Pointed Discussion

Penso che la Stasis sia una delle carte che ti permettono, a parte di allungare di molto le partite, ma anche di avere un controllo abbastanza alto del gioco.
Di contro ha sicuramente bisogno di un mazzo dedicato per funzionare come deve...
Combo semplice e immediata e' con Forsaken City, oppure con Garruk Wildspeaker.

this seems like a pretty English based thing to me but i'm probably just racist.
he's right tho

Just 4.5 out of 5 for being absolutely no fun for opponents.

According to the cards Borgomastro refered to, his comment was actually really quite useful.
But i also agree with thaviel, this is english based and intended to communicate accordantly, even if you don't get to choose the card in other languages since it's only available in english in this case.
Yet like this you can't really discuss, since you'll talk past each other effectively. I'm also native german and if anyone really insists on writing a non-english comment on an english card, he should really only do so with an accordant english translation.

Now, finally to the card:
Since this card won't be really effective unless you build a deck around it.

Frozen Æther can be used to ensure that everything your opponent could come up with enters play tapped.
If you don't have Stasis out, Winter Orb will slow down the game as well and serve as soft-lock to keep most of the lands tapped.
Destroy your opponent's nonbasic goodies by using Wasteland.
Consider using Force of Will because, you know, contering spells without paying mana was never a bad idea.
Bounce effects like Boomerang might be handy in a Stasis deck as well.

Then there is a bunch of cards that let you return (tapped) islands and put it into play untapped again, providing the mana for paying Stasis' upkeep.
Daze works as free Force Spike/softcounter that returns one island.
Thwart is quite similar, with the difference that it's a hardcounter and you have to return three islands.
Further mana-free, island-returning cards that might help keeping up paying the upkeep cost are Ensnare and Tidal Bore, which return two (one) islands and tap all (one/untap one) creature/s.
There's still one further card of that type with the downside that you have to pay three mana for its morph cost at first, being Fathom Seer. But aside from that, he provides two cards after turning it up and a 1/3 body.

Forsaken City works nice with that card, since you can virtually simply discard a card rather than desperately having to find free mana.

Vedalken Mastermind is a further card that works just awesome with Stasis. Use his ability to return stasis to your hand before your turn starts, and then simply cast it again. This should be the easiest way to keep your opponent restricted from Stasis while you just have to keep three blue mana open for the combo and aside from that do whatever your heart desires.

And if you want to make a green-spash, you may run Garruk to untap an island for the stasis upkeep and use the other untapped land for something different each turn to slowly surpass your opponent. His other abilities - creating 3/3 beasts and generating an Overrun effect - should help doing so as well. Downside is he requires double-green mana which might causes some problems with aforementioned island-returning cards.

Talking about finishing the game, you will needs something different than Garruk if you want to harm your opponent somehow.
Morphling shouldn't be a bad choice and is extremely versatile.
Serra Sphinx, effectively being a vigilant Air Elemental, can do a nice job as well.

Well, that's pretty much all that flows in my mind concerning Stasis decks so far, have fun building your own one (if you want to)
Maybe you want to do something creative and include Trade Caravan for the lulz :D

I look at the art for Stasis and then the art for the upcoming Sorin Markov, and I marvel at how far the standards of Magic artwork have come.

Trade Caravan with Stasis -- in terms of humor that is simply ace. :)
I'd take a Garruk any day though.

From reading articles about Wizard's early days, there was not creative director that could provide guidelines to how the art should look, and many of the artists were locally contracted. So, the "inconsistency" in early Magic artwork probably came from the artists interpreting only from the card name.

For a generically named card like Stasis, I don't mind the abstract art.

i hope that was some sort of joke since the stasis art is great and a classic, while sorin markov looks like every other card these days: high contrast and nonde***.
at least stasis has a unique look, like the other old art pieces that were created before the style guide was cemented into place.

I remember that the guy who taught me Magic: the Gathering used a deck with this card in it.
Fighting that pain-in-the-YouKnowWhere - deck weren't easy, especially not for a beginner...
Memories... they mustn't always be of the good type.
:P

Stasis looks like a good card, though. It will surely bug the opponent almost to the point of insanity (it sure did with me).
:)

Combine this card with Capsize and Frozen Aether and you can pretty much lock up the game entirely.

How about reality strobe?

this card is AMAZING with serendib sorcerer, but you have to be quick

I like the art. Why don't we see such art anymore?

agreed. i love this card's art.

I prefer recent art by far: Playing with cards illustrated like this feels like playing with children's toys!

Also, why is Sorin high-contrast? Extreme sharpness, yes (i can haz WotC printer), but its all black-grey there...

Ignoring all the comments about the incredibly plain artwork, this is pretty disgustingly good lockdown for a Zur deck.

hmm combine this with quest for renewal?

All I have to say is: Run this in a deck with Eon Hub and Sapphire Charm. You never have to pay the upkeep for it, and you can phase out opponents' creatures and they don't come back until stasis is removed.

One of the most irritating cards ever hands down.

I think there's a reason why this artist only made one card for Magic...

Hate this card being used on me, even more so for ridiculous art. It's like "What do you mean a clown and a blindfolded donkey on a see saw are locking my permanents down!" It just makes no sense to me.... I know I know, all you fans of wierd art hate this kind of talk but there has to be a line somewhere. I mean, would you be able to take me seriously if I hit you with a enchantment removal and it depicted a upside down toaster with birthday cakes falling out of it? Abstract my arse. The artist obviously either had no idea what stasis is or was on mad peyote.

@dusk: Would be absolutely useless. All players skip their untap steps, so your cards won't untap on your opponent's turn.

I love the divide over the art. You either love it or hate it. I personally love it; it suits the physical image of the card, perhaps not the flavour, but it still looks good.

Card: Amazing. Art: Amazing. Name: Amazing. o_O

Love the card and the art. They don't make 'em like they used to.

@tantallum99
With cards like Vedalken Mastermind, or other spells like Boomerang or Echoing Truth you can bounce Stasis back to your hand at the end of your opponents turn so you get untap steps and they do not, slowing down their game significantly. I have a deck based around Stasis, with the main win condition being Black Vise. Chronatog, Frozen Æther, and Stasis is the alternate wincon. Plus, since the majority of these cards cost two mana, Muddle the Mixture fits perfectly in this deck.

I play magic at my college, and someone there was playing this card. They untapped their lands after they sacrificed from not paying a blue. I told him that you don't untap your stuff yet, as the untap step is before upkeep. He replied with:

"The untap step doesn't exist"

I walked away.

wow lol...

I don't mean to be obtuse, but can someone give me an example of a deck where this could be used well? to avoid screwing yourself as much as your opponent I mean?

edit: thanks jesus, makes sense

Plop this down with a Venser, the Sojourner, stall the game for as long as you wish, then win.

So is this out of print just for being too annoying?

I once built a blue deck around Stasis and Time Elemental which hardly ever actually worked, but when it did it would make people apoplectic.

Stasis was a great card. Unfortunately tempo changes in Legacy has really put a damper on this card's competitive playability. 10 years ago this card was a 5 star monster; today I have to give only a 2.5 star "fun" card only.

That being said, I'd really like to see someone try to put this card to good use again.

@ Borgomastro

Si

@Grenadier_23: You were in the right he was stupid.

Untap, Upkeep, Draw, that's how you do it!

Stasis, Kismet, Storm Cauldron. Accept their resignation.

@tantallum99

Google "Turbo Stasis" and have your face rocked.

I like the art. It is supposed to be a painting. Paintings don't move.That's the point.

I wish U/X control decks in Standard still had access to beasts like this card.