Marchesa, the Black Rose EDH: Steal Yo Gurl!

Commander / EDH Shinwizzles

SCORE: 91 | 87 COMMENTS | 23835 VIEWS | IN 33 FOLDERS


Podkomorka says... #1

Just remember that you can't steal other commanders indefinitely like you can other creatures.

October 11, 2017 3:09 a.m.

Shinwizzles says... #2

Correct, Podkomorka, but I sure can make them too costly to cast by repeatedly killing them via Dictate of Erebos, Grave Pact, Attrition, etc. Thanks for the reminder!

October 11, 2017 3:23 a.m.

ZendikariWol says... #3

Yo uh... you have very few actual sac outlets. I count six. Killing the creatures on attacks is not terribly reliable, unless you have an ally across the table eating all the creatures. But this deck is just SO fun! I have a commander deck, also headed by Marchesa, another less competitive, more cool and fun deck (no offense, but I didn't think this was a 1,000$ hyper-awesome unbeatable whatever). I'd really love you to check it out: +1/+1 Counterspells.

December 8, 2017 9:11 p.m.

jdinkhouse says... #4

I like a lot of your build, but your land base is crippling. This would fly with cards like Reflective Pool, Fetch lands, and Fast Lands over Battle Lands and stuff like Transguild Promenade.

December 10, 2017 12:14 p.m.

jdinkhouse says... #5

Podkomorka, I was just checking rules and didn't see anything about not being able to steal Commanders. And Marchesa's language doesn't specify them returning from a graveyard. They could be returned to Command from the grave by its owner, but would still return to the battlefield under Marchesa's owner's control (assuming she was on the field when it died) at the next end step.

December 10, 2017 12:19 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #7

ZendikariWol, thanks for the suggestion. There was a few more than six, but I added a few more in anyway. Never hurts to have backups. Thanks again!

December 12, 2017 1:04 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #8

jdinkhouse, thanks for the compliment! As for the lands: I always try to cheap out when I'm just testing a deck. I like what I've seen so far though, so I think I'm going to start collecting more optimal lands. Thanks for the suggestions!As for indefinitely stealing commanders with Marchesa, the Black Rose's ability, I think it'd only work if my opponent chose to have their commander go to their graveyard instead of their command zone. It'd be super nice of them to do that, but I don't see it happening in most situations. Thanks again for the suggestions!

December 12, 2017 1:11 p.m.

jdinkhouse says... #9

Shinwizzles, I only went and looked at her rulings yesterday after my comment. Given her text, I assumed it wouldn't matter where they were during her controller's end step, because it has nothing conditional about it in the text, and if a Commander exiled with an Oblivion Ring and then returned to Command Zone can go back onto the Battlefield if the O-Ring is destroyed, then it shouldn't matter where the creature ends up if the other conditions were met.Her ruling bugs me. Feels like they nerfed her. All your opponent has to do is exile your grave before your end step to end the effect, and that doesn't fit the wording of the card at all.She's still strong, I still want to refine my build Marcheese and make it mean, but I lost a little enthusiasm for it.

December 12, 2017 2:41 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #10

jdinkhouse, Marchesa, the Black Rose's ability specifically refers to creatures dying. 700.4 states: The term dies means "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield." If I steal and kill an opponent's commander with the hopes of bringing it back from their graveyard, all they'd have to do to stop me is to put their commander back in the command zone, since their creature then wouldn't actually "die."

I also don't see an opponent successfully exiling my graveyard every turn without something like Rest in Peace, which would instantly make them a pretty big target for the whole table, and not just me. Regardless though, my deck doesn't have too much removal, and that is something I'd like to fix. I focused so much on spells that steal stuff like Mark of Mutiny and Hijack that I neglected to put in basic defenses like Counterspell or anything similar.

You've certainly given me a lot to think about. Thanks again for the suggestions!

December 12, 2017 3:01 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #11

A small list of budget options for counterspells & removal in Grixis Colors (Red, Blue, and Black)

Terminate

Go for the Throat

Doom Blade

Chaos Warp

Crosis's Charm

Grixis Charm

Pyroclasm

Counterspell

Spell Snare

Shriekmaw

Negate

Swan Song

Big Game Hunter

Blasphemous Act (dependent on budget)

February 15, 2018 12:29 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #12

SynergyBuild, thanks for the suggestions! I particularly like the 2CMC removal spells like Terminate and Go for the Throat. I think I may have to find room in the deck somewhere for them. Thanks again for the suggestions!

March 21, 2018 12:45 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #13

No Problem, for a budget option, a lot of great cards for this deck are in the Inalla, Archmage Ritualist's "Arcane Wizardry" EDH precon deck, below are some of the cards in it that you might like:

Terminate

Into the Roil

Chaos Warp

Crosis's Charm

Rakdos Charm

Memory Plunder

Silumgar's Command

Puppeteer Clique

Clone Legion

Spelltwine

Havengul Lich

Commander's Sphere

Darksteel Ingot

There are plenty more cool cards in it, so if that is cheaper or faster than buying each card individually, you may want to buy the whole thing and sell/trade off the rest.

