Ew. (Rankle feat. Chains of Mephistopheles)

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 4 years ago

EDIT: sick updated list ohhh yeeeaaaaah.
Rankle V2

Commander (1)

Approximate Total Cost:

Pulled a Rankle in a winston draft last night (or rather, my opponent did), and I'd almost forgotten how cool that dude is. And by cool, obviously I mean evil beyond all reckoning. He really is a whole stax package in himself, he's got discard, sac, and a hasty evasive wincon in one tasty package.

Anyway, I'm not generally a stax guy, but between the weaksauce EDHrec suggestions (no chains anywhere? C'mon!) and the "cedh tier list" ranking his in tier 4 (wtf?) I feel like people are sleeping on him pretty hard. And I've got some real nasty old stax cards sitting in a box doing nothing. So screw it, let's make something really gross and see if I can lose whatever slim good will I have at my LGS's commander night.

I'm not really a stax expert, but the way I see it, stax generally either tries to deny you mana, but let you have as many cards as you like, or deny you cards, but let you have as much mana as you like. This will be the latter. The goal is to ensure our opponents never get to keep cards in hand or creatures on the board. This does leave windows for our opponents to interact and get back into the game, but rankle is built to shred defenses quickly while our other stax cards choke out their options for recovery, so that any attempt to recover will require consecutive lucky topdecks, while our own strategies are quite durable.

Probably goes without saying at this point, but this deck has no limits in terms of budget or morality. Let's give Rankle the deck that bastard deserves.
Rankle, Master of Chains

Commander (1)

Approximate Total Cost:

Reasons for certain otherwise-obvious inclusions:

-Not running Coffers because this deck aims to be low to the ground. Generating 20 mana doesn't really interest us, by that point we should have the game locked down anyway.

-Not running a bunch of otherwise strong draw because the goal is to abuse chains of Meph, which goes not-so-great with regular draw. Although with all the dredge I'm running, maybe it does make sense to run stuff like skullclamp, idk.

-While I'm at it, I should point out that the reason I'm running every single dredge card is because it circumvents chains of mephistopheles by allowing me to replace a draw with a dredge. With this tech, under chains I can use both Rankle's draw and discard ability, replacing the draw with dredge and then discarding it, while everyone else rummages and then discards, netting me +1 card overall. This also helps me fill my grave with bloodghasts and whatnot. The main goal of chains is simply to ensure my opponents won't be able to replenish their resources as I strip them away with Rankle, but getting to break parity on Rankle's draw ability is a nice bonus.
Last edited by DirkGently 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

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Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

lake of the dead can enable a turn 3 rankle, although fairly high risk. Might be worth running with Crucible tho.

terrain generator is a fairly low risk way to generate a turn 4 rankle with mana to spare, might be worth a thought.

I expect nether traitor would fit well in the suite of Rankle critters, quite a bit more mana efficient than a lot of the others that usually cost 2.

murderous rider is a card I have really enjoyed in my Golos mono black--represents +1 card which is nice.

I do think that the skullclamp is fairly low investment way to break parity on the Rankle stuff.

culling the weak can turn one of those sac guys into a turn 2 rankle which I think is pretty important. dark ritual #2 functionally.

This is likely a deck that would get a lot of mileage out of oversold cemetery as well.

Looks like a very fun deck from a design perspective; I don't think I'd want to play against it all the time, but fun every now and then. Rankle is a bit vicious in that haste makes him really hard to deal with and mono black has so many ways to get him back without sending him to the zone that it's easy to dodge tax. Reclamation/Cemetery, etc.

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 4 years ago

Played stax for years, I can say that it is very hard to be on the losing end of your own Tangle Wire or Smokestack because of how you can stack their triggers in lopsided ways and both require surprisingly little support to be worthwhile includes. I'd play them in nearly every stax deck, this one notwithstanding.

Torpor Orb is another beast of a card that can make what precious few cards/creatures your opponents can retain do even less, while not laying a finger on Rankle.
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Post by Feyd_Ruin » 4 years ago

Blood Scrivener is well worth considering given the discard and chains. Even without chains, you're often card locking yourself with the rest of the table, and Scrivener is an easy way ahead. Scrivener also works well with Chains, even if it'll confuse the hell out of your opponents.

