Your curve is ridiculous, and it looks like you have very little ramp to keep up with other CEDH decks. My Deckbox Smells of Rich Mahogany has been my pet deck for 2 years of you want to look at what ive brewed with.

Thanks for the suggestion EndStepTop. I know that this is a problem with the deck, and I'm thinking of removing some of the larger spells, maybe only staying up to 7 with Platinum Angel. A lot of the larger spells are lore friendly or ridiculous finishers that could be fun but I get how they can be clunky. I do like your deck and but I would want to replace the Arbor Elf variants with some things that are a bit ... cooler. Would opting for more smaller mana rocks work instead? I don't have cards like the mox stones or a Mana Crypt but I have cards like Joraga Treespeaker, Mind Stone, Coldsteel Heart, Somberwald Sage, Burnished Hart, and Worn Powerstone.

Mana dorks help me run Null Rod which is a beast against a lot of competitive decks. I think platinum angel is bad against competitive decks. This deck hits the ground really slow and doesn't start doing "its thing" until after t4 when most decks will be trying to win. Your deck has lots of foodstuff and lacks a density of cards that enable strong starts.

Ok, what would you suggest then to get strong starts, I'm tinkering with it a little, I am also removing everything past Wurmcoil Engine in mana since I don't really want to give up on it. I can't really run null rod considering how my deck works.

As much ramp as you can get in the sub 2 cmc area. Ancient Tomb is a land to consider. I suggest Golgari Signet, Grim Monolith,various 1 mana dorks (cut Jorga tree speaker and solemn simulacrum) The dorks help "turn on" Survival and play around contamination. Running as many tutors as you can also helps make sure you execute your game plan asap. When playing stax you're trying to limit your opponents resources, the most critical is mana. If you give them time to resolve a decent amount of ramp, attacking their manabase becomes much tougher. If you choose to abandon the mana dork plan, try running Cursed Totem to shut off opposing dorks from playing around Contamination and shuts off a HUGE amount of combos.

EndStepTop I have a question for someone who plays /. I personally don't own the card but if you have used it, has Abrupt Decay worked for you in the format. It seems very strong against cancerous blue decks and I know that Smother is a popular pick in Tiny Leaders.

I like abrupt decay, not just because of the prevalence of but because it answers so many permanents like Necropotence or a sword of x and y.

It might be a good choice for removal but I'll stick to Krosan Grip until I can nab one. I replaced a lot of the more expensive cards in the deck (CMC Wise) with cheaper cards and added more ramp.

What you think about No Mercy

venok I really like that card actually. It was one of my first stax cards and I'm pretty fond of it. Very very strong if you back it up with some degenerate lifegain or drain. It would be my budget replacement for Nether Void or Damnation.

That is a very long description, so +1.

Thanks for the upvote poox523. I tried to make a database of all sorts of stax cards that people could abuse and I researched and found these cards so that I could share them. There are a lot of budget picks in the list because not everyone can afford a Nether Void and everyone should get to enjoy stax :)

Genesis Chamber is some pretty sweet hax for getting more artifacts back, especially with something like Tainted AEther in play

Thats pretty sweet actually, thanks for the suggestion :) it also works with my mindslaver combo

Oh man. This is great. I might have to take some for my Lord of Tresserhorn stax deck, Lord of Stealing Shit if that's ok. I would also love your input on it if you have time. It's supposed to be a bit more casual, but some of the strategy uses zombie stax.

I am overwhelmed. I love it. May all be compleat.

It is overwhelming but I tried to condense it as best I could while still filling it with all the cards and important deck info. Thanks for the support and I hope it was helpful. :)

It looks tight for space, but what about Volrath's Stronghold? Card advantage and being able to get back Seedborn/Beast etc seems nice.

Also, you need Sylvan Library! Consider Worldly Tutor to grab what you want. I'd say that Flayer Husk is a little too cute to warrant a spot, providing not enough value or interaction at face value. Outside of the combo you with Station and Krark it looks inconsistent.

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar looks a like good inclusion too as it provides continuous fodder and defends itself.

How has Voltaic Key and Moriok Replica been? I'm a little skeptical about Key. It'd look much better if Mana Crypt was in there.

