Marchesa Counters

Commander / EDH

wripsik

Land (38)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 3x Island
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Spinerock Knoll
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Watery Grave

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Liliana of the Veil
• 1x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
• 1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Instant (2)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault

Creature (27)

• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Murderous Redcap
• 1x Olivia, Mobilized for War
• 1x Olivia Voldaren
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x River Kelpie
• 1x Scourge of the Throne
• 1x Seizan, Perverter of Truth
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Thraximundar
• 1x Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Treachery
• 1x Unfulfilled Desires
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol
• 1x Warstorm Surge

Commander (1)

Artifact (12)

• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Cruel Ultimatum
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Mark of Mutiny
• 1x Overwhelming Forces
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Slave of Bolas
• 1x Victimize

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The week that the Conspiracy set was released, my interest was slightly piqued, but you would not say it was explosive. Playing the format was not quite as fun for me as I expected it to be, but there was one major takeaway: Marchesa, the Black Rose

This card screamed to me immediately upon viewing it, and once I got my hands on a foil copy, it was a foregone conclusion that I would try to build a fun EDH deck around her. Commander is not my favourite or most played format, but there are many people at my local store who play, and since I enjoy their company, I wanted to have a deck I could play with them.

I put together my first iteration of the deck, that focused mostly on the +1/+1 counter aspect of Marchesa, figuring that the dethrone ability was incredible. However, what happened during those first few trials was that I would get into the red zone with my creatures, and my opponents wouldn't care much, and before I knew it, they would have bigger, badder things to deal with, and since I wasn't pressuring them hard enough, I would end up having the most life, completely shutting down the dethrone mechanic on my board altogether, rendering the deck somewhat neutered.

A new plan was hatched. I maintained the +1/+1 counter idea, but threw in some ways to punish myself, life-wise, so I could always have a target to trigger dethrone. Enter phyrexian mana symbols and cards like Unspeakable Symbol to help me maintain a manageable but low life total. This strategy only served to make me easier to kill once the other players decided I was too much of a nuisance.

It was at this time that I decided to take Marchesa in a different direction and focus more of the strategy around her other ability. Getting +1/+1 counters on my creatures was not a bad priority, but I wanted to be more interactive and to have resilient threats. Things that would quite easily attain the +1/+1 counters that would make them able to return to the board to cause more havoc after the opponent (or I) spent resources to remove them in the first place. One simple example of this would be playing Thraximundar while Marchesa is on the field, then swinging at an opponent and triggering the sacrifice effect, giving him a +1/+1 counter and essentially making removal a far worse option on this creature than it would otherwise be.

This deck is not meant to compete with very competitive EDH decks, but is used in a fairly fun environment. When it wins, it usually wins out of nowhere and somewhat unexpectedly when it happens.

I am definitely open to suggestions; as a casual player, however, I only ask that you be nice about them. I'm willing to change my deck for the better if what you have to say makes sense and/or promotes discussion.

Date added	10 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 47 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.16
Tokens	Copy Clone, Zombie 2/2 B