MegaMatt13 precociousapprentice I'm curious what you guys think about Sun Titan. I'm playing a list that's kind of falling in between your two styles (although the list is currently not complete, still tweaking and don't own all the cards yet... missing most the 10$+ cards) and I find that I really like him. He has some really good hits including a lot of our prime pillowfort cards and some other goodies; All artifacts get hit, fetch lands can get hit, duelist's heritage, phyrexian arena, solitary confinement, ghostly prison, necropotence etc etc.

Couple times now I've found myself tutoring for sun titan just so I can resurrect a destroyed solitary confinement to buy myself a lot of turns from heavy preassure.

Sun Titan is a staple for a reason. It would be a great include in any list that wants to run it. Decent beater, recursion, hits all those defensive cards, Virtus the Veiled, Dark Depths, Strip Mine, etc... Run it, it's probably great.

The more I play in a higher powered meta, the more I think that running higher powered staples would be fine. Maybe because the deck is becoming more well known, maybe because my opponents are running bigger threats, or maybe because I have learned to play better, but I think if the soul of the deck is preserved, you can run some power and still not get targeted. I may explore this a bit soon, and see where I can go with a little more power and a little less round about tactics to get there.

Also, Reverberate has been a total beast. My favorite spells that I have copied so far have been the obvious Mana Drain, Kodama's Reach, Demonic Tutor, Ancestral Vision, and my own Delirium. None of these were game breaking plays, but every one was a value based play that really worked for me in the moment. The bottom line is that there will be tons of value based sorcery and instant plays in the game, as well as huge sorcery and instant bombs. Any of these plays would be good targets for a instant copy spell. People will ramp, draw cards, tutor, and use spot removal or counterspells. Getting in on their action has proven pretty useful. I may end up with both Fork and Reverberate at some point.

I intend to have Blue or Green sorceries in my sideboard.

Which ones would you recommend?

What would be good cards for mastermind's acquisition? (Including blue and green)

Hey buddy, curious to hear what you think about the changes I've made to my deck (plus what I'm considering cutting) if you have a moment to check them out...thanks!

I'm in love with this deck, not just because it is themed and full of synergy. I specialize in themed decks myself. This deck is creative, clever and you clearly display not only imagination but also good deck building, though the different groupings throw me just a tiny bit off. My own Marchesa deck (not on here, still in making) is compeltely different. I have gone a bit Game of Thrones on mine: my Marchesa is a combination of Danaerys and Cersei in her methods, especially her dragons and her alliances with the Underworld and vampires. In mine I am playing the Empire series: The Crown, the Sceptre and the Throne. Why settle for Queen when you can be Empress? If I may make a suggestion for this deck, though - play Merciless Eviction and Blind Obedience. Why destroy when you can exile? And why not gain life and tapping your opponents'things? Sometimes politics is draining ... Do you maybe have some time to review my Morai deck? I am very interested in what you think of it, and my other decks too.

Sorry for the slow reply. Even on a holiday, I have been busy with work.

Discardedsquare, I think you may have a different idea of a sideboard than I understand it. EDH doesn't officially have sideboards. Every source I looked at, and my own personal preference, would be that all sideboards should adhere to the color identity rules of EDH. Allowing otherwise undermines potentially the most important foundation of EDH. So to answer your question, I don't think you should include any blue or green cards in a Queen Marchesa sideboard. If you choose to play without limiting the sideboard to the color idenntity rules, then I suggest that you look for ways to hose archetypes and not colors that work perfectly for common mid and late game schenarios.

MegaMatt13, I am digesting your changes. I love to see both the parallels and the differences between our decks and metas. I want to take a bit to respond to these, and I want to ensure that I respond from the context of your deck, but I obviously only have my meta experience to respond to. It sometimes takes me a bit to see things from the perspective of your deck instead of mine, since our list and goals are pretty similar. I will get to it soon.

Ravenrose, Blind Obedience makes a guest appearance regularly in the list. It has since very early in the development. Great card. It is awesome against aggressive decks, and provides a life cushion, and also a chip chip offense. Lots of ways that it contributes. As for Merciless Eviction, I agree that exile is a much more powerful effect, but the ability to choose two of the list, and being able to work around the CMC of my creatures to save some of mine can be very worthwhile. Still, the exile is great in many cases, so it could easily be a consideration.

MegaMatt13, I have one comment about your deck that I want to leave here since it will be useful for the conversation about my deck, and because you have removed Curse of Opulence, while I am keeping it. I think the function of that card is not perfectly obvious. You are right, it is much better early game than late. Even early game, the early attacks hardly ever add up to anything super consequential as far as loss of life. That is not really the point. Even so, chipping someone down an extra ~5 life at the beginning of the game can be what you need toward the end. It is not a game breaking amount of life loss, but it is not completely meaningless. Still, that is not it's function. The goal of the deck is to inspire action between my opponents, and to aid their development as far as that action between them is concerned, all while hopefully keeping myself out of the fray while I develop. Curse of Opulence does all three. The best thing it does is to help create situations where vendettas may be facilitated. Early meaningless attacks with a Curse of Opulence in play add to somewhat more explosive starts for me and others, and it makes people seek revenge later. That is what I want. Small life loss, helping my development, helping the development of aggressive players and potentially setting them up as an archenemy, and creating feuds. An early to mid game Curse of Opulence changes the game through table politics more than actual game effects, and that is what I am after. It is almost like a 1 CMC permanent Disrupt Decorum combined with a Helm of Awakening for some of the players at the table. It is not a game breaking effect, but it definitely has perfect synergy with what I try to do with my list and game play.

