The problem is he doesn't guarantee the win, and doesn't do much out of it other then gain me life. He's a good card no doubt but he's not integral with the rest of the build. I've been thinking about running Sword of Light and Shadow to gain life and recur creatures ( Fleshbag & Ewit) if you have any other ideas, I'm all ears!

Well, assuming it doesn't put too much strain on your life, Phyrexian Reclamation can be activated multiple times a turn and doesn't require you to attack. Grimoire of the Dead is another possibility, netting you all of the creatures you may have sacced, discarded in addition to all of those from your opponents. Hard to beat Sword of Light and Shadow though as most of the swords are pretty great, especially in a deck like this that will most likely be keeping the field clear for your attackers.

Reclamation is something to consider, Grimiore seems clunky and slow. with sword doing so much more then relcamation, I can't say I'd choose it over the sword. with that said I'm not sold on either yet. thanks for all the help.

Maybe Buried Ruin/Glissa, the Traitor/Trading Post to protect your artifacts? Even though there are so few of them, they are kind of the driving force and it would suck to have Smokestack, Crucible or Winter Orb sent to the graveyard. Apart from Noxious Revival and Eternal Witness, I don't think you have anyway to recur non-creatures. This would also allow for you to run something like Tangle Wire which is great seeing as it inherently affects others more than you since you can tap things like Winter Orb, Smokestack or even Tangle Wire itself with no penalty, then bring it back with one of the methods above. Even if you can't bring it back, on the first turn you play it that's still 4 less mana rocks/creatures/lands every player can use.

Of course, if your meta either isn't removal heavy or no one usually gets enough steam to destroy your artifacts, you really don't need a lot of recursion.

Buried Ruin is in, infact it's foil. I cut trading post because the only relevant mode was the regrowth option I ran noxious revival in it's place. I don't like glissa in the 99. However shes not bad and was the commander in the rough draft of this deck. Tangle wire is really usefull, but I feel with out glissa to recurr it, it's less than optimal. But I still have my copy so i'll try it out if I get a chance.

Oh dang, completely missed it lol.

Well that's about all I've got at the moment. Really love this deck how unique it is yet still effective.

Thanks it means a lot. If you decide tp build a version of it and want budget switches feel free to ask!

That actually would be great. This deck looks like a blast(for youat least) to play and I'm always on the lookout for effective EDH decks that haven't been done to death.

I'm at work, it might be an hour or two before I type it.up.

I tried to make the list of cards over 40/50 bucks that have suitable replacements or have significantly more budget friendly replacements.

the bayou can be a basic

damnation another board wipe like Barter in Blood

Lilly-> Necrogen Mists

The abyss->Magus of the Abyss/Anowon, the Ruin Sage

Nether void-> Sphere of Resistance or Garruk Relentless  ^Flip/fodder producer of your choice

If you opt out of the fetches and run basics crucible might be less then stellar and you can try a courser, or another ramp/fodder producer

Deathrite shaman can be any mana dork or a Scooze/withered wretch if grave shenanigans are common for you.

Tangle wire could work with nether void as well.

Awesome, thanks for the great alternatives. I'll play around and do some playtests to see what feels more natural and decide if I should splurge for some of the nicer cards.

Yea, if you have any questions ask away. Thanks again for the praise!

Maybe good ol' Hypnotic Specter would be a good thing to get onto the board after setting up the Stax, to have an extra discard sent out each turn to whatever opponent deserves it.

Maybe if this was a french list, but 1 opponent discarding of their choice is bad for multiplayer, Necrogen Mists would go in MUCH sooner and hit every body.

Hypnotic Specter is random i think.

Would Waste Not work well in here?

Thanks for the suggestion but it's not as well as you think. In a more discard oriented build to make tokens, where you have Memory Jar and what have you, Waste Not would be. It's really lack luster outside of situations when i'm already winning.

Titania, Protector of Argoth? Maybe not the absolute best win condition of all time, but it could work well with Smokestack, among other things- Sacrifice a land, get a 5/3 in return.

Titania, Protector of Argoth unfortunately falls into the category of "too cute". Shes strong but I'm not abusing her, I'd rather run something to help control other player's resources.

Dust Bowl could be nice as a repeatable Wasteland/Strip Mine later on in the game. Bad that it costs mana but good in that you can do it every turn even without crucible out if you have the land to spare. Like you said, you aren't abusing Titania enough, but Dust Bowl+maybe Lake of the Dead could make it a viable.

Somewhat related to that idea but also still useful on its own is Tainted AEther since you already have very few creatures. Provides a nice softlock in lieu of other forms of creature control like Smokestack. Might be a bit too slow, but mid-late game when everyone is in top deck mode, Painful Quandary could be your wincon since with an empty hand, unless they want to lose 5 life, the Quandary effectively skips every other turn for them.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Dust Bowl finds its way into the deck on occasion, but I haven't found myself really wanting it lately. When I want a repeated-able Strip Mine/Wasteland late game, I almost always just use Cruicible.

Lake of the Dead is cool, and something to consider if I changed how the deck play slightly, Including Titania would be a step in that. Tainted AEther is a bit of a Non-bo with Nath out or I'd run it. When I can't vomit out an early Smokestack my plan has become to grab Sadistic Hypnotist and nuke everyone's hand, and use the time I have while they draw cards to setup a nice Death Cloud.

Painful Quandary is really nice but the 5 cmc slot is a bit weird since I almost always want Nath in play to produce blockers as a pseudo Bitterblossom and baby Hymn to Tourach to keep combo decks from going off. Quandry also doesn't do a lot, if a combo deck wants to keep cards to combo off, they'll pay the life.

Excellent deck! I love Stax and this is probably one of the best B/G versions i've seen. Also +1 for the name reference, It's kind of a big deal.

Thanks for the praise! I'm glad you liked the deck. Its getting pretty popular and it's getting to the point where people know me.

Have you considered Geth's Grimoire? You should have enough discard effects outside of your general however with your general it's kind of stupidly good.