This is my Ghave Stax deck.. I'm looking for suggestions to start the denial effects earlier. I play in a pretty quick degenerate general meta. (Niv Mizzet, Uril, Rhys, Rafiq, and Grixis Control Combo)
You want to blow up the lands... Feast and Famine won't be as good as you want it to be. I go with War and Peace all day long in a dedicated Stax deck. Because people won't be able to play spells your dude with hit for a lot, the pro white is huge because of Swords and Path. If you feel spot removal and card draw are needed though Fire and Ice is fine too.
Also, Marty's Bond is an MVP in Ghave along with Grave Pact. I'd probably cut Loam for it.
You want to blow up the lands... Feast and Famine won't be as good as you want it to be. I go with War and Peace all day long in a dedicated Stax deck. Because people won't be able to play spells your dude with hit for a lot, the pro white is huge because of Swords and Path. If you feel spot removal and card draw are needed though Fire and Ice is fine too.
Also, Marty's Bond is an MVP in Ghave along with Grave Pact. I'd probably cut Loam for it.
Thanks for the advice I was hoping for some Oregon feedback
Thanks for the advice I was hoping for some Oregon feedback
Is this a new fade?
Do people actually like us now?
Is the Staxmania taking over MtgSalvation?
Less reliant on artifacts, so you can clear up slots for more spot removal, mass artifact removal, land destruction and possibly Planeswalker that win.
Molder Slug is worth a slot if you have consistently recursion for artifacts.
Is this a new fade?
Do people actually like us now?
Is the Staxmania taking over MtgSalvation?
Less reliant on artifacts, so you can clear up slots for more spot removal, mass artifact removal, land destruction and possibly Planeswalker that win.
Molder Slug is worth a slot if you have consistently recursion for artifacts.
By less reliant on artifacts do you mean add mana dorks or more land?
I disagree with cutting doubling season, it does a lot for you.
1. It lets Ghave make more tokens
A smokestack on 6 or higher is easily manageable with doubling season, that's not something most of your opponents decks will be able to deal with for more than a round.
2. You get etb/ltb triggers a lot
Your grave pacts and martyrs bonds (which you should be running as they interact amazingly with things like smokestack and tangle wire) will be triggering all the time, leaving the board clear and making it very hard for your opponents to play.
3. Ghave + Doubling Season lets you finish the game really fast
If you're having trouble locking or winning another way, it takes only a little mana to make Ghave and the number of tokens ridiculous with doubling season. Every 2 mana = +1 counter on Ghave +1 saproling
4. It doubles the number of charge counters you get on permanents
This is really important, it gets your smokestack rolling twice as fast, and imagine playing tangle wire with EIGHT counters to start. It also doubles awakening zone and bitter blossom, and literally anything else that uses tokens or counters. Doubling season is extremely versatile and really useful in this deck.
(Forget that if you play it with most planeswalkers you get their ultimate immediately - this is awesome with things like Elspeth 1.0, New Garruk (or for card draw there), Liliana 3.0, etc.)
EDIT: On another note, Strip Mine + Crucible + Martyr's bond is amazing. Hit's 3-4 lands a turn. (Depending on the number of people playing)
I run Aura of Silence which is similar to Seal but, the issue with it is people will blow it up before you want to use it as with disenchant you can just cast it when needed. I cut bloodghast because I was going to land light that Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton seemed the better plays. Thalia is a nice tax effect / beater early and can weild a sword nicely with the first strike.
You make a pretty good argument for Doubling Season. I'm going to give the current decklist a few go's and see what isn't working to put it back in.
Really satisfied where the deck is right now. I'm able to turn games back around into my favor after a balance effect and take back control. Played a pretty crazy game vs Kresh, Niv-Mizzet, and Wort the raidmother Saturday the game was reset at least 4 times giving others boardstate advantage and Kresh nearly decked himself from drawing througout the game.
What comments do you have on Balancing Act and Restore Balance? Especially the latter; I was always under the impression that it was too slow to actually affect the board in any meaningful fashion. Or are you able to slow the game down sufficiently consistently?
What comments do you have on Balancing Act and Restore Balance? Especially the latter; I was always under the impression that it was too slow to actually affect the board in any meaningful fashion. Or are you able to slow the game down sufficiently consistently?
