resources.
Sideboard
The sideboard is a mix of cards that not only synergize with Replenish, but also provide some trolling value.
Mana Tithe, if you are unfamiliar is a card that will throw you off and tilt you all at the same time. I used to sideboard this in Death and Taxes and there are very few feelings in life better than catching your opponent off guard holding up a single Plains.
Aura of Silence and Seal of Cleansing are great on their own for answering artifacts and enchantments similar to Disenchant. Paired with Replenish we can easily get multiple uses out of these alongside having access to Standstill when we return them all. Seal of Removal is another decent option since it can come back into play off Replenish and be used under a Standstill if our opponent was able to sneak a creature through.
Against creature-heavy matchups similar to Elves, Stoneblade, and Delver we have Council’s Judgment, Supreme Verdict, and an additional Path to Exile.
Surgical Extraction is my graveyard hate of choice since it pairs well with Snapcaster Mage unlike Rest in Peace. As I have stated in previous articles Surgical is not the best graveyard hate card but pointed at the correct cards and multiple times thanks to Snapcaster it can do the job just fine.
Initial Thoughts
I know that UW Landstill isn’t particularly a new archetype, but I wanted to try something new with the color combination and here is where we ended up. I believe at the very least that this deck should be a lot of fun and I will be taking it out this week for Tuesday night Legacy. I will be sure to tweet about my progress throughout the night so if you are interested in how the night goes, be sure to follow me (username below).
I wish you all happy brewing. If anyone has an idea for a brew that they would like to see, I will gladly take requests and challenges on twitter or in email at brewmesomespice@gmail.com.
Aaron Gazzaniga works part time at a game store and in his off time has been an avid magic player/brewer since 2003. Having begun in Odyssey Standard Block and always favoring control and prison style decks, we come to this moment in time where Aaron finally gets to talk about and share his ideas. If you want to contact Aaron tweet @aarongazzaniga