[Deck Discussion] Stax Alarm (Intruder alarm with 12 prison)

[mtg_player_2004]

This is somewhat of a variant of Stax and Tempe's Nitro Elves deck that uses Intruder Alarm for a win but still has as much lock as stax.  I think this is mostly self explanatory since it is the mixing of two previously explained decks, so the explanation will be short.

Combo it up (12)
4 Golbin Welder
3 Triskellion
3 Intruder Alarm
1 Metalworker
1 Karn, Silver Golem

First, play Welder.  Then alarm.  Get a trisk from your graveyard and weld it into play, this untaps welder.  Take off two counters from Trisk.  Next, weld trisk out of play for a different creature, thus untapping goblin welder yet again (hence the metalworker and karn.  Originally I went 3 trisk 3 Metal so this would be cheaper, but decided the stability it offers as non-combo when running a golem helps more.)  Weld trisk and the creature you just brought into play, untapping gob.  Use two counters again from trisk to deal 2 more damage, and continue this until you win.

Lock (12)
4 Tangle Wire
4 Smokestack
4 Sphere of Resistance

I am still switching sphere of res and trinisphere out to playtest, they both have their ups and downs, and I guess it's more of a metagame call in the end, so I won't go off too much about why I chose sphere of resistance.

Draw
4 Thirst of Knowledge
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall

Thirst being chosen over meditate for getting creatures into the graveyard for the combo.

Mana:
4 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
4 Mishra's Workshop
3 Wasteland
1 Strip mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
5 Mox

I wanted to splash black like in stax, but couldn't find room for demonic tutor, vampiric tutor and yawgmoth's will.

[TheFram]

Explain to me why the combo kill is needed in a Lock-based deck? Wouldnt 2 karns and another kill card do the job just as well?

[mtg_player_2004]

Not against other prison decks.

[RoadTrippin]

There's really no need for Intruder Alarm. The most common kill is the almighty scoop to a hard lock, and Intruder Alarm won't speed it up enough for it to be worth the games you lose because you weren't able to attain the hard lock. I'm pretty sure Avi wasn't asking as much as he was telling politely. Feel free to try it out obviously- innovation is where it's at take it from experience- but I'm sure you'll come to the conclusion you don't really need it. Just out of curiosity, were you recently banned as b1_3n or something like that? The same frequent poor quality threads with little thought and no testing put into them will lead you to the same fate, even if it wasn't you.

[mtg_player_2004]

The same frequent poor quality threads with little thought and no testing put into them will lead you to the same fate, even if it wasn't you.

Translation for other forum readers:

The failure to bend down and worship netdecks like the almighty gods they are will lead you to a miserable fate of never being as competetive as I am.

I did test this out, about 50 games worth actually, maybe you should try it out too before posting your "oh so helpful advice".  I added Alarm to help vs other lock decks (stax, tnt, ect) that can play with the lock, not to make this more powerful against RG beats or something like that, but uh, I can understand how that can be hard for you to get, considering IT WAS ONLY EXPLAINED IN THE POST JUST ABOVE YOURS.  Now do you understand why I get frustrated when I keep getting the same comments thrown at me over and over when they simply aren't true?

[DEA]

now you sound just like the a/m banned user :shock:

combo-lock sounds like an interesting idea, just that the problem is getting a an welder out
against any deck, an active welder usually wins games
without anyway to protect it, fire, bolts, and stp will quickly land on him
if your intention is to get the lock out before putting him into play, you might as well just win with a hardlock, which is what avi is trying to tell you

tnt is not a lock deck
if you're looking to improve other prison matchups, sb artifact hate is the way to go
the triskelions aren't bad against weenie aggro either
anyway, if you have a welder and a triskelion in play, you're in good shape

[RoadTrippin]

"Not against other prison decks."

You call that an explanation??! Absolutely not, especially when it's untrue. This is the comment that lead me to believe you haven't tested much, if at all- and you can't deny that fact in the other threads you've been posting.

[Haksaw]

I added Alarm to help vs other lock decks (stax, tnt, ect)

I'm a pretty serious WelderMUD player, and I'm pretty sure than people other than myself are playing Chalice of the Void in addition to the lock components you mentioned.  I would forsee a difficult 1st game against a prison deck that's packing them...set to one, it stalls your whole engine.

Is Timetwister included just for Power kicks?  It seems like if you get artifacts out of your deck and into your graveyard for Welder, that would be a good thing.

Lastly, your red mana base is in a lot of danger from a full compliment of Wastelands, not to mention a resolved Blood Moon guarantees that you can't cast any blue spells off anything but your Mox Sapphire/Black Lotus...2 out of 60 ain't good odds.  

I realize that's a lot of criticism without much suggestions for improvements.  I'd focus first on mana base, taking into account Blood Moon and Wastelands (which you'll see from many TNT/WelderMUD builds), and heavily recommend Rack and Ruin sideboard, as well as possibly including Gorilla Shaman...as I forsee you playing first in the second game of the match against a heavy prison deck, and you may be able to drop it first turn, gaining you significant advantage towards blowing up Chalice/Sphere.  If they're playing Trinisphere, don't even bother with the Monkey.