commander · Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
Breed Lethality (C16).
A four-color +1/+1 counters deck from Commander 2016 led by Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Atraxa proliferates every end step, so counters snowball across your whole board while her flying, deathtouch, and lifelink body holds down the table.
The Commanders
Breed Lethality is the four-color counters deck from Commander 2016, and it is the reason Atraxa became one of the most-built commanders in the format. The plan is simple to state and hard to stop: put +1/+1 counters on your team, then double and multiply them until your creatures are enormous. It plays green counter payoffs, white anthem support, and blue card draw, all glued together by one of the best bodies in the game.
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is a 4/4 with flying, vigilance, deathtouch, and lifelink, which alone makes her hard to attack into and hard to race. Her real value is the end-step proliferate: choose any number of permanents and players and add another counter of each kind already there. That grows every creature with a +1/+1 counter, but it also ticks up planeswalkers, Sagas, and any counter in the deck. Play a board of counter creatures and Atraxa quietly makes all of them bigger every single turn without you spending a card.
Key Cards
Cathars' Crusade
Every creature you cast puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you already control. In a deck that plays a lot of bodies, the board balloons fast, and every new creature makes the last ones bigger. It gives Atraxa a mountain of counters to proliferate each turn. Land this early and even a few creatures later, your whole team is oversized.
Corpsejack Menace
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters would go on a creature you control, you get twice as many instead. That doubles Cathars' Crusade triggers, doubles the counters your creatures enter with, and doubles what Atraxa's proliferate leaves behind. It is a straight multiplier on the whole deck's game plan. Stack it with Hardened Scales and the numbers get out of hand quickly.
Deepglow Skate
When it enters, the Skate doubles every kind of counter on any number of target permanents. Point it at your board and creatures that were 5/5s become 9/9s in one shot. It also doubles planeswalker loyalty and any other counter, so it swings games on the turn it lands. This is the deck's big payoff creature: one enter trigger can end a game.
Master Biomancer
Each creature you cast enters with extra +1/+1 counters equal to Master Biomancer's power. Your one-drops start showing up as 3/3s and 4/4s, and those counters feed Atraxa, Corpsejack Menace, and every counter payoff. It turns cheap creatures into real threats the moment they hit the table. Combine it with Cathars' Crusade and each new body counts twice over.
Forgotten Ancient
It gains a counter whenever any player casts a spell, and on your upkeep you move those counters onto other creatures. In a four-player game it grows fast, and Atraxa proliferates the pile every end step. Spread the counters around to set up a big attack or to grow whatever needs it most. It is a slow-burn engine that quietly funds the whole board.
Kalonian Hydra
It comes down as a 4/4 with trample, and whenever it attacks it doubles the +1/+1 counters on every creature you control. On a developed board that is a game-ending attack step. Corpsejack Menace and Deepglow Skate already push your counters up, and the Hydra doubles all of it right before damage. Give it a way through and the whole team connects for lethal.
Fathom Mage
Every time a +1/+1 counter goes on Fathom Mage, you may draw a card, and it also has evolve so it grows when bigger creatures enter. In this deck the counters never stop, so it becomes a repeatable draw engine. Atraxa's proliferate alone draws you a card each end step. It keeps your hand full while the rest of the board gets huge.
How to Play
Ramp with the signets and mana rocks so you can cast Atraxa on time and still develop a board. The early game is about getting counter creatures down and landing an engine like Cathars' Crusade, Master Biomancer, or Corpsejack Menace. Once Atraxa is out, her end-step proliferate turns every counter into a snowball, and Fathom Mage keeps your hand stocked while it happens. Close the game by doubling everything at once with Deepglow Skate or a Kalonian Hydra attack, then swinging with a team that has outgrown the table. Atraxa's deathtouch and lifelink keep you safe while the counters pile up, so play patient and let the board do the work.
