atraxa's skitterfang
14, Feb, 23

New MTG Phyrexian Warps Multiple Formats, Hitting $70 Online!

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Article at a Glance

Tournament results for the first weekend of Phyrexia: All Will Be One since official release is in the books, and there are a few outliers impacting results immediately! We talked about The Mycosynth Gardens’ consistency boost in Modern Amulet Titan, as well as Mercurial Dancer’s Legacy impact after players started to lose faith in it. One massive Phyrexian is making massive impacts in both Standard and Modern and is even seeing play in other formats. The enormous interest that followed this has made Atraxa, Grand Unifier a $70+ card on Magic Online overnight. Let’s take a look!

Atraxa, Grand Unifier

atraxa, grand unifier

Atraxa, Grand Unifier, is a massive 7/7 Phyrexian Angel with all the keywords we are used to this character having. While the body is definitely something that threatens to run the game over if left unanswered for even a single turn, the real power behind this card lies in its new ability. When Atraxa enters the battlefield, you reveal the top ten cards of your library and add cards to your hand for each card type amongst the revealed cards. This can commonly add 4-5 cards to your hand, essentially acting as a refill even if the gigantic body falls to some removal.

While Atraxa has been dominating early Phyrexia: All Will Be One constructed, most players already know this card because it previewed the illustrious and mysterious Battle card type that is assumed to be appearing in March of the Machines. While there is a ton of speculation about this mechanic, no one truly knows what it does just yet. That may change this weekend when we see the first look for March of the Machines.

Phyrexia: All Will Be One’s Most Expensive Digital Card

Atraxa’s massive tournament results have quickly begun to reflect in the card’s price on Magic Online. It’s rare that a card sells for more than it’s worth, but, as of the morning this article was written, you can sell digital copies of Atraxa for $72. The card is also beginning to spike in paper as players prepare for the upcoming Regional Championship series. Currently, Atraxa’s prices are all over the place, selling for anywhere between $12 and $40. The only clear pattern here is that the card is slowly getting more expensive. For reference, a majority of these cards in nonfoil condition are still selling between $10 and $20. While that may change in the coming days, I would try to stay in this price range until there is another obvious spike.

If Atraxa’s tournament results continue, this is quite likely, especially since it is seeing Modern play. The card is definitely seeing the most results in Standard at the moment, which traditionally has not affected paper card prices too much. It will be interesting to see if the Regional Championships change this. Right before the publication of this article, TCGplayer saw a massive amount of sales for Atraxa between $18 and $40, which heavily suggest that a price spike is coming.

Atraxa’s Standard Results

Atraxa has been seeing major success in multiple formats, but Standard may be the one that sticks out the most. This five-color Midrange deck by MTGO user Gobern with four copies of Atraxa, Grand Unifier took down the Sunday challenge. Additionally, three more lists in the top nine had 3-4 copies of the card. While those seemed more focused on a reanimation package, the card has impacted the Standard format heavily in its early days.

The aforementioned reanimator list can be seen above. This particular 75 took down the Saturday MTGO challenge in the hands of user Tunaktunak. While Gobern’s list seemed more focused on playing a fair midrange/tap-out control game with Atraxa on the top-end, this list sports a cheeky reanimator package with Invoke Justice to bring back haymakers like Portal to Phyrexia, Sanctuary Warden and Atraxa herself.

Read More: Top 5 Best/Most Popular Land Cycles in Commander!

Atraxa’s Modern Results

While Atraxa hasn’t had the same massive tournament success in Modern as it has in Standard, the card is still tearing up some smaller leagues, proving its potential. Atraxa is mostly popping up in the Elemental Control shells that have been floating around the Modern metagame since Yorion, Sky Nomad was banned to try and mitigate the deck’s likelihood of constantly going to time in paper play (Yorion Control was also arguably the best deck in the format at the time).

Similar to Standard, there are other cheekier elements being explored to cheat out Atraxa in the Modern format. However, also like Standard, casting Atraxa through midrange/control plans seems to be the better way to play the card for now. As players have more time to experiment with the new behemoth, these cheat strategies will likely become more optimized.

Atraxa in Legacy?

Atraxa’s payoff is so powerful that it’s even seeing some experimentation as a reanimator target in the Legacy format. MTGO user _INF_ managed to top eight a Legacy challenge over the weekend, finishing second after swiss with the above list.

While Atraxa had a breakout weekend, it’s tough to say whether the card will keep up in the coming weeks. Atraxa does look very powerful in Standard at the moment, showing absolute dominance in both challenges. It looks like we’ll need more time in the other formats to figure out if this card will be a mainstay. Either way, Atraxa is one of the hottest cards on MTGO at the moment, so good luck finding them if you want to try them!

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