Has anyone else tried Jeff Hoogland's last take on Saheeli/Evolution with Phantasmal Image?
I had a go at it in a few friendly games on MTGO and it seemed decent. Not getting to live the dream of Lotus Cobra, Fetch, Renegade Rallier dream is a bit sad but the deck seems to work so far.
I sheepishly admit I had no idea the way delve and trinisphere interact had changed. Neither did my third opponent last week. He played a couple of Treasure cruises in our games and paid three every time (exiling only the difference though). We will have to be happy with a CotV on 1 to make the cards they draw unplayable then.
a) Batterskull would be tasty- the lifelink could really help too as you will get the benefit of laying it post humility as a 5/5 lifelinker.....ends the game quickly
I hear you. I traded an Elspeth for a Batterskull this week. Batterskull hit the table a couple of times but I cannot say yet if I would rather have it or Elspeth so I will keep testing
Quote from drmarkb »
b) Factory is probably better than you think- it is best as a 4 of, despite the non synergy with field. Kjedoran outpost is good too, but like elspeth has no synergy with field. Horizon canopy can be a source of card draw with crucible.
Tried a fourth factory and a canopy (cutting a God’s eye and a Flagstones). I didn’t get to live the dream of recursive canopy with crucible unfortunately. I decided against outpost since there are few Plains in the deck really.
Quote from drmarkb »
c) Ghostly prison is a natural fit in this deck- and for my money sun droplet could be something like sphere of law/ghostly prison mixed. Prison does a similar job to droplet, but clogs their hand up from the off, and when stack does hit it makes it more painful.
Added some ghostly prisons main and side as you can see.
Quote from Judo Flounder »
Your deck is pretty solid. I don't like Enlightened Tutor in this deck since we like to chalice people on 1. Idyllic Tutor fits our strategies better but costs more. Council's Judgement is good but WW can be hard sometimes especially if you nuke stuff. You are missing the money cards such as Moat and Tabernacle which could strengthen your prison game but rape your wallet in the process. If you could cast OTV, you most likely are way ahead of the game anyway.
What you write makes sense. I had totally missed that ETutor would likely get neutered by CotV.
I opted for Oblivion ring based on your advice. It did happen that I was able to cast it where I wouldn’t have been able to cast Council’s judgement. I still don’t like that it gets blown by Pernicious Deed or other cards that deal with our usual threats.
I will try to slowly get my hands on a couple of Moats and a Tabernacle but in the meantime I will have to make do with the cards at my disposal.
Regarding OTV, maybe if the deck was a bit heavier on enchantments, Replenish could be an option?
Quote from Judo Flounder »
The problem however is Stax is pretty damn inconsistent. Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack might be an idea but are in Chalice CMC range. Bottled Cloister would work wonders if you have ensnaring bridge maindecked. I am a fan of the RIP/Helm as a plan B. I usually drop down the helm after someone slap's down their on RIP for giggles, best way to get those miracles players. Gotta show them how much you hate them! I'd probably shave one stack and one trinisphere. Drawing a 2nd trinisphere in the late game just makes me groan and as much as Smokestack is the deck's namesake I usually will only drop two of them at once max.
I reduced the count of suppression field, trinisphere, armageddon and stax to 3 to make room for other options like Ghostly Prison and Oblivion ring.
I agree that the deck needs more consistency/card filtering/card advantage. If your opponent can 1-for-1 your lock pieces with Abrupt decay or similar, or possibly worse x-for-1 you with Pernicious Deed, then you will not come back. My second match-up of the evening saw Deed in every game, and my third saw 3 Decays in our first game.
Regarding the RIP/Helm plan B, how many RIP/Helms would you run to make it consistent? 3x each?
