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Thread: Braids Stax

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  1. #1
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    Braids Stax

    Decklist as of December 2015

    4 Braids, Cabal Minion
    4 Ophiomancer

    2 Crucible of Worlds
    4 Smokestack
    4 Trinisphere
    4 Chalice of the Void
    3 Ensnaring Bridge
    4 Mox Diamond
    2 Bottled Cloister
    2 Trading Post

    4 Cavern of Souls
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    5 Swamp
    1 God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai
    4 Wasteland
    2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

    3 Toxic Deluge

    SB:
    4 Leyline of the Void
    4 Helm of Obedience
    7 Flex Slots


    Braids Stax is a prison-oriented deck that aims to lock your opponent out of the game via disruptive artifacts such as Trinisphere and Chalice of The Void and pressure your opponents permanents through Stax effects in order to earn a concession. However, unlike other Stax decks that may recur to a stompy way of killing their opponents, that may get dealt with quickly or simply outclassed, Braids Stax plays a much more quiet role, not going for speed kills but grinding your opponents to the bone.



    Chalice of The Void: Due to the low costs of spells in Legacy, Chalice of The Void set on 1 will blank tons of regular spells. Cantrips like Brainstorm or Ponder are shut down, same as Swords to Plowshares, Lightning Bolt, Delver of Secrets, Dark Ritual, and so on. Also because you aren't running any CMC 1 spells you won't suffer a setback at all.

    Trinisphere: Trini can really slow down other decks, specially because it will restrict them to one spell a turn for a long time. This, added to the Stax effects, can prove to be a deadly lock. Also it works as a pseudo-Defence Grid because people will need to leave 3 open mana in your turn to interact with your lockpieces.

    Stax effects:



    Smokestack: As you can read, Smokestack is a card that can get out of hand extremely quickly, and can clean boards in itself. A few activations can demolish an opponent running low on permanents, remember than ticking it up is optional, and you can stack both of it's abilities, so you can sacrifice 0 permanents, then add a counter. Depending on how your board + recursivity effects, knowing when to tick up or not is key. Also it dodges decay and not a lot of decks can take it out of the board G1.



    Braids, Cabal Minion: A smokestack that hits for two, and the best card of the deck. Braids, although always staying on one permanent a turn, has the tremendous benefit that it starts to work as soon as you drop her, which means that your opponent won't be as prepared. However, Braids can get hit by Bolt and Swords to Plowshares, so be sure you have a lockpiece (Trini or Chalice) for those answers. Braids herself was a powerful demential Summoner from Otaria, but unlike other dementia summoners, she retained some degree of free-thinking, which helped her climb up in the Cabal hierarchy. Her cards represents what being close to Braids should feel like: Total pain for everybody.

    However, you may ask, how are you gonna keep up with sacking permanents. This is where the recursivity engines appear. The main idea of the stax effects is that your opponent will eventually wear down and won't have permanents to sacrifice, while you can keep sacking the same stuff over and over again.

    Crucible of Worlds: A staple in every Stax version. Crucible will allow you to bring sacrificed lands back to play, to keep sacrificing them. Also works wonders with Wasteland, as it will allow you to keep wasting a whole manabase.

    Ophiomancer: This hidden commander gem works wonders in this deck. Just on its own, it can stop hordes of creatures creating Snake tokens, that mind you, have Deathtouch, which means that Tarmos, Anglers and Gooses won't be as effective. Also because it checks for the Snake in each upkeep, you can sac one to your Stax effect, get it back in your opponent's turn, block whatever they have, then get it back in your turn and sac it to the Stax again! Ophiomancer is also amazing as an attacker, because it provides two bodies hitting for 3.

    Trading Post: A mini-planeswalker. You will indeed feel that you are in a market, getting the best bargain in each turn. It can feed your stax effects or make chump-blockers, it can also gain life, can recover itself previously destroyed/countered artifacts to the board, or can just "Recycle" a redundant artifact for a fresh new card!