Suppose you have one or two cards in hand, with Chains, Rankle, and Scrivener. Swing with rankle and then either choose discard+draw (if two cards in hand), or just draw (if already only one). Rankle will have you draw, which Chains replaces as Discard->Draw. Here's the trick of it: When you discard that card to draw, you will then be drawing a card without any cards in hand. This will trigger Scrivener's replacement effect, and you'll draw two cards instead. Now, since Chains has already replaced this instance, it won't go again: you'll draw two cards and go on your merry way. (This is net +1 if one card in hand, or a one sided discard effect with added filter if you started with two)

Scrivener can even get out of the Anvil-Chains lock. Normally you start with no cards and end the draw step with no cards. Anvil's Discard->Draw becomes Discard->Draw->Discard, BUT you'll again hit that magic moment in the middle where you're drawing with no cards in hand. Thus, you get Discard->Draw 2->Discard and end up with a card in hand at the end of your draw step.

Importantly: both of these replacement stacks skip using the graveyard entirely. It isn't quite obvious at first, but a clever opponent will note that Chains' weak point is actually graveyard hate. If someone lays down a Rest in Peace you're often just as locked as everyone else. Scrivener is a key answer to this.
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

More like Wankle

Nothing much to say except I love this evil idea and Feyd has come through with the analytics.
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Post by DirkGently » 4 years ago

Outcryqq wrote:
4 years ago
Might consider Geth's Grimoire and Painful Quandary.
Grimoire is in the category of cards that make a ton of sense when chains isn't on the field. My goal is to tutor and play chains ASAP most games though. So idk. That and skullclamp are both no-brainers without chains. I think I'll want to see how the deck plays out before I decide whether I should include them.

Quandary I'm less enthused about. It's a lot of mana, and life loss isn't really that useful to me. I'd rather have a tutor that could set up the anvil + chains lockout combo, then they don't get to cast anything anyway.
pokken wrote:
4 years ago
lake of the dead can enable a turn 3 rankle, although fairly high risk. Might be worth running with Crucible tho.

terrain generator is a fairly low risk way to generate a turn 4 rankle with mana to spare, might be worth a thought.

I expect nether traitor would fit well in the suite of Rankle critters, quite a bit more mana efficient than a lot of the others that usually cost 2.

murderous rider is a card I have really enjoyed in my Golos mono black--represents +1 card which is nice.

I do think that the skullclamp is fairly low investment way to break parity on the Rankle stuff.

culling the weak can turn one of those sac guys into a turn 2 rankle which I think is pretty important. dark ritual #2 functionally.

This is likely a deck that would get a lot of mileage out of oversold cemetery as well.

Looks like a very fun deck from a design perspective; I don't think I'd want to play against it all the time, but fun every now and then. Rankle is a bit vicious in that haste makes him really hard to deal with and mono black has so many ways to get him back without sending him to the zone that it's easy to dodge tax. Reclamation/Cemetery, etc.
I think you might be misreading Rankle as costing 5? Terrain generator doesn't speed him up at all, and lake is definitely overkill. I'd consider running more 2-cmc rocks to get him out T3 though.

My beef with nether traitor is that it doesn't work on its own, it needs another creature. Once that's done, it's a lot more mana efficient than most other options, but idk how much that'll matter, the deck is pretty low-curve for the most part. We'll see.

Rider doesn't seem efficient or useful enough. I'm hoping to mostly avoid single-target removal for creatures, since we'll hopefully lock people out of having them entirely.

skullclamp...yeah, see above. Good chance it'll find its way in, but I want to try without it first and really commit to the chains plan.

Culling the weak would only work with a 1-cmc creature (for a t2 rankle), which excludes a lot of them. And then, if I've just sacked that creature, I probably won't have anything to sac to rankle on attacks anyway, and I'll be pretty wrecked by removal. Idk, maybe it's the casual in me, but I'd rather run a 2-cmc rock that gives me a bit more resiliency, even if it doesn't have quite as much burst potential.

oversold cemetery is a good idea. I'll see if I can find room for it.
TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
4 years ago
Played stax for years, I can say that it is very hard to be on the losing end of your own Tangle Wire or Smokestack because of how you can stack their triggers in lopsided ways and both require surprisingly little support to be worthwhile includes. I'd play them in nearly every stax deck, this one notwithstanding.

