Endless Marchesa Shenanigans

Commander / EDH Aggro Control Living End Multiplayer Theme/Gimmick UBR (Grixis)

00argopile

Creature (37)

• 1x Anger
• 1x Aura Thief
• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Matter Reshaper
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Necropolis Regent
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Nevermaker
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x River Kelpie
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sage of Fables
• 1x Sakashima the Impostor
• 1x Sire of Stagnation
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Sower of Temptation
• 1x Thraximundar
• 1x Tuktuk Scrapper
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1x Urabrask the Hidden
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed

Land (34)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Flamekin Village
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x High Market
• 2x Island
• 1x Miren, the Moaning Well
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Feast on the Fallen
• 1x Greed
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Sneak Attack
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Commander (1)

Artifact (17)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Eldrazi Monument
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Instant (3)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Living Death

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Maybeboard

Creature (7)

• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Feldon of the Third Path
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born *oversized*
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Scuttling Doom Engine
• 1x Shadowborn Demon
• 1x Sun Quan, Lord of Wu

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Toxic Deluge

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I built this originally to be in the 70% deck style; competent in casual games and capable in competitive games. However my meta has increased in speed so dramatically that I have had to tune the deck fully to be able to compete. I play it as aggro-control. It's theme is abuse of Marchesa's abilities mixed with synergistic control elements. Tuck is no more! Long live Marchesa!

This deck currently has no way of surviving a dedicated mill attempt. An eldrazi could take care of this issue but comes with major synergy problems. I currently run a decent package of recursion mostly built around getting living death back out of the GY, which when combined with a mill deck feeding most of my deck into the GY should just flat win the game.

Thanks to the recursive theme of Marchesa's last ability, the deck allows you to play in a variety of ways. You can be hyper-aggro, smashing your dudes against your opponents with willful abandon, or you can sit back and let effects like Flayer of the Hatebound ebb your opponent's life away while you maintain a solid board presence that is highly resistant to removal. Or, more typically, some hybrid blending of the two, moving from beatdown to control as needed.

I have come to really enjoy the interactiveness of this deck and while I win only a reasonable amount of them, I do get the sense that I am a threat to win in all of them. It has tools for most any situation and very few board states resemble something I cannot deal with. It is also incredibly resilient to removal and control elements. Of the very few silver bullets against this deck, Containment Priest, Rest in Peace, and Leyline of the Void/Planar Void are among the most brutal. Be wary of a white player holding up 2 mana, one of them being white.

In addition to filling it with synergy pieces that work well on their own, the deck runs a few interesting combos. They are:
--Dualcaster Mage + Living Death next to a sac outlet lets you cycle your GY and battlefield endlessly. Cast Living Death, copy it with Dualcaster Mage, sac the mage before the copy resolves, allow the copy spell to resolve bringing back the mage, and recopy the original Living Death. Rinse, Repeat, Win. NOTE if your sac outlet is a creature you will need to sac it with the mage each time.
--Flayer of the Hatebound + Phyrexian Altar + Sage of Fables nets you a card draw and 5 damage at a target creature or player per activation, at a cost of 1 mana per. Outside of unusual circumstances this should be enough to net a win. Ashnod's Altar, which I no longer run, makes this infinite.

Aura Thief , Tuktuk Scrapper , Sower of Temptation, and Nevermaker have been my go-to's for troublesome permanents. Cyclonic Rift is my oh-shit button. Play Nevermaker . He's amazing.

I used to run a small disruption package of Spellskite, Dualcaster Mage and glen elendra mage. This replaced the small amount of hand hate I used to run, which were: Liliana's Specter, Oona's Blackguard, Liliana Vess, and Notion Thief. Vendilion Clique, Needle Specter, and Syphon Mind were some other good options that didn't make the cut. In the end discard just isn't viable in multiplayer.

Necrotic Ooze is nasty with a Kiki-Jiki/spellskite/archmage/fulminator/fleshwrither in the GY. Don't forget that it also copies your many sac outlets should they get offed.

Some other nasty cards, if you are looking to go more cutthroat are:
More Land D - Avalanche Riders, and Jokulhaups
Counterspell effects - Venser, Shaper Savant, Ertai, Wizard Adept , and Voidmage Prodigy
Infinite/many turns - Sage of Hours, with Unspeakable Symbol, 15 life = 1 Turn, Gray Merchant of Asphodel will offset this effect rather easily. Another way is to have Marchesa copied by Sakashima the Impostor and a Scourge of the Throne swinging. In addition, having Necrotic Ooze out with sage, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker in the GY lets you go infinite with extra turns, large hasty dudes and sac effects. Zealous Conscripts targeting Kiki-Jiki gets you infinite hasty dudes.

Any suggestions are appreciated! Talk to me people!

Also, if you like the deck, please hit the upvote button! Thanks!

Date added	10 years
Last updated	7 years
Key combos	Dualcaster Mage + Living Death Flayer of the Hatebound + Phyrexian Altar + Sage of Fables
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.58
Tokens	Copy Clone, Morph 2/2 C, Squid 1/1 U
Folders	EDH, edh, 121196, Decks to Consider, commander, A EDH Playtest, Interesting decks, Want to get, interesting, Deck Ideas