Look, they're reprinting legendary creatures from Shards of-
THRAXIMUNDAR
*ahem* Look, I just think it's cool that-
THRAXIMUNDAAAAR
I'm not ever going to talk to you if-
THRAXIMUNDAAAAAAAAR
...
THRAXIMUNDAR
TheBossHammer
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(4 votes)
I've been using this guy as a commander for about a year now, and he's terrifying. If you run him, DO NOT RUN HIM AS ZOMBIE TRIBAL. As much as he likes Zombie support, and as much as he loves zombies that buff him, he doesn't like bad zombies. Bring the good ones, do not try to jam bad ones into your deck.
In my experience, he runs best with as many cards that steal your opponent's creatures as possible and a good sacrifice outlet, such as Ashnod's Altar. Steal your opponent's team using Insurrection, punch them with it, then sacrifice all of their creatures to make Thrax gigantic and swing for game on the next turn. You either win by raw damage or commander damage, almost every time. The tough part is lasting long enough to get the required mana for Insurrection without getting Thrax blown away, but spells like Traitorous Instinct and buddies like Grimgrin, Corpse-Born make it easy to take down all of the creatures other than the one that inevitably has shroud or hexproof, and Thrax's ability will take care of that one if you can deal with the others.
The biggest problem he has is a slow early game. Above all else, if Kaalia of the Vast is in the game, for the love of all that is holy, do not let her swing at you defenseless or you'll end up with a Master of Cruelties plopped onto the field beside her and you're dead. It's happened to me more than once.
Also, Rooftop storm will let you play Thrax and Grimgrin for free, though Thrax's commander cost will still need to be paid after the first time.
Oh...and don't tell anybody I mentioned this, but... Rooftop Storm + Gravecrawler + Grimgrin + Thrax = GG, and throw in Diregraf Captain to seal the deal, though you don't really need Grimgrin and Thrax for that. You'll lose friends if it goes off.
So I bought the Planeswalker's Guide to Alara earlier this year. I'd always loved Thraximundar just from the card, even though I didn't know anything about him.
Now I know.
Thraximundar is a seven foot tall zombie warrior who rides a Dreg Reaver, clambering across Grixis with a monstrous Greatsword. He follows no allegiance, fighting purely for the sheer slaughter, killing both sides alike.
That's just awesome.
As for the card, I've always loved him, since he comboes well with ANY sacrifice ability. It's a shame he wasn't Jund tbh due to the amount of saccing that'd be going on, but he's pretty close.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So I just played my first game with these decks:
Pro-Tip: Do not be the Grixis Guy challenging the Esper Deck to 1 v 1. Don't.
The Esper deck has way too much lifegain. Because I thought he looked cool and exciting, I chose to play as Nekusar, he chose to play as Sydri.
1. None of his more interesting creatures and spells used their 'neato' Johnny abilities. They didn't have to. Esper deck comes with plenty of Lifelink, Deathtouch, +1/+1 counters, and that one particular Well artifact basically shuts down Nekusar and turned my own deck into his best resource. Sphinx of the Steel Wind beat the ever living hell out of me and he gained more than enough life to support himself because of Filigree Angel.
2. The decks were fresh-out-box, so hastily shuffled, and I declared that since we were about to be late for dinner and wanted to get the game done kind of fast, we should start with the rule that you can play 1 non-basic land AND 1 basic land a turn. He calculated more accurately that the decks were 40% land instead of my hastily assumed 30% land, so his pre-game shuffling was better, and this did make the early game already look bad for me, but in truth even though he gained land advantage, by the time he gained board and card advantage on me, I was at a perfectly reasonably land set up myself. I had played Prosperity and Skyscribing, so I had plenty of opportunity to draw into good things. I just did not draw into good enough things. The lands aren't an excuse, it was that his creatures were way better than my spells.
4. If you want to play Commander 2013 out of the box, and you want to play Grixis vs. Esper, I strongly recommend putting Thraximundar in the Command Zone. The Artifact Deck is so Boss that I feel an all-out assault that ignores subtlety and strategy for Maximum Brute Force is where your hope lies. He was able to beat me with Sphinx of the Steel Wind, because I had to use my best removal on Sharuum, and BOTH Sphinxes were essentially "Blue-White Artifact Shivan Dragons' in terms of what impact their card texts had on the game. This was more than good enough to put Nekusar on the Defensive, and Propaganda + Fog Bank turned out to just not be enough Defense.
I tried to make full use of the abilities of the two Legendary creatures I DID have, and he was able to freely just turn things sideways at me for the win. I feel if I'd been able to get a Thraximundar on board, things would have gone very differently.
The game was FUN! even though I lost BADLY xD I'm just letting people know what to expect and to help them figure out which Generals are good and why:
The Esper Deck can triumph equally well in Duel or Multiplayer, but I think the Grixis Deck doesn't stand a ghost of a chance 1.v.1. UNLESS it runs Thrax as its Commander.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE GAME, IN ONE SENTENCE: THRAXIMUNDAR is Grixis' answer to SPHINX OF THE STEEL WIND.
Thraximundar is a great commander. Well, I am assuming he is. I have yet to use him in my commander deck because I am still waiting in a few cards to come in the mail, but when I do my friends will hate it. I can already see how it will play out. It's turn 7, I play Thraximundar, my opponent has 2 creatures out. My opponent has to sac one creature and then must block with the other. From then on I can't lose! 5/5 all the way!
