Hinata: To Stax or Not to Stax? Study the PP

[@ProfessorBear404]

Important note: Your rule-zero conversation should involve asking your opponents if they are okay with you inspecting their PPs multiple times per game.

[@maldhound]

AND if you can handle their PPs or if they should hold them for you

[@Wilebane]

Lmfao

[@roobistv]

So don't shuffle your PP before the game starts?

[@thumb5225]

If unsure, it is entirely reasonable to ask what their PPs are for, and why they decided to bring them. Some may decide not to answer, and I suggest you watch these such PPs closely.

[@OdinMagnus]

I don't mind people checking out my PPs, but it's when they handle it roughly that I get mad.

[@devinayaz9210]

Who woulda thought years of looking at PPs on the internet woulda trained me for this exact moment.

[@maldhound]

The warrior of legend

[@rancorpoodoo7445]

Hinata vs Niv-mizzet is a contest of who has more blue untapped, and i strongly doubt that hinata is winning that

[@maldhound]

Yeah hinata vs niv is a particularly one sided example but other “I just need this one thing and cards in hand” decks also stomp against non-stax hinata

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

Hinata taxes counterspells fwiw

[@sluttyMapleSyrup]

​@@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos Off-topic, but this is an unexpected crossing of KZbin paths 😆

[@OdinMagnus]

​@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos true, but every spell cast is a free card and damage for Niv.

[@rancorpoodoo7445]

@@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos not after 4 cards she doesn't

[@Kurayamiblack]

I've been using PP knowledge in reverse to decide how many protection spells and UNO Reverse Cards I need in my deck. The fewer PP's I have, the more seriously I need to take keeping them on the board in a hostile environment. Meanwhile the more of them my deck needs, the more I focus on big sudden value boosters.

[@maldhound]

This is the way

[@Kurayamiblack]

*Nods* This is the way

[@jacobd1984]

Props for getting through that explanation with a straight face

[@maldhound]

Thank you kindly

[@DeclanCC]

Bro made a blanket statement, went off to research it, and then came back with the argument at a later date.

[@theprogressivecynic2407]

Yeah, the "archenemy" factor is one that needs to REALLY be taken into account. I "won" a game with my Hinata deck and a combo with Enchanted Evening (all permanents are enchantments) and Heliod's Intervention (destroy X artifacts/enchantments) to one-sided Wrath + Armageddon and spent the next 5 or so games as the designated shoot on sight player.

[@maldhound]

Cook too hard suddenly you’re a danger in the kitchen

[@theprogressivecynic2407]

@@maldhound Yeah, probably the most extreme example of that for me was my Bant enchanter deck that aimed to pillow-fort until I get out Kismet + Wilderness Reclamation + Stasis (or get them into the grave to Replenish). Those cards combo to make everything the opponent plays ETB tapped, and prevents them from ever untapping, while the only wincons were Approach of the Second Sun and Iron Maiden (nobody but me can generate mana, so their hands fill up). It was an Estrid, the Masked deck, and it got banned by my playgroup because it was freakishly consistent and ran so many hate/tax cards that it made playing miserable (Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Ensnaring Bridge, Rule of Law, Arcane Laboratory, Winter Orb, Static Orb, Rising Waters, etc.).

[@laytonjr6601]

If your deck is a 4 in power but has a 2 card combo that makes you win instantly, once your opponents (who also are playing decks that are 4 in power) will kill you asap once they know about it

[@evangrescol7772]

This kind of thing is why I try to build my decks in a way that isn't heavily reliant on the commander. Like they're still value engines that enable what the deck wants to do, but I try to include multiple PPs in my deck that do the same thing or have a similar payoff to what the commander does.

[@cobaltdeleon]

I think an interesting point here is that, at worst, Hinata spending 2 mana and getting rid of one permanent is seen as an "anyone can do that". Bottom of the barrel, youre doing what everyone else is able to do. What a crazy card to have in the command zone.

[@snackzilla1652]

Love the card roasts, but strategies like this are pure gold! More please!

[@Illidatch]

Been having the same dilemma with my Hinata deck since I've came back to magic. Turns out, as soon as the power level of the table increases you can't get away with weird X-spell stuff by itself. Problem is: I hate playing stax (not playing against it) so I just put better spells in my deck, but now I am no longer even remotely capable of controlling a table for enough time to assemble a big spell win, while everyone remembers the 2-3 games in which they were locked out with feather + hinata + 2 bounce/phase out spells, so they zerg me right away. Haven't played her in months :(

[@vaporeon344]

As a person who mains Hinata online, I totally see the perspective. Recently played against my friend’s Cadira token deck, and blasted fifty rabbits with a single Aurelia’s fury. It’s quite the therapeutic feeling.

