In the Race of CEDH the tortoise beats the Hare every time, well probably not every time but at least sometimes.
Art: Archelos, Lagoon Mystic
by Dan Scott
Table of Contents
Please note: Since this is a CEDH deck no budget considerations have been made
Welcome to another installment of Brewed CEDH
Todays Featured Commander is:
Today’s deck is Archelos Stax utilizing, Archelos, Lagoon Mystic is a Stax machine, his ability to tap all incoming permanents when he is tapped, we can use this as one of our built-in Stax pieces. We can use cards like Springleaf Drum
to force tap our Archelos to stop our opponents. We are in every way a combo deck with Stax elements, but Archelos fits nicely into this role. As always Stax might not make you the most popular at the table but it can be fun if you enjoy the playstyle!
The Deck:
Archelos Stax Combo
Why Archelos, Lagoon Mystic?
There are two main reasons to chose Archelos as a Stax option. The first being that he is a built in Stax style effect forcing all permanents to come in tapped when he is tapped. Additionally Archelos is in some of the best CEDH colors being {B}{U}{G}, this allows us to play most of the best cards in the format. Archelos is great at resource denial as well as having large combo capability.
Deck Overview:
Since we are a stax /combo hybrid deck there are a lot of cards that benefit both. Since we are in {B}{U}{G} we have access to a ton of low costed draw spells so that we can cycle through our deck quickly even with limited resources. We can utilize Tainted Pact
and Demonic Consultation
combined with Thassa's Oracle
as our main win conditions. The main stax pieces in our deck are Sphere of Resistance
, Thorn of Amethyst
and Back to Basics
. Carpet of Flowers
is also quite strong in this deck with many CEDH decks utilizing islands. Another card to highlight is Earthcraft
tapping Archelos and untapping a basic is a great trade for only two mana. One of the best artifacts in our deck is Amulet of Vigor
Allowing us to negate Archelos effect for our board. We are very strong against combo style decks since we have access to many destruction / counterspells. We can assemble our combo quite early or force our opponents to play at the speed we want.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Strong against combo decks
- Our deck allows us to negate Archelos effect against us
- Strong combo package allowing for quick wins
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Not great in counterspell wars
- Stax mirror match can be difficult
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
Our main win con’s are Demonic Consultation and Thassa's Oracle. As well as Tainted Pact and Thassa's Oracle. If our Thassa’s Oracle is destroyed or countered we also have a backup Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
.
Conclusion:
In conclusion I think that Archelos is a great CEDH commander, the only complaint I have is it feels like a lot of other CEDH Combo decks. Overall though the Stax package changes the deck enough to make it intreseting. I think Archelos is a great CEDH commander and although he may not be tier 1 I think he is a well positioned and fun tier 2 commander.
Thanks for reading to the end!