EDH - Maralen's Machine

Commander / EDH*

Caeruleus

Artifact (26)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Isolation Cell
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Journeyer's Kite
• 1x Lifeline
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Null Brooch
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Portcullis
• 1x Possessed Portal
• 1x Psychogenic Probe
• 1x Reito Lantern
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Teferi's Puzzle Box
• 1x Tel-Jilad Stylus
• 1x Universal Solvent
• 1x Vessel of Endless Rest
• 1x Voyager Staff
• 1x Winter Orb

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Deathgrip
• 1x Endless Whispers
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Feast on the Fallen
• 1x Koskun Falls
• 1x Lethal Vapors
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Shrieking Affliction
• 1x Volrath's Dungeon
• 1x Wound Reflection

Land (37)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Leechridden Swamp
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Scrying Sheets
• 28x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Instant (4)

• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Dash Hopes
• 1x Withering Boon

Commander (1)

Creature (10)

• 1x Abyssal Persecutor
• 1x Agent of Erebos
• 1x Blood Pet
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Phage the Untouchable
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1x Stromgald Cabal
• 1x Thrull Wizard

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Chain of Smog
• 1x Chainer's Edict
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Dark Deal
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Life's Finale

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Currently in Testing

The idea is to kill everyone with kindness, well - sort of "kindness".

Current play testing yields an interesting phenomenon I like to call "Blue Braids Syndrome", which manifests twofold:

(1) Whilst the card probably puts others in a position to remove it, nobody wants to waste the free advantage you're giving them to remove it.

(2) You paint each other player as a larger threat than yourself, as each play vies to keep themselves ahead of the pack using the card.

(so named after my friend's Braids, Conjurer Adept deck which experiences the same)

The main game plan of this deck as far as I can surmise from theory crafting its design, and a bit of preliminary play testing is to drop Maralen turn 2, and first tutor up Dark Deal or Teferi's Puzzle Box. These make each player dispose of their whole hand (due to Maralen's "Can't draw" clause).

This makes the game very interesting. Each player is tutoring up single cards each turn, but because each player's hand was nixed so early on, they have to choose between tutoring mid-range threats, mana/ramp or larger threats. The decisions made by each player, will probably impact the next player in turn order. e.g. If player A searches for a combo piece which is an enchantment, player B is likely to search for removal, or a threat that requires player A or C to waste a tutor.

The deck runs as good permission as black can:

• Colour hosing counters: Stromgald Cabal , Thrull Wizard , Deathgrip, as well as Null Brooch - which doesn't really have a drawback when you have no cards in hand.

• The De-Activator Suite: Pithing Needle, Phyrexian Revoker

The deck also runs protective equipments for Maralen, trying to minimise the number of responses available.

Lastly, the deck tries to really keep Maralen around with Endless Whispers. When Maralen dies, you let her hit the bin and go to another player. You don't care who controls her, as long as she keeps players tutoring and locking out draws.

Endless Whispers, and the inclusion of the both boots (i.e. Lightning Greaves + Swiftfoot Boots ) all make for a bit of fun when you realise Phage the Untouchable is in the 99. She can be tutored from nowhere and dropped with haste to take a player out from nowhere. More enjoyably, if they kill her, Endless Whispers will donate her to an opponent causing them to lose them game when she re-enters the battlefield under their control.

So far the deck is able to handle its own quite well, but clearly needs more play testing to know what the dead cards are (i.e. ones you never end up tutoring for).

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Key combos	Lightning Greaves + Swiftfoot Boots
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.87