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Meren's Returning Army *PRIMER*

Commander / EDH Aggro BG (Golgari) Bracket 3 Casual Death and Taxes Multiplayer Stax

NV_1980

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Creature (33)

Land (35)

Sorcery (7)

Commander (1)

Commander: Meren of Clan Nel Toth

Artifact (10)

Enchantment (8)

Instant (6)

Welcome to Meren’s Returning Army

Hi there! Welcome to the primer of this Golgari, resurrection deck; commanded by Meren of Clan Nel Toth. The green color of her eyes is luminescent, glowing with a power drawn from the deepest circles of hell. Utter darkness, destruction and anti-life is what she champions; using energy that originated from the void itself. She has perverted the skills taught to her by Kael, the clan’s elder shaman, and has been using them to lay waste to her former home of Jund; a shard within the plane of Alara. Soon, her destiny will be fulfilled and all will bathe in the glory that is destruction. Thanks to her tremendous necromancy abilities, her army of minions will never leave her side and carry out her will forever. Unless of course you can somehow undo all that. Are you feeling lucky today(, punk)? Do you have what it takes to permanently slay that which has already died thousands of times? Can you prevent dark energies from sucking the souls straight out of your army’s soldiers and push them straight into their graves? Let’s find out! This deck is meant to be played casually. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course anyone is welcome to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this primer; hope you will enjoy it!

Her main ability is simply fantastic. Provided that her minions die, which is definitely not a bad thing in this deck, she gets to return at least one creature to her controller’s hand (or even better, straight back onto the battlefield) every turn for free! She’s also a decent combatant and her initial casting cost is mediocre, so even if she does get sniped a few times, it’s not the end of the world.

The following parameters have been used to determine the strength of the deck. For each, a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad) has been allocated; when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck.

  • Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
  • Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
  • Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
  • Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
  • Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
  • Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
  • Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
  • Resilience: indicates the measure in which the deck can prevent and take punches.
  • Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

Mana: 3

Several means to obtain direct mana can be found in the deck. It contains two dorks and two rocks that can be tapped for mana, a spell that provides a quick, instant mana-boost and two permanents that extract mana through sacrifices/removals.

Ramp: 4

Some decent ramp options in here. The beauty of having Meren around, is that some that could otherwise not be repeated, can actually be repeated (two cards). Then there’s also an artifact, an enchantment and four non-permanents that can bring additional lands to the battlefield.

Card Advantage: 4

There’s actually not that many direct draw resources in this deck (three cards). It makes up for that though, with no fewer than six options to steal cards away from opponents. As if that wasn’t enough, the deck also contains four tutors, one of which is repeatable.

Overall speed: 4

In most ways this deck can get off the ground pretty fast. A good balance in terms of mana-resources and card-advantage combined with an average CMC clocking in at 3,06 (with 43 of its cards sitting at <= CMC 3), makes it unlikely this deck will find itself in an early block and/or doldrums. As long as the deck’s contents doesn’t get continuously exiled, it also isn’t likely to run out of good things to cast.

Combo: 2

Just a few of them. Obviously most have to do with sacrificing stuff and getting it back instantly. Depending on the combo/scenario, this can potentially yield infinite mana, drawing the deck, infinite tokens, infinite ETB, infinite LTB, infinite ping and infinite life-gain.

Army: 5

Some terrifying creatures make up this deck’s battle-force. Most of them fall under specific categories, like permanent-destruction (eight creatures), resurrection (four creatures) and token-generation (six creatures), but there’s also some other utility in here like creature-boosting and damage prevention. Please note that quite a few creatures sport the ‘deathtouch’ ability, allowing the deck’s forces to operate with a greater sense of impunity during combat.

Commander: 4

It’s great to a have a dependable recursion resource in Meren. She is however, very much not the only recursion resource in the deck, so she’s not in any way absolutely key to victory.

Interaction: 5

Ow yes, does this deck mess stuff up! Most of it is focused on destroying opposing permanents, be it creature or non-creature (ten cards). A part of that is enforced through obligatory sacrifices on the opposing side. Then there’s a decent amount of theft (five cards) and a smattering of non-combat damage dealing going on.

Resilience: 5

Let’s just say that opponents are going to have a hard time keeping your creatures dead (unless they have some strong exiling resources). No fewer that ten recursion spells and creatures can be found within the innards of this deck. Aside from that, there’s a couple of minor life-gain resources on offer.

Spellpower: 2

High-powered spells are not the deck’s primary focus. There’s a few phenomenal ones in here though, specifically with regard to recursion, non-combat damage, theft and draw.

Total power score: 38

Yeap, considering the metrics used this deck is pretty darn strong. There’s a good mix of everything in here and some truly phenomenal, high-impact creatures and spells one can play with it. Unless its stuff is exiled, you’re not ever likely to run out of cool stuff to cast that can do a heck of a lot of damage to your opponents. Having your creatures continuously reappear will definitely cause some serious discomfort (and sometimes even dread) amongst your opponents; especially when their creatures simultaneously keep disappearing into their graveyards (and either stay there or worse, END UP IN YOUR CAMP!).

Meren’s recursion ability, as well as the recursion abilities offered through other sources, allows one to reuse creatures’ abilities triggered upon them entering the battlefield, as well as abilities triggered when they leave said space. Victory against other decks is thus achieved by maximizing the value of said triggers and thereby outvaluing what our opponents can set against it. Some of the major boons aforementioned triggers can bestow upon us involves ramping of lands, destruction of opposing permanents, card advantage, the dealing of non-combat damage or even the forced sacrificing of opposing creatures. Having plenty of recursion around also encourages to use spells/permanents that require sacrifices in their casting cost and/or active ability use. After all, that fuel can be easily recovered, and thus reused.

At least three cards in the starting hand ought to be lands (or two lands and a cheap-to-cast rock (like Arcane Signet or Sol Ring) or a cheap ramp card like Nature's Lore, Rampant Growth or Sakura-Tribe Elder). It is recommended not to start a game without this hand; even if one has to mulligan down to three cards. The ideal hand would also contain some additional ramp and/or low-cost draw options or maybe a cheap life-gain opportunity.

Let’s get some resources online first. Aside from the cards mentioned in the previous section, some dorks like Birds of Paradise or Fyndhorn Elves could work wonders. Then there’s more ramping options, that would include Exploration or maybe Yavimaya Elder. A bit of card-advantage stuff this early on wouldn’t hurt either. Something like Dauthi Voidwalker, Grim Haruspex or a nice Worldly Tutor could all prove useful at this stage.

Next on the priority list should be a reliable recursion engine of sorts, with Meren herself being the most obvious choice. An excellent alternative could be Conduit of Worlds, which even allows you to play other permanents that ended up in the graveyard. Should neither of these be available, one could also go for Hell's Caretaker, which can exchange a less valuable creature on the battlefield for a more valuable one in the graveyard. Once all this in place, this deck can move on into the mid-game phase and start benefiting from all those valuable ETB’s/LTB’s.

Alright, time for some fun. Let’s try and get rid of as many opposing permanents as possible while retaining our own (through the use of the recursion tools mentioned in the former section). Let’s get Caustic Caterpillar in here to melt an opposing artifact or enchantment. Or maybe Merciless Executioner to get rid of some annoying creatures. Of course, that what we use doesn’t immediately have to die itself. Acidic Slime and Reclamation Sage can do what Caterpillar/Executioner did just as well, and they can act as cannon-fodder once they’re done, so that we can retrieve either of them from the graveyard straight after to destroy some other hapless tools.