The LGS evening:
Match 1 - Hasse with Punishing Zoo - 1-2 G1 on the go
I keep a 3-land hand. One of them gets wasted and I spent the game at 2 lands despite the deck’s high count. It happens. Good thing is that he didn’t know what I was on by the end of G1. G2 on the go
Double suppression field on the board prevents my opponent from fetching for mana until late. He plays a Bloodbraid Elf into my Trinisphere without any mana open and gets no value for it. I ORing the Elf which was his only threat and land Batterskull. He scoops shortly after. G3 on the draw
He blows my Crucible early game with his Qasali Pridemage preventing the recursive wasting of his lands. I had kept an opening hand with no white source and don’t meet one until it’s too late. An Ancient tomb on my side of the table and an Eidolon of the great revel on his side put a burden on my life total while his Wild Nacatl + Plateau do me in.
Match 2 - Calle with Nic fit - 0-2 G1
I land some Trinisphere and suppression field, I play a Timely reinforcement but tiptoe around his pair of Veteran Explorers, choosing not to block his attacks for a few turns. He got a couple of Pernicious Deeds that game which got rid of my lock pieces. G2
I get some lock pieces (trinisphere, suppression field, ghostly prison)
He lands two Thragtusk putting me on a short clock. I play a double Flagstone and when fetching my Plains I notice that my next draw would have been… Humility. Tough. Two turns later I draw a Humility which meets Krosan's grip just after.
Match 3 - Love with BUG Thopter foundry / Sword of the meek combo - 0-2 G1 on the draw
T1 suppression field meets T2 Thopter foundry. My lock pieces slow his combo down a lot but he still gets to 5 tokens eventually. I get a Timely Reinforcement followed by a Humility which would allow me to eventually block his attacks with my tokens and get back. Or not. He plays three disfigures (one on each token) the next turn and swings for the win. G2 on the go
Spoiler-alert: I had not idea but Love runs a transformational sideboard where he just takes in Goyfs and removes the combo. I sided to optimize against combo (removed O-Ring and Humility but in with RiP which would help incidentally against Goyf also) so the second game ended up being very one sided.
T1 he inquisitions my RiP. Sigh. He regularly Abrupt Decays or Krosan’s grips my lock pieces. It doesn’t make much a difference as he can just keep swinging with his 4/5 goyf even if Prison makes him pay 2 for each attack.
Match 4 - BG Elves - 2-0 G1
Suppression field and trinisphere wrecks his game. Stax cleans his table and he scoops. Note, this was the first time of the evening I had gotten Stax on the table. G2 on the draw
He keeps a very greed 1-lander (his one land Being bayou)
T1 he thoughtseizes me to see one of each chalice ghostly trinisphere humility. On my T2 I waste his one land and he doesn’t draw another until 5/6 turns later when I have a number of lock pieces in place anyway. It was once again a non-basic (Dryad arbor) so it got wasted instantly. Three factories on the board finish the job.
So all in all not a very good evening for Stax.
I found that my opponents (second and third match) got easily to 8 lands without me hitting Armageddon or Stax so eventually Ghostly Prison, Trinisphere or Suppression Field stopped mattering. I made a misplay of overcommitting in the second matchup playing a Prison into a Pernicious Deed because I was desperate to get the most out of my hand.
Out of the changes I made, I feel that Oblivion Ring and Ghostly prison main did not bring me much. I had also not been able to drop lock pieces as fast and in as large of an amount as in my previous events. Maybe it’s just due to the lack of consistency of the deck or maybe it was due to cutting a lot of 4-ofs into 3-ofs.
I see two angles to work on: 1) card advantage presumably with Bottled Cloister rather than with a color splash. And 2) possibly work on a list with more taxing effects Magus of the Tabernacle/Tabernacle and skipping Humility, which would then also allow me to bring in some more creatures (Baneslayer Angel or World queller or Lodestone Golem)
For option 1) I am thinking of a list like follows:
First match was against against RUG Delver
2-0
He scooped twice when Humility hit the table with some other lock pieces already on the table. Both times he scooped he had a fair amount of creatures on the table and had already hacked away at my life total, thanks to Goyf and a flipped Delver. I am definitely not sure he should have scooped; it would have been grindy for him to win but it was in no way in the bag for me yet when he did.
