Being the "Stax Guy" and How to Handle It
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Nov. 5, 2016, 1:50 a.m. by Wizno
Over the last few months I've been playing EDH at my LGS where I live. The meta was vastly different from the LGS I used to play at and I learned quickly I was dealing with a very competitive meta. I decided to adapt a deck I was working on for fun (my Queen Marchesa deck) and began evolving it into a Stax style deck.
I've never played Stax prior to coming to this shop but I knew if I really wanted to play Magic and not get beat out so quick, I need a strategy that slowed things down a bit.
Recently the deck has been getting better and my weekly results improving and I even managed to earn second place tonight at FNM. However, the main reason I won was due to the cruel combo of Maralen of the Mornsong and Stranglehold. I enjoyed winning but felt bad because I know how frustrating that situation is.
So I turn to you TappedOut community to see how folks reconcile playing a Stax deck. How do you deal with the post-game salt? Did you just give up that deck for the sake of the group's happiness? It felt so bittersweet to get 2nd but it is a legitimate (albeit cruel) combo.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #3
If your playgroup is competitive as you say, then they really don't have grounds to complain that you built a good deck. Oppressive control is never fun for the opponent, but that's not what it's about.
I mean, I wouldn't pull that deck out in a friendly game, but especially in a FNM tournament, go for it.
November 5, 2016 2:10 a.m.
SageOfStone says... #4
If you're trying to win, does it matter how you do it as long as its legitimate? Magic is a game where there are winners and losers, and the people who can't deal with losing to Stax have one of two options. Get good, learn the matchup, and keep trying until you win, or give up and whine about it.
If these people are your friends, play it off humbly and cool to ease the salt. If you kinda hate their guts, revel in their misery.
November 5, 2016 3:03 a.m.
I just play in a group of 3. My first deck was aimed at being very "Black": reanimation and sacrificing. I would sometimes pull out an eldrazi with annihilator as early as turn 2, turn one was rare but still possible.
Sheoldred was my commander, this was the early days of EDH for us. Their current decks would probably destroy it, but I took it apart because it became boring to use. I would always seek the eldrazi to reanimate over other creatures for annihilator. Also it did suck to see the faces of my playgroup not having fun as I make them sac their lands and creatures (early game), basically overpowering them.
The decks I made after the one above were a lot more kind, but I always feel like returning to my first deck.
November 5, 2016 3:08 a.m.
brokendwarf says... #6
Your competitive meta can't deal with a creature and an enchantment? And that's probably not even the most cruel Stax interaction.
November 5, 2016 9:06 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #7
To be fair if everything in the meta was tuned without stax in mind, as if no one had ever played it there before, chances are they won't have the correct cards to answer it.
November 5, 2016 9:10 a.m.
Pretty much any edh deck should be built to handle any scenario. Especially if it's as competitive of a meta as he stated, three people combined should easily be able to kill a creature and an enchantment, let alone either one.
November 5, 2016 11:06 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #9
Without those answers in hand they wouldn't have been able to do anything at all. No draw step, can't tutor. It's a hard lock. You can't even draw cards to dig for answers. One of the only ways for them to dig for an answer if it wasn't in hand is Necropotence.
Not every competitive deck mainboards a high enough density of removal especially if they aren't used to needing those answers. For example, if all of the meta is Grixis storm or something they don't usually run a ton of removal.
Also, I was just playing devils advocate, giving a reason why something COULD have happened.
November 5, 2016 11:15 a.m. Edited.
There are different flavors of competitive.
Some simply race for the combo win.
Some use aggro and meta game strategies to figure out who to target first.
Some are political, hanging back to clean up after a rivalry breaks out and manipulating opponents to use removal on each other.
Some play most of their match outside the matches, arguing for house rules changes.
Some dump truckloads of cash to buy cards that specifically hose playgroup strategies.
I am not competitive myself. I would throw a few matches and fully fuck with people instead of trying to always lock the table out if I had stax for EDH (but I don't - I have pokerfacebluffcounterspell.Dec instead)
November 5, 2016 11:28 a.m.
I'm just saying that from my experience with multiple different metas, anything more than a casual meta will have an answer to a situation like that. At any point in time, everyone should have a card in hand or on the battlefield to respond to most situations; of course you can't expect to have an perfect answer but between three other people, they should easily be able to handle a simple two card combo. There's no reason a meta full of capable opponents shouldn't be able to handle that, especially if they have more than one turn to do so.
