Johnny Strionic (cEDH Brago in paper)

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Hatebears Infinite Combo Multiplayer WU (Azorius)

InazumaKICK

Artifact (26)

• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Helm of Obedience
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mortarpod
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Prophetic Prism
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sentinel Totem
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Tangle Wire
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Winter Orb

Creature (8)

• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Containment Priest
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Glint-Nest Crane
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Trophy Mage
• 1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Instant (18)

• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Delay
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mana Leak
• 1x Memory Lapse
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Negate
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Unsubstantiate
• 1x Whir of Invention

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Arcane Laboratory
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Frozen Aether
• 1x Grasp of Fate
• 1x Mana Maze
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Traveler's Cloak
• 1x Unquestioned Authority

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Commander (1)

Land (31)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Ancient Den
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 12x Island
• 1x Mishra's Workshop
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 7x Plains
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Strip Mine

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Reshape
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Transmute Artifact

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Welcome to Stax

Stax is a winning gameplan, but I want to be different. The deck is looking more and more stax and less control, and that's because my meta is getting faster and I have to adapt.

Why is this fun?

Brago is good at abusing value-generating engines and can make cards like Trinket Mage feel like cheating. Lots of cards that are used for combos aren't dead draws because Brago lets you abuse those cards with flicker. Finally, Brago can fight through many stax packages: there are several combos and they're layered in an effort to mitigate disparity between this deck and a stax deck. If Strionic Resonator gets shut off because of a Stony Silence, there are still creature-based combos that can pull out that "W."

Guide on budget deck building

I'm going to say it right now: this deck without Mana Crypt is very, very different. If you're trying to build the deck in a budget-friendly way, I recommend buying the core combo pieces, the mana rocks, and the draw power/tutors, in that order.

An easy way to cut a few dollars:

• Mana rocks can be replaced by less-efficient counterparts like Darksteel Ingot, Commander's Sphere, Coalition Relic, and more. It should go without saying, but avoid anything that enters tapped.
• This deck doesn't rely on its non-basic lands, so good ol' Island can make up for some of the money in Flooded Strand and Hallowed Fountain
• Stax pieces and countermagic should change with your meta. Don't drop money on Containment Priest if it won't be anything but a blocker.

How the deck plays

If your opponent can combo off on turn 4, you need to either combo on turn 3 or suppress your opponent long enough for you to hit your combo. The gameplan here is to establish some sort of stax to either slow down your opponent or lock them out, then create the combo. Since the focus isn't turbo-combo, this deck uses multiple, layered combos and pieces that are good enough on their own like Basalt Monolith and Sensei's Divining Top.

Generally, this deck wants two land and at least one mana rock in the opening hand. Counter magic never hurt anyone, and Weathered Wayfarer conducts the value train.

First, try to establish a lock using the following:

• Static Orb and Tangle Wire. This is easiest with Tezzeret the Seeker because you can activate his -X, find one piece, then blink and use his -x again to find the other.
• Stasis, Brago, King Eternal, and Azorius Signet, Fellwar Stone, Prismatic Lens, Prophetic Prism, or Talisman of Progress.

The deck opts for a win in one of several ways:

• If you have Rest in Peace, use Helm of Obedience to exile an opponent's deck. Remember that you can use Brago to blink the helm and activate it twice in one turn.
• If you have Isochron Scepter,
• Use Dramatic Reversal or Paradox Engine and mana rocks that make 2+ mana to make infinite mana and infinite casts, then Blind Obedience and a rock that can make white mana to extort your opponents forever.
• If you have Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth
• infinite mana.
• You can use this to copy the tap ability on Sensei's Divining Top to draw your whole deck.
• If you have Strionic Resonator and nonland permanents that create more than 2 mana
• Infinite mana.
• Infinite etb triggers.
• If you have Altar of the Brood
• Mill your opponents in a non-targeting way. Combine with Rest in Peace to stop pesky graveyard shenanigans.
• If you have Venser, Shaper Savant, every permanent your opponents have is now in their hand. Since this effect is only usable on your turn, it's a soft lock.
• If you have Mortarpod, you can shoot your opponents to death.
• If you have Ancestral Knowledge, you can thin your deck to basically be a Doomsday pile.
• If you have Cloudform, every permanent in your deck is now on the field. This should make a hard lock your opponents can't break and assemble every other combo.
• if you have Pentarch Ward, Traveler's Cloak, or Unquestioned Authority, draw until your deck is in your hand.

Interaction

This deck is split between proactive and reactive. Jack of all trades and master of none, the counterspell suite will help you stop threats from resolving; the hatebears will inhibit your opponents to the point that they're playing fair magic.

• Whir of Invention is low-key one of my favorite cards in the deck. Improvise works really well with stax pieces that don't tap on their own (and you can turn off Winter Orb for your turn then reset it with Brago).
• Chain of Vapor is basically our only enchantment removal, but it doubles as a value engine. Try using this to return your Mana Crypt or Isochron Scepter to hand and you'll know how I feel.
• Cyclonic Rift exists. Since we sometimes make huge mana, it does what it needs to.
• Brago, King Eternal can reset lots of things like Phyrexian Revoker, Ethersworn Canonist, Mystic Remora, Tezzeret the Seeker , Cloudshift, Mortarpod, and any and all mana rocks make just enough incremental value for it to be unfair to your opponents. That's what they get for only having one untap step.

Future Plans

Add:

• Wall of Omens/Sea Gate Oracle/Augury Owl
• Kismet/Frozen AEther
• Grasp of Fate
• Reshape
• Snapcaster Mage?
• Transmute Artifact
• Power Artifact
• Timetwister
• Tabernacle?
• Grasp of Fate

cut:

• Chain of Vapor?
• Weathered Wayfarer -> Land Tax, Scroll Rack
• Silence
• Leyline of Anticipation
• Flusterstorm
• Cloudform

UPDATE 3/21:

Removed:
• Stroke of Genius
• Memory Lapse -most of the time that I used this, the spell was just cast the next turn. I'd rather use Delay or something.
• Trinisphere so it turns out that this is doesn't hate on my meta enough.
• Phyrexian Metamorph
• Archaeomancer & Temporal Manipulation - this little combo was cute and unique, but ultimately not optimal because it frequently cost .
• Tsabo's Web - drawing was good, but the other effect was much less useful than I had anticipated.

Added:
• Sensei's Divining Top - lets you draw your deck with rings/basalt monolith
• Rings of Brighthearth
• Sentinel Totem - I don't have high hopes for this because scrying is much weaker than drawing, but the graveyard exiling (at instant speed) is unbeatable
• Tangle Wire - forms a lock with Static Orb and slows down our opponents
• Trophy Mage - searches out Basalt Monolith, Static Orb, Tangle Wire, and Rings of Brighthearth
• Thought Vessel - more mana rocks, lol
• Mortarpod - again, I have low expectations for this. This wincon replaced infinite turns and is weaker because it targets, but is less disruptable because it only needs Strionic Resonator and some rocks to win

Sentinel Totem is amazing.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.13
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Manifest 2/2 C, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B