Second match was against Maverick
1-1-1 too maverick
G1 on the draw T1 I play a SoL land, Mox discarding Karakas for trinisphere. T2 Crucible. T3 He plays off a Gaddock Teeg for three and I get to realize how much this card wrecks Stax: no Chalice, no Smokestack, no Humility, no Elspeth. I spend the next two turns staring at my hand and the ceiling trying to think of any way out. I eventually land my eyes on the Karakas in my graveyard and the Crucible I have on the battlefield. Immense relief when I play Karakas, bounce Gaddock Teeg, and slam humility on the table. I go on to win that one.
G2 Gaddock Teeg comes into play again before I reach four mana. The lone Karakas is nowhere to be found.
G3 ends in a draw (we had 2 life each). Very grindy game; most of the attacks came from Factory but without any other win con and without Crucible, it gets held off by double blockers enough turns to end in a draw. My opponent played a Sword of Fire and Ice a few turns before we got to time and for some reason didn't equip it. I believe he would have gotten the upper hand if he had done so.
Third game was against UGW creatures good stuff (fauna shaman, GSZ, dryad arbor, quirion ranger, BoP, vial, TNN, Gaddock Teeg, Qasali pridemage, MoM and a large array of one-ofs)
0-2
G1 Qasali pridemageGaddock Teeg Enough said.
G2 came close to seeing me preventing him from getting his Teeg out. I had the choice of a turn three chalice on 2 or pithing needle while he had his two lands and a vial on one. I play needle on vial as I know he leans heavily on it and keep the chalice next in line. Next turn he lands Teeg once again.
Final match was against Miracles. The deck that hates people and want them to know it vs. the deck that hates people and don't want them to know it.
2-1
It seems players laugh a lot when their last pairing of the evening is Stax. Go figure.
First game is rather uneventful and is a win.
The second game is close but I lost with a Smokestack on 3 to his lonely TNN (he played snapcaster and clique EoT to avoid his board being completely wiped).
The final game was a win on a mull to four of my opponent. Landing an early Defense grid helped a bit too.
In neither of the three games did I see a terminus, entreat, top, or counterbalance.
So all in all, I went 2-1-1.
Sun droplet was never played. The few times I got it in my hand, I already had a chalice on 2 (ie rather late) or still had lock pieces to play out.
The deck desperately needed Oblivion Ring or Council's judgment to deal with Teeg.
I am thinking of shaving the fourth Stack and Armageddon for either Ghostly prison or Council's judgment. I am not so keen on Oblivion Ring as it can be answered with many cards that already are strong against us (Qasali pridemage, Abrupt decay). The only advantage I see to ORing would be if I added some copies of Enlightened Tutor somewhere in the 75. I am also pondering playing 2 Bottled cloister in the side to go through the deck faster looking for a win con.
Open the vaults is that just being too cute or could one play it as a 1/2-of in side?
Questions, comments, constructive criticism, are always welcome!
It's slightly harder to cast T1 than Suppression field (since with Damping Matrix you do need SoL Land + Mox while for Suppression field any land + Mox will do). Not hitting our own Waste and Factory is nice, but I feel that when you get to the point of playing Elspeth, even waiting one more turn to activate her does not matter much (unless you're jamming her out of desperation).
Matrix has more inevitability than Suppression field and would work well against the decks that use Helm of Obedience or Grindstone as win con but for instance wouldn't have worked nearly (read: at all) as well as Suppression field in the land match up I had.
Seems like a metacall and I think I would rather stick with Suppression field: Helm and Grindstone can be addressed by Leyline of sanctity which also doubles as a good sideboard card for other matchups. I am taking the line that an early (and more likely) Suppression Field is good enough to slow the opponent down until the next lock piece. Also, I am afraid of Liliana and her discard ability; Suppression Field slows her down at least.
