Welcome to the newly updated B/W Stax list by yours truly.
Deckstats breakdown:
AVG CMC: 2.93
Est $ Value: $549.86 USD (DAMN...I never realized)
Color weight ratio: Colorless 65%, White 20%, Black 15 %
Mana Distribution: Colorless 23%, White 40%, Black 37%
What is Stax? Stax is a deckbuilding archetype also called Prison. With this archetype you want to slow the game to a crawl and make it near impossible for your opponent(s) to do anything. Common themes include Taxation, forced sacrifice and tap/uptap manipulation.
Why run Teysa? Teysa 2.0 has a unique set of abilities. We shall take a closer look at her. 5BW ouch, she isn't cheap but lets keep looking. Vigilance, Protection from Creatures, now there is something for Stax. She is unblockable, avoids targeted abilities from creature cards any zone while she is in play. She doesn't tap to attack so our lockdown pieces have little to no effect on her. Now to the crux of her abilities, When a creature deals combat damage to you destroy it and YOU put a 1/1 Black and White spirit creature token with flying into play. Finally Teysa is a respectable 4/4. Overall she seems like a perfect fit.
Why Play Stax? if your meta is ramp heavy and/or aggro heavy Stax could be just the thing to keep things fair. You put a leash on faster decks and slowly start dwindling their resources while you are free to do as you please ideally.
How do you win? Often times you might feel like victory is out of reach. However fear not, this deck runs a number of useful beatsticks. Grave Titan, Sun Titan, Sheoldred, Whispering One and Obzedat, Ghost Council can lay down beatings right along with Teysa. Conversely you can also go the token beatdown route.
Invocation: Mid-game, you need to lay the foundations for lockout. Dropping an Orb effect with Tanglewire or setting up a forced Sac effect. You should also start setting up your token production in this part of the game.
Banishing: Late game, you should have slowed the game down quite a bit by now allowing you to capitalize on your weakened opponent(s). This is where you want to bring the pain. Dropping Teysa, Obzedat or a Titan should cinch up the game nicely.
Now onto the dreaded part of this dissertation. This deck has weaknesses. Every deck does, but luckily the holes aren't obvious. The biggest problem this deck has is simply, thieving blue mages. Stealing effects can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Luckily destruction effects can be circumvented with recursion, but theft and exile which is harder to avoid can hurt.
A story to share: I ran in to a situation that was interesting to say the least. A few newer players (navy nuke school kids) have come in and started playing EDH at the LGS. Friday one of them had me play against one of her friends with this deck because he talks alot of smack in games. It wasn't a 'great victory' for me. I felt kinda dirty after grinding his board down to nothing and beating him down with Thalia. No Sun Titan, no Grave Titan or token swarm. Just Thalia with a bit of help from Reassembling Skeleton.
For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Thanks for the input. I've been hunting through my collection to find AoS but it's not there anymore. I'll have to get another one. Ambition and Revelation will be coming out for draw spells once I wrap my head around building this kind of deck again. I will be getting BB and either Mesa or Mobilization for more token production as well. I am going to add in more mana rocks to dodge the W-Orb and the rocks work well with Clock to keep me going while I soft-lock the table.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
You may notice all the things that cost 3 or less in the deck and wonder why they are so numerous. Short answer is that Sun Titan can easily recur them for added value over the course of a game.
The curve may seem a bit steep capping off at 7 but with beacon and/or Rites I can cheat the high cost creatures in easily.
My basic playgroup consists of at different times: Maralen toolbox, Nicol Bolas control, Thraximundar Zombie control, Bruna, light of beatass, Omnath, locus of masturbation (its a combo deck) 2 Prime Speaker Zegana decks, Scion of the Ur-Dragon, 3 Kalia of the Derp-es, and other random decks from players that randomly join our table. This is why I built Stax, it's an answer to my meta and can be a skill-tester for myself and my playgroup.
Any more suggestions, observations or comments are welcome.
I would like to thank Phil for his Stax Primer that helped me construct this without much of a problem.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
@Shondetta: I have considered 'geddon but I would rather not push the deck further into the 'douche-nozzle' category that I'm already in for playing this deck.
