Uh, a 6? 7? It's probably my most tuned, most piloted deck as it started as a pet project that's evolved into something new. I did a brief foray into cEDH but I found it boring. The majority of my interest in EDH is being creative. It is easy to make a good deck, I am more interested in taking an unusual theme and making that good. cEDH is just a race to the most efficient which leaves little for creativity; they're the most boring decks for me to make and while playing them is rewarding it is difficult to get a good cEDH pod. The majority of players aren't building cEDH to play cEDH, they build a facsimile of cEDH just to pubstomp players who don't know any better. This behaviour is poisonous as it turns away particular players and others adapt the mentality of spending more money is the only way out, which then locks another batch of players out. Because sadly, frequently, the only way to improve a cEDH deck is to spend more money; while something that is less powerful lets you be creative with different themes or trying something new out.
I think Benthic Biomancer is a better Looter than Looter il-Kor. It's a Wizard so it benefits from Metallic Mimic and Sage of Fables, allowing you to repeatedly Sacrifice it for value. It would also ETB with a +1/+1, so that instantly draws you a card. If you don't have that, you can just swing each turn to get more Loots. It also protects itself in a pinch by Adapting in response to removal.
Magmasaur is too costly for my build to consider. My cards that cost 5+ are there to win me the game, not do cute things. That's one of the things that sucks about this particular build is that I don't have time to do silly things, I need to be efficient with my win. Since you're going more midrange, you can afford to do some more card advantage tricks. One of the best cards I saw for a Midrange Marchesa was Pilgrim's Eye; it flew in for damage and colour fixed his budget mana base but also ensured he would have a land drop each turn for his expensive Creatures.
Hello Tev. I noticed you are playing a good amount of the combo pieces I'm using in my combo-centric Marchesa build.
I'm wondering if you've considered added Murderous Redcap into the mix. He combos with Spark Double and a sac. outlet for infinite damage. You just have double copy redcap, sac. it, it persists, but it gets a counter, but then you give it persist again.
Then you can also go redcap plus Metallic Mimic plus sac. outlet for infinite damage. Why do you currently have mimic in the build? Is it just to help Marchesa get a counter primarily?
I'm also wondering if you have thought about Exsanguinate for this list. It can help protect you against dying on the crackback while also draining all opponents. Anyway, I love the list! I may pick up some tasty goodies from it if I end up not liking the combo. route I'm taking with my deck.
Are you running Skullclamp? I've always loved that in a Marchesa build.
One more question, it seems like the deck is low on card draw. Are you finding that to be a problem? Do you tend to run out of cards before the game is over? It seems like cutting a couple of creatures for cards like Concentrate or Ambition's Cost might help. It's just my guess, but I have never played an EDH deck as low to the ground or aggro as yours before either.
Of course I'm running Skullclamp; it's ridiculous. I hope that Wizards prints it into the ground again, it made sense as a $2 card but at five bucks a pop that's too much.
Adding the Murderous Redcap would increase my curve too much. The idea is to keep swarming with a never ending supply of threats. This is why I'm not going with a Combo route or adding some X Spell Finisher. I'm already running one if I manage to tutor it up: Glen Elendra Archmage + Metallic Mimic/Sage of Fables + Sac Out + any damage dealer, i.e. Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat
The deck is not low on card draw. Aside from the 'one shot' tutors of Demonic Tutor and Imperial Recruiter, these are all of the draw engines:
That's 17 draw engines, that's more than what you run in your list. Granted, I would need to flip Nicol Bolas but there have been times when I kept him around as Sac Fodder to strip my opponents of their hands. As the deck tries to be aggressive as possible, I care for card quality instead of obsessing with quantity which allows me to run various Loot effects.
I've been testing Shrike, by which I mean it's been in the deck and I'm hoping to see it in action which hasn't occurred. Then Yawgmoth was spoiled and I knew to throw the bird out ASAP. Yawgmoth is everything this deck wants to do and more: sac outlet, life loss, card draw, utility and on a reasonable body. I'm not happy that they finally decided to give Yawgmoth a card, but at least it was before he ascended to godhood.
You should run Yawgmoth as a sac outlet. It isn't often that you get a free sac outlet that has the effect of drawing a card. (and also killing your opponent's things)
I plan on putting it in mine.
Ditto. Yawgmoth does everything the deck wants to and more.
