[Results] Swedish tournament. Stax dominating again.

[Wollblad]

During the weekend, a tournament was held in a small Swedish town called Borås. 48 contenders pulled together a metagame with a lot of Stax, and Fish and some Control-Slaver. There were 7 rounds of swiss (no top 8) and here are the decklists for the 8 best decks. Suprisingly few Oath decks showed suprisingly weak results. 7/10 split was the deck of the day, the only one played just crushed it's way through the Stax meta.

Erik Ferm
Deck: Stax
Result: 6-1-0

Main deck
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
4 Volcanic Island
3 Shivan Reef
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarain Academy

7 SoLoMoxen
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Grim Monolith

1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
4 Goblin Welder

4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Trinisphere
2 Sphere of Resistance
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Memory Jar
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
4 Thirst for Knowledge

Sideboard
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Triskelion
2 Blood Moon
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Viashino Heretic


Rickard Samuelsson
Deck: 7/10 Split
Result: 6-1-0

Main Deck
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 City of Brass
3 Wasteland
2 Shivan Reef
1 Glimmervoid
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy

7 SoLoMoxen
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
3 Gilded Lotus

4 Goblin Welder
2 Triskelion
2 Sundering Titan
1 Memnarch

4 Force of Will
4 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Memory Jar
2 Deep Analysis
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Timetwister
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Balance

Sideboard
3 Arcane Laboratory
4 Trinisphere
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Swords to Plowshares
3 Seal of Cleansing


David Stenberg
Deck: Stax
Result: 5-0-2

Main deck
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
4 Volcanic Island
3 Shivan Reef
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarain Academy

6 SoLoMoxen (no blue mox)
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Grim Monolith

1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Sundering Titan
2 Triskelion
4 Goblin Welder

4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Trinisphere
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Memory Jar
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
4 Thirst for Knowledge

Sideboard
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Sphere of Resistance
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Viashino Heretic


Christian Wollblad
Deck: Stax
Result: 5-2-0

Main deck
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
4 Volcanic Island
3 Shivan Reef
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Island
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarain Academy

7 SoLoMoxen
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt

1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
4 Goblin Welder

4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Trinisphere
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Sphere of Resistance
1 Memory Jar
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
4 Thirst for Knowledge

Sideboard
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Blood Moon
2 Viashino Heretic


Axel Rosander
Deck: U/R Fish
Result: 5-2-0

Main deck
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
4 Volcanic Island
3 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Faerie Conclave
1 Library of Alexandria

1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire

2 Goblin Valndal
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Cloud of Faeries
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Waterfront Bouncer

3 Curiosity
4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
3 Null Rod
2 Fire/Ice
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Gush

Sideboard
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Fire/Ice
1 Rck and Ruin
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Annul


Christopher Andersson
Deck: The Perfect Draw 7
Result: 5-2-0

Main deck
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Tolarain Academy

7 SoLoMoxen
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Grim Monolith
4 Dark Ritual

4 Force of Will
3 Duress
1 Rebuild
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
3 Diminishing Returns
1 Mind's Desire
1 Memory Jar
1 Future Sight
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Necropotence
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Tnedril's of Agony

Sidebaord
1 Darksteel Colossus
2 Underworld Dreams
3 Rebuild
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
2 Defence Grid
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hydroblast
1 Stifle


HÃ¥kan Glimhage
Deck: Hulk Smash
Result: 5-2-0

Main deck
4 Island
4 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand

6 SoLoMoxen (no white mox)
1 Mana Crypt

2 Psychatog

3 Duress
3 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Cunning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall

Sidebaord
1 Berserk
3 Naturalize
1 Duress
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Gush
1 Misdirection
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Coffin Purge
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Vail of the Nim
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Annul


Josef Rixman
Deck: Stax
Result: 5-2-0

Main deck
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Wasteland
4 Volcanic Island
3 Shivan Reef
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarain Academy

1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Diamond

1 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
4 Goblin Welder

4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Trinisphere
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Memory Jar
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Frantic Search
1 Mystical Tutor

Sideboard
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Viashino Heretic
1 Sundering Titan
2 Tsabo's Web
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Winter Orb

[Zherbus]

Thanks for the lists!

