Marchesa: Queen of Pain (100% Altered)

Commander / EDH* Older20

SCORE: 159 | 69 COMMENTS | 20771 VIEWS | IN 69 FOLDERS

Zendikar Rising Notes —Sept. 22, 2020

I’ve recently taken Vampire Nighthawk and Gifted Aetherborn out of my list in exchange for some more utility, but I’m certainly going to try out their beefier new sibling: Nighthawk Scavenger. This now crosses over from simply a cheap deterrent from attacks, incremental lifegain and reliable regaining of the Monarch into the realm of Big Dumb Beater At a Discount. I’m curious to see how big this guy will regularly be.

Some interesting cards (Not inclusions)

Angel of Destiny - I really like this card, and if it has a home in any deck I think a more lifegain focused version of Queen Marchesa would be the place, with evasion effects and perhaps some haste enablers. I doubt this card will ever see much play, but its fun and relatively unique effect.

Archon of Emeria - A power-creeped spicey hate bear. Would slot nicely into a more Staxxy version of this deck

Leyline Tyrant - A super strong card. I’m pretty tempted to test it out as it has evasion, offers some big ramp (And mana when tapped out), and very occasionally can blast face. Vulnerable to removal, and seeing how our curve is pretty low and with very good ramp I’m not sure that the occasional extra mana would benefit us all that much.

Valakut Exploration - Red keeps getting better and better pseudo card draw, and this isn’t too bad. Finally red stuff doesn’t stay exiled! I think this would go well in a big R/G+ ramp deck such as Maelstrom Wanderer

Akiri, Fearless Voyager - We don’t run a lot of equipments in this deck, however the deck regularly tutors for them as they play key roles in the deck. Nevertheless I’m not sure how often this card will be relevant. A really strong card in the right deck, but I would likely need a couple more equipments to really get the most out of it. A lot of the time she will just be a 3/3 for 3.

Lithoform Engine - Hard to evaluate, but first impressions are that it is simply too expensive to use. I can see this as perhaps being a combo engine, but little outside of that.

Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip - I think this is the best of the new lands for this deck and will definitely consider running it. I like flexible cards, even ones that come at a premium. The spell side would really only be best utilised when spending 6+ mana and only later into the game, however the land stapled to it means that the 80% of the time where you won’t want or be able to cast the spell it doesn’t sit as a dead card in your hand.