So, I am trying to get this Thrax EDH deck put together before I go on my buying spree but I wanted to get the advice of the community before doing so. Playing with the precon was the first experience I had with edh and absolutely fell in love with the big sac beast himself. I've scoured the web and read many forums of list and what to see what changes you guys think should be made to the deck. Also, suggestions for converting this to multiplayer is welcomed.
There are a few things I have found when playing Thraximundar these past few months.
1) Ramp is NOT that important in Thraximundar. The deck is in the prime color for removal, tutors, and card advantage. The basis of any Thraximundar deck should be to halt any early aggression and to beat our opponent in the card advantage race. Let the deck get to 7 mana naturally. Casting Thraximundar as early as possible really does not help because your opponent knows EXACTLY what you are up to and will just hold spot removal or counterspells for him every time. Since you've been spending cards from your hand ramping, you will not be able to combat it or their counterattack.
Ramp is far better in a deck like Maelstrom Wanderer where you are additionally cast two free (potentially GAME ENDING) spells as soon as possible. Thraximundar does not need mega ramp, only some rocks to fix mana and make sure that any missed land drops are not too harmful for the early game.
2) Tainted Pact is the nuts. Switch up your mana base so that you have a basic and snow basic for Black and Blue for sure (I skipped the Mountains on mine as it is not very red heavy). This way you have an instant speed Demonic Tutor in your deck that RARELY whiffs. Great card.
3) Be sure to run both Pact of Negation AND Force of Will. We're trying to protect a 7 drop creature from the Command Zone. We need to be able to resolve him if the gamestate dictates that he needs to come out as soon as possible. If you can cast Thrax, it will be hard for you to not be able to pay for Pact, and Force of Will is just a great card. You can set up a Thrax turn by using Mystical Teachings over some turns to get both of these.
4) I do not think that Bribery is good enough. It's a 5 drop sorcery that is useless when using it against most control decks. You don't need to steal other creature-based deck's creatures, you destroy them. Better to have some disruption in this slot. Bribery won't save you versus a combo deck, either.
6) The creatures that are run are really very important. Vendilion Clique can provide context, remove problem cards, and represents a clock by itself. Snapcaster Mage is insane and is in every blue deck. Period. Venser, Shaper Savant gives us an out to some troublesome cards (enchantments) and gets around uncounterable spells. I have been considering running Dark Confidant and will probably cut Jace's Ingenuity for it.
7) Obviously budget is a concern here, but the dual lands (Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Badlands) are really non-negotiable for competitive play. Make sure to get them as soon as possible!
The rest is really based on preference. Hope this helps!
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1 Thraximundar
Artifacts:10
1 Dimir Signet
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Izzet Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Coalition Relic
Sorceries:19
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Duress
1 Innocent Blood
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Thoughtseize
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Night's Whisper
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Rise // Fall
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Compulsive Research
1 Read the Bones
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Concentrate
1 Damnation
1 Bribery
Instants:24
1 Brainstorm
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Devour Flesh
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Fire // Ice
1 Memory Lapse
1 Miscalculation
1 Negate
1 Remand
1 Terminate
1 Counterflux
1 Crosis's Charm
1 Dismember
1 Dissolve
1 Electrolyze
1 Far // Away
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Dismiss
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rooftop Storm
Others:5
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana Vess
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Lands:39
1 Arid Mesa
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Tower
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Mountain
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Shivan Reef
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Sunken Ruins
4 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Tolaria West
1 Underground River
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
I play Thraximundar very regularly in paper in competitive Duel Commander environments. Here is my current list for comparison:
1 Thraximundar
Lands: (40)
Fetches (9):
1 Polluted Delta
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Marsh Flats
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
Tri Color (4):
1 City of Brass
1 Mana Confluence
1 Command Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
Dual Color (12):
1 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Volcanic Island
1 Blood Crypt
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Creeping Tar Pit
Blue Lands (4):
1 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Tolaria West
Black Lands (5):
1 Urborg, Tomg of Yawgmoth
1 Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Wasteland
1 Dust Bowl
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Academy Ruins
1 Temple of the False God
1 Cavern of Souls
Instants (31):
Counterspells (14):
1 Memory Lapse
1 Pact of Negation
1 Force of Will
1 Counterflux
1 Cryptic Command
1 Counterspell
1 Spell Pierce
1 Remand
1 Miscalculation
1 Izzet Charm
1 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
1 Condescend
1 Force Spike
Removals (8):
1 Fire // Ice
1 Crosis's Charm
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Far // Away
1 Go for the Throat
1 Electrolyze
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Dismember
Card Advantage/Quality (6):
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Impulse
1 Jace's Ingenuity
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tainted Pact
Sorceries (12):
Hand Disruption (5):
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Duress
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Rakdos's Return
Card Advantage/Quality (3):
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Preordain
1 Night's Whisper
Mass Removal (2):
1 Damnation
1 Toxic Deluge
Spot Removal (1):
1 Chainer's Edict
Tutors (1):
1 Demonic Tutor
Planeswalkers (5):
1 Jace Beleren
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Dack Fayden
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Artifacts (5):
Mana Fixing/Ramp (4):
1 Izzet Signet
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Dimir Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
Removal (1):
1 Engineered Explosives
Creatures (3):
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
Enchantments (3):
Card Advantage (2):
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Underworld Connections
BOOM BABY (1):
1 ROOFTOP STORM
I play a very adaptable extinction heavy build.
There are a few things I have found when playing Thraximundar these past few months.
1) Ramp is NOT that important in Thraximundar. The deck is in the prime color for removal, tutors, and card advantage. The basis of any Thraximundar deck should be to halt any early aggression and to beat our opponent in the card advantage race. Let the deck get to 7 mana naturally. Casting Thraximundar as early as possible really does not help because your opponent knows EXACTLY what you are up to and will just hold spot removal or counterspells for him every time. Since you've been spending cards from your hand ramping, you will not be able to combat it or their counterattack.
Ramp is far better in a deck like Maelstrom Wanderer where you are additionally cast two free (potentially GAME ENDING) spells as soon as possible. Thraximundar does not need mega ramp, only some rocks to fix mana and make sure that any missed land drops are not too harmful for the early game.
2) Tainted Pact is the nuts. Switch up your mana base so that you have a basic and snow basic for Black and Blue for sure (I skipped the Mountains on mine as it is not very red heavy). This way you have an instant speed Demonic Tutor in your deck that RARELY whiffs. Great card.
3) Be sure to run both Pact of Negation AND Force of Will. We're trying to protect a 7 drop creature from the Command Zone. We need to be able to resolve him if the gamestate dictates that he needs to come out as soon as possible. If you can cast Thrax, it will be hard for you to not be able to pay for Pact, and Force of Will is just a great card. You can set up a Thrax turn by using Mystical Teachings over some turns to get both of these.
4) I do not think that Bribery is good enough. It's a 5 drop sorcery that is useless when using it against most control decks. You don't need to steal other creature-based deck's creatures, you destroy them. Better to have some disruption in this slot. Bribery won't save you versus a combo deck, either.
5) Liliana Vess and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage are both again 5 mana sorceries - which is exactly what this deck does NOT want to do. Jace Beleren and Dack Fayden are much more useful for the card advantage war. In addition, Dack is great versus other ramp decks like Maelstrom Wanderer and Iname, Death Aspect which have many mana rocks that you can steal.
6) The creatures that are run are really very important. Vendilion Clique can provide context, remove problem cards, and represents a clock by itself. Snapcaster Mage is insane and is in every blue deck. Period. Venser, Shaper Savant gives us an out to some troublesome cards (enchantments) and gets around uncounterable spells. I have been considering running Dark Confidant and will probably cut Jace's Ingenuity for it.
7) Obviously budget is a concern here, but the dual lands (Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Badlands) are really non-negotiable for competitive play. Make sure to get them as soon as possible!
The rest is really based on preference. Hope this helps!