Meren Sacrifice

Commander / EDH* BG (Golgari) Reanimator

Reverie42

Creature (38)

• 1x Abyssal Persecutor
• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Catacomb Sifter
• 1x Cloudthresher
• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Hornet Queen
• 1x Indrik Stomphowler
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1x Kessig Cagebreakers
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Mycoloth
• 1x Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
• 1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip
• 1x Pathbreaker Ibex
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Satyr Wayfinder
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Smothering Abomination
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Thragtusk
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Yavimaya Elder

Land (37)

• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 12x Forest
• 1x Golgari Guildgate
• 1x Grim Backwoods
• 1x High Market
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Polluted Mire
• 1x Slippery Karst
• 13x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple of Malady
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Vivid Grove

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Awakening Zone
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Evolutionary Leap
• 1x Feed the Pack
• 1x From Beyond
• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Pernicious Deed

Instant (3)

• 1x Grisly Salvage
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Wretched Confluence

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Garruk Relentless  ^Flip

Commander (1)

Artifact (8)

• 1x Eldrazi Monument
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Thought Vessel

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Barter in Blood
• 1x Overwhelming Stampede
• 1x Primal Growth
• 1x Sever the Bloodline
• 1x Victimize

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Maybeboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Grave Pact

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty

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As one of the most played commanders, there's not a ton of new ground to break on Meren. One of the neat things about Meren is that her raw power is so high and the pool of cards that she plays well with is so large that you can build a pretty strong deck for cheap.

Main themes of this deck:

• Sacrifice effects (both self and symmetrical)
• Tokens
• Value ETB/LTB creatures
• Creature theft
• Ramp

Sacrifice Effects

The deck runs two types of sacrifice effects: self-sacrifice and symmetrical sacrifice.

The self-sacrifice effects allow you to accumulate experience counters and get additional ETB triggers while also providing some incidental value. Some of the more powerful options are Evolutionary Leap, Feed the Pack and Smothering Abomination.

There are also symmetrical sacrifice effects, which are the main source of removal in the deck. Meren's recursion effects plus the large supply of token producers stacks symmetrical sacrifice in your favor. Key cards there are Merciless Executioner, Fleshbag Marauder and Barter in Blood.

There are also several payoff cards for sacrificing in addition to Meren. The two types are cards that force extra sacrifices from your opponents like Butcher of Malakir and Dictate of Erebos. The others are things that steal your opponents' dead creatures like It That Betrays, Liliana, Defiant Necromancer and Grave Betrayal.

Tokens

Producing a lot of tokens has two purposes. First, a large token presence makes it easier to accumulate experience counters. Second, tokens give you cheap things to sacrifice, which is can be particularly helpful in tipping symmetrical sacrifice effects against your opponents.

Token producers fall in to a few categories:

• Korozda Guildmage, Mycoloth and Feed the Pack are sac outlets that provide tokens
• Grave Titan, Hornet Queen, Catacomb Sifter and Thragtusk have tokens attached to coming in and out of the battlefield, making them good options to sacrifice and bring back with Meren.
• Verdant Force and Nath of the Gilt-Leaf both accumulate tokens over time
• From Beyond and Awakening Zone provide ramp while giving you self-sacrificing tokens that you can either use for mana or dump for experience at instant speed as needed.
• Pack Rat gives a discard outlet. If you can land it early, it can pretty quickly take over the game if left unanswered.

• Spore Frog can provide a free fog every turn with Meren.

Value ETB/LTB Creatures

Since there's a lot of sacrifice and graveyard recursion, both ETB and LTB effects are great. There's an almost endless supply of creatures that can go in this bucket. This build focuses on a few particular types:

Answer cards like Acidic Slime, Indrik Stomphowler and Shriekmaw

Ramp like Wood Elves, Sakura-Tribe Elder and Yamivaya Elder

Token producers like Grave Titan and Hornet Queen

Sacrifice effects in Merciless Executioner and Fleshbag Marauder

Card advantage like Eternal Witness and Wall of Blossoms

Creature Theft

There's a small subtheme around taking your opponents creatures when they die. The four enablers are It That Betrays, Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Grave Betrayal and Demon of Dark Schemes. In a more high-powered deck, you'd likely replace some of these with things like Sheoldred, Whispering One, Grave Pact or Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.

Ramp

Generating a lot mana is important in Meren since she tends to get targetted a lot and the commander tax is likely to get pretty expensive by the end of the game. Rather than run a ton of mana rocks (though there are a few), the deck instead runs as many of the land-fetching elves as possible.

Note that an easy way to add some consistency to the deck would be to add some dual lands to fetch with Wood Elves.

Higher-Budget Upgrades

There are some easy adds to consider in a higher budget deck:

• Grave Pact provides redundancy with Dictate of Erebos at a lower CMC
• Sheoldred, Whispering One provides redundancy with Meren and is utterly bonkers
• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed protects your entire board, including Meren
• Liliana, Death's Majesty gives self mill, an extra Meren effect, and a possible board wipe
• Fauna Shaman and Survival of the Fittest both all options for repeatable tutors
• Any dual lands would help the mana base

There are of course dozens of great options, but all of these would slot easily in to this general build by removing lower power cards like Kessig Cagebreakers and Korozda Guildmage

Changes From Stock

Removed: Altar's Reap, Ambition's Cost, Banshee of the Dread Choir, Blood Bairn, Bloodspore Thrinax, Bonehoard, Caller of the Pack, Centaur Vinecrasher, Champion of Stray Souls, Corpse Augur, Diabolic Servitude, Dread Summons, Extractor Demon, Golgari Charm, Great Oak Guardian, Lotleth Troll, Mulch, Phyrexian Plaguelord, Phyrexian Rager, Rise from the Grave, Scourge of Nel Toth, Skullwinder, Spider Spawning, Thief of Blood, Tribute to the Wild, Viridian Emissary, Viridian Zealot, Vivid Marsh, Vulturous Zombie

Added: Abyssal Persecutor, Awakening Zone, Catacomb Sifter, Demon of Dark Schemes, Dictate of Erebos, Evolutionary Leap, Feed the Pack, Fleshbag Marauder, From Beyond, Grave Betrayal, Grave Titan, Grim Haruspex, Hermit Druid, Hornet Queen, It That Betrays, Liliana, Heretical Healer  , Merciless Executioner, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, Pack Rat, Panharmonicon, Pernicious Deed, Reclamation Sage, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Smothering Abomination, Solemn Simulacrum, Spore Frog, Strionic Resonator, Thragtusk, Yamivaya Elder

List of adds as decklist for price check: Meren Precon Upgrades

Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 31 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.03
Tokens	Ashaya, the Awoken World, Beast 3/3 G, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Elephant 3-3 G, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Experience Token, Insect 1/1 G w/ Flying, Deathtouch, Morph 2/2 C, Saproling 1/1 G, Wolf 1/1 B, Wolf 2/2 G, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH