Best stax cards in the current cEDH metagame of 2023

[@Racnive]

0:25 *NOT Recommended:* Blood Moon, Contamination, Winter Orb, Archon of Valor's Reach, Gaddock Teeg, Counterbalance, Harsh Mentor. 4:08 *Good But they Come with Problems:* Humility, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Blind Obedience, Back to Basics, Static Orb, Cindervines, Aven Mindcensor, Hushbringer/Hushwing Gryff; Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines; Rule of Law/Arcane Laboratory; Ashiok, Dream Render; Teferi, Time Raveler; Yasharn, Implacable Earth; Containment Priest; Ruric Thar, the Unbowed; Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite; Toxrill, the Corrosive; Sire of Insanity, Void Winnower. 17:06 *Recommended:* Opposition Agent, Dauthi Voidwalker, Drannith Magistrate, Archon of Emeria, Deafening Silence, Ethersworn Canonist; Thalia, Guardian of Thraben/Glowrider/Vryn Wingmare/Grand Arbiter Augustin IV/Trinisphere/Sphere of Resistance/Thorn of Amethyst; Collector Ouphe/Null Rod/Stony Silence; Lavinia, Azorius Renegade; Mayhem Devil, Notion Thief, Aura of Silence; Kataki, War's Wage; Root Maze, Damping Sphere, Sanctum Prelate. 27:43 *Final thoughts (Have a wincon)*

[@cedhtv]

So many cards. Good job!

[@RaijQuit]

It is worth noting that the oracle text for aura of silence says it affects all opponents, not just target opponent. That card is hella good

[@TheMattmatic]

It can also be used for removal, and then picked up with cards like Sevinne's Reclamation. Now that's value!

[@jamesgyre]

@@TheMattmatic also hall of heliod's generosity. so good. the oracle text being vague helps it be a sleeper. always creates groans when it resolves.

[@davidew345]

It would be nice if you included time stamps in the video to be able to go back to the 3 sections more easily

[@mtanaka3844]

This video was insanely good! So informative and it really brings a novice cEDH player up to speed. The best part is you talked about previously good cards like blood moon and winter orb are no longer very good.

[@cedhtv]

Thank you. Glad you liked it!

[@sagejackson6886]

Manglehorn is a card you missed that I have loved. Pops an artifact when it ETBs and then slows down the game. It hates on ritual artifacts and treasure really well. Notably it does not hit LED though as LED can just sacrifice, no need to tap. Also defence grid is a servicable grand abolisher for decks that don't have white

[@jamesgyre]

defense grid is strong, but tough because it stops your opponents from countering your opponents too. if you don't resolve the win it makes passing the turn dangerous. my go-to abolisher effect for non-white decks (like magda) is to run conqueror's flail instead. it's a stronger effect, but does require the equip cost, too.

[@sagejackson6886]

@@jamesgyre Oh definitely. You never play it then pass. You use it more like a silence on your own turn during a win attempt. Flail has a great effect but it's pricey mana-wise. Defence grid is better in most situations because it's only 2 mana.

[@campernocamping1]

Tidal Barracuda might also be an option. But it is extremely risky giving your opponent's spells flash.

[@safeguard379]

My Derevi deck is pure Stax deck, and i love it ♥

[@ParadoxHunter_]

Timestamps for the 3 sections 0:23 Not recommended 4:16 Good but come with problems 17:10 Recommended

[@DenisLyamets]

Contamination is great in Meren, for example. Blind obedience is nice if you plan to use Extort (Sythis deck, for example). Overall it was a great video. Now can you make one about resources (mana and cards)? How to choose between creature and rock acceleration, how to realise if the card is too slow, etc.

[@MrThetruthhurts]

Criminally under watched and liked.

[@Joeled_Lotus]

Amazing video. Gives a big overview of the stax aspect and when to use them. Love it and would like to see more such educational videos. Only thing I missed from the list is creature activated ability hate cards like Cursed Totem and Linvala (not that those are a must include. They are mostly just good against green decks with lots of ramp dudes or Thrassios decks, and perhaps should not mention Sisay as well ;) ) In my experiance the problem with stax and when player want to try stax is that they don't know how or when to use it, myself included when I builded my first stax deck. That's why I think stax cards that increase mana cost of spells can be really bad for some stax players that don't know how to use them. Remembering a tournament when a stax player before me played a Thalia on his turn, when I had a lot of artifact mana out for my next turn, and my other opponents was tapped out which technically gave me a grand abolisher on my turn. So I used a tutor for thassa and has consultation on hand and could pay all extra mana for them and won becuase the stax player didn't play blue (making it impossible to stop me when my other opponents admited that they had both Fierce Guardianship and Force of Negation on their hand). Had a simular experience with another player who played GAAIV as commander and wanted to copy him to lock out his opponents. That player was on blue but didn't play many counterspells for some strange reason and also made me win because it was to expensive for my opponents to stop me and I had the mana I needed to win. So my conclusion is that if you gonna play stax you need to know when to play your cards out and if you gonna make it cost extra for interactions, make sure you have some interactions on your own or you are more helping you opponent that is going for a win :) Also want to point out that Humility is wonderful in Shorikai, at lease if you are not a creature heavy Shorikai deck. :) Aura of silence is also in my Shorikai deck and I find it works really well, especially against those Breach decks and artifact heavy decks. Even if you mentioned the creature ETB hate versions, since I play Humility and are boardwipe heavy in my Shorikai, I like more cards like Torpor orb.

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

I just made my own version of Rograhk Tevesh soft stax and I gotta say I like it a lot. Play tevesh t1-3. I don’t use mass land destruction expect for impending demise.

[@chaserevstuning9271]

I built a mono white equipment/stax. Slow my opponents down as I get a big beater and get value from said equipment. A few Swords like sword of the Animist, feast and famine, Forge and Frontier and war and peace.

[@thetangelo1375]

Mons with the 2023 CEDH metagame stax tier list let's GO

[@cedhtv]

You know it.

[@sumeme9296]

Curious about you opinion on two I've been testing and liking lately: Kismet: 4 cmc makes it a bit slow but it being one sided and having all ur opponents stuff come in tapped can be brutal - it hitting creatures as well as the lands/artifacts shuts down Kiki lines and a couple of niche things. Titanias song: also 4cmc, most decks can't play as it hurts you too, but the most brutal artifact stax u can have - causes all tokens and 0 cmcs to die, all others are small creatures so it can shut down artifact stax u don't like / weird stuff like cloudstone curio. Affect persisting till next turn when removed is annoying as well for opponents.

[@kennethmarkwith4678]

I played in my first cEDH tournament yesterday with Animar. I lost to a very strong stax piece from Shorokai...humility. what was more frustrating was I had to protect it from a Najeela player trying to win. Two rounds earlier I had the win on my turn, but the Yisan player played a Sphere of resistance of all cards as his last spell for his turn. A thorn of amethyst I could've won through since I had Birgi and Animar already in play and Ballista and Statue in hand.

[@BingeThinker1814]

My Rune-Tail deck uses Humility amazingly. No local proxy-friendly cEDH tournaments around here to get data from tho

[@marcusforrest3172]

Would really love for you to go over some of those “unofficial” playtest cards that wotc has printed, transcantation is such a cool design space

[@cedhtv]

It is actually a great card. I hope they print it. I guess I could make a video about it.

[@ryanlink8699]

Argument for counterlance, when you can play top of library at will, or rearrange, then it becomes really good. Elsha is a perfect example. More situational depending on commander or build, I would agree.

[@niccolofarina3773]

the problem of having against an archon of valor's reach is that its controller chooses instant well, they are problems if you have certain types of decks, a good 30% of your cards are usually instant, maybe even more so how do you solve it? or how do you solve the rest who will play if you can't play counter or similar?

[@justdomino1513]

You the man son

[@kauemarcelaraujo795]

What do you think are some of the best wincon (combo and finishers) for a Lavinia, Azorius Renegade stax deck?

[@cedhtv]

For cEDh power leven there isen't really any. For other power levels I think I would like to recommend heliod balista.

[@bryanwebster7027]

Knowledge Pool and Omen Machine are both lockouts with Lavinia in play. Both 6 mana artifacts, which is a lot but at least you get to tutor with treasure mage???

