MTG Salvation

This is my take on a Marath deck. It was born from the Precon for Commander 2013 and I built it up slowly with pieces that were more suited to Marath's ability, as opposed to Mayael, the Anima or Gahiji, Honored One. It is rather token and "goodstuff" themed but also abuses +1/+1 counters and utilises the effects offered by each of the Naya colours. Marath is a wonderfully versatile commander with access to aggro and board control, as his rather unique activated ability is adaptive in making him particularly formidable.

Here is my deck in its current state, it draws a high degree of influence from reading and utilising the Primer by Airithne, as well as info on Star City Games:




The Naya colours work beautifully together in Marath's requirements and gameplans -

Green offers amazing utility in ramp and overwhelming effects;
White offers control and removal; and
Red offers burn, aggression and Insurrection effects.

Interesting Interactions:

Tooth and Nail
One of the best wincons in the deck is an entwined Tooth and Nail. A resolved Tooth and Nail can mean an instant win without a Stifle on a ETB trigger, with the combos offered by Avenger of Zendikar + Purphoros, God of the Forge or Avenger of Zendikar + Craterhoof Behemoth with or without a haste enabler (for the AoZ tokens) - for instance Anger in the graveyard or simply Fires of Yavimaya - to deal mass damage across opponents.
If just one opponent needs finishing off, a Xenagos, God of Revels + Worldspine Wurm offers a huge 60/60 trample creature alone at the dome.

Counters and Marath
As one can quickly ascertain, Marath is a prime candidate for +1/+1 counter shenanigans. Both Hardened Scales and Doubling Season offer the ability to Pay 1 to "remove a counter from Marath' and subsequently 'place a counter on target creature' - Marath - in order to grant 2 counters and end up netting additional 1.
When attached with Basilisk Collar, Marath becomes a deathtouch/lifelink machine gunner, with 1 used to deal 1 damage to a creature enough to kill and grant 1 life, which is pretty good efficiency.


Incoming Additions:

Sensei's Divining Top will potentially be finding a place for this very reason, and it'll be playtested in the near future.

Planned Additions:

• As soon as my budget allows it, the top of the priority list are Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Survival of the Fittest.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker will one day replace Zealous Conscripts, but that is also a change dictated by financial backing.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope will one day become part of this deck, but for now I have a pseduo-Avacyn effect with the use of Sigarda, Host of Herons.

Other brilliant additions such as Dual Lands, Gaea's Cradle and Linvala, Keeper of Silence seem out of reach at present, but with the announcement of Modern Master's II, perhaps Linvala will get a look in!

Recent Changes

• Sylvan Library has been added, adding some much needed card draw and top deck manipulation.
Soul of Theros has been added, as its anthem effect works wonderfully with a token themed deck.

My meta isn't overly intense, and being University students we are all aware that budgets limit our ability to build Top Tier decks that are competition grade, but nevertheless this deck was built with multiplayer in mind and to be competitive at a LGS and also casual games with friends. At times I have considered developing a 1v1 list for Marath that can switch cards in and out depending on the situation, but that is for another day and another forum!


Thanks for checking out my build, and any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Took out Genesis Wave in favour of Sylvan Library for more consistent draw and also removed Zealous Conscripts for Soul of Theros, as the extra lifelink and token pump is gladly welcomed!

Hiya! I just realized that with the holidays and the school semester starting, I completely missed addressing your list, and I'm so sorry!

I do know what it's like to build on a college budget, but honestly the deck looks really solid. Really, my only suggestions are to give yourself a bit more ramp (Rampant Growth, Farhaven Elf, Explosive Vegetation and even artifact ramp line Gilded Lotus are all good examples). Not too much more, but it does help with stalling out. Shamanic Revelation from the new set has also been really fantastic.

My last suggestion relates to Anger and Genesis. I use Survival of the Fittest to stomp them in to my graveyard, but I know it's pretty pricey. Adding in something else that's similar to replace their effects is one option, but Fauna Shaman is a cheaper effect to consider as well, and she is easily tutored with your setup. ^.^