I like all the changes, and look forward to hearing more about the new cards. Both seem good.

Older20, sorry for the late response...somehow I missed your comment! Teysa performs reasonably well, neither an all-star or a dead card. Her usual role is as late-game finisher. You're right that I have a lot of "No Mercy" effects in the deck and I probably don't need that much redundancy. At 7 mana she is the most expensive of the bunch. I've purposely decided to not include any reanimation effects, including Sun Titan. I've built the deck to hate on reanimation strategies which are everywhere in my meta. Hence the inclusion of Rest in Peace, Scavenger Grounds, Rakdos Charm, Merciless Eviction, and recently putting back in Hallowed Burial. I like your suggestion of Mirage Mirror. It performs well in my Keranos Loves Other People's Cardboard deck.

Glad to see treasure nabber & xantcha working out; definitely looking to include them when i make a purchase to finish off my deck in the fall! I'm a little sad to see the exclusion of Orzhov Advokist just because I'm in love with the card haha. I might keep it in my list but I also run sun titan instead of dread; so i have a bit of extra appreciation for 3cmc creatures. (Also why Kambal is in the list).

Question for you; I know you cut diabolic tutor with your more recent update... however; in a hypothetical... if you did not have the monetarily expensive tutors (vampiric & demonic) would you consider playing the more mana expensive tutors (diabolic tutor & mastermind's acquisition) or would you just shy away from them all together?

I'm still actively working on my list Queen Marchesa, Politics & Pillow Forts

Bloodytrailz, sorry I missed your comment from a month ago!

Yes, I would include Diabolic Tutor and Mastermind's Acquisition as budget options. They are perfectly respectable substitutes. This deck often plays as a "toolbox" deck so I think it's important to have at least a couple tutors to fetch exactly what you need.

MegaMatt13 S'all good haha, my current rendition cut them for now, I might look to slot them back in but it'll be hard to cut 2 cards at this point, I feel like i have a pretty lean list that i'm really happy with for now. Although I do enjoy the tutor effects, gonna playtest without them for a bit and get a feel for how badly i miss them in the list and adjust if I feel I want them in again.

Did you revise the current cards from Guilds of Ravnica? I have my own Queen Marchesa build and always valued your very thought trough opinion.

zenia, I didn't really notice any cards in guilds of Ravnica that fit in here. it was a great set for my other decks though!

Dear MegaMatt13,

As I've said before, I have a Queen Marchesa inspired on this deck. I do not know if you're following the latest Ravnica Allegiance spoilers, but I can tell you that there are some very interesting new cards from the Rakdos and Orzhov guilds that could be tested with Queen Marchesa.

I'd like to know your opinion on cards like Captive Audience, Macabre Mockery, Smothering Tithe and Bedevil.

Any other cards you would be interested in testing on the deck?

Bedevil is decent dealing with any threat but an enchantment and is sunforger fetchable.

Captive audience if I wanted to hose 1 player over I would run overwhelming splendor instead.

Macabre mockery is very meta dependant and not all that great of an effect for 4 mana. I will give it some credit as a 4 mana Instant though... you could sunforger a creature from the graveyard to block in a pinch.

Smothering tithe is interesting but I would want to lean towards having some pay X spells to utilize the treasure gains. Could work in tandem with revel in riches as an alternate win con.

A card I've got my eye on for potential is revival // revenge.. I personally have a lot of good 3 cmc creatures and revenge + reverberate would quadruple my HP and drop two people by half.

Bloodytrailz, thanks for the contribution!

I take this opportunity to to comment that I really like your Queen Marchesa, Politics & Pillow Forts too. I consider Hide / Seek an excellent choice for Politics / Pillowfort decks.

One day when I have the time and patience I post my version of Queen Marchesa.

My opinion about the cards:

Bedevil is the card with the highest chances of having an opportunity on the deck, powerful effect, very good to solve problems quickly. In addition, it can be used with Sunforger. Could it replace Utter End or Anguished Unmaking?

Captive Audience, what can I say about it? These cards do not match with Control and Pillowfort. But I'd like to test it on a long match. I loved this card.

Macabre Mockery, I ask about this card precisely because of the possibility of using it with Sunforger. This is a card for very specific situations, maybe a card that in many moments may be useless.

Smothering Tithe is the type of card that will not stay long on the battlefield. For a match with 3 or 4 opponents, you can have a very large advantage in a few turns. I understand that MegaMatt13 avoids cards that can be easily seen as a target by opponents. But even while remaining short on the battlefield this card provides Draw advantage. More than Underworld Connections.

