A ball enthusiast's guide to Stax in EDH

[@salubrioussnail]

first

[@geeknseek]

That's one fast snail

[@stormcountmtg4183]

Yo it’s the snail!

[@stormcountmtg4183]

@@geeknseekliterally turbo

[@The_interior_Designer_of_Fate]

Maybe it's not a Snail but a Slug with super haste?

[@shield_rat221]

I play a stax piece to stop a combo, someone spites my stax piece and proceeds to get 2 card combo'd in the face. They go "at least I removed stax haha". That is a real gameplay loop

[@NoahMoorman]

Losing the faster is better than losing it slower

[@tideltas]

​@NoahMoorman yeah, I'd rather start over than not do anything for the next 10 turns

[@thetrinketmage]

I also love balls

[@benjaminperez-cottaar3607]

Certified ball enthusiast

[@MiaaaaaChan]

Their smell HRNNGGHHHHHH

[@bensomniac]

based cameo

[@devan9197]

Next guest on podcast stax episode?

[@ChadEichhorn]

Gaddock Teeg's forehead among the spheres had me rolling 🤣

[@johnidonttrustgoogle4277]

The charisma part is so real, if you are a known stax player you need to convince players not to target you out the gate even if other much more threatening things are going on.

[@motymurm]

Drannith hate is so funny. If you really can't respond to a 3 hp creature with no defensive abilities, you did something very wrong when deck building

[@levicurtis6669]

Literally. Especially since it's usually played/useful early. Creature removal comes in all flavors

[@Master_Spliff]

Drannith really sucks to see come down when playing traditional EDH decks or pods where your commander is typically an engine, which I understand in a casual format. However, I play cEDH and constantly say people don't play enough removal and literally anything kills Drannith, even Bolt, so it only annoys me specifically when I hear cEDH players complain about Drannith. That's very rare though. We usually bag on Rhystic or OBM instead.

[@DrOmnipotent]

Fr I've been playing stax and hatebears heavily since 2016 and this might be the most comprehensive guide ive ever seen. There are so many nuances when playing like this and you managed to touch on vast number of them while also not getting too in the weeds with it. Phenomenal video overall. Even though I dont necessarily agree with everything said, you did a Good job of reminding the potential new stax learners *why* to include and not just *what* to include when it comes to playing well. Ill probably end up sending this to someone eventually. From one baller to another; never forget what the late Tupac Shakur would say: "Still ballin!"

[@jonahclayton4810]

I’m actually working on my first ever stax deck, and this was very helpful information:)

[@ThickpropheT]

Oh man loved this! I've had ambitions to play stacks for a long time, but haven't even succeeded in completing a deck for various reasons. Often tho, I'd end up running into basically all of the pitfalls you listed and sort of peter out. Given that stax is sort of vilified, I find that constructive conversation about it is less accessible compared to other topics and so questions like, "what makes a good stax commander" and "which stax pieces should I include" and "how do you win at this" would often be sticking points that eroded my attention span. Your commander selection suggestions dovetail nicely into some videos I've seen lately on using your commander to offset weaknesses in your 99 strat. I'm in the middle of another deck that I want to finish at the moment, but I'm gonna archive this video for later when I return for another run at a stax build. Thanks! Will sub for more stax talk.

[@g8eo3]

Seedborn Muse doesn't break parity with Stasis. Seedborn Muse makes you untap during your opponents' untap steps, but Stasis skips all untap steps.

[@theArcosa]

Very true! I made a last minute swap because I liked the Stasis SLD artwork and didn't catch it!

