[Deck] UW(x) Landstill

[Hanni]

Comparing Elspeth to Humility or Wrath of God is like comparing Jace to Standstill or Ancestral Visions.

[rayaj]

Personally I see much less use in the format for Humility, because it really only deals with Emrakul and Progenitus, and even then they still have a creature on board to ping you or your walker. I'd rather have a sweeper in that slot or Elspeth, if you've played enough against aggro decks then you know that humility only serves to staunch the bleeding but not stop it. You really need Elspeth to generate tokens to chump or have Wrath/Firespout to clear the board. Right now I have one shackles in the main, but I'm thinking of going back to the wrath I had in that spot. Even if Wrath only hits one creature, if that creature is Thrun/Emrakul/Progenitus then it's more than worth it.

I've been running a 3 Jace/1 Elspeth split and I love it, I hardly need more than one Elspeth; if she doesn't show up I can still win, but when she does show up she can tilt the scales far in your favor and put you on the aggro plan (3-4 turn clock) instead of the fateseal plan (6 turn clock if you don't have to brainstorm/bounce). Also, if you ever get her ult to go off it is such a house, most decks can't handle it. Having invincible factories (outside of exile effects) is just crippling to any opponent, not mentioning the psychological effects of having essentially all your permanents be indestructible.

[Piceli89]

What about moving Clique maindeck? She's been amazing today in my build with Ancestral Visions (which, on the contrary, have been the epytome of situationality); I guess they're even better with Standstill. EOT Cliquing their counter away and then dropping a Standstill is pretty good; beyond this, it's an instant duress that gives information, improves the combo matchup preboard, and shortens the clock (especially paired with Elspeth). It even Vindicates opponent Cliques. Everything Control wants.
I'm currently tweaking a red-splashed list that features a couple of MD Fire/ice because they're amazing in a metagame of Maverick, NO Rug, and Merfolk. I'm still undecided on a couple of points:

- Removal suite: 4 Stp, 1 Path to Exile, 2 Fire/Ice, 2 EE, 1 Shackles. No Wrath of God, at least maindeck. I've found out that it's way better to be proactive and increase the number of spot removals, in order either to gain tempo and stay open for the counters. The mass removal approach doesn't seem to work anymore, these days, considering either the size of the single threats (which makes it sufficient not to overextend for a ZOo Player, except when Elspeth is on the board), and the presence of planeswalkers. "Wrath. Ok, untap, Jace. Nice Counterspell in hand".
I'd like also to discuss a bit Path to Exile. The drawback may be costy these days. In a format where giving a free land drop may cause them to accelerate their Jace/Kotr/Batterskull, that may be pricy. I know it has the purpose to guarantee better Standstills costing only 1, but it seems a removal you don't want to cast in the early stages of the game.

- Counter suite: I absolutely love Counterspell, and judge Spell Snare mediocre. In a format where the cmc of the threats is extremely diversified, unconditionality is better, even at the expense of more mana. I want to be able to answer everything, minimizing situational cards in the md against an unknown field. Snare is one of those. I play 3 MM for the same reason- I like redundancy and squared lists, but it soon becomes quite situational. The only worth targets soon become their MM on my removals.
-Planeswalkers split: I want to second Hanni here when he says not to underestimate Elspeth. She plays both the defensive and the offensive role in a good way. Jace provides card advantage, she provides board endurance and stall. This is critical against aggro decks when light on removal or waiting for the EEs to come. Jace is better with Standstill, though. Bounce ability+SS is just bonkers.
I'm playing 3-1, contemplating whether or not to switch to 2-2.
-Colorless/Utility lands: I'd like to fit a 5th manland, but Colonnade is just that shitty. I'm already playing 1 Ruins and 1 Karakas, so Mutavault seems out of question. I also tend to prefer solid configurations (especially considering the 4 CSpells), even if I'm worried because packing SS without Wastelands or an adequate number of manlands is danngerous nowadays that Turternwald-ish lists are everywhere.
---------------------------
My list. Feedbacks are appreciated. I'm getting interested in the archetype, makes me feel like playing real, thought Magic.

