Meren, the Fun Yet Competitive (Commander / EDH)

Commander / EDH* BG (Golgari) Budget Competitive Multiplayer Reanimator Stax

Calhau146

5 drop (6)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Underrealm Lich

2 drop (16)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Deglamer
• 1x Dusk Legion Zealot
• 1x Elvish Visionary
• 1x Evolutionary Leap
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Spawning Pit
• 1x Sylvan Ranger
• 1x Uncage the Menagerie
• 1x Unravel the Aether
• 1x Vampire Hexmage
• 1x Withered Wretch

0 drop (38)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 10x Forest
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x High Market
• 1x Hissing Quagmire
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple of Malady
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

6 drop (4)

• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

3 drop (18)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Catacomb Sifter
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Pernicious Deed
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Yavimaya Elder

4 drop (11)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Deathreap Ritual
• 1x Faceless Butcher
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Smothering Abomination
• 1x Treasure Keeper
• 1x Vraska, Golgari Queen

1 drop (6)

• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Hope of Ghirapur
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Viscera Seer

Commander (1)

---

Maybeboard

3 drop (7)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Catacomb Sifter
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Victimize

6 drop (2)

• 1x Demon of Dark Schemes
• 1x Soul of the Harvest

2 drop (2)

• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

4 drop (5)

• 1x Faceless Butcher
• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Treasure Keeper

0 drop (2)

• 1x Gilt-Leaf Palace
• 1x Homeward Path

5 drop (1)

• 1x Liliana Vess

1 drop (1)

• 1x Worldly Tutor

---

Want to play a cheap deck that lets your playgroup have fun while still playing powerfull cards? Then this might be the deck for you!

Keep in mind this is not a primer. The idea of this deck is being as powerfull as possible without feeling overpowered or making other players feel the need to improve their decks to have a chance of winning.

I´ll be updating the maybeboard with cards that I think should be included / excluded, so don´t be surprised if you see a card thats both in the deck and the maybeboard.

I´ll also update my opinion on some of the cards here so you know were I stand on some of my choices

Card Choices

Spawning Pit - A 2 colourless mana sac outlet with the possibity of generating creatures is exactly what this deck wants to see. It usually doesn`t draw much attention towards you and provides the two most abusable effets in this deck (sacrifice and token generation). This a staple in my opinion.

Scavenging Ooze / Withered Wretch - Even tough there are more eficcient ways to clear my opponents graveyard they tend to be terrible if nothing has to be removed. These two are 2 mana 2/2 so they are usefull even when there is no need for graveyard hate, unlike cards like Agent of Erebos , Relic of Progenitus or Tormod's Crypt .

Ravenous Chupacabra - Rivals of Ixalan solved a problem that black had since the dawn of this game. A black creature with inbuilt uncondicional removal makes you proudly able to play against your black mana wielding friends whithought the despair of not being able to remove their threats. Truely a godsend.

Faceless Butcher - The only exile effect in the deck which can also trigger etb and ltb effects. While it can get stuck in your hand if there arent any sacrifice outlets it is a powerfull removal againts some cards like Avacyn, Angel of Hope . Not an auto-include but definitelly usefull.

Dusk Legion Zealot / Elvish Visionary - While never truely standing out in a game they also never disapoint. Two mana for a draw is fine and the fact that you also get a 1/1 body for experience counter building or simply sacrificing makes theese two good enough to run in my opinion. Also it works well with Meren of Clan Nel Toth for some extra early game draws.

Journey to Eternity   - Extremely good with Sakura-Tribe Elder and an overall seemingly good card that both ramps you and reanimates the card attached to it. So far it has shown to be a less consistent Wood Elves but with more potential for some serious broken plays. It might even be better than Farhaven Elf in this deck.

Possible Exclusions

Phyrexian Arena - This card provides great card advantage but it is extremely slow at doing so. Also I´m trying to use less artifacts and enchantments so that less removal is used on me and more on my opponents. A card like Grim Haruspex will likely serve a similar function without the drawbacks so it seems like a good replacement.

Solemn Simulacrum - While being having great value it does not have the type of effects i`m looking for in the 4 mana slot. At that stage cards like Smothering Abomination are better because they sinergise more with the early game. In play testing I noticed that sometimes I ran out of cards so I´ll need to add more card advantage tools. It does draw a card but there are better cards for that purpose.

Possible Inclusions

Treasure Keeper - For 4 mana it fetches a decent card to the board and can do it multiple times in this deck. The average card that it will pull will cost just about 2 mana so it´s great value. The quality of the effect decreases as turns go by but in the early game it is an all-star.

Archfiend of Depravity - This is great against decs that go wide on the board by not only clearirng most creatures in the turn it enters the battlefield but also stopping its controllers of refilling. Combine this with cards like Merciless Executioner and the game will tend to be over soon.

Awesome Cards I Won`t Include

Don`t get me wrong, this list is not set in stone and I absolutelly am willing to be convinced to run this cards. Just keep in mind that my current stance on them is that they are overpowered and unfun. I know they are good but I think any playgroup not expecting these cards will suffer at the hands of them.

Sol Ring - When one player has it and others don`t it feels that we are no longer playing the same game. I´m baffled at how this has remained unbanned so far.

Survival of the Fittest - This card... It might as well read substitute your hand with your deck. Left unchecked it steal wins too easilly for my taste.

Skullclamp - I actually ran this for a brief time. Regretted it immediatly. One mana for two draws and a sacrifice is just gamebreaking with this deck.

Demonic Tutor / Vampiric Tutor - One of the best aspects of EDH is how much variation you see in the games. Tutor tend to erode this so in my opinion they should come with a "cost" in the form of high mana requirements or limitations on what can be fetched. These cards have neither of those.

Reanimate - This card is never played in a "fair" way. I simply cannot imagine a game where this adds anything to the overall enjoyment of the game. It either wins the game by bringing something big way too early or it gets removed. Either way it always ends up annoying everyone.

All sugestions are welcome!

Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.13
Tokens	2/2 C Artifact Creature Spawn, Beast 3/3 G, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Emblem Vraska, Golgari Queen, Experience Token, Morph 2/2 C
Folders	Compare to.... , Deck Ideas, Nice meren stuff