    To conclude the maindeck, a few other disruptive spells:

    Toxic Deluge: A great sweeper to clear any board. Great against Pyromancer and Mentor decks.

    Ensnaring Bridge: Some decks won't get past this card G1. It works great for you to hide behind it while you let your engine do the nasty work for you. Also gives you a decent matchup vs Eldrazi and Sneak and Show.

    Bottled Cloister: An artifact that will net you an extra card each turn. Hiding your hand in your opponent's turn isn't that much of a drawback, since you don't play any instant-speed spells, and it has a beautiful synergy with Ensnaring Bridge, as you will have cards, but however, in your opponents turn, you will hide them away effectively "fooling the bridge" as having 0 cards in hand.

    The Manabase:

    Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors: Much needed Sol Lands. Will accelerate your mana so you can drop your stuff quicker.

    Mox Diamond: Can get you Black mana, and will accelerate you too.

    Swamp: Basic colored mana never hurts.

    Wasteland: Destroying lands helps to the Stax effects, also great synergy with Crucible.

    Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Can fix your mana pretty smoothly, also make tombs tap without you getting hurt.

    Cavern of Souls: Due to the only 2 creatures in your deck being Black and Human, you can bypass countermagic with them.

    God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai: An amazing land for this kind of strategies. Even without a recursion engine, it will feed 2 turns of sacking itself, while also generating bodies. If you have a crucible out, you'll get insane value of it.


    -------Sideboard / Matchups ------
    ------------Still in progress---------
    Last edited by owerbart; 03-30-2016 at 07:12 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Braids Stax

    Matchup guide

    Death and Taxes: Favorable

    Against this creature heavy deck your best approach is to land a continuous stax effect, even if you dont have a way to keep feeding it. Your main concer are both Flickerwisp and Mangara G1, because those are their ways to beat Ensnaring Bridge. Crucible is an all-star to fight a wasteland battle. Set chalice in 1 to stop vial and swords to plowshares. Braids isnt at her best because they are running 3 karakas. If you can keep their lands short and them without vial, the game will probably be yours. At least in my experience the taxing effect of Thalia wont stop you that much unless theiy also pair it with ports and wastes.

    Board out the trinispheres and some number of chalices, since on the draw they will look silly if your opponemt has a t1 vial. Board in virtues ruin if you have it, as well as phyrexian revokers


    Miracles: Favorable

    Chalice is a beat against them, since you will erase quite a lot of their stuff. The matchup changes dramatically depending if they have top or not. Counterbalance shouldnt be that hard to play against, their only true lock is to have jace on top,. The venser lists may have more chances to interact with you, so beware. Smokestack is an all star because they have a very difficult time taking it out of the game. Do not deploy your creatures if ou cant shield them behind a lockpiece. Miracles will probably realize thata they cant outgrind you and will try to land a mentor t3 and race you. If you already had something countered, go for toxic deluge, ALWAYS FOR more than 2, so he cant save it with prowess if not, try to land a trini or a bridge first to test the waters, then go for it. They will usually fetch basics so wastelands arent at its best. Trading post is also fine as you will be able to grind them out. If you already have chalice on one, set the next one in 3 to stop councils judgement.

    Board out a trini or two, and some number of crucibles and bridges. Bring revoker, virtues ruin, engineered plague for monks.

    Shardless BUG: Even tending to unfavorable

    They run DRS which can be a pain for them to breeak through your mana barriers. Chalice isnt at its best since their only one mana spells are brainstorm, drs and a lone ponder. They wont be able to deal with Ophiomancer that well, your best cards in this matchup are bottled cloister,trading post and smokestack and braids, since they dodge decay. Their only counterspells are 4 fows so go for it landing your stuff.if you manage to get a stax effect plus recursivity, start to tick smokey up up up, they will have a worst time rebuilding than you. If they have a hand without drs try to cut them off green. If shardless is big in yomur meta go for a more heavy trading post build. Set chalices on 0 to stop ancestral.

