Marchesa, the Black Rose - Undying Evil

[DeadPresident]

This Marchesa, the Black Rose list is one of the decks I find myself constantly returning to and playing frequently despite initially having found the commander to be a bit underwhelming, but quickly realizing my deck design was probably the biggest problem rather than the commander.

Most of the builds of Marchesa that I saw when I built the deck about five years ago were lean and low to the ground, emphasizing a quick, aggressive style. I built mine in a similar fashion but found myself not having much joy in my playgroups, which I put down to the fact that that style of play was overly reliant on Marchesa being on the board. Most players quickly realized that not allowing me to resolve her meant that most of my early aggressive plays quickly burned out.

So my goal was to rebuild the list into a more midrange, value-oriented build that didn't require Marchesa on the field to achieve a win, but that became a lot better if she did hit the board. At the time I was also playing a Karador reanimator list and I found it interesting that this Marchesa deck became a better version of what I was hoping my Karador deck would be. My main motivation for sharing this list is to give an example of a somewhat decent midrange take on Marchesa, also a slightly fresh approach to traditional graveyard based strategies. It feels a lot more resilient to GY hate and also better equipped to recover when people deal with one of the ways I usually carve out a win.

The primary win cons (outside of making it too difficult to deal with my board courtesy of Marchesa's abilities) are the following lines:

- Infinite mana with Glen Elendra Archmage + Phyrexian Altar + Metallic Mimic (wizards)/Sage of Fables
- Repeated combat steps with Combat Celebrant or Scourge of the Throne
- Bolas's Citadel; Usually eventually finding Gray Merchant of Asphodel and cloning him several times, or simply stumbling on one of he other win-cons
- Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts
- Sage of Hours + Unspeakable Symbol + Whip of Erebos (Provided 15+ life can be gained per combat to put another 5 counters on the Sage)

Marchesa, the Black Rose - Undying Evil

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Marchesa, The Black Rose

Creatures (34)

1 Benthic Biomancer

1 Carrion Feeder

1 Viscera Seer

1 Metallic Mimic

1 Phantasmal Image

1 Dark Confidant

1 Spellskite

1 Baleful Strix

1 Lightning Mauler

1 Sage of Hours

1 Sage of Fables

1 Drana, Liberator of Malakir

1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan

1 Combat Celebrant

1 Plaguecrafter

1 Grim Haruspex

1 Thassa, God of the Sea

1 Disciple of Bolas

1 Dack's Duplicate

1 Glen Elendra Archmage

1 Aura Thief

1 Ogre Battledriver

1 Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion

1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

1 Solemn Simulacrum

1 Treasonous Ogre

1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

1 Zealous Conscripts

1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier

1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

1 Scourge of the Throne

1 Rune-Scarred Demon

1 Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Artifacts (10)

1 Wayfarer's Bauble

1 Sol Ring

1 Skullclamp

1 Lightning Greaves

1 Dimir Signet

1 Rakdos Signet

1 Talisman of Indulgence

1 Phyrexian Altar

1 Whip of Erebos

1 Bolas's Citadel

Enchantments (6)

1 Unspeakable Symbol

1 Phyrexian Arena

1 Dark Tutelage

1 Fervor

1 Sneak Attack

1 Dictate of Erebos

Instants (8)

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Stubborn Denial

1 Lim-Dul's Vault

1 Counterspell

1 Cyclonic Rift

1 Terminate

1 Chaos Warp

1 Fact or Fiction

Sorceries (6)

1 Reanimate

1 Diabolic Intent

1 Curse of the Swine

1 Mark of Mutiny

1 Living Death

1 Blasphemous Act

Lands (35)

1 Phyrexian Tower

1 High Market

1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse

1 Riptide Laboratory

1 Tarnished Citadel

1 City of Brass

1 Grand Coliseum

1 Command Tower

1 Crumbling Necropolis

1 Bloodstained Mire

1 Polluted Delta

1 Flooded Strand

1 Steam vents

1 Watery Grave

1 Blood Crypt

1 Sulfur Falls

1 Drowned Catacomb

1 Dragonskull Summit

1 Underground River

1 Sulfurous Springs

1 Shivan Reef

1 Tainted Peak

1 Tainted Isle

1 Sunken Hollow

1 Smouldering Marsh

1 Temple of Deceit

1 Temple of Epiphany

1 Luxury Suite

1 Graven Cairns

1 Mountain

2 Island

3 Swamp

Approximate Total Cost:

I'd be very keen to hear about anyone else's experiences with Marchesa, the Black Rose and to hear about cards that they might have had a lot of success with. A few of the cards I think I could replace (mainly because they feel like they've been underperforming) would be Sygg, River Cutthroat, Aura Thief (oscillates between being a blowout or being useless), Sage of Hours, and Fervor. The most obvious improvements I'd like to make are Imperial Recruiter and Toxic Deluge, but opportunities to trade have become rather sparse lately - hopefully they'll happen soon, though!

[Tevesh]

Actually, midrange Marchesa is the norm. I'm the freak with the lean, low-to-the-ground Marchesa. I've been tinkering with her for a few years now so you might not get the best insights for what you want to do off of my build. Instead, I would highly recommend plushpenguin's thread if you're going for a Combo route. He hasn't updated in a while, I wonder if he still gives gives Marchesa a go.

You are running way too little lands for what you're trying to do; get to 38.

If you're going the Combo route, you should probably drop Mark of Mutiny.

While I think Sire of Stagnation is a beast, you're looking to assemble a combo and so your draw should be efficient. Same with Dark Confidant and Dark Tutelage - these only draw you one card per turn. You might have more luck with Grim Haruspex, Midnight Reaper and Nikara, Lair Scavenger. Also, where's your Necropotence?

[DeadPresident]

I generally don't have too many problems with mana, but I could probably test out an extra land or two, but I do think you've got a point on the draw cards. I never try and assemble the combos too quickly, because that usually gets attention from three players immediately because people know the deck well. So I usually pick whichever win con I can assemble easily as the red herring to bait out interaction and then pursue one of the others after people have expended their resources.

The Grim Haruspex suggestion is a solid one, I have one lying around from when I pulled my Karador deck apart so I think I'll put that in over Sygg, and then I'll try and track down one of the other recommendations and test it in place of the Sire for a bit. Necropotence would probably be the ideal option but I'm not sure when I'll manage to track that down, but I'll keep it in mind. Thanks for the input Tev!

[yeti1069]

I've been playing a mid-rangey Marchesa build for a while now, specifically not focused on comboing off (although I can combo with Puppeteer Clique and one of the +1/+1 counter granting ETB effects), and I've found that the deck needs a few answers (even temporary ones) to problematic enchantments and creatures, particularly ones that turn off your death triggers/graveyard. I don't run into Rest In Peace a lot, but it, and similar effects show up on occasion, and recently I've seen a lot of Hushbringer.

One card I've added that has consistently performed well is Sedraxis Alchemist offering cheap, repeatable bounce for problematic permanents. It's also a wizard, so it plays well with all of those synergies. I also run Crosis's Charm as a flexible answer.

Recently, I also added Blood Artist as a lever to control my life--if I need to stay off the throne, the BA is target player
so you can hit yourself and not move your life total.

Finally, one of my psuedo-win cons is Jokulhaups, since Marchesa and her crew will come back after everything gets wiped. Obliterate would be a good choice, too, if you're running into a lot of counterspells.

[Dunharrow]

Would you consider Falkenrath Aristocrat over Grimgrin? I like the haste and the indestructible a lot.

I also think that Drana, Liberator of Malakir is great in Marchesa.
Other mid-rangy cards I like are Gonti, Lord of Luxury and Sower of Temptation.

My new additions are Scroll of Fate and Dockside Extortionist, and I have to say I really like both of them.

[yeti1069]

Would you consider Falkenrath Aristocrat over Grimgrin? I like the haste and the indestructible a lot.

I also think that Drana, Liberator of Malakir is great in Marchesa.
Other mid-rangy cards I like are Gonti, Lord of Luxury and Sower of Temptation.

My new additions are Scroll of Fate and Dockside Extortionist, and I have to say I really like both of them.

Oh yeah! Dockside is AMAZING!

And Sower does some serious work. Bring it in, steal something, do the Dethrone-sac-reanimate dance, and steal something else you get to keep. Sower is one of the strongest cards in the deck.

[DeadPresident]

Would you consider Falkenrath Aristocrat over Grimgrin? I like the haste and the indestructible a lot.

I also think that Drana, Liberator of Malakir is great in Marchesa.
Other mid-rangy cards I like are Gonti, Lord of Luxury and Sower of Temptation.

My new additions are Scroll of Fate and Dockside Extortionist, and I have to say I really like both of them.

I actually used to run both of them but I ended up cutting the Aristocrat relatively soon afterwards. At the time my rationale was that the human requirement for the Aristocrat and Grimgrin's added removal aspect made him a better bet, but to be honest I can't exactly recall a time when I really needed the removal from Grimgrin. It's definitely something I can test, the Aristocrat having evasion is a benefit and there are enough humans to generate a few counters with. I did run Gonti for a while but I try to keep the cards that compete with Marchesa's CMC a little lower, but the Sower could be a worthwhile inclusion just because it'll let me keep things permanently if I manage to get a counter on the stolen creature before sac'ing it.

I also ran Drana at the same time and for some reason I always felt like she was a dead card, I'm not sure why. I think I tended to draw her when I had already protected my board with +1/+1 counters already so she was a bit superfluous, but I could see cutting something mediocre for her.

With Scroll of Fate does a manifested creature with a +1/+1 counter come back face up? I would really love to get a Dockside Extortionist - it looks like an ideal card to use as repeatable ramp in colors that struggle with that, I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for one.

I've been playing a mid-rangey Marchesa build for a while now, specifically not focused on comboing off (although I can combo with Puppeteer Clique and one of the +1/+1 counter granting ETB effects), and I've found that the deck needs a few answers (even temporary ones) to problematic enchantments and creatures, particularly ones that turn off your death triggers/graveyard. I don't run into Rest In Peace a lot, but it, and similar effects show up on occasion, and recently I've seen a lot of Hushbringer.

One card I've added that has consistently performed well is Sedraxis Alchemist offering cheap, repeatable bounce for problematic permanents. It's also a wizard, so it plays well with all of those synergies. I also run Crosis's Charm as a flexible answer.

Recently, I also added Blood Artist as a lever to control my life--if I need to stay off the throne, the BA is target player
so you can hit yourself and not move your life total.

Finally, one of my psuedo-win cons is Jokulhaups, since Marchesa and her crew will come back after everything gets wiped. Obliterate would be a good choice, too, if you're running into a lot of counterspells.

I really like the Sedraxis Alchemist suggestion, a bit of catch-all permanent interaction is a really good idea, and also just helps with generating tempo as well. If I can fit it in I wouldn't mind trying the Charm too, it's quite flexible. Blood Artist is also a good idea, I think I might actually replace the Sage of Hours with him because Sage is only really useful to go infinite with and Blood Artist also facilitates a win-con with infinite sac triggers, while allowing chip damage and life total control.

Jokulhaups was the cut I made to include Bolas's Citadel - both being at 6CMC and kind of being one-card win cons. Usually if I had a significant enough board that came back after a Jokulhaups people just conceded on the spot and the Citadel is a little slow and can be hit or miss - so I might consider switching them around again.

[Dunharrow]

With Scroll of Fate does a manifested creature with a +1/+1 counter come back face up? I would really love to get a Dockside Extortionist - it looks like an ideal card to use as repeatable ramp in colors that struggle with that, I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for one.

So my Marchesa deck plays a lot of manifest. Qarsi High Priest , Scroll of Fate , Sultai Emissary , and Thieving Amalgam (currently testing out the last one).
It is amazing!
As long as the manifested card is a permanent, it will come back into play with Marchesa's trigger (or with Mikaeus, The Unhallowed's undying trigger).
My deck only has a few non-permanent cards, so it always works out for me. It lets me set up for a Jokulhaups (manifested lands come back), it lets me sneak in large permanents.

I am not saying you want to go as deep on manifest as I do, but I think Scroll of Fate would work well with your curve - let you cheat in your higher CMC cards like an extra Sneak Attack.

[DeadPresident]

With Scroll of Fate does a manifested creature with a +1/+1 counter come back face up? I would really love to get a Dockside Extortionist - it looks like an ideal card to use as repeatable ramp in colors that struggle with that, I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for one.

So my Marchesa deck plays a lot of manifest. Qarsi High Priest , Scroll of Fate , Sultai Emissary , and Thieving Amalgam (currently testing out the last one).
It is amazing!
As long as the manifested card is a permanent, it will come back into play with Marchesa's trigger (or with Mikaeus, The Unhallowed's undying trigger).
My deck only has a few non-permanent cards, so it always works out for me. It lets me set up for a Jokulhaups (manifested lands come back), it lets me sneak in large permanents.

I am not saying you want to go as deep on manifest as I do, but I think Scroll of Fate would work well with your curve - let you cheat in your higher CMC cards like an extra Sneak Attack.

I really like this idea. I probably won't go as deep into Manifest, but I love redundancy and being able to run off Sneak/Scroll with a little less concern because there's a pseudo-contingency and redundancy sounds pretty great. I think there are some obvious cuts I can look into so I'm definitely going to trial Scroll soon!

Even cooler that Manifested lands come back if they had counters, too.

[Dunharrow]

Let me know how Scroll of Fate works for you. I am unlikely to play another game of commander before 2021 at this rate (pandemic is bad in Montreal, and I have a baby on the way).

I just realized you play Fervor. I play Anger. I have a couple of discard outlets and I often self-mill with Altar of Dementia, but I often just end up casting it and sacrificing it.

How do you find Fervor?

I find haste to be very strong in the deck, so I also run Olivia, Mobilized for War. I am thinking of maybe getting a Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded too, but the mana cost is kinda high. I also run way fewer red creatures than black or blue so I feel like the activated ability might not do much.

Not sure what I would cut for purphoros anyway. I never thought about Fervor.

[DeadPresident]

Let me know how Scroll of Fate works for you. I am unlikely to play another game of commander before 2021 at this rate (pandemic is bad in Montreal, and I have a baby on the way).

I just realized you play Fervor. I play Anger. I have a couple of discard outlets and I often self-mill with Altar of Dementia, but I often just end up casting it and sacrificing it.

How do you find Fervor?

I find haste to be very strong in the deck, so I also run Olivia, Mobilized for War. I am thinking of maybe getting a Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded too, but the mana cost is kinda high. I also run way fewer red creatures than black or blue so I feel like the activated ability might not do much.

Not sure what I would cut for purphoros anyway. I never thought about Fervor.

I'm sorry to hear that, although I'm likely in the same boat. I'm South African, and fortunately the pandemic isn't too bad here but I doubt I'll play face to face until at least October. I've tried a couple of the online platforms and they're a bit clunky but I hope I'll manage to test on them a bit, so I'll definitely try the scroll out and give it a go.

I have a love/hate relationship with Fervor and Lightning Mauler. On the one hand there are a small number of games where I draw one and curve nicely into Marchesa and get a counter on her immediately. In most games, however, I seem to either see neither Mauler or Fervor, or I draw both of them in my opener/first ten cards seen. I'm sure we all have those cards in our lists that by some cosmic trick we either never see or see too often, and Fervor/Mauler are those two - so I've actually considered taking one of them out but haven't done it yet.

I used Olivia, Mobilized for War for a while but often seemed to run into needing to discard too much to gain value out of her so I cut her. I could probably try running Olivia over Fervor for a bit, but I think the card disadvantage from Olivia irked me a bit much. Purphoros is unfortunately probably a bit too higher, yeah. I'd say of the two haste enablers I'd probably recommend Fervor just because Mauler is a tad too fragile in my experience.

[Dunharrow]

I have a love/hate relationship with Fervor and Lightning Mauler. On the one hand there are a small number of games where I draw one and curve nicely into Marchesa and get a counter on her immediately. In most games, however, I seem to either see neither Mauler or Fervor, or I draw both of them in my opener/first ten cards seen. I'm sure we all have those cards in our lists that by some cosmic trick we either never see or see too often, and Fervor/Mauler are those two - so I've actually considered taking one of them out but haven't done it yet.

I used Olivia, Mobilized for War for a while but often seemed to run into needing to discard too much to gain value out of her so I cut her. I could probably try running Olivia over Fervor for a bit, but I think the card disadvantage from Olivia irked me a bit much. Purphoros is unfortunately probably a bit too higher, yeah. I'd say of the two haste enablers I'd probably recommend Fervor just because Mauler is a tad too fragile in my experience.

Olivia has a couple synergies in my list, like Phyrexian Delver, but I definitely see the card disadvantage problem. I think I need a few more games with her before I could conclusively say if I like her.

Maybe by the time I play commander again they will have printed a haste enabler that fits the deck better.

[yeti1069]

Been playing a lot of Magic via Zoom or Google Hangouts. You could check those out for quarantine play. I'm in NYC and we've been locked down for over a month.

Just put Olivia in my list to try out. I'd removed the haste enablers aside from two lands, but have a couple more cards with Graft to put a counter on creatures when they ETB. With Anger, I kept having him in hand without a Mountain to keep him active, with other plays I'd rather make and no discard outlet, or got my graveyard exiled before he could make an impact.

[DeadPresident]

Since we're on the haste enablers topic I thought I'd mention the ones I've used in the past and just assess them a bit, in case anyone wants to explore a few different options.

Flamekin Village
Pros:
- Land, doesn't take up a spell slot and can probably replace a basic mountain.
Cons:
- Requires mana for each activation.
- Almost always ETBT.

Hall of the Bandit Lord
Pros:
- Land, doesn't take up a spell slot.
Cons:
- The 3 life adds up too fast if one wants multiple targets in consecutive turns.
- Colorless mana in a 3C deck is sketchy.
- ETBT.

Lightning Mauler
Pros:
- 2cmc is quite low.
- Quite unassuming, doesn't draw much hate in my experience.
Cons:
- 1 toughness, so it's quite fragile.
- No mass haste.

Olivia, Mobilized for War
Pros:
- Solid body.
- Additional applications for decks that enjoy looting; i.e any GY-based strategies like reanimator.
- Gives haste, as well as a +1/+1 counter so protects the hasty creature if Marchesa is out.
Cons:
- Card disadvantage if the card you're discarding doesn't provide utility by being in the GY (Madness, reanimator target, flashback, etc).

Fervor
Pros:
- Enchantment, so not that susceptible and for some reason people in my pods seem to leave it alone for whatever reason.
Cons:
- Cards like Rec Sage are rampant and Fervor is a great early target.

Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
Pros:
- Mass haste.
- Has haste herself.
Cons:
- 4CMC is high - I prefer haste enables at <3 mana.

I really disliked using the lands for haste, they always seemed terrible. I think the card I'm most likely to try again is Olivia, she's a good evasive threat and the ability to give haste and a counter simultaneously is good. I think I also took her out before I ran Reanimate, so she actually becomes a loot enabler to reanimate something like Rune-Scarred Demon or whatever.

[yeti1069]

Thanks for this. My comments to follow

Since we're on the haste enablers topic I thought I'd mention the ones I've used in the past and just assess them a bit, in case anyone wants to explore a few different options.

Flamekin Village
Pros:
- Land, doesn't take up a spell slot and can probably replace a basic mountain.
Cons:
- Requires mana for each activation.
- Almost always ETBT.

Hall of the Bandit Lord
Pros:
- Land, doesn't take up a spell slot.
Cons:
- The 3 life adds up too fast if one wants multiple targets in consecutive turns.
- Colorless mana in a 3C deck is sketchy.
- ETBT.

Lightning Mauler
Pros:
- 2cmc is quite low.
- Quite unassuming, doesn't draw much hate in my experience.
Cons:
- 1 toughness, so it's quite fragile.
- No mass haste.

Olivia, Mobilized for War
Pros:
- Solid body.
- Additional applications for decks that enjoy looting; i.e any GY-based strategies like reanimator.
- Gives haste, as well as a +1/+1 counter so protects the hasty creature if Marchesa is out.
Cons:
- Card disadvantage if the card you're discarding doesn't provide utility by being in the GY (Madness, reanimator target, flashback, etc).

Fervor
Pros:
- Enchantment, so not that susceptible and for some reason people in my pods seem to leave it alone for whatever reason.
Cons:
- Cards like Rec Sage are rampant and Fervor is a great early target.

Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
Pros:
- Mass haste.
- Has haste herself.
Cons:
- 4CMC is high - I prefer haste enables at <3 mana.

I really disliked using the lands for haste, they always seemed terrible. I think the card I'm most likely to try again is Olivia, she's a good evasive threat and the ability to give haste and a counter simultaneously is good. I think I also took her out before I ran Reanimate, so she actually becomes a loot enabler to reanimate something like Rune-Scarred Demon or whatever.

--Flamekin: Using this currently. Don't love that it ETBT, and not thrilled that it eats 2 mana to give something haste. May get cut soon.

--HotBL: Using this currently. Don't love that it ETBT, and the life loss has been a problem on occasion, but since I've added some lifegain to the deck is hasn't been an issue. Love that it doesn't take a slot, and doesn't have an additional cost to provide the Haste.

--Exava: Thought about it, but I mostly want the Haste to get a +1/+1 counter, but she requires the counter first. Once my guys have a +1/+1 counter on them, I don't care too much about whether or not they have Haste.

--Haven't tried the rest, but just added Olivia. My thinking on her is that I don't need Haste for everyone, but I especially want a few creatures (Marchesa in particular) getting a +1/+1 counter ASAP. That she comes down a turn before Marchesa is great! I figure, even 2 or 3 activations a game is going to be solid.

To expand on that last point, in a non-aggro list, I view Haste's primary allure as getting those counters on creatures the turn they come down to protect them under Marchesa's blanket. Being able to get the counter applied when it's not your turn, or if you can't otherwise attack is high value in my book.

[Tevesh]

I ran Flamekin Village but cut the card due to ETBT concerns. I don't think that'll effect you as much, as you're going for a more Combo route. If you're using a lot of Changelings or for whatever reason make an Elemental Marchesa, I think Village is a good pick.

I currently run Hall of the Bandit Lord but I consider it a 'spell slot' instead of a land; I like it just because it Bolts me.

I was tempted to try to find room for Lightning Mauler but never could find something I'd want to axe; just being a Human isn't enough for me even if my deck has a few random Human synergies like Falkenrath Aristocrat.

I cut Olivia, Mobilized for War because I couldn't trust myself. It was great for protecting Marchesa but too often I would try to protect all of the things and find myself outta gas because I pitched it all away. Would probably be fantastic if paired with Coastal Piracy effects.

I haven't even tried Fervor because it isn't a body nor a card that's going to make me win. If I wanted to introduce a Haste effect, it would be the Lightning Mauler or Ogre Battledriver. Don't underestimate that +2/+0, it adds up quickly with Haste.

Didn't bother to even consider Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch because if a Creature already has a +1/+1 counter on it, it protects itself. If it doesn't have a +1/+1 Counter, then it can't protect itself and Exava can't provide Haste to earn the Dethrone trigger. If you're going to be greedy and give your men something that helps, it shouldn't come with strings.

One card not mentioned here is Hanweir Battlements. It comes into play untapped for the cost of colourless compared to Red mana when compared to Flamekin Village. If you run Hanweir Garrison, then this land provides you with the dream of Melding the two together. The ETB untapped is huge for aggro but I think you'd like it as well.

I already mentioned him but he deserves more recognition: Ogre Battledriver does work.

[BeneTleilax]

do you have enough haste for ambusade shaman

[DeadPresident]

I ran Flamekin Village but cut the card due to ETBT concerns. I don't think that'll effect you as much, as you're going for a more Combo route. If you're using a lot of Changelings or for whatever reason make an Elemental Marchesa, I think Village is a good pick.

I currently run Hall of the Bandit Lord but I consider it a 'spell slot' instead of a land; I like it just because it Bolts me.

I was tempted to try to find room for Lightning Mauler but never could find something I'd want to axe; just being a Human isn't enough for me even if my deck has a few random Human synergies like Falkenrath Aristocrat.

I cut Olivia, Mobilized for War because I couldn't trust myself. It was great for protecting Marchesa but too often I would try to protect all of the things and find myself outta gas because I pitched it all away. Would probably be fantastic if paired with Coastal Piracy effects.

I haven't even tried Fervor because it isn't a body nor a card that's going to make me win. If I wanted to introduce a Haste effect, it would be the Lightning Mauler or Ogre Battledriver. Don't underestimate that +2/+0, it adds up quickly with Haste.

Didn't bother to even consider Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch because if a Creature already has a +1/+1 counter on it, it protects itself. If it doesn't have a +1/+1 Counter, then it can't protect itself and Exava can't provide Haste to earn the Dethrone trigger. If you're going to be greedy and give your men something that helps, it shouldn't come with strings.

One card not mentioned here is Hanweir Battlements. It comes into play untapped for the cost of colourless compared to Red mana when compared to Flamekin Village. If you run Hanweir Garrison, then this land provides you with the dream of Melding the two together. The ETB untapped is huge for aggro but I think you'd like it as well.

I already mentioned him but he deserves more recognition: Ogre Battledriver does work.

This is a very solid recommendation that I completely forgot about, I used to run one in my Xenagos deck and he did do solid work. Considering how many bodies a Marchesa list usually puts out if there's one haste enabler over 3cmc to run it's definitely Ogre Battledriver. Suddenly 2/2s are 4/2s with haste that make blocking a pain in the ass, and if Marchesa is out they could potentially become 5/3s that'll just come back even if they die. I've still got one lying around, I might cut something average higher up my curve and put the Battledriver in.

do you have enough haste for ambusade shaman

I think I'd probably prefer 4+ haste enablers for Ambuscade Shaman but it's a pretty interesting card, definitely worth a consideration for anyone with a more aggressive Marchesa build to try out. A good compromise might be Ogre Battledriver (unfortunately only buffs power) but does also provide haste.

[yeti1069]

What do you think about The Ozolith?

[DeadPresident]

It's an interesting consideration. I love early 1-2cmc cards that help to protect the board state, and the Ozolith making sure that if a creature leaves play with a counter on it it'll come back with it too is quite appealing.

The only potential issues are that it occurs on combat on your turn, and also that all the counters have to go onto a single creature. So it'll be great if we're deliberately sacrificing creatures one at a time, but it might be a bit of a problem if we get wrathed and 5 creatures get their counters moved onto the Ozolith and all of them have to go onto a single source on our combat.

It is something I'd be interested in testing though, for sure.

[Wallycaine]

It's an interesting consideration. I love early 1-2cmc cards that help to protect the board state, and the Ozolith making sure that if a creature leaves play with a counter on it it'll come back with it too is quite appealing.

The only potential issues are that it occurs on combat on your turn, and also that all the counters have to go onto a single creature. So it'll be great if we're deliberately sacrificing creatures one at a time, but it might be a bit of a problem if we get wrathed and 5 creatures get their counters moved onto the Ozolith and all of them have to go onto a single source on our combat.

It is something I'd be interested in testing though, for sure.

While moving them all to one creature can be a problem, it's also an opportunity. If you sacrifice 5 guys with counters, then put all those counters on your Sage of Hours... Alternately, it can be used to just voltron up a dude, piling a bunch of counters on Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion or any random flyer.

[DeadPresident]

Yeah that's a fair point, it means one specific creature with evasion of one kind or another can become a bigger threat. It'll need some testing but it's definitely an interesting card for us to consider.

[DeadPresident]

I've been considering a few cuts and changes for a while, and after some feedback in this group decided the following switches might be worth a try:

Sire of Stagnation → Ogre Battledriver
Sygg, River Cutthroat → Grim Haruspex
Phyrexian Reclamation → Drana, Liberator of Malakir

Sire of Stagnation was generally a bit win-more, by the time it hit the field I should have had other consistent draw options already on the table. Of the haste enablers I had to choose from the Battledriver made the most sense, so I'll be giving it a shot.

Sygg for some reason always felt mediocre, and the Haruspex will give me more control over trying to draw cards rather than hoping opponents damage themselves/each other to try and get draws off Sygg. This one might be wrong, but I'm going to give it a try.

Phyrexian Reclamation was mostly there as an insurance policy in case Marchesa was disrupted in some way, but I've almost never used it to recover from disruption so I thought I'd retry Drana. She was originally in my list but always felt like her effect happened a bit too late, but more ways to add counters can't hurt.

[DeadPresident]

I've made a few additional adjustments to shore up my interaction, been noticing that on the boardwipe/board control front I seem to be lacking a little bit and the cute cards like Aura Thief, Mark of Mutiny or Sage of Hours just haven't been contributing. Added Marton Stromgald because despite Dethrone triggers I still felt my board was being outclassed in combat a bit too often - particularly with how much strong green presence I've seen in my pods. Stromgald is quite fragile but easily recurring him with Marchesa addresses that a little bit.

Aura Thief → Toxic Deluge
Combat Celebrant → Marton Stromgald
Fact or Fiction → Painful Truths
Bolas's Citadel → Jokulhaups
Sage of Hours → Vandalblast
Mark of Mutiny → Evacuation

I managed to track down a Deluge for a decent price so I decided to pull the trigger. I'll hopefully get some games in this weekend so I'll be able to test out whether or not access to additional board control helps. I feel like Curse of the Swine/Cyclonic Rift/Toxic Deluge/Blasphemous Act/Evacuation should be sufficient, since I've noticed this deck struggles a little with go-wide strategies (particularly ramp heavy green strategies) if I fall behind in the early game.

Those are all the updates for now, I was hoping Commander Legends would have some more potential additions for this deck but I really haven't seen anything too promising. Have any of the other Marchesa pilots been having success with any of the newer cards?

[Tevesh]

Instead of Evacuation, you should run Aetherize or Darkness; cards that'll give you that extra turn you need to crackback for lethal that doesn't disrupt your board.

Adding in Jokulhaups is going to start an ugly arms race. If you don't mind that, add Cephalid Constable; one hit on a player early and they just might concede immediately.