Commander Collection: Revenge of the Mummy

Commander / EDH UBR (Grixis)

Jurrane

Land (35)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 1x Haunted Ridge
• 3x Island
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence P
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City P
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shipwreck Marsh
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold P
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Necropotence P
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Rhystic Study P
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Creature (21)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Danny Pink
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Marionette Apprentice
• 1x Metallic Mimic
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Murderous Redcap
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Putrid Goblin
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Spellseeker P
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Artifact (14)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Cauldron of Souls
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Phyrexian Altar P
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x The Ozolith P

Commander (1)

Instant (15)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Crosis's Charm
• 1x Cyclonic Rift *f-etch* P
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Fierce Guardianship *f-etch* P
• 1x First Day of Class
• 1x Force of Negation P
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain *f-etch* P
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Withering Torment

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Insatiable Avarice
• 1x Toxic Deluge

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{U}{B}{R} Introduction: Mama Said Knock You Out {U}{B}{R}

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Welcome to this primer for my new Marchesa, the Black Rose EDH combo list. Like many of my newer decks, this one's born from the ashes from another build that didn't quite make the grade (Kess, Dissident Mage discard). I've taken a basic Grixis shell of lands and mana rocks, and developed it to become the deck you see here.

There are various ways you can build Marchesa, the Black Rose. She's a powerful, versatile commander that supports a number of different strategies. I've chosen to go all in on a combo build although the infinite combos we run aren't actually reliant on Marchesa being on the battlefield. This means we're quite resilient and tend to exploit her abilities for value rather than being necessary for our ability to combo off.

Our Combo Plan

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Our main routes to victory are our various infinite damage combos. We are looking for loops of death triggers that can be recurred an arbitrarily large number of times to take out any or all of our opponents. The pieces needed for these combos are usually a combination of the following: (1) a creature with a graveyard recursion ability (either persist or undying); (2) a card that grants or removes +1/+1 counters; (3) an Aristocrat (or other direct damage source); and (4) a sacrifice outlet. That might sound like a lot but we have multiple of options for each of these pieces. In a couple of instances (Flayer of the Hatebound and Murderous Redcap) parts 1 and 3 are combined (a graveyard recursion trigger that also causes direct damage).

Here's a list of each of those combo pieces and a summary of how work they work together.

Graveyard Recursion Creatures:

• Flayer of the Hatebound
• Glen Elendra Archmage
• Murderous Redcap
• Puppeteer Clique
• Putrid Goblin
• Spark Double

Counter Generators:

• First Day of Class
• Metallic Mimic
• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• Sage of Fables

Aristocrats:

• Blood Artist
• Falkenrath Noble
• Marionette Apprentice
• Zulaport Cutthroat

Sacrifice Outlets:

• Altar of Dementia
• Carrion Feeder
• Goblin Bombardment
• Phyrexian Altar
• Viscera Seer

The goal of the combo is to have a sacrifice outlet and an Aristocrat on the battlefield, along with a persist creature and a source that gives +1/+1 counters. By sacrificing the persist creature to a sacrifice outlet and giving it a +1/+1 counter when it returns to the battlefield, the +1/+1 counter and the -1/-1 counter (the latter from persist) cancel each other out, which means the creature can infinitely enter and leave the battlefield via the sacrifice outlet, enabling infinite death triggers from the Aristocrat (or other direct damage source).

Although this is the basic combo, there are a number of other variations to consider:

• If the sacrifice outlet is Altar of Dementia, we can mill opposing players until their libraries are empty if damage is being prevented for some reason.
• Murderous Redcap doesn't need an Aristocrat to deal infinite damage as recurring it with its ETB trigger will get the job done on its own.
• Flayer of the Hatebound goes infinite with Sage of Fables and Ashnod's Altar as we can sacrifice Flayer to the Altar to add {C}{C} and trigger undying plus Flayer's damage trigger. We then use the {C}{C} to pay {2} to remove the +1/+1 counter from Flayer and draw a card, ready to repeat again as many times as is needed.

