Bear-Mizzet Control

Commander / EDH* Competitive Control Dragons Five Color Primer Stax

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Creature (31)

• 1x Anafenza, the Foremost
• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Archon of Valor's Reach
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Containment Priest
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Destiny Spinner
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Scourge
• 1x Faeburrow Elder
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
• 1x Hushwing Gryff
• 1x Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Oakhame Adversary
• 1x Sire Of Insanity
• 1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Thrasios, Triton Hero
• 1x Trygon Predator
• 1x Vela the Night-Clad

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Extract
• 1x Neoform
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Windfall

Artifact (3)

• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Trinisphere

Land (31)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Forest
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Planeswalker (4)

• 1x Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Oko, Thief of Crowns
• 1x Teferi, Time Raveler

Commander (1)

Instant (15)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Drown in the Loch
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Izzet Charm
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Cindervines
• 1x Deafening Silence
• 1x Food Chain
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sterling Grove
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth

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Maybeboard

Creature (8)

• 1x Aurelia, the Warleader
• 1x Brago, King Eternal
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1x Gaddock Teeg
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Kunoros, Hound of Athreos
• 1x Vexing Shusher

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Root Maze

Artifact (1)

• 1x Thorn of Amethyst

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This is not the stax we deserve, but the one we need.

In a world ruled by the sushi flash, a dark knight rises and he's not afraid to punch below the belt.

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Stax Compendium Show

Fighting Flash-Hulk

• Anafenza, the Foremost, stops the Protean Hulk from going into the grave
• Archon of Valor's Reach usually for "instant", basically screws all of their wincons. The guy is slow but we run stax and we'll slow the game as much as needed
• Containment Priest exiles the Protean Hulk when played with Flash, also stops Shallow Grave or other shenanigans to get Thassa's Oracle back.
• Eidolon of Rhetoric shuts down the consultation lines cold, it's important to sacrifice it with our Food Chain when we decide to go off, for the moment I'm running Deafening Silence as it's a bit asymmetric in our favour since we run a lot of creatures.
• Hushwing Gryff/Hushbringer, stops Thassa's Oracle. We chose for now the gryff because it has flash so we don't stop ourselves unless it's necessary, whereas with the faery we have to play her upfront
• Linvala, Keeper of Silence stops the Cephalid Breakfast, which is used to empty their library
• Rest in Peace stops Protean Hulk from going to the grave
• Teferi, Time Raveler, they have to go through the cephalid pile, because they cannot cast consultation with something on the stack!

Casting Cost Friction

• Gaddock Teeg - aka old man Rudy, currently maybeboard - while probably the weakest of the stax, stops ad nauseam, which is to be considered
• Grand Arbiter Augustin IV asymmetric casting cost tax, yes please
• Lavinia, Azorius Renegade stops Summoner's Pact and a lot of the interaction which they use to protect the combo, sometimes it stops a bigger spell
• Thalia, Heretic Cathar/Root Maze this usually is like a timewalk, it doesn't stop our combo
• Thalia, Guardian of Thraben non creature spells costs 1 more means that flash-consultation lines become a headache
• Thorn of Amethyst see Thalia
• Trinisphere everything becomes an headache on the other side of the board

Stax Staples

• Ashiok, Dream Render graveyard hate, stops tutors and fetches.. OG
• Aven Mindcensor same as above
• Cindervines solid loop pinger and removal
• Collector Ouphe deny resources, our deck is build without artifacts to activate, some may still play a couple of mana rocks, but it's not really necessary
• Deathrite Shaman light graveyard hate and mana fixing
• Kunoros, Hound of Athreos stop graveyard reanimation on a beat stick
• Narset, Parter of Veils stop extra draws and makes your day when you hit Wheel of Fortune
• Notion Thief steal those draws!
• Null Rod, usually more difficult to remove than the Ouphe
• Trygon Predator solid enchantment removal which has the bonus of being multicolored

Combo and Finishers Show

Food Chain

This deck is very light on the kill side, it only runs 2 cards. Remove Eternal Scourge with food chain and gain infinite colored mana. Cast Niv-Mizzet Reborn over and over (removing it from the game with Food Chain) until you find Vela the Night-Clad. Cast her and now return to your previous loops to kill everyone.

Notice that Containement Priest doesn't stop our Scourge, because the Scourge is "cast" from exile. On the other hand Eidolon of Rhetoric is a bit of a pain and should be eaten with Food Chain before starting our combo, just be sure to have enough hate in place to stop other players anyway.

Sterling Grove and Eladamri's Call are nice multicolor additions because we run a lot of bomb creatures and enchantments to tutor for.

Beatdown

Depending on the table it may be a better strategy to forget completely about Food Chain and lay down a large beater. Sire of Insanity and Archon of Valor's Reach are hard to remove once they hit the board and they pack a punch against puny mana dorks or whatever other weakling creatures flash hulk runs.

• Sire Of Insanity is just brutal, we have big guys on our board and they have nothing left in hand.
• Niv-Mizzet Reborn when pumped by ryhtm of the wild is a three hit clock
• Archon of Valor's Reach is also a phat dude which hard stops combo and beats in the sky

Utility Show

Draw and Tutors

Our commander draw cards, but then needs to be bounced or sacrificed to draw again, therefore we run a bunch of card generating tools:

• Dark Confidant, Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Sylvan Library, Oakhame Adversary, Thrasios, Triton Hero

The tutor package is slim and should be used to find the best stax piece for the board, never use the first tutor for food chain or scourge, it's not that type of deck. The second tutor can be used either for Food Chain (which is useful to eat our commander and cast it again) or for one of the two beaters.

• First tutor targets: Rest in Peace, Hushwing Gryff/Hushbringer, Trinisphere, Teferi, Time Raveler; pick the one which better complements your starting stax piece. E.g. if you open with graveyard hate, meaning they can't hulk, the next thing to stop is manual consultation line.
• Second tutor targets: Sire Of Insanity, Archon of Valor's Reach for the beatdown plan or start to jam Food Chain

Protection

We also run a set of counterspells and ways to deny opposing permission.

• Counterspells should be used to stop Flash or to protect our beater if we are in that part of the game, although our beaters tend to protect themselves quite well.
• To stop interaction with our game plan we use: Destiny Spinner, Rythm of the Wild and Sterling Grove. You should never tutor for those, but if you happen to draw them they are extremely valuable.

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Top Ranked	Achieved #30 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #22 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Primer 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 60 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.33
Tokens	Elk 3/3 G, Food
Folders	cEDH