Atraxa vs. Ixhel vs. Elesh Norn vs. Venser | Commander Clash S14 E3

Deck Strategies

• 

  Venser, Corpse Puppet

  Focuses on proliferating poison counters while generating artifact creature tokens to maintain board presence and enhance toxic triggers, aiming for incremental pressure through poison and artifact synergies.

• 

  Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines

  Leverages blink (enter-the-battlefield) effects extensively to generate repeated value and disrupt opponents' permanents, controlling the board through recursion and synergy with new Phyrexian cards.

• 

  Atraxa, Grand Unifier

  Utilizes Atraxa's ability to put a permanent of each type onto the battlefield to accelerate board development and leverage the powerful four-color support for battles and other permanents, aiming for a strong, resilient board state.

• 

  Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa

  Centers on applying poison counters to all opponents and then enhancing corrupted cards that scale with the number of opponents poisoned, aiming to outvalue and overwhelm through synergy once poison thresholds are met.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  The combination of proliferate and toxic counters introduced a new dimension of pressure that opponents must respond to or risk being overwhelmed over multiple turns.

• 2

  Blink recursion with Elesh Norn allowed for repeated disruption of opponents' permanents while gaining incremental advantage, effectively slowing down aggressive strategies.

• 3

  Atraxa's ability to place a permanent of each type onto the battlefield early provided a powerful tempo swing that demanded immediate attention from other players.

• 4

  Poison counters, though initially manageable, created a persistent threat that limited opponents’ options, especially without widespread counter removal or life gain to mitigate it.

• 5

  The new Phyrexian commanders encouraged diverse deckbuilding approaches, blending aggressive poison mechanics with control and value-oriented blink strategies.

Notable Cards

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  Atraxa, Grand Unifier

• 

  Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines

• 

  Venser, Corpse Puppet

• 

  Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa

• 

  Coiling Oracle

• 

  Temple of Silence

• 

  Tainted Strike

Summary

The game features a high-powered multiplayer Commander clash with four new Phyrexian-themed commanders: Venser, Corpse Puppet; Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; and Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa. Early on, players focused on ramping mana and establishing board presence, with Phil deploying Atraxa quickly and leveraging its ability to put a permanent of each type onto the battlefield. Seth piloted Elesh Norn with a blink-focused strategy to maximize value from enters-the-battlefield effects, while Crim's Venser deck aimed to proliferate poison counters and generate artifact tokens for incremental advantage. The Ixhel deck led by Seth relied on poisoning opponents to amplify corrupted-themed cards, aiming to overwhelm with synergy once three poison counters were on each opponent. Throughout the game, players jockeyed for control with proliferate and blink interactions, while trying to mitigate the growing threat of poison counters. A pivotal moment arose when Atraxa enabled board development quickly, forcing others to respond to her multi-permanent advantage. The blink synergy of Elesh Norn created repeated value and disruption, slowing down opponents’ strategies. Meanwhile, the poison decks steadily applied pressure through proliferate and toxic triggers, making the game a tense race to see which strategy could dominate first. The interplay of poison counters, artifact token generation, and blink recursion highlighted the evolving power of the new Phyrexian commanders. Ultimately, the game revolved around balancing board control, incremental poison pressure, and maximizing value from permanents entering and leaving the battlefield.