Is the art for Marchesa altered or official art?

Godhead_Initiated I WISH that it was official. Sadly Marchesa, the Black Rose's original artist made her appear MUCH older than her depiction elsewhere among the lore of Conspiracy.

I love this deck and I may have to borrow it. My biggest concern is getting the +1/+1 counters onto important creatures. Seeing as with only a few exceptions your +1/+1 counters come from attacking isn't this rather risky?

99906x: Oh, it can be. You have to remember that this deck disincentivizes board wipes. People don't like casting board wipes if they know that one player is only going to lose one of their five creatures.

The truth is that it IS risky, but remember that it's suicide Grixis to begin with. A lot of times you can tell people that you're just attacking them to get them out of dethrone range and to protect your creature. That reduces the political ramifications of attacking. You can also declare the attack only to sacrifice creatures out of the way after dethrone triggers but before combat damage is dealt.

• Unspeakable Symbol
• Urabrask the Hidden
• Anger
• Swiftfoot Boots
• Lightning Greaves
• Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• Phyrexian Revelation
• Modular creatures

These are all ways to protect creatures by getting them under their dethrone umbrella as quickly as possible or returning them after they're removed. Now, keep in mind that most of the "good creatures" impact the board upon death or entry, so playing and then sacrificing them out of the way still means you're getting value out of them. It's not like you tapped out for a Stormtide Leviathan only to have it just immediately blown up.

I dig it. Thanks for the response.

99906x It's my pleasure. It's a fun deck that took my meta by storm. I hope you enjoy it! If you discover any cool new synergies, be sure to remember little old me and post them here, would you?

This is amazing! Wish there was a way for RUB mind control to be viable in modern, none of my friends play commander.

5D_Phantom In essence, this is the edh version of Grixis Shadow. While there are no counterspells or Turbo Xerox theorem in play, it IS Grixis and it IS better when you are at lower life totals. That established, play Grixis Shadow, throw some copies of Threads of Disloyalty in there, and see where it takes you!

Metallic Mimic needs a spot, it's very abusable here. Also, haste enablers like Urabrask the Hidden, Ogre Battledriver, and Anger work very very well here. I also advocate running all 3 signets here in addition to your current rocks.

I would suggest dropping a few of your clunkier thief effects like Dominus and Helm to make room.

Anyways, feel free to check out my list for ideas. Not really doing the thievery thing (tried it) but it should still give you lots and lots of ideas. He who controls the Spice controls the Spice Girls

Last_Laugh: I'm not a fan of Metallic Mimic as there are only a few shared creature types in the deck. That being said, you're right in that I should probably get my hands on Urabrask and Ogre Battledriver (not Anger because there are very few mountains). As for the clunkiness of Dominus and Helm, they're not as clunky as you think. Helm doubles as a sac outlet while Dominus is one of the few answers (albeit temporary) to artifacts and enchantments in the colors. If anything, I would be removing Sage of Fables to make room for Urabrask or Ogre Battledriver.

As for the thievery, I find that it adds a nice blend of control to the deck without allocating slots that slow down the deck.

If you need an answer for enchantments, try Aura Thief. Easily the best enchantment answer in these colors.

If you want artifact destruction, there's plenty of red creatures with artifact destruction as an etb, or there's always Gate to Phyrexia to double as a sac outlet.

Also, metallic mimic doesn't need a lot of creatures that share a type here. It's point is to abuse the hell out of etb/death triggers on every turn. I.e. name zombie and sac Vindictive Lich every turn thanks to the counter. Obviously much better than only saccing once per round.

Last_Laugh Oooh! I've NEVER seen Aura Thief before! Thanks for adding a new cards to my repertoire of color wheel breakers. I'll give Metallic Mimic a try, probably in place of Pyreheart Wolf.

I really think that Sower of Temptation belongs in this build with how you have it setup.

Rant I probably should. The opportunity cost seems a bit high though. Maybe I'll take out Helm of Possession.

Unspeakable Symbol, Akroma, Angel of Fury (comes back flipped with Marchesa), Cytoplast Manipulator, Flayer of the Hatebound, etc... check out my deck, Hunt the Throne.

I am currently running Cytoplast Manipulator and Flayer of the Hatebound. As for Unspeakable Symbol, I need to test it out a bit more extensively. In my experience it tends to drain a bit too quickly. If my meta weren't as aggressive, I might consider it. As for Akroma, I do like the synergy, but it doesn't synergize much with the deck beyond that cheap flip.

I second Unspeakable Symbol, that card is a 100% windmill slam into any Marchesa list. You put counters on stuff in response to targeted removal etc. or to get a combo going, you don't need to put a counter on everything. Also some lifegain cards are kinda needed here because yes, the deck is aggressive with its own life, consider Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Noxious Gearhulk, and/or Disciple of Bolas. The first two can be alt win-cons with anything adding counters (like unspeakable symbol), marchesa, and a sac outlet.

Last_Laugh: I have considered all of those life gaining cards, and frankly, they gain TOO much life for my meta. That would put me at the highest life total by a large chunk, when in reality I want to be only a few points of life behind first or second. Temple of Aclazotz, Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, High Market, Miren, the Moaning Well, Vampiric Rites, and Wurmcoil Engine are MORE than sufficient. While what you suggested can be alternate wincons, they NEED support to be such, thus being subpar in all other circumstances. Disciple of Bolas is in a lot of lists, but it's also very weak and dependant compared to other draw engines in the deck.

I'll test out Unspeakable Symbol again, but in my experience it's only able to be used once or twice. At that point any other card would be better (like Olivia for instance).

Unspeakable symbol allows you to pump your stuff, and then smash the throne. I'm surprised you don't have Dack's Duplicate, and Scourge of the Throne (You can have multiple instances of Dethrone). Also Word of Seizing, and Act of Aggression because instant speed theft is amazing. BTW you have NO instants. None. That's ridiculous. If you refuse to put instants in, I think you're required to play Vedalken Orrery.

Dack's Duplicate: It's really a choice between that and Sower of Temptation. I'd rather take Sower.

Scourge of the Throne: It's basically just a big dumb beater. I would be choosing between it and Insurrection, and Insurrection is more game winning.

Word of Seizing: It's good, but I prefer repeatable effects. Act of Aggression is close to meriting inclusion, but I did just kick Mark of Mutiny for the same reason of it not being repeatable. I DO like how it turns on Dethrone, however.

Vedalken Orrery: It's...interesting? I don't think that I'm required to play it...but I can see it putting in some amount of work in the deck (along with Leyline of Anticipation).

Your call, but 0 instants feels like a weakness. Word of Siezing steals planeswalkers, too.

epajula You do realize that with sac outlets, everything in the deck is instant-speed, right? The entirety of the deck has flash just by sticking an Ashnod's Altar on the field with a few good targets.