had a game last night, i turn 2 suspend a riftwing cloudskate, turn 3 spellshock and turn 4 marchesa.... was attacking and sac/ bouncing the riftwing to make the opponent recast their stuff and take more damage from spellshock.
Conclusion - spellshock pretty good for what it does. I also become the arch enemy of the game...never recovered after they colluded to 2 x wrath my board and attacking me to low health
I've been dying a lot from having my life dip too low, too quickly and so I've made two changes to stem the bleeding. Sangromancer should keep me really healthy from random Wraths but also if I get value out of Oona's Blackguard. The Ruffians never made an appearance but I don't think having a little more damage matter that much when my problem is living. This is also why I cut the Ferocidon, I hit myself too much and sometimes wouldn't have a sac outlet.
With the deck being concerned with counting to 120, I added Rabblemaster for the Ferocidon because it makes the most amount of damage for its CMC. It is very similar to the absolute all-star that is Hanweir Garrison.
When I noticed the lack of sac outlets, I tried to find a good one for replacement. The best I could find is Bloodflow Connoisseur. With how aggressive the deck is, I am not bothered by Planeswalkers much anymore so I don't need the Rats' ability to nuke 'Walkers.
Phantasmal Image is solid but has huge variability. With the need for life gain, I'm trying out Blood Artist. I like that it can ping people who hide behind pillowforts, Propaganda is this deck's bane.
I found out about Hissing Iguanar somewhere and I thought to myself that it was another Blood Artist. It gives me reach, is aggressively costed and lots of Creatures die with Marchesa. The cut was a difficult decision as I really like Treasure Keeper, but I've had multiple games where I looked at it and thought I didn't have time to cast it. I guess I measure my 4 drops by whether they immediately improve my deck's ability to win, not do cute things. I'm sad to see the Keeper go.
I got my mitts on a few Reflecting Pools today, so I'm adding them to different decks. I chose to cut the Necropolis, as the only mandatory ETBT lands are now Path of Ancestry, which smooths my draws, and Grand Coliseum, which is colorless for Matter Reshaper and provides pain when I want to have my life total dip lower.
Right now I'm trying to monitor just how aggressive I can go with this deck.
Has Vampire Nighthawk been working out well for you? I love the card from other formats, but 3 mana feels like a lot. Evasion and Lifelink are really important though, so I'm torn. Same with Sangromancer, which I want to add but am worried about getting *too* much life.
Has Vampire Nighthawk been working out well for you? I love the card from other formats, but 3 mana feels like a lot. Evasion and Lifelink are really important though, so I'm torn. Same with Sangromancer, which I want to add but am worried about getting *too* much life.
What's worse? Being dead or being at such a high life total our abilities don't really work? Sangro and Nighthawk have been answering that for me. I've been dying less and winning more, even if it means I stall out in the transition from mid to endgame. I just want a saturation of life gain because there are times when I draw none of it but all of the hate cards and proceed to ping myself to death. It got to the point where I've been reconsidering Spellshock because my throughput is much higher than many other decks, meaning I am Spellshocking myself to death faster than my opponents. It's been something that I've been monitoring and it has informed my most recent changes:
I really like Vindictive Lich, but if it is a 4+ drop it must answer multiple of the ways I lose. I lose by not being able to control by board due to not drawing a sac outlet, by having my Creatures be chumped, by having my Creatures being outsized and by dying too quickly. The Moltensteel Dragon is sizable, has evasion, lets me control my life and can one shot players if I pay my life into it. I am saddened by the loss of the Lich, it was a great, fun card but when it sat in my hand it rarely helped solve whatever problem that was plaguing me on the board.
Matter Reshaper, a 3 drop, isn't as closely scrutinized as a four drop, but having its benefits be on its death instead of ETB made for some awkward situations. Dragonmaster is an inexpensive beater I can swing in and as the game transitions to late, I make evasive, sizable threats that I also have no qualms feeding or trading with my opponents' Creatures.
