Staxx Oath 5.1

[Kassow-Rossing]

Original thread started 20.04.2012
Hello and welcome to my fifth article. At first I would like to mention the fact that some may agree with my decisions and my arguments and some may not but I choose to post this article to those who are interested. I will take any critique. Happy reading.

I have long ago realized Staxx is never going to be the deck to beat in Highlander but that doesn't keep me from trying to have some fun with it and trying to optimize it anyways. I use math for some of my decisions but some decisions are also based on experiences and personal choices even though I know this is not always the best way to do it.

When I first start to design a deck I go through the following steps of deck-building:


1. At what level should this deck be able to compete? I have chosen for my deck to not be tier 1 but instead design my own casual deck, which should be able to compete with the top Highlander decks occasionally. For that I need some sort of all-in strategy, because a strategy with lower top-level than the top decks and lower bottom-level than the top decks will never beat the top decks. This deck can perform at an extremely high level but can also do absolutely nothing sometimes.

2. What do I want the deck to do and what theme should I go with? I have once again chosen to build a Staxx deck. This time it will be a lighter Staxx version since I don't run that many themed cards. Out goes Smokestack, Armageddon, Ravages of War, Rising Waters, Static Orb, Trinisphere, Sphere of Resistance, Nether Void, Dust Bowl and the likes. This time I'll run some more efficient spells which may win me some games.

3. Which colours does it need to do whatever the theme is? I have chosen a five-colour version because I feel I need white for Swords to Plowshares, Vindicate, Wrath of God and Elspeth, Knight-Errant, I need blue for Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Tezzeret the Seeker, I need green for Oath of Druids, Garruk Wildspeaker, Primeval Titan, Life from the Loam and Sylvan Library, I need black for discard spells, tutor spells, Damnation and Bitterblossom and I need red for Wildfire effects and Inferno Titan. It is quite possible to build a similar deck with only three colours, but I intend this deck to be fun and functional rather than just functional. My idea of fun is this.

4. Find the potential cards and start the deck building.




The deck list:

36 lands
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10 dual lands
10 fetch lands
Krosan Verge

Creeping Tar Pit
Celestial Colonnade
Stirring Wildwood

Flagstones of Trokair

Exotic Orchard

Academy Ruins
Wasteland
Rishadan Port

Ancient Tomb
Crystal Vein

City of Brass
Glimmervoid
Tendo Ice Bridge
Reflecting Pool

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
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12 Mana Stones
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Mox Diamond

Grim Monolith

Prismatic Lens
Fellwar Stone
Talisman of Progress
Talisman of Dominance
Azorius Signet
Dimir Signet
Golgari Signet
Orzhov Signet

Coalition Relic
Worn Powerstone
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7 Theme Cards
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Winter Orb
Tangle Wire

Life from the Loam
Crucible of Worlds

Wildfire
Burning of Xinye
Devastation
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5 Disruption Spells
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Mana Drain
Thoughtseize
Duress
Inquisition of Kozilek
Hymn to Tourach
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4 Sweeper Spells
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Day of Judgment
Damnation
Wrath of God
Humility
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4 Removal Spells
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Swords to Plowshares
Vindicate
Maelstrom Pulse
Consuming Vapors
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13 Draw or Tutor Spells
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Sensei's Divining Top
Sylvan Library

Gamble
Demonic Tutor
Tainted Pact
Intuition

Ancestral Vision
Timetwister
Fact or Fiction

Muddle the Mixture
Wargate

Primal Command

Yawgmoth's Will
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7 Planeswalkers
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Garruk Wildspeaker
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Ajani Vengeant
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Tezzeret the Seeker
Gideon Jura
-----------------------




6 Creatures
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Kitchen Finks

Primeval Titan
Inferno Titan
Wurmcoil Engine

Rune-Scarred Demon
Iona, Shield of Emeria
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6 Other Win-Conditions
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Oath of Druids

Thopter Foundry
Sword of the Meek

Bribery
Bitterblossom
Batterskull
-----------------------
100 Total




About the card choices:
The Lands: The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is a meta-environment card and I find it good enough at the moment. Even without any Armageddons in the deck. I will test some other cards instead of Tabernacle once Avacyn Restored has release.

The Mana Stones: I have chosen to cut Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus because I don't think I want to ramp any more once I have four mana. "Wasting" a turn on ramping is fine in turn 2 or sometimes turn 3 but I do not wish to spend my fourth turn on ramping. Thran Dynamo has some serious power though but for now I wish to play more threads and less ramp.

The Theme Cards: I don't play many theme cards any longer and as explained in the intro there's a reason for it: I wish to do something different than just being a Staxx deck. By cutting stuff like Nether Void, Smokestack, Rising Waters and Armageddons I get more room for Thopter-Sword combo and some tutors for example.

The Disruption Spells: Once again I've added some discard spells to this version because I feel they are extremely functional. They take out the one Price of Progress, Stoneforge Mystic, Qasali Pridemage or Garruk Wildspeaker, which would otherwise have killed me. I can't find any other good discard spell at the moment so it'll have to stay at four. Muddle the Mixture have been added but I'll talk about that one later.

The Sweeper Spells: I no longer run Barter in Blood as the fifth sweeper spell. I find it very useful but I don't need that many removal spells. Humilty is great in the deck with man-lands, Gideon Jura, Batterskull or any token generator.

The Removal Spells: I have cut Oblivion Ring. It was almost as strong as Maelstrom Pulse most of the times but other times it fell short and went almost useless. Also I didn't need that many removal spells any longer and it was the weakest link.

The Draw or Tutor Spells: I've added Gamble, Intuition, Ancestral Vision, Timetwister, Muddle the Mixture and Yawgmoth's Will. Gamble is great in turn 1 to fetch an Oath of Druids or a combo piece for the Thopter-Sword combo. It also finds Loam-Waste combo pieces. This card will most likely not always be in my Staxx Oath deck because I will test other cards instead of it. Intuition is in here for testing with the Loam-Waste combo but I'm not sure the combo is strong enough any longer. It was in 2009 but creatures, planeswalkers and board position has become much more important since then. Ancestral Vision has proven to be very strong in the deck because often I don't do anything on turn 1 before I play a Signet on turn 2. Timetwister is in for testing but I think I will cut it again. It's really strong against control but really weak against aggro and I do not like to play cards that depends that much on my opponent. Muddle the Mixture is great and won't get the kick until I drop from the deck either Winter Orb, Oath of Druids, Life from the Loam, the Thopter Foundry-Sword of the Meek combo or Bitterblossom. Yawgmoth's Will is also in for testing at the moment. Such a powerful card cannot go untested. So far it has either been a fizzle spell that did nothing, a 4-mana spell that got me a land, a Swords to Plowshares and a Thoughtseize or a game-winning 10 mana spell. I will keep it in for a few more months for testing. Futhermore I would like to test the deck without Wargate for some time because even though it's very versatile (x = 0 finding Wasteland or Academy Ruins, x = 2 finding Oath, Thopter-Sword, Winter Orb or Bitterblossom, x = 3 finding Crucible or Tangle Wire and x = more than 3 finding a win-condition) it is also very slow.

The Planeswalkers: As always I like to play only Planeswalkers that are strong against aggro because I have this theory that every PW is strong against control since they tend to leave them untouched for a longer period of time. I play the strongest PWs in the format like Jace, Garruk, Elspeth and Ajani and then I've added Sorin because it's strong against aggro, Gideon because it's strong against aggro and Tezzeret because it fetches either Winter Orb, Crucible of Worlds, Tangle Wire, Thopter-Sword combo or Batterskull while it also untaps mana stones.

