Despite what anyone else says, this is the way to build 5c Stax in the current Vintage metagame. This is what I played on the second day of the ICBM XTreme Power Nine Open:
Creatures (8)
Lands (18)
Spells (34)
Ah, good ol’ Stax. I love playing 5c Stax. It’s the closest thing in Vintage to playing a real control deck. The Blue decks of Vintage are mostly combo decks nowadays. Stax remains the format’s true control deck. It aspires to take absolute control of the game in almost every matchup before it wins. It achieves control over the game by locking the opponent out with Smokestack and Sphere of Resistance, tapped down under Tangle Wire, denied mana with Wasteland recursion via Crucible of Worlds and Gorilla Shamans. All of these threats are powered out by Mishra’s Workshop. Goblin Welder helps replenish Tangle Wires, restart Smokestacks, and trump countermagic. The idea is to wipe your opponent’s board of permanents and prevent them from playing any spells. 5c Stax’s creatures, Karn and Trike, serve on defense as much as they are finishers. In full five colors, it’s the closest thing in Vintage to The Deck. It even has Balance.
This particular list is a throwback to the 2005 Stax variants. Only now, with unrestricted Crop Rotation, the deck can find Strip Mine and begin recurring it more consistently. To this end, I included a pair of Rotations along with a full complement of Crucible of Worlds. I talked about many of the options with 5c Stax a few weeks ago. I ran Sphere of Resistance over Thorn on account of the Day 1 metagame, which was creature heavy. I ran neither Bazaar of Baghdad nor Sundering Titan, which I argued were suboptimal a few weeks ago. I included Imperial Seal, which I strongly believe every 5c Stax list should play (I’m getting sick of hearing people not play Imperial Seal because they don’t own one in proxy environments).
I wanted at least one Seal of Cleansing, which gets the nod over Seal of Primordium because of Sphinx of the Steel Wind, but I only ended up playing with it in the sideboard. I also considered a Swords to Plowshares, which I used to run in 2005 5c Stax. Other sideboard choices: Darkblast was an auto-include with tutors. Ensnaring Bridge was included as a Tinker and tutor target. Tabernacle is another post-board Crop Rotation target. Viashino Heretic was my mirror match playmaker. I felt strange not running 3 Red Elemental Blast, but the sideboard was so tight for space. Leyline was my primary anti-Ichorid hate.
Some brief notes on playing the deck:
* One of the keys to Stax is manipulating the stack with upkeep triggers. You can use the stack to require your opponent to sacrifice a permanent to Smokestack before tapping down to Tangle Wire by putting the Tangle Wire trigger on the stack first. By the same token, you can stack Wire and Smokestack triggers on your turn (two each) to your advantage. For example, with Tangle Wire you can stack the tap trigger first and then the fade trigger second so that you can fade and then tap fewer permanents. You can also put the Smokestack sacrifice trigger on the stack first and the Tangle Wire tap trigger second so that you can tap before sacrificing a permanent.
* APNAP (Active Player Non-Active Player) puts your upkeep triggers, like Smokestack and Tangle Wire, on the stack last, which means that they resolve first. Your opponent will have to sacrifice and tap down before resolving their effects, like Dark Confidant or Oath of Druids.
* The default play with Smokestack is to set it at one, and keep it there. The deck is almost all permanents, so you should be able to keep up, sacrificing one permanent a turn, while your opponent is sucked into the ground. At some point, you will draw either Crucible of Worlds or Goblin Welder, and you will pull far ahead. Even if your opponent has no permanents, it is not a bad idea to keep Stack set at one. It’s a no-brainer if you have Crucible. Although Stack at one is the default, there will be many times when you rapidly ramp Stack, even without Goblin Welder to help out.
I wanted to feel the deck out. To see how 5c Stax might perform in the new metagame, with new tools, like unrestricted Crop Rotation. It had been 4 years since I played Stax in a tournament (getting a painful ninth place at SCG Richmond in 2005). Although I had no illusions about crushing this tournament, I did expect to learn a lot. Sometimes, learning about a format can be just as important as winning a tournament, as learning can set up you up for multiple future victories.
