Marchesa, the Black Rose

Commander / EDH* Competitive Counters Midrange Necropotence Reanimator Sacrifice Tempo UBR (Grixis) Undying

ChaosClaws

Land (34)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Haunted Ridge
• 1x High Market
• 1x Island
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shipwreck Marsh
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stormcarved Coast
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Watery Grave

Creature (28)

• 1x Bloodtracker
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Cytoplast Manipulator
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Fain, the Broker
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Juri, Master of the Revue
• 1x Kalain, Reclusive Painter
• 1x Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1x Metallic Mimic
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Oona's Blackguard
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x River Kelpie
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Toothy, Imaginary Friend
• 1x Vigean Graftmage
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vandalblast

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x The Ozolith

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Feast on the Fallen
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sneak Attack
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Instant (7)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Corpse Dance
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Shallow Grave

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Maybeboard

Creature (22)

• 1x Anathemancer
• 1x Arcbound Worker
• 1x Banewhip Punisher
• 1x Bloodtracker
• 1x Fain, the Broker
• 1x Fulminator Mage
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Herald of Secret Streams
• 1x Khabal Ghoul
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
• 1x Laelia, the Blade Reforged
• 1x Olivia, Mobilized for War
• 1x Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1x Pyreheart Wolf
• 1x Rakdos Cackler
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Thought Sponge
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Trophy Mage

Land (12)

• 1x Barbarian Ring
• 1x Cabal Pit
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 1x Gemstone Mine
• 1x Guildmages' Forum
• 1x Inkmoth Nexus
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Wasteland

Artifact (3)

• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Pyre of Heroes
• 1x Scroll of Fate

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Underworld Breach

Instant (1)

• 1x Bedevil

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If you like to put your opponents on a clock they're unaware of while using your big brain to churn value out of seemingly average cards, this deck is for you. Marchesa offers a very unique mechanic to EDH, which is dethrone. This ability alone can throw in politics and have others fight to see who's at the highest life total while some may be more willing to take a hit to stay off of the throne. Marchesa giving your board dethrone is decent enough for a grixis aggro primer, but her bread and butter comes from making anything with a +1 counter unable to die. Yes, it can be exiled, and yes, it can be exiled in the grave before it comes back at end of turn. This deck is built to stop that from even being an issue, due to the numerous sac outlets that let you decide where your creatures go and when. While an unexpected Bojuka Bog may be unfortunate, the Black Rose can easily bounce back. Grixis has an insane amount of draw, along with removal to keep threats at bay.

The main goal of this Marchesa list is to abuse the creatures you play. You run more aggressive cards like Juri, Master of the Revue and Geralf's Messenger to slowly burn away at your opponents' life total. While these numbers seem small, they quickly multiply along with combat, dethrone triggers, sac outlets like Goblin Bombardment, ways to keep your counters moving like The Ozolith, and ETB/LTB triggers like Purphoros, God of the Forge and Flayer of the Hatebound.

Flayer is probably the "secret commander" of the deck, not including the insanely powerful Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. Having undying generally makes a creature invincible with Marchesa on the board, as it could die and come back to trigger a multitude of cards while protecting itself with a counter. On its own, Flayer can do 9 damage a turn without attacking, and that adds up fast. Its blue counterpart, River Kelpie, is just there to draw you a wild amount of cards. Imagine having that out with a Rhystic Study and a Grim Haruspex.

Did I mention that Marchesa has your creatures come back at the NEXT end of turn, not just yours? While it also mentions any creature you control would come back to your field (this plays well for theft Marchesa decks), the important thing is you can kill your creatures and have them come back on each of your opponent's turns. That Flayer who was doing 9 damage a turn? Crank that up to 9 damage on each player's turn, letting you do 36 damage in one go around the table, which should be enough to kill a player that's been burnt a little on fetches or combats from other players. These "loops" are seemingly infinite, but you can only use them 1-3 times a turn. The value generated off of doing this 4-12 times from your current turn to the next can make some average-looking cards like Toothy, Imaginary Friend go crazy.

While piloting the deck at a glance may seem a bit difficult, I think this powerful spin on the ever-popular Act of Treason Marchesa archetype is worth learning. Just pay attention to all of your triggers and don't forget that you can kill your creatures on your opponent's turns and have them come back to abuse their abilities.

This is one of my first decks I plan on making the gemstone of my arsenal, along with my Sharuum, the Hegemon, Omnath, Locus of Mana, and K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth decklists. Please leave suggestions below and let me know if you have any questions/comments/concerns about my list! Help is always appreciated!

Date added	8 years
Last updated	2 years
Exclude colors	WG
Splash colors	UR
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 57 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.97
Tokens	Inkling 2/1 WB, Morph 2/2 C, Squid 1/1 U, Treasure
Folders	My Decks, Decklists