[Deck] Armageddon Stax

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Originally Posted by fertris

Indomitable Archangel 2ww
Creature - Angel Mythic Rare
Flying

Metalcraft - Artifacts you control have shroud as long as you control three or more artifacts.

4/4

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That looks... pretty excellent. My only reservations are the WW, and the possibility that once you have 3 artifacts you might be winning anyway. Still, it beats for 4 in the sky. Definitely worth a try.

@kirbysdl: I agree with your argument about Stax's need of some kind of search/sift/scry effect. It's also true, however, that Stax cannot afford to spend time in the early turns crafting its hand, as some other decks might. So, anything like Crystal Ball would be used once in or near topdeck mode. This isn't an argument against Crystal Ball, but it is an argument for consitency. If you can't spend time looking for the game plan you want early on, you better have a game plan that works most of the time.

On that note, something like Indomitable Angel might work well in a partial tranformational sideboard, where the beaters come in game 2 after they side out card that could potentially answer beaters. The angel would be ideal for this because in addition to beating down, it might also slow down some sideboarded hate cards. This kind of plan could potentially be the best of both worlds, allowing one to drop the least relevant lock pieces in favor of a dangerous plan B.

Yeah, I agree that you have to use the first few turns to slow them down enough that you can survive into the late game. This is why I'd be hesitant to remove early game stall cards like Chalices and Trinispheres, but for example those running four stacks or Magi might consider going down to three. I haven't been able to test much yet but hopefully I can soon test how well it works.

The new angel is intriguing, especially as a sideboard card, and especially if something like Zoo is likely to side out paths against us anyway. I can deal with the WW cost but wished it were an artifact as well, both to bring the ability online as well as to protect itself.

Given that Queller takes five, I'm most excited right now about trying out KotR. I'm hoping that two Savannahs, a Canopy, and the Moxen are enough to cast him when I need to. The tutor engine is the primary part of his appeal. I may be overly optimistic about these search/sift options, but I want to see them fail firsthand before I abandon them. =)

On crystall ball: If your are talking about control stax it could get a 2 off in the list because you'll still be running 4 off of the stall cards (CotV and Trini) to control and extended the game and then you drop CB to bring out your winning condittions.
If you're playing aggro stax, i think that crystall ball is not too helpful due to the number of threatens we run. Crystall ball does not justify çcutting threat cards.

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Originally Posted by GoldenCid

On crystall ball: If your are talking about control stax it could get a 2 off in the list because you'll still be running 4 off of the stall cards (CotV and Trini) to control and extended the game and then you drop CB to bring out your winning condittions.
If you're playing aggro stax, i think that crystall ball is not too helpful due to the number of threatens we run. Crystall ball does not justify çcutting threat cards.

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Can you please explain what you mean by "control stax" and aggro stax"? I didn't realize that people were really developing the deck in those two different directions; It seems that with all versions of the deck, the plan was to win by establishing a hard lock with Smokestack, Trinisphere, and Crucible of Worlds. I know some lists incorporated larger beaters like Baneslayer Angel, but I always thought the role of these threats was the same as that of Exalted Angel in the old Angel Stax deck: to be a dangerous plan B, and a distraction that the opponent would have to spend resources dealing with, at the expense of resources to deal with the lock.

I have been testing Crystal Ball in stompish decks and it seems very positive in sustaining the initial lock pieces. Given that Crystal Ball is a little weak in an aggro approach, I have not tested it in Stax but I think it will be a great fit. Previous draw-effects were: Bottled Cloister, Uba Mask, Grafted Skullcap, but these cost 4cc, which don't come down as fast as Crystal Ball. Scrying 2 a turn is actually quite huge for the deck since a lot of topdecking in the deck is equivalent to losing turns.

Ask yourselves honestly, how often do you draw useless spells (2nd-3rd 3Sphere, Crucible etc) in Stax when topdecking? Plenty of times. How often do you lock the board initially but lose to topdeck as opponents slowly climb back with Pridemage/EE/Predators? Quite a few times. Every turn you waste in Stax gives your opponents a chance to recover. I was testing Sylvan Library in MGCA and replaced it with Crystal Ball going with a more 8tomb-lands approach and it has worked out better for sure. Stax/Stompy decks do NOT need card advantage. Card quality and the right cards is all that matters. That was the main reason why Bottled Cloister and Co. did not work out. They were 4cc conditional draw engines and they just drew extra cards but never drawing the right cards. Crystal Ball in fact actually 'draws' more cards than these card engines since scrying 2 may as well be diggin 3 cards in thsi deck. You only need to find the right cards and nothing does it better than scrying 2. To scry 2 with the traditional draw engines, you would need about 2 Bottled Cloisters to achieve the same effect.

However, card advantage is still relevant if you're trying to ramp Smokestacks and continue to place out permanents, but this is an argument as to why Crystal Ball is a decent choice for the deck (I'm not advocating it, but personally I've been pleased to run 2-3 in my stompy decks). It really fuels the mid-game when these decks are topdecking random irrelevant cards. The benefit of Crystal Ball is having multiple in play is actually a good thing, giving you even more scry power and ensuring you dig into that one specific spell much faster.

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Originally Posted by BlindMage

Can you please explain what you mean by "control stax" and aggro stax"? I didn't realize that people were really developing the deck in those two different directions; It seems that with all versions of the deck, the plan was to win by establishing a hard lock with Smokestack, Trinisphere, and Crucible of Worlds. I know some lists incorporated larger beaters like Baneslayer Angel, but I always thought the role of these threats was the same as that of Exalted Angel in the old Angel Stax deck: to be a dangerous plan B, and a distraction that the opponent would have to spend resources dealing with, at the expense of resources to deal with the lock.

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I wrote a preety long primer for aggro stax which was erased or moved to a placed i can't find it (can any moderator do somethig about this?)

EDIT: Here's the link: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...ead.php?18483-[Deck]-White-Aggro-Stax

I a general mode:

Aggro stax is a deck that makes the lock by using creatures in addition to the conventional lock cards like trini, chalices and so on. The common creature pack of this deck is:

4 Aven mindscensor
4 Windborn muse
4 Exalted angel.

Glowrider can be used as well. Your first plan is lock your oponent out at the time you damage him with your lock peaces. It's very solid.
Post side, depending on the pairing, you can include a 3x or a set of magus of the tabernacle.
If you are interested on a list i can PM to you. :)

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to this deck. I've been playing legacy for a little bit and I have affinity and non-LED Ichorid made
and I'm just finishing up this deck. First, what are our bad matchups? So far I have tested this against my other 2 decks and my friend's goblins and it just dominates all of them, but if I want to take this to a tournament, what decks should I watch out for? Also, I am having problems with my sideboard. I was wondering what a normal sideboard usually has. I know the primer at the beginning has some suggestions but I was wondering if there is anything new that people have been using? Also, how do we win against the mirror? Or is it basically a draw?

Here is my list so far. Please let me know if there's anything I should change with it


4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
1 Horizon Canopy
6 Plains
2 Mishra's Factory

4 Trinisphere
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Smokestack
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Armageddon
2 Oblivion Ring

2 Elspeth
3 Magus of the Tabernacle

SB
4 Defense Grid
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Suppression Field
2 Sphere of Law
2 Choke

I would really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

A few suggestions for you:

I'm not in favour of 4 Smokestack, and I'm not sure why everyone hates me for it. Yes, Smokestack is good. But, it's only good with either Elspeth or Crucible of Worlds to fuel it (I mean, you can just raw-dog it out, and hope you draw into a helper). Yes, it is VERY good, but having two is really pointless, and personally, I'd much rather have a bit more utility.

I've found more and more this deck cries in the face of being Wastelanded. Most of the time, you'll keep an opener with either a Mox, Land, and an Ancient Tomb, so you can cast ridiculous on turn 1. Problem is, if you don't see a land for a while, you're out of luck. This has happened way more than once to me, as has being colour screwed out of White.

Also, many people condemn me for playing Moat in the main: it's a freaking good card. Plus, if you're already playing Elspeth/Baneslayer, why not? Your Ghostly Prisons don't always land/aren't always enough. Moat shuts down Goblins/ Merfolk/ Zoo in their ground based attacks. It's very good.

My list as of late:

3 Smokestack
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Mox Diamond
3 Armageddon
2 Elspeth, KE
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Crystal Ball
4 Trinisphere

3 Magus of the Tabernacle
2 Baneslayer Angel

3 Flagstones of Trokair
1 The Tabernacle....Vale
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Savannah
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter
7 Plains

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Board:
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Karmic Justice
4 Suppression Field
2 Choke
2 Open


Card choices:

Crystal Ball: The deck can really stall out in the mid game going in topdeck mode and not drawing what you need. This helps you filter the crap out, and give you the goods. It's saved my bacon more than a few times, and I consider people to try it. If we weren't playing Chalice and more Green, I'd run Sylvan Library or Top, but we're not, so this is what we have.

