Marchesa 1.0.1

Commander / EDH Reanimator UBR (Grixis)

TheProxyCentral

Creature (32)

• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Dack's Duplicate
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Flame-Wreathed Phoenix
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hellhole Flailer
• 1x Mausoleum Wanderer
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Novijen Sages
• 1x Olivia, Mobilized for War
• 1x Profaner of the Dead
• 1x Pyreheart Wolf
• 1x Reef Worm
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Scourge of the Throne
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Stunt Double
• 1x Taurean Mauler
• 1x Thalakos Deceiver
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Vigean Graftmage
• 1x Viscera Seer

Land (36)

• 1x Bloodfell Caves
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crosis's Catacombs
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dimir Guildgate
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 1x Highland Lake
• 4x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Rakdos Guildgate
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Vivid Crag
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Marsh

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Greed
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Artifact (11)

• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Obelisk of Grixis
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence

Instant (7)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dissolve
• 1x Mindswipe
• 1x Murder
• 1x Murderous Cut
• 1x Terminate

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Insurrection
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Slave of Bolas
• 1x Victimize

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Creature (22)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Archfiend of Depravity
• 1x Aura Thief
• 1x Beguiler of Wills
• 1x Blood Tyrant
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Champion of Stray Souls
• 1x Custodi Lich
• 1x Dragonmaster Outcast
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Fanatic of Mogis
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Phyrexian Ingester
• 1x River Kelpie
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Siege-Gang Commander
• 1x Thought-Knot Seer
• 1x Thraximundar
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Whirler Rogue

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Saheeli Rai

Artifact (3)

• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Unstable Obelisk
• 1x Vedalken Orrery

Instant (4)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Dimir Charm
• 1x Tragic Slip
• 1x Unlicensed Disintegration

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Bone Splinters
• 1x Dreadbore
• 1x Syphon Mind
• 1x Vandalblast

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THE PLAN

Marchesa, the Black Rose is a long time commander passion of mine. She allows for very wide and controlling board states and is in one of the very best and more versatile colour combinations. The plan here is to allow early attacks and protect Marchesa either with equipment or +1/+1 counters. As soon as you do, your board isn't going away without someone say... call the Gatewatch... on you. Cards like Grave Pact keep opponents from touching our board, while allow for big advantage on sacking our creatures, both for board control and to repeat ETB triggers with Marchesa's ability.Oddly enough, Marchesa requires you to actively lose life, so Unspeakable Symbol, Greed and Phyrexian Reclamation for instance don't actually have setbacks for us. Life loss is welcome to keep someone else on the throne, while our wide board state allows to withstand crazy attacks.

MAYBEBOARD

• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion

Mike is an absolute bomb, the only reason he's in the Maybeboard is the price itself. If Mike is there, Triskelion has to be too. Infinite damage combo with Mike. While the deck is still in development, I'm not inclined on such a big investment

• FORMS OF REMOVAL

Chaos Warp, Tragic Slip, Bone Splinters , Dreadbore, Vandalblast and so on are great non creature spells that should be in here to control powerful threats. But being the deck so heavy on ETB effects and sacrifice outlets and fodder, these cards are mostly in the backpocket until I can define a good shell for the deck and be able to cut expendable creatures. Dreadbore is generally better than Murder + Murderous Cut but I still don't own a copy, same happens with Unlicensed Disintegration , but in time, these will probably find a way into the deck.

• Thraximundar and/or/nor Blood Tyrant

Thraximundar is probably better, but it draws a lot of hate from the table, so I would be inclined to the Tyrant. I don't want both because they have the same (very high) CMC, and for now I opted for neither. The Tyrant was a last minute cut, to make way for Mausoleum Wanderer which in the deck will be most of the times a hard counter, being very cheap and allowing me to go wide faster.

• Saheeli Rai + Wurmcoil Engine

I don't know if this is a neat combo or just a way to win more. Saheeli minus can copy a Wurmcoil, allowing it to attack and being sacked for some outlet making even more of its tokens. Wurmcoil Engine is an obvious inclusion, but while the deck is still in development, I'm not going to compromise on a investment like that, same as Mike.

• ETB ABILITIES

Panharmonicon is an auto include as soon as it is launched, but there are some creatures on the maybeboard that I didn't include so far because I don't believe their ETB triggers are strong enough to make way for them instead of any other card in the deck already. Whirler Rogue, Siege-Gang Commander seem underwhelming. Thought-Knot Seer is great and a very political tool, but its ability doesn't seem too impactful either on a 4vs4 match, Archaeomancer doesn't have a lot of targets so far, while Fanatic of Mogis is not likely to make a huge impact since the deck is very low on red devotion. Custodi Lich seems interesting, but it will eventually be as good to everyone on the table as it is for me, so I cut him of the original list. Sidisi, Undead Vizier is pretty much as fish in the water in this deck, but her mana cost keeps me off her for now.

• CARD DRAW

River Kelpie is an auto include as well, but I am still waiting for my copy. Syphon Mind is great, but in this deck I still prefer to use as much ETB triggers as possible, so I am avoiding non creature spells, same as for general removal spells.

• OTHER TOOLS

Beguiler of Wills is strong, but very frail and very high CMC, she must attack to be protected with a counter, most of the times, and thus she won't be controlling anything, so I preferred Thalakos Deciever .

Vedalken Orrery and Burnished Hart are pretty much staples, and even though I would like them, I believe I have stronger effects in the deck that I can't yet justify taking out for these.

Archfiend of Depravity is a go-to lock in my Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck. In a deck that goes wide and stays wide like this, a lock on the number of creatures your opponents control is often game over for everyone else real quick, but as for Saheeli Rai, in Marchesa I just don't know if this isn't just a winmore card instead of a true game winner. On the other hand if I am willing to pay for Champion of Stray Souls ability I will most likely be falling behind, which is why I focused more on the aggressive side of Marchesa, rather than the responsive on, leaving the Champion out of the 100.

Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is very likely making it into the final list, but I still didn't get my copy, so I am going to see how the deck fares without him.

As for Dragonmaster Outcast even though its trigger is great, and it's a cheap creature, its very frail in the early game, and less impactful in the late game in a deck like this.

HELP ME OUT

Every suggestion is welcome! What cards have I not considered that should make the list? What cards from the maybeboard should replace what others from the deck itself? What are your experiences with similar decks? Please do tell! I have perfected my Meren of Clan Nel Toth as much as I could and I would like to make Marchesa, the Black Rose my second top tier EDH deck, and for that I will need your help!

If you liked the deck general idea, please give it a +1! You know Marchesa likes those!

Date added	8 years
Last updated	8 years
Key combos	Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion Murder + Murderous Cut Saheeli Rai + Wurmcoil Engine
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 35 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.52
Tokens	Fish 3/3 U, Kraken 9/9 U, Morph 2/2 C, Squid 1/1 U, Whale 6/6 U, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Testing EDH