Mari, the Killing Quill

Legendary Creature — Vampire Assassin

Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, exile it with a hit counter on it.

Assassins, Mercenaries and Rogues you control have deathtouch and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may remove a hit counter form a card that player owns in exile. If you do, draw a card and create two Treasure tokens." (They're colourless artifacts with "{T}: Sacrifice this: Add one mana of any colour.)

Tokens

• Treasure

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (19)

Tsukimi on Fae Dominion- control upgrade

3 months ago

Hey, nice Alela deck! I would definitely recommend Alexi's Cloak and Blessing of Leeches as both work as instant speed (and then ongoing) protection for your commander, who is a beacon for removal.

If you're looking for more suggestions, from buffing your faeries with additional pieces like Heraldic Banner, to Nettling Nuisance for a different take on control and goading, to interesting typal support like Mari, the Killing Quill, I'd recommend checking out my primer: Alela's Huge Goads [Primer]

crusafix22 on Kelsien Dead Shot (Help wanted)

7 months ago

Added: Drumbellower Harvester of Souls Mari, the Killing Quill Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot Gift of Doom Phyrexian Arena

Removed: Jirina, Dauntless General Mathas, Fiend Seeker Akiri, Fearless Voyager Ob Nixilis, Unshackled Terminate Black Market

legendofa on Assassin's Creed? Ugh, fine.

10 months ago

I was pretty skeptical of the historical figures as cards at first, but I realized I spent a good amount of time murdering historical people and razing historical cities in the Age of Empires and Civilization series, so there's not really a difference for me there. Plus, Portal Three Kingdoms covers a lot of the same ground. I think the flavor's fine, at least no worse than some of the planes from the Doctor Who Planechase set--Pompeii, Besieged Viking Village, Prime Minister's Cabinet Room...

For me, this is simply another kinda interesting-looking Universes Beyond where I don't know the source material enough to talk about it. I'm expecting Mari, the Killing Quill + Etrata, the Silencer + Ramses, Assassin Lord to come out of the woodworks. Dimir, Esper, or Grixis Assassins. (That's not exactly a hot take, people have been talking about this for months, but it's pretty clear with the full set reveal.)

Tsukimi on *RETIRED* Alela These Nuts

1 year ago

Nice looking Alela build! She quickly became one of my favorite commanders. I found pretty quickly that as tempting as Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery are, the deck doesn't really need them - espeically with the variety of good, low CMC instants we have access to, a lot of which you have already. I always suggest Mari, the Killing Quill because she's a perfect fit with this deck, and a lot of fun to play with. Ayara, First of Locthwain is also a lot of fun with a deck like this.

Mind's Dilation is a fun include, have you gotten to playtest it yet? I've found with Alela high CMC cards stick around in my hand too long.

Feel free to check out my deck for any fun options you might have missed! Alela's Huge Goads

Oh also just a heads up your deck is listed as not EDH legal. I poked around your decklist to see if I could figure out why but no dice.

Tsukimi on Fairish Faeries (Alela Budget EDH)

1 year ago

LynxGoddess Haha yea I had come back to suggest Mari, the Killing Quill too but I saw they're on your list! I have been looking for more instant speed protection for Alela and I really like Blessing of Leeches, I'm going to make space for it.

Once you playtest let me know how cards like Slitherwisp work out, I'm interested if there's enough flash synergy- If only Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery were worded differently!

LynxGoddess on Fairish Faeries (Alela Budget EDH)

1 year ago

Tsukimi

Sweet! Kindred Discovery looks a little on the expensive side, both in regards of imaginary money budget and looking at the mana value. This deck grinds very well in though due to goading large threats, and such a stable card engine might be worth the five mana to play it. So maybe it will find a spot in the future!

I did take a look at your deck too, and realized Alexi's Cloak, Raise the Draugr and Mari, the Killing Quill all look super good for the deck, so I added them here too! I also added Blessing of Leeches as an Alexi's Cloak at home, since protective auras with flash seem like such a good idea.

Lokotor on Marchesa, The Black Rose - Primer

1 year ago

dlombart I am mainly using Moxfield these days for deckbuilding, but I do keep this list updated here since a lot of people still use it.

I think Bitterblossom would be a good option if you are leaning more heavily into the rogue theme. As it stands I have ~2 cards that care about rogues and that's not quite enough I think for it to matter that much, so I'd consider it more in a vacuum, and at that point I've always thought of the card as being mostly just "Okay".

1 life and a 1/1 flier every turn is the kind of slow value we are generally looking for, and early game, or when Marchesa isn't out, it can be useful as a source of disposable sacrifice fodder. But since it's a pretty slow card, later in the game you're unlikely to get that much value from it. Especially where you usually have your engines built anyway.

Ultimately I've been thinking leaning into the rogue subtheme isn't the way to go as far as optimization, but I've just got a soft spot for the strategy for whatever reason.

The good news is that Gonti, Lord of Luxury and Faerie Mastermind are testing pretty well (though I am likely going to kick mastermind to another deck of mine), so the strategy isn't wholly without merit. I might give BB a shot if I push more in that direction, but it's just missing a few pieces still i think.

As of now, the only real payoffs I've seen are Mari, the Killing Quill and Prosperous Thief, with the latter not being that great really. There are a couple lords and some marginal payoff cards like Notorious Throng that are perhaps playable, but require a bit more commitment than I think they deserve.

Mari has the upside of being one sided grave hate (and even with nothing else going on that's pretty valuable) and she is self enabling, so even without much support it at least sort of works. Also, since she has deathtouch, she is relatively nice to have out as an attacker or blocker. overall, I find that she's a good enough card to play without supporting cards, but having a few pieces like Bitterblossom, Gonti, Faerie Mastermind, and Dauthi Voidwalker generally is just gravy on top.

Overall, that's a long way of saying Bitterblossom is reasonable to include in your list, especially with cards like Mari, the Killing Quill and Oona's Blackguard hanging around. I'd give it a shot sometime and see how it plays.

dlombart on Marchesa, The Black Rose - Primer

1 year ago

I'm also down on the Rogue subtheme, to make Mari, the Killing Quill work. Even wanted to make Etrata, the Silencer work, with the "3 hit counters and you lose" ability. But to much hassle to win, esp. in my powercrept playgroup. But, I am revisiting Bitterblossom for that rogue-subtheme reason. What's your take on Bitterblossom, for not including it in your list? It keeps you from the throne, has evasive rogue tokens, and therefore synergizes well with other cards in your list (e.g. Oona's Blackguard).

My most updated list MTBR isn't on TappedOut, but I'm still following your primer, since I've always liked your expertise on this commander.