MTG Salvation

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.

Recruiter is too good. I already have hyper aggressive decks and so the third option is artifact combo.

It's decently strong but I don't have that many insanely good win conditions and more hate cards affect you.

I think the card advantage choices getting better means that looting feels like less of a priority for all strategies.

I carry a third line of thought, and that is to make Marchesa a resilient slow combo deck.

I believe that this would be suitable in places where full commitment to aggression is simply not feasible due to the tools people can access that protect them from aggression.

Yesterday I was an inch away from winning with Time Sieve twice while I was drawing the disruptive attention of two grindy midrange decks at once for pretty much the whole game. If I was on the aggro plan I don't think I would have survived even that long. Maybe I also would have avoided drawing that much attention, but I'm used to it by now.

Single looting is generally a useful but minor benefit. I believe it is one that we don't need.

For combo versions I'd just run more tutoring instead.

I got another look at the leak sheet, and indeed it does not say "another" in its text box!

I think we might be due for some more day-0 errata!

Other than that, Vindictive Lich seems very solid, as already mentioned.

Hostage Taker is really nice. I'm not overly sold on any of the other choices.

Thanks for the opinions. I think my next add will be Phyrexian Revoker in any case. It solves problems that my removal suite wouldn't otherwise be able to handle.

Vindictive Lich is good and I definitely recommend cutting Treasure Keeper if your lists feel that this new card is better.

Also, I have some questions on a card that some of you may run. That card is Chasm Skulker.

How good is it in your lists? I'm thinking of trying out a very similar card in Hangarback Walker but with a few key differences. The reason I was thinking about it is because Genesis Chamber is actually quite strong in the affinity build.

A) You don't get a "free" add-on +1/+1 counter in your draw steps to go with the counter from dethrone. You also don't get counters for drawing cards
B) However, the tokens are flying thopter artifacts and you do get modular synergy. It also on average costs 1cmc less.
C) Unlike Chasm Skulker, when this thing dies it doesn't come back.

It is very likely that I'm cutting one of my six drops for this card if it is worthy of inclusion.

I personally think that wizard is strong not because of that ability (It's basically Flameshadow Conjuring on a 4/5 for 5 with a small extra ability), but because that ability is active when in the command zone.

This essentially means that decks with this wizard at the helm gets a free, unkillable Flameshadow Conjuring for wizards. You rarely have a reason to cast it from the command zone unless you don't have much else to do.

I'm personally testing Time Sieve for artifacts. 5 is a lot, but I can throw away modulars and myr tokens from Genesis Chamber. Plus, paying 2 once for repeatable extra turns as long as you have the fodder can be really quite strong. It feels weird talking about a more combo-like Marchesa than the aggro-midrange builds that people have here.

I actually at this point have so many ways to get ravager that I'm trying the deck out WITHOUT bad Mike.

And for the record, I think Patron of the Vein is actually quite strong, but ONLY if you can dependably get an instant speed free sac outlet. If you have an infinite sac outlet, it kills things every turn. Exiling them as they die is actually a pretty big benefit. It may not win the game, but it will lock down the table until it is dealt with and has synergies with any vampires in your deck. I think having a number of ways of getting rid of problematic cards is important and I still run black gearhulk and feel okay about it.
That being said, if you are playing low to the ground then you may not want it.
And yes, I do think the lack of removal in many Marchesa lists can be a problem, because one way other decks can beat you is by ignoring what you do or simply not answering what you do and go over the top. Also answering gravehate is kind of important.

Kindred Discovery is a good payoff. I think it's good enough that even I'm considering it just to name something like constructs (and I normally wouldn't).

Being able to trigger on both etb AND attack is what you get over something like River Kelpie.

Exiling the card is part of the cost. What you propose is not possible.

I still run Scrap Mastery, but that's because it is much much more one-sided than Living Death except in the most extreme of scenarios. I run extra creature removal to make up for the inability to wipe creatures but nuking manarocks is still pretty good. I rarely have to blow up my own stuff due to an abundance of artifact sacrifice outlets.

The biggest advantage for me with this particular variant however is the mana rebate from either KCI or getting rocks/artifact lands back.

I stopped playing this deck for a bit because of too much yard hate around. I'll pick it back up later when it dies down.

Just going back to my real dedicated beatdown deck.

I'm actually considering it too but I also have the big manarocks needed to fuel this guy out and also the fodder that I want to sacrifice.

Also, his tutoring is kind of necessary for the deck to close out games.

So, how is everything going?

For me, I seem to simply be winning with the same few sources of damage or life loss. I'm trying to look for more, especially since I... surprisingly cut Flayer of the Hatebound.

It is normally a heretical decision, but the fact of the matter was that my deck is filled with artifact sacrifice outlets, and only two-three of them can infinitely sacrifice creatures.

I'm now looking for extremely high damage dealers that have artifact synergies. Hellkite Igniter might need to be tested.