Killing opposing creatures can take some other useful forms too. How about ensuring that when something on our side dies, it will affect every opponent in a negative way? Cards like Dictate of Erebos or Grave Pact can force others to sacrifice their own creatures, while Poison-Tip Archer, Syr Konrad, the Grim, The Meathook Massacre or Zulaport Cutthroat will deal damage to any opponent whenever our stuff perishes (or comes back from the grave). Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest can add insult to injury by having our creatures benefit from opposing sacrifices (of ANY permanents). Don’t forget to summon Drivnod, Carnage Dominus if possible, to make all death-triggers twice as beneficial (or bad)!

By now we should also have enough resources to delve deeper into more interesting ways one can benefit from deaths and resurrections. Token generation through the likes of Grave Titan, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet or the ever underestimated Mycoloth should be an option. Or how about finding the exact creatures needed to end games, through the application of tutors like Fauna Shaman? Or just via regular draw by deploying creatures/spells like Deathreap Ritual or even Harvester of Souls? Also, we can exile a strong creature with Mimic Vat and then just have that ETB whenever the occasion calls for it. Whatever is chosen, there’s plenty of power in all of it; just pick whatever best suits the circumstances you’re in.

By now the opposition will quite likely have become quite exasperated that nothing on our side of the board ever stays permanently dead, while on their side cards have been ending up in the graveyard permanently like there’s no tomorrow. Time to finish the job. Grave Betrayal will literally hijack whatever opposing creatures die and bring it over to our side, with a strength and toughness bonus! We can also add even crazier recursion means, like Mikaeus, the Unhallowed or Sheoldred, Whispering One, to make it even harder for our stuff to stay dead. If none of that is enough to seal the deal, it’s possible to use one of the deck’s infinite combos.

  • Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Ashnod's Altar/Altar of Dementia + Puppeteer Clique: This combo kicks off with Mikaeus and either Altar on the battlefield, with Clique in hand and enough mana available to summon it.
    1. Summon Clique. This trigger’s Clique’s theft ability.
    2. Steal an opposing creature.
    3. Now sacrifice Clique to Altar (which depending on the Altar, either generates mana or forces opposing mill).
    4. Choose to trigger the persist ability first (this causes the undying ability to fizzle, as Clique is no longer in the graveyard and cannot be targeted again).
    5. Clique reenters the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter. Clique’s theft ability is triggered again.
    6. Steal a second opposing creature.
    7. Now sacrifice Clique to an Altar again.
    8. This time, choose to trigger the undying ability first (which causes persist to fizzle).
    9. Clique reenters the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter.
    Rinse and repeat until all opposing creatures have been stolen AND benefit from the boons given by the Altars in the meantime.
  • Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest + Ashnod's Altar/Altar of Dementia + Puppeteer Clique: This combo works almost the same as the above combo, with the exception that when Clique dies, both Mazirek’s ability and Clique’s persist ability are triggered. Trigger both, one after the other, to have the counters negate one another.
  • Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista: This combo kicks off with Mikaeus and Ballista on the battlefield.
    1. Convert any +1/+1 counters on Ballista to damage, until there is one counter left on Ballista.
    2. Use that to kill Ballista itself.
    3. Ballista goes to the graveyard, and is granted a +1/+1 counter through Mikaeus’s undying mechanic.
    Keep killing Ballista for infinite death triggers.
  • Grave Titan/Hornet Queen + Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar: This combo starts with Titan in hand (and enough mana available to summon them) and both Deathmantle and Altar on the field.
    1. Summon Titan.
    2. Titan comes into play with two 2/2 zombie tokens.
    3. Sacrifice Titan and one zombie to Altar to generate 4.
    4. Sacrificing Titan triggers Deathmantle.
    5. Pay 4 to have Titan renter the battlefield, with two new 2/2 zombie tokens.
    Combo works the same for Queen. Rinse and repeat for infinite zombies/wasps, infinite colorless mana and infinite death-triggers.
  • Wurmcoil Engine + Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar: This combo starts with Engine in hand (and enough mana available to summon it) and both Deathmantle and Altar on the field.
    1. Summon Engine.
    2. Sacrifice Engine to Altar for 2. This triggers Engine’s token generation ability and Deathmantle’s ability.
    3. Resolve the token generation first.
    4. Sacrifice one token to Altar for an additional 2.
    5. Now resolve Deathmantle’s ability and pay 4 to have Engine reenter the battlefield.
    Rinse and repeat for infinite wurms, infinite colorless mana and infinite death-triggers.

