Why not? Isn't that a good way to fuel graveyards? How would you go about it?
Because mill doesn't accomplish anything on the board (outside of giving lazav some options and maybe fueling other reanimation).
If you mill a powerful creature, you get to make lazav a hexproof version of that creature. If you use removal to KILL a powerful creature you get to make lazav a hexproof version of that creature AND you remove that creature from your opponent's board. Plus you have the luxury of knowing what he's going to turn into in advance, instead of just hoping for something good.
Lazav is also at odds with mill as a strategy. If you're trying to win with mill, having a potentially scary hexproof beater isn't that important - you'd probably rather have something like phenax, god of deception who can help you finish the game via mill, instead of trying to simultaneously trying to win via commander damage and via mill. You want to be focused on a win condition, not trying to win via multiple different ways at once. You're just wasting effort.
If you want to run nephalia drownyard as "incidental" mill then go ahead I guess (although it's still kind of questionable given lazav's stringent mana cost), but don't dedicate slots to garbage like traumatize that do nothing.
Looking at your lazav list, the problem is obvious - your curve is atrocious and you aren't running enough lands or ramp. You're also running a bunch of expensive cards that don't do anything useful, like mindscour dragon and extractor demon, which means you're basically trying to win via mill, commander damange AND regular damage, all at the same time. This is not a good way to play, you need to be a lot more focused. If you want the deck to be good, run a LOT more removal and counters, lower the CMC by a ton, take out a bunch of the junky creatures, and put in more mana rocks (at the very least, dimir signet and talisman of dominance). Adding a lot of targeted removal also has the knock-on effect that it can be much better at punishing a single player who's become dangerous, like your friend. The list in my sig is pretty old but it still should hold up ok.
You are correct, I (once again) mostly used what I owned to create the deck, hence the crap you mentioned... In most games I played him, he sat in the command zone way too often which indicated to me without a doubt that the deck lacked focus.
I will take your advise in consideration, I was sure that a mill package was one way to make Lazav work (never thought about using that route to deck someone, though), but I see your point by using targeted removal to make him shine. I will keep some pieces to mill, namely Phenax, as it also works by denying opponent's resources by sending them to the bin.
I can't seem to find your decklink, could you point me to it?
I think its also very important to mention with Lazav that he is entirely dependent on your opponents. What if your opponents are playing synergistic decks like spellslinger or a creatureless deck? There are a ton of reasons I hate Lazav because he requires your opponents to play in a way that plays to his strengths. As soon as your opponents are not mashing random eldrazi and big fatty things you would want suddenly the deck crumbles.
Its why I personally am not a fan of his because there are a lot of reasons for which he might never work. I don't like assuming my opponents will play in a specific way.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
If you want to beat decks that particularly try to control the board then "Storm" is the way to go. Mainly based off instants and soceries, that look to play many spells in a turn. You really don't have to commit many permanents to the board, and as long as you have some disruption yourself, mainly in cheap counter magic, then it's very hard for opponents to stop you.
You'll find Grixis UBR or Izzet UR are the colors of choice for this type of strategy. You get a lot of your mana off High Tide and Turnabout effects, rather than committing too many artifacts to the board.
However it does require an amount of learning and skill to play these types of decks, you have to know when to pull the trigger for a combo turn.
Also a finely tuned one is going to cost a lot of money.
I can tell you this from experience because I do like to play some control decks, but they can't stop storm decks. The way I've had to try and stop these decks when playing control is to get an Arcane Laboratory or Rule of Law into play. But even then, because "storm" players are fine getting to a threshold of particular cards into hand, they can be patient and wait to bounce those enchantments, then go off.
So what I'm saying is that from a control perspective I know how hard it is to stop this type of deck archetype when playing a deck that contains lots of board removal and even counterspells.
Control decks are going to have a easier time going up against two types of decks:
1. Dependent on general in play, because they can focus their interaction on just one threat.
2. Uses the combat step to win, because that's the easiest thing to stop/slow down.
If you want to beat controllish type decks, you have to out-value them (e.g. recursion, PW's, etc.) or find a consistent way to stick huge threat(s) (e.g. indestructible/hexproof, Locust/Scarab God, Mirari's Wake/Zendikar Resurgent, etc.).
