MTG Salvation

I've been working on a Phyrexian deck for a bit, and I've found myself stuck at a point where I'm spinning my wheels. I'm down to where I need to cut between 8-20 cards and tighten up the focus of the deck, but I find myself cutting out chaff, then reworking what packages I have in the deck and adding different cards to compensate, adding and cutting over and over again. I feel like i'm not able to find the perfect balance of which parts of the deck to focus on and which to let go of. I believe an outside perspective would kick me in the butt in the proper direction. All constructive critiques are most welcome!

The limitations on the theme that I am using are cards that fit within at least one of the following categories:

• Either New Phyrexian or Old Phyrexian
• All Phyrexian watermarked
• Phyrexian creatures/places/references in the art
• Phyrexian-related, referenced, or spoken quotes in the flavor text
• Specifically Phyrexian-themed sets or blocks (Such as the Invasion block)
• Any of the above, but with direct Phyrexian allies (Volrath, Rathi, etc.) instead of Phyrexian
• Generic spells that fit no specific theme/set (Such as Braingeyser)

My only exceptions to this have been the mana-base. Until there are are some on-theme triple or all-color lands, i'm using what's available.

Now to get down to the nitty-gritty;


The deck, should it work correctly, will slowly burn away your opponents with drain and group-slug effects, much like a spreading sickness. Additionally, it also has flavor of the sleeper agents, turning opponents against each other or causing political mischief where it can.

The strategy:
I've purposely avoided infect as in 1v1 it's a bit unfair, and in multiplayer it usually quickly turns into archenemy. Infect itself isn't that interesting to me personally as a strategy. Originally I had started building this deck as an Atraxa deck, but her greatest strength on-theme lies in infect, and I found the builds lacking. Ramos, however, lends himself perfectly to the deck, allowing red to bring in awesome cards such as Tsabo Tavok and the missing Preator. He also provides explosive ramp. As such, I selected cheap cast cards that were multi-color whenever possible to quickly build up his counters. To facilitate this, I also included a lot of draw to speed through the cheap spells and build Ramos up fast, enabling another quick round of spells to go off (If cards are available) or to drop a quick fattie on the board easily.

To take advantage of the card draw, I focused on group-slug mechanics that trigger off of draws, such as Psychosis Crawler and Underworld Dreams. Depending on how the board state is set up, a Blue Sun's Zenith or Braingeyser can be targeted either on yourself or an opponent to close out the game. I've included additional group-slug support to bolster and speed the game along, as well as provide a form of control in the game with cards like Suture Priest and Isolation Cell

The rest of the cards support a political control style of play, using politicking and fear to keep threats off of you or diverted with cards such as Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, No Mercy, and Smoldering Tar.

Tutors:
Birthing Pod will allow for tutoring up answers when needed, or as a method to chain into one of the Preators (with the exception of Jin due to the lack of 9 CMC phyrexians). Podding a 2 CMC into Deceiver Exarch can immediately allow you to pod into Atraxa, Metamorph, or Obliterator as needed as well. Guided Passage is a great political tutor for 3 cards, which you can use to strike deals with players or find answers when another player is ahead. At worst, it's still a 3 card advantage that places +3 counters on our commander for 3 cmc. Not a bad deal.

Ramp:
Phyrexian ramp is rather weak, so I've concentrated on using Ramos as the main ramp and left lands at 40 to try to ensure a land for turn every turn.

Combos:
The main combos involve casting out Phyrexian Unlife with Melira, Sylvok Outcast to be unable to lose to any kind of damage or lifeloss, allowing your group slugs to tick away the last pieces of the board, or swapping 0 life with an opponent using Soul Conduit.

Currently the deck sits at 17 cards over the limit. I've cut the cards down several times, but always end up not liking my result and keep coming back to this list to retry. I've been working at it for a while and feel like I need to take a step back and get some outside input. A fresh set of eyes would be most welcome to help. Thank you for taking the time to look at this and I appreciate all of your input!

So i think the most help I need with here is in identifying what I need to work on focusing on in this deck and what themes/packages i have too much of. I don't necessarily need anyone to point out specific cards, but helping me to learn to identify what/how to make the decisions on what I should cut out myself would be a huge help.

I've only been playing commander for a little over a year now, so I'm still trying to learn and grow in identifying deck building strategies. Any insights to guide me on this would be great. Thanks!