Standstill is a card that shifts in popularity in Legacy. When there are lots of aggressive decks in the format, Standstill is a horrible way to make sure that you stay behind. If everyone is trying to grind each other out with midrangey, cantrip-heavy Blue decks, Standstill is a great way to force your opponent to give you free cards. Over the years we've seen plenty of and takes on Standstill, but this week Heggie023 has an exciting build:
Blue-Red Standstill | Legacy | Heggie023, 5-0 Legacy League
- Creatures (4)
- 4 Snapcaster Mage
- Planeswalkers (2)
- 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
- Instants (27)
- 1 Abrade
- 1 Burst Lightning
- 1 Fire // Ice
- 1 Pyroblast
- 1 Sudden Shock
- 2 Counterspell
- 2 Spell Snare
- 3 Spell Pierce
- 3 Stifle
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Force of Will
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- Enchantments (3)
- 3 Standstill
- Lands (24)
- 1 Mountain
- 4 Island
- 1 Faerie Conclave
- 2 Polluted Delta
- 4 Mishra's Factory
- 4 Scalding Tarn
- 4 Volcanic Island
- 4 Wasteland
The idea behind Standstill decks is pretty straightforward. If you play a Standstill on an empty board you want to be advantaged if both players just sit and make land drops. The way that you do this is by using Wasteland, Mishra's Factory, and other spell-lands to punish your opponent.
Additionally, you want to pack your deck full of efficient interaction so that, when your opponent does break your Standstill, you can punish them by leveraging all of your extra cards to win the interaction, whatever it may be. One of the strengths of this bulid in particular is the density of one-mana interaction. Stifles, Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, Lightning Bolt, and multiple Elemental Blasts out of the sideboard - this deck is looking to maximize your ability to win counterspell fights that start on your end step and still have up interaction.
The reason that this is important is because one of the best ways to fight against Standstill is to wait until your opponent tries to go to their end step with eight cards in their hand. Then you cast a cheap instant and let them discard all their extra cards.
If you're looking to play a pure control deck in a world of Grixis Delver and Leovold, this seems like an interesting choice. You have lots of flexible, cheap Red and Blue interactive spells to fight fast, proactive decks, as well as a high land count and plenty of spell-lands to punish opponents who think they can out-land you under a Standstill.