Ruin Raider is draw, but I've been finding that the 'Bob Effect' hurts too much. I'm willing to pay one life for a card, but more and it starts becoming too rich for my blood. I was impressed with how much work a Vicious Conquistador did an in Edgar Markov list, so I'm trying it out, but I've already had a friend suggest Night Market Lookout as a way to drain but also pad my life total. The fact that the lookout is a Rogue is nice for Oona's Blackguard.
Lastly, Thrummingbird at times was awkward and other times godly. That high variance is something I can't have in an aggro deck, I need reliability if I'm going to close out a table. Sword of the Animist has been amazing in a lot of my decks, so I've been putting it in even more. Aside from the Dragonmaster Outcast synergy, the deck's high throughput means that I am able to place more threats on the table as the game goes on and with the high gas built-in with Marchesa's mechanic, I'm confident it would be overwhelming.
I found that I was dying way too quickly to Spellshock because of my deck's high throughput in comparison to other decks, so I put in the Standard Banned All-Star Smuggler's Copter and we can all find that it's good in here too. Due to its low Crew cost, I can cast whatever Creature, throw them in the Copter and then filter for cards I need. I've also used it as early as turn two, swung on Turn 3 to find a mana source that let me cast Marchesa on Turn 4 that I would've missed without the Loot. The fact it has Flying means that the Copter has evasion, so the trouble of getting chumped is far lower. Also, as it is not a Creature the majority of the time, that means mass board wipes tend to miss the Copter. This means the problem of being out-sized in the late game is less of a problem. Overall, Copter's great!
The Lookout replaces the Conquistador for the fact that it drains life and synergizes pretty well with Copter.
And just like that, the Lookout gets cut. I might axe Moltensteel Dragon in the future, but it seems to be a decent way to manage my life total and it is a 4/4 Flyer for four and then the Lookout might make a return just to help with my curve.
Just a random thought I've had lately is about the viability of Bloodghast. Generally Marchesa decks run a lot of sacrifice outlets or synergies that consistently need fuel, like Skullclamp, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Viscera Seer, etc. I've noticed in the last few games I've played with the deck that I often want to sacrifice an arbitrary creature to achieve some effect but I don't want to use a creature with a +1/+1 counter that will be vulnerable until my next turn.
I'm going to give Bloodghast a shot and see how it functions for a while.
I don't really have that much sacrifice for value stuff. Most of the time it's the Creature coming back or dodging the removal spell as the reason for why I sac things. It's why I took out Attrition, for example, I literally didn't want to spend one mana to sacrifice a Creature to destroy a Creature. All my sac outlets are free and possibly come with value.
If you're building more midrange, that would make way more sense. You'd want value with your sac so Bloodghast would make sense. Snap it up anyway, the price is probably the lowest it'll be for a while.
Moltensteel Dragon was a cute option for controlling my life in check, definitely a good budget option, but considering my Marchesa is one of he most tricked out decks, it fell a little flat. The idea of having a 4 drop that I could pay life into the always Dethrone was less useful than I initially thought. Zo-Zu goes in as a second way to punish players and he keeps my life in check with every land drop. Overall, it's a much more controlled way to damage myself and hurts other players as well.
I've had a Turn 1 Anhk of Mishra which yielded ridiculous results as one of my opponents was playing all fetches, duals and shocks. I don't think I'll have that happen again; however, I now have a new dream with the deck. T2 Anhk, T3 Zo-Zu and see how quickly everybody's life total plummets.
Impact Tremors has been decent, great at closing out games and hitting players hiding behind pillowforts. Unfortunately, a great many of time I do not have time to cast Impact Tremors. I rather grow my board with bodies and Impact Tremors isn't scary enough in this type of deck to warrant stalling my board presence, unlike say Necropotence, Sword of the Animist, Grave Pact or Throne of the God-Pharaoh. Zulaport, on the other hand, serves another function. He does lose out on a Creatures' initial entrance, but each of their deaths will trigger him to drain the table for one. I like the drains because it staves off dying to crackbacks. More importantly, he's a body so he can be cheated out, or be relied on to carry Animist Sword or crew the Smuggler's Copter. He just does so much more work than Impact Tremors.