Torpor Orb is another beast of a card that can make what precious few cards/creatures your opponents can retain do even less, while not laying a finger on Rankle.
I'll think about it for those two. They're definitely strong, not sure if they support exactly what we're trying to do though. Probably tangle wire is more likely than smokestack but they're both possible.

Orb is also reasonable, if I can find room for it I might throw it in.
Feyd_Ruin wrote:
4 years ago
Blood Scrivener is well worth considering given the discard and chains. Even without chains, you're often card locking yourself with the rest of the table, and Scrivener is an easy way ahead. Scrivener also works well with Chains, even if it'll confuse the hell out of your opponents.

Suppose you have one or two cards in hand, with Chains, Rankle, and Scrivener. Swing with rankle and then either choose discard+draw (if two cards in hand), or just draw (if already only one). Rankle will have you draw, which Chains replaces as Discard->Draw. Here's the trick of it: When you discard that card to draw, you will then be drawing a card without any cards in hand. This will trigger Scrivener's replacement effect, and you'll draw two cards instead. Now, since Chains has already replaced this instance, it won't go again: you'll draw two cards and go on your merry way. (This is net +1 if one card in hand, or a one sided discard effect with added filter if you started with two)

Scrivener can even get out of the Anvil-Chains lock. Normally you start with no cards and end the draw step with no cards. Anvil's Discard->Draw becomes Discard->Draw->Discard, BUT you'll again hit that magic moment in the middle where you're drawing with no cards in hand. Thus, you get Discard->Draw 2->Discard and end up with a card in hand at the end of your draw step.

Importantly: both of these replacement stacks skip using the graveyard entirely. It isn't quite obvious at first, but a clever opponent will note that Chains' weak point is actually graveyard hate. If someone lays down a Rest in Peace you're often just as locked as everyone else. Scrivener is a key answer to this.
Hmm, that's some interesting interaction I hadn't thought about. I'd actually looked at scrivener but didn't think to stack the replacements in the opposite order for some reason. Neat.

Whether I actually want to include scrivener I'm not sure, though, the dredge cards are all in there to kind of do the same thing, except they don't require an empty hand. Besides rankle there's not a TON of discard in the deck, so idk if I'll end up hellbent often...Also, I think most players, when faced with repeated discard, are likely to try to empty their hand to mitigate the effect, which then means I have no reason to choose Rankle's discard mode, and can safely build a hand. To say nothing of cards like necro easily outpacing any discard effects. But if I find myself hellbent while playing, I'll circle back around to it.
void_nothing wrote:
4 years ago
More like Wankle

Nothing much to say except I love this evil idea and Feyd has come through with the analytics.
Thanks!
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 4 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
4 years ago
TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
4 years ago
Played stax for years, I can say that it is very hard to be on the losing end of your own Tangle Wire or Smokestack because of how you can stack their triggers in lopsided ways and both require surprisingly little support to be worthwhile includes. I'd play them in nearly every stax deck, this one notwithstanding.

Torpor Orb is another beast of a card that can make what precious few cards/creatures your opponents can retain do even less, while not laying a finger on Rankle.
I'll think about it for those two. They're definitely strong, not sure if they support exactly what we're trying to do though. Probably tangle wire is more likely than smokestack but they're both possible.

Orb is also reasonable, if I can find room for it I might throw it in.
Thanks!
[/quote]

I'll agree that the wire, stack, and orb are more generically good than particularly synergistic here, but I regard them as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of the archetype. They're simply best-in-class in regards to sheer asymmetry of effect, manual control afforded, and disruption provided. Should you truly desire to provoke the ire of a table, you may need the heavy artillery to survive.

Also, Tainted Aether seems like apple pie and baseball to this deck's figurative Fourth of July, so consider that as well if it pleases you.
Last edited by TheAmericanSpirit 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

Terrain generator allows some sequences where you have mana to drop rankle and a 1 drop on turn 4 is what I meant. It can be advantageous since it sets you up to recast rankle on turn 5 if you have to, which is nice.

