5C Stax w/ Oath

[kmzandrew]

So I recently reworked my stax deck quite a bit. I added red for wildfire effects and incorporated a much stronger orb lock than I had previously been running.

I would just like to hear any suggestions people might have as to what changes could be made. I know a lot of lists don't run as much discard and argivian restoration, but it has always been great for me. The real issue though is that the list is very tight. There are a number of cards that would make good inclusions, but what would I cut? Its also possible I left out something obvious as this is just a first draft of my new deck.


LAND- 37
mishra's workshop
rishadan port
the tabernacle at pendrell vale
wasteland
dust bowl
academy ruins
ancient tomb
blinkmoth well
library of alexandria
maze of ith
rishadan port
tolaria west
darksteel citadel
city of traitors
urborg tomb of yawgmoth
flagstones of trokair
island
city of brass
forbidden orchard
glimmervoid
flooded strand
windswept heath
arid mesa
polluted delta
scalding tarn
misty rainforest
wooded foothills
bayou
scrubland
badlands
underground sea
volcanic island
tundra
tropical island
savannah
taiga
plateau

Artifact- 28
chrome mox
mox diamond
everflowing chalice
grim monolith
fellwar stone
mind stone
boros signet
izzet signet
azorious signet
darksteel ingot
coalition relic
worn powerstone
thran dynamo
gilded lotus

sphere of resistence
winter orb
static orb
voltaic key
tangle wire
icy manipulator
clock of omens

crumbling sanctuary
crucible of worlds
obelisk of alara
sensei's divining top
smokestack
mindslaver
scroll rack

BLUE- 11
mana drain
gifts ungiven
intuition
fact or fiction
collective restraint
thirst for knowledge
compulsive research
transmute artifact
mind spring
argivian restoration
upheaval

GREEN- 3
crop rotation
oath of druids
life from the loam

WHITE- 6
moat
ravages of war
armageddon
oblivion ring
faith's fetters
martial coup

BLACK- 2
demonic tutor
tainted pact

Planeswalkers- 5
elspeth
ajani vengeant
tezzeret
garruk
jace mind sculptor

Creatures- 4
sharuum
sphinx steel wind
baneslayer
lodestone golem

GOLD- 1
vindicate

RED- 3
burning of xinye
wildfire
rolling earthquake

[Dreamer]

Pretty nice. But: You're running Loam, Crop Rotation, Smokestack, at least 7 fetchlands, Gifts, Intuition, Wasteland, etc. How about Worm Harvest as a wincon? Tutorable, hard to stop, and gives Smokestack lots of food. I admit to never having played Wildfire Stax, but it might be a fun/viable idea.

EDIT: Also, some deckstats.net output: http://deckstats.net/deck-76594-00189a2c0c3a3701f28e888e5e2554cd-en.html
The mana stuff isn't wholly accurate because of your mana trinkets, of course.

[Kassow-Rossing]

Have you considered:

1. Mind Twist
2. Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
3. Scepter of Dominance, Ring of Gix

?

I think Mind Twist, Trinisphere and Thorn should be included. Not the rest

[GoblinPiledriver]

Trinisphere is banned. Thorn would affect most of your spells, but not creature spells especially from your opponent.

[Kassow-Rossing]

I can't see how I forgot that. I (usually) always remember all the banned cards easily. How stupid of me to suggest this..

I think Thorn would help still even though it would be less functional against super agro. The decks runs SO much mana from so few cards on the battlefield at the same time.

Mind Twist can't be discussed. Mistake it's not in there.

[Kassow-Rossing]

A few more things:

1. Your deck only runs 99 cards because you have 2x Rishadan Port in the deck list. I suggest changing the extra for Cascade Bluffs since it gives you enough red for Burnings and Wildfire and most of the deck is blue.

2. I suggest changing Inkwell Lev. for Baneslayer Angel since it makes a better Oath target and is very playable in this deck. I suggest testing Staff of Domination and I suggest including Bojuka Bog

[Tiggupiru]

2. I do not understand playing Flagstones of Trokair when you're only playing ONE basic land. You need to play at least TWO for it to make the cut. I suggest playing a Snow-Covered Island.

The what now?

[kmzandrew]

It does appear I am missing a land as port is listed twice. I'm not exactly sure what I want to run in that slot. Bazaar has always been a favorite card of mine, and is very good with loam, but the engine usually takes a while to set up and can be quite slow. Running bazaar would make worm harvest much more interesting as well. Currently though I don't think worm harvest is all that viable.

Mind twist is good. Very good, but I tend to have most problems with aggressive strategies and it isn't all that great there. Control decks just fold if I am able to cast any of my bombs so it seems somewhat unnecessary.

[Dreamer]

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=103210&stc=1&d=1269384672

Cthulhu fhtagn!

[Kassow-Rossing]

Yep your creatures (post Eldrazi) should be 4 of the 6 (Five of the six or six of the six would work too since then Tainted Pact could fetch you Oath every time):

Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Sharuum the Hegemon
Inkwell Leviathan
Lodestone Golem
Kozilek, Buthcer of Truth
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

(I would maybe not play Kozilek since it has no protection)

Your deck would greatly benefit from All is Dust too (And maybe from cards from Scars of Mirrodin) so it's a future-secured built. Only problem with these cards is that they're not working with Mishra's Workshop but I guess that's not that big a deal