The Creatures: The only cheap creature I play is Kitchen Finks because I like expensive creatures for Oath of Druids. Kitchen Finks is obviously the worst creature to Oath into but it's surprisingly strong even then because it "drags" out the game which leads to more Oathing. I have gone away from the extremely expensive bombs like Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre because I wish to cast my creature spell after ramping. Otherwise I should cut a lot of ramp and then the deck would turn into a regular Oath deck. Rune-Scarred Demon is not as strong a fighter as the Titans but Oathing into it is about as good as it gets.

The Other Win-Conditions: Bribery continues to be a strong card in the deck. Bitterblossom has been out for some time but it's back in. It was a mistake taking it out. I sometimes test the deck without the Thopter-Sword combo but it always seems like a bad choice even though the first of the two cards I draw always is a dead draw until the second one is drawn or tutor'ed for. Batterskull is sometimes not a good card but it rocks against aggro and is often better than Baneslayer Angel. Another thing about Batterskull: It allows me to play a non-creature spell which gives me a creature which is good in an Oath-deck. It's not as good against control as it is against aggro, but the fact that it can be returned to my hand works fine against control. I will test the deck without this equipment sometime soon.




Cards I have on my watch list for future testing:
-1. Koth of the Hammer. Being one of the most powerful PWs in the format, he's very interesting. However he cannot defend himself. He untaps a land which is good for ramping and when Winter Orb is on the battlefield and he attacks other PWs really well. He's also strong with Humility.

-2. Griselbrand. Once Avacyn Restore has release I will test a few cards. One of them is Griselbrand because it's the optimal creature to Oath into and it's still not Jin-Gitaxias expensive to cast. I will test this bomb instead of Timetwister since I don't feel this card is strong enough unless I'm surrounding by control players.

-3. Temporal Mastery. Once Avacyn Restore has release I will test a few cards. One of them is Temporal Mastery because it looks to be a really powerful card for this format as well as many others. I might be wrong. To be honest believe this deck will benefit from taking an extra turn a little more than other decks even though it's strong in every deck to take an extra turn. Playing a deck that does not draw many cards with stuff like Harmonize and Thirst for Knowledge, Miracles seem stronger. I will test this sorcery instead of Wargate because I feel like it's a too-expensive tutor spell at the moment.

-4. Entreat the Angels. Once Avacyn Restore has release I will test a few cards. One of them is Entreat the Angels because it looks to be a lot of raw flying power for a medium amount of mana. Playing a deck that does not draw many cards with stuff like Harmonize and Thirst for Knowledge, Miracles seem stronger. I will try this sorcery instead of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale because I no longer need that land at the moment.

-5. Liliana Vess. Once Avacyn Restore has release I will test a few cards. One of them is Liliana Vess because I have absolutely no idea if Miracle cards like Temporal Mastery and Entreat the Angels combined with combo cards like Oath of Druids, Thopter-Sword and Loam-Waste makes Liliana Vess strong enough for this deck. I certainly know Liliana sometimes can win a game by fetching an Entreat the Angels followed up by a Temporal Mastery. If it's good enough, I do not know. She has no board presence so she's very slow and vulnerable.

-6. Baneslayer Angel. Not the best creature to Oath into (Just like Kitchen Finks, only more powerful) but is easier to cast than the rest. If Griselbrand doesn't turn out to be good enough, I will test Baneslayer Angel. Perhaps I will also test Baneslayer Angel instead of Kitchen Finks for some time or instead of Batterskull.

-7 & 8. Despise & Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.




That was all for know. I will appreciate any critique because I'm always ready to learn.
Thx, Patrick





Update 25.04.2012:
I've decided to cut the expensive but powerful Iona, Shield of Emeria and instead play Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Iona was great to Oath into but she was almost too expensive to cast. The deck does not have a very difficult time casting this angel but she was not worth the mana. Taking her out is sad because she was very strong to Oath into but I have to find the right balance. Sometimes I have to go for easier-to-cast-creatures and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is. Elesh Norn feels really strong because it has a ETB (Enter the battlefield) effect just like the Titans but it doesn't hit that hard on the opponent. However with a single token-generator she's more powerful than any other creature in my deck.
  -1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
+1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.