Out of curiosity, has anyone tried out Jet Medallion or Nightscape Familiar in their Marchesa lists? I've noticed in my games that my primary issue is being choked on mana and simply not being able to do enough things per turn. I've already put in Jet Medallion and I'll be adding Nightscape Familiar soon as well, since both cheapen about half my spells for the colors concerned, so I figure they're worth trying.
Most non-green decks struggle to keep up with the ramp that green decks have access to, so my logic is that making spells cheaper is as close a substitute as Grixis is likely to get outside of Rituals or cards like Treasonous Ogre. The other advantage is both those cards facilitate a turn 3 Marchesa and help generate early momentum, which is something I often struggle with and it means opponents have sufficient time to get answers to keep Marchesa off the table. Setting up early advantage seems like the best way to transition from aggro to mid-range IMO, the achilles for my deck seems to be stumbling early and never managing to catch up.
Edit: Bloodghast hasn't been amazing yet so far, the double black is a bit of a nuisance early in the game and later on other things are more important so it just rots in hand, unfortunately.
tested nightscape familar for awhile, considered him a mana rock variant, decent blocker.does it 's job
Don't think jet medallion is good, not creature, reduction for black spell only. Be it combo or aggro, the amount of creatures this deck need is high.
Tev's aggro listing main consideration are probably Creatures before and after marchesa, enough number of high ceiling creatures cards that would impact the board, Black devotion cards that are useful and help the gray merchant... and replacing the non creature permanents in the deck with new cards that is similar or better.
I think yeedeehege hits the nail on the head with Nightscape Familiar. My two drop spot is crowded. Hell, who am I kidding. Each CMC is crowded. This is an aggro deck, I need to curve out perfectly and that means that I have to have a two drop and a three drop for Marchesa. The turn afterwards, if I hit my 5th land I usually drop a two and three drop, if not I drop whatever's going to bring the pain. I don't think I have room for a cost reducer when he brings nothing else, and definitely I don't have time for Jet Medallion. I've cut all the mana rocks from my list except the Talismans and they're there more to manage my life than accelerate me.
I realized that Vampire Nighthawk wasn't really pulling his weight.
When I added him, I needed more life gain. Since then, I've added so many more efficient options. I was thinking of replacing him with a Consecrated Sphinx for more card draw, but I realized that there is a cheaper option by going in reverse. If I take cards away from my opponents, I'll have less problems. When I last had the Sadistic Hypnotist in the deck, my list wasn't as tight and I wasn't as experienced with Marchesa. With my current build, I'm confident I could make the right calls instead of having the problem I had last time, which was sac my board to empty some people's hands and then get wrecked by a Wrath. I've been itching for another sac outlet and while this isn't at Instant Speed, it certainly helps.
Harsh Mentor in some match-ups is a complete beast, Shocking my opponents continually as they keep activating abilities. In other match-ups, he's just a Bear. With this deck I am trying to reduce variance unless it is with the 'high ceiling' cards that gets mentioned in the main Marchesa thread. I am using Dusk Legion Zealot to draw me early, which is great to make sure I get my 4 Lands by Turn 4. It also lowers my life total, which is helpful for the early game and ensuring I get Dethrone triggers. With how useful random draws have been from Baleful Strix, I'm giving another cantrip Creature a shot.
This Marchesa may not be in the super fast combo decks, but it certainly outpaces Arena's steady supply. I need bursts of draw to keep jamming threats on the board and that's what a Consecrated Sphinx does. If left unanswered, it probably wins me the game. Even if answered, it draws a lot more cards that a Phyrexian Arena would in the same scenario. As I'm playing Marchesa, sometimes even answering a Creature isn't enough to permanently get rid of it.
