I'd just shift to a different early assault, this deck isn't graveyard dependent. That's actually another reason I like at least testing without cata...it can't get rid of problem permanents in the way that the worst things are kept around. I don't have a reputable amounts of games logged, but Cata is the only wipe that's wiffed. It's usually one sided on the enchantment aspect too...for some players they just keep the Sylvan Library or suddenly have Rhystic Study be worthwhile again. It's unfortunate I just ordered the Vault foil, but I suppose it's an easy card to find a home for...because I honestly just sold myself on the cut.
While it's pretty bad when behind it's also decent when you're ahead as a finisher. Casting cataclysm with some floating mana and vindicate, beast within, nature's claim, or whatever means often the problem card that's kept is no longer a problem. I may be just over hyping it because it's one of my favorite cards ever made but I'm not sold on cutting it quite yet. It's still potential for chopping block but it's hard to part with something that brings so much joy to myself and so much misery to others
Also FTV foils are garbage anyway
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Ummm...I kinda love this card.
We lose a sac outlet however the synergy with walkers, smokestack, parallax tide, wave, tangle wire, seems real insane. The lifelink is sweet since now dying is harder.
And throw in a tainted strike for infect? I maybe just overexcited like I always am (THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL FOIL) but bring out more thoughts.
Also want to add Bloodcheif accession as a potential kill life gain
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Yeah, I'm no help for thinking clearly right now. Phyrexia has always been my favorite MtG lore, and witchmaw was my favorite. I've been grinding Sharuum lately (Torrential Gearhulk has offered the deck a new superr fast way to win) so all I was thinking about was her. Then I saw this thread at the top of "my threads" list and it hit me as soon as I saw Ghave's name. I think this is a worthy transition. I'm reallly into her. I think the seemingly reliable life gain will be beneficial, and the proliferate seems like it's certainly enough to embrace blue. I say we start grinding it out now. You're the Stax man so show us the best cards we could add. It's certainly going to take me time.
That is beautiful and I need it. I'm not sure if it's worth switching Ghave out for it though.
Ghave's ability to be pure utility with a number of cards in the deck has been absolutely clutch for me since playing back at uni. Smokestack, Contamination, Aura Shards, Grave Pact, being a sac outlet for Rector and Pattern, and producing chump blockers in a pinch.
Atraxa does give a bit better aggro for a win option - It's really giving me a Thraximundar vibe for how it has a nice beater for a Stax deck. But as much as I'd love to run some great blue cards like Rhystic Study, Parallax Tide, Mana Vortex, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Clever Impersonator, etc. in the deck, I just don't think that it a suitable replacement for what Ghave can do. I feel Atraxa would make for an excellent second Stax deck that is more geared to tap/tax effects, along with general sacrifice, but would be trying to do too much for the focused land destruction strategy this deck is running.
I could see Atraxa running alongside Gaddock Teeg and Grand Arbiter to make a very nasty stax deck. In fact, that's probably what I'm going to do once I finish off my Marchesa Black Rose deck.
Bloodchief Ascension whiffed too much for me when I was running it. It would usually get blown up before it hit 3 counters, or soon after. And I wasn't usually too happy drawing it since it did nothing except potentially draw me a card that turn.
Yeah, I'm no help for thinking clearly right now. Phyrexia has always been my favorite MtG lore, and witchmaw was my favorite. I've been grinding Sharuum lately (Torrential Gearhulk has offered the deck a new superr fast way to win) so all I was thinking about was her. Then I saw this thread at the top of "my threads" list and it hit me as soon as I saw Ghave's name. I think this is a worthy transition. I'm reallly into her. I think the seemingly reliable life gain will be beneficial, and the proliferate seems like it's certainly enough to embrace blue. I say we start grinding it out now. You're the Stax man so show us the best cards we could add. It's certainly going to take me time.
I have a list brewing currently at around 120 cards and still getting more ideas.
We can easily cut the cards that benefit with Ghave like Fecunity, grave pact, etc.
Lifelink being relevant means we don't need trading post or batterskull.