[@UrsoRuben]

Finally, someone who explains how to get better at Magic in terms I can understand.

[@Eramiserasmus]

Excellent explanation and solid straight fsce for it.

[@shawnhancock3963]

As a subhuman Godo player i dont have a lot of PPs but just a massive one

[@devonhutchison3485]

The “defender of italian virginity” is from knights tale, and thats awesome.

[@ember3579]

Hinata's ability to dumpster enemy usage of X spells is also not something to be ignored. It can swing the mana/card/permanent economy in your favor with that also.

[@salamanteri_]

The formatting almost made me forget that this is actually very good advice.

[@asrieldreemurr1988]

thank you for the advice

[@maldhound]

Slowly sliding my way towards informative shitposts instead of just shitposts

[@n0obz27]

Cool video. My only note would be putting a picture of what Hinata actually does on screen, bc I had no clue lol

[@brodyshields5508]

We always the Stax, especially when you can target the players!

[@surpdawurp9265]

I love this Hinata specific information for me and my zero friends because they are all 2/2 swine

[@The_Arisen]

That Hinata pronunciation. I think my guys into Japanese animations, possibly?

[@maldhound]

Guilty

[@The_Arisen]

@@maldhound Same. 🤜🤛

[@emilysmith2965]

Call your deck The View from the Summit lol

[@robertharp16]

Watching a board fall apart after dropping smokestack/decent into madness with a tergrid on the board is my favorite flavor of arch enemy

[@lucylightbringer]

i came for the PPs, then i cleaned off and finished the video

[@UbrShadow]

Stax is fun. Nearly all my commander games turn into archenemy. Instead of trying to figure out how big their PP is. Just make it a SLOG to cast anything or even keep lands on the field! Smokestack, Tangle Wire, Trinisphere, Chalice of the void (best if their commander is a 2 CMC and you have it set to 2), Metalworker, Torpor orb, Witchbane orb, Karn Liberated, Crucible of Worlds, Wastelands, Sinkhole, Pithing Needle, Ensnaring Bridge. All fantastic cards

[@researchinbreeder]

Estrid the Masked is fun with Stasis. What's that? I have an enchanted Land that taps for Blue? What's this "untap step" you all are whining to have back?

[@brettbat]

...that is a good point ( as I am currently working on a hinata X spells deck) 😂

[@GrimmTutelage]

Brings a whole new meaning to PP spanks

[@foamerr]

Soulfire Eruption for all targets moment

[@SporePunch]

God I love Niv Mizzet Parun that's all I wanted to say. Great card, love it, wouldn't change a thing. Except I did forget to put Torbran in my list so I will be adding him as a backup Grayson Tarn or whatever the fuck the tyranid guy is. Thank you for reminding me he exists but my friends will not be thanking you.

[@billydeewilliams8909]

Amazing Knight's Tale reference

[@maldhound]

Thanku thanku

[@azaelvonhohenheim9570]

We are born of the stax, made man by the stax, undone by the stax. Our grindy matchups are yet to be played By the gods, Maldhound, fear the Hinata stax.

[@funkmasterjeffy]

Here so early for the PP

[@maldhound]

Never too early for a nice PP

[@MisterZalem]

i have this feeling your the player that shanks your most hated opponents in the parking lot for clearing your lands of the board.

[@maldhound]

I resent the implication and had a clearly established alibi

[@TheRedneckBudha]

Best way I've found to counter random izzet bullshit is a lil card called "confusion in the ranks."

[@oridrake7735]

i watched a knight's tale for the first time before watching this video and that reference threw me the fuck off my game

[@SeenBeans]

I had to look through the comments to see if anyone else has spotted the reference haha!

[@wbruce87]

I'll be staring at all of my opponent's pps from now on

[@andrewspears8891]

Lands are PP. Blow em up.

[@maldhound]

You speak the forbidden truths

[@aolinkin6513]

I really like your videos

[@Phoenix_Rizen]

Pls make a vid on Edgar Markov

[@terrynichols4509]

My friend got me some stax papers for tabletop sim for my Stax deck

[@tonydesley2587]

Counter-point. Mindsplice Apparatus.

[@maldhound]

Counter-point, if the table is strong enough for this video to be relevant mindsplice apparatus is never sticking around

[@The1AndOnlyGoldenboy]

I would say that, rather than go through the whole "researching your LGS pool", just prepare for everything as best you can... so of course, that means you're going Hinata Control, so Stax is an option, but not the best one. Maximizing the X costs, particularly if you can get out Battlefield Thaumaturge (and possibly copy him) to make your spells as mana efficient as possible though... that's a key part of ANY control strategy. It turns meh cards like Meteor Blast into "Pay triple Red to Wrath everyone else", and either you're 100% WILL get that far or you'll get blasted so hard Kim K will ask for tips later.

[@MerryGamer]

I don’t understand the Italian virginity joke and i desperately want to

[@charlescourtwright2229]

the fun thing about my token spam deck is that i can quickly go from zero tokens to 50, cause math

[@jeezuhskriste5759]

Remember to count your opponents’ pps before railing them.

[@bloodmage7173]

Be sure to ask if they have any protection before you do

[@eeeeeeeeeeeeed]

Do a reaper king commander video

[@ZAZZAMATAZ]

Hinata and crackle with power is the mfer with too many watermelons you read about in 6th grade math problems.

[@EverRaven07]

@maldhound what is your niv mizzet parrun deck list? would be very interested to see what that it

[@KodamaoftheWeastTree]

Basically, the shittier your opponents build, the better mass removal becomes.

[@darebrained]

Everything is a PP if you just try hard enough.

[@emilysmith2965]

As a transmasculine person I find this inspiring

[@spellbreakerunbound]

Tbh i think you just lean into X spells anyway, your opponents are always going to have permanents they care about. Counting per table is so much value! Yes, i enjoy playing archenemy how could you tell?

[@maldhound]

You can, but X spells generally just stop working as table power increases. There’s a reason all the attempts at cedh hinata are at least kind of stax

[@somerand0mguy385]

Alternatively: do what I’m doing and begin building your Hinata as an X-spell deck and spam the hell out of all the Heroic and heroic-adjacent dudes. Why yes I would love to spend 2 mana to trigger all of my silly little dudes’ dumb abilities

[@crige771]

I was told 3 was above average for your PP

[@alexDeGruccio]

When you're right, you're right no one cares how you got there hahaha

[@loganduncan4315]

I see a lot of talking about removal and nonsense, but in my group stax is more like thalia, or crawlspace or worse. If your oppenent never does there token nonsense or the niv deck never sees the like of 6 mana. However me and my friends do hate each other for play causal random stax pieces but I do hate my friend go gives me aggravated mining with blim every game, brow let me cook

[@maldhound]

Yes X-spells can’t function as stax, only as boardwide removal, so this video was about what types of groups you can afford to just play removal into vs when you need Thalia, Lavinia, etc

[@MetalHev]

I mean you're playing red, just Worldfire the board

[@burgertime6372]

Tbh, idk what stax even means. I just pretend too

[@bloodmage7173]

It's control but of the absolute oppression variety or you do what I did and mix stax with group hug

[@TetraProxy]

But can Hinata get it?

[@emilysmith2965]

It’s a magical qirin (Eastern mythology version of a unicorn with some draconic features) so… guess it depends how you feel about that

[@LoneSkag]

Always pronounced it Pa Rune

[@demeyesoftheuniverse8170]

Storm being the wincon implies it takes more than one well timed Crackle With Power 😁 >Hinata main

[@maldhound]

If you get big big mana or everyone has been pinging eachother crackle is highly satisfying I do agree

[@omegacyborg]

With Hinata you can instead of just looking at 1 opponent you can look at all 3+ of them and be like "aight so I'm just going to target all the things to blow you all back to the stone ages" and by that I mean your making sure that all the opponents feel your love by hitting all their "PP's" as you put it

[@ThorsShadow]

He explained in the video why you shouldn't do that. Have you not warched it?

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

​@ThorsShadow it's a bad reason. Concealing your power level only works if your opponents aren't paying attention to what you _could_ be doing, if the need arises

[@emilysmith2965]

Have you not watched or read Jurassic Park? There is a difference between “could” and “should.”

[@alainpbat3903]

No, no please. Don't teach the new players how to Stax. No. Nooooooooooooo.

[@zackarieneifert7014]

quietly sleeves my brago

[@maldhound]

Just wait until I drop the “stax explanation” video and it’s group hug cards