[WWK] Blue Stax

[Infinitium]

With the release of Worldwake I would like to start a thread to take a second look on the Blue Stax and what tools it has available to it in comparison to Armaggeddon Stax. Just consider the following card choices:

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Intuition: Not only does it tutor for every single lock piece in the deck at a premium cmc, but together with Crucible of Worlds it also enables part of the same land toolbox that enables 42.dec (notably The Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale, Academy Ruins and Maze of Ith - note that an eot for any of those + 2 Crucible is a direct tutor).

Slow Motion: Out of all the horrible [SCD] threads this site has seen lately this one somehow made it this far without mention. Not only does this have obvious synergies with the other taxing/land destroying effects of the deck, but it also replaces itself (which is quite the big deal in a control deck packing less direct answers or card selection/draw than most aggro decks). Oh, and it's a Smokestack enabler in a pinch.

Parallax Tide: Whilst certainly not better than Armaggedon, it's not strictly worse either. Cast early enough, this can easily generate those few extra precious turns required to regurgigate your hand under Trinisphere, Tax the shit out of the opponents creaturbase or wastelock away whatever lands they have left in play and generally stabilize.

Propaganda: Pretty much the same deal as Ghostly Prison. White stax can pair this with Armageddon/Magus of the Tabernacle whereas blue stax gets Slow Motion, Parallax Tide and Intuition shenanigans. Shame it won't protect Jace.

Force of Will: For completeness, although I admit it's a tight fit and rather unsynergistic. With the amount of silver bullets against the archetype seeing play and the fact that certain stax spells such as complementing lock pieces must resolve cramming this in might be a good idea though.

Jace the Mindsculptor: This is what actually might make this thing work imo - it's a combined Draw, Stall and Win card all rolled into one that incidentally also hinders your opponent drawing answers should you have the better board position.

As for the more unique board options:

In the Eye of Chaos: Essentially a superior Trinisphere against certain archetypes that relies on instants to deal with the aforementioned (ie Storm Combo and non-Deed/O-Ring control decks, with Burn as the incidental collateral)

Aura Flux: Very conditional, but turning Enchantress from "unfavorable" to "eff off and die" might be useful in certain metas, and Stax maindecks tends to be tight enough to dissuade siding anything but pure bombs anyway.

Anyway, proposed starting list that I intend to start testing:

Intuition Stax 2010

7 Island
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Maze of Ith

4 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Smokestack

4 Intuition
3 Jace the Mindsculptor

4 Propaganda
4 Slow Motion
3 Parallax Tide

Sideboard:
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Trinisphere
3 In the Eye of Chaos

[Roman Candle]

Magosi the Waterveil is really cool with Smokestack plus lock pieces.

[DukeDemonKn1ght]

How is Jace a better incentive to run blue Stax than Tezzeret already is?

...I'd like to see a successful list just as much as the next guy, but I really don't think Jace the Mindsculptor is what the archetype needs to become viable.

[Illissius]

Is there no way to hybridize Stasis in? In theory, the card fits in perfectly with the spirit of Stax. In practice, it seems like actually paying the :u: is a pain in the ass.

[Nidd]

I reall want to see a MU Stax list abusing the hell out of Chronatog Totem and Smokestack.
New Jace seems to power the archetype, but I dont think this is doable, as the list is too tight.

[Malakai]

Magosi the Waterveil is really cool with Smokestack plus lock pieces.

I don't think you understand. You are proposing the strategy of skipping your own turn. Skipping your turn is a drawback. No matter the amount of steps you take to mitigate that drawback, it will NEVER be a good thing.

[Koby]

Skipping your turn with Smokestack out against a meager board is actually the right play. That's the proper play from Vintage, and would almost certain fit here as well. WIth the addition of Goblin Welder, it may just be the absolute nuttiest thing you can do.

[Malakai]

Skipping your turn with Smokestack out against a meager board is actually the right play. That's the proper play from Vintage, and would almost certain fit here as well. WIth the addition of Goblin Welder, it may just be the absolute jankiest thing you can do.

I fixed it.

[Infinitium]

How is Jace a better incentive to run blue Stax than Tezzeret already is?

It's better costed, doesn't force you to play artifact lands just to make the first ability do anything, can protect itself better since Ensnaring Bridge is unreliable and wins the game through card and tempo advantage within a few turns all the same.

Also Magosi is horrible. Cipt is a dealbreaker, and the effect is quite win more anyway. I would sooner run Paradox Haze.

@Illissius: Without an active Smokestack/Jace there isn't a way to break the symmetry of stasis though, and shoehorning in forgotten temple just to maintain it would probably ruin the manabase.