The balance effects are huge. I play against alot of green rampers / token producers and it helps me get back into the game if I have a bad start.
Leyline of the void is necessary. Mimeo, Kresh, Jarad, and Wrexial are all shut down over it. Not having Necromancy in order to shut them down is not that big of a deal.
The balance effects are huge. I play against alot of green rampers / token producers and it helps me get back into the game if I have a bad start.
Leyline of the void is necessary. Mimeo, Kresh, Jarad, and Wrexial are all shut down over it. Not having Necromancy in order to shut them down is not that big of a deal.
Check out the new white enchantment for gy exiling. It exiles all gy's and any cards put in are exiled after that. I admit it's annoying to play against but not a deal breaker. That's stax in general though... until braids hits the table when you have one land out... jerk.
As for balance, it really does bring a game back to the ground level. You ARE helping out the person with the worst board position though (this was me that night).
Also I saw this deck make a huge play during that game. Niv-mizzet chaos warped my primeval titan, and then this deck flashed out an aven mindcensor in response. Admittedly it was around 4 am.
Kaalia's Army of AnnhilationRWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain MattersWB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator ToolboxBG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to DieRBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and TapGWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to BleedWBG
Although it takes some mana I like the Loam+Buried Ruin to get back (mainly important stax) artifacts in my deck. And cycle lands are the only 'draw' I run.
I'm not sure how I feel about token Sorin tbh the 1/1's seem pretty weak as opposed to Garruk's wolves who eventually turn in to death touch wolves. Hero is good, but I'm not sure what I would want to replace her with. As the deck stands right now there isn't a card that I'm disappointed to draw.
Sorin 2 is amazing! His tokens aren't as good as Garruk, but they offest the small life loss from stuff like Fetchlands and Phyrexian Arena. His down abilities are also no joke. I've won off a couple of Sorin Emblems a number of times since the board was full of Humility neutered creatures.... in the land of 1/1s the 3/1 is king.
Hero of Bladehold is so good in this deck people have politely asked me to take it out... it's just too boring and linear. So, maybe try it. You don't need Sterling Grove and Death Cloud, while awesome, isn't necessary either. At some point you have enough stax stuff and you actually need to hit the gas and win.
Golgari Charm should get its ass in this deck too! Or the new Disenchant that gives you a copy of a token creature... it should have no downside over Disenchant.
Sorin 2 is amazing! His tokens aren't as good as Garruk, but they offest the small life loss from stuff like Fetchlands and Phyrexian Arena. His down abilities are also no joke. I've won off a couple of Sorin Emblems a number of times since the board was full of Humility neutered creatures.... in the land of 1/1s the 3/1 is king.
Hero of Bladehold is so good in this deck people have politely asked me to take it out... it's just too boring and linear. So, maybe try it. You don't need Sterling Grove and Death Cloud, while awesome, isn't necessary either. At some point you have enough stax stuff and you actually need to hit the gas and win.
Golgari Charm should get its ass in this deck too! Or the new Disenchant that gives you a copy of a token creature... it should have no downside over Disenchant.
The populating disenchant will be swapping in for sure. I didn't think about the emblems, that could be nice during a humility play. I'll have to put it at the cusp of entering the deck. I just saw the charm and throwing that on a humility board would be pretty amazing. Hero is going in my Rith deck so if it does end up performing well then I'll give her a try in the Ghave deck.
It WILL perform well wherever you put it. It's probably one of the best aggro cards in EDH and does exceptionally well in a deck that does a good job of clearing the board and or creating tokens... not even a TON of tokens, just a few.
Sorin 2 is amazing! His tokens aren't as good as Garruk, but they offest the small life loss from stuff like Fetchlands and Phyrexian Arena. His down abilities are also no joke. I've won off a couple of Sorin Emblems a number of times since the board was full of Humility neutered creatures.... in the land of 1/1s the 3/1 is king.
Hero of Bladehold is so good in this deck people have politely asked me to take it out... it's just too boring and linear. So, maybe try it. You don't need Sterling Grove and Death Cloud, while awesome, isn't necessary either. At some point you have enough stax stuff and you actually need to hit the gas and win.
Exactly what I was thinking, and why they are in my deck. So really, try them
Still haven't drew into the Sorin / Hero yet. The deck feels real smooth at the moment, last time I played I setup a Liliana / Gideon board lock with bitterblossom tokens feeding ghave.
