Meren of Clan Synergy

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Competitive Ramp Reanimator

Isthan

Instant (3)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Grisly Salvage

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Genesis Wave
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Mulch
• 1x Primal Growth
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Victimize

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Awakening Zone
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Pernicious Deed
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

Artifact (8)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Eldrazi Monument
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring

Creature (39)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Dawntreader Elk
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Mycoloth
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Satyr Wayfinder
• 1x Savra, Queen of the Golgari
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Smothering Abomination
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Woodfall Primus

Land (34)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 7x Forest
• 1x Golgari Guildgate
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Grim Backwoods
• 1x High Market
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Miren, the Moaning Well
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Mire
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple of Malady
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Commander (1)

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After playing Meren in 1v1, 3 person free for all, and 5+ player multiplayer games, I thought that I had seen enough scenarios to begin tuning my deck.

I found that I would have pretty stellar games when I would start with a mana dork. At the onset of this deck list, I had Elves of Deep Shadow and Birds of Paradise as my only true mana dorks. I had other ways to ramp, but I found that actual mana dorks played an important role:

1. They're not likely to die in the early game. EDH doesn't run tons of Lightning Bolt effects because it prefers higher CMC, larger impact spells.
2. They can help you get Meren of Clan Nel Toth out before turn 4 so that you can start having Meren observe creature deaths to gain experience.
3. For lack of any better targets, they can serve as sacrifice to fuel your other effects that want creatures to die/sacrifice.
4. Once you start gaining experience, 1 CMC dorks can quickly come back to the battlefield rather than going back to hand from Meren's EoT effect.

Due to all the above reasons, cutting lands and adding mana dorks has greatly improved the performance of my Meren deck.

After that I wanted to reduce "situational" cards and cards that in general did not have high enough impact for their mana cost. Case and point, I was running both Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and Jarad's Orders.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord seemed like it had high synergy. It got bigger when creatures were in the grave, it was a (potentially quite effective) sac outlet, and it could be returned to hand from the graveyard. I chose to cut the card because it was only situational that i'd have enough creatures in the graveyard to grow him to a high power. The sac outlet, while only costing 3 mana, was not going to have enough impact in EDH. Lastly, I dont feel like there were many situations where i'd actually want to sacrifice land to return him to hand. He probably belongs in The Gitrog Monster instead.

Jarad's Orders was nice in that it effectively let me tutor for 2 creatures, but I think its effectiveness was far out-shined by both Entomb and Buried Alive. Both cards are lower CMC, and Buried Alive is effectively tutoring for 3 creatures in a deck like this. Entomb cost only 1 mana and could be cast at instant speed.

I had also enjoyed adding Entomb and Buried Alive because I was attempting to find better ways to populate my graveyard for Meren. Things like dredge were too slow and I didn't have enough dredge cards in the list anyway.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 23 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.44
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Elephant 3/3 G, Experience Token, Plant 0/1 G, Saproling 1/1 G, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Commander