Need help beating Meren in duel commander (with Grixis)
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on April 20, 2016, 10:11 a.m. by Klayhamn
Hey people,
Me and two co-workers recently got some of the pre-con commander decks (the BW and GB from 2015 and i got the URB from 2013) --
we only had a chance for one multiplayer game so far, so most of my games have been a commander duel of my URB deck (led by Nekusar, the Mindrazer) against the GB deck (led by Meren of Clan Nel Toth).
Currently the score is 10-3 for the Meren deck.
I'm having an incredibly hard time beating him -- It feels like no matter how many alterations I make to the deck, he always has answers to everything i play, and I never have any good answers for what he plays - and even when I do, I still end up losing eventually as he gains more "experience" counters and his graveyard grows bigger....
I suppose just switching the commander (maybe to Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge?) could make life easier - but by now I've come to take it as some sort of a challenge for me - to be able to bring up the score to a more consistent 50%-50% with a modified Nekusar deck.
Can anyone help me beat him? :(
Stuff I've tried so far :
lower the average mana cost by getting of any slow or too high-costed card.
add redundancy by adding a lot more cards that have the same "nekusar" property of punishing draws or discards -- Waste Not, Liliana's Caress, Fate Unraveler - etc. - everything I could take from the EDHREC site basically and from other sources...
add some counterspells and more removal (including exile based removal)
replace some of the lands with signets and ramp artifacts
added some graveyard-hate cards (that exile GY automatically or ad-hoc)
But it seems like nothing really works -- whenever I try to set up ANYTHING over two turns - it gets destroyed,Whenever I clear the board, he builds a new one, whenever i put any creatures - he forces sacrifice, whenever I counter something, he just puts something even bigger later on...
Because so many of his creatures have ETB effects, just putting stuff back to his hand is typically disastrous (unless I wheel immediately afterward, and even then I'm just playing "Defense" while he's still on the offense, ready to bring more power to the board or just annihilate every threat i put down).Because of the easy re-animation, even countering threatening ETB creatures successfully isn't enough since he just ends up bringing them back.
He has permanent destruction (via creature ETB), he has artifact destruction, enchantment destruction - and creature destruction (via -x/-x spells or worse - forced sacrifice).Basically all his deck is either removal -- or simply big creatures that deal combat damage.
His ramp is always insane, and mine is never consistent.
Sometimes I have the ramp but not the combo cards I need.
Sometimes i have the combo cards but they are dealt with and I have no card draw...
If i put Propaganda - it's quickly removed.I'm really at a loss as to what would be the OPTIMAL deck to CRUSH meren...
Is the task really too big for Nekusar?
Hi there :) I personally love Nekusar! Would you mind posting a deck list so that I (and any others who come to advise you) can take a look and throw a few pointers your way?
As general advice though, have you thought about adding Infect enablers? Giving Nekusar et al. Infect pretty much speeds up your win con significantly.
Best Infect givers are:
Glistening Oil in particular is the best due to how cheap it is and how it essentially recycles itself if Nekuzar/Psychosis Crawler/Fate Unraveller/Niv Mizzet die.
April 20, 2016 11:12 a.m.
Hi Klayhamn I think you may try Portcullis, Silent Arbiter and Maze of Ith to stop or lower the power attack of the oppo, Grafdigger's Cage and Torpor Orb to block the ETB and Experience thing, and a great Sire Of Insanity to take away his hand. I think that this way you will have some solution..... Link the deck so I can take a look I will be glad!
April 20, 2016 11:20 a.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #5
Sire Of Insanity wouldn't help. If I was playing my Meren deck and someone had him out I'd be having a field day. I want most of my cards in my graveyard.
April 20, 2016 11:30 a.m.
It hasn't to play without a ideal board.... Forgot about Crawlspace to gain some time
April 20, 2016 11:41 a.m.
Thanks everyone for the helpful answers!
I'm currently at work so I'll post a decklist a bit later with everything I currently run (and everything i tried at some point or another - in the Maybeboard)
Since he has so much removal, adding stuff like Crawlspace or Silent Arbiter (cards i truly love) just get easily removed - just like Propaganda.
it felt to me like the more I tried to increase my "survivability" or "gain time" - the more i was just giving him time to make his own game plan while removing my none threatening defenses one by one (he has a few cheap enchantment & artifact removal creatures he can continuously bring back to his hand - and even if not - he has quite a few sorceries or instants to get rid of them).