Horizon Canopy x2: Again, going into topdeck mode sucks. With Crucible, you have some extra draw at the cost of a land-drop. It's better than nothing, and also gives you more white. Plus, makes splashing Green sideboard stuff easier.

Ghost Quarter: Basically sealing the game up via Wastelock, but better. They fetch their basics, then you remove those with Geddon or with continuous Ghost Quarter. Also allows you to nuke your own stuff for basics in face of non-basic destruction/Back to Basics/Price of Progress.

Savannah: Fetchable with Flagstones, allows you to run more Green from the board.

More Plains: More stable against Wasteland.

Elspeth: Gives you an engine with Smokestack, also allows Magi to fly in for 5. Seems good to me. Plus, if you go ultimate, you can Geddon as you please.

3 Cities vs. 4 City of Traitors: I've found most of the time you need more white, or you'd rather not lose your land every other turn.

Karmic Justice: Landstill is running around again, and this makes Pernicious Deed less likely to happen unless you've drastically over-extended.

Leyline of Sanctity: Running Trini and Chalice can sometimes not be enough against Belcher/TES, and the ilk. They can bounce the hate end of turn, then go off the next. This not only takes care of them Turn 0, you can also cast it later as yet another lockpiece. Also stops you from getting hit on my Black discard, Siege Gang Commander, Belcher, Wheel of Sun and Moon, Zoo's burn and the list goes on. I love this card more and more.

Suppression Field: Fetchlands, Coralhelm, Zoo as a deck in general, Survival, Wasteland against you, Jace TMS, etc. It's like Ghostly Prison for abilities, why not play it? It hurts you a bit, but not as much as the other player.

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Originally Posted by sdematt

I'm not in favour of 4 Smokestack, and I'm not sure why everyone hates me for it. Yes, Smokestack is good. But, it's only good with either Elspeth or Crucible of Worlds to fuel it (I mean, you can just raw-dog it out, and hope you draw into a helper). Yes, it is VERY good, but having two is really pointless, and personally, I'd much rather have a bit more utility.

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Hate is too strong a word; but playing 56 permanents four of which replace themselves makes for a high probability of out-perming an opponent even without Crucible, as long as you can cast 3CC spells. It gets a bit worse with every 4C spell since now you have to pay 4 mana, but that's doable a lot of the time. If you do have four mana, you can cast multiples to sacrifice to the first one; when an opponent is sacrificing a permanent a turn, you won't be needing mutiples of Prisons/Magi either, and will merrily sacrifice surplus to keep the whole thing going. Not saying there aren't problems like lifeloss and losing mana to CoT triggers or Wasteland, just that Smokestack is awesome even without Crucible.
Personally, I'd rather be playing Smokestack as early as consistently as possible, since it severely limits the opponent's choices. Against decks with recursion engines of their own (Loam, Crucible, whatever), it gets taken out as you're basically investing a card and tempo in order to do something they can outperform you at. Also, decks with lotsa tokens or massive numbers of permanents. Basically, the more permanents your opponent has on the table and/or can cast through any lock pieces, the more options they will have, and the worse Smokestack becomes.

Do people consider limited resources as a win more? or any good at all.
http://www.magiccards.info/ex/en/10.html

I just love this card big time

Win-more and clashes with Chalice. It's useless with Geddon. Unless you already have Crucible/Wastes or Smokestack going, it does literally nothing; after that, it's only slightly more of a hardlock than the engines it needs to function in the first place. Plus, it can backfire horribly on occasion.

Love the card to blazes, but it does nothing in Stax.

Win-more? Tell me, how often are we gonna get to 10 land with 4 geddons in the deck? The point of Stax is not to amass land; the point is to blow up land. Abusing LR requires amassing land, which we're just not set up to do.

And what would you take out? LR conflicts with Geddon just as much as with Chalice, and there's no way in hell we're taking either out for something that does so much less in the deck. LR obviously fits well in a board control shell, but this is not the right shell.

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Originally Posted by sdematt

Crystal Ball: The deck can really stall out in the mid game going in topdeck mode and not drawing what you need. This helps you filter the crap out, and give you the goods. It's saved my bacon more than a few times, and I consider people to try it. If we weren't playing Chalice and more Green, I'd run Sylvan Library or Top, but we're not, so this is what we have.

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Seconded. Crystal Ball compensates for one of the deck's biggest deficiencies, namely its chronic inability to assemble a hard-lock immediately after an initial stabilization. Dozens of times I have delightfully pulled off a quick, seemingly game-ending Magus-Geddon, Prison-Geddon, or Chalice-Trinisphere-Crucible-Geddon--only to topdeck garbage for six straight turns, while my opponent played land after land, culminating in a big, unanswerable threat (e.g., Trygon Predator) or set of threats (e.g., Piledriver + Warchief). Crystal Ball greatly reduces your chance of falling into one of these fruitless, infuriating scenarios.

Admittedly, before I started playing with Crystal Ball, I was apprehensive about having to spend a mana every turn, especially since I frequently find myself having to play around Dazes and Spell Pierces. But that drawback turned out to be largely irrelevant. The one thing you typically *don't* lack after stabilizing is mana, especially if you have a Crucible out. Besides, even if you are stretched for mana, you can scry into a City or Tomb before you start scrying into your final lock pieces.

Just for reference, here's my list at the moment:

Land: 26
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
4 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Karakas
2 Mishra's Factory
7 Plains

Creatures: 4
4 Magus of the Tabernacle

Other: 30
4 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Trinisphere
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Armageddon
3 Smokestack
3 Crystal Ball

Sideboard:
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Faerie Macabre
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Exalted Angel
1 Wrath of God

Finally someone agreeing with me. Hooray!

Some comments on your list:

Have you ever played with Ghost Quarter? I suggest one copy for the fact that you can nuke your own Ancient Tombs to tutor Plains, and it "hard-wastelocks" an opponent if they start fetching basics (did this in SCG Seattle. Go go slow-grind!)

I'm also a big fan of having *at least* 7 Plains. People going to 5 and 6 seems terrible, as you are always hungry for white. The one Karakas is also nice to see. I play it in place of a Plains, or sometimes a Wasteland (depending on what everyone is playing).

Do you ever find 4 Flagstones being overkill? I find at times I'm trying to lay down white mana, but I'm prohibited by having multiple Flagstones (it sets me back and a turn, and doesn't necessarily allow me to use the Flagstones to their full potential later on, like when I've got a Smokestack online or after an Armageddon).

For your Sideboard, take out the Thorn. It's actually good against you, as a surprise that is. It hurts us from playing our lockpieces earlier, and it's a commonly Chaliced value. I started using Leyline of Sanctity and haven't looked back. Nullifying Zoo's burn, discard, Wheel of Sun and Moon, Siege Gang Commander and Combo's ability to go off turn 1 is far too good to pass up. As well, you can always play it later quite easily.

As well, I suggest an alternate form to grave hate: Chalice at 2. Chalice at 2 kills Loam, and the other grave based deck, Dredge, gets killed by the fact you play 4 Ghostly Prison and Tabernacle effects. I'd say try Moat or Humility in the board, it destroys Goblins/Zoo/Trygon Predator (Humility, at least) if you're really worried about it. Plus, most of those decks (gobbos, Merfolk, Dredge) have very few ways to bounce it, and if they do, they're on common Chalice values (1 and 2).

Also, through copious amounts of testing and admittance of the fact that I have to go spend money on them, Baneslayer is a bit better than Exalted Angel. It does cost more in one shot, true. But, most of the time, I don't want to Morph on turn 3, I'm playing one of many lockpieces or other relevant things. As well, it also sucks up my turn 4. To me, you get a bit more out of your angel by choosing Baneslayer, unless it's a budget issue. Then by all means use Exalted.

I suggest 1 Tabernacle for the main, by the way. I've always been a fan of 1-2 Tabbys for those pesky Dredge hordes, and those packs of Goblins.

Have you thought about the Green Splash? It's very good against Merfolk and Vengevival.

Let me know what you think.


-Matt

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Originally Posted by sdematt

I'm also a big fan of having *at least* 7 Plains. People going to 5 and 6 seems terrible, as you are always hungry for white. The one Karakas is also nice to see. I play it in place of a Plains, or sometimes a Wasteland (depending on what everyone is playing).

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I'm very careful with my white source counts, but less so with Plains. Karakas, Horizon Canopy, and other lands can all give white mana and be useful in other ways at the same time. I know that many people try to remove all their WW spells, which may explain some of the colorless-heavy lists you see.

