[Primer] Political Subterfuge - Marchesa Aikido
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 161 | 134 COMMENTS | 47388 VIEWS | IN 86 FOLDERS
Core Set 2021 —June 10, 2020
The recently spoiled Mangara, the Diplomat, Chandra's Incinerator, and Fiery Emancipation are of particular interest.
Mangara is a much needed draw engine that, for once, does not require very narrow deckbuilding restrictions in white (unlike previous iterations like Mentor of the Meek etc). Of course, similar to Smothering Tithe the risk here is that Mangara paints a target on herself, and draws attention. It's no Rhystic Study, but it also won't be ignored. Outside of her draw effect, the lifelink is always relevant, especially since we are playing Arcbond, which has been an all-star along with the inclusion of Repercussion. Mangara's pillowfort draw effect is less important here, and I think will only be relevant if it is one of your first permanents you play, as other pillowfort effects will pretty much nullify the effect.
Chandra's Incinerator may seem like an odd inclusion for those that do not follow this list much, so allow me to explain.
Over the course of developing this deck (again, I won't take credit for creating it, only for further expanding it), I have tried numerous "combo packages". Combo wincons are almost directly contradictory to the aikido playstyle, but are important for overall power level in that a deck is at a severe disadvantage if it must depend on its opponents to win, and requires numerous pre-requisites in order to do so, especially when those conditions are not under our control. If you are running in a creature/combat heavy meta, or a more casual meta, this is less of an issue. If you, like me, play in a wide open meta and often sit across from high powered decks that do not rely much on creatures or even on board states, you need to have at least some option that keeps you from essentially having a non-game. This is where independent wincons come into play, wincons that do not require some condition to be met by our opponents in order to be effective.
All that aside, I have run Breach/Wheel and Turbo Ad Naus combos to great success in the past, but they have their downsides. Wheel/breach is good, dodges some hate, fairly resilient, not immediately seen as combo pieces, and each piece is useful on their own and can be used for value, then later reused for combo. It does however, use up 3 slots, requires all 3 cards to work, can sometimes be mana intensive, and does not fit into the theme of the deck in the slightest.
A Turbo Ad Naus package on the other hand, synergizes a lot more with the deck in terms of "theme" or cards that we would already consider running in an aikido shell, the actual combo itself isn't too slot hungry (and again, most of the supporting cards are cards we might already consider running, with the exception of Ad Naus itself), can be tuned to fire off with less mana (still 6 at least), but is inherently very very combo-y, and Ad Naus itself is basically only used for the combo. So, again, not very on-theme.
Where am I going with this big word wall? Repercussion combo with either Blasphemous Act or Arcbond has been pretty good for me, and straddles the line between combo (independent wincon) and "theme". Yes, it is still conditional and dependent on your opponents, but it pretty easily met (usually 2 creatures per opponent's board is lethal, and we have damage doublers). The cards fit into the theme much better outside combo, are still useful outside of the combo, and don't take up too many slots. Chandra's Incinerator goes basically infinite (not really but, good enough) with Repercussion, so I'm thinking this may give us some ground to double down on combo wincons around Repercussion, and perhaps finally drop Breach/Wheel and Ad Naus combos to free up those slots to go back to on-theme aikido cards, or slots to help with consistency/value generation while maintaining power and the ability to still win if our opponents aren't giving us anything to work with. Incinerator isn't really all my hopes and dreams given the CMC, the fact that it is a creature, potentially dead draw on its own, but if I can make it work I think it will help bridge the gap between "theme" and "power", at least somewhat. If not, back to the drawing board. The list as it stands now is in a pretty good spot, "theme" and "power" wise (I have been tracking winrates across various versions of the deck), so it's not a huge loss.
What we really need now, is some backup for Repercussion, as we already had two cards that combo with it to win, and now a third, but no direct replacement for Repercussion if something happens to it.
Fiery Emancipation is pretty straightforward. Triple damage, same CMC as Wound Reflection. Gives me more of a chance to draw into a damage doubler which makes a lot of our finishers viable, especially if you're like me and play in a higher power meta where it becomes incredibly hard to get to an endgame 1v1 because players are aiming to win outright rather than knock individual players out over the course of the game, meaning you have to lean more group slug. The color intensive cost will be an issue for some mana bases, though in the past I have used T3 (Necropotence) as the standard for color fixing, and am able to produce triple colored mana on T3 with some consistency. By turn 5 or 6, it is no problem.
If you're still reading this, thanks. I rambled a bit, but hopefully this was insightful to someone. As always, curious to hear thoughts from the community.
DrunkManSquakin666 says... #2
Some cards you might wanna consider for the Sunforger package:
Fight to the Death, Pull from Eternity, and Hide / Seek.
