Gray Merchant of Asphodel
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed 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
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Creature — Zombie

When this enters the battlefield, each opponent loses X life, where X is your devotion to black. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Each in the mana costs of permanents you control counts towards your devotion to black.)

MELLT on Licia Commander

3 days ago

I would suggest switching out some of the cards that are a bit too focused, if that makes sense. For example Soothing Balm for Exsanguinate or Bishop's Soldier for Gifted Aetherborn. Otherwise this looks great! I included a few suggestions for mana fixing and protections. Need to keep your commander alive! Some of these are a bit expensive so they can be substituted later if you end up liking the deck and want to upgrade it.

scotchtapedsleeves on Marchezzy says "Goonies Never Die!"

1 week ago

Welcome to the Cult of Marchesa!

I definitely agree that this deck doesn't have enough sac outlets. When other players start to realize the gameplan, they'll be removing every outlet they see. It's important to keep well stocked!

Add:

  • Greater Gargadon is absolutely fantastic, opponents can't interact with it until it hits the field and by then you'll have drawn another outlet... hopefully.

  • Viscera Seer is a must, you need all the 1 drop outlets you can get.

  • Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is incredible. Free sac outlet that draws you cards AND is removal? Don't mind if I do.

  • Trophy Mage is an easy tutor for both Ashnod's and Phyrexian altar. I run Altar of Dementia instead of Phyrexian altar, so I run Trinket Mage instead of trophy. This also helps me get out my 2 drop mana rocks in a pinch.

Subtract:

  • Falkenrath Aristocrat has never hit for me, 4 mana for a flying outlet is fine, but she's never done well for me.

  • Scorn-Blade Berserker is fine, but think of the timing their effect will be applied on. If you're sacrificing it for Marchesa, it'll be coming back on that end step. If you want to take advantage of backup, you'd have to sac the backed-up creature during that end step. Ideally we want to avoid doing this as you won't have that creature for the whole next turn.

You mentioned that your partner was constantly being left with no blockers for opponent's combat. That's a difficult line to tread, generally Marchesa isn't enormously aggro although it might seem that way. Your goal is to abuse ETB and LTB triggers for maximum value, swinging with creatures only if you have a sac outlet to reset them for the next person's turn.

Add:

  • Kardur, Doomscourge can help with this massively as opponents won't be able to attack you for the next cycle. If he stays around until your next turn you can "flicker" him to goad everyone again!

  • Reef Worm is a pet card of mine, it can generate a huge amount of bodies if you have a Thran Vigil or Uncivil Unrest out. Fantastic sacrifice fodder even if it doesn't have a counter on it

  • Triskelion. You're playing Mikaeus, might as well finish up the combo

  • Imposter Mech is quickly becoming my favourite card. Once you have Marchesa out you generally don't want to attack with her, so you can use her to crew this every turn! Last game I cast it I copied an Avacyn, Angel of Hope to give you an idea of the bonkers stuff you can pull off with it

Subtract:

  • Gray Merchant of Asphodel Generally you don't want to be gaining life in this deck as you want to stay the dethrone target as long as possible. I've died a few times to my own hubris by not including lifegain, but the small amounts you'd be gaining with Gary in a Grixis deck don't make him worth it for me. Special exception to Kokusho, the Evening Star as 15 lifegain is backbreaking for your opponents.

That just about wraps up my thoughts, Marchesa can be pretty complex to play so feel free to reach out if you or your partner have any questions! Like I said, I don't generally play too aggro with my deck. Generally once opponents figure out what's going on you'll be getting a lot of removal thrown your way, but Marchesa is a super sticky commander, she won't leave if you don't want her too. Don't forget to sac in response to removal!

Dangerwillrobinson79 on Wilhelt Scream

1 month ago

Love a good zombie deck! +1 My favorite weapon in mine is attaching Blade of Selves to Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Only thing better than 1 Gary, is 4 Garys!

Rocketman988 on Demon Till Your Dreams Come True

2 months ago

ragincajun129, I've been playing and fine tuning the deck for over 5 years now, and the land count is correct for the deck. If you remove the cards that are not intended to be hard cast from hand or have alternate casting methods, the true average CMC of the deck is around 2.2. The entire point of the deck is to function with minimal lands on board, since Rakdos's sacrifice effect keeps the deck on 2 to 3 mana sources most of the time anyways. Also, you did not include the mdfc lands in your count, so the true land count in the deck is 34.

Whip of Erebos is a potential add, but I have not needed another source of lifegain besides Gray Merchant of Asphodel, which the deck has many ways of finding. Whip is incredibly inefficient as a reanimation effect, since it requires an 8 mana investment just to get one creature back to board. Further, it exiles the reanimated creature and there is no easy way around that, unlike Shallow Grave. This means no multiple reanimate options, and I try to avoid that because it limits the power of mass reanimation.

Regarding mana rocks, I only run mana positive mana rocks, as I have found that ritual effects are better for the deck. The whole point of mana rocks in most decks is to function as cheap and efficient reusable mana sources, but Rakdos the Defiler negates that entirely. If artifact ramp does not generate more mana than it cost to play, it is worse than a ritual in the deck. Mana Vault is the only cheap artifact ramp I decided against for the moment, since the 3 colorless isn't helpful for casting Rakdos, and the other demons are better to reanimate.

