I don't really know why, but I'd use some more defensive cards. I could see some value with Wall of Denial and Windborn Muse

More defense against creatures attacking the player isn't really needed - I'm currently even playing without propaganda and maze of ith (see first update). There are some cards in the deck, which absolutely ruin aggro plans (Tabernacle, Ensnaring Bridge, Moat, Forcefield, Portcullis, Overburden...) so a creature that only serves as a flying blocker is pretty much a wasted slot.

Just to give you an example of how the deck may start with a decent hand (this was in a game with 5 players last week):I started as second player, the one before me played a land, go...

Me: seachrome coast, mana crypt, chrome mox (imprint mana breach), cast Augustin.

Other players have to pay 1 more for all, can't even play their planned sol rings and whatever one drops they might have had...

Me again: Land, Jitte + equip, attack, play divining top.One of the other players is able to cast a sol ring, the others are stuck at 2 lands.

Me (turn 3): crystal shard, sol ring, go...sun titan on hand, diving top shows me armageddon in the top 3 cards.

The player with the sol ring brings some 5/5 beater, can't pay for crystal shard though,...a last attempt of playing a threat. Someone else manages to get a 4/4 creature on the board (which is immediately killed by jitte), and after I played sun titan and armageddon in my next turn everyone conceded.

Sure, this was a good start, being able to play Augistin on turn one, but he frequently comes out on turn 2 and turn 3 the latest (unless there's something more important to play) AND the other players had good starts too (but weren't able to play them as fast as planned. My deck draws all of the aggression on the table but it's about people trying to remove my stuff rather than attacking, because they won't have too much stuff to attack anyway. Unfortunately there's no situation in the game when I would like to draw windborn muse or wall of denial over something else. They simply have too little impact.

I can see and respect your thoughts. Those are cards I use in almost all azorius control I play, but I dont play the commander format at all so I'm not that familiar with the game progression or the decks used in it. Thanks for your response :)

I'm sure they are great in some sort of pillow fort decks but Stax is a proactive control strategy that wants to prevent the opponents from playing at all instead of reacting to threats.

I LOVE this kind of trategy. Sundial of the Infinite goes great with Mana Vortex and Smokestack, just for consideration. Also, I find that Muddle the Mixture is a great card as it tutors for those important 2-drop combo pieces, and is a counter spell that hits a good chunk of spells in the format. My 2 cents, rad deck.

Thanks for your comment OnlyOnTuesdays!

Sundial of the Infinite does pretty much the same as Chronatog, it let's you skip your turn so you won't have to sacrifice for your own upkeep effects. With Sundial you get to untap, Chronatog lets you use the ability in any other player's turn to make him a solid blocker and he can go attacking with Jitte or Elspeth...

I'd like to keep Chronatog, also because I've made a shirt design with him: http://www.redbubble.com/de/people/gardenofgrief/works/22906440-stax-player

I don't know if a second card with that function is needed, because I haven't found another use for it, except with Mana Vortex and Smokestack.

I'm already cutting cards that aren't strong if drawn individually, for example I have recently removed Mana Web in favour of Mana Drain, because it's only useful with cards that make you pay mana in the upkeep and maybe with Winter Orb or Crystal Shard, but actually my strategy aims less at tapping out the opponent but rather to create a lock with Land Equilibrium or Ward of Bones. It's too often a dead card, and the "combos" with it don't necessarily have a huge enough impact. With Chronatog it's the same, but I keep it in the deck as a fun way to win and because it's so weird that it will be ignored by most players until it's too late.

Muddle the Mixture is great, I just don't know what to cut for it...any suggestions? And if I want another tutor, isn't Transmute Artifact a better option? I don't really need the extra counter, because I usually don't have time to leave mana open for a counter...Mana Drain is an exception because it speeds me up in the next turn.

I'm trying out Sundial of the Infinite instead of Chronatog now...it might have some impact against EOT actions that other players want to pull off. Fetching EOT - nope. Brainstorm EOT - nope.

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!!!!!!!!!! this list is mean AF!! now, I'm primarily an om-wrath player. my list is fairly competitive, but I feel like the first 5 turns are THE most crucial in a 4 player FFA.

with a modified version of this list ( http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/om_rath/#c2835281 ) (I'm missing the most expensive land, and the newest updates) how often would you say you'd have total board control (nominally and on average) that could lead to a lock-out/stall in this kind of match-up

feyn_do_alduin thanks for your comment :)

My deck is usually really fast in the early game, because I run many cheap and fast mana artifacts (since the last update I have even removed Thran Dynamo for being too slow and expensive) and it's possible to cast Augustin on turn ONE. You don't even need to have an impossibly lucky draw - Mana Crypt, any Mox or Lotus Petal and one coloured land will be enough. Augustin on turn TWO happens frequently.