Round 1: Dan Chapman
I recognized the name, but didn’t recognize the face. I had no idea what I was facing. I did notice that Dan riffle shuffled his cards (badly damaging them), and I was apprehensive that he was going to do the same to mine. I extensively pile shuffled and side shuffled and he accused me of presenting an illegal deck because I didn’t riffle shuffle. After explaining that I side shuffled, he said that that was a riffle shuffle. I stated my disagreement, and on that note we proceeded into the match.
Game 1:
My opening hand was:
Mishra’s Workshop
Wasteland
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Mana Crypt
Crucible of Worlds
Karn, Silver Golem
This hand is pretty solid against most decks. It has Wasteland recursion and Karn to eat Moxen. Also, it’s a decent clock with attacking Crucible.
Keep!
My opponent led with Badlands (I believe), Duress.
He stared at my hand for a brief moment and took Mana Crypt. This signaled to me that he wanted to keep Karn off the table. I was likely to play Crucible first anyway.
I could hardly believe my fortune when I drew Trinisphere on my first draw.
I thought, momentarily, about playing Crucible, but went for the Trinisphere. There is a danger. If I am Wastelanded here I could become trapped under my own Sphere. But I went for it anyway. I played Mishra’s Workshop, Trinisphere.
Turn 2:
Sure enough, Dan had Wasteland for me. He Wastelanded my Shop and passed the turn.
I drew another Wasteland and played one of them. I was relieved.
If he tries to Wasteland me again, I can respond by Wasting his dual land, and two-for-one him. Since I have another Wasteland in play, there’s a good chance I’ll reach the three mana needed to play Crucible and steamroll him.
Turn 3:
Dan played a Fetchland, I believe Bloodstained Mire, and passed the turn.
I drew another Mishra’s Workshop, and used it to play my Crucible. I Wasteland his dual land and pass the turn.
Turn 4:
Dan played Strip Mine, still one mana short of being able to play anything. Instead, he Wastelands my Shop, apparently to keep me from playing Karn next turn.
I contemplate my options. I can play City of Brass, Gemstone Mine, Mishra’s Workshop (from my graveyard), or a Wasteland (from my graveyard). I play City of Brass.
Turn 5:
Dan surprises me by playing Ancient Tomb, Dark Confidant.
I Wasteland his Ancient Tomb and pass.
Turn 6:
Dan reveals Jagged Poppet, attacks me for 2, and then passes.
I play Mox Pearl off a Mishra’s Workshop and pass the turn.
Turn 7:
Dan reveals a Mox with Bob, attacks, and passes the turn.
I play Shop, Karn, and attack with Crucible.
Dan scoops.
I sideboard in a Darkblast.
Game 2:
My hand is:
Tinker
Mana Crypt
Gemstone Mine
Darkblast
Wasteland
Sphere of Resistance
Crucible of Worlds
Turn 1:
Dan plays Unmask on his first turn, taking Mana Crypt, interestingly. He then plays Mox Jet, Fetchland, and passes the turn.
I topdeck Mishra’s Workshop and cast Crucible.
Turn 2:
Dan plays another land and casts Jagged Poppet!
I play Wasteland and pass.
Turn 3:
He plays a Morph, unmorphs his creature to empty his hand, and attacks me with Jagged Poppet! I contemplate playing Darkblast, but decide against it. I discard Gemstone Mine, Wasteland, and Sphere of Resistance. Those cards weren’t playable anyway.
I draw Welder and play it off Gemstone Mine, which I played from my graveyard.
Turn 4:
He attacks me with Poppet and his unmorphed Red beater.
I block with Goblin Welder. When he discards Leyline of the Void, I realize the error. Being unfamiliar with Jagged Poppet, I forgot that his hand has to be empty for him to make me discard Tinker.
I draw Crop Rotation and scoop after his next swing forces me to discard Tinker.
Had I not blocked with Welder, he would not have been able to play or discard Leyline, and I would have been able to play Tinker for Trike or Karn.
