ducttapedeckbox - You're forgetting that Marath's ability is also an activated ability, as is Deadbridge Goliath 's. Working in conjunction with my general to double effects means that it's well worth the spot.

Thank you Classic_JP

Wow, I completely missed Marath when looking at Illusionist's Bracers . Definitely a great card in the deck now that I realize that.

I've only had the chance to play two games with the deck - the first game is not a good indication of performance since I had to mulligan down to five cards and still failed to draw a land. The second game was much better, and I was able to win by continuously pounding my opponent with huge creatures.

I haven't noticed anything about the deck that inhibits performance (and I didn't expect to with only two games), and will let you know how it goes with more games and if I have any recommendations.

... Jungle Shrine ?

Thanks, ducttaped. And Zandl, I'm avoiding tap lands completely.

lol

I don't know how much you would like this idea, but I figured out a cleaver trick in 1v1 with Marath and Sakiko, Mother of Summer . If you remove the counters to do damage directly to an opponent, you get that much green mana from Sakiko's effect, then you only have to pay another White and Red to bring up Marath, and you surely know that next turn he will be even scarier when he has two more +1/+1 counters on him. So at that point, rinse and repeat.

Three Visits ?

This looks awesome. The only thing I would suggest is Mana Echoes . That + Marath, Will of the Wild + Cathars' Crusade = infinite counters or even mana if you have another elemental out.

I don't believe Karametra, God of Harvests triggers when Marath, Will of the Wild makes an elemental. Karametra requires you to "cast a creature spell", while marath is merely placing a token on the board.

Yeah I realized that with Karametra shortly after posting, I probably should have edited it but then tappedout went down for like 4 days lol. She still works in this deck, she just might not have that over-the-top power that makes her a keeper.

Mana echoes can definitely find its way into here but what would you take out?

Here are some of my ideas for Marath.

First of all, some cards really like to have +1/+1 counters put on them.

Etched Oracle

Spinal Parasite

Fertilid

Phantom Nishoba (and other phantoms)

Mycoloth

Gyre Sage

(some of the best, unfortunately, are blue, such as Fathom Mage and Walking Archive )

All persisters also like to have +1/+1 counters put on them, because +1/+1 counters annihilate -1/-1 counters and reset persist. The best in Marath's colors are

Furystoke Giant (Extra synergy with Marath tokens)

Twilight Shepherd

Antler Skulkin

Kitchen Finks

Woodfall Primus

Melira, Sylvok Outcast usually goes into persistence decks but has no particular synergy with marath

=== Cards that create more tokens and more counters are good in a Marath deck. Doubling Season

Hornet Queen

Growing Ranks

Sundering Growth

Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

Mitotic Slime

=== cards that make pinging better are good in a Marath deckTriumph of the Hordes

Basilisk Collar

Gorgon Flail

Bow of Nylea

=== cards that like tribalCoat of Arms

=== randomly good cards in MarathHeartstone

Phyrexian Altar

Ashnod's Altar

Altar of Bone

Awesome list. You've given a lot of thought to Marath as a commander.

Cards I see that are notable for those reasons:

• Etched Oracle
• Gyre Sage
• Mycoloth (Who was in here before, but taken out)
• Basilisk Collar

However, Phyrexian Altar has been trying to make an appearance lately. I can't find room.

Also a lot of that stuff is already in here. Thanks though!

Hey Cobb, thanks, and thank you for your list. I havea few more things for you after giving this deck some more thought. As important as what to put into the deck is what to cut.