4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Volcanic Island
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas

2 Vendilion Clique
3 Jace, Tms
1 Elspeth

4 Fow
4 Cspell
3 MM
2 Snare

4 Stp
1 Path to Exile
2 Fire/Ice

2 Engineered Explosives
1 Vedalken Shackles

4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill

Sb
3 Meddling Mage
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Faerie Macabre/2nd Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
3 Pyroblast
1 Wrath of God
1 Path to Exile/Fire-Ice/Shackles/2nd WoG
1 Mental Misstep/Open slot

[kiblast]

I don't know what you are talking about Spell Snare. I understand that you can find all kind of cc's, but almost every deck has a crucial cc2 drop. There are actually tier decks (blade variants) based on a 2cc drop.Also if you misstep their vial, Snare counters an insane amount of Merfolks. I'm not sure about cutting it (even partially).

Yesterday I attended a 45 players tournament.

R1: Aggroloam RGB: win 2-0. I actually controlled the game since turn 1 till Jace's fatality, in both games.

R2: Landeed: win 2-1 g1 he's better under standstill by seeing 3 Wastelands and 3 Factories in a row ( I played 6 manlands).G2 and G3 I show him the importance of playing Cliques and splashing red for Pyroblasts.

R3: Goblin mono R: WTF. He wins 2-0. g1 he has the nuts play with turn 2 SGC. G2 I sword/Wrath/Firesput/EE 17 dudes ( I actually checked, I'm not joking) he drops 25.

R4: Goblin mono R: Fuck. There are 4 goblins out of 45 players, I play against 2 of them. 2-0 for him.

Again, my matchups against swarm aggro/tribal are awful. I continue loosing to merfolk and goblins even if I played 4 Stp, 3 EE, 2 Wraths maindeck and 2 Firespout in sb.

[Piceli89]

I know most of the Legacy tiers (not the whole, because stuff like Hive Mind and Dredge don't) have crucial cc2 drops, but you should judge also basing on which are these threats.
Lately I've found out that most of the spells countered by Spell Snare can be managed in other ways, with the benefit of increasing catch-all spells and decreasing the situational ones. Considering the actual tiers, we have:
-Stoneforge Mystic;
-Dark Confidant;
-Tarmogoyf;
-Qasali Pridemage;
-Lord of Atlantis, Silvergill adept, Coralhelm Commander.

In all these cases, running more than 4 spot removals benefits the Standstill plan, since you can comfortably remove them EOT and then drop SS. No one of these is a must counter, and can be sent to farm easily.

If you Stp/Path/(F-I) Stoneforge, you'll allow the card advantage but leave them with a dead piece in hand. If it's Batterskull, the game must be dragged onto long distance to make it effective-but Landstill has tons of ways to deal with it.
Dark confidant is a must remove, this is true. This is as easily achieved as the case above; and still, decks running Confidant are slightly decreasing nowadays.
Qasali Pridemage is quite uneffective against this deck, considering the only worth target is the singleton Vedalken Shackles or the Crucible. EE can be popped in response, Factories aren't activated with it on the board.

Tarmogoyf is just a big beatstick that doesn't provide any significative advantage over beating, thus it can be taken care in a second moment not wasting the removal immediately. Spell Snare has become half effective in countering TGoyfs not just for Mental Misstep, but for GSZ @3 coming both from Zoo and NORug.

Merfolks are dealt with stalling the board and catching them into EEs and post-sideboard gunshots. By the way, running Firespout is a mistake because it's costy, slow, and bites the dust easily from the most played card by that deck: paymorel counters, Spell Pierce included. The best card against them remains Grim Lavamancer, paired with lots of spot removals, 2-3 EE and a Crucible of Worlds to keep the manlands on and having a defensive engine (and stabilizing the manabase on the long run). Winning against Merfolks through Wrath of God is conceptually wrong and practically undoable- at least, against good players.

The only juicy cc2 targets in the format that Landstill has to stop are Hymn to Tourach, Sylvan Library and Infernal Tutor. The first hurts, but it's fired by 2 single archetypes as of now that both suffer a Standstill deck. These are Junk and Team America. The first is just prone to a well-timed Standstill, the second is pretty low on threats and gets chopped with a grip of suboptimal cards if you manage to bypass the first turns manadenial and chain card advantage.

I'll admit that Spell Snare gives a significative help in handling Sylvan Library; that must not resolve. Still, you play 2-3 copies of EE, and 4 Forces. This isn't a valid argument, but at least you're not totally cold to it.

Infernal Tutor is just a card of a process where what you have to stop is the engine, not the output. Mental Misstep, Force and Counterspell are all very valid solutions to Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual. Moreover, 2 maindeck Cliques are a fantastic Storm hoser that not only compensate, but even provide more benefits than Spell Snare in that matchup.