Whoops!
Game 3:
My opening hand is:
Sol Ring
Wasteland
Gemstone Mine
Crucible of Worlds
Karn
Smokestack
Goblin Welder
Turn 1:
I open with:
Dan plays Thoughtseize, taking Goblin Welder.
Turn 2:
I play Gemstone Mine, Smokestack.
Dan plays Duress on my Crucible.
Turn 3:
On my upkeep, I ramp Smokestack. I am so relieved to topdeck Tangle Wire and drop it. That was a much needed save.
He sacrifices a land.
Turn 4:
I tap Wire, Stack, and Wasteland. I sacrifice Wire. I keep Stack set at 1. I topdeck another Wire and play it, sending Gemstone to one counter.
He sacrifices a land, plays Ancient Tomb, and casts Gathan Raiders.
Turn 5:
I tap Gemstone Mine, Stack and Wire, and sacrifice Gemstone MIne, keeping Stack set at 1. I topdecked and played Mishra’s Workshop to cast Karn.
Dan was now in big trouble. I could keep topdecking permanents to feed my Stack and use Karn as a wall. A few turns later I topdecked Crucible and Dan scooped.
Round 2: CJ Moritz
Through our chatter, I became aware of the fact that CJ was playing a Workshop deck. I was looking forward to a mirror match.
CJ won the die roll.
Game 1:
I opened a hand that looked something like this:
Gorilla Shaman
Wasteland
Mox Sapphire
Demonic Tutor
Gemstone Mine
City of Brass…
and something I can’t recall.
This hand seemed quite playable.
Turn 1:
CJ opened with:
Mox, Mishra’s Factory, Sphere of Resistance.
This is a solid, offensive start.
I played City of Brass, Mox Sapphire.
Turn 2:
CJ simply attacked me with Factory, and passed. He missed his second land drop, to my amazement.
I tapped my City and my Mox and cast Mox Monkey. Rather than Wasteland his Factory (which is probably the correct play), I ate his Mox instead.
Turn 3:
CJ topdecked another Factory, which he played to animate the first. He attacked me again for 2 and passed the turn.
I played my Wasteland, Wastelanded a Factory, and tapped my City, Gemstone Mine, and Mox to cast Demonic Tutor finding Crucible of Worlds. On turn 4 I cast Crucible, and CJ scoops.
I sideboard in a pair of Heretics and Seal of Cleansing for lord knows what. I remember debating whether to keep in Crop Rotations, and decided that in matchups such as this Crop Rotation is much less risky, although it’s also less important. I think I kept them in.
Game 2:
My opening hand was:
Mishra’s Workshop
Wasteland
City of Brass
Tangle Wire
Tangle Wire
Crucible of Worlds
and…?
On turn 1, CJ opened with:
City of Traitors into Chalice of the Void at 1 and 0.
I drew Sol Ring on my turn, but played Wasteland on his City.
On my second turn, I played Crucible of Worlds and ended up winning the game from there.
Round 3: David
My round 3 opponent was very polite. We shuffled up and presented.
I drew:
Gemstone Mine
Wasteland
Ancestral Recall
Tangle Wire
Tangle Wire
Crucible of Worlds…
and a card I can’t recall
David led with:
Basic Island, Mox Emerald.
I drew another Crucible, played Gemstone Mine and passed. On his upkeep, I fired off Ancestral. To my delight, it resolved, drawing me Black Lotus, Balance, and Crop Rotation.
He played a Fetchland and passed the turn.
I untapped and contemplated my options.
I thought about going Lotus, Balance. Even Wasting my own land to do it. Then I thought about something else. I could play Crop Rotation. If he countered it, I could push through a broken Balance. If he didn’t, I could start Crucible Strip Mine recursion.
I played Crop Rotation on my Gemstone MIne.
He broke his Fetchland for an Underground Sea, as if he was able to play Mana Drain. But stopped and let my Rotation resolve. I couldn’t believe my good fortune.
When it resolved and I picked up my library, I second guessed myself: get Strip Mine, MIshra’s Workshop, or something else entirely? I ran through my reasoning once more and again settled on Strip Mine.
Then, I miscued.
I Strip Mined his Island. So far so good, I reasoned. With him off of Mana Drain mana, I played Black Lotus, Crucible, which I hoped would resolve, and it did. I then replayed Strip Mine and Stripped his Sea. He responded by casting Vampiric Tutor.
On his turn he untapped and cast Ancient Grudge on my Crucible with his Mox and a Volcanic Island.
What a blowout!
He made the error of breaking his Fetchland for Sea. I should have capitalized by Stripping the Sea first. It was a mistake that cost me the game.
He topdecked Tinker two turns later and found a giant robot known as Darksteel Colossus. I drew Mox Sapphire and Tolarian Academy, to go with my Wasteland. He had no idea that I had Balance in hand: he was so confident in his impending victory. If only he knew… but I wasn’t about to tell him. Not with two more games to play.
Game 2:
My opening hand:
Imperial Seal
City of Brass
Smokestack
Red Elemental Blast
Crucible of Worlds
Goblin Welder
Goblin Welder
Oh Imperial Seal, how wonderful are thee!
This game was brought to you by Imperial Seal. I led with City of Brass into Imperial Seal. For what, you ask? For Mishra’s Workshop, of course.
I was concerned when my opponent led with: Land, Mana Crypt, Trinket Mage (tutoring up Black Lotus), Black Lotus, go.
I had to decide whether to play Stack or Crucible on turn 2.
I led with Crucible so that I could hold up Red Elemental Blast or play Goblin Welder. I cast Crucible and passed the turn.
My opponent played Ingot Chewer on turn 2, the hard way, killing my Crucible.
I topdecked a Mox. I played Welder, which he Forced, and then Smokestack, which resolved!
He played a land, and attacked with Ingot Chewer and Trinket Mage.
From here, I took over. I ramped the stack, played another Welder and the Tangle Wire I drew for the turn.
Although he managed to squeeze out a Time Vault, it didn’t do him much good. He tried to defect a Smokestack with two Soot counters onto me with Time Vault, but it didn’t work out very well for him, giving me essentially a free turn. I held up Red Elemental Blast, but never had to use it.
Game 3:
My opening hand:
Mishra’s Workshop
Trinisphere
Crucible of Worlds
Strip Mine
Red Elemental Blast
Wasteland
Gorilla Shaman
He played Turn 1: Island, Ancestral Recall.
But my hand was stronger.
I played Mishra’s Workshop, Trinisphere, expecting it to get countered. I even drew Sphere of Resistance on the turn, but had to lead with 3Sphere. He Forced my Trinisphere.
I Strip Mine his second land drop on my second turn, and cast Sphere of Resistance. Once again, he played Force of Will. I drew City of Brass that turn.
The coast was clear. On turn 3 I Wastelanded his dual and played Crucible of Worlds. Next turn, Shaman joined the fray and ate his Moxen. I locked him out soon after that.
Round 4: Jon Donovan
Throughout the tournament, Jon has been reporting his progress. That’s because Jon is playing a powered version of a G/W deck I designed a few months ago. This is a terrible matchup for me. Not only does he have Qasali Pridemage and Null Rod, he also has Gaddock Teeg, Seal of Primordium, and Kataki, War’s Wage.
Game 1:
I won the die roll.
My opening hand was:
Gorilla Shaman
Goblin Welder
Wasteland
Mox Ruby
City of Brass
Karn, Silver Golem
There is no doubt that Karn is powerful in this match. He can block and allow you to attack, as long as Null Rod isn’t played. The truth is that this hand is garbage. It’s got little of value. Welder and Shaman aren’t for this matchup. Wasteland is pretty worthless. Karn isn’t even castable.
The reason I kept this hand is that I am in a habit of not mulliganing. With Grow, I rarely mulligan, and I don’t believe I mulliganed once on the day.
I played turn 1 Shaman and Welder. He played a basic Beta Forest and passed the turn.
On my second turn, I drew and played another Welder. I attacked him for 2. On his second turn, Jon played Windswept Heath and found a basic Plains to cast Kataki.
On my third turn, I had to tap my Mox to pay for itself. This kept me from playing Crucible of Worlds which I drew on the turn. I never recovered. By the time it was all over, Jon had 2 Tarmogoyf, Aven Mindcensor, and 2 Qasali Pridemage coming in the red zone.
I only played it out since I have Balance in my deck, as the ultimate out.
Game 2:
I brought in a mix of junk: Ensnaring Bridge and Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale. I believe I sideboarded out Gorilla Shamans.
My opening hand this time was much stronger:
City of Brass
Smokestack
Smokestack
Mana Crypt
Vampiric Tutor
Goblin Welder
Imperial Seal
But I wasn’t quite sure how to play it.
There were so many insane plays, it was hard to sort them all out. Here are some options that occurred to me:
1) Tutor for Tinker to try and race with Trike.
2) Tutor for Shop to power out Smokestacks
3) Tutor for Balance, get him to play a bunch of permanents and Balance him out.
4) Tutor for Crucible.
I decided that the most stable route was to Imperial Seal for Mishra’s Workshop.
On his first turn, Jon played Forest, Mox Pearl, Kataki.
On my second turn, I played Mishra’s Workshop, Mana Crypt, Smokestack. I also played Goblin Welder. Jon played Enlightened Tutor on his upkeep for Seal of Primoridum, which he played on his turn (letting his Mox Pearl die). Jon sacrificed the Seal to kill my Smokestack.
On my third turn, I tapped Mana Crypt to pay for itself and played another Smokestack. I held up City of Brass for Vampiric Tutor.
Everyone was going according to plan. However, on his turn, Jon played Black Lotus and then dumped Goyf and another creature onto the table. He was playing creatures faster than I could catch up.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I ramped the Smokestack, and drew and played a Tangle Wire. He tapped down and sacrificed a permanent. He played another dude and more land. I found Crop Rotation to Rotate into the Tabernacle, but he Wastelanded the Tabernacle.
I was crushed. Given my opening hand, I couldn’t help but imagine a better way to play this hand, but I couldn’t think of what it might be. Kataki held me down, limiting my lines of play just enough that I couldn’t go broken.
I wished Jon luck.
Record: 3-1
Round 5
My opponent won the die roll.
Game 1:
I opened:
MIshra’s Workshop
City of Brass
Goblin Welder
Crucible of Worlds
Smokestack
Tangle Wire
This hand has almost all of the deck’s unrestricted lock components. Of course I kept this hand.
My opponent played turn 1 Island. I did not know what he was playing.
I started with Crucible and Smokestack, which resolved in succession, killing his permanents. I kept all of his permanents off the table, but I didn’t draw any Spheres.
I kept this position for about 7 turns. I did manage to find a Trike and start attacking him. I attacked him to 15 and then 10.
At that point, he played Mox Jet, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor, going to 7. I can guess at what he found, but what came next is undeniable. He played Black Lotus and then Yawgmoth’s Will.
He replayed the Lotus, the Rituals, and cast Grim Tutor again, sending himself to 4, just one point out of reach with my Triskelion (because I attacked with Goblin Welder!). For the big finish, he cast Tendrils and killed me.
I thought back on my hand. If I had known what he was playing, I would not have kept my opening hand. The hand is amazing against almost anything else. But the most important cards against TPS are Spheres.
I resolved to win the next two games.
Game 2:
I mulliganed a hand without Spheres and then drew:
Mox Emerald
Tolarian Academy
Sphere of Resistance
Crucible of Worlds
Strip Mine
Smokestack
I lead with Mox, Academy, Sphere, which he Force of Wills.
However, my turn 2 Crucible plus Strip Mine is enough to keep him out of the game, unlike last time.
Game 3:
As I planned at the outset, I would sideboard 4 Leylines in on the draw. I sideboard in: 3 Red Elemental Blast and 4 Leyline. I sideboarded out a pair of Crucibles, a Tangle Wire, 3 Goblin Welder, and something else I don’t recall.
