MTG Salvation

Anyone who knows me knows I have a habit of making dumb decks. It usually starts with a joke or a challenge from a friend that gets by brewing gears going and evolves into a real deck. Most recently, it was joking with my friend about "my fully foiled Atogatog deck." While I didn't have an Atogatog deck at the time, let alone a foiled Atogatog deck, it got me thinking: can we make Atogatog work? What are atogs good at? Sacrificing things. Who likes to sacrifice things? Stax decks. And thus, my most recent dumb idea was born: 5-color Atogatog stax:



A few caveats to the current list: 1) I haven't figured out the mana base, that will come later and 2) I'm looking for semi-budget suggestions. If I have the card (like Crucible of Worlds) I'll run it, but I won't run out to get a Nether Void (at least not yet...) 3) Mass land destruction is frowned on in my playgroup. Yes, it is an important part of stax, but I try to move away from MLD.

Like I said above, a big theme is getting value off my sacrifices from things like Grave Pact, Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest. My concern right now is that the deck is a little all over the place. I have the sacrifice-value cards and some typical stax cards. I've got a few win-cons: Living Death + sac a bunch of Atogs to Atogatog, Grave Titan + Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle combo, making my opponent scoop because it's stax. I haven't actually tested the list yet so, like all new decks, I think there's a ton of testing needed to get the list right.

Always happy to see another person taking a stab at Atogatog! My attempt is in my signature, though it's much less serious than yours and plays a very different game.

First, if you have any plans on using your commander, I'd suggest Chameleon Colossus. Same with Ichor Wellspring. They're great sac fodder and pretty solid on their own.

Finally, another avenue to consider (as if you don't already have enough!) is to use Enchanted Evening and Mycosynth Lattice, making all your permanents sac-able, and then use nasty board wipes, generally one-sided, be be especially heinous. Things like Calming Verse and Vandalblast with those out end games quickly, and they serve double duty in making all your permanents work with Atogs.

Hey Outcryqq! I guess from your avatar I should have guessed you'd be interested in this deck, haha. I got a lot of good ideas from your post and your list, thanks! I definitely like Enchanted Evening (I like Lattice, too but I'm not quite ready to spend $20 on a single card for this dumb deck idea) because it also synergizes with Aura Shards. Ichor Wellspring and the Colossus also seem like solid choices. Two cards from your list you didn't mention here that I think are worth trying out are Life from the Loam and Faith's Reward. As far as cuts go, I don't think this is the right deck for Stasis, so I'm cutting that. Bringer of the Red Dawn also seems more cute than actually effective. Also, The Gitrog Monster seems like it would play well with the sacrifice theme, but I'm worried that, being a stax deck, I don't have enough lands to support him.

I agree that EE or Lattic + a one-sided boardwipe is a nasty plan however, as I pointed out in the post, MLD is frowned upon in my playgroup so I think I'll stay away from that for now.

Another great thing with Enchanted Evening, even if you are not going the mass destruction route, is that it enables a pretty nice enchantress theme. I haven't picked up my Atog deck for some time, but I'd venture a guess that the black/white 2015 commander deck that featured enchantments might have had some good inclusions if you choose to go that route.

Quote from BlackVise »

Given the amount of artifacts and enchantments it appears you're going to be sacrificing, Hanna, Ship's Navigator would be a great fit here.

Awesome deck and a very refreshing twist on Stax.

Hanna is a great suggestion, thanks.

I'm not really sure what's missing currently. I've tested the list a few times and it plays...pretty terribly to be honest, haha. I expected some handicap in choosing my commander, but it really feels like I can't get anything going... Maybe after a few more tests I'll be able to identify what the problem is but currently I'm kinda at a loss.

I know my deck lacked some lethal power. Have you considered something as easy as Rancor? It gives your 'togs trample, which is relevant if they're pumped up, and it's easily sac'able to your togs, and it then recurs itself to hand.

If you like the trample idea, other inclusions that were helpful in my list were Loxodon Warhammer and Kessig Wolf Run

Those might all be helpful. My thoughts for a win-con were killing people with Atogatog once things are locked down and all of those would make that easier.