I was forgetting enemies Standstills; those can be fought with deckbuilding (by running 6+ manlands), cleverness (breaking it eot when he has 7 cards, and so on), and a solid dose of topdecking skills.

-------------------

Now, let's move onto the real spells that Landstill has to stop. In the current metagame, you're likely to face:

- Jace, the Mind sculptor, either coming before of after ours.
- Natural Order.
- Vendilion Clique, freeing the way for Natural Order or Jace.
- Show and Tell, bringing Emrakul or Hive Mind.
- Crucible of Worlds and Wasteland, played by the majority of UW Landstill-ish Blade lists.
- Choke.
[-Dread Return]

All of these pose serious threat to the deck. All of these have to be stopped, or the game can be lost in a row. All of these do not have a cost of 2. Against all of these cards, which are the crucial cornerstones of a game when you drag if for the long distance, Spell Snare remains stuck in the hand and does nothing but pitching to Force of Will.
Changing the countersuite configuration into 4 Counterspell and 2 Vendilion Cliques just helps a lot in dealing with the aforementioned cards, and brings marginal gains like increasing the race; you're given a threat that does damage against combo decks before they wait 2 years to sculpt their hand, an instant Duress that gives you information about what to counter or not (critical against Stax, Enchantress, the mirror, Stoneblade), where to use removals, when to wait to maximize Explosives; increases the number of answers to Natural Order from 2 to 4 maindeck (if you run 2 Wrath of God, I don't); Vindicates opponents Cliques; scrambles the race in beating for 3 at a turn; steals Batterskull; pops Bridges unexpectedly; becomes a real short clock paired with Elspeth; becomes a serious disruption engine with Karakas.
Clique is just that good, even if she would have to eat Stp immediately. She's so good that I think Legacy was given a new standard of "best creature".


EDIT: Now it came into my mind that Hanni had had a similar discussion with someone else because he cut Spell Snares completely. Perhaps the deck was Countertop Superfriends or such, but if my memory doesn't deceive me, his argumentations for the cut resembled mine.

[gustha]

@Picelli: while I don't totally defend your choiche, I've always stated that in landstill card slots are really tight, and you have to focus on what you want to remove with removal spells and what you want to counter because you can't remove. Now, which direction do we want to go?

"speedstill" approach, if still exist, was simple: remove remove remove win via jace CA which draw into more removal etc. Now, as I see, there are two paths atm: 1) heavy counter 2) heavy removal

In this configuration, 4 snares are mandatory: you want to counter nearly every single spell your opponent plays. He focuses on curving? We focus on destroying its curve.

Now, Piceli's list seems to go in another direction, heavy removal's one. He is totally right that he barely needs spell snares in his list. More removals will simply do, and snare also gets hit by misstep, plus GSZ make it worse. I'd make some changes, though.

4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Volcanic Island
1 Plateau
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
1 Karakas
(you miss 3 lands, I suppose 3 islands, and still you're on 22, a bit low I think, go to 23, with tolaria west and just a basic plains)

3 Vendilion Clique
4 Jace, Tms
1 Elspeth//Ajani Vengeant

4 Fow
4 Cspell
4 MM

4 Stp
2 Path to exile (Bolt)

1 Engineered Explosives
2 Vedalken Shackles

4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill // Ancestral Vision

--- I think this is more straightforward, not sold on the EE, could be disk.

3 Meddling Mage
3 Surgical Extraction
3 kitchen finks // 2 finks + 3rd wrath
4 Pyroblast // 3 + crucible
2 Wrath of God

[Piceli89]

Hey Gustha, thanks for the feedback. I understand your point, and yes, that's the concept I want to apply to Landstill. I don't seem to be happy with the heavy-counter lists, because I open hands that are clogged with them or find myself in unhappy situations with a hand full of blue and a resolved threat beating me. I want to find a good balance between stack control and board control; I'd tend to maximize the spot removals and run 3, 4 sweepers/steal effect.
I'd still run 2 Vendilion and 4 Planeswalkers though; I feel this is the right quantity, you don't want them to overload your hand.

