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Well that Proliferated Quickly - Atraxa

Commander / EDH Counters Four Color GWUB Multiplayer Primer

finallegend


Sideboard


Maybeboard


That Proliferated Quickly

My rendition of the Breed Lethality C16 PreCon deck. The general plan is to get as many +1/+1 counters onto my creatures as quickly as possible. Once these counters are in place, the plan is to utilize various amplifiers to increase those counters over time.

I eventually plan for a super best friends build as well (share some cards between the two - will come with time due to expensive nature of super best friends decks). I do not intend on making this build infect since that would not be as fun to play as or against.

I was a little indecisive at first, but I am really happy to have chosen Atraxa, Praetors' Voice in Breed Lethality as my Commander for 2016. Initially I had my eyes on Open Hostility with Saskia the Unyielding leading the charge. After my initial excitement went down I realized that it would be close to the same feel as my voltron take of Wade Into Battle (We're the Titans, We are Strong - Kalemne) centering around Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas.

At this point my friend who had called pre-emptive dibs on the commander before Atraxa was teased was leaning more toward Invent Superiority with Breya, Etherium Shaper at it's lead. I would (and did) chose Atraxa if he went that route, but would have gone with Entropic Uprising with Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder if he had chosen Atraxa.

The play group I am a part of includes a modified Breya, Etherium Shaper artifact combo deck and a modified Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis pillow fort with knives.

This deck is not meant to be a superbest friends, but some planeswalkers have too good of synergy to pass up

  • Ajani, Mentor of Heroes - Mainly use his first +1 to put 3 +1/+1 counters on anywhere between one and three different creatures. When I am fine on +1/+1 counters, I can use his other +1 to psudo tutor for a creature/planeswalker. His ultimate is good if I am low on life.

  • Venser, the Sojourner - His +2 can be used to flicker to get ETB effects, which can be especially broken with Deepglow Skate. His -1 can be a game finisher to allow me to strike with my built up creatures without a chance of defense. His ultimate is great for control and exiles any potential threats.

  • Tamiyo, the Moon Sage - Her +1 can soft lock threats away. Her -2 can work well to help the draw engine depending on how many creatures are tapped. The main reason I put her in is her ultimate. No max hand size? Pretty good. Anything that would go to the graveyard from anywhere will go back to my hand? Awesome.

  • Tamiyo, Field Researcher - Her +1 can be used to help the draw engine. Her -2 can help soft lock away threats. Just like her original counterpart, I mainly have her in here for her ultimate. More cards? Alright and makes it slightly repeatable. Omniscience without the extremely high mana cost? Super. Comboing with the emblem generated from Tamiyo, the Moon Sage? Priceless.

These particular creatures work more for themselves, but by themselves can be a force to be reckoned with:

  • Chasm Skulker - Gives itself a +1/+1 whenever I draw and serves as a deterrent or punishment for board wipes.

  • Enduring Scalelord – Gives itself a +1/+1 whenever something else gets a +1/+1. Gains a lot of counters very quickly when combined with Cathars' Crusade.

  • Hangarback Walker - Starts with X +1/+1 counters and can make itself larger for . Also works as a deterrent or punishment for board wipes.

  • Ob Nixilis, Unshackled – Whenever any creature dies, he gets stronger. Also works as a tutors bane.

  • Scavenging Ooze – Can feed off of any graveyard (helping preventing graveyard manipulation) and gains life if it is a creature.

  • Sphinx of Magosi – Can make itself larger for a cost and lets you draw at the same time.

  • Witch-Maw Nephilim – Gets 2 +1/+1 counters whenever you cast a spell and gives itself trample if it is larger than a 10/10

These have their main focus on putting +1/+1 counters on something else rather than itself.

  • Abzan Charm – Main purpose is to place 2 +1/+1 counters distributed among up to 2 creatures. Alternate effects can destroy larger creatures or as a draw source.

  • Avenger of Zendikar – Generates a small army of plants when it comes into play and adds a +1/+1 counter to each whenever you play a land.

  • Bow of Nylea – Main purpose is to give a creature +1/+1 counter. Also gives everything deathtouch and an additional choice of damage to a flying creature, gain 3 life, or return 4 cards from your graveyard to your deck.

  • Cathars' Crusade – Gives all of your creatures a +1/+1 whenever another creature enters your side of the field.

  • Citadel Siege – Main purpose is to get 2 +1/+1 counters on a creature before combat. Alternate (less used) effect taps out a creature during opponent’s combats.

  • Experiment Kraj – Can tap itself to give any creature a +1/+1. It also gains any activated abilities of any creature with a +1/+1 counter on it.

  • Forgotten Ancient – Generates a +1/+1 counter anytime anyone plays a spell, but then can move it anywhere at the beginning of your upkeep.

  • Ghave, Guru of Spores – Can remove a +1/+1 counter from any of your creatures to generate a token. Can sacrifice a token to put a +1/+1 counter on anything.

  • Give / Take – Can add 3 +1/+1 counters, strip all counters to a creature for draw power, or both.

  • Juniper Order Ranger – Whenever a creature enters your side of the field, gives itself and that creature a +1/+1 counter.

