I'm Gonna Steal It. It's Mine Now. [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH UBR (Grixis)

Lamentz

Land (36)

• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 1x Guildmages' Forum
• 1x High Market
• 10x Island
• 9x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Watery Grave

Sac Outlets (8)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Culling Dais
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x High Market
• 1x Spawning Pit
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Permanent Theft (6)

• 1x Agent of Treachery
• 1x Archmage's Charm
• 1x Beguiler of Wills
• 1x Blatant Thievery
• 1x Desertion
• 1x Helm of Possession

Removal (3)

• 1x Manic Vandal
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra

Ramp (14)

• 1x Acquire
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nightscape Familiar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Temporary Theft (10)

• 1x Act of Treason
• 1x Chamber of Manipulation
• 1x Dominus of Fealty
• 1x Goatnap
• 1x Hijack
• 1x Insurrection
• 1x Kari Zev's Expertise
• 1x Mark of Mutiny
• 1x Reins of Power
• 1x Traitorous Blood

Deck Shenanigans (5)

• 1x Acquire
• 1x Bribery
• 1x Knowledge Exploitation
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Unmoored Ego

Spell Theft (3)

• 1x Reverberate
• 1x Twincast
• 1x Wild Ricochet

Commander (1)

Card Draw (10)

• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Bloodtracker
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Combustible Gearhulk
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Whirlpool Rider

Counters (7)

• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 1x Guildmages' Forum
• 1x Mark of Mutiny
• 1x Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Protection (5)

• 1x Archmage's Charm
• 1x Herald of Secret Streams
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Unholy Indenture

---

Intro

This is a deck for stealing all of your opponents' goodies. The main line of play is to use temporary steal spells like Act of Treason, attack the player with the highest life total, sacrifice that creature, then gain permanent control of it at the end of the turn. This works as long as Marchesa, the Black Rose is in play. Dethrone gives your stolen creatures a +1/+1 counter, then sacrificing it triggers its on-death trigger (assuming it actually dies), which returns it to your side of the battlefield at the end step with no need to return home.

Note that this strategy can get shut down hard by enchantments like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void. Since Grixis struggles with the removal of enchantments, this can mean the end of your thievery if nobody else has an answer (or even cares to answer it). The deck can still function, but its main strategy won't work as well.

Aside from Marchesa's ability to steal creatures, the deck thrives on using other peoples' stuff against them. I'll break down each category of card and why I included the ones I did. Make sure the deck list is sorted by "Custom" to see each category.

Land

We'll start with the land cards. I don't like lands that come in tapped, but I'm pretty cheap when it comes to mana base, so I run a lot of basics (more than I probably should in a 3-color deck). Feel free to adjust this however you see fit, just note that the deck has a pretty even spread of colors in mana costs. If you shave off a lot of the basics, cards like Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum may be better off replaced with a mana rock or something since recurring them likely won't be as useful.

Sac Outlets

These are necessary for the deck's main strategy to function.

1. Altar of Dementia is primarily included because it only costs . Make sure that you only mill people that aren't running graveyard recursion. Target yourself if you have to. Enabling others by filling up their yard could give them the victory.
2. Carrion Feeder is nice because he puts counters on himself. Since Marchesa returns any creature with a +1/+1 counter on it when it dies, you can sac everything to this guy in the event of a board wipe, and Marchesa will return everything with a counter on it at the end step (including herself, which is just perfect).
3. Culling Dais is a one-time-per-turn deal, but it can help draw cards later in the game once you find a better outlet.
4. Goblin Bombardment helps get rid of pesky 1/1's that aren't worth using a steal spell on, or just chipping away at life totals (saccing everything to this after using Insurrection is a delightful way to rub salt in the wound).
5. High Market Being a land is useful. Gaining life is actually adverse to this deck's strategy, but if the creature already has a counter on it, the point is moot.
6. Spawning Pit Another cost sac outlet. Creating 2/2's can be useful for chump-blocking.
7. Viscera Seer Just one of the best sac outlets in black. Scrying is almost always useful, and being a creature means that getting a counter on seer will make him hard to get rid of.
8. Yahenni, Undying Partisan Very resilient sac-outlet. Doesn't need a counter to survive most board wipes, but is prone to being exiled since he can't sacrifice himself.

Permanent Theft

Marchesa's ability makes it possible to steal creatures with relatively cheap spells, but sometimes a more direct (and expensive) approach is necessary. These will steal stuff from other peoples' boards permanently (or at least as long as you need them).

1. Agent of Treachery If I had to pick a favorite card in this deck, it would be this guy. Between stealing stuff permanently and giving card draw just for doing what the deck wants to do already, it's super easy to recur him, letting you pick up even more of your opponents' stuff.
2. Archmage's Charm I don't generally run a lot of counterspells, but since this one has a mode that fits the flavor of the deck, I threw it in. Get a Sol Ring or one of the other busted mana rocks to even the odds.
3. Beguiler of Wills Another favorite of mine. Use your temporary steal spells to untap Beguiler and just keep stealing stuff from people. It's not hard to get a lot of creatures in this deck, so even nabbing an Eldrazi isn't out of the question.
4. Blatant Thievery I think this one speaks for itself. Just make sure it's worth blowing a turn's worth of mana on this effect.
5. Desertion Another counterspell that fits the theme of the deck. It's not cheap, and you'll only get your mana's worth if it's a good target, but if you keep an eye on which deck is doing what, it's not hard to snag a big creature or extra mana rock.
6. Helm of Possession This one pulls double duty as a sac outlet and a steal. It's a little pricey to cast and use in one turn, but for filling two roles in this deck's convoluted combo, it earns its spot.

