Team Trios | Premodern | Stasis vs. Black Vise

At the Team Trios event at Hex & Company in the Upper West Side on May 9, 2026, I was in the Premodern seat.

Unfortunately for my teammates, Devin Reilly (Legacy seat; Cephalid Breakfast) and Louise Callanta (Pauper seat; I saw Augur of Bolas), I somehow sat in the all-powerful middle position during four of our five rounds of play. We were undoubtedly set up for success.

Fortunately for my teammates, both of whom are better players than I am, I played a better deck than either of them, despite my lack of Augur of Bolases: Stasis.

My build of Stasis was much different than that of good players. I'll share my list below, but if you want to hear a good Stasis player talk about the deck, then watch this:

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Scroll Rack Stasis by ForceofPhil

Sorceries (4)

4 Portent

Instants (22)

4 Chain of Vapor
4 Sapphire Charm
4 Fire//Ice //
2 Mana Short
4 Gush
4 Thwart

Enchantments (4)

4 Stasis

Artifacts (11)

4 Lotus Petal
1 Feldon's Cane
1 Black Vise
4 Scroll Rack
1 Tsabo's Web

Lands (19)

4 Flooded Strand
1 Forsaken City
14 Island

Sideboard

4 Misdirection
3 Ivory Tower
3 Hydroblast
2 Cursed Totem
2 Chill
1 Gaea's Blessing

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Black Vise by Richard Thomas

Black Vise Sucks

That's what I believe, but only because I'm trying to be a Stasis deck, not a Black Vise deck. Black Vise doesn't do anything to establish Stasis without the opponent's consent. It can incentivize them to play out cards to get under it, which can play into Stasis, but they control their behavior.

In the video above, Jacob Lee says something I found rather novel about this. He wouldn't leave home without an Upheaval in his list.

"I won't show up without Upheaval in my 60. I find that just as irresponsible as showing up to the airport without an I.D."

I have never liked Upheaval because it also doesn't help establish Stasis. He's not using Upheaval for that purpose, but rather to support Black Vise. Similarly, he pilots Stasis as a means to reach that combo rather than be the basis of the deck despite being its namesake.

"Use Stasis as a pseudo-Time Walk. On turn five, play it; a good player won't cast anything into Stasis. Sacrifice it on your next turn. Play a land and counter whatever is relevant, then Upheaval on turn seven."

Stasis functioning closer to Time Walk rather than Time Vault is not a line I ever practiced. It's brilliant and aligned with being a better Black Vise deck.

Scroll Rack by Heather Hudson

Scroll Rack Fucks

Playing more stock Stasis builds, I found that Impulse wasn't consistently finding Stasis sufficiently. Without the namesake of the deck, it's left to be a mid mono control deck that will be under too much pressure when Stasis is finally found.

I swapped to Scroll Rack for several reasons. The first is that I'm a Thwart truther. No less than four copies. To me, showing up with fewer would be as irresponsible as Jacob believes it is for Upheaval to be absent.

Between Gush and Thwart refilling a hand, Scroll Rack turns those Islands into action. Scroll Rack makes Thwart a draw spell in addition to a counterspell.

Scroll Rack's subtle power is also playing decoy. If Stasis is already on board, then Scroll Rack's job is complete. From there, Misdirection has a target to pivot Naturalize and Disenchant towards.

Misdirection by Paolo Parente

The Tournament

I don't know what my teammates played against because they never asked for my advice. They knew the correct line, which was not to mistakenly take the wrong line that I'd have confidently given them.

The results below are for my matches only. I don't recall which rounds we won or lost as a team because I'm a bad teammate. My teammates were great, and I'm sure they carried me. If they didn't, I'm sorry for the burden of carrying me. I won't change in the future.

Skirk Prospector by Doug Chaffee

Round One vs. Goblins | W

I established a quick Stasis and never let it up in either game. The Misdirection interaction mentioned above came up several times. The play pattern slaps and operates under an established Stasis.

The first game ended 40 turns before we stopped playing, but my opponent extended their hand when I cracked Feldon's Cane with zero cards left in my library.

Game two was the same as game one, except that Feldon's Cane off a Lotus Petal with an established Stasis was enough for the concession.

Feldon's Cane by Mark Tedin

Round Two vs. Mono Dreadnought | L

I learned a ton from this match, including my tech of Sapphire Charm as cantripping Swords to Plowshares is real. A creature phasing in happens at the beginning of the uptap step before a player uptaps. Without an untap step, the creature is phased out forever.

In turns of our deciding game three (both other matches drew), I had drawn Gaea's Blessing, which was a problem in the face of their Brain Freeze pivot. I found a Scroll Rack, but it was met by an Annul. My brain froze in the final turn of the game while staring at my Gaea's Blessing.

What this match taught me was:

Misdirection should be in the mainboard.
Some number of Foil should be in the 75.
Stasis against opposing Gush decks is soft, so Root Maze in the board might be the way forward.
Gaea's Blessing is a liability to draw, but it is a safety valve in the deck against Brain Freeze. With two copies, you can spend a Lotus Petal or Forsaken City to recycle a second copy.
- Additional Feldon's Canes might be a better alternative, as it is a proactive way to counter Brain Freeze. If a Feldon's Cane is on board, it functions as Seal of Brain Freeze.

Fact or Fiction by Terese Nielsen

Round Three vs. Standstill

At no point did I feel behind. I would cut Black Vise in the future, but having it in my list for this event allowed me to confidently 5-0 split my opponent's Fact or Fictions. When my opponent flipped five cards, I turned to Devin and said:

"This is an easy 5-0, right?"
"Huh?"
"This split. Easy 5-0, right?"
"For Fact or Fiction?"
"Yeah. 5-0 split, right? Easy."
"Do I know you?"

Split the pile 5-0 and won, easy.

Game two was similar, except they didn't have to spend time animating their creature lands to convert Swords to Plowshares on for more time against Black Vise.

Powder Keg by Dan Frazier

Round Four vs. Mono Dreadnought | L

I didn't learn anything new from this match that I hadn't discovered in the previous Dreadnought match, but leaning heavily on Powder Keg post-board rather than Fire//Ice mainboard is likely the direction to get Misdirection main.

Sapphire Charm is a star. I recognized that my build for this event was underprepared for Dreadnought, and by that I mean opposing Gushes, which enable playing through an established Stasis pretty well.

Lotus Petal by April Lee

Round Five vs. Standstill

Both games were decided in mulligans, and I missed many early land drops. There was, however, a turn when I chose not to play a Lotus Petal out and then lost to an onboard untapped Mishra's Factory dealing the final two points of damage, when I could have Iced it and had a leftover to pay for Stasis.

This was most definitely my sloppiest round with a bunch of minor mistakes that added up, but I felt good knowing that had I not made those mistakes, Standstill should be a favorable matchup, and sideboard slots can focus on solving other matchups.