precociousapprentice, yeah...it could fit in your Burning Wish sideboard

That has been a consideration. Right now Austere Command has been pulling that duty rather well. I may test it in that spot.

precociousapprentice, tough call between those two. I really like both. I do enjoy the flexibility of Austere Command though. It's great to be able to tailor the boardwipe so it hurts you the least.

Have you thought about adding Leyline of Sanctity? It's good on its own but even better against storm and spellslinger decks. Another alternative to that is Aegis of the Gods.

lucal13, thanks for the suggestions. Leyline of Sanctity would be great in here but its price tag is a little steep right now. Perhaps if it gets reprinted. Aegis of the Gods is an interesting budget option. As a small creature I'd be worried about it getting removed too easily. I'll consider it though :)

lucal13, just looked at other hexproof options and found Witchbane Orb for about 50 cents lol. Hmm i'll think about it. I'm not sure how often I need hexproof as the player. Usually it's my permanents I want to have hexproof.

Hey Matt,

Why did you take out Gisella?

sashaza, I temporarily took her out to test other cards. I've found that I've missed her though so she's going back in.

This would be good with anointed procession

I had considered Anointed Procession, but in every case I would want it, I figured it would be win more.

That's fair enough. I was taught to play MTG not by winning but winning more and that's usually how I think. This is a pretty solid deck regardless

joshposhua and precociousapprentice, yeah I could see Anointed Procession being great in a build that more reliably produces tokens. Even Marchesa's own assassin token doesn't come out very often. The deck pillowforts so well that I rarely lose the monarchy and therefore don't get an assassin token.

Once Commander 2017 releases I could imagine this deck running Stalking Leonin, it's another great card that dissuades all opponents from attacking

Venomous08, I'm definitely considering that card. It could be a useful pillowfort :)

Needs more plains fetches and Mistveil Plains so you can keep reusing Sunforger.

Love the C17 changes. Exactly in line with my feelings about the set and Marchesa. Perfect.

I think Mathas, Fiend Seeker will do you some solid political plays.

I love to see the evolution of your deck. Parallel but divergent from mine. I have yet to have a chance to trial the C17 changes. I moved to a different state, and have been way too busy to explore a new gaming venue and meta. I am glad to hear about your experience with Teferi's Protection and Curse of Opulence. I have high hopes.

precociousapprentice, finally had a chance cast Disrupt Decorum last night and it performed well. Knocked one person right out of the game and left another very exposed. I ended up winning that match.

Played Mathas, Fiend Seeker in 2 games last night and...meh. Both times it didn't really change opponents' behaviour which was the whole point. He drew some cards incidentally (when a creature died in combat or by boardwipe) but didn't seem to encourage opponents to burn their kill spells. If I'm drawing cards incidentally I want it to be just ME who draws them. I'll give him a bit more time in the deck but I may just sub back in Read the Bones.

Erebos, God of the Dead has been performing well and is "turned on" more easily than expected in a 3-colour deck. He ended up winning a game with Sunforger attached.

Underworld Connections has also been performing quite well, giving me a card when I don't tap out with other instant speed effects.

That sounds very positive MegaMatt13. I was anticipating Mathas, Fiend Seeker not doing what people were saying he would do. I feel like he could be exploited as a commander, but likely he will not fit in a lot of 99s.

I can't wait to see Disrupt Decorum in action. I have high hopes. It is not quite Insurrection, but it is close, and actually has a slightly different effect in that the attacks come on other people's turns, sequentially exposing them to counter attacks. It will be a player in both our decks.

I have looked at Underworld Connections several times. It is obviously very close to Phyrexian Arena, but you have to activate it, alleviating the danger of accidentally killing yourself while imposing a small price to use. I still think that it doesn't have the raw power of Necropotence, but it is probably a great incremental card draw, and may be better than most other options.

I should probably add a section into my deck description detailing cards like Erebos, God of the Dead, Dread, Rune-Scarred Demon, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, or other big bomb wincons with added value that can be subbed in depending on meta. Erebos, God of the Dead is probably a total beast against lifegain decks, and adding it simply as a bomb with added card draw is reasonable enough. I traded for one at one time specifically for adding into Queen Marchesa's army, but I never played it.

I love that the core of our decks are super similar, but the trim around the edges is quite different. I am going to put your deck into my inspirations section. Anyone looking to make a Queen Marchesa political control deck should probably look at both decks for a more complete understanding of the archetype.

precociousapprentice, hope your move went as smoothly as possible. I am thinking of adding an inspirations section too and would certainly add your deck. It's definitely informed some of my choices.

I've already taken out Mathas. He just didn't perform at all. He didn't seem to influence opponents' behaviour... Probably because my opponents didn't want to see me draw cards. Curse of opulence I think is in the sweet spot of enticing opponents without making them fear the value it also gives you.

I look forward to hearing about your playing experiences with the new cards.

I'm currently building a Marchesa deck and this and precociousapprentice's write ups have been really useful, thanks. Going a bit of a different direction, forcing opponents to attack with cards like Fumiko the Lowblood, hopefully not at me or my fort! Have you tried any of this type of effect?

For my build, Fumiko the Lowblood never added up. I never had enough creatures to attack with the make it a serious threat, and whenever I wanted her to be big enough to survive blocking a huge creature, there were rarely enough attackers to make her big enough. I went with things like Master of Cruelties and other deathtouch creatures. It may make a fine budget alternative to Master of Cruelties in the right build, though.

Mrf1shie, thanks for taking a look at the deck.

I haven't tried Fumiko specifically but I have tried that effect with Goblin Diplomats and Goblin Spymaster. My experience was that people would agree to attack me out of spite for being forced to attack (even with the pillowfort). That is why I prefer cards like Disrupt Decorum and Besmirch because you force them to attack each other. Curse of Opulence and Duelist's Heritage are great because it gives them a bonus of they attack someone else. Maybe the mindset of your playgroup is different and you won't run into the same problem of people attacking you out of spite. Just want to warn you this MAY happen, especially after they figure out what Marchesa is up to.

Yeah, the reason I'm planning on using the "everyone attack" style cards are that a lot of my playgroup likes to sit back and durdle until they can swing out for the win (or just win with combo). I know ow they're not going to make any friends, was just wondering if when you ran them, the rattlesnakes were enough.