Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
Hi all- I've been out of the game for ~10 years, but the quarantine got me itching to play again. I downloaded MTGO and have been fooling around with some old decks and trying to catch up.
An old favorite was Green Stax. You all know Stax, and maybe like me you even love it a little bit too. But sometimes it takes forever to win, because your win condition is a puny manland or whatever. The idea with adding green was to give the deck a "stompy" aspect that would allow it to both play the stax game, overrun with creatures, or a bit of both.
The stax pieces are self explanatory. Aside from how many copies of each to run, one thing I've been juggling is Ensnaring Bridge vs. Tangle Wire. Bridge is in there now and seems like a better top-deck/ butt saver, but is weak against some decks. Whereas the Wire can be devastating early game, and maybe has fewer dead matchups, but mid/late game it's yet another terrible top-deck in a deck that already has a problem in that area.
The deck had always included Deranged Hermit, which serves the deck's dual mission. He and his buddies can be ramped into for beats, as well as fed to Smokestack. Also, after some research into the 10 years I missed, I discovered Deep Forest Hermit. Whoa! Probably better than his older brother, because this deck often declines to pay echo. And even better when Skyshroud Poacher resolves and starts laying the hermits on thick.
Some prior versions included Natural Order, which the deck could cast on turn 2. Some targets would be Verdant Force who can feed a 2-counter Smokestack by himself, Progenitus for a surprise alternative win condition, or Woodfall Primus to answer permanents. Including NO would probably mean adding a couple of fetch lands and Dryad Arbor. After a bit of testing recently online, my impression was that including NO strained the deck too far in multiple directions, at least in the current meta. Turn 2 NO is nice, but not if it gets countered. The deck seems to play more consistently without it. But let's talk if you disagree!
The last component I'll mention are the walls. Yes, I said walls! Wall of Roots and Overgrown Battlement. They fend off early creatures and ramp you into stax pieces and hermits. Another card I've been thinking of but don't currently include is Elvish Spirit Guide. The deck does need a 0CC mana source, but I tend to prefer Mox Diamond (currently in the list) here over fleeting options like ESG and Lotus Petal (they don't stick around to be smoked) or Chrome Mox (the deck has an easier time chucking a land than a green card).
The main goal here is to play stax but spice it up a bit. And ideally make the deck at least "competitive enough" against a few of the top decks in the format. If you think that's impossible, I'd value your input. But before anyone says "why don't you just play mud or white stax," it's because smoked squirrel requires green mana!
Without further ado, here's my current list (61 cards, for sentimental reasons). Brutal feedback welcome. Especially on the sideboard, which I threw together with limited knowledge of the big decks that currently dominate Legacy.
// Lands (24)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
8 Forest
// Artifacts (21)
4 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Trinisphere
4 Smokestack
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Ensnaring Bridge
//Creatures (16)
3 Wall of Roots
3 Overgrown Battlement
4 Deep Forest Hermit
3 Deranged Hermit
3 Skyshroud Poacher
//Sideboard (15)
3 Beast Within
3 Krosan Grip
1 Trinisphere
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Defense Grid
Re: Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
Hello
Even if it's not stax you could have a look at sylvan plug decks to get some ideas
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=23344&d=360838&f=LE
Re: Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
P-E
Thanks, will take a look
Re: Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
There’s a crucible creature now. Tireless tracker is great with stax because he makes artifacts to sac and when you sac them he becomes larger.
Re: Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
You can get morophon the boundless withskyshround then pick squirrel or w/e.
Re: Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JackaBo
There’s a crucible creature now. Tireless tracker is great with stax because he makes artifacts to sac and when you sac them he becomes larger.
Thanks will try both of those guys. I've seen them pop up in some other decks actually.
Re: Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kinda
You can get morophon the boundless withskyshround then pick squirrel or w/e.
Interesting and I like the idea; thanks for pointing me to the card. I think the issue with him though is I'd want him to +1/+1 squirrels, but then I'd miss out on his cc reduction ability (the hermits are elves). In light of that, in most cases with Skyshroud I'd probably just fetch another hermit.
Re: Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
Smokestack has been too slow for Legacy for years. I miss the old Stax decks from 2010. I played a lot of Geddon Stax back then.
Here are some cards you might like
Questing Beast
Shifting Ceratops
Ramunap Excavator
Reclamation Sage
Green Sun's Zenith
Sylvan Library
Choke
Thought-Knot Seer
Instead of Smokestack, the latest hot 4 cmc bomb for Ancient Tomb prison decks is Karn, the Great Creator, which can grab Mycosynth Lattice from the SB (their lands become artifacts and cannot be activated = GG)
A Karnboard can also include situational answers like
Ensnaring Bridge
Sorcerous Spyglass
Liquimetal Coating
Tormod's Crypt
Re: Smoked Squirrel (Green Stax)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
FTW
Smokestack has been too slow for Legacy for years. I miss the old Stax decks from 2010. I played a lot of Geddon Stax back then.
Yeah I am realizing that with play testing haha. Smokestack seems to always be a step behind. Funny you mention Karn and GSZ. I was just perusing some Sylvan Plug decks on the advice of an earlier commenter. Many of them were not really my cup of tea...more land toolbox with Elvish Reclaimer and other land fetching stuff. I think I would get bored of killing people with Dark Depths. But I saw a version with Karn and a Karnboard (thanks for the new word!) and a more traditional mana base that I liked. I may try to put something together along those lines. Chalice and Trinisphere still seem strong in the format.
One of the things that has surprised me diving back into the game is the power level of some stuff printed over the last several years. It used to be that you might get one card from a new set that was viable in T1 or 1.5. But I was skimming the top legacy decks today and they are dominated by cards that weren't around when I last played. Short story: I've got a lot of reading to do!
