Marchesa tempo/control? Hard to define as no Commander really operates on the same lines as Marchesa does. Sometimes I feel like Marchesa is too good for casual but not good enough for competitive. Shes really fun and interactive, with a lot of neat and unusual interactions. Because her trigger is a delayed trigger she makes your wraths one sided and your opponents wraths dont set you back at all. The mana constraints can be difficult, which is why I run Chromatic Lantern. The deck performs drastically different when you resolve Sneak Attack, becoming a lot more reactionary and controlling,
There is a small Wizards subtheme to the deck, so cards like Sage of Fables and Metallic Mimic can help you get immediate and constant value out of your Wizards, which Marchesa conveniently happens to be. Snapcaster and Archeomancer allow you to reuse your spells, Glen Elandra and Voidmage give you reusable counterspells, Profaner of the Dead can be a pseudo one sided wrath and Venser is a solid answer to problems you cant immediately address, such as enchantments. Puppeteer Clique can go infinite with a sac outlet and Sage or Mimic in play, but requires your opponents to have something in their yard to complete the win. This is the only deck I actually like Disciple of Bolas in, and here he is a fuckin CHAMP. Because of the nature of Marchesas Dethrone trigger, you want to be able to keep yourself at a low life total. Disciple is the only way to gain life, but he can pull you right back from the brink. The raw draw power is incredible too.
This deck is very weak to any sort of constant 'Yard hate. Cards like Anafenza, Scooze or even Deathrite can shut us down. One shot 'Yard removal can be played around by trying to force their hand without going all in. Another weakness to the deck is the small pieces are so synergistic that it requires things to be working for it to really work well. Late game top decking can be very hard to catch back up. Another issue with the deck is it can be so grindy and irritating to opponents that they will see you as a bigger threat than you potentially are, and the table will work together to try to take you out.
Future Upgrades - Im not really sure. I need a Vandalblast for sure. I originally wanted to run a targeted land destruction package with Fulminator Mage, Avalanche Riders and Ravenous Baboons, but it doesnt really perform well in multiplayer. I can kind of grind one player out, but then Im investing resources into keeping one player back while the other players continue to develop their board. Im also planning on adding a Jokulhaups, but I refuse to use an ugly ass white border. Prob could use an Ancient Tomb too. Id really like to work on a Trophy Mage package in here. I could probably run the Murderous Redcap/Metallic Mimic combo because I already have a glut of sac outlets and Redcap is a decent enough piece outside of the combo.
Comment, critique, whatever
UPDATE - CHANGES - I have decided to try to Redcap/Mimic combo. Redcap seems like he would be good enough outside of combo, and I have enough tutors and sac outlets that a late game Victimize could assemble the combo from my graveyard. Sower of Temptation goes in, I dont know why that wasnt already a consideration for the deck. I may not love it without a consistent haste enabler, but I may. Im trying out Phyrexian Rager over Mulldrifter; Rager is cheaper and I can use it to lower my life total, but not at a rate that is risky. Grimgrin is going out and Sadistic Hypnotist is going in; Grimgrin is good in that he puts counters on himself, pretty much ensuring his survival, but it has been rare that I have used him as anything more than an instant speed sac outlet. He rarely performs are the beater + removal machine I want him to. Hypnotist is limited to sorcery speed, which SUCKS, but his ability is very powerful. It will probably not be as powerful as I imagine, because I cant really get double value for my creatures as the come back during the end step and I wont be able to activate the Hypnotist until my next main phase. Impact Tremors is going in. Its a low cost, low impact card that should grind me out value over the course of a game. It wont put an immediate target on my head and I wont be sad to see it eat removal. Im cutting Chasm Skulker for it, as Skulker has never performed as well as I imagined it.
-Mulldrifter, -Grimgrin, -Avalanche Rider, -Fulminator Mage, -Chasm Skulker / +Impact Tremors, +Phyrexian Rager, +Sadistic Hypnotist, +Murderous Redcap, +Sower of Temptation
I also think Genesis Chamber could be a really good fit here, which leads to my next thought; why arent I running Massacre Wurm?