Other Value Creatures

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We run a handful of other creatures that aren't part of our combo engine but grant us a lot of value when recurred with Marchesa, the Black Rose, or used in conjunction with our sacrifice or +1/+1 counter sources. These are as follows:

• Danny Pink: Tailor made for this deck. Draws us a card whenever we put a +1/+1 counter on a creature for the first time each turn, plus he's able to add counters himself. I'd go as far as to say he's one of our newest staples.
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel: We can drain the table in pretty short order with Gary and the various ways we have of recurring him. Useful for softening up opponents or taking them out if our devotion to black is high enough, or in the late game if their life totals are low.
  
• Grim Haruspex: One of our more synergistic card draw options. We can get a lot of value from it if we get our sacrifice engines going.
• Imperial Recruiter: Tutors for a good proportion of our creatures eg. Carrion Feeder, Falkenrath Noble, Glen Elendra Archmage, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Marionette Apprentice, Metallic Mimic, Murderous Redcap, Putrid Goblin, Sage of Fables, Viscera Seer, Thought Sponge, Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat. We can get repeated uses from it with dethrone triggers and sacrifices. Staple for this list.
• Spellseeker: Mainly used to tutor for First Day of Class, one of our most important combo pieces. Or it can find other low-cost instants or sorceries if we need them instead.
• Treasonous Ogre: Staple for red combo decks. Helps us ramp with mana, allows us to manipulate our life total if needed and even has dethrone too. Perfect for Marchesa combo lists.

Supporting Cards

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We also have access to various support cards that help set up our combo, draw cards, protect our board state and deal with threats. Here are the highlights in these categories.

Tutors
We currently have Demonic Tutor, Grim Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Insatiable Avarice as our tutors to find any card. We like the latter three especially as they incur life loss which is relevant for dethrone. We supplement these with more specific options such as Imperial Recruiter to search for key creatures and Spellseeker, which gets First Day of Class as one of our best +1/+1 counters cards. Lim-Dul's Vault is an excellent way of digging for combo pieces.

Card Draw
We run gold standard card draw in Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora and Necropotence. Danny Pink is a must-have too. I've always been a bit underwhelmed by Grim Haruspex in other decks but it seems like a decent fit here. Phyrexian Arena is an older staple that's been slightly outclassed these days although it's still worth running. Sage of Fables can also be good in a pinch.

Counterspells
Our countermagic package of Fierce Guardianship, Force of Negation, Counterspell, Arcane Denial and Mana Drain is there to stop opponents interacting with our board and to help us force through our key spells. As we don't run any other protective measures, our combos are liable to disruption so it's often a good idea o hold back counters ready for when it's time to win the game.

Removal
Grixis colours are pretty strong for removal. We have spot removal for creatures, enchantments and artifacts in Terminate, Withering Torment, Feed the Swarm and Crosis's Charm, plus the great catch-all that is Chaos Warp. Rakdos Charm is another useful modal option which can catch go-wide players with their pants down. Our boardwipes are Damnation, Blasphemous Act, Cyclonic Rift and Toxic Deluge, the first two of which can be one-sided if we have Marchesa in play and a bunch of creatures with +1/+1 counters on them.

Recursion
Wise opponents will identify our creatures that are combo pieces and prioritise them for removal. We want ways to bring them back from the graveyard if they're destroyed. We run Phyrexian Reclamation and Volrath's Stronghold for this purpose.

Playing the Deck

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I would categorise this Marchesa list as being medium to high power. It has won three of its first four games, including a turn 4 combo kill that took out the whole table. The hardest part is assembling its various combo pieces but, once you have them, it's pretty resilient and can fight through disruption. I highly recommend reading this excellent primer which has influenced every aspect of the deck's development and play style. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/3sPJuf1jM061CrneEFTLlA/primer

In the early turns, we're basically a control deck, building up resources and ramping when we can. If you draw into a boardwipe early, it's usually best to sandbag your stuff and clear the table before playing combo pieces. I'd advise against playing against the main parts of the combo until you're ready to go off (or a turn or so before) as people will save removal for them once they figure out what you're up to. In a perfect world, you'll also have counterspell backup to push through the combo but this isn't always possible. Sometimes you just have to go for it and hope for the best.

In my first few games, I've found myself attacking aggressively when Marchesa is on the board to get +1/+1 counters and recur creatures that have useful ETBs. I've found Volrath's Stronghold and Phyrexian Reclamation to be really helpful for recycling creatures that have gon to the graveyard. The nice thing is opponents will often target Marchesa because she's seen as a threat when, in reality, she's not essential for the combo and usually just helps things along. Any removal they waste on her is one fewer for Blood Artist and friends to worry about.

Cauldron of Souls isn't included in the combo pieces list above but it's a great value card for recurring Flayer of the Hatebound and other creature ETBs. With the right combination of +1/+1 counters and persist activations, you can usually get enough Flayer ETBs to deal significant amounts of damage to an opponent, if not remove them entirely. Cauldron is expensive to cast at {5} but I think it's worth it, even if it's not a core combo piece.

Another card not mentioned in the combo list is Unspeakable Symbol. Don't sleep on it as it's one of the most synergistic cards in the deck. It fulfills a dual purpose: not only does it put +1/+1 counters on our creatures for the investment of 3 life each time (thereby enabling dethrone if Marchesa's on the battlefield) but it helps manage our life total for other dethrone triggers. Every Marchesa, the Black Rose list should be running it.

Power Level

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I categorise decks in my collection according to four tiers of power, from 1 (most powerful) to 4 (least powerful):

Tier 1: Higher powered decks with fast mana, free spells, and infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors.
Tier 2: Well tuned decks which may have infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors, but not many fast mana sources and/or free spells.
Tier 3: Reasonably well tuned casual decks that are capable of powerful plays. May occasionally have infinite combos or instant wins but don't generally use tutors to find them.
Tier 4: Lower powered or linear decks, weak enough to play against other casual decks.

I would classify this as one of my Tier 2 decks. It's well tuned and features optimised card selections in most categories, other than fast mana. Its combo win conditions are searchable with tutors, which helps a lot with efficiency and can result in early turn wins (as mentioned above, this build won its first ever game on turn 4). Adding fast mana rocks would push it into Tier 1 category, which is something I'm currently considering.

Budget

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The average price for this deck on Card Kingdom is about $500. I've reduced the cost by using proxied copies of nine cards I own already (Otawara, Soaring City, Mana Confluence, Volrath's Stronghold, Fierce Guardianship, Mana Drain, Force of Negation, Cyclonic Rift, Spellseeker, Phyrexian Altar, Necropotence and Rhystic Study), although some other premium card choices are included like Damnation, Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor. Three colour mana bases can add a fair bit to the cost of a deck too, as fetches and shocks are included, but there are plenty of budget options for cheaper lands. Most of the core combo pieces themselves are fairly cheap so if you want to go down the budget route with a combo Marchesa, the Black Rose list, the good news is it's perfectly viable.

Next Steps

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Many thanks for checking out my primer :) I hope you've found it useful and it inspires your own Marchesa, the Black Rose list. Marchesa stands out as easily my favourite Grixis commander because, to be perfectly honest, it's one of the colour combinations I've struggled the most with. I'm really glad I built this deck because it fulfills an important role in my collection as a pure combo deck.

Moving forward, I don't anticipate any changes as all the card choices are pretty much locked. Until some new combo pieces come along...

Lightning Greaves -> Imperial Seal

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All My EDH Decks

{W} Giada, Font of Hope {W}
S(i)erra Sidewinder: Mono-White Angel Tribal

{U} Talrand, Sky Summoner {U}
Blue Streak: Mono-Blue Spellslinger

{U} Orvar, the All-Form {U}
Clone Zone: Mono-Blue Shapeshifters Combo

{B} Sidisi, Undead Vizier {B}
Swamp Thing: Mono-Black Goodstuff

{B} Syr Konrad, the Grim {B}
Black Hole: Mono-Black Sacrifice/Aristocrats

{R} Torbran, Thane of Red Fell {R}
Red Force: Mono-Red Group Slug

{R} Rionya, Fire Dancer {R}
Firebird: Mono-Red Storm/Tokens

{G} Titania, Protector of Argoth {G}
Timber Terror: Mono-Green Stax

{W}{U} Grand Arbiter Augustin IV {W}{U}
Control Freak: Azorius Control

{W}{U} Elminster {W}{U}
Crystal Wing: Azorius Skies & Scry

{U}{B} Oona, Queen of the Fae {U}{B}
Dreamcatcher: Dimir Faeries Tribal

{U}{B} Narfi, Betrayer King {U}{B}
Ice Breaker: Dimir Snow/Zombies

{B}{R} Rakdos, Lord of Riots {B}{R}
Steamin’ Demon: Rakdos Life Loss

{B}{R} Juri, Master of the Revue {B}{R}
Pandemonium: Rakdos Sacrifice

{R}{G} Hallar, the Firefletcher {R}{G}
Trailblazer: Gruul Kicker

{R}{G} Wort, the Raidmother {R}{G}
Barnstormer: Gruul Conspire

{W}{G} Sigarda, Font of Blessings {W}{G}
Stampida: Selesnya Humans Tribal

{W}{G} Captain Sisay {W}{G}
Legendia: Selesnya Legendary

{W}{G} Sythis, Harvest's Hand {W}{G}
Diamondback: Selesnya Enchantress

{W}{B} Daxos the Returned {W}{B}
Curse of Novgorod: Orzhov Constellation

{W}{B} Kambal, Consul of Allocation {W}{B}
Oblivion: Orzhov Lifegain & Lifedrain

{U}{R} Firkraag, Cunning Instigator {U}{R}
Dragon’s Fury: Izzet Dragons/Goad

{B}{G} Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons {B}{G}
Scorpion Express: Golgari Deathtouch

{B}{G} Nath of the Gilt-Leaf {B}{G}
Outlaw Run: Golgari Elves/Discard

{W}{R} Bruenor Battlehammer {W}{R}
Steel Force: Boros Equipment

{W}{R} General Ferrous Rokiric {W}{R}
Gatekeeper: Boros Multicoloured

{U}{G} Momir Vig, Simic Visionary {U}{G}
Wicked Twister: Simic +1/+1 Counters

{U}{G} Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres {U}{G}
Toxic Garden: Simic Infect

{W}{U}{B} Tivit, Seller of Secrets {W}{U}{B}
Steel Vengeance: Esper Artifacts

{W}{U}{B} Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign {W}{U}{B}
Riddler’s Revenge: Esper Topdeck

{U}{B}{R} Marchesa, the Black Rose {U}{B}{R}
Revenge of the Mummy: Grixis Dethrone/Combo

{B}{R}{G} Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire {B}{R}{G}
Dragon Wagon: Jund Dragons Tribal

{W}{R}{G} Pantlaza, Sun-Favored {W}{R}{G}
Raptor Attack: Naya Dinosaurs Tribal

{W}{U}{G} Galadriel, Light of Valinor {W}{U}{G}
Vapour Trail: Bant Flicker

{W}{B}{G} Karador, Ghost Chieftain {W}{B}{G}
Hair Raiser: Abzan Reanimator

{W}{U}{R} Kykar, Wind's Fury {W}{U}{R}
Storm Runner: Jeskai Tokens

{W}{U}{R} Hinata, Dawn-Crowned {W}{U}{R}
Phantom’s Revenge: Jeskai Spirits Tribal

{U}{B}{G} Yarok, the Desecrated {U}{B}{G}
Boomerang: Sultai ETB Triggers

{W}{B}{R} Kaalia of the Vast {W}{B}{R}
Abyssus: Mardu Angels & Demons

{U}{R}{G} Omnath, Locus of the Roil {U}{R}{G}
Boulder Dash: Temur Landfall

Date added	2 months
Last updated	32 minutes
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.74
Tokens	Morph 2/2 C, Servo 1/1 C