It's all about Plow Under. I had a seiries of green ramp decks that I would play in high school where I would just choose a card, build around it, play it for a copule weeks, then switch the focus. Every couple months though, it would turn back into the Plow Under Deck.
I remember there was one game were I cast a Memory Lapse one some stupid thing, then on my turn cast my Plow Under, and forked it with Michevious Quanar wrecking their board, and burrrying my opponent's spell under four lands. Good times.
I swear that there's another card with this basic effect that isn't a World Enchantment (essentially making creatures/nonland permanents legendary) but I can't think of it off hand. But depending on your meta, being a World Enchantment can be a bonus.
Agreed, I really dont' think you need much to make up the ~2 mana you're overpaying for the creature. Theoretically, I'd be looking to target removal or maybe a bread and butter, value common (ie something I should have multiple copies of). I mean, really, does thins guy need to come with anything better than a Hill Giant to be worth playing?
The real question that should probably be asked is, where's the line where this card isn't worth it? Most of the uncommons I sort of feel like this is maybe a third-fouth pick rare, and that you'll often want to pick up high-end uncommons before picking this guy. (I'm not going to lie, I'd love to pick up a Screeching Seahawk after this guy and just go all-in).
This is the most recent version of the list that I have. It needs a little bit of work and I haven't updated the deck for Theros block yet, but the basic framework is there .(This is the first time I've actually looked at the list in a while, and I didn't realize I was so low on answers to threats on the board. I'm going to have to work on that soon.)
*Link is to a google doc
I was thinking the same thing earlier when I was looking of cards in her color identity that interact with +1/+1 counters. Frankly, being able to provide most any of your creatures flying fo 1 isn't that bad, if you're leveraging the card for something else.
Who doesn't love being durdlely?
Personally I think all of the silly things you can do by building around her recursion ability is the real incentive to want to play her. Honestly I'm considering replacing my Vela the Night Clad token deck with a deck built around Marchesa. (They'd basically be the same deck, so i don't see the point in building both. Vela tries to build a token swarm and wears down life totals, then blow out the table with a sac engine or a wrath, whereas I'd probably being trying to leverage ETB damage in Marchesa with Purphoros, Flayer of the Hatebound, and Warstorm Surge while running Vela for value.)
The thing is, there have been so many mechanics that interact with +1/+1 counters at this point that there actually are a bunch of playable cards in UBR that have or interact with +1/+1 counters. There could very easily be a decent deck there, unfortunately, I think the right play in that deck would be to build towards a Purphoros kill.
edit: fixed the typo that set off the profanity filter.
As far as the actual card goes, I think it's pretty cool. She's a fragile, WG, Howling Mine, without the drawback (other players draw first) that sometimes gives you bonus mana. I'm not sure where I would want to play her, outside of Phelddagrif, or how to build her deck, but I woldn't mind playing her at all.
*If a Purphoros-based deck shows up on Modern I guess he might make an appearance as a form of inevitability, but that's still a bit of a reach.
Callous Oppressor
Chamber of Manipulation
Empress Galina
Helm of Possession
Memnarch
Overtaker
Vedalken Shackles
IMO, if you're using slots in your deck on cards that just steal your opponent's creatures a single time, you're not going to be doing it enough to support a theme (unless you're running like, 12 of them). These are some of the least labor-intensive ways to repeatedly steal creatures from your opponents.
Notorious Throng
Bitterblossom
Faerie Harbinger
Faerie Tauntings
Faerie Trickery
Final-Sting Faerie (If only this had flash )
Glen Elendra Archmage
Glen Elendra Liege
Mistbind Clique
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Oona's Blackguard
Puppeteer Clique
Scion of Oona
Sower of Temptation
Spellstutter Sprite
Sprite Noble
Vendilion Clique
Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Cairn Wanderer
Shapesharer
20 cards doesn't really feel like enough to be a fully supported theme, and some of these cards are parasitic enough that they probably woulnd't be adequately supported with what's here. There's definately the beginings of a sort of aggro-control token deck here, which could be pretty cool, but I get the feeling you're going to end up with more of a faerie sub-theme, than an actual theme.
At a quick glance, all of these seem playable:
Alexi, Zephyr Mage has a powerful enough ability that she probably just needs the right deck to get played.
Bog Witch is probably borderline playable. Discarding things in black doesn't hurt as much as other colors, and getting two extra mana can be pretty good.
Dawnstrider. I heard you like Turbofog bro.
Dreamscape Artist. Blue Harrow is pretty good, and the foil is gorgeous.
Greel, Mind Raker. Mind Twists are good . . . this guy might be able to get there.
Overtaker. This guy should just be pure value. Bin a land or low impact card for an instant speed threaten effect? Yes, please. If you play this correctly it should be a two for one almost every time.
Waterfront Bouncer. I've run this card in Legacy*, so theoretically it should be strong enough to get there. Bouncing a single dude in a multiplaer game isn't really as high-impact though.
*This was about 10 years ago in UG Madness as discard outlets 9 and 10.
I remember some talk a while back about building around Riptide Shapeshifer (and another similar card i that I can't remember the name of). Basically you make sure that all your creatures have a unique creature type and then the shapeshifter becmes a perfect tutor for every creature in your deck. It seems like it would be particularly good UB, so you can easily recur it if you need to.
I run it in my Norin the Wary along with Trading Post for basically this reason, and frankly I'd run in in just about every deck if I have the space. Pulling out cards like Consecrated Sphinx, Mindslaver, and the big Eldrazi out of people's decks goes a long way towards reducing the number of groans over the course of the game. (Though seeing a cap get recurred can cause some groans itself, but it's not the same as when someone Sphinxes up a billion cards.)