It takes a minute to realize that when you first
drop Thrax, he's swinging for 7 that very turn,
and 8 the next turn. If your opponent runs
Qasali Pridemage or Eldrazi Spawn tokens, or if
you play Smallpox as a followup, then Thrax gets
much bigger than that, surprisingly fast. And
Black is full of cards like Geth's Verdict,
Barter in Blood, and the various Edicts that you
can fairly easily clear out your opponent's side
of the board and Thrax will reward you for it.
That said, if you don't have ways of making your
opponent sacrifice creatures, then Thraximundar
won't be hitting anyone very hard, given his
lack of evasion. Of course you could argue that
his first triggered ability IS a form of
evasion, as it increases the attrition rate at
which your opponent loses blockers. A player can
only throw so many creatures under the bus
before he runs out, after all. And Thraximundar
is red (the color of "can't block this turn")
and blue (the color of "target creature is
unblockable"), so connecting shouldn't be too
hard if you can keep this guy on the field long
enough.
The name "Thraximundar" is one of the coolest in
the entire Alara block, which makes it rather
unfortunate that some people use him as an
excuse to combine Wheel of Fortune, Demonic
Tutor, and Mana Drain in Commander. If we look
past the colors in his mana cost, though, we see
a creature that's capable of dominating most
settings where he appears, even without vintage
spells. It's a little surprising how many
strategies turn out to involve sacrificing
creatures, and Thraximundar synergizes with the
ones in his colors and strongly punishes the
ones in the other two colors. Violent, abrupt,
devastating, and feeding on death - the perfect
"hero" of Grixis.
Today's card of the day is Thraximundar which
is a seven mana Blue, Black, and Red 6/6 with
Haste that causes an opponent to sacrifice a
creature when it attacks and whenever a player
sacrifices a creature you may put a +1/+1
counter on Thraximundar. This would be a
great card for mono-Black sacrifice, but the
high casting cost and three colors in the
casting cost are noticeable drawbacks as is the
lack of any kind of evasion. The
multicolor nature make this a bit more suited to
Commander style formats than other Constructed
settings, though it can be made more viable when
running dual lands in a mostly Black deck.
In Limited three colors on one card can be
difficult to manage, so if this is in your
Sealed pool or your opening pack in Booster
getting color fixing should be a high priority.
Any sacrifice effects are also more valuable in
a deck with Thraximundar and using any available
in Sealed or drafting after this as a first pick
helps make a somewhat difficult to cast card
worth the effort.
Welcome back to
the card of the day section here at Pojo.com! We
close out our week looking at a favorite of
mine, Thraximundar from Alara Reborn!
Thraximundar is a rare legendary-creature zombie
assassin. Thraximundar is a 6/6 that has haste
and says whenever he attacks, defending player
sacrifices a creature, and whenever a player
sacrifices a creature, you may put a +1/+1
counter on Thraximundar.
His flavor text sums it all up: ‘His name means
“He who paints the Earth red.”’ And that is
exactly what he does. With a properly built
deck, this guy is going to be trashing your
opponent in no time flat. And if you really work
at it, this guy is going to be huge while doing
it. The best thing about some of his abilities
is that he is pumped for creatures you sacrifice
as well as whatever your opponents sacrifice.
Meaning once he is out on the board, you can
feel free to sacrifice your own creatures to a
variety of fun abilities, all while making him
huge! Saproling producers can easily be one of
the greatest means to exploit the sacrifice.
Since so many of the fungi that produce them
have abilities to sacrifice them. But let us not
forget some of Thraximundar’s friends from Alara,
who benefit just as much as Thraximundar does
for things dying. Rockslide Elemental and
Scavenger Drake are my tow favorites to combo
with Thraximundar for some really huge
creatures. The best part of the three out and
working in harmony is where does your opponent
send their removal spell when facing the three
together?
All in all, Thraximundar is going to
require the deck to be built around him to truly
function at optimal performance. But he can also
be a benefit to any zombie deck, or Grixis deck
as well.
