Iron Apprentice

Artifact Creature — Construct

This enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.

When this dies (is put into the graveyard from the battlefield), put all counters that were on this creature on target creature you control.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (13)

scotchtapedsleeves on Marchy March and the Funky Bunch

8 months ago

Hey! Coming over from Reddit to give some advice.

First off, some overarching themes that I notice:

• Draw vs Card Advantage - A lot of the cards in your "Draw" category don't actually provide any impactful draw, only scrying and cantrips. I'm an enormous fan of Fell Stinger and Thought Sponge. Easily repeatable draw effects that dump cards in your hand. Scry isn't useful unless you're drawing a ton of cards or are doing some topdeck manipulation.

• Your creatures are too big - Marchesa appreciates small bodies with big effects rather than big bodies with meh effects. For this reason, I would take out Combustible Gearhulk, Vindictive Lich, Vengeful Ancestor, and Gyruda, Doom of Depths. Playing lots of small, cheaper bodies lets your deck fly under the radar until it pops off. It will also give you more targets for Imperial Recruiter.

• Aristocrats style - Marchesa doesn't play like your typical aristocrats deck, Blood Artist isn't very effective when you're only sacrificing 2-3 creatures a turn. It's also counterintuitive to Dethrone. Abusing ETB and LTB effects is more important than slowly draining opponents

• Not enough counter distribution - You only have 5 cards under counters and they're all either situational or restrictive. Drop some Thran Vigil type cards in there and you'll go far

Overall, you're too reliant on creatures for draw, removal, etc. Run some efficient draw and removal spells

Next up, cards I recommend removing. I've playtested most of these and they're not nearly as impactful as they seem.

• Blood Artist - Covered this above, you don't want to gain life
• Combustible Gearhulk - Opponents will often just take the damage early game and late game you do NOT want to be spending 6 mana on a 6/6 with no impactful ETB.
• Vindictive Lich - An alright card, not fantastic though. I'm very pressed for 4 drops in my deck so it didn't make the cut.
• Vengeful Ancestor - Not a very impactful card. You're running Kardur, Doomscourge so this card is just overshadowed.
• Gyruda, Doom of Depths - 6 mana to maybe cheat in one creature? Not a huge fan. If you want to replace it with a grave robber effect Puppeteer Clique is better. Still not fantastic, it didn't make the cut in my deck
• Aether Channeler - A fine card, the mode selection is okay. I'm not in love with the effects it gives though
• Morbid Opportunist - Only one draw a turn? Blasphemy
• Woe Strider Free sac outlets are nice, but I find I get overrun with them when I have more than 5 in a deck. Also more expensive just to scry? Not a fan
• Dauthi Voidwalker Will generate so much hate. Unless you can fend off your opponents don't run it
• Faerie Artisans Not the kind of stealing Marchesa likes, tokens aren't the name of the game here. Something like Zealous Conscripts will take you much further
• Phantom Steed Same as above, tokens are nice but this isn't a great card
• Ravenous Chupacabra Too much mana for removal. Black and blue have much cheaper options

There are more that I personally wouldn't run, but that's up to how you like to play your deck.

Now for some cards I would include in every Marchesa deck

• Thran Vigil - Allows you to immediately sac creatures that come back + an extra layer of protection
• Uncivil Unrest - Same as above but you can also give haste to fresh casts. Double damage doesn't hurt
• Fell Stinger - Repeatable, powerful draw on a deathtouch body
• Thought Sponge - Incredible draw engine. Sac it on opponents turns every time it enters and you'll draw AT LEAST 6 cards a turn cycle.
• Iron Apprentice - Great 1 drop, can distribute counters if you're having trouble and is sacrifice fodder
• Rakdos Cackler - sacrifice fodder
• Flayer of the Hatebound - This card gets a bad rap but it's great in Marchesa
• Herald of Secret Streams - Wincon alert! This card sneaks under the radar until you hit someone with 25 unblockable damage
• The Ozolith - Expensive, but who doesn't want to keep their counters for 1 mana!