[@al8188]

Stax benefits a lot from your own reputation and ability to communicate in multiplayer. You're constantly politicking, making your case, trying to highlight what your pieces are preventing, and deescalating. Its ironic that so many goons that enjoy inflicting discomfort gravitate to it, because openly being a weirdo is already hard enough without also playing an unpopular deck style. By that same token, playing stax to "teach your playgroup a lesson" is not only weird, but also ass-backwards. If they're letting graveyards off the hook, isn't it more effective to just ruin their lives with a graveyard deck rather than hope they see the light when you play a responsible Soulless Jailer? The answer to "lands are sacrosanct" is not Armageddon, its a disrespectful-ass lands deck. Despite that, you GOTTA be willing to check your group. If they're playing the most all-in, ignorant Brago combo list, respectfully hit them with the Blind Obedience to stop their Basalt Monolith nonsense until they put a Disenchant in their deck. Stax has the capacity to put everyone at the table on blast. If you fold to Doorkeeper Thrull because you don't have any removal thats not stapled to an ETB, you gotta hold that. Conversely, if you accidentally lock yourself out of the game by missequencing and donate a win to whoever is most ahead on board, take the L. I don't play it every game because it makes the game demanding on everyone. Not harder, it just asks more of every player to navigate the gamestate. Despite that, I'd be lying if I said that every time I saw a new legendary creature my first thought wasn't "I bet I could fit my balls in there."

[@Iranex1]

This video is an insanely good rundown of stax. I feel like I learned a lot! Your experience lines up with what I've heard cEDH players say: stax is good but it's not nearly as good as people feel like it is when they are playing against it. It's like an exotic spice. It only goes on certain things and you can't use it without good reason. But when it's good it can tie everything together and elevate it.

[@TeaGarrison]

I play with a Kyle because I have to. Not because I want to. Edit: I met him through Yugioh where he always played anti-meta and stun decks. I should have known he’d play stax and chaos decks when we got into Magic. And it’s funny but I have always wondered if he enjoys these games or if he just likes hurting people. 😂

[@Rasudido]

Amazing video. I will pass this along to everyone I can because videos like these should be public knowledge.

[@theArcosa]

Thanks!

[@liorashiri6036]

Awesome video. I learned a lot. I had avacyn stax that just didn't work and I didn't understand why

[@end-er_1023]

Great video. As a Prison Player I applaud you. This was well written and explained.

[@smob0]

I think you are right about stax, I view it mostly as a way to slow down strategies that aren't my own. I don't really view stax as a deck archetype, but more a form of proactive removal. Stax pieces are very hard to evaluate imo. for instance grand abolisher is a stax card that stops your opponents getting in the way of your win, which is an obvious use case. Thalia making noncreatures cost 1 more will also hinder your opponents attempts at stopping your win especially with free spells like force of will. But Thalia also protects your win a little on turn 6 by playing it on turn 2 and your opponent draw engine being slowed down into not being able to draw into force of will. Variations of that last case are semi frequent and fly under the radar, it's hard enough to know if your turn 2 spell won you the game in 1v1, let alone 4 player.

[@deezboyeed6764]

I made my entire table scoop by managing to get the jace emblem off that counters the first spell of each turn then casting rule of law.

[@NightRaven666]

Some times when i play my azorus deck i get called a stax player when i end up playing pillow fort effects or do a i cant take damage combo

[@Sharky_Arty]

The 5th Doctor is my favorite Stax commander - breaks parity and with Birds of Paradise allows you to keep stasis online all game

[@lynnharper308]

My Zur the Enchanter deck is soft stax, but slowly over time I've been adding more hard stax 😂

[@turboclick3333]

Great video with a lot of insight! I woudl love to see that Tayam deck :)

[@diddlydoo8014]

I would love a Tayam deck tech!

[@SKai2609]

The best hard stax strategy is player removal 😎 I run decree of silence, overwhelming Splendor, Sphere of Safety, and solemnity in my main deck. Do i deserve the heat if i can throw any on the board early? MOST DEFINITELY. Do i have several ways to manipulate them out of my library or graveyard? Yes. Do i deserve to lose if i fail to secure the lead provided? ABSOLUTELY

[@seanedgar164]

I have a Yasharn deck designed to stop aristocrats because we had so many people who would get to 40 tokens and then hold the table hostage with a blood artist. Not it uses rule of law to keep parity with unfair decks until my engines are set up for stompy, or use hard locks with the right board to guarantee a win

[@Beessoup]

Full stax is a bit of a hard sell for most pods. But I think all decks should run a light sprinkle or beneficial stax. For example I’m my mono red voltron deck I run winter moon because in mono color I have more basics than non basics, I also run silent arbiter as protection and evasion due to my commander having menace. If your stax end game is everyone scooping than that is a bad deck, make sure the game still ends in a reasonable amount of time.