When I fanned open my opening hand, I couldn’t have been more pleased:
Leyline of the Void
Sphere of Resistance
Mana Crypt
City of Brass
Wasteland
Red Elemental Blast
Mishra’s Workshop
Woot! This hand had my most essential tools: 1) Leyline so I would see a turn, 2) Sphere to keep him from doing anything, and 3) Red Elemental Blast to protect Sphere form countermagic and Blue bounce. In addition, it had all the mana I’d need.
To add to my joy, my opponent mulliganed to 5!
Turn 1:
I played turn zero Leyline and watched as he played Mox Sapphire and Island on turn 1, going to 3 cards in hand.
On my turn, I drew another Wasteland and contemplated my options. He only had 3 cards in hand.
Option 1: I could play Mishra’s Workshop, Sphere of Resistance.
Option 2: I could play Mana Crypt, City of Brass, and cast Sphere of Resistance with Red Elemental Blast as protection.
Option 3: I could just play City of Brass and hold up Red Elemental Blast.
He only had three cards in his hand.
The problem with option 2, the otherwise most attractive option, is that it has the potential of inflicting quite a bit of damage with Mana Crypt. Depending on how long the game went, Mana Crypt could kill you. The problem with option 1 is that it will then take two turns to be able to cast Red Elemental Blast, since Workshop mana can’t be used to help pay for it under Sphere. With Option 3, you could play Sphere on turn 2 off Workshop.
On account of that analysis, I went with Option 3, which I felt didn’t expose me to potentially dying to Mana Crypt.
I played City of Brass and passed.
On my endstep, my opponent played Brainstorm and then cast Chain of Vapor on my Leyline. I Red Elemental Blasted the Chain.
Turn 2:
My opponent played an Underground Sea and cast Timetwister.
I.
Couldn’t.
Believe.
It.
I was baited into Rebbing the Chain, apparently.
Out of three cards, he was able to assemble Twister. He played Mox Jet, Dark Ritual, Necropotence and set aside 7 cards.
Against such tremendous card advantage, I knew my chances for winning were slim. The one key advantage I enjoyed was cutting him off from Yawgmoth’s Will with my Leyline.
My new hand had Sphere of Resistance, Red Elemental Blast, a Mox, and Strip Mine. Unfortunately, since I didn’t play the Mana Crypt on the previous turn, I couldn’t do everything I might want to do. My options were either play Sphere and Strip Mine him or hold up Red Elemental Blast and Strip Mine him. I decided to play Sphere and Strip Mine him. It did little good.
He was able to play Hurkyl’s Recall on me. From there, he cast Mana Crypt, Mox, Mox, Memory Jar.
He broke the Memory Jar and found Tendrils to kill me.
I was so heartbroken.
Observers remarked that my opponent was quite lucky to find Tendrils. At every turn on the road, his chances seemed to diminish, but he managed to squeak it out.
Upon reflection, I made at least two errors, one quite serious. Most people I ask seem to think that Option 2 was the correct line of play. The more I thought about it, the more I think they are right. I will see what you think from the poll. Here’s the thing: between 4 Smokestack, 2 Shaman, 1 Karn, 1 Tinker, 1 Goblin Welder, and the three tutors that can find those cards, it’s pretty clear that I have a good chance of seeing at least one of those 12 cards before dying to Mana Crypt. I should have taken my chances.
Lesson learned: never give TPS an inch or they will take a mile. This is made all the worse because I am an expert on TPS.
It’s less significant, but it’s probably the case that I shouldn’t have countered his Chain of Vapor with my Red Elemental Blast. The worst thing he could have done was untap and play Tinker: that is his best out. Yet I gave him that opening. If I play turn 2 Sphere, then he has no outs.
Once again, my play errors cost me a chance at Top 8, after a solid start.
But I wasn’t just here to win the tournament. I wanted to learn about the new format and have a good time at a large, competitive Vintage event.
Round 6: James King with Oath
Although I was 3-2, this felt like round 7.
I won the die roll and elected to play.