The meta at my LGS is very diverse so the sideboard is a bit of a hodge lodge of cards. Also realizing I only had 3 Leylines a bit late doesn't help.
Match 1 - Felix on Gub elves
U was for Edric Spymaster
Went 2-1
Game 1 and 3, Chalice on 1 and Humility wrecked his deck. Suppression field also curbed his chance at an explosive start.
Second game, Ancient tomb got at my life total and NoPro finished the rest.
MVP: Chalice, suppression field
He scooped before actually losing to lethal g1 and g3.
Match 2 - Lauri on UR delver with treasure cruise
Went 1-2
G1: I mulled to 5 with no lands (opening 7 had 1 land, next 6 had no lands), dead by turn 6 or 7 with two lands in play and nothing else. It happens.
G2: I establish my lock (chalice on 1 neuters a lot of his deck) but we play it out to the bitter end because he wants to see what i got (i don't overcommit so he doesn't see much). I had cleaned up his table with the clever application of Smokestack and sat at 1 life for the rest of the ride (thank you so much, Ancient tomb). He made a mistake to play a land while I had Smokestack out, instead of sand bagging it to protect his Insectile Aberration and swing for the win. I took 8 or 9 of his 17 lands and he never saw them again.
G3: he gets a live delver and pyromancer, gets a couple of triggers on pyromancer before I get humility out by countering three of my lock pieces, draws a lot with treasure cruise (2x) and eventually swing with 1/1 until I drop to 0.
Note to self: when you bring in Defense grids in your sideboard, actually remember to side them in. Playing around Daze doesn't help much against FoW.
Match 3 - Alex with Slivers (not a legacy brew though)
Humility hits the table on turn 4 like clockwork and Mishra's factory + Crucible of worlds seal the deal (Crucible to recur mishra and his double blockers)
Scooped on the second game
2-0
Match 4 - Michael on 35-Lands combo (Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage, crop rotation, gamble, no Knight of reliquary or vampire hexmage)
Hysterical game thanks to a really nice opponent. I had never seen an opponent laugh so much at how bad the match-up was for him
Really close call on game 1 as I land humility one turn before he could go off with his combo. He ends up scooping as my lock pieces accumulate and Elspeth start throwing a 4/4 flyer at him for a couple of turns.
Sideboard in: Cursed totem, Rest in peace, and Enlightened tutor. I didn't know he packed no relevant target for Totem but suspected Knight of Reliquary, possibly Vampire hexmage.
I get my lock pieces early. RiP turn 2 prevents his Life from the loam recursion and I start piling up Trinispheres and Suppression Field, which keep him out of his combo. Eventually an armageddon (he only had lands + 1 Mox diamond) followed by Stax on 1 made him scoop. Until then his Maze of Ith had held back my lonely factory.
2-0
All in all, it was 5 scoops out of 7 games won.
I got some practice time before the event against Jund and the discard wrecked me 3 games out of 4 (we didn't sideboard). In one game, he got 2 abrupt decay (for mox and a lock piece) in the first three turns + maelstrom pulse on turn 4. Can't beat that.
MVP in general: Humility, and honorable mention to Timely reinforcements for its ability to keep us afloat.
Trinisphere or Chalice on 1 Turn 1 is very potent, Suppression field turn 1 is another option which I was looking forward to see against DRS or more Fetch intensive decks but that didn't happen. Was really good against Elves though.
I am pondering adding Ghostly Prison main board, as losing to a bunch of 1/1s is definitely possible.
I often found myself boarding out the Smokestack (multiples), Crucible (single), and Suppression field (against UR Delver which didn't seem to pack Grim Lavamancer but had new Monastery Swiftspear from Khans; and against Slivers).
So, how did it go, ardillacody? I am sure curious about it!
I had a go at it in a few friendly games on MTGO and it seemed decent. Not getting to live the dream of Lotus Cobra, Fetch, Renegade Rallier dream is a bit sad but the deck seems to work so far.
