Marchesa Budget by BenyX

Format: Commander

Commander: Queen Marchesa

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 55

Deck overview

This Queen Marchesa deck executes a classic Mardu Aikido and political control strategy. Rather than racing to build an overwhelming proactive battlefield, it cultivates an unassuming early presence using efficient mana rocks and political card-draw engines like Breena, the Demagogue, Master of Ceremonies, and Secret Rendezvous. By introducing the Monarch, the deck encourages opponents to attack each other while Queen Marchesa's deathtouch Assassin tokens deter incoming aggression. In the mid-to-late game, the deck leverages goad effects like Taunt from the Rampart and Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant to whittle down life totals across the table. When an opponent attempts a decisive alpha strike, the deck turns their own power against them using lethal instant-speed redirection such as Inkshield, Deflecting Palm, Comeuppance, and Arcbond, often tutored directly via Sunforger. It closes the game by swinging with flying Inkling tokens or finishing off the last opponent with targeted burn.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Anguished Unmaking
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Arcbond
• 1 Backlash
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Brash Taunter
• 1 Breena, the Demagogue
• 1 Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Comeuppance
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Curse of Opulence
• 1 Cut a Deal
• 1 Deflecting Palm
• 1 Delirium
• 1 Desolate Mire
• 1 Duelist's Heritage
• 1 Excise the Imperfect
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Fire Covenant
• 1 Flumph
• 1 Forbidden Orchard
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Generous Plunderer
• 1 Get Lost
• 1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
• 1 Graven Cairns
• 1 Horizon of Progress
• 1 Humble Defector
• 1 Inkshield
• 1 Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant
• 1 Legion Leadership // Legion Stronghold
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
• 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
• 1 Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1 Master of Ceremonies
• 1 Mistveil Plains
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 1 Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser
• 1 Nighthawk Scavenger
• 1 Nomad Outpost
• 1 Oft-Nabbed Goat
• 1 Olórin's Searing Light
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Path to Exile
• 4 Plains
• 1 Plaza of Heroes
• 1 Qarsi Revenant
• 1 Queen Marchesa
• 1 Rakdos Charm
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Return the Favor
• 1 Reverberate
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rugged Prairie
• 1 Scheming Symmetry
• 1 Secret Rendezvous
• 1 Selfless Squire
• 1 Shadowblood Ridge
• 1 Shadrix Silverquill
• 1 Shattered Landscape
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Stroke of Midnight
• 1 Sulfurous Springs
• 1 Sunforger
• 1 Sunscorched Divide
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Take the Bait
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Talisman of Indulgence
• 1 Taunt from the Rampart
• 1 Teferi's Protection
• 1 Tempt with Bunnies
• 1 Tibalt's Trickery
• 1 Untimely Malfunction
• 1 Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 1 Verrak, Warped Sengir
• 1 Wishclaw Talisman
• 1 Yes Man, Personal Securitron