Hey, this deck is awesome. Queen M is one of my favorite commanders and I love the colors she represents.

I tried to make a deck like this, which wins slowly and gets better as the game goes on, but it never really seemed to work for me. Without all the stax mechanics it felt like I was too slow and almost always lost. My current list runs an infinite combo and I have been having a lot more success. It gets boring sometimes though winning like that, maybe I was playing a deck like yours incorrectly? Not sure. Anyway, super cool deck +1 from me

Thanks x2Relentless for your comment. This deck is my all time favourite and has been since the very first iteration, so I can definitely relate to what you are saying.

I make a conscious decision in my EDH decks not to run infinite combos - but that's just how I like to play. I have had no problem winning my fair share of games with this build - though I think it does require playing in a certain style that may not be entirely intuitive. It requires a decent amount of patience, good threat assessment and quite a number of judgment calls in the average game. Many of the tools in this build are reactive so there is a lot of "pick your battles" moments, which make the deck sometimes tricky but always fun to play.

Older20 yea that makes a lot of sense. Queen M was my first EDH deck and I was way less experienced with the format. I probably policed the other players too much and quickly became the arch enemy. Even still I feel like I ran out of a lot of options even If I was being patient and kept losing to annoying infinite blue decks. In my current list I run Price of Glory and Grand Abolisher just because of my hate towards blue haha. I am sure you are a great pilot for this deck and wish you the best of luck!

I love your altering style, it's clean and approachable.

Thank you jordanlyseng, much appreciated. :)

x2Relentless I hear you. I am actually trying to pick up a Grand Abolisher + Aven Mindcensor and experiment with them. I've also considered running Mana Web for that reason.

Older20 Definitely would recommend Price of Glory Grand Abolisher or Defense Grid . With my experience in Marchesa, Aven Mindcensor is usually okay but super easy to kill and Stranglehold tends to be much better.

The deck looks amazing and I wish I had your skill! Molto Bene!

Older20 What do you think of Chandra, Awakened Inferno ?

MattN7498 the uncountable clause certainly makes her playable I think, but she won't find a home in this deck. The only really relevant ability I think is her +2 which is nice, but I would trade away the minus abilities for a cheaper CMC for sure. Interesting & powerful card though.

+1 if only because it's 100% altered!

FYI the list has two mono-red Grenzo, so there's actually a missing card. putting it together for testing right now.

cgomes Thanks for letting me know - I have now updated it! Hope you enjoy play testing :)

Nice deck, I am building Marchesa myself and happen to have most of the cards, however I do not own either Sword cards. How important are they and what would you suggest?

Thanks cheeseycrackers, I appreciate it. The swords are tremendously useful I have found. The sheer power of Sword of Feast and Famine is undeniable as it will give your creatures unblockable against a very high percentage of Commander decks, and the hit really puts you ahead. The hits from Sword of War and Peace can also just deal out brutal hits to players with full hands, and boosts your own life total which can suffer from a lot from self-inflicted incremental damage.

The swords also work tremendously well against over-confident players who have a giant board presences which you can strategically bypass with the relevant sword.

If you couldn't get a hold of them and needed to find 2 cards to fill their spaces you could try a bigger politics package with Curse of Opulence and Duelist's Heritage , both of which are great. Bloodthirsty Blade might be an option, or simply more ramp with Arcane Signet and Mind Stone . Angel's Grace and more fog effects/removal would also be worth trying.

However, I've found the swords to be a really nice tool in my toolbox in many, many games. I can't think of any other cards that fill that exact space (Aside perhaps from other Swords) and solve the problems that Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of War and Peace can solve.

Older20 thanks for the response!I'm going to proxy the 2 swords and try them out. I'm making my a few personal adjustments, my playgroup bans Teferi Protection and I'm not quite sold on Hushbringer. Had a game where the other 3 did not rely on ETB, so they purposely kept Hushbringer alive, making Marchesa nothing more than a 3/3 deathtouch + haste. I will try Anya, Merciless Angel or Duelist's Heritage

Actually might try out either Anya, Merciless Angel , Dragonmaster Outcast or Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor over Hushbringer

cheeseycrackers Yeah I would never play Hushbringer until Queen Marchesa is either on the field or Monarch is already in play. Even if your opponents aren't playing many ETB creatures Hushbringer is quite good at getting monarch back. Nevertheless I'm not entirely sold on it yet - still play testing myself!

Older20 so I replaced Ophiomancer with Dragonmaster Outcast and Varchild over Hushbringer. Turns out, a 5/5 flyer that isnt limited to 1 at a time, is a pretty big threat deterrent. With Land Tax + Thaumatic Compass, 6 lands is really easy to get to. Varchild has also been incredible in the past, and Id imagine equipping him with Sunforger + 2 swords would be strong

Older20 So I get this list. So far its felt fine but I have only played 2 games with it. What do you think? Cards like yawgmoth will and wheel of fortune were out of my budget

https://archidekt.com/decks/234984#Pillowfort_w/_recursion

Hi cheeseycrackers, I really like it. I might consider changing out Besmirch and Fiery Confluence for a bigger Sunforger package and a little more protection (And style points) with cards like Mana Tithe , Apostle's Blessing , Faith's Shield and Rebuff the Wicked which have all worked great for me. Having said all that, I would be more than happy to play your build, looks fun and strong!

Older20 thanks! I did think I could add more to the Sunforger package, but I'd still have to test as well. As for Besmirch and Fiery Confluence:

Besmirch: I own both this and Word of Seizing. Word has its advantage in being an instant and fetchable from Sunforger, but Besmirch has been a godsend vs Eldrazi and other big timmy creatures. Going to try both more

Fiery confluence- I took out Price of Progress for this. You have a lot of non basics, but I assume you use Teferi's Protection to stop the damage? Fiery Confluence has utility. It can be a boardwipe, targeted artifact removal, and burn all in one. With Reverbrate and Wound Reflection, that's 24 damage to everyone else. However, I have yet to actually even use it, so I might also replace it with another instant for sunforger

cheeseycrackers Word of Seizing isn't fetch able by Sunforger but its still an absolute powerhouse. I've never really had an issues with Price of Progress potentially killing me. Even if it is very late in the game, you may have like 8 non basic lands out? That's only 16 damage which you should be able to weather. Often you want only cast it if you can win the game through additional affects such as Reverberate and Wound Reflection as you mentioned. I can't think of a single game where I couldn't cast Price of Progress because it would kill me. And I've player this decks over a hundred times.

Older20 I did think Fiery Confluence hasnt been of much use, so I'll try Price of Progress or Torment of Hailfire. I think Torment of Hailfire can go well with Bloodchief Ascension too, unless they sac a creature theyll lose life no matter what.

Have you ever considered Smoke ?

I wasn't aware that card existed until now haha. It's certainly an interesting card, but most of the time this deck wants opponents attacking - just for them to attack someone else which that card would restrict - it also wouldn't work with Disrupt Decorum a lot of the time for example. It would hinder decks that rely on mana dorks so that is something to note. Not quite suited to this deck overall I think.