Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice | Art by Victor Adame Minguez

Hello everyone. My name is Jonathan and today we're giving some new toys to a very well-known commander. In fact, thanks to the newest cards released within the Final Fantasy products, we can take Atraxa, Praetors' VoiceAtraxa, Praetors' Voice and shake things up a bit. So, let's see which cards can potentially find a home under the second most popular commander ever printed.

There are actually quite a lot of cards that can fit in the AtraxaAtraxa shell, especially because one of the preconstructed decks actually focuses on counters and proliferation and, most importantly, it's in Bant colors (). This means that today's general can take advantage of all of these new pieces and put them to extremely good use. We can find some goodies in the main set too.

New Cards for Atraxa: Early Game and Development

The new additions give me a more go-wide feeling, but they do so in a peculiar way. In fact, there aren't that many cards that we want to play as soon as possible, but the ones we get are good. Sazh's ChocoboSazh's Chocobo is just a little guy that can grow quite large if we deploy it during the earlier turns. Conformer ShurikenConformer Shuriken allows us to get swinging very early, although our creatures get on the board quite small. Lastly, Sphere GridSphere Grid is simply a good card all-around, but the sooner we play it, the better.

But, as I've just mentioned, this part of the game is not the one where the most changes occurred. Instead, we see more innovation as we cross the bridge to the mid game; here, Yuna's WhistleYuna's Whistle can be a crucial turning point, as a good hit with this card can substantially shake our board. At the same time, Lord Jyscal GuadoLord Jyscal Guado is the perfect option for the developing stage of the game. Our deck is built around having creatures enter with +1/+1 counters on them, which means we're basically guaranteed a Clue token every turn. Similarly, Shelinda, Yevon AcolyteShelinda, Yevon Acolyte helps our creatures grow faster, allowing them to quickly surpass their awkard small-stats phase.

More or less at the same time, we want to be deploying other creatures that quicken our construction phase and get us to the later stages of the game. That's where this deck shines, because proliferate slowly-but-steadily adds power and toughness to our board. This means we'll eventually become the scariest player at the table, but we also need some time to conclude our metamorphosis.

In the meantime, Tromell, Seymour's ButlerTromell, Seymour's Butler can give a substantial boost to the turns in which we focus on deploying more creatures, and they get even better if we have one leftover mana to proliferate with. Rosa, Resolute White MageRosa, Resolute White Mage also covers a similar role, making sure all of our minions have a counter put on them and matching the requirement for the several cards that check if we did so at the end of the turn. Last but not least, Wakka, Devoted GuardianWakka, Devoted Guardian combines artifact removal, its own growing stats, and a go-wide pump in a perfect fashion.

New Cards for Atraxa: Mid Game

What about the truly grindy central part of the games? Well, look no further than Tidus, Yuna's GuardianTidus, Yuna's Guardian, whose second ability allows us to proliferate an additional time each turn, having a huge impact on a fairly developed board state. And don't get me started on Maester SeymourMaester Seymour, which we want to deploy at a very specific moment of the game. More precisely, when we have a big enough board that its monstrosity will be impactful, but not too late, as we won't have many creatures enter the battlefield after it. When in doubt, play it early though. In Italy we say "chi troppo vuole nulla stringe" (literally translated as "those who too much want, nothing hold"); so, if we wait too much for the "perfect board," we might never get the opportunity to play it!

But the crown of mid-game king goes to Gogo, Master of MimicryGogo, Master of Mimicry; just picture this: you finish the turn with six unspent mana, AtraxaAtraxa triggers, you activate GogoGogo and get three more instances of proliferate. That's what dreams are made of.

We're crossing one more bridge, getting to the closing moments of the game, and Yuna, Grand SummonerYuna, Grand Summoner is the perfect companion for such situations. It still can add to our army, functioning as a mana generator that also bestows +1/+1 counters, but it also makes sure we recycle the added bonuses present on our creatures. This attention to dying creatures is crucial when removals start to fly, as we want to avoid getting back to the drawing board too often.

Covering a similar role, we have Protection MagicProtection Magic, a simple but efficient instant that defends our creatures from aggression in a counter-based way; this means we can play it in the end step before our turn and then proceed to build a pile of shield counters, creating de facto indestructible creatures. To complete this defensive triad of cards, Zack FairZack Fair is a card we may want to play earlier than the others. While it's good on fully-developed boards, we also want it to grow a bit before sacrificing it; once more, choosing the right moment to play it will be crucial to fully taking advantage of its power.

In a similar fashion to these last cards discussed, The Earth CrystalThe Earth Crystal shines if played at the right moment, for we want to make the absolute most out of it. For this reason, I think it's worth missing out on some mana reduction if it means getting to have it multiply a higher number of counters. Additionally, the activated ability is good, although not great; who would say no to some counters, if you have some leftover mana? In the same category falls Lulu, Stern GuardianLulu, Stern Guardian. Its triggered ability functions as a deterrent for incoming opposing creatures, as they would never untap through ever-proliferating stun counters. Proliferation is precisely the reason why we want to play this card later than you'd expect: having access to a repeatable, not-so-expensive, proliferate ability isn't something you come across every day, so we might as well respect it as we should.

