Traxos is absolutely insane

Yespuhyren

I have been testing him in shop aggro as Lodestone 2-5 since the day he was previewed (a few weeks ago), and he is already my favourite workshop creature of all time right beside Lodestone

So many people seem to think his untap ability is a downside, but it's arguably one of his better features. He's not a 7/7 trample with untap issues, he is a 7/7 Trample with Vigilance.

I'd post a list, but I can comfortably say if you are playing shop aggro play 4 regardless of your list. He is that good

For reference :
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
4
Legendary Artifact Creature - Construct
7/7 trample
Comes into play tapped
Doesn't untap during untap step
Whenever you play an historic untap him

wfain

@yespuhyren ‍️I’ve found it pretty easy to beat. I don’t play shops though, just against it. WCE and Precursor Golemn are much more difficult. What are you cutting to play 4?

ribby

@yespuhyren do you cast it turn 1 or 2? I’ve been mulling this topic since you posted. I can envision it being way better in turn 2 as a way to capture the same sort of feel as LSG (same clock, one more card required to achieve the same soft lock).

Worth testing as a T2 play?

Yespuhyren

@wfain Wurmcoil is an entirely different beast at 6 mana, and I never play less than 2. Traxos is more like Lodestone 2 to 5. Precursor was great, but a single bolt kills it plus the copies. Traxos also has trample.

@ribby it doesn't matter when you cast it, it is a beast. If you have turn 1 Lodestone you play that, if not play a Sphere turn 1 and Traxos turn 2.

There are many other situations where you won't have those cards and slamming turn 1 Traxos then mox or Chalice to untap it is fantastic

For reference, here is what I am running

Blitzkrieg v7.7

4x Walking Ballista
4x Arcbound Ravager
4x Phyrexian Revoker
4x Foundry Inspector
4x Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
1x Lodestone Golem
2x Wurmcoil Engine

1x Chalice of the Void
4x Sphere of Resistance
1x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Trinisphere
4x Tangle Wire

7x SoLoMoxen
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault

4x Mishra's Workshop
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Wasteland
2x Mishra's Factory
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Strip Mine

This is my favourite shop list to date, and I've played shops since before the 4x Trinisphere days

ribby

@yespuhyren you don’t open yourself up to Swords in T1 while letting your opponent develop mana? That’s what I’d worry about with T1 Traxos.

BlindTherapy

@yespuhyren chalice to untap vs chalice turn 1 seems subpar

kistrand

@yespuhyren Might be a dumb shops-noob question, but which 2 additional moxen do you run to get to 7 in total?

babau

SOLOMOXEN=
SOl ring=1
LOtus=1
mox= 5
tot 7

Yespuhyren

@blindtherapy Do you not know he comes into play tapped? Turn 1 Traxos and Chalice 0 to untap him is a monster of a turn 1 play...

babau

would not it be better to play it in 3x since it is legendary?

Yespuhyren

@babau I started testing at 3 and immediately moved to 4. You want it every game, and having one extra in hand as backup for artifact destruction is great given how much main deck artifact hate there is now.

In extreme cases you can even cast the second one to untap the original to swing again. You don't want to do it often, but if you have a Traxos with a bunch of counters from a Ravager or you are swinging for game it is great

babau

about the lands you have not found any problems playing only 16?

Yespuhyren

@babau I have been running 16 lands in Ravager based shop aggro for over a decade and it has been great, and that was before we got Foundry Inspector.

He took it from uncomfortable but good to barely an issue.

I didn't change a thing to accommodate for Traxos, I have been playing this exact list except had 2 Hangarback 2 skullclamp. The day I saw the Traxos preview I cut those and proxied in 3 then 4 Traxos

Having 44 artifacts makes him so good...

babau

the choices of the deck are obliged I think we can only discuss about:
mana vault
3-4 traxos
jitte
wurmicol
what other options have you evaluated?
in what metagame do you usually play?

Yespuhyren

@babau I have been playing workshop aggro since 2003 (back when 4x Juggernaut and 4x Su-Chi were staples). My list has literally been constantly evolving since then, amd changes every time a good card is released. Shops are my baby, and all I play haha

As far as options, I test everything. I own every playable artifact and when my deck stops performing as well as I would like I change it up, no limits on anything I test

Right now this is my favourite version of workshops I have ever played by far. I wish we had more lock pieces but everything is restricted outside of Tangle Wire and Sphere which I play 4 of

babau

a curiosity:
what is the reason for the exclusion of these cards?
Steel Overseer
Phyrexian Metamorph
Chief of the Foundry
compared to:
mana vault
jtte
wurmicol
4° taraxos: ok this is you personal preference for strong start.

babau

in particular metamorph in a deck that use tangle give you more options for lock and beat.

babau

other possibility is
out
tangle
2 wurm
1 jitte
1 traxos
in
3-4 metamorph : give you to much good play
4-5 steel and/or chief
1-2 mishra
the deck has many more answers.

babau

we should do it between the package:
steel + worker + ballista + revoker
and
ballista + revoker + tarxos +?

babau

ravage not revoker sorry!