Hub suggestions - Soft Lock and Hard Lock

TappedOut forum

Posted on June 5, 2020, 12:31 p.m. by Mortlocke

Both of the suggested Hubs are subthemes of Stax, but with different connotations. Soft Lock Stax decks limit opponent resources - forcing them to play at a pace slower than the player applying the lock. However, this lock can be feasibly broken by decks that have interaction - e.g. Assassin's Trophy or Krosan Grip. An example of a Soft Lock combo would be Sword of Truth and Justice + Glistener Elf + Tangle Wire.

A Hard Lock Stax deck shuts opponents out of a game by removing any and all access to resources while the player applying the lock has a means of mitigating the lock. Typically, the player applying the lock has no reliable means of outright ending the game - forcing opponents to sit around and wait. An example of an infamous Hard Lock would be Leovold, Emissary of Trest + Teferi's Puzzle Box.

Additionally, Both Hard Lock and Soft Lock are commonly used terms within the lexicon of magic players, see: source under Lockdown. And yes, I have a deck (The Song of Phyresis - it's awesome, you should check it out) that can regularly create Soft Locks on the board, so the Soft Lock Hub would be especially relevant to me. Does anyone else think these hubs would be relevant or useful in describing their own decks? Please post!

Mortlocke says... #2

After a second thought - Is the Stax Hub enough to cover both a hard and soft lock deck theme?

June 6, 2020 10:06 p.m.