March 21, 2018 2:22 p.m.

Last_Laugh says... #14

Why no Grim Haruspex? This guy draws a ton of cards here. Also consider Oona's Blackguard, Sage of Fables, and Metallic Mimic for more +1+1 counter synergy and in the case of Sage and Mimic, a great way to abuse etb/dies triggers.

April 9, 2018 12:37 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #15

SynergyBuild, thanks for the recommendations. I'm trying to keep the theme of the deck to be focused mainly on cards that steal stuff. The extra protection from spot removals and counterspells are nice, but half the fun of the deck is dealing with threats by just making them your creature through various methods in the deck. I do, however, like, Memory Plunder, and I might have to find a spot in the deck for that, since it fits the theme of the deck.Thanks so much for the suggestions!

April 11, 2018 5:16 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #16

Last_Laugh, thanks for the suggestions! I do particularly like the Grim Haruspex, I think I'll have to find a spot in the deck for him. Oona's Blackguard is another card I'll have to consider carefully, I really do like the card draw, which is something that this deck sometimes struggles with. My issue with Sage of Fables is that it costs mana to draw a card, and I remove Marchesa, the Black Rose's protection when I do that, unless they have multiple +1/+1 counters. The Metallic Mimic would be cool and all, but I'm not sure if I want to include it just to get some extra card draw off of the Sage of Fables. I'm afraid it might also fall a little flat, since there aren't many of the same creature types in the deck.

Thanks so much for the suggestions though! I think I'll have to make some room in my deck for the Grim Haruspex and Oona's Blackguard!

April 11, 2018 5:30 p.m.

Last_Laugh says... #17

Sage of Fables and Metallic Mimic's 2 main things here are that those creatures enter with a +1+1 counter and are immediately protected by Marchesa and those creatures' etb/death triggers can be abused every turn instead of once per round. i.e. Vindictive Lich or Venser, Shaper Savant 4 times per round in 4 player game instead of once per round.

April 11, 2018 6:30 p.m.

Last_Laugh says... #18

Anyways, realized I didn't post a link to my list. Feel free to check it out for more ideas. He who controls the Spice controls the Spice Girls

April 11, 2018 6:34 p.m.

Sikloy says... #20

Cool deck! I've recently started a similar one with the added sub-theme of stealing spells from graveyards and also just making copies of their stuff. Though I use Kess, Dissident Mage at the moment to get double value out of all those steals, but might try out Marchesa as well.

One card that might work well for you though is Conjurer's Closet. If you didn't manage to get a counter on the creature you can just blink it out and it comes back under your control, let's you get extra value out of ETB effects as well.

May 23, 2018 5:26 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #21

Last_Laugh, I'll think about putting them in there, but again, I'm not entirely sure. Metallic Mimic is dependent on picking a creature type, and there aren't many creatures that share a type in this deck. I could call wizards when he enters to protect Marchesa, the Black Rose, but I sort of feel like the spot would be better used for other cards. I'll try testing one or both of those out though. Thanks again for the suggestions! I'll check out your deck as soon as I am able to.

May 23, 2018 5:44 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #22

Sikloy, thanks, I'm pretty proud of what it has been able to accomplish! Sounds like you've got yourself a pretty fun deck too! I like Marchesa, the Black Rose specifically for her unique theft/reanimation ability, but I can certainly see the appeal of Kess, Dissident Mage as well.

You're right, I think I might have to find a spot in the deck for Conjurer's Closet. There've been times where I have had to give a creature (sometimes even with a +1/+1 counter on it) back to an opponent because I couldn't kill it and keep it. This should help to further reduce that risk.

Thanks for the suggestion!

May 23, 2018 5:48 p.m.

SynergyBuild says... #23

Why not use Hatred punp your commander 18, swing team at the highest life (not yourself now) and kill someone else with commander damage.

May 23, 2018 10:22 p.m.

Shinwizzles says... #24

SynergyBuild, while I do like Hatred, and it would certainly end the game in some cases, I'm not sure if it fits in with the theme of the deck. I do like the ability to pay life into it though, so that could be my excuse for fitting it in somewhere. If I can't fit it in this deck, it'll definitely go in one of my other ones that mess with life totals.

Thanks for the suggestion!

May 24, 2018 1:35 a.m.

Do you have enough ways to pay/lose life and consistently get dethrone triggers?

Another card to consider is Toxic Deluge. Board wipes are pretty useless against this deck and you pay life to ensure dethrone.

June 29, 2018 12:09 a.m.

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