Thraximundar was a Commander that excited me so much when he came out that he simply assumed command of what was a Garza Zol, Plague Queen deck. I
don’t know when he fell out of favor, but I haven’t played him in a long time, and the deck had gotten relegated to the frosty exile of the box in the
closet. I carry the decks I’m currently playing in one of those six-slot Ultra Pro cases (the cards fit standing up instead of on their sides, which I
really appreciate), and poor Thrax wasn’t even making that cut. I’m not even sure why. I figured that it was time to dust him off, update him, and
start running him again.
Before I get to that, I’ll tell you that I made a decision for the upcoming Armada Games EDH League 9, which starts this week: No Kresh. I know I might
go through a little withdrawal, but I know I’m not the only one who has gotten bored with “Fling Kresh at your head for 50, Stalking Vengeance also
triggers…” So for the next eight weeks, the Bloodbraided will watch from the sidelines. I’m going to try to push my comfort envelope a little more,
like with the Isperia deck from a while back, but I’m probably not going to enter the pure control arena any time soon. Being anything other than
proactive makes me anxious.
The next few weeks look busy. I’ll be HJing GP Dallas/Fort Worth, which takes a fair amount of time to prep for, what with making schedules and the
like (swing by to say hey if you’re there), and it’s tax time, plus we have a few social engagements, so it’ll probably be Week 5 or so before I have
new technology, but I promise to try to bring something new to the table before this League’s end.
Garza Zol is never far from my mind while playing a Grixis deck; she stayed around and even suggested the deck’s theme: Vampires. Not the glittery,
fall-in-love-with-homely-teenager kind but the dark, mean, enjoy-your-suffering kind. You’ll see that it’s not Vampires All The Way (not enough for
Captivating Vampire shenanigans, for example), but with twelve of them and a small proliferate subtheme, plague will be spread. I flirted a little with
making this a Grixis Meandeck, but that’s not really my style.
CREATURES (24)
Anowon, the Ruin Sage: Keeping dudes under control is great, and the fact that this buffs up Thrax doesn’t hurt.
Blood Tyrant: In all the times I’ve seen this guy in play (I still remember the first time we played Planechase; we got stuck on the copy plane, and
there were like seventeen Blood Tyrants on the battlefield), I don’t recall ever seeing his second ability trigger. It’ll be a dream to live.
Butcher of Malakir: Further help with creature control and fostering the Thrax theme—which I didn’t want to really go overboard with. I’ve seen loads
of Thraximundar decks where nearly every card had the word “sacrifice” on it, and I just didn’t want to tread too many familiar paths.
Carnifex Demon: He’s new and exciting and goes with the proliferate subtheme.
Clone: He’s just good.
Dimir Cutpurse: This guy is a holdover from previous versions of Garza Zol. There’s not much card draw in the deck, so I figured I’d need a little, but
I need to consider some ways, like maybe Rise from the Grave, to take advantage of his other ability.
Draining Whelk: I’m rarely content to play raw counters, and this guy is really, really swingy.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: Creature control with potential big beatings is the kind of ‘combo’ I’d prefer to play.
Duplicant: Ulamog. DSC. BSC. You know the list.
Garza Zol, Plague Queen: Hasty card draw, Garza Zol honestly makes a great Commander choice. Even when she got usurped in this deck—which is nearly
unrecognizable from its original incarnation—she’s good enough to stick around.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: I’m a fan of hanging onto this guy until the control deck guy Wraths and follows up with a fatty.
Kulrath Knight: There are lots of creatures with counters on them these days, and this takes advantage of the subtheme.
Malakir Bloodwitch: I really don’t have too many ways to make this as good as he could be, but the drain (which applies to each opponent, not a target)
and life gain, even in small doses, help.
