Sisay Stax

Commander / EDH Competitive GW (Selesnya) Stax

mmcgeach

Creature (36)

• 1x Angel of Jubilation
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Bruna, the Fading Light  ^Meld
• 1x Chancellor of the Annex
• 1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Gaddock Teeg
• 1x Gisela, the Broken Blade  ^Meld
• 1x Hokori, Dust Drinker
• 1x Hushwing Gryff
• 1x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
• 1x Kataki, War's Wage
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Loyal Retainers
• 1x Nullstone Gargoyle
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Quirion Ranger
• 1x Ramunap Excavator
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Sanctum Prelate
• 1x Shaman of Forgotten Ways
• 1x Spirit of the Labyrinth
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Vryn Wingmare
• 1x Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Land (32)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Brushland
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flagstones of Trokair
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 4x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 3x Plains
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Instant (7)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sphere of Resistance
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Winter Orb

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Defense of the Heart
• 1x Living Plane
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Root Maze
• 1x Stony Silence
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Sylvan Library

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Nature's Lore

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Maybeboard

Creature (9)

• 1x Banisher Priest
• 1x Glowrider
• 1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Voyaging Satyr

Artifact (2)

• 1x Selesnya Signet
• 1x Skullclamp

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Rule of Law

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Welcome to Sisay Stax, the best pure-stax deck in the format!

Sisay Stax is an awesome stax deck. The plan is to ramp, play Sisay as soon as possible, then start using Sisay to tutor out Stax pieces that prevent your opponents from doing anything. Think of the deck like a boa constrictor: you slowly apply pressure, each turn making it more difficult for your opponents to do anything, until you finally finish them off with a hard lock or alpha strike.

Playing the Deck

Turn 1: Play some kind of ramp. The worst ramp is probably Green Sun's Zenith with X=0 for Dryad Arbor . The best hand is something like Savannah + Mana Crypt + Chrome Mox -> Turn 1 Captain Sisay . Or play something staxy. Like Land + Mana Dork + Mox Diamond + Root Maze . Or even Ancient Tomb -> Sphere of Resistance .

Turn 2: Play a stax piece. There's twelve 2 CMC and nine 3 CMC stax cards. Play one of them. This slow your opponents down enough that you can play Sisay turn 3.

Turn 3: Play Captain Sisay .

Turn 4+: Use Sisay to tutor out the stax pieces that are going to be most impactful. If your opponents have more mana rocks than you, go for Kataki, War's Wage . If your opponents are on spell-based decks, get Thalia, Guardian of Thraben . If your opponents don't have much non-land mana, get Hokori, Dust Drinker . If your opponents are playing a lot of mana elves, get Linvala, Keeper of Silence . If you have several good plays in hand already, get Gaea's Cradle , and use that to power out what's in your hand.

Turn 7: After you get 3 or 4 stax pieces in play, you might want to get Gaddock Teeg to prevent most board wipes.

Turn 8+: End the game. Tutor out one of the win conditions. Usually it's safest to start with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and then Kamahl, Fist of Krosa , which a) can kill all your opponents lands by using the green mana from Gaea's Cradle , and b) can overrun your guys to just end the game.

Strategic Notes

The main strategy is to play Sisay soon, so we include a lot of ramp that lets us do that. This generally turns out ok, even if you end up playing ramp that you later shut off - like you play a signet and a lightning greaves and later have to play a null rod; that's ok, they've done their job. Sisay is out and you're resolving a demonic tutor every turn; the virtual card advantage you gain from getting exactly the right card every turn, combined with the actual card advantage of drawing a card AND tutoring a card, puts you way ahead.

Keep in mind with stax lists, the exact mix of stax effects can and should be adjusted for your particular meta. The build as shown is tuned against spell-based combo and artifact-based combo (like, Jeleva, Zur, Jace VP, etc) so it has to run all the spell taxers like Glowrider , Vryn Wingmare , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Thorn of Amethyst , and Sphere of Resistance . We then additionally run a lot of artifact hate : Stony Silence , Null Rod , Kataki, War's Wage , Aura Shards , maybe Manglehorn (but I've actually just liked Reclamation Sage more), and even Bane of Progress . For example, if your meta is infested with graveyard decks, you can add Grafdigger's Cage and Containment Priest .

Stax vs. Midrange.

The problem with Stax decks is that they kill combo decks real well, but then frequently let a more mid-range build slip in and start playing 5/5's that aren't affected by spell-taxers or anti-artifact cards. Then the stax deck can just lose to a bunch of 5/5's or other value creatures. To combat this weakness, Sisay plays a few nice mid-range cards that assure we'll be able to out-value the midrange decks after we've shut out the combo decks. Of course, since Sisay tutors, this means that in the early game we have access to the stax pieces we need to shut out other players, while in the late game we also have access to the value engines and haymakers that we need then. The big mid-range plays are :

1. Yisan, the Wanderer Bard . This guy can tutor up a nice sequence of stuff that Sisay can't. For example, usually 1 = quirion ranger, 2 = priest of titania, 3 = sanctum prelate, 4 = hokori/linvala, 5 = seedborn muse, 6 = kamahl, 7 = elesh norn.
2. Sun Titan . This is a great midgame play that can get back all your countered stax pieces, can play strip mine lock if you have to, and is generally bigger than anything else on the board.
3. Gisela, the Broken Blade + Bruna, the Fading Light = Brisela, Voice of Nightmares . This is just a house. Both pieces are tutorable by Sisay, and you can also set it up with Survival of the Fittest by first fetching Gisela, discarding her to fetch Bruna, then casting Bruna.

Win-Cons:

1. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite , which is the strongest win con since it attacks from two angles: it can just allow you to win with damage; or it can kill all the lands if you pair it with Living Plane or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa .
2. Shaman of Forgotten Ways , is also great against less-creature centric decks, although generally fine against creature builds too.
3. Brisela, Voice of Nightmares , which is a hard-lock with Gaddock Teeg . It's also just an awesome beater.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 55 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.47
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G
Folders	To Build, Selvala, cEDH - Competitive Casual & cEDH, EDH (Competitive), Saved Decks, Stax, edh