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Iranon
01-05-2008, 10:43 AM
Silver Stax

Disclaimer: I haven't seen any similar builds flying about so far. If there are, particularly if they are better and more refined, I'll be more than happy to withdraw this entry

1. The Concept
2. The List
3. Card Choices
4. Match-ups
5. Why This?
6. Last words



1. The Concept

Coloured spells always require considerable concessions in Stax. Coloured mana sources are short in supply unless we give up a primary strength of the deck (2-mana and utility lands), which adds an element of inconsistency.
Also, the parts that can't be duplicated with artifacts tend to be useful primarily for shoring up a game that is already in hand or providing an efficient draw engine; neither effectively constrains the opponent within the first few turns like having access to more mana denial lands does.
In short, I wanted a deck that's better at being good old Stax than other lists.


2. The List

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Crystal Vein
3 Rishadan Port
2 Ghost Quarter
1 God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

4 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Pithing Needle
4 Epochrasite
4 Powder Keg
4 Trinisphere
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Smokestack

***

4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Razormane Masticore
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Pithing Needle





3. Card Choices

11 lands that can produce 2 mana and 4 Diamonds enable us to play our lock pieces quickly and reliably.

4 Wastelands, 2 Ghost Quarters allow us to attack frail manabases efficiently and with finality.

Rishadan Ports allow further pressure on their mana base, requiring no sacrifices from us.

God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai allows us to recover from overaggressive use of Smokestack. Overall, a fairly minor effect but I haven't missed another denial/manland I could run in its place. If we board out Epochrasites for whatever reason, this is also a (very shaky) win condition in case someone takes Factories out of the game.

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is used less as a tool to slow down the opposition; rather it's a sweeper after their manabase has been decimated. Unfortunately, it's not too effective in that role against mono-coloured aggro decks.



Chalice of the Voidand Trinisphere remain the best at what they do - shutting off a good portion of top decks by themselves, and preventing absolutely everything until we get a lock going respectively.

Pithing Needles will find many uses depending on the deck. It can severely disrupt the plan of some decks (Breakfast, Survival) and consolidate some of our soft locks against others(Goblins). This is the only card that doesn't fit perfectly into the overall strategy, but it's powerful and versatile enough that I feel it warrants the spot.

Epochrasite is a great chump blocker and excellent Smokestack fodder. Whether stalling, setting up a lock or winning the game, there is no part of the game where it doesn't pull its weight. The lack of synergy with Chalice and Trinisphere can force some difficult decisions, but in those situations the game should be well in hand anyway.

Powder Keg is the catch-all solution to anything and everything. While it's not very powerful when used as a creature sweeper and occasionally slow, it makes up for these drawbacks with sheer versatility. Its inclusion also strengthens combo match-ups, where the ability to instantly blow up 0-mana permanents is a godsend.

Ensnaring Bridge is excellent to keep those annoying brutes from bothering you while you set up your lock. Being never colour screwed, you have a fairly easy time emptying your hand, and in a time where everything seems to revolve around a certain 5/6 beater you often won't have to.

Crucible of Worlds is required for the lock we're trying to set up, and this deck has a disgusting amount of Strip Mine clones.

Smokestack is, of course, the other piece of Win. With 60 permanents, 4 Epochrasites, God's Eye and 4 Crucibles, we can afford to be reckless with this.

***

Lands in the sideboard will probably look odd to most. However, decks with few basic lands do not wish to be up against a full set of Wastelands and Ghost Quarters since fetching basics becomes the risky rather than the safe thing to do.
Even without recursion, we can often exchange lands for a 1-for-1 basis until they have none left. Since the Strip Mines will function as land destruction rather than mana sources, going up to a seemingly ridiculous 28 lands is worth considering.
Recursion from an opponent messes around with our lock, hence the Tormod's Crypts.
In decks with so much power and synergy, conventional hate is usually less effective than streamlining one's own game plan. The Spheres of Resistance go in the place of the least efficient pieces and are a further kick in the junk for Storm combo.
The Razormane Masticores I'm not very sure about, but they do a fair job against many Aggro decks and allow me to win more quickly should time become an issue. If someone could point me towards a sideboard option to make the Goblins matchup a little more tolerable, I'm open to suggestions.


4. Match-ups

I lack a competent testing partner in real life, and experience on MWS should not be taken too seriously. Nevertheless, here my experiences so far:

Cephalid Breakfast is always a threat with a reasonably quick clock and counter backup. Fortunately, it dislikes most regular Stax components, is strongly affected by Pithing Needles and what we do to their mana base should be illegal. On the whole, we come out on top.
Vial Goblins has been difficult to horrible. Not exactly unwinnable, but neither Ensnaring Bridge nor Powder Keg are terribly good at keeping the mob at bay while Lackeys and Vials can get around the mana denial angle. All in all, too many things need to go right.
Threshold and most other Aggro/Control decks are favourable. There is little in this deck they are comfortable with; they are free to stunt their development or suffer card disadvantage until I resolve something that wrecks them.
The game against fast combo is decent - the inclusion of Kegs is helpful since they are extremely efficient against both artifact mana and tokens. There's nothing we can do to a first turn win on the play, but we're as good as it gets wtihout Force of Will.
My Landstill results were all over the place, and I couldn't test this as much as I'd want against any particular build. I've had free wins and nightmarish losses. Modern 4-colour lists with little or no recursion is the best of the bunch for us, naturally.



5. Why this?

Stax brings plenty of power to the table and doesn't see much play. What sets this apart from regular versions?

