Grixis Wizards or: How We Became Liches

Commander / EDH Control Multiplayer UBR (Grixis) Wizards

Teemursu

Wizard (38)

Tutor (5)

Land (35)

Board-Wipe (6)

Commander (1)

Draw (10)

Ramp (10)

Tools (7)

Lich

This tribal deck focuses heavily Wizard synergy. So much so, that I've decided to not run any non-Wizard creatures that would otherwise be staples in other kind of Marchesa, the Black Rose decks (e.g. Zealous Conscripts ).

The general strategy is to play our commander, Marchesa, the Black Rose , a sacrifice outlet and as many wizards as possible for crazy and fun synergies. By having our wizards go through the graveyard and achieve lichdom, we usually assume a control role: victory by out-grinding and outlasting everyone with value.

When I was building this deck, I kept in mind that it'll be more fun to play if I have a plethora of options available for me as I play. Even after a while of having this deck, I still keep finding new synergies and combos. Not only this, but everything is also in theme with my favorite D&D class - the Wizard!

Lichdom for Dummies

In fantasy fiction, a lich (/ˈlɪtʃ/; from Old English 'līċ' meaning 'corpse') is a type of undead creature. Often such a creature is the result of a transformation, as a powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect and soul to his phylactery and thereby achieve a form of immortality. Liches are depicted as being clearly cadaverous, bodies desiccated or completely skeletal. Liches are often depicted as holding power over hordes of lesser undead creatures, using them as soldiers and servants. Unlike zombies, which are often depicted as mindless, a lich retains independent thought and is usually at least as intelligent as it was prior to its transformation.

Such sort of flavor fits perfectly the play style of this deck, since you get make long-term plans and cackle maniacally as your persistent (pun intended) wizards refuse to stay in the graveyard! Even your innocent-looking Faerie Wizards (looking at you, Sower of Temptation ) will soon become deliciously evil, controlling those undead minions through the scheming power of Marchesa, the Black Rose .

General Gameplan

Usually, the first turns are spent on either ramping out Marchesa, the Black Rose on turn 3 thanks to 2 CMC mana acceleration.

Another, better way of going about things, is to drop a creature like Sage of Fables that will enable Marchesa, the Black Rose to both come down both with a counter and also give one to Sage of Fables via dethrone on the same turn.

You can start looking for crazy and fun synergies once a couple of things have been checked off the list:

Marchesa, the Black Rose is on the battlefield.

Wizards are entering the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter thanks to cards like Sage of Fables .

You've got yourself a sacrifice outlet such as Viscera Seer

If you get to this state, the deck becomes incredibly fun and surprisingly complex to play. I keep finding plenty of routes I can take in the game, and there really are a ton of synergies and combos to figure out. For these reasons, this is probably my favorite deck to play in EDH.

A couple of things to note about our dear leader, Marchesa, the Black Rose :

Yes, she reanimates herself.

Yes, a stolen creature with a +1/+1 counter will reanimate itself and come back under **your control.**

Yes, the ability triggers on **each end step**.

Card Explanations & Evaluations Alphabetically

A Show

B Show

Badlands A staple land, though the importance of ABU duals funnily enough is lessened, as shocklands are more important for the deck.

Barrin, Master Wizard - As we force ourselves to play Wizard only creatures, we find ourselves running sacrifice outlets like him. It is only slightly ironic as the "Master Wizard" is one of our weaker sacrifice outlets. Situationally, very useful, but the fact that he is an on-theme sacrifice outlet makes the card incredibly important.

Blasphemous Act - The second best boardwipe we run. Quite often cheaper than Damnation , which is important as we usually almost always have a way to be fully mana efficient and spend all of our mana. Boardwipes are incredible for us, as usually it's a one sided one. Just keep in mind the possibility, that an opponent might cast something like a Swords to Plowshares on our Marchesa, the Black Rose if we don't have a sacrifice outlet!

Blood Crypt - The better Badlands , though non-blue lands aren't as important, since most of our super smart wizards are blue.

Bloodline Necromancer - Though the high cost makes me want to dislike this card, I feel like it's exactly what our deck has needed for a while. Sometimes when our board gets dealt with, the creatures actually stay in the graveyard, and there's a limited amount of ways to bringing them back without the opponents also being able to benefit from such cards as Living Death and Patriarch's Bidding .

Bloodstained Mire - Pay 3 life (by getting a shockland), get dethrone active and get +1/+1 counters on your whole team. Simple.

Bojuka Bog - A land that comes in play tapped while the deck is very mana hungry and looks to spend all of the mana each turn. The payoff? Our Living Death becomes better without really committing a card slot to graveyard hate. Also, the fact that it doesn't touch our own graveyard is hugely important.