Nightscape Battlemage: I didn’t get around to finding a Wasteland, Tectonic Edge, or Dust Bowl (although I guess I really should), so this guy is
control for the lands that are slightly out of control, Cabal Coffers being the most recent favorite that everyone seems to be running. Actually,
before I play this, I’m probably going to go find a Dust Bowl and seriously consider a few other cards: Trench Wurm, Dwarven Miner, Ravenous Baboons,
or even a classic like Avalanche Riders.
Pawn of Ulamog: I had no idea this guy was a Vampire.
Reiver Demon: Kill your guys but not mine? Deal.
Shadowmage Infiltrator: Card draw, especially early in the game. Later, he’s not so good.
Solemn Simulacrum: Insert new, more salacious Anna Torv reference here.
Vampire Aristocrat: The third, and of course trendiest, version of this card to be printed, Nantuko Husk and Phyrexian Ghoul being the other two. I’ve
previously mentioned that I really like outlets to sacrifice my stuff to so that it doesn’t get stolen, and this is one of them. If I were to go with
the full Vampire theme, Bloodthrone Vampire and Viscera Seer would definitely be part of that package (although I hate the Seer’s art—it looks like it
came from a True Blood still).
Vampire Nighthawk: Deathtouch is a little underrated in the format, or maybe a little underused. I can’t think of the last time I saw an attacker
killed with deathtouch. Sure, stuff chump blocks Wurmcoil Engine or Grave Titan on occasion, but I guess having small, flying guys with the ability
will keep people off your back.
Vampire Hexmage: Die, planeswalker, die!
Vein Drinker: Â An additional example of a little creature control with some later savagery, I only play this creature because it’s a Vampire, making me
question the choice a little—but I have a foil Japanese one, so it must be played!
Vexing Sphinx: Â Another holdover from the original Garza Zol deck, Vexing Sphinx might not be a great choice for this deck. The original idea was to
pitch dudes to the cumulative upkeep for a big Living Death later, but such a small commitment to that idea probably merits some reconsideration. Rules
Tip: letting go of your cumulative upkeep is a sacrifice, so once again, Thraximundar gets better.
Withered Wretch: In addition to being the dollar-rare format, this is the ‘live out of your graveyard’ format. The Wretch is close to an auto-include
in any black deck.
ARTIFACTS (12)
Armillary Sphere: Gettin’ some lands.
Contagion Clasp: Obviously, part of the proliferate theme.
Contagion Engine: Ditto and just a good control card anyway.
Darksteel Ingot: $2+ foil commons is one of the side effects of this format.
Darksteel Plate: The new-and-improved Shield of Kaldra.
Fellwar Stone: Back in the founding days of the format, I realized that this was a good card; the more opponents, the better. I don’t see it played
much anymore, but that’s probably because there are good choices that might not end up empty.
Lotus Bloom: I got a foil one, so I stuck it in the deck. I guess a little early explosion couldn’t hurt.
Scrabbling Claws: I play Scrabbling Claws; someone inevitably says, “Why not Relic of Progenitus?” and I inevitably respond that I like my own
graveyard.
Skullclamp: This must just be a good-stuff inclusion, since I’m not really spitting out bunches of tokens to sacrifice. Still, even if you only draw
twice off of it before it gets blown up (and it deserves to get blown up), it has paid dividends.
Sol Ring: I know there’s a small subset of folks who call for it all the time, but the Rules Committee has never had a serious discussion on banning
Sol Ring.
Sword of Fire and Ice: There’s so much blue getting played that putting this on a black creature makes it nearly immune to targeted removal (wonder how
long it will take someone to respond with Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile?).
Wayfarer’s Bauble: Searching up lands is better than artifact mana if you want to play the long game.
SORCERIES (14)
Beacon of Unrest: It’s amusing when someone goes “let me see your graveyard” and everyone else says “Beacon!” Folks often forget that this can also get
an artifact.
Black Sun’s Zenith: You already know how good this and the blue one are. I think there’s some dissent about the green one; the red one is ‘meh,’ and
I’m going to try to work the white one into my Rith deck to complement Decree of Justice.
