Atraxa In Multiple Formats: Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy - Deck Lists
Atraxa, Grand Unifier is a powerhouse of a card from Magic's newest set - Phyrexia: All Will Be One. The card is powerful enough that it's making a splash in every format where it's legal. From Standard, Pioneer, and Modern to Legacy, Vintage, and Commander, Atraxa is finding success and it's not hard to see why. She's a 7/7 with flying, vigilance, and deathtouch who is capable of drawing you 4-5+ cards when she enters the battlefield.
And that's being completely fair. When you factor in the countless ways to ramp, cheat things into play and abuse enter the battlefield triggers, you've got a downright abusable card and a recipe for success. Today I'll be going over how players are building Atraxa decks in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, and Legacy. Plus, briefly break the decks down and provide some deck lists. So, if you're interested in Atraxa, Grand Unifier
, you've come to the right place. Let's jump right in.
Standard
This deck will look quite familiar to anyone who played with/against Grixis Midrange in Standard. However, it is tweaked to support reanimating Atraxa. It looks to discard Atraxa into the graveyard with Big Score
, Bitter Reunion
, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki
, or Liliana of the Veil
and cheat her into play with either Edgar's Awakening
or The Cruelty of Gix
.
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However, thanks to treasures from Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki and Big Score and mana from singleton copies of Ziatora's Proving Ground
and Raffine's Tower
you can hard cast it as well.
Standard Grixis Atraxa
Main 60 cards (26 distinct)
Lands - 26
Main 60 cards (26 distinct)
Lands - 26
Main 60 cards (26 distinct)
| Creature (11) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.25 | |||
| $21.8015.93 | |||
| $0.16 | |||
| Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (22) | |||
| $8.99€16.2412.04 | |||
| $1.55€1.730.01 | |||
| $0.19€0.110.03 | |||
| $0.96€0.850.01 | |||
| $1.08€0.840.03 | |||
|
2
Abrade
|
|||
| $4.50 | |||
| $0.20€0.280.01 | |||
| $0.25€0.260.03 | |||
| Planeswalker (1) | |||
| $15.70 | |||
| Land (26) | |||
| $4.910.52 | |||
| $5.99 | |||
| $16.50€18.444.24 | |||
| $3.190.61 | |||
| $4.87 | |||
| $5.93 | |||
| $7.75€9.010.72 | |||
| $8.98 | |||
| $2.28 | |||
| $5.25€3.500.83 | |||
| $10.00 | |||
|
1
Swamp
|
$0.88€0.680.04 | ||
| $7.53 | |||
Pioneer
For this build, you want to quickly fill your graveyard with Otherworldly Gaze
, Contingency Plan
, and Tiagam's Scheming. Once your graveyard has at least five cards, you can delve out Tasigur, the Golden Fang
or Hooting Mandrills
, for a single mana. Both of these creatures have a converted mana cost of six - So, casting Neoform
and sacrificing either of them will allow you to bring Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Tyrranax Rex
straight to the battlefield, as early as turn three.
Neo-Traxa (Neoform + Atraxa)
Main 60 cards (19 distinct)
Lands - 22
Main 60 cards (19 distinct)
Lands - 22
Main 60 cards (19 distinct)
| Creature (12) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| $21.8015.93 | |||
| $0.25 | |||
| $0.48€0.260.36 | |||
| $4.500.12 | |||
| Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (26) | |||
| $0.25 | |||
| $3.83 | |||
|
4
Neoform
|
$0.98€0.460.03 | ||
| $0.25€0.330.03 | |||
| $2.50€2.290.03 | |||
| $0.19€0.110.03 | |||
| $8.98€10.753.43 | |||
| Land (22) | |||
| $4.25€2.490.61 | |||
| $36.86 | |||
| $2.86€1.740.20 | |||
| $16.48€15.350.17 | |||
| $4.910.52 | |||
| $29.80€25.613.12 | |||
| $16.50€18.444.24 | |||
| $13.98€13.350.13 | |||
Modern
For Modern, we have a new spin on a classic reanimation deck. Usually, the deck wants to use Goryo's Vengeance
to cheat a Griselbrand
into play after discarding it with Faithful Mending
or Tainted Indulgence
. The concept is the same for this version but with Atraxa, Grand Unifier as the primary target. What makes Atraxa arguably better than Griselbrand is that you get comparable card advantage and don't have to pay life.
