Aminatou Staxshifter (Esper Stax Primer)

Commander / EDH SynergyBuild

SCORE: 44 | 43 COMMENTS | 10816 VIEWS | IN 9 FOLDERS


TorinoAK says... #1

Wraith, why do you want to do that?

This list is super cool. I was brainstorming ways to play things like Chains and Tabernacle and was like "too bad there isn't an esper commander planeswalker, wait, there is and I know there is a list". Are you maining this? How does it fare against meta T&T, Zur decks?

April 21, 2019 9:15 p.m.

IAmTheWraith says... #2

TorinoAK I am actually maining a version of this, which can be found here


Aminatou Turbo-Stasis

Commander / EDH IAmTheWraith

SCORE: 11 | 20 COMMENTS | 805 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER


I play a layered combo stax list. My version of the deck has an even matchup against T&T (I'm assuming you mean Thrasios and Tymna, my matchup against Tymna Tana is much better), and a good matchup against both popular Zur versions. You have to be able to perform correct threat assessments on the table, and play stax at the right time.

Also, you may want to mill something because you aren't on that gameplan anymore, and that card may just be a dead card in your deck. For example, if you are desperately searching for combo pieces, you probably don't want something like Trinisphere in your hand or on top of your deck. You could also want to mill extra lands/ramp that you just don't need/want anymore.

Hope this helps.

April 22, 2019 8:31 a.m.

SynergyBuild says... #3

TorinoAK you can use Codex Shredder as a win condition, but you need to be using it in a different way than mill.

The second ability on Codex Shredder with infinite mana and a Rings of Brighthearth allows you to infinitely recur cards from your graveyard. This alone doesn't win, but can allow you to win if you have a card like Dimir Charm to mill out opponents.

It is an alternate to Goblin Cannon if that gets removed it all, but doesn't get around Rest in Peace / Arcane Laboratory / Rule of Law , etc.


It is useful to mill yourself in the same way you scry a card to the bottom. You don't need said card. Milling a land when you are on twelve or an Armageddon after you already have win and just need a counterspell to protect it is the use.

April 22, 2019 10:27 a.m.

newrise says... #4

May 6, 2019 11:54 a.m.

SynergyBuild says... #5

No, I'd recommend another sweeper, such as Supreme Verdict over it.

May 6, 2019 12:31 p.m.

rampaconiglio says... #6

Hello. This deck is amazing. I'm selling everything to build it. Finally something that seems to work with aminatou, the best PW ever. Ok noob question. If they do exile one of our win cards, like the rings? I kill them all with spellseeker?

Thankssss

June 11, 2019 3:47 a.m.

CyborgAeon says... #7

June 11, 2019 4:21 a.m.

SynergyBuild says... #8

rampaconiglio If they exile one piece, such as Rings of Brighthearth , use the massive number of artifacts with Tezzeret the Seeker 's Ultimate to win.

If that won't work, I'd recommend trying to use a very specific loop:

You need to start by making sure no one can reasonably do anything. Chains of Mephistopheles , Sensei's Divining Top and you being hellbent ( Oppression / Bottomless Pit and Chains help this) are all that is required. On each of your upkeeps, activate top, milling one card, placing top on the top of your deck. After that, you draw the top, replay it, and each turn you always can be assured you won't mill out. It lets you actually deck each opponent. Making it so no opponent can win isn't super easy, use effects like Humility , Winter Orb , Tangle Wire = Aminatou, Rest in Peace /Leyline/etc.

Now, many variants use Helm of Obedience with Rest in Peace / Leyline of the Void , or they run some Walker like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria or any number of other easy walkers that win, but I haven't found it necessary.

BTW, this list is old, not updated fully with me currently testing War of the Spark and Modern Horizons cards.

June 12, 2019 2:01 p.m.

rampaconiglio says... #9

Thanks for the answer. What do you think of the new Jace? Bye (hoping for an update) Alberto

June 14, 2019 1:15 a.m.

rampaconiglio says... #10

Also the new mox tantalite could be a budget inclusion in place of mana vault and similar high price mana sources?

June 14, 2019 4:09 a.m.

ToshiroU says... #11

Hey SynergyBuild Dango and IAmTheWraith,

I would like to share some thoughts on your decklists with u. I currently brew my own version of Aminatou Stax and there are some card choices I would like to discuss with you.

First of all I wanna thank you for uploading your lists and sharing this with the community! I'm actually quite excited for your answers :-)

Regarding Aminatou, what inspired me to brew Esper Stax are the new cards from War of the Spark. I got that Blood Pod Brew for some time already and consider myself to be experienced with that deck and with stax in general. I can't afford cards like Twister, Duals, Chains of Mephistopheles or Tabernacle, so I brew without these. My playgroup in Germany is still quite competitive, with all the major T1 Decks around. At our table there is actually currently one deck that warps the meta around it and that is Shuffle Hulk, so I wanna focus on the interaction with that type of deck.

I would like to talk about your / my wincondition. I wonder, if Rings of Brighthearth , Basalt Monolith and Goblin Cannon as the main plan are really better than Paradox Engine and Isochron Scepter / Dramatic Reversal ? Especially that Goblin Cannon annoys me...

You'd win with Codex Shredder or Blind Obedience , which both fit in nicely anyway. One could add cards to draw the own deck like Stroke of Genius and play like Scroll Rack + Land Tax or maybe even the new Urza, Lord High Artificer instead of Clock of Omens .

