I. Stax Review
It has been two years since my last article on Angel Stax, and Legacy has gone through significant changes since then. I have
already detailed the unprecedented advancement of the
format over the past eight months, but environmental changes are just one factor in the anticipated return of Control to
competitive Legacy. Two new cards have been printed which affect the design of Stax directly, and which also increase the
effectiveness of previous designs.
For those interested in the development of the deck, here are the first three articles:
II. Design and Metagame Changes
As any competitive Legacy player knows, Goblins has been successfully beaten with hate and metagaming, and its effects on the
format are fading. The popularity of Goblins was one of the biggest problems for Stax when I developed it in 2005, and kept
Stax from being an optimal choice in most metagames.
However, it wasn’t just the decline of Goblins that worked in Stax’s favor. Threshold, also spurred by the printing of two
new cards, increased its power and assumed the role of primary design target. Stax has always had a very good Threshold
matchup, and so this was a strong development for Control decks in general.
This process occurred more or less simultaneously with the printing and adoption of new cards for Stax.
Time Spiral saw the printing of Flagstones of Trokair, an ideal card for a Stax manabase, but it was not enough to
significantly change the deck at that time. However, Future Sight contained another ideal Stax card, Magus of the Tabernacle,
which finally prompted me to redesign the deck and post my developments.
The major change from previous builds was the use of Armageddon instead of Wrath of God as the asymmetric destruction spell.
At that time Goblins’ numbers were just beginning to fall, and I wasn’t confident enough in the Control strategy to play a
more synergistic version of the deck, instead deciding it was better to play it safe with more removal, such as Engineered
Explosives or Powder Keg in the maindeck. The large number of anti-Aggro cards left no room for Exalted Angel, and I cut her
from the deck.
However, some interesting things happened. As the format shifted, people started experimenting with the deck and playing it
in tournaments, sometimes doing very well. There were several different approaches to the deck, but all of the ideas were
dependent on the decreased popularity of Aggro decks, which turned out to be a pretty widespread phenomenon.
During this time I was working on some new ideas of my own, including trying out older builds, and even splashing a color for
different cards. (I even tried putting Tarmogoyf in the deck). After reading about the success of Angel Stax in several
different metagames, I grew more confident that the deck could succeed without clunky removal.
III. Recent Finishes
Over the past few months there have been several impressive finishes for Angel Stax all over the world. I have collected four
of these with the names of their pilots for reference, and also to demonstrate the varied environments in which this deck is
succeeding.
On September 15th in Speyer, Germany, a modest 22 players showed up to play Legacy, but this result is worth mentioning
because both the first and second place deck were Angel Stax. At the time, the addition of the two Angels seemed out of place
to me, but what looked to me like vestigial design was actually a successful combination of my old and new builds:
Angel Stax
Joachim Schulze and Michael Schreiner
2 Exalted Angel
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
4 Armageddon
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Mox Diamond
4 Smokestack
4 Trinisphere
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Mishra’s Factory
8 Plains
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
2 Wasteland
Sideboard:
4 Suppression Field
4 Defense Grid
2 Silent Arbiter
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Wasteland
1 Exalted Angel
On October 14th, 46 players showed up to play in Finale Emilia, Italy, and Angel Stax defeated Goblins in the finals. There
is basically one customizable slot in Angel Stax, and this player chose to run Tangle Wire, one of the original lock pieces,
which I still like but have doubts about given the current popularity of cheap disruption and slower strategies.
Angel Stax
Felisati Elia
4 Ancient Tomb
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Plains
4 City of Traitors
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
4 Armageddon
4 Mox Diamond
4 Tangle Wire
4 Smokestack
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Crucible of Worlds
3 Trinisphere
Sideboard:
4 Seal of Cleansing
4 Defense Grid
3 Suppression Field
3 Sphere of Law
1 Tormod’s Crypt
On November 4th, 47 players attended a tournament in Krakow, Poland. Angel Stax lost to UG Threshold (with Wasteland) in the
finals. The manabase on this deck is very close to optimal.
Angel Stax
Dominik Diatkowski
4 Wasteland
4 Ancient Tomb
3 City of Traitors
3 Mishra’s Factory
7 Plains
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
4 Armageddon
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Mox Diamond
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Tangle Wire
4 Trinisphere
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Smokestack
Sideboard:
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Exalted Angel
3 Disenchant
3 Powder Keg
3 Phyrexian Furnace
4 Defense Grid
On December 1st, Angel Stax took second place at a tournament in San Diego with 52 players (it lost to Reanimator). The
Exalted Angels appear here again, and the rest of the deck is consistent with the other Stax decks seen in other finals.
Angel Stax
Dylan Jolliffe
4 Trinisphere
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Smokestack
4 Mox Diamond
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Armageddon
2 Exalted Angel
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Mishra’s Factory
2 Wasteland
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
8 Plains
Sideboard:
3 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Suppression Field
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Jotun Grunt
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
These decks display consistency in design and performance, and demonstrated to me that the deck still had some freedom to
deal with Aggro strategies in a more synergistic way.
The pro players at Worlds took notice of Stax as well, and about fifteen of them decided to play Stax in the Legacy portion
of the tournament, with four posting 4-1 records. Almost all of the decks were true Angel Stax designs.
IV. The New Angel Stax
After being informed by my experiences with the new Legacy environment, and reading about other players’ success with Angel
Stax, I gave up on trying to splash a color and went back to older designs. Most of the deck has remained unchanged for
months, but the open disruption slot basically became Exalted Angels and the rest of the deck followed around that. There is
still a little bit of tuning room, and it took me a while to be confident in the whole maindeck, but I think I have come up
with a strong list:
Creatures (6)
Lands (25)
Spells (29)
- 4 Ghostly Prison
- 3 Armageddon
- 2 Ravages of War
- 4 Crucible of Worlds
- 4 Trinisphere
- 4 Smokestack
- 4 Mox Diamond
- 4 Chalice of the Void
Sideboard
The differences in this deck from the last Angel Stax article are substantial. As I mentioned above, the primary removal is
no longer Wrath of God, but Armageddon. This really changes the dynamics of the deck, and since it has the proper support
cards it is a stronger strategy. The deck ideally wants to drop some lock pieces and then cast an Armageddon, but the lock
pieces also work by themselves. First, Magus of the Tabernacle is a permanent answer to creatures, and really slows down any
attacking strategy by taxing and blocking with six toughness (enough to stop Tarmogoyf). Magus of the Tabernacle also is a
Wrath of God when combined with Armageddon or Smokestack. Ghostly Prison performs a similar role, and it is cheaper, but less
effective at creating a ground stall.
The powerful Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere are both still important cards in the deck, and I’d say both are stronger
now than they have been in the past. The main permanent advantage engine is Smokestack and Crucible of Worlds, both of which
work very well with Armageddon. Smokestack is very good against Control and Aggro-Control decks, and Crucible has synergy
with many cards in the deck. It supports Smokestack, recurs Wastelands and Mishra’s Factories, retrieves cards pitched to Mox
Diamond, and allows the deck to easily recover from Armageddon. With a Crucible of Worlds out, a Flagstones of Trokair can
support a Smokestack at two counters for several turns.
One can run up to eight Armageddons, but I have tested more and I think five is close to the right number of these effects.
Playing five increases the consistency of the deck, but stays away from the dead card problem that non-blue Control decks
have.
The deck still retains some strong opening plays, such as Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, and Exalted Angel. These are very
powerful on the play, and are sometimes good on the draw depending on the deck you are facing. Armageddon backs up almost all
of your opening disruption and the deck is good at recovering from the land destruction. The lock is faster and more flexible
than in previous versions, and there are several more win conditions that have strong defensive roles in the deck.
The basic strategy of this deck is slightly different from older Stax decks. With five Armageddons in the deck, there are
only a few scenarios where you want more than four or five mana available on the board. This means that playing the right
lands is critical, and as before the order of lock components makes a big difference. This deck can support a Smokestack at
two counters much more easily due to Flagstones of Trokair, but it often just depends on the board position and the available
disruption to determine how to set up the lock. Sometimes you need to set up Armageddon for the next turn, and this can
meaning replaying a City of Traitors or Flagstones of Trokair without being able to use it right away. You always want to
have a land to sacrifice to Smokestack after your Armageddon goes off, so it’s important to plan out your land drops.
The sideboard is good, but as always it needs to be tailored to the metagame. Defense Grid is excellent against Blue
disruption, which is very popular in the format right now. Suppression Field is helpful against various problematic decks,
like Goblins and Cephalid Breakfast. Sphere of Resistance is an additional supplement against Storm Combo decks. The Seals of
Cleansing are useful against a lot of random cards which Legacy is full of, but it’s also very good against cards like
Pernicious Deed, since the opponent is not likely to have the six or seven mana at once necessary to effectively use the
card.
The general approach to playing the deck hasn’t changed much, however. Aggressive mulligans are important since the deck can
produce very slow hands, and knowledge of your opponent’s deck is critical to designing and sideboarding correctly. The
Threshold matchup probably has stayed about the same, since this deck is better with Magus of the Tabernacle, but theirs is
better as well with Thoughtseize. Goblins is better than before, but that is a less important matchup currently. After those
decks you have some Landstill, Cephalid Breakfast, or Survival, and then it becomes too difficult to really detail any
particular metagame. Storm Combo is likely to be present, as is some form of Zoo. Basically, Stax can be tuned to beat many
decks, but it is a Control deck, so it will always be fighting an uphill battle in the early game in Legacy.
At the moment, Angel Stax has a better core of cards and more optimal metagame conditions than it has had before. The finals
appearances and recognition by pros suggest that this deck may deserve more attention.