Just putting this out here. You should check out Cardboard Crack if you are not already.
trinisphere vs. delve
I took an updated Stax llst last Wednesday to my LGS and went 1-3.
4 Mishra's factory
1 Horizon canopy
5 Plains
1 Karakas
3 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Wasteland
3 City of Traitors
4 Ancient tomb
Other mana sources:
4 Mox diamond
Lock pieces:
3 Humility
4 Chalice of the void
3 Smokestack
3 Suppression Field
3 Trinisphere
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Armageddon
2 Ghostly prison
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Batterskull
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Leyline of sanctity
2 Pithing needle
3 Rest in peace
3 Defense grid
1 Ghostly prison
1 Oblivion ring
1 Cursed totem
I hear you. I traded an Elspeth for a Batterskull this week. Batterskull hit the table a couple of times but I cannot say yet if I would rather have it or Elspeth so I will keep testing
Tried a fourth factory and a canopy (cutting a God’s eye and a Flagstones). I didn’t get to live the dream of recursive canopy with crucible unfortunately. I decided against outpost since there are few Plains in the deck really.
Added some ghostly prisons main and side as you can see.
What you write makes sense. I had totally missed that ETutor would likely get neutered by CotV.
I opted for Oblivion ring based on your advice. It did happen that I was able to cast it where I wouldn’t have been able to cast Council’s judgement. I still don’t like that it gets blown by Pernicious Deed or other cards that deal with our usual threats.
I will try to slowly get my hands on a couple of Moats and a Tabernacle but in the meantime I will have to make do with the cards at my disposal.
Regarding OTV, maybe if the deck was a bit heavier on enchantments, Replenish could be an option?
I reduced the count of suppression field, trinisphere, armageddon and stax to 3 to make room for other options like Ghostly Prison and Oblivion ring.
I agree that the deck needs more consistency/card filtering/card advantage. If your opponent can 1-for-1 your lock pieces with Abrupt decay or similar, or possibly worse x-for-1 you with Pernicious Deed, then you will not come back. My second match-up of the evening saw Deed in every game, and my third saw 3 Decays in our first game.
Regarding the RIP/Helm plan B, how many RIP/Helms would you run to make it consistent? 3x each?
The LGS evening:
Match 1 - Hasse with Punishing Zoo - 1-2
G1 on the go
I keep a 3-land hand. One of them gets wasted and I spent the game at 2 lands despite the deck’s high count. It happens. Good thing is that he didn’t know what I was on by the end of G1.
G2 on the go
Double suppression field on the board prevents my opponent from fetching for mana until late. He plays a Bloodbraid Elf into my Trinisphere without any mana open and gets no value for it. I ORing the Elf which was his only threat and land Batterskull. He scoops shortly after.
G3 on the draw
He blows my Crucible early game with his Qasali Pridemage preventing the recursive wasting of his lands. I had kept an opening hand with no white source and don’t meet one until it’s too late. An Ancient tomb on my side of the table and an Eidolon of the great revel on his side put a burden on my life total while his Wild Nacatl + Plateau do me in.
Match 2 - Calle with Nic fit - 0-2
G1
I land some Trinisphere and suppression field, I play a Timely reinforcement but tiptoe around his pair of Veteran Explorers, choosing not to block his attacks for a few turns. He got a couple of Pernicious Deeds that game which got rid of my lock pieces.
G2
I get some lock pieces (trinisphere, suppression field, ghostly prison)
He lands two Thragtusk putting me on a short clock. I play a double Flagstone and when fetching my Plains I notice that my next draw would have been… Humility. Tough. Two turns later I draw a Humility which meets Krosan's grip just after.
Match 3 - Love with BUG Thopter foundry / Sword of the meek combo - 0-2
G1 on the draw
T1 suppression field meets T2 Thopter foundry. My lock pieces slow his combo down a lot but he still gets to 5 tokens eventually. I get a Timely Reinforcement followed by a Humility which would allow me to eventually block his attacks with my tokens and get back. Or not. He plays three disfigures (one on each token) the next turn and swings for the win.