Game 1:
This game was utterly fascinating. Unfortunately, I took no notes from this match, so my memory is incomplete What I remember are the critical moments.
I kept a strange opening hand on account of Balance. I played a land which James Wastelanded. I deliberately missed my second turn land drop so as to Balance away his two lands. Unfortunately, I had more cards in hand than he did, so I wouldn’t create the degree of card advantage I hoped. James only had two lands and a Mox in play. Under time pressure, I played a Gemstone Mine and passed. I kept trying to figure out how to use Balance, either for its full effect or as bait to resolve something else, like Smokestack. Turn after turn elapsed. After about turn five, I realized something critical: I could have been drawing mana from Gemstone Mine so that I could use it to play Balance to wipe his board. Too late, I kept on. I had plenty of Moxen in hand, and I played spells that he’d have to counter, and did. But still I had Smokestack and Balance in hand, and eventually Karn as well. Eventually, I flubbed this game up enough that he was able to trigger an Oath of Druids, revealing Overlord Hellkite, and win the game.
Game 2:
I brought in Seal of Cleansing, Darkblast, and Tabernacle. I have very little recollection of this game except that I had a pretty solid lock going, but it took a while to convince him to scoop.
Game 3:
This game was fascinating. The central dynamic was active Smokestack with Crucible for land recursion and him using Life From the Loam to recur his lands. This forced me to ramp my Stack out of control so that both of our boards were wiped clean. From this quasi-game reset, neither one of us could develop fast enough and we went to time and drew.
Round 7: Twuan Pwnertown
Twuan is a frequently occurring character in my articles. He made top 8 on day 1 with his potent Stax brew. This is one of the best matches of the day, and certainly the most entertaining.
Game 1:
My opening hand is:
Gorilla Shaman
Gorilla Shaman
Goblin Welder
Gemstone Mine
Mox
Sphere of Resistance
Wasteland
Seemed like a fine opener in the Stax mirror.
I led the game with Mox, Land, Sphere of Resistance. Twuan Wastelanded my Gemstone Mine!
I lacked a second land drop. On his second turn, he played Bazaar of Baghdad and used it to trade junk for gems.
On my third turn, I topdecked Mox Ruby, and played it. He played Badlands, Sol Ring, and Dark Confidant.
I played Shaman and was soon able to eat his Sol Ring, but his Dark Confidant ate me alive. He used Dark Confidant and Bazaar in tandem to dig for whatever he wanted. When he found Null Rod, I was dead, and scooped.
Game 2:
My opening hand was fascinating:
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Sphere of Resistance
Imperial Seal
Ancestral Recall
Goblin Welder
Smokestack
What is the correct turn 1 play?
This hand seemed amazing. I decided to play Ancestral on his upkeep. Ancestral drew me into Academy, another Welder, and Strip Mine.
On his turn, he played Workshop, Crucible. This play irked me. My plan was to tutor for Crucible to get Strip Mine recursion going and then add Smokestack to that.
Turn 2:
Instead, I played Gemstone Mine and cast Welder and Imperial Seal. But what to get?
I really just wanted to find Viashino Heretic, but there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to cast it on account of a Wasteland he might play or something along those lines. Instead, I tutored for Seal of Cleansing, to kill his Crucible directly.
Imagine my further irritation when he played Tolarian Academy, Smokestack on turn 2.
Turn 3:
I played Academy to kill his. I played Seal of Cleansing off a Mox and City, and killed his Crucible. I tapped Gemstone Mine to play a second Welder.
On his turn, he played Tangle Wire. That completes the trifecta.
Turn 4:
I sacrificed my Gemstone Mine to his Smokestack and tapped down almost all of my permanents except for a Welder.
He played another Tangle Wire, which would tap down all of my permanents this time. I Welded out his Smokestack for Crucible, and then in my upkeep I welded Crucible back into Smokestack, and tapped everything down.
This is where I lose track of precisely what happened.