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

The cards used to accelerate mana-availability:

  • Arcane Signet: cheap-to-cast, comes into play untapped and grants Golgari mana.
  • Ashnod's Altar: even when discarded, creatures can still provide their energy.
  • Birds of Paradise: one of the most quintessential dorks in MTG; excellent in multi-color decks that feature green.
  • Burgeoning: grants a lot of opportunity to play more lands per turn-cycle when this deck is used in the most common occurring EDH-playgroup size of four players.
  • Dark Ritual: an instantaneous boost of black energy that’s especially useful during the early- and midgame phases.
  • Fyndhorn Elves: just a cheap green dork.
  • Nature's Lore/Rampant Growth/Three Visits: cheap-to-cast, green ramp spells; some of which bring untapped lands onto the battlefield.
  • Sakura-Tribe Elder: combined with Meren, a repeatable ramp card.
  • Sol Ring: are there EDH decks without this card?
  • The Darkness Crystal: cheapens black spells, allows one to exile creatures that die and resurrect them.
  • Warren Soultrader: sometimes souls are more valuable than one thinks.
  • Yavimaya Elder: not just a ramp card, but a draw-enabler too.

The mechanisms that provide card advantage:

  • Buried Alive/Entomb: hello ‘brides’. We’ll dig you up later.
  • Dauthi Voidwalker: excellent early opportunity for some theft.
  • Deathreap Ritual: during most turns, some luckless creature will meet its end, so let’s profit from that!
  • Demonic Tutor: the most recognizable tutor in all of MTG and much loved for its low casting cost, its simplicity and its multi-functionality.
  • Fauna Shaman: getting the stuff required just became a whole lot easier; and with Meren around, we can repeat that whenever it’s required.
  • Grim Haruspex: there’s going to be some deaths on this side of the field; might as well profit.
  • Harvester of Souls: draw for EVERY non-token death? That’s a LOT.
  • Skullclamp: equipping this to a 1/1 or a creature that’s about to be sacrificed, guarantees some nice draw.
  • Vampiric Tutor: any card that’s required in exchange for some life? Deal!
  • Worldly Tutor: it’s cheap, it’s fast and it gets any creature from the library.

But, … it was DEAD a moment ago!

  • Animate Dead: sure, it recovers one of the deck’s creatures, … but more importantly, it can steal a creature from an opposing graveyard!
  • Conduit of Worlds: brings back whatever permanent that’s needed, unless we want to cast something else.
  • Eternal Witness: can be used once to return whatever we need; unless we use other means of recursion to get her back of course, once she’s spent.
  • Grave Betrayal: this enchantment is so insanely powerful, in that it’s almost the ultimate tool for thievery. It also really messes with opposing decks that involve graveyards into their strategy.
  • Hell's Caretaker: the underworld’s doorman for both entries and exits.
  • Life from the Loam: let’s go digging for land (at the cost of our library)!
  • Liliana, Defiant Necromancer  : her mid- and ultimate powers are excellent recursion tools, especially the latter as it also steals creatures away from opposing graveyards.
  • Mikaeus, the Unhallowed: so, you want to get out of this morbid place known as the afterlife? You’re not human, are you? Good, off you go.
  • Mimic Vat: creating cheap, temporary clones of something very powerful and having it wreck shit amongst our foes is just delicious.
  • Nim Deathmantle: spectacular bit of kit that keeps its wielder from permanently dying.
  • Sheoldred, Whispering One: she’s an incredibly reliable recursion engine, not to mention an even better enabler of forced opposing creature-sacrifices.
  • Victimize: the good of the one, doesn’t outweigh the good of the many!

