Land (34)
- 1x Arid Mesa
-
1x
Blood Crypt
- 1x Bloodstained Mire
- 1x Bojuka Bog
- 1x Command Tower
- 1x Dark Depths
- 1x Exotic Orchard
- 1x Flamekin Village
- 1x Flooded Strand
-
1x
Godless Shrine
- 1x Hanweir Battlements Meld
- 1x Marsh Flats
- 1x Maze of Ith
- 1x Mistveil Plains
- 4x Mountain
- 4x Plains
- 1x Prismatic Vista
- 1x Reliquary Tower
- 1x Sacred Foundry
- 1x Scalding Tarn
- 1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
- 3x Swamp
- 1x Thespian's Stage
- 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- 1x Verdant Catacombs
- 1x Windswept Heath
Enchantment (11)
Instant (20)
- 1x Anguished Unmaking
- 1x Arcbond
-
1x
Boros Charm
- 1x Comeuppance
- 1x Deflecting Palm
- 1x Deflecting Swat
- 1x Delirium
- 1x Enlightened Tutor
- 1x Fire Covenant
- 1x Generous Gift
- 1x Path to Exile
- 1x Pyroblast
- 1x Rakdos Charm
- 1x Reverberate
- 1x Riot Control
- 1x Teferi's Protection
- 1x Tibalt's Trickery
- 1x Vampiric Tutor
- 1x Wear / Tear
Artifact (12)
Commander (1)
Creature (16)
- 1x Academy Rector
- 1x Brash Taunter
-
1x
Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder
- 1x Children of Korlis
- 1x Dockside Extortionist
- 1x Dream Devourer
- 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
- 1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
- 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
- 1x Kardur, Doomscourge
- 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
- 1x Nighthawk Scavenger
- 1x Opposition Agent
- 1x Serra Ascendant
- 1x Weathered Wayfarer
- 1x Windborn Muse
Sorcery (6)
Maybeboard
Creature (6)
Instant (4)
Land (2)
Long Live the Queen!
And at the end of it all, George R.R. Martin killed off everyone except Queen Marchesa who sat upon the Iron Throne herself. Long may she reign.
This is a political control deck that attempts to convince our opponents to attack each other rather than us by means of appearing nonthreatening. While most political decks can be outright scheming, this one takes a more subtle approach. Rather than making alliances and manipulating our opponents, our goal is to create board states that force our opponents' best moves to not be against us. Our opponents then become our tools, weapons wielded against our enemies, and when only one remains, we strike for the win.
This deck is designed to be as budget as possible while still maintaining the theme of the deck. I've added a few possible upgrades into the Maybeboard. I'll continue to add any suggested cards there for reference.
I'm normally an aggro or combo player, so control hasn't really come easy to me, but I've always been fascinated by Queen Marchesa (long may she reign). I don't know...maybe I just don't like blue. For a full explanation of the strategy and archetype, see Queen Marchesa: Politics, Aikido, and Control. However I will briefly break down the main ideas and goals for the deck below.
The Monarchy
The Monarch is an interesting mechanic to say the least. As soon as we get it, it starts netting us extra card draw but not so much that it paints a giant target on our heads. However that extra card can be a rather appealing advantage and one that our opponents might not want their enemies to have. Not keeping the monarch can be a good thing for us. While our opposition plays a game of thrones, we sit back and create 1/1 tokens with deathtouch and haste. Once we have enough defenders to protect the crown, we take back the monarch and benefit from the card draw once more.
Threat Level: Low
The strategy here is simple. Make peace with our opponents especially in the early game. Allow them to build up their resources and play their deck as it was meant to, given that nothing becomes a threat against us. Focus on ramping and fixing colors. Set up a draw engine to build a hand that we can use for situations down the road. It isn't uncommon for Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) to come out on turn 3, making the monarchy our first source of incremental card draw. We may be playing Mardu colors, but the deck will feel blue a lot of the time from the non-blue counterspells we run and the Draw-Go playstyle we usually employ.
We do not run any infinite combos here. Combo pieces draw too much attention from the board. Instead we play big bombs that get the job done. Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) is already a lower tier commander that doesn't pose a threat to higher powered decks. We don't want to ruin the advantage she already provides by playing big red flags on our side of the board.
Use Our Opponents as Weapons
While we want to be unassuming and keep a low threat at the table, we also want to utilize our opponents' board states. Allow them to build their resources and burn through them while we silently build up ours. In order to use their resources as our own, we have to get our opponents to point their weapons at each other and not us. Pillowfort, rattlesnake, and fog effects help us here as well as the silent threat of removal which may or may not be a bluff. When all of that fails, we break out the Aikido cards which take the full power of our opponents and hurl them back at them and away from us.
- Arcbond - Be careful of the boardwipe potential here as it deals damage to each other creature as well. It can really punish people for going tall, though, especially if you can break the parity and prevent the damage to yourself. It's also great to use in emergency situations and clear the board by targeting Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) or one of our deathtouch tokens. Since the creature is the one dealing the damage, that's deathtouch to everything.
- Backlash, Delirium - Punishes opponents for going tall. They're great finishers after lots of strife at the table and can alternatively be used to tap down big defenders and let attacks slip through.
- Batwing Brume , Rakdos Charm - Punishes opponents for going wide.
- Deflecting Palm , Comeuppance - Quintessential Aikido cards. Send an attack right back at the attacker. Be wary that Comeuppance deals damage to creatures as well.
- Disrupt Decorum, Word of Seizing, Animate Dead - Threaten effects that take control of our opponents' forces and use them against them. Disrupt Decorum can be a game winner on its own in creature heavy boards. Word of Seizing takes a tall creature from our opponent to use against them. Animate Dead can be good recursion for us or a threaten from beyond the grave.
- Imp's Mischief - Take our opponent's spell and use it as our own especially if it targets us first.
- Mirage Mirror - A Mardu Clone that's not limited to creatures. Very flexible and fits in our Dark Depths package.
- Price of Progress - A good finisher especially if your meta doesn't run a lot of basics. Be wary of the symmetrical damage we take from it, though.
- Reverberate - Do a thing again. Can be a great way to increase the amount of removal or damage your opponent just played on another opponent. Best part is we get to choose a new target. I've used this after a blue player played Time Warp so I could take an extra turn before he did. And for only 2 mana. Can win a game if we copy a Fireball not directed at us.
Punish Overextension
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. This deck is really good at punishing those who get too greedy or too powerful. Most of the time our opponents will determine each other has heavier threats and take each other out, leaving the strongest as the victor. This is great for us, because more often than not, we'll be using their power against them whether it's through Aikido or other cards at our disposal that punish overextension. Most of our control elements do not include flashy board wipes for two reasons: 1. because such plays draw hate and paint a target on us, and 2. because we would rather use surgical removal to rid the board only of specific elements that threaten us. The rest we can leave to use against our opponents later. Every act of control we use should have one of three effects:- Discourage attacks against us
- Remove key elements of enemy board states that would allow them to win
- Turning an attack against us into an attack against an opponent
- Anguished Unmaking, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Utter End - Creature spot removal
- Hide//Seek, Anguished Unmaking, Utter End - Enchantment spot removal
- Hide//Seek, Anguished Unmaking, Utter End, Rakdos Charm - Artifact spot removal
- Blind Obedience - Tap stax as well as incremental life drain.
- Boros Charm - Protect our boardstate. It's also useful for late game damage.
- Comeuppance - Boardwipe attacking creatures
- Dawn Charm - Protect ourselves or a creature. Can also be a vital counterspell. Super versatile card.
- Glaring Spotlight - Hexproof hate. Good for allowing our opponents to target hexproof creatures and to allow some of our spells to work. Also works as protection for our creatures and can make them unblockable at the right moment.
- Kambal, Consul of Allocation - Incremental life drain for noncreature spells. Can give us a decent buffer of life before it's removed and can make our opponents hesitate before playing a spell. It can be a target by just being out, though. However there are other things we'd rather not have removed, so it's a good lightning rod.
- Lapse of Certainty, Mana Tithe, Dawn Charm - Mardu counterspells. This deck likes to pretend it's blue, and no one suspects it.
- Reverberate - Copying spells is a good way to control the board.
- Scavenger Grounds, Shred Memory, Rakdos Charm, Bojuka Bog, Shred Memory - Graveyard hate
- Solemnity - Locks down any counters-based strategies. Also combos with Delaying Shield for protection or Dark Depths for a win.
- Sudden Spoiling - Great fog effect that will always go off thanks to split second. It can also stop any creature effect-based combos.
- Teferi's Protection - Best protection in the entire game. Don't touch me until my next turn.
- Word of Seizing - Can stop permanent-based combos by stealing a vital combo piece at split second speed.
Subtlety
Everything we do revolves around this strategy. We want to create board states that force our opponents to go after each other instead of us because it is their best move. Blatant manipulation is sure to draw hate which is why we aim to act under the radar. We want to use subtle defenses over stronger defenses that might draw attention.- Aegis of the Gods - Hexproof is good.
- Crawlspace - Protection from opponents who go wide. With this out it's more efficient for them to attack our enemies first.
- Delaying Shield - Damage protection. It combos with Solemnity to basically say we're not taking damage from anything ever.
- Duelist's Heritage - Subtle pillowfort. Opponents are more likely to attack others if they know they'll get double strike and hit harder. It can also be used to take out an opponent by giving an attacking creature double strike in surprise.
- Ghostly Prison, Windborn Muse - It costs mana to attack us. It would be more efficient to attack elsewhere.
- Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - We take half damage and everyone else takes double. This can either be incentive to attack our opponents or paint a target on us depending on the mindset of those we're playing.
- Phyrexian Unlife - Prevents us from losing at 0 life. Combos with Solemnity to prevent us from losing to infect once we reach 0.
- Righteous Aura - Pay two life to prevent much more damage. A good trade every time.
- Riot Control - Lifegain fog
- Royal Assassin - Prevents creatures from attacking on threat of death to that creature. Creatures with vigilance aren't scared of this guy.
- Serene Master - Protection against tall creatures.
- Spires of Orazca - Remove a creature from combat. This makes attacking us less efficient.
- Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs - Awards us chump blockers if opponents don't pay to attack.
- Master of Cruelties - First strike and deathtouch are best friends. Will kill anything it blocks.
- Ophiomancer - Makes sure we have a constant supply of literal rattlesnakes.
- Vampire Nighthawk - Good for dissuading attackers but also for getting past enemy defenses and reclaiming the Monarch.
- Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) and her deathtouch tokens - It's good to have a rattlesnake as the commander.
- Virtus the Veiled - A Quietus Spike on a stick. Any deathtoucher usually deters attacks, however this guy can draw as much hate as Master of Cruelties. Good for defense but better for offense especially if someone's life total gets out of hand.
- Batwing Brume - Anit-wide fog
- Comeuppance - Wrath of Fog or Deflecting Palm for noncreature damage
- Dawn Charm - Pivotal fog since it also serves as creature protection and a counterspell
- Deflecting Palm - Aikido fog. Anti-tall and anti-burn
- Sudden Spoiling - Split second fog
- Teferi's Protection - Ultimate fog
- Disrupt Decorum - Proactive fog by forcing everyone's combat step away from us
- Word of Seizing - Semi-fog. Can take an opponent's attacking creature and block another attacking creature to remove 2 creatures from combat.
Resources
Ramp and mana fixing- Boros Signet, Orzhov Signet, Rakdos Signet - cost mana rocks
- Gift of Estates - Quick ramp that can supply us with discard fodder late game when we don't need the lands.
- Mind Stone - Mana rock that doubles as card draw
- Smothering Tithe - Ramp or stax against opponents. Either is good for us, and in my experience people tend to like to have mana to play their spells. We'll usually get the mana token. This has excellent synergy with the Monarch. If an opponent is the Monarch, we have an extra chance to get a mana token.
- Sol Ring - Sol Ring
- Talisman of Indulgence - Color fixing mana rock
- Thaumatic Compass - Consistent ramp that flips to a protective land
- Thought Vessel - Mana rock that gives us an unlimited hand size. Super useful when we want to play reactively which is most of the time.
- Diabolic Tutor, Mastermind's Acquisition, Shred Memory, Dimir Machinations - Budget tutors. Shred Memory and Dimir Machinations are usually used to transmute into something we need rather than hard cast.
- Mastermind's Acquisition, Burning Wish - Grab something from our Wishboard which makes these cards extra modal.
- Sunforger - One of the most useful cards in the whole deck. It can grab almost any instant in the deck and cast it for just . Having this out with mana open is enough to deter our opponents from interacting with us. Listed below is our entire Sunforger Package:
- Crystal Ball, Temple of Malice, Temple of Silence, Temple of Triumph - Not card draw per se, but scrying is always good to fix our draws and it's subtle enough not to draw attention.
- Key to the City - Modal card draw with three functions. First it helps filter cards by discarding to use it and drawing when it untaps. Second it acts as soft pillowfort by encouraging attacks to be pointed away from us. Finally it allows our big threats to attack unblocked. It functions as offense, defense, and card fixing. Super utility card.
- Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) - The Monarch gives us constant incremental card draw.
Win Cons
Win cons in this deck should either win on their own and come out of nowhere or perform other functions in the deck that can pull off a win with the right timing. The strategy for wining should rely on perfect timing not perfect draws.- Aikido Wins - Deflecting Palm , Comeuppance , Backlash , Delirium , Batwing Brume , Rakdos Charm
- Threaten Effects - Disrupt Decorum , Word of Seizing , Animate Dead.
- Symmetrical Damage - Price of Progress
- Dark Depths Package - Dark Depths and Solemnity, Mirage Mirror, or Thespian's Stage
- Master of Cruelties - Unblocked attack via Key to the City or Glaring Spotlight followed by any source of damage such as Price of Progress
- Flying and Lifelink - Serra Ascendant, Vampire Nighthawk
- Attack Enhancers - Duelist's Heritage, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Wishboard Wins
- Debt to the Deathless, Exsanguinate - Can shift our position or straight up end the game if played at the right time.
- Insurrection - Let our opponents build up their army then steal them all and hit them with it.
Hodor
Hodor hodor hodor hodor?
Queen Marchesa: Politics, Aikido, and Control
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 723 | 911 COMMENTS | 182361 VIEWS | IN 386 FOLDERS
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97% Casual
Competitive
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 6 years |
| Last updated | 2 years |
| Legality | This deck is not Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 11 - 0 Mythic Rares 52 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.68 |
| Tokens | Assassin 1/1 B w/ Haste, Elephant 3/3 G, Foretell, Marit Lage, The Monarch, Treasure |
| Folders | Decks, Interesting Decks, queen m, The Likes, D's nuts, Jennifer, decks i want, Queen Marchesa, Neat Decks, For Reference |
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