With all of the ETB stuff as well as being able to bounce Merieke I would recommend my favorite plainswalker of all time Venser, the Sojourner

Actually I had totally forgot him, tossing out Ajani for Venser immediately. Thanks!

No problem lemmingllama

Another combo which is fun with ETB and Venser, the Sojourner is Gideon Jura + Sunblast Angel

Perhaps Deadeye Navigator

I seem to keep finding this deck in my searches :)

Just realized that I haven't added it to my maybeboard. I've been looking for a copy for awhile, but so far no luck. Thanks for the suggestion though!

And I guess its a sign that you should build a Merieke deck

She was my commander I have chosen to use if I build a Commander deck. I love me my Venser so she fits the theme.

You could also consider Brago, King Eternal . He is the true ETB king, followed by Roon of the Hidden Realm

Wow... Brago, King Eternal in constructed with multiple Stonehorn Dignitary s on the battlefield would be so cruel... I love it. It is even possible in EDH too because of clones.

I know, my friend has an extremely successful one that I play against, Much flicker, such wow. It abuses all of the things. Also Strionic Resonator does the same thing as having multiple copies, and with a couple mana rocks then you can go infinite.

My main deck is Merieke. I have much more of a control build. Wub Wub Deck if you want to check it out.

I do think you need some amount of control aside from your commander. Via board wipes, counters, tucks, or a combination of each. Hinder , Spell Crumple , Condemn , Oblation are all great cards.

I also think you would greatly benefit from some more mana rocks, and draw. Mystic Remora , Rhystic Study , Phyrexian Arena are all great draw cards.

Gilded Lotus , Darksteel Ingot , Chromatic Lantern would be the very minimum of what I would add. Land Tax is also great.

Hallowed Fountain , Watery Grave , Godless Shrine in place of some basics would help your mana base. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth , Cabal Coffers is a great addition.

There is normally at least one land that you want to deal with. Encroaching Wastes , Tectonic Edge are both very useful to hit an enemy Maze, coffers, minamo school, ect...

Expedition Map , and Tolaria West both help to get key lands out.

If you want some suggestions on things to cut, I would say you could cut at least 10 creatures. Prob up the land count by one or 2. I run 38 lands, and 8 mana rocks. I am working on getting a few more.

I hope all this helped you out. Let me know if you liked the advice, or have any questions.

@Didgeridooda Thanks for all your comments and criticisms. It was informative, and I'll try to address all the cards you mentioned. However, I would like to note that I am specifically trying to build Merieke without control elements, and with a lot of creatures.

First off, I won't be adding in any counterspells. Merieke should be able to handle most threats, and if they remove a creature then I can just drop another.

I will eventually be adding in some of the cards you mentioned. Land Tax , Rhystic Study , and Phyrexian Arena will be added in when I acquire them through trading.

Mystic Remora takes up too much mana to maintain. I would prefer the other draw engines.

Gilded Lotus and Darksteel Ingot aren't really necessary. I will eventually be decreasing my curve, but I will typically not have issues with mana. Chromatic Lantern is already a part of this deck,

I will be adding in all the shocks as I trade for them. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is already in this deck, but it doesn't justify adding in Cabal Coffers . There just aren't enough swamps to make it worthwhile.

My playgroup typically frowns on land destruction, and wasting a land slot on LD will also slow me down. I'd rather just steal or destroy their threats after they use the extra mana.

As for land count, I may be upping it to 37. Normally it isn't necessary, especially since I play this deck almost exclusively multiplayer.

Thanks for your suggestions, and I will give your deck a look.

If you play this exclusively multi player, you may want to give Mystic Remora a shot. It is only a quarter, and when you drop that, 4 mana gets you 3 turns with it out. That will be a ton of cards. Even just 2 turns for 2 mana will net you a large benefit.

Sorry bout the lantern, and urborg. I missed them when I went though. With the extra draw, more ramp will really help, and allow you to keep so many high cost guys. They are big time game changers. You have a ton of power here, and many cards I wish I had. I build through trading as well, so I know how it takes time to get what you need.

One question though. Without board wipes, how do you plan to deal with shroud/hexproof threats? Narset might find it's way to your playgroup.

I play against decks where you need to have counters or the game is over. Combos, and all sorts of stuff. I would say the meta is not quite, but almost highly competitive. Not that many people go off on turn 3 or 4 for the game. That is why mine is so control heavy.

What kind of decks do you normally play against? Glaring Spotlight could help a little. Shroud has some threats, but hexproof is more prevalent.

Not playing spot land removal is something I have not heard of. I have had people say they dislike mass LD, but spot LD is very useful. Hit the Gaea's Cradle, Hall of the bandit lord, Cavern of souls, Boseju. There are so many extremely powerful lands out there. If your group feels that way though, you are probably making out on it. Minamo is one of the strongest utility lands around.

@Didgeridooda I can typically either ignore Hexproof and Shroud creatures, or I can use sacrifice effects like Butcher of Malakir or World Queller kill it off. At worst, I can use Council's Judgment and vote them off the island, or steal other people's creatures then chump with them.

Still, my meta doesn't have many people who do voltron. I would be playing against Kaalia of the Vast , Brago, King Eternal , Nekusar, the Mindrazer and Iroas, God of Victory . The only real threat to my deck is Zur the Enchanter , and he is normally hated off the board very quickly.

Another reason why I don't use boardwipes myself is because this is a creature heavy deck. Without a lot of ways to give indestructible to my creatures, then a board wipe will affect me just as much as them.

Counterspells are good, but its more so just a one for one. I could slow someone's board state or protect one of my cards, but it wastes a card and lets the other players pull ahead. I would use plenty of them if I was running a full control build and solely for a 1 vs 1 deck, but this is supposed to be a deck designed so not do what Merieke would normally do.

Finally, spot land removal was something we decided against due to the fact that it slows games down. Some cards that were just "destroy a permanent" were ok, like Acidic Slime and Spine of Ish Sah , since they are normally higher costed and typically they will be used for a creature or enchantment before a land. However, Strip Mine ing someone's Dimir Aqueduct can really set them back on turn two, and it completely changes how the game will go.

I respect that the group is able to make decisions to make the game better for everyone. We share a difference of opinion on that, but that is perfectly fine.

Hinder, and spell crumple were more answers for commanders when I suggested them. Though they can do double duty.

I do think you should add a bunch of the draw, and ramp, and just playtest it on here. I think it would really do well.

What do you think about Conundrum Sphinx or Deadeye Navigator as creature suggestions?

Well, I personally don't mind. It was first declared because someone ran Crucible of Worlds + Strip Mine and shut the person who was winning completely out of the game.

The nice thing about commanders is that they are all creatures. Luckily I currently have no hexproof or shroud commanders in my playgroup other than my own Multani, Maro-Sorcerer deck. So Merieke can take them away.

Ramp hasn't been an issue with me, but I will be adding in more draw. Again, just need to find someone who wants to part with Phyrexian Arena 's. But my creatures have some draw built into them, so it somewhat works.

Conundrum Sphinx wouldn't be quite as useful to me. However, Deadeye Navigator will be added in the instant that I get a copy. Its just that no-one in my area wants to trade their copies away.

Same here, I need an arena. Hard to find one.

Also, have you ever thought about trading on here?

@Didgeridooda I have, but its mainly that it is difficult to guarantee the condition of the cards and that postage costs money. Unless it was something that is virtually impossible to find, I probably wouldn't unless the price was right.

Gotcha. It is something that has really let me get my EDH decks together. If you are a stickler for condition, it can be a bit of a gamble.

@Didgeridooda Well, I live in an area where there are lots of players. So trading has never been a big issue, other than sometimes finding that one card.

And condition normally isn't that big of a deal. Its just that my friends have ordered online and the cards have been destroyed in the mail. So its a gamble.

I would love an outside opinion on my deck if you get a min. I am having some trouble figuring out what I should cut to make some additions.

@Didgeridooda I just posted up a comment. I hope its helpful.

Hmm, this looks familiar...