Atraxa, Phyrexia's Champion

Custom Cards forum

Posted on Nov. 1, 2022, 9:02 p.m. by DemonDragonJ

Atraxa shall be returning in March of the Machines, so I wish to show my own prediction of a possible new card for her, as seen, below.

Atraxa, Phyrexia's Champion Show

For this card, I kept the same mana cost, types, power and toughness, and keywords from her previous incarnation, but I changed her triggered ability. Phyrexian Arena is one of my favorite cards in the game, and I have been wishing for a version whose effects increases as time passes, so this seemed to be a perfect opportunity for doing so. Notice that the ability is not optional and that it counts Atraxa's total power, not merely the number of +1/+1 counters on her, so her controller shall need to ensure that they can afford to continually lose life each turn if they wish to keep her. I made the ability trigger during her controller's upkeep, so that she shall be more powerful when she attacks, and also to allow the player to better use the cards that they draw.

What does everyone else think of this card? Do you like it?

RiotRunner789 says... #2

Probably a bit over powered since it comes with lifelink already built in.

November 2, 2022 8:35 a.m.

It's roughly comparable to Graveborn Muse, but much, much more powerful since it doesn't rely on outside sources to create its card draw. As RiotRunner789 said, the loss of life is instantly negated by her lifelink, so this is essentially The Magic Mirror that costs 4 mana with a flying deathtouch vigilance body attached, with lifegain triggers added on.

Far, far too powerful, in my opinion. I would suggest maybe keeping the abilities but bumping up the cost to at least 6 mana if not 7.

November 2, 2022 9:02 a.m.

plakjekaas says... #4

4 mana draw 5 on a really relevant body as the floor (assuming the creature survived) seems massively overpowered. Giant Growth on upkeep turns into Ancestral Recall on top of the cards you already draw, which seems actually silly considering the lifelink. Necropotence showed us in the 90s that losing life for cards is barely a downside. I'd say use the number of counters, not the power, to determine the amount of cards drawn, at the bare minimum, to slightly balance this card.

November 2, 2022 12:53 p.m.

TypicalTimmy says... #5

So your very first upkeep that she's out, you draw 5 cards and lose 5 life? That seems pretty unbalanced. Yes it is on par with cards such as Sign in Blood which trades 1 life per card (2 life, 2 cards). Other examples are Funeral Rites, Night's Whisper and Read the Bones. There's also the theme of 1 life per card when you move up into Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving, Demonic Offering and Harrowing Journey.

So to suddenly shift it back to 5-for-5, then 6-for-6, then 7-for-7, then 8-for-8... that's where the overpowered nature comes from.

Add on lifelink, and there threat of losing the game is essentially nullified. Even if she is chump blocked, you still get 100% of your life back. So what's the problem? Well, the problem is that this trend breaks with Infernal Contract and Cruel Bargain.

Worse still is that with having vigilance, you can get the life even on blocking. With flying, the evasion makes her largely unstoppable in most games, and with the advent of deathtouch, suddenly she's nearly impossible to really handle in terms of just combat.

Add onto that 4 colors, you have a toolbox bigger than most decks.

I apologize if I sound like I am insulting the design and being mean about it. I understand my tone can come off as stern. I'm truly not meaning to; I am simply explaining where the unbalance exists.

What if, as a solution, you Scry X and lose X life where X is her power, then you draw 2 cards? Now you are basically filtering the top half of your library and grabbing exactly what you want, when you want it <3

November 2, 2022 8:11 p.m. Edited.

TypicalTimmy says... #6

Oops, it would appear Demonic Offering is both a deck, and not an actual card. Haha damn you Google images!

November 2, 2022 8:16 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #7

Everyone here seems to agree that this version of Atraxa is too powerful as she currently is, so will simply increasing her mana cost help to balance her, or will I need to do something else to make her less powerful?

TypicalTimmy, I did not view your words as insulting, and I thank you for your feedback.

November 2, 2022 8:28 p.m.

TypicalTimmy says... #8

I suppose a better, less negative way to word it is that she isn't broken or stupidly powerful.

Rather, she has literally zero downside. Maybe just removing lifelink? that would significantly nerf her, although I would still want to playtest the number of cards being drawn.

Then again, I suppose this is one of those situations where the table corrects for the game? If you have 3 opponents, likely there is no way she's lasting to your upkeep. Seldom, if ever. So, who knows really?

November 2, 2022 8:42 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #9

TypicalTimmy, your suggestion that she should scry instead of outright drawing cards make sense, so here is a revised version of her:

Atraxa, Phyrexia's Champion Show

I made her ability less powerful and also increased her casting cost; how is she, now?

November 2, 2022 9:22 p.m.

I think that scales much better. It's still strong, but it seems on-flavor. The Scarab God is roughly comparable.

November 3, 2022 8:31 a.m.

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