Grixis Shirei? (Repeated Sacrifice with Marchesa)

Commander / EDH Aristocrats Casual Reanimator Theme/Gimmick UBR (Grixis)

Bastaba

Creature (37)

• 1x Arcbound Slith
• 1x Arcbound Stinger
• 1x Arcbound Worker
• 1x Bloodcrazed Paladin
• 1x Bloodflow Connoisseur
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Butcher Ghoul
• 1x Captivating Crew
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Clockwork Beetle
• 1x Dark-Dweller Oracle
• 1x Festercreep
• 1x Flesh Carver
• 1x Gore-House Chainwalker
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Grim Roustabout
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Krav, the Unredeemed
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Necroplasm
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Patron of the Vein
• 1x Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Pyreheart Wolf
• 1x Rakdos Cackler
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Smothering Abomination
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Thraximundar
• 1x Thrill-Kill Assassin
• 1x Vebulid
• 1x Vigean Graftmage
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Land (36)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 1x Guildmages' Forum
• 1x High Market
• 4x Island
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Insurrection
• 1x Mark of Mutiny
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Victimize

Commander (1)

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Open the Graves
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Artifact (8)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring

Instant (3)

• 1x Bedevil
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Tragic Slip

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Maybeboard

Creature (10)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Judith, the Scourge Diva
• 1x Mer-Ek Nightblade
• 1x Noosegraf Mob
• 1x Pentavus
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Sifter of Skulls
• 1x Viscera Seer

Artifact (3)

• 1x Helm of Possession
• 1x Spawning Pit
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Vampiric Rites

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I have had a classical Marhcesa, the black rose deck, but it quickly lost it's joy. Having to add +1/+1 counters to your creatures in order for them to come back is a laboursome task in grixis and that becomes the main focus. Another way to play Marchesa is to utilise herself to add +1/+1 counters to your creatures, but this tactic becomes a bit suicide-like, and that is not as fun in casual play in my opinion.

For these reasons, I wanted to make another type of Marchesa deck.

This deck uses creatures that enter the battlefield with one or more +1/+1 counters. These creatures are sacrificed to an aristocrat (or another sac-outlet) and reanimated with Marchesa. This can be done every turn (on your opponents' turns as well), and pairing your dying creatures with a die-trigger or an ETB-trigger, this can quickly get very dangerous for your opponents.

This tactic is particularly potent with undying, as that gives you two instances of dying or ETB'ing each turn. Just one Butcher Ghoul with a sac-outlet and Grim Haruspex allows you to draw 2 cards on each turn (which, with three opponents, adds up to 8 cards for each of your turns).

It does, however, take a bit of setting up. You need at least one +1/+1 fodder-creature (16 in the deck), a preferably free sac-outlet (15 sacs, 7 free) and a die- or ETB-trigger (11 in the deck). I have not found this to be a big problem. There seems to be enough redundancy in the deck to support the strategy, and owing to the low generally CMC, the deck often gets going quite fast.

The strategy does also rely heavily on Marchesa. Without her, no reanimation takes place, and the deck comes to a standstill. For this reason, there are several cards in the deck designed to make her come back, upon dying. Unspeakable Symbol , Opal Palace (and friends), Blade of the Bloodchief , Vigean Graftmage and more all allow Marchesa to come back upon dying, and Spark Double creates an extra (protected) Marchesa, to keep our mind at ease. Mass removal is no problem, since a countered-up Marchesa simply returns with the +1/+1 counter dorks, though the die-trigger creatures may vanish. Exile remains a problem, that can be remedied by Swiftfoot Boots if it becomes too great of a problem.

This deck plays more like a grixis Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker than a classical Marchesa, the Black Rose deck. And I find it to be quite fun and entertaining to play with.

The Maybe-board are all cards that could easily be included, based on the playgroup and personal preferences.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.06
Tokens	Horror */* B, Morph 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B