My suggestion is cut anything that is filled by your commander. Most fatties and most "move +1/+1s onto other creatures" cards are just obsolete if you could cast Marath instead. For instance, Forgotten Ancient is rarely going to be better than your commander, and so are most fatties. Omnath, Locus of Mana , Platinum Angel , Jugan, the Rising Star , and Godsire , Azusa, Lost but Seeking , Dragonmaster Outcast , and Sakiko, Mother of Summer have very little synergy with Marath. Any of those big green fatties is undoubtedly worse than Woodfall Primus in this deck, for instance. I'm not saying cut them but they don't seem much better here than in any random goodstuff deck. Same thing with some of your big spells such as Genesis Wave , Green Sun's Zenith , Increasing Savagery , and the absolutely terrible Decree of Savagery . . These cards are at their best in green ramp decks, but are you really a ramp deck? I think if you want to go this route you should play up the ramp theme a lot more, with cards like Oracle of Mul Daya , Primeval Titan , Dryad Arbor (which you can Zenith for), Sylvan Primordial , Terastodon . Avenger of Zendikar is notable for also working well with all other Marath mechanics.

While I'm at it, I thought of a few more cards for this deck this afternoon. Obviously not all of these directions can be explored in one deck, but here goes.

First, the ascensions are better here than in any other deck I can think of for them.Luminarch Ascension and Beastmaster Ascension . Think of all the ways these ascensions rock here. They turn on faster from Doubling Season and maybe a Contagion Engine , and then Doubling Season and Primal Vigor double your angels. Both angel tokens and Marath tokens like anthem effects, and Beastmaster Ascension is one of the biggest anthem effects. Speaking of anthems, Eldrazi Monument is one of the best anthems if you have a nearly infinite source of creatures, which, hey hey, looks like you do. Marshal's Anthem is probably the third best anthem because of its reanimation effect.

If you're playing Ascensions you're already getting tugged towards proliferate. Another thing that makes proliferate look good are the Myojins. Myojin of Life's Web is the best, but a properly rampy deck could also consider Myojin of Infinite Rage . Yes you can proliferate those divinity counters for repeatable Myojination.

Finally, how the heck could I forget the Spikeshot Elder and Spikeshot Goblin ? I once made a deck built on Spikeshot Goblin , Seedborn Muse , Soul Foundry , and silly equipments like Vulshok Gauntlets .

I've gotta go post my own list soon!

I posted my own list, I added a few more ideas. It's not done yet of course I need to add basic removal and ramp packages and land, but what do you think.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/marath-is-tricky/

Note that Sakiko says combat damage, so pinging doesn't work.

Also, I had a few more ideas: Wirewood Savage , Viridian Joiner , and Perilous Forays

Sorry it took me so long to respond (computer issues). For Mana Echoes , I would probably take out Karametra, God of Harvests (I just don't see it doing that much), or Deadbridge Goliath (I can see it as just a great card with synergy with Marath, but other than that...)

If you have 6 mana and cast marath for the first time with doubling season and food chain on the field, you can produce infinite mana, infinite power/toughness for marath, and burn all your opponents to death.

6 mana up

1.) cast marath (6/6 because of doubling season)

3 mana up

2.) remove 3 counters from marath to create 6 saprolings (because of doubling season)

0 mana up

3.) sacrifice marath & 6 saprolings to Food Chain

10 mana up

4.) cast marath again (enters as 10/10 because of doubling season)

5 mana up

5.) remove 5 counters from marath and make 10 saprolings (season)

0 mana up

6.) sacrifice marath and 10 saprolings to food chain

14 mana up

7.) Cast Marath (enters as 14/14)

7 mana up

8.) remove 7 counters, make 14 saprolings

0 mana up

9.) sacrifice marath and 14 saprolings to marath to food chain

18 mana up

10.) cast marath again as 18/18

repeat until marath is 1000/1000 then instead of creating saprolings use the mana to have Marath burn all opponents to death.

I seem to always get crazy board states running Hero of Bladehold and Ogre Battledriver . Ogre Battledriver makes the tokens go berserk and combos nicely with battle cry from Hero. Makes other tiny token generators like Avenger of Zendikar work as aggro.

Lastly, Beastmaster Ascension works well if you like the hasty version of Marath using Hammer of Purphoros or some other haste giver.