I've created this thread to get some feedback on a style of Sydri, Galvanic Genius that I have not seen much discussion of. I've termed it Galvanic Stax. Initially I am hoping to get some help tweaks before I purchase this rough deck list. As I learn more about playing this deck and MTGS formatting I hope to make it look somewhat more primer like.
Galvanic Stax is a resource denial deck, the goal is to make it difficult for your opponents to play. Mass destruction cards allow you to reset the game if people get ahead of your lock at anytime. After creating a hellish board state with cards like Desolation or Mana Vortex, it survives by relying on a large number of mana rocks (such as Gilded Lotus). These same rocks dodge your other stax effects like Tainted Æther and Pendrell Mists when animated by Sydri and start bashing face.
The point of Galvanic Stax is to be a built around Sydri, and that could only be built around Sydri. So here is what the deck is NOT.
Karn 2.0
The first thing most people think when they look at Sydri is "oh look, I can play Karn, Silver Golem in esper colors." Karn and Sydri both can animate 3 mana rock like Basalt Monolith, and generate infinite mana through the abuse of Voltaic Construct. Sydri's access to colored mana gives her Power Artifact and Training Grounds for some redundancy as well as a host of better supporting cards. But really, Karn did it before it was cool.
Inferior Sharuum
Esper already has an artifact matters general and Sharuum the Hegemon is no slouch. If your just running good artifacts recurring them is likely to be more useful than making them walk, and Sharuum combo kills with fewer cards. For those wanting to go this route, besides her infinite mana combos, Syrdi can also pull off a Disciple of the Vault kill with Seat of the Synod and Salvaging Station.
Your Giant Soldiers Stax Deck.
Esper is a great Stax color, and has some strong commanders as well. In my opinion Oloro, Ageless Acestic is the strongest for a typical stax deck. Gaining life for doing nothing is great, and the bleed shouldn't be underestimated in a stalled board. However in Sydri - Galvanic Stax does not play like many traditional stax decks. Additionally, Sydri is a more interactive stax general, who can be part of your pillow fort, tax effects, and kill conditions.
The Utility lands are more important to this deck than many decks, with strong artifact recursion, land destruction and and land destruction resistant lands.
Although listed in the Card Draw and Tutors section. Rhystic Study can often feel like a good tax effect, and Staff of Nin becomes targeted removal and a big beater with Sydri online.
The deck attempts to win by swinging through the red zone, but it doesn't run very many creatures. Hopefully Sydri is around to power up the non-creature artifacts but Karn, Tezzerets, Man lands and Keyrunes are there to provide routes to victory.
i think this is a pretty solid list so far. it has the idea that i was suggesting in other sydri lists which i thought was a unique take on the deck. the ability to play very little creatures and instead play cards that demote creature play is a very powerful concept and the fact your general can make creatures and get around cards like Tainted Aether further cements the premise of the deck.
honestly not a big fan of the infinite combos. im not a big fan of Mycosynth Lattice. its just a personal thing . its like that typical " every other artifact deck combo" type card cliche thingy lol.but i totally understand wanting to run it.
caltrops plus sydri is the very thing i love most about this deck lol
HUGE fan of Torpor Orb. you should definatley run this card.its everything this deck wants and more. turns off Aura shards and whatnot Fabricate - clutch 3 mana demo tutor hurkyl's Recall - this card does a lot of work for 2 mana. bounce your board to protect against creeping corrosion. bounce your opponents stuff a la metalcoating/lattice. etc list goes on for only 2 mana Vedalken Archmage - although he is another creature if your finding yourself short on card draw i would play this guy next he pays for himself
idk about the lethal vapors unless there is some weird combo i am not seeing i would take that out unless your pithing needle it its too easy to get around
i hope this helps!
list looks really solid though let me know how it plays out if you every get around to it!
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Galvanic Stax is a resource denial deck, the goal is to make it difficult for your opponents to play. Mass destruction cards allow you to reset the game if people get ahead of your lock at anytime. After creating a hellish board state with cards like Desolation or Mana Vortex, it survives by relying on a large number of mana rocks (such as Gilded Lotus). These same rocks dodge your other stax effects like Tainted Æther and Pendrell Mists when animated by Sydri and start bashing face.
The point of Galvanic Stax is to be a built around Sydri, and that could only be built around Sydri. So here is what the deck is NOT.
Karn 2.0
The first thing most people think when they look at Sydri is "oh look, I can play Karn, Silver Golem in esper colors." Karn and Sydri both can animate 3 mana rock like Basalt Monolith, and generate infinite mana through the abuse of Voltaic Construct. Sydri's access to colored mana gives her Power Artifact and Training Grounds for some redundancy as well as a host of better supporting cards. But really, Karn did it before it was cool.
Inferior Sharuum
Esper already has an artifact matters general and Sharuum the Hegemon is no slouch. If your just running good artifacts recurring them is likely to be more useful than making them walk, and Sharuum combo kills with fewer cards. For those wanting to go this route, besides her infinite mana combos, Syrdi can also pull off a Disciple of the Vault kill with Seat of the Synod and Salvaging Station.
Your Giant Soldiers Stax Deck.
Esper is a great Stax color, and has some strong commanders as well. In my opinion Oloro, Ageless Acestic is the strongest for a typical stax deck. Gaining life for doing nothing is great, and the bleed shouldn't be underestimated in a stalled board. However in Sydri - Galvanic Stax does not play like many traditional stax decks. Additionally, Sydri is a more interactive stax general, who can be part of your pillow fort, tax effects, and kill conditions.
And without further delay, A LIST
Decklist by Card Function
3 Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Stax and Pillowfort
1 Meekstone
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Overburden
3 Caltrops
3 Mana Vortex
3 Desolation
3 Aura of Silence
4 Portcullis
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Rising Waters
4 Pendrell Mists
4 Tainted Æther
4 Lethal Vapors
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
6 Ward of Bones
Mass Destruction
4 Armageddon
4 Wrath of God
4 Cataclysm
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
5 Sunder
7 Cyclonic Rift
Mana Rocks
0 Lotus Bloom
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
2 Azorius Signet
2 Orzhov Signet
2 Talisman of Progress
2 Talisman of Dominance
3 Dimir Keyrune
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Basalt Monolith
3 Coalition Relic
4 Thran Dynamo
5 Gilded Lotus
3 Crucible of Worlds
6 Salvaging Station
6 Open the Vaults
Card Draw and Tutors
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Expedition Map
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
2 Reshape
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Crystal Ball
3 Trinket Mage
3 Rhystic Study
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
6 Staff of Nin
Removal
1 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Æther Spellbomb
4 Return to Dust
7 Spine of Ish Sah
Utility
1 Necrogen Spellbomb
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Voltiac Key
2 Liquimetal Coating
4 Unwinding Clock
5 Karn, Silver Golem
6 Mycosynth Lattice
9 Darksteel Forge
0 Academy Ruins
0 Buried Ruin
0 Creeping Tar Pit
0 Inkmoth Nexus
0 Flagstones of Trokair
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Strip Mine
0 Dust Bowl
0 Wasteland
0 Kor Haven
0 Ancient Den
0 Vault of Whispers
0 Seat of the Synod
0 Darksteel Citadel
0 Bojuka Bog
Basic and Multi Color Land 23
0 Plains
0 Island
0 Swamp
3 Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Creatures 5
2 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Trinket Mage
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
4 Lodestone Golem
5 Karn, Silver Golem
Artifact 34
0 Lotus Bloom
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Necrogen Spellbomb
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Æther Spellbomb
1 Expedition Map
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Dispeller's Capsule
1 Voltiac Key
1 Meekstone
2 Azorius Signet
2 Orzhov Signet
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Talisman of Progress
2 Liquimetal Coating
3 Caltrops
3 Dimir Keyrune
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Basalt Monolith
3 Coalition Relic
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Crystal Ball
4 Portcullis
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Unwinding Clock
5 Gilded Lotus
6 Ward of Bones
6 Salvaging Station
6 Mycosynth Lattice
6 Staff of Nin
7 Spine of Ish Sah
9 Darksteel Forge
2 Overburden
3 Mana Vortex
3 Rhystic Study
3 Aura of Silence
3 Desolation
4 Pendrell Mists
4 Rising Waters
4 Tainted Æther
4 Lethal Vapors
Sorcery 5
2 Reshape
4 Armageddon
4 Wrath of God
4 Cataclysm
6 Open the Vaults
Instant 6
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
3 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Return to Dust
5 Sunder
7 Cyclonic Rift
Planeswalkers 2
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
Utility Land 15
0 Academy Ruins
0 Buried Ruin
0 Creeping Tar Pit
0 Inkmoth Nexus
0 Flagstones of Trokair
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Strip Mine
0 Dust Bowl
0 Wasteland
0 Kor Haven
0 Ancient Den
0 Vault of Whispers
0 Seat of the Synod
0 Darksteel Citadel
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Plains
0 Island
0 Swamp
Notable Synergy
I've described the core mechanics on how mana rocks win games earlier, but here are some other synergies that might not jump out to you at first.
Sydri + Caltrops - Deathtouch Caltrops make for a great pillowfort
Sydri + Liquimetal Coating – Targeted Land Destruction
Sydri + Mycosynth Lattice – Mass land Destruction
Sydri + Salvaging Station + a Spellbomb - Animating a spellbomb causes Salvaging Station to untap when you use the spellbomb sacrifices, allowing you to repeatedly spellbomb as long as you have mana.
Nevinyrrayl's Disk + Darksteel Forge + (and possibly Mycosynth Lattice) Repeatable one sided wipe.
Reshape Lotus Bloom Salvaging Station Cheating around Lotus Blooms suspend and playing it multiple times.
The Utility lands are more important to this deck than many decks, with strong artifact recursion, land destruction and and land destruction resistant lands.
Although listed in the Card Draw and Tutors section. Rhystic Study can often feel like a good tax effect, and Staff of Nin becomes targeted removal and a big beater with Sydri online.
The deck attempts to win by swinging through the red zone, but it doesn't run very many creatures. Hopefully Sydri is around to power up the non-creature artifacts but Karn, Tezzerets, Man lands and Keyrunes are there to provide routes to victory.
honestly not a big fan of the infinite combos. im not a big fan of Mycosynth Lattice. its just a personal thing . its like that typical " every other artifact deck combo" type card cliche thingy lol.but i totally understand wanting to run it.
caltrops plus sydri is the very thing i love most about this deck lol
HUGE fan of Torpor Orb. you should definatley run this card.its everything this deck wants and more. turns off Aura shards and whatnot
Fabricate - clutch 3 mana demo tutor
hurkyl's Recall - this card does a lot of work for 2 mana. bounce your board to protect against creeping corrosion. bounce your opponents stuff a la metalcoating/lattice. etc list goes on for only 2 mana
Vedalken Archmage - although he is another creature if your finding yourself short on card draw i would play this guy next he pays for himself
idk about the lethal vapors unless there is some weird combo i am not seeing i would take that out unless your pithing needle it its too easy to get around
i hope this helps!
list looks really solid though let me know how it plays out if you every get around to it!