The $7K solution to having friends GAAIV Primer

Commander / EDH Competitive Control Death and Taxes Land Destruction Prison WU (Azorius)

dash.secrets

Enchantment (22)

• 1x AEther Barrier
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Decree of Silence
• 1x Enchanted Evening
• 1x Ethereal Armor
• 1x Frozen Aether
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x In the Eye of Chaos
• 1x Karmic Justice
• 1x Moat
• 1x Pendrell Mists
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Rule of Law
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Solemnity
• 1x Sphere of Safety
• 1x Stony Silence
• 1x Teferi's Moat
• 1x War Tax

Instant (3)

• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Teferi, Time Raveler

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Balancing Act
• 1x Fabricate

Creature (20)

• 1x Archetype of Imagination
• 1x Aura Thief
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Drannith Magistrate
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Fatespinner
• 1x Glowrider
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer
• 1x Hushbringer
• 1x Lodestone Golem
• 1x Magus of the Moat
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Spelltithe Enforcer
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Windborn Muse
• 1x World Queller

Artifact (17)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Defense Grid
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x God-Pharaoh's Statue
• 1x Helm of Obedience
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Knowledge Pool
• 1x Mycosynth Lattice
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Norn's Annex
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sphere of Resistance
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Torpor Orb

Commander (1)

Land (33)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Diamond Valley
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x High Market
• 9x Island
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 9x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Windswept Heath

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** Background**

I've been playing magic since the beginning. I made a stax deck many years ago that seems to encourage hate, and I've just continued to update it through the years. Yes I actually own this deck and all the cards contained. Me and the wife have done well enough that we can afford expensive hobbies. This deck doesn't make friends. Play with caution. You will notice a surprising lack of counter spells or kill spells in this deck. That is because you cannot stop the inevitable march of slowing the game to a snails crawl. The whole table will eventually succumb to this decks shittiness no matter what they try to counter or kill. The longer the game continues the worse it gets for everyone at the table. Sometimes it is the slow agonizing death and the realization that they can do nothing to stop it that will cause people to scoop. Besides that having no counterspells leaves room for better stax pieces that make more control.

Why play Arbiter?

Easy arbiter is all about control, and slowing down the pace of the game

Play Arbiter if you:

1. Enjoy controlling board states
2. Like slowing down the pace of the game
3. Enjoy making enemies in your play groups
4. Often find yourself thinking that you would like to see it all burn

Don't Play Arbiter if:

1. you like creatures or rely on them to win
2. you don't enjoy land destruction
3. you find yourself coming out on the winning side of politics at the table
4. you don't like being hated off the table
5. you rely on combos
6. you think there's something wrong with being the only one at the table able to cast things
7. you value your group of friends

Wincons

There are four ways this deck wins

1. Getting everything locked down and just face beating with something like Avacyn- This is arguable the most difficult, but if you get the lockdown early it can be done
2. Rest in Peace+Helm of Obedience combo.
3. Making game conditions so miserable that people fold and give up.
4. Infinite mana with Dramatic Reversal+Isochron Scepter+ something like Gilded Lotus then ping everyone to death with Walking Ballista

Playstyle

So early game we want to focus on ramp and rocks and laying down things like Propaganda so you can make it difficult for people to target you. Things like Fatespinner can help you get an early lead. One of my favorite plays is to wait till someone tries to crack a fetch land and then flashing in an Aven Mindcensor so they can only search the top cards of their deck. Ultimately we are trying to get to our tax pieces like Glowrider, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Lodestone Golem, and of course our commander GAAIV.

**ONTO THE REAL FUN **

At this point in the game, you have resources and at the very best its costing everyone else 2-6 more to cast anything. It's time to let them see the real shine in this deck!

There's an array of nastiness just waiting to be played

Want something particularly nasty? Try Solemnity + Decree of Silence to counter everything the opponent does.

or

If you really need to reset things Teferi's Protection+Balancing Act - phase yourself and your entire boardstate out and everyone sacrifices everything else

Avacyn, Angel of Hope+Nevinyrral's Disk so you can just disk everyone each turn and have nothing happen to you

In my opinion the best play of all Karn, the Great Creator+Mycosynth Lattice to make all of their land useless.

Stony Silence + Mycosynth Lattice - Lock on all activated abilities (including lands).

Mycosynth Lattice + Stony Silence + Ghostly Prison - Lock on all activated abilities (including lands). Nobody can attack you, and nobody can activated the abilites of any permanent on the battlefield.

Need infinite mana? Try Dramatic Reversal+Isochron Scepter+ something like Gilded Lotus

want to ping someone to death? Use infinite mana as described above +Walking Ballista

Glacial Chasm + Solemnity - Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you.

Archetype of Imagination + Magus of the Moat - Opponents creatures can't attack. You are the only one who can attack

Archetype of Imagination + Moat - Opponents creatures can't attack. You are the only one who can attack

One of my favorite all time combos is Aura Thief + Enchanted Evening, then use one of the many sac outlets like High Market, World Queller, or Diamond Valley to gain control of everyone else's everything

**

LOCKDOWN COMBOS**

Drannith Magistrate + Knowledge Pool - Opponents can't cast spells.

Knowledge Pool + Rule of Law - Players can only cast one spell per turn. Things cast from hand go into knowledge pool and never come out

Teferi, Time Raveler + Knowledge Pool - Exile all spells cast by your opponents from their hand. Since they can only cast things at sorcery speed, they will cast something from hand and it goes into the pool, then the ability to cast something out goes on the stack. Since you can only cast sorceries when the stack is empty they cannot cast spells.

Matchups

Because this deck takes a few turns to get online it will fold to fast combo decks. Generally speaking if you are playing against a deck that can combo out by turn 4 your going to have a bad time. If they have answers you might just have to accept that you wont win and sit back and make the game as miserable as possible before you're hated off the table. Another deck type to look out for are the huge creature stompy decks. There's only so much you can do if you are getting attacked by a 30/30 Craterhoof Behemoth with trample each turn. Generally speaking one giant creature is a problem that you can solve with politics. When you have entire decks that spit out whole board states full of giant creatures you are probably going to get stomped into the dirt. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Pendrell Mists help with this but are not a guarentee. One last deck type to look out for is another player also playing a different stax deck. If they can get the lock in before you, then it is difficult to get anything going. Even if they don't get a solid lock in, paying 4 more to cast a sol ring can become very frustrating. If they run cards like Mana Vortex or Smokestack it can spell huge problems for this deck

Top Ranked	Achieved #40 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #20 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH WU (Azorius) 4 years ago
Date added	8 years
Last updated	2 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 56 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.39
Tokens	Treasure
Folders	Decks to keep in mind, Test, Commander, Ideas, EDH / Commander, Edh, Pauper, Budget decks, Ideas, TTS games