@BlackVise: I completely forgot about it when I was building the deck. It never even made it on to my needs/wants list. I will consider picking one up and adding it in. Thanks.
I have been seriously thinking about Trinisphere to add more fun into the deck. However I'm not sure if it's worth it.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
I probably will add in a 3sphere but I hesitate to cut the Golem. He pulls duty as a cost increaser and as a beatstick in this list. I am already running creature light all things considered. I'll proxy one up and test it in place of a few different things to see what feels right.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Thanks for the input Phil, I have found Obedience to be less than optimal many games. However I did enjoy turn 1 Meekstone into turn 2 Obedience. That is a rare scenario so I probably will end up cutting it. I have been considering Armageddon or putting Dispeller's Capsule back in to catch people off guard. I have also been thinking of Words of Worship(lifegain) or Words of Waste(mass discard). Any thoughts on that?
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
I like Words of Waste, but that leans toward a more discard heavy stax deck. Take a look at Galspanic's Obzedat deck... he has a nice discard package in there that is hella annoying when it gets going.
Does Words of Waste combo with Geth's Grimoire to have all opponents discard their hands? It works in my head, but weird non-legal magic plays often happen in my head.
Rather than putting in Dispeller's Capsule, which requires mana to activate, consider Seal of Cleansing as a second Aura of Silence that comes back to Sun Titan just as handily.
Thanks for the input Phil, I have found Obedience to be less than optimal many games. However I did enjoy turn 1 Meekstone into turn 2 Obedience. That is a rare scenario so I probably will end up cutting it. I have been considering Armageddon or putting Dispeller's Capsule back in to catch people off guard. I have also been thinking of Words of Worship(lifegain) or Words of Waste(mass discard). Any thoughts on that?
True, blind obedience and meek stone play nice together, but You're already running kismet, and that gells better with all your tap down fun.
Have you thought about running a few swords? She seems like she could go voltron easy with locked up, tapped down board... Which she ignores.
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The EDH stax primer When you absolutely, positively got to kill every permanent in the room, accept no substitutes.
@Kraus: Grimoire + Words does work like you think it does. I'll have to dig up a Seal to test it. I do have a Queller I've been itching to use.
@Phil: I have thought about it, after playing against a Lovisa deck where Elspeth pumped Teysa for a 3-turn clock. I'll look to see what swords feel best for the deck and pick them up.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
I have been looking for a Gatekeeper but much like Blossom no one around me has one or one for trade. Crackdown was on my want list for a while but I'm not sure if it would be worth it.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Updating decklist in OP. Updating want/test list as well.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Played a Teysa stax-y deck this weekend, though I never got a good stax engine going because there was someone else playing stax as well.
Looking at your list now, Gate to Phyrexia sure would've been nice. The card that worked well for me that you might like is Martyr's Cause. Free sac outlet = good. Protection = good.
I've considered it a few times. The skeleton and token producers I have now make it seem like it will do more for me. However a friend suggested Solitary Confinement as a protection scheme that works well with Arena, Land Tax, clamp and 'potence. I'll probably pick up a Cause and Solitary and test them both out. If you have time I would like to see your list.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Here's a link to my list. Again, it's more a grindy deck with stax elements than a stax deck per se. I really like your list, may have to try it out at some point.
Aside from the Gate to Phyrexia which I'm excited to play with, you seem a little light on Artifact/Enchantment hate... of course you're the stax player, so you're the one running the artifacts and enchantments everyone else wants to kill, or maybe your meta is a little light on problem enchantments.
The other card from my list that performed well for me was Treasury Thrull. Yeah, he's 6 CMC and has to live long enough to attack. But he gets a creature/artifact/enchantment to hand. And extort is delicious.
I was running Thrull in Vish Kal for a while mostly because I didn't have a sun titan. It was a useful recursion beater that didn't draw hate like other things invariably will.
After going through one of the commons boxes at the LGS I dug up some useful things to test out.
For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
The slot for Flagstones is currently occupied by Mistveil Plains. MVP is, well, and MVP in this deck. It allows me to have a way outside of YawgWin to reuse instants and sorceries. I do like Flagstones alot and if I had one it would probably make it's way into this deck.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
No reason to not put in Flagstone except for cost and if you have a strong anti-nonbasic meta, it doesn't even come into play tapped. So good with Sun Titan and a stax effect....