Of course, please take a look at my deck if you need inspiration. It's pretty casual, but the synergies can be backbreaking if your opponents don't keep you in check. I also have a ton of cards in my maybeboard that I'm considering or have saved for later.

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/guess-whos-back-back-again-and-again/?cat=custom&sort=&cb=1689648313

jonjonhholt on Bender Bending Rodriguez (Sr.)

9 months ago

Hey Gattison! Always love ur decks, i think Iron Apprentice would be an amazing addition to this list(plus if you wanted it can share other counters like lifelink with Unexpected Fangs)

scotchtapedsleeves on Murders and Acquisitions (Marchesa Superiority)

9 months ago

Ender666666 My land base is definitely something I should improve, but I don't want to spend money on lands...

I've found that I have the highest life total more often than not, pain lands are something I've considered buying for a while. This is my only paper deck atm, so it deserves some investment. It plays very well despite losing dethrone often though. My main powerhouses are creatures that enter with +1/+1 counters that I can immediately sac for benefits, like Thought Sponge and Iron Apprentice.

scotchtapedsleeves on Murders and Acquisitions (Marchesa Superiority)

9 months ago

Hey Ender, been a while! I'm still working hard on my Marchesa deck if you'd like to steal some ideas. As for my suggestions:

Hostage Taker is huge as it can steal artifacts.

Imperial Recruiter Can tutor for most cards in my deck, your creature's powers seem a bit higher.

Iron Apprentice is incredible

Thought Sponge is a fantastic draw engine. I find myself drawing 5+ cards each cycle if opponents don't deal with it

Thran Vigil Adds a +1/+1 counter to every creature that re-enters, protecting them immediately and allowing you to sac them.

Uncivil Unrest Does the same as above but for all creatures that enter, also a wincon

Reins of Power Is a favourite of mine against token players. Sac all your creatures to steal an opponents, then you have the option to sac them for a ton of mana with an Altar or get +1/+1 counters on them and sac them as soon as Marchesa reenters the battlefield in your end step.

Aetherworks Marvel has played fairly well

Scroll of Fate Lets you cheat out lands, enchantments and artifacts as Marchesa only checks the card type when it's on the battlefield

Last One Standing is hilarious, same with Saw in Half

Living Death is an incredible board wipe, especially if you sac all your stuff beforehand

I have over 100 cards in my maybeboard that I haven't gotten around to sorting out, but here are some standouts I'm looking to include.

Imposter Mech seems like it could be incredible. Once you get a +1/+1 counter on Marchesa you don't really want to attack with her, so you can use her to crew the mech each turn

Urborg Scavengers Is repeatable grave hate with some bonuses

Kardur, Doomscourge Is dirty

Fell Stinger is a reliable source of draw, can sacrifice itsself in a pinch

Body Launderer seems incredible. Card selection and recursion

scotchtapedsleeves on Murders and Acquisitions (Marchesa Superiority)

9 months ago

Hey Ender, been a while! I'm still working hard on my Marchesa deck if you'd like to steal some ideas. As for my suggestions:

Hostage Taker is huge as it can steal artifacts.

Imperial Recruiter Can tutor for most cards in my deck, your creature's powers seem a bit higher.

Iron Apprentice is incredible

Thought Sponge is a fantastic draw engine. I find myself drawing 5+ cards each cycle if opponents don't deal with it

Thran Vigil Adds a +1/+1 counter to every creature that re-enters, protecting them immediately and allowing you to sac them.

Uncivil Unrest Does the same as above but for all creatures that enter, also a wincon

Reins of Power Is a favourite of mine against token players. Sac all your creatures to steal an opponents, then you have the option to sac them for a ton of mana with an Altar or get +1/+1 counters on them and sac them as soon as Marchesa reenters the battlefield in your end step.