Here’s a summary:
Twuan ended up playing a third Wire and a Welder. He used his Welder to try and keep a Crucible in play, which he used for a few turns to ramp up his manabase. Eventually, after a few of the Wires faded, I was able to use my Welder superiority to prevent him from doing anything with his Welder. However, the Wires kept me from playing Smokestack, especially since I needed to keep Welders untapped, which meant I had to tap everything else down. His Wires were doing me some damage with all of the City of Brass I had in play, and my life fell each turn.
The big turning point came when I found and played Viashino Heretic, which I assumed would just own the board. At the same time, Twuan managed to get a Dark Confidant into play.
I was struggling to figure out how to maximize my advantage. My general approach is permanent advantage via Smokestack, except he had way too many permanents and I didn’t even have a Smokestack out yet. Eventually, I realized that I could force him to use his Welder by targeting something with Heretic, untap, and use Heretic. However, I realized this a few turns too late. I was only able to nail one Tangle Wire before Twuan faded out his entire board, leaving no artifacts on his side of the table. I was eventually able to get a Stack out, and then another, but I had to sacrifice lands, not artifacts, so that he couldn’t use his Welder to reset my Stack.
Here is our board state. We both have Viashino Heretic. He has two Bobs and a Bazaar, which is drawing him a bunch of cards every turn. I am hoping that his Bobs will help me kill him, but they aren’t obliging. He has no artifacts in play, and I am ramping Stacks. His Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is allowing him to use his Shops and Fetchlands for black mana.
Here is another view of the situation. These two photos show my graveyard.
From left to right, my graveyard is:
Ancestral Recall, Imperial Seal, Tolarian Academy, Seal of Cleansing, Gemstone Mine, Strip Mine, Gemstone Mine, City of Brass, Mishra’s Workshop, Wasteland, City of Brass, Sphere of Resistance, Mox Emerald.
I wish that I could have drawn a Crucible at some point.
This situation actually became a stalemate. I tried to open it up by starting to attack, but that allowed him to attack me back, and because of a stupid attack he was able to send me to 1 life. At that point, he tried to just find Barbarian Ring for the win.
But turn after turn elapsed and we eventually drew.
Afterward, people told me that I should have been attacking with Heretic the whole time, a comment I agree with in retrospect. More importantly, I could have used Heretic more aggressively earlier on. As well, I could have kept Wires in by welding one Wire into another, an idea I hadn’t thought of, and preventing him from being able to fade out all of his artifacts.
The situation was, at the time, simply too complicated strategically and tactically for me to figure out the right plays. It was a lesson, the hard way, in the Stax mirror.
Final Thoughts
To some players, Vintage is mysterious and enigmatic. I hope that these play-by-play tournament reports dispel some of the aura of mystery around Vintage, and show you, vicariously, what playing Vintage is really like. It’s a critical decision heavy format, and it’s that feature — the high stakes nature of the choices — which makes it so alluring to so many players. But it’s also a format of tremendous variety.
I write these detailed tournament reports primarily to share my joy of Vintage, in the hopes that you will come to enjoy it as well. I also write these reports to teach, not just Vintage outsiders, but Vintage regulars. I hope that through my plays — both good and bad — that you can learn how to improve your own play as you think about the decisions I encountered and how you might have addressed them.
In the final analysis, I believe that 5c Stax is a legitimate contender. It may be worth trying to find a way to play with a Seal of Cleansing and/or a Swords to Plowshares (or, more attractively, a Darkblast) in the maindeck. 5c Stax is a legitimate contender, but it is — as with all decks worth playing in Vintage — a deck that requires a good deal of skill to play well. 5c Stax is a contender, but I suspect that it may not be the best Stax build. The chief advantage of 5c Stax over other Stax variants is Balance and access to Balance. Other Stax builds probably have greater synergies, and those synergies probably outweigh the power of 5c Stax. For example, Jerry Yang’s second place tournament deck list utilizes Dark Confidant and Bazaar of Baghdad, as well as Entomb and the incredible recursion power of both Cabal Pit and Barbarian Ring. There are many design options with Stax, but 5c Stax is definitely the most entertaining and fun of the Stax options.
Until next time…