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Lazav Slow Burn

Commander / EDH Competitive Stax Tap/Untap UB (Dimir)

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Land (25)

Tutor (9)

Combo (8)

Counter (15)

Stax/Tax (11)

CA (8)

Commander (1)

Commander: Lazav, the Multifarious

Interaction (11)

Mana (10)

WinCon (2)

Sideboard

Other (15)

Maybeboard

Other (11)

Welcome to Lazav Attrition. The intent is to build a cEDH deck that uses stax pieces to slow down opponents until parity can be broken and/or an infinite combo is achieved. The deck includes bounce and counter spells to further delay an opponent.

This is a slow deck by cEDH standards, however it does have some underlying turbo to it. Dropping Lazav turn 1 into an early Buried Alive is a game changer.

There are two lines of winning:

  1. Slow Burn
    2. is the major and consists of slowing opponents down to our speed with stax and interaction until we break parity and/or quasi-locking opponents with NFP or Unstasisable (see Combos Section); and
  2. Turbo
    3. is the minor. Drop Lazav turn one into a turn 2 Buried Alive, possibly Intuition. This requires some fast mana and will not leave open mana for countering. Turboing a win requires seven mana, to cast Buried Alive and to copy the Ooze. So, we’re looking for Dark Ritual and preferably Mana Vault. And of course this won’t give us the win without Walking Ballista or Night Market Lookout.

Opening Hand

This varies depending on our line of winning but obviously, we want mana. We don’t want creatures except perhaps Ghostly Pilferer or Hypnotic Grifter.

If we’re going Slow Burn, Psychic Surgery or Opposition Agent to interact with early land fetches and Arcane Laboratory to slow down opponents immediately.

If we’re going turbo, Walking Ballista and a tutors for three card. Another turbo line would be Dramatic Scepter and the Ballista.

WinCons

There are three win conditions:

  1. Night Market Lookout
    2. with a means to tap/untap;
  2. Walking Ballista
    3. with infinite mana to kill opponents; or
  3. Concession
    4. quasi-lock opponents from playing with NFP combo and Stasis or wipe their boards with Cyclonic Rift or Capsize.

Lazav, the Multifarious can be used to copy one of the below creatures, with the primary target being Necrotic Ooze

  1. Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter
    2. (Dramatic Scepter) only requires two cards;
  2. Fatestitcher + Necrotic Ooze + Pili-Pala
    3. (NFP) infinite tap/untap. Requires 2 mana rock. Can be used to produce infinite mana or lock opponents out;
  3. Necrotic Ooze + Omen Hawker + Pili-Pala
    4. (NOP) infinite mana. Unlike above, doesn’t require an external mana source;
  4. Aphetto Alchemist + Necrotic Ooze + Pili-Pala
    5. (NAP) infinite mana. Requires 2 mana rock. Can be used to produce infinite mana and untaps;
  5. Unstoppabble Plan + Stasis
    6. (Unstasisable) not a combo but it puts a quasi-lock on opponents; and
  6. Aphetto Alchemist + Illusionist's Bracers
    7. (Alchemist’s Bracers) infinite untap. Can be used to produce infinite mana and infinite Isochron Scepter;

The infinite combos can be also be used in conjunction with Ghostly Pilferer / Hypnotic Grifter / Sensei's Divining Top to draw the deck, see below.

Rube Goldberg Combos

There are several overly complex combos to draw the deck looking for the Ballista or the Lookout after going infinite:

     
  1. Sensei's Diving Top
    2. By stacking the top's 2nd ability by untapping and reactivating, we can draw the deck; and  
  2. Ghostly Pilferer
  3.  
         
    • On the Battlefield
      • If Ghostly Pilferer is on the battlefield we can use the NFP to generate infinite mana and subsequently tap/untap the Pilferer, using the mana to power Pili-Pala's untap;    
    • In the Graveyard
      • Alternately, (and even jankier) if Lazav, the Multifarious is on the field and Necrotic Ooze and Ghostly Pilferer are in the graveyard, we can use NAP to generate infinite mana and subsequently, as the Ooze use Aphetto Alchemist's ability to untap itself, tap the Alchemist to untap the Alchemist, while that trigger is on the stack, use to become a copy of the Pilferer and another to draw. Then recopy the Ooze to repeat.  

Lazav, the Multifarious of course synergizes with any creature in the our graveyard , some more than others. Most notably are:

  1. Necrotic Ooze
    2. gives Lazav the abilities of any creature in the graveyard, providing combos with the Commander;
  2. Saiba Cryptomancer gives Lazav hexproof; and
  3. Hypnotic Grifter
    4. allows Lazav to get a +1/+1 counter and then copy Walking Ballista without dying

Other notable synergies are:

  1. Unstoppable Plan and Stasis
    2. tap the orb on end step and it doesn’t affect us; and
  2. Isochron Scepter and most instants
    3. with some other means of untapping, we can lock opponents, or bounce or counter everything.

These are a combination of stax/tax/hate pieces, some of which affect all players, and some affect only opponents.

Parity

  1. Stasis
    2. Stax/Casting, can only break parity with infinite mana combo which makes it kind of moot, a bounce spell on Isochron Scepter or with Unstoppable Plan;
  2. Vexing Bauble
    3. Stax/Casting stops free spells, no way to break parity;
  3. Damping Sphere
    4. Stax/Casting can break parity;
  4. Arcane Laboratory
    5. Stax/Casting can break parity as deck relies on activated abilities to win;
  5. Grafdigger's Cage Stax/Casting only affects one card minimally; and
  6. Torpor Orb
    7. Stax/ETB only affects two cards minimally.

Affects only opponents

  1. Ghostly Pilferer
    2. Tax/Casting redundant with Grafdigger's Cage and niche;
  2. Orcish Bowmasters
    3. Hate/Draw;
  3. Counterbalance
    4. Stax/Casting;
  4. Psychic Surgery
    5. Stax/Tutor;
  5. Opposition Agent
    6. Stax/Tutor;
  6. Malevolent Hermit   (when flipped)
    7. Stax/Casting; and
  7. Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study/li> Tax/Casting.

Weaknesses

  1. Creature Limitations
    2. the deck requires creature activated abilities to win and delay opponents. Summoning Sickness and Cursed Totem effects are harmful;
  2. Graveyard Exile
    3. one of the two win cons requires creatures in the graveyard; and
  3. Limited Post Cast Interaction
    4. The deck is counterspell heavy with limited spells to deal with cards already played. I’ve been adding more interaction;
  4. Janky Combos
    5. Aside from Dramatic Scepter and Alchemist's Bracers, the combos require three cards, Necrotic Ooze and two other creatures in the graveyard, plus a 2 recurring mana to power Pili-Pala's untap. Although the NOP combo does not require external mana, it can not tap/untap anything.

Issues

  1. Slow
    2. the deck is too slow by cEDH standards;
  2. Mana
    3. the deck is at the point where the opening hand doesn’t have enough lands or has too many;
  3. Breaking Parity
    4. most of the stax pieces are one sided but Arcane Laboratory and Stasis are hard to break parity on and others are near impossible. However the purpose of the deck is to hamper everyone until it can use activated abilities; and
  4. Empty Draws and Dead Hands
    5. During gold fishing, there tends to be a lot of empty draws, even with stax pieces, this would allow opponents to build up their board states.

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Casual

92% Competitive