The Illusion of Motion

Commander / EDH* Control Discard Pox Stax

cailtis

Land (37)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 7x Forest
• 1x Gilt-Leaf Palace
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Snow-Covered Forest
• 1x Strip Mine
• 11x Swamp
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Pox
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Syphon Mind

Creature (20)

• 1x Anowon, the Ruin Sage
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Creakwood Liege
• 1x Cunning Lethemancer
• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Imperious Perfect
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Magus of the Abyss
• 1x Ramunap Excavator
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder

Artifact (8)

• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Sol Ring

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Garruk Relentless  ^Flip
• 1x Liliana of the Veil

Commander (1)

Enchantment (14)

• 1x Awakening Zone
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Bottomless Pit
• 1x Call to the Grave
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Desolation
• 1x From Beyond
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Mind Slash
• 1x Necrogen Mists
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Sylvan Library

Instant (4)

• 1x Entomb
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Worldly Tutor

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Sideboard

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Hymn to Tourach
• 1x Mind Shatter
• 1x Mind Twist

Creature (1)

• 1x Braids, Cabal Minion

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Maybeboard

Land (5)

• 1x Bayou
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wasteland

Creature (1)

• 1x Mindslicer

Instant (1)

• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Nether Void
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x The Abyss

Artifact (1)

• 1x Mana Crypt

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Cruel Tutor
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Three Visits

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As of 1/5/2019 this deck has been retired and is no longer being updated. After a considerable amount of time of boredom with the deck and the continued negligence of its needed additions I didn't feel like it was ultimately worth it forcing myself to keep around this deck, especially since Nath isn't really a real competitive stax deck choice. I will be trying out Meren because I can make a similar deck work with several of the remnants of this list. Nath has always been a favored casual EDH commander so I'm glad to have tried this out.

This is The Illusion of Motion: my Nath of the Gilt-Leaf stax deck (named after a behemothic, time-bending doom metal epic by metal band YOB), complete with a very detailed update log below with explanations and reflections throughout my journey exploring the ins and outs of both stax and Nath's unique blend of stax in EDH. My interest in Nathstax initially manifested itself in two separate thoughts: a love for Nath as a general in EDH for other kinds of decks (I've built the guy before, in fun builds like elf tribal and discard control), and an interest in getting a taste of the stax archetype in my favorite format, EDH. I picked Nath again for the first time in years halfway through 2015 and promised myself I would begin building a competitive-level stax deck with him at the helm over time. This deck has come a long way as a result, and while it has obliterated my wallet on more than one occasion, it is now substantially better, and has become a deck I will bring to EDH night and play if the mood for a more-serious game arises, and I feel the need to play some dirty and powerful Magic.

For reference, this deck uses a sideboard for siding in/out certain cards depending on whether or not the deck is being used in a multiplayer game or if it's being used in a 1v1 game. I built the deck with intent to play it in small multiplayer settings so the multiplayer-oriented cards reside normally in the mainboard. So for 1v1 duels we side out multiplayer-oriented discard effects Bottomless Pit, Necrogen Mists, and Syphon Mind (Cunning Lethemancer also fits this description but since he is a creature I tend to value him slightly higher than the other ones) for our brutal single-target discard effects in the sideboard: Hymn to Tourach, Mind Twist, and Mind Shatter.

MTGS has been an omnipresent resource for me in all things EDH-related, but I'd particularly like to note that the forums and the guide/primers on there have been especially crucial in my research and learning regarding this deck. Major thanks to TheTrueNub who made a list and primer Here that has been a major influence in my working list.

Please check out the below update section for a comprehensive and up-to-date outline of the changes and directions of this list, and leave any feedback in the comments if you'd like! Thanks!

Date added	9 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 3 Rares 21 - 1 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.71
Tokens	Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Human 2/2 G, Wolf 1/1 B, Wolf 2/2 G, Worm 1/1 BG