Introduction
Thraximundar is a brutal undead warrior from Alaran Grixis who lives to slay. He is fully seven feet tall and rippling with dead muscle, clad in dreadful spiked armor and wielding a greatsword. Astride his massive dreg reaver mount like some dark parody of a knight, Thraximundar - whose name means "he who paints the earth red" - is drawn to the sounds and emotions of mass violence. He never takes sides and he will slay anyone, taking grim pleasure in the pure act of war itself.
The friend who introduced me to EDH back in 2011 used to main a Thraximundar deck and it was brutal to play against; especially against my creature-heavy Kamahl, King of the Wilds deck. This person is the reason I mainly play EDH today; and thanks to her I've made several friends and memories that I will forever cherish. She has since stopped playing Magic, but I wanted to honor her Thraximundar deck by remaking and updating it with newer cards to enhance it while still honoring the brutal, sacrificial playstyle the deck was known for.
Playing the Deck
So her overall strategy was to make opponents sacrifice their permanents (particularly their creatures); both crippling their board state and filling up their graveyards. This would allow her creatures to wade into combat unhindered. But more importantly she would have ways of reviving the creatures her opponent's sacrificed to her side of the field. A nasty strategy to be sure. So while making the deck I kept that theme in mind in order to better emulate the decks original design. Here are the cards I choose that accomplish this strategy:
Sacrifice cards
Thraximundar, Archfiend of Depravity, Defiler of Souls, Fleshbag Marauder, It That Betrays, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Phyrexian Obliterator, Plaguecrafter, Tergrid's Lanturn, Vona's Hunger, Angrath's Rampage, Cruel Ultimatum, Curse of the Cabal, Killing Wave, Dictate of Erebos, Grave Pact, The Eldest Reborn, Liliana, Dreadhorde General.
Resurrection
Gisa, Glorious Resurrector, It That Betrays, Prince of Thralls, Tergrid, God of Fright
, Reanimate, Rise from the Grave, The Eldest Reborn.
With these we should have plenty of means of crippling our opponents board state, as well as some means of resurrecting those cards for our own benefit. However, there are pros and cons to sacrifice. The biggest boon to sacrifice is it's ability to get around indestructibility; doesn't matter how sturdy something is, the opponent still has to choose sacrifice it. Which actually brings us to sacrifices biggest con: the opponent gets to CHOOSE what they sacrifice. Which means we need a way of getting rid of problematic permanents that our opponents simply refuse to sacrifice. You guessed it:
Spot Removal
Deathbringer Thoctar, Dreadhorde Butcher, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Mayhem Devil, Bedevil, Chaos Warp, Dreadbore, Vandalblast, Attrition.
Whatever our opponents don't want to sacrifice we simply make the choice for them and take them out ourselves :)
Now halfway through this deckbuilding process I noticed something; the beginnings of a sort-of "zombie tribal" subtheme. Since I still had plenty of space in the deck I decided to run with it. Plus a lot of the zombie cards play very well off of the sacrifice mechanic that the deck naturally had built into it. So I added some traditional zombie cards and token generating effects to give Thraximundar the Zombie army he was always meant to lead.
Zombie Horde
Cemetery Reaper, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Grave Titan, Gravecrawler, Lord of the Accursed, Lord of the Undead, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Reassembling Skeleton, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, Wand of Orcus, Army of the Damned, Dreadhorde Invasion, Endless Ranks of the Dead.
Let's not forget about the famous Rooftop Storm + Diregraf Captain + Gravecrawler + Grimgrin, Corpse-Born infinite combo.
Now to round out this description, lets take a look at some of our utility cards.
Card Draw
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, Blue Sun's Zenith, Phyrexian Arena, Rhystic Study, Liliana, Dreadhorde General.
Tutors
Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Beseech the Queen, Diabolic Intent, Diabolic Tutor, Increasing Ambition.
Counters
Counterflux, Soul Manipulation.
Ramp
Myriad Landscape, Arcane Signet, Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Sol Ring.
Summary
I really wanted to do my friend justice and recreate the heart and soul of her first EDH deck while also updating it with some new, modern cards to bring it into the modern era of MTG. Thraximundar is a brutal creature that lives up to the meaning of his name: "he who paints the earth red". If you like the deck then please consider giving it a +1. If you think something should change about the deck or if you think something might be better then write it in the comments. Thanks for checking out the deck :)
