Stax For Thee But Not For Me

Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) Combo Infinite Combo Sacrifice Stax

OtherWorldlyShadow

Land (34)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 3x Forest
• 1x High Market
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 3x Island
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Lotus Vale
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Snow-Covered Forest
• 1x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Zagoth Triome
• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip

Combo (6)

• 1x Claws of Gix
• 1x Despotic Scepter
• 1x Cellar Door
• 1x Timestream Navigator
• 1x Wilderness Reclamation
• 1x Ugin's Nexus

STAX (15)

• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Sphere of Resistance
• 1x Stasis
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Winter Orb
• 1x Arcane Laboratory
• 1x Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Orb of Dreams
• 1x Tangle Wire
• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Zur's Weirding

Draw (9)

• 1x Bazaar of Baghdad
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Mnemonic Sphere
• 1x Dark Deal
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Mulldrifter

Protection (7)

• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Elephant Grass
• 1x Silent Gravestone
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Defense Grid
• 1x Ground Seal
• 1x Lightning Greaves

Recursion (4)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Ramunap Excavator

Commander (1)

Ramp (11)

• 1x Mox Tantalite
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Springbloom Druid
• 1x Wood Elves

Removal (9)

• 1x Executioner's Capsule
• 1x Siren Stormtamer
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Seal of Primordium
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Pernicious Deed
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Shriekmaw

Tutor (4)

• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Trinket Mage

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Maybeboard

Removal (6)

• 1x Seal of Removal
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Counterbalance
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Voidmage Prodigy
• 1x Seal of Doom

Land (2)

• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Exploration

Recursion (1)

• 1x Dowsing Shaman

Combo (5)

• 1x Leechridden Swamp
• 1x Diamond Lion
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Second Chance
• 1x Mist of Stagnation

Ramp (3)

• 1x Sol Talisman
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Squandered Resources

Utility (5)

• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Court of Cunning
• 1x Nature's Will
• 1x Wilderness Reclamation
• 1x Seedborn Muse

Draw (1)

• 1x Standstill

Tutor (1)

• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier

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I have woken up and chosen violence.

After a few years of doing no deckbuilding and no playing MTG, I have finally decided to give it a whir again. This is my first attempt back. I intend on keeping this deck with this gameplan, but I want to work on it to fine tune it.

The goal is to assemble a lock that can slow opponents down long enough to reach a win condition, taking advantage of ways to sacrifice permanents and replay with them Muldrotha, the Gravetide to make the effects asymmetrical.

I am looking for more ways to make sacrifice my permanents.

Locks

There are several semi-locks that can happen with this deck.

You are looking for Claws of Gix or Despotic Scepter. With that, grab a Stax piece to sacrifice during your previously most opponent's end step. Back to Basics, Stasis, Tangle Wire, and Winter Orb are powerful cards to use an asymmetrical way.

Claws of Gix + Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Stasis is the prime lock. In a pinch, Academy Ruins + Claws of Gix + Winter Orb functions very well as well.

Win States

Your goal is to take infinite turns Timestream Navigator + Cellar Door + Muldrotha, the Gravetide or Karn, the Great Creator + Ugin's Nexus + Claws of Gix + Muldrotha, the Gravetide.

Even without Muldrotha, Karn + Ugin's Nexus and a way to sacrifice Ugin's Nexus can buy a lot of time (most definitely enough to play Muldrotha and go infinite).

Once you assemble either combination, take turns until you can end the game. Some good ways to end the game are Cephalid Coliseum or Westvale Abbey  /Combat Damage with Muldrotha.

Combos

Combos below:

• Cellar Door + Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Timestream Navigator

• Karn, the Great Creator + Ugin's Nexus + Claws of Gix + Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Justifications

Muldrotha, the Gravetide - Muldrotha allows for easy ways to turn powerful stax effects into asymmetrical locks, as well as generate excessive value from many cards.

Agadeem's Awakening   - A good utility card that also serves as a land in a pinch.

Animate Dead - Can be used repeatedly with Muldrotha to either take advantage of opponents bombs or generate extra value from my own creatures.

Arcane Laboratory - If this can not be answered, can severely slow down the game.

Arcane Signet - Very good mana fixing.

Assassin's Trophy - High utility removal spell. Can even be used as jank ramp in a pinch.

Wilderness Reclamation - Allows me to ignore Winter Orb and keeps Stasis online. Also makes sure I have lands up for using removal.

Bazaar of Baghdad - Discarding cards isn't a very big downside, as Muldrotha turns the grave into an extended hand.

Bojuka Bog - Deals with the matchup against other graveyard decks.

Springbloom Druid - Cheaper than Burnished Hart. Does not sacrifice itself, but it costs half the mana to use.

Carpet of Flowers - Powerful early game ramp, but is situational.

Cellar Door - Combo piece, but can also be used to practically draw cards with Muldrotha.

Cephalid Coliseum - Can be used to draw tons of cards with Muldrotha and can be used to mill opponents in an infinite turn loop.

Chains of Mephistopheles - If not answered, can severely slow down the game. Resulting in mill and discard everywhere.

Claws of Gix - A perfect card. Sacrifice Stax effects during the last opponent's End Step to avoid their effects.

Mind Stone - Some cheap ramp that can double as emergency card draw.

Notion Thief - Steal their draw.

Despotic Scepter - Another perfect card.

Diabolic Intent - A good tutor card.

Elephant Grass - 1 mana Ghostly Prison that completely shuts down black. Recast with Muldrotha to avoid cumulative upkeep.

