Survival stax (Primer)

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive GWU (Bant) Hatebears Stax

Orangepanda01

Creature (38)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Body Double
• 1x Captain Sisay
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Copperhorn Scout
• 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Faeburrow Elder
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
• 1x Hokori, Dust Drinker
• 1x Kataki, War's Wage
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Oakhame Adversary
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Scryb Ranger
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Thrasios, Triton Hero
• 1x Vryn Wingmare
• 1x Willbreaker
• 1x Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Land (29)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Brushland
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 2x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 2x Island
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 1x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Instant (8)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Enchantment (11)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Deafening Silence
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Stasis
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Verity Circle
• 1x Wild Growth

Artifact (9)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sphere of Resistance
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x Trinisphere
• 1x Winter Orb

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith

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Introduction & Philosophy

There is no Denying that Derevi, Emperial Tactician is an absurdly powerful commander, because, well, what even are commander tax and counter spells? Her tapping and uncapping is also a little bit absurd, especially when used correctly. I often find myself using this as a source of mana denial to force that ad nasuem out of your opponents hand at an awkward time or protect my spells from counters in my second main phase. Derevi can also be used as a source of mana advantage. Casting a spell first main, uncapping your mana sources, and casting Moore stuff can allow you to quickly outpace your opponents. Pair this with an effect like Static Orb or Winter Orb and you will find yourself casting two spells a turn while your opponents can barely cast one. Basically Derevi is a very efficient stax commander, but, being in bant colors, lacks an efficient way to win the game like meta pod can with Kiki Jiki. This is where Survival of the Fittest comes in. Survival is essentially a one card combo, as long as we have at least one creature in hand, and well, we run 39 of those. The only problem with this combo is that it is very mana intensive, so I guess its a good thing our commander is busted.

Gameplan

The main goal of this deck is to turn your opponents into vegetables with an absurd amount of stax. The first couple turns should involve slowing the early game down with effects like Deafening Silence, Collector Ouphe and Sphere of Resistance. Next we will want to land a heavy hitter or two such as Drannith Magistrate, Winter Orb, or even layering a couple tax effects. Once we’ve grabbed this game into the late game and have fully relished in our opponents misery for a bit we should consider ending the game.

The Combo

Now for the fun part; explaining this slightly convoluted combo step by step.

• Step One: resolve Survival of the Fittest and have Derevi on the battlefield.

• Step Two: Chain discard to survival. Start the chain with a random creature or combo piece you drew because you’re bad at the game. The chain should end with at least Mirror Entity, Body Double, and Eternal Witness in your graveyard, and Reveillark in hand.

• Step Three: Evoke Reveillark, watch it die and reanimate body double and mirror entity. Body double will enter as Reveillark

• Step Four: Put 420,000,000,069 Mirror Entity activations for 0 on the stack.

• Step Five: body double will die to mirror entity’s ability and reanimate body double and derevi. Derevi’s ability should untapped one of your lands and you will immediately tap that land to float a mana.

• Step Six: Repeat this body double loop to generate a bunch of mana with derevi and tap all your opponents permanents (Yes, this includes tapping their Carpet of Flowers and such because it is important to send a message)

• Step seven: Once you have enough mana start reanimating eternal witness instead to put your graveyard into your hand. At this point you can optionally take care of any potentially dangerous permanents with Caustic Caterpillar

• Step eight: Use survival to get Thrasios, Triton Hero and then cast him and use him to draw most of your deck.

• Step nine: If it is your first main phase you can win with a finale of devastation for 420 and kill your opponents. If it is your second main phase cast Stasis and Shalai, Voice of Plenty. Activate shalai 420 times and cast stasis. Your opponents should not be able to do anything and you can win on your next turn.

Pretty fun right?

Pros of the combo: - a one card, five card, combo. - don’t underestimate those mirror entity activations for seven when your not comboing, as a backup plan. - You only need to cast one card Reveillark (you can cast survival the turn before), so the combo works under Rule of Law effects. - Survival can also be used to toolbox in a pinch.

Cons: - Bad cards take up two deck slots. (Eternal witness is a good card) - highly mana intensive. - doesn’t work under a Rest in Peace effect.

Stax

Just the usual suspects played in most GWx decks as far as creatures go. Be careful when casting Static Orb and Stasis because derevi can have trouble breaking the parody of the cards by herself, especially Stasis. Usually you will want to wait until you have a Copperhorn Scout out to cast stasis. This does not mean Stasis is worse than any of the orbs though. If you can keep copperhorn around it tends to be a hard lock for your opponents.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 60 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.38
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U