C Show

D Show

Damnation - The worst (and monetarily the most expensive) boardwipe we have, but boardwipes are so good when we are the ones casting them, that it's definitely worth it.

Demonic Tutor - This card is in a fun position in our deck. Usually it opens up a ton of options, as simply tutoring for combo isn't usually the best route to go. Interestingly, Archaeomancer becomes a very tempting target if you have the time, as starting the abuse with Marchesa, the Black Rose 's recursion can both feel amazing and make you quickly the archenemy.

Cards that I often find myself tutoring for: Azami, Lady of Scrolls - Tutoring for draw Sage of Fables - Get the engine running! Viscera Seer or another sacrifice outlet, as those are the most important pieces of our engine. Archaeomancer - To start casting Demonic Tutor multiple times.

Diabolic Intent - A Demonic Tutor that's very often better than Demonic Tutor . Uh, yes please. Even sacrificing a creature without being able to recur it is fine, since our deck has somre ways to bring those creatures back (why not tutor for one?)

Dimir Signet - As we're not playing green, we have to rely on artifact based mana acceleration. The fact that it's a 2-drop is important, since it allows us to play Marchesa, the Black Rose on turn 3.

Disciple of Bolas - One of the rare ways to shoot our life total back up. Constantly recurring him will quickly make it so that we are unable to benefit from Dethrone, so beware! A decent tutor target in the late game, if you have your engine running. Just make sure you have a way of getting +1/+1 counters outside of attacking.

Drowned Catacomb - A great land - gives us , which are the two most needed colours. Not much more to say than that.

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G Show

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I Show

J Show

L Show

M Show

Magus of the Abyss - This card really surprised me with its effectiveness, as it both gets rid of the opponents' creatures, and - to my surprise - also works as a slow pseudo-sacrifice outlet. A lot of the time we actually want our creatures to die.

Magus of the Future - A more persistent Future Sight that wins with infinite mana (most of the time), while early game it can provide us with quite a lot of card advantage.

Mana Confluence - Another one of those lands that feel like they were almost made for Marchesa, the Black Rose . You see this land in a lot of decks, but not a lot of them actually take advantage from life loss. A less pretty City of Brass .

Mana Crypt - Whenever I hear people talk about their stories of how they died to their own Mana Crypt, I simply want to cackle my evil lich laughter, and tell them how I actually want to take damage from this broken card. Being a free Sol Ring that also has the benefit of letting us keep using the Dethrone mechanic is so ridiculous I can't really put it into words.

Mairsil, the Pretender - Interesting new addition. Haven't yet figured out any combos as the abilities are limited to once a turn, but the card works currently with over 20 cards. Especially useful with things such as Cryptic Gateway as we don't have ways to bring artifacts back.

Martyr of Frost - One of the better repeatable counterspells we have, as our deck is heavily blue and the creature only costs .

Metallic Mimic - I'm a little sad that the creature isn't a wizard, since we can't tutor for it with Vedalken AEthermage and it doesn't come back with Patriarch's Bidding , but the effect is so important in this deck that it makes the card one of the most important ones for us.

Misty Rainforest - Pay 3 life (by getting a shockland) to get a blue source, get dethrone active, and get +1/+1 counters on your whole team. Simple.

Mountain - The worst one of our basics. I only run one of each basics, because I like the "true" highlander feel. My meta also doesn't have a lot of non-basic hate like Blood Moon . This isn't necessarily true for you, so consider running more basics.

N Show

P Show

Patriarch's Bidding - One of the most exciting cards in this deck, most often better than Living Death . Quite often our opponents will get maximum 2 creatures back, while we're potentially getting several. Finding and playing this card can quickly become your main game plan if you by some means end up losing your board and have most of your wizards in the bin.

Patron Wizard - He looks somewhat innocent, until it provides several Force Spike s on each of your opponents turns. I can confidently say that the one game I won because of him, it was a crushing victory simply because of this card.

Phyrexian Altar - The output of this sacrifice outlet makes this one the best one we have in our deck. Of course it's also more vulnerable, being an artifact, so protecting it can be difficult. Be careful with this one, treasure it like a 1000-year old spellbook, yet don't let it go unused!

Phyrexian Tower - Ramp up consistently each turn while getting value by sacrificing wizards? Each acolyte should write a thesis on this land as their first work towards lichdom.

Polluted Delta - Pay 3 life (by getting a shockland) to get a blue source. Thusly, get dethrone active, and get +1/+1 counters on your whole team. Simple.

Profaner of the Dead - Don't be fooled by the size of our Wizard butts! Either by being able to grow them via our +1/+1 counters or getting this as a repeatable effect makes this card already worth it. Also, it kills a creature, which is exactly what we want.

Puppeteer Clique - Quite a unique and fun win condition if you're able to recur it infinitely. Even then, getting that dead Consecrated Sphinx , giving it a +1/+1 counter and sacrificing it to make it permanently yours makes this second best Persist wizard quite amazing. Remember, that Persist is a unique ability in our deck, since this card will never come back through Marchesa, the Black Rose 's trigger. Thus, it can get a -1/-1 counter, but also be a part of infinite combos.

R Show

S Show

Sage of Fables - The card of the deck. I'd estimate it to be my #1 most tutored Wizard and card in general. It enables everything: - Our engine of Marchesa, the Black Rose recurring Wizards with +1/+1 counters - Infinite Combos with Sacrifice Outlets + Persist Creatures - Card draw!

As the card is quite powerful, if you get this down, your priority should become to find it a +1/+1 counter.

Scalding Tarn - Pay 3 life (by getting a shockland), get dethrone active, and get +1/+1 counters on your whole team. Simple.

Sidisi's Faithful - For only a single mana, we get both a repeatable sacrifice and a bounce effect!

Shivan Reef - Pain lands work so well in Marchesa, the Black Rose that we can sometimes take a point of damage even if we don't need the colour.

Sigil Tracer - A unique effect that should be quite fun to play with, but "unfortunately" only makes it so that our opponents are too scared of casting anything bigger than a ramp spell. Copy effects like these can create unique and fun game states, which is why I highly recommend playing with this card!

Snapcaster Mage - Sometimes a worse Archaeomancer , but sometimes only one recursion of Demonic Tutor is all you need. Note that there are only two Instants in the deck, one of which isn't that great with this card (can't overload Cyclonic Rift ). Still, a classic wizard that in a pinch does what you need.

Sol Ring - Broken mana ramp, of course we play it.

Sower of Temptation - This card is a monster and has given quite a few wins for me. Stealing a creature, giving it +1/+1 counter and then recurring it with Marchesa, the Black Rose , after which we recur this card and get to steal another creature permanently is, I'd say, a pretty great plan.

Steam Vents - Shocklands work better than ABU duals here. I find myself often paying the life even if we don't use the mana.

Stonybrook Banneret - Sneakily good, as it allows us to cast more things in one turn. It hits 35 cards from our deck. It's easy to protect it too, as Islandwalk allows us most of the time to give it a +1/+1 counter safely. Funnily enough, it usually grows up to be one of the biggest wizards in the battlefield.

Strip Mine - Land destruction is quite important for us, as lands like Glacial Chasm , Scavenger Grounds and such can make our road to lichdom more annoying than it should be.

Sulfur Falls - Great land - gives us , the red being the least useful colour to us. Not much more to say than that.

Sulfurous Springs - Pain lands work so well in Marchesa, the Black Rose that we can sometimes take a point of damage even if we don't need the colour.

Swamp - The second best basic in the deck. I only run one of each basics, because I like the "true" highlander feel. My meta also doesn't have a lot of non-basic hate like Blood Moon . This isn't necessarily true for you, so consider running more basics.

T Show

U Show

V Show

Vandalblast - Quite an important boardwipe, probably more important than any regular boardwipe destroying creatures. Because of Archaeomancer , it's quite valid to use it as a single-target spell in the early game.

Vedalken AEthermage - Most often the card that we want to tutor is a wizard anyway, often making this an instant speed, uncounterable Demonic Tutor that costs .

Vendilion Clique - My favorite card in Magic, which is why it already will always deserve a spot in my list. Otherwise, it's a decent enters-the-battlefield effect if you get to recur it multiple times.

Venser, Shaper Savant - A no brainer inclusion in this deck, though it's a shame we rarely get to return spells on stack with it. Keep in mind, that if you don't have a sacrifice outlet, you can still clone this card and recur it if you a have Sage of Fables type of effect, since Sage of Fables doesn't work through triggers.

Vigean Graftmage - Graft is a perfect, perfect, perfect way of getting our counters on creatures. The plan is to distribute +1/+1 counters until the graft creature has a single one left, then recur it back to get more counters. Rinse and repeat!

Vindictive Lich - A great new addition to the deck! Able to pressure opponents' lifetotals quite quickly, once you start recurring him 4 times each round, making him able to finish off people quite fast.

Viscera Seer - Not only does this card sometimes protect itself, but it also is a sacrifice outlet that doesn't cost any mana to use. A very essential card.

Voidmage Prodigy - The activation cost for this ability is quite mana intensive, but oh boy, what an ability it is! Pay : Counter target spell and recur a wizard of your choice can quickly turn you into an Archnemesis.

Volrath's Stronghold - Brutally good with Vedalken AEthermage even though it costs to tutor for a card each round. Otherwise not the most essential land to our strategy, as we look to reanimate our wizards instead of use this land's ability.

W Show

Combos

1

To initiate an infinite amount of creature sacrifices, we first need a sacrifice outlet. Here is a list of the combo-relevant ones we have in our deck:

Ashnod's Altar Phyrexian Altar Thoughtpicker Witch Viscera Seer

(note that Barrin, Master Wizard and Voidmage Prodigy can't go infinite, as they require to target something in order to activate.)

2

Next up, we need to input either Sage of Fables or Metallic Mimic to counteract the -1/-1 counter gained placed on our Persist creatures.

3

Speaking of which, they are Glen Elendra Archmage and Puppeteer Clique . It's important to note that they don't come back through the delayed trigger of Marchesa, the Black Rose , but instead come back instantly by themselves.

4

Next up, we need something to win the game by infinitely looping our Persist creatures. Some of such ways would be:

Thoughtpicker Witch - for exiling everyone's deck

Phyrexian Altar or Ashnod's Altar - for infinite mana.

Azami, Lady of Scrolls , Grim Haruspex or Magus of the Future with infinite mana - for infinite card draw. Just remember to sacrifice Grim Haruspex before you draw from an empty deck.

Flesh Carver - for infinite tokens.

With infinite mana we get:

Voidmage Prodigy - infinite counterspells

Vigean Graftmage , Azami, Lady of Scrolls - infinite card draw

Vigean Graftmage , Sigil Tracer , any spell - infinite copies of target spell

Vigean Graftmage , Patron Wizard infinite amount of mana our opponents need to pay for their spells or they get countered

Havengul Lich - all creatures from all graveyards under your control

Barrin, Master Wizard - infinite creature bounce

Please, I might have missed some combos, and would love to hear any that I've missed, so let me know. :)

Suggestions

Updates Add

Back from the Grave! — July 12, 2019

Edit

I haven't had much time to play EDH, but I decided to bring the deck up to date.

Here are the card changes:

OUT:

Martyr of Frost Wizard Replica Cursecatcher

Though these cards were fine, I think it is a better idea to focus more on card draw, velocity and consistency. I haven't found a great need to be able to counter high impact cards early or to tax my opponents' mana. Some of these could be brought/sided in if I decided to play more competitive games.

Cryptic Gateway

I really, really like this card, but I also need to make some cuts. Though, I might put this back in later, I have now decided to cut some high-end CMC cards. I also realize it could save me some mana, but in the end, it doesn't do anything by itself.

Mairsil, the Pretender

I was never really truly impressed by this card. Since there aren't any game-winning combos really with it, the card doesn't really do much by itself. Sure, I could start exiling some Wizards that give value with their activated abilities, but in the end I could simply just cast them. A clear benefit could be to stick a Sol Ring onto Mairsil, and be able to dodge artifact removal. I don't think, though, that this is enough.

Havengul Lich

This card is great at what it does, but same as for Cryptic Gateway, I decided to cut the higher CMC cards for now. The biggest problem with this card is the 5 CMC. To activate the ability you really have to wait another turn cycle, and that ends up making this card a little too slow. The downside of cutting this is that if Wizards go into your graveyard without the Marchesa loop, there are now even fewer ways of getting them back.

Sulfurous Springs Badlands

Even though one of these land pings us, and another is an original dual land, the need for lands that don't produce blue mana is really low. The case for the latter land could be argued, but in this case I rather sold the card.

IN:

Bloodtracker

This seems like a great inclusion: a card draw engine that can protect itself with Marchesa. Not only does it make Dethrone better, it also draws more cards when the engine is on with, for example, Sage of Fables.

Watcher for Tomorrow

I'm actually extremely curious about how good this card could be, as I want to include more card draw in the deck. I believe Hideaway is a really strong mechanic, especially when it's attached to a cheap Wizard.

Spellseeker

This seems like a no-brainer. It can fetch us either Demonic Tutor or Diabolic Intent, which in turn can get us anything we want. Additionally, the creature finds us also Vandalblast. This is especially great because I've wanted more artifact removal in the deck, and this creature, in this sense, acts as one. Also, it of course gets us Cyclonic Rift.

Morphic Pool Fiery Islet

Very happy to include decent lands that produce blue sources, and one of them even pings us!

Changes! — Aug. 26, 2017

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Revision 32 See all

(4 years ago)

Top Ranked	Achieved #4 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 61 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.15
Tokens	Champion of Wits 4/4 B, Copy Clone, Horror / B, Morph 2/2 C
Folders	Look At, EDH, Decks I like, ideas, Wizards, Cool EDH, A EDH Playtest, Interesting Commander Decks, CMD Marchesa, EDH - Ideas
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