Crown of Fire

Commander / EDH* Aikido Control Infinite Combo Pillow Fort RBW (Mardu)

sindoreiordie

The Kingdom (24)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Cosmos Elixir
• 1x Court of Ambition
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Greater Auramancy
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Phyrexian Unlife
• 1x Polluted Bonds
• 1x Replenish
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Solemnity
• 1x Solitary Confinement
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Twilight Prophet
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Wound Reflection

Tutor (9)

• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Liliana Vess
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Sunforger
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Wrath (5)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vandalblast

Land (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Blightstep Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 4x Mountain
• 6x Plains
• 1x Rugged Prairie
• 1x Serra's Sanctum
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Malice

Mana (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Revel in Riches
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring

WinCon (5)

• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Revel in Riches
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Smothering Tithe

Commander (1)

Aikido/Sunforger Package (16)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Backlash
• 1x Batwing Brume
• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Comeuppance
• 1x Dawn Charm
• 1x Deflecting Palm
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Rebuff the Wicked
• 1x Reverberate
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Wear / Tear

Draw (8)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Cosmos Elixir
• 1x Court of Ambition
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Twilight Prophet

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How the War Began

I have had... so many evolutions of Queen Marchesa. She is my all-time favorite commander and character in the MTG story. This deck has been Mardu Goodstuff, Pillowfort/Lifegain, Aikido/Control, Mardu Reanimator, Group Slug, and finally: whatever the hell this is!

This has definitely been my favorite incarnation out of all the styles. Mardu Goodstuff was too unfocused, Pillowfort was fine but not entirely my style and I felt that other commanders were better suited to a true Pillowfort build like the one I had, and Mardu Reanimator was again, better suited for Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Which leaves Aikido/Control. I wanted a way to support the Aikido strategy, particularly the Sunforger package, by stalling out the game but without dipping so far into Stax that that archetype took over. The heart of this deck HAD to be Aikido, because shit! it's fun, but that alone didn't have enough to close out games.

Which has lead me here!

I wanted to keep what was working about the deck - and that was punishing my opponents for playing ridiculous shit. Black and Red as colors are so good with punishing symmetric effects while black and white have a fair share of lifegain mechanics to soften the pain with a little pleasure. This deck couldn't rely on surprise alone. Enchantments are notoriously hard to remove, especially with so many on the field at one time. An Austere Command can only set this deck back so far, especially if you're playing smart and slow. Our greatest fear is an early Aura Shards.

As I said, I wanted to stay away from was a true Stax build. I played with a few Stax-y cards at first but it was way too easy to push into "unfun" territory where the game definitely came to a standstill and no one could do anything. This deck wants our opponents to play - it just wants to hurt them while they do it. This build doesn't want to make the rules, it wants to give our opponents an impossible choice. The best cards that exemplify this (and close out games) are Polluted Bonds and Painful Quandary, especially when paired with Wound Reflection or Archfiend of Despair.

There are certainly cards in here that I would call "diet stax" that serve to slow the game down but not bring it to a stuttering, painful halt.

Card Selection

This section outlines why certain cards were chosen and the purpose they serve in the deck.

Pillow Princess

The most important cards for walling yourself up in the pillowfort are Solitary Confinement, Glacial Chasm, and Phyrexian Unlife, the latter two cards especially so when paired with Solemnity, preventing us from accumulating counters on the Chasm and getting infect counters with Unlife.

As an added bonus, Solemnity absolutely hoses some decks and you can gain incidental advantage against others.

Finally, Solitary Confinement can get us out of a lot of dicey situations. Once this deck gets rolling, you are bound to be Archenemy. Solitary Confinement is our answer to "Oops! Everyone at the table wants me dead!" Having Monarch means we will always have a card to discard on draw step, so we can wall up in Solitary as long as we need.

Deadly Nightshade

To punish our opponents and keep them down, we'll weaponize small amounts of damage that add up over time. Court of Ambition, Polluted Bonds, and Kambal, Consul of Allocation. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Archfiend of Despair, and Wound Reflection double up on either the loss of life and/or damage dealt. Gisela and the Archfiend also serve as big beaters that can swing over the top.

Twilight Prophet is, as always, a standout card, especially when paired with Wound Reflection.

Finally, we have a true infinite win condition Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond.

One of our other key synergies is Smothering Tithe and Revel in Riches. Both pieces are scary on their own, but it's easy to miss the synergy between the two until it's too late.

Utility

We run very few cards that are purely utilitarian or situational. Every single card in this deck must do something within at least a one full turn for it be worth inclusion. It must contribute to our strategy in a meaningful way: meaning it can do one of five things;

1.) Delay our opponents

2.) Punish our opponents

3.) Draw cards

4.) Remove threats

5.) Ramp or fix mana

or, tutor for these things.

Notable Exclusions

The thing about this deck is that it is very meta-specific. Depending on your meta, slot in different enchantments to deal with the decks you're currently facing. I've had Leyline of the Void in and out of the deck 3 or 4 times.

The Black Rose

Top Ranked	Achieved #40 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #37 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Death and Taxes 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Group Slug 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 56 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 2 - 0 Commons
Cards	101
Avg. CMC	3.14
Tokens	Assassin 1/1 B w/ Haste, City's Blessing, Monarch Emblem, Treasure
Folders	EDH decks I would like to build