This deck was originally a Zurgo Helmsmasher voltron deck, but I found it to be inconsistent and unfun - I was over reliant on Zurgo surviving and he was very fragile. I got my face beaten in by a stranger's
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
aggro deck, and decided to transform Zurgo Helmsmasher into a token-aggro deck with
Oros, the Avenger
, at the helm. I decided to keep black because boros can struggle to draw cards so much. The history of the deck explains its composition: the equipment package is leftover from Zurgo Helmsmasher, almost all the tokens generated are white because of
Oros, the Avenger
, and almost all of the black cards in the deck are draw spells.
It is worth noting that some cards, like Goblin Offensive are missing because I don't run multiples across my EDH decks (except for Sol Ring). While all four of my commander decks are casual, this deck is one of the weaker two that I tend to play against decks that are around the strength of pre-constructed decks.
So what's going on here?
I've looked at a lot of other Queen Marchesa lists online and people seem to focus on the fact that Queen Marchesa comes from Conspiracy and gives the Monarch effect. They include a lot of Will of the Council cards and pillowfort effects that help deny opponents the crown and associated card draw.
I've chosen a different path for the deck. I originally created my Zurgo Helmsmasher deck because my playgroup was missing a meaningful "aggro" presence. This deck is too slow and includes too much card draw to be considered "aggro" by anyone who plays sixty-card formats, but still provides the necessary presence. What I mean is that a lot of casual decks can lean towards battle cruiser magic with very little removal or resilience. While this deck is by no means competitive, it does put early pressure on opponents in ways that many casual decks don't, forcing other players to consider defensive options and lower mana curves. I realize competitive players might look at this list and cringe at that, but this can be a relatively fast deck among some groups.
The Early Game:
Proper mulligans with this deck are incredibly easy: find a way to cast Queen Marchesa. Casting Queen Marchesa on turn three or four makes me the monarch, and people are frequently unable to attack through her that early. Even if an opponent does steal the crown through combat damage, this is a combat focused deck, generally making it easy to attack in and steal the crown back. Being the monarch generates enough card draw to smooth out land drops, ensure that I find removal for problematic permanents, and the threats that I need to win.
Almost as important as the card draw is the fact that Queen Marchesa functions as an early threat. Equipment like Sword of the Animist, Loxodon Warhammer, and even Skullclamp help her push through early damage and whittle away my opponent's life totals. A turn four Queen Marchesa into a turn five Hatred can also totally eliminate an unwitting opponent for the mere cost of eighteen life. Creatures like Kytheon, Hero of Akros
, Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, and
Frontline Medic
can come out early, carry equipment, and work well together to put on more early pressure. People seem to consistently underestimate the amount of damage a three creatures supported by Adriana, Captain of the Guard or
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
can do.
The Mid to Late Game:
While Queen Marchesa and company are hopefully putting on early pressure, the deck also runs out mana rocks like Hedron Archive and
Dreamstone Hedron
in order to help late game token generation spells like
Decree of Justice
, Launch the Fleet, and Martial Coup. Purphoros, God of the Forge, Impact Tremors, and Ogre Battledriver help turn potentially slow effects like Secure the Wastes do more immediate damage. Ashnod's Altar helps turn each token generation effect into an even larger token effect next turn - each warrior created by Secure the Wastes this turn leads to two soldiers generated by
Decree of Justice
the next turn.
Because the deck likes to go all in on the board, cards like Boros Charm and Gideon's Phalanx can help protect my threats while card draw like Read the Bones and Painful Truths help me recover card parity if I do get board wiped. Thalia's Lancers helps me find the legendary threats in the deck:
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
, Purphoros, God of the Forge,
Marton Stromgald
and Adriana, Captain of the Guard.
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
is supported by the large number of mana rocks and equipment (and equipment tutors) that the deck runs, ensuring that I have metalcraft online by the mid-game. His anthem effect is incredibly powerful, becoming an 8/4 himself (nothing to sneeze at) while turning my 1/1 tokens into 4/1s is devastating.
Removal like Righteous Confluence is extremely important because it deals with problematic enchantments like Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, and Lightmine Field that can stop my creatures from being able to attack. Removal like Descent of the Dragons is flexible because it allows me to eliminate my opponents' most threatening creatures while simultaneously turning any number of my 1/1 warriors or soldiers into flying 4/4 dragons and triggering cards like Impact Tremors or Ogre Battledriver anew.
Some of the cards are included in a "lifegain" section because the deck includes some incidental lifegain. Factors like Minions' Murmurs, Hatred, Phyrexian Arena, and having opponents that want to kill me can lower my life total. Loxodon Warhammer is fantastic combined with Hatred, but can gain decent amounts of life on any creature. While Righteous Confluence almost always removes enchantments and produces knight tokens, being able to gain fifteen life for five mana has been useful before.
And that's it
The game ends when all of my opponents don't have any life left, accomplished through all of the various means described above. The deck doesn't do much besides draw cards, generate threats, and remove problematic permanents. While this is one of my two weaker decks, my Wort, the F!@# Was I Thinking deck is too complicated and funky to operate as a good loaner deck. Queen Marchesa is simple enough that most players who have played sixty card magic and are trying out commander can pick it up and figure out what's going on.
