Sometimes the strongest play in Magic is leaving your mana open and waiting.

Landstill is a blue-white control deck built for players who enjoy answering threats, planning ahead, and choosing their moment. Its signature trick is making progress on the battlefield while a spell called [[Standstill]] encourages both players to think carefully before casting anything.

How Landstill wins

First, keep the game under control. [[Counterspell]] and [[Mana Leak]] interfere with important spells. [[Swords to Plowshares]] answers individual creatures, while [[Wrath of God]] can clear a crowded battlefield.

Then let your lands get involved. [[Mishra's Factory]] and [[Faerie Conclave]] can become creatures through activated abilities. Activating a land is not casting a spell, so those abilities do not trigger Standstill.

That distinction matters. When someone casts a spell under Standstill, its ability causes it to be sacrificed and gives that player’s opponents three cards. If your lands are already threatening damage, your opponent may be the one who has to break the standoff.

More than one way to finish

[[Decree of Justice]] gives you another useful option. Cycling it is an activated ability rather than a spell, and its cycling trigger can create Soldier tokens if you pay the additional mana. That means it can develop your battlefield without casting a spell through Standstill.

[[Morphling]] offers another finishing threat once you have the mana to support it. Meanwhile, [[Fact or Fiction]] and [[Impulse]] help you find the cards you need to reach that stage of the game.

This is a deck that wants its early decisions to leave it in a stronger position several turns later.

Your first game

Do not cast Standstill simply because you have two mana available. Ask who benefits if neither player casts another spell. If the opponent already has the better battlefield and can attack freely, you may have to break your own Standstill.

Keep an opening hand with functional blue and white mana and useful early interaction. Your deck has expensive plays, but surviving long enough to use them comes first.

You also do not need to counter every spell. Save answers for threats that matter to your plan, and consider whether a creature can be handled more efficiently with removal later.

One card deserves extra attention: [[Humility]] affects your creatures too. Do not assume Morphling will keep its abilities while Humility is on the battlefield. Ask for help with unfamiliar interactions before making a play around them.

Sideboard options

[[Hydroblast]] and [[Circle of Protection: Red]] help against red strategies. [[Meddling Mage]] and [[Exalted Angel]] offer additional creature options, while [[Teferi's Response]] can punish an opponent for targeting one of your lands.

Gamelandia’s Landstill loaner decklist

[deck title="Landstill | Gamelandia Premodern Loaner"]

Main deck
4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Coastal Tower
4 Counterspell
3 Decree of Justice
1 Disenchant
1 Dust Bowl
3 Fact or Fiction
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Flooded Strand
1 Humility
4 Impulse
4 Island
4 Mana Leak
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Morphling
1 Phyrexian Furnace
4 Plains
1 Powder Keg
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Skycloud Expanse
3 Standstill
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Wrath of God

Sideboard
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Cleansing Meditation
1 Cursed Totem
2 Exalted Angel
1 Hibernation
2 Hydroblast
2 Meddling Mage
1 Powder Keg
2 Teferi's Response

[/deck]

Take your time. Make it count.

If you enjoy patient games and thoughtful decisions, ask about borrowing Landstill at Gamelandia’s Wednesday Premodern events in Palo Alto. Loaner decks are subject to availability.

See upcoming events and register.