He typically never attacks me with more than 1~3 creatures anyway. He doesn't need more than that. If the game lasts long enough, he always reaches a point where he can either make flying creatures I can't stop, or makes huge guys with trample.
It's not their NUMBERS which are the problem, it's their evasion and their sheer power.
Disrupting his plan seems to me like the only viable course of action, but because putting his stuff in the graveyard doesn't really hurt him, it makes any disruption be only a temporary setback.
I realize that by going the "infect" route I can kill him quicker, but to me that feels like somewhat of a cop-out out of the whole concept of the deck. I much prefer putting on a Sigil of Sleep or a Curiosity on Nekusar or anything similar to somehow control his board...
I think i just need way more forced discards/exiles and especially counterspells - but i'm not sure how many, and how many creatures should i put in for defense (if at all)...
The "components" of beating him are rather straightforward (i guess?) , it's the exact balance between them which i can't seem to strike.
Another possible course of action is add some completely wacky sub-theme (that i still haven't though of ) that might dilute my nekusar strategy a bit but would somehow provide a way of dealing with him.
Maybe something along the lines of punishing him for creatures going to the graveyard, etc. Anything creative really.I'm just not THAT familiar with MTG yet, only started playing a few months ago :)
April 20, 2016 11:58 a.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #8
With the amount of cards you draw and have in your hand, (assuming you should have no limited handsize), Meishin, the Mind Cage would shut down his attacking creatures completely.
April 20, 2016 11:58 a.m.
I don't actually draw that many cards.He also usually removes all my "no maximum hand size" providers (he even removed the LAND one game) sooner or later.
And i never have the time or luxury to just draw a bunch of cards --typically Nekusar doesn't live for more than one turn.
A lot of games I don't even get the "no maximum hand size" cards, despite there being 2 or 3 of them in my deck...
April 20, 2016 12:02 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #10
My Nekusar deck doesn't run a lot of creatures, so it runs a Lot of board wipes:
Life's Finale, Nevinyrral's Disk, Blasphemous Act, Cyclonic Rift, Perilous Vault, Necromantic Selection, Black Sun's Zenith, Damnation, Decree of Pain, In Garruk's Wake, Crux of Fate, Mizzium Mortars, Plague Wind. To name some in my deck.
The best way to beat Meren decks is to make her cost an obscene amount of mana by killing her over and over again, making her impossible to cast.
April 20, 2016 12:05 p.m.
Most games he pulls the hexproof boots so Meren is untargetable, making a board wipe my only option...
Perhaps I just need a lot more of those, as you say
April 20, 2016 12:06 p.m.
Another secondary i thought of adding - is stealing stuff from his graveyard or otherwise abusing his own strategy ---
cards like Extract from Darkness or Lazav, Dimir Mastermind etc.
would that make the deck too unfocused?
April 20, 2016 12:08 p.m.
Btw all these board wipes are way too costly to be viable IMHO...If by turn 4 or 5 i don't clear his board, it's typically already too late
That's why i ran Languish for a while
April 20, 2016 12:13 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #14
Nekusar isn't a fast aggro deck. If you've lost by turn 4 or 5, you're playing the wrong deck against Meren.
April 20, 2016 12:25 p.m.
it's not that I lose by turn 4 or 5 --it's that from that point if I haven't taken control of the situation, I'm playing "catch-up" with a low (or very low) HP,
i.e - spending whole turns just removing threats or recovering stuff, rather than being the one to put on the pressure
His deck isn't an "aggro" deck at all.It's simply that he quickly gets out of control if Meren lives long enough and gets him enough experience counters, or if he gets enough ramp to put on huge creatures he can then swing with and re-cast as necessary if they are removed...
April 20, 2016 12:37 p.m.
A typical game would go something like this:
Turns 1~2 : lands, he puts a creature that gives him landTurns 3~4 : ramp artifacts & more land fetching from him -- i typically put one enchantment and/or one creature. He starts swinging with dudes, casts his commander.
Turns 5~6 : He removes some or all of my threats, sacrifices dudes, gets more ramp
Turns: 7~8: He puts on a huge threat that i have to deal with. If i don't have a way to deal with it - i put a "counter-threat" of my own - which typically immediately gets removed via ETB effects or spells.He keeps swinging and I'm typically at 1/3 life at that point.