Control decks are going to have a easier time going up against two types of decks:
1. Dependent on general in play, because they can focus their interaction on just one threat.
2. Uses the combat step to win, because that's the easiest thing to stop/slow down.
If you want to beat controllish type decks, you have to out-value them (e.g. recursion, PW's, etc.) or find a consistent way to stick huge threat(s) (e.g. indestructible/hexproof, Locust/Scarab God, Mirari's Wake/Zendikar Resurgent, etc.).
Since I play control decks, I can say that fighting fire with fire is good. When control players are nuking, it’s often only certain types of permanents. For example, creature sweepers raining down might mean they are relying on enchantments/artifacts/PWs. So, hit them there, deny them that safe harbor. Having enough hard answers isn’t always having twenty Wraths and counterspells/spot removal for critters. But decks not racing for an infinite win need enough defenses to stay stable. I pack more than I like because my other friends are lazy deckbuilders and don’t, so I can’t rely on other players to shut down my strongest competitor. He likewise packs his own defenses. Fighting control with control isn’t a bad idea in non-cEDH because you at least have your own nukes to prey on players with too few hard answers.
play a child of alara 5c lands-control. lands are generally harder for people to interact with, and generally, you will end up winning the long game. and in a clinch, you have a board wipe.
if you go this way, make sure you have paying-a-cost-speed sac outlet for child of alara. 'cuz you'll never know when you'll need it. worthy cause comes to mind.
play a child of alara 5c lands-control. lands are generally harder for people to interact with, and generally, you will end up winning the long game. and in a clinch, you have a board wipe.
if you go this way, make sure you have paying-a-cost-speed sac outlet for child of alara. 'cuz you'll never know when you'll need it. worthy cause comes to mind.
Just make sure you have a way to get Child from the 'yard to the command zone again after using the ability ("dies" triggers do not happen if you elect to use the command zone replacement effect). My personal choice for this is Volrath's Stronghold.
Except that with Stax he might as well send emails to his friends insulting them and their ancestry and save the money since stax is likely to produce the same reaction.
I have decided to try at the moment a deck with Teneb, the Harvester. These colors can deal with creatures, enchantments and artifacts. I am thinking about using cards to destroy creatures (attacking, or mass destruction spells) so that I can recur them later via Teneb's ability. This may be a slow route but at least, I would get to have some fun denying him his resources. Has anyone used Teneb with some degree of success?
If he is using creature based commanders, who rely on having their commander in play: Have you tried Yasova Dragonclaw?
He already plays that commander... and we don't use same commanders as an in-house rule. However, do you have a decklink, I would like to see what you use to steal stuff?
Just make sure you have a way to get Child from the 'yard to the command zone again after using the ability ("dies" triggers do not happen if you elect to use the command zone replacement effect). My personal choice for this is Volrath's Stronghold.
Had a quick look at the Thrax deck you posted earlier. As much as I love Thrax (I run a deck myself thats a lot of fun), I'd never consider it as a first option to take up against strong control. It's slow, and generally slots in more as a casual goodtimes deck. And it is a blast, but you're gonna get wiped off the board early with it. I've heard Marchesa, the Black Rose is a good midrange option for Grixis that comes out swinging.
Grenzo is rough to play against, he takes off early and can take over a game. The other mentions also seem to be focused around controlling your game state, too. My Nissa deck has fared well against Grenzo, and while that's pretty specific, I think the reason is that most of what I play is only good in the context of my deck and doesn't necessarily help anyone else. Plus it's got resilience and plays a control game itself. With this in mind, I think you need to look at something that can outpace him and/or play control too. There's a lot of options here.
I second Edric as an option. It's quick and resilient. From the decks I play personally, I'd recommend Ghave as a versatile commander that's fairly quick and has lots of disruption, Nissa is versatile and fares well, and Dralnu is strong control too. These are what I can recommend from what I play, I tend to stay away from recommending builds I haven't played or played against.
