The Rattlesnake Fortress of the Black Rose

Commander / EDH Aikido Control Pillow Fort RBW (Mardu)

MatsuriFramboise

Land (35)

• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Bloodfell Caves
• 1x Boros Garrison
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Canyon Slough
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 1x Inspiring Vantage
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Kor Haven
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nomad Outpost
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 3x Plains
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Temple of Triumph
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Wind-Scarred Crag

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Acidic Soil
• 1x Burning Wish
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Disrupt Decorum
• 1x Gift of Estates

Instant (21)

• 1x Act of Aggression
• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Backlash
• 1x Batwing Brume
• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Comeuppance
• 1x Dawn Charm
• 1x Deflecting Palm
• 1x Delirium
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Hide / Seek
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Shred Memory
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Utter End
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Wild Ricochet
• 1x Word of Seizing

Artifact (13)

• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Crystal Ball
• 1x Key to the City
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Pacification Array
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sun Droplet
• 1x Sunforger

Commander (1)

Creature (13)

• 1x Anathemancer
• 1x Archangel of Tithes
• 1x Eldrazi Displacer
• 1x High Priest of Penance
• 1x Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• 1x Master of Cruelties
• 1x Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
• 1x Ophiomancer
• 1x Royal Assassin
• 1x Selfless Squire
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x Windborn Muse

Enchantment (12)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Delaying Shield
• 1x Duelist's Heritage
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Island Sanctuary
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Solitary Confinement
• 1x Sphere of Safety
• 1x Stranglehold
• 1x Worship

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Sideboard

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Aether Snap
• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Morningtide
• 1x Phyrexian Rebirth
• 1x Reverse the Sands
• 1x Sadistic Sacrament
• 1x Tragic Arrogance

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Maybeboard

Instant (6)

• 1x Boros Fury-Shield
• 1x Lapse of Certainty
• 1x Mana Tithe
• 1x Master Warcraft
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Creature (5)

• 1x Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip
• 1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Gossamer Chains

Artifact (1)

• 1x Thornbite Staff

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Disrupt Decorum

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Queen Marchesa EDH deck with a strong politics/pillow fort/aikido theme, greatly inspired by precociousapprentice's fantastic deck. I take no credit for the design of this deck; this is merely my version of their deck, tailored to my budget and meta and posted on here so I can keep track of what is in the deck (as well as its stats).

This is a pillow fort/aikido deck, so the point is to not attack or oppress opponents, but to give them reason to attack your other opponents and leave you alone. Reward them for attacking someone else. Attacking you comes with many penalties-- taxes, creature destruction, permanent destruction, fog, or damage reflection. It punishes decks that overextend and try to win with absurdly powerful creatures or infinite creatures, or decks that ramp to absurd amounts of land. However, at the same time, you don't want to draw too much attention and hate toward yourself, either, so this quite emphatically is not a stax style deck-- the penalties lie solely in attacking you, not anyone else. It allows opponents to enjoy playing their deck while not making yourself the enemy of the table, so patience is key, as is preparation. Therefore, there are plenty of ways to draw cards so that you can be prepared, and Sunforger allows you to grab any instant from your library (under 4 CMC) to cast as needed. I can't possibly go as deep into detail about this deck (or nearly as well, for that matter) as precociousapprentice, so please look at their deck and primer to have some brilliant elaborations.

I did, however, add a couple cards for the sake of punishing my specific meta and I do admit that they're a little less aikido-esque and more oppressive, but I feel like Stranglehold is necessary against certain decks I face that try to go off too quickly by constant tutoring. That's all that's directly made it into the deck for sure, but there are some other pieces in the maybeboard I'm not so sure of:

Thornbite Staff + deathtouch creature: There are a lot of deathtouch rattlesnakes in this deck, so making them capable of punishing oppressive creatures sounds fantastic. However, I wasn't sure if that was better or worse than Royal Assassin, who essentially has that ability built in, but isn't quite as reusable. The staff can be tossed on any Assassin/rattlesnake, which gives it recurring value. Not sure. Also hits flying and unblockable threats.

Sudden Spoiling: Punishes combos. There's a guy in my meta who plays that really annoying Auriok Salvagers + Lion's Eye Diamond combo, so I'd love to be able to stop that before it goes off. He's the same fellow that's driven me to put Stranglehold in the deck. I don't like playing against people who don't interact and just goldfish their way to a win.

Ogre Slumlord: Seems like a great rattlesnake machine, but I worry it'll get killed and any rats that come from it will lose deathtouch, just giving me a lot of 1/1 tokens and making me look like more of a threat than I'd like to be.

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts: She seems cool, as a pillow fort card that discourages attacking you, gives flying blockers/attackers, and has a nice built in evasion as well for helping close out games. But she does cost a lot of mana...

Archangel Avacyn  : Honestly, she's just a personal pet card for me, and seems like she'd fit very well here, as a flashable flying blocker/attacker with vigilance who can be a pseudo-Boros Charm in making creatures indestructible-- and once she flips, she punishes the table by nuking the board. Paired with Eldrazi Displacer, she can be re-used, flipping her right back so that our creatures are safe from her own board-wide attack. I'd love to try and use her here.

Master Warcraft: Seems like a great way to ensure someone is out of the game, or very close in a big combat step, to be played when opponents have strong board states and are more threatening.

EDIT 8/15/17: Deck is finished for now, pending eventual manabase upgrades and tweaks and additional pieces as I acquire them, especially regarding C17 cards like Disrupt Decorum and Teferi's Protection . I'll also be removing pieces of the deck that I feel underperform or feel too clunky and replacing them with better options. As always, input is greatly appreciated.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Exclude colors	UG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 50 - 9 Rares 29 - 1 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.86
Tokens	Assassin 1/1 B w/ Haste, Ogre 3/3 R, Horror */* C, Snake 1/1 B, The Monarch
Folders	Politics, EDH, Considering, 1_Interesting Decks, deck ideas