I usually can't cast any "return to hand" because it will just give him more chance to ETB.I typically have 2~3 nekusar-like effects put on and then immediately removed.I usually get to do roughly 7~20 dmg throughout the course of the game, but never enough to finish him off before me.
I suppose infect would be the "obvious" solution but it just seems so boring and cheap to me.
I much rather foil his plan in a creative way then get some single card that says: "you win this game". Which is why i also hate infinite combos.
I just have very little experience with playing control...
April 20, 2016 12:46 p.m.
Trust me, I felt the same about Infect, but when your playing control vs aggro, you need something that wins fast.
Since you don't have much experience with combo-control, here's where I learned how to play Nekusar: Nekusar Primer
Now, if you ever want to try out something new, here's one for Jeleva, who is primarily a storm commander: Jeleva Primer 1; and Jeleva Storm Primer
April 20, 2016 1:18 p.m.
I can certainly see the problem there, especially if it's one on one.
For graveyard hate, definitely use Bojuka Bog, Leyline of the Void, and Tormod's Crypt. Time Reversal is also nice to not only get rid of his graveyard, but to fix your deck if you wheeled away anything you like.
If he also has a lot of removal, artifacts may help, though it sounds like he can pop a lot of those too. Lightning Greaves, Mask of Avacyn, Swiftfoot Boots, and Whispersilk Cloak are the protections I run in my Nekusar deck. Blessing of Leeches is great if he has board wipes, and Diplomatic Immunity helps if he can target your protection, though you can't enchant Nekusar then either.
Board wipes are your friends, as the only other way to really combat Meren outside of gravehate is to make her too expensive. Raging_Squiggle pretty much listed all of them, but add Chain Reaction to that list too! Bounce spells like Whelming Wave are nice too, but I understand the issue with the ETB creatures.
Finally, you need serious creature hate. I have to deal with an Animar deck and a Rakdos deck in my meta so I know that struggle. Breathstealer's Crypt and Tainted AEther are my best friends for that. While these can hurt you too, it depends on how many creatures you run (mine is only eight with Nekusar). There is also Meekstone, Smoke, Crawlspace, and Propaganda to slow him down significantly if he gets a board out.
Almost forgot! Riptide Laboratory can really help out if your friend tries to remove Nekusar. I know you say he has land removal, but at least it's something!
Hope this all helps! You can check out my deck too if you want any references. Lasciate Ogni Speranza
April 20, 2016 6:36 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #19
Invoke Prejudice, while a rather expensive card, can very much cripple your opponents. Severely slowing their casting of creatures.
AEtherspouts works very well if he's swinging with big things, it'll set him back a little while to redraw them.
Yes, bouncing everything back to hand isn't ideal for you, but if you follow it up with a Molten Psyche or Winds of Change, that'll disrupt them pretty good.
If you also flash in a Notion Thief on their end step, then on your turn overload Cyclonic Rift followed by a Winds of Change, that sends them right back to the Stone Age.
April 20, 2016 8:36 p.m.
Thanks again for the help guys,
I've put down the current iteration of the declkist here:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-neverending-quest-to-beat-meren-with-nekusar/
in the maybeboard i've put cards I tried playing at some point or another, and some cards that I've only considered playing but didn't try yet
While Invoke Prejudice looks interesting, we as a rule are trying to keep this mostly casual so trying to avoid any card above $20 or so.
Like i said, the components of what should be in there are pretty clear to me by now, I'm just totally clueless regarding the amounts of each function (counterspell, wheel, enchantments, ramp, lands, creatures, board clears etc.) - or in other words - the exact composition.
April 21, 2016 6:57 a.m.
I have a Meren of Clan Nel Toth commander deck and i find that it is hard to come back if your meren has been sent back to the command zone quite a few times. i think try cheap removal targeted at meren. You are in black so there are lots of options.
April 21, 2016 7:48 a.m.
Hey Liad, thanks --
The problem is that he almost always gets the boots and protects her.When he doesn't get the boots, I don't get the removal.When he doesn't get the boots and I do get the removal - he just casts her again.When he doesn't get the boots, i do get the removal, he casts her again and i remove her again ---- he casts her again.
So basically I need a perfect game:
- him not getting boots
- me getting a removal for the first casting
- me getting removal for the 2nd casting.
- me getting removal for the 3rd casting.
- not losing to alternative strategies while he pummels my face as i waste all my turns just removing a single card from the game.
this is EXACTLY the difficulty i was talking about :)
Obviously in a multiplayer game, when there's 3 other people - your Meren will get removed a lot.
