Queen's Marching Orders

[yeti1069]

This list is based somewhat on some of the "aikido" lists floating around out there, but I'm leaning a little more heavily into the goad mechanic. The overall idea is to incentivize or force attacking elsewhere, and then either dodge the heat that comes my way, or punish the fools for their rash behavior.

Queen's Marching Orders

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Queen Marchesa

Creatures

1 Esper Sentinel

1 Weathered Wayfarer

1 Dockside Extortionist

1 Sun Titan

1 Mangara, the Diplomat

1 Stoneforge Mystic

1 Agitator Ant

1 Breena, the Demagogue

1 Vampire Nighthawk

1 Vengeful Ancestor

1 Opposition Agent

1 Agitator Ant

1 Imperial Recruiter

1 Eldrazi Displacer

1 Windborn Muse

1 Selfless Squire

1 Kardur, Doomscourge

1 Palace Jailer

1 Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant

1 Custodi Lich

1 Brash Taunter

1 Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight

Instants

1 Boros Charm

1 Rakdos Charm

1 Enlightened Tutor

1 Tibalt's Trickery

1 Silence

1 Angel's Grace

1 Path to Exile

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Valakut Awakening

1 Utter End

1 Teferi's Protection

1 Chaos Warp

1 Generous Gift

1 Despark

1 Arcbond

1 Kolaghan's Command

1 Vanishing Verse

1 Deflecting Palm

1 Deflecting Swat

1 Comeuppance

1 Inkshield

Sorceries

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Incendiary Command

1 Mythos of Snapdax

1 Promise of Loyalty

1 Ondu Inversion

1 Mob Rule

Enchantments

1 Authority of the Consuls

1 Land Tax

1 Smothering Tithe

1 Underworld Breach

1 Cunning Rhetoric

1 Ghostly Prison

1 Delaying Shield

Artifacts

1 Mirage Mirror

1 Bloodthirsty Blade

1 Sunforger

1 Elixir of Immortality

1 Talisman of Conviction

1 Talisman of Hierarchy

1 Arcane Signet

1 Boros Signet

1 Chromatic Lantern

1 Thought Vessel

1 Sol Ring

Land

1 Path of Ancestry

1 Exotic Orchard

1 Savai Triome

1 Bojuka Bog

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Mistveil Plains

1 Castle Ardenvale

1 Command Tower

1 Kor Haven

1 Maze of Ith

1 Godless Shrine

1 Blood Crypt

1 Sacred Foundry

1 Bloodstained Mire

1 Arid Mesa

1 Marsh Flats

1 Spectator Seating

1 Vault of Champions

1 Luxury Suite

1 Strip Mine

1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity

1 Phyrexian Tower

1 Access Tunnel

2 Swamp

5 Plains

2 Mountain

Approximate Total Cost:

The main "wincon" for the deck is Smothering Tithe + Underworld Breach + Incendiary Command. Together, they can draw out the table, or kill with the 4 damage option. Somewhere in all the drawing, the deck should turn up Angel's Grace which can ensure we don't lose from decking ourselves.

Otherwise, the deck's goals are to push everyone else to attack each other, and then clean up once they're weakened/down to a 1v1. Sometimes that involves using their resources against them directly with something like Mob Rule, or turning a big attack/block into table-wide damage with Arcbond. The strongest card in the deck, BY FAR is Sunforger. Protect it whenever possible, because the options for control it provides will make a tremendous impact on the game.

The deck is fairly slow and grindy, with the sources of card advantage coming primarily from being Monarch. There are some political options there, but most of the time, the deck doesn't want to give up the title if it can be helped.

Below are cards that were either in the original draft of the list, or are on my list of possible includes. Definitely open to suggestions on some replacements in the main deck if they make sense.

CONSIDERATIONS

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Creatures

1 Knight of the White Orchid

1 Grand Abolisher

1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser

1 Kunoros, Hound of Athreos

1 Burnished Hart

1 Stonecloaker

1 Recruiter of the Guard

1 Orzhov Advokist

1 Angel of Jubilation

1 Keeper of the Accord

1 Academy Rector

1 Stuffy Doll

1 Protector of the Crown

1 Ashen Rider

1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs

Instants

1 Eerie Interlude

1 Pyroblast

1 Crackling Doom

1 Bedevil

1 Return to Dust

1 Leave//Chance

1 Reiterate

1 Faith's Reward

1 Thrilling Encore

1 Dawn Charm

1 Reverberate

1 Wear//Tear

1 Ephemerate

Sorceries

1 Khorvath's Fury

1 Molten Psyche

1 Rout

1 Blasphemous Act

1 Disrupt Decorum

1 Ruinous Ultimatum

Enchantments

1 Court of Ire

1 Court of Grace

1 War's Toll

1 Debtor's Knell

1 Animate Dead

1 Necropotence

Artifacts

1 Expedition Map

1 Lightning Greaves

1 Chaos Wand

1 Darksteel Plate

1 Norn's Annex

1 Victory Chimes

1 Orzhov Signet

1 Isochron Scepter

Planeswalkers

1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis

Approximate Total Cost:

[pokken]

I think you are gonna enjoy the new Hellish Rebuke

[yeti1069]

Oh interesting!