Blue adds counters, better walkers, land equilibrium, sunder, noble hierach, dig through time.
Of course living plane/doomwake/norn is a kill and with new blue lands there is no room for basics at all. 10 fetches with 12 targets seems ok.
Anyway I'll just show you what I have so far. IFFF We want to build her anyway, the hype train is still incoming and this could be a dumb idea afterall.
Creatures:
Deathrite shaman
Elves of deep shadow
Noble Hierarch
Birds of paradise
Avacyn's pilgrim
Knight of the reliquary
Titania, protecetor of argoth
Sun titan
Doomwake giant
Acadamey rector
Aven mindcensor
Elesh norn, grand cenobite
Jace, vryn's prodigy
Thalia, hertical cathar
Bloom tender
Rocks:
Chrome mox
Mox diamond
Mana crypt
Sol ring
Senseis divinig top
Mana vault
Talisman of dominance
Smokestack
Tangle wire
Talisman of progress
Talisman of unity
Coalition relic
Crucible of worlds
Enchantments
Sylvan library
Necropotence
Land equilibrium
Enchantress's pressance
Rhystic study
Carpet of flowers
Aura shards
Frontier seige
Starfield of nyx
Humility
Living plane
Parallax tide
Parallax wave
Stasis
Frozen aether
Kismit
Blind obediance
Future sight
Zurs weirding
Instants/Sorcery
Armageedon
Ravages of war
Cataclsym
Nature's claim
Beast within
Vindicate
Auguished unmaking
Sunder
Cyclonic rift
Toxic deluge
Life from the loam
Demonic tutor
Vampiric tutor
Enlightned tutor
Mystical tutor
Swords to plowshares
Crop rotation
Force of will
Negate
Arcane denial
Mana drain
Swan song
Supreme verdict
Ponder
Preordain
Brainstorm
Dig through time
Walkers
Narset transcent
Jace, the mind scupltor
Liliana of the viel
Garruk wildspeaker
Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Tezzeret the seeker
Teferi, temorpal archmage
Venser the sojunoer
Lands
Command tower
City of brass
Mana confluence
Underground sea
Tundra
Tropical island
Bayou
Scrubland
Savannah
Scalding tarn
Misty rainforest
Verdant catacombs
Arid mesa
Marsh flats
Bloodstained mire
Wooded foothills
Windswept heath
Polluted delta
Flooded strand
Urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
Gaea's cradle
Serra's Sanctum
Strip mine
Wasteland
Dust bowl
The tabernacle at pendrells vale
Watery grave
Hallowed fountain
Breeding pool
Overgrown tomb
Godless shrine
Temple garden
There are a few ways to win
Stasis with untap walkers with Atraxa is a lockout. Throw in Kismit, Thalia, blind obedience for eternal lockdown
Zurs weiridng + Atraxa means you're gaining life while attacking and making sure players aren't getting relevant cards
Living plane + Everything (Duh)
I'm sure there are more ideas I'm missing.
My concern is academy rector not having a sac outlet will hurt and not having tokens for smokestack and whatnot will hurt.
Losing Mindslicer, pattern of rebirth, fecundity, grave oact, and plenty of insane cards hurt a lot so I will be doing heavy testing before commiting
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Y u no Yisan!?! Haha. Yisan is nuts for a toolbox deck like stax and can sometimes set up your wincons (I use it to grab Kiki conscripts in my Shattergang build). As I mentioned in the other thread. Definitely
Derevi as the commander maintains the stasis lock with derevii out. I'm also gonna try Leovold as well. Also, I think Captain Sisay should be in this kind of build as a tutor on a stick. Finally, either a blighted agent or ichor rats could be pretty good to at least start the infect train....though with the commander being a 4/4, it may not be necessary. It just gets around what little blockers may be remaining.
Edit: holy crap. Sakashima for double proliferate!?!
EDH:ShatterStax, Only The Strong Survive
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Mono-U Control
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
Sen Triplets
Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Derevi Stax
VolThrun
Marchesa, The Black Rose
Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Tribal
I enjoy her thoroughly, and I'm finding it hard to mentally commit to a strategy.
