Merciless Executioner

Creature — Orc Warrior

When Merciless Executioner enters the battlefield, each player sacrifices a creature.

Discussion (50)

DreadKhan on Its Just a Flesh Wound (Budget cEDH Meren)

4 weeks ago

Callous Bloodmage does offer value each time he's recurred, but it's the ability to cost your opponent their graveyard that's most important. Most decks are stronger with some graveyard hate added, especially if it doesn't affect your own graveyard. If nobody uses their graveyards in your games other than you, you can indeed skip it.

Granger vs Ranger is interesting, both have upsides, but I think Granger putting the land into play and dying on your next upkeep is why I think it's better, Ranger forces you to use your landfall for turn to utilize it's ability, and while it's cheaper, it won't be anywhere near as recursive since it doesn't die on it's own. I often find that reanimating a card that digs out a land before dying is often one of the better things Meren can do early, it adds ramp and XP, both things Meren wants.

For Lurking Predators, large amounts of creatures tend to be better than a single big one in my experience, and if you do add it you can always load your deck down with all the Merciless Executioner type cards. Gravelighter and Demon's Disciple also exist, and there are others. You can also use stuff like Reclamation Sage with Predators, any ETB effects that matters will be very strong, even if the body attached isn't especially big. One thing that will help Predators work better is replacing as many non-creature effects with creatures. Vs a non-creature sac outlet, Dockside Chef (or even Skullport Merchant) might not be spectacular, but as a body you can reanimate it if you need to, or even sacrifice it for value, you can't do either with a spell. I try not to run ramp that isn't stapled to a body in my Meren deck, there are so many great creature sources of mana that you don't really need many spells/artifacts.

Sorry for not throwing in a 'cards to remove' section, I also find that hard to do. If I have a minute, I'll suggest a few that might be good to remove.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Nature's Raw Beauty | Savra, Queen of the Golgari

1 month ago

Looking good! As you're already running Plagiecrafter and Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner and Revel in Riches would be perfect additions. Spawning Pit is another great sac-outlet. Pest Infestation is a match made in heaven with Savra. In that regard, Valentin, Dean of the Vein  ^Flip is very fitting, as well.

Guerric on Cheat Death

1 month ago

Hi peterbdude! This is definitely moving in a good direction and I think you'll enjoy it! Just a few thoughts. Dictate of Erebos is great and I used to play it in Meren, but I found that I actually like more clones of Fleshbag Marauder instead. This is because we can get them with Meren if they are dredge into our graveyard, and can recur them to cull our opponents' boards. The pro-tip for this card and its clones is to always sac the Marauder itself and not another creature, since then it will be in the Graveyard where you can bring it back every turn to clear your opponents' battlefields of creatures. You have Marauder and Demon's Disciple and Plaguecrafter, but there are also Merciless Executioner, Gravelighter, and Slum Reaper if you are interested. I'll also say that I used to play Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest but didn't particularly care for him, but that could just be me.

DreadKhan on Meren-ium Falcon

2 months ago

In my time playing Meren, I find that you can play her a lot of different ways, but one way of playing is XP farming, where you're actively trying to get your XP high enough to allow you to reanimate things like Sakura-Tribe Elder or Wood Elves (I run a lot of such creatures atm), then to reanimate Sidisi, Undead Vizier (you'll probably tutor for her) to repeatedly tutor until you're ready to reanimate Protean Hulk and win off of it. You can also reanimate things like Merciless Executioner or Ravenous Chupacabra when you need creature control, or Foundation Breaker/Caustic Caterpillar to hit non-creatures. If you find your creature count keeps creeping up, one of the best 'not quite cEDH' cards for really high creature count decks is Lurking Predators, which can cheat in an ungodly number of creatures if your count is high.

2 Steves I run that are probably most worth a look are Diligent Farmhand, the slightly worse, and Dawntreader Elk the slightly better. Both can generate XP for Meren, both can help get her out early, and both can be used to ramp immediately after you get Meren out. I greatly dislike running non-creature Ramp in Meren, because it's such a huge upside to be able to recur them potentially, or just sacrifice them for value. I can't really sac a Golgari Signet to help Meren reanimate Protean Hulk, but I can use Blood Pet to get Meren out early and make sure I'm gaining XP right away.

I think if you're on Mikaeus, you might want to look at Walking Ballista, it's just a better Triskelion option that Protean Hulk can find at the same time as Mikaeus and win without further resources. This is a cEDH win con I'd argue, but people play it elsewhere I've noticed. Good if you want to increase the power of your deck. A really, really funny reanimation card is Demon of Dark Schemes, a card that is somewhere between very good and excellent. It wipes small stuff, and it can be used to infinitely reanimate creatures potentially, especially if you have something like Mitotic Slime and a Pitiless Plunderer, or a Gravecrawler, or in a pinch Haakon, Stromgald Scourge can generate energy for the Demon to win for you.

I think you should take a look at Callous Bloodmage to either generate card advantage or remove graveyards, it's a really reasonable creature that is almost never a completely dead card. If you can infinite reanimate it somehow, it's potentially infinite life, card draw and tokens.

Two tutors I really like in Meren are Jarad's Orders and Final Parting, both on the clunky side, but both very, very pushed in their own way. While they aren't quite Buried Alive, they can be better if you need a card in hand. Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire is a so-so option, mostly useful because you can politic people sometimes (you make them tutor for an answer to something, which they have to cast and you also benefit from). Fiend Artisan is a 'busted as heck' tutor in most metas, combining a sac outlet with the ability to find whatever creature you want. This works very well with those Sakura Tribe Elder like creatures, because you can quickly get to the point where you can cheat out a Protean Hulk and win.

Vraska, Golgari Queen is a reasonable card if you're light on sac outlets, want more card draw, and want slightly more access to removal (her minus is pretty decent, most competitive environments feature mostly low MV stuff). If you don't want that entire package, you should look for something that excels at what you need instead.

Cool build, Nel Toth Community College and Round Table is my Meren deck if you want to see a more creature driven Meren build, where I've gone out of my way to shave non-creature versions out for creature versions of almost everything.

Grubbernaut on Kenrith, the Omnipotent

3 months ago

With Kenny, I like sac effects because it guarantees I can reanimate the creature for value. Fleshbag Marauder, Demon's Disciple, Merciless Executioner, Plaguecrafter, etc.

Bloom Tender is great, as is Phantasmal Image. Of course, Dockside+loops. Ranger-Captain of Eos is great with recursion. Cataclysmic Gearhulk is also a good backup plan for when things go wrong, and easier to reuse because you can sac it to itself. On that note, any of the Altars or other sac outlets are great. There's Peregrine Drake loops, too, and it's also just great for value if you have a cost reducer out for Kenny.

Some cards I think would be worth considering swapping out: Esika, God of the Tree  ^Flip, Burnished Hart, Ethersworn Adjudicator (IMO, Caustic Caterpillar is best, or Cathar Commando for artifact/enchantment hate), Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Celestial Dawn.

You could probably justify going down on lands if you upped your dork count, which would play really well if you added Ashnod's Altar to use them for mana later. City of Brass is also a pretty budget rainbow land. Chittering Witch is a good source of removal, blockers, or fodder for sac effects. Renegade Rallier and Sun Titan can make for some explosive turns, as well. Shriekmaw is great for targeted removal that can later be reanimated. Cowardice and Willbreaker are more nice effects like Horobi. Fires of Invention can be another effect like Wilderness Reclamation, and doesn't limit Kenny's activations.

But finally, my absolute most favorite card when playing casual Kenny is Final Parting. Basically another Jarad's Orders, but adding Unburial Rites or Priest of Fell Rites makes it a tight package to reanimate a fatty, or tutor one of your enchantments if needed.

Cheers!

LB0818 on Waking the Dead! (Meren)

5 months ago

LimbicCircus thanks for the comment. I love Meren of Clan Nel Toth one of my favorite decks ever to play. Most of my wins come from either Grave Pact or similar card and recurring over and over a card like Merciless Executioner. Add that in with any of the aristocrat cards like Zulaport Cutthroat and it's just sick. It also has Exsanguinate very good black finisher. Plus recurring cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Kokusho, the Evening Star just plain great.

trippy_mcfly on Mono Black Death Plague

5 months ago

Cool deck. I'm here to offer some suggestions after you pointed me here from your other deck.

Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip is a powerful commander and generates insane advantage in 4-player games. Let's take a look at this deck and see what it is doing, and then streamline it. I see three main objectives of this deck:

1 - RAMPING.

This is pretty much a primary objective of any commander deck, since if your only source of mana is playing one land per turn, you're going to fall way behind. Your main ramping plan for this deck is to double lands, using Cabal Coffers, Cabal Stronghold, Caged Sun, Crypt Ghast, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, and Nirkana Revenant. This is super cool and probably a pretty strong plan. We want to try to maximize this plan. How can we do that?

All of these cards want you to load up on basic swamps, which you did. We want to make sure we are playing a basic swamp every turn. Solemn Simulacrum is definitely a worthwhile add. Liliana of the Dark Realms is very helpful and I'm happy to see her in this deck. Often times Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a worthwhile add for decks with Cabal Coffers. I think it is worth it here. Although you yourself don't have many non-swamps that will benefit from Urborg, you are likely going to be stealing people's lands with Tergrid, and counting those as swamps will be helpful for you.