I'll pick on up on friday or try to anyway. You two have persuaded me.
Haunted Crossroads hasn't really done much for me other than increase the cost on Sphere of Safety. Will be trying something else in that slot, possibly putting Attrition back in.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
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Deckstats breakdown:
AVG CMC: 2.93
Est $ Value: $549.86 USD (DAMN...I never realized)
Color weight ratio: Colorless 65%, White 20%, Black 15 %
Mana Distribution: Colorless 23%, White 40%, Black 37%
What is Stax? Stax is a deckbuilding archetype also called Prison. With this archetype you want to slow the game to a crawl and make it near impossible for your opponent(s) to do anything. Common themes include Taxation, forced sacrifice and tap/uptap manipulation.
For more Info: Phil's Stax Primer
Why run Teysa? Teysa 2.0 has a unique set of abilities. We shall take a closer look at her. 5BW ouch, she isn't cheap but lets keep looking. Vigilance, Protection from Creatures, now there is something for Stax. She is unblockable, avoids targeted abilities from creature cards any zone while she is in play. She doesn't tap to attack so our lockdown pieces have little to no effect on her. Now to the crux of her abilities, When a creature deals combat damage to you destroy it and YOU put a 1/1 Black and White spirit creature token with flying into play. Finally Teysa is a respectable 4/4. Overall she seems like a perfect fit.
Why Play Stax? if your meta is ramp heavy and/or aggro heavy Stax could be just the thing to keep things fair. You put a leash on faster decks and slowly start dwindling their resources while you are free to do as you please ideally.
How do you win? Often times you might feel like victory is out of reach. However fear not, this deck runs a number of useful beatsticks. Grave Titan, Sun Titan, Sheoldred, Whispering One and Obzedat, Ghost Council can lay down beatings right along with Teysa. Conversely you can also go the token beatdown route.
How do you play the deck?
Vestibule: Early game, you want to set up a defense. Ghostly Prison, Sphere of Safety, Blind Obedience or Kismet and Meekstone.
Invocation: Mid-game, you need to lay the foundations for lockout. Dropping an Orb effect with Tanglewire or setting up a forced Sac effect. You should also start setting up your token production in this part of the game.
Banishing: Late game, you should have slowed the game down quite a bit by now allowing you to capitalize on your weakened opponent(s). This is where you want to bring the pain. Dropping Teysa, Obzedat or a Titan should cinch up the game nicely.
Now onto the dreaded part of this dissertation. This deck has weaknesses. Every deck does, but luckily the holes aren't obvious. The biggest problem this deck has is simply, thieving blue mages. Stealing effects can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Luckily destruction effects can be circumvented with recursion, but theft and exile which is harder to avoid can hurt.
Any comments, concerns or critiques are welcome.
Here is the current list:
7 Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
Lands:
0 Godless Shrine
0 Caves of Koilos
0 Isolated Chapel
0 Orzhov Basilica
0 Orzhov Guildgate
0 Salt Flats
0 Command Tower
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Marsh Flats
0 Temple of the False God
0 Stripmine
0 Vault of the Archangel
0 Kor Haven
0 Phyrexian Tower
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Ancient Tomb
19 Basic Land
Mana Rocks:
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Orzhov Signet
3 Chromatic Lantern
5 Gilded Lotus
Artifacts:
0 Zuran Orb
1 Meekstone
1 Skullclamp
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Winter Orb
2 Cursed Totem
2 Sphere of Resistance
2 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Static Orb
3 Tangle Wire
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
4 Smokestack
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Land Tax
2 Blind Obedience
2 Stony Silence
2 Luminarch Ascension
2 Gate to Phyrexia
2 Bitterblossom
3 Sacred Mesa
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Necropotence
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Rule of Law
3 Aura of Silence
3 Attrition
4 Kismet
4 Grave Pact
5 Sphere of Safety
6 Martyr's Bond
Creatures:
2 Bloodghast
2 Reassembling Skeleton
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Necrotic Sliver
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Braids, Cabal Minion
4 Hokori, Dust Drinker
5 World Queller
6 Sun Titan
7 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
2 Demonic Tutor
3 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Retribution of the Meek
3 Unmake
3 Oblation
4 Armageddon
4 Wrath of God
6 Catastrophe
Planeswalkers:
4 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Acquire/testing list:
Solitary Confinement
Trinisphere (must acquire)
A story to share: I ran in to a situation that was interesting to say the least. A few newer players (navy nuke school kids) have come in and started playing EDH at the LGS. Friday one of them had me play against one of her friends with this deck because he talks alot of smack in games. It wasn't a 'great victory' for me. I felt kinda dirty after grinding his board down to nothing and beating him down with Thalia. No Sun Titan, no Grave Titan or token swarm. Just Thalia with a bit of help from Reassembling Skeleton.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Sacred Mesa is pretty good with your Grave Pact effects out, though you end up spending a lot of mana on it.
