Supercoven, Meren EDH

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Reanimator Sacrifice

QuiteFrankly13

Acceleration (1)

• 1x Dark Ritual

Boardwipe (4)

• 1x Culling Ritual
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Copy (1)

• 1x Saw in Half

Draw (12)

• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Body Launderer
• 1x Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1x Deadly Dispute
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Moldervine Reclamation
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Peer into the Abyss
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Graveyard (5)

• 1x Body Launderer
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Grist, the Hunger Tide
• 1x Underrealm Lich

Graveyard Hate (4)

• 1x Agatha's Soul Cauldron
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Noxious Revival

Land (35)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkbore Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 4x Forest
• 1x High Market
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Necroblossom Snarl
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Life Loss (8)

• 1x Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Peer into the Abyss
• 1x Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Lifegain (7)

• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Haywire Mite
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Moldervine Reclamation
• 1x Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Protection (2)

• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Spore Frog

Ramp (13)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Dawntreader Elk
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Insidious Roots
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Viridian Emissary

Recursion (13)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Body Launderer
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1x Victimize

Removal (11)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1x Grist, the Hunger Tide
• 1x Haywire Mite
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Song of the Dryads
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Sac Outlet (4)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Sacrifice (18)

• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Dawntreader Elk
• 1x Deadly Dispute
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Grist, the Hunger Tide
• 1x High Market
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Saw in Half
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Tokens (4)

• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Grist, the Hunger Tide
• 1x Insidious Roots
• 1x Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools

Tutor (6)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Utility (5)

• 1x Agatha's Soul Cauldron
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Wincon (6)

• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Peer into the Abyss
• 1x Saw in Half
• 1x Torment of Hailfire

Commander (1)

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Sideboard

Draw (1)

• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Graveyard Hate (1)

• 1x Deathrite Shaman

Lifegain (1)

• 1x Deathrite Shaman

Ramp (3)

• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Wood Elves

Removal (1)

• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Sacrifice (1)

• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Tokens (1)

• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Utility (1)

• 1x Deathrite Shaman

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Maybeboard

Doubler (1)

• 1x Roaming Throne

Graveyard Hate (1)

• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master

Life Loss (1)

• 1x Orcish Bowmasters

Protection (2)

• 1x Arachnogenesis
• 1x No Mercy

Recursion (3)

• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master
• 1x Dawn of the Dead
• 1x Rise of the Witch-king

Removal (4)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Rise of the Witch-king

Sacrifice (1)

• 1x Rise of the Witch-king

Tokens (2)

• 1x Arachnogenesis
• 1x Orcish Bowmasters

Utility (1)

• 1x Necrotic Ooze

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Look! Up from the graveyard! It's a Birds of Paradise! It's a Planeswalker! No, it's the Gray Merchant of Asphodel, coming back for the fourth time this game!

This is a Midrangey Meren reanimator deck centered around playing, sacrificing, and recurring creatures with effects that drain opponents out or out-value them with recursion/draw/protection/removal effects to stay ahead. It's my favorite deck and has gone through many iterations and piecemeal upgrades over time until it's current state, which I am very happy with.

I. Overview

The Colors {B}{G}

Green and Black give us access to pretty much everything we need for our chosen themes:

• Ramp

• Ways to get things into our graveyard

• Ways to get things out of our graveyard

• Powerful, consistent card draw

• Potent and versatile boardwipes

• Artifact/enchantment removal

You'll like playing this deck if:

• You enjoy graveyard interaction and recursion

• You prefer creature-centric decks

• You like playing with efficient, low-cost spells and effects to maximize utility

• You like decks that perform consistently from game to game

• You like decks that can be explosive and come back from the brink of death to a win

You won't like playing this deck if:

• You enjoy defeating opponents with combat damage

• You want to drop lots of splashy, high CMC effects

• You don't like being archnemesis

• You enjoy infinite combos

Power Level

While power level is subjective based on your playgroup and meta, based on playing this against a lot of different groups/decks I'd say this is a high power casual EDH deck. The earliest I've seen it win is turn 4 but it more commonly threatens a win around turns 6-8.

II. Core Themes & Mechanics

Life Loss/Drain

Life is our main and most valuable resource. Making opponents lose life is how we win, and it can be aggressively exchanged for draw and ramp with Sylvan Library, Necropotence, Peer into the Abyss, and Black Market Connections. We don't have to care all that much about losing life because as soon as we drop a Kokusho or Gary, our life total will skyrocket back up.

Sacrifice

With sacrifice, we gain experience counters with Meren, gain value from death triggers, and set up reanimation targets to gain extra value from EtB triggers. It also gives us a way to respond to targeted exile effects so we can reanimate our creatures later rather than lose them for the remainder of the game.

