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Ultra Competitive Meren Stax - The Unholy Bible

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Competitive Infinite Combo Primer Reanimator Stax

phDaemon

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The Unholy Bible

The Unholy Bible

Meren Stax Reanimator
"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny." - Darth Vader

[Upvotes are VERY MUCH appreciated!!]

The first few versions of this deck were a general toolbox deck. It was "ok". However, Meren naturally draws hate in almost every playgroup. So I embraced it. If you're going to play archenemy, you should still make sure you can actually win right? Welcome to combo stax (aka The MTG Unholy Bible).

What is stax anyways? Stax is all about resource denial. People will sit down with you to play magic, but only you will actually play. The deck combos off in any number of ways, with alternate wincons all outlined in the appropriate section.

The strategy itself is a very polarizing issue in the magic community, with some players calling it "unfun". People will not be nice to you. Some people will rant. That being said, the goal of this deck is to win as the archenemy. You will definitely be playing 2v1 or 3v1 whenever one of your pieces hits the table. Learn to love it.


Stax decks are notorious for not being beginner friendly on either side of the table. They can be hard to pilot as a novice player and going up against one as a newbie, you will quickly become frustrated. Understanding when to apply stax, which kind, when and what to tutor, and the different possible wincon combos in the deck is key. You're trying to take advantage of the low curve of the deck to lock-out your opponents by punishing them for less-than-stellar curves, basically slowing the game until you can combo off. With some luck an opening hand might have the nuts (Such as Entomb, Necromancy and some mana rock / dork with the right lands). No need for stax there, just win by turn 3.

There is a turn 2 win, but it requires a very nutty draw (T1 swamp, on EOT Entomb your Protean Hulk, drop Ancient Tomb on turn 2, and then on your own EOT drop Necromancy to win...you can also do it in response to someone doing something to your hulk in your graveyard)

Ok, so what do you actually do with this deck? Force Sacrifice/Destroy, Tax, Deny.

Ideally, your opening hand should contain some mana dorks, at least 2 lands and either of the following: stax piece, tutor or removal. You want to play your dorks early to try to get meren out or a stax piece as fast as possible. From there, it's a matter of locking down the board so that no one other than you can do anything. This is achieved by out-curving your opponents (thanks to mana dorks / rocks, recursive fetches, or things like Carpet of Flowers) and taxing all spells. To help clear the board, you can recurse your utility creatures (e.g. Plaguecrafter + Reclamation Sage) or drop a Toxic Deluge etc.

As stated previously, stax decks are extremely situational, and rely on the pilot to feel the board and understand the most opportune time to drop your stax and start your lock. Do this at the wrong time and you may have a nasty unexpected response that might put you in a bad spot.

There are ways to make it undesirable to attack you (Spore Frog), or difficult for certain colors to shine (Contamination), abuse these with meren for maximum lulz. Some of these can even become political tools (such as the frog).

Actual Games and Hands played (The DL has evolved since to what it is now therefore some of these cards are no longer in the deck)
Opening Hand: Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Twilight Mire, Misty Rainforest, Mox Diamond, Sylvan Caryatid, Sylvan Library, Ancient Tomb
Opposing Commanders: Mina and Denn, Wildborn, Zedruu the Greathearted, Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis

Opening Hand: Forest, Misty Rainforest, Diabolic Intent, Green Sun's Zenith, Nether Void, Buried Alive, Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Opposing Commanders: Jenara, Asura of War, Grusilda, Monster Masher, Progenitus

Opening Hand: Defense Grid, Swamp, Sylvan Caryatid, Survival of the Fittest, Command Tower, Windswept Heath, Spore Frog.
Opposing Commanders: Edgar Markov, Teferi, Temporal Archmage.
Opening Hand: Mindslicer, Llanowar Elves, Wooded Foothills, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Demonic Tutor, Toxic Deluge, Viscera Seer
Opposing Commanders: Rhys the Redeemed, Isamaru, Hound of Konda

  • Power Level: 98-99%
  • CMC Curve: 2.4-2.6 (Mods should aim for this level)
  • Win Ratio: 95-99% (Tested on cockatrice for a couple of weeks, lost only about 2 games)
  • New friends made while playing the deck: 0.01%
  • Number of pissed off opponents: 85-90% (Sometimes it's hard to tell, so going conservative here)

I've purposely left out other stax cards such as Trinisphere and Static Orb since I either have a better alternatives or they hurt our strategy (Winter Orb over Static Orb and we do not want Trinisphere since we're using mana dorks). I might come around on Trinisphere since it can be laid out AFTER the dorks have already hit the table, or they can be cheated out with other cards but Nether Void and Sphere of Resistance do a good job.


There are many combos this deck can pump out to win or straight up beating face after destroying everyone's lands and having a stax piece out. None of these are going to make you a popular player (when you start messing with people's lands they get all irritated), but they will definitely get the job done.

Examples

With a way to kill Protean Hulk, get him on the field. If opponents have the ability to respond, the best play is to fetch something like Viscera Seer + Body Snatcher + Sylvan Safekeeper, Then sacrifice Body Snatcher to Viscera Seer in response to it's ability going into the stack, bringing back the Protean Hulk and using Sylvan Safekeeper to protect your combo pieces. Follow that up by sacrificing Protean Hulk again to fetch Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Walking Ballista. Congrats, you've won.


A similar way using Protean Hulk involves using Phyrexian Delver (although this costs some life and only if opponents would lack a response or you already have a sac outlet so you can grab safekeeper either way), and grabbing Mikaeus first, then recursing the delver for protean again for trike or ballista.


To protect our combo pieces we have things like Sylvan Safekeeper, just in case. But should it fail, there's always a more demoralizing way of winning (although painfully slow, which is just to beat face and tax completely. Recurse something like Strip Mine while you have a Nether Void out and once meren hits the board, well, you get where this is going.


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Casual

97% Competitive

Revision 66 See all

(3 years ago)

-1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking main
+1 Jeweled Lotus main
+1 Undergrowth Stadium main
+1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician main
Top Ranked
Date added 6 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

13 - 1 Mythic Rares

54 - 5 Rares

18 - 3 Uncommons

11 - 1 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.30
Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Experience Token
Folders deck ideas, EDH, Meren Shenanigans, QQQ, Cedh, Cool Decks, Deck Ideas, Primers only, Commander, Saved decks
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