Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is one of the most popular commanders in the entire Commander format inMagic: The Gathering. The card is a Not-Red commander with a lot of keywords that let you proliferate at your end step.
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Despite this seemingly simple effect, there are a plethora of ways to build Atraxa, Praetors' voice. Thanks to being a four-color commander, you have access to almost every color of the color pie except red, allowing for a ton of options for cards and builds. There’s a reason she is so popular, and it’s because of how versatile of a commander she is.
10Lifegain
Lifegain strategies are all about gaining life and gaining value off of doing so. Often, this involves gaining counters when gaining life or being able to make tokens, the former of which is where Atraxa, Praetors' Voice’s proliferate ability comes into play.
Thanks to having access to black, Lifegain builds can play Exquisite Blood and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose which is an infinite Lifegain combo that can win the game on the spot. In addition, black, white, and green are the main colors of Lifegain, so you may play allthe best cards that enable the strategy.
9Energy
Energy is a unique counter that isn’t given to creatures, but to you instead. These are granted by various spells and can be used for payoffs on various permanents. Since it usually requires something being cast to gain energy counters, Atraxa’s proliferate ability helps you grow your energy count without extra work.
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Cards like Aetherworks Marvel are a great payoff, letting you cheat out cards from the top of your library for six energy counters, while Gonti’s Aether Heart can grow your count more and give you an extra turn. A lot of cards grant energy counters when entering the battlefield, so having access to white and blink effects is fantastic.
8Pod
Pod decks are based around sacrificing creatures from your battlefieldto bring different ones out from your deck, often cheating upward on the mana cost. Thanks to Atraxa being four colors, you can play many of the best Pod cards such as Neoform and Eldritch Evolution. In addition, you can recycle them out from your graveyard for further use thanks to the colors having plenty of ways to get cards out from there.
It helps get you creatures onto the battlefield that care about counters, which can then start being proliferated. In addition, you can answer any given board state since your entire deck is built around tutoring them out.
7Sagas
Sagas are built around adding lore counters onto them to go through their effects. While this generally only happens after your draw step, you can get two effects in one turn thanks to Atraxa’s proliferate adding an extra during the end step. The last effect of a Saga is often the best one, so getting there faster is usually a good thing.
There isno shortage of strong Sagas, as well as cards that support enchantments in general that help you build advantage. If there are Sagas you don’t want to end, Scholar of New Horizons is a great way to repeat effects on Sagas by removing counters from them.
6Stax
Stax decks are the main flavor of control in Commander. It’s made to slow the game down to a halt while you slowly build advantage over your opponents. Cards such as Stasis and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV are staples, along with everything that stops your opponents from being able to play the game or attack you.
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Atraxa’s colors give you a lot of options for the best Stax pieces, which can even be tutored for thanks to having black, so you may play cards like Vampiric Tutor to get important Stax pieces out.
5Phyrexian
The Phyrexian creature type is one that has had a rapid growth of options thanks to All Will Be One and March Of The Machine, and has madeAtraxa decks built around Phyrexiansthat much stronger. There are plenty of fantastic Phyrexian cards, including Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, which will let you proliferate twice.
There are a few ways to build Phyrexians, sometimes revolving around cards with infect or ones that can utilize incubate. Thanks to Atraxa’s colors, you can play many of the best Phyrexian creatures, such as Phyrexian Censor, which will slow everyone but you down.
4Angels
There are not many Angel commanders thatencompass all the main colors of Angels, but Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is one of those. It lets you play all the powerful Angels in one deck, such as Giada, Font Of Hope, Errant and Giada, and Avacyn, Angel Of Hope.
The deck is all about flooding the battlefield with Angels, and thanks to them all having flying, they are giant threats to your opponents unless they have a way to block them. Often, Angels have a sub-Lifegain theme, which makes the survivability of Angel decks even better.
3Superfriends
Superfriends is the name given to decks that revolve around planeswalkers. Since they all come with loyalty counters, proliferate allows you to get to their ultimate abilities much quicker. Planeswalkers are generally weaker in commander because three players can attack them, so this becomes a vital aspect of Superfriends' plan.
There is no shortage of fantastic planeswalkers such as Oko, Thief of Crowns, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Narset, Parter of Veils. There are plenty of other cards that gain them more counters as well that are playable in Atraxa builds, such as Deepglow Skate and Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider.
2Poison
If a player gets ten or more poison counters, they lose the game. They can be given directly, or by a creature with either infect or toxic when they deal combat damage. Since these are counters, proliferating them is possible to close out the game even quicker.
Atraxa’s colors let you play all of the best cards that spread poison counters, all while bringing opponents closer to that ten count.Phyresis Outbreak is an excellent board wipefor infect decks, as are cards with corrupted as they will easily benefit from the added effects.
1+1/+1 Counters
A classic of Atraxa, Praetors' Voice builds, +1/+1 counters are all about spreading them across all of your creatures. There is a plethora of support cards in the colors you can play, allowing you to rapidly grow them both with Atraxa itself and other cards in the 99.
Cathars' Crusade is a fantastic choice, and Damning Verdict gives you access to an often one-sided board wipe. When you mix in other cards that can proliferate, you can start amassing giant creatures that need to be dealt with. Even though your opponents can try using a board wipe, having access to blue, white, and green all allow you ways to protect your battlefield.