This is the list I'm tweaking at the moment:

23 lands- yes, there are 3 Islands and 1 Plains. Since I'm tempted to fit a single Crucible, I'm considering whether or not to change Ruins and a Colonnade/fifth manland for a Wasteland; but I want to build my manabase and always have enough colored mana for CSpell and Shackles (which I'm in love with), so I'd stick to:

7 fetches
5 dual lands (undecided on Plateau)
4 Factories
1 Ruins
1 Karakas
1 5th manland/ Glacial Fortress- worth it? It was there just to have a dual that bypasses Choke, but it doesn't love Shackles.
4 basics

Threats (6)

2 Vendilion Clique
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth

Removals (6)

4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Path to Exile

Board control (4)

2 Engineered Explosives
2 Vedalken Shackles

Stack control (12)

4 MM
4 Cspell
4 Fow

Card quality/CA (8)

4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill

I'm missing 1 card. It could be a single Elspeth, or the single Crucible-even if I'm skeleptical about it without Wasteland, it may be crucial in a metagame of UW Stoneblades. It's hell slow, though, so I might choose the 3rd Elspeth to accomplish a more straightforward "reach 4 mana, close the game" plan.
I dislike Wrath of God; after some games, I seldom managed to at least 2x1 with it, and I was running just 4 Swords to plowshares (it was a previous build with Ancestral Vision). EEs and spot removals accomplish the same job without forcing you to tap out entirely.
I find it really good only against Progenitus and Emrakul, both of which come from another spell. They're clunky against everything else; even against NORug, after sideboard they're not worth coming in because he'll likely switched NOs with Jace.
I might leave one in the sideboard, even if it seems randomic.

That's what I planned to be my 15:

3 Meddling Mage
3 Pyroblasts
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
1 Wrath of God
2 Grim Lavamancer

Given Lavamancer couldn't be that great with only 2 (non-basic) lands producing red, and since they were there to shore the Merfolk/Maverick matchup, I could think cutting them or the Pierces (which are good against NORug and Show and Tell decks, though) for a sideboard Crucible and something else. Finks are a good suggestion, but they'd serve only as a reinforcement against pure aggro or burn. I'm pretty well positioned against the first (I'm referring to Zoo and a bit to Big Zoo), and I'd tend to ignore the second, or to switch to a more aggressive hate-bears+Elspeth+cheap counters plan against it.

Enlighten me with your Landstill knowledge, Master ^^

[GGoober]

Just wanted to add to Spell Snares that the better builds of Landstill that capitalize the power of Snares are the very list that focus on dominating the early game (which is primarily not a big goal for control decks).

what I mean by dominating the early game isn't winning on turn 2-4, but in a Landstill/control-player's context, it means that being able to survive any threat your opponent puts out in the early game and having a slight if not superior advantage after the early game.

Spell Snare is incredible at doing this, in the right list, in the right meta. Take for instance a heavy 2cmc-bomb meta, or simply, the old Speedstill approach. Your goal was to use Spell Snares/Mental Misstep to gain the edge. Every time your opponent taps out for 2, you are tapping 1 at instant speed to remove a threat. When they tap out for 3 to play that KotR, you are tapping 1 at instant speed to play StP. The real power of Spell Snare in the right meta is pretty simple. It not only answers the 2cmc bombs that people play, but it opens up for mana efficiency for a deck that is deprived of brokeness. You will gain some slight advantage, which puts you ahead (usually resolving Jace/Elspeth while having mana open to protect them).

Similarly, this is the reason why 4 StP + 3-4 PtE MD lists also work, although I'm personally not a fan of those lists.

[gustha]

The concept behind snare is whole lot different now than it was when snare was first printed and brought to landstill. The goal there was to survive through the early game and then your opponent finished the gas: you began to play.

Now this is not true anymore. Even aggressive decks became more resilient in the mid-late game, aggroncontrol too. We can' buy time just to buy time, that's simply delaying our death, not winning! The goal is to protect jace and win. Period. How do you do this? Via counters? Via sweepers?

@Piceli: LOL! Too bad I don't play landstill anymore, and instead switched to play NO RUG or... well, simply not playing. I don't have enough time, and when I play I don't want to get the unpleasant feeling that, whatever my opponent does, I'm always a step behind!
To put it down very simply, I consider an error playing less than 4 jaces. Jaces is your main wincondition. If I were to cut a walker, I'd cut elspeth instead. Ajani vengeant is much better in combination with vedalken shackles, as well.

