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Thread: [Primer/Deck] Stax

  1. #101
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Sorry to double post, but here's my current list, with the aggro sideboard option:


    Mana (31)
    8 Plains
    4 Flagstones of Troikar
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    4 Wasteland
    4 Mox Diamond
    2 Kjeldoran Outpost
    1 Scrubland

    Control/Lock (17)
    4 Chalice of the Void
    4 Crucible of Worlds
    4 Smokestack
    3 Trinisphere
    2 Tangle Wire
    2 Armageddon
    2 Humility

    Win Conditions (8)
    4 Lingering Souls
    2 Timely Reinforcements
    2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

    Sideboard (15)
    3 Tormod's Crypt
    3 Oblivion Ring
    3 Honor of the Pure
    2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
    2 Timely Reinforcements
    2 Tangle Wire

    I'm thinking about switching the Oblivion Ring and Humility Slots, with 2 Humility/1 O.Ring in the board and 2 MD Oblivion Ring, both for synergistic effects between Smokestack and Oblivion Ring and for the fact that Ring is more of an all-purpose answer than Humility, which is really only good against tempo, Elves, Goblins, and Show and Tell. Ring is better against tempo because it only costs 3 and you can usually survive a few delver hits before you start binging on their permanents, and can then selectively kill DRS, SFM (or the equipment that SFM finds) or Goyf, which tend to be the creatures of theirs that cause you trouble. Against Elves and Goblins, you really just need to buy time until you can get Chalice @ 1 + Stack, and Ring can keep the worst of their creatures at bey until you lock them out. The sideboard has been pretty effective so far, especially because in physical games you can take the approach of shuffling your board into your deck and then pulling 15 cards out, meaning that if you go to 3 games you can easily give your opponent dead cards in games 2 and 3 by alternating between the approaches. Tangle Wire has been awesome when you're on the prison plan, but the aggro version might be better with 2 Jalum Tome in the SB Wire slots. Brimaz, King of Oreskos means you just win if he gets to stick around for more than a turn.

  2. #102
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    and ghoslty prison? i think that its a good soluzion with armageddon and wasteland and is playeble on turn 1

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  3. #103

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Hi all, been testing out a version of Stax. I've played a couple of 4 round weekly tournaments and went 4-0 both times. Lent it out to someone else....and they went 0-3. Guess, I'm better at top decking answers....lol.

    3 Smokestack
    2 Humility
    2 Ensnaring Bridge
    2 Oblivion Ring
    1 Ghostly Prison
    2 Batterskull
    2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
    3 Decree of Justice
    4 Chalice of the Void
    3 Trinisphere
    2 Ratchet Bomb
    1 Powder Keg
    4 Mox Diamond
    2 Crucible of Worlds
    4 Ancient Tomb
    3 City of Traitors
    1 Flagstones of Trokair
    1 Karakas
    6 Plains
    4 Wasteland
    1 Ghost Quarter
    3 Horizon Canopy
    4 Mishra's Factory

    Side....2 Tormod's Crypt, 2 Faerie Macabre, 2 Wilt-Lief Liege, 1 Timely Reinforcements, 3 Pithing Needle, 1 Armageddon, 2 Cursed Totem, 1 Aura Of Silence, 1 Seal of CLeansing.


    Reasoning behind some of the cards....
    Ratchet Bomb and Powder Keg - I've played Stompy decks and sometimes they can get something in before a lock piece lands. In testing I've usually blown it at 1 or 2 to kill mostly Deathrites, Delvers or Stoneforges.
    Decree of Justice - Like a lot of decks like this, there isn't much card draw. Not only does this card cycle but outside of Stifle it makes a lot of dudes. That you can sacrifice to Smokestack or even surprise block say Dark Confidants. I've cycled for 7 soldiers once. Felt good. lol.
    Horizon Canopy - Again the card draw. I've been liking this a lot. I play 27 lands so I do flood quite a bit and with Crucible it's been great.
    Pithing Needle - In board. May seem a bit weird seeing as Chalice is set mostly on one. Needle is mostly for Deathrite Shaman. The 2nd most annoying creature would probably be Stoneforge Mystic so at least I could stop the cheating the equipment into play. Forgot, any deck with Aether Vial is awful to play against. Needle for that too.

    Also I only play 3 Smokestack. Used to run 4 but I found that drawing multiples is kind of meh. Also cut out the Armageddons and left 1 in board. Armageddon, I feel is great if we are ahead or parity but awful when already behind. There are already many cards that aren't great when behind so I felt I had to cut some of those out, and is also why I put in a few ratchet bombs to kill things that get through the lock pieces. Thoughts on my version?

    After seeing a couple of decklists on here, I may give Bottled Cloister a shot. Card Draw + Synergy with Ensnaring Bridge is pretty cool. And LOL, since I play Deadguy 99% of the time I'm not sure why I didn't try Lingering Souls in Stax yet.

  4. #104
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    netx week i will try this list

    Token Stax

    4 Wasteland
    1 Scrubland
    4 Plains
    4 Flagstones of Trokair
    2 Crystal Vein
    3 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 Armageddon
    4 Lingering Souls
    3 Timely Reinforcements
    3 Humility
    4 Ghostly Prison
    4 Smokestack
    3 Trinisphere
    3 Crucible of Worlds
    4 Mox Diamond
    4 Chalice of the Void
    2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant


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    Last edited by diego1985; 04-02-2014 at 03:03 PM.

  5. #105
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Minor update, messed up the link in the latest decklist, even though the list is from a couple months ago now.
    Primary legacy deck High Tide primer

  6. #106

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Hey, this is my first post but, I'm looking to get some feedback on my current list. I have essentially merged the old Sandsipoise lock combo with the Stax shell, ultimately created an adaptation to Prison Stax.

    Card choice descriptions/synergies to follow.

    Sandsipoise Stax:

    4x City of Traitors
    4x Ancient Tomb
    4x Crystal Vein
    4x Wasteland (Ghost Quarter: Budget)
    4x Forsaken City

    (20 Lands)

    4x Mox Diamond
    4x Chalice of the Void
    3x Grim Monolith
    3x Sundial of the Infinite
    3x Crucible of Worlds
    3x Ensnaring Bridge
    3x Oblivion Ring
    3x Equipoise
    3x Trinisphere
    3x Smokestack
    3x Bottled Cloister
    3x Sands of Time
    2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

    (40 Spells)

    Sideboard:
    2x Armageddon
    2x Mindlock Orb
    2x Torpor Orb
    2x hanna's Custody
    2x Powder Keg
    2x Pithing Needle
    2x Tormod's Crypt
    1x Defense Grid

    Forsaken City: Provides a sac outlet for Ensnaring Bridge / can be untapped by Sands of Time. Provides any mana color to increase sideboard options, i.e. Mindlock Orb
    Ghost Quarter: Besides being budget, it replaces an opponent's land which is better suited with Equipoise. With Crucible you can target your own land, getting a basic, then replaying the sac'd land via Crucible.
    Grim Monolith: Provides first turn acceleration in addition to Mox Diamond - permits a 3 CMC spell first turn, i.e. Trinisphere/Bridge/Crucible. Can be untapped with Sands of Time.
    Sundial of the Infinite (probably most controversial card, by itself it's worthless): Allows for multiple City of Traitors in play; combo's with Smokestack ending turn before sacrifice trigger; negate any spell cast by opponent on your turn.
    Oblivion Ring: Removal of anything i.e. Planeswalkers
    Bottled Cloister: Prevents discarding to spells from opponents; synergy with Ensnaring Bridge; draw engine that can trigger before you sacrifice/end turn with Sundial and Smokestack
    Smokestack: With Sundial can mill opponents deck - for the Sands/Equipoise combo can remove opponents permanents
    Elspeth: Win-Con; can protect itself

    Now, why use Sands of Time + Equipoise:

    Stax permits you to have a great deal of control of the amount and type of permanents you have in play; has great acceleration, and attempts to create the same end game as the Sandsipoise combo - a complete lockout. Sandsipoise originally used a Win-Con of Misers' Cage or the likes. I believe with the Stax shell the Sandsipoise deck can be much more powerful.

    Maybe I have completely missed the mark, I am just hoping to see if anyone can run with this list and suggest improvements.

