Hi guys! Okay, this deck is actually a beast! You have most likely seen my other Welder and Tubbies thread. I never tested that deck after goldfishing a thousand times, because the Stax build is absolutely sooooooo much better.
I mostly play with my buddy Schlieb, and we play paper Magic so we haven't taken this to an online event however we have a nice chunk of the top decks in the gauntlet for testing. We played 25 games in around 7 hours. We will soon be testing this against Esper Vial, Death and Taxes, Goblins, Elves, and Eldrazi.
Keep in mind, that for testing purposes we were not using sideboards and also keep in mind that this deck has not been tuned. After playing this list I have found that a couple of cards need the axe and perhaps I should be running at least one more land.
Here's the results:
Welder Stax vs. Sharkstill (with Replenish, Court of Grace and Moat, so many builds of this deck)
2 - 1
Welder Stax vs. Reanimator
1 - 2
Welder Stax vs. Burn
2 - 1
Welder Stax vs. Hogaack
2 -1
Welder Stax vs. BUG Delver (Threshold) This match up was really good so we played 9 games. Keep in mind I placed 1st with this Delver list at a small tournament a little over a year ago.
5 - 4
Welder Stax vs. Death's Shadow
2 - 0
Welder Stax vs. Doomsday (Thassa) I'm pretty certain I should have won both of these games. At this point, my brain wasn't working because we had been playing all day but also I kept bad hands.
0 - 2
Here's the exact list I was playing:
MONO RED WELDER STAX: 60 Cards
Welders:
4x Goblin Welder
4x Goblin Engineer
Lock Down:
3x Chalice of the Void
4x Smokestack
3x Lodestone Golem
3x Sphere of Resistance
3x Tangle Wire
1x Trinisphere
Utility:
3x Servo Schematic
1x Ichor Wellspring
1x Aeolipile
1x Meteor Golem
4x Faithless Looting
0cc: This deck needs free artifacts to not only to activate Opal but also to swap artifacts in and out of the graveyard with Welders. Keep in mind Chalice for zero bumps the 0cc slot up to 8 cards.
1x Tormod's Crypt
4x Mox Opal
4x Ancient Tomb
2x Cavern of Souls
4x City of Traitors
4x Great Furnace
6x Mountain
A few things to note after playing this deck.
Meteor Golem:
I only used Meteor Golem a few times. FYI, Meteor Golem is better than Spine of Ish Sah because it doesn't go back to your hand. You want it to keep going back to the yard so that you can recur it with Goblin Welder. Big expensive bombs such as this and Possessed Portal (which I chose not to run) just sit in your hand because they're too expensive to cast. Otherwise you need Faithless Looting or Goblin Engineer to get them in the yard. I hated drawing this card.
Aeolipile:
That being said, and I know it looks really weird here, I wanted to test Aeolipile for recurring weenie removal and it was actually really useful. Another card I wanted to test in this slot is Perilous Myr. Not sure which is better because I haven't tested Myr. The fact that I could actually cast Aeolipile made a huge difference compared to Meteor Golem. This came in handy on dozens of occasions. Plus it can tap to Tangle Wire and or be sacked to Smokestack. The downside is that when swapping this in and out with Welder (because it sacs to itself) is that when swapping it in and out with Welder you actually lose an artifact every other turn. The advantage of Perilous Myr is that A). It can block. And then do two more damage. B). And more importantly, it doesn't sac to itself. Thus you don't lose an artifact (permanent) every other turn but you NEED Welder to sac it.
Servo Schematic:
Okay this card is amazing here. It gives you extra permanents to not only tap to Tangle Wire but also for sacking to Smokestack. Plus with Welder recurring it you get TONS of tokens. Ichor Wellspring came in super handy here as well and was often tutored up with Goblin Engineer when I needed a card draw engine.
Karn:
You're probably wondering why Karn, the Great Creator isn't in this deck. After goldfishing and playing there is no room. It is too slow and there's already too many more important 4 drops. You really want to get your lock in as fast as possible.
Blood Moon:
This card should likely and or probably be in the deck but I wanted to test first just to see how the deck functions without it. Also, the deck is tight on space. Surprisingly I was actually kicking ass without it.
Chalice of the Void:
I know this is a nombo with Goblin Welder and Faithless Looting but after testing, it was one of my all star card choices. Not only can you drop it for zero (the deck needs zero drops for sacking to Welders) it obviously stops so many decks all by itself. The nombo apsect you can get around easily. A). When it is set at 1 you can cast Faithless, let it be countered and then flash it back. B). With Welder you either sac it to Goblin Engineer or push it through using Cavern of Souls' ability. This being said, I want to cut Tormod's Crypt for this 0cc slot.
