THESE CARDS ARE NOT CURRENT
This was a fairly simple Grixis Goodstuff.dec, but that felt kinda boring. So I changed gears and built around Thrax a little more. I am a new EDH player, and I have been playing MTG very casually for around seven months. This is, as you can tell from the title, a control deck based around Thrax. It mostly tries to keep the early game quite via single target removal and counterspells. It really opens up in the mid-late game, which is where most EDH games spend the most time. It has a lot of sacrifice effects to boost Thrax. Copying stuff and stealing stuff is a good way to make up for the sometimes subpar creature quality. It has a fair amount of graveyard recursion to get the most mileage from my smallish number of creatures.
Because I have no idea what I'm doing, I decided to write up why I chose each card, partly for my benefit. So without further ado, here is a wall of text:(If you don't want to read everything I wrote short blurbs at the beginning and end of each section highlighting the purpose and my thoughts about each type of card.)
Card Draw + Tutors
It's no secret how good tutors are in EDH, but I did leave a few out for the sake of fun and inconsistency. Card Draw is pretty important because when I hit the late game my hand empties pretty quickly.
Demonic Tutor - A classic.
Diabolic Tutor - This deck should be able to spare four mana without too much compromise.
Increasing Ambition - Expensive, but the flashback is great in the late game.
Rune-Scarred Demon - Tutor + a 6/6. Fantastic.
Phyrexian Arena - One life is a paltry amount in EDH.
Bloodgift Demon
- Phyrexian Arena on legs.
Liliana Vess - Can tutor twice before having to use the +1, the ult is game winning.
I find that this deck can run out of cards, and a control deck with an empty hand sucks. Phyrexian Arena and
Bloodgift Demon
help alleviate that problem. However, I'm not sure that I have enough card draw.
Boardwipes
As this deck is not hugely creature-centric, boardwipes are critical to keeping the game in check.
Black Sun's Zenith Kills basically everything, permanently weakens creatures as well.
Decree of Pain - Boardwipe + card draw is great, particularly with Reliquary Tower. Made even better after resolving Army of the Damned.
Plague Wind - Expensive, but one-sided boardwipe is great.
I want to get my hands on Damnation but I'm not willing to shell out the 40 dollars yet. I think it will do good work in this deck, as a somewhat early boardwipe.
Counterspells and Removal
The goal of counter spells and removal in this deck is to keep the game under control until I can get to the late/mid game.
Crosis's Charm
- Very versatile removal, bounce, and artifact destruction.
Cancel, Counterspell - Basic cheap counters.
Go for the Throat - Cheap, this deck has other ways to destroy artifacts.
Cyclonic Rift - Fantastic for getting rid of indestructible things, also allows Thrax to snipe a player.
Hinder,
Spell Crumple
- Tucks annoying cards.
Soul Manipulation - Recursion and counter together for three mana. Always relevant.
Counterflux - Protection for game ending plays.
Terminate - Good cheap removal.
Vandalblast - The overload is great against creature heavy decks or for taking out annoying artifacts.
Avatar of Woe - Simple removal, doubles as a beatstick.
Shriekmaw - Either a creature and removal, or removal with a body in the graveyard.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker - Powerful EDH planeswalker, the +3 hits all types of permanents.
Duplicant
- Exile any creature, and get one for yourself.
I'm fairly confidant about this package, although any suggestions are very welcome.
Recursion/Reanimating
With so few creatures making the best of what you have is very important. Especially in a deck that has a strong Saccing subtheme recursion gives the fuel for those sac engines.
Phyrexian Reclamation - One of my favorite cards, low cost and you pay with life instead of mana.
Geth, Lord of the Vault
- Why limit yourself to only taking things from your graveyard? Also a 5/5 with evasion.
Havengul Lich - Cast creatures from any graveyard, giving it the abilities of the casted creature is just a bonus.
Sepulchral Primordial - Take the best cards from your opponents' graveyards. Too good in long multiplayer games.
Sheoldred, Whispering One - Great black creature, sac is good with Thrax and the recursion is nice.
Soul Manipulation - Recursion and counter together for three mana. Always relevant.
Grave Betrayal - Expensive, but so good.
Again, I think that this is solid, but I'm open to suggestions. ]. I feel like Sheoldred, Whispering One get killed too often, but if I can sneak a counterspell off then she is devastating.
Copying/Stealing
Copying and stealing things is one of my favorite things about blue in EDH, and it allows one a lot of flexibility. Depending on the power level of your playgroup, these can be insane.
Bribery - Being able to steal an opponent's best creature for 5 mana is awesome.
Treachery - Classic Urza's block. Too good.
Mimic Vat - You can copy your opponents' creatures with this, and you can activate it whenever.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker - Aside from being one of the most powerful planeswalkers, especially in EDH, the -2 allows you to repeatably steal creatures.
Duplicant
- Remove any creature from the board, and get one for yourself.
Havengul Lich - I find that the ability to cast things from anyone's graveyard is often overlooked.
Phyrexian Metamorph
- Can be dropped for as little as three mana to copy any creature or artifact. Incredibly good.
Once more I feel pretty good about this part of my deck.
Sacrifice Outlets, Spells, and Targets
Saccing is obviously good because of Thraximundar in this deck, but the recursion makes it better by removing the drawback. Furthermore saccing your own stuff is always preferable to having it stolen and used against you. Losing control of things like Thraximundar can be devastating.
Barter in Blood
- With Thrax on the field you can sometimes manage to swing for lethal. Even when Thrax isn't in play it's a great way to control the game early on when you don't have many creatures in play.
Grave Pact - Gets exponentially better the more players there are. Doubles the effect of
Barter in Blood
and any sac effect. Allows Thrax to become insanely countered up.
Ashnod's Altar - Saccing zombie tokens made by Army of the Damned and
Grave Titan
allows for some mana-heavy plays. It's a repeatable sac outlet, which is good in this deck because you prevent your creatures from being stolen or taken back.
Phyrexian Altar - Good for the same reasons as Ashnod's Altar. It serves as redundancy in terms of sac outlets and provides a colored mana instead.
Butcher of Malakir - Grave Pact on legs.
Gravecrawler - Recurable sac target, Zombie type has combo potential with Rooftop Storm
Fleshbag Marauder - If there's nothing on the field you can just sac him. Nice ETB effect.
Grave Titan
- The tokens produced by him are great to sac. Another good ETB effect, even if he gets countered.
Sheoldred, Whispering One - Aside from being a great black beatstick, she allows recursion and makes your opponents' sac things. With Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth she becomes even better.
I don't think I have enough repeatable sac outlets. I have Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar, but because sacrificing is so important I'm wondering if I should cut some stuff to make way for others..
Ramp
Sol Ring - I don't think this needs any explanation.
Gilded Lotus - Helping with troublesome color requirements since Mirrodin. I like it more than
Thran Dynamo
because it provides colored mana.
Chromatic Lantern - Color requirements used to be a thing. Also taps for mana.
Phyrexian Altar - Turn useless stuff into mana. Great with zombie tokens.
Ashnod's Altar - Same as Phyrexian Altar. Great with zombie tokens.
Temple of the False God - I always find myself over four lands when I play this, very rarely a dead card.
Dimir Signet
, Rakdos Signet - Signets really help with the mana. The reason I didn't include Izzet Signet is because UR is the least common color combination in this deck.
Thran Dynamo
- This deck needs to get to seven mana to play Thrax, and this really helps out with the mana troubles I was having.
Wincons
Every control deck needs to have some powerful finishers.
Insurrection - The color requirements are tough, but this ends games easily.
Rise of the Dark Realms - I have enough black mana to never have trouble casting this. In long EDH games it is incredible, too many ETB effects.
Cruel Ultimatum - In EDH it loses some effectiveness, but it can still put a player out of commission for a bit.
Exsanguinate - With enough mana, usually provided by Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth it can end games against players without too much life.
Army of the Damned Aside from the sheer number of zombies, the numerous sac targets often means that the game is ending soon.
Thraximundar - Obvious, but this deck relies on general damage to kill most opponents.
Sepulchral Primordial - This in the late game is devestating because of stocked graveyards.
I am unsure about the quality of my wincons, and I would like some feedback and suggestions. I'm worried that Thrax is my only really reliable finisher and even though he is my commander I'm not sure if that is enough.
Beatsticks
There are no cards I chose only because of their power and toughness, as they all have relevant abilities that synergize well with this deck.
Avatar of Woe - Removal on a 6/6 body, can be played for a tiny amount of mana in the late game.
Geth, Lord of the Vault
- A 5/5 with intimidate and a very relevant ability is great.
Grave Titan
- A 6/6 deathtouch is often redundant, but its sheer size is always useful. its ability is also great.
Reaper from the Abyss - A flying 6/6 is strong, and its ability is great in this deck because stuff will be dying when this deck gets into gear.
Rune-Scarred Demon - A tutor attached to a 6/6 flyer.
Sheoldred, Whispering One - A 6/6 body with great abilities. When Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is pretty dangerous.
This feels pretty good as they are all pretty tough but I don't feel that this deck relies on them too much.
Super Secret and Not-Really Secret Tech
Just some good cards that don't really fit elsewhere. Mostly staples.
Distant Memories - This is one of my favorite EDH cards for recovering tucked generals. When I play it I exile my general, who then gets put back into my command zone. So they either let me draw three cards, or I can cast my general from my hand, ignoring the commander tax. Both are bad options.
Rooftop Storm - Cast Thraximundar, Fleshbag Marauder, Havengul Lich, and
Geth, Lord of the Vault
for free? Yes please. With Thrax as my commander it is always relevant. Great with Gravecrawler.
Lighning Greaves - Can be equipped to Thrax to prevent any kind of direct removal, or on any other creature for haste and shroud. Since there there is little voltron tech, it very rarely works against me.
Sensei's Divining Top - An EDH staple for obvious reasons. Too good.
Solemn Simulacrum - Great normally, even better with recursion and sacrificing.
Homeward Path - Even though I have a lot of steal effect, I need to keep my creatures. Plus I can sac the stuff I steal before I activate it.
Land Choices
I've made some changes and the mana feels a lot better and more reliable with the Signets and
Thran Dynamo
. Shocklands are pretty obvious stuff. I chose the Innistrad taplands because they seem to me to have the least chance of entering untapped. I'll usually tutor up Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers for obscene amounts of mana.
