in my opinion, it is the most optimized marath deck out there. with few design flaws, namely the lack of dual lands among other things, it is very worthwhile for casual commander. I believe its prime weakness is that it gets targeted by members of your playgroup immediently and it dies to quick removal of other decks. you easily overwhelm your opponent mid to late game which is great. Which btw is not because the marath kill curse. this deck is one of the few marath decks that doesn't rely on getting marath killed over and over to get somewhere in the game(that just happens as a side effect lol). this is also one of the naya decks that does not rely on casting a !#@$ ton of creatures and just hoping for the best. and yes there is no phryrexian alter effect in this deck other than thermopod because I prefer to not be that one d-bag who uses quick infinite combos turn five because" I want to win ". I have to admit however that it is better to have more mana dorks and smaller ramp functions than I got posted because of the board wipe featured.
overall this deck is a very satisfying and very adult to play with.
Land: suggestions are open. I included the rainbow land cards that suited me the best and all other multilands that are fast enough for a three colored deck. it has the standard amount of utility lands with the exception of gavonry town ship. even for a land I believe this slows me down to much to consider it. I tried using manlands and other pay costs on lands to make things happen, but I did not enjoy it. you are much better off with a forest or a triple land.
commanders: the only reason this deck works is marath and the only reason marath works is this deck. its giant arsenal of effects turn it into the absolute toolbox of commanders. you have the option to suck up every last drop of mana you can produce in most cases. I use marath almost exclusively as a 1/1 token producer. rather than even use its other abilities. although that seems rather shallow, this deck is nearly tailored to the thing because I abuse the utility in every single way imagined. essentially this guy becomes an engine for unbelievable amounts of broken non infinite synergy. if he is not your flavor, then other commanders are avalible for these purposes. this is also where the strategy is shown strongest:
Stratagy: this deck is a heavily synergized deck. although really crazy things tend to occur during play, the primary version relies on three basic components: ramp(Ex: gyre sage), which maximizes potential for creature producing abilities(marath or twv) which triggers etb effects that win you the game ( aura shards or suture priest). don't think of it as having the cards out as much as thinkning that you have your COMPONENTS out.
ramp:
Gyre Sage, Xenagos- best ramp in my deck. with ivy lane denizen out, it doubles my board-space every turn.
Knotvine Mystic sol ring- this deck was rather lack luster in dork effects that were quick enough to get me the mana I suck up every turn. I tried elvish mystic a couple times and a decided that more of my problems regarded mana fixing rather than ramp. but if you could make room for more of these babies then by all means go!
Thermopod: the only component that actually goes infinite, there is obviously many strictly better cards that are cheaper(cmc cheap) and more efficient for what we are doing. I like this card because not only is it a much need sac oultlet but its high cmc makes it a less guilt combo piece in my opinion. cards like these such as earthcraft are for heavily competive decks and don't belong in this one.
Vorinclex, marari's wake doubling cube: land doublers are fun but are risky for the impending wipe that ensures your decks survival. but with enough of them out, you can recover much faster than your compadre's can.
other token producers:
Darien, King of Kjeldor: effect seems good but not to good, I wouldn't exactly suggest burning out your self with marath just to have soldier tokens but if you want to be that one syco girl, by all means go!
Hooded Hydra: a win con for this deck, he becomes big and bigger still.
hornet nest: I would much rather have kill tokens rather than elementals I assure you.
krenko: very independent, this guy gets out of control whether or not he's featured in a goblin deck. getting hela many tokens for free is a want want if you didn't know that.
mycoloth: self explanatory and very powerful.
Elspeth(s): independent and controlling, they serve many uses as both distraction and win con.
tempt with vengeance, martial coup: absolutely great cards from the pre con sets. feel free to replace either with nomads assembly
etb:
purphorus, blasting station: burn
alter of the brood: mill
Champion of lambholt: this card might as well say" creatures you control are unblockable turn 3 having this out"
essence warden, soul warden, souls attendant, suture priest: life gain, turns into little cathar's crusade with the Archangel of thune
ivy lane denizen, cathar's crusade: makes the token effect from marath have almost no down sides other than you cant make enough tokens
mentor of the meek, skullclamp: card draw
aura shards: super good removal
confusion in the ranks: this overcomplicates games a great deal, but you have the advantage.
mayael' aria: win cons like these get dangerous but not nessicary. a distraction perhaps for removal in opponents decks.
In the Web of War: haste plus power buff. useful on all angles.
stretchers
doubling season, primal vigor, hardended scales, parallel lives: these cards are what get my deck out of control. making all of these etb's trigger twice. also lets me vultron because of counter doubling.
planes walkers: I like(need) these permanents because their double purpose is invaluable for what I use them for. doubing season with Elspeth anybody?
land wipe: there is a adequate amount of land wipe. everything else on my board is typically way to valuable to risk loosing. smoke stack is viable only if you are making atleast six creature tokens a turn, so obviously take care to use it when you are strong enough.
mana web, total war: control cards
enlightened tutor, Idyllic Tutor: tutors
akroma's memorial: shuts down certain synergies because of the protection from red, but it wins me games every single time I can get it out.
tips:
use a lot of dice. only when you run out is when you use the sac outlets in the library
to keep the creature count down. I use all 40 of my d6's and d20's but that is often not enough.
prearrange your etb effects in the desired order of stacking ahead of time so all players including you get used to the patterns. playout in your head which ones you want to go first then last to achieve the maximum amount of effect.