Maralen of the Mornsong

[Sek'Kuar]

Is there any possible way to make a Maralen deck even close to viable in Legacy? I don't want it to be casual either.
It doesn't see much play in Standard or Extended, but I feel it is mainly because of the card pool. If we could somehow use our wider card pool to come up with a way to make the deck faster or more consistent... When it works in Extended it is pretty redic. I ask because she is one of my favorite Legends and I want her to be good sooooo bad. Please help me guys...:cry: <- See? Puppy Eyes!

[quicksilver]

The thing is they can always tutor up the best card in their deck to answer her, before you even get to tutor. If you try to negate this draw back the only way to do that is with fairly bad cards, which is going to put you into the relm of casual only for her.

[Sek'Kuar]

dropping mindlock orb first, though... In Legacy it negates fetches at least. and PtE

[sunshine]

Aven Mindcensor and Shadow of Doubt are both not horrible and are a pretty (obvious but) decent place to start. I especially like that you can string Shadow of Doubts together once you get the engine working if you want - there are probably better things you should be doing but still pretty solid and not strictly in the casual realm.

[bowvamp]

Or you can use maralen to kill the opponent quickly? I guess it could be a good place to start for Gb Elves. I am not too familiar with Elves! though.

[rufus]

You can't really string shadow of doubts together because Maralen prevents the draw.

Stifle and trickbind also prevent the opponent from getting cards from her ability, and stifle is a good card in legacy.
Anything that cheats Maralen into play during the opponent's turn (like Aether Vial or Volrath's Shapeshifter) will give you first access to the search ability.

[Sek'Kuar]

My build is currently for extended, but with some tweaking of the mana-base and some removal it can be legacy legal.

7 Swamp
5 Island
4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Fetid Heath
2 Sunken Ruins
2 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Creek
4 Esperzoa
3 Maralen of the Mornsong
4 Mistmeadow Witch
2 Liliana Vess
4 Agony Warp
4 Esper Charm
4 Last Gasp
2 Mindlock Orb
4 Turn to Mist
4 Unmake

I was considering Thoughtsieze, but between Liliana and Maralen I have discard and self-injury pretty well covered.

[Team-Hero]

Why not just give her Shroud and see how the opponent can respond to her?
Dark Confi can also help you because he doesn't draw you the cards... he puts them in your hand. I would also consider cards with a drawback that let your opponent draw cards; Mornsong doesn't let them.

[Skeggi]

Yeah. Arcane Denial and Pheldagriff pwnage! But that would land you really far into the casual realm. When I see Maralen, I think of a deck that fetches silver bullets against anything that's thrown against you, perhaps locks even, so whatever they get, they can't do anything. Alot easier said than done though :wink:.

[MSC]

First of all, you want to put her into play in your opponents turn, so you get the first Tutor, so Aether Vial or Scout's Warning are a good starting point.
Then giving shroud with Lightning greaves or Whispersilk cloak seams like a good idea.

From there on, the question is, how to win:
You can just play better cards / a toolbox then your opponent and crush him under perfect answers. But this would result in a lot of One-Ofs ...
The other way would be to biuld a classical deck around this suit and prevent your opponent from using Maralen. Astral Slide seems a nice Idea to do this...

[Nihil Credo]

The problem with Maralen is that as a topdecked single card it sucks balls, and as a combo piece (even with independently useful cards like Vial and Karakas) it's roughly as complicated to set up as, say, the Life combo, but the effect is far less impressive.

[elof]

Astral Slide seems a nice Idea to do this...

Except that Cycling cards other than Eternal Dragon sucks since you don't get to draw cards from it.

Better to abuse Maralen with something that shuts down your opponent from drawing and tutoring cards.

[MSC]

Except that Cycling cards other than Eternal Dragon sucks since you don't get to draw cards from it.


Thats not true, if done right. If you anounce cycling (discard the card) draw the card goes on the stack. With the draw on the stack, Astral slide triggers, alowing you to remove Maralen.
After that your draw resolves with nothing there preventing you from drawing a card...

[dahcmai]

This is going to sound horrible, but I'm surprised no one has thought of giving her phasing. They don't get to fetch anymore and you do. Not the greatest thing in the world, but you getting to tutor for every draw isn't so bad.

Heh, an excuse to play Revered Unicorn. lol

[Sek'Kuar]

Still extended, but far more consistent than before. And because I don't feel like typing this all over:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=3643935#post3643935

[Pinder]

You realize that the orb makes it so neither player can search their libraries, right? So, near as I can tell, Maralen is just there to make sure no one draws cards and to deal 3 damage to everyone during their turn.

Seems underwhelming.

[majikal]

My build is currently for extended, but with some tweaking of the mana-base and some removal it can be legacy legal.

7 Swamp
5 Island
4 Arcane Sanctum
2 Fetid Heath
2 Sunken Ruins
2 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Creek
4 Esperzoa
3 Maralen of the Mornsong
4 Mistmeadow Witch
2 Liliana Vess
4 Agony Warp
4 Esper Charm
4 Last Gasp
2 Mindlock Orb
4 Turn to Mist
4 Unmake

I was considering Thoughtsieze, but between Liliana and Maralen I have discard and self-injury pretty well covered.
Maybe I'm missing something, but with only 2 artifacts in your deck, what good does Esperzoa ever do?

[Pinder]

Maybe I'm missing something, but with only 2 artifacts in your deck, what good does Esperzoa ever do?

Maybe it bounces Mindlock Orb so you can search and then replay it? Still seems rather meh, but there's some synergy there.

[Sek'Kuar]

Yeah, check out the link, though. It is a much better build, and there are only 3 Esperzoa. The idea was to bounce the orb, but it acts more like a stall-wall. I'll probably replace it.

[sunshine]

rufus: You can't really string shadow of doubts together because Maralen prevents the draw.

You don't need to draw. Just Play a Shadow on Doubt on your opps. upkeep (or Stifle on the Maralen trigger) then search out another one on your draw step - Shadow of Doubt is better here since it doesn't prevent the life loss.

I really think Maralen would fit well into a UBw fish-esque build. You could run Stifle/Shadow of Doubt to negate their first Maralen tutor. Stringing SoD together is a pretty solid lock - Isochron Scepter imprinting Stile/SoD would be decent. Also, I like the synergy between Maralen and Jotun Grunt.