Marchesa, Rose Wins

[Tevesh]

Rogue lives matter? Bitterblossom beckons....

That price tag, though. I think Fetches are cheaper and they would probably improve the deck so much more than Bitterblossom.

[DaButtshark]

The answer is probably "too slow" but have you ever contemplated Sword of Truth and Justice? It comes down the turn after marchesa, protects against the 2 most problematic removal colors for the deck, and has the ability to place counters on dudes and grow your board. The trigger is admittedly way worse post-damage, but still advances the board state for the following turn and might synergize with un-hasted dudes.

Another card I'm curious about is Zurzoth, Chaos Rider. It's probably bad, but I think Marchesa may be slightly more resilient to the random discard than most decks and the pinging army is maybe okay.

I'm a complete Marchesa scrub so I might be overlooking key problems, I was just wondering what your thoughts were.

[Tevesh]

The answer is probably "too slow" but have you ever contemplated Sword of Truth and Justice? It comes down the turn after marchesa, protects against the 2 most problematic removal colors for the deck, and has the ability to place counters on dudes and grow your board. The trigger is admittedly way worse post-damage, but still advances the board state for the following turn and might synergize with un-hasted dudes.

Another card I'm curious about is Zurzoth, Chaos Rider. It's probably bad, but I think Marchesa may be slightly more resilient to the random discard than most decks and the pinging army is maybe okay.

I'm a complete Marchesa scrub so I might be overlooking key problems, I was just wondering what your thoughts were.

Yeah, Sword of Truth and Justice is too slow for my build but don't let that stop you in a more classic midrange build. The issue I have is that is a 5 mana investment that can be removed and suddenly my tempo strategy of pure Aggro falls apart. I can't risk that. Also, look at other cards I've cut because they put insufficient pressure on the board: Necropotence, Sadistic Hypnotist, Rhystic Study and Kokusho, the Evening Star. Compare them to the Sword and the Sword is sorely lacking; if I was forced to put one of these cards back into the deck the Sword would be dead last. But again, I'm doing something unusual with my Marchesa, Sword would probably be fine in a casual midrange build.

Out of JumpStart, the only card I'm interested in is Spiteful Prankster as it is a strict upgrade to Hissing Iguanar. Right now I'm trying to think of replacing the Iguanar or cutting something else, just to add more ping damage to take Players and Planeswalkers out.

I did think of Zurzoth, Chaos Rider but I decided against him because he doesn't do enough. As much as I would love to have the Devil tokens, Zurzoth is sorely lacking in comparison to my token makers. In an ideal world, he would get me 1 token a turn but then my opponents are drawing lots of cards which is not an ideal world at all. In fact, I have a few ways to make them Discard in a way to protect my board. When it comes to his body, a 2/3 for 3 just isn't impressive - I've cut 4/4s for 3, every other three drop in my list is either card advantage, reach through pings or spews tokens. Speaking of card advantage, he's only providing me card selection instead of raw draw. I don't think that's good enough for a 3 mana Creature; I run card selection at CMC 1 and 2 with Benthic Biomancer and Smuggler's Copter because I want to ensure I hit one of each colour by the time Turn 4 happens. If I'm playing Zurzoth on Turn 3, he's not going to be helping my selection to ensure I can get Marchesa out quickly if he swings. She needs to be in play beforehand. Also, the few cards in hand that I do keep, I want to make sure I keep: Toxic Deluge, Pact of Negation and Stubborn Denial are cards I don't want to see binned.

We all start as newbies everywhere. This is just giving me the opportunity to talk about probably my favourite Commander. Though it's a tough call with Rakdos and Ruric Thar.

[Tevesh]

Gotta slow the suicide in suicide black:

Changes 09/24/20

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Dross Harvester

Out

1 Robber of the Rich

Approximate Total Cost:

Nikara, Lair Scavenger, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and company have more than resolved my issue of drawing cards. The problem is, between all of my pain lands and other life draining effects, I am having my life dip too low before I can recover with some of my various life gains. I go into a danger threshold and get stomped out. So, with my card advantage being taken care of, I decided to look towards the best ways to gain life. I am already running Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, so the rest of my options aren't the hottest.

I tried Dross Harvester before, axing him because I needed a three drop to cut for Anax, Hardened in the Forge as this deck loves anything that is 'army in a can' . The Harvester went in in place of Kokusho, the Evening Star because Kokusho is too expensive for this deck to reliably curve out on. Well, the Harvester was part of my life gain package, might as well put him back in.

As for card advantage engines, I discussed that on the previous page with my decision to axe Loyal Drake. I cut Loyal Drake because it only drew me on card; I went through my other options of weak card advantage and Robber has frequently come up short in the months since. Her Reach is mostly irrelevant with this deck wanting to turn dudes sideways. Her Rogue anthem draw is unfortunately too difficult to even do somewhat well with. The only other card up for consideration for an axe is Benthic Biomancer put he has only pleased me with the simple churn he provides; it is also a harder pill to swallow to go from 1 CMC to 3 compared from 2 to 3.

[Tevesh]

Better, I think:

Changes 09/29/20

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Terror of the Peaks

Out

1 Syr Konrad, the Grim

Approximate Total Cost:

Terror of the Peaks has the same body as Konrad but comes with evasion with Flying. Konrad might be able to kill the table easier but I find that isn't what this deck is looking for. Being able to shoot problem Creatures or Planeswalkers with Terror's ETB trigger is going to help. Terror can even shoot myself to lower my life total for Dethrone. I like the idea of Konrad draining out the table with all of the triggers he would have caused, but I think I'll enjoy Terror's utility far more, including sending all of my damage to one player in particular to kill them if I need to keep another player alive for the moment.

[DizzCompleat]

I'm trying out your build of her atm. I was originally going to go with artifacts but it uses so many cards from my Prossh deck and I don't really want to pick up doubles atm. That being said, I am testing a really similar build.

Thoughts on:
Liliana's standard bearer More Draw
Chasm Skulker More dudes when he dies
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch Haste
Flayer of the hatebound more dmg
legion warboss more dudes
River Kelpie more draw
Impact Tremors more dmg
Herald of Secret Dreams unblockable
Goblin War Drums like the wolf dude

[Tevesh]

I'm trying out your build of her atm. I was originally going to go with artifacts but it uses so many cards from my Prossh deck and I don't really want to pick up doubles atm. That being said, I am testing a really similar build.

Thoughts on:
Liliana's standard bearer More Draw
Chasm Skulker More dudes when he dies
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch Haste
Flayer of the hatebound more dmg
legion warboss more dudes
River Kelpie more draw
Impact Tremors more dmg
Herald of Secret Dreams unblockable
Goblin War Drums like the wolf dude

The deck's name borrows from 'Red Deck Wins' which isn't something you can normally do in EDH. I am leveraging Marchesa's absolutely broken ability to make a weenie rush work. This means I don't have mana open to play Liliana's Standard Bearer on a whim, I did pick up a copy but I think I like my current draw suite much more. My draw suite is currently Benthic Biomancer, Sygg, River Cutthroat, Mindblade Render, Grim Haruspex, Midnight Reaper, Nikara, Lair Scavenger, Sage of Fables and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. The Standard Bearer doesn't match up to any of these; I find anything with lower CMC is valued for its curve, Yawgmoth is absolutely insane at 4 CMC and every other draw option at parity does the job or better.

Chasm Skulker was in the deck but has been outclassed by all of the quality 'Army in a Can' bodies. With the reliance of drawing cards, it was something that won only when I was already winning. I need Armies in a Can to be as efficient and independent. In comparison to Loyal Apprentice, Anax, Hardened in the Forge, Goblin Rabblemaster, Hanweir Garrison, Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin and Sifter of Skulls, I find the Chasm Skulker wanting. This deck is about attacking and dying, these are natural consequences of taking RDW to a cage match, so all of my other options spew bodies for free.

Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch does nothing. By the time the Creature has a +1/+1 Counter, it has already swung. If I went more Arcbound or +1/+1 Counter themed, perhaps I would be more interested, but as it is now, I am not. I think Ogre Battledriver is flat out superior at this CMC for this role.

Flayer of the Hatebound was too costly. As the deck gets better, I need to keep pushing the curve lower and lower. I currently only have one card that costs 6 CMC - Bolas's Citadel. Flayer is nowhere near the same weight class as Citadel.

Legion Warboss was tried in the deck but I found that it didn't Mentor any Creature well. It only Created one Goblin. So without the ability to protect good Creatures or spew bodies forth, the Warboss wasn't good enough for my build.

River Kelpie is too costly CMC-wise. It is a card I do occasionally toy with the idea of adding to my deck but then what do I cut? Is it worth justifying the CMC increase?

I cut Impact Tremors for Zulaport Cutthroat. They do the same and while the Cutthroat does so at the backend instead of forward like Tremors, I think the Cutthroat's being a Creature and gaining me life is well worth it. The deck cannot afford non-Creatures that don't immediately put pressure on the board. I've cut Necropotence because it wasn't threatening enough, Tremors does not exist in the same universe as the Skull.

Herald of Secret Streams is too slow for this build. In other, slower, midrange Marchesas he can be devastating because your huge Creatures are unblockable. I'm just going to drown my opponents in the bodies of my Creatures, not caring if they defense or not.

Goblin War Drums aren't a body and again, I've axed Necropotence.

I've been optimising my list for years, many of the cards you've listed have existed in this list in one point or another but as I went with the weenie rush strategy, a lot fell by the wayside. If you plan on playing a slower version, then many of these are quite viable and will do well in the meantime until you get the faster if that is your desire.

[Tevesh]

Improving consistency:

Changes 11/12/20

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Fabled Passage

Out

1 Meteor Crater

Approximate Total Cost:

It's important that I hit all three Colours for Marchesa; I might be lacking with a Meteor Crater but the likelihood I'd be missing out with Fabled Passage is much lower.

[Tevesh]

Commander Legends Revisions:

Changes 12/01/20

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Tormod, the Desecrator

1 Nadier's Nightblade

1 Deflecting Swat

1 Training Center

Out

1 Goblin Rabblemaster

1 Hissing Iguanar

1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager

1 Cascade Bluffs

Approximate Total Cost:

Tormod comes in in place of Rabblemaster. I do like Rabblemaster's lowered cost; however, his growth is linear unlike Tormod's. I've seen absolutely disgusting Desecrated Tomb has been and I want me some of that. I did think of cutting Loyal Apprentice but decided against that because curving up from 2 to 4 hurts a lot; plus, the Apprentice is all upside compared to the 'Goblins Must Attack' stapled on Rabblemaster. Most of the time, I won't mind; but there might be an instance where I do. I can think of that happening once so I know the chance exists.

Nadier's Nightblade comes in for more life gain. She's going to kill the table instead of ping a Player or Planeswalker; which is a toss up, as far as I'm concerned. I did think of replacing Dross Harvester with the Nightblade but I'm still concerned about life. The table is coming back around on ganging up on me and having Marchesa as a Kill on Sight target.

With Marchesa going up with players wanting to kill her, I figured to make room for one of the free spells. I don't have the Counterspell but the Redirect should be enough for now. Looking at my line up, it was Nicol Bolas who looked the clunkiest out of my curve and so he gets the axe.

Overall, I think Training Center is going to do more for me than Cascade Bluffs. Now, I could be wrong with the variety of UU and RR in my deck but I rather risk that then having this as unplayable on Turn 1.

[Tevesh]

Want more draw:

Changes 12/19/20

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Ghostly Pilferer

Out

1 Oona's Blackguard

Approximate Total Cost:

Oona's Blackguard has been a little lacklustre; she causes a lot of hate in comparison to what I feel her effect is. Antheming Rogues is nice and the Discard is fine, I just want more draw. With how low this deck goes, I'm sure the Pilferer can come under most Commanders, earning itself a few draws and that's before any Cascade or other cast nonsense occurs. I've also been looking at that Birthing Pod in Kaldheim that goes off of Creature types - this 2 CMC Spirit Pods perfectly into Kira, Great Glass-Spinner to protect Marchesa. The Pilferer is also a form of draw if I'm ending up in the late game and the unblockable might be great at getting in on opposing Planeswalkers.

[hellfiend]

How are you abusing tomb and tormod? They only net you 1 bat or 1 zombie per turn?

[Tevesh]

How are you abusing tomb and tormod? They only net you 1 bat or 1 zombie per turn?

Marchesa creates individual triggers. Three Creatures die with +1/+1s and three different triggers to resolve for them to return with three Bats or Zombies then being made. It's insane.

[yeti1069]

How are you abusing tomb and tormod? They only net you 1 bat or 1 zombie per turn?

While the cards trigger only once for any number of creatures coming out of the yard at once, Marchesa's trigger doesn't bring back all the creatures that died at the same time--you get a separate trigger for each creature, so that's an independent trigger for Tormod or Tomb.

It's not: X, Y, Z creatures died, and at EOT turn, X, Y, Z creatures come back.

It's X creature died, and at EOT it comes back.
Y creature died, and at EOT it comes back.
Z creature died and at EOT it comes back.

Separately, but also helpful to know, is that you can order the triggers as you like at EOT--they don't have to come back in the order they died.

[Tevesh]

Massive Update:

Changes 01/11/21

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Fierce Guardianship

1 Bloodstained Mire

1 Polluted Delta

1 Scalding Tarn

Out

1 Stubborn Denial

1 Graven Cairns

1 Morphic Pool

1 Training Center

Approximate Total Cost:

Got lands that will fix my mana even moreso and a free Counterspell for my troubles too.

[narglfrob]

Tevesh, if you had to rate your creatures that are primarily included to deal damage to the opponent (ie the armies in a can), which would you rank as your... say top 5 and why?

[Tevesh]

I've yet to see Tormod, the Desecrator but I do have high hopes. I'm not sure I could rank them but these are the top five most impressive Armies in a Can.

Desecrated Tomb would be in that list strictly because it isn't a Creature; it Dodges some removal by virtue of nothing being what people want.

Anax, Hardened in the Forge is amazing because it is easy to hit that 4 power to suddenly make 2 Satyrs which can then be fed into other Sac Outlets for effect. Draining for 3 with Zulaport Cutthroat off of each Creature closes out games.

Sifter of Skulls because the Eldrazi can Sacrifice themselves; that's for death triggers like my Zulaport and co. but the fact that they make mana helps me power out more ridiculous things.

Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin is insane for growing very large on his own, very quickly, but then he's constantly making my board go wider and wider with Goblins. His first attack is pretty absurd; layer it so his Dethrone resolves first and then his own pump - suddenly you've got 3 Goblins. Next turn, you spew out 5 Goblins with a 5/6.

Hanweir Garrison rounds out the top simply because he's a very efficient body. You can also tempt yourself into being a bad player by trying to Transform him.

That being said, while these are great Armies in a Can, they're not the Creatures that do the most damage. That's my "ping package" of Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Judith, the Scourge Diva, Mayhem Devil and Nadier's Nightblade theoretically - she recently replaced Hissing Iguanar who I earmarked for a cut earlier for the strictly superior Spiteful Prankster. The Iguanar/Prankster might be coming back, It's these pingers that help ramp up my damage. They make every decision my opponent does wrong; don't block and take damage with a growing army; try to trade but my stuff comes back and you've triggered more deaths or a mix of those two options for a mix of those results. Mayhem Devil is especially atrocious due to triggering off of any Sacrifice; I've killed people because they sac'd a bunch of Smothering Tithe Treasures.