Chainer’s Edict: Sacrifice theme, flashback theme.
Damnation: I thought about playing Plague Wind instead, but I think I’d rather have the cheaper thing for when the board gets scary.
Decree of Pain: If you’re playing any kind of black control, this is one you really can’t live without.
Demonic Tutor: Dittoes.
Diabolic Tutor: Double dittoes.
Living Death: Still my favorite card in Magic. Usable as an emergency Wrath early in the game or to follow up someone else’s Wrath later. It doesn’t
appear maximized in this deck, since I don’t have any mass haste effects, although bringing back a pile of Vampires including Malakir Bloodwitch seems
okay.
Phthisis: The first of three cards meant to punish indestructible fatties, especially Blightsteel Colossus and Ulamog. I’ve rarely suspended it, since
it’s a much better late-game card.
Reanimate: So cheap, so good.
Syphon Mind: Another holdover from the original deck, it’s a card that should draw more displeasure than it does. I think when you cast it, people go
“Yeah, okay. I’d cast that too if I had it, so it’s fine.”
Time Warp: As with Mindslaver, I think once is fine. It’s recurring it that makes it problematic. Speaking of which, I played a casual game with this
deck the other day, and Ben McDole Slavered me, used the Tutor in my hand to get this, then give himself an extra turn. I guess that’s what I get for
playing it.
Twisted Justice: I’ve been in and out with this card since it came out. It’s great post-Wrath when people usually have only one, fairly big dude, but
it’s often a dead draw when they have small utility creatures (like Eternal Witness).
Zombify: Loves my graveyard.
INSTANTS (8)
Agonizing Demise: Anti-giant fatty number two. Another card I’ve been playing since the earliest days of the format, it’s a game-changer.
Backlash: And now we come to it. The win-the-lottery moment with this card will be someone cheating out BSC early, and my having this in my hand. I
think that Delirium might be a better version, since there’s no targeting restriction (this will get countered if they somehow tap their dude), but
when I went looking, I couldn’t find a Delirium, so I grabbed this. I wonder if playing both might be worth it.
Cerebral Vortex: A little emergency card draw, but this is definitely more for the “draw most of my deck” guy. If I were to Greater Good away Lord of
Extinction and someone were to kill me with this, I would definitely think it’s one of the cooler ways to go.
Disperse: Sometimes, you just need a little time.
Evacuation: It’s great that it’s an instant, but it’s even better in the format IMO because it wipes out tokens.
Overwhelming Intellect: Countering a big creature is even tastier when you get to draw cards off of it.
Read the Runes: I think I said a few weeks back in some other deck, and in a vacuum, that I’d probably replace this with Blue Sun’s Zenith, but in this
deck, it helps with Thraximundar.
Whispers of the Muse: With buyback.
ENCHANTMENTS (2)
Fevered Convulsions: My one “WTF is that?” card that I know everyone is going to have to read. Probably a little spendier than it’s actually worth.
We’ll see.
Phyrexian Arena: Life is for the weak. Cards are for the strong.
LAND (39)
Blood Crypt
Bojuka Bog
Crosis’s Catacombs
Crumbling Necropolis
Island 6
Izzet Boilerworks
Jwar Isle Refuge
Mountain 5
Reliquary Tower
Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
Spinerock Knoll
Steam Vents
Swamp 14
Tainted Isle
Tainted Peak
Temple of the False God
Watery Grave
This deck has in it the flexibility to be the beatdown and enough elements of control to play the long game. I think the only question is whether it
can stand up to the decks that come out of the game really fast. I’m sure that I’ll play it a few times and remember a few cards that I should have put
in, but that’s what the evolution of a deck is all about.
I’ll let you know next week how this does as we dive into League 9. We’ll also discuss the March Banned List update and how it helps us all Embrace the
Chaos.Â