Gray Merchant of Asphodel

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Creature — Zombie

When this enters the battlefield, each opponent loses X life, where X is your devotion to black. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Each in the mana costs of permanents you control counts towards your devotion to black.)

Hypersayia9001 on Kill, Kill and Kill some more.

2 weeks ago

@Basshunter: Thanks for the input. There are a few things I feel the need to justify keeping in though.

The primary reason I have Paragon of Open Graves and Hero's Blade is so I can easily buff up Sarevok, causing his ability to drain extra life when it triggers. Death-Priest of Myrkul is somewhat expensive, but when he's out, I just got to pay a mana at the end of each turn to ensure I maintain a consistent fuel supply for Cultist (and a lot of my token generation is zombies anyway so... bigger dead dudes.). Similar vein, Palace Siege allows me to sac something to Cultist then play it again on the same turn, which goes real good with Gray Merchant of Asphodel for life gain and Doomed Dissenter for a free Zombie token, if I just don't sac Gravecrawler to play it again cause it cheap.

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon and Squelching Leeches are mostly there to be big beefy bois if I need them, but yeah, of the suggestions you've made, I'd probably swap them for Black Market Connections and Priest of Forgotten Gods to net me some more card draw. Ophiomancer, Grave Titan and Phyrexian Altar are also on my radar.

Not a fan of Skullclamp, at least in this deck. I'd need either altars or Yahenni, Undying Partisan out to actually get consistent value out of it, otherwise I'd need to pay for another sac outlet.

scottbaker91 on Budget Meren Eldrazi EDH

3 weeks ago

I think Hand of Emrakul, Decimator of the Provinces, Kozilek, the Great Distortion, and Pathrazer of Ulamog are too expensive to cast / commander ability for what they do. Some replacement examples would be: Terastodon, Void Winnower, Fleshbag Marauder, Noxious Gearhulk, Ravenous Chupacabra, Plaguecrafter, Eternal Witness, It That Betrays, Woodfall Primus, Acidic Slime, Ob Nixilis, Unshackled, Sepulchral Primordial, Overseer of the Damned, etc.

cards like Dalek Squadron with a sac outlet will get you a lot of Meren counters quickly. cards like Greater Good are great at filling your graveyard and your hand. cards like Oversold Cemetery are great for your low mana creatures and late game expensive creatures. Tragic Slip isn't a very good card for multiplayer commander, unless you are using something like Isochron Scepter

I think your deck is a little heavy on creature token generators, especially your creatures. I know they are there to build up tokens on Meren and to generate mana, in the early game, but they aren't doing much in the mid to late game. Maybe replace a few with some faster reanimator spells like: Living Death, Lifeline (a personal favorite), Necromancy, Animate Dead, Victimize, Rescue from the Underworld, Beacon of Unrest, etc.

Other cards I would consider cutting: Skullbriar, the Walking Grave (too slow imo unless he is your commander), Blisterpod (needs to die to get the token), Pawn of Ulamog, Vorapede, Village Rites, Gray Merchant of Asphodel (starts to shine with lots of reanimator stuff), Woe Strider, Scion Summoner, Brood Monitor, Deathreap Ritual, Commander's Sphere

It's tough to suggest cards for a budget deck. A card that I might consider to be absolutely necessary could require cheaper options in other parts of the deck to make it fit.

TheForsakenOne on K'rrik, Blatant Cheater

2 months ago

Because extort says "That much life" it scales with how much life is lost, which Bloodletter changes as a replacement effect. Because it specifically replaces life loss instead of damage causing life loss it does double the lifegain you receive.

And Wound Reflection is just a little too slow for my tastes. Its a 5 mana investment on something that isn't putting you in a winning investment unless you're following it up with a Pontiff of Blight, Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Shard of the Nightbringer, and people tend to target you or it as soon as it comes down because they see the aforementioned cards coming.

Last_Laugh on Case42

2 months ago

If you'd rather branch into blue than green, I'd suggest Marchesa, the Black Rose. She's honestly my favorite deck and I've had her built for 9+ years at this point. I like her because she can be built on any budget and you can take her in several directions including etb/death trigger abuse (what I run), tribal (wizards, zombies, vampires, or pirates typically), modular artifacts, permanent creature theft, aristocrats, etc.

