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.
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.
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.
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!!!
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.
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'm looking for assistance with making a casual Gorgon deck. The deck revolves around control of the field by blowing up either creatures (mainly), artifacts, or enchantments. I also wanted to play around the idea of graveyard returns, like a snake still biting after death.
I still felt like High Tide + Invocation works well for me, especially because I still run into 3-land issues quite often, which this combo works rather well. But further testing would be needed.
Why don't you just run more land? -3 High Tide, +3 Island seems like an obvious solution.
Tried it with 22 lands prior and I was over ran with lands and not enough other stuff I need on the field.
It's a conundrum, really. I need the sorcery/instants to fuel Talrand, but need the land to do so, making it difficult to cut from either side. That said, I revised the deck (the 2nd one) and haven't play tested it yet, so I'll see if that'll work out okay, considering I have more draw engine to pick up lands easily now to the point where I would be able to drop High Tide.
Thought Scour is just spinning your wheels if you're not using your graveyard. Gitaxian Probe at least does that for free and gives you information. You could run Treasure Cruise, though. Maybe Dig Through Time. Thought Scour is wonderful with those. Maybe also try Frantic Search. It's not card advantage but it's banned in Legacy for a reason.
Thank you for the thoughtful posts and wonderful suggestions!!
I thought about Thing in the Ice, but felt it would ruin my field, as it affects my own side as well and would remove any drakes I may have placed on there.
I have took your suggestions and switched it up a bit to make it less chaotic looking.
I still felt like High Tide + Invocation works well for me, especially because I still run into 3-land issues quite often, which this combo works rather well. But further testing would be needed.
What do you think about Baral, Chief of Compliance and Baral's Expertise? I was thinking if I used those, I would remove High Tide and the Expertise would run well with my theme of bouncing + it could drop Invocation for free.
I'd drop everything that isn't a cantrip, counterspell, bounce or Talarand. Delver is probably fine, but talarand's invocation is just bad. Favorable winds also sticks out like a sore thumb. A Baral or two wouldn't hurt.
Is there a reason why the invocation is bad? It summons 2 drakes for 4 mana. Plus, when Talrand is out, I automatically get an additional bonus drake for a total of 3 2/2 flying creatures for 4 mana. Combined with High Tide, I use 2 cards for 4 drakes that costed 3 lands to summon.
Unsure what to consolidate. My thought process is to pump out drakes, while also having field bounce to clear the way for open attacks, as well as having some counters just in case. Also thinking about maybe using a Baral or his Expertise in there to help speed up the process, in case I happen to be mana hangry with only 3 lands.
At the moment, I kept the Portent and added another Think Twice for more drawing power. I like Portent in that I could potentially look at my opponent's deck and control their next 3 turns. Of course, I will test out both options: Portent and Ponder/Pre-Ordain and see which one I like better.
I'm looking into Spelltwine as well. Would it be a good card to add into my deck?
I recently started MtG and got a 2013 Depths of Power deck to start out. I enjoy the concept of summoning tons of drake tokens and built upon it by making a flying deck.
The idea is to make all monsters flying via Students of Elements + Wingcrafter/Trickery Charm and pump them up with Favorable Winds so I can swing with ease. Banneret and High Tide is used to accelerate the summoning process as Talrand and his Invocation is pretty costly.
I still think the deck is a bit too slow and feel as though I should have more offensive cards rather than keep too many drawing ones.
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!!!
4 Marchesa, the Black Rose
Creature (24)
2 Baleful Strix
2 Dimir Infiltrator
2 Wight of Precinct Six
2 Oona's Blackguard
3 Nightveil Specter
3 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Cryptoplasm
3 Dimir Cutpurse
3 Thief of Sanity
3 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Captivating Crew
4 Ashling, the Extinguisher
4 Ogre Battledriver
5 Malignus
5 Nekusar, the Mindrazer
5 Zealous Conscripts
6 Reaper from the Abyss
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Etali, Primal Storm
6 Flayer of the Hatebound
0 Claws of Gix
1 Sol Ring
1 Skullclamp
2 Armillary Sphere
2 Talisman of Indulgence
2 Spawning Pit
2 Culling Dais
2 Swiftfoot Boots
3 Manalith
3 Ashnod's Altar
3 Mimic Vat
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Whispersilk Cloak
Enchantment (8)
1 Aqueous Form
2 Goblin Bombardment
3 Unspeakable Symbol
3 Feast on the Fallen
4 Greed
4 Control Magic
4 Whip of Erebos
5 Dictate of Erebos
5 Stolen Strategy
1 Ponder
2 Curse of the Swine (Cost is X2)
2 Profane Command (Cost is X2)
3 Arterial Flow
3 Victimize
3 Read the Bones
4 Diabolic Tutor
5 Mass Mutiny
6 Life's Finale
6 Spelltwine
7 Necromantic Selection
Instant (7)
1 Tragic Slip
2 Turn to Frog
3 Crosis's Charm
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Murder
3 Polymorphist's Jest
5 Evacuation
Land (37)
7 Mountain
7 Island
7 Swamp
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).
4 Marchesa, the Black Rose
Creature (25)
2 Dimir Infiltrator
2 Wight of Precinct Six
3 Nightveil Specter
3 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Cytoplasm
3 Dimir Cutpurse
3 Thief of Sanity
4 Master Thief
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Captivating Crew
4 Ogre Battledriver
5 Malignus
5 Nekusar, the Mindrazer
5 Zealous Conscripts
5 Fiend of the Shadows
5 Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
6 Deathbringer Thoctar
6 Visara the Dreadful
6 Conduit of Ruin
6 Steel Hellkite
7 Thraximundar
7 Herald of Anguish
7 Stalking Vengeance
0 Claws of Gix
1 Sol Ring
2 Armillary Sphere
2 Talisman of Indulgence
2 Culling Dais
2 Swiftfoot Boots
3 Manalith
3 Ashnod's Altar
3 Mimic Vat
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Crystal Shard
4 Quicksilver Amulet
Enchantment (7)
1 Aqueous Form
3 Unspeakable Symbol
3 Feast on the Fallen
4 Greed
4 Control Magic
4 Whip of Erebos
5 Dictate of Erebos
Sorcery (13)
1 Ponder
2 Sign in Blood
2 Profane Command (Cost is X2)
3 Arterial Flow
3 Victimize
3 Wicked Pact
3 Read the Bones
4 Diabolic Tutor
5 Devastation Tide
5 Mass Mutiny
6 Life's Finale
6 Spelltwine
7 Necromantic Selection
1 Tragic Slip
2 Turn to Frog
3 Crosis's Charm
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Murder
3 Polymorphist's Jest
Land (33)
5 Mountains
7 Islands
7 Swamp
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'm looking for assistance with making a casual Gorgon deck. The deck revolves around control of the field by blowing up either creatures (mainly), artifacts, or enchantments. I also wanted to play around the idea of graveyard returns, like a snake still biting after death.
4 Wasteland Viper
4 Noose Constrictor
3 Visara the Dreadful
2 Ohran Viper
2 Reaper of the Wilds
2 Hythonia the Cruel
4 Treasured Find
4 Dark Ritual
4 Animate Dead
2 Putrefy
2 Naturalize
2 Reviving Melody
2 Golgari Charm
3 Viridian Longbow
Lands (20)
4 Foul Orchard
8 Swamp
8 Forest
Other cards I was thinking about includes Xathrid Gorgon, Culling the Weak,Collective Brutality, Cry of Contrition and Deadly Allure.
I'd love to hear people's suggestions and opinions on how to make this deck better
It's a conundrum, really. I need the sorcery/instants to fuel Talrand, but need the land to do so, making it difficult to cut from either side. That said, I revised the deck (the 2nd one) and haven't play tested it yet, so I'll see if that'll work out okay, considering I have more draw engine to pick up lands easily now to the point where I would be able to drop High Tide.
Thoughts on Baral?
I thought about Thing in the Ice, but felt it would ruin my field, as it affects my own side as well and would remove any drakes I may have placed on there.
I have took your suggestions and switched it up a bit to make it less chaotic looking.
4 Talrand, the Sky Summoner
3 Augur of Bolas
4 Delver of Secrets
Spells (26)
4 Ponder
2 Think Twice
2 Vapor Snag
2 Favorable Winds
4 Talrand's Invocation
3 Counterspell
3 High Tide
4 Preordain
2 Gitaxian Probe
4 Halimar Depths
16 Islands
I still felt like High Tide + Invocation works well for me, especially because I still run into 3-land issues quite often, which this combo works rather well. But further testing would be needed.
What do you think about Baral, Chief of Compliance and Baral's Expertise? I was thinking if I used those, I would remove High Tide and the Expertise would run well with my theme of bouncing + it could drop Invocation for free.
Is there a reason why the invocation is bad? It summons 2 drakes for 4 mana. Plus, when Talrand is out, I automatically get an additional bonus drake for a total of 3 2/2 flying creatures for 4 mana. Combined with High Tide, I use 2 cards for 4 drakes that costed 3 lands to summon.
Favorable winds gives all my drakes +1/+1...
I'm looking to get some ideas on how to make my Casual deck a bit more concise and speedier.
3 Talrand, the Sky Summoner
2 Fog Bank
3 Augur of Bolas
4 Delver of Secrets
Spells (28)
4 Ponder
2 Think Twice
2 Vapor Snag
2 Favorable Winds
4 Talrand's Invocation
2 Mana Leak
3 High Tide
2 Redirect
2 Aetherize
2 Gitaxian Probe
2 Thought Scour
1 Spelltwine
4 Halimar Depths
16 Islands
Unsure what to consolidate. My thought process is to pump out drakes, while also having field bounce to clear the way for open attacks, as well as having some counters just in case. Also thinking about maybe using a Baral or his Expertise in there to help speed up the process, in case I happen to be mana hangry with only 3 lands.
Thanks in advance!
Regarding Faerie Conclave, if I turn it into a monster and use it to chump block, if it dies, do I put the land into the graveyard?
Planned:
4 Talrand, the Sky Summoner
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Augur of Bolas
Spells (26)
3 Portent
3 Think Twice
2 Unsummon
2 Trickery Charm
3 Favorable Winds
4 Talrand's Invocation
3 Mana Leak
4 High Tide
2 Gitaxian Probe
4 Faerie Conclave
18 Islands
At the moment, I kept the Portent and added another Think Twice for more drawing power. I like Portent in that I could potentially look at my opponent's deck and control their next 3 turns. Of course, I will test out both options: Portent and Ponder/Pre-Ordain and see which one I like better.
I'm looking into Spelltwine as well. Would it be a good card to add into my deck?
I recently started MtG and got a 2013 Depths of Power deck to start out. I enjoy the concept of summoning tons of drake tokens and built upon it by making a flying deck.
3 Talrand, the Sky Summoner
4 Wingcrafter
4 Stonybrook Banneret
3 Augur of Bolas
3 Student of Elements
3 Portent
2 Think Twice
2 Stream of Unconsciousness
2 Unsummon
2 Trickery Charm
3 Favorable Winds
3 Talrand's Invocation
3 Mana Leak
3 High Tide
4 Halimar Depths
16 Islands
The idea is to make all monsters flying via Students of Elements + Wingcrafter/Trickery Charm and pump them up with Favorable Winds so I can swing with ease. Banneret and High Tide is used to accelerate the summoning process as Talrand and his Invocation is pretty costly.
I still think the deck is a bit too slow and feel as though I should have more offensive cards rather than keep too many drawing ones.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated