[EDH / Commander] Marchesa EDH! CONTROL, SAC, DO THE DAMAGES.

[Sumoduck3]

Marchesa EDH! CONTROL, SAC, DO THE DAMAGES.

This is my first constructed edh deck that I made.
Tips and comments on how I could improve this deck would be greatly appreciated.

[G. Moto]

     Personally I believe that a deck like this would benefit greatly from the use of TOKENS. A lot of your cards in this deck involve sacrificing other creatures but the last thing that you want to do is start getting rid of your good creatures for small effects.

     Also the thing about dethrone is that the +1/+1 counters is a good way to build up strong creatures but it only works so long as the opponent has more health than you. Personally I feel that thraximunder may be a better commander for this deck isf combat is the main goal (but that's entirely up to you). Also if you're going to incorporate +1/+1 growth then you should add cards that give your creatures first strike such as titan's strength, mardu runemark, lightning talons, kindled fury, and sure strike if you can get a hold of them.

     As far as graveyard recursion goes look into some of the black spells that revive our creatures such as escape from the underworld, victimize, endless obedience, rise from the grave and other similar black spells so that you can utilize the "enter the battlefield FROM THE GRAVEYARD" effects. This would also help if you made your creature choices more streamlined in the sense that certain creatures' effects work better with different cards. For example, some creatures like bloodthrone vampire only activate their effects if you sac a creature while  creatures such as novjen sages and sage of fables focus more on the +1/+1 production. Sure undying is a good mechanic to focus on if you're replaying creatures from the grave, but for the creatures that have UNLEASH who only get 1 counter....unless you're bouncing creatures you shouldn't focus too heavily on them. Maybe if you add conjurer's closet and ghostly flicker you can pull something off with them.
     
     With the mana base you should probably try to use dual lands that DON'T deal damage to you for tapping them. If you use the dual lands from Tarkir then you can get the mana you need AND gain health. That's all that I have for now as far as suggestions. What do you think?

[Sumoduck3]

Thank you very much! This was great for me because none of my friends play magic, and I have been finding people to look at my deck for help! Also, I want to focus on flicker effects, that is why I put in grafts and kiki. What should I get rid of to add these other spells?

[G. Moto]

      Mind slash, bitterblossom, all is dust, glen elendra archmage, decree of pain, zealous conscripts, unspeakable symbol, both talisman of indulgence and dominance, greed, dark tutelage, dark prophecy, bloodthrone vampire, blood tyrant, ashes to ashes. I understand why you probably chose these cards but overall the price versus the profit is not a very good trade off. I'll explain in depth for each card I just listed;

Mind slash- There are cards such as corpse trader, disciple of phenax and playing spells such as tormented thoughts will get what you need and clean out the enemy's hand. If sacrificing creatures is necessary then there are better cards than enchantments that could be easily destroyed.

Bitterblossom- Paying a life for a single token is not a very good trade off unless the deck is designed to do so (hence it being a tribal card made for the shadowmoor block). If token production is what you want then try looking at the TARKIR block and all the RED cards that make tokens such as dragon fodder and goblinslide.

All is dust- It's a tribal eldrazi card designed to destroy everything without color. BLUE,BLACK, and RED are colors that I don't see your cards profiting from if they are destroyed. I see that butcher of malakir has a cool effect but it only works if the creatures are SACRIFICED, not obliterated in mass. Also the card itself does not profit you in the end. If you switched it with drown in sorrow then you would most likely still get the board wiping effect you wanted AND get to scry a card.

Glen Elendra archmage- Her persist effect is admirable but it only works once and you can't remove her -1/-1 counter because all of your cards are designed to work with +1/+1 counters instead. You should try just adding dispels and maybe even a spell shrivel (which is like a cooler version of cancel).

decree of pain- destroys too much (same as all is dust). Though the -2/-2 for cycling is a decent trade off you'd be better off with selective creature destruction rather than mass removal ALL the time. 

zealous conscripts- it's an expensive 3/3 creature that takes someone else's creature till the end of the turn. You'd be better off with portent of betrayal, act of treason and even traitorous blood. Then you can swing with their creatures (since they'll probably have haste), and then sac them using vampiric rites, collateral damage or bone splinters.

unspeakable symbol - 3 life (+) 1 counter = a bad trade. You'd be better off bouncing your RAKDOS creatures and harvesting their +1/+1 counters FROM them. This way they have their strength boost for as long as needed and then they can block again once the counter is removed.

talisman of indulgence and dominance- The rakdos keyrune and dimir keyrune are both better because they still give you the same mana AND they can become creatures if you need them to.
 
greed- vampiric rites does the same thing for one more mana, GIVES you a life, and gives you a card. Incorporate this with your undying creatures like geralf's messenger and then remove the +1/+1 counters to keep resetting them.

dark tutelage- Diabolic tutor and playing shadows of the past will help you sift through your deck faster and as less cost to you rather than having to pay random and sometimes exorbitant costs.

dark prophecy- switch this with vampiric rites (I know I've mentioned this card a lot only because it needs to be a staple in this deck). This way you have control over what dies and you're not paying too much life at all the wrong times.

blood tyrant- He's good and probably worth side boarding but use him in multiplayer rather than 1v1. Simply because his effect works on you too (it says players not opponents). If you switch it with vengeful vampire then you'll have an undying creature that you can harvest +1/+1 counters off of as well. And it can fly.

ashes to ashes- switch this with both cremate and vile rebirth. This way you can draw a card and you can get a token out of it.
     These are just my observations and opinions but it's entirely up to you how you want to play your deck. Your meta is most likely different than mine.

[Sumoduck3]

I personally think that bitterblossum is a great card for this deck because I do loose life and I get a token for a sacrifice. Life loss in this deck is important because of marchesa. It will help the dethrone mechanic work a lot easier. This also is why I out in cards like unspeakable symbol and lands that do some damage to me. However j do agree that dark tutelage may be very unpredictable and do too much damage to me. I will need to think of a good replacement for that card to have more controlled life loss and card advantage.

[G. Moto]

     Well when you describe your plans as such then I have no doubt that you know exactly what you're doing with this deck. Maybe if you use cards that make you only pay 1 or 2 life at a time will help you stay just underneath your enemy so that your creatures will have the strength they need to carry on through their battles.