  • Master Biomancer – Gives anything as it enters the field +1/+1 counters equal to this creature’s power.

  • Mikaeus, the Lunarch – Starts with X +1/+1 counters and can remove one from himself to add one to everyone else.

  • Spike Feeder – Pay mana to move a +1/+1 counter from Spike feeder to anything else. Can convert it into life for free at any time.

Ramps up the rate of counters being placed. Some add additional while others are just proliferation.

  • Contagion Engine – Can work as a potential slow one sided board wipe. Give the opportunity to proliferate twice.

  • Corpsejack Menace – Poor man’s Doubling Season. Can exponentially increase +1/+1 token generation.

  • Deepglow Skate – Immediate doubling of any number of tokens on any number of permanents.

  • Doubling Season - A staple in any Atraxa Deck. One of my Buddies gave this to me as a gift. You can't go wrong with something that doubles any tokens or counters. Only potential down side is that it is forced and this effect includes things like -1/-1 tokens.

  • Inexorable Tide – Proliferates every time you cast a spell.

  • Kalonian Hydra – Doubles the number of +1/+1 counters each time it attacks.

  • Solidarity of Heroes – Pay a certain amount of mana to double the +1/+1 counters of specific creatures.

  • Tezzeret's Gambit – Draws 2 cards and proliferates.

  • Thrummingbird – Proliferates whenever it deals direct damage.

  • Vorel of the Hull Clade – Can double any counters on any land, creature, or artifact.

Takes the creatures that do have +1/+1 counter and lets them do something extra beyond their original abilities.

  • Abzan Battle Priest – Gives any creature with a +1/+1 lifelink. Can outlast to give itself a +1/+1 counter.

  • Abzan Falconer – Gives any creature with a +1/+1 flying. Can outlast to give itself a +1/+1 counter.

  • Champion of Lambholt – Makes itself bigger whenever another creature comes into play under your control and prevents creatures with less power than this creature from blocking any of your creatures.

  • Elite Scaleguard – Whenever a creature with a +1/+1 counter attacks, you can prevent a creature from blocking. It also gives 2 +1/+1 counters to the weakest creature you control (frequently itself).

  • Inspiring Call – Makes you draw a card for each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it. It then makes each of those creatures indestructible. Only potential issue is with being forced to draw can do a decent amount of self-milling.

  • Ivorytusk Fortress – Lets creatures you control with +1/+1 counters untap during opponents turns.

  • Retribution of the Ancients – Removes any number of +1/+1 from creatures you control to give a target a -X/-X

  • Reyhan, Last of the Abzan – Makes it so that whenever a creature with +1/+1 counter dies, you can redistribute the +1/+1 counters that were on it onto another creature.

  • Tuskguard Captain – Gives any creature with a +1/+1 trample. Can outlast to give itself a +1/+1 counter.

Rampy goodness that in some cases can increase with time.

  • Astral Cornucopia – Early on pay 3 mana for a rock that can produce 1 colored mana. Give it time (and proliferation) and it can produce quite a bit more.

  • Chromatic Lantern – Mana fixing and mana generating rock for 3. What’s not to like?

  • Commander's Sphere – Commander’s colors when you need them, a draw source when you don’t.

  • Crystalline Crawler – Commonly comes into play with 4 +1/+1 counters that will grow with time. These counters can be traded for mana of any color for free at any time. Can tap itself to get more counters.

  • Darksteel Ingot – Indestructible mana rock of any color.

  • Everflowing Chalice – At it’s worse, you pay 2 for a rock that produces 1 mana. Give it time and it will produce more mana than you know what to do with.

  • Fertilid – Remove a +1/+1 while paying 1G to tutor for a basic land. Combine with Ob Nixilis, Unshackled to force them to tutor and take 10 damage.

  • Gyre Sage – Evolving Mana Dork that produces more mana based off of how many +1/+1 counters it has.

  • Pentad Prism – Usually starts with 2 charge counters that can be consumed for free to make one mana of any color.

  • Sol Ring – Staple rock for any EDH deck.

Mass or single target removals to get rid of threats.

  • Festercreep – Removes +1/+1 counters from this creature to give everything else a -1/-1 until the end of turn.

  • Merciless Eviction – Exiles all Artifacts, Enchantments, Creatures, or Planeswalkers. This gets around indestructible.

  • Putrefy – Artifact or creature destruction.

  • Sylvan Reclamation – Exiles up to 2 artifacts or enchantments. Can also be used to find a basic land.

  • Utter End – Can exile anything that is not a land.

Don't really fall under any of the other categories, but still work well regardless.

  • Altered Ego – Clone that gives itself additional +1/+1 based off of how much mana you use to cast it. Also cannot be countered.

  • Archmage Ascension - Lets you tutor any drawn cards if the questing is complete. Proliferation expedites Quest counter production.

  • Chorus of the Conclave – Lets all of your creatures have an X in their cost which provides additional +1/+1 counters.

  • Fathom Mage – Lets you draw a card whenever it gets a +1/+1 counter. Wording of may help prevent discards or uncontrolled self-milling.

  • Mycoloth – Sac creatures to give itself power when entering the field. Generates tokens equal to the number of counters on this creature.

  • Odric, Lunarch Marshal – Give ALL creatures the same abilities during your combat. Especially deadly when your commander is on the field.

  • Opaline Bracers – Starts out being able to give a creature up to +4/+4 which only grows with the proliferating engine.

  • Simic Manipulator – Evolves to steal your opponent’s creatures.

  • Arcane Sanctum/Opulent Palace/Sandsteppe Citadel/Seaside Citadel – Tri Colored land that ETB tapped.

  • Ash Barrens – colorless mana when lacking mana, fetch land for basic lands when you want/need a specific color.

  • Calciform Pools/Dreadship Reef/Saltcrusted Steppe – Bi Colored storage land that can build by using excess mana or proliferation.

  • Command Tower – Produce any of my commander’s colors.

  • Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse – Fetch land for basic lands.

  • Forest/Island/Plains/Swamp – Basic Lands.

  • Gavony Township - produces colorless mana or can pay to put a +1/+1 counter on all creatures. Excellent way to get +1/+1 on those that don't already have any or to overall increase all creatures.

  • Hallowed Fountain/Overgrown Tomb/Watery Grave – Bi Colored shock lands that I had pulled from various packs.

  • Karn's Bastion - Produces colorless mana or can be used to proliferate for .

  • Mirrodin's Core – Pseudo Storage land that once the proliferation engine is going with at least one counter, can produce any colored mana every turn.

  • Opal Palace – Mana corrector that can be used as a +1/+1 generator for the commander.

  • Savannah/Tropical Island – Bi colored land that has no downside. These gems I had inherited from my Uncle when he stopped playing.

  • Temple of the False God – Provides 2 mana if you have 5 or more lands

  • Cards that can be useful in specific situations, but not to be used in average runs.

    • Ancient Excavation - Great way to cycle through cards, but do not necessarily like the fact that you have to discard a good chunk. Not worth keeping in MB for only the Basic landcycling.

    • Cauldron of Souls – Can give any of your creatures persist to make it a lot harder to kill them.

    • Duelist's Heritage - Double strike can be devistating, but only one creature during only your combat is not consistent enough for a MB slot.

    • Duneblast – Destroys all but potentially one creature. The high mana cost and being able to put something that has better synergy prevented me from keeping it in the main board.

    • Fountain of Cho/Rushwood Grove/Saprazzan Cove/Subterranean Hangar - Great mono colored storage lands. Only potential issue with them is not being able to use them for basic mana, and cannot be used until at minimum of the 3rd turn they are played.

    • Grip of Phyresis - Great way to steal equipment from equipment heavy decks. Unfortunately I do not normally play against these.

    • Hardened Scales - Good for early game ramp of +1/+1 counters, however only giving one extra counter per activation is not quite as powerful of an ability compared to Doubling Season.

    • Languish - Great board wipe that takes out weenies and gets around indestructible, but still leaves their stronger creatures.

    • Mage-Ring Network - No colored storage land that can build the first turn it is played. Only not in MB constantly because it does not provide colored mana.

    • Prime Speaker Zegana - Provides great card advantage, but if you are not careful, you can mill yourself out as well as have way too many cards to discard.

    • Sage of Hours - Great for extra turns, but unless I have a lot of counter generation or amplification, it is not as repeatable.

    • Thief of Blood - Can get enormous very quickly, but steals from everything else in the process.

    There are many potential combos in this deck but here are a few of the ones I like the most

    Cards that I may add in can be seen under Maybeboard. Qty 1 are cards I am thinking about, Qty 2 are cards I own and are ready to place in, Qty 3 are cards that are currently on order.

    Comments and Suggestions are welcome.

    Suggestions

    Updates Add

    Purchased some cards for one of my other decks and finally got around to getting some lands that had been on my radar for a while.

    Aether Hub is a nice way to get 1 mana of any color, but if I consume the energy before I can proliferate it, it will go to waste. Might be more useful if I had my energy generators in the deck.

    Llanwar Reborn also has a nice effect, but I either can't use it until I proliferate or it goes to waste with no other way of getting Graft back on the land. Since it enters the battlefield tapped and only produces , it also isn't as worth it.

    Both had their uses, but a mana sink that can either proliferate or generate a +1/+1 token on all creatures I control has a lot more benefit in my opinion.

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    Top Ranked
    • Achieved #44 position overall 6 years ago
    Date added 7 years
    Last updated 4 years
    Legality

    This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

    Rarity (main - side)

    10 - 2 Mythic Rares

    41 - 5 Rares

    27 - 8 Uncommons

    10 - 0 Commons

    Cards 100
    Avg. CMC 3.78
    Tokens Emblem Tamiyo, Field Researcher, Emblem Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, Emblem Venser, the Sojourner, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Plant 0/1 G, Saproling 1/1 G, Squid 1/1 U, Thopter 1/1 C
    Folders My Decks, Atraxa, Wishlist - Decks, Test Decks, Commander, EDH (Counters), Commander, EDH, mah, EDH
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