Average CMC is just a shade over 3.
1x Ancient Den
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Buried Ruin
1x Dust Bowl
1x Fetid Heath
3x Forest
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Marsh Flats
1x Mishra's Factory
6x Plains
1x Strip Mine
5x Swamp
1x Savannah
1x Scrubland
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Thawing Glaciers
1x Twilight Mire
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Vivid Meadow
1x Wooded Bastion
Instant (6)
1x Sundering Growth
1x Krosan Grip
1x Putrefy
1x Return to Dust
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Worldly Tutor
1x Chrome Mox
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Golgari Signet
1x Mana Vault
1x Mox Diamond
1x Mox Opal
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Orzhov Signet
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Selesnya Signet
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Smokestack
1x Sol Ring
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Tangle Wire
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Trinisphere
1x Winter Orb
Sorcery (6)
1x Armageddon
1x Balancing Act
1x Cataclysm
1x Damnation
1x Martial Coup
1x Restore Balance
Creature (16)
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Academy Rector
1x Braids, Cabal Minion
1x Creakwood Liege
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Guardian Beast
1x Hero of Bladehold
1x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Loxodon Gatekeeper
1x Massacre Wurm
1x Nether Traitor
1x Reassembling Skeleton
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Sun Titan
1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x World Queller
1x Aura of Silence
1x Awakening Zone
1x Bitterblossom
1x Doubling Season
1x Nether Void
1x Grave Pact
1x Kismet
1x Leyline of the Void
1x Necromancy
1x Necropotence
1x Norn's Annex
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Martyr's Bond
1x Sphere of Safety
Planeswalker (5)
1x Garruk Relentless
1x Gideon Jura
1x Liliana of the Veil
1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1x Vraska, The Unseen
Need to acquire:
Necra Duals
Changes:
-Sterling Grove, + Hero of Bladehold
10/29
-Sorin Markov +Academy Rector
-Lodestone Golem +Knight of the Reliquary
Also, Marty's Bond is an MVP in Ghave along with Grave Pact. I'd probably cut Loam for it.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Thanks for the advice I was hoping for some Oregon feedback
Is this a new fade?
Do people actually like us now?
Is the Staxmania taking over MtgSalvation?
Less reliant on artifacts, so you can clear up slots for more spot removal, mass artifact removal, land destruction and possibly Planeswalker that win.
Molder Slug is worth a slot if you have consistently recursion for artifacts.
EDH
BWG Doran Suicide Tempo BWG
BUW Sharuum Midrange Control BUW
By less reliant on artifacts do you mean add mana dorks or more land?
1. It lets Ghave make more tokens
A smokestack on 6 or higher is easily manageable with doubling season, that's not something most of your opponents decks will be able to deal with for more than a round.
2. You get etb/ltb triggers a lot
Your grave pacts and martyrs bonds (which you should be running as they interact amazingly with things like smokestack and tangle wire) will be triggering all the time, leaving the board clear and making it very hard for your opponents to play.
3. Ghave + Doubling Season lets you finish the game really fast
If you're having trouble locking or winning another way, it takes only a little mana to make Ghave and the number of tokens ridiculous with doubling season. Every 2 mana = +1 counter on Ghave +1 saproling
4. It doubles the number of charge counters you get on permanents
This is really important, it gets your smokestack rolling twice as fast, and imagine playing tangle wire with EIGHT counters to start. It also doubles awakening zone and bitter blossom, and literally anything else that uses tokens or counters. Doubling season is extremely versatile and really useful in this deck.
(Forget that if you play it with most planeswalkers you get their ultimate immediately - this is awesome with things like Elspeth 1.0, New Garruk (or for card draw there), Liliana 3.0, etc.)
EDIT: On another note, Strip Mine + Crucible + Martyr's bond is amazing. Hit's 3-4 lands a turn. (Depending on the number of people playing)
EDH (Commander) Decks
BGW - Karador, Ghost Chieftain - BGW
UBR - Mishra, Artificier Prodigy - Stax and Storm - UBR
BGW - Ghave, Ghuru of Spores - BGW
Some notes:
1) Seal of Cleansing over Disenchant? Another fun toy with Martyr's Bond and Sun Titan, and you don't need to hold up mana. In my Teysa deck, a turn 2 Seal gets me dirty looks from all those Thran Dynamo players, heheh.
