I'm just coming back after a long break. Can you go over the combos?

Gorbah

• Part one of the large update is in.

Rezin3

• There is a "Combos / Win Condition" accordion block you can click on below the deck lists description. You should see a full walkthrough of the combo and lines to acheive them in there. If there is a specific part you are having difficulty with, you can let me know and I will do my best to explain.

Hey beyonddevnull, Sad to see nooze combo leaving the list .. but with the current cmc of 2.19 it might be a good call !

With Protean Hulk being the main wincon (and mike&ball) now isn't it better to drop 1 sac outlet like Bloodthrone Vampire and adding a Sylvan Safekeeper to protect your very precious Hulk from being targeted?

Thanks for the update ! Keep us up to date on how it plays mate !

Hi Gorbah

• Nooze and trike were pulled as all three combos centered around Mike so they we all vulnerable to his removal. I felt it was best to cut the cards dedicated to all but the strongest path and focus on making that combo more reliable and robust.

• Could you elaborate more (perhaps with a scenario) why you feel Sylvan Safekeeper would be needed? Typically we only put hulk into play if we already have a sac outlet in play so there would need to be a worry about something like Swords to Plowshares . When we sac Hulk, that is part of the outlets cost and the ability to respond does not appear until after that happens. Due to no priority being passed to an opponent, Hulk would still end up in our GY giving us the triggered ability.

Hey beyonddevnull,

Sorry that I only mentioned "Hulk" on my previous comment but what I actually ment was the Hulk combo pieces, as in general Mike & Ball!

My playgroup knows when Hulk hits the battlefield, bad shit is about to happen for them.. I even have people tutorring for instant exile spells asap so they can target a combo piece and knock it into exile.. With Sylvan Safekeeper coming into the board and than reanimating or hard casting Hulk you got your wincon protected!

Thanks for the clarifcation Gorbah!

I would to appologize for a typo in my second paragraph. There should have been a "no" in the Swords line. The corrected version should read:

• Could you elaborate more (perhaps with a scenario) why you feel Sylvan Safekeeper would be needed? Typically we only put hulk into play if we already have a sac outlet in play so there would no need to be a worry about something like Swords to Plowshares . When we sac Hulk, that is part of the outlets cost and the ability to respond does not appear until after that happens. Due to no priority being passed to an opponent, Hulk would still end up in our GY giving us the triggered ability.

• You are correct that Sylvan Safekeeper would protect the Mike/Ball part from instant speed creature removal. The combo is also vulnerable at that state to instant speed graveyard removal as well. When Ball hits the yard, the Undying trigger from Mike goes on the stack. Your opponents would have priority and that is an exploitable weakness as well. As a deck brewer you would have to make the decesion if you would rather be able to shut off 1/2 the combo's weakness by adding another required card or run more sac outlets to increate the ease as which you could go off to begin with. For me, I prefer the sac outlets. In a create removal scenario, I would be willing to just sac mike and attempt the combo again. I feel comfortable that we have enough reanimation magic to do so. My biggest worry is about graveyard hate as there is very little we can do about that.

Gorbah

• I had another thought...I don't think I would consider cutting a sac outlet, but one option could be dropping Magus of the Abyss for Sylvan Safekeeper . I feel like this might be a meta call, but that's roughly the path I would take. I might consider giving that a go depending on how my testing goes.

Magus of the Abyss is a nice stax piece ! The Abyss on a stick, I have much love for this card and imo i would still cut a sac outlet! U run plenty enough of them now, and with Meren's recur it's easy to just bring them back!

I feel your fear for graveyard hate.. My meta runs it aswell since thats the only "weakness" of Meren, but in the last games we played my Riftsweeper has saved my ass multiple times ! Even bringing back Spore Frog from my exiled graveyard ( Bokuja Bog ) I just love that little amazing creature !! Why aren't you running him mate ? He is fantastic against combat based decks, Drop a frog and they just fight another opponent and leave you alone :)

Ow! and I also run a Defense Grid , wich is pretty nice against those blue counters waiting to counter a combo piece :)

Hi Gorbah,

I will be keeping Safekeeper in mind for sure as a I test. As for Defense Grid , I am not sure how I feel about it. My biggest concern would be that it also stops the control player from blocking a person who is pure combo. How has it worked for yourself? What would I cut for it?

As for Spore Frog , I see no use for it in a multiplayer setting. You only get one Meren trigger a round. If more than one person choses to attack you, it does not help. There is a more detailed explaination on why spore frog does not belong in Meren in my "Notable Exclusions" section.