While 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering allows players to construct decks of a wide variety of strategies and deck archetypes, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:few are as polarizing as Stax. With a name originating from the card, Smokestack, Stax decks aim to deprive opponents of their resources through taxing effects and those that add restrictions to what players are capable of doing, all whilst trying to slowly and methodically advance one's own plans.Related: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gatheri🐻ng - What Is A Hatebears Deck?When it comes to the popular 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Commander format, players looking to build a Stax deck have access to many distinct commander options that provide access to different colors and abilities. So today, we're going to examine the potential commanders players can choose when building a deck of this salt-inducing archetype to see which are the strongest!Updated April 18, 2022 by Paul DiSalvo: As Commander is a massive and ever-growing format, it should be no surprise that players have a wide range of commander options to choose from when building a Stax deck. When selecting a Stax commander, one of the most integral elements to bear in mind is the commander's color identity. This is largely because different colors excel at depriving opponents of different types of resources, allowing for different flavors of Stax to be accessed.

13 Archel♐os, Lagoon Mystic 🦂

archelos art magic the gathering
Archelos, Lagoon Mystic by Dan Scott

While the vast majority of Stax commander options involve the utilization of White mana in some capacity, Archelos, Lagoon Mystic is a distinct option for those interested in building a Sultai Stax deck. A 2/4 Tu♕rtle Shaman for four mana, Archelos can be used to dictate the pace of a game. This is because as long as Archelos is untapped, other permanents enter the battlefield untapped and as long as Archelos is tapped, other permanents enter the battlefield tapped. When paired with the likes of a Winter Orꩵb, Archelos can bring a game's pace to a grinding halt, preventing opponents from making use of their most integral resources.

12 🍎 Liesa, Shroud Of Dusk

mtg Liesa, Shroud of dusk artwork
 Liesa, Shroud of Dusk Artwork By Slawomir Maniak

Liesa, Shroud of Dusk is a solid option for an Orzhov Stax commander, capable of making it quite costly for opponents to cast their spells. A 5/5 angel with flying and lifelink for five mana, while Liesa totes a unique clause that allows its controller to pay life rather than mana when it comes to Commander tax, Liesa's functionality as a Stax commander is due to her excellent triggered ability. Simple yet effective, Liesa states that whenever a player casts a spell, they lose two life. As players chain together several spells within a single turn, their life total will begin to quickly dwindle. When paired with other effects🐼 that require opponents to pay additional resources to cast their spells, whether it be life or mana, when paired with Liesa, opponents can be put in miserable situations in which casting even the most simple of spells is an arduous endeavor.

11 ⭕ Thalia, Guardian Of Thraben

Magic The Gathering Thalia card art
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben by Jana Schirmer & Johannes Voss

An iconic legendary creature that sees play in a wide variety of formats, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is among the most straightforward entries on this list. A 2/1 human soldier with first strike for the low cost of two mana, Thalia states that all non-creature spells cost an additional one mana to cast. This can be an incredibly inconvenient tax, caus⛦ing utility artifacts and mana rocks to cost additional mana, reliably slowing opponents down as early as turn two. While Thalia's tax can be manageable on its own, when paired with an entire deck's worth of similar effects as well as means for its controller to play around such taxes, Thalia can serve as a great Mono-White option for a Stax commander.

10 Yasharn, Im🐽placable Earth

yasharn mtg art g-host lee
Yasharn, Implacable Earth by G-host Lee

An option for a Selesnya Stax commander, Yasharn, Implacable Earth is a 4/4 elemental board for four mana that upon entering the battlefield, allows its controller to tutor for a forest or plains. While this may seem innocent enough, as long as Yasharn is in play, player's can pay life or sacrifice permanents to activate abilities. As sacrificing permanents is incredibly common within the Commander format, as it is done in common archetypes such as aristওocrats decks and even when players use the likes of a fetch land, Yasharn can be a huge headache for certain types of decks.

9 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 🎃

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite by Igor Kieryluk MTG
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite by Igor Kieryluk

The mono-white Praetor of New Phyrexia, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, while expensive to cast, offers a powerful boon for its controller while being a nightmare for one's opponents. While a 4/7 wit🅺h vigilance for seven mana is far from the best rate, Elesh Norn provides each creature under its owner's control with +2/+2, while it gives -2/-2 to creatures opponents' control for as long as it's in play. This means that many utility creatures and even some smaller commanders are incapable of sticking to the board as long as Elesh Norn is around.

8 ༒ Hokori, Dust Drinker ไ

Magic The Gathering Dust Drinker art
Hokori, Dust Drinker by Darrell Riche

For better or for worse, Stax decks are synonymous with depriving player's of their resources, often preventing players from using mana sources they would be able to otherwise. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:A Mono-White commander, Hokori, Dust Drinker exemplifies this, only allowing players to untap one land at the beginning of their t💝urns. When building a Hokori deck, this effect can be made much more one-sided and detrimental to others through the inclusion of means of pro🅠ducing mana without lands such as via artifacts.

7 💟 ꦐ Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

Magic The Gathering Lavinia card art
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade by Matt Stewart

For the low cost of two mana, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is a Stax commander that can greatly hinder players' ability to cast spells at reduced rates or through the use of mana produced via artifact-based mana ramp. This is because Lavinia prevents spells from being cast if that spell has a greater mana value than the number of lan๊ds under the caster's control. Additionally, while many powerful spells can be cast for free, Lavinia states that if a spell would be cast and no mana was paid to do so, it is automatically countered. When paired with the various taxing effects found in Azorius, Lavinia can bring a game to a snail's pace.

6 ♈ Urza, Lord High Artificer 🏅

urza mtg art wizard
Urza, Lord High Artificer by Grzegorz Rutkowski
urza mtg art wizard

Urza, Lord High Artificer is a unique case on this list. While Urza is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an absurdly powerful Mono-B꧂lue ꧃commander, its strongeဣst builds aren't those that use Stax strategies. However, Urza Stax decks can still be quite effective.

Related: Strongest Mono-Black C🐈ommanders In Magic: The Gathering

A 1/4 for four mana, Urza notably allows each artifact under its owner's control to be tapped to produce one blue mana, providing absurd amounts of blue mana ramp as long as its controller has access to artifacts. Through the use of cards like Back to Basics 🔜and Rising Waters, Urza can greatly limit opponents' mana access while still being able to produce mana for its controller through the use of artifacts.

5 𝓀 Sen Triplets

sen triplets art mtg art greg staples
Sen Triplets by Greg Staples

One of the most salt-inducing commanders in the format, Sen Triplets is an Esper artifact creature for five mana that effectively allows its controller to play their opponent's decks. A 3/3, at the beginning of its owner's turn, that player chooses an opponent. That opponent can't cast spells or activate abilities during that turn, and Sen Triplets' controller can play lands and spells from that player's hand. Not only does this provide the Sen Triplet⛎s player with additional options, but it deprives an opponent of their own cards.

4 🙈 Zur The ﷽Enchanter

Magic The Gathering Zur the Enchanter card art
Zur the Enchanter by Josu Hernaiz

Another Esper Stax option like Sen Triplets, Zur the Enchanter is most known for enchantment-based decks, as upon attacking, this flyꦉing 1/4 allows its controller to tutor for an enchantment card with a mana value of three or less, putting that card into play. However, this very ability is what makes Zur such a potent Stax commander. As many troublesome Stax cards happen to be low-mana enchantments, Zur can be used to reliably tutor for several enchantments to hinder one's opponents and slow down their plans.