I'm considering some further changes as a result of meta changes. We have gained two blue decks, and Hatred has been more of a liability. I have held it in the last several games that I drew it. Also, Sudden Impact and Toil / Trouble have both underwhelmed for some time. I like the idea, but rarely get more than about 4-5 damage out of them. This is not enough for a single use spell, and they have no role in defense, no other uses, and so have really low impact on a game.

I am considering adding Grab the Reins, Threaten, or other red steal effects, or adding to the midrange aspects of the deck, to combat things like Stax. We shall see. I want to keep my average CMC low, but increase the overall effect of each card, and increase the number of functions that each card can play, and Hatred, Sudden Impact, and Toil / Trouble will probably be out, replaced by more efficient damage with multiple uses.

Be careful with Grab the Reins. It doesn't untap the creature you steal which can often be relevant. I still like it but it's further down the list of red "threaten" cards for me.

I love Besmirch. With the goading it's almost like you control the creature for two turns. Word of Seizing is great because of split second and the flexibility of stealing any permanent. With your very low CMC, Kari Zev's Expertise may work for you. I wouldn't normally suggest it in commander but you actually have quite a few 1-2 CMC spells you could cast for free.

Interesting point about Grab the Reins. I was looking for low CMC Threaten effects that are instant. I want both defense and offense. The sorcery speed cards are mostly unable to provide defense. Besmirch does provide defense, so it is actually a decent option, and I even considered putting Grenzo, Havoc Raiser back into the deck for more goad/pillage effects, but the dependence on attacking creatures makes Grenzo questionable. Besmirch does not have that dependence as much. Act of Aggression is more expensive, but does what Grab the Reins does, only it untaps and gives Haste, and it has the CMC flexibility of phyrexian mana if I need to cast it earlier. I also have a Disharmony that is asking to be played, but the only use it has is for defense, making it an awkward combination of half-fog, half-removal/control/combat trick. I am not sure if it will make the cut, but I will try it out. Kari Zev's Expertise may be great, with the number of <3 CMC cards in the deck, but a large number of them are reactive spells, so I am not sure how often it would pay off. I ordered one for testing anyway, thanks for the tip. Harness by Force would give a middle ground between the normal single target Threaten effects and the multi-target Insurrection/Mass Mutiny/Mob Rule, and could swing games, but is less flexible than Word of Seizing. The only real issue I have with Word of Seizing is the higher CMC, which may be something I just have to get over. Zealous Conscripts is an interesting option, but too many decks have it, and it may scream combo, which I don't want. I will have to play with the rest of these some to find out what I like. Cards like Backlash and Delirium have been really strong for this deck, and I could see any of the Threaten effects doing the exact same work, plus having potentially more flexibility. I will likely cycle through all of them, and every time I draw/play one, I will ask myself if I would have rather had one of the other ones in the list instead.

The other option I was considering was beefing up the midrange elements of the deck some. I am not sure I would have enough card slots to make it worthwhile, and I would be afraid that adding more overt offense would paint more of a target on my head. I would need midrange options that are significant defensive additions, that happened to come with some offense. I think Dread is a good example of this, but Jotun Grunt could make the cut as well, for it's graveyard work that can be used for my own recursion and as anti-reanimator tech. Midrange elements would potentially help against Stax and more reactive decks, but my meta actually frowns on Stax, so this would be a change to prepare for stepping into other metas, and may not really ever pay off. I think adding to what the deck already does through the addition of Threaten effects is probably the better plan that shifting to more midrange, even though it would be mostly useless agains other reactive decks.

As a side note, I have really liked Burning Wish, but had poor outcomes with Death Wish. The Wishboard has been fun, and does create a lot of flexibility, without being totally overpowered. I may work on the contents of the Wishboard as I go along, but I will be replacing Death Wish with a Cruel Tutor I just traded for.

As an additional comment on the deck, Acidic Soil and Price of Progress are amazingly powerful cards! I frequently do a combined 40+ damage with them, usually taking out at least one opponent, and I can almost always make the damage asymmetric, even though I have only nonbasic lands. Solitary Confinement, Delaying Shield, Gideon of the Trials, and Selfless Squire all can prevent the damage, and Sun Droplet can regain that lost life over a few rounds. Damage per CMC, these cards smash serious face, and are probably the most powerful offense in the deck. Think about that, Price of Progress has a CMC of 2, is instant speed, is searchable by both Sunforger and Shred Memory, and it commonly does 40+ damage! That. Is. Insane.

Rumbling Crescendo is my favorite rattlesnake, get it out relatively early, and you can use the point of "mess with me and all your mana disappears" as leverage for the rest of the game

LeoSushi, I would not call Rumbling Crescendo a Rattlesnake. The problem with calling it a Rattlesnake is that it is a persistent threat that can be activated at any time, with no behavioral or play choice constraints on it's use. When I refer to a card as a Rattlesnake, it basically means that there is a significant threat that has an obvious activation dependent on an opponent's action, and cannot really be activated otherwise. No Mercy is almost the prototype of Rattlesnakes. It will kill your stuff, but only if you poke it. This is not the case for Rumbling Crescendo, in that it can be activated no matter what the opposition does. It takes the control of activation away from the opposition, and in doing so, provides no constraints to behavior. In this way, it is a serious threat, but not at Rattlesnake. There is no behavioral choice I can make to eliminate it as a threat to my play. If I were playing against Rumbling Crescendo, I would be motivated to handle it as a threat as soon as possible, so as to not let it get out of hand. I would hold lands in hand, delaying my own development some, in anticipation of my board state getting disrupted, and I would try not to get into too many conflicts, since I know that things are eventually going to get really shaken up in some way, and I don't want to weaken myself in the mean time, leaving the Rumbling Crescendo player to handle the rest of the players all by himself. I would seek an alliance with others at the table against the player of Rumbling Crescendo, spreading the potential for retaliation from the player of Rumbling Crescendo around the table as much as possible, and bringing as much opposition to that player as possible to bear on the situation until the Rumbling Crescendo had been eliminated. This is the opposite of how the best cards in this list work. The goal of this list is to give some constraints to behavior, with those constraints suggesting behavior that is in the best interests of the opposition, but that are also in my own best interests, and every card is selected to help reinforce certain decisions in my opponents. The goal is to get the threats of my opposition pointed away from me, while Rumbling Crescendo gets those threats pointed at the player of Rumbling Crescendo. That is the beauty of the way this deck plays politics. Create board states that align the best interests of other players with my own best interests. With Rumbling Crescendo, there is not much that the opposition can do to truly feel comfortable with it on the table, since they are not in control of it. It is a threat, but it is not a Rattlesnake. If I were to want to drop cards that are threats but that do not suggest certain play decisions of my opposition, that are not Rattlesnakes, I would play threats that end the game, like Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood, or Armageddon. I would avoid cards that advertise a large threat level, without ending the game almost immediately all by themselves. Rumbling Crescendo does not do that, and essentially plays opposite to the goals of the deck. To be honest, in a multiplayer game, I would prefer to play against Rumbling Crescendo, and not with Rumbling Crescendo. An opponent playing Rumbling Crescendo would actually do a better job of helping me to win than me playing Rumbling Crescendo myself.

Random Thought of the Morning: When playing against this deck, pointing resources at it makes it seem like a Stax deck, but pointing resources away from it makes it seem like a Group Hug deck, for everyone at the table, including the player of this deck. It creates a difficulty gradient, with more difficulty in opposition to it and less difficulty in alliance with it. All of the aspects of play related to this concept are known to the table, with the exception of a large suite of instant speed answers held in hand that allow play outside of the usual table position concerns and timing considerations inherent in and constraining Stax and Group Hug decks. Everyone hates playing against Stax, and many people like playing with Group Hug. Which are the decks that dislike Group Hug, and which are the decks that don't mind Stax? These are potentially problematic matchups for this deck. Are there cards and play styles that allow either Stax or Group Hug decks to better handle problematic matchups? Could those cards or play styles be added to this deck to enhance these matchups without diluting the power of the deck against other matchups? I will have to explore this idea more, since I think it may inform both play and deck construction choices.

Holy moley, guess what I just discovered! Anathemancer! Awaiting delivery of an Alara Reborn foil!

Anyone know of any other similar cards?

Fun game today vs. Omnath, Locus of Mana and Karlov of the Ghost Council. Omnath, Locus of Mana built her board with Snow-Covered Forests and Extraplanar Lens ramp into multiple big stompy creatures, while Karlov of the Ghost Council built his board with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers ramp into Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and Karlov of the Ghost Council. I played an Acidic Soil to keep everyone wary of counterattack and waiting to see who gets an advantage first. I then ramped with multiple rocks, gained card advantage with Queen Marchesa and Delaying Shield, and eventually played Burning Wish to Insurrection to take out Omnath, Locus of Mana and deal 6 commander damage to Karlov of the Ghost Council with Karlov of the Ghost Council. Karlov of the Ghost Council controlled the board by exiling all the creatures I brought in until I was finally able to play an Act of Aggression on Karlov of the Ghost Council, equipped Sunforger, tapped Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts with Pacification Array, and then Boros Charm'd Karlov of the Ghost Council for 20 more commander damage, winning the game. Crazy game! Both opponents were killed with their own creatures, Karlov of the Ghost Council with commander damage! The addition of Threaten effects has been a good change.

Hi!! Gotta say, I love this deck, it looks like it's really fun to play. I've decided to build it myself.

What do you think of Gonti, Lord of Luxury? He's one of my pet cards. And he's one of my pet cards. Did you know that if he dies, you can still cast the card exiled with him? Is a nice touch, and makes him quite a bit more playable.

I also really like Wall of Omens. Discourages attacks and cantrips. Is nice.

Oh!! What do you think of Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim I've been thinking of including her in my list, but couldn't really decide.

Also, I like Dictate of the Twin Gods to help close out the game and Stinkweed Imp to gum up the air. Maybe they'd be useful to you and some way.

Thanks for the making such a cool deck, keep on keeping on!

Also, thoughts on Angel's Grace? My play group is pretty tame, but sometimes I go up against scary combo decks. It's seems like a useful play against control/combo decks, especially against ones that draw their library to win the game. I've been toying with the idea of casting it to survive the turn and maybe, if their library is empty, on their turn they'd draw and lose? And it's still not a completely dead card otherwise.

Glad you like the deck. It is super fun to play. It doesn't always win, but it wins more than it loses, and every game is pretty exciting.

I have not played Gonti, Lord of Luxury, but I have considered it several times. My issues with it are the CMC and the fact that it only digs 4 deep and is somewhat unpredictable in what it gets you. I like to reduce variability, and this card seems to have more than I like. Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is a similar deathtouch creature, has some similar extra value, but costs a full CMC less. Keeping as close to CMC as possible is best for this deck. The cards that cost more than that should always forward the central mission of the deck and have real impact on the game. I think Gonti, Lord of Luxury would have less impact than I like. Honestly, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is borderline, and may be removed.

I can't see Wall of Omens doing enough to be worth the card slot. The deck is very tight, and I am pretty sure that I would almost always prefer something I have already cut, or even a land. Any deathtouch creature would be better. The fact that it cantrips makes it worth considering, but I would be surprised if it would make the cut. In play, I could see being OK with drawing it, but when considering the card slot it would occupy in the 99, I am not sure what I would remove to make room.

Dictate of the Twin Gods has been a consideration for some time, but the CMC and the indiscriminate effect have made me shy away. If it were CMC and could be cast in the same turn as another wincon, maybe. As it stands, I would need to combine it with another player's attack or a permanent of mine to really win that turn, and that seems to be not worth it for this deck.

Stinkweed Imp is a great card in a lot of decks, but I am not sure it would be in this one. Flying and deathtouch are great, but CMC and a keyword that I would rather not use in this deck, dredge, and I am not sure it fits. There are other flying and deathtouch creatures.

I used to play Angel's Grace. I took it out because it only had a single effect, and it sat in my hand almost every game without effect. I wanted a combo killer, but this one had no other uses. Now I have several ways to kill combos, and all have other uses. My personal favorite that is very similar is Gideon of the Trials. I can use it in so many other ways than Angel's Grace, and it just seems to pay off more, despite the fact that planeswalkers are super fragile in EDH.

Okay, that makes sense.

For me Stinkweed Imp is a must. My playgroup plays a lot of fliers, and Stinkweed Imp is a solid rattlesnake that I can get back whenever I want.

Dictate has served me well in my play tests. Cast it end of turn and then through everything you've got into your next turn.

Thoughts on the Eiganjo Castle, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, and Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep? I run Shinka because deathtouch + first strike is nice to have. The others might be worth considering, and Shizo can be another Key to the City.

Reflect Damage is a card I'm trying out but haven't cast yet. It's not very mana efficient, but it has more versatility than others. It makes Windstorm effects almost instakills.

I'm not running Necropotence, mostly because I don't really enjoy the card. Instead I run Sin Prodder. My deck is a bit more aggressive than yours, and I appreciate being able to sneak the extra damage in when I can.

Another card that I can't decide about is Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. It provides solid pillowforting and permanent protection abilities as well as evasion, but it's rather mana intensive. Still, it has a lot of versatility.

I've also been using Gonti's Machinations. I know it's not great, but it provides a little bit of discouragement and affords me a lot of life gain. And sometimes that 3 damage is exactly what I need to close out the game. Yesterday it won me 1 game, and would have won me another if it hadn't been O-Ringed.

Also, Parallectric Feedback?

I can't see Parallectric Feedback regularly doing more than 6 damage. I don't think that will be enough to do it. Sin Prodder would alert the opposition to my plans and resources, which would be an almost guaranteed loss. I had never considered Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, but I am not sure it gives me enough protection for the mana cost needed. I will have to think about it. Gonti's Machinations is an interesting card I had never seen. I am not sure that the swing is enough to make it worth it. Exsanguinate is a very similar card, but with a much higher potential. I am not sure why I would chose Gonti's Machinations over Exsanguinate or it's variations, aside from the small Rattlesnake effect.

The legendary lands from Champions of Kamigawa are interesting, but the manabase is very tight, and I am not sure I want to change it.

Reflect Damage is way too mana intensive to be useful, even though it is another version of Deflecting Palm. I don't think that effect is playable at CMC .

I'm curious about your thoughts about Norn's Annex vs. Marchesa's Decree. I keep on going back and forth as to which one I want more. What led you to include the annex but not marchesa's decree?

MegaMatt13, as far as the Norn's Annex, Marchesa's Decree, Hissing Miasma, Blood Reckoning question goes, it was somewhat of a difficult question. None of them are great Pillow Fort or Rattlesnake cards, and even Norn's Annex remains on the chopping block. They do less than they should. The loss of life can add up, but I have found that inhibiting the development of board state or causing loss of card or permanent resources is more of a disincentive than small life loss. Life is treated as a resource that can be spent, and people do choose to spend it. When choosing, I considered the CMC of Norn's Annex to be plus 4 life, with the option to pay to reduce that life loss. The loss of 2 life is twice as effective as teh loss of 1 life, so that made a difference. On top of that, I actually would rather that they paid , because that inhibits their development. Either way, the resource demand of Norn's Annex is way larger than that of the others. I also find that Queen Marchesa is the only Monarch card needed, so I devalued that ability. If one were to use all of these cards, I could see it becoming a huge Rattlesnake wall, where one would be paying 4+ life per attack, but that would take at lease 3 cards to achieve, and I find that needing + mana to attack is actually harder to overcome than 5+ life. The mana resource is a steeper cost than the life resource.