But it's not viable to CONSISTENTLY remove his commander more than 3 times in a single game in a duel... unless i'm missing something.
April 21, 2016 7:59 a.m.
Hi, I feel your pain - I play Meren and it's nasty lol!
You could consider playing all of Spin into Myth / Hinder / Spell Crumple / Chaos Warp
You could add Proteus Staff to that list too but those pesky ETBs will keep cropping up...
April 21, 2016 12:20 p.m.
I think a big part of the problem is something you don't really have control over, and that's the fact that it's MUCH easier to make a cheap 1v1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck than it is for Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Meren just oozes value no matter what else goes in the deck while Nekusar has to be built around pretty extensively.
Since you're playing a commander that's more for multiplayer you are probably going to have to hate Meren out pretty hard to win. I'll put some suggestions on your decklist.
April 21, 2016 1:46 p.m.
F.R.F - ya, i totally realize that it's not the ideal "anti meren" choice,but it's the deck i decided to get (thinking we'll playing more multiplayer than we actually get a chance to..) -
so i took it as a challenge to annihilate him with this "unlikely" challenger, nekusar.
If I see that no matter what i do - nothing works, i'll probably switch to jeleva or something else entirely (maybe dimir, maybe grixis)
but i do want to try.... :D
April 21, 2016 1:58 p.m.
Not sure if this has been mentioned or not, but I'll try to help where I can.
So from my experience playing against reanimated decks, there are two things I know they hate:
Exiled Graveyards or cards
Land destruction
Fortunately, Grixis has both of these.
I would personally suggest going the creature-less or very low creature route and just staxing him to death. You can check out my mill deck or others for Graveyard exiles but the ones I know off the top of my head are:
You can recur the artifacts with Academy Ruins or Goblin Welder and the instants with Mystic Retrieval. You can also exile problem cards or threats with Praetor's Grasp or Sadistic Sacrament.
As for Land destruction, Ruination, Bust and Jokulhaups blow up everything, even mana rocks. If you don't like blowing up your own lands or if your playgroup hates mass land destruction, use Detritivore. You can combine the land destruction with Soul of New Phyrexia too. Only your stuff is safe!
Grixis also has ways to punish creature heavy decks hard. AEther Flash will kill utility creatures instantly, and Smoke will make them all untap one at a time. Wanna stop the ramp? Try Frozen AEther. Also try Furnace of Rath. Now Nekusar does 2 damage per card drawn. The nice thing is nekusar decks usually have low cmcs, which weirdly makes them effective in stax.
Those are just some suggestions to keep in mind, some people may have brought them up already. I've bee working on a Nicol Bolas Grixis deck that's designed to be an asshole deck, hence all the LD. This won't make your co-worker like you, but at least you'll kill Meren.
Anyway, sorry if this has been suggested before. I'm on my phone and I'll lose all this if I backtrack to check.
April 21, 2016 10:05 p.m.
Rose - thanks! these seem like a lot of good tips.what do you think about the inclusion of Sangromancer? is it too slow/situational?
April 23, 2016 8:08 a.m.
Sangromancer is an awesome card in most nekusar builds because all the Windfall effects will gain you crazy amounts of life, and the creature by itself isn't super threatening to warrant removal.
Basically, if you go for my other suggestions and use land destruction and stax stuff, I wouldn't recommend her since she'll probably just die during the destruction. If you plan on just modifying the nekusar deck a bit but keep all the hand discarding, yes. That card's basically never a dead draw.
April 23, 2016 3:22 p.m.
You can also try using repeatable/mass artifact removal to hit the Swiftfoot boots/Lightning greaves.
Vandalblast blows up every artifact but yours.
Hoard-Smelter Dragon is kinda pricey on mana but is repeatable.
Viashino Heretic is the poster child of repeatable artifact removal. "That's a cool Mycosynth Lattice. It'd be a shame if something were to destroy it and then hit you for six damage."
April 23, 2016 3:32 p.m.
mhm... i cI also thought about going heavy creature-countering + some graveyard-hate based life-gain
what do you think about:
adding the artifact resurrection land seems like a good idea
my thinking is that if I manage to get rid of his main artifact/enchantment hate (i believe he has something like 3 creature ETB's - two of them rather costly, and one or two instant/sorceries)I should be safe.. :)
Maybe I can also somehow abuse the fact he plays no enchantments? Just trying to think out loud..