Increasing Ambition and Diabolic Revelation are some expensive cards to be running in a stax deck.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
5 Obzedat, Ghost Council
Lands:
0 Godless Shrine
0 Caves of Koilos
0 Isolated Chapel
0 Orzhov Basilica
0 Orzhov Guildgate
0 Salt Flats
0 Command Tower
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Marsh Flats
0 Temple of the False God
0 Tectonic Edge
0 Kor Haven
0 Phyrexian Tower
0 Reliquary Tower
21 Basic Land
Mana Rocks:
1 Sol Ring
3 Phyrexian Altar
2 Orzhov Signet
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Chromatic Lantern
Artifacts:
2 Winter Orb
3 Static Orb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Meekstone
2 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Smokestack
1 Dispeller's Capsule
2 Cursed Totem
3 Tanglewire
2 Sphere of Resistance
3 Aura of Silence
4 Kismet
2 Blind Obedience
3 Sacred Mesa [+]
2 Luminarch Ascension
3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Necropotence
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Grave Pact
5 Sphere of Safety
6 Martyr's Bond
Planeswalkers:
4 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Elspeth, Knight Errant
5 Liliana Vess
Instant:
4 Return to Dust
1 Condemn
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
3 Unmake
3 Mortify
3 Oblation
Sorceries:
4 Wrath of God
5 Unburial Rites
5 Beacon of Unrest
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Sign in Blood
4 Ancient Craving
4 Diabolic Tutor
5 Increasing Ambition
6 Terminus
6 Austere Command
4 Day of Judgement
3 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Magus of the Abyss
2 Reassembling Skeleton
2 Bloodghast
3 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Necrotic Sliver
7 Shelodred, Whispering One
6 Sun Titan
6 Grave Titan
4 Lodestone Golem
7 Butcher of Malakir
4 Braids, Cabal Minion
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
need to acquire
[+] Placeholder for Bitterblossom
You may notice all the things that cost 3 or less in the deck and wonder why they are so numerous. Short answer is that Sun Titan can easily recur them for added value over the course of a game.
The curve may seem a bit steep capping off at 7 but with beacon and/or Rites I can cheat the high cost creatures in easily.
My basic playgroup consists of at different times: Maralen toolbox, Nicol Bolas control, Thraximundar Zombie control, Bruna, light of beatass, Omnath, locus of masturbation (its a combo deck) 2 Prime Speaker Zegana decks, Scion of the Ur-Dragon, 3 Kalia of the Derp-es, and other random decks from players that randomly join our table. This is why I built Stax, it's an answer to my meta and can be a skill-tester for myself and my playgroup.
Any more suggestions, observations or comments are welcome.
I would like to thank Phil for his Stax Primer that helped me construct this without much of a problem.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
@BlackVise: I completely forgot about it when I was building the deck. It never even made it on to my needs/wants list. I will consider picking one up and adding it in. Thanks.