I know, right? What a cool card. Also, sorry to hear about Daxos's demise. Also also, cool to watch you add Bolas Rock to decks. Also also also, I don't think I thanked you for this anywhere, but I started very actively paying attention to cards' "floors" after reading that somewhere in your threads and it helped me produce a functioning Feather with a relatively short tuning phase.
Thank you.
Yay. Marchesa hits 7 just before this site's demise.
You've helped me out too. I make my decks and the usual crowd ask their questions which makes me re-evaulate even harder. They introduce ideas and make me defend my picks. In one way, it sucks that a lot of my decks are so very off of the beaten path, because people very rarely comment and make me justify why the deck is built the way it is. On the other, I know it's probably an excellent resource for people to look into - hence the high view counts on my more unusual decks. I would like to thank you and others for taking the time to help me tune decks.
Both of these lands give me a lot more mana per land drop and this deck is all over its land drops. I've decided to put these in because I've removed all of the nonbasic land hate cards.
I have no intention of ever casting Curator of Mysteries, which makes him poor Cycle Fodder. I want my cars to double duty to turn on Astral Slide and co., but also have a useful purpose if I cast it. Cast Out was cut when it shouldn't have been, especially compared to the sphinx. It's O-Ring is a nice effect on anything troubling, plus it does synergies with Estrid's Invocation, as I can keep throwing Commanders underneath it. It's not a perfect O-Ring, as blinking the Invocation will cause the Commander to come back from the Command Zone, but I can blink it again once they've recast - perhaps to jail the same Commander.
Kalemne's Captain has been a bit lacklustre as of late; he's supposed to be a sizeable answer but I rarely could use him when I wanted to. Vannifar will be much easier to play with and gives tons of utility to find me answers or just more awesome Creatures. I waited for her price to bottom out before adding her, I figure her price of $8 CAD is the lowest it's going to go until she rotates, perhaps.
The Fericodons fit the staxy nature of my fatties, but they were unimpressive in execution. Sure, they're big and people don't like blocking them, but when they do, it doesn't hurt the table too badly. I'm trying out the new Neheb because I believe he can help me cast my more expensive colourless Creatures when I'm a mana or two short, he helps me recast Rakdos after an untimely demise, his Trample means he can get for pain mana or the ability to recast Rakdos and the rummage effect means that the cards that are inappropriate for the moment can be tossed away for more gas.
Adding Showstopper and Spawn of Mayhem are long overdue. I just didn't know what to cut as I knew I wanted to shift my deck's design. After seeing the hilarious results of Ruric Thar, the Unbowed dodge spot removal due to the smattering of Instants I can use to protect him, I thought to do the same with Rakdos. I added the Sandstone Oracle as a way to refill my hand after I am spent, to hopefully get more protection or gas.
A lot of the less than effective cards got cut for this and I've added a Vampiric Tutor to help with how the deck likes to chain off.
Wayword can get big, he triggers Garruk's Packleader and is another piece of the City's Blessing. Awakening Zone did nothing the turn it came down and only produced one body per turn which is quite lacklustre in comparison to my other token producers.
I cut the two Rocks for another Land Drop in the form of Exploration and Wilderness Reclamation. The deck has a lot of lands that do stuff on off turns, it would be nice to have the option to use them twice or untap them such as in the case of a Myriad Landscape.
I've found Evolutionary Leap to be hit or miss, I either have the bodies to feed it or I don't. I lose a Sac Outlet; however, Vivien's Arkbow could help me cheat in some disgusting Creatures on an end step or in response to attackers.
It would be nice for this deck to have a Counterspell, so I decided to add Lapse of Certainty. Rout seemed like the obvious choice, as it isn't my preference in comparison to my other Wraths. Having it come as a surprise is nice but I can't recall a game where Rout was clutch. Having a hard Counter, even a bad one, can make one hell of a difference. Especially since no one is counting on it.
This deck gains tons of life so Bolas's Citadel felt right. Zendikar Resurgent felt the most like-for-like, as we're trading mana doubling for free spells and cantrips off of Creatures for being able to play cards off of the top of my library. I think I'll miss Resurgent but I don't really abuse the mana doubling and I've already seen absurdities with the Citadel.