April 23, 2016 3:34 p.m.
obviously your suggestion of Crypt Incursion should be included as part of the gy-hate + lifegain :)
April 23, 2016 3:36 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #33
For counter spells, it's more helpful to you to use ones that exile the spell instead of putting it into the graveyard. That way he can't recur any of the countered creatures or spells.
Time Stop (technically)
Mindbreak Trap (technically)
Guile (technically)
April 23, 2016 3:47 p.m.
you're right of course, but with so many ways of exiling cards from graveyard, aren't I already a bit safe to use some "regular" counters that have positive upsides for me like card draw, etc.?
I did include a few like Horribly Awry and Spell Shrivel in my decklist, the question is do I have to completely give up all regular counters?
the 3cmc is risky, no?
With so little ramp (especially oppposed to his) - i'm afraid i'll find myself often short for manafor that reason - all the "unless he pays X" spells are also problematic i think
April 23, 2016 3:53 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #35
A Nightscape Familiar can make the difference of a lifetime when strict on mana.
"Regular" Spells like Dream Fracture and Arcane Denial are best. Because, well you're still playing Nekusar, the Mindrazer, and punishing him for drawing cards.
You can also utilize mass shuffle spells to screw over his graveyard:
and so on.
April 23, 2016 3:59 p.m.
If you go for heavy creature countering that's fine, but you might want to take BS-T's advice and use at least a Hinder and/or Spell Crumple. Since you're in Grixis also consider Dissipate and Counterflux/Double Negative. They're all a bit more mana intensive but they have more utility and Hinder/Spell Crumple ruin commanders.
Grixis doesn't have ways to abuse other people's enchantments I dont think, but grixis has hilariously evil enchantments of its own. Besides Smoke and AEther Flash there's War's Toll and Oppression or Painful Quandary.
My personal favorite is Declaration of Naught. "Meren looks cool, too bad Declaration can just sit back and counter her for the rest of the game."
April 23, 2016 4:02 p.m.
I also second Nightscape Familiar. Only thing better than Hinder is a UU Hinder.
April 23, 2016 4:04 p.m.
Yep, some of those are already in my deck :)
Here is the updated the decklist:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-neverending-quest-to-beat-meren-with-nekusar/
I tried to keep it sort of a hybrid - so there's still creatures in it, but if that won't work i'll go creaturless i guess :/
In any case, I chose not to go the land destruction path for now, but if i'll have no choice i guess i'll get boom//bust just to screw stuff up
i think i have more mana artifacts than him so maybe it will be ok?
April 23, 2016 4:04 p.m.
I played with Nightscape Familiar in the deck for the first few games. Didn't feel like it's doing much
If he didn't have so many forced-sacrifice and creature removal, maybe - but he does, so it just seems like a wasted spot that could be used for another counterspell, GY-hate, or some kind of defense/threat
April 23, 2016 4:09 p.m.
I'm still thinking about removing two of the slower creatures:
and
in favor of more wheels/removal/whatever...maybe the Ravenous Trap
the Sadistic Sacrament looks like a very useful tool in multiplayer, but in 1v1 i feel like it's gonna be too slow - and most times i won't have the 3 black mana (dark-petitioning for it makes even less sense)
April 23, 2016 4:13 p.m.
hmmm
After looking at the deck it definitely has a lot of answers, but I would suggest a few changes:
I think your deck, weirdly enough, has too many colorless mana sources. Considering how color intensive many of your counterspells are, you'd probably be better off dropping the Worn Powerstone for Talisman of Dominance and another colorless generator (probably Thought Vessel) for Talisman of Indulgence.
I would recommend getting rid of one counter or two and replacing them with Hinder and Spell Crumple. Those will right f*ck up anything in Meren. Probably drop Dispel and another super restrictive counter for those two.
Only other suggestion is the Declaration of Naught. Just counter Meren over and over for one U. She still gets two colorless more expensive every time it's countered. I love that enchantment.
April 23, 2016 4:25 p.m.
Rose -- thanks for the tip, i replaced the Worn Powerstone, but i'm a bit hesitant on replacing the Thought Vessel because of how easy it is in this deck to go beyond 7 cards...
Btw - what do you think about Graveyard Shovel , Profane Memento or Ebony Charm? too slow/small/gimmicky?
When you say f*ck up things in Meren -- i can't really put Meren inside the deck right? they changed the tuck rule, or whatever it's called...
