Marchesa, Murderous Mistress of Mayhem

Commander / EDH Budget Casual Counters Sacrifice Theft UBR (Grixis)

Talbain

Land (36)

• 1x Bloodfell Caves
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 3x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 9x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rupture Spire
• 1x Spymaster's Vault
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Transguild Promenade
• 1x Tyrite Sanctum
• 1x Vivid Crag
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Marsh

Counters (9)

• 1x Iron Apprentice
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Anduril, Narsil Reforged
• 1x Thran Vigil
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol
• 1x Thundering Raiju
• 1x Uncivil Unrest

Removal (5)

• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Withering Torment
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Living Death

Draw (11)

• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Triarch Praetorian
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Bloodtracker
• 1x Skyclave Shadowcat
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x River Kelpie

Utility (10)

• 1x Siren Stormtamer
• 1x Oona's Blackguard
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
• 1x Pyreheart Wolf
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Herald of Secret Streams
• 1x Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Lord Xander, the Collector

Sacrifice (9)

• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Bloodflow Connoisseur
• 1x Woe Strider
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Immersturm Predator
• 1x Skyclave Shadowcat

Burn (4)

• 1x Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1x Thundering Raiju
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Stalking Vengeance

Commander (1)

Theft (11)

• 1x Hijack
• 1x Mark of Mutiny
• 1x Gisa, Glorious Resurrector
• 1x Grab the Reins
• 1x Ray of Command
• 1x Slave of Bolas
• 1x Zealous Conscripts
• 1x Conquering Manticore
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Molten Primordial
• 1x Insurrection

Ramp (7)

• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum

Beats (4)

• 1x Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
• 1x Hound of Griselbrand

---

Maybeboard

Removal (11)

• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Bedevil
• 1x Flame of Anor
• 1x AEtherize
• 1x Canoptek Tomb Sentinel
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Stingmoggie
• 1x Wave Goodbye
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Blasphemous Act

Burn (3)

• 1x Marionette Apprentice
• 1x Rage Forger
• 1x Vicious Shadows

Sacrifice (3)

• 1x Spawning Pit *list*
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Phyrexian Altar

-Life (1)

• 1x Black Market Connections

Other (9)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Marchesa's Smuggler
• 1x Sage of Hours
• 1x Sneak Attack
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Cauldron of Souls
• 1x Press into Service
• 1x Thraximundar

Beats (3)

• 1x Dracoplasm
• 1x Hellhole Flailer
• 1x Stormbound Geist

Counters (3)

• 1x Ghost Lantern
• 1x Wizard Class
• 1x Gev, Scaled Scorch

Utility (2)

• 1x Mer-Ek Nightblade
• 1x Sapphire Drake

Ramp (6)

• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Phyrexian Altar

Theft (6)

• 1x Act of Treason
• 1x Harness by Force
• 1x Threaten
• 1x Captivating Crew
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Mob Rule

Draw (3)

• 1x Scorn-Blade Berserker
• 1x Vampiric Rites
• 1x Novijen Sages

Land (1)

• 1x Nesting Grounds

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Originally someone else's hyper budget deck called "Marchesa the Sticky Fingered." I've made significant modifications. The original focused on building an army of cheap synergistic creatures (with undying, unleash, graft, etc.) and developing them with Marchesa's ability, then supplementing with theft shenanigans. This was fun but pretty slow by itself, and because the creatures started small, surviving a board wipe still felt like too large a setback. My version guts the old army to favor more utility and sacrifice effects.

Marchesa creates an enduring board presence that can fly a bit under the social radar because it always attacks someone who is arguably "winning." Aside from slowly adding +1/+1 counters to the board, Marchesa also enables a shenanigan where you use a temporary theft card, attack with the creature to get the counter, sacrifice it, and Marchesa's ability activates letting you keep the creature as if the theft were permanent.

One thing I used to hate about this deck was the feeling when you've only got one sac outlet or something, somebody removes it, and there you sit with like a hand full of theft and nothing to do until you draw another outlet. I tried to build as much redundancy in as possible, and lots of synergistic draw sources so hopefully there will always be something to exploit for advantage.

Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 days
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 0 Rares 27 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.52
Tokens	City's Blessing, Goat 0/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, Squid 1/1 U