The other way of dealing with this guy (and I really only raise it as an option, not a suggestion) is to make something really salty to teach him a lesson. You could do Derevi lockdown or some stax griefiness, Gaddock hatebears and so forth. It's an option, but at the end of the day I think you have to be happy with the deck you're playing too. If these are areas you want to explore, go for it, but I would be hesitant to build a deck for a specific purpose, as once you've achieved that purpose it tends to lose its allure. Plus these strategies are not exactly popular.
Well, if he likes controlish style of decks, then I really just am curious as to how quickly you (and the other opponents) are deploying threats. Does it feel like every game you all are just running in to his answers?
Instead of building a new deck to hate on one player, try to improve a few of your current decks. You can do minor changes that can end up pestering a control player, such as just adding and attacking them with a creeping tar pit or whatever. Spells that can't be countered or prevent instant-speed stuff like dragonlord dromoka/teferi, mage of zhalfir/dosan the falling leaf/grand abolisher end up being very good in specific meta's. Toss in a few split second style of answers like krosan grip/wipe away, or some hexproof or indestructible things, and a control player will have a real headache. If they are counter-heavy then consider cavern of souls or boseiju, who shelters all.
Really my best suggestion is for you to start sandbag'ing some of your more threatening plays. Even if the power-level and optimization of your decks were way below the other players, a low-powered deck sandbag'ing its best threats until the other 3 better decks waste answers/removals stands a better chance. Unless the cards in your hand are threatened to be lost from some discard/wheel, then there is zero reason to deploy your best play every single turn unless there is a very good reason to (like winning / killing someone / severe card advantage / etc)
Well, if he likes controlish style of decks, then I really just am curious as to how quickly you (and the other opponents) are deploying threats. Does it feel like every game you all are just running in to his answers?
Instead of building a new deck to hate on one player, try to improve a few of your current decks. You can do minor changes that can end up pestering a control player, such as just adding and attacking them with a creeping tar pit or whatever. Spells that can't be countered or prevent instant-speed stuff like dragonlord dromoka/teferi, mage of zhalfir/dosan the falling leaf/grand abolisher end up being very good in specific meta's. Toss in a few split second style of answers like krosan grip/wipe away, or some hexproof or indestructible things, and a control player will have a real headache. If they are counter-heavy then consider cavern of souls or boseiju, who shelters all.
Really my best suggestion is for you to start sandbag'ing some of your more threatening plays. Even if the power-level and optimization of your decks were way below the other players, a low-powered deck sandbag'ing its best threats until the other 3 better decks waste answers/removals stands a better chance. Unless the cards in your hand are threatened to be lost from some discard/wheel, then there is zero reason to deploy your best play every single turn unless there is a very good reason to (like winning / killing someone / severe card advantage / etc)
This is all really relevant. No deck is perfect, there are answers to almost every card, archetype or build. Shoring up some of what you have by presenting it earlier with a lower curve or building some resilience into your decks can really go a long way. You could have a barnstorming card in a brutal deck, and if you're playing it into a hostile boardstate you will achieve very little. There's a reason things like Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Krosan Grip, Grand Abolisher, Dragonlord Dromoka are staples. Not only that, if these cause an impediment to your mate, he's going to target them instead of spells that drive your agenda. Making him question his threat assessment and taking the control out of his hands really is going to be key to beating him. And it's probably going to feel a ton more satisfying to win this way than coming up with a new build that hoses his.
That being said, it can be hard to look at your babies with a critical eye. It can be tough, but think long and hard about what earns its places in your lists and why they earn their spots.
Except that with Stax he might as well send emails to his friends insulting them and their ancestry and save the money since stax is likely to produce the same reaction.
Except that with Stax he might as well send emails to his friends insulting them and their ancestry and save the money since stax is likely to produce the same reaction.
And it's probably going to feel a ton more satisfying to win this way than coming up with a new build that hoses his. That being said, it can be hard to look at your babies with a critical eye. It can be tough, but think long and hard about what earns its places in your lists and why they earn their spots.
Would you care to take a look at my Thraximundar latest modification? I have lowered the mana curve quite a bit and added more spells that can steal stuff, but I wonder if there are too many of those. The problem I see is that they are only valid for one turn, moreso when I sac the stolen creature after combat. I know bazaar trader would be good but he is so fragile.
