MTG Salvation

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Inspired by Cyberium_Neo's thread to combine O-Kagachi with monarchy and my own fun to play but lacking a punch Queen Marchesa judo deck I decided to upgrade the latter with the idea of the former. The idea of the deck is that it on one hand does everything it can to encourage opponents to attack each other while quickly disciplining anyone who tries to attack you or do anything harmful to you. For those familiar with my Queen Marchesa deck, the major difference between the Queen's list and this list is that this list is more proactive: while the Queen tries to work from the shadows, O-Kagachi is screaming "Come at me if you dare".

I categorized the cards as follows:

• Retribution: These are the cards that punish opponents for attacking us or destroying our stuff.
• Gaming: These are cards that actually make the opponents want to try and attack each other. This also includes the cards that make the Monarch enter play, as this deck wants to see people attacking for monarchy. Since there's no such thing as multiple Monarchs, there are only three cards that enable it: The Queen, her decree and the Throne of the High City.
• Lifting: These are cards that allow us to "lift" on opponent's actions in the sense that they give us an advantage to keep up with what our opponents are doing. My Queen list has issues in that regard so I added some fixing in here.
• Other: The other categories are pretty self-explanatory

Early game strategy: Just play some ramp and develop mana, making sure you can produce WUBRG and trying to drop and stick one or two gaming cards and/or make the monarchy enter the table.
Mid game strategy: Develop a board state that punishes opponents as much as possible whenever they try to do something to you and actively encourage opponents attacking each other until only you have only one opponent left.
Late game: At this point the heat is going to find you no matter what, as there are no other opponents. However, due to the nature of the deck, you can turn a lot of your opponent's strenght against him with the retribution cards. A well timed Aetherize or Comeuppance can easily clear the board for victory.

Special attention goes to Alchemist's Refuge and Winding Canyons. These allow you to maintain a surprise factor you need to set up traps. Imagine an opponent making a big strike against, dealing over 20+ combat damage. Instantly flash in Retaliator Griffin, which becomes over 20/20, then next turn smack that opponent with the Griffin who just happened to gain lifelink of of your Vault of the Archangel...

As some of you might have noticed directly, 23+16+6+9+5+14+37=110 which means I need to cut 10 cards. After wracking my brain on this for the last hour I am turning to you guys for suggestions. I could lose the lift package as this deck draws enough cards I think, but it is also the major source of life gain to offset the damage we do take and the life loss from the shocklands. Also, this deck has little in the form of recursion and thus resiliency, I am looking for tips in that regard as well, which could lead to having to make even more cuts.

Besides the above, I'm looking for all the feedback I can get, so what do you guys think?

Changelog:
03-08-2017 post #5: +1 Insurrection, -1 Repay in Kind

Neat decklist!

In terms of "Retribution", I think a flavorful and powerful card could be Deflecting Palm. I know I have lost my fair share of voltron or alpha-strike attacks, and this punishes a player who attempts that on you in the most straightforward way.

Quote from Outcryqq »

Neat decklist!

In terms of "Retribution", I think a flavorful and powerful card could be Deflecting Palm. I know I have lost my fair share of voltron or alpha-strike attacks, and this punishes a player who attempts that on you in the most straightforward way.

That... was in my Queen deck and in my draft from start to end. How I not included this is beyond me. But yeah, should definitly be added.

In terms of defense, what do you think of Solitary Confinement? It works really well with the Monarch mechanics, albeit having some conflicts with cards like No Mercy. Insurrection would be a one shot kill in late game when enemies are building up their units, and Bitter Feud adds the fire, if you intend to do more politics.

Spoilers confirmed! This is actually going to happen!

Quote from cyberium_neo »

In terms of defense, what do you think of Solitary Confinement? It works really well with the Monarch mechanics, albeit having some conflicts with cards like No Mercy. Insurrection would be a one shot kill in late game when enemies are building up their units, and Bitter Feud adds the fire, if you intend to do more politics.

While Solitary Confinement is definitely a good card to pair with Monarchy, I do not think it is fit for this deck. What we want is for opponents to smack each other for Monarchy, or us at a cost. Making it impossible for opponents to get the Monarchy from us is the exact opposite for what we want to do. Having said that, it's good to keep it on the watchlist for now, as it can be a good card to drop as soon as you have only one opponent left.

Insurrection is a good idea, maybe even better than Repay in Kind. They can fulfill similar roles (blowout) but even though I do not run that much lifegain, the ones I do gain a lot so I expect to be taking the biggest hit in life a substantial amount of the time. Insurrection does not have that problem.

While I like the effect of Bitter Feud, I do not have a way to "reset" it once one of the opponents dies which makes me fear this will be a dead card a lot of the time.

Also, do you feel I should run Gravepact effects? The pact itself is a bit steeply costed for a 4 color deck with BBB, but Butcher of Malakir could fit. I just don't know what to cut?

Also, i'm still 10 cards over the limit. Any suggestions on what to cut and why?

Grim Feast only provides incremental life gain, I don't think it will help your game plan.

Hour of Promise is a great card, but I think more so in decks that have a pair of lands that they want (like Urborg/Coffers), I don't see your deck needing any one specific land. In that case, I think you could find a more efficient way to ramp for 2 land in green.

Palliation Accord only targets one opponent, so I think it is pretty weak in terms of keeping you alive.

Time Spiral is an incredibly powerful card, but in this deck I think you would benefit even more from an asymmetrical effect, maybe Stroke of Genius or one of its variants.

Hmm, I agree Grim Feast is not the most powerfull card, I can cut that one.

Hour of Promise is there to fetch Cascading Cataracts and Alchemist Refuge, the two most important nonbasics for this deck.

Palliation Accord does not target according to the oracle wording. I can stack up counters when my opponents attack each other and then have a wall of damage prevention for whatever they throw at me. You still think it's bad?

What i like about Time Spiral is that it gives you a new hand AND the mana to do something with it. Also, this deck is light on recursion so it can use some recycling.

Isperia, Supreme Judge is also a card that really fits this deck... so many choices!!

Ah, don't know why I thought Palliation Accord was only target opponent, it's not so bad.

Quote from Ertai Planeswalker »

While Solitary Confinement is definitely a good card to pair with Monarchy, I do not think it is fit for this deck. What we want is for opponents to smack each other for Monarchy, or us at a cost. Making it impossible for opponents to get the Monarchy from us is the exact opposite for what we want to do. Having said that, it's good to keep it on the watchlist for now, as it can be a good card to drop as soon as you have only one opponent left.[quote]

I see it more as a support card/defense in some strategies, such as with Assault Suit where everyone else would be getting O-Kagachi to attack each other, that way you keep your monarchy and still able to entice a war. The same could be said about other pillowforts like Propaganda. Monarchy is indeed a very good bait for people, in only gets better if you can keep it while others would still battle each other to no end. Of course, this is an ideal situation, I would use it also to defend myself against combo decks that mill/damage you with a single spell, which bypasses combat defenses. (Solitary Confinement gives you shroud)

[quote from="Ertai Planeswalker »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/780644-o-kagachi-vengeful-monarch-hell-hath-no-fury-like?comment=5"]
While I like the effect of Bitter Feud, I do not have a way to "reset" it once one of the opponents dies which makes me fear this will be a dead card a lot of the time.

Here comes another reason to consider SC. Once players get eliminated over time people would start shifting attention to you regardless of your current board state, if it comes down to two players (including you), Bitter Feud would allow you to deal double damage while you keep up a good defense that negates theirs. Even a political deck has to come to blows in the end, I think Bitter Feud is never a dead card, but a loaded gun waiting to be unleashed. Dictate of the Twin Gods is another card to consider as an instant speed doubler that either helps you kill an opponent or could be played while an opponent is attacked by another.

Quote from Ertai Planeswalker »

Also, do you feel I should run Gravepact effects? The pact itself is a bit steeply costed for a 4 color deck with BBB, but Butcher of Malakir could fit. I just don't know what to cut?

I am not entirely convinced by too many Pact effects in this deck. It's another style of play which can totally work, but opponents would know very early on that your deck would punish them for attacking you, Grave Pact would only serve as an additional warning sign. Besides, you want combat and change of Monarchy, GP would discourage people from attacking you while you have defenders. For that effect, there are cheaper and less color intensive options.

Quote from Ertai Planeswalker »

Also, i'm still 10 cards over the limit. Any suggestions on what to cut and why?

I gotta look it over later. Going out to work.

I like this list and is close to something I would do with the Kami

The one card I would run because you have the colors to to amp the Retribution is Finest Hour