Ruin Raider makes its return as I've found my deck to sometimes have the problem of having too much life. I like my draw to be on Creatures vs any other option. I found that Throne was more of a winmore. I don't make enough bodies that remain sideways for me warrant it. The damage it does is good, but I find that keeping my draw going is more important than the last few lives I take from my opponents.
Sire of Stagnation is another way to draw cards or modify peoples behaviour. Ankh of Mishra didn't. I liked that it Shocked people but considering the format is swimming in Shocklands, there's little hesitancy in playing these lands out. The damage was also linear, only 2 per turn, if they had a land drop. Sire is a Creature, which with Dethrone will make the damage exponential. I also know people stop playing lands when confronted with Sire, so I don't mind voluntarily hamper their development. Overall, I think Sire is far more threatening than Ankh and so I made the swap.
This means I could probably replace Zo-Zu the Punisher in the future as he only applies linear damage as well.
I need more draw. I find that I get into an archenemy situation and people try to run me out of cards. Am I happy that my current solution is River Kelpie? No, but I already owned it so I decided to make the swap. I am not happy that my curve is trending upwards but there isn't much I can do if my current problem is pushing for more draw. Perhaps when I get my hand on a Twilight Prophet I will make a swap; however, it is possible that my deck's new resilience means River Kelpie might be a great addition.
I'm trying to kill the table, so that's why I have tons of AoE effects like Scab-Clan Berserker or Twilight Prophet. My deck needs Sangromancer so that my life total bounces back; I frequently get ganged up and the games I win in those gang ups are due to drawing some mass life gain. Also, I get more stringent with my requirements as the CMC of the Creature increases; Sangro has Flying and keeps me alive which are both very useful metrics at my 4+. If it didn't regularly help me gain at least 30 Life it wouldn't be that good, but Sangro saves me frequently.
I had Pain Seer, it frequently died and so I never got the Inspire trigger. I don't use Disciple because I don't want to spend mana on my sac outlets, I need them to be free as the majority of the time I'm putting more bodies on the board. I like the life loss from Dusk Legion Zealot, though I do concede that Alchemist's Apprentice can get started on great loops.
I don't like Bomat Courier because of how frequently my Creatures die, so I'd rarely be able to get any benefit from it. I like the Mausoleum Wanderer suggestion, any extra bit of counters is great and on an Evasive body with no drawbacks that typically show up on 1/1 Flyers for 1. Even if it never counters a spell, I bet it forces my opponents to wildly play around it. What I find ingenious is Vault Skirge: drops your life total and then helps gain it back. Those two are probably the biggest food for thought to play test.
I don't leave mana open too often, so a lot of my Instants are "Surprise!" and they're very effective. Another Counter is great; however, I don't know what I would cut. Two bodies that you've suggested are making me think long and hard, finding room for a noncreature in this style of deck is not that good either.
From your list, I really like the Tilonalli's Summoner but again, I rarely have open mana. I'm surprised you went with Sedraxis Alchemist considering it's color stipulation; why not Man-O-War for ease of colors or AEther Adept for relevant Creature type. I've actually found Cephalid Constable is particularly brutal; it is quite easy for T3 Constable, T4 Marchesa, swing, bounce 2 lands and the player pretty much forfeits.
Apprentice has a good Creature type that I'll be able to Sacrifice, possibly over and over, to keep drawing. Dusk Legion was the obvious change.
Ruin Raider has made me die from exact crackback three times. I can't just lose random lives; I'll try Grenzo again for his pseudo-card draw and that he puts the heat off of me by forcing my opponents to attack each other.
I played Marchesa a ton a few years ago, but dismantled it for other decks. I've decided to pick it back up again, and I found my old, terribly outdated list. Is there anything that is a must-include from the past 3~ years?
