This would be a very solid Commander, as I
suspect WotC now takes Commander into account
for all Legendary creatures it prints-- I'm not
sure how heavily the storyline counts for these
days. The "dethrone" mechanic is interesting, as
it gives you bonuses when you need them most,
but the real eye-catcher here is the ability to
re-grow your dead creatures. The catch is that
they have to have +1/+1 counters on them, but
that's hardly a catch when Magic is full of ways
to put them on creatures and creatures that come
with +1/+1 counters. The best part is that
Dethrone IS such an ability, that Marchesa has
it herself, and that Marchesa's third ability
will bring herself back if she has a +1/+1
counter at time of death.
Marchesa has a solid mechanical design, but it's
one that really only works in multiplayer. Not
only is the comparison made by the dethrone
ability only really meaningful if there are more
than two players to compare, but if all your
creatures have dethrone and are strengthened by
attacking one opponent, they'll probably only
get that bonus once. But in those multiplayer
settings, Marchesa can certainly help you punish
any player who's focusing on defending
themselves, and provides a welcome boost to
creature-based strategies. Bonus points if you
use her politically - "lend" her to someone else
with Spawnbroker or some such so that they can
attack using stronger or more evasive creatures
than yours!
Today's card of the day is Marchesa, the Black
Rose which is a four mana Blue, Black, and Red
3/3 Legendary with Dethrone that gives other
creatures you control Dethrone and whenever a
creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it
dies return it to the battlefield under your
control at the beginning of the next end step.
The effects on this card are very powerful and
easily supported with other counter production
and any kind of life payments to keep your life
just below that of an opponent. In
Commander and Multiplayer this is a solid
addition to the deck in any role and can be
difficult to oppose once it gets rolling.
In a Limited format with this the mana cost is a
bit difficult to manage, but if you can get
below the opponent's life total before an attack
it can dramatically change the course of the
game with even minimal additional creatures in
play. The color requirement would make it
a difficult first pick in Booster, but the
format would encourage multiple colors which
allows it to be considered. In Sealed it
depends on the pool, but forcing it in is
certainly possible if additional support is
available.
Another Conspiracy favorite, Marchesa can make
life very difficult for your opponent. Get out a
few quick creatures, then throw her out on turn
four. Then, you are free to attack the highest
life total guy or gal. Even if most of your
creatures would die, if you can force even 1
damage through or take out one of their
creatures in combat, you are in good shape,
since they all come back at the end of the turn!
Of course, the tricky thing with dethrone is
that someone else has to have the highest life
total. You might have a few advantageous ways to
pay life so you can dip below an opponent long
enough to give all your creature counters. But
that could get dangerous as the game goes on and
life totals are all dropping.
I envision a commander deck with her as the
general, and all kinds of creatures that
naturally have +1/+1 counters. As long as I can
keep Marchesa on the battlefield, it's gonna be
really tough to mess with my creatures.
Commander is the only real constructed option
here (let me know if you ever see her in a
decent legacy deck), but I like her in that
role. She could be a lot of fun in any casual
format you could play, and is of course an
absolute house in limited. I'm lucky enough to
know by experience.
