Archangel Avacyn Stax

Commander / EDH Hatebears Infinite Combo RW (Boros) Stax Voltron

Kellis

Land (32)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arch of Orazca
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Boros Garrison
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Inspiring Vantage
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mistveil Plains
• 3x Mountain
• 9x Plains
• 1x Plateau
• 1x Rugged Prairie
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sunbaked Canyon
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Instant (7)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Wear / Tear

Planeswalker (7)

• 1x Chandra, Fire Artisan *f-pre*
• 1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Karn, Scion of Urza
• 1x Karn, the Great Creator *f-pre*
• 1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Artifact (20)

• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Helm of the Host
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sunforger
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1x Sword of Sinew and Steel
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Umezawa's Jitte

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Blood Moon
• 1x Experimental Frenzy
• 1x Kismet
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Outpost Siege
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Stranglehold

Commander (1)

 ^Flip

Creature (18)

• 1x Arena Rector
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Duergar Hedge-Mage
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Godo, Bandit Warlord
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Magus of the Moon
• 1x Palace Jailer
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Stonehewer Giant
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Village Bell-Ringer
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer

Sorcery (5)

• 1x By Force
• 1x Fiery Confluence
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Wrath of God

---

This is a complete change of my Gisela, Blade of Goldnight list. With my local meta becoming faster and increased interaction, the deck simply could not keep up. A commander that costed 7 mana was simply too much.

With that, this deck is an Archangel Avacyn stax list. This deck can have fast starts, but the emphasis is using stax cards to grind the game to halt, and then comboing or bashing people with Avacyn repeatedly to end the game.

Introduction

So in order to understand the basis of the deck, we need to talk about Outpost Siege . There are several other cards that draw cards in the same way in this deck: Vance's Blasting Cannons  , Karn, Scion of Urza , Chandra, Torch of Defiance , Nahiri, the Harbinger , Sword of Fire and Ice , Smuggler's Copter and Arch of Orazca . Wheel of Fortune is the only exception.

Outpost Siege is a great example of how card draw in this deck works. There are other cards like Faithless Looting that don't net cards, but provide excellent card filtering. Outpost Siege only works once a turn, like Phyrexian Arena . In these colors, there are not any good ways to draw a lot of cards at once such as Blue Sun's Zenith . In order to draw a large amount of cards, the game needs to be long so these cards can get the value required to win.

Boros typically does not play like this. It attacks quickly and aggressively which makes the game end quickly. I have found this strategy to be fragile because if one thing goes wrong, the deck is out of the game.

In order to make the games play on longer to gain value with cards such as Outpost Siege, stax cards are used to interrupt opponents granting the time and space this deck needs to obtain victory.

Stax Pieces: Making Your Opponents Stop Playing Magic

There are several stax pieces in this deck that can fall roughly into the following categorizes:

Ethersworn Canonist and Iona, Shield of Emeria limit the quantity and color of spells that people can play. This is meant to stop combo players or decks that try to get a quick start with lots of accelerates. Often this deck does not play multiple spells a turn, and if it does, only one of the spells is a non artifact, which gets around Ethersworn Canonist. Iona also provides a substantial clock on our opponents as well.

Stranglehold and Aven Mindcensor stop opponents from searching their decks. Lots of decks run fetchlands and tutors, which both of these disrupt. This is often a large roadblock for several decks, sometimes completely pushing them out of the game for several turns. Neither of these cards stop us though, which allows us to still conduct our plans as normal.

Kismet and Blind Obedience all mess with opponents permanents making them enter tapped. This slows down opponents by a turn, or even more and gives this deck a tempo edge.

Blood Moon punishes decks that run 3 or more colors. This can shut down entire decks, especially decks that can't run enchantment hate. This deck being a 2 color deck does not mind, but grabbing a few plains before playing one is a safe bet.

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite stops decks from going wide, killing elf ball decks, and gives creatures on our side a sizable boost as well. With her in play, even our stax creatures become formidable threats.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence stops decks that try to combo out with creatures, using creatures for mana, and even turning off popular commanders such as Captain Sissay and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds . The card will often always interfere with someone at the table, slowing down their game plan significantly.

While Torpor Orb can interfere with cards in this deck, the damage it can do to other decks is enormous. Many decks use creatures ETB's by casting them repeatedly or blinking them. This card stops their value engines from going off, and even stops lots of the artifact hate that would be used to stop this, since most of them are ETB's on creatures too.

Smothering Tithe is both ramp and stax in this deck. This deck is happy for either result the card presents. Getting a treasure accelerates this deck quickly, and forcing our opponents to pay 2 mana slows down their gameplan dramatically. This card is even better when facing down decks that play cards like Brainstorm and Sylvan Library . Wheel of Fortune can create enormous amounts of treasure to use with the fresh cards and casting an Armageddon with a Smothering Tithe out is often backbreaking for our opponents.

And while technically not stax, Rest in Peace fulfills graveyard hate. Rest in Peace turns off not only creature based strategies such as Karado, Ghost Chieftain, but spell based strategies such as Kess, Dissident Mage .

Winning the Game: Archangel Avacyn

With the game in a stax situation, attacking with Archangel Avacyn   can be done almost every turn because she has vigilance, killing them with commander damage. This is done with equipment attached to Avacyn, going for a more voltron route. Sword of Fire and Ice , Sword of Feast and Famine , Umezawa's Jitte , and Sunforger all help Avacyn hit harder and help draw cards, accelerating untapping lands, kill other creatures, and provide yourself with a strong toolbox. Stoneforge Mystic and Stonehewer Giant both go digging for the equipment to either suit themselves up or toss onto Avacyn.

Winning the Game: Combos

The other way to win in a stax situation or even out of nowhere is with an infinite combo.

Godo, Bandit Warlord + Helm of the Host gives us infinite Godos and infinite combat steps. The best part is that Godo himself can get Helm by himself, turning this into a one card combo. Helm also works with Aurelia, the Warleader as well.

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Village Bell-Ringer gives us infinite Village Bell-Ringer's with haste to attack for the win. Imperial Recruiter and Recruiter of the Guard can help get the combo when the opportunity is there to go for the win. If it is too early to go for the win safely, you can always grab a stax creature, Academy Rector , or Arena Rector for a value plan.

Winning the Game: Planeswalkers

This deck has one more way to win; using Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon . Both of these planeswalkers can single handidly win the game with the right protection. They can both protect themselves, but Avacyn is also an impressive blocker. Either planeswalker using its ultimate is often game ending, and it is not too difficult to get there. Nahiri, the Harbinger also falls into this category because an ultimate from her grabs a combo piece and often wins the game on the spot.

Winning the Game: Grinding it Out

The most interesting way the deck can win is by grinding out our opponents with our card advantage. When the deck can have stax pieces out with lots of redundant card draw effects, it can establish a hard grip on the game and win by simply having more cards and resources then your opponents. This rarely happens, but it is an incredible site when a Boros deck can pull this off.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Key combos	Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Village Bell-Ringer Godo, Bandit Warlord + Helm of the Host
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	33 - 0 Mythic Rares 32 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.93
Tokens	City's Blessing, Construct 0/0 C, Copy Clone, Elephant 3/3 G, Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Soldier 1/1 W, The Monarch, Treasure
Folders	Suggestions, ploos