Tangle Wire:
Another card that looks weird here. This card is crucial!! It won me a ton of games. The fact that it creates tempo and that you can constantly reset it's counters with Welder is amazing. Also other weird tricks with multiple Welders such as sacking it at the end of your opponent's turn so that you have untapped permanents during your next turn.
Crucible of Worlds with Wasteland. There's not a whole lot of room to fit this but I included a list below that I will be testing.
Two updates that I'm considering.
Welder Stax 1.5 (The Blood Moon build that needs at least one more Blood Moon) I just copy and pasted this from my Tapped Out account to save time. Sorry, it's not neatly organized like my first list. The only difference from the original list is:
-1x Tormod's Crypt +1x Chalice of the Void
-1x Meteor Golem +1x Blood Moon
-1x Sphere of Resistance +1x Cavern of Souls
Artifact (23)
1x Aeolipile
4x Chalice of the Void
1x Ichor Wellspring
4x Mox Opal
3x Servo Schematic
4x Smokestack
2x Sphere of Resistance
3x Tangle Wire
1x Trinisphere
Land (21)
4x Ancient Tomb
3x Cavern of Souls
4x City of Traitors
4x Great Furnace
6x Mountain
Creature (11)
4x Goblin Engineer
4x Goblin Welder
3x Lodestone Golem
Sorcery (4)
4x Faithless Looting
Enchantment (1)
1x Blood Moon
Welder Stax 1.75 (The Crucible of Worlds build) This list is a tweak from Welder 1.5 and boasts more land. The only difference is:
-1x Mox Opal +1x Crucible
-1x Cavern -1x Blood Moon +2x Wasteland
Here it is:
1x Aeolipile
4x Chalice of the Void
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Ichor Wellspring
3x Mox Opal
3x Servo Schematic
4x Smokestack
2x Sphere of Resistance
3x Tangle Wire
1x Trinisphere
Land (22)
4x Ancient Tomb
2x Cavern of Souls
4x City of Traitors
4x Great Furnace
6x Mountain
2x Wasteland
Creature (11)
4x Goblin Engineer
4x Goblin Welder
3x Lodestone Golem
Sorcery (4)
4x Faithless Looting
I like this build for several reasons. I like that Crucible offers a soft lock with Wasteland, it recurs lands to continually sac to Smokestack and it allows me to run extra land such as Wastelands and the deck is hungry for land.
CONCLUSION:
I really feel that this deck is not only already there as it boasts incredible stats against top tier decks, it even has room for improvement. I'm not really sure which tweaks will make it better but it certainly has room for improvement. The main reason i feel that it does so good is the tempo advantage that you get from Welders. Spells that tax such as Sphere of Resistance, Lodestone and Trinisphere are one sided when I can get around them with Welder. Also, Servo Schematic makes this deck possible. The endless permanents it provides are the nail in the coffin when Smokestack or Tangle Wire hit the table and the fact that you can continually swap it in and out of play with Welders for an army makes it critical.
Last edited by Laser Brains; 01-12-2021 at 09:52 AM.
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
As nostalgic as Aeolipile makes me, Pyrite Spellbomb is a card and you're monored...
Oh wow! I forgot about that card! Good call! Automatic inclusion. -1 Aeolipile +1 Pyrite Spellbomb So much better than Aeolipile. Thanks FTW! Actually, two main deck seems good.
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
Oh, but the Chalice nombo. Hmmmmmmm... Well, if Chalice is in play you can cast it, let it get countered and then Welder it back in.
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
On the stack, Faithless Looting always has cmc 1. Even if you paid 2R for it from Flashback. Or if you paid 2R to cast it through Trinisphere.
Unfortunately that means it doesn't work around Chalice like you want it to.
Daretti, Scrap Savant is a discard outlet and Welder in one, but slow. Your 4 cmc may be too crowded already.
Key to the City? It's only 2 cmc, doesn't require a creature to target, can be found with Engineer, and will draw you cards in the late game.
This deck looks pretty great. A few comments any brewer should consider:
The deck is very similar to painter. When does chalice/lodestone golem/Meteor golem shine compared to painter/blasts/grindstone?
BUG delver seems on paper that it would be hard for your deck between abrupt decay, daze, 6 forces, wasteland, and oko. Can you give examples of how the winning games went?