RetroGamer3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have played with this guy as my commander many times and he is one of the best if you make the deck -not- Zombie tribal. In fact I have no zombies of any kind in my deck. Use red for artifact removal, Black for sac and creature kill then blue for draw. Oh and lotz of mana rocks for ramp. I have yet to lose.
Comments (8)
THRAXIMUNDAR
*ahem* Look, I just think it's cool that-
THRAXIMUNDAAAAR
I'm not ever going to talk to you if-
THRAXIMUNDAAAAAAAAR
...
THRAXIMUNDAR
In my experience, he runs best with as many cards that steal your opponent's creatures as possible and a good sacrifice outlet, such as Ashnod's Altar. Steal your opponent's team using Insurrection, punch them with it, then sacrifice all of their creatures to make Thrax gigantic and swing for game on the next turn. You either win by raw damage or commander damage, almost every time. The tough part is lasting long enough to get the required mana for Insurrection without getting Thrax blown away, but spells like Traitorous Instinct and buddies like Grimgrin, Corpse-Born make it easy to take down all of the creatures other than the one that inevitably has shroud or hexproof, and Thrax's ability will take care of that one if you can deal with the others.
The biggest problem he has is a slow early game. Above all else, if Kaalia of the Vast is in the game, for the love of all that is holy, do not let her swing at you defenseless or you'll end up with a Master of Cruelties plopped onto the field beside her and you're dead. It's happened to me more than once.
Also, Rooftop storm will let you play Thrax and Grimgrin for free, though Thrax's commander cost will still need to be paid after the first time.
Oh...and don't tell anybody I mentioned this, but... Rooftop Storm + Gravecrawler + Grimgrin + Thrax = GG, and throw in Diregraf Captain to seal the deal, though you don't really need Grimgrin and Thrax for that. You'll lose friends if it goes off.
Now I know.
Thraximundar is a seven foot tall zombie warrior who rides a Dreg Reaver, clambering across Grixis with a monstrous Greatsword. He follows no allegiance, fighting purely for the sheer slaughter, killing both sides alike.
That's just awesome.
As for the card, I've always loved him, since he comboes well with ANY sacrifice ability. It's a shame he wasn't Jund tbh due to the amount of saccing that'd be going on, but he's pretty close.
Pro-Tip: Do not be the Grixis Guy challenging the Esper Deck to 1 v 1. Don't.
The Esper deck has way too much lifegain. Because I thought he looked cool and exciting, I chose to play as Nekusar, he chose to play as Sydri.
1. None of his more interesting creatures and spells used their 'neato' Johnny abilities. They didn't have to. Esper deck comes with plenty of Lifelink, Deathtouch, +1/+1 counters, and that one particular Well artifact basically shuts down Nekusar and turned my own deck into his best resource.
Sphinx of the Steel Wind beat the ever living hell out of me and he gained more than enough life to support himself because of Filigree Angel.
2. The decks were fresh-out-box, so hastily shuffled, and I declared that since we were about to be late for dinner and wanted to get the game done kind of fast, we should start with the rule that you can play 1 non-basic land AND 1 basic land a turn. He calculated more accurately that the decks were 40% land instead of my hastily assumed 30% land, so his pre-game shuffling was better, and this did make the early game already look bad for me, but in truth even though he gained land advantage, by the time he gained board and card advantage on me, I was at a perfectly reasonably land set up myself. I had played Prosperity and Skyscribing, so I had plenty of opportunity to draw into good things. I just did not draw into good enough things. The lands aren't an excuse, it was that his creatures were way better than my spells.
3. I had the experience of Jeleva-ing my own True-Name Nemesis AND my Vampire Nighthawk, and Augur of Bolas-ing my own Thraximundar. May this never happen to you.
4. If you want to play Commander 2013 out of the box, and you want to play Grixis vs. Esper, I strongly recommend putting Thraximundar in the Command Zone. The Artifact Deck is so Boss that I feel an all-out assault that ignores subtlety and strategy for Maximum Brute Force is where your hope lies. He was able to beat me with Sphinx of the Steel Wind, because I had to use my best removal on Sharuum, and BOTH Sphinxes were essentially "Blue-White Artifact Shivan Dragons' in terms of what impact their card texts had on the game. This was more than good enough to put Nekusar on the Defensive, and Propaganda + Fog Bank turned out to just not be enough Defense.
I tried to make full use of the abilities of the two Legendary creatures I DID have, and he was able to freely just turn things sideways at me for the win. I feel if I'd been able to get a Thraximundar on board, things would have gone very differently.
Also Cradle of Vitality + Sphinx of the Steel Wind is the dumbest thing you will ever see one Pre-Con Deck do to another.
The game was FUN! even though I lost BADLY xD I'm just letting people know what to expect and to help them figure out which Generals are good and why:
The Esper Deck can triumph equally well in Duel or Multiplayer, but I think the Grixis Deck doesn't stand a ghost of a chance 1.v.1. UNLESS it runs Thrax as its Commander.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE GAME, IN ONE SENTENCE:
THRAXIMUNDAR is Grixis' answer to SPHINX OF THE STEEL WIND.
-Swag_Crow
I have yet to lose.