I'm currently building towards the green splash. 1-2 Canopy, two Savannah, and 2 KOTR main, with Chokes and Grips to the side. Tabernacle land would be awesome, but too rich for my blood. =)

Knight of the Reliquary is quite fun in this deck. I used to run him in a more fun version, with a few more utility lands. Good times :D

I like to keep my Plains count up mostly due to Wasteland. Nothing hurts more than laying out an Ancient Tomb, and making some ridiculous plays, then getting Wastelanded and not seeing land again. I prefer a plains count of 7, with a total white source count (excluding Mox Diamond) of 12-13, with a total of 26 lands. I feel 26 is the right number (even 27 would be fine, but let's not go overboard). 26 gives you enough land to discard with Mox, and you're never really helpless for mana. I used to run 24, but I've found since I added 2 lands I've been a lot more consistent.


-Matt

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Originally Posted by sdematt

Have you ever played with Ghost Quarter? I suggest one copy for the fact that you can nuke your own Ancient Tombs to tutor Plains, and it "hard-wastelocks" an opponent if they start fetching basics (did this in SCG Seattle. Go go slow-grind!)

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I've played Ghost Quarter off and on. I find it a bit too situational, and often superfluous. It's cool in the "slow-grind" situation you mention, but then again, when I can afford to take that many turns to eat away at their manabase, I'm usually winning anyway. Maybe a metagame shift away from basics will bring me back to it, but right now, people are packing a lot of Forests and Islands, and a fair amount of Mountains, too.

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Do you ever find 4 Flagstones being overkill? I find at times I'm trying to lay down white mana, but I'm prohibited by having multiple Flagstones (it sets me back and a turn, and doesn't necessarily allow me to use the Flagstones to their full potential later on, like when I've got a Smokestack online or after an Armageddon).

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I very rarely run into the "I can't play this Flagstone and use it for mana because I have another one out" situation. It does happen, and that sucks, but not *nearly* as much as not having mana after a Magus-Geddon. [Let me anticipate a potential rejoinder: You *can't* always play Armageddon before you play a land, because (1) you often don't have a land in your hand when you want to play Armageddon; and (2) you often need to play a land before Geddon in order to play around Daze or Spell Pierce.] Maxing out on Flagstones and Moxes is the best way to keep that from happening.

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For your Sideboard, take out the Thorn. It's actually good against you, as a surprise that is. It hurts us from playing our lockpieces earlier, and it's a commonly Chaliced value. I started using Leyline of Sanctity and haven't looked back. Nullifying Zoo's burn, discard, Wheel of Sun and Moon, Siege Gang Commander and Combo's ability to go off turn 1 is far too good to pass up. As well, you can always play it later quite easily.

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I admit that I haven't tested Leyline yet, and I should. Though against storm-combo, I do really like the extra four lock effects that a playset of Thorns provides. In addition--and this relates to your Exalted Angel/Baneslayer Angel comments--I really like a transformational sideboard in this deck, as opponents often remove a lot of creature removal for game two, and bringing in a set of Angels alongside a set of Thorns is a great way to go surprise-aggro. Turn-1 Chalice/Thorn/(if you're lucky)Trinisphere, turn-2 face-down Angel, turn-3 morph is a very good curve-out during the second and third games.

So although I think you raise a lot of good objections to Thorn, I'm not really defending Thorn (or Exalted Angel) as such, but rather as a part of my own idiosyncratic sideboard plan.

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I'd say try Moat or Humility in the board, it destroys Goblins/Zoo/Trygon Predator (Humility, at least) if you're really worried about it. Plus, most of those decks (gobbos, Merfolk, Dredge) have very few ways to bounce it, and if they do, they're on common Chalice values (1 and 2).

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Noted. I'll give Humility a try, but not Moat, for two reasons: (1) Humility beats Predator and Pridemage, and I hate hate hate those cards; and (2) I don't own a Moat. :(

Reason (2) applies to Tabernacle, as well.

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Have you thought about the Green Splash? It's very good against Merfolk and Vengevival.

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I have a (perhaps irrational) fear of Wasteland, so I'll keep my Savannahs at arm's distance for the time being. Though I would love to play Choke.

Thanks for the comments.

Alrighty, so I've done some testing with the Vengevival matchup (using the highest ranked list
I found on Starcitygames, Brain something's list), both playing Stax and playing Vengevival.

Firstly, Vengevival is a hell of a deck to play. It's like rocket fuel plus cocaine: it's really fast.
It's also really fun to play, so I definitely see the deck becoming as prolific as Reanimator was in
the meta. In a way, the deck plays very much the same: it's a combo deck. Take away or disrupt the combo
and you can win.

Vengevival RELIES on Vengevine to win, there's no way around saying that. I mean, the deck CAN get there
using Madness tech from 2005, but it's a bit of a slow horse when you're trying to win that way.