What is your plan for gy hate, oko or Karn? Is smokestack or golem beats good enough?
I can't remember exactly how my winning games against BUG Delver went, but I did go about 50/50 against it. I just came out ahead in the final game. My Delver doesn't run Oko though so I didn't have to worry about that. I do remember Wasteland really hurting me on games that I did lose. As for battling Daze and FoWs I often had Sphere of Resistance or Trinisphere or at least they got countered. The deck is really heavy on threats.
As for grave hate I had Tormod's Crypt and Goblin Engineer to tutor it up which won me one game against Reanimator. One of the games I lost he dropped a turn one Grave Titan and there was no way of recovering. If I remember correctly that was one of the games that I actually used Meteor Golem. I did kill his Titan but he reanimated it and I died to the tokens. I haven't created a sideboard yet but there will for sure be a decent grave hate package in there.
I never went up against Karn but I'm not thinking he would be too much of a threat if I can keep my opponent off their mana. He is mana intensive.
As for going up against Oko I'm not sure. He seems like he could be a problem. I did face up with Teferi while playing against Sharkstill and he was annoying bounce stuff back to my hand. I believe those were games I won though.
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
Yeah, that is a bummer about Faithless. I toyed with Daretti, he was just too slow and I can only weld every other turn. And you're right, my 4 drop slot is too full.
Key to the City is a card that I toyed with in my head as well. Sadly it doesn't dig like Faithless. I might test it though.
Another one I need to test is Sliversmith. This not only is a discard outlet but also creates artifact tokens I can sac and tap and is probably my best bet.
Another is Smuggler's Copter. I had that in my original Welder and Tubbies deck but I never actually tested it.
There is also Cathartic Reunion and the like. Or I could also just run a nombo. Thoughts?
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
Thanks for the details. I meant more how do you deal with gy hate since you have 16 cards that are terrible with a rip in play (welder/engi/wellspring/schematic/faithless)
If you haven’t faced oko yet I’m not sure you are facing typical decks. At least online it’s the most played non land permanent.
Yeah, I have a feeling that Oko could be a serious problem. I will be doing more testing tomorrow and will likely be testing against Oko.
As far as grave hate we weren't running sideboards and most decks don't pack it in main deck so I didn't have to go up against it. Although, there were certainly games where I wasn't reliant on my graveyard that did win. Especially Burn where my Welders were bolted. So I'm not super worried about grave hate but it does hurt.
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
// Bargain Welder
// 60 Maindeck
// 10 Artifact
3 Mox Opal
3 Lotus Petal
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Ichor Wellspring
// 11 Creature
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Goblin Welder
2 Griselbrand
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Goblin Engineer
// 4 Instant
4 Entomb
// 15 Land
4 Great Furnace
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Badlands
1 Taiga
3 Tree of Tales
// 20 Sorcery
3 Exhume
4 Faithless Looting
4 Reanimate
3 Unburial Rites
4 Thoughtseize
2 Trash for Treasure
// 15 Sideboard
// 3 Artifact
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Crucible of Worlds
// 4 Creature
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
SB: 1 Meteor Golem
// 6 Instant
SB: 2 Pyroblast
SB: 4 Abrupt Decay
// 2 Sorcery
SB: 2 Duress
I always had a similar list. I always forget what that big black artifact card's name is. The one that lets you draw and pay life.
That deck looks fun! I think the card you are thinking of is Bolas's Citadel.
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
// Bargain Welder
// 60 Maindeck
// 10 Artifact
3 Mox Opal
3 Lotus Petal
3 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Bolas's Citadel
// 11 Creature
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Goblin Welder
2 Griselbrand
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Goblin Engineer
// 4 Instant
4 Entomb
// 15 Land
4 Great Furnace
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Badlands
3 Darksteel Citadel
// 20 Sorcery
3 Exhume
4 Faithless Looting
4 Reanimate
3 Unburial Rites
4 Thoughtseize
2 Trash for Treasure
// 15 Sideboard
// 5 Artifact
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 Grindstone
// 4 Creature
SB: 4 Painter's Servant
// 6 Instant
SB: 4 Pyroblast
SB: 2 Red Elemental Blast
Okay, so I got to test a little more and tweaked the deck slightly. Here are the results:
Welder Stax vs. Sharkstill (Again we played this match up. One of the games I literally drew nothing but lands for like 7 turns so I almost feel that one of my loses was just do to mana screw.)