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The deck also plays four copies of Epherate which are used to blink Atraxa. This does two things - First, you'll get the enter the battlefield trigger a second time. Next, blinking the card will negate the exile trigger of Goryo's Vengeance, and you'll get to keep Atraxa indefinitely.
The last thing to note here is that the W, U, B, and G color identity she works to evoke Grief
, Solitude
, and Force of Negation
, which gives the deck some great interaction.
Goryo's Vengeance - Atraxa
Main 60 cards (24 distinct)
Lands - 20
Main 60 cards (24 distinct)
Lands - 20
Main 60 cards (24 distinct)
| Creature (14) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| $19.79€22.1714.23 | |||
|
4
Grief
|
$2.59€4.190.06 | ||
| $10.41€11.231.23 | |||
|
4
Solitude
|
$12.57€21.639.30 | ||
| Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (25) | |||
| $4.48 | |||
| $0.60€0.660.03 | |||
| $3.34€1.520.05 | |||
| $12.17€10.772.72 | |||
| $2.46€3.895.73 | |||
| $0.15€0.060.03 | |||
| $0.31€0.530.03 | |||
| $2.25€1.360.03 | |||
| Planeswalker (1) | |||
| $4.14€5.855.39 | |||
| Land (20) | |||
| $12.22€10.971.07 | |||
| $10.50€9.870.07 | |||
| $9.00€9.260.17 | |||
| $17.71 | |||
|
1
Island
|
$25.11 | ||
|
1
Plains
|
$18.35 | ||
| $26.431.07 | |||
| $15.97€13.571.49 | |||
|
1
Swamp
|
$15.07 | ||
| $14.42 | |||
| $13.86€13.390.29 | |||
Legacy
Here we have a Legacy list by recent Pro-Tour winner Reid Duke. The deck is built around using Natural Order
to power out early game Atraxa, Grand Unifier with the help of Noble Heirarch. The same as in Modern, Atraxa really makes it easy to cast free Endurance
and Force of Will
.
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Natural Order Atraxa By Ried Duke
Main 60 cards (26 distinct)
Lands - 20
Main 60 cards (26 distinct)
Lands - 20
Main 60 cards (26 distinct)
| Planeswalker (1) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| $4.14€5.855.39 | |||
| Creature (14) | |||
| $19.79€22.1714.23 | |||
| $8.73€14.027.10 | |||
| $1.25€1.210.09 | |||
| $7.57€5.485.67 | |||
| $10.99€9.160.84 | |||
| $27.83€29.312.20 | |||
| Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (25) | |||
| $11.49€9.390.92 | |||
| $17.74€19.412.09 | |||
|
3
Ponder
|
$2.47€2.31 | ||
| $1.83€1.87 | |||
|
3
Daze
|
$2.38€2.3411.76 | ||
| $57.77€55.7812.45 | |||
| $1.30€1.09 | |||
| $22.89€20.960.03 | |||
| Land (20) | |||
| $3.88€2.87 | |||
| $12.22€10.971.07 | |||
|
1
Karakas
|
$13.88€13.653.39 | ||
| $38.913.55 | |||
|
1
Savannah
|
6.90 | ||
| $0.320.03 | |||
| 14.93 | |||
|
1
Tundra
|
16.00 | ||
| 15.14 | |||
| $13.776.95 | |||
| $9.603.34 | |||
Conclusion
There you have it my friends, Atraxa, Grand Unifer decks in nearly every format possible. I was expecting the card to do work in Commander but I am a little surprised to see it making an impact in so many other formats as well. The Pioneer version may be my favorite of the decks listed here. Comment down below and let me know which one you like the best.
