Lesser Masticore
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Lesser Masticore

Artifact Creature — Masticore

As an additional cost to cast this spell, discard a card.

: Lesser Masticore deals 1 damage to target creature.

Persist (When this creature is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

DreadKhan on EDH Merens Reanimator

2 days ago

The OG Fetches are very good cards in almost any deck, and as I mentioned in my first post, I don't know if it would be easy to improve this deck without either adding Fetchlands or increasing the power level.

The easiest way to increase the power level a deck like yours is to add a combo, but your present power level is high enough that you'd need to add a fairly efficient combo, something like Protean Hulk to find a complete combo (ideally via a single pile), this would leave you at a strong 8, not quite cEDH but it's fairly hard to make Meren a cEDH deck at this point, her ability is too slow/grindy for cEDH games. cEDH Meren lists are likely to make use of something like Razaketh, or possibly a Phyrexian Devourer combo. Razaketh uses something like Life / Death to turn your lands into creatures so you can keep tutoring until you find both your combo of choice as well as the mana to play it. Razaketh decks love stuff like Lion's Eye Diamond, which is extremely pricey and does very little other than combo off. You'd also want Dark Ritual type cards, and possibly things like Lotus Petal and Elvish Spirit Guide. The main problem with Razaketh is getting him out early, but something like Final Parting can get you there by putting Razaketh in the bin and a Reanimate into hand. Similarly, you can reanimate a Protean Hulk (which you then sacrifice) to tutor up a game ending combo, the advantage of Protean Hulk is that it's easier to cast when you're desperate, but the upside of Razaketh is that you can tutor up any cards you want, Razaketh just gives you a new hand in exchange for a few creatures. I think Protean Hulk is the best of the lot, but Phyrexian Devourer isn't a bad option, you use Triskelion with it by getting both into your graveyard, with a Necrotic Ooze on the battlefield, you then just exile cards to put counters on your Devourer, and the only real drawbacks are your limit on individual MV (Devourer dies if it gets too big), and you'll need enough total MV to actually kill everyone (this isn't too hard if you go off fairly early, but it can suck if you take all game to get into position and can't kill everyone because you don't have enough cards left. Another upside to Devourer is that Triskelion also wins the game with Mikaeus (you ping Triskelion with the last counter so it dies (without any counters left) and has Undying). Oh, with Protean Hulk the 'smallest' pile I am familiar with involves Disciple of the Vault, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, Lesser Masticore, and Carrion Feeder/Viscera Seer, with that pile you don't even need Activated Sleeper to nab a second Protean Hulk (with only 3 MV after you account for the Sleeper). The main drawback of this pile is that the cards are individually bad IMHO (I would run Feeder and Seer, but none of the others fit in a generic Meren deck), and the lack of redundancy (Melira and Masticore aren't used in a lot of other combos in Meren decks afaik) makes it less stable than some lists. The final one I feel is worth mention is Demon of Dark Schemes, Mitotic Slime, and Phyrexian Altar nets you infinite mana, ETBs, death triggers, Energy, and all the creatures in each graveyard can be reanimated by you. The nice thing about the Demon is that it's only 6 mana (so technically Hulk can find him), and it can do a lot of work in certain situations since it can wipe small creatures as well as reanimate cards from anyone's graveyard. It's one of the better generic reanimation effects that can go infinite, and it's sheer range of utility makes it worth looking at even if you didn't use Mitotic Slime. The Slime btw is very good in most Meren decks since it offers a plethora of tokens for only 5 mana, while Phyrexian Altar (or Pitiless Plunderer) are both amazing cards in a deck like this.

If you feel like adding a combo, I wouldn't have more than ~2 trees/paths to work with, unless the cards are shared between multiple lists.

I can go into more detail if it would be helpful, I have a Meren deck on here you could take a look at, it's a lot more combo oriented than your list, but it's combos aren't optimal, they're all made with stuff I already had.

ThatWeirdPerson on It's Just a Flesh Wound ($100 Meren)

2 months ago

Hey Juniordrc! Thanks for the comment, I should probably have been more clear over how the combo works in case people haven't seen it before. Basically, you sacrifice Lesser Masticore to Carrion Feeder, which triggers Disciple of the Vault and pings each opponent. When Lesser Masticore dies, persist triggers, returning it to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter, however, Melira, Sylvok Outcast does not allow the -1/-1 counter to be placed on Lesser Masticore and so persist is free to trigger again some other time. This allows you to repeat it from the beginning and keep pinging each opponent for one, all the way up to infinite damage. Here is a commander spellbook link to the same Protean Hulk combo just using Viscera Seer over Carrion Feeder. Hope that helps!

multimedia on Liesa, Forgotten Archangel (Budget EDH, Combo)

1 year ago

Hey, this is one of the better budget Commander decks I've seen and great description. Really good job with the card choices keeping within the price restriction. If you're on card price restriction, why all foils and alternative card arts?

