Meren Stax (EDH)

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Budget Control Multiplayer Stax

rayzoredge

Control (18)

• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Death Cloud
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Gaze of Granite
• 1x Liliana's Specter
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Naturalize
• 1x Pernicious Deed
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Woodfall Primus

Tutors (9)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Collusion
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Time of Need
• 1x Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Finishers (4)

• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1x Thrun, the Last Troll
• 1x Void Winnower

Lands (37)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 14x Forest
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Strip Mine
• 12x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple of Malady

Ramp (9)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Primal Growth
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Traverse the Ulvenwald
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Yavimaya Elder

Utility (5)

• 1x Awakening Zone
• 1x Primal Command
• 1x Savra, Queen of the Golgari
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Commander (1)

Recursion (13)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Body Snatcher
• 1x Doomed Necromancer
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Ever After
• 1x Footsteps of the Goryo
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Nim Deathmantle
• 1x Ramunap Excavator
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Victimize

Card Advantage (4)

• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Wall of Blossoms

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Sideboard

Control (1)

• 1x Reclamation Sage

Lands (1)

• 1x Tainted Wood

Recursion (1)

• 1x Apprentice Necromancer

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Maybeboard

Other (5)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Scryb Ranger
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Temple of Malady

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An EDH build alternative for my existing Meren Stax deck. Same stax-control flavor, different format.

The Play

The deck is broken up into a few chunks to help the overall goal of controlling the board by forcing sacs all around... to your benefit.

Cast Meren of Clan Nel Toth when you can, then let her return key pieces to your hand or use them to abuse recurring ETB or LTB effects.

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For the control aspect, you have Avatar of Woe , Beast Within , Butcher of Malakir , Death Cloud , Dictate of Erebos , and Massacre Wurm to keep tabs on creatures. For any beaters that end up sticking around, use Spore Frog in conjunction with Meren to Fog everything. Use Caustic Caterpillar , Naturalize , and Reclamation Sage for artifact and enchantment hate. Deathrite Shaman and Scavenging Ooze ensure graveyard hate for any other recursion shenanigans your opponents may pull, and you can even choke hands with a reoccurring Liliana's Specter and/or Liliana, Defiant Necromancer .

Destroy anything left over with Gaze of Granite , Pernicious Deed , Smokestack , and Woodfall Primus . Contamination is great at ruining plans for anyone not playing black.

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Tutor the creatures you need and dump them as needed with Birthing Pod , Buried Alive , Eldritch Evolution , Green Sun's Zenith , Jarad's Orders , Protean Hulk , and Time of Need . Yisan, the Wanderer Bard can help you grab Birds of Paradise or Spore Frog ; then Wall of Blossoms or Scavenging Ooze ; then Liliana, Heretical Healer  .

Use Demonic Collusion with buyback and dump your creatures to reanimate them with Meren.

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Ramp up with Birds of Paradise , Kodama's Reach , Primal Growth , Sakura-Tribe Elder , Solemn Simulacrum , Sylvan Caryatid , Traverse the Ulvenwald , Wood Elves , and Yavimaya Elder .

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Keep card advantage with Grim Haruspex , Skullclamp , and Wall of Blossoms . Destroy your own Phyrexian Arena if it starts hurting you too much, or use Primal Command to gain some life back.

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Bring creatures back with Meren as well as Animate Dead , Body Snatcher , Dread Return , Ever After , Nim Deathmantle , Sheoldred, Whispering One , and Victimize . Apprentice Necromancer and Footsteps of the Goryo are great for bringing back and then killing Protean Hulk and Woodfall Primus . Doomed Necromancer is great with It That Betrays , Butcher of Malakir , Sheoldred, Whispering One , and Void Winnower . Ramunap Excavator can reuse your Strip Mine as needed for land destruction, and Eternal Witness can grab back key spells. Liliana, Defiant Necromancer 's ultimate can act as a secondary It That Betrays .

Awakening Zone can give you sac bait as well as mana to cast spells, especially to get around your own Contamination . Primal Command can return pesky non-creature permanents as well as gain you life. Savra, Queen of the Golgari and Zulaport Cutthroat can add value to your own sacrifices. Sylvan Safekeeper can, in a pinch, save your own creatures from targeted removal.

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If your opponents are just ready to die and hate you already with your Smokestack , you can beat face with your Void Winnower or It That Betrays . Blue decks will hate Thrun, the Last Troll , and if you just want to sacrifice a fatty to kill everyone at the same time with direct life loss, use Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord .

The Weaknesses

Still testing.

Last updated 20180117.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 16 - 3 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.52
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Experience Token, Morph 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Current Decks
Based on	Meren Stax rayzoredge LEG