    All contributions are very much appreciated.

  7. #107

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Chat match ups have you faced with this list?

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  8. #108

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by GoldenCid View Post
    Chat match ups have you faced with this list?

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    If you were replying to me:

    I have been playing mostly against Miracles and being able to stall until my opponents landed Jace, for which, I had no answer to. The fate sealing disrupted my draw and lead to an empty library.

    Against Elves a side boarded Ruric Thar, the Unbowed tore me to pieces. Food Chain + Misthollow Griffin was able to combo out for infinite mana and play around the Ensnaring Bridge with an ETB effect.

    I had success against Storm, but in all cases I wasn't able to get out all the pieces for a full lock out. I could also be piloting this deck poorly, as I haven't been playing it long.

  9. #109
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    Last edited by Scott; 07-05-2014 at 12:07 AM.

  10. #110
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    The Rhode Island list with World Queller looks sweet. I'm interested in several of the card choices there:

    - Muse over Ghostly Prison? Prison was more commonplace a few years ago and at least used to be harder to remove before the advent of Abrupt Decay. Plus Muse is a body for flying in with gear, and, subtly, the absence of enchantments in this list is an advantage if that's what you want to name with World Queller.

    - I love and miss Exalted Angel, but is it good enough in 2014? Can't argue with this guy's result, but it's tempting to imagine some mixture of like Lin Vala and Elspeth, Knight Errant in this slot getting work done for a lot less mana. Elspeth can also generate dudes to break the symmetry of naming creatures with World Queller. But in her absence, naming Planeswalker with Queller is pure advantage again.

    - Council's Judgment in the board? I know it kills Emrakul and True Name Nemesis, but it's tempting to imagine Oblivion Ring answers Show & Tell a lot better and is also easier to cast using sol lands. Then again, I guess there's still the argument Queller really incentivizes minimizing permanent types in the lists.

    Overall I really like that Stax is in rotation and find this list really exciting.
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  11. #111
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    UPDATE:
    So for my local weekly I sleeved up prettymuch the Rhode Island list above, with a few tweaks:

    In:
    2x Linvala, Keeper of Silence; 1x Plains

    Out:
    2x Exalted Angel; 1x Darksteel Citadel

    Round 1--Death & Taxes

    Got a turn-one Trinisphere, which was pretty good against him, but then I still had to sit there and actually kill him, which was not quickly forthcoming. He got a Jitte, which I killed by naming artifacts with World Queller. I got a Batterskull, which he dealt with via Flickerwisp targeting the germ. I got a Jitte, but he kept it from accruing counters via Mother of Runes. That's the turn I should've played Chalice of the Void x=1 instead, and because I didn't he was able to Swords To Plowshares my Windborn Muse and alpha me out of the game.

    I then proceeded to board in Suppression Field, play it, completely tax myself out of the fucking game, then de-sideboard and for good measure get steamrolled by him again three more games after we signed the match slip, just to make sure this matchup is in fact pretty bad.

    Round 2--Storm Combo

    Game one he wins the die roll, plays first and hits me with Duress for I think Chalice of the Void. I then topdeck and windmill-slam Trinisphere and follow it up with Aven Mindcensor and he is fucked. Skill!
    Game two I have turn-one Chalice of the Void and he is fucked but does a good job poker-facing like he might just pull it off, which I respect.

    Round 3--RUG Delver

    I don't remember a ton about what happened in which game here except that in game one I walk into some counters early on and end up on turn three or four tapping like Plains, Chrome Mox and City of Traitors (sacrifice) into new City of Traitors, thereby hardcasting Exalted Angel with no mana for Daze. He Brainstorms and comes up empty and after a smash or two has to trade a flipped Delver of Secrets and a Lightning Bolt, but by this point I have other pressure, I think closing the game out with Sword of Fire & Ice on Aven Mindcensor.

    I lost game two and game three he kept a hand with no Force of Will and I kept a hand with turn-one Chalice of the Void and he does not draw his Krosan Grip or his Ancient Grudge or his Theros-Block RG Disenchant Plus Shock You I can't remember the name of, all of which is great news for me killing him, but he does a good job poker-facing like he might just pull it off, which I respect.

    Round 4--Classic Mono Black

    So at this point I'm 2-1, and my fourth/final round opponent asks what we get if we intentionally draw. The answer is basically our entry fee back in store credit plus a couple bucks, so we agree to end the night 2-1-1 and then play just to see how it would've gone. He is playing a mono black deck with The Rack and Hypnotic Specter and I lose horribly to opening plays like Dark Ritual > Stupor > turn-two Hymn to Tourach and and and Dark Ritual > Ice Age Sinkhole That Fucks Me For Playing Snow-Covered Plains Take 1 Damage. So what I am saying is I am glad we agreed to split because barf.

    Overall the deck is fine I guess if you miss the Stax of yore but doesn't seem poised to redefine the meta or anything. Going forward I think Phyrexian Revoker and Leyline of Sanctity should be heavy considerations, but I'm not sure I'll bother continuing to tinker with it.
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  12. #112
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    This is something I have been having fun with:

    GW Stax

    Land (27)
    4x Ancient Tomb
    1x Arid Mesa
    3x City of Traitors
    2x Flooded Strand
    1x Horizon Canopy
    1x Karakas
    1x Maze of Ith
    1x Mishra's Factory
    4x Plains
    4x Savannah
    4x Wasteland
    1x Windswept Heath

    Artifact (14)
    2x Batterskull
    4x Chalice of the Void
    1x Crucible of Worlds
    4x Mox Diamond
    1x Sword of Body and Mind
    2x Trinisphere

    Creature (12)
    4x Hero of Bladehold
    4x Knight of the Reliquary
    4x Stoneforge Mystic

    Sorcery (6)
    4x Council's Judgment
    2x Life from the Loam

    Enchantment (1)
    1x Sylvan Library


    Sideboard (15)
    1x Armageddon
    1x Bojuka Bog
    3x Choke
    2x Ethersworn Canonist
    1x Phyrexian Revoker
    1x Sylvan Library
    2x Tormod's Crypt
    1x Tower of the Magistrate
    3x Wrath of God

    Its pretty brutal at times. Anyone else been testing stax with Council's Judgments? Feels like those would help with one of the biggest problem stax has - planeswalkers.

  13. #113

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Ah, Hero Stax - very nice! That's pretty much exactly the deck I won a tournament something like 2 years ago - just with more Sylvan Libraries in place of the CJs. Looks like I need to give this a second look. Thanks for brining this to my attention!

  14. #114
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by dsck View Post
    This is something I have been having fun with:

    GW Stax

    Land (27)
    4x Ancient Tomb
    1x Arid Mesa
    3x City of Traitors
    2x Flooded Strand
    1x Horizon Canopy
    1x Karakas
    1x Maze of Ith
    1x Mishra's Factory
    4x Plains
    4x Savannah
    4x Wasteland
    1x Windswept Heath

    Artifact (14)
    2x Batterskull
    4x Chalice of the Void
    1x Crucible of Worlds
    4x Mox Diamond
    1x Sword of Body and Mind
    2x Trinisphere

    Creature (12)
    4x Hero of Bladehold
    4x Knight of the Reliquary
    4x Stoneforge Mystic

    Sorcery (6)
    4x Council's Judgment
    2x Life from the Loam

    Enchantment (1)
    1x Sylvan Library


    Sideboard (15)
    1x Armageddon
    1x Bojuka Bog
    3x Choke
    2x Ethersworn Canonist
    1x Phyrexian Revoker
    1x Sylvan Library
    2x Tormod's Crypt
    1x Tower of the Magistrate
    3x Wrath of God

    Its pretty brutal at times. Anyone else been testing stax with Council's Judgments? Feels like those would help with one of the biggest problem stax has - planeswalkers.
    Councils judgements is nice, but it is really bad with the mana base in armageddon stax. I substituted o ring for suppression field in my deck because activated abilities are common.
    2015 SCG Washington D.C. IQ Legacy Champion - 1st place w/ Sneak and Show


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  15. #115
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Some updated lists from smaller tournaments, if anyone has been looking for stuff. Though the last deck to make it here was in June: http://www.tcdecks.net/tipo.php?arch...&format=Legacy
    Primary legacy deck High Tide primer

  16. #116
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Hello everyone,

    I took last Wednesday Stax to my LGS and went 3-1 at a 24-person event.


    Lands:
    3 Mishra's factory
    1 Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai
    5 Plains
    1 Karakas
    4 Flagstones of Trokair
    4 Wasteland
    3 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient tomb


    Other mana sources:
    4 Mox diamond

    Lock pieces:
    3 Humility
    4 Chalice of the void
    4 Smokestack
    4 Suppression Field
    4 Trinisphere
    3 Crucible of Worlds
    4 Armageddon

    Others:
    3 Timely Reinforcements
    2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

    Sideboard:
    3 Leyline of sanctity
    1 Enlightened tutor
    1 Hanna's custody
    1 Karmic justice
    2 Pithing needle
    2 Rest in peace
    2 Defense grid
    2 Ghostly prison
    1 Cursed totem


    The meta at my LGS is very diverse so the sideboard is a bit of a hodge lodge of cards. Also realizing I only had 3 Leylines a bit late doesn't help.

    Match 1 - Felix on Gub elves
    U was for Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Went 2-1
    Game 1 and 3, Chalice on 1 and Humility wrecked his deck. Suppression field also curbed his chance at an explosive start.
    Second game, Ancient tomb got at my life total and NoPro finished the rest.

    MVP: Chalice, suppression field
    He scooped before actually losing to lethal g1 and g3.

    Match 2 - Lauri on UR delver with treasure cruise
    Went 1-2
    G1: I mulled to 5 with no lands (opening 7 had 1 land, next 6 had no lands), dead by turn 6 or 7 with two lands in play and nothing else. It happens.
    G2: I establish my lock (chalice on 1 neuters a lot of his deck) but we play it out to the bitter end because he wants to see what i got (i don't overcommit so he doesn't see much). I had cleaned up his table with the clever application of Smokestack and sat at 1 life for the rest of the ride (thank you so much, Ancient tomb). He made a mistake to play a land while I had Smokestack out, instead of sand bagging it to protect his Insectile Aberration and swing for the win. I took 8 or 9 of his 17 lands and he never saw them again.
    G3: he gets a live delver and pyromancer, gets a couple of triggers on pyromancer before I get humility out by countering three of my lock pieces, draws a lot with treasure cruise (2x) and eventually swing with 1/1 until I drop to 0.
    Note to self: when you bring in Defense grids in your sideboard, actually remember to side them in. Playing around Daze doesn't help much against FoW.

    Match 3 - Alex with Slivers (not a legacy brew though)
    Humility hits the table on turn 4 like clockwork and Mishra's factory + Crucible of worlds seal the deal (Crucible to recur mishra and his double blockers)
    Scooped on the second game
    2-0

    Match 4 - Michael on 35-Lands combo (Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage, crop rotation, gamble, no Knight of reliquary or vampire hexmage)
    Hysterical game thanks to a really nice opponent. I had never seen an opponent laugh so much at how bad the match-up was for him :-)
    Really close call on game 1 as I land humility one turn before he could go off with his combo. He ends up scooping as my lock pieces accumulate and Elspeth start throwing a 4/4 flyer at him for a couple of turns.
    Sideboard in: Cursed totem, Rest in peace, and Enlightened tutor. I didn't know he packed no relevant target for Totem but suspected Knight of Reliquary, possibly Vampire hexmage.
    I get my lock pieces early. RiP turn 2 prevents his Life from the loam recursion and I start piling up Trinispheres and Suppression Field, which keep him out of his combo. Eventually an armageddon (he only had lands + 1 Mox diamond) followed by Stax on 1 made him scoop. Until then his Maze of Ith had held back my lonely factory.
    2-0

    All in all, it was 5 scoops out of 7 games won.

    I got some practice time before the event against Jund and the discard wrecked me 3 games out of 4 (we didn't sideboard). In one game, he got 2 abrupt decay (for mox and a lock piece) in the first three turns + maelstrom pulse on turn 4. Can't beat that.