Spell Theft

These pretty much speak for themselves. Counter counterspells, grab an extra turn, whatever. These are versatile and worth keeping mana up for.

Ramp

Every deck needs ramp. I won't go into detail about everything here, but there are a few cards of note.

1. Acquire Obviously there might be something better than a mana rock, but they're really the only reliable thing you can pull out with this spell. Bonus points if you yank a critical combo piece out of someone's deck with it though.
2. Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum Oh boy does it get spicy when you can recur one or both of these guys every single turn. Just don't get too caught up in the ramp. Sometimes there are more important plays to make. Still, if someone isn't threatening the board, keep on ramping so you can hit a solid Insurrection or Blatant Thievery early on.
3. Nightscape Familiar I just want to draw attention to this guy because it's easy to forget that he's there. No, it doesn't stack on multi-colored spells, but that doesn't matter because this deck has very few gold cards anyways.

Temporary Theft

The bread and butter of this deck. Even snagging an early game mana dork or blocker can propel you into the lead quickly.

1. Act of Treason, Goatnap, Hijack, Kari Zev's Expertise, Mark of Mutiny, and Traitorous Blood are all pretty much the same effect, Mark does have the added benefit of putting a counter on the creature, so you only need Marchesa and a sac outlet for it to steal something permanently.
2. Chamber of Manipulation will draw a lot of heat, so I'd say to make sure you have a commanding presence before sending it out. Also having something to draw extra cards wouldn't hurt.
3. Dominus of Fealty is a nice recurring effect. Try and get a counter on him the turn he comes out for protection until next turn.
4. Insurrection is a game finisher if used at the right moment. Try and make sure that this can't be countered. Since the control player likely doesn't have a lot of creatures, you can probably make a deal to not attack them (if you have Goblin Bombardment out make sure you specify "attack" so that they can't complain when you ping them for tons of damage).
5. Reins of Power is a weird one. You can use it to shut down an attack step, but my favorite thing to do with it is to have Marchesa in hand or CZ with a non-creature sac outlet on board. Cast Reins, cast Marchesa, swing with the team for Dethrone counters, then sac everything. The fact that Reins would give your opponent Marchesa if she were out makes this combo pretty hard to pull off, but when it works, it's a beautiful thing. Of course the other awesome thing that Reins can do is turn a Cyclonic Rift against its owner. Cast this in response, taking control of all the Rift owners' creatures, then those go back to hand while all of your creatures are safe (unless they have a sac outlet or something, that is less than ideal but still hoses their creatures).

Deck Shenanigans

This category is actually the reason I built this deck: To shut down filthy combo players. You can't get infinite mana with Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal if one of those things isn't even in your deck anymore.

If facing combos isn't an issue for you, feel free to swap these out for something else entirely, but I think it's fun to play other peoples' cards. Just be prepared for the looks you get when you ask someone to hand you their library.

Removal

Removal often isn't a huge issue in this deck as you're more likely to just steal problematic creatures, but these guys are recurrable via Marchesa and Meteor Golem can hit any permanent.

Card Draw

These fall into a few subcategories so I'll take theme step by step:

1. Baleful Strix, Mulldrifter, Solemn Simulacrum, Combustible Gearhulk, and Whirlpool Rider all draw cards upon hitting the battlefield or dying. Rider technically doesn't give you card advantage, but it can help to cycle through until you get what you need.
2. Bloodtracker is just awesome in this deck. Gets counters on himself, eats your life total, and draws cards before coming back for more. Slap a Blade of the Bloodchief on him and you'll need to watch you don't deck yourself.
3. Bolas's Citadel is really good. Uses up life, pseudo card-draw, and if you're on a roll: kill your opponents by saccing all their stuff to it.
4. Grim Haruspex and Midnight Reaper draw cards when they see stuff die. Guess what this deck does a lot?
5. Sage of Fables it protects and draws by giving out +1/+1 counters. Yet another way to make Bloodtracker amazing in this deck.

Counters

Getting +1/+1 counters onto your creatures (and most importantly, your commander) is a critical part of making this deck function. While Marchesa is capable of doing it herself, these make it a little easier and in a few situations can make your value skyrocket by recurring stuff every single turn.

1. Blade of the Bloodchief gives incidental counters whenever stuff dies (any creatures, not just your own). Things can get out of hand if someone mistakenly uses a board wipe while this is on Yahenni. Also good on Marchesa, but the vampires especially love it.
2. Drana, Liberator of Malakir and Sword of Truth and Justice can help if you're not able to get Dethrone triggers. Getting extra counters anyways never hurts either.
3. Forge of Heroes and Guildmages' Forum can both protect Marchesa the turn she comes out. Very good early game when your engine is not online yet.
4. Unspeakable Symbol is one of the best cards in this deck. Spending as much life as you want for as many counters as you need? Yes please.

Protection

This category is a little unfocused. It's here to showcase cards that I put in to help protect the strategy, but they don't have a lot to do with each other.

1. Archmage's Charm is a counterspell. Use it to counter spells that you don't like. That's all.
2. Herald of Secret Streams makes your big bois into sneaky bois. Dethrone triggers before blockers are declared so if you're hitting the person with the most life they just have to take it.
3. Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots are basically just for Marchesa. The lady likes her shoes, ok?
4. Unholy Indenture is a one-time use protection for Marchesa. It's only here because it brings her back with a counter already attached, essentially making it doubly hard to kill her off.

That's all I have for now. Feel free to ask questions about strategy or make suggestions. I'm always willing to swap stuff around if it make sense.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.38
Tokens	2/2 C Artifact Creature Spawn, Morph 2/2 C