6th Place Waterbury day 2 ICBM Stax

[The_spooky_kid]

            Where to start?   I almost was convinced that stax was dead.  The environment in the past month and a half to two months has warped so greatly from a drain format, to an aggro format, and flash.  A decklist You see on one of these forums con easily become obsolete the second you view them.  Stax is a very fragile deck.  Even a single card off can turn a winning deck into a losing deck.  So about a month before TMD Open, I started preparing and testing a brand new build of what could be considered a dead deck, at a milwaukee event. For reference view here.  http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=33689.0 
            I've had a lot of success with stax in the past, and I wasn't ready to put it down.  From that tournament on, about 4 or 5 of us had extensive test sessions.  Testing almost daily to get everything ready for waterbury.  Innitially we had a new Oath build a lot of us considered for day 1, but quickly realized that it just wasnt ready, or quite tuned enough for my likings.  I@n Degraff called me and told me that we should all play flash, and If he could go to waterbury that hje would play falsh.  His decklist is also in the link above.  I played flash day 1. Along with 3 other teammates. I went 5-2 with it, and got 26th place out of about 130.  Not bad, but didn't win me anything.  Then quickly after I entered a side event with the list below, differing by 4 cards.  +1 wastland, +2 pithing needle, + 1 gorilla shaman, - 3 smokestack, -1 triskelion.
People have been Pm'ing me about my decklist and stuff of what I played at waterbury, so here is what I played  in the day 2 main event.

Jeremy Seroogy

ICBM (Spooky) Stax

MainDeck
4 mishra's workshop
4 city of brass
3 gemstone mine
3 wasteland
3 mishra's factory
1 strip mine
1 tolarian academy
1 mox jet
1 mox ruby
1 mox emerald
1 mox pearl
1 mox sapphire
1 black lotus
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
1 sol ring
4 leyline of the void
4 chalice of the void
4 sphere of resistance
3 crucible of worlds
3 smokestack
1 trinisphere
1 in the eye of chaos
1 ancestral recall
1 tinker
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
2 goblin welder
1 balance
1 powder keg
2 triskelion
1 platinum angel
1 sundering titan

Sideboard

3 Red Elemental Blast
1 In The Eye Of Chaos
3 Juggernaut
1 Time Walk
1 Duplicant
2 Viashino Heretic
1 powder keg
2 Ray of Revelation
1 Pithing needle

I honestly Don't remember any of the specifics from the tourney, I played against a wide specrum of decks.

Round 1 VS SS 2-1  had a gameloss for tardiness.
Round 2 Vs Flash 2-0
Round 3 Vs ICBM Goblins Elias Valisburg 1-2
Round 4 Vs Gat 2-1
Round 5 vs Stax 2-0
Round 6 vs Gush storm 2-1
Round 7 Vs Gat 2-0

Top 8 Vs ICBM Goblins Elias Valisburg 1-2

I'll post drunken pictures tomorrow...

[zeus-online]

Why 2 triskelions ? Wouldn't duplicant be better against GAT?

I suppose trisk shuts the sliver kill down (Flash), but how often is trisk online before they can combo out?

/Zeus

[The_spooky_kid]

Stax slows flash down greatly, much more so than any control deck.  I hadn't had a problem vs flash.  Chalkice at 0 or 2 can easily be up by turn 2, then they enter top deck mode for there chain of vapor.  mishra's factory, powder keg also aid in shutting down flash. 

[islanderboi10]

Stax slows flash down greatly, much more so than any control deck.  I hadn't had a problem vs flash.  Chalkice at 0 or 2 can easily be up by turn 2, then they enter top deck mode for there chain of vapor.  mishra's factory, powder keg also aid in shutting down flash. 

Could Engineered Explosive be a replacement for Powder Keg? Or could someone explain what the big difference is?


Good work on the top 8, btw.

[wethepeople]

Stax slows flash down greatly, much more so than any control deck.  I hadn't had a problem vs flash.  Chalkice at 0 or 2 can easily be up by turn 2, then they enter top deck mode for there chain of vapor.  mishra's factory, powder keg also aid in shutting down flash. 

Could Engineered Explosive be a replacement for Powder Keg? Or could someone explain what the big difference is?


Good work on the top 8, btw.

Unlike Keg, EE requires colored mana, which the deck has a limited amount of. It then requires aditional [non-Shop] mana to be activated. Powder Keg on the other hand can be casted from none-other than Mishra's Workshop. Keg also can be Welded in, and can incrementally apply counters afterwards. EE however, when Welded into play, does not have any counters, which you may very well need to destroy some Slivers, Dryads, etc.

Congradulations on your finish. It's good to see Stax continue to put up results.

[Hell of a Hat]

Interesting build, I have been running something very similar and have some questions on your take. 

I'm currently running only 3 Chalice on the thought that dropping one @ 2 is vicious, but dropping it @ 0 is only truly effective turn one while on the play.  Beyond that I don't really find myself wanting to play them all that often. Also CIP counter effects & welder tricks don't play well together (also why I've switched Keg for EE as i-boi mentioned).  Are you siding any of them out while on the draw?  Do you find the 4th copy worth the slot?

Do you really find Balance to be pulling it's weight?

I have also cut Plats on the feeling that she wasn't really winning games, she just puts off losing.  Sure she allows for the occasional pull-out-of-your-ass-about-to-lose wins.  I'm running Karn here, he actively changes the game state, if you have the lock all your pieces can immediately start swinging, usually ending the game in the next one or two turns.  He's easier to hardcast, making a wall agianst early game dryads (or Tarmogoyfs of any size).  At worst he comes in on his fat metal ass and blows up any jewelry thats leaked through.  I guess this one could just be my aggressive play nature coming through my deck choices.

The biggest difference in our artifact listings is probably lock mechanisms we use, I have Tangle Wire + Orb of Dreams in lieu of your Smokestack + Crucible (I do run Crucible, just as a supplementary plan with waste-effects rather than primary)

Lastly a sideboard question: What do you side in Juggernaut / Time Walk for?  If I had to guess I'd guess leylines come out for REB/ItEoC agianst blue instant laden decks like GAT and for these against fishy type decks.

That ended up being a good amount longer than I set out for, thanks for the mini-report!

[Razvan]

balance is one of those cards you always want to cut because in 95% of the game you never cast it, nor would there ever be a point where you want to cast it.
the problem is that when you do need it, it's godly, and it's the only card that can get you out of certain jams.
it's easily sideboard-able in a lot of matchups, like ichorid.
and platinum is great, but it can often be left in the SB. not losing for a few turns is pretty good.

[mutedequilibrium]

balance is one of those cards you always want to cut because in 95% of the game you never cast it, nor would there ever be a point where you want to cast it.
the problem is that when you do need it, it's godly, and it's the only card that can get you out of certain jams.

I don't know what kind of Stax you've been playing, or how, but I've found Balance to be the #1 most broken card in the deck. I am never sad when I see it. It has great synergy w/ Gemstone Mine, as well as Crucible, as well as Smokestack. It's always a Mind Twist unless you're playing Ichorid [and obv we side it out in that matchup]. It is by far the ultimate kick-your-opponent-when-they're-down card. Balance to Stax is like Fastbond to GAT is like Yawgmoth's Will to Long.

I'm currently running only 3 Chalice on the thought that dropping one @ 2 is vicious, but dropping it @ 0 is only truly effective turn one while on the play.  Beyond that I don't really find myself wanting to play them all that often. Also CIP counter effects & welder tricks don't play well together (also why I've switched Keg for EE as i-boi mentioned).  Are you siding any of them out while on the draw?  Do you find the 4th copy worth the slot?

