MTG Salvation

Dreadstill is the deck that is currently eating the New England Legacy meta alive, It was created by Rodney Hannigan (he is unregistered) and the rest of my Team (Team Hammafist) [I'm aware that there is a Dreadnought deck primer, but this deck's only real similarity is that it runs stifle/nought other wise it has no business being in that thread]




This is a standard Mono U List but Dreadstill really can splash for any color(s).

[B]Card explanations:[/B]

[B]Mana Base:[/B] Pretty simple concept here. Basic Islands + Fetchlands are savage with Braintrain/Top. Also Wastelands tend to be a valid way to disrupt the oponents mana base and help immensely under Standstill. The factories are also in here to chump random **** like Mongoose and abuse the Standstills as well. Duel is in here only for the sole purpose of EE for 2 in case you need to kill a Goyf or something.
[B]Nought[/B]-Perhaps the most undercosted beater in the game next to Goyf. This is absolutely the heart and soul of this deck and he has the potential to just sometimes pull that "oops i win" game because he is so explosive.
[B]Trinket Mage-[/B] Utility here is the key to this guy...He searches out Nought...EE, Pithing Needle, AND Top. He's helped in so many matches and for sure beat if he needs to.
[B]Braintrain-[/B] Perhaps the most broken blue card in the format. Combine it with Trinket Mages and Fetchies and it's just nutty.
[B]Daze-[/B] This card is a beating...With Standstill there's so many ways to abuse this card ripping 3 cards off the deck of your deck and Dazing your oponents goyf or Confidant.
[B]Force of Will-[/B] No explanation needed. Sheer brokeness.
[B]Stifle-[/B] Combo's with Nought...Counters so many random spells abilities like storm, Deed, EE, Wasteland. It's so versatile it's incredible.
[B]Counterbalance-[/B] Most of the format ranges between 1-3 mana costing things so this card combined with Top can surely shut down the oponent.
[B]Sensei's Divining top-[/B] I've won games just using this to dig for threats. It's wonderful when both you and oponent are in topdeck mode you will almost surely win. Counterbalance+this = game most of the time.
[B]Pithing Needle-[/B] Answers so much stuff and can be grabbed with Trinket.
[B]Standstill-[/B] This card is an absolute beating...most games i draw this in my opening hand I win.
[B]Spell Snare-[/B] 1 Mana counters Goyf and Confidant/Counterbalance. Pretty good if you ask me.
[B]Trickbind-[/B] Savage tech against control decks that aren't expecting it xP
[B]EE-[/B] Blows up chalice, Goyf, also alot of random other stuff like Vial.

[B]Sideboard:[/B] varies depending on the meta...The Chills obviously help against Goyf sligh/Dragon Stompy and Needles are good against most decks. Crypts are there for the Ichorid matchup. Truths come in against alot of decks, mainly ETW type decks. And finally B2B helps out alot against alot of decks packing alot of nonbasics IE 43 Lands, Landstill etc.



[B]Matchup Analysis:[/B]

[B]Goblins [/B]Preboard 50/50- Counter first turn Lackey no matter what.Try to dig for a fast Nought as quickly as you can via Top/Brainstorms.. If you resolved a nought you have a fairly high chance to win game one due to their lack of MD answers.
Postboard 45/55- Not much changes here you bring in needles and they bring in therapies and Grips sometimes so it can get a bit tougher. Overall this is not a very fun MU.
[Side- -2 Standstill, -2 Counterbalance +2 Pithing Needle +2 Echoing Truth]

[B]Threshold[/B] Preboard 55/45- You have all the same countershell they do..except a much more potent kill condition in Nought. Standstills are a beating against them especially since they are forced to pop it as long as you keep them Goyfless. You will almost always have a bigger handsize then them a fairly good percentage of the time.
Postboard 50/50- They bring in Grips so it can be a bit tougher here. Just play the control role here resolve a Counterbalance if you can. Also try to waste/deny their green sources if possible. The white splash for Meddling Mage will definetally help a ton.
[Side, -2 Trinket Mage, -1 Standstill, -1 Spell Snare, -1 Pithing Needle, +3 Krosan Grip, +2 Threads]

[B]DragonStompy[/B] Preboard 50/50- Yup, me and Tom have done excessive testing here and found this to be right down the wire. If he gets off 3sphere he will normally give you a run for your money. Try to resolve a Dreadnought against them quickly. Also don't worry about Chalice too much for the most part we can still control them via Dazes/Forces and we still have Trinket for EE.
Postboard 60/40- You bring in Chills and Echoing Truths/Grips to hose down their lock conditions and kill conditions. It makes it a bit easier to kill with Nought.
[Side, -3 Counterbalance, -2 Spell Snare, +2 Echoing Truth +3 Chill]

[B]Ichorid [/B]Preboard 50/50- You can put them on a rediculously fast clock and can also take away their Bridges via Wasteland/Mishra's and also just playing a nought. They have the advantage of making most of your Counterspells irrelevant and going Combo frenzy with Ichorid and Bridge.
PostBoard 55/45- You get more Crypts and Echoing Truths for their Ichorid Tokens. Trinket Mage to fetch out the Crypts.
[Side, -4 Standstill -2 Spell snare +2 Echoing Truth +3 Tormod's Crypt +1 Pithing Needle]

[B]TES [/B]Preboard 70/30- Daze, FoW, Spell Snare, Stifle and Standstills to replenish hand. Definetally don't let a Chant Resolve. Counterbalance is probally your MVP here.
Postboard 70/30- You bring in chills to hose down their random kill conds and excell like ETW and Rite of Flame. Also Echoing Truth kills them when they combo off with ETW. Makes it very hard for them to recover from this.
[Side, -1 Spell Snare -2 Trinket Mage, -1 Pithing Needle, +2 Chill +2 Echoing Truth]

