Marchesa, Murderous Mistress of Mayhem

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

Talbain

Land (36)

• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 3x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 7x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Spymaster's Vault
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Tyrite Sanctum
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Vivid Crag
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Marsh
• 1x Xander's Lounge

Theft (9)

• 1x Mark of Mutiny
• 1x Gisa, Glorious Resurrector
• 1x Ray of Command
• 1x Slave of Bolas
• 1x Zealous Conscripts
• 1x Mob Rule
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Molten Primordial
• 1x Insurrection

Removal (6)

• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Withering Torment
• 1x Canoptek Tomb Sentinel
• 1x Grave Pact
• 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

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

Sacrifice (9)

• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 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)

Utility (11)

• 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 Mer-Ek Nightblade
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Lord Xander, the Collector

Ramp (8)

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

Beats (3)

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

---

Maybeboard

Other (17)

• 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Marchesa's Smuggler
• 1x Negate
• 1x Sage of Hours
• 1x Desecrated Tomb
• 1x Fallen Ideal
• 1x Flare of Denial
• 1x Saw in Half
• 1x Sneak Attack
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Cauldron of Souls
• 1x Eldrazi Monument
• 1x Dusk Mangler
• 1x Thraximundar
• 1x Archon of Cruelty

-Life (1)

• 1x Black Market Connections

Removal (9)

• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Bedevil
• 1x Flame of Anor
• 1x AEtherize
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Stingmoggie
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Blasphemous Act

Ramp (3)

• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Phyrexian Altar

Beats (2)

• 1x Dracoplasm
• 1x Stormbound Geist

Burn (2)

• 1x Warstorm Surge
• 1x Vicious Shadows

Theft (8)

• 1x Act of Treason
• 1x Hijack
• 1x Threaten
• 1x Captivating Crew
• 1x Act of Aggression
• 1x Press into Service
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Conquering Manticore

Counters (3)

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

Sacrifice (3)

• 1x Spawning Pit *list*
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Phyrexian Altar

Draw (2)

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

---

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 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 28 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.53
Tokens	City's Blessing, Goat 0/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, Squid 1/1 U