G2 on the go
Spoiler-alert: I had not idea but Love runs a transformational sideboard where he just takes in Goyfs and removes the combo. I sided to optimize against combo (removed O-Ring and Humility but in with RiP which would help incidentally against Goyf also) so the second game ended up being very one sided.
T1 he inquisitions my RiP. Sigh. He regularly Abrupt Decays or Krosan’s grips my lock pieces. It doesn’t make much a difference as he can just keep swinging with his 4/5 goyf even if Prison makes him pay 2 for each attack.
Match 4 - BG Elves - 2-0
G1
Suppression field and trinisphere wrecks his game. Stax cleans his table and he scoops. Note, this was the first time of the evening I had gotten Stax on the table.
G2 on the draw
He keeps a very greed 1-lander (his one land Being bayou)
T1 he thoughtseizes me to see one of each chalice ghostly trinisphere humility. On my T2 I waste his one land and he doesn’t draw another until 5/6 turns later when I have a number of lock pieces in place anyway. It was once again a non-basic (Dryad arbor) so it got wasted instantly. Three factories on the board finish the job.
So all in all not a very good evening for Stax.
I found that my opponents (second and third match) got easily to 8 lands without me hitting Armageddon or Stax so eventually Ghostly Prison, Trinisphere or Suppression Field stopped mattering. I made a misplay of overcommitting in the second matchup playing a Prison into a Pernicious Deed because I was desperate to get the most out of my hand.
Out of the changes I made, I feel that Oblivion Ring and Ghostly prison main did not bring me much. I had also not been able to drop lock pieces as fast and in as large of an amount as in my previous events. Maybe it’s just due to the lack of consistency of the deck or maybe it was due to cutting a lot of 4-ofs into 3-ofs.
I see two angles to work on: 1) card advantage presumably with Bottled Cloister rather than with a color splash. And 2) possibly work on a list with more taxing effects Magus of the Tabernacle/Tabernacle and skipping Humility, which would then also allow me to bring in some more creatures (Baneslayer Angel or World queller or Lodestone Golem)
For option 1) I am thinking of a list like follows:
3 Mishra's factory
1 Horizon canopy
5 Plains
1 Karakas
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Wasteland
3 City of Traitors
4 Ancient tomb
Other mana sources: 4
4 Mox diamond
Lock pieces: 26
2 Humility
4 Chalice of the void
3 Smokestack
3 Suppression Field
3 Trinisphere
2 Crucible of Worlds
3 Armageddon
3 Ensnaring bridge
3 Bottled cloister
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Batterskull
4 Leyline of sanctity
3 Helm of Obedience
3 Rest in peace
3 Defense grid
2 Oblivion ring
On another thought what about Tangle Wire?
My main was the same as previously. I only changed the sideboard to eliminate the one-ofs.
3 Mishra's factory
1 Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai
5 Plains
1 Karakas
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Wasteland
3 City of Traitors
4 Ancient tomb
Other mana sources:
4 Mox diamond
3 Humility
4 Chalice of the void
4 Smokestack
4 Suppression Field
4 Trinisphere
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Armageddon
Others:
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Leyline of sanctity
2 Pithing needle
3 Rest in peace
3 Defense grid
3 Sun droplet
First match was against against RUG Delver
2-0
He scooped twice when Humility hit the table with some other lock pieces already on the table. Both times he scooped he had a fair amount of creatures on the table and had already hacked away at my life total, thanks to Goyf and a flipped Delver. I am definitely not sure he should have scooped; it would have been grindy for him to win but it was in no way in the bag for me yet when he did.
Second match was against Maverick
1-1-1 too maverick
G1 on the draw T1 I play a SoL land, Mox discarding Karakas for trinisphere. T2 Crucible. T3 He plays off a Gaddock Teeg for three and I get to realize how much this card wrecks Stax: no Chalice, no Smokestack, no Humility, no Elspeth. I spend the next two turns staring at my hand and the ceiling trying to think of any way out. I eventually land my eyes on the Karakas in my graveyard and the Crucible I have on the battlefield. Immense relief when I play Karakas, bounce Gaddock Teeg, and slam humility on the table. I go on to win that one.
