Marchesa: Queen of Pain (100% Altered)

Commander / EDH* Older20

SCORE: 159 | 69 COMMENTS | 20776 VIEWS | IN 70 FOLDERS

Deck cost & recent additions —Oct. 15, 2019

Quick note on this deck’s cost: When I first put this deck together I believe it was in the 300$ range - with a bunch of cards I liked in my collection, it had no fetch lands or even shock lands. It had no tutors or reserve list cards. Now the cost of the deck has ballooned to over 1000$ which I totally understand is prohibitive for a lot of people. I have collected, traded, bought and sold cards for nearly 2 years now to add cards to this deck. I am constantly trying to sell or trade away cards in my collection that I’m not using to add to my decks.

Although I work full time, I don’t like spending money on Magic singles if I can avoid it. When I first started playing during Innistrad I spent a lot of money buying sealed products and cracking them. Over time I built up a decent collection and when EDH exploded in popularity a lot of the cards I had shot up in value. I have also been quite lucky/blessed/savvy when it comes to trades and buying cards at the right time in order to build this deck.

I believe that anyone can built really nice, expensive decks without actually spending a lot of money - it just takes a lot of patience and being savvy when it comes to assessing card values and timing purchases. I don’t see Magic as an investment at all - this deck may have a card value of over 1000$ and with all the alters I might value the deck at 4000$ but I will never sell it. Magic might collapse in a few years and the cards end up being worthless. I have spent a few thousand on Magic the Gathering over the past ~8 years and I don’t think I’ll ever get a financial return on that money - however it has provided me with a lot of joy and great experiences.

Anyway, on to some card additions!

Hushbringer A very strong hate bear and a good creature to regain monarchy. To be honest I’m really torn on this card as it also shuts down our own commander, Sun Titan and Selfless Squire. If I run this card I feel like I would have to take out Selfless Squire, although I love that card. Sun Titan I also love, and because the attack trigger still works, I could keep him in. Hushbringer costs only 1W but I can’t play it until Queen Marchesa is out which is a little tricky. The card itself isn’t reactive either - it just shuts out certain cards - and I love reactive cards or cards that are subtly powerful in this deck. I really like Authority of the Consuls for example as the tapped creatures allow avenues for creatures like Master of Cruelties to get in or simply assist in regaining the monarch when needed.

So I am going to playtest with Hushbringer a little - I might swap out Selfless Squire for Grenzo, Havoc Raiser in the meantime.

Rankle, Master of Pranks I think this card is great, albeit without play testing yet. This card seems really pushed, the flying and haste are great and the fact you can choose more than one effect when he connects is amazing. The card is flexible and powerful so I am very happy to find a spot for him. The art is also amazing and I can’t wait to alter the card.

Talisman of Hierarchy Finally!

Talisman of Conviction Finallyx2!

Yawgmoth's Will Big pickup for me. A very expensive card so I had to sell a few cards in my collection to be able to afford it. Scared to alter this one!

Wheel of Fortune Another big one! Same deal as Yawgmoth's Will with needing to trade a bunch of cards for this one. This may be the one card that I don’t alter in the deck - I just don’t think a full art extension will add enough to it. Might have to change the title to 99%!

To be picked up:

Arcane Signet Obviously amazing, and will definitely have to pick up one soon - just far too expensive right now.

Prismatic Vista Another one that I have to pick up at some point - again way too pricey to justify at the moment. If it never goes below 10$ I probably won’t pick it up - we’ll see.

Command Tower The new brawl art is much more appealing for me - it suits the decks colours much better and would look great as a full art alter.