Marchesa - Queen Bathory

Commander / EDH Aristocrats UBR (Grixis)

Rahvin2015

Creature (36)

• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Barrin, Master Wizard
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bloodflow Connoisseur
• 1x Bloodline Necromancer
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cavalier of Night
• 1x Cytoplast Manipulator
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar *f-pre*
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Judith, the Scourge Diva *f-pre*
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
• 1x Metallic Mimic
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Murderous Redcap
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Profaner of the Dead
• 1x Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier *f-pre*
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Vigean Graftmage
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Voidmage Prodigy
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Land (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 3x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Sneak Attack
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Desecrated Tomb
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vandalblast

Instant (3)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

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Maybeboard

Creature (66)

• 1x Agent of Erebos
• 1x Anathemancer
• 1x Anax, Hardened in the Forge
• 1x Anger
• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Arcbound Stinger
• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Bloodtracker
• 1x Burglar Rat
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Captivating Crew
• 1x Cephalid Constable
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes
• 1x Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Dreadhorde Butcher *f-pre*
• 1x Dross Harvester
• 1x Erebos, Bleak-Hearted
• 1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Fleshwrither
• 1x Galecaster Colossus
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Herald of Secret Streams
• 1x Ingot Chewer
• 1x Krav, the Unredeemed
• 1x Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
• 1x Mayhem Devil
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Naban, Dean of Iteration
• 1x Necropolis Regent
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Oona's Blackguard
• 1x Patron of the Vein
• 1x Patron Wizard
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Raven Guild Master
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Reaper from the Abyss
• 1x Reef Worm
• 1x Riptide Entrancer
• 1x River Kelpie
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Sea Gate Oracle
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Thalakos Deceiver
• 1x Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
• 1x Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1x Tolarian Entrancer
• 1x Toothy, Imaginary Friend
• 1x Treasure Mage
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Urabrask the Hidden
• 1x Vela the Night-Clad
• 1x Vindictive Lich
• 1x Withered Wretch
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Enchantment (18)

• 1x Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Dire Undercurrents
• 1x Feast on the Fallen
• 1x Fervor
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Kaya's Ghostform
• 1x Mind Slash
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Revel in Riches
• 1x Shifting Shadow
• 1x Storm the Vault  ^Flip
• 1x Vampiric Rites
• 1x Vicious Shadows
• 1x Warstorm Surge

Instant (8)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Negate
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Teferi's Time Twist
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Wake the Dead

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Decree of Annihilation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Finale of Eternity
• 1x Jokulhaups
• 1x Last One Standing
• 1x Obliterate
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Victimize

Artifact (10)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal

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I've been working on this one for a while now, and I'm finally getting close to establishing the first real revision.

Marchesa, the Black Rose offers a powerful recursion effect based around +1/+1 counters, and as a bonus she also provides a mechanism to add those counters through Dethrone. This makes Marchesa fantastically resilient against non-exile removal - creatures with counters, including Marchesa herself, will just come right back at the next end step.

This also means that Marchesa can benefit from repeated ETB and death triggers.

I'm trying to go for a list that isn't overly reliant on Dethrone and combat - pillowfort is a thing in my meta, and Grixis isn't amazing at removing pillowfort enchantments. To that end, I'm trying to have a sufficient mass of non-Dethrone methods to add counters that don't require combat, and a number of creatures I can recur to drain teh table. Kokusho, the Evening Star, Flayer of the Hatebound, Goblin Bombardment, etc.

I'm aware that many Marchesa players lean heavily into stealing enemy creatures with Threaten effects and then gaining permanent control via Marchesa's recursion. While that strategy is perfectly valid, I would prefer not to go in that direction. Some theft is fine, but I don;t want to lean into it too heavily.

Wizard synergy is an area where I see a lot of opportunity. Wizards often have interesting ETB abilities, and creatures like Azami, Lady of Scrolls and Patron Wizard offer tap abilities that don't care about summoning sickness and can be reset via recursion. Sage of Fables helps Wizards get counters whenever they ETB, including Marchesa herself, so the synergy is pretty natural. I don't even need to lean heavily into it - the synergy is good enough and the creatures I'm looking at are good enough on their own that I don't need to make a lot of sacrifices (ha) to capitalize on the tribe.

Rated Mid power for PlayEDH.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	WG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.20
Tokens	Bat 1/1 B, Goblin 1/1 R, Morph 2/2 C, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B