    Board out the chalices, you may try to bring the helm package in. Perish is also good so is Guardian.

    Storm: Favorable

    Keep a hand with either trini or chalice, they wont be able to beat it g1 unless they are going for a burning wish build, in that case try to waste all their red mana, and go for chalice on 2 too. Go for stax without recursivity to nuke the few lands they play and set them further behind. If you smell they are on TES your first chalice on zero to stop lines with Led and chrome mox.

    Board out bridges, crucibles, cloisters, trading posts. Helm package in, revokers for LEd, thorn of ametyst. Keep deluges because they will try to for empty the warrens. Beware of rebuild and meltdown g2

    Aggro Loam: unfavorable.

    Probably this deck worst matchup. The stax effects arent that great and they have tons recursvity too. Your best bet is to try to land a trinisphere and tax them before they can get loam online. Be aware of their manabase and waste properly. Set chalice on 2 to stop loam and p. Fire.

    Postboard aim for the helm kill. Out the chalices and trinis. MULLIGAN AGGRESIVELY to leyline.

    Delver variants:

    RUG: Chalice on 1 cripples them. So does ensnaring bridge. These are your two main tickets to win. Bait their counters with other stuff so you can safely deploy these. They dont run that many permanents so tick up smokestack, they wont be able to rebuild. Expect ancient grudge and loam from their sideboards. Board perish, take out some cloisters.

    Grixis: again,chalice cripples them. Because they dont have Tarmo they are a bit slowr, but they play shaman and pyromancer can keep up with smokestack. Once again, bait the counter, then toxic deluge like a mofo. If you are expecting decays, bring guardian beast. Plague spitter and engineedpred are also good.

    BUG: they can deal with chalice so thatts a problem. But because they cant go wide like shardless, your best strategy is to overload their decays. Keep the cloisters in to fight hymn to tourach and keep up with throwing spells. Perish is good, so is guardian beast.

    Eldrazi: Favorable

    G1 bridge will usually be lights out. Also they arent adequated to deal with your stax effects. Wasteland aggresively. Ophiomancer will hold the fort for a long time. If you have chalice, set it in two to stop mimic and jitte. Beware of worldbreaker and endbringer, so try to keep their mana off them. Go for stax without recursivity and it will be game.

    Board the chalices and trinis, bring the helm package.
    Last edited by owerbart; 03-31-2016 at 12:06 PM.

  3. #3

    Re: Braids Stax

    I can't think of other ways to break symmetry of Smokestack that are black. I never liked Bitterblossom the card kinda just kills you in the end. Especially since you got Ancient Tombs in there. White versions at least had Baneslayer/Timely Reinforcements to offset the life loss. Bottled cloister and ensnaring bridge are great. Also 8 smokestack effects is rather....heavy.

    In EDH, I miss using Braids. I'm back to creating rage with Jhoira.

  4. #4

    Re: Braids Stax

    Cavern of Souls is quite good with Nether Void, too.

  5. #5

    Re: Braids Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Keller View Post
    Cavern of Souls is quite good with Nether Void, too.
    This is a good idea for my Demon Stompy deck. Too bad it's an MTGO only thing.

  6. #6
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    Re: Braids Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by Nuke is Good View Post
    I can't think of other ways to break symmetry of Smokestack that are black. I never liked Bitterblossom the card kinda just kills you in the end. Especially since you got Ancient Tombs in there. White versions at least had Baneslayer/Timely Reinforcements to offset the life loss. Bottled cloister and ensnaring bridge are great. Also 8 smokestack effects is rather....heavy.

    In EDH, I miss using Braids. I'm back to creating rage with Jhoira.
    I'm ok with cutting the bitterblossoms for Crucible of Worlds, the problem is finding another wincon.