2) You have a Crucible of Worlds. Where is the Bloodghast?!
3) With only 14 creatures, how is Thalia working out for you?
You make a pretty good argument for Doubling Season. I'm going to give the current decklist a few go's and see what isn't working to put it back in.
Leyline of the Void is kind of a nonbo with Necromancy and such. Is the hate really that important in your meta?
The balance effects are huge. I play against alot of green rampers / token producers and it helps me get back into the game if I have a bad start.
Leyline of the void is necessary. Mimeo, Kresh, Jarad, and Wrexial are all shut down over it. Not having Necromancy in order to shut them down is not that big of a deal.
Check out the new white enchantment for gy exiling. It exiles all gy's and any cards put in are exiled after that. I admit it's annoying to play against but not a deal breaker. That's stax in general though... until braids hits the table when you have one land out... jerk.
As for balance, it really does bring a game back to the ground level. You ARE helping out the person with the worst board position though (this was me that night).
Also I saw this deck make a huge play during that game. Niv-mizzet chaos warped my primeval titan, and then this deck flashed out an aven mindcensor in response. Admittedly it was around 4 am.
Kaalia's Army of Annhilation RWB
Obzedat, Ghost Council - Life Gain Matters WB
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Fatty Reanimator Toolbox BG
Nekusar, the Mindrazer - Draw to Die RBU
Marath, Will of the Wild - Token Pump and Tap GWR
Roon of the Hidden Realm - Blink to Bleed WBG
Although it takes some mana I like the Loam+Buried Ruin to get back (mainly important stax) artifacts in my deck. And cycle lands are the only 'draw' I run.
BRGWTana and TymnaBRGW
RTeneb, the EternalR
UBRNekusar, Mind RazerUBR
Rakdos, Lord of Riots
BGWGhave, Guru of SporesBGW
Aurelia, the Warleader
BDrana, Kalastria BloodchiefB
WBROros, the AvengerWBR
Hero of Bladehold is so good in this deck people have politely asked me to take it out... it's just too boring and linear. So, maybe try it. You don't need Sterling Grove and Death Cloud, while awesome, isn't necessary either. At some point you have enough stax stuff and you actually need to hit the gas and win.
Golgari Charm should get its ass in this deck too! Or the new Disenchant that gives you a copy of a token creature... it should have no downside over Disenchant.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
The populating disenchant will be swapping in for sure. I didn't think about the emblems, that could be nice during a humility play. I'll have to put it at the cusp of entering the deck. I just saw the charm and throwing that on a humility board would be pretty amazing. Hero is going in my Rith deck so if it does end up performing well then I'll give her a try in the Ghave deck.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
Exactly what I was thinking, and why they are in my deck. So really, try them
BRGWTana and TymnaBRGW
RTeneb, the EternalR
UBRNekusar, Mind RazerUBR
Rakdos, Lord of Riots
BGWGhave, Guru of SporesBGW
Aurelia, the Warleader
BDrana, Kalastria BloodchiefB
WBROros, the AvengerWBR
+Vraska, The Unseen
+Sphere of Safety
+Norn's Annex
+Nether Void
+Guardian Beast
Jealous if you have it in cardboard..
Let me know how Sphere of Safety works out for you, I'm still contemplating on that one.
BRGWTana and TymnaBRGW
RTeneb, the EternalR
UBRNekusar, Mind RazerUBR
Rakdos, Lord of Riots
BGWGhave, Guru of SporesBGW
Aurelia, the Warleader
BDrana, Kalastria BloodchiefB
WBROros, the AvengerWBR
I do! Finally got a trade offer for one. Pretty excited to give it a run. I'm hoping Sphere of Safety allows me to pop a Vraska ultimate
Some cards that cost $100 make you feel good when you play them. This one makes you feel bad inside... still run it.
I see the cards you added, but I am curious what you took out for those since that's a lot of high CMC stuff to add.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
-Mana Web
-Academy Rector (Used in trade for Nether Void)
-Enlightened Tutor (Used in trade for Nether Void)
Need to reaquire the Rector
I don't recall the 5th card I'll have to look.