[B]The Rock[/B] Preboard 35/65- Hate to say this but this is the decks worst matchup. Their entire decks answers the purpose of what we're trying to do. Try to control them via Standstill before the get a Goyf online. Swords, Deed, Vindicate, Thoughtseize, Cabal Therapy are all a beating. I've found Counterbalance to help a bit here.
PostBoard 30/70 It actually gets worse from here...they bring in Grips just to make it even harder. Try to just abuse Standstill.
[Side, -1 Spell Snare, -1 Standstill, -1 Trinket, -1 Daze, +2 Threads +1 Needle +1 Echoing Truth]

[B]Goyf Sligh[/B] Preboard 75/25- They have no MD answers to Nought and you can normally counter their relevant spells and swing for Nought for win.
Postboard 70/30- You get Chills now slows them down horrible. This one probally one of the decks strongest MUs.
[Side- -1 Trinket Mage, -1 Spell Snare -2 Standstill +3 Chills +1 Threads]

[B]Suicide Black[/B] Preboard 50/50- If you resolve a Counterbalance you will usually win this. It can get hard if they resolve a Confidant so don't let that happen.
Postboard 50/50- Not much changes here really. Your main objective is to resolve a Counterbalance and hope to control them and counter most of their spells...Standstills are your friend in this matchup
[Side- -1 Snare, -1 Trinket +2 Threads of Disloyalty]

[B]Landstill [/B]Preboard 45/55-This matchup is a close one. With Wastelands+Mishra's it's normally hard for either player to abuse Standstill evenciently. They have alot of answers to Nought and It's sometimes very hard to get one to stick.
Postboard 60/40- B2B resolved will usually spell the end for them. Try to resolve it as hard as you can. Also Needles for their Deeds, EE, Manlands helps a ton.
[Side- -2 Standstill, -1 Trinket Mage -2 Spell snare +3 Krosan Grip +1 Echoing Truth +1 Pithing Needle]

[B]AggroLoam[/B] Preboard 60/40- Though I've only played this matchup a couple of times can't say this matchup was all that difficult for me. For the most part you play the control roll against them and can normally win with Counterbalance/Dreadnought.
Postboard 60/40- You get Chills now and they get Krosan Grips so not much really changes. More testing needs to be done with this MU.
[Side- -2 Trinket Mage -1Pithing Needle -1 Daze +2 Chill +2 Threads]

[B]Survival [/B]Variants Preboard 55/45- They really only have one or two ways to deal with Dreadnought preboard via Burning Wish for red splash and Swords for white splash. For the most part try to utilize CB against them and be sure to hold brainstorms for their random discard.
Postboard 50/50- They bring in Grips and you side in extra Needles/Grip so this match can go either way depending on the draws.
[Side- -1 Snare, -1 Daze, -1 Trickbind, +1 Needle, +2 Threads]

[B]Tournament Results with Dreadstill:
Magic League Masters 11/11/07: 6th out of 110
4x Underground Sea Tournament Wareham, MA 12/29/07: 1st/2nd Split out of 25
Magic League Trial 2/20/08: 1st out of 62
4x Tarmogoyf Tournament Hadley, MA 3/8/08: 7th out of 40
$500 Pawtucket, RI 3/22/08: Top 4 Split out of 25
4x Volcanic Island Tournament Wareham, MA 4/12/08: 1st out of 32
4x Tarmogoyf Tournament Hadley, MA 4/19/08: 5th out of 31
Magic League Trial 4/22/08: 2nd out of 51
Nate Schlegel (Bane_Of_the_Living) 3rd out of 36 at Hadley, MA 5/24/08
[/B]1K Tournament Syracuse, NY 7/19/08: 5th out of 68
4x Tundra Tournament Hadley, MA 8/16/08: 3rd/4th out of 42
[B]
Some cards that simply weren't good enough to make the cut:
[/B]vision Charm, Fling, Academy Ruins, Mutavault, Seat of the Synod, Wipe Away, Rushing River, Mana Leak, Misdirection, Enlightened Tutor, and many many more.

[B]Typical Hands to mulligan/keep with Dreadstill-[/B]

[B]Hand:[/B] Trinket Magex2, Standstill, Spell Snare, Island, Dreadnought, Engineered Explosives(Mulligan) Simple put- This hand really without drawing a second source of mana won't be that explosive and having 2 Trinkets with Dreadnought already in hand hurts.

[B]Hand:[/B] Force of Will, Brainstorm, Counterbalance, Mishra's Factory, Island, Daze, Stifle(Keep)- Depending on what you draw with the Brainstorm can enable you such things as T2 Standstill or T2 Counterbalance with an Island. you also have a solid counter shell to back you up.

[B]Hand:[/B] Mishra's Factory x2, Sensei's Divining Top, Trinket Mage, Force of Will, Dreadnought, Spell Snare(Keep)- Use your top to dig for the proper blue source and you should be fine here~you have Force to survive a turn or two and if you get an Island you're all set.

[B]Hand:[/B] Island x4, Spell Snare, Mishra's Factory, Force of Will(Mulligan)- You would have to pray to get savage topdecks here since you've can't reliable rely on two counters. A more stable hand would suit you better.

[B]Hand:[/B] Counterbalance x2, Trinket Magex2, Force, Pithing Needle, Island(Mulligan) This hand contains alot of annoying duplicants and little to no mana.

Any ideas/suggestions are greatly appreciated and thank you for reading this primer. I hope more people start picking up on this deck because it can be great and explosive. Good luck and have fun. Any mod who would like to lock the N&D post would be greatly appreciated.