[yeti1069]

Going to try out Dream Devourer in place of Custodi Lich. The Lich has been decent on occasion, but much of the time it doesn't really do much, either because I hang onto Monarch for most of the game, or because my opponents have junk they don't mind sacrificing anyway. I've read a lot of positive feedback on the Devourer, and can definitely see how it could be beneficial on turns where I'm leaving mana up to cast a reactive spell that I could instead foretell and "bank" for later. Especially cards with 2+ colorless mana in their cost, like Comeuppance, where I could foretell on my turn and still have the option of casting it in the turn cycle if need be. That this also swaps a 5cmc card for a 2cmc card is an additional benefit.

[yeti1069]

I've made some other changes that haven't been updated here that I'll have to get to at some point.

[Chromaticus]

Do you mess around with this deck anymore? I was pondering what I thought the best Sunforger deck might be, and I thought of this one.

Specifically because was thinking of the Cosmic Intervention / Brought Back package with fetches / lotus lands / scorched ruins. Ramping heavily with those (including Mistveil Plains) and then eventually having all the Akido cards at your fingertips seems sweet.

[yeti1069]

Do you mess around with this deck anymore? I was pondering what I thought the best Sunforger deck might be, and I thought of this one.

Specifically because was thinking of the Cosmic Intervention / Brought Back package with fetches / lotus lands / scorched ruins. Ramping heavily with those (including Mistveil Plains) and then eventually having all the Akido cards at your fingertips seems sweet.

Definitely do, though I haven't tracked changes to it for a while. That sounds good, but Sunforger is 7 mana to get to the first activation, so I don't know if I'd want to base a ramp package around it, but those are all worthwhile cards on their own.

[Chromaticus]

Yeah, more thinking of - hey, it's late game, no one did anything worth activating Sunforger for - let me crack this fetch I've been holding.

Also, I have never seen The Initiative and The Monarch going at the same time. Surely this is the deck for it?

[yeti1069]

Yeah, more thinking of - hey, it's late game, no one did anything worth activating Sunforger for - let me crack this fetch I've been holding.

Also, I have never seen The Initiative and The Monarch going at the same time. Surely this is the deck for it?

My experience with Sunforger has been that I don't want to activate Sunforger unless I either a) have something in hand that can protect it, or b) need to activate it based on the game state (finding an answer). Most opponents will remove it at the first opportunity, and in response to an activation is generally the best bet. That said, with both Brought Back and Intervention being pretty decent cards on their own, and good Sunforger targets in general, having this available is decent. My problem is that I already feel like there are 4-5 cards I really want in my Sunforger "package" but can't fit due to deck space.

Also, ramp-wise, most of the time you're probably better off Sunforgering for Enlightened Tutor--> Smothering Tithe. It generates more hate than the fetch recursion plan probably would, but it also is the gift that keeps on giving.

With most of my games being played on Spelltable, I find it difficult to track both Monarch and Initiative in the same game for the table (my experience from having both come up in other games). Doable, but difficult. Also, the deck is on the lighter side of creature density, and with few very high-impact critters, so the payoff for The Undercity isn't as high as it might be elsewhere. Still, I am often able to keep the Monarch for most of the game, in which case Initiative becomes a huge bonus. If I were to go that route, I'd most likely include White Plume Adventurer and maybe Seasoned Dungeoneer. Not sure of any others that would warrant inclusion here.

I encourage you to try out the deck with these pieces in play and report back!

Also, I'll note that I lean a little heavily into goad after having too many games where no amount of politicking nor logic could dissuade attacks against me, even when there were obviously larger threats. Playing on Spelltable a lot also lends itself more toward goad than politics, since it's harder to politic when you aren't at a table together. If that's not your situation (and if you've a silver tongue), you could swap some of those slots for other things.

[Chromaticus]

I imagine this is a deck that will want Reprieve — I also noticed that you're not running Anguished Unmaking and you are running Utter End. Budget consideration, or do you find it that much more flexible?

[yeti1069]

I imagine this is a deck that will want Reprieve — I also noticed that you're not running Anguished Unmaking and you are running Utter End. Budget consideration, or do you find it that much more flexible?

Reprieve is a possibility here. It competes with Lapse of Certainty, which I'm also not running yet, Either of those could replace TIbalt's Trickery, although there is a notable difference between a hard counter and one that either puts the spell back in hand or on top of library. That's a slot I could stand to play around with more.

Unmaking vs Utter End came down to which I had a spare copy of (AU is in a couple other decks already), and figured if I have a fair shot of casting one of them off Sunforger, the difference in mana cost doesn't matter, so I might as well skip the life loss. That said AU is the clearly better choice.

[pokken]

As much as I am a huge fan of Reprieve I think if you are not combo-finishing it's not a very good card.

(kinda how hard control shells in Modern/Legacy don't run Remand but tempo decks like Twin did)

[yeti1069]

This deck has a combo, but it's pretty rare that it gets assembled.