Please use valid format for this Taxonomy Parameters
Example:
$args = array(
'tax_query' => array(
array(
'taxonomy' => 'topics',
'field' => 'slug',
'terms' => 'dealoftheweek',
),
),
'post_type' => 'dealmaker_pt',
'posts_per_page' => 50,
'offset' => 1
);
$query = new WP_Query( $args );