Slow Down | Building a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV Commander Deck

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is one of the most notorious commanders in Magic: The Gathering. Known for his tax effect that makes your spells cheaper and your opponents’ spells more expensive, he is the perfect leader for a Stax deck.

Stax (possibly named for Smokestack) is all about resource denial, slowing the game to a crawl, and keeping opponents locked out long enough for you to take control. If you want to play the villain at the table, methodically dismantling your opponents’ ability to play while they conspire against you, building a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV commander deck is an ideal choice.

Why Choose Stax with Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

Stax strategies aim to stifle opponents by taxing resources, limiting untaps, and shutting down opponents' strategies before they can snowball.

Grand Arbiter shines in this role because:

• His static tax ability makes every spell opponents cast cost more.

• His cost reduction ability makes it easier for you to deploy your own disruptive pieces quickly.

• Access to Azorius (white and blue) gives you the best combination of control, counters, and taxing effects.

  
  

This makes him one of the strongest Stax commanders available, capable of shaping the entire pace of the game in just a couple of turns.

Early Game Strategy - Slow their game

In the early turns, your goal is to establish control of the board and mana base. This means playing out Grand Arbiter as quickly as possible and following up with taxing permanents that slow down your opponents’ ability to cast spells or untap lands.

Key plays for the early game:

• Accelerate into Grand Arbiter using mana rocks like Sol Ring, Azorius Signet, or Talisman of Progress.

• Drop early Stax pieces such as Sphere of Resistance, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, or Static Orb to immediately limit what your opponents can do.

• Protect your board with cheap counterspells like Swan Song or Mana Leak to stop any early removal aimed at your lock pieces.

  
  

The earlier you deploy the Grand Arbiter and your first couple of pieces, the more suffocating the game becomes.

Mid Game Strategy - Lock them out

The midgame is where your deck starts to shine. By this point, you want to have multiple layers of disruption in place to begin pulling ahead in card advantage and board presence.

Mid-game priorities:

• Stack multiple taxing effects together. A Winter Orb combined with Grand Arbiter’s cost increase can make it nearly impossible for opponents to function.

• Keep the board state manageable with wraths like Supreme Verdict or Terminus. Since you are running few creatures, you benefit from repeatedly clearing the battlefield.

• Begin to assemble win conditions behind your lock. For many Stax decks, this means generating incremental advantage through planeswalkers like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, or engines like Rhystic Study and Smothering Tithe.

  
  

By layering disruption and protecting it with counterspells, you cement your control over the table while preparing for a late game finish.

Late Game Strategy - Grind them down

Once you have reduced opponents to a crawl, it is time to close out the game. Stax decks do not win quickly, but with inevitability. Your late-game plan should revolve around slowly but surely eliminating players while maintaining your lock.

Late game approaches:

• Use planeswalkers as inevitability engines. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria or Jace, the Mind Sculptor can win on their own if left unchecked.

• Lock the board completely with Knowledge Pool plus Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir or with hard combos that prevent opponents from resolving anything.

• Win through combat by using token generators like Elspeth, Sun’s Champion or by protecting a few resilient creatures.

  
  

At this stage, your opponents should be functionally locked out, and your inevitability takes over.

Five Must-Include Cards

Every Grand Arbiter Augustin IV Stax deck should include these five powerhouse cards to maximize disruption:

Winter Orb

Winter Orb is one of the quintessential Stax pieces. By limiting players to untapping only one land each turn, it drastically slows down the pace of the game.

Combined with Grand Arbiter’s static tax, opponents are forced to choose between casting a single spell or leaving up interaction, often with very little mana available. Because Arbiter reduces your own spell costs, you can still operate more efficiently under the lock than anyone else.

Smothering Tithe

Smothering Tithe is both ramp and disruption in one card. Every time an opponent draws a card, they are forced to either pay a mana tax or give you a Treasure token. In a Stax deck where opponents are already struggling with mana, most of the time you will be swimming in Treasures. This extra mana lets you deploy more lock pieces, pay for counterspells, and pull ahead even when you are locking down mana with cards like Winter Orb.

Static Orb

Static Orb is another classic tool in the box that pairs beautifully with Grand Arbiter. Limiting untaps to just two permanents per turn makes it almost impossible for opponents to get enough resources to break free of your taxes.

When layered with cards like Winter Orb or Sphere of Resistance, the board grinds to a halt. You can manipulate this further by using tap effects like Relic Barrier or Tangle Wire to selectively disable the Orb when it benefits you.

Rhystic Study

Few cards embody Stax philosophy better than Rhystic Study. Its famous “Are you going to pay the 1?” line directly mirrors Grand Arbiter’s tax ability. Opponents either slow themselves down further by paying the cost or give you consistent card advantage. In a deck built to extend the game, having a steady flow of extra cards ensures you always have the answers and lock pieces needed to keep opponents under your control.

Supreme Verdict 

Creature-heavy decks can sometimes slip through the cracks if you do not have enough lock pieces early on. Supreme Verdict guarantees a reset, and because it cannot be countered, you can confidently clear the board even against blue opponents.

Since your deck does not rely on many creatures, wiping the board usually hurts your opponents far more than it hurts you. This buys you the time to re-establish your Stax pieces and continue pushing your control plan into the late game.

These cards are core to the philosophy of the deck and synergize perfectly with Arbiter’s natural tax effect.

Is a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV Commander Deck FOr You?

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is not a commander for the faint of heart. Playing Stax requires patience, discipline, and a willingness to make yourself enemy number 1. However, the rewards are immense if you enjoy dictating the flow of the game and watching opponents struggle against your web of taxes and denial.

By following the early, mid, and late game strategies outlined here and including the must-have Stax staples, you will have a finely tuned deck that can stifle even the most aggressive Commander tables. If control and inevitability are your style, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV may be the perfect commander for you. And as always, all cards here can be picked up from our friends at TCG Player!.