It's a fairly low opportunity cost with 20 swamps.

Also culling works with 1 and 2 drops obviously. Accelerating rankle a turn is good enough for a card imho. But ymmv.

I've done the sequence of turn 2 golgari thug/bloodghast/traitor into turn 3 golos enough to be confident in culling.

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Post by DirkGently » 4 years ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
4 years ago
I'll agree that the wire, stack, and orb are more generically good than particularly synergistic here, but I regard them as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of the archetype. They're simply best-in-class in regards to sheer asymmetry of effect, manual control afforded, and disruption provided. Should you truly desire to provoke the ire of a table, you may need the heavy artillery to survive.

Also, Tainted Aether seems like apple pie and baseball to this deck's figurative Fourth of July, so consider that as well if it pleases you.
How would Tainted Aether work here? Seems like it'd be pretty counterproductive to my bloodghast and co plan. Also it doesn't play very nicely with torpor orb.

Btw if you quote a post could you please delete the nested quotes, at least those not directed towards you? It can kinda clutter up the thread when a short response contains several pages of irrelevant quotes.
pokken wrote:
4 years ago
Terrain generator allows some sequences where you have mana to drop rankle and a 1 drop on turn 4 is what I meant. It can be advantageous since it sets you up to recast rankle on turn 5 if you have to, which is nice.

It's a fairly low opportunity cost with 20 swamps.

Also culling works with 1 and 2 drops obviously. Accelerating rankle a turn is good enough for a card imho. But ymmv.

I've done the sequence of turn 2 golgari thug/bloodghast/traitor into turn 3 golos enough to be confident in culling.
But couldn't I just play the 1-drop (or a 2 or 3 drop) on turn 3 instead of activating terrain generator? I mean, yes, it's a low opportunity cost, but there are a lot of strong colorless utility lands around with more impactful abilities. I'm already thinking of others I should probably include, like springjack pasture and arch of orazca. Also I kinda want to keep the swamp count high to support veilborn ghoul, necro, etc.

If I'm sacking a 2-drop then I could have just used a 2-mana rock instead and been permanently up on mana, instead of temporarily (and depending what I'm sacking, things like sanitarium skeleton might cost more total mana in the long run if I need to recur them before I can start fully using Rankle). With any 4-drop commander I tend to run a lot of 2-mana rocks for that reason.

Culling makes way more sense with golos because (1) he costs 5, so a 2-mana rock isn't going to give you the same speed, (2) he comes with his own permanent mana boost, making mana rocks less important, as well as more reliable value that can't be thwarted by instant-speed removal, and (3) he doesn't care about having sac fodder once he's on the board, whereas a big benefit of Rankle is that he can force a sac on the turn he hits the board, so long as you've got some fodder. So I don't think your experience is transferable in this case.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 4 years ago

@DirkGently Yeah, I do most of my browsing on my shattered-ass phone so I get lazy about quote trimming sometimes. Should probably make better use of these @ tags. I'll fix it.

Anyway, Tainted Aether does do some damage to your recurring army, but it keeps people off creatures 98% of the time (because sacrificing lands, even in order to ultimatley win, is something I've found most players balk at. It's some weird psychological %$#%.). Nonbo with the orb, of course, but you won't always have both out nor should anyone deliberately sequence them into one another. Just trying to field suggestions because having the right stax pieces and having them tailored to your strategy is as important as your opponents not being able to break parity with them. Hell if I actually know what truly works best here without seeing the meta and statiscally significant testing.

Edit: T.A. also gives Rankle some leeway to focus on shredding hands instead of dudes, but I dunno if that point specifically is tipping any major scales in its favor.
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Post by DirkGently » 4 years ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
4 years ago
Anyway, Tainted Aether does do some damage to your recurring army, but it keeps people off creatures 98% of the time (because sacrificing lands, even in order to ultimatley win, is something I've found most players balk at. It's some weird psychological %$#%.). Nonbo with the orb, of course, but you won't always have both out nor should anyone deliberately sequence them into one another. Just trying to field suggestions because having the right stax pieces and having them tailored to your strategy is as important as your opponents not being able to break parity with them. Hell if I actually know what truly works best here without seeing the meta and statiscally significant testing.