I agree w/ Explosives, but not so much w/ 3 Chalices. It's always been a 4 of for me no matter what. Getting Chalice @ 2 countered isn't so bad when you have another one to play next turn. And being that Stax is the most frightening deck on the play [next to Grim Long], having 4 Chalices is an absolute must when it is.

I have also cut Plats on the feeling that she wasn't really winning games, she just puts off losing.

Is Ichorid prevelant in your area? That was the only time I ran Platz in the main, as I wasn't running Leyline. I've found Leyline only really makes a big difference vs Ichorid, and Flash. I found keeping Leyline in the board for both matchups was sufficient. Leyline main leads me to believe your meta is crawling w/ Ichorid and Flash. Is that close?

[The_spooky_kid]

First off Balance to me is one of the best cards in the deck.   I would run 8 of them if i could.  Whenever I draw it I never feel its a dead draw.  Right now with such an aggro heavy metagmae it is the asbolute nuts, and powder keg is kind of a compliment to that in which it helpes control the aggro from your opponents.  id say 8/ 10 times keg will kill a creature.   

As for platinum angel, platinum angel is kind of a near must right now. So many decks run limited ways to remove her, and in combination with lock components its near impossible at times to remove her.  The biggest overlooked plus is that she has flying, and no matter how big that dryad is It will always swing for 4.  I cut Karn simply because while it does a good job of eating moxen and is a clock, chalice of the void and powder keg can do the same thing.  and cutting him gave me access to be able to have a second triskelion in my main.  Triskelion is good vs everything right now, and I do mean eveything. He feels comfortable as a 2 of, and is much faster than triskelivus.  Goblin welder has never been so weak as it is right now.  Every single deck is running one form of graveyard hate or another.  I still run him as a 2 of, for the simple fact that he can do some crazy things.   

Chalice of the void is seriously my second favoritecard next to In the eye of choas.  In every single stax build I've ever played or will ever play, It will be a 4 of no questions asked.  No matter the deck it can shut off a wide range of things, and on the draw vs like an aggro-esque deck I usually side only 1 of them out.  granted they are not as strong on the draw, they are for sure a power house.

Leyline fo the void in the main is kind of questionable in some people's eyes, but I felt it was necessary with the amount of flash in the environment.  It seriously is the only thing keeping you alive game one past turn 1, and it has stolen so many games for me being main.  It quite possibly turns your number one absolute worst match to an easy one, gives you a solid game vs flash, and does a wide variety of other things.

Stax can no longer reuse wastlands and strip effects.  It turns welders into vanilla creatures, and make crucible of worlds for your opponent a 3 cc useless perminant.  I personally feel that leylines maindeck are quite possibly the most usefull thing the deck could have, and it gives you such an advantage vs everything.  Yawgmoth's will is nearly useless.  Tog cannot get really big.  It has a static effect vs evey single deck in the format.  and will probably be a 4 of in the main in most of my builds and builds to come.  Its quite honestly one of the best lock components stax has to offer right now. 

Engineered Explosives has been in previous builds of mine, and it is a very good card right now. I just feel powder keg does the job a little better.

I used to play orb of dreams as a SB card.  It mainly battled Ichoird, and was good vs heavy fetchland decks and combo.  I just feel that leyline serves a better purpose right now than orb can, and it adresses the bad matchups better.

Crucible of worlds is the absolute nuts right now. It recurs factories and strip effects. factories can block creatures all day, no problem. I personally don't think a stax deck can be effective without it right now.  Smokestack while some hate it, and it can be slow, is still one of the best ways to control perminants in your favor.  It eats everything.

As for SBing

Juggernauts and time walk come in vs any workshop decks, slaver if its around, and slower aggro decks like fish, and SS.  Against opposing stax decks I leave in leylines.  Against flash the most common way I sb vs them on the draw is +3 REB, +1 ITEOC +1 powder keg, - mox emerald, -3 smokestack, -1 welder.  against gat the same 5 come in, and dupicant, I usually side out 1 leyline on the draw vs gat. 

[Hell of a Hat]

Great explanations, thanks.