My Approach to a Meren Multiplayer Deck.Obviously Meren is the key but even if she gets handled, through ramp and card draw/tutoring I'm able to keep rolling.
(The cards are listed for their main purpose in the deck, although some of them might have some other advantages but I will only list them after their main use in my deck).Advise and/or remarks on cards I totally missed are always appreciated.
It's all about the sacrificing and getting value out of it while Meren of Clan Nel Toth is on the battlefield.
To do so the deck runs some sac outlets which all offer some benefits for us:
Viscera Seer: Scrying is always a good way to ensure the next draw. And even better it can sac itself to trigger the first experiance counter on.
Meren of Clan Nel Toth and come back on the battlefield the same endstep! If I haven't this card in my starting seven cards it's normally one of the first targets for my tutors (see below).
Birthing Pod: Saccing one creature an by this getting another creature on the board is great.
Attrition: Spot removal to nonblack creatures. Depending on the meta you play in there might not be good targets for its ability.
Disciple of Bolas: Sac a creature, gain life, draw cards. Sold!
Eliminate the Competition: Sacrifice your creatures to gain destroy the others is okay for Meren.
Victimize: Gives the sac-outlet and we can get more creatures back.
Sacrifice and Punishment
In here are the things that make your opponents hate you. Alle the below cards make your opponents sacrifice a creature whenever one of your creatures dies (and in a way we want our creatures to die):
Dictate of Erebos, Grave Pact: May be the to best ways to ensure your oppnents creatures to die.
Yahenni, Undying Partisan: A good sac-outlet, that makes itself indestructible.
Now that we sacrificed our creatures we want to take advantage of all these experience counters our commander has. So I added some options just to get some creatures in your graveyard beside casting them:
Grisly Salvage: In my opinion quite a nice way either to get that extra land you need or a creature you're looking for in your hand while also getting something to recur in your graveyard.
Jarad's Order: On the one hand a tutor and on the other hand it might deploy exactly the creature you want to recur on your end step in your graveyard to deal with a certain threat on the board.
Sheoldred, Whispering One: Quite a power house. It brings back your creatures (like Meren but in the upkeep) and punishes your opponents.
Some other ways to get back what you need are combined in the following cards:
Eternal Witness and Greenwarden of Murasabr />While Puppeteer Clique brings back your opponents creatures (especially those they had to sacrifice earlier).
And to round things up: Aetherworks Marvel seems a valid addition to the deck. First we dont mind our creatures dying and second we even get a chance to cast a card for free!
To ensure that we have all the mana we need there is an asorted compilation of rampcards:
Cultivate, Sol Ring, Harrow, Sylvan Scrying: Kind of the obvious choices.
Primal Growth, Burnished Hart, Solemn Simulacrum and Sakura-Tribe Elder: They all offer the benefit of a creature dying in the process of ramping. So a win-win for the deck!
Awakening Zone: This one has proven itself quite useful due to brining suicidal Spawns to trigger Meren for free each turn.
Because this deck is relying on creatures dying and getting back most removal is creature based. Or as I like to call it: Removal-on-a-stick:
Acidic Slime and Caustic catterpillar: Artifact and enchantment removal nice and straight. The Caterpillar even sacs itself!
Shriekmaw, Nekrataal, Ob Nixilis Reignited, and Attrition: Simple spot removal.
Demon of Dark Schemes is in here to get a kind of board wipe while getting more energy counters for Aetherworks Marvel.
terrastodon: For everything you can't handle elsewise.
Vampire Hexmage an Thief of Blood: Nice to remove counters from say Planeswalkers or want to hit the whole board with a "Counter-Wrath-Wipe" kind of Thief. Even better when you can do it more than once with recurring these two!
For tutoring up what you need these cards are in the deck:
Diabolic Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Increasing Ambition and Sidisi, Undead Vizier: Search your library for whatever you need. Nothing more, nothing less.
Green Sun's Zenit: Desperatly in need of this Viscera Seer of yours to play on turn 3? Just fish him out or whatever else creature you might need.
Drawing cards is always nice (even when you're not playing blue):Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Phyrexian Arena and
Jar of Eyeballs
: The bestiary may be the thing to get more consistent draws due to the upkeep scry. The Arena is just good and the Jar is a try. Maybe it might be better just to play something else. Ill know more after a few games
So what is left are some creatures to get in the red zone for the win:
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest: This one can go crazy! Sacrifice one of your small creatures and have your opponent do the same = 2 +1/+1 counters on all your other creatures...
Ob Nixilis, Unshackeld: Punishing your opponents for searching their library is good. Getting counters for other creatures dying? In this deck? Can go a for wild ride this Demon.
It That Betrays: It's good on it's own and a little bit better if your opponents have to sac creatures.
Kokushu, the Evening Star: Dying is kind of his sole purpose. But imagine brining him back end step and sacking him again? 10 points of lifeloss for each opponent in one turn? Seems quite ok to me.
Last but not least some cards, that didn't fit in a category above:
Spore Frog: Want to attack me? Fog the damge and come back next turn. Quite good so far.
Scavenging Ooze: Messing with the opponents graveyard is sometimes handy.
Reassembling Skeleton: Can bring itself back.
Grave Titan: What can I say. I like the Titans so every legal Titan get's an auto-include in my decks. ;-)
Vedalken Orrery: Want to flash in that Grave Titan or It That Betrays?.
Gutter Grime
: Latest addition to the list. And I must say I like it so far. Grows from by my sacced creatures while bringing new ones along? So far quite good.
Gonti, Lord of Luxury: The ETB seems good enough to try it out.
Panharmonicon: With all of our creatures being able to etb multiple times it seems only fair to get more Value out of them!
Rishkar's Expertise: While mainly a carddraw sometimes we want to be able to cast something for free from the hand when things are not going so well.
Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots: Protection for Meren.
Hope you like the deck and I'm open for suggestions because there are definetly cards I missed! If you like it, please, +1.