What's "mandatory" depends on your build. If you're playing midrange or stealy Marchesa, Captivating Crew is a must-have, but if you're going with aggro or artifacts then it's just too expensive. But to answer your question, here are cards that either really impressed me or felt pretty much printed for Marchesa:
I would be remiss to not point out that Márton Stromgald is probably the most "printed for Marchesa" ever. If you want to swing in your build at all, he's your man.
I cut Scourge of the Throne when I did the damage potential numbers of Hanweir Garrison. Again, I'm going mana lean but a midrange deck would want the Scourge more than the bodies. Combat Celebrant is not a winmore, it is a win if left alone. You're growing at twice the rate and are hitting extremely hard. It is not unusual for this deck to swing for 20+ damage across multiple bodies on Turn 6, no one can withstand that two times a turn. He also goes infinite with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker if you're fine going down that path.
As for Hostage Taker, Ravenous Chupacabra or Riverwise Augur: no. As the mana cost of the Creature increases with my build, I get more and more stringent with my requirements. When I make changes to a deck, the majority of the time it is me asking "What makes me lose?" and then cutting cards that don't help with cards that do. My low aggro build has the following problems: Creatures with high power, lots of Creatures to chump, dying to crackback, unable to manage my board or getting taken out from an AOE. Essentially, my problem is just three things: low life, no sac outlets and failing to get in. If you're going with the Artifact build, you aren't actually trying to be on the Throne but are relying on your Creatures' innate +1/+1 counters. If you're playing midrange or stealy, then you can remove those big Creatures. You've got different problems. Midrange probably has to worry about combo a lot more than I do, combo is dead usually for me before they're an issue.
So with that in mind, if you look at my 4 drops:
Aura Thief - His entire job is to steal Ghostly Prison and co., if not in play he has Evasion to get in.
Sangromancer - Evasive Creature that encourages Wraths, which Marchesa can ignore and then gains me life. Minor synergy with Oona's Blackguard.
Twilight Prophet - Evasive Creature that does damage to those behind walls and gains me life.
As you can see, they either fulfill multiple jobs or do something extraordinary. Killing a dude or drawing a single card doesn't interest me. Now, if you go with a Stealy version, I'd think Hostage Taker is a must-have. I'm not so I don't.
Conclusion - spellshock pretty good for what it does. I also become the arch enemy of the game...never recovered after they colluded to 2 x wrath my board and attacking me to low health
1 Sangromancer
1 Blood Artist
1 Bloodflow Connoisseur
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Grenzo's Ruffians
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Crypt Rats
1 Rampaging Ferocidon
With the deck being concerned with counting to 120, I added Rabblemaster for the Ferocidon because it makes the most amount of damage for its CMC. It is very similar to the absolute all-star that is Hanweir Garrison.
When I noticed the lack of sac outlets, I tried to find a good one for replacement. The best I could find is Bloodflow Connoisseur. With how aggressive the deck is, I am not bothered by Planeswalkers much anymore so I don't need the Rats' ability to nuke 'Walkers.
Phantasmal Image is solid but has huge variability. With the need for life gain, I'm trying out Blood Artist. I like that it can ping people who hide behind pillowforts, Propaganda is this deck's bane.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Hissing Iguanar
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Treasure Keeper
1 Crumbling Necropolis
I got my mitts on a few Reflecting Pools today, so I'm adding them to different decks. I chose to cut the Necropolis, as the only mandatory ETBT lands are now Path of Ancestry, which smooths my draws, and Grand Coliseum, which is colorless for Matter Reshaper and provides pain when I want to have my life total dip lower.
Right now I'm trying to monitor just how aggressive I can go with this deck.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Moltensteel Dragon
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Vicious Conquistador
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Vindictive Lich
1 Matter Reshaper
1 Ruin Raider
1 Thrummingbird
Matter Reshaper, a 3 drop, isn't as closely scrutinized as a four drop, but having its benefits be on its death instead of ETB made for some awkward situations. Dragonmaster is an inexpensive beater I can swing in and as the game transitions to late, I make evasive, sizable threats that I also have no qualms feeding or trading with my opponents' Creatures.