Every Masochist Needs a Marchesa to Love Them. I use alternate sources of +1+1 counters (besides Dethrone and combat) to abuse etb/death triggers on everyone's turn instead once per round that Dethrone alone enables. I typically end games with Gray Merchant of Asphodel then sac'ing all my clones so they can enter as Gary #2, 3, or even 4 at end of turn.

Heavensgates on Marchesas' Thorns

3 months ago

Cmi1103 Those are some great comments and suggestions, thanks!

I either missed Anduril, Narsil Reforged or it was a bit out of my budget at the time I first saw it. A copy of it is on the way!

I used to have Thran Vigil, until it hit me that it was only a single +1/+1 counter, no matter how many cards come in and it was only on your turn. I cannot remember what I swapped it out for, but I am unwilling to use it, given its constraints. Had it been one counter per turn, I would still have it.

I will seriously consider Spark Double, so many legendary cards are worth copying, commander included, just gotta figure out what to dump for it.

Ashnod's Altar is in the deck, Goblin Bombardment will go in my thinking pile, free sacs are nice indeed.

I used to have Flayer of the Hatebound in the deck combined with Stalking Vengeance for a double whammy, but I took em out to go another direction.

I also like to walk the dangerous line of not being the one with the most lives, often not blocking attacks to drop my lives to activate dethrone. It's also why I use all those pain talismans. So Gray Merchant of Asphodel is not really an option I am willing to entertain.

Wish I had a Dockside Extortionist!

I stole your Danny Pink and am thinking on your Kardur, Doomscourge as well.

Looking through your decklist, I see you are using Mahadi, Emporium Master, an alternative could be Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge, same CMC, but he flies, does not require the black mana and is 5/4 instead of 3/3, downside is you need 4+ artifacts for him to attack and he will not spawn a treasure when tokens die.

Another interesting free sac outlet is Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, free sacs, adds +1/+1 counters on himself (and untaps!) and kills a target and buffs again when attacking.

Another interesting creature I toyed with that serves as a good defender and gives you perfect control of your life total (on the downside) is Mischievous Poltergeist, stops anything that is not trample or unblockable and survives many kinds of board wipes all while allowing you to drop your life total to the same level as the highest life total at instant speed!

Otherwise, Skullclamp, 1 mana for 2 extra card draws? Sign me up!

Thanks for the comments and the upvote and here is one back from me (I tried, but I get a 404 page when I click the button...)!

Last_Laugh on Roses of May -- (Marchesa Threaten)

3 months ago

Danny Pink is an amazing draw engine here. Between all the +1+1 counter effects like Uncivil Unrest, Sage of Fables, Thran Vigil, and Dethrone, this draw adds up fast.

Thran Vigil is limited to your turn but with theft Marchesa especially, this is less of an issue. Most of your thievery and subsequent sacrifices will happen on your turn and this ensures your newly acquired toys are immediately protected instead of being vulnerable for a turn cycle.

I'm surprised you don't run Gray Merchant of Asphodel over Kokusho. I run both personally but I can end games fast with Gary (clones and Saw in Half) but Kokusho may end up on the chopping block soon for me because not only is he a slower finisher, he's more expensive to cast. Meta call for lots of "no etb" effects?

Feel free to check out my list for ideas. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Every Masochist Needs a Marchesa to Love Them

Cmi1103 on Marchesas' Thorns

3 months ago

Awesome! Few suggestions based on my experience with Marchesa in my deck: The Black Rose Never Dies. Thran Vigil and Anduril, Narsil Reforged are both insanely valuable to this deck so you can get more counters on creatures without always having to rely on Marchesa's Dethrone ability, especially late in the game! Spark Double is also incredible as it can become a copy of Marchesa due to the non-legend effect, to help protect your board state even more!

I'd also look at adding a few more valuable Sac Outlets such as Ashnod's Altar, Goblin Bombardment which are always free options to sacrifice at any time, plus they add extra value. You can never have too many.

A Few fun creatures to abuse etb and ltb that can really turn the game upside down are Flayer of the Hatebound, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

Also, Kudos on Hostage Taker! That was one of my favorite cards to run in this deck until I got my hands on Dockside Extortionist.

Marchesa is so fun! Love to hear your thoughts! and let me know if you have any other questions, or looking for suggestions on what to cut or anything like that! Enjoy!

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