EDH Queen Marchesa

Commander / EDH Midrange Multiplayer RBW (Mardu) Tokens

ruusuv

Land (37)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodfell Caves
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hanweir Battlements  ^Meld
• 1x Inspiring Vantage
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Needle Spires
• 1x Nomad Outpost
• 2x Plains
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Shambling Vent
• 1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Temple of Triumph
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip
• 1x Wind-Scarred Crag
• 1x Windbrisk Heights

Planeswalker (5)

• 1x Chandra, Flamecaller
• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Creature (17)

• 1x Archetype of Courage
• 1x Aurelia, the Warleader
• 1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
• 1x Brutal Hordechief
• 1x Custodi Lich
• 1x Dragonmaster Outcast
• 1x Frontline Medic
• 1x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
• 1x Goblin Rabblemaster
• 1x Hanweir Garrison  ^Meld
• 1x Hero of Bladehold
• 1x Knight-Captain of Eos
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Wingmate Roc

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Assemble the Legion
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Dictate of Heliod
• 1x Fervent Charge
• 1x In the Web of War
• 1x Intangible Virtue
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Warstorm Surge

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Dreadbore
• 1x Lingering Souls
• 1x Martial Coup
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Rout
• 1x Vindicate

Commander (1)

Instant (12)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Crackling Doom
• 1x Dawn Charm
• 1x Hide / Seek
• 1x Kolaghan's Command
• 1x Ricochet Trap
• 1x Secure the Wastes
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Utter End
• 1x Wear / Tear
• 1x Zealous Persecution

Artifact (10)

• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Eldrazi Monument
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Spear of Heliod
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Cast Out
• 1x Delaying Shield
• 1x Impact Tremors
• 1x Rise of the Hobgoblins
• 1x Solitary Confinement

Land (1)

• 1x Canyon Slough

Instant (1)

• 1x Forsake the Worldly

Sorcery (5)

• 1x By Force
• 1x Cut / Ribbons
• 1x Never / Return
• 1x Release the Gremlins
• 1x Unearth

Creature (4)

• 1x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
• 1x Filth
• 1x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
• 1x Selfless Spirit

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Queen Marchesa tokens. This deck is all about tokens and value.

Queen Marchesa seems like the perfect commander for a token strategy. The card advantage gained throughout the game is excellent, and she even makes Assassin tokens herself. colors offer a great selection of token makers, and expendable tokens allow Marchesa to regain the Monarchy with relative ease. The colors also let me play many of my favorite cards from Standards of yore, like Goblin Rabblemaster, Assemble the Legion, Sorin, Solemn Visitor, Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Lingering Souls.

Token Makers

The deck is all about tokens. There's single use spells (Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Lingering Souls, Martial Coup, Secure the Wastes), continuous effects (Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Assemble the Legion, Dragonmaster Outcast ) and creatures with various triggers (Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Goblin Rabblemaster, Hanweir Garrison, Monastery Mentor). Assemble the Legion is the big one. If you can get it to stick for a few turns, the value created should turn the game around.

Anthem Effects

Spear of Heliod, Dictate of Heliod, Eldrazi Monument, Legion's Initiative , Fervent Charge and In the Web of War all buff creatures. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar's emblem is another anthem effect, and Sorin, Solemn Visitor gives both lifelink and +1/+0.

While not actual anthem effects, Hellrider, Brutal Hordechief and Aurelia, the Warleader are powerful plays when there's a bunch of tokens on the field. Iroas, God of Victory makes blocking difficult.

Solutions

The deck is packed with targeted removal. All-purpose answers like Anguished Unmaking, Utter End and Vindicate are complimented by Crackling Doom, Swords to Plowshares, Dreadbore, Terminate, the versatile Boros and Mardu Charm s and wear/tear .

Nahiri, the Harbinger is in the deck mostly as a value play that can remove troublesome creatures or enchantments, but she can occasionally tutor for something like Aurelia, the Warleader. For mass removal there's Martial Coup and Rout, as well as Chandra, Flamecaller.

Protect the Queen!

There's not a lot of pillow fort elements to be found here, but Maze of Ith and No Mercy make attacking/stealing the Monarchy more difficult for the opponent. Maze of Ith can also be used to save an attacker (typically Hero of Bladehold or Hanweir Garrison) while still delivering tokens. Knight-Captain of Eos and Dawn Charm also give the deck fog effects.

Interactions

Purphoros, God of the Forge and Warstorm Surge are great with the X-token makers (Martial Coup and Secure the Wastes). Purphoros especially can cause the whole table's lifetotals to plummet, and if he is a creature and you happen to have Sorin, Solemn Visitor on the table as well... that's a lot of lifelink.

Warstorm Surge and Marchesa's deathtouch or the Assassin tokens she makes are a nice combo to keep the battlefield clear. Deathtouch and first strike are also nice together, so there's a copy of Archetype of Courage in the list.

Mass removal and an effect to save your own team (Boros Charm, Frontline Medic, Legion's Initiative , Eldrazi Monument) is obviously very powerful, and happens reasonably often.

Having In the Web of War on the battlefield can make life interesting for the opponents- so many spells in the deck create more than one creature and the haste and +2/+0 can put surprising amount of power into play very suddenly. Marchesa's Assassin tokens also become 3/1 deathtouchers. Obviously the +2/+0 is at it's best with the X-token makers- Martial Coup for more than 5 into the web of war has ended more than one game.

Manarocks: the Signets are in the deck to enable turn 3 Marchesa, which is typically a fine play. Later on in the game, they are not that valuable (although they do fix and ramp mana).

Value

Nothing says Mardu like value. There's card draw (Skullclamp, Mentor of the Meek, Painful Truths), great planeswalkers (Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Nahiri, the Harbinger), efficient creatures (Monastery Mentor, Lingering Souls, Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Wingmate Roc) and solutions (all the click-and-point removal spells like Vindicate).

There's a number of charms to add versatility: Boros Charm can save your team from mass removal, take out a planeswalker or give double strike to an unblocked creature, Mardu Charm acts as discard, removal and token maker, and Dawn Charm is a fog, can save a creature and is a conditional counterspell. There's also Ricochet Trap, which seems like a fine thing to have in my meta- there's always someone with a blue deck, and redirecting spells is just fun.

I generally try to shy away from tutor effects in Commander, but Marchesa seems like the kind of girl who wouldn't mind a single Demonic Tutor. Expedition Map can also help find value lands (Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Hanweir Battlements, Westvale Abbey  ).

Watchlist for Under-performing Cards

Painlands: these are in the deck from the time First Response was in the deck. I have trimmed Barbarian Ring and Cabal Pit from the deck already, and these could possibly be swapped for basic lands as well. So far, they can stay, however- the fact that they enter the battlefield untapped is key. Possible replacements: Canyon Slough, other future cycling lands, Ravnica bounce lands.

Legion's Initiative : The blink-ability is not ideal with the number of tokens the deck plays, but the enchantment does still give Marchesa +1/+1 and acts as a decent anthem effect (especially with Assemble the Legion). Possible replacements: Angel of Invention, Behind the Scenes , Marshal's Anthem, Zealous Persecution.

Latest Changes

June 2017:

In: Anointed Procession Out: Subterranean TremorsIn: Chandra, FlamecallerOut: Entrapment Maneuver

Anointed Procession seems like a must in a token deck- it's finally in the deck colors! Subterranean Tremors was rarely used, there should be enough artifact destruction in the deck already. Chandra, Flamecaller is quite nice with the Procession as well, so the under-performing Entrapment Maneuver had to go. Chandra seems to do everything the deck wants to do.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.33
Tokens	Assassin 1/1 B w/ Haste, Bird 3/4 W, Cat Soldier 1/1 W, Dragon 5/5 R, Elemental 3/1 R, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Emblem Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Emblem Sorin, Solemn Visitor, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Goblin 1/1 R, Human 1/1 R, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Knight Ally 2/2 W, Soldier 1/1 RW, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, The Monarch, Thopter 1/1 C, Vampire 2/2 B, Warrior 1/1 W
Folders	neat, EDH, Decks I think are lit