Tangle in the Jungle (G-Staxx)

[Kinderschreck]

Hi.

My first deck I post her on The Source so I'm a bit nervous...
Wanted to play Staxx again, but the W-version was just to expensiv and I wasn't to much a fan of it, so I thought of colors that could work well with Staxx and just came to the conclusion green would be awesome. Enjoy my idear for a green Staxx. :P

Decklist

Creatures:
4 Elvish Spirit Guide

Lands:
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Rishadan Port
4 Mishra's Factory
5 Forest
4 Wasteland

Artifacts:
4 Mox Diamond
4 Tangle Wire
3 Smokestack
4 Trinisphere
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Crucible of Worlds

Enchantments:
3 Awakening Zone

Planeswalkers:
3 Garruk Wildspeaker

The idear is to stall the game and win with Garruks Overrun-Ability.

Now explaination for some of the card choices:

Elvish Spirit Guide
Helps you to drop a 1st turn Trinisphere, Awakening Zone,Tangle Wire or Chalice of the Void and keeps your manabase somehow running. Can be recycled as sacrifice for smokestack. Nice against opponents daze, always funny to see those faces. xD

Tangle Wire
The card that made Staxx what it was a long time ago. Great for stalling some time, which you really want in this deck.

Awakening Zone
A maybe underestimated card. Creates a free mana each turn, which can block or atk when boosted with Garruks Ulti. Also nice as free sacrifce for Smokestack. The tokens can be tapped for Tangle Wire.

Smokestack
Early played you can really kick ass, since you don't care to sacrifice a card each turn thanks to Crucible of Worlds or Awakening Zone. Get's rid of Ensnaring Bridge before you use Garruk Wildspeakers ultimate.

Ensnaring Bridge
Keeps you save from all those nasty big monsters. The small one get blocked by your Awakening Zone tokens.

Garruk Wildspeaker
Just awesome with Tangle Wire! You tap your lands without any drawback. Create some mana with City of Traitors and/or Ancient Tomb.
The 3/3 tokens are nice and his ulti is striking your opponents harder then they can survive.

Any questions about other card choices or those mentioned? Just ask. ^^

Cards that might be worth to mention and could be added:

Etched Champion
You play enough artifacts for the metalcraft, but ensnaring bridge can get you.
Karn, Silver Golem
He's just the classic oldschool mother*ucker. :P
Thopter Assembly
Works well with Garruk Wildspeakers ulti and Tangle Wire/Smokestack.
Steel Hellkite
Makes sure you'll win. When he attacked once, you can be sure to win.
Garruk, Primal Hunter
Is able to draw cards and spawns better tokens, but one mana more than the other Garruk and it's missing the untap ability make it only a 1-off option at all.
Wurmcoil Engine
Needs always two removals and even when sacrificed for Smokestack it kicks ass.

Academy Ruins
Maybe as 1-off, since blue mana can be generated with Mox Diamond.
Buried Ruins is something the same here...But I'm already short on :g: -mana.

It would be great to get some tips and idears for this deck, since I really want to play it in the future. Thanks for reading! ^^

[(nameless one)]

Root Maze needs to be abused in this deck.

[Kinderschreck]

Root Maze was an idear of mine too in the early deck design phase, but it doesn't work too well with Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere, which are WAY better as turn 1 drops.
The draw back you get from Root Maze hits you harder than the opponent and after Turn 1 you just don't want it really that much.
Besides it's ruins your Trinisphere.

[jhhdk]

Is omission of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale due to budget constraints?
Wondering if recurring enchantments like Rancor (obviously not this deck) and Spreading Algae are any good with Smokestack?

[B is for Big Job]

Is omission of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale due to budget constraints?
Wondering if recurring enchantments like Rancor (obviously not this deck) and Spreading Algae are any good with Smokestack?

Tabernacle doesnt really help the deck when having to pay for all your tokens upkeeps and still somehow be able to play something during your turn.

Rancor is good and there arent any swamps in the deck for Algae :/

Hey Kinder have you tried running Beastmaster Ascension as another kill? Granted it might take some time to get online but making 2-3 tokens a turn it could build counters quick

[jhhdk]

Tabernacle doesnt really help the deck when having to pay for all your tokens upkeeps and still somehow be able to play something during your turn.
I see. I thought tokens were for feeding Smokestack. Seeing no creatures except generated tokens, I thought Tabernacle would be unfairly asymetrical.

Rancor is good and there aren't any swamps in the deck for Algae :/
I suppose some kind of land tutor would be needed to get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, which would require too much change to the deck.

[Maveric78f]

Stax does not need any other kill than Stax. It would benefit from some kind of removal though (just in case a silly meddling mage named it).
Stax does not need any useless interaction. Playing 60 permanents in a 60 cards deck is enough to make your deck better prepared than any other deck in the metagame.
Root Maze is a possibility but with Mental Misstep in every deck, it's, according to me, a bad thing to give them a target.
Garruk is not bad but you can't reliably count on GG with only 13 green sources, 4 of them being generally used on turn 1. Karn, liberated looks fitting more to the deck.
Actually my first reflex would be to remove the green cards (except ESG which is awesome).

[Kinderschreck]

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale isn't too good with all the tokens you create. Also it's because of budget reasons. ^^

Rancor needs a creature and you not always have one of those.
You need to pay each turn for it, not the best option.

Spreading Algae seems like a joke to me, sorry, maybe as sideboard option. Nothing more.

Beastmaster Ascension why do I want to play this? I rarely atk, so it wouldn't be at any use. It's a win-more card in this deck.

