Marchesa, the Black Rose Commander Deck Guide

Marchesa, the Black Rose | Illustration by Andreas Zafiratos

Marchesa d’Amati has been through quite the journey in Magic lore. From assassin (Marchesa, the Black Rose) to queen (Queen Marchesa) to villainous rogue cowgirl (Marchesa, Dealer of Death), she’s seen it all. Today we’re focusing on her first card.

Introduced in the Conspiracy MTG set back in 2014, Marchesa, the Black Rose was one of Commander’s original broken legends. It has such a simple, powerful ability, which means there are tons of ways to build around it. You don’t see it quite as much now, but that’s due to the saturation of commanders in the format, not a commentary on Marchesa’s strength. Even 10 years later, this is still the third most popular Grixis commander () according to EDHREC.

Let’s pay the queen our respects, shall we?

The Deck

Marchesa, the Black Rose | Illustration by Matt Stewart

Marchesa decks can be specialized into several different categories, but the decklist I’m presenting is best described as a Grixis value deck. It’s not geared towards one solitary strategy, but rather fuses elements of all the different possible Marchesa decks. That means there’s a combination of +1/+1 counter support, sacrifice synergies, control elements, and even a touch of combo.

This deck is high-casual, so I wouldn’t pull it out if I knew I was playing against Commander precons. I know these numbers don’t mean much, but if asked, I’d probably say it’s an 8 out of 10. It’s far from optimized and would need a lot of work to be cEDH-viable. As it stands, it doesn’t have nearly the right amount of fast mana or interaction to compete in cEDH, and some of the inclusions aren’t meant to be hyper-competitive.

The Commander: Marchesa, the Black Rose

Marchesa, the Black Rose is a particular power commander. Anything you control that dies with a +1/+1 counter on it comes back on the end step, which leads to all sorts of loops and mini-combos, and makes it very hard for your opponents to push through in combat. The whole crux of Marchesa’s power is that its ability also applies to itself. Your commander’s not exactly unkillable, but it’ll feel that way with the right kind of +1/+1 counter support at your disposal.

The dethrone ability is equally huge. It gives all your creatures an easy way to acquire that coveted +1/+1 counter, so long as you’re not the player with the highest life total. Creatures with dethrone can usually swing pretty callously, since they’ll either pick up the counter, die, and come back into play at the end of the turn, or they won’t die in combat and stick around with the +1/+1 counter anyway.

It's definitely one of those decks that really leans on the power of its commander, though all of the deck’s individual parts come together quite well when the commander’s not present. The queen’s an important figure, so they can’t always be there when you need them.

+1/+1 Counter Support

Marchesa, the Black Rose’s dethrone ability is the most straightforward way to get +1/+1 counters on your creatures, but you need backup. The deck’s full of ways to get counters, as well as creatures that produce their own +1/+1 counters.

First up are the undying creatures, which give this deck some of its combo identity. Geralf's Messenger, Flayer of the Hatebound, and Murderous Redcap are hard to keep down while Marchesa’s in play. The first time they die, they return to play with a +1/+1 counter from undying. Next time, they come back from Marchesa without a +1/+1 counter. With a sacrifice outlet, you can have undying creatures re-enter the battlefield on each turn of the game.

Connive is another inherent +1/+1 counter ability, found on Ledger Shredder, Raffine's Silencer, and Body Launderer. You’ll have to discard a non-land when these connive if you want the counter, but the looting‘s always nice regardless. Raffine’s Silencer is on the cute side, but it’s essentially a free -2/-2 on a creature every time it resets with Marchesa.

Yet another +1/+1 counter mechanic, backup appears on Scorn-Blade Berserker and Voldaren Thrillseeker. These can either drop a few +1/+1 counters on the creature of your choice or put counters on themselves. Both can then sacrifice themselves for some sort of bonus, then pop right back into play on the end step.

Immersturm Predator and Carrion Feeder generate their own counters while doubling up as free sac outlets.

Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet and Inti, Seneschal of the Sun sling around counters with some added benefits. Inti in particular combos nicely with the connive creatures and any other incidental discard effects you might have.

Passageway Seer almost always gets the first +1/+1 counter the turn you play it, and it also grants you the initiative. If an opponent ever takes the initiative away, you can Marchesa-loop the Seer to steal it back. Notably, both The Forge and Throne of the Dead Three on Undercity produce +1/+1 counters.

Unspeakable Symbol and Thran Vigil don’t fit into too many decks, but they’re perfect here. Unspeakable Symbol has a hefty life requirement, while Vigil basically grants a +1/+1 counter to every creature entering from the graveyard.

Uncivil Unrest is amazing in general, but certified busted here. Riot gives every creature the option of entering with a +1/+1 counter, and double damage matters tremendously on cards like Murderous Redcap and Voldaren Thrillseeker.

It’s not like you’re playing a legendary-matters deck, but the second ability on Rakdos Joins Up will matter a decent amount of the time, and the upfront ETB effect brings back a creature from the graveyard and places two +1/+1 counters on it.

A few artifacts play into your gameplan, too. Subterranean Schooner’s not a perfect fit, but exploring is a nice value mechanic that sometimes bestows counters. The Ozolith is pretty popular and stores up counters as creatures die. It’s great at resetting a persist creature like Glen Elendra Archmage. Agatha's Soul Cauldron provides graveyard hate and +1/+1 counter support all in one. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are also some unexpected broken combos you can pull off with this. What if all your creatures had Voldaren Thrillseeker’s ability?

Finally, you’ve got Tyrite Sanctum and Drannith Ruins hanging out in your mana base. You won’t activate these very often, but your mana’s good enough to allow for a few utility lands.

The Sacrifice Package

This decklist half-commits to the sacrifice themes, though you could build an entire Marchesa deck around aristocrats synergies. You have some of the big role-players at your disposal, though.

Creature sac outlets include Yahenni, Undying Partisan, Immersturm Predator, Carrion Feeder, Woe Strider, Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet, and the two backup creatures. Notably, every one of these can produce +1/+1 counters in some way.

Deadly Dispute and Goblin Bombardment are present as non-creature sac outlets, and you have the tag-team of High Market plus Phyrexian Tower in the lands.

No good sacrifice package is complete without the Blood Artists. That includes literal Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Syr Konrad, the Grim. Of note, Syr Konrad also triggers when creatures leave your graveyard due to Marchesa’s ability.

Interaction

It’s a Grixis deck, so you can expect a decent amount of interaction.

Let’s start with board wipes. You have one of the best red sweepers, Blasphemous Act, and one of the best wraths in black, Toxic Deluge; both are hard resets. You also have the gimmicky Wave Goodbye that keeps your countered-up creatures around. Your deck actually plays against board wipes quite well, so long as Marchesa’s in play. You can even work around bounce/exile board wipes by just sacrificing everything with a +1/+1 counter on it. They’ll dodge the sweeper and pop back into play later that turn.

Invasion of Fiora is also present because it has Marchesa, Resolute Monarch on the back. It’s not exactly synergistic, but it’s a solid card and a thematic addition. That’s really the only reason Marchesa, Dealer of Death’s here as well.

Responsible deck-building dictates the addition of a few single-target removal spells. Terminate kills a creature, no questions asked. Lethal Scheme can catch people off guard, and the connive triggers can even give you unexpected +1/+1 counters. Flame of Anor’s flexible interaction that takes advantage of Marchesa being a wizard.

Chain of Vapor gets you out from underneath a particularly nasty hate-piece. Your deck doesn’t operate well against cards like Rest in Peace, but bouncing the enchantment can at least give you a turn’s reprieve from that effect. Filter Out falls into this category as well. It’s just a mass reset for everyone’s trinkety artifact tokens and set-up pieces.

I’m not personally a huge counterspell buff, so I kept that part of the deck to a minimum. I have Swan Song in the list, as well as Glen Elendra Archmage, which can be pretty heinous with Marchesa on board. You could easily add more countermagic to the list if you wanted to.

There are a few clever protection cards, too. Slip Out the Back and Change of Plans throw some counters around while phasing out key creatures. Slip can even be used proactively to disappear an opposing threat for a turn.

In lieu of actual reanimation spells, I’m running Feign Death and Undying Malice. These functionally identical cards help a creature bounce back from death, with a +1/+1 counter to boot.

Soul Enervation’s another one of those inefficient cutesy cards, but it’s fun to play with. If you can tag a reasonable creature with the ETB, it just sits around and drains opponents’ life totals as you do your thing.

Invasion of Azgol isn’t very strong, but it can come in clutch against hexproof/ward threats, and Ashen Reaper passively picks up +1/+1 counters. If Reaper has at least one +1/+1 counter on it when it dies, Marchesa returns it to the battlefield on its front face, forcing an opponent to sacrifice another creature. I wouldn’t go out of my way to transform this battle, though.

Silent Gravestone probably looks weird in a deck that cares about reanimating its creatures. Only 2-3 cards in your deck actually target cards in your graveyard, and Marchesa doesn’t have to target to work. Even Grave Endeavor doesn’t target. Silent Gravestone stops opponents from targeting your cards with minimum interference to your gameplan. It won’t save you from a Bojuka Bog, but storing cards in your graveyard isn’t actually that important to this deck.

The Mana Base

I didn’t really hold out on the mana base here. It’s playing all the best Grixis-spectrum dual land cycles short of actual duals. There’s not much utility aside from the two +1/+1 counter lands and the two sacrifice lands, as well as Temple of the False God and Myriad Landscape. Those last two are pet cards that I’ll defend in everything but the most competitive builds, so if you can’t stand to play with them, just nix them for more duals.

Grixis needs some help ramping, so you have six 2-drop mana rocks on top of Sol Ring. Commander's Sphere and Relic of Sauron as more expensive mana rocks, and Sword of the Animist narrowly squeezes in, since you’re likely attacking for dethrone triggers a decent amount of the time anyway.

The Strategy

This is what’s commonly referred to as a “death by 1,000 cuts” deck. Your goal is to pile up small bits of damage from sacrifice payoffs and undying creatures like Murderous Redcap, killing opponents almost entirely through non-combat damage. You can and should attack when possible, but you can win without ever declaring attacks.

The ideal board setup involves a sacrifice outlet, Marchesa, the Black Rose in play, a repeatable source of +1/+1 counters, and something worth recurring. With that collection of effects at your disposal, you can control the board fairly well and start cycling through creature ETBs on nearly every end step.

Let’s talk about what this deck is not, or address some common misconceptions. You’re a +1/+1 counter deck with a +1/+1 counter commander at the helm, but all you really care about is getting the first counter on your creatures. There’s a reason you don’t see proliferate effects or anything like that in the decklist. The power and toughness of your creatures don’t really matter. All that matters is the first counter so Marchesa can work their magic.

You’re also not really a graveyard-matters/reanimator deck. Aside from your commander and a stray card like Grave Endeavor, very little of your deck actually interacts with your graveyard. Persistent graveyard hate like Dauthi Voidwalker can be a problem, but one-shot effects like Bojuka Bog don’t actually disrupt you that much.

That all said, do everything in your power to suit up creatures with a +1/+1 counter, protect Marchesa to the best of your ability, and focus down anyone who’s capable of disrupting your strategy. Save your board wipes for when they really matter, or at the very least try to get those +1/+1 counters on your creatures before board wiping.

Getting a +1/+1 counter on Marchesa should be priority number one. It’s kind of absurd that Marchesa can reanimate itself, but doing so lets you avoid commander tax for as long as possible and makes killing your creatures a tough proposition for your opponents.

Combos and Interactions

To the best of my knowledge, there are no infinite “end the game on the spot” combos. However, you have combo-lite elements that can sometimes soft-lock players out of the game.

These “soft-lock” scenarios involve situations when you have your commander in play, and something like Glen Elendra Archmage and Unspeakable Symbol on board. Archmage can freely counter any non-creature spells, then a +1/+1 counter can effectively “reset” the Archmage. The same principle applies to cards like Legate Lanius, Caesar's Ace stifling your opponents’ ability to develop a board of creatures.

The undying creature loop can also be a bit obnoxious, especially with Murderous Redcap sniping off any and all small creatures. With Marchesa and a sac outlet, you can recur an undying creature from your graveyard twice during each player’s turn.

Agatha's Soul Cauldron can spread out activated abilities to all your creatures with +1/+1 counters on them. Some key abilities to be on the lookout for come from Voldaren Thrillseeker‘s direct damage ability, free sac outlets like Carrion Feeder, or even Glen Elendra Archmage. I personally wouldn’t mind tucking Nightscape Familiar under the Cauldron for some extra regeneration protection.

Syr Konrad, the Grim is a messed-up Magic card. If you want to win in style, try targeting yourself with Bojuka Bog or exiling your graveyard with Silent Gravestone while Konrad sits in play. It’ll see every creature leave your graveyard and ping opponents for each one.

Just a quick rules clarification for Marchesa: The reanimation ability triggers when the creature dies, then triggers again at the next end step. Killing Marchesa before the end step won’t stop those creatures from returning to play, but the creatures do still have to be in the graveyard to come back.

Rule 0 Violations

This deck has a few red flags worth considering for a Rule 0 conversation. You have combo elements, though I don’t believe there are any true infinites, since Marchesa can only return a creature once per turn. You still have loops that play out over the course of several turns, which in some players’ eyes is functionally the same as an infinite combo.

You can also put a stranglehold on some games. You have creatures that can kill opposing threats over and over if your opponents can’t interrupt your loops, and something like Glen Elendra Archmage can make it very difficult for your opponents to resolve non-creature spells.

Sweepers are also prevalent here, which has become a point of contention recently. Some players have rallied against excessive board wipes in casual Commander, which I personally find misguided, and in some cases, flat out wrong. If your deck can break parity on a universal board wipe, it becomes an important synergy piece and disruptive tool for your deck, and this deck plays favorably with creature sweepers. I wouldn’t feel compelled to tell my opponents I’m running around 4-6 sweepers in my deck, but you’re more than welcome to offer that information yourself.

Budget Options

Budget time! The deck I’ve presented isn’t very budget-friendly at all, so let’s look for places to cut down on cost.

The Ozolith and Agatha's Soul Cauldron are both hovering around $30-$40. Desecrated Tomb and Tormod, the Desecrator are fine replacements, playing into the theme of creatures leaving your graveyard.

Ledger Shredder’s just short of $15. It’s an excellent card, but you could swap it for Spiteful Prankster, which is less than a quarter.

Swan Song’s over $10, but the classic Counterspell does a good job, too. Essence Capture’s a fun synergy counterspell, but it’s pretty narrow.

Wave Goodbye and Toxic Deluge are both approaching $10, but they can be subbed out for your budget board wipe of choice. Do NOT play Black Sun's Zenith in this deck!

Uncivil Unrest is perfect for this deck, but you can save $11 and play something like Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch instead.

The mana base is full of pricey lands, but work with what you’ve got. You’ll take a hit on consistency and speed, but feel free to sub out fetch lands and shock lands for whatever 2-color lands you have on hand.

As far as budget increases, just play all the good cards I omitted from the list. You know what they are: Fierce Guardianship, Deflecting Swat, Jeska's Will, Demonic Tutor, Cyclonic Rift, etc.

Other Builds

Part of the reason Marchesa, the Black Rose is such a broken card is that it’s so open-ended and works with many different strategies. You can build entire Marchesa decks that lean into one of the many elements present in my decklist.

I wouldn’t quite classify my list as an “aristocrats” deck, but the tools are definitely there. You can go even deeper on this theme with payoffs like Grave Pact, Mayhem Devil, and additional sac outlets.

“Steal & Sac” is a wildly popular way to play this commander. Marchesa specifically says creatures that die return to the battlefield under “your control,” not their owner’s control. That means you can Threaten a creature, get a +1/+1 counter on it, sacrifice it, then have it permanently re-enter under your control. You can even prioritize threaten effects that place +1/+1 counters on creatures, like Press into Service or Mark of Mutiny. Geyadrone Dihada is perfect for this strategy.

My inclusion of Flame of Anor is just a peek at the wizard synergies you could add to this deck. Sage of Fables finds its way into many Marchesa builds, and it wouldn’t be too crazy for a card like Voidmage Prodigy to make the cut.

You can also go pure combo. Phyrexian Altar + Gravecrawler slots in fine. Goblin Bombardment and Blood Artist go infinite with Forsaken Miner and Altar. You could even sneak in Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion, which both individually work well with Marchesa already.

Long Live the Queen

Uncivil Unrest | Illustration by Lorenzo Mastroianni

I consider the decklist presented here somewhat powered down but still pretty strong. Marchesa 1.0 is just that strong of a commander, even without all the usual Grixis powerhouse staples.

If nothing else, this decklist should give you a baseline for how you can adapt the commander into something you enjoy playing. My decklist touches on a bunch of different elements, but you can take any one of those that speaks to you and build it out even further. That’s the power of a flexible commander like Marchesa.

Are you still representing the monarchy 10 years after this commander’s release? Any cool stories or interesting tech pieces in your deck? Let me know in the Draftsim Discord or on Twitter/X, and I’ll put in a good word with her majesty.

As always, thanks for making Draftsim your #1 stop for all things Magic!