The Plan
This deck is led by the queen, she uses her tools like Warhammers, swords, and (mana) rocks to knock at the doors of gods and destroy the enemy.
While no deck plays exactly the same way twice. This deck feels like a completely different deck every time you pick it up. It takes a pilot that can change directions that's willing to ebb with the flow of the deck and the direction that the table pushes you. You have to be willing to interact with table, put your cell phone away and pay attention to the board, if you want to stand a chance.
Some games the deck plays aggro, some control, some voltron, some serious come from behind wins, and always lots of trickery. The idea is not to be the only one out front, because you never will win if you draw the attention of the table to you. This does not mean that you should be afraid to play your hand and control the table. The goal is to always have an answer in your hand, or yard, or deck, or at the very least use your political guile to make friends and create fear in your enemies.
There are so many key cards in this deck but just to list a few:
1) Sunforger: This is your control card, able to tutor all your instants at any time for two mana. It will keep the table guessing
2) Aggravated Assault or Godo, Bandit Warlord or Gisela, Blade of Goldnight all help to get lots of extra attack phase, and there are several ways to go infinite both with attacks and with mana.
3) Comeuppance and Deflecting Palm act as rattlesnakes to take an opponents strength and throw it back in their face.
4)mistveill plains allows you to get instants and sorcery cards from your graveyard and put them back into your library to be reused by sunforger... there are lots of other great utility lands, but mistveil is the best of the best.
5) Stonehewer Giant and other white voltron creatures make the go big strategy hum and work like a Boros Charm.
6) A few sweepers and board wipes like Austere Command makes sure the control strategy works and you can always get back into it. Top it off with lots of mana ramp and card draw and you are truly knocking on the doors of gods like Iroas, God of Victory
7) The queen herself, Queen Marchesa, allows for card draw, attack tricks, voltron, but more than anything assassins and the monarch mechanic. This will make the board an unstable place with lots of attacks and lots of back stabbing, so get creatures like Orzhov Advokist and Grenzo, Havoc Raiser and always always use Maze of Ith to make sure nobody knows which way is up.
8) Hiding in your fort and watching the world burn is always what a good monarch does... so Ghostly Prison and Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs will allow you to build up that garrison.
9) When its all said and done... and all else has failed, just use Insurrection and drop the fist of the queen and become a god.
The Key Combos
Every time I play this deck I find a new and interesting combo
- Infinite attacks: Aggravated Assault + Sword of Feast and Famine +Rogue's Passage
- More infinite attacksAggravated Assault + Neheb, the Eternal +Whispersilk Cloak
- Even more infinite attacks: Helm of the Host + Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
- The final infinite attacks: Helm of the Host + Godo, Bandit Warlord
- Ping Deathtouch Assassin: Queen Marchesa + Thornbite Staff
- Deathtouch and first strike: Queen Marchesa + Archetype of Courage
- Return from the dead: Merciless Eviction + Faith's Reward
- Never say die: Austere Command + Boros Charm
- equipment beasts: Leonin Shikari + Puresteel Paladin + Sigarda's Aid + Stonehewer Giant
- Endless total destruction: Sun Titan + Oblivion Stone
The Win Conditions
There are a lot of ways to win... no game is the same and the only way to know what to do is to expect everything.
1) Military Junta (aka aggro)
" Military juntas can refer to either a government in which a coalition of military officers rules in conjunction or to a military dictatorship in which a leader's government and administration is staffed primarily by military officers."
This deck is not the fastest in the world, but it can be mean and aggressive. Getting out lots of creatures and equipment early and often with a solid ramp and draw package, makes it hard to mess with. Your start can be brutally quick and the game can end super fast. But not to worry because if you don't pounce quick then it has a great mid game and an incredible late gam. This deck really can go the distance.
2) Authoritarianism (aka Control)
"Authoritarianism is a form of government characterized by strong central power and limited political freedoms. Individual freedoms are subordinate to the state and there is no constitutional accountability under an authoritarian regime."
The sunforger control package, allows you to have an answer for anything. Artifacts, enchantments, and creatures of your opponents will be destroyed if they come after your. Make them swing at someone else, otherwise blow them up or palm them back at the controllers face. Make it clear that attacking you is a very very very bad idea. Its a blast to have an answer to everything.
3) The Monarchy (aka Voltron)
"A monarchy is a form of government in which a group, generally a family representing a dynasty (aristocracy), embodies the country's national identity and its head, the monarch, or the queen, exercises the role of sovereignty."
Suit up Marchesa, your Monarch or another one of your creatures, with a really nice and quick set of gear. [I been loving using Stonehewer Giant to tutor for Argentum Armor. I love the flavor of having Tenza, Godo's Maul in the same deck as Godo, Bandit Warlord. Ideally Marchesa is your queen of choice, but really any body will do, commander damage is a real thing. Use your double strike, trample, death touch, unblockable, indestructible, and plenty of pumping. Sometimes it just takes one big dude, with one big attack, and it is over.
4) Anarcho-communist (aka Rattlesnake Aikido)
"Anarchist communism advocates the abolition of the state, private property and capitalism in favor of common ownership or control of the means of production. Only through such collective control, it argues, can "the individual" be free of governmental domination and economic, that is, capitalist, exploitation."
You need to deconstruct everything to win with Rattlesnake aikido. You need to look like you have nothing to prove that you have everything. Yay for the anarcho-communists. A trick of your sleeve or two can make turn a game from a loss to a win. Cards like Deflecting Palm Insurrection Comeuppance and Faith's Reward take the strength of the opponent and make them your own. Giant attacks get thrown back in their face, or you can just steal everything and explode the board. The more people play against this deck, the more afraid they will be to come after you.
5) Theocracy (aka Combo)
"Theocracy is a form of government in which a deity, or religious institution, is the source from which all authority derives."
Because every combo player knows you'll need some faith and a few prayers to pull of the combo. Go through the combo section and find out all the combos. Plus all the ones that will pop up new each time you play. You can easily win a game with just three key cards... go infinite... and blow everyone up. It's always a good feeling.