Reanimation

The second half of our value engine and a core part of the deck's toolboxy nature. Our graveyard is a resource, and acts almost like a second hand and a value repository from which we can "draw" via reanimation effects. Counterspells and board wipes don't hurt nearly as much when we can just bring everything back in a couple of turns.

III. How it Wins & Lines of Play

The primary wincon of the deck is life loss/life drain, accomplished by building up a board with a high devotion to {B} paired with Gray Merchant of Asphodel (Gary) and/or Kokusho, the Evening Star. The power of these cards is compounded by a number of reanimation and sacrifice effects we run.

An especially quick way to end a game is to cast Saw in Half on Gary or Kokusho in order to get multiple instances of their devastating effects. Due to the legendary rule, a sawn in half Kokusho will hit 2 death triggers for a total of 10 life loss on all opponents and a maximum of 30 life gain for you. If you have another way to sacrifice the remaining token, that's up to 15/45 life loss/gain. Add in an end-of-turn Meren reanimation and follow up sacrifice and that increases to 20/60 in a single turn cycle. If you have Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose on the field, all of your life gain becomes more (targeted) life loss for opponents. Depending on your devotion to {B}, Gary can be an even more effective target for Saw in Half as the copies each add and see 2 extra {B} devotion.

The deck can also quickly end the game by dropping a huge Exsanguinate or Torment of Hailfire off the back of a Culling Ritual or Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Some players dislike these spells and call them boring or lame ways to win (and they can be), but when it comes time to close out a game that's dragging on or dealing with an out-of-control opponent, they can be invaluable backup wincons.

Another line of play to at the very least instantly take out a single high-threat opponent is to cast Peer into the Abyss on said opponent while you have Sheoldred, the Apocalypse out or on yourself if you have both Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose out.

Incidental Combo I didn't build the deck with this in mind but a friend pointed out to me that Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Yawgmoth, Thran Physician + Gray Merchant of Asphodel together constitute an infinite combo. It's not a tight combo since it requires more than two pieces and is CMC heavy so it can't dump an instant win on the table off the back of a Protean Hulk, but it can get the job done.

IV. Strengths

Versatility

The deck has a veritable toolbox at its fingertips, allowing us to pivot and handle most situations as they arise. The number of tutors we run along with creatures that provide useful ETB or death effects give a lot of repeatable options to remove our opponents threats while protecting ours.

Low Average CMC

With an average CMC below 3, the deck is efficient. It rarely runs out of mana needed to do multiple things per turn or re-cast our commander if it's been removed. With only a single creature in the deck being >= 7 CMC, Protean Hulk, we can tutor any of our other creatures with it.

Stickyness

Unless the enemy exiles or graveyard hates our creatures away, they'll always find a way back to the battlefield due to our commander and the number of recursion/reanimation effects in the deck.

Doesn't need the commander out to win

While Meren supercharges our reanimation and value engine, she isn't necessary for the deck to win. In fact, the fastest and most dominant win I've ever achieved with the deck ended on turn 4 without Meren ever having been cast.

V. Weaknesses

Graveyard Hate

This hardly has to be said but graveyard hate is the bane of this (and any graveyard-centric/reanimator) deck. It can still successfully survive and win while having its graveyard removed a few times, but it will struggle.

Goad

This is a nasty (but really cool) mechanic. Since the deck relies on maintaining a board state of creatures that provide utility (and devotion to black), having our creatures expended on forced attacks can seriously hinder our game plan and eat up valuable reanimation resources.

Fast/Big Beater Decks

Since this deck can take a bit of time to get a value/drain engine set up and going, a super fast aggro deck or a big stompy green deck with lots of trample effects that ramps hard and early can outvalue us in the early to early-mid game and threaten to knock us out quickly.

Lifegain

Ironically enough, other lifegain decks tend to give this deck a bit of trouble. Since we don't run any infinite combos, there is a finite amount of life drain it can dish out in a single turn. Additionally, the deck has zero combat support so it won't be able to win with commander damage. Heavily lifegain-focused decks can outstrip/offset our drain enough to leave us fumbling to win. This could easily be remedied by subbing in an infinite combo or two. Bloodchief Ascension + Mindcrank or adding Triskelion and Walking Ballista to combo with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed come to mind.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 1 Mythic Rares 37 - 1 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 2 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.81
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Experience Token, Insect 1/1 BG, Morph 2/2 C, Plant 0/1 G, Shapeshifter 3/2 C, Thrull 0/1 B, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH Decks to try