This is a pretty janky suggestion, since it would be pretty hard to set up. But since you run all the atogs, maybe the Food Chain/Misthollow Griffin-combo could do some work, that is, if you got Enchanted Evening on board. It could also work if you added Eternal Scourge as a second Misthollow, which both could then be continuously exiled for Psychatog/Sarcatog. Would be a bit more combo-oriented, but maybe fun to attack with an infinite large atop

Quote from rogerandover »

This is a pretty janky suggestion, since it would be pretty hard to set up. But since you run all the atogs, maybe the Food Chain/Misthollow Griffin-combo could do some work, that is, if you got Enchanted Evening on board. It could also work if you added Eternal Scourge as a second Misthollow, which both could then be continuously exiled for Psychatog/Sarcatog. Would be a bit more combo-oriented, but maybe fun to attack with an infinite large atop

I don't see the combo. I mean, I understand the Food Chain infinite mana part, but where do the atogs come in? Do you mean adding a sac outlet, too? Because then I see this:

• Make infinite mana w/ Food Chain and the Griffin
• Cast the griffin and Eternal Scourge, then sac it to the outlet
• Exile the griffin and scourge, buffing Psychatog
• Repeat steps 2 and 3 to make Psychatog arbitrarily large

I think that's too much jank for this already janky deck, haha. It's a five card combo that would require taking away from the main stax plan.

Yeah, it would also take a sac-outlet
I my experience though, the atogs have never preformed well for me, since they sacrifice alot and you would need a way to reliably recur the things you sacrifice. (Hence the janky-combo with cast stuff from exile). The Rancor suggestion wasn't a bad one, and maybe you could venture further down that road. But there may not be that many good options. Prehaps Glistening Oil?

Haha, I'm definitely aware that atogs are...lackluster, to say the least. That's sort of the reason for putting this deck together. It's also the reason why I decided to go in the stax direction. Both atogs and stax decks want you to be sacrificing things, and stax gives us a more competitive shell to try to make Atogatog viable.

I have an infinite combo in mine, but it can be dangerous to play: Aluren + Enduring Renewal combos to make any of your atogs able to be sacrificed to your commander and repeated as many times as you want. The problem, though, is that your opponents can take good advantage of Aluren as well, and you're still vulnerable to instant speed removal.

Like you said in the OP, I also think your deck is a little bit all over the place. I don't see a lot of synergy in the stax-peices you put in the deck. You play a decent amount of creatures and have Overburden. Your curve is pretty high, and that makes me think Winter Orb and Static Orb isn't all that good. Why do you even want to slow the game down?

I would focus more the synergy with you sacrificing a lot of your stuff. You already have a few things, but Im sure more could be found. Mycosynth Wellspring could maybe do some work. Maybe even added a few ways to hit with those pumped atogs (Rogue's Passage).
A lower curve with stuff that cantripped to your sac-effects, could maybe enable a combo faster (right now you got Grave/Ashnod/Nim - with Conspiracy atogatog is lethal).

Quote from rogerandover »

Like you said in the OP, I also think your deck is a little bit all over the place. I don't see a lot of synergy in the stax-peices you put in the deck. You play a decent amount of creatures and have Overburden. Your curve is pretty high, and that makes me think Winter Orb and Static Orb isn't all that good. Why do you even want to slow the game down?

I would focus more the synergy with you sacrificing a lot of your stuff. You already have a few things, but Im sure more could be found. Mycosynth Wellspring could maybe do some work. Maybe even added a few ways to hit with those pumped atogs (Rogue's Passage).
A lower curve with stuff that cantripped to your sac-effects, could maybe enable a combo faster (right now you got Grave/Ashnod/Nim - with Conspiracy atogatog is lethal).

I think you're right about both the deck being all over the place, and needing to add more sacrifice synergy. I think when I first came up with the list I was just thinking "this is a dumb idea, I don't need to think about it, just throw in stax pieces!" And it hasn't really worked out. I think I'm going to revamp the stax package and add more sacrifice synergy. I'm not going to throw out stax all together, because I still think the deck can work like that, it just needs a lot of work. For example, in one test game Uba Mask ended up being really solid. I'll post an updated list when I've got it somewhere where I like it.

Paradoxical Outcome seems like a bomb with your discard-happy 'Togs. You can cast it on the previous opponent's end step, scoop up all of your Stax pieces (or even selectively choose), and sink them into Psychatog or whatever.

Fling, Rite of Consumption, and Soul's Fire can all kill from out of nowhere. It gives you something to do with your gigantic Togs, at least.

Actually, along the lines of those last three, Chandra's Ignition looks like it could be a solid closer with a giant Atog since it hits all opponents.