[@The_interior_Designer_of_Fate]

Same here, I run Smoke instead of Silent Arbiter though and Mudslide for redundancy, for my commander has flying and I rarely run into anyone being annoyed by those pieces, especially Mudslide as most people haven't seen that card at all and are more curious about it than anything else.

[@Cynidecia]

How would you make stax stronger?

[@Cauliflour7852]

On the social side, I use stax to punish powerful game actions like searching, mass draw, and high storm counts. This disproportionately affects strong decks that should be better equipped to deal with them anyway (If your Urza LHA deck can't deal with a 2/2 Ouphe, that's your own fault). It's kind of an equalising effect that actually gives weaker decks a fairer game.

[@strawz4387]

my playlist for anything stax related is called "a guide to losing friends" 😭

[@friesen_m]

As a lands player who doesn't like stax, there is no satisfying feeling than shutting down mana rocks and treasures with collector ouphe

[@takodachistp112]

Never thought I'd see a fellow Ardenn/Tana player. It's my pet cEDH deck and is a blast to brew and play. Haven't updated it since the bans though, waiting for the meta to settle.

[@theArcosa]

@@takodachistp112 It’s looking a little rough for Ardenn/Tana in cEDH right now :(

[@Luke-jx6er]

Finally, a video for the ball enjoyers

[@JohanesTarata]

You made me laugh with the 3 examples of people that play this archetype Thanks Keep up the good work Your channel will grow eventualy Good thing take time

[@theArcosa]

Wow, thanks for the kind words!

[@Belena711]

Really good points, and really good questions. I didn't agree with all your equivalencies, but still gave me good things to think about. Thanks!

[@tamilynbowman1148]

In addition to soft stax and hard stax, I propose a third category: pain stax A card which punishes a player for taking a game action with damage/life loss, sacrificing one or more permanents, discarding cards, or exiling cards from the grave Arguably this is a form of soft stax because life loss and the like are resources being stressed, but players tend to react differently to these sorts of cards

[@thelunchlady8276]

This is the best kind. "Do I do nothing or do I do something and take two damage?", etc. I have a Kambal, Consul of Allocation deck that does exactly that.

[@tamilynbowman1148]

@ My girlfriend has a Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor deck that operates on a similar principle. She likes to tell her opponents that “You did this to yourself”

[@thesinisterstoryteller]

New insult unlocked: rectangle enjoyer! 🤣🤣🤣

[@Thermascorch]

I am a graveyard player, am I frustrated whenever rest in peace or any other graveyard stax pops up? Yes. Are the people who play these things doing gods work stopping me? Also yes. In short, be a hater, most decks deserve to be staxed

[@Xoderfla]

Tbh i dont think there is a better commander for stax that jetmir, but my commander of choice is kutzil, malamet exemplar. Instead of getting the beat down in the command zone you get the card draw engine and just fill the deck with anthems so your stax pieces now can pack a punch

[@TowerBooks3192]

I bought bloomburrow precons and upgraded it. I brought my Zinnia and Hazel decks to my first ever Casual Commander. I had fun but I hate the feeling of being scared because of my weak deck. So I just ordered cards for a Winota deck so I can have a deck I can pull out when people start playing scary stuff.

[@traycarrot]

Amazing video. It is like you took Salubrious Snail's strong analysis but made it actually approachable. You've described a lot of my experiences very well, particularly the examples of stax players and the problems with stax. I love the idea of stax, hate it in practice. Stax ultimately boils down to "build, play, and react responsibly" which is the opposite playstyle of the majority of EDH players possess. I've learned to just gangbang the stax player out of the game; it is easier than figuring out if they built their deck for the right reasons, built their deck correctly with a win condition, are attacking the correct meta, can correctly evaluate the board, are responsible to not kingmake, then listen to them bitch and moan about stax "actually being really good for the game" while others bitch and moan about how their entire deck is shut down by a 2/1, and then sit for 90 minutes while people don't play Magic. Signed, someone who sat and watched people complain about how long the game was taking after they wasted 20 minutes trying to attack into an Ensnaring Bridge.

[@andrewpeli9019]

Not a fan of hard stax outside of cedh, even in optimized decks. I refuse to put Drannith Magistrate or Blood Moon in my decks because I think it’s against the spirit of the format. I don’t play removal engines or commanders whose core identity is based around removal either for the same reasons. Respect people’s time and try to promote a good game experience.

[@jackybird7165]

Fantastic video! Would love to see the Ardenn/Tana deck tech.

[@crovax1375]

I love the stax strategy! Building and playing stax adds a unique twist for many games. Also, I want to add that group hug decks should be built and played with a stax mindset. Archelos, Lagoon Mystic is one of the best stax commanders to play, especially when going into a blind game.

[@Onetrack320]

I love playing winter orb vs against land fall destroy lands decks because they never think about the fast ramping mana rocks with winter orb. Love 💯💯

[@goliathsteinbeisser3547]

Ideally, Stax adds diversity. It is the contingency against which you prepare by including back-up plans and increasing resiliency. It makes you improvise and adapt your strategy. Stax is a two-part puzzle: What is the weakness/characteristic we want to exploit? And then: How to play around, defend against or adapt to this strategy. My first stax deck was accidental: I realized that most decks rely on creatures to win and also included some removal, so I played a creatureless deck, turning their removal into dead draws. This also allowed me to break parity of cards like Tainted Aether and Lethal Vapors, winning with Underworld Dreams. By making use of these principles, the deck had an inherent edge against most decks. To me, Stax is about applying knowledge of the game to one's advantage. Combo decks are similar in this regard, but I found myself getting bored with combo for many reasons. Combo ends the game on the spot, Stax presents you with a problem to solve.

[@cantfeelmyfacehelp7375]

I am not playing edh for years anymore. I never liked playing combodecks in that format myself, started with different aggro decks. My playmates always said something like "pls don't attack me", "why are you attacking me" and so on. I tried playing control decks, so i faced "don't exile my creature", "why do you counter my spell, counter someone's instead" etc. So I ended playing stax with no wincons just because it's not targeting anyone until someday I realised that I just hate playing EDH and it's better to do literally anything else. Years later my friends still can't understand why I refuse play it, lol.

[@RobotDCLXVI]

Yeh. Lot's of whiners play MtG. Wonder why it attracts so many of that personality type.

[@Scherezad_]

This popped up in my feed as I was considering taking my Kytheon deck in the direction of something staxy. He's been struggling to keep up with my other four monocolors, which is how I focus on balancing my decks. But... Chandra and Nissa are very stormy, so some rules would be good enough to make them stumble. Looking forward to getting home so I can brew properly.

[@kindathor]

I started playing a mono red stack deck and ended up choosing Voltron as my wincon. With Alexios at the helm it has been an really fun time building it up with things like Errantry and Silent Arbiter

[@kindathor]

The big weakness for Alexios and Slicer is you leave yourself open to attacks hardcore. pieces that prevent damage, the ability for people to untap creature threats or block with them, and figuring out interesting to prevent people interacting with him he's not on my own board. deflecting swat and any hexproof abilities don't help him when they can path or bounce him on their turn

[@theArcosa]

@@kindathor I played Slicer for a few months but ultimately bundled him into my Ardenn list! I think Slicer is cool because he is so game warping. The trample on Alexios has proven a little problematic for me, because players can choose not to trample over.

[@kindathor]

@@theArcosa oh yeah I always forget about that, and so does everyone else i play with xD Might swap out uphill battle for bedlam

[@twisty093]

I love stax and I firmly believe that most people's problem with stax (and mass land destruction for that matter) comes from poor deck building and refusing to concede. I play winter and static orb in my Galazeth Prismari deck and they are there to slam and show the table 2 counter spells and an X draw spell and say "Can you beat this if not lets shuffle up the next game". If I play it right the game should never last more than 1 or 2 turn rotations. I love the idea thats more common in vintage/legacy formats of playing for submission rather than an outright win, that has always been my draw to stax

[@alexvisintainer4124]

Stax make the game more fun in my opinion. I don't shy away from being archenemy either. No shame in shutting down your opponents to win. My favorites are my Magda and Norin decks. Mono red with stax.