+ No colour screw.
+ Excellent at setting up the primary lock
+ Land Denial from Hell
+ Cheap, recurring and - eventually - decent-sized creatures
+ Flexible removal
+ No. Colour. Screw.

- No sweepers when faced with threats spread along the curve
- No draw engine. If the opening grip is lacking, we need to topdeck something good, fast.
- Diminished sideboard potential



6. Last Words

When I saw the title of Kicks_422's entry, I thought 'Ah well, someone else did it already'. On a closer look though, the decks explore rather opposite ways of dropping colours and hardly overlap at all beyond the Stax core. If the decks are nevertheless considered too similar, I'll naturally withdraw this submission.

Despite the lack of a rigorous testing environment, I've played the deck a fair bit, against opponents of varying skill, and I am pleased with its performance so far.

Maveric78f
01-05-2008, 12:01 PM
ctrl F + stax and you would have found this:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8154

Same concept, but lists quite different.

klaus
01-05-2008, 12:07 PM
In what way does your deck have advantages compared to White Stax builds?

What do do against Extirpate on your only kill option? (I dont count mishra here)
Where is your removal after Needle on Keg?

The color screw factor is not really significant when playing mono_x Stax - I've been playing Stax for a while a never had a game that I lost due to a lack of access to white mana.

OVerall your deck appears quite fragile in it tatics both offense and defense: You have no way to beat Combo beyond Chalice and Trinisphere that many combo decks have learned to deal with by now.

This may sound rude, but I dont really know where to start giving you advise apart from "splash white for stuff like Armageddon, Angel etc..".

No hard feelings bro.

klaus

Jaynel
01-05-2008, 04:11 PM
I don't think color screw is an issue with Armageddon Stax today, as most double white cards have been eliminated (some lists still run 2-3 Exalted Angels).

Between 4 Moxen, 4 Flagstones, and 7 Plains, I haven't had any issues with color in my testing and playing with the deck.

On another note, I really like Ensnaring Bridge as pseudo removal. It's like a Moat that costs 1 less.

However, what happens when Epochrasite comes back as a huge-ah creature and you're locked under your own Bridge? Wait until you draw a Smokestack? Hold back cards in hand and let enemy guys swing in? Swing in with Factories, only to have them chumped by giant Tarmogoyfs?

That's the main thing I'm leery about. But looks good otherwise.

georgjorge
01-05-2008, 07:02 PM
I guess you COULD use Silent Arbiter (4 mana, 1/5, only one creature may attack or block) against Goblins. I don't know, it may be better than bridge although it can be killed by three Goblins and Siege-Gang, or a Gempalm. That needs six mana or five Goblins though, and thus might be prevented by not letting those things happen.

If you don't want a creature, there's Crawlspace (3 mana, only two creatures may attack you), but two creatures attacking is probably still going to kill you soon.

kicks_422
01-05-2008, 11:21 PM
Hi there. I think our submissions are different enough in their concept, but it's entirely up to the judges I guess. P_R?

Zach Tartell
01-06-2008, 12:13 AM
Hi there. I think our submissions are different enough in their concept, but it's entirely up to the judges I guess. P_R?

It's cool.

ApokalypseKid9
01-06-2008, 01:44 AM
would su-chi or synod centurian have a home here? They are efficient beaters, and seem better here than powder keg.

Iranon
01-06-2008, 04:00 PM
Thanks for the replies everyone.

@klaus: I never truly liked white-based Stax, despite trying out different established builds and playing around with it myself. Most white inclusions seemed top-heavy and situational... brutal when things are going right already, mediocre or worse when not.
Stax is a menace once it gets an advantage anyway; I'd rather have lighter and more flexible tools available... such as more utility lands and cure-all answers.

Extirpate on a threat isn't a factor. I don't quite understand why you're discounting the Factories in the first place, and winning with Spirit tokens is feasible under a lock (6-round clock on its own... not exciting but good enough).
I'm more worried about attacks on the lock than the win conditions.
Needle on Keg leaves me without removal, but I can still cower behind Bridges.
What are you missing that would improve our game against combo?

No offense taken, by the way.



@ Jaynel: Thank you for the encouragement! While hardly a common play, I have detonated Powder Kegs for the express purpose of blowing up my own Bridges before, so there's that. Generally, I don't focus on winning before an opponent is locked out of the game... unless there's an obvious opportunity.



@georgjorge: Crawlspace simply doesn't do enough. Keeping the number of attackers down is generally a lesser problem than keeping one or two beaters from going all the way.
Silent Arbiter, on the other hand, should work and might well be the best shot I have. A full set of Needles is worth considering anyway and those will be useful at protecting it. Goblins has tons of ways of getting around it, but I'm not likely to see most of them.



@ ApokalypseKid9: Since neither will kill a mature Tarmogoyf, I'm inclined to say no, and I would sorely miss Powder Keg for its extreme versatility. At the time being, I doubt that there is a place for a 5/3-ish deck... Dragon Stompy is some very tough competition.

thefreakaccident
01-07-2008, 12:53 AM
Usually I am the one that is all for the resurrection of old traditions and older decks/strategies; but this is not the place for such things.

This is a contest, where people post NEW good decks to be tried by the Legacy community.

To my recollection, stax (in many, many different incarnations mind you) has been around for a very long time.

Stax was originally mono-brown in the first place anyways, I don't think that a couple odd card choices in an already defined deck gives the deck a whole new being or purpose.

I am sorry, but I don't think it would be fair to consider this (or the other stax thread for that matter) a reasonable submission for a contest of this sort.