Thanks, that's helpful. I agree that other cards that interact with the monarch mechanic aren't necessary. I've been slowly cutting them back and marchesa's decree is the last one. I think I've been holding on due to flavour: it has Marchesa in the name haha. I agree though that most of the time I'd rather have opponents spend white mana instead of life (unless they are at very low life already). The cmc flexibility of the annex is nice too. You can bring it out very early against quick aggressive decks

I like Gonti's Machinations for different reasons than that I like Exsanguinate. Mostly, it's a development card rather than a finisher. I can just plop it out turn 1 no sweat. And I like having one drops that I can do that with, especially if I'm potentially playing a Karoo land on turn 2. If I don't cast something before playing a Karoo, I might have to go to discards. Admitted, it's not amazing, but I like it.

Just doing some more comparing of our lists. A couple questions:

How useful has Boros Charm been? I'm thinking of taking out Crackling Doom and replacing it either with Boros Charm or Terminate or Path to Exile

What is your reasoning behind excluding Blind Obedience and Authority of the Consuls? They've proven quite effective for me with slowing down the game to set up my pillow fort. The extort on Blind Obedience is nice too.

MegaMatt13, Boros Charm fills a different role than either Terminate or Path to Exile, and Crackling Doom is somewhat counter to how I play the deck. I took it out long ago, because it didn't fit.

Crackling Doom is not surgical excision, and often, I want my opponents to keep their threats. Crackling Doom does not allow this. This deck needs to be able to remove specific threats, but leave as much power on the table as possible, so that it can be used against my opponents when I am ready.

Path to Exile is plain better than Terminate, and I would only take Terminate if I needed more and I had already included Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares. All of them allow for surgical removal of creatures, but we all know that exile is better than destroy, even with the drawback inherent in the two white instants.

Boros Charm is not there for anything like that. Boros Charm is most often used as a better-than-counterspell for cards that destroy my stuff, and slightly less often to turn someone else's large threat that is attacking one of my opponents into a real monster with double strike. Rarely it is used to seal the deal after a Master of Cruelties attack. Basically, it is a better-than-counterspell against destruction that can be a coup de grace in the right context. That is perfectly in line with how this deck plays.

I was skeptical about including Boros Charm initially, I cut it early before I discovered it's real power, and then I trialled it again on strong recommendation by other aikido Mardu players, and I have not looked back after I mastered it's power. I am not sure how to value it over Path to Exile, but I would always include both.

As far as the two freeze enchantments go, I personally don't want to inhibit development at all. Blind Obedience and Authority of the Consuls both slow the development of my opponents, and while this may seem to benefit me, it also benefits everyone. I would rather have more asymmetrical defenses. I want my opponents to develop and then use their resources to kill each other, while I just make it unwise to attack me. I want the deck to feel like it is a group hug deck when my opponents are attacking each other, and a Stax deck when they are attacking me. I depend on their offense to bring each other down, so I have to encourage development, not retard it. I return to them often when thinking about changes to the deck list, but I always return to the fundamentals of how this deck is trying to win, and I feel like they are incompatible with that philosophy. In one-on-one, these would definitely make the cut. In multiplayer, they hinder my strategy.

Thanks for your thoughtful response. I own a copy of Boros Charm so I will give it a shot. I understood that it occupies a different space than Path or Crackling Doom. I think I may have enough targeted removal so I was prepared to swing a space for something else.

Your thoughts on the tapping enchantments is interesting. I guess I've had the opposite experience. I find they INCREASE attacking. They hinder opponents' abilities to block more than attack. Most creatures can't attack the turn they drop anyway. However, preventing them from blocking for a turn gives opponents an incentive to go after an open enemy.