Karn Liberated might be an idear. Still I just can't drop Garruk Wildspeaker that fast, since 13 :g: -manasources aren't to less.

Root Maze is crap in a deck, where you play lot's of artifacts and lands. You get then more harassed by your Tangle Wire than your opponent and your Trinisphere comes useless onto the battlefield. The Mental Misstep is just one more thing.
So please belief me when I say Root Maze is no use.

[Maveric78f]

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale isn't too good with all the tokens you create. Also it's because of budget reasons. ^^
I was going to say : just abandon the tokens. Even if you don't, they are here to block, generate mana, to be sacced under Stax. None of these uses is a reason for keeping them until The tabernacle trigger.

The Tabernacle would be awesome there. You should even play 2 or 3 of them.

[Kinderschreck]

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is awesome, but I can't even afford one, how should I afford 2-3?! cO
So that's why I can't play it, even if I wanted (which I really do....).

[C Rayz Walz]

I have played a version of green stax for a long time. I actually disagree 100 percent that stax doesn't need another way to win. There are many times where the stax kill is just way to slow and people can grind you out.

I don't think Garruk is that great for you or for stax in general. I personally think that is something that can be cut. I saw a list before running Azusa and with COW I think it can be a real power house. Getting back a lot of lands in one turn can really turn the game around. Just some thoughts for you.

[Freggle]

Root Maze is crap in a deck, where you play lot's of artifacts and lands. You get then more harassed by your Tangle Wire than your opponent and your Trinisphere comes useless onto the battlefield. The Mental Misstep is just one more thing.
So please belief me when I say Root Maze is no use.

Hey Kinderschreck!

Look does Root Maze disrupt your game plan too. Yes most definitely, but does it disrupt your opponent more almost all the time.

Most decks run fetch lands. You do not. They get hit twice on fetch lands (1st on the fetch [pass the turn untap] then the fetched land come in tapped [pass the turn untap]) For most decks it's two turns to get mana from 1 land drop.

You do not have that issue. You can also further limit the effect and speed up the deck with the inclusion of mana men as in cards like Birds of Paradise.

This will not only help to power out early things T2, but free you from the the effects of Root Maze.

I too would recommend to test some things out, and see how to make it work. It's too powerful for your game plan not to.

[NukeMoose]

"A maybe underestimated card. Creates a free mana each turn, which can block or atk when boosted with Garruks Ulti. Also nice as free sacrifce for Smokestack. The enchantment itself can be tapped for Tangle Wire."

FYI You can't tap enchantments to Tangle Wire.

[Kinderschreck]

Azusa, Lost but Seeking is a really nice idear... Tripple Wasteland is devasting (nice play on words, don't you think so? xD)

@freggle:
Sorry, but I won't play Root Maze I had it in the list, but it sucks. You can't use it with Crucible of Worlds and slows you down. You want Trinisphere or Chalice of the Void (maybe even Tangle Wire) on your first turn. Besides everyone runs Mental Misstep 4x in his or her MB. So it's better to let them have a dead card in hand than giving an option for it.
Birds of Paradise are one of the maybe wierdest idears... There is just no space for it in this deck and you NEED turn 1 something that stall your opponent.

@NukeMoose:
Arg...Meant the tokens, the tokens. My bad.

[C Rayz Walz]

Root maze is bad. I don't think it is needed for this deck and I don't really why people think it is even really that good.

What do you think of P Titan? I like the fact that feeds stax and finds wasteland and ports which seems really strong. You can easily lock people out with him and he can actually help you win the game faster. I think he seems pretty good since you are running elvish spirit guide, mox, and sol lands. Casting him wont be that big a problem actually.

[Maveric78f]

Tita (the primeval) and Karn (the liberted) are great in a stax deck. Green is the only color capable of manaramping this high in a stax shell. If I had to design a green stax, this is definitely where I'd go. But as some other said earlier, stax is probably a too slow game plan to be used MD (it's only effective against control).

[Kinderschreck]

Primeval Titan might be nice, but I see him as a win more card.
Besides are his CC of 6 quit high and with 2x :g: he isn't that easy cast.

[MtgPhreakin]

I would either splash white for Armageddon and a faster kill condition than Garruk or abuse Green Sun's Zenith. In turn 1, you can ramp for dryad arbor, and I like Kinderschreck's Azusa idea! Then you can fetch Azuso no problem!

[Kinderschreck]

I hate Green Sun's Zenith, I never liked it. I want a first turn Chalice of the Void or Trinisphere. Each card that is played before I got a Smokestack or Tangle Wire can kill me.
The Azusa idear wasn't mine, credits to C Rayz Walz who mentioned it.

[Michael Keller]

You might want to look here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?14341-Deck-Mono-Green-Chalice-Aggro).

I understand it's a different approach; I've had some success with that archetype and the intricacies are basically the same fundamentally from a playstyle perspective.

[Gui]

You can abuse Sylvan Library + Words of Wilding + Uba Mask in green stax... I always liked the 'combo'.

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

You can abuse Sylvan Library + Words of Wilding + Uba Mask in green stax... I always liked the 'combo'.

I'm not sure if that combo works the way you think it does; you can only replace a draw once.




If you're running Ensnaring Bridge, Grafted Skullcap seems like an obvious choice.

Garruck doesn't seem like he plays well with Bridge, btw. You can only overrun at sorcery speed, so you'll have to hold things in hand before you can finish the opponent.

Why no Lodestone Golem?

Also, Elephant Grass would probably buy you time against aggro decks.