If I ran a more Human focused version, I'd definitely be making room for Márton Stromgald as he's a recurring Red Craterhoof Behemoth. He was too swingy in my build but he's had me kill tables because all my Creatures are getting +7/+7. The real takeaway is to play aggro effectively, you need more than efficiency; stop looking for linear damage, look for scaling damage.

[ElevatorDreams]

Hello, first time poster here for this deck. I have been playing Marchesa for about 5 years and have mostly organically grown my deck thus it looks in my opinion not too similar to other Marchesa decks I find. What cards should I REALLY consider adding that are not on my list? Any advice is appreciated. I am playing the deck as mainly a mid-range aggro deck. My list is below.

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/26-10-16-LLw-marchesa/

[Tevesh]

Hello, first time poster here for this deck. I have been playing Marchesa for about 5 years and have mostly organically grown my deck thus it looks in my opinion not too similar to other Marchesa decks I find. What cards should I REALLY consider adding that are not on my list? Any advice is appreciated. I am playing the deck as mainly a mid-range aggro deck. My list is below.

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/26-10-16-LLw-marchesa/

I'm a stickler for curve but that especially applies for aggro decks. You might be midrange but you follow the same path, so I'd suggest bumping up your 3 drops and cutting 4 drops. Think of it this way, between all of your 4 drops, when would you play those against Marchesa?

I am not a fan of Plaguecrafter and co. because it is easy to really screw you over by popping it and then you need to Sacrifice another Creature. I call this the Meren of Clan Nel Toth Problem because that's frequently how you'd catch her out.

Swan Song makes a body, I'd suggest Stubborn Denial. Frequently you're going to have a 4 power critter, such as Marchesa herself once she turns sideways once. Counterflux also has me scratching my head but I guess you really need to Uncounterable or the Overload option? I find the best answers are efficient answers.

I've cut a lot of my noncreature draw because I needed constant pressure; if you're going midrange, you have a build up period before starting your stream of haymakers. Where's Necropotence? It's certainly better than Phyrexian Arena. Rhystic Study is the other classic Grixis Draw engine.

I don't quite see enough fodder for Sadistic Hypnotist but I'm not too sure; I'm too much of a greedy idiot to play with it, so your call.

Right now, I see a bunch of stuff that's too expensive for an aggro deck but lacks enough support to be in Midrange. You've got what? 6 Ramp cards with eleven 5+ drops; Midrange turns on at 4-5 and your 4 drops are crowded, especially since that's weighted against your Commander.

Thinking about it, I think you might have your terms confused here. Aggro-Control is often called Midrange for shorthand because that's what you're trying to do, playing aggressively costed answers and threats. What makes Midrange work is that you pay a premium on your cards but they're a catch all. Think back to the classic Spiritmonger from old The Rock decks; it's expensive (for a Standard card) but it dodges all sorts of removal while easily handling every threat. That's midrange: higher price, more of a catch all. Disallow over Counterspell, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born over Ravenous Chupacabra, etc.

I don't think you're building a Midrange deck, I think you're trying to make Aggro-Control very much like Blue-Green Madness was back in the day. You play Aggressive threats to kill your opponents and play a little bit of Control elements to force through your tempo victories. You'd pitch your hand to Wild Mongrel to help kill other Creatures and then slap your opponents with efficient Counterspells in the form of Circular Logic or Daze.

I think you're asking me because you're feeling like your deck sometimes functions and sometimes doesn't; well, I don't have a catch all answer for you. Your deck is at a crossroads. You need to choose to make it actual Midrange instead of this amalgam you've got or hone your Marchesa into an Aggro-Control deck. A good litmus test for you would be how you like Matter Reshaper. It's expensive enough to not be a frivolous draw piece but cheaper than a lot of other options you do have.

I hope this helps?

[ElevatorDreams]

I think your analysis is spot on. You are correct in that this is an aggro-control / tempo deck instead of a mid range deck. Also, the first standard I played in was u/g madness so that is funny you say that. I strongly dislike Matter Reshaper which also lines up.

I love the way this deck plays and want to keep the same play style but I was hoping to lower the curve slightly and see if there are any cards I am missing that would be good includes. I have stayed away from necro and rhystic study with this deck purely because I have played them both so many times over the years and wanted something a little different. Grimgrin sounds like a fantastic idea for this deck. Sadistic Hypnotist has been insanely good. There is a ton of Voltron style decks in my meta which is why I like plaguecrafter effects. Any other cards I should consider with this tempo style of deck?

[Tevesh]

Latest update as Covid restrictions are being lifted:

Changes 06/06/21

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Immersturm Predator

1 Pyre of Heroes

1 Tyrite Sanctum

Out

1 Hanweir Garrison

1 Bolas's Citadel

1 Nesting Grounds

Approximate Total Cost:

This was a difficult cut but I do think that Hanweir is the worst of all the 3 Drops. 4 Drops are all absolutely bonkers, so I didn't think of axing them for Immersturm Predator. It Dodges removal and lets me do some Graveyard Hate

Bolas's Citadel is very costly: it's the only six drop in the deck and it really shows. Instead, I'm going to try Pyre to fetch out Creatures earlier. I have plenty of Spirits, Vampires, Humans and Wizards to do some shenanigans to fetch particular troublemakers for my opponents.

Nesting Grounds really only helps if I am up and can only do so at Instant Speed. Out it goes in favour of Tyrite Sanctum which can make any of my Legends suddenly have a +1/+1 for Marchesa's resurrection.

Pyre Chains

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Dragon

1 Immersturm Predator

1 Terror of the Peaks

Goblin

1 Dockside Extortionist

1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser

1 Krenko, TIn Street Kingpin

Human

1 Loyal Apprentice

1 Zulaport Cutthroat

1 Grim Haruspex

1 Imperial Recruiter

1 Judith, the Scourge Diva

1 Nikara, Lair Scavenger

1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Merfolk

1 Benthic Biomancer

1 Sygg, River Cutthroat

1 Sage of Fables

1 Glen Elendra Archmage

Spirit

1 Mausoleum Wanderer

1 Ghostly Pilferer

1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

Vampire

1 Viscera Seer

1 Blood Artist

1 Drana, Liberator of Malakir

1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan

1 Falkenrath Aristocrat

1 Immersturm Predator

Warrior

1 Mindblade Render

1 Nadier's Nightblade

Wizard

1 Grim Haruspex

1 Sage of Fables

1 Glen Elendra Archmage

1 Tormod, the Desecrator

Zombie

1 Midnight Reaper

1 Tormod, the Desecrator

1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Approximate Total Cost:

[Tevesh]

Foot, meet my mouth:

Changes 06/14/21

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Dark Confidant

1 Coastline Marauders

1 Kardur, Doomscourge

1 Mox Diamond

1 Badlands

1 Prismatic Vista

Out

1 Spark Double

1 Sakashima the Impostor

1 Nadier's Nightblade

1 Curse of Opulence

1 Luxury Suite

1 Hanweir Battlements

Approximate Total Cost:

I realized that my four drops are bonkers except my two Clones. In my mind, they're backup Marchesas and nothing more. This is an aggressive, mean aggro deck - I do not have the luxury of redundancy. Oh sure, I have plenty of ways to do particular actions but I cannot afford spending two 4 drops on redundancy for my Commander. All of my other options protecting her are more versatile. They're free Counterspells, they give +1/+1 Counters to more than just Marchesa. With that in mind, I realized I did not like spending that much mana on redundancies.

I am using Dark Confidant in place of one of these Clones because he gives more more draw, lowers my life total and is a Human Wizard for Pyre of Heroes chains. Bob's a proven asset. I am experimenting with Coastline Marauders. He's a scaling threat with Trample; scaling is how you kill a table when your method is to turn sideways into 120 Life. Strangely, I don't have other Creatures with Trample so I'm going to see if Trample helps or hinders. As counterintuitive as that is, I've found that the deck operates by flipping a few assumptions. Creatures with Trample don't get Blocked but this deck actually wants Blocks. I want their life totals to stay relatively stable until I am ready to Alpha them off of the table. I have plenty of cards that take advantage of Creatures dying and that's without the consideration of Tempo Loss for my opponents: they spend a four or five drop to Trade with my 2 drop who is going to come back when their critter isn't.

I've had too many games with Nadier's Nightblade in play or hand without another token maker in sight. I am still looking for ways to stabilize the counterbeats so I am shopping for more ways to gain life. I stumbled across a ruling for Kardur that immediately made him jump up the list despite being a 4 drop. In other words, I think he is as good as Marchesa herself. The reason why his first triggered ability doesn't say "Goad" is that it doesn't care about when those Creatures come into play - if they can attack and not you, then that's what they do. In other words, Goad normally has Creatures that come into play after the effect swing however they want if they Haste. Kardur doesn't let that happen. Considering how close the races to the finish are with Marchesa having a dude who fogs my opponents, who I can recur, is outstanding. The fact that they're forced to swing means they won't have blockers for my Alpha Strikes. And then, the cherry on the top of that is that he gains me life and drains out my opponents. I am pretty pumped to give this guy a whirl.

I'm playing the worst archetype in the game for multiplayer which is why I don't feel bad about running Mana Crypt. Mox Diamond enters the chat to make my opens more explosive and aggressive, I don't have a doubt about fueling the Mox with this deck running 38 Lands. I'll miss Curse but I have too many memories of people deciding to swing at someone else when they could've given both of us Gold.

Stepped on, destroyed and mangled Badlands are still bad and lands. It replaces Luxury Suite due to not having any drawbacks and is able to be fetched by my trio of fetches.

I did think of cutting Fabled Passage for the superior Vista, which also makes me lose life for Marchesa's masochistic ways, but I've had more stumbles than not as of late with having too many colourless lands. I examined all of them and I think the weakest link is the Battlements, especially since I can no longer Transform Hanweir Garrison for memes and dreams. I'll have to get some more stress tests done to see if there's another option for the next time Wizards prints broken crap.

[plushpenguin]

Who needs clones to protect your commander when you can run Myr Scrapling?

[Tevesh]

Who needs clones to protect your commander when you can run Myr Scrapling?

Oh damn, that's a sexy card. Though as usual, I have no clue what to axe - the first analog I thought of is Metallic Mimic but surely that can't be the correct call.

I'm glad to see you're still on the Marchesa train. Hadn't seen you touch that thread for a long while and I thought that another one bit the dust.

[Tevesh]

Going with my instinct:

Changes 06/28/21

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Myr Scrapling

Out

1 Metallic Mimic

Approximate Total Cost:

Metallic Mimic helps protect Marchesa but I feel like she's got enough. The Mimic is a piece of the deck's infinite, not that I search that out - I'm too busy turning sideways. I do think that the Scrapling will aid in that department. If all else fails, maybe the Coastline Marauders will not be so good and the Mimic will com back in.

[Tevesh]

Improving the draw suite?:

Changes 11/25/21

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

In

1 Morbid Opportunist

Out

1 Midnight Reaper

Approximate Total Cost:

Morbid draws me a card once per turn, which is very easy to trigger with the random bodies I can toss away. Out of all of my three drop draw engines, I think that Midnight Reaper is the least impressive. He has piss poor typing compared to Opportunist's Human Rogue to fetch me Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Rankle, Master of Pranks. With the higher skilled opponents I play this against, I can't really afford random pings of damage and that sealed the Reaper's fate. Nikara, Lair Scavenger has the courtesy of drawing me cards off of pumped tokens and Grim Haruspex specifies nontoken but she doesn't bleed me. I also like the Opportunist for his ability to get fetched by the Imperial Recruiter.