Legacy Stax deck

UPDATED MARCH/2022
The Legacy Stax deck is rumored to receive its name either from the card <c>Smokestack</c> or from the acronym "$T4KS" ("the $4k solution" to the meta it originated in - and considered to be a high price for any deck at the time).
This strategy is present both in Legacy as is in Vintage. And in both formats, it functions similarly: use artifacts to impede the opponent's game-plan.
It falls into the category of Prison decks.
==The Smokestack trick==
While at first <c>Smokestack</c> seems to be a fair and symmetric card, there is a trick to it that broke the symmetry and gave the Stax player a big advantage.
The trick consists of taking advantage from the order the triggers will resolve in the Stax's player own turn.
By choosing to resolve the sacrifice trigger first and adding a counter second, the Stax player can keep the opponent in constantly in disadvantage and, when it is time, sacrifice <c>Smokestack</c> to its own ability.
It may be a simple trick, but notice how <c>Smokestack</c> is worded. The card gives the impression the triggers are to be resolved in the sequence they are displayed and less experienced players may "roll with it" and resolve it in the "wrong order" by default - and this misleading wording may even have been intentional by design. But in reality both abilities trigger at the same time and the owner chooses which will resolve first and there lies the key to the trick.
This is a sequence of events that would ensue assuming the player keeps adding soot counters - it is a may ability:
*Player's turn: cast Smokestack, 0 soot counters
*Opponent's turn: sacrifices 0 permanents
*Players turn: sacrifices 0 permanents, +1 soot counter= (1 soot counter)
*Opponent's turn: sacrifices 1 permanent
*Players's turn: sacrifices 1 permanent, +1 soot counter= (2 soot counters)
*Opponent's turn: sacrifices 2 permanents
*Player's turn: sacrifices 2 permanents, +1 soot counter (3 soot counters)
*Opponent's turn: sacrifices 3 permanents
By simply choosing the right order of the triggers, the opponent is always suffering more from the <c>Smokestack</c> effect than the Stax player.
Another way to keep the player at advantage and the opponent at disadvantage is to not add more soot counters (mantaining a low number of soot counters) and keeping recursing a land with <c>Crucible of Worlds</c>, <c>Drownyard Temple</c> or even <c>Crucible of Worlds</c> + <c>God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai</c> to progress the board every turn by generating more spirit tokens.
==Early Decklists==
The deck used cards such as <c>Trinisphere</c>, <c>Smokestack</c>, <c>Tangle Wire</c>, <c>Chalice of the Void</c>, <c>Lodestone Golem</c> and <c>Powder Keg</c> to either prevent the opponent from progressing in the game. 
It then proceeded to kill the opponent with <c>Mishra's Factory</c> and <c>Mutavault</c>.
<deck title="Mono-Brown Stax - Borja Giraldo - Grand Prix Madrid 2010">
Mana basis
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
3 Metalworker
4 Mox Diamond
Win condition
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Mutavault
4 Crucible of Worlds
Prison and board control
1 Lodestone Golem
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Powder Keg
4 Smokestack
4 Tangle Wire
4 Trinisphere
4 Chalice of the Void
Sideboard
2 Bottled Cloister
3 Lodestone Golem
2 Maze of Ith
2 Razormane Masticore
4 Tormod's Crypt
2 Zuran Orb</deck>
==Contemporary Decklists==
As of late, the deck Stax evolved into 2 different artifact-based control decks.
One is still called Stax for its proximity with the original Stax deck, while the other is often referred to as Mystic Forge, Mystic Forge Stax or Stax Forge.
The advent of <c>Urza's Saga</c>, <c>Retrofitter Foundry</c>, <c>Mystic Forge</c> and <c>Karn, the Great Creator</c> greatly benefitted the deck.
===Stax===
<deck title="Stax - Paincow - Discord Tournament- 26/02/22">
Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Blast Zone
2 Buried Ruin
4 City of Traitors
1 Drownyard Temple
1 God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai
3 Inventor's Fair
1 Karakas
4 Urza's Saga
4 Wasteland
Creatures
3 Metalworker
Other Spells
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Karn, the Great Creator
4 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Opal
2 Mystic Forge
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Retrofitter Foundry
1 Shadowspear
3 Smokestack
4 Trinisphere
Sideboard
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Damping Sphere
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Krark-Clan Ironworks
1 Liquimetal Coating
4 Lodestone Golem
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Tormod's Crypt
</deck>
===Mystic Forge===
<deck title="Stax - susurrus_mtg - MTGO Legacy Challenge - 31/01/2022">
Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Inventor's Fair
4 Urza's Saga
Creatures
3 Hope of Ghirapur
Other Spells
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Grim Monolith
1 Expedition Map
4 Karn, the Great Creator
4 Defense Grid
4 Lotus Petal
4 Manifold Key
4 Mox Opal
4 Mystic Forge
3 Paradox Engine
4 Serum Powder
1 Voltaic Key
Sideboard
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Hope of Ghirapur
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Paradox Engine
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Spatial Contortion
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Walking Ballista
</deck>
<deck title="Mystic Forge - Suzuki Takahiro - Hareruya (Japan) - 24/01/2022">
Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
1 Island
1 Karakas
3 Tundra
4 Urza's Saga
Creatures
4 Hullbreaker Horror
1 Tidal Barracuda
Other spells
1 Brainstone
1 Chromatic Star
1 Expedition Map
4 Grim Monolith
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Karn, the Great Creator
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Manifold Key
4 Mox Opal
4 Mystic Forge
4 Pyxis of Pandemonium
1 Relic of Progenitus
Sideboard
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Flusterstorm
1 Hydroblast
1 Karmic Justice
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Mycosynth Lattice
2 Portable Hole
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Walking Ballista
</deck>
==Notes on Stax==
Stax is an overall very expensive deck to play.
It is commonly classified as a "classic deck" by Legacy veterans.
Stax is also considered not to be a beginner's deck. It is composed of some tricky plays and requires extensive knowledge of both the meta it is inserted into as well as the very own deck the Stax player is playing.
Due to its Reserved List dependency it is unlikely to see a decklist welcoming for new budget-limited players.
==See also==
*Legacy
*Vintage
*Modern
*Artifact
*Reserved List
*Control
*Prison
*Revitalization of Legacy
*Vintage Stax
Category:Tournament decks