Here's an example to illustrate my point: I need 6 mana to cast Rakdos, so say I have 3 lands and 3 signets, I'll have to sacrifice 3 permanents to Rakdos. Instead, say I generate the same 6 mana with Dark Ritual, Graven Cairns, a random land that taps for black, and a Sol Ring/Mana Crypt. Now, I'll only sacrifice 2 permanents to Rakdos on the swing. Not only did I sacrifice less permanents to Rakdos in the second example, but it's possible to do that a turn or two faster, which means I've already hit two players by the time the signet ramp even lets me get Rakdos on the board.

TheVectornaut on Dead of Night

2 months ago

I think the biggest weakness of this deck is that it's hard to curve out early with so many of the slots occupied by cards at 3 CMC or higher. The ideal play pattern is probably to slam down Champion of the Perished on turn 1 and then follow up with a zombie or 2 every following turn until finishing with a bomb. This is difficult to do with Relentless Dead as your only 2 drop, and if you don't draw Champion, the lack of 1 drops makes things even worse. I'd recommend adding something like Gravecrawler, Diregraf Ghoul, Cryptbreaker, or Dread Wanderer to provide early pressure in the absence of a champion. Then, on 2, I personally like Undead Augur for the draw, especially paired with a sac outlet like Carrion Feeder. Other 2s could be Waste Not with a discard package, Graveyard Marshal as a lordless Cemetery Reaper, or you could dedicate the slots to cheaper removal. Invoke Despair is very flashy but seldom as efficient as a Thoughtseize or Fatal Push. On 3, you have enough cards, although I would still offer Geralf's Messenger, Diregraf Colossus, and Lord of the Accursed as other options to consider. To make room, the most obvious place to start is the bloated 6-slot, and as much as I love using him in my Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest EDH deck, Champion of Stray Souls is very slow in 60-card formats. Helm of the Host, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, and Killing Wave (without a drain package with Gray Merchant of Asphodel) also seem underwhelming to me. It should be noted that I'm using modern as the basis for my evaluation. If your local casual meta is slow enough, running more big guys isn't as big of a problem, although I'd still try for more 1s and 2s just to avoid games where you're bricked until turn 3.

SteelSentry on (Mid-power playgroups) Do you value …

2 months ago

I was looking at a deck to put Nazgul in, and I'm currently deciding between Ratadrabik of Urborg and Araumi of the Dead Tide; the former directly comboing with them, and the latter being a combo deck that is happy to play them, as encoring a Nazgul is a powerful play that can drastically swing life totals. The main decision factor between the two is a conundrum I've ran into before; Ratadrabik is overall a more consistent combo: besides the commander, you just need a creature that ring tempts on ETB or LTB, and a payoff. The problem with this deck is it is vulnerable to being run over by the infect and aggro decks at my LGS. The combos with Araumi are more complicated and limited in pieces (ex. Mesmeric Orb, an untapper to encore, and a bucket of mana), but can fight more easily on a value front with plays like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, as well as access to blue to fight other combos on the stack.

I can grasp deckbuilding for a combo deck in cEDH, but what should I keep in mind building a deck that has a combo win as plan A in a diverse, non-cEDH meta?

kouzios on good for her

2 months ago

As is tradition, I will proceed to suggest a variety of cards that are likely not worth adding.

Akroma's Will sweet card, protection is very rude with master of cruelties as well

Boros Charm I know it's in your sideboard, but the card is really nice. Direct planeswalker damage is nice, only 2 mana for all permanents (not just creatures) get indestructible is great, double strike can be given to opposing creatures. Great card, for 2 mana it's a steal

Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle would be a nice additional source of graveyard recursion if you had more historic cards

Faith's Reward eh I used to be a bigger fan of this card than I am now, but it applies to non-creature permanents too so it's cute.

Rapacious Guest is a card i would cut to get to 100 cards in the deck, but it would probably be there before cuts.

Mentor of the Meek Another sideboard card, but a little surprised you don't have it in main. It's annoying that it sort-of feels like a self-tax card, but it's good draw in your colors, and a hit for your commander. I get why it would be cut though

Orcish Bowmasters if only it wasn't $30. Cheap, good hit, makes an extra creature on top of it, and a sort-of hate card.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel Look, it's not amazing for you, but it's power is 2 or less and i like the card.

Robber of the Rich is a hit for your commander, gives value, and has reach for some dumb reason. It's like a gonti.

Kheru Mind-Eater, well it's a hate card, value, and a commander hit. Not mind blowing, but hey.

Dockside Extortionist Jesus if it wasn't $70...

Esper Sentinel It's rhystic study on a creature, woo. Also not cheap, but hey.

Skyclave Apparition recursion friendly exile card, and it's "up to" so optional.

Mirror Entity Sometimes, hitting face is a nice win con too.

Drana, Liberator of Malakir another face-hitter, but it's flying first strike so it probably survives resurrection in combat, and it hitting first buffs your other creatures too. Little nonbo with your power 4 or greater board clear.

Duplicant I have to mention this card, it's 6 mana but if you just recur it who cares, it's a 2 power creature that exiles a creature then becomes that creature's power, so it attacks big (in theory).

To some degree I've ignored the "hate bear" theme here, but hey I'm just a little guy, what can I do.

HatchMichael18 on The Scarab God

5 months ago

good deck buddy i suggest Faces of the Past because Cleaver Skaab with Grave Titan and Ashnod's Altar you get infinite colorless mana then create infinite Gray Merchant of Asphodel :) you know me with infinite combos.

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