Black Rose's Ascension

Commander / EDH Exploit Sacrifice UBR (Grixis)

MrHighscore

Land (37)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Guildmages' Forum
• 3x Island
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Xander's Lounge

Tutors (4)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Control (15)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Canoptek Tomb Sentinel
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Juri, Master of the Revue
• 1x Profaner of the Dead
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Voidmage Prodigy

Card advantage (11)

• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hostage Taker
• 1x Liliana's Standard Bearer
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Skyclave Shadowcat
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Vampiric Rites

Sac outlets (4)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Wincons (4)

• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Commander (1)

+1 counters (11)

• 1x Arcbound Worker
• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Feast on the Fallen
• 1x Iron Apprentice
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Rakdos Cackler
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Uncivil Unrest
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Ramp (10)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Unstable Obelisk

Utility (3)

• 1x Desecrated Tomb
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

---

Maybeboard

Other good stuff (8)

• 1x Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Last One Standing
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Saw in Half
• 1x Thran Vigil

Sac outlets (4)

• 1x Bloodflow Connoisseur
• 1x Dark-Dweller Oracle
• 1x Fain, the Broker
• 1x Phyrexian Altar

Token stuff that seems too slow (2)

• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Reef Worm

Drain (2)

• 1x Bastion of Remembrance
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

---

Marchesa, the Black Rose wip

My 9 year old is brewing on this Søren's Marchesa, the Black Rose Marchesa deck, and I wanted to see how far I could push it.

I find it hard to push this above a 7. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Half the cost of the deck is the mana base, not sure it's needed.

Game plan:

Dump out creatures and sack them for profit. For a more (and more consistent) recursion, I want to control +1 counters as much as possible.

Sac outlets

The following cards can sac one or more creatures as needed for bonus or enabling other cards to shine (e.g. Grave Pact and Syr Konrad, the Grim: Phyrexian Tower, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Yahenni, Undying Partisan, Viscera Seer, Ashnod's Altar, Vampiric Rites, Carrion Feeder, Goblin Bombardment. On top of that we have Exploit effects, that can be triggered multiple times with Marchesa, the Black Rose's ability (e.g., Sidisi, Undead Vizier). In addition there are a few one off effects like Diabolic Intent, Feed the Swarm ... as well as cretures that self sacrifice (e.g., Dauthi Voidwalker and Glen Elendra Archmage).

+1 counters

For Marchesa, the Black Rose's ability to work, the recurring creatures needs to have a +1 counter on them. These are easy to get by "just" attacking, but may result in immediate death. That is not a bad plan at all in a pinch, but leaves the creatures vulnerable for an entire round. If we can add more counters to the mix, or creatures that etb with +1 counters, we can start sacking in our opponents turns as well, multiplying the boons!

The following list helps with that:

• Forge of Heroes and Guildmages' Forum buffs Marchesa, the Black Rose when cast.
• Arcbound Worker, Iron Apprentice, Rakdos Cackler, Spark Double etb with +1 counters
• Blade of the Bloodchief can setup creatures with counters, both in opponents turn, and can be used to buy counters in a multi-sac scenario
• Carrion Feeder can make it's own counters, and act as sack outlet.
• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed gives the rest of our board free recursion and takes them back with +1 counters
• Feast on the Fallen can generate a counter on each turn, in most scenarios.
• The Ozolith can transfer counters to one creature per turn
• Uncivil Unrest just straight up gives our creatures +1 on etb and makes them kind of scary.
• Unspeakable Symbol puts +1's on our creatures and let us control our life total a bit.

The value cards

The deck is packed with value cards, that mostly plays into the sack theme

• 4 Tutors: Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent, Imperial Recruiter (can fetch up to 14 creatures), Sidisi, Undead Vizier that will just do it's magic again and again.
• 11 card advantage cards: Baleful Strix, Dauthi Voidwalker (crazy toolbox), Grim Hauxpex, Hostage Taker (control and fun), Liliana's Standard Bearer (crazy once an engine is running), Phyrexian Reclamation (let's get those key cards back on the field), Rhystic Study (because nothing compares), Skullclamp (doubles as sac outlet), Skyclave Shadowcat, Solemn Simulacrum (double value), and Vampiric Rites.

• Bunch of control cards, in various flavors

  • Board wipes: Blasphemous Act, Profaner of the Dead and Cyclonic Rift (maybe this spot could be something more thematic?)
  • Spot removal (saved for truly problematic cards): Chaos Warp, Goblin Bombardment, Juri, Master of the Revue, Terminate and Vandalblast, Canoptek Tomb Sentinel
  • Counters: Voidmage Prodigy, Glen Elendra Archmage, and Counterspell
  • Drain/win: Kardur, Doomscourge (also a goat all creatures thing), Syr Konrad, the Grim, Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • Sack also applies to YOU!: Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos

• Ramp: Just the usual 10 for a sub 3CMC deck. Only thing exceptional is the Dockside Extortionist that loves to be recurred.

• Other: Minor protection suite of boots, Wurmocil Engine because it's too sexy to pass up on in this deck, and Desecrated Tomb because it doubles the next round of sac targets (Sad that it does not work with Uncivil Unrest, but still so much value.

Date added	7 months
Last updated	6 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 25 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.83
Tokens	Bat 1/1 B, Morph 2/2 C, Treasure, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink