Stax?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Sept. 18, 2025, 6:43 p.m. by hyalopterouslemur
So I've had a recent desire to make a bunch of Stax decks; how does everyone feel about common Stax pieces? I would say the rarity of Winter Moon is a crime if anything; it's a Stax card that can easily break symmetry, and the meta lovers its nonbasic lands.
It depends, most people can tolerate Stax if the deck has a clear plan to actually end the game in a reasonable time frame. If you have a good playgroup something like Stasis or Static Orb will not slow the game down that much, it'll lead to incredibly short turns with very very few decisions, and most of them intuitive, so while the turn count will be nuts the actual time spent shouldn't be much worse. I find when bad players run into Stax the games seem to take forever because they spend so much time complaining that they 'can't do anything', so if you play vs mature players Stax is more viable. Things are weirder if you're using 'modern' Stax pieces that aren't symmetrical, these are toxic AF IMHO, but they do help end the game (who has enjoyed playing against a Dranith Magistrate? I mean it happens vs 'those decks', but yikes).
What Stax effects are tolerated varies by power level, with most people flipping the table if you bring land hate Stax to Bracket 1 or 2, and most people largely accepting it at Bracket 3. I will say many people resent it if you don't warn them about being on Stax or Chaos, especially at Bracket 3 (by 4 most people are easier going, and 5 just don't care). Note, stuff like Meekstone isn't covered yet, so creature only stuff might be 'legal' at lower Brackets, but again expect the table to be flipped.
As noted, some groups are pretty strict and will argue that anything that affects lands (other than probably Kismet family stuff) is Bracket 4 by default, I'm not sure it has to be that way, but if you're breaking something like Stasis you're almost definitionally bracket 4.
September 18, 2025 10:20 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #4
I enjoy my two main star decks (Torture! And Kaervik, the Enchantress) because they don’t prevent people from untapping lands, they just add a life cost to the things they do. One could definitely argue that this difference makes them NOT stax, which I’d be fine with, but the people I’ve played with don’t have anything like a negative reaction to them. Forcing the game into an accelerated clock is generally well received, so I’d go that route.
September 19, 2025 3:23 p.m.
hyalopterouslemur says... #5
I already have a Ghave deck:
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ghave-guru-of-spores-stax-1/
I also want to do others, though. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, etc.
legendofa says... #2
It's pretty much automatically going to be Bracket 4, if you care about that. Mass land denial's a pretty big thing.
Do you have any specific colors in mind? Blood Moon, Drannith MagistrateGC, No Mercy, High Noon, Opposition, and Pendrell Mists are all reasonably common options--at least, they're ones I've come into contact with. They're also higher budget than Winter Moon, if that's a concerns.
September 18, 2025 8:39 p.m.