MTG Salvation

I am considering making a Mardu Commander and I am not too sure what direction to go into yet other than good stuff. So what is your choice for a Mardu Good stuff Commander?

Queen Marchesa for good stuff

Yeah, I'd agree with that pick.

Queen is probably the best, but do realize that if you can't get the monarch status away from an opponent and those tokens end up being dealt with by say a bitterblossom, you can be at a pretty big disadvantage. If you ever plan on casting her you will need to have some control/influence over the board and creatures so you don't end up just giving an opponent extra cards.

In good-stuff creature based decks tariel, reckoner of souls is pretty passive looking while still impactful enough when paired with a few cards to untap her.

Most people take zurgo helmsmasher into just a destruction+voltron swing heavy approach, but he is a pretty resilient beater.

I don't think Mardu is a goodstuff color in general. The filtering, draw and ramp is weak enough you're usually needing to do something unfair.

Kaalia of the Vast is probably the best commander in the color profile.

Quote from Pokken »

I don't think Mardu is a goodstuff color in general. The filtering, draw and ramp is weak enough you're usually needing to do something unfair.

Kaalia of the Vast is probably the best commander in the color profile.

Black and red have good enough card draw. I do agree with you on mardu being limited to ramp.

Quote from Kahboom0225 »

Quote from Pokken »

I don't think Mardu is a goodstuff color in general. The filtering, draw and ramp is weak enough you're usually needing to do something unfair.

Kaalia of the Vast is probably the best commander in the color profile.

Black and red have good enough card draw. I do agree with you on mardu being limited to ramp.

They do OK but it tends to be kind of brute force and lending itself to certain types of strategies. It can be tough to straight up draw enough cards efficiently. A lot of times you need to be either to play wheels (which are oftentimes too symmetrical), have some powerful supporting artifacts (e.g. scroll rack/divining top), or have life gain/closing power to offset the life loss from black card draw.

I'd say that the red/black approaches to drawing cards tend to not lend themselves to a goodstuff strategy, but align to more streamlined strategies like tokens or lifegain/drain or reanimator.

^This post nailed it. Red is just not an effective card advantage colour, and I say that as a long time red player.

You shouldn't have any trouble offsetting the life cost with white in your colours. Just drop a whip of erebos for maximum value as well as lifelink.

Do agree that mardu is a bad place for goodstuff. Marchesa seems like the best option, and I disagree with the potential issues with Monarch suggested above. Remember, there are 2+ extra players at your table making sure that one guy doesn't just hog all the card advantage. And given how good at combat WRB can be, regaining it should be no trouble at all.

I used to run a Tariel deck. She's a very low commitment general but rarely hit the table due to that nasty mana cost. Will definitely have less of an impact than Marchesa and is better suited to control rather than goodstuff.

White has its own card draw issues too.

Kaalia as goodstuff? Hell no! But probably Marchesa or Alesha. Alesha's more linear than Marchesa, but nowhere near as linear as Kaalia.

I'd suggest Queen Marchesa for this role. Card drawing is good for any good stuff deck, and causing political chaos is also a good distraction that'd protect you, for example with curses.

EDIT: B/R can be played as a controlled deck using generals like Mogis, God of Slaughter, and in such decks there are defensive cards one could put into consideration for their Mardu good stuff, such as No Mercy.

I think Queen Marchesa can do it. The only problem I foresee going Mardu good stuff is that, unlike Bant Goodstuff running things like Thragtusk, Angel of Serenity, Elderscale Wurm, and Consecrated Sphinx all the creatures are stand alone good. Mardu Goodstuff is like Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, and sure, she's pretty good on her own but doesn't really shine until you build with her in mind which goes against the goodstuff philosphy.

Tariel is a good pick as you just play out your goodstuff, and should you run out of gas, Tariel makes for a reasonable Plan B. No need to run specific synergies with her either.

A part of me assumes good stuff almost always means very little creature presence, so I apologize if all of this is for not. I can't run my Queen Marchesa in my competetive metas, so its not the most tuned to "obviously win," which may not be what you're looking for, but I figured I'd mention because it's the most fun I've had in a while. This is only really worthwhile if everyone at the table can in some way wants to or easily could turn a few dudes sideways.

The monarch aspect keeps the game interesting. Yes, it's not reliable you will always be Monarch and yes, it will draw cards for your opponents, but it's very easy to maintain early turns, and you will rarely not have monarch by the end of your turn. You have access to tons of interesting ways to put creatures through, through Skulk effects, sheer numbers, or brute force. Good stuff probably wants to lean board wipes and heavy removal to define the game plan, but attacking is a lot of fun. Odric, Lunarch Marshal and the varying effects you'll scrounge up will make for some of the most threatening board states you'll ever see. I thought the old Marchesa was fun but Monarch is just in a league of its own. I can definitely credit it to hooking two of my friends into the game/format. They liked borrowing decks, but with the concept of Monarch in the table they were both inspired to try building their own.

Alesha is still my pick as the best one.
Can play stax, check.
Can play combo, check.
Can play MLD, check.
Can recur stuff over and over, check.
Plus, she/he's (I know, it's confusing) only 3cc.

Here's my current midrange combo list. It's pretty solid.