Marchesa's Altar

Commander / EDH Aggro Competitive Counters Multiplayer UBR (Grixis)

Quak3r_0ats

Creature (38)

• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master
• 1x Combustible Gearhulk *f-pre*
• 1x Dire Fleet Ravager
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Fulminator Mage
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Greven, Predator Captain
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Herald of Secret Streams
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Lyzolda, the Blood Witch
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  ^Flip
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Rankle, Master of Pranks
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Smothering Abomination
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Thalakos Deceiver
• 1x Thief of Sanity
• 1x Thoughtpicker Witch
• 1x Urabrask the Hidden
• 1x Whisper, Blood Liturgist
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Land (37)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 3x Island
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Bitter Ordeal
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Victimize

Commander (1)

Artifact (12)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Sneak Attack
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

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My longest active EDH deck. Creates board presence with the abuse of creatures and sac outlets. Fun commander for fun colors.

Top synergies in this deck:

1. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - With the obvious combo with Marchesa, he is a must have in this deck and works with just about everyone you would need it to. With any sac outlet, you can two for one most of your creatures' abilities every turn, for free, with both Marchesa and Mikaeus in play.

2. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician - The ultimate sac outlet in Marchesa. By simply paying life and sacrificing another creature, we get to draw a card and put a -1/-1 counter on any creature. On top of that, we can also proliferate, thus strengthening our army and weakening our opponents'. Not only that, but he can infinitely combo with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, along you to draw your entire deck for free.

3. Sneak Attack - Being able to play over a third of the deck for a single red mana that will almost never be countered generates a ton of value. When you add on top of that the option to attack at someone and get a +1/+1 counter creates a very lopsided, overpowered effect, as the creature will come back the next turn even without a sac outlet.

4. Bolas's Citadel - This card generates insane value: card advantage, casting spells without the need for mana, and paying life. Not only that, it has a possible mass sac outlet to have each opponent lose 10 life, which tends to result in a bunch of creatures just coming back anyway, similar to the transform ability on Westvale Abbey. A staple in some strategies, in Marchesa, this card has the potential to be that one last push to end the game.

5. Chainer, Dementia Master/Phyrexian Delver - As your creatures will not always die with a +1/+1 counter on them, the ability to bring them back other ways is crucial. And with these two creatures, you can reanimate a creature as well as losing some life, potentially leaving an opponent with the highest life total. With Chainer, he gives an easily repeatable version of this affect as opposed to the Delver, which does this upon entering the battlefield.

6. Gray Merchant of Asphodel/Wurmcoil Engine/Westvale Abbey/Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet - Even when you like to hurt yourself in order to have another player have the highest life total, thus giving your creatures more value, you still might need to gain life from time to time. These cards do just that. Gray Merchant is a double-edged sword, draining opponents AND gaining you life. Wurmcoil Engine gains you life as well as making tokens when it dies, one of which has lifelink, an effect that can be abused when paired with Marchesa's second and third abilities. Westvale Abbey can turn into a big dude that has indestructiblity as well as lifelink. Similar to Wurmcoil Engine; Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet also has Lifelink; but his contribution to the deck is primarily for a different reason.

7. Gray Merchant of Asphodel/Dire Fleet Ravager/Archfiend of Despair - When you need to make people lose a lot of life, these cards are your best friend. As stated above, Gray Merchant can make your opponents lose a lot of life at once. Dire Fleet Ravager has a similar effect, just affecting every player. Archfiend works in a bit of a different manner: where as the other two do their damage when they enter, this guy makes them lose life at end of turn for the amount of life they've lost during the turn. This tends to play into how the deck operates normally: attack, attack, attack.

8. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet/Puppeteer Clique - As stated above, with Kalitas, he is in here for an entirely different reason. Kalitas is ran because of his graveyard-hate ability. With our targeted removal (Attrition; Flayer of the Hatebound; Goblin Bombardment; Grimgrin, Corpse-Born; Lyzolda, the Blood Witch; Meteor Golem; Nicol Bolas, the Arisen; Yawgmoth, Thran Physician) and our forced creature sacrifice (Dictate of Erebos; Grave Pact; Rankle, Master of Pranks) Kalitas can get rid of creatures for good. To a lesser extent, Puppeteer Clique can slowly remove creatures from opponents' graveyards.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	4 years
Exclude colors	WG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	19 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 8 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.92
Tokens	Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Tagged - EDH, Marchesa