[ARCHIVED] Razaketh STAX

Commander / EDH* Budget Mono-Black Stax

JMCraig

Interaction (20)

• 1x Bitter Ordeal
• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Chalice of the Void
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Mind Twist
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Oppression
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Sphere of Resistance
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x Tangle Wire
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Trinisphere
• 1x Winter Orb

Combos (9)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Phyrexian Devourer
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Ramp (20)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Leaden Myr
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Metalworker
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Lands (32)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Mishra's Factory
• 1x Mutavault
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 24x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Commander (1)

Draw & Tutor (12)

• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Mindblade Render
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Board Presence (6)

• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Dreadhorde Invasion
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Ophiomancer

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This is the more casual deck I play when my true Competitive decks are a bit much for the table. It's about 5-6 cards away from being truly optimized (my budget was <$100 per card), but more importantly it's intentionally handicapped by the choice of commander and color identity. It plays best in mid-to-high power metagames against other coherent and effective decks; it's too oppressive for casual precon play and too weak for full-powered cEDH, but it can play a good game at most tables. It's also relatively easy to play, so I use it as loaner for less experienced players.

The goal is to play an old-school Black STAX gameplan, breaking parity with cheap token generation, mana-doubling and other on-board value. Once I've stripped out as many threats as possible, I can cast Raza and tutor into a win with one of a few classic combos.

Combos:

• Cast Buried Alive burying Necrotic Ooze , Phyrexian Devourer and Walking Ballista . Reanimate the Ooze with Reanimate or Necromancy and use the two artifact creatures' abilities to deal damage equal to the total CMC left in the deck. This is the easiest and cheapest way to win, but it's weak to graveyard hate.
• Use Rings of Brighthearth to repeatedly copy the untap ability on Basalt Monolith , making infinite mana. Cast Walking Ballista to win. If Ballista is unavailable, use Hangarback Walker to make infinite tokens, kill them, and use Bitter Ordeal to exile all opponents' libraries. This involves more pieces than the Buried Alive line, but allows us to cast Raza easily to fetch them. If there are to creatures to sacrifice to Raza, Staff of Domination can draw out the deck as well.
• Tap Cabal Coffers or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for 6+ mana, then untap it with Deserted Temple and copy the untap ability with Rings of Brighthearth targeting the Temple itself. This nets infinite mana and allows you to win with Walking Ballista or Bitter Ordeal .
• Tap Metalworker for 6+ mana, then untap it with Staff of Domination and untap the Staff itself, netting you 2 mana. Then use the Staff to draw down to Walking Ballista or Bitter Ordeal to win.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Exclude colors	WURG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.34
Tokens	Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Snake 1/1 B, Thopter 1/1 C, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	JMCraig's Decks, Decks I like