[gustha]

I'm interested in the development of this thing as well. The question raised between tezzeret and jace2.0 is ofc right. The choice is between a cc5 PW that tutor artifact and wins the game with is fast ulimate, and a PW that takes 6 turns to reach the ultimate with a disputable ability. Jace 2.0 has some good point btw: he costs 1 less (you don't always have 5 mana, 4 is quite simple to achieve on the contrary); he gives free brainstorm every turn (tezzeret can tutor for lock pieces, but is it enough?); he eventually can unsummon something, than brainstorm into lock pieces, etc. I am not saying jace2.0 is absolutely better then tezzeret, but at least worth testing. Here's what I put up. In regards of Infinitium's work, I based my list on a more traditional blue stax shell.

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
4 [EX] City of Traitors
3 [AQ] Mishra's Factory
2 [BOK] Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai
2 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 [TE] Wasteland
6 [ZEN] Island
4 [TE] Ancient Tomb

// Creatures
2 [DS] Eater of Days

// Spells
4 [NE] Tangle Wire
3 [WWK] Jace the Mind Sculptor
3 [10E] Crucible of Worlds
3 [US] Smokestack
4 [DS] Trinisphere
4 [TE] Propaganda
4 [WL] Pendrell Mists
4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
4 [SH] Mox Diamond

Some explanations:
-god's eye, gate to the reaikai: makes stack@2 affordable without crucible. I've had to cut 1 Crucible 1 stack for the 2 eater of days, but I'm planning to add 1 copy of each sb.
-4 waste/3 mishra: the split is for the reason we become aggressive in the late game, wasteland fits better the mana denial/lock plan. Yet, if the meta requires no massive LD, the numbers can be switched (though, if the meta doesn't suffer from wasteland, it's probably not recommended to play stax/stompy).

-eater of days: big body for little cost? check. defends PW's? Check? Multiplies for 3 the effecs of tangle wire/smokestack etc. on just one side of the field (the side that matters)? Check. Though magosi of the waterveil is a good thing, I might test up 1 slot, though the CIPT may be annoying.

The rest is rather self explaining.

[Malakai]

Eater of Days is the definition of win-more. Are you kidding me? If you can skip two turns without losing then you have already won.

You are going to feel like a moron when they destroy your Smokestack at end of turn.

[Maveric78f]

Yeah, Blue Stax or playing 6+ UU cards with 11 blue sources. Good luck with that.

[Muenstermagic.de]

Eater of Days is the definition of win-more. Are you kidding me? If you can skip two turns without losing then you have already won.

You are going to feel like a moron when they destroy your Smokestack at end of turn.

Eater of Days could well be the definition of "win". Or "win fast". What options does Staxx have to do this?

I think the estimation of "already won" is a bit crooked. Basic Assumption (as you know) is to play the Eater as you have Stack online, probably also Wire. Stack kicks both players symmetrically, yourself probably a bit less as you can "stack". A Smokestack alone does not win. A Smokestack which only your opponent has to serve three turns in a row probably does, especially with a 9/8 waiting in the back.

Of course you get a problem when your Smokestack is kicked EOT. But you are not forced to play the Eater unless you are pretty sure the Stack will survive.

As with Magosi, it is a pretty nice tech to further abuse Smokestack. If this abuse will become central to this deck, however, is another question.

[gustha]

Eater of Days could well be the definition of "win". Or "win fast". What options does Staxx have to do this?

I think the estimation of "already won" is a bit crooked. Basic Assumption (as you know) is to play the Eater as you have Stack online, probably also Wire. Stack kicks both players symmetrically, yourself probably a bit less as you can "stack". A Smokestack alone does not win. A Smokestack which only your opponent has to serve three turns in a row probably does, especially with a 9/8 waiting in the back.

Of course you get a problem when your Smokestack is kicked EOT. But you are not forced to play the Eater unless you are pretty sure the Stack will survive.
Thanks for this post, you explained very well the Eater of days. I didn't think it deserved explanation since it is played in blue stax builds since ages and it can be considered a "classic" wincon, besided things like meditate/tezzeret/karn. I personally prefer eater of days among the others, I have nothing to add to what you said.


Yeah, Blue Stax or playing 6+ UU cards with 11 blue sources. Good luck with that.I don't understand. I count only 3 UU cards and 10 blue sources. Lock pieces all require only U. Jace's UU should not be difficult, we play tezzeret, we can play jace as well (jace cost 1 less...). This is a more or less accepted classic build of blue stax, with some minor changes. :wink:

[Malakai]

You can't site previous blue stax decks to justify your card choices, as blue stax has never, ever been a successful archtype. Sure it's probably won a tournament here and there, but so has elves. It has never won a large event, and has never placed highly consistently.


Of course you get a problem when your Smokestack is kicked EOT. But you are not forced to play the Eater unless you are pretty sure the Stack will survive.
This translates to: You don't play Eater unless you are already winning.

If only there was a blue creature that could generate tokens or something. Like Meloku.

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I don't know where you guys have been the last three years, but Tangle Wire is terrible. It is not the tool it is in Vintage.

Crucible is an automatic 4-of.