Stax locks feel ideal with her. As many have stated, the tangle wire + smokestack synergy is great.
While being resource limited, there's a few options for victory.
Combo / Infect / Planeswalkers / Reanimator
Infect: Everyone seems to be yelling Infect, and Ichor Rats will definitely do it if you can lock the table down for 9 turns (even if you yourself are locked out), but I'm not entirely convinced infect is the way to go. Combo: Nothing is a direct infinite combo with her alone, so I think it rules that out, as they are generally expensive to cast.
Planeswalkers: Certainly as another potential win con, but definitely not the primary gameplan. Any walker that has a great plus, and a decent ult should be considered.
Reanimator: I think this is where it gets complicated. We would have to dilute a decent amount of the deck for some great reanimator targets, and the pieces to use in order to get them into the yard and then bring them back. However, most BUG lists run this in some regard. Dropping a T1 or T2 reanimate on Jin Gitaxis is usually game. And now we have access to Iona + Norn? Moreover, with the added ability from white for more Stax pieces and reanimation, I don't think this is something we should look past.
I could see myself using the best mana dorks and the best mana rocks, and not necessarily committing to one or the other.
With that said, some cuts / questions: Future Site is a fine card, but doesn't push us towards victory, and is expensive. Aura Shards feels weak with so few creatures and token generators. Gaea's Cradle will likely seldom tap for more than {G} Venser the Sojunoer's + is mostly only viable under stasis lock. His - is mostly irrelevant, and the ultimate isn't even an instant win. Tamiyo, Field Researcher Three relevant abilities, but her +1 will likely only be drawing you one card, and potentially convincing someone else to not attack with a creature / not block. Doubtful she will draw you two, so she's not 100%, but still solid. Liliana of the viel I feel like she's only good under lock or with more of a reanimation package. But I'm bad. Starfield of Nyx sits for a go around the table. At least we have {U} to protect it, but hrm. You've had good experience with it?
After much testing, I'm sad to admit Root Maze > Thalia, hertical cathar Doomwake giant with Humility is neat. What am I missing? Sun titan May be too expensive without reanimator.
Never used Frontier Siege. Seems not ideal.
Potential additions
Someone had mentioned a few interesting mana sources on cEDH. Druids' Repository, Mana Bloom, Gemstone Array.
Gemstone Array definitely being the worst of the three, but yay proliferate.
I see maybe four tutors in your list? Need roughly 100 more.
With that said, some cuts / questions: Future Site is a fine card, but doesn't push us towards victory, and is expensive. Aura Shards feels weak with so few creatures and token generators. Gaea's Cradle will likely seldom tap for more than {G} Venser the Sojunoer's + is mostly only viable under stasis lock. His - is mostly irrelevant, and the ultimate isn't even an instant win. Tamiyo, Field Researcher Three relevant abilities, but her +1 will likely only be drawing you one card, and potentially convincing someone else to not attack with a creature / not block. Doubtful she will draw you two, so she's not 100%, but still solid. Liliana of the viel I feel like she's only good under lock or with more of a reanimation package. But I'm bad. Starfield of Nyx sits for a go around the table. At least we have {U} to protect it, but hrm. You've had good experience with it?
After much testing, I'm sad to admit Root Maze > Thalia, hertical cathar Doomwake giant with Humility is neat. What am I missing? Sun titan May be too expensive without reanimator.
Never used Frontier Siege. Seems not ideal.
Potential additions
Someone had mentioned a few interesting mana sources on cEDH. Druids' Repository, Mana Bloom, Gemstone Array.
Gemstone Array definitely being the worst of the three, but yay proliferate.
I see maybe four tutors in your list? Need roughly 100 more.
I think the list is missing some things like Winter Orb, etc.
I agree on Future Sight not being an ideal card for the deck. Aura Shards does lose a good deal of it's effectiveness with Ghave not being the general, but Living Plane makes for dropping "creatures" every turn very easy.