[@kauemarcelaraujo795]

​@@bryanwebster7027 I can lock the game with Knowledge Pool or Omen Machine (and tutor these with Treasure Mage, Fabricate or even Ethereal Usher), but without a well build board my opponents often can kill me before I end the game.

[@LaCasadelComandante]

I'm assuming you're not counting ranger captain of eos as a stax card, right? In my opinion is much better than the abolisher. It is not a stax exactly, I know. For me, the 2 best stax are deafening silence and drannith magistrate. About the voidwalker, 2 Black pips are not allways easy to pay, sometimes it is worth to play endurance instead. I started playing elesh norn 7cmc in my tymna thrasios deck and it worked really wel in the tier1con. She humiliates najeelas, krark sakashimas, bruse thrasios, krrik, malcolm and other stax decks. It gives you an unexpected plan C. I made stayistics of this deck and gave me more games than I expected

[@Racnive]

Do you have thoughts on Elesh7 vs Toxrill? They serve similar roles, same cmc, and likely compete for the same deck slot (in Esper+).

[@cedhtv]

Correct I don't count ranger as a stax card. Just like I don't count grand abolisher as a stax card. I only added it to the end to say that you need wincon in your deck. Not just wincon less stax beatdown.

[@LaCasadelComandante]

@@Racnive elesh is better because she shots down dockside loops and if an opponent plays removal, she already did her job. In a stax game elesh norn dorsnt kill some Keys stax cards like the archon, or drannith, with toxrill you allways releases turbo decks to go for the win.

[@dasfabelwesen]

Blind obidience can be a decent wincon. Double purpose makes the card quite decent. I agree on hating on blood moon and back to basics. Usually, these cards hate on people with slower hands, that are already behind, while cards like null rod and cursed totem effect on players that are ahead.

[@jonnymiller1989]

Mana Web is a good plan B against mono/lower coloured decks if Blood Moon seems redundant

[@0ff_13lvck4]

What stax deck would you play in a midrange/atraxa/TnT meta?

[@renato_n.n]

Good video overall. I would like that Archon of Valor Reach gets more love. It has won me a lot of games while playing stax, shutting down my opponents and protecting my wincon. It is not difficult to use either. 90% you are saying instant. It has to be a bizarre game to be banning something else. Sorcery maybe if you already have a Sanctum Prelate on 2

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

Please do let me know what you think of lifeforce douse and deathgrip. The main 2 cards that separate my turbo Rograhk tevesh cedh and a normal one are Deathgrip and painters servant. Having that level of counterspell potential with a tevesh in play is the definition of lethality. In rakdos colors the fact I can actively build a turtle shell that pieces itself together and can literally out counter the best decks in the format due to my counterspell being on a repeatable permanent. I will admit beyond Yagmoths will and underworld breach idk how to get the death grip out of my yard in rakdos colors. But who cares. If people are busy counterspelling my death grip they are busy losing to my tevesh too.

[@cedhtv]

I actually like those 2 cards. They are mana intensive tho. In long games they are great. But you also need to sit and hold up mana all the time playing them. So they kinda puts you in a strange position sometimes where you don't develop. You could get left behind. I could actually make a video about that I guess. It is namely an important subject.

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

@@cedhtv right, they are definitely mana intensive. They do require investment and a certain build style. The positives of them greatly outweigh the negatives. The fact if I have 8 black mana up with deathgrip and painters servant out = 4 counterspells to use before my next turn and they burn 0 cards per counterspell.

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

@@cedhtv and they actually have advantage over counterspells, there are infinitely few counterspells played in cedh that can respond and counter the activated ability. I think that’s what makes them playable. They completely devalue almost every other counterspell in the game. Lifeforce and douse are especially nice because of the prevalence of black and red cards in cedh. I will admit deathgrip isn’t quite as great due to green definitely having the lowest market share of played cards in cedh these days. Also the green cards are typically not combo cards. But it’s nice being able to counter eldrich evolution in rakdos tevesh rograhk.