If i put in Declaration of Naught I suspect he'll put back in Sheoldred and Birthing Pod (which he removed based on my request) since he'll say it's too "unfair" a card or something...
And what do you think about of replacing Magus of the Jar with Sangromancer ? does it make sense given the current deck list?
April 23, 2016 4:42 p.m.
I'm also thinking of somehow adding a mass removal combo with Flaying Tendrils
it would work with either Sudden Spoiling or Curse of the Swine - which are somewhat good on their own...
Otherwise, maybe Silence the Believers would be good?
I just feel like I'm missing some mass removal :/
April 23, 2016 4:58 p.m.
Good god, I just read that stuff about changing the tucking rule. That's horrible. >_> Even so, Hinder and Spell Crumple are still good counterspells. Even if you don't use them on Meren, you'll counter a creature and send it to their library, which means he would have to waste a tutor to find it again instead of just using Reanimate on it from the grave.
As for Thought Vessel I wouldn't think it would be that big a deal. Nekusar is just going to Windfall a lot anyway right? I wouldn't think constantly having more than seven cards would be a problem (or at least, the added colored mana would outweigh the occasional discard). Try and playtest it with thought vessel in first though and see how often you get color screwed. If you don't, then you're fine with it in.
I doubt he'd say Declaration of Naught was OP, he can just Naturalize it. But it's your deck.
You could also use a Stifle on Meren if you wanted. Not going to counter Meren herself, but it can counter her experience trigger (and triggers from Sheoldred or any other triggered ability).
If you want mass removal, Grixis has A TON of that.
Damnation - this is like $60 so I'd only buy this as a last resort
Sudden Spoiling + Massacre Wurm
Massacre Wurm by itself
Chandra's Ignition - Needs a creature you control to target, but it works.
Curse of the Swine - even without Massacre Wurm type effects this will still exile creatures instead of sending them to the graveyard.
Don't know why I forgot to mention this, but you can also consider Leyline of the Void to make any card go straight to exile.
April 23, 2016 5:32 p.m.
Out of all of these, only Crux of Fate really seems playable (the others have too high cmc or they return cards to hand which is not so great given how many ETB creatures he has)
Damnation is an obvious include, but I prefer not to spend that much on a single card for now (i'll probably get it at some point in the future, but I only recently made a pretty big purchase of MTG cards :) )
Decree of Pain used to be in the deck but i took it out to improve consistency and lower the avg. card cmc..
The Deathbringer seems a bit too risky and situational (he usually kills not with quantity but with "quality" )For the same reason Blasphemous act won't work well i believe
I believe Wash Out might be better than Evacuation since most of his creatures are green except for a few...
Anger of the gods is problematic, again, because his strategy usually revolves around building up some big creatures by sacrificing other creatures and only using them for utility
I don't see how i can consistently get both Massacre Wurm AND Sudden Spoiling in play at the same time...
April 23, 2016 5:44 p.m.
I'm not sure what to take out to let Leyline of the Void in..
April 23, 2016 5:53 p.m.
You don't have to get sudden spoiling and the wurm out at the same time (they're both fine on their own), it would just be hilarious if it happened. :D
Blasphemous Act is great though. because of the cost reducer it almost always goes off for 2 or 3, or 5 at most. If bouncing creatures isn't effective, you might like Ixidron. Best part is Meren would get flipped over into a 2/2 and she'd be stuck there until he could find another way to kill his own creature. You could even use Conjurer's Closet to make Ixidron reset the board every turn.
April 23, 2016 6:22 p.m.
And sorry, forgot to answer this, but I'd say replacing Magus with Sangromancer is fine. you'll gain a lot of life off the discard alone, not even counting the board wipes. Considering how many windfalls you already have I doubt you'll miss the creature version.
April 23, 2016 6:24 p.m.
Rose - i took out the magus but i put in the Crux of Fate so i'm not sure what to take anymore to put in the Sangromancer...
April 23, 2016 6:41 p.m.
I'd say get rid of Complete Disregard. It has a silly drawback and it costs as much as Curse of the Swine for one. Sangromancer would get you more value.
Ostrichman01 says... #2
I have a nekusar and meren edh deck so i know your problem. THe one thing that really ruins me when i play meren is when i get my yard exiled or shuffled into my library. I recommend Tormod's Crypt or Day's Undoing. Also i recommend some efficient accelerators like Heartless Summoning to get a turn three nekusar or turn four Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
April 20, 2016 10:34 a.m.