The Dethrone Zone (EDH / Commander) [Revision 60]

Everyone's favorite archetype: control. This deck is entirely oriented around pain and suffering. Shut down the board. Make your opponents cry. Laugh as your creatures literally never leave (for good).

Marchesa the Black Rose is a commander who wants one thing: long-term value. Her game plan is to command a horde of functionally immortal creatures, living a life of constant agony as they die, come back to life, and die once more.

Play conservatively. This is a control deck. Your pieces are not cheap fodder, but long-term value pieces which will have incredible staying power over time. You want to lose life, but you also want your opponents to lose creatures. Feel free to just swing half your board into people. You can afford to take the rebound as it keeps everyone else in the dethrone zone.

While you may want to play Marchesa right away, consider instead the reality that people will want her dead. Like, they want her in the command zone, not the graveyard. If you have an planar incision or similar protection piece in hand, wait a turn. There is a high likelihood that Marchesa will be targeted on the first go round, and you can likely save her. From there it's pretty smooth sailing as your board will likely have her for most of the rest of the game unless you are targeted that much. Laugh at your opponents suffering, counter and redirect their spells, laugh some more. Win the game with a critical mass of creatures.

I like cards I put in. They may not always be hyper-strong, but I consider them fun for the game plan we want:

Kairi, the Swirling Sky: Okay I confess this one might be just because I just pulled it at a prerelease. Regardless, this has quite the strong ability. When it dies (which is hopefully many times) you may bounce any amount of permanents up to mana value six. So what? So bounce all tokens, and any threat. This hits enchantments, which are normally quite frustrating to get off in these colors. Or mill six and return up to two instant / sorcery spells. A control win removal / protection spells.
Sygg, River Cutthroat, Bident of Thassa, Reconnaissance Mission: I have found that some people's "strategy" against Marchesa's dethrone ability is to simply take the damage from swinging, thinking that if they have low enough health they can hurt the longevity of the board. This is a fair way to go about that, but we can't just let them get away with it. With any of these out, we will generate a handy amount of extra value from hitting them in the form of cards. And cards means alternatives to dethrone like the Ozolith and Feast on the Fallen.
Molten Primordial: I just think this guy is hilarious, not necessarily strong. Steal three creatures from each opponent, and keep them with Marchesa's ability. Fun finisher, and because it's on a body it's remarkably repeatable. If you can't get a counter on them, you can always just sacrifice them.

I like brewing cheap decks. Under 250 dollars is usually my ideal spot. If you like what I do, or maybe if you hate what I do, feel free to take some advice.