MTG Salvation

Hello!

I would like some feedback on my current deck. So far, it is looking pretty solid and does decent when I play with friends. However, I'm looking to see if I can make it a bit more smoother. The theme is mainly stealing other people's things, but I find that I have a hard time closing successfully. Also, the early game is rather rough for me as well, so making it a bit faster would be nice as well. 12 out of 25 creatures are CMC 5 and up. Looking to pare some of it down to a lower CMC cost. There are certain cards that I wouldn't mind replacing like Mirko, Conduit, Stalking Vengeance, and Devastation Tide (for Evacuation or something similar).




I currently have an additional 3 slots open, as I took 3 creatures out that I found wasn't useful. Looking into potential options of

• Ashling the Pilgrim
  
• Flayer of the Hatebound
  
• Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
  
• Preyseizer Dragon
  
• Dimir House Guard
  
• Muddle the Mixture
  
• Perplex
  
• Dimir Machinations
  
• Beseech the Queen
  
• Oona's Blackguard
  
• Evil Twin
  
• Dragonlord Silumgar
  
• Vizier of Many Faces
  
• Dimir Doppelganger
  
• Curse of the Swine
  

.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

I also tried a Marchesa theft deck (decklist here, though it hadsn't been updated recently), but I found it ran smoother when I minimized the theft and added value cards. I recommend Baleful Strix. Also, the new Benthic Biomancer is a nice one-drop that lets you loot whenever it gets a+1/+1 counter. And Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum can be critical mana ramp and fixing, plus they're really good if you can have Marchesa keep bringing them back.

From your list of considerations, Oona's Blackguard is great, as is Curse of the Swine. I would drop Stalking Vengeance for Flayer of the Hatebound - similar role but brings itself back with undying, which lets Marchesa bring it back for having a +1/+1, which once again enables undying, etc.

I have an aggro build, which you can look up in my signature, but this advice is from one of the stronger theft Marchesa decks that was in my meta for a bit.

You're going to need to add at least 4 lands, as the standard EDH deck runs 37/38. If you want to run less, you'll need a boatload more artifact mana. I also will recommend Solemn Simulacrum and Burnished Hart because the best way to steal is atop of a buttload of mana. Other options would be Pilgrim's Eye and Skittering Surveyor to make sure you hit every land drop, as what you're doing is expensive and you're going to need all the mana you can get to pull it off. At least get the other Painrock, you need to control your life total.

You say you want to steal, but when I look at your game finishers I am left scratching my head. How does Herald of Anguish, Conduit of Ruin or Thraximundar help you steal? I figure you would be using Molten Primordial, Etali, Primal Storm or Stolen Strategy. If you're going with a theme, the only time to luxuriate in that with an aggro deck is your curve toppers.

Other good thieves would be Bone Dancer, Sepulchral Primordial and Puppeteer Clique. You should be using less noncreature effects to steal because you can't recycle those. Unless you want to add Anarchist and Archaeomancer to return your theft effects, but now you're jumping through more hoops.

You also need better sac outlets, things that don't cost mana to activate, so you that you aren't wasting time. You're playing aggro/control, your mana is going to be tight. Carrion Feeder, Viscera Seer, Spawning Pit, Yahenni, Undying Partisan, Goblin Bombardment and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born are some of my favourites.

If you really want to get nasty, you can use Sadistic Hypnotist. You can steal, sac their Creatures to get them back, they discard cards from their hand and if you use more reanimation theft then you've just added more options from what they discard.

Lastly, I think your deck is massively lacking in card draw. What happens if you're left in topdeck mode? At least have Necropotence, Marchesa needs to match her opponents' life totals. You also want your Creatures to die, where's your Skullclamp?

Quote from FunkyDragon »

I also tried a Marchesa theft deck (decklist here, though it hadsn't been updated recently), but I found it ran smoother when I minimized the theft and added value cards. I recommend Baleful Strix. Also, the new Benthic Biomancer is a nice one-drop that lets you loot whenever it gets a+1/+1 counter. And Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum can be critical mana ramp and fixing, plus they're really good if you can have Marchesa keep bringing them back.

From your list of considerations, Oona's Blackguard is great, as is Curse of the Swine. I would drop Stalking Vengeance for Flayer of the Hatebound - similar role but brings itself back with undying, which lets Marchesa bring it back for having a +1/+1, which once again enables undying, etc.

Great! Thanks for your suggestions! I placed a few of them in my deck and weeded out those I felt were a bit more clunky!

Quote from Tev »

I have an aggro build, which you can look up in my signature, but this advice is from one of the stronger theft Marchesa decks that was in my meta for a bit.

You're going to need to add at least 4 lands, as the standard EDH deck runs 37/38. If you want to run less, you'll need a boatload more artifact mana. I also will recommend Solemn Simulacrum and Burnished Hart because the best way to steal is atop of a buttload of mana. Other options would be Pilgrim's Eye and Skittering Surveyor to make sure you hit every land drop, as what you're doing is expensive and you're going to need all the mana you can get to pull it off. At least get the other Painrock, you need to control your life total.

You say you want to steal, but when I look at your game finishers I am left scratching my head. How does Herald of Anguish, Conduit of Ruin or Thraximundar help you steal? I figure you would be using Molten Primordial, Etali, Primal Storm or Stolen Strategy. If you're going with a theme, the only time to luxuriate in that with an aggro deck is your curve toppers.

Other good thieves would be Bone Dancer, Sepulchral Primordial and Puppeteer Clique. You should be using less noncreature effects to steal because you can't recycle those. Unless you want to add Anarchist and Archaeomancer to return your theft effects, but now you're jumping through more hoops.

You also need better sac outlets, things that don't cost mana to activate, so you that you aren't wasting time. You're playing aggro/control, your mana is going to be tight. Carrion Feeder, Viscera Seer, Spawning Pit, Yahenni, Undying Partisan, Goblin Bombardment and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born are some of my favourites.

If you really want to get nasty, you can use Sadistic Hypnotist. You can steal, sac their Creatures to get them back, they discard cards from their hand and if you use more reanimation theft then you've just added more options from what they discard.

Lastly, I think your deck is massively lacking in card draw. What happens if you're left in topdeck mode? At least have Necropotence, Marchesa needs to match her opponents' life totals. You also want your Creatures to die, where's your Skullclamp?

Thanks for your link! I read through the thread and it was fascinating to see how it evolved over time!

There were quite a number of higher CMC creatures that I felt weren't too good, but they were all I got at this point in time. I was hoping to lower the CMC average, as there were just too much high costs without the extra oomph. I've taken into consideration of additional sac outlets as well, but due to a slower progression, I usually have a land or two open for paying the sac cost.

As for the draw power...I do have Ponder, Sign in Blood, Read the Bones, Greed, and Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Should I have added more?

I've updated the deck based on the above poster's and your suggestion. Please let me know what you think. It seems to be progressing towards a mid-range board/hand/deck disruption + flying/evasion kind of theme. I still feel certain cards could be replaced with others, but I'm not too confident in my assessment. Thank you!!!

Quote from CandleLight »

As for the draw power...I do have Ponder, Sign in Blood, Read the Bones, Greed, and Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Should I have added more?

Tev hit the nail on the head when he said "You should be using less noncreature effects to steal because you can't recycle those."
Ponder, Sign in Blood, and Read the Bones are all one-shot effects. Even if you cast all three, you've spent three cards and drawn five, putting you ahead two cards.
Greed is at least repeatable and works to keep you off the throne.
You should be running more creature based draw:
Mulldrifter, Disciple of Bolas, Dusk Legion Zealot, and Phyrexian Rager all offer ETB draw, which is repeated when Marchesa brings them back.
Grim Haruspex, Harvester of Souls, and Midnight Reaper all trigger on creature deaths, which should happen often.
Looter il-Kor and Shadowmage Infiltrator have saboteur loot/draw abilities, as well as a form of evasion.
River Kelpie is especially fun in Marchesa. It has persist, so between that and Marchesa, it should just kep coming back. It also draws a card for every other creature brought back by Marchesa.
Obviously don't run them all, but consider these over instants and sorceries.