MTG Salvation

So, I have an Alesha, Who Smiles at Death reanimator deck that I love. I have always wanted to build this color combination and have really enjoyed playing it. It really needs a few more cards though, among them, an entomb some of the better tutors, and some more of the big bombs in these colors to close out the game.

However, I have been in love with Marchesa, the Black Rose since she was spoiled but have never been able to get a copy until now. I would love to build her too, but I don't think I want both going at once.

So, I have been thinking about building Alesha down to Tiny Leaders and making her a more aggro control build than reanimator and making Marchesa reanimator. What do you guys think?

Also, what are some good things to put into a deck like that? If I take out all of the white cards and the cards that were only really in there to interact with Alesha's 2 power clause, I have between 8 and 20 cards once I put in my personal blue package of card draw and counterspells.

Thanks in advance for your help

I'd say it depends on your meta. For example, I've always wanted a Sidisi, Brood Tyrant edh deck, but my meta is overrun with Sultai decks (Two Sidisis, 3 Mimeoplasms, a Tasigur, and a Damia), so I run Dimir. Go with whatever your meta DOESN'T have for added variety.

Well, I don't really have a meta right now. I just graduated from a boarding school in Michigan (that had a delightful constantly changing meta) and am back home in backwoods Mississippi without really any established meta. There are a few people here and there that play (mostly modern though) but it can be hard to get in touch with them. And I have no clue what my meta will look like in Chicago.

So, this is more of me asking whether Marchesa reanimator seems plausible and suggestions for good U, U/B, or U/R cards for such a deck.

Marchesa is quite different. It is not a traditional reanimator deck. Entomb does not seem good, for example. That being said, I have been having a lot of fun with Marchesa. I've seen people play control lists, but I decided to go with an aggro approach that plays 4 non-permanent spells (Jokulhaups, Terminate, Decree of Pain and Blasphemous Act). I built it this way to abuse Sultai Emissary and Qarsi High Priest - you attack with the manifest, it gets a counter, you sacrifice it, and end of turn get a free Bearer of the Heavens, Grave Betrayal, or lands (which are amazing when you play Bearer of the Heavens and Jokulhaups, as end of turn you get a bunch of lands). In the same vein, I like manlands (Lavaclaw Reaches, etc) a lot in this deck as they keep their counters, and if they are animated when they die, you get them back, which works well with Jokulhaups, etc.


Other cards I think are amazing:
- Merciless Executioner, Fleshbag Marauder and Slum Reaper - they can take over the game by themselves, and I absolutely think it is worth playing all 3
- Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos and Butcher of Malakir - all 3, for same reasons as above
- Unspeakable Symbol - helps dethrone and helps save a guy in a pinch
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - Aside from going infinite with many things you want in this deck (like Murderous Redcap), this is insane with Marchesa. Take Merciless Executioner, for example. With Mikaeus and Marchesa in play, you make everyone sacrifice two creatures a turn (on opponents turns too) for the rest of the game, without having to put any resources towards it.
- Sage of Fables helps save Marchesa the turn you play her. I play a dozen other wizards, so it is often relevant, not to mention the card draw. I like pairing this with Disciple of Bolas, Marchesa, and a sac outlet, as you get 4 cards and 4 life on each player's turn for as long as you want. You don't typically want the lifegain, but I like having that option.
- Baleful Strix, Chasm Skulker, Avalanche Riders, and Mulldrifter are creatures I am always happy to have at any point of the game
- Carrion Feeder is a great sac outlet
- Glen Elendra Archmage and Voidmage prodigy work very well in this deck
- I just ordered a Magmasaur that I am excited to use. Also it's a dinosaur.
- Oona's Blackguard is nuts in this deck, even without having rogues
- I am playing with Rishadan Brigand. There is a whole cycle of them, but this seems like the best one. With Dictate of Erebos and Fulminator Mage, etc, I can deal with creatures and lands, but I cannot deal with enchantments at all. I have a few infinite mana combos with Nim Deathmantle, and this allows me to eliminate problematic enchantments that do not allow me to attack or deal damage. Without the combo, it is like a worse Fleshbag Marauder, but at least it has evasion and can hit people with no creatures.

Alesha is a fun general, and I would personally prefer to play her in EDH than tiny, as the whole thing is that you can cheat things like Avalanche Riders, Siege-Gang Commander, Duplicant, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Master of Cruelties into play. I think she can still be fun in Tiny, but is further hampered, like all graveyard decks, by the popularity of Anafenza, the Foremost.

I think the decks are different enough for you to have two decks, although they do overlap a bit in the creatures/lands you want, which makes it less feasible. I have a Karador, Ghost Chieftain deck, which is a reanimator deck. It is very different from Marchesa, and only overlaps with a handful of black cards. If you really want to cut Alesha to Tiny, you certainly can, and I think Marchesa is a fun deck to pilot in EDH.

I think this actually sounds like a great situation where you could do two decks based around one core deck. I think that you'd maybe need 150 cards for it.

Just get however many sleeves you need all in one style and color and you can easily switch out the Alesha cards with the Marchesa cards while keeping the black and red cards the same.

It also means you can switch the deck up by changing one of the colors and the general, but not needing to change every card in the deck.

I read an article about building decks around a core somewhere, but I can't find it to link to you. Hopefully someone can link it below.

Funny to say, but I think that subbing out White for Blue here doesn't gain you that much. White has a ton of the combo stuff like Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Fiend Hunter, which also happen to be pretty great for any honest reanimator also. With Marchesa, you are basically just left with Kiki-Jiki, Mikaeus, and things of that nature.

Although, I will say that Marchesa's power level is somewhat higher than Alesha's in the abstract, speaking strictly on what each commander does.