{"ops":[{"insert":"\"The Black Rose\" is a great title for Marchesa. And, also a great name for a pirate ship!\n\nOur deck today is built around "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Marchesa, the Black Rose"}},{"insert":", her incredible ability to bring creatures back to the battlefield, and the incredible way that she synergizes with the Pirate creature type (and a general theme of piracy)!\n\nWith Marchesa's ability, our gameplan revolves around stealing creatures from other boards (or decks) to bring them onto our field. Then, either using Dethrone or some of the other mechanics in our deck, we add +1/+1 counters to those creatures. Finally, we let them die, either in combat or by forcibly sacrificing them. By doing so, since they had a counter on them, at the end of our turn they return to our control anyway!\n\nFor each parts of this gameplan, we have a couple of key contributors:\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Theft"},{"insert":"\nThe pirate creature type has a ton of great ways to steal creatures! We have some fantastic repeatable effects in creatures like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Admiral Beckett Brass"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Coercive Recruiter"}},{"insert":", or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ramirez DePietro, Pillager"}},{"insert":". Beyond this, we also stock some single-theft cards: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wrangle"}},{"insert":" is exceptionally cheap, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kari Zev's Expertise"}},{"insert":" lets us cheat out another card, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Slave of Bolas"}},{"insert":" has a sacrifice clause built into it to help us make sure we keep our stolen card! And if things get really out of hand in the late game, we stock "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rise of the Dark Realms"}},{"insert":" as a way to clear out any graveyards that had the chance to fill up. \n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"What happens if I don't pull my theft cards?"},{"insert":"\nYou still have great options! Marchesa plays aristocrats like it's nobody's business, and we stock a ton of creatures that benefit from dying or reentering the field. Classics like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Pitiless Plunderer"}},{"insert":" will ramp us for letting our creatures die, and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gemcutter Buccaneer"}},{"insert":" will give all of our recurred Pirates a little extra bonus when they hit the field. Marchesa's recursion also means that we can absolutely sacrifice our own stuff to get ahead on cards, dropping "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Village Rites"}},{"insert":" or another such draw spell. Don't forget: Marchesa's trigger also works on herself. As long as she has a counter on her, let her fall into the yard and (unless she gets exiled) you'll see her again on the next end step.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Counters"},{"insert":"\nObviously, we will most frequently be using Dethrone as a way to add counters to our creatures. But we actually have a subset of secret commanders that help us guarantee we will get counters on any creature we steal! One of the more important ones, if we can manage to get him to the board, is "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Don Andres, the Renegade"}},{"insert":", since he will turn all of our stolen creatures into Pirates. If we can do that, landing cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Captain Storm, Cosmium Raider"}},{"insert":" and especially "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vaan, Street Thief"}},{"insert":" let us take our stolen board and pump it up to absurd sizes! Even without making our board huge, using these creatures also just gives us a great opportunity to get our counters onto our stolen creatures before they can get removed from our board for good. A side note: you'll notice that our deck makes a lot of artifact tokens, in particular Treasures. While this is obviously important for ramping, it also exists as a way to make sure two of our secret commanders, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Captain Storm, Cosmium Raider"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mm'menon, Uthros Exile"}},{"insert":", can consistently toss counters to our board. Captain Storm will need to look for other Pirates, but Mm'menon is happy to give their benefits to all of your stolen creatures.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"Sacrifice"},{"insert":"\nTo make sure that our stolen creatures die, we have a lot of ways to kill them off ourselves. Some of them are one-shot spells that also give us card draw, like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Deadly Dispute"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Village Rites"}},{"insert":", but of course we also have a ton of free, infinite-use cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ashnod's Altar"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Goblin Bombardment"}},{"insert":" that all but guarantee that we can take a stolen creature, toss it overboard, then fish it back up on an end step.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true,"bold":true},"insert":"I pulled a tutor card! What am I going to get?"},{"insert":"\nYou have a few options, depending on where you are in the game!\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mm'menon, Uthros Exile"}},{"insert":" if you are getting a lot of Treasures on the board and are stealing your opponent's creatures at a good rate."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Don Andres, the Renegade"}},{"insert":" early on if your theft is starting to take off."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Captain Storm, Cosmium Raider"}},{"insert":" and/or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vaan, Street Thief"}},{"insert":" if your board is already mostly Pirates, or if you have Don Andres in play and want to boost your stolen creatures."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ramirez DePietro, Pillager"}},{"insert":" if you really need some gas to get things going."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"}]}