[@sceadumor]

My favorite deck for over a decade is Derevi because its so versatile benefiting from so many strategies and making stax more powerful and benefiting from Hate Bears like most decks cant. The deck also has the ability to rely on Derevi almost always being available not to mention its also a combo piece.

[@zackpumpkinhead8882]

Uh, they powercrept Rule of Law it's 2 mana now and can be sacrificed to lava axe something

[@theArcosa]

@@zackpumpkinhead8882 It’s HIIIIIIGH NOON

[@zackpumpkinhead8882]

@theArcosa i dunno why, but I read that in a Invader Zim voice

[@Belena711]

"I have no patrons." 😂😂😭

[@gabeignacio1693]

Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well - fellow fair mtg enthusiast

[@biggswigg2613]

Yasharn was my first cedh deck. The day I saw Ellivere spoiled I swapped over and it has made the deck incredibly more enjoyable to play

[@theoceanman8687]

I use a Blink Stax Urza, Lord High Artificer. Blink Urza for trunkloads of Karnstructs. Use Stax pieces that become one sided while Urza is out. Beatdown with Karnstructs while Opponents are slowed down.

[@Cynidecia]

Does MLD fall under this? because MLD scratches the itch of unconventionally winning for me.

[@domsilvestri8681]

What can mono black players do against artifacts like Stone of Erech?

[@theArcosa]

If the plan is reanimator, Stone of Erech doesn't block Entomb effects, so you may be able to catch them off-guard on the activated ability. Other than politics, your removal suite for artifacts is quite limited (Gate to Phyrexia is $45 and terrible). But, that's just a hazard of playing a mono-colored deck. Personally, I would pivot to rushing out a Coffers / Nykthos and simply casting my reanimate targets.

[@domsilvestri8681]

@@theArcosa Thanks. I was asking for a friend’s cedh k’rrik deck. And i just traded him my urborg 😊.

[@Sushi4Tetra]

Very solid video and agree on many points, finally youtube recommendations do something good

[@FinalStep5302]

My first cmdr game was one with a borrowed deck against a augustin hard stax deck. His win con was teferi hero of dominaria ult , exiling all permanents in a loop until he either got our life total to 0 wirh a lot of hits by 1 or 2 low powered creatures or by us surrendering. I myself just loved to experience,,,, of playing against stax , playing around it and trying to find a way out and wln ,,, that i decided that other people would as well. Aand i was right Everyone i play stax with isnt thrilled at the beginning of the game. But after a game everyone tells me how enjoyable it was to break the typical playpatterns of a cmdr game for once . We then play again the same day or at later occasions :D

[@theArcosa]

@@FinalStep5302 Augustin at your first game is a wild story

[@Azeria]

certified ball knower

[@Diethro]

I certainly love my Zeriam deck that runs a good number of stax/hatebears with the goal of flooding the board with a ton of griffins. This has me thinking I need to review what pieces I'm running though as its probably a bit to broad sweeping with the pieces and not focused on pieces to protect my combat focused wincon.

[@theArcosa]

Zeriam is a deck I've always wanted to get to work. I love commanders that are just self-contained token engines!

[@ExiledGobbo]

I love my carmen deck, i can change out the cards to change the play style super heavily i have one where i just pump her up by creating treasures like crazy, one thats a lot more board control when playing against heavy creature decks, and a voltron version that keeps bringing back protection equipment and utilizes whites choose one and sacrifice the rest board wipes to keep her as the biggest threat on the board

[@yoshitheonly]

Having fought against a HEAVY stax deck in my earliest days, i carry the scar like Harry Potter and yes it burns violenty at the muttering of Winter Orb and Super Friends.

[@ackjar]

I didn't realize I was a baller until this video. I used to be a griever, now I just ball all the time.

[@christinamouawad1153]

I have an ephara deck entirely built around Torpor Orb effects. My creature pool includes Leveler and Sky Swallower. People have been more receptive to me playing that deck because the stax pieces are so intrinsic to my board state and win-cons, which is just beat down with said creatures with terrible downsides. So my suggestion, instead of focusing on what the stax piece slows down, focus on what parity can be taken advantage of by using it. Rule of Law effects alongside layered "once per turn" triggers for example.

[@UnkleToe]

I run stax where it is helpful to the deck - recently it became a large part of my werewolf deck which is all colors but blue and limiting the amount of spells played helps the mechanics of those creatures dramatically

[@Turn140]

I was sold at ball enthusiast.

[@kristophermichaud4467]

I just made a Senn Triplets deck based on this ideation. The deck requires a very slow buildup to get to its wincon, stealing enough cards from opponents that you either win with their strategy or win via over powering the opponents. The many stax effects I have in there to make it harder for them to play their deck, and easier for me to play *their deck*. And the more removal i play from their hands means less i have to worry about

[@storm.57z23]

I play some stax in my magda deck, mostly to prevent certain things from happening and also as insurance that I win. It usually never gets there but it’s ok sometimes

[@wesleymitchell2460]

Hot take: the best stax deck is Ellivere. She lets you run tons of “things coming into play do nothing” effects while also making the creatures that do those things absolutely massive. Also solitary confinement.

[@Miko_of_the_North]

I was thinking of adding some stax pieces to my Aminatou fisher of fate because it's a really slow combo deck. I dont have many tutor cards

[@patches.742]

I got the itch to make a MLD deck in Gruul and with the deck building restriction of running no dorks and no mana rocks, with klothys at the helm and it’s turning into milling lands into the bin and playing them from the yard after a wipe. After watching this video I’m wondering what my win cons will be…

[@6ftTiny216]

My proudest (and at this point - only) deck is a fairly casual Kalemne voltron/soft stacks build. It has a couple 'just in case' cards like Hushbringer, but overall, everything else serves a double or even triple purpose, all leading to a commander damage win. For example, Blind Obedience makes the way clearer for slaps. Aura of Silence doubles as removal. It's nasty, but I can only do that once, unless I can get it back with Sun Titan, who's a big creature that buffs Kalemne permanently. Conqueror's Flail turns off instant speed play on my turn only, and is a +2/+2 equipment. Lion's sash is graveyard hate. Double strike on my commander makes even smaller buffs pretty worthwhile. Yes, I run Smothering Tithe, but that is because I NEED it, since every other creature besides the few little guys we have is a 5+ cmc oppressive asshole (that we ALWAYS cast fairly, so it is rare I have more than one or two of them out at the same time) - e.g. OG Urabrask and Elesh Norn, Chancelor of the Annex. And, generally, if they stick around for a turn or two, then we are well on our way to the win. A Sunforger package with a bunch of removal and protections cantrips like Shalter can both keep our big boys alive, smooth out our abysmal Boros draw, and help Kalemne get through for a finish on a player.

[@REALCreature]

I play stax in my urza lord high artificer deck but the win con ends up being make infinite mana cast everything duplicate constructs with copy affects and then cast beacon of tomorrow for infinite turns meaning I win the game

[@66lawngnome]

I made a deck using topor orb, Phyrexian dreadnought, hunted horror etc. was the only deck that could handle multiplayer when annihilator was fresh

[@MasterDecoy1W]

>What are you even stopping with Torpor Orb? Oh, I don't know, maybe the most prevalent and compact win-con in the game? I guess Dockside is gone, so the utility is slightly decreased, but I would actually rather have a random Torpor Orb than or .

[@Rococorico]

Great analysis. Stax draw anger and infamy for being played as THE GOAL. Those are the decks meant to "lose friendships", threatening locks for the sake of locking, not to setup a win, which makes it the weakest archetype by definition: it ultimately relies on opponents conceding. Worthless in actual competitions and, anywhere else, just annoying and unrewarding, no matter the result, which most frequently is that you're the first down and/or you've enabled someone else's win. Decks with an actual game plan running stax to achieve it aren't bad, but they get flak because of those blank shooters.

[@JimXUltima]

Who would you recommended for a good azorius commander?

