Invasion of Fiora // Marchesa, Resolute Monarch (Invasion of Fiora)

Battle — Siege // Legendary Creature — Human Noble

Invasion of Fiora // Marchesa, Resolute Monarch

Mana value6EDHREC#6,061

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The Commander

(As a Siege enters, choose an opponent to protect it. You and others can attack it. When it's defeated, exile it, then cast it transformed.)

When this Siege enters, choose one or both —

• Destroy all legendary creatures.

• Destroy all nonlegendary creatures.

Menace, deathtouch

Whenever Marchesa attacks, remove all counters from up to one target permanent.

At the beginning of your upkeep, if you haven't been dealt combat damage since your last turn, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.

Guide

Gameplan

Cast Invasion of Fiora as a one-sided-ish board wipe (choose to destroy legendaries and/or nonlegendaries), then defeat the battle to flip it into Marchesa, a menacing deathtouch attacker who pulls counters and draws you extra cards. You play a midrange/control game in mono-black, clearing boards repeatedly and grinding card advantage while attacking unblocked thanks to evasion and a king-of-the-hill removal package.

Strengths

Doubles as a flexible, partially asymmetric board wipe from the command zone
Marchesa is a resilient threat with menace + deathtouch that's hard to block profitably
Counter removal disrupts planeswalkers, +1/+1 strategies, saga/loyalty pieces, and Marchesa's attack trigger is great control
Built-in card draw engine off the upkeep trigger if you avoid combat damage
Mono-black gives access to elite tutors, removal, and recursion

Weaknesses

Battle must be 'defeated' (dealt damage equal to defense, here 5) before you get Marchesa, which can stall
The wipe can hit your own nonlegendary creatures unless you build around legendaries
Single black color limits interaction with the stack and artifacts/enchantments
Upkeep draw fails if any opponent connects with combat damage
Losing 1 life per draw and black's life costs add up against aggro

Key Cards

Liliana of the Veil — Cheap planeswalker pressure whose loyalty can be reset or protected, and her edicts complement the board control.
Bolas's Citadel — Turns Marchesa's life-paying draw plan into explosive card advantage and a potential combo finish.
Phyrexian Reclamation — Recurs Marchesa or key creatures repeatedly for a grindy mono-black engine.
Crucible of Worlds — Reuses utility lands and pairs with the battle's recast value in a lands-grind shell.
Whip of Erebos — Lifelink offsets life loss and the wipes, while enabling reanimation tempo.
Cabal Coffers — Ramps mono-black into double-spelling removal, wipes, and Marchesa relentlessly.

Upgrade Path

Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Crypt) and elite tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Intent) to assemble Marchesa or wipes on schedule. Lean into a legendary-heavy creature base so your own 'destroy all nonlegendary' mode is one-sided, and include lifegain (Whip of Erebos, Bontu's Monument) to fuel life-payment draw engines. Top-end can shift toward a Bolas's Citadel + life-loss combo for a deterministic kill.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Beat down with menace-deathtouch Marchesa, often equipped for commander damage
▸Grind opponents out with repeated board wipes and superior card advantage
▸Bolas's Citadel / life-payment combo lines into a finisher like Aetherflux or large drain
▸Reanimated fatties or a curated legendary board closing through cleared defenses

Archetypes

Control — Repeatable board wipes plus counter/loyalty stripping let you dictate the board while drawing extra cards.
Midrange Voltron — Marchesa's menace and deathtouch make her a cheap, evasive carrier for equipment and auras.
Reanimator — Mono-black recursion brings back big legendary threats that survive your own legendary-friendly wipes.
Stax/Attrition — Edicts, sacrifice effects, and recurring sweepers grind opponents out of resources.