I honestly don’t care much about classification... I just wanna play the best possible version of the deck and if that means playing hostage taker, well, it’s not a “stealy card” but just a VERY good card for the deck.
Marchesa was the first card that pushed me to build an edh deck and I’ve had very good results to the point that I think it’s among the top decks in the format that is not cEDH.
I would try it. I think it would replace Smuggler's Copter which seems to me to be a bad trade. Copter does a lot for the deck in that it dodges Wraths, Loots, is sizable especially after a Dethrone or two and is evasive. Benthic Biomancer just lowers the curve and has a less reliable draw engine.
Perhaps instead I would cut Imperial Recruiter but that seems to be a mistake. I don't actively use its Tutor though I could setup an infinite with Sage of Fables/Metallic Mimic and Glen Elendra Archmage with Goblin Bombardment/Blood Artist/Zulaport Cutthroat/Hissing Iguanar. There's lots of interchangeable parts, so I can easily set that up with Recruiter but I feel like my aggro plan suffers if I use the Recruiter to loop up a combo win. It's quite the pickle. The Recruiter fetches me one exact card per loop, while all my other three drop draw engines don't tutor but draw a lot more per loop than the Recruiter.
Plus I do want to use Judith, the Scourge Diva. I'm not sure if I would want to cut any of my pingers for her.
Reading stuff like this always makes my day. You wanna cut the best creature tutor in the deck for a 3 drop that maybe does something only if it attacks. You wanna also cut the best creature haste enabler in the grixis colors (Olivia) for benthic.
Biomancer is a very good card and has to be in the deck but for other reasons.
I’ve read that there are 2 ways Marchesa can be played: Tev’s and Rune’s. Rune’s way of playing marchesa is dead because of the mulligan: you can no longer play edh you used to with high curve on 4 because you mull for lands keeping few starters and rocks. That way of playing is gone for good.
Now about Tev’s idea... 80% of the cards he’s been testing have no sense in the deck BUT the general idea works: loads of drawing on cc2-3, lower curve shaving cc6+ and don’t go all in while stabilized.
Marchesa was the first card that pushed me to build an edh deck and I’ve had very good results to the point that I think it’s among the top decks in the format that is not cEDH.
Reading stuff like this always makes my day. You wanna cut the best creature tutor in the deck for a 3 drop that maybe does something only if it attacks. You wanna also cut the best creature haste enabler in the grixis colors (Olivia) for benthic.
Biomancer is a very good card and has to be in the deck but for other reasons.
I’ve read that there are 2 ways Marchesa can be played: Tev’s and Rune’s. Rune’s way of playing marchesa is dead because of the mulligan: you can no longer play edh you used to with high curve on 4 because you mull for lands keeping few starters and rocks. That way of playing is gone for good.
Now about Tev’s idea... 80% of the cards he’s been testing have no sense in the deck BUT the general idea works: loads of drawing on cc2-3, lower curve shaving cc6+ and don’t go all in while stabilized.