Muldrotha Stax MAN

Commander / EDH*

ShadowMizzix_cEDH

Land (33)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 2x Snow-Covered Forest
• 7x Snow-Covered Island
• 2x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Windfall

Artifact (23)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Silent Gravestone
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sorcerous Spyglass
• 1x Sphere of Resistance
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x Tangle Wire
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Trinisphere
• 1x Winter Orb

Instant (15)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Commander (1)

Enchantment (16)

• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Ground Seal
• 1x Mana Vortex
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Nether Void
• 1x Oppression
• 1x Pernicious Deed
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Root Maze
• 1x Seal of Primordium
• 1x Second Chance
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Zur's Weirding

Creature (6)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (9)

• 1x City of Solitude
• 1x Copy Artifact
• 1x Copy Enchantment
• 1x Counterbalance
• 1x Leyline of the Void
• 1x Parallax Tide
• 1x Seal of Removal
• 1x Stasis
• 1x Wild Growth

Instant (6)

• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Plunge into Darkness

Creature (6)

• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Etherium Sculptor
• 1x Herald of the Pantheon
• 1x Hope of Ghirapur
• 1x Notion Thief

Artifact (6)

• 1x Chalice of the Void
• 1x Claws of Gix
• 1x Despotic Scepter
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Mana Web
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top

Land (2)

• 1x Bazaar of Baghdad
• 1x Strip Mine

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Why Muldrotha?

Muldrotha enables some unorthodox stax strategies. With the ability to cast permanents from the graveyard, one-sided semi-locks can be assembled in the form of permanents such as Smokestack, Zur's Weirding and/or Chains of Mephistopholes + wheels. Muldrotha also enables a "single" card combo win condition in Second Chance.

More in all this later.

Muldrotha also enables a unique form of ramp with LED or Lotus Cobra + Fetchland providing three mana every turn. Being able to play LED, fetches, and any permanent from our graveyard allows us to break parity on multiple stax pieces, cast spells with ease, and make land drops as games go long.

Stax

The unique, single card win con (Second Chance) that only needs to be cast once per turn enables the use of all the taxing spheres (Sphere of Resistance, Thorn of Amethyst, Damping Sphere, Trinisphere, Nether Void). These cards disrupt many decks that attempt to cast multiple spells per turn to assemble a win.

Additionally, the typical artifact and creature hosing cards such as Tabernacle, Cursed Totem, and Null Rod restrict opponents' options further. Shutting down creature and artifact abilities also lends itself to mana denial in the form of Root Maze, Manglehorn, Tangle Wire, Mana Vortex, Back to Basics, Winter/Static Orb, etc.

Several cards also shut down draw via Chains of Mephistopholes and Zur's Weirding, both of which make wheels a serious problem for opponents. Oppression makes out painful to slowly build a board over time. Meanwhile, we can play most of our cards right out of the graveyard.

Silent Gravestone and Ground Seal provide graveyard hate for reanimation and most Hulk lines while protecting our graveyard from targeted removal (e.g. Noxious Revival, Faerie Macabre) to ensure Second Chance does not get exiled.

The full suite of targeted, single ability denial in the form of Pithing Needle, Sorcerous Spyglass, and Phyrexian Revoker stop the most popular combos and strategies (e.g. Dramatic Scepter, Thrasios, Nomads en-Kor).

The late/end game stax pieces are Smokestack and Zur's Weirding, both of which synergize with Muldrotha to lock opponents out. Zur's Weirding also checks opponents' hands for graveyard hate.

Collectively, this makes so many of the stax cards "must remove" for opponents to win that they will struggle to be able to remove them all and combo off in the same turn, which is the only viable game plan for opponents because Muldrotha allows us to put multiple stax pieces back in play from our graveyard every turn.

Midrange Ad Naus

Having an avg CMC ~2 makes Ad Naus a viable plan, and along with no cards costing more than 5 in the deck, Ad Naus sets up Second Chance turns perfectly.

Similarly, Necropotence and Lim-Dul's Vault can get us to Second Chance turns.

Second Chance to Win

Speaking of Second Chance, being able to cast it from our graveyard once every turn via Muldrotha makes it a perfect way to get infinite turns.

To enable the requirement, we have a bunch of cards that provide both essential utility, draw, and enable the turns combo. These cards include:

1. Ad Nauseam
2. Necropotence
3. Lim-Dul's Vault
4. Toxic Deluge
5. Zur's Weirding (with a wheel or slow card denial)

With infinite turns, there are a number of options to win. Necropotence prevents a loss from drawing. That way, drawing the entire deck, playing all our lands, casting a large number of stax pieces including Smokestack, ramping up Smokestack (and taking a break from infinite turns) to force opponents to sac all their permanents, then smashing everyone with Muldrotha (just take a bunch more turns again) is a viable way to win. Similarly, adding Cephalid Colosseum to mill opponents out with a land can work.

Single Card Discussion

1. Seal of Primordium - While a bit more costly at 2 CMC, being reusable with Muldrotha is huge, and enables some shenanigans with Winter/Static Orb (or every other turn with Stasis/Back to Basics). It also gets around the issue of Cursed Totem so it gets the nod over Caustic Caterpillar.
2. Zur's Weirding - taking the slot of Notion Thief, it is far less powerful individually but grinds the game to a halt as players deny each other resources and combo pieces (shutting off top deck tutors while allowing us to find permanents with our own). It even reveals everyone's hands, making it a way to check for graveyard hate before going for Second Chance turns. With Muldrotha, this card is practically a lock, and even having to pay life for each opponent is fine, as we actively work towards 5 life to enable Second Chance turns.

Weaknesses

1. Graveyard hate, especially repeatable, permanent-based hate (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, Grafdigger's Cage) can throw a serous wrench in our gears.
2. Second Chance requires a turn cycle to win. This gives opponents a lot of opportunity to disrupt us, requiring more skill in navigating the win.
3. Anti-synergy with some of our own stax pieces, e.g. Null Rod, etc. Hosing our own cards can be rough and makes our choices more skill-intensive.

Additional Considerations and Meta Choices

1. Leyline of the Void: For Graveyard heavy metas and decks.
2. Arcane Laboratory: another must remove stax piece that limits opponents trying to play multiple spells in a turn to win.
3. Cephalid Coliseum (or Sunscorched Desert): With infinite Second Chance turns, it can win without relying on combat damage. Also useful to dig for more gas while shutting opponents down.
4. Claws of Gix or Despotic Scepter: Destroy Stasis, Winter/Static Orb to get untaps while opponents get none. Claws can also incidentally gain life to keep Zur's Weirding locks going for longer. Both are soft to our Null Rod. We already have Seal of Primordium and Pernicious Deed, but an artifact is more useful for Stasis purposes.
5. Contamination, Infernal Darkness, Desolation: mono black versions of Blood Moon and land destruction, these are less powerful given their costs and restrictions but might be useful in some metas.
6. Phantasmal Image + Animate Dead + Outlet (Draw/Damage): For combo potential, it would require making space for 3 slots. The combo uses LED (already in the deck), PI and Animate Dead to copy and recur Muldrotha, using LED to produce infinite mana and be able to cast anything in our graveyard over and over. With a draw engine (e.g. Thrasios) or win condition (e.g. Walking Ballista) it can end the game. Intuition can fetch 3 cards (Phantasmal Image, LED, and Animate Dead) to get the combo running with Muldrotha. Currently, that requires several extra slots that are inefficient compared to Second Chance turns.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 58 - 0 Rares 10 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.03
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U
Folders	edh, Remember These, Favorites, Muldrotha, Muldrota commander decks