Thraximundar: Vassal of the Forever Serpent (EDH / Commander)

"The finest pawns are those with pawns of their own."
—Nicol Bolas

=== P L E A S E _ N O T E ===

I disassembled this deck in August 2018.

=== I N T R O D U C T I O N ===

I once had a 60 card singleton Grixis zombie legacy deck, and since it was a LOT of fun to play, I wanted to give the theme a try in the Commander format. This is my first homebrewed multicolor Commander deck that I'm still playing (and improving). I assembled two other multicolored Commander decks before it, Doran and Tariel, but they performed below average and weren't very flavorful either, so I dismantled them after a few months.

=== S T R A T E G Y ===

For Grixis zombie tribal there are two commanders to choose from: Sedris, the Traitor King and Thraximundar. I tried Sedris in the original design, but he didn't match my expectations, so I dropped him from the list and made Thraximundar my commander - a choice I didn't regret so far. The deck isn't dependent on him to work properly since I swarm my opponents "Zerg style" with hordes of zombie (token) creatures, but is able to support him well when he finally hits the board. Nevertheless, Thraximundar is a big threat on his own and is able to overwhelm an opponent quickly if left unanswered. To make him grow faster I run a good number of cards that allow me to sacrifice creatures to get a benefit, or force my opponents to sacrifice theirs.

I had a copy of Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker in my original list just to be able to deal with enchantments. With Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation featuring Bolas as the antagonist, a lot of cards with Bolas flavor were released, and since he's so much into zombies I decided to make him the "hidden commander" of my deck. I was already using Gem of Becoming and Dark Intimations in the 99, but to maximize flavor I recently added Crypt of the Eternals, Torment of Hailfire, Disciple of Bolas, Slave of Bolas, Hour of Devastation and Cruel Ultimatum to the list.

The other cards are tribal standard - every zombie lord from Cemetery Reaper to Zombie Master (he dwells in Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth) went straight into the deck, along with a lot of synergistic and/or flavorful zombie tribal spells like Endless Ranks of the Dead and Rooftop Storm. The deck is completed by usual in-color staple cards for mana ramping, card draw and removal.

The strategy is pretty simple - summon zombies, create lots of zombie tokens, beat face. If you love to bury your opponents under piles of frenzied, brainless, moaning corpses, this deck may be for you.

=== C O N C L U S I O N ===

This deck is a lot of fun to play (and play against) and has won me several games. There are no complicated mechanics or delicate synergies, so it may also be appealling to players new to the format. If you want to share your thoughts on my concept, please leave a comment. Thank you!

=== C O M M E N T E D _ D E C K L I S T ===

//Commander
1 Thraximundar #!Commander

//Lands
5 [#37] Island
7 [#134] Swamp
3 [#71] Mountain
1 Bad River
1 Rocky Tar Pit
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Tainted Isle
1 Tainted Peak
1 [RAV] Dimir Aqueduct
1 [DIS] Rakdos Carnarium
1 [BFZ] Sunken Hollow
1 [BFZ] Smoldering Marsh
1 Fetid Pools
1 Canyon Slough
1 Crosis's Catacombs
1 [ALA] Crumbling Necropolis
1 [CMD] Command Tower
1 Crypt of the Eternals
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Unholy Grotto
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

//Artifacts
1 Expedition Map
1 Sol Ring
1 Dimir Signet
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Gem of Becoming #fetches dual lands.
1 Unstable Obelisk #ramps and deals with enchantments.
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Power Matrix #Thrax had issues against token decks, so I added this.

//Equipments
1 Mask of Riddles #A fine piece of voltron equipment.

//Enchantments
1 Vampiric Rites
1 Fervor #Key card for aggressive token swarm strategies.
1 Shared Animosity #regularly beats face.
1 Endless Ranks of the Dead
1 Kindred Discovery #is bonkers. Card advantage for days.
1 Liliana's Mastery
1 Rooftop Storm

//Instants
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Crosis's Charm

//Sorceries
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Dark Salvation
1 Open into Wonder
1 Torment of Hailfire
1 Slave of Bolas
1 [#174] Living Death #was too flavorful to ignore.
1 Hour of Devastation
1 Dark Intimations
1 Cruel Ultimatum

//Planeswalkers
1 [#113] Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

//Zombies
1 Cryptbreaker
1 Dreadwing
1 Gravecrawler
1 Tymaret, the Murder King
1 Relentless Dead
1 Stromgald Crusader
1 Withered Wretch #A little extra graveyard hate doesn't hurt (me).
1 Scrapskin Drake #Alas, there are only so many zombies with flying.
1 Diregraf Colossus
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Lord of the Accursed
1 Diregraf Captain
1 Cemetery Reaper
1 Death Baron
1 Lord of the Undead
1 [#3] Zombie Master
1 Accursed Horde #lets Thrax attack relentlessly into any defense.
1 Corpse Augur
1 Gloomdrifter #has been errata'ed to zombie. Useful against weenies & tokens.
1 Graveborn Muse #Killer card with Fervor, Rooftop Storm and >10 zombies.
1 Liliana's Reaver
1 Risen Executioner
1 Undead Warchief
1 Havengul Lich #Placeholder until The Scarab God is affordable.
1 Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
1 Jhessian Zombies #Mana fixer. Cycles for dual lands, which is awesome.
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Scourge of Nel Toth

//Non-Tribal Auxiliaries
1 Deathmark Prelate #The auxiliaries aren't zombies, but greatly increase the deck's power.
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Ghoulcaller Gisa
1 Grave Titan