Honestly, after looking over my list (pretty similar and based/inspired by MegaMatts), the cuts I would be most likely to make would be cutting a basic land (i find that I rarely have land issues thanks to the card draw provided by monarch & by the deck) or Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts... i've only gotten her in play 1 time, and it's just kind of underwhelming at 7 CMC ... replacing anguished or utter end just doesn't seem like a good idea. A) they both exile instead of destroy. B) they are easier to hard cast with only 2 colored mana instead of 3 colored mana. They both have their own little extra costs (anguish 3 life, and utter end +1 generic mana) but they hit everything and exile which can be important in some cases.

Smothering tithe doesn't provide card advantage, it provides mana ramp... it's basically the rhystic study of treasure tokens haha. Treasures aren't as inherently threatening, but I do feel like this would be at least a medium priority target to get off the table.

Still waiting on more spoilers but there's a good chance as of right now I'm going to -1 basic plains & -Teysa for +bedevil & +revival//revenge.

I like the changes. I want to hear how Xancha does. I have not tried it, and honestly I am skeptical, despite how it looks to do exactly what a political pillow fort wants. The forcing of the behavior is the big problem I see. It often doesn't go the way you want, or think. Let me know your thoughts as you play it.

I've got Xantcha in my deck, but with ~5 games of her in there, I've yet to see her :(

Also, I might be cutting Teysa/Dread... no mercy is a nice effect for 4 mana, but I find myself quite often discarding or not wanting to commit the 6 or 7 mana for these creatures.

JMarostica, Bloodytrailz, and precociousapprentice: thanks for your suggestions and feedback. Here are my thoughts on suggested Ravnica Allegiance cards:

Bedevil is definitely going in. Not as strong as Anguished Unmaking or Utter End but it is another flexible removal spell. Great suggestion.

Smothering Tithe I'm considering. It's obviously a great ramp engine in White. However, what am I ramping into? Would I just be putting an annoying enchantment on the battlefield that attracts too much attention? Also, at 4 CMC it is a bit awkward for a ramp spell. At 4 mana I want to be casting Marchesa or other pillowfort effects. That is why I like ramp to be 3 CMC or less. Having said all that, it is a ramp machine and deserves consideration.

Captive Audience is an incredibly flavourful/fun looking card. Unfortunately as a pseudo-curse, it kinda works against my usual game plan. It incentivizes one opponent to come at me hard in retribution. It doesn't cause discord amongst my opponents which is what I aim to do.

Revival//Revenge wouldn't be optimal in my deck. I don't have a lot of small creatures for the first half. The second half has the problem of not actually killing someone. While more mana-intensive, Torment of Hailfire , Debt to the Deathless , and Exsanguinate can actually kill opponents (sometimes all of them!) Revenge can't do that and only hits one. I'm thinking of putting Torment of Hailfire back in as a late game win con. I've been wrecked by that card even with X being quite modest.

Cards I'm considering cutting:

I agree with the critiques of Teysa. She is just too much at 7 mana. I've had a soft spot for her because I think her design is cool, but she rarely lives up to expectations.

Delaying Shield also hasn't been living up to expectations. The fact that it helps me avoid losing the monarchy is nice, but I have to many pillowfort and fog effects that this shield typically isn't necessary. Again at 4 CMC, I always prefer casting Marchesa than this card.

I kind of agree with delaying shield being high on the potential cut list as well. Without solemnity or phyrexian unlife in the deck to create an unliving scenario it's not as strong on it's own. However, I would argue against this card having a conflict with marchesa at 4 CMC... there isn't much point in having a delaying shield out until the monarchy is in play anyways, so while they might match in CMC, sequentially speaking you will always play marchesa first by defualt.

I have enjoyed delaying shield a lot, it's saved me from losing monarchy many times, but that's a decently big mana investment to protect something i don't necessarily need to protect. I've rarely any qualms if my opponents want to play beat each other up for the pretty crown haha.

The amount of times I have paid mana to reduce the damage is exactly 0, so that part of the card is effectively non existent to me, which further reduces its usefulness.

Dear

First, I apologize to everyone for my mistake in my previous post. When I read the text of the card Smothering Tithe I understood that it was card advantage, rather than mana ramp. I was hasty in my comment.

I agree with you, when I mentioned Bedevil to replace Anguished Unmaking or Utter End , it was a bad idea. But at the same time, I would like to test it, because it's an excellent card. So, I'd like to hear from you, what cards would you remove from the deck to test Bedevil ?

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts is an excellent creature, but it doen't stop my opponents from taking the Monarch. The cost of 7 mana makes her a creature that enters the battlefield in the late game. At this moment, most of my opponents already have many creatures in play, don't prevent losing the Monarch, forcing me to use other pillowfort to keep Monarch's control. At the same time, it isn't a great kill condiction for a multiplayer game.

I understand that Delaying Shield must remain on the deck, the cost of it is 4 manas, but it isn't a prohibitive cost. It's an excellent tool, in an opportunity I was saved by him, and I could destroy it to simply not lose the game (it was a very fun game).