• Hey, it is more casual, but I thought you might get a kick out of this. The Brown Spider
• It is a divergence from the attempted "lands matter" garbage that everyone is trying to pigeon-hole Jund into with the new commander set. Silly to do so just because Wizards marketing misnomered it. I would say "politics matters".... maybe "crackback matters"

Vandalblast???? I mean it can be a little slow but it is a disaster for any artifact deck... and you can perhaps ramp into it by turn 2 or 3.

Have you considered Rowan Kenrith in here? Seems interesting

Any cards in C18 looking good in your eyes? I'm looking at Treasure Nabber and Xantcha, Sleeper Agent as interesting cards. I think treasure nabber is ramp in colors that historically don't have ramp. Xantcha is probably a questionable meta call, it's got some politics built into it, but it's going to draw hate from 1 player.

I second the Treasure Nabber suggestion, kind of. On the plus side, it takes advantage of any strong artifact-based ramping that pops up and hoses Paradox Engine combos that relies on rocks. On the negative side, it's a prolific card which will probably draw hate and unwanted attention.

I think if I go for housing Paradox Engine, it will be much stronger than Treasure Nabber. I am currently stuck trying to figure out how much I tune for oppressive combo and storm decks, or maintain what has been for most of its existence the heart of the deck. If the later, Xantcha will likely make an appearance.

Any advice on potential substitutions against stax-y decks? Had an interesting game yday with an Aminatou, the Fateshifter, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Roon of the Hidden Realm. The Roon deck quickly tutored for a soft board lock with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Seedborn Muse, Draining Whelk + some other removal/recursion (Eternal Witness, Duplicant) all with Roon blink and Thousand-Year Elixir making it near impossible to interact with. Even playing basically archenemy we couldn't stop the lock on board. Any ideas on some good card substitutions to stop it?

Elywood, I would suggest that you look at things that target ETB abilities. This list would be completely unaffected by a little Stax aimed at ETB abilities. Try Tocatli Honor Guard and Torpor Orb. There are many decks out there that focus on ETB abilities, with both Roon and Brago being about the most obvious, but some Meren and Riku also fill that role, and many combo decks depend on ETB abilities. Those two cards both efficiently shut down those generals, as well as ETB dependent combo decks. It is also pure flavor win to play cards in Queen Marchesa that hose Brago.

I may be late to the game here, but how about Sulfuric Vortex to stop those decks from gaining so much life? Maybe Skullcrack could be useful too. Sorry if those don't help!

+1

Thanks for the suggestions McToters. I had seen Sulfuric Vortex, but not Skullcrack. Both are interesting. My first reaction to both is that they don't do enough in isolation, and I am not sure how they synergize with the rest of the deck. Every card needs to fulfill multiple functions or be outstanding and synergize extremely well, or over perform against many deck archetypes. I am struggling to see it with these cards, despite the fact that both do what they are meant to rather well. I will continue to consider what they would mean, and maybe I will find a small adjustment that would make these play really well. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I do appreciate it.

Found a couple of interesting cards. What do you think about Boros Battleshaper, Insult (as a potential wishboard card), Worst Fears (wishboard)?

precociousapprentice I totally understand wanting the cards to be more and synergize with the deck better by also doing their unique abilities. You could always run a sideboard and throw one of them in when you're playing against the Life-gain machines. Again, there is still the problem you mention with doing too little and not synergizing but by being sidebord it isnt a "staple"/keeper of the deck.

Quick update with some evolution of the deck, even though I need to update my decklist. I went to a LGS that I had never been to today. Was in a 4 player pod and over two games I faced Sidisi BUG Dredge Zombies, Food Chain Prossh, the same Jhoira Paradox Storm, the same Kambal Combo Control, and a janky Azusa Lanndfall deck. I had made a few changes before going, knowing that I would face storm combo and likely other combo in a competitive environment. I won both games I played. It took some serious threat assessment, some serious surgical excision of specific threats, and some changes in my deck list to log both wins.

Highlights of Game 1 were:

• Exiling Aetherflux Reservoir on turn two from Jhoira's deck with Hide // Seek because Jhoira already had Paradox Engine in hand. She subsequently cast it as soon as possible on turn 3 to avoid my other ways to dismantle her deck. She would have stormed off the next turn, but I Anguished Unmaking'd it. Jhoira was hamstrung for the moment.
• I beat Sidisi shortly after this with a Merit Lage token created with a Vesuva. Bring the Aggro when you can.
• Kambal was taken down when I Backlash'd his 68/68 Serra Avatar. Turn their strengths against them.

Highlights of Game 2 were:

• I dropped a Rule of Law that basically killed the game plan of both Prossh and Jhoira, delaying the game as I assembled an unbreakable fortress.
• Prossh's face when I Burning Wish'd for Slaughter Games and exiled the Food Chain from his hand before he could assemble a winning combo.
• Prossh's comment about my deck playing so many silver bullets against their decks.
• Riding an unblockable Master of Cruelties to beatdowns of both Prossh and Jhoira, despite both going off and going through most of their decks before they fizzled without finding an answer.
• Both Prossh's and Jhoira's faces when I offered to draw with the super janky Azusa deck who had played about 30 lands and not much else that game. Azusa took the draw, leaving both the combo players feeling totally ripped off. Golden.

I will update the decklist with some changes, but suffice it to say that I swung slightly stax against combo. Seemed to work pretty well.

I was researching this a while ago, apparently when targetting Dark Depths with Vesuva, it will still come into play with the 20 Ice counters since it copies all ETB effects of the target land. Unlike Thespian's Stage which can be used to make an instant Marit Lage with 2 mana.

I was considering taking it out myself simply for that reason alone, but with the addition of cards like Praetor's Grasp, it may be worth keeping to copy lands you can't produce mana for?

I meant to say 10 Ice counters... oops.

Also, I guess another very situational use of Vesuva would be if you already have a Dark Depths on the field before playing your Solemnity, and then playing Vesuva copying the Dark Depths.

Wow HBParabol, you are totally right. I feel a little silly. You are also right in that I am not sure I will remove the Vesuva, given that I am open to stealing more interesting stuff with Praetor's Grasp, but that does lower the offense some, and would have meant a totally different game today.

No Kataki, War's Wage? It's evil against artifact decks like Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain

Plahbie I was thinking about that, but now I am just considering Null Rod. I think it may be stronger, and hit more archetypes. Currently, Rule of Law seemed to hose it pretty well.

Heya precociousapprentice, I have a question for you (admittedly, regarding my own marchesa deck and card choices.)

If you did not have access to the monetarily expensive tutors (demonic, grim, vampiric) would you slot in things like diabolic tutor, mastermind's acquisiton and maybe beseech the queen (although this isn't as great in a 3 color deck) or would you just look away from tutors all together?

Currently trying to piece together my final list for my upcoming purchase later in the month and trying to figure out if I want to keep these mana-costly tutors in the list or just believe in the heart of the cards and run tutorless.

Queen Marchesa, Politics & Pillow Forts .. I'm sitting on a bunch of maybe-board cards unable to decide what makes the final 100 in my list.

My meta is far less competitive and much more casual with the typical players being:

Player 1: 1 deck only, mid-range cat tribal with Arahbo, the Lion's roar (barely modified c17 precon deck) -- Very emotional player, easiest to politically manipulate as long as somebody is a bigger threat than me or has done something to inhibit him earlier in the game, if I help him out he will remember it (give his stuff unblockable or double strike etc)

Player 2: Derevi pre-con deck with some minor changes (not a powerhouse derevi deck but he kinda plays politics with it) and the C18 pre-con bant enchant deck.

Player 3: Newest player to the meta with a budget higher than the rest of us... plays Kaalia and a modified C18 bant enchantments precon deck.

Player 4: Plays 1 of 3 decks atm; a tribal pirates deck, an alesha who smiles at death combo deck (karmic guide/revellark shenanigans) or the c18 pre-con esper deck (aminatou).

Hi what do you think about adding fury storm from c18 as a way to push through counterspell heavy decks? Eg, Casting marchesa 2-3 times a game can easily copy create 4 copies of comeuppance against a yuriko player holding up counters

Not to mention it can be tutored for with sunforger and turn opponents game winning spells into your own or amplify Eg, a medium comet storm for 10 to your comet storm(s) for 40

If i had the time, i would like to make a version of this that is budget friendly, maybe sub $100 if its in slower metas, and sub $350 in slightly more tuned metas.nonetheless this gets a +1

I've recently stumbled upon Rage Nimbus and instantly thought of how well it could fit in this deck. It seems like a great way to deal with all the utility creatures/commanders that are so abundant in EDH and it has other uses as well, plus it quite suits the theme of the deck. Has it been suggested before? What's your opinion on it?

Wow, that is very spicy, SurpriZe. I had not seen it before. I will have to pick one up and see how it plays. There could be a lot of ways that activated ability could benefit you and a super cheap 5/3 beater is pretty amazing.

Why no Gideon's Intervention or Nevermore for other people's commanders? Also what about Curse of the Nightly Hunt and a pillowfort?