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

@@cedhtv a lot of people I’ve played with call my decks casual for putting painters servant + lifeforce or douse or deathgrip in. In my experience lifeforce douse and deathgrip are in the top percentile of all counterspells and the top percentile of all stax pieces. I also prefer douse over the other 2. Having a colorless pip and a colored pip in the activation cost is waaaaaaay better than 2 colored pips, even if I have to pay 1 more mana.

[@cedhtv]

So I have written a manuscript for a video about this. Because I think this is a good example of a card that is good on theory but have problems in practice. I think it is going to come out in 2 days. I hate to sit here and say I am going to make a video instead of answering your question in text. But it is a long and complicated answer. And I think text over internet (especially on youtube) is a bad place to hold a debate. But I think it is an important subject. Like there is a problem I wanna showcase that demands a lot of explanations. So video for this will be good. I will add that I do like the cards. And keep playing them. They are not bad. But you need to just bar in mind a few important things the cards destroy for you. They hurt you being proactive basically. There is a chance you get to sit and do nothing while 1-2 other players do nothing. And some other stuff.

[@vatarants]

I wanna see this card being printed: - UW Legendary Creature - Human advisor 2/2

[@sgtflamingo6532]

No tangle wire?

[@cedhtv]

Nope! Could have meantion it I guess I do see a lot of people play it.

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

I really hope you thought to include Douse, Deathgrip, and Lifeforce in this video considering they are the only cards in the game that work the way they do and while many called them hate cards they are actually stax pieces. Especially in a format where painters servant is legal. Make me how many counterspells played in cedh rn can respond and counter a douse, lifeforce, or deathgrip activated ability on the stack? I think of them as the best of both worlds. A utility permanent that has offensive power to protect my combo and a defensive power to protect my board state, protect me, and keep my opponents from comboing.

[@TripsAhoy]

Gaddock Teeg is still my boy! ;)

[@bigbootyjudy6124]

I just made a gaddock deck a month ago and I love it

[@purple8990]

mono red i think should always have blood moon because it is not played anymore and people do not have much to dealwith it

[@joshmc5882]

Blind Obedience stops infinite treasure generation in most cases.

[@tobynburke4959]

I think you're too low on blood moon as it still does shut down roughly half of all decks if they don't answer it.

[@GeneralDisarray666]

Blood moon is dead. Rocks, Dorks, Treasures. It hardly has impact anymore

[@niccolofarina3773]

the tabernacle is strong but has a big problem, the price 🤣🤣🤣

[@jonnymiller1989]

Building blood pod right now. The right video at the right time lol

[@cedhtv]

Yeah!

[@Seltaeb_]

Best way to play a nonproxy Tabernacle is so it helps to increase your bank account balance. Ngl

[@vatarants]

Loran of the Third Path is not really a stax card but she stops the Demon Fish. Once in a time, I encountered Gideon of the Trial. He is amazing! With bunch of blockers and other layer of stax cards, he became most annoying thing I ever came cross.

[@gabrieljulien412]

i really wonder if u know how to play stax......... interinsting video tho

[@cedhtv]

What makes you think different?

[@gabrieljulien412]

@@cedhtv Ur mind set ,when e rule of Law effect is in play ,priority for winning swap u not playing combo anymore but for the board and even if rule of Law is slow it stay one of thé best because enchantement type is very hard to interact

[@gabrieljulien412]

Also u Say thats rule if Law is to slow but many hatebear u show us hare even slower

[@mageguild]

Idk what stax decks you play but you essentially are cutting every good card lol how is rule of law bad? It’s literally one of the best stax cards ever.

[@cedhtv]

Rule of law effect is good. But there are other cards that dose the same but better then rule of law. Rule of law have been power creeped out more or less.

[@vatarants]

@@petereremeev Stax is always weak against farm decks bro. It's just rock paper scissor.

[@PraskaBruce]

​@@cedhtv dude you're an idiot not playing those cards is like playing chess without the certain pieces of your choice... It DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. Sure they're not as impactful but it's stupid not to since they still have impact of the overall game state and can be used for other stuff like idk being used to cheat other stuff out of God only knows what other reasons

[@iwantyourfood4083]

Personal opinion is that humility is a bit of a trap. Doesnt stop all etbs. Despite looking like it might. Timing misses alot of important effects in cedh.