Sometimes They Come Back (Meren cEDH)

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Combo Competitive Multiplayer Reanimator Stax

ItsJustGreg

Creature (28)

• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloodthrone Vampire
• 1x Body Snatcher
• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Riftsweeper
• 1x Runic Armasaur
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Walking Ballista

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Dance of the Dead
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Oppression
• 1x Pattern of Rebirth
• 1x Root Maze
• 1x Sylvan Library

Land (32)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 5x Forest
• 1x High Market
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Instant (9)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Snuff Out
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Footsteps of the Goryo
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Yahenni's Expertise

Artifact (10)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst

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Meren of Clan Nel Toth is a midrange combo deck that focuses on slowing down its opponents with stax effects such as Thorn of Amethyst , Null Rod , and Contamination while setting up a win through reanimation shenanigans.

My History with Meren

Meren was my first real EDH deck. I focused on using Dredge cards such as Life from the Loam and Golgari Grave-Troll to fill my graveyard and then reanimated various threats, the most potent of which was Necrotic Ooze . With a Nooze in play, as long as I had Triskelion and Phyrexian Devourer in my graveyard, I could exile my library and then kill my opponents using Nooze to tap into their activated abilities.

Unfortunately, I hit some financial snags and had to sell my deck (including my Bayou ).

Now, I'm bringing my love for Golgari back and am playing Meren once more.

How to Win

This deck's primary win condition is using Protean Hulk to assemble a combination of Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder along with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Walking Ballista . If you are unfamiliar with how this combo works:

Protean Hulk dies. With his ability, get Phyrexian Delver and a one-mana sacrifice outlet (Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder). Phyrexian Delver's ability reanimates Hulk. Sacrifice Hulk. With this second Hulk trigger, get Mikaeus the Unhallowed and Walking Ballista. Sacrifice Ballista. Undying will bring him back with a +1/+1 counter. Use Ballista's ability to shoot your opponents. Sacrifice him and shoot your opponents ad nauseam.

We protect this combo and give ourselves time to dig for the pieces we need by using stax effects. Null Rod turns off all artifacts, so we will need a way to remove it ourselves before we are able to combo off, so keep that in mind. Other powerful effects include Contamination, which limits all land-based mana sources to producing . Thorn of Amethyst makes every noncreature spell cost extra mana to cast, an effect that doesn't hurt us as much as Sphere of Resistance or Trinisphere .

Notable Exclusions

I would like to touch on my exclusion of Triskelion.

Although he provides some redundancy with Walking Ballista, Triskelion costs six mana and would require another seven life to fetch with the Protean Hulk line (sacrificing Delver with Mikaeus in play, getting back Hulk, sacrificing Hulk and getting Triskelion). He's also usually uncastable if you draw him. Walking Ballista can always be cast for no mana and can give you free Experience for Meren, should you need it.

Thanks for stopping by. My list was inspired by Roguelikedev's Honorbru Meren (Finite Hulk) list. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.18
Tokens	Experience Token, Spirit 1/1 C
Folders	Edh