[Smmenen]

Obviously 7/10 crushed Stax!  If I played in your field with that much Stax I would play 7/10 or Workshop Slavery.  Resolving Chalice for 0 and Gilded Lotus against stax is halfway to winning.

If you are playing Stax and your opponent has resolved Gilded Lotus, the game is basically over.

7/10 has FoW, Workshops, and Lotuses.  All of these cards make it relatively easy to break out of a Stax lock.

[Wollblad]

More or less any Workshop aggro deck has autowin against Stax, but what really sealed the game was Memnarch. There is no way for Stax to win if Memnarch hits the table. The reason for not running Workshop Slaver is all Fish decks which, since they are modified to handle Stax, are not a simple matchup for Workshop Slaver. 7/10 split is better since it has more large creatures. I have tried to modified Stax to include Memnarch instead of Sundering Titan. In my decklist above the modifications are:
- 1 Island
- 1 Shevan Reef
- 1 Sundering Titan
- 2 Sphere of Resistance
+ 2 Gilded Lotus
+ 2 Chalice of the Void
+ 1 Memnarch
It also makes it possible to include one Transmute Artifact as an extra Tinker, but then you need to take a lock component out which is bad in our meta game with a lot of TPS (hence the Sphere of Resistance). The largest problem is that when Gilded Lotus hits the table, you are no longer in need of your Workshops and thus you have lost a card just to upgrade the manatype.

[Smmenen]

You mean SMEMNARCH.  Yes we were running Smemnarch in March.  Mindslaver is also VERY good against Stax.  If you run Workshop Slavery against Stax, it has an even better matchup against STax than 7/10 as one slave will almost single handedly FUCK UP Stax.  You can ramp a smokestack and sack more perms then they would have and sac key perms like Crucible etc.  You can also use their welders to keep you lock going.  It's just brutal.

[Elric]

Obviously 7/10 crushed Stax!  If I played in your field with that much Stax I would play 7/10 or Workshop Slavery.

...
You mean SMEMNARCH. Yes we were running Smemnarch in March.  

I think this is over the top.  For one thing, you seem to miss the differences in the tournament formats.  The optimal deck choice is less likely to be 7/10 in this tournament than in a similar tournament in the US.  

That is because the top 8 here is not played out.  4 of the top 8 decks are Stax, but it seems clear that half of the tournament is not Stax (think about the number of workshops that would take).  Stax, though, does much better than the expected field when it shows up.  Your goal when coming to a tournament is not to beat the “best deck” but rather to do as well as you can.  

Even if Stax decks dominate the rest of the field, you will only get to play them in the late rounds.  It’s not like top 8, where you need really good matchups against the other top decks (think Fish over the summer) to get first.  Here you need to survive the swiss rounds and your matchup against the likely top 8 decks only matters to the extent that it helps you do this.  Plus, insisting that everyone else call the card “Smemnarch” is just ridiculous.

[Smmenen]

your ridiculous for saying such things.

[MuzzonoAmi]

I was going to correct your grammar, but I think it's more important to point out that no one cares whar Mr. Steal Your Artifacts's name is.

[Grand Inquisitor]

2 Crucible of Worlds

Can someone explain this to me?  I've found that three crucibles is pretty much the right number, from my testing, and looking at results from large events.  In fact, I think it's a card that is good enough in workshop mirrors to go to four, if you're in a Stax heavy metagame.  How come all the lists only have two?  Is it people playing the same old list?  Is it one (wise) person in the group saying that's the way it's going to be?  I can't think of any reason why something can't be cut for more of these.

Also, given that seal of cleansing is nuts, and the 5c mana base allows for better cards, more consistent colors, and avoids titan, how come this switch hasn't been made either?

insisting that everyone else call the card “Smemnarch” is just ridiculous...your ridiculous for saying such things

Please children, I'm trying to learn from the Swedes, let's keep this up to par.