3 - 2
Welder Stax vs. Artifacts Blue (turns out Artifact Blue doesn't do well when I drop a turn one Chalice for zero, he scooped, but that only happened game 1.) (Game 2 I got Echoed with Hullbreacher on the table and lost) (Game 3 he got out a ton of zero cc shit and had a ton of permanents but was under a Smokestack, Trinisphere, Servo Schematic with Welder and I eventually over several turns forced him to sac all his permanents and I lock him out) (Game 4 similar to game 3, however we did both miss to check his Chalice at 1 and my Welder shouldn't have hit the table. Turns out I didn't use the Welder anyway as he blew it up with a Ballista that he grabbed from his Karn toolbox. We finished the game anyways. The games are either super short or incredibly long in this match up.)
3 - 1
Welder Stax vs. Goblins (We only had time for one game and I lost to a turn one Lackey, followed by a turn 2 Vial.) (I did have Chalice though but he went first, also I didn't draw a Sol Land so I actually had to wait till my turn 2 before I could drop it and by then I was overwhelmed with free goblins. We're gonna test that match up more in the future.)
0 - 1
Here is the list I was playing:
MONO RED WELDER STAX: 60 Cards
From my original list above:
+2 Pyrite Spellbomb
+1 Blood Moon
+4 Tormenting Voice
-1 Tormod's Crypt
-1 Aeolipile
-1 Meteor Golem
-4 Faithless
Welders:
4x Goblin Welder
4x Goblin Engineer
Lock Down:
3x Chalice of the Void
4x Smokestack
3x Lodestone Golem
3x Sphere of Resistance
3x Tangle Wire
1x Trinisphere
1x Blood Moon
Utility:
3x Servo Schematic
1x Ichor Wellspring
2x Pyrite Spellbomb
4x Tormenting Voice
0cc:
4x Mox Opal
4x Ancient Tomb
2x Cavern of Souls
4x City of Traitors
4x Great Furnace
6x Mountain
Firstly, Pyrite Spellbomb was nice to draw in my opening hand. My thoughts for running it even though there was the Chalice nombo was that I could cast it, let it get countered and then Weld it back into play. It's hard to say because I only drew it twice in all those games. One of the games it was stuck in my hand because of my Chalice and I had no Welder to get it back. The other game I got it out turn one and it was useful. I'll need to test this more, but I think these will stay in the deck. Not sure if running 1 or 2 is correct.
Blood Moon I only got out once but that was after I already made my opponent sac all of his permanents to Smokestack. The only land he had was a Snow Covered Island so it didn't matter. It seems to me that I've been seeing a lot of basics so I'm not sure if Blood Moon is as good as it used to be. Not only that it shuts down my sol lands. Sometimes that's a blessing though, especially with Ancient Tomb.
Tormenting Voice seemed okay. I did use it to get rid of useless multiples of lands for better quality cards so that was nice. I also appreciated not losing card disadvantage vs. Faithless so that was nice! It'll definitely stay in the deck for now.
One thing to point out is that my buddy said that this deck is incredibly frustrating to play against. I do think that it could be better with some more tuning and I welcome more suggestions.
Thanks!!
Last edited by Laser Brains; 01-13-2021 at 02:42 AM.
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
Play thrill of possibility
Instant speed. Yes, thank you! -4x Tormenting +4x Thrill of Possibility I will update this in my next list.
"WaaaauuugghhhaaaauuugghhhaauuugghhhaaauuugghhhW" -Chewbacca
For how many matchups is the maindeck Chalice @ 1 good? Maybe you just want Chalice in the SB and then you don't have to worry as much about anti-synergy maindeck. Welder is the best card in your deck, while you only have 3 Chalice (suboptimal for turn 1), so maybe you want Welder and Faithless more than you want Chalice. It's strange playing Stax without Chalice to control cheap plays, but you don't want antisynergy or suboptimal cards either.
Another artifact to look at is 1-of Throne of Geth. You can get it with Engineer. It has a lot of synergy with Tangle Wire and Smokestack (and even Chalice), letting you either sac them with value if you don't need them or proliferate them to increase pressure on opponent's board. The servo tokens make good fodder too.
If you cut chalice I would be very tempted to put painter/grindstone/pyroblast in the deck, they just have so much synergy with 8 welders. Perhaps you just become painter with Stax pieces in the Karn & recruiter slots. Both of those cards are much worse from a tempo POV than Stax pieces. This gives you a niche for the deck (painter with a better delver and combo mu due to more prison less combo)
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