If they won’t join us, kill them.

All the wonderful cards we couldn’t fit in any of the above categories

  • Altar of Dementia: we get rid of stuff because your brain is waaaay too full.
  • Deathrite Shaman: draining graveyards for our benefit.
  • Drivnod, Carnage Dominus: powerful combatant who ensures that when something dies, twice as much nastiness is unleashed.
  • Grave Titan: its damage is an insta-kill against anything non-indestructible that opposes it, … and it creates zombies.
  • Hornet Queen: summon five deathtouch flyers in one go; yowza!
  • Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet: your killed stuff will now turn into zombies, which serve as its food so that it can grow stronger.
  • Lightning Greaves: some haste and spell-protection for one lucky creature.
  • Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest: this is one of the most insane cards in today’s common meta’s, in which it is very common indeed to ‘sacrifice’ stuff (e.g. treasure tokens, clues, food, etc.). Without doing something about this creature, the deck’s creatures are going to blow up like you wouldn’t believe.
  • Mycoloth: this guy can provide some excellent sacrificial food in a jiffy. Has the potential to become insanely strong when Priest and a sacrifice outlet join it on the battlefield.
  • Spore Frog: this deck can’t be damaged this turn! And with some good recursion options, it can never be damaged!
  • Winding Constrictor: helpful to quickly increase experience counters as well as other kinds.
  • Wurmcoil Engine: nasty combatant on its own, and has a second life in that it leaves behind slightly weaker (but still deadly) progeny.
  • Archfiend of Depravity: great for keeping opposing creature-count low, but has temporarily been replaced by Drivnod, because the playgroups in which it was used hated it so much. Wouldn’t want anyone else from adding it though, so it deserves an honorable mention.
  • Avenger of Zendikar: generates useful sacrificial fuel, but also very expensive to cast and honestly it’s been used in enough decks already.
  • Blood Artist: works well in this deck, but its downside is that it can only target one opponent/permanent at a time, whereas other permanents in this deck with similar abilities manage to target all opponents.
  • Butcher of Malakir: on theme for the deck, but very expensive to cast.
  • Cankerbloom: on the wish-list, as it’s a great candidate to replace Krosan Grip.
  • Deadly Dispute/ Village Rites: nice draw spells, but can’t be recycled easily for more draw compared to the permanents in the deck.
  • Fiend Artisan: didn’t want to overdo the tutors. Also, it’s not a particularly strong tutor as it’s rather expensive to use and only for very specific cards.
  • Gray Merchant of Asphodel: obviously a great card in a deck that features this much resurrection, but it’s been overused a bit and is featured in enough other decks that it was felt that a different card needed to be considered.
  • Living Death: this performance of this spell within the deck, can be considered mediocre at best and has therefore been (temporarily) replaced.
  • Massacre Wurm: strong and on theme for this deck, but also very expensive to cast for what it does.
  • Rise of the Dark Realms: undoubtedly a great card, even when considering its casting cost. Still, it’s harder to react against continuous, small-time theft, compared to a single, large instance of it.
  • Rottenmouth Viper: not bad; currently considering adding this (has to be obtained though, before it is definitively added).
  • Saw in Half: currently being considered as it’s a great spell to cast on some of the deck’s creatures, though it won’t work well on its legendary creatures.
  • Sidisi, Undead Vizier: was in a previous iteration of this deck and totally awesome. However, there’s plenty of tutors in this deck already and it’s not necessary to overdo it.

Appreciate the time you took to read this primer. Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

Suggestions

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Cheaper yet again — May 30, 2017
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Decided to remove Diligent Farmhand and Doubling Season and replace them with Hermit Druid and Entomb respectively.

Updates — May 11, 2017
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After some testing ... — April 21, 2017
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Owww this is fun :) — March 26, 2017
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96% Casual

Competitive

Revision 3 See all

(2 months ago)

-1 Puppeteer Clique main
+1 The Darkness Crystal main