I've played some first turns with your deck using the playtest here and I think it depends much on how quickly something else can be played on my side after the first slowing actions. What gives me more time against your deck is that you play basically no disruption that could really shut down my play. Recurring artifact/enchantment destruction is something that can bring me down quickly, unless I am able to stop these actions. Aura Shards + Marath, Will of the Wild would be such an afwul situation for example. As you can't establish similar situations in your deck I would say it's a good matchup for me in general. Cheap cards (for example Kaalia of the Vast) that bring huge creatures directly into play are also a problem for me (unless I can disable them with Moat or Ensnaring Bridge.

I have many cards against land based ramp (Land Equilibrium, Ward of Bones, Mana Breach, Armagedon, Winter Orb,...) and as you don't run any mana artifacts besides Sol Ring it's pretty much over if one of these hits the board in combination with tax or sac cards. Especially Land Equilibrium is a game winner, as it also prevents you from putting land into play by spells and abilities. Landfall would still trigger, but you won't easily be able to cast your commander in the first place...

Have you tried some playtests with my deck here? I have tried some with both our decks opened in two windows and I feel yours is just a bit too slow in comparison, without all the 0 mana artifacts and 2 mana lands. If you replace the worst/most expensive land searching spells with Moxes and stuff you might win this speed race - not sure if this makes your landfall plan too insecure then, I haven't seen your deck in action, you know...

Winterblast the FASTEST omnath can be played is T3 with a perfect hand, T2 with donations from other players (target player land search).

The fastest win I've ever had was T4. Amulet of Vigor, Titania, Protector of Argoth, Scapeshift, followed by Blasphemous Act with omnath in play

Yeah, that's what I thought, but that requires not being disturbed until turn 3 or so while you don't slow down the opponents either during these turns. Control loves these matchups, even a simple counterspell will be fine...in my deck it's not counters though (except for mana drain) but proactive control. I lose when I am not faster and in addition can't handle the first threats within a few turns. Letting me play undisturbed in the beginning is no trick because that's when I try to keep everyone from getting started.

I think a bit more artifact/enchatment hate would be great in your deck. Depends on your meta too, I'm just talking from my experience and I think about what hurts most of my decks. Combo pieces are often artifacts or enchantments and the worst control elements are too.

true, however due to the overwhelming board presence I can summon just by playing lands, in my meta I feel like I need to take a handicap like having no more than one way to react to non-burnable threats.

for this I use World Breaker, it's recurrable to!!

World Breaker is nice, but it costs 7 mana, which means it's definitely no early game disruption. You asked me what I think of our matchup and that's basically the answer - little to no disruption means that you won't be able to establish a useful board position at all in most games.

It's not only Augustin that may be played on turn 1 but also (and even easier) Lodestone Golem because it can be cast with Mishra's Workshop, or Sphere of Resistance or Thorn of Amethyst because 2 or 3 mana on turn 1 are very common. Something like Ancient Grudge or Shattering Spree would be great to have then because anything more expensive won't help.Reclamation Sage is also fine because it's cheap enough. If a deck doesn't have any of these (or similar stuff in other colours) it will have a very very hard time.

the sad thing is that once you add the minimum 4-5 recurrable artifact/enchantment removal effects, it more or less slows the deck down by ATLEAST 2 turns therefore removing it's early game lethality and its competitive status IF you're already lacking the most expensive legacy and modern cards.

I'm between jobs atm. While I have the money to acquire them, It doesn't make sense to do that right now. So in the interim i'm shelving all projects including this one.

THAT said, prices aside, what one do you suggest i add?

what ones*

It depends on what you usually lose against and why that happens. It doesn't make much sense to tune your deck against mine, when nobody around your plays something similar AND manages to win against you frequently. Stax is expensive to play, because you don't need speed by chance, you need it consistently and that means you can't settle for cheaper options (money-wise) for the same effects if they have higher casting costs or downsides that more expensive cards don't have. I guess your toughest matchup will therefore be a control deck with counterspells as it's unrealistic that you run into Stax-like builds very often. And if you do, well, that's bad luck then. Think about how to tune your deck after someone showed up with such a deck...

A great card that won't slow you down would be Leyline of Lifeforce. I use that in one of my other decks, which is also full of creature based combos. Also Dosan the Falling Leaf, Seedtime or Vexing Shusher could help to prevent you from running into counters when you actually wanted to go big with Omnath. Having your commander countered by Mana Drain is the worst that can happen because it could possibly enable a hardcasted Blightsteel Colossus or nasty Eldrazi, while you simultaneously lose your means to defend yourself. Surviving control is surely more important than being able to cast the commander one or two turns earlier. If you have other combo decks around you might consider specific cards that prevent their tricks while letting you play as usual. Grafdigger's Cage, Relic of Progenitus, Null Rod,...just have a look at what hurts the other decks most.

feyn_do_alduin do you have an idea what I could improve in my deck?

I have thought about Words of Wind, because it is a potential win option...or something to protect my cards from removal (see maybeboard). I need to reduce the number of coloured cards though, so I have to look for stuff that has not a huge impact and replace it with uglier cards.

Wrt Brago, I was going to point out that he can enable you to re-assign Paradox Haze to different players, but then I realized it isn't in the deck anymore. Brago would also give you some versatility to the only other aura you have, Power Artifact. That is, if you decide to keep Power Artifact (unfortunately on that one I can give little opinion).

If you want something different to try, have you considered the Knowledge Pool + Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir hard lock? Teferi alone would prevent your opponents from getting in your way at instant speed.

For protection in your maybeboard, maybe Padeem, Consul of Innovation would be worth trying? The two decks are very different from each other, but when my Daretti, Scrap Savant deck needed its graveyard protected I started using Orbs of Warding to give myself hexproof. That would be an inclusion dependent on your metagame. Also from your maybeboard I think Inventors' Fair could find a nice home here. Its lifegain can help offset those incidentals you mention, and it is also a potent tutor with all the artifacts in you deck. Crucible of Worlds making it reusable is all the better for it.

Hey, thanks for the comment on my deck. I have two cards I'd suggest here: Blind Obedience and Meekstone.

Meekstone is an all star in my edh experience and I include it in any deck with Trinket mage as part of his toolkit. I'd say it hits a vast majority of creatures played in commander except tokens. Blind Obedience will help you keep yourself from being pinged to death by lands and the cost is pretty efficient for what you get.

P.s. If you start missing chronatog you should consider Chronatog Totem imo it's been more useful for me.

dlamars thx for the suggestions! Unfortunately blind obedience isn't an option because it has in the text.

Meekstone sounds good, only affects sun titan and spelltithe enforcer (which is already among my "maybe not" cards) in my deck and creatures equipped with sword of fire and ice (actually I've noticed that sword is often not cool with ensnaring bridge as well - might be replaced).

Chronatog totem is imo even worse than Chronatog because while it makes mana, you can't keep up a constant lock as it is is possible with Chronatog or Sundial of the Infinite. You have to pay to make it a creature, then won't get to untap when the turn is skipped and eventually run out of mana and you have to take a turn now and then. I've explained in the deck description why I will probably play sundial over all other options

RicketyEng I guess I can play Padeem, also because he potentially draws cards. 3U is also a nice cost, easier to play than anything with WW for example. I don't think I need anything to give myself hexproof though...I rarely get targeted with anything.

Teferi is pretty much unplayable with UUU, I'm happy if I can play a card with UU when I draw it. The lock is cool though, maybe I put it in another deck, where Teferi is already included!

Inventors Fair will most likely replace Mishra's factory tomorrow. Inkmoth and blinkmoth are much better anyway and probably enough manlands...what do you think?

well, seeing on how well your deck can potentially shut down a game, for non-competitive games you should incorperate effects and abilities that add an element of chance or something that can randomize how certain plays end.

for example in blue (the name of the card escapes me) there's an effect where if one person were to play an instant or sorcery in a clockwise order every player is given the opportunity to copy that spell and cast it for free.

Hard control decks like this often suck the fun out of a game, so maybe you could use unpredictable effects like this to make things random while still maintaining a degree of control to make things fun again

Reminder text doesn't count towards color identity since technically it doesn't exist as far as the rules are concerned. So Blind Obedience or any extort card is usable in mono white or black.

You're right about Chronatog Totem I suppose, I use it more as a back up than an infinite lock in esper. Creatures die so quickly in my meta I take what I can get.

Oh, that's nice, I didn't know that the symbol in the extortion text doesn't count. Not so sure though, if that card is really better than any other already in the deck...

Just realised that Sun Titan has vigilance so I think Meekstone will be included.

feyn_do_alduin, putting cards in a control deck, from which everyone benefits is neither fun nor does it make any sense imo. Playing this deck mostly results in a situation in which I play against 3 or 4 other people and it's hard enough to win, because I'm the only one who has to find solutions to ALL players' threats while the others pretty much ignore each other. This often results in a win for the player with the most blatant and impossible strategy, just because no one focuses on him. Every card I play has to have a huge impact on the game to have a chance of winning against the whole table and each "fun" piece isn't really fun to play because it only makes myself lose faster. Stax is only fun when it is strong and actually this deck creates the most laughs on the table (well, mostly from people who are not actually in the game, but the spectators find it very funny every time).

these kinds of plays are strictly speaking a handicap, but I always have ATLEAST one card in each of my decks which can be used politically or used to create chaos. I find games to be more fun where there's a greater element of chance as opposed to the super grindy ones where each move is heavily weighed and measured.

The use of chaotic effects can also break tension in the room allowing for more relaxed opponents (which i find to ALWAYS be a greater benefit)

Actually I really hate chaos plays and from my experience it often ends with all players being pissed off. It's the same with very obvious misplays, when everyone already pointed out that some action is not a good choice and a player still pulls it off...that's when people get angry and carry their mischief into the next round as well. It surely depends on the players and if that works for you it's fine. I would say that chaos plays always end up in favour of someone, who really didn't deserve to win in a game with 3, 4 or even 5 players and leaves everyone frustrated who put much time, effort and also money in a well thought out deck. The more experienced players have no problem with losing if it was earned. If you lose because someone got lucky in a chaotic situation or profited by chance from severe misplays of others, that just sucks.