Stax has a bit of a bad reputation in EDH. People tend to not like it, because it makes it harder for them to play their deck. A lot of people also make the case that stax makes the game less fun. No one likes getting locked out of the game, and then having to watch one person play with themselves. For this reason, a lot of people
exclude stax effects from their commander decks.
But you don't need to go all-out with a stax strategy, you can instead add some weak stax to your current decks. You can use some very specific deck tech, to help counteract some of the decks you'll be going up against. If you sometimes go up against decks that are stronger than your own, the suggestions here are a good way of bringing those decks down to your level. It will provide a new challenge to your opponents, and make them have to think differently about deck building.
Now for the overview. I've listed these in order of most relevant to least relevant. Depending on your group, some of the things lower on the list might be more relevant, so be sure to take a good look at your meta before deciding what tech to use.
PillowfortDescription: This one's at the top because there is a good chance that you or someone you know is already using pillowfort effects. Pillowfort is designed to stop creatures from attacking you. Because a lot of casual decks win with combat damage, not getting attacked is definitely useful.
Examples:Ghostly Prison,
Propaganda,
Sphere of Safety: These make nice little friendly options. Paying mana to attack isn't asking for too much, and your opponents can always choose to attack someone else. Be careful though; with the exception of
Sphere of Safety, your opponents can still attack your Planeswalkers.
Crawlspace,
Silent Arbiter: This is the one you use if you're frequently attacked by a buttload of
Rhino tokens (Thanks to
Ghired, Conclave Exile). Limiting the amount of creatures attacking you makes choosing blockers easier.
Meekstone,
Ensnaring Bridge: If lots of creatures isn't a problem in your meta, but really big creatures are (
Volrath, the Shapestealer,
Zurgo Helmsmasher) you can use one of these options instead. Be careful with these ones though, it's a symmetrical effect, so it could hurt you as well.
Lightmine Field,
Peacekeeper: Alternatively, if you really don't like creatures attacking at all, you can use one of these. Keep in mind that these are also symmetrical effects, so you probably shouldn't use them if you plan on winning with combat damage.
When to use it: Most casual playgroups have combat damage as their main win condition. Pillowfort allows you to survive into the late-game. Many pillowfort effects are also asymmetrical, so you don't have to worry about it affecting you.
When to not use it: If combat damage is one of your win conditions, don't use symmetrical pillowfort. If your playgroup mostly ignores combat and wins with either effect-based damage (
Purphoros, God of the Forge) or combos, pillowfort does nothing. Pillowfort also becomes non-existent once you get into cEDH.
Grave-hateDescription: I'm always surprised by how little grave-hate there is in Commander. Especially considering the popularity of commanders like
Muldrotha, the Gravetide,
Meren of Clan Nel Toth,
The Scarab God,
The Gitrog Monster,
Lord Windgrace, and now
Chainer, Nightmare Adept. Even for smaller effects like
Necromancy or
Regrowth, grave-hate is helpful. I highly recommend adding in some good grave-hate.
Examples:Tormod's Crypt,
Relic of Progenitus,
Sentinel Totem,
Nihil Spellbomb: These ones are low-cost, simple, effective, and can go in pretty much any deck. Each of them
exile at instant speed, which makes them useful in a number of situations. If your opponent goes to
reanimate a creature,
exile it.
Leyline of the Void,
Rest in Peace: These will cost a little bit of money, but they are super-effective at turning off graveyard strategies. You can't have graveyard
shenanigans without a graveyard.
Grafdigger's Cage,
Ground Seal: I've grouped these two together, but they actually do very different things. What they have in common, is that these can be used in a graveyard-based deck, depending on your strategy.
Muldrotha, the Gravetide can use
Ground Seal, because you don't target the spells in your graveyard.
The Scarab God can use
Grafdigger's Cage because the creatures don't enter from the graveyard, they are token copies.
Bojuka Bog,
Angel of Finality: I've included these ironically. These are examples of what you
don't want for grave hate. Good grave hate needs to either be instant speed, or a continuous effect. One-time
exile at sorcery speed is not enough to
disrupt most graveyard strategies.
When to use it: You should almost always have just a little bit of grave-hate. Even if there isn't a token graveyard deck in your group, there is almost certainly some recursion effects floating around.
When to not use it: If you are a graveyard deck, be very careful about what you use. You do not want to shut out your own strategy, but you often have other options.
Anti-spellsDescription: Some decks are really good at casting more than one spell in a turn (
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain,
Marwyn, The Nurturer,
Narset, Enlightened Master). This can be troublesome if your gameplan is to play increasingly bigger threats, instead of multiple spells in a turn. A lot of combo decks also depend on casting a bunch of spells in one turn, so this is an excellent way of bringing them down to your level.
Examples:Rule of Law,
Eidolon of Rhetoric,
Arcane Laboratory,
Ethersworn Canonist: These ones directly stop multiple spells from being cast in a turn. If you aren't going to cast more than one spell, neither should anyone else.
Damping Sphere: This one is special, and do not underestimate it for a second. The amount of combos this card stops is unreal. It also stops players from snow-balling, allowing the slower players a chance to
catch up. I recommend this card if there is a power gap between decks in your meta.
Thorn of Amethyst,
Thalia, Heretic Cathar,
Sphere of Resistance: I'm not saying don't use these, I'm saying be careful about using them. Remember how I said that a lot of people just don't like stax? In casual metas, the cards on their own don't stop decks, they just irritate the players. This can easily make you an archenemy. In competitive or stronger pods it shouldn't be a problem, because then they will make a significant difference.
Possibility Storm: Save the best for last right? Best is arguable, but
Possibility Storm wildly messes up a bunch of decks by making their consistent strategy a total mess. Be careful about combining
Possibility Storm with something like
Rule of Law, because that makes a hard-lock.
When to use it: Use cards like these when you know there is going to be a deck at the table that consistently casts a lot of spells in one turn. This tends to only happen in higher-powered groups, so you probably don't need to worry about these effects.
When to not use it: If the decks in your meta already only cast a few spells each turn, then you don't need this form of deck tech. They would just be dead cards.
Draw hateDescription: A big part of winning games (across all formats, not just Commander) is card advantage. Being able to draw more cards than your opponents means you'll have more options for what to play, and better options for what to play. A lot of good draw spells cost money though, so instead, you can limit the cards your opponents draw.
Examples:Spirit of the Labyrinth,
Narset, Parter of Veils: These two cards are very self-explanatory. Narset also has the added bonus of being asymmetrical.
Notion Thief: This guy is something special.
Windfall is a staple blue card. You can
flash in
Notion Thief in response to
Windfall, so that you draw all the cards that your opponents would have drawn. You become the only person with cards in their hand, so you kinda just win.
Alms Collector does something similar, but not as good as
Notion Thief.
When to use it: If they don't hurt your strategy, and you can spare the extra card slot(s), then these cards are perfect. Until you see it action, you really don't know just how much these will mess up your opponents.
When to not use it: It can be hard to slot in cards like these, because it's hard to judge if you should use a card that you know will be good in your deck, versus a card that is good in certain situations. If you have the colors for it, I do recommend
Notion Thief at least.
If there was something I missed, let me know.