Power. Energy. This deck is addicted to it, a dependence made manifest turn after turn. Welcome to the future... a pity you're too late to stop it. No one can stop Phyrexia now. Glory to the Father of Machines!

Atraxa Rises

All joking aside, Energy was my first thought on seeing Atraxa. But if I'm going to be proliferating like mad, why not proliferate MORE? +1/+1 counters on my stuff, -1/-1 counters on your stuff, loyalty for my planeswalkers, energy counters for me, poison counters for you on a bad day... You probably get the idea. It's a deck that may well evolve with the release of Aether Revolt giving more and potentially better Energy cards, but for now it is what it is: A little bit control, a little bit combo, a little bit superfriends, and primed to grow in a multiplayer table while everybody else rots.

Powering Up

Energy is a fun mechanic -- it gives you a secondary resource that, compared to the traditional M:tG resources of mana, life, and cards, you can easily generate an income/spending situation that's to your own specifications. Virtually every card that spends energy makes energy and almost every card that makes energy gives you an outlet to spend it. The idea of addiction isn't bad, though, since the vast majority of Energy cards make a finite amount but can sink an infinite supply at least if given time. This normally forces you to choose between firing off your energy abilities now or saving that power for a better effect later, or even forces you to choose between two effects you have right now, whether you want to fire each of them off or whether you'll use the same one twice instead.

It's a vicious cycle where every time your energy supply goes up, your desire for energy does as well. A few cards from the Energy set help you break out of it: Decoction Module and Fabrication Module generate a good deal of energy (and counters) between them while requesting none, Empyreal Voyager can quickly ramp up your energy if it finds someone to hit, and several cards like the included Puzzleknots and spells like Live Fast give you a finite surge of energy but don't want any of it back. Even then, there's a very real risk of bottoming out with the generation from Energy effects alone

Even then, an energy strategy will generally be thirsting for its signature resource. That's where Atraxa comes in. Proliferating lets you generate more energy with cards that don't consume it, and unlike energy there are quite a few sources of proliferation that let you do it at least once a turn cycle, Atraxa herself being no exception. That way, as long as you do not literally hit 0 energy, you can always get more. It doesn't totally fix your Energy dependence (no more than Fabrication Module. Well, maybe a bit more) but it does give Energy something of the longevity it needs to handle a multiplayer EDH board.

Overpowered

Let's be honest, though: While Proliferate is a godsend for Energy, Energy is not the best thing that can be done with Proliferate. The best thing that can be done with Proliferate is Everything. Because counters are used to track just about everything in a game of Magic, Atraxa can push that counting ever faster. That means more +1/+1 counters on your creatures: after you get the first one out there, everything you have will grow every turn. It means -1/-1 counters on enemies, marking opposing creatures for death with the first touch of such vitriol. How about your opponents themselves? Proliferate poison counters on them for game-ending inevitability: as long as you put one on to begin with, you can proliferate your way to the lethal 10. Planeswalkers love Phyrexia and its proliferation -- after all, it makes them more loyal, skipping steps in the natural progression of a 'walker to Ultimate. I didn't use fading or vanishing, but I'd fear the Atraxa deck that's rocking Tangle Wire to lock up its rivals. And the best part is that (except in the corner case where there are two relevant counter types on the same permanent or player) Proliferate never makes you choose: you get to do it all, as much as you want every time you Proliferate. Only four nonland cards in the whole deck (Sol Ring, Darksteel Ingot, Paradise Mantle, and Commander's Sphere) don't interact with counters in some way, meaning that everything will fuel Phyrexia's ultimate victory.

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Date added 7 years
Last updated 6 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

13 - 0 Mythic Rares

18 - 0 Rares

26 - 0 Uncommons

23 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.68
Tokens */* W Creature Avatar, 6/6 C Token Artifact Creatures Beast, Assassin 1/1 B w/ Player Killer, Beast 3/3 B, Emblem Ajani Steadfast, Emblem Garruk, Apex Predator, Plant 0/1 G, Servo 1/1 C
Folders Commander, Atraxa, EDH
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