[@samelol8149]

I think a deck built around stax is A hole behavior but i put torpor orb in a deck that doesn't have etb effects anyway

[@georgeknocke]

Ball enthusiast is entering the lexicon

[@novayer]

great video

[@HighTechCinnamon]

As a stax enjoyer, I often hear that I am "turning games into a slog" yet the games I play my deck are usually over in under 45 minutes. I intend to slow everyone down so that I can assemble my combo and If I can't assemble the lock before then I'm usually dead. My question is, why are players upset with stax pieces but are totally fine running 3-5 wipes a game extending them well past the hour mark? To me that turns games into a real slog where no one is actually able to end the game in a satisfying way.

[@davifks]

ball enthusiast is now the correct therm

[@robertcreech9149]

Fantastic video. It's only taken 5 years of magic for me to become a filthy stax player.

[@joshuatran6526]

Stax are high risk, high reward removal pieces. Either they prevent a card or effect from being played, thereby removing it, or the opponent is able to play around it.

[@ChrisDavis-tt1dj]

I am usually the Stax player in the pod. My best advice is to be honest about your intentions and have a wincon. Don’t play hard Stax with casuals. Knowing the meta and most relevant combos is key to being a good Stax player.

[@levicurtis6669]

Usually when I'm building stax it has a point. Like in my breena and send triplets lists

[@namekanal3897]

You changed my view on stax from "eww I would never" to intrigued. Good video.

[@natedawg6755]

Time to ponder

[@ethanterry6363]

I sadly struggle to even play my favorite deck due to people not liking it and tend to refuse it even though in magic you should DO THE THING. In a sense why bother building what YOU like or play. Than build what they like to manage but still do there thing.

[@TangleWireEnjoyer]

Welcome to Orbys. Still my favorite archtype. Daretti, and Timespiral Mishra are some anchient annoying commanders. buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut. man. the mana bases do hurt the wallet unless the printer goes brr.

[@Goonwild5299]

Great vid

[@aaronlorick3627]

I’m subscriber number 839

[@patches.742]

Commenting again to request a video on land destruction/denial and how to make it playable while not being degenerate and drawing a ton of hate

[@theArcosa]

@@patches.742 Hmm, land destruction as a tool is really important in a meta that uses stuff like Glacial Chasm or other utility lands. But, as an overall strategy, it doesn’t really belong in a lot of games. In cEDH, MLD is used infrequently to close out games, but anywhere else it feels too degenerate.

[@patches.742]

@ my idea was to build it with a ton of restrictions (no dorks or rocks) so that my deck was kneecapped and not very good to begin with so that they could focus me down The deck has klothys at the helm so if I always have 1 land in the bin I can reliably have a G/R mana during first main, and so far it’s shaping up to be more of a funny lands deck with maybe 3-5 MLD cards and 5 other land hate cards

[@cheetopendejo6660]

i don't think stax is a appropriate for casual edh unless it's explicitly high powered or everyone agrees. 4 player edh games are notoriously long enough and everyone has an expectation to play the deck they own. if you want to set up a puzzle for your cheesy friend with a predictable good stuff value deck or your winmore hyper-chad playgroup to work around, i'm all for it. DON'T come to a casual pod and monopolize the entire game just for kicks you shjtgrinning clown shoe.

[@zacharia4061]

Someone blood mooning in there mono red torbrand deck is not high power In angel tribal someone playing Dramith magistrate is not high power. A winter orb mono blue urza deck is high power and fits your theme. I think you just play against the first two player types too much shown in the video, because I don’t thing tangle wire in a torbran deck is unfair or even unfun because that deck is winning while the tangle wire is litterally out with cards like mana barbs or any other mass burn that’s made better when they remove your agency to controll them not just stax for the sake of stax with no clear win con

[@cheetopendejo6660]

​@@zacharia4061 that would only work on me once. i've got a deck for situations like this that's a solid 1/3rd bounce spells

[@zacharia4061]

@@cheetopendejo6660 bro if your counter picking decks we got a whole other situation here

[@66lawngnome]

Also chat gpt is really bad at making a stax style deck

[@FryeVibes]

I still would rather watch Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson than play against Grand Arbiter again

[@adamantlotus]

Kayla stax players rise up 🗣🗣🔥🔥

[@dominicbrabo8401]

I never thought about the politics aspect of stax...but I'm the weirdo that plays 1v1 commander half the time, so politics is useless there.