Again, Living Plane makes Gaea's Cradle absurdly potent. Venser the Sojourner makes abusing etb's easier, and can be used to work around things like Gaddock Teeg and Sanctum Prelate in the list I'm toying with. But yes, the 5cmc for what he does is a bit steep.
I'll get back to Tamiyo, Field Researcher. Starfield of Nyx performs extremely well in the Ghave build for me, and it's Opalescence ability with the Parallex cards is fantastic. Doomwake Giant and Living Plane again.
Sun Titan can put in work, but yes it can be a bit expensive. Usually it gets used once or so, primarily to grab Crucible of Worlds or something else important.
Unless I'm mana flooded, I'm practically never disappointed to see Frontier Siege. Mana after MLD is nice.
I was also thinking Vorel. A little janky but adds up fast
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EDH:ShatterStax, Only The Strong Survive
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Mono-U Control
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
Sen Triplets
Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Derevi Stax
VolThrun
Marchesa, The Black Rose
Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Tribal
Yeah. I don't feel that relying on the Proliferate to do anything more than light support is a sound idea.
My thought is to run Atraxa the same way I run my Thraximundar Stax deck, where the main deck and general complement each other, but neither are reliant on the other. I feel building edh decks in such a way that they can perform effectively without the general makes the deck stronger.
Yeah. I don't feel that relying on the Proliferate to do anything more than light support is a sound idea.
My thought is to run Atraxa the same way I run my Thraximundar Stax deck, where the main deck and general complement each other, but neither are reliant on the other. I feel building edh decks in such a way that they can perform effectively without the general makes the deck stronger.
I mean that's essentially why Karador Boonweaver is T1, Jeleva Stax, Zur. Half of the T1 generals are just really ridiculously strong strategies, and the generals just happen to complement those strategies just enough to make them top tier. Then there's the others that are your combo pieces (Brago, Tasigur, Prossh, Derevi to some extent).
Atraxa definitely falls into the former category. Outstanding colors, and the proliferate allows for some cool interactions. Saw a few more earlier, including; Astral Cornucopia, Coalition Relic, Everflowing Chalice, Pentad Prism. Deck definitely needs to be self sustaining, and with a bit of support be OP. I imagine she can be T1 on damn near colors alone.
Yeah. I run Zur as my competitive deck, and aside from using him to get 1-2 things early, they deck runs without him until the end.
Astral Cornucopia and the other things with counters may be too slow to rely solely on Atraxa's Proliferate to make them useful. Adding the Contagion Ticks might help, but then that's devoting 4 to proliferating each turn.
Could be slow, but could also generate obscene amounts of mana under lock. Give and take! Could be really good, could be awful. Probably worth testing, but I definitely think Pentad Prism is too janky.
Proliferate on colorless sources like everflowing chalice seems wrong in a 4c deck where every color matters a lot.
If I make Atraxa I've already cut many of the Ghave cards like Aura shards and even the doomwake/plane combo since there is no sac outlet.
Still working on narrowing it down to 99 good cards that aren't all over the place. That said I don't want cards that depends solely on the general to be good. I like coalition relic, parallax tide, parallax wave, and the walkers because they also work well with the deck but other cards like pentad prism are likely not making the cut since they're fairly ok without the general on board. This may be a deck where it's more 4c goodstuff than anything since the general has no protection and a few casts of it make it unplayable after a land wipe. Still debating to myself if it's even worth it in the first place.
Speaking of lands though aether hub and tendo ice bridge work very well with her as well
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Well, Crystalline Crawler was just spoiled, and that removes a +1/+1 counter for mana, so that will be broken for a counter based deck.
Persist Creatures will probably be big.
Yeah that seems solid.
Does Persist help? With Glen elendra you put a persist counter and then proliferate then wouldn't it get another -1 counter and die?
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
No, I'm basing the non-stax aspects of the deck as a mix of combo Ghave and Vorel, and abusing etb and +1/+1 counters. So Glen or Finks or Woodfall would end up netter more +1/+1 counters when it came back on the field.