Edit: T.A. also gives Rankle some leeway to focus on shredding hands instead of dudes, but I dunno if that point specifically is tipping any major scales in its favor.
My (limited) experience with tainted aether is that it's best when you can afford to play creatureless or only your commander, and no other creatures entering or leaving the battlefield except for etb/death triggers. It plays nicely with Liliana of the Veil, The Abyss, grave pact, etc...but it just doesn't work with Rankle's sac ability at all because the whole plan is to keep replaying creatures to feed him, and since he's the primary stax engine of the deck, a lot of the choices are built around him, making them a poor fit for tainted aether.

Having given it some thought...

I'll probably end up including smokestack but not tangle wire. The primary gameplan of the deck - get out Rankle quickly, find ways to ignore the sac/discard, and lock out enemy draw to prevent recovery - isn't really benefitted by locking down early mana. Engines like sanitarium skeleton are pretty mana intensive, and Rankle on 4 doesn't fit very well with wire on 3. And the later it is, the less useful wire is going to be.

Smokestack I think fits pretty well. We can feed it creatures, and Rankle and co will make it hard for our opponents to have sackable creatures on their upkeep, forcing them to sac either artifacts/enchantments or lands. It's basically just another method to convert a soft lock with Rankle locking out creatures and hands, into a hard lock locking out all permanent types.

Haven't decided on torpor orb.

Right now most of my cards are still on a boat, ETA 4 days. I'm going to see if I can throw together what I have into a competent version of this deck to play tomorrow, otherwise I'll have to wait until next week.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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TheAmericanSpirit
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 4 years ago

@DirkGently Do report your results once you've got it together. IMO, stax is one of the most skill-intensive (and by extension, entertaining) deckbuilding and gameplay exercises because of how extremely the archetype demands balance between its moving various parts. One could tinker with ratios for years and still question the presence of even the most sacred cows. It is nothing less than thrilling relative to the standard research/trial/error lifespan of most decks.
There's no biscuits and gravy in New Zealand.
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 4 years ago

Ran it quite a bit tonight, and it did decently. I think I won 2 out of 4 games? Or maybe it was 2 out of 3.

Anyway, it was only moderately successful at actually strangling people out of the game, but it was also a really watered-down version of the deck, with less than half of the nonlands I wanted. I had my chains and abyss, but not anvil, no dredge cards at all, not many self-recursive creatures, not even a volrath's stronghold...so kind of a mess. Probably not a good indicator of the actual power level of the deck, unfortunately.

When it did manage to get a stranglehold on the game it was pretty sick. I had a few situations occur where my opponents were able to get big hands before I could shred them down, but the great thing about Rankle is his flexibility, so I just pumped up hands instead, to diminish their advantage.

Lifegain did seem like a necessary part of the deck, so I might watch for good lifegain engines.

Definitely needs more tutors.

People did seem fairly unhappy with chains in play, so it ate a decent amount of removal. Whaddya gonna do. Sometimes draw was stranded in my hand with chains in play, but it was frequently useful. So skullclamp is probably in. Less sure about grimoire. People often had no cards in hand after Rankle had a chance to do his thing for a bit.

Definitely need some recursion for Rankle. Paying 8 for him feels pretty gross, haste notwithstanding.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I think I'll need to wait for the full version before deciding whether I should commit to the lockout plan, or go with a more flexible approach to the lategame.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

WolfWhoWanders
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Post by WolfWhoWanders » 4 years ago

Man, chains seems gross with rankle...I like it. Deck seems pretty good. From my experience geth's grimoire does lose effectiveness once hands are gone, but it can draw a pretty good amount of cards if not. Chains might be pretty effective at hand stripping so maybe it's still unnecessary. I did enjoy leyline of the void as another way to turn those smiles upside down, might be useful for you. My meta is a little graveyard heavy tho
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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 4 years ago

My collection arrived today.

I AM COMPLEEEEETE

Anyway I updated the new decklist, now with a lot more disgusting stax nonsense, and some really neat efficient tools to break the symmetry. And a lot less random, uh, crap.

Gonna go try it out tonight...time to lose some friends. Aw yeah.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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