Eternal Witness - Allows for some recursion of Muldrotha is offline, and can even grab instants/sorceries.

Executioner's Capsule - Reusable removal.

Expedition Map - A lot of the lands in this deck are very appealing, for both ramp/fixing and utility.

Wood Elves - Good ramp that can be reused with Muldrotha. Takes advantage of number of nonbasic Forests in deck.

Inventors' Fair - Some emergency lifegain and an artifact tutor.

Glacial Chasm - Good protection in the form of a land. Recast with Muldrotha to avoid cumulative upkeep.

Glen Elendra Archmage - Reusable removal.

Ground Seal - Protects the graveyard.

Lightning Greaves - Protects Muldrotha and can be used to give haste to Timestream Navigator.

High Market - Slight life-gain, but allows for instant speed creature sacrifice.

Swan Song - Cheap effective removal.

Karn, the Great Creator - Shuts down opponent's mana rocks.

Contamination - Can severely slow down the game. Can completely lock out decks that don't have black or good artifact mana sources.

Ashiok, Dream Render - Blocks tutor and destroys opponent's graveyard decks. Opens up the change to add Mist of Stagnation eventually.

Mnemonic Sphere - Repeatable card draw.

Mulldrifter - Repeatable card draw.

Academy Ruins - Can function as an emergency Muldrotha, the Gravetide to turn an artifact effect asymmetrical effect.

Mystic Remora - Amazing card that can generate a lot of advantage. Recast with Muldrotha to avoid cumulative upkeep.

Dark Deal - A wheel that hinders everyone else more than me.

Necropotence - Overpowered card advantage that allows me to ignore Chains of Mephistopheles and Zur's Weirding. Also allows me to stop drawing.

Fierce Guardianship - Free counterspell to protect our Commander.

Narset, Parter of Veils - Can severely hurt opponents (great with Windfall, and can help dig for cards.

Orb of Dreams - Slows down the game, but has great synergy with Winter Orb and Back to Basics.

Pernicious Deed - Powerful board wipe that can avoid certain mana costs.

Mox Tantalite - A quite balanced Mox that provides some cheap ramp.

Ramunap Excavator - Allows for the reuse of fetch lands and utilities before Muldrotha is out.

Rhystic Study - Great card draw.

Sakura-Tribe Elder - Low cost and repeatable ramp.

Seal of Primordium - Repeatable removal.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch - A good recursion piece incase Muldrotha is offline.

Shriekmaw - Reusable removal.

Silent Gravestone - Protects the graveyard.

Siren Stormtamer - Repeatable removal.

Birds of Paradise - Cheap good ramp.

Smokestack - Can rip through opponent's boardstates.

Sol Ring - Amazing ramp.

Sphere of Resistance - Slows the game down.

Spore Frog - Slows down or even completely blocks out combat based decks.

Stasis - Can result in the game literally freezing. Buys time and practically can end the game when Muldrotha and a sacrifice outlet is out.

Strip Mine - Given enough time can deal with opponents lands. Good utility too.

Tangle Wire - Slows the early game down.

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale - Severely slows the game down, making players pick between keeping their creatures or having mana. Destroys decks that want to go wide.

Thorn of Amethyst - Slows the game down.

Commander's Sphere - Decent ramp that can be used for draw.

Timestream Navigator - Combo piece. Goes infinite with Cellar Door.

Tribute Mage - Tutors a lot of powerful artifacts.

Trinket Mage - Tutors a lot of powerful artifacts.

Defense Grid - Blocks out interaction.

Ugin's Nexus - Blocks opponents from taking extra turns. Can easily be sacrificed to get an extra turn to win faster with Timestream Navigator.

Wayfarer's Bauble - Low mana cost repeatable ramp.

Lotus Vale - Good land that can take place of multiple land drops, allowing for the other lands to be replayed from the graveyard.

Windfall - Can be used to draw a ton with little downside.

Winter Orb - Severely slows the game down.

Zur's Weirding - Can result in opponents being unable to play the game.

Playtesting

7/10/2023 - Goldfish

Deck took a while to win, feels like it may need more card draw.

Potential Changes

Looking for some ways to add new ways to make the infinite combos stronger. Maybe a way to drain life from enemies over and over.

May also look to push the curve down. Drop the number of three drops and grab some more low CMC ramp. Thinking about Sol Talisman.

May look to replace the lands Llanowar Wastes, Underground River, and Exotic Orchard with lands with basic land types. Want to grab Dryad Arbor.

Ashiok, Dream Render + Mist of Stagnation can lock the game. Considering including them, as they can both be quite good (though Mists can backfire).

Mnemonic Sphere is a card that I may look to cut.

May replace Shriekmaw with Seal of Doom.

Looking for some more good artifact stax pieces on par with Stasis and Winter Orb.

Looking for some more draw.

What I am Not Looking For

While this deck is quite cold, I don't want to accelerate it too much. I have access to the various Moxes and other optimized Ramp spells, but I want to give my friends a chance.

Similar reason as to why I am not running Demonic Tutor instead of Diabolic Intent. I have one, but Diabolic Intent is a bit more interesting and a bit friendlier towards other players.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Key combos	Cellar Door + Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Timestream Navigator Ashiok, Dream Render + Mist of Stagnation Claws of Gix + Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Stasis Academy Ruins + Claws of Gix + Winter Orb
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.49
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, City's Blessing, Zombie 2/2 B