Aetherworks Marvel has played fairly well

Scroll of Fate Lets you cheat out lands, enchantments and artifacts as Marchesa only checks the card type when it's on the battlefield

Last One Standing is hilarious, same with Saw in Half

Living Death is an incredible board wipe, especially if you sac all your stuff beforehand

I have over 100 cards in my maybeboard that I haven't gotten around to sorting out, but here are some standouts I'm looking to include.

Imposter Mech seems like it could be incredible. Once you get a +1/+1 counter on Marchesa you don't really want to attack with her, so you can use her to crew the mech each turn

Urborg Scavengers Is repeatable grave hate with some bonuses

Kardur, Doomscourge Is dirty

Fell Stinger is a reliable source of draw, can sacrifice itsself in a pinch

Body Launderer seems incredible. Card selection and recursion

Anyway, that concludes my rant. Hope all is good with you!

Darsul on Thought and Talon

10 months ago

Is Opposition Agent better than Aven Mindcensor? (aven is more evasive tho)

depends on what you want, Aven is a better beater but, Agent is card advantage.

Make a cut for Teferi's Ageless Insight (I cut Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Archfiend of Ifnir is a good one sided wipe in this deck)

Serra Paragon<Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Norn helps the go wide

More 1 drop creature and more legendary creature suggestions are welcome. (legendary creatures take advantage of Gold-Forged Thopteryx etc).

Iron Apprentice, Krydle of Baldur's Gate, Benthic Biomancer, Cosi's Trickster, Judge's Familiar

Less counter spells required due to many protection spells in deck.

Glen Elendra Archmage w/connive you can keep her online

Consider Rhystic Study (slows my creature attack strat. But op... Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor in its place for now)

Rhystic Study gains table aggro, Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor gets your opponents to look at each other

Weak to oppo swing back. Solutions include war tax effects and vigilance.

Darkness, Holy Day

GH HF

Lokotor on Marchesa, The Black Rose - Primer

1 year ago

Crow-Umbra

If you take a look at the Notable Exclusions section I address a few of these.

For Herald of Secret Streams, I don't think granting our creatures evasion is all that important in a Marchesa list as you can clear the board out pretty effectively usually. If they have no blockers then all our creatures are unblockable.

I haven't made too many changes to the creatures section in general for some time now, but usually it's also not based on a card underperforming or otherwise lackluster. Usually a card is just replaced because something new comes out that fills that role more effectively. eg Arcbound Worker > Iron Apprentice. arcbound worker was quite good, but iron apprentice is just a bit better. Similarly, Solemn Simulacrum > Atsushi, the Blazing Sky solemn was a perfectly fine card and was good to recur each turn as it provided card advantage and ramp, synergized well with things like arcbound worker, and was easy to cast, but Atsushi gives more ramp and more card draw per use. so even though I don't have them right now, I would still generally recommend either of those cards.

I'm generally happy with the distribution of things like draw, ramp, control, aggro, etc, so I try not to change those numbers around too much. For example, I wouldn't cut Arcane Denial for Dire Fleet Daredevil as they don't have the same purpose. So for some cards, like Watcher for Tomorrow I just cut them because they were occupying the same card slot as some other new card I wanted to try, and naturally, something has to go to try the new card. But it wasn't necessarily because they were worse than the replacement, so much as it was just a convenient substitute.

Slashdance on Black Rose - Primer 4 Budget Multiplayer

1 year ago

If you're looking to REALLY jazz up the deck, the following cards would be where I would look first. Not all the cards cost a lot ... but many do.

Ashes to Ashes ... Ashnod's Altar ... Cytoplast Manipulator ... Dictate of Erebos ... Dockside Extortionist ... Fabled Passage ... Glen Elendra Archmage ... Grave Pact ... Guildmages' Forum ... Iron Apprentice ... Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ... Phyrexian Altar ... Phyrexian Reclamation ... Pitiless Plunderer ... Plaguecrafter ... Sage of Fables ... Spark Double ... Swan Song ... The Ozolith ... Unspeakable Symbol ... Vampiric Tutor ... Voidmage Prodigy ... Yawgmoth, Thran Physician