November 5, 2016 11:58 a.m.
Megalomania says... #12
Guy is talking about 1 event where he wound up second. The combo was probably unexpected and well-timed. Besides there is always a chance that someone will get lucky and pull off a combo/play that normally won't resolve. Happens a lot in my meta. I try to combo out, 2 guys do everything they can to stop me only to find out the guy playing next is also ready to combo of ftw.
And again, he won second place. Someone had an answer.
November 5, 2016 8:36 p.m.
Little known fact about tcg/ccg's: people who are playing "competitively" (meaning playing to win on a non-tournament level) get salty when they lose to literally anything.
I once went to an SCG Regional and beat an abzan player with a complete homebrew combo deck. Prior to the tournament start, I had asked this individual as a random friendly seeming guy if he wanted to play a couple rounds for fun to warm up. I told him I had a rogue deck and he scoffed at me. He was still salty as heck to lose to me.
Point of the matter: if you are playing to win, you have to develop a thick skin to the salt, or resolve to never win a game again.
November 5, 2016 10:21 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #14
I had one guy get salty once pretty bad.
Playing Roon clones in EDH. had 3 serra ascendant's in play on T3. (I'm a terrible person) I didn't want to be a dink since we were playing casually so I rolled 3d6 and this guy's number came up twice. After combat he spent the rest of the game (about an hour) complaining I was targeting him from that one attack.
I snapped a bit, went home and built my Feldon mono reanimator deck. Next week we sat down and I asked the rest of the table to just leave me alone till after I got something out of my system and then I'd sac my field and let them have their way with me. I proceeded to T3-6 smack this same guy with a Pathrazer of Ulamog saying "this is what targeting is."
He has never complained again. Feelsgood.
(The guy in question is a complete douche to everyone at our shop including threatening to bring in a gun and kill people so zero fucks were given)
November 5, 2016 11:32 p.m.
DeathChant17 says... #15
If you are playing competitive, don't worry about what you are playing.
When I play with my friends at the house, I use decks that I'm currently in the process of building. All for the sake of playtesting new ideas and so I don't get so much grief as all but one of my friends are strictly casual.
But come commander night at the lgs, which did not welcome me or my friend coming in and doing fairly well, I use my Zur deck that I have spent time stream-lining into a heavy aggro build with a counterspell package, and other ways to protect Zur while the guy I go with plays a Brago, King Eternal stax deck that is pretty damn slick.
It's a pretty competitive environment, more than I care for, but it's hard not enjoying the salt because the group as a whole, aside from 2 guys, have been assholes to us since we showed up.
So I am in total agreement with Omega13. Revel in their misery if they choose to be salty instead of stepping up to the challenge and adapting.
November 6, 2016 10:51 a.m.
mountainturtle93 says... #16
Omega13 I totally agree with you i play stax,and love watching people whine about the deck instead of getting good. I have two lists I go through depending on who I'm playing with, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is just so diversified, and can be played so many different ways.
November 7, 2016 1:11 a.m. Edited.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #17
I too play the Queen's stax & found that my opponents are generally less salty about losing to commander damage than any oppressive combo. Sword of Feast and Famine basically gives you extra turns, so it's very good at closing out a game.
As for being "that stax guy", my group general has one semi-competitive deck & 2+ more casual decks. We generally pull out the more competitive ones in response to other higher power decks. We also have sideboards to make them more or less casual.
November 7, 2016 1:45 p.m.
god_dammit_nappa says... #18
If you're looking to improve your sexy staxy deck, I'd recommend this card interaction: Armageddon + Storm Cauldron.
Turn 1: Command Tower > Sol Ring > Grim Monolith
Turn 2: Land for Turn = Plains. Tap Command Tower and Sol Ring to cast Seething Song. Use the 5 red mana to cast Storm Cauldron. Tap Plains and Grim Monolith to cast Armageddon.
Turn 3: Victory! (You lock everyone out from playing lands or progressing the board)
Megalomania says... #2
If it was a game among friends wherein people are playing to have fun, I would consider switching to a deck that the group finds acceptable/fun to play against. If it's a competitive group then it is them who should be focusing on building a better deck.
November 5, 2016 2:08 a.m.