They're all pretty funny.
Something else to consider is Tithe and Mistveil Plains. Allows you to recycle instants you've already used up. =3
May 2, 2020 7:21 p.m.
alexjustdoit says... #3
DrunkManSquakin666 - hey there, thanks for the suggestions. Mistveil Plains is currently in the deck, and Tithe has been on the radar (I'll add it to the WIP flex slots section) but is not currently in the deck as I needed the slots for other things and so far Weathered Wayfarer is doing a good job at that. I do like Tithe though, the ability to Sunforge for it could be relevant.
Hide / Seek is also currently here, good card. I prefer it over Wear / Tear. Fight to the Death is new to me, thanks.
Curious to hear what you envision the use-case for Pull from Eternity being?
May 2, 2020 7:33 p.m.
DrunkManSquakin666 says... #4
Ah, derp, lol. I didn't see those. XD
As for Pull from Eternity, it basically allows you to pull Teferi's Protection from exile into your graveyard so that you can slip it back into your deck and sunforge it again with Mistveil Plains. It also allows you to get back anything else your opponents take out with exile cards as they can be pretty common in my experience. On top of that, if someone exiles your graveyard at some point, it can mitigate the damage done.
Also, you might wanna consider Reito Lantern for redundancy, since you can also fetch it with Enlightened Tutor.
May 3, 2020 12:38 a.m.
alexjustdoit says... #5
DrunkManSquakin666 - hmm, that is interesting. Unfortunately, I think it is too narrow of a use-case for it to get a slot. The number of times I would need to cast Teferi's Protection more than once during a game is too few to justify running a card that really only is present to work with one other card. Also, as this is not a graveyard deck, getting my graveyard exiled is typically not an issue (nor am I ever targeted for grave hate.
For some metas or pilots, I could see this being very handy though. Thanks for adding it, I may mention it in the meta tuning section of the primer when I get around to finishing it (currently WIP).
May 3, 2020 12:43 a.m.
Great primer! I’m glad someone took the time to list options for this style of play. I feel like precociousapprentice’s list has almost lost sight of the Aikido philosophy since they needed to adjust to a more competitive meta.
May 5, 2020 2:03 p.m.
alexjustdoit says... #9
Abzkaban - yep, agreed. I also play in a fairly competitive meta, though not quite as much so, and I've tried to do what I'm sure he has as well: make the list as powerful as possible while still maintaining the aikido playstyle. Admittedly, this list (pre-primer) has gone back and forth on the spectrum. I also ran a list tailored more to Ad Naus lines for a time, which was super effective, but the power wasn't totally necessary in all of my games and winning that way wasn't as fun (for me or my opponents) so I ultimately decided to cut it. Hopefully, this deck can still retain some of that power without warping my playstyle around combo lines like Ad Naus did.
May 5, 2020 2:16 p.m.
Okay so I only viewed the deck on my phone before. This is the first time seeing it on my computer, and I have to say the css is beautiful! Might I ask what font you used?
May 7, 2020 1:51 p.m.
alexjustdoit says... #11
Abzkaban - Seabody did all the CSS work, we used the font "Fondamento" found in the Google free fonts database here.
May 7, 2020 4:59 p.m.
Some cards suggestions: Goblin Grenadiers ==> political remover and you hit one player for 2
Shieldmage Advocate ==> political protection and recursion tool
Agitator Ant ==> goad and boost opponent creatures
May 16, 2020 8:09 a.m.
also:
Overwhelming Splendor==> to win the 1vs1 at the end
May 16, 2020 1:21 p.m.
What about cards that give other player token while giving us some tool for the end game:
And more politics tools:
Manipulation:
I suggested you lot of cards, some that fit aikidos, some control, some politics and some about winning the game.
I thinks some of them at least could be used by this deck or at least why you don't think they would suit this deck :)
Still think this deck should add one or 2 more winning that to rely on opponent creatures or opponent willing to attack you (either spells: Torment of Hailfire , Rolling Earthquake , Molten Disaster , enchantment: Captive Audience or creatures Master of Cruelties , Archfiend of Despair, Virtus the Veiled
Great primer =)
May 16, 2020 2:15 p.m.
alexjustdoit says... #15
Hey Eloniel - thanks for the comment. These are all valid cards, and a decent number of them have been considered in the past, but ultimately were too clunky for this shell since it's intending to compete in a 75% power meta. I think you would like my K&T deck since it plays some of these, and is intended to follow a similar theme as this deck but for more casual tables. The issue with a lot of these cards is that yes, they follow the theme and game plan, but the impact they make on the game is not large enough to warrant either their CMC, or having to find a card to cut for it, and often both. As you'll notice, my curve is pretty low, and most cards in the deck try to maximize on either a) impact, or b) flexibility in how it can be used in a variety of situations or with other cards in the deck. This style of shell is really pushed for slots, so anything going in has a lot of competition and has to be scrutinized closely.
