Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Marisi, Breaker of the Coil!

Marisi is a four mana 5/4 that prevents your opponents from casting spells during combat and whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, goad each creature that player controls.

Marisi is all in on combat, and not just for us but also for our opponents whenever out creatures deal combat damage to an opponent. The idea of the deck is to deal combat damage to our opponents so that we can guarantee that they must engage in combat as well as other ways to goad our opponents.

Then we can be a bit tricky in how we deal with our opponents in that regard by messing around with their attacking creatures in order to make sure that they always have a clear field while we have an open field, and we can take advantage of our opponents being unable to play spells during combat in order to play all sorts of tricky spells.

The first thing that we need to do is to have a number of creatures that can get damage through.

Soltari Visionary is a creature with the now abandoned form of evasion Shadow, which means that they can only be blocked by other creatures with Shadow, while it also has the ability of whenever it deals combat damage to an opponent then we destroy an enchantment that they control.

Soltari Foot Soldier is a one mana creature that has Shadow, Soltari Monk and Soltari Priest also have Shadow while the Monk has protection from black while the Priest has protection from black, and Soltari Champion has Shadow while also giving other creatures we control +1/+1 when it attacks.

There are also creatures with a variety of landwalk abilities, but one of the most versatile being Dryad Sophisticate who is a two mana 2/1 that has nonbasic landwalk, meaning that our opponents just need one nonbasic land in order for us to consistently deal 2 damage to them and goad all of their creatures.

If we want to make it difficult for opponents to block us then we can use Ohran Frostfang, which gives attacking creatures we control deathtouch while also having it so that whenever a creature we control deals combat damage to a player we draw a card.

We can also invest in some defensive creatures like Selfless Spirit which is a creature that we can sacrifice in order to give other creatures we control indestructible until end of turn, which can also be helpful against a board wipe or some targeted removal.

The next thing that we should look at are other ways to have our opponents attack via other goad or goad like effects.

Taunt from the Rampart goads all creatures our opponents control and until our next turn, those creatures can’t block, which means that we can get some additional free attacks in to get some additional combat triggers.

We can also use Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos as a creature that must attack each combat if able, can’t be sacrificed, can’t attack its owner and at the beginning of each players upkeep that player gains control of Alexios, untaps it, puts a +1/+1 counter on it and it gains haste until end of turn, just so our opponents at least have one creature that must attack everyone except us.

Agitator Ant is pretty good since at the beginning of our end step each player may put two +1/+1 counters on a creature they control and then the creatures that had counters put on them this way become goaded, which also starts racking up the damage.

Master Warcraft is a tricky way to get an opponent to attack if they are being a bit cagey or have the opportunity to attack us since we can only cast it only before attackers are declared because it allows us to choose which creatures attack this turn while also being able to choose which creatures block this turn as well as how those creatures block.

Promise of Loyalty is also a pretty good way to get a creature to not attack us while also clearing the board since each player puts a vow counter on a creature they control and then sacrifices the rest and each of those creatures can’t attack us or Planeswalkers we control for as long as it has a vow counter on it.

If we really want to clear the board from our opponents creatures, there is Don’t move which destroys all tapped creatures and until our next turn whenever a creature becomes tapped we destroy it, which means that when our opponents attack because they are goaded, then they get destroyed and all we need to do is hold back for a turn and then we have a clear board.

Speaking of which.

The last thing we need are ways we can hose our opponents attacking creatures so we can take full advantage of combats during our turn.

Tangle is a great spell, since it can prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn and it prevents attacking creatures from untapping during their controllers’ next untap step, which works especially well if we happen to be going up against a massive go wide deck that needs its attackers to deal damage.

Another solid card for us is Galadhrim Ambush, which creates X 1/1 Elf Warrior creature tokens where X is the number of attacking creatures and we prevent all combat damage dealt by non-Elf creatures, which while a popular creature type can definitely hose particular decks while also making a decent number of bodies for us.

If we happen to be going up against a multicolor deck, then Settle the Wreckage can be extremely effective since we can exile all attacking creatures an opponent controls while letting them search for a number of basic lands equal to the number of creatures exiled this way, which when up against a deck that is three or more colors can do have little to no benefit for your opponents and all the benefits for us.

Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs can also be a great way to not have our opponents attack us in the mid game or the end game since whenever a creature attacks us then we make a 3/3 Ogre creature token unless that opponent pays three mana, and that triggers on each creature attacking us which could mean a lot of blockers or some major damage.

As far as us winning, it very much is a matter of us dealing a ton of combat damage from our opponents having a clear board and us having a full board, but if we need a way to close out the game towards the end and our opponents still have a lot of creatures, then we can use Insurrection to untap all creatures and gain control of all of them while also giving them haste until end of turn.

Marisi is a combat based Commander that rewards us for playing within the combat phase. We also keep our opponents from answering us during the combat phase since they can’t cast spells during the combat phase, which means any spells they can cast that can prevent combat damage need to be played during the main phase and we also stop our opponents from benefiting from combat tricks.

Now the difficult thing is to make sure that Marisi stays in play, because he has no inherent protection from spells that are played outside of the combat phase, and while we can include some protection, there is only so much available to us, especially against exile based board wipes.

That being said, Marisi can be a very fun Commander that makes it easier to manage the combat phase since we will be the only ones allowed to cast spells during the combat phase.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual