[Primer] Political Subterfuge - Marchesa Aikido
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 161 | 134 COMMENTS | 47415 VIEWS | IN 86 FOLDERS
Christmas Streamlining —Dec. 25, 2020
Merry Christmas all.
I mostly took a break from playing for a couple months, and now that I'm back I'm really noticing the wide variance of how this deck plays in my current meta (PlayEDH mid these days). It was really bad before PlayEDH adjusted their power level lobbies, but it's still more noticeable than I was hoping after the server power level revamp.
For anyone that's been following or piloting a list like this, I'm sure you've noticed that as you go up in power levels, you start to encounter more streamlined strategies that sometimes make your aikido cards harder and harder to use. Decks also get faster. I'm unfortunately faced once again with the prospect of streamlining my deck to make it perform better and more consistently, at the expense of theme.
In the past, I've done this by running various amounts of combo packages. This time, I'm trying something a bit different. I've put the Ad Naus package back in, on top of the Breach/Wheel and Repercussion packages, but I've left out the Sickening Dreams finisher. Let me be clear: this is definitely suboptimal. But for those of you that play in upper power metas, but dislike combos (or tend to warp your play around the Ad Naus combo because it is so efficient) this gives us a good middle ground.
The combo line is a lot more limited now and the turbo Ad Naus line only allows me to draw my deck, nothing else. Winning via combo now requires more hoops / mana and is a lot more "fun" for the table, while still allowing me to run Ad Naus.
I also have to put a lot more thought into how I'm gunna pull it off too, its no longer a 2 card 6 mana "I win" button, and the table gets less salty over it cause it goes from "what the fuck" to "ok that was pretty cool that you pulled that off". This also helps with the social aspects of maintaining a lower threat level for subsequent games if you play multiple with the same pod, or have a regular group / smaller meta.
I'm sad to lose the Dreams, not just because of how powerful it makes the Ad Naus line, but because it's also just a fun lil surprise finisher when players have low life totals. It just synergizes well in and out of the combo, but I think this overall promotes a better game and more fun for me and my opponents.
You might also noticed I've added more ramping power in the form of mana rocks, particularly 0 cmc ones, but also a couple 2 cmc. I just need to get going faster. Too many games now am I searching for my 5th land drop while some other player is dropping Emrakul. You can also play with the number of 0 cmc rocks you run, to adjust the "power" of your Ad Naus line, as it gives you more flexibility and allows you to make use of it sooner. Knowing I can net mana after drawing my deck allows me to figure out a creative way of putting myself in a winning position, but again, without the Ad Naus line itself just being "I Win". This also means I have to drop a few of the more expensive cards that I love to run, like Wound Reflection and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, or even Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder. I will try to work them back in if I can after I adjust to the changes I just made.
Along with speeding myself up and streamlining, I'm also wanting to work some light stax back in, though I'm not exactly sure where that will end up yet, as I am so tight on slots due to how many value engine staples I've crammed into the deck in the last year in the effort to make a "bad" strategy better. I'm loathe to cut any of them, but we'll see.
Stay tuned, and if you're actually reading this, hope you've enjoyed the primer so far.
Honestly I think Court of Ambition draws far too much attention even though it’s really tempting to play it. It’s great if you’ve already assembled your shield, but without them it’s not subtle enough. We’d be targeted just for playing it. And even then enchantment removal would ruin our setup. I personally think the best win cons are the ones we pull out of nowhere and win right then. Court gives them too much time to find an answer.
October 29, 2020 10:58 a.m.
Abzkaban almost as soon as i posted it i had the same thought, a bit to aggressive, the white one that makes a 1/1 flyer each turn to get the monarch back or a 4/4 flyer if you already are almost seems better just for being a bit worse, if that makes any sense
October 29, 2020 11:33 a.m.
Personally - while I think the new Monarch cards are very cool and flavorful - I don't see this as the deck for them. They really incentivize opponents to attack us - which is the opposite of what we are trying to normally do - without providing enough value for painting such a target.
November 2, 2020 9:24 a.m.
With Weathered Wayfarer taken out of the deck, how's Scroll Rack's functionality in the deck?
Are Top/Rack absolutely needed in this deck?
November 3, 2020 10:33 a.m.
I can say from experience playing a similar list that scroll rack + land tax aren’t needed for the deck to function well. There are other sources of card draw for us, and usually we hold up answers anyway so we don’t want to be too aggressive with our draws all the time. That being said, it’s an excellent source of card advantage if you can afford it, and it’s not really reliant on Wayfarer to function well.
November 3, 2020 10:37 a.m.
alexjustdoit says... #7
I agree with Abzkaban, and I'd just add that when considering cards like this I would urge us all to consider them in a vacuum rather than as parts of combos (for ex. Land Tax + Scroll Rack) as we're never realistically going to tutor for the other half when there's so many other things we could tutor for, and so considering them on their own merits outside of interactions with other cards is usually the most realistic.
That being said - Top and Land Tax are all stars and really go a long way. Scroll Rack is great but if I were to drop one of the three, I'd start there probably.
I've been meaning to work Weathered Wayfarer back in, but just for its ability to ensure land drops / fetch utility lands, and not due to any interaction with other pieces. Same goes for Top, Land Tax, and Scroll Rack. All are powerful effects in their own right, and either earn or lose their spot in this list on their own merits. Incidental synergies with other "utility" or generic advantage slots are nice to have, but not a reason I typically include/exclude a card.
This is why I often talk up the benefits of Land Tax and Scroll Rack but rarely bother to mention their "combo" together - as unless you don't have much else in your deck to tutor for (might be possible in a budget list that just happens to have these two cards) you're going to always tutor for other things anyway, instead of a somewhat tenuous two card finite draw engine.
November 4, 2020 9:02 p.m.
Thank you for the detailed responses!! I realized my mistake, thinking Weathered Wayfarer was Land Tax (which synergized with Scroll Rack). My bad!!
I have both Rack and Top in the deck but was thinking of taking them out for Yuriko and I wanted to see what's everyone's thoughts on Rack/Top.
Openil says... #1
I imagine you want to wait fro full spoilers before making nay comments but the white and black monarch enchantments spoiled today are really interesting to me, Court of Ambition and not sure on the translated white name, both act as wincons if you can get into a Phyrexian Unlife + Solemnity situation, and would love to hear your thoughts on them.
October 29, 2020 7:09 a.m.