    MVP in general: Humility, and honorable mention to Timely reinforcements for its ability to keep us afloat.
    Trinisphere or Chalice on 1 Turn 1 is very potent, Suppression field turn 1 is another option which I was looking forward to see against DRS or more Fetch intensive decks but that didn't happen. Was really good against Elves though.

    I am pondering adding Ghostly Prison main board, as losing to a bunch of 1/1s is definitely possible.

    I often found myself boarding out the Smokestack (multiples), Crucible (single), and Suppression field (against UR Delver which didn't seem to pack Grim Lavamancer but had new Monastery Swiftspear from Khans; and against Slivers).

    Constructive comments and feedback are welcome.

  17. #117

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Congrats on your finish. Could you explain why decided to avoid tabernacle effects and add token strategy?
    In addition i think that 4 smokestake i too high. Probably 3 is the number. The same could apply for armaggedon 3 is fine. You may consider a couple of o-ring which allow solutions for multipurpose.
    Moreover, did you feel any discomfort by the field-elspeth interaction?


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  18. #118

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by GoldenCid View Post
    Congrats on your finish. Could you explain why decided to avoid tabernacle effects and add token strategy?
    In addition i think that 4 smokestake i too high. Probably 3 is the number. The same could apply for armaggedon 3 is fine. You may consider a couple of o-ring which allow solutions for multipurpose.

    Moveover, did you feel any discomfort with field-elspeth interaction?
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    Quote Originally Posted by GoldenCid View Post
    Congrats on your finish. Could you explain why decided to avoid tabernacle effects and add token strategy?
    In addition i think that 4 smokestake i too high. Probably 3 is the number. The same could apply for armaggedon 3 is fine. You may consider a couple of o-ring which allow solutions for multipurpose.


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  19. #119
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    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by GoldenCid View Post
    Congrats on your finish. Could you explain why decided to avoid tabernacle effects and add token strategy?
    In addition i think that 4 smokestake i too high. Probably 3 is the number. The same could apply for armaggedon 3 is fine. You may consider a couple of o-ring which allow solutions for multipurpose.
    Moreover, did you feel any discomfort by the field-elspeth interaction?
    I agree with you, 4 stacks and 4 Armageddon are too many. I often sideboard out the 4th one of each going into G2/3.

    I am thinking of shaving them for either Ghostly prison or Council's judgment. I am not so keen on Oblivion Ring as it can be answered with many cards that already are strong against us (Qasali pridemage, Abrupt decay). The only advantage I see to ORing would be if I added some copies of Enlightened Tutor somewhere in the 75.
    In any case, I do hear you on the need for multipurpose solutions in the deck. See below report (although I really needed a solution to ONE card in particular last week).

    I did not get hurt by field taxing Elspeth. I tend to play (over-play?) all my lock pieces first, then Elspeth last. I have rarely played Elspeth and needed to activate her direly in the same turn. I would not play ever Elspeth as soon as I hit the mana. And if I do not have enough mana to activate her through one suppression field (I rarely commit two to the board) it probably means Smokestack/Armageddon have been played recently and most likely my opponent is not going anywhere.
    What I felt less comfortable about is the field+waste or field+factory poor interaction. Factory will often be in play earlier than Elspeth and the field often prevents me from sneaking 2 damages here and there.
    I still very much like having another 4-of to play on turn 1 (with a Mox), besides trinisphere and chalice. I find it kills a lot of T1/T2 for an opponent as well (Fetch, DRS, Waste).

    As for the Tabernacle effects vs. token strategy, I think it came down mostly on my interest in playing Humility in the main. I have Lodestone golems, Baneslayer Angels, and Magus of the Tabernacle waiting to be played (No Tabernacle itself though) but having been on the receiving end of a humility while playing creature-heavy decks, I wanted to try it myself.
    With Factory and Elspeth, your creatures will be better than measly 1/1s. Timely reinforcements also very often brings you back in the game, providing 6 life AND 3 1/1s more often than not. The 1/1s mostly end-up chomp blocking but they can sneak in for some damage once in a while, or can be a setup for a slightly faster Elspeth (no need to +1 for a soldier when you land her). I could see myself testing Batterskull instead of one Timely Reinforcements, but again, it's one more artifact that can be dealt with cards already strong against the rest so I do not mind diversifying with TR.

    Also, some results from last week's event.

    My main was the same as previously. I only changed the sideboard to eliminate the one-ofs.


    Lands:
    3 Mishra's factory
    1 Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai
    5 Plains
    1 Karakas
    4 Flagstones of Trokair
    4 Wasteland
    3 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient tomb

    Other mana sources:
    4 Mox diamond

    Lock pieces:
    3 Humility
    4 Chalice of the void
    4 Smokestack
    4 Suppression Field
    4 Trinisphere
    3 Crucible of Worlds
    4 Armageddon

    Others:
    3 Timely Reinforcements
    2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

    Sideboard:
    4 Leyline of sanctity
    2 Pithing needle
    3 Rest in peace
    3 Defense grid
    3 Sun droplet


    First match was against against RUG Delver
    2-0
    He scooped twice when Humility hit the table with some other lock pieces already on the table. Both times he scooped he had a fair amount of creatures on the table and had already hacked away at my life total, thanks to Goyf and a flipped Delver. I am definitely not sure he should have scooped; it would have been grindy for him to win but it was in no way in the bag for me yet when he did.

    Second match was against Maverick
    1-1-1 too maverick
    G1 on the draw T1 I play a SoL land, Mox discarding Karakas for trinisphere. T2 Crucible. T3 He plays off a Gaddock Teeg for three and I get to realize how much this card wrecks Stax: no Chalice, no Smokestack, no Humility, no Elspeth. I spend the next two turns staring at my hand and the ceiling trying to think of any way out. I eventually land my eyes on the Karakas in my graveyard and the Crucible I have on the battlefield. Immense relief when I play Karakas, bounce Gaddock Teeg, and slam humility on the table. I go on to win that one.
    G2 Gaddock Teeg comes into play again before I reach four mana. The lone Karakas is nowhere to be found.
    G3 ends in a draw (we had 2 life each). Very grindy game; most of the attacks came from Factory but without any other win con and without Crucible, it gets held off by double blockers enough turns to end in a draw. My opponent played a Sword of Fire and Ice a few turns before we got to time and for some reason didn't equip it. I believe he would have gotten the upper hand if he had done so.

    Third game was against UGW creatures good stuff (fauna shaman, GSZ, dryad arbor, quirion ranger, BoP, vial, TNN, Gaddock Teeg, Qasali pridemage, MoM and a large array of one-ofs)
    0-2
    G1 Qasali pridemage Gaddock Teeg Enough said.
    G2 came close to seeing me preventing him from getting his Teeg out. I had the choice of a turn three chalice on 2 or pithing needle while he had his two lands and a vial on one. I play needle on vial as I know he leans heavily on it and keep the chalice next in line. Next turn he lands Teeg once again.

    Final match was against Miracles. The deck that hates people and want them to know it vs. the deck that hates people and don't want them to know it.
    2-1
    It seems players laugh a lot when their last pairing of the evening is Stax. Go figure.
    First game is rather uneventful and is a win.
    The second game is close but I lost with a Smokestack on 3 to his lonely TNN (he played snapcaster and clique EoT to avoid his board being completely wiped).
    The final game was a win on a mull to four of my opponent. Landing an early Defense grid helped a bit too.
    In neither of the three games did I see a terminus, entreat, top, or counterbalance.

    So all in all, I went 2-1-1.

    Sun droplet was never played. The few times I got it in my hand, I already had a chalice on 2 (ie rather late) or still had lock pieces to play out. I am pondering playing 2 Bottled cloister in the side to go through the deck faster looking for a win con. Ghostly prison feels like it needs trying out in here as well.
    Open the vaults is that just being too cute or could one play it as a 1/2-of in side?

    Questions, comments, constructive criticism, are always welcome!

  20. #120

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Stax

    I always preferred the full prison stax. Tnacle effects are ultrasynergic with prison and sphere effectS. Not to mention armageddon. I agree that oring is vulnerable but i think that it is still a valuable card....2 or 3 of.
    On your list maybe i'd change the god eye for the 8th sol land

    Enviado desde mi XT890 mediante Tapatalk

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