I may come back and type out thoughts for these cards individually later.
Master of Cruelties and Ophiomancer are pretty good though (the latter moreso). I think I mentioned them in the Flex Slots section - or if I haven't, I have been meaning to.
Also, in case you don't know, Master Warcraft doesn't work how most people think it works. It's actually not as good as it seems. You can't choose who the person attacks, so they'll probably just attack you.
May 17, 2020 3:14 p.m.
alexjustdoit says... #16
Also, you could definitely make a case for X spells if you tweaked the shell's manabase a bit. I wouldn't include more than 1 or 2 though and they should definitely be limited to "this wins me the game as a backup wincon if the game goes long". I don't run them because I run a slim mana base, and I like to minimize cards clogging up my hand.
May 17, 2020 3:15 p.m.
Thanks for the comments Eloniel!
A lot of these suggestions have been considered and if they aren't mentioned somewhere in the primer currently they may be added over time. We're trying to juggle being thorough discussing the many options this deck has against overwhelming it with reviews of every possible card.
I'm currently running Master of Cruelties in my list and only cut Insurrection the other day in order to try out some new stuff. You can find my list here.
Not a huge fan of the 3 mana rocks or hunted cycle in this particular shell, but in something similar to alexjustdoit's K&T deck I think they would be good options.
Molten Disaster is interesting as a boardwipe that could combo with Repercussion to close out the game. I'll mention that on our discord channel for discussion.
May 17, 2020 5:06 p.m.
Thanks so much Magic_Aids! Love your YT content man - keep up the great work!
May 18, 2020 9:54 a.m.
alexjustdoit & Seabody Thanks for yours answers.
Rolling Earthquake is most of the time better than Molten Disaster but i guess that depend of the number of counterspells runs by players in your meta.
My list is there: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/queen-marchesa-my-brew-copy/ I don't use fetch so the mana base is less efficient and i need to have a little more land than you.
Seabody I wonder how you play Master of Cruelties without Rogue's Passage or Master Warcraft ?
One synergy that i didn't included is Humble Defector + Homeward Path.
I should add teferi protection but it's expensive !
May 18, 2020 5:06 p.m.
Hey Eloniel,
I could see arguments for both Rolling Earthquake or Molten Disaster - but if you're running them I'd include the full Repercussion package- Blasphemous Act, Arcbond, and possibly Fire Covenant.
I run Master of Cruelties fine without either of those - we have lots of removal if it's imperative we punch through and it's often easy enough to find someone without a blocker - he's most effective with haste enablers where we can surprise someone.
I think Master Warcraft is just a much worse Disrupt Decorum to be honest (although much more budget friendly) - and overall I'm not to keen on the card as you don't get to choose who is being attacked, as alexjustdoit already mentioned.
As for Rogue's Passage - it's definitely playable, however we are very tight on utility land slots and there are quite a few I'd choose over this. Sure it seems good on paper to help get an attacker through to get back Monarch, but in practice we have lots of creatures with either evasion or deathtouch so that's not normally an issue. I also don't like spending 5 mana on my own turn unless I'm deploying something generally as we want to play at instant speed as much as possible. Just my take, but I hardly think either of these are necessary to run Master effectively.
May 18, 2020 5:43 p.m.
cheeseycrackers says... #22
I made my list and gave you guys a shoutout: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/marchesa-akido-1/ Thanks for this primer, deck is sweet!
May 19, 2020 9:38 p.m.
Hey cheeseycrackers!
Thanks for the shout out! Your list looks solid. If you can find the room I'd suggest slotting in a Land Tax - you're already running enough basics to make it work and already have Scroll Rack to get absurd value off it.
May 20, 2020 7:42 a.m.
cheeseycrackers says... #24
Seabody I own a copy of Land Tax and have been debating that vs Weathered Wayfarer. Land Tax on an earlier turn is faster but Weathered Wayfarer can look for any land, including Dark Depths. I may switch Weathered for Expedition Map and slot in Land Tax somewhere
May 20, 2020 9:29 a.m.
alexjustdoit says... #25
cheeseycrackers - why not just run both Land Tax and Wayfarer? That's what I am currently trying. I think Wayfarer is superior to Expedition map for us.
JRaynor says... #1
I lost to Backlash in a Queen Marchesa deck once when I excitedly activated the monstrous ability on Colossus of Akros. Great underrated card.
March 29, 2020 6:54 p.m.