...It's a Legacy deck.
I've got 3 Elf decks built up and one resembles this one,
Vintage is a very different matter with 20+ Restricted cards in most Vintage Builds

-Judge-Julez-

Hi from the UK,

...well I have been enamoured with Y.Will in this deck ever since FAILING to hit a Gaea's & then stumbling upon the Y.Will that I had put in there as the 59th or 60th card, as I was running a lot of Black after getting my Imperial Seal. The recursion was so good that I managed to hard cast Akroma from the Graveyard, which made me think 'Tendrils would have worked there' with such a full graveyard.


Anyway, here is the current build that I am playing...


Mana Base:
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Mishra's Factory

Spells:
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Time Walk
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
4 Oath of Druids

Disruption/Counters:
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Leak
4 Muddle the Mixture

Draw/Tutor:
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Crop Rotation

Creatures:
1 Akroma (w)
1 Darksteel Colossus


________________

My oen major concern is the 4x Muddle in the 4xDuress slot. I have found the Muddle FAR FAR more useful to pitch to Force-of-Will; and it is inherently a tutor within itself to go get an Oath; which I seem to have to use one in every 3 games. I am still unhappy at losing the access to Duress, which is why it remains as a 3x of in the sidebarod against blue decks.

I have gone for less symbiosis in the cards, but utilising the Tinker/Colossus (with the support of all the Black Tutors) seems pretty strong.  The factories offer a 3rd form of victory against any non-land permanant clearance...I am pretty much forced into using the Mishra's due to the local creature-heavy metagame, as a tap to create a 3/3 blocker stops Kird Apes as well as pesky elves.

Regrowth+Time Walk (or Will for Time Walk) seems to happen fairly reguarly as well.

I have also tried 4x Disk, 4x E.Explosives and 4x Chalice; but the deck plays out pretty well as is.
I have also removed the off-colour moxes as I can acheive the STORM combo even without Pearl and Ruby. I much prefer having the Crpyt and Petal in their place. It's enough. I dont feel that you need to ''max out'' on the

• cost artifacts. I really have not experienced mana problems in this build.

If this gives you an idea or two that you can see incorportated into your version - then great. The only thing that jumped out at me - was that I am runnign Regrowth in place of your Recoup

Regards,

I always loved Capsize as well, but this seems to have been replaced with WIPE AWAY
it replaces the [3] casting cost bounce; and is uncounterable

Last time I played my OATH deck; I found that I shoved most of the library in the graveyard.
I have one Yawmgoth's Will maindecked and I found that I cast it; followed up with Mox, Mox, Mox, Lotus and hard cast the Akroma that had been killed off.

I had also found the 4 Mana Drains did little more than give me Mana Burn; so I am currently running 4x FoW, 4x Mana Leak and 4x Muddle the Mixture as a counter heavy build, and with the inherent tutoring ability to go fetch an Oath.

I think the black tutors should be included - ie Demonic Tutor, Vampriric Tutor & Imperial Seal

If you manage to pull of the combo FASTBOND + ZURAN ORB + CRUICIBLE OF WORLDS then you have unlimited life and/or unlimited mana. At this stage GREED can replace NECROPOTENCE and you can simply draw all of your deck, play all f your deck and win 

Hi from the UK,

I have been testing BlackStax for nearly 2 years now; and had to abandon it in favour of 5cStax some time ago;
now obviously it's raised it's head again due to the TOMB; and I am glad to see some players are
I'll post a decklist once I've looked at my build again, Currently it's BGW, but I am not happy as there seems to be a lack of synergy and I think it's a 5cStax and Balck competing at the moment.
In the meantime, here are some of my conclusions:-

Braids - very hard to cast, very hard to keep around. I am not surprised players have found problems with this card. She appears to be awesome, but is pretty much open to every counter and every creature kill out there.
I found a replacement in CULLING SCALES; which obviously is not as good as Smokestack, but its a LOT faster in its inception, and at least you get to start targeting; as well as pretty much not having to sacrifice your own permanents in many games.
I have even taken the steps to removing ALL off-colour Moxen (!!!) and putting in 4x Serum Powder after looking at the Manaless Ichorid Tech. This does help massively with mulligan consistency to get the right deal;
 - - - this is a huge rework of the mechanics, I know, but take a look and see how the higher casting cost artifacts simply rip into any lower casting cost stuff on the other side of the table;
the only weak match-up is against HIGHTIDE; which you pretty much have to change a large portion of the deck into s/b tech of IN-THE-EYE-OF-CHAOS, DEFENCE GRID etc.

Null Rod - Universally this appears to be found to be a useless card in playtesting (on all MUD and STAX Forum threads I have looked at). It does NOTHING against SolidarityHighTide, and doesnt seem to slow down the STORMing combo players all that much. I dont like to see it, and it's Chalice that is the deciding artifact, not Null Rod.  - - - With NULL ROD out of the way, it opens up for MEMORY JAR and use of the SERUM POWDERS as mana sources

Bazaar of Baghdad - I have used [4] on and off in the deck, but there seems to be more synergy with RIFTSTONE PORTAL over the TOMB; and I think this would generate a wholly different decklist with BALANCE, and CROP ROTATION, FASTBOND + ZURAN ORB + CRUCIBLE combo, (which I have used with GREED for some bizarre wins, but that build is not consitent)
That sort of list is inherently not black; and I like the discussion tech of Gate to Phyrexia to keep the deck on the dark side.

Sideboard Stuff
vs Creatures - Ive noticed the talk of CALTROPS and I am willing to try this in the sideboard slot that my WATCHDOGs currently occupy as it shuts down Ichorid, as well as dealing with annoying Goblin Tokens from EtW, as well as keeping Bob and Welders at bay

-Judge-Jules-

3x Watchdog

I've always had 3x Watchdog in my s/b (for the last 2 years at least).
I know it's weak against Bolt and S2P, but it is easily castable thru a Workshop; and it can be easily returned with a Welder. Last time it came out it completely shut down my opponent's army of faeries and flying men. (funny)

-J-J-