Queen Marchesa: Politics, Aikido, and Control
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 742 | 914 COMMENTS | 201502 VIEWS | IN 405 FOLDERS
Kill your babies —April 8, 2018
After a weekend of EDH, I had a realization about something I want to try. I faced Atraxa Infect, Atraxa Superfriends, a nasty Hapatra Combo/Stax, an Omnath Big Stompy, a Gisela Boros Aggro, an Animar Token, and a Gwafa Control that pulled out a tough Sun Titan/Oblivion Stone lock. I won more than my fair share of games, beating the Atraxa Infect with Gisela/Word of Seizing on an Inkmoth Nexus with four +1/+1 counters on it, the Animar Token with a Rakdos Charm, and then the Atraxa Infect again with a Wound Reflection/Price of Progress to go 3 for 6 for the weekend. I lost to Gwafa and his Sun Titan/Oblivion Stone lock, the Atraxa infect, and the Hapatra with a Blowfly Infestation/Blood Artist combo that I couldn't deal with at the time. It was a good weekend, and a good showing for the deck. I had the winningest deck, the only one that won more that one game.
Having played these games, I realized that every one would have been completely different with the addition of one card, the same card for every game. This is not totally uncommon, but it brought up the fact that I basically overlooked an entire set of archetypes when designing and tuning the deck. There is a card that basically hoses a ton of decks. Those I faced today along with several others in my meta, such as a janky Brago Energy, a Meren Reanimator Value, and a Melek Storm whose favorite wincon is Sphinx Bone Wand, and a bunch of others. I make room in my deck for a few cards with little effect outside of graveyard antics, but those aren't even as common as this archetype.
Can you guess what the archetype is? Can you guess the card?
The archetype is accumulated value with counters (+1/+1, poison, -1/-1, energy, loyalty, bribery, charge, experience, etc...). The card that hoses them is Solemnity. I have had people suggest it before, even recently, but I never really appreciated how much it may add to the defense of the deck. Could I run Solemnity with good effect and without generating any nombos? What would the changes look like? Would adding it be a nombo with the very idea of the deck allowing people's decks to play out the way they are supposed to, decreasing some of the power and offense inherent in this strategy?
Let's first address the strategy aspect. Allowing people to play out their decks as designed has to have a limitation. Unbridled deck synergies will roll any deck. We need to have some sort of brakes for their gas. That is why the deck runs graveyard hate. Control balances the need for opponents' power. A single card that has that much power against that many decks can't be ignored. If we can get it to work for us in other ways, it is probably worth it.
Looking at the deck, I have a few cards that would be nombos. Selfless Squire is a pretty amazing Fog, and a wincon to boot. Sun Droplet is a good early game Pillow Fort, but sometimes I wonder if keeping my life total high in the early game is always helpful. That is it for nombos.
For potential synergies, right now I just have Delaying Shield. Considering I would potentially lose a Pillow Fort and a Fog/Wincon, what could I add to replace them?
Well the obvious one is a card I had in before, and Hexekk and I have recently been talking about. Dark Depths. Combines really well with Solemnity, Mirage Mirror, and I could easily add in Vesuva and Thespian's Stage for other synergies and value. A big, evasive, indestructible beater is always nice. The indestructible would get around a recent problem I have had with board wipes, one that has also motivated me to add Warping Wail to the main board. Not to get too distracted, but it has been on my mind.
The next most obvious is Phyrexian Unlife. If I am making myself immune to Infect damage, I might as well make it so I don't lose at 0 life. This could directly replace Worship if I wanted, as it fills an almost identical function. Phyrexian Unlife, Deflecting Shield, and Solemnity can combine in any combination of two to make me pretty immune to damage.
Glacial Chasm could be considered, but I am not sure I like it as much. It is good, and fetchable with Weathered Wayfarer, but I am not sure I would not just want to go for Dark Depths most of the time anyway. There are times when it would be great, but I may just leave that for later testing.
So for the near future, I will be testing out:
Sun Droplet -> Solemnity - Weak early Pillow Fort out for an Archetype hoser with great synergy potential.
Worship -> Phyrexian Unlife - Worship is occasionally good, but a boardwipe can castrate it. I have wanted to try Phyrexian Unlife for some time.
Selfless Squire -> Dark Depths - I may regret this, but I have to be unafraid to kill my babies. Big Aikido wincon out for a different synergy.
Bojuka Bog -> Thespian's Stage - The Bog is great, but I mostly keep it in for Meren, and Solemnity may hose her enough by itself. Scavenger Grounds has worked better anyway, since I can play it early for mana, and use it's ability later. The Stage goes well with Maze of Ith, Dark Depths, of any of the other utility lands.
Arch of Orazca -> Vesuva - Another clone land could go a long way, especially with all the utility lands out there seeing play. The Arch was super expensive, and the uses were limited, even if it did do some work. Good, but I want to go another way for a bit.
