Dear Azami: Rise Of The Black Rose

Commander 2015 spoilers have started (by the time you’re reading this, the full decklists will be out), and they look awesome. I don’t know if I’ll be getting a new deck out of this year’s crop, but Meren of Clan Nel Toch will be going straight into my Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord deck, and Sandstone Oracle gives some much-needed card draw to Bosh, Iron Golem. Some brave soul is going to try to use Command Beacon to finally make a Haakon, Stromgald Scourge deck that works, and I can’t wait to see it happen. Over the next two weeks Jess and I will be tweaking the decks themselves, but there’s time for one last reader submission before we do.

Marchesa is fairly unique as a general because of the sheer number of strategies she enables. She acts as a lord for aggro decks that also gives them
resiliency to sweepers, a fairly brutal combo engine given the right build, and lets a control deck break parity with every Wrath. She even protects
herself with her ability, which is usually the weakness of a deck like this. At one point, a roommate of mine even used her to enable a deck built around
the modular mechanic, which was one of the most hilarious things I’ve seen in a while. Games usually ended with an arbitrarily large Spincrusher
one-shotting people.

As for Sam’s build, you’ve got a strong theme of taking other people’s things and using Marchesa’s ability to make the thefts permanent, which puts you
pretty strongly towards the control end of the spectrum. Most of what I’ll be doing is cutting some of the clunkier and more expensive cards in order to
give you options in the earlygame. Anyway, onto the changes!

Creatures:

Out:

Your main complaint was that the deck was a little slow and clunky, and the abundance of cards at six-plus mana is a big part of that. I’ll be adding a few
expensive cards back in, but these three seem like they’re underperforming relative to the cost you’re paying. (I’m assuming Ob Nixilis isn’t a metagame
call against super tutor-heavy decks, but I could be wrong.)

These are all coming out because they don’t match up well against the strategy you want to be playing in one way or another. Erebos, Guul Draz Assassin,
and Liliana are all awkward to try to reanimate, either because of potential noncreature status when they die or the Assassin losing its level up progress
when it dies. Phyrexian Revoker is an odd choice for Commander, and while there are plenty of decks that it can cripple, I’m usually not a fan of silver
bullet cards unless you’re running a critical mass of them.

Taurean Mauler is simply a great card that doesn’t further your own plan. Maybe if you had a way to move counters off of dying creatures, but bringing back
a 2/2 isn’t that impressive. Flametongue Kavu just doesn’t do enough since it can’t go to the face and four damage isn’t enough to take out anything bigger
than a utility creature. Lastly, Vampire Hexmage gets cut for similar reasons as Phyrexian Revoker. Being able to kill planeswalkers on sight is nice, but
it’s a narrow ability that relies on your opponents running a small subset of cards that you’re well-equipped to deal with anyway.

In:

You were already running two of the available creatures with graft, and Marchesa’s interaction with the mechanic is insane enough to warrant running every
available copy of the effect. Since we’re not in white or green, these are some of the best ways to get counters on creatures as soon as they enter play.
Just make sure to sacrifice the creatures with graft before they run out of counters.

An assortment of small, cheap creatures with enters-the-battlefield triggers for you to abuse. We have some card advantage in Gryff Vanguard and
Archaeomancer, hard removal in Big Game Hunter, and some very strong tempo cards with the bounce provided by Aethersnipe, Man-o’-War, and Riftwing
Cloudskate.

Usually I’m not a fan of bounce in Commander, but these creatures serve the important dual purpose of buying you time in the earlygame while becoming part
of your endgame engine by Unsummoning another creature (or permanent, depending on the card) every time you put a counter on them. The same logic applies
to Big Game Hunter, except your opponents can’t replay the creatures you kill with it.

Playing Magic Duels this summer I discovered how brutal it was to loop Fleshbag Marauders through and Liliana, Defiant Necromancer emblem. It’s ironic
since I cut that Liliana from your list, but Marchesa does a decent enough impression on her own that I want to run both cards. This works best with a
graft creature out, so that you can put a counter on them immediately and sacrifice them to their own trigger, but even with a slower engine most opponents
will struggle to fight through that kind of lock.

You were already running several versions of this effect on instants and sorceries, so it seems like the next logical step to play reanimate-able creatures
that come with this effect stapled on them. Combine with your commander and any sacrifice outlet and the things you borrow will be yours forever.
Dragonlord Silumgar doesn’t give the thing he steals haste, but because the initial theft doesn’t end with the turn, you don’t have to jump through hoops
to keep what he steals when Marchesa brings him back.

The last pair of creatures that I’m adding. You said that the deck worked best with a consistent way to put counters on things, and haste combined with
dethrone is one of the easier ways to do it in these colors. Urabrask does that while also putting your opponents back a turn on tempo. Phyrexian
Plaguelord is getting a slot because you needed a few more sacrifice outlets to make the deck really tick, and being able to incidentally gun down utility
creatures is pretty decent.

Planeswalkers

Out:

Powerhouse? Check. Eight mana? Check. Out he goes.

Artifacts

Out:

Darksteel Plate and Lightning Greaves are pretty much the standard when it comes to protecting commanders, but Marchesa doesn’t really need protection,
since she can reanimate herself and she doesn’t need to stay in play for the full turn in order to bring things back.

In:

Repeat everything I said about haste being good in this deck. I doubt you’ll use the token-making ability often, but it’s there if you want it.

Enchantments

Out:

I’ll admit, I’m not sure why you’re running Lethal Vapors. You have enough built-in recursion to fight it better than most people, but most of your
creatures won’t have counters on them when they’re brought back, and then Vapors will kill them for good. It seems to me that all too often you’ll wind up
skipping your next turn just to save your team that got swept away. Phyrexian Arena is a solid card, but you already have some pretty solid card draw
engines that don’t hurt you. I’d rather have Gryff Vanguard in this deck.

In:

Fervor is yet another way to grant your creatures haste, and that’s about it. Clean, simple, effective. In my experience, Feast on the Fallen will trigger
almost every turn. It isn’t a large enough threat to keep people from hitting each other, but being able to place a counter wherever you want it most turns
is very good in this deck. Goblin Bombardment is easily one of the best sacrifice outlets available to you, especially since the damage can go directly at
your opponents. Finally, Grave Pact is coming in to replace Ruthless Deathfang. It hits all of your opponents and triggers off of any of your creatures
dying, not just being sacrificed.

Spells

Out:

Two more great cards that simply cost more than you want them to. Cruel Ultimatum isn’t even all that insane since it only hits one opponent, and the
numbers on it were very much balanced for twenty-life formats. Decree of Pain will be getting swapped out for a less expensive sweeper.

Act of Aggression makes way for Zealous Conscripts since they cost the same amount and you can reanimate the Conscripts. I can only assume that Clutch of
the Undercity was meant to transmute for Marchesa in case she got tucked, but that’s no longer a concern since the rules changed earlier this year. I’m not
really a fan of tutors in Commander, especially since you’re not trying to dig for an infinite combo and paying an extra four mana (or two mana and a
handful of life, for Lim-Dul’s Vault) often isn’t practical.

Moonlight Bargain is a decent way to draw cards and a great way to pad your graveyard, but you’re in blue and have access to much better draw spells if you
want, and you aren’t really interested in filling your graveyard.

In:

One of this deck’s weaknesses is that if your creatures wind up in the graveyard without a Marchesa trigger to bring them back, they’re pretty much gone
for good. Living Death gives you a little resiliency against that while simultaneously acting as a quasi-sweeper against unbeatable boardstates. I wouldn’t
recommended it if graveyard decks run rampant in your metagame, but it seems like a safe bet in most cases.

Lands

Your manabase is fairly solid for the most part, but there are a few tweaks I want to make.

Out:

The lair cycle is almost laughably bad, especially when compared to the Alara/Tarkir tri-Lands. They force you to bounce a land but only tap for
one mana, so on every turn after you play one of these you’ll be a turn behind on mana development. That’s not where you want to be. Ancient Tomb is good
ramp, but you don’t really need to hit big mana in this deck, and there are only so many colorless lands a three-color deck can justify running.

In:

Sulfur Falls comes in to complete the cycle of lands, which are some of the best dual-lands for Commander, at least in my opinion. High Market is the
colorless land you want to be running since it’s a free sacrifice outlet that you can leave open very easily. You can’t eat your whole team at once with
it, but given what a low opportunity cost it is to run it, there’s no reason not to.

Putting all the changes together, we’re left with the following:

Marchesa, the Black Rose

Levi Byrne

Test deck on 11-10-2015

Commander

Creatures (39)

• 1 Man-o'-War
• 1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
• 1 Dimir House Guard
• 1 Cytoplast Manipulator
• 1 Helium Squirter
• 1 Novijen Sages
• 1 Vigean Graftmage
• 1 Riftwing Cloudskate
• 1 Big Game Hunter
• 1 Aethersnipe
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Shriekmaw
• 1 Sage of Fables
• 1 Puppeteer Clique
• 1 River Kelpie
• 1 Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Deathbringer Thoctar
• 1 Conquering Manticore
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Urabrask the Hidden
• 1 Olivia Voldaren
• 1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1 Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1 Zealous Conscripts
• 1 Gryff Vanguard
• 1 Vela the Night-Clad
• 1 Baleful Strix
• 1 Archaeomancer
• 1 Disciple of Bolas
• 1 Molten Primordial
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Marchesa, the Black Rose
• 1 Dack's Duplicate
• 1 Merciless Executioner
• 1 Dragonlord Silumgar
• 1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1 Smothering Abomination

Lands (34)

• 3 Swamp
• 3 Mountain
• 2 Island
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Urborg Volcano
• 1 Salt Marsh
• 1 High Market
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Frost Marsh
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Crumbling Necropolis
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Izzet Guildgate
• 1 Rakdos Guildgate
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Flamekin Village

Spells (26)

• 1 Living Death
• 1 Necropotence
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Fervor
• 1 Goblin Bombardment
• 1 Grave Pact
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Unspeakable Symbol
• 1 Altar of Dementia
• 1 Black Market
• 1 Attrition
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Pact of Negation
• 1 Vicious Shadows
• 1 Slave of Bolas
• 1 Mark of Mutiny
• 1 Life's Finale
• 1 Spell Crumple
• 1 Warstorm Surge
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Grave Betrayal
• 1 Dark Prophecy
• 1 Hammer of Purphoros
• 1 Dictate of Erebos
• 1 Feast on the Fallen

Here’s a list of the cards I’ve added, sorted by price.

The changes add up to $44.44, about half of which will be covered by the $20 store credit to Starcitygames.com Sam receives for having his deck featured.
This build of Marchesa was very different from any of the others I’ve seen so far, but that’s the joy of a truly open-ended commander.

Jess and I are switching up the schedule going forward, so I’ll be back again next week to spice up two of the preconstructed decks on a budget, and she’ll
be back the week after to tackle the other three.

Want to submit a deck for consideration to Dear Azami? Only one deck submission will be chosen per article, but being selected for the next edition of Dear Azami includes not just deck advice but also a $20 coupon to StarCityGames.com!

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