I train mat pulls using ROM progression, where every week I increase the range of motion I’m pulling by removing a mat under the plates until I’m eventually pulling a full deadlift. I give a detailed summary of it here
I imagine you could do something similar with deficit deads, in a ROM regression approach. Start with a few mats under your feet and the each week increase the weight while you decrease the ROM. It should allow you to keep the deadlift pathway grooved while still spending the majority of your training pulling from a deficit.