Upgrading preconstructed Atraxa
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on May 14, 2017, 5:16 p.m. by 8vomit
I bought 4 of the preconstructed decks from last year and I had them all sitting unsleeved right next to each other. My friends cat walks up and just casually knocks over all 4 piles over. So then I had four 4-color decks, all with the same set symbol, mixed in a 400 card heap. Needless to say, all the decks were broken down for a while. But I wanted to get a 2nd commander deck together and I love Atraxa, Praetors' Voice so I bit the bullet and spent a hot minute putting it back together card by card from the list. But thats not what I want to discuss, I'm just pissed.
Now I'm looking to upgrade. I already made room for fetches/shocks. I couldn't find Thrummingbird so I put in a Hangarback Walker. Ghave, Guru of Spores and Juniper Order Ranger are in another deck now. Besides that, everything is stock parts.
My budget is currently small, but at some point I'll probably dump some real cash into it. So what are some cheaper cards that work well with atraxa I can get for now? What are some money cards I should be looking to get down the road? What different styles of atraxa edh are there?
My play group varys from 1v1 to massive like 10 player games, so that is something to keep in mind. Really any suggestion you have are appreciated.
Thanks for looking!
Gyre sage and spike weaver would be fantastic in atraxa. I'm leaning towards your 2nd and 4th suggestions the most I think. The 1st one seemed a little uninteresting and infect is just too cruel. Although ichor rat seems almost too good to not run.
May 14, 2017 8:13 p.m.
It depends on the kind of deck you want. You said you have 4 of the decks, so if you want a Competitive deck, I would recommend Breya, Etherium Shaper or Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder.
If you want a deck that is fun, I personally find Superfriends Atraxa to be very fun. It gets fairly expensive, and isn't the most Competitive, although Atraxa isn't the most Competitive either.
You are correct about Ichor Rats. It should go in EVERY Atraxa deck regardless of strategy. It is useful with an Infect strategy obviously, but also gives you an alternate win condition when you're playing other strategies.
May 14, 2017 8:18 p.m.
Personally I would play Spike Feeder, then add Archangel of Thune. These 2 cards are already great on their own, but they combo with each other.
Doubling Season is one of the money cards you should get eventually, especially if you want to build your deck around planeswalkers.
City of Brass and Mana Confluence are other lands I would get. Also, the basic tutors like Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, etc. And ramp spells are certainly good options.
May 14, 2017 9:02 p.m.
For budget cards I would consider Winding Constrictor, Vorel of the Hull Clade, and other Simic good stuff cards.
May 15, 2017 1:10 a.m.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #7
Ajani Steadfast - doesn't matter what overall strategy you're going for with Atraxa, be it infect, superfriends, +1/+1s, or generic goodstuff, he helps them all.
DiamondFlavor says... #2
I see 4 obvious ways to build Atraxa:
Good stuff. You have an insane card pool and a keyword-heavy Commander. Pick a general direction and play all the solid-to-busted cards that support it.
Counter shenanigans. This can be building up huge beaters with +1/+1 counters, huge mana engines with stuff like Fertilid, Gyre Sage, Everflowing Chalice, etc.
Infect. Pretty cutthroat--some groups will hate it--but totally legal and not as broken as much as people believe. But with Atraxa it is very dangerous. Ichor Rats and pillow fort (Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Spike Weaver, etc.) or just plain aggro.
Planeswalker super-friends. Absolutely not my style (nor, in my opinion, very good) and not budget. But if you want to show off an overpriced and unfocused pile of mythics, at least the Commander is directly synergistic.
For building out from the pre-con, your deck will likely fall somewhere between the first two. There are a ton of respectable budget cards that will do work with such a powerful card in the Command zone. Fertilid, Spike Weaver, Carnifex Demon, Black Sun's Zenith, and so on.
May 14, 2017 5:32 p.m.