zAzen7977 Fair Enough, like I said before more play testing for me before making any big decisions. I think removing Rule of Law for Archon of Emeria would be good a move as well as it is in my opinion an upgrade as it does more and can be sacrificed too Razaketh if need be. The down side of course is being more susceptible to removal. let me know what you think.

Thanks XinZhao, Archon of Emeria is an excellent suggestion! How did I miss that?? I’ll definitely swap Rule of Law for it as soon as I get a copy. Its flying body and nonbasic land-tapping ability is a great fit for this deck.

zAzen7977 So after play testing a but i found myself not using Fire Covenant alot or not having adequate life to down the threats i needed to deal with. Not sure what Im going to replace it with but ive got a few idea, slotting back in Deadly Rollick cause exile is king and free is free, Tibalt's Trickery becasuse its a counterspell that could be bad but also can help us cheat threats into play through the use of Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack , or Akroma's Will too help close out the game. Let me know your thoughts.

What set is Akroma's will from? I'm 1 year behind on MTG. I think swapping out covenant is a good idea. Akroma's will looks cool!... but holding up 4 mana is hard, commander required.

Akroma's Will comes from commander legends, Perhaps Despark Then?

Four mana isnt that difficult for us too pull off its one 1 more than Teferi's Protection and I see more as a finisher than an actual protection card but perhaps not an amazing fit in this deck.

XinZhao, good point about Fire Covenant . I have had the opportunity to use it a few times, and it’s been during the early/mid game. You’re right that it eats up a lot of life, but its main purpose is to be a cheap (mana-wise) one-sided board wipe when you know you are going to win the following turn, or shortly thereafter. It’s versatility in targeting multiple creatures is what makes it exceptional. Also your meta has a lot to do with it. If you find that you are going up against control builds with few big or indestructible creatures, I would definitely cut Covenant.

Deadly Rollick is the best replacement, imho. Despark comes close, but Deadly Rollick is free most of the time. Can’t go wrong with it. If you cut too many removal spells, creature-heavy builds will sneak a finisher by you and you won’t be able to respond.

Profet93, I’m not a big fan of Akroma's Will , because like you said, 4 mana is expensive for an aggro-variant of Teferi's Protection , which is already in the list. XinZhao, I see what you mean about it being a finisher, but I still see it as being too expensive for what it does. Plus I wouldn’t know what to cut for it.

Tibalt's Trickery is interesting but it’s too random for me. That’s a neat idea to counter my own spells, but the odds of getting the combo together are low, and I’m already using Kaalia to cheat in the big CMC spells.

By the way, Deflecting Swat saved me a couple times recently, definitely keeping it from now on!

zAzen7977

Fair enough, Id try to find room for a little more life gain but thats up too, personally i'd opt for Liesa, Shroud of Dusk she provides the lifelink and a little bit of stax on top of it, should get good mileage out of it since this is a midrange deck.

Glad you are enjoying Deflecting Swat card is op probably should have never been printed, Bolt Bend is the only other card like it if you find you want an additional affect like Deflecting Swat

dont know what could be cut but another good add would be Knowledge Pool as a back up Possibility Storm

zAzen7977

Emissary of Serra from Modern Horizons 2 is an easy swap with chancellor of the annex, sure its not stax but its a balance "Iona" that can protect us and our board from ideally either creatures or instants

Thanks for the suggestions XinZhao, I’m not sold on Knowledge Pool , but Emissary of Serra is definitely going in. Awesome card, almost as good as Iona. Chancellor of the Annex is a good swap, but I like Chancellor’s auto-counter effect for early game. Maybe I can drop something else instead, I’ll think about it. The new Profane Tutor looks interesting as well.

zAzen7977

I agree with XinZhao regarding swapping out chancellor. The chances of getting it in the early game, for it's potential effect is outweighed by the powerful, guaranteed effect of Emmisary of Serra. I think a test swap should convince you otherwise, but you know your deck best. Always a pleasure to see how your decks evolve over time :)

Profet93, thanks for your input! You and XinZhao are probably right about swapping Chancellor for Emissary, as soon as I can get my hands on an Emissary she is going in.

It’s been a pleasure interacting with both of you! I really appreciate your comments :)

Have you considered Grafdigger's Cage over Planar Void

Dark Ritual is a good source of ramp as well I would try cutting Lotus Petal for it just too test it out its a cheap card so its worth a shot. Valakut Awakening  ^Flip is a good "wheel" effect for your concept as it does not benefit your opponents you choose which cards you get rid of and it puts them on the bottem of our deck completely getting around our own graveyard hate, for this I personally would take out "land tax" as I am not a fan of the card because for me past the first turn it loses alot of value, however completely up too you.

Phyrexian Arena is the option im going with im moving away from wheel cause throwing away threats is a feels bad.

Why not run Damn over Damnation gives you plenty of flexibility as a removal spell

Also id remove Planar Void for Dauthi Voidwalker

Hey XinZhao, thanks for your suggestions!!! Damn , Dauthi Voidwalker , and Serra's Emissary are excellent new additions.

Hey kdglenny, after all this time, I finally picked up the FTV version of Cataclysm!! ;)

LMAO! LETS GOOOOOO zAzen7977

I'm trying to search for a themed Commander deck against my group who already use competitive decks that I can't beat with my precon right now.

I continuously happen upon the usage of cards way beyond my budget (~$1000), or the decks are failing to meet that 'theme' (I want a demon/angel/undead feel to the deck).

The playstyle is appealing to me, but the usage of rare cards (which appear in most competitive decks) prevents me from taking the plunge.

• Plateau
• Scrubland
• Badlands
• Mox Diamond
• Grim Monolith
• Imperial Seal
• Ravages of War (you do propose a replacement card for this)

Do you have any suggestions for replacements that wouldn't compromise the deck's performance?

Hey Privian, thanks for commenting. You can definitely reduce the cost of the deck by swapping out the cards you listed. Here are my suggestions for replacements:

Plateau > Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip

Scrubland > Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip

Badlands > Blightstep Pathway  ^Flip

Mox Diamond > Fellwar Stone

Grim Monolith > Dark Ritual

Imperial Seal > Grim Tutor

Ravages of War > Armageddon

Ravages of War is identical to Armageddon, I just happen to have a copy of Ravages I picked up years ago.

You could also run Mox Opal, but in that case I would also run the Mirrodin artifact lands (ex:Vault of Whispers.)

I love this take on cedh stax, but I really wonder about the choice of Phyrexian Arena. Is there a specific reason you're running it? I understand this is a stax list and you're hoping for the game to run a few turns, but surely there are better options than that?

Nathanael97, thanks for your comment. You have a good point. That one slot is a flex slot and I’ve tried different options in the past few weeks. Yes it is slow, but Phyrexian Arena comes in handy if I can ramp into it during early turns. Lately I have swapped out Phyrexian Arena for Tainted Pact. I’ve updated the list to its current version. Pact is an instant speed tutor and I’ve had luck with it lately.