Threat Assessment in Commander

[Soren841]

A great example is not running fetches in a deck that runs Root Maze.. hopefully you're not more than 2 colors tho otherwise gl with that

[Morganator 2.0]

Some stax pieces and how to work around them

Rule of Law: Use this in a deck that doesn't mind casting only one spell per turn, and in a meta where you have players that cast many spells per turn. See also: Eidolon of Rhetoric, Damping Sphere, Ethersworn Canonist, Arcane Laboratory

Winter Orb: To use Winter Orb effectively, you want to have a deck that already has a lot of non-land sources of mana (so, creatures or artifacts). You also need to make sure you're casting Winter Orb at a good time, when most of your opponents' lands are tapped. See also: Hokori, Dust Drinker.

Null Rod: A favorite for green decks, make sure you're not using too many artifacts as a source of mana. See also: Karn, the Great Creator, Stony Silence.

Cursed Totem: Similar to Null Rod, don't use too many creatures with activated abilities, and especially do not use if your commander has an activated ability. See also: Linvala, Keeper of Silence.

Static Orb: This one is trickier, because you need some other source to untap your mana sources. Usually, it will be commander like Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Brago, King Eternal, or Derevi, Empyrial Tactician.

Stasis: This card is usually used to soft-lock people, so you need to be able to untap one blue source a turn. The same commanders as above, and Estrid the Masked are all capable of doing this.

Rest in Peace: Don't use graveyard effects. Simple. See also: Leyline of the Void.

Back to Basics: Use lots of basic lands. Even if your deck is two colors, you can probably get away with using lots of basics. This card is especially good at hating on players with expensive land bases. See also: Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, Ruination.

Trinisphere: This card isn't super great in low-powered metas, but works wonders against decks with a low curve. To mitigate it's effect on you, use lots of mana ramp, or a way of untaping your permanents. See also: Vryn Wingmare, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Thorn of Amethyst, Sphere of Resistance.

[Aetherium Slinky]

I quite like running slow budget mana ("enters tapped") in some multicolored decks. Thus I 'equalize' my slow lands by adding Root Maze, Kismet or Frozen Aether. If I'm playing slow, you're playing slow, too.

I'd also like mention psychological stax pieces like Nevinyrral's disk, Perplexing Chimera, or Oblivion Stone. They stop people from committing to the board and effectively cause them to waste turns by not doing anything. These can be circumvented very easily with common removal spells like Oblivion Ring. You get your things back, they don't.

One of my favourite cards that can turn a stax piece off for a while is Release to the Wind. Personally I use it to navigate the mess that Taniwha, Sunder, Shimmer, Eon Hub, and Sands of Time create.