I've being trying to build this deck and I'm almost done (with the exception of a pretty expensive cards... like Chains of Mephistopheles and Bitterblossom), but I'm struggling to play the stax aspect well.
I kind don't know how/when to use Lili's or Xiahou Dun to their full potential, or what to tutor, entomb or bury alive. Every game I won with this deck was due to the Dark Depths combo. In those games I didn't even felt I was really playing a stax deck (this is my first experience with stax, so I'm pretty new to this kind of strategy)
- You need to make sure early on you ramp hard, so that you are "ahead" and can break the symmetry of your STAX effects - for example, you want to have a Bitterblossom to offset your The Abyss, or a Sundial of the Infinite to offeset Smokestack, or even a simple Charcoal Diamond to offset Winter Orb. Tutoring to set this up is fine, but tutors are best saved so that...
- As the good Primer says, you can use tutors to find perfect answers in the mid-game. Once you've got an engine running, opponents are likely to 3-v-1 Archenemy you, so you want to either make attacking you painful or, failing that, keep the board quite hostile to creatures with stuff like Damnation.
- In terms of tutor priority, first priority for monoblack is usually mana. You run Expedition Map for a reason; games with Coffers/Nykthos are much much better than games without it. From there I'd usually go for Gravecrawler as it is insanely good with any sacrifice outlet - get tons of scries with Viscera Seer, tons of cards off of Skullclamp, extra mana off of Phyrexian Tower, and possibily infinite death triggers with Phyrexian Altar (which in turn clears the board with Grave Pact or kills everyone with Blood Artist).
- Finally, this deck needs Corpse Dance, and it needs it bad. Corpse Dance lets you loop Xiahou Dun, the One-eyed alongside a sac outlet, and that in turn lets you tutor for whatever you happen to need.
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Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
I've being trying to build this deck and I'm almost done (with the exception of a pretty expensive cards... like Chains of Mephistopheles and Bitterblossom), but I'm struggling to play the stax aspect well.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/taking-sadism-to-a-whole-new-level/
I kind don't know how/when to use Lili's or Xiahou Dun to their full potential, or what to tutor, entomb or bury alive. Every game I won with this deck was due to the Dark Depths combo. In those games I didn't even felt I was really playing a stax deck (this is my first experience with stax, so I'm pretty new to this kind of strategy)
Any help would be appreciated, thanks
- Read the STAX Primer: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/204260-the-stax-primer
- You need to make sure early on you ramp hard, so that you are "ahead" and can break the symmetry of your STAX effects - for example, you want to have a Bitterblossom to offset your The Abyss, or a Sundial of the Infinite to offeset Smokestack, or even a simple Charcoal Diamond to offset Winter Orb. Tutoring to set this up is fine, but tutors are best saved so that...
- As the good Primer says, you can use tutors to find perfect answers in the mid-game. Once you've got an engine running, opponents are likely to 3-v-1 Archenemy you, so you want to either make attacking you painful or, failing that, keep the board quite hostile to creatures with stuff like Damnation.
- In terms of tutor priority, first priority for monoblack is usually mana. You run Expedition Map for a reason; games with Coffers/Nykthos are much much better than games without it. From there I'd usually go for Gravecrawler as it is insanely good with any sacrifice outlet - get tons of scries with Viscera Seer, tons of cards off of Skullclamp, extra mana off of Phyrexian Tower, and possibily infinite death triggers with Phyrexian Altar (which in turn clears the board with Grave Pact or kills everyone with Blood Artist).
- Finally, this deck needs Corpse Dance, and it needs it bad. Corpse Dance lets you loop Xiahou Dun, the One-eyed alongside a sac outlet, and that in turn lets you tutor for whatever you happen to need.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG