Merciless Executioner

Creature — Orc Warrior

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

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
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

DreadKhan on EDH Merens Reanimator

3 weeks ago

If you're interested in playing fair, then you might like Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest. This can take a board full of utility creatures and make them very formidable very quickly. Hell's Caretaker is a card I find useful that doesn't go infinite with anything I know of, it just lets you sneak stuff in once per turn. If you don't include anything like Pitiless Plunderer you can set up repeatable sacrifice loops to generate XP for Meren, probably to reanimate a Protean Hulk or someting else juicy. For this you might use Gravecrawler or Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and probably a 1 drop Knight to have something you can keep killing over and over. Any card that cares about creatures dying will go off, so some stuff that draws on death might be nice, Liliana, Dreadhorde General is a versatile card that fits the bill.

In my experience, the best thing you can tutor up is usually Protean Hulk, Sidisi, or Razaketh, any of these tends to spiral out of control in a deck that can reanimate them on the end step or sooner. Hulk can find various creatures to solve whatever problems you have, but you probably need a sac outlet to ensure it dies right away, the others are more generous. Razaketh notoriously likes abusing Life / Death to set up a pretty quick win when you're ready, you can find stuff like rituals to generate enough mana to go off.

If you want another reanimator that isn't picky, there is Demon of Dark Schemes that helps clear the board of weenies, and as long as you don't have cards that generate mana the Demon won't go infinite with something like Mitotic Slime or Underworld Hermit, they'll just give you lots of triggers for your extra mana. Demon also likes Merciless Executioner type creatures, they can easily generate Energy. Another reanimator I often forget reanimates stuff is Liliana, Death's Majesty, this brings back stuff as a Zombie if you don't want the ultimate, and she survives some wipes as a PW that can make 2/2s while milling you. Some people don't like PWs so ymmv.

I suspect that if you're not sure if you need more wipes, you might want to try one or two more. In Black there is Make an Example that is very brutal as you always hit your priority target for each opponent. It won't clear the board, but it can help manage it, and you can follow it up with a bunch of forced sacrifice. One card that likes seeing a wipe happen (that makes running extra feel less problematic) is Ogre Slumlord, if you run enough 'pay life'effects you might want Sangromancer, and if you think you can kill enough of your opponent's permenants then Kothophed, Soul Hoarder might work out, that can turn a Damnation into a big draw spell.

If your deck is finding it hard to stay alive, you can use Dawnstrider to save you on needing to reanimate a Spore Frog, though I use both as I find Meren can be annoying to certain players.

If you like Phyrexian Arena and aren't using 'win on the spot combos', have you considered Protection Racket? This can draw plenty of non-land cards or deal damage to your opponents, both seem good as long as you don't care if you lose some random 1-3 drops. There is also Black Market Connections, this can provide various resources without being as busted/all-or-nothing as Necropotence.

Hope some of this is helpful! Any Commander that requires a lot of tutoring is very frustrating to learn to play, Commander is incredibly hard to master, but it's easy to get better with practice!

Crow-Umbra on Dark Obliteration

1 month ago

If the other decks are creature heavy for their set up, you could probably play more stuff like Fleshbag Marauder, Plaguecrafter, & Merciless Executioner.

When I used to play casual 60 card tabletop, those type of edict effects that hit the whole table often slowed down the creature dependent strategies.

You could also play something like the ever classic Gray Merchant of Asphodel to drain all of your opponents at once (assuming you play multi-player & not 1on1). Gray Merchant is considered a classic finisher.

FolkOccult on Sheoldred, Rising Dead v2

7 months ago

Boxfish It was a wonderful weekend, thank you!

I love all of these changes, they look quite well-decided. Viscera Seer is a monstrous card when you can use them. They've the ability to just help you dig for answers, like your Crypt Rats or Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

It's a touch rude for a solution, but for token producers like Scute Swarm, Krenko, Mob Boss, Myr Battlesphere, Thopter Assembly, or even Blade of Selves; Pestilence, Withering Wisps, Toxic Deluge; Cheap solutions that can get expensive, that can wipe your own dudes (but it's not like you're unable to bring them back).

If you're ever looking for ways to wipe the board without playing Mass Removal which Indestructable can dodge. Dictate of Erebos, Grave Pact, Urborg Justice, Killing Wave, Torment of Hailfire can access more than one target in a turn, and remove them without the need for targeting and benefit you in the ability to just bring a dude back with your commander or any other spell. Though I can't deny that this is a rather rude option, especially with cards like Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip, who would just give you control of all creatures your opponent's could sac. You'll gain control of most any board with just Tergrid alone. Then you've got little dudes like Fleshbag Marauder, Demon's Disciple, Plaguecrafter, Merciless Executioner, Gravelighter, Slum Reaper, which all had triggered abilities that react to the formerly listed removal, your commander, Ayara, First of Locthwain, and is prone to getting your targeted even harder, but does result in a powerful and satisfying resolve once you carry the reputation of dishing out a challenge. Depending on overall deck-composition. I don't necessarily recommend all of these; but... just saying Pestilence will get your table's attention every time, draw every bit of removal, and can you activated in response to any cast that isn't a counter. With a single Dark Ritual or Cabal Coffers cast/activation... your table will weep. Sorta.

I don't know if you can directly link decks, but my Halana and Alena, Totally Just Roommates, and my Atla Palani deck's all feature cards printed in their respective planes if not, cards printed in extra supplementary sets like how Odric, Master Tactician was first printed in (M13) but is unable to planeswalk to other planes, and resides on Innistrad; technically the coresets were the base and all else added to their printings and materials, but in reality it felt like the other way around (in my experience), the story blocks made the "core" sets feel like additional content to add to your lore; this being a factor I consider when building some decks. Sacrificial Splicer is a similar case (Except I kept my favorite artifacts from other planes in the deck, I have Ich-Tekik, Salvage Splicer as a partner to Rebbec, Architect of Ascension who are respective enemies in a sense to the Phyrexian cause, one directly influencing the Praetors while the other for a time was using Powerstones to make a barrier strong enough to keep Phyrexia out, and have constructed the deck around ''Compleating'' Rebbec, which locks the board down.

The Lore in magic, is an entire rabbit hole I highly recommend exploring. Pick a plane and start from there. Find a character from that plane and follow their journey. If not by card, by flavor text. If you're into it enough, there are a series of comics out there printed by ARMADA. The Shadow Mage and Dakkon Blackblade are some of my favorite printed stories in magic, which just recently received cards. Likewise was true a couple of years ago for Yawgmoth and Urza who didn't really see their official name's on legendary cards until 2020 (despite having story presence since the beginning). The Weatherlight Crew, new and old, feel like a group of avengers, using their ship to planeswalk because they don't have a spark, and are simply putting together this weapon to stop the ultimate evil, and you can almost feel the stakes mounting as you scroll through the sets they were released in. From Urza's Sage to Invasion, to Time Spiral, to Dominaria. Now Dominaria United. I believe the story of the cards makes the deck that much more meaningful, but there's something to be said about finding the most fun cards and constructing something nuts out of them.

DreadKhan on It's Just a Flesh Wound (Budget Meren)

11 months 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

11 months 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 year 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

1 year 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

1 year 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!