Marchesa, Grixis Immortal

Commander / EDH* Combo UBR (Grixis)

PlatnumxStatuS

Creature (33)

• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Bloodcrazed Paladin
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Cryptborn Horror
• 1x Dack's Duplicate
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Faerie Artisans
• 1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Greater Gargadon
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Murderous Redcap
• 1x Nightscape Familiar
• 1x Noosegraf Mob *f-pre*
• 1x Olivia, Mobilized for War
• 1x Oona's Blackguard
• 1x Oracle of Bones
• 1x Patron of the Vein
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Siren Stormtamer
• 1x Sower of Temptation
• 1x Taurean Mauler
• 1x Treasure Keeper
• 1x Vigean Graftmage
• 1x Vindictive Lich
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Land (36)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 7x Island
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x River of Tears
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sneak Attack
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Mark of Mutiny

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence

Instant (6)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Rakdos Charm

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

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Maybeboard

Creature (7)

• 1x Cytoplast Manipulator
• 1x Doomed Necromancer
• 1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
• 1x Magmasaur
• 1x Nevermaker
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Stalking Vengeance

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Artifact (1)

• 1x Lightning Greaves

Instant (2)

• 1x Tainted Strike
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

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Power is Immortal

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This is my Marchesa deck that takes advantage of her reanimation effect. People make the mistake of focusing on her dethrone ability too much and makes the deck less optimal than what potential it actually has. This deck works by placing +1/+1 counters on creatures and then sacrificing them for value. This deck scoffs at field wipes and removal as the creatures come back while they have counters on them. Watch your opponents be frustrated as your army comes back from the dead, over and over again.

Why play this deck?

1. You're into high-impact combos that are repeatable, but not infinite.
   
2. You don't mind going to infinite combos as a fallback.
   
3. You like when your things are never gone for good.
   
4. You like aggro-based strategies.
   

Why You Wouldn't Play This Deck

1. You don't like combos in any manner.
   
2. You want a deck that focuses more on aggro.
   
3. You want to play blue that counters.
   

Strategy:

The most important thing is to have a +1/+1 counter on Marchesa to make it difficult to get rid of her. Once you have a counter on your commander, you can utilize creatures to abuse with her effect and +1/+1 counters. Win or lose, this deck will always have an impact on the board and will leave you with a feeling of satisfaction. It's very tough to deal with.

Weaknesses of the Deck

This deck absolutely folds to anti-graveyard strategies. If your graveyard is exiled, it will have a bad time. Grixis already has a hard time dealing with enchantments and it has very few ways to answer them. Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void are bad news. You may want to modify the deck to add a couple counters to better protect yourself against graveyard hate.

Sac Outlets

Sac outlets are the bread and butter of this deck. They allow you to abuse etb effects and turn your creatures into a really annoying army that will never stay dead as long as they have +1/+1 counters on them.
1. Carrion Feeder: hands down the best sac outlet in this deck as he can recur from Marchesa's effect
2. Falkenrath Aristocrat: has haste, evasion, and can be indestructible
3. Greater Gargadon: can't be interacted with while suspended
4. Grimgrin, Corpse-Born: can get large very quickly and gets rid of opponent's creatures
5. Yahenni, Undying Partisan: indestructible
6. Ashnod's Altar: pretty much free mana

I may need to add a couple more.

Powerhouses

These cards are very high-impact when they hit the board and can spell disaster for your opponents.

1. Flayer of the Hatebound: Flayer is the #1 most annoying card in the deck. With him and your commander on the field, you can get rid of almost any creature, planeswalker, or player fairly quickly. It can deal up to 9 damage per turn by the end of a player's turn. Make sure to sacrifice this before the end phases.
   

2. Cryptborn Horror: This creature can easily become a 10/10 or more and can easily recur. Have Flayer of the Hatebound out and you can deal plenty of damage per turn if opponents have lost life that turn.
   

3. Noosegraf Mob: Can easily blow out games via a goblin token army. Sacrifice it when it has one +1/+1 counter on it and just abuse the shit out of it. This will force your opponents to be more careful and turn them off to casting their spells often.
   

4. Oona's Blackguard: I thought this was a cute card to add until I actually used it in a game. Opponents can quickly lose options with this on the field.

5. Taurean Mauler: There is not one game where this card easily became 10/10 after one or two player rounds.

6. Treasure Keeper: I modified the deck so that it has a lower average CMC and to make this card more abuseable. Best decision I've made. To be able to cast something for free every turn is crazy advantage.

7. Preyseizer Dragon: Can easily become a train that opponents will have a hard time dealing with. Its attacks trigger allows you to deal damage to anything on the field or to another player before it even deals combat damage. Plus it has evasion!

8. Gray Merchant of Asphodel: Repeated life drain every turn is too good. Even at just 3 devotion, Gary is still a beast. However, I prefer to hold this off until I have at least 5 devotion since opponents will try to remove this asap if they realize the loop this card is capable of.

All the Combos

1. Ashnod's Altar + Sage of Fables + Glen Elendra Archmage = pseudo-infinite counter wall
   

2. Flayer of the Hatebound + Marchesa, the Black Rose + sac outlet = be annoying and get rid of creatures/planeswalkers every turn, for up to 9 damage total (first damage is 5, then 4 at EOT). Make sure to do these at the second Main Phase because sacrificing at the end step will make your creatures come back on the next end step.
   

3. Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Marchesa + Unspeakable Symbol = drain each opponent for 5, then gain life equal to 5 time the number of opponents, for only 3 life!
   

4. Noosegraf Mob (with at least one +1/+1 counter) + Marchesa + sac outlet = pseudo-infinite 2/2 zombie tokens
   

5. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Murderous Redcap = infinite ping
   

6. Mikaeus + Glen Elendra Archmage + sac outlet = infinite counter wall depending on the amount of blue mana you have
   

7. Mikaeus + Sage of Fables + Ashnod's Altar + creature with ETB: infinite creature ETB
   

8. Mikaeus + River Kelpie = infinite card draw

If you like the deck, then give it an Upvote!

Feedback and suggestions would be highly appreciated!

Date added	9 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 14 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.39
Tokens	Copy Clone, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Marchesa the Black Rose