Sideboarding in Stax

[aosquirrels]

I've recently converted from playing Control Slaver to Stax.  It seems to fit my play style better.  My meta is somewhat scrubby and mostly unpowered with the better players running Oath, Control Slaver, Gifts, Fish, and IT.  My difficulty is trying to figure out what to sideboard in AND out for these specific matchups.  I've had mixed success trying all sorts of sideboarding and have yet to find that comfort zone to where I feel confidant against these matchups.  Here is the list I am currently running.  Any thoughts?

Main Deck
1 Black Lotus
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald 
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
4 Smokestack
1 Sol Ring
3 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
1 Trinisphere
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
1 Gorilla Shaman
4 Goblin Welder
1 Crop Rotation
1 Ancestral Recall
1 In The Eye Of Chaos
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Balance
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Wheel of Fortune

Land
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 City of Brass
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Workshop
3 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Ray of Revelation
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Choke
1 Jester's Cap
2 Tormod's Crypt

Once I get one, I would like to try replacing In The Eye Of Chaos with Imperial Seal, but that is another subject.  My biggest difficulty is deciding what to board out rather than what to board in.  I find most often that Smokestack is not always effective and end up boarding them out.  Is this correct?

[xycsoscyx]

Well, especially if you change In the Eye of Chaos for Imperial Seal, since it'll be exactly Roland Changs list from GenCon, maybe he can comment?  XD  Sorry, couldn't help myself, but it's true, it's card for card the same list, if you seitch ItEoC for Seal.

As for sideboarding and such, it really depends.  Gifts and Control Slaver, ReB becomes an invaluable tool, as does Choke.  I'd hesitantly say that Sphere of Resistance is less usefull in those matches, but especially with the new Dark Gifts floating around, shutting down their Tendrils combo can really hurt them.  Memory Jar is almost an instant sideout in those matches, though, as they're going to typically get the better use out of the fresh hand (and free cards in their grave).  Against IT, definitely side in Chalices, and possibly even Jester's Cap, probably cutting Tangle Wires (they are a nice stall, but shutting off their spells entirely is far more useful via the Chalice, as long as you can anticipate those bounces and handle them accordingly).  Fish is just an interesting matchup, in my opinion, and it reallllly depends on the type of Fish deck.  Choke and ReB are useful here, usually (Choke especially), though personally, I'm never sure what to remove in these matchups myself.

[aosquirrels]

Well, especially if you change In the Eye of Chaos for Imperial Seal, since it'll be exactly Roland Changs list from GenCon, maybe he can comment?  XD  Sorry, couldn't help myself, but it's true, it's card for card the same list, if you seitch ItEoC for Seal.

WOW. My original list came from viewing quite a number of lists from the SCG database.  I needed a starting point so this was as good of place as any.  Originally I had 3 TFK and a Swords in the MD while the sideboard originally had Viashino Heretics instead of R&R.  While playing AGAINST Stax, I would face In the Eye of Chaos so I thought I would try one to see if I like it.  Didn't realize that the few changes made it that close to RChang's build.  Now if I could only play half as good as him.

[Moxlotus]

Whatever you do, do NOT cut Tangle Wires against IT.  They are a pain in the ass that makes us delay the Rebuild plan a few turns.  Then you play another one and we wait a few more turns.  In the meantime, you have the chance to Waste fetchlands, or get a Stack into play.  When people put Tangle Wires in Uba Stax it changed the entire match.

[taniquetil]

I'm not as seasoned of a Stax player as you guys out there, but there are some things that I would like to point out.

Chalice of the Void maindeck isn't such a bad choice. There's some debate between people about where it should go, it might just be a matter of preference. I run Chalice main, and although I"m not a name-player, it seems to work ok. It also has a synergy with Tangle Wire.

Do NOT cut In the Eye. I have played against some people on Workstation and In the Eye can absolutely kill some decks. Gifts takes a really hard hit, as does combo.

I have not taken a particular liking to Memory Jar. More often than not, you have less of an ability with Stax to go broken than your opponent. This is even true in goldfish games. Wheel of Fortune is to me also a very big IF for the same reason. Sometimes, you just don't have the ability to break it as much as your opponent does. And it doesn't have the disadvantage that Memory Jar has of going away at EOT. If you don't do something absolutely explosive off Wheel of Fortune you're in some seriously deep shit.

I like Jester's Cap main, since it's good against Oath, Gifts, and combo. I would definitely put in at least one maindeck and see how that works out for you.

Duplicant in the board also if there's Oath in your meta.

[aosquirrels]

Whatever you do, do NOT cut Tangle Wires against IT.  They are a pain in the ass that makes us delay the Rebuild plan a few turns.  Then you play another one and we wait a few more turns.  In the meantime, you have the chance to Waste fetchlands, or get a Stack into play.  When people put Tangle Wires in Uba Stax it changed the entire match.

I agree.  I really can't imagine a matchup that Tangle Wire would be bad.  In fact, I just lost last night to IT by NOT playing Tangle Wire when I should have.  I tried to get a Crucible/Strip lock but came up one turn short.

@taniquitil: So far, Memory Jar has be 50/50 in the brokenness department.  I'm still goint to keep it MD until I get a better feel for it.  Jester' Cap MD seem a reasonable idea as I have been constantly boarding it in.

[xycsoscyx]

Well fortunately, I don't really see much IT around here, which is why I'm not running Tangle Wire currently.  As for Memory Jar and Wheel of Fortune, I really don't like them, but it really is a personal preference as well.  It can royally screw combo if you break it at the right time (while they combo, or in response to things), but overall, I usually find it a dead card.  Keep in mind that you don't need it for card advantage, it can be a great weapon, screwing with your opponents hand as you break it and Weld it back in and break it again, all in response to them trying to do something (while annoying, it really can wreck whatever strategy they're planning out).

As for Chalice, I think it's a must MB, but again, it depends on your metagame.  I think it's just a great card, it's a big NO, but you have to know what to set it at.  Sometimes your opponent just cries at it, sometimes they just laugh.

In the Eye of Chaos, love the card (my original post about switching it for Seal was just joking, I've actually never been big on Seal, even if it is another Tutor).  The Eye definitely wrecks decks, more so than a lot of the other components (usually they HAVE to look for their Chain of Vapor to get rid of it, and then still worry about your Artifacts).

Lastly, Jester's Cap, I still think it depends on your metagame.  It is a really strong cards, but it's also difficult to cast and sometimes not useful.  Decks that can run 4 of them (or at least 3) are what really take advantage of the card.  Running only one makes it difficult to get and then get out in time.  That's just my experience with it, though, in my local metagame (NW) it hasn't been great, as I don't face much Oath, and Combo seems to have subsided a bit.  Should I take a few Ichorids, maybe a couple Cutpurses, possibly take out their Trinisphere?  XD

[aosquirrels]

Thanks to everyone who posted here.  Its been a big help.

Since my original post, I have been trying all sorts of ideas (both MD and SB).  I am loving In the Eye of Chaos and CotV in the MD and I have had to include Pyroclasms in the board to deal with all the aggro (Gobbies) in my area.  My next venture is to try Chains of Mephistopheles in the MD.  Like In the Eye of Chaos, it seems like it should be solid against a lot of combo and control decks.