No, I'm basing the non-stax aspects of the deck as a mix of combo Ghave and Vorel, and abusing etb and +1/+1 counters. So Glen or Finks or Woodfall would end up netter more +1/+1 counters when it came back on the field.
Alright that makes sense.
Based on what my own experience and looking at others lists it seems like a majority of the people are trying to do too many things to make it viable. She works very well with a lot of different cards and throwing them all in seems like a bad strategy since you can't always rely on the general when they don't have built in protection so I'm hesitant on just putting more interactions with that in.
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Alright that makes sense.
Based on what my own experience and looking at others lists it seems like a majority of the people are trying to do too many things to make it viable. She works very well with a lot of different cards and throwing them all in seems like a bad strategy since you can't always rely on the general when they don't have built in protection so I'm hesitant on just putting more interactions with that in.
I understand that. I'm just plopping everything into one spot right now so I can start cutting down the stuff that doesn't have overall synergy with the other cards in the 99, or enough instances of it.
Anyway after some more thought I think I had another idea come to mind which means I keep Ghave and work on a different deck that has similar cards to this one but one I think may actually be better. I'm crafting another list and hopefully will see soon. Mostly want zurs weirding in somethin and I think I got a good fix on what to work around. Of course since I'm never consistent this may change and atraxa could be built instead.
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Recently found this card: Argivian Find and think it may have a slot in here. Returning the most relevant spells at instant speed seems pretty solid. Not sure if it's better than regrowth in here but the fact that it's half the mana and instant speed makes me think it warrens a test
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
The limit on only artifacts and enchantment, while being the majority of the deck, leaves out grabbing an important land that was destroyed. I'd rather have Regrowth or Noxious Revival to be able to grab a land, or a creature, if needed. Noxious may go to the top of the library, but it's also instant speed and can be cast for "free".
I came across Herald of the Pantheon, and while it's not direct mana ramp, it does make dropping enchantments faster and can make mid-game move a bit faster. Admittedly I'm a bit partial to the Jet Medallion cycle, but I have had very good experiences in my other decks. I'm going to test it out, it reduces the cost of 22 cards in my deck.
I came across Herald of the Pantheon, and while it's not direct mana ramp, it does make dropping enchantments faster and can make mid-game move a bit faster. Admittedly I'm a bit partial to the Jet Medallion cycle, but I have had very good experiences in my other decks. I'm going to test it out, it reduces the cost of 22 cards in my deck.
I considered him when he first came out but there were a few issues.
Doesn't work well with humility
Does nothing for necropotence
Dies to everything we do when we wipe the board
Also our curve is super low so casting the spells isn't much of an issue.
I love medalions in storm builds but don't feel like that effect has a slot in a build like this.
Doesn't help that I've reduced the enchantment count
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
While it's pretty bad when behind it's also decent when you're ahead as a finisher. Casting cataclysm with some floating mana and vindicate, beast within, nature's claim, or whatever means often the problem card that's kept is no longer a problem. I may be just over hyping it because it's one of my favorite cards ever made but I'm not sold on cutting it quite yet. It's still potential for chopping block but it's hard to part with something that brings so much joy to myself and so much misery to others
Also FTV foils are garbage anyway
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
Ummm...I kinda love this card.
We lose a sac outlet however the synergy with walkers, smokestack, parallax tide, wave, tangle wire, seems real insane. The lifelink is sweet since now dying is harder.
And throw in a tainted strike for infect? I maybe just overexcited like I always am (THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL FOIL) but bring out more thoughts.
Also want to add Bloodcheif accession as a potential kill life gain
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Ghave's ability to be pure utility with a number of cards in the deck has been absolutely clutch for me since playing back at uni. Smokestack, Contamination, Aura Shards, Grave Pact, being a sac outlet for Rector and Pattern, and producing chump blockers in a pinch.
Atraxa does give a bit better aggro for a win option - It's really giving me a Thraximundar vibe for how it has a nice beater for a Stax deck. But as much as I'd love to run some great blue cards like Rhystic Study, Parallax Tide, Mana Vortex, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Clever Impersonator, etc. in the deck, I just don't think that it a suitable replacement for what Ghave can do. I feel Atraxa would make for an excellent second Stax deck that is more geared to tap/tax effects, along with general sacrifice, but would be trying to do too much for the focused land destruction strategy this deck is running.
I could see Atraxa running alongside Gaddock Teeg and Grand Arbiter to make a very nasty stax deck. In fact, that's probably what I'm going to do once I finish off my Marchesa Black Rose deck.
Bloodchief Ascension whiffed too much for me when I was running it. It would usually get blown up before it hit 3 counters, or soon after. And I wasn't usually too happy drawing it since it did nothing except potentially draw me a card that turn.
I have a list brewing currently at around 120 cards and still getting more ideas.
We can easily cut the cards that benefit with Ghave like Fecunity, grave pact, etc.
Lifelink being relevant means we don't need trading post or batterskull.
Blue adds counters, better walkers, land equilibrium, sunder, noble hierach, dig through time.
Of course living plane/doomwake/norn is a kill and with new blue lands there is no room for basics at all. 10 fetches with 12 targets seems ok.
Anyway I'll just show you what I have so far. IFFF We want to build her anyway, the hype train is still incoming and this could be a dumb idea afterall.
Creatures:
Deathrite shaman
Elves of deep shadow
Noble Hierarch
Birds of paradise
Avacyn's pilgrim
Knight of the reliquary
Titania, protecetor of argoth
Sun titan
Doomwake giant
Acadamey rector
Aven mindcensor
Elesh norn, grand cenobite
Jace, vryn's prodigy
Thalia, hertical cathar
Bloom tender
Rocks:
Chrome mox
Mox diamond
Mana crypt
Sol ring
Senseis divinig top
Mana vault
Talisman of dominance
Smokestack
Tangle wire
Talisman of progress
Talisman of unity
Coalition relic
Crucible of worlds
Enchantments
Sylvan library
Necropotence
Land equilibrium
Enchantress's pressance
Rhystic study
Carpet of flowers
Aura shards
Frontier seige
Starfield of nyx
Humility
Living plane
Parallax tide
Parallax wave
Stasis
Frozen aether
Kismit
Blind obediance
Future sight
Zurs weirding
Instants/Sorcery
Armageedon
Ravages of war
Cataclsym
Nature's claim
Beast within
Vindicate
Auguished unmaking
Sunder
Cyclonic rift
Toxic deluge
Life from the loam
Demonic tutor
Vampiric tutor
Enlightned tutor
Mystical tutor
Swords to plowshares
Crop rotation
Force of will
Negate
Arcane denial
Mana drain
Swan song
Supreme verdict
Ponder
Preordain
Brainstorm
Dig through time
Walkers
Narset transcent
Jace, the mind scupltor
Liliana of the viel
Garruk wildspeaker
Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Tezzeret the seeker
Teferi, temorpal archmage
Venser the sojunoer
Lands
Command tower
City of brass
Mana confluence
Underground sea
Tundra
Tropical island
Bayou
Scrubland
Savannah
Scalding tarn
Misty rainforest
Verdant catacombs
Arid mesa
Marsh flats
Bloodstained mire
Wooded foothills
Windswept heath
Polluted delta
Flooded strand
Urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
Gaea's cradle
Serra's Sanctum
Strip mine
Wasteland
Dust bowl
The tabernacle at pendrells vale
Watery grave
Hallowed fountain
Breeding pool
Overgrown tomb
Godless shrine
Temple garden
There are a few ways to win
Stasis with untap walkers with Atraxa is a lockout. Throw in Kismit, Thalia, blind obedience for eternal lockdown
Zurs weiridng + Atraxa means you're gaining life while attacking and making sure players aren't getting relevant cards
Living plane + Everything (Duh)
I'm sure there are more ideas I'm missing.
My concern is academy rector not having a sac outlet will hurt and not having tokens for smokestack and whatnot will hurt.
Losing Mindslicer, pattern of rebirth, fecundity, grave oact, and plenty of insane cards hurt a lot so I will be doing heavy testing before commiting
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
Derevi as the commander maintains the stasis lock with derevii out. I'm also gonna try Leovold as well. Also, I think Captain Sisay should be in this kind of build as a tutor on a stick. Finally, either a blighted agent or ichor rats could be pretty good to at least start the infect train....though with the commander being a 4/4, it may not be necessary. It just gets around what little blockers may be remaining.
Edit: holy crap. Sakashima for double proliferate!?!
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Mono-U Control
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
Sen Triplets
Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Derevi Stax
VolThrun
Marchesa, The Black Rose
Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Tribal
Modern: Fish, JUND/Junk
--------
RIP Twin
Stax locks feel ideal with her. As many have stated, the tangle wire + smokestack synergy is great.
While being resource limited, there's a few options for victory.
Combo / Infect / Planeswalkers / Reanimator
Infect: Everyone seems to be yelling Infect, and Ichor Rats will definitely do it if you can lock the table down for 9 turns (even if you yourself are locked out), but I'm not entirely convinced infect is the way to go.
Combo: Nothing is a direct infinite combo with her alone, so I think it rules that out, as they are generally expensive to cast.Planeswalkers: Certainly as another potential win con, but definitely not the primary gameplan. Any walker that has a great plus, and a decent ult should be considered.
Reanimator: I think this is where it gets complicated. We would have to dilute a decent amount of the deck for some great reanimator targets, and the pieces to use in order to get them into the yard and then bring them back. However, most BUG lists run this in some regard. Dropping a T1 or T2 reanimate on Jin Gitaxis is usually game. And now we have access to Iona + Norn? Moreover, with the added ability from white for more Stax pieces and reanimation, I don't think this is something we should look past.
I could see myself using the best mana dorks and the best mana rocks, and not necessarily committing to one or the other.
With that said, some cuts / questions:
Future Site is a fine card, but doesn't push us towards victory, and is expensive.
Aura Shards feels weak with so few creatures and token generators.
Gaea's Cradle will likely seldom tap for more than {G}
Venser the Sojunoer's + is mostly only viable under stasis lock. His - is mostly irrelevant, and the ultimate isn't even an instant win.
Tamiyo, Field Researcher Three relevant abilities, but her +1 will likely only be drawing you one card, and potentially convincing someone else to not attack with a creature / not block. Doubtful she will draw you two, so she's not 100%, but still solid.
Liliana of the viel I feel like she's only good under lock or with more of a reanimation package. But I'm bad.
Starfield of Nyx sits for a go around the table. At least we have {U} to protect it, but hrm. You've had good experience with it?
After much testing, I'm sad to admit Root Maze > Thalia, hertical cathar
Doomwake giant with Humility is neat. What am I missing?
Sun titan May be too expensive without reanimator.
Never used Frontier Siege. Seems not ideal.
Potential additions
Someone had mentioned a few interesting mana sources on cEDH. Druids' Repository, Mana Bloom, Gemstone Array.
Gemstone Array definitely being the worst of the three, but yay proliferate.
I see maybe four tutors in your list? Need roughly 100 more.
I think the list is missing some things like Winter Orb, Hokori, Dust Drinker, etc.
I agree on Future Sight not being an ideal card for the deck.
Aura Shards does lose a good deal of it's effectiveness with Ghave not being the general, but Living Plane makes for dropping "creatures" every turn very easy.
Again, Living Plane makes Gaea's Cradle absurdly potent.
Venser the Sojourner makes abusing etb's easier, and can be used to work around things like Gaddock Teeg and Sanctum Prelate in the list I'm toying with. But yes, the 5cmc for what he does is a bit steep.
I'll get back to Tamiyo, Field Researcher.
Starfield of Nyx performs extremely well in the Ghave build for me, and it's Opalescence ability with the Parallex cards is fantastic.
Doomwake Giant and Living Plane again.