As for the color, i don't know if reb's worth making issues with the manabase. Straight UW might work, spell pierces are good vs lots of decks (from combo to discard), reb's good against s&t decks but meh. You have lots of counters. The point isn't having lots of counters but lots of cards. In fact I was considering cutting brainstorms for AV, having a total of 8 draw spells (didn't remember the name of the planeswalker control experiment we did long time ago). Given the fact that I consider an error playing less than 4 jace, I'm fine with 3 cliques to protect it. Cliques not only protect jace from counters, but steals artifacts from SFM too, and it's pretty darn good in combo with karakas.

wastelands: not a fan of those. but a singleton dust bowl may find place.
i'm currently toying with this in my spare time:


4 Standstill
4 Brainstorm -> (Ancestral Vision?)
2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Mental Misstep
4 Force of Will
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Path to Exile
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Counterspell
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
3 Tundra
4 Island
1 Plains
3 Faerie Conclave
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Dust Bowl
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Karakas
1 Tolaria West

Edit: lol, this screams speedstill!!!! cc3 is fine, +1 makes CA, -2 protects herself, ultimate is a bomb. More suited for The Gate than for landstill maybe?

[Iron Buddha]

Spell Snare, Path to Exile, and Mental Misstep are competing for slots. The problem with Snare is that Aether Vial blanks it. PtE, on the other hand, is limited to creatures: it's a dead card against combo (Hive Mind, Storm, etc.) and control (creatureless control, etc.).

[The Treefolk Master]

4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Plains
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Faerie Conclave
1 Celestial Colonnade

4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor

4 Force of Will
4 Counterspell
3 Mental Misstep
3 Spell Snare

4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Path to Exile
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Wrath of God

SB, In General:
3 Meddling Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Wrath of God
1 Mental Misstep
1 Spell Snare
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Pithing Needle

I've been playing that list and I've got to say that I'm extremely happy with it. I think I'll take it to a big tournament we're having next Saturday.

The Faerie Conclaves are, however, a bit underwhelming. I did try cutting them for 2 Creeping Tar Pits and 1 extra U. Sea, but is was more of the same. Any ideas?

I've also dropped the Colonnade, and I'm tinkering with either A. Ruins or Dust Bowl, any thoughts?

If I add Dust Bowl, I also want a Crucible in. I tested the Crucible a bit and it was quite good, though I did not get Dust Bowl into play at the same time. Getting the CoW in is, however, a bit tricky, as the list is really tight. I ultimately dropped 1 Path to try the Crucible.

What do you think of this sideboard:

3 Peacekeeper
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Disenchant
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Wrath of God (maybe drop 1 Peacekeeper for another wrath, making 3 Wraths between MD and SB. I might be a tad excessive though).
2 Meddling Mage or 2 Pithing Needle (undecided yet, needles seem a bit more versatile at first sight, but I've got to test them).

[The Treefolk Master]

Sorry for DP, but does anyone have access to the list played by John Winters in the last SCG Open??? By looking at the coverage, it ran 1 Elspeth (or so said the commentators), and I saw 1 Academy Ruins (could maybe indicate he was running Explosives), Crucible of Worlds, Vedalken Shackles, and all the stuff you find in your regular Landstill.

I'll try the list I posted (well, Tacosnape did) above with the following changes:

-3 Faerie Conclave
+1 Island
+1 Plains/Karakas
+1 Dust Bowl/Academy Ruins (could also drop the Colonnade for either)

I also want to try -1 Path +1 Crucible.

Thoughts on adding Vedalken Shackles???

[C Rayz Walz]

if the mana base can support shackles that card is just amazing.

[Piceli89]

Can this deck survive without Mental Misstep, expecting Storm, Dredge and Goblins to come back rampant?

[RJM]

Can this deck survive without Mental Misstep, expecting Storm, Dredge and Goblins to come back rampant?

I'd say we can expect it to be dropped back down to about where it was prior to the printing of Misstep.

[RJM]

Can this deck survive without Mental Misstep, expecting Storm, Dredge and Goblins to come back rampant?

I'd say we can expect it to be dropped back down to about where it was prior to the printing of Misstep.

[Piceli89]

I'd say we can expect it to be dropped back down to about where it was prior to the printing of Misstep.

i.e.?

[Piceli89]

I'd say we can expect it to be dropped back down to about where it was prior to the printing of Misstep.

i.e.?

[DragoFireheart]

i.e.?

Back to the pit of the Tier 1.5/2/3 decks.

[Piceli89]

Back to the pit of the Tier 1.5/2/3 decks.

