I posted the following in the single card discussion but figured I'd repost it here since this is the more active traxos thread?
Just wanted to mention I played Shops with 4 Traxos at the TMD Open this past weekend to a 5-2 finish, missing out on T16 due to tiebreakers. Traxos was completely insane. I encourage you all to try it. My list was as follows:
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Mishra's Workshop
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland
1 Black Lotus
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Foundry Inspector
1 Lodestone Golem
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
4 Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
4 Walking Ballista
Sideboard:
4 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Null Rod
2 Precursor Golem
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Traxos is:
- tremendously pressuring in conjunction with Ravager, often threatening to one-shot the opponent through blockers
- effective source of reach on many stalled boards
- the lowest cmc maindeckable mirror breaker
- easy enough to untap without playing any weird cards like Voltaic Servant. Yes, when your hand gets small, you have to think about what happens if you topdeck a Traxos. It's a decision point you have to practice. Also Shops is already 70% historic cards...
You want to play four of them because it's better the earlier you play it. Besides the obvious reasons due to the untap clause, playing it early in conjuction with a lock piece (either before or after) often presents a tough fork for blue opponents with opening hands of average strength. Can they outrace Traxos if they counter or destroy the sphere? Can they set up under a sphere if they counter or kill Traxos?
I think people are worrying too much about the legendary clause. In certain archetypes in other formats, it is often correct to play 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben despite the fact that it's legendary. I think a similar remark holds here. Untap triggers are sometimes worth a card, so drawing multiples isn't even the end of the world...