I have been seriously thinking about Trinisphere to add more fun into the deck. However I'm not sure if it's worth it.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
I probably will add in a 3sphere but I hesitate to cut the Golem. He pulls duty as a cost increaser and as a beatstick in this list. I am already running creature light all things considered. I'll proxy one up and test it in place of a few different things to see what feels right.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Updated List:
7 Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
Lands:
0 Godless Shrine
0 Caves of Koilos
0 Isolated Chapel
0 Orzhov Basilica
0 Orzhov Guildgate
0 Salt Flats
0 Command Tower
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Marsh Flats
0 Temple of the False God
0 Tectonic Edge
0 Kor Haven
0 Phyrexian Tower
0 Reliquary Tower
21 Basic Land
Mana Rocks:
1 Sol Ring
2 Orzhov Signet
3 Chromatic Lantern
Artifacts:
2 Winter Orb
3 Static Orb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Meekstone
2 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Smokestack
2 Cursed Totem
3 Tanglewire
2 Sphere of Resistance
1 Ivory Tower
2 Torpor Orb
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Aura of Silence
4 Kismet
2 Blind Obedience
3 Sacred Mesa [+]
2 Luminarch Ascension
3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Necropotence
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Grave Pact
5 Sphere of Safety
6 Martyr's Bond
2 Stony Silence
Planeswalkers:
4 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Elspeth, Knight Errant
5 Liliana Vess
Instant:
4 Return to Dust
1 Condemn
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
3 Unmake
3 Mortify
3 Oblation
Sorceries:
4 Wrath of God
5 Unburial Rites
5 Beacon of Unrest
2 Demonic Tutor
4 Diabolic Tutor
5 Increasing Ambition
6 Terminus
6 Austere Command
4 Day of Judgement
3 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Magus of the Abyss
2 Reassembling Skeleton
2 Bloodghast
3 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Necrotic Sliver
7 Shelodred, Whispering One
6 Sun Titan
6 Grave Titan
4 Lodestone Golem
7 Butcher of Malakir
4 Braids, Cabal Minion
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
5 Obzedat, Ghost Council
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
I ran it for a while and it was mostly dead card that gained me life when I had nothing else to do with my mana.
The EDH stax primer
When you absolutely, positively got to kill every permanent in the room, accept no substitutes.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Does Words of Waste combo with Geth's Grimoire to have all opponents discard their hands? It works in my head, but weird non-legal magic plays often happen in my head.
Rather than putting in Dispeller's Capsule, which requires mana to activate, consider Seal of Cleansing as a second Aura of Silence that comes back to Sun Titan just as handily.
World Queller is a nice way to control what gets sacrificed. Particularly juicy with Martyr's Bond.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
True, blind obedience and meek stone play nice together, but You're already running kismet, and that gells better with all your tap down fun.
Have you thought about running a few swords? She seems like she could go voltron easy with locked up, tapped down board... Which she ignores.
The EDH stax primer
When you absolutely, positively got to kill every permanent in the room, accept no substitutes.
@Phil: I have thought about it, after playing against a Lovisa deck where Elspeth pumped Teysa for a 3-turn clock. I'll look to see what swords feel best for the deck and pick them up.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Since you don't seem to mind your guys getting tapped, try Crackdown. It'll keep a lot of nasties off your back permanently.
BBB Mikaeus, the Unhallowed BBB
UG Momir Vig, Simic Visionary UG
UB Grimgrin, Corpse-Born UB
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Land Tax is amazing in a stax deck, keep cards in hand and resume flow of mana after LD or catch up with a ramp player.
Blind Obedience made it back in, the extort helps stave off aggro and the etb tapped effect works well enough.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Looking at your list now, Gate to Phyrexia sure would've been nice. The card that worked well for me that you might like is Martyr's Cause. Free sac outlet = good. Protection = good.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10487410#post10487410
Aside from the Gate to Phyrexia which I'm excited to play with, you seem a little light on Artifact/Enchantment hate... of course you're the stax player, so you're the one running the artifacts and enchantments everyone else wants to kill, or maybe your meta is a little light on problem enchantments.
The other card from my list that performed well for me was Treasury Thrull. Yeah, he's 6 CMC and has to live long enough to attack. But he gets a creature/artifact/enchantment to hand. And extort is delicious.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
After going through one of the commons boxes at the LGS I dug up some useful things to test out.
Current test: -1 Attrition, +1 Haunted Crossroads
On the test list:
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
Haunted Crossroads hasn't really done much for me other than increase the cost on Sphere of Safety. Will be trying something else in that slot, possibly putting Attrition back in.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering