The Queen's Decree

Commander / EDH Aikido Control Pillow Fort RBW (Mardu)

mikerrc

Instant (23)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Backlash
• 1x Batwing Brume
• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Comeuppance
• 1x Dawn Charm
• 1x Deflecting Palm
• 1x Delirium
• 1x Despark
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Hide / Seek
• 1x Increasing Vengeance
• 1x Lapse of Certainty
• 1x Mana Tithe
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Word of Seizing

Artifact (11)

• 1x Bloodthirsty Blade
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Mirage Mirror
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sunforger
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip

Land (34)

• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Kor Haven
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Nomad Outpost
• 6x Plains
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Throne of the High City

Creature (13)

• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Baird, Steward of Argive
• 1x Containment Priest
• 1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
• 1x Harsh Mentor
• 1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 1x Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• 1x Master of Cruelties
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Royal Assassin
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Windborn Muse
• 1x Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Commander (1)

Enchantment (17)

• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Curse of Opulence
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Delaying Shield
• 1x Duelist's Heritage
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Marchesa's Decree
• 1x Martial Impetus
• 1x Parasitic Impetus
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Unlife
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Solemnity
• 1x Solitary Confinement
• 1x Sphere of Safety
• 1x Stolen Strategy
• 1x Underworld Breach

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Disrupt Decorum

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Queen Marchesa is in control of the board using a mix of hate-bears, pillow-fort, board wipes, and other miscellaneous control spells that exile or destroy the opponent's key pieces. This deck runs well when you are able-tongued and can politic with your table well.

Letting the Crown go

Giving up The Monarch is all part of the gameplan with the right starting hand. We want to look unassuming in this phase of our game, and not look too spooky as we build. First, you'll make yourself the hardest target to swing at either by pillow-forting or threatening your opponent's pieces if they swing at you. Letting your opponents hit each other while battling over The Monarch ability can be key to the early game strategy giving you just the slight advantage you'll need to win the game, and it helps create 1/1 deathtouchers which make great blockers that not many will want to swing into. An early Xantcha, Sleeper Agent can help amplify this portion of the plan. As for early draw engines, Mentor of the Meek is a great way to make up for another player being The Monarch since it allows you to pay only 1 to draw a card when you create your assassin token on upkeep. Also, Phyrexian Arena can help keep your hand full for only one life a turn as you move onto the next phase.

Retaking and Holding onto the Crown

Eventually, keeping the monarch all to yourself is necessary and cards like Throne of the High City and Marchessa's Decree will get you your crown back if you can't make it through with one of your assassin tokens. Once you have your crown back, protecting yourself with pieces set up the last phase such as Sphere of Safety Ghostly Prison or Solitary Confinement. solitary confinement is likely the best pillow-fort card in this deck due to the fact that you can keep drawing cards from the monarch ability, and thus will always have a card to discard, and since it negates all damage no one can take the monarch from you. As long as this is set up, you can filter through your deck for the perfect hand to win. In this phase you will start playing pieces that opponents will start to take notice of such as Harsh Mentor, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, among other hate-bears. Lock-down enchantments take your pillow-forting to the next level in this phase; Solitary Confinment was already mentioned and discussed, however, The combination of Solemnity and Phyrexian Unlife also means you never die from damage. So, it is also an acceptable life lock. It should be mentioned that this is where we reach the crescendo of our plan and if we feel we are being too out-paced or over-powered by our opponents here it is time to use one of our board wipes and being from scratch.

Subjugation

This deck looks to enable others to get big because once they have impressive board states and try to kill you, you will respond with cards that show them their place. Some examples of these cards include Deflecting Palm, Backlash, Comeuppance, Batwing Brume, and Delirium. Another way to win is to have your opponents kill themselves off first. Once they are all sufficiently scary play Disrupt Decorum and let them pick each other off and with Duelist's Heritage out, everything they swing with will swing with double-strike. Also, loaning Xantcha, Sleeper Agent to another player will help make your opponents attack one another, and can be used as more draw. Price of Progress is a little different than the others as it does damage based on lands, and more importantly, has the ability to kill yourself. So, utilize this card with caution.

All of the above are amplified by Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, and thus she is considered the main finisher but is not always required for you to just out-value the opposition.

Another finisher is Master of Cruelties. It will put a huge target on your back but is essentially single-player removal if you can get him through. The deck also has a chance of winning by playing other's cards from Stolen Strategy and Word of Siezing

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 31 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.71
Tokens	Assassin 1/1 B w/ Haste, Gold, Ogre 3/3 R, The Monarch, Treasure
Folders	EDH constructed