How else can we keep getting swamps onto the battlefield to power up this strategy? Card draw. The more cards in your hand the higher the chance you will have a swamp to play every turn. Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood are great for this. Disciple of Bolas is solid too. Dread Presence loves swamps and is a must-add. I would add Phyrexian Arena, which is great card draw for you. Necropotence, one of the craziest cards in the game, is also a worthwhile addition. Not as good but worth consideration are Yawgmoth's Bargain and Null Profusion. Two other well-known card draw machines in black are Dark Confidant and Bolas's Citadel. You have some costly spells in your deck, so they might be a bit of a liability. If you want to include them, Sensei's Divining Top pairs very well with them.

Just because you are mainly ramping with land doubling doesn't mean there isn't room for other ramping as well. You have Black Market, which I have never personally tested, but is probably decent. Black has some explosive, single-turn ramp with Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and Culling the Weak. These cards would do well in letting you get out expensive plays ahead of schedule, mainly Tergrid. Artifact ramp is also great in any deck. I would add Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Jeweled Lotus, and Jet Medallion. I would consider adding even more artifact ramp as well. Getting down Tergrid as early as turn 1 or 2 is just so good.

2 - SACRIFICE AND DISCARD.

Once you have Tergrid out, sacrifice and discard become powerful effects that let you take control of your opponent's permanents. This is insane advantage and if left unchecked for very long will win you the game. Syphon Mind while Tergrid is in play not only puts you up 4 cards in comparison to each opponent (since they each went down 1 and you went up 3), but also could net you 3 more cards if they discard permanents that then go onto your field. That's insane. Let's take a look at all the cards you have that enable Tergrid:

SACRIFICE:

Archfiend of Depravity - A one-sided, almost board wipe that repeats every turn? Pretty solid. Getting the creatures onto your field with Tergrid? That is nuts. The one issue is that some commander decks won't have that many more than 2 creatures on the field when this comes down, and if they do, then this card and/or Tergrid become a big target, but if you survive the turn, this and your commander will put you ahead so far.

Butcher of Malakir - Similar to Archfiend. If this guy sticks around for a bit, you're going to be at such an advantage. It costs 7 which is a bit high and very vulnerable to something like Mana Drain, so I wouldn't be super upset if you cut it, but it is great with Tergrid.

Gatekeeper of Malakir - This guy only costs three and steals a creature if Tergrid is on the field. Love it.

Phyrexian Obliterator - If someone is dumb enough to deal damage to this guy, then you're getting a lot of their permanents! I don't love this card for you. People will just leave it alone and then you just hit someone for 5 each turn or leave up a blocker, which is a bit slow.

Sheoldred, Whispering One - Similar to Archfiend. If this guy sticks around for a bit, you're going to be at such an advantage. It costs 7 which is a bit high and very vulnerable to something like Mana Drain, so I wouldn't be super upset if you cut it, but it is great with Tergrid.

Torment of Hailfire - Expensive and liable to be countered but if it resolves then you will get a ton of value!

Dictate of Erebos - I like it. Let's say you have 10 mana. Cast Tergrid, then somebody goes to kill him. Flash this card in. Now, you at least get 3 of your opponents creatures on the way out!

Grave Pact - I like this as well. You can't flash it in, but if you put this card on the field, then people will have to kill this before Tergrid comes down or else end up giving you their creatures.

The Eldest Reborn - Immediate impact with Tergrid on the field, pretty good value on its own. Definitely a keep.

DISCARD:

Liliana, Defiant Necromancer - You need to flip her first, but once flipped she is great.

Syphon Mind - Great.

Torment of Hailfire - Expensive and liable to be countered but if it resolves then you will get a ton of value!

The Eldest Reborn - Immediate impact with Tergrid on the field, pretty good value on its own. Definitely a keep.

... and that's it. We need more cards that are busted with Tergrid! The following would be great adds to your deck: Smallpox, Dark Deal, Liliana's Triumph, Plaguecrafter, Soul Shatter, Mire in Misery, Innocent Blood, Vona's Hunger, Death Cloud, Burglar Rat, Demon's Disciple, Fleshbag Marauder, Elderfang Disciple, Liliana, Waker of the Dead, Bottomless Pit, Fraying Omnipotence, Rotting Rats, Cunning Lethemancer, Merciless Executioner, and a personal favorite: Smokestack.

