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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
@@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.
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.
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
first
That's one fast snail
Yo it’s the snail!
@@geeknseekliterally turbo
I also love balls
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
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.
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.
Amazing video. I will pass this along to everyone I can because videos like these should be public knowledge.
Thanks!
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
Wow, thanks for the kind words!
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 💯💯
Very solid video and agree on many points, finally youtube recommendations do something good
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.
Great video. As a Prison Player I applaud you. This was well written and explained.
As a lands player who doesn't like stax, there is no satisfying feeling than shutting down mana rocks and treasures with collector ouphe
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.
Zeriam is a deck I've always wanted to get to work. I love commanders that are just self-contained token engines!
Fantastic video! Would love to see the Ardenn/Tana deck tech.
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
Fantastic video. It's only taken 5 years of magic for me to become a filthy stax player.
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
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
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
@@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.
@@theArcosa oh yeah I always forget about that, and so does everyone else i play with xD
Might swap out uphill battle for bedlam
Finally, a video for the ball enjoyers
What can mono black players do against artifacts like Stone of Erech?
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.
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
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
Great vid
I was sold at ball enthusiast.
Ligma.
Naw the correct answer for how to play stax is: don’t