Monday 23 November 2015

UG Stasis


Magic has always been known for its incredible art. What many people don’t know however, is that the majority of the game’s early artwork was done by students from the nearby university. In fact, one of the only pieces done by an established artist was also one of the game’s most confusing. Have you guessed which card we’re talking about yet? Oh right, the title gave it away. Alright fine, yada yada yada, let’s talk about UG Stasis.

When it comes to Stasis decks, the idea is to h̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶n̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶g̶g̶r̶e̶s̶s̶i̶v̶e̶  slow the game down so you control the board, eventually winning via your win conditions (in this case, creatures). I decided to go with a UG build because the colours offer so many cards that compliment the main component – Stasis. So let’s talk about the card, shall we? Despite its effect being ultra simple, it results in some very complicated lines of play. “Players skip their untap steps.” Just think about that.

Alright, so if the effect is static and effects both players, then how the heck do you get around it? I decided to include several different ways, including a card that was meant to fight Stasis – Quirion Ranger. The card is seriously awesome in this deck, as it allows you to pay the U mana for Stasis in conjunction with Tropical Island, while untapping your Drakes or Spirit for the beat down.

Aside from creatures, the deck also contains several spells that work to give you an advantage in a Stasis-ized world. Exploration allows you to play around the inherent drawback of having Stasis on the board, as it means you can sort of get around the effect. Combining it with cards such as Daze and Thwart help you not run out of land to play each turn. Another combination is Instill Energy and Birds of Paradise, which provides a U each turn without using your land drops. And then of course there’s Chain of Vapor on Stasis during your opponent’s turn – one of the best ways to play the deck and lose friends at the same time.

I’m not even going to try to tell you about every interaction the deck has, because there are a LOT of them. I do want to mention however, that UG Stasis requires a lot of practice and patience. I also recommend that you re-think the sideboard, as I wanted to post the deck today and thus put very little time/effort into it.  With that being said, I would be very interested to hear what you all decide to use. Happy Brewing!



UG Stasis

Land

4 Tropical Island
1 Forest
8 Island
9 Fetchlands

Total: 22

Creatures

4 Quirion Ranger
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Sea Drake
1 Cloud Spirit

Total: 13

Spells

4 Stasis
4 Exploration
3 Instill Energy
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Thwart

Total: 25

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Ensnare
3 Misdirection
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Tidal Surge

Monday 9 November 2015

English Breakfast


Power or originality? The debate you don’t hear often enough when it comes to deck building. This was the question I had to ask myself when it came to writing about today’s list. “Why?” you might ask. Well, the deck actually has a couple of iterations that are quite different. In the end however, I decided to go with the more original build because it uses some engines that I haven’t written about before. And so, without further adieu, let us dive right into an English Breakfast!

The first thing I want to mention is that when played correctly, English Breakfast actually has some deception to it, which you can use to your advantage. In your first couple of turns, people can actually mistake it for a Psychatog deck, a Reanimator deck or even a Merfolk deck. If they think the latter however, then they are probably new to the format, so go easy on them okay?

I mentioned some unique engines in this deck, which I am now going to talk about! The first one is Tortured Existence; a pretty obscure card that has a lot of potential. In fact, Existence can be used both offensively and defensively in the right type of deck (hint: this is the right type of deck). How? When you combine it with the other unique engine/win con of English Breakfast: Volrath’s Shapehifter. Tortured Existence not only helps ensure which creature is on the top of the library for Shapeshifter, but it can also help save them from cards such as Tormod’s Crypt or Cremate.

How does it win? Technically, there are several different ways to win due to all of the 1-ofs in the deck. When it comes down to it however, I would say the main win conditions are Volrath’s Shapeshifter and/or Psychatog in a pinch. If you want to get fancy though – go for the Phage! Shapeshifter on Phage is just an awesome way to win.

The rest of the cards and their strategies should be pretty self explanatory, so I won’t be going into them. I do want to mention that there are lots of different options for Shapeshifter targets however. And there you have it. Quite the deck, eh? One of my favourite things about writing these articles is reading through various deck builds and analyzing the different strategies amongst them. While I decided to write about this version of English Breakfast, that doesn’t mean I won’t write about others in the future. I also encourage everyone to do their own research and find out for themselves’ which version is right for them. Or heck, why not create your own? Happy Brewing!



English Breakfast

Land

4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
4 Cephalid Coliseum
4 Underground River
2 Island
1 Swamp


Total: 23

Creatures

4 Hapless Researcher
4 Psychatog
4 Volrath’s Shapeshifter
4 Merfolk Looter
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Phage the Untouchable
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Wonder
1 Iridescent Angel
1 Reya Dawnbringer

Total: 22

Spells

4 Tortured Existence
3 Buried Alive
4 Careful Study
4 Brainstorm

Total: 15

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Force of Will
3 Innocent Blood