Overview:

This Atraxa, Grand Unifier deck is a midrange control build focused on proliferating counters, leveraging planeswalker ultimates, and poisoning opponents. The commander serves as a card advantage engine, exploiting its ETB to refuel with multiple card types. The deck combines stax elements (Phyrexian Censor), board wipes (Farewell, Wrath of God), and proliferate synergies (Karn’s Bastion, Experimental Augury) to control the game while building toward win conditions like poison counters, planeswalker emblems (Ajani, Vraska), and overwhelming Praetor value via Realmbreaker. Atraxa is a key value piece but not strictly essential, as the deck can pivot to alternate threats like Elesh Norn or Vorinclex.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Prioritize ramp (Farseek, Cultivate) and stax pieces (Authority of the Consuls, Phyrexian Censor). Deploy planeswalkers (Teferi, Time Raveler; Ajani) or value creatures (Glissa Sunslayer) to establish incremental advantage.
2. Midgame Control (Turns 5-7): Cast Atraxa to refill on card types, then use proliferate effects (Karn’s Bastion, Cankerbloom) to accelerate planeswalker loyalty or poison counters. Deploy haymakers like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Sheoldred, Whispering One to pressure opponents.
3. Win Conditions (Turns 7+):
   • Poison: Stack poison via Prologue to Phyresis, Infectious Inquiry, and proliferate.
   • Planeswalker Ultimates: Use Doubling Season or Deepglow Skate to instantly activate Vraska’s emblem or Ajani’s poison engine.
   • Praetor Overload: Activate Realmbreaker to flood the board with Praetors.
   • Triskaidekaphile: Leverage Atraxa’s card draw to hit 13 cards in hand.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands (including color-fixing like Command Tower) and early ramp/proliferate enablers (Cankerbloom, Karn’s Bastion).
• Prioritize interaction (Counterspell, Path to Exile) in metas with fast combo.
• Avoid hands with only high-CMC bombs and no ramp.

Key Tips:

• Use Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines to double Atraxa’s ETB and other value triggers.
• Time board wipes (Farewell) after deploying Rest in Peace to exile graveyards permanently.
• Spark Double copying Vorinclex or a planeswalker can create game-ending value.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Slow setup: High curve and limited fast mana make the deck vulnerable to aggressive strategies.
• Anti-synergy traps: Rest in Peace disrupts Atraxa’s graveyard recursion (Sheoldred, Eternal Wanderer) and Realmbreaker’s land theft.

Moderate

• Counter-heavy metas: Limited protection for key pieces beyond Disallow/Negate.
• Artifact/enchantment hate: Doubling Season, Realmbreaker, and Oath of Teferi are critical and easily targeted.

Minor

• Flyer evasion: Relies on Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Archon of Absolution to block aerial threats.
• Poison inconsistency: Only 5 direct poison sources, requiring heavy proliferate support.

Most Important Cards:

• Doubling Season (Enables instant planeswalker ultimates and amplifies counters)
• Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree (Game-ending Praetor tutor)
• Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider (Doubles proliferate output and cripples opponents’ counters)
• Teferi’s Protection (Protects against board wipes and combos)
• Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines (Doubles ETB value and disrupts opponents)
• Rest in Peace (Shuts down graveyard strategies and synergizes with Farewell)
• Farewell (Flexible reset button for most board states)
• Deepglow Skate (Accelerates planeswalkers and +1/+1 counter strategies)
• Triskaidekaphile (Alternate win condition)
• Phyrexian Censor (Slows down non-Phyrexian decks)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• Wins typically occur around turns 8-10 via incremental poison, ultimates, or Praetor swarms. Limited fast mana outside Sol Ring.

Resilience: 7/10

• Multiple board wipes, protection (Teferi’s Protection), and recursion (Sheoldred) mitigate threats, but key engines are fragile.

Consistency: 6/10

• Atraxa’s ETB and proliferate provide steady value, but tutors are sparse outside Realmbreaker and planar Genesis.

Interaction: 7/10

• Robust suite of counterspells, targeted removal, and stax pieces, but lacks stack interaction beyond blue instants.

Rating Justification:

The deck’s reliance on high-CMC threats and slow poison/proliferate wincons caps its speed at optimized casual levels (T8-10), while its resilience and interaction suite elevate it above precons. It lacks the fast combo redundancy or mana efficiency for higher tiers.

Power level: 5.5 - 6.0