Sun Titan can put in work, but yes it can be a bit expensive. Usually it gets used once or so, primarily to grab Crucible of Worlds or something else important.
Unless I'm mana flooded, I'm practically never disappointed to see Frontier Siege. Mana after MLD is nice.
Right now I'm toying around with building Atraxa somewhat as a mix of combo Ghave and Vorel to go along with the Stax components, with fair amounts +1/+1 counters to quickly make attacking with Atraxa lethal. Doubling Season and Gilder Bairn also being used to make Planeswalkers rush ultimates.
And now that has been spoiled, it makes having the deck have a sac-engine more viable to clear the board and boost Atraxa.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Mono-U Control
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
Sen Triplets
Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Derevi Stax
VolThrun
Marchesa, The Black Rose
Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Tribal
Modern: Fish, JUND/Junk
--------
RIP Twin
My thought is to run Atraxa the same way I run my Thraximundar Stax deck, where the main deck and general complement each other, but neither are reliant on the other. I feel building edh decks in such a way that they can perform effectively without the general makes the deck stronger.
I mean that's essentially why Karador Boonweaver is T1, Jeleva Stax, Zur. Half of the T1 generals are just really ridiculously strong strategies, and the generals just happen to complement those strategies just enough to make them top tier. Then there's the others that are your combo pieces (Brago, Tasigur, Prossh, Derevi to some extent).
Atraxa definitely falls into the former category. Outstanding colors, and the proliferate allows for some cool interactions. Saw a few more earlier, including; Astral Cornucopia, Coalition Relic, Everflowing Chalice, Pentad Prism. Deck definitely needs to be self sustaining, and with a bit of support be OP. I imagine she can be T1 on damn near colors alone.
Astral Cornucopia and the other things with counters may be too slow to rely solely on Atraxa's Proliferate to make them useful. Adding the Contagion Ticks might help, but then that's devoting 4 to proliferating each turn.
If I make Atraxa I've already cut many of the Ghave cards like Aura shards and even the doomwake/plane combo since there is no sac outlet.
Still working on narrowing it down to 99 good cards that aren't all over the place. That said I don't want cards that depends solely on the general to be good. I like coalition relic, parallax tide, parallax wave, and the walkers because they also work well with the deck but other cards like pentad prism are likely not making the cut since they're fairly ok without the general on board. This may be a deck where it's more 4c goodstuff than anything since the general has no protection and a few casts of it make it unplayable after a land wipe. Still debating to myself if it's even worth it in the first place.
Speaking of lands though aether hub and tendo ice bridge work very well with her as well
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
Persist Creatures will probably be big.
Yeah that seems solid.
Does Persist help? With Glen elendra you put a persist counter and then proliferate then wouldn't it get another -1 counter and die?
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
Here's my "throw all the cards in a list just to see interactions" list.
Alright that makes sense.
Based on what my own experience and looking at others lists it seems like a majority of the people are trying to do too many things to make it viable. She works very well with a lot of different cards and throwing them all in seems like a bad strategy since you can't always rely on the general when they don't have built in protection so I'm hesitant on just putting more interactions with that in.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
I understand that. I'm just plopping everything into one spot right now so I can start cutting down the stuff that doesn't have overall synergy with the other cards in the 99, or enough instances of it.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
URXSurf's Up, Mizz Magnus!XRU
URGWKynaios and Tiro's Multiplayer MenagerieWGRU
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
I came across Herald of the Pantheon, and while it's not direct mana ramp, it does make dropping enchantments faster and can make mid-game move a bit faster. Admittedly I'm a bit partial to the Jet Medallion cycle, but I have had very good experiences in my other decks. I'm going to test it out, it reduces the cost of 22 cards in my deck.
I considered him when he first came out but there were a few issues.
Doesn't work well with humility
Does nothing for necropotence
Dies to everything we do when we wipe the board
Also our curve is super low so casting the spells isn't much of an issue.
I love medalions in storm builds but don't feel like that effect has a slot in a build like this.
Doesn't help that I've reduced the enchantment count
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake