Sligh is your most dangerous matchup — they can goldfish you before the lock assembles, and Sulfuric Vortex is particularly brutal since it deals damage through the lock while preventing life gain. Bring in Chill to tax every red spell by two additional mana, dramatically slowing their clock and buying the turns you need to resolve Stasis. Hydroblast serves double duty: countering Fireblast and other burn at instant speed, and destroying problematic permanents like Sulfuric Vortex. Black Vise comes out because Sligh empties its hand by turn two and the enchantment will rarely deal more than one or two damage; Gaea's Blessing is cut because Sligh has no mill plan and the recursion does nothing to address the threat of dying to burn. Once Stasis is locked in and their spells cost two more, their ability to win through the lock collapses.

This is a race: the opponent wants to resolve Phyrexian Dreadnought with Stifle before you can establish the lock, and a 12/12 trampler will kill you in two attacks. Annul is the key card here, countering Phyrexian Dreadnought on the stack for a single blue mana. Prioritize bouncing any resolved Dreadnought with Chain of Vapor while you develop your mana and work toward the Stasis lock.

This matchup revolves around countering Sterling Grove and Solitary Confinement before they can establish their engine: Sterling Grove tutors or protects their entire enchantment suite, and Solitary Confinement lets them discard to dodge Black Vise damage while becoming effectively untargetable. Annul is the most efficient answer at one mana, cleanly countering Sterling Grove, Seal of Cleansing, Solitary Confinement, and post-board threats like Aura of Silence, Tsabo's Web (which would tap Forsaken City), and Xantid Swarm. Cursed Totem shuts off Argothian Enchantress's triggered draw ability, starving their card advantage engine and making it much harder for them to sustain Solitary Confinement's discard cost. Tormod's Crypt handles their Replenish plan — both the mainboard copy and any extras from their sideboard — since a resolved Replenish after you've bounced or countered their enchantments can undo all your work in a single sorcery. Mana Short used at their upkeep can force them to skip Solitary Confinement's discard payment or deny Sterling Grove protection at a critical moment; Foil and extra copies of Daze and Thwart come out because their high resource costs are too steep in a long, mana-intensive game where every Island matters for maintaining the Stasis lock.