I'll talk about the cards they use, and which ones screw us over, and which of ours are good against them
or what we have to counter such a card. I figure this should be in depth because it's a relevant matchup,
and most of the matchup analysis in most of these threads are just "add X, subtract Y" sideboard plans
that give no real reasoning behind them, and can make it kind of hard to understand.

Main threats:

Vengevine: I found most of the time I ended up hardcasting these suckers and trying to get there with
no Survival on the board. It just seemed easier to get there with a 4/3 on turn 3, usually with some
exalted pumps and some jitte action later on. This guy's a problem because once he dies, he usually
comes back with friends. To deal with this, get Ghostly Prison out as soon as you can. Tie up their
manabase with Tabernacle effects but beware: they can sac their stuff, then just use their ability
to get them out of the yard. Magus makes an excellent blocker here, and Baneslayer first-strike with
Lifelink really saved my ass many times. I'd say don't wait to play creatures in this matchup like
you normally would: you may need them to block and the like.

Trygon Predator: With every blow, this little bastard disrupts us. Either make him get sacced with
Smokestack if you can, or you'll have to start laying out redudant hate pieces. Most likely, they'll
start taking away your web of Prisons and your Crucibles/Chalices, so try and attack their manabase
if you can so they can't hit you. Keeping this guy off the board is key here, and is why I suspect
he's even in their deck in the first place, besides hitting pieces of hate.

Jitte: The main problem is not the -1/-1 or the life, but it's the pump. Giving +2/+2 multiple times
puts their creatures out of kill range on Baneslayer, and it does so at instant speed. It can kill us
pretty quickly considering we're usually sporting less than 15 life at all times.

Survival of the Fittest: The engine of the deck obviously, along with said Vengevines. Tutorable answers
mainly Trygon Predator, means if they need to take us apart, they most likely can and will try to do so.
Tip here is getting them to sac it, or making it impossible to kill your stuff via not being able to deal
combat damage.

Wasteland and Stifle package: Can this hurt us? Well, yes. This can really set us back a turn or two,
giving them enough time to lay out fast threats and kill us. Crucible will be essential in keeping
up in this matchup, so be careful. Don't keep REALLY risky hands with a Mox Ancient Tomb play with no
other lands, that could spell disaster.

Our main threats against them:

Chalice of the Void at 1 and 2: Chalice at 1 kicks them in the pants royally. They can't land Hierach,
Stifle (against our Wastelands/Flagstones/anything), can't Madness in Basking rootwalla, etc. Chalice
at 2 takes care of Daze, Survival, Aquamoeba, Wild Mongrel, Jitte,etc. Chalice at 1 slows them down,
Chalice at 2 really finishes it off without an active Survival. If you can land both with an active
Survival online, you should be okay, as they only have Predator to cast to trigger multiple vengevine.
I can't remember if Vengevine will still trigger on the countering of a cast creature (as in, I'm not
sure if the creatues you play that turn actually resolve or not). If that's the case, if still hurts
them.

Ghostly Prison: They're trying to get there with multiple hasty threats with a land light deck. Ghostly
Prison allows you to tie up their manabase so they have to find an answer to be able to kill you. Ghostly prison really only stalls for time, but it let's you have a few turns where they aren't beating your face, or are beating you with fewer creatures. The key here is multiple Prisons, or nuking their lands to make it super-effective. Obviously this can't be done all the time, but it's a start.


I'll finish this up later, but for now, enjoy.

-Matt

Personally, I think that 4 Suppression Field maindeck is the only place for this deck to go. Stax needs to get disruption online fast or it just beats itself to death. Three out of four Legacy decks are set back at least 2-3 turns by a t1 SF. There is just no reason to board it, you'll be bringing it in more often than you'd be siding it out. It beats fetches, artifact mana, Survival, Pridemage, etc. In the time that I played Stax, I had the most success by far using Suppression Field.

Also, I feel like 3 Smokestacks works fine. I look at Smokestacks like wincons; they can only come down and seal the game after the board has been clogged up by softlock pieces.

Crystal Ball is a godsend. Use it.

<3

Supp Field is always in my sideboard, but I'm not sure about what to remove in order to put it into the main, esp. since I'm already planning to add Crystal Balls.

Btw, got a small amount of testing in, and World Queller's just so awesome with Mishra's Factory and Crucible. He's actually even better in the hard lock than Smokestack at 1. Just when I thought I had decided on angels or KotR, I feel the need to test out Queller a bit more again.