MTG Salvation

I personally enjoy Daxos the Returned as a stax commander. He's in two colours that have wonderful taxing enchantments, white probably moreso than black, and access to some awesome tutors. He doesn't have a built-in tax like certain commanders but he scales well throughout the game and his tokens will eventually take things over. Probably not a first tier stax commander, but bonus points for the fairly obvious Staxos the Returned pun.

I personally enjoy Daxos the Returned as a stax commander. He's in two colours that have wonderful taxing enchantments, white probably moreso than black, and access to some awesome tutors. He doesn't have a built-in tax like certain commanders but he scales well throughout the game and his tokens will eventually take things over. Probably not a first tier stax commander, but bonus points for the fairly obvious Staxos the Returned pun.

I love playing Grand Arbiter Stax. Land Equilibrium/Armageddon is a thing. Rising Waters is a second Winter Orb that pitches to Force. You get to play some of the most hated spells in Magic including Ravages of War, Armageddon, Cataclysm, Tangle Wire, and more. The deck features Tabernacle, Mana Drain, and tons of other brutal, powerful cards and the deck can put on a lock terrifyingly fast (link in sig)

Quote from BlackVise »

My current Stax general is Hanna, Ship's Navigator, who may not be as broken but has a very useable color identity and can provide a lot of value over the course of a game.

Any chance you could link a decklist? I've tried building Hanna Stax, but I can't ever seem to get it running smoothly.

Quote from Skios »

I personally enjoy Daxos the Returned as a stax commander. He's in two colours that have wonderful taxing enchantments, white probably moreso than black, and access to some awesome tutors. He doesn't have a built-in tax like certain commanders but he scales well throughout the game and his tokens will eventually take things over. Probably not a first tier stax commander, but bonus points for the fairly obvious Staxos the Returned pun.

My curiosity is piqued. List?

I'm glad to see this thread necro'd; a lot of cards have been printed since it started. I can add a couple names to the candidates' list. I have no decklists for any of these suggestions currently, but they're all feasible for reasons...

Narset, Enlightened Master - She's hexproof, which I like in a Stax commander. Most Stax cards are enchantments and artifacts, and she wants non-creature spells anyway. She can draw and cast them for free. Once she's out and swinging, you can play Armageddon and not care about mana; she'll cast the spells for you and you can always run mana rocks too. Excellent colors for artifacts and enchantments, plus red for those devastating board-wipes.

Rubinia Soulsinger - Bant colors for heavy control that can deal with anything. She can steal anything your opponents do manage to cast through your net. Derevi is kinda obvious, where they'll never see Rubinia coming. Can run Derevi anyway.

Sydri, Galvanic Genius - Can make all your artifact lockdown pieces into swinging attacks. Give Staff of Nin deathtouch and ping away at anything they dare summon. Or give Darksteel Ingot lifelink and keep yourself in the game. Comes down cheap and cheap to drive. Can ping off land with her ability and Liquimetal Coating. Again, they'll see Sharuum coming and be ready for either Stax or combo, but nobody ever looks twice at Sydri. Esper colors are ideal for Stax control. Sharuum works well in the 99 instead of in the command zone. Sydri is also a joker with a million combos up her sleeve if you look for them.

Alesha, Who Smiles At Death - Nobody expects it, but Mardu makes excellent Stax colors. She can recur plenty of creatures that recur artifacts and enchantments. Mardu is the color of a million board wipes and a dozen ways to tutor them. Also the best spot removal for any permanent in the game. Can finish fast with Master of Cruelties after opponents are crippled. Very mean as a Stax commander, though.

oloro is just so strong if he is left alone early he is the strongest stax general in my opinion.

the life gain actually can strait up win you games.

I'm hooked on the Brothers

What do you all think of Liliana, Heretical Healer as a Stax general? She has hand disruption and can bring back cards like Fleshbag Marauder/Merciless Executioner.

I think you're better off with something else if that's what you're going for. if you want a general that's good at recursion for staxy purposes, I might opt for Meren of Clan Nel Toth. Her recursion is stupid good, and while green is not known for being a "stax" color, there are good reasons to add a second color as mono-black has issues with enchantments and artifacts, in addition to being able to play certain valuable cards that can synergize well in the right build. Having access to Pernicious Deed, Maelstrom Pulse/Putrefy, and Eternal Witness are just things right off the top of my head I would consider including. Recurring Fleshbag is nice and all, but recurring Eternal Witness and returning Pernicious Deed every turn is also dope.

Please note that Mimic Vat is a really, really dumb card to include if you like recurring Fleshbag Marauder. I can almost never stop singing the praises of how stupid good the card is.

I currently play Oloro stax, fun for me but not so fun for other people

Quote from Ebonclaw »

I think you're better off with something else if that's what you're going for. if you want a general that's good at recursion for staxy purposes, I might opt for Meren of Clan Nel Toth. Her recursion is stupid good, and while green is not known for being a "stax" color, there are good reasons to add a second color as mono-black has issues with enchantments and artifacts, in addition to being able to play certain valuable cards that can synergize well in the right build. Having access to Pernicious Deed, Maelstrom Pulse/Putrefy, and Eternal Witness are just things right off the top of my head I would consider including. Recurring Fleshbag is nice and all, but recurring Eternal Witness and returning Pernicious Deed every turn is also dope.

Please note that Mimic Vat is a really, really dumb card to include if you like recurring Fleshbag Marauder. I can almost never stop singing the praises of how stupid good the card is.

i enjoy good mimic vat play but in my experience its so slow may have been just because i was running it in early versions of my daretti deck note its non-stax

Quote from BlackVise »

Hanna StaxMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Commander (1): 3 Hanna, Ship's Navigator Creatures (5): 2 Riddlesmith 3 Barrin, Master Wizard 3 Trinket Mage 4 Lodestone Golem 4 Vedalken Archmage Artifacts (37): 0 Claws of Gix 0 Engineered Explosives 0 Everflowing Chalice 0 Tormod's Crypt 0 Welding Jar 0 Zuran Orb 1 AEther Spellbomb 1 Codex Shredder 1 Despotic Scepter 1 Ivory Tower 1 Mana Vault 1 Origin Spellbomb 1 Skycloud Egg 1 Sol Ring 1 Sunbeam Spellbomb 1 Wayfarer's Bauble 2 Azorius Signet 2 Ichor Wellspring 2 Mind Stone 2 Ratchet Bomb 2 Scroll Rack 2 Sphere of Resistance 2 Thorn of Amethyst 2 Talisman of Progress 2 Thought Vessel 2 Winter Orb 3 Crawlspace 3 Crucible of Worlds 3 Static Orb 3 Trinisphere 4 Clock of Omens 4 Goblin Charbelcher 4 Icy Manipulator 4 Krark-Clan Ironworks 4 Trading Post 4 Unbender Tine 6 Mindslaver	Enchantments (9): 1 Mystic Remora 2 Artificer's Intuition 2 Hatching Plans 2 Icy Prison 2 Stasis 3 Mana Vortex 3 Propaganda 4 Land Equilibrium 5 Sphere of Safety Instants (6): 1 Brainstorm 1 Enlightened Tutor 1 Path to Exile 1 Swords to Plowshares 2 Perilous Research 3 Thirst for Knowledge Sorceries (4): 1 Ponder 1 Preordain 3 Fabricate 5 Thoughtcast Planeswalker (1): 5 Tezzeret the Seeker Nonbasic Lands (9): 1 Ancient Den 1 Command Tower 1 Darksteel Citadel 1 Flagstones of Trokair 1 Flooded Strand 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Seat of the Synod 1 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods 1 Temple of Enlightenment	Basic Lands (28): 14 Island 14 Plains

I've not been playing the deck for very long so I'm sure it's far from optimized, but I think it's a pretty decent starting point.

i've never seen any one run riddlesmith how are you liking it?
and is there a reason your running unbender tine over or parallel to Voltaic Key

my personal favorite commander for stax builds is [Sydri, Galvanic Genius] as its in the 3 best colors for stax (black,white,and blue)
i feel like she gets the job done by locking the board up and wrathing all creatures then turning the very artifacts you staxs your opponents with and punch them in the face as well her second ability also detering others away

Quote from darkmummy9 »

my personal favorite commander for stax builds is [Sydri, Galvanic Genius] as its in the 3 best colors for stax (black,white,and blue)
i feel like she gets the job done by locking the board up and wrathing all creatures then turning the very artifacts you staxs your opponents with and punch them in the face as well her second ability also detering others away

Get thee hence, vile necromancer! Your first post is symbolic of deep forum evil.

Looking at that Hanna list makes me think the new Jhoira would be a decent stax general with her built in CA for playing artifacts. You get to add in Blood Moon and Goblin Welder and Daretti, Scrap Savant... Man if I had the cash for some of those stax artifacts I'd make the thing.