Thanks for the suggestions Bilgames91

I don't own a Mana Crypt sadly or a Stronghold. I had a Worldly Tutor in here but I'm swapping it to test out Traverse the Ulvenwald, the old guy may find his way back in.

I may just get rid of the key and husk for a Reassembling Skeleton or Nether Traitor and fore-go infinites besides the Mindslaver locks. I honestly don't know what to add more of though. Bodies are important but more control is always nice.

I like Moriok Replica since its from my favorite set but it can be durdly if I don't have enough mana. Its still a recurable body that has a Sign in Blood taped onto it and my creature count is pretty low to begin with. He would be the first to go if I get a Sylvan Library I must admit. Do you think Solemn Simulacrum would be better?

I've always had a negative view toward walkers since they are expensive $ wise and die to Creeping Tar Pits or any damage but she sounds pretty good. Do you use her often?

I haven't used Nissa but I was just throwing ideas out there, you raise a valid point though. I think that there are better cards for this deck.

Solemn Simulacrum seems like a good fit. My Glissa deck is less stax-y but has been able to recur value out of Solemn and the slower Burnished Hart, with Mimic Vat. Can't say how good Hart will be in here but Swamps are important and the ramp it provides can get out of hand if unchecked. I'm not sure if I'd run Hart if I were to remove Station (more on that below).

On Mimic Vat - I think it collides with Sword of Light and Shadow, since you'll be imprinting cards you'll want to reanimate. I feel that Mimic Vat has more room for value though since you can abuse triggers with Strionic (hello Wurmcoil), and Vat acts as great utility. I can see how Mimic would be bad but I can't help but feel that Sword of Light and Shadow is a bit... slow maybe?

Either way, Eternal Witness could be added. Goes with Strionic and Skullclamp too. Really good with Mimic Vat - as is Sidisi.

I was thinking about Green Sun's Zenith as well since you have mana dorks and Dryad Arbor. Seems like it would earn its place well. What about Chord of Calling too? Although I feel that it's a bit too slow and colour dependant.

So were you thinking about removing Salvaging Station, Key and Husk? To tell you truth Station has been pretty clunky in my build even with the utility I added (e.g. Nihil Spellbomb). To that end I'd be tempted to remove Exsanguinate as I've only found it useful in putting me ahead by 20ish life. I had drawing it early and tend to do it often, despite 20ish life giving me an extra turn or two.

If you like Exsanguinate then Crypt Ghast might be your thing.

I am terrible at formatting.

hate drawing Exsanguinate early*

Its easier to format when you use the buttons on the bar above your comment :)

I have actually swapped the sword of L&S out for Mimic Vat occasionally and I may do so again, I just don't like getting Swords to Plowsharesed and prot white is rare.

I don't leave my home without Exsanguinate. Ive played really big games with way more than 4 people and it does too much work to be left out. I combo it with Crypt Ghast or a Nirkana Revenant in my mono black decks when swamps are a bigger thing and it can reach its maximum potential with burst mana or infinites.

Green Sun's Zenith is a possibility but Chord of Calling is too green intensive. Stupid wizards making Glissa, the Traitor and not , it makes it annoying to cast her in this deck sometimes.

I don't know about the station, it might just be better to run more support cards but I like its interaction with a lot of my artifacts, even if its not infinite. I would also remove a few cards like Lotus Bloom if it was gone. I like the station because if glissa is unreachable (Nevermore for example) and I couldn't resonator her then I wouldn't have many ways to recur my things.

from your suggestions, which I greatly appreciate, I would opt for the Mimic Vat, Mana Crypt if and when i get it, and Sylvan Library. If I removed the salvaging station package, I would have 4 slots available when the blossom, the key, the husk, and the station are gone and I would want to replace them with cards that would fit into the sections they are in.

You can convoke the Green from Chord. It's how I've justified it since it is usable with something like Contamination down.

That is a good point EndStepTop

What is your opinion on swapping out Salvaging Station and co.? It might open up some spots for more control and support for the Mindslaver combos.

Also it has been awhile since you last commented on the deck, I have made much more progress and added a primer. I would appreciate if you checked it out and gave me some feedback. It may be a bit overwhelming but I wanted to provide a resource to people who want to build a stax deck but need help finding the cards. They really don't print many good stax spells nowadays.