Activated Sleeper and Kaya's Ghostform are good budget cards when you want your creatures to die. Sleeper is another creature who infinite die combos with Karmic Guide and Ghostform infinite die combos with Sun Titan.

Thran Vigil is the new budget infinite persist enabler, it infinite combos with Twilight Shepherd or another persist creature such as Lesser Masticore. If a creature dies on your turn and you control Liesa then Vigil will trigger to put a counter on a creature for each creature who died. Tortured Existence interacts with Vigil if you activate it on your turn equal to the amount of black mana you have available as long as you have a creature in your graveyard and a creature in your hand to repeatedly swap them. Put the counters from Vigil on Liesa making her huge to threaten lethal Commander damage.

Profane Tutor is the budget lesser Demonic, it's still powerful for it's price. Because you have lots of reanimation and recursion than Vile Entomber can be great support especially to get and bin Leonin Relic-Warder. Entomber getting any card of your choice is nice with Sun Titan.

Bolas's Citadel, is less than $6, the card is amazing when your Commander can gain life, you have a lower avg. CMC and even if you don't have top of library manipulation. Children of Korlis goes well with Citadel, to sac to gain all the life back you lost casting spells. Greed interacts well with Citadel and Children, it's budget repeatable draw when you can gain life. It can help to draw land that's revealed on top of your library so that you can keep Citadel going.

Plumb the Forbidden can instant sac all creatures you control to draw for each one for 2 mana. I'm a big fan of Fanatical Devotion for a budget sac outlet that can protect your Commander from many types of removal and also protect creatures in combo while being the sac outlet in the combo.

Some changes to consider:

Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on Muldrotha, the Gravetide EDH BUDGET

1 year ago

Hey, well done version for less than $100.

How do you win, Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest? You have clear value engines, but how do you turn the value into winning?

This combo repeatedly puts +1/+1 counters on all creatures you control as well as scry equal to the amount of green mana you have available. Have any creature enchanted with Rancor, Seer sacs that creature, triggers Seer and triggers Mazirek. Rancor goes to the graveyard and then back to your hand creating a Zombie. Enchant Zombie with Rancor and repeat. Tormod, the Desecrator has uses outside of the combo since cards, any card, are leaving your graveyard with Muldrotha and/or reanimation.

Consider adding the newest budget persist combo that uses Zulaport Cutthroat or another aristocrat as a true wincon? Thran Vigil is the enabler for infinite persist and it also has other uses too since creatures and artifacts are going to be leaving your graveyard with Muldrotha and/or reanimation.

Feeder sacs Masticore it triggers Cutthroat. Masticore goes to the graveyard and then back to battlefield. Vigil removes the -1/-1 counter from Masticore and repeat.

Some changes to consider:

Good luck with your deck.

DreadKhan on Meren, currently

1 year ago

There is also Necrotic Ooze, Phyrexian Devourer and Triskelion (or Walking Ballista) which will just kill everyone as long as you have some MV in your deck left. I think you can assemble this combo pretty easily with Buried Alive or some self-mill. I use Gravecrawler/Feeder/Plunderer myself, and I dig them out with Protean Hulk, which can then generate infinite Experience for Meren, making it possible for her to reanimate it for you to find a payoff for death or etb.

Hulk can also dig out Disciple of the Vault, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, Lesser Masticore and Viscera Seer or Feeder, which will just win on the spot usually. I will say, you do have to target with Disciple, so you can get blanked if someone has protection of some kind, so I don't use this combo myself, but it seems solid (if low on redundancy). It might be worth mentioning, but your Mazirek is very useful with any Persist creatures, since Mazirek can put a +1 counter on one if you have 2 you can sacrifice separately, this will go infinite with any free sac outlet, like Viscera Seer.

If you use Hulk, there is Activated Sleeper, or Phyrexian Delver which can extend your Hulk's lifespan to dig out more stuff. I'm pretty sure there are a few more out there, but I think Sleeper is the best.

I'm guessing you're not really looking for cEDH type stuff, but if you want really spicy stuff, I could direct you to very strong Meren lists you can get ideas from. I have a Meren deck that's roughly High Power atm, able to be extremely harsh to the board but also able to combo off fairly quickly/consistently if I want to. Nel Toth Community College and Round Table is the list, which has the cards sorted into custom piles to make it easier to understand (debatable if that was a success, you can switch it at the top of the decklist). Key points I'd suggest you consider is running tons of non-artifact, non-spell ramp, mostly creature based, enough to shave lands down at least somewhat, and an emphasis on small creatures that can either sacrifice themselves or something else. I would also suggest finding ways to substitute everything else with creatures, Meren really wants to have access to creatures and sac outlets, so stuff like Dockside Chef and Skullport Merchant can be better than other, non-creature options (other than busted ones like Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, and Altar of Dementia that are just amazing). I even run Lurking Predators to just dump creatures onto the board, usually as sacrifice fodder, because I have over 50 creatures in the deck, it's very possible to get more than 2 creatures in a cycle.

Hope some of this helps!

multimedia on It's Just a Flesh Wound ($100 Meren)

1 year ago

Hey, well done on a low budget. Phyrexian Delver or Body Snatcher reanimate Hulk to give you a second Hulk trigger.

First Hulk trigger get Delver and Viscera Seer. Delver reanimates Hulk for 7 life and Seer sacs Hulk. Second Hulk trigger you get Zulaport Cutthroat, Lesser Masticore and Melira, Sylvok Outcast. Using the first Hulk trigger to get a reanimation effect for Hulk and a sac outlet lets you skip having to get Disciple of the Vault as wincon which is subpar outside of the combos.

Viscera Seer as the main sac outlet for the combo lets you scry into protection for the combo as you are doing the combo. Since Seer can sac at instant speed this means you can do scrying to find instant protection in response to removal from opponent. Protection helps such as Tamiyo's Safekeeping and Golgari Charm if you're trying to combo win.

One drop instants that can return a creature who died right away, Feign Death and Undying Malice can also be protection for the combo and are good outside of combo with the overall strategy of sacing creatures. Riftsweeper is helpful since it can put a creature exiled by opponent back into your library. Also works on your own creature you exile such as Body Snatcher.

Other than Primal Growth since it's a sac for Meren, all the other land ramp spells here are not needed. They would be better as mana rocks if you want more ramp or not ramp at all instead instant interaction especially protection if you're trying to combo win. Eternal Witness and other green any card recursion is very good with Meren.

Good luck with your deck.

DreadKhan on Meren (becoming) cEDH

1 year ago

My Meren deck is very much eager to get her out early, and will likely recast her if necessary, so I run a lot of creature ramp. My deck isn't cEDH, so it can afford to spend turns ramping and filling out my board, and I can usually use her ability from the turn she enters. It probably is better in competitive play to not care as much about having your Commander out. That said, I think I would be more cautious about milling myself if I didn't consistently have Meren out during games, I'm not sure how else those cards are working in your favour? I'm not seeing all that many payoffs for having a big graveyard, I could be missing some though. Anyways, that could free up quite a few cards, you have a lot of mill effects.

While both Vorinclex and Sheoldred are good creatures, I would expect both to fall off in value as you get to higher power. The big issue is their high MV, they are very tough to cast and removing them isn't especially difficult. Meren will have a hard time bringing back either for you, especially if you're not farming XP like I do.

Pawn of Ulamog is less mana than Sifter, Bog Initiate can make your colourless mana sources make Black, which can help (but is otherwise a bad card, but rarely terrible). IMHO there are better Hulk Piles you could be fetching out, I think a lot of competitive decks like Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Walking Ballista to generate infinite death triggers. I've seen people using Disciple of the Vault, Lesser Masticore, Viscera Seer and Melira, Sylvok Outcast to win on the spot from a single Hulk pile regardless of what you've got out. Such a deck has less redundancy I suppose. My deck usually digs out infinite death triggers off the first Hulk Pile and then uses Meren to recur the Hulk and win on my end step, my pile uses Gravecrawler, Carrior Feeder and Pitiless Plunderer, but I have tons of other paths, especially if I have two or more uses of Hulk. I'm sure there are tons of other piles, and part of the fun is just building whatever you want, but just pointing this if you want to get more competitive.

cEDH almost never runs Enters Tapped lands, they are anathema to the format, with decks running stuff like Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, Ancient Tomb alongside Sol Ring to speed their deck up instead. They also tend to run the G dorks like Llanowar Elves, there are 3. You could shave some lands period, maybe 2, especially if you add in some 'fast mana'. You probably want ~15 ramp sources, maybe more in cEDH.

ThatWeirdPerson on It's Just a Flesh Wound ($100 Meren)

1 year ago

Grimsnecrosis2, So once we have Protean Hulk we sac it and tutor Carrion Feeder, Disciple of the Vault, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, and Lesser Masticore onto the battlefield. Lesser Masticore can't die sense persist means he comes back with a -1/-1 counter and Melira, Sylvok Outcast says he cant have -1/-1 counters. So now we cant sac him to Carrion Feeder an infinite number of times. Hes an artifact meaning that every time he dies Disciple of the Vault will trigger and our opponents will each take a damage making them eventually take infinite damage. Its a very resilient combo because the only way to stop it is to exile Protean Hulk or counter his trigger. Once his ability resolves and all the creatures hit the battlefield, they can cast removal but in response you can just start the combo.

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