I'm becoming a big fan of Frenzied Fugue - Really fun card to sometimes use someone's critter without developing the same hatred as either: stealing it or removing it... Also, increases the bang for buck on that creature since it gets to act on your turn and the owner's turn

I like it Gleeock. I have always eyed that card, but never tried it. Definitely looks fun.

I had somebody play that against me once, on my marchesa.... every turn he got a 3/3 that spawned him a 1/1 deathtouch since he wasn't monarch lol.

Haha, yeah thems good times. I used it on Etali a while back for good laughs, then cast Shunt to retarget removal off of the guy's Etali (I wanted him to stick around) when someone tried to 2-fer-1 my/his Etali fun times.

Will post pics of new alters soon. Just updating for changes.

Oof! That meta is tough, hopefully some deck variety gets added to those games once they play those prototypes enough. The unique politics angle/pillow is difficult to play when the meta is primarily low-interactivity, alternate wincon stuff, especially when it is the majority of your table. I was going to suggest Kambal, Consul of Allocation but I saw you already added that. Painful Quandary seems like a fit... Sunscorch Regent can keep your life total level and provide a severe counterattack if a storm does not COMPLETELY end the game. I enjoy Stigma Lasher, Malignus,Tainted Remedy

These aren't really low interaction decks, and they are not really alternate wincons that prevail. They deal damage to win, and there is a ton of interactive control. It is just not an overly combat oriented group of decks that keep winning. I plan to change that. They have fewer paths to victory than my deck, and less defense. Slight tuning will allow me to keep up. The philosophy should still stand. It is the cards that will slightly change.

Also, Suspicious Bookcase is super fun... after all it says "target creature" - doesn't have to be one of yours ;)

Depends on your definition of "interactivity" - but yes, by definition the greater MTG community the philosophy that I was looking for was: "non-combat/non-traditional" wins. I have built many decks with more of a fun retargeting, redistribute dmg, & promote player activity style - they have often suffered to decks that are content to build fortresses while pinging away it is not that they are so much "low-interaction" as they are somewhat conservative and can basically win all in their own little self-contained world - i.e. paradox engine storm out. But yes, there are definite ways to make slight additions to deal with this.

Have you tested Kaya, Ghost Assassin before? I have found her perform extremely well with a tonne of utility and resilience. Also I see you don't run Exquisite Blood which seems like it would work really well in your new meta as it negates extort and cards like Aetherflux Reservoir. I have also been running Kambal and Blind Obedience for a long time and they are absolute staples. Authority of the Consuls might also be worth trying.

precociousapprentice, curious how you feel about the new Xantcha, Sleeper Agent spoiled for C18.

Was just going to post that Megamatt, I saw it and immediately thought of this deck.

For reference Xantcha is a 5/5 for 1BR with:

As Xantcha, Sleeper Agent enters the battlefield, an opponent of your choice gains control of it.

Xantcha attacks each combat if able and can't attack its owner or planeswalker its owner controls.

3: Xantcha's controller loses 2 life and you draw a card. Any player may activate this ability.

Owner is defined as the owner of the card, so you give a powerful creature away to someone, and they get a 5/5 swinger that has to attack, can't hurt you, and which encourages others to spend mana to ping that opponent down and draw.

It seems to perfectly fit the playstyle. Not sure what to drop for it though.

I saw that card. I like it. I am still digesting, but it will be totally reasonable to test. I am a little worried that it gives potentially otherwise unlimited card draw to the controller, but it may be good anyway. I was also intrigued by Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor, Fury Storm, and Coveted Jewel. All of these have Aikido effects, but I agree, not sure what to cut. I am curious how they will be used in the C18 deck(s) they come in.

Yeah, I thought about this deck. Varchild seems on curve & fun. I will always dream of Varchild with Crescendo of War :)

The more I think about Xantcha, the more I think she is a great addition. It incites early aggression, comes with card draw, and even encourages non-combat aggression. Not bad. I am looking forward to playing some with this.

Um... I think I found a new card. In '94-95, I destroyed a lot of people with Balance. Magus of the Balance

precociousapprentice Have you considered Tainted Remedy or Rain of Gore? If your opponents usually win through a lot of life gain, those card might be a consideration. And Rain of Gore could even be fetched by sunforger.

AliMoe, I want to tune the deck so it works well against every deck, but can handle the overwhelming strengths of the most common or most powerful decks in my meta. I don’t want to just hate on a specific deck or archetype. I want just about every card to have outsized impact on every game. I am not sure that either of those cards would have any impact in most metas, so they have been considered, but not chosen. I picked similar cards that will be useful in any game that they are drawn in. I try to only add hate that is very broadly useful, and hopefully has alternate uses.

Also, Rain of Gore is an enchantment. Sunforger tutors for instants.

precociousapprentice, Balance & Magus of the Balance are ruinous if you or an opponent casts Teferi's Protection in response.