Hello everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel Show, and today we're taking a look at a deck I've put together for a charity stream to support those impacted by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Being Carolina-based myself, I was more than willing to jump in when Lyght asked if I'd be interested in helping out.

Typically, these streams aim for longer games and often include a Phyrexian commander. Given the limited time I had to prepare, I decided to go with Atraxa, Grand Unifier, in a deck I've named Atraxa for Appalachia.

The primary goal of this deck is to take full advantage of battlefield effects while building up a board state for a combat-based win. For the sake of the stream, I've intentionally avoided some common combo enablers like Strionic Resonator and Emiel, The Blessed. I've also skipped hyper-controlling effects like Aura Shards, as well as cards that can cause frustration, such as Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, and Cyclonic Rift. Importantly, this deck is built to win through combat rather than combos.

Before diving into the decklist, let's take a look at the commander herself.

In this deck, Atraxa primarily serves to refill your hand and act as a powerful attacker when the game starts grinding down. The deck can operate perfectly fine without her, though. To fully exploit Atraxa's ETB (enter-the-battlefield) effect, I've included three planeswalkers. However, since Atraxa isn't central to the deck's operation, the rest of the 99 has to pull its weight. Fortunately, blink decks are great at redundancy in this regard. Let's break down the stats.

Atraxa for Appalachia features:

• 18 Ramp cards
• 14 Card Draw cards
• 13 Spot Removal cards
• 4 Board wipes
• 25 Blink Targets
• 16 Blink Enablers
• 3 ETB Doublers

The high ramp count is due to blink decks being quite mana-intensive, as many of the blink creatures have higher mana values. Additionally, having a seven-mana-value commander like Atraxa that refills your hand requires a lot of mana to reach that second phase of the game earlier. Now, let's go through each category.

Ramp

Sword of Hearth and Home - This equipment helps ramp early and can also protect key creatures like Brago, King Eternal, or Atraxa, Grand Unifier, from White and Green removal.

Invasion of Zendikar - As a battle, this can be taken by Atraxa. Flipping it gives you a 4/4 creature that taps for mana--everything you'd want.

Solemn Simulacrum - Fetching basics is key here, and Solemn also counts as an artifact for Atraxa's ability while providing a card when it dies.

Card Draw

Guardian Project - It's important that this card triggers off creatures entering the battlefield, not just being cast. Every blink will result in more cards, creating a snowball effect.

Loran of the Third Path - In casual games, it's often good to have cards that can help opponents, making deals easier. Loran fits this role perfectly, as her card-drawing ability can convince opponents to target someone else.

Sea-Gate Oracle - Though not flashy, this card's ability to dig two cards deep for three mana is quite useful, especially since we're not running tutors.

Spot Removal

Ertai Resurrected - This card is like a reusable counterspell. With every blink spell, you can counter something again if needed.

Assassin's Trophy - Not the most unique removal, but essential for dealing with cards like Torpor Orb or Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, without relying on ETB effects.

Parting Gust - A newer addition, Parting Gust can be used either as removal or as a blink card, depending on the situation.

Board Wipes

Damn - Sometimes you need to remove a single creature, other times the whole board. Damn covers both scenarios.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Primarily included for her +1 ability, which makes 1/1 Soldiers, her -3 ability serves as insurance against large creatures while keeping your smaller ones intact.

Bane of Progress - While Bane can be a bit painful for us, it can be devastating for decks that rely on equipment, enchantments, or artifacts.

Blink Targets

Aether Channeler - There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and that Aether Channeler will make it into my blink decks. It's versatile and always feels like a great draw.

Hostage Taker - Removing threats is good, but casting them yourself is even better.

Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath - While the sacrifice is a drawback, the value from drawing, life gain, and extra lands is tremendous. Plus, you eventually get a 6/6 body.

Witch's Enchanter - A great utility card! It either fetches a land or serves as spot removal, depending on what you need.

Blink Enablers

Brago, King Eternal - As one of the top blink commanders, Brago is a gold standard in blink decks, allowing you to blink your entire board each turn.

Ephemerate - This card is an auto-include, providing both protection for a key creature and offensive power on the rebound.

ETB Doublers

Yarok, the Desecrated - With a wide range of permanent types in this deck, we love Yarok's ability to blink more than just creatures. Lifelink and deathtouch also help fend off aggro decks.

Overall, keeping the power level of this deck down was a challenge, but I'm really pleased with the end result. For finishers, I'm relying on cards like Inkshield, Craterhoof Behemoth, or Cathars' Crusade to deal large amounts of damage.

If you're interested in seeing this deck in action, follow the podcast on X @thought_vessel. We'll be competing in a charity stream to support the families in Western Carolina and we will announce when Atraxa will be played during that event. Until next time, happy gaming!