I think Benthic Biomancer is a better Looter than Looter il-Kor. It's a Wizard so it benefits from Metallic Mimic and Sage of Fables, allowing you to repeatedly Sacrifice it for value. It would also ETB with a +1/+1, so that instantly draws you a card. If you don't have that, you can just swing each turn to get more Loots. It also protects itself in a pinch by Adapting in response to removal.
Magmasaur is too costly for my build to consider. My cards that cost 5+ are there to win me the game, not do cute things. That's one of the things that sucks about this particular build is that I don't have time to do silly things, I need to be efficient with my win. Since you're going more midrange, you can afford to do some more card advantage tricks. One of the best cards I saw for a Midrange Marchesa was Pilgrim's Eye; it flew in for damage and colour fixed his budget mana base but also ensured he would have a land drop each turn for his expensive Creatures.
Adding the Murderous Redcap would increase my curve too much. The idea is to keep swarming with a never ending supply of threats. This is why I'm not going with a Combo route or adding some X Spell Finisher. I'm already running one if I manage to tutor it up: Glen Elendra Archmage + Metallic Mimic/Sage of Fables + Sac Out + any damage dealer, i.e. Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat
The deck is not low on card draw. Aside from the 'one shot' tutors of Demonic Tutor and Imperial Recruiter, these are all of the draw engines:
1 Bolas's Citadel
1 Grim Haruspex
1 Loyal Drake
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Mindblade Render
1 Necropotence
1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
1 Rhystic Study
1 Sage of Fables
1 Skullclamp
1 Smuggler's Copter
1 Sygg, River Cutthroat
1 Thief of Sanity
1 Toothy, Imaginary Friend
1 Viscera Seer
1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
1 Impaler Shrike
I've been testing Shrike, by which I mean it's been in the deck and I'm hoping to see it in action which hasn't occurred. Then Yawgmoth was spoiled and I knew to throw the bird out ASAP. Yawgmoth is everything this deck wants to do and more: sac outlet, life loss, card draw, utility and on a reasonable body. I'm not happy that they finally decided to give Yawgmoth a card, but at least it was before he ascended to godhood.
Yay. Marchesa hits 7 just before this site's demise.
You've helped me out too. I make my decks and the usual crowd ask their questions which makes me re-evaulate even harder. They introduce ideas and make me defend my picks. In one way, it sucks that a lot of my decks are so very off of the beaten path, because people very rarely comment and make me justify why the deck is built the way it is. On the other, I know it's probably an excellent resource for people to look into - hence the high view counts on my more unusual decks. I would like to thank you and others for taking the time to help me tune decks.
1 Temple of the False God
1 Gruul Turf
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Cast Out
1 Curator of Mysteries
Though I am disappointed that Yawgmoth has a card now.
1 Prime Speaker Vannifar
1 Kalemne's Captain
1 Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion
1 Silverclad Ferocidons
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Spawn of Mayhem
1 Rakdos, the Showstopper
1 Sandstone Oracle
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Undying Evil
1 Imp's Mischief
1 Bolt Bend
1 Sin Prodder
1 Ulamog's Crusher
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Geode Golem
1 Bane of Bala Ged
1 Stoneshaker's Mischief
1 War's Toll
A lot of the less than effective cards got cut for this and I've added a Vampiric Tutor to help with how the deck likes to chain off.
1 Wayward Swordtooth
1 Exploration
1 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Vivien's Arkbow
1 Awakening Zone
1 Gruul Signet
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Evolutionary Leap
I cut the two Rocks for another Land Drop in the form of Exploration and Wilderness Reclamation. The deck has a lot of lands that do stuff on off turns, it would be nice to have the option to use them twice or untap them such as in the case of a Myriad Landscape.
I've found Evolutionary Leap to be hit or miss, I either have the bodies to feed it or I don't. I lose a Sac Outlet; however, Vivien's Arkbow could help me cheat in some disgusting Creatures on an end step or in response to attackers.
And woohoo, Page 4.
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Perplexing Chimera
1 Lapse of Certainty
1 Bolas's Citadel
1 Rout
1 Zendikar Resurgent
This deck gains tons of life so Bolas's Citadel felt right. Zendikar Resurgent felt the most like-for-like, as we're trading mana doubling for free spells and cantrips off of Creatures for being able to play cards off of the top of my library. I think I'll miss Resurgent but I don't really abuse the mana doubling and I've already seen absurdities with the Citadel.