And it's probably going to feel a ton more satisfying to win this way than coming up with a new build that hoses his. That being said, it can be hard to look at your babies with a critical eye. It can be tough, but think long and hard about what earns its places in your lists and why they earn their spots.
Would you care to take a look at my Thraximundar latest modification? I have lowered the mana curve quite a bit and added more spells that can steal stuff, but I wonder if there are too many of those. The problem I see is that they are only valid for one turn, moreso when I sac the stolen creature after combat. I know bazaar trader would be good but he is so fragile.
So, looking at the list there, your curve looks quite high still. And yes, a lot of your effects are more temporary than I would be comfortable with. Those threaten effects would probably fly better under Kess, Dissident Mage or Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge than Thraximundar. I wouldn't blame you for taking that route, Thrax is a different commander to these guys, and they can be pretty consistent. Kess could play out well.
If you're content to stay with Thrax, kudos. He's fun. But he does require a rethinking of how and when to play him. It's tempting to set up a meat grinder attrition engine like you would with Savra, Queen of the Golgari or Meren of Clan Nel Toth, but Thrax doesn't really take major advantage of that, he just gets slightly bigger. I've found it best to hit your curve very early with draw and ramp spells like Baleful Strix, Mulldrifter, Windfall, Fact or Fiction, Lim-Dul's Vault (this last one is super good). Then introduce some chaos to the board. As early as you can. Archfiend of Depravity is fun, Fleshbag Marauder is strong too, Harsh Mentor gets mean for combo decks, Rakdos Charm is legitimately one of the best swiss army knives Grixis can carry. Once you have spare mana and you have an unstable board, then you'd look at casting Thrax. He's a shock troop, not a staple to cast. Because he has haste, you swing immediately and bludgeon.
I'm hesitant to strip all of the flavour from your deck and move in an entirely different direction by getting rid of the threaten effects, but they're not the strongest. There's no solid board presence with them, and they leave you open to domination outside of your turn. If you have to run a threaten effect, run Insurrection. It ends games. It really does seem like you need a lot more value lower in your curve though. One of the major problems Thrax has is being slow to establish board presence, and this deck looks like it wouldn't be an exception. Get some early draw, ramp, and colour fixing and you will notice a significant improvement, I would imagine.
Thanks for the tips, I agree with you about overdoing the threaten idea. If I were to reduce that strategy, what would you suggest to make Thrax more interesting? Sacrificing my own stuff is a possibility but I don't like the fact that it makes everythig slower and more complicated.
Otherwise, I could switch commander for Kess, I like that she makes me replay every spell twice... Hmm, hard decisions ahead!
Thanks for the tips, I agree with you about overdoing the threaten idea. If I were to reduce that strategy, what would you suggest to make Thrax more interesting? Sacrificing my own stuff is a possibility but I don't like the fact that it makes everythig slower and more complicated.
Otherwise, I could switch commander for Kess, I like that she makes me replay every spell twice... Hmm, hard decisions ahead!
It's pretty hard to point you in a specific direction here. Thrax, as a commander is pretty wide open for strategy. Changing to Kess would probably herald a different set of changes altogether, and its up to you whether you want to take that leap or not - Thrax is impactful, but generally works better with creatures on the board, whereas Kess doesn't necessarily need that.
In terms of keeping Thrax more interesting, I'd give him some creature recursion and versatility. Clever Impersonator is a solid card that scales well to any game and any stage of the game. The fact that it immediately becomes the biggest threat on the table, or precisely what you need in the given situation, is no joke. Dack's Duplicate has given me good mileage too. Apprentice Necromancer I've had a lot of fun with, or you could go with Whisper, Blood Liturgist or Doomed Necromancer. Living Death has done wonders for me, and I'd recommend switching Butcher of Malakir out for Dictate of Erebos or Grave Pact. Archfiend of Depravity has done well for me, too. Smothering Abomination has been a decent sac engine and draw engine for me, but it does need a bit of a token theme or reanimation theme to keep it going. That being said, if you run out of fodder it can eat itself.