Notice that all of these cards are typically even trades (ex: I play Elderfang Disciple, going down 1 card, everyone else goes down 1 card.) These aren't great on their own since it costs you mana to do so, and, in the case of discard and sacrifice, the opponent gets to choose an asset that they are least upset to get rid of, making them actually below-even trades. However, they become insanely busted with Tergrid. (ex: I play Elderfang Disciple, going down 1 card in hand for a measly 1/1. But, I get a Carpet of Flowers, basic plains, and Birds of Paradise on my field? Now that's an amazing play). Therefore, the ones that are recurring are better, since they give you more chances to make sure they resolve while Tergrid is on the field. (ex: I play Cunning Lethemancer and my opponent kills Tergrid. Later in the turn I play Tergrid again, albeit for 7 mana now due to commander tax. Next turn, with the Lethemancer trigger, I get some great value!)

Here are some other cards that work well with Tergrid, although they only target one opponent: Sudden Edict, Hellish Rebuke, Pharika's Libation, Diabolic Edict, Duress, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Chain of Smog, Despise, and Divest.

Notice that in the absence of Tergrid, these cards are negative trades. They set you and an opponent back by putting you both down one card. The other two opponents are left untouched. Seeing them early in the game is not particularly helpful since you'd rather spend the early game ramping. They are great and slowing down whoever is winning, but at the expense of your own board. There is a trade-off here, since these can be leveraged politically. "Each opponent discards a card"" can give you tons of value with Tergrid on the field but makes you 3 enemies. "Target opponent discards a card"" gives you not as much value in general but you can leverage this to make someone else the common enemy or make a deal with a player ("if you don't attack me next turn I won't target you with my Duress"). Things like Duress can also target specific cards, which is an added benefit for you and an added detriment to the opponent.

I would run some from each category, probably with an emphasis on maximizing Tergrid value.

3 - DRAIN AND GAIN.

Blood Artist and other cards gain you one life and drain your opponent one life. This is cool and certainly an interesting archetype of a deck. It doesn't synergize with Tergrid particularly well. I personally would not use this strategy at all in this deck and maximize the Tergrid plan. However, Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond is an awesome combo and an unexpected way to finish the game for you while people are busy dealing with Tergrid. If you want to keep this, I would trim some of the other cards, such as Exsanguinate and maybe Underworld Dreams.

---

So, now that we know what the 3 objectives are, and have maybe cut the third, we have a bit more of a plan. I've suggested adding some card draw and mana rocks for ramp, and tons more Tergrid synergy. What are the cuts? I would say anything that doesn't fit in with the objectives, so basically any card I haven't mentioned already, unless it gives great value on its own. I'll go through some:

Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are incredible cards and provide great value. Diabolic Tutor, Scheming Symmetry, and Shrouded Lore are worse tutor effects and should probably be moved to the maybe board. Sudden Spoiling is interesting and stops somebody from comboing off on their turn so is probably worth it. Reanimate is good value and should probably stay, same with Animate Dead. Demonic Vigor protects creatures but not Tergrid, unless you want him going to your hand. This is risky but probably fine. I could see him getting countered and then removed from your graveyard which puts you back majorly, but I could also see you avoiding commander tax. Worth looking into. Undying Evil is strictly better since it has instant speed and keeps him on the field. We might also want to protect him with Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots

Coffin Queen is too expensive and vulnerable. Drana, Liberator of Malakir is cool for aggressive strategies and can help you close out the game but is out of place in this deck. Falkenrath Noble is an overcosted Blood Artist. Gonti, Lord of Luxury is a value creature that if you can get his ETB many times, which your deck can't really do. Grave Titan isn't worth it in this deck. Gravedigger is fine but might be a bit slow. Helldozer is probably not worth it unless you want to pick on somebody lol. Korlash, Heir to Blackblade is not worth it. Massacre Wurm might not be worth it. Nighthowler isn't worth it. Opposition Agent is always a good add. Phage the Untouchable is too slow and vulnerable. Sepulchral Primordial might not be worth it. Skirsdag High Priest is probably not worth it. Syr Konrad, the Grim is not worth it. Wight of Precinct Six is not worth it. Tainted Strike is not worth it. Lashwrithe is not worth it. That's about 15 cuts right there.

Props to you for building Tergrid and having an interesting ramp strategy. I think if you go more in on the Tergrid plan by cutting unrelated cards for cards that ramp or are good with Tergrid then your deck will be a lot more reliable. After all, the most fun part of this deck is going off with Tergrid!

Hope this helps.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Shessra, The Mistress of Monsters

7 months ago

There are some cards you might like to have a look at. savra golgari queen is very similar to Shessra. In case you want to include Fleshbag Marauder and Merciless Executioner, Revel in Riches would be even more powerful than it could be.