Ruin Raider is draw, but I've been finding that the 'Bob Effect' hurts too much. I'm willing to pay one life for a card, but more and it starts becoming too rich for my blood. I was impressed with how much work a Vicious Conquistador did an in Edgar Markov list, so I'm trying it out, but I've already had a friend suggest Night Market Lookout as a way to drain but also pad my life total. The fact that the lookout is a Rogue is nice for Oona's Blackguard.
Lastly, Thrummingbird at times was awkward and other times godly. That high variance is something I can't have in an aggro deck, I need reliability if I'm going to close out a table. Sword of the Animist has been amazing in a lot of my decks, so I've been putting it in even more. Aside from the Dragonmaster Outcast synergy, the deck's high throughput means that I am able to place more threats on the table as the game goes on and with the high gas built-in with Marchesa's mechanic, I'm confident it would be overwhelming.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Night Market Lookout
1 Smuggler's Copter
1 Vicious Conquistador
1 Spellshock
The Lookout replaces the Conquistador for the fact that it drains life and synergizes pretty well with Copter.
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Night Market Lookout
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Steam Vents
1 Mountain
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I'm going to give Bloodghast a shot and see how it functions for a while.
If you're building more midrange, that would make way more sense. You'd want value with your sac so Bloodghast would make sense. Snap it up anyway, the price is probably the lowest it'll be for a while.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Zo-Zu the Punisher
1 Moltensteel Dragon
I've had a Turn 1 Anhk of Mishra which yielded ridiculous results as one of my opponents was playing all fetches, duals and shocks. I don't think I'll have that happen again; however, I now have a new dream with the deck. T2 Anhk, T3 Zo-Zu and see how quickly everybody's life total plummets.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Impact Tremors
Or at least, in theory, let's find out.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Most non-green decks struggle to keep up with the ramp that green decks have access to, so my logic is that making spells cheaper is as close a substitute as Grixis is likely to get outside of Rituals or cards like Treasonous Ogre. The other advantage is both those cards facilitate a turn 3 Marchesa and help generate early momentum, which is something I often struggle with and it means opponents have sufficient time to get answers to keep Marchesa off the table. Setting up early advantage seems like the best way to transition from aggro to mid-range IMO, the achilles for my deck seems to be stumbling early and never managing to catch up.
Edit: Bloodghast hasn't been amazing yet so far, the double black is a bit of a nuisance early in the game and later on other things are more important so it just rots in hand, unfortunately.
tested nightscape familar for awhile, considered him a mana rock variant, decent blocker.does it 's job
Don't think jet medallion is good, not creature, reduction for black spell only. Be it combo or aggro, the amount of creatures this deck need is high.
Tev's aggro listing main consideration are probably Creatures before and after marchesa, enough number of high ceiling creatures cards that would impact the board, Black devotion cards that are useful and help the gray merchant... and replacing the non creature permanents in the deck with new cards that is similar or better.
I realized that Vampire Nighthawk wasn't really pulling his weight.
1 Sadistic Hypnotist
1 Vampire Nighthawk
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Dusk Legion Zealot
1 Harsh Mentor
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Phyrexian Arena
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Ruin Raider
1 Sire of Stagnation
1 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
1 Ankh of Mishra
Sire of Stagnation is another way to draw cards or modify peoples behaviour. Ankh of Mishra didn't. I liked that it Shocked people but considering the format is swimming in Shocklands, there's little hesitancy in playing these lands out. The damage was also linear, only 2 per turn, if they had a land drop. Sire is a Creature, which with Dethrone will make the damage exponential. I also know people stop playing lands when confronted with Sire, so I don't mind voluntarily hamper their development. Overall, I think Sire is far more threatening than Ankh and so I made the swap.
This means I could probably replace Zo-Zu the Punisher in the future as he only applies linear damage as well.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 River Kelpie
1 Zo-Zu the Punisher
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Twilight Prophet
1 River Kelpie
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I had Pain Seer, it frequently died and so I never got the Inspire trigger. I don't use Disciple because I don't want to spend mana on my sac outlets, I need them to be free as the majority of the time I'm putting more bodies on the board. I like the life loss from Dusk Legion Zealot, though I do concede that Alchemist's Apprentice can get started on great loops.
I don't like Bomat Courier because of how frequently my Creatures die, so I'd rarely be able to get any benefit from it. I like the Mausoleum Wanderer suggestion, any extra bit of counters is great and on an Evasive body with no drawbacks that typically show up on 1/1 Flyers for 1. Even if it never counters a spell, I bet it forces my opponents to wildly play around it. What I find ingenious is Vault Skirge: drops your life total and then helps gain it back. Those two are probably the biggest food for thought to play test.
I don't leave mana open too often, so a lot of my Instants are "Surprise!" and they're very effective. Another Counter is great; however, I don't know what I would cut. Two bodies that you've suggested are making me think long and hard, finding room for a noncreature in this style of deck is not that good either.
From your list, I really like the Tilonalli's Summoner but again, I rarely have open mana. I'm surprised you went with Sedraxis Alchemist considering it's color stipulation; why not Man-O-War for ease of colors or AEther Adept for relevant Creature type. I've actually found Cephalid Constable is particularly brutal; it is quite easy for T3 Constable, T4 Marchesa, swing, bounce 2 lands and the player pretty much forfeits.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Alchemist's Apprentice
1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
1 Dusk Legion Zealot
1 Ruin Raider
Ruin Raider has made me die from exact crackback three times. I can't just lose random lives; I'll try Grenzo again for his pseudo-card draw and that he puts the heat off of me by forcing my opponents to attack each other.
I'm currently mulling over Stubborn Denial for Swan Song, that's another good call.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Swan Song
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I may be biased, but I personally disagree with the decision, although Stubborn Denial is a good card.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
Also, any consideration for Hostage Taker, Riverwise Augur or Ravenous Chupacabra? One of my favorite new cards for some other decks is Hope of Ghirapur, which feels like it would fit in perfectly here. Combat Celebrant might be win-more, but it can certainly push alot of damage through. It might be better than Scourge of the Throne for this deck.
If you like Hope of Ghirapur then you could build around it, go with more of an artifact base. Plushpenguin's Artifact Marchesa would provide a great skeleton.
I cut Scourge of the Throne when I did the damage potential numbers of Hanweir Garrison. Again, I'm going mana lean but a midrange deck would want the Scourge more than the bodies. Combat Celebrant is not a winmore, it is a win if left alone. You're growing at twice the rate and are hitting extremely hard. It is not unusual for this deck to swing for 20+ damage across multiple bodies on Turn 6, no one can withstand that two times a turn. He also goes infinite with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker if you're fine going down that path.
As for Hostage Taker, Ravenous Chupacabra or Riverwise Augur: no. As the mana cost of the Creature increases with my build, I get more and more stringent with my requirements. When I make changes to a deck, the majority of the time it is me asking "What makes me lose?" and then cutting cards that don't help with cards that do. My low aggro build has the following problems: Creatures with high power, lots of Creatures to chump, dying to crackback, unable to manage my board or getting taken out from an AOE. Essentially, my problem is just three things: low life, no sac outlets and failing to get in. If you're going with the Artifact build, you aren't actually trying to be on the Throne but are relying on your Creatures' innate +1/+1 counters. If you're playing midrange or stealy, then you can remove those big Creatures. You've got different problems. Midrange probably has to worry about combo a lot more than I do, combo is dead usually for me before they're an issue.
So with that in mind, if you look at my 4 drops:
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs