Meren Hulk [Primer]

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Combo Infinite Combo Multiplayer Primer Reanimator Sacrifice Value Engine

Icaruskid

Creature (38)

• 1x Allosaurus Shepherd
• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Body Snatcher
• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Cabal Therapist
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Demon's Disciple
• 1x Disciple of the Vault
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Elvish Visionary
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Joraga Treespeaker
• 1x Lesser Masticore
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Protean Hulk
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Viridian Zealot
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Land (33)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 4x Forest
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Necroblossom Snarl
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Pattern of Rebirth
• 1x Pernicious Deed
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Sylvan Library

Artifact (2)

• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring

Commander (1)

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Cabal Therapy
• 1x Culling Ritual
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Footsteps of the Goryo
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Instant (9)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Shallow Grave
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Village Rites
• 1x Worldly Tutor

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Maybeboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Runic Armasaur

Instant (1)

• 1x Wake the Dead

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Necromancy

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Intro

Meren of Clan Nel Toth is out for vengeance.

Why Combo

• Attrition decks like this can lead to card advantage but that doesn't always convert into a win.
• If combat damage is unavailable due to blockers or control, there aren't win conditions that have reach or can target multiple opponents at once.
• The combos here are fair in that they generally require 4 creatures on the battlefield, making them fragile and open to disruption. For example, exile Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Lesser Masticore and they are turned off completely. Graveyard hate also shuts off the deck.
• Traditional combat based win conditions like Craterhoof Behemoth , Avenger of Zendikar , and Finale of Devastation can be generic as they are popular answers for any creature deck. Having a win condition specific to an aristocrat deck style is refreshing and more on theme.

Why play this deck

• You prefer taking advantage of all zones of play, especially the graveyard.
• You enjoy combinations, particularly creature based.
• You like to sacrifice, reanimate, and treat your library like a toolbox.
• You're looking for a resilient deck that has many lines of play.

Why not to play this deck

• Your meta is filled with graveyard hate.
• You don't want to win with a combo.
• You don’t like using staple cards.
• You are on a budget.
• Hollering "HULK SMASH!" as you windmill slam Protean Hulk onto the battlefield is not your style.

How to Play

• Play ramp, draw, and sacrifice sources early until Meren is on the battlefield.
• Then start sacrificing creatures and watch Meren bring them back for value.
• Based on opening hands, it's sometimes best to play a bunch of elves and win by activating Allosaurus Shepherd .
• Other hands lead to playing combo pieces directly on the battlefield and winning once assembled.
• And finally, some hands dictate tutoring and cheating into play Protean Hulk to win on the spot.

How to Win

Primary Combo

1. Activate Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder sacrificing Lesser Masticore .
2. This triggers Disciple of the Vault to do 1 damage to any opponent.
3. Lesser Masticore 's persist ability brings it back from the graveyard.
4. Melira, Sylvok Outcast prevents Lesser Masticore 's persist counter being added allowing the cycle to repeat an infinite loop of damage until all opponents are dead.

Combo Variants

• Manually play Lesser Masticore + Melira, Sylvok Outcast + Disciple of the Vault + Viscera Seer .
• Play or reanimate Protean Hulk , sacrificing it for Melira, Sylvok Outcast + Lesser Masticore + Disciple of the Vault + Viscera Seer .

The Old Fashioned

• Combat damage from creatures or creature bombs reanimated from opponents graveyards.

Power Level

Estimating power level is subjective and difficult. On the competitive side it's running a Tier 1 commander, many of the best tutors in it's colors, and some expensive staples like Sylvan Library , and includes an infinite combo as a primary win condition. On the casual side, the combo is fragile, disruptable, and involves 4 cards instead of 2. There are also no fast mana rocks, stax pieces, or Tier 1 lands like Cabal Coffers or Gaea's Cradle .

So 75-80% seems an appropriate power level.

The pieces needed to max out the competitive meter are fast mana rocks like Chrome Mox , Mana Crypt , Lion's Eye Diamond and Mox Diamond , lands like Bayou , Cavern of Souls , Gaea's Cradle , and Cabal Coffers , enchantments like Compost , Earthcraft or Carpet of Flowers , stax pieces like Null Rod , Winter Orb , Root Maze and Thorn of Amethyst , a less fragile combo in Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Walking Ballista , and maybe another tutor or two like Imperial Seal and Sylvan Tutor .

Here is a $250 version that relies more on Meren and is a blast to play.

Lore

Meren was born and raised in Jund, belonging to the shard's shamanistic Circle of Nel Toth, one of the many clans that inhabited the shard. She was trained as a Shaman, focusing on life and elemental binding to survive in the harsh landscape.

At the age of twelve, she underwent the 'Dreamfire Ritual', where she was put in a race against time to bind an elemental and then cleanse the dreamfire poison in her system. Things when horribly wrong when the elemental attacked during her attempts to bind it, and she resorted to death magic, something new that had entered Jund from the Conflux of Alara.

She was cast out by her clan and left to die, her own mentor condemning her as an abomination. However, Meren was a survivor and she made it to shelter, despite being severely wounded in her fight with the elemental, and fighting off the poison in her system. She used her new-found powers to cleanse the poison, and then slowly made her way in to Grixis after healing.

Over the years she learned to master her power and even fought the necromancers of the shard until she felt strong enough to return to her old home. With a resurrected dragon that she named Skaal Kesh and an ever growing army of undead, she rained vengeance down upon her former clansmates and mentor, becoming the Last of Clan Nel Toth before vowing to conquer the rest of Jund.

Top Ranked	Achieved #7 position overall 2 years ago Achieved #5 position in Commander / EDH 2 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Midrange 2 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Reanimator 2 years ago
Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Exclude colors	WUR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.18
Tokens	Experience Token, Morph 2/2 C
Folders	Interesting EDH decks, X - EDH Inspiration - GOLGARI GRAVEYARDS