Sure, cards like Rule of Law , Arcane Laboratory or Damping Sphere hinder the scepter-plan, but these won't do anything against Shuffle Hulk anyway. On the other hand, Rings + Basalt also win with Ashiok, Dream Render or Narset, Parter of Veils which u probably wanna play...

I myself am not sure about that question. White-Blue control decks always win slowly and that has honestly been the biggest issue for them in cEDH. Thrasios / Thymna can easily grind out a softlock and win with one tutor into Ad Naus or combo out through a Paradox Engine.

Following up I would like to know your opinion on these cards:

And last but not least I am interested in your experiences with the discard package ( Liliana of the Veil , Bottomless Pit , Oppression ). When playtesting it felt like these cards create some kind of topdeck-mode for each play on the table. Still, I consider Aminatou not in the strongest position in this kind of situation against other Generals Thrasios / Thymna, Najeela, Zur, or any commander that tutors or creates value... To me it always felt best when I was able to flicker some value outlet (Creature or Planeswalker) to dig for answers or protect my stax piece(s)...

:-) I look forward to your reply! Ah and I'd like to mention a very funcard from playtesting, probably not very competitive but it was very fun to do the moves with Oath of Teferi + Aminatou ;-)

June 16, 2019 4:56 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #12

ToshiroU The Paradox Scepter lines cannot function in this deck. Damping Sphere , Rule of Law , and Arcane Laboratory straight up stop the combo, and Oppression makes using an in-hand wincon with it impossible. Our multitude of taxation effects also make it difficult to work with. The Goblin Cannon is a necessary evil for this reason, while I would like the efficiency of using Sensei's Divining Top in its stead, with Rings copying the draw effect, drawing the top card, then placing SDT on top, then drawing it, replaying it with infinite mana, rinse+repeat to draw your deck, etc. to draw into any wincon would be preferable, but just doesn't work with the current deck.

This deck is Stax incarnate, and while it may appear that Thrasios or Zur or Najeela are better at top decking into gas, with many tutors and value engines, we often shut those out. Humility alone can stop 80% of the value engines, and Chains of Mephistopheles can shut down most of the rest, with an Aven Mindcensor (perhaps will be replaced or added too with an Ashiok) probably cutting 99% of all topdecks, while many tax effects into an Armageddon can end most topdecks all together. This is how the deck is built to work, stopping opponents from havings outs to anything. We can shut off creatures, tutors, card draw, ramp, casting multiple spells, sometimes enough tax to stop them from casting any spells, we stop entire decks by hating on everything, but that means our wincons need to be resilient to all of our stax. The Tezzeret line was made by me to do just that.

Otherwise, Necropotence, Teferi, Narset, Ashiok, and Terminus are on the 'to-test' list. Force of Negation , Talisman of Hierarchy , Silent Clearing , and maybe Prismatic Vista will be added, so could multiple other War of the Spark cards, so this deck needs updating. I have currently been playing so many decks I haven't had much time to update this one, and I have been ill since last Saturday, so I haven't had much work on this doen at all.

June 17, 2019 8:44 a.m.

CyborgAeon says... #13

This might seem like an odd one to ask, but have you tried zur in the list? As a way to fetch up stax turn by turn, and allowing you to use animatou's uptick to put the pieces back into the deck?

I know that this is not a zur-deck etc. but as a turn-by turn engine he does a lot until humility hits (and realistically at the cost of +1 stax effect per turn you can likely hold your humility for a little longer)

June 17, 2019 9:53 a.m.

ToshiroU says... #14

Hey Dango,

thanks for your quick response. I do agree, that Paradox-Scepter does not fit in the deck as it is currently build. Humility + Chains of Mephisto really shut down a lot of value engines and combos. The Problem is, that the 1/1 creatures can still kill our Aminatou and Chains also prevent ourself from getting value (refering to Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Sensei's Top and Aminatou). So the game comes to a pause and those little mana dorks still do more damage then we do. Ensnaring Bridge and Toxic Deluge help there but u gotta find them (did you consider Zealous Persecution at any point?)... I wonder how it usually plays out, when u got everyone (including yourself) in these lock situations. Do you get beaten down until you find a Tezzeret from the top or an opponent does find a Natures Claim / Abrupt Decay?

When playtesting to me it was quite difficult to keep a stasis-lock up. I also wonder, if those 7 counterspells are enough to consistently stop those T3 wins from Hulk-Decks...

@ CyborgAeon: it's definately an interesting thought. Though i wouldn't run Zur because of its mana cost + it's delayed effect. Tezzeret f.e. in comparism is far more impactful in the turn he is played.

June 18, 2019 8:10 a.m.

rampaconiglio says... #15

I'm really happy that you updated the list! good work and thanks!

November 16, 2019 6:11 a.m.

Daparis says... #16

Hi, I was just wondering why smothering tithe wasnt in the deck? I was assuming it was because it was a touch expensive and doesn't actully stop your opponents from doing anything. But I wasnt sure if that was the reason since I don't actually have much cedh experience so I'm not very good at judging cards power levels appropriately.

December 30, 2019 10:07 p.m.

Rakdorzhov says... #17

Hi!

I absolutely love your deck! I just have one question. Do you think this deck can work well in duel commander, or is it specifically designed for multiplayer?

April 12, 2021 5:36 a.m.

MITell2 says... #18

Reading the early comments about price from two years ago..."from 3K down to 800"...the core deck is 15K now :'D at least the budget is only 1400...mtg is in a wild place

May 4, 2021 12:40 p.m.

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