I'm not sold on this. Mental Misstep used to give a noticeble edge to Stoneblade in protecting t2 Mystic from Stp, but it also made Merfolk incredibly consistent and tempo-thriving. Landstill had its Missteps too, but the use and the boost gained by those decks was way more sick than the use LS had. MM was for us just a form of counter-control, not a way to protect a fast threat. Missing a Misstep in those scenarios-when you had to have it-meant you were already in trouble on turn 2.
No more Mental Misstep means you're more likely for your spot removals and Brainstorms to resolve, resulting in both slowing down them considerably and developing your board to reach the state where you can confidently drop your cc3 bombs/ cc4 Planeswalkers.
Of course Daze still exists, in fact I'm not claiming Merfolk to be a positive matchup after the ban. Still, a dedicated sideboard (I'm thinking about 1-2 Path to Exiles, a couple of Firespouts and 3 pyroblasts, along with Crucible+Shackles) should now be good to stop them. Wrath of God may result in being either stellar or shitty depending on the gamestate.

I don't see Stoneblade being a real threat again. If they're going to pack the Countertop suite, they're essentially giving away the advantage of playing Stoneforge Mystic. Why? To make it consistently protected, you have to assemple CBT, or CB at least before; this means you're slowing yourself down to reach a t3 Mystic, t4 activation. You're giving plenty of time for the aggro player to setup their board, to the Junk player to find a Vindicate or a discard spell, and to the control player to find responses, or ramp to Jace.
Of course they can try to go for a turn 2 Stoneforge, but I'm expecting them to slowly fade from Batterskull and incorporate it as a quasi-Enlightened Tutor that fits the cc2 CB curve in Thopter shells. Batterskull doesn't seem that reliable anymore, even tho' it will still see play. Stoneforge isn't that great under the perspective of having net a card at sorcery speed, if that card depends strictly on her.

Landstill has the advantage, now, of playing more linear games, where the critical turns (the first two) are more streamlined and the early-game defense is more safe. Of course Mental Misstep used to be a great tool for us too, but in exchange we now can count on safe Spell Snares and Stps /Path to Exiles (for those running it). This improves Standstill's critical requirements of an empty board, which is generally good against the metagame.Vial aggro, Storm combo and Dredge will be the problematic matchups, as they always used to be. Standstill was and will be a dead card, here. The first, though, can be beaten with tight play and the right anti-aggro configuration; the second and the third can be marginally improved pre-board with minor tweaks (Vendilion Clique maindeck), but are still horrible (they were even with Misstep).

Despites this, landstill has to me the potential to thrive on a new metagame where Counterbalance and Zoo are going to surge again given Storm Combo and Merfolk are coming back as the pivotal archetypes.
Unlike Counterbalance, LS has the potential to just ignore GSZ, because its advantage engine revolve around card draw and the relevant permanents, Elspeth and Jace, hard to deal with. The only advantage of running Counterbalance is to have a solution against recurring Punishing Fire, but that can be dealt with Wasteland. It's way less a permanent control and more a tempo one; plus, it can solve the Thrun problem by running Wrath of God.
Against CB itself, Landstill has relatively easy life as soon as it reaches 3-4 mana and can begin to drop bombs or just reach EE+Academy Ruins. Plus, having 3 Spell Snares helps a lot. They also just can't fight under a Standstill.
----------------------

I'm not claiming Landstill to become a tier1. It won't, in fact, just because Storm and Dredge exist and are going to be significant again, and the metagame in 2011 is too varied for pure control to be a frontline contender.
I'm just skeleptical about the advantages of running Countertop instead of Landstill, which is more suited to win against midrange decks (I'm also refering to Junk, which will come back).
Counterbalance already had serious weaknesses and was getting weaker and weaker, so I'm not expecting it to return as the premier form of control. Too many variables have been added to the mix (Vial, Thrun, Zenith, manlands, Pyroblasts, Clique, Order) to make it reliable as it used to be, say, in 2010.

edit: to make it clear, this is what I'm testing now.

4 Strand
3 Tarn
3 Island
1 Plains
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
4 Factories
2 Wasteland
1 Ruins
1 Karakas

4 Force of Will
3 Spell Snare
3 Counterspell
2 Vendilion Clique

4 Brainstorm
3 Standstill
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Swords to Plowshares
2 EE
1 Wrath of God
1 Crucible
1 Shackles
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Elspeth/1 + 3rd EE
----------------------------

1 Pyroblast
1 REB
2 Spell Pierce

3 Meddling Mage
1 E. Canonist

1 Path to Exile (aiming to cut it)
1 Firespout
1 Wrath of God

2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt

1 Disenchant/Serenity/Energy Flux/Negate



In early tests it wins pretty handily against any form of Zoo, Bant, CB and UW SFM-based decks. Merfolk is hard but doable. Shackles and Crucibles are godly here. It also rips it against NORug, but well, without Misstep that's not very difficult.