G2 Gaddock Teeg comes into play again before I reach four mana. The lone Karakas is nowhere to be found.
G3 ends in a draw (we had 2 life each). Very grindy game; most of the attacks came from Factory but without any other win con and without Crucible, it gets held off by double blockers enough turns to end in a draw. My opponent played a Sword of Fire and Ice a few turns before we got to time and for some reason didn't equip it. I believe he would have gotten the upper hand if he had done so.
Third game was against UGW creatures good stuff (fauna shaman, GSZ, dryad arbor, quirion ranger, BoP, vial, TNN, Gaddock Teeg, Qasali pridemage, MoM and a large array of one-ofs)
0-2
G1 Qasali pridemage Gaddock Teeg Enough said.
G2 came close to seeing me preventing him from getting his Teeg out. I had the choice of a turn three chalice on 2 or pithing needle while he had his two lands and a vial on one. I play needle on vial as I know he leans heavily on it and keep the chalice next in line. Next turn he lands Teeg once again.
Final match was against Miracles. The deck that hates people and want them to know it vs. the deck that hates people and don't want them to know it.
2-1
It seems players laugh a lot when their last pairing of the evening is Stax. Go figure.
First game is rather uneventful and is a win.
The second game is close but I lost with a Smokestack on 3 to his lonely TNN (he played snapcaster and clique EoT to avoid his board being completely wiped).
The final game was a win on a mull to four of my opponent. Landing an early Defense grid helped a bit too.
In neither of the three games did I see a terminus, entreat, top, or counterbalance.
So all in all, I went 2-1-1.
Sun droplet was never played. The few times I got it in my hand, I already had a chalice on 2 (ie rather late) or still had lock pieces to play out.
The deck desperately needed Oblivion Ring or Council's judgment to deal with Teeg.
I am thinking of shaving the fourth Stack and Armageddon for either Ghostly prison or Council's judgment. I am not so keen on Oblivion Ring as it can be answered with many cards that already are strong against us (Qasali pridemage, Abrupt decay). The only advantage I see to ORing would be if I added some copies of Enlightened Tutor somewhere in the 75. I am also pondering playing 2 Bottled cloister in the side to go through the deck faster looking for a win con.
Open the vaults is that just being too cute or could one play it as a 1/2-of in side?
Questions, comments, constructive criticism, are always welcome!
I didn't know about Damping Matrix.
It's slightly harder to cast T1 than Suppression field (since with Damping Matrix you do need SoL Land + Mox while for Suppression field any land + Mox will do). Not hitting our own Waste and Factory is nice, but I feel that when you get to the point of playing Elspeth, even waiting one more turn to activate her does not matter much (unless you're jamming her out of desperation).
Matrix has more inevitability than Suppression field and would work well against the decks that use Helm of Obedience or Grindstone as win con but for instance wouldn't have worked nearly (read: at all) as well as Suppression field in the land match up I had.
Seems like a metacall and I think I would rather stick with Suppression field: Helm and Grindstone can be addressed by Leyline of sanctity which also doubles as a good sideboard card for other matchups. I am taking the line that an early (and more likely) Suppression Field is good enough to slow the opponent down until the next lock piece. Also, I am afraid of Liliana and her discard ability; Suppression Field slows her down at least.
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I took last Wednesday Stax to my LGS and went 3-1 at a 24-person event.
3 Mishra's factory
1 Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai
5 Plains
1 Karakas
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Wasteland
3 City of Traitors
4 Ancient tomb
Other mana sources:
4 Mox diamond
3 Humility
4 Chalice of the void
4 Smokestack
4 Suppression Field
4 Trinisphere
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Armageddon
Others:
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Leyline of sanctity
1 Enlightened tutor
1 Hanna's custody
1 Karmic justice
2 Pithing needle
2 Rest in peace
2 Defense grid
2 Ghostly prison
1 Cursed totem
The meta at my LGS is very diverse so the sideboard is a bit of a hodge lodge of cards. Also realizing I only had 3 Leylines a bit late doesn't help.
Match 1 - Felix on Gub elves
U was for Edric Spymaster
Went 2-1
Game 1 and 3, Chalice on 1 and Humility wrecked his deck. Suppression field also curbed his chance at an explosive start.
Second game, Ancient tomb got at my life total and NoPro finished the rest.
MVP: Chalice, suppression field
He scooped before actually losing to lethal g1 and g3.
Match 2 - Lauri on UR delver with treasure cruise
Went 1-2
G1: I mulled to 5 with no lands (opening 7 had 1 land, next 6 had no lands), dead by turn 6 or 7 with two lands in play and nothing else. It happens.
G2: I establish my lock (chalice on 1 neuters a lot of his deck) but we play it out to the bitter end because he wants to see what i got (i don't overcommit so he doesn't see much). I had cleaned up his table with the clever application of Smokestack and sat at 1 life for the rest of the ride (thank you so much, Ancient tomb). He made a mistake to play a land while I had Smokestack out, instead of sand bagging it to protect his Insectile Aberration and swing for the win. I took 8 or 9 of his 17 lands and he never saw them again.
G3: he gets a live delver and pyromancer, gets a couple of triggers on pyromancer before I get humility out by countering three of my lock pieces, draws a lot with treasure cruise (2x) and eventually swing with 1/1 until I drop to 0.
Note to self: when you bring in Defense grids in your sideboard, actually remember to side them in. Playing around Daze doesn't help much against FoW.
Match 3 - Alex with Slivers (not a legacy brew though)
Humility hits the table on turn 4 like clockwork and Mishra's factory + Crucible of worlds seal the deal (Crucible to recur mishra and his double blockers)
Scooped on the second game
2-0
Match 4 - Michael on 35-Lands combo (Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage, crop rotation, gamble, no Knight of reliquary or vampire hexmage)
Hysterical game thanks to a really nice opponent. I had never seen an opponent laugh so much at how bad the match-up was for him
Really close call on game 1 as I land humility one turn before he could go off with his combo. He ends up scooping as my lock pieces accumulate and Elspeth start throwing a 4/4 flyer at him for a couple of turns.
Sideboard in: Cursed totem, Rest in peace, and Enlightened tutor. I didn't know he packed no relevant target for Totem but suspected Knight of Reliquary, possibly Vampire hexmage.
I get my lock pieces early. RiP turn 2 prevents his Life from the loam recursion and I start piling up Trinispheres and Suppression Field, which keep him out of his combo. Eventually an armageddon (he only had lands + 1 Mox diamond) followed by Stax on 1 made him scoop. Until then his Maze of Ith had held back my lonely factory.
2-0
All in all, it was 5 scoops out of 7 games won.
I got some practice time before the event against Jund and the discard wrecked me 3 games out of 4 (we didn't sideboard). In one game, he got 2 abrupt decay (for mox and a lock piece) in the first three turns + maelstrom pulse on turn 4. Can't beat that.
MVP in general: Humility, and honorable mention to Timely reinforcements for its ability to keep us afloat.
Trinisphere or Chalice on 1 Turn 1 is very potent, Suppression field turn 1 is another option which I was looking forward to see against DRS or more Fetch intensive decks but that didn't happen. Was really good against Elves though.
I am pondering adding Ghostly Prison main board, as losing to a bunch of 1/1s is definitely possible.
I often found myself boarding out the Smokestack (multiples), Crucible (single), and Suppression field (against UR Delver which didn't seem to pack Grim Lavamancer but had new Monastery Swiftspear from Khans; and against Slivers).
Constructive comments and feedback are welcome.