Atraxa StaxWalkers

Commander / EDH* Rahvin2015

SCORE: 3 | 9 COMMENTS | 2559 VIEWS | IN 8 FOLDERS


Initial playtest —Nov. 19, 2016

Tested in a 3-man pod. I played exclusively Atraxa; one opponent played exclusively his combo Breya deck; the third bounced between Thraximundar, Sen Triplets, and Kemba.

Results were fairly strong. I won most (though not all) of the games. Losses were typically due to overly focusing on the combo player and leaving the Triplets or Kemba alone for too long.

Various Stasis locks, Tangle Wire, and similar effects were the all-stars. Null Rod, Cursed Totem and the like slowed the combo player enough for me to assemble a lock. Doubling Season and Deepglow Skate were also crazy strong, allowing me to immediately ultimate Planeswalkers like Narset Transcendant.

I'm trying to identify which cards were effectively dead, and right now top-of-mind is Nissa, Vital Force. I left her in for the untap effect with the possibility to recur permanents (like Planeswalkers, which are typically harder to recur than other card types). But for a 5-drop, I found her to be very underwhelming. Her ultimate is...meh, at best. With Cursed Totem on board, her untap land effect actually becomes useless, because I can't tap the man-land for mana until my next turn. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is definitely better than Nissa, but I wasn't happy to have her in-hand in most cases. Her ultimate is beautiful, and her +1 is useful, but she's a potential cut, likely in favor of another 4-drop walker (Dovin Baan, one of the Kioras, etc). Freyalise has potential as well, giving me mana dorks and blowing up permanents.

I also just finally picked up a Bloom Tender, so I'll be finding a cut for her. She's just broken in a 4c deck. Similarly, I picked up Gavony Township, which would be nice. While this particular Atraxa build isn't really trying to go for +1/+1 counters, they're extremely nice when they happen. When I can get at least one onto Atraxa, she starts to go crazy, quickly becoming an obscene threat all on her own.

Overall, very happy with the first draft.

LabManiac_Sigi says... #1

The first thing I noticed: Don't run artifact lands with Null Rod. While they do make it a bit easier to activate Mox Opal, they have other drawbacks as well: They only tap for one mana and they don't have a Basic land type, which means they can't be fetched. You also can't use them for occasional fixing by doing things like transmuting Tolaria West or fetching them with Trinket Mage, since you (correctly) run neither of those.

I'd consider removing all four, and adding two other lands, going down to 35 lands total. You should also try to minimise the amount of colourless lands, which would mean taking out Ash Barrens (it's cute, but not that good), and maybe even High Market (I can see that you're trying to do some stuff with sacrificing creatures, but it doesn't seem to be very relevant to how you win the game). Also consider adding an Ancient Tomb because it's the best 2-mana land out there.

Finally, here are a couple of cards I'd add:

  1. Contagion Engine - another way to do fun Proliferate stuff, although it might be a bit expensive.

  2. Signets/Talismans - maybe fill up those two land slots with two Signets or Talismans, maybe even a Fellwar Stone. Ramp is good, even if you're gonna have a Null Rod out at some point.

  3. Exsanguinate - since you already have Monolith/Rings for infinite Mana, you could add it as another finisher. If you also add Muddle the Mixture as another Counterspell, you have an easy way to tutor for it.

November 11, 2016 9:43 a.m.

Rzepkanut says... #2

I have a few card suggestions..

Mana denial effects:

Parallax Tide, Tangle Wire, Smokestack, Sphere of Resistance

Superfriends:

Liliana Vess - repeatable tutor or discard, high loyalty, powerful ultimate.

Kiora, Master of the Depths - extra mana untaps, draw cards, powerful ultimate.

Oath of Gideon - having early blockers and extra loyalty is great.

November 11, 2016 10:26 a.m.

Rahvin2015 says... #3

Neunviertel - Thanks for the detailed suggestions. My copy of Null Rod states that it only stops activated abilities of artifacts that have an activation cost...but I see that the Oracle text is rather different. You're right, that's a large set of nonbos. I think I'd actually rather remove Null Rod entirely, since I have so much artifact ramp. I could replace it with Trinisphere, which I've been wanting a slot for anyway. The artifact lands are there for use with Unwinding Clock and to be searchable with Tezzeret the Seeker . Do you think they're still of limited use even without Null Rod? I have no problem swapping out Ash Barrens for Ancient Tomb, and can cut High Market.

November 11, 2016 11:55 a.m.

Rahvin2015 says... #4

Rzepkanut - Thanks for your suggestions! I just swapped out Null Rod in favor of Trinisphere, which should perform the same role as Sphere of Resistance (since I own Trinishpere and not Resistance). I'm feeling cautious about Smokestack. It was in earlier drafts, but I have no real token production to feed it myself. My only real way to deal with it would be with Crucible of Worlds, and I'm not terribly comfortable with a single card being needed to deal with an effect like that. I'd be possibly more willing to use Tainted AEther, but I think I'd need to cut down my own creature count, particularly blink effects, to make that work out (with Crucible it would be pretty brutal though). Liliana Vess has a high cost, and the tutor is only top of library...still, she's something I'll consider more strongly. Kiora, Master of the Depths does have a nice untap ability for all of the Stasis effects, but I feel like I'm too creature-light and don't have enough grave recursion to get much/any use out of her -.

November 11, 2016 1:17 p.m.

LabManiac_Sigi says... #5

Rahvin_dom - Even with Null Rod gone, I'd replace the Artifact lands. The synergy with Unwinding Clock (which I'd personally cut, to be honest) is not enough to justify the toll they take on your mana base. Your first tutor with Tezzeret should also go towards finding (a piece of) your win condition or a very strong hate piece 100% of the time - tutoring for lands with Tezz is not where you want to be. Since you're going the Planeswalker route, I'd recommend replacing Unwinding Clock with The Chain Veil, which you can also tutor for immediately with Tezzeret. And yeah, replacing Null Rod with Trinisphere sounds like a fine thing to do. Love me some Trinisphere against Combo decks. To add to what Rzepkanut said: Liliana Vess should be considered more strongly with The Chain Veil in your deck, and Kiora would barely be good enough if you had the slot, but she'd be around number 13 or 14 on my top list of Planeswalkers for this type of deck. Usually, the untap effects from Tezzeret, Teferi, and Garruk are enough to play decently through Stasis.

November 11, 2016 8:57 p.m.

LabManiac_Sigi says... #6

Also, I'm not sure if recommending other decks is frowned upon here or not, but here's a list I built together with a friend for our podcast. It's not competitive, and I'd make some more changes, but maybe you can get some more ideas for your list.

November 11, 2016 8:59 p.m.

LabManiac_Sigi says... #7

Oh damn, forgot to link the list, sorry to spam like that: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/01-11-16-OfJ-atraxa/

November 11, 2016 8:59 p.m.

Nightange1 says... #8

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Zur the Enchanter, Ensnaring Bridge, Torpor Orb, Phyrexian Arena, Glen Elendra Archmage, Inkmoth Nexus, Armageddon, Liliana Vess, Elspeth, Sun's Champion,Meekstone, and Gilded Lotus are all cards you should throw in your deck. While taking out Orzhov Advokist, Kaya, Ghost Assassin, Nissa, Vital Force, Null Rod, Rings of Brighthearth, Venser, the Sojourner.The above cards being removed do nothing to help you, like kaya and venser for instance their blink does nothing for you considering the lack of many creatures. Yes deepglow being blinked in and out is the dream but why not use say Brago to do that and blink other etb effects in and out? Rings is cute but do you see yourself being able to pay the 2 for all those loyality abilities and is it even worth it? Copying a ult twice is bonkers but if u can double it and even ult at all do you really need a copy of a ult anyways? Orzhov advokist is just bad, they will throw the counters on their dude and just swing at someone else then next turn deny the counters and swing at you directly. Nissa is odd especially in your deck, you are plusing to immediately ult with her and use a very poor plus ability that could hurt you more then anything.

November 18, 2016 10:31 p.m.