Meren, Pod

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Creature Cheat Dredge Reanimator Sacrifice

AEVA

Creature (22)

• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Demon's Disciple
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Slum Reaper
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Vengevine
• 1x Vile Entomber
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Woodfall Primus

Ramp (8)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Springbloom Druid
• 1x Talisman of Resilience
• 1x Wood Elves

Boardwipe (2)

• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain

Non-Basic Land (37)

• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deathcap Glade
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 8x Forest
• 1x Grim Backwoods
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Necroblossom Snarl
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
• 11x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple of Malady
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Woodland Cemetery
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Targeted Removal (9)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Cankerbloom
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Foundation Breaker
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Shriekmaw

Commander (1)

General Strategy (10)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Out of the Tombs
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Reanimate

Card Draw (6)

• 1x Deathreap Ritual
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Yavimaya Elder

Pod Effect Tutors (5)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

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LAST UPDATE: 04/04/2024

Throughout the years, this deck evolved from being a Varolz, the Scar-Striped voltron commander with underlying dredge theme, to an Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis commander with dredge theme, to an Old Stickfingers commander with underlying dredge theme before finally settling on Meren of Clan Nel Toth. I still kept some of my favorite ''dredge'' cards like Bloodghast, Vengevine, Reassembling Skeleton & Nether Traitor in part due to the nostalgia factor, but also because they can be sacrificed for additionnal experience counter and easily comeback to be sacrificed again.

DECK OBJECTIVES

1- Use repeatable sacrifice outlets to create a recursion engine to increase board value over time

2- Use a lot of creatures that have ETB effects, ideally asymmetrical because of recursion, to generate value and overwhelm opponents

3- Use a lot of creatures that have a way of coming back to field without Meren (such as Vengevine, Bloodghast, etc.) in play to keep value engine going

KPI DASHBOARD (14/04/2023)

N=25

1. Average Mulligans Required: 1,14 (GOOD)
2. Earliest creature cast: 1,86 (EXCELLENT)
3. Turn Commander Cast: 3,86 (EXCELLENT)
4. Turn Strategy Online: 5,57 (EXCELLENT)
5. Turn of Land Miss: 6,57 (GOOD)
6. Repeatable Sacrifice Outlet: 5,43 (EXCELLENT)
7. Repeatable Net Card Draw: 3,29 (EXCELLENT)

The grades in parenthesis is my own assessment based on how I want the deck to behave.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.19
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Elephant 3-3 G, Experience Token, Morph 2/2 C
Folders	Optimized Decks (06/05/2023)