[Deck] Orb Stax

[RexFTW]

This is an interesting deck idea that I had at the bars about a year ago, and have decided to try it out. The idea is to exploit the following interactions:

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
with
Winter Orb


The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
with
Living Plane
with
Mox Diamond
or
Gaea's Cradle


Tangle Wire
with
Winter Orb


Living plane + tabernacle + winter orb should wipe out all creatures and lands your opponent has very quickly. Kill them by beating down with a 1/1 tabernacle sustained by crucible or a mox.


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

// Lands
2 [M10] Forest (2)
4 [RAV] Temple Garden
2 [MM] Plains (2)
4 [A] Savannah
2 [US] Gaea's Cradle
4 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 [TE] Wasteland
4 [EX] City of Traitors

// Spells
4 [MI] Enlightened Tutor
3 [TE] Root Maze
3 [LG] Living Plane
3 [US] Exploration
4 [ZEN] Expedition Map
3 [10E] Crucible of Worlds
4 [NE] Tangle Wire
2 [SOM] Mox Opal
4 [SH] Mox Diamond
4 [A] Winter Orb

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [M11] Leyline of Sanctity
SB: 4 [TE] Choke
SB: 4 [10E] Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Trinisphere

[RexFTW]

saved

[Philipp2293]

And I thought I was settled with 2 Tabernacles.... do you think 2 crop rotations might be ok as supplements? Also, no outs to Chalice in your 75? On 1 it makes your life pretty hard (at least I'd imagine)

[TheDarkshineKnight]

Gah! If only Gaddock Teeg hit spells with CMC 5 and above instead of 4 and above.

[RexFTW]

reasonable points. Luckily tier 1 decks dont play these in the main deck. Perhaps there need to be answers in the board. Any ideas for improving the maindeck?

[Barook]

I wanted to suggest Root Maze, but then I saw you already included it.

I would suggest Garruk Wildspeaker due to his nice synergy with the deck. He also speeds up to attack plan quite a bit.

[Philipp2293]

While testing, what really worried me was the speed at which my hand was empty, with little possibilities to manipulate the draws or without any source of CA.

Maybe you want to replace the Temple Gardens with Horizon Canopies, I'd be surprised if on average your lifeloss is that much higher, but at least you'd have some kind of engine.

Also, sometimes I wished I had lands to be fetched with enlightened tutors, so maybe you could consider artifact lands.

[Zork]

It would be hard to fit in, but if you really need CA in mono green Stax has, in the past, used Sylvan Library + Uba Mask for both CA and disruption.

[clavio]

Since you're running white you could run Ghostly Prison. It's pretty solid with winter orb + tabernacle.

Interesting stuff. I'm going to have to look at this closer when I have more time.

[mistercakes]

maze of ith is really solid.

[LegacyInferno]

4 Tabernacles wow, I hate just one on the feild, let alone 4

[clavio]

It's legendary chief.


I'd almost want to outright replace Tangle Wire with Prison. You run the risk of tapping your own winter orb which could be detrimental.


Also I'd think about running relic to progenitus. While tabernacle/orb can pretty much stop tribal aggro, an opponent can keep a single goyf alive with tabernacle and orb in and bash your face in before you have time to find an answer.

[Infinitium]

Awakening Zone is solid, as is Garruk Wildspeaker (especially with the untap land shenanigans of Winter Orb) and Uba Mask/Words of Wilding + Sylvan library.

I wouldn't call this deck Stax without the dual mana landbase and Smokestack however.

[GGoober]

JJ you definitely want Garruk in this deck. It's a win-condition, good on the defense in case any creatures slipped past and works great under Orb when you have to work around it.

I know living Plane is awesome with Tabernacle + Worb, but that's a combination of 3 cards to pull off a combo (4cmc Living Plane). Any idea if you can still survive comfortably without WOrb facing against Hierarch + Goyfs in play? Just an iidea to throw out. You want some backup plan if WOrb doesn't resolve.

All in all, Winter Orb + Tabernacle should be more than enough to lock most decks out. Most decks cannot play around Winter Orb easily, yet alone if they played creature decks against TAbernacle. Living Plane is an armageddon in this deck when you draw Orb + Tabernacle, if you drew Tabernacle, it becomes essentially a Winter Orb :D

Cool idea though, can't wait to see this in action. Against combo/price of progress/faster goldfishing decks, I read a report on how Lands beat TES by getting a turn 1 Exploration + Zuran Orb and gaining too much life. Would that be another option to solidify the combo matchup (probably still the worst matchup). I think you also definitely need Garruk because if Crucible and Winter Orb/Living Plane gets countered against control, you'll have almost no way to win.

[JCLe]

my 0.02$
The thing is, Living plane is essentially additional winter orbs (say even better)

What it does with tabernacle : locks all land during upkeep, kills any additional creatures OR kills lands and not creatures. During the turn the player cannot tap his land for mana, which makes it useless until his next upkeep where it is still locked up.

It is a win condition by itself because you get advantage through city of traitors + mox diamonds, and will be able to attack whenever you like after setting up the hard lock.

The problem is that winter orb shuts this down (little slower)... if you want creature control try ensnaring bridge maybe? I have to try this out though I haven't tested orb so if you have tested bridge let me know :P

All in all that's why I've cut Garruk in my version. I didn't find it was needed, but that might be because of the differences in the builds.
I think root maze, mox opal and a map could be cut to make room for 3-4 libraries and a number of uba mask's or bottled cloister (CA + synergy with bridge), and cutting some lands for ancient tombs.

That'd make it look a bit more like my version which I've been testing for a good amount of time on MWS, granted that is shit testing and I haven't took it to anywhere serious yet.

[RexFTW]

Can you post your list JCLe?

I like the Uba Mask+Winter Orb combo!

[JCLe]

// Lands
1 [DIS] Ghost Quarter
1 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 [JU] Riftstone Portal
4 [TE] Wasteland
1 [MI] Crystal Vein
4 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
4 [GUR] Forest
1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4 [TE] Ancient Tomb
4 [EX] City of Traitors

// Spells
2 [RAV] Bottled Cloister
1 [EX] Sphere of Resistance
4 [UL] Crop Rotation
4 [US] Exploration
4 [SH] Mox Diamond
4 [LG] Sylvan Library
4 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
4 [SH] Ensnaring Bridge
4 [DS] Trinisphere
4 [LG] Living Plane

This is the last list I've been trying out.

Chalice in the board for combo... other board slots include 2 more bottled cloisters, rest I'm not too sure about yet.

So far so good, kinda liking the sphere's in there (sphere of resistance is just a 5th trinisphere)

/e I probably don't focus on the tabernacle lock as much as you, since bridge just works alone when I draw it, otherwise I can just crop into it when necessary (lots of CA generated), so aggro outs are crop + plane, or just bridge (+ cloister for better/faster lock some times)