I have a couple more friendly suggestions for your deck. Necropotence is an amazing draw spell. My ayli deck loves it. However it does put a target on your back. Phyrexian Arena is like the monarch mechanic itself. It will slowly net you card advantage. Plus I've never seen anyone use up an Enchantment removal on it.

Also, I wonder if you can do better than Harness for threaten effects. Mass Mutiny or Mob Rule will get you more creatures per mana.

Hi, Just wondering about your thoughts on cards like Wild Ricochet and Reverberate? I'm finding my deck has a lot of ways to deal with creature-based strategies whether tall or wide. However, instants and sorceries can be more problematic. They kinda fit with the aikido theme by copying or redirecting targeted kill spells, card draw, counterspells, or massive X spells. Not sure if they are worth trying out though.

Hey, great deck. Was a big inspiration when building my marchesa deck, I went a very similar route (aikido/control).

I have a few questions...

• I find the pillowfort cards (norn's annex etc.) become a bit useless late game, I was wondering what you thought of swapping out one of them for a Worship? It would allow me to drop those mass damage spells (acidic soil etc.) without hurting myself (similar effect to solitary confinement).

• My deck is lacking some mid/late game board presence in terms of creatures that aren't rattlesnakes. What is your thought process behind including Gisela, the broken blade? The flying & lifelink seems sweet to get you into the late game. Another consideration I had was Battlegrace Angel. Giving lifelink to the creatures I steal with threaten effects is nice, but her CMC at 5 isn't ideal.

• What's your reasoning to include Ayli? Just a cheap rattlesnake, or have you found her useful as a sac outlet to threatened creatures?

Cheers and thanks for all the help. :)

Sorry all for the delayed responses. I have been on an island with no digital communication.

MegaMatt13, I have played with both Wild Ricochet and Reverberate. I found that game changing sorceries and instants were rarely of a type that I wanted to copy. The ones that were most likely for me to want to copy were counterspells, and my meta has been pretty short on them, until recently. I often found that the rest of the sorceries and instants were well taken care of with the rest of my cards, and they sat in my had without being played whenever I drew them. I cycled them out of the deck after looking at them sit in my had a bunch of times without targets.

As far as the suggestions, I may try out the other Threaten effects. I chose the ones I though would fit best, but will probably cycle through all to get an idea if others may work better.

I also go back and forth about Phyrexian Arena. Great card, just slow. I am thinking about revamping the card draw in the deck, see below.

sashaza, I will have to check out your deck. As for your questions:

Pillow fort cards are often powerful in duplicate, but there is a threshold over which any more of them would be less effective than it could be with another card. I often hold them, or ditch them to things like Solitary Confinement or Key to the City. It is surprising how often a card is useful in this deck as a generic card resource, and I can ditch less than useful cards to pay these resource costs. This is also true of things like Gift of Estates, Tithe, and Weathered Wayfarer. Cards in hand are useful, even if the specifics of the cards in hand are not.

That being said, I am considering adding more scry to the deck. I find that the Temples are often very useful, and they fly under the radar more than just drawing the card would. I am considering adding Crystal Ball, Seer's Lantern, and Hidden Stockpile, as well as the semi-loot cards Winds of Change and Molten Psyche. This would keep my profile low, while allowing me to dig for what I need. I find that scry is lower profile than draw or even looting, but I get what I need with it just the same. Combining scry with semi-loot, loot, subtle draw, and outright draw, including The Monarch, will likely put me good shape.

I keep resisting Gisela, the Broken Blade. She is a bomb, for sure, but she is expensive, and she is not at all subtle. I am sure that she would be a great inclusion, but I think she would cause some problems that would be counter to the best functioning of the deck. I am ever in search of Wincons that fit the theme.

Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is a cheap Rattlesnake with an additional benefit, that is all. The play was for a sac outlet, even if it will be rare to have it all come together.

I will update the list and record my thought processes in updates as soon as I make them.