    What about

    -3 Bitterblossom
    +3 Crucible of Worlds
    -2 Nether Void
    +2 Tombstalker

  7. #7

    Re: Braids Stax

    You may want to look into Ophiomancer.
    Last edited by Jander78; 01-22-2015 at 05:39 PM.

  8. #8
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    Re: Braids Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by Zirath View Post
    You may want to look into Ophiomancer.
    Nice!

    To be honest I didn't even know that card existed. Since it's 3cc it's also nice for Trinisphere.

  9. #9

    Re: Braids Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by Koby View Post
    Man IDK, I don't write this bullshit. We all know WotC has some primo grass in its R&D Lair.

  10. #10
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    Re: Braids Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by TraxDaMax View Post
    Thanks! I already saw that japanese list. Nice to know someone else also liked the idea of the deck :)
    I'm not sure about bitterblossom still. I could see how they work to stop big creatures early in the game, but I don't like how they work with Toxic Deluge + Ancient Tombs.

    Still I like that list a lot.

  11. #11

    Re: Braids Stax

    Jitte seems to be the glue of that deck. It serves as a lockpiece/clock. And it makes some matchups almost impossible to lose.
    Quote Originally Posted by Koby View Post
    Man IDK, I don't write this bullshit. We all know WotC has some primo grass in its R&D Lair.

  12. #12

    Re: Braids Stax

    58 cards, what would the last two be?

  13. #13

    Re: Braids Stax

    What about Contamination as another lock? There are already a bunch of token generators, it costs 3.

  14. #14
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    Re: Braids Stax

    I've been playing Angel Prison for a bit, but I came across this thread and the list posted in the link above looks awesome. Has anyone actually tested that list? Contamination seems like a nice black Blood Moon with Bitterblossom in play.

  15. #15

    Re: Braids Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by Daize View Post
    58 cards, what would the last two be?
    I didn't notice that one. Hmm, maybe it's 3 lili's? 1 of lili seems kind of weird.
    Possibly it is just Smokestack which would let the deck live up to it's name :)

    Edit: nm 2 lili in the board, so I'm going with Smokestack.

    Re-edit: on second thought, it may be a black card, because there don't seem to be a whole lot to support Chrome Mox.
    Could be anything really. Enginereed Plague, Sinkhole, Smallpox, Damnation, Contamination...
    Quote Originally Posted by Koby View Post
    Man IDK, I don't write this bullshit. We all know WotC has some primo grass in its R&D Lair.

  16. #16

    Re: Braids Stax

    Quote Originally Posted by TraxDaMax View Post
    I didn't notice that one. Hmm, maybe it's 3 lili's? 1 of lili seems kind of weird.
    Possibly it is just Smokestack which would let the deck live up to it's name :)

    Edit: nm 2 lili in the board, so I'm going with Smokestack.

    Re-edit: on second thought, it may be a black card, because there don't seem to be a whole lot to support Chrome Mox.
    Could be anything really. Enginereed Plague, Sinkhole, Smallpox, Damnation, Contamination...
    A quick google of the guys name + braids and I found it. http://mtglive.net/deckdb/viewer.php...2&ckattempt=1#

    Ob nixilis lol!

  17. #17

    Re: Braids Stax

    Wow haha that isn't what I'd expect. It is a clock though.
    Quote Originally Posted by Koby View Post
    Man IDK, I don't write this bullshit. We all know WotC has some primo grass in its R&D Lair.

  18. #18
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    Re: Braids Stax

    Has anyone played with Ob Nixilis or tested this list? I sleeved it up with Contamination instead of Ob Nix. Felt threat light.

  19. #19

    Re: Braids Stax

    Actually, Ob Nix doesn't seem too bad... it does give the opponent two cards to deal with, and pumps out an immediate blocker...

  20. #20
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    Re: Braids Stax

    Would Ob Nix Unshackled or the Fallen be worth looking into as well?

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