Anathemancer -> Warpinng Wail - To be honest, this is a change I have already been playing with. I put Anathemancer in my Wishboard and have played with Wail for a while. The jury is still out in the Wail, but I seem to always find a use for it.
Ophiomancer -> Grand Abolisher - I like Hexekk's change. My new meta has more blue control than my old one. Grand Abolisher goes back in.
In the Wishboard:
Rest in Peace -> Replenish - Get some graveyard antics of my own, and possibly bring back my crazy Pillow Fort if it has been dismantled.
Warping Wail -> Blood Tribute - We will try out a nice kill combo with Wound Reflection in place of the mainboarded Wail. The Zendicar art is amazing, one of the sexiest pieces of art in MTG.
MegaMatt13 says... #2
No worries :) I will keep you updated on my experiences with Wound Reflection.
March 12, 2018 11:53 a.m.
DrukenReaps says... #3
Awesome alter!
What you need now is to get the image cropped and rotated to be straight up and down. This site near as I can tell will accept any size image so no resizing needed. If you can't get those things done I did the best I could with cropping it but all I hav is MS Paint so yeah...
https://tappedout.net/alter/12722/
Just add the alter tag like you would the foil tag.
March 12, 2018 12:17 p.m.
precociousapprentice says... #4
I am going to wait until I get the actual card and then do a high res scan for the pick. This was just a preview. Can't wait to get the card here. I think I will put it back to back in a clear sleeve with the unaltered card so that I can show people the actual text.
Sandreline Mousse is amazing. She kept sending me updates as teasers as she went, and the end result is better than I had hoped. I will have to save my pennies, but I plan to get her to do my ABUR duals as well. Her night time ABUR dual alters are absolutely stunning.
March 12, 2018 12:52 p.m.
Cthulhupoof9797 says... #6
@precociousapprenticeI had a question for you. First off I'm a huge huge huge fan of this deck and the idea behind it. I think it may be one of the best decks on the site and I love your incorporation of Aikido. I really would love to build my own Aikido deck and I thought about trying my own commander to try to find someone else suitable for the job. Do you think Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist would work and if so who should be his partner? Do you have any other COmmanders that you think would work well for Aikido?Thank you for your time!
March 22, 2018 7:14 p.m.
Wow! I just found Queen Marchesa while looking for my next commander, and I think this decklist will make my building process go by a lot faster. Thanks!
March 22, 2018 9:13 p.m.
FattMox719 says... #8
Love the list! Is there any chance you could organise it so it's a little easier to parse? It's a little difficult to see what's going on when you repeat cards, even when they're in different categories. Hopefully Dominaria has some cool new aikido cards to add!
March 23, 2018 10:11 p.m.
EleventhAncestor says... #9
there's a drop menu at the top where you can sort by card type without repeats
March 24, 2018 1:53 a.m.
mintymustache says... #11
- hey there precociousapprentice
- i absolutely enjoyed reading your description of this deck
- i have since built it!
- it is my favorite deck now.
- i like to do custom card art and themes
- for this deck i have a Game of Thrones theme focused on the "good guys"
- please do take a look.Queen Marchesa (Game of Thrones altered art)
March 24, 2018 7:54 p.m.
mintymustache says... #12
what do you think of Bedlam its a bit of a nonbo with some of the blockers, however i noticed that you dropped allot of your creature based rattlesnake cards.
March 30, 2018 12:41 a.m.
precociousapprentice says... #13
Sorry for the silence of late. I was out of the country with limited web access for a week, then had a ton of things to catch up on when I got back. I hope to do a little updating and response to questions tonight, but for now, I just updated the deck with scans of the Queen Marchesa
alter, The Lonely Mountain for my only basic mountain in the deck, and a borderless extension Vampire Nighthawk I recently acquired. Enjoy, and stay tuned.
As an initial question before my updates, this deck has fallen off of the deck search lists. Can anyone tell me why I can't find it through searching? I assume that no one else can find it either, and that is a shame.
March 31, 2018 1:13 p.m.
hey i have been running Solemnity with great results mainly due to the pairing with Glacial Chasm and Dark Depths
April 1, 2018 9:34 a.m.
precociousapprentice says... #15
Hexekk, that is a great suggestion. In a meta with a lot of infect or +1/+1 counters, that would be pretty great. It has been on my list of things to try I just haven't tried it yet. It also combos with Delaying Shield, but it has strong anti-synergy with both Selfless Squire and Sun Droplet. It would take a little rearranging to make it work. Removing Sun Droplet, you could replace it with the Glacial Chasm for an arguably stronger Pillow Fort card. Removing the Selfless Squire would be a huge hit to the offense and remove a very good Fog. Replacing it with Dark Depths would be fun, I ran it in the past, but I am not sure it does everything I want. The Thespian's Stage and Vesuva I had in before would help to get the Dark Depths combo out, but takes some set up. Also, we are adding a lot of things in that require two cards to make either any good, and Solemnity is pretty useless by itself. Not sure what I think about it. I think that without a strong Infect presence in your meta, I am not sure I could see it being a game changer.
mintymustache, Bedlam is pretty crazy. It looks like it would have a crazy effect on the game. It would also be anti-synnergistic, as you note, with my defensive creatures. Still, you could easily tune the list to include it. Still, I am not sure I like the fact that, once in play, I would have no control of who can block, unlike similar cards already in the list. Not sure it fits the list perfectly.
Cthulhupoof9797, I love the idea of Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist as an Aikido commander. I would run Tymna the Weaver as the partner. You get and more card draw that actually synergizes well with Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist. If going that way, I would also add in other punisher style cards that just damage opponents each turn. Link a list when you have one.
April 2, 2018 11:50 a.m.
mintymustache says... #16
so i have been getting a lot of play out of Wound Reflection often i hold on to allot of the bombs till its out. so i was wondering how you feel about Bitter Feud. or something like Quest for Pure Flame
April 2, 2018 4:40 p.m.
Just played my first real game after finally settling on a starting list. Ended up having to drop the wishboard for financial reasons, but I feel I've kept most of the rest of the deck on theme. I won using an Insurrection the turn following a Rise of the Dark Realms. It was a blast! Can't wait to play more.
April 3, 2018 4:04 p.m.
Just played my first real game after finally settling on a starting list. Ended up having to drop the wishboard for financial reasons, but I feel I've kept most of the rest of the deck on theme. I won using an Insurrection the turn following a Rise of the Dark Realms. It was a blast! Can't wait to play more.
April 3, 2018 4:05 p.m.
precociousapprentice says... #19
mintymustache, I am not sure I like either one of those cards. Please don't take that wrong, I really appreciate the investment in the deck that you exhibit in suggesting them. I had not seen Quest for Pure Flame, but had considered Bitter Feud and passed it by. Please let me explain.
For Quest for Pure Flame, the build up necessary requires 4 separate damaging effects from you against your enemies to go off, and then you sacrifice it to double a single damage effect. That is a lot of work, may anger people prematurely, and would not be surprising or out of nowhere like I prefer. Boros Charm can sorta do that for a single creature attack, it comes out of nowhere, and it is a modal spell with spectacular other uses, without any meaningful increase in the cost over Quest for Pure Flame. There are probably other cards with similar effects that are instant style combat tricks that would play better than Quest for Pure Flame. I even tried Slumbering Dragon at one point. It was less spectacular than I had hoped due to the build up necessary. Cards with that kind of build up need either a huge payoff to make it worthwhile, or some trick to make it easier to pull of. That kind of build around has no room in this deck.
As for Bitter Feud, if both players agree to ignore it, it is worthless. I don't know about your meta, but in mine, that would be standard operating procedure. That is why Cruel Entertainment didn't work with players I play with. It gives them complete control, and no other advantage. Other cards like Furnace of Rath and Dictate of the Twin Gods do similar things, only they affect every source, not just from the people targeted, and there is no choice to minimize things. I would go for those first.
In any case, I think I have already included the strongest cards in that category with Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Wound Reflection, and even Duelist's Heritage. Adding more would mean removing something else. It would have to pretty huge to make the slot.
For changes I have been considering, I have thought about moving Warping Wail to the main deck. I actually used it from the sideboard a few games ago. It made me think, and I may trial it to see how well it plays. A modal non-blue counterspell with flash chump blocker, ramp, and creature spot removal as alternate modes is likely a good fit for the deck.
April 3, 2018 9:09 p.m.
precociousapprentice says... #20
NotEaster, that game sounds super fun. Insurrection is a beast of a card, it just wins games. Thanks for the update and feedback.
April 3, 2018 9:13 p.m.
For sure! (The fast reply is just because I'm bored at work, lol). I also wanted to vote in favor of Warping Wail, even though I haven't used it in this list I find it's a great trick card in the vein of Mana Tithe and the colorless requirement should be trivial to meet with sources like painlands.
April 3, 2018 9:22 p.m.
precociousapprentice says... #22
NotEaster exactly. Pulling out the counterspells in Mardu is amazingly fun. With it being modal with other very useful modes, I am actually surprised I had not tested it yet.
April 3, 2018 9:45 p.m.
I'm sorry if you've gone over this, but I couldn't find it anywhere myself. Why Crystal Ball instead of Sensei's Divining Top? I know you took Top out of the deck before, just curious why you prefer Crystal Ball.
April 6, 2018 2:30 a.m.
still loving this deck. ive been rotating between this deck and a norin the wary deck. and the players at my local shop react to marchessa hilariously every time. usually when i play they all together avoid swinging at me even if my board is empty of rattlesnakes or akido effects. ive played the deck enough in the meta now that people know that if they swing my way its usually gonna be bad for them. ushually if i do losse its to a bad hand or to somone comboing out with somthing like Approach of the Second Sun
precociousapprentice says... #1
Sandreline Mousse Art Noveau Queen Marchesa.
Absolutely perfect.
Completed Queen Marchesa altered art, waiting for delivery. Should get here by the end of the month.
March 12, 2018 9:31 a.m.