What is this deck

This is a moderately competitive stax/control deck which looks to win by creating a muted game state, and then executing one of its various "win now" conditions.

Locks

Ok, we're playing stax control, so we're going to have some nasty board locks.

Opponents Can't Cast Spells

  • Combo: Drannith Magistrate + Knowledge Pool
  • How it works: Drannith Magistrate limits your opponents to casting spells from their hands. With KP, any spell cast from hand is exiled and the player is allowed to cast an exiled spell instead. For your opponents, casting exiled spells is illegal, so they are completely blocked from casting spells of any kind. You on the other hand, are free to cast as many as you like.

Players Can't Cast Spells

  • Combo: Arcane Laboratory / Rule of Law + Knowledge Pool
  • How it works: Arcane Laboratory and Rule of Law limit every player to casting one spell per turn. This means for each player, the first spell each turn is exiled with KP, and then due to the single spell limitation they are then unable to cast an exiled spell with KP.

Opponents Can't Draw Cards

  • Combo: Drannith Magistrate + Uba Mask
  • How it works: Uba Mask causes any card drawn by a player to be exiled instead. That player may then, for this turn only, play the drawn card. This means with Drannith Magistrate in play, opponents are unable to cast cards exiled by Uba Mask. Therefor all cards drawn by opponents are exiled, and rendered unplayable.

Players Can't Hold Drawn Cards

  • Combo: Arcane Laboratory / Rule of Law + Uba Mask
  • How it works: Since players are only allowed to cast one spell per turn, they must choose between playing one drawn card per turn, or playing a card from hand and letting drawn cards permanently go to exile.

Win Conditions

Life Gain

The most straightforward win condition in the deck. Gain the life total necessary to win the game with either Test of Endurance or Felidar Sovereign . This can be aided by casting Teferi's Protection alongside either permanent, or attaching Lightning Greaves / Swiftfoot Boots to Felidar.

Drain

The idea here is to slow the game to a crawl (or ideally lock the game) while we have a persistent life drain effect in play. Drana's Emissary and God-Phaoroh's Statue are the quickest options, as in a board lock they drain 1 life from every opponent every turn. Sanguine Bond combos with our commander Oloro, Ageless Ascetic from the board or command zone to drain 2 life per turn from a single opponent. This effect is slower than Drana or God-Phaoroh in an open game, but is equally effective in a full lock scenario. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic can also provide drain when on the board with his second ability, as long as we have 1 colorless open.

Exquisite Sanguine

An expensive but instant win condition. With both Exquisite Blood and Sanguine Bond on the board, gaining at least 1 life or dealing at least 1 damage triggers an infinite loop of life gain and targeted damage. This allows us to instantly drain the life of all of our opponents.

Attrition

This win condition is uncommon. Once the game is slowed to a crawl, you'll usually want to have a deterministic win condition in place to finish off your opponents and actually end the game. Winning through pure attrition may work in an agro heavy meta, or if you can perma-block combo decks from going off. But for most games, you'll want to execute a more deterministic win condition.

Alternative Win Conditions

Approach of the Second Sun

The first time you case Approach of the Second Sun (from anywhere), it is placed back into your library 7th from the top. The second time you cast ASS, if it was cast from your hand, you win the game. This is a simple 1 card win condition. It's difficult to pull off as the deck doesn't naturally run much support. But it is a useful hedge, allowing you to win from certain repressed board states.

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Date added 3 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

10 - 0 Mythic Rares

55 - 0 Rares

20 - 0 Uncommons

7 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.91
Tokens Emblem Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Treasure
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