So I already know I'm going to get flack for making Stax in general, as people REALLY hate it when they don't get to play Magic exactly how they want to, but with the way my playgroup is evolving and how crazy EDH can get in a short amount of turns, I am going forth with making a stax deck.
Here is the trick: I'm going for a completely colorless variation. I think that it will make things interesting for not only the deck but also for my playgroup in how they respond to things. I know that a lot of good stax cards are bound to a color, but I also know that many of them are colorless and that being colorless leads to many interesting things (like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and All Is Dust)that you can't really get with a colored deck.
Insert the commander idea here: Hope of Ghirapur. It's a true colorless commander, and it kinda has the stax theme going on already: you can cast this T1 and pop them with it on your T2 and stop them from casting ramp spell or mana rocks for the early ramp that we always see. Maybe it will even be enough to stop them long enough to play more pieces and keep them locked down for good, who knows?
Now my big issue is...well, I've never built stax before, not really. I love stuff like Winter Orb or Ward of Bones just being thrown down every once in a while and hearing people complain about how that can't go off on T5 and win now, but I've never really built a deck that has the goal of locking down the board...so I have no idea which cards are best out of all of my options, or how to make it so I'm still gaining steam in some shape or form while they are suffering, much less how to do that without a color attached to it.
That's where I hope my lovely community can come in and show me the way on how to properly build a colorless stax deck! I have a list right here of the cards I'm currently considering, but nothing is remotely set in stone and it's essentially still in the brainstorming stage (but how can I brainstorm without a blue color identity! D:)
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Oh boy, I guess my changes didn't save from my recent additions, because I had both Meekstone and Sphere of Resistance in there, I swear!
Also, the encouragement to run things like I normally do in artifact combo makes me happy. What do you guys think about more cost reducers, like Stone Calendar or Cloud Key and do you think it would be bad to run Helm of Awakening due to it helping my opponents?
I know that Smokestackis a Stax staple, but aren't you supposed to be able to build up around it while your opponents suffer? How do I manage that?
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"Nothing tears up a family faster than a game of Monopoly." ~ John Branyan
"Nothing tears up a group of friends faster than a session of Mario Party." ~ ForsakenM~
Extra Info:
Current Preferred Formats:
EDH, Modern, Anything with Planechase
use sad robot attached to a mimic vat to get around stax effects. going mono color you lack tutors to get what you need so you won't be able to rely on things liike you could if you were playing black or blue. sword of light and shadow could help you break even also.
use sad robot attached to a mimic vat to get around stax effects. going mono color you lack tutors to get what you need so you won't be able to rely on things liike you could if you were playing black or blue. sword of light and shadow could help you break even also.
Smokestackis a Stax staple, but aren't you supposed to be able to build up around it while your opponents suffer? How do I manage that?
With Crucible of worlds
Crucible of Worlds, token makers, that sort of thing. Arguably Eon Hub could work, but you'd have to put some counters on Smokestack first. (Though once you have one, you can proliferate.)
Stax is all about breaking symmetrical effects. What symmetrical effects depends: Forced sacrifice (such as Ghave), tapdown (such as Augustin), or just using cards like Rule of Law and Grand Abolisher to add new rules. Usually some combination thereof.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
These have been some pretty useful tips, I think I'm going to go for two potential ways to win: apparently the typical Salvaging Stationcombo, which you may well see in there, and the Blightsteel idea. Both seem pretty legit, honestly. Now it's just time to add a good landbase and streamline the stragglers. I'll talk more about how it goes here.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Nothing tears up a family faster than a game of Monopoly." ~ John Branyan
"Nothing tears up a group of friends faster than a session of Mario Party." ~ ForsakenM~
Extra Info:
Current Preferred Formats:
EDH, Modern, Anything with Planechase
Cockatrice Name: ForsakenM
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Here is the trick: I'm going for a completely colorless variation. I think that it will make things interesting for not only the deck but also for my playgroup in how they respond to things. I know that a lot of good stax cards are bound to a color, but I also know that many of them are colorless and that being colorless leads to many interesting things (like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and All Is Dust)that you can't really get with a colored deck.
Insert the commander idea here: Hope of Ghirapur. It's a true colorless commander, and it kinda has the stax theme going on already: you can cast this T1 and pop them with it on your T2 and stop them from casting ramp spell or mana rocks for the early ramp that we always see. Maybe it will even be enough to stop them long enough to play more pieces and keep them locked down for good, who knows?
Now my big issue is...well, I've never built stax before, not really. I love stuff like Winter Orb or Ward of Bones just being thrown down every once in a while and hearing people complain about how that can't go off on T5 and win now, but I've never really built a deck that has the goal of locking down the board...so I have no idea which cards are best out of all of my options, or how to make it so I'm still gaining steam in some shape or form while they are suffering, much less how to do that without a color attached to it.
That's where I hope my lovely community can come in and show me the way on how to properly build a colorless stax deck! I have a list right here of the cards I'm currently considering, but nothing is remotely set in stone and it's essentially still in the brainstorming stage (but how can I brainstorm without a blue color identity! D:)
1 Hope of Ghirapur
Artifacts
1 Ward of Bones
1 Winter Orb
1 Defense Grid
1 Mana Web
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Damping Engine
1 Damping Matrix
1 Null Rod
1 Cursed Totem
1 Jester's Cap
1 Jester's Mask
1 Tsabo's Web
1 The Immortal Sun
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Planar Bridge
1 Planar Gate
1 Planar Portal
1 Crawlspace
1 Teferi's Puzzle Box
1 Uba Mask
1 Storm Cauldron
1 Tangle Wire
1 Sol Ring
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Blinkmoth Urn
1 Knowledge Pool
1 Trinisphere
1 Meekstone
1 Sphere of Resistance
1 Smokestack
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Static Orb
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Torpor Orb
1 Clock of Omens
1 Unwinding Clock
1 Stone Calendar
1 Cloud Key
1 Mimic Vat
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Trading Post
1 Myr Turbine
1 Salvaging Station
1 Expedition Map
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sands of Time
1 Orb of Dreams
1 Possessed Portal
1 Portcullis
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Disrupting Scepter
1 Null Brooch
1 Wand of Ith
1 Eon Hub
1 Silent Arbiter
1 Void Winnower
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Foundry Inspector
Lands
1 Urza's Tower
1 Urza's Power Plant
1 Urza's Factory
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Buried Ruin
1 Ancient Tomb
I welcome any criticism!
"Nothing tears up a group of friends faster than a session of Mario Party." ~ ForsakenM~
Extra Info:
EDH, Modern, Anything with Planechase
Cockatrice Name: ForsakenM
Where's Sphere of Resistance?
Clock of Omens can help with Mana Vault, and it provides a way to tap Winter Orb during the player to your right's turn.
On phasing:
Also, the encouragement to run things like I normally do in artifact combo makes me happy. What do you guys think about more cost reducers, like Stone Calendar or Cloud Key and do you think it would be bad to run Helm of Awakening due to it helping my opponents?
I know that Smokestackis a Stax staple, but aren't you supposed to be able to build up around it while your opponents suffer? How do I manage that?
"Nothing tears up a group of friends faster than a session of Mario Party." ~ ForsakenM~
Extra Info:
EDH, Modern, Anything with Planechase
Cockatrice Name: ForsakenM
With Crucible of worlds
“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.”
—Volrath
Umm...sad robot?
EDIT: googled it, you mean Solemn Simulacrum?
"Nothing tears up a group of friends faster than a session of Mario Party." ~ ForsakenM~
Extra Info:
EDH, Modern, Anything with Planechase
Cockatrice Name: ForsakenM
Still, I feel like there needs to be more things to benefit me so I don't screw myself over with the rest of them, any more ideas about that?
"Nothing tears up a group of friends faster than a session of Mario Party." ~ ForsakenM~
Extra Info:
EDH, Modern, Anything with Planechase
Cockatrice Name: ForsakenM
Crucible of Worlds, token makers, that sort of thing. Arguably Eon Hub could work, but you'd have to put some counters on Smokestack first. (Though once you have one, you can proliferate.)
Stax is all about breaking symmetrical effects. What symmetrical effects depends: Forced sacrifice (such as Ghave), tapdown (such as Augustin), or just using cards like Rule of Law and Grand Abolisher to add new rules. Usually some combination thereof.
On phasing:
"Nothing tears up a group of friends faster than a session of Mario Party." ~ ForsakenM~
Extra Info:
EDH, Modern, Anything with Planechase
Cockatrice Name: ForsakenM