Lastly, in this mid-to-late stages of the game we want to deploy Sazh KatzroySazh Katzroy. While its ramping ability might come in handy earlier, we really want the counter doubling effect to be as impactful as possible, perhaps setting up a lethal attack. Hence, we might opt in favor of sandbagging this card a bit if it means we're smacking our opponents in the face for game-ending damage.

New Cards for Atraxa: Late Game

What happens in the late game? Well, I have the right cards for you. O'aka, Traveling MerchantO'aka, Traveling Merchant will make sure we never run out of cards, while not taking away too much from our comp. In fact, playing it sooner would hurt our development, as creatures wouldn't get the opportunity to grow enough to become threatening. Speaking of closing out the game, Rikku, Resourceful GuardianRikku, Resourceful Guardian can easily take advantage of the many ways we have to put counters on our creatures, granting us the chance to connect with them in combat. The second ability might also come into play often, as counters of any kind are widespread through all kinds of decks.

If you're looking for a card to get the job done quick and easy, look no further than Chocobo KnightsChocobo Knights, because a lot of counters make for a lethal attacker, but a lot of counters and double strike will end the game in a blink of an eye.

There's one last card I haven't discussed yet, because I'm really not sure about its inclusion: that's Jenova, Ancient CalamityJenova, Ancient Calamity. On one hand, I can see the appeal of this card; it's a sweet target for counters, which he can also grant to other creatures, making it a very good mid game tech, taking advantage of the developing stages of the game with its respectable toughness. On the other hand, we're missing out on some good value without being able to trigger its second ability. In fact, it seems manufactured for sacrifice decks, and we currently don't run any of those effects. It could be seen as an insurance against blockers, but it would mean relying on a pretty niche scenario. All in all, it really needs more testing; if we're able to make our Mutants die consistently on our turns, then it's a homerun of a card. If not, it might still be salvageable, but we need to understand how much work is needed to make it become more than a slightly better anthem effect.

The Impact of The New Cards

At the end of the day, what changes with the approach of Final Fantasy? Well, quite a lot for AtraxaAtraxa, I would say.

First of all, most of the new cards seem to find their home in the middle stages of the game, with the internal differences we've discussed in the previous section. What really will make them shine is a correct sequencing: choosing which ones to play at what time is the key to flowing game pattern.

Some of them are best suited for the space right after the first few turns, when we've perhaps ramped a bit and we're ready to enter full-development mode. These are cards such as Shelinda, Yevon AcolyteShelinda, Yevon Acolyte, Tromell, Seymour's ButlerTromell, Seymour's Butler, or Rosa, Resolute White MageRosa, Resolute White Mage. All of them will grind value over the course of multiple turns, so we want to play them as soon as possible to get the most out of them. Nonetheless, they're useless if they aren't combined with a decent board state, so that's the goal we want to achieve before we transition to this stage of the game

On the other hand, some cards need to be played a bit later to get the most out of them. A glaring example is Gogo, Master of MimicryGogo, Master of Mimicry. This card is clearly powerful in our deck, which is based around AtraxaAtraxa's end step triggered ability. Still, we need to play it and untap with it, which might become difficult as soon as our opponents realize how good it is. Hence, to optimize our chances of activating it, we want to have it in play only when we're ready for an activation on the following turn. A similar argument can be made for Maester SeymourMaester Seymour, which clearly isn't nearly as good without becoming monstrous.

What's also interesting to note is that many of these new inclusions follow the same play style as our commander. In fact, AtraxaAtraxa needs some time to get going but, after some turns on the battlefield, we will have reached a pretty dominant board state. In this sense, now we can count on a number of "alternative commanders" which all mimic the Inexorable TideInexorable Tide (pun intended) of stats generated by our general. Of course, none of them can be on the same level as our beloved Phyrexian Angel, but including them in the list means we're more than likely to have more than one on the field at the same time.

So what's the gameplay going to look like for this new version of the deck? We haven't talked a lot about the early game, but those first few turns are actually pivotal for our strategy. In fact, to really make use of all the fun cards discussed so far, we want to dedicate our first few turns to ramping and deploying small creatures. The latter is especially relevant as we can't operate with no bodies on the battlefield. Getting an advantage on mana is a secondary goal, but an important one nonetheless. As you could see, a number of our engines are mana intensive, so we want to make sure we always have the resources we need to make them operate on full steam.

Once we've hit the board with several creatures and set in motion our grinding elements, we're ready to take over the game, and it'll happen pretty quickly. In fact, amidst counter doublers, multiple proliferating possibilities, and a constant flow of buffs to our bodies, the damage dealt will escalate quickly, leading us to victory through overrun.

My Current Atraxa List

One thing I want to mention about the list is that, as of now, I'm basically not running any kind of protection. This choice was based on two factors: first, I wanted to go all-in on the new cards, giving them the best environment possible to shine. This means filling the deck with small creatures ready to be proliferated, but also, not having enough space to include interactive spells. Additionally, my playgroup usually doesn't play a lot of interaction, so I might be fine even without responses.

What I suggest is to take this first draft as a starting point - a blueprint to modify as you wish to better suit your local meta. My goal was to showcase the new, synergic cards present in the set so that you could see which ones might work best in your list. But, at the end of the day, it is your list, so go and personalize it as you wish!

We've reached the end of this unusual deck tech, and now it's on to you! What do you think about the new cards? Which other commanders would you like to be revisited in a similar fashion? Let me know in the comments! And I'll see you next time with another spicy list.