Maralen Monroe

Commander / EDH* Control Infinite Combo Lifegain

gonki

Instant (5)

• 1x Crypt Incursion
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Silence the Believers
• 1x Tragic Slip

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Absorb Vis
• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Damnable Pact
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Hex
• 1x In Garruk's Wake
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Plague Wind
• 1x Sadistic Sacrament
• 1x Sinkhole
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Enchantment (12)

• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Measure of Wickedness
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 2x Tainted Remedy
• 1x Wound Reflection

Artifact (5)

• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms

Creature (28)

• 1x Archetype of Finality
• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x Ashling, the Extinguisher
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Defiant Bloodlord
• 1x Distended Mindbender
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Filth
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Master of the Feast
• 1x Midnight Banshee
• 1x Necroskitter
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Ophiomancer
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Scourge of Nel Toth
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk

Land (35)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 25x Swamp
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Artifact (2)

• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Teferi's Puzzle Box

Creature (1)

• 1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief

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So this deck turned out to be ridiculously fun to make and I was actually surprised at the final cost. I'm not really much of a black player but when I saw Maralen I thought I could absolutely make something mean, but funny with her. The biggest problem here is of course ramp, since it would be lovely to get the combo of Maralen and Ob Nixilis out really fast. That said, the main theme here is to profit from all the life loss in this deck while making every decision the opponents make that isn't murdering me difficult. That is mainly accomplished with forced discarding and forced sacrifice. The lifegain is really there as insurance since the more things progress with me laying down painful enchantments the more people will want to use what they can cast to get rid of me.

In terms of combos the most fun (for me) to win with is Maralen of the Mornsong and Ob Nixilis, Unshackled. There is the standard Sanguine Bond (and similar effects) with Exquisite Blood. And finally there is the really evil Ophiomancer or Bitterblossom with Contamination which technically isn't a wincon but will hand me the win if it goes unanswered against most decks. There are plenty of other things to do besides straight comboing out like Necroskitter and Midnight Banshee with the one sided board wipes and sacrifice effects. There is the option to sac Filth to something and start administering a beating to people... especially if they've been softening each other up for me. An ultimate on Liliana of the Dark Realms is pretty much an instant win. One card I'd like to add is Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief since she can smash faces very easily when you have a lot of mana. Mindcrank as suggested in the comments is a definite addition and I'm not sure why I didn't put it in the mainboard. As soon as I come into possession of one I will get it in.

I want to make a final statement about getting hated out. First is that anyone ramping for aggro or combo purposes is almost always going to ignore me. Maralen is just a group hug for them and while they probably expect Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood they are going to save the removal for one of those and think they got rid of my combo. Second is that Maralen looks like a group hug aside from that combo. This is not a kitchen table deck and it's not a deck for small groups. This is a deck for people who aren't thinking beyond their own machinations and therefore aren't prepare for rules changes. A player well versed in older cards might see Contamination coming when Bitterblossom or Ophiomancer hits the board but with blue not being particularly popular to do anything but get infinite turns or draw with lab maniac I'm not too worried that someone is going to stop me from pulling off my obscure tricks. And if I am worried about that I have far more versatile decks to play which have been tuned to my particular group.

I know there are a lot of additions I could make here like Damnation etc. but this deck stands at around $300 which I'm very happy with. However I would love any ideas that speed this up or are strictly better replacements for a function I already have.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 45 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.32
Tokens	Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Snake 1/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B