As far as general staples go, Mulldrifter and Burnished Hart have been really strong for me. Especially when you can recur them. The blue mages, Trophy Mage and Trinket Mage give good sac fodder, too. They'll fetch you an altar or a ring and chump block or pump Thrax when you need them to. Windfall and Fact or Fiction I'd strongly recommend - Fact has been really good for me as a way of keeping my game plans open and drawing into answers, and Windfall can set you up for reanimation, ramp you, and give you answers in hand.
As far as win cons go, Eldrazi Monument has been really strong, too. As expensive as he is, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is better than Cruel Ultimatum too. They're both strong, but Bolas is a must answer permanent that will draw fire. And that's kind of what you want him for.
These are kind of just the picks of what I run. Mine is a really non-specific goodstuff deck, so it may or may not work for you. If you do want a specific reanimator or attrition deck, you may need to get more specific. But these have worked ok for me. It'll never be a super competitive deck, unless you throw a ton of money at it and fill it with tutors. But I think you can fine tune from where it is at present.
If you mill a powerful creature, you get to make lazav a hexproof version of that creature. If you use removal to KILL a powerful creature you get to make lazav a hexproof version of that creature AND you remove that creature from your opponent's board. Plus you have the luxury of knowing what he's going to turn into in advance, instead of just hoping for something good.
Lazav is also at odds with mill as a strategy. If you're trying to win with mill, having a potentially scary hexproof beater isn't that important - you'd probably rather have something like phenax, god of deception who can help you finish the game via mill, instead of trying to simultaneously trying to win via commander damage and via mill. You want to be focused on a win condition, not trying to win via multiple different ways at once. You're just wasting effort.
If you want to run nephalia drownyard as "incidental" mill then go ahead I guess (although it's still kind of questionable given lazav's stringent mana cost), but don't dedicate slots to garbage like traumatize that do nothing.
Looking at your lazav list, the problem is obvious - your curve is atrocious and you aren't running enough lands or ramp. You're also running a bunch of expensive cards that don't do anything useful, like mindscour dragon and extractor demon, which means you're basically trying to win via mill, commander damange AND regular damage, all at the same time. This is not a good way to play, you need to be a lot more focused. If you want the deck to be good, run a LOT more removal and counters, lower the CMC by a ton, take out a bunch of the junky creatures, and put in more mana rocks (at the very least, dimir signet and talisman of dominance). Adding a lot of targeted removal also has the knock-on effect that it can be much better at punishing a single player who's become dangerous, like your friend. The list in my sig is pretty old but it still should hold up ok.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I will take your advise in consideration, I was sure that a mill package was one way to make Lazav work (never thought about using that route to deck someone, though), but I see your point by using targeted removal to make him shine. I will keep some pieces to mill, namely Phenax, as it also works by denying opponent's resources by sending them to the bin.
I can't seem to find your decklink, could you point me to it?
Its why I personally am not a fan of his because there are a lot of reasons for which he might never work. I don't like assuming my opponents will play in a specific way.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
You'll find Grixis UBR or Izzet UR are the colors of choice for this type of strategy. You get a lot of your mana off High Tide and Turnabout effects, rather than committing too many artifacts to the board.
However it does require an amount of learning and skill to play these types of decks, you have to know when to pull the trigger for a combo turn.
Also a finely tuned one is going to cost a lot of money.
Kess, Dissident Mage is popular for Grixis storm and Mizzix of the Izmagnus for Izzet.
I can tell you this from experience because I do like to play some control decks, but they can't stop storm decks. The way I've had to try and stop these decks when playing control is to get an Arcane Laboratory or Rule of Law into play. But even then, because "storm" players are fine getting to a threshold of particular cards into hand, they can be patient and wait to bounce those enchantments, then go off.
So what I'm saying is that from a control perspective I know how hard it is to stop this type of deck archetype when playing a deck that contains lots of board removal and even counterspells.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
1. Dependent on general in play, because they can focus their interaction on just one threat.
2. Uses the combat step to win, because that's the easiest thing to stop/slow down.
If you want to beat controllish type decks, you have to out-value them (e.g. recursion, PW's, etc.) or find a consistent way to stick huge threat(s) (e.g. indestructible/hexproof, Locust/Scarab God, Mirari's Wake/Zendikar Resurgent, etc.).
Then I can probably give a good strategy
But hey maybe a pure chaos deck can defeat it
if you go this way, make sure you have paying-a-cost-speed sac outlet for child of alara. 'cuz you'll never know when you'll need it. worthy cause comes to mind.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Just make sure you have a way to get Child from the 'yard to the command zone again after using the ability ("dies" triggers do not happen if you elect to use the command zone replacement effect). My personal choice for this is Volrath's Stronghold.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
I have decided to try at the moment a deck with Teneb, the Harvester. These colors can deal with creatures, enchantments and artifacts. I am thinking about using cards to destroy creatures (attacking, or mass destruction spells) so that I can recur them later via Teneb's ability. This may be a slow route but at least, I would get to have some fun denying him his resources. Has anyone used Teneb with some degree of success?
Thanks
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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Grenzo is rough to play against, he takes off early and can take over a game. The other mentions also seem to be focused around controlling your game state, too. My Nissa deck has fared well against Grenzo, and while that's pretty specific, I think the reason is that most of what I play is only good in the context of my deck and doesn't necessarily help anyone else. Plus it's got resilience and plays a control game itself. With this in mind, I think you need to look at something that can outpace him and/or play control too. There's a lot of options here.
I second Edric as an option. It's quick and resilient. From the decks I play personally, I'd recommend Ghave as a versatile commander that's fairly quick and has lots of disruption, Nissa is versatile and fares well, and Dralnu is strong control too. These are what I can recommend from what I play, I tend to stay away from recommending builds I haven't played or played against.
The other way of dealing with this guy (and I really only raise it as an option, not a suggestion) is to make something really salty to teach him a lesson. You could do Derevi lockdown or some stax griefiness, Gaddock hatebears and so forth. It's an option, but at the end of the day I think you have to be happy with the deck you're playing too. If these are areas you want to explore, go for it, but I would be hesitant to build a deck for a specific purpose, as once you've achieved that purpose it tends to lose its allure. Plus these strategies are not exactly popular.
https://deckbox.org/sets/1996678?s=i&o=d
It is one of my most successful, however I think it still has some issues. What would you change to make it better (forget the land base)?
Instead of building a new deck to hate on one player, try to improve a few of your current decks. You can do minor changes that can end up pestering a control player, such as just adding and attacking them with a creeping tar pit or whatever. Spells that can't be countered or prevent instant-speed stuff like dragonlord dromoka/teferi, mage of zhalfir/dosan the falling leaf/grand abolisher end up being very good in specific meta's. Toss in a few split second style of answers like krosan grip/wipe away, or some hexproof or indestructible things, and a control player will have a real headache. If they are counter-heavy then consider cavern of souls or boseiju, who shelters all.
Really my best suggestion is for you to start sandbag'ing some of your more threatening plays. Even if the power-level and optimization of your decks were way below the other players, a low-powered deck sandbag'ing its best threats until the other 3 better decks waste answers/removals stands a better chance. Unless the cards in your hand are threatened to be lost from some discard/wheel, then there is zero reason to deploy your best play every single turn unless there is a very good reason to (like winning / killing someone / severe card advantage / etc)
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
This is all really relevant. No deck is perfect, there are answers to almost every card, archetype or build. Shoring up some of what you have by presenting it earlier with a lower curve or building some resilience into your decks can really go a long way. You could have a barnstorming card in a brutal deck, and if you're playing it into a hostile boardstate you will achieve very little. There's a reason things like Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Krosan Grip, Grand Abolisher, Dragonlord Dromoka are staples. Not only that, if these cause an impediment to your mate, he's going to target them instead of spells that drive your agenda. Making him question his threat assessment and taking the control out of his hands really is going to be key to beating him. And it's probably going to feel a ton more satisfying to win this way than coming up with a new build that hoses his.
That being said, it can be hard to look at your babies with a critical eye. It can be tough, but think long and hard about what earns its places in your lists and why they earn their spots.
I don't understand...
I see no issue with casting Possessed Portal on turn 3.
A Dying Wish
To Rise Again
Chainer, Dementia Master
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
https://deckbox.org/sets/2069541.
Thanks
So, looking at the list there, your curve looks quite high still. And yes, a lot of your effects are more temporary than I would be comfortable with. Those threaten effects would probably fly better under Kess, Dissident Mage or Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge than Thraximundar. I wouldn't blame you for taking that route, Thrax is a different commander to these guys, and they can be pretty consistent. Kess could play out well.
If you're content to stay with Thrax, kudos. He's fun. But he does require a rethinking of how and when to play him. It's tempting to set up a meat grinder attrition engine like you would with Savra, Queen of the Golgari or Meren of Clan Nel Toth, but Thrax doesn't really take major advantage of that, he just gets slightly bigger. I've found it best to hit your curve very early with draw and ramp spells like Baleful Strix, Mulldrifter, Windfall, Fact or Fiction, Lim-Dul's Vault (this last one is super good). Then introduce some chaos to the board. As early as you can. Archfiend of Depravity is fun, Fleshbag Marauder is strong too, Harsh Mentor gets mean for combo decks, Rakdos Charm is legitimately one of the best swiss army knives Grixis can carry. Once you have spare mana and you have an unstable board, then you'd look at casting Thrax. He's a shock troop, not a staple to cast. Because he has haste, you swing immediately and bludgeon.
I'd recommend adding some reanimation - even being able to reanimate Mulldrifter or Burnished Hart is a really strong move. Apprentice Necromancer is nice and its cheap, Victimize plays into a sac theme, and Stitch Together should activate well enough.
I'm hesitant to strip all of the flavour from your deck and move in an entirely different direction by getting rid of the threaten effects, but they're not the strongest. There's no solid board presence with them, and they leave you open to domination outside of your turn. If you have to run a threaten effect, run Insurrection. It ends games. It really does seem like you need a lot more value lower in your curve though. One of the major problems Thrax has is being slow to establish board presence, and this deck looks like it wouldn't be an exception. Get some early draw, ramp, and colour fixing and you will notice a significant improvement, I would imagine.
Otherwise, I could switch commander for Kess, I like that she makes me replay every spell twice... Hmm, hard decisions ahead!
It's pretty hard to point you in a specific direction here. Thrax, as a commander is pretty wide open for strategy. Changing to Kess would probably herald a different set of changes altogether, and its up to you whether you want to take that leap or not - Thrax is impactful, but generally works better with creatures on the board, whereas Kess doesn't necessarily need that.
In terms of keeping Thrax more interesting, I'd give him some creature recursion and versatility. Clever Impersonator is a solid card that scales well to any game and any stage of the game. The fact that it immediately becomes the biggest threat on the table, or precisely what you need in the given situation, is no joke. Dack's Duplicate has given me good mileage too. Apprentice Necromancer I've had a lot of fun with, or you could go with Whisper, Blood Liturgist or Doomed Necromancer. Living Death has done wonders for me, and I'd recommend switching Butcher of Malakir out for Dictate of Erebos or Grave Pact. Archfiend of Depravity has done well for me, too. Smothering Abomination has been a decent sac engine and draw engine for me, but it does need a bit of a token theme or reanimation theme to keep it going. That being said, if you run out of fodder it can eat itself.
As far as general staples go, Mulldrifter and Burnished Hart have been really strong for me. Especially when you can recur them. The blue mages, Trophy Mage and Trinket Mage give good sac fodder, too. They'll fetch you an altar or a ring and chump block or pump Thrax when you need them to. Windfall and Fact or Fiction I'd strongly recommend - Fact has been really good for me as a way of keeping my game plans open and drawing into answers, and Windfall can set you up for reanimation, ramp you, and give you answers in hand.
As far as win cons go, Eldrazi Monument has been really strong, too. As expensive as he is, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is better than Cruel Ultimatum too. They're both strong, but Bolas is a must answer permanent that will draw fire. And that's kind of what you want him for.
These are kind of just the picks of what I run. Mine is a really non-specific goodstuff deck, so it may or may not work for you. If you do want a specific reanimator or attrition deck, you may need to get more specific. But these have worked ok for me. It'll never be a super competitive deck, unless you throw a ton of money at it and fill it with tutors. But I think you can fine tune from where it is at present.